William thrust his bronze spear toward the Galeclaw, the blade of the spear coming dangerously close to the creature's flank.
WHOOSH
A sudden and sharp gust of wind appears and slams against the spearhead in an attempt to slow the weapon down, giving the Galeclaw enough time to leap backwards into the thicket.
Aria rushes up to William and stands at his back with her blade at the ready, both of their eyes trained on one side of the wooded surroundings.
They would see a shadow moving within the brush before disappearing, "I think it is testing our reaction and defenses!" Aria mutters before continuing, "Close your eyes!"
Reaching up into the air with one of her soft hands, she suddenly begins to chant, "By star's first spark and moon's soft gleam,
Awaken light from the silent dream.
Lumen Orbis, rise and shine,
Guide my path with a glow divine."
WENG... WHOOOSH
The moment she finished her chant, a shadow dashed from the woods, aiming to slice her into ribbons, but as if she was counting on it, a smirk appeared on her face.
A sudden flash of light emanated from her hand and formed into a large ball that floated just above her hand, revealing the flashing teeth and claws of the Galeclaw lion, which suddenly let out a roar of pain as the light burned its retinas.
Aria sidesteps the still airborne lion, causing it to crash into the ground, but before William could take advantage of the creature's precarious position.
"ROOOOOOOOOOAAARRRR!"
The lion roared, and suddenly a storm of blade-like winds began circling the beast, forcing William to retreat mid-attack or risk heavy injury.
William's eyes left the still blind lion and looked into the sky to see the brilliantly glowing orb of incandescent warm light.
"Was that fucking magic?" He thought, sweat forming on his brow, before a wicked smile appeared, his mind now flooded with images of himself calling down Meteors like Madara, bolts of lightning like Thor, or even flying like a certain man in tights.
He is brought out of his thoughts by the sound of winds, slicing through tree limbs and underbrush like an oversized lawn mower.
Suddenly, the wind blades begin moving towards the Galeclaw's open maw and form into a chaotic orb of terrifyingly sharp winds.
WHOOOOOOOOOSH
The sound the ball made continued to increase in volume even as it grew in size, and soon the Galeclaw launched its attack towards Aria.
Seeing this, William's eyes began to glow somewhat yellow as he activated [Focus], causing his perception of time to slow down somewhat.
He dashes toward Aria and slides to a stop in front of her with his spear pointed forward just as the ball of chaotic wind arrives.
WHOOOOSH...
William felt his muscles scream in agony as he struggled against the hurricane-like force behind the ball of wind, which pushed him further and further back, his feet carving trenches in the wet soil.
He smashed into something soft and looked back to see Aria struggling to help him resist the attack, a fierce determination burning in her sapphire eyes that, when coupled with her naturally stunning appearance, only served to make her more endearing.
Seeing William's glazed-over stare, Aria yells, "Focus, William, this is no time for distraction!"
Coming back to his senses, William stomps his right foot into the ground, his strength, which was now currently at twenty, was more than enough to cut through the soft dirt and slowly stop his backward momentum with gritted teeth.
CTCHHHHHHH...
William slammed the butt of his spear into the dirt as he came to a stop before crouching in place.
TSSSSSSSSSSSS
With a sharp, deep inhale, William's veins surged beneath his skin, his muscles roiling with the full force of his strength stat, an unrecognizable might that could even put Olympic bodybuilders to shame, erupted forth as he lunged toward the Galeclaw, his speed catching not only the beast off guard but also Aria and even William himself.
The tip of the bronze spear closed in on the beast, which, too late, realized the danger and attempted to dodge, only for the spear tip to pierce through the right foreleg of the predatory beast.
SPTTT
A jet of hot crimson blood poured from the fresh wound, and the Galeclaw roared before swiping at William with its other claw in an attempt to free itself.
While William was struggling with the beast, Aria was pressing her hand against the flat side of her blade with her eyes closed, and her mouth began to move as she spoke.
"Light unbound, edge refined!" A soft golden glow begins to appear on her hands and flows into the sword like raindrops on a once peaceful lake surface before forming soft but dense lines of light along the length of the silvery blade.
As this occurred, her chant continued.
"Sever shadow, dawn defined!" She raised the sword skyward as if to complete the ritual, and as if on command, the lines along the blade shone with brilliance as they shot forward and formed a blade-like extension of Aria's sword, which nearly doubled the range of her attack.
William saw the flash of light reflect off the galeclaw's eyes and leaped backwards, forcibly dislodging the bronze spear from the forearm of the beast simultaneously and barely missing the swipe of the creature's claws by a hair's breadth.
He slid to a stop beside Aria, who had the glowing blade raised above her head, ready to slash downward.
In its rage at being wounded, the galeclaw lion lunged at the two with reckless abandon, leaking copious amounts of blood from the open wound on its leg.
"HAAAAA!"
Aria roared, her blade carving a brilliant arc toward the lion. William's glowing yellow eyes widened, despite his enhanced perception, the sweeping flash of light moved too fast to fully track
William watched in wonder as the lion's head slid off its shoulders and fell to the ground with an audible thud.
He turned to Aria with a myriad of questions in mind to ask, but only managed to speak one of them in the moment.
"If you had such magic, how did you lose to those goblins?" His arms crossed as he asked this question.
Her face went red, and she looked down at the ground.
"I can't tell him that I had used all of my mana practicing on the way, he would think me some kind of fool!" She thought, slowly looking up to meet his gaze, but after waiting, he had already turned around and began approaching the headless corpse of the galeclaw lion.
As soon as he turned to the lion, he received two notifications.
[Ding level up...]
[Ding level up...]
William willed his status screen to appear, and a blue screen detailing his statistics appeared in front of his face.
Name: William Conwell
Age: 16
Race: Human+
Class: Unassigned
Title: Chosen by Phosphorus
Level: 12
EXP:600 / 2200
HP: 785 / 785
MP: 180 / 180
Stamina: 725 / 725
[Stats]
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 27
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Stat Points: 10 Available
Skill Points: 30 Available
He had ten points for stats and quite the stockpile of skill points as far as he knew, "What should I put my points in this time?" He thought as he scratched his beardless chin.
He had been focusing most of his points on the physical side of things and decided to finally drop points into his mental stats at a larger rate, starting with dropping all his current stat points into intelligence, bringing the stat to the second highest, right behind his endurance.
William's eyes glazed over after he input the stats, and he seemed to be a million miles away mentally, before suddenly the clarity returned to his vision, and the color in his eyes sharpened.
What he saw shocked him.
Multicolored ribbons and tendrils of light were flowing through the air as if following some deeper, unseen current, and when he took a closer look, he noticed that some of the smaller dots of energy were moving around like a school of fish.
These dots of light swam to the ground and dashed in his direction, initially causing William to flinch, but he noticed that the dots ignored him and headed straight for Aria, who was beginning a chant with her hands placed before her chest.
"Light of mercy, gentle and bright!"
The lights around her suddenly surge between her palms, forming into a ball of light that casts a warm glow on its surroundings.
"Mend the wound, restore with light!"
A somewhat holy aura erupts from between the palms of her hands, and she lets go, allowing herself to bask in the strange glow.
It was only then that William noticed the gash on her leg, a stray blade of wind had ricocheted off his spear and sliced her across her thigh, but just as he had noticed the wound, he witnessed the wound seal and regrow new flesh within moments.
William turned back towards the lion and once again summoned his status window to see the changes.
Name: William Conwell
Age: 16
Race: Human+
Class: Unassigned
Title: Chosen by Phosphorus
Level: 12
EXP:600 / 2200
HP: 785 / 785
MP: 300 / 300
Stamina: 725 / 725
[Stats]
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 27
Intelligence: 25
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10
Luck: 10
Stat Points: 0 Available
Skill Points: 30 Available
Noticing he had an abundance of skill points, William summoned the list next to his status window.
Skills
Handicraft — Level 4 (EXP: 200/300)
Rarity: Common → Upgradeable
Type: Passive & Active
Passive Effects:
+16% Item Durability
+9% Faster Crafting Speed
+20% Aesthetic Enhancement to crafted items
Active Effect:
Cost: 10 Mana per use
9% chance to create a Perfect Item (Zero Defects)
29% chance to create a Superior-Grade Item
Focus — Level 3 (EXP: 225/300)
Rarity: Uncommon → Upgradeable
Type: Active
Effect:
Cost: 15 Stamina
Slows your perception of time by 22%, aiding in high-stress planning
Sneak — Level 4 (EXP: 125/300)
Rarity: Uncommon → Upgradeable
Type: Passive
Effect:
24% harder to be seen or heard while in shadows
Danger Sense — Level 1 (EXP: 128/500)
Rarity: Rare → Upgradeable
Type: Passive
Effect:
Instinctively sense hostile intent (within 5 levels above you)
Detects enemies through walls, illusions, and invisibility
Seeing all of this, he decides that the skill Danger Sense does not get enough love and decides to drop twenty of his skill points into it, and the last ten into the skill Focus
Focus — Level 4 (EXP: 100/500)
Rarity: Uncommon → Upgradeable
Type: Active
Effect:
Cost: 13 Stamina
Slows your perception of time by 30%, aiding in high-stress planning
Danger Sense — Level 2 (EXP: 300/850)
Rarity: Rare → Upgradeable
Type: Passive
Effect:
Instinctively sense hostile intent (within 10 levels above you)
Detects enemies through walls, illusions, and invisibility
Closing the windows behind him, he turns back towards Aria, whose formerly radiant glow had finally ceased, allowing him to view her leg that was now in pristine condition.
He approached her with a smile, but suddenly a terrible feeling swept past him, and he felt like something creepy and crawly was squirming its way along his spine.
DANGER SENSE ACTIVE!
A red prompt appeared in front of William with words that made his eyes turn into narrow slits before turning into pinholes after opening them wide in shock.
In the direction they had come from, he could just barely make out the ruins of the former camp where all that remained was a makeshift cabin and a fire recently extinguished, but what truly caught his eye was the procession of torches approaching said camp.
On a small hill behind the camp, a goblin riding a what William could only describe as a strange hyena and wolf hybrid approached the camp and began sniffing the ground.
The creature turned its head towards the direction William and Aria left and growled menacingly, causing its rider to also look in that direction with sharp eyes.
Suddenly, their eyes met, and a sinister grin appeared on the goblin rider's face before he reached over to his side and lifted what appeared to be a hunting horn, which he brought to his cracked lips and blew.
WHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM
The sound of the horn echoed throughout the entire area for many miles, gathering the attention of each and every goblin within the area as well as every other beast with ears.
William spun around towards Aria and yelled, "RUN!"
He ran up and grabbed her by the hand before running in the other direction away from the camp.
As they run, they can hear the sound of paws striking the ground at an imposing pace and look behind them to see a group of goblin riders on their tail.
The only silver lining is that the wooded area made it incredibly difficult for them to move in a straight line.
However, despite the obstacles, the riders would soon be upon them.
Seeing no other option, William pulls Aria onto his back and squats down with his eyes on the other side of the river, and the muscles in his leg bulge in response as he suddenly launches them into the air.
William leaps so high into the air that for a second, he thinks he is channeling his inner Space Jam, but comes out of his reverie when the ground rapidly approaches from the other side.
THUD
He lands on a patch of dark soil, which absorbs most of the shock, and continues dashing into the distance with a dizzy woman on his back.
PHHT
PHHT
PHHT
Suddenly, arrows fall on the ground near him, and he looks back to see the riders glaring at him as they reload their bows.
PHHT
PHHT
PHHT
William is forced to jump backward to avoid the new barrage and dashes into the thicket to lose the riders.
On the other side of the river, a much larger goblin riding an equally large mount approached the roaring scouts with a not-so-pleased expression on his face.
SQUELCH
The goblin on the far right's head suddenly sank into his ribcage, causing a spray of blood and saliva to shoot out from the mouth of the goblin.
Behind the large goblin, a group of smaller goblins holding a large ladder approached the group and dropped the ladder into the river.
The ladder was built for sieges, allowing multiple goblins to cross at a time, and soon they were all on the other side and chasing William's trail.