บท 26: 26 Reward
"Boss, what's going on out there?" asked a man dressed in an office suit.
"Shut up Dylan, how the heck would I know that," replied the angsty team manager.
They were three people huddling inside this cramped room with chaotic noise coming from the other side of this door.
The only woman of the three was hugging her knees at the end corner of the room, mumbling something incoherent.
"Abby. Stop mumbling, you're annoying me," said the team manager. These two colleagues of his were definitely getting on his nerve.
"Arp,"
"Arp,"
"Arp,"
The barking noise of those mini-velociraptors was like death calling for these three.
"Eeep, what is that?" asked Dylan frightened in his shoes.
"Shuush," the team manager tried to shut him up.
Then the sound coming from the other side of the door died down. It piqued the interest of those in the cramped room.
"Boss, I can't hear anything," said Dylan.
"Then shouldn't you be glad?" replied the team manager.
"Boss, please check out what's happening outside. I'm getting out of breath inside the room," Dylan's anxiety was getting the better of him.
"Are you an idiot? There's no way I'm going to open the door. That troublesome Matt is-" before he could finish his words, Dylan already made his moves.
He grabbed the handle of the door and twisted it open.
"You idiot," said the team manager as he tried to close back the door.
But the door was open wide and something greeted them in a rather strange way.
Both the team manager and Dylan saw the small dinosaur. They were frozen in place as they didn't think they would meet with such a creature. The creature looked at them for a few seconds before it happened.
"Eek," Dylan yelped out of fear. He tried to retreat back into the room.
But the mini-velociraptor jumped on him leading to a rather gruesome scene.
The team manager saw in front of his very eyes the sight of Dylan being eaten alive by a prehistoric creature.
"Argh, help," pleaded Dylan.
"Oh," Laurel covered her mouth both of her hands as she couldn't believe what was happening.
Matt too was dumbfounded as his mouth gap wide open.
The sight of someone they know being mauled by a little dinosaur was nothing short of terrifying.
"Hey, over here," but Jason wasn't fazed. He called out to the creature.
He knocked on the surface of the table with his horn sword making a sound trying to attract the attention of the mini-velociraptor.
The mini-velociraptor glanced at him for a few seconds before continuing to mauled back the unfortunate Dylan.
In front of a meal, a mere sound wasn't enough to attract its attention.
"So be it," said Jason.
He rushed towards the mini-velociraptor and the moment he arrived he swung his horn sword.
The mini-velociraptor was agile and noticed the moment it was being ambushed. It leaped to the side dodging the sharp blade of the horn sword.
"Arp," it barked at Jason.
Jason maintained his stance as he stared at the mini-velociraptor.
For the first time, he was calm going against a creature from the crack in the sky.
With him killing them a few times in a row using that simple tactic was enough to bloat his confidence.
He rose a few more levels attaining level eight. In his eyes, these mini-velociraptors was like a treasure trove. There was no greater opportunity in gaining level than fighting against something that he knew that he can win.
Five points agility and five points strength.
For precautionary sake, he boosted his attributes. A surge of new strength filling up inside his body.
"Arp," the mini-velociraptor jumped and pounced at Jason taking the initiative to attack.
But rather than succumbing to those deadly sharp claws, Jason dodged it.
Yet the mini-velociraptor didn't stop attacking. It pounced and pounced trying to claw and bite this elusive opponent of it.
Jason's speed was remarkable dodging every attack that came at him.
Woah, I can see its attack. This is incredible.
For the first time, he felt the benefit of using those points. All this time, he was having a hard time. From the silver raptor to the ebony pterodactyl, those were opponents that he knew that he won through a fluke.
Mere luck, one might say.
"Arp," the mini-velociraptor grew frustrated and started barking at Jason while keeping on pouncing at him.
Hmm, how about I try that. How does it go again? A step forward and a step back.
He tried to remember the thing that Aiko sensei once taught him. A clear frontal strike.
With all the time he had, he took up his stance and grabbed the hilt with both of his hands.
His mind was focused on executing that simple skill he learned in the dojo. Considering how everything that had happened, he had never once used the skill in a fight before.
Most of it was him just hacking his horn sword away like a mad man.
But now, it was different.
His breathing was calm as his sight was focused solely on the mini-velociraptor.
In this room, it was only between him and the mini-velociraptor.
Then the mini-velociraptor pounced once more leaping in the air at Jason baring its teeth and claws.
Jason saw the incoming attack as he stepped forwards while bringing down his horn sword in a vertical slash.
Both sides collided.
Jason's horn sword met with the snout of the mini-velociraptor. He expected resistance from those powerful scales covering the mini-velociraptor but his blade went through smoothly like cutting butter with a butter knife.
His motion turned fluid and swift. He didn't stop as his whole body was focused on this single vertical frontal strike.
His horn sword had ended his attack. Jason didn't forget to take a step back like in practice.
It took him a while as he was still in focus like state.
He snapped out of it as he saw the sight of Matt and Laurel staring in amazement and confusion at the sight of him.
Then he noticed the thing in front of him.
The result of him executing his technique in a flawless manner.
Woah, I cut it into two.
The mini-velociraptor was split into two laid on the office floor as blood started pool underneath its corpse.
Jason's level increased to level 9
He smiled seeing the blue window but then something else made him elated.
Basic Swordsmanship level up to level 10
Basic Swordsmanship has reached the maximum level
Upgrade into Intermediate Swordsmanship Lv.1
Jason couldn't believe it. His stagnant passive skill which he tried to level up had finally gained another level but that wasn't all, it also upgraded into Intermediate Swordsmanship.
For some reason, his mind started to blank out as something went deep inside of his head.
A torrent of knowledge burst into his grey matter as it embedded deeply into the recess of his mind.
All of a sudden he felt enlightenment in the way of the sword.
Ah, this is how I'm supposed to use a sword.
"Hey. You okay there man?" a voice called out to Jason.
He snapped out of his daze and realized Matt and Laurel were right in front of him.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine," said Jason.
Jason glanced at the horn sword he held as the feeling he just experienced was something mind-blowing. A feeling he had never experience before. A soothing and calm like feeling but bursting with energy and vitality.
It was something he couldn't describe that easily.
Then something else surprised him.
Jason is the first to upgrade a skill
Jason obtained a new title, The First Upgrader
He couldn't hide his smile. He knew the benefit of a title. One more title wouldn't hurt, in fact, he welcomes more of it.
"Hello, are you really okay?" asked Matt as he saw Jason suddenly smiling at the empty air.
In his heart, Matt definitely thought Jason was like a psycho.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," said Jason.
"I'm really impressed man, I didn't know you can kill these freaking lizards with that weird-ass sword of yours," said Matt as the fear he felt just now had long gone went away.
"But Dylan," Laurel turned both of these men's attention to the corpse on the floor.
Dylan had died with all the blood pooling underneath him. His wounds were too severe for him to survive that attack.
Laurel burst into tears seeing a colleague of hers dying in front of her. Matt stared at Dylan and he too felt sad seeing it first hand.
"It's you," suddenly a voice rang in the air.
The team manager came out of the room pointing his finger at Jason.
"You're the one who leads Dylan to his death," said the team manager.
"Stop it, team manager. If it wasn't for him we all would have died," Laurel defended Jason.
"Stop covering for a murderer Laurel, if it wasn't for him coming here in our office room. Those things outside won't even notice us in this room like I said he's the one to blame for Dylan's death," said the team manager.
He was enforcing his belief to his colleague.
But the man in question did the opposite.
"Laurel, go back to the door," said Jason.
His words caught everyone off guard.
"Eh?" Laurel didn't understand.
"Are you even listening to us, you damn murderer," said the team manager.
"I need to get on the roof and those things outside are blocking my way. So help me out, would you," said Jason with a smile on his face.
A smile that these people in the room wouldn't understand.
A smile that shivered the hair on their back.
A smile that creeps them out as if the man in question didn't even realize that a man was dead in the room.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง