Chapter 5 - First Combat?

I chased after Ray who seemingly had disappeared into the forest itself. Well knowing his luck stat he would be able to come out unscathed. Heck the person may even stumble upon a dead legendary adventurer's inheritance. As for me... I have to tread slowly and carefully.

Outside of Cain village. North east of it was a forest of Oak trees. Large oak trees that seemed to shoulder the sky from within the forest. It was kind of a low level hunting ground. The hunters had no fear hunting animals within as only a few predators are able to threaten human lives here. But the children are still banned from going here.

Ray had taken a secret shortcut in order to get to this forest. Now that I know of that short cut I'll be able to sneak out at times and grind proficiency exp and even levels. Bandit people are coming two months later. And this world was a special world.

In reverie. Effort is the key to success. The more you grind and the more you use spells the stronger they get.

In a sense. My current class is actually good for training. With my lesser heal skill. I can easily recover from light wounds after a round of practice.

I glance at my somewhat corroded finger and concentrated. Feeling a faint connection with a form of steadily flowing energy inside me. I guided it to my left hand as I pointed at my right index finger. Desiring for the recovery of my wound.

"Lesser heal..." I mumbled.

Faint green light lit up the wounded area. Right before my eyes. The wound wiggled as it felt itchy. Scabs formed atop the exposed tissue as relief swept over the healed area.The spell finished and my finger was now a bit better. Having been covered with a protective layer of scabs.

I didn't stop there. I grinned.

Casting lesser heal again. The scab quickly fell off. Revealing glowing smooth skin underneath.

"Good as new! Next time don't go just biting me alright Pillow?" I tapped the slime resting on my head. He was still as a rock. I guess pillow is somewhat tired. Let them rest for now.

Ah right... Where was I again?

Ah... I have to get stronger. Fast. Grinding exp and stats are secondary. What I need was skills. Skills. The main abilities sought after by adventurers of all kinds. With optimal skills, one would be able to exhibit greater powers far from what a human can usually achieve.

I'm a melee type player. Even if I'm an supporter NPC now my blood still calls for violently thrashing my enemies using physical might. Frontal confrontation is something I'll never give up. Since I'm an enabler who would learn all sorts of buffs in the future. Mimic-ing a battle cleric would be the best choice. Stacking buffs on myself while my staff skills would do the work.

There's two skills I badly want. One is [ Staff Proficiency] and the other which will be my bread and butter. [Strengthened Body]. The first one is self explanatory as the higher level it was the better one was with fighting using a staff. While the second one was a bit more vague. Luckily I know how it actually works.

I previously had it after all during the beta testing days.

[Strengthened Body] was a special passive skill that can be attained at lvl 1. Having no class limit. But the only problem about it was how to attain it. Within four or three months, it can be gained via constant daily physical exercise. Of course. Everyday you have to increase the amount of repetitions or switch to a much more harder exercise.

I'm strapped for time. 2 months seems like an impossibility but I need the skill badly. I need to have it before the bandits arrive or everything is a lost cause. It has a special effect of increasing a person's stat growth correction. Stat growth correction is a bonus factor in increasing your stats per level up.

Once I attain that skill. Then I can go ham in leveling up. As I level up, my physical attributes such as tenacity, strength and dexterity wouldn't be left behind by my magic related attributes.

I'll become a support/melee hybrid.

I checked my mana. 200 points was my maximum and upon using two lesser heals it had only dropped down to 180 points. So my consumption was 10 mp per cast. Meaning I have twenty shots at casting it.

Not bad at all.

Gurgle Gurgle! A green slime jumped out of a fallen tree's bark. It's green body glistened like a watermelon's skin under the sunlight piercing the forest's emerald canopy.

This... I can't kill it. If I kill it and reach lvl 2 instantly then [Strengthened Body] Would no longer be in reach. Strengthened body can only be gained if you stay at lvl 1 while working out for months. Something most players wouldn't try to do.

The only reason I got it last time was due to me having a habit of exercising every morning and night everyday while immersing myself in the towns and having conversations with the NPCs. Thanks to that I was stuck in lvl 1 and the skill one day popped out randomly.

Yep... I did some strange shit in the game. And I do not regret it.

"Since I can't kill you then I can only do this. Go Pillow! I choose you!" I grabbed pillow. Justling him? Or her? From sleep and chucking the monster straight at the green slime.

Boin~ The two slimes collided. Both landed on the ground with a plop. The two proceeded to stare at each other warily. I could feel the aggression in the air as two slimes were furiously jiggling. Waves rippling through the gelatinous outer skin.

Brrr~ They growled. And then lunged at one another.

The two slimes seemed to be evenly match after a few rounds of mixing and trying to engulf each other. Slime battles usually went like this. Where the bigger one would win but Pillow and his enemy had the same size.

The only thing they were achieving was tiring each other out.

I'll have to step in and try to get [ Staff Proficiency ] while at it huh...

Alright bring it green slime! Dominic shall beat you up half dead!

Woosh! I swung my staff. It's frame whisling through the air and slamming down onto the green slime!

Puyu! It was surprised. But ignored my attempt of an attack. It reatreated a few steps away from my pet slime.

I knew it's hard to kill a slime using blunt force or physical means but.

I can see it. A dark green bead floating inside the green slime. It's only weakness. It's core.

"I may not be able to kill you easily... But I can still force out that core from your body." I grinned.

The plan was simple. Keep hitting it until it breaks or cowers down. Stamina? Don't worry.

I got plenty of that.

Slam! I struck the green slime again. It's frame wobbling intensely and now it was starting to notice my attacks.

Huh... Too late for that.

Whop!

Using my staff. I stood high above the slime and kept bringing down the wooden question mark of justice. Strik after strike scattered slime away from the main body.

A circular core flew out of the slime.

Pillow jumped up and ate it. Falling silently asleep on my head again.

Burp~ Pillow burped. You full? Ok then...

It does indeed feel strange fighting a monster inside the world of Reverie without checking their stats. But atleast the combat system remains the same.

Critical hits are successful hits that damage vital areas such as the mouth. Eyes. Heart. And so much more.

Turn based attacks?

Don't joke with me. Reverie is all about somewhat realistic elements if you disregard magic. So if you knew how to fight in real life before entering the pod. You will have a better combat advantage compared to the rest of the players.

The class special class l Martial Artist l would even open up for you.

I still didn't get [ Staff Proficiency ] which I wanted but that one would pop out sooner or later anyway as long as I keep on attacking with my staff.

Now back to more pressing matters.

Ray got into trouble I think... It's been a few couple dozen minutes now that he'd left.

I sighed...

I guess I gotta wipe the main character's ass afterall. That foolish kid.

I'm the only one I can rely on huh? Yeah... No one understands me better than I do.