The Hero System - Chapter 20

“I want us to share our battles’ experiences! Can we have a duel?” Lia said this in one breath. Jonah almost cursed.

“Uh but your cultivation is way stronger?” Jonah was confused. Was Lia trying to first bully his heart, then his body?

“We won’t use spiritual energy nor Spirit Skills.”

Jonah now understood what she meant. He happily agreed since that would increase his Spear Arts level.

They went into a training room that looked like a dojo. There was all sort of weapons. Jonah and Lia picked up a spear and a sword.

“Brother Jonah, do your best!” Kiwi cheered from the side.

“Hmph!” Lia glared at him and seemed dissatisfied.

“Hehe, let’s begin.” Jonah laughed helplessly.

The aura around Lia changed. Jonah felt that she was like a sword cutting through the air. She seemed as if she was one with the sword. However, Jonah wouldn’t let her do the first attack since he still has the range advantage with his spear.

With two steps, Jonah mimicked his Spider Steps skill without using spiritual energy. It gave him a minor boost that made him close in on Lia. He thrust his spear toward her without hesitation.

Lia, however, seemed to expect that. After all, Jonah didn’t have a spear technique except his basic Spear Arts. Although it made him good with the spear, its moves were quite general. Thus, Lia span and slashed with her sword toward Jonah.

Even though they didn’t use their spiritual energy or skills, their bodies still had their differences. However, Jonah was prepared for her attack. He remembered when he fought the hooligan at the park. This time, he also ducked but didn’t go down on his knees.

Unlike the hooligan, Lia stayed indifferent toward Jonah’s response. She swiftly adjusted her sword and slashed toward Jonah.

Jonah knew she’d take this opportunity and raised his spear to defend. However, when the slash landed, the spear broke in half!

Thankfully, it slowed down giving Jonah a chance to dodge using evade! Evade was a skill that didn’t use spiritual energy, just his intelligence, and agility!

Jonah rolled over to the side without getting hit. However, he had to throw half of the spear!

Jonah stood up and looked at the half spear in his hand. Luckily, he had the half with the head.

“You can change your weapon.”

“No. This is a battle right?” Jonah shook his head. He then held the half-spear in one hand and tried to use it like a spear and a sword. He imagined his arm being the other half of the spear.

With this, they continued.

One hour later, Jonah fell to the ground again. This was his fifth loss against Lia.

[Ding! Spear Arts leveled up!]

[Spear Arts Level 4: Proficiency with the Spear. Increase 10% attack power. Rank: Common.]

‘HaHa 10%?’ Jonah thought as grasped for breath. It seemed his spear proficiency has reached a level where he can boost his attack. However, why would it only appear on Level 4?

[Because it’s a Common Rank skill.]

‘I see.’

“Again?” Lia asked.

“Again!”

They kept on battling until Jonah was unable to stand. And that was after his 11th loss. However, his Spear Art is now Level 5! It increases 15% of his attack power.

Lia also found it was weird how Jonah would get better after a few fights. Because of that, she has already labeled him as a genius. However, this made her battle intent rise and she has beaten him up more than planned

“Brother! Don’t worry, you’ll win next time!” Kiwi said encouragingly. The thing is, he said this every time Jonah loses! At first, Jonah was happy about it. However, he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for losing every time.

After training, the three had dinner and went to their rooms. The king and prince Daniel didn’t appear after lunch.

After Lia left, Kiwi told Jonah the truth. Lia didn’t have anyone to train with! Everyone would pretend to be sick or have a dying family member if she asked them. The reason was quite simple, Lia was a crazy swordswoman!

“Hah! What a day!” Jonah was finally able to relax. He thought about upgrading his body but decided not to. Since this wasn’t his home, he can’t be safe.

Jonah was quite happy about making new friends with Kiwi and Lia. Even though they were elves and from a different world, they still became friends. That’s the beauty of friendship.

With a smile, Jonah went to sleep.

.

Jonah woke up late the next morning. His body still ached from the ‘duel’ that was totally one-sided. Well, all’s well that ends well. Since he got his Spear Arts to Level 5, he was quite pleased.

Today, he wanted to explore the city! He was quite excited about it because he wanted to have a tour since he came to this city. At first, he didn’t have any money. However, he has the token now!

He learned from Lia that this token was far more capable than just a metal piece. To cut the long story short, he can use this token for anything other than hurting the elves!

Want to buy something? Sure! Want to take some money from the city hall? Sure! However, he still needs to be reasonable. He can’t just take the whole city’s funds, right?

Jonah walked out of his room looking around for an attendant. However, there was none. Jonah felt something was amiss so he decided to head toward the hall.

Before he even reached there, Jonah was stopped on the way.

“Please put your hands up.” The guards said as they surrounded Jonah. Since he didn’t think that would happen, Jonah was caught off guard.

“What’s the meaning of this? I’m a guest.” Jonah said as he took out his token.

“We know who you’re, Mister Jonah. We have instructions to hold you captive until you’re no longer a suspect.”

“Suspect?” Jonah furrowed his brows.

“Yes. Of attempting to assassinate the king.” The guard had a serious expression.

Jonah gulped with wide eyes. ‘Assassinate? What the fuck happened?’ Jonah wanted to say he didn’t do it, but he knew that was quite dumb since they wouldn’t believe him.

“How’s the king’s condition?”

“That’s not for me to say.”

“On whose instructions are you doing this?” Jonah asked.

“His Highness, Prince Daniel.” The guard was quite respectful to Jonah. He was just a suspect and not a criminal. And he was quite close to the royal family.

Jonah decided to tag along. After all, he can’t beat or escape these guards. He did think about using the Talisman, but it wasn’t worth it. If he escaped, that would just be stupidly admitting he did it.

‘Now that I think about it, Kiwi somehow slipped through the guards and barriers and no one felt anything weird about it And he was captured by a spider and almost got killed. Now, the king was almost killed? Something smells fishy’

Jonah kept pondering about it as he was led to a prison cell. Luckily, it wasn’t the kind of dirty cell that was seen in the movies. In fact, it was quite neat. However, it had an iron door and no windows.

“Please wait here until you’re summoned.”

Jonah nodded and sat inside. Now that he was all alone, he kept thinking about this whole thing. He couldn’t help but feel there was a scheme happening behind the scenes.

Jonah concluded two possibilities. First, the person who ordered the assassination was from inside the kingdom, maybe the city. And Kiwi getting killed was a part of their plan.

Second, there was really an assassination attempted by another kingdom or power and Kiwi was just a coincidence.

‘However, how can the whole thing be a coincidence when the guards and barriers didn’t notice Kiwi walking out?’

‘If we assume getting Kiwi killed was a part of their plans, then there’s one suspect that would benefit from these two events. That would be Daniel, the first prince.’

Jonah didn’t like that elf in the first place. However, he didn’t think he would do such a thing.

‘Even if he was the one who did all of this Why and how?! Even if he wanted to be the king, why would Kiwi have anything to do with it? Even though he’s a competitor for the throne, he’s still just a child!’

Jonah lacked information. From the beginning, he felt that Kiwi being unable to go out was weird. As far as he knows, only Kiwi had such a treatment. There’s something about Kiwi that he didn’t know about. And that something would be a threat to Daniel.

And if it was indeed Daniel, then he didn’t know how he did it. Judging by the king’s ability to see through the mask, he must be a powerhouse. That’s why Jonah failed to see how Daniel would be able to do it.

Since he had nothing to do it. Jonah started to cultivate and not put much thought into it. Since he doesn’t know much, he can just deal with anything when the time comes. Time slowly passed