The Old Man

[Equipment:]

[Leather Helmet] [45 Defense]

[Leather Top] [120 Defense]

[Leather Gloves] [30 Defense]

[Leather Pants] [75 Defense]

[Leather Boots] [30 Defense]

[Wooden Longsword] [211 (One-handed) 361 (Two-Handed) Attack]

Shortly after completing his class trial, Derek heard by the innkeeper that a caravan would be coming to town in a few days. Derek figured he could keep training until the caravan came to town, maybe he could hope on and make his way to another town. He hadn't learned much about the world he now lived in while here in Holton. However, looking at the size of the town, Derek could tell this was most likely one of the smaller towns in this world. By his estimate, Holton couldn't have more than two-hundred people living in it. Derek hoped he could go to a bigger town to find some work and make some gold. He currently only had the starting gold given to him and the starting equipment. He did notice that a present appeared in his inventory after finishing the class trial and finally took the time to open it.

[New Weapon Acquired:]

[Iron Longsword]

[This weapon can be used with one or two hands]

[360 (1H) & 510 (2H) Attack]

This new sword was much better than the wooden one he was using before, so he equipped it immediately. For the next two days, Derek continued doing his Training Exercise while making use of his Swift Feet skill. While training, he managed to level up seven times.

[Swift Feet: Improve move speed for a medium amount of time. (1 min CD)]

On his third day of training, Derek woke up and got ready to start his exercises again. As he walked out of the Inn, Derek came face to face with someone he had never met before. A tall man stood in front of Derek with short grey hair on top of his round, rough face and a groomed grey beard hanging off his chin. Derek quickly looked at the man's equipment in case a fight broke out. A sheathed longsword was hanging from his waist with his cape covering part of it along with the right side of his body. He was wearing tattered clothes over his leather top and leather bottom. Before he could analyze him anymore, the old man spoke up.

"Hey kiddo, what's your name?" The old man asked.

"I'm Derek, what about you?" Derek replied.

"My name's Heiden, I'm here on a guard quest to protect a caravan to Mantel. We could use some more manpower if you're available for a quick journey, you would obviously be compensated for your work." The old man remarked while sizing up Derek.

'I could maybe get some gold along with a ride to a bigger town.' Derek noted.

"Sure thing, when do we leave?" Derek inquired while offering his hand to the tall man.

"As soon as the horses are ready, there's not much to do here in this small village. If that works for you." Heiden retorted while shaking Derek's hand.

The two men agreed to meet again in a few hours to depart from Holton onto the village of Manafall, which is on the way to Mantel. Derek figured that he had enough time to get a workout in before they left town and went out to the field where he usually would train. A couple hours later, Derek met back with the old man and was introduced to the merchant named Fabrizio, the man leading the caravan. The three of them briefly talked about travel plans and got on their way to Manafall. They estimated it would take about two days to get to the town where they would rest for a day and continue their journey towards Mantel afterwards. The first day was uneventful, Derek even took the time to walk the five kilometers required for the medium training exercise and later, finished the exercise when they set up camp before sleeping. They set guard shifts between Derek and Heiden to watch over the caravan during the night, Heiden had the first one. A few hours later, he woke up Derek for his shift. Derek spent the night looking at his stats and new skills. The discovery by Derek that skills can also increasing in strength by leveling up excited him. He decided to start using his skills as much as possible, starting with his Analyze ability. He got up, went closer to the old man he had met earlier, now sleeping, and used Analyze.

[Analyze: Quick Analysis. (10 min CD)]

[Heiden Ziegler]

[Warrior]

[Level 25]

[Status: Injured]

'So, he's a warrior too, uh. Wait, Injured!?' Derek thought.

It was then that Derek noticed something different on Heiden. The old man had done a good job at hiding it under his cloak, but his right arm was missing a hand. The wound didn't seem fresh to Derek, who was initially worried about missing a potential attack somehow. He composed himself and waited until his Analyze cooldown came back up. He then used it on the merchant revealing nothing of worth about the man and went back to do his guard shift. Eventually, the other two woke up and the caravan was on its way again. Derek made sure not to stare at the old man's missing right hand while travelling but Heiden noticed the young man was trying to be polite. Before he could say anything, a bolt flew past their caravan and landed on a tree nearby. Derek and Heiden reacted quickly to the attack, rushing towards the assailant not giving them any time to reload. Derek was slightly faster than the old man getting to their target using his Swift Feet skill.

[Swift Feet: Improve move speed for a medium amount of time. (1 min CD)]

He unsheathed his longsword while dashing to the attacker and took a swing as soon as he got there. Derek felt little resistance as his new iron sword sliced right through a goblin neck. He quickly tried to spot any movement in his surroundings and saw a bush rustle, he instantly swung his sword at the bush but this time only cutting branches. Heiden got there, saw the goblin head on the ground and spoke up.

"Goblins. They usually travel in packs be careful!" Heiden communicated while readying himself.

Soon after, three goblins jump towards them from one of the bushes. This time, Heiden reacted quicker using his Cleave skill to cleave through the goblins, striking at their chest.

[Cleave: Make a cleave attack to hit multiple targets. (30 sec CD)]

In that moment another round of bolts fired three of them hitting the tree right behind them and the last one planting itself into Derek's leg. His vision quickly flashed red, indicating that he had taken damage, but it quickly faded, both Derek and Heiden charged the remaining goblins using their Charge skill.

[Charge: Slight improved move speed and attack. (15 sec CD)]

The goblins were no match for the two warriors. Heiden impaled the first one, stabbing him with his longsword and decapitated the second one, with the swing of his sword. Derek, despite the bolt in his leg, carved through the first goblin and viciously sliced the other goblin in two. After making sure there weren't anymore goblins around, Heiden crouched down towards one of the dead goblins and a menu appeared. Heiden looked at Derek and said.

"Don't forget to loot your kills, kiddo." Heiden mentioned while looting.

Derek bent down towards one of the goblins he had killed and the same thing happened, a menu appeared.

[Goblin Corpse:]

[Iron Dagger] [300 Attack]

[10 Gold]

[Loot]

Derek and Heiden looted the rest of the goblins and both went back to the caravan. After explaining to the merchant what had happened, the caravan was back on track. Derek only looted gold on the rest of the goblins gaining a measly 21 gold. He also didn't pay much attention to his wound, but his heath bar barely took a hit when the bolt hit him. To be sure, he used his Recovery skill to gain back his HP.

[Recovery: Recover HP & MP for 30 sec. (10 min CD)]

Derek also took the time to examine the new dagger he had looted from one of the goblins.

[Iron Dagger]

[Adaptable: This item can use your Strength or Dexterity stat for your attacks]

[Light: This weapon is light and can be used along with another weapon]

[Throw: This weapon can be thrown to make a ranged attack]

[283 Attack]

'Wow, this thing is sweet. I can use it along with my sword and it will increase my attack stat greatly. It would give me more damage than if I used my longsword two-handed.' Derek observed as he equipped the dagger.

The caravan was approaching the village of Manafall, they could see it on the horizon.

"Have you ever been there, sir?" Derek asked Heiden.

"Manafall? No, I mostly lived in the west before I decided to become an adventurer." The old man replied. "What about you?" He continued.

"No, it's my first time out of Holton. This place looks huge compared to that." Derek explained.

"I guess compared to that place it must look gigantic. Wait till you see Mantel, kiddo. Or wait till you see the capital." Heiden snorted. "Cities in this world are gigantic and they're inhabited by millions of people. it is said that the capital of this kingdom is the biggest city in the world, housing one hundred million people. It helps that building houses is much easier in this world and that a lot of people can fit in those." He followed

"I have a lot to learn, uh?" Derek pointed out.

"Yes, you do, kiddo." Heiden playfully confirmed.

With their conversation fizzling out, they finally arrived at Manafall.