Chapter 3 - Outside

"Today's the day, huh. You better come back home alive every time you go on an adventure you brat" Regas with his bald head said with a serious look on his face. Honestly, his father looked so ridiculous that Arthur wanted to laugh so bad.

The same could also be said to Zeke and Elisse they didn't even dared to look at their father and just focused their gaze at the table.

"I... will dad" Arthur bit his lip a little and did everything in his power to not laugh at his father.

"Good." Regas nodded and reached out to Arthur. He then inserted a plain looking pitch black ring on Arthur's ring finger.

"Inside of it contains your favorite type of sword and a light armour."

Arthur immediately inspected the ring after hearing his father's words.

[ Poor Man's Storage Ring (Rare) - A storage ring that contains a 5 x 5 ft space that can be used as a storage space by the user. An extremely limited storage space befitting of its name. When equipped, Magic +10 / Mana + 10. ]

"You just need to think that you want to open it and it will then show it contents to you. Or if you want to store something then you just to think that you want to store it." Regas didn't forget to instruct Arthur.

After that, the family had a meal together. Which then turned into lecture where they told Arthur what to do and not to do. Arthur could only nod at them and heed their words.

When the lecture finally ended and making sure that he is ready, Arthur bid his family goodbye especially to his mother.

Arthur finally arrived at the gate, he couldn't help but take deep breaths before taking a step forwards.

Two people blocked his way and both of them were First Tier Evolvers, they were the guards that are on duty to guard the gate.

"Show us your ID, kid." A First Tier guard that looked like he was in his thirties commanded Arthur. Grumpiness could easily be found in his voice which Arthur didn't like.

Arthur didn't say anything and just quickly took out his ID from his storage ring and showed it to the guard.

The guard received Arthur's card but when he took a look at it, his body visibly shuddered.

Good gods! This kid in front of him was an Astraea?! He didn't even doubt the card that was in his hands because the card is created by using special materials combined with a skill and for that reason, counterfeits could easily be identified.

The guard's back immediately straightened and the way he acted was a complete 180° to how he acted earlier.

"Have a safe trip sir!" The guard gave Arthur's ID back before sending him off. The other guard who watched the scene play in front of him was highly confused.

"That kid is an Astraea." Brief but powerful words came out from the guard's mouth and the other guard immediately understood and was glad that he didn't acted rude.

While the guards were talking about Arthur, Arthur have already forgotten about them and was busy looking at the map that his older brother gave him before he left.

Arthur was now wearing the light armor that his father gave him. It was very normal looking, the shoulder pads and knee pads was rounded in style and dark blue in color. While the armor's chest, only the right part of the of it was covered in metal. While the rest of the armor was pure leather. This set of armor gave him an extra stats of +5 both in strength and agility while it gave the health stat a +8.

Right at his waist was a curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip to accommodate one or two hands. It was his favorite sword, the katana.

Arthur had instructed his father what type of sword he wanted. Regas immediately took notes of it and made a novice blacksmith make it. The result of it was a common sword that only gives +5 in strength stat.

Regas was satisfied with the result because he didn't want Arthur to rely too much on items that can one shot anything under the Unranked Tier. What if Arthur fights an enemy that his items cannot fight against? The answer is he would helplessly die and it was not just because of his powerful enemy but also because of his oh so great items that hindered his battle experience.

Arthur took a look at his current stats.

[ Arthur Von Astraea -

Level : 0 (Unranked)

Race : Human

Job : NONE

Status Points : 0

Magic : 130 (+10) / Strength : 15 (+10) / Agility : 10 (+5) / Health : 20 (+8) / Stamina : 17 / Mana : 150 (+10)

Active Skills : NONE

Passive Skills : NONE ]

When Arthur first saw his stats he immediately told his mother about it and the latter was shocked! Even she was considered as a genius among geniuses with only 80 to 90 points in Magic and Mana when she first started!

Arthur couldn't help but chuckle when he remembered the time his mother saw his stats, he closed his Index and started to walk towards the Forest of Beginning.

It was called as such because it was a place for beginners or for people who have started their Evolver journey.

The deeper you go into the forest the higher the threat will be.

Arthur unsheathed his weapon and held it with his right hand.

The forest stretched up to 8 to 10 meters in height and its branches blocked most of the sunlight.

Arthur could see other Unranked Evolvers far from his right side fighting some creature. He gave them a glance before going to the opposite direction.

He continued his walk when suddenly a grasshopper-like creature that was at least 21cm in size flew like a bullet in his direction.

This grasshopper-like creature was at least 3 times bigger than the ones found on Earth!

Its jaw opened revealing a set of extremely sharp incisors as it gushed out saliva and was ready to tear apart Arthur's head.

Arthur reacted to it instinctively and slashed his katana downwards! The creature died instantly under Arthur's attack and was sliced in half. It fell to the ground with blood gushing out from its halved body forming a mini puddle of green blood below Arthur's feet.

A series of notification hovered on Arthur's retina.

[You have acquired a portion of Unranked Level 5 - Flesh Eater Grasshopper's Index. Agility +8 / Strength +4 / Stamina +2.]

[You have leveled up to level 2. You are given 3 free stat points.]

[You have leveled up to level 3. You are given 3 free stat points.]

Arthur noticed himself getting stronger with this kill. He looked fine even though he was attacked by a creature 5 levels above him.

However, contrary to his outward appearance, Arthur nearly pissed himself when the grasshopper flew towards him. He was once again thankful for his father because of his training.

'I was that close to being a floating ball again.' Arthur grumbled before he poured all of his free stat points in to his agility stat.

Arthur looked down on the grasshopper's body and what he saw felt like heaven! There two items, one was a scroll dyed with orange and the other one was a cube that was the size of a rubik's cube. The color of the cube was green which represented the color of uncommon items.

Skills can be obtained by learning it from a scroll. However, not all scrolls are skills some of them are recipes for making certain items or potions and etc. Meanwhile, the cube ones represent items.

The items are separated by grade and color. It is arranged as follows: Common (Gray) > Uncommon (Green) > Rare (Blue) > Unique (Navy) > Epic (Purple) > Legendary (Yellow) > Mythical (Red) > Divine (White).

He crouched down and picked up two items from the grasshopper's body.

Arthur was lucky to get not one but two drops from the grasshopper! Honestly the only thing he was expecting was a skill scroll. Why? Because skills are certain drops for people who achieved their first kill. This skill would then become the pillar for their Job Change when they reach level 20.

That was why he felt happy when he saw that there was an extra freebie!

Arthur crushed the cube in his hands, it turned into particles of light before turning in to an earring.

[Gale Earring (Uncommon) - An equipment that grants a small boost on the user's agility. It also has an active skill attached to it. Agility +5.

Active Skill Effect : Increase user's Agility by 15% for 30 seconds.

Skill Cooldown : 15 minutes. ]

An additional stat and an active skill effect! Arthur gladly wore the earring on his left ear, he didn't have a hole so he made one. He only felt a little sting before it subsided instantly.

He had save the best for last and now was the time to open it.

Arthur inspected the skill scroll and his eyes lit up in anticipation.