Krow tucked in to avoid debris, then flipped andnded on the herb field.


    The tail swung again, this time for him.


    Krow triggered double-jump.


    The length of solid muscle mmed into the field, sank, crushing herbs, stones, and the very ground under it.


    "You better hope that doesn''te out of my pay."


    Hsraaahhhsssaaasss!


    "No idea what you mean." Krow aimed at the eye again. "Hiss this."


    The serpent dodged, lunged.


    Ugh.


    He nced behind, then leaped backward as he shot. Darkspear after darkspear.


    [Critical Hit!] [Critical Hit!]


    Hsrraaaahh!


    Krow misjudged the distance, his feet skipping past the ledge he''d aimed for. Tumbled over. His eyes widened as the serpent lunged again.


    Too close for the revolver to maneuver. Coils whipped around him. He bound upward, using the snake''s body as jumping point.


    It would not let him go that easily. Fangs came for him.


    -30% HP.


    Major Poison.


    Krow triggered doublejump, levered the skill to whip a leg at the snake''s head.


    The kick took the possessed serpent by surprise.


    [You have achieved 50 Points of Dexterity!]


    [The subss Ac…]


    He ignored the notices.


    A flick of a hand, the revolver disappeared into Inventory. He reced the weapon with the butcher''s cleaver.


    Krownded on the pile of coils, leaped to trigger doublejump again, and buried the butcher''s cleaver in the second eye as far as it could go. Critical hit.


    He used the cleaver as a lever to flip upward.


    Hsraaaaaaaahhssss!


    He pulled the cleaver out, covered in gore, put a hand on the serpent''s head. Too small tond on, but enough to gain the stability to shove the cleaver into the other eye.


    Hsrrrrgh…


    The snake shuddered, head lowering to rest on its coils.


    Krow straddled the neck and started shooting.


    Hss—yaaahhhh…!


    A cloud of…something rose from the carcass, the hiss changing mid-sound to something like a scream before dispersing in the wind.


    [You have defeated your opponent in battle!]


    [You''ve gained two (2) Silver Serpens from a monster!]


    [You''ve gained twenty (20) Gold Drax from winning a Single Combat Challenge with an opponent ranked at least 20 levels higher than you!]


    [s Krow is the first yer to win a Single Combat Challenge with an opponent ranked at least 20 levels higher! Do you want to publish this achievement?]


    "No."


    He was stunned as the reports continued.


    [You''ve gained the <strong>Underdog Might Badge</strong> from winning a Single Combat Challenge with an opponent ranked at least 5 levels higher than you!]


    [You''ve gained the <strong>Goliath''s Bane Badge</strong> from winning a Single Combat Challenge with an opponent ranked at least 10 levels higher than you!]


    [You''ve gained the <strong>Rival to Heracles Badge</strong> from winning a Single Combat Challenge with an opponent ranked at least 20 levels higher than you!]


    [You have gained one (1) level to achieve Lvl 12!]


    And he was justmenting that hisst life never had a second badge...


    Krowughed, propped himself against therge serpent, resting.


    [You''ve gained a Silverstripe Wavy Spine from a monster!]


    That brought his collection of monster bones to four. He really should have them made into proper Ghost Stones for his Ghostcaller subss. He kept forgetting.


    He ced the bone in the inventory and took out potions to recover. Over half his HP had been sliced off, and was still ticking lower with the Major Poison debuff.


    If he hadn''t surmounted the half-century mark for DEX earlier, the fight would''ve been more difficult.


    He sighed, opened his Profile.


    *


    <strong>Name: </strong>s Krow


    <strong>Level:</strong> 12 (2%)


    <strong>Race:</strong> Draculkar


    <strong>HP:</strong> 100%


    <strong>MP:</strong> 100%


    <strong>Magic</strong><strong>Aptitude</strong>: 11


    <strong>Element:</strong> Shadow


    <strong>Battless:</strong> Sharpshooter: (Mark Critical @ 11%)(Dual Wield @ 0%)


    <strong>Crafterss:</strong> Enchanter [~Skills~]


    <strong>Subsses: </strong>


    Scout [First Apprentice]: (Eyes of an Eagle @ 33%)


    Butcher [Third Wright]: (Knife Handling @ 100%) (Meat-carving @ 55%)


    <strong> Tinkerer ::|Expand|::</strong>


    Acrobat [Third Wright]: (Rope Trickster @ 100%)(Eight-armed Juggling @ 50%)


    Tracker [First Apprentice]: (Target Marking @ 100%)


    Ghostcaller [Second Apprentice]


    <strong>Talents ::|Expand|::</strong>


    Forester [First Apprentice]: (Basic Skills: |Stalk||Hunt||Trap||Harvest|)(Fleet of Foot @ 32%)(Shaded by Boughs @ 5%)


    <strong>Main Weapon:</strong> Starfall Revolver [Lvl 9/50] [Unique] [Quality: A-]


    <strong>Stat Points:</strong> 5


    <strong>Badges:</strong> [Butcherer][Underdog Might][Goliath''s Bane][Rival to Heracles]


    *


    Fifty points of Dexterity boosted his Acrobat to Third Wright and added a skill called Dual Wield to his Sharpshooter.


    Dual-wielded revolvers?


    A grin of anticipation grew wide across his face.


    It sounded tooplicated, really. But he still wanted to start practicing as soon as possible!


    About to put all his points in VIT as he generally did, he noted that STR was 47.


    STR was faster to gain points than VIT, but…


    He really wanted to see what he got from 50 points of STR.


    He hesitated, then shook his head.


    Alright then! Make up for the VIT pointster!


    [You have achieved 50 Points of Strength!]


    [The skill Rifle-wielding has been added to your Sharpshooter ss due to your increase in Strength!]


    Krow lifted his brows, nonplussed.


    Wasn''t the rifle a basic weapon for the Sharpshooter ss?


    Why would he need 50 STR to use one?


    Unless the initial stat distribution and the rate of gain for the different stats of each yer changed depending on what weapon they chose? Sure, but still didn''t exin that much.


    Possibly to prevent yers from changing weapon types like they changed their clothes.


    To encourage Specialization.


    Was it that important?


    There were different basic weapons within each battless, after all. If the developers thought people wouldn''t start mastering all the weapons avable to them, they didn''t know gamers.


    If they were subtly pushing for specialization…


    Krow tapped fingers against the holster of his gun.


    Should he max out the levels of the Starfall Revolver before starting to level a rifle?


    That would be difficult.


    He''d need the rifle long before he achieved that. Considering the situations where he required a rifle even now, he should start leveling one soon.


    "Hello there!"


    Krow looked up. A couple of the vigers were waving at him from an upper field.


    He nced around, winced.


    This field of herbs was a lost cause.


    "Are you alright?"


    Krow straightened, waved back. "I''m fine!"


    He closed his Profile.


    A draculkar vaulted the stone stile and bounded down the steps.


    An adult, with a braided ck beard. "Are you certain you''re alright? It sounded like a difficult fight. The twins came running, saying you were fighting a Silverstripe."


    Krow nced at the upper field. He''d taken a few quests from the twelve-year old twins who kept a small goldencoat goat herd. He smiled at the two pale faces looking back.


    Ah, they were staring at therge snake.


    He turned back to the draculkar, who was now looking around in dismay.