Rushing into the mansion from the yard behind, Jay headed towards the loud scream from someone within the building.
As he entered the front room, three unknown men dressed entirely in black were already there. Black hoods covered their heads and black face mask covered the lower half of their faces.
A short blade covered in blood laid on the floor. Next to the blade was the body of a butler covered in blood as well. A small puddle of blood was beneath him.
He was still breathing which meant he was still alive.
Standing around the room beside the three men and Jay, were the maid from before and a few other staff members who had arrived after hearing a scream.
The old man was currently out of the area training adventurers. It was weird that these men had shown up at the worst possible time. It was almost like they knew the old man wouldn't be here today.
"Who are you?" Jay asked as he now stood only a few feet apart from the men.
The man in front of the group said nothing as he pulled out another blade from behind his back. The other two stayed in their position, not talking or moving.
The man holding the blade was not much taller than Jay. He was well built and had yet to say a word.
"Harden" Jay yelled causing his upper body to surround itself with the metallic armor directly before the blade had made contact. The skill was activated just in time.
Bang
The blade did not penetrate his body but also did not shatter. A stinging feeling could be felt in the spot where contact was made. The man leaped backwards upon noticing the strike did not go through.
"I'll ask you once more. Who are you?" Jay yelled as he dashed towards the man holding the blade. The blade connecting on his arm.
Only able to block attacks, he was unable to get closer to the man as his strikes began to speed up.
The sword was now emitting a faint orange glow, heat could be felt radiating off it's surface. The strikes were hot, like being hit with a frying pan that was currently in use.
From the sides of the man, came his two partners. One held a sword of his own, while the other held a dagger in both hands.
"Enhanced Senses" Jay yelled as he leaped backwards, dodging their attack.
The fruit of his training would now be on full display. Everything he had learned and practiced in the last week would now be put to the test. The hours of literal sweat and blood.
Through training, he had discovered different ways to use his skills. The pros and cons as well.
While Enhanced Senses increased vision, hearing, and smell slightly, they could be increased further if another sense was removed from the equation.
Closing his eyes, Jay lost his vision but increased his sense of hearing. The quick foot movements of the enemies, the weapons slashing through the air, even his own heartbeat. All sounds had increased.
"An attack from the left, now above, from the right, again from above." Jay was able to analyze the sounds in the surroundings allowing him to react to the attacks.
However, dodging was all that he could do. The only offensive skill in his move set was harden and possibly roar. Unable to fight back, harden was useless and roar was not a high enough level to be effective.
The sword strikes were quick and powerful, the daggers had a shorter range and the attacker had to get closer to hit.
Bang, Slash, Bang
The sword and daggers of the two began to connect with Jay's metallic upper body. A sting similar to the first man's blade could be felt.
Enhanced Senses had reached it's one minute limit.
"Damn it, I have one tactic that I can try, but I'm not sure if it will work. Better safe than sorry."
From the doorway behind Jay, emerged the old man. In his hand was his staff, already glowing as if an attack was ready to be sent out.
Noticing this, the three men began to fall back. One after one the men fled through the door, leaving behind only the blade covered in the blood of the injured butler.
A maid that stood in the room, began to cry out of joy. Bowing down to her master, she thanked him. Then suddenly something weird happened before her very eyes.
The old man vanished.
Not like his usual teleportation ability but more like smoke being blown away by a strong fan. It was as if the old man's body was nothing more than smoke.
"That's not actually him. It's my Illusion skill." said Jay who now sat on the floor. His harden ability was already deactivated and his skin was back to normal. He was out of energy after his long use of Harden and the sudden activation of Illusion.
"Who were those men? They obviously knew the old man would not be here today. Maybe an inside job." he thought to himself as he went over to the butler on the floor.
The man was a grey haired, middle aged butler who had spoken to Jay and even served him quite a few times.
According to the others in the room, he attempted to stop the four men from entering before he was stabbed in the stomach. The blade was pulled back out by the men before dropping it to the floor. He was expected to survive, but only after receiving medical attention as soon as possible.
Users of healing magic arrived and did what they could with their magic to help the butler. After using a bit of magic, they transported the man to the hospital.
The rest of the day was quiet. The staff was shaken a bit, and Jay did not continue is training.
Two days had passed since the accident, and the old man had returned.
After receiving word of what happened, he first visited the butler in the hospital. He was close with all of his staff and treated them as family rather than that of master and servant.
No clues about the men could be found, and soon the accident was declared as just an attempted robbery. Jay however, thought more of this case than anyone else. It was too much of a coincidence to not be an inside job.
The experience reminded Jay of how weak he still was compared to others. He continued to train his skills for another week. The following week would be used to slay monsters in the forest to gain EXP and level up. This would be a solo task since the old man was not aware of The System.
Before that, Jay was entirely focused on upgrading his skills. He would check the premises whenever the old man would leave the area and made sure all staff was accounted for.
While he was here, no one else would get hurt.
A week had gone by. Jay's skills had once again upgraded a few levels. His hair was longer and his body more defined.
He would soon be heading out to the forest in order to slay beast and gain EXP. Heading inside after his training, he took a nice shower and awaited dinner. However, something unexpected happened.
The staff and the old man surprised him with a little celebration. Food, cake, music, and laughter filled the usually quiet dinner room as everyone wanted to thanks Jay for protecting them before his departure.
Was this the world he had hoped to wake up in? Why couldn't it be like this from the start? Maybe things would get better from here on out?
He was smiling more than he had ever done before, it felt weird to him.
The next morning, he set out for his one week journey into the forest. "I'll see you all later" he said with a smile before first heading to town.