Ch 11: Forest Grinding
Credits to @midnightdancingsol for helping with the editting
After travelling about one hour from the town of Shoshinsha, you arrived at the entrance of the forest which, according to Irene, contained some monsters that provided more experience without being too difficult. You drew both your swords and took point as you both entered the forest.
You looked around the area. It was filled with trees, most were non-flowering but there were occasionally ones that had fruits on them. Besides the trees, there were also boulders, most of which had moss on them of various degrees. You were expecting the forest to be quiet but you heard the sounds of humans and fighting coming deeper from the forest.
You walked cautiously, not sure of what to expect when you suddenly felt your footstep on something humped. As you pull your leg back, a meter-long centipede reared up getting ready to strike. It charged toward you with its pincer but luckily you managed to react in time and used your pair of swords to intercept its charge stopping its momentum. You struggled as it tried to force its pincers down now that you were stuck in the middle. You racked your brain for a solution and tried to lower your body below arm level.
The monster noticed this but it was still being held back by your swords. Suddenly, it separates its pincers again causing you to lose your footing due to the sudden change in pressure as it tries to lunge at you again but this time, you got lucky as you tripped backwards narrowly avoiding the monster as it went above you. You quickly used this opportunity to get your footing and while it had its back turned towards you, charged towards it and got a good hit on its carapace with your right sword.
As it recoiled in pain, you used your two swords to simultaneously slice at the carapace again but this time, you sliced deep enough to see some of its innards. It tries to roll away in pain but your left sword was stuck in the flesh and as it rolled away, the sword was pushed deeper into the monster's internal organs after two rolls, the giant centipede laid motionless on its back and you heard an announcement in your head: experience point earned
You relaxed and walked over to the monster still trying to catch your breath from the earlier scuffle when you noticed Irene approach you. She took out her handkerchief and wiped the sweat off your forehead before offering you the canteen she was carrying.
“Looks like you are still not used to combat though that monster is stronger than the ones we fought earlier. Also, my yeobo probably needs to get fitter. You can’t be panting this hard after every battle.“ She said teasingly before giving you a peck on the cheek.
You smiled at Irene and when you turned back to the monster, you saw it breaking into dust leaving your sword lying on the ground. You picked it up before bringing out your HUD to check out your stats. You concluded that you had gained approximately five percent experience just from defeating one monster—two more of these things should be enough for both of you to achieve your next levels. You glanced around looking for more when you were tackled to the ground by Irene. You looked up to see a big red hercules beetle flying above you before landing a few meters away from you on its hind legs. It puts up its arms in a punching stance and punches the air a few times as if to show its strength.
“Damn, this looks familiar.” You chuckled
You raised your swords again. The beetle glares at you, seeing you as a threat as you took your stance and charged at you attempting to hit you with a right hook. You try to block it, similar to how you did it earlier with the centipede with your two blades, but this time you did not expect its speedy reaction when it used its horn to hit you square in the face and followed it up with a sharp right hook that made you stagger back. You shook off the dizziness and looked at the beetle again. Prepared this time, when it tried to jab at you again, you ducked and gave it a low sweep and made it fall on its back. As expected, its shell made it hard for it to get back up and so you started striking it with your sword over and over again as it struggled and flailed, managing to land occasional jabs on you, but eventually, your assault managed to overcome the beetle and make it collapse. You heard a ring in your head but you ignored it and stretched your hand out to collect your materials.
“Wow, that came out of nowhere.”
You chuckled as you wiped yourself trying to play it cool when you felt Irene hugging you tightly from behind.
“Pabo! That was risky! What if you died? Then I won’t be able to see you for a week!”
“I’m sorry, I’m still not used to this. I’ll be more careful, alright?”
You pet Irene on the head to comfort her. She nods slowly and summons a bottle that she then offers to you. You glanced at your UI again and noticed you were at ten percent health-that was close. You drank down the liquid and your health went back up to fifty percent. While you rested you checked the stats for both of you and saw that you and Irene had jumped to levels ten and twenty, respectively.
Guess this beetle thing was a miniboss and gave you tons of experience.
You pondered for a moment and then selected your name. A new window appears containing a list of classes. You scrolled down the list and located the Blacksmith class and selected it. Instantly your clothes changed into overalls and gloves with a pair of goggles on your forehead.
Irene looks on in surprise. “Wait, oppa... Why didn’t you level me up first so that I could check the—”
You placed a finger on her lips. “I trust your feelings for me otherwise you wouldn’t have ended up in this world for me. I believe that you care for me enough to meet the requirements to become a weapon spirit”
You clicked Irene’s name on your screen and located scrolled for a while before you found the Weapon Spirit class. You clicked on the option and you received a prompt- Special class selected. Requirements for this class are met. Would you like to proceed?
You selected yes and Irene began to shine brightly and when the light finally dissipated, Irene was dressed in an elegant black cocktail dress. While you were caught up in staring at Irene, a bright light engulfs you and you had to close your eyes. When you opened your eyes again you looked down and see that your outfit was now a black leather jacket with a red inner shirt and white pants. You see an achievement pop up: “Unique skill: Living Forge” achieved.
“You look pretty suave, oppa. “ Irene says as she approaches you.
“You don’t look so bad yourself Irene.” She blushes slightly as you read through the descriptions of your new skills. You also noticed under Irene’s name, there was another name written: “Kirin no Ikazuchi”. As you said this name, the body you were hugging disappeared and in its place a short dagger with a body of a horse as the hilt and the blade the horn of the horse engraved with a lightning bolt.
“Irene? Is this you?” It seemed stupid to be talking to a dagger at first, but you heard Irene’s voice in your head: “I guess so. I think this is one of the abilities of a Weapon Spirit. From my understanding though, I am unbreakable and can grant you different abilities.”
You nodded as you stared at the immaculate blade and muttered Irene out loud, and suddenly returned in your arms. “I guess there is a lot more we need to learn now, huh,” you said sheepishly as Irene giggled. “Don’t worry, I have it all in here. I’ll guide you,” she says as she points to her forehead. You could only pet her head before you received a message.