Ascension of the Nephilim

The enraged man used his fist and made an attack.

The first flew as fast as the man could throw it, but Emeros could have easily evaded.

Yet Emeros chose not to evade but raised his two arms with some leather armor covering his arms.

POW!

The sound of the crisp punch was heard, and everyone saw it.

"Stupid kid. That man's level three!" The guard saw the man rushing at Emeros and laughed at the poor luck of the stupid kid he had seen earlier.

Emeros was pushed back and stumbled. He had blocked the attack with his two arms and couldn't help but complain at the pain. He knew that if he had taken this attack before, he would have been killed.

"It hurts!" Emeros complained. He thought that his added stats would have allowed him easily resist the attack.

"But... Kyros's former life spoke of rules that if the strength of my enemy is far weaker than my vitality and Force, plus my body armor, the attack would have been reduced far weaker!" Emeros complained as he slowly stood up and could still feel the sting.

"Give it to me!" The man roared again.

Emeros held on to the stone he found and glared at the enemy.

"I guess I'm not that strong. Damn... Kyros had it good! Fifty points at level one?! He practically had a Commander's potential since the start!" Emeros turned to his enemy.

His arms stung a little, but the last time he recalled getting hit by someone on level 2, he couldn't walk well for a day!

"If only there was a way to calculate hit points. I know Kyros, in his first life, counted it. But the new Kyros had so many regeneration and techniques; he didn't bother to count... What a cheat!" Emeros complained.

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Adding Vitality points! All beings within range of Emeros's levels or who are two levels higher will now display Vitality Points.

Emeros current Vitality Points: 259 /280

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Emeros was surprised that the attack was registered.

"...Interesting." Emeros turned to the man that was headed toward him.

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Man

Level 3

Strength: 9

Magic: 0

Dexterity: 13

Vitality: 9

Vitality Points: 190

Intelligence: 23

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Emeros saw it and was curious just how strong his fist would be.

He ran in anger, like a little boy who had lost his temper.

"You still can move?!" The man roared as he tried to catch Emeros's wild punch.

As a thirteen-year-old boy, Emeros looked weak and pathetic, and the man who was confident in his level wanted to catch the punch.

POW!

"AHHHH!"

The man felt pain as his arm was fractured from the punch.

---

Damage inflicted: 55.1

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More than one-fourth of the man's vitality was taken away from a single punch. And Emeros didn't even use much of the Force energy and only used five points!

The man was limping back as he clutched his arm.

Emeros saw the man backing away, and everyone nearby was surprised.

"You idiot! I trained as a Barbarian! I have Force!" Emeros ran and made another punch on the stomach.

POW!

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Damage inflicted: 48.3

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The punch landed on the stomach, and the man was on his knees immediately.

"Anyone else wants to take away what's mine?" Emeros turned to the rest and now had a sword in hand.

Two punches brought the adult man to his fours, and it didn't seem like he would recover from the pain anytime soon.

The rest of the onlookers were amazed at the display of might.

The soldier continued to look at Emeros. But this time, instead of disdain or disgust, there was another hint of anger in his eyes.

Emeros had seen those looks all too well in Kyros's former memories.

"That guy is jealous of me? I guess I have to be careful... Although Destiny isn't trying to kill me, and Fate aren't pulling pranks, my actions would still draw attention. I guess I have to be more careful from now on... But I wanted to hunt monsters..." Emeros frowned.

Suddenly, three individuals approached him.

Two were teenagers. One had dark hair, numerous scratches over his legs, and was about Emeros's age. The other one was at least seventeen years old and stood close in height to the last one. The last one was a middle-aged man with only one hand.

"Looking for trouble?" Emeros asked.

"No! Young hero, Emeros! We wanted to volunteer our services! Even if you are strong, these mines are full of monsters, and you could get attacked! For a small fee, we will help you carry all that you mine! After all, the rare stones are found in the deeper parts of the mine!" The one-armed man answered.

"No one wants to go with us since we're kids. We hope you would." A young boy answered.

Emeros thought for a bit and saw the nearby wheelbarrows.

"I guess I could use a hand." Emeros smiled and turned to the one-armed man. But then he realized what he had done.

"Er... I mean... I could use... some help!" Emeros chuckled nervously.

The one-armed man smiled and could see that Emeros had a rather good disposition.

"It's ok, Young hero! I get that a lot! My name is Wesret." 

"I'm Don." The older teenager answered.

"Philip." The teenager who was about Emeros's age also answered.

"Alright. Let's go!" Emeros nodded, and the group moved on.

"There's a lot of losers who might try to take away my stone. So let's go deep into this place. Needless to say, if you betray me, I'll kill you. Also, Mage Perment, who is in charge of giving us level-ups, is my friend. I'll convince him to give you Gus a discount." Emeros spoke as he walked on.

"Master Emeros. This is your first day here, right?" Don asked.

"Hm? Yeah. Why?"

"We don't go deep into the mines. Not today. Today is a day that we miners call 'the Monster Passing.' This entire underground labyrinth is not just a mine, but it's a passageway connecting two monster forests. A lot of monsters will me moving around that place, and it will be dangerous!" Wesret explained.

"?!" Emeros's eyes lit up.

"Then we have to go. It might be dangerous, but if you guys listen to me, we could just get a level up by the end of the day!" Emeros exclaimed.

Everyone's eyes lit up.

"You mean it?" Philip asked.

"Well, those at level one will surely get to two. But I'm not sure how the rest will. I haven't had the chance to level up yet."

"What?! Then that strength! You said you were a barbarian?!" Wesret confirmed.

"I er... am! I just trained in Force."

"Wait...! You can use Force Skills?!" Don exclaimed.

"Not really, skills. I just now how to bring it out." Emeros could not help but think back to Kyros's endless amount of Force skills, from defensive walls to slashes, and Emeros sighed in envy.

"Amazing! You must be a son of a noble!" Wesret exclaimed.

"...The war took it all away," Emeros answered as he walked on.

The three were silent at Emeros's words.

"Now, follow me! Let's go monster hunting!" Emeros declared.

The three looked at each other and smiled. The prospect of having a level-up was just too tempting!

Deep into the mines...

The mana that flowed caused the path to having some low glow in it, allowing humans to see slightly even without torches.

On the outskirts of the path, several small, thin, yet grotesque creatures as tall as small children were running with great speed.

On the other side of the wide path, hiding behind the stones, Emeros and the rest watched the group.

"Imps!" Wesret identified the beast.

"Low level and weak. But they are too fast for us! They have dexterity equal to level two men! And with their numbers, they could easily kill us!" Wesret frowned.

"Reukyeds yteelak ummisds!" The strange creature cried out to the rest.

"Big imp trouble?" Emeros had vague memories of the many tongues that Calaminus taught Kyros. But he kept this translation to himself.

"Young hero! We can't fight this!" Wesret spoke.

"No, we can. We just do as planned! Everyone! Don't you have someone you want to kill? Is there something that you want to avenge? Aren't we all slaves not of our choosing? When I was sent here, I vowed to fight my way out and become stronger. If we can't win against Imps, we won't win against the people we want dead!" Emeros urged, and he walked out to the open.

Wesret, Don, and Philip were stunned at Emeros's words. As they saw Emeros walk out, it was as if they were looking at the back of a royal prince. A strange desire was lit up.

"...Alright. If he's confident, let's do our part too!" Wesret smiled.

Emeros stood out in the open, but the imps didn't take notice of him yet.

Emeros had collected several stones along the way and took one from his backpack, and aimed.

As an orphan, he had spent a lot of time skipping stones on the waters and had a good aim in rock throwing.

The rock flew with great speed...

SPLAT!

The stone sank deep into the head of an imp and killed it instantly.

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Damage inflicted: 220 (CRIT!)

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Emeros had charged up the stone with all his force, covering it with 11 points! With the hit striking a vulnerable part, the imp quickly fell.

The others saw it and were enraged and chased after Emeros.