I just sighed and accepted my new life as the weakest NPC in [Dragon's Roar]
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The cold of the winter was nothing to me right now.
After "training" with Karla for thirty minutes, my body was hot from all the movement I had to do.
Useless movements that amount to nothing as Karla keeps blocking and parrying every single attack I make.
"You'll never even touch me with that speed"
No matter how many times I tried to, no attack I threw could get past her defense.
"C'mon, faster, Alen!" It doesn't matter. She's going easy on me, and I'm still struggling.
She's using a wooden sword, and I'm using real daggers. How!?!?
"TIME!" Khyle, who was watching Karla train me stopped our session "Alen, you're not focused. Concentrate on your fight"
"I... can't..." I'm so tired I can barely speak "She's... she's not even taking me aeriously and..."
"And what? We also fight stronger opponents, and we don't have time to complain"
I know Karla's right, but...
"You have more experience and..."
"And you're smart..."Khyle interruped me "Use smarter tactics to make up for your lack of strength" Khyle grabbed snow, made it a snowball "On a real life-or-death fight, pride and honor shouldn't matter to you" he crushed the snowball
"Use everything to your advantage, terrain, allies, bluffs, anything you want"
"I fully agree on fightin' dirty. But have some honor and decency. You're no caveman"
"I... I think I get it..." i really do, but it doesn't matter, I'm weak.
"If you get it, then stand up and do something"
I stood up and I observed Karla, her fighting stance and her facial expression... told me she didn't take me seriously at all.
...
The only thing I know is that edged things can cut wood... and my daggers are real... they have an edge...
This being my only plan made me realize that I'm way dumber than I think I am.
Well... questioning my intelligence won't get me anywhere. So I quickly tightened the grip on both of my daggers and ran towards Karla.
She easily blocked every attack I did. But my objective wasn't her
"Now that's a better look on your face" while I was fully concentrated on my plan, I did manage to catch a glimpse of her face. She was smiling. I can kinda guess why that smile made me feel good.
Our weapons kept clashing, and it felt like I was starting to take the lead for the first time.
After many atacks, I can finally see cracks forming on her sword. It's getting cose to snapping in two. However, my hands and arms were becoming numb, and I was losing strength.
I guess that Alen did practice and train his body a bit, I shouldn't be able to wield daggers this good.
Good is overestimating myself, but I guess it's decently useful.
I have to finish this fight quickly.
Thankfully, I came up with a plan.
Once she did a horizontal slash, I ducked under it, and I planned on quickly grabbing snow to throw it on her face to momentarily blind her... that was the plan. Instead, she kicked me as soon as I ducked, sending me flying back against a tree.
"Nice plan, Alen. But don't expect everything to go your way"
Do I abandon my plan to break her sword. I have a tree behind me, I can use it. But i'm really tired. I can barely feel my arms. I don't think i can stand upwhataboutavoidinglastsecondicouldtrytoparryidon'tknowhowtodothatwhatifherswordbreaksonnexthitbutwhatifitdoesn't.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER ALEN!? DON'T DOUBT. IN A REAL FIGHT, DOUBTIN' MEANS DEATH"
She's getting close, and I need to calm myself, breathe slower, focus, and follow a plan
"Thanks for the advise Karla" I don't think she heard me whispering that.
I stood up and assumed a defensive stance with both of my daggers in front of me and my back almost touching the tree.
There she is, two steps in front of me, ready to launch her attack, the one attack that'll end this fight.
She did it, a diagonal slice. I put all my strength on my legs and arms, and I managed to block her attack by putting my daggers on an x position.
As soon as our blades clashed, I felt the snow rise up, and even when I blocked it, my whole body still felt the impact.
But I did it!!
Thanks to all the commitment to my plan, her blade snaped in two.
As soon as it happened, I started my counterattack, using the tip of my daggers to do a piercing attack.
I can feel it, I truly do feel... how disappointing it is for my counterattack to just be stopped, only... using... her hand. She just grabbed both of my arms, lifted me, and began smiling.
"Atta boy. That's how I like it" she began to laugh, not in a bad way. Rather, her smile and laugh felt happy... and proud.
I heard khyle clapping and beginning to approach us.
"Nice job, Alen." Khyle was also smiling
"..."
"..."
"Wait a minute..." she lifted me up more and stared at my face "Alen... are you blushing?"
"N-no I'm not" she began to laugh, in a mocking way this time "I just... I'm really tired... and it's really cold"
"Whatever, kid" she just chuckled and dropped me.
Those words kept repeating in my head. It was a nice feeling
"Now then, get ready for a round 2"
...
...
"Wha-?"
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"Everything hurts"
I already knew Karla and Khyle were crazy strong in-game, but now that I've had hands-on experience in fighting them, I can see why they were bosses you needed multiple units to take down.
I'm lying in my bed, looking at that unfamiliar wooden ceiling.
I still feel weird being inside [Dragon's roar].
"I'm hungry... but I don't wanna move"
I feel like I could fall asleep at any second now, maybe right no-
"Cow meat, water" it was Milly, holding both close to my face.
"Thanks..." I tried to sit up "But I can't"
She used her leg to help me sit up "Now you can"
"Thanks..."
I started taking bites and drinking. I was starting to feel weird with how intense milly's stare was, but I just tried to ignore it.
"You did well on your training. We were all watching"
"I lost every time, though..." not only on our sparring sessions, I also couldn't keep up with regular training afterwards "But... it was... good..." this feeling is new to me.
"Karla is right... training feels nice"
Talking with her is kinda hard, it isn't unpleasant, I feel rather calm right now.
"I'll leave. Equs needs to be fed" I'm guessing Equs is her horse.
"Milly" I call out to her before she leaves "Thanks"
She closes the door a few seconds later.
...
...
Now that I'm alone.
I finally have time to think about my future in [Dragon's Roar]
Up until now, I've only thought about Alen's weak points. But what is he good at?
Alen... I... only have a low wind magic affinity. It's not much, but I could probably learn low tier wind magic.
I also have a unique passive called [Cat Feet].
In-game, there was a tripping mechanic that randomly caused characters to fall while moving and, when in combat, fail their attacks. [Cat Feet] removed that probability. It doesn't matter if I trip or if someone pushes me, I won't fall.
...
Now that i remember, when Karla kicked me against that tree, I landed on my feet...
...
I... I have relatively high speed and skill stats... knowing Karla takes care of most of my training... it makes sense.
T-the thief class has five passive abilities.
They don't take any terrain or weather movement penalties, so they can move normally on swamps, deserts, and snowy terrain.
Traps don't affect them and can be deactivated by them.
Thieves can use a special item, lock picks, to open up chests and doors without the need of a key.
Like archers, thieves take reduced vision penalty in fog, darkness, and vision debuffs like blindness.
Finally, just like the name suggests, thieves can steal unequiped items.
While this class passives sound nice, and they are, other classess are simply better.
For example, thieves can only be equipped with knife-type weapons. You can equip two different daggers to dual-wield though...
And knife type weapons are a subclasse of the sword weapon type.
...
Below average.
That's the only way to describe me.
An extremely situational, unique, passive ability, a class that's just okay, and stats that don't stand out.
Even if you babysit and give me special treatment, you'll only have a below average unit.
I don't even have the looks of a cute anime girl that would make the grinding much more bearable!!!
...
My only hope is that I'm lucky enough to have the right events happen at the right time and achieve a good ending.
If necessary, I'll have to intervene and manipulate events to avoid the worst possible outcome.
The apocalypse that the [Dark Eclipse] causes.
"I'm not quite sure of where I am on the game's timeline"
Given my looks, I'm probably situated a year or two before the start of the game. So i'm probably thirteen or fourteen...
*Yawn*
I'm getting sleepy
"I'd like to keep... thinking... planning" my eyeslids feel heavy "I... want... to..."
...
...
"-ke up. Alen, wake up" Milly was poking my cheek "I have to go on a commission. I won't come back in a couple of days"
"Wha-"
"Probably"
"Probably?"
"Yes, probably" she left
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