Nana's Journey

Disclaimer: I actually don't think this is a good story. At all. I have no pacing in mind writing this and haven't done anything to make it pleasurable to read other than correcting the grammar mistakes I see either. Rather than a story, it's me solidifying my thoughts onto paper. I don't even have a coherent plot in mind, just incorporating ideas I find interesting or likeable. I'm kinda just posting it here because I'm paranoid I'll lose it somehow since one of my hard drives fried not too long ago. Born from a mysterious item and promptly chucked into another world due to the circumstances, watch as a very special being slowly explores the world around her at her own pace while also pursuing whatever strikes her fancy. Additional tags I couldn't add: Videogame, Adventure, Pacing? What's that? --- Author Note: Unsure about romance but if I do decide to add it, it will be yuri which is why I added the tag. It will either be no romance or yuri. I think the cover picture is Leona Heidern, not sure.

Immortal_Orca · Fantaisie

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24 Chs

Chapter 18 - Abbadon the. . . Mysterious Expert?

Chapter 18

Changing [Tectonic Shell]'s Resistance bonuses to 50% instead of 100% because I'm an idiot who doesn't know how numbers work and thought having 100% Resistance meant halving the damage taken for some reason. VIT increase stays the same.

Sat on a chair in one of the inn's rooms after a quick stop at the library, Abaddon remembering to pick up the [Appraise] Skill when the issue of actually identifying what they got floated through his mind.

Nana had also gotten one for herself but she didn't seem as enthused as he was about getting it, the girl currently splayed out on the bed too tiny to comfortably fit her frame staring up at the ceiling with a vacant stare.

"Don't you want to open the Mystery Boxes? You also had that [Class Skillbook] (Epic) which you didn't use yet, right?" Abaddon asked reaching into the [Spatial Storage] to retrieve his own, palming the Epic grade one and placing the Legendary grade one on the round wooden table just in front of him.

"Dungeon. When." She murmured in complaint.

"I already told you. We'll have to travel to reach the closest one I know other than the one we just went through which will take hours since GAO doesn't have any teleportation points nor any substitutes for it. Let's do some quests instead, we also need to go back to Clovis and Alexander to hopefully trigger their questline." Abaddon let out a tired sigh after explaining for the hundredth time that no, he couldn't just magically conjure up Dungeons.

"Be quiet and open your boxes. There's no point holding onto them and the faster we get this done, the faster we'll move on."

Hearing her let out a small dissatisfied noise through her nose he redirected his attention to the [Mystery Box] (Epic) in his hand, trying to think of what item would benefit him the most at the moment.

With their current strength nothing in the beginner area would be much of a match against them but his Stats had progressed far faster than his Skills could keep up which left him with a very small repertoire in comparison to what most at his Level would possess.

He wouldn't be all that surprised if there was someone, not counting the girl, that already had more Skills than he did which was a bit weird to think about.

He also wasn't all that concerned with equipment since he'd gotten alot of it from the Dungeon, even more so than usual considering there was only 2 Players to split the loot between, and even then the girl didn't care for any which left him with every piece that dropped.

Now that he thought about it he should probably sell off the excess as quickly as possible, the value would drop the longer he held onto them after all.

If he was allowed to choose what type of item he'd get, he would probably choose something to increase travel speed.

'Grand Terra' as the world of GAO was called by the inhabitants was extremely vast, far eclipsing earth in size and the Devs had for some reason seen it fit to torture the Players with traveling for literal days to get from place to place at it's worse if they didn't have any other method of transportation.

In the early stages it wasn't all that bad but later, especially after they introduced other worlds and connected them to this one, trying to get anywhere in a reasonable timeframe just wasn't possible for the majority of Players.

Not to mention that if he got something like a mount or such now, the idea of going on a crusade through all the beginner Dungeons to claim multiple First Clears before any other Players got strong enough to tackle them turned from impossible to somewhat feasible.

"Uff-!?"Abaddon suddenly sputtered in surprise when something smacked him in the face producing a fleshy thwack, as it slid off and fell down into his lap revealing itself to be a succulent looking red roast shot through with thin veins of pristine white fat he sent the girl an unimpressed stare.

"Did you just. . . Really? You're gonna throw [Forest Boar Meat] at me?"

"Slow."

"What do you mean 'slow'!? You haven't even taken out the boxes yet!" He shouted indignantly, deadpanning when she in the span of a few seconds retrieved them, opened them making the items fall down onto her toned stomach displayed due to her shirt messily hiking up following her impatienly wriggling around, and then threateningly wave another piece of [Forest Boar Meat] in his direction.

"Hurry."

"You didn't even look at what you got. . . Also, you still have that [Class Skillbook] (Epic)." Abaddon muttered with a sigh prompting her to quickly shove her hand into the [Spatial Storage] and once again pop the item just a moment later, the book dissolving into particles of light and entering her body finishing with a brief flash.

". . .You really don't care for any sense of ceremony or anticipation, do you? How you can make opening Mystery Boxes and using Skillbooks seem like a chore is a mystery I don't want to solve."

Not particularly wanting to get another faceful of meat he quickly followed her lead and opened the boxes in swift succession, casting [Apparaise] on both of the items that popped up after the boxes dissolved in a manner similar to Skillbooks.

[Flesh of the Fiend] (Epic)

[Type: Consumable]

[Information: A 10kg chunk of meat torn from a once renounced [Rock Dragon] touted for it's physical prowess and impenetrable scales, it was only with the help of thousands of men and multiple famous personages that it was eventually slain after exhausting it in a battle of attrition lasting many days.]

[Effect: Gives a Major Stat increase to Familiars consuming the item, slight chance of inheriting an additional Skill]

"Is my luck messing with me?" Abaddon voice incredulously, out of all the possible things he got meat. . . Was this really random? Did the [Forest Boar Meat] somehow affect his Mystery Box by proxy!?

[Mysterious Egg] (Legendary)

[Type: Consumable]

[Information: A mysterious egg containing an unknown beast slumbering within it's confines, the pulsing markings running around it's surface seems to emit a feeling of power.]

[Effect: Activate to recieve a random Familiar of Legendary grade, omits the requirement of the [Tamer] Skill]

"YES!" Abaddon shouted in excitement as the bone white egg with what looked like thin fiery orange ribbons spiraling around it's form plopped down into his waiting grasp.

"Flying monster, flying monster, flying monster, flying monster-" He chanted under his breath, not wasting any time to press [Confirm] on the prompt asking whether he wanted to use it now.

A light blue glow reminding him of a certain game he played when he was younger enveloped the egg, growing brighter and brighter until it reached a blinding intensity obscuring it from view forcing him to squint his eyes.

He was just barely able to see the glow converge to form a shape before it slowly died down to reveal the creature now perched in his lap.

The first thing he saw was a pair of big slitted sunset red eyes staring back up at him, sharp brows cutting across the fiery orbs at a slant adding a fierce edge onto it's aerodynamic face, a tiny plummage of red fluff on it's forehead arcing backwards sporting a hooked beak and a slender body covered in jet black feathers.

Casting [Appraise] on the football sized bird, Abaddon slowly read it's information.

---

[Imperial Hell Hawk - Baby] (Legendary)

Rank: Tier 1

HP: 190/190

MP: 260/260

STR: 16

VIT: 19

AGI: 36

INT: 26

PER: 17

Skills: [Hellfire Cinder] Lv.1 (Legendary) - DMG = 300% of INT, 80% chance of applying [Burn] on hit,

Passives: [Spawn of Hellfire] Lv.1 (Legendary) - Increase DMG of Hellfire Skills and Fire Resistance by 100%,

Bound to: Abaddon

---

"Damn. . . 2 Legendary Skills right off the bat, huh? Though it's kind of a shame the way it's HP is calculated got brought down to meet Players' standards. Unfortunately it's probably too small to carry anyone with it, hopefully it grows a bit when it reaches Tier 2." Abaddon mused evaluatingly, cupping his chin as he looked down at the hawk surveying the sparsely decorated room.

Briefly stopping on the window framed by thin blue curtains most likely attracted by the muffled noise penetrating through the glass before moving on.

A slight yelp escaped him as it abruptly started flapping it's wings, taking off a moment later and somewhat shakily flying over to the bed landing beside Nana who just glanced at it before losing interest.

Waddling around, the bird eventually perched snugly burrowed in between the crook of her neck.

"Who's Familiar are you supposed to be, huh?" Abaddon asked as he stood up with a twitching eye and walked over.

As he reached down to pick it up the bird made it's protest clear by nipping at his fingers, waving it's wing in his direction as if shooing him away, it's features pulling into an expression of contempt as if it was looking at a worm.

"Ow! Ow! You-! Come here you little shi-" Surging forwards to grab it amidst it's outraged squawks he eventually managed to remove it from it's spot, lifting it into the air before his eyes suddenly shot wide open.

Swiftly diving in a hasty duck, not even a moment later an infernal black and red colored orb of fire the size of a ping-pong ball sailed over his head, glancingly singing a few strands of hair in it's path.

Thankfully it fizzled out before it made contact with the wall.

Abaddon was frozen in shock with his jaw hanging slackly wondering what the hell just happened, the bird on the other hand proudly puffed out it's chest as if it just accomplished something of utmost importance and hopped out of his hold, proceeding to carefully nudge Nana with it's beak seemingly asking for praise after waddling back to her side.

"Did I really just get attacked by my own Familiar. . . ? I've never heard of anything like this happening to anyone else before. Ever." Abaddon muttered to himself, turning to look at the way his Familiar was acting with Nana, like a child with it's parent. "It's you isn't, it? What did you do to my bird. . ."

Letting out a weary sigh after making another attempt at retrieving his Familiar, and being threated with another [Hellfire Cinder] for his efforts, Abaddon just waved his hand with a tone of surrender and ignored the dumb bird for the moment.

"Nana, do you mind if I check what you got?" He asked to distract himself from his Familiar blantantly picking favorites.

Getting an uncaring hum in response he used [Appraise] on the two items still resting on her stomach, a fact he found rather awkward but since she didn't seem to care it would only seem as if he was deliberately looking if he brought it up.

[Royal Chef's Travel Kitchen Coupon] (Epic)

[Type: Consumable]

[Information: A Royal Chef is always prepared to whip up an exquisite meal for his guest no matter the time nor place, from the comfort of his own kitchen to the desolate deserts, from the chilling northern mountains to out sailing on the vast oceans. This coupon contains the tools necessary to never be caught lacking in culinary instruments again.]

[Effect: Upon activation grants an assortment of kitchen equipment including pans, pots, a knife, a cutting board, multiple steel bowls, [Fire Marble] (Rare), [Water Marble] (Rare) multiple sets of utensils and a [Refilling Spice Satchel] (Epic)]

"Huh. That's. . . convenient, I guess?" Abaddon blinked.

[Race Skillbook] (Legendary)

[Type: Consumable]

[Information: An ancient looking book with a deep red cover, magnificent patterns of orange-gold winds around it's form projecting an aura of majesty. It radiates with a palpable air of power intermixing with an odd sense of age.]

[Effect: Grants a Legendary grade Skill based on Race.]

". . .Really? You're probably the only one that can actually get any use out of this at the moment and you just so happened to pull it? This is so freaking unfair." He complained out loud. "I get a Familiar that somehow doesn't even like me and you get another free Legendary Skill. As if your repertoire wasn't broken enough as it is already."

Apparently catching her attention with his words Nana slowly sat up, sending the bird who had retaken it's initial perch tumbling down her front with a startled squawk.

Picking up both of her items, one in each hand, her eyes flashed with the tell-tale sign of [Appraise] being used before the [Race Skillbook] (Legendary) promptly dissolved and sunk into her body.

A moment later the [Royal Chef's Travel Kitchen Coupon] (Epic) also started glowing, expanding into a large mass of light eventually dying down to reveal a set of items spread out around the bed which she chucked into her [Spatial Storage] whilst glancing at her new Skills.

[Crushing Presence] (Epic)

[Lv.1]

[Type: Channeling]

[Effect: Projects an oppressive aura in a 10 meter radius around you lowering all enemies' Stats by 20%, chance to inflict [Fear] based on strength of will and Stat Count]

[Cost: 50 MP/S]

[Cooldown: 35 seconds]

[Seismic Smash] (Legendary)

[Lv.1]

[Type: Active]

[Effect: An incredibly heavy strike possessing an earth shattering might. DMG = 300% of STR, 90% chance to stun target for 5 seconds]

[Cost: 150 MP]

[Cooldown: 15 seconds]

...

"I wonder if we should get you something to help hide your Stats, it won't be long until more people acquires the [Appraise] Skill after all." Abaddon pondered as the two of them walked towards the training grounds. "Even if it only shows your name, Level and HP at Lv.1, it'll still be a real pain trying to explain away how in the hell you have as much as you do."

"Why." Nana asked from beside him not understanding why he placed such importance on keeping everything so secret. Wasn't it tiring having to monitor every single thing all the time?

"Because we'll become targets of people with both good and bad intentions which will just hinder us in the long run. Although the World Announcement almost messed it all up, the longer we remain 'anonymous' the better."

"Hmmm." She hummed unconcernedly whilst the Imperial Hell Hawk let out a demure chirp from her shoulder, affectionately rubbing itself against her neck.

Abaddon had already fed it the [Flesh of the Fiend] which beefed up it's Stats quite a bit before they left the inn, the bird with it's new strength being quite scary for the majority of the current Player base.

Unfortunately it didn't gain any additional Skills from consuming it.

Arriving at their destination a couple of minutes later the two easily spotted Alexander and Clovis' figures despite the large crowd of Players gathered around them, most of which very likely returned after grinding for a bit and were now trying to trigger a quest from either of them, the instructors for [Mage], [Healer], [Rogue] and [Ranger] equally besieged in another section of the large field.

"Annoying." Abaddon sighed, he didn't know whether it was such a good idea walking up to talk with them now considering the amount of Players around, inwardly weighing the pros and cons of waiting until they eventually dispersed, however, that could be in a few minutes or multiple hours.

He was sure there would be at least a few people who'd refuse to give up that easily, people could be extremely stubborn if they wanted to, he knew that very well.

Whilst he wasn't paying really paying attention he completely missed Nana tilting her head, her features briefly turning thoughtful.

Abaddon felt a sense of deja vu when he was once again lifted up without warning, thankfully not by the ankle this time, and momentarily blinked incomprehensibly before his mind caught up with him and spoke up in bewilderment whilst he began squirming around.

He really didn't want to be seen in his current position by anyone else and with so many people around, he was sure that his fears would come true any second now.

"W-What's with you and picking me up!? Let me down!" He frantically whispered as he tried prying her fingers off the back of his shirt even if he knew that if she herself didn't want to let go then he could do absolutely nothing about it courtesy of her bullshit STR Stat.

His struggled increased in intensity alongside his heart dropping when the girl started walking towards the crowd, Abaddon going through various emotional stages from panic and alarm to eventual resigned acceptance when one of the Players happened to turn around and saw him limply hanging in her grip.

Thankfully his attention was quickly diverted when he registered the amazonian giant 'speed walking' towards him, she was walking normally but her size made it so one of her steps covered almost twice the distance of a normal person, and instinctively stumbled out of her way.

"Wha-!? HEY!"

"Stop pushing me!"

"I'm fucking trying, dipshit! The one behind me, whoever it is, you better pray I don't see your face asshole!"

"I-Is it someone further back? I'm kinda getting crushed over here."

Shouts of anger and discomfort rang out as everyone standing in her path were suddenly forced into the person next to them creating a domino effect resulting in those on the outer edges having to move away, unfortunately for those trapped in the middle, alot of people tried pushing back instead making them feel like a tin of tightly packed sardines.

"Oh, it's you girl. You're back pretty quickly, how'd your training go? Those Rabbits don't hurt much but they're pretty quick and nimble on their feet. Good practice for new Tanks." Alexander who looked over hearing the commotion quite easily spotted the promising girl he could've sworn was half or quarter giant muscling her way through the crowd of new recruits that'd suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

"Quest." The girl requested when she arrived in front of him carrying her friend by the scruff of his neck.

"Huh? You too? What's with these 'quests' everyone is suddenly clammering about?" Alexander voiced scratching the back of his head in confusion, turning to Clovis who was equally stumped by the wave of people asking for 'quests' and hummed, his face turning thoughtful.

"Perhaps legends of old has become more popular lately? It could be the reason why we've gotten so many new recruits in such a short amount of time, in the tales it depicted their hardships and triumphs which I suppose conquests, or 'quests', would be another way of calling it."

"Hmph. It's good to have ambitions, but replicating such feats? There's a reason why they went down in history as legends." Alexander stated gravely with crossed arms, sending a warning glare at the crowd.

"Whilst true, why don't we humor them for a bit? Maybe having a tangible goal presented will motivate them and we can decide on the 'quests' difficulty instead of those of foolhardy courage throwing their lives away attempting to take on something that they cannot." Clovis eyes flashed as he mused ponderingly, leaning in to whisper to his friend.

"Oho, good idea." Alexander perked up at the thought of acting like one of those illustrous mentors/teachers often included in a legend's journey. The retired life was also pretty boring compared to what he was used to so he'd happily welcome anything that'd take the edge of the monotony even if only slightly.

"Listen up, oh brave Adventurers!" He bellowed grandly, raising his large arms into the sky. "I bestow upon you the first Quest on your. . . your-"

"Uh, Clovis?"

"Epic?"

"-On your EPIC journey towards etching your glorious deeds into the annals of history to be remembered evermore! However, your path has to start somewhere yet, before you set your sights on monsters of untold power and fame, I task you to bring me [Rabbit Hide] x25 and [Rabbit Foot] x15."

...

As most of the Players dispersed after receiving a quest notification following Alexander's 'speech', with some more disgruntled than others due to waiting for such a long time and only getting such a mundance quest, Nana turned to Abaddon who'd finally managed to 'escape' her grasp.

"Rabbit. Strong?"

"No. They're even weaker than the Forest Boars you fought. The ones outside the Dungeon." He specified.

"Other quest." She stated flatly, turning back to the instructor duo.

"Hoh? You went to take on the Forest Boars? Although I like your bravery don't get too carried away, getting surrounded by those overgrown pigs are a real pain to deal with especially since they have the [Charge] Skill." Alexander nodded impressed but still cautioned, it would be a shame if she died before she could fully realize her potential as a [Tank].

"Other quest." Nana repeated when she spotted that he didn't intend to speak any furter regarding quests.

Holding the girl's stare and seeing the stubborness contained within them, Alexander hypocritically sighed at her impatience, ignoring his own tendency to recklessly act before stopping to think, and began listing a bunch of different monsters, increasing the difficulty level each time, every one of them being dismissed just as fast as the last after she consulted her friend who was apparently very knowledgeable when it came to monsters.

"Fine, tell you what. If you can bring me the [Boar Prince's Hide] from the Green Leaf Forest Dungeon on top of managing to push me back with a punch and withstanding a blow I find adequate, I'll give you a Quest that won't disappoint you." Alexander eventually ran out of options and proposed a compromise instead.

"Now, don't just rush into the Dungeon thinking it's going to be eas-" He began, going silent as the girl reach into a crack in space to retrieve a large sheet of green hide much thicker than normal [Forest Boar Hide] and presented it to him.

"A spatial storage?" Clovis muttered with wide eyes from the side.

Alexander was equally surprised but shook it off a few moments later and began inspecting the hide instead, it wasn't his place to meddle in.

"It's genuine." He eventually concluded, however, although the item itself wasn't fake, it didn't completely remove the possibility of her having simply bought it from someone else.

He didn't think she seemed like such a person and moreover how she knew beforehand what he was going to ask of her but he'd added the other clauses just in case, they would apparently come in handy rather soon.

"Alright then, give it your best shot." Alexander took a few steps back and gestured with a come hither motion, entering a wide stable stance whilst baring his chest in her direction, giving it a pat of 'aim here'.

Seeing where things were going Abaddon nervously glanced around and breathed out a sigh of relief once he saw that the remaining Players had also left the training grounds, he didn't want anyone else to be here and see the ensuing event.

Getting a bit curious, he cast [Appraise] on the boisterous man waiting for the girl to make a move.

[Valiant Shield - Alexander] (Epic)

Rank: Tier 4

HP: 18860

Disregarding the Epic grade tag which didn't effect his Stats but rather represented a mix between reputation/fame/relevance, Abaddon wasn't surprised to see his HP, guessing that his Stat total most likely laid somewhere around the upper Tier 4 from 4000-4600.

Seeing Nana preparing herself, even if he already knew that she could use Skill Superimposition, he was slightly startled when she suddenly cranked it up from 2 Skills to 4.

[Earth Magic - Elemental Coat]

[Water Magic - Elemental Coat]

[Shield Bash]

[Seismic Smash]

The blocky earth gauntlet quickly covered her fist with a shield-like disk attached followed by a shell of water surging to life revolving around it, a prickly film of white energy flecked with slivers of deep blue and murky yellow flared up whilst the other Skill he hadn't seen her use yet was announced with a heavy 'Thoom' noise ringing out, a dull vibrating glow being emitted from her right hand distorting the area around it.

Before Alexander and Clovis who were startled by the handful of Skills activating simultaneously could react, the burly Tank instructor was smashed into the ground with a loud boom echoing across the training grounds, a large cloud of dust exploding from the point of impact.

-13516 *Stun*

Abaddon gulped heavily looking at the line displaying a damage number capable of killing him 13 times over that appeared in the air.

"Thank fuck we're on the same team." He muttered under his breath. Digging into his slightly ringing ear, just barely able to hear his Familiar making a ruckus hovering in the sky in response to the loud noise.

Clovis, after snapping out of his daze and picking up his jaw from the ground immediately went to check on Alexander, his shoulders sagging in relief upon finding him still conscious if a bit bleary now sporting a big indent on his front, a large part of his chest crushed with tiny streams of blood seeping out of split skin and ruptured flesh.

Clovis swiftly went to fetch the [Healer] class instructor, a portly woman with a gentle air about her dressed in a spotless white dress holding a wooden staff with a golden scepter head attached to the top hurried over and blanched upon seeing Alexander, proceeding to cast multiple spells until he was stabilized.

Forgetting to ask how or why he ended up in such a state in the first place in her haste, she regarded Clovis with a few strongly worded warnings and reprimands before huffily disappearing into the large training hall next to the martial grounds muttering about reckless muscle-bound idiots.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I was just ran over. Did you catch the carriage's emblem?"

"Unfortunately not. I was preoccupied at the time." Clovis let out a slight chuckle, relaxing with Andrea's assurance of Alexander's health. The both of them weren't strangers to getting roughed up but the amount of times he'd seen his sturdy friend take that amount of damage, within such a short amount of time at that, could be counted on one hand. "Though I do recall hearing the townsfolk talk about a man around your height goading one to ram into him at max speed. I wonder how he fared."

Alexander gingerly propped himself up with a slight wince. "I think I heard Andrea's voice somewhere through the waterlog, why am I still feeling like someone dropped a mountain on me?" He complained as he shakily stood up, Clovis coming over to prop him up in support, making his way to the nearest wall and plopped down against it.

"If I had to guess, maybe as a warning not to do anything as stupid in the future."

"Hmph, sound like something she'd do. Though how could I have known the girl ate a dragon during the few hours she was away." Alexander scoffed. "Speaking of which-"

Turning his head he met the girl's waiting exotic eyes with his own.

"How the hell did you get so strong all of a sudden? Could'a sworn you weren't holding anything back in your little test."

"Dungeon." Abaddon who had quickly reacted exasperatedly retracted the hand that had reached out in a bid to cover her mouth, letting out a misererable sigh as she answered too fast for him to act.

"Hmm?" Raising a disbelieving eyebrow at her reply Alexander held her stare, his eyes narrowing searchingly as he looked for any hint of falsehood, not knowing what to think when he found absolutely nothing other than a blunt honesty.

"Well, I suppose the 'how' doesn't really matter now that it's already happened." He breathed out, well, it would matter if it was a result of malicious means but he'd give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

Always innocent until proven guilty.

He WAS a bit suspicious though and inwardly resolved to keep an eye out for anything odd in her behavior or manners, it would be a great shame, but unfortunately not the first time he'd seen someone fall into the trap of utilizing less proper ways to acquire power after succumbing to greed.

"Clovis, you do the second test for me, would ya. You're probably better at gauging her defenses either way."

"I don't mind."

...

"Are you ready?" Clovis asked stood facing the girl, one arm pinned behind his back and the other equipped with a dull practice rapier he'd fetched. "Oh, yes. Have you gotten your attributes checked lately?"

"Hmm?"

"Is your Vitality beyond 200 points?"

"Mm."

"Then, here I go." He warned inwardly a bit startled at her confirmation to his rather crude prodding, his features stilling into a look of focus as he slowly advanced in a stable lower stance with his lead leg forward.

Abaddon watched from the side alongside Alexander and, unable to stop himself, cast another [Appraise].

[Silver Needle - Clovis] (Epic)

Rank: Tier 4

HP: 3210

"Oh, shi- Wait, no it'll be fine. Since AGI is his main stat she probably won't even be able to react to his attack." He muttered to himself, bringing up the Party Status to check how much of a dent the man would make in her monstrous HP bar.

[Sterling Lunge]

A glossy almost viscious silvery energy covered Clovis' form before he disappeard from the spot.

Making sure that he wouldn't hit anything dangerous despite currently wielding a rapier meant for sparring, Clovis instead directed his attention to gauging the girl's response to what in her view must've been his blurry figure rushing towards her too fast to really do anything other than watch.

He had found it a bit negligent of her to not retrieve her shield, however, he had given her ample time to ready herself which hopefully meant the soon to be quite painful lesson would stick with her.

He wasn't going all out of course, he didn't want to kill the girl, a task that became much easier now that she'd confirmed that there was more to her than just Strength.

Locking gazes with the unmoving girl, Clovis suddenly received another shock when to his great surprise, what he saw wasn't anything he'd have expected from her in this scenario.

He wouldn't have blamed her for panicking, stumbling or screaming considering she was still new and most likely hadn't seen anyone as fast as him before.

Instead however he only saw a boundless calm and tranquility alongside an undercurrent of calculating edge he'd only seen on experienced warriors, not only that, he realized she was fully aware of the situation, apparently enough to even evaluate her options which became clear when she went to block before abandoning the idea upon discovering the massive difference in the speed of their movements.

He would have already made contact by the time she'd managed raise her arm.

Clovis could practically see various alternative options float past her mind as he neared, in the end, for some reason he could not understand since she clearly had more tricks up her sleeve, she decided to let him strike true uninterrupted.

Last time he'd checked his Attributes, his Agility sat around 2340 and he'd probably gained a few points since then so he only struck with half his total, the [Sterling Lunge] bringing that number up by 50%.

Since they had a, if probably soon to be quite cross with him, Healer on hand, he could go harder than he usually would on new recruits.

1755 damage should probably bring her down to just the edge which would hopefully instill in her the importance of actually being ready with a shield on hand.

-877 (877 Damage Resisted)

"Huh?" Clovis blinked in incomprehension, he was sure that he'd put the appropriate amount of power in his strike but she seemed to have even barely felt it.

Did he miscalculate somewhere?

Abaddon saw her HP dip before essentially going back to full 3 seconds later, once again lamenting at the unfairness of her absolute bullshit.

Not only monstrous HP and Regen, but also the [Tectonic Shell] Skill which effectively cut the damage of physical attacks in half.

To take her down, on the premise that Clovis managed to replicate that exact amount of damage, would need to simultaneously hit her 99 times.

Even more if it was over a longer period of time because she'd just start regenerating again.

...

After both Alexander and Clovis had consulted between themselves on top of some more testing they had eventually reached the conclusion, much to their shock, that the girl had gotten strong enough even they would've hesitated to engage her in battle.

Alexander more than Clovis since she seemed to lack in Agility which wasn't surprising considering her class of choice.

From what he'd seen Clovis was fairly confident he could, if properly utilized, rely on his advantage in speed to stall her for a bit, however, she would eventually outlast him in terms of stamina, the nonchalance with which she faced him with also had him on edge wondering what else she could do in a real fight.

"Then, I suppose we are in agreement entrusting this to the girl, yes?"

"Of course!"

"Good." Clovis nodded, beckoning the girl placidly waiting for their verdict over it a hand.

Explaining the situation and what their 'quest' involved with a dignified visage to further convey it's importance, he then stepped back a bit to let her decide whether she'd like to accept or not on her own.

"We are not entirely sure of this, however, we have not received any signs of communication lately and it's possible someone is deliberately intercepting or sabotaging our usual messengers on the road."

...

[Perilous Courier] (Epic)

Type: Chain Quest - First Part

Quest Reqirements: Deliver [Weekly Report] to [??? - Marcus] in the Crisa Kingdom's barracks.

Rewards: 15 HP Potions (Medium), 15 MP Potions (Medium), 6000 Gold Coins

Nana dismissed the quest window with a swipe of her hand as she followed behind Abaddon who looked to be deep in thought trudging along the town's cobble streets.

"Do we really need the extra gold right now? Disregarding the negatives that came with the World Announcement, we got alot of gold which will probably last fairly long depending on how we spend it." He mumbled to himself as he weighed the pros and cons of selling the surplus he had in equipment after picking out a few pieces for himself.

[Bandit's Leather Hood - Head] (Uncommon)

Lv.18

Attributes: +2 STR, +1 VIT, +7 AGI, +4 INT, +9 PER