Chapter 4 - First real fight for survival
Seth was breathing in and out carefully as he watched his foe roar. The Lycan was ready to fight and Seth had to be too. This guy was much stronger than the goblin. And Seth had grown just enough to be either just below him or just above him in certain stats.
But the fact remains, they were about even in strength and combat skill. You don't get gear like the Lycan by being a push over. And he was still in his beginner gear with no equipment upgrades yet. He had to be careful.
He steadied his beating heart and slowly focusing mind as the Lycan charged. Its club coming up to smash down on Seth's head as he lacked a shield or helmet.
He side stepped it without going into a full on dodge as the club smashed the floor barely an inch from his body. Seth counters by suddenly thrusting up at the Lycans throat. But the wolf manages to hide its face and neck behind its shield just in time. The katana scrapes against the top of the shield and slices into the wood of it making a nice gash. But dealing no damage to the monster itself.
He backs up as the Lycan pulls its club free from the ground and roars at him. As it does so Seth capitalizes on the moment and rushes at it. It readies its shield as Seth grins. The monster focused on covering the upper body and face. But forgets that the katana is great at one thing. It slices really great.
Seth ducks low and does a sweeping slash cutting into and slicing deep into the leg of the Lycan. It roars and snarls in pain at its leg being carved up. And in its pain induced rage and reflex it smashes down with its club. But Seth was watching for this opening.
Its support leg was damaged and its club was heavy. To hit him so close it had to lean down and forward. Seth rolls forward and past the shield and club to land behind the Lycan. Its club hits the ground where the warrior used to be and the wolf turns to face Seth once again.
Only to have a deep gash appear on its shoulder as its shield arm falls to the ground from the well placed slash Seth did on the wolf's unprotected side. Its eyes glow red in anger as it roars out and goes full power with a heavy and quick horizontal swing. Seth barely has time to react to its eyes glowing, now he barely blocks the blow with his katana helping. The metal creaks and bends slightly but holds against the heavy swing.
But Seth is flung away by the force of the blow as he lands on his back, winded. He grunts as he manages to get up to a kneeling position as the wolf begins to flail and swing wildly while approaching him, as if daring him to get closer to it again.
The system pipes up, Lycan has entered state of rage, Str and End are increased by 30%, Agi, Sta, and Mana all decrease by 50%.
Seth grunts in annoyance at this but gets up despite his aching shoulder, arm and wrist from the swing. He feels his ribs creak a bit from the pain but gulps down the groan of pain that threatens his resolve. This was going to suck once he got back up close and personal with the beast.
And it was almost upon him. He began to prepare his usual stance when he had a thought, he decided to go into all out attack stance instead. Where his sword was above his right shoulder and the blade was parallel with the ground to be ready to dive right into the opponents head. Seth wanted this to be perfect and be able to destroy the Lycan with this next strike.
It approached, Seth waited, evened out his breath, the Lycan rushed him hea don after realizing it was running out of stamina and couldn't bait Seth.
He waited.
Monster gets closer.
Warrior waits.
The beast readies its swing.
The Warrior strikes!
He blurs as he puts everything he has and every bit of power and energy into one powerful thrust. The Lycan is so caught off guard from its rage that it has no time to react as the sword goes between its eyes and explodes out the back of its skull, going all the way to the hilt landing right between its eyes and smashing the snout some.
Seth huffs and puffs from the exertion of the fight as he sees the wolf monster fall over, dead, and begin to disappear. He sits down and gasps a bit as he feels the energy leave him.
He sees the message appear, Lycan was defeated! Dream warrior Seth Silverfang will now gain some stat points and earn a reward for the hunt.
Seth sits up and watches as the rewards reveal themselves. He gasps as he sees the stat boost and the rewards he can choose. They seem very different from before.
Seth Silverfang
STR: 1.74 -> 1.89
REF: 1.66 -> 1.81
STA: 1.59 -> 1.74
END: 1.68 -> 1.83
MANA: 0.18 ->0.20
SKILLS:
Combat:
Katana Mastery: lvl 3 Beginner exp: 45%
gain +3% to damage done with katanas
Support:
Stat growth booster: lvl Max
Double stat growth rate from training
Now to choose the reward for the player! Please choose 1!
1. Gain support spell
2. Gain support skill
3. Gain Xianxi body tempering pill (Level 1)
Seth thinks it over carefully. The support spell is out as his mana is still hilariously low. He probably won't be able to use any magic in an effective way for a long while. Maybe until he breaks a full 1.00 in the stat. The other two are both tempting in their own way. The pill should boost his stats in the short term, meaning he can increase his efforts to grind stats in every day exercises and farm work. But the other skill might give him an edge in the long term.
He thinks harder and harder before he comes to a decision. He goes for the support skill, if he gets it now he can possibly open up more rewards with better skills in the future for himself. He loves his support skills in the games. They usually help out the character for their survival and growth. ANd Seth was not wrong here either.
Player chose Support Skill! Support skill added to player, Low tiered recovery!
SKILLS:
Combat:
Katana Mastery: lvl 3 Beginner exp: 45%
gain +3% to damage done with katanas
Support:
Stat growth booster: lvl Max
Double stat growth rate from training
Low Tiered Recovery: lvl Max
Triple recovery rate from injuries and exhaustion
Seth pumps his fist as he exits the realm. Opening his eyes in the real world he grins widely as he says, "Now that was a good way to spend the dream fight!"