Invitation

When the monsters opened their mouths and used Fire Breath, Terry moved to one side and Rebecca to the other in order to split their attention. Call it luck or misfortune, but two of the monsters looked at Terry… and their flames followed him.

When the flames of one began to hit the other, both creatures stopped their attacks, and Terry used that chance to attack. He dashed with all his might and then hit the head of one with a wand and the two knives in his hands. The wand did nothing, but the knives increased the size of the monster's smile.

While the creature grunted in pain, Terry approached even more and then cut the monster's throat deeply. While blood was gushing from the wound, the wounded beast opened its mouth, but Terry threw one of his knives at it. The weapon didn't pierce the enemy's mouth enough to kill it, but it caused some damage and made the beast flinch. Terry approached and then hit the top of the monster's head…

Terry looked at Rebecca, and then he saw her pulling the spear from the monster's throat. It seemed that she did fairly well as well…

"I did it…" Rebecca said.

"Congrats?" Terry frowned.

"I didn't mean like that… I awakened my trait," Rebecca said, looking a bit confused.

That was a bit surprising… it was a bit too soon considering that she had participated in two missions, but she failed at getting the trait.

"Can you tell me what you can do?" Terry asked. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, and I am asking if you understand what you can do."

"I am not sure… it took me a while to awaken, so it must not be something that useful," Rebecca said. "Let's get the magic stones."

Rebecca looked away suspiciously. It seemed that she was feeling pretty conflicted with her awakening or maybe embarrassed. In any case, it wasn't a good idea to spread information about one's trait. Hence, Terry decided not to pry any further on the matter.

Wind Wand Lv 0 (06/10 EXP) (Common)

Magic Power: 02

Durability: 05/05

(Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)

In any case, Terry achieved his goal and confirmed that the salamanders could grant his weapons more experience. The chances of him making the wand reach level five were quite high, and he just had to kill fifty or so salamanders.

Reaching that goal had been easy since Terry had been using the knives as throwing weapons to stop the fire breath. They suffered a bit of damage, but not that much. Sometimes he missed the enemy's mouth, but he still hit their heads and stopped them, so it was fine.

In the end, Terry's trait was too powerful. Not even the salamanders that could kill people in a few seconds were much of a problem to him. The real problem was the heat of the desert, and that was what tired Terry out. He forgot that for a while once he reached his first goal…

Wind Wand Lv 05 (0/60 EXP) (Common)

Magic Power: 12

Durability: 10/10

(Lesser Wind Blessing: increases the power of wind spells by twenty percent.)

(Wind Arrow: it grants the user the ability to fire a magic projectile in the shape of an arrow.

Charge: 0/20)

Terry was happy, and he was worried. He could use magic now, but apparently, it had some limitations… every five minutes, the wand gained one charge. It wasn't so bad, but it wasn't that amazing, either.

"It must be a limitation due to the quality of the item… it doesn't seem like it is something that can be improved just by making it level up," Terry thought.

Putting that aside and his desire to test the wand, Terry just stored it away and kept hunting until five. He endured too much of the heat, and he didn't want to endure the cold of the desert at night.

"Terry… my power is useless," Rebecca said while showing a dejected expression. "It seems that I can recover mana faster, but it is useless since I can't use magic."

"... Can't you control your mana in any way?" Terry asked. "Even if you can't, you can buy skill books…"

"It will take forever before I can even buy the most basic spells… until I am able to pull that off, I will only be a liability," Rebecca explained. "I said before that my pride is worthless, but I don't want to look after my siblings out of someone else's charity."

"I don't think that is charity. I am paying you to make things more convenient for me," Terry said. "Well, I guess I will have to look for someone else. I was planning to leave the town anyway since the monsters here are so weak."

Rebecca began to grit her teeth out of exasperation. While she wanted to look after her siblings, she still wanted to accomplish things by herself. Staying under someone else's shadow wasn't something that she wanted for the rest of her life, and Terry respected that.

"Are you in a hurry? Isn't it fine to take your time to achieve what you want?" Terry asked. "You wait for a while to awaken to your trait, so why not wait a while longer?"

"Easy for you to say when you have such amazing power," Rebecca furrowed her eyebrows.

"I have been trying to join an expedition for five years… can you say that I haven't been patient?" Terry asked. "I understand where you come from, though, and that is why I can help you if you prove your worth. Having power isn't everything. We are people who have been ignored since we were powerless, so you should understand that."

"I guess so…" Rebecca said while looking away.

"I don't have many acquaintances, but I can trust someone who has been looking over her family, at least a bit," Terry said and then offered a handshake. "Let's work together to prove this shit that this world has turned into."

"... Okay, then," Rebecca accepted the handshake.