Chapter 47 9.3 Skill Tree?

[*RRRROOAAAGHGH!!!*]

[COMBAT COMMENCED]

[Kill Wolf King: 0/1]

"There we go!"

I... I didn't know whether to laugh or sigh as the massive form of the Wolf King emerged from its burrow. Still looking as imposing as ever, I could only watch as Shizu sprang into action, raining punches and kicks at the thing with the speed of her weak level 10 self.

"Take that! [Heat Action]!"

[*THUD!*]

Watching as Shizu's glowing fist delivered the same uppercut that almost killed the thing before, I drew my pistols at the ready as I debated on whether or not to even help this time around. Judging from the way she moved, she actually looked like she knew what she was doing.

[*THUD! THUD! THUD!*]

In fact, I honestly don't think I was even needed.

"What's wrong?! Where's the speed!? The power?!"

I could only watch as Shizu ran circles around the poor boss monster. I still have my weapons out, of course, but I just found a decent spot to sit by while the princess unloaded herself on the wolf. Her movements were still a bit sloppy, but her own speed more than made up for her admittedly poor footwork.

[*wwhiiiinnneeee....*]

"T-that's it?"

[COMBAT COMPLETED]

[Kill Wolf King: 1/1]

Before I even knew it, Shizu had already killed it. I guess the wolf really didn't stand a chance against someone equal to it in levels, especially if that someone already knew how it would move in the first place.

"Ehh?! It didn't drop anything?!"

[+500 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

I could only scoff as I somehow still got the [EXP] for killing the thing despite not even having fired a single shot. I guess carrying someone through power leveling still worked even if this was my world now.

[Moriya: Level 4]

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 350/1200]

[HP: 125/125]

[MP: 115/115]

[2 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

[MOVES UNLOCKED]

Looking down, I immediately winced at the massive jump in requirements for the next level. At this rate, the [EXP] requirement come the higher levels would inevitably slow things to a crawl unless Guidance scaled the [EXP] gain up to match the current pace. Still, I was level 4 now, and I somehow unlocked [MOVES]?

Talk about coincidences.

"Not fair... I didn't even get anything..." Shizu pouted as she walked towards me. "It didn't even put up much of a fight as earlier!"

"That's because you already know how it moves," I pointed out. "Of course, it wouldn't be as bad as last time."

"But I want the challenge!" she fumed, her cute demeanor clashing wildly against her appearance. "How am I supposed to get better if things are too easy?!"

I chuckled, "Well, we just have to find more fights to do then. I'm sure we'll get more soon."

Looking up, Shizu opened her mouth for a reply, but stopped as soon as the light of my halo shone upon her eyes. Only now did she realize it?

"You have a light above your head again?"

"Yep," I replied with a pop. "Thanks for killing it, by the way."

"No... problem?"

Ignoring her questioning tone, I turned to look at my stats again. "[SS1]"

[STATS SCREEN 1][SS2][SS3]

[Somatic: Moriya]

[Level 4/99]

[HP: 105]

[MP: 105]

[STR: 5]

[AGI: 7]

[DEX: 7]

[VIT: 7+3]

[INT: 8]

[LUK: 5]

[AVAILABLE STATS: 2]

Hmm... I have a decent amount of [VIT] for my level, I think. It would be more prudent to pump something that would increase my damage, but I didn't really know what to pick between [AGI] and [DEX]. By pumping the former, I'd guarantee more attack speed, and thus more damage, but pumping the latter should increase my actual damage per shot. Granted, I didn't even know if [DEX] even worked that way for me yet, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

[DEX: 9]

A strange tingle ran through my body as I confirmed the change, my fingers getting limber somehow... if that was the right word to even describe it. Nevertheless, I had a feeling that I got stronger. Well, hopefully.

"And that's that," I muttered out as I closed the stat screen. "All that's left is to see the [Moves] that I somehow unlocked."

"You have [Moves] now?" Shizu excitedly asked. "I can barely see some of my other stuff, but I'm sure you'll see a lot if it's the same with mine."

An actual glimmer of hope actually shone in my chest at her words. "We'll see then." Holstering my unused pistols, I then gave myself a passing lookover before turning to Shizu, "We should head back. The day's coming to an end, right?"

"Yeah... It's getting darker out," the princess hummed as she looked to the twinkling lights above. "It's just about to turn into night, I think."

Nodding, I silently gestured her to take the lead, with her simply smiling as she did so. Nothing interesting happened on the way, which was both a good thing or a bad thing depending on who was asking. We just followed the path given to us. And before we knew it, we were back in the city proper.

"Can't we just go out a bit further next time?" Shizu asked as she stretched her arms up, highlighting her ample chest in ways that I really didn't want to see at the moment. "When will you get a quest that'll actually make us do that anyway?"

"I don't know, Shizu," I sighed as I turned my gaze away from her for a second. "I'm pretty sure I'm still in the early stages of all of this. I don't even know when we'll get to the good stuff."

Shizu blinked at me, "Did you... Did you just imply that the war is where the fun begins?"

I returned her dumbfounded gaze... "On second thought, forget I said anything."

Shaking my head, I let out a sigh as I pondered on our next move. Ideally, I should probably take the next quest off Shizu and continue progressing through the story. Wait... Why am I even thinking about this?

"Shizu?"

"Yes?"

"We can squeeze in another quest, right?"

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