Threshold

Adam eyed the two remaining ogres.

His body tensing, he charged at the two remaining ogres.

The greater strength crushing their resistance like a jetplane through air.

His halberd sweeping at the face of an ogre, its neck breaking, it dropped to the ground.

One to go.

The other ogre lifted its leg, seeing that their punches not work, initiated a kick new method of attack.

Adam snarled, shaking as his nerves carried signals of pain across his torso.

He needed to finish quickly.

Adam pushed out his halberd like a shield, the haft blocking the kick.

A slight tremor ran through Adam, but compared to before, it felt like a playful flick on the head.

Imagining even being in slightly more pain, riled up Adam.

Adam pushed back the ogres foot.

Staggering back the ogre shot out its fist, but Adam could see its other foot slightly moving.

'Looked like it is gonna be a feint.' Adam mused.

Not wanting to play along he threw his halberd, driving it forward with extra force using the ground for stability.

The halberd drove through the ogre's skull

Eyes blank, it shuttled to the stone ground.

'How's that for kick?' Adam joked as he plucked the lodged halberd from its skull.

His expression between a grimace and a beaming smile, his hand pressed against his stomach, Adam looked at the system notifications.

[Ding! You have reached a milestone, for reaching 10 in a stat you have earned: x1 Skill Usurping Ticket.]

[Ding! You have reached a milestone, the 10 point stat threshold has been crossed for the first time, you have earned: x1 Cheat Selector Ticket.]

[Ding! For slaying several ogres, you have earned the title: Ogre Eradicator] ]

[Ogre Eradicator: You have eradicated several ogres, you know them well enough to identify their weak points. These weak points are now more obvious to you, and you gain more experience from eradicating ogres.]

Adam weakly laughed, pain pulsing around his ribs.

The dark sky above, Adam descended the mountain.

He wanted to be clear headed when he investigated the skill usurping ticket, and used the cheat selector ticket.

While he may get a healing ability from the ticket, it may not be the best choice for him in the long run.

He wanted to be sure he chose to the best of his ability.

Adam would check things out once he returned to Walcon.

It took an hour and a half, but Adam successfully returned to his base camp and started the fire.

The fire tickled his face but irked his stomach as the embers splashed upon him.

Warming up, he tried to sleep.

Not able to, Adam put his satchel underneath his head and lightly bandaged his ribs.

More comfortable now, his fatigue struck at his mind, finally able to sleep.

The light of dawn smacked him in the face, causing him to roll of the comforting satchel.

Groaning, Adam rubbed his head as he pushed himself up.

The sunlight was welcoming to him, but displeased him, as he was awake now, he could get to enjoy the pain.

Adam's memories went back to the test, and the healing spells.

'That would be most useful.' Adam thought.

Adam spent the next few hours wandering about to ensure he had all the quest materials.

With the Heroic Yield skill he would get double rewards.

He could fight through this pain long enough to ascertain he would get them.

Adam obtained limited funds from the castle. Though considerable, the materials he stocked up on were not cheap.

Cooking up a quick meal, he started his walk back to Walcon.

Adam's filled satchel was a strain on his back. It also agitated his stomach, with the additional weight.

Willing himself forward, he returned to the gate of the town.

Waving to the guards, he entered the town, and went straight to the Adventurer's Guild.

The shorter the time that he had to carry all the materials the better.

When he opened the door to the adventurer's guild, he saw Velna stationed at the front desk.

She peered over to the door as she saw Adam enter.

The lights of her eyes shaken by his visage, her hair whipping back as she took a step back in shock.

"Hey uh, Adam, are you okay?" She asked.

"Perfect. Just here to drop off the quest materials." Adam assured.

"Um, I think you aren't, but sure lets deal with the material quick, then lets get that wound looked at."

Nodding, he moved the full satchel to the desk and opened it.

Velna's eyes glistened, as she saw a stack of materials filling the compartment.

He took out the quest papers, and placed them down while Velna took out the materials.

After evaluating the materials, looking at the quest sheet, and taking his Adventurer Card for a second, she soon handed Adam 2 Gold.

Adam heard the soft echo of the system in his ears, which he ignored.

Velna stated: "Congrats, you are a D rank adventurer now, but with that quantity, at least C rank. If you give me a moment, I could..."

"D Rank is good. Thanks, but I wanna work up rank by rank." Adam said as he held the desk as support.

Nodding back, Velna said: "That's admirable."

Everything taken care of, she lifted up Adam by the shoulder, looked over the room, and announced, "I will be stepping out for a bit, I will be dropping off Adam at a healer."

The air of the guild stirring, Adam was held up, and brought to a medium sized building, with a sign with what looked to be green waves.

They entered, Adam at Velna's request, provided the hooded man at the desk a gold coin.

He was then brought into a room, with a older man, his beard passing his shoulders.

Adam was placed on a bed, and the man used a familiar green magic.

But, it was less vibrant, and refreshing, his wounded stomach started to heal.

Two minutes later, his wound was gone.

No longer wracked with pain, he grinned.

Velna shook her head as she grinned back.

After thanking the man, they left.

Standing outside of the building again, Adam said: "I appreciate you caring so much."

"Its no problem, Adam. If you died in the Adventurer's Guild, that would not be ideal. Plus you are worth helping, you are kind and..."

She paused, words squeezing out of her lips: "A hero..."

'Ah. She must have saw the medallion' Adam surmised.

Faking surprise, he replied: "Hero? Where?"

Chuckling, she said: "Its fine. Not helping you out to use you, or anything, just, stay alive. Our kingdom, this land needs heroes."

Smirking, "Sure does." He mused, before he waved goodbye to her, Adam set out for the inn

Adam promised to himself: 'Velna, hero or not, I will stay alive.'

Today, he would move closer to becoming one, it was time for a new cheat to fall into his grasp.