"Well, at least she didn't make me move the same day." Nine muttered, feeling great full how Elaine let him a day to prepare before leaving the guild.
After leaving the guild back then, unable to convince Elaine to give him another quest.
Nine hurried to the weapon shop he had gone to on the first day he was in this world, and finally got his personal weapon he had asked to make.
Went to Marie's place to ask for help to prepare some necessary things for him, since he was only given a day to prepare.
By the end of the day, Marie helped Nine prepare all the things he would need for camping in the wild, along with taking on the quest he had, and for his personal needs.
Then this morning, Nine met up with these people and has been walking for the last two hours straight without stopping, in the hope of making it to their destination before any snowstorm happens.
"Alright, no one's gonna say it, so I will," Sheila announced, stopping, then looking back at Nine in the very back.
"No offense," She said, clearly talking about Nine. "But, why is an F-Rank adventurer here with us on a B-rank quest?!" She called out, looking at the reaction of her team and the other two, while ignoring Nine.
Sheila's group consists of a bunch of Mid B-rank adventurers, making them an A-Rank team, which gives them the credibility to take on this quest.
Jake is an A-Rank solo adventurer, having enough credit and trust within the guild to let him join this group, while the tall woman is a B-Rank herself.
As for Nine, though he has been an adventurer for a long time, he never took three different quests, making him still an F-Rank, clearly not fit to take this quest.
"Shut up!!!" Nine screamed, "You think I wanted this too! I clearly didn't like this, you know. Let's just clear it as fast as we can, to get back to the town as soon as possible."
"Nine, unlike these two here, who are probably meeting you for the first time, we know you're strong. But, there's a difference between fighting other people and fighting a monster." Sheila said.
"Unlike when you did it with us, these monsters won't hesitate to kill you, and no! Slimes are not equal to these monsters that we will fight." Sheila, explain the difference between fighting a monster and another person.
Without knowing the other two members of the group, already knew Nine themselves, even having one of them know a bit too much about who Nine is.
"Also," she placed her hand on her face. "What are you wearing?!" She asked, looking at his attire.
Nine is currently wearing the same clothing he has been wearing in the summer and fall seasons, only having a leather armor that covers his chest area, with some arm and knee guards.
"Hahaha, what's wrong with it?" He asked, clearly not seeing Sheila's worries.
"Besides, I'm confident enough to dodge all the incoming attacks to me, and most of all, I'm a long-range fighter, not close." He said, pulling out a palm-side rod in the air.
"See this, this is my weapon. I asked the Elf I'm friends with, to make this using the Elemental Slimes core and the Mutated rat I fought in my first quest. Along with the skill item the rat drop." He explained, showing the adventurers the details of it.
[ Item: Elemental rod.
Name: Currently none.
Description: Created with five cores of different Elemental slimes, along with a core from a mutated rat.
Stats:. Durability: 210/210. Damage: 300. ]
"Amazing right? Having three hundred damage at base. And not just that, look at the effects, skills, and rune I put on it." Nine said, showing the rest of the description.
[ Effects:
Elemental damage — Created with cores containing all the basic elements and the lighting element, when dealing damage to another being, there is a 2% chance of inflicting them with a random element.
Rat dominance — When successfully making your opponent bleed, 100% chance to give them one of the following status effects: {Bleeding}, {Paralyzed}, and {Poison}. ]
[ Skills:
Throw — Hurl the rod in a straight line for ten meters away from your position.
Glutton — Regenerate the lost durability by killing a monster, along with increasing the base damage. ]
[ Runes:
Rune of Reinforcements.
Rune of Return.
Rune of Explosion.
Rune of Attached. ]
"Whoa, that's a really good weapon," Jake said, looking at it. "How much would you sell it for?"
"Ten million silver," Nine answered, making him shut up.
"How did you put all of that?" The tall woman asked, seeing all the effects, runes, and skills of it.
"I have God's luck."
"Three hundred base damage! That's high, even those hundred gold weapons barely reach two hundred damage." Lien said, as the rest of the group moved forward to see it.
Sheila, standing out from them, sighed, seeing how Nine was actually prepared for this. Still, it wasn't enough for her to trust him.
Clap, clap, clap.
Clapping her hands multiple times and shooing everyone away from Nine, she asked him.
"Alright, I admit, maybe I was underestimating you a bit too much. Let me ask you this question first and I'll stay quiet."
"Go, I'll answer them if I can." Nine replied, hiding the rod in him.
"First of all, how are you not cold with that clothing? Look at everyone here, we're all wearing thick jackets and clothes."
"I'm using a technique, that's keeping me warm." He replied, tapping her shoulder and giving Shelia the technique on her.
Feeling a sudden warmth wrapping her, Sheila looked back at her group and finally understood why he wasn't reacting to the cold.
"Can you give everyone this?" She asked.
"Sure," Nine replied, snapping his fingers, giving the technique to everyone.
"Ohh, this will only last a few hours, like four or five at best." He said, summoning a healing pot and drinking it.
"And you'll pay for them next, this one is free. 10 silver per cast." He said in a stern voice and look.
Hearing him, everyone gave a ok sign with their fingers, letting him know they'll pay.
"Alright then, moving on. Do you know how to fight?" She asked.
"Yes, I can? I have this rod." Nine said.
"The place we're going to is in the mine, so you can't use that rod. Especially since it will explode." Hearing her, Nine thought for a bit, before saying:
"I can just use this, then," showing Sheila multiple steel balls.
"I meant like a close combat fight. We need a close combatant, rather than long range, since we already have an archer."
Summoning a chair from thin air, Nine grabbed it from the legs and said: "Remember how I beat all of you with a chair back then? Guess what, this is that very same chair. I took it from the library."
"Alright moved away!" Sheila warns Nine, as she and her group move back a few steps away from him — remembering the beating they got from him.
"We both know what we're talking about and that is not it!" Sheila screamed, mana coursing through her arms, indicating she was ready to use magic.
"Tsk. What do you want then?" Nine asked, seeing how she wasn't joking with him.
Pointing to the forest, Sheila said: "See that wolf over there. Kill it using any weapon, but without using any of your runes and skills."
Looking over to where she pointed, Nine found a white wolf walking alone tens of meters away from them, around the size of a meter and a half.
"That's it? Alright then." Nine said, summoning the hammer of his and moving closer to it.
"Hmm, he doesn't know it, huh?" The tall woman said, next to Jake.
"Yup! He doesn't know..." Jake replied to her, before looking at Sheila. "Sigh, that's a bit cruel don't you think?"
"Nonsense, that's barely a level 20, and if he's in danger we'll obviously help," Sheila replied to Jake. "To be precise, you will. You're an archer, you'll kill it when Nine can't win against it."
Side eyeing, Jake took out his bow and summon a arrow and prepared to attack.
"This is it?" Nine asked, seeing how he only needed to kill a wolf to prove he could fight. "Isn't this a bit too easy?" He questioned, moving closer to it.
Ten meters away from the wolf, it suddenly stood up on its hind legs, making Nine look back at the rest.
"Guys.... Why is it doing that?" He asked them.
"That's normal," the Bunny lady said.
"Normal? It's standing up in two feet, suddenly gaining muscles like a bodybuilder." He said to them, looking at how it changed.
"Yes, that's normal," Sheila said. "Go fight it, we'll have your back."
Watching the wolf standing up on its hind legs, as the snow within the area around it covered its upper body, creating an ice-like chest piece armor, and finally a saber blade out of ice.
Nine looked back at the group once again. Again, they had the same expressionless looks, acting like this was normal.
"God, I can't escape this huh?" He said, as the wolf let a loud scream, and started running towards him.
Bending down, Nine murmur the words: "Existence → Energy → Body. Physical reinforcement!"
[ All Physical base stats have increased by 70%. ]
[ All Energy base stats have been reduced by 90%. ]
Two system panels appeared before everyone's eyes on top of Nine's head.
"What?!" Everyone said in surprise, seeing the sudden prompt announcement.
Standing up, Nine stretched out his body, jumping side to side, feeling the change in his body.
"Hoooo," he breathed out.
"It's not bad, but it's nowhere near my prime." He mused, suddenly hurling towards the ice-armed wolf, at a speed no one expected.
Watching the wolf raise its blade from its right hand, Nine called out that it was about to slash downward to its left.
*****
End of chapter 28.
Original chapter 34.