Strange (2)

Seraph eventually found his way to John and Astrid, who were talking. The moment they noticed Seraph, John raised his wooden sword leaning it on his shoulder while Astrid came up to him and hugged him.

Seraph was a little opposed to physical contact after his experience with the two 'thots', so he pulled away from Astrid after a short embrace and picked up his own sword which was leaning against a tent.

"You're late." John looked seraph up and down.

Seraph noticed his patient and observing gaze and suddenly felt a shiver down his spine "Do I look different?" He ignored John's statement and asked him directly.

"Hmmm, Now that you mention it you got a little taller and you grew a bit more muscle on your body." John closed in on seraph and measured his height with his own before grabbing seraph's arm and squeezing it.

"O-oh." Seraph nodded.

"Something wrong?" John pulled away from seraph and sat down on the ground.

Seraph sat with him, "Nah, People have just been treating me a bit differently."

Astrid at this point poked her head into the conversation, "Really who?!" She sat down next to seraph, slightly leaning her body against his.

"Mostly all the girls…" Seraph said with a slight bush across his cheek, he still couldn't get his interaction with the two girls out of his head.

Astrid just paused, while John hummed a moment before saying "Maybe it's because of the training, maybe they're finally recognizing your manliness from the constant training I've been giving you and are showing some attention to you." John got up and flexed his muscles.

Astrid just looked at seraph's face, "You know… I think it's just because… you've just gotten more…"

Seraph could see the blush spread on her cheeks, which made him confused "I've gotten more what?"

"Handsome…" Astrid attempted to look away from his face but her eyes immediately went back to his face. Seraph could see her eyes search his body, which made him feel like he needed to cover up.

"Anyway!" Seraph shot up from the ground, attempting to disperse the awkwardness from the situation and faced John who was still admiring his own muscles "Let's train!"

John smiled, "You really got more eager to train." He stood in front of a tent.

John raised his sword and pointed it at seraph, Seraph did the same and ran toward John.

John moved to the side, and turned his sword in an arc to then strike seraph's side.

Seraph replied in kind, turning his body to face John and cutting his sword down. A huge clak reverberated through the air as the two swords collided against each other, john's sword held still while seraph felt a shock wave run up his arm to his shoulder making him shiver.

Seraph's sword only held on for a moment, before being blasted away by John's powerful strike. Seraph had already continued to move, taking John's shoulder and allowing the sword to sail into his previous position.

His sword raised slightly he slashed down in a quick cut aimed at john's shoulder, John ducked under the strike and slammed his shoulder into seraph's chest. Seraph was nearly blown off his feet, skidding along the ground his hair flew up to the air and landed gently across his face.

He blew the piece of hair away to see John, already in his face. Sword raised and his muscles flexed for a powerful blow.

Seraph immediately abandoned caution and dived to the left and away from john. John's sword missed its target by the laces on Seraph's shoe. He rolled twice before turning around with a sword in hand and facing the raging bull known as john.

John's hair went past his head, his beard fluttered from how fast he was running toward seraph and his eyes narrowed as if he was searching seraph's body even as the fight was going on. He swung out his sword again, this time he cleaved to seraph's chest.

Seraph backed up and allowed the swing to pass his chest by mere inches once more, he recovered his guard and raised his sword.

John didn't stop there, without any fear of seraph's counter attack he rushed forward turning his slash into a stab aimed at seraph's chest.

Seraph moved to the side quickly but felt a harsh impact collide onto his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock, he had backed up into a tent.

'How?' His chest immediately turned red and a bruise was already forming after the hit, off balanced seraph flew back and collided into the tent next to him. The tent was extremely sturdy as it was made with wolf skin so it bounced seraph off and he collided on the ground.

[ +1 Strength ] [ + 2 Agility ]

Seraph heard the notification as he struggled to get back to his feet. Astrid who was watching the fight rushed over to his side and began healing him immediately. After that she looked at John with a hard glare and immediately began arguing with him.

Seraph couldn't care to listen as he opened his status,

[Name [Seraph Morning]

[Rank: Novice (Monk) ]

[Level 1, 1/100 EXP ]

[Strength, 4]

[Agility, 4]

[Endurance, 7]

[Mana, 5]

[Charm, 2]

Passives,

Resistance Pain,

Active,

Preach, Purify, Holy Light (89%)

Souls: 0

'How did I gain some strength?'

Immediately a message popped in front of his eyes [ By rigorous training ]

'How far can I increase it only using training?'

[ Up to 6, This does not include Charm ]

Seraph got up, he was smiling internally, which spread to an unrestrained smile across his face when he stood up. Causing John and Astrid to pause and look at seraph oddly, he just got his ass laid out a moment ago and now he was happy?

'I must have hit the kid too hard... '

'That bastard hurt seraph to this extent!'

Seraph noticed their odd gazes, he quickly came up with a lie "Thank you, this is just nice… Everything, right now is just nice. I've got two good friends, more friends than I ever had back over there and I feel like I'm getting stronger." Seraph gave a brilliant smile causing astrid to run up to him and hug him, John came behind and hugged the both of them.

After that, Seraph and John sat on the ground together just discussing the bible, Astrid was also there sitting her head on seraph's shoulder and just listening to the two talk. They sounded like old men when they talked about the bible, making Astrid smile when she realized how mature seraph was getting. After some time seraph realized that the percentages for the bible wouldn't increase anymore.

It stopped at a sharp 95% without moving at all.

Seraph felt disappointed that he had another blockage, but he felt like he didn't have a need to hurry around this time he could relax for now because there was nothing he really needed to do other than to work hard. If he worked hard he could max out all his base stats to an above average level and then hunt with John when he finished with his training.

However, John seemed to have a different idea.

"Seraph, we're going on a camping trip tomorrow." John looked to the side momentarily, before turning his gaze to the sky.

"Camping trip?" Seraph chuckled "Aren't we already on a camping trip right now?"

"I meant we're going out into the forest and bunkering down for the entire day." John gaze focused toward the sky.

Astrid immediately jumped up "An entire day?! That's suicide even the level 2's wouldn't do that!"

John shook his head "This is vital to seraph's growth, and don't worry we won't go far, I've already set up some safe place in the forest where we would be going. "

John then turned his head to seraph "Get up early tomorrow and come to me directly. We need to have a lot of time to get everything set up and ready."