Partying Up

"Phew!"

He was a little exhausted. The level-up really helped but even that couldn't stop the jitters from the aftermath of an intense battle.

"Hey, you alright?" Kazi asked the young swordswoman. "Thanks for the assistance there. If it wasn't for you, I'd be in trouble."

Sun-young gave a curt nod.

"I'm Kazi, by the way. Kazi Hossain." He held out hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Kazi had seen a lot of things in life, but never had seen anyone this awkward in shaking a hand. Still, he tried to be non-judgmental.

"Mm." Sun-young barely met his eyes too. She wasn't shy, she was rather serious and baggy-eyed. It was like she struggled with eye contact.

'Oh, I see.' His smile softened. He met a lot of kids like her. There was nothing wrong with it.

"W-we did it?"

Oh, right. The person who attacked the Slime Jack from behind, it was William, the blond kid that had led the monster to him in the first place.

"Yeah, I think so!" Kazi sent a thumbs-up. "Good work, by the way! That last minute clutch attack from behind was great!"

William blushed and sheathed his axe. "T-thanks."

"Unequip." Automatically, Kazi's weapon teleported into his sheath. William went wide-eyed at that.

"Y-you can do that!?"

Kazi tilted his head slightly. "Let me guess, you didn't ask Azrael about the specifics of the inventory."

"N-not really."

Kazi shook his head, laughing. "Well, now you know."

Out of curiosity, he did a cursory check on his name, class, and level. William Martin. Class: Amateur Axeman. Level 6. He was unexpectedly broad for someone with such baby features.

He peered over his shoulder and read the text above Yoon Sun-young. Her name was as she claimed and her class was Amateur Swordsman. She was level 7, the same as Kazi. That was a relief. She seemed strong so it was good to know he wasn't lagging behind.

"Honestly, you should really thank her," said Kazi, jabbing a thumb at the swordswoman. "She came in at literally the best moment."

"Thank you." Rather than approach, William gave an appreciative fist. Such an awkward guy. Kazi laughed in his head.

"I owe you one, Sun-young." Pause. Kazi scratched his cheek. "Oh, wait, I should call you Yoon, eh? My bad."

"It's fine." She remained a little ways away and her voice was quite soft. "I'm happy I could help."

"Wanna buddy up, Ms. Sun-young?" Kazi suggested. He got the feeling that that specific suffix resonated with her. "The three of us made a pretty good team, I think."

"Like make a party?" William scrunched up his face. "You can do that?"

"You seriously didn't ask questions, did you?"

"N-not really, no."

"It's no biggie." Kazi crossed his arms. "You just have to add the person to your friends list and then—"

"There's a friend list!?" William exclaimed.

"Yes." Kazi chuckled and removed an arm to gesture and explain. "Add William Martin as a friend."

Beep! Two screens were summoned. William let out a small gasp and his blue eyes became starry. "Woah. That's wicked."

William accepted the friend request without question. In his head, Kazi gave out the same command and the same screen for Sun-young. She blinked and also accepted.

"So you guys wanna do it? Wanna party up?"

"Sure!" William responded. "To be honest, this forest is scary and given that I'm a woodchopper that's saying something."

"You are?"

"Well, technically, I'm the son of a woodchopper. My dad does a family business up in Newfoundland."

"Wait, you're Canadian? You're the second Canadian I've ever met in my life!"

"And you're, er…" William's gaze went from his face to his complexion. "...Indiaaaaan?"

"Nah, I'm from Bangladesh." Kazi turned and pointed at Sun-young with a lax index finger. "And she's Korean, I believe."

Her name made it an obvious guess. Sun-young bobbed her head. "Mhm."

Visibly impressed, William remarked, "I can't believe that all of you guys can speak English."

"About that…I might know English but that's not how I'm speaking to you right now. For me, you guys are speaking Bengali."

"Wait, so." William's thick bushy eyebrows narrowed. "The Game System is translating our languages to each other?"

"I think so, and I think you can change the language you're hearing through settings too."

"Oh yeah, I did see the language options."

"Yep. The Game System is pretty robust and thorough." Kazi didn't mention the minor glitch he experienced. He himself didn't understand it, so why bring it up.

"Dude, also, how the hell are you wielding two swords?" William's exasperation caught Kazi by surprise. "I remember weighing the sword and even though it's not an axe it's definitely not easy to use with one hand."

"Yeah," Sun-young chimed in. "I found a sword in a treasure chest and equipped it as my current one because it was better. I never thought about using two because it would be way too heavy."

"Really?" Kazi grabbed his arm and flexed jokingly. "I guess I'm stronger than I thought, haha."

Nah, he knew. He wasn't just stronger than the average person, he was much smarter too. Named after the great poet, born and raised in Kurigram District of Bangladesh to parents that abandoned him, Kazi was someone who went from nothing to something. Who built himself through nothing but sheer determination. He wasn't some snob. He wasn't born from wealth, the middle class or the working class. He came from the gutter. The worst of it, yet he lived and pursued his dreams nonetheless.

"I'm gonna check my stats." Kazi winked. "Maybe get even stronger."

'Open status.'

[ Status: Kazi Hossain

Class: Amateur Player

Level: 7

HP: 45

HP/Minute: 3.03

MP: 64

MP/Minute: 7.75

Attack: 24

Defence: 10

Attributes

Strength: 12

Resilience: 9

Agility: 12

Deftness: 61

Vitality: 7

Magical Might: 8

Magical Mending: 8

Distributive Points: 6 ]

'Level 7 sure is a big leap. My HP has tripled since level one.' His finger pressed on the Class section.

[ Available Classes

Mage: Passive Control of Mana, Magic Barrier, Elemental Manipulation ]

Intermediate Swordsman: Intermediate Sword Proficiency, Stamina Surge Lv. 2 ]

The Intermediate Swordsman was just an evolved version of the Amateur Swordsman. The Mage Class, however, was a whole other beast. Passive Control of Mana was a Class Skill that decreased MP cost by 25%. Magic Barrier was also a Class Skill: a barrier that protected the player from attacks and could be strengthened through their own flow of mana. Then there was Elemental Manipulation, which passively increased the seven basic elements—fire, lightning, wind, earth, water, holy, and dark—by 25%.

All in all, it was an astounding class, to the point that Kazi wasn't sure if he deserved it. It almost seemed like he attained the class too early.

'I should check my General Skills too. Open skills.'

Three screens popped up. One for General Skills, one for Passive Skills, and the last for Class Skills for the corresponding class. Attacks like Spark Strike were in the General Skills section.

[ General Skills ]

[ Spark Strike

Subtype: Offence

Rank: F

Cost: 3 MP

A charged sword attack of electricity. ]

[ Spark Strike Thrown

Subtype: Offence

Rank: F

Cost: 3 MP

A charged sword attack of electricity thrown at an opponent. ]

[ Lucky Break

Subtype: Support

Cost: 30

Rank: E

Once per day, gain a rare item from a monster. ]

[ Double Spark Strike

Subtype: Offence

Cost: 7 MP

Rank: E

A charged attack of electricity from two swords. ]

[ Super Spark Strike

Subtype: Offence

Cost: 40 MP

Rank: D

A supercharged attack of electricity. ]

[ Flow of Mana Lv. 1

Subtype: Support

Cost: —

Rank: D

The ability to control and manipulate your mana inside your body. In exchange for MP, increase Strength, Agility, and Resilience by up to 10 points. ]

'Man, I wish it wasn't so vague. I want to know how much of an increase it does to my attack stat. Oh well, I got Flow of Mana Lv. 1 at least. I can sort-of control my attacks and get a feel for their damage output. I wonder if I can level it up. Level 1 implies there's a level 2 and 3.' Kazi crossed his arms and his thoughts went back to Lucky Break. 'A rare item from a monster once per day. I wonder…'

He glanced at the spot where the Slime Jack died. There was nothing left. No residual smoke or matter. Was there a chance he could still activate the skill? Maybe it was time-based.

"Lucky Break."

A golden light emerged from its place of death. Nobody besides Kazi seemed to notice it. The light shot towards him and a notification materialized.

[ Receive:

1x Slime Brain ]

He scratched his head. 'That sounds disgusting. Anyway, at least I know it's time-based.'

Kazi clapped his hands together. Conveniently, William and Sun-young had finished up too.

"Alright, new friends." Kazi plastered on a welcoming smile. "Ready to party up? I think I know how to capture Anjaneya."

"Really?" William questioned. "I saw that thing and it was freakin' fast as hell. I could barely see it before it bounced."

"Hehe, yep. The hint is in its name. See—"

Before Kazi could explain, a huge screen manifested, blearing red. His eyes widened.

[ Announcement! SPECIAL OBJECTIVE has been completed! Wait 100 hours for Anjaneya to respawn! ]

'Huh…?'