First Cliche

Marco rummaged through the bag, inspecting the quality. "Hmm. Not bad. I'll give you… seven silver."

Alex scoffed. "Seven? This is prime-quality meat, and those tusks? You won't find better for carving handles or trinkets. Eleven silver."

"Eleven? Kid, you're trying to rob me blind."

"I'm just getting what it's worth."

Marco sighed, rubbing his temple. "Fine, fine! Eleven silver, you hard-headed brat." He tossed the coins into Alex's palm with a smirk. "You drive a hard bargain, I'll give you that."

Pocketing the silver, Alex and Liam made their way to the blacksmith's forge. The rhythmic clanging of hammer on metal rang through the air as they entered. The blacksmith was a towering man with arms like tree trunks, his soot-covered face focused on shaping a red-hot blade.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, setting the hammer down and wiping sweat from his brow.

"I need a good iron sword," Alex said, scanning the weapon racks.

The blacksmith grunted, reaching behind the counter. "Five silver," he said, placing a finely crafted iron sword before Alex. "Balanced, durable. Won't break on you."

Alex picked it up, testing the weight. Satisfied, he handed over the coins and strapped the weapon to his waist. "Pleasure doing business."

With supplies secured, Alex and Liam headed back toward the forest. As they ventured deeper, Alex decided to test his new skill. Summoning his Abyssal Doppelganger, he focused on Strength. The clone formed, identical to him but radiating a raw physical power he lacked.

"Alright, let's grind," Alex smirked.

Liam stole most of the kills, slowly leveling up until he hit level 8. Just as they prepared to move on, a voice cut through the trees.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Three figures stepped out of the shadows, smirking. The leader was a broad-shouldered man with sharp eyes and a confident stance. His companions stood behind him, one with a wiry build, the other carrying a staff.

"We're the Three Enhancers," the leader announced. "We, the brave summoned heros of Earth would like to ask you to donate your armor and sword in charity, so that we as people of Earth could bring peace to this rea-."

Alex raised a brow. "What kind of cringe king name is that? You're just some cheap rip off of the three musketeers. And why are you yapping so much? Did I book a ticket to yappington or is this some attempt at killing me with your stupidity?"

"I told you man! It's cringe, it gives me the chills whenever I hear you call us that" One of the men criticized the leader.

"Yeah! Not to mention your dumb speech, if we're obviously going to rob them do we need such a weird monologue?" The other blurted out

The leader shrugged. "Its a cool name okay! It makes sense too, we all have talents that enhance stats. Not to mention, we aren't robbing anyone. We're merely doing what it takes to get stronger so we can help the citizens of this world against the tyrannical demon lord!"

"You're just autistic and delusional." The lackies behind him said in unison

Alex glanced at Liam. "Yeah, no keep telling yourself that. And I need this gear to protect the kid."

The leader's face grew cold. "It seems you've forced my hand, don't worry I won't hurt either of you." He activated his talent, his muscles bulging as he swung a fist at Alex.

[Enemy Identified]

[Name: ???] [Talent: Strength Burst (C-Rank)] [Effect: Doubles Strength for one hour per day] [Strength: 20 → 40] [Level: 4] [HP: 300]

The punch connected, sending Alex skidding back. His HP dropped by 33, leaving him with just over 650.

Liam rushed to his side, eyes scanning the others.

[Enemy Identified]

[Name: ???] [Talent: Strength Burst (C-Rank)] [Strength: 16 → 32] [Level: 3] [HP: 250]

[Name: ???] [Talent: Mana Talent (C-Rank)] [Effect: Doubles total Mana] [Mana: 12 → 24] [Level: 2] [HP: 200]

Alex smirked. "Good to know."

His Strength Doppelganger returned, now fully equipped. With 46 Strength and 7 Defense, it charged.

The leader barely had time to react before the clone's sword struck, blinding him with a critical hit.

[-92 HP]

The clone didn't stop, cutting through him as the bandit desperately fought back, landing a hit. Soon the two began trading blows, the clone with less strength but higher defense and HP showed it's might, the bandit breathing his last breath as another critical was hit.

His body evaporated, leaving the other two stunned.

The second bandit tried to attack, but the clone side stepped flawlessly, slicing towards the bandits side in retaliation.

[ -60 HP] Not a critical but nonetheless a damaging blow, taking down a fifth of the bandits health. The bandit grit his teeth, activating Strength Burst he leapt towards the clone, the starting stone sword in his hand crumbling as it made contact with metal.

"Too weak, or am I too strong?" Alex gloated as the second bandit fell aswell.

The last, the mage, put on a desperate performance, eventually taking down the heavily injured clone.

Alex have him no time to rejoice, the iron sword in his hand flashing, landing a critical hit as it cut the potential arch mage's head off.

As the mage fell, Alex felt his stomach churn. He forced himself to breathe. This was real. They would have killed him. He had to do it.

"…Damn," he muttered. Then, shaking off the tension, he smirked. "Well, at least now we know the clone works."

Though, it felt a bit cliche didn't it? It's like one of those isekais where the protagonist gets a well needed power up then coincidentally some low level crooks come around the corner who he can use to test his new found power.

Eh, it didn't matter all that much. Cliche or not, right now he definitely had the confidence to say he was one of the strongest players in the village, excluding the elusive and mighty guards.