Kaltish
Emerging from the portal, she turns to face Izuku and puts a finger over her lips, whispering, "Keep your voice down around here, there's some goblins running around that'll attack when they notice us. We need to deal with them and sweep through their hideout, that should gain you enough experience to level up a bit."
Izuku nods, "Okay. By the way, what level are you?"
Kaltish smirks, "I've had a few years head start on you. I'm level five."
Izuku's mouth falls open, "Ah…"
Kaltish lets out a chuckle, "Careful, if you keep that open something might fly in."
Izuku shuts his mouth with a small nod, before recalling what Kaltish said earlier, "Wait, goblins? As in, those fantasy monsters?"
Kaltish gives a nod, "Yep, there's a few right around the corner. And lucky you! You get to fight them!"
Before Izuku can protest or question, she shoves him out towards the goblins, "Shield up! Draw that sword and fight!"
As Izuku is shoved into full view, he catches sight of the goblins. They're short, green, and pointy eared, which was to be expected. Though they aren't quite as ugly as most would expect, definitely not like some anime portray them.
He shakily draws his sword as they charge him, one with a sword drawn and the other with a bow at the ready.
Izuku
Oh god, they're coming right at him! He braces his shield as the goblin with a sword closes in, waiting for the impact… Nothing happens. Opening his eyes, he looks around to see the world grayed out with a prompt in front of him.
Roll for initiative!
'Oh, that's right,' he recalls, staring at the twenty sided die in the prompt window, 'Unless I'm fighting a real person from our world, battles are turn-based.'
Reaching out, he flicks the die and hopes for the best.
15 + 3 = 18
Congrats! You're going first!
Izuku politely ignores how this makes no sense and instead charges the nearest goblin, swinging his sword as hard as he can. Despite having no actual sword training, the weapon makes a perfect arc as it approaches the goblin.
Rolling to hit…
10 + 5 = 15
Hit!
Calculating damage…
1 + 3 = 4
Izuku sighs internally. Of course his luck would have him doing minimum damage, even if he hit the thing.
Next up, the sword goblin swings at him.
Rolling to hit…
4 + 4 = 8
Miss!
Izuku easily bats the blade aside with his shield, and almost without thinking he speaks in his gruffest voice, "Child's play!"
Next, the bow goblin fires at him.
Rolling to hit…
19 + 4 = 23
Calculating damage…
2 + 2 = 4
The arrow sticks itself painfully into Izuku's thigh as he holds in a pained grunt. It might hurt, but it's nowhere near as bad as Kacchan's explosions. Looking at his HP, he sees it drop from 13 to 9, not good, but not the worst.
Izuku swings his sword again, getting a 23 to hit and dealing another 4 damage, the sword goblin keeling over dead. As it's companion falls, the bow goblin takes another shot at Izuku, getting a 21 to hit and smacking him with another 3 damage.
Being at around half health, Izuku is slightly worried as he charges the second goblin. He slashes at it, getting only a 14 to hit as the goblin barely dodges away. However, the goblin tries to back away for proper distance with it's bow, so Izuku uses the opportunity to attack while it flees.
17
He slices into the goblin for 11 damage, decapitating it instantly.
As he calms down from the battle, something occurs to Izuku. Oh gods, he'd just killed two living creatures! How can he be a Hero with blood on his hands?
In the midst of his minor panic attack, he fails to notice someone approaching from behind.
(Kaltish)
Settling into a seated position next to Izuku's hunched over form, Kaltish pulls him into a hug.
She whispers to him, "Hey, it's alright. They weren't real."
Izuku turns to face her, "T-they weren't?"
She shakes her head, "No. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but this is one of the 'fake' places The Gate can take you. It's more like a simulation than anything else."
Izuku take a few breaths before seeming to fully calm down, "Alright. So, what was the point of that? Like, why did I have to do that by myself?"
Kaltish grimaces, "Trust me, I would've loved to help you, but if we want to get you fully prepped for the UA entrance exam, which I'm sure is your school of choice, we need to get you to level 3. In fights, if multiple people participate, it's less… impressive in the eyes of the system. The way leveling up works, as I've already explained but I'll go over it again, it's sort of… achievement based. You have to do something impressive for your current level, and me interfering makes it less likely. Now, I'm sure you didn't level up just from the goblin fight, but that's okay, that was just to get you used to fighting with The System."
Izuku nods, standing up, "So, are we going further in?"
Kaltish shakes her head, "No. First off, you're at half health with two arrows sticking out of you. Secondly, it's Sunday. Time in here isn't fully synced up with the normal world, and how different it is changes based on what day it is. Considering how long we've been here, it's been about 2 hours."
Izuku nearly chokes, "Two hours? I need to get home!"
Kaltish nods, "Come on, I'll patch you up before you go. Word of warning though, you'll be tired and sore."
As they pass back through The Gate, Kaltish has to catch Izuku as he almost falls over. Carrying him out of the armory and into the break room, she starts gathering the medical supplies.
As she picks up the bandages, she speaks a single word, "Deactivate."
As she says it, her attire dissolves back into her coffee shop uniform. Following her lead, Izuku finds himself in his normal clothes, but the arrows still sticking out of his leg.
Kaltish stands over him, "I'm gonna have to pulls those out, as soon as I do, ditch the pants."
Izuku actually chokes this time, "W-what?!"
Kaltish seemingly rolls her eyes, though it's a bit hard to tell, "I can't bandage a wound through clothes, just deal with it. Besides, nothing against you as a person, but we just met today so intimacy doesn't make sense. The hug doesn't count, you were having a panic attack."
Izuku can only nod, too flustered to speak.
With absolutely zero warning, Kaltish pulls the arrows from Izuku's leg as he tries to hold in a pained scream. As quickly as he can, he pants are off and Kaltish is attending to the bleeding wounds.
Before bandaging them, she rubs them down with alcohol, which Izuku does yelp at, and then she finally seals the back up.
She looks up at him, "Alright, pants back on. When you're done I'll walk you out."
She rummages around before finding a small strip of paper and writing on it.
Handing the paper to Izuku, she tells him, "Here, take this. If you need to talk to me that's my number. Try to keep it outside of store hours if you can though. Hours are on the door by the way, if you need to reference them."
After Izuku manages to get his pants on and pockets the note, Kaltish walks him out and waves goodbye.
(Izuku)
'Oh my god, I got a girl's number!'
Kaltish Hirano
Level Five Tiefling (Zariel) Warlock (Hexblade)
Background: Guild Artisan
Stats
HP: 55
Str: 11 ( + 0 )
Dex: 15 ( + 2 )
Con: 16 ( + 3 )
Int: 13 ( + 1 )
Wis: 13 ( + 1 )
Cha: 18 ( + 4 )
Proficiencies:
Background; Insight, Persuasion, Cook's utensils,
Class; Deception, History,
Languages: Common (Japanese), Infernal, Abyssal,
Features:
Background; Guild Membership
Race; Darkvision (60 ft), Fire Resistance, Thaumaturgy Cantrip, Searing Smite, Branding Smite,
Class; Hexblade Curse, Hex Warrior, Eldritch Invocations, Pact Boon (Blade),
Invocations; Devil's Sight, Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite,