Aiden turned then swung his sword. The loud clang of metal striking rock filled the air, but there were no sparks. His feet backpedaled easily and a boulder of an arm strong enough to clear him in one hit swung by. Darting in once more, he swung again. The clang came again. Anyone watching him would think that he didn’t care about what he was doing. In truth, he did not.
There was only one thing on his mind: whatever it was that Valdan wanted to show him. And Valdan had not yet shown him. Off in the distance, somewhere behind another giant boulder that may or may not be a monster, Aiden could hear Valdan fighting off his own opponent. It was a level one hundred and two monster. Aiden found it interesting when Valdan said that he would face it alone.
Was that the secret? If he remembered correctly, before Valdan had been stabbed and left on death’s door, he had not been up to level eighty. Facing a level one hundred monster meant that he was either confident in his ability to do so—which he was not before—or he had acquired some kind of ability from the injury that had left him confident.
He could’ve leveled up somehow, Aiden thought, parrying another swinging boulder of an arm with the sword in his hand.
He discarded the thought hesitantly. It was unlikely. Then again, for all that he knew, no one had ever survived being stabbed by the Order’s favorite poison… right?
Another swing had him ducking. When it passed over him, he heard the sound of something gigantic barreling through the air. In truth, it wasn’t a bad idea to focus on what he was currently doing. There was no point in trying to figure out what Valdan wanted to show him when Valdan was inevitably going to show him.
Has he been a bit warmer than usual? Aiden found himself wondering, as he leapt back, avoiding a spray of rocks.
Valdan smiled more now and talked a little gentler. Aiden wasn’t sure how he felt about it. It wasn’t a problem, but it was just… different. Then again, men tended to be softer when their women were around and there was no threat in the vicinity. It made him wonder if he had talked softer when he’d been dating Shewa in his past life.
Absently, his finger went to the flat of his swords blade and trailed a path along it.
[You have used Class skill Unarmed Engrave]
…
[You have used Enchantment of Ice]
Moving back, he created more space between him and his opponent. It was a large rock monster. Before finding it, along with other rock monsters, it had disguised itself as nothing but a large boulder among the rocks and boulders of the mountain.
This was the contract he had picked for himself, Valdan and Ted. Something that would push Valdan and Ted to fight above their weight class and against a type of monster that they had not really faced before.
The creature stood almost twelve feet tall and stared down at him with rocks for eyes and a jagged mouth with a rock tongue withing. Aiden had stabbed the blade of his sword into that mouth at one point and confirmed that there was nothing but rock to the monster. Keeping his eyes on the monster, he trailed his finger along the length of the blade again.
[You have used Class skill Unarmed Engrave]
…
[You have used Enchantment of Sharpness]
The blade of the sword hummed in his hand, vibrating very minutely as a very miniscule ghosting of the blade fizzled in and out of existence at the edge of the blade. It was an interesting sight. It looked like the sword that the master of the Order had given to him worked very well with enchantments.
Careful, he scolded himself as he barely avoided another swing. At level one hundred and thirty, the monster wasn’t much of a challenge for him. Old knowledge and instincts continued to kick in from his past life. At level one hundred and forty-nine, he was the danger in his current situation.
Still, with monsters above level fifty, there was always a chance that they might have a skill. Above level one hundred, they definitely had a skill and were not afraid to use it. The problem was what the skill was going to be. For example, there was no guarantee that a rock monster was going to have a skill that had something to do with rocks.
When the monster struck again, slow as was befitting of its size, Aiden did not parry or black. Instead, he met its attack head on, swinging his sword to meet the arm. With the [Enchantment of Sharpness] running through it, he was shocked to find the blade go through the arm.
The monster roared, staggering away from him as it stared at its arm, now missing half of the forearm.
Aiden twirled his blade, a trail of white smoke following after it, the effects of the ice enchantment he had used.
“It’s quite sturdy,” he muttered, taking in the blade and its slight glim under the evening sun.
An [Enchantment of Sharpness] made a weapon sharper, but it in no way made it stronger. That was the purview of enchantments designed for sturdiness and the likes. The master had given him a very good sword. He should probably find some way to thank the master.
You are not one of his subjects anymore. The information you gave him is your thanks.
Interestingly enough, the master still had more to offer him if he remembered the man’s words correct—
The monster opened its mouth wide, pulling Aiden from his thoughts. Aiden’s gaze narrowed on the creature. Was this it? Was it about to use its skill?
“Alright then,” he twirled the sword and braced for impact. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
In another direction, the one Ted was supposed to be in, a monster wailed in defeat. That was the third one since Aiden had started fighting this one. With this being his fourth monster, Ted was currently on his fifth monster. It was the thing with competent people with the [Summoner] class, they were practically one man armies. A contest of how many opponents you could kill against them was a waste of your time, not that anyone was supposed to be counting.
A bright blue light ignited in the monster’s mouth. Aiden wondered if it was going to be a mana blast or something else. When the creature released the attack, it was a wave of blue fire. Aiden watched it shoot through the air like fire from a Dragon’s mouth.
Time to show me what you’ve got, he thought, knowing that the flames would not be able to shave off up to fifty percent of his life.
The flames licked against the rocks and pebbles on the grounds, batting against other boulders in their path with no effect. Aiden knew that he was not going to be as fortunate as them. Still, he didn’t move. When the flames got to him, his interface popped up.
[Class skill First Support has used Enchantment of Protection]
It appeared from his side, erupting from the glowing enchantment that hovered over his shoulder like a cloth. It spilled out, transparent and formless, appearing like a piece of paper torn violently at the edges. A black tint stained the edges and the flames bathed against the translucent body. It was like a well spread-out piece of cloth.
The first thing Aiden noted was the absence of heat. It seemed any form of discomfort was kept out. It was not necessarily surprising. An enchantment of protection worked differently from a shield enchantment. Unlike shield enchantments that kept out either physical force of mana attacks or whatever specific type of attack implied into it. Protection, however, was broader but not as strong.
When the flames finally petered out, the enchantment came to an end. Aiden wondered how long the enchantment lasted specifically as it simply dissipated into the air instead of being absorbed back into the enchantment.
[Class skill First Support is on cooldown]
[Duration: 00:07:59]
“I guess we’ve got that figured out,” he muttered, then [Dash] carried him forward, cutting straight through the distance.
His sword came up in a diagonal strike. It tore a clean line across the creature’s abdomen, sending it staggering back and, surprisingly, spilled pebbles from the injury. Aiden cocked a brow but did not stop his attack. He stepped to the side, ducked low. A swinging arm missed him by a breath, and he slammed the flat of the blade at the elbow. The air cooled, then it whitened, then ice came to life, locking the joint in place. The monster moved again, turned its torso, then paused at its arm’s refusal to move as it wanted.
Aiden took the moment of hesitance to take the creature’s leg. He severed the limb at the joint and hopped back as it came teetering down.
Lifting the blade, he studied it once more. Was the sword just very powerful or was it scaling to his level? The monster roared in anger and Aiden wondered if it even felt any pain. All its roars were sounding like roars of annoyance.
Taking a moment, he turned his attention in the direction of the boulder behind which Valdan fought against his own opponent. It had been a while since he’d heard any roars from monster or human.
Maybe he should take a peek and see how Valdan was handling things. Then again, Valdan was a grown man perfectly capable of handling himself. Just because Aiden had grown stronger in level it did not mean that Valdan had somehow grown less competent.
Ted too, he thought. For a while he had been relegating Ted any chance he got, preventing his brother from doing too much for fear that something he would do would lead him down the path to become a [Demon King]. While Ted was growing well, regardless of what he was doing, there was no denying that constantly holding him back was keeping him away from his true potential.
If he’s this strong now, he thought, I fear to imagine what he will be if I stop holding him back.
The monster struggled to rise to its feet, as if forgetting that Aiden had severed one. It came halfway up before coming back down. This time it fell badly, reaching out with both hands to stop itself from falling. The absence of the required limbs to help lead to its downfall. It hit the ground hard, raising rocks and rubble. Aiden stepped to the side, avoiding a rock as large his head as it blasted past him with enough force to rip his head off.
With the understanding that there was nothing it could do to help itself, it turned, faced Aiden, and opened its mouth. Aiden moved his sword deftly and separated its head from its body.
[You have dealt Living Boulder Lvl 109 a Fatal blow!]
[You have slain Living Boulder Lvl 109]
Aiden watched the rest of its body crumble into nothing but massive rocks and pebbles. Only one piece stood large as a boulder—its torso. He walked up to it and placed a hand on it. It was as hard as was to be expected of a boulder.
This had been a boring fight for him. He hadn’t even needed to break a sweat. Then again, this monster had been something of a dull monster for a creature above level one hundred. Monsters didn’t possess sophisticated levels of thinking until the four hundred levels, and those ones were on the other side of Nastild, but they were not so stupid.
Certainly wouldn’t have forgotten that they lost a limb, he thought, then turned away from the boulder and headed in Valdan’s direction.
He could still hear Ted in the distance if he focused. A few steps away, he stopped and looked back at the boulder once more. This fight had taken nothing out of him at level one hundred and forty-nine and he still had a lot of unallocated stat points to use. He looked at the sword and thought about it. He had the skills, now he had the level of equipment. In truth, unless he really started trying to punch significantly above his own weight, he would have no use for the stat points.
Nothing wrong in just hoarding them then.
There was no knowledge in history of someone losing their stat points just because they didn’t use it.
And there’s no knowledge of someone having to sacrifice two levels to get a class after losing the class they got, which is also unheard of.
With a sigh, he shook his head. He had definitely been learning a lot of new things since returning. It was as if he walked with the impossible every day.
It wasn’t long before he was on the other side of the boulder, watching Valdan deal with the monster in front of him. Interestingly enough, this one looked like a massive feline standing from paw to shoulder.
Valdan was a quiet fighter, not taunting it. There was a great sense of concentration on his face as he turned one of its blows aside. Sparks flew, and he took up a familiar stance. Aiden squinted at it.
Even though he was curious, he knew what Valdan was trying to do, so he firmed his grip on his sword in case he needed to make a move.
“It won’t work,” he called out.
He saw Valdan twitch a little, but the knight did not take his eyes off the monster. It make Aiden nod in commendation. Valdan was a trained knight and while Aiden didn’t doubt that he knew what he was doing, he had no recollection of rock monsters in Bandiv, so this was supposed to be a new kind of foe for Valdan.
Valdan kept his eyes on the monster even as he replied. “I know,” he said. “This will be the fourth try.”
Aiden cocked a curious brow at that as Valdan and the monster sized each other up. “Are you trying to modify it to fit a monster?”
Valdan’s shoulders stiffened like a child who’d just been caught in a crime. The monster took no hesitation. It pounced. Deftly, as if he had been baiting it, Valdan moved to the side, raised his sword as he had done once upon a time when the Immortal had knelt before him, and brought it down. It trailed a line of yellow mana and came down on the beast’s neck. There was a loud clang and the beast was thrown to the side by the force of the blow instead of losing its head.
Sturdy.
But it wasn’t as if Aiden didn’t already know this. To rend its head clean from its body, Valdan would need more strength and a stronger sword.
The creature, unwilling to be cowed, rushed him once more. Valdan parried and struck, evaded when he needed to. Aiden could tell that he was trying to figure the creature out, trying to find weak points he could exploit.
Leaning against the boulder, Aiden found the battle a bit monotonous. But it was the way with new battles, monotony was what was to be expected when two individuals took too long to figure themselves out. Focusing his attention on his surroundings, he found Ted petting one of his familiars. It seemed he had slain the last monster and was simply waiting. Aiden couldn’t say that he was surprised.
His attention shifted once more to Valdan when he took his stance once more.
“Techniques do not work that way, Valdan,” he said with a sigh. “And if you are trying to modify it, don’t. The feedback could get you killed.”
Valdan paused for a moment, then his shoulders relaxed as if he had given up on trying the technique Aiden had taught him.
“Are you sure?” Valdan asked.
Aiden nodded. “Certain.”
Valdan let out a defeated sigh. “Alright.”
That said, he raised his hand and swung his sword. A blast of mana shot out in an arc. It slammed into the beast, leaving a mark in its side. The creature roared and scratched the air, leaving claw marks of deep grey to cut through the air. Valdan placed the tip of his sword on the ground in response and something in the ambient mana shifted, the claw marks fizzled out of existence before it reached him.
[Knight’s Repose], Aiden noted. It was one of Valdan’s skills designed to bring the mana in the environment under his control. It made it difficult for foes and opponents to use mana that affected the world around them. It was similar to [Walking Canvas] even if less potent.
Without delay, Valdan stomped his leg on the ground. A giant yellow shield appeared and he pushed it forward. The creature dove, but it wasn’t fast enough. The shield into it, pushed it some more, and locked it against another boulder. Aiden watched it scratch and claw at the shield, unable to free itself.
Valdan stood there, staring at it. “My problem,” he said, “is killing it without brute forcing my way through it.”
“I see.” Aiden walked up to stand beside him. “So brute forcing your way through a monster above level one hundred that is known for its strength is not a difficult thing for you.”
“Yes,” Valdan answered, pointedly ignoring the suggestive tone in Aiden’s voice. “I would prefer putting it down with finesse.”
Aiden cocked a brow at that. “I remember you once telling me that your strength does not lie in finesse.”
“It does not. But it does not mean that I cannot learn finesse.”
Sighing in what seemed like defeat, Valdan took a stance then swung his sword three times. Each time an arc of aura blasted out of it. All three followed one after the other, and the shield that kept the creature pinned came down. It moved fast but not fast enough to avoid all three strikes. When they made impact, it was in an explosion of cloud and dust. When the dust settled, there were only two boulders left standing.
Aiden looked at him. “Didn’t really see that coming.”
“Oh please.” Valdan snorted. “I’ve been figuring out how to kill monsters and my opponents since before you took your first shit.”
Aiden laughed a little. “I’m really not that young, Valdan.”
“Uhuh.” Valdan turned and started walking. “Let’s go see how Ted’s doing?”
“Uhm… before that,” Aiden said, turning with him but not walking. Remember that thing about telling secrets that I’m keeping?”
Valdan paused, looked at him. “I thought you didn’t want to share it. I really don’t mind. Like I said, I know you don’t mean harm. That said, maybe I should show you mine now.”
Aiden’s brows furrowed. “Now?”
“Of course.” Valdan walked away, clearly trying to increase the distance between them. “I did tell you that I was going to. Besides, I’m sure you’ll be the better person to help me figure it out and know if it’s dangerous.”
“What are you about to show me, Valdan?” Aiden asked, suspicious.
“Just defend yourself,” Valdan said. “You’ll only need to do it twice.”
Aiden raised his sword, unsure. “Okay. I got it?”
“Good.”
Valdan held his sword in both hands and let out a deep breath. When he did, swords manifested in the air above him, each one a translucent yellow. Aiden recognized Valdan’s manifesting skill when he saw it.
When the first strike came, it was from a sword that manifested blindingly fast next to him. He moved his sword easily, deflecting the strike. It bore a weight to it, but nothing too much for him to handle.
“How did that feel?” Valdan asked.
Aiden shrugged. “The way it normally does.”
Valdan took in another breath and let it out. “Alright, next is this.”
Something happened. Aiden felt it before he saw it and his jaw dropped. Judging by the look on Valdan’s face, he could tell the knight was worried by what he would think, so he kept his face as neutral as possible.
When the next strike came, Aiden felt it before it even appeared. This time, he did not defend himself with his sword, instead, he held his blackened arm out and grabbed the weapon before it completed its strike. The impact made no sound.
Aiden just stood there, holding onto the manifested sword but staring at the ones hovering above Valdan. What had once been yellow, now shone a deep black.
Aiden’s interface hovered carefully in front of him.
[Dimensional mana detected]
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “You have to know.”
Valdan turned crestfallen. “I know, Aiden. This is demonic ma—”
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “Not that. Me. You need to know about me. You need to know the secret.”
“Why?”
Aiden didn’t realize that he was already walking up to Valdan until Vladan’s gaze moved over to his hand, settling on the sword he was still holding onto.
Aiden ignored it all, standing in front of Valdan now.
“You need to know,” he said, “because I owe it to you—because… you need to know it for you to understand that this is not as bad as you think.”
“So, you can help.”
“No.” Aiden held Valdan’s worried gaze. “But I can make it not so troubling.”