Chapter Eight: Kids are bad for an Old Elf’s Health

“Way to go Gal! Skewer that jelly! Show them who’s boss!” In the background, Larson was jumping up and down on the balls of his feet while yelling friendly advice. They'd already been in the forest a few hours now, and this was the third slime they'd come across. Unlike with the first two they’d encountered, where Galdon had only gotten in one hit before Larson obliterated them, Hasson insisted that this time Galdon defeat it by himself.

“I know!” Galdon snapped in frustration while swinging out at the slime before him again. Hasson had gifted him with a steel short sword, when compared to the rusted blade he’d used back when he first entered the forest, the difference was like night and day. But no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn’t hit the core.

Galdon’s dad may have only been a simple farmer, but he’d made sure Galdon got the chance to learn basic sword swings. Though he’d never reached the level of becoming a Sword Apprentice, he originally had some confidence in his ability. When surrounded by that hoard of slimes, he’d told himself repeatedly, that his rusted sword was the reason he couldn’t win. Now, however, he was having to face the truth.

With a low yell, he channeled his aggravation for his lack of skills into his blade. Slashing the blade forward, it sank deep into the slime's body. The slime gave off an angry gurgle as it tried to remove the sword by wiggling violently. Galdon’s arms trembled as he grit his teeth and tried to wrench his sword from the slime’s body. By a stroke of luck, the slime accidentally nicked its core during its desperate struggle. Seeing his chance, Galdon twisted his blade back and forth. The movement managed to repeatedly chip the slime’s core until finally, with an indignant gurgle, the slime started to dissolve. Breathing heavily Galdon stood there trembling slightly as he watched the slime disappear.

“Ah… Ha.... Haha… Hahahaha! I- I did it! I really did it!!” Galdon roared towards the sky in excitement. Spinning around his face was covered in complete jubilation. Hasson and Larson both clapped encouragingly as Galdon looked at them and did a victory pose. He didn’t care that it was thanks to luck that he managed to win, a win was a win, that was all that mattered.

Picking up the fallen crystal Galdon trotted over to the other two. He was about to hand the core over to Larson when Hasson put his hand up to stop him. “Those are the spoils of your battle, so keep it and be proud.” Galdon nodded at Hasson’s words, pride shining in his eyes as he put the core into his item pouch.

“So, ya ready to fight ya next one?” Larson said with a teasing smirk.

“Wipe that smug look off your face. If you didn't have magic, then you’d be worse off than him, you know?” Hasson rebuked, throwing water on Larson’s parade.

“It’s not my fault my gramps is an Archmage and not a swordsman.” Larson stuck his tongue out at the old guy before darting off into the woods to find their next victim.

Hasson shook his head and sighed as he watched how easily the boy vanished into the gloom of the forest. The day that he had taken Larson in, Hasson had done a complete appraisal on him with a rare appraisal stone. Unlike with the skill, an appraisal stone could reveal everything about one’s stats. From elemental affinity to special traits, it was all viewable, the only thing that managed to stay hidden was title bonus information. As such, Hasson had known about Larson’s Growth Spurt trait, though he never questioned the boy about it. He also didn’t know what a Natural Born was, but he figured that it had something to do with his unusually high level of intelligence. He assumed it was also why sometimes he would catch the child staring into the distance with the eyes of a person beyond his years.

It was also thanks to the full appraisal that he’d learned about Larson being the child of both an Archmagus and an Assassin. This knowledge was partially why he decided to take him in as an apprentice. Glancing again at where the boy’s figure had vanished, he shuddered. If he was able to find a way for Larson to get the Assassin class, the waves it would cause in the underworld… Shaking his head he cleared his thoughts as he heard Larson’s whistle come through the trees, letting both him and Galdon know he’d spotted an enemy.

“We better hurry along, otherwise he’ll kill it before we can even get there,” Hasson stated before starting to make his way through the trees. Galdon silently agreed before closely following Hasson towards Larson’s location.

“It’s ‘bout time ya’ll got here!” Larson called out when he saw the pair exit the trees close to him. He was currently jogging around in a large circle with three slimes jumping and rolling behind him. Galdon busted out laughing as he saw the situation.

“All around the mulberry bush the dragon chased the slimes~” Larson sang as he started to skip, completely unfazed by the slimes on his heels.

Galdon abruptly stopped laughing and put on a deadpan face, “It looks more like the slimes chased the dragon.” However, he quickly became unable to hold it in and started laughing again.

“Alright you two, stop playing around and get serious. Being careless, even when fighting slimes, can be dangerous. So, Galdon, go ahead and draw the aggro of one of them. Larson, once Galdon has drawn aggro, go ahead and finish the other two off.” Hasson scolded before starting to issue out orders. Knowing he was right, the two boys quickly did as they were told.

When Galdon had managed to aggro the weaker of the three, Larson stopped running and quickly fired off a [Holy Shot] followed closely by a [Void Shot]. He and Hasson had already informed Galdon about his ability to use Dark magic, so now there was no reason to avoid using it. Hurriedly scooping up the two crystal cores left in the wake of utter slime destruction, he then turned his attention to Galdon’s fight.

Now that he was level 12, slimes began to barely give him exp. He’d already killed four since they had entered the forest, but he was still just short of hitting level 13. And that was even with his 50% exp bonus. But for Galdon, it was a different story. Including the exp he’d gotten just by simply hitting the first two slimes once, the exp he received from his first solo kill had already bumped him up to level five. When they’d first met, he’d simply been level three. He’d gotten to level four thanks to the exp he received from the slime hoard Larson had annihilated. Yet the fact that he’d only leveled up once was proof about just how tiny the amount of exp gained from merely participating in battle was compared to exp gained for landing the finishing blow.

“Galdon! Lower your center of gravity! Slimes are slow and only move when you start too! So, take your time!” Larson couldn’t help himself from calling out as he watched Galdon merely hacking at the slime with reckless abandon. Except for cheering Galdon on, Larson had stayed mostly silent during Gal’s first fight. He had wanted to see how Galdon would handle himself. By now though, he knew that the skills he'd thought the other had had back at their first meeting were simply a matter of luck, extreme hopelessness, and anger.

Hasson raised an eyebrow as he listened to the tips Larson gave Galdon. But instead of stopping him he stayed silent and waited. Larson continued to give Galdon tips throughout the fight, and after a bit of trial and error, Galdon defeated the slime. After landing the killing blow, Galdon froze a look of amazement in his eyes.

“Larson, Mr. Hasson! I just got a new skill!” Both Hasson and Larson looked at each other, then back towards him in disbelief. Larson was the first to snap out of it as he started clapping, his face full of praise. “That’s great, Gal! What skill was it?”

“[Protecting Slash],” Galdon said after a moment of contemplation.

“WHAT?!” Hasson suddenly screeched, causing both kids to jump in fright.

Seeing how he startled both boys, Hasson scratched his nose as his ears twitch in embarrassment. “Sorry about that, but anyway, Galdon, are you sure the skill is called [Protecting Slash]?” Galdon nodded his head in agreement as Hasson continued to stare at him, wonderment slowly growing in his gaze. “I can’t believe it,” Leaning back against a tree, Hasson sighed.

“What’s the big deal?” Larson asked while lazily lacing his fingers behind his head, “Isn’t it just some kinda sword skill?”

“Bah, what do you know you little brat,” Hasson muttered snappishly. “[Protecting Slash] is a knight’s skill! Even high-level knights have a hard time achieving that skill. I can’t even fathom how Galdon, who’s not even an apprentice knight, managed to learn it just by beating a slime.” He rubbed his temples, a look of defeat on his face. He’d thought Galdon would be a normal kid he could use to teach Larson what common sense was. But now it looked like the young tiger was simply a little weirdo too.