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Cooperation
It took a full day to ride back to the village, repeating the original journey he had made when he first arrived in this timeline, but now doing it alone. Like the day before, he arrived as the sun approached the horizon. Fatigue gripped him, so he went straight to the inn. He took his seat at his usual table and the innkeeper brought two trays of food. “I was worried when you didn’t show up for dinner last night or breakfast this morning. Where’s Tin?” she asked.
“She died.”
The woman set down both trays. “I’m… I’m so sorry.”
“She was just a slave,” he replied. He then pulled one of the trays over and ate his meal in silence.
Having lived out of the inn for the past month, everyone who came for drinks was used to the sight of Noah and Tin eating together. A few people, noticing her absence, inquired just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the same thing he told her. His emotionless response angered Holly, one of the chambermaids, and she grabbed Noah by the collar and lifted him to his feet.
“She was a nice girl! Everyone here knows how devoted she was to you! Don’t you dare say something like that about her!”
Noah stared her in the eyes. “Does any of that even matter?”
Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the coldness of his eyes, but she dropped Noah back to his seat and stormed off in disgust. After that, no one approached Noah. When he was done with his meal, he made his way up to his room. This time, when he opened the door, there was no greeting. The candle was unlit and there was no fire in the fireplace. It was just a dark room.
Noah shut the door behind him and went straight to bed. Having gone two days without sleep, he was exhausted, and a deep, dreamless slumber enveloped him.
---------------
“How much longer are we going to wait?” The impatient voice came from a young man with a halberd on one shoulder and an obvious chip on the other. He was sitting on the front porch of the Fault mansion, along with Oath and the two other members of their team, Beth and Mira.
“He said he would be back today, but I know he also has business to attend to,” Oath replied.
“Do you have any idea where he rode off to?” Beth asked.
“No clue.”
“I don’t care how tough you say he is,” the man with the halberd said, “if he rode out into those woods at night, he’s dead for sure.”
“Shut up, Trevor. When Beth and I met him, we knew that he was the real deal.”
“When Tin was hit, it was like I blinked and he had already chased down the assassin and ed him.”
“I still call nonsense on him taking out three men in that field.”
“I looted their corpses myself.”
“Oh, there he is!”
On the road leading to the mansion, a galloping horse with its rider could be seen. Noah approached them and climbed off his horse. “Sorry I’m late.”
“That’s the nice ring. You look more like a noble than I do,” said Oath.
It was the knight ring, all done after the town jeweler had worked on it. The avenium runes had been covered up and the enhancement jewel was set on top of the crest. It was certainly gaudy, but sometimes gaudiness had its own charm.
“Thanks. Beth, Mira, you’re doing well, I see. When did you form this party?”
“Right after we met you in the woods. We looked around for anyone willing to team up with us and found Oath and Trevor,” said Mira. “And I’m sorry about Tin.”
“Me too,” Beth added.
Noah simply nodded. “So the baron has asked me to lead this team to conquer the dungeon crab. Before we do that, I need to—”
“You aren’t leading anything,” said Trevor. “You’re not the boss of us, just the babysitter for the baron’s son.”
Noah took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. “Ugh, one of you people. This is the last thing I need.
Listen, here’s what’s supposed to happen: you and I spend the next week playing the game where I act as the stern yet understanding authority figure, and you keep throwing temper tantrums due to some unspoken deep-seated issue. By the time we arrive at the dungeon crab, you’ll hate me more than ever, and almost get us ed, probably with me having to save your life. However, your screwup will help you realize you’re full of nothing but bravado and horse shit, and you’ll finally decide to listen to me, allowing me to break your hard outer shell to help you solve your behavioral problems, which I’m guessing is about your father or getting molested or something along similar lines. We’ll capture the dungeon crab and form a long-lasting friendship of respect and trust.
Now, that is what is supposed to happen, and as much as I would love to go on that emotional journey with you, I have literally a million better things to do with my time. So, let’s nip this in the bud right now. You and me, one on one, until one of us can no longer stand. The loser has to listen and obey the winner until the dungeon crab is captured, including an order to leave the party.”
Most of what he said went over everyone’s heads, but bless Trevor’s heart, he was smart enough to realize he had just been insulted. “You son of a bitch!” he barked as he got to his feet and pointed his halberd at Noah.
“That’s the spirit. Give it your best shot, because if you don’t take me down, you’re going to end up swallowing a lot of .”
Trevor took a stance, leaning back and gripping his halberd with both hands, and enveloping the blade with mana. It was just like the spell the goblin chief had used on his sword to increase the strength of his slashes, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.
“Trevor, stop this! This is insanity!” Mira implored.
“No, don’t get in his way,” said Noah as he removed his ring. “The most important lessons hurt the most.”
Trevor lunged with a decent form and thrust his halberd towards Noah. It wasn’t just the destructive power of his halberd, his speed had more than doubled. “Mountain-Splitter!”
It was by a thin margin, but Noah stepped to the side and the blade missed. He grabbed the shaft of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing punch to Trevor’s nose, causing him to let go and stagger back.
“That was a good thrust. I imagine you’ve spent plenty of time practicing it.”
Trevor’s face was pouring , but he remained standing and glared at Noah with limitless hatred. “Give it back!”
“Fine, but I think it’s been established that you can’t hit me with it.”
Noah tossed the halberd back and Trevor caught it. He wasted no time in charging the blade with mana, producing an impressive aura. This time, instead of a thrust, he made a wide swing. “Erasing Cleave!”
Once more, Noah simply backed out of his range, escaping with zero damage. Then, when the coast was clear, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor’s jaw, busting his teeth and making him an even ier mess. This time, Trevor couldn’t stay on his feet and fell back, trying and failing to contain his cry of anguish. Looking around, Noah could see the baron’s servants watching from the fields and through the windows.
“Noah, that’s enough! You two need to stop this!” Beth exclaimed.
“He’s the one who decides when we stop. Feel free to give him a health potion, though.”
“I don’t need a fucking health potion!” Trevor shouted.
He scrambled to his feet and went at it again. He abandoned the idea of using magic and attacked Noah with a barrage of rapid-fire stabs. Noah deflected each attack with his shield, and when Trevor tried to get in close for another swing, he once again grabbed the halberd and stopped Trevor from moving. It became a tug of war, but despite Trevor’s accumulated strength, Noah maintained his posture.
“You know what I’m going to do now, right?” Trevor tried to figure out how Noah would throw another punch, but instead, he let go of the halberd and sent Trevor falling onto his ass. “Your ss with that thing aren’t that bad, at least, if you just stick to hunting monsters, but you’ll never hit me with it. Try showing me how good you are with your fists.” Noah placed his hand on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway. “Unless you’d prefer to stick to armed combat, in which case I’ll gladly humor you.”
Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a straight right punch towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his elbow, snapping his arm like his bones were made of glass. Before Trevor could even scream, Noah silenced him with another punch to the nose, once more knocking him to the ground. It didn’t seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his face. The spray woke him up and healed his nose and mouth, though his arm would have to be reset before a potion could mend it.
“So, do you want to keep going? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I’ve got nothing but time. And we can go whenever you want, this isn’t your only chance.
Now I suppose there are a number of ways we can go about this. We can do the whole emotional journey thing, but the fact that I’ve explained it kind of takes away the magic. You can just leave the party, I’ll give you that option. There’s the option of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your revenge, which, again, you are free to do so at any time, but at your own risk. Poisoning my food might work, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your best option would be to shut your fucking mouth, accept that I’m stronger than you and smarter than you, and pay attention to what I will teach you, as it will improve your ss and your chances of survival.
From there, we can go to the dungeon crab, and you’ll easily overcome challenges that would have ed you at your current level of strength. With a good amount of effort and coordination, and no shortage of luck, we’ll conquer the dungeon crab and become rich beyond our wildest dreams. There is always the option of betraying us down there and running off with all the loot, but boy, oh boy, you’d better make sure I’m dead, because you don’t want me coming after you, you really don’t.
So, what do you say?”
Everyone was silent, waiting to hear Trevor’s response. He was glaring at Noah and taking deep, angry breathes through his nose. “You say you can make me stronger?”
“I guarantee it.”
“We conquer the dungeon crab and we’re done, right? I never have to see you again?”
“You can retire to some fancy beach house, you’ll be so rich. I’ll never bother you again.”
“Fine.”
“I’ll let the three of you fix his arm. I need to speak with the baron inside.”
Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the house, walking right by the spot where Tin had died. “Is the baron in?” he asked, addressing one of the maids.
“In his private study, sir. He’s waiting for you.”
Just as Oath had done the day before, the maid knocked on the double doors and announced Noah’s arrival, with the baron granting entry. The old man was behind his desk. “That was quite the spirited match outside. Your ss are the real deal.”
“The real s is producing results from it.”
The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a drink. “I’m glad you returned. I’m sorry for the loss of your companion.”
“Don’t worry about it. I already ed your brother and his son.”
The glass fell from the baron’s hand and shattered. “What?!” he exclaimed.
There was an immediate knock on the door. “My Lord, is everything fine?” a butler asked.
Noah’s gaze never left the baron, without any sense of fear or anticipation of what might come next. He simply waited for a reaction. The baron gripped the corner of the desk but managed to control himself.
“Everything is fine. We are not to be disturbed.” When he sensed the butler had left, he turned his attention back to Noah. “You wouldn’t even give me the chance to talk you out of vengeance?”
“It was nothing of the sort.”
---------------
It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his ring from the jeweler, the last of his morning errands, and with information given by those around town, he now stood before the home of the local baronet. It was in the outskirts of the town, one of the farms, and neither the fields nor the house were on par with the baron. Despite the rank of noble, baronets were simply commoners with the prefix ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’.
He found the baronet repairing a cattle fence behind the house. He was identical to the baron, but without the beard and sporting fewer wrinkles. Noah was invisible so the man didn’t even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his knife to his throat and told him to drop the hammer he was using.
“Sir Edwin Fault, I presume?”
“Who’s asking?”
“Did you hire four men to the Oath Fault?”
“Now why would I try to my beloved nephew?”
“To get your son the rank of baron. But if you aren’t going to answer my questions, I suppose I can always ask him, or maybe your wife.”
“You must be the bastard who saved him from that goblin den. I had to pay that adventurer a good deal of money to him. To think he’d be such a chickenshit and leave the job to goblins.”
“Did your son know about the hit you put on his cousin?”
“He would have ed that talentless brat himself if I hadn’t talked him out of it. He didn’t do anything. You have a bone to pick, put that knife away and let’s solve this like men.”
Noah’s answer came in the form of a fluid flick of his wrist, severing Edwin’s jugular and sending him tumbling to the ground, trying pointlessly to stop the ing. Noah stood by to confirm the death and then made his way towards the fields, where the baronet’s son was working.
---------------
“There was a time when I took great joy in making people suffer, and I’ve been working to change myself since then. I don’t allow myself to for pleasure or vengeance, and certainly I didn’t them for what they did, but what they would continue to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life of a loyal subordinate, and I’d rather not give anyone the chance to get in my way.
If I were to allow them to live, they would continue to try and you and Oath, and I’d have to clean up the mess, just like I’ve been doing since I found your son in that goblin den. The last thing I’d want is to capture the dungeon and then get ambushed by your brother’s henchmen when we’re too tired to fight back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your family, despite his attempts to Oath, but you’re hiring me to keep Oath alive, and if I’m going to do that, it will be done my way.
If you have any objections, state them now.”
Ivan didn’t respond. He simply slumped in his seat and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his brother had to be dealt with in one form or another, in order for his son to inherit the rank of baron. However, even if it had been slim before, there was always a chance of reconciliation. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a long, long time ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that possibility was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn’t acted out of vengeance against his brother, but Ivan couldn’t help but feel he was the one being punished.
“I thought as much. Despite your brother and nephew dying, I’m aware that your son still had little prospect of inheriting your title, so the dungeon capture will proceed as planned. We didn’t have the chance to talk about payment for this job, but don’t worry, I’m not interested in money or land. There is something else I want.”
---------------
It took more than one healing potion to repair Trevor’s arm, and that could only be done when the bones were reset. He was all patched up by the time Noah made his return.
“I promised the baron we’d set out in a week for the dungeon. That was two days ago. For the next five days, I’m going to evaluate each of your ss and see where improvements have been made. First, we’re going to hunt some monsters. I want to know your combat ss and see how well you work as a team. You all have your weapons, so we’re going to depart now and travel light. Any objections?”
No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their silence was not out of fear, rather an awareness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the oldest of the group by only a year, but they all sensed he had much more experience than they did.
“Good, then let’s depart. Oath, you know the area. Please lead the way.”
“I actually know the location of a magic spawning circle. Let’s head there.”
They gathered some supplies and set off into the wilderness, leading a pack horse to carry back their harvested monster parts. From the moment they were enveloped by the darkness of the trees, they were vulnerable. The territory of the monsters was well-established, due much in part to the summoning circles that they spawned from. They only intruded into human territory when there was a shortage of food or their numbers had grown too great, issues that were both solved by the constant flow of adventurers working to curb their population.
As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.
“Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any ss for close-quarter combat?”
“I’ve been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we’re not hunting.”
“What about magic?”
“I haven’t been able to develop anything for fighting enemies up close.”
“We’ll work on that. Oath, Beth, can either of you use magic?”
“I can’t,” said Oath.
“I can create water, but not in any kind of attack. I use it to fill up my water skin.”
“Good, we’ll definitely need that in the dungeon. You’re still using your bow as your main weapon, right?”
“Yeah, and I got poison for my arrows just like you…”
She trailed off, remembering what Oath had told her. Tin had been shot and ed with a poison arrow. Noah paid no attention to the drop of her speech.
“What about close-range? Any weapons?”
“I use a knife.”
“Good. Trevor, you can activate magic when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else?”
“Nope, the halberd is all I can use.”
Noah had picked up some scraps of info on the different branches of magic in this world, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior class, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only activate their ss with specific weapons, which depended on the individual. He wasn’t exaggerating when he said the halberd was all he could use. He couldn’t activate his magic with any other weapon.
“We’re here,” said Oath. He then stopped in his tracks. “On second thought, I think we should turn back.”
Noah looked ahead. On the forest floor, he could see a large magic circle, consisting of runes and assorted shapes. Standing in the circle was a bear the size of a minivan. However, its body was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing moment, its color deepened.
‘Is it teleporting? No, it’s solidifying. The circle is converting mana into physical matter and assembling it. So, that’s what it means for a creature to be summoned.’ “I’ve never seen a bear like that out here.”
“It’s a sledgepaw, a rare breed. It is to regular bears what that hobgoblin was to regular goblins. We should get out of here before it attacks. This is a little bit out of our league.”
“No, it’s perfect. We’ll wait for it to finish spawning and then take it on. For all we know, the dungeon could have far worse monsters.”
“All right, then let’s take formation,” said Oath.
“Wait for it to attack us. Taking your time in setting up a firing squad while it spawns won’t give much experience or information.”
It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialize, immediately spotting Noah and the group and labeling them as enemies without any kind of hesitation or confusion. It released a roar of fury and charged, signaling the start of the battle. Noah kept his distance while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison arrow in her bow and shot the bear in the neck. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its claws, but Oath attacked from the side and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The beast’s hide was tough, and Noah couldn’t tell if the attack had actually done any damage. Enraged, the bear knocked Oath aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armor, and while it stopped the bear’s claws from reaching his flesh, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.
“Oath!” Mira cried out.
Trevor stabbed the bear in the thigh with his halberd, and while he drew a roar of pain from the beast, it hadn’t forgotten the arrow in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the ground, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in anguish as it weighed down on her, saliva from its mouth splashing on her face with its massive fangs inching closer and closer.
“Guillotine Swing!”
Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting wood, and the axe blade, glowing with magic power, dug deep into the bear’s back, though it missed the spine.
“Earth Surge!”
Having gathered her mana, Mira struck the ground with her staff. The surrounding soil, not gripped by the tree roots, were gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was slow to get back on its feet, as its strength was fading with each lost drop of and the poison was taking its toll. Regardless, it still could crush the skulls of the feeble humans with a single swing of its mighty paw.
Oath was back on his feet and charged with a shout of determination and his sword raised high. Seeing him approach, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his vigor just moments ago, the sight of the towering beast robbed Oath of his courage. He was paralyzed with fear and the bear swung at him. Instinct saved his life, the instinct to raise his sword and block the attack, though the force still slammed him into the ground. An arrow was buried in the bear’s chest before it could attack again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the stomach.
The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in fury but then breaking down into a fit of y coughing. Beth fired a third arrow, striking the shoulder, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath’s side and helped pull him out of harm’s way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to wail on the beast, its life was soon extinguished. Its massive body collapsed and Oath and his friends released their held breath.
Noah, who had been observing, got up from the tree stump that had been his seat and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the bear’s spine with his sword to make sure it was dead.
“Congratulations on your . However, it was rather messy.”
“Messy?!” Trevor exclaimed. “Look at how big that monster is! We took it on while you just sat back and watched! We’ve never faced anything that big before!”
“Its size wasn’t the biggest challenge. Your disorganization was.” Noah took out his knife and began carving into the bear to remove its hide. He looked only at his work, but he continued to lecture them. “You surrounded it on all sides, which, while good when facing something smaller and prone to running, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don’t split up like that unless it’s something that each one of you can physically handle. Beth, consider all the time that you spent pinned. That was all time you could have spent firing arrows had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very good, both that shot to the neck and to the chest. But from now on, the two of you should hang back while Oath and Trevor fend the enemy off.
Oath, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for?”
“I don’t know, I just wanted to inflict some damage.”
“You should have gone for the head. With a monster of that size, did you think a flesh wound or muscle damage would it? Unless they’re well protected, you should always aim for the vital spots. Swing at the head, stab at the chest. Same with you, Trevor. When you attacked its back, were you aiming for its spine?” He didn’t respond. “I’ll take that as a no. Take aim with your attacks, and not just at openings in your opponent’s guard. You should try studying anatomy, figure out where the most vital points are. You went at the belly, that was smart. It’s soft and hard to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should have gone higher, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.
Mira, you did well in getting Oath out of danger. However, you waited too long to cast your spells. I see that you developed a new spell, and while it did manage to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale spell not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can create a dust cloud and send rocks flying? You should have stuck with that. A bit of dust could have blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its sense of smell, and a rock or even hard-packed dirt can inflict plenty of pain when striking the head or the crotch.
And Oath, you know what I’m going to say, don’t you? You d, and your mistake put the lives of your friends in danger. It was instinct that saved your life. You need to make these kinds of decisions faster. Before we head to the dungeon crab, we’ll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a hand. This bear is going to help fund our preparations.”
Everyone joined in, helping to remove the bear’s hide as intact as possible. When it was done, Noah placed his hand on the hide and tried to seal it in his ring. He had already practiced with it and confirmed that the enhancement jewel had doubled the capacity of the ring, so it could hold twice his weight. He already had some things in there, and was hoping the addition of the hide would just slip under the limit, but it was so heavy that the ring was refusing to try. He’d have to remove some things first.
Noah held out his hand and closed his fingers around an invisible handle. A sword appeared in his grip, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the sheath that went with it, something that the regular goblins wouldn’t have been smart enough to take. It was much larger than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size might be useful against a large enemy. Oath, who knew both the real identity and power of Noah’s ring and what it was known for, was exempt from the voices of amazement the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the huge sword appearing out of thin air.
“Oath, where did you get your sword?”
“Uh… it was my grandfather’s.” Oath stuttered, feeling an automatic sense of danger by being queried by someone who had just revealed a sword.
“May I?” Noah held out his hand and Oath reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an experienced blacksmith once, a week-long learning course at a metalwork school that turned into a career, though while his memories were a bit fuzzy, he could still recognize the craftsmanship put in. However, his focus wasn’t on the actual quality of the metal, but the length of the handle. It was a bastard sword, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one hand or two.
“It’s good. And your father said you grew up working the fields, right? Lots of plowing and clearing trees?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I want you to try using this goblin sword for a while. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, leverage that your grandfather’s sword can’t give you with the length of its handle. Your hands are too close together and it’s throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This larger sword will allow you keep your hands farther apart and provide a more similar motion.”
He handed both swords to Oath, but he only took his grandfather’s sword. “I can’t accept that. That’s your trophy for ing the monster.”
“You’re just renting it from me. Besides, if this venture works out, I’ll be rich enough to buy an even better sword.”
“As you wish, then.” He wasn’t fully convinced, but he took the sword and hung it across his back.
“Ok, let’s change our strategy a little. We’ll take the formation of a W, with Oath in the middle, me and Trevor at the sides, and Beth and Mira in the back.”
It would have perfect if they could fight another sledgepaw bear and compare strategies, but considering its rarity, it would probably be a long time before it respawned. They set off instead to find more monsters, not having to hike long before coming across a pack of wolves. They took formation and stared the beasts down, all armed and ready to fight.
“Beth and Mira, you two are our main form of attack. The three of us are just a shield. You’ll have to focus on not getting us caught up in your attacks.”
“Right!” They both replied.
Arrows began flying past Oath’s right side and rocks and pieces of packed earth were flying past his left. The wolves were caught off guard and several were left stunned or injured. A wolf standing directly in front of Oath managed to avoid the onslaught and leaped towards him. Oath swung his sword, nearly losing his balance and falling over. However, though the weight was much greater than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn’t the cause. It was the ease he felt, the swing now more reminiscent of a familiar motion, and he was able to use muscle memory to call out greater strength and s. The ease robbed him of his tension like he had removed weights from his shoulders, causing him to stumble. The sword carved through the airborne wolf like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.
At the same time, the wolves that were still on their feet scattered to try and flank the group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the first, trying to attack from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear tip of his halberd. The second tried to close in, using the death of the first as a distraction, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe blade in the wolf’s back.
On the other side, three charged towards Noah. The first pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then ing it with a downwards swing. He spun around, thrusting into the second wolf’s chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to attack from his blind spot, but drew his short sword and cleaved its skull open.
All that was left were the wolves stunned by the opening attack, but they had been dispatched with Beth’s arrows. The only fight had taken a handful of seconds, causing Oath and his friends to all exchange shocked glances. They had never won that fast before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The value of Noah’s advice had been proven.
They stripped the wolves of their hides and collected all other valuable body parts, then continued their journey. There was still plenty of time before they’d have to set up camp, so they wanted to get as much hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the forest, the spark of excitement filled them. Now that the young adventurers had improved their strategy, they wanted to see how else they might get stronger, and what this new boost would allowed them to do.
They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the flattest ground for the sake of their horse. It was when they were traveling along a floodplain that Noah stopped them, his eyes glued onto the nearby hill and a large fallen tree.
“Look over there. See the ground where the dirt and leaves have been disturbed? Goblins probably laid a trap and are hiding behind that log. Mira, can you launch one of your spells to try and smoke them out?”
“It’s a little far, but I’ll try.” She stabbed the ground with her staff. “Earth Bind!”
Like a crack splitting ice, a visible line ran through the surface of the ground over the area behind the log. There was the sound of shrieks and several goblins scurried out from their hideout, with one caught within the stone jaws of Mira’s spell.
“Beth,” Noah said.
Beth perked up and took aim with her bow, managing to snipe one of the scattered goblins. From behind the trees around the log, more goblins appeared, howling like monkeys. They charged town the hill, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own bows.
“Beth, take out the archers. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don’t flank us. Oath, if more than one goblin attacks you at once, don’t do another downward slash. It’ll leave you open. Trevor, don’t let the momentum of your swings take you out of position.”
No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance exchange with the archers up the hill, Mira created pits and blades of earth that burst up along the flanks of the goblin horde. They swarmed for Noah, Oath, and Trevor. The fastest goblin reached Trevor and swung at him with a club. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the blade failed to strike the goblin, it did get caught on the handle, hurling it towards Oath, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his sword from the side like Trevor had done, catching two goblins in the temples and slicing off the top of their skulls.
At the end, Noah was stabbing and slashing any goblin that came near. He overpowered them whenever they tried to block and every swing of his sword sent splattering across the nearby trees. A goblin arrow planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground. His leather armor had slowed it down a bit, so it didn’t reach his organs, but as someone who had been shot numerous times, getting hit with the splintery goblin arrow hurt a lot more than most bullets.
“Mira, I’m hit. I need a dust cloud!”
“R-right!”
She stuttered momentarily, but regained her composure and sent all of the dry soil around the goblins airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a couple moments, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a hiss of pain and spurt of and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his flesh stitched back together, the goblins managed to clear their eyes of the dust and resumed their charge, but just like before, Noah mowed them down.
The battle was over in less than a minute. Once again, Oath and his friends exchanged glances of excitement.
---------------
A few battles later, the setting sun put an end to their hunting for the day, and they set up camp between a cluster of large trees. It gave them some protection from monsters and kept out the wind. They built up a fire in the center and cooked meat from the slain bear. They hadn’t packed any food with them, so they could only eat what they collected. Dinner was eaten mostly in silence. Noah was new to the group and they hadn’t gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn’t immediately talk at their usual conversational depth.
Between bites, Noah took out a canteen full of water and added some pine needles from his pocket. Metal bottles were more expensive than glass bottles and water skins, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.
“You’re making tea with pine needles?” Mira asked.
“Pine needles help ward off scurvy even better than lemons.”
“Really? Where’d you hear that?”
“Just something I picked up.”
“Where can I pick up interesting stuff like that?” Beth complained. “Where did you learn where the fight monsters like that?”
Noah thought back through all of the fantasy novels and role-playing games he had enjoyed over the years. “That? That was just intuition.” It would be best to shift the conversation away from himself.
“What are you going to do after the dungeon crab?” she then asked.
“That question seems like bad luck, don’t you think? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you? You get to become a noble if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for life. Oath is going to inherit his father’s title. Are you also aiming for nobility?”
“I’m going to keep traveling and exploring,” said Beth.
“I just want to make enough money to settle down and start a family,” Mira added.
Oath’s future had already been laid out, so next it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn’t show any interest in even acknowledging the question. He probably would have if Noah wasn’t there.
“I have no interest in becoming a noble,” said Oath.
“Then why do it?” Noah asked.
“Because my father wants me to.”
“Again, why do it?”
“I already told you. My—”
“And what does that have to do with anything? You’re old enough now that you can set out on your own. You’ve found your talent with that blade. Keep being an adventurer. Do whatever you want to do.”
“Isn’t my father paying you to make sure I become a noble?”
“I fully expect you to become a noble, even if I have to tie the title around your wrists. I just want to make sure you have a strong reason so that you won’t up. So, go on, tell us the real reason.” There was an awkward silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer. “Unless, of course, you already gave us the real reason. Your father wants this, and you want to make him happy.”
“Is that really such a strange desire?”
“You want him to finally treat you like he did your brothers. You want reconciliation, to make everything right so that all the years of neglect can be made up for, that it was all worth it.”
“For someone judging, you sound like you have experience.”
“No, I was the opposite. My dad was like yours. He thought a parent’s love had to be earned and wouldn’t accept failure. If I wasn’t the best, then I wasn’t his son. Unfortunately, I didn’t care, and I told him that. I told him that his approval meant nothing to me. I never had any intention of making him proud.” In actuality, he had several fathers who followed that mindset. It was a personality type that made an appearance every now and then.
“What happened?” Beth asked.
“Oh, he hit me, several times. Yeah, he went nuts.”
“So what did you do?”
‘I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the spine. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.’ “I left home and became an adventurer.” He took a slow sip of his tea. “You have to figure out your own reason for doing things, your own reason for living. Neither your parents nor God can give you meaning. It’s something that you have to create for yourself, and if you don’t do it carefully, if you pick an idea or a belief that is faint and fragile, it’ll fall apart in your hands and you’ll have nothing.”
The camp went silent, everyone staring into the flames rather than take the risk of making eye contact with someone else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her knees to her chest. “My father was actually an adventurer. He taught me how to shoot a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he’d disappear for weeks at a time, but he would always come home late and night, when I was asleep. We had a game where he would hide under my bed, just before dawn, and went I’d step onto my floor, he’d grab my ankle and pretend to be whatever monster he had just fought. It made me a light sleeper, because I’d always try to hear him sneak in and catch him.”
“I wish I knew my father,” said Mira, trying to keep the conversation going.
Like before, it became Trevor’s turn, but he still showed no interest in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.
---------------
They set out at dawn the next morning to continue hunting, while making their way back to town. Just like the day before, their new formation proved unstoppable against the monsters of the forest, and they found themselves carrying so much loot that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to take frequent stops, and as usual, Noah would use that time to gather valuable plants.
At last, they broke out of the cover of the forest, now trekking across farmland with the village not far off. Despite their fatigue, their spirits were high. The sun was setting and their trip had been both productive and informative “I think we should just go straight to the dungeon crab tomorrow,” said Oath. “We’re already strong enough.”
“Not yet,” said Noah. “We’ve built a formation, now I want to improve your abilities.”
“So more hunting?” Beth asked.
“No, training and exercise to increase physical strength and mana reserves. All of our loot from this trip is going to fund it.”
Upon arriving to town, they first stopped off at the local tannery to sell off the pelts. The owner of the shop, a skinny man who struggled to grow a decent beard, Luke, met them as they entered his store. As one might expect, tanneries weren’t known for their pleasant aromas. It smelled like a wet dog that had just fed on road. The air had moved beyond simple stench and now had its own taste, a very gamey flavor. Noah still hadn’t gotten used to it, but he no longer grimaced in disgust when he entered.
“Mr. Noah, I haven’t seen you lately. And the young master, I’m glad to see you are doing well. What have you come with today?”
“We have pelts to sell, including a special piece.”
All of the wolf and other hides were stacked on the counter, with the last, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the floor like a rug.
“A sledgepaw? And in such good condition! This is definitely a rare find!”
“We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,” said Oath. “That’s as fresh as it gets.”
Luke bent down and examined the hide, paying close attention to wounds created during the battle. “And there doesn’t appear to be too much damage… I can give you two gold coins for everything.”
“Two and half?” Noah asked.
“Two, that’s my limit. This thing has some big cuts in it.”
“Fine.”
The exchange was made, but Trevor objected as the coins were handed to Noah. “Why do you get the money? You didn’t fight it!”
“I’m not keeping the money, just holding onto it until we spend it.”
Next, they sold off some goblin weapons to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to collect, though their final stop was the apothecary, and rather than selling, Noah was buying. Oath and the others stood back and watched as he ordered armfuls of different plants for sale with the old woman watching him with an eye of interest.
“I’ll also take every health and mana potion you’re willing to sell.”
“Why can’t every customer be like you?” she asked, teasing him.
They returned to the street. “Ok, let’s call it a day. Tomorrow morning, we’ll meet back up at the baron’s home and begin training. I’ll use these plants to whip up lots of potions.”
The group split up, with Oath and Trevor heading off their respective homes, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few more errands. Night fell, and like the women, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as usual, but the table that Noah sat at was quiet. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his room. By candlelight, he ground up the plants he had bought and mixed them together. An hour after he started, he heard a knock at the door. He answered with his knife in hand but out of sight, as was natural. He opened the door to see Beth standing there, a smile on her face that was coy, nervous, excited, and embarrassed, all mixed together.
“I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she’s gone, that doesn’t mean your nights have to be lonely. I want to experience the legend that everyone in town has been talking about.”
An honest smile, rare for Noah, crossed his face. However, it was more in amusement than lust. “That seems like something that would really bring us some bad luck later, considering the whole dungeon crab thing.”
“What?”
“Nothing. As much as I would like to say yes, it would be best if we both went straight for bed, considering the training I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make.”
Her spirits were deflated, but she wasn’t ready to give up. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”
“I’m sure. But if you still have strength tomorrow after dinner, then I’ll happily indulge you.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” She then gave him a wink and went back to her room.
---------------
“The training I have in mind will consist of long sessions of muscle training and then magic training in a physically exhausted state, replenishing strength with potions, and repeating the process.” Noah addressed Oath and his friends in front of the baron’s mansion. By his side were a large sack full of red and blue potions, as well as some other concoctions. “It’s a combination of two workout routines I’ve created.”
Mira looked away for a moment, pondering something. She then perked up in shock. “That’s what was happening with you and Tin at the inn!”
Oath, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a moment to process what she had said, and then swerving their eyes back to Noah like a car drifting around a corner. Oath had forgotten that little fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a silent grudge, was remembering those rumors he had heard and finally feeling a bit of respect towards Noah.
Noah let a small laugh escape. “Yeah, that’s right. My theory is that mana output is a combination of physical and spiritual energy. When your spiritual mana can’t keep up with the demand, your physical mana picks up the slack, but it means your spirit gets only part of the benefits of training. Therefore, the best way to train your spirit’s rate of production and reservoir size is to either do so after you have just depleted all of your stamina, or during battle, when you are using up both, though I believe the latter is less efficient. Tin was assisting me with the expenditure of physical energy.”
“All morning?!”
“I have a lot of stamina, which is the result of the other exercise routine. Over a long period of time, I’ve mastered several different forms of exercise and refined them to target muscle growth in a specific way. People and other large animals have tree kinds of muscle: red muscle, which is muscle that is great for stamina and running; white muscle, which is muscle for physical power and explosive force; and pink muscle, which is a combination of both. My routine focusing on producing pink muscle. Unfortunately, sex isn’t the exercise routine, God, though I wish it was.
Oath, I saw you struggling to lift your new sword, but making perfect slashes every time. Because of all the time you’ve spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very heavy, you have a lot of red muscle, which lets you go for a long time up to a certain limit.
Trevor, I noticed your movements decline faster than Oath, despite expending a similar amount of energy. Your stabs and slashes, while initially quite powerful, made a steady decline. You have too much white muscle, which lets you carry more than Oath, but not as far.”
To Oath, it made sense. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the goblin den or even when they returned to the village the previous day. At the same time, he was able to slice through monsters and carry their remains with great strength. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.
“Wait a second, if that was your “special mana training” you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use magic,” said Beth. “You told us you couldn’t.”
“I wasn’t sure I could trust you when we first met. I was willing to tell you how to make yourselves stronger, but not how to make me weaker.”
“You’ve been hiding magic this whole time? But we showed your ours!” Trevor yelled.
“And let that be a lesson to you in the future. The sooner your enemy knows about your strengths, the sooner they know about your weaknesses. When meeting new people, conceal your abilities until the last moment, because that moment might be a battle. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip and are willing to undergo my workout routine, I believe that it’s only fair to lay my cards on the table.”
He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing shouts of surprise from everyone.
“Noah?!” Oath exclaimed, looking around for him.
Noah released the illusion and they all yelped again. “I can make myself invisible. When I first unlocked this ability, I could only do it for a few seconds at a time. After a month of training, I could do it for more than five minutes.” He’d keep his second spell secret, as well as the true duration he could hold the both of them for. His trust in them was still in its infancy.
“I’ve never seen or even heard of a magic like that before. Maybe some kind of holy spell?” Mira muttered.
Her words took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so little about the magic in this world, there was no telling how common powers like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might make him look pathetic. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a chance that it was rare enough to not be considered common knowledge.
Noah retrieved some bottles full of a green liquid and tossed one to Oath and each of his friends. “Drink that, it’s a little something I whipped up from the plants I bought yesterday, along with some honey. It’ll give you a little extra energy. These next few days are going to be exhausting.”
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