A Tamer’s Adventure

It was well into the afternoon, and after returning their loot from the dungeon, Amber and Martyn returned to the inn.

Since the two of them now live together, the price has increased to twelve silvers. But with the money they made, they were doing more than fine.

Upon entering their room, Amber went to the shower. “I’ll go to Jorn soon and get those holes patched.”

Amber nodded, closing the door. Martyn changed out of his adventurer's gear into a simple white baggy shirt with dark pants and boots.

Martyn sighed, sitting on the bed. ‘That was too close.’

But that was the past; Amber was fine now; she was with him; that’s all that mattered. Closing his eyes, he focused on their bond. He felt a slight discomfort coming from her.

It made him wonder what she felt from him.

Changing focus, he pulled up his status; something he had been ignoring was his status points, the ones he gained from his titles.

Points were a sought-after thing when one reached their limit or bordered it, as it was difficult to increase attributes when you reached the superhuman limits.

As such, he planned to hold onto these until he reached that point, but.

‘That’s far away; what does it matter now that I get two extra points on top of the common three?’ Martyn reasoned.

And so he distributed his points. Making them as even and close to twenty as possible. He did some simple math on what his attributes would become and was happy with it. He was close to levelling as, on the way back, he killed a few monsters, bringing his experience right to the edge.

With that done, he grabbed Amber’s armour and went to Jorn; the orc was seemingly preparing to close his smithy early.

“What’s going on?” Martyn asked, walking in.

“Hm? Ah, you, oh, nothing; I’ve got a craftsmen's gathering to get to is all. Where’s your wife?”

“Back in the Inn. Do you think you can repair these before you go?”

“Huh, punctures. I’m guessing a greater rock lizard did this. And the locations, too. Is she alright?”

“Yeah,” Martyn said.

“Hm, are you alright?”

“I’m… fine.”

“You’re essentially a married kid; you can’t let feelings bottle up, or she’ll feel it through the bond,” Jorn said, examining the holes in the leather armour.

He pulled out a box while Martyn mulled over his words. Jorn tossed the leather armour inside along with the leather straps and closed it.

“A friend of mine made this and got rich off of it too. Lucky bastard, it’ll be done in a minute or two; that’ll be three silver.” He said he was pouring mana into the box.

“She could’ve died. I can’t get the image out of my head of what if; I know it’s in the past...”

“But you can’t help it; having been there, I suggest you talk about it.”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t long till the armour was repaired; Martyn paid and bid farewell.

On the way back, Martyn was too focused on Amber to notice the duo that was following him. They waited till there were few around, and as they passed an alleyway, one walked up, wrapping his arms around his shoulder.

"Haha, buddy, I found you; we've been-” The stranger gave a fake laugh, forcing Martyn to move.

But he immediately reacted, gripping the man’s hand. He doubled the force using his mana. The man cursed, trying to let go.

“I don’t know who you are,” Martyn said, his bones snapping under his grip.

The man grunted before forcing his hand out of Martyn’s vice-like grip. “Hang on, you’re Derek’s people, right?” He paused, looking back at the second person around his age.

“Fucking bastard, what are you, a titan?” The first said his palm shaking from Martyn's grip.

“Tch, I told you to just blast him into the alleyway,” the other said, frowning. “You’re coming with us.”

He said, conjuring a flame of mana in his palm, “or else.”

Martyn, seeing the threat, smirked, and quickly he appraised the two, learning their names and attributes. But he didn’t care for their names, only their attributes.

‘I can take them both on if I play this right, Lusty Caves? That's a strip club; I’m not even surprised.’

Joven, whose hand he broke, was an easy target; Trent, not so much, but still easy in his eyes. Not wanting to fight in the open, he went into the alleyway. The two smirked, thinking they had cornered him.

“So Derek sent you to do this, right? What, was his ego that hurt?”

The two snickered at his comment.

“Yeah, so he paid us four gold to beat you the fuck up and get that pet of yours too; you shouldn’t have messed with him; he’s friends with a duke's son,” Joven said, pulling out a knife.

Martyn steeled his gaze; his hair stood on end, his tail flickered, and his ears remained perked straight. They circled him and got ready to fight.

“She’s not a pet.”

“Like we care!” Trent shouted, shooting a magic bolt, and Martyn, letting go of his bag, jumped to the side.

Joven cursed at the blast, hurling his way and exploding on impact. Martyn dashed to Trent, firing a magic bolt.

Trent blocked it with a barrier. Martyn threw a mana-coated fist, cracking it. He went to throw another, only for his senses to flare up, making him roll to the side, avoiding a knife stab from behind.

“Aim properly, asshole!” Joven cursed.

“Shut up!” Trent fired back.

Martyn groaned upon realizing that this would take longer than expected. He made two mana arrows and fired them off. Trent blocked with a barrier, and Joven swerved past, coating his blade in mana.

The mana arrow that missed curved, aiming at Trent.

Martyn evaded to the side, avoiding Joven's slash. Joven cursed and felt his hand being weighed down. He fell hard. The next second, his teeth burned in pain as Martyn’s boot met his face.

He didn’t stop stomping on the bastard’s body, and he launched two magic missiles at Trent before he let down his barrier.

Martyn jumped back when a larger blast of mana came towards him. Joven stood up, coughing a fit. He hurled insults at Martyn, who smirked in response.

They both charged at him with mana covering their bodies; Martyn refused to do so and went with pure strength. He dodged Joven’s stab and dove beneath Trent’s mana blast.

But gravity shifted as Martyn found his legs flying up, and he fell with a hard thud. Joven had crossed his legs; they grinned and brought their mana-empowered feet down on him.

Martyn grunted, his head pounding. They stomped his tail, amplifying the pain. He tried to get up, only for them both to blast his chest with magic missiles.

He went skidding and eventually stopped. His chest pulsed in pain; luckily, he made a magic barrier around him. His clothes were dirty, not burned, but the force and pain impacted him the same, even if it was reduced.

Sadly, it ruined the shirt he was wearing, as it was now burned.

“Haha, is that all you got!?” Joven laughed, twirling his blade with his one good hand.

Martyn shakily rose, his mind spinning, but with quick breaths, he gained his bearing; his emerald eyes scanned the two and smirked.

‘Now, I’ve won.’

“What’s wrong with this bastard?” Trent muttered to Joven, who shrugged.

“Don’t care. He broke my hand, and now I want him dead. Damien won’t care anyway. Hell, we can play with the Kobold too.”

Martyn froze at his words. As he appraised them one more time, his mana flared, putting the two on high alert.

There was a principle when it came to the magic hand spell: it can be used on any object, even people, but when used on a person who can counter, the only way to overpower them is to have more mana than the target. Like magnets, your force needs to be greater.

Martyn watched as they fought with the little mana they had left; it barely amounted to one hundred and fifty, and he still had over three hundred.

Victory was his.

Trent and Joven paled; the gravity of their bodies shifted in their confusion, and resistance was pulled towards Martyn.

“W-what!?” Trent said this before his throat was gripped with an iron hand.

The same to Joven; as neither could speak, Martyn slammed their heads together before slamming them into the ground with more mana.

He didn’t stop, however, as he repeatedly did so, slamming them against the wall and crates, and quickly they fell unconscious with him gripping their necks and denying them oxygen.

With a tired breath, he let them go and proceeded to stomp on their knees; the pain didn’t seem to wake either of them up.

They came after his life, so obviously he didn’t just leave them; first, he robbed them. Martyn knew it was wrong; he was taught so in the orphanage he grew up in, but they came after him, so it was fair in his book.

In terms of money, they had four gold coins, the equivalent of four hundred silver coins; their clothes were worthless to him, and so was Joven’s knife.

‘If I leave them be, they’ll come after me again, maybe Amber too.’

How should he react? From his otherworldly knowledge, he understood that killing them was frowned upon; of course, murder wasn’t tolerated here either, but death to him was common. It was the life of an adventurer.

Grabbing Joven's knife, he brought it to his throat without hesitation. The blade sank through the flesh of Joven's neck.

[You have gained +16 experience].

[You gained enough experience to level up!]

“Oh shit right,” Martyn said aloud, seeing his status light up.

Martyn braced himself as a wave of energy surged through him. He kept his eyes closed, focusing on the increase in mana, his strength, and his abilities, and as he grasped it, his mana core churned and refined itself.

With the subskill of his strong mind, he was able to refine his mana with ease; it became second nature to him, and while levelling up, he focused on improving his mana core and grasped how it changed within him.

And in that moment, he grasped it. His mana had tried to advance, and his efforts rewarded him.

[The skills Mana Core (10) has evolved into Mana Veins (1), and Musculatiry (3) has levelled up to (4).]

[You have gained 5 points!]

The rush left him, and the golden aura that encapsulated him slowly vanished, no longer illuminating the alley.

Now he stood stronger than before and an inch taller too.

Martyn flexed his arm and struck at the air. He swung his fists a few times, adjusting to his increase in strength.

“A perfect level up,” he chuckled.

It meant his attributes had increased by a maximum of thirty per cent. All thanks to the experience he gained from his title. So he opened his status and placed his points.

After distributing the five points, he closed his status; as of now, his physical abilities were well within the realm of D-ranked adventurers.

‘I could kill the other guy,’ he pondered before another thought came to him.

With a plan forming, he walked out of the alleyway, catching the nearest traveller. He called out to them. He spoke with a rushed voice.

“Excuse me, sir, it’s an emergency; someone’s fallen in the alley over there. Can you please go call the nearest guards?”

“Shit, keep watch; I’ll be quick!” The man nodded and ran.

Martyn returned to see Trent awake, wailing in pain. The human shrieked, crawling to the walls. Martyn watched and said nothing.

"Alright, listen to me, good,” he said, a predatory glint forming in his eye.

“I killed your friend; it wasn’t that hard, and I’ll kill you too if you don’t cooperate, okay?”

He saw the uncertainty in his eyes, so Martyn moved aside to show him his dead friend, who quickly got him to corporate.

"Good, because a knight is going to come by and you’re going to spill everything about what Damien ordered you to do. And if not, then I will kill you.”

Martyn dragged him out of the alleyway by his shirt; he didn’t care for his grunts or pain-filled curses.

It wasn’t long until a man clad in silver armour ran up to them and said, “I heard there’s a situation where the unconscious person?”

The knight looked down at Trent and his injured and beaten figure, then back at Martyn, then at the trail of blood leading to the corpse in the back.

“What is going on? What happened.” He ordered.

Martyn gave a simple version of the events: “They came to kill me, so I fought back. I killed the guy back there but kept him alive.”

It was then Trent’s turn, and under the watchful gaze of the knight and Martyn, he croaked.

He spilled everything, from their first encounter to the fight, even Damien's specific words.

The knight’s face deepened with every word: “You tried to kill a monster tamer? Are you daft boy? No, that’s beside the point; you’re looking at life or indefinite slavery; courts usually move to the latter. As for you, sir, may I see your titles? Just to make sure, this isn’t staged.”

Martyn cursed under his breath: “I can, but I’d rather not reveal my title.”

The knight mumbled something before placing a palm on his chest: “I swear a knight oath; I will not disclose your title so long as it’s not that of a murderer.”

A small light bloomed from his hands; a knight’s oath similar to a magic vow was near unbreakable.

“All right, but please don’t overreact.”

Martyn showed his status with only his name, class level, and title. The knight’s eye widened, and his body went to kneel, only for Martyn to stop him.

“Ah, right, I’ll handle this immediately. The commander does well with nobles. And I apologise for what you went through, sir.” The knight conjured a healing spell on Trent, healing him.

Trent, in question, was dazed by the knight’s reaction to Martyn's status. The knight got Martyn’s location and promised to return with any updates.

Before leaving, he cast a healing spell on Martyn too. Now relaxed and no longer in pain, he made his way back to the inn.

Along the way, he focused on his bond with Amber, and instantly he took off running.

‘I was too focused on the fight and forgot.’

The bond was constant, so any pain or distress he felt she could feel as well. Of course, he was calm now. He sent as much love as he could, shifting his thoughts towards her, but her unease and sense of worry still poured through the bond.

Arriving at the inn, he made his way past Lilly and up the stairs. The second the doors opened, Amber tackled him in a tight hug.

Relief poured through their bond, and she softly whimpered in his arms, “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later. But it's okay. I’m okay now.”

Amber buried herself further into him. Martyn held her tightly, brushing her shaking body as they moved into the room, closing it with his tail. He tried to push her back, but she resisted glueing herself to him.

“I get how you felt back then; I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to do or even where you were, but I felt your confidence despite the situation... I could only hope everything would be fine.”

She let out a dry chuckle. “I couldn’t even find and help you. How am I meant to be a knight?”

Her voice was filled with self-loathing. Martyn groaned, cupping her face for a kiss.

"Never, and I mean never, talk about yourself like that. That was beyond our control, and there was nothing we could do. You know how I felt, then you know how much you mean to me, so we'll be ready next time, alright?”

Nothing but devotion and honesty reached Amber through their bond. This bond was special; it was a first for them both. Their thoughts and feelings were open to one another, and from it came how much they meant to each other.

Amber wiped her tears before leaning in for another kiss. This one was deep and full of love, she straddled him removing her shirt and he did the same.

 

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