Strength
"Excuse me?"
I heard a man's voice from behind my back.
My back naturally faced the opposite direction, while I looked at his face.
"Yes?"
"You're pretty strong. Would you like to join our party?"
Another guy, who looked like he was in his early twenties, asked me.
He had a bandana over his brown hair, with a sword equipped to his waist.
Behind him, there were two other people.
Presumably, part of his party because they both smiled at me with a welcoming attitude.
'Forming a party is a nice choice..'
'But after all the extensive research I've done?'
"No, I'm fine."
I politely decline as I turn away to walk the other direction.
They looked at my back with a slightly surprised expression but returned back to their usual faces.
The same person hurried and held my shoulder.
"W-wait, are you sure? Wouldn't it get harder for you to get stronger without a party in the future?"
My eyes roll, slightly irritated, after looking at his hand placed on me.
"Actually no. It's far easier, so excuse me."
My hand moved his hand off of me.
I leave the three standing there and begin hunting slimes.
Splash!—
The slime disintegrated into liquid after I slashed through its body.
「 You have defeated the slime. 」
Three more fly in all other directions to which I duck entirely.
Slashing, swishing and,
Thrust!—
I killed all three within a minute.
「 You have defeated the slime's 」
「 Your agility has increased by 1 」
「 Your stamina has increased by 1 」
.
.
.
「 Your defense has increased by 1 」
It was a repetitive process.
The monsters attack patterns were way too basic.
Even if every slime had a different attack pattern, it was predictable.
Even for a beginner.
My spear continuously thrust the slime until I was pretty satisfied with my stats.
「 Xela 」
「 Strength 3 」 「 Agility 4 」
「 Stamina 3 」 「 Mana 0 」
「 Defense 2 」 「 Luck 1 」
「 Main Class: Warrior 」
「 Sub Class: None 」
「 Unique Ability: [Unlocks when all stats (excluding Luck) are at least 15] 」
「 Skill - Focus (D) 」「 Skill - Spearmanship lvl. 1 」
"Show my proficiency in spearmanship."
「 Proficiency - 78.2% (Basic) 」
Not bad.
My proficiency would evolve in only a day if I continued to grind.
—However.
"It's already 9pm??"
It was too late.
I needed to get off of the game as I had already been playing for 3 hours.
"I've also got work tomorrow.. I guess I'll be getting off-"
"|COME HERE|"
"Huh? That voice!"
This was already the third time I had heard it.
The first time something like this happens it's just imaginary,
The second time - It's just luck to imagine something silly again.
And the third time,
'It's real.'
I look around to see where I heard that voice from.
"|F$#573 Pa73$$#@|"
"Aaagggghhhhh.."
It hurts.
My ears felt like they were tearing apart.
It was different. Way too different.
In fact,
"My ears feel like they're hurting this time."
Then, a thought flashed into my head.
'Should I.. leave?'
I slowly aim my finger at the [Log Out] button on the game-like panel before,
"|I WILL GRANT YOU POWER|"
Flinch—
My finger was only an inch away from the status screen.