Chapter 3
1304 Words
Roar!!
“Ah!” Dash screamed in fright before jumping to his left. A hairless wolf with sharp teeth and red eyes jumped out of the bush and lunged at him with its jaws opened wide.
The wolf glared at Dash before growling at him.
With his eyes red, Dash gritted his teeth and gripped the red ax tightly.
Why did this happen to me? What did I do wrong?
The wolf didn’t even flinch. Instead, it gave a guttural growl.
“I will kill you if you come closer!!” Dash threatened the beast by shaking the ax in front of it. With tears brimming in his eyes, he tried his best to look intimidating.
Roar!!
Letting out another roar, it lunged at him with its claws poised to slit his throat.
“Ahh!!” Screaming at the top of his lungs he closed his eyes and swiped his ax down.
Aww!!
First, he felt like he had hit something. Then came the wolf’s pain-filled howl. Only after he felt warm liquid splashing on his face did Dash opened his eyes.
You have killed Lv 12 Howler Wolf.
You have gained 1200(+360) EXP
You have level upped.
You have level upped.
Suddenly, Dash felt a rush like no other. Every cell in his body felt like they were alive and had a mind of their own. He felt invigorated like he just had a good afternoon nap.
Is this how it feels to level up as an Adventurer!? I have never felt like this while level upping as a Villager.
Roar!!
Before he could celebrate, he heard another roar as a dark shadow leaped out of a bush nearby. Caught off guard, Dash, who never had any experience, could only stand still like a statue and watch as the beast come closer to him with its jaws opened wide.
“Uff!!” Thanks to luck, the beast somehow missed his neck and instead scratched just a part of his left hand.
The pain awoke Dash up from his dazed state. Gritting his teeth, he swung his ax again without aiming.
It missed, as expected.
But the beast was startled and retreated. This gave Dash enough time to plan his next course of action.
Clutching his bleeding hand, and with tears in his eyes, Dash ran deeper into the forest.
As he did so, he recalled what their village elder, who had been so kind to him all his life, said.
“Don’t come back to the village, you cursed child.”
Then there was the village priest.
“The Lord has left you. You are no longer allowed to step into this village.”
But the worst was his father, who just stood there like a statue and watched it happen. His mother was nowhere to be found.
Why did they behave like this? Is it because I got the Adventurer class?
Roar!!
The beast hadn’t given up. It was chasing him even now.
Dash wanted to run faster, but he was tired, sore, and now bleeding. It affected his stamina.
“I said, get away from me!!” He screamed at the beast angrily. Perhaps, he was hoping that it would leave him alone.
The forest at the foot of the mountain behind their village was a restricted area for everyone. There were stories of how a group of villagers had vanished here and never to be found again. And now, the villagers, together with the village elder, they banished him to here.
Just what did I do wrong!?
Dash ran through the denser forest, with only the dim sunlight as his guide. Behind him, there was a monster greedy for his flesh. It was a bleak situation no matter he wanted to be optimistic.
Roar!!
The wolf came back with renewed vigor and tried to jump on him again.
Gritting his teeth, Dash clutched his ax tighter before swiping it horizontally. He didn’t aim, but still, it connected.
AWW!!
The wolf roared painfully as the ax lodged too deep into its head through its left eye.
You have killed an Lv 9 Howler Wolf.
You have gained 900(+270) EXP.
You have level upped.
You have level upped.
Congratulations!!
You have become level 5 and can now choose a subclass.
You have reached level 5 from level 1 in just a day, thus earning a title.
Title: Quick Growth
Perk: Experience gained from killing a stronger target increase by 20%.
Suddenly, as if the god had blessed him, his wounds, fatigue as well as pain, all vanished. The same energy filled him again.
It was just then Dash realized a very interesting fact.
I heal from all my wounds every time I level up! It didn’t happen with the Villager class!
Dash, despite the energy in his body, felt mentally drained. The events that happened in the village, and the struggle he had with his life at stake just then, sapped away all the energy from his body.
Uncle Shin! You lied! Being an Adventurer isn’t easy at all.
Dash dropped a tear and looked down to the floor. Before long, his shoulders shook as small hiccups were heard.
Mom! Dad! Why? Why did you abandon me? I miss you!
He dearly missed his mom’s shoulders that he used to cry on after his father’s beating. He missed the rhythmic patting on his back as his mother would console him slowly.
He missed them all.
I wish I hadn’t gotten this class.
The very thing he always hoped to have, after getting it, Dash didn’t feel happy as he thought he would be. After all, he had never thought the villagers would have such an explosive reaction to him.
“Kid, you should stop crying. A man must never cry, not to mention you are an adventurer now.”
Dash looked up hastily, after hearing a familiar deep tone.
Not far from him stood the one-eyed, village guard. The very person whose stories would mesmerize him and bring him an untold amount of joy.
“Uncle Shin!! Why are you here?” Dash screamed in surprise before jumping into the man’s embrace and grabbed him in a hug. He started to cry even more loudly.
When a person was drowning, he would even pit all his hope on a single strand of hay. To Dash, the appearance of Shin was like that strand of hay.
Fortunately, this strand was one hell of a strand.
Shin patted Dash’s back and sighed.
After several minutes Dash stopped crying and backed away from Shin with a blush on his face.
“I am sorry, uncle Shin.” Rubbing his nose, Dash said apologetically.
“It's alright.” Shin smiled at Dash. His one eye scanned the surrounding before finding the corpse of the wolf on the floor.
“Oh, you have already killed something? That’s fast!!” Shin praised honestly. He crouched down near the corpse and started pressing its head. After a while, he stood up with a disappointed face.
“What happened, uncle Shin?”
“Well, some of the monsters should have a shiny, purple stone on their heads. That thing is very expensive in towns. Those are in high demand by blacksmiths and apothecaries.”
Shin replied before letting out a sigh.
“Unfortunately, its existence is very scarce.” He added.
“Ohh!”
“Are you okay now, Dash?” Shin asked as his eye scanned their surroundings for any unusual activity.
“Uncle Shin, tell me, why did this happen to me? What did I do wrong?”
Teary-eyed and desperate, Dash asked the man, hoping for a satisfactory answer.
- Writer
