Vincel Against A Grim Wolf
"Drat!"
Knowle reached into his satchel to pull out an arrow which he notched on his bow and shot at the Grim wolf that came at him.
The wolf moved incredibly swiftly and dodged the arrow only to melt into a tree shadow and emerge out of another that was closer to Knowle.
Knowle was ready and he shot an arrow into the ground within one foot of himself. The wolf got close, Knowle took a step back and the arrow exploded to slam the Grim wolf away.
The wolf wasn't dead and after shaking off the pain of the attack, it was ready to try again.
The rest of the group was already in combat.
Aidan, who was shielding Vincel with well-trained swings of his sword, was being attacked by two wolves.
'One for him, one for me' Vincel realized.
In fact, one of the wolves attacking Aidan was the one Lea had slammed aside with her water column spell.
It still wanted a bite of Vincel's skinny body.
'I don't even think I'd taste that good' Vincel thought.
Even with Vincel there, the group was still outnumbered seven to six.
Plus, his being there was hampering Aidan's abilities more than helping since he could not fight and was still feeling weak after the deactivation of 'Arcane Augmentation'.
He might not understand the so-called System that was making him see words and numbers in mid-air but Vincel still remembered what he had said to call out the holographic screen before.
'Status Screen!'
[Training Arc]
<User Status Screen Updated>
[Name: Vincel Grey]
[Race: Human]
[Job: Arcane Initiate Lv.1 {1/100 Arcane Shards}]
[Specialization: None]
[Title: None]
[HP: 39/50]
[Arcane Mana Reserves: 51/100]
[Strength: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Resistance: 1]
[Job Skills: Arcane Augmentation Lv 1]
-
'I might not have been a hardcore gamer in the past but I know HP stands for Health points. Last I saw I had 50/50. When did it drop to 39?
Was it when I was almost strangled to death?'
Vincel got no answers to the thoughts on his mind so he put his attention back on the Status screen while Aidan was still shielding him.
'Alright, Arcane Augmentation. What's that?'
As soon as he thought of it, a description rolled out on the status screen for him to read.
[Description: As a student of the Arcane arts and a wielder of the Arcane Mana, you are able to augment your physical stats at the cost of your Arcane Mana reserves.
Arcane Augmentation Lv.1- All physical stats are increased by 10 at the cost of 50 Arcane Mana reserves- Effects lasts Ten minutes]
'Increased by 10?! No wonder I felt much stronger before. +10 in strength to the five I currently have will make me three times as strong!
Activate Arcane Augmentation!'
[Arcane Augmentation activated]
[+10 on all physical stats]
"Grrr... Rarrrrr"
One of the wolves Aidan was fending off got away from him and launched itself at Vincel.
Vincel was preoccupied with the status screen as well as his strength increase thanks to Arcane Augmentation and he was only able to react at the last minute.
"Ah"
Vincel's reaction was a little late and although he was able to turn and avoid getting stabbed in the chest by the wolf's vicious claws, his arm was still scraped.
[HP: 24/50]
'That scrape cost me 15 Health points? How??'
Vincel was still reeling at what he felt was an injustice when he heard the wolf growl at him again.
Vincel stared the wolf in its red eyes.
"You and me, we have history,"
Vincel recognized this wolf to be the one that had attacked him and gotten smacked aside by a column of water.
'This fucking thing is obsessed with me. I'm not that handsome, am I?'
"Rarrr"
The wolf leaped into a shadow and, as was its practice, it emerged from another shadow that was in Vincel's blind spot so that it could launch itself at its target with the element of surprise.
Normally, this would have indeed caught Vincel by surprise but with a +10 in Agility, he was faster than the wolf could have ever expected.
He had a punch ready and delivered it squarely to the side of the Grim Wolf's black fur-covered head.
*Bam!*
*Bang!*
The force of the blow was massive compared to the strength contained in the Grim wolf's body and it caused it to fly many feet away until it slammed into a tree.
"... ACKW... Hunnn..."
As it slid to the ground, the wolf whimpered and began to struggle to get back to its feet. Its body was shaking at the residual force of the blow still affecting it.
"Incredible"
Vincel felt wowed not only at the strength he had but also at the speed of his reaction.
The horn of the Grim Wolf Vincel had punched released more vapor and its body began to get smoky which Vincel now knew was a sign that it was about to melt into shadows.
'I won't let you!'
Vince dashed forward and it was so easy to get lost in the feeling of freedom he felt as the wind blew hard against his body as he ran.
He almost lost himself in the way the wind flowed through his hair, the way his feet felt like they were almost not touching the ground which gave him a flying-like sensation.
'I love this,'
The enjoyment ended though when Vincel arrived in front of the Grim wolf, grabbed its horn, and pulled the beast off the ground and away from the shadow it was trying to melt into.
*Bam!*
Vincel slammed the wolf against the tree bark, drew back a fist, and delivered a bone-crushing blow.
*WHAM*!
*Crack* Crack* *Crinkle*
"*Wyunnn*"
As multiple of its bones became fractured, and punctured its internal organs, the Grim wolf whimpered its last, its head slumped and it went limp against the wall.
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
Vincel turned around and saw that Aidan's group was now putting the finishing touches to the killing of their furry opponents.
Jilan had a Grim wolf pinned to the ground with his foot and he crushed its head with his mighty club before the beast could vanish into the shadow beneath them.
*Bang!*
*Crush!*
Knowle stabbed an arrow into the side of the Wolf he was battling and then detonated the arrow so that it blew the Wolf open.
*Boom!*
Aidan swung his sword upward to slash the side of his opponent and then stabbed his sword through its head until his sword tip sunk into the ground.
Lea suffocated her opponent in a bubble of water. Her kill was the cleanest but it was not the most impressive.
That award went to Kleon who killed, not one, but two Grim wolves.
She was still standing by the side of her first kill when she held the second against her chest and slit its furry throat.
Vincel started a slow walk towards them. When he was about six meters away from the river bank, multiple messages began to flash in front of his eyes.
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
[One Arcane Shard detected]
[One Arcane Shard recovered]
'Six sets of messages... For six sets of bodies not killed by me. The one I killed only gave me one message.
Status screen'
<User Status Screen Updated>
[Training Arc]
[Name: Vincel Grey]
[Race: Human]
[Job: Arcane Initiate Lv.1 {8/100 Arcane Shards}]
[Specialization: None]
[Title: None]
[Arcane Mana Reserves: 1/100]
[HP: 24/50]
[Strength: 15 {Augmented}]
[Stamina: 15 {Augmented}]
[Agility: 15 {Augmented}]
[Resistance: 1]
[Job Skills: Arcane Augmentation Lv.1]
-
'I now have Eight Arcane shards. Clearly, that's building up to a level-up.
Wait, my Resistance wasn't augmented? Is Resistance not a physical stat?"
"Hey, you!"
The sudden call pulled Vincel out of his thoughts. The Status screen left his vision and he was able to very clearly see Kleon pointing her bloody dagger at him.
Vincel raised a brow at the dagger-wielding lady.
"What?"
"What do you mean 'what'? What was all that?"
As Kleon spoke, she gestured at the Grim wolf Vincel had killed.
"Yeah I killed it," Vincel said with a nod still confused about what the issue was.
Kleon rolled her eyes aggressively.
"Yes, I can clearly see that. We all can see that.
What happened to being a helpless nobody with no memory?
I was right from the start. You've been tricking us!"