Chapter 2: A New Beginning (part 2)
As the blinding light faded. My eyes started adjusting to the surrounding brightness. I looked around and saw my comrades; we are stranded in the middle of the forest; it was hot and humid, making it hard to breathe.
"Hey, you guys okay?"
Zei checked out her body if there were any wounds, so did Midori. Then Zei looked at me and asked.
"Both of us are fine. How about you?"
"I'm fine as we-,"
The sound of the rustling leaves of the bushes cut me off. I began looking around, and unsheathe the [Judge's blade].
"Looks like we got company."
Midori readied her weapon, and Zei waved her hand in the air in front of her, and several blue magic circles formed.
A high pitch battle cry resounded from a distance. *Reeee!!* then thirteen green small creatures appeared. They're only 3 feet tall and were carrying either bats or daggers for their weapons and they wore small pieces of cloth for their clothing. I used my skill [Eyes of Heaven.] to scan their stats.
***
Races: Goblin
Age(s):14-17
Level: 2
Trait:Ravager
Stats: (Str): 8 (Agl): 12 (Vit): 6 (Int): 6 (Magic power): 4
Bounty reward: 25 silver each
***
It only showed that much. I guess you need to level up a bit more to get skills or gain them someway or somehow. The goblin in the front began speaking to its other companions.
[The skill 'Universal Translator' lvl 1 has activated]
"We split to 4, attack the magic caster first."
I somehow understood what they said, it's probably the effects of the skill. The goblin licked its blade as it approached slowly and surrounded us.
"Hey Zei, they're planning to attack you first, so go cast the spell already. Midori watch Zei's back in the meantime."
"How about you?."
I felt the [Judge's Blade] vibrating as it wants to taste the souls of my enemies.
"I'm gonna kill some goblins."
I rushed in headfirst and attacked the nearest goblin, causing the others to react. Most of them shifted their focus to me and they started surrounding me. There were four goblins around me.
Zei noticed my situation and fired bolts of ice towards the goblins that were surrounding me. She also fired some that was rushing at her. Killing eight of them at once. Then Midori charged at the other four in front of her, killing all of them in one swing of the blade.
I looked at my blade and the level has risen by 3. I also leveled up by 5 levels because of the party system.
I pressed the insignia on my right hand. I saw 2 different screens. The first screen was my stats and the second one was the party.
[Rai's Party]
Members: Midori Lionheart (lvl 12) Zei Komatsu (lvl 12)
[Party system]
The ExP you gain (not including quest Exp) will also be gained by your party members only 50% of it (you won't lose any Exp.)
Well, since they got [Hero's blessing] that 50% will be 100% Exp gain and if they get the kill, it'll be 200% EXP... This is just unfair.
Well, at least all my stats are above 25 now. I began climbing the tallest tree I can find.
"What are you doing Akamine-san!? That's dangerous!."
"Don't worry, this is easy, just wait for me down there." I climbed it with ease.
I casually replied to her. I reached the top of the tree and saw a vast and dense forest. And farther ahead, I see a village to the east and a river leading downhill. I quickly climbed down and said.
"We're gonna head east. There's a village there and there's also a river nearby. We could go there and use it as a guide as to not get lost."
"Good idea Leader-san, but we should cut off the goblin ears first so that we could claim our bounty rewards in the village when we get there."
"Good idea Zei."
"*sigh* bunch of greedy people. You know they gave us 25 gold when we've finished the first phase of the tutorial right."
"Look, we don't know when we'll run out of money, so better save up now than later."
Midori sighed again, but ended up helping us. After we're done cutting off the goblin's ears, we set off.
Half an hour later...
We encountered a road near the river. We washed off the goblin blood from our equipment and this time journeyed on the road,
Another hour has passed. None of us were tired somehow, I guess it's because of the stats we gained by leveling up, wait, scratch that Zei is already limping and using the staff to support herself.
"Let's take a break."
Once I said that, Zei plopped down near Midori. She began panting, while Midori sat down near the riverside and began cleaning her blade with a piece of cloth.
"Looks like the village is still far away."
As I said that, Zei groaned and then we heard *clip-clop* *clip-clop* We looked and saw a man riding the carriage. He saw us and stopped the carriage, then said.
"Oh, hello there, travelers. May I ask where you are headed?"
"Oh, we're headed towards the next village my good sir, say, can we also take a ride, see one of my companions is very exhausted and the sun is getting real low as well."
The man thought for a minute and shrugged it off.
"Hm, sure I don't see any problem."
Zei looked at me with gleaming eyes and head first, straight inside the carriage. Midori quickly followed Zei and soon I to head inside the carriage.
Two hours would've passed by, and it became dark out. Zei is sleeping on Midori's lap, while Midori is sleeping on my shoulder. Silently I tried to use light magic, I mean I have mastery over it, even though it's level 1. I focused on the palm of my right hand, then light particles began floating on my palm and it combined. Soon it became a sort of like a light bulb. The difference is it has a wider radius. I'll call this firefly. I noticed Midori flinched a little because of the sudden light. She was waking up, so I told her I'm going to sit next to the driver.
"Sorry, but may I sit beside you."
"Sure thing, what's your name?"
"My name is Rai Akamine. What's yours?"
"My name is Thomas Wilson. Nice to meet you, Rai."
He shook my hand, and we began conversing. I gained a lot of information from him, like the economic system here and the place where we're heading, especially about my traits.
"Say Mr.Wilson have you ever heard of the [Judge of Light and Darkness]? And if so, can you tell me what they're about?"
His face paled immediately after hearing about the trait. He was afraid, though I don't why.
"Y-yes, I know about them. During the ancient wars, there always has been chosen as the judge. They punish both good and evil, they were absolute authority and figure. They never align themselves to either faction, it only follows the
His eyes immediately widened and then looked at me with fright.
"Wait, why do you ask?"
"I got a skill called [Foresight] and I dreamt about being in a
He sighed in relief. From what I've heard and understood, he basically said that anybody can become one as long as you're chosen by the
While talking to Thomas, I heard rustling in the woods. I shone the [Firefly] onto the direction of the rustling and saw goblins, a lot of goblins numbering over sixty, there were even some that are riding on wolves.
"Go faster NOW! Hey, Midori, get ready and wake up Zei!"
"Huh, what's the problem?" The three of them simultaneously asked.
"Goblins, over 60 of them!"
Thomas whipped the horse, causing them to speed up, and Midori readied her blade. The goblins began chasing us as they noticed that the carriage began speeding up. The goblins riding the wolves outran the carriage and destroyed the four wheels on the sides simultaneously. Causing the carriage to fall over and the horses knocked out.
Midori jumped out in time together with Zei. I also jumped together with Mr. Wilson.
Zei looked incredibly pissed, Midori gently put her down and said.
"How dare you ruin my sleep! I shall bury you all underneath shards of ice [Frozen Rain]!."
A huge magic circle encompassed the goblins, and it began raining huge shards of ice, killing and shredding them to pieces, effectively killing dozens of them.
I went off with [FireFly] so that I could kill the wolf riders that dodged such a spell. Midori went up to me and unsheathed her blade. The wolf goblins didn't retreat, instead stood their ground.
"Here, I'll also give you some light."
"Thanks, this'll be a long and stressful week."
I checked their stats.
***
Race: Hobgoblin
Age(s):20-25
Trait: Ravager, Monster Tamer
Level(s): 5-7
Stats: (Str): 14 (Agl): 18 (Vit): 15 (Int): 10 (Magic power): 10
Skill(s): Tame(lvl 4)
****
Their Weapons are sharpened scimitars that seemed brand new, they also have decent armor. All of them were equipping bucklers as well, in total there are about 25 of them. Well, good thing that Zei is still killing the remaining goblins in the back. With that I'm leveling like crazy, now I'm level 12.
I unsheathe the [Judge's Blade] and glared at the wolf riders.
"It's time for goblin hunting."
I and Midori charged straight at them.
They blocked the [Judge's Blade]. I focused on the blade and suddenly it glowed blue and electricity began surging through my blade.
I backed off and focused and the electricity on the [Judge's Blade] became even more violent. I then charged once more. The [Judge's Blade] clashed with the scimitar and broke it. The wolf Rider didn't have enough time to react and was struck, but then the electricity bounced off of my blade and target 12 of them electrocuting them to death. I looked at Midori to see how she was doing.
Midori was having a hard time with the barrage of coordinated attacks. Then something sparked inside of her. She activated her skill [Heavenly King's Martial Arts: Mountain Splitter] she slashed her sword horizontally at the enemy. It made a golden arc in the air and cut through all of them in front of her. Even the trees were not safe from her wrath, for dozens were also cut down.
When the dust settled, Zei used telekinesis to make the carriage float. She even used a spell to fix the broken wheels. Zei even healed the horses as if nothing ever happened.
I sat next to Mr. Wilson, who was still in awe after witnessing the massacre that ensued.
"Come on, let's go, Mr. Wilson, this place is not safe, especially of what happened just now."
"Oh, uh, right? Well, let's keep going."
I yawned and dozed off. Midori seemed to notice it and carried me to the back of the carriage.
Morning came and we're now inside the village.
The village looks peaceful, and it looks like they're oblivious about the goblins too. I guess it's because they have an adventurer guild and a church nearby, housing some Paladins and Clerics. After sightseeing, we went inside the adventurer guild to apply.
The moment we went in, we received some strange glances as we approached the receptionist.
"Whoa! A [Queen of Blades] and a hero trait, you guys another hero party, say, were you guys separated from the main group?."
The receptionist exclaimed after seeing Midori's traits and stats. Midori was quite embarrassed. She didn't think that her trait was that good. And it also seemed that Yuki and Chieko have already registered.
"Holy shit!!, you're an [Ancient Sage of Destruction.] AND a one that has a hero trait as well!!!"
As she shouted that, many of the adventurers in the guild were shocked, a complete contrast to Midori's reaction, Zei didn't seem to be bothered by it. And soon came my turn. Her face turned white and cold sweat started dripping down from her face.
"YOU'RE A —." Before she said her next words, I placed my index finger on her lips and shushed her. People began looking at us and were waiting for her to say something. I removed my finger, and she said this nervously.
"You're a [Sword King] and a Hero like them, hehehehe." I winked at her and she blushed.
Soon a guy with golden hair paired with blue eyes and a smug-looking punchable face. Wearing a gold dog tag that has an A engraved into it. He went up to Midori and Zei. He placed his hand on their shoulders.
"Why don't you two beautiful girls join my
I saw a screen pop out, well; it looks like my skill. Even if not activated. I can still see these types of things emitted by other people.
[Charm has been activated!]
Suddenly Midori kicked him right under the belt so strong that even I felt it, only by a little. When he fell on the ground face first, Zei set his ass on fire.
"Hey, what did you do to Albert?"
A man went up to us, towering over me. He's basically twice as tall as me (and I'm 5'10). He's bald and has dark brown skin. He was wearing a platinum tag that has B engraved into it and surrounded by a bunch of girls.
[The skill 'Hyper Decision Making' Lvl 3 has activated]
I made a plan when he approached me, and I saw how this would end out.
"Well, he was trying to steal my party members, so I think he got what he deserves."
"Hahahaha, steal? He was just asking them to join my party, there's no need to attack him!"
I glared at him. I noticed Midori was unsheathing her sword, and that Zei was already casting a spell. I stepped up and shook my head, signaling them to not attack.
"Well, I got proof that he's trying to steal my party members. Are you interested in hearing me out?."
He looked at Zei, which has the trait of the [sage], He grinned.
"So what if you have proof? It's not like it's illegal, but what you did was harsh and so you better pay for it."
When saying that, he licked his lips while looking at Midori. I shook my head again to signal them not to attack. His stats and skill levels are in a different world compared to ours.
***
Name: Volin Bachter
Age: 28
Level: 69
Trait(s): War God, Berserker.
Supporting god(s): The god of war Camulos
Stats:(Str): 137 (Agl): 55 (Vit): 169 (Int): 23 (Magic power): 100
Skills: Incite (lvl 5) axe mastery (lvl 10) Regeneration (lvl 6) Taunt (lvl 5)
Trait Skills: Berserkers Rage (lvl 10) Threatening Cry (lvl 10) Earth Breaker (lvl 5) Bolster Army (lvl 7) Iron Skin (lvl 8) Titanic Strength (lvl 6).
***
"Sorry, Volin, but you can't have her or Zei."
I said that while glaring at him with a condescending tone. He then smacked me and I went flying, crashing into a nearby table. Damn, that punch contained 137 str, I wouldn't have survived if Zei didn't cast any defensive spells on me.
"He's finished."
"Yup, he's dead. Another one fell by his hands."
"So young as well."
"Wait, look at Volin's hand."
I smirked when I said that. I attacked him with the [Judge's Blade] it was stabbed into his hand, piercing his Iron skin and that hell of a lot of vitality then the sword turned to ash, as I stood up I reached out my hand and the sword returned. I raised my hand to stop my teammates.
"I'll be handling this."
"You son of a bitch!!"
He rushed towards me with his ax in hand. I quickly blocked it and felt that my wrist broke by the weight of the strike, but because of its weight, the [Judge's Blade] sliced the blade of the ax. He was then thrown off balance. I moved to the sides and cut off both of his hands. That's what happens when you min-max a character.
He began screaming in pain and the people in the guild were surprised by a newbie beating up one of their strongest.
Midori and Zei went to me in a rush, seeing that I was in pain. Zei started healing me, I stopped her saying that I'm alright.
"Why would you do something so reckless?" Midori reprimanded me and I ignored her question and said to her.
"It's not over yet. His harem of girls is healing his wounds as well. But this is the result I wanted."
[The skill 'Hyper Decision Making' Lvl 3 has deactivated!]
I smirked, and then a huge amount of pressure covered the whole guild. Unknown energy began rampaging throughout the guild. Everyone started walking out of the guild, while some passed out and some ran out of the guild.
I remember what Mr. Wilson said, "the guild master of that adventurer's guild is one of the strongest in this continent. No, maybe even in the entire world."
The guild master has entered the fray,
It was a woman who looked like in her 20s, but I bet she's older than that. She has dark purple hair and crimson eyes. Her beauty could be compared to the beautiful fairies that are described in fairy tales.
"Who started this fight?"
Her words were subtle, but seemed extremely dangerous. Was my judgment wrong? She observed it and saw me injured and Volin fully healed. She sighed, and in an instant, she flashed over to where we were.
"I'm gonna ask again, who started it?"
"He's the one who started it, guild master."
Volin pointed at me. I looked the guild master in the eyes. And I said.
"So beautiful. I mean hello guild mast—."
She suddenly looked serious and angered. It looks like she saw my trait. I'm dead. Not even one day in this world and I'm dead.
"You 3 come with me, Volin. You'll be punished for using Charm magic on girls to add to your harem."
Looks like I'll live for today.
"But h-."
"No buts and no excuses, or do you want to be in an urn?"
She glared at him and he suddenly pissed his pants. We followed the guild master to her room.
"Thank you guild master for rescuing us."
"No problem newbie, take a seat and tell me your names."
"Thank you again. My name is Rai Akamine. She's Zei Komatsu, and she's Midori Lionheart."
"Nice to meet you three. My name is Angelica Morrigan."
Midori and Zei bowed their heads. Zei looked at me and wondered why I wasn't at all fazed.
"So, you're part of the huge
Midori answered in my stead because I'm still injured.
"No, Ms. Angelica, we are a completely different party, and if I may ask how many main
"They have only completed 2 main
They completed 2 main
"We'll let our leader decide, also thank you for telling us that."
Midori bowed her head as she said thanks, then Zei asked her a question.
"Can you please tell us where's a good place to stay?"
"Sure, you could stay in one of the guild quarters. I'll pay for the rent."
I was shocked to hear that.
"Why are you being so nice to us?"
Zei asked, thinking that it's also suspicious. Angelica took a glance at me and then answered.
"Don't get the wrong idea. All the people that have the hero trait get the same treatment as you three. Anyways, you'll be getting separate rooms. Emma! Guide these adventurers to their rooms please."
The receptionist a while ago showed up behind Angelica and started guiding us to our room. She then handed over our keys and went back down without a word. After settling in our room, we ventured into town. Then we encountered Prez's party.
"Oho, looks like you guys survived escaping the forest."
"Heh, I thought they would've died."
"Hey, cough up the gold you lost in the bet."
They were expecting us to not come back alive. Then Chieko showed up with a smug face.
"Hm, so after a hard time you had, now would you like to join my party Midori."
She said that while glancing at me.
***
Extra content. This is what Rai sees while using [Eyes of Heaven.] and his companions stats at this point.
Name: Midori Lionheart
Age: 18
Level: 25
Supporting god(s):
Trait: Queen of Blades, Hero
Stats: (Str):68 (Agi):85 (Vit):67 (Int):75 (Magic Power):67
Skill(s): Command (lvl 3) Natural Charisma (lvl 6) Incite (lvl 5) Martial Arts Sword Form (lvl 7) Regeneration (lvl 2)
Trait skill: Hero's blessing (lvl 1)Heavenly Kings Blade Martial Arts (lvl 2)Unwavering Courage (lvl 2) One With The Blade (lvl 1)
Name: Zei Komatsu
Level: 29
Trait: Ancient Sage of Destruction, Hero
Name: Rai Akamine
Age: 18
Level: 15
Supporting god(s):
Trait: Judge of Light and Darkness
Stats: (Str): 35 (Agi): 50 (Vit): 49 (Int): 47 (Magic Power): 55
Skills: Martial arts mastery sword form (lvl 5) calm mind (lvl 5) Regeneration (lvl4) hyper decision making (lvl 5)
Trait skills: mastery of light and dark magic (lvl 1) mastery of light magic (lvl 2) mastery of dark magic (lvl 1) Foresight (lvl 2) eyes of heaven (lvl 3) Judgment of Light and Darkness (lvl 1) inventory (lvl 1) Universal Translator (lvl 1)