Chapter 9

  Walking back into the inn,

  “Good evening, Theo. I take it that you would like a bath before you dine?” the Host asked.

  “Yes, I would, and for cleaning my leather armor, how would I go about that?” Theo asked.

  “Just leave it on one of the tables in the bathroom. I'll take care of it, and it'll be ready for you to use by tomorrow morning,” the Host replied. Theo headed up to the second floor to the bathroom, stripped out of his armor and dirty clothes, which had blood and gore and other bits on them, took two baths until the water finally was clear, got a robe from one of the cubbies in the room, and left his armor on the table. He headed up to the third floor to change his clothes. Opening the dresser, he saw that the hamper was empty, and the clothes that were in the hamper were now hanging in the dresser. Getting into the T-shirt and jeans, Theo went downstairs for dinner. When he arrived, a plate of roasted chicken with vegetables and a dark beer was already waiting for him. This time, the utensils were a three-pointed fork that appeared to be hand-forged, and so was the knife. Digging in, it was a delicious meal.

  “Thank you for the meal,” Theo said.

  “You’re welcome, sir. Are you retiring for the night?” the Host asked.

  “In a bit. First, I have a few questions,” Theo said.

  “Then ask away,” the Host replied.

  Firstly, why does the experience for killing anything three levels lower than you receive less experience, and anything lower than three only receive one experience point? Theo asked.

  “Mainly because of horrible people that preyed on the weak to get stronger, and the System, it's all about growth. So, it put protections in place to make that strategy of killing weaker beings less appealing,” the Host replied.

  “Okay, that makes sense. My second question is, is there a Clean spell, and if so, how do I obtain it? Oh, come to think of it, could I use the GTS, but would I be penalized for doing so?” Theo asked.

  “Yes, to all. There is a spell called Clean, and you can use GTS to get it. Yes, you would be penalized by a point deduction, even though it is a utility spell. The system does not want the participants of its tutorial to use outside help. Granted, your situation is unique, and that’s why you’re given a lot of leeway compared to someone seeking help from a patron or a faction. Also, the system would like to recruit you,” the Host said with a wink.

  “True, the system has already said that it would like to recruit me, anyway. Last question: I’ve been using my cane sword a lot, but my sword mastery skill has not increased. Why is that?” Theo asked.

  “Well, have you been using the sword or just whacking the zombies with the cane?” the Host asked.

  Theo facepalmed. “I feel like an idiot; I’m going to bed, ‘night, Host,” Theo said abruptly, embarrassed.

  “Good... ha-ha ni—ha-ha ‘night, Theo. Ha-ha,” the Host said while laughing hysterically.

  Theo made a hasty retreat to his room on the third floor. The following day, he got up to handle his morning routine and headed to the bar. As usual, there was food for him, but this time, there was a plate of pancakes, syrup, and a weak beer—it was a delicious meal.

  “Thank you, Host, for the food,” Theo said.

  “You’re welcome, and have a good day, Theo,” the Host said.

  Heading to the slums on the left, it smelled rancid. The buildings were a mishmash of metal, stone, and wood, Jimmy rigged together. The roads were a patchwork of cobblestone and packed dirt, with trash and debris scattered everywhere. The haze also added to the ambiance of this desolate, horrid place, and the cherry on top was that Theo could hear moaning and wailing in the distance.

  “This is the creepiest place I have ever been, which is saying a lot for my line of work.” Theo thought

  As Theo walked down the street with his cane sword summoned and unsheathed, in the middle of the street, there was a zombie in tattered, blood-stained rags that looked like a human male, decrepit from age or disease. It looked like a slight breeze could blow the walking corpse over. Using the Inspect skill

  level 1 zombie

  Theo used the sword forms that were granted by the Magic skill book; he quickly took off the zombie’s head with one swift blow. As the head hit the ground, it made a squelching noise, and a couple of seconds later, the body fell. Black blood dripped from the sword. With an idea that had popped into his head, Theo decided to put it into practice by channeling the Cure Wounds spell through the sword, and with a hiss and sizzle, the black blood burned off the sword. Theo spent a couple of hours perfecting the sword forms and techniques from memory, and also put Target Healing to use by the end of it.

  Ding

  Target Healing, Common, Novice 2 to 5

  Sword Mastery, Common, Novice 4 to 8

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Theo did not spend any time looking through the ramshackle houses and immediately headed to the entertainment district. Exiting the slums and entering the entertainment district, the buildings immediately improved in quality, but they were still in disrepair, resembling used pubs, brothels, and gambling halls. Heading deeper into the district, Theo saw his first skeleton; he saw rotten leather armor and a short sword held in its hand, using the Inspect skill

  skeleton guard level 9.

  He unsheathed his cane sword. “Let’s test enchanted metal against cursed bone,” Theo thought, imbuing the sword with the Cure Wounds spell. Theo casually walked over to the skeleton, exchanging blows and matching the rhythm and flow. From an outside view, it appeared to be a choreographed dance. Theo spent the time training, using the skeleton guard as a training partner. After 15 minutes, he started to flag, setting up a combo of strikes: the first strike was aimed at the skeleton guard's sword tip to throw off the angle of the blade; the second maneuver using his right leg to sweep the skeleton’s feet out from underneath it; and third, lopped off the skeleton’s head. Then he took a couple of minutes to rest.

  Ding

  You have killed a level 9 skeleton guard.

  Theo decided to head to the nearest building to look around. The building looked like it would be a five-star hotel in terms of décor in modern times. As it stands in its heyday, the lobby would have been a vibrant red, but now it is a dull red, with stains all over the carpet, and it was cut up. There were leather couches and tables; the couches were ripped and rotted, and the tables were thrown haphazardly in the big lobby. A big, sprawling staircase with doors on either side was at the end of the room. An enormous chandelier hanging from the ceiling reminded him of the one thing he’d noticed. The light is constant in this place, neither too bright nor too dim, in buildings or outside, except for the haze. But in this building, it wasn’t so bad; Theo could see the entire lobby. At that moment, he heard a moan coming from the second floor of the lobby. Gripping the cane sword a little tighter, Theo walked up, entering the second floor, which had the same dull, red carpets and chipped, cracked, and rotting wooden paneling on the walls. Directly in front of the staircase, there was a hallway with four doors on each side and a walkway that formed a U shape. The walkway on the second floor had doors along its entire length beside the front wall. A zombie shambles out of the closest door to the left of the hallway, and Theo sees something that he wishes that could bleach his eyes out. In front of him is a female zombie that has rotted and is dressed in a scantily clad outfit. Mentally blocking out the details, Theo ran his sword through its skull with the squelch and black blood that was dripping off his blade. The zombie fell.

  Ding

  You have killed a level 5 zombie courtesan.

  Theo heard several more moans and wails coming from multiple directions on the second floor.

  “Yep, fuck that shit, I am out of here,” Theo thought.

  Without a second thought or hesitation, he made a hasty retreat back to the war-torn, forgotten streets. Theo heard something off in the distance, figuring it was another skeleton. He dashed towards it to get his mind off what he had just witnessed; he used the Inspect skill.

  Level 9, skeleton guard.

  He is doing the same thing: training his sword forms and techniques, only relying on those skills and nothing else. When he got tired, he changed it and used the healing spells for a few hours. After taking a break, he walked into a few more buildings, but nothing was there; everything looked as if someone had already smashed and taken anything of value. After a long day of training, Theo walked into the inn, bloodied, sweaty, and exhausted.

  The Host waved his hand over his nose and pointed to the stairs.

  “You're a ghost; I’m pretty sure you can’t smell, or can you?” Theo said with a petulant tone.

  “No, but I can remember what it smells like and that the sight of you is making me nauseous,” the Host said.

  With a laugh, Theo trudged upstairs and took a long bath. Sitting in the bathtub with a sigh of contentment, Theo looked at all the notifications he’d been putting off, skipping the kill notifications and going to the ones that mattered.

  Ding

  Healing Touch, Common, Novice 3 to 5

  Cure Wounds, Common, Novice 7 to 9

  Target Healing Common Novice 5 to 9

  Sword Mastery, Common, Novice 4 to Journeyman 0

  Inspect, Common, Novice 0 to 1

  Race: Human F-Grade Lv. 4 to 5

  Class: Battle Healer lv. 8 to 10

  You have 5 free stat points to spend

  You've got a new skill

  Healers' Intuition: This skill allows you to see someone's injuries. It costs 5 mana per minute while active.

  “That is neat, but it’s not useful at the moment,” Theo thought

  Theo spent some time considering whether he wanted to specialize. The answer was yes, to capitalize on his greatest strength, healing magic. So, he allocated all five free stat points to intelligence and reviewed his character sheet to see the changes.

  Theodore Thompson

  Race: Human F-Grade Lv. 5

  Class: Battle Healer lv. 10

  Profession: N/A

  Health: 280/280

  Mana: 340/340

  Stamina: 230/230

  Stats:

  Vitality: 28

  Strength: 23

  Endurance: 23

  Agility: 23

  Intelligence: 34

  Wisdom: 23

  Willpower: 23

  Perception: 23

  Free Points: 0

  Healing Touch, Common, Novice 5

  Class Skills:

  Cure wounds, Common, Novice 9

  Target healing Common, Novice 8

  Swor Mastery, Common, Journeyman 0

  Healers Intuition, Common, Novice 0

  General Skills:

  Resistance, Common, Novice 9

  Inspect, Common, Novice 1

  Bonded Skills:

  Respond and Chains of Gehenna

  titles: warden of Gehenna

  Bonds:

  Galaxy Trade Store tablet, Chains of Gehenna, the Prison Gehenna, Sword Cane Rare

  “Well, tomorrow I’ll try to hone all the skills that I can to Journeyman level,” Theo thought as he got dressed to head downstairs for dinner.

  It took Theo two days to raise some of his skills to the journeyman level, but by midday on the second day, he was looking at his notifications.

  Ding

  Healing Touch, Common, Novice 5 to Journeyman 0

  Cure wounds, Common, Novice 9 to Journeyman 0

  Target healing Common, Novice 8 to Journeyman 0

  Theo started heading back to the inn while contemplating

  “Tomorrow will be the day I will face the first champion,” Theo thought.