Chapter Four

A small, rusty dagger was deflected by a pristine sword. The bony green hand that was holding the blade was removed from the owner's body as a shrill cry rang out in the forest.

The owner of the pristine sword shimmered out of existence. Reappearing behind another goblin. In the blink of an eye, its head was cut off from its body.

Piece lowered his stance, preparing for another attack. With just a thought, he activated his horizontal slash and swiped his katana. A red streak of mana was produced from the edge of his blade, slicing into three incoming goblins that tried to attack him together.

With a quick twist, he turned. His blade cut through the goblin that was trying to sneak up on him, leaving behind two halves of a now-dead, body. That should be the last one if he counted right. There were twenty-four of them in total. Looking over the poor excuse of a battlefield, the count went up to twenty-four and he sighed, relaxing his tense body.

The daggers they used were so old and damaged that they wouldn't even sell. Maybe, they could be melted and reforged to something better... He sighed and grabbed the bag on his back. Walking over to the dead bodies, he started getting the daggers that were lying on the ground.

This was going to take a bit.

___

After grabbing the reward from the guild, Piece was enjoying a good meal for his hard work. He gave the bag of weapons to Luna who took them eagerly and gave him 200 Eris per weapon.

So, the reward was more than he expected from a simple goblin-slaying quest.

Now, he was staring at the Guild card, something that he has been doing more and more recently. His finger glided to one of the skills displayed on it. "Evade", is basically, a more fancy way of saying dodge. He managed to level up once, so his skill points reached nine, and Evade only cost two points.

The only problem was that it was an active skill, not a passive one. After activating it, he would be able to dodge any incoming attacks for a short period. The mana cost was a bit high for his current level... His level raised his intelligence stat high enough for him to choose the sub-class of a wizard or a priest. Wizard would give him higher mana while Priest would provide him with buffs he could cast on himself to dish out more damage. Maybe he could learn a skill to buff his mana regeneration.

... Maybe later.

Using two skill points for "Evade" he picked "Lesser parry"

Finally, he put three points in his [Master Swordsman] Class and his remaining three in [Lesser Swordsmanship].

[Pierce White: Lv: 5.

Master Swordsman 4/50

Strength: 42. Dexterity: 39.

Constitution: 29. Intelligence: 28.

Wisdom: 32. Luck: 20.

Skill Points 0.

Skills:

Vertical Slash. Leap. Lesser Swordsmanship. Evade. Lesser Parry.]

His stats seemed to be corresponding to the actions he took, he didn't exert himself killing goblins as killing the frogs since they were weaker physically and easy to cut through. That must have been the reason his strength stat increased so little while his dexterity shot up. With him using his shadow sneak and more technique than he would on giant targets like the frogs, it only made sense.

Putting away the card in his pocket, he wondered if there was a place for him to get armor around here and if it was a good one. The people here seemed to be wearing certain pieces of medical armor. Like that guy sitting with, what he assumed was his party. He was wearing fully equipped knight armor. However, the person next to him was wearing only the chest piece with his arms bare. Pierce suspected it was because he couldn't find one that could fit him and with his height and muscles, it would only restrict his movements.

What he needed was something that would not restrict his movements, while providing enough protection to cover his weak points. But, since he had no clue about anything related to armor, he would settle with Samurai armor, He just needed to find the right smith for it.

Reaching for his Ale, he chugged it down in a few gulps. Hmm... Not bad. Picking up the fort and knife, he dug into the meat on his plate... He was having a frog. Apparently, they were a delicacy in these parts.

Good. Screw those giant bastards. That smile was a pain to wash out.

Finishing his food, Piece stood up and walked out of the guild hall, wanting to ask around for a good smith.

Walking around the town of Axel, Pierce looked around, observing the peaceful atmosphere. Kids running around, some parents chasing them to bring them back inside. It was nice. The fact that these kids were not sitting inside, their heads in computer screens while yelling out false claims of having intercourse with someone's mother was a welcome change. It was more unpleasant when it was directed at you.

Seriously, kids can be cruel. He was ready to bet an arm and a leg that they could smell weakness.

Finally, he came across a party that was chatting between themselves quite happily. The master swordsman eyed them for a bit. There was still time before they actually passed each other, so he took the time to inspect their gear.

There were four of them, all male. One was a burly man with a giant hammer on his back, he wore shoulder guards on his otherwise bare upper body. Might be a sign that there is an injury on one of them that needed protecting to not hinder him in combat. His giant belly was exposed to the world as he walked, bouncing with every step he took.

Pierce didn't specialize in hammers, so he had no idea of the quality of the weapon, but judging from its looks, it was at least sturdy because there was a small chance that someone from the "Beginner Town" went on a quest that managed to damage their weapon like that.

The second man was wearing what a thief class would normally wear in an RPG. A hood, leather armor, and two daggers on his waist. His steps were light, and judging that he just avoided that stick on the ground unconsciously, he was good at what he did.

The third one was much more interesting than his companions. A spear slung over his shoulder and wearing light metal armor, he had his hair swept back, one hand in the pocket of his black pants, and a few daggers in the belt that was stretched from his shoulder across his chest. Pierce deduced that he, too, had a class of a thief, even if it was a sub-class. Because of a little digging, he knew that dagger throwing was a skill only available to the thief class.

The last one was the simplest of them all. With Gray robes, a gray pointed hat, and a simple staff in his hand, he used common sense to deduce that this man was a mage... Big shocker, he knew.

Well, no time like the present.