1 Just some Exercise

He had lingered on the dark rooftop for an hour now.

With a near empty bottle of whiskey to his left, and a shiv to his right, Jimmy Stark watched the streets like a hawk. He saw the people walking past by, their feet making contact with the stone floor. The day was anything but a storm, but that didn't stop the people from putting their hoods on.

Jimmy had a hood himself, one blessed with a coat of navy blue and tiny shades of black. He got it tailored from a family friend, the same family friend who made clothes for both his parents as well as the hard working city guard.

He felt something slither onto his back. He turned his head to the left to see a green emerald snake. It's yellow eyes were glaring into Jimmy's own eyes. Jimmy himself smiled, and patted the medium snake's head gently.

Fayre was not the first snake he had owned, nor would it ever have been the last for him.

"Come on Fayre." Jimmy said in an energetic but rough voice. "Let's go." he scratched the scruff on his chin, before swiping his brown hair to the back, raising it up. He took the last drops of whiskey, before he placed the shiv into his dark leather belt holster. The roof he was on belonged to a 2 story building.

With Fayre slithering from his leg up to his shoulder, Jimmy dropped down and he landed with the edge of his boots first landing down, and his hand managing his posture. He did not get a reaction from the people passing by. Ignorance was a bliss for most people in the city.

The less people get involved in things they don't concern them, the better. It was a harsh place, this town.

Jimmy blended into the crowd, his hoodie still down and began to walk a couple of blocks into town. Fayre was on his shoulder, its body and tail was sticking onto Jimmy's back. He went past by the Fish market where most of the fish in Gilvenheim were both nice in its price, and equally nice to eat.

Bluegills, Red basses, and Ener Tuna, who wouldn't want to fill their stomachs with juicy seafood granting high amounts of calcium and savory taste? Of course most people had to be careful with the insane amount of bones they'd have.

Jimmy once heard stories about people getting their tracheas pierced because of the bones from certain fish, such as the Spyker. Oh how the irony the name of the fish was, he thought, before he stopped at the sight of a tavern.

Some taverns in the city would be located between alleys that were part of mugging or were contaminated with scenes of piss and the presence of rats, but this tavern in particular, with a giant sign that spoke "The Drinker's Shack." was much more clean in spite of its dark wooden material.

Jimmy's eyes widened at the sight of additional wooden chairs and round tables to accommodate a high number of guests. Some of them were even occupied now, with a couple of people either drinking their sorrows or just having a plain good time.

In the case of one particular man and a girl wrapped around his shoulder, that was a different tale. Even from afar, Jimmy could hear the armored wearing man gloat.

"I've slain a Ragbull on my first day as a jolly adventurer." The man with messy hair spoke in a proud tone. One hand was drinking a mug of what could only be detected as Sarsa beer by the looks of it, based on its caramel liquid and white bubbles appearing when the man spilled some of it.

The girl wrapped around the man's shoulder was wearing a purple dress, revealing her shoulders. She was smiling at the man's tales, then winked at the sight of male patrons looking at her.

Jimmy rolled his eyes in annoyance, before looking at Fayre. "Pfft. Take a look at this guy.". Fayre opened her mouth to some degree, indicating a mock laughter, before closing it, as Jimmy began to approach the couple at the table.

Laughs were being held by Jimmy from his mouth when the girl saw Fayre on his shoulder, and the girl winced in fear.

The adventurer noticed her female companion's reaction, then turned his head. "Goodness sir!" he laughed. "Snakes are for medicine and skin. Sometimes food over in the East, not for pets!"

"Fayre doesn't bite." Jimmy said, folding his arms. His comment made the man laugh out loud even more.

"You gave it a name as well?" the man mocked before sipping his mug and slamming it onto the table. "You're a man who loves snakes aren't you?"

Jimmy extended his arm as he petted Fayre on the head gently. The snake reacted in a comfortable manner. This scene gave the man a grin.

"Well at least you're an honest fellow." the man admitted. "But of course, it takes more than honesty to really get a woman in this nation, one riddled with beasts and potentially demons from the depths of the underworld. Snakes would terrify ladies no matter how nice you would be-" He paused as he saw Jimmy's face. "What?"

"That's a good sword." Jimmy pointed at the long blade strapped onto the man's back.

"Good is an understatement my good man, it is of divine quality." the man gloated.

"Would you like to spar?"

"Ha! I don't see a sword on you, except for that shiv, or is that what you want to spar me with?"

"You refuse a challenge?" Jimmy spoke.

"I never refuse a challenge. A real adventurer never backs down!"

Jimmy felt like chuckling, his insides felt like they were going to laugh out loud. These adventurers and their ambitions! Good thing his father encouraged him to be involved in privateering and trading back in the day. It was worth the time indeed.

"Xalt." the girl next to the man pleaded to him. She looked at Jimmy's face, her eyes widening in surprise. "Don't do this."

Xalt looked at her. "Why? You don't think I can handle this man? Look at him! He's got a pet snake for crying out loud and it doesn't even seem to be a venomous one."

"It's not the snake, I...I think I know who he is."

Xalt examined Jimmy, then concluded. "Seems like a man who knows how to fight, but I doubt he has the experience." He took out his giant sword. To Jimmy, the sword seemed quite long and big, almost like an upgraded version of a bastard sword.

There was a yellow stone embedded in the sword's handle.

"Yes, the Speed stone allows me to wield this faster, even if I'm capable of swinging it without the stone, but it helps. I'll try to go easy on you." Xalt said as a crowd started to form. Some of the men at the other tables slammed their fists.

"Fight! Fight!" they shouted.

"3000 coins if you beat me." Jimmy said. "If I win I get your sword." those words made Xalt tremble. "But if you wish to back down, that's fine-"

"No! I'll accept your terms, even if you sound like you're biting more than you can chew. And get that snake off from your shoulder! I don't want it biting me just so you can have the better opportunity to fight."

"You know the way home Fayre. Slither on." Jimmy spoke as the snake nodded and did as was told.

"Now then-" Xalt was cut off by the girl, who had a fierce look on her.

"I told you to back down! You're better than this."

"Hush." Xalt spoke to the girl. "This is what he wanted-"

Xalt's eyes widened at the sight of Jimmy charging at him with the shiv, swung by the arm before Xalt blocked the attack. The adventurer was dazed, that shiv didn't seem to be enhanced by magic at all.

"Heh." Jimmy muttered under his breath.

Xalt pushed Jimmy back with his own blade. The adventurer was stunned. He swung his blade left and right, as Jimmy dodged the attacks by shifting left and right.

"This isn't sparring!" Xalt complained but the crowd was cheering on. Misfits, he thought, they don't care about fair fighting. His attention soon came back to Jimmy whose shiv was colliding with the giant sword constantly.

"Show me your stats!" Xalt demanded.

"Yeah, sure..." Jimmy spoke in sarcasm as the crowd started to cheer on. "What is this obsession with systems and numbers?"

"They tell you what you're good at and what you need to improve!" Xalt charged forward as he swung his giant sword towards Jimmy's torso. Jimmy himself moved his shiv up, but the giant blade knocked out the shiv, and sliced out his middle and ring finger.

The girl who accompanied Xalt screamed in horror, the crowd gasping. Xalt sighed at the sight of Jimmy's shiv on the ground, alongside his two fingers. Jimmy himself was looking at his right hand, middle and ring finger gone.

"Looks like people learn the hard way-" Xalt stopped as he began to see Jimmy's severed fingers on the ground decimating into thin air. Next, he saw Jimmy's middle and ring fingers slowly growing back. Squinting his eyes, Xalt swore he saw hundreds to thousands of tiny snakes growing from the wounds and forming Jimmy's fingers back.

"What is this!?" Xalt spoke in terror. He had seen healing magic before, but not like this. Most magic he had seen was either a ball of blue or perhaps lights of yellow.

As he got his fingers back, Jimmy swiftly charged at Xalt, striking him in the neck. The adventurer fell down in a heartbeat, dropped onto his knees as his sword was soon taken by Jimmy.

"This is bigger than seen from afar." Jimmy said as the heavy blade was near going to drop from his hands. Swiping mid air, Jimmy got a transparent screen detailing the weapon. The screen was coated with a thin shade of gold

[GIANT GREATSWORD, CUSTOM MADE. LEVEL 10. HEAVYWEIGHT CLASS.]

[Sell Cost: 6000-9500 coins]

[Speed Stone cost: 10000 coins]

"I'm not a big fan of giant blades. This may sell well." Jimmy said in a satisfied tone. "And the Speed stone!"

"No! Wait! I've had that for years!" Xalt pleaded. "And I worked hard to earn that stone!"

"Break that thing Jimmy!" said one of the men from the crowd. "Put some dents in it!"

"Take that Speed stone and throw it into the sea!"

"No, sir! Jimmy isn't it? Please don't."

"You spoke low of my snake before."

"I wasn't mocking your snake. I was just-" he stopped as he began to hear Jimmy chuckle.

"Calm down maggot." Jimmy said as he pushed the blade, hitting Xalt's face. "Keep the thing. You'll probably need it more than me." He then turned his attention to the girl. "You."

The girl winced in surprise.

"Yeah take his girl Jimmy!" one man in the crowd yelled.

"I ain't taking anyone." Jimmy muttered as he approached the girl. "You said earlier that you know me?"

"I-I, yes." she said softly.

"I'll leave you be. Just forget that I was here, okay? Never remember my face. Got it?" he gave a small smile. The girl looked at him, and nodded nervously.

"Ok, but why spar him?" Her face pointed to Xalt.

"Sport. I needed some exercise." Jimmy admitted, he then turned to get his shiv back, picking it up from the ground.

"Wait!" Xalt shouted. "Can I see your shiv?"

"Sure." Jimmy said casually, throwing it to Xalt, whose eyes examined the simple red handled shiv. Only adventurers like him were able to see stats of people and weapons. The gimmick of this system was to compare power levels.

[SHIV. LEVEL 2. LIGHTWEIGHT CLASS.]

Level 2!? Xalt screamed in his mind about the weapon in front of him, before seeing Jimmy himself.

Just who are you, really? he thought about that question.

"If you're wondering who or what I am, then you already said it before." Jimmy extended his arms. "Just a man who loves snakes."