The Grand Duelist

"Now how do you plan on getting that weapon of yours back?" Alice asked, feeling somewhat doubtful on how Joseph could retrieve the Rapier of Grandeur and Beauty that he threw far-away.

"Aren't you Senior Krid's disciple? How the hell do you not know of the summoning method?" 

"The summoning method?" Alice lifted an eyebrow.

"Heh, let me just show you." Joseph snickered and stretched his hand out.

With a will, and after a silent whisper...

The Rapier of Grandeur and Beauty flew like a shooting star towards him. Although it streaked past the skies in neck-breaking speeds, it landed gently on Joseph's hand and didn't cause any harm to him or his surroundings.

Alice revealed a shocked expression. 

Seeing her face, Joseph couldn't help but chuckle: "I don't think that this is the first time that you saw something like this, right?"

Alice nodded and replied, "Mhmm, I saw grandpa do what you did too but I have never tried it once. It'd be too wasteful if I tried doing what you did and the weapon didn't return to me."

Joseph was astonished by what he heard, "Alice... I didn't expect that you'd be that stingy when it comes to weapons and equipment. Isn't your grandfather a Legendary Blacksmith? I bet he can make you a weapon like he's casually strolling on his backyard."

Alice lightly smiled, "That's true. But I don't like to waste materials. Even though grandpa can easily make weapons and equipment for me..."

"The materials necessary for the production of those items aren't free, you know? They cost a lot of money and you should never underestimate how expensive those materials are."

Joseph chuckled, "Okay, fine. Stingy brat..."

Alice knitted her eyebrows when she heard what the latter had said.

But she judged that it was meaningless for her to argue so she kept her silence.

Joseph closed his eyes, but he slowly opened a single eye to observe Alice after the teasing that he just did. But when he saw that Alice looked like she didn't want to talk any further.

Joseph shook his head and asked.

"Are you not going down yet?"

Alice merely glanced at him before she said, "I'm going."

She then jumped over the cliff towards the elevated land on the valley down below.

"Now that I think about it, I don't see her having any weapon..." Joseph thought to himself. But then he saw Alice casually taking some dried tree branches before rushing towards one of the Mutated Beasts. Her expression turned serious and a dangerous glint shone within her eyes.

The Mutated Beasts whose attention she attracted looked to be double the same height as her. It was also three times wider than an average human.

One couldn't even call it an animal anymore for it didn't have any recognizable features similar to a beast or animal. In fact, it looked like these beasts were incorporeal beings of unknown origin.

But they were not incorporeal. They had meat that could be harvested and from what Alice heard from Julie. The flesh of these beasts was the primary source of food for residents.

Julie said that they were tasty, though Alice doesn't really agree with that since she was a genuine human being who probably has a different set of taste buds, unlike Julie who was a member of the Vampire Race.

Alice didn't activate any Form of the Grand Duelist's Graceful Swordsmanship. Instead, she imbued the sharpness of the Grand Duelist's Divine Art into the dried tree branch that she held with her dominant hand.

With a single flick of her wrist, the beast promptly collapsed.

It lost the tendons that supported its weight, so now. It couldn't stand up anymore.

A loud dull sound rang out, but the other beasts weren't attracted by the sound. They kept doing whatever they were doing prior to the sound. They were completely oblivious as to what was happening to one of their colleagues who laid helplessly on the ground under Alice's assault.

"Don't kill it yet, Alice!" Joseph exclaimed from the top of the cliff.

Alice who was about to deliver the final blow stopped from her tracks. But this pause gave the Mutated Beast enough time to recover as it spat out a corrosive mist from its illusionary mouth towards Alice's direction.

Alice promptly dodged, but she was angered by Joseph's sudden interruption.

"What the hell are you doing?" She turned to look at Joseph with a glare.

"I'll be the one to finish it!" Joseph leaped over the cliff and landed beside Alice.

"What?"

"I said, I'll be the one to finish it..."

"You said that the Laws of Causality does not permit you to outright help me if I want to be stronger, right? Then, how about this? Let's just say that you are donating these Beasts to me. I don't think that we'll be violating the Laws of Causality in that way." Joseph revealed a light smile.

Alice revealed an enlightened expression for a moment before she scoffed and said, "Whatever floats your boat..."

"But next time, do not interrupt me like what you did. I really hate being interrupted while I'm in the middle of doing something. If you want to land the final blow on these monsters, you go and do it. I don't really care. I just want them dead."

Joseph merely smiled and Alice didn't reply anymore. She went out of her way and attracted three Mutated Beasts and fought them all at once.

"Wow, she's really into this," Joseph commented under his breath. But his eyes suddenly widened in shock when he realized that Alice revealed an opening on her back under the Mutated Beast's watchful gaze. 

"Watch out!" Joseph cried out and his figure abruptly materialized behind Alice. Fending off the incoming attack with a flick of his wrist, accurately striking the weak point of the Mutated Beast's attack, deflecting it in return.

"Can you not be so careless? You're making me worry here." Joseph criticized. 

"Aren't you there for me?" Alice replied while deftly dodging an incoming corrosive mist.

Joseph also leaped away in an effort to dodge that mist as he replied, "I thought that you can handle three of them alone and at the same time?"

"I did say that, but that's under the premise that you are there to protect me from unexpected attacks," Alice replied with a light smile.

She deflected an incoming attack from the claws of a Mutated Beast and slashed right at it in return.

Joseph side-stepped... He rotated his body and unleashed a horizontal slash right at a Mutated Beast that approached him from behind. 

"That's not fighting them alone if I am there to help you!" Joseph almost shouted his reply.

Alice quickly glanced at him as she leaped into the air and made a downwards slash right at the head of a Mutated Beast.

Bang!

The head of the Mutated Beast exploded like a watermelon smashed by a sledgehammer. Brain matter-like liquid came out of its head and splattered around the area, it also drenched Alice who furrowed her eyebrows in disgust and annoyance. 

But it was still not dead, Joseph swiftly came over and finished it. Gaining the Experience Points that he needed to strengthen himself.

Sizzle!

Sizzling sounds could be heard from the tunic that Alice wore. She quickly looked down and realized that her washed-out tunic was quickly melting under the effects of the corrosive liquid that splashed on her clothes that came from the Mutated Beast's head.

Her expression turned unsightly, but her movements were decisive as she outright discarded her clothes and stripped herself naked.

Joseph who was in the middle of dodging an attack faltered on his movements and almost stumbled on a rock when she saw Alice's stark-naked figure.

"What the fuck are you doing? Why did you strip? We're not in the Grand Blue universe!" 

Alice lifted an eyebrow. She rushed at Joseph's direction and fended off the attacks of the Mutated Beast that was attacking Joseph earlier.

"Why do you look so disturbed? Haven't you seen enough of my body already?"

Joseph facepalmed.

This woman... Does she know the meaning of the word, "Decency"? She's really a girl that Senior Krid took care of and brought up... She's too hardcore!

Joseph swiftly decided.

He stripped off the tunic that he wore on his upper body and handed it over to Alice.

Alice stared at him in confusion.

"Why are you looking like me as if handing over some clothes is something abnormal? You're the one that is abnormal here! Quick, wear these clothes. I am sure that even though you lack decency, you still understand how comfortable it is to remain without any clothes in such a cold environment, right?"

Alice nodded.

But she remained expressionless as she took the tunic from Joseph's hands and swiftly wore it to cover her body. She then turned her head away from Joseph's gaze.

Her lips moved and uttered words that sounded similar to a droning mosquito for she was the only one that heard what she just said.

Afterwards, she gathered another batch of monsters and their peculiar teamwork continued.

Alice served as the sword and the main source of firepower for the two, while Joseph became the shield that protected the former from attacks that she couldn't evade in time.

The two became like thunder and clouds. The former may be stronger but without the latter. The former wouldn't even be able to perform.

Joseph was happy with this arrangement. He was the type of person that didn't want to receive anything or any favor for free.

After all, he knew that there were no free lunches in this world and since he didn't want other people to receive free lunches from him. He's also uncomfortable to receive something free from others.

Although that was somewhat questionable since Joseph could some times transform into a shameless man who wanted nothing but benefits for himself, but not for others.

[You have defeated a Mutated Beast of the Darkness.]

[Gained 2412 EXP]

[Gained 2425 EXP]

[Gained 2456 EXP]

[Congratulations! You Leveled Up!]

[You received 5 Stat Points; Ready for Distribution.]

Joseph halted on his tracks when he saw several system notifications floating right in front of him. 

His eyes widened in amazement as he cried out, "Holy shit! I was right! The levels of the monsters in here are at least more than Level 100! If I keep this up, then I reckon that I can get to Level 100 in just a few weeks!"

This discovery excited him so much that his movements became more fluid and graceful than before.

He even looked like he wanted to dive deep into the territory of the Mutated Beasts and just slaughter them all for the precious Experience Points. Thankfully, he knew his place and how strong he really was right now, so he didn't directly court his death by doing such a stupid move.

He coordinated properly with Alice and soon, the areas near the Valley were now free of monsters. If not for the darkness that made everything look somewhat blue and hazy, then the Valley would've become tranquil and serene instead of scary due to everyone's fear of what was within the unknown.

After fighting about several dozens of monsters...

Joseph raised his Level from Level 15 to Level 18.

He acquired fifteen stat points that he could freely distribute.

Of course, he distributed these stat points based on what he heard from Ezreal back then.

Now, his Player Profile looked like this after distributing five points to Dex, Str, and Sta respectively.

[Name: Joseph

Level: 18  Gender: Male

Class: Premature Grand Duelist

Health: 7850/7850 Mana: 525/525

Strength: 206   Dexterity: 55

Intelligence: 21  Stamina: 25

Spirit: 5 Tenacity: 5

Reputation: 232  Divinity: 50

Charm: 5 

Undistributed Stat Points: 0]

With 206 Strength...

His basic attacks empowered with the Grand Duelist's Graceful Swordsmanship now deal about 5400 damage and whenever it critically strikes, it deals about 7500 Attack Damage.

But this damage calculation also depends on how strong the equipment of his enemies was. The better the equipment of his enemies, the lower the damage of his basic attacks would be.

As for how the increase in Dexterity affected him...

Joseph wasn't so sure about that since the numbers connected to the Dexterity Stat weren't revealed to players for some reason. But since Ezreal said that Dexterity was also important, then who was he to argue against a nearly immortal being who studied the myths for several hundreds of years?

Joseph lightly chuckled, he was happy that he was now stronger than before.

With Julie's help, the group soon made a small underground cave with a single tunnel as an entrance.

Of course, Alice made a secret passage that they could use to escape the place connected to another location covered by some bushes somewhere several dozens of meters away from the area. 

Joseph criticized her for this, saying that what she was doing was unnecessary, but Alice bit back against him saying that one couldn't have enough contingency plans whenever they were in a particularly dangerous situation. More safety nets never harmed anyone, so why not make more?

Towards her argument, Joseph felt powerless. He understood the point that Alice was making but he just couldn't help but feel concerned towards her when he saw her exhausted expression.

He himself was exhausted, but after seeing that such a young woman was trying her best onto doing something that could potentially help them all in the future...

Joseph felt that it was also his duty to help.

Soon, the group finally completed their temporary abode.