Code Collector

"Why are you here?" Allen asked the larger man. Bernard was staring at him right in the eyes, face stoic like stone.

"W-What…" Allen trailed off and looked around. "Bernard?"

The man sighed and shook his head, as if he was disappointed with something. "Why are you in this part of the forest?"

"I should be the one asking you that," Allen said. "Why are you in Camp Twyla?"

"You're not in Camp Twyla," Bernard said. "You're in another camp, Camp Franco."

"That's impossible," Allen snorted, like Bernard said a hilarious joke. "I didn't wander too far from the forest. I could have not gone to another camp."

Bernard showed him his phone, "It seemed like you ran two hundred miles in just a night. That's pretty expressive. Look at this speed in your GPS."

Allen raised his hand as a sign for Bernard to hold, "Why do you have my GPS?"

"Jake told me to keep an eye on you," Bernard said. "And there's something about you that I saw."

Allen felt his world froze for a moment. He slowly gulped and waited for Bernard to continue while his body trembled and his eyes were wide in anticipation.

"You're really good at combat," Bernard said, chuckling at the boy. "Why did you look so tense?"

For a moment there, Allen had thought that he was caught. He had been switching identities from time to time, and if Bernard was indeed following him, the man should've seen him.

"How long has it since you were watching over me?" Allen asked.

"Oh," Bernard formed an O with his mouth. "When you went out of camp is when it started. Good thing I was also in Camp Twyla when it happened. I easily–"

"You just watched me," Allen whispered, cutting Bernard off from continuing his sentence. "I was almost killed a bunch of times and you just watched me?"

"I did," Bernard said, the smile on his face vanished like a bubble in the wind. "But that was until when I know that you can't handle it. I saw your movements, your attacks, and your techniques. I saw a great potential in you."

Allen slowly relaxed himself. "What does that mean?"

"I'm going to train you," Bernard offered. "And you can't decline because I know you want it too."

–

As his identity The Wandering Trader, Allen had to have a wide pool of weapons and skills. He had to make sure to master everything like Nelson Drake. From all the roles, to all sorts of weapons, to all sorts of elemental affinities of the weapons.

Bernard could help him with one of that. The man had a fighter role, and he was excellent in his role. His footsteps were barely audible like an assassin, and his damage output was high like a fighter.

The only downside of this was his defense. Bernard confessed that he had a lower defense for an average fighter in exchange for his overwhelming speed and stamina.

His main weapon was a large battle-axe that he holds with a single hand. He said that he had to fortify his speed since his weapon was rather heavy and it would slow him down if he would not invest in speed.

Allen understood everything that Bernard was telling him. The man was explaining the foundation of a good fighter and Allen was more than willing to listen to every single word.

"Okay, here's a lesson for you," Bernard said. "Since I have high speed, what other attribute could I sacrifice for it apart from defense?"

Allen thought for a moment. Bernard was asking him all sorts for questions, and he was learning after Bernard was explaining every reason behind the questions.

"I think you can sacrifice stamina?" Allen asked, making Bernard purse his lips.

"You can lower your damage," Bernard said. "But through this method, you have to have a high damage output weapon, like an axe or a mace."

Allen narrowed his eyes. He doesn't actually need to sacrifice anything. He could finish missions and get skill points to enhance all his stats. What he needed was a lesson on how to effectively maximize the potential of a role.

"When you're using larger weapons, the damage being dealt is already expected to be high," Bernard said. "So, basically it neutralizez your higher speed but lower stats."

Allen nodded as if he was interested. In actuality, he couldn't wait for Bernard to finish and teach him actual techniques that he could use in a battle.

"Another question," Bernard announced. "If the tank protects the support and mage, who does a fighter protects?"

Allen paused. He pursed his lips and tried to think of the time he was in a group. His role was unknown, therefore he couldn't have known who protected whom.

His role was to distract beasts or be used as bait. He didn't have the time to check on everything that had been going on in the foreground since he was too busy maintaining the background.

"I don't know," Allen replied. "Maybe fighters provide backup to the main damage dealer?"

"The fighter is the main damage dealer," Bernard chuckled. "He is protected by the ranger, mage, and assassin. You must know at least that fighters are the ones in the lead. They give out the command most of the time.

"Although there are groups that the other roles as their leader, fighters calls the shots in most fights. They are at the front, taking damage like a tank and dealing damage like a ranger and assassin," Bernard said.

"Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. "I get it now. So, when will we actually train?"

Bernard pursed his lips. He looked at the boy and sighed, "You have a weapon don't you?" Allen nodded. "Conjure it and let's start."

Allen excitedly opened his mouth, almost conjuring the weapons in his Inventory. Then suddenly, he gulped and stopped.

This man doesn't know that he has an Inventory feature. And if he revealed his other weapons, he can't use it as The Wandering Trader or else he'll get caught.

Allen froze as he was lost for a moment. What will he do?