Chapter 56: Under the Moonlight

“So trolls aren’t orcs like I believed and they are just massive. But -Rotwood- part is concerning.” Eren didn’t know what to say when he heard about the monsters own poison aura, high regeneration and super strength all together. They also get full physical stats with every level ups and some extra endurance boosts from their passives.

Emily told him they were the main reason elven village lost their all mining, smithing or any other production opportunities. The whole northern side and caves in the mountains were filled with trolls. Some ice trolls but mostly poison variant.

This green blood Rotwood Trolls were two or three danger level above the wolves.

“They are all coming from the North side. That dragon is really messing with us.” Emily looked at his new basted arm and showed her dimples when she smiled. “But I think you can deal with them easily if you catch up to me in levels.”

“I need to find a way to level up my skills too.”

They walked towards the usual south side Eren was most comfortable. They already checked the other three sides and this one was the last and the most dangerous.

Emily suggested the tests when they finally didn’t find anything.

“I need to know what you can actually do.” she said while they walked the slime area. “I can’t make guesses if you are going to go fight solo. And not punching a tree. We need real tests.”

Eren wasn’t going to argue. He was curious too.

Can I win, no actually, do I want to win?My mother used to hold her grudges about the most basic stuff and my papa is still suffering about mistakes from thirty years ago. Women…

He suddenly didn’t want to win.

The first test was speed. Emily picked two trees around a hundred meters apart. They didn’t have measurement tools but she had good eyes for distances.

“We will sprint with full speed. I will go first.”

She moved like a bullet. Third of her 50 level ups and skill passives boosted her Agility, plus years of forest-running made her a blur between the trees. Eren counted in his head. Just over three seconds.

Damn, even Usain Bolt wouldn’t believe this. World record on Earth for 100 meters was around nine second or something close.

He couldn’t remember the actual time but it was less than ten second because his father used to talk about this topic in the breakfasts. And his pregnant elven wife tripled the world record of Earth Olympics.

“Your turn.” She looked so cute when she called out to him with her head tilted to the side.

Eren ran and reached the second tree before the count hit was between 2 and 3 according to Emily.

His body covered thirty or forty meters so fast that his brain needed a moment to realize he’d already in hundred. And when he stopped, his lower body barely hold his momentum before accidentally falling down. He thanked his all rounded stats or this would be embarrassing.

Emily stared at the trunk behind him then to his body. She looked like she was searching for some cheat or explanation but there was none. Eren was clearly faster than her.

“Again. Longer distance!”

Oh, boy.

They found a stretch of flat ground near the east path this time. Eren saw this place for the first time even if it was so close to the village. About a two hundred meters of clear forest line between trees, swamps and so much more.

Emily ran it in just under 7 seconds. Wind skills helping at the end too.

Eren did it in five and he wasn’t even breathing hard.

Emily looked at the marks in the dirt where his feet had pushed off. The first two of them were a finger long deep to the ground.

“You start really strong than lower your grip on your legs. That’s good. Now strength.” she said. Her voice had that flat tone she used when she was thinking about something.

She picked a dark pine – the kind Eren had punched this afternoon. “Hit it but try to focus on your stats and release everything. We need to see the maximum force.”

Eren set his stance the way she’d showed him a couple of times already. Rotated his hips and drove his fist forward like a fast forward video recording. It was almost unbelievable with naked eyes.

BOOM!

His fist sank six-seven inches into the trunk. Its bark exploded outward like before. The whole tree shook hard enough to drop leaves and a confused birds from somewhere near the top.

Emily walked to the same tree with the same stance. Her fist connected with the wood and made a solid “thud”. Her punch dented the bark maybe half an inch. A good hit by any standard. But the difference was obvious.

Strength 37 versus whatever Emily had. Plus his body weight and half-elf evolved state. According to her, she distributed most of her stats equally to strength-agility and some to Endurance.

Even with her passive skills boosting them, her strength was still around 25. Five times of a normal human. Three to four time the most athletic ones at the peak levels.

She looked at her fist. Then at the deep dent he had left on the dark tree.

“Reaction test.”

Emily threw a stone at him without warning. He caught it between two fingers. She threw two more. He caught both.

She drew her katana and flicked the flat of the blade at his face from close range. Eren leaned back and the metal passed a centimeter from his nose. He could see his own reflection in the steel.

“You’re faster,” she said.

“Than you?”

“Than me.” She sheathed the katana. Her face was completely neutral but he didn’t trust what he was seeing. “Stronger. Faster. Better senses. Better reflexes.”

The silence after that sentence was heavier than it should’ve been. She was figuring out what had changed in the hierarchy and she wasn’t happy about the answer.

“You’re still better than me in every actual fight situation.” Eren said. “You have over ten years of-”

“Don’t.” She started walking. “Don’t make excuses for me.”

Then she smiled. A real smile. She grabbed Eren by the arm and pulled him between the trees. Then she started taking off his worn-out shirt full of holes.

Eren had just dodged a katana aimed at his face seconds ago but now he was completely caught off guard. His body didn’t want to react. It just surrendered to this woman.

“What are you doing..?”

“Shhh. Shut up and take everything off. Three weeks from now all our nighttime activities are over. I’m making every second count until then. Now lean back, open your mouth and lift me up…” She whispered on purpose. And that made him tremble with excitement.

Between the hormones exploding through his body and the realization of how addicting outdoor love making actually was, Eren heard a sound from the system.

[Congratulations! Your class skill “Love Love Love!” levelled up]

But all his attention was on the elf woman glowing under the moonlight.

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