The God-Tier Commoner

The Pen is Mightier

He screamed as the hyena’s teeth bit into the gap at his shoulder. The pain was sharp and immediate. Pure panic gave him strength. He didn’t try to stand. Instead, he tucked his armored limbs in and rolled. It was a clumsy, noisy barrel roll, but it got him away from the snapping jaws.

Clank, crunch, clank.

He scrambled to his feet, the heavy armor groaning in protest. His sword was still nearby. He snatched it up, his breath coming in ragged gasps inside the stifling helmet.

The hyenas circled, smarter now, their eyes fixed on the noisy, slow-moving meal.

“Okay… okay…” Lex panted. He swung the sword. It was a huge, sweeping arc. The hyenas easily ducked back, just out of range. He swung again. And again. Each swing was slower than the last, each one draining his energy. He wasn’t fighting; he was just waving a giant metal flag. He didn’t hit a single beast.

After a minute of useless swinging, he stopped, leaning on the sword like a crutch, utterly spent. The armor felt like a prison.

“This… this stuff is a complete waste of money!” he yelled into his helmet, his voice echoing with frustration.

Just then, the lead hyena saw its chance. It gathered its legs, ready to leap straight at Lex’s chest.

THWIP!

An arrow shot out from the trees. It was perfectly aimed. It hit the hyena right through the side of its skull. The beast dropped to the ground without a sound.

Lex jerked in surprise, almost losing his balance again. The other four hyenas snarled, turning their heads, searching for this new threat.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

Four more arrows flew in rapid succession. Each one found its mark, burying itself in a hyena’s head or neck. In less than five seconds, all five hyenas lay dead on the rocky ground. The clearing fell silent.

Lex stood frozen, still breathing heavily. He fumbled with the helmet’s clasp, finally yanking it off to see clearly. He looked around the tree line but saw no one. The archer was a ghost.

Then, he felt it. A cold, sharp point pressed against the back of his neck, right above his armor’s collar.

“Don’t move.” The voice was low, calm, and female. “Who are you?”

Lex’s hands shot up. “I’m nobody! Just a guy! A very lost, very sweaty guy!” He slowly turned around.

The woman holding the arrow to his throat was not what he expected from a voice that calm. She was tall, with sharp green eyes that missed nothing. Her dark hair was tied back in a practical braid. She wore worn but sturdy leathers, a quiver of arrows on her back, and a hunter’s focus in her stance. She was, Lex had to admit, strikingly pretty in a ‘could-kill-you-with-her-pinkie’ kind of way.

Her eyes flickered over his shiny, ridiculous armor with clear disdain. She lowered the arrow. “Why are you here? This isn’t a parade ground.”

Lex cleared his throat, trying to summon some dignity. “I’m hunting, of course.”

One of her eyebrows arched. She gestured at him with the arrow. “That,” she said, “is not hunting gear. That is a death wish. You sound like a walking dinner bell. You move like a sick tortoise. You’d be dead if I were slower.”

Lex straightened up as much as the heavy chest plate would allow. He tried a charming smile. It came out as a sweaty grimace. “I know. I’m just… breaking in the new equipment. A bit of a… a daily exercise.”

The woman didn’t smile. She shook her head, a flicker of pity in her eyes. She walked past him, knelt by the first hyena, and calmly pulled her arrow from its skull. She did the same for the others. Then, to Lex’s horror, she took a small knife and deftly gouged out one eye from each hyena, dropping the grisly prizes into a small pouch.

Lex gagged. “What… what are you doing with those?”

“Proof for the quest,” she said, not looking up. “The Guild wants verification. Eyes are simple.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“It’s practical.” She stood, wiping her knife clean. “What’s your name, tin-man?”

“It’s Alexei. Lex for short. And yours?”

“Kaela,” she said. She slung her bow over her shoulder.

At that moment, Lex’s stomach let out a long, loud, embarrassing growl. The sun was past its peak. He hadn’t eaten since the jerky that morning, and he’d just done the most exhausting workout of his life.

Kaela sighed. She reached into a pouch at her belt and tossed a small, waxed packet toward him. Lex fumbled but caught it. “Eat that. And listen. If you insist on coming out here again—which I advise against—wear something light. Leather. Cloth. And use a weapon you can actually lift.” Her gaze fell on his massive sword. “That isn’t a weapon for you. It’s an anchor.”

Before Lex could think of a comeback, she turned and, with a grace he could only dream of, leaped onto a low rock, then into the branches of a tree, and vanished into the forest without a sound.

Lex was alone again. He looked down at the packet. He opened it. Inside was a strip of dark, dried meat. It looked like jerky, but tougher and with a smoky smell. He was still grossed out by the eye-gouging, but his stomach growled again, insisting.

“When in Rome…” he muttered. He took a bite. It was salty, chewy, and surprisingly good. He ate the whole thing, feeling strength slowly return.

With his energy up, a new feeling rose: shame. Kaela was right. He looked and felt like an idiot. The armor was a mistake.

With a grunt of effort, he began unbuckling. He stripped off the heavy plate, piece by piece, letting it fall to the ground with heavy thuds. In just his under-tunic and pants, he felt like he could fly. The relief was incredible.

He looked at the shiny, expensive longsword. It represented his old thinking—throw money at a problem. That didn’t work here. In a fit of decision, he picked it up, walked to a large boulder, and slammed the blade against the rock with all his might.

CLANG!

The sword didn’t break. The cheap, decorative blade bent badly in the middle, becoming completely useless. He tossed the ruined metal aside. “Lesson learned,” he said to the trees.

Now lighter and smarter, he moved through the foothills. He kept Kaela’s advice in mind. He moved quietly, watching for tracks. Soon, he spotted a small ravine. At the bottom, three young hyenas were huddled together. They looked thin and weak, nursing small wounds. Their mother was probably one of the pack Kaela had killed.

Lex felt a pang of something that wasn’t quite guilt. The System didn’t say anything about killing the weak ones, he reasoned. And ‘medium-ranked monster’ is pretty vague. I guess this is fine.

He wasn’t wearing armor that slowed him down. He didn’t have a sword he couldn’t lift. He found a fallen branch, thick and sturdy, and hefted it. It wasn’t a glorious weapon, but it was one he could use.

He took a breath and charged down into the ravine. The fight wasn’t heroic. The hyena pups were scared and frail. It was quick, messy, and left Lex with a new scratch on his arm from a desperate bite.

As the last one fell, he sat down hard on a rock, breathing heavily. He looked at the scratch. It was bleeding. A terrible thought occurred to him. “Oh, great. Will this give me rabies?”

Ding!

The cheerful blue panel appeared, pushing his worries aside.

Quest: Trial of Grit – COMPLETE!

Congratulations!

Experience +10!

Mana +10!

Level Up!

You are now Level 2!

Stat Points Available: 5

Lex blinked. It worked! Killing the weak, orphaned hyenas counted! He felt a rush of victory, mixed with a bit of guilt he quickly shoved down.

The panel updated. “Well done, Lex! As a reward for your second level, please choose one bonus item!”

Two new pictures appeared. On the left was a simple, blue plastic ballpoint pen, the clicky kind. On the right was a single, wooden chopstick.

Lex stared. “A pen? A chopstick? What am I supposed to do, write a strongly worded letter to the next monster?” He sighed. “I’m not eating Chinese food anytime soon… I guess I’ll go with the pen. At least I can write my last will and testament.”

“Selection confirmed: [Scribe’s Might] Ballpoint Pen. This item will remain with you until broken.”

With a small flash, the pen appeared in his hand. It felt completely ordinary. Light, plastic, cheap. He sighed in deep disappointment.

Then he remembered. The rubber band. The ordinary, useless-seeming rubber band that had vaporized the Jiggle King.

A wild, hopeful thought exploded in his mind. What if… what if the stuff from my world is insanely powerful here? Maybe a normal pen here is a godly weapon!

Heart pounding, he held the pen out in front of him. He looked at the small button on top. With a mix of fear and excitement, he pressed it.

Click.

A soft, mechanical whirring sound came from the pen. The blue plastic casing began to glow with a pale, white light. The light spread down his hand, up his arm, washing over his entire body in a warm wave.

A smooth, synthetic voice, different from the System’s, spoke directly into his mind.

"Authorization complete. Syncing with wielder's physical template. Optimal form selected."

The pen trembled in his grip. The plastic melted away in a stream of light. The light lengthened, solidified, and reshaped itself. The weight in his hand grew, becoming perfectly balanced.

The light faded.

Lex was no longer holding a pen.

He was holding a sword. A real sword. It had a blade of shimmering, silvery metal that seemed to drink in the sunlight. The hilt was wrapped in dark leather, fitting his grip perfectly. It was long, elegant, and lethal. It felt like an extension of his own arm—light, but with a promise of immense power.

Engraved near the hilt, in fine letters, was a simple phrase: "Until broken."

Lex stood in the quiet ravine, staring at the magnificent weapon in his hand, his mouth agape. A stupid, giddy laugh bubbled up from his chest.

“Okay,” he whispered to the gleaming blade. “Now we’re talking.”