It turned out that the arrogant prick's name was Xavier Torn which he proudly announced, and clearly it meant something in this town as a few people seemed to recognize it. He grinned as though and spread his arms wide. "Now do you see who you're dealing with?"
"No," I said which made him pause.
"Have you not heard of the Torn family?" He asked. "We're nobility."
"Lesser nobility," Eloria corrected. "And far lesser if what I've heard is true. Lesser enough to live in this town, and use its small dungeon."
With each word, Xavier's face grew redder and redder, but he didn't reply or draw his blade just yet. That was going to happen in a moment. He turned to his group while I turned to Eloria. "What are the rules of a clash?"
"It depends, but it'll probably be to knockout or first blood, and I don't mean death." Although her words seemed calm she did glance over at Xavier, or more especially his sword. "However, we should get a system oath from him so no 'accidents' occur."
"That can happen?"
Tenna nodded. "Aye, it can. Seen it before in a duel. You make it too obvious and it doesn't work, but the heat of battle is the heat of battle and mistakes happen."
"If we had someone to watch over from the guild," Lex said, "It wouldn't."
"I don't think we can go and get one," Eloria said. "Or more accurately, he won't let us."
As we watched Xavier sliced a hand through the air, then as one his group turned back to us, eager smiles on their faces. They looked sure of themselves, and no doubt the idiot had said some unpleasant things about us to boost their confidence. Well, no matter, this wasn't going to end in his favor.
"Are you ready?"
"Give us a minute," Eloria said, and we moved into a huddle once more. "Alright, he has two casters, an archer, a bulwark, and himself as a fighter. Lex, Rashid, you two focus on the fighter and bulwark while Tenna will trade shots with their archer, and I'll play support."
"That seems unfavorable for us," I said. "He has more casters."
"Yes, but we have you." Her face grew serious. "If you use that ability I can heal you afterward, but that means I can't get too close, or get knocked out."
"We've got potions," Tenna said, patting Eloria on the shoulder. "So long as no accidents happen we'll be fine."
"Best to get that system oath then," Rashid said.
We broke and turned to face their group. Eloria stepped out ahead. "We'll only fight if you make a system oath. No killing, or severe maiming. If you don't agree, then this clash is off."
I wasn't entirely sure what a system oath was but I could discern enough from context that it was an agreement bound by the system and was probably the same as the magical oath I'd taken when renting a spatial bag.
Xavier seemed annoyed but unsurprised, and a moment later a system message popped up in front of not just me, but everyone.
Clash Alert!
You have agreed to a clash with party [Xavier's Group]
Win conditions: First blood or knockout of the enemy group.
Additional rules: No killing or severe maiming.
Reward: Ten gold from [Xavier Torn]
Combat zone generated.
I watched as lines of light formed what could only be a ring, wide enough for a clash. We were on one side while Xavier's group was on the other. But that wasn't it as another message appeared for me.
You have been added to [Eloria's Team]
Party interface available
Chat function available
Shared Growth is now in effect. Chosen attribute: Constitution.
My eyes almost popped out of my head. Growth could be shared by joining a party. Oh no, this was a problem. If any of my team ended up hurt, then they might get a point in constitution which alone would be odd or maybe not, but if they got more than one then they would definitely be suspicious.
Les's next words troubled me greatly. "Guys, it says I'm not under the effect of Shared Growth." Everyone else answered that they too now had shared growth. Of course, they turned to me, and I reluctantly nodded. "It's an ability. I'll… I'll explain later."
A number 10 had appeared in the air between our teams.
"You're right," Elorai said. "Everyone prepare to clash."
I took a deep breath and got in a position between Rashid and Lex. My job would be to go from the backline first using Boost. My increased stats would allow me to surprise them, and traditionally casters didn't have the best physical stats so I was hoping they were glass cannons.
The number counted down slowly. Ten, nine… six, five… three, two, one!
I didn't hit Boost immediately, instead running up with Lex and Rashid. Two bolts flew around me while three arrows in quick succession came at us. I managed to duck as did Lex, but Rashid was hit, but it didn't look like it had gone too deep as he'd activated some sort of ability. Then came the fireball which impacted in front of Lex who had jumped out of the way. Xavier and his tank met me and Rashid, and before we cowshed, I hit three boosts. However much of a prick he was, I didn't think I could beat him when it came to the sword, so I would overpower him.
His swing came in low but I managed to dodge and hit him with a counter to his shoulder. He twisted out of the way and kicked forward. I raised a knee, and the impact was dulled, but that hadn't been his goal. His sword came in again, and only my boost-enhanced capabilities allowed me to block in time. He was strong, but my main worry was his abilities. Lex had been planning to go for Xavier, but he was now probably headed for the casters.
I could hear lighting, rumbling, and sounds I wasn't familiar with. It sounded very chaotic, but I couldn't focus on that. In truth, It wasnt a surprise that Xavier went for me. That fireball could have gotten me, but he'd probably told them he wanted to fight me.
We clashed several times, and only my greater speed allowed me to keep up. He was a level above me when it came to the sword, and several times I almost fell for a deadly faint. Then he grew tired and used an ability. In an instant, he was gone, repairing at my side. I hit two more boost and felt the world slow, or my reaction speed increase. The thing about boost was that it was instantaneous. It wasn't a gradual increase. It appeared as fast as it went.
The blade passed millimeters from my cheek. I could see its edge gleaming, and my reflection of the blade's surface. I turned and strike out twice. He blocked both to my surprise, but then I went full offensive. Strike after strike, and each of his counters was dodged or blocked. My strength was also now greater so my blows made him grit his teeth. His eyes were wide, and all it took was a kick to get him to stagger.
I raised my blade and nicked him on his cheek. A red glow appeared around him, then he froze. I was confused, but I had no time for him anymore. I turned and found that Rashid, Lex, and Tenna were down as was one of the enemy casters and their archer. Only one caster and their tank remained.
The tank was headed towards Eloria, and the caster was waving their hands. A glow appeared around the tank and his speed increased. Not fast enough, though. I charged and was behind him in a few steps. The caster shouted a warning, but it was too late. My blade got him through the gap in one of his greaves.
Then it was just the caster. My timer was running out. Eloria raised a hand, but the caster dropped to their knees. "I surrender!" They went red and froze.
Victory!
Party [Eloria's Team] have clashed against party [Xavier's Group] and won.
Reward: Ten gold from [Xavier Torn]
I sighed, then gave Eloria a shaky smile before my timer ran out, and I dropped to a knee. I let out a grunt, but Eloria was at my side in seconds, her hand finding my brow. I felt warmth flow through me, and the pain dulled. Now, I could hear some clapping and shouting. I looked over at a man taking coin from people. It seems more had bet on Xavier's group.
"Damn it," I said. "We should have bet on ourselves."
"It's fine. Here, drink this." Eloria handed me a potion which I swallowed quickly, and in just a minute, the pain was gone, and only some aches and a minor headache were left along with the emptiness in my stomach. It was like everything that had been in there, had been burnt for fuel. I'd read that once you reach certain levels in attributes your body becomes different, changed.
"We won!" Lex shouted, running over, and clapping me on the back. Tenna joined looking sour, but her eyes shone with delight. Rashid looked annoyed. "Godamn, casters." He still smiled and gave me a bear hug. As one we turned to Xavier who was in the process of shouting at his team.
"Hey, idiot, our gold!" Lex yelled.
Xavier spun and threw out a small purse. "Take your money, filth. This isn't over." He stormed away and his retinue of pets more than people followed, their heads down.
"What a sore loser," I said.
"His type always is," Lex said, shaking his head. "But let's not let him dampen our victory. What say we head over to Karra's for a victory feast." We all agreed, and began to head back, but not before I checked my stats.
Jericho Law
Name: Jericho Law
Titles: Interdimensional Traveller(+)
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 22
- Attributes -
Strength: 4
Endurance: 3
Constitution: 21
Dexterity: 5
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 7
Perception: 5
Sense: 2
Willpower: 3
Wisdom: 4
Luck: 3
- Skills -
Weaponry(Swords)(13)[Novice]
Persuasion(10)[Novice]
Hunting(5)
Foraging(5)
Crafting(General)(5)
- Abilities -
-----
Growth(?)[?]
Growth:
Time: 1 Week
Cooldown: 1 Day
Type: Active
-----
Boost(?)[?]
Boost:
Time: Varied
Cooldown: Varied
Type: Active
-----
Language Comprehension(60)[E]
Language Comprehension: The Ability to understand and comprehend languages.
Time: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
Type: Passive
-----
- Magic -
Magical Skills:
Spell List:
I hadn't gotten any attribute points, but my sword skill had gone up. During the fight, a few things had become clearer as I'd pushed my knowledge to the max. Certain movements of his had clicked in my head with already exciting knowledge. I now understood what people meant when they said fighting someone better or with more skill could help.
As we headed back to town, I opened up my stats and checked the party interface. It was pretty neat, and I could see the names and some info on the others along with symbols that signified active abilities being shared. The only one was Shared Growth. I decided to speak about it now, and lie. I'd read there were skills that helped increase attribute growth.
"Guys, about the ability?"
"Oh yeah," Lex said. "Shared Growth."
"It's an ability that gives a minor boost to attribute growth, but only works for one attribute."
"That's rare," Tenna said. "Which attribute or do you pick?"
"Constitution and I can pick, but the cooldown is long," I said, hoping they believed me.
"An interesting pair of abilities," Eloria said, glazing over at me. "I'm assuming you didn't pick me or had no choice."
"Something like that," I replied. "I like my other ability, but the backlash is bad."
"Why wasn't it as bad this time?" Rashid asked.
"I didn't push it as much," I said quickly. Too quickly, but none of them seemed to notice, or at least it seemed they hadn't. I sighed internally. I was lucky it had been to first blood, or else I might really have been forced to say more.