Osric looked over to William while catching his breath.
"Good job. This would've been much harder alone."
William smiled and gave him a fist bump.
"You too and definitely."
"I've worked with a lot of parties before, but fighting with you is way easier… even if it's just the two of us."
"Yeah, we work pretty well together."
"Of course! Mostly because you say the right things boss."
Osric felt a little uncomfortable being called that, but he knew that William was just being himself.
He chuckled quietly.
"Sure. Where are you going to find someone like me?"
William laughed.
"Haha! Arrogant bastard."
"Alright. What is your next order boss?"
Osric smiled and shook his head.
"Let's collect the corpses."
"You got it!"
As Osric lifted another Forest Creeper corpse into his bag, a familiar blue screen suddenly appeared in his mind.
Heightened Senses (E) Minor Progress.
Combat Instinct (D) Minor Progress.
'Nice.'
Osric was happy to receive some small rewards from the system without a challenge.
Although small, it was still a result of his hard work.
William put four Forest Creepers inside his bag and Osric five.
"Nine creepers. Not bad." William said.
"Yeah. Did you check that no body parts were left behind?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Let's go."
A single Forest Creeper seemed insignificant in size, but carrying multiple corpses was heavier than imagined.
They put the heavy bags over their shoulders and started walking back the way they came from, outside the Ashbrook Monster Forest.
The walk back to Ashbrook took nearly an hour with the heavy bags slowing them down, but the familiar sight of the town walls eventually appeared through the trees.
The guild confirmed their mission completion and paid the promised seventy copper.
After that, they sold the monster corpses to the same materials dealer for a total of 12 silver and 90 copper.
Both William and Osric were happy.
"Wow! I have never made so much money from one mission alone. Over 5 silver!" William said enthusiastically.
"When I completed missions like this one, it was with a bigger party and my share was small. To think we can earn so much by ourselves!"
Osric also smiled.
"Yes. That's thanks to our hard work and abilities."
'I have now have 25 silver and over 500 copper. That's the same as over 30 silver crowns.'
The two of them got something to eat and started talking.
"What will you do with your money Osric?"
"Not sure yet. I'll probably save it up for now and only spend it on necessities."
"Sounds boring. But makes sense. I'll give most to my grandparents anyway."
They kept eating and talking at the inn and before they headed home, William asked one last thing.
"When and what will our next mission be boss?"
Osric didn't take long to think.
"Since we aren't injured, we will do one the day after tomorrow again."
"I don't know which one yet, but as long as there aren't any injuries or too much exhaustion, I plan to complete missions every other day."
William looked with disbelief.
"What?!"
"How many parties do you know that work so much? Just how eager are you to kill monsters?"
"If you want to grow in strength and wealth, you need to grind for it."
William sighed.
"Fine."
After agreeing on when and where to meet in a couple days, both of them went home.
Osric was determined.
'I'll also train again tomorrow.'
He knew that he was still basically just a beginner with the sword and didn't want to get cocky and lazy.
—
The next day Osric focused entirely on training.
Franklin wasn't present, so he practiced his stance and sword movements by himself for a couple hours and also did some endurance training.
He was starting to get used to holding a sword.
Other than that, his day wasn't very eventful.
The day after, he met William at the guild.
It didn't take them long to decide on a mission.
Osric suggested they take another E-Rank Forest Creeper Nest mission.
It made sense, because this way they could grow their experience and teamwork as well as make a lot of money.
This time they didn't need as much preparation as they already had everything they needed.
Once they arrived inside the forest, Osric put his tracking abilities to work again, using his Heightened Senses.
William and Osric encountered a total of 8 Forest Creepers this time and finished them off much quicker and cleaner than two days ago.
Both fulfilled their battle roles perfectly with Osric's instructions.
William sighed with a curious smile.
"Just how many nests are there of these damn big lizards inside the forest?"
Osric was curious as well but didn't care.
"Does it matter?"
"Thanks to them, we can make a lot of money."
"Let's quickly collect their bodies and go sell them. I also need to sharpen and polish my shitty sword again."
"Yeah, you're right."
Osric could feel it clearly now.
With every mission, his movements in battle became more polished and he grew accustomed to his new strength.