Bab 7: Chapter 7 - First Battle

Chapter 7 – First Battle

When Glen became part of the storyline Maru South Village: Rising, the other players in the same storyline got the update notification too. When they saw the new participant's profession, they were shocked and expectant.

"I read online that it is really hard to become an Upgrade Specialist and we have one player here who wants to become one," a player spoke while he ate in the inn's dining area.

"I also read that they have to take tests and examinations to get the license. One player went and tried and he decided to quit it immediately. It is really hard to become one," another player who sat on the same table spoke.

"Since this guy is a wannabe, we should try getting his service. It will be cheap at the beginning and if we wait later, it will be more expensive," the player who spoke earlier said.

"Nah~ maybe he will fail too. It is not easy to become one and in our small Maru City, I don't think anyone will be able to do this. Don't put your hopes too high."

The Maru City mentioned by the player was the real-world Maru City. It was the city Glen and his family were living in. The game used real-life location names and expanded the area in the game to group up the players who started in the same city.

This method was done by the three legendary games too. So, it was not that surprising. Since Glen's house was at the south of Maru City, he started at the Maru South Village in the game. Since the real-life Maru City was small, the player started at a village instead of a town and city.

While the players were talking about Glen, inside the room Glen used before, the girl was looking expectantly at the new participant. She was a beautiful girl and she glanced at the Horn Rabbit at her side.

"I wonder if he can Upgrade you too, Hobitt? I hope he does well in the profession he chooses," the girl smiled unbeknownst to her that it was Glen. Luckily, nothing embarrassing happened between them earlier.

Also somewhere in the prairie, a man who looked older than Glen was resting under a tree. At his side was a tiger who was also resting. If Glen was to see this man, he might recognize him easily because he met him early in the day.

"I should befriend the new guy~ Maybe I can get a discount when he becomes successful, kekeke," the guy snickered.

Meanwhile, another guy was busy fighting a beast on the prairie with his oversize cat beast.

"Kika! Kill this guy!!!" He was shouting at the top of his lung commanding his pet beast, the oversized cat.

"…" the oversize cat was speechless and wanted his master to stop shouting but the guy was too irritated after being disturbed by that beast. So, all he could do was follow the order.

The notification about Glen's participation arrived. The angry guy looked at it and closed it without any care.

***

Glen and Bubbly got out of the village but they did not go far. The wild area was dangerous and since he did not know Bubbly's capability after the upgrade, he did not dare to go far.

Glen might know Bubbly's stat but that did not mean Bubbly could fight. Stat and capability were two different things. Even with good stats, someone or something might be without any capability of showing those stats.

For example, a college graduate had the qualification but he or she might not have the capability to use the qualification perfectly.

"Let see…" Glen looked around to find the best target for Bubbly. "That rat looks too fast for Bubbly and the same with that sparrow. The horned rabbit looks too strong for Bubbly. Isn't that horn looking dangerous?"

After walking for a while, Glen found every excuse possible to say they were stronger than Bubbly. He could not help it because Bubbly was too feeble before his upgrade and even after the upgrade, Glen was not confident enough to ask Bubbly to fight.

What if Bubbly was still feeble. He did check Bubbly's stat and the many weaknesses the Bubble beast had before was gone. Still, Bubbly was his one and only beast. He was the first too so Glen was a bit softhearted at him.

In the end, Glen found the perfect target for Bubbly. "I think that guy looks good enough for your first battle, Bubbly!" Glen spoke excitedly. He never thought that he would find a good prey for Bubbly.

Bubbly looked at the target and he was speechless. He looked at Glen while raising his emoji eyebrow.

"Bu bu?" Bubbly spoke to Glen.

Translation: Are you serious?

"I know you are happy with my choice, right? No need to thank me," Glen smiled while nodding because he felt that he made a perfect choice.

"…" Bubbly was speechless but since Glen wanted it, he would follow him.

The target that Glen chose was an insect. It was a bit bigger than a normal insect but it was still small. It was a butterfly. Since Glen did not have appraisal skills, he did not know the species of his target but he was not that dumb to not recognize a 1-star tier beast.

The butterfly had yellow wings and on one of the wings, there was a mark of a colorless star indicating that it was a 1-star tier beast. As for its rank, Glen was oblivious about it but they were just outside the village, and thus, it was possibly at Colorless Rank 1, the same as Bubbly.

The yellow butterfly was perhaps the same kind of pitiful creature as the Bubble beast. With a 1-star tier, it did not have the potential to advance to a higher rank.

Comparing it to Bubbly based on stats alone, Bubbly's 2-star tier was enough proof to easily defeat the yellow butterfly.

With all of that observation done, Glen was confident enough to let Bubbly fight. He would slowly raise the stakes based on Bubbly's performance.

He knew that his performance in commanding was important too and choosing a weak target and slowly climbing the stairs of difficulty would be good training.

"Let's do this!" Glen spoke and Bubbly ready for battle. "Bubbly, use Bubble Gun!" Glen gave his command.

Bubbly received the command and floated closer to the yellow butterfly and sucked in some air. Immediately, his body inflated. At the same time, the air inhaled by Bubbly moved forward and a small bubble was pushed from Bubbly's bubble body wall.

"???" Glen was confused as to what was happening.

As the bubble was pushed, it detached from Bubbly's body and his body went back to the original size. Immediately, a small hole appeared behind the bubble and pushed it forward towards the yellow butterfly.

"!!!" Glen was shocked because he thought that Bubbly would blow a bubble from his mouth and shoot at the target. Even so, he was wrong.

The Bubble Gun skill let Bubbly absorb air and used that air to detach a part of Bubbly's bubble body to form a new bubble. The new bubble would then use the air to propel itself to the target like a bullet.

All of this happened in a second and the bubble was shot towards the yellow butterfly. The yellow butterfly felt the incoming attack and wanted to evade but the bubble was faster than itself and thus, it was hit.

[HP -0.2]

The yellow butterfly was pushed away and fell to the ground. Even so, it was not defeated and hurriedly got up from the ground.

Glen curbed his surprise immediately and gave another command to Bubble to use Bubble Gun. The same thing happened and the bubble was shot at the yellow butterfly.

Be that as it may, the yellow butterfly was prepared this time and as the bubble arrived, it flapped its wings and dashed upward, successfully dodging the bubble.

The yellow butterfly quickly flapped its wings and white powder was released from its wings.

Glen knew it was attacking but had no idea what its effect would be. "Bubbly, use bubble wall!" Glen commanded but then, something unexpected happened.

They were in an open field and it was windy. The wind suddenly blew and the white powder was blown back to the yellow butterfly.

"…" Glen was speechless. He never thought that the game's environment would help him but he took note of this. If by chance he had a pet beast with powder attack, he needed to mind the environment before using it. Not only the powder skill but any other skill needed to be mindful of the environment.

He also realized that if he used Bubble Gun at the time the wind blew, it might miss. Although the skill used the wind to propel itself, the natural wind might be able to counter that.

"Achoo! Achoo!" the yellow butterfly started sneezing. Glen saw this chance and ordered Bubbly to attack. Still, he gave the command after the wind was a bit calmer.

Bubbly used Bubble Gun and hit the yellow butterfly.

[HP -0.2]

The butterfly fell to the ground but it was still going strong. Be that as it may, due to its mistake, it was still sneezing.

'That white powder is really dangerous. The effect is still there. Luckily, the wind blew at the time!' Glen realized that he was not careful enough in choosing the target.

"Bubbly, continue with the attack," Glen spoke. There was no need for a tactic in this battle because there were not many tactics to be used with only Bubbly's two skills. Also, the yellow butterfly made a mistake too, and thus, the battle would be quite straightforward.

Bubbly continued with Bubble Gun and continuously hit the yellow butterfly six more times.

[HP -0.2]

Even so, after six direct hits, the butterfly was still alive and the sneezing had lessened too. The butterfly had prepared to counterattack again and it looked pissed.