Waking up the first thing Mark looked at was his wrist. In the forest after the couple days he realized that the experience form defeated enemies actualizes every morning after a good night's sleep.
Name: Mark
Class: None
Level: 5 -> 9
Experience: 431/5120
MP: 12 -> 20
SP: 30 -> 45
Strength 11 -> 18
Agility 16 -> 25
Constitution 10 -> 15
Intelligence 6 -> 10
Precise Shot
Slight correction of fired arrow.
LVL 5 EXP 52/160
Novice Bow Mastery
Better handling of weapon: Bow
LVL 6 EXP 167/320
Novice Dagger Mastery
Better handling of weapon: Dagger
LVL 7 EXP 3/640
Stab
Executes a powerful stab dealing much more damage.
LVL 6 EXP 81/320
Stealth
You are thinning your presence, avoiding the awareness of other living beings.
LVL 5 EXP 91/640
Sprint
Run much faster.
LVL 5 EXP 13/160
Double Tap
Shoot two arrows at the same time, arrows will land very closely together.
LVL 5 EXP 30/160
Quick Step
Make an instantaneous step in any direction
LVL 4 EXP 39/160
*Premonition*^UNIQUE^
You are able to sense incoming danger.
N/A
He realized that he's finally got a now skill on his list he quickly read the description.
'Eh is it only me, or are there descriptions getting more and more cryptic. And what does it mean UNIQUE, it can't meant that only I have the ability right?' Well, he could guess where it came from, but he wasn't really sure how could it be possible. When he was on Earth his brain was modified to work much faster than any other normal humans.
One consequence of that was that during his fights sometimes when he was in critical danger he saw everything slow down and just 'knew' what was about to happen. The first time it happened he almost died. When he thought of this he suddenly realized something. Something wasn't right. When he was on Earth there was no possibility for Dan's people to walk up to him to grab him without him knowing. No one in this group was capable of sneaking up on him, also if they emitted even a bit of killing intent he would instantly know. Wait. There was one person.
But he could never… no, he wouldn't. In their group was one person that could sneak up on him, but he wasn't that good at hiding his killing intent. So that only leaves one option, there was no killing intent, so then, why was he here. The person he was thinking about was Jake, they were trained together, they went through thick and thin together. Jake then became his subordinate.
But, there was one thing that he didn't understand, if they didn't want to kill him, then what was he doing transmigrated to another world? With a bolt of pain his eyes blurred and for a second he saw a couple figures before him dragging him through a black corridor, they looked panicked, as if they were escaping from something.
When he looked to the left he saw the worried face of Jake, he was screaming something, but Mark couldn't hear a word, his vision was also kind of blurry so he couldn't read his lips. Looking to the right he saw another familiar face. Tom, he was another one of his subordinates, he was burly, and one wouldn't take him for an assassin, but surprisingly he was the third most powerful member of their squad. His left leg was bleeding profusely, but he still carried Mark's body with his well-known determination. He was also screaming something. In front of him Dan was walking carrying the Young Miss in a fireman carry.
The scene continued until suddenly Mark finally heard the first sound since the vision started, a growl so dreadful that nothing he knew could compare with it. Even thousands of soldiers dying simultaneously on the battlefield couldn't compare. His very core started shaking, his very existence squeezed itself as if to hide in fear… He hurriedly turned his head and the only thing he saw was the Pharia town outside the window. He was sweating profusely, heaving breaths, still haunted by the sound. He went out and washed himself at the well behind the inn.
Afterwards he entered the common hall and ate a quick breakfast and even though it was just morning a lot of people started their day with a mug of ale. Bald Joe wanted to force one on him too, but he somehow managed to extricate himself. After breakfast he hurried on his way to the Adventurers Association, he had a reward to collect. Walking on the streets Mark mulled over his vision wondering what was happening, what was that sound, why were they dragging him, most importantly, why was Dan carrying the Young Miss, she was never carried, no one would ever touch her.
When he entered the building there was once again a mass of people, he could only stand in line and wait. After waiting for about half an hour he was finally at the counter. There a young girl about 19 years old greeted him with a smile and asked what she can help him with. Giving her his AT he asked for the reward from the goblin subjugation quest. Nodding she quickly passed his token over a slightly bigger token at the counter, she looked at it for a moment, after which she gave him back his token and went out through the door a moment later she came back with a small pouch.
"Here you go, that will be three silver sixty five copper."
"Thank you have a nice day."
"You too, hehe."
After collecting his reward he went towards the mission board in search of another quest. There were a couple different quests, but one in particular garnered his attention.
[Kill Shatanks]
Threat - Recommended for Adventurers LVL 5 - 10
Reward - 20 CC/Shatank
Warning - Recommended Class – Ranger
The pest came back and are harassing farmers and eating the crops.
Repeatable till further notice.
Head Landowner - Sheila Smith
It was interesting, he was wondering for some time where did the town get its food from. Well, hunting was a good answer but you couldn't live off of only meat so they had to have another source, besides he was getting some bread to every meal at the inn. But when he was entering the town he hasn't seen any farmland. He went to the counter and undertook the request, but out of curiosity Mark asked the receptionist why hasn't he seen any farms outside of town.
"Oh you must have entered from the Megalo Forest's side. All the farms are on the opposite side to protect them from most of the monster raids. Thanks to that the farmers may feel safe when coming out to work, and the town doesn't have to send as many guards to protect them."
"Huh, interesting, thank you for your time miss."
"It's nothing," She waved her hand, blushing slightly.
With the task at hand, and the money in the bag he decided that it was finally time to buy a new bow and some arrows, as after two months of use he was left with only 6 usable arrows. He went out of the building and headed for the bowyer, whose shop he saw the first time he arrived in the town.
Entering the building he quickly put his sleeve up to his mouth. There was lots of saw dust flying in the air. Inside there were a couple of workbenches with many different devices around, right by the entrance there was a little counter with a seat behind it and a couple bows hanging at the wall behind.
There was no one in sight and when he was about to holler for someone, the doors at the far end of the workshop opened and a lanky, tall old man came through.
"Oh, a customer, how nice. What is it that you need boy."
His voice was surprisingly low for his posture, but it had a bit of gentleness hidden within.
"I could use a new bow and some arrows of course."
"I see. Eh, how much can you draw."
"Hmm, I don't really have any idea, I was using this one for quite a while now, I can probably draw more though."
"Eeh, what you have is a standard 50 pound hunting bow. Try this one. It is an 80 pound recurve bow. You should be able to draw it from what I see. It goes well with those arrows." The man took one of the bows off the display and put a string on it real fast. Then he passed it to Mark to let him try draw it. Mark picked the bow, took a stance and pulled the string in one fluid motion. Standing like that after about two minutes he started to feel some strain on his back. He slowly released the string and passed the bow back to the man.
"Good it seems to suit you well. It costs three silver, and another silver for 50 arrows to that, the quiver you can get on the shop, how is it. We got a deal?"
After a moment of consideration Mark decided that it is worth it, he is going to make much more money with it than without.
"Deal"
He left the shop with his new bow, leaving the old one with the Bowyer to dispose of it, there wasn't much use for it besides maybe as firewood. When he took a closer look at the quiver he saw that it had little inserts that held the arrows in place, but didn't hinder taking out the arrows. It was fantastic. With that he could even run through a forest without losing his arrows. With everything ready he went out of the town, this time through the other gate on the other side of the town. He instantly saw farmlands. As far as eye could see were farmlands.
He went a little further and after a fifteen minutes' walk, he saw the beginnings of another forest. He wasn't sure if it was still the Megalo Forest or if it was another one. But that was the location the receptionist at the counter gave to him. He didn't have to wait long to see a couple big birds flying about near the forest, a couple of them dove into the farmlands to fly out after a moment with some wheat stalks in their beaks.
Upon closer inspection he could finally see what they were. They looked a little like sparrows but the only feathers they had were on their tails and bellies. Besides those they had no other feathers. Their wings looked more like those of a bat, than a bird. Their beak was completely black with a silvery metal sheen to them. He couldn't resist but stare at them in wonder.
"Beautiful, aint they." He heard a yell from far away, when he turned to look he saw a graceful lady in her thirties, and even though she looked really pretty with well-maintained blond hair and moist skin and a bountiful cleavage. Nothing could hide the callouses on her hands. She was wearing a skirt and good quality silk shirt that couldn't completely hide her assets. On her head there was a wide-brimmed hat, that shaded her face hiding her lively brown eyes from the sun. In her hands there was a large bucket and a hoe. She was slowly coming closer while still looking at the birds with admiration and worry.
"Unfortunately, they are like a plague, they aren't carnivorous. They eat anything else but meat. And when they make their nests too close to wheat fields it becomes a problem. So we usually kill some of them and scare them away to make nests elsewhere. You came here for the assignment right? Be careful, they are devious beasts. They sense danger from far away and unless you stumble across their nest they won't show themselves and will just come back when you are gone. Also if you manage to hunt some. Come to me with their carcasses. They are pretty valuable. My name is Sheila the Head Landowner. You can ask around the town and they will show you to me then. Have a nice day."
With that she went further on her way not even letting Mark say a word.
He decided to test how far can the birds sense him, and if maybe with [Stealth] he would have more success. Walking towards the birds, the ones on the ground and the branches started flying away the moment he was about twenty meters from them. It wasn't that great a distance so he tried his luck and tried to shoot one sitting on a branch, looking completely oblivious, about thirty meters away. Unfortunately, the moment the arrow left the bow the bird instantly flew away, screeching in a voice that sounded a little too much like a mocking laughter.
"Eh, this is going to take some time."