NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: (1)
Just as Kaiyan pushed back the goblin, an alert sounded that Shield master skill had been created.
It was a skill that wasn’t created after he practiced for a long time with the shield yesterday.
“Why? What’s different?” Kaiyan wondered aloud.
“What is different?” Max asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Kaiyan replied.
Kaiyan would look for the reason later, but for now, he wanted to check out the new Shield Mastery skill.
Finally, a useful skill had appeared other than swordsmanship.
Ting! [Shield Mastery (D): Applies when using a shield, increases defense by 10%, allows for more natural use of the shield]
As expected, Shield Mastery had a very similar description to swordsmanship, with the difference being that defense was increased instead of attack power.
“Of course, the effect I wanted is included,” Kaiyan said.
The most important thing to him was the phrase “allows for more natural use of the shield,” which made even a novice like him feel more comfortable with it.
Since he had already experienced the power of the skill through swordsmanship, Kaiyan’s heart was pounding at the thought of using the shield.
“Okay, let’s test it out with this guy.”
As he turned his excited gaze, he noticed a goblin wandering around nearby. He immediately picked up his shield and approached him. As the goblin swung his dagger at him, Kaiyan instinctively raised his shield to block it.
Tang!
A slightly different, cheerful sound.
“Oh! Are you starting to get the hang of it? Your movements are smoother now,” Max commented.
Perhaps due to the effect of the new Shield Technique, Kaiyan was able to more easily deflect and bounce off the goblin’s dagger. He gained confidence that he could even use the shield against more formidable opponents.
“Huff…! Great, let’s keep going like this…”
Puh-ooooh!
Kaiyan was having a lot of fun practicing his new Shield Technique when the retreat signal sounded from the main camp.
“Already?” he muttered.
If it had been other soldiers they would be delighted by the retreat signal, but Kaiyan found it irritating.
He would have loved to continue practicing Shield Technique on the battlefield, but he had to avoid being left alone there.
“Well, let’s head back,” Max said.
“Ha… okay,” Kaiyan replied.
He sighed and walked with Max towards the main camp.
Mr. Jeff roughly ruffled Kaiyan’s hair with his rough hand.
Despite Kaiyan’s hair being a mess, he felt a strange comfort from Mr. Jeff’s rough touch.
After having a simple meal with Mr. Jeff at the lodge, Kaiyan grabbed his sword and headed back outside.
“I can’t afford to rest, there’s too much to do,” he thought. He had to practice his swordsmanship and the shield technique he had learned today. Most importantly, he had to check the quest reward box.
“Let’s check the reward box first. Storage.”
[Lowest-grade recovery potion (4), Quest reward box (E)]
“E grade?” Kaiyan muttered to himself.
It was an E-grade reward box, not F.
“Is it because of the difference between killing 10 goblins and 4 Gnolls? Oh, it’s probably because there’s a time limit,” Kaiyan reasoned.
There was a significant difference in difficulty between just killing 4 goblins and killing them within 3 minutes.
With a pounding heart, Kaiyan retrieved the Quest reward box (E) from his inventory. He was looking forward to it as the F-grade reward he used before was quite satisfactory.
“I hope there’s a strength potion… Unlock.”
Ding! [You have obtained the lowest-grade stamina potion (2).]
“…Not bad,” Kaiyan said.
It wasn’t the strength potion he was hoping for, but a stamina potion wasn’t bad either.
Kaiyan still didn’t fully understand the effect of the stamina stat. However, if his stamina increased by 2, there would certainly be a noticeable difference.
“That’s good. I don’t have to invest more distribution points for experimentation,” he thought.
Kaiyan was considering investing more distribution points for experimentation, but he was satisfied with not having to do so. In fact, the fact that two potions came out of the reward box alone was quite satisfactory.
“Use lowest-grade stamina potion.”
Without hesitation, Kaiyan used both potions at once.
“Hmm, I don’t feel any significant changes… Is my stamina just better?” he wondered.
His stamina increased by 2, but there was no noticeable change.
Kaiyan just felt a little more energetic. No, more precisely, it felt like his body had become healthier.
“Status window.”
Name: Kaiyan / Age: 15 / Occupation: Player / Title: None
Level: 6 / Strength: 13 / Agility: 8 / Stamina: 10 / Intelligence: 9 / Free Points: 2
After leveling up as a quest reward, Kaiyan had 2 remaining attributes Free Points.
‘If I invest in strength, I’ll be able to face monsters more easily…’
Increasing strength made Kaiyan feel a significant increase in power in his body, unlike the ambiguous increase in stamina and Agility.
When Kaiyan first opened the status window, his strength was 6, but in just a few days, it had increased to 15.
“Great.”
To test his attribute points, Kaiyan drew his sword and swung it in the air.
Swish-
Even though it was a light swing, it created a fierce gust of wind.
Despite it only being a difference of one day, his swordsmanship was sharper than yesterday when he first learned it.
“I wonder how much power a 15-point in strength gives me.”
It was a little disappointing that there was no one to compare it with.
If the strength attribute of a non-player character could be quantified, what attribute value would it have?
“If I could only confirm it, I would have a chance to objectively evaluate my attributes…”
“Sigh… I’ll have to take my time and figure it out. There’s no point in thinking about it now.”
Kaiyan shook off his thoughts and grabbed his shield and sword.
For now, it’s better to focus on swinging his sword whenever he has the chance, rather than thinking too deeply, as it will be good for tomorrow.
************
Day 4 of the player’s awakening.
Early in the morning, after breakfast, Kaiyan was polishing his weapon in preparation for today’s battle with the monsters when someone came to the barracks.
He was a knight wearing shiny, fancy armor.
“Hmm, are you the Jeff Kallein, the captain of this unit?”
The knight, who looked arrogant, asked with a very haughty expression as he looked at Mr. Jeff.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I heard you’re quite skilled.”
“…Not really.”
“I heard you’re really good. Can you use aura?”
‘Aura is no joke.’
Kaiyan couldn’t help but chuckle at the knight’s thoughtless question.
If using aura was that easy, why would anyone bother to become a knight? It was a ridiculous question to ask a peripheral soldier, not to mention someone who wasn’t even at the center.
“Only inside my body….”
‘…Huh?’
However, to Kaiyan’s surprise, an unexpected response came out of Mr. Jeff’s mouth.
He thought he would answer that he couldn’t do it, but to his amazement, what he said was that it was possible.
The knight was staring at him as if he had expected that answer, but Kaiyan was looking at Mr. Jeff with his mouth agape in surprise.
“Then it wasn’t a joke that he could take down an orc bare-handed…”