Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 87: Arrival At Briarwood Village

When Alex came to Arcana, he had no one but Dim Dim.

Now, he had a handful of people he could genuinely call his friends.

Unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye. Who knew how long it would take before they met again?

”Nobles can be an annoying bunch, and they usually look down on commoners,” Dahlia told Alex. ”If they bully you, don’t hesitate to ask my friend for help. She’s a Professor, and she can definitely intimidate those guys.”

”Understood.” Alex nodded. ”Thank you, Dahlia.”

The young man then shifted his attention to Elaine and Efa, who had also come to bid him goodbye.

”We will keep our promise and head to Briarwood Village once we become Rank 3.” Elaine patted the young man’s shoulder. ”Don’t die until then.”

”I won’t,” Alex promised.

Efa hugged the young man tightly for a few seconds before planting a kiss on his left cheek.

”That’s for good luck,” Efa said mischievously. ”I think you’ll need all the luck in the world so you can do whatever you need to do.”

Alex blinked once, then twice, before pointing to his right cheek.

”Since I need all the luck in the world, how about you add another kiss here?” he asked with a smile.

The young man had already gotten used to the Scout’s playful attitude, so he decided to tease her before he left the Town of Thaloria.

He thought she’d back down, so when he felt something soft press against his right cheek, he was caught by surprise.

Before Alex could react, the Scout also picked up Dim Dim from his head and gave it a kiss.

”Look after Alex for us, Dim Dim,” Efa said softly. ”I’m sure he will listen to you.”

”Dim Dim!” Dim Dim nodded with a smile, promising the young lady it would do its best.

Satisfied with the little one’s answer, she returned the Dim Sum God to its spot on top of Alex’s head and took a few steps back.

Cairo shook his head but was quite amused. He was also happy that his disciple had made good friends during the short time that he had spent in the Town of Thaloria.

Parting was a little sad, but the time for them to leave finally came.

”It’s time to go, Alex,” Cairo said.

”Yes, Master,” Alex replied before following the Catkin towards the airship, which would take them to Briarwood Village.

The young man then waved at the three ladies from the deck of the ship and bid them goodbye one last time.

Soon, the sound of a whistle spread through the surroundings as the airship slowly rose toward the sky.

It was headed to the Capital City of Harmonia, and Briarwood Village was one of its stops before it arrived at its final destination.

The trip lasted a full day since the airship needed to make a few stops along the way.

Cairo looked at the small village that appeared in their view with a calm expression on his face.

From the sky, Briarwood Village didn’t look special.

It was not unlike the many small villages they had passed by along their journey.

”We will be landing a distance away from the village since it doesn’t have any platforms to accommodate our ship,” the conductor of the airship told Alex and Cairo.

”You’ll have to walk the rest of the way. It’s only a kilometer away from our drop point, so it’s not that long of a walk.”

Alex and Cairo nodded and thanked the conductor for telling them this information.

A few minutes later, the two disembarked from the flying ship and walked across the fields of the village.

Several farmers tending to their fields looked in the direction of the two people, whom they had never seen before.

The young man could recognize some of them. When he had been playing Charles Lambert’s Story Mode, he had interacted with some of these people.

Also, Briarwood Village wasn’t a big place.

Naturally, it became a tight-knit community where everyone knew each other.

”Are we going to meet Charles right away?” Cairo asked.

”No, Master,” Alex replied. ”We will stay at the inn for now and observe him from a distance. When the time is right, we will make contact with him and introduce ourselves as trial takers who wish to enroll in Frieden Academy.”

Cairo nodded in understanding.

The Catkin had no intention of going to Frieden Academy to study. The only thing he wanted to do was to find the way of his Sword Dao, which required him to travel to many places and vanquish demons along the way.

He was a Demon Slayer. Some of the Demons might be good, but he intended to hunt down all the bad ones and prevent them from harming the innocent.

Cairo only planned to accompany Alex until he had safely enrolled in the academy. After that, he would return to his wandering and would only send letters to keep in touch with his first disciple.

”Room for two, please,” Alex said to the innkeeper.

”Three coppers for a night,” the innkeeper replied. ”How long will you be staying?”

”Until the Trial of Frieden Academy begins,” Alex answered.

”Oh, so you’re a trial taker.” The Innkeeper smiled. ”Then, I’ll give you a discount and only charge you 8 silver coins per person.”

”Thank you.” Alex took out a gold coin and six silver coins from his storage ring and placed them on top of the counter.

Cairo wasn’t the type to bring a lot of money whenever he traveled, so Alex decided to bear the expenses for his Master’s lodgings.

The Catkin thanked Alex and decided to go to his room to rest.

The young man had already told him earlier that he didn’t plan to do anything special today, so the Swordsman decided to take a short nap until lunchtime.

Alex also went to his room. However, unlike Cairo, he took out his journal and started to write down a few things about Briarwood Village.

”The Dungeon of Beginnings will open two weeks from now,” Alex muttered as he noted down his thoughts in his journal. ”With Master’s help, we will be able to clear it easily.”

However, Charles couldn’t completely depend on them either. ”I will give the Whirlwind Sword from the treasure chest to Charles, so he will get a good weapon for the trial,” Alex decided.

The Whirlwind Sword’s name came from a skill imbued in it, Whirlwind Slash.

Alex planned to learn Whirlwind Slash first before giving the sword to Charles. How would he learn the skill? He would use the skill repeatedly until he understood how to do it naturally.

That was one of the ways to learn Sword Skills in ELO.

It was similar to how he had learned the skill Shield Charge after using Shield Bash against monsters a hundred times.

At that moment, Shield Charge was Alex’s strongest physical attack because its damage scaled with his shield defense and stats.

——

[Shield Charge]

Stamina Cost: 20

Type: Physical

— The user surges forward in a sudden burst of speed, slamming into their target with the full weight of their shield.

— Shield Charge deals physical damage that scales with the user’s Shield Defense, Strength, and Agility, combining raw power, defensive force, and momentum into a single brutal impact.

— Enemies struck may be staggered or knocked back based on the difference in mass and momentum.

Damage Formula: Shield Defense + Strength Stat + Agility Stat

Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Range: 15 meters.

——

The only problem with this skill was its rapid stamina depletion, so Alex must carefully choose the right moment to use it.

On the other hand, Whirlwind Slash was an AOE skill, so it allowed its user to hit multiple targets at once, which was incredibly effective when surrounded by monsters.

Charles, who had the passive skill, Challenger’s Mark, would benefit greatly from acquiring this skill.

The young man then continued to jot down notes on his journal, listing down every information he knew about Briarwood Village, which he and the Eris Brotherhood had gathered after playing the character Charles Lambert for a very long time.