As the dagger strikes Treo's sword arm, he finds that he is still able to use it. The dagger appears to have done no apparent damage. Treo takes this opportunity to strike the hooded figure with the sword. The sword also does not appear to do any damage, but the hooded figure shouts out angrily in response.

: "Where'd this guy come from? Help me take him down!"; he says as he maneuvers around for another strike.

As the others arrive at the scene, two of them approach the farmer to attack him while the rest surround Treo.

Treo continues to try to defend against each attack, wondering why he's not taken any damage yet. He doesn't remember being this skilled at the sword, nor the shield; but the fact he has yet to observe any damage means something is going on. He continues to swing his sword at each attacker, one at a time, hoping to keep their attention on him instead of attacking the farmer.

"What the...? It's not doing any damage! What's going on here?"; says one of the farmer's attackers.

: "It's this guy here. Take him down and all our problems go away!"; he says angrily as he continues to attack Treo, equally wondering why there is no apparent damage.

The remaining attackers all converge on Treo and attack him with swords and crossbows alike. None of them appear to be damaging Treo or the farmer.

: "I'll keep them all busy here!"; he says to the farmer, hoping he'll understand his intent.

The farmer gets up and starts attacking with his pitchfork, causing damage and killing one of them. Treo continues to swing his sword to keep their attention on him while the farmer attacks with his pitchfork.

After a few minutes, the last of the armed group goes down and both the farmer and Treo breathe a sigh of relief.

A pop up message appears in the overlay of his vision:

Level 2 acquired

10 Skill points acquired

Before Treo can investigate his status page further, the farmer walks up to him with a questioning look on his face.

: "I don't understand what happened. After that first crossbow bolt to my arm, I felt no further injury despite being attacked multiple times. What's going on here?"

: "I'm a Defender, it's an ability I have called 'Shield Other' that transferrs any attacks to me and doubles my defense. I guess none of the attacks exceeded my defense, so neither of us took damage."

: "Well, whatever it is...whoever you are, or wherever you're from...in my book, you're a hero. I wouldn't have survived without you. I just want to say thank you! What's your name?"

: "I'm Treo"; he says as he puts the sword and shield back in his item box and begins looking at the bodies. "What do we do about that?"

: "What do you mean? They'll likely dissapear and leave their belongings and ID cards behind. I thought everyone knew that!" Looking confused at Treo.

: "I'm sorry. Where I'm from, that doesn't happen. I'm new to this area, so I apologize for the strange questions."

: A relieved look on his face; "That's alright. I'm just glad you appeared when you did, otherwise I likely would have died. I don't have much, but you're welcome to whatever I have as a reward. You'll also be welcome to all of their stuff to use yourself, or sell in town. You'll want to take the ID cards to the town guard as there may be a bounty on some of them."; he says motioning to the bodies around them.

As the bodies begin to disappear, they leave behind a pile of equipment and an ID card for each body. Taking one of the ID cards, Treo begins to study it. It lists a name, a level, and a class of 'Bandit' for each ID card.

: "Are the ID cards visible to everyone? Is mine?"; he asks the farmer, unsure how this ID card system works.

: "No, unless you're an authority figure with the skill, you need to purposefully show your ID to someone. Here's mine. Show ID"; he says as he extends his left arm, causing a visual overlay to appear above his arm showing what looks like the farmer's profile.

Name: Reeger Level: 17 Race: Human Age: 29 Class: Farmer Title:

: "I see...that makes sense. Nice to meet you, Reeger. And thanks for using that pitchfork. I could hold them off, but apparently my sword doesn't do any damage, so I would have been stuck with no way to take them out. So thank you!"

: "Seeing as you came right out to help, instead of running away like most people would...I'm grateful to you. You don't see many people being helpful like that around here. The world would be better with more people like you around."

: "Thanks. So is it really alright to take all this stuff of theirs? If it's worth money like you said, shouldn't you take some as well? You were the one that delivered the fatal blow to all of them. Or are you rich enough to not need it?"

: "No, I'm not rich. I just don't want to bother going into town if I don't have to. I've got too much work around the farm to go to town today, so I'd be happy if you took care of it since you're heading that way anyways...right?"

: Nodding; "Yes, I'll need to head that way if I'm to sell this stuff & turn in the ID cards. Thank you!"

Treo begins to look through the piles of equipment & compares one of the rapiers with his sword. As he looks closely at the rapier, he mutters; "I wish I could see the differences between them, so I'd know which one is better!"

A pop up message appears in the overlay of his vision:

Analyze skill unlocked

Amazed at the announcement, he tries to use the skill only to discover the need to invest skill points into it before being able to put it to use. After investing 1 skill point, he analyzes one of the rapiers, then his own sword:

Bronze Rapier Attack: 10 Durability: 3/10 Steel Sword of Taunting Attack: 0 Durability: 10/10

: "Well, I guess I can sell these rapiers, but maybe I can make use of the leather armor. It's got to be better than just these plain clothes."; he says picking up one of the leather armors to analyze it.

Leather Armor Defense: 10 Durability: 6/10

: "Yeah, I'll take one of the leather armors for myself, and sell the rest along with their weapons."

: "Well, thanks again Friend. You're welcome here anytime!"

: "I'll remember that, thank you."

And with that, Treo puts all the gear in his item box and heads out towards the direction Reeger said town was located.