12 Nathan Makes An Appearance!

Beep Beep Beep!

Once Leo put one of the cards into the screen, a message popped up.

-Click to accept a weapon, a consumable, or an exp pill-

"Wait, I am unable to choose a skill this time? But that monster seemed to be extremely strong compared to my current level!"

Leo almost cried from this robbery. First it was when he lost hundreds of potential cards, and now a card he looted seemed to not be very helpful.

"Inventory" Leo said as he pulled up his inventory. He wanted to figure out how he could possibly see the weapon he earned from completing the quest's stats. Since this blue screen treated everything like a game, it was possible that he could even see descriptions of weapons!

After spending several minutes experimenting, Leo finally realized that he had to hold his finger on the inventory slot in order to see the stats of what was inside and its usages.

"Interesting, for completing the quest, I got a basic potion that helps replenish my health, while the sword is the lowest ranked sword and only adds four strength points to my attributes."

"Since the sword is only E ranked, maybe I should use the card to gamble on a stronger weapon? Right now, I lack strong skills, but maybe a better weapon could increase my strength even more, which in turn, can allow me to automatically increase my current power?"

With his mind finally made up, Leo placed the card back into the screen and clicked the weapon icon.

Beep Beep Beep!

-Weapon has been delivered into user's inventory-

Now eager to see what type of weapon he received and the additional benefits, Leo did not hesitate to pull up his inventory immediately.

"Whoa! This card was absolutely worth looting!"

Leo received what was called "The Asclepius Dagger" it was a rank D weapon that gave the user five additional strength points as well as three additional wisdom points and even two additional charisma points!

"Now for the next card." Leo thought as he pulled out the second looted card from his inventory.

Beep Beep Beep!

-Click to accept a consumable or an exp pill-

"Weird, it seems as if there might be a limit of rewards you could receive for each type of monster? Well, that makes it harder for me to grow, but, if I run into enough monsters of the same type, I could max out on those rewards." pondered Leo as he clicked to receive a consumable.

"This can be very useful, too bad I do not want to lower myself to using poison in a battle."

The consumable Leo received from the card was some snake venom in a powder form. Though, able to paralyze strong enemies, or instantly kill a weak enemy quickly, Leo hated the idea of using poison.

"Maybe if I come across a big city at some point in this world, I can find some place to sell this and receive something more to my liking?" thought Leo as he started to walk towards the large group of teenagers in the nearby field.

"Oh you are that outsider, correct?" an adult militia man walked over to Leo as he was approaching the area. In front of him, Leo could see that all of the teenagers who were in their own patrols were being trained by some of the adult militia men.

This made sense to Leo because it seemed as if monster waves to this village was a normal occurrence. It would be strange, if no one had training added to their daily routine.

"My name is Hans and I am one of the adult leaders here. If you are going to join our village officially, you need to start training at least three hours every day with the rest of those your age. This is the rule of our village, no exceptions." Hans told Leo in a polite manner.

"Actually, I wanted to go out exploring. I apologize, but I really should get going now." replied Leo as he respectfully tried to excuse himself. He did not want to draw any attention, and he knew that the best way to become stronger, was to explore and kill some more monsters.

"My apologies, but I must insist." blocking his path, Hans drew his sword and pointed it at Leo without any hesitation. "Rules, are not meant to be broken so easily."

Feeling some killing intent coming out of Hans, Leo quickly dashed backwards as he drew his new dagger. "What do you think you are doing so suddenly?"

Seeing Hans making a move against him in such a casual manner, angered Leo greatly. According to Hans' status, he was only orange, plus, he was only wearing some worn out armor with a less than ideal sword in his hands.

"If you can defeat me in battle, you would have passed the test to leave the village on your own accord. I must tell you though, I am not that easy to deal with." replied Hans as he dashed towards Leo with his full speed.

In but an instant, Leo's dagger clashed with Hans's sword a small handful of times. Both Leo and Hans after the initial several clashes, fled backwards several feet from one another while remaining vigilant.

"Not bad kid, but, remember, you can only leave if you defeat me!" shouted Hans.

Seeing such an exchange happening, everyone in the area stopped what they were doing to spectate.

"Hey, that is the scared brat from last night right? How can he be this formidable, when he couldn't even get into a simple defensive formation out of fear?" the spectators slowly recognizing Leo's identity couldn't help but to be taken back from what they were seeing.

"Damn it, I wanted to leave without anyone paying close attention to me. What am I going to do now that so many people are spectating?" Leo pondered as he braced himself for Hans' next attack.

"Hey Hans stop playing with the brat and give it your all!" yelled an adult in anger.

"Yeah, what do you think you are doing by playing stupid in front of so many people?" cried out another adult.

Hearing the ridicule behind his fellow villagers, Hans started to become annoyed. When has he ever been in such a state where even lowly villagers ordered him around and ridiculed his position and identity?

"Do they really think that I am taking it easy against that kid? How can such a small brat be strong enough to battle against me equally?" thought Hans as he charged again towards Leo. He felt the need to push Leo back as quickly as he could in order to save himself face.

Snap! Ping! Crack!

During their second round of exchanges, Hans' sword actually started to show cracks throughout the sword. Every new clash, added a new crack to the sword. Hans feeling pressure coming from Leo, continued to fight back with all of his strength, but still felt a sense of danger.

"Ha!" Leo cried out as he landed his finishing blow with all of his strength, which finally destroyed Hans's sword!

"Damn you!" retreating backwards due to being unarmed, Hans could only yell out towards Leo in anger. Coupled with the embarrassment alone that Leo caused him Hans was also angered for another reason.

To break a sword when the village was constantly struggling against monsters, was not something that anyone took as a light matter. Even though Leo was now seen as a strong warrior given his age, the villagers started to shun him immediately. This had more to do with Leo stomping on their safety as a village more than him fighting for himself.

"Hey that was going too far!"

"Do you not realize how hard it is to gather materials for a sword like that?"

"You are lucky that I am not stepping in to destroy your weapon as well!"

All of the nearby villagers started to ridicule Leo and taunt him in anger. Though Leo was only a kid to them, they still felt the need to punish him immediately for his actions!

"That is enough!" shouted a nearby dazzling warrior with a heroic aura. This warrior was none other than Nathan!

Seeing such a familiar and strong presence, all of the surrounding villagers halted their words and looked on. To this village, Nathan was a very heroic figure. If it was justice they wanted, Nathan would be sure to deliver.

"It does not matter what the situation was, to destroy someone's weapon hurts our survival situation for the village as a whole. I am sorry, but, I will have to ask you to now journey outside. You can only return if you meet the requirements I set down for you. Do you agree to this?" asked Nathan.

Beep Beep Beep!