***

"Yes, I'm inclined to agree with Chandi! It's time to see what the benevolence of our Goddess' order can provide." Said Kayel enthusiastically.

Peter rubbed his hands together in anticipation, and Jogun retrieved a crowbar to open the crate in the center of the armoury.

Jogun swung the crowbar skillfully into the crevice between the lid and the side of the box, then nonchalantly pushed down with only one arm. The lid instantly flew off, and slid to the side of the room.

"Wow. Sometimes I forget how strong the warriors of this world are." Peter thought.

They all peeked inside to see that there was a beautiful set of armour compactly stored in 1/3rd of the crate, at the far right. All of it was expertly packed to take up as little space as possible, so it was hard to determine what the armour set would look like or was made out of.

Chandi's eyes sparkled with wonder as she grabbed two items that looked like gloves from the box.

"Haha, I'll pull this baby out and put it on display while you guys look at the rest!" She said as she pulled over a spare armour stand.

The three men in the room smirked, and decided to give that honor to their head blacksmith. Peter of course completely trusted her with it.

The center third of the crate was covered in what looked like a large rolled up blanket, and the left third was actually another box.

"Might as well work our way from bottom to top," Peter said with a smile that couldn't be removed from his face.

"Alright, I'll grab here. Peter grab the other side," Said Jogun as he got into position.

"One, two, three, hoist!"

The two of them lifted the rolled up blanket out of the crate, and moved it over to a clear spot on the floor. They lowered it down gently, careful not to break any of the contents just in case whatever it could be was fragile. Peter was surprised by how heavy the overall bundle was, even despite his high level of [Strength].

"Alright, no time like the present,” Announced Peter.

He grabbed a corner of the fabric, and pulled gently to uncover it. Kayel let out an involuntary 'Oooooo'.

The first thing uncovered was a very large shield. It was at an angle in the cloth just so it could fit inside the box, and even then it looked like an impossible fit. It was shaped similarly to the heater shield he used in the spider cage, but one upper corner was angled higher on this shield. It looked like the straps were set up so that the raised portion would cover his shoulder and part of his head if he were to hold it properly.

"[Identify]."

Dark Iron Shield - Level requirement: 45 Quality: Superior Defense +25 Vitality +15, Endurance +10, Strength +10

"Oh man. This one is going to serve me well."

Jogun tapped Chandi on the shoulder, "Hey, can you tell us what that one is?"

"Sure!" She turned to the Shield and said, "[Appraise]."

She read the window that came up in front of her eyes and sighed, "Well, he won't be able to use it for a little while. It's a world item with a level requirement of 45, so he should wait till-- W-Wait, Peter stop!"

Peter grabbed onto the shield and hoisted it onto his arm. He attached the straps, and felt the euphoria of bonus stats wash over his entire body. The feeling of his muscles becoming denser manifested itself, and it felt as if a brisk cool air rushed by him. Soon the feeling calmed down, and he felt as though the shield was much more manageable than when he first lifted it.

As peter was going through a few practice blocks with the shield, Chandi was wide eyed and confused.

“B-But.. How? You’re only level 10. You should be experiencing a serious backlash on your soul from the world energy in that shield!”

Peter understood her confusion and said, “Ah, I guess I haven’t told anyone this yet. My [Powerful Soul] trait allows me to equip items 50 levels above what I should, so I should be fine with using any world energy items that have a requirement of level 60.”

The other three in the room stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him. A few moments passed in complete silence.

Peter looked back to the shield, then up at them.

“You know,” -He sighed- “you guys have to start getting used to me doing things that nobody else can do. I was summoned by the Goddess you dedicated your lives to. If I were normal, and fit all of your expectations for a normal person, then I wouldn’t be a very good Avatar... would I?”

Chandi looked at the ground, “I umm.. I guess that makes sense.”

Peter saw her reaction and thought, “Darn. Was I a little harsh?”

Kayel chuckled, then said, “Even though the way you said it was a tad blunt, I understand. We’ll try to process the things we learn about you a little less like an explosion went off.”

Peter sighed, “No no. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or berate anyone. I just feel like everytime I share anything about myself everyone looks at me like I have 3 heads… ehh. Never mind, it’s not actually that big of a deal.”

“I’ll just keep the really ‘wild’ stuff to myself from now on.”

Peter walked over to where the unrolled bundle of cloth was laid out, Chandi continued unloading the armour set, and the two older men were pulling out the box that was inside of the crate.

He saw that under a fold of the cloth was the second item. It was a very large hammer that looked to be made out of the same metal as the shield. It had a 4 foot long handle with various straps of leather tied around it to make for a better grip. The head of the hammer had two sides. One side was a large square end that looked just right for causing blunt trauma, while the other end tapered off into a flat edge, much like a door stop.

“[Identify].”

Dark Iron Warhammer - Level requirement: 45 Quality: Superior Damage +25 Vitality +10, Endurance +10, Strength +15

“Oh. A matching item for my shield? I wonder how using this thing will feel in combat.” He thought.

Peter then grabbed the handle of the warhammer, and tried to lift it with one hand which he found very difficult. He grabbed it with both hands and wrenched it up to about chest height.

“Sheesh, this sucker weighs a ton!” He said with a large amount of strain in his voice, but as soon as he was done bringing it up in both hands, the bonus stats kicked in just as they did with the dark iron shield. After getting over the euphoria, he decided that using the shield and warhammer at the same time was a bit much for him at the moment.

“[Equipment Storage], store the shield in preset 1.” He thought.

The shield seemed to fade out of existence, and the hammer became much easier to wield. Peter let loose a few practice swings, and with each one his smile grew.

“I could totally see myself fighting with this!”

Just as he thought that, memories of when he examined the details of his Arbiter class came back.

“Right! The system said I would do best with heavier weapons. I guess as long as I keep collecting stronger and stronger world energy items I’m going to be able to lift heavier weapons. I would need to use heavy weapons to take advantage of all that [Strength], or I’d be wasting my potential.”

Chandi was watching him swing the hammer, “You just said that thing is pretty heavy, but it doesn’t look very heavy to you at all.”

Peter laughed lightly, “I adapt to new things pretty well I guess.”

Kayel and Jogun looked at each other, then Kayel gestured towards Peter.

Jogun took the hint, then walked over to him and said in a low enough voice that Chandi couldn’t hear, “How many stats did you gain from those two items?”

Peter quickly whispered back, “25 [Vitality], 20 [Endurance], and 25 [Strength].”

Jogun held himself together well enough to walk back to Kayel and share the info. Kayel almost lost his cool, but he played it off as a short coughing fit.

“Ahh, these old lungs are acting up again,” He said.

Chandi looked like she was catching on that they weren’t sharing something with her, so Peter decided to make a distraction.

“O-Oh, are you done with the armour?”

“Yep!” She said proudly, “It looks incredible! I can’t believe a set of world energy armour looks this aesthetically pleasing. Usually they all have a more ‘wild’ look with somewhat asymmetrical features, but this seems like it was meant to be worn by a king!”

Peter stored the hammer, then went over to look over his new armour.

The main material used to make up this set was a rusty gold coloured, scaly hide that resembled snake skin. There were complex patterns of black scales mixed in with the rusty gold to make a gorgeous contrast. There was also some kind of flexible, yet stiff metal that wove itself throughout the armour.

The helm was a full face mask, with overlapping sections that covered the head to form a ‘spine’-like design which wrapped itself around the back of the head. The metal trimmed all of the sections on the head, and a strip of it went in a straight line down the middle of the face.

The body armour seemed to have indentations that mimicked the musculature of a human body. The black scales on the torso wove themselves in intricate designs that looked magical in nature. Also, the flexible metal was wrapped around the chest as if to overlay where the ribcage and bones would be.

The gauntlets smoothly wrapped themselves around the hands and forearms of the wearer, and came all the way back to a point that stuck just past the elbow. There was a strip of metal that started at the elbow, and traveled to the wrist. From there it split off in five directions down each finger.

The leggings wrapped around the entire lower body, and ended in built-in boots. There were strips of metal that lined the pants, copying where the leg bones would be seen. The metal went down right to the toes, just like the gauntlets had for the fingers.

“[Identify].”

Hide Armour of the Kobold Sage (Medium Armour) - Quality: Exquisite - Level Requirement: 50 Hide Helm of the Kobold Sage Defense +10 Vitality +5, Endurance +5, Perception +10, Processing +10 Hide Body Armour of the Kobold Sage Defense +20 Vitality +10, Endurance +5, Magic Resistance +10 Hide Gauntlets of the Kobold Sage Defense +5 Strength +10, Dexterity +5, Hide Leggings of the Kobold Sage Defense +15 Vitality +5, Endurance +10, Dexterity +10 Full set bonus: Defense +15, [Empower] Vitality +5, Endurance +5, Perception +10, Processing +10

Peter was expecting quite a lot, but this beat even his own predictions. He read over the window thoroughly and his head tilted to the side in confusion.

“What is up with the stat distribution?” He thought, “Why does this set give all of my unique stats a boost?”

Chandi stood beside Peter while looking over her own window using [Appraise]. It, however, looked very different from Peter’s information.

Hide Armour of the Kobold Sage (Medium Armour) - Quality: Exquisite - Level Requirement: 50 Hide Helm of the Kobold Sage Defense +10 Hide Body Armour of the Kobold Sage Defense +20 Hide Gauntlets of the Kobold Sage Defense +5 Hide Leggings of the Kobold Sage Defense +15 Full set bonus: Defense +15, [Empower]

“Hey, Looks like they sent you some gear to help you become a proper mage,” She said with a big smile, “The [Empower] innate passive is a rare skill, but it’s very well known for how much people want it. Once you enter combat with anyone, the skill will increase the power of one spell you cast by 15% every 10 seconds! It’s been a game changer in many famous battles,” She scratched her chin, “But I’m not sure what a Kobold Sage is.”

Jogun perked up and said, “Kobold Sage?! By Adrestia. They finally found it and killed it did they?” He chuckled with joy, “The Kobold Sage was rumoured to be one of the leaders of the largest clan of Kobolds on this continent. Kobolds are usually led by a king and a sage. The King is the brawn to keep his subjects in line, and the Sage is the advisor who strategizes on behalf of the king. We defeated the king 25 years ago, but the crafty sage escaped, and went into hiding. Finding it proved to be a very difficult task; even for me at the time.”

Peter looked to Jogun then back to the armour, “So… This is a set of mage armour?”

“Yeah, hard to tell right?” Chandi said, “I’ve never seen such thin armour with such a high defense rating, and a magic passive skill. The material is clearly lightweight as well. This is an anomaly among world energy sets for sure. The Justicar really busted out their best for you!” She said as she punched him in the arm playfully.

He thought for a moment, “So this is a magic set of armour. Could it be that if I were a normal Evolver: this armour would be giving me stats like [Intelligence] and [Wisdom]? Maybe it’s because I don’t have either of those that the [Exo-Skeleton] skill switched the stats around for things like [Processing], and [Perception]. But why is it giving me [Magic Resistance]?”

Chandi looked up at Peter as he sat in silence while staring at the armour. She tapped her foot on the ground as her patience was wearing thin.

“Hello in there, why don’t you try it on?” She said with a giggle.

He smirked at her and laughed, “Oh, right haha. I suppose I should.”

“Oh man. This set of bonus stats is on another level. I’ve never experienced gaining an effective 25 levels worth of stats all at once before,” Peter thought nervously, “This will nearly double my current abilities!”

Inside he was anxious, but he was also extremely excited. He would probably be the most powerful level 10 human being that ever existed at this rate. Between level requirements on items that didn’t apply to him, and a lifetime’s worth of work to level up that he didn’t have to do, it was actually a very fair assumption.

First he stored the spider bracelet away inside his [Equipment Storage], then he began equipping the armour. First the leggings, then the body armour, followed by the gauntlets. He finished putting the last gauntlet on, then Chandi impatiently snagged the helm off of the armour stand, and handed it to him.

He smiled, “Thank you.”

She grinned back, “You’re very welcome.”

Jogun laughed and said, “You know Peter, if you play your cards right, this may not be the last time she dresses yo--OUFFF!!!”

He was interrupted with an elbow straight to his stomach by Kayel.

Kayel shook his head and said, “I’m very sorry for his behavior Chandi. I think he, in his old age, likes to live vicariously through others. You have my formal permission to dismiss him as an old fool from now on.”

Coming to her defense certainly helped, but the damage was done. Chandi may be a council member, and an exceptional blacksmith, but she was still a young bachelorette. She couldn’t help but turn her head to hide how red her face was.

“Th-Thank you Master, but I feel I should go check on the smithyblack.. Err.. the black.. The forge!”

She then quickly dismissed herself from the room.

Jogun, who was still recovering from the first attack, was hit on the side of the head.

“See! I told you to go easier on them,” Kayel said in an angry tone.

Jogun coughed several times, and said with a wheeze, “She… She called it a ‘smithyblack’. Hahah--AGH.”

Peter, although embarrassed, decided to leave Kayel to deal with the issue. Besides, covering his face with the helm seemed like a pretty good plan to him right now.

He put the helmet over his head, and locked a notch at the back into place, and that’s when [Exo-Skeleton] took over. The whole armour set morphed itself around his body, and attached itself to his skin in a snug, but unrestrictive way.

The scales brightened as if they were still attached to a living Kobold, and the metal outlines pulsed with life, expanding a little larger to account for his size. Even the black scales that made up the interesting patterns on the armour wiggled under the movements of his limbs, which showed his expanding muscle mass as he flexed different areas of his body.

The two older men stopped their bickering, and watched in awe. They hadn’t been there for when Daalia’s set of armour transformed to his body, so this was a new experience.

As amazing as the visual change was, the internal change was too distracting for Peter to notice anything else. The feeling of gaining only 7 levels at a time from the shield and warhammer was nothing compared to this. His bones and muscles became more dense, his eyesight became incredibly crisp, and his thoughts became clear as he began to work through all the changes happening to him.

There was also a small change that he didn’t fully understand. It felt as if he was emitting some kind of aura that he couldn’t quite identify, but he could get an ‘intent’ from the aura. The intent seemed to repeat only one word over and over again: “Reject”.

Kayel and Jogun felt the aura. The hairs on the back of their neck stood straight up as if to warn them of danger. It was as if something about Peter was telling them to back away, or telling them that he was dangerous.

“W-What on Athone was that?” Kayel asked.

“I don’t… I have no idea, but I feel it too.” Jogun responded.

Peter’s shaking finally calmed down. A light steam rose off of his body, causing a small cloud to appear around him before dissipating into the cool air of the armoury.

“I think...” He said then took a deep breath, “I think I need to go for a run. I need to get used to all these stats or my head will explode. We’ll take a look inside the last box later okay?”

“Alright Peter,” Kayel said, “Don’t cause too much trouble.”

Peter laughed and said, “Only if I run into someone who tries to kill me.” Then left the armoury.

***

Meanwhile, Jogun had already decided to take a look inside of the final box. A confused look covered his face.

“Kayel, come take a look at this,” He said.

“What is it?” Kayel asked as he walked over.

“Well…” Jogun stood up, holding something in his hand, “It’s this.”

He and kayel looked at the otherwise empty box then back at the single unimpressive looking ring that Jogun was holding with a slightly strained look on his face.

“Just this.”

***

Peter was traveling through one of the hallways at a leisurely pace. By now it was just before noon, so there were lots of people traveling between duties like classes, changing the shift for the guards around the town, or just heading to get some lunch at a place they called the cafeteria.

As he was walking he got two notices from the system.

Evolution [Enhanced Durability] has risen to D+ Evolution [Enhanced Energy] has risen to D+

“Ah, the increase to my stats must have counted towards increasing the progress of my evolutions. Looks like it doesn’t matter how I work with [Health] or [Stamina]. It’ll always benefit these two.”

While he was thinking about his stats, every single eye was on Peter. It was nearly impossible to take your eyes off of a golden, 7 foot tall, glowing eyed man in the nicest looking armour anyone had probably seen in their lifetimes.

“What the... is that the guy people have been talking about? Man, he doesn’t look as weak as people said.”

“Look at that armour.. You don’t think it's world energy armour?”

“It could be. It looks like the skin of a snake, or a lizard.”

“There’s no way. Who would flaunt that here?”

Peter was aware of every single thing they said, and movement they made. His [Perception] stat must have hit some kind of barrier where it began increasing his hearing as well. He was actually annoyed by it. If he concentrated too hard on what people were saying, it sounded like they were talking right into his ear.

“I should switch to my regular set so these people quit gossiping so much.”

As he rounded the next corner, he willed the armour set to switch out for the Avatar armour, which was still very impressive, but not as flashy as the other set. Some people noticed the change and rubbed their eyes, thinking that they were seeing things. Since the only difference between wearing this set or the other was 10 less defense, it wasn’t that big of a deal to him.

After he made the change Peter still heard a bit of gossip, but not even a quarter as much as before. It made him feel a lot more comfortable.

Eventually he arrived at the training courtyard where he planned on going for a run, but was surprised when the whole place was the busiest that he’d seen it since he came to this world.

There were people jogging along the outside where he ran this morning, and there were 4 sets of people sparring in the middle.

“Is this what it’s normally like?” He thought to himself.

He decided to sit along the side of the courtyard for a bit to see if it would clear up in a few minutes. He didn’t stick out nearly as much around here since almost everyone here was wearing a set of armour, and even had weapons. He still caught some eyes, but he was just starting to be old news.

He smiled to himself, “I guess I’ve put this off long enough.”

“Status.”

|12:21 PM| |Status| |Backlight: [Off]| Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: 10 Gender: Male Influence: 9 Race: Human Variant Fame: 10 Class: Arbiter Unspent points: 38 Stats Health 1100/1100 Stamina 900/900 Vitality 25 (75) Endurance 20 (60) Strength 32 (50) Perception 15 (35) Dexterity 20 (35) Processing 20 (20) Karma -100 M. Resistance 10 (10) Defense: 55 Evolutions [Enhanced Recovery] Grade: C [Enhanced Durability] Grade: D+ [Enhanced Energy] Grade: D+ [Enhanced Mobility] Grade: D Traits [Tap to display] Skills [Auto Translate] Transcendent level 10 [Student of a God] Expert level 1 [Identify] Adept level 8 [Soul Drain] Novice level 9 [Evolve] Time until random racial growth path is selected: 50 Hours [Exo-Skeleton] Novice level 8 [Momentum] Adept level 2 [Patience] Adept level 1 [Fervor] Adept level 3 [Toughness] Adept level 2 [Fear Aura] Novice level 8 [Dash] Adept level 1 [Shield Bash] Novice level 5 [Equipment Storage] Preset slots: 1

He was so excited to test out his new stats that he was almost shaking. He went over every single section, and number to fully familiarize himself.

“Looks like D+ energy and durability evolutions each give me 100 more [Health] and [Stamina]. No need to open those up and look I suppose.”

After examining his status page to his heart’s content, he decided to relax. He sat against the wall and watched people shuffle in and out of sparring matches. Men called out “OOOOoooo” when an especially hard hit was dealt, and women cheered on their favorite, or perhaps the most attractive fighter.

Various people were also running around the track. They wore streamline sets of armour that had the symbol of Adrestia emblazoned in leather, and they were sometimes placing small bets and racing each other.

“People seem to be genuinely happy here. They work, grow, compete with each other, and have fun when they have time. It’s balance, just like Adrestia told me.”

Peter smiled and continued watching until the itch to join in became a bit too much for him to stave off. He decided to join in the jogging session while people were deciding who to race against next.

“I’m going to be a little unsteady for my first time around, so I’ll need all the help with staying on my feet that I can get. [Equipment Storage], give me the spider bracelet.”

The dark coloured arm band appeared, and attached itself to his avatar gauntlets as he walked to the track.

Now that he was standing at his full height, and stretching his legs to prepare for a jog, more people began to notice him. Some of them talked in hushed voices.

“Wait, I thought he wasn’t coming today.”

“Yeah that’s what the General said this morning. So what is he doing here?”

“He may be able to catch the occasional rock, but he runs slower than my 9 year-old nephew. I almost don’t want to watch.”

The people who mocked him this time were few and far between, but they still were out there. Peter made sure to remember their voices and faces, which was much easier to do with higher [Perception].

People began running around the track as the last race ended, and so did Peter. He started out slowly so he could get used to the newly acquired leg strength. He noticed that his higher [Dexterity] helped a lot, because he was adapting to moving his body much faster than this morning.

“Right! All of that stuff only just happened this morning. It’s been such a long da--”

Suddenly a runner had come up behind him, and bumped into his shoulder. Peter was totally unprepared for someone to physically harass him so quickly into his jog.

Even still, the runner didn’t get off scot free. Peter was not a small guy, and he was especially tough as of today. Both of them stumbled a little, but the runner recovered more quickly than him because he was aware of the impact and had adjusted for it.

A small burst of laughter came from the sidelines in one or two locations around the courtyard.

Peter could hear someone say, “Aha! Dankin actually did it!”

The runner, apparently named ‘Dankin’, had since sped ahead laughing to himself.

Heat began to build up in Peter’s cheeks. A mix of embarrassment, anger, and frustration was quickly welling up inside of him.

“I thought for sure these people were above behaving like this,” He thought, “But now I know they’re not. [Identify].”

Human Level: 38 Male Highest Stat: Endurance

“So he’s a big shot runner eh? One of the faster ones I’d imagine. Well that means he should be able to take at least one hit from me… should.”

Peter began to pick up the pace. His legs kept moving faster and faster until they were beginning to look like a blur.

The people at the sidelines who were laughing slowly began to stop and watch.

“Hah, this is only as fast as I was running this morning. I haven’t even begun to tap into my real speed.”

Peter was passing the regular joggers left and right. Dankin had to slow down to take the corner, then speed up again, but that rule didn’t apply to him because of the bracelet. Dankin was still pulling ahead though, so Peter decided to pick up the pace a bit.

Peter began to speed up again, and the onlookers noticed.

“No way…”

“Look at him go!”

“What armour is that?”

“Is that even the same guy?”

Peter was catching up quickly, especially because his attacker had to slow down for another corner. He thought to himself, “If you guys won’t stop being immature brats, then I’ll just have to knock you senseless until you learn the hard way.”

He was now only 5 meters behind Dankin, who was now running with all he had to get away.

“This will only be the second time I’ve had to do this today. [Dash]!!!”

Peter’s speed suddenly doubled, and he curled his shoulder to collide with Dankin in the same way he hit Peter.

*BANG!*

You have entered Combat.

While still at full speed, Dankin’s body suddenly tumbled head over heels, rolling along the ground like a skipping stone on water.

*Gasp*

At this point nearly everyone in the courtyard was paying attention to Peter, so everyone saw the brutal body check he performed on the now tumbling person.

“Woah! What’d Dankin do to tick the big guy off?”

“I felt that impact through the ground!”

“He hit Dankin?! Does he have a deathwish?”

Several people were yelling questions or exclaiming their surprise.

Peter slowed down to a stop next to Dankin, who was in very poor shape.

“So, is that it?” Peter said in a dull roar so everyone could hear. When they heard his voice everyone went quiet to listen.

“Do people in this temple like to pick on others they consider weaker than themselves? Is that Adrestia’s way of doing things?!”

Death-like silence covered the courtyard. A bit of shame came over the groups that dared Dankin to hit Peter.

Peter looked around at everyone to pay attention to their body language and facial expressions. He was looking for culprits to be wary of later. A few people quietly came out of the crowd to cast healing spells on Dankin.

His brows furrowed and his voice got a bit louder, “I refuse to deal with children who don’t know how to be civil. No more of this after today, or I won’t let the next person off as easily.”

Peter was feeling especially confident in his capabilities right now. He had an itch to scratch, and the people who mocked him were just making that itch worse.

The silence continued, until some shuffling of armour could be heard.

A large fellow walked out of the crowd. He was pretty big by regular people’s standards, and built like an ox, but he was still 5 or 6 inches shorter than Peter. He was dressed in full armour that was clearly meant for a front line fighter.

“Hey greenhorn,” This man called out, “I don’t know exactly what he did to you, but if Rawkin hears you mashed up his brother and I don’t do anything to teach you a lesson? I won’t have any pride left.”

“Rawkin’s brother?… Dankin?...” Peter thought.

Peter snorted a laugh then said, “I don’t know what’s worse: their parent’s naming sense, or the fact that someone actually decided to be their dog.”

Various tones of “OOOooo” were heard throughout the crowd, but were quickly hushed.

The large man’s eye twitched, and he pulled out a large set of steel gauntlets that went over top of his hands. They were completely covered in tough looking steel that continued half way up his forearm. The metal knuckles were protruding outwards in an exaggerated way, likely in order to make punches capable of smashing bone to bits.

“Alrighty then,” He lifted up his arms into a boxer's stance, “Looks like I’m gonna have to show you who’s worthy of respect when the General isn’t around to protect you!”

Peter quickly Identified the man before anything else got started.

Human Level: 46 Male Highest Stat: Strength

“Oh? He’s not all talk. A level 46 that specializes in [Strength], and uses metal gloves to fight.”

Peter smiled, “Before we start, can I know your name? I’d at least like to know the name of the first person to come against me without using cowardly methods.”

The man smirked, “If you wanna know, you’re going to have to prove yourself.”

Peter could hear voices in the crowd.

“Which means he’ll never find out his name.”

“The big guy might be fast, but that won’t help him. He’ll need brawn to get through that armour.”

“Even Rawkin doesn’t take it easy when they spar. How does glowface over there stand a chance?”

Peter was taken aback, “Glowface?! Dang.. that’s a low blow.”

He shook his head and quit paying attention to the crowd, “Alright. I’ll hold you to that stranger.”

The big man laughed and said, “No. You won’t.” As he began to walk towards Peter with his fists raised defensively.

Peter reconsidered his options, “The warhammer won’t do much to help me. I won’t be able to defend against both fists. Luckily that’s not my only option here.”

“[Equipment Storage], equip the Dark Iron Shield.”

Suddenly a very large shield with one raised edge appeared. It was already firmly attached to Peter’s arm. He held it up in front of himself to prepare to see what taking a couple hits from this guy’s metal fists felt like.

“Fancy trick,” The man said, “But you can’t defend me into submission!” And he threw a punch.

*BANG*...

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Punch after punch collided with the shield to create a drum of battle, but to everyone’s surprise: Peter didn’t move an inch.

He was standing still, swinging his shield with absolute least movement that was necessary to block each punch, no matter where it came from.

After a couple seconds of this; the furious attacks stopped. The man looked at his hands which were shaking with pain. Normally even punching stone wouldn’t feel as hard as Peter’s shield. Eventually the stone would fragment into smaller and smaller pieces, but the shield didn’t give in at all, and the attacker wasn’t capable of getting past the shield because of Peter’s speed.

“Wha... What the heck is that thing?” He said through gritted teeth while trying to hold his shaking hands still.

Peter just looked at the shield with a glowing smile. This man, a level 46 specialized in [Strength], couldn’t even make him budge with an assault of punches.

“It works beautifully!” He thought in joy, “But... I don’t think I need it to beat him.”

That thought wasn’t due to his ego. He had the stats equivalent to someone around level 85. Even if he wasn’t fully accustomed to his own body just yet; the raw advantage he had was overwhelming. Even If his opponent somehow had a couple more points in [Strength] than he had, Peter’s unbelievable 100 [Vitality] made his body so sturdy, that he would still be able to overcome that [Strength].

“You’re tough. I’ll give you that,” The man said, “My name is Coro.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, “Is that you admitting defeat?”

Coro laughed, “[Harden], [Flame-Clad]!”

The metal on his hands suddenly began to shine with magical luster, then on top of that an aura of flame surrounded both of his arms entirely.

“Oh yeah... Magic. Almost forgot.” Peter thought dumbly, then hid behind his shield as another flurry of punches arrived.

This time blocking was not nearly as easy. Peter’s ears were ringing with how loud the impacts were, and the aura of heat would wrap around the shield with every punch, which licked at his legs and the top of his head. Peter was forced to take a step back. He realized that Coro was right about one thing: He couldn’t defend himself to victory.

Peter took several large steps back and focused hard in order to slow his perception of time. According to how Peter saw things: Coro was standing very still in mid-punch, slowly pulling his arm back. He could watch the surprise slowly come over Coro’s face as he realized Peter had already left the place where he punched.

He decided to circle around behind Coro to attack from behind. As he began to move, he felt as if he were wading through chest high water. Leaning far into the direction he wanted to move, and using the spider bracelet for enhanced grip on the ground, he eventually got into position.

Coro only had enough time to begin turning his head to follow his movements, but Peter was already launching his punch. His fist connected with the side of Coro’s face just as Peter couldn’t keep the slowing effect up anymore. The mental strain of slowing his perception of time for so long caught up with him.

“Gahhh!” Coro hollered, holding his head in pain. He was in a daze, and could only manage to put together a single thought: “So fast!”

“Time to try it!” Peter thought, and wound up for another attack, “[Shield Bash]!”

Peter’s shield shot ahead of him so fast that he was almost dragged behind it, straight into the barely recovered Coro.

*CLANG*

The sight of Coro’s body bouncing off of the shield, then skidding along the ground for 10 meters caused everyone watching to hold their breath in shock.

Peter was just beginning to cool off from the fire magic that Coro used.

“Sheesh. I knew magic was a big deal, but this guy actually became difficult to defend against because of it. He can’t have that much magical power either, because he invested mostly into a physical stat.”

All the jealousy he felt for people who could use magic was coming back in full force. To distract himself, he began paying attention to the spectators again.

“What?! Did anyone see him move?”

“Two hits! He beat Coro in two hits!”

“Do you think he could beat Rawkin? Even Rawkin can’t handle Coro that easily!”

Healers began crowding around Coro. Peter watched as they casted their magic. Some cast a spell called [Mend], another cast [Regenerate], and there was one cleric that spoke an undiscernible chant that took a few seconds to get through, then activate.

“Ehh. I’m sure there’s a reason some just need to say skill names, and others need to chant… but what does that matter to me?” Peter thought with a huff.

He turned to walk away through the crowd. Anyone who was in his way moved as if he were an ocean predator to a school of fish. He left the courtyard, and the two people he knocked unconcious behind.

***

Off in an adjacent hallway; Eve was watching the courtyard with her extremely handy stealth skill, [Sneak], activated. She first noticed Peter was in the courtyard when he began running, and continued watching throughout the entire fight.

“But… that’s impossible.”

She was blown away by his speed and strength. His body didn’t seem to follow the laws of physics with how quickly he could reach full speed, then stop immediately behind Coro.

She silently activated her skill [Analyse Soul], which was Master level 9.

Target: Human / Male Name: Peter Valk Kastell Status effects: Slight mental fatigue Level: 10 Highest Stat: Strength: 32 Lowest Stat: Magic Resistance: 10 Health: 1067/1100 Stamina: 831/900 Mana: !ERROR!

“W-What?! What on Athone is going on here? This information conflicts with itself, and what kind of stat is [Magic Resistance] anyways?!” She thought in a daze.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but my skill has never failed me before. I need to keep an eye on him.”

***

While walking through a hallway, Peter decided to put away his dark iron shield. There was no reason to be carrying it around with him. During his walk he got the usual post-combat notification.

You have left Combat!

Notifications enabled. [Fervor] has risen to Adept level 4! [Toughness] has risen to Adept level 4! [Momentum] has risen to Adept level 3! [Shield Bash] has risen to Novice level 6! [Exo-Skeleton] has risen to Novice level 9!

“No level up for [Dash]... I guess being adept means active skills take a lot more to level up. I suppose it makes sense. These adept passive skills see a lot more use than the ones I have to activate manually.”

He had long decided that he had enough excitement for one day, and he was starting to feel hunger creeping up on him. His high [Endurance] allowed him to go for maybe 2 to 3 days without food or water before hunger related fatigue would start hindering him, but that didn’t stop the feeling of being hungry.

He asked one of the random people in the hall where he could get some food, and they pointed him to the cafeteria closer to the entrance of the temple. When he arrived, he watched how people requested food, and where they sat. He copied them to the best of his abilities to not seem awkward, but he still stood out and gathered a bit of attention for his appearance.

By now, most people had heard of the attack this morning, and the news of his fight with Coro was beginning to overlap their conversations.

Before Peter started to eat, he made sure it wasn’t poisoned by identifying it. He would probably never trust a meal enough to not check again, unless he made it himself. He was still silently using [Identify] whenever he could, but found that with all the recent distractions; his progress was slower than normal.

After he was satisfied he left for his room to go rest a while.

***

That evening Jogun and Kayel were back in one of the private rooms, sitting at opposing ends of a table. They couldn’t even see each other due to a mountain of various items that were stacked over their heads. The items consisted of bracelets, necklaces, rings, potions, wands, staffs, swords, daggers, and even an occasional strange looking cloak. They were currently organizing them based on their origins and effects with the help of 2 or 3 assistants with well leveled appraisal skills.

“I can’t believe that even half of this stuff came out of that one little spatial ring. I’ve never seen one with such a high capacity,” Jogun said.

Kayel laughed, “Well, the Justicar wanted to obey Adrestia to the best of their abilities while making sure Peter had everything he needed to survive. I’m actually not surprised they included as much as they possibly could.”

“But why did they send so many items with so many different purposes? For instance,” Jogun picked up a ring on his right, “This ring has a passive skill that increases archery accuracy,” He put that ring down and picked up another, “While this ring stores an extra 100 [Mana] to add to someone’s [Mana] pool at any time. There are literally 40 or more rings here all with different purposes for different styles of mage, archer, or fighter. What on earth would he need all of these for?”

Kayel put down a necklace with a sparkling blue pendant off to the left to indicate a magic type of item, then sighed.

“Simple really. They had no idea what style of fighter Peter would become. Apollo, the God of archery, once had an Avatar here who specialized in fighting with staves and spears. There was no way for the high council to determine what Peter would need… So they sent everything they could think of.”

Jogun leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, “Should we send someone to get Peter? We’re almost done categorizing all of this stuff. He’ll want to take a look so he can decide what to use.”

Kayel stretched his sore fingers one by one and considered Jogun’s proposal.

“No. We’ll let him rest for now. He’s gone through enough over the last day. Send two guards that you trust the most to secretly guard his room tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have an idea of where those assassins came from. We can brief him on what the interrogators come up with while he goes through all of thes--”

Kayel was startled by one of the assistants tapping him on the shoulder.

“V-Very sorry for interrupting you master, but I’m afraid I can’t determine what this potion is. My skill doesn’t seem to work on it,” The assistant said as he bowed, and handed a vial over to Kayel.

The vial was extremely small, and felt unusually heavy for its size. It was covered in a black metal that looked like fangs, which only exposed a small part of the transparent glass underneath.

“Thank you, I’ll take it from here.” Kayel said with a smile.

Kayel held the vial up to the light of a torch to see what was inside. He was confused to see that liquid wasn’t see-through. Most potions when held up to light, would show their colour clear through their container.

In fact, this one looked like a silvery liquid metal inside of a fancy glass vial.

His pupils shrunk to the size of pinholes when he realized what he was holding. His whole body trembled slightly as he closed his fist over the vial to hide it from view. Only one word went through his mind.

“E… Elixir!!!”

***