"Aaaaaaaah!" Sarah charged at one of the dark wolves that were in the forest. The beasts snarled at the girl, their large jaws ready to tear her flesh. Sarah alone would have to deal with two of them.
They could even be mistaken for normal wolves, but their blood-colored eyes without pupils left no room for doubt.
'But it's not like she was at a disadvantage.' I thought that until I saw an opening in one of the monsters. "Sarah, now on your right!"
Sarah ran toward where I pointed, going after the monster with her eyes full of strength. She had new weapons to fight against them.
"Flash Thrasher!" When she invoked her new skill, her body sped up as she passed through her target. In just an instant, three slashes opened on the dark fur of the wolf.
"Aww-oooh." The monster's cry could be heard after that technique, followed by the gush of blood pouring from its wounds.
The second wolf leaped toward the girl with ferocity, its jaws aiming for Sarah's throat. For it, it was all or nothing. Its comrade had been killed, therefore the beast instinctively knew it would be next on the list.
Sarah sensed the killing instinct coming from behind her. Her longsword was lowered, but with a single feint she unleashed her second skill. "Thunderblade."
Despite the immediate danger, she uttered the name of her skill with unshakable calm. With a single vertical movement from top to bottom, her sword, possessed by lightning, split the animal's jaw in half, and the monster fell motionless at Sarah's feet.
Now that the fight was over, I came out from behind the tree where I had been hiding. The plan was to test Sarah's abilities individually, so it was better that the wolves didn't have a second piece of steak right in front of them.
Even in a two-against-one fight, those wolves weren't a big deal, therefore I believed the risks of her getting seriously hurt were low, but if something happened it was obvious that I wouldn't just stand there watching.
'Even so, her powers managed to be cooler than the description.' I couldn't help but feel impressed.
[ Swordmaster: A class proficient in sword handling. The techniques and skills from this class are focused on speed and strength. This class also has the ability to imbue magic into certain attacks. ]
I had nothing to complain about. Sarah's new class really matched her fighting style. It was a perfect fit. And as a bonus, some of her skills even had magical properties, something that would certainly be useful. In SCRL, to do something like that you needed a weapon with mana imbued into the blade, so this new power of hers was definitely something special around here.
But Sarah didn't have an OP start, at least not in my opinion. Her kit was strong for a beginner adventurer, but despite that, it still had certain limitations. For starters, Sarah gained only two skills along with her new class. Those were the two she used in that fight.
[ Flash Thrasher: This skill makes the user unleash a sequence of three fast attacks. The user's Agility is also temporarily increased during the attack.
Cost: 6 MP]
[ Thunderblade: This skill imbui a espada do user durante um strike. This attack becomes faster than the regular ones. It doesn't improve your agility stats.
Cost: 5 MP]
Don't get me wrong, it's a good skill set, but it's pretty damn mana-consuming. Like me, the girl only had 20 MP in total. But after she used the two skills in a row, Sarah's MP went down to 9. 'Well, at least she didn't suffer any damage in this fight.'
"So what do you think of my fight?" Sarah asked with a smug look on her face.
I made a hand chop and weakly hit her forehead. "Don't waste your mana on weaklings."
"You're not funny." She said, puffing her cheeks in disapproval.
"I'm the leader now, right? So I have to criticize you when needed." I said. "Well, I was curious to see how far your skills could go, so I'll let it slide this time."
Sarah lowered her eyes, her cheeks flushed. "It wouldn't kill you to praise me a little."
"Maybe later, you still have a long day ahead." I said to her while analyzing her status update.
[
Name: Sarah Lockhart
Level: 2
Class: Swordmaster
Title: Valkyrie
Master: Richard Forster
Health: 60 points
Mana: 25 points
Strength: 3 point
Defense: 1 point
Magic: 1 point
Agility: 2 point
Status Points: 4 points
]
There were some things that we still needed to learn and test. 'Brandish, why is her MP full, right? And it increased too.'
[ Every time someone attached to the Valkyrie System levels up, their HP and MP are restored to their maximum values. Whenever they level up, both of these stats also increase. ]
'I see. And how about these "Status Points"?' I asked her.
[ Every time you win a fight, some Status Points are earned depending on the battle. You can distribute them among your other stats, but you can't change them afterward. ]
'Huh, so I have to choose what is the best arrangement for Sarah.' I started to look for what should be the best way to build my Swordmaster.
[ Strength: Increases the damage dealt by normal attacks and physical damage skills. ]
[ Defense: Increases defense against physical damage attacks. ]
[ Magic: Increases the damage dealt by magical damage skills. ]
[ Agility: Increases maximum movement speed and the ability to evade attacks and skills. ]
I opted for a mix of Strength, Agility, and Magic.
[
Name: Sarah Lockhart
Level: 2
Class: Swordmaster
Title: Valkyrie
Master: Richard Forster
Health: 60 points
Mana: 25 points
Strength: 5 point
Defense: 1 point
Magic: 2 point
Agility: 3 point
Status Points: 0 points
]
'I'm short of Status points, in spite of that I think it is good for now.' I said with a proud smile on my face.
Sarah's attacks were focused on strength so I put 2 points on that, the other 2 I divided in Magic and Agility. Magic will increase the damage from "Thunderblade" and other skills that could come up, and agility seemed as perfect fit for Sarah's fighting style.
"Hey, wait!" A thought crossed my mind as I checked my own status. I didn't enter the fight, therefore I didn't earn anything. "I didn't assist the battle…"
"Oh, now I remember. You told me that your Valkyrie Tamer class could use my skills, right?" Sarah reminded me of something important.
"It's true! Good work, Sarah!" I praised her good memory. 'Hey Brandish, how does this actually work? One more Thunderblade user could be very helpful.'
[ About that, you're halfway there. Now that Sarah is a Valkyrie, you just have to… you know. After that, you can receive a skill from her. ]
'Just one? Why couldn't it be all of them?' I asked, kinda annoyed. Sometimes it seemed that the System was progressing slower than it should. 'I'm in a kind of hurry.'
[ Well, that's something Lady Freya asked for. She said it would be more interesting that way. ]
I was dumbfounded by this. An artificial difficulty was put in my way, just to please Freya's selfish desires. 'Brandish.'
[ Yes… ]
'What technically counts as making love?'
[ What do you mean by this. ]
'If we cum three times I could receive 3 skills, that's what I'm asking.'
[ Eh! Well, I think it should do, I guess. ]
I sighed deeply with Brandish's response. It wasn't her fault, but from her bossy goddess. 'Thank you for your help, Brandish.' I thought in a good mood, but Brandish didn't respond to me.
"Sarah, let's go back to town," I said firmly to her.
"Eh?! Why? We just got started." The girl looked disappointed.
"I know, but if we continue fighting, you'll fight alone. I don't have a fighting skill or a decent weapon, and my Appraisal only works on people. If we go back to the city, I can manage to prepare myself. And I'll need your help for this." That last part came out with a bit of shame in my tone.
"I see… Then I think we should." She said calmly.
"I owe you one."
"You don't need to owe me for this." She replied with an embarrassed look.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" A sharp scream cut through the silence of the forest, drawing our attention. "Help!"
"Someone is in danger! What should we do?" Sarah asked me, waiting for my decision.
Her blue eyes didn't lie to me. She wanted to run into the dark forest without thinking twice. The girl had a kind heart and wasn't the type to turn a blind eye to someone in mortal danger.
"We should go. Let's take a look, and if we can help, we will." I made my decision. Of course I wanted to save people, but I couldn't be reckless and put Sarah and myself in danger trying to act like a hero.
"Let's see what those woods have for us." Without further ado, we jumped into the forest, following the sharp screams of panic.