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nEldrian could not truly compare the two weapons. He had not used either enough to understand how they worked. But from what he knew of fights, he felt the regen -the passive bonus- would truly be far better.

nA large reason for this belief was because Eldrian had never really felt he lacked damage. It was always more a limit of simply keeping up with the opponent. And while fights generally ended quickly, Eldrian knew that battles continued for a long time.

nSimply looking back to his recent fights, they were generally first against a few grunts. Then later against the stronger enemies, yet at that stage, he would be tired and slightly wounded. Luckily he had had Floyd to help him in the caves, but with this spear, he might not need it. Certainly not as much as he had needed the help.

nEldrian felt that most fights in this game would be like that. He doubted there would really be cases where he only fought one or two strong enemies. He felt there would always be many underlings, and currently, he was actually also an underling.

nThe ability is even stronger, certainly far stronger than the lifesteal ability of the greatsword. Eldrian though, certain that being able to recover any stat; be it health, mana, or stamina, would be far stronger. It was truly a perfect ability for almost any situation.

nQuickly trying it out, Eldrian found it only required a single thought to work. He simply thought to give himself more stamina, and he got it. Not that he had needed it as he walked to the others, but he could feel the rejuvenating energy entering him.

nUsing the ability felt similar to when he interacted with his inventory, something he was very comfortable with. Hence why it took him little effort to use it.

nThis is really awesome. Eldrian thought as he realized that the rewards for the hidden quest were simply insane. He was not even sure if this was all, since the quest was still ongoing. Naturally, he thought of the dungeon as being part of the quest, not separate.

nFrom this one adventure, he had gotten three magic grade weapons, four, if you did not count the daggers as a pair. This last one, the spear was certainly the strongest and most fit for Eldrian.

nHe had placed most of his limited time into training with a spear, thus he really preferred a spear over a sword. He did not plan to be so limited, but he understood he had to optimize for now.

nThis gift from Zamia was certainly a godsend.

nBefore bringing his thoughts back to 'reality', back to walking to the other, Eldrian looked for the race bonus he had last seen when equipping Gray.

n15% to both the passive and ability, due to race.

nThat is insane. Eldrian realized as he tried to recall what the max was. Seeing the increase he was certain it was based on the weapon's tier, yet he could not recall the max and had no idea how the increase worked.

nEldrian joined the rest absentmindedly. Simply left without words from the gift he had received.

nEveryone was busy organizing how they would be traveling. During their spare time; Floyd, Margit, and Sabrea had gone scavenging for food in the forest. Once they started looking, they found that there were many edible fruits and berries.

nDuring the week, they had filled five baskets with different foods. Hoping it would be enough for their return journey. Naturally, it was on Eldrian to store the food and bring it with them.

nEldrian came out of his stupor as everyone got into a formation. Vivian had taken the lead to try and organize everyone. No one complained about this, since according to the military codes, she was their leader now. She was the only person here with an actual leadership rank.

nEven so, no one really bothered to follow her orders. They rather used them as a guideline, especially since they were still inside the forest.

nThe formation was simple; the group of women, who they had saved, all stayed together in the center. Those of them who volunteered stood at the outside. Willing to offer support and resistance should it come to that.

nOther than that, Sabrea took the front, Terlas the back, Floyd and Margit grouping with the women. Eldrian was supposed to take the left post, while Vivian took the right. But since they were still in the forest, he also did not care for it.

nAs soon as they set out, Eldrian confirmed where he should be when needed, then he left his post. Not that his post was all that fixed, he simply stood to the left of the group. Leaving two to three meters between himself and the group of women.

nThis was done with the aim to have him stall while the others reacted. This was what everyone in such a position needed to do. Sabrea was in the front since that was the most likely direction they would get opposition from. Terlas took the back since that was the second likeliest.

nMoving nearer to the women, Eldrian asked them who were going to fight, if needed.

nSome women stepped forward once he asked this, and so Eldrian asked for their names and what type of weapon they wanted. Certain that it would be better to give them something to fight with. Eldrian knew keeping all the weapons he had on him would do any good.

nNot many of the women were trained, so they could not offer much help. But there were two who were actually quite strong. Certainly not elites, but they knew what to do.

nPortia, a petite woman with black hair was a Tier 1 in the melee class. She said she was used to a twohanded sword, so Eldrian had given her the normal Tier 5 greatsword he had from long ago.

nThe other woman was Hadriel, a woman in her early thirties with light blond hair. She looked quite good in her floral dress which had white and yellow flowers. She was actually a Tier 2 in the range class. Eldrian did not know what to give her, and after some thought, he brought out the two pieces of Grace.

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"Sorry it is broken, but I hope they will work well,

" Eldrian said as he handed them to her. Having used inspect on the pieces before he handed them over. Their damage had slightly lowered, but they were better than the other weapons Eldrian had.

nThe longer piece now had a damage value of 18, the shorter one having 16. One could almost argue they were still as good as before, since before both sides could not be used at the same time.

nAfter having also given the two spare longswords he had, as well as the arming sword and buckler to three other women, Eldrian set of towards Vivian. Having one more weapon he needed to deliver.

nVivian quickly saw Eldrian approaching and frowned, sad that even her friend would not follow her orders.

nEldrian saw this, causing him to chuckle at her easy to read emotions. He could not remember her being this easy to read before.

"Hey, Vivian, relax. Even if we are in a formation, it won't do much. We have far too few to make it work.

"

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"Which makes it all the more important!

" She countered, unwilling to just accept that no one was following her order. She understood why, seeing as they were still in a safe environment. But she wanted them to get used to the formation before it was actually required.

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"Okay, I'll go back once we're done,

" Eldrian said, trying to appease her as he smiled and looked at her. She was now also wearing a floral dress. The green and white of her skin mixed well and made her look far more delicate and beautiful. Especially when looking at the red flowers covering some parts of the dress, drawing attention to themselves and her auburn hair.

nEldrian also noticed that the dress emphasized her green eyes, causing them to seemingly sparkle as he looked at her face. I am surprised I can talk straight with her. Eldrian thought as he realized just how beautiful she was. He was actually extremely shocked that he could talk to her so easily.

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"I am not sure if you know why I came to find you. I brought you this.

" Eldrian spoke quickly, bringing out Nelida's Flame as he did.

nBefore Vivian could retort, she felt waves of magic coming from the sword Eldrian had taken out. Leaving her without words.

nSlowly reaching out, she took the sword. As soon as she did Eldrian received a notification.

nDelivery quest completed.

nQuest Name: Nelida's journey

nQuest Giver: Boran

nQuest Rank: C

nQuest Description: Deliver the crafted sword, Nelida, to Vivian

nQuest Reward: 1 200 XP

nLooking at the little XP he had gained, Eldrian realized that quests were not a good way of leveling. He currently needed 240K XP for his next level, a little less since he had some XP already. But the reward of 1200 XP was truly not worth the effort. This was the XP rewarded for killing twelve goblins, something which was truly not hard to do.

nWhy is it so little? Eldrian wondered, realizing that back when he took the quest, he had actually thought the XP reward was decent. Back then, reaching the next level had only required 10k XP or so.

nWhat insane growth. Eldrian realized that the XP needed for each next level was simply insane. He was only level 13, yet it was already hundreds of times more than when he started the game. Heck, it was almost ten times what reaching level 10 had required.

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