Alters

When bug tapped the bladed weapons category, tons of different skills were displayed in front of his eyes. Most of it was irrelevant for him at the moment, so he searched for more suitable skills. He then quickly eyed the relevant skill for his short sword and ax.

[BLADED WEAPONS]

[BLADED WEAPONS MASTERY I -

INCREASE PROFICIENCY ON WIELDING SHARP WEAPONS - 10 NUP]

[SHORT SWORD MASTERY I - INCREASE PROFICIENCY ON WIELDING SHORT SWORD - 10 NUP]

[AX MASTERY I - INCREASE PROFICIENCY ON WIELDING AX - 10 NUP]

[FENCING I - IMPROVE OVERALL SWORD FIGHTING PROFICIENCY - 15 NUP]

"Hmm, this should be fine" Bug tapped each skill to learn the skill. After he tapped the last skill, just then his head ached. Loads of information suddenly flooded his brain, causing him to falter and flop to the ground. His vision circled around. He forced himself to go to the bed next to him, and then he slept.

When Bug woke up, the headache was gone. He wielded his short sword after pulling it out of his inventory. He tried hacking, slashing, and thrusting the sword in the air, he was satisfied with the skills he chose. He really felt more adept at wielding a short sword, he even learned some proper techniques from the fencing skill. He checked his status board again. "status"

[STATUS]

[USER: BUG]

[JOB: SUPER SOLDIER]

[ATTRIBUTES]

[VITALITY - 10 +

STRENGTH - 13 +

AGILITY - 10 +

DEXTERITY - 10 +

STAMINA - 13 +]

[NANO UPGRADE POINTS AVAILABLE]

[14]

[SKILLS - PASSIVE]

[PREDICTION - MASTERED]

[EXTREME REGENERATION - MASTERED]

[BLADED WEAPONS MASTERY I]

[SHORT SWORD MASTERY I]

[AX MASTERY I]

[FENCING I]

[SKILLS - ACTIVE]

[ANALYSIS - MASTERED]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PHYSIOLOGICAL]

[Acne - Fix: 5 NU]

[Scabies - Fix: 5 NU]

[DETECTED AILMENTS - PSYCHOLOGICAL]

[Insomnia - Fix: 10 NU]

Next, he opened up the Physical augmentation skill tree to check it out. Bug didn't really bother looking at this particular skill sets, but maybe it's worth looking at?

[PHYSICAL AUGMENTATION]

[EAGLE EYE I - CAN SEE FURTHER WITH THE NAKED EYE - 10 NUP]

[SIGHT MAGNIFICATION I - INCREASE THE RANGE OF SIGHT 10 METERS AHEAD INSTANTANEOUSLY. STRAINS THE EYE IF USED FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. CAN BE USED EVERY 2 HOURS - 10 NUP]

[NIGHT VISION I - ACTIVATE TO SEE BETTER IN THE DARK. STRAINS THE EYE IF USED FOR TOO LONG. CAN BE USED EVERY 1 HOUR - 10 NUP]

[COLD BLOODED I - TOLERATES COLD WEATHER BETTER - 10 NUP]

[HOT BLOODED I - TOLERATES HOT WEATHER BETTER - 10 NUP]

[TOUGH SKIN I - SKIN WON'T BE EASILY SCRATCHED AND PUNCTURE - 10 NUP]

[KEEN SENSES I - EASILY DETECT CHANGES IN ENVIRONMENT - 10 NUP]

Some of the skills caught Bug's attention, especially the sight magnification and night vision skill. Both were very useful to him. Sight magnification can help him stalk or observe his prey from afar, while night vision will help him survive during nighttimes. Unfortunately, Bug only had 14 NUPs left, so he can only buy 1 skill. In the end, Bug chose the sight magnification skill as he wasn't really active at night.

"Ahh!" His eyes suddenly ached like it was burning after he tapped the skill. When he opened his eyes after rubbing it, it looked like nothing has changed. He then activated the skill. "Magnify" The description told him how to activate the skill after he bought it.

Bug instinctively stepped back when the wall he was facing from afar was suddenly in front of him now. "By the graces! this is so amazing!" Bug looked around with his new vision. His smile never faded even after minutes of looking around the room. He even bumped on a furniture a couple of times while he was walking around.

10 minutes have passed when Bug started feeling the after-effects of using the skill for too long. His head hurt along with his strained eyes. He had to rest for a bit for the effect to wash away.

With all of that done, Bug started gathering kitchen tools and placed it on his inventory. He reminded himself that he only has 20 slots, so he just placed 10 kitchen tools in his inventory, which were 3 kitchen knives of various sizes, 2 pots, 2 frying pans, and 3 ladles.

He also put the remaining deer meat on his inventory. Then, he used the bedsheet as a portable bag when he needed it. He was planning to take out the items before he reaches the village. He didn't want people to know that he got magic now.

When he assures that he didn't forget anything else, he quickly left the underground place. Someday, when he needs to disappear he will go back to this place he thought. Before he left, He made sure to conceal the entrance by placing grasses and tree branches on it. He also put a mark on it so he can spot it easily. He placed a large rock the size of his head not too far away from the entrance, he took out his short sword and carved an oblong shaped body and small circle attached to it, and finished it with 3 legs on each side. It was a bug.

Inside the dense forest of Baguio, some ruins can be seen here and there. Some say that this forest was a city of humans bustling with liveliness and comfort, now it was just a dangerous forest where people occasionally die from monster attacks.

Bug still felt a little guilty about his two companions who died protecting him. He even questions himself lately, why am I still alive? why was I chosen by NAP? But Bug also knew that he can't dwell in the past forever, he needs to focus for the future. He even gave his two companions a proper burial after he killed the cascas. Surely, they won't be angry at him from the afterlife.

Bug traversed the dense forest cautiously. From time to time, he saw a couple of monsters but he didn't dare to fight them at the moment, Bug wanted to first acquire his cascas short sword first before hunting again.

Bug was walking for over 2 hours now, yet he's still not even tired in fact, he's still full of energy. Thanks to his superhuman stamina, he can still walk for half a day without stopping!

While he was walking along the river bank, he heard a commotion happening on the other side of the river. When Bug went to the source of the commotion, he was shocked at what he had just seen.

A group of three hunters was being confronted by two seven-foot-tall men with deathly pale skin, pointy ears, and black eyes. The giant men wore a plain silver-colored breastplate armor. One of them was equipped with a giant ax almost as tall as the hunters, while the other brandished a broad sword pointing it at one of the hunters. It was the Alters.

When Bug saw the commotion, he quickly moved far away enough but still able to use his magnify skill. Just when Bug thought he could go back to his village safely, now he might die if he made even a tiny sound.

Bug always knew that the Alters often go out of their kingdoms either to hunt humans for fun or they escorted carriages on their way to another kingdom. The latter were jobs by Alter knights, while the former was often done by an Alter noble, mainly noble the rank of a baron.

Looking at the Alters, it seems they were knights. Perhaps, these unfortunate hunters were walking on a trade route and they were caught by a passing convoy of Alters.

One of the hunters looked battle-hardened by the number of scars on his face. He wore a worn-out armor and was equipped with a brand new long sword, he adopted a battle stance looking ready to defend himself and his companions.

The other hunter looked a little younger than the first one. He might be a first-time hunter like Bug was. He was holding a wooden staff, he is a magician! This is the first time Bug will see a magician in action!

By the looks of it, the magician is a bombard. Bombards often use wooded staff to channel their magical powers. The most important aspect of a bombard is they can unleash powerful magics at a time compared to other types of magicians!

Lastly, a burly looking man who wore a thick armor stood in front of the two. He readied his giant kite shield and short sword.

Bug at least had hope for them. The ax-wielding Alter moved first. It swung its giant ax at the kite shield causing them man to slid backward for a few meters. His shield sustained a deep groove. Luckily for him, his shield is pretty thick.

The Alter seemed surprised, he didn't expect the human to endure his attack. He laughed so loud that the birds around them flew away! The Alter was amused. It seemed like they were enjoying this.

The bombard moved next. He raised his staff and started chanting a few words before multiple fireballs the size of Bug's head came out of his staff one by one. The Alters were surprised, they didn't expect a human release this much magic power!

The fireballs hit the ground in front of the two Alters before exploding ferociously causing them to falter back a bit while dust blocked their vision. The long sword-wielding man took the chance, he rushed over to the two alters on his side was the shield-bearing hunter.

The long sword-wielding hunter attacked the Alter with a quick straight thrust. The Alter seemed expected the attack, quickly parried the attack with his broad sword and counter-attacked with a downward slash. Luckily, the tank was quick. He stood in front of his companion to shield him from the counter-attack.

The other Alter rushed to them after recovering from the initial attack, but he was then hit by another fireball exploding right on his face! The alter was enraged! He quickly recovered his footing and dashed towards the magician. Unlike his size and weight, the Alter moved very quickly. Seconds later the Alter was already in front of the magician!

The bombard wasn't expecting the Alter to recover very quickly, so he panicked and quickly cast his magic shield. Blue light suddenly enveloped the bombard's body just before the giant ax reached his body.

BOOM!

Thunderous noise was generated when the ax and the shield made contact. Although the bombard wasn't hit, he still made a pained expression. It turned out that he needed to continuously channel magical energy to keep the shield working. For magicians to exhaust their magical energy means death. They often need to rest for a whole day to replenish their magical energy. Right now, the bombard was on the brink of exhausting his magical energy. His magic shield started to flicker more and more frequently as the Alter rained down attacks after attacks on the magician!

The alter grinned when he noticed that the magician was starting to get weakened. His ax glowed bright red as he swung down his ax on the magician. This proved to be the finishing blow for the magician's shield.

BOOM!

Another thunderous noise echoed throughout the forest! Dust covered the magician, after a few seconds large cracks and a deep crater emerged as the dust settled. In the middle was the magician lying on the ground unconscious. Blood coming out of his mouth.

"NOOO!"

The two hunters saw what happened to their companion. Although they themselves were having a hard time dealing with the other Alter, they still kept an eye on their bombard. They were already riddled with wounds all over their body, while the Alter only sustained a few scratches on his armor. The Alter was smiling as if he was a kid enjoying playing with his toys.

Bug frowned at the precarious situation the hunters were in. It was only ten minutes since they started fighting, still, it was an incredible feat to last this long against the Alters. He contemplated if he should help them out. Conflicting emotions overwhelmed Bug. His first instinct was to just run like there's no tomorrow, while the other compelled him to help out his fellow hunters.

He hesitated for a bit, but he chose to help out the hunters! He can't let any more hunters die whether from Alters or any other monsters. The moment Bug watched them fight, he already activated his analysis skill and was already done analyzing the two Alters. Because of this, he became more confident. He rushed towards the battleground.