Learning Skills

Kaito and Rina were now training in the fields just outside of Giora.

“GAHH!!” Kaito yelled as he was sent flying from one of Rina’s attacks. “Can’t you go easy on me?” complained Kaito.

“You could just learn the skill faster,” Rina clapped back at Kaito.

Rina was trying to teach Kaito two skills. One of which he successfully learned already was Pickpocket. With it, Kaito can obtain items from afar or even steal items from other adventurers’ Inventory skill. The other skill he struggled to learn is the Phase skill, which lets him turn invisible to avoid being detectable.

“You learned the Pickpocket skill easily, but this one seems to be giving you some trouble,” Rina summarized. “Though we’re not going to stop until you learn it, as the Phase skill will be imperative for the battle strategy we will be using.”

“Is there no easier strategy for us to use?” Asked the complaining Kaito.

“This is the best strategy for us to use,” Rina responded, finalizing her decision to Kaito. “Now get back up, we’re going to try this again.”

“Impossible, I’ve taken too much damage,” Kaito jokingly said as he refused to get up just to get knocked down again.

Sighing aloud, Rina decided to give Kaito the break he wanted. The two went to a local pub for something to eat before trying again.

“It’s so good!” Kaito happily said as he ate his food.

Rina, interrupting Kaito’s solace, says, “Just don’t take too long. We’ve still got more training to do for the day.”

Kaito, looking frustrated, starts to eat more slowly to prolong his current moment of enjoyment.

As Kaito was procrastinating, a cloaked figure walked into the pub. Upon noticing Rina and Kaito, the cloaked figure walked towards their table.

CRASH!!! The cloaked figure slammed his fist onto Rina and Kaito’s table, sending all the food they ordered into disarray.

Rina, remaining standoffish, just looked at the cloaked figure as Kaito was distraught about his food being scattered.

“M-my food,” Kaito said in disbelief. “How could you!?”

“HOW COULD YOU!?” The cloaked figure yelled back at them, copying Kaito’s complaint.

Kaito was surprised by his aggression as Rina turned away from the cloaked figure.

The cloaked figure continued their spiel, “The Lonely Queen, no, Rina. This is who you leave me for. This squirt!?”

The figure clearly referred to the squirt as Kaito. However, Kaito wasn’t going to take that insult without defending himself.

“You clearly aren’t up to snuff, buddy,” Kaito retaliated as he squared up to the cloaked figure.

“Don’t, Kaito,” Rina said, trying to ignore the situation, but the two continued.

“You’re out of your league, squirt,” the cloaked figure stated. “Sit down and let the professionals talk.”

Trying to egg on the cloaked figure, Kaito scoffed, “I’m not afraid of someone who’s all bark and no bite. Why don’t you show me what makes you such a professional?”

The cloaked figure finally directed his attention away from Rina and towards Kaito. The figure seemed unbothered by Kaito’s provocative advances, but that last one seemed to get under their skin.

Snarling back at Kaito, the cloaked figure demanded, “Let’s take this outside then, shall we?”

The whole pub was excited by the drama, but Rina remained annoyed that the situation escalated as much as it did.

Kaito and the cloaked figure were now in an open area within the city, with everyone who was at the pub, and more, present to spectate the debacle. Even though she didn’t want to, Rina was forced to referee their fight.

The cloaked figure started his soliloquy.

“When I heard that the Lonely Queen had finally picked an ally, I thought it was a joke. Everyone, including myself, thought she’d never pick anyone unless they could reach her level of 90, so I worked towards that end after you left me like the others.” Starting to laugh during their speech, the cloaked figure continued. “To my surprise, she did pick an ally, and to make things worse, it’s some amateur!”

“We’re going to see what you have to say after you lose to this amateur,” taunted Kaito.

Rina, wanting to finish this unfortunate event, signaled the two to start their fight.

Taking off his hood, the cloaked figure revealed himself as a wolf-like beastman.

“If you think a level 43 is going to lose to a beginner adventurer, you have another thing coming to ya!” The wolfman proclaimed as he swiftly dashed towards Kaito with his large sword.

Kaito was completely caught off guard in many ways at this moment. He didn’t expect the cloaked figure to be a wolf beastman, for one, or for him to be that high a level. Kaito wasn’t even sure if he leveled up past level one.

Kaito could barely unsheathe his blade to guard against the wolfman’s first attack. As a result, he was sent flying through the onlooking crowd, who had to move to dodge Kaito, and into a vacant vendor stall.

Kaito was barely able to keep focus on what had just happened.

“Is that enough bite for you?” The wolfman cockily said, getting the first laugh.

“We’re just getting started,” Kaito mustered as he slowly managed to get back into the fighting area.

Continuing the fight, the wolfman charged at Kaito again, but this time Kaito dodged it. Kaito tried to counterattack, but when he gathered himself from his dodge, the wolfman was already on the offensive again. Kaito was steadily outmatched. All he could do was dodge. Even when he rarely got an opening to attack, the wolfman easily dodged it.

“Let’s speed this up, shall we?” The wolfman said as he activated some sort of skill.

“He can go faster!?” Kaito thought to himself.

Aiming to get some distance from the wolfman, Kaito ran away, but even with his efforts, the wolfman got into range for an attack.

The wolfman was about to finish Kaito off, but before his skill hit, Kaito disappeared. Under the stress of the losing battle, Kaito was able to learn the Phase skill.

Kaito realized this was his only chance at victory. Without a second thought, he snuck behind the confused wolfman and struck the back of his neck as hard as he could. The wolfman was knocked down.

Kaito was feeling the adrenaline of the moment as the crowd cheered at his successful attack. However, the moment was short-lived, as the wolfman got back up.

“So you were hiding a skill…” the wolfman deduced.

At first, Kaito was unnerved that the wolfman had gotten up, but the wolfman was clearly negatively affected by Kaito’s attack. The wolfman’s previous aggressive stance became wobbly, and his subsequent attacks were inaccurate.

Kaito had to capitalize on this opportunity.

Going on the offensive, Kaito stuck close to the wolfman attack relentlessly. The two were evenly matched, going blow for blow. They both charged up for a strong attack, but before their attacks could collide, Kaito used his Phase skill.

The wolfman missed his attack and was put off balance. With the rest of his energy, Kaito attacked the wolfman in the face. Kaito, barely able to keep his balance from the severity of his attack, watched as the wolfman fell to the ground.

“Kaito wins,” Rina announced as the crowd cheered for the great upset they had witnessed.

Rina walked up to Kaito to briefly congratulate him on his victory. “Good job. Now that you’ve learned the Phase skill, we can return to the dungeon ruins.”

“Can’t you be happy for my victory a little more?” Kaito complained.

“This fight didn’t need to happen in the first place,” Rina said as she and Kaito walked off to prepare for their dungeon crawling.