It was dark, the moon high up in the sky covered behind layers of trees and clouds. What little light that did manage to get through was not enough for Kaelrin to see.
She couldn't sleep. She had tossed and turned trying all her might to for herself into rest, but she couldn't. Her thoughts kept drifting towards her battle in the ruins.
The thought of how she had been able to kill the smaller monsters so much more easily than she thought, but the mid tier boss was still too much. If she hadn't gotten Berserk randomly, she would've been in trouble.
'I need to get stronger. Stronger so that I can protect myself on my own.'
She got up and took her sword with her, walking down the woods. She looked back at Roan, asleep peacefully, and thought about how she was saved by him during the time when Berserk had consumed her.
Kaelrin gripped her sword tighter and turned away.
She walked a little ways before stopping at a particularly large tree and started making slash marks along the front. She continued that for hours, trying to think of ways to refine her technique, and how best a greatsword should be used.
After an hour or two, she took a look at her stat profile so that she could see her Weapon Mastery. She smiled when she saw that she was three tenths of the way there.
She had gotten quite a bit of mastery from the fights in the ruins, and she was excited to see what would happen when she filled it up. With those thoughts, she continued to relentlessly cut down every tree in the area.
"What're you doing?"
Kaelrin jumped a little and looked behind her to see Roan. She relaxed, relieved it was someone she knew.
"I've just been practicing my technique. I've been wondering what happens when you get all one hundred points."
"You've been doing that all night?" Roan tilted his head and leaned across one of the trees that hadn't been diced, his face full of concern.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep anyway," Kaelrin responded, a little embarrassed about how much care Roan was showing her.
"Well, if you're not gonna sleep, wanna spar?"
Kaelrin's eyes lit up. She wanted to fight against a moving object, one that could fight back.
Roan immediately charged at her, giving no room for her to get ready, but Kaelrin had seen it. When Roan pulled behind her she ducked, causing his dagger to barely miss her head.
She jumped back, greatsword ready for any movement that Roan would make.
Roan didn't disappoint. He charged, aiming for her throat. Kaelrin went to block it, but right before their weapons clashed, Roan sent his dagger straight down into Kaelrin's thigh. The weapon couldn't directly pierce her leg, but the pain still had a yelp escape from Kaelrin's lips.
She swung downwards with her sword, throwing in all her power, but Roan easily dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the weapon. He went for another slash at Kaelrin, but Kaelrin had used the blunt edge of her greatsword to push Roan off her.
It went on like this until the sun began to peek out from below.
Both Roan and Kaelrin were seated, breathing heavily, Kaelrin having many small cuts all over her body while Roan had bruises, internal and external.
"So, neither one of us can win, huh?" Roan said, letting out a small chuckle that turns into grunts as his ribs throbbed.
Kaelrin just sighed, she really enjoyed the spar, but she was disappointed that she couldn't beat Roan. However, she also was glad that Roan couldn't beat her.
Her weapon mastery had gone up quite a bit, but not enough. She wanted more. She was going to do whatever it took to fill up the bar and upgrade her weapon.
"Come on," Kaelrin said, getting up and moving towards their camp. "Let's get something to eat and get to killing some monsters."
Roan didn't say anything, but he got up and followed her.
Once they finished eating, they headed towards the center of the forest. Roan had scaled a massive tree to see where everything convened to, and they headed in that direction.
Going that way, they found many mid-tier monsters, which they were able to easily beat together. Along the way, Roan was also able to get a Ruby Necklace, so they were both geared up for the next battle.
As they were heading forth, a large bear-like creature stood in front of them. It was double Kaelrin's size, its hair made from roots, its eyes like radishes, and its claws stretched out far in front of them.
Kaelrin quickly inspected what it was.
[Name: (High) Wooded Wolverine]
[Strength: 12.8]
[Agility: 10.9]
[Intelligence: 9]
[Stamina: 13.2]
[Skills: You don't have high enough Intelligence]
"Hey, Roan," Kaelrin asked, embarrassed. "Can you tell me the monster's skills?"
Roan laughed. "Yeah, okay," he said after catching his breath. "He has a skill called Root Swipe and Gigantification."
Kaelrin thought about them for a second, then turned to Roan. They both nodded, understanding without needing to communicate. They had been able to do that recently since they've been taking monsters down together for enough time.
Roan dashed forward and sliced against the bear's left arm, leaving a small crack. Kaelrin jumped and slammed her sword down right on the cut the cut Roan left, cutting off the entire arm.
Roan immediately followed with the right arm, which Kaelrin also cut off. They both got to the ground and cheered a little bit.
The wolverine, frustrated, growled terribly and suddenly its limbs began to regrow. The wooded beast then began to charge at the two, slamming an arm down towards Kaelrin.
Roan saw it and dashed, grabbing Kaelrin and getting out of range of the wolverine's arm just in time.
"What the hell was that?" Kaelrin asked, a little shaken.
"I don't know," Roan replied.
The beast continued charging, this time at Roan. However, Roan was swift, and the beast could not land a clean hit.
"Well, check him again!"
Roan peered at the beast while dodging and his eyes turned wide.
"Kaelrin, he also has regeneration!"
Kaelrin was a little shocked. Both at the news and that Roan hadn't told her before.
"Why didn't you say that sooner?"
"Because it wasn't there earlier!"
Kaelrin froze. 'Di- Did the wolverine learn a new skill?'