Guildless

Vex's Laurels [Chapter 24]

Warren speaks up.

"Its been six minutes since he entered the portal."

I clench my fist and continue waiting. Alesti lays his hand on my shoulder and yawns slightly.

"While we wait, I'd like to take this opportunity to teach you some stuff."

He says as I look at him and begrudgingly nod my head.

"Alright, for starters, you obviously didn't want to win. If you wanted my head, you would've activated those spells you know."

He says as I shake my head.

"On my buffs, the drawbacks are insane, almost crippling."

He laughs and pets his wolf, which stands almost as tall as him.

"You used all your buffs at once, didn't you?"

He asks, still laughing. I feel myself get embarrassed as I take a step forward and crater the ground slightly. He immediately stops laughs and appears next to my foot, inspecting it.

"It seems you also don't have full control over your strength."

He says quietly as I kick towards him, splitting the ground slightly from the pressure from the kick. He appears back at his wolf with his hands in his pockets.

"You just swing wildly and hope for the best, but against real S-Class people, that won't work. You need to find a style that works. For example, if you're going to continue using your fists, you need some skills focused on your fists."

He says as I stare at him blankly.

"And how do I acquire these skills?"

I ask as he laughs once again.

"Normally you can learn skills through practice of something you want to be a skill, or learning skills from people who already have them."

He says as he readies his fists and throws a flurry of punches faster than my eyes can keep up with.

"All S-Class fighters have skills. I in particular have skills in every style of fighting. Barehanded, one hand weapons, two hand weapons, and even improvised weapons."

He says as I watch him.

"Being S-Class isn't as easy as leveling up and immediately being strong. You still have to practice some form of training."

I sigh and close my eyes. I take a deep breath and ready my fists.

"Can you show me that one you just did? Please?"

I ask, biting my tongue and swallowing my pride.

He quickly takes a wide stance and pulls both of his fists by his ribs.

"So what you want to do is; strike in front of you as fast, and as hard as you can. You want to punch their face, chest, and stomach with each fist multiple times."

He says as he does it again, to give an example.

I try to emulate his attack, but can barely punch at one tenth of his speed. I watch him once again punch insanely fast. I repeat it over and over again. After another 6 minutes of straight attempting this move I finally see a notice appear.

[Skill acquired!]
[Flurry X18]

I smile and feel a bead of sweat roll down my cheek. As I look up I see Alesti nodding approvingly.

"My skill is [Flurry X132]. I strike three times with both hands, twenty two times."

He says as I sigh.

He wasn't kidding about me being inexperienced, I still have a long way to go before I can catch up to the real S-Class fighters.

I think as I see Alesti quickly draw his daggers and open his eyes. As I look around, I don't see or feel anything strange.

"This whole time, I was waiting until you realized your friend was dead. It seems I was wrong."

Alesti says as I see Vex emerge from the portal with 2 swords on his back, 1 axe strapped to his leg, and the sword I gave him, now shattered.

Vex's hair is no longer short and messy, but long and spiky. Coming down to the back of his knees. He scratches his black beard and speaks up.

"Guys."

He says with a smile as he appears beside me and hugs me.

Fast!

Before Alesti can react, Vex is petting his wolf. Warren quickly speaks up.

"You were in there for 15 minutes for us. How long was it for you?"

He asks anxiously as Vex looks at us,  emotionless.

"Hm, well one day in there is one second here. So fifteen minutes here, is nine hundred days there."

He says as I look towards him, smile and feel relief wash over me. Azeroth speaks up.

"So, what's your current score?"

He asks as Vex opens his stats.

"My current score. So, that plus that and that. Those and that."

He mumbles to himself as he quickly looks to us.

"My score is fourteen thousand six hundred and sixty three."

14,663?! I knew he would grow stronger, but that seems almost astronomically stronger. He's not even the same person.

I think as he looks at Alesti.

"Sorry, I don't remember you."

Vex says as Alesti swings his dagger towards Vex. As it slashes his face, Vex doesn't even react.

"Are you attacking me?"

Vex asks calmly as Alesti jumps back.

"Hey Dante, what was the name of your guild again?"

Alesti asks as I laugh.

"Oddly enough, we're known as 'The Guildless'."

I say as Alesti smiles and puts his dagger back in its invisible sheath behind him.

"Your guild is definitely shapeing up to be a guild to be scared of."

He says as he jumps on his wolf and waves quickly.

"I expect to see your guild grow exponentially in the future. When we meet again, I'll challenge you to a Guild Game."

He says as he vanishes. Vex appears by us and smiles.

"Not sure what his deal was, but it's good to see you guys again."

He says as he holds out his hand for me to shake. As I grab his hand I feel him squeezing hard as he can. I smile and squeeze as hard as I can in response. I see him grit his teeth and smile.

"Damn, even after all that, your strength score is still higher than mine."

He says with a smile as he laughs. I look back to see Azeroth, Blankk, and Warren watching us dumbfounded. Blankk speaks up.

"And now there's only three of us that are normal in strength."

He says as I chuckle.