We're Almost A Hero!: Chapter 2: Let's Level Up!

After all of that, the royal knights saw the dead orc and assumed a random adventurer defeated it

They wouldn't believe a mere <Chef> class commoner could defeat an Orc

And to top it all off, Uncle lectured me for an hour for recklessly putting myself in danger

Geez, looks like my journey as a hero is a long one

-o-o-o-

The boy was laying on his bed while he looked at the starry sky from his window sill

Earth has been thinking lately. Classes dictate what skills you can acquire, what role you present in the world

A <Mage> can't learn <Sword Throw> even if they had a legendary sword and a <Knight> can't learn <Fireball> even they have the world's strongest staff

But <Butcher>, it's a Chef-only skill. No other class can learn it

To able to defeat an Orc with that skill in a single move, is almost a fantasy

If <Butcher> can easily spot the critical spots of a monster, what else could be used to his advantage?

Does this mean every class has a hidden potential? No matter what kind?

Earth sighed, "Who knew the class system could be this unbalanced?" He said to himself

"But enough thinking, I need to get stronger" Earth brought up his Status

+++++

"Earth" LV 3 (200/400 EXP)

Class: Chef

HP: 115

MP: 55

STR: 7

AGI: 9

MAG: 4

DEF: 5

Skills:

GIFT: Consume

+++++

By just defeating a single enemy, he reached LV 3 in an instant. His <Butcher> skill has leveled up too

But even after leveling up, his stats weren't exactly stellar. But if he leveled up more, those boars won't kick his ass again

"I need to kill more monsters or my dream of becoming a hero would be nothing but just a pipe dream" Earth thought

He sat up from his bed and pumped his arms, "Yosh! It's decided. Tomorrow is the start of my training!" Earth said in excitingly

"OI! GO TO SLEEP ALREADY BRAT!" Uncle suddenly shouted causing Earth to flinch

"Sorry Uncle!" Earth shouted back

-o-o-o-

After working at the restaurant, he went to the library to do his daily bento with Plina

With the help of some priest adventurers, Plina was healed instantly from the Orc attack

"Ha?! You're going to the Lost Forest?!" Plina said in shock

"That's right, I can't get stronger if I keep being a Chef. I want to be a hero Plina" Earth said seriously

"But the Lost Forest is a place where people get... lost!" Plina rebutted

The Lost Forest is a forest near Oykuos. It's called the Lost Forest because anyone who enters those twisting woods tends to get lost

"I have to! I can't be a hero if I'm just LV 3!" Earth replied

Plina was a bit surprised, "Wait, you're LV 3?!" She said in shock

"Eh? I thought you saw me kill the orc?" He said confusedly as he showed his Stats, Plina looked in disbelief

"I thought I was hallucinating back then" Plina quietly said

Earth heard her comment and sensed the opportunity to tease

"Yeah! You were saying a lot of embarrassing things back then" Earth smiled deviously

"E-Embrassing things?" Plina's cheeks redden

"Like saying that you'll marry me if you live through it" He joked

"M-Marry?!" Plina said embarrassingly, her cheeks flushed red

"I'm joking" Earth said with a grin. Plina shook in embarrassment

"Don't tease me like that Earth!" Plina pouted cutely, her face still red

"Sorry!" Earth laughed

"Fine, I'll let you go to the Lost Forest. But I'll be tagging along as well" Plina said, puffing her chest a bit

"Huh? Seriously? Aren't you a bit scared with the Lost Forest?" Earth replied

"Someone has memorized the routes to avoid getting lost there. And I doubt you have a <Memorization> skill like me" Plina said

Earth wanted to argue but nothing came out of his mouth. All that reading grinded her <Memorization> skill to the ridiculous levels. He's sure that's it's probably above LV 15

"Fine, you can come to witness my awesome adventure in the lost mysterious woods" Earth said cooly, only to recoil in embarrassment as he accidentally posed like Chuunibiyou

"You're so awkward Earth" Plina sighed

-o-o-o-

After that dispute, the 2 prepared supplies for the small adventure in the woods

"So this the Lost Forest?" Earth looked at the forest covered in mist

The trees stood tall enough to cover the sky above but still letting light for small plants to grow

"Ok, let's go" Earth walked into the forest

"Eh? You're seriously just casually walking into a forest where it's literally called the Lost Forest?" Plina said

"Listen Plina, a hero is always brave and always going in danger without a plan!" Earth let out a thumbs up

"That's called being an idiot, Earth" Plina deadpanned

"Whatever, let's just go in already" Earth said as they both entered the forest

The forest was chilly, to their surprise, the humid air gave an eerie feeling to the place

They managed to find small herbs and plants that are useful for cooking. Earth grabbed them and stored all the ingredients into his <Cupboard>

"Wow! This trip is a good haul!" Earth blissfully smiled

"Yeah, it is!" Plina smiled

"THIS IS WRONG!!!" Earth dropped to knees and yelled in frustration

"Eh? I thought you want to have an adventure here in the Lost Forest?" Plina said confusedly

"There's supposed to be monsters to fight and you would witness my awesome new skills after leveling up!" Earth complained

"Hmm, maybe monsters get lost here too" Plina wondered

"Goddamn it! Give me something to fight with!!!" Earth yelled on the top of his lungs, demanding a hero situation to happen

Suddenly, the ground started to shake, as a group of 5 boars ran towards them. His shout attracted the boars to their location

"Ohh... Those are LV 2 Boars" Plina looked at the beasts

+++++

"Boar" LV 2 (×5)

HP: 50

MP: 0

STR: 15

AGI: 10

MAG: 0

DEF: 5

+++++

"The same ones that beat my ass?!" Earth thought nervously

The boars activated thier <Charge> and <Agile> skill to boost thier speed

"Uh? Plina" Earth looked at his friend for any help or at least come up a plan that doesn't involve getting tackled by boars

But the girl was already hiding in the nearby boulder, away from any trouble

"A hero is always brave and always going in danger without a plan" Plina echoed his words earlier with a deadpanned voice before she let out a thumbs up

"Plina!" Earth shouted comically before he looked in fear to the boars

"Hey? Plina? We're friends, right? You should help me deal with any danger I face, right?!" Earth nervously pleaded

"You said there's supposed to be monsters to fight and I would witness your awesome new skills after leveling up. Good luck Earth!" Plina gave a fake smile

"Damn it! This is what I get for teasing her earlier!" Earth thought

The boars drew closer as Earth grabbed both his cleaver and knife from his <Cupboard>

"Right! Time to show Plina how much I have gotten stronger!" Earth smiled proudly

[+24 damage] (91/115 HP) Earth

One of the boars suddenly tackled him right between the legs, causing him to yelp in pain as Plina tried to stifle her laughter

While he agonizes on the pain between his legs, he noticed something, "Huh? It doesn't hurt as much as before" Earth thought

"Ok, that's enough!" Earth raised his cleaver and knife

"<Butcher!>" he stabbed the 2 boars right in the critical spot using his skill

[☆CRITICAL☆][+50 CRIT damage!] (0/50 HP) Boar ×2

[You have defeated a Boar] ×2

[+40 EXP]

He looked at 3 remaining boars with a deadly glint in his eye

"Oi, which one of you hit me in the crotch earlier?" Earth said in a scary tone as he lifted his bloody cleaver. The boars shiver in fear

A single squeal echoed the forest

-o-o-o-

[You have defeated a Boar] ×3

[+60 EXP]

Earth let out a sigh as he stored the boar carcasses in his <Cupboard>

[<Cupboard> has leveled up!]

LV 8 ---> 9

"You're pretty cool that you defeated a whole squad of boars on your own" Plina said

Earth grinned to her praise, "That's right, a super cool hero like me can easily defeat any enemy that faces me" he said cooly

"Yup, but it's cooler to see a boar hit you right in the nuts" Plina giggled softly

Earth's cheeks became red in embarrassment, "S-Shut up!" He stuttered

"Haaa!!! Let's rest and eat for a bit! All this boar hunting tired me out!" Earth said

"Sure, Hero" Plina slightly teased

-o-o-o-

After Earth used <Butcher> to a boar carcass, and used <Small Fire> to start a small campfire to cook the boar meat on a clean stick he found

"Tada! Roast Boar!" Earth presented the cooked meat in front of Plina's amazed face

+++++

[Earth's Roast Boar Meat] ×5

Quality - (Common)

Effects:

+5 HP

{A juicy boar meat that formerly embarrassed the cook in front of a girl}

+++++

Plina laughed at the description of the food as Earth tried to hide his face in shame

They started to eat the meat with blissful expressions while they enjoy the tasty umami flavor of the meat

"Your food is tasty as always!" Plina commented

"You're welcome" Earth said before he took a bite into the boar meat and felt his HP recover for a bit

+5 HP

(96/115 HP) Earth

He felt his GIFT activated as he absorbed the flavor of the boar to infuse with

"Huh, what if I..." Earth has been thinking if he can use his other skills in an unusual but useful way like his <Butcher> skill

He looked at his knife with a curious intention

+++++

[Standard Iron Kitchen Knife] (Knive)

DUR: 879

ATK: 7

AGI: 6

MAG: 0

{Earth's trusty food slicer. He named it "Knive". What a weirdo}

+++++

Its durability has been worn out after dealing with those boars and an orc

Plina noticed Earth's gaze upon his knife, "Hey Earth, what are you thinking?" she asked

"I've been wondering if I can use my GIFT in an unusual way, as I did with <Butcher>" he replied

"Your GIFT? You mean your ability to transfer flavor of what you eat to another thing?" Plina said

"Yup!" Earth nodded

"Now, let's see what would happen if I transfer the boar's flavor to my knife" Earth put the flavor of the boar into his knife as his knife glowed mysteriously and changed shape

"What the?!" Earth looked at his knife that turned into a brown-colored knife with a boar tusk on its handle

[You finally unlocked the hidden potential of your GIFT]

-o-o-o-

{Hidden Requirements has been achieved}

(Requirement 1: The user's LV is higher than 1 [Complete])

(Requirement 2: The user needs to transfer a "flavor" into a weapon of some kind [Complete])

(Requirement 3: The user's class needs to a <Chef> [Complete])

Completion Reward: Flavor Mechanics unlocked

-o-o-o-

[New Unique Skill acquired: <Flavor Weaponry>]

[New sub-skills unlocked: <Flavor Form>, <Flavor Mastery>, <Flavor Arts>]

*****

[Boar-Flavor Kitchen Knife] (Knive)

Effects:

[+ 3 AGI, +10 HP]

{Infuse more Boar flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (1/100)

*****

{The user can easily switch between the unlocked flavors of the weapon if the user desires to do so}

Earth looked in shock as he saw the notifications

"What was that?! Did you just turn your knife into a sword or something?!" Plina said, equally shocked as Earth

"My GIFT is not useless..." Earth said slowly

"MY GIFT IS NOT USELESS!!!" Earth shouted again, only louder and filled with joy

"W-What?" Plina still doesn't understand why Earth's knife changed form

"Look Plina!" Earth is shown his Status to her

+++++

"Earth" LV 3 (300/400 EXP)

Class: Chef

{Boar-Flavor Knife equipped}

HP: 115 (+10)

MP: 55

STR: 7

AGI: 9 (+3)

MAG: 4

DEF: 5

Skills:

Unique Skills:

(Sub-Skills)

- <Flavor Form LV 1>

- <Flavor Mastery LV 1>

- <Flavor Arts LV 1>

Flavors:

[Knife]

(Boar-Flavor)

[Cleaver]

-none

GIFT: Consume

+++++

"Woah, it looks like you can unlock more if you use your GIFT other things do" Plina said

"Yeah. With this, I can improve my chances of being a hero, even for a little bit!" Earth replied

His theory was correct. It doesn't matter what class you have, every class have a hidden potential that can be exploited

If he wasn't a Chef, he wouldn't be able to unlock this mechanic

"Right, let's try this method on Clive too" Earth brought his cleaver

He ate another roast boar meat and transferred its flavor to the cleaver

The cleaver changed its appearance as his knife did. The blade turned brown as the handle turned into a boar tusk

*****

[Boar-Flavor Cleaver] (Clive)

Effects:

[+2 STR, +15 HP]

{Infuse more Boar flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (1/100)

*****

[<Flavor Weaponry> has leveled up!]

LV 1 ---> 2

[<Flavor Arts LV 1> has leveled up!]

LV 1 ---> 2

Earth smiled as saw his new skills level rise up more. This was a good discovery

"Time to infuse the rest of the boar flavor to my knife first" Earth said as he ate the rest of the roast boar and infused the flavor to his knife

*****

[Boar-Flavor Kitchen Knife] (Knive)

Effects:

[+ 3 AGI, +10 HP]

{Infuse more Boar flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (4/100)

*****

"I'll keep infusing for boar flavors in the future, maybe I'll unlock something if I max out its mastery" He thought

"Uh? Earth? We may have a problem right now" Plina interrupted the boy, as she pointed at a tree

"What is it? It's just a tree" Earth looked at a tall tree

"No, Earth. That's not a tree..." Plina trembled in fear as she slowly moved backwards

The boy looked again using his <Observe>, only to freeze in fear too

"T-That's a...." He looked at the tree that's started to on its own. The leaves of the plant started to shake and a face started to form on its trunk

"A TREANT!" Earth shouted as he grabbed both his knife an cleaver. The tree monster revealed its true form

"Earth" LV 3 (300/400 EXP)

Class: Chef

{Boar-Flavor Kitchen Knife equipped}

{Boar-Flavor Cleaver equipped}

HP: 115 (+20)

MP: 55

STR: 7 (+2)

AGI: 9 (+3)

MAG: 4

DEF: 5

+++++

"Treant" LV 5

HP: 75

MP: 28

STR: 7

AGI: 6

MAG: 20

DEF: 16

{Botanical monsters that could easily kill an unarmed human with its strong wooden arms. They love to hug}

Skills:

+++++

The treant's roots grabbed one of Earth's foot as he was suddenly dragged towards the monster

"Earth!" Plina shouted at she saw her friend getting pulled by the treant

"Plina! Stay there! Treants can't move but they can still grab you with their roots!" Earth warned Plina to keep a distance

The treant started using <Branch Slap> to hit him. Earth used his arms to block the branches hitting him

[+11 damage] (124/135 HP) Earth

[+9 damage] (115/135 HP) Earth

[+12 damage] (103/135 HP) Earth

"Damn it! <Butcher> doesn't work on monsters without meat!" Earth jabbed his knife to the treant's trunk, followed by a slice with his cleaver

[+9 damage] (66/75 HP) Treant

[+13 damage] (57/75 HP) Treant

Treant was getting angry at the Earth's attempts to damage it. It lifted the boy upside down as more branches hit him

[+14 damage] (89/135 HP) Earth

[+11 damage] (78/135 HP) Earth

[+12 damage] (66/135 HP) Earth

"I need another way to hurt this stupid tree before it turns me into its next fertilizer!" Earth randomly swiped his blade in an attempt to hit the tree monster but he's dangled too far from the treant's main body

Suddenly, a rock hit the treant

[+1 damage] (56/75) Treant

The treant turned its attention to Plina who threw the rock

"Let go of him, you idiotic plant!" she shouted at the Treant

The plant monster growled as it threw Earth away and started to form a magic circle

"Oh no..." Earth looked in terror

Plina took another rock to throw, but something caught her attention

The magic circle, it seems to be normal letters in Plina's eyes. It's broken, but she can read some of its details

×××××

To: At**ck

With: *in*

By: Bl*d*

××××

"What the?" Plina looked at the magic circle in curiosity

[Gale Blade]

"PLINA MOVE!" Earth snapped Plina out of her trance as she narrowly dodged the blades of wind that the treant shot out it leaves

"Think, Earth! Are there other skills that you have that can slice a tree?" He thought

"Wait, that's it! <Slice!>" Earth ran towards the tree with the boosted speed from the new boar flavor and jumped upwards

"<Slice> is normally used to accurately cut the parts of a vegetable. But I'm sure, that it works like <Butcher> too!" Earth thought

Tree trunks are hard to cut when striking horizontally, but like any other plant, it's very easy to cut the stem when it's cut vertically

Thus by Earth jumping and gaining height...

"<SLICE!!!>" Earth sliced the treant from the top of its trunk and cut the whole trunk vertically. Treant screeched as the knife cut its body in half

[☆CRITICAL☆]

[+56 CRIT damage!] (0/75) Treant

[You have defeated a Treant]

[+100 EXP]

[You have leveled up!]

"Earth" LV 3 ---> 4

Class: Chef

HP: 115 ---> 120

MP: 55 ---> 60

STR: 7 ---> 8

AGI: 9 ---> 10

MAG: 4 ---> 5

DEF: 5 ---> 7

[<Slice> has leveled up!]

Slice LV 5 ---> 6

Earth gasped for breath as the treant went down

"That's was intense" he commented

"Earth! Are you okay?" Plina went over to the tired boy

"Yeah, I'm okay" Earth replied to the girl

"I'm glad. I almost lost you there" Plina let out a sigh

"Yeah, thanks for distracting it. That really saved me" he replied. Plina blushed a little bit

"No problem" Plina replied with a slight blush

Earth looked at Treant's body and pulled out the fruit inside the trunk. Plina looked at it in surprise

Plina tried to reply, "Is that the?"

"Treant Fruit. This stuff is mostly used as a golem ingredient by magic users. But!" Earth ate the fruit in one bite, his face immediately scrunch up in response

"Ugh! It's bitter!" He complained about its taste

Plina giggled, "That's what you get by eating weird stuff" she said

Earth brushed off Plina's comment and infused the flavor into his cleaver

*****

[Treant-Flavor Cleaver] (Clive)

Effects:

[+5 DEF +2 STR]

{Infuse more Treant flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (1/100)

*****

Earth looked at the green cleaver with a wooden handle in glee

"Keep this up, you'll have the world's largest collection of weird cleavers and knives" Plina said

Earth chuckled in response, as he looked the remains of the treant again

He picked up a small branch from the trunk and looked at it curiously

"What if I..." Earth crunched at the branch, chewed it and swallowed it

"Earth. What are you doing?" Plina looked at him like he turned into a goat

He infused the flavor into his knife as it changed form into a wooden knife

*****

[Wood-Flavor Kitchen Knife (Knive)

Effects:

[+1 DEF]

{Infuse more Wood flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (1/100)

*****

"Ha! It worked! My GIFT works on other things too!" Earth said. Plina sweatdropped at her friend's antics

"Now, to eat the rest and infuse it into more stuff!" Earth looked at Treant body

*****

[Wood-Flavor Cleaver] (Clive)

Effects:

[+1 STR]

{Infuse more Wood flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (7/100)

*****

[Leaf-Flavor Kitchen Knife] (Knive)

Effects:

[+2 MAG]

{Infuse more Leaf flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (11/100)

*****

[Leaf-Flavor Cleaver] (Clive)

Effects:

[+10 MP]

{Infuse more Leaf flavors to unlock more effects}

Mastery (13/100)

*****

-o-o-o-

The 2 finally headed home, as they leave the Lost Forest

Earth's stomach grumbled as he groaned in pain, "I think I have indigestion now" he complained

"That's what you get for eating wood like a goat" Plina said

"But hey! I finally figured out how to use my GIFT!" Earth said optimistically

"Yeah. Who knew that <Chef> class had potential like that" Plina agreed

"You know, that applies to the other classes too. Like <Librarian!>" He said

She instantly remembered the time she stared at the magic circle. She memorized every detail of that experience

"Hmm, maybe. But I doubt it would be useful" Plina replied

"Oh well" Earth replied as they saw the city walls from the distance

"I think I have enough time for dinner. Wanna come?" Earth said to Plina

"Sure!" Plina agreed

Thier first adventure wasn't so bad after all

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