Earl, the jolly berserker as he was nicknamed in his local guild, was a popular dwarf.

It was a familiar name in the city, one with respect among the lower and mid class of the city - of course nobles look down upon everyone else in Orrid so that’s the best anyone can hope for.

“Huh, makes one wonder what’ll happen when those bairns'll reach S rank - then again Lil’ Purp’ would likely make it up there on stats alone in a few. Good she trains hard though.” <Earl>

He himself was a C-rank which was the first ‘skill barrier’ as it was put. After all, unless you were a dragon, most people struggled to get levels with raw stats.

This is where skills come into play however even then two brothers won’t be equal in this regard even if they put in the exact same work… This was the ‘skill barrier’ that required natural talent over all else. Cutting the kings from the chaff as it was - so it was impressive to be as young as Earl and reach this point!

Of course… He wasn’t the youngest C-rank in the city.

As he was thinking about where he was going to visit tonight the forest suddenly seemed to come alive… And it didn’t seem to appreciate him!

The branches from a nearby oak slammed down onto the ground where he was about to walk; causing mud to explode out as he dodged back only for the roots to lift up out the ground behind him, catching his heel and causing him to fall on his back.

With a fluid movement, as if he was used to it, he drew his pair of axes from his waist and guarded his stomach.

This proved itself wise as from the branch that had dug itself into the ground a figure dashed out with a bone white blade meeting the metal axe heads causing the dwarf to skid across the ground on his back.

In the seconds it took him to steady himself and look back - the dust cloud had vanished but so too had the figure that attacked him.

“I’m guessing she’s got some free time from training then.” <Earl>

Chuckling to himself, something one wouldn’t usually do after being seconds away from becoming a kebab. Though, this had basically become a greeting they had both agreed upon at this point so it’s not like it was unexpected.

They’ve even done this in a certain brothel only to get in trouble from a very angry half-elf.

Holding the smile on his face as tightly as he did his axe heads - this wasn’t an opponent he could go easy on after all.

She hadn’t mastered her combat method as Earl could clearly hear the sounds of her moving about the forest around him but he also didn’t turn to face those noises.

He’d be dizzy far before the time he actually caught the spiked tail of this little menace - after all her speed was the highest stat… And the other physical stats weren’t much farther behind since she didn’t even min-max speed!

He would simply keep a reactive stance, staying light on his feet and not relying on his sight. Instead he would have to rely on the last sound he heard as well as the explosion of wind in order to block this little blighter. That’s block, not counter, as the worst case scenario is for the Lil’ Purp’ Devil to abandon all defense and go full in.

If there was one thing this girl understood after all… It was how to control the momentum of the battle so the best thing to do when facing her was to resist getting caught up in drawn out confrontation as it was VERY easy for her to take advantage of this and become a bulldozer that just keeps pushing. Ironic since he was supposed to be the berserker...

“As for whittle her down to slow her or wait for her to run out of juice… That’s a big nope.” <Earl>

She regenerates more health than she has so anything below instant kill is pointless! Not to mention, despite being a lizard she has shared stamina with a fucking succubus! How do you even fight that!

Oh, but don’t think about running… That’s the part she likes the most!

Suddenly from the side a blade made from light burnt into Earl’s side causing him to bite his lip and cough out a bit of blood.

“Can teach a young dragon new tricks huh… Lucky she hasn’t reached a past apprentice in her magic…” <Earl>

Oh course, that didn’t include the magic she used to make a tree into a living club.

Before he had time to recover his breath, a sudden purple flash brought her spear head towards his face from right in front of him. However, instead of facing that spear he would move his left axe to knock aside the space in front of his stomach again.

The most surprising thing was the sound of metal hitting metal that indicated a successful parry as he sent his foot into the stomach of the little girl that was attacking him - this time being her time to gasp for air as she was sent on her back a few feet away.

Even then it was Earl that felt like he should complain due to his foot that felt like it was broken.

“Jeez, what are they feedin’ you Lil’ Purp’!” <Earl>

“Determination and the souls of the guilty!” <Eel>

An oh so familiar 9 year old spoke (one everyone had likely already guessed) as she’d hold her stomach, feeling a bit woozy due to the impact to her solar plexus - because everyone always hit there.

A little cow would walk past her and wave her large wooden stave, a warm golden light went over Earl, recovering him back to peak condition.

The Eel on the floor, recovering from the blow, would unsteadily get up and look towards Earl.

“How-” <Eel>

“Because you love to do stuff like that! You do it every time!” <Earl>

Laughing boastfully as he had his hands resting on his hips, chest out proudly and face pointed to the sky. Eel would just be forced to rub the back of her head and let out a giggle.

“Well, at least I made you fall on your ass - fufufu~!” <Eel>

“Ah yes, I suppose you wouldn’t suffer much from falling on yours unlike me with my toned masterpiece!” <Earl>

As he said this he would pose, proudly showing off his own.

“Ah, but I thought you’d want to see how reliable these cheeks of mine were since - knowing your hobbies - you’ll be trying them for a night in 7 years time~!” <Eel>

Teasingly swinging her own rear which got a humph from the dwarf that soon climaxed into a confused Abbigale when she had caught up.

Seeing a grown dwarf and (seemingly) elf child wagging their asses aggressively at one another… As well as a little calf passed out by a tree with blood pouring from her nose with a very ‘happy’ look combined with a ‘happy’ giggle.

“I think Eel Jr may be a bad influence on you Earl…” <Abby>

“*Cough* Well, moving on.” <Earl>

The dwarf, crimson cheeks under his black beard, would soon cough into his closed hand and support his elbow with the other.

“Right, Earl, can you do me a favour and make sure Abby and Mil are safe so I can have some fun~!” <Eel>

“Fun?” <Abby>

“Ah~ I thought it was weird that you didn’t prolong it. When did you notice?” <Earl>

“As soon as we left the manor! Surprised Leaf didn’t drag one in for some fun, they were so eager!” <Eel>

“W-well I only noticed after we got out… Too many people around…” <Emily>

“Ah~ well you only really have life sense so it would be hard to pick out if you're not a Monster Child!” <Earl>

“Hey! Not my fault I’m so naturally amazing!” <Eel>

Earl would just left out a laugh as Abbigale just felt like an old lady left behind the times as all of this conversation went over her head… That was until another voice made its way into the conversation.

“Hehehe~ seems you’ve got some little friends around, how about you surrender yourself and we’ll let em’ go.” <Dumb Person>

With this, a group of about 20 ‘thugs’ walked out from towards the Shanta City - also known as the direction where Eel and her trio just came from.

“Ah~ I get it!” <Abby>

In front of the group would be a man with a wooden stave and an empty head, though medium length wavy red hair cascaded off the hollow thing. A confident smile on his face as he tapped his shoulder while relaxedly holding his staff. He seemed wealthy enough based on the silver embroidered leather armour he wore.

Though, one could say the quality was no better than what Eel wore and thus this spoke volumes if one also considered how highly skilled her little crafter was. Quite clearly money wasn’t a problem for this man.

“I know you commoners won’t realize but I’m a C-r-” <Dumb Person>

As he was monologue Eel decided in a casual movement to thrust her spear into the head of someone who was attempting to encircle the team - clearly the man wasn’t expecting the little girl to suddenly do this as it was quite successful causing a wonderful noise that quickly cut off the man's speech, lifting her little foot to kick the man off her blade.

*Sound of spear entering someone's frontal lobe then having said person receive a foot to kick them back off the spear followed by startled shouting and cursing*

And thus, the rest is history.

“Sorry, were you saying something?” <Eel>

Looking down on the man as much as a munchkin could, Eel had a smug grin on her face and her nose proudly lifted in the air, surpassing even the obvious noble man's smugness. After-all, which race is more prideful than the giant lizards (and salamanders since despite common misconception salamanders are a type of amphibian not lizard despite visual similarities in body shape).

Quite clearly there was a vein appearing on the noble's forehead as Eel glanced over her shoulder to Emily who would be bashfully smiling at the cool appearance of Eel.

“Please put up a barrier~!” <Eel>

“Do you think I can’t break into a little half-breed’s barrier!”

“Fufufu~ you don’t need to break into it~” <Eel>

Turning back to the man as she would take a defensive stance with her spear - spreading her feet and holding the spear in both hands with a eager grin on her face. Her eyes gave off a faint golden mist as she seemed to be carefully looking at every movement of that man in front of her. Her little supporter tapped the ground twice with her staff, causing the two groups to be surrounded in an invisible barrier.

“Ha! The idiot doesn’t even know how to control the size of her barrier, how about you give up now and I’ll only be a bit rough before handing you over to Mr Eric!” <Dumb Person>

“He...” <Eel>

And so, with that condescending sound as his only reply the noble had lost his patience but to Eel’s surprise this one wasn’t all talk like all the other men that had hunted her down.

The man vanished from his place and soon appeared in front of her - slamming the tip of his stave into her chest. The placement of the spear obviously had other purposes than to hurt her as it tried to pull up to remove it from her - of course with her armour carefully crafted to perfection it merely sent her a few steps about, coughing some blood out from the impact.

“Tch, no matter, I’ll get what I was promised. Though I bet you’ve never seen something like that before, huh? Afterall, {Flash Step} requires actual skill unlike your spear!” <Dumb Person>

So shouted the man, obviously mocking her but Eel merely spat out some blood in front of him with the same smug look as she continued looking at him causing him to get even more angry. At this point the men around just decided to watch the show as it seemed everyone else was ‘too scared’ to fight them.

Flashing forward once again he would appear in front of Eel attempting to move his stave in a fluid motion to catch her heel and knock her off balance, however, she would just lift her foot and stomp down. This caused the loud sound of splintering wood to play out as she pulled her head back before slamming it forward into the man's perfectly sculptured chin.

This getting a loud cracking while he was sent flying backwards.

When he got up with his only half his stave intact his chin was no longer perfectly sculptured but instead was obviously misshapen and broken as his words were closer to gurgles.

“Ah~ I thought I’d have to actually buff myself with my dragon bits but I guess that’s not the case since this bozo was so easy to catch off guard~! Now… I think it was something like... a half step but carry the momentum…” <Eel>

And so, the Monster Child showed off why she got the title…

At first she would almost trip over but by slamming her pommel into the floor she caught herself. To everyone watching it looked strange as she just kept stumbling forwards, stepping back, then stumbling over again…

However, if there is one thing she’s good at it’s understanding the concept of momentum…

<| Congratulations {Flash Step Lvl 1} Has Been Gained |>

A look of fear appeared on the nobles face as the little girl vanished from in front of him and appeared one step further - in other words - right in front of him. Not wasting this her palm came forward to connect with his gut, sending him flying back once more with a trail of blood coming from his mouth. Even having him slam into three other of his lackeys.

“Yep, seems I learned it easy enough from seeing it twice! That strange man was right, this memory thingy is real useful!” <Eel>

Remembering and replicating. It sounds so simple but to remember and recall all the minute movements of a martial artist and details in a magic circle only to fully redo it from just viewing it may as well be impossible… For most.

For her, it became only a bit harder than it is to say. While it also relies on her physical attributes, talents and other skills she seemed fine enough.

Meanwhile everyone else on the nobles side were terrified, staring at Eel as if she was a monster while the noble was using her bare hands to claw against the barrier. Looking at this Eel would just giggle.

“Abbigale~! Could you clean up the numbers~!“ <Eel>

She didn’t even look back, just slowly walking forward down the path cleared for her by the three crushed corpses and the little noble who was barely alive after being hit by a little girl.

Some brave soul tried to attack her by jumping out from her left side, a bastard sword raised above his head; key word ‘tried’.

A metallic tail shot out from her rear only to snake around and puncture right through the side of his neck, coming out the other-side, before snapping towards the side to send the body flying into the crowd of petrified people causing it to practically explode.

If she’s 6 times stronger than an average male, her dragon self is at least 60…

She’d just ignore the panic screams as soon enough gales of winds cut apart the remaining riff raff - getting close and closer to the scared little noble before her tail cleanly shot around to her right side, piercing right through his rib cage.

Letting out a scream before dropping down as the tail pulled out with his heart still attached - at this sight of this her eyes formed those purple slits once more and her teeth sharpened to a terrifying point. Moving her tail closer to her mouth she would grip the pound of flesh with her free right hand before taking a bite out of it - not being clean about it either as blood gushed out.

“Ah… You almost forget she’s a terrifying man eating dragon till she does the whole ‘rip the heart out and eat it in front of you’ thing…” <Earl>

Or so he said with a nervous laugh while Emily just walked over the bloody battlefield to move a handkerchief to wipe the sides of her Eel’s mouth as she was a few mouthfuls in.

“Yes, well, she has skipped out on a lot of meat while she was younger so I suppose it’s to be expected she’d be a tad excited~.” <Abby>

Abby far calmer at the sight of the little girl munching on a human heart - then again her god was also a dragon so it’s not exactly unexpected… Though Earl didn’t exactly seem to feel the same he never said anything but just watched the scene.