Chapter 99 - 99. Shadow Bear Tasset

Sweet, it's a skill to deal with range opponents. He had no problem at this stage dealing with such opponents due to his high Dexterity, but this skill would be a great help to normal Warriors who had slow speed. Of course, with his fast movement, the Charge skill in his hand would become even more deadly.

After becoming a Warrior, he looked around and was confused about what to do next. There was no exit around the platform. Was he to travel back via the colored floors again? Would those puppets attack him again?

He called Gruff and asked about it. Those warriors at the opposite sides were snapped out of their daze due to the call. They were still having trouble believing what had just happened.

"The outworlders really aren't a simple bunch." One of them mumbled.

The others nodded.

The female warrior however said, "I don't think so. I think this one is special even among the Outworlders." He then whispered to Gruff, "you noticed that skill he used with his staff, right?"

"Yeah," Gruff answered. "Let's keep it between us first. I bet the King would be especially interested about this."

While they were talking among themselves, Jack called out again the second time, "hey! Can somebody tell me if the puppets will come after me again if I step onto these colored floors?"

Gruff chuckled. "Come over, it's fine! They will stop once you passed the test."

Hearing it, Jack let out a relieved sigh. He then walked over. He looked at the immobile puppets, couldn't believe he was having a life and death struggle with them just a few moments ago.

Once he arrived at Gruff's side, he said with a grin, "So, where are my coins?"

Gruff's mustache twitched. The others who were just about to congratulate him, froze on their spots. Their friendly faces turned stiff once they were reminded about the bet.

"Can't you be a little more lenient?" Gruff pleaded.

"A bet is a bet," Jack refused.

"Argh! Fine! Take out your coins, lads!" Gruff ordered.

They flocked together in a circle as they took out their coins.

"Ugh, I'm missing two coins, can I borrow first?"

"Brother, I also lack some coins."

Gruff knocked them both on the head, "why do you make the bet if you don't have enough coins? So how much are we missing?"

After they piled the coins together, they counted them together. Gruff used his coins to cover the coins his underlings lacked. He then put the coins into one leather pouch and handed it to Jack.

Jack felt bad after seeing Gruff sacrificed his own coins for his men. "It was noble of you to cover the shortage," he said.

"No worries, I'm deducting them from their next wages anyway," Gruff replied.

Jack instantly didn't feel as bad after hearing it. He accepted the pouch with glee, there were 252 silver coins inside! When the pouch entered his storage bag, silver coins that reach hundreds in numbers automatically converted into gold coins. He now had 2 gold coins, 70 silver coins, and 53 copper coins.

He felt rich now that he possessed his first gold coins.

"Okay, show is over! Now go back to where you belong!" He shooed the rowdy men away, then turned to Jack and said, "you, come with me!"

Jack was confused, wasn't his business with this academy over once he received his Warrior class? But out of curiosity, Jack followed him.

Gruff took Jack past his office and into another room. It looked like a storage place with a very messy organization. Gruff opened several drawers and storage boxes searching for something. As he combed through the room, he said to Jack without looking, "So are you going to tell me why you have both Fighter skills and Magician skills?"

Jack didn't answer.

"Don't take it wrong, I have no problem with that," Gruff added. "I have met people with multiple skills from different classes and have even fought with some, but they are all the natives of this world. It should be different for you Outworlders however, from what the Gods had told us and what we can read from the history books. It was said that you folks possessed a limitless potential for growth. However, your path of advancement in terms of class had always been fixed. So imagine my surprise when the first Fighter that came to apply to become a Warrior ended up breaking this common knowledge… Ah, found it!"

He took out a pant armor that was made of several interconnecting plates and covered by dark-colored fur.

"This was one of the armors I wore in my adventuring days back when I was young. Here, take it!" He shoved the armor to Jack.

Jack was puzzled as he received the armor. Why did this veteran warrior give him an armor? Is this a secret reward for being the first player to pass the Warrior test? He checked the armor stats.

Shadow Bear Tasset, level 15/35 (rare medium armor)

Physical Defense: 22

Magical Defense: 20

Durability: 40

Endurance +3

When HP is below 50%, defense is increased by 80%

A rare medium armor! Jack was dumbstruck. Did he really just get a piece of rare equipment as a secret reward? And the additional ability this armor had was quite a life-saving ability, his survival rate would increase dramatically with this armor. Jack looked at Gruff with surprise. The Warrior laughed, "Hehe, it seemed like you really like that armor."

"It's a really good armor," Jack agreed.

Gruff smirked, "of course! I don't spend my time with trashy equipment. This here was among the top even for rare equipment. It was made by a master craftsman using materials I got after killing a Shadow Bear."

"But why gave it to me? Is it because I am the first Outworlder to pass the Warrior test?"

"Don't be absurd, why do I give out my armor just because you passed a test?"

"Then why?" Jack asked with a confused expression.

"Take it as an investment," Gruff replied. "I can see you are unusual even among the Outworlders. There might be a time in the future when we might need your assistance. At that time, I hope you won't let us down."

Jack gave the guy's words some thought. If this guy had been a player, he would have rejected him and gave the armor back. But the guy's an NPC. If they need assistance, then that would mean a quest. Doing a quest would be beneficial to him unless it was an unreasonable one, but he did not believe this world system would throw him a quest outside of his capabilities.

After some thought, he agreed and thanked him for the Tasset. He changed his armor at once, replacing his level 1 leather pants with this new Shadow Bear Tasset. With this new armor, he looked more dazzling and different from the other players who mostly still wore standard leather and cloth armor.

"So how will you be contacting me if you need my assistance?" Jack asked. If it were with players, he could simply just add the guy as his friend, so they could send messages to each other when needed. But he had yet to learn of a communication system with NPCs.

Where do you stay in the capital? Tell me which Inn and I will send a message to the Inn when I want to look for you.

So it was a primitive messaging system, Jack thought with some disappointment. He then replied to Gruff, "I didn't stay at an Inn. I stayed in a shophouse called Amy's Bakery. You could leave your message to the shopkeeper Amy or her mother, Samantha."

"We will do that then," Gruff nodded. He then invited Jack to have some drinks outside with the other Warriors. Jack accepted. Now that he was also a Warrior, the other men treated him like one of their own and chatted cheerfully. Jack was relieved, as it seemed that these NPCs didn't bear any grudge against him for taking their coins.

After a few rounds of drinks, Jack decided to bid them farewell and made his leave.

He passed the female warrior who had just returned from an errand when he was on his way out. He greeted her before he continued on his way. The female Warrior went to sit next to Gruff.

"You have let the King know?" Gruff asked.

"I've passed the message to the Royal advisor," the female Warrior replied. "He said that he would send someone to keep an eye."

Gruff nodded.