Jane closed her eyes and accepted the kiss. We stood there for about 10 seconds before we separated.

"I like you, Jane."

Jane stayed silent and I hugged her for a little longer before I decided to go find my arm. I looked around and found my it on the floor. It was lying in a pool of blood. My own blood. I promptly stored the arm in my inventory. If I can't reattach it, I'll try to find a prosthetic similar to Edward Elric's metal arm. Now that would be pretty nice.

I wondered, would the basilisk drop loot? I checked around the basilisk for any signs of loot, to no avail. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Looking at the basilisk's corpse, I placed my hand over it and stored it in my inventory. I looked back at Jane and she pulled out a cloak from her inventory.

She helped me put it on to cover the base of my left arm. It was going to be a real chore getting used to the missing arm. I sighed and told Jane we were going to head back to the village. We quickly left the cave as I had not wanted to stay any longer.

The journey back to the village was uneventful. Nothing approached us since I was giving off the intimidating aura I'd gained from my new class. I drew on my anger over losing my arm to release the aura and directed it at anything hostile.

Naturally, Jane was exempt from feeling it and was confused by everything backing off. It was noon when we arrived at the village, I retracted the intimidation aura. We both decided to head to the elder to report what happened.

Jane was clinging to my arm the whole time, drawing jealous glares from the fox men. I was surprised that Adam hadn't shown up. We headed to the village elder as I had plans to leave and check out the Kingdom of Everwind. I thought it was time to head out. The elder allowed me to go as she thought I had compensated enough with an arm and a dead basilisk.

"I think you should go with him, Jane. I think it would be good to experience the world with the man you love." Jane looked like the happiest person in the world when the elder said this. I told both of them I planned to leave in a month. I didn't show it, but phantom limb pains were much worse than I expected.

I would need at least a month to get used to the pain as well as the missing arm. Jane and the elder agreed to this, they both saw I needed a break. Learning to use a greatsword one-handed would be an amusing venture.

I headed over to Abel's smithy and poked my head through the doorway. Abel looked up from his forge, with a smile on his face. His expression turned into one of shock when he saw my condition and asked what had happened. I recounted what happened in the cave, along with the class evolution. I trusted Abel enough to tell him about it.

"Also, here's the sword you gave me." I showed him the sword snapped in half. His mouth was agape as he took the blade and inspected it. I stood there awkwardly as he glanced back and forth between me and the blade.

"So what'll you do now?", asked Abel.

"I was planning to head to the Kingdom of Everwind. There might be a way to restore my arm there." I gestured at the space where my left arm would usually be. Abel gave a quick nod before placing my broken sword near his forge.

"I'll reforge and strengthen this sword. When it's time for you to leave, I'll pass it to you. It'll be my parting gift to you." Abel said this with a resolute face.

"I'll pay you back someday, Abel."

"Don't forget what you said today." Abel gave an amused smile before hammering away at his forge. Before I left, I asked for a training greatsword and custom ordered some half-plate armor. He handed gestured over to the counter as he knew what I was going to do with the sword. The armor he would give to me with the sword.

Leaving the smithy, I felt satisfied and took a quick trip to the tailor, where I bought some sets of casual wear. Of course, I had them modified to suit my new disability and haggled the price down to about 75% before I paid. I then swiftly left for Jane's house.

When I stepped inside, I memorized the interior of this cozy home into my mind as I would be leaving for a long time, possibly permanently. Jane rushed out to see who entered and her face immediately blossomed into a bright smile.

Giving her a light peck on the lips, I told her I would be adjusting to the missing limb for the month. She nodded and we both headed to her backyard. I realized now that I was wearing my leather and chainmail armor this whole time. I stored my armor and clothes, except for my underwear of course. I didn't want to soak my clothes with sweat.

Before you ask, I wear boxers. Jane couldn't help but grow red down to her neck seeing me like this. I could have sworn I heard heavy panting coming from her. I withdrew the training greatsword from my inventory and started doing some practice swings, maybe I could form my own greatsword technique? After two hours of awkward swings and Jane's staring, I managed to gain the skill I was gunning for.

New Skill! One-Handed Greatsword Mastery The ability to wield greatswords one-handed. Higher mastery will decrease the difficulty of wielding a greatsword one-handed. Mastery: Beginner 1 Effect: 2%

Finally gaining the skill, I decided to call it for the day. I was covered in a layer of sweat and turned around to see Jane's flushed gaze.

"I'll be taking a bath now, Jane."

"A-alright, have a n-nice bath." Jane responded while twiddling her fingers. I headed to the bathroom, took off my boxers, and entered the comforting bath. I probably spent around 20 minutes in the bath. Finally deciding to get out, I dressed in the new clothing I bought earlier. I headed to the kitchen and saw Jane cooking.

Sitting down at the table, I controlled my empty stomach as I watched Jane cook. When she finished, a tray was placed down in front of me. A wooden bowl was on the tray and had a stew in it. The stew contained some boar meat as well as some vegetables that tasted like the ones on Earth. Next to it was a wooden spoon, which I picked up and started eating the stew with. Jane was eating the same thing, and we ate while bantering. When I finished, I got up and headed to my room. As I was dozing off, I heard rustling and felt a familiar person slip into my embrace...

The month passed by quickly. I completed many subjugation requests to level my One-Handed Greatsword Mastery and Heavy Amor Mastery. Unintentionally, this caused the villagers to be grateful to me, as I had relieved many of their worries about monsters. I digress, the skills had leveled quite a bit during the month here. I even got a new skill since I defended with a mix of evading and deflecting blows off my armor at certain angles.

One-Handed Greatsword Mastery The ability to wield greatswords one-handed. Higher mastery will decrease the difficulty of wielding a greatsword one-handed. Mastery: Intermediate 2 Effect: 24% Heavy Armor Mastery Increases defense, ease of use, and durability of heavy armor Mastery: Beginner 8 Effect: 16% Evasion Your ability to dodge attacks. Higher mastery increases your chance to evade attacks Mastery: Intermediate 1 Effect: 11%

After a bit of self-satisfaction, I headed over to Abel's smithy to find him. When I looked inside, Abel was just lazily sitting around at his counter. When I entered, Abel quickly placed some items on the counter.

The first thing I noticed was the greatsword. It looked basically the same as my old greatsword, though it had navy blue leather wrapping the now shorter handle. The blade's edges were darker compared to the rest of the blade, and the pommel was also pointed now.

Adamantium-Edged Steel Greatsword Damage: 145(+127) Durability: 108(+32) A greatsword forged with excellent craftsmanship. The blade has been reinforced with Adamantium, greatly increasing cutting power. The handle has been shortened for one-handed use.

"I made this sword especially for you, Michael. The blade's edge is all Adamantium while the handle was reinforced with a special alloy." Abel said with pride in his voice.

"It's fucking beautiful, Abel." I said this with no small amount of joy.

"You're gonna make me blush, and I don't think you'll like seeing a grown man blush." We continued with the light-hearted conversation until he pulled out more items, this time the half-plate armor. Surprisingly, the description came in one window. All the armor pieces were one set item.

Customized Half-Plate Armor Set Defense: 225(+36) Durability: 68/68(+11) Armor made of chainmail and leather, covered by segmented plates of steel. The armor has been customized for use by Michael Adkins.

Abel helped me equip the armor and I returned my previous armor set. I ordered a metal chin-guard with the armor set as I didn't like helmets. Trading visibility for protection was a no-go for me. The chin-guard extended up the sides of my face to cover my cheeks as well. This all came with a cloak to get through bad weather and to cover my left side. The same hook was there on the right shoulder-guard for my greatsword.

Satisfied and about to cry from happiness, I profusely thanked Abel before he responded with an 'It's natural, we're friends aren't we?'. I left the smithy with one last (almost tearful) goodbye and headed for the main entrance of the village. When I arrived, I saw Jane along with everyone else in the village.

Everyone saw me and came up to me, bidding their goodbyes. The villagers then parted to reveal two fox children, a boy, and a girl. The boy was 10 and the girl was 8. I knew these two, the boy was Ian and the girl was Emily. Ian gave me a figurine of myself while Emily gave a figurine of Jane. Both were well-crafted and finely-detailed. Ian looked up at me.

"One day, I'll become as strong as you and explore the world!" I gazed into his determined eyes.

"Oh? Find me when you get strong. I'm more than willing to take you along." I heard a soft voice coming from beside Ian.

"Will you take me along too?" Emily was staring at me with upturned eyes. Who could say no to those eyes?

"Sure, when you both get strong." I ruffled their hair with my one good arm. The elder approached me at this moment. She placed a green colored orb in my palm.

"Shatter it, it'll give you something to help you survive out there." I promptly crushed the orb in my palm and it gave me a new skill.

New Skill! Wind Enchant

Temporarily infuses your weapon with wind magic, increasing attack speed. Higher Mastery increases duration, lowers mana cost, and increases effects.

Base attack speed bonus: 10%(+2%)

Duration: 30 seconds; Mana cost: 25; Cooldown: 60 seconds

Mastery: Beginner 1 Effect: 2%

I had planned to learn magic later when I arrived in the kingdom. I never thought I would gain some this early, especially with a nice effect like this!

"Thank you so very much, Mila."

"No problem. If you're stronger, then Jane will be safer. Plus, I'm pretty sure she loves you very much." The elder gave an amused smile. Jane heard the last sentence and didn't deny it, blushing madly instead. I walked over to Jane's side, where we waved goodbye to the villagers. As we walked along the path heading away from the village, I couldn't help but take one last look at the village. Remembering all the events that lead up to this moment, I couldn't help but smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Jane asked, confused. I still saw a little bit of the blush she had earlier.

"It's nothing." We continued walking, starting our journey to the Kingdom of Everwind.