Chapter 46: Chapter 44: To Shield [1st POV: Kai]
To shield someone is to protect them from any danger. To be the one to tank and protect them is to not allow them to get injured. I have failed in keeping them from getting injured, but I always thought…no I always believed that I'd be there before anything could escalate to a level that I can't protect them. I failed and I failed harder than I ever have before. I was picked off like I was nothing and he didn't even break a sweat. Valor was dying and he still got up. Everyone almost died and I was taken first, me! The guy who's supposed to tank and stay up the longest. I can't live up to his expectations.
"Hey, you alright? You look like your girlfriend dumped you again." Davis was brought up out of nowhere. Did he have to bring that up? It still hurts to think about. I was this close to scoring! I swear!
"Yeah..just thinking about how we almost died." Shit I said that outloud! You absolute dumbass!
"Yeah I have too, but you know there's nothing to do except improve."
"How?" The question came out as a whisper, but Davis turned to me and looked me dead in the eyes, "You just do…I'm not exactly sure what you want to hear. Is something the matter?"
"I'm not sure what to do. I keep banging my head on a wall. I feel like I can't do anything right and I failed completely."
"Give up then." Davis said while looking out the diner window. He didn't hesitate for a second when he said that I didn't recover from shock for a good minute. Davis just sat there drinking his apple juice while I sat there looking like a complete idiot.
"What the hell are you on about?! How do you expect me to give up!?" I grabbed Davis by the scruff of his neck. He looked at me with cold, dead eyes and just smiled.
"What? You mad that you failed so badly we all almost died? Or is it the fact that you got taken out so easily that it was honestly extremely pathetic? So why not just leave?" His month's saying that, but his eyes and body language are saying the opposite.
"I'm not going anywhere because I'm going to get stronger. I'm going to shield you all so well we'll go on whole adventures where you won't even receive a small scratch."
"Good, so how about we eat till we throw up?" That was exactly what we did. And boy did I regret that the next day when I had to take the biggest ****. Either way while I knew what I had to do I wasn't exactly sure where to start so I did the unthinkable….I went…and asked Valor for help. Gods I'm going to throw up.
"Hey…you look like you're busy.."
"Yeah, but not that much. So what brings you to this neck of the woods..yet it cus we're in the woods?" For some reason, Valor had taken to training in the woods near the town. He was earning some money for a change by taking out some mobs and returning to sell any of the useful stuff. He had taken to his so-called 'Isolation Training' better than you would think. He was like a fish in water, it was like he was in his element.
"It looks like you aren't practicing with your regular sword right now."
"Yeah this is a training sword that I got from the oddly located blacksmith. It apparently increases in weight with each setting. I believe he said by a 10 times increase for each one of these cool notches." The notch was only at a 2, but the veins on Valor's arms were very visible.
"How does it work exactly? I mean….Valor…this weighs a ton."
"I'm not really sure, I went into this shop and suddenly the lady gave me this wooden sword. She said it was exactly what I needed. I left and the shop just completely disappeared. So is there something you want to talk about? No one comes to see me during my super secret training…well except Daisy for the occasional scolding and healing." So that's where Daisy goes for an hour.
"It's not super secret training if you broadcast it to every single person…but that's not exactly why I'm here…I'm here to ask…to ask..will you help me train?"
"....sure, we'll come on then let's start." His smile sent chills down my spine, as he started to swing his wooden sword at me. I felt each impact and immediately regretted my decision, but soon I felt a cleansing feeling go through me. I felt my body start to strengthen slowly. This is the level up phenomenon…I guess I needed just a little push.
"I think I just leveled up."
"No wonder you suddenly felt way tougher." The level up phenomenon started to happen years ago. It happens in different ways and sometimes someone has a special way to level up tailored to them. It's this metaphysical thing that we each see in our minds. We each have stats that we can change or code to be distributed. No one knows when it started, but it's become integral to our society now.
"Did you just lose your heart?!" Valor asked out of nowhere, as something strange happened to me before I fell to the floor.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone