Bandits

[3rd Person POV]

A weird-looking carriage was rattling along. The thing that set it apart was the fact that there were no horses drawing it.

Surrounding it were around 50 knights, all in red samurai armor.

(A/N: https://clip2art.com/explore/Drawn%20samurai%20kamen%20rider/#go_post_2224_drawn-samurai-kamen-rider-2.jpg)

Standing opposite them were a group of men, wearing old and ragged armor, and looking very dirty.

"Stop the carriage, and hand us all your valuables!" (???)

The carriage actually stopped, as if it could hear the bandit. However, there was no conductor on the carriage. Therefore, all the bandits were thinking, 'how did it stop?'

They didn't bother to ask why it was moving in the first place.

"Hahaha! Now leave the carriage slowly, and give us all your things! We'll also be taking the carriage!" (???)

Evidently, whoever was inside wasn't going to comply with the bandits. Two armored figures stepped out, before instantly rushing towards the bandits.

The red armored guards also sprang into action. The combined attacking power of 52 people absolutely decimated the dozen or so bandits.

"Tsk. They didn't even have anything that valuable this time." (???)

"Leave it. We're already delayed as it is, any more and we'll never reach our destination." (???)

---

[Daniel POV]

"Leave it. We're already delayed as it is, any more and we'll never reach our destination." (Daniel)

Seriously, what's with these bandits? That's already the 12th time that we've been attacked.

Which part of a carriage that moves by itself and 50 armed guards makes it seem like an easy target to rob?

The journey towards Erast was only supposed to last two weeks. Yet it's been a month already.

Every time we came across bandits, we basically had to wipe out their entire hideout. They were the ones who started attacking us, but for some reason they acted as if they had a deeply ingrained blood debt with us.

Maybe there's someone who's making it hard for us to reach the capital? If so, then who would it be? There's no-one that I've offended who isn't dead…

Well, whatever. At least that extra month has gone to good use.

First of all, Catherine has started learning swordsmanship. To my surprise, she seems to have some talent for it. I can't see her actual skill level, but judging from my own experience, I'd say she's already reached LV5.

All of us have also levelled up quite a bit. And since I have a 2x EXP multiplier, I'm the one who kills everything.

The skeleton guards only incapacitate their opponents, and I move in for the kill. That way, we can maximise the EXP gain.

As a result, Arin and Catherine's status looks like this.

[Name: Arin

Class: Ranger

Level: 86]

[Name: Catherine

Class: Swordsman

Level: 42]

Catherine had automatically switched from Innkeeper to Swordsman when she learnt Swordsmanship.

My status is as such.

[Status:

Name: Daniel

Age: 14

Class: Sword Saint

Secondary Class: Magic Swordsman

Available Classes: Swordsman (Common), Mage (Common), Magic Swordsman (Rare), Thief (Uncommon), Grand Mage (Rare), Sword Saint (Unique+), Arch Mage (Legendary)

Level: 81 -> 102

HP: 514/514 -> 652/652

MP: 1230/1230 -> 1550/1550

STR: 126 -> 162

VIT: 131 -> 164

AGI: 152 -> 170

DEX: 129 -> 179

INT: 104 -> 136

Skills: Bone Control LV7, Utility Magic LVMAX, Saint Sword LV3, Dismantling LV6, Tanning LV6, Mana Regeneration LVMAX, Tailoring LV7, Dagger Arts LVMAX, Necromancy LVMAX, Fire Magic LV9, Ice Magic LV6, Water Magic LV5

Inventory: 3 x Health Potions (Rare), Flammable Bones (Uncommon), Bench Press (Uncommon), Squat Rack (Uncommon), 71 x LV30 Skeleton Warriors (Rare), 100 x LV80 King's Guard Skeletons (Unique), Many litres of Holy Spring Water (Rare), 50 x LV90 Elder Lich (Unique), 27,000 Gold Coins (Common)

Equipment: Mithril Longsword (Unique), Orichalcum Dagger (Rare), Purple Death Cuirass (Unique+), Purple Death Leggings (Unique+), Purple Death Boots (Unique+), Purple Death Gauntlets (Unique+), Purple Death Pauldrons (Unique+), Purple Death Helmet (Unique+), Tri-Horned Tiger Cape (Uncommon)]

Many things have changed.

First of all, my Bone Control has levelled up drastically thanks to my daily practice. Since I've already told my girls about my being a Necromancer, I'm able to use it whenever I want.

I've also evolved my Swordsmanship after I taught Catherine.

Apart from that, I sometimes use my dagger when fighting in close quarters with bandits, so my Dagger Arts have reached max level. I've also been practicing each of my magics as much as I can.

I've used the Purple Death Scorpion Shell to upgrade all the pieces of my armor, making them Unique. With that, I should be able to defend against most enemies.

Sadly, my Mithril Longsword and Orichalcum Dagger are unable to be upgraded.

Lastly, I've made armor for my Skeleton Warriors. I've started calling them King's Guard Skeletons, since Armored Skeleton Warriors doesn't sound nearly as cool.

They all started off at LV60, but it seems they gain a small amount of EXP whenever I kill as well. That's made them LV80 in no time.

I'm only using 50 of them at once, since 100 of them surrounding a carriage would look very weird.

Each of these King's Guard Skeletons have LV7 Swordsmanship, so they can already be considered elite swordsmen.

I also have a stock of Liches, which I've recreated to be a higher level. Their Bone Manipulation has also reached LV8. Their Necromancy is still at LV5. I get the feeling that once I make 100 of these Liches, I'll be able to evolve my Necromancy.

Speaking of Necromancy, I made my carriage out of bones. The bones of the bandits. I've found that it's much easier to make skeletons when the bones are already there, so all the bandits have become part of my carriage.

Sounds a bit creepy doesn't it? But their bones aren't good enough to be made into Skeleton Warriors and it would actually take more mana changing them instead of just summoning Warriors outright.

The carriage itself moves like a centipede. There are bone legs on the underside of the carriage, which move rapidly. It's actually faster than a normal horse-drawn carriage by about 5 times.

Onto classes now. I've unlocked the Sword Saint class, which is currently a Unique class. Ed told me that it will become Legendary when I reach max level with Saint Sword.

Saint Sword is short for Saint Swordsmanship by the way.

Next, I also have the Arch Mage class, since I have 4 different magics and INT exceeding 120. Currently, since we are just facing bandits, I figured that sword fighting is a better option than using magic. Thus, my classes are Sword Saint (Unique+) and Magic Swordsman (Rare).

When I need to use magic, I change to Arch Mage and Grand Mage. The INT boost that they give is insane. It practically doubles my INT, which also doubles the potency of my magics and my mana capacity.

Anyway, this is probably the last bandit attack we'll face before reaching Erast. After all, the town is only a day's travel away.