Chapter 2

Jax left the inn and roamed the streets. He put on a dark green cloak he had received from Vick and put up the hood as he wore his bow around his torso so one end was handing over his right shoulder and the other was hanging around his left hip.

He approached near the city walls and noticed some guards standing on the pillar above the large wooden doors which were closed.

Jax walked down an alley while staying near the wall, when he reached a place he could no longer see the guards at the door he walked up to the wall. Jax analysed it for a moment before grabbing a loose stone and stepping on another with his foot.

A few minutes later he was on top of the 20 foot wall. He sneakily looked around, his feet made nearly no noise as he moved swiftly.

[You have acquired (Stealth - intermediate (low))]

"I thought it would be higher. I guess I wasn't as good as I thought." Jax mumbled.

He quickly found a spot it was safe to descend from and leap outside of the walls. He rolled when he hit the ground to disperse the impact before quickly taking off into the darkness.

He eventually met with a pack of balloon monsters. He ducked down from about 50 feet away and quickly took his bow off of his back. He took his time to aim at the monsters that hadn't noticed him yet.

He took a deep breath and held it as he released the arrow. It went flying through the air and hit a balloon. Instantly killing it and lodging into the ground. Without a second of hesitation he pulled his string back and fired another arrow. Instinctively he clicked his tongue, knowing that it would miss. However, the arrow made direct contact with another balloon. The balloon flew back with the arrow still lodged in it, not dead yet and only growling in anger as it continued toward Jax.

Jax was shocked but didn't let it phase him as he had already fired another shot that had hit a third balloon and instantly killed it, lodging into the ground again. Jax continued with this until he had already killed 5 monsters. Another 4 had arrows lodged in them but were still alive and another 2 were unharmed.

Jax nearly threw down his bow instinctively but he held off. He quickly changed it into the small crossbow he had absorbed earlier and ran at the balloons. When he reached them he quickly pulled his arrows out of two of the monsters in a messy way, killing them instantly. He held an arrow in each hand as he thrust at one of the monsters. This one died the moment the arrow hit it.

Jax had already reversed his grip on the arrow in his other hand and swung it at another injured monster which also died instantly. Without even looking he ducked as two monsters jumped at him from both sides and collided mid air. Jax used his arrows to finish the two off as he spun and kicked another balloon away. Also killing it instantly.

"Oh. I guess I didn't need the weapons. They were so weak." He said as he dropped his arrows and punched the last balloon to death when it jumped at him.

Jax looked at his status. "Sheesh. Still level one huh. Guess I needed to kill one more of those things to level up."

He just shrugged and bent over feeding the monster's material to his bow. He unlocked a new balloon bow and stored the rest.

He continued on his way for a while.

He ran into tons of balloons in the fields but not other monsters and around an hour later he had finally reached the forest's edge.

He stretched and looked at his status.

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Name: Jax Winter

Age: 17

Height: 5 foot 1

Level: 2

Vitality: 31

Magic: 11

Strength: 29

Agility: 39

Defence: 21

Stamina: 33

Luck: Error

Skills: (Archery - beginner (medium)), (Stealth - intermediate (low)), (Martial arts - advanced (low))

Weapon: Bow (Legendary Weapon)

Equipment/Items: Cloak,

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"Wow, it doesn't go up by much, looks like I really was busted for starting out with those stats. But, I'm also gonna have to do a lot better if I wanna rank up before the first wave. I'm pretty sure it's in a fortnight." Jax stretched his arms as he spoke to himself.

He looked back at his stats and thought for a moment. 'So other than magic I'm way above even a level 5-7 person. I guess the forest isn't too much.'

After calculating his growth rate and assessing the danger, he decided to enter the forest, with caution.

Jax roamed around the entrance of the forest. He killed any balloons he saw in the field and was on the lookout for monsters in the forest he could take on.

Jax saw a few he decided to avoid for now, such as the bear with horns and a deer with purple antlers that looked poisonous. He ended up finding some horned rabbits that he was able to kill with his stealth and bow. They gave a surprising amount of exp. Each horned rabbit was 6 exp, for reference, one balloon was 1 exp.

Jax spent the majority of his time hunting balloons and would kill any horned rabbits he saw for the next few hours. He decided to avoid any other monsters for now. He also got a new bow when he fed his bow a horned rabbit. It was weird looking with white furry arms. It gave a very slight jump boost but it also fired horns instead of arrows which increased the piercing power.

Jax decided he had spent enough time out and decided to head back towards the wall of the city. He would take on any balloons he saw on the way to gain exp. He had defeated an impressive number at this point, especially considering he was hunting alone.

Jax made it back near the wall and continued hunting these monsters until the sun started to come up. The moment he noticed the slightest trace of light he made his way back to the city wall and snuck back in with his cloak on.

Jax landed on the ground within the walls and checked his status again.

—--------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Jax Winter

Age: 17

Height: 5 foot 1

Level: 12

Vitality: 51

Magic: 41

Strength: 49

Agility: 79

Defence: 31

Stamina: 63

Luck: Error

Skills: (Archery - beginner (+1 advanced)), (Stealth - intermediate (low)), (Martial arts - advanced (low))

Weapon: Bow (Legendary Weapon)

Equipment/Items: Cloak

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"Not bad for day two." Jax said as he walked around.

He was lost. I mean he did just arrive in the city yesterday and still had no clue where anything was.

Luckily the sun was rising and shops were starting to open so he could always get directions, but Jax wanted to walk around a bit. He was a little tired from hunting all night but leveling up did restore you magic and stamina so it wasn't a big deal right now. Plus he had brought food from the inn out with him so he wasn't that hungry.

Jax's stomach growled.

… Well maybe a little hungry. He was a growing boy after all!