Chapter 5 - The Arrival of the United Rejects

Time began to slow down for Aaron, as he basks in the glory of his short victory.

The whole fight lasted approximately under five minutes, but to Aaron those five minutes lasted much longer than he thought.

Once everything has already settled down, his hands started to stop shaking. He suddenly loosen the grip over the handle of the stone dagger that he was currently holding within his right hand.

The stone dagger then falls out from his fingers, and then tumbles to the ground.

Aaron stared mindlessly at the goblin archer's corpse, for a couple of seconds, before his eyes suddenly landed on the wooden crossbow that layed beneath his feets.

He bends his knees down and squated in order to pick up the wooden crossbow. With his outstretched right hand, he reaches out, and grabs a hold of the main body of the wooden crossbow.

The middle part of the wooden crossbow that is labelled the 'foregrip'.

'This crossbow can still be used. It's useful to have a back side shooter as a support.' Aaron thought to himself, as he then calls out his friend's name that is behind him.

"Anik."

"Yeah." Anik then responded.

Aaron then gave out a simple order to Anik, "Can you come over here for a second?" He asked Anik to come over.

Anik was a bit perplexed on why he was called, nevertheless, he obliged. "Sure thing." He replied, as he then stands up and hurriedly runs on over towards Aaron's location.

Once Anik arrives at Aaron's location, Aaron then proceeded to hand over the wooden crossbow that he was currently holding over toward Anik.

He said to Anik, "Take it. This crossbow will come in handy when you need something to defend yourself with, and also, if you have spare time, please pick up the spare wooden crossbow arrows."

"Defend myself with..." Anik was slightly perturbed when he heard this.

"You don't mean..." Joel suddenly interrupted their conversation and voiced his opinion.

"There will be more coming." The last few words spoke out from Aaron's mouth, then sends shockwaves of shock running down his entire body.

'You mean to say that there were more of these things.' Joel was at a lost for words, he then contemplated to himself, 'Just three of those things, were enough to massacre the vast majority of our class... and you're telling me that there's more.'

"You can't be serious." Joel was starting to have some doubts.

Aaron thought to himself first, then later explains to the two duo so that they could understand. "Those three (four) goblins were probably a scout party or else the number of goblins would be much larger."

"How can you be so sure?" Joel questions Aaron's statement.

However, Aaron already came up with an appropriate answer. "What time do you think it is now?"

"It's..." Joel didn't have a chance to answer when Aaron spoke out. "It's lunchtime, and where do you think most of the children and adults are at this time."

'Having their lunch or break, and out and about on the playground.' Both Joel and Anik suddenly came to the same conclusion.

Whatever they just heard from Aaron totally made sense.

Since there was a large gathering of students on the playground outside, at this particular time. Naturally, the violence and bloodshed that takes place outside, would result in many deaths and counting.

It would gone unnoticed by the people inside and isolated on the upper floors.

"It won't be long for more of those goblin things began to show up." Aaron then said to the two behind him.

Anik's whole body trembles. He then said, "So how do you know all of this information?"

Aaron just simply shrugged his shoulder, and turns around, retrieving the stone dagger that he used to kill the goblin archer.

He then gave a nonchalant response. "It was only just an assumption..."

"An assumption." Joel spoke up.

Aaron then continues, "Yes, it first started from just simply an assumption. So let me explain..."

"I've recieved a phone call from Sameer. He is a friend of mine. You should know him since he is in your ABC form group afterall." Aaron then continues the story, "He said it so with urgency, the whole school was being invaded by monsters, and I didn't fully believe him at the time until I came face to face with that goblin over there."

Aaron proceeded to point at the goblin he first killed, with his own two hands.

He remembered the tense heart wrenching feeling when his own life was on the line.

The mind numbing sensation when he heard the buzzing sounds, and only focusing on what was in front of him. His hands wrapped tightly around the goblin's little neck.

The only thoughts that runned through his mind at the time was the urge to kill. It was either if he dies or the goblin's death. One or the other. If the goblin lives, he dies, simple as that.

Aaron recalled something after finishing off the third (fourth) goblin. 'I've reached level three, but despite that, I don't feel that much different.' He thought to himself.

However, after repeatedly swinging the stone dagger around, he notices a somewhat tiny difference. 'The stone dagger that I'm wielding have become somewhat a little lighter. Is it because I've become a little stronger by killing the monster and leveling up.' Aaron deduced.

'It felt less difficult swinging the stone dagger...' Aaron thought to himself, 'My strength stats must have passively increased by a small margin with each level up.'

To confirm his suspicion, Aaron then decided to quickly opened up his status screen on the spot, for a quick look.

He uttered the command phrase 'Status Open'.

A holographic blue status screen, that only he can see, then appears floating right before his retina. It displayed all of his basic details, numerical stats value, and more personal details.

Status Screen Name: Aaron Le Age: 16 Gender: Male Race: Human Subrace/Ethnicity: Vietnamese {Asian} Bloodline: None Class: Unspecialized Lv.3 Subclass: Titles: Otaku, First Blood Stats/Attributes HP {Health Points}: 101/117 MP {Magic Points}: 130/130 SP {Stamina Points}: 74/142 FP {Fatigue Points}: 27 Strength: 7 Intelligence: 10 Agility: 14 Wisdom: 11 Dexterity: 9 Perception: 13 Defense: 5 Willpower: 9 Endurance: 12 Charisma: 4 Vitality: 5 Luck: 3 Unallocated Stats Points: 6 Kill Points Remaining: 12

'Well, sure enough, my attribute stats did increased by a small margin, and I have 6 extra unallocated stats points as well.' Aaron thought so to himself.

Aaron then thought, 'I must have gained 6 unallocated stats points from my levelled ups.'

'So I levelled up three times means that I gained 3 unallocated stats points with each level up.' He assumes, which was totally correct.

'Considering my best options at the moment, I should invest my extra stats points into my physical attributed stats in order to improve my own chances of survival.' Aaron thought so to himself, as he then continues, 'At the moment, dual wielding those stone daggers will be my better of option if I want to fight back against those monsters.'

So Aaron decided to invest 3 unallocated stats points into his own strength stats, and the rest into dexterity.

And sure enough, when Aaron invested his stats into dexterity and strength. He could instinctively feel that the movements within his hands's joint were more smoother, and less rigid.

Aaron then walks up to one of the four goblins that he killed, but more specifically the one that was impaled by the stolen stone dagger he acquired previously from the first goblin that he killed.

And he pulled the six inches long stone dagger out from the goblin's guts, as the rough ragged sharp edges of the stone dagger blade then pulls along with it bits and pieces of the dead goblin's guts and intestine.

Sploosh!

The sound of blood splashing about, as a small stream of violet purple blood splattering out behind him.

Aaron then thought so to himself, 'I wondered how much I can handle with these two six inches long stone daggers...' He then asked himself a question, 'Can I possibly dual wield?.'

The thoughts of dual wielding those stone daggers as a close combatant has always crossed his mind, ever since he first acquired the stone dagger from the dead goblin.

The stone daggers are extremely light and quite quick to swing when compared to an actual sword. Dual wielding can provide a major advantage in dealing higher dps damage inflicted upon an opponent, under a short time frame, with each frequent hit, instead of focusing on maximising the damage out of each sword swing.

Specifically, the assassin or rogue class that focuses on the one hit one kill tactic, that focuses on aiming for the opponent's weak and vital spot, like the heart, neck, and lungs... going in for the kill.

Dirty tactics like these are what Aaron is more comfortable with, as the faster the kill, the more less troublesome the opponent will eventually become.

So with the two six inches long stone dagger held within each hand, he then started to excercise an amateurish sword dance, as he swung the two stone daggers with all his might.

His right stone dagger, held within a stabbing motion, as the tip of the dagger blade is pointing in the opposite direction, away from his face. The right stone dagger blade phases through the air, but if there was an actual person in front of him right now, the stone dagger blade would have no doubt slash the person neck, and he or she would have immediately bleed to death.

On the off chance, that the target has managed to block or parried Aaron's stone dagger blade, aiming for their necks. The second stone dagger blade will soon follow, held within his left hand.

The stone dagger will be held outward in a slashing motion, with the right dagger blocking the target's blade or weapon with one of his hand, as he swings the left dagger within his hand in an attempt to the opponents abdominal region.

Aaron's dual wielding dagger skills may not be as good or proficient, very lacking in experience, but the intent to kill was there.

So long as he continues to practice and refined his dagger skills, he would surely not doubt would walked down the path of slaughter and becoming an excellent expert assassin, who excells in the art of killing.

After a couple of swings, his body has become slightly adjusted to the methods of footwork. And his arms and wrist are becoming more agile, but not to the point where he would be labeled dexterous.

Ding!

And then a loud beeping noise could be heard ringing inside his head, as he then saw a blue notification screen before him.

(!) System Notification Your skill proficiency at dual wielding has reached a designated degree. The skill [Dual Wielding Lv.1] has been acquired! (!) System Notification Your skill proficiency at handling daggers has reached a designated degree. The skill [Basic Dagger Mastery Lv.1] has been acquired! (!) System Notification Your skill proficiency in your footwork has reached a designated degree. The skill [Basic Footwork Lv.1] has been acquired!

Aaron then saw numerous blue popup screens appearing before his eyes, as he quickly then scans the contents of the notification screen.

He was pleasantly surprised, and thought so to himself, 'To think that practicing these simple enough actions would reward me with some new skills.'

He dived deeper into the topic of skills, 'Though, base on the keyword 'basic' added at the front of the skill's name. The skill is basically weak and is in its starting phases, as I practice the skill more, it would gained more skill proficiency and eventually levelled ups, becoming stronger or possibly rank up.' He inferred on the skill levelling system, based upon his knowledge of video gaming.

'I wondered when are the other guys gonna arrive. It's been some time now...' Aaron ponders to himself, whilst staring at the exit staircases.