Races: Online

"I-I'm here!" A voice squeaked as a hand shot out between the crowd of students. It was there that Han's eyes laid down on a… boy. Definitely younger than him and the rest of the students here. While most were young men and women, teenagers—this one looked like a prepubescent boy. Or girl. No. They were a 'Sir' so it was a boy.

He wasn't falling for any traps.

With a small stature and red hair and bright green eyes, [ Sir ] Elliot, the boy stood up—they were wearing a dark pair of trousers and a long sleeved shirt adorned with golden trim laces. He also wore a green cloak adorned with the same laces, [ Sir ] Elliot awkwardly made his way past the group of students and into the combat area.

Han clamped his mouth shut. Han Jing was going to fight a kid? What kind of situation was this— 

"You may begin."

And the red haired boy disappeared in a blink of an eye.

[ Invisibility ]

Han immediately dropped to the ground and dug his hand into the dirt and flicked it around him, reminiscent of what he did at the Enchanted Forest. Unfortunately they weren't as malleable as mud and barely reached far around him nor was it enough to flick and catch onto the person.

In theory, it should have worked but in real life, it failed.

The [ Mage ] was keeping their distance and they weren't attacking yet—a strong flame blew at him as he jumped backwards. 

Han reached for his [ Inventory ] and threw out a knife into the direction as it sliced through the plume of flames. It was blown back into the ground, the steel wasn't melted but it burned bright red.

Han didn't stop as he pulled out the rest of the knives and threw one into the same direction. [ Unerring Throw ]. 

It wouldn't hit because there was no one there. 

The others into the next directions.

He needed to hit one.

Just one stray—

Twhack.

His [ Skill ] finally took effect.

A small spurt of blood erupted below on the right side of the combat area as fresh blood trickled on the grass, the knife stuck to a leg or something. It quickly vanished before his eyes as the knife was thrown back and the blood quickly disappeared, probably due to the use of a healing potion. 

Han gritted his teeth, if the boy didn't attack him then he wouldn't have a chance to find them, if they had an area attack, he was doomed. 

He couldn't track them down with his current skill set. 

And pulling up one item after another in the inventory would make things suspicious. Not that he had anything useful beyond barks of wood, flowers and poison berries.

Ellynn had been right about him needing to be careful—Han swerved around the vicinity and held onto one of his knives, why weren't they attacking yet? Did they have no attack spells? Or was using the [ Invisibility ] spell draining them too much of their mana?

Han blinked and paused for a moment.

Mana levels.

A small smile coming to their lips, another jet of flames flew in his direction as he bent his knees and rolled across the ground—he'd worry about his clothes later, they were already dried up with blood.

The smile vanished quickly.

If they had healing potions, mana potions were possible.

So Han couldn't wait it out either. He needed a [ Skill ], a [ Class ] or anything to combat this. Wasn't this the time that a new power would emerge? 

A volley of stones flew into his direction. 

Stone met flesh and collided against his chest and he flopped backwards onto the grass. Nearly hitting a stone and missing it a couple of inches.

Pain throbbed hot across his chest.

He looked up and met two pair of eyes, one dark and the other a pair of green. Han had ended up landing close to his friend and Penelope. Timothy moved back from him with a wince, "Hey, are you—"

Han dug his hands into the pocket of his friend before they could say anything. He met the pot of gold and quickly drew back. "We'll restock the pantry, thanks."

They had no rules. At least none that Han had heard about.

All it took was a quick blow from his hands as the cinnamon powder filled the air and the outline of a young boy finally revealed himself, "Gotcha."

There was no time to lose as Han pounced after the boy as they tried to run back—he grabbed their cloak and tugged him back.

And found the color of the cloak reverting back but no boy.

Of course they would untie it.

Another blast of wind threw them back, and this time, he hit against the rock. "Ack," Han decided to stay low for a moment.

Why was he trying to fight again?

He was clearly out-classed.

So why else should he push himself? He held the cloak, balling it and his fist for a moment as he stared out into the field.

Everyone's eyes were on him.

And that was because they couldn't see the boy either. His only claim was this stupid cloak, its edges that kept fluttering despite the absence of any particular wind.

He blinked and stared at it, his vision moving past the other students and landing on another cloaked figure in the distance.

Han couldn't help but think it was from her. But more importantly, he clenched his fist and tried to look harder.

If the opponent was standing still, Han drew out one of the remaining rocks from his inventory and threw it into one direction.

Nothing.

Another one.

And there was no rustle.

Han pulled himself up slowly, as if injured. And his body still hurt a lot, but if needed to be—he could still move and dodge.

He could already hear some jeers from the other [ Students ] but he ignored them and surreptiously pulled out another rock and threw it into another direction.

Rustle.

The blades of grass shuffled and Han launched himself against the target, adrenaline rushed through his veins as he held the cloak open and jumped against the movement in the air.

He trapped a boy back into his cloak.

And this time he didn't let go.

The sound of bells erupted in his ears, as a long awaited status menu appeared before him:

[ Congratulations! Through Your Persistent Tricks, Uncanny Methods Of Staying Barely One Step Ahead of Danger And Unorthodox Combat Style...You Have Obtained A New Class! ]

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Outside the domain of Kraelonia Academy, the residents lived their day to day lives in a relatively state of peace. In the city of Gloria, people from all across the Human Kingdom of Yegarian gathered around at the capital city.

There lived one simple man.

Boaz was a [ Guardsman ]. An average man with a normal lifestyle. People would often walk past by him as they went about their daily lives, he was as background to them as the walls that surrounded the city of Gloria.

Dull, gray, boring... but an essential part of the city.

At least that was what his colleague told him.

His fellow [ Guardsman ], Ryden, called him 'Bo' and it was mildly annoying. They spent a good portion of his day being a nuisance and slacking off their job. But other than that, his life was rather calm and his job afforded him a somewhat good life with his semi-decent pay. 

Except for a few [ Traders ], [ Travellers ] and [ Merchants ] who were a pain in the ass, he could stand guard at the gates of Gloria and keep himself working at a good pace.

If there was anybody of note he had to point out though in recent times...

It would be that old [ Farmer ] who had been caught lying just a day back or so. Was it their age catching up to them? At least they left the City of Gloria fast and simply dropped off two young men to apprentice.

Boaz sighed and leaned against the wall for a moment as his partner kept the line going forward.

"Hey there ma'am, what brings you to Gloria?" Ryden grinned as he questioned one of the travellers. They had a penchant of asking more questions than necessary, and a lot more friendly.

Which was good and all but it didn't need to last for more than five minutes!

Boaz rubbed his face and held up his truth detecting pendant, he approached the two and asked his question, "Do you have any intentions to do commit crimes or other ill-intent actions while within the premises of the city?"

The question kind of made his work load easier if he had to be honest. But he wasn't going to admit it.

Little did Boaz know that his rather peaceful lifestyle as a [ Guardsman ] would change as three figures strolled past the line of other visitors and thought that they could walk past him. "Excuse me, you need to line up, ma'am."

Ryden blocked their path with a spear, "Sorry buddy, please head back to the end of the line. No special treatment."