Do you wish to learn?

• Yes - 32
• No - 4
• Tell me what it is first! - 10

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Chapter 18: Vambrace Horned Bear

"Yes! Please teach it to me!"

Lucas thought, no matter how bad it is, it can't be worse than his Dragon's Wrath already...right?

If this guy is going to teach him some secret skill, might as well learn it.

The bald guy smiled and nodded.

"Un! That's the spirit!"

Then, he placed his hand on Lucas' shoulder.

Lucas waited patiently for him to transfer the skill but...

"Give me the head of 10 Level 200 Boss monsters. Then I will give you the skill."

"..."

...Huh?

"S-sorry, I don't think I heard you right. Can you repeat that again?"

"I said. Give me the head of 10 Level 200 Boss monsters. Then I will give you the skill."

Lucas' face twitched.

"Umm...is it too late to ask what skill you're giving me?"

"It's a secret!"

"...Can I back out now?"

The bald man shrugged his shoulders.

"That's up to you. But I'm only telling you this once. This skill will make you even stronger."

"I-I see...but it is true that I am still weak at the moment. Do you mind passing me Warrior's Bless first?"

The bald man nodded.

"Un. That's fine as well. I'll grant you Warrior's Bless first. Once you take down the head of 10 Level 200 Boss monsters, come find me again."

[Skill: Warrior's Bless gained.]

Lucas took a look at his stats first to make sure nothing weird is added again.

...Safe

After sighing, Lucas took a look at the skill description.

[Warrior's Bless (A)]

[Lvl 1]

[Description: Grants 5% STR increase for 5 seconds.]

Good, everything is normal.

To be honest, Lucas' heart can't take it anymore will all these surprises.

It was bad enough that he was suddenly entrusted with the safety of the whole Earth. Then he was suddenly made into some god's apostle.

If he were to keep taking all these shocks, his heart might not handle it anymore...

Lucas laughed wryly in his mind and shook his head to get rid of all these thoughts.\

He looked back at the bald man and bowed slightly.

"Thank you. Then, I shall be back when I've completed the quest."

"Safe travels, Lieran's Apostle."

"...T-thank you..."

Lucas felt uncomfortable with the gaze the bald man was giving him so he quickly left.

After Lucas left, the bald man sank in deep silence.

"Agerad...so that old guy has started to move again..."

If Lucas were to hear him, he would no doubt be confused.

Agerad...this was the name of the young priest who had changed his class for him before. He was no doubt a young person yet this guy called him old...

The bald man smiled and looked out the window as he watched Lucas' figure disappear completely from his view.

"Is he the one we've been waiting for...old friend?"

...

Meanwhile, having left the strange bald man, Lucas felt a shiver down his spine and uncontrollably let out a sneeze.

"Achoo!"

Lucas was confused and looked around.

"Did I catch a cold? Wait, is it even possible for me to catch a cold? Well, I guess so since this is reality...but I don't feel like I have a cold...is someone talking badly about me then?"

Lucas shook his head and stopped bothering about it.

After getting Warrior's Bless, he moved to find the person who can help him gain Meditation.

This time, no other surprises happened and he managed to get it quite easily which made Lucas sigh in relief.

Once he got all the skills he wanted, Lucas took a look at his own status again.

[Name: Lucas]

[Race: Werebeast (White Wolf), ?????]

[Level: 43]

[Class: Healer]

[Title: ?????, World Traveler, Lieran's Apostle]

[Racial Abilities: Heightened Senses (P), Danger Sense (P), Wolf Transformation (A), Wolf Howl (A), ?????(P), Dragon's Wrath (A), Dragon's Roar (A), Wrath Flame (A)]

[Skills: Heal (A) Lvl 10, Cure (A) Lvl 7, Clear Mind (A) Lvl 16, Heal Sword (P) Lvl MAX, Healing Light (A) Lvl 1, Curing Light (A) Lvl 1, Lieran's Blessing (P) Lvl MAX, Warrior's Bless (A) Lvl 1, Meditation (P) Lvl 1]

[STR: 150 | VIT: 132 | INT: 67 | DEX: 50 | SPD: 54 | LUK: 16]

[Free stat points: 0]

Lucas nodded and left the village to go hunt again and grind for levels.

He reached the Lizardiad territory and started hunting.

When he was there, he found a familiar party again and a certain guy immediately waved at him again.

"Hey! Wanna join my-"

"No."

"I haven't even finished asking!?"

And so after that comedic skit, Lucas realized...that he needs to move to another hunting ground.

The Lizardians were around Level 50 monsters. As he was now Level 43, they have been giving lesser EXP than before. It was time he needed to move to an even higher level hunting ground.

Thinking that, he left and started to look for a hunting ground with fewer players around.

It took him a while but he finally found a place a bit farther from the Dog Tribe village.

Lucas stood in front of a giant figure covered with fur that resembled a bear from Earth. However, unlike normal bears, this one had a thick exoskeleton covering its arms like some kind of armored brace. It also had sharp claws on its hands and horns on its head.

This was a Level 100 Vambrace Horned Bear.

Its fur and exoskeleton braces were quite good materials for crafting so it was highly sought after. However, it is a troublesome opponent, and people with decent level, party, and equipment usually were the only ones hunting it.

Not like Lucas here who only had beginner-level clothes and a bit decent gauntlet...

However, Lucas wasn't afraid.

Maybe it was because he had already seen a fearsome Elder Dragon. Compared to that, this guy is...

"Come, let's see how much EXP I'll gain from you."

[Dragon's Wrath!]

[Clear Mind!]

Lucas' Clear Mind skill had grown powerful enough for him to maintain Dragon's Wrath mode for a few minutes. 

He wanted to try using Wrath Flame as well but whenever he uses that, nothing will be left for him to sell at the end...although it was useful in farming EXP, it was useless in farming gold coins for him.

Right now, Lucas wanted to get rich and wear proper clothes!

No, he'll be learning Tailoring skills starting tomorrow so he wanted to use this guy's beautiful black fur to make his own clothes!

The horned bear roared and charged at him with great speed!

Lucas sidestepped and immediately countered with a punch.

Before the moment of impact, he used the skill he just gained.

[Warrior's Bless!]

*BAM*

"ROAAAAAR!!!"

The punch hit the horned bear's side as it roared in pain.

Quickly, it swung its huge arm covered with the exoskeleton brace towards Lucas as if wanting to swat him.

Fast!

The speed of the swing was faster than what Lucas expected so he could only bring both his arms to cover himself in an attempt to block it.

The result was him being thrown a few meters away.

When Lucas landed, he felt a stinging pain in his arm.

"Damn! I really need to get some armor, that blow alone broke my bones already!"

Lucas cursed but who was he? He was a healer!

And so...

[Heal!]

His arms were back to normal.

Actually, it would still take some time normally to heal broken bones. But Lucas had Lieran's Blessing passive skill which doubles all healing skills.

In other words, right now...Lucas was as durable as a tank!

Lucas charged forward once again and began delivering a barrage of blows.

The horned bear roared and countered.

Like that, the man and the beast started their all-out brawl in the middle of the forest.

...

A bit farther away from Lucas. A small team of 4 players was also hunting a Vambrace Horned Bear.

Their team was composed of a Priest, Swordsmaster, Paladin, and a Hunter.

"Sword! It's about to enter Rage Mode, pull back! Zest, hit its eye now!"

Sword was naturally the Swordsmaster. Hearing their leader's order, she didn't say a word and quickly distanced herself from the horned hear.

As a weapon, she actually held two swords with both hands. It was a hidden skill that only a select few players had. Dual-Wield.

Actually, there was no rule preventing others from wielding two swords and a lot of people do this for fun. However, only those with the skill itself were able to put it into actual combat use properly. Sword was one of these people.

"One shot..."

As she fell back, Zest, the Hunter, smiled and pulled the string of his bow, calmly aiming at the horned bear's eye who was about to roar in anger.

*Fwoosh!*

"...One kill."

The arrow hit the eye right at the center!

Their leader, the Palladin, rolled his eyes and shouted.

"Stop being so dramatic every single time! It's not dead yet! And you've already shot numerous arrows earlier! What stupid one shot one kill!? Stop fooling around!"

Zest, who was feeling cool for a moment, suddenly felt like tripping. He let out a cold sweat and laughed apologetically.

"Ha...haha...boss, do you still have to say that!? Let me act cool once in a while!"

Alright, maybe he isn't apologetic at all.

The Palladin ignored him and shouted to the Priest at the back.

"Layla! Use Clear Mind on us now!"

"Y-yes! Clear Mind!"

The Priest stuttered at first but did as she was ordered and cast her skill onto her teammates.

Just in time, the horned bear roared in anger and let out a wave of dense killing intent

*ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR*

Under the effect of Clear Mind, the ground didn't fall into a state of confusion and fear.

Rather, the Palladin quickly moved and slammed his hammer onto the ground.

[Ground Breaker]!

The ground cracked and released a series of fractures that shot towards the horned bear.

As it reached the horned bear, the ground exploded under its feet and it lost its balance.

"Now! Sword!"

Sword nodded silently and immediately dashed forward to go for the kill.

The sun shone on her sword as she released a flurry of slashes.

[Sword Storm]!

*ROAAAAR*

With a final roar, the Vambrace Horned Bear finally...died.

The group let out a sigh of relief and Zest started to dismantle the bear.

While he did that, the Palladin turned to the Priest Layla and asked.

"How about it Lay? Getting the hang of the Priest job yet?"

"Un! But...I feel bad having to trouble brother to help me raise my level..."

"Haha! Don't worry about it! You're my little sister so it's normal for me to help you!"

The Palladin laughed.

At the side, Sword only looked at him and didn't bother to comment. Silently jumping onto a treetop to scout ahead.

Zest also laughed while dismantling the horned bear for materials.

"Haha, yes, yes. The mightly Palladin Azrael is a known siscon so you don't need to mind it much little Layla."

"Who are you calling a siscon you bastard!?"

Layla looked a bit troubled seeing the two fight and didn't know what to do.

Actually, Azrael, Zest, and Sword were all high-ranking players and their levels were already around Level 80. Although hunting Level 100 Vambrace Horned Bears still gives them a decent amount of EXP, they would normally form a party with a few high-level guild members and hunt for even stronger monsters in order to gain even more EXP.

But since Layla had just started playing and had just reached Level 50 to advance into a Priest, Azrael, her brother, immediately pulled in Sword and Zest to help his little sister level up fast.

Sword, being the highest level among them at level 85, didn't mind and accepted as she also wanted to take a small break from grinding higher-level monsters.

As for Zest, he just agreed to tag along cause he thought it was fun.

Just as Layla was panicking about what to do with her brother and Zest fighting, a figure landed in front of them.

Azrael noticed her and stopped bothering with Zest.

"Hm? Ah, Sword. Found our next prey?"

Sword nodded and pointed in the direction of their next prey.

Azrael nodded and spoke up.

"Zest, wrap it up. Let's go!"

"Geez, who's fault is it that I haven't finished dismantling yet..."

"What did you say!?"

"Nothing, nothing! Let's go, boss!"

Zest quickly packed up and ran ahead while hopping on trees to get a good vantage point immediately.

Azrael sighed and shook his head before hurrying along to follow.

Layla also quickly followed behind her brother.

Soon, they both reached a small clearing...no, rather than a clearing, it was more like all the surrounding trees were blown away by the fight happening in front of them.

"Oi, oi, oi...what...is this...?"

Azrael saw the scene in front of him and was dumbfounded.

Having arrived earlier, Zest landed in front of him and shrugged.

"They've been at it since I got here...I have no idea too."

The two of them looked at each other then turned to Sword.

However, Sword ignored them and continued to watch the fight at the side.

Finally arriving last was Layla who ran up to them while panting.

"H-huh? Eh? W-what's going on?"

She was also confused seeing the scene in front of her.

What she saw was a large bear and a young man exchanging blows at each other.

The young man doesn't seem to be wearing any proper equipment and the gauntlet in his hand looked cheap too.

Yet this guy has been exchanging blows with a Vambrace Horned Bear who are known for their immense strength! And it looked like they are evenly matched!

This young man was naturally Lucas!

And although it looks like they are evenly matched, Lucas was actually winning!

After all, he can heal himself unlike the bear who only continued to sustain damage after damage.

Soon, its movement started to slow down and Lucas was able to unleash even more punches at it.

Until finally...

*Boom*

The large horned bear finally died and collapsed.

Lucas took in heavy breaths as he looked at the collapsed boar under him.

Now if it were a normal hot-blooded youth, they would no doubt shout in excitement after such a battle. However, Lucas immediately used Clear Mind onto himself before he could have such thoughts.

For one, it's too embarrassing to do it.

And another reason, of course, shouting like that will attract attention from other monsters. He's tired and didn't really want to start another battle again so soon.

Lucas took off his gauntlets and used his hand to wipe the sweat on his face.

He combed his hair to the back of his head as his bangs were getting in the way of his vision.

However, this action was seen by the group of people who had arrived earlier.

Layla saw his handsome appearance drenched in sweat and felt her heart skip a beat.

It was quite normal for girls her age to have crushes on handsome guys. Not to mention a handsome strong guy.

And watching Lucas' fight had given him this impression in their hearts that he was a strong and cool guy.

Even Zest felt something in his heart which he then quickly stabbed himself with an arrow to forget about it.

Azrael could only mutter as well.

"W-what a fight...hm?"

Azrael quickly snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a figure beside him suddenly walk forward. It was Sword.

"W-wait! Sword!"

Hearing his shout that, the others also snapped out of it and saw Sword approaching Lucas.

They all quickly followed behind her to catch up.

Naturally, Lucas noticed them approach so he turned towards them.

He saw four people in full gear approach him so he tensed up and silently equipped his gauntlets again.

A girl around his age approached him silently without drawing her sword so Lucas didn't do anything as well.

The girl looked at him silently and Lucas also waited for her to speak silently.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Azrael and the others were also silent, waiting for either of them to speak.

And so...they were stuck in awkward silence for a few minutes with no one speaking...

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