Choice
Chapter 10
[Congratulations]
[Heal skill has leveled up]
[Heal LV: 5 (0\500)]
[Divine shield skill has leveled up]
[Divine Shield LV: 3 (0\100)]
[Magic bullet skill has leveled up]
[Magic bullet: LV: 5 (0\500)]
[Bless skill has leveled up]
[Bless LV: 2(0\50)]
Twelve hours and a messed up room later, my skills had leveled up quite a bit. The easiest to level up was Magic Bullet since its cost was only one MP for each shot. I chose 'Bless' to be the last since it used ten points of MP and for now, I had no use for it. Still, I was happy to see the improvement.
Of course, level-up only meant time reduction or MP requirement reduction. All my skills still vastly depend on the INT stat. Not heal and bless though. Heal now restored thirty percent of my HP whereas Bless increased my stats by a whopping fifteen percent. It wasn't much right now, but at higher levels and with my strength increased as well, this will be a considerable increase.
Just in time, I was done because as soon as I took a bath, there was a knock on my door, and I was expected to be in the courtyard in ten minutes. I nodded and took my luggage and stored it in my inventory.
I was still only level three, so I wasn't very strong by the standards of this world. Anyway, I arrived in the courtyard and saw thirty knights standing along with two carriages and many horses. I didn't spot any servants or cooks, so I guessed this was all of the party.
This was going to be more difficult than I thought.
======
"Your Highness, we will be setting up camp here for tonight." A knight informed me while I was casting the 'Bless' skill on myself. Since I was with a company, the only skills I could use were bless and heal. The other two would emit a bright light which could alarm the others.
I wasn't able to level up heal since it was very difficult with my limited MP and time. Bless, on the other hand, had improved greatly.
[Bless skill has leveled up]
[Bless LV: 4 (0\200)]
Sure, I was stuck again, but at least there was some improvement rather than none. It had been thirteen days since my departure from the capital. There were thirty knights traveling with me. Today was the only day we were setting up a camp because there was no city between our destination anymore. There was a small town but since there was no inn in that town, we chose to not stop there.
"What's your name?" I asked the knight who came to give me dinner. He had black hair and black eyes. Very ordinary in the looks department compared to me. He was also very young. Somewhere around twenty if I had to guess.
"My name is Maximillian Specter, Your Highness." He knelt like a proper knight and introduced himself. "Are you new Max?" I asked while shortening his name to which he made an awkward face but still replied, "Yes, Your Highness."
"Hmm. Do you know Max?" I asked and he asked in return, "Know what, Your Highness?"
I smiled and replied, "That everyone in their life once has to make a choice. The choice."
He became confused at my question but before he could even contemplate my question, I asked him another question, "Do you know why you are here, Max?"
"Umm… To guard you while you clear the Arachne Dung----" I interrupted him before he could finish and said, "That's not why you are here. You will find that reason tomorrow, so I suggest you rest a lot tonight."
I ended our conversation and he awkwardly left. I was in no mood to eat so I stored my dinner in inventory. A little while later, a knight came to take the dirty utensils, but I told him that I threw them in the forest after I was done. He made a strange face but still left.
I also got up and headed to my tent to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.
===========
"What is the hunt pattern?" I asked the captain of the knights when we entered the E-rank dungeon which consisted of spiders.
"You will hunt spiders and when you are in mortal danger, only then are we to interfere." I nodded at his instruction and moved in deeper.
The stench in here was something else I tell ya. And for this untrained nose, this was torture. Still, I maned up and got to hunting. I was given a simple sword for hunting.
[Steel sword: Attack +10]
Combined with my strength, and my attack power, it would be very difficult for me to fight Arachne's on my own since this body could barely run a kilometer. It was a good thing that I had an attack skill at my disposal.
It was much further when I finally came across a spider. It was a lone spider, and its sight was just eww. I mean I have seen worse but still, eww. It also found us and snarled but didn't move in to attack us because of our superior numbers. It was an intelligent monster.
Anyway, time to get to work. I alone moved towards it, and it also moved a little forward but still maintained its guard. Soon we were in the range of each other, well I was when it jumped at me, opening its disgusting tarantulas.
My agility was a far cry compared to it so avoiding it was a pipe dream. But I wasn't entirely defenseless.
'Magic bullet.' I shot it with my only attack skill in one place where I knew it would hurt. Its eyes and since it was in the air, it couldn't avoid. As soon as it was disoriented, I drove my sword into it, killing it on the spot.
[EXP +10]
[Mild venom sack +1]
A few notifications popped up in my view as I killed it. I turned to look at the knights and was very happy to see the dumbstruck looks on their faces. I turned and touched the spider which then disappeared on the spot. I again turned around to see their mouths hanging open.
I smugly smiled and said, "Well come on then. Haven't got all day."
[You're revealing your cards]
'Don't worry about that.' I replied as we started moving deeper. I needed to kill at least thirty spiders to level up. I know this is a spider's dungeon and spiders reproduce at a very fast pace but even then, I doubted there would be many to give me much Exp since all of these were at most E- rank.
Sure, it was an E-rank dungeon but that was only because of the difficulty when dealing with a large number of spiders. The real classification of this gate made by Allison is just E- rank with its boss being at E+ which was at most equivalent to level hundred.
======
[Congratulations]
[You have leveled up]
[You are now level nine]
[Name: Adrian Von Deus Lux
LV: 9
EXP: 0\1500
Age: 16
Race: Human
HP: 36\130
MP: 40\100
STR: 18
AGI: 18
END: 18
PER: 18
INT: 18
CHR: 58
LUCK: 18
SP: 0
SKILLS: Heal LV: 5 (209\500), Divine Shield LV: 3 (91\100), Magic bullet: LV: 5 (347\500), Bless LV: 4 (0\200)
TITLES: None]
It was a drastic improvement. Just through this hunt alone, I had improved drastically and that was why I was planning on raiding a few more dungeons on my own. My goal was to level up until at least a hundred before I returned to the palace which was almost equivalent to a peak E rank awakened.
I was thoroughly enjoying the look on the faces of the knights following me.
[You are also tiring yourself out]
'Nope. Everything is ready.' I replied as I turned to the last section of this dungeon. The boss room. Now logically, spiders have guards but for some illogical reason, this spider queen lies alone beyond that room. That is who I needed to kill to close this dungeon.
"Hey, Max, come here, would you," I called Max and although confused, he still came forward. All of the rest of the knights stayed behind but shared glances with each other.
When Max was before me, I asked him, "Do you remember what we talked about yesterday?" My voice was loud enough for the knights in the back to hear. Max nodded and replied, "Yes, I do, Your Highness."
I nodded back and continued, "Good because right now you have a choice to make." I told him turning him around and facing him towards the knights. "Either you are with them, or you are with me."
"Pardon? I don't understand, Your Highness." Max replied, a little confused and a little restless. The other knights also glanced at each other, very confused at what was happening.
"You see; they are here to kill me." I replied while pointing at the knights and continued, "Yet you are not here as one of them so I want you to know that you can still make a choice. Either you stand with them or stand against them."
Even more confused, Max had no idea how to respond or even process my words until the captain of the guards stepped forward and said, "So you knew, Your Highness. It seems we have a spy amongst our forces which I will be sure to weed out once we are back at the capital after we kill you."
Now Max wasn't so confused. He asked with disbelief on his face and on in his voice, "What are you talking about, Sir Afford?" He asked the knight's captain whose name was apparently, Afford.
Afford laughed slightly before replying, "You are new Maximilian. You have no idea of the things that are happening at the palace. Just serving the imperial family was one of the older dreams. Now it is serving who has more power."
He stopped and his expression turned serious, and he said, "You are still new, but you show promise. If you kill Adrian right now, I will personally recommend you to my liege and you will be granted whatever you desire."
So he's finally decided to drop the honorifics. Well, it's not like it matters anymore. What matters now is what Max will do next. "You see that, Max. They are here to kill me. So, I need you to make a choice. Whose side do you stand on?"
Max turned back to look at me, his eyes were still filled with disbelief. Of course, it would be difficult for him. He's young and he's just found out that the world isn't as bright as he had believed it to be. There are shades of black darkness in there as well. A young mind can't take that.
He turned to look at the knight's captain again for a while. He kept transitioning between me and Afford before he resolutely tightened his grip around his sword and raised it. "I don't care who is really in power. I came here to serve the imperial family."
Ha! Youth. So quick to make stupid decisions. He could have just as easily taken the other side and he just might have lived that luxurious life that Afford was talking about.
[You know he wasn't going to]
Of course he wasn't. He's the scapegoat. They were going to kill him with me. Who else is better to blame than a newly admitted knight trainee who could be painted as an enemy spy?
"You have made the right choice, Max." I patted his shoulder and spoke. He looked at me, fear evident in his eyes but he remained quiet.
"I need you to say yes," I asked him, and he again turned to look at me. This time a little confused. I urged him with my eyes. He nodded and slightly mumbled, "Yes."
[Maximillian Specter is now a party member]
'Use it on both of us.' I asked Allison and through the inventory, two vials of medicine I had prepared before departing from the palace were consumed and I immediately felt its effect.