Chapter 9_ The 1st Hunt (2)

He could feel the intense gazes of the people around him, but Lexus maintained a smile on his face. Though he was a young troll, he had a larger body than a human, standing at well over two meters tall, and a head that didn't resemble a human.

'Trolls are green in my mind, but it's red.'

« Chwiik! is human! Kill it! »

« Chwiik! Chwiik! »

Moreover, looking at the movement, it was probably faster than him, but Lexus wasn't worried about that. This was the perfect opponent to test his control against!

Whik!

The red troll swung an axe with a handle thicker than Lexus' thighs. Its attacks were fast, but its movements were large and there was a lot of clutter. A typical attack style that relied solely on brute strength and not finesse. It wasn't something Lexus could hope to defend against, especially as a low-level character.

Dodging to the left, he managed to avoid the axe swinging downward. This time, the axe swung from top to bottom. Though it was quite fast, Lexus had the special stat, Super Sensitivity, which allowed him to react to the young troll warrior's speed.

For Lexus, it was like he was in an obvious attack situation. He didn't move much, just sideways and turned while drawing his sword. A technique that attacked with explosive speed the moment the sword was drawn. The troll, who didn't know the technique, had no choice but to surrender his head.

A sound of monsters nibbling was heard, and a message appeared only visible to Lexus.

[You hit the vital point. A critical damage will occur.]

Then, activating a unique skill to make things more interesting.

« Young Troll's experience in survival and combat has been acquired. »

« All possible skills to obtain has been succesfully acquired. »

« All knowledge gained has been optimized and successfully transferred. »

[The skill, 'Regeneration (E)' has been obtained.]

[The skill, 'Strength Augmentation (E)' has been obtained.]

[The skill, 'Crazed Rampage (C)' has been obtained.]

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[Regeneration - Lv.1]

Rating: Normal

[Bolsters the bearer's fortitude and speeds up self-healing when injured by 1.5% of maximum health per second.

Skill Resource Consumption: None.

Skill Cooldown Time: None.]

[Strength Augmentation - Lv.1]

Rating: Normal

[By willing it, enhances allies for battle, increasing their strength, defense and movement speed.

* Grants a 15% increase in damage, defense and movement speed for 20 seconds.

Skill Resource Consumption: 350 Mana.

Skill Cooldown Time: 100 Seconds.]

[Crazed Rampage - Lv.1]

Rating: Rare

[With each continuous blow on the same target, gains increased attack speed. If the user changes targets, the stacks drop to zero.

* When killing a creature with blood, there is a 0.75% chance to recover 10% of maximum health.

* Maximum stacks is 12. Gains 5% bonus Attack Speed per Stack.

Skill Resource Consumption: None.

Skill Cooldown Time: None.]

Seeing the stolen skill, Lexus smiled. Just as he had intended, by stealing the regeneration skill, he would now be the one benefiting from it, while removing the annoyance of the troll's healing ability.

He might have a hard time fighting it because the troll was 19 levels higher than him, who was still a level 1. Although he was a legend, the difference in attributes such as damage dealt by strength and defense that would reduce the damage, wasn't easy to overcome when the disparity of levels was so large.

He locked his gaze on the troll, which was readying itself to strike; then, his leg sidestepping, he heavily kicked it. Bam! The young troll warrior was smashed against the ground, its face colliding.

Above the troll's head, a STUNNED status symbol appeared. This was the case in the virtual world of Satisfy. Even if Lexus lacked any skills that could stun at the moment, the system would determine whether the damage was sufficient to stun something based on what was happening. This appeared to be one of those instances.

'What a grueling battle. Thankfully, I haven't been hurt yet. With my thoughts being accelerated by thousand times, I am capable of reacting quickly despite the troll being faster than me.' As he slid behind the shocked troll as swiftly as he could, Lexus thought to himself, 'I am also smart enough to take advantage of the troll's lack of intelligence.'

Although trolls possessed high intelligence, making them difficult to deal with, the one he was fighting was still a young one that moved without thinking properly. Since this game was based on reality, any further harm had to be determined by the circumstances. Of course, anything based on reality would have a small share of the vote, as this was a game.

Damage points and other such calculations have to be based mostly on the game, while other situations merely had to be partially true. Following Lexus' attack, the troll turned around to retaliate, but he had already retreated after his blow. The troll missed another strike, and when it tried to attack again, it encountered a circumstance that was nearly comparable to the last one.

As he avoided the attacks, Lexus felt that agility was very useful for him; his movement speed had become faster than it was in his previous life. It also synergized very well with Super Sensitivity.

"It seems like I can still deal with it without getting hurt." Lexus analyzed the situation logically and relaxedly.

Even though Lexus' levels and attributes were lower than the troll at first glance, it seemed like he was still superior in terms of skill and control. Making an instant and simple analysis of one's opponent was an important lesson that Lexus learned during his training.

Anyone could make an analysis, but Lexus was different from an ordinary person. With the Great Sage's Thought Acceleration, which raised his thought-processing speed by a thousand times, Lexus held the upper hand.

The people who were watching the match were speechless. It was clear to them that the troll was superior in terms of physical abilities, yet Lexus was dominating the match.

"Hoy, hoy! Was this the true abilities of Lord Lexus?"

Of course they knew what the NPC Lexus had been doing. At this point, the impression that Lexus gave off seemed to have changed. He didn't feel like an innocent and naive, yet lazy young man. He felt like a mature, cool, but cold and analytical swordsman.

Lexus' expression remained unchanged.

Excluding the slight smile, it was the same indifferent look. It was a really complex expression, but it indeed belonged to Lexus, a young man who haven't turn to eighteen yet.

Enraged, the troll unleashed another attack. When the troll attacked, everything around Lexus seemed to come to a standstill. The troll's attack came so slowly, as if it was being reflected off a mirror. However, this wasn't the work of some game expert, or a system error.

This was exactly what someone with extraordinary reaction time experienced: a slower world. In this situation, Lexus' movements appeared even slower than usual. His reactions were far quicker than the speed of his body. This was exactly what he was experiencing right now.

[Super Sensitivity stat has increased.]

In the slowed down world, his senses were heightened which led to his super sensitivity increasing. The axe of the troll, which was 2 meters long, swiped over his eyes but he was able to dodge it.

Had his reaction been slower by a second, Lexus would have been blown away or fatally wounded by the axe. Seeing it miss, he pounced at it and managed to dodge it again. The troll seemed to be growing increasingly frustrated as it continued to miss its attacks; it even leapt half a meter into the air.

He bent down and tensed his legs. In an instant, he leapt to the side of the troll, which was mid-air. At the same time, he grabbed his sword with both hands, thrust it upward and diagonally.

Shick!

[You have dealt 220 damage to the target.]

Lexus should be able to deal more than 260 damage based on his strength that outleague his level but the troll is a monster that is on a higher level than him and possessed more health and defenses than him.

As the damage surfaced, the troll flew diagonally backwards. Being attacked in the air was much more lethal, as one was more defenseless in the air. After he stabbed the troll, he stomped down on it.

Thump!

The troll crashed heavily to the ground. With no cushion of air beneath it, the impact caused even more damage.

[You have dealt 220 damage to the target.]

[You have inflicted stun for 0.3 seconds.]

He took advantage of the momentum to slide to the left of the troll. His right foot was firmly planted behind his body, and he swung his sword to knock it into the troll warrior.

[You have dealt 220 damage to the target.]

As the difference in level was great, Lexus who had the title effect of increase in growth by 60%—his skills rapidly improved.

[The level of Intermediate Sword Mastery has reached level 10.]

[Congratulations! You have reached the max level of your 'Intermediate Sword Mastery' skill.]

[Your understanding of sword has reached a new level.]

[The level of Intermediate Sword Mastery has risen.]

[All stats related to your skill increase.]

[Strength increased by 10.]

[Stamina increased by 10.]

[Agility...]

[New skills are being searched for considering your stats.]

[The superior skill, 'Advanced Sword Mastery' has been opened.]

[You have understood the basics of Sword Aura.]

[The skill 'Sword Aura' has been acquired.]

[The title, 'Sword Expert' has been obtained.]

[The minimum qualifications to become a sword saint have been achieved.]

[The title, 'Sword Saint Candidate' has been obtained.]

[Reputation throughout the continent will increase by 500.]

Seeing the system message, Lexus widely smiled. It was another moment that he had been waiting for.

[Sword Aura Lv.1]

[Allows you to exert your mana and convert it into Sword Aura. Deals fixed 1,000 damage, and partially ignores defense.

* The effects increases every time the level of 'Advanced Sword Mastery' increases.]

[Sword Expert]

[Given to those who had reached the advanced mastery of the sword.

* When a sword type weapon is equipped, attack power will increase by 25% and attack speed by 5%. This effect is applied separately from the Sword Mastery skill effect.

* Greatly improves your control with sword by 20%. Sword techniques will also have more impact.]

Acquiring the title of Sword Saint Candidate is the minimum qualification to obtain the strongest legendary combat class, Sword Saint.

Many 'Great Swordsmen' seek this Legendary Class. It can be earned by becoming a 'Sword Saint Candidate', which creates a class change quest with different stages. 

[Sword Saint Candidate]

Stage 1 (Transcendent)

* All stats will become 1.3 times greater.

* Quickly detect the target's weakness.

* There is a high probability of predicting the target's movements.

* 'Super Sensitivity' will be opened.

There are many ways to obtain this title, but becoming a Great Swordsman is one of them. However, the method Lexus chose was the easiest for him. It was to train Sword Mastery to the pinnacle, and seal all the sword-related skills except Sword Mastery.

To obtain the title, a swordsman must have achieved the intermediate level Sword Mastery skill and fight only with the sword, without using any sword-related skills.

However, for Lexus, who had become a legend, the difficulty increased and he would have to raise his Sword Mastery to expert level before being able to use any other sword skills without first becoming a Sword Expert.

Since he still didn't have any sword skills available, this was the perfect method for him and he succeeded. Also, if Lexus didn't possess a legendary class, the system would have rewarded him the growth type hidden class, Aura Master, for the result of his hard work.

Having finally obtained the title by preventing himself from being reliant on his skills, there was no need for him to hold back any of his skills whatsoever.