Miles crouched low behind the tree, holding his spear firmly in both hands. Luckily, there was a lot of underbrush here, and he was able to hide the spear somewhat behind the bushes. As he listened to the kobolds approach, his fear and uncertainty melted away to be replaced with excitement. This was what he was training for after all.

Trusting in his Stealth skill, he peaked out for another look. Yes, they were still heading towards him and would pass by his hiding spot. He thought of his plan. He wanted to go for the archer first, he wasn’t confident in dodging an arrow after all, but it was in the back and he didn’t want to risk the two with the clubs to spot him first. He would have to go for the one in the front.

The kobolds soon made their way to where he was. As soon as the first kobold appeared, Miles sprung up from his crouch and activated Thrust. Not exactly sure how effective it would be in actually dealing a killing blow, Miles put as much strength into his strike as possible, using his whole body. At the sudden burst of motion beside them, the kobolds screeched loudly in surprise but they didn’t have the time to do anything more before his spear took the first kobold just below the armpit. Having used Thrust, Miles barely felt any resistance and the blade sank all the way in, up to the wings. The thing shrieked in pain and collapsed to the ground, the grievous wound pumping out blood.

The other two kobolds hissed and bared their teeth angrily. The archer turned and ran to get some distance between them, it was surprisingly quick. Much faster than the almost leisurely pace they had before! The other one with the club threw itself at Miles, swinging the club hard in both hands. Miles blocked it with the shaft of his spear, but it was stronger than he thought and he almost lost his grip on it. He was left completely open and had to leap backwards to avoid the reverse strike. It was almost like it had used a skill to make his strike heavier.

No more direct blocks, Miles thought to himself.

They stood for a moment, sizing each other up, when Miles saw the archer turn around and knock an arrow. He had glanced up for a split second, but the kobold took that opportunity to close in for another strike. Instead of blocking it like last time, he parried it aside and used another Thrust to counterstrike. The tip took it in the shoulder, a solid hit that made it drop its club. Miles wanted to finish it off right there, but the archer had him in its sights so instead he threw himself to the side to try and dodge the arrow. He wasn’t able to completely get out of the way, and it left a large gash on his arm. It burned hot, and he could feel the blood pouring down his arm.

He had to take care of the archer before it could get another shot off. So he dodged past the kobold in front of him—who hadn’t bothered picking up the club it dropped and instead had pulled out what looked like a sharpened bone shiv—and charged at the archer. Unfortunately, it was already knocking another arrow to shoot at him and the shiv kobold was chasing after him.

Miles juked to the right, behind a tree, and an arrow thudded into it. Adrenaline pumping in him, he turned back to the kobold chasing him just in time to parry a thrust from its shiv. This time his counter Thrust took it in its throat and it fell, gurgling blood. That one was way too close.

He peaked around the tree to find the archer, and saw that it turned and ran away. That wasn’t fair! He gave chase, and found that he was faster, but only just. His running skill really helped even things out. It turned around to see him chasing after it and shrieked in fear. It knocked another arrow and shot a potshot at him, but it went wide. It took him way too long to catch up to it, where he speared it in the back with a Thrust, killing it.

Miles stood there panting for a moment. His father appeared, patting him on the back. “Good job, Son! That was well handled. Don't worry about the other two, I've already gotten their ears.” He beamed with pride, and Miles smiled back. The adrenaline was starting to fade, and Miles was suddenly very tired and hurting. Especially his gash on his arm, which throbbed painfully. That was pretty intense! As his Dad was digging into his pack, Miles found a clear spot to sit and calm down. His Dad came over with a small bottle of red liquid. “Here, Miles. Drink this for that cut you got there. It's a healing potion. Take your time looking over your notifications too, you should have completed your quest.”

Oh! He never had a potion before. As he took it, it tasted kinda like the verdant daffodil he had earlier but much more herby with a hint of mint. He smacked his lips appreciatively, it was tasty and it made the cut on his arm disappear! So that was just amazing. He checked his notifications and status page.

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You have killed a Kobold. +5.5 EXP

You gained 1 level. +3 Free Stats

Quest Completed!

For successfully completing the quest, Beginner Monster Hunter!, you have gained +1 STR

You have killed a Kobold. +6.1 EXP

You have killed a Kobold. +1 EXP

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the skill: Parry!

+50 EXP

After learning the basics of the First Empirical Spear Style. You’ve trained further to begin mastering the art of parry. Now you have applied your training in actual combat. This skill passively aids you in parrying incoming attacks.

Passive effect: Makes you more efficient and faster at parrying, and reduces Stamina costs. Effect is based off of ALA.

Quest Completed!

For successfully completing the quest, Parry This!, you have gained +1 ALA

You gained 1 level. +3 Free Stats

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the skill: Analyze!

+50 EXP

You’ve taken the time to look at the people and creatures around you, learning to gauge their capabilities and attributes. This skill will allow you to glean additional information off of the target’s status page.

Tier 0 Active Effect: Gleans information on the target’s class, tier, and level. Becomes more accurate with each level.

Spearmanship gained 4 levels. +4 EXP

You gained 1 level. +3 Free Stats

Footwork gained 5 levels. +5 EXP

Thrust gained 5 levels. +5 EXP

Tumbling gained 2 levels. +2 EXP

Running gained 2 levels. +2 EXP

Pain Resistance gained 1 level. +1 EXP

Stealth gained 3 levels. +3 EXP

Miles gaped at all of the levels he gained. 3 full levels in his class and so many skill level ups! But while he was excited about those, he was most excited about the two new skills that he gained, Analyze and Parry. “Dad, I got Parry! And Analyze! And I got so many skill levels!”

His Dad looked up from the dead kobold, where he was busy cutting off an ear. “That’s amazing son! I knew you would get it! 8 years old, and already you have 4 spear skills! That’s amazing, Miles. I’m proud of you.”

He was so distracted by the new skills that he had to go back through to re-read everything, which is when something caught his eye. Huh? Why did I get different EXP from the kobolds? One of them only gave me 1! He asked his Dad.

“The amount of experience you get from killing a monster depends on the level of the creature. Which is the monster’s level, divided by 10, then divided by however many people helped kill it. The one that only gave 1 EXP was only level 32, which was over 20 levels below yours, which subtracts 20 EXP from what you would normally get, but there’s a minimum EXP gain of 1, which is what you got. It's the same way with an enemy over 20 levels above you, but you get extra EXP.”

Miles had to stop and think about that one, trying to summarize what his Dad said. So, 32/10. That gives 3.2. But it was too low level and it got a -20 to it. But it could only go down to 1. This math is super confusing. Miles scratched the back of his head thoughtfully as he put aside that problem to focus on the 9 new free stat points he had to place. He had 9 points to spend. Thinking to bring his health and stamina up a little bit, he added 3 points to CON to, then 3 points to ALA because that arrow grazing him had really hurt. Hopefully the extra Alacrity would let him dodge the next one. He put 2 points into ACU and 1 into INT to keep everything balanced. Looking at his skills, he decided to place Parry into his favored skills, replacing Jumping. He studied his status page to make sure everything was in order.

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General Info:

Name: Miles Reamore

Class: [Child of Ateia / Linus Reamore (Sta)]

Race: Human

Level: 0th 60

Age: 8

Experience: 35.6 / 60

Health: 270 / 270

H. Regen: 3.3 / day

Stamina: 280.05 / 485

S. Regen: 4.75 / day

Mana: 95 / 95

M. Regen: 1.65 / day

Stats:

Strength: 51

Intelligence: 11

Constitution: 46

Willpower: 8

Alacrity: 44

Acuity: 22

Pending Stat Points: 0

Favored Skills:

Running 0th 54

Tumbling 0th 40

Parry 0th 1

Spearmanship 0th 50

Footwork 0th 51

Thrust 0th 22

Skills:

Cleaning 0th 20

History of The First Empire 0th 14

Standard Language 0th 27

Empirical Language 0th 23

Mathematics 0th 32

Stealth 0th 9

Lightning Resistance 0th 12

Pain Resistance 0th 24

Meditation 0th 10

Analyze 0th 1

Jumping 0th 30

Satisfied that everything was fine, Miles eagerly tried out his new skill Analyze. He turned to the only person nearby, his Dad, and tried using it.

A ding chimed in his head, similar to when he got a notification, but instead of having to pull up his notifications to look, it appeared automatically. It read:

Fighter 2nd >80.

What? “Hey, Dad! Didn’t you say your class was Guardian Spearman? Why’s it saying Fighter? And what does ‘2nd >80’ mean?”

“It’s not showing you precisely what my class and levels are, because I’m higher tier than you. Well, there’s many things that play into it, like tier, level, willpower, or Analyze level. Because I outstrip you in all of these, you’re only shown vague generalizations of my class and level. Guardian Spearman is a fighting type class, so I’m shown as a Fighter. The ‘2nd >80’ means I’m in the 2nd tier, and at least above level 80.”

“So, what level are you actually?”

His father smiled proudly, “Level 91! I’m nearly reaching tier 3!”

Miles looked at his Dad in awe. He knew that he was strong, but to be reaching tier 3? “That’s amazing! You’re so strong! No wonder you weren’t worried about the monsters here! You think I can get that strong someday too?”

“Of course you can,” his father said, kneeling down to be eye to eye. He put a hand on Miles’s shoulder. “You can do anything you set your mind to! I’m sure that you will reach tier 3 in no time. Now what do you say we go find some more kobolds?”

“Yes! Let’s go!” Miles jumped up, brandishing his spear and looked around at the forest around them. It all looked the same to him. “Which way should we go?”

“Let’s go a bit deeper into the woods. We’re bound to find something else.”

~~~

Over the course of the rest of the day, Miles and his Dad trekked through the Brasswood and killed any monster they came across. Well, there were only four more encounters that day. There were a small number of kobolds, in a similar setup as the first time, but with four of them. Luckily, they only had a single archer that time and Miles was able to take care of it first. The second encounter were three large worms that came out of the ground to bite at him. They were way easier than the kobolds; Miles just had to poke them when they came at him. Lastly there were two run-ins with some goblins, which acted like the kobolds. They were roughly the same size as him, but they were ugly green things with large noses and rows of teeth. However, these goblins were really tough. His first encounter with them, there was only a single goblin. He was about to rush out to attack, as it was only a single creature, when his Dad stopped him and gave him a potion to drink before him. “Wait, Miles. This one is going to be a lot stronger than the previous kobolds you’ve faced. This is a Potion of Strength, it gives a +50 to Strength, which will even the odds. Do not underestimate it, and be smart. If things go south I’ll step in to help you.” He nodded, showing he was serious.

Miles went to ambush the lone goblin, but it noticed him too soon. Immediately, Miles noted that it was a whole lot quicker and stronger than any other monster he had faced. Just like his Dad said. Even with Parry, the blows were heavy, but with the added Strength he was able to turn them aside. Over the course of their fight, it had gotten several good wacks on him with the club it was wielding due to the sheer furocity of its attacks. It wasn’t until a lucky Thrust caught the thing in the stomach that Miles was able to turn the battle in his favor. By the end of it, Miles was bloodied and breathing in ragged breaths.

After that, Dad gave him a good healing potion which got rid of his injuries. The other run in with goblins was much easier. There were two of them, but they were much weaker and Miles killed them without a problem.

For all of these encounters, His father let Miles handle them mostly by himself, and only had to step in when a large black ram showed up. This ram had two sets of large, curling horns. It roared, a sound that was completely unexpected despite its larger build, and charged at them. It was a scary moment for Miles, seeing it thunder towards them, but his father slew it the moment it came into reach. After that, they worked together on skinning the beast because its fleece and hide were very valuable. His Dad said a coat made of its hide would make a great gift for Mom. The hide was so large, even when it was rolled up, that Miles didn’t know how they would bring it back. That was solved when his Dad called him.

“Hey Miles, watch this!” His Dad took the rolled hide, and shoved it in end first into his bag. To Miles’s surprise, it fit! His Dad laughed at the face he made. “It's a magic bag of holding. It can hold a whole lot more things in it.” Miles looked down at the heavy bag he had for his own things, then gave his Dad an angry glare.

“Then why did I have to carry this all this time?” His Dad only laughed harder.

By the time they stopped for the night, Miles was exhausted. He had very nearly bottomed out his Stamina, and he was feeling it. He hastily rolled out his sleeping roll and crashed heavily onto it.

Groaning, he checked the notifications he had gotten that day. He didn’t check before, because they were going from fight to fight, and in between fights his Dad taught him. Whether he coached him on what he did good and what he could do better on, or taught him about various plants they came across or pointed out traces he could use to track with. Because he just loved spending time with his Dad, he had turned off his notifications until now.

Status

Skills

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[Notices]

Settings

You have killed a Kobold. +29.3 EXP

You have killed a Kobold. +6.6 EXP

You have killed a Kobold. +5.1 EXP

You gained 1 level. +3 Free Stats

You have killed a Kobold. +4.6 EXP

You have killed a Northern Great Worm. +6.9 EXP

You have killed a Northern Great Worm. +7.5 EXP

You have killed a Northern Great Worm. +28.7 EXP

You have killed a Goblin. +101.8 EXP

You gained 2 levels. +6 Free Stats

You have killed a Goblin. +6.6 EXP

You have killed a Goblin. +28.9 EXP

Running gained 7 levels. +7 EXP

You gained 1 level. +3 Free Stats

Tumbling gained 4 levels. +4 EXP

Parry gained 12 levels. +12 EXP

Spearmanship gained 10 levels. +10 EXP

Footwork gained 8 levels. +8 EXP

Thrust gained 8 levels. +8 EXP

Pain Resistance gained 2 levels. +2 EXP

Jumping gained 1 level. +1 EXP

Stealth gained 3 levels. +3 EXP

Analyze gained 5 levels. +5 EXP

His eyes bulged out in shock at the goblin that gave over 100 EXP, and he tried to gauge what level that had to be. 101.8 that would be level 1018! No wait, there’s bonus EXP. 101.8 - 20, that would be… uh. He had to pause, thinking. 81.8. Was it level 818? That didn’t sound right. So he called to his Dad, who was prepping some food in a pot to cook over the fire.

“Hey Dad! One of the goblins gave me 101.8 EXP. How did that happen?”

“I had analyzed that one. It was Tier 1, level 9. It’s total level was 109. You’re level 64, which is 40 levels below the goblin, so you gained 40 bonus EXP. And, because it was a tier above you, it doubled the experience you gained. So, to go step by step, it’s level 109. Divide by 10, gives 10.9 EXP. Plus 40 for being over 40 levels above you, 50.9 EXP. Then times 2 for being a tier above you, 101.8 EXP.” Miles struggled to follow that math, but he thought he understood. Higher tier, means double EXP. Got it.

“You should get some sleep Miles, you used up a lot of your stamina today. Tomorrow, Mom’s going to be joining us in the morning.”

“In the morning? How will she get here so fast?” Miles got worried, suddenly imagining his Mom trekking through the forest at night. “Wait, how will she find us?”

Dad just smiled, “You’ll see.”