Together with Lana, Jake began to hunt the fire slimes. She could heal him pretty much whenever she wanted, so Jake threw himself at the monsters like he was a madman. Thanks to it, he mastered his sword and shield in the blink of an eye.
Congratulations! You have mastered the short sword and learned the skill Bash Lv 01
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! You have mastered the round shield and learned the skill Pain Resistance Lv 01
You obtained 01 status points.
"I see… so it is like that," Jake nodded to himself as he saw those notifications.
"Hey, I received some messages here, what do they mean?" Lana asked.
"What are you doing here if you can't even understand that you gained a skill and one status point?" Jake asked.
"Why are you so unpleasant all the time?" Lana asked. "I am not into this kind of thing, I am in this game for a good reason… I want to be a doctor, but I faint at the sign of blood… I heard that this game would be quite violent, so some people said that it would help me overcome this fear of mine."
"Is that so…" Jake said.
In the end, Jake decided to teach the girl the basics of RPGs. He still didn't know what each attribute could do, but he had an idea based on their names. In any case, Jake still had four and half hours before the end of the mission. While Lana could heal him, he decided to increase his recovery because that would let him use his skills more often and thus gain more status.
"I see… so instead of hunting monsters to get stronger, we look for weapons, gain their skills and make them level up," Lana nodded to herself. "It seems a pretty contrived way compared to other games."
While Lana was talking to herself, Jake was looking around the region. He couldn't find a particular spot where he could find many fire slimes, it seemed that they were coming from everywhere, but he didn't see them spawning either. Another weird thing was the fact that the village that was burning didn't have a single NPC for an additional mission or something. Lana's presence granted Jake the possibility to be more aggressive and thus kill more monsters. Still, truth to be told, the place would be pretty boring, even without her. Slimes gonna be slimes…
"That means that I can level up this skill indefinitely?" Lana asked. "Even by myself?"
"You need mana for that…" Jake frowned. "I am not sure if the skill works even against targets with full life, but you can't possibly recover mana so fast."
"But my mana doesn't decrease when I use Heal," Lana said.
"... Are you sure of that?" Jake frowned. "Maybe it is a bug… just like my health, mana, and stamina are higher than they are supposed to be."
Jake was having a hard time believing in that… How come such bugs were still happening three months after the launch of the game? Someone got sloppy while the game was being developed… Jake had planned to make use of Hyper Body, but now with Lana, he was worried that they might be caught and his account would be deleted.
"Whatever… try to heal yourself for a while and see if the skill can level up," Jake said.
Lana nodded and then tried to use Heal, but they concluded that it wasn't that convenient after a couple of minutes. A new group of fire slimes appeared, and then Jake dashed toward them. When the four slimes used Fireball, Jaked blocked three of them with his sword and shield, but the last one hit his stomach. Lana used Heal, and then she noticed that the skill leveled up.
Meanwhile, Jake did the same when one of the slimes tried to use Fireball again. He put the sword in their mouths and made it explode. With the shield protecting his head since it was the only place that could get a critical hit, he ran toward the others while ignoring the heat and the pain caused by the Fireballs. He split the second with Bash. The third he smashed after jumping and using his shield to land above the creature. Thanks to that, the last one had the chance to attack Jake's head and deal with a critical hit.
"Ouch, ouch… this damn hurts too much!" Jake muttered in pain while he dashed toward the slime and kicked it with all his might, but that only worked to burn his feet as well.
Congratulations! The skill Pain Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
The pain made Jake cool his head, and when the monster landed, he split it in half. Slimes still were slimes, but he needed to be careful when surrounded by them. Fortunately, hard work never betrays anyone, and that was why Jake found a ring in the place the second slime had fallen.
You obtained the Ring of the Novice
Durability: 03/03
Skill: Barrier (0%) master this item to obtain this skill permanently.
Barrier: It blocks a small amount of damage when cast. The value will be equal to the level of the skill multiplied by five.
Cost: 05 mana.
Truth to be told, Jake wasn't interested in magic. He wanted to become a pure warrior. However, not learning useful skills like that would be stupid. So, he decided to equip the ring.
"Can I see that?" Lana asked.
"I will give it to you once I master it… for twenty coins," Jake said.
"You really have a terrible personality…" Lana said.
Jake couldn't deny that, so he just shrugged. Before they could look for other slimes, Jake saw a group of players suddenly appearing on the other side of the village. While he couldn't see their status since they were so far away, they looked fully equipped… what could a group like that be doing in that area that was for newbies?
"Let's follow them," Jake said when he saw the group moving toward the East side of the village.