Zane spoke with Tianna and the others for a little longer before leaving. The more he spoke with them the more he became curious about their world. However, he had a goal to accomplish and couldn’t waste time talking with them. It was important for him to continue searching for a powerful opponent. Finding a powerful opponent would allow him to verify the requirements needed to activate his bloodline and it would allow him to increase his stats. He could always look for them in the starting village and continue their conversation there.

After leaving the group the amount of humans Zane encountered as he traveled through the forest increased drastically. He came into contact with humans fighting mana creatures and humans fighting each other. Sadly, none of the humans or mana creatures he encountered were capable of giving him a decent fight.

Whenever Zane encountered a human or a group of humans struggling against a mana creature he would interfere. When he saw humans engaging in conflicts with each other he only interfered when he felt like it. Some times he would help the weaker human or humans and kill or chase away the attacker. During the times when he encountered humans with equal strength he would only watch for a short while before leaving.

During the time Zane spent traveling through the forest he managed to see a few elves. Some noticed Zane while others did not. The ones that did notice him only gave him a glance before leaving. However, that glance was able to emit a strong feeling of hatred and disgust. The brief interactions increased Zane’s dislike and caution toward the elves.

Eventually Zane accepted the fact that he probably wouldn’t be encountering anyone that could provide him with a challenging fight. He wasn’t happy when he came to that conclusion and his feeling oh unhappiness increased when he realized he spent the entire night running around. He only fought a few times and managed to level up twice after leaving Tianna’s group. He probably would have been better of fighting random mana creatures or staying at the shelter and practicing his skills.

“Thank you for your help but I had that fight under control.”

“I don’t care if a filthy human like you thanks me. These beasts are our prey. Run now or face the consequences.”

As Zane jogged through the forest, he heard two people speaking to each other. The voices were male and they sounded like they were close by. It only took a few seconds of travel before Zane reached the area where the voices originated from. He saw Old Saber facing ten elves with a few bear corpses in between them. Looking at the two groups facing each other Zane felt his heart rate increase. He immediately rushed in with only a single thought. It looked like he finally found a good fight.

“Greeting’s senior,” Zane said. He stopped running a few feet away from Old Saber and gave him a slight bow.

“Greetings young friend,” Old Saber replied. “What brings you to this place?”

Zane had noticed the eleven pairs of eyes watching him as he approached. Ten of those pairs of eyes were green and filled with animosity. Zane met Old Saber’s dark eyes and saw a faint smile appear on his face. After hearing his question Zane gave Old Saber a grin before answering.

“I didn’t plan to come here. I was just wandering through the forest looking for a good fight.”

Zane saw Old Saber chuckle before turning to face the ten elves. “I was facing theses beast before you arrived and they weren’t injured when I began fighting them. Tell me, how exactly are they your prey?”

An elf that had dark hair and was taller than the others sneered before answering. “They’re our prey because we said so. A lowly human like yourself has no right to question us. This is your last chance to flee. I suggest you take it while you still can.”

Zane frowned after hearing this, but he saw that the old man continued to smile. “I have no intention of leaving without the corpses of these beast.”

“That’s fine I’m happy to kill two disrespectful humans.”

“You don’t have to stay.” Old Saber turned and spoke to Zane. “This is my fight and I you don’t have to participate in it.”

Zane simply equipped his shield and spear in response and started to observe the ten elven. There were two elven that wielded bows, one that wielded a wooden staff radiating mana and the rest wielded close-range weapons. Other than the female holding the staff the rest of the elven were males. The all wore a cloak made of leaves covering their armor made of wood and leather.

Elven Lvl 20

After looking at their physical appearance Zane used the system to obtain more information. The weakest elven was level twenty and the highest level elven was level twenty-five. Zane was a little surprised but quickly calmed down. He realized he could have achieved a similar level if he focused on hunting mana creatures and nothing else.

The elven that spoke for the group stepped forward and drew a slender sword. The weapon was made of wood, had two edges and was engraved with leaf patterns. Zane saw Old Saber step forward and draw his one-edged weapon he called a saber. As the two closed the distance between each other Zane used Identify on the old man.

Human Lvl 21

Although Old Saber was four levels lower than the elven Zane was confident that the old man would win. He may have lost the strength of a tier two expert but Zane was sure he didn’t lose his experience, Zane was confident that it would take the old man less than a minute to defeat his opponent. However, Zane quickly found out that he overestimated the duration of the fight.

Three strikes. Zane watched as Old Saber delivered three beautiful strikes that left his opponent without a complete corpse. The first strike was blocked by the elven but it resulted in him lowering his arm and almost dropping his sword. The second strike knocked the sword out of his hand. The third and final strike severed his head from his body.

“No!” The female elven screamed. “You’ll suffer for what you’ve done. Both of you will die.”

The scream and the surge in mana woke Zane up. He stopped staring in amazement and move forward with his shield to stand in front of Old Saber who had took up a defensive stance. Less than two second later Zane felt arrows pelting his shield. Shortly after that he felt a large amount of mana moving toward him. Zane crouched down and told Old Saber to do the same while he used Block. Zane withstood the attack and when he looked up, he saw six elven rushing toward him.

He felt Old Saber place a hand on his back. “Thank you for your help. Let’s try to split the enemies up. I will handle four and you can fight the other two. Well deal with the archers and the female together.”

“Old man it’s not good to be too greedy. We’ll split them evenly. Both of us get three each.”

Zane heard the old man chuckle before he agreed. Zane suggested they wait till they got close and then he would attack first. The archers released a few more arrows before giving up. They saw that their attacks had no effect on Zane’s defenses. The six elves approached in a formation. There was one in front and another that was directly behind him. The other four elves were spit into pairs and follow slightly behind the first two on both sides. When the six elves were five meters away Zane stood up and used Charge.

The elven in the front had a wooden shield but it was smaller than Zane’s which was made out of metal and wood. When Zane rammed into him, he was sent flying back and fell on the ground after hitting the elven behind him. Two elves at the immediate right and left rushed at Zane. He prepared his shield to endure a strike from the one left while stepping forward with his spear to attack the person on the right.

Zane saw Old Saber move out of the corner of his left and directed his focus to the right. The elven to the right used a weapon that looked like a wooden mace to smash Zane’s spear to the side. Zane allowed his spear to be pushed away as he moved forward and rammed into the elven with his shield. When the elven stumbled back, Zane used Slash as he swung his spear toward the elven’s thigh. The elven fell to the ground as blood squirted from his leg. Before he could continue attacking Zane was forced to raise his shield to block an arrow.

Immediately after Zane blocked the arrow, a feeling of pain came from his left thigh. He was surprised but excited that the elven were capable of dealing damage that would make it past his armor. Zane ignored the shallow wound and backed up as he focused on the new attacker. The new attacker was the elven with the shield and the attack was caused by a wooden short sword. Zane ignored the injured elven that was probably drinking a health potion to recover.

Using his shield Zane rammed into the elven and delivered attacks with his spear. The elven repeatedly lost his balance and receive multiple injuries. As Zane was preparing to deliver a fatal blow, he sensed two attacks approaching him. Zane lifted his shield and jumped to the side. He mangled to block an arrow and dodge an attack from the mace wielder. Zane saw that the elven using the shield was taking out a health potion but he didn’t care. He was confident in winning the fight and he was enjoying himself. Sadly, good times don’t last forever.

Zane charged at the elven with the mace and thrusted with his spear. The elven swung down with his mace again but Zane stopped his spear mid thrust. The elven’s attack hit nothing causing him to stumble forward. Skill Combo. Stab. Pierce. Zane’s Stab dug into the elven’s armor and his Pierce went through the elven’s heart. After feeling the message from the system Zane turned to face the elven with the shield.

The look of alarm on his face was very amusing to Zane. The other elves were also alarmed that one of them had died. Zane felt multiple arrows coming his way and he knew that the archers had put all their attention on him. It didn’t change the fate of the shield wielding elven. Zane easily blocked the arrows before killing the elven.

The time it took Zane to kill the mace wielding elven was short. That’s why the shield wielding elven was so shocked. The health potion had barely begun to take affect before Zane started attacking him. The elven panicked and that caused his death to arrive quicker than it should have. If he was calmer, he might have lasted until reinforcements arrived.

After killing the shield wielding elven Zane looked at Old Saber’s battlefield and gave a nod of respect as he waited for an elven to approach him. Zane knew that the majority of the arrows and all of the magic was focused on Old Saber. In addition, he had to focus on dealing with attacks from four other elves. The brief moment when the archers focused on Zane and one of the elven separated to help the shield wielding elven Old Saber managed to kill one of his attackers.

Zane only looked at the battlefield for a few moments before he was approached by the elven who was sent over to help. The elven wielded a wooden spear and wore a grim expression. The battle lasted longer than the others because the elven was a lot more cautious and defensive than the others. Zane tried to entice the elven by creating openings but it didn’t work. Instead, Zane fell for the elven’s trap and ended up with a wounded left shoulder. As the battle continued Zane felt his mental and physical stamina being exhausted. Eventually he managed to trap the elven, land a fatal blow and level up.

Feeling satisfaction after leveling up and defeating his opponent in a battle of wits Zane turned to look at Old Sabers battle field. Zane managed to see the old man delivered the final blow to his last opponent. However, he didn’t have time to stop and admire the old man’s skill.

Zane noticed that final three elven were running away and activated Warrior Steps right before using Charge. He felt the energy of the two archers rise and saw their speed increase. When they began pulling away from the female elven, they turned around to help her up. As soon as they lifted her up Zane used War Cry. He only managed to make them pause for a second but that cause them to drop the female they picked up.

This happened three more times and each time Zane could see their fear increase. After the fourth use of the skill Zane had to stop. Zane felt intense pain from the muscles in his throat and he couldn’t make a sound. If he forcefully used the skill, he would only injure himself while his opponents would be unaffected. While waiting for his throat to recover Zane quickly switched weapons. He dropped his spear and shield to take out his bow and quiver.

Zane quickly notched and released an arrow but he missed the archer he was aiming for. Not feeling discouraged Zane activated Rapid Release and focused his attack on the elven female held between them. Zane managed to land a few attacks but it didn’t stop them from escaping. A few moments after they left his attack range Zane’s throat recovered slightly.

“It’s okay for a few to escape,” Old Saber said. “I’m sure they learned their lesson and they will tell others.” Old saber walked over and placed a hand on Zane’s shoulder. “Some will be scared to fight while others will seek us out. I’m fine with either one and I’m sure you will be too.”

“I wouldn’t mind more opponents, but I am worried about the tier one expert supporting them,” Zane said.