---
**Black Wild Dogs**
HP: 60
Beast Grade: C-rank
---
'Now, time to see what I'm made of,' Cian smirked
Cian braced himself for the incoming attack from one of the three black wild dogs. Swinging his axe, he missed by a mile, but a timely arrow from Darcy struck the beast.
{–20hp}
[Would you like me to activate the sprite buff skill?… It's a 3rd grade skill, so I'm sure it would be pretty helpful]
Cian considered it for a while, "No, I think I'll try to handle this on my own for now" he saw this as an opportunity to check how strong he currently was.
[I don't think you understand, a Skill of this level would make this battle a breeze]
"I said I don't need your help for small fries like this, and besides the skill is only at the 3rd grade I heard there's still two more grades above so don't make it sound like much" Cian scoffed
[You say that because you don't know how rare 5th-grade skills are, it's almost impossible to achieve this level of buff with any other sprite even after spending hundreds of coins]
"That means a 3rd grade is even your peak? Very disappointing" Cian added mockingly.
[It's a boost for all your physical stats, there's no way I could make it any better… why am I even trying? You wouldn't even understand the process even if I explained it to you. I'm beginning to understand that even with your peak intellect, you are still hopeless]
Cian paid no attention to his words, he was far too invested in the enemies before him.
'They are fast, I have to focus if I want to land a hit…'
The dog kept on jumping around, and it caused Cian to continue swinging.
Then he heard a message in his head 'Observation skill used', all of a sudden he could analyse and predict its next move as if it had already happened.
'Is this another skill from my class? Maybe being a Craftsman apprentice isn't so bad after all.' he chuckled.
With this development, all he had to do was time his swing correctly, and he landed a clean hit
{–20Hp}
Before stabbing it in the underbelly with his short blade
{–20Hp}
The dead animal's body pixelated and disappeared.
{C-rank beast slayed -70xp gained}
{You have levelled up (30Sp received)}
The other two dogs pounced on him almost immediately, he shifted backward to evade the attack, but not before getting clawed by one of them.
{–10Hp}
'Just one hit halved my health, I can't afford to take another… I need to deal with them one at a time', he reasoned.
All of a sudden, an arrow came flying through the air, landing perfectly in one of the dog's eyes
{Critical hit –60Hp}
The dog pixelated and then disappeared.
'Thanks, Darcy… now it's only me and you'
The last dog began growling before whimpering in fear and scrambling into the bushes.
'Why'd it run away? Maybe it got scared after it realized it was outnumbered' Cian concluded as he returned to where Darcy was camped.
Darcy was shocked about what she had just seen. She had brought Cian out here purposefully to battle enemies that were above his level so she could show her brother just how strong she was, but instead, he was able to kill a C-rank beast in his first battle.
'This might be a world record, could my brother be one of those hidden geniuses?' she wondered. What shocked her the most was the fact that he did it without using any mana.
Cian had only walked a few steps before he heard something approaching at high speed, he turned around and got back into battle position, wielding the axe with one hand and the blade in the other.
"Roarrr!!!"
A large wolf emerged from the bushes with bright red eyes and a drooling mouth
—
**Silverback wolf**
HP: 980
Beast Grade: B-rank
—
'So this was why that dog ran away' Cian realized.
Just as the wolf was about to attack, an arrow flew through the air, hitting it perfectly. It didn't penetrate due to its silver back, but it was enough to make it retreat for a moment.
Darcy was visibly shaken by the appearance of this beast.
'Even after using my 'Storm arrow' skill, it didn't take any damage. What is a B-rank beast doing so close to the village?'
She reasoned that if she were to fight it, Cian would definitely be in danger. She had to create an opening so he could escape.
On the other hand, Cian was focused immensely on the enemy before him, in hopes of triggering his observation skill.
'Observation skill used'
Along with its attack pattern, he could also see critical hit points. He noticed that the hit from the arrow had only slowed the monster down, not causing any physical damage due to its hardback. This gave him a solid idea.
"Blue, I think I'll need that buff after all"
[Of course, activating buff on all physical stats]
--------
Skill: Sprite buff (3rd grade)
-Active-
*Increases all physical stats. Time Limit: 10 mins. Cool downtime: 3 hours. No mana required.
--------
"Is this all?"
[That's the best I can do, your physical stats are currently four times your level]
"Then I'll just have to work with it," he sighed.
The wolf was once again ready to attack, and ran at full speed swiftly dodging most of the arrows Darcy shot at it, the few that landed causally deflected off its back.
Cian could see its ferocious teeth as the wolf leaped at him, it slammed its Jaws only to miss by a few inches as Cian back stepped. This created an opportunity for Cian to attack. He swung his axe with all the power in his body to land a clean hit right in the middle of its hard Silver head.
{Stunned}
{–7hp}
Cian lost a bit of health, while the beast on the other hand was only stunned.
He felt the vibration throughout his body as if he had just used a metal rod to hit a solid wall, but it also left the beast disoriented, so he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.
He quickly used the blade and pressed it into its throat from under. He held it in as the wolf struggled for a few seconds before ceasing to move.
{Critical Hit –980Hp}
The dead beast disappeared.
{B-rank beast slayed 2700xp gained}
{You have levelled up}
{You have levelled up}
{You have levelled up}
{You have levelled up}
{You have levelled up}
{You have levelled up}
Your current level: 8
{You have received 180SP}
'Killing just this B-rank beast added quite a few levels' Cian thought as the messages kept on repeating
Darcy couldn't believe her eyes, her jaw dropped as a gasp escaped her lips. She had just witnessed something that had definitely never happened before in the history of Aetheria. Not only did Cian, a newbie player, single-handedly take down a B-rank beast, he did it without taking a hit. He really was a genius.
"How did you do that?" Darcy asked as she approached her brother,
"I don't know, it just came to me" Cian playfully confessed.
He turned to assess the drops
"So, how do we split this?" Cian asked.
"You can have all of it, after all you defeated it" she replied, still wearing her look of disbelief.
——
Silverback wolf fur
Grade: Mid-grade
Info: A hard material that could be used in making clothing. Got from a silverback Wolf
__
Silverback wolf fang and claws.
Grade: Low-grade
Info: could be exchanged for money. Got from a silverback wolf
——–
'Nice, I can at least sell all this for the money I lost' Cian thought
He turned to see his sister staring at him in awe. In her mind, she had just witnessed the impossible.
"I have an idea, would you like to meet my clan members? I'm sure a few of them would still be online" Darcy excitedly pulled him towards the village.
With what she had just seen, she was sure Cian had the potential to become an extremely powerful warrior, and this was her opportunity to get him to join her clan.
Cian was thinking of going to see his father in the Lowlands, but he couldn't just abandon Darcy after everything she had done for him. Plus, he didn't have any good excuse to leave just yet.
"O-okay" he stuttered as he followed behind her
They began heading back to the village. There wasn't a moment of silence, Darcy kept on talking about just how impressive he was, asking different questions and answering them herself.
"Do you plan on joining a clan?" Darcy inquired.
"I'm not sure if I would, I don't really see the point" Cian replied.
"How can you say that? Clans are very important, you'll need someone to watch your back when fighting powerful enemies" Darcy said with exaggerated emotions.
"With the help of your clan you can take on harder quests that are above your level" she added
"Not to brag, but my clan is on its way to becoming a top-tier clan, our leader has this deal with the Moon Knight clan that would skyrocket us to the top hundred," Darcy said with pride.
Cian's expression darkened at the mention of the Moon Knight clan.
"The Moon Knight clan?" He repeated.
"You've heard of them? They are one of the top three clans in Aetheria. Almost all their warriors are ranked, our leader was also a member".
"Yeah, I think I might have read a few stories about them" he grudgingly voiced
'That's the clan those bastards are from, Leviathan and the rest of his goons…'
Cian wore a spiteful look, but to Darcy, it looked like she had finally gotten his attention.
"If you've heard of them that means you've probably heard that they have just gotten an SS-grade quest, so while everyone is busy struggling to join them we wouldn't have to since we already have an agreement", Darcy said still wearing her proud look
"What sort of agreement is that?" Cian inquired curiously.
'I'm sure if it involves those bastards, there's no way it'll be good'
"It's simple, we join them in the raid of Valhalla, and they help us out on one of our S-grade quests, actually it's more of an opportunity for both of us".
It wasn't a bad idea, so Cian couldn't contest it, instead, he realized this could even be an opportunity for him too.