First Battle

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**Black Wild Dogs**

HP: 60

Beast Grade: C-rank

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'Now, time to see what I'm made of,' Levi smirked

Levi braced himself for the incoming attack from one of the three black wild dogs. Swinging his axe, he missed by a mile, but a timely arrow from Darcy struck the beast.

{–20hp}

[Would you like me to activate the buff skill?... It's a 3rd grade skill so I'm sure it would be pretty helpful]

Levi considered it for a while "No, I think I'll try to handle this on my own" he saw this as an opportunity to check how strong he currently was.

[I don't think you understand, a Skill of this level would make this battle a breeze]

"I said I don't need your help for small fries like this, and besides the skill is only at the 3rd grade I heard there's still two more grades above so don't make it sound like much" Levi scoffed

[You say that because you don't know how rare 5th-grade skills are, it's almost impossible to achieve this level of buff with any other sprite even after spending hundreds of coins]

"That means this is even your peak? Very disappointing" Levi added mockingly 

[It's a boost for all your physical stats, there's no way I could make it any stronger… why am I even trying? You wouldn't even understand the process even if I explained it to you. I'm beginning to understand that even with your peak intellect you are still hopeless]

Levi paid no attention to his words, he was far too invested in the enemies before him.

'They are fast, I have to focus if I want to land a hit…'

The dog kept on jumping around and it caused Levi to continue swinging.

Then he heard a message in his head 'Observation skill used', all of a sudden he could analyze and predict its next move as if it had already happened.

'is this another skill from my class? maybe being a Craftsman apprentice isn't so bad afterall.' he chuckled 

With this development, all he had to do was time his swing correctly and he landed a clean hit 

{–20Hp}

Before stabbing it in the underbelly with his short blade

{–20Hp}

The dead animal's body pixelated and disappeared. 

{C-rank beast slayed -70xp gained} 

{You have leveled up (30Sp received)}

The other two dogs pounced on him almost immediately, he shifted backward to evade the attack but not before getting clawed by one of them.

{–10Hp}

'Just one hit halved my health, I can't afford to take another… I need to deal with them one at a time', he reasoned

All of a sudden an arrow came flying through the air landing perfectly in one of the dog's eyes

{Critical hit –60Hp}

The dog pixelated and then disappeared.

'Thanks, Darcy… now it's only me and you'

The dog began growling before whimpering in fear and scrambling into the bushes.

'Why'd it run away? Maybe it got scared after it realized it was outnumbered' Levi concluded as he returned to where Darcy was camped.

Darcy was shocked about what she had just seen. She had brought Levi out here purposefully to battle enemies that were above his level so she could show her brother just how strong she was but instead, he was able to kill a C-rank beast in his first battle. 

'This might be a world record, could my brother be one of those hidden geniuses' she wondered. What shocked her the most was the fact that he did it without using any mana.

Levi had only walked a few steps before he heard something approaching at high speed, he turned around and got back into battle position wielding the axe with one hand and the blade in the other.

A large wolf emerged from the bushes with bright red eyes and a drooling mouth

—

**Silverback wolf**

HP: 980

Beast Grade: B-rank

—

'So this was why that dog ran away' Levi realized.

Just as the wolf was about to attack an arrow flew through the air hitting it perfectly. it didn't penetrate due to its silver back but it was enough to make it retreat for a moment.

Darcy was visibly shaken by the appearance of this beast. 

Even after using my 'storm arrow' skill, it didn't take any damage. What is a B-rank beast doing so close to the village?

She reasoned that even if she could fight it, Levi would definitely be in danger. She had to create an opening so he could escape. 

On the other hand, Levi was focused immensely on the enemy before him, in hopes of triggering his observation skill.

'Observation skill used' 

Along with its attack pattern, he could also see critical hit points. He noticed that the hit from the arrow had only slowed the monster down, not causing any physical damage due to its hardback. This gave him a solid idea.

"Blue, I think I'll need that buff afterall"

[Of course, activating buff on all physical stats]

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<New skill generated>

Skill: Sprite buff(3rd grade)

-Active-

*Increases all physical stats. Time Limit: 10mins. Cool down time: 3 hours. No mana required.

<STR: 2 (+70)>

<AGL: 2 (+70)>

<VIT: 5 (+70)>

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"Is this all?" 

[That's the best I can do, your physical stats is currently four times your level]

"Then I'll just have to work with it," he sighed. 

The wolf was once again ready to attack, and ran at full speed swiftly dodging most of the arrows Darcy shot at it, the few that landed causally deflected off its back.

Levi could see its ferocious teeth as the wolf leaped at him, it slammed its Jaws only to miss by a few inches as Levi backstepped. This created an opportunity for Levi to attack. He swung his axe with all the power in his body to land a clean hit right in the middle of its Silver head.

{Stunned}

{–7hp}

Levi lost a bit of health while the beast on the other hand was only stunned.

He felt the vibration throughout his body as if he had just used a metal rod to hit a solid wall, but it also left the beast disoriented so he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

He quickly used the blade and pressed it into its throat from under. He held it in as the wolf struggled for a few seconds before ceasing to move.

{Critical Hit –980Hp}

The dead beast disappeared.

{B-rank beast slayed 2700xp gained}

{You have leveled up}

{You have leveled up}

{You have leveled up}

{You have leveled up}

{You have leveled up}

{You have leveled up}

Your current level: 8

{You have received 180SP}

'killing just this B-rank beast added quite a few levels' Levi thought as the messages kept on repeating

Darcy couldn't believe her eyes, her jaw dropped as a gasp escaped her lips. She had just witnessed something that had definitely never happened before in the history of Aetheria. Not only did Levi, a newbie player single-handedly take down a B-rank beast he did it without taking a hit. He really was a genius.

"How did you do that?" Darcy asked as she approached her brother

"I don't know, it just came to me" Levi playfully confessed.

He turned to assess the drops

"So how do we split this?" Levi asked

"You can have all of it, after all you defeated it" she replied still wearing her look of disbelief.

——

Silverback wolf fur

Grade: Mid-grade

Info: A hard material that could be used in making clothing. Gotten from a silverback Wolf 

__

Silverback wolf fang and claws

Grade: Low-grade

Info: could be exchanged for money. Gotten from a silverback wolf 

——–

'Nice, I can at least sell all this for the money I lost' Levi thought

He turned to see his sister staring at him in awe. In her mind, she had just witnessed the impossible.

"I have an idea, would you like to meet my clan members? I'm sure a few of them would still be online" Darcy excitedly pulled him towards the village.

With what she had just seen she was sure Levi had the potential to become an extremely powerful warrior and this was her opportunity to get him to join her clan.

Levi was thinking of going to see his father in the Lowlands, but he couldn't just abandon Darcy after everything she had done for him. Plus he didn't have any good excuse to leave just yet.

"O-okay" he stuttered as he followed behind her

They began heading back to the village. There wasn't a moment of silence, Darcy kept on talking about just how impressive he was, asking different questions and answering them herself.

"Do you plan on joining a clan?" Darcy inquired

"I'm not sure I would, I don't see the point" Levi replied.

"How can you say that? Clans are very important, you'll need someone to watch your back when fighting powerful enemies" Darcy said with exaggerated emotions

"With the help of your clan you can take on harder quests that are above your level" she added

"Not to brag but my clan is on its way to becoming a top-tier clan, our leader has this deal with the Moon Knight clan that would skyrocket us to the top hundred," Darcy said with pride.

Levi's expression darkened at the mention of the Moon Knight clan.

"The Moon Knight clan?" He questioned 

"You've heard of them? They are one of the top three clans in Aetheria. Almost all their warriors are ranked, our leader was also a member " 

"Yeah, I think I might have read a few stories about them" he grudgingly voiced

'That's the clan those bastards are from, Leviathan and the rest of his goons…'

Levi wore a spiteful look but to Darcy, it looked like she had finally gotten his attention.

"If you've heard of them that means you've probably heard that they have just gotten an SS-grade quest, so while everyone is busy struggling to join them we wouldn't have to since we already have an agreement, " Darcy said still wearing her proud look

"What sort of agreement is that?" Levi inquired curiously

He suspected that if it involved those bastards there's no way it'd be good.

"It's simple, we join them in the raid of Valhalla and they help us out on one of our S-grade quest"

It wasn't a bad idea so Levi couldn't contest it, instead, he realized this could even be an opportunity.