Chapter 6: Pushed to the limit.
"That's enough for today," Sierra swung her wooden sword around and then threw it away. "Also, congratulations on gaining new skills," Sierra wiped her face with a towel.
Alseace smiled for a moment and then collapsed. He was unconscious after a whole month of hard training and only rested to eat and sleep.
"Miss Red..." A man in a black suit with black sunglasses looked at Sierra nervously with cold sweat on his forehead.
"Just put them on my tab. I'll send the money later," Sierra already knew what he was trying to say. She turned around and looked at the damage she did on the training ground. Different types of weapons were laying on the floor and most of them had been turned into pieces.
The man smiled and nodded his head with understanding.
Alseace groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. The pain immediately crawled back and stung him. He looked around and realized he was in his room, and then he looked at the bucket of water with a towel inside next to his bed.
"(Status)" Alseace said in his head.
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Name: Alseace LaRoze
Level: 1 (0.505285%)
Karma: 100/100
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Status
Strength: 5.36
Agility: 8.42
Dexterity: 7.57
Vitality: 5.91
Mentality: 6.43
Sense: 7.25
Magic: -
Stamina: 7.16
Extra Points: 0
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Skill : [Leftover] [Pain Resistance] [Leech] [Sword Art] [Spear Art]
[Dagger Art] [Axe Art] [Staff Art] [Bow Art] [Martial Art]
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Sub-Skill: -
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Achievement: [The One Who Did Nothing]
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"Five years... I'm not sure if I should be proud of having these skills," Alseace sat up and held his left ribs. "She did teach me so efficiently, no wonder they became so strong so quickly," Alseace looked at his body covered in bandages.
A single [Weapon Art] could take at least a year based on Elenoir's growth when she tried to get [Sword Art]. It could be achieved if they understood the fundamental weapon they were using. It was like an achievement, and even if they already got that skill, it meant nothing since what was important was the [Sub-Skill] that came with the Weapon Art skill.
It was just like Elenoir's [Affinity: Lightning], her [Sub-Skills] were [Summon Lightning], [Lightning's Trail], [Lightning Current], and [Lightning's Wrath]. She also had [Sword Art], and she had plenty [Sub-Skills] from that skill as well.
"I wonder if my Leftover skill has a sub-skill as well since Miss Sierra said every skill has a sub-skill," Alseace said as he tried to stand up but the sting on his joints brought him back down to the bed. "I guess I should rest for a little bit more," Alseace laid down and closed his eyes.
Three days had passed since then, and Alseace had fully recovered from the wounds.
"Where are you going?" Sierra glanced at Alseace as she enjoyed her morning espresso at the bar counter with a newspaper in her hand.
"Work," Alseace answered as he fixed the bag on his right shoulder.
"Tonight everyone will be here, so don't eat dinner outside. We are going to make dinner," Sierra sipped her coffee.
Alseace hummed and left the house.
Sierra furrowed her eyebrows and looked out the window where Alseace walked the sidewalk. She smirked and scoffed when she saw Alseace bring his sword to work with him for the first time ever.
Alseace went to the Free Zone where Dimensional Portals and Vortexes didn't belong to anyone. Those Dimensional Portals and Vortexes would belong to the Emissary and anyone could use them except for big guilds.
"Alseace! Where the hell have you been for the past month?! I haven't seen you around and I thought you were dead," Martin waved at Alseace as soon as he spotted him.
"If I really died, I can see that you're not bothered by it at all," Alseace smiled as he walked past Martin.
"What? You're saying that I'm heartless? But the guy who's walking next to me is the most heartless person I know," Martin walked next to Alseace and looked at the sword hanging on his waist with no bag on his back. "You're going to enter a portal?" Martin asked with his right eyebrow raised.
"I'm going to try and hunt monsters in the E-Rank portal," Alseace looked at the people in the park where the E-Rank portal was.
"E-Rank? Are you being serious?! I thought you said that you don't want to kill a monster. And why E-Rank?" Martin looked at Alseace with suspicion. "What's this? I smell something fishy," Martin squinted his eyes and kept staring at him.
Alseace didn't answer and kept walking toward the blue portal. He then asked the people who gathered there if the portal was occupied, but they said they had just finished it up and nobody was inside.
"Hey, let's party up. I'll be your personal porter," Martin grabbed Alseace's right shoulder.
"Sure," Alseace offered his right hand to Martin.
They both held hands and looked at the sky.
"I, Alseace LaRoze..." Alseace said.
"I, Martin Orschot..." Martin said.
"We are forming a party and God as our witness," Alseace and Martin said at the same time.
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Party's Panel
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1. Alseace LaRoze (Lv.1)
2. Martin Orschot (Lv.12)
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The party system allowed Candidates to share EXPs that were gained from killing. There were Party System and Group System. The Party System was only allowed to have 5 Candidates or fewer, whereas the Group System could be used if there were 6 Candidates and a maximum of 10 Candidates. The party system was a sacred process since they had to use their real names to be able to enter a party.
Not only could the Party/Group system share EXPs, but it was also a requirement to enter Vortexes. Some were required to have a party or a group, and it also prevented them from separating when they entered the vortex. It was used as an indicator of whether the vortex was a difficult one or not depending on how many parties or groups that required to enter.
There were some cases where it only allowed a single party, but it turned out it was an S-Rank vortex. It happened once, and the ones who cleared the vortex were Elenoir, Ando, and Nero since they were the only ones with S-Rank in West Dasmein with Katya and Gratya's help. That was how Elenoir got her Lightning Sword.
There was a reason why Alseace was quite famous among the Candidates because even though he joined a party or a group, their EXPs didn't get reduced that much when they were with him. none of them knew the reason why, and so, he oftentimes got an invite whenever they saw him hanging around the Safe Zone as their porter because of that.
"You ranked up?" Alseace looked at the party's panel.
"Yeah, a week ago. I almost shat my pants when I did the Atonement," Martin answered as he looked at the panel. He then looked at Alseace's level, and his face turned sour.
"No need to look at me like that. Let's head in," Alseace glanced at Martin and then entered the portal.
Alseace and Martin entered a dungeon, which was a hobgoblin's forest. Even for E-Rankers, they would need at least a full party to hunt safely.
"Are you trying to push your limit or something? I have never seen you hold a weapon though, are you sure you can handle this?" Martin looked at the gloomy forest with mud in between the woods.
"If something happened, you got my back, right?" Alseace started walking since he knew the woods like the back of his hand because he had been there dozens of times.
Martin was skeptical about this whole thing and situation, but he couldn't let his friend die on his watch. Although he said that he would become a porter, he had prepared his gun underneath his brown coat and a sword on his back. He also wanted to show off the difference between F-Rank and E-Rank in power.
That thought of Martin disappeared as soon as Alseace single-handedly dealt with a dozen hobgoblins unscratched. He knew that Alseace's movements were slow compared to his, but his attacks were precise and fatal that he only needed to do a single or two attacks to kill a hobgoblin.
Martin kept watching from a distance as Alseace used all the weapons around him. He didn't hesitate to abandon his weapon and grabbed a new one. Martin was baffled and amazed by how skillful Alseace was by looking at how he easily thrust the spear, aimed the bow, swung the axe, and spun the bladeless spear that he used like a staff.
Alseace suddenly retreated with a few hobgoblins chasing after him. Martin grabbed his gun and started shooting them right in the head. He knew he couldn't handle them with a melee weapon, and since he had good aim, he used his gun instead. The moment there were only a few of them left, he used his sword and started hunting the hobgoblins together with Alseace.
"I can only do this much? Is this really my limit?" Alseace dropped the spear in his hand and sighed since he had already run out of stamina. "Will I be able to find brother Aluca and sister Alecia like this?" Alseace clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "We are leaving," Alseace looked at Martin who dealt with the remaining hobgoblins.
"Wa-wait! How did you do that?! Who taught you those things?!" Martin followed Alseace from behind.
They both left the portal and rested on the bench in the park. Martin kept bugging Alseace about his skill, and he ignored him because it was a secret.
[0.000441% EXP gained]
"Someone died," Alseace looked around as soon as he got the notification. It was either E-Ranker or D-Ranker that died, but he couldn't find a body around the portals.
"What?!" Martin stood up and looked around.
A woman's scream was heard in the distance, and everyone immediately checked what had happened including Martin. Alseace wasn't bothered by it and stayed on the bench and reminisced about the past when he met Sierra.
"I heard enough of your story so I'll let you stay in my place for as long as you want. I can feed you, I will give you clothing, and a comfortable bed to sleep in, and I'll train you until you become strong. But you have to follow my rule or I will kick you out as soon as you break one of the rules, do you accept that?" Sierra looked down at the fifteen-year-old Alseace in the pub.
Alseace nodded his head repeatedly with tears and blood still on his hands and shirt.
"I'm not your mother, I'm not your sister, and I'm not your savior," Sierra crossed her arms with a serious expression. "I know you're a good kid, so this is going to be difficult for you," Sierra rubbed her forehead with the base of her palm as she sat down next to Alseace.
"I can do it!" Alseace gave a stern look at Sierra.
"That's the problem, kid. You're too innocent for this world," Sierra smiled at Alseace and looked at him with pity.