Chương 14: No More Distractions

I awaken slowly in my cozy bed after a night of getting thoroughly obliterated by some ale that is the best I have ever had. Seriously, who would've thought ale could be that superior. To think that was only a run of the mill tavern, the truly good stuff must be divine.

"Yip!" Luma awakens and stretches, very cutely that is. I make sure to give her plenty of scritches. Today is a big day, after all, it is the day I finally start to get stronger. For real this time, no more getting sidetracked. While last night was full of drinking, that is not to be said it was pointless. Lots of discussions were had and plans solidified. To summarize them all nice and quick, I will be mostly left on my own. Though there will come points when Calder needs me for things, or has cool opportunities.

At least, that is the running plan until things stabilize a bit. Reli especially seemed very worried about the political ramifications of what has occurred. Not just with me and Lord Cathartic, but the other heroes too. If such a thing happened to me, it undoubtedly has or will happen to others at some point. I shudder at the thought of anyone actually being trapped in such a situation, with no way of escaping from it.

I can only imagine what sort of things I would have been made to do under that lord's rule, and I don't wish such a fate on even my worst enemies. With my hammer in hand, Luma in my hood and my nerves steadied, I leave the inn I rented a room at. Calder hooked me up with a nice deal of only a silver coin per day, which is a steal apparently. I also inquired about learning blacksmithing in this world, and he said he would look into it. Anything to help me get stronger, apparently.

I was also given a basic green cloak by that ranger fella in Calder's party. It is nothing fancy, and provides a minor stealth bonus. Definitely intended for a ranger class, but it helps to hide my features and armor that is far too high quality. Plus, it isn't uncommon for rangers to have some sort of level obscuring skill, so it does good to explain that effect of my heroes' cloak away. So with all that knowledge in hand, I set out for the edge of the city.

I was shown a few good locations that locals love to send their kids to train in when they are young. Ima try to not be too embarrassed about being told to go train alongside a bunch of young kids. But I definitely have to move past the early stages quickly, lest people start to think I am a creep or something. Turns out, this city is fucking massive. There aren't many of those moving metal carriages either. Apparently they are called automobiles, and are quite new inventions.

As such, they are only widespread in the largest cities, or available to the really rich. Honestly though, seeing the city isn't so bad. The familiarity of it all is nice. Even in this crazy world full of who knows what, people are still people. Food stalls dot the sides of streets, intermixed with the proper shops. People are still assholes that refuse to look where they are walking. Oh, and most of all, everything still has that good ol' city smell.

The smells, combined with the smell of dew lingering in the morning air is refreshing. All of the sleep is gone from my body, and I am really ready to get some things done today. Eventually, I make it to the southern gate. I take out some sort of disc that Reli gave to me and show it to them. Suddenly all of the guards around stiffen up and bow to me, before politely escorting me outside the wall. They offer protection or whatnot, but I turn them down.

After listening to adventurers tell tales of their stories for hours, I have learned a bit of how the leveling in this world works. The primary way is to use a class in some meaningful capacity. By doing literally anything, you will slowly gain experience based on what you are doing. Naturally, that is the slowest and safest way of doing it. By slow, we are talking months for a single level. Of course, that isn't going to work out for me, thus I must take on risk. The fastest way is to fight monsters and slay them.

As one would expect, it is also the riskiest way to level, but still the most popular nonetheless. You have now entered the Shadewood Forest | Danger Level: Reasonable"Yip!" Luma says excitedly at the notification of us walking into the aptly named forest. All of the trees are made of a beautiful black wood that apparently is great at absorbing mana. Legends say that spirits haunt the forests at night too, bestowing gifts onto those that respect them.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I pass by quite a few parties along the main paths. Most of them are below level thirty and largely consist of children. Some of which are even accompanied by much stronger parents that are acting as chaperones of a sort. Even if it is somewhat necessary to fight in this world, parents will still be protective of their children I suppose. As it turns out, even those quite young are expected to start leveling.

While the first fifteen or so years are taken for corestone formation, after that, it is up to the individual families. Some immediately force their children into the most dangerous situations imaginable with hopes that they become strong. While some take it a bit slower, and teach them the skills and level at a moderate pace. It isn't long before I notice an evil presence fill the air. Luma stands up on my shoulder and growls in the direction of the treeline.

Before I can react, I am suddenly on the ground and feel a bunch of sharp objects digging into my arms. I wildly swing out with my hammer and manage to hit something, but the pain doesn't stop. I roll to the side, trying to shake off the monster, but its talons are deeply grasped around my arms by now. My identify picks up the creature just as my hammer makes contact with its side. [Shade Falcon - Lvl 12] Black feathers go everywhere as my hammer smashes something important.

The falcon screeches out in pain and releases me. I grit my teeth through the pain, and try not to look at my wounds right now. My health is still at sixty percent, so paying attention to injuries can wait until later. I scramble to my feet and watch the falcon as it flies into the air. It is flying quite erratically, I must have injured a wing. Even monster falcons are quite fragile. But I need to be able to get a hit in, otherwise it could just kill me with a hundred pecks.

It dives again and I brace myself as it drills right into my chest. The flimsy leather does not do much to help, but it does just enough for me to wrap my hands around it. The bird is cold and slippery, some sort of magic no doubt. I throw the bird down onto the ground with as much force as I can muster, and while it is stunned I bring out my hammer and swing it downwards. Hmm, this is sort of like using an anvil… The falcon barely makes a sound as my hammer shatters it with enough force to bend iron.

'Ding', You have slain [Shade Falcon - Lvl 12].

'Ding', Magic Smith has advanced to level 4. Stat points distributed. …

'Ding', Magic Smith has advanced to level 8. Stat points distributed. New martial technique formed, <Anvil Strike>. After a quick burst of excitement at leveling up, I promptly collapse onto the forest floor. With shaking hands, I pull a health potion out of my storage and consume it. Instantly I can feel the healing rush through my body and start to fix me up. Luma curls up next to me and nuzzles my side, and I can feel her healing aura coming in mighty handy.

Once I am healed enough to move, I notice that I have a few more notifications.

'Ding', Luma has advanced to level 2. Stat points distributed. …

'Ding', Luma has advanced to level 5. Stat points distributed.

'Ding', Spirit Mage has advanced to level 7. Stat points distributed. Guess Luma gets experience when she heals people. I was wondering if spirits leveled up differently or something, but it seems to be the same. With all this leveling, I have also gained a lot of stat points. For the unallocated ones, I decide to throw half into agility and half into endurance. That falcon was so much faster than me, the only reason I was able to defeat it was because it wasn't very intelligent.

Agility makes me faster, so it is an obvious choice. My stats are now looking quite nice, I think. Stats Vitality: 46 Endurance: 30 Strength: 29 Agility: 25 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 24 Spirit: 69 Unallocated Points: 0 That fight was draining, leaving me with only fifty stamina left. As expected, I am going to need a lot more of that if I want to do any amount of continuous fighting. Which I will need to do if I want to get stronger.

I am sure most people that just gained so many levels would be ecstatic and ready to celebrate. But I know that a few measly levels will not be enough. Sure, I am stronger, but not nearly strong enough. With that in mind, I lean against a tree for about ten minutes and meditate. Once my stamina is restored and my body is in tip-top shape, I stand up onto my feet and pick up Luma.

"Yip?" She says worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'll be just fine. Now, let's go find some more monsters." I declare.

"Yip." Luma says in a tone that I can only interpret as a sigh. It is weird, even with her only communicating in yips, I feel like I am starting to understand her more. Whether that is something to do with the bond or if I am just learning to speak fox, I have no clue. Though I hope it's the latter, it would be quite cool to be able to speak to foxes. I proceed deeper into the forest. It is not even fifteen minutes when I encounter another interesting scenario. This time it comes in the form of a distant scream.

Without hesitating, I break out into a run towards it. Guess it is time to live up to that whole 'hero' thing.