Bern jumped from a distance of perhaps a dozen meters and launched himself at Elio like a rocket. With his hands clenched into fists, he generated momentum as he headed toward Elio.
Seeing that, Elio immediately dodged and jumped back.
"Bangg".
As soon as Bern's punch landed where Elio had been, it created a loud noise and a slight explosion that caused dust to scatter and block the view.
Soon, the dust cleared, and the view became clear. A small crater was on the ground, resulting from Bern's punch.
"Oi... oi... oi... for real." Elio was shocked to see what was happening in front of him. "What kind of crazy power can produce a crater on the ground with just a punch."
"I think it's better to check the details of this person's stats with the system," Elio said while opening his system panel. "System window open."
[System Window]
[Name: Bern]
[Age: 43]
[Race: Human]
[Occupation: ?]
[Skill: ?]
[Level: ???]
"Hhhmm... hey, what the hell is this system?" Elio was a little surprised to see the panel displayed by his system. "Other than the race, name, and age columns, why are they all just question marks without displaying any information?"
[...]
Elio's system was silent and did not respond.
"Tssk, you're a damn system." Elio felt a little annoyed and irritated in his heart. "Alright, then, I'll gather the information myself."
"Hey, isn't that a bit rude and unreasonable?" Elio said, turning his gaze to the young man with the black hood who was watching from the side. "Wanting to kill someone just to show gratitude after being helped."
The young man in the all-black robe did not answer. Instead, he laughed in a voice that, although not very loud, gave off the appearance of a madman obsessed with something.
"Gihihihi..."
"I know you're just trying to get information, right?"
"What... should... I.. do..?"
"Oh, right..."
Then, with a smug and arrogant look, the young man teased Elio, saying, "If you can beat Bern, maybe I'll consider it~."
While the young man in the black robe was talking, Elio used the opportunity to check his status on the system.
"System window open," Elio said.
[System Window]
[Name: ?]
[Age: ?]
[Race: Human]
[Occupation: ?]
[Skill: ?]
[Level: ???]
This time Elio was not so much surprised, but instead wondering. Why, even a name, his system could not read that on the young man in that black robe.
[Host, you don't have enough data to access such information.]
"Hhmm... don't have enough data to access information?" Elio thought for a while after this time he saw the response from his system. "Usually, if I can't access information from the system, then the explanation is because my level is too low, and access to information is denied..."
[Host, maybe you should defeat one of them first to get a new information hint]
"Is it possible that since my opponent is a human, it's slightly different from when I fight monsters?" Elio thoughtfully for a moment. "As I recall, the Lizhi village chief also had a question mark on his status details..."
"Let's attack him again, Bern!" shouted the young man in the black robe.
While Elio was still pondering, Bern attacked him once again.
"Whoops..."
Elio then immediately returned to his senses and jumped to his side.
"Well, then, what else can I do?" Elio said, starting to get a little excited. "The point is, I just have to beat him, right?"
Elio seemed to have no intention of fighting in a passive position anymore, so he chose to take the initiative.
On the other hand, Bern was trying to throw another punch at Elio. But when his punch reached Elio, Bern's punch was blocked and caught by Elio.
"Hhmm..." Bern looked a little surprised to see Elio could catch his punch.
"Oohhh... I thought you were a swordsman." Said the black-robed young man from the side who had been watching. "Aren't you going to use that sword of yours?"
The young man in the black robe was surprised that Elio could catch Bern's punch.
"Ahh ... you mean this sword on my back?" Elio said, answering the question of the young man in black robes. "Well ... don't think about that kind of small thing."
"This sword is just a decorative part of mine." Elio continued to explain. "As someone who has been in and out of the forest several times, carrying a weapon or two for safety reasons is a common thing, right?"
Elio's words were not all lies, at least not this time.
"A fighter with great physical strength..." Elio said while still holding Bern's punch in his hand. "I guess that's not bad at all."
"I think I might as well try out the capabilities of my Hand-to-Hand Method skill," Elio said while pushing and releasing Bern's hand.
While still under the effect of his push, Elio immediately jumped and kicked in a spinning motion at Bern's chest. Bern was bounced far enough to hit a tree, and then the tree fell due to the force of Bern's impact.
"Hand-to-hand Method, this skill actually can increase my strength by several times," Elio said, looking at his hands as if he couldn't believe it.
"Huft.. huft..."
"Besides that, my whole body also seems to feel lighter." Elio was seen jumping up and down in a place like he was warming up before a fight.
"Alright, let's try another move." Elio then immediately prepared to run towards Bern.
On the other hand, Bern, who seemed still half-conscious due to Elio's kick earlier, began to try to stand up.
"Fortunately, I was able to block the kick with my arm." Bern sighed slightly. "If not, I might have been unconscious."
A glimpse after Bern muttered to himself, Elio appeared before him.
"What-..."
Before Bern could finish speaking, this time Elio punched Bern hard in the stomach. Bern bounced back far away, and Elio immediately ran after Bern's body.
As soon as Bern's body seemed to want to fall to the ground, Elio kicked Bern's stomach into the air. Bern's body bounced into the air this time. Elio then immediately jumped up.
Still in the air, Elio hit Bern's body with his heel and kicked him down.
"Bangg"
Bern's body slammed hard into the ground. He looked unconscious.
This time, it was Elio's attack that created a small crater on the ground.
"So that's it." Elio felt that he finally understood how one of his skills worked. "I guess since the Hand-to-Hand Method is a weaponless fighting skill, all aspects of the user will increase many times over."
Elio felt a considerable change in himself. Including the limits of his five senses, which he felt had increased quite drastically.
"Alright, now it's your turn," Elio said while turning his gaze to the young man in the black robe. "Are you ready, little.. young.. master?.."