Chapter 99. Shadow Bear Tasset

'Sweet, it's a skill to deal with opponents who attack from a distance.'  This skill would be a great help to regular Warriors who had slow speed. With his fast movement, Jack already had no problem dealing with such opponents, but the Charge skill would become even more deadly in his hands.

Jack looked around and was confused about what to do next. There was no exit around the platform. Was he to travel back via the colored floors again? Would those puppets attack him again?

He called Gruff to ask him. Jack's voice snapped the onlookers out of their daze; they were still having trouble believing what had just happened.

"The outworlders aren't a simple bunch." One of them mumbled.

The others nodded.

The female Warrior disagreed, "I don't think so. I think this one is special even among the outworlders."

  She then whispered to Gruff, "You noticed that skill he used with that staff, right?"

"Yeah," Gruff answered quietly. "Let's keep it between us for now. I bet the King will be especially interested about this."

While they were talking among themselves, Jack called out again, "Hey! Can somebody tell me if the puppets will come after me again if I step onto these colored floors?"

Gruff chuckled. "Come over, it's fine! They stopped once you passed the test."

Hearing that, Jack let out a relieved sigh. He then walked back across the room. Passing the immobile puppets, he could hardly believe he had a life-and-death struggle with them just a few moments ago.

Once he arrived at Gruff's side, he said with a grin, "So, where are my coins?"

Gruff's mustache twitched. The others, who were just about to congratulate him, froze just like the puppets. Their friendly faces turned stiff when reminded about the bet.

"Can't you be a little lenient?" Gruff pleaded.

"A bet is a bet," Jack refused.

"Argh! Fine! Take out your coins, lads!" Gruff ordered.

They flocked together in a circle as they took out their coins.

"Ugh, I'm missing two coins. Can I borrow them from you?"

"Brother, I also lack some coins."

Gruff knocked them both on the head, "Why did you make a bet if you didn't have enough coins? So, how much are we missing?"

They piled their coins together and counted them. Gruff took out more coins to cover what his underlings lacked. He then put everything into one leather pouch and handed it to Jack.

Jack felt bad after seeing Gruff sacrificing his coins for his men. "It was noble of you to cover the shortage," he said.

"No worries, I'm deducting them from their next wages anyway," Gruff replied.

Jack instantly felt better after hearing that. He accepted the pouch with satisfaction; there were 252 silver coins inside! When put in his storage bag, the hundreds of silver coins automatically converted into gold coins. He now had two gold coins, 70 silver coins, and 53 copper coins.

He felt rich now that he possessed his first gold coins.

"Okay, the show is over! Now go back to where you belong!" Gruff shooed the rowdy men away.

He then turned to Jack and said, "You come with me!"

Jack was confused, wasn't his business with this academy over now that he gained Warrior class? But out of curiosity, Jack followed him.

Gruff took Jack past his office and into a very messy storage room. Gruff opened several drawers and storage boxes, searching for something. With his head inside yet another box, he suddenly asked Jack, "So are you going to tell me why you have both Fighter skills and Magician skills?"

Jack didn't answer.

"Don't take it wrong. I have no problem with that," Gruff added. "I have met people with multiple skills from different classes and have even fought with some, but they are all natives of this world. But it should be different for you Outworlders from what the Gods told us, and we can read in the history books. They all say that you folks possess a limitless growth potential, but your path of advancement is fixed in terms of class. So imagine my surprise when the first Fighter who comes to apply for Warrior turns this common knowledge on its head.

" Ah, found it!"

He took out some armor, a pair of pants made of several interconnecting plates and covered by dark-colored fur.

"Back when I was a young adventurer, this was one of the pieces of armor I wore. Here, take it!" He shoved the armor to Jack.

Jack was puzzled as he took hold of the armor. Why was this veteran Warrior giving him armor? Is this a secret reward for being the first player to pass the Warrior test? He checked the armor stats.

*

Shadow Bear Tasset, level 15/35 (rare medium armor)

Physical Defense: 22

Magical Defense: 20

Durability: 40

Endurance +3

When HP is below 50%, defense is increased by 80%

*

A rare medium armor! Jack was stunned. Did he get a piece of rare equipment as a secret reward? And the additional ability this armor had was quite a life-saving ability; his survival rate would increase dramatically with this armor. Jack looked at Gruff with surprise all over his face.

The Warrior laughed, "Hehe, it seems like you like that armor."

"It's excellent armor," Jack agreed, shaking his head up and down.

Gruff smirked, "Of course! I don't spend my time with trashy equipment. This here is among the top, even for rare equipment. It was made by a master craftsman using materials I got after killing a Shadow Bear."

"But why gave it to me? Is it because I am the first Outworlder to pass the Warrior test?"

"Don't be absurd; why would I give out my armor just because you passed a test?"

"Then why?" Jack asked with a confused expression.

"Think of it as an investment," Gruff replied. "I can see you are unusual even among the Outworlders. There might come a time in the future when we need your assistance. At that time, I hope you won't let us down."

Jack gave Gruff's words some thought. If this guy had been a player, he would have rejected his request and returned the armor. But this guy's an NPC. If they need assistance, then that would mean a quest. Doing a quest would be beneficial to Jack unless it was unreasonable, but he did not believe this world system would throw him a quest outside of his capabilities.

After some thought, he agreed and thanked Gruff. He changed his armor at once, replacing his level one leather pants with his new Shadow Bear Tasset. He looked dazzling and very different from the other players, who still wore standard leather and cloth armor.

"So, how will you be contacting me if you need my assistance?" Jack asked. With players, he could add the guy as his friend, and they could send messages to each other when needed. But he hadn't heard of a communication system between players and NPCs.

"Where do you stay in the capital? Tell me which Inn and I will send a message to the Inn when I want to look for you."

'So it's a primitive messaging system,' Jack thought with some disappointment.

He then replied to Gruff, "I'm not staying at an Inn. I'm staying above a shop called Amy's Bakery. You could leave your message with the shopkeeper, Amy, or her mother, Samantha."

"We will do that then," Gruff nodded. He then invited Jack to have some drinks outside with the other Warriors. Jack accepted. Now that he was also a Warrior, the others treated him like one of their own and chatted cheerfully. Jack was relieved; these NPCs didn't bear a grudge against him for winning the bet.

After a few rounds of drinks, Jack decided to bid them farewell and make his leave.

On his way out, he passed the female Warrior who had just returned from an errand. He greeted her before he continued on his way.

Once Jack had left, she went to sit next to Gruff.

"You have let the King know?" Gruff asked.

"I've passed the message to the Royal advisor," the female Warrior replied. "He said that he would send someone to keep an eye on him."

Gruff nodded.