A scroll had materialized next to Brad's headless corpse. I gave it a brief glance before turning in Lloyd's direction. He was still in a low position that seemed to resemble a crouch and he seemed to have been preparing to make a counter attack. However at that moment his eyes had constricted and his pupils trembled.
As he looked at Brad's corpse, memories started to replay in his mind. Memories he hadn't thought of in a long time. He remembered the first day they had joined the Tiger gang. Brad had been a con artist and Lloyd had just quit the UFC due to a critical hip injury.
Coincidently they had joined the Tiger Gang on the same day, at the same time and had even been put into the same team or squad as they were called. Brad was a blabber mouth he loved to talk a lot but given his history as a con artist it could only be described as natural.
Lloyd on the other hand had been depressed and in need of money and because of his injury he had socially backpedaled, he developed a reclusive personality. As you would expect. Brad and Lloyd were like fire and water. One would talk to him about even the most insignificant things while the other just wanted to be left alone.
It truly wasn't a good pair and Lloyd who appeared calm would find himself getting annoyed to the point of talking back and firing back witty comments and snacky replies.
Before long Lloyd's reclusive personality had shrunk back a little and he was able to climb back up from the pits of despair.
And all of this had been due to Brad's influence. It may have not been intention or maybe it had been but it didn't change the fact that Brad had helped Lloyd grow as a person and even encouraged him to keep reaching forward.
Now however Brad was gone. His friend, his partner, his brother.
Gone
When Lloyd reached this conclusion his vision blurred with tears for a moment
And then…
He saw red
…
Lloyd exploded with a strength that put his previous attack to shame. He came at me swinging with. I met him half way responding in kind. Our blades clashed. The weight of his strike travelling all the way up to my arm.
I was forced to take a step back.
Lloyd was forced to take three.
In a battle of strength it was clear that I surpassed him to a certain extent and that was a shocking in its own right given my current strength stat
[Strength 117 (+20)>>>137]
**AN: The number in brackets is a stat boost from the Aranian Combat Gloves**
I locked eyes with Lloyd for a moment. As I watched him steady himself and then I gave a light hop with the tips of my toes.
My feet touched the ground and I exploded forth. The ground cracked beneath me as I hurled forward like a boulder going downhill. I became something akin to a blur to Lloyd's eyes. He barely had time to react before my face was just half a meter in front of him.
With narrowed eyes he took a step back while swinging his sword horizontally across my abdomen leaving me no choice to halt my approach. The blade cut open my t-shirt but missed my skin. I was being careful.
Even though my stats were high, extremely so, I didn't know just how much they affected my body in terms of durability and endurance so I decided it wasn't worth taking the risk.
Lloyd had managed to create some distance between us but it wasn't much. Merely enough to buy him time to get himself ready.
He held his sword in front of him with two hands. The slight purple aura still glowing off his skin. From the brief confrontation I had deduced that this skill he had was some type of buff. Either it was a strength, stamina or agility buff.
I didn't know but I was going to find out soon enough.
Lloyd rushed to close in on me in. I met him halfway swinging my sword in a way to match his.
Our swords clashed once more but this time I purposely held back. With
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
In less than five seconds we exchanged what felt like a dozen blows.
I could feel my blood boiling and rolling through my veins. A smile spreading across my lips as my blade continued to cross his. My heart pounded in my chest.
This feeling was exhilarating. I was feeling excited.
Lloyd continued to swing his sword at me and with each swing he seemed to be pouring all his strength. I continued to meet his sword swinging Black Salamander in succession, meeting his strikes head on.
Ten more seconds passed and during that time we traded close to two dozen blows.
In that time I realized that Lloyd's buff was actually a strength buff possibly even a stamina buff too.
My grip on my sword changed as I realized something. Meeting his sword strikes head on with my own using nothing but strength might have been working but it used up a lot of stamina and stamina was a very important factor in battle. It allowed you to use your strength and agility for longer periods of time so to say that running out of stamina during battle was even worse than running out of mana.
If this had been a battle to see who lasted the longest between us then I would no doubt come out on top.
But if by chance I was facing someone who was stronger than me then this wouldn't be ideal. On top of that if it was someone who was more skilled at using the sword than I was then there was only one way that would end now wasn't there.
So I changed my approach.
Instead of meeting his strikes and wasting more energy than necessary I pulled back slightly and tilted my grip to the side such that I met his blade at an angle instead of meeting it head on.
The change was instant.
My workload decreased drastically and my swordplay took a step forward. I could feel that I was close to comprehending something and yet so far at the same time. It was a strange feeling.
SHING! CLING! CLING!
I started deflecting his strikes, becoming more and more efficient as the seconds passed. Eventually my movements reduced from swinging my arms to just flicking my wrists here and there. The amount of effort equivalent to what one would need to snap your fingers. I had became so efficient that I was deflecting Lloyd's deadly sword strikes with minimal movements.
Lloyd struck out down from the top.
A slight flick of the wrist was all it took to push it away the attack barely trimming my hair. I took a step forward and tilted my torso dodging the pierce Lloyd made for me.
My thoughts drifted far from the fight and an idea flashed in through my head.
I urged my mana on. A feeling of warmth flooded through my entire being and as I felt my mana drop and mental fatigue started to replace it however I didn't pay this much mind. I pushed the mana out of my body and held it just above my skin creating a slight coat of the sort.
A slight blue hue coated the top of my body to the point that it made it seem as if my skin had turned a shade of a slight blue.
Lloyd's blade came across my chest. It was a desperate attack with all his strength placed in it and would no doubt leave me in a severe state.
However I took a gamble and didn't defend. Letting the strike hit its mark.
"No!" I heard Candice scream in the distance but I was focused in where the blade had landed. For a moment time seemed to slow down even further than
Lloyd was grinning fiendishly as the blade struck.
TING!
Lloyd froze not believing his eyes.
The blade that should have torn through skin and bone had rebounded off my skin as though it was made of impenetrable metal. I smiled widely this was better than in had expected however the pleasantries didn't end there.
[Congratulations you have successfully learned First Star Order Active skill
[You are the first to self-learn two skills on your own. You have earned the title 'Splendid Scholar']
I took a brief glance at the green letters flashing in my vision before brushing them off.
It seemed I would have to take some time to properly look through my system later.
"Thanks for your help…" I said to Lloyd who still hadn't recovered from his shock. "Now die"
I wrapped him, appearing to Lloyd's back with a speed too fast for him to react and pierced forward. My sword ripped through his spine before tearing through his heart and left lung before piercing out through his chest. Blood dripping from him rapidly. Lloyd wheezed and gasped like a fish out of the water. I withdrew my sword and with a violent slash knocked the blood off it dark blade painting the floor red.
Lloyd weakly turned to look at me as his eyes lost all sign of life and he dropped to the ground. Dead.
[You have acquired the soul essence of First Star Order Level 6 'Lloyd'.
Health +1]
I dismissed the message before looking at the ground. A scroll sitting beside Lloyd's scroll.
'I see so Evolvers have a higher chance of dropping their skills or lesser versions of the skills they used when they are killed' I thought before I felt a sharp surge of mana in a certain direction. My head snapped toward a particular corridor. I took moment to turn towards Candice who was approaching with an incredulous expression.
"You're not hurt are you?" she asked softly as she scanned me with her eyes.
"No" I said and I saw her release a breath of relief. "…I can feel the mana in that direction. Pick up the scrolls back there. I'm heading forward"
Candice bit her lower lip frustrating burning deep in her eyes. She had come here with the intention of helping but it seemed like I was doing everything here and even now I continued to do so. She had no doubt that whatever mana surge I was picking up was Jace the scum who had wanted to take advantage her and even worse she had a feeling that he was stronger than even she was.
Reluctantly she nodded.
I gave her one last look before turning around. In a burst of speed I raced through the corridor in front. I could feel the mana so clearly. It was coming from outside, more specifically, the back of the apartment.
Before long I arrived at an emergency exit leading to the back of the building. I pulled it open and took a step outside.
I was about to take another step when a large shadow loomed over me from above. Looking up my pupils constricted to the size of needles at the sight.
A large fist was descending. Except it wasn't a normal fist.
It was a fist made of metal