Chương 11: Iris

[Level Up!]

"Finally!" Nex sighed in relief.

He had been hunting monsters in the [Forbidden Forest] for the past 2 hours and a half to level up but the level gap between him and the monsters is becoming apparent to him. Hence, he abandoned his hunting grounds at the outskirts to delve deeper into the forest. To even further improve his leveling speed, he chose to kill monsters of Rare rank with levels of either 9 or 10.

Looking at the loots from the monster he had just slain, a certain awareness made him grin, "Found it!"

Aside from leveling up, Nex wants to find better loots than the rough weapons and loincloths he keeps on getting for some time now. For him to achieve such goal, his plan is to look for the monsters' main village where he could find higher ranking monsters. Hopefully, he might stumble on a Boss there too! The experience points and loots gained from a Boss hunt is incomparable than those from normal monsters. Of course, the same can be said when it comes to the thrill and challenge when fighting a Boss but Nex isn't willing to admit this point.

Looking for the monsters' den proved to be an arduous mission. This was what he had managed to deduce from the direction which the last monster he killed tried to run to. The time he spent doing this task was a lot longer than he had estimated.

"Never mind that now. At last, I found the place."

Nex jumped speedily between the trees until he finally found himself in front of a large village that was as big as half of [Spring Village]. Inside were mostly monsters like Hobgoblin, goblins from outside the forest but with higher ranks and those Orcs that he had been hunting for the past few hours. All of them weren't the ones that Nex was hoping for. After jumping around the trees and surveying the area, he eventually confirmed his initial suspicion. The truly high-leveled monsters are not here.

This fact did not cause Nex to lose heart though. He continued his vigil. Soon enough, he found something that caught his eyes.

A carriage escorted by eight Level 10 Orcs went out of the village and entered the most inner part of the forest.

"I sure hope it will lead me to the right place."

♦♦♦

Following the carriage for a few minutes, Nex arrived at a large cave; in its entrance stood two Orcs with bodies bigger than the normal ones. When Nex came closer and examined them, it brought a smile on his lips.

[High-Orc Warrior(Elite) LV:10]

"Bingo."

Despite seeing the Rare ranked Orcs, Nex still continued watching and waiting for the right opportunity.

Like any standard operating procedures, the carriage had to stop by the entrance for checking. One of the escorting Orcs said a few words in a foreign language to the Elite Ranked ones and was then replied to with a simple nod. One of them moved to inspect the contents of the carriage while the other remained guarding at the same spot. The moment the escorting Orcs saw this, they vacated the area with a sigh of relief.

"Oh? I thought I needed to wait for a while. Oh well, this is a good chance!"

As soon as the inspection began, Nex also began his move. He ran quickly yet stealthily towards the inspector. While running, he drew his sword out of its sheath and pumped it up with mana. As soon as he reached the inspector, he put his palm forward and uttered words from another language.

"Silence."

As those words were issued, it was as if a blanket had covered the area and eliminated all sounds.

Even though the Orc proved its rank was not for show by noticing that something wasn't right, it wasn't able to do anything but turn around to face its attacker.

'[Intermediate Enchantment]'

*Stab*

A glowing wooden sword passed through its neck.

Without even being able to make a final grunt, the Orc soundlessly fell to the ground.

Seeing that the Orc fell, Nex furrowed his brow and sighed, 'The difference is a bit bigger than I thought, good thing I decided to use [Intermediate Enchantment].'

With the passing of the Orc came the restoration of sounds. Questioning cries of the other Orc resounded which made Nex smile. Instead of sneaking around like he did before, he boldly showed himself to the Orc.

"If you're looking for your friend, I'm afraid he's in the middle of a nap."

The sight of Nex made the Orc angry. It became even more furious upon hearing his taunts and started charging at him. Its speed is incredibly fast for its build and size, defying common logic.

Unfazed, Nex injected a small amount of mana into his feet and jumped to the side of the Orc. He swung his sword towards its arm but with fast reflexes, the Orc parried the attack with his glaive.

"Oho? You are quite quick, aren't you?" Instead of jumping back or continuing the attack, Nex only increased the mana in the sword making it seem like it was covered in light and continued his attack, despite the huge difference in their physical stats.

"[Intermediate Enchantment]!"

*Swing!*

*Thud*

*Clang!*

An Orc's cry of pain resounded.

Instead of being knocked back, Nex was actually able to cut not only through the Orc's weapon but also his arm! This attack wasn't enough to kill the opponent though.

The Orc then held on to his wound with his other hand while staring at Nex with anger and hatred. Seeing the look on his opponent's face, Nex lifted his sword and pointed at him.

"Come."

Picking up what was left of his weapon, the Orc began to run at full power towards Nex. And as a response to him, Nex started to run, meeting him halfway.

The Orc attacked first by swinging to the side of Nex at an amazing speed. But as if expecting this ahead, Nex had already rolled to the blind side of the Orc and brandished his weapon towards the Orc's neck.

"[Intermediate Enchantment!]"

*Chop!*

And with that, the Orc's body lifelessly went down to the ground; its head rolling off along with it.

Seeing that his enemy fell, Nex sighed and sheathed back his sword and checked his MP.

[MP: 260/410]

"Just for this and over a third of my MP is gone? This was a little harder than I thought. It's hard to believe that I even had to use [Intermediate Enchantment] on a monster with that level!"

From a viewer's point of view, the fight seems to have been done easily. It was far from the truth for Nex who had barely managed to hang on and don't get killed off. Every step and move was calculated to the extreme as the moment he took a blow from the monster, it would be game over for him. His mana is too lacking in both quality and quantity and had to be allocated precisely so as to avoid unnecessary actions that could very well spell trouble for him.

At first, he really wasn't aware of the seriousness of the situation. He had fought Rare ranked monsters quite easily with just [Partial Enchantment] but against this rank, more effort needs to be expended. His performance this round was subpar according to his standards!

"But it sure does give out decent experience points! Not to mention the good warm-up." Nex smiled broadly while staring at the previously-empty EXP bar now filled with a whole 8%.

After picking up the loot and actually finding Magic stones in both the Orcs, Nex now turned to the thing that raised his curiosity since the beginning.

"Now, let's check what is in this carriage!"

Walking into the back of the carriage Nex took a peek and was taken aback by what he saw.

Inside the carriage was a little Elf girl around 8 years of age wearing a lovely dress with a style that Nex had never seen anywhere in the village. She had a cute little face that no one could resist the urge to pinch but the most dazzling feature of her was her hair. Long, silky grayish-white that appears to have been extracted from the purest silver metal, it tempts one to run their fingers through the soft strands.

But what shocked Nex the most wasn't her looks. It was the race that her hair symbolized for him.

'It's the same as her.' Nex's expression became a little melancholic. Soon enough, he shook his head mentally, 'No. It isn't them. Even though they seem the same, this is just a game and there is no way she would be here. She had been dead for too long.'

Sighing, Nex kicked these thoughts away and turns his mind back to the girl. 'There shouldn't be anyone in the village that could afford these kind of clothes. Where the hell did she come from?'

Nex didn't want to startle the girl. He quietly approached her and with gentle motions, he started rousing her. "Hey, wake up."

"Mhm…" Her eyelids started moving slowly to open like how a butterfly starts to spread its wings with delicate grace. Shockingly, Nex's stared at a pair of eyes that looks to be the same as his own!

'She's not her. She is a computer program.' Once again, Nex tried to ignore his thoughts and smiled warmly to the girl, "Are you okay?"

"..." The girl stared at Nex for quite some time before breaking into a wide smile and then jumped on him.

"Daddy!"

"..."

"Huh?"

Nex was stunned that he wasn't able to do anything but receive her in his embrace.

"Tee-hee! Daddy!" The girl happily rubbed her head on Nex's chest while unshed tears of joy were evident in her eyes.

Seeing her like that, Nex felt somewhat reluctant to separate from her, so he just sighed and patted her on the head.

"Kid, I am not your father. You know that, right?"

"No! You are my father! You have the same eyes as mine, and your soul also smells the same!" Her cute voice was in contrast with the firmness it held as she insisted on her belief.

'Eyes? Soul smell?' At the girl's words, Nex paused and stared at her more clearly. After confirming his suspicions he sighed, 'She is part of that clan! No wonder she is so similar to her…'

This girl could easily become a part of a certain ancient clan back in Perias. The likelihood that the clan could also exist in this game is really high. For certain reasons, his body and soul will appear similar to the people with very high ranks of that clan. It appears to be that this girl's background isn't so simple as just a lost noble girl.'

"Daddy, why are you not saying anything?" The girl lifted her head and stared at Nex with an adorable expression.

Now understanding the reason for her behavior, Nex patted her head gently, and said, "I am sorry but I am not your daddy. I am just a handsome big brother."

"No!" The girl fiercely denied, "You are my daddy! I hate that I only have a mommy!" She began to cry while hugging him tighter.

Not knowing what to do, Nex tried to awkwardly calm her down by lightly hugging her back while patting her back. Surprisingly, the action managed to calm her for a bit but not totally. Her weak cries continued but it gave Nex an idea.

"Did you know? For me to be your daddy, I need to get mommy's consent?"

Finally stopped crying, the girl replied, "Really?"

"Yes!" Nex nodded, "Because if we don't do that, mommy will get very sad and won't let us meet anymore."

The girl became very agitated and she shouted, "I don't want to make mommy sad and separate me from daddy!"

Seeing her reaction, Nex smiled, "Then it is very simple. We get you back home and convince mommy to give her permission!"

As if finding hope in his words, the girl stood up, "Then let's do that!"

Satisfied with her answer, Nex stood up and stretched to her his hand, "Then let's introduce ourselves! My name is Nexus or you can just call me Nex."

With shining eyes, she held Nex's hand closely, "My name is Iris! Please take care of me, Daddy!"