Her worrying for me felt heavenly
Noah made his way to the training ground first after coming back to the town.
He still needed to train his [Sword Mastery] Skill that he had paid for through the crystal.
He still had enough time. In the training ground, he found a training dummy to practice strikes on. He simply had to spend 3 hours a day for 7 days doing his own training with the weapon.
Noah started hitting the dummy with the practice sword. This was very easy for him, so he started to hit instinctively at the dummy.
As for the other 'skills' he had paid for, they also had instructors but Noah didn't need any.
He already knew [Horse riding] the reason he paid was so that he could do a test that if passed, you would gain the approval of the stable owner to freely ride the horses in the stable. This would allow him to travel further out if he wanted to.
As for the other two skills, [Mana Slash] and [Sonic Leap], he was given an explanation on how to perform each through the system after paying. He had gone through it and had understood most of it. However, he couldn't actually perform them since he didn't have enough mana.
Noah stopped hitting the dummy just before midnight. He then went back home. At home he changed clothes and bandaged the injuries he had gotten, none of them were too serious.
Going to his room he stopped in front of Alice's and could tell through spatial sense that she was asleep. He then walked to his room and got cosy on his bed.
....
Noah woke back up in a few hours he looked out and saw that it was still dark.
"That insomnia trait..."
Noah got changed and walked out of the house restarting a day, along the way he stopped at the store he had gone to before. It was open 24 hours, so was naturally open at the moment.
Inside the store, many products were displayed. It had potions, stones, equipment and other items.
"Boy, what are you looking for? I'll find it for you." The old man said.
"Nothing, in particular, I just what to see if anything catches my eye."
"How about I recommend a few things to you?"
"Sure" Noah answered. He currently had 77 copper.
"First, we have low healing potions, one potion is enough to heal all wounds at your level, 5 copper a piece."
"We have basic strength stones, 5 copper a piece."
"These two are currently what you need."
Noah decided to buy them but before that he asks, "Can I see the weapons here?"
"Here you got," and passes Noah a catalogue.
In it Noah saw the weapons, the cheapest being 30 copper. He went to the gun section. The first thing he noticed was the most expensive gun, 3 silver (300 copper).
[Steel Magic Gun] (F Class)
Agility+5, Intelligence +5, Willpower +5, Sense +10, Mana +2
10% increase in magic damage
10% decrease in mana usage
50% decrease in cast time
Active Skill: [Mana Bullet] using the magic crystal the gun can shoot an unlimited amount of bullets made of mana.
"300 copper isn't too much, I'll try to buy it." The gun looked like a grey pistol but thinner and futuristic. The front of it didn't have a barrel hole to shoot bullets from rather had some type of crystal embedded in it. It had a good boost in attributes. But what he liked the most was the skill [Mana bullet], The gun didn't need ammo to shoot it would use mana stored inside it to create bullets and shoot them. No reloading or running out of ammo. Also since it used a small amount of mana per bullet, the gun could practically shoot infinite bullets.
Noah then looked at the other weapons and found a few that also looked nice, he stopped at the most basic gun 30 copper. It was a simple black pistol. The same you'd see on earth.
[Black Pistol] (F Class)
Strenght +2, Agility +2
Noah then bought it with 6 healing potions and 3 strength stones. He needed more but he didn't have money. Sadly, the training ground only gave 5 basic strength stones a day regardless of how many mastery skills you were learning.
"Since this is your first purchase this bag is on the house." The old man gave him a belt with a cuboid bag attached to it. In the bag was small sections to hold the healing potion tubes, it also had space for spare ammo he had bought with the rest of his copper. Noah wore the bag to his right side since his left was where his sword and gun was now hung.
...
Noah went to the training ground again and this time did the sword training early in the morning to finish it for the day. By the time he was done the sun rose. He went back home and made breakfast, keeping some for Alice.
Alice had woken up, she didn't say anything and left. She was going to treat him as a complete stranger from now on.
The day went by fast as the training was over by sunset. Noah had kept his distance the whole day, he didn't follow Alice in the morning, he went at a later time. He didn't sit with her in lunch either.
However, as they were leaving Alice didn't go home she walked to the forest.
Today the instructors had recommended starting training in the forest as well. Not going in too deep near the town where the monsters were weaker and less abundant.
Noah walked with Alice to the forest and they separated. Noah watched Alice leave then stopped, then followed her from behind. He didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone in the forest. but he had to make sure Alice didn't notice him or he would be done for.
...
Hiding in the trees Noah watched Alice fight a wolf. She had gotten much better since the first time and managed to easily kill it.
Noah wanted to applaud how well she had moved, it was a world of difference just after two days.
Alice then found another wolf to fight. Noah was dazed as he watched her fight, it was like she was a fairy dancing. He had forgotten he was in the forest with monsters and simply focused on her.
Alice kited to the side allowing the wolf to move past her and stabbed it. The wolf fell and Alice started picking up the copper.
Noah watching the scene was horrified since he wasn't concentrating he hadn't noticed a wolf had come in close to Alice and was about to attack her from the back. He couldn't use his gun since Alice was in the way.
Noah ran at his fastest speed and when the wolf jumped he used 'Flash step and appeared behind Alice taking the bite on his shoulder. He then used his strength to hurl the wolf to the ground. He stepped on it and took out his gun and shot at it.
Alice not expecting this was shocked by the sudden appearance of Noah and a wolf. She saw Noah's injury and gasped.
His shoulder had a large bite mark.
"Alice are you okay?" Noah asked holding Alice, he looked at her top to bottom and saw that she hadn't gotten injured.
She had been shaken from the sudden development and took some time to take everything in. Seeing Noah's injury and the blood everywhere, brought tears to her eyes but she quickly took them back. She got up and started walking back to town leaving Noah.
She wanted to help Noah but at the same type wanted to stay away, she felt conflicted that she decided the best thing would be to get help.
Noah got up and held his wound trying not to laugh. Alice's reaction was so adorable, she was like a frightened rabbit trying to act strong. The injury was serious, but he had experienced worse so he got up and started walking back to the town.
Alice noticed Noah was able to walk and slowed down a little, she looked around and made sure the path was clear so Noah could easily follow behind her. She also ended up unknowingly constantly looking behind to check if Noah was fine.
They weren't far in and soon walked back to town, Noah had the potions he had bought yesterday but didn't use them. Seeing Alice worry about him and saving a potion was two birds with one stone.
He thought he could use the situation to get a bit closer to her, and properly talk to her.
...
Back in town, the two made it to the training ground, there was an infirmary where Noah sat down. Edward came in and started dressing the wound. Alice waited nearby worried with Tania who had come by.
"This will hurt, man up and take the pain like a champ." Edward cleaned the wound and started disinfecting it.
As he looked down he saw the potions.
"Why didn't you use the po..." Noah covered Edward's mouth with his hands then gestured to stay quiet about it.
Edward didn't bother too much and fixed up the injury.
"I've used healing paste, so you'll be completely fine by tomorrow, just get some rest."
"Thank you." Noah walked out with his shoulder covered in bandages.
Alice wanted to ask how he was but couldn't pull up the courage and walked back home. She specifically walked slower than usual to make sure Noah didn't walk too fast to keep up with her.
Back home Alice walked up a few steps up the stairs and stopped. She looked at Noah who had gone to get something to eat in the kitchen.
Noah saw that Alice had stopped and walked towards her. It seemed like she had something to say.
"You shouldn't have protected me." She then walked up the stairs to her room and closed the door.
She wanted to thank him first but stopped because she didn't want Noah doing that ever again. She didn't want him to get injured because of her anymore.