Chapter 18 Another One (3)

You obtained 05 coins.

"That was what I was talking about earlier, just like us, Louise also has a bugged skill," Lana said. "She can drain the mana of magic attacks to strengthen her own."

Now things were starting to make sense. Still, that ability sure was useful for a mage. Now that Jake thought about it, wasn't it weird that those two chose classes that worked well with their bugged skills? Or were their skills bugged because of their classes?

"What do you think?" Lana asked while showing a smug smile. "Pretty hand, right?"

"You have no reason to feel proud," Jake said.

"Jake, you also have a trait that you aren't supposed to have?" Louise asked.

While her accent still was strong, Louise still could speak in English pretty fluently. That was weird unless she was a French teacher. From what Jake heard, the game was divided into regions to make the people of the same country meet with other players of the same region. So that explanation made sense.

"Kind of," Jake replied and then turned around to search for the next target.

Learning more about the skills of others wouldn't help Jake get stronger faster. Talking won't help either, so he decided to resume the hunt before that conversation could last longer. Lana sighed when she saw that, and Louise forced a smile.

Fighting three enemies at the same time wouldn't be as tough as Jake had imagined unless they attacked physically at the same time, and much to Jake's surprise, it was exactly what happened when the next group of bees appeared. Louise used Fireball, but her attack had decreased in size quite a bit since she didn't drain the enemies' magic. Thanks to that, her attack only slowed down one of the monsters and raised a small smoke curtain. Jake used that distraction to charge and slash his blade horizontally and hit two enemies at the same time. While his sword cut the stomach of two bees slightly, it only decreased their health by one-third. When he tried the same again, the monsters flew backward and then separated.

Jake took a few steps backward and then joined Lana and Louise. While they were useful, they probably couldn't take a single hit of the monsters with their current gear, so Jake had to protect them. The monsters took their time preparing their attack. Thanks to that, Jake began to think that Luke's idea of warriors using crossbows made a lot of sense. Still, Jake didn't like it, even though it seemed pretty evident right at the moment that it was necessary.

When the monsters charged, Jake made up his mind to end things as fast as possible, even if it cost some extra stamina. As expected, Louise finished one of them, and Jake spun his body around to hit one of the bees that approached with his shield and sword in a quick take succession. Thanks to that, he got hit on his left side by the sting of the remaining beer and lost ten points of health, but in the next moment, Jake hit the enemy as well with his shield and sword. Soon after, Lana also healed him.

You obtained 05 coins.

"How can you endure that so easily?" Lana asked. "The pain caused by the monsters is more than a little bit annoying."

"You feel that way probably because you have low health," Jake said. "Oh, a ring…"

Ring of the Fiery Heart

? Fire Resistance (0%), master this item to learn this skill permanently.

Durability: 07/07

Fire Resistance: decrease the power of fire-related attacks by one point per level.

"I read the instructions about the game and there was nothing mentioning that," Lana said.

"I see, you are the type who reads the instructions of things, that is pretty smart of you," Jake said.

Jake didn't even touch the game manual. While he wanted to make money out of the game, he also was there to have fun. The game manual probably would spoil too many things for him. Now that Jake thought about it, it was probably thanks to the manual that Lana knew about the party feature.

"I can only hear sarcasm coming from you…" Lana frowned. "In any case, you really have a good Aim, Louise. Do you throw many things at your students to have such an incredible aim?"

"Of course not, silly," Louise replied. "But a while ago, I was into archery and practiced quite a bit."

Just as Jake had imagined, Louise was a teacher. While he had yet to confirm that she was a French teacher, at that moment, that was just a small detail. It was better to keep his distance from those he won't get involved with for long. Besides, Jake knew that nothing good would come if he got involved with others. He experienced that kind of disappointment many times… now that he thought about it, those feelings seem pretty intense as of late, even though most of those memories are relatively old. Was that because Jake heard the words in that dream so many times?

"Hey, are you going to give us the chance to master that ring later?" Lana asked.

"I guess, but you will have to return it later since you can only access this map thanks to me," Jake said.

"I suppose that is fine," Lana said. "Right, Louise?"

Louise just nodded with a smile. She sure was quiet for a teacher…