Testing

The wind was gentle and the sun shining bright as he opened his eyes...

“Ngh...”

Ace covered his green eyes with his arm and raised his upper body from the grass where he laid.

After adjusting to the light, he glanced around.

He saw Aliza not too far away, resting in front of a tree.

“Oh...”

The memories of last night flashed in Ace’s head.

“I was saved again... wasn’t I...?”

He remembered being shielded from the monster at the start, and then being saved when he was about to be eaten.

He stared at her as she slept, a grateful, but sorrowful look in his eyes.

He didn’t want to be saved by her over and over, he wanted to be able to do something on his own.

Ace thought to himself for a little longer, reflecting on last night’s events.

The thoughts of coming close to dying, being saved, and being powerless were all that came to mind.

The memories of protecting Aliza from the monsters didn’t rise to the surface as he looked back.

“I’m weak. Too weak...”

He closed his eyes and lowered his head as he sat, continuing to look back on what happened last night.

360 Days

9:23 AM

Level

Map

Support

Skills

After closing his eyes, the words appeared just as they always did, reminding Ace of something...

“...”

His eyes still shut, Ace focused on the word, “Skills”.

“---!”

Three new skills appeared in his mind, alongside, “Hard Hitter”, and, “Sharper Tip”.

“Quick First Step, Falling Back, and Durability...”

He read out the new skills he gained, already familiar with two of them.

Aliza had Quick First Step and Falling Back, but Durability was one he hasn’t heard of yet.

“Though... I can already guess what it means...”

He remembered being chomped on by a Toriel and twice more by two Welfios.

He grabbed his left shoulder after remembering memories he wasn’t fond of.

“...?”

After grabbing his left shoulder, Ace noticed there was no pain coming from it.

He lifted his robe to check on his shoulder.

“They’re gone...”

The marks that the wolf-like monsters had left on Ace were gone.

He glanced over at the sleeping beauty underneath a tree.

The sunlight was hitting part of her resting, peach-colored face, letting Ace see her face clearly as she slept.

A gentle smile was formed on his face as he gazed, once again grateful for her and everything she’s done for him.

“Thank you...”

He whispered to himself, wondering how many more times he was going to say it from here on out.

---

------

After showing his gratitude to the sleeping Aliza, he stood up and looked around once again.

They were near the entrance to Palio Forest, where Ace left his bag when they left for the quest.

“She must’ve carried me...”

A rush of powerlessness came upon Ace once again when thinking of Aliza carrying him, but he shook it off and went to grab his dagger.

After grabbing his dagger, he stood up and got into stance in the small field where he stood.

“Quick First Step.”

He whispered to himself, activating his skill.

The color red started to be emitted from his feet, confirming the skill’s activation.

From his stance, Ace pushed off to start a sprint.

After the first step, Ace stopped...

“Woah...”

He could feel the difference between his normal speed and his speed with the activation of the skill.

This would allow him to close in on enemies a lot faster, and if they’ve never seen his speed before, it could also be a surprise attack.

“Next...”

He got into stance once again and started to sprint.

“Falling Back.”

He activated his second skill as he ran, his feet glowing red once again.

He did a backstep... and felt the difference once more.

It was much faster than the backsteps he was doing last night.

This would allow him to bait much better, now that he has more room to work with.

“This really is crazy...”

He thought back on the two skills he just tested, wondering if this was even possible.

“This may be a fantasy world, but it’s crazy to think that my speed could change because of a “skill”.”

He couldn’t feel the difference when using Sharper Tip or Hard Hitter because he wasn’t used to using a knife or punching too often, but when it came to running, it really hit him.

The powers he’s gaining are extraordinary and would normally be seen as absurd or impossible to obtain.

But, he has them, and is using them right now.

It made him feel a little lucky...

---

After testing the first two, he wondered how to test the third.

“Durability... I can already guess what it does, but how do I test something like this...?”

The first thing that Ace thought of when hearing Durability was... making his body more durable.

He remembered being bitten and taking hits which would’ve led to getting the skill.

“Hmm...”

He looked around to see if there was anything he could use to test his skill.

“Only trees...”

He was surrounded by nature and greenery, there was nothing else that caught his eye.

“Guess I’ll have to use them.”

He walked up to the nearest tree and made his hand into a fist.

“Here we go...”

“3, 2, 1, go!”

And he punched the tree with enough force to hurt himself.

“Ahh!! That hurt!”

He jumped around while holding his fist with his other hand, trying to get the pain to dissipate.

“Ahh... Shoot... didn’t think it would be that bad...”

After jumping around and waiting for the pain to disappear, he set himself up once again in front of the tree.

“Shoot, I’m going to hesitate this time, I probably won’t be able to test it properly...”

He made a fist with the same hand and kept his eyes on the tree, a little nervous as he stood.

“Whatever! Here I go... durability.”

His body gave off a faint red glow as he stood, prepared to punch the tree.

“3, 2, 1, go!”

And he punched the trunk once again, his eyes closing unconsciously as he went in for the strike.

“Ahh!”

He grabbed his fist again, feeling the pain coming from it.

“It hurts... but... it’s definitely not as bad as before. Yeah, this is good, it’ll be helpful.”

He gave a small smile as he looked at his wounded fist, already thinking of how he was going to incorporate it properly when he was fighting.

---

------

She slowly woke up, the shade protecting her eyes, unlike Ace’s waking-up experience.

Her eyes peered open, and her body started to straighten, getting up from her sleep.

“...?”

She fully opened her eyes, and then glanced around.

“Oh. Good morning.”

Sitting at a nearby tree was Ace, with his arm in the air to greet Aliza.

“Good mooorning...”

She yawned and mumbled drowsily, still in a half-awake state.

She sat up and stretched her arms, then took another look at Ace.

“---!!”

She shot up and ran over to Ace.

“What happened to your hand?! Did I not heal everything last night?!”

“Haha... calm down... I just did some morning exercise.”

“Morning exercises?! You’re bleeding!”

“It’s nothing much, don’t worry about it.”

“No... give it here... I’ll heal it.”

“Are you sure? You should save your mana.”

“Don’t worry about that, it’ll come back quick. Give me your hand.”

“If you say so...”

And he reached out to her, his hand being grabbed before it could fully be extended.

A blue light was emitted almost immediately after his hand was grabbed.

“This one’s smaller so it won’t take as long as last night, but we’ll still have to sit here for a little. Now, tell me, what’d you do?”

“I got some new skills and I wanted to test them out...”

She slapped her forehead softly with her free hand...

“*sigh* At least wait for me to wake up before doing something dumb...”

“Sorry, I couldn’t wait...”

She took off her hand and looked at Ace...

“So? What skills did you get?”

“Oh, I got a few good ones. I got Quick First Step, Falling Back, and Durability.”

“---!”

“I will never get used to this...”

She already knew she shouldn’t be surprised, but it was hard for her not to be.

“That’s good though. Quick First Step and Falling Back can be really helpful in a fight.”

“Yeah! I tested them out and could tell just how much of a difference they make!”

“Yeah, use them properly and you become a much better fighter. Now, what does Durability do?”

“Oh, it makes my body tougher, like added defense.”

“And...? How did you test that...?”

“Hahaha... I punched a tree a few times...”

“*siiiiighhhhh* What an idiot...”

“What could I have done? There weren’t many other options...”

“Still... you could’ve asked me before doing something dumb.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll make sure to next time.”

Aliza nodded a few times, wanting to make sure that he got the message to not do anything dumb.

---

“Now, Aliza, I need to say something.”

After Aliza healed Ace, he turned a little more serious.

“What is it?”

Ace looked to the ground for a second, then looked back up, into her eyes.

“Thank you again, you saved me back there.”

He would never stop expressing his gratitude for something that he was truly grateful for.

“Wha-?! Stop, please! It should be the other way around.”

She stuck her hands in front of herself and tried to get Ace to stop.

“I was the one who was supposed to be protecting, and yet, I fell unconscious before I could do anything.”

“That doesn’t matter. You saved me from the first hit and when I was about to die at the end.”

“No, no, no. You wouldn’t even be in those situations if I did my job properly.”

“No, no. I should’ve been prepared for the worst and protected you properly.”

“No, no, no, you did fine. It was my fault, see? I’m fine, but you had injuries.”

“That doesn’t matter, I should’ve been able to get out of that with no injuries and without getting saved.”

“You’re still new to this, you won’t be perfect right off the start, but I already have experience, so I should’ve been prepared, it was my fault.”

“No, it was my fault.”

“I think it was mine.”

“No, mine.”

“No, no, definitely mine.”

“Nope, mine.”

“Nope, nope, mine.”

They looked at each other after bickering about whose fault it was...

“Hehehehe...”

“Hahaha...”

“Whatever... we’re both grateful to each other, so we’ll just thank each other and that’s that, okay?”

Ace gave a nod.

“Got it, I’ll start. Aliza, thank you once again.”

He stuck out his hand to her, thinking that this was the best way to go about it.

“Same to you, thanks for protecting me last night.”

She grabbed his hand and shook it, exchanging their gratitude with each other.

---

------

After their thanks were exchanged, they ate breakfast and went back to the guild to claim their reward.

Last night, after Ace passed out, Aliza collected the ears on her own. She didn’t want his hard work to amount to nothing, so she made sure to get them before coming back.

“Oh! You’re back! Can I assume you finished the quest?”

Shouted Mila, the guild clerk who they’ve become acquainted with.

“Yes, we completed it.”

Aliza responded, the emotion lacking in her voice because there were people were in the guild.

“Oh... sorry...”

Mila realized her mistake and waited for the two of them to reach the counter before speaking any more.

“Here’s the two Welfio ears.”

Aliza handed her the bag and Mila looked inside to confirm the amount.

“Okay, I’ll get your reward, 40 Felo.”

She rummaged behind the counter and pulled out 4 silver coins, then handed them to Aliza.

“Thank you.”

After Aliza grabbed her reward, Mila looked over at Ace, who’s been silent.

“Umm... if you don’t mind me asking... has your level changed at all...?”

Mila remembered that Ace’s level grew at an incredible speed, and her curiosity got the better of her.

“Oh... yeah it did...”

Ace actually didn’t know if it changed, but he assumed it did after fighting those Welfio.

“By how much?!”

“Ngh...”

Mila quickly brought her face over the counter to get closer to Ace, Ace instinctively stepping back.

“Umm... sorry... can you give me a second...”

“Oh... sorry...”

She stepped back behind the counter to give Ace some space.

“Thanks...”

Ace then reached for his backpack and took out his status plate.

He couldn’t check his level by closing his eyes, or it would look weird in front of Mila.

After pulling out his status plate, he glanced at the side that displayed his level.

“...?”

After seeing the level shown, Ace hesitated before saying it out loud.

“I’m... level 7...?”

“LEVEL 7?!”

Mila jumped over the counter once again to bring her face close, attracting the attention of some people in the guild.

“SHH!”

Aliza pushed her back over the counter to calm her down.

“Oh! Sorry!”

She covered her mouth with her hands and brought back her inside voice.

“This is insane to me. People take months to get to gain 2 levels like that, especially once you start to get to a higher level.”

“May I ask how many Welfio you fought last night?”

Ace thought back on last night’s events...

“I killed 1 real Welfio and 3 Welfio illusions.”

Mila stood there in shock.

“I believe you don’t gain much experience from illusions, which means that you have gained 2 levels from killing only 1 Welfio. That is unbelievable... but here I am, witnessing it.”

“Ace Bracker, I look forward to seeing what you become.”

Ace stood there, not knowing how to take the compliments.

His growth rate wasn’t exactly his own power, so it didn’t feel right taking all the compliments head on.

“Haha... thank you... but I think I’ll stop adventuring after a year or so...”

“Huh?! Why?! Are you not enjoying it? Or is the killing too much?”

After hearing about his growth rate and what he could be in the future, Mila couldn’t help but wonder why he would stop.

“No, it’s not exactly that... it’s hard to explain...”

“I see... I won’t pry any further.”

She may have been curious, but she was still a clerk at a guild. She did her job properly and put her client first.

“I say that, but may I also ask if you gained any new skills?”

“Oh, sure. I gained four new--”

“FOUR?!”

Her inside voice disappeared once again as she learned of Ace’s new skills.

“SHHH, I said!”

Aliza pushed her back behind the counter once again.

“Sorry... it’s hard to contain myself.”

“May I ask about the 4 skills?”

“Sure... I got Sharper Tip, Quick First Step, Falling Back, and Durability.”

“And... just to confirm... this was all after killing one Welfio...?”

“The last 3 were, but I got Sharper Tip after completing the Toriel quest we did.”

“I see... That is still pretty remarkable. Are you still level one on all these skills?”

Ace remembered seeing his skill levels when checking the skills menu in his mind...

“Yeah, I am.”

“Okay, it looks like that’s still normal.”

Mila was talking about the difficulty to level up skills, and how it was different than your regular level.

“Oh, you’re new to adventuring, let me explain some of the basics if you don’t know already.”

“Skill levels are harder to level up than regular levels and there is a max for skill levels.”

“The max for every skill level is 5.”

“As for your regular level, there is no max, but it gets harder to level up for every level you go up. For example, it’s harder to level up at level 7 than when you’re at level 1.”

“That’s why you only went up 2 levels after fighting that Welfio. With your growth rate, you probably would have gone up 3 levels when you were level 1.”

“Also, monsters have different difficulty levels. If you defeat higher difficulty monsters, you get more level experience.”

“Another thing you might be wondering about is why the rank differences are weird. For example, there’s a 2-level gap between Rank F and E, but a 25-level gap between Rank AA and S.”

“This is because people level up faster at earlier levels. People who are at higher levels are most likely dedicated adventurers who put their all into defeating monsters and leveling up.”

“The lower levels are for people who defeat monsters as more of a side job. Like how you went and defeated some Toriel, that is one of the jobs that a lot of people do.”

“They are more split up so the people who don’t take adventuring seriously don’t make mistakes and fight monsters that they aren’t able to.”

“That’s some of the basic information you need to know.”

Ace processed all the information coming at him.

“Thanks, that was really helpful.”

“No problem! Just make sure to continue leveling up and becoming stronger!”

Ace put on a smile at her at her words.

“Got it.”

He then looked over at Aliza to see what they were going to do next.

“Mr. Legot said that he was leaving in 2 days, so we’ll take another quest for now.”

“Got it, let’s check some out.”

They went over to the quest board and Aliza glanced at the various sheets of paper on the board.

“We’ll take this one this time.”

She grabbed a paper off the board and brought it to Mila.

“Okay, I got it down, replacing a barrier. I’ll give you the materials you need.”

She pulled out a few small cubes and handed them to Aliza.

“...?”

After Mila read it out loud and handed Aliza the materials, Ace wondered how a barrier worked.

“Thank you Ms. Mila, we’ll be leaving now.”

Aliza started to exit the guild, Ace following behind with his head low, to keep his face covered.

“Bye, Ms. Mila, we’ll be back.”

Mila waved her paw as they left the guild, sending them off.

And the day continued on, until it was time to set out for their third quest...