"Huff hah, huff hah, huff~ hah~"
Darkness was breathing so hard it was unreal. Her panting got wilder and wilder, making Kazuma squirm and clench up. Poor guy couldn't even stand up straight!
Our innocent otaku boy was way out of his depth here!
"Darkness, it's just a Wild Boar. How long do you intend to keep fighting it?" Adam, at his wit's end, loudly urged her to finish off the boar quickly.
Yes, a Wild Boar — not a Giant Toad!
They weren't subjugating Giant Toads because Adam worried Darkness might get carried away playing with the slime. Instead, he chose the lowest-level quest: Drive Away Wild Boars Ravaging Farmlands.
The quest was straightforward: simply drive away the wild boars destroying the fields.
This was the Adventurers' Guild's lowest-level quest, typically undertaken by solo novice adventurers. The meager reward made it an inefficient choice for a party of Adam's caliber to pursue.
But hey, this quest was perfect for seeing how Darkness would fit into their squad.
Just one tiny problem though... her performance were kinda...
"Ha, ha~ This wild boar is quite persistent! I underestimated you!" Darkness wore an excited expression, as if she'd met a worthy opponent. She lavishly praised it, "I acknowledge you, Wild Boar! Be proud! You're on par with me, Darkness — a Crusader of the advanced class knights!"
"Yo, what's with the chuunibyou act? Just take it down already! Are you seriously treating a measly Wild Boar like your arch-nemesis?!" Kazuma couldn't help but roll his eyes, roasting her without holding back.
Turns out, his gut feeling was spot on — this chick was a total dud, inside and out.
Adam was left scratching his head too. He never saw this level of incompetence coming from Darkness.
I mean, come on! Even Aqua, of all people, could use her God Blow to knock it out into next week. Not to mention Megumin's overkill〘Explosion Magic〙or Adam's own skills.
But here's Darkness, struggling against a Wild Boar that only knows how to charge forward like a brainless battering ram. She's been stuck in this ridiculous dance for ages!
In the end, though, Darkness somehow managed to scrape by with a win.
Relying on her seemingly inexhaustible stamina, Darkness wore the Wild Boar down to exhaustion before finally plunging her sword into its neck.
Incredibly, it took five hours to complete this lowest-level quest.
"Is Darkness really an advanced class?" Kazuma squinted at her adventurer card, "Yep, she's a Crusader alright..."
"The stats are incredible!"
"As expected of an advanced class, her total stats nearly match mine!"
Being advanced classes themselves, Aqua and Megumin grasped just how impressive Darkness's stats were.
"But come on, she doesn't look all that special. Her skills are even more half-baked than Aqua's, if you ask me."
"Even?!" Aqua's jaw dropped, then she started throwing a fit to let off some steam.
Ignoring her loud complaints, Kazuma had a sudden realization. "Wait a sec, how do you actually learn skills?"
Now at level 5 with 5 skill points under his belt, he figured it was high time to pick up some useful abilities.
"Let me explain," Chris interjected at the opportune moment, "As an adventurer, learning skills is simple. You just need someone to demonstrate it once. The skill then appears on your adventurer card, and you can spend points to acquire it."
"I see." Kazuma nodded, "So if Aqua and Megumin teach me, I could potentially use Healing Magic and Explosion Magic too?"
"Precisely!" Chris affirmed with an expression that screamed 'this student's got potential'.
"Kazuma, Kazuma!" Megumin burst out, barely containing her excitement, "Want to learn Explosion Magic? Sure, it costs a ridiculous number of points, but is there any skill more worthy? It must be Explosion Magic! Come, let's tread the path of explosions together!"
"Whoa, settle down, little loli!" Kazuma pushed her away, clearly irritated, "I'm only level 5 with a measly 5 skill points. How on earth could I possibly learn that?"
"Mmm..." Megumin whimpered, falling silent.
"Hey Aqua, time to shine! Show me whatcha got!"
"C'mon, spill the beans! What cool tricks you got up your sleeve?" He nudged Aqua, "You've gotta have a ton of nifty skills, right? I mean, you're kinda a big deal and all."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Aqua scratched her head, then shrugged, "Alright, alright, if you're so eager, I guess I can show you a thing or two."
"Sweet! Let's see the goods!"
Then, Aqua busted out some party tricks, like making water shoot out of her head!
"Seriously? That's what you're teaching me? You're such a useless Arch-priest!" Kazuma groaned, rolling his eyes. He turned to Adam, looking like a kid begging for candy, "Hey, Carter-senpai..."
Adam cleared his throat, sounding kinda awkward. "Uh... what's up?"
"You're a Sword Master, right? You've gotta have some cool moves up your sleeve. Mind showing me some easy-to-learn stuff?"
"Well, Satou-kun…" Adam coughed again, "You remember my 'Talent', yeah?"
"Oh, you mean that 'Analyze and Copy' thing?"
"Bingo. Since I can pick up any skill, I didn't really bother with Sword Master tricks."
"So... what'd you do with your skill points?"
"Dumped 'em all into 'Mana Expansion'."
"Dude, seriously?! Learn some actual sword skills! What kind of Sword Master doesn't know any sword moves?! You're killing me here!"
Kazuma couldn't believe it. Even the supposedly reliable party leader was turning out to be a total letdown.
"Uh, my bad…" Adam mumbled, looking pretty embarrassed himself.
To be fair, this wasn't entirely Adam's fault. With his 〚Analyze and Copy〛 ability, learning Sword Master skills would've been a waste of skill points. Instead, increasing his Mana was far more appealing.
After all, the amount of magic one can cast depends on their Mana Pool. Not to mention, the power of 〘Explosion Magic〙 is directly proportional to it's size.
"Puhahaha~" Chris was laughing so hard she could barely breathe, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, "Your party is just too funny!"
Great, now they were being laughed at... Kazuma wanted to sink into the ground.
"Well then, would you like to learn my skills?" Chris suggested.
"My class has skills that are both practical and cheap in terms of points. For instance, skills that only cost 1 or 2 points to learn."
"Ooh! Now we're talking!" Kazuma's eyes gleamed with newfound hope, "Please, teach me!"
"Oh my~ What should I do? " Chris flashed a mischievous smile, twirling a strand of silver hair around her finger. She leaned in, her voice taking on a suggestive tone, "You know, I'm quite worried about Darkness. She's my only friend... Ah~ If only there was a familiar party that could take her in!"
Kazuma's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He jumped to his feet, nearly tripping over himself, and did this goofy bow that made him look like he was proposing or something!
With his best puppy-dog eyes, he blurted out, "Lady Chris! Pretty please with a cherry on top, let Lady Darkness join our party? I beg you!"
For the sake of learning skills, he willingly swallowed his pride.
In the end, Darkness joined the party, and Kazuma successfully acquired some new abilities.
A win-win situation, one might say—worthy of celebration!
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