I Became the Academy’s Piercing Spearmaster- Chapter 3

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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As expected, choosing the bandits had been the right decision.

Even though they were just minions, the money the bandits carried was far more than what three goblin magic stones were worth.

Monsters died and left behind corpses and magic stones.

Bandits died and left behind corpses, equipment, and money.

High-level monsters would probably be more profitable than bandits, but for me right now, bandits were better than monsters I had to travel far to find.

For the next two weeks, I continued to hunt bandits and build up my capital.

I would defeat the bandits, farm their equipment and money, and when I felt I had caught enough, I would head down to Valendia.

Once in Valendia, I would hand over the bandanas, the proof of subjugation, to Deishee and receive my reward.

Worried that they might be suspicious of me, a newcomer to Valendia, hunting bandits so relentlessly, I once showed her the heads of three particularly grim-faced bandits. That was the one time I saw the ever-smiling Deishee look utterly horrified.

“Mr. Ishihan! We have no reason to doubt you! So from now on, there is no need to bring back any heads!”

It was a relief for me too, as cutting off heads each time was a hassle.

And while I was indifferent to killing them, I couldn’t say I enjoyed dismembering their corpses.

More than anything, it was grotesque.

After getting paid, I would sell the farmed equipment at the blacksmith for additional funds.

After doing this for two weeks, something unexpected happened.

“Huh?”

A message saying I had completed an achievement popped up while I was hunting bandits as usual.

‘I can’t believe the achievement system was implemented like this.’

In Lu-Fan, too, completing quests or performing certain actions would give you a notification that you had completed an achievement, along with a small amount of gacha currency.

‘I got points faster than I thought.’

I had expected to get points as something of a tutorial-clear reward only after entering the academy, but an opportunity to find out what these points were came sooner than expected.

On top of that, my Fame, a stat I didn’t understand, also went up.

‘Status Window.’

New categories for Possessed Points and Title had been added to my stats.

The fact that it appeared in the stats window seemed to indicate that points could be distributed not only to skills but to stats as well.

First, I checked the title section.

A simple phrase that didn’t seem to have any particular effect.

It was, literally, just a title.

I ignored the title and focused my attention on the points.

‘Where should I distribute them.’

Following the trajectories was enough to take care of the bandits.

Learning a skill would allow for more powerful attacks, but…

‘I think raising my stats would be better.’

I decided to save learning skills for after I entered the academy and distribute the points to my stats instead.

My stamina was still fine, so I passed.

As a spear user, I didn’t think I’d be using magic much, so I passed on that too.

I didn’t know how Luck would work, so I passed.

The same went for Fame.

I distributed one point each to Strength and Agility.

A confirmation window appeared after I distributed the points.

A system that confirmed my choice instead of applying it immediately.

“…”

I pressed ‘No’ and clicked on Fame.

A warning window popped up.

‘I had a feeling, and I was right.’

I had thought that the Fame points gained from an achievement would be different from other stats.

As expected, Fame had its own unique way of being raised, unlike the other stats.

I could probably think of it as something like popularity.

Now that I had confirmed that, I finally distributed the points to Strength and Agility and pressed the ‘Yes’ button.

As soon as the points were distributed, an unknown vitality surged through my body.

I felt power fill my body, and I felt a step lighter.

‘I need to test this.’

I wandered around the mountain a bit more to test how much my increased stats would affect combat.

“Found you! So you’re the bastard who’s been hunting our guys lately!”

While doing so, I encountered a bandit with the characteristic grim face of a bandit and a scar over one eye.

That bandit was wearing the blue bandana that marked a bandit captain and was accompanied by six subordinates.

‘A captain.’

Minions wore brown bandanas, elites wore green, captains wore blue, and the boss wore a red bandana.

Until now, I had only seen minions and the occasional elite.

And now I run into a captain right after raising my stats.

‘My luck is good.’

Bandit elites had more money and better equipment than minions.

Then how much money and good equipment would a captain have?

“…! Lord Rubid! Look at his eyes! Those are the eyes of a cruel man who sees us as mere prey!”

One of the minions trembled as he spoke to the captain.

“Yes! That’s how he looks to me too. Very arrogant eyes.”

The bandit captain scowled and glared at me.

‘…Wait, Rubid?’

At that moment, the name of the bandit captain that the minion had said flashed through my mind.

If that bandit captain was the Rubid I knew… he might have the item I had been searching for all this time.

‘Then I absolutely cannot let him get away.’

I had to catch this guy.

So he couldn’t run away.

I taunted him so that the captain wouldn’t even think of escaping.

“Hey, you.”

I pointed my spear at Rubid and continued.

“Looking at you, are you a slightly better-off bandit?”

A smirk formed on Rubid’s lips.

“That’s right. I am Rubid, a captain of the Belken Gang! You’ve killed my men quite well until now… consider your life over today!”

“Ha!”

I let out a single, deliberately grating chuckle.

“…What’s so funny?”

“Of course it’s funny. Some worthless bandit scrap calling himself a captain, how can I not laugh at that?”

I flicked my spear up and down.

“Stop with the chatter and just come at me already, you pig.”

It was at that moment.

‘What?’

An out-of-place mechanical sound was heard.

“P-pig? Did you just call me a pig…?”

Rubid’s face, which had only been glaring at me, turned beet red.

His already furrowed brow wrinkled even more, and I could hear the sound of him grinding his teeth.

His body trembled, and he let out a loud snort.

“L-Lord Rubid?”

Finding Rubid’s change strange, the minion right next to him was flustered.

“Right now! Kill that bastard!”

“What?”

“Can’t you hear me! I said kill him!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

At the captain’s command, four bandit minions and two bandit elites charged at me.

‘Tsk, he’s not coming himself.’

As I readjusted my grip on the spear and took a stance, I felt the now-familiar trajectories.

‘Oh.’

And I could immediately feel the results of raising my stats through the trajectories.

The number of trajectories had increased.

Not only that, but the range and reach of the trajectories had widened.

I instinctively felt what that meant.

As my strength and agility had increased, the possibilities for my actions had increased.

It meant that attacks that were impossible with my previous strength and agility were now possible.

‘I have to test out my new power.’

I kicked off the ground and, in an instant, covered a greater distance than usual, arriving in front of the bandits.

“Ugh…!”

Not expecting me to charge at them, the bandit minion was flustered and tried to swing his sword.

But that brief moment of hesitation.

That was all I needed.

Stab!

With a short, quick thrust, I stabbed the bandit’s neck, then immediately swung the spearhead lodged in his neck sideways to pull it out.

Normally, I would have pulled the spear straight back because this way would have taken an unnecessary amount of extra effort.

But thanks to my increased strength, I didn’t feel like I had overexerted myself even with a slightly cruder movement.

Thanks to that, I could move on to the next target without stopping.

One of the bandit elites drew his bow at me.

A new trajectory appeared, but there was no need to deflect the arrow.

The fact that I could see a trajectory for deflecting it meant that I could also predict how the arrow would fly.

The moment the arrow was shot, I moved slightly out of its range and dealt with the bandit minions.

“Gack!”

“Uuugh!”

By the time the arrow thudded into a tree behind me, I had finished off two bandit minions.

What remained were Rubid, two bandit elites, and one bandit minion.

“Ah, aaaah….”

The bandit minion stopped his charge, terrified.

“You stupid bastard! Why did you stop!”

The bandit elite with a sword right behind him yelled in anger.

Aiming for the gap created by his hesitation, I thrust my spear, targeting the bandit elite behind him as well.

“Keoheok!”

“Uh… guh!”

I made a neat skewer of both the bandit minion and the bandit elite, then immediately pulled the spear back.

‘Looks like the mechanical sound only goes off once even if I pierce multiple targets at once.’

“You, you pathetic bastards…! You’re getting taken down by just one guy! You! Go now!”

Rubid, his face still red, yelled at the remaining bandit elite.

“B-but Lord Rubid! That, that guy is a complete mon….”

“Are you disobeying my orders now! You useless piece of trash!”

Rubid swung his sword at the bandit elite.

“Gack! L-Lord… Rubid….”

The bandit elite, his throat slashed, clutched his neck and collapsed.

‘Typical bandit behavior.’

In the first place, if they had any proper sense or decency, they wouldn’t have become bandits.

“Hmph! Hmph! I’ll kill you myself!”

The taunt was apparently still in effect; even after seeing his subordinates die, he still showed his anger towards me.

Rubid approached with heavy footsteps.

“Dieeeeeeee!”

He drew the thick sword from his waist and swung it at me.

‘He’s a captain, so he’s definitely different.’

Even with his bulky frame, the speed at which he swung his sword was a clear cut above the other bandits.

More than anything, the reduced number of trajectories indicated the bandit captain’s strength.

However.

‘The number has just been reduced, that’s all.’

I deflected Rubid’s sword swing along a trajectory and thrust my spear at the very center of his chest.

Stab!

“Cough! N-no way… I… this… I….”

I pulled the spear back before the strength completely left Rubid’s body.

I searched the body of Rubid, who had fallen to the ground with a thud.

And.

‘My luck is really good today.’

I had found the item I was looking for.

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