Trash!!
Xavier sighed as he remembered the words of Shandock. Although there were others that were seperated from the combat compatible ones, it was only him whom was referred to as trash.
Out of the hundred Marshals screened, only five were deemed to be useless on the battle field, including Xavier.
He glanced at Jace who was sleeping deeply on the bed next to his. A smile gently formed on his lips as he recalled how Jace had glared at Shandock when he had called him trash. Even after Shandock had asked him to step out after checking his impressive stats, he had given him a death glare.
Fortunately, the big knight didn't see it. No matter how impressive Jace constitution was, he was still too weak to take on Shandock at the moment.
Xavier sighed deeply, it was a sigh filled with both fear and bitterness. They were heading for Kingdom Xerosa tomorrow at dawn and he still had no idea what was gonna happen to him. He hugged his knees and stared out the window. The huge moon which hung in the sky gracefully, reminded him of how he used to sit outside back on earth with his dad and admire the beauty of a full moon.
He forced the tears back as memories of his father flooded his mind. Was he truly ever going to see his old man again?
Probably not!
He sighed again before forcing himself to bed.
Dawn soon came and like the usual, they had breakfast and were gathered into the hall.
This time Shandock was already present and waiting for them. He looked dignified in his armour, his figure even looked larger and more intimidating with the ten guards behind him.
"We are about to head out and I'll be briefing you a bit", The huge knight said.
"The journey to Xerosa will take more than a day... give or take. It will be hectic and dangerous and it's so unfortunate than none of you here is strong or skilled enough. So we will try our best to protect you since it will be unfavourable if any of you die"
"But I'll be releasing some low level swords just in case. We are humans and you can't expect us to do a perfect job of protecting you", he gave a mischievous smile.
He then flicked his hands allowing swords to fall out of nowhere onto the floor. The Marshals all rushed to pick a sword each like how kids would rush at candy.
Xavier picked one and immediately a status screen appeared before him.
Weapon: Metal sword
rank: F-
Damage: 20-30
skill: nil
Condition: strength: 03
Remark: A poor grade sword forged by an untalented apprentice blacksmith!
Xavier rolled his eyes at the system's remarks. The system's way of shaming people was beginning to annoy him.
"Sir knight", a young girl, one of Xavier's juniors, called.
Shandock turned his head towards the girl and nodded gently for her to go on.
"I couldn't help my curiousity. You said we would not be able to appraise until we get to level 10 but how was I able to appraise this weapon?", she said timidly.
"I'll explain this once so I suggest you all listen", Shandock said, his voice filling the hall.
"Your inability to appraise living beings while below level 10 is thanks to the soul experience every being accumulates. The more experience you gain, the more you level up and that means the more powerful you get.
Now level 10 is like an experience breakthrough for every living being. You get to be able to appraise beings around you. You also get an inventory on reaching this level."
The girl nodded satisfied with Shandock's explanation.
"If that is all, let's head out", Shandock ordered and moved out of the hall and the Marshals followed behind.
Coming out into the sunlight for the first time, the Marshals couldn't help but shield their eyes from the sunlight.
A hundred students in plain clothes, ten guards behind and a knight in front. With this formation, they left their forte and the journey to kingdom Xerosa began.
Xavier was fascinated by what he was seeing, and he wasn't the only one. He and the other Marshals couldn't help but stare at the beautiful scenarios in their line of sight.
From massive but beautiful trees to exquisite flowers. A huge waterfall poured from afar.
"Paradise", Xavier muttered unconsciously
"Keep moving", Shandock barked, interrupting the short sight seeing.
Unlike them, Shandock knew the danger of where they were.
"This place is called Grandeur forest. It's beautiful, isn't it?", he turned back with a smile on his face.
The Marshals all nodded affirmative but were surprised when Shandock's smile instantly disappeared.
"It's just as deadly", he said before continuing forward.
Xavier gulped hard at what he just heard and he could have sworn he heard others gulp too.
The journey continued for hours and by every minute they moved deeper into the forest. Everybody were on high alerts as they walked through the dense forest. Then it happened.
A loud howl shook the trees causing everybody to stop in their tracks.
"Hehe.. I knew they would come", a smile crept onto Shandock's face. He looked like he had been expecting whatever made that howl.
"Marshals come together, guards!! Surround the Marshals at strategic points."
Shandock quickly dished out orders as he unsheath his sword. More howls sounded proving they were more than one.
Xavier tightened his grip on his sword. It was his futile trial at stopping his incessant shivering.
Then he saw them, almost ten of them. He instinctively took a step back as he stared at the completely strange creatures strutting towards them.
"What the hell are those?", Jace asked practically nobody.
"Those are crystal hounds", a guard that happened to hear him answered the question.
These creatures were unlike anything the Marshals had ever seen. The crystal hound was named that for a reason. Although they had wolf like structures, they were very different. Having no fur, their bodies looked like they were made of concrete. Hundreds of blue crystal were aligned on their spines giving them a weird and creepy image. They looked like something that escaped an apocalyptic world.
They drew closer, snarling and growling at every step they took.
"There are just eight of them and the highest is at level 20. Let's kill these bastards", Shandock growled. Instantly, he shot forward to the closest crystal hound.
It really looked amazing how one with such huge body could still move that fast.
The unlucky crystal hound was just level 18 and that was several levels below Shandock.
Its ears perked up in alert as it lost sight of Shandock but before it could do anything else. Several mark of -250 showed upon its head.
It whimpered in pain as several slashes appeared on its stone-like body but it still couldn't find the knight captain. Before long it fell to the ground dead. Then, Shandock appeared.
Xavier stared at the mad captain in shock. He knew he was fast but not that fast.
'It must have been a skill!!', Xavier thought to himself.
Shandock didn't sit around after that, he moved onto another but didn't kill it the way he had killed the other, confirming Xavier's thought.
Every skill had a cooldown and that was why Shandock couldn't use the skill again.
In few minutes, all the crystal hounds had been taking care of, only leaving their carcasses scattered on the ground.
"Bundi and Loran.... loot the corpses and give me full report", Shandock ordered two guards as he sat on a rock to regain his stamina.
Xavier was not surprised at what Shandock just said. A fantasy world with stats and weapons. Of course they had to be able to loot corpses just like in any normal role playing game.
Looting was pretty easy. The guards only had to walk up to the corpse and touch it. Instantly, a white light shone and beside the corpse, some materials appeared. They did the same for the rest of the corpses and soon they had looted them all.
"Sir! The report!
Thirty zircon crystals
Fourty crystal hound fangs
twelve crystal hound claws
Two health potions
That's all sir"
Shandock rubbed his chin under his helmet. He nodded his head gently before saying
"Give the most injured of your colleagues one health potion and keep the other for future use. You can share the rest amongst yourself.
We camp here tonight!", He screamed the last sentence deliberately for everybody to hear.