ã€ŠLegends of The Great Savanna - Complete Book 1, Ongoing Book 2ã€‹


 Chapter 1 - The Village

    James stepped into the capsule that was to be his new home for the next few months with false bravado. After a polite greeting, the military doctor who oversaw his care got right to work. She moved in diligent silence as she connected man to machine with various electrodes, cords, and tubes. The only sounds in the clean surgical room were of James¡¯s breath, and the occasional tink of a hard rubber cord hitting the metal capsule as the Doctor worked.

    Theoretically, the capsule he was inside would allow him to play a fully immersive, virtual reality game. The game itself was in beta. James was supposed to test the technology. He recalled how the military recruiters said everything safe, but that fact wasn''t giving him any comfort now that he was being hooked up to an assortment of intimidating medical systems.

    ¡°We''re all set to go! All that is left is to put you to sleep and have you wake up in the game. Once you¡¯re asleep, I will put this feeding tube into your mouth and hook up a catheter. Rest assured, you will be completely nourished, clean, and safe,¡± said the doctor. Her skin was tan and leathery, suggesting that she didn¡¯t always practice medicine indoors. Her cheeks rose as she spoke, her mouth struggling to form a smile in between each word.

    James nodded and gave her a wink - more to convince himself that he wasn''t scared than to convince her. Laying his head back, James swallowed his growing panic.

    What else did they tell me? He asked himself.

    He wasn''t rich by any means. In fact, James and his brother had been struggling to survive since their parents¡¯ deaths. It happened when James was a young teenager, and his little brother a pre-teen. They were both adults now and finally getting on their feet, but their lives hadn''t been easy. James figured that was why he jumped so quickly at this opportunity. So quickly, in fact, that even though the doctors had prepared him for this moment, he couldn¡¯t remember a word they had said, besides the fact that they would let his brother enter the game soon after him. James had been adamant on that part. It was one thing to be blinded by money, but no amount of it would make him forget about his brother. They had been through so much together, and he would be damned if they didn''t do this together as well.

    ¡°Ready? Three, Two¡­¡± the doctor counted down, and James was out before she could finish.

    ***

    James woke up in a field of tall grass and said the first thing that came to his mind, ¡°What the whaaaat¡­¡±

    A brief examination of himself and he realized he was still in the same body: 23 years old, 175 pounds, and standing at 6 foot even. After a few moments of waving his hands in the air and poking at himself, he realized that there was no pixelation, no laggy graphics when he moved his head too fast, and most importantly, that all his senses seemed to be working correctly. He was the same person, just somewhere completely different than he was moments ago, and that someplace different happened to be someplace beautiful.

    The calmer he kept his body, the more he noticed around him. James froze and opened up his senses to the world. He spotted a bright blue streak in the air just as the smell of freshly grown peace of mind politely assaulted his nose. The blue streak disappeared into the tall grass and emerged seconds later with something in its beak. James watched as it spotted him and hovered in midair. The bird was blurry, as if James¡¯s eyes were refusing to recognize it. He could only make out the blue color, and decided that was probably a defense mechanism for the bird. When the bird flew away, it disappeared into the air, long before it left sight range.

    ¡°What to do¡­ what to do¡­¡± James said as he prodded his face with his hands. ¡°Well I guess there is no need for a character selection screen¡­ What about a tutorial?¡±

    Shrugging his shoulders, he set off in a random direction. The Big Savanna, as he soon decided to call it, seemed to stretch on forever in all directions - all flat ground and grass that came up to his shoulders. It caressed his exposed skin as he walked, causing his legs and forearms to tingle. As he parted it with his hands and prepared to take another step, a commotion off in the distance reached his ears, giving him pause. He jumped up to try to get a snippet of the action, but all he managed to see was the grass shaking and swaying unnaturally.

    Either there is something big is over there, or this game has some weird weather patterns, he thought.

    Deciding to investigate, James walked toward the noise as quietly as he could. A text box appeared in front of his vision, accompanied by an audible ding, as he went.

    You have learned the Sneak ability.

    After he read it, the text box traveled to the upper right corner of his vision. He tried to follow it with his head. However, the text box was an overlay. The closer it got to James¡¯ peripherals, the faster he moved his head to follow it - until his body twisted into a knot and he lay in a heap.

    ¡°Smooth,¡± James told himself before noticing that in the upper right of his peripheral vision there was now the word, ¡®Skills.¡¯ It was like someone tattooed the word in white ink right where the outermost reaches of his vision darkened and went black. He unfocused and refocused his eyes, learning with relief that the words wouldn¡¯t bother him as he went about his life.

    ¡°Well, that is convenient. Now, how do I access my skills?¡± asked James. No sooner had he spoken the words than a translucent skills tab appeared right in front of him. Inside the nature encrusted border, it showed him that he did have a Skill called Sneak, but it didn¡¯t provide any other information besides that it was Level One.

    As James got a feel for his interface, an intense growl snapped his attention back to the moment.

    ¡°I guess this place does have normal weather patterns,¡± he quipped. James slowly extended to his full height and saw two animals fighting. One looked almost like a lion, but not quite. Fur, the same pale gold of savanna grass, stretched thinly over its muscular body. Its beast-like face had a remarkably human-like expression plastered on it: panic. Lion-guy struggled to fight off a reptilian creature that had at least a foot of height advantage and 50 pounds of extra weight. As James tried to soak up the surreal situation before him, he realized that his heart was beating a frenzied tune. As if to remind James that he was just in a game, name tags appeared above the creatures.

    Lion-guy and Lizard-dude, they read.

    ¡°Are those their names or did I name them? Damn, I really should try to be more creative,¡± James thought out loud, causing Lizard-dude to turn and look at him.

    ¡°Crap,¡± he said, smacking his hand over his mouth as if he could shove his words back inside. Lizard-dude¡¯s long body ripped with muscle as it dug its claws into the ground. The fangs in its small mouth glinted in the sunlight as it turned toward James and hissed. James shuddered as it measured him, looming over him like a mammoth, even from afar. Then the reptilian pounced, and everything went dark.

    ***

    James awoke from his slumber confused and alarmed.

    ¡°This is just a game,¡± he reminded himself. The words caught in his throat as his body came alive with pain. He squirmed against the soft pile of furs below him and grasped at his chest. Looking down, he could see a mixture of blood and green paste now covered his hands. His eyes searched for gauze, a tourniquet, or even duct tape, but the floor of the tent was empty, apart from a scattering of fur piles. James laid his head back and tried to focus on anything other than his agony.

    Are these beds? He thought, prodding the pile of furs. I must be in their living quarters. James¡¯s brief mental respite ended when his wound screamed out for attention once again. He clutched at his chest, "Agh, they were not lying when they said this game would feel real."

    James attempted to stand, reminding his pain that it had the rest of his body to roam. He must have let out a scream. Lion-guy came walking through the entrance of the tent a moment later. James finally stood, this time ignoring his injuries as he prepared to defend himself. Lion-guy was about the same size as James, except that golden-brown fur covered his body, making him seem slightly more substantial. His facial features were half beast and half man. They twisted into an unrecognizable expression as he walked on his two back legs over to James. His next expression was much easier to read. It was a smile, but not one worn by a happy person. Torunn crouched, leapt into the air, and tackled James, knocking him over a pile of furs with a grunt.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± James yelled as he struggled to fend off the beast and cover his wounds at the same time. He swung at the creature, but it dodged his blow and gave him another smile.

    ¡°ENOUGH!¡± a voice boomed. James and Lion-guy both cowered in fear as the light shining through the tent flap went out. A mammoth of a creature stepped inside, dwarfing James and Lion-guy both. It was the same breed as Lion-guy, but was about four times his size, resulting in an impressive yet terrifying presence.

    Is that a Minotaur? James thought, taking a better look at Lion-guy. His feet where a hybrid of hoof and human. Definitely not a lion¡¯s paw.

    A name tag appeared above its head of the giant creature as it finished making its way inside.

    Super Mega Lion

    Suddenly, Lion-guy let out a growl and charged Super Mega Lion. His signature move of tackling his prey proved ineffective against the more massive creature, and he soon found himself picked up and thrown over a shoulder. Super Mega Lion stroked Lion-guy¡¯s back fur, and he purred like a kitten.

    James did his best to express how he was feeling at the moment. ¡°What the what is going on here?¡±

    Super Mega Lion stopped petting Lion-guy and looked at James. Her face twisted into an expression that was easy to recognize. She was surprised.

    ¡°You can speak, little cub?" Super Mega Lion asked, in a principally feminine tone. Her actual speech was rough and deep, but if you listened carefully, you would hear that a thin layer of gentleness coated its edges.

    ¡°Of course, I can speak. Who are you? Are you going to kill me or what? Why are you petting him?¡± James let the confusion and pain he had experienced in the past few hours allow him to unravel into a tornado of questions and emotions. Then it dawned on him. She called him a cub¡­ The feminine voice¡­

    ¡°You are Lion-guy¡¯s mother,¡± James said.

    ¡°My name is Freydis; you may call me Frey. And this is my cub, Torunn,¡± Frey answered as she continued to stroke her cubs back. ¡°We are Martyrs. You are a guest of mine, and you have my thanks for saving Torunn from an attack by an Oana. They are a plague to our lands and he would have died if you hadn¡¯t shown up," Frey explained.

    ¡°Wait. So, Oana are the lizard-creatures that were attacking your cub, whose name is Torunn. And your race is called the Martyrs.¡± James confirmed with hesitant eyes. Frey nodded her large head like a giant boulder that couldn¡¯t decide to jump off an even larger boulder or not.

    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t do much. Torunn seemed to be handling his own in the fight,¡± James replied.

    ¡°We are not a weak race, but Torunn is not yet fully grown, which brings me to my next concern. You''re not either,¡± she said flatly. ¡°How are you able to talk at such a young age?¡±

    ¡°What? I am an adult of my race. Of course, I know how to talk,¡± James said, astounded at both the insult and the fact it was coming from a construct of the game. The Martyr didn¡¯t seem like any Non-Player Character James had ever encountered before - her mannerisms and the way she held a conversation was more than realistic.

    ¡°I am familiar with humans, and you are the same size as the human cubs that I have seen,¡± she said. James could tell she didn''t have an ounce of malice in her tone. She was either genuinely ignorant, or he was. Deciding that arguing with the giant creature wasn''t in his best interest, James changed the subject.

    ¡°Can you tell me where I can clean up and how I can heal this wound?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but first you must understand some things about my clan. You are my guest, but no one else knows you are here. I suspect my mate will not be happy that I brought a human into our village, even if you are only a cub,¡± Frey explained. James sighed at the ¡®cub'' comment but let her continue. ¡°I will talk with my mate at sunset, and you must remain here until I do.¡±

    Frey reached a long arm out the opening of the tent. When she pulled it back inside a green poultice covered her fingertips. ¡°Put this on your wound, and then do not touch it. You will heal in less than an hour.¡±

    James did as the female Martyr suggested. She then stood up, placed Torunn back on the ground, and began the arduous task of exiting the tent. The Martyr cub stared at James for a while before giving another mischievous grin.

    ¡°Uh-oh,¡± James whispered. Before he could get tackled again, James shot out his hands in a stopping motion and yelled, ¡°No! Bad!¡±

    He let out a sigh of relief when he managed to stop the Martyr cub, but couldn¡¯t help but feel a little guilty at the way Torunn¡¯s ears seemed to wilt. Torunn continued to pout as James watched him walk to a pile of furs where he promptly fell asleep.

    Effectively alone in the tent, James decided he might as well explore. The tent was as big as a house, random piles of fur lay scattered throughout the matted dirt floor, and in the center was an unlit fire pit. To the back end of the tent lay a pile of dead animals. James had initially mistaken them for a fur pile and almost sat on them until he noticed a snout sticking out. He moved closer to make sense of it all. There were two large boar-like creatures and more than a few tall birds that resembled man-sized flamingos. All of them were varying shades of brown. James surmised their similar color schemes were for camouflaging themselves in the Big Savanna.

    ¡°A bunch of good that did ya,¡± he whispered.

    James had been hunting a few times when he was a teenager, and even though these creatures were alien to him, he couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry. The feeling only lasted a second, though. He had to keep reminding himself that this was just a game. He understood the need to hunt for sustenance, but the realism of pile of animals before rubbed against his heartstrings. He had played other games where he needed to kill animals, even other people, but they never elicited an emotional response like this. In fact, he had murdered entire villages of humanoids in other games just for the sake of ''grinding'' or leveling up and never felt a thing.

    Giving the pile of dead animals another look over, James noticed a small sword that lay on the ground next to them.

    ¡°Well, this is a game after all; I should see if I can gain a skill or something.¡±

    ***

    A few hours later, the sun began its descent on the other side of the Big Savanna. James had managed to skin the animals he had found, chop them up, and he even started a fire the old-fashioned way. He pulled up a pile of furs to sit on and found a stick to roast a piece of meat. James let out a sigh of relief. His wound healed, and he had the opportunity to relax by a fire with some food.

    This game isn¡¯t too bad, he thought.

    Deciding to play with his interface again and see if he had learned any skills from his efforts, James relaxed his vision. He soon saw the skills tab appear in his upper left and a new exclamation point to his bottom right. It was flashing. He focused his mind on it, and a text box appeared with some prompts.

    Oana Scout activates Pounce, 20 damage received.

    Your body has gone into shock from receiving too much damage.

    Oana Scout activates Maim, 30 damage received.

    You have passed out from receiving too much damage.

    You have learned the Skinning ability. Prompts moved to the notifications section on your request.

    You have learned the Cooking ability.

    You have learned Fire mastery.

    Congratulations, you have cooked charred Plainsboar meat!

    Cooking increased to Level 2.

    ¡°Awesome.¡± He said, not clear on why he had passed out from receiving damage, but happy that the interface adapted itself to his needs and hadn¡¯t covered his vision. As he perused his growing skills tab and failed to find more information about his abilities, Frey entered the tent. Her eyes bounced from the fire to James and back again before she walked to the area where the recently hunted animals used to lay.

    ¡°Hmmm, you continue to surprise me, Man-cub,¡± Frey said with a deep intrigue as she joined James by the fire.

    ¡°I figured I would help out while I was here. Oh, and I got hungry. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°The food is of no concern. Those beasts are plentiful in the Great Savanna. Annoying even¡­ And if tonight goes as planned, you will be able to repay us. The fire, however, that is fascinating.¡±

    James smirked at the Martyr''s name for the Big Savanna. He wasn¡¯t that far off in his guess. Instead of the Big Savanna, the residents called it the Great Savanna. James decided that he would too.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± he inquired.

    ¡°Fire. Only our elder can create it,¡± she explained. James thought that was an odd fact, but he meant to inquire about the plan for tonight, not the fire and why only an elder could rub two sticks together.

    ¡°I meant what is the plan for tonight?¡± he asked. Frey quickly glanced up at him as if his question interrupted her from a long lost thought.

    ¡°Well,¡± she began, ¡°I will announce to the clan, and my mate, that I am adopting you as my cub. They may not like it, but I do not see a more honorable way to repay you for saving my little Torunn,¡± she answered.

    It was still awkward for James to hear someone call Torunn - who was the size of a grown man - a cub. Regardless, James wasn¡¯t even sure he wanted to be someone¡¯s cub. It seemed inappropriate, and he had no idea what would be required. Then James realized that he had no idea what the game in general required. He had no idea what the game was about at all! He surmised it might be the smarter decision in the short-term to have Frey available to look out for him. At the very least, just long enough for him to get his bearings.

    ¡°Okay, what do I need to do?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Nothing. Despite your apparent abilities, the clan will still consider you a cub. Explaining to the rest of the village that you can somehow talk is a battle for another day,¡± Frey answered, ¡°Soon, a horn will sound, signaling the start of the day''s feast-¡± Suddenly, a sound so deep it made James glance around for the nearest restroom rumbled through the air and interrupted Frey. ¡°Ah, there it is; stay here until I call for you,¡± she said as she carefully exited the tent.

    James crawled to the edge of it and slipped just enough of his head under to see outside. Walking about everywhere were Martyrs. Some of them seemed even larger than Frey. They had gathered around a fire pit sizeable enough for James to do cartwheels in. Other tents circled it like large tan Rhino¡¯s keeping warm for the night. Radiating through the clear night sky, the moon cast a dull glow on everything, reflecting off of various belt buckles A wooden hut stood above them all, dark red maple contrasting slightly from a sea of browns. It had carvings and symbols painted on the outside walls and a large opening that faced the fire. Covering the entrance was the same hide that made up the tents. The flap on the wooden hut moved, and James¡¯s breath caught in his throat as he saw what exited.

 Chapter 2 - The Chieftain

    Dreng sat on the chair as clan leader and waited for the feast to begin. He thought back on how far along his village had come. They had started as a small handful of Martyrs on the run after the Oana destroyed their homeland. He was still a young cub in those days, but he wished he could''ve done more.

    Dreng smiled, remembering how strong he had been for his age, but the emotion quickly turned to rage when he recalled how much good it had done him. Watching his noble race get slaughtered like Bisonbogs was something he would never forget. The bloodshed that happened on that day was truly unimaginable. In fact, he soberly remembered wondering why there seemed to be more blood than physically possible. It was more than everyone present had in their bodies combined. Put simply; it was an extra bloody day.

    It was only when Dreng reached adulthood, and his small band of survivors founded the village, did he get an answer to the question. Frode, his companion during the Exodus and later his mentor and elder, revealed the Martyr secret that explained the blood on that fateful day.

    The clan horn sounded, temporarily interrupting the clan chief¡¯s thoughts. He had a special appreciation for that horn. Dreng recalled the titan of a creature from which he stole it. The Abominar was nearly three times the size of an adult Martyr. When Dreng had finally discovered its location, he went to kill it - despite his father''s concerns. Dreng couldn''t just stand idle as the Abominar ate his clansmen. He recalled the difficulty he had ripping the horn from the creature''s head and smiled. Everyone that managed to blow the horn got a sense of that difficulty as only the strongest of Martyrs could gather enough wind to sound it.

    Dreng shook his head to refocus, but quickly fell back into his ruminations as old Martyrs often did. He had done well to rebuild his homeland¡­ but there was still much more that needed to be accomplished. He realized months ago that he would not be the one to lead his village into a full rebound, but he was only now accepting it for the first time.

    ¡°Chief, the feast waits,¡± Frode prompted his chieftain and adopted cub. Frode had spent many years by Dreng¡¯s side. He was a decade older than the chieftain but had no desire to lead the remaining members of his noble race. Even if he did though, the ability was not there. Frode¡¯s strength came from his wisdom, and wisdom didn¡¯t get you far during frequent ambushes and night raids. For those you needed an innate affinity for violence that would allow you to summon all your strength to defend yourself at a moment¡¯s call, even when going from a dead sleep. You needed strength and a high constitution. You needed everything Dreng had in spades. He was the clear leader and had assumed the role without much dissent from his elders or peers. The remaining Martyrs had been familiar with Dreng¡¯s strength as a cub. Those that didn¡¯t automatically assume he deserved leadership for that fact alone were reminded of his worth every day on their Exodus. Dreng wasn¡¯t only unnaturally strong for a Martyr, but he could think two steps ahead in every fight. On the first few days of the Exodus, the misfit band of survivors watched Dreng as he made dramatic moves that allowed them all to escape and survive another day. Weeks later, he was making commands in the heat of battle that his elders followed. Had they been too stubborn or prideful, or had Dreng¡¯s leadership faltered in any way, the survivors would not have made it to where they were today. But they did. Frode¡¯s race was wise, intelligent, and fearsome. His leader was talented, loved, and a real fright on the battlefield. It was a shame his race had been nearly killed off.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Yes, my friend. Let us join our people,¡± Dreng announced. Side by side, the two aging Martyrs left the hut and descended a small slope that led to the fire pit and their people. Dreng had fought, bled, and crawled in the mud with his people, so he did not require any fanfare or celebration upon his arrival. He was undoubtedly everyone¡¯s leader, but more importantly, he was one of them. Dreng looked at his people, crossed his arm across his broad chest in a Martyrian salute, and the feast began.

    Soon after, Freydis stood and approached the fire - as was customary when a clansman had an announcement. Dreng nodded at her, a gesture that told most people it was their turn to speak, but told Freydis much more. Dreng''s nod said to her that he cared for her. The simple movement held a lifetime of love and appreciation. It contained an appreciation for how she stood by him and for their shared determination to rebuild their race, and it showed appreciated that she made it through the Exodus alive.

    ¡°Today, an Oana Scout attacked our cub,¡± Freydis began abruptly. The Martyrs that were present snarled in disgust at the mention of the race that destroyed their homeland.

    The Chieftain watched as his mate nodded at her clansman and raised a giant hand to quiet them, ¡°Torunn fought bravely, but I fear that if he saved, he would have fallen.¡±

    Dreng''s eyebrow rose at her announcement. Oana attacks were not all that uncommon. They would often attack - sometimes even fully-grown members of his clan were lost to them - but what surprised him was that Freydis thought their son could have been one of them. He believed his son was stronger than most fully grown Martyrs, and undoubtedly smarter. He didn''t believe just one Oana scout could be a danger to their son.

    ¡°It is important that we prepare for an imminent attack, but I have another, more important, announcement.¡± Freydis said before pausing. Dreng watched in appreciation of his mate¡¯s ability to address the clan. He found himself leaning closer when she began to speak again, "I have brought back with me Torunn¡¯s savior - a Man-cub.¡±

    ¡°Whhhhattt!¡± Dreng exclaimed as he stood from his chair, forcefully enough to send it skittering across the dirt behind him.

    ¡°I will take him under my care, and I hereby announce him my cub¡­ our cub,¡± Freydis calmly stated, meeting Dreng''s gaze.

    ¡°I will have none of it!¡± Dreng announced as he stalked toward Freydis, who braced herself against the imminent attack. She knew she would have to defend her decision with blood, but did not count on him getting so angry. She must have caught him on a bad day. It would make the fight more difficult. He was the strongest of their race, but what Frey lacked in strength, she made up for in speed. Dreng swung at her.

    Predictable, she thought. Leave it to the War Leader to make the first strike.

    Freydis rolled to the side and popped back to her feet, successfully dodging the blow aimed at her face. She prepared a counterstrike, but couldn''t find her mate. Fear pulsed through her body as she realized his attack was not as predictable as she had initially thought. Instead, Dreng knew she would think so, and had managed to anticipate the direction that she would dodge and somehow maneuver behind that location.

    As she contemplated the genius of her mate''s combat ability, her fears were confirmed, and she lifted off her feet. In a terrifying show of strength, Dreng launched her high into the air.

    Everyone watching held their breath.

 Chapter 3 - Wisdom Strategy

    "Whaaat the what?¡± James whispered to himself. He tried to replay what just happened in his head. First, a Huge-Ass Lion Dude, the biggest he had seen so far, comes out of the hut. Second, everybody eats, and Frey starts saying something to the other villagers. Then finally, the Huge-Ass Lion Dude doesn¡¯t seem to like what Frey says and proceeds to whoop her ass.

    James was astounded that the Huge-Ass Lion Dude would so casually beat his mate like that. He was even more astounded that no one else was doing anything about it! He glanced around as he waited to see when Frey would come down from the wicked toss. He honestly thought that she might have grasped onto a nearby tree.

    Maybe she is too afraid to come down?

    ¡°He is going to catch her right?¡± James said to the pile of furs that covered the sleeping Torunn. He didn¡¯t move an inch, nor did his soft snoring break in rhythm. ¡°Little Cub is sleeping so good he doesn¡¯t even realize his parents are about to get a divorce.¡± James laughed.

    An eternity later, Frey smashed into the ground, leaving a small crater and showering the area in the disturbed dirt. She slowly stood up and let out a roar that covered James''s flesh in goosebumps. Her fur took on a red tinge, and she closed the distance between her and her mate in a heartbeat. The two were locked in battle, trading swipes that were so fast James struggled to see who had the upper hand. He pressed his head further out of the tent and used all of his concentration to focus harder.

    Time seemed to slow. Just in time for him to see the flesh on Frey¡¯s back start to part. He could make out a lightning bolt pattern make its way down from Frey¡¯s right shoulder, exposing her raw muscle. The wounds ceased to grow when they reached her lower back, and she landed a devastating strike on Dreng¡¯s face. He stood stock still and stared at Frey who was still seething with anger. Dreng took a knee, signifying his defeat, and spoke.

    ¡°Very well my beloved Freydis, I will honor the wisdom of your request.¡±

    ¡°MAN CUB!¡± Frey called out, rage still racking her body.

    Crap, that¡¯s my cue; James thought as he shrunk back into the tent and made for the actual exit. He put on his false bravado and tried to muster a respectful gait. When he arrived next to Frey, he stared at Dreng in astonishment.

    Oh man. If Frey was a mammoth then this guy must be an actual god. Straight outta¡¯ Mount Olympus, James''s thought, wondering when his little brother would enter the game, so he would have someone to appreciate his sense of humor. And then a tingle somewhere he couldn¡¯t explain interrupted his musings. His eyes shot to Dreng.

    ¡°I, Dreng, Chieftain of the Clan of Honor, Savior of the sole remaining members of the Martyr race, accept you, as our cub,¡± Dreng recited. He then placed a single, but massive, finger on James''s chest. Dreng closed his eyes, and James could feel a painless and sudden drop of temperature. He then noticed the exclamation point in his lower right come to life and shout for his attention with angry blinks.

    Not trusting himself to respond appropriately, James just nodded respectfully at the Chieftain. He briefly considered giving a speech to try and make a good impression on the Chieftain but figured it would be too risky. The thought of him gracefully accepting the Chieftain¡¯s gift with a short and captivating sentence or two sounded good in theory, but James didn¡¯t think he was a skilled enough orator to pull it off. Besides, Freydis had more or less warned him that the Martyrs would not react well if they found out he could talk.

    ¡°We have much to discuss, my beloved Freydis, and you have much explaining to do,¡± Dreng said with finality. Immediately after, Frey whisked James away and back into the same tent he had just spent the entire day inside. Indignant about being shoved back into his jail-tent, James could only think of one response.

    Nobody puts Baby in the corner!

    ***

    James woke up the next morning to the sounds of a rooster.

    ¡°Seriously, you create an entire fantasy universe and still include FUCKING ROOSTERS!¡± he groggily complained.

    His raised voice didn¡¯t seem to affect any of the full-grown Martyrs that were sleeping in the tent, but it did affect some of the less mature ones.

    Torunn heard the commotion and perked up immediately. He raised his head like a prairie dog from the pile of furs where he just spent the last 14 hours and scanned the room. Across the fire pit, he saw the man-cub leave the tent. Torunn could see that he now carried the imprint of the Martyr. Always one to seize an opportunity, Torunn snuck away to hunt his brother.

    James carefully stepped out of the tent and realized no Martyr villagers were present.

    They must be late sleepers, he thought.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo!¡± the rooster repeated. James noticed the sound come from the west. Or at least he assumed it was the west. He figured it could quite easily be the opposite in the game world. There weren¡¯t any other humans around to compare with though, so he didn¡¯t see the point in pursuing the issue.

    James started sneaking in the direction of the god-awful noise. When he rounded the outermost tent, which took a while since they were so large, he noticed the rooster was not a rooster at all. It was one of those brown flamingo beasts, like the one he had skinned and eaten the day before.

    Prepare to meet your maker, James thought, cognizant of the fact that talking in sneak mode was a bad idea. Just as he was about to pull out the skinning sword from his brown cotton pants, the earth came up and punched him in the face.

    ¡°What¡­ happened¡­¡± James whined as he rolled onto his back.

    James reached up to cover his bleeding nose. The pain told him that it was broken. That was when he saw it. Torunn¡¯s¡­ Little¡­ Grin.

    ¡°You little-¡± James started to say as he stood up and ran at his adopted game brother. His ears perked up, and the smile on his face quickly died. Then Torunn did what little brothers have been doing since the beginning of time. He booked it. Got outta¡¯ Dodge. Ran like there was no tomorrow.

    James gave chase in the direction of the Flamingo-Rooster. Torunn was fast, but James managed to keep pace until they were deep into the Great Savanna, the village barely visible on the horizon. James¡¯s anger faded as he used it to fuel his determination. They ran for what felt like an eternity. Long enough, in fact, for James''s nose to heal, no doubt due to some in-game health recovery mechanic.

    Finally, James spotted his opportunity. A sizeable fallen branch was lying in their path, dead ahead. Torunn slowed just enough to prepare to leap over the branch, but James did not. Instead, he jumped into the air without slowing. James straightened his body mid-air until it was parallel to the ground. His body formed the perfect spear, and he felt his hair ripple in the wind. Torunn¡¯s back became a target, and James became a missile. Moments later, his shoulder impacted into Torunn, resulting in a panicked yelp. The two game-brothers landed in a heap and rolled apart, dissolving into fits of laughter that made it difficult for James to crawl forward and continue his attack. Likewise, it made it difficult for Torunn to run away appropriately.

    As they lay there, laughing and trying to catch their breath, James heard a noise that allowed him a glimpse of the absolute rage Frey must have felt when she unleashed her terrible power.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo!¡±

    James propped himself up into a crouch and looked over to Torunn, who was already in the same position. They nodded to each other and opened their senses to the surrounding land.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo!¡±

    That was it; they now knew the direction of their prey. James quietly pulled out his skinning sword at the same moment Torunn pounced away on all fours. James followed him in silent pursuit.

    When James arrived at a small clearing where he heard the noise last, he saw Torunn locked in battle. Not with one Flamingo-Rooster, but with a whole flock of them. He watched as his brother dodged, swiped, rolled, and swiped again with ferocity. James could see though, that soon they would overwhelm him. They were backing Torunn up into a small lake where James assumed they would have the advantage.

    Not today, you little shits. Not today, James thought and then gave himself to the game, letting out his best impression of a war scream as he charged. He swung his blade at the first Flamingo-Rooster he met and left a 1-inch gash in its back. James could see his game brother¡¯s face harden at his reprieve and they both picked up the pace. James slashed, Torunn swiped, and the Flamingo-Roosters pecked. The battle seemed easy now that they had the creatures surrounded. That was until one of the Flamingo-Roosters finally landed a peck on James''s shoulder. He cried out in pain and looked over at the wound - A cone of flesh was missing from his shoulder. His eyes glazed over. In real life, he could count the number of times he had gotten injured this severely on one hand. The pain was indistinguishable from real life. Worse yet, it was James¡¯s sword hand. He tried to lift his sword, but his wounded shoulder wanted nothing to do with the action.

    James attempted to switch the sword to his other hand, but he fumbled and dropped it instead. As he bent over to pick it up, Torunn flew over him like a majestic missile. Torunn¡¯s fur rippled in the wind, saliva trailed from his grin, and he tackled the Flamingo-Rooster that was sneaking up on James with flawless execution.

    As James recovered, he realized what his game brother had done and joined him in battle with the final Flamingo-Rooster. Working together, they surrounded it and dispatched it easily; its long skinny legs collapsing as it fell to the ground. As soon as the final Flamingo-Rooster completed its dramatic death throws, the ground underneath James and Torunn began to quake. Behind them, they heard something disturb the water. They both turned around just in time to see a giant Flamingo-Rooster rise from the small pond.

    ¡°What the waht! Is this a boss monster?¡± James said, a little worried about how they would fair against it since he was fighting with his non-dominant arm and the other was useless.

    Torunn didn¡¯t have the same reservations though and charged the considerable beast. James took a second to read its name tag.

    Final, Final Flamingo-Rooster

    James sighed. He would need to find an ability that would allow him to learn the real names of the monsters he came across.

    Torunn closed the distance quickly and engaged the boss monster. James flanked it. The Martyr cub acted like an agile tank, keeping the boss engaged but dodging most of its blows. This strategy allowed James to get behind it. He paused for a moment and had a thought. Then he crouched and snuck up to the back of the monster. With an awkward stab, he drove his sword deep into the unsuspecting Flamingo-Rooster. It bellowed in pain and turned to face James. Before it could attack though, Torunn pounced on it, climbed up onto its head, and sunk his teeth into its neck. The final bite, coupled with James''s sneak attack, was too much for the Final, Final Flamingo-Rooster and it fell onto the shore of the small pond.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Phew,¡± James said and gave his game brother a respectful nod - which Torunn returned in a surprising show of intelligence. Then James let out a sigh of relief, twirled his blade around and began to skin all the kills with it.

    The skinning was difficult at first but got more comfortable as his shoulder slowly healed. Nearly finished, he piled the furs away from the water and started on the boss monster. As his sword sliced through the thin layer of connective tissue between the monster¡¯s skin and muscle, he noticed something underneath the beast.

    Excited at the chance of possible loot, he called Torunn over, and they lifted the creature onto its side. A satchel lay there, partly squished into the mud. He grabbed it, and a notification appeared.

    You have received Adventurer¡¯s Satchel.

    James equipped the bag. The prompt in his vision minimized and traveled to his upper right peripherals, where it stopped and transformed into the words, ¡°Inventory.¡±

    ¡°YES!¡± James exclaimed loudly, startling Torunn who seemed to be sniffing some herbs nearby. James couldn¡¯t tell if his game-brother was inspecting them or looking for a good spot to mark his territory, but at the moment he didn¡¯t care. James mentally reached out to his inventory menu, and a transparent grid appeared.

    It had a seemingly never-ending number of slots available for items. The only one currently occupied was taken up by an object that looked to be a necklace. James decided to inspect it later as he was more curious about the bag¡¯s capabilities. He walked over to his vast pile of furs and unslung the bag from his back. Loosened the drawstrings so the opening was as wide as it would go; James stuffed the collection into the bag. It didn¡¯t seem to grow any larger as he worked. When he re-accessed his inventory, he saw it now contained 9 Ingo furs, each taking up a single slot. James idly wondered why they didn¡¯t stack together in one slot like most games, but realized it wasn''t a big deal since the bag didn¡¯t seem to have a capacity limit.

    ¡°Well that is one way to learn a creature¡¯s name,¡± James murmured to himself. ¡°And much easier to say than Flamingo-Rooster.¡±

    James finished skinning the boss Ingo and received ten more skins as a reward for his work, bringing his total to 19. He would have gotten more, but he wasn''t used to the boss''s tougher skin, and he ruined some of the pelts.

    James then butchered the animals and received 40 pieces of Ingo meat, which he also added to the bag. Ready to set off back to the village, he then scoured the area for Torunn, who he found resting a few paces out of the clearing. James joined his brother who was, on closer inspection, mashing various herbs together in his hand like a makeshift mortar and pestle. Torunn stood up and smiled. James braced himself, but instead tackling him, Torunn reached out with his empty hand and placed it on his shoulder. The Martyr cub then presented his other hand, which was full of mashed herbs, and looked to James questioningly. The mixture seemed a lot like the green paste Frey had used to heal his wounds the day before. James nodded, and Torunn applied the mix to his shoulder. Then the two set off to go home.

    ***

    James and Torunn returned to the village without any problems. James''s wound had healed long before they reached the village, thanks to Torunn''s paste. On the way back, James struggled somewhat with direction, but his half-animal brother instinctively knew the way to go. The villagers were all awake when they arrived and were stomping around as they completed various tasks. They didn¡¯t pay much attention to James as he walked into the village, which he thought was excellent. He did receive the occasional glance, but, for the most part, they treated him like the other cubs of the village, which were all scampering about, doing their own thing. James noticed one unusually small cub, about the size of a human teenager, almost fall into a well. The closest adult Martyr simply picked it up by the scruff of its neck and placed it away from the well before going on about her business. James got the feeling that parenting roles were loose here and the whole village looked out for and raised the clan''s cubs.

    Entering their tent, Torunn jumped into his pile of furs and soon passed out. James settled into his pile and started a fire to cook some of his Ingo meat. He remembered wishing that he wouldn¡¯t get hungry in the game, but now he was happy about the feeling. Eating the food was comforting to him. It provided him with some familiarity with the real world and kept him grounded. Besides, this batch of meat tasted substantially better than the last.

    A short while later, Frey lumbered into the tent and pulled up a pile of furs next to the fire. She let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back and stared off into the flames. James figured the ability for people to sit by a fire and silently bond must have been a universal truth. He often did just that with his closest friends in the real world, not that he had many. It was a nice change of pace for the game and made him feel even more relaxed. He decided this was a good time to check his notifications.

    Congratulations! You have earned the new mark - Martyr Level 1.

    Sneak increased to Level 2.

    Short Swords increased to Level 4.

    Ingo activates Peck, 10 damage received.

    You have performed a sneak attack for 30 damage.

    Congratulations! You have reached Level 2! Character points available to be spent.

    Skinning increased to Level 6.

    Fire increased to Level 2.

    Congratulations, you have cooked Perfect Ingo Meat.

    Cooking increased to level 3.

    James dismissed the prompts letting him know that he had received the Ingo skins.

    He figured that the mark he received must have been from when Dreng shot the power through his body the night prior. He decided that he needed to do some investigating and get some useful information from his interface for a change. There was so much he didn¡¯t know, including how much health he had, what his statistic points like Endurance affected, and how his skills and character gained experience.

    James focused on his skills tab and noticed it changed to a status tab. Pulling it up he found it now contained more information, but it was still not providing him with all the information he needed. His stat points were now listed, as were his equipped items, but there was no description for any of them. He pulled up his inventory bag to learn more about the necklace he received when he killed the Ingo boss. No details presented themselves, so he hung the necklace over his head. Clarity overcame his body seconds later. Cobwebs that must have gathered in the deep reaches of his brain were all suddenly burnt away in a flash. He couldn¡¯t put his finger on the specific change, but he knew he felt better. Sharper. A prompt appeared in the center of his vision.

    Congratulations! Your intelligence has surpassed Level 10. You can now gather more information from your interface.

    ¡°Now we¡¯re talking!¡± James said out loud. He quickly glanced at Torunn to see if his sudden outburst would awaken the cub, but the pile of furs remained motionless. Freydis, however, did react and didn¡¯t seem too happy that James broke the enchanting silence of their time by the fire. James whispered an apology. When Freydis drifted back off into her thoughts, he pulled up his status tab. James now had pronounced and detailed tabs on his menu. He took a moment to look at every entry and focused on bringing up additional details.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 2

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have.

    Strength, Level 4 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much endurance you have.

    Agility, Level 4 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge & critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage.

    Will, Level 4 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock or pass out, and more.

    Intelligence, Level 13 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and more.

    Wisdom, Level 2 - Controls the rate at which you gain character experience, and more.

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    "Awesome. Wisdom can make me gain extra experience,¡± James mumbled.

    He decided he should focus on increasing that statistic so he could level faster, while his second priority should be raising his Intelligence. That way he could get a boost of experience from Wisdom and could leverage his Intelligence to learn more about what each stat did. Once he got a feel for how things worked, he would revisit his strategy.

    He was admittedly a little disappointed that he had only received two stat points to distribute upon leveling up, but he shrugged it away and dumped them both into Wisdom, bringing it up to Level 4. After a quick calculation, he also realized that his Health and Endurance points were both ten times their controlling stats. 6 Constitution gave him 60 Health Points and an Endurance of 5 granted him 50 Endurance Points. He noted the red health bar and the green energy bar at the bottom of his peripherals and continued digging into the menu.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 2 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 2% while sneaking.

    Skinning, Level 6 ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 6% while skinning.

    Cooking, Level 3 ¨C Food is 3% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 3%.

    Fire, Level 2 ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 2%.

    Short Swords, Level 4 ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 4%.

    James noticed that everything in this tab was pretty straightforward, besides his fire mastery. He wondered about what fire mastery did for him, exactly. However, a quick search throughout his menu didn¡¯t yield any further information.

    ¡°Guess I will have to wait until I increase my Intelligence for that one,¡± James noted. He also predicted that big things would happen after you surpassed Level 10 in a skill or stat. When his Intelligence exceeded Level 10, a good deal of beneficial information was unlocked. It was possible that he would get other useful abilities when things reached Level 10.

    James¡¯s eyes grew heavy, and he leaned back onto his furs until he was utterly prone. He wanted to get through the last two menus, but sleep took him before he had the chance.

    ***

    A horn sounded and violently woke James from his nap. He wiped the sand from his eyes and stretched before being bombarded by an excited Torunn. The Martyr cub jumped up and down, presumably signaling that he wanted to eat.

    ¡°So you like eating more than you like sleeping, huh, Torunn?¡± James asked as he moved to follow the cub out of the tent. He was unsure of how to join the feast, but Torunn simply lead him to the nearest open seat and motioned for him to take it. Some comparatively smaller adult Martyrs brought out the food. It looked like roasted Ingo meat with vegetables that James had never seen before. The Chieftain entered the clearing with his aide and signaled the start of the feast. James dug into the meal with gusto, noting that the Ingo meat tasted much better than the Ingo meat he cooked earlier in the day. He mentally added leveling the cooking skill to his list of priorities, and then opened his menu to continue exploring the new information.

    James¡¯s inventory was somewhat lackluster, only containing a handful of Ingo skins and Ingo meat of common rarity. His equipped items tab was much more interesting.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Empty

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Cracked Leather Boots (Widespread)

    Legs - Dirty Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest - Dirty Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Empty

    Wrist ¨C Empty

    Back ¨C Empty

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1-5 - Empty

    Sheath 1 & 2 ¨C Empty

    Bag - Adventurer''s Satchel (Common)

    When James focused on the items, it brought up their stats. The clothes he was wearing gave him only 1 Armor a piece, the necklace granted him 10 points to Intelligence, and his bag did several things. Upon further inspection, James found that it had an infinite number of slots, but the items contained inside would drop upon his death - depending on the rarity of the bag and the rarity of the item inside it. That must be why the bag didn¡¯t have a limited amount of slots and items inside didn¡¯t stack, he figured. Each item was at risk of being lost when he died. Each item had its slot and therefore its own probability of being dropped. The items inside didn''t stack so that if he died, it was possible for him to only lose a portion of similar items, instead of the entire group of them.

    James focused on the 50% drop chance text next to the Necklace of Lucidity, and a chart appeared. The horizontal axis was labeled ''Item Rarity,'' and the vertical axis was labeled ''Bag Rarity.'' If you followed the rarity of an item along the chart until it intersected with the bag rarity you got the drop rate of the said item. Widespread items were grey and the most common of items. His Adventurer¡¯s Satchel was of common rarity, so that gave him a drop chance of 70% for widespread items, according to the chart. Common items were white with a drop chance of 60%. Uncommon items were green with a drop chance of 50%. Rare items were blue with a drop chance of 40%. Purple Extraordinary items had a drop rate of 30%, and the Legendary orange items had a drop rate of 20%. James noticed that each higher bag rarity level lowered the drop chance of all the things inside it by 10%. If he was to ever to acquire a legendary bag, any rare items and above he kept inside it would never drop. Right now though, he had a chance to lose anything in his inventory if he died.

    "Do monsters follow the same drop rate rules?" James wondered. He didn''t think the boss Ingo carried a bag, but maybe it did have its own drop chart. It was entirely possible that different monsters had different drop rates for each different rarity level. It didn''t matter right now, but James added it to his mental list of questions that needed answering anyway. After all, the people that ran the game told him everything would make sense eventually, as long as he kept exploring and learning.

    James finished his meal and glanced around at his surroundings. Martyrs of all different sizes sat around tables with a massive fire in the center of them. The chieftain sat at a seemingly random table amid the crowd. Most of the adult Martyrs showed no signs of being satiated yet, so James resigned to play the waiting game. If he remembered correctly from the last feast he witnessed, right before that crazy fight happened, no one left the table even when they were all finished, so he wouldn¡¯t either. James focused on his menu and gestured to his final tab, ''Marks.'' Before he could read what was inside, he was lifted from his chair.

 Chapter 4 - The Chieftains Advisor

    Frode sat to the right of the Dreng as was the Martyr way. Most members of his race were left-handed, so it was customary for the Chieftain¡¯s Advisor to sit on the right to protect the Chieftain¡¯s weak side. This tradition was as old as anyone could remember, but it got a breath of life during the Exodus. The Oana who destroyed their homeland ambushed them at night quite often. The practice of protecting the Chieftain''s weak side soon became a necessity once again, instead of an outdated formality.

    Frode idly wondered if anyone would have any announcements during the feast before he made one of his own. The Oana were getting frightfully close to their new village as of late. The clan''s priorities would have to change because of it. The villagers would not be happy, but they would do what was necessary. His race was wise, intelligent, and most important of all¡­ fearsome. He would make sure that the days of repopulation and farming did not make them forget that. It was high time they fortified their defenses and started to send war parties deeper into the Great Savanna.

    Dreng prodded Frode with a quick elbow and pointed at the Man-cub with a hunk of meat. The boy sat next to Dreng¡¯s cub and pawed at the air. Frode was aware of the stink bug problem around this time of day and often attempted to push the daily feast back a few hours to avoid the problem. Each time he talked Dreng into agreeing, however, a villager or two would go missing, apparently driven mad by hunger. Scouts would find them later in a nearby Ingo nest, passed out and surrounded by bones. His race was undoubtedly wise and intelligent, but if they got too hungry, they were mostly just fearsome.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Frode lovingly scoffed at his less refined brethren as he eyed the Man-cub. His movements almost seemed to have a pattern about them. Suddenly, a fear surged through Frode¡¯s body. His fur stood up and chills coursed through his body until his shoulders shuddered. He struggled to recall the teachings of his father. Among the shaman classes he learned as a child, Frode¡¯s father also spoke about the future. At the time, Frode dismissed the rantings as a side effect of his father having too much intelligence in a Martyr body. After all, the Clan revered his father for attaining levels of intelligence that none of his race ever could. Often, no one could understand the concepts of which he spoke.

    The memories came back in a sputtering stream as Frode called upon the innermost workings of his brain. His father spoke of a young Man-cub that could talk when no others could, and that could customize his stat points when he leveled when all others had to wait until maturity. He spoke about a Man-cub that could command fire. Frode¡¯s fear leveled out when he remembered the last part. The Man-cub was interesting indeed, but it was highly unlikely he could command fire. His rare shamanistic abilities allowed him some control over nature, but he was nowhere near able to command it.

    Frode stood up and calmly walked over to the Man-cub. Standing above him, Frode could see his hands moving in the same pattern every adult was familiar with. Children and cubs of every race got statistic points based on their actions, but none of them could manually place them. No one, no matter their race, gained access to the interface until they reached adulthood.

    Yet, here this Man-cub was, obviously navigating around his interface. It was time for Frode to investigate.

 Chapter 5 - Abilities & Quests

    Kicking and screaming, James was carried to the Chieftain¡¯s hut and thrown inside. He was a little scared at the power of the creature that so easily lifted and carried his thrashing body, but mostly, he was just angry.

    ¡°What the hell, man!¡± James exclaimed as he brushed the creases from his dirty cloth shirt. He felt awkward for a moment speaking to the wizened old beast that way, but the anger he felt soon made the moment pass. Frode motioned for James to take a seat on a pile of furs. James reluctantly did so, realizing the furs were much softer and thicker than the furs in his tent.

    ¡°My name is Frode; I am the advisor of Chieftain,¡± Frode started.

    ¡°Why did you grab me?¡± James interrupted, ¡°I would have happily followed you if you would have just asked."

    Frode thought on that for a second, letting the anger from being interrupted pass through and out of him with a series of breaths.

    ¡°My race used to live in a sprawling camp. It is what humans would call a city. A few years ago we were hunted down and slaughtered by the Oana. They destroyed our Great City in the process. They killed many of our woman, our elders, and even our children that day. Except for us, though. The people you see in this camp. Our leader, led us to safety and allowed us to rebuild here," Frode explained.

    James screwed up his face as if to say, What¡¯s the fucking point?

    ¡°What I am trying to say is that I apologize, Man-cub. Your culture is different from ours. Some of these differences were born from a violent past, and might not be necessary these days. I would do well to remember that,¡± Frode finished with a slight bow of his head.

    Taken aback by the old brute¡¯s self-awareness, James could only swallow his anger and nod.

    ¡°I brought you here because I noticed you were poking around in your status tabs. I am sure you are aware, but only adults have access to their interface. It is a gift from the gods that children all around the world do not receive, except you.¡±

    James was surprised that this game character, this NPC, had access to the interface at all. Regardless of the reason that the programmers gave NPCs this access, James still thought it was smart to make them think it was a gift from the gods.

    James honestly wasn¡¯t sure how to respond. He did have a feeling that if he called the game what it was, that he would be labeled crazy and probably smashed to a pulp. The pain James felt from just minor wounds was so real it made him shudder at the thought of a major one. He wondered what would happen if he put all his stat points into Will. Would he be able to stay conscious through major wounds? He decided he did not want to know the answer to that question and would rather pass out. Even if he was in a life or death situation and he would lose his items.

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± James asked, deciding to fish out what the non-player character knew about the game.

    ¡°I was hoping you could tell me. Where did you come from before you found Torunn being attacked by an Oana scout in the Great Savanna?¡±

    Crap, James thought. Some new highly advanced artificial intelligence must power this NPC. Mulling over his options, James said the only thing he could think of that wouldn¡¯t break the game and get him fired.

    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t know?¡± Frode asked, sounding a lot like James¡¯s mother.

    ¡°I have no memory from before that day. I am not even sure if James is my real name. In fact, I doubt it is. I simply woke up in the savanna and set out in a random direction to find answers. That is when I ran into Torunn,¡± James lied.

    Frode sat back and stared at James for a long time before leaning forward and speaking softly, ¡°I will help you get answers.¡± The Chieftain''s Advisor paused again. ¡°If you will help me with something.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing; anything to get answers about who I am,¡± James said, wondering if he was laying it on a little too thick now.

    ¡°It is getting dark out, and I am the only one in the village that can start fires. Freydis mentioned you have the ability to start them as well. If you can take over my fire duties, I will spend the time researching your situation and looking for answers.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± James answered, as a notification popped up in his field of view.

    Quest Accepted ¨C Take over Frode¡¯s duties of starting fires for the village.

    Frode continued to stare at James and eventually motioned to the door. James got the feeling Frode had dismissed him moments ago, so he left the hut in a hurry. The Chieftain was on his way into it, and James smashed into his leg. James stared up at the massive chieftain, who let out a low growl which spurred James to his feet and far away from the hut.

    The villagers finished with their feast, so James set off to start all the fires. He stopped by his tent first to stoke his, which still had lit embers from before his nap. Another pop-up appeared, and James sighed.

    Quest Updated ¨C First day, 1 of 25 fires lit.

    ¡°This is going to be a long night.¡±

    ***

    For one of the few times in his life, James woke up from his peaceful slumber wholly enraged. His hands were still sore from breaking up enough kindling to feed 25 fires. The effort unlocked his XP bar, which was now 50% toward his next level. James thought that was pretty exciting, but it wasn¡¯t compelling enough to calm his anger.

    James untangled his body from his furs and resolved to either upgrade the furs he currently slept on or find a way to make an actual bed. His furs were quite comfortable, but the situation he just awoke to put him in a terrible mood. James learned the hard way that when he was in a bad mood because of the way life was going, the only way to improve that mood was to work to improve life. Even if he couldn''t adjust the thing that caused him to be in a lousy mood, improving other things, like his sleeping arrangement, should still help.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo!¡±

    Still, James desperately wanted to ''Improve'' those damn Ingos that kept waking him up. James briskly walked to his partner in crime¡¯s pile of furs.

    ¡°Wake up, Torunn; we are going hunting again.¡±

    Torunn stretched around in his pile as his ears perked up at the word hunt. The two set out to exit the tent, but an adult Martyr reached out a massive hand and blocked their path.

    ¡°James,¡± Frey groggily began. ¡°Can you do me a favor?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± James replied, his sour mood temporarily soothed by Frey¡¯s voice. He was growing fond of the woman that had welcomed him to the village. She somehow managed to exude the love and care of a mother while remaining a monstrous creature. Although he would probably never admit it, James had a weak spot for mother figures. He had been very close to his mother before she had died entirely too young.

    ¡°Kill all the damn Ingos around the village,¡± Frey finished as her heavy hand slumped to the floor, and she fell back asleep. With that, James knew he was indeed a fan of the woman.

    Quest Accepted - Hunt down and clear out 5 of the closest Ingo nests.

    The duo departed the tent and paused at the edge of the village to get their bearing. James glanced at Torunn and swore he had grown overnight. His muscles were slightly more pronounced. His skin even seemed tighter around them, like he lost a thin layer of baby fat. Either Martyr cubs grew rather quickly, or Torunn leveled up the other day from the boss Ingo fight, James assumed. From what Frode told him the night prior, the level up option made more sense. He nodded in approval at his game brother¡¯s growth and patted the portion of his waistband where he kept his Martyr Skinning Knife. Then the two cubs set out into the Great Savanna.

    James wasn¡¯t sure where the closest Ingo nests were, so he led Torunn in a tight spiral around the village until they found their first. Walking in the Great Savanna was always tricky since the grass was so tall. That¡¯s why it was surprising when they stumbled upon the nest. One moment they were wading through the grass and another moment they were in a clearing with a small lake in the middle. From what James could gather, Ingos were not usually hostile towards people in the wild, but that was NOT the case when you wandered into their nests.

    Seven Ingos went from milling about on the edge of their lake, to staring at James, and then to running full speed in his direction in what seemed like an instant. James pulled out his Martyr Skinning Knife with his right hand as Torunn instinctively rolled around to James¡¯s left, bearing his claws and teeth. At the last moment, the partners stepped forward to meet the charging horde of annoying cock a doodle doers.

    The first few seconds of the battle were a blur as James stood locked in batted with four of the Ingos. Between making wild slashes of his blade and doing his best to dodge Ingo beaks, he could barely keep track of Torunn, who fought only ten paces away. Torunn was objectively stronger than James but had fewer Ingos attacking him. Consequently, James¡¯s health bar started to trend downward. He knew that if it got below a certain point, he would pass out and be finished off by inquisitive Ingo beaks.

    James landed a slash to one of the beasts¡¯ neck. He hoped it would lop its head right off, but it only left a minor scrape. Apparently, he didn¡¯t do enough damage to cut through the Ingo''s thin neck. Dodging a beak, James simultaneously spun and slashed out with his blade. He cut the third Ingo, and then whirled to finish off the one with the neck of steel. James glanced in Torunn¡¯s direction and noticed he was gone, along with the Ingos that were attacking him. Panic overwhelmed James before he realized that Torunn probably baited the Ingos into the grass where he would have the advantage.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    When James¡¯s health bar reached 40 out of 60, he was down to the last Ingo, who was much less aggressive without his friends to back him up. James squared up, ground his feet into the dirt, and then poured all of his strength into his next swing. A grunt escaped James''s body as it struggled to accelerate the short sword to the speed that James''s mind envisioned it going. The disconnect between what James¡¯s mind wanted to do and what James¡¯s body was capable of doing was apparent when James¡¯s would-be devastating strike hit the Ingo¡¯s head. James¡¯s stood there slightly stunned as vibrations traveled from his sword arm, through his body, and into the ground like a spark of electricity. James was sure he would finally lop of an Ingo head with that strike and when that didn¡¯t happen his body was out of place. He thought he would be following through the attack and his momentum would continue to propel him forward. Instead, his strike hit the Ingo with the flat of the blade and James reeled back, off balance and slightly stunned.

    James was disappointed in his strength once again, but the Ingo didn¡¯t seem to be doing much better. It stood there wobbling on its skinny legs, clearly dazed as well. A prompt appeared in James¡¯s vision.

    Congratulations! Your short sword skill has surpassed Level 10. You can now choose from the below two abilities.

    Ability 1 - Jump Strike. Chance to stun 25%

    Ability 2 - Lunge. Chance to pierce armor 50%

    James remembered the first massively multiplayer online RPGs that he played. His favorite class was the warrior. It could select an enemy and charge it, closing the distance in an instant and stunning the enemy upon arrival. If that sentimental value wasn¡¯t enough to make this decision, the fact that the Ingo was regaining its mental faculties had to be enough, he figured. James chose the Jump Strike ability and the window closed.

    His body instinctively knew what to do next. He squared up again, slowly backed up, and mentally activated his new ability. He felt his body lower to ground as his legs depressed underneath his body. An instant later he was soaring through the air, much like when he revenge tackled Torunn the other day. His feet were kicking as he fought to control his flight path. James began to panic as his thoughts turned on him. He was entirely too high!

    No human could ever and should ever jump this freaking high. Oh¡­ My¡­ God¡­ I am still going up, he thought. Then he finally began to descend and calmed down a little. James briefly admitted to himself that he might have a small fear of heights. Maybe he didn¡¯t jump as high as his panicked brain thought. Then James wondered if he jumped higher because he was relatively close to his enemy. If he was further away when using his ability would his jump be longer, instead of higher?

    All these thoughts raced through James¡¯s head in an instant. When he got close to landing, James''s body instinctively poised his blade above his head, ready to slam it down with the momentum of his fall. The Ingo got closer and closer. James was ready. The time was now! The Ingo attempted to dodge, but James altered the path of his blade and chopped downward and to the left as his feet slammed into the ground. His legs effortlessly absorbed the fall. James stood there in awe of himself. A small dust cloud slowly settled in his wake. He noticed his Endurance went down a fraction when he used his new Jump Strike ability. Before this, the only other thing that drained his Endurance was running long distances. When the dust cloud finally cleared he could see the Ingo laying on the ground, its head completely severed.

    "YES!" James exclaimed.

    Ecstatic, James brought his right hand to his head, flexed his bicep, and pointed his left arm to the heavens as he gazed in the same direction. He held his bodybuilder pose for a long while - and probably would have for longer if he didn¡¯t hear a noise coming from his backside.

    James whipped his body around and readied himself to Jump Strike again. A solid wall of fur meandered at the edge of the clearing and eventually stepped into view. James was mostly confused at the sight. Torunn nonchalantly backed out of the grass, dragging something along with him. It turned out that he had killed all three of his Ingos and even had time to tie their legs together.

    ¡°Torunn! Why didn¡¯t you come back for me, man? I was struggling over here!¡± James exclaimed, indignant.

    Torunn looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, and for the first time, he spoke.

    ¡°Brother, good,¡± he said, patting James on the shoulder and giving him a confident smile. Dumbfounded by the sudden speech and the vote of confidence, James stayed silent.

    When he could finally think enough to reply, he valiantly responded with an, ¡°Uhh¡­ thanks.¡±

    Torunn scouted around to look for herbs while James began to skin the Ingos. James wondered why a boss didn¡¯t spawn and realized he could ask Torunn now since, apparently, he could talk.

    ¡°Hey, Torunn. How come a big Ingo didn¡¯t come out of the lake like last time?¡±

    Torunn just looked up at James, held his eye contact long enough to make it evident he wasn¡¯t going to respond, and then when back to picking herbs.

    ¡°Alrighty then, back to quiet Torunn that randomly tackles people,¡± James said to himself. Torunn clearly understood and smirked at the quip.

    James figured the boss would probably only spawn a percentage of every time they cleared out an Ingo nest. He wanted to test the hypothesis by going back to the first Ingo nest where they found the boss to see if it spawns again. It was possible that monster spawning wasn''t a probability thing like in other games and in this game bosses just lived where they wanted to and didn¡¯t actually ¡®spawn¡¯ anywhere. He could probably figure that out by going back to the place he found the first Ingo boss but didn¡¯t have the time.

    Quest Updated ¨C 1 of 5 Ingo nests cleared.

    ***

    James and Torunn spent the next four hours clearing out the remaining nests. They managed to get a system down that made the process reasonably efficient. Once they found a nest, they would split the monsters up; making sure Torunn had one additional Ingo to fight if there was an odd number. Torunn would kite his monsters into the grass where he would attack, retreat and hide, and attack again from stealth before they lost interest. James would hack and slash with his sword, use Jump Strike when he had the Endurance, and generally try not to die.

    At one camp there were 11 Ingos, and 6 of them followed him instead of Torunn. James found that using his jump attack only in dire situations would conserve his limited Endurance and often temporarily turn the tides of his battles. It was in this fight that James learned the health level that he could fall to that would cause him to go into shock. James had been losing this battle. Just before Torunn saved him, he received a debuff.

    Danger! You have gone into shock. Movement and attacks are now 30% slower. If you receive additional damage while in shock you will pass out.

    It was enough of a lead that James could investigate further. He got the debuff when he was dropped down to 36 out of 60 health. With some simple math, he calculated that 36 health points were 60% of his total health. Coincidentally his Will was at Level 4, so James decided he could only take 40% of his max Health in damage before he went into shock. This assumption coincided with the Level 10 theme James thought the game had. At a Will of Level 10, theoretically, he would be able to take 100% of his max Health in damage before he passed out. He suspected though, that if that ever happened, he would just die.

    That train of thought led him to wonder what would happen to him if he died in the game. Would he respawn, have to start over, or be ejected? It seemed to James that the more information about the game he discovered the more questions he had.

    ***

    It was well past sundown when James and Torunn got back to the village. Torunn quickly ate at the feast then promptly fell into his fur pile and went to sleep. During the feast, Frode discussed the future strategy to build their defenses against the Oana. James ate and listened to Frode¡¯s impassioned speech before he once again began his task of starting all the village fires.

    Quest Updated ¨C Second day, 24 of 25 fires lit.

    James slumped onto his pile of furs and sighed. ¡°What a day, what a day,¡± he chanted as he started his fire.

    Quest Completed ¨C Second day, 25 of 25 fires lit.

    James decided to level up his cooking, since he had the extra meat, while he checked his stats. Noticing that his notification log contained a bunch of skill, ability, and character level ups along with all the damage he received and dealt, he decided to clean up his interface. He focused on removing level ups from his log and adding them to his status pages. He wanted to be able to look at his stats at the end of the day and see what progress he made, instead of sifting through his log. Frustrated at the interfaces lack of responsiveness, James focused harder.

    Attention: Further interface customizations are not available until Intelligence Level 15.

    Sighing, he spent two of the stat points he earned from the day on Intelligence. Then he focused on adding all level ups and items gained throughout the day into his status page unless it was of particular interest to him. He focused on the thought that if a notification would help him in a fight, it would be okay to flash in the notification sections. That way it wasn¡¯t too distracting, but still noticeable. He focused on the fact that he wanted item drops for the day to be listed on his status page under the inventory tab or equipped item tabs unless they were uncommon or above. Then it would be okay if he received a notification. He figured that he would want to be distracted by the blinking notifications icon only if the notification would help him in battle. With his infinite storage space, he was reasonably sure that he was going to pick up everything he found and toss it into his satchel. He could always sort through it at a later point. Still, he wanted to get notifications about uncommon items or above since he would probably benefit from equipping those right away. James had a feeling his interface changes were accepted and pulled up his status page to double check.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 5 (3 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 4 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much endurance you have

    Agility, Level 4 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge & critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 4 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 15 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and more. (2 points added recently)

    Wisdom, Level 4 - Controls the rate at which you gain character experience, and more.

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    4 statistic points ready to distribute. (6 gained recently, 2 already spent)

    James smiled as he munched on his cooked Ingo meat. ¡°This is much better!¡±

    James leaned back into his furs and spent 3 of his points on Wisdom, bringing it up to Level 7. His final free point was spent on Will, bringing it up to Level 5. If his calculations were correct, this would allow him to get as low as 50% of his max Health before he received a shock debuff. That one point granted him access to 10% more health, or so he hoped. His stat strategy was mostly the same as before. Dump everything into Wisdom so he could level faster until it was too hard to survive. Then he would focus on Intelligence so he could learn more about his stats and re-strategize. It was a good plan, but he got a little too close to dying today so he figured spending one point on Will wouldn¡¯t derail his plan.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 2 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 2% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 8 (2 levels gained today) ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 8% while skinning

    Cooking, Level 6 (3 levels gained today) ¨C Food is 6% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 6%

    Fire, Level 5 (3 levels gained today) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 5%

    Short Swords, Level 10 (6 levels gained today) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 10%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike,¡± Level 2 (2 levels gained today) Chance to stun 30%

    James nodded in approval. He was progressing nicely. He tossed on his new items and started to feel like an adventurer.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Bent Copper Buckler (Widespread) (Acquired today)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Cracked Leather Boots (Widespread)

    Legs - Dirty Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest - Dirty Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Cracked Leather Shoulder Pads (Widespread) (Acquired today)

    Wrist ¨C Empty

    Back ¨C Empty

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1-5 - Empty

    Sheath 1 ¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread) (Acquired today)

    Sheath 2 - Empty

    Bag - Adventurer''s Satchel (Common)

    The buckler James got from the Ingo boss supplied a whopping 2 Armor points. He wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, but it was double what his other items provided, so he was excited nonetheless. The shoulder armor he got offered the standard 1 Armor point, but it made James feel so safe he felt like it offered 10. The final item James received was an ordinary sheath. It was adequately convenient but didn¡¯t offer any apparent boosts to anything. Either way, he was happy he wouldn¡¯t have to awkwardly run around with a hard metal sword in his pants. There was certainly a joke there, but sleep took James before he could find it.

 Chapter 6 - Morning on the Savanna

    James¡¯s consciousness awoke before his eyes fluttered open. He was apt to keep it that way and stretched about in his fur pile, intent on enjoying his first morning without the Ingo scourge. So far, the game had been an enormous success, in his book. Moments like these promised an excellent escape for the average stressed out person. The nights by the fire were especially relaxing; allotting his hard-earned stat points, learning new things about the game, and bonding with Frey. This morning, however, beat out all the nights by the fire combined. James felt more at peace than he could ever remember, even in the real world. Looking back, even the bad parts of the game were fleeting. Sure, the pain was more realistic than James would have ever thought possible, but as long as you had some healing salve, it would go away pretty quickly. The bad parts of the game also contrasted the good perfectly. Without those painful and stressful moments would he be able to truly enjoy his nights by the fire and his mornings without the Ingos?

    That train of thought led to two new tasks James decided he would accomplish. He imagined the military bosses that contracted him to test the game would want as many people as possible to play the game. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure why the military was operating a game in the first place, but if they invested this many resources into it, they would definitely need to appeal to a wide range of players. Some of those players might not want to deal with the pain of adventuring, so James concluded there must be a game system to cater to these individuals. Something like crafting.

    James decided he would spend some of his day asking around the village to see if there was a crafting profession he could learn. He had already got the Cooking skill on his own, but maybe he could find trainers for other skills.

    James''s second task would be to find a place to grind and level up. He cleared out all the nearby Ingo nests already, so he would have to travel farther out to hunt or wait for them to respawn - if they even did respawn. Besides, Ingo nests were usually spaced far apart and tough to find. What James wanted was a nice clear area full of many individual monsters he could easily and safely pick off. It would be even better if these monsters were easy to kill and granted tons of experience. He doubted he would ever be so lucky, but the gist of his thoughts was the same. He needed a better place to hunt and progress.

    James finally opened his eyes and was about to start his day when he remembered something. He never got the chance to check out the Marks tab in his interface. He focused on his intent and the corresponding tab fizzled into existence over his vision.

    Marks

    Mark of the Martyr - Rank 1 - You have been gifted a mark by the Chieftain of the sole surviving Martyr clan. At the current rank, your mark gives you the ability to summon one Martyr to your location to assist you in battle. Cooldown, one month.

    Nodding his head in appreciation, James decided this was a pretty useful gift. He wished his interface would tell him how he could level the rank of his mark, but at this point; he was well used to that frustration. He would get the information some other way or when he increased his Intelligence enough. No use stressing about it. With that finally done, he set out to find a new place to level up and get his grind on.

    The adult Martyrs in his tent were all still sleeping when James left. They must have all been asleep in the other tents as well as the village was empty. James looked around, enjoying the calmness and clarity he felt this morning.

    ¡°Man, getting rid of those Ingo nests was a great idea,¡± James whispered to himself.

    It was still early morning, but the sun was already wholly in the sky. James spoiled himself with one more stretch as he enjoyed the touch of warmth the sun provided. The Great Savanna is an awesome place, he thought. It never gets too hot or too cold. James recalled his home, where it was almost never the right temperature outside; summers where stifling, and the winters were deadly. So James made sure the beautiful weather was not wasted on him. He enjoyed it while he could - even if it was only in a game.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    As he finally stepped off in search of new hunting grounds, Torunn ran up beside him. It was as if his game brother smelled that there were adventures to be had. James smiled at Torunn, who nodded back. Then the two set off.

    Wading through the tall grass of the Great Savanna was still a chore, but James was starting to mind it less. He was adapting to it, and more importantly, adapting to the game. James took a moment to appreciate how much information he had already gathered, even though there was still much more to learn.

    Torunn hopped up and down as he walked next to James, apparently looking for a better approach to navigating the tall grass. It seemed to be useful, but James could only imagine how tiresome it was. It was a maneuver only a Martyr cub would have enough energy to use. Deciding he would not attempt the same, James let his mind drift back to his real life. He wondered how long he had been in the game. He wondered how his was brother doing. James hoped they would let Michael into the game soon, as he was beginning to miss his brother. They were practically inseparable. Even as adults.

    The tall grass was almost like a shelter for James and Torunn, ensuring they couldn¡¯t be seen if they didn¡¯t want to. The grass came up to their shoulders so they could easily duck and disappear if they spotted any danger. That is why they both jumped back in fright and hit the ground when something sprinted through the grass, eerily close to them. They stayed froze a moment as they opened their senses back up to their surroundings. Thoughts of James¡¯s brother were yanked from his mind as he came back to his new reality. He chastised himself for letting his mind wander while he was in the savanna.

    The thing that ran by didn¡¯t entirely enter the small clearing in the grass James and Torunn created as they walked, but it came close. James assumed it must not have even known they were there since it didn¡¯t come back to investigate. James slowly moved his head to his other side so he could check on Torunn. His game brother was in the same position as he was. When their eyes locked, Torunn nodded his head once, and they both rose. Peeking over the field of tall grass, they spotted a long trail where the thing must have traveled. At its end was a giant grey beast. It walked on four legs that ended well above the top of the grass. It was too large to be the creature that ran by them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± James said to Torunn. They followed the path at a sprint and slowed as they got closer to its end. James could see now that the beast had a rack of horns on its head and a patch of greyish brown fur that traveled down its back. A name tag appeared above the creature''s head.

    Giant Deer Rhino

    The Rhino was thrashing around, seemingly trying to stomp on something. James could hear the screams of the soon to be pancake creature that ran by them.

    Those are human screams, a familiar voice yelled from the forefront of James¡¯s consciousness. It was the type of voice that could have been his and the type of command that could have been said with more words. In this case though, those extra words would have been unnecessary. They were human screams.

    Instinctively, James moved to enter the clearing and help the human. Torunn reached out from behind him and placed a firm grip on James¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Danger,¡± Torunn growled.

    James shifted his body to release Torunn¡¯s grip and entered the Rhino''s clearing. He assessed the situation in an instant. The clear sky of the Great Savanna allowed the sun to beam at a perfect brightness, leaving no room for misunderstandings. An overweight boy, probably not even out of his teens, was doing his best to dodge the Rhino¡¯s stomps. He was dinged up pretty bad. Bruises covered the parts of his skin that were visible through his starting clothes. He was distraught, and his best efforts to dodge the stomps weren¡¯t going to protect him forever.

    James was briefly disappointed that the human wasn''t his brother. He thought that his brother was going to be the only other person that was allowed in the game. At least that is what he thought the military member briefing him had said. James couldn''t be sure. The thought disappeared as fast as it came.

    James activated Jump Strike, hoping that the game had an aggro system and he would be able to steal the Rhino¡¯s attention from the boy. His body coiled like a compressed spring then he launched into the air. He pulled his Martyr Skinning Knife from his new sheath mid-air and poised it above his head. A determined grit showed on James''s face when he realized his jump would land him right on the Rhino¡¯s rack of horns. He altered his flight path to the best of his ability, and when he reached the Rhino, he slashed out. He impacted the Rhino¡¯s side, and his vision went black. Another savage impact sent shock waves through his body, and he managed to open his eyes for a brief moment. Just in time to see the now half-horned Rhino¡¯s foot descending on him.

 Chapter 7 - Flattened

    Stupid brother. Why attack No-No? Torunn thought. His father¡¯s blood coursed through his body and urged him to destroy the No-No, but he knew better. It had killed his brother with one stomp, and Torunn knew it could do the same to him. Even if it took two stomps, the result of attacking the No-No would be the same. Instead, he rushed into the clearing and picked up the fat human cub and hefted him onto his shoulders. Torunn sprinted to the edge of the clearing and glanced back at his brother''s body. A tear started to well in one of his eyes just as he saw his brother¡¯s body fade and disappear. Torunn had seen many deaths before but never once had he seen a body disappear like that. If he was surprised though, he didn¡¯t have time to show it. A name tag popped up into his vision, reminding him of the impending danger.

    Enraged No-No

    The beast must have gone into an enraged state when it lost one of its horns. Torunn sprinted into the wall of tall grass and continued in the direction of his village. The fat human cub thrashed and screamed on top of Torunn''s shoulders. His screams allowed the Enraged No-No to follow them. Torunn contemplated dropping the human cub but decided to test one more theory first. He ran in unpredictable patterns instead of a straight line to make sure it was the human cub that was drawing the creature to them. The No-No followed without missing a beat; it¡¯s giant body able to travel much faster in the Savanna than Torunn. Sure now that he wouldn¡¯t survive with a screaming human cub, he dropped it, hard. As suspected, the human cub couldn¡¯t handle any more injuries and passed out. Torunn hefted his limp body back onto his shoulders and soon lost the No-No in the Great Savanna.

    Torunn arrived at the outskirts of his village where the clearing started and the tall grass ended. He dropped the soft human cub on the grass side and made a mental mark of where he was. Torunn knew the cub would be seen as a threat to his village without a Mark and doubted his father would grant another. Now safe from the No-No, Torunn did the only thing he could do. Screamed and ran around until he found his mother.

    He found her in the Chieftain¡¯s hut with his father and Frode. Freydis reached out and took Torunn into an embrace. Torunn began to speak out and tell everyone what happened, but it came out an indistinguishable garble of grunts and growls.

    ***

    James woke up with a start and shot his hands in front of his face to guard against the rhino¡¯s foot. His expression screwed up, and his body tingled with anticipated pain. When the heavy foot of the rhino never came, he opened his eyes. Above James was not a rhino¡¯s foot or even the endlessly pristine sky of the Great Savanna. Instead, James saw wooden logs stacked on top of each other, broken up by large wooden beams with various trinkets hanging from them. They fluttered in a comfortable breeze. James''s gaze traveled from his wooden sky to the wooden wall and eventually, the dusty wooden floor. Placed on that floor, by someone that James''s suspected would use them to sleep on, was a pile of high-quality furs. James vaguely remembered them. Relief flowed through his body as he realized he must be around some friendly Martyrs. That relief quickly turned to panic.

    James jumped to his feet and spun around where he saw Dreng, Frode, and Freydis all staring back at him. Dreng wore his regular face of focus that always seemed to be on the edge of violence. Frode¡¯s face appeared to be an equal mixture of curiosity and panic, but James couldn¡¯t be sure. While similar in most aspects, Martyr facial expressions were not as easy to read as a human''s. Martyr faces were generally harsher and had a serious tone to them even when they were smiling. The exception to that rule was Torunn, whose animated smiles and chuckles were lively and unburdened.

    When James¡¯s gaze fell upon Frey, she gave him a comforting smile. James could see Torunn had made it back safe and was now strewn over his mother''s shoulder, fast asleep. She patted his back twice with her heavy hands, and his head rose. Torunn turned his head and looked at his father, then followed the Chieftain''s gaze back to James.

    ¡°Uh oh,¡± James whispered to himself as Torunn leaped from his mother¡¯s embrace and charged. Once again, James fell prey to one of Torunn¡¯s perfectly executed flying tackles.

    ***

    James awoke for the second time that day with a start. This time he was in his hut on his pile of common-quality furs, a fact that was surprisingly comforting. His nerves were run ragged by everything that had happened, yet he felt like he just got back home after a long and terrible vacation. He was happy to be back to his normal life. Of course, James realized that this wasn¡¯t actually his normal life, but he refused to dwell on that fact since he needed a semblance of normalcy. Instead, he laid back onto his pile of furs and tried to figure out how his day took such a harsh turn.

    First, he woke up in a great mood since there were no Ingos to bother him. He enjoyed the morning before he set out to find a new place to level up with Torunn. Then they trekked through the tall grass of the Great Savanna until something ran past them. They followed the trail and discovered a human was running around frantically. The other human ran right into the Giant Deer Rhino and got attacked. James jumped in to save it then blacked out. He woke up again in the Chieftain''s hut where he quickly blacked out for the second time after being tackled by his game brother.

    ¡°To sum it all up, I am weaker than an actual human cub,¡± James said to himself. He opened his notifications and realized he didn¡¯t pass out the first time; he had died.

    Attention: You have died. Waiting to respawn.

    Attention: You have re-spawned. For the next 12 hours, you will be in a constant state of shock.

    You have passed out from receiving additional damage while in shock.

    It looked like the penalty for dying caused him to pass out when Torunn tackled him. He was happy to know that he could respawn in the game and not have to worry about being ejected and losing his job. Still, though, there were many questions he wanted to answer. What happened to the other human? What do the adult Martyrs think of him respawning? He let out a sigh, stood up, and left the tent in search of answers. James grabbed the soft hide of the flap and moved it aside. Seconds after he stepped through, Torunn appeared behind him.

    ¡°Weird, I didn¡¯t even know you were in there,¡± James said as he grasped Torunn¡¯s shoulder. He could tell his game brother was shaken up by his death and subsequent respawn. There was no way he could even be mad at Torunn for tackling him and causing him to pass out. Even though they were becoming decent hunting partners, Torunn was still only a cub in this world.

    ¡°What happened to the other human cub?¡± James asked. Torunn looked confused for a moment, then panic overtook his facial expressions, and his mouth hung open. Torunn grabbed James¡¯s wrist and tried to lead him somewhere, but when they turned, they saw the whole village standing there and looking at James. Torunn let go of James''s wrist and slowly disappeared back into the tent.

    ¡°Coward,¡± James whispered back to his fleeing game brother.

    ¡°Human cub!¡± a voice boomed. It was Dreng. He was standing outside the entrance of his hut. James immediately trotted off in his direction and realized Dreng never actually waved him over, even though James thought he did. Dreng¡¯s voice and presence were enough to get his point across clearly without needing any extra communication. When James got within twenty paces, Dreng ducked his head and turned into his hut. James followed diligently.

    Dreng, Frode, and Freydis were all seated inside the hut. They stared at him for a long while. A few days ago James would have crumpled under the weight of their combined stares, but he had been through a lot that day and was already numb from the stress. Frode broke the silence first.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Uh. I am not sure. I died, and then I came back... somehow,¡± James answered.

    Dreng scoffed, "Tell us what is going on here, Frode,¡± he barked.

    Frode looked angry himself for a moment but answered his Chieftain¡¯s command anyway.

    ¡°As both of you know, my father was a great Shaman. He attained such a mastery of intelligence that many believed him to be mad. In fact, Martyr history remembers him as the Mad Shaman. I will admit, I used to think he was mad as well,¡± Frode paused in contemplation.

    ¡°Used to?¡± Freydis gently inquired.

    ¡°What does this have to do with the human cub?¡± Dreng barked again, getting impatient.

    ¡°I will get to that,¡± Frode answered before turning his gaze to Frey, ¡°Yes, Freydis. Most of his rantings were unintelligible. But I believe they were so because we could not understand them, not because he was mad. We did not have the capacity to understand the concepts in which he spoke. So it was not that his speech was unintelligent, it was that we were.¡±

    Dreng¡¯s blood boiled at the apparent insult. After all, his race was wise, intelligent, and fearsome. Years of growing his wisdom and the fact Frode stood by his side for years through many hardships was the only reason he didn¡¯t smash his advisor.

    Frode continued, ¡°So by the time my father spoke of immortal humans entering our world, no one listened to him. My father was trying to warn us, but we didn¡¯t let him. He took his knowledge to the grave and couldn¡¯t do anything to prepare us.¡± Frode dropped his head in shame. Freydis reached out with a giant hand and laid it on the advisor''s shoulder.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°How did you get here,¡± Dreng challenged James.

    Before James could answer though, Frode spoke back up with a wave of his hand, ¡°It is no use, my friend, the human cub does not know. I spoke with him the night we spotted him navigating through his menu. That is the night I suspected my father''s prophecy might be something other than the rantings of a mad shaman."

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you warn us then?¡± Dreng interrupted.

    ¡°I was not certain the prophecy was true or that James meant any harm to us. From what I could remember my father spoke about human cubs that could spend stat points like adults, human cubs that could command the elements. It was clear James was spending his stat points, but I decided to test him on his fire mastery, to make sure he fit all requirements of the prophecy. The human cub can start fires, but he cannot command it. That is why I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    ¡°But then James died and respawned next to you. Confirming your father¡¯s prophecy,¡± Freydis added.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Frode confirmed meekly to the Martyr group. Then he turned to James and solemnly asked, ¡°What is your purpose here human cub? Can you command fire?¡±

    James opened his mouth to answer, but only a whimper left his mouth.

    Attention: You have been frozen in fear.

    James¡¯ body instinctively cowered. He flexed all of his muscles to fight against the debuff. James''s joints cracked under pressure, but it was no use. No matter what he did, he couldn''t move his body.

    ¡°I¡­¡± James stuttered as he thought of what to say. He decided to go with his whole, woke-up-here-with-no-memory spiel. ¡°I do not know why I am here. I have no memory of my past. But I can tell you that I mean you no harm.¡±

    Freydis gave her mate a harsh look, and Dreng finally released his ability. James regained control of his body and stood up, forcefully distilling the anger he felt from being made to cower like that and turning the raw emotion into courage. He knew he wasn''t in a position to show weakness anymore. Instead, he needed to show wisdom and patience.

    James cleared his throat, ¡°You accepted me into your clan as a cub. You have placed trust in me that I WILL NOT betray-¡±

    ¡°What about the fire?¡± Frode interrupted.

    James shrugged off the interruption and answered truthfully, ¡°I do have a fire mastery skill, but I do not know what it is for.¡±

    Frode sunk back into contemplation while everyone awaited his response. When it never came, Dreng stood up.

    ¡°When Freydis backed up her decision to name you our cub with blood, I knew I should trust her. If there were any doubt in her mind of your intentions, she would not have been able to fight as long as she did.¡±

    Frey nodded at her mate¡¯s statement.

    Dreng continued to uncharacteristically speak to James, a fact that was not lost on the human cub, ¡°We will be looking into the merits of this so-called Prophecy. But, in the meantime, we have a larger problem. The Oana are getting bolder and will soon find our encampment. If you are truly immortal and have our interests in mind, I charge you with getting stronger. You will travel east. There you will find a small village with plenty of monsters to slay. Grow stronger and then come back to help us deal with the Oana.¡± Dreng paused in contemplation, ¡°You may also find something of greater value. Information. Do you accept?¡±

    James''s mind whirled. He certainly wanted a new place to grow and level up. It was one of the goals he set out to accomplish just that morning. But that goal was of little interest compared to the promise of information.

    Information for what? James thought. Would he get answers to his steadily growing list of questions about the game? Would he figure out when his brother would enter the game? After a moment, James decided that pondering Dreng¡¯s statement for too long wouldn¡¯t help much. He was already on thin ice, so James didn¡¯t inquire further. He would have to go east to find answers, that much was clear.

    James straightened his back and said, ¡°I accept."

    ¡°Good. Now leave us, James,¡± replied the Chieftain.

    Quest Accepted - Travel due east until you find a small village. Grow stronger & smarter, and then return to Dreng.

    Whhhaaat, James thought as he left the Chieftain''s hut. Did he finally call me by my actual name?

    Torunn was waiting twenty paces outside the hut. James sighed and took in the scene in front of him. The sky was a dark shade of purple with red and orange streaks outlining clouds on the horizon; his day was almost over already. Torunn stood and started running in James¡¯s direction. James braced himself for the next tackle, determined to catch Torunn mid-air and slam him. His game brother could take a beating and loved to horse around, so James figured they both would get a much-needed laugh. Torunn just kept running through and passed right by James like he wasn¡¯t even there.

    ¡°Dang, that hurts,¡± James said as he grasped at his broken heart. Torunn¡¯s tackling hurt, but being ignored by him hurt more. A few moments later, Torunn came out of the tent flap dragging something behind him. He tugged and pulled until his body was almost parallel to the ground. Finally, the Martyr cub''s prize came out of the hut door flaps. It was Frey¡¯s hand. He was pulling his mother out of the hut. She only moved when she wanted to move, but Torunn didn¡¯t seem to realize this and kept tugging with an ignorant determination. Frey finished speaking to Dreng and Frode and finally let herself get towed out of the hut. When Torunn neared James, he quickly grabbed his wrist as well. However, James could actually be pulled by Torunn and was soon struggling to stay on his feet.

    Torunn dragged his mother and brother to the edge of the village, right up to where the flattened grass ended and was allowed to grow wildly again. In fact, the border of the Martyr village looked like a battle zone. One where the flat grass waged war against its tall and densely packed brethren. James got a feeling that the wild grass had the upper hand. Torunn let go of his wrist with a grunt.

    ¡°Here,¡± Torunn stated before disappearing into the grass. After a minute or so, James and Frey looked at each other in confusion. Just as James remembered the other human, he heard a scream in the distance and a ruffling in the grass. Another minute later, Torunn re-appeared from the grass wall with the human from earlier on his back.

    Frey gasped and suddenly leaped into the grass. She landed on her side and rolled in a circle a few times. From James¡¯s perspective, it looked like she was afraid of the other human. A moment later, Frey¡¯s arms burst out of the grass wall and scooped the three cubs up. She placed them down into the clearing she made with her rolling body and sat down. Placing a giant finger to her mouth, she hushed everyone.

    James was sitting down in the clearing facing Frey. His brother was to his left, and also sitting down. Both of them sat and waited to be prompted by Frey. Utterly confused and terrified, the new human was seated as well, but with his back turned to Frey. James watched as he slowly gained his bearing and became aware that there was something behind him. James could almost see the hair on the human''s neck begin to stand up. To keep him from screaming, James spoke.

    ¡°Hey, man, I am human too. Uhh...¡±

    But James was too late. The other human slowly turned around. He saw Torunn first, the creature that kidnapped him, left him for dead, and then recaptured him in his sleep just moments ago. His face twisted in fear, but he kept slowly turning his body until his gaze fell upon the lower half of the towering adult Martyr. The human lost his composure at the site of the giant Martyr and let out a desperate and pitiful scream. Frey merely sighed, scooped them all up again and sprinted further into the Great Savanna.

    They all rode in Frey¡¯s arms for what James guessed to be about twenty minutes. The new human promptly passed out again, overwhelmed by his exposure to the game. Finally, Frey set them all down and began rolling in a circle again. As James sat and watched the lumbering creature roll around, he mentally remarked at how surreal the day had been. He was worried about the human but was equally relieved that his entrance into the game wasn¡¯t so dramatic. He was attacked, and passed out, but only once in the beginning. This poor guy must have spent the whole day in and out of consciousness. The few brief moments he spent awake were spent sprinting from danger.

    Frey completed her last roll which came entirely too close to James. He tucked his legs into his body and used them to complete a backward somersault. Torunn, however, was not so lucky. The Martyr cub was kneading some new herb he found in his hand when his mother rolled into him, completely flattening him into the ground. James watched as she passed over him and then sat back up. Torunn sat up soon after with a shake of his head and went back to mashing his herbs.

    ¡°Listen up, little cubs. This new human will not be allowed into the village. James, with everything we spoke about in Dreng¡¯s hut...¡° Freydis took a moment to brush some grass from her hair, ¡°Dreng will not allow another human in. There is just too much to lose and too many things he does not know. I know he would rather kill the human than have another loose end to deal with.¡±

    Realization dawned on James. ¡°Are you-¡± He paused while struggling to swallow through his dry mouth. ¡°Are you kicking me out of the village?¡±

    ¡°No, my human cub. You are always welcome in the village. But I cannot protect this new human, so you and Torunn must.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait. Where will we stay?¡± James asked as he looked around the clearing.

    ¡°You must build a shelter for the night. Then wait for the other human cub to wake up, get him strong, and then go east to complete Dreng¡¯s quest. When you return, come to see me.¡±

    Torunn took a break from his herbs just long enough to give James one of his seemingly-random, knowing nods.

    ¡°What if that Giant Deer Rhino comes back for me?¡± James asked, struggling to vocalize his sudden feelings of fear and abandonment into legitimate concerns.

    ¡°Giant Deer Rhino?¡± Frey asked, confused, ¡°Oh, you mean the No-No. Those creatures are friendly and will only attack you if you wander too close to their clearings. They root around and eat vegetables from deep underground; they don¡¯t even eat meat. Just avoid them, and you will be fine. Anything else, young cub?¡±

    ¡°Umm, any tips for making a shelter?¡± James asked. He was trying to stall for as long as possible. The sun was fully set, and he wasn¡¯t looking forward to spending the night in the Great Savanna without the protection of a full grown Martyr. Frey stood up and ran off without warning.

    ¡°Great. Guess we are on our own,¡± James said to Torunn, who was too engrossed in his herb smashing to respond.

    James watched as his game brother picked herbs, sat down and mashed them, looked around, and then walked to a new spot and repeated the process over and over again. James stood and began walking around the clearing that was to be his new home.

    ¡°We need to renovate,¡± James joked to himself. The clearing was easily 400 feet around with a small tree in the center. The tree wasn¡¯t much taller than the grass that surrounded it before Frey flattened it all. James thought that he easily could have walked head first into the tree if he went this way earlier in the day. He wondered how many other hidden trees were in the Great Savanna that he simply walked by without even noticing.

    James looked around for something to build a lean-to with but didn¡¯t find anything else made of wood other than the tree. James paused as the ground began to rumble. He looked at Torunn who didn¡¯t seem to notice.

    ¡°Hey,¡± James whispered. ¡°Do you feel that?¡±

    Torunn met his gaze, nodded his head up and down, and then went back to his herbs. Before James could panic anymore, Frey jumped into the clearing. She carried a bundle of trees like the one in the center of the clearing. James let out a sigh of relief. For a second, he honestly thought he was going to die again, after only spending five minutes in the Great Savanna at night. Frey set the bundle of trees down and sat down next to James.

    ¡°Listen, James. Use these trees to create a rough shelter. Create a fire, and you will be fine. Work with Torunn, he is smarter than he lets on, and a great fighter if you need it. I don¡¯t want Dreng to be suspicious of my absence so I must...¡± Frey paused as Torunn flew through the air head first and impacted her chest. James figured the Martyr cub must have heard his mother say that he was smarter than he let on, and was upset at being outed. Torunn bounced off Frey''s chest. She caught the Martyr cub before he could hit the ground, and pulled him into an embrace.

    Frey continued, ¡°I must go, James. Be strong.¡±

    With that she returned the Martyr cub to the ground and ran off, the ground rumbling underneath her.

 Chapter 8 - String

    James¡¯s sleep was fretful. He woke the next morning with a tweaked neck and tight muscles. He must have become more familiar with sleeping in a pile of furs than he had realized. At first, he thought the fur piles were just a step up from the ground, but actually sleeping on the ground had shown him otherwise.

    Like a gift from the gods, he heard a noise that under any other circumstance would have sent him into a rage. A rage so bloodthirsty that he would have been able to give Torunn the cold shoulder as payback for yesterday, and not even feel sorry about it.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo!¡±

    James would indeed have to clear out these Ingos if he slept here again. He was happy they were here right now though since he needed their furs to make bedding and proper shelter. Waking up to them under any other circumstance was not acceptable. It was one thing James vowed not to stand for in this world. Adult Martyrs fighting their wives, letting Torunn tackle him; those were all things he could deal with. But he could not cope with waking up to Ingos anymore.

    The new human was sleeping inside the crude shelter James had built the previous night. James stood up and leaned a bunch of branches onto the center tree. Then he started a small fire inside. It wouldn''t have been enough to keep out rain, but fortunately, it didn¡¯t rain last night. Actually, James pondered, the weather hadn¡¯t changed once in this world at all. Yet another thing he needed information on.

    After a good stretch of his tight muscles, James walked up to Torunn - who was out in the clearing doing his thing with the herbs again. James couldn¡¯t even be sure that Torunn had ever stopped working with his herbs last night.

    ¡°Hey, Bonehead. I am going to hunt some Ingos. Do you want to come?¡± James asked his Martyr brother, who shook his head in response.

    ¡°Skins,¡± Torunn growled.

    ¡°Yea, skins. I am going to get some,¡± James responded as he began to walk away.

    ¡°SKINS!¡± Torunn yelled as he hopped to his feet, pointing at the Adventurer¡¯s Satchel on James¡¯s back.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I probably already have some,¡± James said as he dug into his pack. He silently wished he had remembered last night. He wouldn¡¯t be in the pain he was in now if he had. James pulled out the skins, which were promptly snatched away by Torunn.

    ¡°Hey!¡± James exclaimed.

    Torunn growled and turned his loot away from James. ¡°Need,¡± he said.

    ¡°Whatever. I was going to get some more anyway. Keep an eye on this other guy, will ya? If he wakes up, come find me.¡±

    James remembered he should have some Ingo meat as well and was looking forward to eating it, but when he looked in his satchel, and the interface came into vision, the Ingo meat was gone. If he recalled correctly, some of his items would drop on death depending on the rarity of the items and his bag. He checked his equipment and confirmed that the Ingo meat was the only thing lost.

    Torunn grunted his agreement, and James set off. He didn¡¯t have to wander far until he heard the splashing of Ingos in their small lakes. He revealed his Martyr skinning knife and made sure his Bent Copper Buckler was in good repair. It wasn¡¯t, but James figured it was because of the quality of the item, and not because it was going to fall apart at any moment. His weapon and his shield were both greys in his interface and had a ¡°Widespread¡± quality attribute. If his sword had held up all this time, he was sure the buckler would too.

    James peaked his head into the Ingo clearing and counted. ¡°One, two, three, four, this won¡¯t be a chore,¡± he whispered to himself, before letting out a soft sigh, ¡°I should work on my rhymes.¡±

    James activated Jump Strike at the Ingo furthest from the others. It didn¡¯t stun the creature, but it did surprise it, allowing James to get an unmolested sword strike in. The Ingo reacted quickly to the attack and struck out with its beak with startling speed. It impacted James in the arm right above his shield, causing him to seethe in pain. James thought he should have easily been able to block the attack, but figured he probably needed to get used to fighting with shields first.

    James killed his first Ingo before the others reached him. He backed up and activated Jump Strike again. This time the 30% chance to stun worked in his favor, allowing him to focus on the other two Ingos. Although things were going okay so far, the Ingos still had him surrounded. The stunned Ingo regained consciousness and re-joined the fight before James could dispatch any others. He lowered his body and spun around, letting his blade trail out in an arc that cut against the legs of the two closest Ingos. They stumbled and squawked in pain, giving James a second to backup and activate Jump Strike. His earlier suspicion was correct - the closer he activated Jump Strike, the higher in the air he would go. Trying not to succumb to his fear of heights, James distracted himself momentarily by looking at his Health and Endurance bars. His Health was at 48 out of 60. He had lost 12 HP so far and had 18 more to go before he went into shock. His Endurance points were at 20 out of 50 since he had already used Jump Strike three times.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    James finally landed but unfortunately didn¡¯t stun his prey. He was starting to regret his strategy of investing most of his points into Wisdom. He had gained five levels so far, and the Ingos were still almost as hard to kill as they were the first time around. He obtained a modest advantage from his new Jump Strike ability, and the damage increase from his higher short sword skill helped, but he still thought it should be easier.

    Realizing he needed a different attack strategy, James stole one from Torunn¡¯s book. He backed up until he was at the edge of the clearing, and then disappeared into the grass. James took two quick steps to his right, crouched into the sneaking position, and allowed the Ingos to run right by him. When the last Ingo was about to pass James, he reached out and struck it from behind. The Ingo silently fell dead, its brethren none the wiser. This method of attack was certainly efficient, but James only wanted to use it as a last resort. He was confident he didn¡¯t want to become an assassin type character.

    After James killed one more Ingo with the sneak method, he let the other one chase him back into the clearing where he challenged it to a head-up fight. It still wasn¡¯t easy, but at least James was getting experience for the skills he wanted to gain experience for. The last Ingo fell, and James sat down to replenish his supply of skins.

    ***

    The sun was about to begin setting when James returned to his clearing. He dispatched a handful more Ingo nests that day, resting up to full Health and Endurance between each one. He gained quite a few Ingo skins, some meat, and even a piece of armor for his wrist.

    You have received Cracked Leather Bracers.

    James equipped the item immediately. He could tell it was of widespread quality, as it glowed with a grey aura when he found it. He knew it probably only offered one Armor point.

    James re-lit his fire and set some Ingo meat out to roast on some rocks nearby. The other human was still fast asleep. James hoped the smell of food would wake him. Torunn was still outside making his mash. The Martyr cub had Ingo skins cut into small sections and laid out all around him now. He was placing his pulp into the center of each skin when James looked over. James left his game brother alone and worked on improving the shelter while his food cooked.

    He began by cutting away the tree branches that reached into his shelter. He piled these inside for firewood and then started cutting the outside branches away from their trunks. James added these to the woodpile as well. When he finished, a half a dozen or so gnarly-but-straight trees were leaning against his center tree. He then laid Ingo skins out the best he could over his tent framework. The skins didn¡¯t connect, but they would at least provide better shelter than they had last night.

    Stepping out of the makeshift tent, James checked on Torunn who looked to was finished with his project. He cut some of the skins into thin slices and was using them as strings to tie the parcels closed. The finished project was a small pouch with whatever Torunn had been crushing in his hands inside. Torunn stood and gathered up all of his creations. He tossed half of them to James and motioned for him to place them in his bag. Realizing he didn¡¯t have a bag of his own, Torunn fashioned a belt from the skins and tied some of his pouches to it, before tossing the rest of his pouches to James, who put them away in his bag.

    ¡°Uh, thanks¡­ what are these?¡± asked James.

    Torunn just smiled and looked at the makeshift dome tent.

    ¡°Alright, well at least my bag doesn¡¯t have a limit to what it can carry. Any more mysterious pouches you want me to carry around?¡±

    That¡¯s when James remembered he was in a game. Everything felt so real it was easy to forget - even though he had a lion-man that followed him around everywhere. Since he was in a game, he navigated to his interface to find out what the mystery pouches were. Opening his inventory, he saw the infinite scrolling grid with a chart to the left he could use to cross-reference item rarities with his bag rarity to determine item drop rates on death. He ignored this and looked for the pouches.

    Inventory

    Ingo Meat x9

    Ingo Skin x1

    Healing Salve x12

    James focused on the healing salve and was surprised when he received more information on them.

    Healing Salve - Heals 30 HP over 5 minutes.

    ¡°Torunn! How did you make these?¡± James asked excitingly. Upon inspection of the item, he could tell it was different than the salve Frey used on him after the Oana Scout attacked him.

    ¡°New urbs,¡± Torunn grunted as he continued to inspect the dome tent.

    James watched as the Martyr cub cut the remaining Ingo skins into more thin strips. He imagined Torunn¡¯s grunt meant there were new herbs in the area and wondered if the Martyr''s difficulty with words was why he didn¡¯t talk much.

    ¡°Is he self-conscious about his speech?¡± James asked himself.

    Torunn proceeded to poke holes in the Ingo skins draped across the exoskeleton of the dome shelter. He then fed the strips of Ingo skins through the holes and pulled. The result was a cohesive Ingo skin roof.

    ¡°Smart,¡± James commented, genuinely impressed by his game brothers ingenuity.

    Torunn continued working without reply, but James could see a small smirk begin to grow on the Martyr''s face.

    A few moments later, Torunn and James were standing a few paces from the hut admiring the product of their love, sweat, and tears, when they heard someone making actual tears. The new human was awake and sobbing inside their new shelter. James immediately set off in the direction to formally meet the other human, and comfort him.

 Chapter 9 - Somber

    James entered the dome tent and found the chubby redheaded boy curled up in a ball, sobbing uncontrollably. He realized he never really had a chance to look at the boy. He guessed he must have felt it inappropriate to stare at someone while they were passed out. The boy''s red hair was matted and dirty, and streams of tears were flowing freely from his freckled face. He was certainly out of shape, and James could tell he wasn¡¯t comfortable in his starting gear. His cloth pants were ripped too high up his knee, so they resembled short shorts, and it was the same with his cloth shirt, revealing his bruised stomach and sizeable muffin tops. The poor boy struggled to cover his body and comfort himself at the same time. James pulled his last Ingo skin from his Adventurer''s satchel and approached the boy.

    ¡°Hey, man, my name is James. I am from the real world as well,¡± James comforted the boy. James figured the boy was from Earth because they wore the same starting clothes, and he figured establishing that commonality would be best to start the conversation.

    Torunn entered the tent but quickly backed away due to an enthusiastically rude wave from James. The boy didn¡¯t make a move to respond, so James covered him with the Ingo skin and sat next to him for a while. James gave the boy a dreary few minutes to recover before he spoke again.

    ¡°When I entered the game, I had a pretty rough time too,¡± he started, attempting to empathize with the boy, ¡°Some giant lizard thing called an Oana attacked me. I was lucky enough to pass out before the pain was too bad though. What I did feel was insane. It was so real. Everything was. It was pretty traumatic.¡±

    The red-headed boy quieted to listen but didn¡¯t turn toward James or signal that he wanted to talk in any way, so James continued talking.

    ¡°When I passed out, Torunn, the lion man, carried me to his village and eventually they welcomed me as one of their own. He is our ally and won¡¯t harm you. Anyway, I was lucky, and it looks like you had a much rougher time entering the game.¡±

    James waited for a moment for the boy to respond. He finally turned around, and James saw his whole face up close for the first time. James could see he was undoubtedly a young man in his early twenties, but his face wore the same pain as the old veterans James used to visit on Memorial Day. Startled by the pain so obviously visible on the boy''s facial features, James couldn¡¯t speak, but finally, the rescued boy did.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a game,¡± he said simply before turning his back on James once again.

    ***

    James contemplated the boy¡¯s words as he cleared another Ingo nest to gather sleeping skins for everyone. The sun was inches away from falling below the horizon. With its final attempt at staying in this world, the ball of fire sent out streams of light that lit up the tips of every blade of grass in the Great Savanna. They gleamed against the encroaching shades of violet and purple.

    ¡°What does that even mean? This isn¡¯t a game? What else could it be?¡± James asked the empty air as he slashed the neck of an Ingo. Blood splattered against his face. ¡°I am surrounded by lion people who are being hunted by lizard people. How could this not be a game?¡±

    A different Ingo flanked James and landed a peck on the back of his shoulder. James winced at the pain and bashed the Ingo with his buckler.

    ¡°I am fighting giant flamingos for Christ¡¯s sake,¡± he muttered as he back peddled and activated Jump Strike. Empowered by his skill activation, James came to the conclusion this was, indeed a game. He figured he must be just getting a little stir crazy from being immersed in the game for so long. It was no doubt something he was probably hired to test for. James made a mental note to mention the situation to the military members when he got out. Hopefully, they would be able to fix the problem.

    When James arrived at his new clearing, the boy still pressed himself against the wall of the dome tent. This time he was snoring. His body shook intermittently with the remains of whatever sent him into his fit of sobs just hours before. Torunn was outside sniffing around for even newer ¡®urbs¡¯ as James reached into his satchel and gathered his skins into a nice pile below him. He made another pile a few paces to his right for Torunn and tossed the remaining skins at the boy to his left. Then James reached to the wood pile and scooped up a handful of sticks. He fed half the sticks to the fire and used the other half to feed himself, making kabobs from the fresh Ingo meat he had just harvested. Then James let out a sigh and mentally navigated to his menu.

    Congratulations! Your Skinning skill has surpassed level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 abilities.

    Ability 1 - Error rate when skinning tough-skinned creatures permanently reduced by 50%.

    Ability 2 - Permanently increase Agility by 2 points.

    James¡¯s interest piqued at the option to increase one of his stats permanently. He felt he severely lacked in the attributes department because of his plan to focus on Wisdom. If he recalled correctly, the error rate of skinning decreased by 1% by every level increase in the skill. At that rate, he would have to gain 50 levels in the skinning skill to match benefits from his first option. James figured that would take a seriously long time. On the other hand, he wasn¡¯t even sure what tough-skinned animals were, and he was pretty sure he hadn''t come across any yet. Then James recalled the time when he skinned the boss Ingo. That skin did seem more robust, and he ruined quite a few of the pelts. It was possible the boss Ingo was a tough-skinned animal, but James never got notified as such, so he couldn''t be sure.

    James thought for a while and realized the decision was more complicated and important than it seemed at first glance. He mostly needed to decide if he was going to consider himself a skinner or not. Taking the stat points would set him back tremendously in the skinning skill. Sure, he could still skin, but he would be drastically less successful at it for the time being.

    James¡¯s thought process was interrupted by a loud bang off in the distance. A small pitter patter followed.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Rain,¡± he whispered.

    The pitter-patter quickly escalated to a level that drowned out the crackling of the fire. Moments later, Torunn rushed into the tent, wide-eyed and frantic. He ran around on all fours inside the dome tent - a feat that James had only seen when Torunn was hunting. The drenched lion-guy scrambled up to James and stood up, panic evident on his face.

    ¡°Skyfall! Skyfall!¡± he exclaimed, waving his hands around in the air.

    James stood up and clenched Torunn¡¯s shoulder to calm him, ¡°Relax, buddy, it is just rain."

    ¡°What rain?¡± Torunn asked, skeptical and still clearly worried.

    ¡°Rain is just water that falls from the sky. It is not a problem. The sky isn¡¯t falling,¡± James laughed and sat down, blowing on one of his Ingo kabobs.

    Torunn sat down and was quiet for a long while before quietly growling, ¡°First rain.¡±

    ¡°This is your first rain?¡± James repeated confused.

    Torunn nodded, causing James to wonder how old Torunn was. It was entirely possible Torunn could be less than a year old and never had the chance to see rain before. James wasn''t sure how it was possible, but it was definitely odd.

    ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t going to hurt you. Eat some Ingo and let¡¯s settle in for the night," James said softly, doing his best to set a calming mood.

    Torunn complied and was quickly asleep after fussing around in his skins for a moment. James glanced over at Torunn¡¯s contorted body and realized he must have passed out before he could gather his skin pile to his liking. A smile etched itself across James¡¯s face before dying as his gaze fell upon the sleeping boy. James cleared his throat and navigated back to his menu. He decided he would choose option A to decrease his error rate while skinning tougher animals since the skins he had now were so useful. More robust skinned animals must yield better skins that could be even more useful, or they would offer more skins, like the Ingo boss. James knew an extra two agility points would be excellent, but he wasn''t ready to give up on the skinning skill yet.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 7 (2 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 4 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much endurance you have

    Agility, Level 4 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge & critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 5 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 15 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and more.

    Wisdom, Level 7 - Controls the rate at which you gain character experience, and more.

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    4 statistic points ready to distribute. (4 gained recently)

    ¡°Not bad, James; not bad at all,¡± he congratulated himself.

    James thought he would have only got one level up since the last time he opened his menu, but instead, he had leveled up twice. His strategy of investing all his stat points into Wisdom was finally paying off, but he still couldn¡¯t be sure without someone to compare to. With his Wisdom currently at Level 7, he could spend three points on it and even have one left over for something else. He was curious to see what surpassing Level 10 in the attribute would offer. The first attribute he got higher than Level 10 was Intelligence, and it allowed him to get more information from his interface, which was extremely useful.

    Congratulations! Your Wisdom has surpassed Level 10. Your skills and abilities now benefit from the increase in experience gained from the Wisdom attribute.

    Wow, this attribute is an absolute necessity, James thought.

    James resolved to strongly advise the new guy to invest in Wisdom whenever he regained his composure. He took a moment to glance over at the pile of furs the boy now lay under. The boy was still snoring but tossed and turned rather frequently.

    James shook his head. ¡°Why would he think this wasn¡¯t a game?¡±

    He pondered it for a moment and still couldn¡¯t come to a conclusion. The mystery would have to be solved when the boy woke up. Then they would carry on a conversation. James began to wonder what the boy''s intentions would be, and if he would turn out to be an enemy. From the other games James had played on Earth, he knew players didn¡¯t always get along. James shook the thought from his head. It wasn¡¯t his style to think that way. If the boy turned out to be an enemy, he would only treat him as such when he revealed himself to be so. In the meantime, he would take care of the boy and eventually let him know it was a good idea to invest in Wisdom.

    James sank deeper into his furs, hoping to find some new ones soon. He daydreamed of the high-quality furs of the Chieftain¡¯s hut as he contemplated his day. It turned out to be a somber one, but the sound of the rain against his makeshift shelter was quite relaxing. James glanced at his game brother and was happy to have him at his side, especially out in the middle of the Great Savanna at night. Torunn had turned around in his furs but still didn¡¯t look comfortable. His large head was hanging off his pile and drool followed his tongue out of his mouth. One of his paws was too close to the fire, so James sent out a leg to kick it away.

    James navigated back to his interface and spent his remaining attribute point on Strength, hoping it would make the fights with Ingos a little bit easier. He then navigated to his skills tab to see how he had improved.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 2 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 2% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 11 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 11% while skinning. Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%.

    Cooking, Level 8 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 8% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 8%

    Fire, Level 8 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 8%

    Short Swords, Level 13 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 13%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike,¡± Level 4 (2 levels gained recently) Chance to stun 40%

    Small Shields, Level 3 (3 levels gained recently) Chance to fully deflect or block an attack increased by 13%

    James was happy to see that his shield skill was progressing nicely. He felt he had been getting better with it, and it was comforting to see the improvement in number form. He was also excited that his fire and cooking skills were both approaching Level 10. He wondered what type of boons they would bring, before navigating to his equipped items tab.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Bent Copper Buckler (Widespread)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet ¨C Cracked Leather Boots (Widespread)

    Legs ¨C Dirty Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest ¨C Dirty Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Cracked Leather Shoulder Pads (Widespread)

    Wrist ¨C Cracked Leather Bracers (Widespread)

    Back ¨C Empty

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck ¨C Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1-5 ¨C Empty

    Sheath 1 ¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2 ¨C Empty

    Bag - Adventurer''s Satchel (Common)

    James nodded respectfully at his equipped items. It wasn¡¯t bad, but he could use a new shirt and pants. He would also need to help outfit the new boy as soon as possible. James then pulled up his marks tab and wondered how he would activate his Summon Martyr ability if he ever needed it. The interface didn''t offer up any clues, so James decided he would have to ask Torunn in the morning. If he ever did have to summon help, James hoped Frey would be the one that heeded his call. James let his thoughts drift to the safety of the Martyr village and Frey¡¯s welcoming smile.

 Chapter 10 - Journey

    James awoke the next morning and reluctantly put some Ingo meat by the fire to roast. Even though he was getting better at cooking, and his food tasted better as well, he was still growing tired of eating the same meals every day. James mentally added the task of finding something new to eat on his to-do list and went over his priorities for the day. First, he would need to check on the boy and see if he could get more information out of him. James looked over at the boy¡¯s side of the tent and realized he was gone.

    James exited the tent and found the boy standing at the edge of their clearing wrapped in a pile of furs and watching Torunn hop around to pick herbs. The boy seemed to be calmed by the sight of the lion-guy bouncing around like an energetic dog. James could tell Torunn was aware of that fact. Torunn knew the boy was enjoying the show, at least for a moment, and made sure to exaggerate his movements.

    ¡°I guess I slept in, huh?¡± James asked, walking up to his two companions.

    Torunn¡¯s movements immediately changed to his usual behavior at the sound of James¡¯s voice. James could tell the Martyr seemed a touch embarrassed but didn''t mention it. If Torunn wanted to act a little silly to cheer up the redhead and make him feel safer, James was all about it.

    ¡°I would say I slept in actually. How long have I been out?¡± the boy asked.

    ¡°About a whole day,¡± James replied. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Patrick.¡±

    ¡°Nice to officially meet you, Patrick. My name is James. I know you have met Torunn quite a few times already,¡± James added with a smirk.

    Patrick gave a brief chuckle. ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°Um, I am not sure. I didn¡¯t get to bring my phone in with me.¡± James gave a smile. It wasn''t returned. Figuring he had overplayed his humor card, James continued with a more serious tone, ¡°If I had to guess, I have been here for a little less than a week.¡±

    ¡°So, you don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Know what?¡± James asked hesitantly.

    Patrick stared at James for a moment with pity in his eyes. ¡°Everyone is gone in the real world. The real world... is gone.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± James spat out. He decided last night that Patrick was just having a tough time adapting to the game and was probably going to spout the same nonsense today, but it was still frustrating to hear.

    ¡°Yeah. Why do you think I have been so upset?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean the real world is gone?¡±

    Patrick motioned to somewhere above James''s head. ¡°Check your interface. Do you see a logout button?¡±

    James checked his menu and couldn¡¯t find one, causing a small sliver of panic to start to build in his chest. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean anything. The military members that hired me said it would be fine, and I will be automatically logged out in a few months. Once the beta test is complete.¡±

    Patrick shook his head in confusion, ¡°You had a choice to come in here?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they paid me quite well actually.¡±

    ¡°Well, they didn¡¯t give the rest of the world a chance.¡±

    ¡°The rest of the world?¡± James asked with a sigh, "What are you talking about?"

    ¡°The entire population of Earth. Everyone was put in the game.¡±

    James rolled his eyes, but still didn''t shut down the conversation, ¡°Why? What happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Alarms sounded in the middle of the night, and then soldiers started rounding everyone up against their will. Some people fought back, and I overheard soldiers saying it was for their own good because the world was ending.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± James said. He wasn¡¯t sure he believed Patrick, but the news was insane, nonetheless. Even if Patrick was outright lying, it was still rare to come across such a crazy person in real life. ¡°Everything was fine when I entered the game.¡±

    ¡°Everything was fine before I did too, up until we were all rounded up like cattle. There was nothing on the news, nothing from the President, nothing at all. I don¡¯t know what is going on exactly, but I don¡¯t think our military would kidnap us all without cause.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± James replied solemnly. This boy, no, this young adult, James corrected himself, didn¡¯t seem like the crazy type. Who would spend a whole day crying and looking pitiful just to set up this sort of prank? James steeled his nerves and decided that Patrick didn¡¯t need another person to sit next to him crying, ¡°Well, even if you are right, and this isn''t a game, it is still our home, at least for now.¡±

    The boy nodded, tears welling in his eyes once again. Torunn was sitting down in the mud a few paces away from the two humans with a confused look on his face.

    ¡°Did you understand any of that?¡± James asked him. The Martyr cub just tilted his head with a grunt. James then faced Patrick and asked, ¡°If the whole world was transported into the game then where is everyone?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± the boy replied, ¡°I only saw my neighborhood being rounded up. We were put in trucks for about an hour. When I was finally able to climb out, we were at a huge military base ¨C the kind you would only see in movies. There must have been thousands of people there. Everyone was screaming and yelling.¡± Patrick¡¯s eyes looked past the ground, and he trailed off.

    ¡°Okay. Well, we will get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, we need to get stronger and find more humans,¡± James said.

    Patrick looked up and nodded. James had to give the boy some credit - he seemed like he really believed his story and was still trying to be strong. If James thought everyone he knew was dead, he probably would have uncontrollably cried for weeks. Patrick only cried for a day. In fact, it was a good thing James didn''t believe the story. The people that hired him would surely be upset if he spent a week in the same spot, not testing the game. James was undoubtedly concerned due to Patrick''s story, but there was just too much he didn¡¯t know to let himself believe the boy''s story.

    James suddenly remembered the Ingo meat he had roasting by the fire and told Patrick to eat it. The boy was probably starving. James let out a big sigh once Patrick was out of sight and gave a concerned look to Torunn.

    ***

    James spent the next few hours deep in thought while he kept himself busy. Torunn had learned that he could dig into the soil much deeper than usual after the rain loosened it all up. The duo found quite a few root vegetables deep underground, and James answered Patrick''s periodic game questions while he dug. Since Patrick¡¯s character had low intelligence, James informed him of what all his stats did and made sure to stress the importance of investing in Wisdom. The boy didn¡¯t seem too interested in his advice but visually perked up when they discussed Strength and Endurance. James hoped Patrick would heed his advice and invest in Wisdom, but he figured the boy would invest in the attributes he lacked in the real world. He couldn¡¯t blame him. If James were a little younger, he would probably go for the immediate gratification as well. Also, if James did happen to believe he was trapped in the game forever, he might be a little more tempted to invest in something like Strength. Although now that he knew that he could die and respawn without much of a penalty, he was even less concerned about his Strength stat. Sure it would be nice to kill Ingo''s faster, but what he needed was information. He needed to level quickly to learn how to best leverage the game mechanics. Sure, killing Ingo''s faster would help him level faster, but there was no way for him to know if killing things was the only way to gain experience. Investing in Wisdom was still the smartest strategy. James felt a little bit better at that realization and put a bit more energy into his menial labor. He was still in a crappy mood, but having some semblance of a path ahead was comforting. Patrick''s announcement made him feel unsure about a lot of things, but at least he wouldn''t question his strategy to invest in Wisdom anymore.

    James, Torunn, and Patrick spent the remainder of day gathering resources. No one felt like doing much, but they knew it was better to keep themselves busy. Torunn seemed content to work with his herbs - a fact that James thought was odd since adult Martyrs were such fearsome warriors. Torunn was the only Martyr crafter that James was aware of.

    The rain had started to fall again at the same time the sun went down. James stood in it for a while to wash his clothes and body before following the rest of the party into the shelter. James and Patrick sat in silence and stared off into the fire while Torunn hung various herbs out to dry.

    The Martyr handed a few of his herbs to James, interrupting his thoughts.

    ¡°Cook,¡± Torunn grunted.

    James understood his intent but didn¡¯t feel like cooking anything at the moment. He hadn¡¯t eaten all day and wasn¡¯t even planning to. He wanted to be lazy and mope for a bit while he processed his thoughts, so James ignored his game brother.

    Torunn repeated his grunt, giving James a slight shove in the shoulder.

    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± replied James. He snatched the herbs out of Torunn¡¯s hand, grabbed some Ingo meat from his satchel, and began to cook unenthusiastically.

    The final product of the herbs and meat was practically inedible.

    ¡°See, I don¡¯t know how to cook with this,¡± James chastised the Martyr cub. He didn¡¯t know how to cook with the herbs, but his terrible mood was the actual reason he gave his companion attitude. Torunn grunted and ate the meat anyway. James felt guilty and decided to attempt to cook the root vegetables they had gathered throughout the day. He collected a few and held them outside to wash in the rain before chopping them up with his skinning knife and cooking them.

    Congratulations, you have cooked charred Tucca.

    The party gathered around the new food, and James hesitantly took a bite. The charred Tucca had a smoky crust and a buttery yellow inside. Patrick also tasted the new food.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty good, actually,¡± Patrick said as he handed a piece to Torunn, who popped the bit into his mouth and promptly spat it back out into the fire.

    This was more than the party spoke the entire day, besides the morning conversation between James and Patrick. They had a semi-productive day, but James knew it was a cop-out. They had wasted the day. They didn¡¯t speak at all for the rest of the night either. James let himself believe there was a possibility that something devastating happened on Earth and he may have lost some loved ones. After all, for all he knew there was a possibility. He let the sorrow in the air envelope him and course through his body like a paralyzing shock wave. He would mourn now so if anyone ever needed his support he would be strong enough to give it.

    James remembered those in his life that he may have lost. He recalled the memories he had with them all individually and let the small smile on his face be consumed by sorrow. He remembered his real brother and desperately hoped he would find him, and hopefully, soon.

    ***

    The next morning, the rain had stopped. Patrick and Torunn slept in, both tangled in their piles of Ingo furs. A loud crack echoed through the clearing and woke the pair with a start.

    ¡°Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacey!¡± James cried out from within the clearing as he banged two rocks together. Torunn gathered himself together first and came sprinting out of the tent on all fours. The Martyr cub frantically ran a few panicked laps around the tent before his back paws slipped in the mud and his frenzy came to a sliding halt. James burst out laughing at Torunn¡¯s confused over-reaction. ¡°Sorry, buddy! I have an important announcement to make. Didn¡¯t mean to scare ya!¡± James said in between his fits of laughter, ¡°Well, I at least didn¡¯t mean to scare you that bad!¡±

    To Torunn''s annoyance, James continued to bang the rocks together until Patrick came out of the tent.

    ¡°What in the world is going on?¡± Patrick asked, rubbing his eyes.

    ¡°Good, you guys are up. Gather ''round. We have a new mission,¡± James said, pausing to let the sleepwalking zombies wake up. When he saw the alertness return to their eyes, he continued, ¡°Patrick, you gave me some grave news yesterday. I have spent much of the night processing it. I have concluded that I don¡¯t believe we will do anyone any good by moping around in the middle of the Great Savanna,¡± James said before turning to Torunn, ¡°Torunn, I am not sure what you know about me, but I am from another world. Patrick suspects that that world has been destroyed. Also, I have hidden the fact that I am from another world from your father.¡±

    The Martyr cub took on a grave expression, a fact that proved to James that he understood what he was talking about. James had a feeling Torunn would follow, and knew deep down that Torunn was listening to the conversation Patrick and James had the previous morning, but it was still nice to be sure.

    James continued, ¡°I will fill Dreng in once I have more information on what is going on.¡± He then turned his gaze back to Patrick who was fighting against his sleepy body to pay attention. ¡°Patrick, Torunn is part of the race called Martyrs. They have a small village. You might have seen it the night that Frey, Torunn¡¯s mother, carried us all here. Dreng is Torunn¡¯s father and the Chieftain of that village. Any questions on what I said so far?¡±

    Patrick cleared his throat and replied, ¡°Yes. Why are we staying out here when there is a perfectly good village not far from here?¡±

    ¡°Good question. That brings me to my next point. When I arrived here, I saved Torunn from a fight with a lizard-man race called the Oana. Because of this, I was adopted by Torunn¡¯s small tribe. Martyrs settle decisions by fighting or drawing blood to determine how set someone is on their point of view or something...¡± James paused as he recalled the brutal fight between Frey and Dreng. ¡°Anyways, adopting me was a big deal to the tribe. I think I am officially a relative to Torunn now. I am not sure exactly how it works, but they gave me a mark that allows me to summon a Martyr if we ever need some help in a fight. My point is if you would have entered the village they probably would have killed you. Now, we can''t die in this world, but I can tell you from experience that getting so injured that you lose all your hit points is not fun. I didn''t think it would have been a good idea to subject you to that - especially considering the condition you were in just a few days ago.¡±

    Patrick nodded his head in agreement before asking a follow-up question, ¡°If Martyrs don¡¯t like humans then wouldn¡¯t they just kill me if you used your mark?¡±

    James considered the question for a moment before Torunn spoke up with a simple answer.

    ¡°No,¡± the Martyr cub grunter grunted.

    Patrick and James stared at the Martyr cub for a few moments waiting for him to elaborate. The Martyr cub didn''t offer up any more of an explanation, so the two humans just shrugged, deciding to trust the Martyr and drop the subject.

    ¡°Why do you think we can¡¯t permanently die in this world?¡± Patrick asked.

    ¡°Well, one reason is that this is a game. Or a world based on a game. The second reason is I died the day that we saved you from the No-No.¡±

    ¡°No-No?¡±

    ¡°Umm, that giant rhino thing that was trying to stomp you into a pancake.¡±

    Patrick grimaced. ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, now that we are all caught up here is what we are going to do next,¡± James said, pausing to make sure Torunn was still paying attention. He wasn¡¯t, so James cleared his throat loudly before he began again. ¡°Dreng gave me a quest to go east to grow stronger. His main goal was to help me grow so I could help in the eventual battle with the Oana. However, he mentioned I would get information there as well.¡± James took a moment and locked eyes with Patrick. ¡°I don¡¯t want to sit around moping. We have a quest that offers information. I don¡¯t know if it will be the information about our families or Earth, but it is better than nothing.¡±

    Patrick nodded solemnly. ¡°Let''s go east and get some information then.¡±

    ***

    An hour later, the small party was ready to head out. James and Patrick both stood in the clearing looking at the sky with their hands on their hips. They both turned in random directions while glancing between the sun and the horizon.

    ¡°Well... Which way is east?¡± Patrick finally asked.

    Torunn looked at the two human cubs, and a small smirk snaked its way onto his face.

    Sensing the Martyr cub would be making fun of them right now if he knew how to talk better, James spoke up, ¡°It¡¯s not like we could be sure your east is the same east as ours. You sun could rise in the north and set in the south for all we know!¡±

    Torunn grunted and bounded off into what everyone decided was going to be east. James made a mental note to look at the sun in an hour to see if the directions were the same in this world. When that hour passed, James''s didn¡¯t bother mentioning to Torunn that the directions were indeed the same in both worlds. He knew his game brother would find a way to make fun of him silently, and he didn¡¯t need that negativity in his life at the moment.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Torunn led the party since he was able to traverse the Great Savanna much quieter than the humans. Patrick took the middle position, and James brought up the rear. James didn¡¯t think they would get attacked by anything dangerous, but he wanted to stay on the safe side and protect the soft redhead.

    ¡°We need to get you some gear, man,¡± James commented to Patrick.

    ¡°Yeah, I feel a bit naked¡­¡±

    James laughed. ¡°Yeah, I can imagine.¡±

    The two humans continued their chat and James took the opportunity to bring Patrick up to speed on everything else he knew about the game world. Patrick asked the appropriate questions when something wasn¡¯t clear, and James remarked to himself that Patrick¡¯s first impression might be a poor representation of the young man.

    Suddenly Torunn stopped, and James shushed Patrick, who was about to explain who he was in the real world.

    ¡°Ingos,¡± James whispered. Once again, James was happy to hear the beasts. Waking up to their calls was annoying, but he couldn¡¯t argue that they were a valuable resource in the Great Savanna. ¡°Let¡¯s go get you some of that gear you need!¡±

    ***

    The party snuck up to the Ingo clearing. James locked eyes with Torunn. He was ready. Then James locked eyes with Patrick. He was terrified. Before activating Jump Strike, James briefly wondered if he should have told Patrick to stay out of the fight. He was glad he didn¡¯t though. This was a harsh world, and James felt like they had had it easy so far.

    James hacked and slashed at Ingos while Torunn tackled, bit, and clawed them. James noticed that his Martyr brother didn¡¯t need to take the sneaky route of baiting the Ingos into the grass anymore. He stood face to face with them and took them on directly now.

    Patrick entered the fight exceptionally late, even once you allowed for the fact that he was slower than the other two. James could see him reluctantly pace closer to the rear of the Ingo¡¯s he was looking at. He didn¡¯t have a weapon, but James was happy to see him still attempting to contribute to the battle. The fight would be good for him, even if he couldn¡¯t do much. Surprisingly, the redhead snuck up close enough to touch the Ingo that James was fighting. To James''s surprise, when Patrick got close enough, he did indeed touch the Ingo. From what James could see, he punched the Ingo with his fist, lightly enough to do one damage. Unfortunately, it was just enough to get the Ingo''s attention. The Ingo whipped his head around and hesitated at the sight of the unarmored and un-armed redhead. Then the Ingos head shot forward, drove its beak into Patrick''s shoulder, and followed up with a swipe with one of its long legs. Patrick¡¯s terrified eyes immediately glossed over before his head tilted back and led the rest of his body to the ground.

    James took the Ingo¡¯s small distraction to channel all his strength into his next strike and cleanly decapitated the Ingo. The Ingo head fell to the ground as James appreciated the effects of his additional point in strength.

    ¡°Yes!¡± James exclaimed in excitement at the decapitation as he used his Bent Copper Buckler to deflect a different Ingo¡¯s attack. James evaluated the battlefield and got another glimpse of Torunn¡¯s new battle style after confirming Patrick was still alive. The Martyr almost seemed to be wrestling with his opponents. He pounced, tackled, rolled away, swiped and pounced again. His game brother quickly dispatched all of the remaining Ingos and then the ground began to shake.

    ¡°Crap! A boss is coming. When will he wake up?¡± James asked, pointing to Patrick. Torunn shrugged before running over and helping drag the redhead into the protection of the grass. The water in the Ingo pond began to vibrate and bubble. A second later a giant Ingo exploded from the water and bellowed in rage.

    ¡°Alright, buddy. I am going to Jump Strike in and try and do as much damage as possible. When I get overwhelmed, do that wrestling thing you have been doing, and I will Jump Strike again,¡± James instructed.

    Torunn nodded in understanding.

    ***

    You have received Adventurer¡¯s Satchel.

    James tossed the satchel across his back and began skinning the Ingos. He did not need the bag himself since it was the same rarity as the one he already had, so he would give it to Patrick. He figured some loot would do the boy good and raise his spirits, especially after just getting wrecked like he did.

    ¡°Patrick,¡± James sang as he prodded the redheaded boy with his foot. Torunn detached a healing salve from his belt before reconsidering. Instead, the Martyr quickly grabbed some nearby herbs and applied them to the boy. ¡°How are you doing, bud?¡±

    After a few more minutes of prodding, Torunn''s healing salve began to set in, and Patrick regained consciousness. Patrick pulled himself into a sitting position and stared off into the distance.

    ¡°Are you reading your notifications?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I leveled up twice,¡± Patrick replied with a weak smile, ¡°Uh, what happened by the way?¡±

    ¡°Ha, it was interesting to watch, but I am glad you are okay. You snuck up on an Ingo and then punched it. It turned around and attacked, which sent you into shock I imagine. Then it hit you again causing you to pass out completely. Torunn and I finished the rest off. A boss popped up, and we killed that too.¡±

    ¡°I will be honest¡­ I was pretty terrified. Getting hurt here is just like getting hurt in the real world.¡±

    ¡°It sucks, but I think it hurts less when you get some Armor and increase your Health. Or lower your shock threshold. I am not sure what causes the pain to decrease, but I noticed getting injured doesn¡¯t hurt nearly as bad for me now. By the way, take this loot. We figured you needed it the most.¡±

    ¡°Thanks! Is this the same bag you were telling me about earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yup, It looks like the same one I have too. I got mine from a boss Ingo as well,¡± James said, recalling his previous fight. It wasn¡¯t a tough boss, to begin with, but he was disappointed this battle wasn¡¯t much easier than the last one. Then James remembered how he got a necklace from his satchel, ¡°Oh! Equip the bag! When I got mine, there was something in it!¡±

    Patrick did as James asked and reached his hand into the bag, pulling out a giant sword. James''s eyes bulged with envy. They hadn''t seen much loot so far, so even though James liked his short sword and shield combo, he was still a little jealous.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Shoddy Greatsword,¡± Patrick mumbled in awe. ¡°It says it is two-handed.¡±

    ¡°Nice! It looks like you will be our big weapon guy! It''s a shame; I thought you were going to use your fisticuffs for the remainder of the game.¡± James laughed as he mimicked punch slapping an Ingo before dramatically falling to the ground.

    Patrick didn¡¯t reply at first and instead opted for giving his new pride and joy a few swings. ¡°It''s heavy!" Patrick said with a grunt.

    ¡°Oh, did you spend your stat points from the level up yet?¡± inquired James.

    ¡°No, I will check them out now.¡±

    James watched as Patrick¡¯s eyes took on a far-out gaze. Then suddenly, Patrick grew right before James¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°What the hell!¡± James exclaimed before the realization dawned on him, ¡°You invested your stat points into Strength didn¡¯t you¡­¡±

    Patrick stood up taller and just gave James a broad smile. James had to admit, the boy did look more prepared for a life in this world now, even if only slightly.

    ¡°Well, I am not your parent. I advised you on what all the stats did, and you made your decision,¡± James said with a resigned disappointment.

    ¡°Look. People called me a nerd in the real world,¡± Patrick began. ¡°That means two things. One is that I understand your strategy of investing in Wisdom - because I am a nerd. It is a good strategy and one that I would follow if this were actually a game. The second thing is that I refuse to be weak in this world. I mean look at that Ingo fight. I basically walked into the fight and passed right out. If the Ingo didn¡¯t attack me, I think I would have passed out anyway, just from the fear alone!¡±

    James nodded, beginning to understand where Patrick was coming from, ¡°I get it, man, I get it. You are right. We will probably need you to be a productive member of the team soon anyway. Who knows what awaits us in the east. Anyways, we should probably set up camp here. It is a little early, but I don¡¯t know when we will find another clearing.¡±

    ***

    After the camp was set up, James pulled out everyone¡¯s fur piles from his satchel.

    ¡°You can carry this now. Oh, and these too,¡± James said as he reached back into his bag and pulled out six healing salves and handed them to Patrick.

    ¡°What are they?¡± asked the redhead.

    ¡°Healing salves from Torunn, just in case you need them.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Patrick said, grabbing the small fur pouches and dropped them into his satchel.

    James collapsed down onto his fur pile and poked the fire.

    ¡°Do you think we will be safe out here?¡± Patrick asked.

    ¡°I am not sure¡­¡± James replied. ¡°Maybe we should set a night watch schedule?¡±

    ¡°That''s probably a good idea. Now it doesn¡¯t feel like a such a waste that we stopped so early. I can probably fall asleep now if you want to wake me up for my watch.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan, Stan. I¡¯ll figure out a schedule and make sure one of us wakes you up.¡±

    ¡°Cool, g¡¯night,¡± the redhead said before settling into a pile of furs and turning away.

    ¡°Night, man.¡±

    James thought of a night watch schedule and told Torunn not to stay awake too late, even though James doubted the Martyr cub could stay awake longer than his body wanted to.

    Statistics - No Changes

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 4 ¨C (1 level gained recently) ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 4% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 12 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 12% while skinning. Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%

    Cooking, Level 10 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 10% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 10%

    Fire, Level 9 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 9%

    Short Swords, Level 14 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 14%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike,¡± level 4 ¨C Chance to stun 40%

    Small Shields, Level 5 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Chance to fully deflect or block an attack increased by 15%

    Congratulations! Your cooking skill has surpassed level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 recipes.

    Recipe 1 - Roasted Ingo & Spiced Tucca, Increases Constitution by 1 for 12 hours.

    Recipe 2 - Savory Ingo Delight, Increases Constitution by 3 for 1 hour.

    James lifted an eyebrow and let out a soft, ¡°Hmm."

    Both recipes looked like they used ingredients that he had access to, and they both raised the same attribute - Constitution. The only difference between the two options was the amounts that the stat increased and the duration that it increased. From a strict math perspective, the 12-hour buff was the most valuable. From a strategic perspective, the 1-hour buff would give a considerable boon if the party could eat it before a fight.

    James let out another, ¡°Hmm¡­¡± and wondered if theoretically, he could have two food buffs at the same time. If he ended up getting more recipes would he be able to stack food buffs? Would he benefit from only a predetermined number of buffs or only the most recent one? James shrugged and decided to choose the first recipe with the long-term buff. The bigger buff would have been useful, but James had a feeling he wouldn''t always remember, or have the opportunity to stuff food down his face before a fight.

    Next, James checked his inventory tab which also said, ¡°No Changes,¡± so he didn¡¯t dig in any further. Hearing a splash in the small Ingo lake, James leaped to his feet and whipped his head around. Torunn was gone so he figured the Martyr cub must be in the water. James ran over just in case to make sure an Ingo Boss wasn¡¯t respawning or something. The last stretches of daylight allowed James to see deep enough into the water to see Torunn''s body swim deeper and deeper. Eventually, the Martyr swam so deep that James couldn''t see him anymore.

    ¡°What in the world are you doing?¡± James asked the empty air. He stood there looking down into the small pond for what seemed like minutes. Torunn still wasn¡¯t surfacing.

    ¡°Damn,¡± James said as he took off all his clothing besides his Dirty Cloth shirt and Dirty Cloth Pants. He took a few steps back and jogged to the lake. Just as he was about to dive in, Torunn resurfaced.

    ¡°Oh, Jesus,¡± James said, trying to slow down and cancel his running dive. He failed and ended up slipping and uncontrollably sliding into the lake, next to Torunn.

    ¡°Where Big Ingo come? Water is deep,¡± Torunn growled as he trod water.

    James was adept at understanding his game brother¡¯s broken speech by now but was still impressed. That was the longest sentence James had heard him put together so far. Essentially, Torunn was saying he was curious where the Boss Ingos come from so he dove into the lake to investigate.

    James shrugged, ¡°I am going to check it out. Keep an eye on sleeping beauty over there.¡±

    James dove underneath the water. It was a crisp blue, and he had no trouble seeing as far as the light allowed.

    I guess there are some hidden perks to living in a game world, James thought. The Ingo lake was only about 10 meters across. From below the surface, he could tell it was shaped almost like a funnel. Someone walking into the lake would walk down a slowly descending slope until they reached the center of the lake, which consisted of a 6-foot-wide tunnel that stretched on indefinitely. The tunnel was big enough for him not to have a full-blown panic attack when he entered it, but it still got his heart pumping faster. James began to run out of light, and when he couldn¡¯t see more than a foot or two in front of him, he turned around and started swimming back to the surface. He got much deeper than he would have thought possible and estimated he was underwater for a good minute and a half. James idly wondered if a stat controlled how long he could hold his breath.

    ¡°That water is deep. Think we should move our camp?¡± James asked, worried about a possible attack originating from the lake. Torunn didn''t answer. ¡°Well, we already have a guard schedule so we should be fine. A little creepy though."

    James mentally tied the mystery of the lake together with the magic of monsters respawning. It was possible that the two things were related. James couldn''t be sure if monsters didn''t actually respawn in the conventional sense of the word, but actually just lived deep underneath the lakes and periodically swam up. It was also possible that they did respawn, and if he tried to swim deeper into the lake, he would go on forever, stuck in a programming loop designed to hide a monster respawn point. Either way, if James discovered information on either mystery, it was bound to shed light on the other.

    ***

    You have received a Well-fed buff! Constitution increased by 1 for the next 12 hours. You cannot receive a Well-fed buff for the next 24 hours.

    Well that answers that question, James thought to himself. It was now clear that he couldn¡¯t stack buffs from eating food. The notification made him happy that he chose the recipe that he did. If he could only get one Well-fed buff a day he would rather have a weaker, but long lasting one than a stronger, short-term buff.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good!¡± Patrick said with a mouthful of the Roasted Ingo & Spiced Tucca, ¡°Oh, I got a buff¡­¡±

    James answered the question he knew Patrick was going to ask, ¡°I got a new recipe last night by increasing my cooking skill to Level 10.¡±

    ¡°Awesomesauce, literally,¡± Patrick said in between bites, without even looking up.

    ¡°You guys ready to head out when you''re done eating? Nothing attacked us from the Ingo lake last night, so I don¡¯t want to press our luck much longer.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Patrick asked, ¡°I got this huge sword I am dying to use.¡±

    James laughed. ¡°I am sure you will have plenty of chances to use it today.¡±

    ***

    Patrick¡¯s chance to use his greatsword came soon after lunch. James was a bit relieved when the moment finally came since walking in the Great Savanna for hours on end was getting quite dull. But when the party saw their prey, Patrick was the only one not smart enough to be scared.

    ¡°An Oana Scout!¡± James shouted. He could tell the scout already spotted their location, so James didn¡¯t see any point in being quiet. ¡°Quick, everyone roll around and flatten the grass around us.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Patrick questioned, causing Torunn to tackle him to the ground in response and use the boy''s extra weight to make his rolls more effective at flattening the grass.

    ¡°Alright, he¡¯s almost here; get ready,¡± James said as he left their makeshift clearing and disappeared into the wall of grass.

    ¡°Where are you-¡± a confused Patrick began to ask but was cut off by Torunn¡¯s giant paw.

    ¡°Shut up,¡± the Martyr cub growled with a calm tone that still managed to threaten Patrick.

    Moments later the scout barreled into the clearing at breakneck speed, tackling the duo and scattering them into the tall grass. James watched from afar with sneak activated. He hoped Torunn would know to lead the scout back into the clearing so that James could enable Jump Strike. If he couldn''t see the scout, he wouldn''t be able to activate the ability. Once again he watched the tall grass of the Great Savanna thrash as Torunn fought for his life against an Oana Scout. After what seemed like an eternity, Torunn broke into the clearing and was quickly pounced on by the Scout. The Martyr struggled to fend off the bombardment of strikes raining down upon him.

    ¡°Get ready, Patrick!¡± James yelled and activated Jump Strike. He flew up into the air and spotted a bloodied Patrick struggling to stand and pick up his great sword. James raised his sword above his head with both hands and landed with a thud, his short sword successfully connecting with the unsuspecting Oana and stunning it.

    ¡°Now, Patrick!¡± James yelled again. The boy burst from the wall of tall grass with his sword poised above his head and tears streaming down his face. His pants were bloodied, but he only allowed his injury to be seen by the pain, terror, and determination in his face.

    ¡°AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh!¡± The redhead screamed as he closed the distance to the Oana just before it shook off the stun debuff. Patrick¡¯s greatsword fell in a heavy arch and embedded itself into the Scout¡¯s trapezius muscle. The redhead lost his grip and fell to the ground, shortly after followed by the Scout.

    You have received Oana Scout¡¯s Belt (common), +1 to Agility.

    You have received Minor Energy Potion (common) x3 - Restores 1 energy/second for 30 seconds.

    You have received Potion of the Swimmer (uncommon) - Increases swim speed by 20% for 10 minutes.

    ¡°Loot! My precious,¡± James whispered with his best impression of Gollum.

    So far most of James¡¯s equipment was all widespread, which was even lower than common. So seeing the white and green text of each item caused his heart to flutter in anticipation. James was disappointed when he read the descriptions though. The belt was for the sheath slot, and he already had a short sword sheath. Besides, the belt didn¡¯t look like it had an area to attach a weapon too. Rather, it had potions attached. The belt would certainly be best utilized by Torunn.

    James tossed the belt to the Martyr who was already putting some healing salve on the unconscious Patrick.

    ¡°Wake up, buddy! You did pretty well!¡± James said as he reached down to give Patrick a hand up.

    ¡°That sucked. No wonder the Martyrs don¡¯t like these things. They are vicious,¡± an exhausted Patrick said as he rubbed his head and checked on his slowly healing injuries.

    ¡°Yea, and apparently the Scouts are the weakest of the Oana race,¡± James said, handing Patrick an energy potion.

    ¡°That is terrifying,¡± Patrick commented as he took a step to test his leg. It buckled, and James caught him before he could fall. Patrick grunted and reluctantly asked James if they could call it a night.

    James studied the area before answering, ¡°We might as well. We already have a little clearing made."

    ***

    Two days later, the party approached a mountain range with a stream of smoke billowing from the base of it. The party didn¡¯t get attacked by any more Oana on their way, but they did manage to clear a handful of Ingo nests. The time spent walking and setting up camps gave James plenty of time to think. He wondered where his real brother was. He wondered how he could find him. He wondered how he was fairing in this new world. When Patrick noticed that James was lost in thought, James would reply that they needed to get information on what had happened in the real world. Patrick understood as the worry was always in the back of his mind as well. The two knew they were stuck in this world, possibly forever, and they needed to make contact with more humans.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Torunn whispered as he swept his vision from left to right, following the ridge of mountains. James looked at his game brother with more interest than he gave the mountain range.

    ¡°Did you just say whoa?¡± James asked Torunn. ¡°That is probably an appropriate response. Especially considering you have only ever seen endless fields of grass your whole life.¡±

    ¡°Where is the smoke coming from?¡± Patrick asked.

    ¡°No clue, but I bet you that is precisely where Dreng intended us to go,¡± answered James. ¡°Let me climb onto your shoulders so I can get a better look."

    Patrick and Torunn had grown significantly since they embarked on their mission to cross the Great Savanna. It looked to James like they were competing on who could become the strongest of the party, but he knew from Frode that the Martyr¡¯s stat points got allocated automatically, so Patrick would probably pull ahead. They both were at least a head taller than James now, sturdier, and with muscles to match, so James knew that getting onto Patrick''s shoulders wouldn''t be a problem.

    Patrick took a knee and allowed James to climb up and sit on his shoulders. The redhead was undoubtedly stronger now, but he didn¡¯t lose any of the fat he was carrying around when he first entered the game. With a grunt, Patrick stood up.

    ¡°Wow. I can¡¯t see an end to the mountain range in either direction. It looks like there are snow caps on the highest peaks¡­ I wonder what is past the mountains¡­¡± James cupped his hands to shield the glare from his eyes. ¡°There is a village! That is where the smoke is¡­¡±

    ¡°Arrgghh,¡± Patrick grunted, and they both tumbled to the ground. One second James was blocking the rest of the world out with his make-shift binoculars, and the next second, he was on the ground, confused and wondering why his head hurt.

    ¡°Torunn! You little¡­¡± James growled as he stood up and charged the Martyr. Torunn caught his game brother¡¯s tackle with a smile and James backed up frustrated. The Martyr cub had finally surpassed James in strength. A certain dread filled James. Suddenly, Patrick¡¯s body shot through a wall of grass and his shoulder slammed into Torunn¡¯s side. The Martyr¡¯s smile-squinted eyes widened in surprise as the rest of his body whipped to the ground.

    ¡°Alright, alright! Patrick, he was just playing around. He can¡¯t help it. Really!¡± James said as he struggled to separate the two.

    ¡°Why?¡± Patrick shouted when James was finally able to pull him off the happy Martyr.

    ¡°Sorry, he does that. Tackling people is his thing. Well, it hasn''t been in a while so I thought he might have grown out of it. I think it is our fault really. We presented him with an opportunity he couldn¡¯t resist by me climbing on your shoulders like that. We probably looked like the most satisfying tackling dummy Torunn has ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Jesus,¡± Patrick replied, still frustrated.

    James laughed it off but figured he should say something to his game-brother regardless of how he felt about it.

    ¡°Not a good time, Torunn,¡± James chastised the Martyr. ¡°Now, let¡¯s focus on our mission. There is a village down there that is probably in trouble.¡±

 Chapter 11 - Fight!

    Flat and pebbly earth slowly replaced the tall grass of the Great Savanna as the party approached the village. The small buildings visible from James''s location were made of wood. They resembled something more human than the usual construction James had seen in the Martyr village.

    ¡°Humans?¡± Patrick gasped.

    ¡°It looks like it¡­¡± James murmured. The two players exchanged glances before sprinting the remaining distance to the village. James was determined to ask questions, and it was possible that these humans could be from Earth and have answers.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Patrick yelled and waved his arms in the air as they approached.

    The villagers didn¡¯t seem to notice. James could now make out a tall building at the back of the village, nestled right up against the mountain. Two rows of buildings, houses, and shops flanked either side of the party, and a straight road sat in between the rows of buildings that led right up to the burning building.

    James looked around and saw that most of the windows were all boarded up, Something¡¯s not right here, he thought.

    ¡°Hey! Why are you ignoring us?¡± Patrick asked a wandering villager while grabbing his shoulder. The villager whipped around with a snarl. James could see its face was a pale blue.

    ¡°They are zombies!¡± James warned, but it was too late. The undead villager got a grasp on Patrick. The redhead collapsed to the ground in an attempt to avoid being bitten. Torunn tackled the undead off Patrick and James noticed it received a debuff.

    Disoriented - Agility reduced by 20% for 30 seconds.

    James and Patrick descended on the undead creature with their swords until it stopped moving. As they did so, more undead began to surround the party. Torunn tackled the nearest, right before it could bite James, and the two humans swung around. James had trouble thinking of a plan. The possibility of seeing more humans and getting information about the real world blinded him. Torunn picked up the slack for his game brother and effectively crowd controlled the approaching herd. James looked around, struggling to see something, anything that would trigger him to form a strategy. Name tags appeared above all the undead humans.

    ¡°Friggin¡¯ Zombies,¡± they read, over and over again. There must have been at least thirty. James chastised himself. If only he thought to read their name tags before running into the village. It might not have said zombies then, but it still might have given him a clue.

    Suddenly a beam of light covered the huddled party as they awaited their gruesome deaths. It sparkled and spread warmth through James¡¯s body. Pleasant tingles arrived every time a sparkle touched James¡¯s skin, the contrast of feelings causing his hair to stand on end.

    ¡°Over here!¡± someone yelled from deeper in the village.

    James looked over the heads of the cowering and screeching horde of undead to see a man and a woman standing at the entrance of a fortified building. The man was waving at him as the woman stood behind the man making strange and exaggerated movements with her hands.

    James pushed his party in the direction of their two saviors, and the beam of light followed them as they went.

    ¡°Get in!¡± the man shouted. The party dove into the house and the new pair of humans dragged a heavy bookcase in front of the door, locking them in. The man turned and rested his back against the bookcase with a sigh. ¡°We are safe. They haven''t been able to get to us in here.¡±

    James composed himself and then interrogated the dark-haired man, ¡°Are you human? What is going on here?¡±

    ¡°If you mean to ask if I am from Earth, then the answer is yes.¡±

    ¡°What happened? Why are we all trapped in this game?¡± James said, wasting no time getting to the point. James got momentarily lost in the realness of the game when the undead attacked, but now he was back to his usual self and able to think again.

    The man that saved the party shot a glance at his female partner when James mentioned the game. The woman was inconsolable on the floor and didn¡¯t seem to hear anything over her sobs, however.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in the back room and talk. She just lost everything she has ever known,¡± the man said. ¡°Can the Martyr stay here?¡±

    James didn¡¯t know how the man knew Torunn was a Martyr, but he asked his game brother to protect the female human anyway. James grabbed Patrick and followed the man into the back room.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± James asked harshly.

    ¡°Slow down, hero,¡± the man said while holding a flat hand out to James. ¡°We are going to be here for a while so you might as well relax. My name is Alex."

    James closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He knew this man was from Earth, and therefore his ally, but he was still very close to exploding. He wanted answers. Answers about Earth, the people, his brother, and if he would be spending the rest of his life in the game. He didn''t have time for pleasantries.

    ¡°I¡¯m Patrick, a player as well, and this is James. Torunn is the name of the Martyr in the front room,¡± Patrick said, pointing at each member of the party as he said their names.

    Alex shook his hand with a smile.

    ¡°Why are you so happy?¡± James spat out.

    ¡°I am attempting to see the silver lining in an otherwise shitty situation, James,¡± Alex seethed in reply. ¡°You¡¯re welcome for saving your life, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Why are we stuck here?¡± asked Patrick.

    ¡°Apparently, the world has ended,¡± replied Alex nonchalantly.

    ¡°How did it end? Is Earth still there and are we are just stuck here unable to log out? Or is Earth somehow completely gone and our consciousnesses are digital now? There is a big difference between the two¡± James picked up the line of questioning.

    ¡°Both,¡± answered Alex. ¡°We cannot log out; the game doesn¡¯t have the capability. Besides, our bodies are probably all dead. So effectively, Earth is gone as far as we are concerned.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you!¡± James said, raising his voice.

    ¡°Everyone processes it in their own way,¡± Alex said, shrugging and assuming his nonchalant demeanor once again.

    ¡°He is right though, James,¡± Patrick chimed in glumly.

    ***

    As the party moved back into the front room of the barricaded house, James pulled out his pile of furs and sat down inside them. He was disappointed in himself. He wanted to be strong but just ended up embarrassing himself. He contemplated how thinking of the possibility of an entire small village of humans living together gave him hope. Then he contemplated how that hope was smashed and the way it left him. They were all in the same boat. No one knew exactly what was going on, but everyone was processing the little information they did have the best way they could. Except everyone seemed to be processing it much better than James. He surmised it was because he entered the game before everyone else. He never really had time to process anything that happened on Earth, and that was partly because he didn''t believe anything at all happened. At least he didn''t until now.

    James apologized to Alex for his difficult behavior and received a wave in return. Looking around the room, James noticed that the woman seemed to take a liking to Torunn, who had managed to calm her down.

    ¡°My name is James.¡±

    ¡°Lilly,¡± the blonde woman responded from her corner of the floor.

    ¡°Were you casting that light spell earlier?¡± James asked, noticing everyone''s ears perk up to listen in for the answer. Lilly let her head drop, and James could tell she wasn¡¯t really in the mood for conversation, so he decided to ask her more at a later point. He changed the subject, ¡°Would you guys like some furs to sit on?¡±

    Alex nodded, so James pulled out a dozen or so and split them between the two villagers.

    ¡°Alex, you said something earlier that made me curious,¡± Patrick said. ¡°You knew Torunn was a Martyr. How could you possibly know that already?¡±

    ¡°Ah, now we are getting to the juicy questions.¡± Alex smirked, before admitting, ¡°I helped create this game¡­¡±

    ***

    James¡¯s head swam from the night before. Alex had handled the player¡¯s bombardment of disdain and questions rather well, and he had even managed to acquire some ale to appease everyone. James looked up from his fur pile within the little room and immediately regretted doing so. His head rebelled against him and attempted to explode every time his heart beat. Once his headache disappeared, he needed to formulate a plan to get out of the undead village.

    James recalled the events of the prior night. Alex admitted he had no involvement or knowledge in the fact that everyone on Earth was transported into the game world. He did admit to knowing a good deal of game lore, though. James wasn¡¯t sure if he trusted Alex yet, even though they briefly bonded the prior night over ale, admiring James¡¯s Wisdom strategy. James admitted it was nice to talk with someone that understood his commitment to investing in Wisdom. It was especially nice when that person knew a lot about the game lore and confirmed that Wisdom was the way to go, in most situations.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Still, even with Alex''s small amount of insight into the game, they need much more information. Alex truly didn''t have any clue that people would be forced into the game, and he had no clue that anything terrible had happened on Earth. For the time being, they needed Alex to be a member of the party. He wasn¡¯t the only person they needed either.

    Lilly had an interesting and equally tragic story as the players from Earth, even though she was an NPC. When she finally opened up to the group and recited her story, Alex explained that the NPCs were designed to be real people. They were so advanced that the main difference between them and the humans from Earth was that the NPCs were not aware of Earth. Alex explained that the only other difference was that the NPCs were all connected to the world in a way that allowed them to give quests, but that the NPCs were not aware of that connection. James mentioned the quest he received from Dreng. Alex said that it was likely Dreng just felt like he had an inexplicable hunch that James and Torunn needed to go east. In reality, the NPC network alerted the nearest NPC that had access to a player with a subconscious message someone needed help in the east. The person that needed help was Lilly.

    Alex further explained that Lilly probably did not want to discuss her story because it was still unfolding. This was her town. It was where she grew up. It was where she ate her meals and where she had her first kiss. Still, recounting what she knew to James and Patrick seemed to help her process the situation better. She was still distraught, but she wasn¡¯t inconsolable anymore. She was mourning, but still knew she needed to take action.

    James recalled how Lilly said it all started with the rain. He remembered because he thought it was weird that she said she had never seen rain before that day, just like Torunn. That fact confirmed that it had never rained in the game world before that point. She said the rain disturbed something in the mountain. Villagers started disappearing, so others went out to find them, and they disappeared too. Her family stayed though, as they were some type of royalty, James couldn¡¯t remember how she framed it exactly. Her parents acted strangely the day before the undead attacked the village in force. Lilly wept as she painfully recounted how they sacrificed themselves to save her in an explosion of golden light that killed the majority of the undead.

    Lilly also said that she had never been able to cast spells before and only realized she could when she cast the spell that saved James, Torunn, and Patrick.

    Lilly explained that she met Alex by happenstance the day before the undead attacked. The village was under-populated at that point, so they ran into each other occasionally and discussed conspiracy theories on what was happening. She explained that when her parents died, Alex found her, grabbed her and barricaded them in the small house.

    With a final sob that James was sure would haunt him for the rest of his life, be it in the game world or not, she said, ¡°We are the only ones left."

    One more question still plagued James. How big was this world if all of humanity was transferred here and he had only run into two other players so far - Patrick and Alex? The thought made him feel small, but there was an even more terrifying possibility. What if they didn¡¯t manage to transfer everyone to the game? What if only a tiny portion of humanity was able to be saved from the mysterious apocalyptic event that supposedly plagued Earth? He shuddered at the thought and decided that lingering on it without any hard information would only be detrimental to his mental health. It was entirely possible that Earth was still there somewhere and just his country was put into the game for some reason. Still, James didn''t want to linger on that either. That would only give him hope. He just wanted information and didn''t want to feel hopeful or depressed. He could feel however that he needed to once he accomplished his mission, found his brother, and figured out what the heck was going on with the game and back on Earth.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 9 (2 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 5 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much endurance you have

    Agility, Level 4 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 5 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 15 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and more

    Wisdom, Level 10 - Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    4 statistic points ready to distribute. (4 gained recently)

    James noticed his Wisdom description now said, ¡®all types of experience¡¯ instead of just character experience. He invested 3 points in Wisdom and 1 in Agility. The increase in dodge and critical strikes that Agility gave him might be what he needed to get out of this house safely.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 4 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 4% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 14 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 14% while skinning. Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%

    Cooking, Level 13 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 13% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 13%

    Fire, Level 9 ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 9%

    Short Swords, Level 17 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 17%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike,¡± Level 6 (2 levels gained recently) - Chance to stun 55%

    Small Shields, Level 8 (3 levels gained recently) Chance to fully deflect or block an attack increased by 18%

    Equipped Items - No Changes.

    James added starting fires to his to-do list so he could find out what happened when he reached Level 10 in Fire Mastery. Alex had made it clear last night he couldn¡¯t provide any insight into the leveling and progression system, as it was classified and he didn¡¯t have the security clearance or need to know. That was the moment James explained to him what his stats did and advised Alex to invest in Wisdom so he could level faster. James gagged at the memory and swore he could smell the ale just from thinking about it. Unlike Patrick, James was pretty sure Alex would accept his advice and follow the strategy. James realized it was a good thing Patrick decided to ignore the advice because he quickly became a competent fighter. By the time the party had got to the undead village, the redhead no longer lost his grip on his great sword and managed to slightly out damage James - even with his 17 levels in short swords. The thought led James to reconsider his short sword and shield combination. Torunn had been doing an excellent job doing the thing he loved most in battle, which was tackling and annoying the hell out of things. It was effective at disorienting their enemies and getting their attention so James and Patrick could do damage. Since James no longer took damage since Torunn was effectively their tank in a way, James did not need his buckler or shield skill. James decided he would always keep a shield in reserve just in case he had to fight solo, but he would be on the lookout for another fighting style.

    Patrick emerged from his sleeping sack with a stretch and a long, drawn out, ¡°Good morning!¡±

    James winced at the noise and groaned, ¡°Quit yelling."

    The quiet talking between the two was enough to wake up the rest of the party who all seemed in good physical health. James chastised himself for being the only one that had drunk enough to be hungover. It was especially dangerous since they were trapped in a house that was surrounded by undead creatures.

    Not exactly a good time to let loose there, James, he thought.

    ¡°What? Are you hungover?¡± Patrick asked.

    James ignored the question. Torunn retrieved some herbs from various pouches on his belt and began to mash them up in his hand. James watched in pain as the Martyr cub added a small amount of water to his hand and held it up to James.

    ¡°Drink,¡± grunted Torunn.

    James looked at the concoction in Torunn¡¯s cupped hand and fought back a gag. He trusted Torunn but drinking from his hairy paws was a line he wouldn¡¯t cross even with his closest of actual family members - if they had furry hands. Still, maybe that was the price he would have to pay for making the mistake of drinking so much at the worst possible time ever. James clamped his eyes closed and let Torunn pour the concoction into his mouth.

    ¡°Ugh, we really need to get you some bottles or something, maybe a mortar and pestle too," James commented after swallowing the concoction.

    Weak Debuffs Removed.

    James¡¯s eyes went wide as he read the notification. Was being hungover a debuff here? And had Torunn discovered a way to remove them? Forgetting the fact that Torunn would be filthy rich if he was back on Earth, James was happy that one of his party members had such a useful ability. James climbed out of his fur pile and stretched, appreciating his newfound health.

    ¡°Alright, we need to get out of here. Anyone have any suggestions?¡± Alex asked the room.

    ¡°Wait. Where would we go?¡± Lilly asked, seemingly realizing for the first time that she would have to leave her village.

    ¡°I am not sure, Lilly, but we cannot survive here for much longer,¡± Alex said as he watched a gloomy expression take over her face. He added, ¡°Maybe we can get stronger and come back here. Rebuild this place up. But for now, we need to focus on getting out.¡±

    Lilly didn''t look up from the floor, but she did give a slight nod.

    ¡°I was granted a mark that allows me to summon an adult Martyr to aide me. It has a cooldown of one month, so I was saving it. I can¡¯t see a better time to use it than now,¡± James offered.

    ¡°Interesting!¡± Alex replied. ¡°So, we call the Martyr, fight our way out of here, and then make a run for it?¡±

    ¡°Sounds too simple. Where will we go?¡± Patrick asked while glancing at Lilly.

    ¡°We can go to our clearing,¡± James replied. Then he addressed the newcomers, ¡°We have a small shelter in the middle of the Great Savanna. It isn¡¯t much, but it will do until we come up with something better.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan. Now how do we call the Martyr?¡± asked Alex.

    Everyone turned to Torunn for an answer, but they just received an exaggerated shrug from the Martyr cub.

    ¡°Maybe I activate it like a regular ability, by thinking about it. Are we all ready? I am not sure if the Martyr will just appear here or if it has to run here.¡± James asked and then pushed his pile of skins into his satchel. The rest of the party followed his lead.

    When everyone had finished packing up, James mentally activated his mark. The party all stood there in silence, waiting for something to happen. James glanced around the room, meeting everyone''s eyes in turn. Torunn broke the silence with a sharp sniff of the air. James watched as the Martyr cub¡¯s ears perked up. Suddenly, Torunn dropped to all fours and vaulted to the bookshelf, knocking it over.

    ¡°Torunn! Wait!¡± James cried out to the disappearing body of his game brother.

    ¡°Shit, let¡¯s go!¡± Alex said as he waved everyone outside.

    Frey was there, standing in the center of the village surrounded by the undead. They circled her slowly and took turns diving into her back when she presented it to them. If there was one thing James hated more than zombies, it was strategically intelligent zombies.

    The hulking form of the adult Martyr spun in circles trying to catch the small undead creatures before they dove on her. James could see it was nearly impossible to protect her back from the smaller creatures, especially since she was so large in comparison. She roared when something landed on her back and proceeded to crawl up her shoulders. Frey reached back to grab it, and before she could throw it to the other side of the mountain, she realized it was her son, Torunn. Her eyes went wide, and she embraced the young Martyr cub. She glanced around and spotted James and his party with an anxious glance.

    ¡°Come to me, human cubs!¡± Freydis cried out as she stomped her way over to the party. James unsheathed his short sword and severed the leg of an approaching undead with one smooth motion.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go; she is friendly!¡± James and Alex yelled in unison.

    ***

    James and Torunn sat on Freydis¡¯s shoulders as the rest of the party crossed the Great Savanna in her embrace. They were traveling faster than James had ever gone in the game before - maybe even quicker than he had ever driven his car in the real world. He silently thanked the developers for making the Great Savanna so clean. There were no bugs that would be able to get stuck in his teeth. James briefly recalled that even diving into Ingo ponds was relatively pleasant - there were no slimy plants or polluted mud. That was when James realized he was happy to be back in the Great Savanna.

    James motioned around Freydis¡¯s head to Torunn in an effort to garner his attention, when he had it, James pointing at their clearing. They were running right past it. Torunn noticed but seemed just as confused as James.

    Where were they going? If Fredis took them all back to the Martyr village no one would be safe from the wrath of Dreng. James looked around for clues and found some immediately. The grass all around them was uncharacteristically flattened. It all lay down in one direction. When James followed that direction, he gasped.

    The Martyr village is under attack!

 Chapter 12 - Scythed

    ¡°Fight!¡± Freydis screamed after placing everyone but Torunn on the ground and running to the aid of her village. James looked on in horror as the Martyr village he had begun to consider his home, burned. Oana soldiers, half the size of adult Martyrs but still double the size of their scout counterparts, attacked in droves.

    Patrick hefted his great sword and let out a scream as he charged the village. James and Alex both reached out and grasped one of his shoulders.

    ¡°Wait!¡± exclaimed Alex.

    ¡°Yeah, we need a plan, man,¡± James said. ¡°They are way bigger and more numerous than anything we have fought before.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t we just run?¡± Lilly asked.

    ¡°No, Freydis wouldn¡¯t have told us to fight if she thought there was another option,¡± James answered. ¡°The Martyrs have tried that before. The Oana have been hunting them across the Great Savanna ever since. If we lose this battle, the Martyrs become extinct.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there is much we can do here. They are way too large,¡± Alex said.

    James studied Alex''s face and found no defeat there, just cold logic. He thought for a moment.

    ¡°Maybe we can use our smaller size to our advantage. Do you guys have any special abilities? For example, I have an ability that launches me into the air and into my enemies. It comes with a chance to stun. If we can hide and use our abilities at the right moments, I think we can help.¡±

    ¡°I received a blink ability when I reached Level 20 in Sneak,¡± Alex reported.

    ¡°I can cast a weak healing light. It isn¡¯t that strong and is more useful for repelling the undead, but it still heals,¡± added Lilly.

    ¡°What about you, Patrick?¡± asked James.

    ¡°My greatsword skill is only Level 7. I don¡¯t have anything higher, so no abilities. I probably have the most Health though,¡± Patrick answered.

    ¡°Okay, we will all sneak up to the Chieftain''s hut. If it is intact, we will hide inside. If it isn¡¯t, the wreckage should still provide some cover. If we get spotted on the way, I will try and stun. Lilly, don¡¯t use your light until I say, I think it will draw too much attention. Once we get there, we will look for opportunities to use our abilities to turn the tide of battle. Patrick, you will be our first line of defense - if something goes wrong - followed by me. Any questions?¡± James quickly briefed the party.

    When no one answered, the party set out. The village was in chaos. Martyrs were spread out randomly with no apparent defenses organized. James could see the Oana used scythes; they were decidedly faster than the Martyrs. Still, when a Martyr managed to land a strike, it was devastating.

    Where the hell is Dreng? James thought to himself, too worried to say anything while in sneak mode in case he was discovered.

    The party approached the Chieftain''s hut unmolested until three Martyr guards stopped them outside the entrance. James watched as they decided what to do and noticed the exact moment they must have recognized him. With a wave of a Martyr¡¯s giant paw, the party was unceremoniously rushed into the Chieftain''s hut.

    Dreng stood in the center of the hut while Frey, Frode, and even Torunn dressed him in the heaviest armor James had ever seen. It was made from dark metal plates with green etching. The armor accentuated the Chieftain''s already massive size, making Dreng look like an actual tank back from Earth.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± Patrick gasped as he took in the overbearing sight of the largest of Martyrs.

    ¡°James,¡± Dreng growled, ¡°I hope you grew much stronger in your time to the east. The clan will need you today.¡±

    Before James could speak up Frode frantically interrupted, ¡°The fire, James, have you mastered it?¡±

    ¡°I think I am close. My Fire Mastery is at Level 9,¡± James replied.

    ¡°That is not enough!¡± Frode boomed as he grabbed the last piece of Dreng¡¯s set of armor from a hidden section of the tent. Visibly calming himself, the Chieftain''s advisor placed the horned helmet on Dreng¡¯s massive head. James stood in awe before the fully armored Martyr Chieftain. The dark metal plate armor was so massive he couldn¡¯t understand how anyone could move under it. Dreng did so with ease, causing him to look more like a metal golem than a Martyr.

    ¡°My mace!¡± Dreng called with a hand raised. The Martyr Chieftain''s call had such a commanding tone that the party found themselves rifling around the hut in search of a mace they had never seen before. Torunn found it first, but couldn¡¯t budge the artifact, so his mother came over to help.

    Freydis placed the mace into her mate¡¯s hand, and he gave the giant weapon a few practice swings. The rush of air from the swinging weapon almost knocked James over.

    Before rushing off to join the fight, Dreng turned to James one last time, ¡°Reach Level 10 in Fire Mastery. Do it now. Don¡¯t tire, and don¡¯t get thirsty; if your hands get raw do not even consider slowing. Go.¡±

    James looked around in confusion. How was he supposed to do that? Suddenly, a loud boom sounded throughout the village, signaling Dreng¡¯s entrance into the battle.

    James could hear Dreng command the remaining Martyrs to come to him, and he had to resist the unconscious urge to run out of the tent and join Dreng himself. Logically, James knew the command wasn''t meant for him, and yet he still struggled to get his body to obey that logic.

    ¡°What in the world is going on?¡± Alex exclaimed. When James shrugged in response, Alex peaked his head out of the hut. ¡°Oh my god¡­ He is tearing it up out there.¡±

    The rest of the party joined Alex and peering out of the hut as well. When James went to check out the Chieftain in action, Frode grabbed him.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Focus, human cub. You need to start fires,¡± the advisor said, pointing to the fire pit.

    Reluctantly, James walked over to the fire pit and began to light it. Sounds of battle raged in the background, and James struggled to focus. A minute went by before he managed to start his first fire. No notification. Frode snuffed it out with a fist, seemingly oblivious to the pain, and instructed James to do it again. James did so. Fire started. No notification. Fire snuffed out. Fire started again. No notification. Fire snuffed out, over and over.

    ¡°Focus, human cub. Don¡¯t just complete the task. Think about your actions; predict how they will affect the world. Learn, don''t just do,¡± the advisor advised.

    James focused on his actions. He tried to connect with the slowly growing heat as he rubbed his sticks together. James rubbed his hands faster, predicting and urging the heat to reach a peak and the kindling to ignite.

    Congratulations! Your Fire Mastery has surpassed Level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 abilities.

    Ability 1 - Weak Flaming Weapon, + (10 + mastery level) % weapon damage.

    Ability 2 - Weak Fire Bolt, Damage is equal to 1.5 x Intelligence.

    ¡°I did it!¡± James exclaimed excitedly.

    ¡°You''re too late¡­¡± Alex murmured as he looked away from the battlefield, ¡°Dreng has fallen.¡±

    James''s excitement was ripped from his body at Alex''s words, leaving an empty hole inside him. Freydis and Torunn rushed out of the tent at Alex¡¯s dooming words, but James knew that without Dreng they didn¡¯t stand a chance.

    James swallowed his hesitation and cried out, ¡°Lilly! Cast healing light!¡±

    The party stirred into action, just as James noticed that he had received a buff.

    Epic Intelligence Enhancement - Your Intelligence is increased by 50 for 10 minutes.

    ¡°There, now go fight,¡± Frode said as he collapsed from exhaustion. James chose Weak Firebolt knowing that he couldn''t stand against an army even with a flaming sword. Together, the party stepped out of the chieftain¡¯s hut. The smell of devastation immediately assaulted them. Every tent and building was flattened; the bodies of Oana soldiers lay scattered about, intermingled with slain Martyrs. The dead masses became more frequent next to Dreng until they became so prevalent that the ground was no longer visible between them. Oana soldiers climbed off the Chieftain''s bulk, stepped on their slain brethren, and turned their eyes to James''s party.

    For a split second, the party stood frozen. Before James could even think of being afraid, Torunn broke the silence and charged to avenge his father. James could tell the Martyr cub didn¡¯t stand a chance. Not alone at least.

    ¡°Lilly, cast the light already! On Dreng!¡± James cried out and cast firebolt for the first time. His body instinctively created the necessary hand movements required to cast the spell, but the new knowledge didn¡¯t do anything to prepare him for the power. James was flung backward like a poorly held desert eagle as the firebolt blasted from his hands. It flew in an angry path towards the closest Oana soldier to Torunn and turned it into a pile of ash. The bolt continued and carved a line of ash deep into the enemy ranks.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± Alex said for the second time that hour.

    As James gathered himself and got back to his feet, he realized he was left alone with Lilly. Her hands moved in a pattern that pulsed health into Dreng from the heavens. The light was blinding compared to the last time James saw her cast the spell. He concluded Frode must have buffed her too. James''s firebolt caused the Oana to hesitate, just long enough for Patrick to knock down the soldier that grappled with Torunn. The redhead brought down his great sword with all of his might, only for it to ricochet off the Oana Soldier¡¯s tougher scales, leaving nothing but a scratch. Torunn and Patrick backed up, having their rage and determination shattered by the realization of how unmatched they were. The remaining Oana finished reforming and marched on the two small melee fighters as a unit.

    ¡°Retreat to me - protect Lilly!¡± James commanded from afar. As he stared at the approaching herd of Oana, he realized their only hope was to get Dreng fighting again. If he was dead, then they were too, but if he had an ounce of health left, hopefully, Lilly¡¯s buffed-up healing would bring him back.

    James braced himself and launched another fire-bolt. His body rocketed to the ground, but he was prepared this time and recovered much faster. He didn¡¯t see the impact of his first firebolt, but when he stood, an 8-foot-wide hole burned in the enemy ranks. James looked at the bottom of his peripherals and realized he couldn¡¯t cast the spell forever. A new bar appeared below his energy bar and let him know he was at 100 out of 150 mana. James knew the firebolt spells cost 25 mana each, so he could cast four more at most. He launched another bolt immediately. The unlucky Oana clawed and slashed at their brethren, but still burned alive. The lucky Oana recovered, realized that James has more destruction hidden up his sleeve, and charged. The melee fighters stepped forward to meet them.

    ¡°Torunn stay back with us!¡± James yelled. He didn¡¯t want his game brother to die, as he wasn¡¯t sure if he could respawn. Torunn ignored him and snarled in defiance at the approaching horde.

    The wall of Oana soldiers clashed with the melee fighters and quickly overwhelmed them. Patrick, Alex, and Torunn disappeared into a flurry of scales, scythes, and claws. Lilly let out a scream and cast with new vigor. Her already blinding light intensified with her cries, causing James to shield his eyes. When he was able to look up, he realized the Oana soldiers on the far left and right of his melee fighters did not slow down when the center hoard impacted the party. They would reach him at any moment.

    James glanced at Dreng¡¯s body and mentally pleaded the chieftain to rise. As he did so, blood flowed freely between the plates of the Martyr¡¯s armor.

    James cast fire-bolts to his left and right to delay the approaching horde. The center was moving again, having dealt with the human melee fighters, and James felt a pang of loss as he realized Patrick, Alex, and Torunn must be dead. He was out of moves, but pulled his skinning knife and buckler out anyway. James wasn¡¯t sure where he would respawn if the Oana destroyed the Chieftain''s hut, but he didn¡¯t care. Torunn couldn¡¯t respawn, and that was the only thought in James¡¯s mind at the moment. He let out a scream as he clashed with the approaching Oana soldiers, but even that wasn''t as loud as his thoughts. Scaled hands, elbows, dusty loin clothes, and then scaled feet. Horror filled James as he realized the Oana soldiers didn¡¯t care about him; he was just an easily movable obstacle in the way of Lilly. He watched through rampant feet as the girl continued to cast, maintaining her focus even in the face of certain death. She couldn¡¯t respawn either, just like Torunn. James''s horror grew until it physically hurt him more than the footsteps of the Oana that trampled him.

    He began to lose consciousness and as his vision faded, so did his comprehension of reality. Where was his real brother? Where was everyone? What did the human population do to deserve banishment into this terrible game?

    Freydis burst out of the chieftain¡¯s hut and swiped her paw in an arc, knocking back the Oana before they could reach Lilly. With her other paw, she lifted the tiny blonde girl into the air and out of the reach of Oana scythes.

    Through the scaled legs of the Oana, James could see Dreng''s body. The blood that flowed out of it now bubbled around it. Dreng''s leg twitched, and James hoped he would rise and save them. He was already going to die any minute and most of the villagers had already died, but what worried James was the fate of the only two NPCs he considered family.

    Freydis stood stalwart as she sacrificed her own body to buy Lilly more time to cast. She stood there unmoving as Oana soldiers sliced and stabbed at her, pleading her husband to rise. She fell to one knee as one of her legs gave out, now nothing more than a mangled heap of flesh and split muscle.

    The blood flowing around Dreng coalesced into a sphere of red that swallowed the fallen Martyr. Suddenly, it burst, showering everything in Dreng¡¯s blood, and knocking everyone in the vicinity off their feet. The sudden cease of crushing footsteps allowed the wreckage of James''s body to come to the front of his consciousness. He screamed out in desperate pain. An Oana soldier fell to the ground and found himself face to face with the screaming human cub. James watched as the Oana''s scythe lashed out for his neck, taking his head off.

 Chapter 13 - Time

    James threw the weight of the dead Oana soldiers from his body and frantically tried to staunch the blood flowing from his neck. The Oana that had just attempted to cut his head off was vicious, and James was sure the cut was deep. However, there was no pain when he touched his neck, and when James removed his hand, he saw there wasn¡¯t any blood either. He wondered if it was all just a figment of his imagination. He checked his crushed body and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that his ribs were no longer broken. He looked around at his surroundings and realized there were no dead Oana soldiers, only the blanket he had thrown, and a worried Alex.

    ¡°Hey, hey, relax there, killer,¡± the veteran said from across the room. James took another look around. He was in a room framed with poorly processed logs. Two makeshift mattresses were the only other things in the place. James sat on one and Alex on the other.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± James asked, letting himself calm down a bit. He knew that respawning was nice and all, but he could do without reliving the memories of dying.

    ¡°Back at the undead village,¡± Alex replied. A momentary sense of panic returned to James.

    ¡°How did we get back here?¡±

    ¡°You and I respawned here,¡± Alex said as he stood and helped James get to his feet before motioning to the door. ¡°Everyone else was brought here by the Martyrs.¡±

    Scenes of the gruesome battle flashed through James¡¯s mind. ¡°Torunn! Is he okay?¡±

    Alex gave a soft chuckle, ¡°Against all the odds, yes. Somehow he managed to survive - even though Patrick and I were sent to respawn almost immediately. When you figure out how he did it be sure to let me know.¡±

    Alex led James down a flight of stairs. They opened up into an unfurnished room. The two exited the double story cabin and stood before a cliff that overlooked the same undead village they were trapped in before the Oana attacked. James could see a handful of Martyrs exploring the village. Some attempted to enter the abandoned cabins, only to get stuck or end up destroying the cabin outright. Others were already setting up their tents.

    ¡°Only twelve survived the attack,¡± Alex whispered.

    ¡°Damn¡­¡± James also whispered. Sadness crept through his body. The Martyr race once again was reduced to practically nothing compared to their former glory. ¡°Do you know happened after we died?¡±

    ¡°No. We survived to live another day, though.¡±

    ¡°So we won?¡± James asked with a sigh, ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like we did.¡±

    ¡°Yea, there are no real winners in war. Only survivors..." Alex solemnly said as he stared off into the distance. The comment took James by surprise and made him realize that Alex never really went into much detail about his military service. Alex cleared his throat and came back to the present time. ¡°Let''s get down from here and find out what is going on.¡±

    James and Alex entered the tall building that had been on fire during the undead attack. Parts of it were burned, but the primary structure remained intact. When James first saw it, he had thought it was a church. It was much taller than the cabins and stood at the end of the long dirt main road that led to the edge of the Great Savanna. After entering the village, he realized it was so tall because it was used to access the cabin he had respawned in farther up the mountain. The cabin itself didn¡¯t seem to be accessible any other way. He mentally marked the cabin as a defensible area if he should ever need one and descended the stairs in silence with Alex.

    Torunn ran up to meet James. He stopped a few paces ahead and paused there, looking uncomfortable.

    ¡°I am glad you made it out okay, Torunn,¡± James said and hugged his Martyr brother. ¡°I am also glad you didn¡¯t tackle me just then. How did you survive the attack?¡±

    Torunn tapped a small skin sack on his belt, ¡°Potion¡± he answered, ¡°makes me strong.¡±

    James raised his eyebrows in surprise. Torunn was getting good at alchemy. He would have to find out how good later. ¡°Where is everyone else?¡± James asked the Martyr.

    Torunn pointed to a location off in the distance, parallel to the mountain but just past the village.

    The rest of the party, including Dreng, Frode, and Freydis, stood around an object James couldn¡¯t see. The ground all around them was torn up like a No-No had been rooting around the area. Lilly spotted James first and waved. When James got closer, he could see the object of everyone''s attention. It was a sizeable ornate crystal bottle.

    ¡°What is-¡± James¡¯s stopped talking as everyone shushed him. He glanced around and saw they were all gravely serious, so he stayed quiet. As his ears adapted to the lack of noise, James began to hear a haunting melody. It was an embodiment of melancholy that soothed the left-over aggression he didn¡¯t know he still carried. When it brought chills up his body, he learned why everyone was so severe.

    ¡°There is a spirit in there. It is what caused the undead attack on this village,¡± Frode said, breaking the silence and forcing everyone from their reverie.

    ¡°Thanks to Frode here we managed to banish it back into the bottle, though!¡± Patrick commented and gave a smiling nod to the large Martyr advisor. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to help much, but when Frode banished it I gained a ton of experience!¡±

    James purposely looked the redhead over. He was now about a foot and a half taller than James, about half the height of an adult Martyr with the muscle to match.

    ¡°Jesus, man! You got huge!¡± Alex exclaimed.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Dreng commanded. ¡°We have a lot to discuss and even more to do. This is where we live now. We must rebuild the town and our clan. James, I task you with protecting this spirit vessel. If it gets out again we are all in trouble,¡± Dreng said, picking up the vessel and handing it to James before dispersing the group.

    James walked away feeling chastised. He was happy to see that all of the people he was close to survived and, though seeing them all again would be pleasant, it was apparent Dreng didn¡¯t feel the same. All the people the chieftain was close to hadn¡¯t survived.

    ***

    The party all sat on skins inside the cabin on the cliff. The sole window in the cabin let in a draft from the fresh night air, and James added ''invent glass'' to his mental to-do list. He wasn''t sure it was possible, but he needed to find something to cover the window.

    Torunn was below the cliff with the remnants of his clan. James assumed he wanted to be there to help the Martyrs rebuild and didn''t blame him for wanting to spend time with his devastated race. Still, James wished he was there with him in the cabin. He wished Torunn could hold a conversation with him as he could tell he was distraught over the battle. James had a moment of realization that this was all a game, but quickly brushed the thought from his mind. It wasn¡¯t a game anymore. The NPCs were as real as he was.

    Noticing a fireplace on the wall opposite the window, he wondered if he could start a fire from afar by using his fire-bolt ability. The buff that he received from Frode had long since worn out, so he figured the bolt wouldn¡¯t be as powerful. Still, if this was going to be his new home, he didn¡¯t want to start off by destroying it.

    ¡°This is where my town would hold events and parties,¡± Lilly commented to no one in particular.

    James had almost forgotten that this was her hometown. A glance at Alex and Patrick confirmed that they suspected she might be having a tough time being here as well.

    ¡°It is a beautiful cabin,¡± James commented as he stood to head over to the fireplace. He wasn''t sure what else to say, but he could tell she was hurting and knew he should say something.

    Lilly continued to sit on her pile of furs and stare off into the distance. Everyone else snuggled into their furs to find shelter from the night air and their memories of the battle.

    ¡°I have to rebuild... ¡°Lilly murmured. ¡°We have to rebuild this town!¡± Her comment grew to an excited holler as she snapped out of her depression.

    ¡°That is the plan,¡± Patrick commented un-empathetically.

    ¡°No, we need to rebuild it better than before! Make my family proud and achieve the dream they died trying to accomplish. They wanted this town to be a hub of creativity and happiness. We need to complete that,¡± Lilly said with a nod.

    James was a little worried about her jumping from extreme ends of emotions like that, but he decided not to bring her down anymore. If she needed positivity, he would give it to her.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it. Alex, do you know anything about building?¡±

    ¡°Not really. I know that there are skills related to crafting but not much else,¡± Alex said, seeming to catch on to James¡¯s goal. ¡°I am sure we can all learn those skills pretty easily, though.¡±

    ¡°I want a bar!¡± Patrick chimed in excitedly. Alex and James exchanged a glance and chuckled at the redhead''s sudden outburst. It was clear to them that Patrick wasn¡¯t in on the game of being positive for Lilly¡¯s sake - he just was genuinely excited.

    ¡°We can turn this room into a bar!¡± Lilly said, adding to the building excitement. ¡°We can even section off rooms upstairs for people to stay in!¡±

    ¡°I would love my own room,¡± James chuckled.

    Everyone gave exaggerated nods in agreement.

    ¡°James, you could even be our chef! You are the best cook out of all of us!¡± Patrick said.

    Not wanted to dampen the mood, James just shook his head. He didn¡¯t mind cooking every once in a while, but he had no urge to be tied down to running a kitchen.

    ¡°We would need a basement. Or we would need to expand the cabin for a proper kitchen,¡± James decided to say.

    Lilly clapped and hopped to her feet, ¡°Oh, there is already a basement!¡±

    ¡°Really? Then let¡¯s go explore!¡± Patrick said as he also hopped from his fur pile with an ''Onward!'' signal.

    James needed to find a place to store the spirit vessel, so he agreed to explore, even though he was mentally only ready for one thing, which was sleep.

    ***

    Lilly led the party out of the cabin and around to the rear where she opened up a wooden hatch that lead down a set of earthen stairs. James realized that if they did ever expand the cabin, they would have to build a third floor on top of the second, as the cabin was nestled pretty close to the mountain slope and had no room to expand outward.

    As the party descended, it was soon apparent that the basement was too dark to see, so Patrick ran back into the cabin to grab a wooden log that James had fashioned into a torch earlier in the day. The light slowly grew and spread across the earthen cavity, revealing stone walls and sacks filled to varying degrees.

    ¡°These sacks are filled with grain!¡± Patrick called out from the darkness.

    The party decided to inventory their newfound grain supply, so they gathered the sacks into a neat pile in the center of the basement.

    ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Lilly quietly stated. The party turned their attention to Lilly for an explanation. She continued, ¡°There is a door here that I have never noticed before. It¡¯s locked¡±.

    Like everyone''s hopes and dreams were behind it, they all rushed to inspect the door.

    ¡°Alex, do you have a lockpicking skill?¡± Patrick asked. James thought it was a good question since he did have a high sneak skill.

    ¡°What do I look like, a rogue?¡± Alex replied, indignant.

    Everyone gave him a blank stare until he scoffed, ¡°No, I don¡¯t have a lockpicking skill¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s getting late. We can figure this door out at a later time. We have a lot of other things to figure out tomorrow,¡± James said, causing a collective groan to emanate from the party. ¡°I am curious too!¡± he parried, ¡°but I am more worried about the Martyrs.¡±

    The party reluctantly filed out of the basement and back to their fur piles. Before James left, he placed the crystal spirit vessel on the basement floor. He knew it wouldn¡¯t do for a permanent home, but it was the most hidden location he had at the moment.

    ***

    James thought it was odd that the party woke up well before sunrise. By his estimation, they went to bed very late and should have slept until noon. He asked the yawning and stretching group how they felt, and everyone confirmed they were more rested than they have ever been lately. James took that to mean that the humans from Earth got the best rest they ever had in the game. What was strange was that Lilly echoed their sentiment, even though she was an NPC and used to sleeping in the game.

    ¡°I feel like I slept for an entire day,¡± yawned Patrick.

    Odd, James thought before starting breakfast. Patrick, Lilly, and Alex began various tasks around the cottage while waiting for breakfast. James took a moment to check out his interface.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 13 (4 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 5 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much energy you have

    Agility, Level 5 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 5 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 15 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have

    Wisdom, Level 13 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    8 statistic points ready to distribute. (8 gained recently)

    James silently gasped at having eight points as he added the Tucca to his recipe. It was more stat points than he had ever received at once, not counting when he found the uncommon Necklace of Lucidity, which raised his intelligence by 10 points. He knew he should invest it all into Wisdom, but watching Patrick and Alex grow to a size that almost dwarfed James; it was hard to do so. He gritted his teeth and put seven points into Wisdom to bring it to 20. Then he rewarded his hard work by spending the last point on Strength. Hopefully, he wouldn¡¯t be as small compared to Patrick and Alex now. At the very least, the rate at which they grew taller than James wouldn¡¯t be so severe.

    He also noticed how the Intelligence description changed. The ''and more'' text that drove him crazy for so long had been replaced with ''controls how much mana you have.'' Now the only stats he didn¡¯t have full descriptions of where Will and Wisdom.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed Level 20 in Wisdom! You now have access to a party leader interface.

    ¡°What?¡± James said aloud as his jaw dropped to the floor, causing everyone to look at him. Alex was fastening makeshift sconces to the walls, so they had light, and Lilly had managed to find a broom from somewhere and was slowly bringing the cabin back to its former glory. Patrick sat on his pile of furs and was lovingly sharpening his great sword. James ignored his party¡¯s comments and glanced at their player icons, which were now visible in the upper left of his peripherals.

    Patrick - Level 10 Warrior

    Health - 180 of 180

    Energy - 90 of 90

    Alex - Level 7

    Health - 120 of 120

    Energy - 140 of 140

    Lilly - Level 6Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Health - 50 of 50

    Energy - 60 of 60

    Mana - 120 of 120

    James''s mind whirled. He succumbed to a flurry of emotions while he looked over his party¡¯s statistics. He was disappointed everyone was better than he was. Patrick had triple the health he did, and everyone had more energy. He was frustrated that Patrick didn¡¯t let anyone know he picked a class, and worse yet, he didn''t give anyone a heads-up that the game had classes. If he did let them know, everyone could have strategized!

    ¡°Patrick! When did you pick a class?¡± James said, whirling around angrily.

    ¡°After we banished that spirit thing back into its vessel,¡± Patrick answered as he briefly looked up from his sword.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡±

    ¡°Well, I told you I got a ton of experience after we did it. I didn¡¯t have time to elaborate. Dreng interrupted us, remember?¡±

    ¡°You could have told us when we all settled down for bed.¡±

    ¡°Yeah probably, but that damn spirit and its wailing song knocked me right out. I fell asleep like a giant sword-wielding baby!¡± Patrick replied, hefting his sword into the air and striking a pose.

    James recalled that the haunting melody of the spirit was indeed audible last night, even while it was in the basement. Then he maliciously wondered if it was possible that Patrick¡¯s Intelligence statistic might have been low. He wasn¡¯t sure if it worked like that, but by looking at the redhead''s Health and Energy levels, it was apparent that he hadn¡¯t put a single point in the statistic. James tried to open Patrick''s stats through the party interface, but no more information would surface.

    Alex joined the conversation to ask about classes, but James was too distracted by all the new information. He couldn¡¯t see his party member¡¯s individual stats, but there was a window for party leader attributes. He opened it up.

    Party Leader 1 - Damage taken reduced by 1%

    He gave the mental command to move this notification to his skills tab. That way he could easily track it with the rest of his skills. James let his frustrations leave his body through his breath and continued to look through his notifications as the party talked about classes behind him.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed Level 10! You can now choose to pick a class.

    Class 1 - Mage, unlocks mana regen skills and increases damage done by spells.

    Class 2 - Warrior, unlocks energy regen skills and increases damage done by weapons.

    Delay Choosing - Choosing to delay your class will award you 10 stat points at the risk of permanently losing the option to choose the above two classes. Upon reaching Level 20, you will be given another opportunity to choose between two classes or subclasses depending on your actions and skills.

    ¡°Here we go¡­¡± James whispered.

    ¡°Did you get yours? What did you choose?¡± Patrick called over.

    James ignored him. Both his mana and energy regen rates were dreadfully slow, so he would benefit from either. He did decent damage with his short sword and figured his fire-bolt spell could be even stronger, but he didn¡¯t really feel like a warrior or a mage.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t choose,¡± James said, as he saw a new notification that he had ten stat points to spend, ¡°I delayed the choice and took the stat points."

    ¡°What do you mean took the stat points?¡± Patrick asked, twisting his face in confusion.

    ¡°I had a third option to delay the choice. It awarded me ten stat points at the risk of losing my 2 class choices of mage and warrior.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t get that option!¡± Patrick harrumphed and held out his sword again. ¡°Probably doesn¡¯t matter; I would have chosen warrior anyway.¡±

    ¡°Well, wait, I want to know why you got the option and he didn¡¯t,¡± Alex interjected.

    Everyone fell silent for a moment, then Lilly spoke up.

    ¡°James probably has very high intelligence,¡± she added nonchalantly. ¡°You guys didn¡¯t know it gives you more interface options?¡±

    The human players stood there in silence and exchanged glances.

    ¡°We did¡­ I guess we didn¡¯t know it would affect something like that,¡± James finally answered for the group. He wondered if people that grew up in this world were taught about their interface before they reached adulthood. Almost like how he learned how to drive and file his taxes. His exchanged glances with Patrick and Alex told him that they were probably thinking something along the same lines. Or maybe Patrick was just genuinely confused. James couldn¡¯t be sure.

    James served everyone a serving of Roasted Ingo & Charred Tucca like he did every morning, and then he dived back into his interface, ignoring his Well-fed buff.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 13

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 6 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much energy you have

    Agility, Level 5 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 5 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 15 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 20 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    10 statistic points ready to distribute.

    Once again James was tempted to spend some of his points on Constitution, Strength, Endurance, or anything that seemed to have a more tangible benefit. But thanks to Lilly¡¯s comment, the temptation passed faster than ever before. She confirmed that investing in Intelligence gave you rare and exciting opportunities. If he was going to spend points on something other than Wisdom, it should be Intelligence. Still though, what would happen when he reached Level 20 and got another option to pick a class? If he didn¡¯t invest in some physical stats now would he lose out on the warrior class forever?

    James had enough points to bring at least two stats past the Level 10 interval. He hoped that bringing a stat past ten would unlock more of its description and possibly get rid of the ''and more'' text. Then James realized he could ask Patrick or Alex if they had different stat descriptions than he did.

    ¡°I just get notifications like, ¡®grats, you got way bigger¡¯ or ¡®your way stronger now,¡¯¡± Patrick said with a mocking tone added to the voice he gave to his interface prompts. He even explained how sometimes his interface had spelling errors, which he found incredibly frustrating.

    Lilly sighed as she wiped down the long table in the cabin. ¡°It¡¯s because you don¡¯t invest anything in Intelligence, Patrick. If you did you would get more helpful notifications.¡±

    When James asked Alex the same question, he said he got the same information as James. Unlike Patrick though, Alex resolved to start putting some stats in Intelligence. When James asked Alex specifically if he had more information on the stats from his time developing the game, he was met with the same apologetic shrug.

    ¡°Sorry, it wasn¡¯t my department. I really only know a small section of lore, basically just creature names. I would usually stare at unintelligible code all day and drink coffee,¡± Alex would always say. It was frustrating that he didn¡¯t have more information. At the very least James would expect Alex to offer more helpful information on lore, but the prior military member said he didn¡¯t have any and that he suspected the stuff he worked on was all elsewhere, in another region.

    Lilly didn''t have more information on stat descriptions or uses either as she was similar to James in stat allocation. She said her parents taught her the basics of the system but said she would have to figure out everything else on her own as it was only a path she could walk. James got lost in thought for a few moments as he contemplated how having an interface for personal growth would affect things back on Earth. He had been left to figure things out on his own when his parents died. Although the reason he was left uninformed wasn¡¯t by choice, he could understand the reasoning of why a parent would do that. Since James had to figure everything out himself back on Earth, or at least with his little brother, he was often put in stressful situations. Those situations would be easier for someone smarter than him to get out of, but if James had someone holding his hand all the time, he wouldn¡¯t be the person he was today. He had a knack for figuring things out now and was more resilient because of it. That was probably the same reason Lilly¡¯s parents only taught her the basics of her interface and left her to find her own way after ¨C they didn¡¯t want to spoil her.

    James shook his head. He needed to spend these points and go hash out a plan to move forward with Dreng. He still didn¡¯t know how Dreng would feel about living together with a bunch of humans. He wanted to find out before he and his party found themselves getting eaten. James spent 5 points in Intelligence, bringing it up to 20, and the other five points on Wisdom, bringing that stat up to 25.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed Level 20 in Intelligence! You now have access to a Town Builder interface.

    A town builder interface? James thought as he munched on his remaining Ingo meat. He accessed the interface, and an overlay covered his entire vision. Once he adjusted to the strange view, he realized it was a bird¡¯s eye view of the undead village. It had visible lines that encircled it, showing the town''s borders and his zone of control. He could see the lower portion and the half-burnt church-like building that lead to the upper portion on the cliff with the cabin. Mentally motioning over the two rows of cabins that made up the majority of the village, he could see that most of the cabins had very low durability. James wasn¡¯t sure if they would collapse because of this, but he was confident they wouldn¡¯t provide any defense, which is what they needed at the moment. The Oana were probably still out there, looking for them. With that thought, he decided to explore the town building interface later. He felt guilty for not taking the Oana threat seriously before. If he had taken it more seriously, he could have grown more or found a way to defeat the Oana without as many Martyr losses. Maybe he could have even convinced Dreng to migrate. Something. He could have done something other than just react. No, he wouldn¡¯t make that mistake again. James brushed the Tucca crumbs from his lap, tossed them into the fire, and went to find the Martyr chieftain.

    ***

    ¡°I am glad you came to me so early,¡± Dreng said as he sat alone in a large Martyr tent. The tent was positioned at the edge of the village, closest to the Great Savanna. This gave James the opportunity to access the cabins on his walk down the main dirt road. They were all destroyed by either the undead attack or the distraught Martyrs. ¡°We have much to discuss.¡±

    ¡°I agree. There is something I need to tell you. I do know how I got here,¡± James admitted.

    Dreng waived off the comment, ¡°It is of no consequence now, the-¡±

    James interrupted, ¡°It is important, my world-¡± James let out a gasp as he found himself unable to complete his sentence.

    Attention: You have been frozen in fear.

    Dreng stood and bellowed, ¡°It is of no consequence, human cub!¡±

    After a long moment, the chieftain sat back down and took a deep breath which made the Martyr seem to double in size from James''s cowered view.

    The debuff faded, and Dreng spoke back up, ¡°Now, listen to me, as what I have to say is difficult for me.¡±

    James wasn¡¯t sure what the chieftain was going to say, and it caused him to feel both worry and relief all at once. Worry, because he had never seen nor expected the chieftain to show weakness before. Relief, because the chieftain gave James a reason not to explain his home world. He felt sorry for lying to the chieftain, and he wanted to come clean, but maybe it would be better if the NPCs didn¡¯t know about Earth. It would bring up way to many existential questions that James wasn''t prepared to answer. Regardless, now was the wrong time to clear his conscience.

    ¡°I have been doing a lot of thinking. It comes easier with my old age. Solutions are easier to come by now, yet they are no easier to implement,¡± Dreng began, a far-off look in his eyes, ¡°My wise, intelligent, and fearsome race has faced extinction for the second time. It is obvious we need to change something, or we risk continuing down this dangerous path.¡±

    James hoped that the change meant that his party wasn''t in danger of becoming dinner for the Martyrs. He began to talk to confirm his hope but was interrupted by a finger as large as his arm.

    Dreng continued, ¡°I believe you are that change. I don¡¯t care where you came from, and I don¡¯t care about Frode¡¯s prophecy. If you and your human companions weren''t at the battle yesterday, the Oana would have wiped my race from this world.¡± Dreng took a forced breath of air. ¡°What I am trying to say, is you are the solution. We need you and your party of tiny humans.¡±

    James had figured that was where this speech was going and honestly didn¡¯t think much of it. He had already figured as such and was surprised it was such a big deal to the chieftain.

    ¡°Our fates are tied. I am dedicated to the survival of the Martyr race as much as someone could be. What do you need from me?¡± James said confidently.

    ¡°That is the part that needs changing. It is not what I need of you, but what you need of me,¡± Dreng replied. ¡°I am getting old, James, and will not be around forever. In the event of my death, the leadership of the clan will be granted to Torunn. I want you to advise him when that happens and advise me until then.¡± Dreng let out a long sigh, like the fate of an entire race was slowly lifted from his shoulders.

    James wasn¡¯t sure how to reply. Was he essentially the leader of the clan now? Would Dreng let James give him orders? He doubted it and honestly didn¡¯t want that anyway.

    ¡°I have had some thoughts. We need to build a defensible location to live in, grow, and be ready for the Oana. Maybe even we will go out and hunt them,¡± James started and studied Dreng¡¯s face for any signs of anger. When he saw none he continued, ¡°I unlocked a town builder interface that I think would help,¡± James said, pausing as he noticed Dreng¡¯s facial features begin to contort.

    Is that what a smiling adult Martyr looks like? Terrifying, James thought as he stared at the awkwardly smiling lion guy.

    Dreng broke the awkward silence, ¡°That is good. We have not had a proper builder since before the Oana pushed us from our homeland.¡±

    ***

    James and Dreng continued to hammer out the details of their new situation until lunch time. The Martyrs were to dismantle all of the cabins except one on each side of the road, the two closest to the Great Savanna. These two cabins would be repaired and refashioned into whatever the village needed. The important part was they would have a flat roof to station lookouts or guards. They would recycle the scavenged wood of the destroyed cabins and use them for the guard towers. The leftovers would be used for a wall if they couldn¡¯t find a better way to build one before then. The Martyr¡¯s would move their tents closer to the mountains, and the humans would continue to stay in the cabin on the cliff. While the Martyrs worked on dismantling the cabins, the humans would work on acquiring crafting skills and tools.

    After it was all ironed out, James returned to the cabin on the cliff and was astounded by all the work completed inside.

    ¡°Wow, it looks like you guys did a whole two days of work in here!¡± James exclaimed as he closed the door behind him.

    Most notably, every wooden surface in the place gleamed in the sunlight. He had never seen the cabin so well-lit before now, and it was stunning. The single window that annoyed him earlier because it had no glass was perfectly positioned to allow sunlight into the cabin. The party even finished the long table, and in addition to that; there was now a separate, circular table, complete with chairs.

    James raised his arms in confusion, ¡°How did you guys do all of this?¡±

    ¡°Lilly found me some nails and a hammer, and then it kind of just all came together,¡± Alex said as he popped his head up from behind the long table, which now resembled more of a bar. The table had been fastened to the floor a few paces from the rear wall. An addition came off it at a 90-degree angle and trapped Alex in the little area. The other side of the long table was connected to the side wall, right where their stairs began. James began to wonder how Alex was going to escape his work of art when he stepped up to a portion of the table that didn¡¯t have shelves below it and swung it up. The action created a pathway for him to exit the bar but didn¡¯t detract from the counter space. ¡°I got the wood by taking down the walls upstairs. We all figured we could sleep anywhere until we got the supplies to build smaller rooms for each of us. Besides, this long table could serve as a bar if we are ever able to make beer in the future. Oh, and I gained the woodworking skill today, too!¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡± James congratulated the now-carpenter with a pat on the back. ¡°That is exactly what I came here to talk about.¡±

    James gathered the party and invited them all to sit down at the circle table. The party had wanted to sit at the long table, but they didn¡¯t have chairs that were tall enough yet to sit there comfortably. Alex explained he only had so much wood, so he prioritized it in a way that allowed him to grow his woodworking skill the most with the least amount of wood.

    James went over his conversation with Dreng and how he unlocked the town builder interface. They all eventually agreed they would be happy to take general direction from James, since he could see town and party stats and was the only one with party leader buffs.

    Patrick fought the issue momentarily and made an earnest argument that the strongest should be the leader. Lilly stepped in and respectfully recapped the dire position the Martyrs were in right now, despite having one of the strongest creatures any of them had ever seen as their leader. She reminded him that James unlocked the party leader skill, and if he could level that skill, they would all receive helpful buffs.

    ¡°We need to play to our strengths,¡± she said, ¡°and if you are thinking about investing a bunch of points into Intelligence so you can get the party leader interface, then you really are a big dumb idiot.¡±

    Patrick smiled broadly at the insult which caused Lilly¡¯s calm demeanor to crack momentarily. James knew Patrick was smiling because he had never been big, not in real life. He knew that the redhead was bullied back on Earth by people that probably were big dumb idiots. James knew Patrick was smiling because he had finally overcome the way people saw him, and he could begin a new life. One that he was in control of.

    ¡°Okay, now that we are all in agreement,¡± James began. ¡°Alex, since you have the woodworking skill, I need you to repair the structures of two of the cabins in the lower part of the village and build a landing on each roof so we can station guards there. If you have leftover wood after that, save it.¡± James turned his head to Patrick. ¡°I need you to find a way to get us some stone. I saw in my interface that we could make a wall out of wood, but stone would be stronger. Plus I don¡¯t want to waste our limited supply of wood to build an ineffective wall.¡±

    Patrick huffed at the dullness of the task, but James interrupted him before he could argue. ¡°Wait, there''s more. When I leveled up my skinning ability, I got the option to improve it further or permanently increase my agility by one point. I imagine if you get a mining or stone working type of skill you will have another way to increase your strength!¡± James finished and waited for the applause. All he got was a nod from the redhead, letting him know he was speaking his language.

    ¡°Lilly, I need you to¡­¡± James paused for a moment to consider his request. ¡°Um, let me know if this would be uncomfortable for you to do¡­ would you be able to go through the houses and gather anything we could use before the Martyrs tear them down?¡±

    She agreed but also requested that they talk privately. James immediately agreed, happy that Lilly seemed open to sifting through the wreckage of her past life for anything valuable. The rest of the party looked confused at Lilly''s request to speak privately. They hadn¡¯t all know each other for that long, but they also didn¡¯t keep any secrets.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Lilly?¡± James asked as they rounded the corner to the back of the cabin.

    ¡°It¡¯s the spirit. It worries me.¡± The blonde woman gulped. ¡°I can¡¯t put my finger on it, but I think it is affecting us in some way. When you got back from talking with the big Martyr, you said yourself it looked like we had accomplished two days of work. That¡¯s when it hit me. It did feel like we were working for an awfully long time. And this morning when we all woke up refreshed after only a few hours of sleep¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± James said in response to her pleading gaze. ¡°Something is definitely up. I don¡¯t feel threatened though, at least not from the spirit vessel. Still, it is creepy in the way that it seems to call to you.¡± James remembered the feeling he got when he first heard the haunting song of the spirit vessel. The way it seemed to pull you into nothingness, the way you were aware of its pull, but still welcomed it. He shook his head. ¡°I will have Frode come and check it out. Maybe he will be able to tell if it has any hidden properties."

    ***

    Later that night Frode finally answered James¡¯s request and met him at the bottom of the burnt stairway building that led to the cliff.

    ¡°Nice to see you, James. You have grown quite strong lately, I can sense it,¡± Frode sniffed in the night air, which seemed to James like Frode was trying to sense more of him. Whatever he was doing, James was not a fan. Frode finished sniffing and made eye contact with James. ¡°Sorry, I couldn¡¯t make it earlier.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± James said with a dismissing wave of his hand, ¡°I was wondering if you had more information on the spirit vessel. We think it might be affecting us in a way that is hard to describe.¡±

    ¡°It is slowing your perception of time?¡± Frode asked.

    Appalled, James asked, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°My father had one when I was growing up. It wailed much like this one. A hauntingly pleasant song. My father used to say it was his inspiration. I suspect it made him consider questions no one had answers too, which is why he invested so heavily in Intelligence,¡± Frode replied.

    ¡°But what is it? I mean, I know it was a spirit that you banished back into the vessel. But why was it in there in the first place, how did it raise the dead, and why does it sing?¡± James rattled off everything that was bothering him to the unwavering face of Frode.

    ¡°My father sought to answer the same questions, young cub. I do not want to stifle your curiosity, but I suggest you find a safe place for the vessel and forget about it.¡±

    James argued for a few more moments, but the Martyr didn¡¯t budge. James got the point, but he had a hard time completely turning his back on the spirit vessel. Still, Frode assured him that the time slowing effects were not harmful.

    James ascended the burnt tower of stairs, deep in thought. If the vessel did slow time in its vicinity, he would have to take advantage of it. The benefit it would give his party would be indispensable - if he could find a way to leverage it. Before he opened the door to the cabin on the cliff, he decided they would have to build a training ground next to it. Better yet, they could create some sort of crafting area too.

    ¡°Back already?¡± Patrick asked as James entered the cabin. James couldn¡¯t help but burst out laughing. When the fits worked themselves out of his body, he explained to everyone the effects of the spirit vessel, and why Patrick''s question was so funny. They took the news much better than he did. Patrick was even excited about the possibility of the spirit escaping again and looked forward to the experience boost that came with recapturing it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s dump the thing out!¡± Patrick excitedly announced as his excitement finally burst from his body.

    The party let out a collective groan, ¡°No, Patrick."

 Chapter 14 - Training Ground

    The party awoke the next morning well before sunrise for the second day in a row. James lit the sconces on the walls and quickly cooked up some breakfast. He would certainly have to learn a new recipe soon. A quick glance at his interface confirmed that he was close. He needed two more levels in cooking to reach Level 20. If everything he learned about the game so far were right, he would get to choose another recipe then. James briefly wondered if he should grind it out right then since he still had plenty of Ingo meat and Tucca, but he decided against it. Doing so would have been a good use of his time, and was exactly how he wanted to leverage the time slowing effects of the spirit vessel, but he had a party to think about now. Alex was the only person that was able to work on a skill while they were close to the cabin, so Patrick and Lilly dawdled around, too scared to leave the cabin so early and risk waking the Martyrs. No, James would take a page out of Frode¡¯s book and, ¡®Kill two birds with one stone.¡¯

    ¡°Hey, guys, I know what we can do to make our morning free time more productive,¡± James began. When everyone was finished yawning and he had their full attention, he continued, ¡°Let¡¯s build a training area next door. That way we can all train with the extra time we get from the spirit vessel.¡±

    ¡°Is there enough room on the cliff?¡± Lilly asked.

    ¡°I have been thinking about that. There isn¡¯t much room, only enough for a small area. But hopefully, later on, we will be able to dig into the mountain a little and expand it.¡± James replied, turning his head to a yawning Patrick. ¡°Looking at you, buddy!"

    ¡°I¡¯m on it. Lilly found me a pickaxe! So I can get started immediately,¡± Patrick said.

    ¡°Nice! What else did you find?" James asked, turning his head from Patrick to Lilly.

    ¡°The pickaxe was probably the most useful, but I found some stone carving tools along with some stone and metal cooking items. A large metal pot, cups, bowls, etc.¡± Lilly replied, gesturing to the long table. ¡°I put them all behind the bar.¡±

    ¡°I wish I knew that before I ate breakfast with my hands again.¡± Patrick laughed.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Lilly squeaked before flushing. ¡°I am usually better about those things.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cool,¡± Patrick said before hefting his pickaxe over his shoulder and heading out of the cabin.

    ¡°Alex, do you think you have enough wood to build a dummy that we can practice attacking?¡± James asked. ¡°If you can make a sturdy frame I have enough Ingo skins to wrap and pad it.¡±

    Alex looked around the bar area and found his small pile of wood scraps. ¡°Yeah, I can probably make 3 or 4 human-sized figures, but I will be tapped out after that.¡±

    ¡°Great, let''s get to work!¡± James announced and moved to exit the cabin.

    ¡°Wait! What do I do?¡± Lilly interrupted.

    ¡°You can either help Alex and me or bring up some grain from the basement. I want to try and brew some beer with the grain and that metal pot,¡± James said, winking at them.

    When they exited the cabin, Alex laid a hand on James''s shoulder to slow him. The two let Lilly walk ahead.

    "Hey, do you think this bar thing is a good idea? I mean, I get why we started to build it but are it smart to continue putting our resources into it?" Alex whispered conspiratorially with a concerned look on his face, "Don''t get me wrong, I have seen first-hand in the military how far even a small morale boost could take you..."

    "I understand, I understand. The wink I gave earlier was mostly for Lilly. I honestly am not sure what she can do to contribute right now," James whispered back. "That is why I told her to get the grain. I have no illusions about how real our situation is. Getting stronger, safer, and finding information will always be our top priorities, not recreation. I just wanted to make sure Lilly felt like she was contributing to rebuilding her old home."

    "Okay, good. I am glad we are on the same page. I agree that we needed a morale boost too, just not at the expense of our lives." Alex lowered his head and went silent for a while before meeting James''s gaze once again. "So, we''ll complete this training area, and then everyone will have a chance to be productive, right? Even Lilly?"

    "That''s the plan, Stan."

    ***

    By the time the sun came up that day, the party had completed the training area, and Patrick had finally gained the Mining skill. He wasn¡¯t able to make any noticeable progress on the mountain yet, but James was glad that his hunch about the skill correct.

    James opened his town building interface and saw the training area located next to the cabin on the cliff.

    Basic Training Area - Attacks, spells, and abilities can be trained in this area. They will gain experience as they would in actual battle, but at a 60% slower rate.

    ¡°Okay..." James murmured. He looked around to see if anyone noticed him talking to himself. Lilly had left to go bring up some grain sacks, Patrick was relentlessly swinging away at the mountain, and Alex was training his unarmed combat against the dummies they had built.

    James investigated his interface further and saw that he could decrease the experience penalty by 10% if he built an advanced training area. The advanced level of the training area had a wooden fence, benches to sit on, and weapon racks. He knew that the party could build this upgrade easily, however, when the option was selected, the advanced training area became red in his map overlay. They would have to dig into the mountain a good 30 feet before they had the room to upgrade the training area.

    No matter, James thought. He was happy to have a place everyone could train. Even Lilly would be able to grind her light spells here!

    At the top of the town building map overlay, James could see a tree icon indicating that he had 230 pieces of wood. When he focused on it, a highlight appeared at the mountain base indicating the actual woodpile. The Martyrs had finished tearing down the houses. Martyr tents took some of their places while others were just titled, ¡®Empty lot.¡¯

    James mentally pulled up more information for the Martyr tents and realized they gave no bonuses. He then checked out all the other buildings. The half-burnt church that gave them access to the cliff area also gave no bonuses, but James could see he had the option to give it a proper name. He changed it to ¡®The Tower of Stairs.¡¯ The Cabin on the Cliff was already named as such. James liked the ring of it so decided not to change it. He also saw that it had a bonus attached.

    Spirit Vessel - Time moves 30% slower in the Cabin on the Cliff and the surrounding areas.

    Unfinished Bar - Morale is increased by 0% within the Cabin on the Cliff.

    James was very curious to see the effects an actual morale boost through the game interface would bring. He wondered if Lilly felt better because they had started to improve the village or if she wouldn''t feel better until the bar was complete. James himself felt a little hope knowing they would get a bar eventually, but he wasn¡¯t an NPC. He recalled how Lilly seemed in a pretty good mood ever since they decided to rebuild the town, so he tossed the idea from his mind.

    Food - 5 of unlimited (Daily Consumption = 35).

    ¡°Shit,¡± James said out loud, causing Alex to look over from his fight with the training dummy. That moment James realized two things. One, he would need to get some food for the town as soon as possible. Two, his management of the town would eventually decrease the amount of time he spent training. He had only spent a few minutes in his interface just now, but all that time would add up during the long run. It was admittedly the first day that this happened, so James was happy he realized it. He was suddenly appreciative of his strategy to only invest in Wisdom. The experience gain boost should be enough to keep him from falling below his party in the level department, even while he did management things and they trained.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°Alex!¡± James called out, ¡°we need to go on a food run!"

    ***

    James, Alex, and Patrick found their first Ingo nest just 10 minutes from the village. Before they left, Alex made a good point that Lilly should stay back. James agreed and told her they needed her to find a way to craft some proper clothes. It was true, as all of them still wore most of their starting gear, but the actual reason was that she couldn¡¯t respawn if anything went wrong. Lilly also agreed to notify the Chieftain that they were leaving the village, just in case.

    James activated Jump Strike, poised his blade above his head in a familiar movement, and prepared to land. Right before he did, Patrick bowled into the bunch of Ingos and knocked them all over, effectively removing the Ingos from the path of James''s Jump Strike ability. James landed with an impact that drained double the energy that a completed Jump Strike would have.

    ¡°Shit,¡± James said as he struggled to compose himself. He didn''t want to move as slowly as he was, especially in the middle of a battle, but the exhaustion of losing so much energy over a short period wore him out.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Patrick called out as he swung his sword in a sweeping arc. ¡°It''s a new ability! I wasn''t sure what it was going to do!"

    James heard Alex chuckle as he ran past to join the fight. James just sighed as he attempted to run with his slow and fatigued muscles.

    ***

    A loud crash followed by a lingering clang echoed throughout the ground level of the cabin on the cliff. James had finished emptying his satchel from the day of hunting. After the party had slain their first Ingo boss, they decided to gather up all the loot and sort through it later. They wanted to get ahead of the food shortage problem, so James decided that speed was of the essence, and since the Ingo camps were so easy to clear as it was, they didn¡¯t see the point in equipping stronger gear just then.

    Lilly let out a gasp as the pile of loot began to glow with grey, white, and green light. ¡°Oh my god, an uncommon item!¡± Lilly exclaimed as she dug through the pile to pull out the item that was giving off a green glow.

    True Iron Maul (Uncommon) 20-30 Damage + Cripple Effect - 10% chance to cripple, causing movement and attack speed to be reduced for 30 seconds.

    ¡°Wow,¡± James gasped. ¡°That does more than four times the damage of my Martyr Skinning Knife."

    ¡°It¡¯s even double my greatsword,¡± Patrick said slowly, drool threatening to escape his mouth.

    James wanted it - there was no doubt about it - but he couldn¡¯t even find a semi-logical reason why he should have it, even with the greed coursing through his body. ¡°Well, I think Patrick should have it. What do you guys think?¡±

    The other party members let out a sigh but reluctantly agreed. Patrick let out an ear-shattering, "Woohoo!" then rushed to grab the maul. ¡°I have a two-handed skill as well, so I will still be able to use my new skill!¡±

    The rest of the loot wasn¡¯t on the same level as the maul. It was mostly common and widespread items, but, combined with the shirts and pants Lilly was able to fashion; it filled the most significant gaps in the party''s gear.

    James watched the party as they excitedly equipped their share of the gear and was amazed at how more prepared they looked. His party wasn¡¯t exactly formidable yet, but at least they didn¡¯t look half naked and continuously dirty anymore. James even looked better himself. After his death from the Oana attack he lost his shoulder armor, but now that hole in his heart was starting to fill.

    Alex got a pair of gloves with hardened leather studs over his knuckles that would undoubtedly help his unarmed style of combat. Patrick got the uncommon maul and filled out in his severely lacking armor department with various pieces. Lilly got a book written in a strange language no one could understand. James originally wanted it to study, as his Intelligence level was the highest, but he conceded to give it to Lilly since she had the second highest Intelligence and much more available free time. James got a strange device with metal hooks. Upon further inspection, he saw it was for one of his sheath slots, but he wasn¡¯t sure what it would carry. It was Lilly that gave him the idea to put it over his hand and on his bracer. He did so and realized that the item fit perfectly over his bracers. The metal hooks jutted out just enough that he could use them as a weapon if he needed. James nodded his head in satisfaction as he gave his now weaponized bracers some practice swipes.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 14 (1 level gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 6 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 6 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much energy you have

    Agility, Level 5 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 5 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and more

    Intelligence, Level 20 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have

    Wisdom, Level 25 - Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more

    Health, 60

    Endurance, 50

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    James invested his 2 points into Wisdom as he settled into his fur pile for the night. Then he remembered to check the town builder interface to see if it updated the food count. When they returned to town, James had placed all the Ingo meat he gathered from the day in one of the cabins with a crewed guard station on top. It did indeed update the food count, and they had enough to survive for at least a few weeks. James noticed that the food counter also displayed a rot countdown. He had more than enough time to find a better way to store the food, but it wouldn¡¯t last indefinitely. Besides, the food would be eaten long before it was in danger of spoiling.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 5 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 5% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 19 (5 levels gained recently) ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 19% while skinning. Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%

    Cooking, Level 18 (5 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 18% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 18%

    Fire, Level 12 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 12%

    Short Swords, Level 21 (4 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 21%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike,¡± Level 10 (4 levels gained recently) ¨C Chance to stun 70% (20% + 5%/lvl)

    Small Shields, Level 13 (4 levels gained recently) Chance to fully deflect or block an attack increased by 23% (10% + 1%/lvl)

    Party Leader. Level 2 (1 level gained recently) Damage taken by party members reduced by 2% (1%/lvl)

    Congratulations! Your Short Swords skill has surpassed Level 20. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills.

    Sub-skill 1 - Dual Wield - Allows you to dual wield 2 short swords.

    Sub-skill 2 - Whirlwind - Allows you to spin your short sword in wide circles, extending the reach and increasing damage by 10%.

    ¡°Nice,¡± James whispered to himself. This was precisely what he was looking for - a way to increase his damage in battle and be a more productive member of the party. He chose the Dual Wield skill.

    Dual Wield, Level 1 ¨C Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 1%. Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 59% for both weapons.

    Looking over his new skill information, James surmised that dual wielding actually decreased your overall damage because it gave you a penalty to weapon damage on both weapons, but if you increase the skill to Level ten you would only get a 50% penalty to each weapon. He figured that if you had the same weapon in each hand and a dual wield skill of Level ten, you would still do the same damage as if you only used one of the weapons. This skill would be useful if there were enemies out there with a disarm skill or if he could level it above 60 and do the full damage with both weapons. Getting his creative juices flowing he explored the possibilities of this skill. It would already increase his survivability rate, in the event he was ever disarmed. Probably the most significant benefit though would be stat increases and special effects. He needed to find two uncommon or better short swords that had special effects and level his new skill as soon as possible.

    Congratulations! Your Jump Strike sub-skill has surpassed Level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 augments.

    Augment 1 - Tremor - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for 1 second.

    Augment 2 - Practiced - Energy costs when activating this ability are reduced by 10%.

    If these augments increased in effect with each level he gained, they would both become instrumental. James knew the practiced augment was the smarter decision, at least for what he knew about the world so far, but his mind quickly imagined him soaring through the air, dual blades poised above his head, and landing like a comet that shook the ground and his enemy''s will to fight. He chose the Tremor augment quickly, before he could talk himself out of it.

    Congratulations! Your Small Shield skill has surpassed Level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills.

    Sub-skill 1 - Bash - You bash your enemies with your shield, causing them to stumble. Knockback chance 10%.

    Sub-skill 2 - Hero - Permanently increase your Constitution by 2.

    This choice was much more comfortable than the two before. Torunn and Patrick were turning out to be decent tanks, both in their unique way. Plus, he had the dual wield skill now, so he didn¡¯t need a shield. The only reason James gave the decision any thought at all was because of his Jump Strike skill. It got exponentially more potent after Level 20, proving that if he just stuck with a particular skill, it would become more powerful due to augments and sub-skills. It would indeed be better to level a few skills really high rather than have a ton of medium level skills. Still, he hadn¡¯t been in this new world long, and if what Alex and Patrick said was true, he would be here for a while. James chose the Hero sub-skill and watched his health bar increase slightly. It was the first time he raised his Constitution. James took a sharp breath as a new vigor filled his body. He felt like he had just overcome the flu that he was never aware he had.

 Chapter 15 - Enemy Heroes

    ¡°Weeeeaaak!¡± Patrick bellowed from within the small dent in the mountain he had made over the past few days.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± James said as he launched another fire-bolt. The wisp of fire streaked from his hand like a roman candle and fizzled out as it hit the mountain.

    ¡°Frode¡¯s buff must have been insanely powerful,¡± Alex commented as he pounded the training dummy with his fists before using his Blink ability to teleport behind it.

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. It increased my Intelligence by 50. So if I can gain that naturally, I should be that strong. The only problem is I don¡¯t know what the mastery does.¡± James furrowed his brow in consternation as he launched another firebolt. ¡°If Intelligence makes our spells more powerful, then mastery must teach us new spells.¡±

    Alex nodded in agreement. ¡°That makes sense to me.¡±

    ***

    Over the next few days, the party continued to focus solely on training and growing stronger. The feeling of dread in James¡¯s stomach began to grow stronger as he did. He struggled to cope with the possibility of a destroyed Earth and that he would never see anyone he knew ever again. He missed his brother and worried more and more about him every day. His brother was supposed to enter the game just after he did, and yet James hadn''t seen a trace of him.

    Trying to distract himself, he threw his attention into training. It was all he could do not to go crazy. He figured that was what everyone else was doing as well.

    The day that James finished brewing beer for the first time, everyone was happy. But it was a reserved joy like a feast was laid before them and all at the same time they remembered that there were starving kids in Africa. Only Africa probably didn¡¯t exist anymore, and all the kids there were probably dead or trapped in the game with him. Most days the party would laugh and joke like they usually did, but behind everyone''s smile, emptiness grew.

    The day that Patrick discovered iron ore inside the mountain, everyone congratulated him, but he didn¡¯t boast as he usually would.

    The day that Alex and Lilly discovered they could choose crafting classes that allowed them to learn recipes faster, they smiled at each other. Yet, Alex looked away before they could get lost in each other¡¯s eyes as they often did in conversations at the bar.

    The day that Torunn found James to report that the guard towers were finally finished, they hugged, but Torunn did not tackle him. For some reason, the gloom in Torunn¡¯s eyes hurt James the most. Torunn had been a cub when they first met, a big one, but a cub nonetheless. Seeing the defeat and deadness in his eyes enraged James.

    Torunn was innocent and kind! He was supposed to be what was good in the world! James yelled in his mind. He was what was good in this world!

    James cried that night. A flurry of emotions finally burst out of him after being bottled up for too long. He asked a god he wasn¡¯t sure he believed in why it all happened. He denounced that god¡¯s credibility, told it he was useless, and that the god had failed. He then apologized to the god and asked for forgiveness, for a way to find his brother, and for a way to find his friend¡¯s family members. He asked for a way to find happiness for everyone.

    As James crumpled to the ground, far away from the cabin where his friends slept, he finally let the tears escape through his eyes. He didn¡¯t think it would make him feel better, but the sadness growing inside him was overwhelming to the point that his body shuddered from each sob.

    James wasn¡¯t sure when it began to rain or how long he had been out in the dark on the cliff, but as he lay there with his tears and sobs finally exhausted, he realized he felt cold. The new feeling was refreshing, and he let it seep into his body, relishing in the physicality of it until he was close to shivering. He stood up and walked to the cabin. He attempted to compose himself, but he knew the party would be able to see he was a mess, even through his rain-soaked expression, so he walked to the basement instead.

    ¡°James,¡± a voice whispered from the darkness, causing him to whirl and release fire bolts in rapid succession. They were more powerful now, after days of training and investing his points into Intelligence, but still not powerful enough to bring the building down on top of him. The firebolts splashed against the rock walls of the basement, illuminating the room.

    ¡°Who''s there? Show yourself!¡± James cried out as he realized no one was in the basement with him.

    ¡°I am a spirit, James; you do not need to fear me,¡± the spirit vessel said. James locked his eyes on the ornate jar and watched as light pulsed from within it in rhythm with its words, ¡°I need your help, James.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not helping you!¡± James replied indignantly, ¡°you killed Lilly¡¯s family!¡±

    ¡°I did not,¡± the spirit vessel replied calmly. ¡°The undead were allowed to escape from their prison when I was knocked out of my vessel, and my spell was interrupted.¡±

    ¡°What prison? What spell? You expect me to believe that you''re the good guy after I saw the village destroyed by undead under your command?¡±

    ¡°They were not under my command, James,¡± the spirit vessel said as it continued to pulse. ¡°My eternal duty is to keep them locked away. They fight a constant battle to escape. My powers slow the time on that battlefield. When my spell was interrupted, they were able to escape until I was able to cast inside my vessel once again. I was able to push them back to their base and rebuild my defenses, but I am afraid I do not have the power to do so again. That is why I need your help.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know what to believe, but I do know that if your intentions were good, you would have just told me all of this before. And how do you know our names?¡±

    ¡°I know lots of things, James. I was not able to communicate with any of you before because your Intelligence was too low. You just past 30 in Intelligence did you not?¡± the spirit replied, deftly navigating James¡¯s inherent accusations, ¡°and as far as the truth goes, let me show it to you...¡±

    A bright light emanated from the vessel and grew so bright James that had to close his eyes and shield his face. When he was able to see again, he realized he was somewhere else entirely. The patted dirt floor of the basement gave way to cobblestone, and in the distance, he could see a healthy forest of trees that stretched on farther than he could see. In the center of the cobblestone area was a larger version of the spirit vessel, flanked by two crystal-topped towers.

    ¡°Where the shit am I?¡± Patrick complained loudly. The redhead was lying on the ground struggling to untangle himself from the maul he had been cuddling moments before. James looked at the enlarged spirit vessel for a response to Patrick¡¯s question. As James stared into the vessel and resisted the call of its void, Alex, Lilly, and Torunn joined him.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Lilly asked, seeming to forget she had just been teleported somewhere against her will.

    ¡°I am the spirit, Salmaana,¡± the spirit vessel introduced herself to the party as she turned inside her chamber. James couldn¡¯t make out many details about her - even though he was seemingly staring right into her eyes. Looking at her was like a vivid dream that you couldn¡¯t remember when you woke up. James thought he saw beauty, but when he focused on that ideology, it faded from his mind.

    ¡°I keep the undead from being unleashed on this world,¡± the spirit said before swirling to face Lilly directly. ¡°I am sorry I failed you, Lilly. When the rain knocked me from my vessel some of the undead were able to escape before I could push them back again.¡±

    Lilly¡¯s face fell as she remembered the undead attack. Alex wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tightly.

    ¡°Why did you bring us here, spirit?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°I have been in this battle for almost as long as I can remember, and the undead are slowly beating me. The time control spell I have cast over this place has slowed the undead''s advantage, but it will not last forever. I have reversed my spell so time will move slower outside of my domain, but I need your help here.¡±

    ¡°Who do I need to kill?¡± bellowed Patrick with a raise of his maul.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The spirit vessel pointed to three different paths that forked off the cobblestone, ¡°The undead will be coming down these paths. I have three towers protecting each path as well as my minions, but the undead have the same defenses. Undead minions meet every wave of spirit minions that I can send down a path before they ever reach the end. If my spirits manage to beat the undead, they are ripped apart by the towers. You must push the waves of undead back into their towers. Push until you break into the undead base and destroy the Lich vessel. That is the only way to stop them from destroying¡­¡±

    Salmaana¡¯s soft female voice was drowned out by a booming male voice, ¡°Your top tower is under attack!"

    The party looked around in different directions to find out from where the warning came. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

    ¡°That was Noma. He will help you prepare for battle. I am afraid we have even less time than I had hoped. Go, see him now!¡± the spirit vessel cried out before returning to her spell casting and disappearing into a haze that made James groggy. He looked away from the haze inside the vessel, and to the direction Salmaana had pointed. On the opposite side of the three paths, there was a forested alcove.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Alex waved them on with a militaristic wave of his hand.

    Arriving at the nook, the party stood silently before a creature covered in trinkets and decadent furs. He was a brownish green and much shorter than the party, reminding James of the goblins from his childhood games. Patrick was the first to break the awkward silence but was quickly cut off by a hiccup from the strange creature.

    ¡°Ahhhh,¡± Noma said in a high-pitched voice very different from the one he used to announce that a tower was under attack. The creature leaned into the group, his legs growing longer until he was uncomfortably close to Patrick. Staring into Patrick''s eyes, he conspiratorially asked, ¡°Are you going out there?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yes,¡± Patrick replied, his uncomfortableness blatantly clear to James.

    ¡°Ohhh, goodie!¡± Noma squealed as he shortened his legs and returned to his original position. The creature scratched his body in a way that made James even more uncomfortable than Patrick seemed to be.

    ¡°You must get Noma some souls then!¡± Noma said, his voice deepening at some words and squeaking at others.

    ¡°Souls?¡± Lilly asked.

    ¡°Souls!¡± the creature replied excitedly. ¡°I need them!¡±

    ¡°But how do we get them?¡± Alex butted in to back up Lilly.

    ¡°Kill the undead minions, of course!¡± Noma chuckled before quickly quieting and raising himself right up to Alex¡¯s face, ¡°Ahh, but you must deal the killing blow,¡± he whispered. Returning to his spot once again, the creature turned his upbeat nature back on, ¡°Yup! You must do the killing blow so the soul becomes bound to you! If our minions do the mortal blow, the undead souls will be lost!¡± The creature chuckled again before his face warped to a saddened expression.

    Suddenly, the lively creature went blank, staring off somewhere in the distance. ¡°Your top tower is under attack,¡± it said, in an uncharacteristically deep and monotone voice.

    The party exchanged glances and questioning expletives before Noma returned to them with a hiccup.

    ¡°Here, you must get ready,¡± Noma whispered as he began casting a spell.

    Noma¡¯s Blessing of the Street Smart Mystic - Allows you to speak telepathically with your party and see their locations on the minimap.

    James relaxed his vision and confirmed there was now a minimap. It was square and cut off diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right. He could see icons for himself and his party in the base at the lower left corner. Everything after the diagonal cut was shaded black and barely visible. James spoke to confirm that everyone else had a minimap and was startled when he heard screaming inside his head.

    ¡®How did you do that?¡¯ and, ¡®Please stop,¡¯ echoed around his head until the party got control of speaking telepathically.

    ¡°Go now! GO!¡± Noma yelled at them. ¡°FIGHT!¡±

    The party shuffled off, not quite sure of where they were going until the creature called out again, ¡°Split the paths! 2 on the bottom and top and one in the middle. Oh, and don¡¯t forget to get me some souls! I will trade you nice little goodies for them!¡±

    James took the top path with Torunn. Lilly and Alex went to the bottom path, and Patrick went along the middle.

    ¡°How are you doing, man?¡± James asked Torunn as they stepped off the cobblestone and onto the dirt. They hadn¡¯t had much alone time since before the Oana attack. The dead-inside look on Torunn¡¯s face caused James to be more concerned with his game-brother than what was going on around him. ¡°Oh!¡± James cried out as a small spirit creature bumped into him. The creature stopped, causing the creatures behind it to crash into it. They all moved in an unintelligent pursuit down the path. The second time the creatures walked into James, he finally realized he would have to get out of their way since they were too dumb to go around him.

    ¡°Those must be the spirit''s minions,¡± Torunn commented.

    ¡°You¡¯re talking again?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Yes, Brother. I have grown.¡±

    ¡°Good. Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°No. I want to rebuild my clan, but we are here,¡± Torunn growled as they passed the first crystal tower along their path.

    James let out a sigh. Partly for the pain Torunn must have been experiencing, and partly in relief that he could now talk to his Martyr brother. Hopefully, he could help in some way.

    Torunn spoke up again before James could figure out how to comfort him, ¡°We must defeat this Lich so we can get out of here. I would be devastated if the Oana attacked again while I was away.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is likely. The spirit vessel said she reversed her time spell while we are in here. Even if the village was attacked right before we left, we would be out of here before the Oana even reached the first guard tower.¡± James said, hoping to comfort the Martyr. He noticed Torunn had indeed grown, both mentally and physically. He wasn¡¯t anywhere near close to full Martyr size, but he was certainly larger than he was before. His mental growth was the most impressive, however.

    ¡°I hope you are right, Brother,¡± Torunn sighed.

    James wanted to ask his game brother a million questions now that they could hold a conversation. He wanted to ask how he survived the Oana attack, how far his alchemy skill was, and why he chose that skill over one for war, and many others. James decided it wasn''t the time though. They had a Lich to kill and a town to fortify after that.

    The duo passed the third and final crystal tower. When nothing happened, James checked his mini-map. They were about to reach the upper left corner of the minimap. Looking ahead, he saw that the path took a 90-degree turn, which corresponded to the top left corner of the square minimap. James figured if they were going to see any undead spirits that was where they would be. He was about to tell Torunn as much when his spirits reached the corner. They spotted their undead counterparts and their unintelligent determination to walk the path was replaced with unbridled hate. Three of the spirits charged and locked into combat with three of the undead spirits, while 2 of them stayed behind and lobbed blue orbs at the undead melee fighters. James got closer and could see the undead spirit wave also had two ranged attackers as well; their bolts were green and left a corrosive smell in the air.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s do what we do best and hunt these things down,¡± James said before activating Jump Strike. He soared into the air and got a glimpse of the undead forest. He could see a clear line where this forest stopped and the undead one began. The trees were gnarled, barren, and covered in thorns so large that James shuddered at the slim possibility he could have accidentally jumped into them. James could see winding paths in the forest. Strange creatures filled them, causing James to wonder if his healthy forest had animals as well.

    The ground shuddered and quaked as James landed, sending out tremors that knocked all of the enemy spirits onto their undead backs. The pride that coursed through James¡¯s mind quickly faded as he realized he didn¡¯t even kill one of the spirits. His skill''s new augment was powerful, but these minions were insanely strong for such little things. Torunn quickly approached, tackling one of the caster spirits and unleashing a frenzy of swipes on it. It took another 30 seconds for the first minion to fall - luckily James dealt the final blow.

    You received an Undead Soul. Trade them to Noma for an award.

    ¡°Nice,¡± James commented to himself as the soul essence rose, surrounded him, and disappeared into his body.

    Aided by the spirit minions, James and Torunn dispatched the rest of the undead minions, getting another soul each. When his spirit minions realized there were no more enemies around, their whole demeanor changed, and they resumed their endless pursuit to consume the path with their feet. That was until they caught sight of the first undead tower as it jutted from the ground in an angry twist of unfamiliar metal. On top of it was a swirling green eye that came alive as they approached. It locked on to the nearest spirit and exploding with energy, releasing a corrosive bolt so large it knocked the tough spirit minion down and shaved off a quarter of its health.

    ¡°Holy crap,¡± James gasped. His augmented Jump Strike ability wasn¡¯t even able to do that much damage to a minion.

    ¡°Go!¡± Torunn yelled as he launched himself at the tower. James joined him and swung his Martyr Skinning Knife at the mass of metal. The first strike sent tremors down his arm and into his body, but he kept on. James¡¯s determination momentarily faltered when he noticed their attacks had only taken off a small fraction of the tower¡¯s health. He glanced at the path behind him and saw another wave of minions approaching. They had the same configuration as the ones before them - 3 melee fighters and two ranged.

    James activated Jump Strike and landed in the center of the new wave of undead with a deafening crash. He thought that since the spirit minions did more damage than he did, he should find a way to let them attack the tower. Meanwhile, he would hold off the waves off enemy minions.

    James slashed out with his short sword and watched with horror as the next undead tower swirled to life. When it didn¡¯t release a bolt of corrosive energy at him, he realized he must be correctly positioned between the two towers, and out of their attack ranges. He quickly learned that the towers were the least of his concerns.

    ¡®These minions hit like tanks!¡¯ James announced to his party.

    ¡®You think so? Trying getting hit by the towers; one hit took off a fifth of my health,¡¯ Patrick commented, ¡®and I¡¯m huge!¡¯

    James realized he would have to abandon his plan as the minions already had him down to half health. He turned to retreat when a long purple tentacle reached out and halted his progress. He yelled out in fear as he looked down the appendage and into the dark undead forest. A giant eye gleamed in the darkness. All of a sudden the creature pulled its body to James. It was a mass of tangled tentacles with one giant eye in the center.

    Debuff received - Beholdar¡¯s Gaze - You are paralyzed for the next 10 seconds.

    ¡®Shit,¡¯ James cried out telepathically to Torunn. ¡®I¡¯m not gonna make it. Run away!¡¯

 Chapter 16 - Souls

    James was quickly torn apart by the tentacle creature, but unlike dying in the Great Savanna, he didn¡¯t black out. This time, he felt every excruciating second, and every single lost hit point. It was as if every one of his nerve endings was slowly burned away by an evil deity, with a matchstick and no concept of time. And then, finally, he was back.

    ¡®What happened?¡¯ Lilly pleaded into the party¡¯s telepathic chat. ¡®Is James okay?¡¯

    ¡®A creature came out from the undead side of the forest,¡¯ Torunn answered in between grunts. ¡®It paralyzed him.¡¯

    ¡®I am fine.¡¯ James joined the chat, his past life rushing back to him as his mind remembered the strange green creature in front of him. ¡®I respawned back at our base. I am stuck in the alcove next to Noma right now, but I can¡¯t move. I think there is a respawn timer.¡¯

    You cannot chat with your party while you are waiting to respawn.

    ¡°Damn, they didn¡¯t hear me,¡± James said to himself as he struggled to move his body.

    ¡®Oh crap. There are more creatures than the one that killed James!¡¯ Patrick cried into the party chat.

    James watched as the redhead''s body materialized next to his.

    ¡®Shit, do we have a creature as well?¡¯ Alex asked.

    ¡®Probably hunting you from the forest, waiting for an opportunity to attack,¡¯ Torunn answered.

    James¡¯s timer ended, and he let out a sigh of relief as he regained control of his body. He let the party know he was okay and that dying transported your body to the alcove where you could not move or talk until an unknown period passed. Then he turned to Noma and asked him about the enemy creatures. The spirit never mentioned that the undead side would have champions like theirs did. It would have been a good thing to know, and James''s frustration showed through his words to the odd soul merchant.

    ¡°We did not know about them,¡± Noma replied while waving his hands in a motion meant to disarm James. The soul merchant seemed to shrink under James¡¯s fury. ¡°They were never here before. The Lich must have summoned them in response to your arrival.¡± Noma hiccupped and began to pat his body as he struggled to remember something. ¡°Oh! Do you have any souls for Noma?¡±

    ¡°I have two,¡± James answered reluctantly, the anger still audible in his voice. ¡°I would have had more if I hadn¡¯t died.¡±

    ¡°Give them! Give them to Noma!¡± The soul merchant pleaded with his hands outstretched. ¡°I need them!¡±

    ¡°What will you trade me?¡±

    ¡°Ahhh, trade, yes. Here take a look!¡± Noma said as he fidgeted in place.

    A menu appeared and covered James¡¯s vision. Inside it were various items; weapons, armor pieces, necklaces, and gems.

    ¡°I have all of that to trade!¡± Noma said proudly. ¡°The soul cost of each item is listed.¡±

    ¡°I can only afford two teleport scrolls or a small sword!¡± James growled while turning his gaze back to the merchant.

    Noma flinched.

    ¡°Hardly worth two actual souls, don¡¯t you think?¡± James seethed.

    ¡°No, no, no. Soul items are great creations and their power builds upon each other!" Noma cried out to save himself. ¡°See here! If you get the small sword, you will do ten more damage. And if you get this necklace and this gem at a later point, they will all combine into the Longsword of Draining!¡±

    James found the Longsword of Draining in the soul item interface and confirmed the items needed to make it.

    Longsword of Draining - Burns enemy¡¯s mana (10% of weapon damage) every strike, plus 20 damage, plus 5 mana regen per second. Required Items - Small Sword, Necklace of Clarity, Gem of Mana Regen

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any longsword abilities. Are there any short swords?¡± James asked. He wanted the ability to burn mana with physical strikes but didn¡¯t want to lose his Jump Strike ability. Noma scrunched up his face and looked up at James.

    Then the soul merchant let out a hiccup as realization dawned on him. ¡°Oh, silly human. You are not strong enough to wield soul weapons.¡± The merchant tisked as he slowly shook his head. ¡°You just keep them in your inventory, and you receive the effects. So, if you bought this small sword, you would do ten more damage with your current weapon. You see, the soul items augment how you are now. It augments your soul!¡±

    ¡°So, I can¡¯t use any of these items?¡±

    ¡°You can use their effects, but you cannot wield them,¡± the merchant said with a subtle roll of his eyes.

    James¡¯s thoughts on the usefulness of the items were interrupted as Patrick¡¯s frozen body came back to life.

    ¡°Ahhh, finally!¡± Patrick said as he began to sprint to the center path and back to battle. James called out to him as he went, causing the redhead to pause. James briefed the party on the soul item system he just learned about. Patrick nodded and spent a few seconds looking through all of Noma¡¯s items before disappearing into a cloud of magical wisps.

    ¡°He used a teleportation scroll. They can instantly transport you to any of our towers,¡± Noma explained, answering the question on James''s face as he watched his friend disappear.

    James checked his mini-map and confirmed that Patrick had teleported to the middle path. Turning back to the soul item interface, he traded his only two souls in for two scrolls of teleportation. He activated one with a thought and found himself standing next to the third crystal tower on the top path. James remarked that there was no physical sickness from teleportation, yet he did feel sick, mentally. The sudden change in location shocked all of his senses, causing him to feel what he could only describe as nausea of the brain.

    Weird, he thought as he shook his head.

    James heard a ruffle in the forest next to his tower, and he braced himself to receive another hook shot from Beholdar, but it never came. Instead, Torunn ran out as soon as a wave of undead minions crashed into the tower.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Let our tower hit the minions. When they are close to death make sure to run in and deal the killing blow,¡± Torunn said, briefing James on his strategy.

    James thought the idea was smart. They could grow stronger by collecting souls in the forest while the tower did all the work on the path. James watched as the minions attacked the tower and only brought it down by a small percentage. They could use this strategy for a while before the tower even got a dent in it.

    ¡°There are monsters in our forest. If you kill them, you can get souls as well. I got the timing down perfectly so by the time I kill a forest creature I can go meet the undead minions at our tower and take their souls too.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking, man,¡± James said in approval. ¡°By the way, did you see Beholdar come into our forest yet?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think they will come in here. I have a feeling their mini-map is greyed out for our portion, just like their portion is greyed for us,¡± Torunn explained. ¡°So, we are probably safe in there for now. Protect the tower and get souls. I want to go back and see what I can get in trade with that strange green thing.¡±

    ¡°Alright, man!¡± James replied with a wave. ¡°I got this.¡±

    When Torunn was out of sight, James let out a loud exclamation and wiped fake tears from his face. ¡°My little bro is all grown up!¡±

    ***

    James kept up with Torunn¡¯s strategy long enough for it to become second nature. He slaughtered random forest beasts, defended the tower, and then did it all again - all while communicating with his party telepathically. Alex and Lilly had two enemy heroes show themselves, but luckily neither of them had a long range attack like Beholdar. One of the enemies, who they said was named Ogrim, wielded a giant mace. Lilly explained that if he got within close range, which he was apt to do, everyone should run because he had an ability where he drove his mace into the ground and stunned anyone within range for 5 seconds.

    Patrick was doing the worst of the party, as his tower in the middle path was already below half health. He was able to get a lot of souls at the beginning of the battle but was quickly shut down. The undead hero in his path had a bow and an ability where she pulled out a wand and sent out a burst of some magic that did severe damage. Patrick had already died three times and had to give his enemy hero plenty of space. Unfortunately, this meant he couldn''t get in close enough to the undead minions to deal a final blow and get souls. To his credit though, he used the time wisely and watched what the enemy did. He explained how she only attacked the minions when she knew she would get the last hit. In the meantime, she just sat there and watched the minions slowly slaughter each other. At one point Patrick attempted to copy her strategy. He waited far away until one of the undead minions was low on health and then he charged. Before he could do the final blow, an arrow embedded itself into the undead minion and killed it. For the next few minutes, Patrick raged over the party chat about how that bow-wielding witch, Morga, stole his kill and then zapped him in thebutt with her magic.

    ¡°Come with me,¡± Torunn said as he shuffled past some trees.

    James jumped in surprise. ¡°Jesus, man, you can¡¯t sneak up on me like that!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I am naturally quiet,¡± Torunn said with a deadpan expression.

    James changed his expression to match his game brother''s and chastised himself from laughing at Patrick¡¯s antics. ¡°This is serious. We need to get out of here,¡± James told himself before asking his game brother where they were going.

    ¡°Into the undead forest,¡± Torunn replied.

    James met his game brother¡¯s eyes but didn¡¯t need to question if he was serious or not. His game brother was always serious now.

    ¡°Why?¡± James asked.

    ¡°I bought a sentry from Noma,¡± the Martyr replied. ¡°It should give us vision of the forest on our mini-map. That way we don¡¯t get hooked by Beholdar again.¡±

    James nodded and followed his game brother into the forest after briefing the party on the value of sentries. The rest of the party didn¡¯t have problems with being hunted from the woods, but they would still be an invaluable item, strategy-wise. They placed the sentry and a shaded area of the undead forest on the minimap became visible to the entire party. James expected to hear words of approval from the party, but instead, he heard screams.

    ¡®Beholdar is down here!¡¯ Lilly screamed painfully loud into the party chat. ¡®It¡¯s got Alex!¡¯

    ¡°Shit,¡± James whispered to himself before telling Torunn he was going to help. James activated his last teleport scroll and shook out his mental nausea at the bottom path¡¯s tower. Ahead he could see Alex stuck in Beholdar¡¯s gaze and Lilly frantically trying to heal him as the undead minions pounded away his health.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost out of mana!¡± she cried.

    James could see the hulking mass of Ogrim running toward Lilly. His tan skin was thick and scarred like a century old shark. James realized he was going to stun Lilly, causing Alex to lose his heals, and both of them would die. A third hero ran behind Ogrim that James couldn¡¯t see, but he knew that if three of the undead heroes were allowed to push against the tower unobstructed, it would fall. James remembered that the top path only had one enemy hero instead of the two that the bottom one had, and that hero from the top path was now at the bottom lane. He called out to Torunn while wondering why the undead had one less hero than they did. If the enemy Lich somehow summoned heroes in response to James¡¯s party''s arrival, wouldn''t he somehow know to summon five heroes to match their party? What was keeping him from summoning even more heroes to outnumber James''s party?

    ¡®Get down here, man! We need you! There are three enemy heroes in the bottom lane! Lilly, retreat to our tower! Alex is a goner!¡¯ James barked.

    Lilly hesitated but eventually stopped healing Alex before she could be stunned by Ogrim. Her retreat didn¡¯t stop the mace-wielding giant¡¯s charge, however. Luckily, Torunn solidified into existence just after Ogrim activated his Mace Slam ability and stunned Lilly and James under the tower. The tower flared to life and shot out bursts of blue energy at the brute. If the tower blasts hurt Ogrim, he didn¡¯t show it. His bloodlust for Lilly was palpable and was all James could sense. James had been stunned while looking down and couldn¡¯t move his head to see what was going on. When the stun ended, James was relieved to see that Torunn had been able to wrestle Ogrim to the ground. The giant was now fully aware of his quickly depleting health bar and struggled to get away from the tower, only to be dragged down again and again by Torunn.

    ¡®I¡¯m almost to your lane!¡¯ Patrick cried out telepathically.

    James didn¡¯t think they needed the help, but as he lifted his blade to deal the final blow to Ogrim, he saw the brute reaching for his allies. Beholdar and the other hero, an apparition of a creature that James could now see was named Prince Kil¡¯Lache, stood and watched Ogrim''s demise. They were cautious about engaging in battle under the tower. Suddenly, Beholdar¡¯s tentacles began to thrash out more frantically than usual, and one of them shot out in an attempt to latch onto the party. Luckily, the appendage missed everyone and returned to Beholdar¡¯s body.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Lilly asked.

    ¡®It was a show of force!¡¯ Patrick exclaimed through party chat as he came into vision in the center area between the spirit tower and the undead tower. James figured he must have taken a shortcut directly from the tower at the middle path to the bottom path.

    ¡®Just like this!¡¯ Patrick telepathically screamed with even more ferocity as he activated his Charge ability. The two enemy heroes stuck between James and Patrick were bulldozed into the attack range of the spirit tower. Torunn didn¡¯t miss a beat and immediately wrestled Prince Kil''Lache to the ground.

    You have slain Ogrim - 5 souls awarded to the killer and 1 to each assisting party members.

    A party member has slain Prince Kil''Lache - you have received one soul for assisting in the kill.

    James wanted to congratulate the party on the effective cooperation and tell them they should focus on killing the heroes from now on, but everyone vanished to chase Beholdar into the forest. He had launched a tentacle into the woods and used it to pull his body from danger after Patrick pushed him into the tower. James joined his party on the chase. He entered the forest and could see it was similar to the forest separating the middle and the top lanes. Random alcoves hid monster camps and paths winded throughout. He caught a glimpse of Lilly¡¯s yellow dress leaving the forest. When he followed, James saw that the party had splashed through a shallow river and entered the undead forest. He checked his minimap and saw that the river flowed from the top left corner of the map to the bottom right and separated the spirit forest from the undead one. The river itself was small, barely enough to get your feet wet, but James could tell it served as a barrier between the spirit vessel and the Lich''s zones of control.

    ¡°Wait! Let him go! It¡¯s not worth it!¡±

 Chapter 17 - ReSpawns

    James watched on his mini-map as his party chased Beholdar into enemy territory. The area once shrouded in darkness became visible for a small radius around each party member. It was enough for James to tell that they were not under attack, but not enough to permanently gain vision of the undead forest. He contemplated joining his party but the dangerously low health bar blinking at the bottom of his vision caused him to hesitate.

    Gahh, I need to increase my health regen, James thought. Doing so would allow him to fight in a skirmish, and then be able to participate in another soon after. Right now though, James knew he wouldn¡¯t survive another skirmish. He decided to go back to the base to see what he could get with his 19 souls as he waited for his health bar to refill.

    ¡®I¡¯m heading back. You guys should as well,¡¯ James cautioned his party telepathically, ¡®If the enemy heroes respawn while you are in their forest they will have a huge vision advantage!¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not letting him go! He killed Alex!¡¯ Lilly screamed, causing James to grasp his head in pain on his way back to the cobblestone base.

    ¡®I can¡¯t leave her alone out here,¡¯ Patrick added glumly.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter! Alex will respawn! If you die you will give the enemy a ton of souls. That is what we need to focus on!¡± James replied, letting the frustration in his voice flow freely.

    Screams of anger and pain filled James''s brain as he ran through the forest, but he ignored them. By the time he arrived in front of the soul merchant, Lilly, Alex, and Patrick¡¯s stasis-shocked bodies were there to meet him. James was extremely relieved to see that Lilly could respawn in this realm, even though he was fairly certain she couldn¡¯t outside of it.

    James opened Noma¡¯s inventory of soul items while his three party members waited for their respawn timers to end.

    ¡°You were right, you know,¡± Alex said as his timer ended, and he regained control over his body.

    James sighed. ¡°I know."

    ¡°We need to work on our team fighting abilities. That last skirmish shows we have some good synergy, but the chase afterward showed we have no discipline.¡±

    ¡°I agree. It will be a priority if we can ever get out of here.¡±

    ***

    James wailed on the last remaining monster of the forest encampment he was attacking. He figured he had time to get some souls on his way back up to the top tower, but he didn¡¯t realize how easily he would get them. The new items he had traded his souls for were drastically decreasing the damage he took from the pack of dire bears he was attacking. The items allowed him to easily harvest souls while only losing about 15% of his health.

    <h5>Dark Chainmail Greaves- Reduces damage taken by minions by 10% and heroes by 5%. Percentages increase temporarily by 1% for every 20 seconds in battle. Required Items - Chainmail Greaves, Dark Gem of Bloodlust.</h5>

    One of the required items, the Dark Gem of Bloodlust, also could have been combined with a weapon. The resulting weapon would have gained more damage the longer it was used in battle. It was actually James¡¯s first choice, but he knew with absolute certainty that Patrick would buy the same item. Spurred on by the knowledge that the redhead would choose damage-only weapons, James decided he needed to be able to take damage, so he could survive long enough in battle to make sure Patrick had the freedom to do damage. He hoped this strategy would result in fewer deaths of his party and therefore less of a soul advantage that was given to the undead heroes. James knew that the more souls they gained the stronger they grew, and he already had the sinking feeling that his party was falling behind.

    <h5>Forest Child¡¯s Slippers- Increases run speed by 10% and health regen by .5% a second when surrounded by trees (health regen does not work while in battle).</h5>

    James used the power of his slippers to quickly exit the forest and join the minion battle at the top path¡¯s tower. He appreciated the health regen bonus, but he made the soul investment on the slippers mainly because they were a required item for something else he wanted. James didn¡¯t have enough souls to purchase the boots that would allow him to teleport to an ally, but he did have enough for the required slippers, a few sentries, and just enough teleportation scrolls to last him until he could afford the boots.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡®I haven¡¯t seen any enemy heroes in a while,¡¯ Torunn told the party telepathically.

    ¡®I haven''t seen any in the bottom forest either,¡± Patrick added.¡¯

    ¡®Nothing up top,¡¯ James reported. ¡®Maybe we should all venture into their forest and place some sentries?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ Alex cautioned, ¡®I think they know something about this¡­ this damn alternate universe or whatever you want to call it, that we don¡¯t know.¡¯

    ¡®Let¡¯s call it the Spirit Battleground,¡¯ Lilly said.

    ¡®Okay, I think they know something about this Spirit Battleground that we don¡¯t,¡¯ Alex continued. ¡®I think we should farm souls and only attack when our towers are being damaged. That way we only take risks when losing a tower is on the line.¡¯

    ¡®I agree,¡¯ confirmed Torunn.

    ¡®Alright, everyone stays within the influence of the spirit vessel and doesn''t cross the river,¡¯ James concluded.

    ¡®Wait, I would have to cross the river to attack the middle tower. Are we not pushing deep enough to attack towers?¡¯ Patrick questioned.

    ¡®No, I don¡¯t think that is a good idea,¡¯ James replied as he finished off the enemy minions that were close to his tower. When the lastminion diedJames retreated to farm souls in the top forest. ¡®Just defend towers when you need to and farm souls in the forest until we figure out what the enemy team is up to.¡¯

    ¡®Does everyone have teleportation scrolls?¡¯ Alex inquired. ¡®If not you should get them now, so we can react quickly as a team.¡¯

    ¡®Good idea, Alex,¡¯ James said, giving the guy credit where it was due.

    James went back to killing the creatures of the forest, his health already back to 100% due to his new slippers.

    <h5>Your middle tower is under attack.</h5>

    James checked his mini-map to see who was closest to the middle tower. Patrick was farming creatures in the same portion of the forest he was in, but was indeed closer to the middle tower. James thought briefly that he should explore the forest more thoroughly, maybe there where boons he wasn¡¯t aware of hidden inside. Maybe he would discover something that could shed some light on what the enemy heroes were doing at the moment. Before James could instruct Patrick to defend the tower, the redhead called out that he was on his way over.

    ¡®I¡¯m pretty sure there are at least two enemy heroes over here. I can¡¯t see much past the river unless I cross it. I¡¯ve caught a glimpse of Beholdar¡¯s tentacles and that bitch Morga is definitely here. I can¡¯t get close at all without getting zapped by her wand. If they push I will die, come back me up!¡¯ Patrick diligently reported.

    ¡®I¡¯m on my way,¡¯ James replied, deciding not to waste a teleportation scroll and run the short distance to the middle path.

    ¡®There is still no one at the bottom path or in our forest. Lilly and I are teleporting to the middle,¡¯ Alex called over the telepathic party chat.

    ¡®Hurry!¡¯ Patrick cried.

    <h5>Your middle tower is under attack.</h5>

    James was the last person to arrive at the middle tower. All four of the enemy heroes where there and his arrival marked five members of his party to fight the enemies four. James figured that since his team had one more hero than the enemy team they had pretty good odds, but upon closer inspection, he could see Patrick and Alex were already down to half health. Lilly did her best to heal them from behind the protection of the tower, but could barely keep up with the damage they were taking.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost out of mana!¡± Lilly cried out.

    James activated Jump Strike into the frenzy of heroes surrounding the tower. He flew through the air and got a glimpse of Morga for the first time. She looked tiny and frail, but the aura surrounding her told James that that couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. James poised his trusty Martyr Skinning Knife above his head, getting ready to strike. He was moments away from landing into the crowd of enemy heroes, his party members, and a swarm of undead minions. He could see the minions slowly but surely knocking down the tower''s health unobstructed while his party struggled to keep the enemy heroes off the tower. Torunn wrestled with Ogrim in an effort to keep the giant from smashing the tower with its huge mace. James could see that even though Ogrim looked powerful, Morga seemed to be doing more damage with her bow and wand.

    Suddenly, Morga noticed James in the air. The two locked eyes and time seemed to slow for James. He watched in horror as she reached behind her cloaked back with a clawed hand and pulled out a wand. A gem tipped the dark wooden stick and pulsed with power. She aimed it at James. The air around the wand visibly darkened - it wasn¡¯t absorbed nor was it just dimmed - and James looked on in horror. He felt in his gut that the light didn¡¯t just go out, it died. The wand was so powerful it killed everything around it, even light. Morga released the energy in her wand, and James watched as the spark impacted his chest. He was sent to respawn before he could even hit the ground.

 Chapter 18 - Broken

    Your middle tower is under attack.

    ¡°Craaappp!¡± James screamed to himself. He knew no one could hear him since he was dead, but he couldn¡¯t help it. How were they going to come back from this? Morga killed him in one hit with her wand, despite his new soul items! And his entire party was sent to respawn soon after, even though they had one more teammate. ¡°Crap."

    Your middle tower was destroyed. 2 out of 3 towers remaining on the middle path.

    Jesus. James thought, beginning to spiral out of control. Losing a tower was just icing on the cake. If they couldn¡¯t kill the enemy heroes in a team fight where they had a numerical advantage, how could they be expected to win? James consciously flexed his resiliency. The spirit inside the vessel needed them to succeed. Lilly needed them to succeed. The entirety of the fledgling Martyr race needed them to succeed. If they lost this battle, then the Martyrs would most likely become extinct. The tiny amount of hope Lilly got from the village would be shattered. The same hope that helped her morn her parents and her home village. She needed that village, so did James, and so did the Martyrs. It was his new home in a crazy world filled with dangers and questions. It was his only chance at not going insane at the thought that the human race might have been destroyed. He needed to find a way to win this fight.

    James mentally reached out to Noma. He couldn¡¯t move or communicate with anyone until he respawned but he was able to access the spirit item interface. James knew if they were going to win they needed to get the right items and fight like a team. It was the only way.

    Your middle tower is under attack.

    They are going to get another tower, James thought but tried not to let the fact sidetrack him from his mission. He began to formulate a plan.

    Torunn needed to be able to tackle Morga to ensure she couldn¡¯t use her wand. If he could shut her down, then his party would be able to survive a little while longer. The witch¡¯s damage was just too high to leave alive, so she needed to be the priority. Killing her first would buy them precious time to make a difference. James studied the spirit items until he found something Torunn could get that would help.

    Blink Orb - Allows the user to teleport 30 meters in the direction of their choosing.

    Torunn could Blink and wrestle the witch to the ground. If James remembered correctly, Alex also had a short-range teleport ability that he received from the sneak skill. Alex would be able to Blink to Morga and finish her off while Torunn made sure she couldn¡¯t attack. What they needed now was a way to make sure Torunn and Alex had enough time to kill the witch, without Ogrim or someone else interfering. He returned to the soul item interface.

    Scroll of the Falling Star - Single use - Allows the user to call down stars in a selected area. Deals 1% of total health as damage per second and slows movement speed by 30% for 20 seconds.

    Lilly would be the best to use this item. It was seriously expensive for a single use item, but it looked worth it. James knew the scroll could take off 20% off everyone''s health that was unlucky enough to be in the impact zone, but the real advantage was the slow effect. If Lilly could activate the scroll when all the melee enemies were close together, Torunn and Alex could Blink from afar and kill the witch without any opposition.

    The enemy heroes still did a lot more damage than his party, so James knew killing the witch wasn¡¯t a guaranteed win. If Patrick could somehow get behind the enemies and bulldoze them into a tower again, the extra damage would be a huge advantage. Morga usually sat at the back of her team and attacked from behind the melee fighters, so once Patrick and Torunn killed her, Patrick should be in the perfect position to use his bulldozing skill.

    James thought on this idea and realized that even if everything went exactly right, there was still a problem. In the last team fight, they fought directly under their own tower. That should have given them a huge advantage since the tower, and his party could attack the enemy heroes. Except, in reality, the tower struck the enemy minions instead of the enemy heroes. The party needed to find a way to kill the minions quickly so that the tower would focus on the enemy heroes.

    James returned to the soul interface to find another item that would help kill minions faster but respawned before he could find the things he needed.

    ¡°Okay, I have a plan. I know no one can talk, but you all should be able to hear me¡­¡± James said, briefing his party on what everyone needed to do before he heard another announcement.

    Your middle tower was destroyed. 1 out of 3 towers remaining on the middle path.

    ¡°Crap! They are here!¡± James said as he looked over to where the cobblestone of his base ended, and the middle dirt path began. One last tower stood between the undead heroes and his base. ¡°We are out of time. Stick with the plan. Once Morga is dead, focus on quickly killing the minions - they should be low on health from the scroll! After that, we will have the tower backing us up since it will only have heroes to attack.¡±

    James hoped the plan would work. He would have to signal Lilly to activate the scroll at the perfect time so all the minions and enemy melee fighters would be affected.

    The rest of the party respawned, and James gave a final look at his last middle tower. The enemy heroes could be seen killing the spirit minions just outside the tower¡¯s range. He saw the fact that everyone had enough souls for the items they needed as a good sign. Still though, if this plan didn''t work and they all died again, he wasn¡¯t sure they would get another shot. There were two more towers within close range of each other protecting the spirit vessel, but it wasn¡¯t clear if they would hold off the enemy team long enough for everyone to respawn again.

    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Alex reported.

    James took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. ¡°Torunn and Alex, leave the base through the bottom path and flank the enemy heroes through the forest. Hide there until you see the stars fall.¡±

    The two party members with Blink abilities set out. James directed his party to the last middle tower then instructed them to stand back far enough that no one was at risk of being attacked. They wouldn''t risk attacking outside the range of their spirit tower.

    ¡°Look out for Beholdar¡¯s tentacles. I don¡¯t think he would pull himself directly into our tower, but you never know. It could be their signal. Stay wary,¡± James warned.

    James watched as the enemy heroes quickly killed the last minion wave that stood between them and the tower. They were so close James could see the knowing grin on Morga¡¯s face.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°She is a bitch,¡± James said, finally feeling the anger Patrick had felt toward the overpowered enemy.

    ¡°Yeah, she is...¡± Lilly confirmed.

    The four enemy heroes paused for a brief moment, allowing their minions to take the lead. James watched as the hate in the undead minions died and was replaced with a life-long dedication to get to the end of their path. When the minions pulled ahead, the enemy heroes followed behind them in a V formation, led by Ogrim. He swung his heavy mace in circles as he drooled and snarled like an enormous rabid bulldog.

    This is it, James thought. If they couldn¡¯t win this battle, everything was lost. Torunn and Lilly would die for good, as he was pretty sure they couldn¡¯t respawn without the magic of the Spirit Battleground and Alex, Patrick, and he would respawn into a wrecked village that would only be home to the graves of the last Martyrs. He would have to start over and wander the Great Savanna until either his sadness consumed him, or some Savanna beast did. If he couldn¡¯t win this battle, then he would be further from getting answers about what happened outside of the game, and he wasn¡¯t sure he could wait much longer. He wondered if not knowing what happened to his brother and the rest of the human race would drive him crazy.

    ¡°No,¡± James told himself as he shook his head. He needed to be strong. He needed to be strong for himself, for his party, and for the Martyrs. He needed to be strong, so he could finally find his brother and the answers he needed. There was no question about it; this plan HAD to work.

    James¡¯s skin tingled as an entire lifetime of mistakes, awkward moments, failures, and regrets fueled his resolve. He would win. He had to. James flexed every muscle in his body as his determination grew.

    ¡°There is no other option,¡± he told himself.

    The four enemies approached the last tower. James prepared his voice to yell out, to tell Lilly to activate the Scroll of the Falling Star but was interrupted by a loud explosion. Trees were ripped from the ground at the edge of the forest and thrown into the air. James stepped aside as a large branch landed where he was standing just moments before. He looked out in the direction the explosion came from, but couldn¡¯t see through the dust. Ogrim, Beholdar, Morga, and Prince Kil¡¯Lache all stopped their assault on the tower to see what exploded in the forest so close to them. James watched in confusion as the noise from battle seemed to mute.

    Ogrim slowly turned his grey, pockmarked head toward James and gave him a sinister smile. The smile pushed up against James¡¯s resolve but did not budge it. James stared back in defiance and caught a glimpse of Morga turning her head back into the action as well. Her dark lips twisted, showing rows of dead and rotting teeth. James did his best to stare her down too, but when he did, he could almost feel Ogrim mocking him like the big ugly creature knew something he didn¡¯t. A splinter of a second later, Prince Kil¡¯Lache¡¯s crowned and ghostly head turned to James as well. The combined weight of the enemy stares battered into the wall that made up James¡¯s resolve, threatening to bring it down.

    Suddenly, time seemed to be moving entirely too fast for James. The focus he had just moments ago shattered into a million shards that James couldn¡¯t comprehend putting back together. Every other piece of shrapnel still in the air from the explosion landed all at once. Someone called out to him, but James couldn¡¯t locate who it was amid the kaleidoscope of movements, sounds, and emotions.

    One thing stood out from the chaos. It made him happy at first. Then it confused him. Then it scared him more than anything ever had before. James wiped the dust and sweat from his eyes in an attempt to focus.

    ¡°Is that you, Michael?¡± James whispered.

    ***

    Patrick crouched in a bush, not far from the enemy heroes. He wasn¡¯t comfortable, but the location kept him out of site from that bitch, Morga. His knees screamed at him as they struggled to support his now immense weight. Patrick wouldn¡¯t give in to them though. James¡¯s plan was a good one. It would hopefully get them out of a hopeless situation.

    Patrick kept an eye on James just in case something went wrong with the signal. He had to move slightly now and then to see James through the enemy heroes, who were finished with the wave of minions and now approaching the last tower.

    ¡°Any second now,¡± Patrick lovingly whispered to his knees.

    Any second now he would see James give the signal to Lilly. She would activate her scroll and then stars would fall from the sky. Patrick was pretty excited to see that happen. He wondered if they would be a bunch of tiny comets or just one big sun falling from the sky like a giant meteor. He focused on that feeling of excitement, so his nerves didn¡¯t get the best of him. Even though he was bigger and stronger than he ever had been before, he still felt the same on the inside. Most of the time.

    ¡°Come on, James,¡± Patrick complained.

    The time to give the signal was now. Patrick was about to see if he could see Alex from his position so he could non-verbally ask him what the hell was going on, but a loud explosion gave him pause. It came from directly across the path and inside the woods. Patrick had to quickly decide to jump out of the way of the incoming rocks and tree branches or stay put. He decided to stay put and ate the shrapnel, some of it hitting him in the face. He told himself that he stayed because moving would give up his position, but deep down he knew he was just too slow and lazy to react that fast. He was strong now, and the shrapnel only took off 3 percent of his health anyway.

    As Patrick recovered from the explosion, he turned his attention to James and Lilly. They stood in awe looking in the direction of the blast. Patrick looked at the enemies and saw they were all looking at the explosion too.

    The enemy heroes quickly resumed their attack on the tower. Patrick once again glanced at James for the signal.

    ¡°What are you doing, man?¡± Patrick whispered in frustration.

    If they didn¡¯t all react as one, this plan would inevitably fail, and to react as one, they needed a signal. Suddenly, a sound resonated from the explosion. Patrick turned his attention to where the forest exploded. The dust was finally settling, and he could make out a figure emerging from it. The figure''s feet shook the ground with every step it took, causing Patrick''s knees to hurt even more as he fought to maintain his balance. A name tag appeared above the figure''s head.

    Michael

    Patrick paused as his mind raced with questions. Is this the fifth enemy hero? Where has he been the whole time?

    One of Patrick''s questions was answered when he caught a glimpse of Morga smiling at Michael and greeting him with a quick hug. It was like they had been childhood friends. Patrick snarled and knew any friend of Morga¡¯s was an enemy of his.

    The enemy heroes now numbered five and Patrick knew his team had lost whatever little advantage they had. He thought they might have stood a chance if the new enemy was weak, but Michael was huge and clad in thick metal armor. If the new enemy wasn¡¯t best buds with Morga, Patrick certainly would have aspired to become as big and strong as him.

    Suddenly, Patrick flashed back to his memory of when James, Torunn, and himself first journeyed across the Great Savanna and to the village. They were walking in the tall grass. Torunn was out scouting ahead while James walked next to him as they talked about their past lives. Patrick remembered the day vividly since it was the first happy day he had since he was transported into the game. And yet, Patrick had to question the memory. It couldn¡¯t be as vivid as he thought he remembered. That was the day James told him that he had a brother and that his name was Michael.

    ¡°No, the memory must be wrong,¡± Patrick told himself, but when he got a better look at the new enemy his heart sank.

    Michael looked exactly like James had described, except bigger and wearing armor. The last vestiges of doubt were removed from Patrick when his eyes fell on James. Not only did James not give the signal, but he was completely frozen. Patrick watched as a myriad of emotions showed on James''s face: happiness, confusion, worry, panic, fear, and finally resignation. Patrick could tell James knew they were all going to die. They were all going to die because no matter what was on the line, James wouldn¡¯t fight his only brother. All of it was readable on James¡¯s face, as clear as day.

    Patrick stood. He had to do something. If James wouldn¡¯t attack Michael, then he had to. Michael could respawn after all, right?

    As soon as Patrick attempted to move, he immediately caved to the urge that told him to run away. Patrick crouched back down, fear and indecision causing him to shake. He stood again, telling himself that that wasn¡¯t who he was anymore. He wasn¡¯t a nerd. He wasn¡¯t a weakling. He wasn¡¯t a coward, and he wasn¡¯t going to run away!

 Chapter 19 - The Chieftainâ€™s Advisor 2

    ¡°We need a proper hut!¡± Frode complained as he entered his new tent. He was wise and intelligent enough not to get caught up in the frivolities of stations, ranks, and seniority, but his current tent just wasn¡¯t conducive to the research he needed to do.

    When Frode didn¡¯t receive a response to his complaint, he realized Dreng wasn¡¯t in the tent. It was early morning, so Frode found it odd the chieftain wasn¡¯t still asleep.

    ¡°Sleep,¡± Frode whispered before continuing his work. It was something he hadn¡¯t gotten since James told him about the spirit vessel. Even though he told James not to worry about the thing, he found that he couldn¡¯t stop worrying about it himself. There was something about it that gnawed at him. It urged him to recall something from his past, yet Frode had no idea what it could be.

    His father did have a spirit vessel, and that spirit vessel behaved in the same way as the one James now had. They were both similar except for one thing. James¡¯s spirit was released. Frode struggled to recall his childhood but had no memory of his father¡¯s spirit ever leaving the vessel.

    ¡°The rain,¡± Frode whispered. The rain was what was different, not the vessels themselves.

    Frode had never seen rain before the first day it fell and knocked the spirit from its vessel. James had explained to everyone that it was natural and that it was merely water.

    ¡°Why has it never rained before then?¡± Frode asked himself, ¡°Have the gods willed it so? Has the arrival of James awoken something in the world that has been in slumber?¡± Frode knew it was all tied together and was determined to figure out how.

    The chieftain¡¯s advisor stomped out of his tent, past the two other Martyr tents, and up to the mountain. He reached out and began to climb the cliff face. He wasn¡¯t too large to use the Tower of Stairs, but large enough that doing so would have increased his growing anxiety. Frode crested the cliff, wiped himself off, and re-gripped his staff as he stood up and took in the sight of the human¡¯s campground. He remarked that the cabin was quite lovely but admitted he wouldn¡¯t want to climb the cliff every time he wanted to get some sleep. The cottage suited the humans well, but he and the rest of the Martyrs still needed an upgrade.

    Frode quickly found the training area the humans had built and tossed his staff from hand to hand, getting a feel for its balance once again. He needed to figure out what the sudden changes in his world meant for his tribe. He needed to prepare for the challenges ahead. He would conduct his research, the Martyr way.

    45 damage done to Training Dummy.

    40 damage done to Training Dummy.

    46 damage done to Training Dummy.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Frode quickened his pace and attacked the dummies faster, but clarity still didn¡¯t come. The training area was undoubtedly useful for gaining experience, but that wasn¡¯t his primary objective. Actual combat cleared his mind. It was one of the many benefits of his race. Other creatures panicked when their lives were on the line, but not his race. They were wise, intelligent, and fearsome.

    Hearty Strength Enhancement - Your strength is increased by 20 for 10 minutes.

    69 damage done to Training Dummy.

    62 damage done to Training Dummy.

    70 damage done to Training Dummy.

    A trickle of sweat fell from Frode''s forehead as his muscles greedily pulsed with their newfound power and yet, the Martyr advisor¡¯s thoughts were still cloudy.

    ¡°Faster,¡± he chanted to himself, ¡°faster!¡±

    Quick Agility Enhancement - Your agility is increased by 20 for 10 minutes.

    The chieftain¡¯s advisor slammed his staff into one training dummy and deftly leaped to another. His heart pounded faster in an attempt to keep up with his exertion, but Frode didn¡¯t let it. He continued to put more strength into every hit and even more speed into every maneuver. He knew he was no match for a surprise Oana attack, but he became a whirlwind of destruction if he had time to cast his enhancements. He was even more effective if he had time to throw his enhancements on another. Frode lost himself in the simplicity of battle.

    Suddenly, a thought interrupted Frode¡¯s trance: Where are the humans?

    Frode panted, his old body threatening to crumble from the combined stress of his recent exertion and the loss of his enhancements. He didn¡¯t much care what the humans were up too since Dreng said he would communicate with them to coordinate town defenses, but he knew he should follow his hunch. It was a part of his class. His shamanistic abilities were born from following his instincts. Frode knew if he cleared his mind with battle, his Martyr and class traits would kick in to give him some insight. With his clue in mind, he began casting.

    Epic Intelligence Enhancement - Your Intelligence is increased by 50 for 10 minutes.

    Frode set off to find the human cubs. Before the aging Martyr could finish searching the cabin, something tugged at the back of his mind, causing him to pause mid-stride. Confusion and excitement intermingled in his body and caused his fur to stand on end. The feeling passed and left him feeling complete. He was on the path to discovery, just like his father had been before him. Frode focused on the feeling in the back of his mind.

    ¡®Greetings, Shaman,¡¯ Frode heard from inside his head.

    He had the urge to glance around to see who was in the cabin but instinctively knew it would have been a waste of his energy. The advisor mentally reached out to the voice, connecting with it.

    ¡®Who are you?¡¯ he asked.

    ¡®I am one of the spirits that protect your world.¡¯

    ¡®You can speak?¡¯ Frode asked.

    He suspected the voice in his head belonged to the spirit vessel, but now it was all but confirmed. It was also evident to Frode that the spirit vessel could speak, but even with his Intelligence enhancement, he couldn¡¯t think of the best way to phrase his many questions. He wanted to know if there were more spirit vessels, if they all could talk, and he wanted to know their real purpose. More than that, he wanted to see if it was possible that his father could speak to his spirit vessel and if that ability was what drove him crazy.

    The spirit whispered back, ¡®Yessssss,¡¯ and the chieftain¡¯s advisor was pulled from his plane of existence - the echoes of his staff hitting the wooden floor the only indication that he was ever there inside the cabin.

 Chapter 20 - The Chieftain 2

    Dreng grunted as he hefted another heavy stone onto the makeshift wall. It sent dust into the air as it settled on top of its brethren before finding a perch. Dreng knew building the wall was a necessity as soon as they were able to mine stone from the mountain. He and James were very clear on that, and surprisingly, they were clear on most other matters of building up the town. The only thing they didn¡¯t reach a quick conclusion on was the division of labor. James wanted to help build the wall, but when he said as much, Dreng just laughed him off. The chieftain was intelligent enough to know that the human just felt bad asking the Martyrs to do all the heavy lifting. It was a feeling the human was going to have to learn to overcome if he was to become a leader. The Martyrs were stronger, taller, and had more endurance than the humans, so they would build the wall. The humans were still growing but had already proved their intelligence and resourcefulness in Dreng¡¯s eyes, even though he had trouble admitting it. That was why Dreng convinced James to invest his time into his party. The chieftain could sense greatness inside them. If his race was going to survive, he would need the human''s help.

    Another grunt and heave later, Dreng had another stone added to the wall - which was slightly taller than the tallest human cub now. A good start, but still not high enough. Dreng jumped onto the wall to get a good view of how much work was ahead. The wall stretched around three sides of the village, and each end met at the mountain. If it weren¡¯t for the archway, they were building they would be completely blocked in. Dreng and James were not sure how they would construct a gate to close the arch since they didn¡¯t have a proper blacksmith but figured they would figure it out when the time came.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Dreng drifted off into thought. He asked himself if he should have built a wall around his old village in the Great Savanna. He shook his head. It wouldn¡¯t have done them any good. The only material they could have made it from was wood, which was very scarce. Even if they did build a wooden wall, it wouldn¡¯t have been strong enough to keep the Oana forces away. Not without the special effects granted to construction completed under the direction of a builder.

    The chieftain once again shook his head and forced himself back into the moment. Getting lost in thought was something he did with greater frequency as he aged, but questioning his decisions wasn¡¯t. Dreng glanced at his stone pile and realized it was almost empty. Ten minutes later he finished walking the entire distance of the wall and realized all the rock piles were low.

    Dreng looked about for the Martyr that was supposed to be getting stone from Patrick and dropping it into the piles. When he didn¡¯t see the Martyr, he cupped his hands to his mouth and hollered out.

    ¡°Where are my stones?¡±

    Two Martyrs immediately came running to him from different locations within the village. They sprinted as fast as they could to his location, one of them almost losing their footing on the odd, pebble-covered ground. Dreng knew he didn¡¯t need to use one of his chieftain class abilities to summon his followers anymore but figured the movement speed they received from it was indeed necessary. The years weighed heavily in his bones these days. He needed to ensure his race was as safe as it could be before he passed, and time wasn¡¯t on his side.

 Chapter 21 - Martyrâ€™s Rage

    James''s vision tunneled to his younger brother. The little boy that was always by his side growing up was replaced with a hulking mass of metal, but there was no doubt it was him. James instinctively stepped forward to ask his brother if he was okay, if he needed help, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

    ¡°James,¡± Frode said as he turned the human cub by the shoulder, ¡°I need you to focus.¡±

    James blinked. Was he back in the village? No, he was in some terrible spirit battleground. They were being attacked. Michael was there. His brother was the fifth enemy hero. His arrival demolished their odds of winning and the mere fact that he was somehow on the enemy team caused James to freeze and mess up the attack signal. James whirled to the tower. All the enemy heroes were attacking the tower, including his brother. James briefly considered calling out to him but was interrupted when a fist-sized object fell from the sky and exploded against Michael¡¯s helm, shoving him to the ground.

    ¡°It must be the Scroll of the Falling Star,¡± James whispered to himself as another star fell and knocked Ogrim to the ground. His party was completing the plan without him. He needed to help and worry about his brother later. He had no idea how Michael got here, but the fact that he was here at all means he could respawn. If Michael saw him and didn¡¯t stop fighting, James would have to just kill him.

    ¡°James!¡± Frode yelled with a surprising amount authority, ¡°Look at me!¡±

    The human cub turned to face the chieftain¡¯s advisor, ¡°What? I need to fight!¡±

    James wasn¡¯t sure how or why Frode was here with them, but he knew he shouldn¡¯t be wasting his time with pleasantries.

    The advisor knelt and reached a large hand out, placing one finger on James¡¯s chest. ¡°I, Frode, Advisor to the Chieftain of the Clan of Honor, Student of might and magic, accept you as our cub.¡±

    James felt a familiar tingle envelope his body as he stood there in confusion. Did Frode never accept him as an adopted Martyr cub before? James¡¯s attention was drawn away to a blinking notification at the bottom of his peripherals. His body screamed at him to turn around and join the fight but he recalled setting up his interface to never bother him unless the information would help him in battle. He mentally reached out to the notification, opening it.

    You have been gifted a mark by the Advisor to the Chieftain of the sole surviving Martyr clan. At the current rank your mark grants you the below special abilities:

    Summon Martyr -Summon one Martyr to your location to assist you in battle. Cooldown, one month.

    Martyr¡¯s Rage -Sacrifice your own lifeblood to temporarily increase your combat prowess. Grants magic immunity and increases physical damage dealt by 25%. Costs1health point per second.

    James did some quick mental math and cursed himself once again for not investing in Constitution. The magic immunity of his new ability would be indispensable for taking on Morga and gave him a renewed hope, but he could only use the ability sparingly because of his low constitution. With 60 health points, he would have a minute to use his ability before it killed him, and that was only if he was at full Health and didn¡¯t take any damage. James knew it would have to do though and counted his blessing that he didn¡¯t go into shock in the spirit battleground... at least not from receiving damage.

    James looked up before he could let the thought of letting his team down get to him. He caught the fading essence of Frode just before the advisor completely disappeared from the spirit battleground. James turned his attention to the fight underway at the middle tower just in time to see Alex deal the final blow to Morga. Torunn let out a sigh of relief as he finally released her limp body from his embrace. So far the plan was progressing nicely, even without James¡¯s signal.

    James activated Jump Strike just in time to see Patrick bowling the enemy team into the tower. Most of the minions were dead, or close to it. James hoped his empowered landing would be enough to finish them off. That way he could focus on the remaining enemy heroes and his brother.

    ¡®Glad to have you back,¡¯ Lilly said telepathically as James crashed into the ground, causing the earth to shutter beneath him. James couldn¡¯t reply. The area was awash with swinging weapons, claws, and the occasional spell. James ducked as Ogrim¡¯s heavy mace passed over his head. He stepped back in an effort to thwart the giant¡¯s perceived counter attack but bumped into a solid body behind him, halting his progress. James couldn¡¯t dodge with everyone so closely grouped. He looked up to Ogrim and could see the giant realized the same thing. Instead of dealing an easy strike to James though, the giant activated his Mace Slam ability and stunned everyone except Lilly and Alex, who managed to Blink away.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    James was left staring in the direction he was facing just before the Ogrim activated his ability, unable to move. His body tingled as it prepared to be struck. Realizing he didn¡¯t want to find out how much damage the enemy team could do with a free five seconds; James activated Martyr¡¯s Rage and broke out of his stunned state. He felt the skin of his back tighten and rip, causing immeasurable pain to course through his body. Instead of falling to the ground and screaming though, the pain awoken an anger inside him that he didn¡¯t know existed. The anger fueled his muscles and honed his intuition. Suddenly, he knew where to strike, who to strike, and when. He saw the battlefield in a new light. It was no longer a blur of colors and pain; it was a puzzle he could solve by decimating everything before him.

    Another cut was born and grew across James¡¯s right arm, bringing more rage along with it. The Martyr skinning knife shot out of James''s sheath to parry Ogrim¡¯s maul. James knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to halt the momentum of the heavy weapon, but instead altered it slightly. Ogrim¡¯s snarl twisted into confusion when he saw that his stunned prey was able to fight back, but he noticed too late and the giant¡¯s blade missed its target. James seized his opportunity and drove his own blade into the unbalanced giant and quickly pulled it out. Gore trailed his blade and followed it into the body of an unsuspecting Prince Kil''Lache. The ethereal creature whirled at the pain and spat out a word of power. James paused for a split second, realizing whatever spell the prince cast had no effect. He smiled, and charged the Prince again.

    You have slain Prince Kil''Lache - 5 souls awarded to the killer and 1 to each assisting party member.

    Torunn and Patrick regained their faculties as the stun faded and James knew he had only been enraged for 5 seconds. The war wasn¡¯t over yet, but they might just win this battle after all. James turned to his brother, who now stood just outside the tower¡¯s range with Ogrim. A smirk formed on James''s manic face. His prey was fleeing.

    ¡°I will not cave to your trickery!¡± Michael cried as he hefted his sword and charged. James was in no mood to inquire what his brother was rambling about. All he knew was that Michael was in the way. James activated Jump Strike and met his brother head on. James landed heavily and stunned Michael, who was a good foot taller than him now. Back in the real world, Michael was still taller than him, but not by such a large margin. James knew his brother had invested a good deal of his points into Strength, much like Patrick.

    ¡°Speaking of the devil,¡± James said out loud as Patrick bowled into Ogrim, knocking him prone. The rest of the party advanced with a crowd of spirit minions to protect them. James and Patrick used the opportunity to do as much damage to the temporarily incapacitated enemies. Mid-strike, James contemplated deactivating his Martyr¡¯s Rage, but the decision not to was quickly made for him. Beholdar reached out from the forest and wrapped a tentacle around James¡¯s torso. James looked in the direction and met the tentacle creature with a smile as it pulled its body within range of James''s blade. Beholdar activated his Gaze ability, fully expecting James to be incapacitated. The magic immunity granted from Martyr¡¯s Rage once again showed its usefulness. James cut the tentacle wrapped around his torso in half and followed it up with a frenzy of attacks to the mass of wriggling tentacles. Beholdar was unable to cancel his worthless gaze to block the attacks and was immediately sent to respawn.

    You have slain Beholdar - 5 souls awarded to the killer and 1 to each assisting party member.

    A party member has slain Ogrim - you have received one soul for assisting in the kill.

    The party converged on Michael, who struggled to get on his feet and behind the approaching wave of undead minions. The action was made awkward by his urgency and heavy plate armor.

    Michael brandished his sword and pointed it at James, ¡°You will not trick me again, Demon! I will defeat you and your brethren, just as I have in the dungeon!¡±

    James deactivated Martyr¡¯s rage and motioned for his party to halt. The desire to send his brother to respawn was still present, but much less prominent. Without the rage active, James felt he could think clearer, but in a different way. Martyr¡¯s Rage caused him to see the path to survival more easily than he had ever seen it before, it cleared the mental fog of battle and allowed him to make split-second decisions, but without it, he realized he saw the path that would allow him to thrive, not just survive. He would have a better life with his brother involved; in fact, it was all he wanted since he entered the game, even before he learned he was trapped in it. He would spend a few precious seconds talking to his brother to find out what he had been through.

    James briefly wondered if he stumbled upon the overall theme of the Martyr race¡¯s demise. They were adept at survival. They somehow managed to live through countless Oana battles, and against all odds, some of them always managed to make it out alive. James had no doubt in his mind that if any other race would have faced the hardships that the Martyrs had, they would be extinct. The Martyrs were survivors. What they didn¡¯t know how to do was thrive. James would have to teach them how to do that.

    ¡°Michael, I am not a demon, I am your brother! I don¡¯t know what demons you speak about, but it is me!¡± James cried out across the clashing minions.

    Michael¡¯s face took on a pained expression. ¡°No! Not again!¡± He charged.

    ¡°Stop!¡± James pleaded as he met his brother¡¯s blade with his own.

    The small Martyr skinning knife and the strength of the person wielding it was not enough to stop Michael''s blade. It continued along its path, pushing James¡¯s blade aside and cut a deep ravine into James¡¯s chest. James fell back, disappointed, and motioned for his party to kill his brother.

 Chapter 22 - Hidden Powers

    The party beat against the Lich¡¯s vessel with everything they had. James¡¯s Martyr Skinning knife, Patrick¡¯s True Iron Maul, Alex¡¯s reinforced fists, Torunn¡¯s claws, and Lilly¡¯s light magic. Everyone was mentally and physically exhausted. It had taken numerous respawns and a few failed strategies, but eventually, the party was able to pull ahead in the spirit battle. Even though only an hour passed outside of the battleground, the party felt more than an entire day¡¯s worth of battle fatigue.

    ¡°Five percent health left!¡± Alex screamed out, ¡°Keep it up!¡±

    James slashed at the spirit vessel with renewed vigor. He wished he had a heavier weapon. His short sword wasn¡¯t substantial enough to do much damage. The reinforced crystal of the vessel resisted its sharp edge, but James refused to slow his pace. The enemy team would respawn any second now and give everything they had in a last-ditch effort to protect their Lich vessel. James¡¯s party barely won the last battle that allowed them to get where they were. He wasn¡¯t keen on fighting another.

    ¡°Four percent left!¡± Alex hollered.

    James tightened his grip on his short sword again. His forearms were numb and struggled to transfer the power generated from his arm to his sword. The harder he swung, the more likely his blade was to bounce from his hand and clatter to the dark stone ground. The upgraded spirit item James made with his Forest Slippers granted a great boon to Health regain, not to mention the Teleport ability that helped him to turn the tide of battle, but what James sorely needed was more energy or mana regain. James had long since exhausted all of his resources, but still needed more. His endurance potions that he looted from a Oana Scout had been useful, but he desperately wished he had more. He didn''t though. He just needed to keep on fighting. Just for a little while longer.

    ¡°Three percent left!¡±

    James glanced at the alcove where a burly and bearded humanoid lumbered about. He was nearly the same height as Noma, but much more human-like. Although Noma didn¡¯t look very human, he certainly looked alive. The creature in the enemy alcove was clearly undead. James idly wondered if being a soul merchant required you to be short. Suddenly, Morga appeared next to the undead soul merchant and let out a howl.

    ¡°You cannot stop us! Your world will be ours!¡± the witch cried as she fired an arrow from her bow. The alcove was only a twenty-second walk from where James¡¯s party attacked the Lich vessel, but luckily it was too far for Morga to use her deadly wand and Morga was in no mood to get within that distance. They had finally killed the witch enough times that she knew better than to fight without her teammates.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± Alex seethed as he pulled out one of Morga¡¯s arrows from his leg. ¡°Two percent left! What''s the plan? Are we going to keep pounding away or should we retreat?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s finish this!¡± Patrick answered.

    James picked his sword up from the ground. He wanted to be done with battle. He longed for the Cabin on the Cliff. Yet, he was practically useless now. His sword strikes were no more than a formality at this point, doing very little damage even when he managed to land a hit. The smart decision was to retreat and regroup. He was about to say as much, but something Morga said angered him. She said our world will be hers. James wasn¡¯t sure why he cared about it so much, but he let the anger fuel his strikes anyway. The world would never be hers. The world wasn¡¯t even his own, yet James knew deep down it needed to remain free and out of her evil hands. Whatever type of oppression the undead wanted to place on it, he would fight. The thought that James and the other humans from Earth would ever return was a distant memory. He was in this world now, whatever that meant, and as long as he had the power to protect it he would.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Congratulations! You have increased your Will. Current level = 6

    The confusion of raising one of his stats without spending a stat point was quickly forgotten when the rest of the enemy team respawned. With the stat increase, James noticed he had access to more energy. He checked his endurance bar. It was still at 0 out of 50, but now the outline of the bar pulsed with green energy. He wondered how it was possible, but didn¡¯t have the time needed to figure it out.

    With his newfound energy, James beat the Lich vessel with his short sword, ¡°I agree with Patrick; let¡¯s finish this!¡±

    The enemy party charged from their alcove to defend their Lich.

    ¡°Less than one percent!¡± Alex announced his words barely comprehensible because of the quickness with which he tried to spit them out.

    James and his party were seconds away from defeating the Lich, yet James could see the enemy team was seconds away from stopping them.

    ¡°Patrick, bulldoze them back into the alcove!¡± James commanded.

    The redhead activated his ability and pushed the enemy back into the alcove. James watched as Patrick turned away to run, but was grabbed by Beholdar.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Lilly cried.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, we almost¡­¡± Alex started to say but was launched into the air, landing harshly on his back. The ground beneath them continued to quake. Huge crevasses opened beneath them, causing Torunn to have to roll so he didn¡¯t fall into the abyss below.

    They won. The lich had been defeated, and now the battleground was crumbling. That was the only explanation that made sense to James. He didn¡¯t know what would happen to everyone once the battleground was destroyed, but he didn¡¯t want to take any chances. James activated Martyr¡¯s Rage and jumped to his brother, wrapping his arms around him, he hung on with everything he had. Light grew from the fissures in the ground. It brightened until James couldn¡¯t see anything. He shut his eyes and continued to squeeze his little brother, but could still see the light growing brighter through his eyelids. James persisted blindly, his only thoughts were those of the light and the thought that he couldn¡¯t let go of his brother. He wouldn''t let go.

    ***

    ¡°Give him up!¡± A feminine voice echoed in James¡¯s ears.

    James winced and carefully began to open his eyes, but couldn¡¯t see anything.

    ¡°No¡­¡± A haunting male voice replied, letting James know he wasn¡¯t being spoken too.

    James turned his head in the direction of the new voice but still couldn¡¯t see anything.

    ¡°He belongs in my world and you know it!¡± the feminine voice replied, her voice growing louder the longer she spoke.

    James turned his head in the direction of her voice this time and saw a light emanating from the direction. The slight panic that he felt over the possibility of being blind faded. A long silence persisted and the room returned to absolute darkness.

    ¡°What will you give me in return?" the male voice curiously inquired.

    The light that emanated from the direction of the feminine voice exploded as the voice spoke again. It allowed James to get his first glimpses of his new surroundings. For the most part, everything was dark for as far as he could see. If it wasn¡¯t for the light he would have thought he was floating in utter emptiness.

    ¡°I do not negotiate with your kind!¡± the feminine voice snapped in response, light lashing out and stretching until it uncovered something else for James to focus on.

    The source of the male voice was the Lich. James was able to catch a quick glimpse of him as the feminine voice''s light lashed out at the Lich. James recognized his ethereal and emaciated face from the vessel. The Lich sat on a throne of bones, casually tapping one of his icy fingers against a glass staff. James¡¯s confusion turned to anger as he saw his brother there, kneeling before the Lich King. Then the light died and utter darkness consumed the scene once again. Still, the sight of Michael snapped James from his trance. Where am I? Why is Michael kneeling before the Lich?

    ¡°Then you shall not have him,¡± the Lich said, unapologetically.

    James realized they were talking about Michael. He opened his mouth to object to the two powers that were fighting for control of his brother, but was quickly shut down.

    Debuff Received - Death¡¯s Kiss - Your soul has been ripped from your body. Minus 90 to all stats. You have one minute to reclaim your soul before it is lost to you forever.

    A cold pain thundered through James¡¯s body. He wanted to cry out but was unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to do anything besides long for his soul.

    ¡°DO NOT touch him!¡± the feminine voice boomed with righteous fervor and light once again consumed.

 Chapter 23 - Delirium

    Each member of the party was spat out of the Spirit Battleground and smacked into the stone wall of the cabin¡¯s basement. Weapons clattered against the ground, followed by the bodies of those wielding them.

    An incoherent murmur of complaints mingled with sighs of relief echoed throughout the basement. James clambered to his feet, his hands probing the side of his head where it collided with the wall. There was some blood, but his health bar confirmed his suspicion that the wound was small.

    ¡°My soul¡­¡± James whispered, remembering what happened after they defeated the Lich Vessel. Having his soul ripped from his body was the single most terrifying experience of his life. James was able to relax slightly when he noticed the debuff was no longer affecting him. Somehow he must have received his soul back. He wondered if it was the light with the feminine voice that got it back for him. He shuddered at the memory. Even if he ended up getting his soul back, it was a memory he would rather forget. Yet, he somehow knew that he would never be able to.

    James previously commended the game designers for their ingenuity in creating a game that allowed the players to feel pain, but now he wasn¡¯t so sure it was an admirable feat. Whether it was or not, they had certainly mastered and evolved the technology into an abomination. What he felt when his soul was ripped from his body wasn¡¯t exactly pain, it was something much more intolerable. He would rather be tortured for an eternity than experience the longing, desperation, and eternal damnation not having a soul for a single second caused. James violently shook the thought away, causing his head wound to throb.

    A small ray of sunlight shone through the rickety wooden door of the basement, partially illuminating James¡¯s party in dusty light. Everyone was silent, perfectly content with gathering themselves and quietly finding a place to sleep. James looked around; half hoping that at least Patrick had a victorious smile on his face. When he realized everyone looked glum, James cleared his throat, intending to cheer them up with a speech. Everyone reluctantly turned to hear what he had to say. James snickered as he watched Lilly, whose tiredness was evident in the fact that she took eight small steps just to turn enough to face him. When everyone¡¯s face was visible, he realized there was someone else in the basement with them.

    James met his brother¡¯s eyes from across the basement. He had no idea what Michael was capable of now, or what he was apt to do in that moment, so James reached for his short sword just in case. James¡¯s eyes widened in alarm as his hands patted against his empty sheath. His sword must have been knocked from his hand when he was ejected from the Spirit Battleground. James quickly decided he would instead speak to his brother, and felt a tinge of guilt that that wasn¡¯t his first reaction. The guilt quickly faded as James watched his brother¡¯s eyes fall to the Martyr skinning knife that lay on the ground between them, bathed in the light coming from the door. The two brothers met with a hesitant gaze before diving for the short sword.

    Michael, who was now bigger and stronger than his older brother, won the scramble and in turn, won the short sword. He stood back and threateningly pointed the blade in the direction of the party. James got to his feet and realized Michael no longer wore his heavy plate armor from the Spirit Battleground. He looked more like how James remembered him, more human. Memories of their childhood flooded James and he couldn¡¯t help but feel hopeful. Hopeful that no matter what Michael had gone through since he had been in the game, they would be okay. They made it through life even after their parents died when they were young, and they would do the same now.

    ¡°What is this trickery?¡± Michael snarled.

    James gave his best attempt at a welcoming smile, which was difficult due to the sword pointed at him, ¡°This isn¡¯t a trick. I really am your brother.¡±

    Michael lowered his eyelids and studied each member of the party individually, ¡°No. Not again,¡± he whispered.

    ¡°Do you remember that ti-¡± James¡¯s words were cut off as Michael charged. Luckily, every member of James¡¯s party was out of patience and already preparing to subdue Michael so they could go to sleep. They caught Michael before he could even take a step.

    ¡°Be careful with him!¡± James shouted as his party disarmed and subdued his brother.

    ***

    ¡®James...¡¯ A voice whispered, causing James to stir from within his fur pile. ¡®James.¡¯

    James looked around the cabin, but everyone was asleep in fur piles of their own. The only person he knew that could speak to him telepathically while outside of the spirit battleground was the spirit herself.

    ¡®We won your battle. What do you want now?¡¯ he asked, still exhausted.

    ¡®I want to rest now, James.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, well so do I.¡¯ James scoffed at the spirit inside his head. Talking telepathically to a spirit felt natural to James now, but he knew it was anything but. He wondered if this would be his new normal. Frode would eventually heal the psychosis debuff that afflicted his brother and that was all James really cared about right now. He certainly wanted to know what happened in the real world, but it was more of just a curiosity now. If he was being truthful with himself, he had no desire to go back to the real world. Between his party members and the Martyrs he felt like he had more family and friends here than he ever did on Earth. Now that he finally found his brother, the only thing he really wanted to do was protect what he had in this world.

    ¡®I know,¡¯ the spirit said with her feminine voice, ¡®and I thank you for freeing me from the Spirit Battle, but there are some things you must know, and some things you must do before I can finally leave this world.¡¯

    James sighed. For once, he wasn¡¯t in the mood to get answers, but he knew he shouldn¡¯t dismiss the opportunity when they were so easily offered, ¡®What happened after we destroyed the Lich vessel? Where you the one that saved my soul and my brother from the Lich?¡¯The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ the spirit whispered. ¡®When you destroyed the Lich Vessel, the Spirit Battleground no longer had a purpose. We were thrown from that plane of existence, and my mission to fend off the Lich was completed. Under normal circumstances, you would have been rewarded and I would have finally been able to leave this world. Except the Lich tried to keep your brother...¡¯

    James nodded as he sat upright in his fur pile and waited for the spirit to continue. He could easily have lay back down, but his nerves didn''t allow it.

    ¡®I regained some of my memories when the Lich vessel was destroyed, but even I do not know why or how your kind has entered this world. What I do know, is that you all have an important part to play here. That is why I saved your brother.¡¯

    James tensed at the spirit¡¯s ability to recognize that he wasn¡¯t from this world. ¡®What are you?¡¯

    ¡®I am the spirit of a Mystic, James. It is as simple and as complicated as that. Long ago, ten of the world''s strongest Mystics sacrificed their lives to lock away the evil in this world. We couldn¡¯t defeat the evil outright, so we created the Spirit Battlegrounds. Ten enemy factions and ten Mystic spirits locked away in a spell that you call the Spirit Battleground.¡¯

    ¡®So, there are 9 more spirit vessels and spirit battlegrounds? What will become of them?¡¯

    ¡®Yes. The other spirit vessels will fail if given enough time. They were never meant to be a permanent solution.¡¯

    James¡¯s face took on a pained expression, ¡®So you need me to enter the other 9 Spirit Battlegrounds and defeat the enemies within?¡¯

    ¡®No, sweet thing.¡¯ The spirit chuckled. It was the most humanity James had seen from the spirit other than when she saved his soul from the Lich, ¡®I just needed to make sure the story of the Mystics¡¯ sacrifice is not forgotten. However, I do suspect that this will not be the last time you will hear of the spirit vessels. I cannot ask you to seek them out and destroy them, but the evil contained within the vessels will eventually be unleashed on the world.¡¯

    James nodded solemnly. The only thing he wanted to be responsible for was protecting what he had here. His party and the Martyrs made up his new family. He didn¡¯t want to lose that, and if the evil locked away in the Spirit Vessels threatened that, he would have to deal with them eventually. The only problem James had was that he wasn¡¯t in the position to search for the vessels yet. He needed to secure the town and make sure the Martyrs were protected. James might have been immortal, but not everyone in his newly adopted family was.

    ¡®Why will the other spirit vessels fail?¡¯ he asked.

    ¡®Over a long enough period of time, the Mystic Spirits will lose their battles. We spent the majority of our power creating the battlegrounds. This means that the majority of us are less powerful than the evil we fight. The only thing keeping evil from escaping any vessel immediately are our time slowing spells.¡¯

    ¡®How much time do you think that will take?¡¯ James asked, even though he had already decided he was going to invest whatever time was necessary to build up his defenses.

    ¡®It is hard to say. I thought we would have another century or so, but things are more complicated now. Do you remember when I was jarred from my vessel?¡¯

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ James replied solemnly. ¡®It was the day the dead rose, and Lilly lost her family and her town.¡¯

    ¡®It is possible that that will happen to other Spirit Vessels.¡¯

    ¡®How?¡¯ James asked. ¡®I mean, how would that even happen? I¡¯m not even really sure how you were knocked out.¡¯

    The spirit paused for a while, so James looked around the cabin to see if anyone was awake. He couldn¡¯t see everyone in the darkness, but the few he did manage to see from the meager light emanating from the embers in the fireplace were completely knocked out. Torunn had slept in the cabin and was spread across his fur pile, looking rather uncomfortable as usual. Even though he was here because Frey kicked him out, James was still happy to have him close by. James would like it even more if Michael was here as well, but it was clear his brother would be safest with the Martyrs. Frode would attempt to heal him, and if Michael ever managed to attack he wouldn''t be able to do much damage to the adult Martyrs.

    ¡®I am not entirely sure how I was knocked from my vessel, James. When I was alive my strongest mastery was that of water. When you arrived, it rained for the first time in this world. I suspect that I sensed the nearby water and was drawn to it. It is entirely possible that the same thing will happen to other vessels. Each Mystic was a master of a different element. If it does happen, the evil will be able to escape much sooner than a century.¡¯

    James thought on that. It was probably lucky his party was around this specific water vessel. If anyone else was around, the Lich''s undead forces would have been able to slowly enter the game world. James shuddered at the thought. Still though, if the only way for something like that to happen again was if a spirit vessel just happened to come in contact with the preferred element of the spirit inside it, that meant the chances were low. If one of the ten mystics Salmaana had been discussing had a high mastery of fire, it was unlikely that that mystic¡¯s vessel would be engulfed in fire. It was possible, but still less likely than rain. This all meant that James probably had some time to build up his village before he had to worry about another spirit vessel, unless of course, one of the element masteries of this world was earth or dirt or something. If that was the case then it was highly likely the corresponding spirit would be drawn to that essence and leave the vessel, allowing the evil contained within to escape. James asked if that was possible, but was shut down by the spirit, who merely replied that she didn''t have enough time to explain the vast mysteries of magic.

    ¡®Okay then. I will build my defenses and keep an eye out for any vessels in my eventual travels. What else do you require of me?¡¯ James asked before immediately remembering the mention of a reward. ¡®You mentioned a reward?¡¯

    ¡®Yes, you will be rewarded with my remaining power as I am sent off to slumber. However, I am afraid it may not be much. Saving your brother from the Lich King was not easy for me. It required much of my souls to summon that much power.¡¯

    ¡®Wait¡­¡¯ James said confused. ¡®What do you mean your souls? And the Lich is still alive?¡¯

    ¡®Yes, and yes. You will find out more about your rewards after I am released from this plane. I also mentioned that you needed to do something before I could be released. We Mystics were powerful, but even we could not erase evil from this world entirely. For me to be released, you must place a portal to the Lich King¡¯s realm.¡¯

    James blinked. ¡®What¡¯s the point of that? That makes everything we accomplished pointless!¡¯

    ¡®No, James. Your accomplishments were still a huge win. The magic we used was complicated and risky, but we had no choice but to do what we did. The Lich King will not be able to enter this world through the portal, but anyone on this side will be able to enter his realm through it. The magic does not allow for us to sever his connection to this world entirely. I have done my duty and I need to rest now. You need to build the portal to release me.¡¯

    ¡®But why? What spell did you use? Can I learn it?¡¯

    ¡®That is a question you can ask another spirit if you come across one.¡¯ The feminine voice paused for a moment. ¡®It is time. I must go. Use your Town Builder interface to construct the portal. Release me¡­ James¡­¡¯

 Chapter 24 - Portal

    James mentally asked the spirit a few more questions but got no response in return. He sighed, realizing she must be too weak to communicate with him and that he would have to build the portal as soon as possible. He was a little worried that the reward he got would be smaller if he waited too long, but the fact that Salmaana returned his soul and his brother to him was what ultimately made him get out of his fur pile. He had an idea of where the portal should go but had no idea how to actually build it.

    Mentally pulling up his town builder interface, James perused the options looking for something that would help him out. The last time he used the interface he just selected an empty lot on the overlay and a pop up appeared with the buildings that were available to him. However, when James selected the empty lot that Patrick created by digging into the mountain, no portal option became available in his interface. James sat back down into his fur pile, realizing he was at an impasse. He needed to learn the ins and outs of his town builder interface and he needed to do it as soon as possible.

    James let the town builder overlay cover his vision as he laid his head back. The bird¡¯s eye view of the village was semi-transparent but didn¡¯t seem to be any less visible, even though it was dark in the cabin. After a few sleepy minutes, he found out that to build things he needed to have the building materials within his zone of control. The interface would automatically calculate what he could build with the materials he had available and show the option when he mentally clicked on an empty lot. He found this out by mentally clicking on the empty lots below the cliff. When he did so a list of available buildings popped up. It was clear that he could build a few shacks on multiple lots, one cabin on one lot, or something called a Sculptor¡¯s Hovel. The limiting factor keeping him from building them all was wood. James suspected that if he got a wider range of materials in his zone of control he would be able to build a wider variety of unique buildings.

    Sculptor¡¯s Hovel - Allows a crafter to create sculptures that give unique bonuses to the area of control they reside in.

    James hadn¡¯t had a chance to talk to Dreng yet, so he wasn¡¯t sure what the Martyrs were currently working on. Because of this he refrained from selecting the build button. The fact that this village had access to stone, and both Lilly and Alex had crafting classes now, meant that this building was a high priority. Yet, James needed to worry about building the portal first. His tinkering with the interface told him that he just didn¡¯t have the required materials to build it yet, as he could only see the material requirements for buildings he already had the materials for. In fact, he was realizing that it was more of a building cost, than a building requirement.

    James shook his head in frustration. ¡°There¡¯s got to be another way."

    He thought back to the games he played in the real world. The ones that had any sort of crafting usually had recipes that he could find. He hadn¡¯t seen any recipes in the game so far, but then again, he hadn¡¯t even explored the whole savanna yet. James recalled the strange book that Lilly had with the unknown lettering. It was possible that it was a recipe of some sort, but he wasn¡¯t able to read it so it wouldn¡¯t do him any good at the moment.

    Out of options, James mentally reached out to Salmaana again. ¡®I don¡¯t know how to build the portal. Is there a recipe or material list or something?¡¯

    A whisper echoed inside James¡¯s head in reply, but he couldn¡¯t make out what it was saying. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing.

    ¡®Smash... the vessel¡­ Break it¡­¡¯

    ¡°I have to break the vessel? Are you sure?¡± James asked out loud. He waited a long while in his fur pile before deciding he wasn¡¯t going to get a confirmation. With a sigh, James stood up and headed to get the spirit vessel from the basement. Smashing the vessel would surely remove the time slowing advantage he had. James hated that fact, but knew he had to do it anyway. If Salmaana needed it, he would do it. She had sacrificed enough already. Losing his time slowing effect was a small sacrifice in comparison.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ***

    James stood in the small cave that Patrick had created behind the training area. He chose this location so it could be walled off with stone. Allowing a portal with unknown properties to be built in his village still gave him an uneasy feeling, so he would make sure that it would be protected and out of sight. Hopefully he could seal it behind a strong door at some point. Besides, it probably wasn¡¯t smart to dig much deeper into the mountain without reinforcements in place anyway. Patrick would have to find another location to mine, but James didn¡¯t think it would be a problem. There were many more places on the mountain that could be mined that would actually extend the plateau he stood on, without risking a dangerous cave in.

    James raised the large ornate jar over his head; it glinted as the first rays of sunlight reflected off its jeweled surface.

    ¡°I hope this works,¡± James said, seconds before he slammed the fragile creation into the stone ground.

    James closed his eyes at the moment of impact just in case any shrapnel exploded into his face. The vessel hit the ground with a soft shatter. Not knowing what to expect, James let one of his eyelids slowly rise. When he saw that nothing spectacular happened and no shrapnel hit his face he let out a sigh, partly from relief and partly from disappointment. James reached out to Salmaana and felt an emptiness in his mind where her presence once resided. She was gone.

    ¡°Goodbye, spirit. Thank you for your sacrifice,¡± James whispered to the wind, hoping his goodbye would somehow reach the spirit. ¡°Now, how do I build this portal?¡±

    James thought something would fall out of the vessel that he would be able to use to construct the portal. When nothing did, he opened his builder interface to see if he could find a clue there.

    Consecrated Land - A small plot of land that has been infused with an unknown spell. Would you like to activate the spell?

    James spaced out for a second. Was it as easy as that? He mentally replied yes to his interface, which still felt awkward to do, and the ground beneath him started to rumble. Spikes protruded from the ground where he smashed the vessel and slowly grew taller. James cautiously stepped closer to get a look at the material. It looked like the same metal his brother wore in the spirit battleground at first. Upon closer inspection, James realized it wasn¡¯t a metal he had ever seen before. It looked more like the hardened remains of a charred tree. When the largest spike reached two feet in length a half circle grew underneath it.

    ¡°What the whaaat?¡± James whispered as he got a full view of the portal.

    The sinister black material formed a spiked circle that violently protruded from the ground. Inside the circle, a dark purple gas shimmered and waved about. James unconsciously took a step closer to the portal. He squinted his eyes in the hope of seeing beyond the gas, but it only gave him glimpses of what may lie on the other side. Human-like figures formed and dispersed as the gas whirled around. The purple became so dark in spots that it looked almost black. Suddenly, another figure appeared, this time much more clear. He recognized it immediately as his brother. James''s heartbeat quickened as he glanced to the Martyr tent where he swore his brother resided. Another swirl of dark purple coalesced next to his brother and solidified into another form. This time, it was Torunn.

    James quickly asked himself where Torunn was before remembering he was asleep in the cabin. He was splayed across his fur pile sleeping like a rock. James wondered if the portal was intentionally messing with him. He watched as the two figures interacted. The different shades of purple that made up the two figures started to move violently. James watched the portal in awe as Torunn bared his teeth and tackled Michael. James¡¯s brother fell limp as Torunn¡¯s teeth dug into his neck.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± James gasped as gaseous Torunn met James¡¯s eyes and gave a mischievous grin. Torunn sunk his weight into his legs and charged James. The purple gas that made up the Martyr cub grew larger, making it seem like he was actually getting closer to James. When the form of Torunn grew to his real-life size it exploded from the portal, knocking James onto his back. James lashed out with all of his limbs, utterly startled and scared for his life. He pushed Torunn off of his body and threw him against the rock wall of the partial cave. If Torunn really just came from the portal did that mean he had really just killed Michael?

    James angrily stood to confront the Martyr cub he once considered his game brother. In the place where Torunn should have been, lay a small greenish-brown creature. It wore what looked like a fur coat. James slowly reached out his hand to turn the creature over to get a good look at it. The unconscious creature jingled as James turned it to face him.

    ¡°Noma?¡±

 Chapter 25 - Soul Merchant

    James studied the limp body of the soul merchant. The last time he saw Noma was in the spirit battleground. The odd green creature took in souls and traded them for powerful soul weapons. For some reason, James thought the creature was just a construct of the spirit battleground''s magic. It was clear that wasn¡¯t actually the case though. Noma was real and he was here, in James¡¯s small village at the edge of the Great Savanna. The fact that he was here also meant that the portal was messing with him. Noma burst through the portal, but the purple gas made it seem like it was Torunn. James suddenly felt bad for his brother. If the portal to the dungeon was able to manipulate James so easily, he was sure the actual denizens of the realm beyond it could do much worse to someone.

    James lowered his ear to Noma¡¯s chest to make sure he was breathing. The creature was alive, just unconscious. James gently shook Noma in an effort to wake him. He figured anyone that wore decadent furs and dealt in the trade of rare equipment wouldn¡¯t take too kindly to being carried like a child. Still, James didn¡¯t want to stay by the portal any longer. He wanted to wake up Patrick and possibly Dreng so they could seal off the cave and thereby the portal.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Salmaana say the Lich wouldn¡¯t be able to exit the portal?¡± James asked himself, trying to recall her words. He thought nothing at all would be able to exit the portal, not counting anyone that entered it from this side. James gulped at the thought that he might have endangered everything he was trying to protect by allowing the portal to be built in his village. Hopefully, Salmaana just meant that no evil forces would be able to escape the portal. Noma didn¡¯t come across as an evil creature. Possibly a little creepy in the way he would somehow extend his legs to bring his face super close to someone else''s face, but definitely not evil.

    ¡°Okay, little buddy. Gonna have to carry ya,¡± James warned the unconscious Noma as he bent over to pick him up.

    Noma felt light in James¡¯s arms but was still difficult to carry. His body seemed to undulate, the heaviest part of Noma was his torso, but James swore his center of gravity was constantly changing. This caused James to almost drop Noma multiple times on the way into the cabin as his weight would suddenly shift without warning.

    ¡°What are you?¡± James asked in awe as he laid Noma down in an extra fur pile inside the cabin. James looked around at the perfectly lit cabin and was reminded that he needed to find a way to invent glass or something. Admittedly, it was a task for another day. There were plenty of other things James needed to worry about, and besides, it wasn''t like the nights were too cold anyway.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be honest here,¡± Patrick said from behind James, startling him. ¡°That is a goblin.¡±

    James tried to conceal the fact that he jumped at Patrick¡¯s voice but knew he had failed when he saw the smirk on the redhead¡¯s face.

    ¡°Jesus, man. It has been a crazy morning; don¡¯t sneak up on me.¡±

    ¡°I am a big dude. If I ever manage to sneak up on anyone it is almost certainly not on purpose.¡± Patrick laughed heartily.

    James nodded. Patrick wasn¡¯t wrong. James was just too lost in his own thoughts about Noma and his growing to-do list to pay any attention to his surroundings.

    "So you think he is a goblin?¡± James asked.

    Patrick glanced at Noma and back to James, ¡°I have only ever seen them in movies obviously, but that definitely looks like a goblin.¡±

    ¡°I am not¡­ A GOBLIN!¡± Noma goblined, causing everyone else in the cabin to wake up.

    Patrick and James¡¯s eyes both widened. James put his hands up to shield himself from the fuming not-goblin.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡± James began to say, but his words trailed off as he watched Noma bubble and transform right in front of his eyes.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Noma belted out, his voice growing considerably deeper as his limbs lengthened and thickened. The soul merchant grew in size, proportionate to his anger.

    Suddenly, Torunn, who was nonchalantly stretching in his fur pile just moments ago, leapt on all fours and ran out of the cabin, choosing to jump out the glass-less window instead of slowing down to open the door. James had no time to comment on his game brother¡¯s cowardly choices as Noma was quickly growing too big for the cabin. Patrick tried and failed, to talk Noma down as the rest of the party scrambled to get out of the way of the growing green body.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Alex yelled out, his confusion and tiredness turning into anger. Lilly grabbed his hand and pulled him to James.

    ¡°I think we need to leave,¡± she said with a glance as she and Alex left the cabin. Patrick and James followed immediately after.

    ***

    James stood just outside the cabin¡¯s door, looking out over the cliff. His party all stood, facing him. Their body language told James they were angry. He didn¡¯t blame them; he wasn¡¯t exactly having a good morning either, but at least they got an hour or two of sleep more than he did. James ignored their glares and locked on to a motion he caught from the corner of his vision. Frey was running up to the cliff from the lower part of the village. Suddenly, Torunn soared through the air and into the window of the cabin.

    James took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. If Frey was here that means she was saving his ass again. He would have to enter the cabin and see if Torunn needed a hand. Taking one more deep breath, James turned and opened the cabin door.

    Inside, Noma¡¯s body was still a pulsing mass of growing and shrinking limbs, but now he took up less room in the cabin. Torunn was reaching into a satchel and pulling out shiny objects, handing them to Noma¡¯s greedy hands. James quietly whistled to get his game brother¡¯s attention, who waved him away. It was clear that Torunn had this under control. Relieved, James left the cabin again.

    Frey sat at the edge of the cliff and faced the cabin. She met James¡¯s eyes as soon the door to the cabin closed behind him.

    ¡°Where did that Prakx come from?¡± she inquired gently.

    Patrick coughed, ¡°So he¡¯s not a goblin?¡±

    Frey turned her attention to Patrick, ¡°I don¡¯t know what a goblin is, but the creature inside your cabin is a Prakx.¡±

    ¡°His name is Noma. He helped us.¡± James interjected, ¡°What is happening to him?¡±

    Frey met James¡¯s eyes again, ¡°The Prakx are a¡­ complicated race. They grow larger when they are sick or angry, turning into giant creatures of destruction. If they stay in that form for too long it becomes permanent while they slowly lose their intelligence, often wandering the world with no logical goals in mind. Vagrant Prakx are often destroyed whenever they can be.¡±

    James ignored the comments from Patrick about goblins turning into trolls. ¡°What is Torunn doing to him?¡±

    ¡°Torunn found me and told me about what happened in the spirit battleground. Noma traded you soul items, yes?¡±

    James nodded in confirmation.

    ¡°Well, souls and soul weapons are very valuable. They can corrupt a person. I think your Noma is having withdrawals. I instructed Torunn to give him some of our gold.¡± Frey paused and listened to her surroundings, ¡°Considering the lack of noise coming from the cabin I think it successfully calmed him down.¡±

    James contemplated Frey¡¯s words as everyone else returned to their fur piles. Noma was familiar with his party so he was comfortable letting them mingle, at least for a minute. James walked up to the seated Martyr that welcomed him into the tribe.

    ¡°You mentioned that Torunn was giving Noma gold. What did you mean?¡± James asked. Gold was never mentioned before in the game world. He was curious to see how it was used here.

    ¡°Before the Great Exodus, my people were numerous. We lived in a beautiful and sprawling village. It was so large that it would take you a full day to walk from one side to the other, and that was just if you stayed on the ground level. It would take a week if you wanted to visit every building. Mesas grew from the ground at varying heights. We built buildings on top of them and connected them with rope bridges,¡± Frey trailed off in remembrance.

    James stood, listening intently to her story. He knew that the village they lived in before the Oana attacked the first time was large, but he never truly grasped the magnitude.

    Frey began again, ¡°Anyway, how do you think we built such a magnificent village?¡±

    James shrugged, not expecting to be asked a question. He honestly, wanted to hear more stories about the great village. He was in no rush to return to his party and explain how Noma got here. Hopefully, if he stayed with Frey long enough Noma would just tell them all what happened. He could always get the story later.

    ¡°Humans,¡± Frey whispered. ¡°Humans traded with us. They helped us build our structures and bridges. They gave us tools and helped us fortify our position within the Great Savanna. That gold is all that is left of our relationship with the humans. It serves no use to us now, other than to be a step-down drug for Noma.¡±

    James tilted his head in confusion, ¡°But don¡¯t you guys usually hate humans?¡±

    Frey nodded, ¡°Dreng certainly does. When the Oana attacked, our elders at the time called upon the humans for aid. They never came, and my people were decimated. Dreng has never forgiven them¡­¡±

    Suddenly it all made sense. James now understood why it was such a big deal when Dreng accepted him into the tribe. He now understood why the Martyrs never could build up a defensible place to live, ¡°Martyr¡¯s don¡¯t get the town builder skill? Do they?¡± James asked.

    Frey shook her head. ¡°Not as often as humans do. Every race has their strengths and weaknesses, James. That is why I believe it is important to work together. That is why I stood bleeding by my words to adopt you.¡±

    James nodded, soaking up her words into the core of his being. She is wise. And when she defended her claim to adopt me, she was fearsome.

 Chapter 26 - Cold

    James stood on the top of a guard tower and wiped the sweat from his brow. The village was coming along well. The wall was finished and was so tall now that even an adult Martyr couldn¡¯t easily climb it. They would have to build ramparts and stairs next so that the walls could be manned. The guard towers were unfortunately too far back from the wall, causing a blind spot for the Martyrs that stood guard. If the Oana managed to sneak through the Great Savanna undetected they would have free roam of the land on the other side of the wall and the guards would have no clue.

    James recalled the conversation he had with Frey earlier that day. She said they once lived in a village where tall buildings were connected by rope bridges. Maybe they could build a bridge like that to the wall. It would solve their blind spot problem with much fewer resources. It might also give some reprieve to the Martyrs that were starting to complain of being trapped.

    Before James visited the guard tower, he met with Dreng to check on his brother. The chieftain said that the Martyrs got increasingly antsy as the wall grew higher. They were used to wide open spaces and plenty of room to amble about. James couldn¡¯t blame them; Martyrs were big creatures. Dreng wanted to continue discussing building plans but James didn¡¯t have the capacity. He asked that they meet again the next day and that for today all they needed to do was seal off the portal. James was relieved that he didn¡¯t have to explain the portal to the chieftain as Frode had already briefed him on the subject.

    Dreng conceded, sensing the worry in James, and told him about his brother. He said that Michael was strong, even stronger than James and Patrick combined, but he was still struggling to free his mind from the delirium. When Dreng saw the worry on James''s face grow, he called Frode into the meeting, anticipating that the human cub would have an assortment of questions he couldn¡¯t answer himself. Dreng was right. James bombarded Frode with questions as the advisor struggled to keep up. In the end, it was clear that everything that could be done for his brother was being done. If Michael was going to recover, he would have to do the rest himself.

    James watched the sun go down from on top of the guard tower. He had a long day, made longer by the fact that he still didn¡¯t get the opportunity to sleep off the weariness he felt from the spirit battleground. James hoped that tonight he would be able to get a full night''s rest. He exhaled the stress from his body.

    ¡°Okay. Michael is safe and being cared for...¡± James said to himself as he counted his completed tasks on his fingers. ¡°The village is safe for the time being, the portal is blocked off and inaccessible, and I will need to talk to Noma later, but for now, I can relax. What better way to relax than to spend some stat points?¡± James pulled up his interface and navigated to his statistics page.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 19

    Constitution, Level 8 ¨C Controls how much health you have

    Strength, Level 6 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size

    Endurance, Level 5 ¨C Controls how much energy you have

    Agility, Level 5 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage

    Will, Level 6 ¨C Controls how low your HP can drop before you go into shock, and affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves

    Intelligence, Level 30 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have

    Wisdom, Level 27 - Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more

    Health, 80

    Endurance, 50

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± James murmured.

    It seems he didn¡¯t gain any experience from the spirit battleground. All of his stats were the same as just before he went into the battleground, including the 2 points of Constitution he gifted to himself. Considering how much work he had put into fighting for the spirit, James was pretty disappointed.

    ¡°Did we really do all that work for nothing?¡± James asked himself. ¡°No¡­¡± he admitted reluctantly. He knew better than that. Just because he didn¡¯t get anything tangible from helping the spirit didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t the right thing to do. Helping a century-old water mage that sacrificed her life to protect the world was enough. Besides, the spirit didn¡¯t give him much of an option, so there was no use in complaining.

    James¡¯s frown quickly turned into a smile when he remembered that Salmaana said he would get a reward for helping her.

    ¡°You¡¯re terrible.¡± James chastised himself for the irony.

    He knew he should feel satisfied just from doing the right thing, but there was nothing quite like a shiny and useful item he could hold in his hands. James decided to finish looking for updates in his interface before he went to talk to Noma. If anyone knew how to get Salmaana¡¯s reward it would be him.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    James glanced over his statistics page again and noticed the description for Will had changed. It now said that it affected his ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves. That must have been how he had got the surge of energy that allowed him to keep swinging his Martyr skinning knife at the Lich vessel back in the spirit battleground. He had been exhausted, but if he would have given up at that moment, Ogrim and the other enemy heroes would have won the battle. James was certain that was the gist of what happened, but he would certainly need to discover the intricacies of the statistic. If he would have kept trying to cast firebolts at the vessel instead would he have tapped into a reserve of mana? How large were the reserves was he able to access, and how exactly did he access them? These questions would need to be answered.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed Level 30 in Intelligence! You can now inspect the buildings of other towns and learn how to build them.

    James tilted his head. That was two things today that told him he needed to explore the world - first the human currency of gold coins and now this.

    ¡°How big is this world?¡± James asked as he stared out across the Great Savanna.

    It stretched on further than his eyes could see. He had done a decent amount of exploring and still only reached one end of the Great Savanna. How many days would he have walked before the Savanna ended if he went in the opposite direction? More importantly, what was on the other side of this mountain? James turned his head from the Savanna and studied the mountain. Its peaks were mostly covered in clouds. He could probably climb it a little if he wanted but there was no way he would be able to get high enough to get over them. If he wanted to see what was one the other side of the mountain range, which he did, he would have to find a way around.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 6 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 6% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 19 ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 19% while skinning. Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%

    Cooking, Level 22 (4 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 22% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 22%

    Fire, Level 18 (6 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 18%

    Short Swords, Level 26 (5 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 26%

    Short Sword Ability ¡°Jump Strike¡±, Level 12 (2 levels gained recently) - Chance to stun 80% (25% + 5%/lvl)

    Short Sword Augment - Tremor - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for 1 second

    Dual Wield, Level 1 - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 1%. Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 59% for both weapons

    Small Shields, Level 13 - Chance to fully deflect or block an attack increased by 23% (10% + 1%/lvl)

    Party Leader. Level 6 (4 levels gained recently) - Damage taken by party members reduced by 6% (1%/lvl)

    James gasped. Before he entered the spirit battleground his skills were progressing extremely slowly - even with the training ground. This and the fact that he was growing depressed over not knowing were his brother was, made him practically forget about his skills. He was training just for the benefit of clearing his thoughts in an effort to not go crazy. He succeeded in not going crazy, but that wasn¡¯t the only benefit. He actually had some skill progression now! James mourned for his party members that didn¡¯t invest in Wisdom early on. Skill progression slowed so drastically that he wouldn¡¯t be surprised if his party members only gained a level or two in some of their skills.

    James resolved to talk to his party again about investing in Wisdom and let a smile cover his face. He was getting quite the formidable skills list. His highest skill, the short sword, now had its own list below it, complete with augments and sub-skills. He would have to find another short sword soon so he could grow his dual wield ability. That would be his highest priority when it came to his personal growth. He also had to get a grasp on what the town needed to build next and get an idea of how Alex and Lilly¡¯s crafting skills worked.

    ¡°So much to do, so little time.¡± James sighed as he watched the last vestiges of light disappear across the Great Savanna. He mentally minimized his shield skill, willing his interface to hide it next time he brought up his skills list. If he was going to be fully invested in dual wield he didn¡¯t want to worry about shields. Besides, he made the decision to drop the skill a long time ago when he chose the stat boost instead of the option that would improve the skill.

    James had one more notification blinking inside his interface. He opened it and smiled, ¡°Finally something else to cook!¡±

    Congratulations! Your cooking skill has surpassed Level 20. You can now choose from the below 2 recipes.

    Recipe 1- Spiced Cider, Increases morale by 10 for 30 minutes.

    Recipe 2- Travelling Wine, Increases morale by 2 for 2.5 hours.

    ¡°Hmm, the cooking skill includes drinks as well?¡± James wondered. He was hoping he would get another food recipe. He wanted something that would give him a higher stat boost but would honestly take anything other than roasted Ingo meat and Tucca. That was an exaggeration though. He had the grain that they fashioned into a sort of meal or porridge. It didn''t give any stat boosts and was a distraction from the Ingo, but honestly tasted horrible. It was clear that to cook good food in this world; James needed to have a recipe from his cooking skill. He could always just randomly cook something, but it always turned out bland, burnt, or inedible if he didn''t have a cooking recipe for it.

    James¡¯s thoughts were interrupted when he realized he was cold. The hair on his arms perked up and he used his arms to warm them. James was utterly confused at the feeling. He had been chilled once when he stayed in the rain too long, but this was the first time he actually felt cold, cold. He quickly chose the Spiced Cider recipe that increased morale by what he assumed was a huge margin for a short amount of time. He figured he already had something that gave him a long-term buff but was admittedly disinterested in the decision at this point. He was freezing!

    James turned around, opening the trap door to the makeshift guard tower and climbing down. He rushed back to the cabin, eager to warm himself in front of the fire.

 Chapter 27 - A Warm Hearth

    James burst into the Cabin on the Cliff, bumping into Lilly as he entered.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± James apologized.

    Lilly released her grasp on James''s shoulder after gaining her balance and smiled, ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s cold out there, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, what''s with that?¡±

    Lilly shrugged and finished handing Alex a plank of wood. Alex took it and used it to board up the window. James walked over to the fire, where Noma was sitting in a fur pile. James mentally ticked off investing glass from his to-do list and sat down next to the soul merchant. He originally wanted to wait to cover the window until he found something transparent to do it with, but it was just way too cold out not to cover it. It would stink that they would lose the sunlight, but James was willing to sacrifice it if it meant staying warm.

    ¡°Hey, Noma," James said to the Prakx.

    Noma turned. ¡°Hello, James."

    ¡°Uh, so how are you doing?¡± James asked hesitantly. The poor Prakx was ejected from the spirit battleground, knocked out, and then enraged enough that he exploded into a hulking behemoth that almost destroyed the cabin. Put simply, Noma had a tough time and James wasn¡¯t sure about the mood he would be in.

    ¡°I am well,¡± Noma replied proudly as he adjusted his fur coat. ¡°It is going to snow soon, huh?¡±

    James blinked. He never considered that it would snow, especially so close to the Great Savanna - which had never even gotten rain until just recently.

    ¡°How do you know about snow?¡± James asked, ¡°I thought it never even rained in this world.¡±

    Noma scoffed. ¡°It might never rain on The Great Savanna, but we have weather elsewhere in this world.¡±

    James was intrigued. He was curious about the world beyond the Great Savanna and had so many questions he didn¡¯t know where to begin. Luckily, Noma noticed and took charge of the conversation.

    ¡°You have never been beyond the Great Savanna, have you?¡± the greenish-brown creature asked.

    ¡°No. Have you?¡± James replied quickly.

    Noma looked him in the eyes and raised one of his tiny eyebrows. It bulged slightly, making James think he offended the Prakx.

    ¡°I just meant that I thought you were in the spirit battleground for a long time,¡± James said, doing his best attempt at un-offending the creature.

    Noma sighed and scooted closer to the fire. ¡°I forget that there is much you don¡¯t know about this world. When I agreed to join Salmaana¡¯s cause I always thought we were just delaying the evil¡¯s attack on this world. We thought if we could just imprison the evil factions for a little while someone else would be able to come by and save us all. Someone stronger than we were.¡± Noma paused and considered his words. ¡°You are strong, James, obviously. You are just not what I expected.¡±

    James was surprised at Noma''s change of demeanor. In the spirit battleground he had sounded manic and disheveled. Now though, he sounded smart and noble.

    James considered where Noma was coming from. The soul merchant sacrificed countless years of his life to protect this world in the hope that he would have reinforcements eventually. No, not even reinforcements, he was waiting on a hero, someone that could take the burden off his shoulders completely. James was sure that every day Noma lived in the spirit battleground was a day where he daydreamed about his savior - someone intelligent, and someone strong. Someone much more experienced than Noma himself. But it wasn¡¯t the person Noma was building up in his head that saved him. It was James and his party. James was sure Noma was still thankful to be released, so he changed the subject, hoping to get rid of the awkwardness.

    ¡°How did you know I wasn¡¯t from this world?¡± he asked.

    Noma twisted his torso around and looked around the cabin, ¡°This guy,¡± Noma answered as he allowed his arm to grow and lengthen, holding his palm in the air a foot away from the ceiling. Patrick deftly returned the high five as he walked by, even jumping up slightly to reach Noma¡¯s fully extended hand.

    James blanched. ¡°What happened while I was away?¡± he asked himself.

    ¡°Patrick told me all about you guys. It was an interesting story indeed.¡± Noma paused, allowing his voice to take on a more serious tone, ¡°My buddy Patrick over there said you were in charge. I wanted to ask what your intentions were with the other spirit vessels. Are you going to hunt them down?¡±

    James looked into the Prakx¡¯s eyes. He recognized the determination inside of them. He could tell that Noma was still dedicated to the mission he had started so many years ago. It was clear that merely being released from the spirit vessel wasn¡¯t the end of Noma¡¯s mission. The devotion that emanated from the small creature was motivating, but James was devoted to something already.

    ¡°I cannot right now. I need to make sure the Martyrs are safe. They are like family to me and the only family I ever really had was my brother - who also isn¡¯t doing too well.¡± James trailed off, gazing into the fire. Noma waited silently. They both sat like that for a while as the party behind them settled into the circle table and draped furs over their backs. ¡°I understand that these evil factions you speak of have the power to destroy everything I want to protect, so my answer to your question is yes. I intend to hunt them down. I just have to build up my base of operations first.¡±

    Alex gave a loud, ¡°Hoo-rah!¡± at the mention of a military term before returning to the drinking game he, Lilly, and Patrick were playing.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Noma gave a solemn nod. ¡°Then I will help you, James.¡±

    ***

    Noma and James sat in their fur piles for the remainder of the night while the rest of the party got rowdy behind them. They both wanted to join in on the fun, but there were things to take care of first. Noma explained everything to James, who sat in rapt attention.

    He explained how when he first got out of the portal he was angry at Patrick. He explained how Goblin was a slang term for certain members of his race. In general, the Prakx were proud and intelligent, but some of them gave into their ancestral desires. The ones that did were at constant risk of becoming enraged, losing control of themselves, and becoming large wandering Vagrant Goblins. Noma recited the stories his parents told him about Vagrant Goblins when he was a child. James recognized that the stories Prakx parents told their children were much like the ones human parents did, except the consequences were real and tangible. On Earth, your nose wouldn''t actually grow if you lied, but here, Praxk body parts would actually grow if they let their character and values falter. James was surprised at the values Prakx children were taught. Wisdom, acceptance, and empathy were all prevalent in the stories. They were all lessons that humans needed and, unfortunately, often didn¡¯t learn until they were well into their adult years.

    When Noma explained all of that to Patrick he understood immediately and apologized. It all made sense now to James. He knew Patrick was picked on a lot in the real world. Soon after, Patrick and Noma became easy friends.

    The conversation took on a more serious turn when Noma brought up his homeland. James didn¡¯t think it was possible, but he gave Noma even more of his attention. It seemed to James that the more he discovered about this world the more questions he had, so he greedily soaked up any opportunity he had to learn.

    James sensed the longing in Noma¡¯s voice when he described his homeland. He hadn¡¯t been back in ages, and wasn¡¯t sure what it looked like now, but he described it as a place where everyone belonged. Races that were unwelcome elsewhere could find a home there. Noma said it was the only place you could find creatures of all races living in relative harmony. It was at that point his voice turned dark.

    Noma described how some Prakx would take up less than honorable jobs or ways of life. He said that is where the term Goblin came from. The term was originally used to describe the Prakx that worked below his city¡¯s surface, taking care of the things other Prakx either didn¡¯t want to take care of or totally took for granted. As his city became more prominent, the well-off Prakx adopted the term and started to use it as a slur. They called everyone that they felt was less than them, a Goblin. The Prakx with undesirable jobs started to become poorer as more and more Prakx undervalued what they did - even if the jobs they did where necessary for a community to exist. As the Goblins became poorer they had to take on even more undesirable jobs, some resorting to crime and giving into the greed that put them in danger of turning into enraged Vagrants. Every Prakx had the racial ability to extend, enlarge, and contort their bodies, but as they lost touch with their values they lost their ability to control it.

    Noma described the term Goblin as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more Prakx that used the term, the more of them actually became Vagrant Goblins.

    James was appalled at the story and equally surprised at the complexity of the world he now called home - the home that he apparently knew nothing about. Until recently, James thought The Great Savanna WAS the world. It was vast and had enough of its own mysteries that James figured it would take a lifetime just to explore it all.

    In a conspiratorial whisper, Noma explained how his race was never to blame. He said even the richest of the Prakxs were being manipulated. Noma reiterated the stories that all Prakx were told as they were kids, regardless of who their families were or what titles they carried. All Prakx were taught the same lessons, passed down from generation to generation. Noma explained how he was once considered a Goblin. How he was looked on with honor for maintaining the facilities under their great city, allowing everyone above to prosper. He explained how he felt when the richer Prakx started to call him a Goblin and how he could tell the meaning of the word changed into something more malicious. He said it took him years until he finally found the cause of it all, which was that the richest and most influential of the Praxk were being manipulated. The Lich King fed the Prakx¡¯s ancestral weakness to greed. The Lich King was smart and patient, always moving from within the shadows, a whisper here and a dropped coin there. He single-handedly undid the years of history and warnings instilled within Prakx children. He took a proud and accomplished race and diminished them so effectively that they began to fight each other.

    When James asked why the Lich King targeted Noma¡¯s race he didn¡¯t get an answer. Noma said that as soon as he found out about the Lich King he began his journey to find a way to stop him. He never found the Lich King¡¯s motives, but he did find Salmaana. She was known as the strongest water mage throughout the world. She also happened to be the de facto leader of the other high-mastery mages. With reverie, Noma described how Salmaana corralled the other mages. She gave speeches that resonated with whoever listened, no matter what race or class they happened to be. Salmaana earned her leadership through her personality and dedication to the people, not by sheer power. And yet, she was the most powerful mage at the time. The council that she created through her adventures formulated a plan to stop the evil factions of the world. When the time came to make the ultimate sacrifice, her followers did so willingly and with much pride.

    ¡°Including me¡­¡± Noma had said.

    He explained how Salmaana not only gave him hope for his race but taught him new things about the Prakx that he had never known. She said his ancestors were great and honorable, and she explained to him that long ago the Prakx took it upon themselves to stop the evil factions from sacrificing innocents in order to create soul weapons. His ancestors would hunt down and slaughter anyone that was known to practice that dark magic. She said his ancestors were as revered by the innocent almost as much as they were feared by the corrupt. It was in that moment that Noma discovered why members of his race were often afflicted with greed and why she wanted Noma to help her. His race was the only race that was strong enough to wield soul weapons, besides the races of the evil factions. This ability came at a cost though. Prakx would always be weak to the temptations that gold, loot, and power brought. That is why their tradition of bedtime stories and values were so important to their culture, more so than any other. All Prakxs could wield soul weapons, but only the most stalwart of them could do so and not be corrupted. If they gave into their greed they would eventually go insane. That is why Salmaana needed Noma to travel to the spirit battleground with her. She was powerful, but still she couldn''t even touch a soul weapon. The enemies they were fighting would certainly be using soul weapons. If they stood any chance of defeating them, they had to use them as well or at least take them from the enemy¡¯s hands. The only non-evil race that could handle the soul weapons they needed was the Prakx.

    Noma stopped telling his story eventually, much to the frustration of James. When James pleaded for him to go on, Noma stated that he was exhausted from his time spent in the spirit battleground. James knew the feeling well, even though he himself had only spent a day there. The rest of the party had passed out around Noma long ago. When they got bored with their drinking game they all joined to listen to Noma''s story, eventually falling asleep. So, James let his mind wander to digest all the new information Noma had given him. Before long though, James also fell asleep.

 Chapter 28 - Winter Cubs

    The sound of a loud horn echoed around the Cabin on the Cliff, causing everyone inside to jump from their fur piles and grab their weapons.

    ¡°Whyyyy,¡± a tired Patrick whined. The horn sounded again, seemingly in reply. ¡°Why are you doing this to me? Please stop."

    Unlike everyone else, Patrick didn¡¯t jump up and immediately grab his True Iron Maul. Instead, he rolled around in his fur pile, clutching his head and complaining.

    ¡°What is that horn for?¡± Alex asked James.

    James shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I know the Martyrs used to sound a horn when it was dinner time, but they haven''t done that in a while. Besides, this horn sounds different,¡± the two exchanged a glance as both worried that they were under attack. They rushed out the door, leaving Lilly responsible for getting Patrick up.

    ¡°We need to find Torunn. He will know what is going on!¡± James yelled as the duo rushed down the Tower of Stairs.

    When they reached the ground the scene unfolding before them caused them to skid to a halt. Freydis ran about, yelling and crashing into the guard towers. Dreng barked orders at the other Martyrs, telling them to give her space but to try and protect the towers. Amidst the calamity, James spotted Torunn and started in his direction. Alex followed. Torunn noticed their approach and waved them to a halt, before jogging over to meet them.

    ¡°Don''t go near. You are not strong enough,¡± Torunn cautioned.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Are we under attack?¡± James nervously asked.

    Torunn blinked. ¡°No. We are not under attack, brother.¡±

    Alex interjected impatiently, ¡°Then what is going on!¡±

    James put a hand on Alex¡¯s shoulder. He knew that if Torunn was not worried then they shouldn¡¯t be either. A loud cracking noise broke into the conversation. Everyone looked in the direction it came from just in time to watch the right guard tower collapse.

    Torunn turned to James and smiled. ¡°Our mother is having a litter, brother!¡±

    James''s eyes widened. Frey was having babies? He didn¡¯t even know she was pregnant. Looking back, she had been absent for a while. The last time he saw her was when she came over to calm Noma down, but even then he didn¡¯t get much time with her. Not knowing what else to do, he hugged the excited Torunn.

    ***

    When the calamity ended, everyone gathered around the wreckage that was once a guard tower. James¡¯s party, the majority of the Martyrs, and even Noma waited in silence for Frey to climb from the wreckage. The only people that weren''t present were Frode and Michael. James was sure Frode would be here if he hadn¡¯t given James his word that he would heal his brother.

    Just as James started to worry, a large wooden wall tilted upward from the pile. Frey¡¯s large furry hand could be seen underneath it, lifting the wood up, but not off of her. Suddenly, something shot out from the gap in the wreckage that Frey created.

    ¡°A little cub!¡± Lilly exclaimed excitedly.

    More Martyr cubs shot out from the hole, except they weren''t really small at all. They were slightly smaller than Torunn was when James first met him - about the size of a shorter adult human - but by no means small. James''s excitement turned to horror as the first Martyr cub to emerge from the wreckage ran full speed into the adult Martyr standing next to James.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The village returned to madness once again. Martyr cubs streamed from the wreckage and ran around with the same energy as a kitten on catnip.

    James looked over to Torunn and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. The Martyr race was growing once again. Torunn turned to meet his game brother¡¯s eyes but was violently tackled by two of the Martyr cubs. James panicked and turned his attention back to the wreckage just in time to see a brand spanking new Martyr cub soaring through the air, heading right towards James like a furry missile of destruction.

    James couldn¡¯t help but laugh as the innocent Martyr cub did its best to clobber him. James finally let go of the stress he was holding. He mentally set aside his to-do list and let himself focus on something else for once. James gritted his teeth and used his new strength to toss the Martyr cub off him. The cub soared through the air and skidded to the ground in a heap. Just when James thought that he had accidentally hurt the cub, he was proven wrong. The cub hopped up onto all fours, looked around to find his target, and gave James the same exact mischievous grin that Torunn used to.

    ***

    A few hours later, James lay on the ground panting. Patrick crawled over to him.

    ¡°Holy crap, that was fun,¡± Patrick said in between breaths.

    James laughed. ¡°Yeah, it was.¡±

    ¡°So that was how Torunn was before I got here, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I think one of them likes me... or hates me, I can¡¯t tell.¡± Patrick laughed.

    ¡°Which one?¡± James asked, also laughing.

    They both pulled themselves up into sitting positions. Patrick looked out across the devastation that the Martyr cubs had caused and pointed to one particularly fat cub. The cub was average in height for a Martyr cub, and not actually fat in a general sense, but did have a distinct beer belly.

    ¡°That one.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I wonder what Frey is going to name them all,¡± James replied before standing up. ¡°I¡¯m going to find out!¡±

    Patrick collapsed back onto the ground and lay out like a starfish. James set out to find and congratulate Frey.

    As he walked past the only standing Martyr tent, Lilly popped her head out.

    ¡°Is it over? Are they gone?¡± she frantically asked. She had sticks caught in her hair and her face was streaked with dirt. Her eyes darted all around, making her look paranoid.

    James laughed and swept his hands across the land. Scattered all about in random positions, were 10 exhausted Martyr cubs.

    ¡°Yeah, I think it is safe now.¡±

    ¡°Finally!¡± She exhaled, visually relieved that the Martyrs had finally tuckered themselves out. Frey rounded a corner and came into James''s vision. He watched as she picked up a Martyr cub by its foot and slung its limp body over her shoulder. She repeated this action until she had a stack of sleeping Martyr cubs draped across her shoulder.

    ¡°Congratulations!¡± James said as he entered her range of hearing. He made sure his voice wasn¡¯t too loud. He was sure she didn¡¯t want to deal with any more excitement for the day.

    ¡°Thank you, James,¡± Frey said with a tired smile, ¡°It is good to see you, but I have to find a place for our cubs to sleep.¡±

    James nodded, deciding to bother her about their names at a more appropriate time, and set out to find Dreng. He stopped though when Frey called back to him.

    ¡°Sorry about your building, James!¡±

    James dismissed her with a smile and a wave. Having a litter of Martyr cubs was better than any building he could build. Besides, he could use the wood for new projects, which is why he needed to find Dreng. He knew the chieftain would want to discuss construction to make sure the town was as safe as possible for his new litter.

    James wandered around his little village. The ground was mostly torn up, and Martyr cub footprints covered everything - even a portion of the last guard tower.

    ¡°Did they try to run up the building?¡± James said with a shake of his head and a smirk.

    The guard tower in front of James was now the only building they had in the town, besides the Tower of Stairs and the Cabin on the Cliff. Even the Martyr tents were all torn down by the rampaging newborns - an impressive accomplishment considering how sturdy the tents were. The canvass that made up their walls was thick and spread so tightly they almost felt like they were made from a metal. James also noticed that his resource piles had even been scattered about; pieces of wood and small boulders were everywhere.

    James let out a breath. It was odd, but soaking up the destruction laid before him made him happy. The Martyrs were growing in numbers. They were generally safe. His brother was at least here and not missing anymore. Once he recovered, everything would be perfect. James looked up, just in time to catch a snowflake on his tongue.

 Chapter 29 - Hole Up

    ¡°I made that decision and stand by it,¡± Dreng confirmed.

    The chieftain had dark bags under his eyes and looked completely drained. Usually, he had a healthy and powerful presence about him, but it was diminished in some way today. James chalked it up to the fact he now had a huge litter of cubs to care for and moved on with their conversation.

    He and James had been discussing the destruction of the guard tower and why it happened. Dreng said that the Martyrs traditionally gave birth deep in the Great Savanna, so nothing could be destroyed. The chieftain also said that this litter was too important to him to risk doing so with the Oana threat and instructed Frey to stay in the village, despite her objections.

    James put up his hands. ¡°I think it was a good decision and would have suggested the same thing had I known she was having a litter¡­ or uhh...¡± he trailed off.

    His and the Chieftain¡¯s relationship had grown since he had first been adopted into the clan. The legendary Dreng even grew himself, as a leader, and so had James. They got along well and were usually on the same page about everything. Even when they were not, they settled the argument as equals. Dreng no longer used his debuff powers to silence James. James was happy that he was now respected, but deep down he wasn¡¯t sure he deserved it. Dreng was on an entirely separate level to James when it came to power and respect. The chieftain led his race away from their destroyed great city and ensured their survival even before he was fully grown. He had also fought and survived countless battles since then. He even seemed to die in one of them, but still stood with an explosion of energy that beat back an invasion of countless Oana warriors. James hid his high regard for the chieftain though. He was respectful, but falling to his knees every time he saw the Martyr wouldn¡¯t be productive.

    ¡°The decision now is one of construction. What will we build next?¡± James said, pausing for a moment as the chieftain seemed to drift off. He had seemed slower on the uptake with information this meeting. Again, James chalked it up to him being tired from dealing with a bunch of crazy Martyr cubs running around. ¡°I suggest that we build a bridge that stretches from the top of the remaining guard tower to the top of our stone wall.¡±

    Dreng nodded his head. ¡°Yes, I agree that it is important we fix the blind spot issue. I also like your idea of the rope bridge. It is efficient and will make our people feel more at home.¡± The Chieftain met James¡¯s eyes, ¡°You are doing well James. Making these decisions is never easy. Building one thing over another, doing one thing over another; there is always consequences and there is rarely ever one that is easier to take. You handle it well.¡±

    ¡°Um,¡± James said, realizing for the first time that he never had a father figure, at least not while he was an adult. His father had died when he was a young teen. James didn¡¯t have anyone to tell him he was doing good or not. He often had to fulfill that roll for his younger brother Michael and the only reason he did so was because he was slightly older, not wiser. It felt good to be on the receiving end of praise, even though it was coming from an entirely unsuspected source. James cleared his throat, ¡°Thanks.¡± He said, ¡°So we are agreed then. If I can find the resources to make a rope that can carry the weight of Martyrs we will build a bridge.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Dreng nodded and looked away again, ¡°See Frode. I think his father worked with the builders of our great city. He might have passed the knowledge down to our very own Advisor.¡±

    James nodded. ¡°I will find him after this meeting. What should we work on after this is complete?¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The Chieftain drifted off into thought again. Just before James was about to bring him back on track, the chieftain came back to life. ¡°Can we build anything that would help us get additional resources or use the ones we have more effectively?¡±

    ¡°We only have the resources to build shacks or something called a Sculptor¡¯s Hovel. Since we finished the wall we don¡¯t really have a purpose for the stone we are mining. The Sculptor¡¯s Hovel will allow us to use it.¡± James paused. ¡°I wanted to ask you what you knew about the Great Savanna. Are there any nearby towns or other settlements? If so I might be able to go and learn how to construct their buildings. At the very least, we need someone to trade with.¡±

    Dreng narrowed his eyes and studied James. ¡°There is a town, a human town, on the other side of our Great Savanna.¡±

    James listened in anticipation. He was curious to discover the other races of this world, like elves, trolls, or even something more interesting, like Noma¡¯s race, the Praxk. But James would always be happy to see other humans. Maybe he would be able to find some more humans from Earth. He hoped to eventually gather them all up and unite them. If he did they might be able to piece together what happened to their planet and why they all got put in this game world.

    The Chieftain cleared his throat. ¡°But you will not be able to get to it. The Oana capital lies directly between us and them.¡±

    James frowned, ¡°Can we go around?¡±

    ¡°It will take much longer and there is a big risk of being followed by a scout who would trace you back to our village. They send patrols out everywhere in the Savanna. The Great Savanna is large, but anytime you are in it you risk being discovered.¡± Dreng¡¯s face turned dark as he considered his words. ¡°That was a lesson I learned the hard way. If we venture back into the Savanna we need to be ready for war.¡±

    James made a popping noise with his mouth as he thought about the dilemma. To grow stronger they needed resources. There was a good place to get those resources across the Savanna, but they couldn¡¯t go because of the Oana. They couldn¡¯t fight the Oana, or shouldn¡¯t until they were stronger. It was all very frustrating.

    James was okay if he and the other Earth humans went on suicide missions, attacking the Oana capital, respawning, and doing it again, but he didn¡¯t think it would be smart right now. They would eventually lose all of their gear if they died enough times. The gear they did have wasn''t easy to come by either. James would rather be well-equipped if they were attacked than be the one to do the attacking without any gear. Maybe it was a tactic they could use later, when they had a blacksmith or something, but not now.

    ¡°I think we are stuck with what we have for now,¡± Dreng commented. ¡°The snow will help camouflage us. I think we are the safest we have been for a long time. We should hole up and build what we can with what we have for a while. We can plan an expedition at a later point or when we get new information.¡±

    James nodded. He didn¡¯t like the idea of holing up, but Dreng was right in that they could always make a new plan when they got more information. No one was sure how snow on the Great Savanna would affect things. It was probably best to wait and see. Still, the plan didn¡¯t seem very Dreng-ish to James.

    ¡°Alright, so we will build the platforms on the walls, possibly a rope bridge, and then the Sculptors Hovel. That is the plan until we change it.¡±

    Dreng agreed with a nod. ¡°It is settled then."

    James stood up to leave, but Dreng called back to him, ¡°Two more things, James. If you see Patrick can you send him to see me?¡± James was confused about the request but agreed anyway. ¡°And I wanted to ask you how Torunn is doing?¡±

    James blinked. Why would he ask me that? ¡°Uhh, he is good. He seems to be growing much faster than I thought he would, but I am not really experienced in Martyr biology.¡± Dreng nodded but otherwise remained silent, his face wearing the opposite of his far-away expression from earlier. ¡°Umm, what else do you need to know?¡± James asked.

    Dreng shrugged his massive shoulders, ¡°No.¡±

    James stared at the chieftain in utter confusion. The chieftain stubbornly met his gaze. ¡°Okay¡­ anything else?¡± James asked.

    Dreng shook his head, and James finally left the tent. A few minutes later, he found Patrick and let him know that Dreng was looking for him. Patrick gulped, and James shrugged. Then the two parted ways and James set off to find Frode and learn how to build bridges with rope.

 Chapter 30 - A Prakx Problem

    ¡°It is freezing in here!¡± Lilly complained.

    Noma nodded from within his fur pile as he watched Alex get up and add more wood to the cabin''s fireplace.

    Alex rubbed his hands together, knocking the wood debris from his hands. ¡°We are going to need to find a way to replenish our wood piles. We barely had enough wood to build things before. Now that it is cold and we have to burn our wood the problem is even more severe. We are NOT prepared for winter.¡±

    Noma looked to James, who seemed to be the de facto leader of the group, but he didn¡¯t respond. Whatever he was making behind the bar seemed to take up all of his attention. Instead, Noma¡¯s buddy spoke up.

    ¡°Where can we even get wood?¡± Patrick asked.

    Noma liked Patrick. He couldn¡¯t explain why exactly, but he did. They bonded in a way that only complete strangers that happened to go through the same life problems could. Noma admitted to himself that they weren¡¯t exactly the same life problems - Patrick was from an entirely different plane of existence - but their struggle was the same at the heart of it. Patrick wasn¡¯t happy with the person he was in his home world, and neither was Noma. They both grew up proud of who they were, only to be shat on by society once they were old enough to leave their homes. Now, they both had the opportunity to set things right. To be who they wanted to be and to shape the world how they thought it should be shaped. Where Patrick struggled with his temptation to revert to his old ways of cowardice, Noma struggled with his temptation to give into his ancestral weakness to greed. At the heart of it though, they both wanted to do good.

    A tingle formed in the back of Noma¡¯s head, causing him to jump. Patrick laughed and made a light-hearted joke about how Noma was so concerned about staying warm that the thought of running out of wood literally scared him. Noma did his best to nonchalantly wave off the joke as fear crept through his body. The tingle became a voice. A voice that Noma had been waiting for.

    ¡®There is plenty of wood in the Spirit Battleground,¡¯ Prince Kil''Lache telepathically whispered to Noma.

    The soul merchant knew this day would come. The Lich King¡¯s son wouldn¡¯t accept his defeat so easily. At least, not according to what Noma knew about the king and the prince¡¯s relationship. Prince Kil''Lache was probably tortured from the moment he was defeated until just now by his father. Ogrim and the others were probably just executed, but the prince wouldn¡¯t have been offered that luxury. The prince would stop at nothing to prove himself to his father and bring honor to their undead dynasty. Noma just had to keep that in mind and not let himself be tempted by the prince''s words.

    ¡®We do not need your resources, little Lich,¡¯ Noma replied telepathically.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡®Now, now. No need to stoop to insults. I just want to help you.¡¯

    ¡®You have no desire to help anyone but yourself,¡¯ Noma argued.

    Prince Kil''Lache laughed heartily inside Noma¡¯s head. The ethereal sound threatened to drive Noma mad. The Lich King¡¯s son continued to laugh as Noma¡¯s head swam for what seemed like an eternity. He looked around, afraid that someone would see him, but the party was all gathered around James¡¯s newest creation.

    Cider, Noma thought, trying to focus on anything but the eternal laughing in his head, Cider was what James was making. Everyone loves it.

    The prince finally stopped laughing. ¡®Well, that may be true. But what if we can help each other out? That would be in line with what you think you understand about my character, right?¡¯

    James handed Noma a stone mug with hot cider in it, and Noma did his best to return James¡¯s smile as genuinely as he could. He was about to say yes to the Prince, but when he took a sip of the cider his mind cleared. Noma could now tell that the haunting laughs of the Lich King¡¯s son made him feel depressed and hopeless. Somehow, the cider was combating those effects.

    Noma took another sip. ¡®You will not trick me like you did that poor human boy,¡¯ he confirmed.

    ¡®I did not trick Michael,¡¯ Prince Kil''Lache responded, sounding genuinely offended. ¡®He was our friend. I just showed him what true power was.¡¯

    ¡®You broke his mind!¡¯ Noma yelled at the intruder inside his head.

    Laughter filled Noma¡¯s head again, drowning out his thoughts. This time the cider didn¡¯t help. Noma''s resolve weakened as he slowly lost his sense of self.

    ¡®Sometimes absolute power will do that to a guy¡­¡¯ the prince said in between charming chuckles.

    ¡®What do you want?¡¯ Noma said sadly.

    ¡®I want you to advise James to choose a weak soul weapon when you offer him his reward. I know you haven''t done it already. Even if I didn¡¯t know you were too greedy to give up the power, I can sense it in you.¡¯

    Noma gulped. James¡¯s reward was the ability to purchase a soul weapon from Noma with Salmaana¡¯s remaining power. Her leftover magic would allow him to wield the weapon. It was her last gift to this world. Had Noma really delayed giving that reward to James because he wanted to keep it for himself? It wasn¡¯t even like he could reward himself with a soul weapon. Noma wondered if even just having the ability to access the soul weapon interface brought him any comfort. It did. But was that really why he didn¡¯t give James his reward? Because he would lose access to the soul interface afterward? No, it couldn¡¯t be. He just hadn¡¯t had the time, right?

    Noma knew that was a lie he must have been telling himself. He had plenty of time to offer James his reward, but when the human just simply forgot about it, Noma let him. He didn¡¯t bother to remind James. He was secretly happy to keep the power to himself. The sadness he was feeling deepened. Salmaana trusted him as one of the only Prakx that could control their greed long enough to manage soul weapons, and he failed her, without even realizing it.

    The ethereal voice inside his head sensed his hesitation, ¡®I know you, Noma, better than you know yourself. I can help you. Make James choose a weak soul item and tell his party to come into the Spirit Battleground for wood. I will help you get a handle on your greed again, and you will be helping out the party anyway. Without wood for fire they will most certainly die.¡¯

    Noma nodded.

 Chapter 31 - Short Sword

    James took a break from training and sat down against the cabin. The furs that Lilly had refashioned into cloaks kept the snow from soaking into his bottom. He pulled up his damage notifications. This was the first time he had the time to actually practice fighting with that hooked item he received before he entered the Spirit Battleground. He hadn¡¯t been sure how to use it and figured the training area was the perfect place to figure it out. The device fit into his sheath slot in his interface but didn¡¯t really have a physical sheath to hold a small knife or anything. James wondered why the item was classified as a sheath as he continued to fiddle with it. The device covered his bracers and had hooks that jutted out from the top and pointed back to his body. Small spikes also pointed directly forward. Until James figured out it¡¯s intended use he would treat it as a secondary weapon. His damage notifications confirmed that it could be used as such. It didn¡¯t do as much damage as his primary weapon, but it still wasn¡¯t a negligible amount. If James ever lost his weapons and was out of mana this could be his backup. It was unlikely to happen, but there was nothing wrong with being prepared. If he found himself weaponless he could either run away or swipe at the enemy with his hooked and spiked bracer.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Empty

    Right Hand ¨CMartyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet ¨CCracked Leather Boots (Widespread)

    Legs ¨CDirty Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest ¨C Dirty Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Empty

    Wrist ¨CCracked Leather Bracers (Widespread)

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck ¨CNecklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1-5 ¨C Empty

    Sheath 1 ¨CClunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2 ¨C Pointy Bracer Cover (Common)

    Bag ¨C Adventurer''s Satchel (Common)

    James once again mourned for the shoulder item he lost the last time he died. He couldn¡¯t even remember what it was called, but he remembered it fondly. It made him feel safer and more prepared than any other piece of armor he had gotten so far. James assumed it was because he never wore shoulder armor before in the real world. He wore helmets at various times of his life so he knew that when he eventually got a helm to wear it probably wouldn¡¯t have the same effect as the shoulders did. Shoulder armor just felt more heroic.

    The cloak that Lilly made him was also very respectable. He happened to get the first one she made and was not disappointed. As soon as he got it he left the warmth of the cabin to train. Everyone else was eagerly awaiting Lilly to finish creating cloaks for them so they could go outside and get rid of their cabin fever. The cider he made helped, but they were all starting to feel a little trapped.

    ¡°I guess Dreng¡¯s plan to hole up and bunker down was a good one.¡± James sighed as he took in the fresh air. It chilled his lungs, but he welcomed the feeling.

    You have received Thick Ingo Skin Cloak. +1 Armor and Constitution. Crafted by Lilly.

    The cloak marked the first item his party had created that gave a stat boost. Apparently, Lilly hadn¡¯t been idle with her crafting class. James would have to follow up with her and Alex, although he assumed Alex didn¡¯t have the same amount of time to progress as Lilly did. He was always busy either fighting with James or building things. James wasn¡¯t sure if the woodworking skill directly benefited from Alex¡¯s crafting class, but he would have to find out.

    James glanced at the second sheath slot in his interface. The item that fit securely over his bracers was called the Pointy Bracer Cover. The name didn¡¯t give James much of a hint of what it was used for, other than to cover a bracer.

    ¡°What are you up to?¡± Noma asked startling James who was lost in his interface.

    ¡°Jesus, Noma,¡± James said in reflex. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to figure out my interface. It is pretty confusing to us humans from another world.¡± James waved his spiked bracer in the air in frustration. ¡°Also, I¡¯m going to hit Level 20 soon and I wanted to get an idea of what type of classes I would be offered.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± Noma said, taking a seat next to James, ¡°What level is your Intelligence?¡±

    ¡°Thirty.¡±

    ¡°That is good, and honestly a bit surprising. Once upon a time, Salmaana told me a story about how her family stressed the importance of Intelligence. She told me all of her relatives were practically forced to spend every available point they had in the stat. Her family was one of the only ones to do so. She told me that a long time ago everybody would focus on their Intelligence, but the strategy was slowly lost over time.¡±

    ¡°Why is it so important?¡± James asked curiously. He knew Intelligence was important but didn¡¯t completely grasp why.

    ¡°She told me that Intelligence affects everything related to your interface. That is its true power. A higher Intelligence leads to a higher mana pool, but that is such a small benefit compared to what it does to your interface.¡± James made a confused face, letting Noma know to continue, ¡°The higher your Intelligence the more your interface gathers information from your surroundings. At very high levels it can notify you of things you were not aware of. Anyway, I don¡¯t think you need to be worried about what your interface offers you for class choices. I think your Intelligence is high enough that your interface will present you with options that you actually want. At your level, it should be able to sense what you need and what you want. If your Intelligence was lower, it might give you options based on your actions. If it was extremely low it would only offer you classes based on your statistics.¡±

    James let out a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s good, for me at least. I am sure Patrick won¡¯t have the same benefit though.¡±

    Noma smiled and let out a short laugh. ¡°I think Patrick is happy with what he has."

    James nodded and glanced over to Noma who now seemed to be lost in thought. ¡°What is it with everybody being so distant lately?¡± James asked himself.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Noma said as he shook himself from his daydream and sat down next to James. ¡°I came to remind you of your reward!¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Excitement filled James. ¡°Oh yeah! I forgot about that!¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Noma sighed.

    ¡°Uh, what is it?¡± James asked curiously.

    Noma waved his hand and a familiar menu filled James¡¯s vision, ¡°Soul items?¡± James asked, even though the answer was obvious.

    ¡°Yup, you get to choose one basic soul item. Salmaana¡¯s leftover power will allow you to wield it.¡±

    ¡°Awesome!¡± James said, dragging out the word.

    ¡°Yup, you can¡¯t choose a super powerful item, as they are made by combining basic soul weapons together, but whatever you choose should still be better than anything you can get out here.¡±

    James immediately sorted the interface to only display short swords and shoulder armor. He desperately needed another weapon to grow his duel wield skill, but he wouldn¡¯t be opposed to having shoulder armor again. His sorted view narrowed down his choice to about 30 items, but it was still a lot to go through.

    ¡°What do you recommend for short swords or shoulder armor?¡± James asked as he used his hands to manipulate the interface, even though he knew it wasn¡¯t required.

    Noma sighed. ¡°I actually recommend you choose this¡­¡±

    Ring of the Druid Queen - Increases armor by 10 and mana regen by 10%.

    James let out a slow whistle as he read the ring¡¯s description.

    ¡°It is perfect for you as someone that mainly uses melee weapons but also has some magic,¡± Noma said.

    James agreed that it was indeed perfect for him. The armor would help him take less damage in battle, and the mana regen would ensure he could cast more fire bolts. James still wasn¡¯t sold though.

    ¡°It is good, but I think I want something with a stat boost at least." James said. He liked the ring, but from what he knew about the game, stats were the most important. They were hard to come by and all gave numerous benefits. If he had the opportunity to increase them, he would have to take it. He couldn¡¯t be tempted by useful, but basically vanity items. The armor and mana regen would certainly be useful, James didn¡¯t doubt that, but stat increases would be more useful over the long run. That was what James was all about now, playing the long game.

    Noma let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Well, choose what you think is best then.¡±

    James glanced at Noma with concern but wasn¡¯t interested enough to question why Noma was being slightly passive aggressive. Twenty minutes later, and after numerous terrible suggestions by Noma, James had whittled down his options to two items.

    ¡°Okay, I think I know what I want. Once I choose an item, will I actually be able to equip it? Like will it take up a slot in my equipped items interface?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Yes, yes it will,¡± Noma replied with a shiver.

    ¡°Will I ever have the opportunity to get other soul items and combine them into something truly powerful?¡±

    Noma rubbed his greenish-brown hand over his face and sighed. ¡°Yes. You will get the option to choose a soul weapon anytime you defeat an enemy in a spirit battleground and release the spirit that controls it.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± James said as he rubbed his hands together. ¡°I choose this!¡±

    Short Sword - Raises all stats by 4.

    The names of the items James had seen in the game so far always had a descriptor in their names that indicated what rarity they were, like his Cracked Leather Boots or Dirty Cloth Pants. Yet this short sword was just simply named as it was. It was a little disappointing at first, but when James realized it was one of the only items that offered a stat increase and could be combined with other items to build something more powerful, his disappointment waned. He would need this one short sword if he ever wanted to have a truly powerful weapon. The stat point increases were nice, but what really made him choose the short sword was its future potential. If he won more spirit battles he would be able to make something like the Longsword of Draining that caught his eye when he first discovered soul weapons. This simple short sword was the stepping stone to getting one of those awesome weapons.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Noma asked.

    James considered the question. He thought he was sure, but since this was such a big decision he figured he should double check his own surety. Was this what he really wanted? Was it what he needed? Was it what would be best for the big picture? He could certainly go for some type of utility item, like the Forest Child¡¯s Slipper she had in the spirit battleground. He got the slippers to eventually build them into something that would allow him to teleport. The ability to teleport outside of the battleground would certainly be useful, but he didn¡¯t know what the range would be. He could always raise his Sneak skill to Level 20 and get the Blink ability like Alex. Would a Teleport skill be much different? James didn¡¯t really have anywhere to teleport right now even if it was, so he once again chose the short sword.

    ¡°Yes, I am sure,¡± James said seriously.

    Noma nodded, stood up, and swirled his hands around in a pattern that told James he was casting some sort of spell. James watched as Noma¡¯s hands began to move faster. His fingers grew longer and thicker periodically. The air began to swirl and become blurry, as did James¡¯s recognition of reality. It was moments like these that were surreal to James. He had become used to the interfaces, but every time he cast a firebolt or saw a spell he was reminded that his new reality was extremely different than Earth. Noma gathered the swirling air with his hands and compressed it before throwing it upwards. The energy he was gathering collected and caused a tear in this plane of existence. A small portal appeared in the air above Noma and James. It looked much like the portal to the Lich King¡¯s realm, but was orange in color, instead of a dark purple.

    James watched as the portal rippled and his new short sword fell out and dropped to the ground. The short sword was pristine and gave off an orange glow, causing James to gasp. Noma collapsed to the ground with an exaggerated sigh of relief. James figured the spell must have been extremely exhausting for the soul merchant to cast. He watched as the small greenish-brown creature struggled to get back on his feet. When he finally managed to do so, he walked around the corner of the cabin and disappeared without another word.

    Alone with his new loot, James eagerly picked up the short sword. A rush of energy filled his body, causing James to take an involuntary sharp breath as he gripped it. James felt all sorts of powerful as he raised the short sword in front of him. The feeling was no doubt from the sudden increase in all of his stats. When he increased his Constitution he felt healthier. When he increased his Intelligence he felt like he could think more clearly, but James had never increased all of his stats at once. Even though it was only a minor increase of two points to all of them, the feeling was still overwhelming. James let the feeling flow through his body as he darted to the nearest training dummy, eager to try out the new weapon. Before he did so, James checked the weapon out in his interface. What he saw made any traces of doubt he felt from choosing the weapon disappear.

    Left Hand ¨C (Acquired today) Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    James eyes widened at the new information. He wasn¡¯t sure why the short sword wasn¡¯t named as such in Noma¡¯s soul weapon interface, but the thought quickly left his mind when he navigated to the item drop rate grid. The legendary level rarity of the weapon, combined with the rarity of his bag meant that the short sword had a 20% chance to drop when he died. It was the lowest drop rate he had for any of his equipment and meant that it would be less likely to lose the sword than any of his other gear on death. Still, there was a small chance he would lose it, and James¡¯s did not want that to happen. Equipment in this world was not easy to come by, so James resolved to find a higher rarity bag to carry his equipment in. If he could find an uncommon bag then his short sword would only have a 10% drop chance. If he could find a bag that was one rarity level higher, the drop chance on the short sword would drop to zero. James daydreamed about all the possibilities that would give him before exiting his interface and giving the sword a practice swing. James¡¯s first actual attack cut the training dummy in half, causing the top portion of its body to fall to the ground.

    ¡°Oh crap,¡± James gasped excitedly.

    The training dummies were strong enough to withstand all of his attacks before and only had minor scratches to show for it. Even Patrick¡¯s True Iron Maul wasn¡¯t able to outright break the training dummies. When the redhead trained they always had to make small repairs or add new skins to the training dummies, but even Patrick was never able to completely destroy the dummies. James checked his damage notifications and let out another slow whistle. His new short sword did triple the damage of Patrick¡¯s weapon.

    James was eager to try out both of his short swords at once, but decided against it. They were already low on resources as it was, he didn¡¯t need to go and destroy their training area. Instead, James ran back into the cabin to show his party his new weapon. He hoped they would be excited as he was.

 Chapter 32 - A Prakx Solution

    Noma collapsed into his fur pile without a word to the rest of the party. They were all still discussing how they would survive the cold temperatures and didn¡¯t pay him any mind. James was no doubt still outside appreciating his soul weapon. James had chosen wisely, and it made Noma proud of the human. He was genuinely happy the human had enough control over his greed to resists Noma''s offers and think logically. Everything Noma had offered James was truly useful, but couldn¡¯t be combined into anything more powerful. They were all stand-alone items. James was smart enough to see that and chose something with much more potential. Noma was happy James made the decision he did, but it meant that Noma had failed Prince Kil''Lache. He was supposed to make James choose a weak item, but no matter what he said or suggested, James did not give in. The prince would not be happy with him.

    Noma had to make up for his failure. He had to make sure he got James to enter the portal and go back to the spirit battleground. Maybe then Prince Kil''Lache would still help him gain control over his greed once again.

    James burst into the cabin door and held his short sword up proudly. It gave off a slight golden glow which caught the rest of the party¡¯s attention. They all gathered around to marvel at the item. When James told them how he got it they all turned to Noma for an explanation. Noma tried his best to put a smile on his face as he told everyone that only James¡¯s unique stats allowed him to receive the prize. He explained that the combination of James¡¯s high Wisdom and Intelligence with his party leader skill allowed him to absorb the leftover power from Salmaana. They all nodded and seemed disappointed at first but they soon came around. They all turned back to the sword and Noma heard mutterings of how James deserved it and jokes about how James would actually be able to help them in battle now. Noma tuned them out, relieved that he no longer held their attention.

    ***

    The party finally stopped gawking at James¡¯s short sword and moved to enjoy some warm cider at the bar. James had used one of the stone kettles that Lilly scavenged to make a huge batch of the magical liquid.

    When James first got the recipe for the cider, he was confused by the required ingredients. To his knowledge at the time, he didn''t have access to the Horned Moya fruit that the recipe called for. That was until Patrick found one during his mining operations on the cliff. As soon as Patrick handed him the spiky object his interface updated the name of the fruit. Apparently, the Horned Moya fruit grew higher up the mountain and when they were ripe they dropped down the mountain. Patrick figured this all out because the fruit fell right onto his head and stuck there due to its spiked rind. The redhead actually seemed happy that he discovered something in this world, and James was happy for it too for other reasons, besides that fact it meant he could make the cider.

    The discovery meant that the recipes he got from his cooking skill always managed to require ingredients that James had access to, even if he didn¡¯t know he did at the time. He never got a recipe that he couldn''t make right then and there as long as he did a little scavenging first. James wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of his high Intelligence or just how the Cooking skill worked, but he appreciated the mechanic nonetheless.

    It was also strange how James was able to identify the fruit while everything else in the game just got named with whatever nickname his brain came up with at the time. The No-No that killed James a few weeks ago was originally identified as a Horned Rhino in James''s interface, but James now had a hunch that if he had gotten some sort of knowledge about the No-No creature before he actually saw it, then his interface would have identified it correctly. It was the same with the fruit. James had never seen the fruit before Patrick handed it to him, but his interface correctly identified it, because he had a recipe that called for it. It was entirely possible that James''s would have classified the fruit as just some strange point rock and tossed it away if his interface didn''t identify it for him.

    The stone kettle of the cider had a cover and could stay warm for hours, so James decided he would do his best to keep a hot kettle of cider always available at the bar. When it got cold, he would just set it by the fire until it warmed again.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    James set his short sword down and sipped on his cider. As soon as he felt the warmth of the tart beverage hit his stomach he was instantly motivated to do something. He had been pretty content to just relax for the rest of the day and spend time with his party, but now he wanted to take action. He wanted to check things off of his to-do list.

    Heh, morale increases are much better than caffeine, James thought, silently commending himself for choosing the cider recipe over the other one he was offered.

    He could see how an increased morale could benefit the growth of his village. He would have to find a larger kettle to make some for the Martyrs, seeing how they were completing most of the construction in the village. James could tell the rest of the party was feeling the effects of the cider as well as he focused on their conversation. They were discussing actual matters of importance and James was all about it.

    ¡°What do you think, James?¡± asked Alex.

    James cleared his throat and quickly swallowed the cider in his mouth. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m not sure how we can get more wood. I had been focusing on other things. Uhh, is there anything we can burn other than wood?¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± Patrick answered. ¡°We¡¯ve already thought about that option.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. Well, Dreng doesn¡¯t really want us to leave the walls of the village, so we can¡¯t scavenge the Savanna - not that that would help too much anyway.¡±

    ¡°Yup, we discussed that already too. Geez, man, get with the program!¡± Alex said with a lighthearted pat on James¡¯s back.

    James laughed and raised a finger. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know I have been very busy, but I agree, we all need to catch up.¡±

    James told the party how he met with Dreng and the plan they came up with. He told them how he met with Frode afterward and found out they could, in fact, make rope bridges and that some of the Martyr builders had already begun construction on them. James let everyone know that as soon as the rope bridge was constructed and the Martyr guards could man the wall they would build the Sculptor¡¯s Hovel. He explained how since they were holed up in the village for the indefinite future they would have to find a way to use everything they had more effectively. They had a surplus of stone now and a seemingly infinite supply of it from the mountain, so they would use it in the Sculptor¡¯s Hovel. Patrick spoke up and agreed that he would be able to sculpt pretty easily since he was already good with stone. Lilly confirmed that her crafting skills wouldn¡¯t carry over well, mainly because she didn¡¯t have the strength required to work with stone. Her crafting skills were sending her down the path to create items from cloth or skins. Alex¡¯s crafting skill was still up in the air, but he said he was getting very good with wood and everything he created required less and less time to finish and was more and more durable.

    The party filled James in on how by their calculations they only had a few days left to heat the cabin and how they couldn¡¯t come up with any solution at all. Lilly added that her cloaks where the only minor solution they came up with, but it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. They discussed how lucky the Martyrs were in that they were so large that they were barely affected by the cold. They were slightly worried about the Martyr cubs though and agreed to go visit them first thing the next morning since they were probably asleep by now.

    ¡°Well, we are all going to freeze to death right here drinking cold cider,¡± James said, raising his glass for a toast. Everyone laughed, but the seriousness of the issue was not lost on anyone. ¡°I honestly have no idea what we are going to do¡­¡±

    Noma popped up to the bar, choosing to extend his legs to bring him up to eye level with the party, instead of taking a chair, ¡°I may have a solution to your problem.¡±

    ¡°My man!¡± Patrick said as he raised his hand to the soul merchant, who reluctantly returned the high five.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you are going to like it though¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t really have many options to choose from. So spit it out,¡± Alex said as he finished his cider and set his mug down.

    ¡°The spirit battleground, It still exists just beyond the portal. Although it is shattered and its magic is gone, the land there should still have plenty of trees, both dead and alive.¡±

    The party exchanged solemn glances, recalling their time in the spirit battleground.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Lich King¡¯s realm though?¡± asked James.

    ¡°Sort of¡­ Think of it as a no man''s land. The actual Lich King¡¯s realm lies beyond the remnants of the spirit battleground. You can get there from the spirit battleground, but he probably doesn¡¯t have any presence there.¡±

    The party considered his words, asking relevant questions in the hope of debunking the idea and proving it wasn¡¯t feasible, but no matter what they asked, everyone slowly realized that entering the portal was their only option. Worse yet, going to the spirit battleground could provide them not only with wood but with the food they would eventually run low on.

 Chapter 33 - Farming

    James sat outside the cave that held the portal checking his supplies and armor. Patrick had reluctantly removed some of the stone that encased the portal so his party would be able to get to it. James decided that only himself, Patrick, and Alex would enter the portal, since they could respawn. Lilly was not happy about it and James was sure Torunn wouldn¡¯t be either if found out. It was a good thing James¡¯s adopted brother was too busy with his brothers and sisters because James knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop Torunn from coming if he knew about the mission.

    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± James asked as he patted the sheath that held his Martyr skinning knife. He held his new short sword in his hand since he didn¡¯t have a proper sheath for it yet.

    ¡°Ready as I¡¯m ever gonna be,¡± replied Alex. Patrick grunted and hefted his maul. James glanced at the redhead and gave him a curious look. Patrick had simply just walked over to the portal and didn¡¯t really seem to prepare at all.

    Patrick shrugged. ¡°I am always ready for battle."

    ¡°Alrighty then¡­¡± James nodded. ¡°So we are going to go in, chop down some wood, fight some creatures to get food and then we are coming right back. No exploring and no splitting up. It is very important that we all stay within sight range.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Alex said with a nod.

    ¡°Anything I am forgetting?¡± James asked, turning his head to Alex. Alex had been in the military prior to getting placed into the game, so James wanted to make sure he gave him the option to add something as Alex probably had the most relatable experience to what they were about to do, so James wanted to take advantage of that.

    Alex shook his head. ¡°Nope, I think we are good. These missions rarely go as planned anyway. We just need to look after each other and we will be fine.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Let''s do it then,¡± James said. He stepped up to the purple surface then hesitantly pushed his hand through the portal, testing it. He let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was expecting, but he certainly thought something would happen. Then he felt it. Or he felt the absence of a feeling. James ripped his hand back from the portal and caressed it with his other hand.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Patrick asked nervously.

    ¡°I thought¡­¡± James paused and brought his hand up to his cheek, ¡°I thought I lost my hand. I mean I couldn¡¯t feel it at all.¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah; you sent your hand into the portal,¡± Alex commented, confused.

    James gave Patrick and Alexa distraught look, ¡°Yeah, but it was like it wasn¡¯t there at all. Like I knew I should have a hand, but my brain didn¡¯t have a connection to it.¡±

    Alex and Patrick looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Tears ran down their faces as they stomped and slapped their knees.

    James narrowed his eyes, ¡°Shut up. It¡¯s not like you guys knew how real portals worked either.¡±

    James displayed a certain finger to the giggling duo and stepped into the portal.

    ***

    James arrived in the spirit battleground right next to Salmaana¡¯s empty vessel. The cobblestone beneath his feet looked the same as it did just days ago. James looked back to confirm that the portal was still there and he would have a way back home. It was, except this portal was the same color as the Martyrs fur instead of the usual purple. It didn¡¯t give him a malevolent feel either. It felt welcoming and warm, even though he knew it was cold on the other side. James checked his body and gear, making sure everything made it through with him. Entering the portal felt just like walking through a dark doorway. One moment he was in the cave on the cliff and another moment he was in the spirit battleground. He figured he didn¡¯t get the disconnected feeling between his body parts this time because he stepped through with his entire body, and he did so very fast. His panic when he felt like he lost his hand before didn¡¯t come about immediately, it took his brain time to realize his hand was somewhere else but still connected. At least, that is what James thought was happening. He admitted he really hadn''t the faintest clue about portal theory and was pretty sure he didn''t want to be the one that studied them. James vowed to never stick a single body part inside a portal again.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Patrick and Alex stepped through the portal with serious looks on their faces. James could see they were here for business and was proud they could separate the time for jokes from the time to take things seriously.

    ¡°It looks the same,¡± Alex commented as he glanced around.

    Noma suddenly spoke up from the other side of the empty spirit vessel, causing everyone to point their weapons at him. ¡°It is not the same. Once we step on a path you will be able to tell the difference.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®we¡¯?¡± James asked. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you can¡¯t respawn, bud, ¡°Patrick added. ¡°We can!¡±

    Noma nodded. ¡°I just have to grab a few things. I won¡¯t be heading out with you so don¡¯t worry. Noma has no desire to die," the soul merchant replied.

    The party gave a collective shrug.

    ¡°Alright¡­ Let''s head out the top path and farm the forest there,¡± James commanded and the party set out.

    As soon as they stepped on the top path they could see the cracks in the ground. As they walked, the cracks got larger and deeper.

    The party entered the forest and James directed them to a camp of wolves. James unleashed the hulking redhead on the creatures while he and Alex started to slash at nearby trees. When one of them would fell a tree the other would join in to help chop it up. Meanwhile, Patrick just fought the various monster camps in the forest to farm food since his weapon wasn¡¯t any good for chopping trees.

    ¡°Are we going to eat this Ogre meat?¡± Patrick yelled out as he fought a camp of monsters.

    James looked over from the tree he was chopping down. The monster camp Patrick was at consisted of a trio of pale-skinned brutes. James looked at their nameplates, which changed before his eyes.

    Walking Ogre Meat

    James laughed at the name his interface gave to the brutes. He realized they did resemble ogres, but looked more like small versions of Ogrim. At that thought, the names of the creatures changed again.

    Mini-Ogrim 1

    Interesting, James thought. He enjoyed the names his interface came up with but realized he enjoyed them because it was his humor that the interface picked up on. That confirmed Noma¡¯s story about how interfaces were intelligent. It was like it was an extension of his own brain.

    ¡°Are you saying you aren¡¯t tired of eating Ingo meat every day?¡± Alex called out from underneath his tree.

    Patrick swung his Maul in a heavy arc that downed the last brute then bent over to loot the corpse of its meat, ¡°Oh, I am definitely tired of eating Ingo meat, but these things are humanoid! It would feel weird eating them.¡±

    James agreed with Patrick and was about to tell him that it was just a game, so eating the humanoid meat didn¡¯t matter, but instead, he fell silent. The place he was in now wasn¡¯t really a game; it was his new reality, his new world. Did that mean eating the humanoid meat made him some sort of cannibal? He would never eat monkey meat back on earth, but even if he did though that wouldn¡¯t make him a cannibal. Actually, the only reason he probably wouldn¡¯t eat monkey meat was that he didn¡¯t need to back on Earth. If it was his only way of surviving he was sure he would though. James turned to look at Patrick and Alex, who were also taking a break because they were lost in thought. James figured they were probably having the same existential crisis as he was. The party worked in silence for the next few hours, contemplating the meaning of reality.

    ***

    The party finished packing their loot from the day into James¡¯s satchel when they heard a scream from the undead portion of the battleground. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and tuned their senses into their surroundings.

    ¡°Noma?¡± Patrick whispered, visibly concerned.

    The party waited in silence, hoping to hear whatever caused the scream. James wasn¡¯t positive it was Noma until another scream sounded in the distance. Patrick picked up his True Iron Maul and began to run in the direction of the noise.

    ¡°No! Wait!¡± James and Alex cried out in unison.

    Patrick ignored them and ran out of the small patch of forest and disappeared into the shallow river that lay beyond.

    ¡°Crap, we need to go after him,¡± James said as he picked up his new short sword.

    Alex nodded and the two took off. They entered the river just in time to see Patrick enter the undead forest on the other side. They ran after him slowly. The cracks in the ground grew larger as they ran until they were so large they could be classified as ravines. James knew if they weren¡¯t careful they could easily fall into one and be lost. He chastised himself for going on a quest in a fantasy world without bringing a rope. If he fell into a ravine would he drop right into the Lich King¡¯s realm?

    When Alex and James reached the location of the scream they didn¡¯t find Noma. Instead, Patrick hung from the edge of an unusually deep ravine. The redhead was using his considerable strength to keep himself from dropping, but James could tell he wasn¡¯t strong enough to lift his large body over the ledge without help. James and Alex sprinted to Patrick, hoping to pull him back onto the flat ground, but when they got there something stirred from the darkness at the bottom of the ravine. Before the party could blink, they were all falling into darkness.

 Chapter 34 - A Praxk Mistake

    Noma paced back and forth next to the village portal. He didn¡¯t know if he should go back. His honor told him he wasn¡¯t welcome there anymore and he should stay away.

    ¡°What honor? You only have greed. Stupid, stupid Noma,¡± Noma said out loud as his body grew and contorted in odd ways.

    He wasn¡¯t sure what he was expecting to get out of his deal with the Lich Prince. The voice in the back of his mind that promised to help him get control over his greed was no longer there. He had betrayed his own party for no reason, not that he had a good reason to begin with. He wondered if he should go back, but wasn¡¯t sure how the rest of the party or the Martyrs would react. Would they kill him for his betrayal? He certainly wouldn¡¯t blame them if they did. Still, that would be a fate far better than what he just doomed the three Earth humans to. When the Lich King got his hands on them he would most certainly steal their souls so they couldn¡¯t respawn. Maybe he even had the power to change their respawn point. If he did he would torture them to death over and over again, only stealing their souls when he was ready for them to die for good. The thoughts made Noma shudder. He had learned many legendary things under the revered Salmaana, and many terrible things. The most terrible of things all centered on the Lich King as he was the most powerful leader of the evil factions. Noma could not have betrayed his friends more, even if he actually meant to.

    He had to go back into the village and tell someone. If he did someone might be able to find the Earth humans before they got delivered to the Lich King. If he had any chance of redeeming himself and saving his friends he needed to do it quickly. Noma moved to jump into the portal but realized he didn¡¯t fit. He had worked himself up so thoroughly that he was now triple the size of his friend Patrick, and way too large to fit into the portal.

    Noma focused on Salmaana to try and calm his mind and body. If he could calm down his body would return to its normal size. He thought about when Salmaana first taught him about portals. He had been afraid his limbs would be chopped off if they were too large to fit into the portal. Salmaana had giggled at him when she found out why he was so afraid of portals, and then she told him that that wasn''t possible. She told Noma that a lot of people fear things because they don''t understand them. It was a fond memory he had of her, but only one of the many lessons she taught him. Noma focused on his old teacher and his body began to shrink. Unfortunately, his thoughts eventually brought him back to how he failed her. He began to grow again as shame and anger bubbled up inside him. It was much easier to focus on loot when he needed to calm down. He could caress it and watch how it gleamed in the light. Focusing on rare items or even gold was always so easy, but he didn¡¯t have any.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Patrick. James. Alex. Lilly. Torunn,¡± Noma whispered to himself as he recited the names of the people he met in the small village on the edge of the Great Savanna.

    As he said each name he recalled their faces. He focused on how each of them treated him with kindness, even though he was a Prakx. He focused on how each of them fought bravely for a cause they knew little about. He focused on their values and how they were good, honorable people, that didn¡¯t give into their greed like he did. It was then that Noma realized he was good too. If Salmaana believed in him he should believe in himself. He didn¡¯t withhold the reward from James because he wanted it for himself. He just didn¡¯t give it to James because he didn¡¯t remember. For him to not remember he held control over something that was tremendously valuable meant that he wasn¡¯t greedy. If he was, in fact, greedy, he would have been constantly obsessing over the reward and it wouldn¡¯t have slipped his mind. That meant that he still had control over his ancestral weakness for greed. He always had control over it. The Prince just tricked him into believing that he didn¡¯t. The Prince knew he was hyper-aware of his own weaknesses. He had to be suspicious of himself. He always had to question if he wanted things because he needed them or if he wanted things because he was greedy. That hyper-awareness was how he controlled his greed. That was how he kept it in check. The Prince simply used his own self-awareness against him.

    No longer feeling worthless, Noma¡¯s body returned to its normal size. He immediately jumped through the portal to get help.

 Chapter 35 - Beauty & The Chieftain

    ¡°No! Grab it like this!¡± Lilly laughed as she instructed one of the female Martyr cubs on how to hold the sewing needles.

    The Martyr cub she had named Lorelei was much calmer than the male cubs and seemed to genuinely enjoy her company. After the chaotic day when the cubs were all born, Lilly usually tried to stay away from the cubs when she was alone. Lorelei, however, found Lilly while she was crafting a cloak and seemed to be interested, so Lilly decided she would teach the female Martyr cub to do the same. She had seen how Torunn learned to mix herbs, so figured teaching a Martyr cub the art of Clothework wouldn¡¯t be impossible. What she hadn¡¯t taken into account though, was Lorelei''s large and cumbersome hands.

    ¡°Maybe Alchemy would be easier for you to learn,¡± Lilly said with a smile. Crushing herbs together definitely seemed like it would come natural to Martyr cubs. Lorelei grunted in return and looked at Lilly in confusion. ¡°Come on, let''s go find Torunn. He can teach you better than I,¡± Lilly said with an outstretched hand.

    Lorelei took the hand and used it to stand up, an action that almost pulled Lilly¡¯s arm from her socket.

    The two stood up and headed in the direction of the tent that Lilly knew Torunn was staying in. Another Martyr cub walked by, causing Lilly to glare and roll her eyes. It was the fat Martyr cub that knocked her over the other day by running up to her and smashing into her with its big belly. He was certainly crude and obnoxious, but Lilly couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he was intelligent when she saw him wink at her as he walked by.

    ¡°Grrrr. I know he is your brother and all, but I am not sure I like him!¡± Lilly admitted to Lorelei, who shrugged in response.

    Lilly and Lorelei entered the largest of the Martyr tents. Lilly always wondered why this tent was larger but never had the courage to enter. Dreng honestly terrified her. That is why she let out a quiet gasp when she saw the large beast laying down on the ground, covered in furs. Freydis, along with Dreng¡¯s advisor, attended the Chieftain. Lilly stood there in confusion as she watched Frey bend over to let Dreng sip from a bowl she held. Was he sick? Lorelei pulled on Lilly, who forget they were still holding hands. Lilly realized she was squeezing the cubs hand pretty hard and released her grip. The cub ran to Dreng and wrapped her arms around one of his arms, essentially hugging her father in the only way she could because of his massive size.

    ¡°Lilly, it is nice to see you. What are you doing here?¡± Freydis said with a touch of hostility that surprised Lilly. Freydis had always been nothing but welcoming to her.

    When Dreng saw Lilly take a step back he spoke up, ¡°It is okay, Freydis, she can stay.¡± Freydis only nodded and Dreng turned back to Lilly, ¡°Come inside.¡±

    Lilly took a hesitant step forward and asked, ¡°Are you feeling okay?¡±

    Dreng slowly lifted his head and smiled as Freydis shoved a pile of Ingo skins underneath his head, propping it up. ¡°I feel better than I have in a long time, Lilly.¡±

    ¡°Are you sick?¡±

    Dreng chuckled softly, ¡°You can say that. I am dying, Lilly.¡±

    Lilly looked around the room to see everyone''s reactions. This had to be a cruel joke, right? When she finally found Torunn, the cub she was originally looking for, he just met her gaze with a serious expression. Everyone was now looking at Lilly. She wilted under the combined weight of their stares.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Dreng let out a soft laugh that turned into a fit of coughs. Freydis gave him another sip of the liquid from her bowl.

    Frode spoke up, knowing what his chieftain was going to say next, ¡°Sorry, Lilly, you are the first human we have told about Dreng. Well besides Patrick.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Lilly asked.

    Dreng was actually dying? She had always thought of the Martyr chieftain as immortal after seeing him rise from the battle of their old village. She knew he wasn¡¯t actually immortal, she just didn¡¯t ever imagine him dying. He was so strong, so constant. The feeling was akin to when her parents died in the undead attack. Even though it would have been natural for her parents to die eventually, she never actually imagined it happening so soon.

    ¡°Why are you dying?¡± she asked, almost angrily. ¡°Frode is older than you. Is he going to die too?¡±

    Dreng laughed again. This time he wasn¡¯t interrupted by a fit of coughing. Frode¡¯s face merely stayed the same. Lilly thought he might have frowned a little, but it was hard to read the faces of Martyrs. She didn¡¯t mean to offend the chieftain¡¯s advisor and hoped she didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Frode is not going to die anytime soon, don¡¯t worry. He will be a thorn in Torunn¡¯s side for a long time after I am gone.¡± Dreng chuckled, the movement of his chest causing him to wince in pain.

    ¡°Okay, okay. This is enough,¡± interrupted Frode. The advisor was happy that his student, his leader, was able to joke during this tough time, but Frode didn¡¯t want Lilly to make his condition worse. Frode agreed with Dreng¡¯s sacrifice but wanted to keep him alive as long as possible. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss this outside, Lilly.¡±

    Lilly let herself be shooed out of the tent, mostly because she was utterly overwhelmed. She had been having a nice and peaceful day, and now everything was flipped upside down again. Why was Dreng dying all of a sudden, and why was he happy about it?

    Frode sat down so he wasn¡¯t looming over Lilly. ¡°Do you know how Martyr cubs are made?¡±

    The question caused Lilly to flush. She stuttered and stammered, obviously uncomfortable.

    Frode shook his head, ¡°Sorry, that probably wasn¡¯t a good way to begin. Of course, you know how cubs are made. What I meant to say is do you know how many are born each time?¡± Lilly took in a deep breath and shook her head, relieved she wouldn¡¯t have to have a furry version of the birds and the bees talk. ¡°If a Martyr mother is lucky she will give birth to two Martyrs cubs in a year. Usually, one mother would just have one cub a year.¡±

    Lilly nodded to let the advisor know she was following and waiting for him to get to the point.

    ¡°We do however have an ability that allows us to have more. The ability is racial, only us Martyrs have it. It allows a mother to triple the number of cubs she can have in one pregnancy,¡± Frode explained.

    Lilly interrupted, ¡°But Freydis had 10 cubs.¡±

    ¡°She did, that is true. She should have only had 3, maybe even 5 with this pregnancy. We think it had something to do with Dreng¡¯s unique amount of strength, but that isn¡¯t important right now. The ability Dreng used to allow Freydis to have all those cubs is called the Last Seed.¡±

    Lilly''s impatient nods stopped as she understood why it was named as such.

    ¡°Now you understand,¡± Frode said with a frown. ¡°The cost of the ability is the father¡¯s life.¡±

    Lilly shook her head, not willing to accept that someone else was dying. Frode explained to her the merits of Dreng¡¯s decision. He told her that they were safer than they had been since the Great Exodus when they were forced to flee their homeland. He explained that their only weakness was that there weren''t many Martyrs left. He did his best to make her understand. She didn¡¯t though and Frode realized he was trying to solve an emotional problem with a logical solution. He changed gears and took on a more comforting tone.

    Frode wasn¡¯t sure if the human girl would want comfort from an old Martyr like himself, but he never got the chance to find out. Just as the advisor moved to comfort her, to hold her hand and tell her everything would work out, he heard screaming coming from the cliff. He looked to the direction of the noise and spotted that greenish-brown creature from the spirit battleground running towards him.

 Chapter 36 - Michaelâ€™s Mind

    Michael stirred in his fur pile as a female voice woke him from his slumber. He hadn¡¯t heard a female''s voice since he had to fake a friendship with Morga back in the dungeon. This female''s voice was much softer though. It was almost comforting. She sounded gentle and genuine, almost the direct opposite of Morga. He listened to the conversation from his sectioned off room of the tent.

    The large creatures with tan fur were explaining to the woman that their leader was dying. She seemed just as hurt as she was confused. That was a good thing. Michael had suspected his captors might not actually have ill intent. Maybe, if this woman cared so much about them then his suspicion was right. The creature that interacted with him most introduced himself as Frode and explained that he was there to help. Michael wasn¡¯t sure if he could believe him though. He wasn¡¯t really sure what he could believe anymore, but his delirium was slowly going away. It was entirely possible that these large creatures were indeed here to help him.

    Michael continued to listen in on the conversation as Frode brought the woman named Lilly outside. He laughed at the irony of it. It was clear that Frode wasn¡¯t bringing Lilly outside so they could speak in private. He was bringing her outside so their leader wouldn¡¯t be tempted to talk to her. Michael could hear their conversation perfectly from where he was and if he could so could the rest of the tan creatures.

    Michael thought the leader of the creatures was very interesting. In between Michael¡¯s feverish fits of consciousness, the leader would try to talk to him. Michael couldn¡¯t be positive because of his paranoia, but he got the impression that the leader despised humans. Now though, he seemed like he couldn''t get enough of them. Almost like he owed them something and the only thing he could repay them with was his time.

    Michael''s ears perked up when he heard a new voice say his brother''s name. Standing up quickly, Michael moved closer to the edge of the tent. The sudden movement caused him to get light headed, but he needed to find out where his brother was, so he resisted the urge to sit back down. If his brother was actually in this strange place with him, and it wasn¡¯t just a trick, Michael had to find him.

    ¡°Shit,¡± Michael whispered as the voice explained that his brother got pulled into the dungeon. If it was the same dungeon Michael was trapped in, then his brother was in serious trouble. The discussion moved back inside as the new voice pleaded and pitifully apologized.

    Michael moved the canvas flap that separated his room from the rest of the tent and stepped forward. He surveyed the room. The leader of the tan creatures was now fully sitting up with his back turned to Michael. If Michael was going to kill the only creature that he was truly afraid of, now would be his chance. Michael ignored his rogue thought. No, he had a feeling that these creatures were friendly, he didn¡¯t need to fight for his survival anymore. He just had to fight for his brother¡¯s survival. Killing the leader would only slow him down; besides, he didn¡¯t have his weapons or armor.

    Michael used the time he had before anyone noticed he was awake to study the creatures in the room. Words appeared above their heads just like they did when he was in the dungeon. He winced when he saw their names appear. It meant that he was still in the same world the dungeon was in. A small part of him hoped the dungeon was just a bad dream, and now he was being pranked, but if words still appeared above people¡¯s heads like they did in the dungeon, it meant that this wasn¡¯t a dream. Or it meant that this was just one long dream. Either way, it was bad news.

    ¡°Gahh,¡± Michael whispered to himself. He needed to focus. His brother was in serious danger, and he needed to find him as soon as possible. Michael read the name tags, watching them update as the creatures in front of him talked and called each other by their real namesYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    The name tag above the woman updated from, ¡®Pretty Girl¡¯ to, ''Lilly''. The green creature that was talking about his brother updated from ''Goblin'' to ''Noma'' and the different variations of, ¡®Lion Guy¡¯ all updated to what must have been the real names of all the tan creatures.

    Michael cleared his throat and walked around Dreng. A silence overcame the tent as everyone watched him confidently take a place in their discussion circle.

    ***

    Dreng smiled as the human cub under his care entered the conversation. Everything is coming together, he thought. Well, everything except the fact that James went ahead and got tricked into being captured. Still, the new situation didn¡¯t hamper his mood. Dreng sensed a lot of power in James¡¯s brother and was confident he would save James if he could overcome the last vestiges of the delirium that gripped his brain. Dreng wanted to greet the human cub, to tell him that he was happy that he was okay again, but he refrained from doing so. His could tell his new demeanor towards humans was already making everyone uncomfortable, and he didn¡¯t think making it worse would help anything.

    Still, Dreng couldn¡¯t help but smile. He had finally accomplished his mission. His life hadn¡¯t been an easy one, but it was one he could be proud of. He had grown tremendously in the past few months and could look back on his life with the wisdom only gained by sitting on a deathbed. His race was finally safe. He had no doubt James and his party would make sure they remained safe long after he was gone. His son, Torunn, was growing up to be everything his race needed in a future leader. His son was much wiser than he was when he was his age, and that was what the Martyr¡¯s needed. Dreng had only just now let go of his anger towards humans. In retrospect, he knew that that anger only made things harder for himself and his clan. He was happy that Torunn never held that anger towards humans. It would allow him to lead his race to forge lasting partnerships with the humans. Something Dreng should have figured out how to do long ago.

    Dreng waited for Michael to speak, and when he did, Dreng was reminded of his younger self; direct, and straight to the heart of the matter without much care for pleasantries or excuses. The human cub didn¡¯t say thanks for healing me, or anything of the sort; he simple confirmed the type of dungeon his brother was currently trapped inside.

    When Noma said James was inside the same dungeon Michael was trapped inside just weeks ago, Michael turned and headed for the tent¡¯s exit.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Dreng boomed, causing everyone to freeze. ¡°You will need a weapon, Michael.¡±

    Michael turned around and faced the chieftain, who motioned to Freydis. Frey turned and lifted the lid of a nearby chest, pulling out a gigantic Mace with both of her hands. Dreng grabbed the mace with one hand and called Torunn over. ¡°I had meant to give this to you when you were older and strong enough to carry it, but it seems like I won¡¯t get that option, my son.¡±

    Dreng held the mace in the air and whispered something under his breath. The incantation materialized and swirled around the mace. Without warning, the mace shattered, leaving behind two smaller maces and a pile of metal dust. Dreng handed one of the smaller maces to Torunn, who accepted the gift with a forced smile, ¡°Torunn, my son. Take a part of my weapon and accompany Michael to save your brother. When you come back you will be chieftain.¡± Dreng paused for a long moment to look at his son. He was proud of the Martyr he was becoming and knew he would lead their race to new levels of prosperity. Dreng let those feelings be communicated through his eyes, but refrained from saying them out loud. He was wise enough to know that the way he felt for his son couldn¡¯t be explained with words. There were simply no words to describe the love between a father and a son.

    Torunn let Dreng know he had received the message by flashing a genuine smile, and Dreng collapsed back onto the ground, ¡°Give the other mace to Michael. When you want to combine them again talk to Frode. He will teach you the spell.¡±

    With his last command as chieftain, Dreng rushed the others out of the tent and into the dungeon.

 Chapter 37 - Return to Hell

    Michael stepped through the purple portal and immediately jolted into a run. Lilly called after him as she, Torunn, and one of the new Martyr cubs struggled to keep up.

    ¡°I¡¯m not slowing down!¡± Michael yelled without turning. He needed to get to the Lich¡¯s side of the spirit battleground and drop into the dungeon below. The mace that Dreng let him borrow should be enough to help him kill any opposition he reached quickly. He would need to kill quickly and move even quicker in order to rescue his brother. From what he knew about the Lich King¡¯s dungeon it was possible to save his brother, but only if he got to him in time. Ogrim would probably be the boss of the first floor and he would be under strict orders not to leave the floor, or the prisoners, unprotected. The prisoners would be waiting under the guard of Ogrim for an escort to the lower levels. Michael wasn¡¯t sure how many levels there were but knew the Lich would probably only trust his son to escort the prisoners. Each of his other mini-bosses had their own floors to manage and only the Prince was allowed to roam. The Lich King himself wouldn¡¯t leave his bottom floor, or at least Michael hoped he wouldn¡¯t. If he got to his brother too late and the Lich King happened to be the escort then James would be doomed. Michael might be able to fight off the Prince and Ogrim, depending on the strength of Lilly and Torunn, but he didn¡¯t stand a chance against the Lich King. Still, he didn¡¯t want any of that to happen. He wanted to get to his brother before the escort even arrived, so Ogrim would be the only boss he had to worry about.

    ¡°Hurry up!¡± Michael called out and slowed to a stop at the empty Lich King vessel. It was shattered and broken. Michael looked down through the glass and saw what looked like a stairway down. It was dark and ominous, just like the ravines he jumped on his way over to the vessel, but he was used to dark and ominous now. Michael stepped inside and began to descend the spiraling stairs.

    As Michael descended the hole in the spirit battleground it got darker and darker until he couldn¡¯t see the next step. He growled in anger. He would have to slow down or risk falling. Michael used his hand to trace the wall as he used his feet to find the end of the step. When he found the step, he lowered his foot until it found purchase and put his weight down. It was tricky because the stairs where all of different heights. The process was slow, but he was getting closer. He could now see a faint light at the bottom of the hole. When he finally reached the bottom he heard Lilly and the two Martyrs above him enter the stairwell. The sounds of them struggling to keep up made it difficult for him to hear what lay ahead. Deciding that he didn¡¯t have time to sneak around, Michael took his last step and charged into the dimly lit tunnel that opened ahead of him.

    Torches lit his way as Michael ran through a rocky tunnel. As he got further, the tunnel widened. He could see abandoned mining stations as he went.

    ¡°Good,¡± Michael whispered as he ran. The mining equipment meant he was definitely on Ogrim¡¯s floor. The boss brute was responsible for gathering ore and other minerals to be used on the lower floors. The monsters here would be strong, but inexperienced at fighting. It meant that when Michael came across any, he shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble. If for some reason the hole in the spirit battleground skipped Ogrim¡¯s floor and went to someone else''s, Michael¡¯s mission would have been much more difficult.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Side tunnels started opening up all around him and he realized Lilly and the two Martyrs behind him might get lost. He couldn¡¯t stop and wait though. He just had to hope they would realize that they needed to go down. If you wanted to reach the boss of a floor in the Lich¡¯s dungeon, you always had to take the path that went down. Michael had used the opposite logic when he was trapped here. He woke up in the game on a lower floor in the dungeon. Once he escaped from his torturers he experimented with his interface and found out he could defend himself. He snuck around, always going up until he found monsters he was strong enough to fight. He snuck around for so long, and got so strong doing it, the Lich Prince eventually hunted him down. That was when Michael got involved in the Lich¡¯s politics. Luckily, he played along long enough to get offered the chance to fight in the Lich King¡¯s name. That was when he entered the spirit battleground.

    Suddenly, a tunnel opened up to Michael¡¯s right. He glanced at it just long enough to confirm that it sloped upward and that he should ignore it. He sighed in relief when the small brutes that were swinging their pickaxes at the wall didn¡¯t notice him. He could have killed them easily, and they probably had some decent loot he could use too, but he didn¡¯t want to fight until he got to Ogrim if he could help it.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± Michael said, moments before the mining party blocking his way noticed he was there. Michael slowed to a walk and gave his borrowed mace a practice swing. It felt light and awkward in his hands. It was very different from his preferred weapon, but Michael knew it would do the job. He was strong enough that he didn¡¯t need to rely on his weapon-specific abilities.

    ¡°Intruder!¡± a brute bellowed as he stood up from his resting place against the stone wall. Before the other two miners realized what was going on, Michael was upon them. He smashed his Mace into the closest miner. The brute¡¯s head snapped back and beat the rest of its body to the ground. The brute that was resting just moments ago swung his pickaxe at Michael with devastating force. Michael dodged, and the brute looked genuinely confused that the target for his strike actually moved out of the way.

    ¡°I am not a rock,¡± Michael stated to the brainless brute, which raised its eyebrow in confusion. Then the brute realized his intelligence was being insulted and anger consumed its face again. Michael waited there impatiently for the two brutes to strike him. He didn¡¯t want to make his move and strike first because that would make him vulnerable to a counterstrike. The brutes were slow and stupid, but Michael was in no rush to be hit by one of them. The two brutes both raised their pickaxes high above their heads, just like they were still mining. Michael shot through the small gap between them, knowing they were not smart or quick enough to cancel their attack and turn around. Michael gripped his one-handed mace with both hands and swung it like a bat at the unsuspecting brutes. They collapsed to the ground, one of them falling on the handle of a wooden wheelbarrow they were using to shuttle ore. The brute¡¯s massive weight levered the wheelbarrow. Iron ore flew into the air in all directions like shrapnel, but Michael was gone before it could hit him.

 Chapter 38 - Party of Prisoners

    James, Alex, and Patrick all sat in dark metal cages inside a large cavern somewhere below the spirit battleground. Scaffolding covered the walls as high as James could see. Various mini-Ogrims stood all along the scaffolding, mining various ore veins. The miners simply tossed the ore they managed to dislodge off the scaffolding and onto the floor.

    Ogrim sat on a throne of unrefined ore toward the back of the room, flanked by cages full of human prisoners and one portal that James assumed went somewhere even more sinister than his current location. Ogrim¡¯s throne sparkled as torchlight reflected off the various gems and diamonds scattered throughout it. James wondered why anyone would want to sit in such an uncomfortable looking chair. He watched as a miner threw a particularly shiny piece of ore from the scaffolding. It bounced off a cage, eliciting a scream from its inhabitant, and rolled to a stop in front of Ogrim. The giant brute reached forward and scooped the ore up, admiring the diamonds inside. James watched in awe as Ogrim stood up and smashed the ore into his chair, adding another shiny to his collection. The ore jutted out roughly, but somehow still assimilated with the other ores in the chair. Ogrim sat back down with a smile, paying no heed to the various gems digging into his bottom and back. James half expected the throne to crumble under Ogrim¡¯s weight, but it proved to be sturdier than it looked.

    ¡°Ogrim¡¯s skin must be so tough that he doesn¡¯t even notice the rough surface. He probably just likes displaying the shinnies and that¡¯s the only way he could think of how to do it,¡± James mused. Then he got an idea and decided to test just how tough Ogrim¡¯s skin actually was.

    ¡°Hey, Ogre guy!¡± James yelled out from his cage in the direction of Ogrim. The giant brute just continued to watch over his workers, not paying James any mind.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he knows what an Ogre is,¡± a male prisoner in a cage adjacent to James replied. James nodded, appreciating the fact that this prisoner was coherent. The majority of the other prisoners were all crazy, likely driven mad by their current situation. James felt bad for them. The cave had probably been the only portion of the game that these humans had ever been exposed to. James knew from talking with the single coherent prisoner that they were all from Earth. He couldn¡¯t imagine just going about his life like normal on Earth then being essentially kidnapped by the military, only to be thrown into an entirely new world he knew nothing about and put into a cage and tortured. It was no wonder they all went mad. Still, James was hopeful for them. If his brother was able to break free from his own delirium, then these prisoners should be able to as well.

    ¡°Yeah, you''re probably right,¡± James responded to the prisoner. Craning his neck he looked a few cages down to check on Patrick and Alex. Alex was busy trying to explain to a group of prisoners what was going on. He even looked like he had managed to get through to a few of them. He explained to them that they were in a game and not in a dream. He told them that this was their home now, but not everywhere was like the cavern they were in. A few of the prisoners got upset and asked questions, but the majority of them just yelled obscenities at Alex and accused him of trying to trick them. James didn¡¯t envy Alex. It was a tough conversation to have. He was sure that the majority of the slightly less incoherent prisoners probably clung on to the idea that this was all a bad dream. To have to explain to them that it wasn¡¯t and that this was their real life was not an easy task. Still, if he could free the prisoners, and himself, then that conversation would have to be had many more times.

    Patrick had resigned himself to take a nap, arguing that he already tried everything he could to get out of his cage. James had tried everything as well, but he wasn¡¯t ready to give up yet. If he could just get into Ogrim¡¯s head maybe he could piss him off enough that he would want to kill James. James would try his best to defend himself. Killing Ogrim was definitely his primary goal, but even if he failed, he would be able to respawn and come back with reinforcements. Shivers traveled up James¡¯s shoulders as he imagined Dreng down in the cave with him. The chieftain would eat Ogrim for breakfast and pick his teeth with his bones. James wasn¡¯t sure if Dreng would fit into the tunnels that led to the cavern, but James knew Dreng would try if he needed him to.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    That¡¯s when he remembered his Mark of the Martyr. He should be able to call on it and summon a Martyr to his location. James closed his eyes and focused on the idea, yet nothing happened. Frustrated, he thought back to the last time he used his mark to summon a Martyr. It was in his village, long before it became ¡®his¡¯ village. The undead were rampaging and they had the house he was staying in surrounded. It was then that he met Alex and Lilly for the first time. He used his ability to summon Frey, who saved them all. James tried his best to activate the mark the same way he did that time, but still, nothing happened.

    ¡°Crap, maybe the ability doesn¡¯t work because of the portal,¡± James thought, defeated. Technically, the Martyrs were on an entirely different plane of existence. Or maybe they were just really far away and portals are just used for long distance travel? James had no idea, but either way, it wasn¡¯t worth thinking about right now. All that was important was that the summon Martyr portion of his mark didn¡¯t work. He would have to continue with his other plan.

    Just when James was about to start yelling insults at Ogrim again he heard a noise come from behind the throne of ore. James turned his head slightly and squinted his eyes. The torchlight didn¡¯t reach the area between Ogrim¡¯s throne and the wall behind it, but James was pretty sure he saw Torunn. Had his game brother come to save him? Was Torunn called by his mark somehow? Did that mean Torunn was an adult now? James had so many questions. He was happy Torunn was here but was hoping his mark would call Dreng. James didn¡¯t think Torunn would be able to handle Ogrim all by himself and was about to tell Torunn to stay put, but it was too late. Torunn was already stalking around the throne, preparing to attack.

    ¡°No!¡± James called out in reflex, causing Ogrim to look at him. Torunn hesitated. James didn¡¯t want his game brother to fight. If he lost to Ogrim, he wouldn¡¯t respawn.

    ¡°What?¡± Ogrim growled. When James didn¡¯t answer Ogrim¡¯s implied question, he got angry.

    Good, get angry, you fool, James thought, purposely staying quiet.

    Ogrim dismissed James with a wave of his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, puny human. The Prince will be here for you soon,¡±he slumped back into his throne, ¡°and then you will be out of my hair.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any hair you bald, dumb, Ogre!¡± James yelled out, desperate to fuel Ogrim¡¯s anger.

    The brute immediately reached a hand up to his head and James realized he did actually have hair. James just never realized it before because it was so thin and the same color of his skin. Still, James could tell the ogre took care of it.

    Ogrim¡¯s face twisted into a snarl as he lovingly caressed his patch of hair. The brute slammed his feet into the ground, causing piles of ore all around the cavern to rattle and jump. Then he forcefully stood and stalked over to James, giant mace in hand.

    ¡°Is that all you had to do? Insult his receding hairline?¡± the coherent prison next to James quipped.

    James couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°I guess so.¡±

    Before James could accomplish his lifelong dream of being smashed to death by a balding Ogre, screams sounded from the cavern entrance and Ogrim halted in his tracks.

    ¡°Go investigate!¡± Ogrim bellowed as he pointed his finger at the sound of the disturbance. Miner ogres jumped down from scaffolding in every direction, causing the ground to rumble and quake. Like a swarm of short bodybuilders, they all squeezed through the cavern entrance, intent on destroying whatever caused one of their brethren to scream in such a high-pitched manner.

 Chapter 39 - Michaelâ€™s Revenge

    Michael heard Ogrim bellow in the distance. His command was followed by a rumbling of what Michael could only assume to be a horde of miners coming in his direction.

    ¡°Good,¡± he snarled, happy that he would be able to get rid of them all at once. Michael ran towards the direction where he heard Ogrim, stopping at the head of a tunnel with a severe downward slope. The tunnel was so steep that he couldn¡¯t see the horde of miners that ran towards him yet, but he could tell they were close.

    Michael smirked as he dug his feet into the ground and gave his mace another practice swing, ¡°And I have the high ground? You all are about to get Anakin¡¯d.¡±

    The first miner reached Michael seconds later and was rewarded for being the first with a mace to the face. The miner fell backward, knocking the unlucky miner behind him over. They both were quickly trampled over by the surging horde, and two more miners took their place. Michael took a quick step backward, dodging two classic pickaxe attacks, and happy that the tunnel was too thin for more than two miners to attack at a time. Michael lashed out after the miners completed their downward strokes, sending them both to the ground to be trampled on. Two more miners took their place. Two more miners fell to be trampled. Michael¡¯s fight continued this way until he realized he was slowly losing ground. If he continued this way he would be slowly pushed back into a wider cave and be surrounded. He had no desire to be slowly picked to death like an ore vein, so he started to formulate a new plan.

    Michael continued to dispatch miners by the pair while he thought of a better strategy. Nothing he came up with would be good enough though. The only thing he could think off was to turn and run. He could kite the horde into another narrow tunnel and do this same thing over again, but that would take too long. He needed to be fast. Ogrim was so close, just at the other end of the tunnel. His brother would no doubt be there as well, probably in one of the dark metal cages the dungeon produced in mass in one of the lower levels.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± Michael whispered in between heavy breathes. He would have to use the power the Prince gave him. It was the only way he would be able to kill all these miners with enough time to save his brother. If the prisoner''s escort got here, James¡¯s rescue would be much more difficult, if not impossible. Still, did he really want to tap into that power again? After the Lich Prince had awarded him with a mark, he had relied on its power to survive. Every time he cast a Death Bolt though, he got a little more out of touch with reality, which was already hard enough to stay in touch with as it was.

    Strong Death Bolt - Cast a strong bolt of Death. Damage is equal to 3.5x Intelligence.

    Michael read the ability and got excited for a moment. He had never had the chance to look at it before now. He was always too paranoid in trying to survive in the dungeon to check his interface. He barely let himself sleep for fear of being discovered and re-captured. Michael¡¯s excitement quickly died when he pulled up the information for the mark he received. His ability didn¡¯t say anything about going mad or losing his touch with reality, so he thought for a moment that something had changed and he would be able to access the power without risking his newfound sanity. The description text for his mark told him that was not the case though.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Mark of the Lich King - You have been gifted a mark by the Lich King, leader of the undead and evil factions. At its current rank, the mark allows you to master death magic at a rate that is proportionate to your lack of sanity. This mark causes insanity to build with every use of death magic.

    ¡°Damn,¡± Michael said defeated. The Lich must use his mark to ensure his followers are strong, but never have the mental capacity to dethrone him. Michael knew it was smart because even though he was aware of the repercussions he was about to accept them willingly. The mark was just too powerful to ignore. He needed it to save his brother. Michael was sure the Lich King knew that others with his mark would be in the same situation Michael was in now, smart enough to be wary of the power, but desperate enough to use it anyway.

    Michael put his attention back into the fight just in time. The horde had finally pushed him out of the narrow tunnel and was struggling to get out themselves. Michael gritted his teeth and doubled his ferocity just long enough to make some space. Then he began to cast.

    Michael swirled his hands, calling on the familiar feeling of death. He winced as longing, desperation, and insanity were once again welcomed into his body. He channeled the feelings into his hands, solidifying them. He hands moved instinctively to mold the channels into a skull. When it was finished, Michael pointed the skull down the tunnel and mentally let it know there were many lives to consume down below. The skull snapped and snarled andMichael knew the spell was ready.He released the skull and it let out an ethereal scream that caused the cave to grow cold and dark. It shot forward with an explosion of dark and purple mist, and Michael waved the mist away from his face as he watched the horror he had just unleashed. He knew the mist wasn¡¯t harmful to him since he cast the spell, but it trailed behind the skull, consuming the flesh of anything else it touched. The skull traveled down the hallway in a straight line, laughing, and chomping its jaws the entire way down.

    Michael pressed himself against the wall of the now pitch black cave, just in case his death bolt didn¡¯t kill one of the miners. He was pretty sure his spell killed each and every one of them, but it was too dark to tell and he didn¡¯t want to risk getting hit with a pickaxe in the head just because he couldn¡¯t see it coming.

    Suddenly, a light began to grow from the ground. At first, it was a faint white, but then blue and even purple lights joined in and lit the tunnel.

    ¡°Loot.¡± Michael sighed as he stepped over the assortment of common, uncommon, and pair of extraordinary items dropped by the horde. He wanted to grab them, but couldn¡¯t afford to waste even an extra second with his brother''s life on the line. Michael sped up to a sprint and ran down the slope to Ogrim''s cavern, promising himself he would come back for the loot if he could.

 Chapter 40 - Ogrimâ€™s Surprise

    James watched in utter disbelief as his brother stood at the entrance to the cavern, disbelief that his brother was here and disbelief that he must have been the one to cast that horrifying spell that slaughtered an entire swarm of miners. Did this mean that his brother was normal now? As normal as a human who was unwillingly tossed into a game, tortured to the point of insanity, and able to wield a laughing skull of death could be?

    James looked at Alex and Patrick, who had his same expression plastered on their faces, and back to Torunn, who was hiding back behind the throne of ore. James wanted Torunn to get out, to run, and to be anywhere his life wasn¡¯t at risk. He wasn¡¯t sure how he would handle losing Torunn, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t be good. Even if this was a game, even if he would someday be able to get back to Earth, he knew he didn¡¯t want Torunn to die. Still, despite all the subtle cues James could give him, the Martyr would not leave.

    Michael stepped forward to the chagrin of Ogrim. James used the opportunity to whisper to Torunn one last time that he needed to leave. It was clear Torunn heard him again, but this time the Martyr¡¯s face had a different expression on it. When before Torunn just had the stubborn expression that told James he was here to save him and that no matter what James said he would not leave, now his face was more panicked. Something had changed.

    ¡°Lilly,¡± Torunn whispered. James shrugged in confusion. ¡°Lilly and a cub were with me.¡±

    Then it dawned on James. His mark had pulled Torunn into the cave because he was already on the same side of the portal. Torunn and Lilly must have entered the spirit battleground when they noticed they were gone for too long.

    ¡°Shit,¡± James whispered as Ogrim yelled at Michael and prepared for a fight. Lilly couldn¡¯t respawn either, and now she was probably all by herself in the spirit battleground or wherever. Torunn nodded when he saw the panic on James''s face. ¡°Go get them!¡± James whispered, starting to get angry. He couldn¡¯t blame Torunn and Lilly for wanting to save him and the other Earth humans, but he was frustrated that they didn¡¯t understand he could respawn. He would be fine if he died, but Torunn and Lilly would not. Now that he thought about it, it was even more frustrating. Torunn knew for a fact that he could respawn because he witnessed it himself.

    James let out his frustrations with a scream and violent shake of his cage. He sat there gripping the bars that held him prisoner and shook them until he was spent.

    ***

    Michael checked out his mana bar and confirmed that his mana would be too low to cast another bolt of death. His mana was never high enough that he could throw more than one bolt, but he figured he should double check anyway. On the off-chance that something happened, and his mana increased somehow, this fight would be much quicker. Michael wasn¡¯t worried about defeating Ogrim; he was worried about how fast he would be able to defeat him. Every second that he took to do it was another second that the escort got closer. Michael charged, cutting Ogrim off mid-sentence.

    ¡°I am stronger now, Mi-¡± Ogrim¡¯s pre-battle speech ended with a roar of pain as Michael¡¯s mace collided with his shoulder. Ogrim raised his mace, intending to bring it down on Michael, but the human was already gone. Michael spun around to Ogrim¡¯s back and leaped into the air, bringing his mace down onto Ogrim¡¯s head. The Ogre roared in desperate pain and recklessly swung his mace in a wide arc as he turned to face Michael. The Earth human ducked to dodge the attack and used the momentum he gained from standing to drive his mace upward and into Ogrim¡¯s chin, eliciting an angry growl from the brute.

    Michael checked Ogrim¡¯s health bar that was now displayed below his name and gritted his teeth. It was only down a by a fifth. This would take a little longer than Michael expected. Michael figured it had something to do with the fact he was using a mace, and Ogrim had unusually tough skin. His mace had sharp edges throughout it, but they weren¡¯t long enough. Even when he landed what should have been a devastating blow, he couldn¡¯t sink his weapon into the brute deep enough to do any real damage.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Ogrim unleashed a flurry of swings that caught Michael off guard. He knew Ogrim wasn¡¯t as dumb as his miner minions, but still didn¡¯t think he could move as fast as he was. Michael reeled backward just soon enough for Ogrim¡¯s mace to narrowly miss him until he bumped into something hard. Michael¡¯s backward movement halted. Ogrim took advantage of the situation in an instant. His mace swung towards Michael in a sweep that was parallel to the ground. It was too fast to dodge, so Michael jumped in the direction the mace was traveling, hoping to lessen the damage from its impact. As he jumped to his right, he caught a glimpse of his brother¡¯s eyes just before the mace hit his back. In that instant, Michael could see that his brother was worried, afraid, and angry all at once. Michael checked his health bar, and his brother¡¯s emotions became his own. That one hit from Ogrim knocked his health down by a fourth. Ogrim had gotten stronger since the spirit battleground, much stronger.

    Michael rolled to his feet and shook away his negative thoughts. His battle would be tougher now, but he still had to win. There was no other option. If the Lich King captured his brother then he would take away his soul, and with it, his ability to respawn. Michael had seen it first hand when he was a prisoner, and the process was terrifying. Still, though, Michael wasn¡¯t sure James knew that the Lich King could steal souls. The only glimpses Michael got of the village where James lived made it seem like a peaceful place. How would his brother know about the Lich King and his powers? Of course, it was possible that James discovered the Lich¡¯s ability after the fight in the Spirit Battleground. It was also possible that James was worried and afraid for a different reason. Either way, Michael needed to defeat Ogrim and get the hell out of the dungeon.

    Ogrim began to laugh and told Michael he should have listened to his speech. Michael didn¡¯t have time for it though, and charged, cutting Ogrim off again. Ogrim dug his feet into the ground and took up a defensive position. Just before their maces met, Michael changed direction - he knew the brute was strong and sturdy, but Ogrim was still slower than him. So, Michael used that to his advantage. He ran around the monster, who was expecting an attack and couldn¡¯t adapt in time. Michael jumped onto Ogrim¡¯s throne and used it to vault himself high into the air. Then Michael enacted the second part of his plan. His Mace wasn¡¯t the best for fighting Ogrim because it¡¯s sharp edges couldn''t cut deep into the brute''s skin. However, the one place it could still do a decent amount of damage was Ogrim¡¯s head. Michael didn¡¯t have to cut deep into Ogrim¡¯s head to do a lot of damage. The sensitive bits were already close the surface.

    Michael brought his mace down onto the confused Ogrim with all the force he could muster, and the weapon dug into the brute¡¯s head with a wet thud. Michael didn¡¯t react to the sound though. He was used to the brutality of this world now and besides, he knew from his last hit on Ogrim¡¯s head that the brute would go into a frenzy after being hit there. Just as Michael suspected, Ogrim¡¯s speed increased, and he unleashed another flurry of heavy blows. Michael was ready this time though and noticed that Ogrim¡¯s berserker attack gave him a small vulnerability. Ogrim was swinging his mace so fast because he was treating it like a flail. When the mace struck out one way, Ogrim kept the momentum and put it into the next swing. The attacks were faster, compared to Ogrim¡¯s usual, but they were also more predictable. Michael used this to his advantage as well. When the momentum of Ogrim¡¯s mace took it away from the human, Michael used the throne to vault into the air again and land another blow to Ogrim¡¯s head. This time though, Ogrim¡¯s mace swing was predictable, so Michael opted to land behind Ogrim, and away from the path of his mace.

    Ogrim swung his mace in another sweep and let his body follow the momentum until he was facing Michael once again. Michael ducked again. Now that he had figured out Ogrim¡¯s attack pattern, Michael would be able to whittle him down pretty fast, all while taking little to no damage.

    The Earth human and the brute continued their dance until Ogrim stood stalk still, covered in blood and panting. Red streamed down his head and painted his body in macabre streaks.

    ¡°You will not defeat me, Michael,¡± Ogrim huffed.

    Michael waved the comment away and took one last breath before readying himself to charge again. Now was not the time to rest, and he knew it. The stakes were too high for him to leave anything on the battlefield.

    Suddenly, Ogrim moved his hands in a quick pattern. Michael realized what was happening immediately, but it still happened too fast for him to do anything about it. Ogrim finished casting his spell, and a totem began to sprout from the ground. The totem consisted of wood with one pastel painted angry face carved into it. When the totem grew enough to fully uncover the angry face, a beam of red energy shot out and connected to Ogrim. Michael watched in horror as his opponent soaked up the power granted by the totem. Ogrim¡¯s face intensified and his already huge muscles bulged a bit more. Then the Ogre grinned.

 Chapter 41 - Doom Belly

    Lilly sat huddled in a dark area of the dungeon. A tan colored light had suddenly enveloped Torunn while they were on their way down into the dungeon, and then the Martyr disappeared, leaving her alone. Well, not really alone. Even though she was scared, she would rather be alone than be accompanied by the fat Martyr cub next to her.

    The fat Martyr cub pulled on her arm, but Lilly resisted. She didn¡¯t want to go anywhere. The rumblings she heard in the cave let her know she was way out of her league. She wanted to stay put until someone found her. Hopefully, someone she knew would see her before whatever made the terrible rumbling sounds did.

    The fat Martyr cub pulled on her arm again, this time eliciting a shout.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Lilly said a little louder than she meant too. Still, her tone must have worked, because the Martyr cub let her go. Lilly watched in disgust as the Martyr cub whirled around and got on all fours, sniffing the air.

    Then the rumbling began again, but this time it seemed closer. Lilly pressed herself against the cave wall even harder. The fat Martyr cub stood up, and lightly tiptoed behind a rock. The section of the cave Lilly was in was shallow. It was practically a straight hall only 20 feet in length, and barely tall enough for her to stand upright. The entrance into the dead-end opened up to the main cavern where they came from but had a large rock to the right of it. If something stepped into the dead end, they wouldn¡¯t see the Martyr cub. No, they would see Lilly immediately, and that made Lilly mad.

    ¡°Are you hiding?¡± she chastised the Martyr cub, this time more quietly. He looked slightly confused and hurt by her words, but she didn¡¯t care. He deserved it if he was going to be such a coward.

    The rumbling turned to footsteps, and soon after a muscle-bound ugly creature holding a pickaxe rounded the corner and looked directly into Lilly¡¯s eyes. The creature huffed and twisted its face into a vicious snarl. Then it raised its pickaxe and charged, causing Lilly to let out an involuntary, ear-shattering scream. She continued to scream as she tucked her head into her knees and closed her eyes.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Lilly could hear grunting and banging through her screams, and when she finally looked up, only the Martyr cub stood in front of her.

    ¡°Did you¡­¡± Lilly paused and looked at the creature. It reminded her of a human-sized pile of dirty butter, ¡°kill that thing?¡±

    The Martyr cub only grunted and patted its wide stomach.

    Lilly frowned, ¡°Well, I hate to say it,¡± she paused again, this time, swallowing her pride, ¡°but you saved me. It looks like I was the coward after all. Thanks,¡± Lilly said, realizing she didn¡¯t know the name of the Martyr cub. She only knew that she had seen this specific cub hanging around Patrick often. The two seemed to like each other and would often run at each other at full speed and try to knock each other over with their equally huge stomachs. It was the same stomach bump that knocked Lilly over the other day and caused her to hate this Martyr. Lilly sighed, slowly realizing she shouldn''t hate the Martyr because of his need for horseplay.

    ¡°Pat-rick,¡± the Martyr cub said with another pat to its belly.

    Lilly raised an eyebrow, ¡°Yeah, Patrick is your friend. I know.¡±

    The Martyr cub shook its head and pointed at himself. ¡°I Pat-Rick.¡±

    Lilly was confused, ¡°Your name is Patrick too?¡±

    The Martyr cub smiled and nodded his head. Lilly did the same, realizing Patrick must have somehow named the cub after himself. She didn¡¯t know how or why he did it, but the cub was all for it and seemed happy to share the same name as the rowdy redhead.

    ¡°Okay, Patrick, now that we know you can fight we should go find our friends. I am not sure where Torunn went, but we should be okay without him. If you get hurt I can heal you,¡± Lilly told the Martyr, Patrick.

    More footsteps rang through the cavern, causing Lilly to sigh. If only she hadn¡¯t screamed, then no one would know they were here. She probably alerted all the monsters in the area of where they were. The footsteps got louder, and Martyr Patrick stepped in front of Lilly, taking up a defensive posture that seemed a little bit too relaxed. Lilly didn¡¯t comment though, deciding that she should have had more faith in the Martyr cub before so that she would make up for it now.

    The footsteps got louder and louder until the creature rounded the corner.

    ¡°Torunn!¡± Lilly said relieved. The Martyr greeted Lilly and his younger brother with a nod before letting them know they needed to leave. On the way, he briefed Lilly on what was happening in Ogrim¡¯s cavern.

 Chapter 42 - Super Doom Belly

    ¡°Destroy the totem!¡± James yelled out from his cage. Alex and Patrick called out similar instructions, but James knew Michael was already aware of what he needed to do. His brother had been trying to destroy the totem for a while now. Every time his brother made a move to destroy the totem, Ogrim either used his Mace Slam ability and stunned Michael or unleashed a flurry of strikes that caused him to back away from the totem. The problem was that James didn¡¯t know how else he could help.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying!¡± Michael called out through gritted teeth as he dodged a mace swing. James winced. He wasn¡¯t helping and calling out obvious instructions was just distracting his brother. He needed to find another way to help, but couldn¡¯t think of anything. The cage he was in was rock solid and even seemed to dampen magic or abilities. Alex even tried to Blink out of the cage, but couldn¡¯t. Patrick, who was unequivocally the strongest of the prisoners, couldn¡¯t even manage to bend one of the dark metal bars that held them.

    Frustration built within James. He tried to recite in his head that if his brother died he would just respawn and everything would be okay, but it wasn¡¯t helping. Even though he knew everything would be okay, he couldn¡¯t bear to see his younger brother, his only real family, be hit and hurt with such ferocity. James flash backed to when he discovered his brother being beaten up by multiple bullies back at school, years ago. When James realized what was happened to his brother he stepped in and saved him. He felt the same way then as he did now. Absolute rage filled him. Unbridled violence built up in his body, waiting to bring to justice to anyone that would hurt his family. And yet, James couldn¡¯t do anything about it, because he was caged like an animal. It was maddening.

    That was when James realized his true power. It didn¡¯t lie in his strength or even his intelligence. His power lay within his friends, with the Martyrs, and with his brother. They all had things they were good at. What James needed to be good at was organizing all of their strengths into the most effective combinations. Right now they were a disorganized mess. James knew that wasn¡¯t what got them into this situation, not entirely at least. James was sure he would find himself in unfortunate situations again in the future. He was sure that there would be times where he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to help his party. They would have to help themselves, and that was okay. What James needed to do was make sure they all knew what to do and where always on the same page. If James had done that better then Torunn and Lilly wouldn¡¯t be here risking their actual lives for no reason.

    James decided that when he got out of here he would work on some sort of training or school for his village. There was so much information going around that some of it was falling through cracks. If his village was to survive, he needed a way to make sure everyone was trained and had access to the same information. James¡¯s strategy of investing in Wisdom and Intelligence has been pretty useful at getting new information - information that had helped his party and allowed him access to opportunities that he otherwise wouldn¡¯t have had access to. James knew that was good for his party. James also knew that he didn¡¯t utilize all that information to the best of his ability. If he realized this sooner he would have found time to make sure Torunn knew not to risk his life for James. If he realized this sooner, he could have been a better leader. That was what he was, wasn¡¯t he? His strategy to invest in Wisdom had set him up to keep pace with his parties level advancements while he focused on things other than leveling up. Without that strategy, he would just be another weak fighter or mage. Now though, he had the party leader and builder interfaces. James shook his head. He wasn¡¯t convinced if he was a leader or not. If he was though, he knew he hadn¡¯t been a good one. James vowed to become better...Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Suddenly, Torunn fell from somewhere up high and crashed into Ogrim.

    ¡°About time,¡± Michael said as he rushed in to take advantage of the opportunity granted by Torunn.

    ¡°No,¡± James said, defeated. He had hoped that Torunn would have found Lilly and went back to the village. Instead, Torunn came back, putting his life at risk again.

    James watched as his game brother and real brother fought Ogrim. Michael attacked, Torunn distracted, and when one of them was vulnerable the other was ready to step in. Their teamwork was just as good as his and Torunn¡¯s had been.

    A vibration echoed through the cave floor, causing James to sit on his feet instead of his bottom. Ore jumped and scattered about on the ground. James looked around for the source of the vibration. Ogrim wasn¡¯t doing anything special and neither was anyone in his party. Then a beam of golden light connected to Ogrim. James followed it to the totem and realized that it grew. Another face sprouted below the angry one. The new face seemed excited, but that wasn¡¯t the emotion James felt when he realized what this new level of the totem did. James¡¯s sorrow grew as he watched Ogrim¡¯s health bar slowly fill up. He had been just below half before the totem grew and began to heal him. Michael¡¯s health bar was low as well, and James knew his brother wouldn¡¯t survive another attack. If Michael died that would leave Torunn to face Ogrim alone. Maybe Lilly would join in if she was still around, but James wasn¡¯t sure he wanted her to. That would just put two people that couldn¡¯t respawn at risk of permanently dying.

    ¡°It¡¯s healing him!¡± Patrick called out from his cage, late to the party as usual.

    ¡°We can¡¯t get close!¡± Michael yelled out as he and Torunn regained their consciousness. They had been stunned after attempting to attack the totem together. James could tell Michael wasn¡¯t keen on the idea of attempting a totem dive again.

    A loud roar echoed through the cavern, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. Chills went up James back as he struggled to grasp what was happening. A shadow grew on the cavern¡¯s floor so large that it even seemed to worry the buffed up Ogre. Ogrim stepped back and flashed a confused look at Michael and Torunn. Michael didn¡¯t react, just in case whatever was roaring was here to help him, but James recognized his bluff face. Michael gave the same look every time they played poker and he bet more than his cards could handle. It was clear that Michael didn¡¯t even know where the roar was coming from.

    Suddenly, the shadow began to shrink, and Ogrim¡¯s confidence grew once again. James saw Torunn look up, so he followed his gaze. One of the Martyr cubs was falling towards Ogrim with tremendous speed. James''s eyes widened as he realized the cub was going to belly flop right onto the ground. Just before he could call out and tell someone to catch the cub, it smashed into Ogrim¡¯s totem, belly first.

    Everyone went silent as the beams of light that connected Ogrim to the totem died out. The Martyr cub let out a groan and rolled over, revealing a destroyed totem.

    ¡°My man!¡± Patrick yelled out, forcefully standing and throwing his fist into the air, only for it to bump unforgivingly into the top of his cage. Patrick gripped his hand in regret and whispered, ¡°Good job, little Patrick. Belly of steel.¡±

 Chapter 43 - Logistics

    Michael, Torunn, Lilly and Little Patrick quickly whittled down Ogrim¡¯s health. Their increased numbers, along with Lilly¡¯s healing proved to be too much for the totem-less ogre. Even Little Patrick, who was able to recover from his super belly flop of doom, thanks to Lilly, got some of the action. Ogrim swayed as his health bar reached zero. Slowly, the ogre fell to the ground like a large tree. Cheers echoed through the chambers and reached new levels when the loot Ogrim dropped lit up with the light of different colors. Everyone held proud but tired looks, exhausted from their accomplishments. Everyone, except Michael.

    James watched from within his cage as his brother refused to celebrate and dove into the pile of loot. When he resurfaced, Michael ran over to James¡¯s cage with a key in his hand.

    ¡°We need to get out of here. Someone from below is on the way to escort all the prisoners down to the lower levels,¡± Michael said as he struggled with the key. ¡°If they catch us they will deliver all of us to the Lich King. The Lich King has the power to steal our souls, making us unable to respawn.¡±

    James¡¯s jaw dropped. Now it all made sense. That was why Torunn and Lilly came. James, Patrick, and Alex were at risk of actually dying. James swallowed. This meant he should have put more faith into his party. Of course, Torunn was smart enough to remember that James could respawn. James should have never doubted that. Still, that didn''t change his desire to become a better leader, it just changed how he would go about it. He still thought he needed to get some sort of training regimen together, but he also needed to grow as a leader. Hopefully, Dreng could help him with that part.

    Michael swung the cage door open and helped James out with an outstretched hand.

    James took his brother''s hand, ¡°We need to free all of these prisoners.¡±

    Michael looked aghast, ¡°There is no time.¡±

    ¡°They are all from Earth,¡± James sternly said, ¡°We cannot leave them here.¡±

    Michael froze for what seemed like an eternity before uttering an expletive and running to the next cage.

    ¡°Free Patrick and Alex first, they can help us in a fight if it comes to it,¡± James instructed and pointed to the cages that held the rest of the party.

    James then turned to his party and instruction them to take up defensive formations by the portal while a portion of them helped shuttle prisoners out of Ogrim¡¯s cavern. Many of the prisoners had trouble walking, or were completely unresponsive. The party did it¡¯s best to corral the prisoners, but James¡¯s ended up having to slowly cannibalize his defensive formation to get more of the prisoners carried to safety. Panic grew within the party for every second they were in the cavern.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°I need some help carrying this guy!¡± Alex yelled.

    Little Patrick grunted as a prisoner socked him in the face.

    It was chaos, but eventually, James got everyone out safely.

    ***

    ¡°Go through the portal first and tell Dreng what is happening. We will need his help,¡± James said to Patrick as the party and the prisoners stood outside the tan portal in the spirit battleground.

    Patrick looked at his shoes and said something that James couldn¡¯t hear over the yelling and screaming of the prisoners.

    ¡°Hurry! I am going to start sending them through in 2 minutes!¡± James yelled over the noise.

    Patrick solemnly nodded and disappeared into the portal.

    James whirled, instructing his party to not let any of the prisoners run. The irony of his command caused him to wince. They weren''t prisoners anymore, but most of them didn¡¯t know it yet. Most of them were so broken that they couldn¡¯t tell they were being saved. Some of them only noticed they were free of the cage that held them. Those people were apt to run, and James couldn¡¯t have any of that. If they ran they would be captured again. James swallowed and accepted his position as he tied the hands of one of the prisoners that had tried to run on numerous occasions. James would become the jail keeper now. At least until the prisoners were healed and could make sound decisions for themselves.

    ¡°Okay, Alex and... Little Patrick... go through next. I am going to send some of the other Earth humans in after you. Make sure they don¡¯t destroy everything. I will meet you in the center of town!¡± James commanded.

    Alex and Little Patrick disappeared, and James led the troublemakers to the portal first. He would send them through the portal in the first wave. At least if they tried to run in the village they wouldn¡¯t be re-captured by the Lich King. James sent one after another through with a shove and hoped that the entryway built into their stone wall of his village was guarded. The prisoners would only be able to escape the village through that entryway.

    James sent a member of his party through for every bunch of prisoners. In total, 19 prisoners went through the portal. 19 people that they would have to heal and find homes for. 19 new mouths to feed. James let out a sigh of relief. His job wasn¡¯t over yet, but he was happy that he was able to rescue the prisoners. He had no idea how much danger the prisoners, or himself for that matter, was in until Michael told him about the Lich King¡¯s powers.

    ¡°This could have gone much worse,¡± James said to the empty air within the spirit battleground. He was the last person that needed to step through the portal. He hesitated from stepping through. Something told him to stay, that he didn¡¯t want to go back home. He wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but he had the feeling something bad was waiting for him on the other side. James doubted his town was under attack though. He sighed again and chalked it up to dreading the task of settling the 19 people they saved. James stepped through the portal.

    Just like last time, stepping through the portal was anti-climactic. One second he was in the spirit battleground and another he was in a cave on the cliff of his village. James stepped out of the cave and ran past his cabin, halting at the edge of the cliff. What he saw made his breath catch in his chest.

 Chapter 44 - The Last Seed

    James looked over his village in awe. The main road, if James could even call it that, stretched out before him until it hit the entryway built into the stone wall. James was happy to see the entryway guarded, but figured it wouldn¡¯t have even mattered if it wasn¡¯t. The only building in the town stood jutted out and above a splattering of Martyr tents. The newly completed rope bridge hung from it and the wall. Dreng stood tall in the center of town. All the prisoners cowered below him, too afraid to move. There was no doubt in James¡¯s mind that Dreng was using one of his crowd control abilities. James smiled. Once again, the chieftain saved the day. The prisoners wouldn¡¯t be hurt under Dreng¡¯s ability, but it would buy his party time to come up with arrangements for the prisoners.

    James smiled died as he watched Dreng collapse.

    ¡°Dreng!¡± James called out as he ran to the Tower of Stairs and descended to the ground floor of the village. James darted between cowering humans until he reached the chieftain. ¡°What is going on?¡±

    Patrick walked up to James and placed a hand on his shoulder. Frey gave James a sorrowful look as she held Dreng¡¯s massive head in her lap. ¡°I tried to tell you before, in the spirit battleground,¡± Patrick said quietly.

    ¡°Tell me what?¡± James whirled, anger filling his voice.

    Lilly stepped next to Patrick. ¡°Dreng sacrificed his life so Frey could have the ability to birth a large litter of cubs. Dreng is dying.¡±

    James stared past Lilly, her words barely making sense, ¡°What? Why?¡± he asked.

    ¡°It is the Martyr way, Brother,¡± Torunn said from the other side of his father. ¡°Our females do not give birth to many cubs, and we needed many cubs to build our race back up.¡±

    Lilly spoke again, but this time James did not turn back to meet her eyes. ¡°It is called the Last Seed ability.¡±

    James ignored her and dropped to his knees next to Dreng, placing one of his hands on the dying chieftain¡¯s shoulder. His fur was extremely coarse, but that wasn¡¯t what concerned James. What concerned him was that this was the first time he had ever actually touched the chieftain. It was odd. He had grown so close to the chieftain since he was adopted into the clan, yet they never shook hands or anything. Dreng gave him sage advice, taught him what being a good leader looked like, and was there whenever James got in over his head, yet where they as close as James thought? When James received his Mark of the Martyr, Dreng had briefly touched him with his finger, but that was about it. James wondered if he even deserved to be distraught over Dreng dying. That¡¯s when James looked to Torunn.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Torunn¡¯s face was unreadable, even for James. The Martyr stood there, utterly stalwart. It confused James to see his game brother react that way. Torunn¡¯s father was dying and he didn¡¯t even seem upset. That wasn¡¯t Torunn though, James knew better. He knew that Torunn would be upset about it. Then it dawned on James. His game brother would be next in line. Torunn would become the chieftain and needed to act accordingly. His game brother needed to be strong. His race would look to him for guidance.

    Dreng coughed. ¡°I am glad I got to see you again, James.¡±

    James blinked his eyes, shoving back the tears that threatening to fall from his eyes. He would have to be stronger. He was in a new world now and he had many people counting on him, just as Torunn did. James composed himself, ¡°Me too, Dreng. Me too.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry we didn¡¯t tell you sooner.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± James said. He wished he had known sooner, but it was probably better he hadn¡¯t. If he had known he would have panicked and tried to talk Dreng out of using his Last Seed ability. If he succeeded in doing so, then the new Martyr cubs would never have been born. The cubs gave his town life. They gave everyone hope and a reason to push on. Not just the other Martyrs either. It was clear the humans in his party were developing close bonds with the cubs, just like he and Torunn had. Besides, the cub that Patrick named after himself even managed to save James¡¯s party by destroying Ogrim¡¯s totem. If Little Patrick was never born, then there was a good chance James and his party would be dead right now.

    Dreng struggled to prop himself up by an elbow and laid a giant hand on James¡¯s shoulder. Dreng¡¯s hands enveloped James¡¯s entire shoulder and most of his arm. James met his gaze and within it, he heard everything he needed to hear. This was the smartest decision Dreng had ever made, and it was the best thing he could do for his race. It was the only way to keep enough of a population so that the Martyrs wouldn''t become extinct. Dreng¡¯s eyes said that he was sad he had to go, but that he did not regret his decision. Dreng was proud of his life accomplishments, and the accomplishments of his clan. James saw that Dreng was proud of him, and James saw that Dreng knew the Martyrs would live on under his and Torunn¡¯s leadership. James saw all that and more inside Dreng¡¯s eyes and then he knew there wasn''t much left to be said.

    "You were like a father to me,"he admitted finally, meeting the kind eyes behind the Chieftain''s war torn face, "thank you for everything."

 Chapter 45 - The First Legend

    James sat on a chair next to the cabin and looked out over his village, astonished at how fast the past few days had gone by. With the wood they were able to gather from the spirit battleground, Alex was able to begin construction on a large building just below the cliff. It was classified as a chieftain¡¯s hut in his interface and offered various buffs to the Martyrs, but they would be using it to house all the people they had saved from Ogrim¡¯s floor of the dungeon. Once everyone had a hard roof over their heads, they could begin construction on smaller homes and give the chieftain¡¯s hut to Torunn and Frode.

    Most of the ex-prisoners had begun to integrate with the village. However, a few of them were still gripped by their delirium. Michael, assisted by Frode, watched over these people as he understood the most of what they were going through.

    James sighed as his thoughts turned from how helpful Frode and Frey had been the past few days to Dreng. The chieftain died peacefully in his sleep with a smile on his face. Knowing that fact made James happy. He could tell it provided some comfort to the other villagers as well, but everyone still had a hole left in their hearts. The hole was quickly filling though, as the Martyr cubs grew into their own personalities and bonded with humans, but no one would ever forget about Dreng. James would make sure of it. He would make sure the legend of Dreng lived on forever in this world.

    ¡°Is it ready?¡± James asked from his chair as Patrick walked up.

    ¡°It¡¯s ready,¡± Patrick replied.

    James nodded and stood from his chair. His village was changing quickly, but he knew it was a good thing. Right below his position on the cliff, the chieftain¡¯s hut was being built. In front of it, Patrick had laid stone in what used to be the main road. The middle section of the new stone road was raised and plotted with dirt, dividing the road in two. It was there that Patrick would unveil his creation.

    James looked on as his town gathered by the raised section of the road. They were all waiting for him and Torunn to start the ceremony. James turned and walked to the Tower of Stairs to greet his game brother.

    Torunn stood stalwart on the podium, the sun reflecting off his tan fur. He gave James a nod as he arrived, and James returned the nod and took his place next to the podium at the far edge of the town. They both stood below the entryway to the wall, facing the entire village with the Great Savanna to their backs. James hadn¡¯t really ever seen his town from this perspective before. It was beautiful. The rope bridge paid homage to the once great Martyr city and their unique building style. The Cabin on the Cliff told stories of the people that made lives for themselves there, long ago. The new road Patrick had built spoke to the future. It spoke of possibilities and hopes and dreams. The road brought everything together and let everyone know that this was just the beginning. The statue that Patrick carved stood in the center of the raised portion of the road, covered by Ingo skins. Once revealed, the statue would commemorate the great Martyr Chieftain. Everyone that walked into the village would be greeted by Dreng, forever. They would be reminded of the chieftain that refused to be beaten, the chieftain that refused to let his race die, and the chieftain that gave his entire life, not just the end of it, to his people. Dreng would forever be remembered as a Legend of the Great Savanna.

    Torunn grunted quietly, letting James know he was going to start the ceremony. James looked up to his game brother just in time to see him cross his arm across his chest in a Martyrian salute, just as Dreng had done many times before to signal the start of the day''s feast. The daily feasts had stopped since they moved into the village, but James and Torunn decided it was time to begin the tradition anew. The Martyrs and even some of the human villagers returned Torunn¡¯s salute, accepting him as their chieftain. Then everyone sat down. Unlike other feasts though, everyone waited before they dug into their meals.

    Torunn stepped down from his podium without a word and instead gave his mother priority. Even though he was the chieftain, they were here to commemorate Dreng, and no one knew Dreng more than Frey. It was only right that she had the opportunity to speak first.

    Frey climbed the stairs from the podium, eliciting a creak from the wood. For a moment, James thought the podium wouldn¡¯t be able to hold her weight, but when he found Alex amidst the crowd, his concerns dissipated. The prior military member sat next to his lover, Lilly, and gave James a wink when their eyes met. Alex built the podium, and if he was confident that it could hold Frey¡¯s weight, then James was confident it could too.

    Frey cleared her throat and gave the crowd a soft smile. ¡°I first met Dreng when we were both cubs. I saw him every now and then running around the Great Martyr City doing what male cubs do best - getting in trouble and destroying things.¡± Frey paused in remembrance, her smile growing. ¡°At first, I thought he was a dumb brute!¡± Frey laughed, and so did some of the other, older Martyrs, ¡°and in some ways he was. But I quickly learned he was so much more. After the Oana attacked our Great City, everything was in chaos. Our leaders were gone. Hell, most of our race was gone. I ran around, trying to find some semblance of familiarity, but I couldn¡¯t. The place I grew up in, the places I played, and the places I learned were no longer. Everything was changed and unfamiliar. Everything was covered in blood or engulfed in flames. I ran, and I ran, looking for anything that would put me back in touch with the life I once had. That was when I found Dreng. He grabbed me and defended me from the Oana. He saved me, and countless others from the destruction of that day. He gathered everyone, and we ran. We ran for what seemed like ages. Dreng never tired though. Every time we were ambushed in the night, Dreng was there. Every time someone broke down and gave up, Dreng was there. I used to think Dreng was so simple and in some ways much more immature than I was, but I couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. Dreng kept us all together and alive, even though he was only a cub himself at the time. Dreng allowed us to live on, and he continued to do so until the day he gave me his Last Seed.¡± Frey paused, wiping the tears from eyes. James did so too.

    ¡°Dreng was so strong. He was definitely the brutest of the brutes,¡± Frey said, causing everyone to laugh as tears streamed down their faces, ¡°but he was so much more. He harbored a grudge against the humans for a long, long time. He hated them because they didn¡¯t come to our aide. He blamed them for everything we lost. And yet, he was able to overcome that hate. I knew it was hard for him to do so. I know that the hate fueled his sleepless nights. I know it fueled his ability to defend us when all hope was lost, but I am proud that he was able to let it go,¡± Frey paused and looked to James, giving him a warm smile.

    ¡°I will miss you, Dreng,¡± Frey said, looking to the ground, instead of the sky. Torunn had explained how Martyrs grieved but seeing it in action was still odd. James expected Frey to look to the sky, but Martyrs didn¡¯t believe in the same things Earth humans did. Dreng was given back to the Great Savanna, and that was where people would look when they remembered him.

    Torunn spoke next, followed by James. The village sat patiently as everyone memorialized Dreng in their own way. As James watched one of the adult Martyrs he was familiar with but had never spent much time with, recall the story of how Dreng slain a beast called the Abominar, he could tell the rest of the village felt the same emotions as the speaker. They felt anger when the Abominar terrorized the Great Martyr City; they felt worried when the speaker retold the story of how Dreng¡¯s father forbade young Dreng to hunt the Abominar because he wasn¡¯t strong enough; and they felt mystified when the speaker painted the picture of a Martyr cub entering the front gate of the Great Martyr City holding the head of a horned creature that was twice his size. The village felt every emotion of whoever spoke about Dreng¡¯s life. The village lived his life with him. They were there when he grew up. They were there every time Dreng proved himself. They were there for every night raid, and they were there every time Dreng struggled with his hatred towards humans. James smiled, realizing that not one villager would ever forget about the legend that was Dreng. Their children and their children¡¯s children would all be told stories, and Dreng would live on forever.

    After the last person spoke, Torunn took the podium again. He thanked everyone and addressed the mysterious object covered in Ingo skins at the center of the cobblestone road. With a wave to Patrick, the redhead tugged on the Ingo skins and revealed his work of art.

    Chills covered every inch of James¡¯s skin as the village let out a collective gasp. Dreng stood there. He was carved of stone so detailed it was as if looking at a greyed out version of the real thing. One of Dreng¡¯s feet was before the other so his stance was parted. He leaned forward with arms flexed inward, causing his chest to bulge. Dreng¡¯s mouth stood wide open, mid-roar. It was so lifelike James could almost hear the sound of it. He could almost hear Dreng challenging anyone that dared to harm his race. He could almost hear Dreng¡¯s absolute defiance for anyone that thought they could stomp out the Martyrs. James got lightheaded and realized he hadn¡¯t taken a breath since Dreng¡¯s statue was unveiled. He inhaled, still in awe.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    When James could finally tear his gaze away from the statue, he looked for Patrick among the crowd. It turned out that the large redhead was standing right next to the statue of Dreng, his chin held high and a wide grin on his face. Patrick met James¡¯s gaze, and James¡¯s mouthed the only thing he could think of.

    ¡°Holy.. wow, Patrick.¡±

    ***

    ¡°To Dreng!¡± James called out as he stood, a mug of his cider held high.

    ¡°To Dreng!¡± the humans shouted in return.

    The Martyrs stirred, unsure of what to do until the yells of the crowd overtook them and the Martyrs toasted in Dreng¡¯s honor as well.

    James sat down, and the first daily feast in his village commenced. Martyr cubs ran around everywhere, spilling stone cups filled with James¡¯s ale or cider. Humans and adults Martyrs tackled them, giving the cubs what they wanted. James watched as some of the new villagers looked on in concern at how the cubs were handled. James smiled when they realized that was how Martyr cubs played, and that they were enjoying the roughhousing. Surprise etched itself on James''s face when the first ex-prisoner stood up and tackled the Martyr cub that had been pestering him. The area around them went quiet for a while. James half expected the ex-prisoner to seriously attack the cub. He probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to hurt the cub, but it would dampen the mood if he tried. The two rolled and tumbled as everyone watched. Finally, they came apart, and for the first time, James saw a genuine smile on one of the ex-prisoners faces. Everyone watching erupted in laughter.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done a good job with this place,¡± Michael said, patting James on the back from the next seat over.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± James replied. He knew that the moment wouldn¡¯t last forever. He knew Michael wanted to talk about Earth, and what their plans were going to be for the future, but James wanted to enjoy the moment. So James didn¡¯t attempt to keep the conversation going. Instead, he smiled at his younger brother and offered him an ale.

    Michael nodded, completely aware of James¡¯s thoughts. He accepted the ale and with it, the unspoken agreement that they would catch up later.

    ***

    Later came way after sundown. James, Patrick, Michael, Alex, and Lilly, along with some other Earth humans all retired to the cabin. Chairs and tables took the places of fur piles. Everyone laughed and chatted, enjoying the safety and companionship they had all lacked since they left Earth.

    James sat behind the bar, working on a new batch of ale. His original party, plus Michael and minus Torunn, sat at the bar, telling each other their versions of the party¡¯s adventures.

    Patrick was busy mocking the moment James saw his brother for the first time in the spirit battleground. Patrick mocked James¡¯s expression when he clammed up, forgetting to tell Lilly to give her signal so the party could launch their counter attack.

    ¡°Did you see his face though?¡± Patrick laughed, before getting serious, letting his jaw drop, and looking far off into the distance again, ¡°Uh, uh, uh, duhhhhh,¡± Patrick mimed, letting drool drop from the edge of his mouth.

    Michael laughed. ¡°No, I don¡¯t remember any of that. I wish I did get to see it though!¡±

    James shook his head and grinned, ¡°Do you guys want to hear the story about how I met Patrick for the first time?¡±

    The party exploded, urging James to tell the story. Patrick quickly dropped his mockery of James as the color in his face drained. When James declined to retell the story a chorus of boo¡¯s echoed throughout the cabin. James was all for light-hearted fun, but the story of Patrick¡¯s first few days in the game was WAY more embarrassing than the time he froze up in the spirit battleground. Besides, if he was to become a good leader, James needed to be able to learn from his mistakes and take the criticism in stride.

    Torunn and Little Patrick entered the cabin along with a few other Martyr cubs that had bonded with the humans. The pair picked up on what the party was discussing immediately and began retelling the adventures from their points of view, often with hilarious overtones that came at the expense of someone else in the party.

    After being enthusiastically thanked and congratulated for destroying Ogrim¡¯s totem with a belly flop, Little Patrick began to replay his view of what happened in Ogrim¡¯s cavern and the time he spent with Lilly. He couldn¡¯t speak well, so the replay was done in exaggerated movements and expressions. Little Patrick suddenly dropped to the ground and tucked his head in between his legs and let out a terrible scream. He caught his breath and pointed at Lilly, who was snuggling up to Alex, before starting his reenactment again. James watched as Lilly realized Little Patrick was making fun of her and untangled herself from Alex¡¯s arms.

    Lilly took a swig from Alex¡¯s mug and said, ¡°Watch this,¡± before jolting to a full-blown sprint. James was taken aback by her speed, as he was starting to get more than a little drunk and couldn¡¯t imagine running at the moment. James¡¯s and Little Patrick¡¯s eyes widened as they watched Lilly soar through the air while making her best attempt at pushing out her flat stomach. Little Patrick let out a high pitched squeal of his own as Lilly bowled into him belly first, knocking him over.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Patrick called out above the party¡¯s laughter, which proved to be so contagious, even the other humans joined in.

    ¡°Wait,¡± James said, realizing someone was missing. ¡°Where the hell is Noma?¡±

    Patrick turned at the mention of his friend''s name and pulled James to the second floor of the cabin. James quietly followed and motioned for his brother to follow. If Patrick were bringing him upstairs, it would only be for two reasons. One of them would be very surprising to James, and the other meant that Patrick wanted to talk about serious things and didn¡¯t want to ruin everyone else¡¯s mood.

    Patrick, James, and Michael entered one of the newly constructed rooms on the second floor of the cabin. James grabbed a torch from a sconce on the wall and cast a firebolt to light it. As light revealed the room, everyone jumped back in fright. Alex was sitting there, doubled over in laughter.

    ¡°I almost shot a firebolt at you!¡± James cried out, still angry that Alex had startled him.

    ¡°Yeah, man, you almost got a Death Bolt to the face,¡± Michael added.

    ¡°How did you get up here? I literally just saw you sitting at the bar when we came up the stairs,¡± Patrick asked.

    When Alex managed to catch his breath, he answered, ¡°Turns out I can Blink upwards! I didn¡¯t even know it was possible, but I saw you guys going to talk about business without me and gave it a shot. I just activated the ability and focused on the second floor and bam. I was here. I honestly wasn¡¯t sure it worked until you lit that torch! For a second I thought I glitched out or something and would be trapped in a dark void forever.¡±

    James shook his head to sober up and focus.

    Patrick told everyone that Frode suggested Noma should leave the village. Patrick said that he was against it and asked the Praxk to stay, but Noma just recited something about his ¡®ancestral weakness¡¯ and ¡®proving himself¡¯ and ended up agreeing with Frode. Patrick said that Noma just walked out, too ashamed to say goodbye to anyone. When James asked why Noma was ashamed, he was slightly mad at the answer. Noma had betrayed James¡¯s party and was the reason they were imprisoned. Michael joined in at that point and gave everyone a glimpse of the Lich King and the Lich Prince''s power. He explained that they were master manipulators and that they shouldn¡¯t hold a grudge against Noma. James agreed. After hearing Frey¡¯s speech earlier in the day, he was in no mood to hold grudges. James asked Patrick if Noma was ever going to come back and the redhead just shrugged. Patrick said that he pleaded with Noma to come back, but never got a solid response. James decided then that if Noma ever made it back to the village, he would be welcomed as a friend because that was what he was.

    Patrick and Alex eventually left the room and allowed James and Michael to catch up for the first time. Michael gave a slightly more detailed account of the horrors he faced in the dungeon, and the two decided that they would eventually need to go back. Michael told James about how there are many more prisoners down there and how he thought they were building something terrible with the souls of the Earth humans.

    ¡°Soul weapons,¡± James said pulling out his short sword. ¡°They are making soul weapons. This is one right here.¡±

    Michael looked horrified as well as confused.

    ¡°The spirit that brought me to the battleground was named Salmaana. Apparently, she was a very powerful mage in her time. Anyway, she said she locked away all the evil creatures in the world - everyone that practiced the magic of creating soul weapons. She explained that there was nothing she could do to undo the tragedy that went into making soul weapons, but sometimes you had to wield them to beat back evil.¡± James looked at his short sword, suddenly disgusted with it.

    Michael placed his hand on the short sword and lowered it, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your soul weapon or any of the old ones. I just don¡¯t want any more to be made. We need to save the people inside that dungeon. According to what you say about Salmaana, the Lich King was supposed not to have access to any more souls. Now he does because Earth humans were somehow placed into his domain when they were put into the game. We need to figure out what happened to Earth too, for our own wellbeing and to figure out why people got transferred into the dungeon in the first place.¡±

    James could only nod in agreement.

    He was happy to have his brother back finally. It felt like months went by since he first entered the game. It felt like even longer, considering he and his brother had rarely gone a day without seeing each other since their parents died. Then they were separated for weeks inside the game. James sighed. They had a lot they needed to accomplish. Suddenly, the effects of the ale James had drunk that day hit him all at once. His head swam and his vision unfocused, allowing him to notice the angrily blinking notification icon in his interface for the first time. Tomorrow, James would check it out tomorrow.

    James fell back into a makeshift bed, ¡°Tomorrow, Brother. There will always be so many questions. Let¡¯s search for answers tomorrow.¡±

    And with that, James fell asleep; drunkenly worried that he would be awoken by Ingos.

    END OF BOOK ONE

 Book 2 - Chapter 1 - The Village

    ¡°Son of an Ingo bird,¡± James swore.

    His fingers trailed a shadow across his face as they moved to pinch the bridge of his nose. He felt the veins on either side of hisit pulse and throb as he pushed on them. For the briefest measures of time, James was able to stifle the blood that surged into his head and forgot to come back out again.

    ¡°Ah,¡± he sighed.

    Then the damn broke. Blood flowed freelyonce again and he couldn¡¯t find the right position to stop it. He tried squeezing his head, every pressure point he knew, and even cracking his neck, but nothing would stop it. The only way to prevent such a pain in the future was to not to drink so much, but James knew that probably wouldn¡¯t happen. He had no desire to limit the only vice he had in his new strange life and celebrating the life of Dreng was always worth it. Besides, James knew of a special someone with the ability to cure hangovers.

    ¡°Torunn!¡± James yelled as softly as he could as he rolled out of his makeshift bed on the second floor of the cabin. Light pooled into the room like golden syrup, but it was lost on James. So too a night¡¯s rest on a normal bed was lost on him, but for another reason. James had learned to prefer sleeping in a pile of Ingo skins. There was just something about it that James, and the Martyrs, loved. Maybe it was because a bunch of furs piled together allowed for a wider array of sleeping positions, or perhaps it was just because mattresses were terrible and only made out of dried grass in this world. Whatever the reason was, it didn¡¯t matter, James would make sure someone else got his mattress. Hopefully, one of the ex-prisoners that he and his party rescued from the Lich¡¯s dungeon would be able to appreciate it more. After who knows how long they slept in a cage, James figured an semi-soft straw mattress would be like sleeping on a cloud for them.

    James stepped over his brother Michael, who must have passed out on the floor the night prior, and gripped his head due to the pain that walking brought. James wanted to curl up and die, but he knew that the quickest way to stop the pain was to find Torunn and get a potion that would remove his hangover debuff. He settled for leaning against the wall. After gathering up all his determination, organizing it into a neat formation, and giving it pep talk, James moved his body. It was a modest movement to some, but to James it was monumental.

    Every step James took caused his heart to beat harder, pushing more and more blood to his head. James was confident his head was going to explode. He had felt this way many times before, but now he was trapped in a game world where anything was possible. For all James knew, his head actually could explode in this world. Before he could find out for sure though, James found Torunn sitting at the bar with a mortar and pestle.

    ¡°Ahhg,¡± James grunted at the Martyr from a few steps up the stairs.

    That grunt was all the information Torunn needed to understand that his game-brother was hungover and needed a remedy. Torunn walked up, and James carefully grabbed a pouch from his hand and lifted it to his mouth. The bag wasn¡¯t as good at holding the liquid as a glass bottle would be, but it was much better than drinking the substance out of Torunn¡¯s furry hands like James had to do the last time he was hungover.

    ¡°Ahhh, thanks man,¡± James said with a long exhale. With his newfound health, James hoped down the remaining stairs andstepped over a few sleeping bodies to join Torunn at the bar. By the looks of the alchemy equipment strew all over the bar, James could tell the Martyr had already known people would be hungover from the night prior and prepared a huge pot of his debuff removing potion for the occasion.

    ¡°You are the first person to wake up,¡± Torunn said.

    James just nodded in reply as he looked over the sea of people passed out on the floor of the cabin, ¡°We are gonna have to finish the Chieftain¡¯s hut so all these people can be a little more comfortable.¡±

    Torunn nodded, ¡°Yes, they will have more room in there, but it won¡¯t be as good as actual human housing. Do you think we should pause construction on the Chieftain¡¯s hut and start on the housing instead?¡±

    James ran his hand through his growing beard in thought. The action didn¡¯t help him think through Torunn¡¯s question and instead served as a distraction. James needed to find a way to shave. Almost all the humans were now sporting facial hair, including some of the woman. As James contemplated the subtle effects that being trapped in a fantasy world would have on the well-being of the Earth humans under his care, he pulled up his builder''s interface.

    Chieftain¡¯s Hut (Under Construction) ¨C Increases movement speed by 5% and decreases damage taken by 5% for all Martyrs within the zone of control.

    James nodded as he read the information from his interface. He knew the Chieftain¡¯s Hut came with buffs that would help his town if they were ever attacked but admittedly wasn¡¯t sure what human housing offered. James navigated to an empty lot and selected it.

    Empty Lot - Available Buildings

    Human Cabin ¨C Increases the constitution and moral of humans within the cabin by 1.

    Human Store House ¨C Storage facility that can hold an unlimited amount of supplies.

    Martyr Tent ¨C Increases the strength and moral of Martyrs within the tent by 1.

    James soaked up the information and explained to the new Martyr Chieftain the situation. The Chieftain¡¯s hut would provide a defense bonus for the entire town, whereas the human cabins would only give buffs to humans inside the cabins. A moral boost was important, especially for the newly rescued villagers, but having a safe village was even more critical. So James recommended completing the Chieftain¡¯s Hut before they start construction on anything else. Torunn was slightly concerned about how the new humans would feel about them building a large hut for him when they all didn¡¯t even have proper houses to sleep in, but James said he would take care of it. James knew there would be subtle consequences to even the most basic decisions he made as a leader. In this case, the result of building the Chieftain¡¯s hut might be angry villagers. Even though the villagers would be sleeping in the Chieftain¡¯s hut until their housing was finished they still might not understand why James and Torunn just didn¡¯t have the shelter built first. It had the genuine possibility of coming across as selfish or power hungry. The humans couldn¡¯t see James builder interface either, and therefore they would have no way of verifying that it was smarter to build the Chieftain¡¯s hut, considering the Oana threat. That meant it would come down to trust. James had to make sure his followers trusted him and so did Torunn.

    James sighed as the complexity of leading an entire settlement weighed on him. He hadn¡¯t been as good of a leader as he wanted to be up to this point, but James was determined to do better. Even though he was aware of his downfalls, the majority of his party didn¡¯t seem to fixate on them as much as he did. They still looked up to him since he had been in the game the longest. James didn¡¯t think that made him a better leader than anyone else. Alex, for instance, was a natural leader. Still, though, James did have the builder and party leader interfaces. Even James couldn¡¯t argue that those were good assets for a leader to have.

    A sigh from Torunn let James know his adopted game-brother-turned-Chieftain was probably having the same internal dialogue.

    ¡°How are you doing man?¡± James asked the new Martyr Chieftain.

    Torunn met James¡¯s eyes briefly before returning them to the herb he was working with and answered, ¡°Many before me have faced situations much worse than this, and endured.¡±

    James nodded and waited for his adopted game brother to continue, but he never did. James wanted to know how Torunn was coping with the death of his father but could tell from Torunn¡¯s response that the Martyr didn¡¯t see the point in discussing it.

    ¡°You are right. We are doing okay right now. The best thing we can do is continue to move forward.¡± James said before tapping the table to an indistinguishable tune, ¡°Whelp, are you hungry?¡±

    Torunn nodded, so James launched a firebolt into the fire pit and pulled out some Ingo Tucca. When James looked inside the massive stone pot that was supposed to hold cider for everyone, he found it empty. Deciding that a morale boost was precisely what he needed at the moment, James headed for the basement to grab the ingredients he needed to make a new batch of cider. He stepped over sleeping villagers on his way to the door, including Patrick and little Patrick, who both seemed to be battling over cuddling rights of Patrick''s True Iron Maul. As James''s regarded the duo, Little Patrick turned over in his sleep and pulled the weapon from Patrick, who immediately noticed and pulled it back. James chuckled as he reached for the door.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Blinding light. James shielded his eyes and let them adapt. When he could see again, he stepped completely free of the cabin. The once colorful Great Savanna now resembled a vast mirror. It reflected every speckle of sunlight, seemingly right into James''s eyes. He stepped closer to the edge of his cliff, brows more furrowed than a fox. He was half expecting to find people sleeping all over the place, but everyone must have found shelter in the cold night. Even though it didn¡¯t look like winter inside the village walls, James knew the temperatures were wintry and he was thankful that everyone found a fire to keep them warm.

    The Statue of the Legendary Chieftain stood in the center of the village. From this angle, James could see new details on the statue that he didn¡¯t notice from before. The skin on Dreng¡¯s back was parted and torn, just as Frey¡¯s had been when she fought Dreng over James''s right to stay in the Martyr clan. James recalled the pain he felt when he activated his own Martyr¡¯s Rage ability and wondered if his back split the same way. The Martyr¡¯s Rage ability cost health to use, so James knew that was what caused the skin to part, but what James didn¡¯t understand was how Patrick knew that. For all James knew, Patrick didn¡¯t know Dreng that well, but still managed to sculpt an exact replica of him, even down to the parted skin of the semi-secret Martyr ability. It was indeed a work of art.

    Defiance - Statue of the Legendary Martyr Chieftain Dreng ¨C Imbues friendly personnel within the zone of control withDreng''s ferocity and defiance of death. +5 Strength

    ¡°Wow,¡± James said out loud, still in awe of Patrick¡¯s work. He would have to congratulate the red-head again and figure out how he did it. Patrick didn¡¯t come off as the artistic type, so James figured his interface must have helped him. That thought didn¡¯t settlehis curiosity though, because this was Patrick¡¯s first sculpture. Either something extraordinary happened, or sculpting was an overpowered craft and could bring the village a ton of perks. Either way, James would have to figure out what happened so he can try to replicate it for the benefit of the town.

    James navigated to his interface and confirmed the strength boost given by the statue. He didn¡¯t feel stronger at the moment but figured it was because he got the boost yesterday and was just used to it already. Thinking back, James did feel all sorts of weird when Patrick unveiled the statue. Underneath the awe he felt at the time, James did feel inspired and invincible. At that moment he felt like he could take on an army.

    ¡°That must have just been a fraction of how Dreng felt all the time¡­¡± James whispered to himself moments before a ruckus from the cabin broke him from his reverie. James could hear someone groaning in pain. Questions followed the groans and then finally sighs of relief. People must have been slowly waking up and given potions to remove their hangovers.

    James couldn¡¯t help but laugh as he continued his mission to the basement. The new villagers would take a liking to Torunn¡¯s leadership, seeing how he has the power to cure hangovers.

    James cleared the snow that blocked the door to the basement and stepped inside. He raised an unlit torch in front of him with one hand and cast a firebolt with his other. The firebolt left his hand, lit the torch, and continued until it smashed into the wall and fizzled out.

    ¡°Wait a minute¡­¡± James said as he followed the path of his Firebolt.

    He took a few steps forward and saw a door in front of him. He saw the door before, but it was so long ago he must have forgotten about it. James looked around for something to break the lock on the door, but only found sacks of supplies. On an instinct, James pulled out his Martyr Skinning Knife and struck the lock. Sparks exploded from the lock, but it was otherwise in the same condition. With a sigh, James turned away and mentally bumped up unlocking the door on his to-do list. A few minutes later, James had located the sack filled with the Horned Moya fruit he needed to make a new batch of cider and exited the basement.

    James briskly walked through the training ground, excited to finally have some more cider when his eyes glanced over the training dummy he had destroyed a few days ago. He skidded to a halt.

    You idiot, James thought.

    If he were able to destroy the dummy with his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword then maybe he would be able to destroy the lock on the mysterious door in the basement with it. James dropped his sack of spikey fruit and immediately did a 180.

    Pulling up his inventory tab, James mentally pulled his soul weapon from it. As the short sword materialized in his hand, pleasantness pulsed through his body.

    ¡°Hmm, I must only get the stat increase from the sword when it is equipped. That must be why I felt like crap when I put it in my inventory last night,¡° James thought out loud as he prepared to slash the lock on the mysterious basement door. He gave a few practice swings before stepping up to the door and raising the sword above his head with one hand. With a grunt, James slashed at the lock. James regained his balance and leaned into the lock to get a better look. It didn¡¯t come free, but this time it was certainly damaged. A gash was visible in the metal. It was clear that James could keep attacking the lock, and it would eventually break, but he had a better idea. He currently held his Martyr skinning knife in his other hand, so he suspected he was under the damage penalty of the dual wielding skill. James relinquished his weaker short sword to his inventory and gripped the glowing orange one with one hand. With one practiced motion, James swung his blade down with both hands, and the lock fell to the floor with a violent shower of sparks.

    ¡°Yasss, ¡°James said excitedly. Purposefully keeping his soul weapon in front of him, James swung the door open and cautiously peered through the entryway. The same stone foundation of the cellar formed a barely used stairwell that lead deep into darkness. Overcome with curiosity, James stepped into the entryway and descended the stairs, using his torch to burn away spider webs and light the way. The stairwell was rather long, but as far as James could tell it looped in such a manner that placed him right below the basement of the Cabin, just much deeper underground.

    James paused at the bottom of the stairwell and opened up his senses to the darkness. The light from his torch illuminated just enough of the room for James to tell the floor was made of cobblestone. It was odd, considering that the basement above him had a dirt floor. A moldy aroma filled the room, letting James know that it probably wasn¡¯t cared for. Besides the occasional crackle of James¡¯s torch, everything was silent.

    Suddenly, a new smell wafted through James¡¯s nose. It was familiar, and yet James couldn¡¯t place it. James considered casting a firebolt into the darkness to get a feel for the vastness of the room but decided it was unnecessary. For some reason, he already knew the room was much greater than the cabin and its basement combined, and casting a firebolt came with the very real chance of burning up whatever treasures may be hidden away in the darkness.

    James cautiously strode forward until the stairwell was out of the reach of his torch, placing him in a bubble of light, surrounded by nothing but darkness. Loneliness overcame James at that moment, but he decided to press on. He figured there was no way the room could be empty, and he was determined to find out what lived below his cabin. It occurred to James that he should have checked the other side of the locked door for signs of something living down here and trying to escape, but it was unnecessary now. If something did live here, James¡¯s bright presence would have been discovered, immediately.

    James walked forward again, constantly studying the ends of his torchlight. Looking up, James couldn¡¯t even find a ceiling above him. He felt like the darkness was crushing him, squeezing him, and considered turning back more than once. His ability to cast firebolts if his torch was suddenly snuffed out was the only reason he didn¡¯t.

    Finally, something materialized at the uttermost reach of James¡¯s torchlight. The object came into view all at once, threatening James with a heart attack. When James realized the object was stationary, and he must have just picked up a brisk walking pace due to his nervousness, which was the reason the object appeared so suddenly, he inspected it again. It reached into the air, as high as James¡¯s was able to see with his limited light. As James stepped closer, he discovered the object had shelves.

    ¡°A bookcase?¡± James asked the darkness as he followed the edge of the object, looking for an end. A few seconds later the bookcase ended, and James could see another one right next to it. James moved his torch into the space separating the bookshelves and realized there were many more. Rows and rows of them stretched high into the air..

    ¡°A library,¡± James gasped in awe. His mind whirled with the all the questions he had gathered since entering the game, questions that he might be able to find answers to here. Maybe he would even be able to discover what happened on Earth. Utter happiness and relief overcame James as he walked the aisle in wonder. James unconsciously swept his hand across the edge of each bookshelf as he passed.

    Suddenly, a loud ding sound echoed inside James¡¯s head, causing him to fall against a bookshelf in fright. The familiar noise was accompanied by an interface prompt.

    Quest Completed - Travel due east until you find a small village. Grow stronger & smarter then return to Dreng. Experience gained.

    James reluctantly read the prompt, his face twisted from confusion to sadness as he did. The loss James felt at the passing of the Legendary Chieftain was renewed from the words of his interface. James slumped against a bookshelf and slid to the ground. How was the quest even completed if he couldn¡¯t return to Dreng? James figured the game must have registered that that portion of the quest was no long complete-able. Still, though, why was the quest just completed now? James recalled the moment when Dreng gave him the quest. Back when he and Dreng had been barely on speaking terms, the Chieftain had been interrogating him on how he got into the game. Frode was there and spoke about a prophecy about human cubs that could command the elements and spend statistic points, even though they were too young to do so. Dreng had told James to travel east and grow stronger to help defend the Martyrs against the Oana. Dreng also mentioned that James would find information in the small village. Was he supposed to have gotten access to this library when he first discovered the village? It was entirely possible that, according to Dreng¡¯s quest, James would grow stronger on his travels East and then get access to the library and grow smarter as well. Instead, though, James found the village destroyed and under attack by the Undead.

    Either way, James was pretty sure he failed the quest. If he was supposed to discover the library to grow smarter to fight off the Oana attack, then he certainly failed. Still, James knew there was no use feeling sorry for himself. What was done was done and he would do his best to learn as much as he could so he would be better prepared to defend his friends in the future. With the library, he finally had an excellent opportunity to learn.

    James stood up, grabbed the first book he could find, and headed back to the surface of his village.

 Book 2 - Chapter 2 - Game Life

    ¡°Check this out,¡± James said as he tossed a dusty book on the bar in front of Torunn.

    The new Martyr Chieftain scooped up the book and flipped a few pages before growling that he couldn¡¯t read it.

    ¡°Neither can I. I can¡¯t even tell what language it is in, but get this. There is a HUGE room full of books like that below this cabin,¡± James told a confused Torunn, ¡°there was a locked door in the basement that we couldn¡¯t open before. When I went to get the fruit to make cider I had the idea of breaking the lock with my new short sword. Well, it turned out to be a good idea! The lock broke and I uncovered a sub-basement. It¡¯s a cavernous room completely filled with books!¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Torunn said, while somehow managing to look entirely not interested.

    ¡°This means we are living above a secret library! Can you imagine what we could learn once we figure out how to read the books? What if they are spells or building plans? What if they have some information on Frode¡¯s prophecy or why everyone from my world was transported into this world?¡± James said as he waved his hands in the air.

    ¡°Sounds like trouble,¡± Torunn growled.

    James tisked, ¡°Sounds like answers to me.¡±

    James looked around the cabin for someone else to share his excitement with, but all the Earth humans were either still asleep or moping around like zombies. With a sigh, James started the process of making more cider and opened up his notification icon that had been raging in the corner of his vision for a few days.

    ***

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 22 (3 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 12 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 15 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 9 ¨C Controls how much energy you have.

    Agility, Level 9 ¨C Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage.

    Will, Level 10 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 31 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 120

    Endurance, 90

    Mana, 340

    6 statistic points ready to distribute.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± James said in response to the bombardment of prompts in front of him. The strength buff from Dreng¡¯s statue and the plus four increase to all of his stats from his short sword caused him to reach level ten and above in a bunch of his stats.

    Congratulations! Your constitution has surpassed level 10. Your health now regenerates at an increased rate.

    Congratulations! Your strength has surpassed level 10. You can now use Great weapons with increased success.

    Congratulations! Your will has surpassed level 10. You will no longer go into shock after receiving too much damage.

    Congratulations! Your wisdom has surpassed level 30. You now have access to the Adventurers Interface.

    James rechecked his stat definitions after reading his new prompts and realized they changed accordingly. Slowly, but surely, James was discovering the true definition of what each stat did. His strength increase was rather considerable, and as James looked around he realized he was indeed bigger. The people around him, including Torunn and the sleeping red-head, no longer seemed like hulking figures to James. They were still huge compared to normal human sizes, but they weren¡¯t so impressive and threatening to him anymore. James didn¡¯t notice the increase in his own size before the prompt reminded him of it. He figured that the people that seemed so impressive to him before were just less so because he was becoming more comfortable with himself. James thought he was coming into his own style and place in the world, so he no longer wanted to subconsciously cower to those that were larger than him. He thought he was just getting more confident as a leader. He had gotten more confident, but the strength and resulting size increase were the true reason why his friends no longer looked so threatening to him. Even more important than no longer feeling small in front of his friends was the fact that he finally had access to all of his health. He no longer needed to fear going into shock or passing out during battle because he took too much damage. Above all else, this was an improvement that James had been wanting for a long time.

    The only thing that kept James from investing into strength to increase his survivability in the first place was the fact that Wisdom offered him the opportunity to get more experience and level up faster. His original plan was to invest in Wisdom for a while to give him an edge until he learned more about the other statistics. When he did learn more, he realized that both intelligence and wisdom offered him improvements and additions to his interface. He could have changed his strategy then, but the improvements to his interface were too valuable.

    James pulled up his interface to investigate just how valuable his newest improvement would be. A semi-translucent screen materialized in his vision. The same familiar tabs of equipment, statistics, skills, and inventory were still available, but now there was more. His builder and party leader interfaces now had their own tabs. The new additions would be more convenient, but James was disappointed that he didn¡¯t see an adventures tab. Just as James was about to exit the menu out of frustration, he noticed a compass in the upper right corner of his interface that had never been there before.

    James was strangely ecstatic over the new feature in his interface. It seemed like such a small tool, but it was terrible to rely on the sun for direction when he needed to know where to go. He even remembered wondering if he could tell the direction from the moon at night once or twice, but never got a definitive answer and of course, he couldn¡¯t google it. The compass was certainly a welcome upgrade, but James¡¯s was even happier for what he found after he mentally clicked on the compass for more information.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°A map!¡± James yelled out loud, causing more than a few grumbles to escape from the masses sleeping on the cabin floor.

    A square map enlarged itself over James¡¯s vision. He could see the bird¡¯s eye view of his village, just like in the builder''s interface, but this map moved with him. When James took a step, the map around James''s dot moved. James studied the map and realized it had the words, ¡°share¡± at the bottom of it. James mentally clicked on the words and his interface fell away.

    Confused at his sudden change of perspective, James squinted his eyes in an effort to focus on his real surroundings. Torunn was staring at him with an amused grin.

    ¡°You dropped something,¡± was all the Martyr said before returning to his work.

    James looked down and realized a physical version of his map rested on his feet. He excitedly picked it up. It was an exact replica of the map from his interface. After some more experimentation, James found out that the physical copy of his map didn¡¯t have his position marker on it, nor did it update in any way. He also figured out that he could share his map numerous times, and essentially print them. On a hunch, James re-invited Torunn to his party and found that his party member¡¯s had markers on his interface map as well. He figured his party became disbanded when he entered the spirit battleground for the second time. This meant that if he got too far from his party or a member of his party got too far from him they would be automatically ejected from the party. He couldn¡¯t be sure of the distance he had to work with there, but the map could still come in handy in the future. He would be able to tell where his party members were if they ever left his range of vision and he would be able to print out maps to assist in various missions.

    He only had one concern left. He had to figure out if the map gave him more information on the Great Savanna or the world beyond it. James immediately ran out of the cabin, jumping over a few piles of furs in the process and running the risk of letting his cider brew too long.

    James stepped through the stone archway guarding his village and entered the snowy Great Savanna. Pulling up his map once again, James gasped at what he saw.

    The map zoomed out from his village and showed the entire Great Savanna. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t show every important location and feature in the zone, but it did show him the places he had traveled to personally. It also showed him the borders of the Great Savanna. James was in awe of just how massive it was. Every visible location that showed were James¡¯s had traveled took up less than a quarter of the map and still have uncovered areas between them. Even the long journey he took to the village with Patrick and Torunn for the first time only uncovered a meager portion of the map. James calculated that he would have to make a journey four times as long if he wanted to reach the other side of the zone, and that was only if he went in a straight line.

    James studied the borders of the map, which were shown as impassible mountains, and then exited his interface. Staring out across the Great Savanna, James couldn¡¯t even see the mountains that were supposed to be just across from him. More than ever, James felt a sudden urge to explore the lands beyond the Great Savanna.

    ***

    James arrived back at the cabin just in time to finish his new batch of cider and was pleased to see people had started to wake up. Torunn was busy handing out hangover cures so James figured he didn¡¯t have to socialize right away and continued to check his interface prompts. He knew he still had some new notifications, thanks to the relentlessly blinking notification icon, and he still had six statistic points he had to spend.

    Looking over his stats once again, James¡¯s eyes were caught on the definition of intelligence. It said that the stat controlled how much information James could gather from the world. Wouldn¡¯t that have meant that he should have gotten the compass and map from increasing his intelligence instead of wisdom? James thought on that for a long while before he came to a number of conclusions. The first and foremost was that being trapped in a game world where the rules were not readily available was extremely frustrating.

    ¡°Why would anyone willingly play a game like this?¡± James asked himself. The thought process lead James to question if the game was even ever meant to be played. Now that he thought about it, he bet it wasn¡¯t made to be played in the normal sense at all. The fact that the military was developing it added merit to that thought process. Why would the military design a game that didn¡¯t even instruct you on how to play? It was a though that bother James since he entered.

    If this was ever an actual game, I would have to reach whatever the max level was just to figure out what all my statistic points did and by that point, it wouldn¡¯t even matter, James thought.

    James¡¯s second concern was the fact that the Intelligence stat said it would increase the amount of information he got from the world, but in fact, James hadn¡¯t seen much proof to that. Sure, he got some cool new interfaces, but he still had to come up with his own names for the new creatures he came across. It would be great if he saw something and the correct name tag appeared above it along with some basic information.

    Literally, every other role-playing game in the world had an inspect option; James thought, flabbergasted that this game didn¡¯t have that option.

    With a forced breath of air, James tried to let go of his frustrations. This game was his home now so there was no use comparing it to other games. He, along with the entirety of humanity, was trapped here now. This was essentially his Earth, so getting frustrated with how the game worked would be like getting frustrated at gravity. James just had to accept everything and try to learn as much as he could along the way. If he wanted correct nametags to appear above things, James would have to figure out how to make that happen, instead of complaining about it.

    James added a point each into Endurance and Agility to bring them both up to level ten and dumped the rest into Intelligence.

    Congratulations! Your endurance has surpassed level 10. Your endurance now regenerates at an increased rate.

    Congratulations! Your agility has surpassed level 10. You are now slightly less affected by character controlling abilities.

    This is all well and good, James thought, but what in the world controls mana regain?

    If his endurance stat controlled the rate at which he regained endurance points, then wouldn¡¯t his intelligence or wisdom stats increase his mana regain? James thought back and was positive that he never got a prompt saying he now regained mana at an increased rate. Then he remembered his class options. He did get offered the option to choose a mage class, which unlocked mana regain skills. Did that mean that the only way to increase his mana regain was to choose a class? It couldn¡¯t be. If he remembered correctly, James also got the option to choose a warrior class that offered endurance regain skills. It all made exactly zero sense.

    James¡¯s brain was utterly fried at all the new information and questions. He exited his interface and checked on his kettle of cider brewing by the fire.

    ¡°Thank the game gods, it¡¯s finished,¡± James said as he lovingly scooped some cider into a mug. He posted up at the bar and let the mug warm his hands. It was an oddly calming sensation, probably due to the many times James¡¯s had stood in that exact position with a warm cup of coffee in his hands. There was no coffee in his new world, but the cider was damn good, if not better.

    The cabin was slowly coming to life with a buzz of chatter and movement. Thankfully, no one was in the mood to chat with him just then. James knew he would probably be busy smoothing over the concerns of his new villagers over the next few days, but James was content enough not to seek out those problems at the moment.

    Finally, James¡¯s cider was cool enough to drink, so he took a sip. The tart liquid warmed his body on its way down and James was filled with newfound motivation. His mind was abuzz with things he could do and with problems he could solve. James channeled that motivation into his most recent concerns over his statistics, his interface, and the mechanics of the world in general. With his new moral increase, James was able to overcome his complaints and frustrations and see the path that would help him get answers. The time for grumbling was over. He would take action, and so would everyone else.

    ¡°Alright Lazy Bones, everyone get up!¡± James yelled after downing the rest of his cider, ¡°Everyone up and outside to the training area. Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s go!¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 3 - Group Training

    Most of the people that had already gotten hangover cures from Torunn left the cabin and gathered up in the training area, but the majority of people just looked confused our stubbornly stayed in the fur piles. James tried another approach.

    ¡°If you want a cure to your blistering headache, go to the training area!¡± he hollered while pacing the cabin.

    A few more people reluctantly ambled out of the cabin, mostly in an effort to get away from James¡¯s yelling, but the majority of the people flat out ignored James¡¯s orders. Luckily, Torunn stepped in.

    The Martyr Chieftain stood from his stool by the bar, cleared his throat and commanded, ¡°OUTSIDE. EVERYONE. NOW.¡±

    To James¡¯s amazement, even the stubborn duo of Patricks starting to move and hurriedly make for the door. James¡¯s brother even rushed down from the second floor stairs and gave James a confused look as he ran past. Moment later, Torunn and James were the only ones left in the cabin.

    James blinked, ¡°How in the world did you do that?¡±

    Torunn let out a worried chuckle, ¡°It was an ability that I got from a class my father recommended. It was the first time I used it. I didn¡¯t think it would be that effective.¡±

    ¡°Yea, it was crazy. Even Patrick woke up and rushed out the door,¡± James¡¯s said with a laugh.

    ¡°It was definitely effective, but I should be more careful about how I use it in the future.¡±

    ¡°Definitely, a lot of those people, my brother included, were clearly moving against their own free will. That kind of control needs to be exercised with extreme discretion.¡±

    Torunn nodded, ¡°I agree, I even told my father that I had no use for a class like that or the abilities it offered, but he was insistent. He told me that if he wanted me to learn one thing from him, it would be the importance of that class.¡±

    James gave Torunn a solemn look, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t doubt the wisdom of Dreng. If he thought it was necessary than I am sure it is. Is it the controller class? I saw it next to your name when I added you back to my party¡±

    ¡°Yes, the Controller class. It unlocks a skill tree of command and crowd control abilities.¡±

    James thought back on the numerous time Dreng had incapacitated him in some way or another. Then his thoughts drifted to the library below him. He wondered if it held a book about all the known classes. So far James had seen a few basic classes that he was familiar with from other games, but there had to be many more. If he could get a list of them then maybe he could plan out the growth and development of his village. Suddenly, a more severe thought invaded his mind. If this game world was the humans¡¯ new world, how would they feel about being told how to progress? It would be like growing up and being groomed your whole life for only one purpose. James wouldn¡¯t want that for himself. Still though, if he could find a list like that he would have to find a way to use it. He could always figure out the best way to approach the subject when the time came, if it ever did.

    James clapped his hands, ¡°Alright, I wanted to get everyone together to discuss our plans moving forward and establish an open channel of communication. Can you bring out your debuff remover? I will bring the cider. Hopefully, that will smooth over any anger about how we basically took away everyone¡¯s right to free will.¡±

    Torunn and James rounded the corner of the cabin and found the majority of the village gathered at the training area. Some of the humans spilled out and were closer to the mountain since the area wasn¡¯t big enough, but they all stood at attention.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± James said in surprise as he saw the villagers standing stock still and almost in a formation, ¡°relax!¡± James commanded. When no one regained control of their bodies, James realized that the Martyr must have to be the one to release the ability, so he told him so.

    Before an uproar could begin James held up his hands in an effort to calm the angered crowd. He didn¡¯t have any special abilities to help control them, but he didn¡¯t want those abilities anyway, even if Dreng swore by them. He would have to out-yell them until they all listened, so James did just that. The commotion caused a few other humans to stumble out of Martyr tents and join the unorganized and rowdy discussion.

    Five minutes later, everyone was given a potion from Torunn and a mug of cider and sat in hesitant silence. Patrick and little Patrick, who were the rowdiest in the crowd, even managed to settle down. James suspected though that it wasn¡¯t that he out yelled them, but because they grew bored and now just wanted to get whatever this was over with.

    James cleared his throat, ¡°First off we want to apologize for forcing all of you to run out here,¡± James said as he pointed an open palm to Torunn and back to himself, ¡°It was an ability that Torunn had used for the first time. It is actually a great, although unplanned, introduction to why I wanted to gather everyone up. For those of us that were not born in this world, we will have many such accidents as the one that just happened. We will be confused by our abilities. We will struggle to adapt to our new life. That is why I suggest that we meet up right here every morning. It is not mandatory, but I think it will be a great help to us as we adapt to our new world.¡±

    Suddenly, James was interrupted by a grunt from Little Patrick. James stared at him before continuing with his speech only to be interrupted once again. Then Patrick spoke up.

    ¡°Sorry, Little Patrick wants to know if he can leave since he was born on this world and none of this really applies to him.¡±

    James blinked in confusion, ¡°Wait what. First of all you can understand him? And second, he said all that with just two grunts?¡±

    Patrick shrugged, ¡°More or less.¡±

    James shook his head, ¡°No Little Patrick, I want you to stay, at least for this first meeting. I have some important announcements that the Martyrs will have to be aware of anyway.¡±

    James cleared his throat once again and continued to address the group, ¡°Aside from our daily morning meetings and check-ins, I want to make sure we all have the same information about our new world. There are things that we will learn along the way that the entire village will benefit from. We have to have an established way to communicate these things. Additionally, we will all train together.¡± James¡¯s voice grew louder and took on a severe tone as he pointed to the portal embedded into the mountain face, ¡°Just through that portal lies more of us. More humans that are being imprisoned, tortured, and even having their souls ripped from their bodies. I know that that seems like something you all would never have to worry about, but we are in this crazy world now. The majority of you have seen these conditions first hand, and I can tell you from experience that losing your soul is not a pleasant experience. No matter what your beliefs are, no matter if you think you have a soul or not, I can assure you it is a very real threat.¡± James paused his speech to shake off the uneasily feeling he got from remembering the painful eternity he endured without his soul, ¡°Right now we are not strong enough to enter that dungeon. We need to learn, we need to train, and we need to grow so we can save our own!¡±

    The majority of the villagers all nodded in agreement and hushed conversations flooded the training grounds. James let everyone speak and did his best to gauge the mood and reaction of the crowd. The majority of them thought it was a good idea, as they either wanted revenge on their jail keepers or just had no idea how to react to their current situation, but some people in the crowd grew upset. James expected this and gave them time to see if they would sort out the small disagreement with themselves.

    James sipped on his cider and his eyes met with his brothers, who gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Neither of them had ever really been public speakers back on Earth, so James knew the thumbs up was for his performance. James knew it wasn¡¯t great, but was honestly more surprised that it wasn¡¯t terrible.

    When the crowd quieted a degree, James spoke up again, ¡°Okay, now for some more details. Most of us already know the current situation of the village and the Oana threat from yesterday¡¯s ceremony, so I won¡¯t go too deep into that. We do, however; always need to keep that in mind. Even though one of our main priorities is to rescue people from the dungeon, we cannot turn a blind eye to the Oana. If we are not safe ourselves, we won¡¯t be able to get anyone else to safety either. Now, as the village grows, I am sure we will have more need for crafting classes. After this, we all need to break into groups and discuss what classes you already have or want to have. I need someone who can manage this. I need someone to keep track of what the village needs for crafters and defenders and compare that to what we currently have. Do I have any volunteers?¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Lilly hesitantly raised her hand.

    ¡°Sorry Lilly, right now you are our only healer and a great clothes maker to boot. You already made everyone the cloaks they need to survive the winter and I am sure you will have more such work in the future. We need someone else.¡±

    ¡°I can do it.¡± A familiar and confident voice called out from the crowd. James looked for the source of the voice and saw the man he was imprisoned next to in Ogrim¡¯s cavern step forward. It was the same man that somehow kept his sanity when all the other prisoners lost their own. Aside from that, the man also managed to joke about Ogrim¡¯s baldness in the heat of battle, when all else seemed lost. From all James could tell, the man was perfect for the job.

    ¡°You got it, thanks. Get with me after this. What is your name again?¡± James asked the dark-haired man.

    ¡°Omero,¡± the man replied with flair.

    ¡°That is a unique name, where are you from?¡± asked James.

    ¡°I am from Italy,¡± Omero answered with a slight flair to his words.

    James nodded, ¡°And the same situation happened in Italy as it did in the States?¡±

    Omero nodded, ¡°Yes. We were rounded up in the middle of the night by uniformed men. Then we woke up in the game,¡± Omero pointed to a few of his friends and chuckled, ¡°Well us unlucky fools woke up in the dungeon, but it is the same story from all of us, I have already checked.¡±

    James nodded again before addressing the group, ¡°Okay, everyone break up into groups and discuss how you plan to contribute to the village and your goals for your new life in the game. Omero will come by and mark down your current classes and what you want to do. Ready, break!¡± James said with a clap of his hands, which was only accompanied by a clap from his brother¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Alright well, we will have to work on that,¡± James mumbled to himself as everyone dispersed. James watched as they all grouped up into their cliques. James didn¡¯t really need them to group up for what he wanted to do but was interested to see which kind of groups they would form. He wanted to get an idea if there were any outcasts or groups of people that shunned others. Luckily, James couldn¡¯t see anything that could cause problems in the future. Everyone sort of merged together and flowed freely throughout groups. It was odd to see, as people didn¡¯t really do that in real life, but James figured it was because of their common ground. There were people from all over the world here and all of them were trapped in the same situation.

    Alex, Michael, Lilly, and the Patricks walked over to meet James and Torunn. James was hoping they would, because he wanted to discuss some things with them personally and didn¡¯t want to call them over, for fear of singling them out and making them seem more important than the rest of the villagers. Omero walked over to James¡¯s party as well, and James realized everyone present made up a council of sorts. Maybe not a council, but they were definitely his most trusted and capable companions, not counting Omero, or at least not yet. James knew he would be working closely with the confident and hardy Italian man since Omero would become a manager of sorts.

    Omero personally introduced himself to the members of James¡¯s party and even flamboyantly bowed to kiss Lilly¡¯s hand, and action that caused Alex¡¯s eyebrows to practically meet his hairline. Lilly seemed completely honored at the courtesy, but the remaining members of the party all shared Alex¡¯s reaction.

    To Omero¡¯s credit, he immediately read the reaction of the group. The awkwardness in the air was palpable as Omero purposefully continued his charade, but just when James was about to let the Italian know that Alex and Lilly were a pair, Omero burst out laughing.

    ¡°Sorry, I thought it would be appropriate seeing how we are in a fantasy world and all,¡± Omero chuckled as he gave Alex a pat on the back, ¡°I was wrong though, it was just as awkward as it would be on Earth!¡±

    James watched as his party visibly relaxed and joined Omero in his laughter. And with that slightly awkward joke followed up by an extreme ability to read people, James was certain Omero would make a great addition to his party.

    ¡°Alright guys, the first order of business is getting know our classes. Omero, can you write them down?¡± James said.

    Omero looked around his surroundings before shrugging and asking, ¡°How? I haven¡¯t seen a piece of paper or a pen since I got here?¡±

    ¡°Oh right, I got ya. Hold on a second,¡± James said before pulling up his map and printing off a copy. The map materialized in front of James¡¯s face and fluttered to the ground to the amazement of the party. James picked up the map and handed it to Omero, ¡°Here, you can write on the back of this and I will make you a charcoal pencil.¡±

    ¡°Wait, how did you do that?¡± asked his party in almost perfect unity.

    James¡¯s smiled as he used his older short sword to carve a nearby stick, ¡°That was my second order of business. After Omero writes down your classes I was going to show you guys something, as well as let you know about my new skills of course.¡±

    James grabbed a torch from his inventory; lit it with a firebolt and handed it to Omero. A few villagers looked on in awe as the firebolt shot towards the mountain peaks, before returning to their groups and discussing their classes with increased fervor. James smirked at the reaction and wondered how they would react if they saw Michael¡¯s death bolt.

    ¡°Okay, everyone here needs to remain in my party at all times so that we can always find each other,¡± James said as he sent everyone a party invite.

    James ¨C Level 22 (Unchosen)

    Health - 120 of 120

    Energy - 90 of 90

    Mana - 340 of 340

    Michael - Level 28 Warrior Death Mage

    Health - 400 of 400

    Energy - 120 of 120

    Mana - 300 of 300

    Patrick - Level 20 Warrior Stoneworker

    Health - 360 of 360

    Energy - 200 of 200

    Torunn ¨C Level 19 Controller

    Health ¨C 310 of 310

    Energy ¨C 250 of 250

    Alex - Level 17 Crafter

    Health - 180 of 180

    Energy - 220 of 220

    Lilly - Level 14 Clothworker

    Health - 90 of 90

    Energy - 60 of 60

    Mana - 180 of 180

    Omero ¨C Level 6

    Health ¨C 120 of 120

    Energy ¨C 120 of 120

    James studied the strengths of his party members as he did his best to listen to Lilly discuss the details of her class with Omero. He quickly realized that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do both. He just had too many questions regarding his party members classes and progression to pay any attention to Lilly.

    ¡°Omero, can you not only list everyone¡¯s current and preferred classes but also look out for trends and basic information about them? For example, Lilly just said she originally chose a crafter class but had a secondary option to choose a specific crafting class. I can tell from my interface that Alex¡¯s class is just listed as Crafter. I assume that means Alex hasn¡¯t chosen a specialized crafter class. Is that correct Alex?¡±

    Alex nodded in agreement, ¡°Yes, that is correct. I chose the crafting class at level ten and am able to test out different specializations. I have access to a few different crafting skill trees, but I can only see the first few skills. I¡¯m pretty sure when I choose a specialization I will be able to see more of the chosen skill tree.¡±

    Lilly nodded, confirming Alex¡¯s words.

    James turned back to Omero, ¡°See, that is the type of thing we all need to know. I had no idea about that mechanic, but it seems like such a basic thing. If we can learn all of the basic game mechanics, then humanity will have a much easier time adapting to this world.¡±

    Omero waved his piece of paper in the air, ¡°Understood. I can definitely do that, but I will probably need more paper. Can you magically print some more?¡±

    James navigated to his interface and hit the share button on his map rapidly. A storm of papers materialized in the air and fell to the ground. James handed them to Omero and returned to studying his party members.

    The first issue that James needed to solve was choosing his own class, but he decided it would be smarter to dig into that after he had information about everyone else¡¯s classes, so he turned to Lilly and asked her how she had been leveling up. She hadn¡¯t been really fighting with the party since she couldn¡¯t respawn and yet she still leveled up quite a few times. Lilly told James that every time she crafted something in her specialization, she gained experience. She said it wasn¡¯t much and that each time she crafted the same item she got less experience from it, but it was still enough to level. James made sure Omero wrote down that information. It was good news, considering that there was bound to be a few villagers that would refuse to fight for various reasons. Those people would be able to live their lives in peace and still contribute to the community and the safety of the village.

    James wanted to get more information from Michael next because his class sounded seriously impressive, but when he turned to his brother, Michael spoke up first.

    ¡°Hey James, something you said has been bothering me for a while,¡± Michael started, causing everyone to exit their respective interfaces, ¡°you mentioned that Salmaana was able to take your soul back from the Lich King and give it back to you. Do you have any idea how she did that?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t, but I think you¡¯re on to something. I have been thinking about that for a while too. If we can find out how she did it then maybe we would have a defense against the Lich King. The fact that he can steal our souls and give us a real death is the only reason we aren¡¯t in there right now.¡± James replied.

    ¡°We have to learn more about Salmaana¡­¡± Lilly added, deep in thought.

    ¡°Noma. Noma was the only person we knew that actually met Salmaana,¡± Patrick said rather sadly.

    James frowned, ¡°Yes, we should make it a point to find Noma, but we have no idea where he went and we can¡¯t leave the village just yet.¡±

    ¡°Who is Noma?¡± Omero asked, ready to take down notes.

    ¡°He was my friend,¡± Patrick replied, ¡°he helped us find you guys, but banished himself from the village.¡±

    The rest of the party only nodded, not seeing the point in bringing up the reason for Noma¡¯s self-banishment. Luckily, Omero was too bogged down with his note taking to inquire further.

    ¡°I think we might have another solution until we find Noma. Do you remember that locked door we found in the basement? Well, I got it open and discovered a library below it. I want all of us to go explore it, right now.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 4 â€“ The Ancient Library

    ¡°It¡¯s so dark,¡± the usually pleasant blonde Lilly said as the last member of the party stepped into the library.

    ¡°Yea, do you have a light spell or something? It¡¯s probably not a good idea to have this many torches around the books,¡± asked James.

    ¡°What books, I don¡¯t see anything. This place is huge!¡± commented Patrick.

    Suddenly, a spark of light shot up into the air. James watched it travel higher and higher until it hit the top of the underground cavern, where it stopped and grew. The growing light uncovered the true dimensions of the library. It was even bigger than James¡¯s originally thought.

    ¡°Well let¡¯s not all just stand here. Pick up your jaws and let¡¯s explore!¡± Alex said, breaking the silence.

    James followed the rest of his party toward the book shelves and reminded himself to have Omero right down everyone¡¯s abilities. It might not be necessary to get everyone¡¯s abilities in the entire village just yet, but he definitely needed a list for his inner circle.

    The party walked the minute it took to reach the books in awe. The library looked like it had been built ages ago, and James wondered if the village was built where it was just because of the library. It seemed the most possible conclusion except for the fact that the cabin¡¯s basement was the only entrance to the library. James would have to explore the outermost reaches of the library to get answers. Maybe there was another entrance somewhere.

    ¡°Anyone find anything you can read yet?¡± Asked Alex as he thumbed the pages on a rather large and dusty tomb.

    ¡°Nope,¡± answered Patrick.

    ¡°I can read some of them,¡± added Lilly.

    James stopped in his tracks at her words. He wasn¡¯t really expecting anyone to be able to read them for some reason.

    James ditched his exploration efforts and ran back up the party, ¡°What do they say?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t really tell. The titles are all in another language, and only small portions of the books are written in the language I understand. It isn¡¯t really enough to understand the purpose of the books.¡± Answered Lilly.

    ¡°Well, what language is it in, how did you learn it?¡± questioned Alex.

    ¡°Remember when we talked about my parents the other night?¡± Lilly said to Alex.

    Alex nodded, ¡°Yea, you said they were apart of some special counsel for the village or something.¡±

    ¡°Right, I also said they read me stories in an odd language when I was younger. This is that language. I thought it was just some secret code for our family, but if it is in these books then it must be something more.¡±

    James raised an eyebrow at Alex as if to ask him why he didn¡¯t mention Lilly¡¯s story before. The woman had only opened up about her family once before and had changed the subject anytime anyone else brought it up. It made sense that she would finally tell Alex her story, but James wished Alex would have said something.

    Alex saw the expression on James''s face and gave a subtle, ¡°I know¡± gesture.

    When the party inquired further about Lilly¡¯s family she did her best to answer, but it was clear she still hadn¡¯t come to terms with her parent¡¯s passing. James didn¡¯t blame her and when it was clear they wouldn¡¯t get any more information from her he broke up the inquisition.Stolen story; please report.

    Lilly mentioned that her light skill wouldn¡¯t last much longer and that she wouldn¡¯t be able to cast another one due to its long cooldown, so James lead a quick perimeter search and had Lilly gather up some of the books that she could read the most of. James¡¯s search party didn¡¯t find any obvious doors or entryways like they wanted, but instead found something much more interesting.

    ***

    When the party returned to the surface the village was alive with sound. James caught a peak of the Martyrs working on the Chieftain¡¯s hut and Omero running around talking to villagers on his way into the cabin. Most of the party left to pursue their own projects. Lilly went upstairs to study her books in peace, Torunn left to spend time with his family, and Patrick was either training or mining more rock, James wasn¡¯t sure. Then James realized that he didn¡¯t have to wonder, he could just check his map to see where the red-head was. It turned out that James was wrong. Patrick wasn¡¯t in the area he usually mined or in the training ground. He wasn¡¯t even in the Sculptor¡¯s Hovel. James watched his map and saw that Patrick was running around in the lower level of the village.

    ¡°He must be playing with the Martyr cubs,¡± James thought to himself as he poured Michael and Alex a mug of cider each and sipped on his own at his post behind the bar.

    ¡°So how are we going to get it up here?¡± Asked Alex.

    Michael shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but we definitely need to. It¡¯s not like we can operate a forge in the library.¡±

    James nodded, ¡°Maybe one of the Martyr¡¯s will be able to carry it. I¡¯ll get two of them later, one for the forge and one for the anvil. There no point in doing it though until we have someone that can actually make stuff with it. We need a blacksmith.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Omero will uncover someone that already had the blacksmith class,¡± Alex added.

    Michael shook his head, ¡°No, I doubt he will. If any of the prisoners are even high enough level to have a class they probably would have chosen something that increased their survivability. I don¡¯t think anyone stuck in a cage in between torture sessions would be thinking about all the cool things they could make out of metal.¡±

    Alex nodded, ¡°True, I didn¡¯t think about that, sorry. Well, if that is the case then I will be our blacksmith. I already have the crafting class, I only need to pick a specialization.¡±

    James downed his cider and set the mug on the bar, ¡°It sounds like a plan. Now, brother, tell me about your bad ass class!¡±

    Alex turned to Michael with his eyebrows raised, ¡°Oh, what class is that?¡±

    ¡°Warrior Death Mage, it isn¡¯t as cool as it sounds. I only chose the warrior portion to help me survive in the dungeon, the death mage portion was kind of forced on me.¡±

    James leaned into the conversation, intrigued, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Every time I use my death magic I lose a little bit of my sanity because of a mark the Lich King gave me. The mark boosts my mastery of the magic, but the cost is pretty severe. I think he uses the mark on all of his followers. It makes them very strong, but it also ensures that they will never get strong enough to overthrow him.¡±

    James made a thoughtful sound and topped up his mug, ¡°Is there any way we can get rid of the mark?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Michael answered solemnly.

    ¡°James, you have a mark, right? Can¡¯t you just ask Freydis how it can be removed?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Yea, I have a mark from Dreng,¡± James said as he touched his chest where Dreng marked him, ¡°but I still have it. It didn¡¯t even disappear when Dreng died.¡±

    ¡°Still, you should ask Freydis, and even Frode, just in case.¡±

    James nodded and looked at his cider, ¡°You¡¯re right. It looks like I have business to discuss with the Martyrs. I¡¯ll recruit two of them to grab the forge and anvil we found in the library and I¡¯ll ask if it is possible to remove marks.¡± James summarized his immediate agenda for himself before looking back up, ¡°Cool, I wanted to see the cubs anyway. What are you two going to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll come with you, of course,¡± answered Michael.

    James nodded in reply.

    ¡°I¡¯ll walk down with you and then lead the Martyrs to the library. Hopefully, they don¡¯t have any trouble getting into the basement because of their size.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. Ready. Break,¡± James chanted before clapping his hands together.

    Michael and Alex clapped in perfect unison, causing James to nod in approval. Soon, he would have an entire village, dressed in the finest armor and equipped with the best weapons Alex could forge, that all knew how to break out of a huddle correctly.

 Book 2 - Chapter 5 - Building

    ¡°Good morning James,¡± Frey said with a warm smile.

    ¡°Good morning Frey, you are looking well,¡± James replied as he walked into the Martyr¡¯s tent.

    Frey nodded, ¡°Yes well, the cubs have finally settled down a bit. I got a full nights rest last night.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, I wasn¡¯t even sure that they slept at all,¡± James joked.

    Frey laughed, ¡°What can I do for you, James? I think you wanted to speak to me the other day before Dreng¡¯s ceremony?¡±

    James couldn¡¯t remember what he wanted to speak to Frey about and decided it must not have been that important, ¡°Yea, but I cannot remember what it was. I had another question though. Is it possible to remove marks?¡±

    Frey looked slightly offended at the question so James continued, ¡°It isn¡¯t for me. Michael was marked by the Lich King and needs to remove the mark. It causes him to slowly lose his sanity.¡±

    James decided not to go into more detail just in case the Martyrs were fundamentally against death magic or something.

    Frey thought for a moment before answering, ¡°No. There isn¡¯t a way to remove marks, at least not that I am away of. Maybe you should check with Frode though. He is much smarter with those things than I am.¡±

    James nodded, but didn¡¯t leave the tent. Instead, he stayed for a while and spent some quality time with the Martyr that adopted him. They mostly talked about trivial things and the Martyr cubs. James learned their names and that a few of them had shown promise for crafting classes. James listened in rapt attention as Frey talked about why that was such good news. She said that her race hadn¡¯t had many crafters in years and that it was a good sign. Every other Martyr cub before them, besides Torunn, automatically became fighters. The cubs couldn¡¯t choose how they progressed until they reached Torunn¡¯s age, so they naturally grew stronger in the paths that they mostly practiced. Since they had been on the run and fighting for survival for so long, the cubs all became fighters, naturally.

    Frey and James bonded over how special Torunn was. Frey seemed to know without a doubt that Torunn would be a great chieftain. If James didn¡¯t actually know Torunn personally he would have though Frey thought such a thing because she was Torunn¡¯s mother, but James knew otherwise. It wasn¡¯t a mother¡¯s love that made Frey speak so highly of her cub, it was the fact that Torunn was actually deserving. He was already wiser than his father, who only truly became wise in his last years of life. He wasn¡¯t as strong as Dreng, but he wasn¡¯t weak either. Frey told James that Torunn was still one of the largest cubs her clan had ever seen before, even back when Martyrs were numerous. She told James that the only other cub that came close was little Patrick. The cub that was named after the red-head was in fact, almost as large as Dreng was when he was a cub.

    The conversation took an unexpected turn when Frey confided in James that Patrick would make a decent replacement for Chieftain if anything was ever to happen to Torunn. The loving Chieftain mother made the comment so nonchalantly that James was taken aback. James promised the Martyr that he wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to Torunn, but he didn¡¯t feel like the promise affected her as much as he thought it should. James chalked the issue up to the difference in their cultures and decided to ask about how she was doing with Dreng¡¯s death. He figured since their light-hearted conversation took a turn for the worse, it would be a good time to discuss it. James expected to have to comfort Frey but was instead met with the same positive vagueness that Torunn gave him when he asked about Dreng¡¯s death. The entire thing was odd to James. He knew he was close to Frey, and expected her to confide in him, but she clearly didn¡¯t need to.

    James finally concluded that the Martyrs didn¡¯t need emotional support, at the very least they didn¡¯t need as much as humans did. Apparently, returning Dreng¡¯s body to the Great Savanna and the ceremony they held afterward was all the coping they needed. They would never forget Dreng, but they viewed his death and his sacrifice in a positive light. It was like the funerals back on earth where everyone said they were celebrating life instead of mourning, except Martyrs were actually capable of doing so. No matter how much James poked and prodded, thinking that the Martyrs just didn¡¯t know how to express their feeling, James was met with positivity. It was confusing and refreshing in a way. James spent a few more minutes bringing his conversation with Frey back up to light-hearted levels, and then excused himself to find Frode.

    James found Frode following Torunn around as the new Martyr Chieftain spoke to the members of his clan. It was odd to see the powerful and wise old Martyr follow Torunn around, but James could tell none of the Martyrs felt the same way he did. It was just yet another cultural difference between humans and Martyrs.Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Frode, wait up!¡± James called out as he ran up to the group of Martyrs. Frode greeted James with a wave. James closed the distance between them quickly and decided to get right down to business, ¡°Can I speak with you for a second?¡±

    Frode smiled and gave a glance to Torunn, who nodded at the request. Frode then left his advisee and lead James to an empty section of the village.

    ¡°Do you know of a way to removed marks? My brother has one from the Lich King and we need to get rid of it somehow,¡± James asked.

    The wizened Martyr said the only way he knew how to remove the mark was to get the Lich King to do so. Frode admitted that that option was probably farfetched and that the only other possible way was to find a strong mystic to remove the mark. When James was asked what a Mystic actually was Frode just smiled and said James would find out soon. All of James¡¯s follow up questions were met with cryptic responses. James left his meeting with the advisor frustrated and confused.

    ¡°Damn NPCs,¡± James cursed as he headed back to the Cabin on the Cliff. He didn¡¯t get why the Chieftain¡¯s Advisor wouldn¡¯t just give him a specific answer. James wanted to blame it on the fact that he was in a game world now, but knew deep down that that fact hadn¡¯t really limited any other NPCs before. James never got the feeling that the NPCs were following a pre-planned plot line or purposely withholding information just for theatrical reasons. No, the only reason Frode would withhold that information was that he truly believed James would find out soon and that the information would just serve as a distraction if he found out now. So that only left one problem.

    How does Frode know that I will discover more information about Mystics soon?

    James pondered that question until he was hailed by a Martyr that was working on the Chieftain¡¯s hut. James recognized the Martyr as one of the builders and confirmed his name.

    Birger

    ¡°Good to see you, Birger. What¡¯s going on?¡± James asked.

    Birger climbed down from the Chieftain¡¯s hut where he was patching the roof, ¡°I reported our progress to the Chieftain. Torunn informed me that it made more sense for me to report to you since you are the overseer and have the builder interface.¡±

    James nodded and wondered why Dreng hadn¡¯t instructed Birger to do the same, ¡°That is correct. How is everything going? It looks like everything is coming along well.¡±

    James surveyed the hut, which was almost complete. Apart from a few holes in the ceiling, the new Chieftain¡¯s hut was almost an exact replica of Dreng¡¯s old hut. The only difference was an odd chair in the center of the building. James focused on the chair and realized it gave off a slight blue glow. Birger picked up on James¡¯s interest in the chair and offered an explanation.

    ¡°That is the Chieftain¡¯s throne. Dreng had one like it, but it didn¡¯t glow like this one.¡±

    ¡°How did you uh, make it glow?¡± James asked.

    ¡°We really didn¡¯t do anything special. I built the previous Chieftain¡¯s Hut with my own hands and can tell you from experience that we followed the same process. The only difference is you.¡±

    ¡°Interesting¡­" James thought out loud. The throne of this hut was most likely glowing because of the buffs granted by his builder''s interface. Dreng''s throne didn''t glow because it was built by normal means, without a builder''s interface. Another question shoved its way into James''s mind.

    "So who actually tells you to work on something?¡±

    ¡°I usually get notifications of a quest when you want to build something as I am the most experienced in crafting buildings. Everyone else that has a class that could help is notified to report to me. I instruct everyone from there.¡± Birger explained.

    ¡°Awesome, so you all get experience by building these buildings then?¡±

    Birger nodded, ¡°That''s correct.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I have one more question. What happens if I choose a building that you have never built before? How do you know what to do then?¡±

    Birger smiled, ¡°That part is simple; I get building plans when I get a quest to build something from you. If the building is new to me, I simply follow the instructions included in the quest.¡±

    James thought for a second then smiled, ¡°Sorry, I have another question. What is your class?¡±

    James was hoping that Birger would be able to level his class abilities and learn new building plans, but Birger said his Constructor class only had skills and abilities related to production speed buffs and the sort. James was slightly disappointed and resigned himself to getting new building plans from other settlements once again. It was clear that he was the only one that could get new building plans. He still held out a small hope that he would be able to find some plans in the Library, but it would probably be awhile until Lilly was able to translate the language.

    ¡°By the way, I wanted to report that the Chieftain¡¯s Hut will be finished by sundown, way ahead of schedule!¡± Birger quickly reported before James could ask any more questions.

    ¡°That¡¯s great news!¡± James exclaimed genuinely. This would allow him to get started on cabins for the other humans by tomorrow. ¡°What was the reason that we finished so early?¡±

    ¡°The cubs, some of them didn¡¯t have anything to do so they lent a hand. At first, I was nervous that they came over to destroy our work in progress, but it turned out to be just the opposite,¡± Birger smiled as he continued his report, ¡°and that¡¯s not even the best news. With the help of the cubs, we should be able to construct two buildings at the same time!¡±

    James eyes widened in delight, ¡°That is great new, Birger, truly. Keep up the good work!¡±

    Birger nodded at the compliment and returned to the roof of the Chieftain¡¯s Hut with a single giant leap.

    James rubbed his hands together and thought, ¡°Alrighty, so far this leadership thing is easy.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 6 - Village Reports

    ¡°They are coming along well¡­¡± Alex commented as the party watched the villagers train. Humans and Martyrs alike all struck training dummies with various attack abilities and even some magic spells.

    ¡°Yes they are, it was a good idea to move the training ground,¡± James said with a nod to Patrick.

    The village had finished building everything they needed that was available in James¡¯s builder''s interface and then some. Everyone now had a cabin to live in, Martyr tents were rebuilt so they would give a buff, and even basic facilities like the water well were improved. James didn¡¯t have building plans for some of the improvements they made so not everything came with a buff, but he had plenty of free time and supplies, so minor useability improvements were made. Even the training ground was upgraded to an advanced level and moved from on top of the cliff to below it so Martyrs could easily train as well. James liked having the training ground right outside his cabin but admitted that it made more sense to move it now that they no longer had the time slowing effects of the spirit vessel to take advantage of.

    Patrick nodded at the compliment, ¡°What can I say, I¡¯m an idea man.¡±

    The party chuckled.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s begin. Alex, you are up,¡± James announced to his inner circle, signaling the start of their new daily meetings. It had been a few days since their first daily meeting and now everyone was falling into a grove. The villagers mostly trained to get a feel for and level up their abilities. Occasionally, James or Torunn would lead a group training exercise inspired by actual fights they had in the past.

    James¡¯s party would even take turns giving briefs. Alex would update the party on his blacksmithing. Lilly would update everyone on any progress she made with discovering the secrets of the library. Patrick spent most of his time training and was quickly becoming the highest level earth human in the village so he would occasionally report on the mechanics of his class and level, but for the most part, he only provided comic relief. Omero would report on the personal progress of the villagers and their newest addition, Birger, reported on the progress of the Village¡¯s construction. James¡¯s brother didn¡¯t have an assigned area of responsibility but was great at connecting the dots and picking up on things that other people have missed.

    ¡°My metal working is going slow still. It is a complicated process, and although I have leveled up a few skills in the class already, I am still just barely able to create good ore. Most of my smelting only yields unusable garbage. I predict that in two days, four max, I will be able to make something useful. That¡¯s all I got,¡± reported Alex with a nod to Lilly.

    Lilly cleared her throat, ¡°I haven¡¯t made any progress since yesterday. Every book I find just has a small amount of text that I can read. It is all almost nonsensical, but I will keep you guys updated when I have a breakthrough,¡± Lilly reported with a nod to Patrick, who immediately shook his head.

    ¡°I finally finished my first report,¡± Omero spoke up as he handed James a pile of maps filled with paragraphs and lists, ¡°apologies for taking so long. The report gives more details, but essentially you find that the majority of humans are not high enough level for a class yet. We do have one woman that has an interesting magic based class, her name is Angela and you can find more about her and her class in the report. The most interesting information I discovered all centered around the Martyrs, however. I cannot be certain, but I have a feeling that their classes somehow combine together. Everyone here should know that you can choose a class at every tenth level. Some of the Martyr¡¯s are very high level, Frode being the highest. He explained to me that the classes he choose when he was younger somehow affect his newer class abilities. It was tough to get the information from him in words that I understood, but I think I should spend more time investigating this mechanic.¡±

    James cleared his throat, ¡°Yes, please do so. If your hunch is correct then it means that the class system is much more complex than I originally thought. If we can get a handle on it then we should do so. Good job by the way! You seem to have a knack for this type of thing.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Alex peaked over at the report in James¡¯s hands and added, ¡°Yea, seriously, this looks like a lot of good information, and I am sure it wasn¡¯t easy to get it out of everyone.¡±

    Omero took an awkward bow and smiled, ¡°It was a piece of cake, I actually worked in human resources back on Earth. The only difference between this and what I did back on Earth is that we are now in a fantasy world,¡± Omero opened his eyes wide and fluttered his hands in the air with a magical wave.

    James laughed at Omero¡¯s dedication to role-playing, before an idea hit him, ¡°Omero, you make another good point. It seems you are happy doing a job that closely resembles what you did back on Earth. Can you get everyone¡¯s past occupation so we can try to match it with a job in the village? I think it might help everyone adapt to their lives easier.¡±

    Omero laughed, ¡°I already did that boss man! That is actually what took so long. A good deal of people held me up while they reminisced about their past lives. I didn¡¯t rush them, figuring it would be rude to do so, besides it helped me build up a good rapport with them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, I will look over this report right after this. Tell me, what is the general mood of the human villagers?¡± James asked.

    Omero took on a saddened expression, ¡°They are all determined to adapt and get stronger after being imprisoned for so long. Still, though, a lot of them had families that they miss. I think if we can help free more prisoners from the dungeon it would make everyone feel a bit better.¡±

    ¡°Understood, it is our highest priority, we just can¡¯t step foot into the dungeon until we find a way to keep the Lich from stealing our souls,¡± James said to Omero.

    The Italian then looked around conspiratorially and leaned into the group. The rest of the party leaned in as well, then Omero whispered, ¡°We need to figure that out soon. I heard whisperings of villagers that want to grow stronger and then attack the dungeon anyway, even if they will die for real.¡±

    ***

    James stood behind the bar in his usual spot and thumbed through Omero¡¯s report. The cabin was quiet as the majority of people were going about their business. James¡¯s usual daytime companions, Alex and Michael, sat at the bar, also interested in the information within the report.

    ¡°So this Angela girl that Omero was talking about has a basic Mage class that gives her enhanced mana regain and damage. It says here that she actually has water-based spells and that she managed to raise her mastery with the element because there was a puddle next to her cage in the dungeon¡­¡±

    ¡°What,¡± Alex gasped, ¡°Is it really that simple?¡±

    ¡°I am sure it wasn¡¯t as simple as it seems, but yea. I raised my fire mastery by just starting fires, so it makes sense you could do the same with other elements,¡± James replied.

    Alex made a long drawn out thoughtful sound.

    ¡°I raised my death mastery by being around the undead, and killing a lot of them¡­¡± Michael said as he stared through the wall behind James.

    James didn¡¯t know how to reply to his brother¡¯s words, so decided it best to change the subject. If Michael was having trouble coping with his time spent in the dungeon than he would say so.

    ¡°Frode¡¯s class is also interesting. Instead of having a long list of them, Frode¡¯s only class is Shaman,¡± James said.

    ¡°That is probably what lead Omero into thinking that the classes meld together,¡± added Michael.

    Alex nodded in agreement, ¡°We should try to get more information from him. The Martyr¡¯s always had shamans in their clan¡¯s right? Maybe there was some sort of shaman training were you select certain classes every ten levels to achieve the right class.¡±

    James nodded as well. If the Martyr¡¯s new of a certain way to achieve desired high-level classes than James needed to find out. He suspected that if the Martyrs did have that information, then other races would too. There had to be some sort of schooling for young kids in this world so they could learn the game mechanics. James refused to believe he was the first person ever to attempt documenting everything.

    Suddenly, James was overcome with frustration and slammed his hands into the bar, ¡°We need to get out of here. We need to leave the village and explore. Being cooped up in here isn¡¯t doing us any good anymore. We can¡¯t enter the dungeon and rescue prisoners until we find out a way to protect our souls. We can¡¯t find a way to protect our souls until we either find someone that knows how to, or discover a class that can do it ourselves. Either way, leaving the village is the best way to accomplish both of those options. It is time to go.¡±

    Alex didn¡¯t seem phased by James¡¯s sudden outburst and immediately added, ¡°I think you are right, we can¡¯t really build up any more defenses so we are as safe as we are going to be. Waiting for the villagers to get stronger will help if they ever need to defend the village, but I don¡¯t think we have enough time for that. If we wait too long to go into the dungeon than the villagers will do it without us, so I agree, it is time we leave the village and do some exploring.¡±

    Michael nodded, ¡°Agreed. Let¡¯s plan an expedition.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 7 - The Great Tundra

    Torunn was tough to convince that an expedition into the Great Savanna should be launched but eventually agreed. It helped that Freydis and Frode also thought it was a good idea, seeing as how the Martyrs were still feeling trapped and cooped up in the village walls. The noble race also wanted more information on the Great Savanna itself. They had lived generation after generation within the Great Savanna and had never seen it covered in snow before. The sudden change had shaken the Martyrs to their very cores, so much so that James received a quest from Frey.

    Heal the Great Savanna Quest Accepted

    Description = The Martyr race has protected the Great Savanna for thousands of years against those that wish to take advantage of its lush resources. Now though, the Martyr race is all but extinct and unable to keep their ancestral oath to protect the land. Freydis, mother of the Chieftain of the sole surviving Martyr clan, tasks you with investigating the current state of the Great Savanna. Venture out into the white tundra and uncover the evil that seeks to destroy the Martyr¡¯s home.

    Quest Difficulty = Extraordinary

    Quest Reward = (Variable) Mount

    James stared at the prompt, struggling to digest all the information contained within. The Martyrs have been around for thousands of years and took an oath to protect the Great Savanna? How did he not know that and where did all the extra lore come from? Suddenly, James recalled the boon he received after reaching level thirty in wisdom. He received the adventurer''s interface. That could be the only reason his interface now included so much more background information. Before, James only got the barest of details when he received a quest. With his new adventurer¡¯s interface, quest prompts seemed more like the quests given from role-playing games back on Earth.

    James briefed the rest of his party on the quest and was surprised to find out that they all received the quest too, but with much less detail. That meant that as long as they were all included in the party, they would receive the same quests, but only James got the quest details.

    ¡°My prompt says that the difficulty is extraordinary in purple text. It also says that the reward is a mount of variable rarity¡­¡± James said as he studied the reactions of his party members.

    ¡°A mount, we have mounts?¡± Patrick exclaimed loudly.

    ¡°Yea, I guess we do. I wonder what they would be though. I am pretty sure Frey doesn¡¯t just have mounts lying around to reward us with. If she did I am sure she would have gave them to us already,¡± James said as he studied his quest prompt. He made sure to place special emphasis on the fact that his version of the quest description said that something evil was causing winter to plague the Great Savanna. He didn¡¯t really understand how it was possible, but the fact remained that this expedition would certainly be more troublesome than they originally counted on. Still, though, everyone agreed to the new risks.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get to it then! Hopefully, my mount is big enough to carry my heavy ass,¡± Patrick commented with a chuckle.

    James held out a hand to stop his party from stepping through the archway of the village, ¡°Hold on, I have something to do that I have been putting off.¡±

    The party halted impatiently, and James navigated to his interface to finally choose a class. He had been putting off the decision in hopes that he would discover some new source of information that would make the choice easier, but he hadn¡¯t. If he was going to finally leave the village, he needed to choose now.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed level 20! You can now choose to pick a class.

    Class 1 - Embrant, increases the rate at which you master the fire element and allows you to augment your skills and abilities with your fire mastery.

    Class 2 - Controller, unlocks a skill tree of command and crowd control abilities.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Delay Choosing - Choosing to delay your class will award you 20 stat points at the risk of permanently losing the option to choose the above two classes. Upon reaching level 30 you will be given another option to choose between two classes or subclasses depending on your actions and skills.

    James was already familiar with the Controller class from talking to Torunn, so he knew he didn¡¯t want to choose that option. After seeing Torunn use it to take control over the villagers, James thought it was more trouble than it was worth. He admittedly hadn¡¯t got the chance to see it used in battle, or at least that he knew about, but he still couldn¡¯t bring himself to double up on a class. Torunn already had it, so James would choose something else.

    The Embrant class was James¡¯s first choice, but the option to delay choosing was making the decision difficult. If he delayed once again he would get 20 whole stat points. That was huge. So far he had survived long enough just by increasing his stats, and got extremely helpful upgrades in the process. His builder and adventurer interfaces were both great additions and didn¡¯t even require a class. What was more interesting however was that James suspected that if he did continue to delay choosing a class, the stat reward would increase every time. If he delayed at his current level of 20 he would get 20 stats points, so it was easy to believe if he delayed at level 30 he would get 30 stat points and so on. If he continued with that strategy, his potential to unlock new interface upgrades was huge. The only problem was that James didn¡¯t know if there was a character level or stat level ceiling. If he could only reach level 100 in a stat, his strategy of delaying wouldn¡¯t be as effective. Following that logic, his strategy to only invest in wisdom so he got more experience wouldn¡¯t be as effective either. That is why James had decided to start investing in his other statistics. He had hoped to find out about possible level caps in the library, but so far he hadn¡¯t been that lucky and know it was too late to keep holding off on his decisions.

    James mentally selected the Embrant class and a pop up appeared asking him to confirm his decision. James laughed and selected the confirm button. A wave of heat slowly washed over James¡¯s body causing his skin to break out in gooseflesh. James reflexively pulled up his interface again to see if anything changed but found no new information besides the Embrant class listed next to his name.

    ¡°Did you finally choose your class?¡± Patrick asked with a roll of his eyes.

    James nodded, ¡°Yea, touch my skin, does it feel weird to you?¡±

    Patrick raised an eyebrow at the request but stepped closer to lay a hand on James¡¯s outstretched arm anyway, ¡°Uhh, yea actually you do feel a little warm. Maybe you have a fever!¡± Patrick said in a mocking tone.

    James dismissed the redhead with a wave and announced that he was ready to set out.

    ¡°Awesome,¡± Alex commented as he, James, Patrick, Michael, and Omero walked through the stone archway of the village wall for the first time in weeks.

    The sight beyond the wall was blinding as the sun reflected off the smooth snowy surface of the Great Savanna. Tufts of determined grass could be seen breaking through the hardened surface of the snow occasionally. The party halted for a moment to get directions from James, who consulted his map before pointed the way.

    Every step the party took left a foot-sized hole in the hardened layer of snow, leaving clear footprints. James cringed at the fact that there was no way to cover his parties tracks and just hoped his plan would be successful. Even if it wasn¡¯t though, and his party got discovered by the Oana on their way to the human village, James was confident that his village would be able to defend itself, so he decided to let the worry go.

    Alex had managed to create metal hinges so the Martyrs should have a gate installed in the stone archway in a day or two. By James¡¯s calculations, the party wouldn¡¯t even come close to known Oana territory for at least a week, so even if the Oana discovered the party and traced their steps back to the Village, they would be met with an insurmountable wall defended by Martyr¡¯s that could throw giant rocks to devastating effect, one human magic caster, and more than a few humans equipped with throwing spears. The spears were not metal, but Patrick had done a good job sharpening his stones into dangerous points nonetheless.

    Once the party got out of sight of the village, they set up camp. James immediately took out the wood he borrowed from the village supplies house and made a large pile of it. James cast a firebolt to light his pile of wood as he had hundreds of times before, but was surprised by a subtle change in his firebolt as it left his hand. The actual firebolt was a little bit larger than usual, but the feeling he got when he cast the spell was what drew his attention. He felt the heat gather within him and burst from his hand. When the firebolt left him, he felt somewhat colder.

    ¡°Everything alright?¡± Michael asked.

    James realized that he was staring at his outstretched hand and quickly placed it back to his side again, ¡°Yea, the firebolt just felt a little different this time, probably just because of my new class.¡±

    Michael nodded at his brother in reply and nonchalantly continued shoveling snow out of the camp with his foot. James watched his brother work and soon drifted off in thought, all the while clutching his firebolt hand.

 Book 2 - Chapter 8 - Meteor

    That night, James found himself unable to fall asleep. The rest of his party had long ago went quiet and disappeared into warm piles of Ingo furs, but James had just laid still, letting his party fall asleep as he stared off into the stars. It was a pleasant way to pass the time. The game world wasn¡¯t plagued by things like light pollution, so the sky came alive with stars and planets every night. James wondered if the sky here was different than the one back at home. He wondered what would happen if he was somehow able to build a rocket ship and fly off into space. Would he hit an invisible wall? Would he get an error message and just glitch out? What if none of that happened, and he was actually able to explore the vast sky above him. If that did happen, would that mean that the game wasn¡¯t actually a game or would it just mean that the game was much larger than James had previously thought?

    James¡¯s spacefaring and game-living thoughts mingled with his thoughts on his class and the safety of the village. He assured himself that the village would be safe one last time and slowly crawled from his pile of furs to finally accomplish what had been keeping him awake. It took James a good half hour to get out of hearing range from his party, mostly because he didn¡¯t want to wake them up so he had to move very slowly. Every step he took was like opening a bag of chips, but eventually, he got far enough away from his party to experiment with his new abilities in peace. James pulled up his interface and navigated to his skills page.

    Skills

    Sneak, Level 8 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 8% while sneaking

    Skinning, Level 24 ¨C Time to skin & error rate decreased by 19% while skinning.

    Tough-Skinned Augment - Error rate when skinning tougher skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%.

    Hardened Skin Augment - Error rate when skinning hardened skinned creatures reduced by an additional 50%.

    Cooking, Level 29 ¨C Food is 29% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 29%.

    Spiced Cider Recipe - Increases moral by 10 for 30 minutes.

    Roasted Ingo & Spiced Tucca Recipe - Increases Constitution by 1 for 12 hours.

    Fire, Level 26 ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 26%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Short Swords, Level 33 ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 33%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 14 - Chance to stun 95% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Tremor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed ????for 1 second. (change to meteor)

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 6 - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 6%. Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 54% for both weapons.

    Party Leader. Level 8 - Damage taken by party members reduced by 8% (1%/lvl)

    James had made quite a few improvements to his skills and abilities over the past few weeks. He augmented his skinning ability to reduce error rates on creatures with hardened skin. The other option he was given was another weak attempt at making him drop his progress in the skill. He was offered a few points in agility, but it didn¡¯t temp James at all. He hadn¡¯t been able to find a tougher skinned creature for sure yet, but he suspected the Ingo bosses could have been one. However, James had a sneaking suspicion that he had come across a hardened skin animal before. In fact, it was one of the only creatures that managed to kill him so far, the giant No-No. The creature had obviously hardened hide and James was hoping to come across one again so he could skin it. He mentioned that he wanted to hunt the creature for its hide to Torunn, just in case such a thing was forbidden and was surprised to find out that the Martyrs used to have hunting parties for such a thing. The Martyr¡¯s kept a keen eye on the creatures of the Great Savanna and hunted down populations that were becoming overcrowded and upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. Torunn said it would probably be smart to kill a No-No if they ever were able to leave the village since the Martyrs have not been able to conduct hunting expeditions in a long time. So James quickly chose his hardened skin augment just for such an occasion. He was very interested in finding out what a crafter such as Lilly would be able to make with the hardened skin. He wasn¡¯t sure if the material fit into the cloth category, but either way someone should be able to make something out of it. James hoped that if he got the hardened skin someone would be able to fashion some sort of light armor. Such a thing would be perfect for him, as the cloth armor he currently had equipped didn¡¯t make him feel as safe as he wanted to feel, but he knew that he was not strong enough to fight in metal armor.

    Suddenly, something clicked in James¡¯s mind. When he completed Dreng¡¯s quest in the library he got a snippet of extra lore due to his Adventurer¡¯s interface. The lore stated that the Martyr¡¯s took an ancient oath to protect the Great Savanna. The hunting parties that Torunn mentioned the other day must have been one of the ways that the Martyr¡¯s did just that. James briefly wondered what kind of state the Great Savanna was in if all the creatures were left to multiply on their own accord for so long. James hadn¡¯t actually seen much of the Great Savanna in his time in the game, but he imagined that it should be overrun with creatures since the Martyr¡¯s haven¡¯t been strong enough to manage them. Maybe the Great Savanna used to be a peaceful place when the Martyrs were at large? James wasn¡¯t sure what the repercussions were, but did manage to day-dream of a world without Ingos running around everywhere and waking everyone up with their annoying calls.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    James also managed to upgrade his fire mastery to the point where he was offered to choose between another spell or upgrading his firebolt. The spell offered wasn¡¯t impressive, so James chose to upgrade his weak firebolt to a regular firebolt. The resulting upgrade increased the damage of the spell to 2.5 times his intelligence, instead of the previous 1.5 times, which James felt was an pretty substantial increase in his power. The upgrade also made his firebolt more impressive visually. It was no longer a wisp of fire, but a more substantial bolt. It wasn¡¯t as angry and menacing as when he cast the firebolts after Frode buffed up his intelligence, but it was certainly closer to that level.

    James mentally hovered over his short sword skill and got to work on what he snuck away from his camp to accomplish. Prior to selecting his class, James¡¯s short sword skill had surpassed level 30. The new options available were cool, but James didn¡¯t select anything when he saw the notification a few days ago. Now though, James had a class and one that gave him the option to augment his abilities with fire. That fact was exactly what James intended to investigate.

    Congratulations! Your Short Swords skill has surpassed level 30. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills or augments.

    Deflect Sub-Skill ¨C You have a 1% chance of reflecting 50% of damage back onto your attacker. Choosing this sub-skill will replace Jump Strike.

    Meteor Augment (Embrant Class) ¨C You land your Jump Strike with a fiery explosion. Surrounding enemies are slowed for 1 second and take burn damage for 5 seconds or until they are extinguished. This augment replaces the Tremor augment.

    James read the prompt and his suspicions were confirmed. One of his options to upgrade his short sword skill was replaced with one that was related to his class. The deflect skill would be useful, but James had a party and had no need to fight alone, so he immediately selected the Meteor augment and began to build a snowman that he could test it out on. The process was pretty slow because he couldn¡¯t just roll a snowball until it got bigger. The hardened layer of ice on top of all the fluffy snow prevented it, so James was forced to build the snowman bit by bit. Luckily, James¡¯s hands didn¡¯t freeze even though he didn¡¯t have gloves. When James discovered this phenomenon he placed his hands directly into the snow to see how long he could keep them there. After a few minutes, James realized his hands were never going to freeze and pulled his hands out of the snow. Looking down into the hole in the snow from his hands, James saw a small puddle of water.

    ¡°Sweeeet,¡± James said, congratulating himself on the awesome new side-effects of his Embrant class.

    Finally, James was ready to test out his newly augmented Jump Strike ability. He stood about 100 paces from his snowman, close enough that he could still see it, but not so close that he would risk flying extremely high into the air. James was still iffy when it came to very high heights, so he had gotten better at activating his Jump Strike further away from his targets. It seemed that the ability required him to be airborne for a set amount of time, so if he was too close to his target then he would launch far too high into the air.

    James felt his legs curl up underneath him as he took in one last breath of the wintry night air. Then he released the energy building up in his legs and a moment later he was flying. He expected to be chilled from the sudden rush of cold air, but was instead the opposite. The slightly higher body heat he generated from his new class grew until he began to sweat. James flew higher and higher and got hotter and hotter until he burst into flames at the apex of his ability. His adrenaline spiked, partly from being so high up above the frozen Great Savanna and partly from the sight of seeing his body on fire. James began to fall, the butterflies in his stomach serving as a reminder to position his weapons above his head. James landed with an explosion that caused his ears to ring. He did his best to watch the effects of his meteoric landing, but everything was a blur of fire and earth. The shrapnel from his explosive landing settled and one thing was clear to James; anything within his explosion zone was fucked.

    James let out an involuntary laugh of power. When his adrenaline returned to normal levels only one thought remained in James¡¯s head, I need to have someone take a video of that!

    ***

    James laid down directly in the snow without any furs to protect him. Now that he wasn¡¯t as susceptible to the cold he would take advantage of it. James opened his interface and studied his skill descriptions. It had been bothering him how his most recent options to improve his short sword ability said that they would replace other sub-skills. He couldn¡¯t recall any of his upgrades ever saying they would replace another before. James wondered if there was a limit to how many sub-skill or augments he could have.

    After studying his skill list for much longer than he intended, James came to a depressing realization. He was put into the game early so he could figure out how to improve the interface for future players. The military members that hired him to beta test said that they needed him to test out functionality. Now, James finally realized what that functionality was. It was the interface. Since James entered the game up until recently, his interface had been nothing but confusing and more than a little frustrating. It was nothing like any of the games he ever played before. The reason for that wasn¡¯t a design flaw, James realized, it was because the game wasn¡¯t finished. James wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been in the game, but he finally felt like he had a decent grasp on his interface. It was now clear that his skills should have been separated into categories. Fighting skills and abilities should be separate from gathering skills and so on. James came to this conclusion because of the of his new short sword prompts. It was clear that James could only have 2 sub-skills, each with their own augments, for every fighting skill he had. James did some more studying and realized his cooking skill probably wouldn¡¯t be limited so it should go in its own category. It wasn¡¯t clear which skills fit into what categories just yet, but it was clear that his skills should be categorized by their limits. His fighting skills clearly had limits as they could only have two sub-skills each, but James¡¯s suspected his gathering and crafting type skills wouldn¡¯t have those limits because they essentially only had recipes listed below them.

    James felt like he was trying to decipher a complex puzzle without instructions or a picture of what the final piece was suppose to look like once finished.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± James sighed in the cool night air.

    James was suppose to take notes on how to improve the interface then leave the game. But that never happened. It wasn¡¯t clear to James if the military meant to put everyone in the game or not just yet, but what was clear was that the game interface wasn¡¯t intended to stay in its current state. There was just no way it was possible. It was too confusing and was practically useless unless you had a high intelligence.

    James let his body fall back into the snow, ¡°I am not only stuck in a game world¡­ All of humanity is stuck in a game world. And an incomplete one at that¡­¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 9 - The Oana

    James looked at the Oana settlement in awe.

    The party had traveled for more than a week and saw nothing but white expanses. That wasn¡¯t the only reason the colorful Oana settlement looked so impressive though. It stretched on for miles. Smaller encampments scattered the land in front of the party, each having a handful of unknown structures and their own pillar of smoke that billowed from somewhere within.

    James ducked back down the pile of snow his party had been hiding behind and whispered, ¡°Okay, I think we can attack the smaller camps without drawing the attention of any others. They are all spaced out pretty far, so as long as they don¡¯t have any horns or alarms, we should be good.¡±

    Everyone nodded, eager to finally do something other than walk.

    Alex peaked his head out from behind the snow bank and pointed at something off in the distance, ¡°What about that?¡±

    James peaked his head out as well and followed Alex¡¯s finger, at the center of the smaller villages stood a giant mound of snow-covered earth. James had never seen anything like it in the mostly flat savanna, ¡°It must be a wall of some sort. They probably dug up the ground with their claws and built a wall with the dirt. I am willing to bet that something important lies inside it.¡±

    An uncharacteristically nervous Omero spoke up, ¡°Is there any way we can get a peek over the dirt wall?¡±

    James looked around for something to climb. The scarce trees of the savanna didn¡¯t grow tall enough, so even if they managed to climb one, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see over the dirt walls. It was possible that they could climb a mountain, but they were all too far away.

    James shook his head, ¡°No, the only way we are finding out what the Oana have hidden behind the wall is to climb it. Let¡¯s not worry about that right now though. A lot of fighting stands between us and the wall. We will worry about it if we manage to get closer.¡±

    James glanced at his party¡¯s stats on the left side of his peripheral vision. He didn¡¯t doubt that his party could take on more than a few Oana at a time, but was hoping to be able to test out Omero¡¯s fighting capabilities before they ran into any. Unfortunately, the party didn¡¯t come across a single creature on their long and boring journey, not even a single Ingo.

    James ¨C Level 22 Embrant

    Health - 120 of 120

    Energy - 90 of 90

    Mana - 340 of 340

    Michael - Level 28 Warrior Death Mage

    Health - 400 of 400

    Energy - 120 of 120

    Mana - 300 of 300

    Patrick - Level 20 Warrior Stoneworker

    Health - 360 of 360

    Energy - 200 of 200

    Alex - Level 17 Metalworker

    Health - 180 of 180

    Energy - 220 of 220

    Omero ¨C Level 6

    Health ¨C 120 of 120

    Energy ¨C 120 of 120

    James came up with an attack plan and briefed his party, ¡°Okay, we are going to sneak up to the closest settlement. Michael and Patrick will lead since they have the most health. Omero, you will follow them. I want you to get some fighting in if possible, but make sure to position yourself so that our tanks take all the damage. Alex, stay by Omero¡¯s side. You will be his second line of defense. Since you are unarmed anyway, don¡¯t attack unless something attacks Omero. I will stay back and cast fire bolts. If something goes wrong I will jump in and stun an enemy. It is important that we do not die. Everyone here can respawn, but more than likely we would respawn back in the village. We cannot afford to wait the eight days it takes to walk back here if someone dies,¡± James turned to look directly at Omero, whose effort to role play in the fantasy world was weakened. James could tell the man was nervous about the fight and knew that this would be his first, ¡°Omero, if anything goes wrong I want you to retreat back here. Okay, everyone got it?¡±

    The party nodded and began pulling their weapons out of their respective inventories.

    Patrick lovingly caresses his True Iron Maul and turned to Omero, ¡°What is your weapon of choice?¡±

    The Italian human resource manager uncomfortably held up a common rusty Oana Sythe and shrugged, ¡°Certainly not this.¡±

    Patrick chuckled and gave Omero a pat on the back, ¡°Well it is your lucky day then. We are certain to get a great deal of loot today!¡±

    ***

    James stopped sneaking ahead when he was within casting range of the Oana and let his party continue on. He could clearly see four Oana in the small camp. Two of them where sitting by the fire, one poking it with sticks and another roasting some sort of meat. The other two were walking back and forth between various tents and huts. It was interesting that the Oana¡¯s nametags didn¡¯t say that they were scouts or warriors, which meant these lizard creatures were different than the others that James came across, but what really drew James¡¯s attention was their buildings. One of his goals for the expedition was to learn new building plans to bring back to his village. James guessed that the tents held the same purpose as Martyr tents or human cabins, in that they were just what the Oana race slept in, but he suspected that they would give a different buff to those inside it.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Human cabins gave a buff to constitution and Martyr tents have a buff to strength, so James figured that the Oana tents were likely to give a buff of a different stat. Having a retinue of buildings used for sleeping that all gave different buffs to those inside them wasn¡¯t exactly a huge improvement to James¡¯s builder¡¯s interface, but he was excited to get the building plan nonetheless.

    The party was now within hearing distance of the small Oana camp, in the same formation that James prescribed. Everything was going well. They snuck closer and closer until they were just steps away from the camp, but still, the Oana didn¡¯t notice them or move to defend themselves. Patrick looked back to James and gave him a confused look. James was confused as well, as he thought the Oana would have spotted his party from much further out. James waved Patrick on.

    The Oana had a clearly worn circle around their camp where they had walked frequently enough to melt the snow. James watched as Michael slowly stepped into that circle. The moment his foot passed into the boundary of the Oana camp, all four of the lizard creatures ran at him. Two of the Oana where even behind a tent and didn¡¯t have a clear line of sight to Michael, and yet they ran in his direction as well.

    Michael swung the mace he got from Dreng at an approaching Oana. The lizard creature took the hit to its shoulder with impressive grace and lunged at James brother with its claws. Patrick joined the fray and swung his maul high into the air. With a grunt loud enough that James could hear it, the red-head slammed his maul down onto the Oana that was attacking Michael. The lizard creature smashed into the ground and laid still long enough for the three other Oana to close the distance. Michael and Patrick stood stalwartly and traded blows with the creatures. They took more hits than they gave out in an effort to allow Omero to get some hits in.

    James''s heart stopped for a second as he saw the first Oana begin to stand up. The party moved slightly so the creature was just out of their range of vision. It was clear to James that his party had thought the first Oana dead, so James cast his first fire-bolt, hoping to alert his party of the danger. Fire exploded from James''s hand and shot toward Omero, who noticed the fireball barreling towards him and froze in fear. James couldn¡¯t control his firebolts after they left his hand, but luckily he correctly predicted were the Oana would travel in an effort to ambush his party. The sneaky Oana unknowingly stepped into the flight path of James''s spell moments before it would have struck Omero. James watched as his spell hit its mark with an explosion of sparks. The Oana slumped to the ground, revealing and an extremely surprised and frightened Omero.

    James wanted to laugh at the look on Omero¡¯s face but didn¡¯t let himself. If he had miscalculated or if his Firebolt was stronger he would have hit his own party members. He shouldn¡¯t have had to take that risk. It worked out well, but James nonetheless made a point to discuss the issue with Alex later, since it was his job to protect Omero¡¯s flanks.

    The remaining Oana were eventually defeated and James moved in to join his party. The battle took longer than he thought it would, even with their strategy to let Omero do some attacking, ¡°Those guys were stronger than they looked huh?¡±

    Michael shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think they were actually that strong. I just don¡¯t think we have the right weapons to fight them.¡±

    Alex peaked his head out of one of the huts, ¡°I think Michael is right. I could see that Patrick¡¯s attacks were dealing much more damage, even though Michael is much stronger than him.¡±

    James¡¯s raised his eyebrows, knowing the red-head would take offense to Alex¡¯s words, and said, ¡°Ooooh, burrrrnnn.¡±

    Patrick grunted and waved off the joke, too interested in the loot drops to care.

    Michael laughed, ¡°All jokes aside, he is right. I think the Oana¡¯s scales give them a good deal of armor. That is why Patrick did the most damage. He is the only one with a two-handed weapon.¡±

    James nodded, appreciative for the insight his party gathered, but much more interested in something else. James walked up to one Oana tents and placed his hand on it. He slid his hands across its rough surface, becoming familiar with its material. He closed his eyes and focused on his other senses. The smells coming from the Oana camp were unfamiliar, but when James was done he could separate each individual smell from the conglomerate and tell the direction of their sources.

    Congratulations! You have begun to unravel the mysteries of a new building style - Oana!

    Sturdy Oana Tent ¨C Increases the agility and critical strike chance of Oana within the tent by 2.

    James studied his prompt. The tent would more than likely end up being useless to him, but what it lacked in practicality it made up for by providing insight into how James''s builder¡¯s interface worked. James noticed that the tent offered a buff increase of two, instead of the usual single point increase of his current buildings. James mentally brought up more information and discovered that the Oana tents were built with the hardened skin of the No-No. James smiled at the realization. It meant that he could probably upgrade his own buildings if he had the material. It wasn¡¯t a huge discovery, but James knew every piece of information he received in the game world came with the promise of answering many more questions. It was all one large puzzle, and he would accept any sized puzzle piece.

 Book 2 - Chapter 10 - Inveigler

    ¡°You should choose the Warrior class!¡± Patrick said for the fifth time as he gnawed on his roasted Ingo meat.

    The party had spent 2 days hunting Oana with great success. None of the Oana camps notified other camps that they were under attack, so the party leisurely wiped out camp after camp without worrying about being outnumbered. It didn¡¯t take the party long to realize the camps behaved like groups of monsters from other videos games. They had an agro zone and would only attack if something came within that zone. The Oana in the camps didn¡¯t seem intelligent in the least, and would practically ignore the party unless they stepped into the aggro zone. It was an odd, but much appreciated discovery. If all the Oana behaved like the intelligence Oana scouts or Oana warriors then the party would have been forced to retreat. This sudden discovery of unintelligent mobs was a constant topic of discussion but had been temporarily put on the backburner so the party could discuss Omero¡¯s new class.

    ¡°No, you should choose the Inveigler class. It would come in handy back in the village, especially since you are already seen as one of the leaders. Not to mention how beneficial it would be if we actually make it to the human village that Dreng told us about. If we make it there the Inveigler class will be able to tell you how people are reacting to your words right?¡± Alex counter-argued. Omero nodded, confirming Alex¡¯s understanding of the new class. ¡°That ability will help us say the right things to the right people and hopefully help us get in touch with someone that can tell us how to protect our souls from the Lich King.¡±

    ¡°I think it depends on what we need right now. Are we going to be able to fight our way to the other side of that dirt wall? Are we going to be able to survive whatever is behind it? If we can accomplish our mission without Omero than he should definitely choose the Inveigler class. But if we cannot even finish off the Oana scourge right in front of us then it will take forever to get around them and get to the human village,¡± Michael added.

    Patrick spoke up again, this time much more excited than angry, ¡°Also, the mounts! I am pretty sure the secret to finishing Frey¡¯s mission lies in the lizard village behind the dirt wall.¡±

    James watched his party argue the merits of each class. Both of them would be useful for different reasons and he agreed with his brother¡¯s logic. It would be nice if Omero chose a class based on what his party needed, but James¡¯s didn¡¯t want to go that route. He didn¡¯t want to be the type of leader that commanded people to comply with his decisions. He wanted to inspire loyalty, not demand it. When the party¡¯s argument grew to a crescendo, James silenced them with a wave of his hand, ¡°Omero, what class do you want?¡±

    Omero seemed surprised at the question and stumbled for an answer, ¡°I¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t really know.¡±

    ¡°Well, since it is a very real possibility that you will be living out the rest of your life in this game with us, then I think it is important that this choice is yours,¡± James motioned to his party, ¡°we can advise you on what would benefit us, but the decision is yours and yours only. You will be the one living with it.¡±

    Omero nodded and considered James words before his eyes glazed over and he began poking at the air, ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± Omero said with a breath of relief, ¡°I will be honest, after seeing you guys fight I knew I was out of my league. As much as I like to pretend like I am a character in a fantasy world, I cannot pretend to be a fighter. However, I do want to help rescue the other people from earth that are trapped in that terrible dungeon. I think I will be most effective in doing that in the other human village. If there are answers to be found there, I am sure I can get them, especially with my new class.¡±

    Patrick let out a loud groan and mumbled something about how he would never get a mount before Omero cut him off, ¡°I know I am new to the party, but I have no doubt you guys can defeat any enemy placed before you. I watched you fight in Ogrim¡¯s domain. I watched you all train day in and day out, and most importantly, I watched you guys interact. I might not know much about this game, or how strong the enemies in front of us are, but I do know people, and you guys have something special together.¡±

    ***

    The party woke the next day to find that some of the Oana camps they had cleared in the previous days were now filled with Oana again. It wasn¡¯t clear to James yet if the creatures respawned like they did in other games or if there was a more realistic reason the camps were busy with life again. What was clear was that it was finally time to attack the village hidden behind the earthen wall. James knew that they could spend days clearing the Oana camps and that if they did truly respawn it would all be a waste of time. He had to find the source of the Oana and destroy it so that the creatures no longer plagued the Great Savanna.

    James instructed his party to prepare for battle as he did so himself. Everyone had been buffed up from eating their Ingo meat and drinking cider, so all that was left for James was to divvy out the loot they gained over the previous days. Certain items were already given out to members of the party when they all agreed that the person to receive the item was an obvious choice. Still, though, there remained a few, rarer items, that almost everyone could benefit from. Handing out these items required more thought. James opened up his equipped items tab to see where he was at in the gear realm.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Cracked Leather Boots (Widespread)

    Legs - Ingo Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest - Ingo Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Empty

    Wrist ¨C Cracked Leather Bracers (Widespread)

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1-5 ¨C Empty

    Sheath 1¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2- Pointy Bracer Cover (Common)

    Bag - Adventurer''s Satchel (Common)

    Now that James had two short swords what he really wanted was another sheath so he could have them both at the ready at all times. His Pointy Bracer Cover didn¡¯t really do him any good and was just a waste of an armor slot. James also needed to start equipping rings, and unlike the sheath, he knew they actually had a ring to give out.

    James grabbed the parties unassigned loot bag from Omero and pulled out the rare items inside, letting them drop to the ground so everyone could see. Two green beams of light slowly grew from the pile of loot, along with one blue light and a couple of greyish common lights. James reached down and grabbed one of the common items first.

    Scaled Breeches (Common, Leg Slot) + 3 Armor

    ¡°Alright, let the bidding begin!¡± James announced as he held up the pants for inspection. The green scales that made the pants reflected the sunlight, but unfortunately, their scaled surface wasn¡¯t clear enough for James to see his own reflection in them. James quietly daydreamt about the things he would do for a proper mirror as his party argued about which of them should receive the pants. James was never a vain man, but the closest he could ever get to seeing his own reflection was when he pulled up a bucket of water from the well in his village. He desperately wondered what he looked like, but slowly realized it was probably a good thing that he didn¡¯t. He somehow felt more confident, more himself, without ever seeing his reflection. He knew who he was by his actions and his thoughts and formed an opinion of himself that way. He didn¡¯t need a mirror to confirm or deny how he felt about himself. Even though not having a mirror was probably a good thing for a number of psychological reasons he didn¡¯t understand, James still wanted one, if for nothing else than to check his nose for debris before he started his day. That was one thing he would have never even have considered about living in a fantasy world; the sheer amount of people that unknowingly walked about with buggers in their noses.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Michael grabbed the scaled pants from James outstretched hands, bringing James back to reality. He knew he wasn¡¯t going to get the pants and would rather find something that made his casting better anyway, so he didn¡¯t feel bad about not paying attention to the pants debate. He would, however, pay attention to the conversation for the next item, because it was something that actually benefited him.

    Ring of Fire Mastery (common, ring slot) Increases the rate at which the wearer masters the element of fire by 1%.

    When the ring originally dropped, James thought he was the obvious choice as the person who would get it. Apparently, he was dead wrong though. His party hooted and hollered when he went to put on the ring and demanded that they make the decision together. James was taken aback at the demands, figuring it only made sense for him since he was an Embrant, but apparently, the party had all seen his meteoric landing from his jump strike ability and were interested in increasing their own mastery of fire as well.

    After five minutes of intense debate, James talked his party into letting him have the ring. He only had to mention the fact that he had to invest heavily in intelligence and wisdom to deter Patrick and Alex, who both needed strength for fighting and crafting respectively. Michael and Omero were much harder to convince, but James just needed to mention how there was no easy way to start fires in the village, and the number of fires that needed to be lit every day was growing. James¡¯s brother and Omero both admitted that they didn¡¯t want to spend their nights rubbing sticks together, and revoked their bid for the ring. James happily equipped it, all while knowing that the long nights he spent starting fires were worth it 100 times over. He could shoot freakin¡¯ fireballs now, and all he had to do was rub some sticks together and deal with his raw hands for a few weeks to learn how. Who wouldn¡¯t make that sacrifice?

    Suckerrrrs, James thought as he slid the plain silver ring over one of his fingers.

    A few other items were given out, including a sheath for a two-handed weapon and various scaled armor pieces that James had no use for. He wasn¡¯t against having the armor, but it would be better if the others had it, at least for this mission. Patrick and Alex fought over the two-handed weapon sheath, but Patrick ended up winning since he was the only one that actually had a two-handed weapon at the moment. Michael had complained that his two-handed weapon skill was much higher than Patrick¡¯s, but the argument fell flat since Michael was wielding the gifted, single-handed maul from Dreng. James¡¯s brother even tried to argue that he would probably find a new two-handed weapon soon and that he would have to return the maul to Torunn anyway, but Patrick only replied with the option to trade in the future.

    As Patrick strutted around proudly with his giant True Iron Maul strapped to his back, James got an idea. He had never thought about trading with his own people until Patrick brought it up, but he had the perfect item to trade, the Spiky Bracer Cover.

    ¡°Hey Alex,¡± James called out, getting the attention of the military veteran, ¡°you still fight unarmed right? Think you can make use of my Spiky Bracer Cover?¡±

    Alex nodded in agreement, a little too enthusiastically. James smiled, knowing he had Alex in the palm of his hand. As soon as Alex agreed, James proposed a trade and Alex¡¯s happy expression fell. The party laughed in response, and a bidding war began. It turned out though, that Alex didn¡¯t actually have anything useful to trade, so James ended up giving the item to him anyway, as it did really make more sense for an unarmed combat person to have it. The spiky bracer cover wasn¡¯t considered a conventional weapon, so Alex could use it and still level up his unarmed skill and unlock better abilities while doing more damage. Alex thanked James and promised to craft something for him in return as soon as his blacksmithing skill was high enough.

    Before James could start the auction for the rarest items they had, Michael spoke up with a story about the Spiky Bracer Cover. He described how he came across various monsters in the dungeon that all had unique fighting styles. He said that even two identical monsters, all with the same primary weapons, could attack in different ways dependent on specialized sheaths.

    Michael uncovered his wrist and displayed a scar from one such attack. It turned out that one of the Undead soldiers that Michael came across had a spike strapped onto their helmet. When Michael blocked a sword strike from the Undead creature it simply drove its spiked helmet into Michael¡¯s wrist. James brother originally thought it was just an oddly spiked helmet, but when he inspected it he realized the spike was removable. It was only when Michael equipped the spike that he realized it fit in his sheath slot. Michael concluded that sheaths were not only for sheathing weapons, like everyone originally thought, but could be used to customize fighting styles. He suspected that there was an infinite amount of different weaponized sheaths available, and swore by their effectiveness. Michael said he had to fight numerous Undead soldiers to survive the dungeon, but the soldier that was smart enough to utilize a sheath was the only one that came close to killing him.

    James¡¯s curiosity was peaked at Michael¡¯s story. James silently wondered if there were any sheaths that could customize his magic-based fighting style while he instructed Omero to write the discovery down in his lore book. The Italian was now the go-to person to record any new game mechanics the party learned about and was tasked with briefing the rest of the village on new information. Omero quickly wrote down the information in his banded book of maps and with a smile, told James that a training session would be designed around the new discovery as soon as they had enough specialized sheaths to experiment with.

    Oana Villager¡¯s Headdress (uncommon, head slot) +1 Armor +5 Agility.

    James held up the thin black sash and let his party members make their arguments on why they should get the item. No one in the party managed to find any head armor yet, so they were all eager to fill the slot in their gear with the first thing that came along. The sash ended up being awarded to Alex though since his unarmed combat damage was dependent on his agility.

    Oana Villager¡¯s Cleats (uncommon, feet slot) +1 Armor +5% running speed.

    The leather boots looked quite durable with hardened spikes that could dig into the earth, and most importantly, carried no foul odors. James was happy for the last aspect as it meant that he could equip any shoes or boots he found in the game. Previously, James had only either had his own shoes that he started the game with or the slippers he used temporarily in the Spirit Battleground. In either case, they were both technically brand new and didn¡¯t smell.

    ¡°I think I should have those. You know, just in case I need to retreat,¡± Omero said with a sly smile. The human resource manager had managed to find his suaveness once again and even managed to ask for the boots in a tone that didn¡¯t make him seem like a coward. James didn¡¯t actually think the man was a coward before, but there was a moment or two before Omero had experience fighting where he was definitely afraid. Now though, Omero was a pretty experienced and productive fighter, even without the warrior class, and his confidence could once again be easily discerned from his way of speaking and how he carried himself.

    None of the party member¡¯s had a good enough strategic reason that Omero shouldn¡¯t get the slippers, so James gave them up. Most of the party members either had abilities that allowed them to cover a good deal of distance quickly, like James¡¯s jump strike or Patrick¡¯s bulldoze ability or just flat out ran faster than Omero because of their higher stats.

    ¡°Okay, we saved the best for last!¡± James said as he picked up the pile of scaled cloth that gave off a purple light.

    Patrick patted his bulging stomach in a rhythm that somewhat resembled a drumroll.

    Oana Villager¡¯s Disguise ¨C (rare disguise, one-time use) Disguise yourself as an Oana Villager for ten minutes. Disguise is ruined on attack.

    James twisted his face in confusion as he read the details of the item. He had originally thought the disguise was a cloak or some sort of wizards robe. He was actually certain that the item would be his since he was the only caster of the group. The only reason he didn¡¯t take the item when it first dropped was that it was the rarest item the party had come across. Now though, James¡¯s plan to greedily equip the robes wouldn¡¯t be possible. James noticed the confused faces of his party members and realized they must have already inspected the item as well.

    ¡°Really,¡± Patrick scoffed, ¡°a disguise?¡±

    James nodded and quietly whispered, ¡°Yea, sometimes I forget I am in a game until stuff like this happens¡­¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 11 - Earthen Wall

    The party all agreed that Omero should be the one to put on the disguise and infiltrate the Oana village. He had the Inveigler class that allowed him to get an idea of how people were reacting to his words, even if they didn¡¯t show it through body language. James didn¡¯t think Omero would be doing much speaking though, and was only tasked with learning how many Oana were in the village, what types they were, and most importantly, learning what was going on behind the earthen walls. James figured that if something went wrong and Omero was sent to respawn, the rest of the party would still be able to attack without him.

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of like we are zipping up an overly large baby into a onesie,¡± Patrick commented with a chuckle as he helped guide Omero¡¯s arm into the sleeve.

    Alex raised an eyebrow at the comment, ¡°You have children?¡±

    Patrick scoffed, ¡°Thankfully no. I can¡¯t imagine being separated from my own children because of this whole game world thing, but I did have a little niece. I used to watch her at night and zip her up in her pajamas,¡± Patrick grunted as he finally fished Omero¡¯s arm into the sleeve,¡± she was much more cooperative though!¡±

    ¡°Trust me, buddy, this is much more awkward for me than it is for you,¡± Omero said as he pulled over the hood of the disguise.

    The party let out a collective gasp. Before them stood a real-life Oana villager, complete with lizard scales and long clawed fingers. Even Omero¡¯s face was completely transformed to flawlessly resemble the face of one of the lizard creatures.

    James snapped his fingers in front of Omero¡¯s lizard-like eyes and confirmed that the Italian could see through the disguise, ¡°Okay, we only have ten minutes so let¡¯s get moving! Learn as much as you can about the village without causing a stir and retreat back to our camp before your timer runs out. Go go go!¡±

    The party watched as Omero ran toward the gate in the Earthen wall they discovered earlier.

    Michael let out a chuckle, ¡°Look at his little tail wiggle!¡±

    ***

    The party nervously waited at their camp, ready to fight if it came to it.

    ¡°Anyone know how long it has been?¡± Patrick asked as he twirled his True Iron Mail around in the air.

    ¡°56, 57,58,59, 9 minutes¡± James counted out loud.

    ¡°There he is!¡± Michael exclaimed as he pointed to an Oana villager who was casually walking out of the village. Omero¡¯s picked up his relaxed pace until he was sprinting at full speed. As Omero ran, parts of his disguise started to slowly dissolve into thin air. By the time Omero reached the party, his disguise was completely gone.

    Omero keeled over and struggled to catch his breath, ¡°I¡­ Almost¡­ had to mate with one of them¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± James said confused. That was not how he thought Omero would begin his report.

    The Italian nodded and stood up, ¡°Yea, maybe not mate in the sense of the word that we know, but they definitely needed me to make more of them or make them more powerful or something. I didn¡¯t stick around long enough to get more information about it though.¡±

    ¡°So what was it like? How many warriors were in there?¡± Alex questioned.

    Omero nodded, ¡°The village was quite large, but it seemed empty. I saw a few villagers walking around, but they didn¡¯t take any notice of me. In the center of the village was a large hut. I peaked my head inside and was immediately summoned by a female who said I was not excused from the mating ritual. I managed to run away before she caught up with me. I only counted ten of the larger Oana. They had weapons so I assume they were the soldiers you guys were talking about.¡±

    James gave a glance to Alex, ¡°Do you think Dreng managed to wipe out their entire army?¡±

    Alex shrugged, ¡°It sounds like it. If the village was as large as Omero says and it was empty, that means they aren¡¯t as populated as usual. It is still possible that there are other warriors that he didn¡¯t see,¡± Alex turned to Omero, ¡°How many buildings were there and how many were you able to check?¡±

    ¡°There were dozens of small huts and tents next to the inside of the wall. I was able to check out a few, but only saw villagers in them. The hut in the center of the village was the only building that really stood out from the others.¡± Omero reported.

    ¡°What about the inside the center hut?¡± inquired James.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t get a good look, but it was clear that there was some sort of magic happening in the hut, like a spell or something. The Oana soldiers were all inside, but I couldn¡¯t tell what they were doing.¡±

    James nodded and congratulated Omero on the job well done and began to think of a plan.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ***

    James ran his hand along the earthen wall of the Oana village as his party snuck up to the gate. He could tell the wall was cold, but it didn¡¯t bother him in any way. Just like when he buried his hand in snow the other night, James didn¡¯t feel the cold. He could tell If something was cold, but he couldn¡¯t feel it in a normal sense. It was as if he was immune to it or something.

    The party reached the portion of the wall they agreed upon earlier and Patrick began to step away from the wall. The party tossed around the idea of having James jump over the wall with his jump strike ability. That way he could open the gate from the inside and let the rest of the party in, but unfortunately, his ability didn¡¯t work that way. He had to be able to target something to activate jump strike, and James wasn¡¯t able to see over the wall. Patrick¡¯s bulldoze ability didn¡¯t have that limit though, so everyone decided that the redhead would just punch a hole in the wall.

    Everyone braced themselves against the wall. Patrick gave them a thumbs up and a sinister smile before crouching down like an Olympic sprinter. Everyone waited for Patrick to activate his ability and slam into the wall, but Patrick just stayed still.

    James quietly chuckled when he realized what Patrick was waiting for. Olympic sprinters usually stayed in their starting positions until they heard a gunshot that signaled the start of the race, so James cleared his throat and did his best to mimic the sound.

    ¡°Bang!¡± James yelled, no longer worried about staying quiet.

    Patrick¡¯s red hair turned into a streak and seconds later a real bang caused James ears to ring. The dust cleared a moment later and James realized that the plan failed! The wall must have been too strong for Patrick to break through. Panic began to course through James¡¯s body as he took in the scene. Alex, Michael, and Omero were standing around confused and fussing with their ears. Patrick¡¯s unconscious body laid in a heap next to the wall. James took a long breath and did his best to focus. Behind him, he could hear a commotion. The Oana were wondering what was going on and were opening the gate. In a split second, James decided that they would have to stand and fight. If they tried to flee while carrying Patrick they would undoubtedly be captured. Alex seemed to catch onto what was going on shortly after James did and bent down in an effort to drag Patrick¡¯s limp body away from danger. James yelled at him to stop and prepare to fight instead, but Alex couldn¡¯t hear the command. James barely heard it himself and he was the one that gave it. James grabbed Alex by the shoulder, forcing him to stand up. Locking eyes with each of his party members, James unsheathed his Legendary Short Sword.

    James turned to face the approaching Oana soldiers and told his party to follow him with a wave of his arm. Activating Jump Strike, James left his party and launched into the air. Seconds later he landed in a storm of debris and fire. Before the air could clear, James lashed out with his Legendary short sword, easily removing the scythe arm of a burning Oana soldier. James ducked a rogue slash that materialized from the smoke and rolled toward it. Hoping up to his feet, James found himself outside of the smoke cloud his jump strike left behind. He instinctually lashed out with both blades at the soldier attacking him. His blades were blocked, but he kept at it and rained down a flurry from both his short swords. The soldier parried his attacks with relative ease, but James could tell that his opponent was having trouble with the speed of the attacks coming down on him. James found strength in the fact that he had more endurance and speed than the Soldier but knew that even taking just one hit from the much stronger enemy would be extremely dangerous. James broke off from the Oana in front of him and dove back into his debris cloud, launched a fireball behind him and decapitated the Oana Soldier that received the stun effect from his jump strike. James quickly turned in an effort to face the Oana soldier who he boldly showed his back to¡­ and tripped¡­

    ¡°Get back!¡± Alex yelled as he blinked next to James and used his Spiky Bracer Cover to block the scythe that was heading towards James.

    James crawled forward, out of the crater he left behind and ran far enough away to get his bearing once again. He was careful not to step into the agro zones of any of the villagers. Alex was doing his best to deflect attacks but wasn¡¯t able to do any of the attacking. The Oana soldiers had him outnumbered, and it was clear that the only reason Alex was alive was because of his high agility. James cast a firebolt into one of the Oana Soldiers, but it whizzed by his target and smashed into the earthen wall instead. James let out a curse and decided to get closer and try again. Luckily, Michael and Omero had caught up to the fight, freeing up Alex to deal damage. James flanked the Oana soldiers so that he was lined up with their sides. He launched a firebolt just behind their line in an effort to avoid his allies. James watched the firebolt fly through the air and promised himself to find a fire spell that could target his enemies, instead of flying in a straight path. James let out a breath he wasn¡¯t aware he was holding as his spell crashed into an Oana Soldier and set it on fire. The soldier didn¡¯t even seem to notice the fact that he was burning and continued to try and attack Omero. Whenever the Soldier got close though, Michael would shove his shoulder into the creature with a ferocious battle cry. For a split second, James got lost in the sight before him. His brother had transformed into someone, something he didn¡¯t recognize anymore. The kindness and humor that could usually be found in his brother¡¯s eyes was replaced with unbridled hate. Suddenly, Michaels hulking size became readily apparent to James once again. Michael brutally smashed his mace into the Oana soldiers and used his massive weight to elbow and shove the Oana away from Omero. He was a force to be reckoned with and held his own against the more numerous enemy with inhumane shouts and remorseless blows that cracked bones and caused blood to fill the air.

    ¡°Fuck it,¡± James said as he let himself feel the pain of losing his life back on Earth. He broke down the internal structures that allowed him to carry the responsibility of the wellbeing of his village and an entire race of Martyrs on his shoulders. James didn¡¯t crumble under the weight though; he harnessed it and let it transform him. He no longer let the logical side of him hold back all the things that frustrated him or made him angry. James¡¯s body flushed as he finally allowed himself to feel the injustice and unfairness of the world. He let everything go, and became a monster. The skin on James¡¯s back burst in a shower of blood. The meaty ravines in his flesh grew and snaked up to his shoulders and down his arms. James battle senses sharpened and time slowed. James stalked forward. The Oana soldiers were unaware of the wrathful smile that was quickly closing the distance between them and the Martyr¡¯s Rage.

 Book 2 - Chapter 12 - Oana Mystic

    ¡°What¡­ happened¡­ Did we win?¡± Patrick groggily asked as he regained his consciousness.

    ¡°Yea. We killed all the Oana soldiers that Omero saw on his scouting mission,¡± a blood-covered Alex confirmed as he helped Patrick to his feet, "At least we think we did."

    ¡°See I knew we could beat them!¡± Patrick said proudly with a puffed up chest.

    James rolled his eyes as he covered everyone¡¯s wounds with some of Torunn¡¯s healing poultice, ¡°You literally just had to ask if we won¡­¡±

    Patrick ignored James¡¯s comment and studied his battle-worn party members. In comparison to the rest of the party, Patrick looked like he just walked through a car wash. The party stared down the redhead until his resolve broke down and he admitted that he was impressed that the party won the battle without him.

    ¡°So what happened?¡± Patrick asked.

    James shook his head, ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it later. We need to get into the village before someone closes the gate. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The party moved into the village in a sprint. Omero lagged slightly behind, picking up the loot drops and stuffing them into his bag just as he had in their other battles. James could see that Omero¡¯s report of the village had been correct. Numerous small huts and tents hugged the inside of the earthen wall. They were mostly the same buildings that were in the various camps outside of the village, each having only slight differences. Some of the tents had spots where a different fur or skin had been patched to seal a hole. The huts were decorated with different tribal colors in odd designs that were unfamiliar to James. Some of the huts even had support beams that were replaced with large bones, no doubt due to the fact that wood was scarce in the Great Savanna. There was no snow on the ground, letting James know that the village had a lot of foot traffic at one time or another. In fact, even the grass had been worn down in the inner circle of the village leaving nothing but dirt. The center hut was much larger than any other Oana buildings James had seen before; its outer walls lacking the same lizard graffiti as the other buildings.

    Omero caught up to the rest of the party and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t step too close to the outer buildings. I think they have aggro zones as well.¡±

    ¡°Why not? Don¡¯t we have to kill them all anyway?¡± Patrick asked.

    ¡°No, we might not have to, at least not yet,¡± James instructed as he stepped closer to the tall hut in the center of the Oana village and placed his hand on its rough wooden surface. James moved his hand around and inspected a strange bone strapped to the outside of the hut. It wasn¡¯t clear why the bone was there, and it didn¡¯t seem to be adding any value to the framework of the building, and yet James got the feeling that it was still a necessary component. James closed his eyes and inspected the building with his other senses, just as he had when he learned the building plans for the Sturdy Oana Tent.

    Congratulations! You have begun to unravel the mysteries of a new building style - Oana!

    Baneful Oana Summoner¡¯s Hut (Undergoing Upgrade) ¨C A necessary building for casting the Summon Malicious Oana spell.

    Available Spells ¨C Summon Malicious Oana ¨C Siphon surrounding energy from the land to summon Malicious Oana Warriors and Scouts. Can only be cast by an Oana Mystic. This spell can be upgraded by upgrading the required building.

    James opened his eyes, even though he didn¡¯t need to in order to read the prompts, and dropped his hand back to his side. It was clear that the Oana were summoning warriors in the hut before him. What was worse was that there was bound to be an Oana Mystic inside. The only other Mystics James had heard about before was Salmaana and her followers who banished the various evil factions into Spirit Battlegrounds. If she was powerful enough to do that, then the Mystic inside the Baneful Oana Summoner¡¯s Hut was probably very powerful as well. James turned around to tell his party what he just discovered when he got a notification. He could see that everyone else got a notification as well, and were all reading it.

    Heal the Great Savanna Quest Updated

    Description = The Martyr race has protected the Great Savanna for thousands of years against those that wish to take advantage of its lush resources. Now though, the Martyr race is all but extinct and unable to keep their ancestral oath to protect the land. Freydis, mother of the Chieftain of the sole surviving Martyr clan, tasks you with investigating the current state of the Great Savanna. Venture out into the white tundra and uncover the evil that seeks to destroy the Martyr¡¯s home.

    Update 1 ¨C You have discovered that an Oana Mystic has invaded the Great Savanna and even managed to build a Baneful Oana Summoner¡¯s Hut. Worse yet, the hut is drawing vast amounts of energy from the land in order to upgrade. Once this upgrade is complete, the Oana Mystic will be able to summon more powerful Oana to her command. Stop the Mystic before this upgrade is complete!

    Quest Type = Chain

    Quest Difficulty = Extraordinary

    Quest Reward = (Variable) Mount

    James closed the prompt and immediately asked his party members what their prompts said.

    Alex answered first, ¡°My Heal The Great Savanna Quest was updated. It just said that an Oana Mystic was the cause of the changes in the Savanna and that she must be destroyed before she can get stronger. The rest of us don¡¯t have Adventurer¡¯s interfaces, so I am sure we all got the same update.¡±

    The rest of the party nodded, confirming that they got the same quest update as Alex. James briefed them on the update he got, complete with the additional lore.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°We have to fight now, with everything we have,¡± Alex said solemnly.

    Omero coughed nervously, ¡°If the Mystic is as strong as you say, shouldn¡¯t we go back for reinforcements?¡±

    James studied the Italian. He got the same information as the rest of the party, so James knew that Omero knew they wouldn¡¯t have enough time to get reinforcements. The Summoner¡¯s Hut had already pulled enough energy from the Great Savanna to cause it to snow, and the entire party knew that. If they took the two-week journey to come back with reinforcements, there was a good chance that the upgrade would be complete and they would be greeted by even stronger warriors. So why then was Omero afraid?

    ¡°No. We don¡¯t have the time. We need to fight now. The only question left is if we should use my ability to summon a Martyr to help us?¡± James said, waiting to see if his party understood the risk in doing so.

    He could see that most of them did, except for Omero, who just stared off to some unattainable location in the distance. James clarified, ¡°If we do summon the Martyr, and they die, they won¡¯t respawn. Do we want to take that risk?¡±

    Patrick nodded, all semblance of his cheery attitude lost, ¡°Yes, we should summon a Martyr. I think they would want to take a part in this battle. Besides, if we lose right now, there is no telling when we will get this chance again.¡±

    James agreed with a solemn nod and instructed everyone to make sure they learned any new abilities if they have the choice waiting for them and to spend any available stat points they had in reserve. James did the same.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 25 (3 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 12 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health. (add 6)

    Strength, Level 15 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 10 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 10 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 120

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 340

    6 statistic points ready to distribute.

    James considered how he would spend his statistic points and smiled at the realization that it was finally smarter to invest in something other than wisdom. Previously, James had always been able to survive while investing in wisdom, but now he wasn¡¯t sure he could survive the battle ahead of him. He would have to increase either his constitution or his intelligence for the battle ahead. He could already cast a decent amount of fireballs before his mana ran out though and the damage was decent as well. What he really needed was more health. His fighting strategy had been to cast firebolts from afar until his mana ran out then jump strike into battle and activate Martyr¡¯s Rage. If he was going to be fighting a Mystic, that most likely had a huge amount of magical power and abilities then James wanted to stay in a Martyr¡¯s Rage for as long as possible so he was immune to the Mystic¡¯s magic.

    James dumped all six of his free statistic points into constitution and immediately afterword took in an involuntary gasp of air. He felt like he could hold in more air now and had previously only been using half of his lung capacity. James took in a few more full breaths, enjoying his new lung capacity and navigated to the main page of his interface.

    James focused on his skills list and mentally gave the command to sort the interface by types of skills. He had been mulling over the ways skills should be categorized based on their limits of sub-skills, augments, and the like. After a second or two, James¡¯s mental request to change his interface must have passed some sort of hidden intelligence check because his skills tab broke down into smaller tabs right in front of his eyes. Battle skills, Gathering Skills, and Miscellaneous Skills tabs were now available. James selected his battle skills.

    Battle Skills

    Sneak, Level 9 (1 level gained recently) ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 9% while sneaking.

    Fire, Level 31 (5 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 31%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Short Swords, Level 35 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 35%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 15 (1 level gained recently) - Chance to stun 100% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Meteor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for ????1 second.

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 10 (1 level gained recently) - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 6%. ??Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 54% for both weapons.

    Party Leader. Level 8 - Damage taken by party members reduced by 8% (1%/lvl)

    James¡¯s thought the new view of his skills list was much more informative without all the clutter, but quickly came up with a way to improve it further. He realized that his Fire Bolt Spell could be upgraded without an augment, while he was pretty certain that his Jump Strike Skill could not. The only way he was able to upgrade his Jump Strike Skill was to practice it, but he never got the option to choose an improved Jump Strike Skill like he did with his Fire Bolt spell. That is why he decided to break his skills down further. He was sure their limitations were different, even though they were all technically battle skills. James focused on changing the way the information in his interface was displayed and attempted to further break the battle skills tab into Magical Skills, Physical Skills, and Party Buff Skills, but was met with a disappointing notification.

    Attention: Further interface customizations are not available until intelligence level 40.

    James sighed in frustration. For the life of him, he couldn¡¯t understand what the point of creating a game without a decent interface was. Why couldn¡¯t he just have all the information right off the bat, all presented in a logical and intuitive way? Even if the game was still supposed to be in a beta testing phase wouldn¡¯t the interface be one of the first things the programmers designed?

    James shook the thought from his head. It wasn''t the time to worry about such things. He needed to prepare for the battle ahead of him.

    Congratulations! Your Fire Mastery has surpassed level 30. You can now choose from the below 2 spells or augments.

    Weak Fire Trap Spell ¨C Inscribe a magical trap onto any surface. Enemies that step on the invisible trap take damage equal to your intelligence.

    Fire Curse Augment ¨C Place a curse of fire on your target, causing your firebolt to follow them. This curse increases the casting time of your Fire Bolt.

    No matter how much James wanted to protect the outskirts of his town with fire traps, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to choose the new spell. He needed a way to make his firebolts target and follow his enemies and finally got one. James chose the fire curse augment.

    He told his party he was ready and was answered with quiet nods, letting him know that everyone else was ready and just waiting on him. James closed his eyes and activated his Mark of the Martyr. After a few seconds, a slight rumble could be felt in the ground. James¡¯s whirled around to find out which Martyr was summoned.

    ¡°Frode?¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 13 - The Shaman & The Mystic

    The wizened Martyr curiously took in his surroundings with a grimace. His confused body language quickly turned aggressive when his eyes fell upon the Oana villagers.

    James threw his hands out, ¡°Don¡¯t attack them! They won¡¯t hurt us.¡±

    Frode growled, ¡°Won¡¯t hurt us?¡±

    ¡°No, they are¡­ unintelligent. There is a bigger threat than the villagers anyway. We think we found the source of the Oana army that has been trying to take over the savanna.¡±

    Frode relaxed slightly and narrowed his eyes, ¡°The Mystic¡­¡±

    James was taken aback by the Advisor¡¯s words, ¡°Yes, how did you know there was a Mystic?¡±

    ¡°I have been suspicious for a while now. At first, I only sensed a new power in the savanna and nothing more, but as my power grew, my senses became more refined. I suspected a Mystic was behind the Oana attacks and the extremely cold air,¡± Frode explained.

    James briefly considered telling the aging Martyr that the cold air was called Winter, but had more pressing issues, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give me a warning or something?¡±

    Frode smiled, ¡°I had a hunch that you would be drawn to it, and wanted to test my hypothesis. I am still struggling to unravel the mysteries of why your kind has entered this world and my hypothesis was correct. You and the other humans from¡­¡± Frode paused, trying to think of a word, ¡°Earth. You and the other Earth humans are tied to many events now. I don¡¯t know why, but now it is clear that if there is a mystery to be solved, you all will uncover the path to answers. If I simply told you that I suspected that there was a Mystic attacking the Savanna, my test would be ruined.¡±

    James was relieved to know that the Advisor just wasn¡¯t some unintelligent NPC like he had previously suspected, but still didn¡¯t follow Frode¡¯s logic and wasn¡¯t happy the advisor put his mission at risk in order to test a theory, ¡°Freydis gave us the quest that lead us here though, so doesn¡¯t that ruin your test?¡±

    Frode¡¯s face twisted in confusion and asked a series of questions that lead James to believe that Frode wasn¡¯t aware of their quest interface. That fact surprised James, considering that the NPCs did have access to statistic, equipment, and skills interfaces.

    James shook his head, interrupting Frode¡¯s puzzlement, ¡°We will talk about it later. Alex can tell you all about it after we deal with this Mystic. Let get ready to fight.¡±

    Frode reluctantly agreed. The party followed a strategy from Alex and stacked outside the hut flap, ready to burst in like special forces clearing a house.

    Alex held up his fingers and counted down, ¡°Three¡­ Two¡­¡±

    James felt the hip bump from Patrick, who was ahead of him in line, then the sudden absence of the red-head. James hip bumped Frode, the last member of the party and ran into the tent. He was met with an overwhelmingly cold wind that caused him to shield his face. The wind pushed him back, causing James¡¯s to stumble as he cringed from the pain. He could hear laughter from what he could only assume was the Oana mystic.

    ¡°Perfect timing! One of my pesky villagers seemed to grow a brain and ran away from me! Your life energy is just what I needed!¡± The Mystic laughed.

    Finally, the freezing gust of air coming from the Mystic died down and James was able to see the Mystic for the first time. She was clearly a female, with an odd mixture of feminine aspects that were almost as much lizard as they were humanoid. The Mystic held a staff in one hand and a book in another. She was busily combining through the pages of her book, so James took a look around. All of his party members were completed frozen, unable to move. James realized that was why the Mystic wasn¡¯t in a rush to attack him. She obviously didn¡¯t expect James to be immune to the freeze spell, and neither did James himself. He was sure it must have been from his Embrant class. All the snow and cold surfaces he touched since he got the class seemed less cold than they should be if they even felt cold at all. James grimaced at the pain his party must have felt. Even though cold affected him less than his party members, the cold blast still hurt him. It must have been excruciating for everyone else. Luckily, James could tell from his party leader interface that the spell only did minor damage.

    James turned his head just enough to get a glance of Patrick, who was frozen mid-charge, Maul held high in the air and a grimace on his face. James then looked at Patrick¡¯s icon in his Party Leader Interface and found the debuff affecting him.

    Frozen ¨C All movement & abilities are inaccessible for 29 seconds.

    The debuff timer counted down as James looked at it. He estimated that the full debuff lasted 40 seconds total, which meant it was an extremely powerful spell. James was pretty sure he could have killed almost any enemy he had come across so far in the game world if he had a full 40 seconds to attack unimpeded. James¡¯s turned his attention back to the Mystic with an unperceivable movement. By the fact that she was now dancing, James assumed that she had found whatever page she was looking for in her book. He wasn¡¯t sure what that page of her book said, but he was sure he didn¡¯t want the Mystic to do whatever she was going to do next.

    James did a quick calculation and decided that he had enough health left to activate Martyr¡¯s Rage long enough for his party to become unfrozen. James activated Jump Strike.

    The Mystic spotted him in the air and shrieked, more because she didn¡¯t expect anyone to be able to move than because she was afraid of James. Her brief hesitation allowed James to land with a fiery explosion that caught a portion of the hut on fire. James¡¯s took advantage of his five-second stun effect and attacked the Mystic with both of his blades. He half expected that the Mystic would have fallen with only a few strikes, but to James¡¯s dismay, she had some sort of shield covering her body. James¡¯s strikes barely drew blood, even when he swung with all of his might. He could tell that her scales were protecting her from some of the damage, but even when he swung his blade at her unscaled stomach he was met with the same resistance.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    With an explosion of ice, James was thrown onto his back. His five seconds must have been up. James forced himself to his feet and charged.

    The Mystic met his eyes as he ran toward her and giggled, ¡°You are very unlucky! One more second and you would have had my mana completely spent! Luckily, I still have enough mana left over for THIS!¡± The Mystic said, her lighthearted words changing into a ferocious scream as she spoke.

    James reflexively closed his eyes mid-charge, expecting the Mystic to throw something at his face. She didn¡¯t though, and instead slammed her staff into the ground, causing the ground to rumble and James¡¯s knees to buckle. The walls of the hut all around James suddenly began to move and grow. The wood and bone framework of the hut grew taller as if the whole building had only been buried underground and was being pulled out. James heard the Mystic yell something and felt a sharp pain echo within his body, causing him to gasp from breadth. Still, James charged. The Mystic screamed and pain echoed through James¡¯s body yet again. This time though, he saw a blue light get pulled from him and travel to the Mystic. The light enveloped the Mystic and she yelled again. James realized in horror that she wasn¡¯t yelling in anger or pain, but from the pleasure, she got from stealing whatever light James had inside his body. A split second later, James watched a light get stolen from the frozen Chieftain¡¯s Advisor as well. James glanced at his icon in his party leader interface and confirmed that the light she was stealing was indeed his mana. James winced as he realized she was stealing the mana from his party in order to feed it into the growth of the building, and her shield.

    With a roar, James activated Martyr¡¯s rage. The skin on his back split as it always did, but this time he didn¡¯t pause to relish the clarity that the pain brought. James charged. The Mystic met his blows with her staff with a surprising show of agility. James feigned an attack to draw her staff away from her then swung underneath it with his other blade. The Mystic simply jumped upward and James¡¯s legendary short sword passed right underneath her.

    ¡°You fool, you are not a good enough fighter to hit me. Your agility is too low!¡± The Mystic said, attempting to get inside James¡¯s head.

    James didn¡¯t reply, instead, he picked up his pace. Strike after strike was deflected, parried, or dodged, but James didn¡¯t let up. Finally, James landed a strike, only for it to bounce off her scales, leaving the barest of a scratch.

    The Mystic laughed, ¡°And you¡¯re not even strong enough to do any damage when you do get lucky enough to hit me! Really human, you don¡¯t consider yourself a fighter do you?¡±

    James didn¡¯t respond, letting the Mystic think what she wanted. Her taunts had no effect on James¡¯s sharpened mind. The Martyr¡¯s Rage ability helped him see only the information that he needed in battle, only the information that was relevant to him winning. Even without Martyr¡¯s rage though, James wouldn¡¯t have been affected by her taunts. He knew what he was, and no amount of ridicule would make him forget.

    Buff Received - Quick Agility Enhancement - Your agility is increased by 20 for 10 minutes.

    James bladed whirled with his newfound agility. His eyes widened in awe at the speed he was moving and James briefly worried that he would knock himself off balance. Yet, no matter how fast his blades cut and whirled, his body instinctively knew where to move to stay balanced.

    Buff Received - Hearty Strength Enhancement - Your strength is increased by 20 for 10 minutes.

    With a ferocious roar, James¡¯s muscles bulged. He smiled at the new power. It couldn¡¯t have come at a better time. James leveraged his new strength and speed immediately, landing strike after strike on the Mystic. The lizard woman reeling under James onslaught. Seconds later, James had the Mystic on her knees with his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword pressed to her neck. From his position above the beaten Mystic, James could see his party slowly unthawing. For some reason, Frode was able to escape the debuff faster than everyone else and was busy casting buffs in the corner.

    For a brief second, James¡¯s enraged eyes met with Omero¡¯s. Without a second thought, James pressed down on his Legion Commander''s Short Sword and viciously ripped it from the Mystic¡¯s neck. Blood gushed from the Mystic and followed his blade out of her neck, some of it landing on a portion of the cabin that was on fire and evaporating with a sickening sizzle.

    James deactivated his Martyr¡¯s Rage ability and glanced at his angrily flashing health bar. Despite the flood of human emotions rushing back into his body as they always did after he deactivated his Martyr¡¯s Rage, James couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at what he saw.

    ¡°Heh, only one health point left¡­¡±

    ***

    ¡°Dude! You didn¡¯t leave any of the action for me!¡± Patrick said in frustration as he raised his arms in the air and dropped them pitifully back down to his side.

    James looted the corpse of the Mystic and motioned for his party to leave the burning hut. Outside, the Oana Villagers were ignorantly going about their day to day lives, unaware that the tallest and most prominent building in their village was on fire. They also didn¡¯t seem concerned at all that their Oana Mystic was just slain.

    ¡°What now?¡± Michael asked as he joined the rest of the party just outside the burning hut.

    ¡°Now we prosper¡­¡± Frode said with his back turned to the party. The Chieftain''s advisor was looking out over the Great Savanna from underneath the village gate.

    James didn¡¯t realize immediately due to his high from battle, but it quickly dawned on him. This was a huge moment in Martyr history. They had just gotten rid of the Mystic that was responsible for creating the hostile and intelligent Oana. James slowly walked up to Advisor and stood next to him, trying to see the Great Savanna through Frode¡¯s eyes. The wizened advisor had spent much of his later years running from the Oana, but before then, Frode cared for the Savanna just like all the other Martyrs. It was their job, their calling. It was their ancestral oath and James could see that the Advisor was happy to be able to complete it once again. Still, James wasn¡¯t as happy as he thought he would be. The Oana had been a threat from the very first moment he entered the game and was attacked by a scout that was fighting Torunn. Now though, they didn¡¯t even seem relevant compared to the Lich King.

    ¡°I can¡¯t go back with you,¡± James said, breaking the melancholy silence. He was disappointed that he wouldn¡¯t be able to celebrate the victory with the Martyr¡¯s, but he had to go on. He accomplished Frey¡¯s quest but still needed to find a way to protect his soul from the Lich King so he could free the rest of the human villagers in the dungeon.

    Frode didn¡¯t answer immediately, but eventually nodded and said, ¡°I need to head back soon. Torunn already had his hands full with disgruntled Martyrs when I left, and it will take me a few days to get back, even at a full sprint. The Martyrs are getting increasingly upset about being trapped behind our town walls. The Chieftain will be happy to hear that the Oana threat is dealt with and the Martyr¡¯s can leave the village and stretch their legs. We can finally go on with our lives and pick up where we left off before the Great Exodus,¡± Frode paused and looked down at his hands, turning them around and examining them like he was seeing them for the first time, ¡°I have aged so much since then¡­¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 14 - Burning

    ¡°Where is he going?¡± Michael asked as James re-joined his party.

    James smiled, ¡°Frode is going back to the village. He has to give them the news.¡±

    ¡°I am sure the Martyr¡¯s will be happy to hear it, but are we sure the Oana threat is really dealt with?¡± Michael followed up.

    James nodded as he watched the Oana hut burn, ¡°Yea, Frode confirmed it. He said that the Oana where always a part of the Great Savanna, but were never hostile. It wasn¡¯t until the Mystic arrived that they started getting intelligent and trying to take over the Great Savanna. Frode said he could tell with his shamanistic abilities or something that things returned to normal.¡±

    Michael blinked and swept his hand over the village, ¡°Okay, well what do we do with the villagers? If we leave them here they will be burnt to death when the hut collapses. Do we want them to die?¡±

    James shook his head, ¡°I suggested to Frode that we kill them just in case, but he forbid me to do so. He said the unintelligent villagers were once a part of the ecosystem, and he needed to return it to equilibrium. He also said that they make great workers and he would try to convince the other Martyr¡¯s into accepting them into the village,¡± James paused, contemplating the plan. He had forgotten to ask Frode how they should move the villagers out of danger, ¡°Umm, Torunn can get the villagers to follow him back to our village with his controller class, but you are right. I¡¯m not really sure how we are going to get them out of danger.¡±

    Suddenly, Patrick burst into the conversation, ¡°Forget the villagers. What about our mounts!¡±

    James reluctantly broke the devastating and obvious news to Patrick that they wouldn¡¯t get the mounts until they turned the quest into Frey.

    The redhead¡¯s skin flushed so thoroughly from his anger that it matched the color of his hair. Patrick put forth a logical debate about how they would actually save time if they went back to get the mounts, due to their increased speed. James wasn¡¯t outright opposed to the idea, but argued that they had no information at all about mounts. They didn¡¯t know if they would have to complete any certain quests to make the mounts obey commands and they didn¡¯t know how fast the mounts moved, so it was impossible to know for sure if going back to the village would actually save them time.

    ¡°What do you guys think?¡± James asked the party.

    ¡°Well, you said earlier that Frey would have given us the mounts before if she had them. What really changed? I know we destroyed the Mystic that was spawning aggressive Oana, but what does that have to do with mounts?¡± Michael asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I imagine that it wouldn¡¯t really be Frey that gave us the quest reward, but the game interface itself.¡± James replied with a shrug.

    Omero coughed, causing James to turn to him. ¡°Have you guys received items as quest rewards from the interface before?¡±

    James shook his head and watched each member of his party do the same. Suddenly, a large portion of the hut collapsed, sending waves of embers barreling into the party. James reflexively dove backward and scrambled for cover.

    ¡°Everyone alright?¡± James yelled as he stood up and brushed the dust from his eyes. Everything was blurry, except for the party member icons in the upper left corner of his vision. Even though he couldn¡¯t see his party members, he could tell from his interface that no one died.

    Omero and Patrick took a decent amount of damage, but their health was slowly recovering. That meant no one was taking any sustained damage.

    Finally, someone broke the silence as James continued to clear his vision.

    ¡°Um yea. We are fine. Are you okay?¡± Michael asked. The tone of his question immediately put James on edge.

    ¡°I am fine. I got a little dust in my eyes that is all. Why?¡± James asked his brother. He knew that Michael¡¯s question was a normal one considering they all just barely escaped a burning building collapse, but he wanted to know why his brother asked in the tone that he did. The fact that James couldn¡¯t see anything made him worry all the more.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Michael asked again with the same concerned tone.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    James heart began to beat faster. The only time he could remember his brother talking to him with that tone in his voice was when he caught James on a drinking spree on the anniversary of their parent''s death. That, and the one time James broke his arm.

    ¡°YES!¡± James replied, much louder than he intended, ¡°I can¡¯t really see anything. Just tell me what¡¯s wrong!¡±

    Silence spread around James as he blinked with increased fervor. He just wanted his party to tell him the problem.

    Why are they all being quiet?

    James could almost hear his party members exchanging glances with each other, silently considering how they were going to break the news to him.

    ¡°WHAT IS IT!¡± James yelled as his panic peaked and exploded from him.

    Michael spoke up in a calm voice, letting James know that nothing too serious was happening, ¡°Sorry man. Everything is okay. It¡¯s just that¡­ you are on fire.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± James asked as he brought his hand up in front of his face. He could see just enough to tell that he was indeed, on fire. James immediately fell to the ground and rolled around. ¡°Is it out? Is it out? Is it out? He asked repeatedly as he flailed around. He didn¡¯t stop rolling and asking if the fire was out until he felt a pair of hands on his back. James let out a sigh of relief as he allowed the pair of hands to help him stand up.

    ¡°He he he he,¡± someone chuckled. James squinted his eyes and was able to focus just enough to make out the blurry outline of Patrick, who immediately doubled over in a fit of laughter. James would have given the red-head a scornful look, but his eyes were already as squinted as they could get without completely closing.

    ¡°What happened man? Did your health go down or anything?¡± Michael asked, his concerned tone taking on a forced seriousness.

    James waved off his brother, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t even feel a thing.¡±

    ¡°Awesome. You are immune to fire damage!¡± Omero commented.

    James turned to the Italian and nodded, ¡°It seems so¡­¡±

    ***

    James sat down on his pile of furs and took a moment to appreciate being able to blink without any pain. It really was a something that he took for granted. He looked around his camp without any blurriness and whispered a silent prayer to the game gods in thanks. His day had seemed overly long since he couldn¡¯t see well for the majority of it. His party had to aggro the villagers and run away from them, essentially leading them away from the burning village. They all ran just fast enough so that the villagers stayed within reach and didn¡¯t give up the chase. When their town was done burning, the party simple ran faster and left the villagers in the dust. They eventually went back to their homes, which were now just piles of ash, and went about their unintelligent lives. James had tripped numerous times during the mission because of his blurry vision and nearly ran out of endurance points multiple times. Because of that, his Will had increased two points.

    ¡°Yea, my will increased as well,¡± Omero commented from across the campfire.

    ¡°Anyone have any idea why we can level up our will from certain actions and not our other statistics?¡± James asked the group.

    Noone had an answer, which made James slightly angry for some reason. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was because the game mechanics were so confusing or just because he had a tough day, but he was certainly agitated. James reiterated his question to Alex, who was supposed to of been a designer that actually worked on the game. So far, Alex hadn¡¯t managed to give anyone any useful information regarding the game, and that fact gave fuel to James¡¯s anger. Alex simply responded with the same answer he always had, which was that he didn¡¯t work on this area of the game.

    After a few seconds, Alex picked up on James¡¯s mood and offered more details, ¡°I worked on a zone in the game that had weird NPCs. They were humanoid with spikes on their backs. Almost like human hedgehogs. The lore I worked on referred to them as Hegemons. Like I said before, I don¡¯t recognize anything in the Great Savanna. I think I worked on an entirely different zone,¡± Alex paused, meeting James glare, ¡°You know I would tell you if I had information that would help us.¡±

    James let out a sigh, gave a curt nod to the veteran and laid back into his fur pile. He knew Alex was right and was happy that he handled James¡¯s anger with tact, but James didn¡¯t have the energy to apologize. His day had just been too much and all he wanted to do was sleep.

    James closed his eyes so that his party wouldn¡¯t bother him and brought up his interface.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 26 (1 level gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 18 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 15 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 10 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 14 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 180

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 340

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    It didn¡¯t take James¡¯s much reading to realize that he was in such a pissy mood that he didn¡¯t even want to go over his stats or notifications. He spent his two free stat points on strength, bringing it up to 17 and growing slightly larger.

    Fuck it, James thought, before letting his thoughts, frustrations, and concerns float away and be replaced with dreamscapes.

 Book 2 - Chapter 15 - Onward

    James apologized to his party as he cooked them breakfast over the fire. The Ingo meat sizzled and spit angrily, but his party members did not. They all waved off his apology. Everyone was keenly aware that their situation was stressful and asked James not to mention it again. James thought his behavior the previous night was unbecoming of a leader, and was therefore ashamed of it, but it was clear that his party couldn¡¯t have cared less.

    James finished cooking and sat down on his fur pile. He mentally navigated to his interface and printed out a map to look over. He could see that they had traveled about half of the distance to the other side of the Great Savanna, directly across from his own village. James knew from Dreng that if they kept traveling on their current vector, they would eventually run into the other human village. Still, though, it would be a long journey, especially if the other village was close to the mountain range that closed in the Great Savanna. It meant that if the party went back and somehow got the mounts from Frey they would have to travel much faster than the party thought possible to warrant going back and getting them. The party almost unanimously decided it was a bad idea to go back. Patrick who was the only one that didn¡¯t agree, even reluctantly pointed out that all the games he played in the real world had low-level mounts in the beginning levels that only offered mediocre speed boosts until you became higher level and found better mounts. The red-head still wanted to go back for them though.

    All in all, there were just too many unknown variables, so the party would press on. They needed to find a way to protect their souls from the Lich King so they can free the humans trapped in his dungeon. James hoped they would find someone that could help them with that in the other village.

    The party finished up their breakfast with minimal groans over eating the same Ingo meat meals and set off. They traveled the ¡®Great Tundra¡¯ as James had begun to refer to it, for hours in relative silence until they came across a frozen Ingo¡¯s nest. The lake at the center of the nest¡¯s clearing was frozen solid. There were no Ingos to be found anywhere in the vicinity, a fact that James was equally excited and worried about. It was true that the Ingo¡¯s were truly annoying creatures, but they were also an important part of the ecosystem. It was that ecosystem that the Martyr¡¯s were tasked with protecting and if it was the Martyrs responsibility, then James considered it his own as well.

    James wondered where the Ingo¡¯s went as he watched Patrick try to break the layer of ice over the lake with his True Iron Maul. The sound of the maul impacting the ice echoed across the Tundra and stood out in stark contrast from the quietness of their journey. James couldn¡¯t help but feel uncomfortable.

    Maybe that is what the Savanna needs James thought to himself. The Great Savanna just needed life again. Noisy, loud life. The Savanna was so dead and lonely that it almost felt like Patrick was ruining the sanctity of a temple by creating so much noise, and that wasn¡¯t right. Hopefully soon, the Savanna would return to its former glory. Before Frode left he had mentioned that the Oana Mystic was siphoning the energy from the Savanna to power her spells. If he was right then the Savanna should begin to heal.

    James prodded the snow with his foot as he considered the level of power the Mystic must have attained to be able to suck the energy from an entire zone, especially one as large as the Great Savanna. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if his party got lucky by defeating her. The Mystic surely had a large retinue of spells at her disposal. If she would have chosen a different spell then it was very likely that they all would have died. It was only due to James¡¯s weird body temperature situation that he wasn¡¯t affected by the blizzard that froze his party.

    Am I immune to fire or am I immune to cold? James asked himself.

    There was nothing in his interface that mentioned immunities of any sort. It was possible that his body temperature was just naturally high so that when he was caught on fire it didn¡¯t hurt him and when he came into contact with cold temperatures his body just quickly warmed whatever he was touching up.

    James shook his head. That explanation didn¡¯t make much sense either. If anything, coming into contact with cold temperatures would hurt James even more since his body temperature was so high. Was it possible that he was just immune to changes in temperature in general? If that was the case why didn¡¯t his interface let him know about it?

    James stopped prodding the snow with his foot and rolled his eyes. It was all just another game mechanic nuance that James would have to investigate.

    It''s almost like I was dropped in an entirely new world with its own set of rules James joked with a roll of his eyes.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Looking up, James could tell that Omero was having an uncomfortable time with the loud bangs of Patrick¡¯s maul hitting the ice. Every time it did so, Omero cringed and started. James watched amused. Omero was watching Patrick and could clearly see when the next bang was going to happen, but still, every time it did, Omero jumped. James amusement slowly transformed into a concerned worry as he watched Omero struggle with the noise.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s move out!¡± James commanded. Alex and Michael, who were patiently waiting for Patrick to fall into the frozen pond immediately nodded and set out in the direction of James¡¯s pointed finger. Omero and Patrick followed shortly after.

    James returned to his thoughtful walking. For some reason, it was easier to travel long distances deep in thought. It was almost like James was on autopilot. That is why when Omero bumped into James he never saw it coming and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Ugh, what was that all about?¡± James complained as he struggled to untangle himself from Omero and stand up.

    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± Omero whispered.

    James stood up and motioned his party to halt. When the crunching of snow under feet subsided, James did, in fact, hear something. It was a low rumble coming from the East. James knew it was East solely because of his map. Without it, the party would be completely lost in the white Tundra, as there were no landmarks and all the mountains were out of sight range.

    By the worried expression his brother gave him, James could tell Michael heard the rumble as well. Slowly, the rumble turned to a soft growl. The party whirled around, trying to gain vision of whatever was growling at them.

    The soft growl grew louder and James looked around more frantically. ¡°What the hell is that?¡± He mouthed to his concerned party.

    Alex shrugged. Behind the veteran, James could see a frightened Omero running away. Before he could yell after the Italian, the growling creature exploded from the ground, showering everything in a layer of dirty snow. His party, minus Omero, reflexively grouped up and drew their weapons. The days spent practicing battle scenarios in the training ground wasn¡¯t wasted as the party squared up to the giant beast. James gasped as the snow in the air finally cleared and he got his first picture of the creature. It was bigger than the No-No that killed him when he first found Patrick and covered in white shaggy fur. It stood on four legs, but James could tell its front legs where more akin to arms from the creature''s posture. It stood like an angry silverback gorilla, ready to defend its territory. Two extremely large horns jutted from the creature''s giant head and twisted into the air.

    Suddenly, James realized what the creature was. The horns on its head were the same type of horn that was used in his village to signify the start of feasts and ceremonies. It was the same type of horn that Dreng pulled from the Abominar that was hunting his villagers so many years ago. The name tag about the creatures head reflected James realization.

    Abominar

    James struggled to recall any more details about how the legendary chieftain defeated his Abominar but came up short. The only thing he could remember was that Dreng was only a cub when he killed it. A sliver of hope filled James at that thought. Surely if Dreng could kill one of these massive beasts when he was only a child then his party wouldn¡¯t have too much of a problem doing the same. They were all adults after all and had a decent amount of gear and abilities between them.

    The Abominar let out a war scream so terrible that the sliver of hope James had shattered and disintegrated like it was never there to begin with.

    Debuff Received - Terrified - 10% slow effect when fighting & 10% speed increase while fleeing.

    Did Omero get this debuff before I did? Is that why he ran away? James thought in an instant before instructing his party to fan out and flank the creature.

    He couldn¡¯t have gotten the debuff. Was he just truly afraid? James thought as he shuffled around the giant beast, who was busy beating its chest. Before James was able to get around the creature it leaped into the air. James craned his neck and watched the beast soar to impressive heights. Then James was filled with dread as he realized the Abominar was trying to leap ONTO his brother.

    ¡°RUN!¡± James yelled, but it was too late. The Abominar came crashing down right on top of Michael with a shower of snow. A sickening silence rang out. No moans or screams could be heard. His brother was dead. James didn¡¯t even have to glance at Michael¡¯s character icon to confirm it. There was just no way he would have been able to survive. The Abominar easily weighed a couple tons.

    James¡¯s face twisted into a snarl as he activated Martyr''s Rage. The skin on his back welcomely parted and James''s muscles throbbed with pent-up aggression. James locked his eyes on the Abominar, studying it. The creature, whose back was facing James, jumped up in the air, turning to face James in the process. It landed with a soft thud, placing the final nail in Michaels coffin¡­ and in its own.

    James¡¯s legs curled beneath himself as the Abominar¡¯s did the same.

    James could hear Alex yelling out to him, but whatever he was saying was irrelevant to victory, so it was filtered out. The Abominar leaped into the air and James¡¯s face twisted into a smile. James released his newly added strength from his legs and launched into the air to meet the Abominar, fueled by his frustrations over the being trapped in the game and his inability to save the Earth humans still trapped in the Lich King¡¯s dungeon.

    If the Abominar was surprised at James¡¯s boldness, it didn¡¯t show it. James¡¯s eyes were still locked on the creature, and he could see that the flying monster¡¯s face contained nothing but aggression and hate.

    James¡¯s face mirrored that sentiment.

 Book 2 - Chapter 16 - Omero

    Omero continued to flee until the ground below him quaked, causing him to lose his footing and slide face first into the snow. The Italian human resource professional frightfully sat up and wiped the snow from his face, expecting the monster to be right behind him when he turned. Omero faintly got to his feet and glanced at the party members he left behind. He didn¡¯t want to abandon them, but he couldn¡¯t help it.

    What is wrong with me? Omero asked himself. He had ignorantly let himself believe that being trapped in a fantasy world wouldn¡¯t be too bad. He figured it would offer him some excitement and that excitement was exactly what he needed. His long career in the office was boring, and Omero had started to become boring himself. He didn¡¯t want that, so when he found himself trapped in a fantasy world, Omero saw it as an opportunity to find himself again. He wasn¡¯t always boring. When he was younger he was charming and outgoing. His work life just slowly beat him down into an autonomous corporate robot. That was why he welcomed this new world, this new opportunity. It was going to be great for him, but now Omero knew that he was wrong.

    This world was nothing like he expected. Just like everyone else that ever watched a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings film, he thought living in a fantasy world would be awesome.

    ¡°This is not fucking awesome,¡± Omero whispered into his trembling hands. Before a sob could escape his body, Omero did his best to learn what kind of danger he was in. Omero hated himself when he realized the Abominar was not chasing him and was instead busy stomping on Michael. He hated himself because he was relieved that it wasn¡¯t him being stomped to death.

    Better him than me.

    The rogue thought invaded Omero¡¯s mind, no matter what he did to try and reject it. He wasn¡¯t built for this, any of this. When he first got to the village he thought he could just role-play as a fantasy character and everything would fall into place. He was wrong, yet again. Omero turned to continue running. He wasn¡¯t sure where he would go, but honestly didn¡¯t care. Anywhere was better than where he was.

    The Italian forced himself to stop, to not run away. If he wasn¡¯t going to help his party than he would at least watch them die. It would be his punishment for being a coward. Omero turned and watched the battle in front of him unfold.

    The large white creature leaped into the air and Omero could see a smaller silhouette rise to meet it in the air.

    Is that James? Omero wondered. He couldn¡¯t be sure because he was so far away and the strange silhouette was so small, at least compared to the monster. Omero focused on the large creature in the air and tried to study its name tag. The name of the creature enlarged so Omero could read it from a distance.

    RUN! Was the name above the monster¡¯s head. The text was the color red, which according to the little Omero understood about his Inveigler class, meant that the monster hated him. A split second later, Omero repeated the same process to discover the name of the silhouette that was flying through the air to meet the monster.

    James

    Omero cringed as he read the name above the silhouette. Partly because he had hoped it wasn¡¯t a member of his party that was suicidally flying through the air to attack the monster, and party because the text that made up James¡¯s name was red as well.

    According to the interface, James now hated him. He didn¡¯t blame James either. He hated himself too. No matter how much Omero wanted to change that though, he couldn¡¯t.

    Abruptly, the creature and the person that saved him from the torturous dungeon, collided in an explosion of fire. Omero watched as the ball of fire¡¯s forward momentum died and it slowly fell to the ground.

    Bye¡­ James Omero thought as he turned around, And thank you.

    ***

    James stood on the chest of the Abominar and furiously deflected the claws of the creature with his short swords. The large white beast absorbed the majority of the impact when they hit the ground. That was the only reason James could think of as to why the creature wouldn¡¯t just simply stand up and knock James off of it. Still though, no matter how stunned the creature was, it was still tough enough to swipe and claw at James.

    ¡°Alex, go find Omero! We need him for when we reach the next village!¡± James screamed out as he swung his Legion Commanders Short Sword around his back and into the chest of the Abominar. The creature growled in pain and shuddered. James fell to his knee and quickly whirled around to block a claw that he had a feeling was coming for him. He was correct, probably thanks to the Martyr¡¯s Rage ability, but was too slow to completely deflect the attack. A single, extremely sharp claw carved a ravine into James¡¯s bulging shoulder muscles as easy as butter. James health dropped by a quarter, but he didn¡¯t let that stop him. He was already committed to destroying the creature that was responsible for sending his brother to respawn.

    He wasn¡¯t upset by the fact that his brother died but upset that his brother would now respawn weeks away from him. The Martyr¡¯s Rage quickly filtered out the anger he felt due to his protective instincts for his brother and replaced it with anger over the fact that the creature just jeopardized his party''s mission. Michael was the strongest fighter of their party, and if they ran into any other monsters on their way to the village they would be way less prepared without him.

    James¡¯s attention was drawn to a new icon underneath the Abominar¡¯s name. When James''s mentally requested more information he learned that the creature was suffering from a cripple debuff. The source of the debuff was Patrick, or more specifically, Patrick¡¯s True Iron Maul.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    He wasn¡¯t sure if this was the first time the weapon¡¯s hit effect was actually activated or not, but he was happy for it. The debuff slowed down the creatures attacks, giving James slightly more time to play offense.

    James deflected a strike with the legendary sword in his right hand. Just as he felt the pressure leave his blade, James relaxed his grip on the sword just enough for him to cast a firebolt at the Abominar¡¯s face. The firebolt launched from James''s hand in the wrong direction. James figured he didn¡¯t have enough agility or some other stat that would allow him to hold a weapon and cast a spell with the same hand. Luckily though, James upgraded his Firebolt spell with the Fire Curse Augment. James hand completed a few extra motions, a process that almost caused him to drop his short sword, and the curse was set. The fireball immediately reacted to the curse James cast on the Abominar¡¯s face and was drawn towards it.

    The hulking white creature must have finally had enough, because it forcefully stood. James was sent flying into a snowbank. He shook his head and gathered himself after his rough landing. The Abominar was flailing around dangerously. It clawed its own body in a desperate attempt to pat out the fire that was slowly consuming it. James called out to Patrick, telling him to step back. Surprisingly, the red-head listened, show more caution in battle than he ever had before.

    James deactivated Martyr¡¯s Rage and quickly removed one of Torunn¡¯s strong healing poultices from his satchel. James watched the Abominar rage out as he spread the thick green substance over the wound in his shoulder. The cut was so deep that James had to question if he was supposed to put the poultice inside.

    What if it healed and got stuck inside me?

    Finally, the Abominar managed to snuff out most of the fires on his body and now resembled a bloody and mostly hairless bear. The resulting image was even more terrifying than when James first laid eyes on the beast.

    Oh no you don¡¯t James thought with a grimace and activated Jump Strike once again. James slammed directly into the beast, which meant the full force of his Meteoric augment traveled through the beast instead of the ground. Between fresh flames, James could see the skin and muscles of the Abominar tremble and quake just like the ground did when he landed on it. Still, though, the hulking creature did not fall. It did its best to fend off James¡¯s flurry of strikes while trying to pat out the fire that was slowly burning away the health bar of the creature.

    ¡°Now!¡± James yelled to Patrick. The redhead hesitantly stepped forward and began to charge. James imagined that Patrick was scared to catch on fire himself, and didn¡¯t blame him. James would never have attacked the burning creature if he wasn¡¯t immune to fire. Still though, James needed Patrick to risk it. They needed to kill the beast once and for all.

    Patrick activated his bulldoze skill and slammed into the Abominars back like a leaden ball fired from a cannon. The Abominar¡¯s head whipped back as its chest arched forward from the kinetic energy and pain. It let out a desperate howl and a long minute later, finally succumbed to its impressive number of wounds.

    ***

    James and Patrick decided to set up camp for the night. It was a little early, but they were reluctant to continue on their journey. If they did, it was unlikely that Alex would be able to find them again. James pulled up his map and saw that Alex was about an hour west of the campground were they slain the Abominar. Hopefully, he would make it back before the sun went down and hopefully, he would make it back with Omero.

    ¡°Just me and you again, buddy!¡± Patrick said as he did a happy shuffle and inspected the loot they piled up from the Abominar.

    ¡°Yea, unfortunately.¡± James said with a chuckle, ¡°What did the Abominar drop for loot?¡±

    Patrick looked up at James with a confused look before pointing to the skinless heap of beast laying out of smelling range of the campground, ¡°You mean the Abominal Snowman?¡±

    ¡°That was an Abominar.¡± James corrected.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Patrick said in contemplation, ¡°You mean the same type of monster from Frey¡¯s story of Dreng?¡±

    James nodded as he contemplated the story Patrick was referring to. Frey lovingly recited the Martyr story of how Dreng killed the Abominar at his funeral. Or his life ceremony. Whatever the Martyrs called it.

    ¡°Man¡­ she made it sound like it was easy to kill these things!¡± Patrick said as he gave the Abominar one last look.

    James scoffed, ¡°Yea, it wasn¡¯t easy at all! Dreng was just a beast.¡±

    ¡°A legend,¡± Patrick corrected.

    James nodded solemnly as he ran his finger through the only patch of skin he was able to remove from the beast that wasn¡¯t burnt. The fur was white, soft, and comfortable to lay on. It was the exact opposite of the beast it came from in its final moments. When James skinned the beast he was alerted that a number of his attempts had failed. He figured that if he never invested in the skinning improvement that increased his chances of skinning tough-skinned animals then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to salvage any of it all. But he did though, and he intended on having Lilly make some sort of cape out of it. It would be his reward for investing in the skinning improvement instead of taking the stat increase.

    ¡°Anyways,¡± Patrick announced as he pulled up his fur pile to the loot and sat down, ¡°We have a few different rings¡­ A longsword¡­. Oh, we have some gold pieces, that''s weird¡­ and look at this! A sheath for your other short sword!¡±

    James caught the sheath that Patrick tossed over and attached it to the belt of his other sheath. Now he wouldn¡¯t have to put one of his short swords in his inventory and risk being unprepared. He also wouldn¡¯t have to worry about drunkenly putting the wrong short sword into his inventory and feeling like crap because he lost the stat boost of his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword.

    ¡°Anything else for me?¡± James asked. Patrick shook his head. ¡°Toss me one of those gold coins then. I want to check them out.¡±

    Patrick flicked a coin over with his thumb. James caught it and turned it over in his palm. It was rather heavy and sloppily produced, which James figured was just because whoever made it probably couldn¡¯t mass produce anything yet. James requested another coin and confirmed that they were both slightly different. They did have a series of cuts engraved into them that formed a six pointed star though. That meant that the coins were indeed currency, or at least made from the same people. James added them to his satchel and his interface updated, saying he had two gold coins available.

    ¡°Any idea what the symbol on the coin could be?¡± James asked the redhead.

    ¡°No,¡± Patrick replied as he inspected his own coin,¡± but I am more concerned with why the Abominar had gold coins in the first place. Did he kill a human for them, or did he just drop them because he is a mob and that is what mobs do in games when they die?¡±

    James shrugged, ¡°No clue. How many do we have?¡±

    ¡°12¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s split them,¡± James suggested. Patrick didn¡¯t object and tossed over four more coins.

    Then suddenly, the red-heads face took on a mischievous smile. ¡°Let¡¯s split all of it. All the loot! I originally said that there was nothing else for you because I figured we would split them with the rest of the party, but Michael is probably back at the village, Omero didn¡¯t contribute, and neither did Alex really. Just me and you buddy!¡±

    James couldn¡¯t help but succumb to a fit of greed and pleasure at the idea of splitting the loot just between Patrick and himself, ¡°Okay, but if something is like really meant for Alex, we have to set it aside for him still. Only if it would be beneficial to him though, and only if it is very beneficial.

    Patrick¡¯s smile somehow grew even wider and the two companions sifted through the pile of loot together.

 Book 2 - Chapter 17 - Disorder

    James and Patrick woke up the next morning alone and disappointed that Alex and Omero hadn¡¯t returned to the camp yet. When James checked his map to see where his companions were, he found that their icons were gone. Omero¡¯s icon had been gone for awhile, and James suspected that the Italian man must have removed himself from the party, probably due to shame. Alex wouldn¡¯t do that though, and that meant that he was too far away for his location to register on James¡¯s map.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan stan?¡± Patrick asked from within in his fur pile. The redhead was snuggled deep in his furs. Only Patrick''s head was visible and when he talked the air from his voice froze.

    ¡°We hang out for a bit. If Alex doesn¡¯t show up then we will come up with a new plan,¡± James said as he snuggled deeper into his own pile of furs. He no longer needed the skins to stay warm, but instead, just wanted to be as comfortable as Patrick looked.

    The good thing about using piles of fur to sleep and sit on was that you never outgrow them, James thought to himself. He had indeed grown larger over the past few weeks, but every time he did so he just added more furs to his pile. James wrapped the white Abominar¡¯s skin around his face so that it was only touching the fluffy white fur and gave a satisfying smile.

    I am even MORE comfortable than Patrick now. Mwuahahaha!

    With nothing else to do other than wait, James pulled up his interface.

    Statistics - No Changes

    James was slightly disappointed that he didn¡¯t level up from killing the Abominar, but he did just level up the other day so he shrugged off his complaint.

    Battle Skills

    Sneak, Level 9 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 9% while sneaking.

    Fire, Level 33 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 33%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Curse of Fire Augment - Cast a curse on your target, attracting all Fire Bolts in the immediate vicinity.

    Short Swords, Level 37 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 37%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 15 - Chance to stun 100% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Meteor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for ????1 second.

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 13 (3 levels gained recently) - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 13%. ??Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 47% for both weapons.

    Party Leader. Level 12 (4 levels gained recently) - Damage taken by party members reduced by 12%

    James furrowed his brow and studied his battle skills curiously. He definitely still wanted to remove his spells into their own interface tab. When he attempted to do so he was met with the same prompt that told him it wasn¡¯t possible until he had 40 points invested in intelligence. Although it certainly frustrated James, he found some relief in the fact that he could clearly tell how his skills should be organized, even if they weren''t organized that way at the moment.

    Another thing that peaked James¡¯s curiosity was that his Jump Strike skill had stalled at level 15 and didn¡¯t level up anymore. He was positive that the skill should have gained some levels since the last time he checked, especially since he used it a lot in the battle with the Oana villagers, the Oana Mystic, and both times he used it to tackle the giant Abominar mid-air.

    Is it because the chance to stun hit effect has already reached one-hundred percent?

    It was entirely possible that James had merely maxed out the skill. He was left hoping that his Dual Wield Sub Skill wouldn¡¯t max out at level 15 and would instead max out when the damage penalty was decreased to zero. If the sub-skill did indeed max out at level 15, James decided that he would seriously consider replacing it with another skill, especially since it seemed that he could only have two sub-skills for every main skill at a time.

    James silently remarked that he only had three more levels to gain in his Short Sword main skill before it hit level 40 and he would be offered two more sub-skill or augments. He was pretty happy with his class-based meteor argument so he hoped that he would be offered a class-based augment for his Dual Wield skill as well. James fell into a daydream, imagining what a fire-based to his dual wield skill would look like.

    ¡°Hey! Did you fall asleep?¡± an angered Patrick yelled from across the fire.

    James blinked his confusion away and glanced at the sun. It had moved slightly in the sky, letting him know that he definitely did fall asleep, but not for too long.

    ¡°Yea, I guess I did,¡± James said with a yawn.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should be doing something? There are people from Earth trapped in a dungeon right now, probably being tortured or worse, and you are taking a leisurely nap?¡±

    ¡°Relax man,¡± James warned the red-head, ¡°I am concerned about the mission too, but there is nothing we can do right now. If we leave right now and continue the mission we risk losing Alex and Omero. We need them for when we find the village. If we split up and one of us goes to scout, we risk being killed by another Abominar and being sent to respawn at the village. I really think waiting for a bit longer is the right move.¡±

    Patrick stared at James for a few long seconds, ¡°Okay, but we can at least come up with a plan for if they don¡¯t show up.¡±

    James sighed. Patrick was right, James just didn¡¯t want to think about that option. He was counting on Alex and Omero returning. ¡°Okay, we can wait an hour or two more. Then if they don¡¯t come back we will start looking for the village again. When we leave we can leave a few maps printed out and mark them with the direction we are going to travel. That way if Alex comes back after we leave, he will know where to go.¡±

    Patrick nodded with a smile, ¡°See, there is the leader I know. I agree that should be the plan.¡±

    James roughly laid his head back down on his soft Abominar fur and navigated back to his interface. He couldn¡¯t help but feel that Frey made a way better companion when relaxing by the fire than Patrick did. It was a rogue thought, and one that James knew wasn¡¯t fair, but he had been away from his village and the Martyrs for the longest that he ever had since joining the game, so he wasn¡¯t too hard on himself. Patrick wasn¡¯t bad, he was actually quite likable and he was totally right about coming up with a plan, James just missed the Martyr¡¯s.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    What was I doing again? James thought before he remembered. He pulled up his interface and navigated to the Miscellaneous Skills tab.

    Misc. Skills

    Cooking, Level 33 (4 levels gained recently) ¨C Food is 33% more delicious. Stat buffs from meals that award them increased by 33%.

    Spiced Cider Recipe - Increases moral by 10 for 30 minutes.

    Roasted Ingo & Spiced Tucca - Increases Constitution by 1 for 12 hours.

    ¡°Yes!¡± James exclaimed suddenly, causing Patrick to jump from within his fur cocoon, ¡°My cooking skill has past a 10 level increment! We might get a new recipe!¡±

    James deftly navigated to his Notifications, his stomach rumbling with anticipation.

    Congratulations! Your Cooking skill has surpassed level 30. You can now choose from the below 2 recipes.

    Bountiful Feast - Increases Strength and Intelligence by 5 for 12 hours.

    Abominar Fat Stew - Increases Constitution by 10 for 12 hours.

    ¡°Damn,¡± James said as he finished reading the prompts, ¡° another hard decision... Patrick, which sounds better; a bountiful feast or Abominar Fat Stew?

    Patrick scrunched up his face, ¡°Abominar Fat Stew sounds gross.¡±

    James smiled mischievously¡­ and selected Abominar Fat Stew from his interface.

    He was immediately flooded with knowledge. James now knew the best ways to carve up the Abominar, he knew the best cuts of meat that its body held, and more importantly, he knew that the Abominar Fat Stew would be anything but gross. James set upon the Abominar corpse with his short sword, much in the same fashion as he did when the beast was alive.

    A half-hour later, James sat on his fur pile and watched his stew cook in a kettle that Patrick was able to fashion out of stone. A side-benefit of butchering the Abominar was that he now had more meat than he could ever want.

    When the stew was finished, Patrick commented on its deliciousness and James let him know that he was eating the Abominar Fat Stew.

    Patrick blanched, but quickly shrugged and began eating again. James laughed and thanked Patrick for his ability to work with stone, and in doing so create the kettle and bowls that they were using.

    ¡°Is that a new recipe I smell!¡± A voice called out from the west.

    James and Patrick both whipped their heads to the voice in an effort to identify it.

    ¡°Alex!¡± James happily called out as he set his bowl down and stood up to greet his companion.

    The veteran closed the distance with long strides and greeted James and Patrick in turn.

    ¡°Where is Omero?¡± James and Patrick asked in almost perfect unison.

    Alex threw a hand over his shoulder and pointed behind himself, ¡°He is just right over there. He swears that you are going to kill him for running away and he wanted me to come talk to you to make sure you wouldn''t.¡±

    James was taken aback, ¡°Why would I kill him?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He said his Inveigler class showed him that you hated him or something.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± James thought out loud, ¡°It might have been when I was in a Martyr¡¯s Rage, but I am out now and don¡¯t hate him. The Abominar was freaking scary, I almost ran myself!¡±

    ¡°You should go over and tell him that,¡± Alex said, leaning in closer to James and Patrick, ¡°He is in rough shape guys. I know it might sound crazy, but I think he has post-traumatic stress disorder. I¡¯ve seen it in my military brothers back on Earth.¡±

    James and Patrick looked at each other. Patrick replied first, ¡°That actually doesn¡¯t surprise me. And it doesn¡¯t sound crazy. The violence here is real violence, I am more surprised that we three aren¡¯t more affected by it.¡±

    Alex turned to James and waited to hear what he thought about the situation. James only shrugged, ¡°Yea, what he said. Patrick took the words right out of my mouth. Where is he? I will go talk to him, let him know its okay.¡±

    James moved to walk past Alex and find Omero but Alex reach out with a hand to block him, ¡°Why don¡¯t you uh¡­ go clean yourself up first. You have blood splattered all over your body and clothes. Your hands a literally died pink right now.¡±

    James looked down at his hands and chuckled, ¡°Oh, yea your right. That probably would make Omero feel too comfortable¡­¡±

    I should probably wash the skins I sleep in.., James thought as he rolled around in the snow.

    ***

    James found Omero laying against a snow drift and emptily staring into the sky. James stepped in front of Omero¡¯s gaze, but the Italian just stared through James, like he was focusing on something behind James¡¯s body. James quickly grasped the severity of the situation and laid down next to Omero.

    After a long silence, James finally spoke, ¡°I don¡¯t hate you ya know. I think it was the Martyr¡¯s Rage that your class was picking up on.¡±

    Omero cleared his throat, ¡°Do you hate yourself?¡±

    James was stunned by the question and didn¡¯t respond, because he didn¡¯t know how.

    ¡°Because I hate myself,¡± Omero said with a swallow, ¡°I¡¯m not made for this. This fighting and this killing and these monsters.¡±

    James nodded, ¡°That¡¯s okay. I am sorry that I made you come out here with us.¡±

    Omero shook his head and looked at James for the first time, ¡°I wanted to come out here. I wanted to help the village and I wanted to heroically slay dragons. I just¡­ It just didn¡¯t happen the way I thought it would.¡±

    James met the Italian''s intense gaze, figuring that it was best to only listen at that moment.

    Omero continued, ¡°When I saw you heroically jump up to meet that giant white monster in the air I was already running away. I realized that I would never be capable of doing something like that.¡±

    James wanted to tell Omero that it was okay, that not everyone was meant to be a fighter, but he stayed quiet instead. He knew that Omero was a smart man, much smarter than himself, and Omero would come to that conclusion on his own.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just feel terrible about myself,¡± Omero said while trying to stifle a sob, ¡°I wanted to be the person that helped save the Earth humans in the dungeon, and I thought I could be. When we were all actually in the dungeon... I was one of the only ones that kept my sanity. I think now though, that I didn¡¯t keep it all. I was just insane in a different way. I tricked myself into thinking that I was in a fantasy world and I could role-play my way out of it. Everyone else was already processing the fact that they were in the real world, but I wasn¡¯t.¡±

    James swallowed, ¡°Yea, I will admit that whenever I think that this is the real world it all gets a little tough. I honestly think that the only reason I am able to do the things that I do is that I was put into the game with the understanding that it was, in fact, a game. Everyone from the dungeon didn¡¯t have that luxury. I think, deep down, that I still sort of believe that I am in a game. Deep down I haven''t accepted it yet.¡± James threw a hand into the air and gave a pitiful laugh, ¡°Hell, I even try to figure out and improve my interface like I am still a fucking beta tester. It''s ridiculous.¡±

    Omero gave a soft chuckle at the comment before becoming silent again. James let the silence grow and contemplated his feelings for once. He had intended to come over here and help Omero with his problems but instead came face to face with his own.

    Is this why I was in a crappy mood the other night when I gave Alex a hard time? Are the villagers having a harder time adapting to the game than I thought? They must be if I am still having trouble adapting to it myself.

    James cleared his throat, ¡°When we get back to the village, I have another job for you. If you will take it.¡±

    Omero nodded.

    ¡°I know you already talk to the villagers on a regular basis to keep track of their statistics and stuff, but I want you to organize a nightly therapy session. We don¡¯t have to actually call it a therapy session, but you get the idea. Our morning training sessions are good for helping the people that are fighters adapt to the game, but they do nothing for the others people, the people that don''t want o fight. I want you to lead this therapy session because, well, who better to lead it than someone that has seen the horrors of fighting first hand. Be careful not to purposefully split up the villagers though. I don¡¯t want them to form fighter and non-fighter cliques, so make sure everyone knows they are welcome to attend the nightly sessions. I know from your human resource background that you can probably do something like this. Your not a therapist, but you are the closest we have to one. So the question becomes; do you even want to do it?¡±

    Omero nodded.

 Book 2 - Chapter 18 - Gills Tavern

    The party re-joined forces, minus Michael, and traveled the Great Savanna for days. Omero slowly came to grips that he wasn¡¯t a fighter, but that he did still hold value as a member of the party. James didn¡¯t like the fact that they had to continue on their mission without his brother, but everyone agreed it would take too much time to go back for him. The days went by slowly, and the whole journey seemed to stretch on for months. The party had enough time to talk about everything under the sun and still had enough time left over to walk long distances in complete silence.

    Those moments were especially exhausting to James because it reminded him of the dire state the savanna was in. When the journey was quiet, James daydreamt about the days he spent horsing around and hunting with Torunn before everything got complicated. The Great Savanna felt so alive in those days, and James yearned for it to return to the way he remembered it. The snow wasn¡¯t as bothersome to James because of his Embrant class, but he still missed the bright colors and smells of the Great Savanna in summer.

    It was about a week and a half after the Abominar attack, at least as far as James could remember, that the party finally discovered the other human village they were looking for. It wasn''t chimneying fires or town walls that got their attention first, but instead random people roaming around the Great Savanna.

    The party cautiously approached the first human on James''s command. He had no desire to repeat the same mistake when he ran right into a hoard of the undead. The party quickly found out that the human in question was just a simple gatherer of herbs, nuts, and fruit.

    Talking to the gatherer, the party discovered that the village they were looking for was not too far from their current location and that the village sent out many gathers into the Great Savanna every day. When James asked what they were able to gather during the winter he was met with a somber expression. It turned out that the winter had caused many people in the village to starve and die. Worse yet, they were already struggling to defend themselves from monsters that attacked from the zone beyond the Great Savanna.

    ¡°You mean you know a way out of the Great Savanna?¡± James asked, quite aggressively. Before the female gatherer could answer James asked another question, ¡°What lies beyond it?¡±

    ¡°Of course I know of a way out, its just on the other side of the Outpost. You will find a path that winds through the mountains. You shouldn¡¯t go there though, there is only death on the other side," the gatherer replied.

    The party exchanged glances and James asked what was on all of their minds, ¡°What do you mean death? What is on the other side?¡±

    The gatherer grew visibly frustrated and asked, ¡°Who are you guys again? How don¡¯t you know this already? Listen¡­ I have a job to do, I have to go.¡±

    With that, the only person the party had seen in weeks stood up and walked away. James was flabbergasted. The interaction did not go how he had thought it would. He imagined his party walking up to a large castle or something, navigating to a magical item shop, and then asking for information about any Mystics that would be in the village.

    When the party walked another hour or two to the Outpost, James realized he wasn¡¯t too far off in how he imagined things though. The Outpost was rather huge and boasted large stone walls complete with towers and ramparts. The tall walls blocked the view of the inside of the Outpost, but the gate was complete with a mote and a drawbridge, so James imagined the inside would be just as impressive.

    ¡°Woa,¡± Patrick whispered as the party halted to take in the sight in front of them.

    ¡°Yea,¡± Omero agreed simply. Alex echoed his sentiment.

    James picked up his jaw and cleared his throat, ¡°Okay, let''s hope the rest of the people inside aren''t as rude as that gatherer.¡±

    Omero laughed, ¡°Yeah, I was going to tell you that my interface let me know that she did not like us, but I figured that much was obvious.¡±

    The party approached the drawbridge and found it unguarded.

    James addressed his parties worried looks as they walked the wooden bridge, ¡°They probably have no need to guard this side of the Outpost. There hasn¡¯t been much danger in the savanna lately, besides that one Abominar we saw on our entire journey. From what the gatherer said though, it sounds like their guards are busy with more important things.¡±

    Patrick scoffed, ¡°Yea, like guarding the path to certain doom on the other side of the city?¡±

    The party stepped through the gate and James''s senses were immediately overloaded. The city looked like a typical fantasy town, complete with people hawking wares and beggars playing strange instruments while they sat on piles of hay. The only difference from a fantasy world was that James was actually there and he could smell the town. It certainly didn¡¯t smell like any fantasy he had ever had.

    ¡°Uhhh, it freakin¡¯ stinks here man¡­¡± Patrick said with a crinkled nose.

    James could only nod. The stench was rough, but he had more pressing concerns, like why everyone was giving them strange glances.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s move,¡± James suggested strongly before starting off in the direction of what he assumed was the Outpost¡¯s main road. On the way down the cobblestone road, the party passed numerous clay and stone houses and strangely, quite a few odd looking humanoids that were trapped in cages and just left on the side of the road. Some of the prisoners groaned and asked for help as the party passed. Patrick had even stopped at one cage that housed a normal looking red-headed girl. When James got a better look though he realized that her hands were green. James stepped closer as Patrick tried to comfort her. Her hands looked they were slowly turning into plants. Her fingernails were completely replaced with leaves and her green skin was marbled not with veins, but with roots. The condition seemed to be traveling up her arm and stopped at around her elbows, where her skin returned to normal.

    James glanced around as if to ask the entire city why the girl was caged, but was only met with intensified glares. When he met someone''s gaze though, the offender merely looked away and went about their business.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°The people that live here don¡¯t seem to like when we talk to their prisoners¡­ or whatever they are¡­¡± Omero reported the facts given from his Inveigler class.

    ¡°Yea,¡± James replied quietly as he put a hand on Patrick''s shoulder, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here man. We have no idea what is going on in this city.¡±

    Patrick looked up at James with an astonished expression, but it quickly changed into a defeated one. James knew that the red-head would gladly fight the entire village in order the free a caged prisoner, but even he was smart enough to know that they needed to figure out what they were up against first.

    James spotted a wooden sign jutting out from a tall clay building with the image of a familiar beverage burnt into it.

    A tavern!

    ***

    ¡°Four Ales sir!¡± Patrick bellowed as he patted the bar with his large hands and took a seat. James cautiously followed his singularly-focused companion while making sure to get a good read on the temperature of the room. He was worried that his party would stand out too much and attract unwanted attention inside the tavern. Afterall, James was equipped with a legendary short sword that softly glowed orange, giving away its rarity, and quite a few tickets including his new ring of fire mastery and his reliable Necklace of Lucidity. Alex also had a black sash headband wrapped around his head and stood out by the mere fact that he didn¡¯t carry a weapon. In all actuality, Alex looked like some sort of ninja.

    When James finally finished inspecting the inhabitants of the Tavern, he let out a sigh of relief. Every patron in the bar was similarly equipped, so his party actually blended in quite well.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be eh gold piece,¡± the gruff bartender demanded as he set down four mugs of a frothy dark liquid. ToAlex''sand Omero¡¯s surprise, Patrick reached into a pocket, pulled out a single gold piece, and handed it to the bartender, who grunted in satisfaction and returned to polishing his mugs.

    James gave a glance at Patrick, who seemed content at drinking away his frustrations about not being able to save the caged woman outside, before taking a sip of his ale and taking a deeper look at the denizens of the Tavern.

    Holy crap, this Ale is much better- James thoughts were interrupted by a gasping Alex.

    ¡°Holy crap, James, this Ale is much better than the stuff you make!¡±Alex announced as he struggled to catch his breath. James glared atthe veteran and noticed he downed his ale all in one gulp.

    ¡°Well, I hope you enjoyed it because we don¡¯t have any more gold,¡± James replied. He figured saying so would serve two purposes. One, was to pay back his Alex¡¯s slight against his own Ale. The second was to dissuade any possible eavesdroppers that might want to mug his party and steal their gold. James had played enough games to know that the Taverns were always a gathering place for all sorts of people. There was almost always a mixture of good people and people that wanted to rob your blind and leave you bleeding in an alley.

    ¡°Damn¡­¡±Alex said as he longingly peered down into his empty mug.

    The bartender suddenly snatched the empty mug from Alex''s hands and grumbled something about having other thirsty patrons and not enough empty mugs. James stopped the man before he could leave their section of the bar.

    ¡°Excuse me, sir, may I ask your name?¡± James asked with his best customer service voice.

    ¡°Gill,¡± the barkeep answered bluntly.

    ¡°Gill, this is a very nice tavern you have here,¡± James said before holding up his mug, ¡°and the best ale I have tasted in a very long time!¡± Admitting that Gill¡¯s ale was better than his own was tough for James, but he was determined to butter up the barkeep.

    Unfortunately, Gill didn¡¯t seem to have a weakness for flattery and just nodded. James decided to change tactics and get straight to the point. James waved the barkeep closer and whispered, ¡°Gill, we need information on a lot of things, including Mystics. Do you know who we can talk to?¡±

    Gill nodded as James whispered to him. Instead of answering, the barkeep simply rubbed two of his fingers against his thumb. James was expecting as much and immediately placed a gold coin into the barkeep''s hand. Gill continued to stay silent, so James reluctantly doubled his payment for information and added another gold coin to Gill¡¯s palm.

    Finally, it was Gill¡¯s turn to motion the party to come closer with an underhanded movement, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about Mystics, but I can tell ya for certain there are none here. If there was we wouldn¡¯t be under attack every day now would we? What else do you be needing to know?¡±

    ¡°We need to know why you are under attack, how we can help, and what is the story behind the caged people in the streets,¡± James said. He really only wanted to know more about the prisoners in the streets but figured that if he showed interest in the welfare of the community it would hide his true intentions. James was quite proud of his deception, and a quick nod from Omero let James know that his words did not upset the barkeep so far.

    ¡°You mean the Perturbers? What else would we do with ¡®em?¡± Gill said with a scoff and a chuckle before suddenly freezing in place, ¡°Wait a second, you ain¡¯t from here are ya! Where did you come from?¡±

    James coughed and gave a glance to Omero, who was shaking his head vigorously, ¡°What ye talking about? We are from ''ere of course, we¡¯ve just been out fighting for a long time!¡± James said, adopting the same accent that the barkeep spoke with. Omero stopped shaking his head and began to slowly nod it instead.

    Gill stared at James for what seemed like an eternity before his arms exploded into the air, ¡°Well, why didn¡¯t ye say so! Welcome back, honorable soldiers! Here¡¯s a mug on the house!¡± Gill said jubilantly as he handed the party each another mug of ale, ¡°As fer yer questions - just go n ask your brethren! I respect the soljas that protect the Outpost just as much as eny, but I ain''t got all day to sit and chat with yas!¡±

    James nodded to the barkeep and raised his mug in thanks. Omero, Patrick, andAlexdid the same before the party turned around in their bar stools and faced the rest of the tavern.

    They were met with nothing but unwelcoming gazes, and even some growls.

    Okay¡­ it looks like the soldiers won¡¯t be as easy to fool as Gill was, James thought.

    James whispered to Omero to find a party that was welcoming so they could sit down next to them and chat. The Italian man seemed to compose himself before he chugged his ale and hoped down from his bar stool. The party followed suit.

    James slowly walked through Gill¡¯s Tavern just a few paces behind Omero. Each time he thought Omero had found a party to join he was greeting by snarls and glares. The party slowly walked past eight different tables in turn, but Omero never stopped at any of them. The patrons at the unwelcoming tables all seemed rather normal - average looking humans, each having an assortment of gear they had gained on the battlefield. James had no idea why they wouldn¡¯t welcome his party and couldn¡¯t help but cringing at the feeling that being rejected brought him. It was eerily similar to the time he had to change schools and didn¡¯t have any friends he could sit down with to eat lunch. Back then, James just slowly wandered the cafeteria with his food tray, silently hoping someone would welcome him to their table. Just like that time though, James was met with blank and sometimes disgusted looks and wasn¡¯t invited to a table at all.

    James started to panic when the party began to reach the end of the tavern. Just as he was about to ask Omero if his Inveigler class was working or not, Omero quickly sat down at a table that was the furthest from the bar. James was surprised to see who was already at the table, or rather, what was already seated at the table.

    Every other person in the bar was human, in fact, everyone in the entirety of the Outpost was probably human, because if they weren¡¯t they would be caged apparently, but James couldn¡¯t tell if his new friend was or not. His face was completely hidden under a hood, which connected to a cloak that covered the rest of the creature''s body as well. The figure looked humanoid, but James knew that the only people that wore those types of garments where people that didn¡¯t want to be noticed. And yet, his party noticed the creature and under Omero¡¯s leadership, plopped their butts right down next to it.

    ¡°Greetings, Embrant¡­¡± The creature whispered.

 Book 2 - Chapter 19 - Pestle Club

    James did his best to capture a glimpse of the hooded creatures face as he and his party sat down. Despite his covert actions, the creature caught on to James and shifted its head in such a way that its face remained hidden.

    How did he even see me trying to look at him through the hood, James thought.

    ¡°How do you know my class?¡± James hazarded as he settled into a seat at the creature''s table.

    The creature waved a gloved hand through the air nonchalantly, ¡°I can sense these things¡­¡±

    James leaned closer to the creature to ask more questions, but was interrupted by Omero, ¡°My name is Omero,¡± the Italian man said before pointing an open palm to each remaining member of the party in turn,¡±this is James, Patrick, and Alex.¡±

    The creature nodded his hood, ¡°Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Abaddon. Now... may I ask why you are all here¡­ at my table.¡±

    Omero smiled, ¡°We have just returned from a long mission to defend the Outpo-¡±

    ¡°No, you haven¡¯t," Abaddon interrupted.

    Omero scrunched his eyebrows and nodded. He looked at James, who just motioned for him to continue. It was clear to James that his own method of communicating with the creature wasn¡¯t working well, or Omero never would have interrupted him in the first place, so James was content with letting Omero lead the conversation.

    ¡°Okay, you are right. I apologize, it is just that people aren¡¯t too friendly around here, so we came up with a story as to not attract any unwanted attention," Omero said truthfully.

    Abaddon nodded his hood again, ¡°That was very smart of you. There are indeed many dangers here, but I am probably not one of them.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you wear a dangerous looking robe?¡±

    Abaddon chuckled, a sound that made James think of rubbing two half decomposed bones together. The sound was rough, yet eerily wet at the same time. ¡°The robe is my own false story if you will.¡±

    Omero contemplated the creature''s words before looking at his party members and leaning into the hodded figure, ¡°Look, Abaddon, I can see that you are trustworthy. We need answers to a lot of questions. We have an entire list of them actually. On the top of that list, we need to know where we can find a Mystic.¡±

    Abaddon leaned back in his chair, ¡°Yes, Inveigler, you can trust me. And I know where you can find a Mystic, in fact, I can take you to him, but you must do something for me first.¡±

    Can Omero¡¯s class really tell him if someone is trustworthy? James thought as he watched his companion and the robed figure interact. If Abaddon has the power to see our classes wouldn¡¯t he also have the power to manipulate an Inveigler?

    Save the Imprisoned Quest Accepted

    Description = The human settlement of The Outpost has long been isolated from the rest of the world. Stuck between defending one side of their city from the Oana and the other from the Hedgemons, the villagers in the Outpost have been trapped in a perpetual war and unable to evolve as a species. The city still routinely forbids magic, and even publically imprisons people that show physical signs of advanced magic use. A mysterious figure who goes by the name Abaddon, has tasked you with freeing his companion, who is one of those imprisoned. Locate Abaddon¡¯s companion, free her from her cage, and return her to Abaddon.

    Quest Type = Escape

    Quest Difficulty = Rare

    Quest Reward = Abaddon will introduce you to a Mystic

    James read the prompt that managed to cover his vision and interrupt his skepticism over the robed creature''s intentions.

    Apparently, Omero can accept quests on the parties behalf, James thought with frustration.

    ¡°Wait a second,¡± James said before re-reading the quest description and turning to Alex, ¡°Hedgemons, does that name ring a bell for you?¡±

    Alex looked surprised for a second, then caughtiously nodded.

    James suddenly dismissed himself as politely and quickly as possible before running up to the bar and requesting a room from Gill. James happily handed the barkeep two gold coins and motioned for his party to follow him.

    ***

    The second-floor room was quite small, but James figured that it would be nice to sleep somewhere with walls for once, even if his party was all crammed together.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Omero interrogated James as soon as he entered the room.

    James pulled out some Ingo skins to sit on and motioned for his party to do the same. Patrick pulled out his own skins and took a seat with a long sigh. Omero and Alex opted to sit on the edge of the bed.

    ¡°Sorry, that guy creeped me out,¡± James said with a shiver.

    Omero shook his head in frustration, ¡°He was trustworthy. My interface told me so. Sure he was a little disconcerting to look at, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell him anything that I didn¡¯t need to. Isn¡¯t that what I am here for, because of my judgment in these situations and my class?¡±

    James was taken aback a felt a little guilty, ¡°Yes, I am well aware of what you bring to the table Omero, and I wasn¡¯t trying to ruin that. It was just that you already succeeded and you didn¡¯t even know it. That is why I intervened.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°What?¡± Omero snarled.

    ¡°When Abaddon offered us a quest I got a ton of information due to my Adventurer¡¯s Interface. It told me that the people of The Outpost are trapped here, stuck between war with the Oana,¡± James paused, glancing at Alex, ¡°and the Hedgemons. Alex, isn¡¯t that the name of the creatures you wrote lore about when you worked on the game?¡±

    Alex gave a relieved nod, ¡°Ahhh, that is what you were talking about. Yea, that is their name. So you think the zone I worked on is just on the other side of The Outpost?¡±

    ¡°Yes! I think that long ago humans lead an expedition through the Hedgemon''s land and ended up getting stuck, with the Hedgemons to their backs and the Oana at their front. Since they couldn¡¯t travel any further, they built walls and sort of settled down," James said excitedly.

    Patrick coughed from deep within his fur pile, ¡°What does that have to do with saving the people in the Lich¡¯s dungeon though?¡±

    James shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t really know¡­ but we finally have some information about the land beyond the Great Savanna! Also, my quest description said that humans used to imprison people that showed signs of advanced magic use, and that this village still follows that practice. One, that gives us the reason of why the people are in cages outside. Two,¡± James paused from dramatic effect, ¡°I think that tells us that if you get really strong with magic, it changes your body.¡±

    ¡°Like the girl outside with green hands¡­¡± Patrick added glumly.

    ¡°Like your immunity-to-temperature thing¡­¡± Alex said.

    ***

    ¡°Thanks man,¡± James said to Omero as he walked through the heavy wooden door that the Italian was holding open for him.

    Past the door, a room opened up full of shelves and cabinets. Inside those shelves and cabinets, James could see a plethora of softly glowing items. He knew he probably didn¡¯t have enough gold to buy anything so he tried not to get too excited from all the merchant¡¯s wares, but he couldn¡¯t help it. His eyes greedily darted from shelves of potions, glowing armor racks, to unfamiliar weapons displayed on the walls and back.

    ¡°Greetings! How can I help you?¡± a squat gentleman said from behind a counter. The merchant was wearing a green robe. The robe was cinched at his waist with a scaled belt in such a way that his bulging stomach seemed to be split in two.

    ¡°Greetings!¡± Omero replied with a polite nod of his head, ¡°we are just browsing.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any mounts?¡± Patrick said, bursting into the conversation.

    The merchants face twisted, ¡°Uh no, sorry. I carry an assortment of items, but mounts are not one of them. They would take up too much space, and I am already short on that!¡± The merchant said with a pat on his large stomach and a smile.

    ¡°How much is this then?¡± Patrick asked as he held up a horned helmet with an incredibly small eye slit. James couldn¡¯t help but wonder how anyone would be able to see with the helmet on. The helm glowed a soft purple in the dimly lit shop, and despite the almost guaranteed impaired vision, James found himself wanting the helm as well.

    ¡°Ah, the Impenetrable Helm, an extraordinary piece of armor that is¡­ I can give that to you for 550 gold. And that is with my soldier discount. Gotta do my part to make sure the Outpost is defended!¡± the bulbous merchant answered proudly.

    Patrick retorted by laying the helmet back down on the counter. James didn¡¯t know if it was a bartering tactic, or just because there was no way the red-head would be able to afford the item, but he couldn''t help but laugh at the interaction. Patrick started pointing to items of his gear and asking how much the merchant would buy each piece for. James listened in for a bit, only to get a better feel of the buying power the golden currency held. Once he got a general idea of the value of his own gear, James placed his hands on a wall and opened up his senses to the building.

    Congratulations! You have learned a new human building plan!

    General Store - A required building for creating trade routes. Gold stored within this building cannot be stolen. Merchants stationed within this general store receive a +5 bonus to bartering.

    Thank you for your secrets, James thought as he brought his hands together and gave the building a respectful bow. As James turned around he caught the confused and slightly worried stares of his party and the merchant. James winked at them, waved goodbye to the merchant, and exited through the heavy wooden door.

    Omero lead the party to another building, all the while trying to avoid people that especially disliked them for some reason. There were numerous times when the party had to avoid certain streets because of what Omero saw with his Inveigler class. The number of people that outright hated the party for no particular reason was numerous, making it difficult for the party to reach the alchemist¡¯s lab. Finally, the party managed to navigate the side streets of The Outpost and reached the lab through a tight alley between cobblestone buildings.

    The lab didn¡¯t have a heavy wooden door protecting it from the seemingly mass of hate-filled villagers and soldiers that roamed the streets of The Outpost. Instead, a number of vines grew from somewhere on top of the building and hid the entrance into the lab. Luckily, Patrick discovered the entrance into the building, only after mistaking a portion of vines and checking for an entryway with his head.

    ¡°Did that even hurt?¡± Omero curiously asked the red-head as they both parted the vines in the correct location and stepped into the building.

    Patrick shook his head, ¡°No, I think my armor is like really high. I barely feel anything but the harshest of impacts nowadays.¡±

    Alex decided to test Patrick¡¯s words with his fists and was left hoping up and down as he clutched his hand in pain. Patrick seemed oblivious to the unarmed strike he just received.

    ¡°NO HORSEPLAY!¡± a voice screeched from somewhere within the alchemist¡¯s lab, ¡°This is a lab, the tavern is a few roads south! Please leave!¡±

    James had trouble locating the voice. The lab was much darker than the merchant¡¯s shop but had sections of bright light that beamed down from holes in the ceiling, illuminating various potted plants and making it difficult for James¡¯s eyes to adapt.

    ¡°Sorry, mam. We will behave,¡± Omero said, attempting to distract the Alchemist so James could learn the lab¡¯s building plan.

    Congratulations! You have learned a new human building plan!

    Alchemist¡¯s Lab - A required building for the production of advanced level and above Alchemists. Potions, salves, and tinctures created within this lab benefit from a +15% in effectiveness and +20% in production speed.

    ¡°No, out! All of you!¡± A witch of a woman screamed as she stumbled into view, waving an overly large pestle above her head.

    James watched in shock as the woman did her best to close the distance between herself and his party, without knocking over any of the numerous and fragile looking apparatuses that littered the inside of the lab. James turned to his party members just in time to see Omero¡¯s back disappear from the lab. All at once, the party realized that if Omero was running away from someone, they should be too.

    Patrick was the last one to scramble out of the Alchemist lab. He plowed through the vines, managed to get himself tangled up, and held a hand out to his party for help. Patrick¡¯s eyes filled with a terror that was proportionate to the closeness of the enraged alchemist¡¯s voice. Before James could untangle the giant red-head though, the Alchemist caught up to them and bashed Patrick over the head with her solid stone pestle. The tool snapped, and half of it fell to the ground with a heavy thud just as James was able to get his companion free.

    ¡°Run!¡± James yelled. His party happily obeyed the command.

    The Alchemist screamed at the party¡¯s backs as they barreled through the streets of The Outpost. Omero turned into an alley, far away from the club-wielding witch. As soon as they were out of immediate danger, the party dissolved into fits of laughter.

    ¡°Dude!¡± Alex said in between heavy breaths, ¡°She wailed you with that thing! Are you alright?¡±

    Patrick shrugged, ¡°Like I said, my armor is really high.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 20 - Perturbers Keep

    ¡°Welp, that was a fun night. I kinda missed running around the city and causing a ruckus,¡± Alex said as he laid out in the hay-stuffed mattress in the center of the party¡¯s room. The veteran had won a game of rock paper scissors with Omero for rights to the bed. James and Patrick excused themselves from the contest, as they both preferred sleeping in piles of Ingo fur.

    ¡°Yea, except we really didn¡¯t get any information on how to complete Abaddon¡¯s quest,¡± Omero replied gloomy, still disappointed in the fact that he wouldn¡¯t be sleeping on a mattress.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a complete waste though, I got two building plans for the village,¡± James added.

    Patrick pulled his True Iron Maul into his pile of Ingo furs, ¡°We didn¡¯t have much time to accomplish anything anyway, but tomorrow we need to find Abaddon¡¯s companion.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Omero said.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Alex repeated.

    James nodded thoughtfully. Their first day in The Outpost had been a long one, and he was happy to finally get some sleep. The room quieted and James slowly drifted off, letting his thoughts passively work out the details about how he would set up a successful trade route after he rescued the prisoners from the Lich King¡¯s dungeon.

    Just as James¡¯s thoughts started to float away from his consciousness, a loud horn sounded, jolting the party awake.

    ¡°What was-¡± the horn sounded again, interrupting James''s question.

    The horn was so loud and frightening that by the time it sounded for the third time, the party was already dressed and on the street below Gill¡¯s Tavern. The streets of The Outpost were more alive than they were during the day. Villagers ran out of their houses carrying bundles of spears and arrows. Soldiers and other various fighters poured out of taverns, or just simply stood up from where they passed out on the side of the road, and marched to the East side of the city.

    ¡°Are we under attack?¡± Omero asked.

    James dodged a drunken soldier that almost stumbled into him, ¡°It looks like it,¡± he said as he regained his footing.

    Patrick pulled his True Iron Maul from his back, ¡°Well, let''s go fight!¡±

    ***

    The party let themselves be taken by the wave of soldiers flooding down the streets of The Outpost. James was surprised to see so many people in the place, and couldn¡¯t help but wonder if The Outpost was actually a nocturnal city. Sure, it made sense to him that if a village was under attack at night that every able-bodied person would show up to defend it, but still, something seemed off. During the day, almost everyone was grumpy and mean. The soldiers drank heavily during the day and passed out on the sides of the roads, basking in the sun. It was almost as if they were attacked every night, so The Outpost adapted to that schedule.

    James¡¯s suspicions were confirmed when a tall skinny man dressed in an assortment of armor wrapped a long arm around James¡¯s head and ruffled his hair.

    ¡°You ready buddy? Another day, another golden coin, LET¡±S DO THIS!¡± The man said before powering through the rushing crowd, propelled by his long legs. The tall soldier hooted and hollered as he shoved his way through the crowd, but the crowd didn¡¯t complain or push back like James suspected they would. Instead, they picked up his cheer. A few seconds later the entire crowd was hooting, hollering, and could even be seen patting each other on the back like they were all long lost friends.

    ¡°They are all relatively happy¡­¡± Omero reported as he struggled to not get too scraped up from the mass of sheathed and unsheathed weapons waving about.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°What about the civilians?¡± Alex asked as he motioned to the unarmored people that were floating around the edges of the moving hoard.

    James didn¡¯t hear Omero¡¯s response, or rather, he didn¡¯t process it. James¡¯s mind was suddenly grabbed by something and his attention struggled to define it. James attempted to stop walking to get a better look but was immediately pushed forward by the crowd behind him. Craning his neck, he caught a glimpse of a robed figure standing in an empty alley. The figure was hard to see at first, but James only knew of one person in the city that wore dark coverings and would do creepy things hiding in an alley.

    ¡°Abaddon,¡± James whispered to himself.

    ¡°What?¡± Omero asked.

    ¡°Abaddon is over in that alley,¡± James said, much louder this time, ¡°Come on!¡±

    By the time the party had managed to fight there way against the flow of the rampaging army, they had already looked like the had been to battle and back. James was covered in various cuts, scrapes, and bruises. A quick check of his party member icons told him that Patrick was the only one that managed to get through the crowd unscathed.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡± huffed Omero.

    James looked around the alley and caught the tail of Abaddon¡¯s long cloak turning a corner. Despite the eerie feeling James got from following a hooded figure down a dark alley at night, he motioned his party to follow and lead the way to Abaddon. James¡¯s figured that Abaddon was the only hope they had on finding a Mystic, and he wasn''t about to run away from that. As the party turned the corner, they saw the hooded figure standing in a dead end, right next to a short greenish-brown creature dressed in elegant, yet stained, clothing.

    ¡°Noma!¡± Patrick cried out excitedly. The soul merchant gave a fatigued smile and extended one of his hands high into the air to meet one of Patrick¡¯s.

    Abaddon spoke, ¡°I have saved a companion of yours, now you need to free one of mine. The time is now. With the Hedgemons attacking, you should be able to sneak into the keep and free Sorrell.¡±

    Omero gave an annoyed glance to James and inquired for more information, ¡°Can you tell us anything else about the keep and what Sorrell looks like?¡±

    ¡°The keep is just down this path. Follow it until its end and you will find it. As far as my companion goes, you will know her when you see her,¡± Abaddon answered.

    James looked around, confused, ¡°...but this is a dead end alley?¡±

    That wasn¡¯t the only thing bothering James though - Abaddon hadn¡¯t moved an inch the entire time they had been talking, not even a slight head movement as he talked.

    Freakin¡¯ weirdo, James thought, moments before the hooded figure finally moved, slightly startling James in the process.

    Abaddon turned in place and brought his hands up from his sides. His cloak draped from his arms, making the hooded figure seem much larger than he actually was in the darkness of the alley. Patrick and Noma paused their conversation to watch Abaddon. The rest of the party fell silent as well, allowing James to hear the far off echoes of the tall soldier¡¯s enthusiastic chants one last time.

    Abaddon moved his arms, slowly at first, then building up enough speed that they became a blur. Moments later, a blast of golden light illuminated the alley. A muffled boom sounded. James blinked to let his eyes adapt back to the night and annoyingly cleared the dust from his eyes once again.

    Another horn sounded in the distance.

    ¡°GO, the army has reached the other side of The Outpost, your way should be clear!¡¯ Abaddon yelled over the horn, ¡°We will meet you outside the city, on the Savanna side!¡±

    ***

    The party ducked through Abaddon¡¯s hole and followed the alley beyond it until they reached the keep. The keep itself was easy to recognize, not because it had high walls or guards protecting it, but because it had an expansive yard that surrounded it. The keep itself was a humble cobblestone castle, not much bigger than some of the other buildings in The Outpost, but with much more breathing room around it. Short cobblestone towers littered the yard and cast circles of light from the fires perched on top and down to the dirt ground. James couldn¡¯t help but think that if it wasn¡¯t for winter¡¯s ability to ruin everything green, the keep¡¯s yard would have been quite beautiful, especially at night.

    ¡°How are we going to sneak up to that?¡± Omero asked, quite defeatedly.

    ¡°We¡¯re not¡­¡± Alex answered before running forward, ¡°Noone is here! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    James looked at Patrick, who shrugged and then ran forward as well. The party was just barely out of breath when they arrived next to the keep. No guards called out to them, and no villagers could be seen across the yard giving them evil glares, but still, James was afraid.

    A cacophony of moans emanated from the keep, soaking into James¡¯s pores and causing his skin to flush with goosebumps. Everything inside him told him not to enter the keep, but he ignored his cowardly organs and pulled the ornate metal handle of the only door in sight. With the strategy of stealth and surprise already looked over, the party piled into the keep, right after James.

    The moans... stopped.

 Book 2 - Chapter 21 - Sorrell

    ¡°Welcome, fellow Perturbers¡­¡± A female voice echoed through the open chamber. For the life of him, James couldn¡¯t figure out where the voice came from. The Keep turned out to be one single open chamber, no rooms or doors, only cages, chains, and a layer of bones that coated the floor.

    ¡°Wh.. who.. Are you?¡± James stuttered as he scoured the room, looking for some sort of monstrous creature hiding within a pile of bones.

    ¡°Well, it''s a good thing you are handsome huh?¡± the voice laughed, ¡°I just told you who I am; a fellow perturber!¡±

    James looked to Alex, who gave James¡¯s one of Patrick¡¯s not-so-helpful shrugs, ¡°Perturbers are the advanced magic users that the city puts in cages, right? That¡¯s not any of us¡­¡±

    ¡°Advanced... magic... users¡­¡± the voice repeated, ¡°That is an odd way to say it¡­ Well, a few of you are either Perturbers or Mystics,¡± the voice laughed, ¡°and you don''t look like the Mystic sort, so¡­¡±

    ¡°SHOW YOURSELF DEMON!¡± Patrick screamed with his best war voice.

    James jumped at his companion¡¯s sudden outburst. He put a hand on Patrick¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Whoa, dude¡­ calm down there, buddy. The voice... seems pretty friendly to me, no need to rush into anything we will regret.¡±

    Plus she called me handsome¡­ James thought to himself.

    James looked to Omero for confirmation that he was heading down the right path in talking with the voice. The Italian gave James another one of Patrick¡¯s not-so-useful shrugs, no doubt because he couldn¡¯t see the person talking, and therefore his Inveigler class didn¡¯t register anything.

    ¡°Ohh, the big loud guy is definitely a Perturber. That much is for sure,¡± the voice said matter of factly. Patrick corrected the voice to let it know his actual name. The feminine voice continued, ¡°Okay Patrick. As a matter of fact, all of you guys are rather big. Not so much for the Inveigler, no offense, but it makes me think. It¡¯s curious really. Your human and most of you are as large as the fighters here, yet two of you are Perturbers, who, as you can see, are not very welcome here. Those facts suggest that¡­¡± the voice paused for a bit before continuing, much more excitedly this time, ¡°Oh, are you guys here to rescue us?¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait,¡± James said, quickly getting in over his head, even though he prided himself on figuring out the finer points of the game, ¡°I don¡¯t think we actually understand what Perturbers are-¡±

    ¡°Your definition was correct, slightly strange, but correct,¡± the voice interrupted.

    ¡°Okay¡­ we aren¡¯t sure how you can tell that we are Perturbers, even if you are correct in assuming we are. Also, what do you mean ¡®rescue us¡¯? We are just here for someone called Sorrell, that is all.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    "Oh! That¡¯s me! That¡¯s me!¡± the voice replied.

    James blanched, ¡°Okay¡­ well¡­ where are you?¡± He looked to his party members and confirmed that they were just as lost as he was. Everyone except Patrick, who seemed uncharacteristically scared, especially for someone who, just moments ago, was ready to rush into battle with the voice.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Sorrell began.

    Suddenly, all the bones that coated the floor of the Keep started to rattle and move. They jerked, knocked against each other, and some of them even flew across the room. The chamber came alive with movement and the overbearing sounds of time-hardened bones clattering about. When it was all over, a formation of ten skeletons stood at attention. One stepped out from the rest and began to speak.

    ¡°... Where are my manners? We get quite lazy being trapped in here, but of course that is no excuse to be rude,¡± the skeletal Sorrell finished.

    James couldn¡¯t respond. He tried, but he couldn¡¯t convince his tongue to forge any words.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Sorrell asked as she brought her arms out to her side and leaned back slightly, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to comment on my figure?¡± Sorrell then took her bony hands and slowly dragged her flanges against the top of her rib cage and down to her femur, ¡°... I thought I looked rather good.¡±

    James could only stare at the strangely provocative skeleton in front of him. A moment later, Omero left the keep, his only parting words being, ¡°I¡¯ll be out here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, since you three are too prude to compliment a woman, I will do the talking,¡± Sorrell said as she brought her hands to her sacrum and tilted her pelvis in dissatisfaction, ¡°I assume my father sent you after me? Abaddon, does that name ring a bell? He is slightly overbearing, but I can always count on him when I get myself into trouble like I have here. I will admit though, it has taken him much longer than usual for him to rescue me. I imagine it has something to do will this pendant they put on me¡­¡± the skeleton interrupted her animated pacing to fondle a small necklace charm that James hadn¡¯t been present enough to notice before. ¡°You will have to fight me of course, you know, to break the charm''s spell. That is probably why Father couldn¡¯t rescue me himself. So¡­ uh¡­ let¡¯s just get on with it then, shall we?¡± Sorrell turned to her formation of skeletons and whispered something to them. All at once, nine humerus bones rose, ulnas and radiuses twisted, and the formation stood in silent salute to their master.

    Sorrell turned back to the party and smiled. The contorting of skull and jaw bones to make the expression possible was enough to make James gag, so he did so.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry sweetys, it¡¯s just going to be you three gentleman and little ole'' me, rolling around and getting nice and sweaty. My guards won¡¯t get involved¡­¡± The skeleton tilted her head, ¡°unless you are into that? Oh! Do you want to invite your friend back inside? The smaller one. This will be funnnnn¡­¡±

    Finally, James¡¯s tongue ended its protests and allowed words to cross it¡¯s picket line, ¡°What.. the fuck... is going on right now?¡±

    Patrick grunted a soft, lackluster grunt that sounded more resigned than aggressive.

    Alex cleared his throat, ¡°Is this even real li-¡±

    The veterans words were snuffed out when a metatarsal bone fell into his mouth. Alex gagged and spit the toe bone out onto the floor.

    ¡°GOAL!¡± Sorrell screamed as she did her best to hold her arms as high as she could while hopping around on one foot. She laughed and gave a signal to one of her guards. The guard loyally got to one patella and pulled a bone from his foot. He handed it to Sorrell, who added it to her own foot and took a few trying steps. The skeleton restored her confidence in her balance, and charged.

 Book 2 - Chapter 22 - Spikes

    Alex did his best to flush the grimy flavor of an old toe bone out of his mouth as James considered what would happen if he activated his Jump Strike at such a close opponent while he was in a building with a rock ceiling. He knew that when he jumped on a close opponent he often flew high into the air, but he had no desire to flatten himself against the ceiling, or worse, break through it and attract attention. Luckily, a disgusted Alex reacted to the charging skeletal woman before he could. Alex blinked a few paces forward and rolled right into Sorrell¡¯s tibia. It happened so fast that she didn¡¯t have a chance to react, and tumbled to the ground.

    James sent out a Firebolt to welcome her as she regained her footing. He let his hands continue moving and cast firebolt in rapid succession. One after the other impacted Sorrell and splashed against her calcified body. She attempted to dodge and would have succeeded if it wasn¡¯t for James¡¯s curse that attracted the Fire Bolts to her. Sorrell was quite nimble and fast, especially considering that she didn¡¯t have any muscles to propel her.

    ¡°Okay, okay¡­¡± Sorrell said as she waved away the smoke and flames still licking her, ¡°It¡¯s my turn now!¡±

    James looked at the lower part of his peripherals and realized he was out of mana. He smoothly unsheathed his two short swords and took up a fighting stance to meet the stalking skeleton. Just as she was less than a dozen paces away, Patrick activated his bulldoze ability and charged. As the ability activated, a pulse of sound slammed into James¡¯s ears, causing them to ring. He winced, but was still able to see Sorrell start running away from Patrick. At the last moment, she jumped onto the red-head. A second later she used his momentum to propel herself into Alex. The veteran let out an involuntary, ¡°Oof¡± as the flying skeleton impacted his chest. An even louder pulse of sound echoed through the chamber as Patrick impacted the far side of the Keep, causing the cobblestone wall to crack.

    The veteran and the skeleton rolled to the ground in a heap, but somehow the muscle-less skeleton was able to wrestle herself to a dominant position. Sorrell straddled the quite bulky veteran.

    ¡°That was too easy!¡± She said, before bringing down her hands in a hammering motion.

    Alex blinked away before he could be hit. Sorrell sat on the ground, disappointed and confused, "Fine, you aren''t my type anyway."

    She stood up and motioned to her platoon of guards. As James ran to meet Sorrell, he could see that only three of her guards survived Patrick¡¯s bulldoze. The skeletons he ran over were busy reforming. One of the intact guards responded to Sorrell¡¯s command and tossed her a long pike.

    She twirled it around, getting a feel for the long weapon. James slowed just outside of the weapons range and waited for Alex and Patrick to surround her.

    ¡°Why are we doing this again?¡± Alex huffed.

    ¡°You mean other than for the fun of it?¡± Inquired the skeleton as she whirled her pike around, discouraging the party from attacking her.

    Alex shrugged, ¡°Yea, sure.¡±

    Sorrell sighed, her body language becoming friendly and playful, ¡°It¡¯s this stupid pendant. I can''t leave this building or take it off until it is destroyed. I also have to defend it. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I would love to wrestle with you men under normal circumstances,¡± Sorrell turned to James and gave him another wink, ¡°you especially. But in this case, I have no choice. It''s honestly not as fun when I HAVE to do it, ya'' know?"

    ¡°So what is the easiest way to destroy it?¡± Patrick asked, ignoring the skeleton and getting straight to business.

    Sorrell turned to the redhead, and with quite a bit of attitude, said, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know ya big rock, I¡¯ve never destroyed it before!¡±

    Suddenly, a bigger rock than Patrick fell from the ceiling and smashed into Sorrell. James looked up to see what happened and noticed a large crack that traveled up the ceiling from where Patrick impacted the wall. Stars could be seen through the hole in the ceiling where the boulder had once been.

    ¡°Oops,¡± Patrick whispered, ¡°think she is okay?¡±

    ¡°I am not sure I care,¡± Alex said before glancing at the now fully reformed platoon of skeletal guards. James followed his gaze and was relieved that they didn¡¯t seem to want to avenge the attack on their master.

    ¡°Mmmgmmm!¡± A mumble was heard beneath the large rock between the party.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move this thing!¡± James said as he saddled up to the boulder. He grunted and heaved, but even with his party''s help, he couldn¡¯t lift the large rock. James struggled to find purchase for his hands. He gripped the mortar that still stuck to the side of the boulder, but it simply fell away when he put any strength behind his grip.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Move aside!¡± Patrick bellowed.

    James and Alex stepped aside as Patrick took a few ponderous steps backward. The red-head lowered his shoulder and ran full speed at the boulder. James could tell that Patrick didn¡¯t activate his bulldoze ability, but he was still impressed by the speed the large man was able to muster.

    Patrick¡¯s shoulder slammed into the boulder, causing it to shatter. James''s jaw dropped.

    Before he could ask how Patrick¡¯s feat was possible, Sorrell¡¯s boney hand raised from the rubble, holding a shattered pendant.

    ¡°Good job Perturber, let¡¯s get out of here before the rest of the building falls on me,¡± Sorrell said as she clambered to her feet, ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± she commanded to her guards with a wave of her metacarpals.

    ***

    The party, along with a small contingent of skeletons, found Omero laying in the dirt, looking up to the sky and humming to himself.

    ¡°Time to go!¡± James said as pulled Omero up to his feet by his arm. The startled Italian¡¯s eyes immediately fell upon the skeletons that were running up to him. Before Omero could ask any questions, James let him know that they were friendly and they would be joining the party. If the Italian had any more concerns, James didn¡¯t hear them as he was busy sprinting away from the crumbling Keep.

    ¡°Do you know the fastest way out of the Outpost?¡± James yelled as he turned his head back to Sorrell, who was easily keeping pace.

    ¡°Nope,¡± she replied flatly, having no lungs to be out of breath with.

    Damn, James thought as he entered the alley they came from. He lead the party down the alley until they reached the hole that Abbadon created. James scouted the streets ahead while he waited for everyone to catch up. What he saw on the streets caused him to curse. The soldiers were pulling their wounded back behind their line, just a few paces from where a contingent of skeletons would soon flow out of the alley.

    Shit, James thought. He didn¡¯t expect whatever the soldiers were fighting to make it into The Outpost. James contemplated stopping his party behind him and turning them around to find another way out of the city but was distracted when an injured soldier was thrown at his feet. The soldier looked like a pin-cushion, complete with pins. One inch thick spikes stuck out from his body as he wreathed in pain. James bent down to see if you could help the man, when suddenly, he was cast in a golden light.

    ¡°Pull the spikes out!¡± Sorrell commanded as her hands wove in a complicated pattern that allowed the holy light to fall from the sky. James pulled them out, despite numerous complaints from the pin-cushion. For a second, James thought the soldier was going to bleed out, but the light sealed his wounds. A moment later, the confused soldier was patting his body in awe.

    The soldier shook his head, ¡°No¡­¡± He shook his head harder and stood up, ¡°NO!¡± Then his eyes fell upon the skeletal creature that saved his life, ¡°Perturber! Perturber! The keep has failed! A Perturber is on the loose!¡± He screamed as he ran to join his comrades.

    ¡°Ungrateful fool, ¡±Sorrell said with a shake of her cranium as a contingent of skeletal guards fell into formation behind her, ¡°C¡¯mon, we need to get out of here while they are distracted.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± James began.

    ¡°We can¡¯t just leave them here,¡± Patrick finished.

    Sorrell glared at James and his companions before stepping eerily close to them and whispering, ¡°Listen, these soldiers are just as likely to kill you as they are the spiky creatures they-¡±

    ¡°Hegemons,¡± Alex interrupted, nervously.

    Sorrell glared at the veteran before continuing and ignoring his correction, ¡°They are just as likely to kill you guys as they are the spiky creatures they are fighting. Once they figure out what you are, you might as well be a beast as far as they care. You¡¯ve seen it first hand. I saved that soldiers life, and yet his eyes were still filled with hate.¡±

    James glanced at his party members. He had so many questions, but the skeleton didn¡¯t give him time to ask any of them.

    ¡°I am leaving, I suggest you do the same.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t leave them to die!¡± Patrick yelled out courageously.

    Sorrell turned around slowly and shot daggers at Patrick, ¡°You off all people should know better, Golem.¡±

    ***

    ¡°What did she call you?¡± Omero asked Patrick as the party crossed the drawbridge that separated The Outpost from the Great Savanna.

    Patrick caught his breath and answered, ¡°Golem.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean?¡± James followed up as he checked the map to see what direction Sorrell was leading them in. He didn¡¯t quite like traveling the Great Savanna at night, especially when it was in an unfamiliar direction, but he figured he had no choice. It wasn¡¯t like they could set up camp right in front of the city gates. They were safe now, but not that safe. Besides, the sun should be coming up any moment now.

    Patrick shrugged contemplatively, ¡°I¡¯m not really sure.¡±

    ¡°Keep up Perturbers, Inveiglers, and whatever you are teleporting guy!¡± Sorrel called out mockingly.

    James sighed and ran to catch up to the skeleton and her guards. Running more was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to pull out his Ingo skins and finally get some sleep, but if there was one thing that could motivate James and make him run, it was the possibility of answers to his list of questions... or Spiced Cider.

    ¡°Okay!¡± James said as he arrived at Sorrell¡¯s side.

    ¡°Oh, are you here to escort me?¡± Sorrell asked as she wound her radius and ulna around James''s arm.

    James was too tired to flirt, especially with someone so skinny. He preferred women with more meat on their bones, ¡°No, I¡¯ve seen you fight, and cast spells for that matter - you don¡¯t need an escort. I want to know why you call us Perturbers and why you called Patrick a golem.¡±

    ¡°So many questions and I don¡¯t even know your name!¡± Sorrell deflected as she walked with James, tangled up in his arm.

    ¡°It¡¯s James. That''s Patrick, Omero, and Alex. Now can you answer me?¡±

    Sorrell untangled herself from James and pushed away with a sigh, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll give you your answers. Just wait until we get to my father¡¯s camp. Is that okay with you Captain Serious Pants? He should be just at the bottom of those mountains.¡±

    James had trouble seeing the mountains in the dark, but a quick check of his map told him that it was only a few minute walk.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 23 - Partial Elucidation

    ¡°Greetings,¡± a voice whispered ominously from the darkness as the party approached the mountain range.

    ¡°Hi. Dad,¡± Sorrell said as she continued to walk through the large rocks and hills that James assumed hid Abaddon¡¯s camp. Abbadon materialized from the other side of a rock and stood before his daughter, her contingent of skeletal guards, and James¡¯s party.

    ¡°It is nice to see you daughter,¡± Abaddon said as he brought his skeletal daughter in for a hug, ¡°I am happy that you made it out in one piece.¡±

    Sorrell laughed and pointed to James, ¡°I almost didn¡¯t! These baboons dropped a huge boulder on top of me!¡±

    Abaddon¡¯s hood glared at James, who put his hands up in a defensive gesture, ¡°That¡­ was an accident.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Abaddon said, ¡°you completed your side of the deal, I will complete mine and take you to a Mystic. For now, though, let¡¯s all get some rest.¡±

    James still wasn¡¯t sure if he trusted the creepy hooded figure yet, but he had no illusion about how tired he was. He would happily take up Abaddon¡¯s offer to get some sleep, but only after he got some answers from Sorrell. A quick glance at his relieved party member¡¯s faces told James that they felt the same way - more than ready to finally get some rest.

    The various large boulders and uneven ground that could be found by the edge of the mountain range that surrounded the Great Savanna made it easy for the party to hide. After Abaddon lead the party through a winding maze to get to his camp, it was clear to James that they would be safe from any pursuers from the city. James decided that if Abaddon didn¡¯t kill his party in their sleep, he would make it a point to make camp by the mountain ranges in future missions through the Great Savanna.

    James was finally able to properly greet Noma. The soul merchant seemed nervous at first but quickly relaxed, no doubt due to James¡¯s intense friendliness. James wasn¡¯t entirely sure why Noma was nervous. He figured it had something to do with the whole Ogrim¡¯s dungeon ordeal, but James knew it all turned out okay, and he trusted Noma, so he didn''t even bring the situation up. To James, seeing Noma was like coming across a friend he hadn¡¯t seen in awhile.

    After introductions and greetings were done, James set up his Ingo and Abominar fur pile next to Sorrell. As he pulled out supplies to cook up a quick Abominar Fat Stew, James overhead Patrick whisper ¡®I told you so¡¯ to Noma as the two settled in their own fur piles.

    Omero was already asleep. The Italian didn''t even invest the extra time to take out Ingo furs from his satchel and simply layed in the mud. Alex was off somewhere with Abaddon and the skeletal guard, no doubt setting up a fire guard rotation to make sure everyone would get an uninterrupted night''s rest.

    ¡°Do your guards need to sleep?¡± James asked Sorrell, who was leaning against a rock and poking at the fire with a stick.

    ¡°No,¡± Sorrell answered quickly.

    ¡°Do you?¡± James inquired, just as quick.

    Sorrell sighed and tossed her stick into the fire before turning to James, ¡°I do need sleep, so please ask the questions you really want answers to, because I am tired.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± James said, ¡°Why do you call Patrick and I Perturbers?¡±

    ¡°Because I was called it so many times in The Outpost that it just became part of my vocabulary. I apologize, as it is really a terrible term,¡± the skeleton answered reluctantly.

    ¡°Yea well¡­ it is also rather hard to pronounce. Per.. turb..errs,¡± James vocalized each syllable, trying to return the skeleton to her usual playful mood, ¡°I just don¡¯t get why we are Perturbers.¡±

    ¡°It is because you are being changed by magic,¡± Sorrell said sadly, ¡°just as I have been, just how my father was, and just how every prisoner on the streets of the Outpost have been.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really see any changes though. I mean, I feel them, but I don¡¯t really see them,¡± James stumbled.

    ¡°I see them though, and soon you will too¡­¡±

    James contemplated her words in silence for a while before growing concerned and nervously asking, ¡°are we¡­¡± Sorrell raised the bone above her eye socket, ¡°are we going to.. Ya know... Become skeletons?¡±

    Sorrell gave a hearty laugh, ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. You are already a bonehead, but I don¡¯t think you will be turned into a skeleton.¡±

    James didn''t want to offend the skeleton, so he held in his sigh of relief. Instead, he just nodded and gave a soft smile. His smile was returned, but Sorrell¡¯s face quickly turned dark. The facial expression of the skeleton, illuminated by the flickering firelight, made for a sight that would have otherwise given James the chills, had he not got a glimpse of the creature''s playful outlook previously, ¡°There is a strong magic out there that turned me this way against my will." Sorrell started, "You will be changed by your magic, as are all magic users other than Mystics and Shamans, but you are doing so willingly. I had no choice.¡±

    ¡°How will I be changed?¡± James interrogated. He suddenly realized his body was quite tense and strained, so he made an effort to relax his muscles.

    Sorrell shrugged and looked off into the fire, ¡°I don¡¯t know. It depends on a lot of things.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± James followed up almost as quickly as the words left Sorrell¡¯s mandible.

    ¡°Like your mastery for one, your class choices, your skills and abilities, your spells¡­ Everything really. It is impossible to predict how magic will change someone¡­¡± Sorrell answered impatiently, ¡°How don¡¯t you know this?¡±

    James paused. It was his turn to look into the fire. Instead of broaching the subject about how he was from another dimension to the relative stranger, James attempted to change the subject, ¡°It was soul magic, wasn¡¯t it. Your soul was stolen¡­¡± James guessed, ¡°That is why you were turned into a skeleton isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Sorrell studied James. It seemed to him that she was seeing him for the first time as something other than a handsome piece of meat, ¡°Yes¡­ the Lich King took it,¡± she seethed.

    ***

    Like usual, James woke up before the rest of the camp. He wasn¡¯t sure why he couldn¡¯t sleep in lately, but he knew for sure that was annoying and that he needed to sleep more. Luckily, James had some spiked fruit and a stone pot in his inventory. Some spiced cider was exactly what he needed at the moment.

    James surveyed the camp as he set up his stone pot. It turned out that he wasn¡¯t the first one to wake up in the camp after all.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Where are you creepy cloak dude? James thought as he peered around for Abaddon.

    He didn¡¯t feel too motivated to search for the creature, especially since his daughter was still in the camp, so James gave up his search for Abaddon before it began. With the Spiced Cider brewing, James leaned back into his fur pile, propped up his head with the soft white Abomminar skin, and pulled up his interface. A notification immediately appeared, catching James off guard. He figured he must have missed the notification the last time he checked his interface because he was too excited about learning a new cooking recipe.

    Congratulations! Your Party Leader skill has surpassed level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills or augments.

    Sub-Skill 1 - Cruel Defender, Those under your command ignore one armor point when attacking.

    Sub-Skill 2 - Moral Defender, Those under your command gain an additional armor point.

    Cruel and Moral? James asked himself as he read the new notification. He was expecting to be given the option to choose two sub-skills since each skill could only have two sub-skills to begin with. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be offered an augment until he had at least one sub-skill. James also knew that his interface adapted to his actions and choices, which made him wonder if he did anything especially cruel lately.

    Is this because I left the soldier¡¯s in The Outpost to fend for themselves? James wondered, admitting to himself again that it was a crappy thing to do, even if it was the best thing to do for his people. What would that first skill have been if I opened this notification earlier? Would it have been something else entirely?

    James chose the Moral Defender sub-skill and looked around to see if his party noticed the change. Besides a few twitches from Patrick''s fur pile, no one in his party seemed to notice that they were now slightly more durable.

    James''s eyes fell upon the sleeping Sorrell.

    It was odd watching her sleep. Her chest didn¡¯t rise and fall as she breathed. In fact, it was entirely impossible for James to tell if she was actually sleeping and just dead. She was, after all, a pile of bones. James figured that if a woman had actually died and was left to waste away in the elements, eventually she would look just like Sorrell did at that moment. He contemplated poking her with a stick to settle his nerves but decided that he didn¡¯t want to interact with someone so lively and energentic without his morning cider.

    The previous night, James had been close to telling Sorrell about his town and his portal to the Lich King¡¯s realm. The skeleton seemed like she had a vendetta against the Lich, but James had no idea what the repercussion of talking to her would be. James found it extremely nice to have someone that he could potentially discuss the dungeon with, but he forced himself to use all his willpower and avoid the topic. He wanted to join forces with Sorrell and Abaddon, but he still knew so little about them.

    James gave one last curious glance at the skeleton laying beside him before returning to his interface.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 27 (1 level gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 18 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 17 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 10 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 12 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 180

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 340

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    James reread his strength description and got hung up on the ¡®affects your ability to lift object¡¯ portion. He certainly wanted to be able to lift heavier things, especially considering that he couldn¡¯t budge that boulder that fell onto Sorrell yesterday.

    What if a boulder fell on Lilly? James thought, successfully convincing himself that it was okay to put his two free stat points into strength. James grew slightly larger as he spent his points, causing the tip of his toes to pop out of his fur pile. He instinctively sucked them back up into his cocoon.

    James suddenly realized that the instinct to keep his feet warm would probably die out now that he was essentially immune to temperature. The realization made James wonder what other parts of his humanity would change if he kept growing his Fire Mastery. Most important of all, James wondered if the changes were worth being able to throw fire bolts at things. James knew if he asked Patrick that question, the red-head would respond with something like, ¡°Duh, of course its worth it, dude,¡± or something along those lines. James wasn¡¯t convinced though.

    What about Michael and his death magic, how will he be changed? What about the water mage back in the village? James thought, concerned. I will have to get more information from the Mystic.

    That was when James decided everyone had slept long enough. There were people in dungeons to save, game mechanics to learn, and Spiced Cider to drink.

    ***

    The campground went from a yawning mass of sloths into a ready group of adventurers in the short time it took to chug a stone cup of Spiced Cider. James was slightly surprised that Sorrell woke up at all, mostly because she just looked so thoroughly dead, but he was happy that she wasn¡¯t. At least, she wasn''t dead in the sense that she could move and talk like other things that were alive.

    James contemplated how he would classify the skeleton rather frequently since they first met, but he was still no closer to figuring out the appropriate way to refer to it.

    Her, James corrected himself as he watched Sorrell stretch her non-existent muscles.

    ¡°Okay father, we are ready to go,¡± Sorrell said under her breath as she walked up to join the party.

    James looked around curiously. He hadn¡¯t seen the robed figure since the night prior. ¡°Who are you talking to?¡±

    ¡°Abaddon,¡± Sorrell answered in such a tone that suggested she would have rolled her eyes if she had any, ¡°obviously¡­¡±

    ¡°But how?¡± James asked moments before the robed figure materialized from behind Patrick. The red-head didn¡¯t seem to notice that Abaddon was either behind him the entire time or just walked up to him, but James did. He jumped quite visibly, as Abaddon still gave him the creeps, but did his best to play it off like was scared or startled.

    ¡°Party chat man,¡± Sorrell answered as she moved to greet her father, who was still hovering behind the large red-head, ¡°Geez, you really have been living under a rock haven''t you?¡±

    Alex gave James a look at the possibility of party chat while outside of any Spirit Battleground. James passed the look to Omero, who diligently scribbled a note into his book of maps. Patrick nodded in appreciation at Omero¡¯s note-taking skills and at the same time seemed to shrink into himself as Sorrell stepped close to him. Patrick jumped up in the air and swore as his eyes followed the skeletal woman and he finally realized Abaddon was standing behind him.

    James laughed, happy that he didn¡¯t warn Patrick. Seeing the large red-head jump in fear was much more satisfying than he thought it would be.

    ¡°Jesus man!¡± Patrick said as he slowly realized he wasn¡¯t under attack. The red-head let his hand drop from where it was seconds away from unsheathing his True Iron Maul. He turned to face Abaddon, ¡°Why don¡¯t you take off that creepy cloak already! We know you are a skeleton now. You don¡¯t have to hide that from us anymore,¡± Patrick said, clearly flustered.

    Abaddon tilted his hood in thought.

    ¡°You might as well Dad, they will find out sooner or later if we are taking them home,¡± Sorrell said after her father released her from a long hug.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Abaddon grunted after a long silence. Everyone moved to form a half circle formation, facing the hooded creature. Abaddon started by removing his gloves.

    Okay, skeleton hands, James thought.

    Those same skeletal hands reached down to gather up the wispy and almost ethereal edges of the bottom of the black cloak. Abaddon slowly lifted his hands.

    Okay, creepy back boots, James thought.

    Skeleton hands lifted the cloak higher, revealing torn calf muscles and rotten flesh.

    James gagged.

    Thigh muscle rotted away to reveal calcified hip bones as the cloak raised higher and higher.

    Omero walked away.

    A singular spine supported the way up to a muscular and scarred human chest.

    Abaddon finished pulling up his cloak and tossed it onto the ground, revealing half of a skeletal body and half of a rotten, battle-weary human form. The two halves met at Abaddon¡¯s face.

    ¡°Okay! Okay! Put it back on!¡± Patrick pleaded.

    Bones moved behind Abaddon¡¯s half rotten face and grew behind his head. They became longer, revealing other bones attached to the first set.

    James raised an eyebrow.

    Abaddon stretched his skeletal wings, letting out a relieved sigh as they reached their full span and cast the party in bone patterned shadow.

 Book 2 - Chapter 24 - Underworld

    A few hours later, the party was carefully traversing the mud of the Great Savanna. Tufts of the once high grass could be seen as all the snow melted away. James knew the grass wasn¡¯t new growth, but still found comfort in the fact that all the snow was beginning to melt. Sorrell lagged behind the rest of the party, and James seized the opportunity to catch her alone and ask the question that has been burning inside of him.

    ¡°So, can he fly with those things or what?¡±

    Sorrell scoffed, ¡°Not that I know of. They are just a side effect of his magic.¡±

    ¡°What magic gives you wings?¡± James inquired. If there was any body mutation that he thought he would be able to live with, it would be wings.

    ¡°All types I imagine,¡± the skeleton said as she kicked a rock in her path, ¡°Abaddon is studying light magic though if that helps.¡±

    James watched the rick skitter into his path and kicked it back to Sorrell, ¡°I have a friend that is a light mage,¡± James began, thinking of Lilly, ¡°she doesn¡¯t have wings though.¡±

    ¡°Yea, I haven''t met many mages that have them. Actually, I haven''t met any at all,¡± Sorrell admitted, catching the rock with her metatarsals and giving it another push with her calcaneus, ¡°my father is quite strong though. That is why he isn¡¯t all skeleton yet. He is much stronger than I am.¡±

    The rock skidded to a halt in front of James. He missed his kick and the two moved passed it, ending the rock''s journey, ¡°That¡¯s scary because you seem pretty strong.¡±

    The skeletal woman nodded her head.

    James cleared his throat awkwardly, ¡°So what is your home like?¡±

    Sorrell¡¯s skull bones brightened, ¡°You¡¯ll see, we are almost there.¡±

    James looked around curiously but didn¡¯t find any hints of a settlement. He pulled up his interface and opened up his map. He was northeast of his own town and north-west of The Outpost. Closer to The Outpost than his own home, a realization that caused a ting of homesickness to pulse in his stomach. James¡¯s mind drifted off to Michael, Torunn, and the rest of his villagers that he had long since begun to consider family, as he gazed upon the mountain range he was walking under.

    ¡°Halt!¡± Abaddon called out, jolting James back to his current location, which was beginning to seem much further from his home than it actually was.

    The formation of skeletal guards halted immediately. Omero and Alex had been walking close behind the guards and found themselves inside their formation by the time they processed the sudden order to halt. Omero tediously maneuvered out of the formation, doing his best not to touch elbow bones with any of the guards. Alex simply stayed in the formation and assumed a position of attention as he waited for further orders along with his military brethren.

    James andSorrell caught up to Patrick and stood behind the formation. James could hear Abaddon barking orders at Alex and the rest of the formation. James turned his head to ask Sorrell what was going on and found the skeleton stretching her nonexistent muscles again.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± James asked curiously. Patrick leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the skeleton bending in odd ways, but didn''t make any verbal remarks.

    ¡°Getting ready to run,¡± Sorrell said with strain, ¡°you should too. It is a long run, and if you slow down you will die,¡± Sorrell stood up and gave one of her playfully creepy grins.

    James shook his head, ¡°What? What kind of place do you live in?¡±

    Patrick laughed as he checked to see if his maul was safely strapped to his back, ¡°Definitely not the suburbs.¡±

    Abaddon waved at Sorrell from the front of the formation, ¡°Did you brief them?¡±

    ¡°Yup!¡± Sorrell called out.

    James yelled that she did not, in fact, brief them about anything, but it was too late. His concerns were drowned out by a loud burst of magic from Abaddon¡¯s fingers. The formation started to move forward, quickly building up speed. James looked at Sorrell, who was already far ahead of him. She looked back and winked at James. It was enough of a signal for James and Patrick to finally burst into action.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Omero yelled over the footsteps of the skeletal formation.

    Patrick did his best to shrug while he ran, ¡°I don¡¯t know - we weren¡¯t briefed.¡±

    The party ran right towards the mountain range. Just as James started to worry that they were going to have to run up the mountain, he spotted a dark draw. The same sort of draw that could hide a secret entrance to somewhere. His thoughts were confirmed when Abaddon gave a signal from the front of the group and the square formation moved into a single file line. Alex wasn¡¯t familiar with the command but did his best to adjust as he ran. He ended up at the back of the skeleton line, and right in front of James. The mountain range got larger and larger until it was so close that it seemed to loam over James. Then, Abandon disappeared into a hole. The single line formation continued on, and more and more skeletons disappeared into the darkness. Alex disappeared next, and then James plunged into the darkness. Before his eyes could adapt, his legs felt the floor slope downward beneath him. He was running down a dark, narrow tunnel in the mountain. He ran through multiple twists and turns. Many of those turns were so tight that James lost sight of his party, still, he ran on. Suddenly, the tunnel opened up to a large cavern. Stalactites sparkled and dripped a liquid that James could only hope was water.

    ¡°Keep running!¡± Abaddon commanded. James realized he slowed down as he took in the site of the gloomy cavern and picked up his pace. The skeletal guards were waiting right outside the tunnel entrance. Two of them joined James and ran along each of his sides. Jame¡¯s looked ahead and could see that two guards were running on either side of Alex as well. At first, James couldn''t figure out why the guards were running next to him, but he quickly found the answer lying on the floor of the damp cavern.

    Bones were scattered everywhere, except in the path he and his party ran. James could see the bones jumping and moving just as they did in the Keep where he first met Sorrell.

    Shit, he thought as he dug deep into his stamina bar and ran faster.

    James ran and ran, throwing paranoid glances at the bones that stalked him just outside the path. Suddenly, a movement on his right caught his eye. James turned his head just in time to see a skull, full of sharp teeth flying toward him. He reflexively pulled out his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword, but the skeletal guard on his right acted before he needed to. A blast of holy light sythed through the air, splitting the toothy head in half. James slowed to watch it fall to the ground, but the skeletal guard that protected him did not. The teethy scull rocked on the ground as other bones were drawn to it. James caught up with his two guards before he could see what the skull did next.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    A dome of golden light came into view as James rounded a curve in the cavern. His eyes grew larger as more of the dome came into view. It stood out in stark contrast to the dark and death filled cavern. A horn resounded from somewhere within the opaque golden dome.

    Another skeleton lunged at James¡¯s face, only to be cut in half by the skeletal guard on his left.

    Further down the path, James could see Abaddon slow. A contingent of golden robes materialized from the dome. Bones rumbled and formed into large beasts and attacked the contingent of gold, but was quickly sent back into the darkness.

    Abaddon signaled for everyone to hurry up. A rumble echoed throughout the chamber, but James didn¡¯t dare distract himself by searching for the cause. He could see that Alex reached the edge of the dome, where he was hurriedly thrown through the magical barrier. Another, larger mass of bones resembling a creature that James had never even imagined before, lunged at him and was subsequently cut into pieces by his guards. James decided right then that whatever was through the golden dome had to be much more pleasant than where he currently was. James sprinted past Abaddon, and ran straight into the magic dome, leaving the formless monsters of bones behind him.

    James''s skin was pulled taut. A light so bright that he couldn¡¯t tell if his eyelids were closed or not emanated from everywhere. James felt an immovable surface impact his head. Soon after, he felt warm blood coat his face. His last coherent thoughts were;

    Odd, I can still feel the warmth of my own blood...

    ***

    James stretched lazily in his bed without opening his eyes and ran through his mental list of tasks for the day. Put some coffee on, get dressed, brush my teeth and hair, make sure Michael is awake, drink the coffee, wake Michael up again, head to work. James hated his job. His cubicle gave him no joy, and the work he did within it gave him no sense of accomplishment. Just keep plugging away, James told himself as he did every morning, soon enough we will pay off the debt from Mom and Dad. Then we will go from there. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. James gave his morning mantra life by opening his eyes and throwing his legs over the edge of the bed. His legs didn¡¯t bend and his feet didn¡¯t hover over his slippers like they did every other morning though. Strange, he thought, I must have rolled around a bunch in my sleep. James scooted closer to the edge of the bed, and suddenly realized there was no edge and that his bed sheets where green, as opposed to his usual checkered red.

    A female voice pierced through James confusion, causing James to start. He jumped again when his eyes fell upon a skeletal figurine. It was the same educational figure that would see occasionally on visits to the doctor''s office or a museum of human sciences.

    ¡°I said are you alright?¡± the skeleton asked.

    A year of memories rushed back to James. Memories of checking his email and finding a strange message from a .mil account. Memories of opening that email and finding it intriguing, if not suspicious, that the military was offering him so much money. Memories of talking to his brother about the email and deciding that that money would change the course of their sad and lonely lives forever. Memories of being hooked up into a strange assortment of very serious looking machines and shortly after waking up in the Great Savanna. Memories of watching Torunn grow from a mischievous cub and into the clan leader. Memories of the Lich King¡¯s Dungeon, the people trapped within it, and his village. James remembered that he was on a mission to save all those people. James remembered that he needed to talk to a Mystic to find a spell that will protect his soul from the Lich King. For the life of him though, James couldn¡¯t remember what was supposed to happen after he did all that...

    ¡°Are you still dreaming?¡± Sorrell inquired playfully.

    ¡°Sort of,¡± James answered before standing up on the bed of moss he had been sleeping on, ¡°where is your father. I want to talk to the Mystic.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just on the other side of the dome, waiting for you!¡± Sorrell said before offering her phalanges to James. James took her hand and let the skeleton lead him through a wall of vines and into a marbled stone hall. The hall was long and without a ceiling. James could see the golden shimmer of the dome rising high above. The marbled pillars that supported the vine growth stretched on for almost as far as James could see. Every now and then gold cloaked skeletons would move in such a way that James could get a glimpse of a black cloak in between them. James picked up his pace and headed toward Abaddon, causing more than a few gold cloaks to sneer as he bumped into them, interrupting their work.

    Patrick popped out of a wall of vines, ¡°Oh hey dude, glad your okay. How was your nap? I just laid down on one of their moss beds, it was great. Much better than a fur pile.¡±

    James was happy to see his old friend again and wanted to make a joke about how nothing was better than sleeping in fur piles, but he didn¡¯t have the time. He wanted to go home. ¡°Go find the rest of the party," James asked of the red-head, "I am going to ask Abaddon where the mystic is and then we will all have to go to her. Hurry.¡±

    Patrick frowned, but still nodded and ran off to find the rest of the party.

    ¡°Glad you are okay, James,¡± Abaddon¡¯s hood said by way of greeting.

    James let go of the hand of the half-rotten man¡¯s daughter that he had been pulling along behind him, ¡°The mystic, where is she.¡±

    ¡°It is not a she,¡± Abaddon remarked with a pause, ¡°I am the Mystic.¡±

    James¡¯s confusion and anger must have been evident on his face because the robbed figure immediately decided to elaborate, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t tell you before. I still wasn¡¯t sure if I could trust you.¡±

    ¡°Well, do you trust me now?¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± Abaddon laughed, ¡°but we are in my kingdom now, so it matters little.¡±

    James looked around the nature-covered marble hall, ¡°What is this place anyway?¡±

    ¡°This is the home of soulless, James. We all usually end up here, willingly or unwillingly.¡±

    ¡°And the dome?¡±

    ¡°The dome is a rather new construct, I am quite proud of it actually. It allows us to conduct our research without having to worry about being attacked by the feral soulless. You see, our research is exactly the type of thing you need... Omero told me you are looking for a way to protect your souls, is that true?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± James replied, ¡°we want to fight the Lich King.¡±

    Abaddon laughed, ¡°The Lich King? That creature has been dead for a long long time.¡±

    James didn¡¯t join in on the laughing, and after a few breaths, Abaddon stopped laughing all together. ¡°You are serious?¡± He asked.

    ¡°The Lich King is in a realm separated by a portal he cannot pass through, but he is very much alive. A Mystic named Salmaana impris-¡±

    James¡¯s words were cut off, ¡°I know all about Salmaana, she is a legend. Tell me, James, do you have access to the Lich King?¡±

    Reluctantly, James nodded.

    ***

    Abaddon was quite angry at the fact that James had access to the creature that stole his and his daughter''s souls. He was even more angry at the fact that James didn¡¯t give up that information when they first met. James thought that was quite hypocritical, and told Abaddon as much. The words, ¡®trust¡¯ and ¡®strangers¡¯ were thrown around with accusatory implications from both sides. The argument became even louder when Sorrell told the two arguing men that they were exactly alike eachother. James didn¡¯t like being compared to the stubborn undead hypocrite and gave Sorrell a piece of his mind for suggesting such a thing. When James realized that Abaddon was also giving a piece of his own mind to Sorrell, he turned back to Abaddon and started yelling at him again.

    Luckily, Patrick showed up with Omero before James could come up with any unforgivable insults. He thought that they should be easy to come up with, especially since Abaddon wasn¡¯t even human anymore, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. When James finally managed to come up with some, Omero held a finger to his lips, before pushing James away. James was so confused by Omero¡¯s actions that he forgot his insults altogether.

    Voices eventually grew quiet. James had no doubt that it was because of Omero¡¯s impressive mediations skills. Eventually, Omero and Abaddon decided that they all needed to conduct some ¡°Trust Building Exercises¡± together.

    That is how James found himself preparing to leave the safety of the golden dome in order to hunt the feral bone-monsters that plagued the Underworld.

 Book 2 - Chapter 25 - Boneminar

    Eight hours later, James fell through the magical dome, much in the same way he did the first time, but with much more scrapes and bruises. Thankfully, he had enough sense left over not to bang his head on the marble floor this time. Abaddon appeared through the golden film shortly after. James felt the robed creature¡¯s good hand land heavily on his shoulder. James let out an exhausted grunt. His body couldn¡¯t handle any more strain.

    ¡°Good job out there, today¡­¡± Abaddon said as he walked away, ¡°...dude.¡±

    James waved the robe off and collapsed onto the floor. If James had learned anything in the hours he was hunting bone monsters with Abaddon, it was that the Mystic could deal insane amounts of damage, and most importantly, that he could trust the rotting man with his life. At least as long as Abaddon wanted him alive. James still wasn¡¯t sure if Abaddon trusted him though. During their ¡°trust-building exercises,¡± James didn¡¯t get much opportunity to save the robed figure. In fact, he didn¡¯t get any. James essentially wandered the dark tunnels of the Underworld until any of the creatures stalking him in the darkness got bold enough to attack. When that happened, James was mostly left alone to fight for his survival. It was only when one of the caverns he had wandered into began to quake, did Abaddon make his presence known.

    "Ughh," James complained as he lay on the floor, pleading for his health and energy bars to regenerate. He was beginning to doubt the mediation skills of his companion Omero. Abaddon agreed to the trust building exercises way too easily. It had to mean that the whole idea was in the robed figures favor. Indeed, James had learned he could trust the rotting man, but he also learned that Abaddon was extremely powerful. Much more powerful than he was. James shuddered as he recalled the moment his soul was stolen from him briefly. The debuff he got was considerable. If Abaddon was still so powerful, even with the stolen soul debuff, then the rotting man must have been a serious force to be reckoned with before he and his daughter lost their souls.

    James stood up, positive that Abaddon used the entire trust-building exercise as a show of force. It was clear that if the rotting man wanted to destroy James''s village and kill everyone within it, he could. No matter what he tried to do to stop him. James stood up and shakily climbed the marble stairs to the main hallway that made up Abaddon¡¯s research facility.

    The gold cloaks were still busy running all around the hall. They emerged from vine enclosed rooms, dodged their brethren, and ducked into other vined enclosed rooms. On the way back from the trust-building exercise, Abaddon revealed a lot of information about what his facility was for.

    Omero popped his head out from one of the vine walls in the hallway, ¡°Hey James,¡± he started before looking James over, ¡°Ohh man, you look terrible!¡±

    ¡°Yea, Abaddon put me to work,¡± James said as he followed his companion into the room.

    Unlike most of the other rooms, this one didn¡¯t have a moss-covered floor. The same marble that made up the colonnade filled hall, spilled into this room. Patrick, Alex, and Omero were busy watching a gold cloak complete various magical spells in rapt attention.

    ¡°What did you guys do?¡± Omero asked as the two joined the show.

    ¡°Well¡­ he kind of left me out there to fight skeletons for a while. Then some kind of shadow creature¡­¡± James paused, ¡°I don¡¯t really know how to explain it. The thing¡­ killed all the other bone creatures and took their bones. I never actually saw the creature until he used all the bones to form an Abominar. Then I had to fight that bone Abominar. It was much stronger than the living one we fought. It easily whooped my ass, but eventually, Abaddon came out of the shadows and downed it with one spell.¡±

    ¡°Sounds fun!¡± Patrick commented without taking his eyes off the gold cloak.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t,¡± James said as he prodded his slowly healing bruises.

    Alex turned to James, ¡°Do you trust him now?¡±

    James shrugged, ¡°Only as far as I could throw him¡­¡±

    ¡°I can throw him pretty far,¡± Patrick added.

    ***

    ¡°I wish we could just die,¡± Patrick said as the party prepared to leave Abaddon¡¯s magic done. The robed figure had promised to take Lilly under his wing and teach her the spell that would protect everyone''s soul from the Lich King. It wasn¡¯t the solution James had wanted. He was hoping for some sort of scroll that would immediately teach someone the spell, but nothing was ever that easy, so the party would have to go back to the village and fetch the blonde woman.

    ¡°You heard Abaddon - if we die here we will just respawn back in the dome. It would be a waste of time.¡±

    Patrick groaned and mumbled something about walking for so long being tough on his large body and not being able to talk to his buddy Noma on the journey since the Soul Merchant found a new best friend.

    James wasn¡¯t looking forward to the long journey home either, but he was excited at the idea of being home. The journey would certainly suck, but it would be worth it. He would finally be able to see the Martyrs and the people of his village. James imagined that the Martyr cubs must be just about reaching adult size. If they weren¡¯t, they would at least be able to talk by now. Most importantly, Alex, Patrick, and himself would be able to enter the Lich King¡¯s dungeon without worrying about having their souls stolen and dying for good.

    Two nights prior, just after James¡¯s health bar had finally filled up, Abaddon had cast the spell on his party to protect their souls. The spell was visually disappointing, especially after seeing the robed figure kill a giant bone Abominar with a single, spectacular spell. But when it washed over James it was the opposite from disappointing. James knew with every bone in his body that his soul was secure, and that was a feeling almost as unforgettable as the time he got his soul stolen, just on opposite sides of the pleasure spectrum. When James asked his party how they felt afterward, they all just shrugged disappointedly. He figured that they didn¡¯t notice a difference because they didn¡¯t know where to look. James had never really been able to feel his soul before the day it was ripped from his body, but ever since then, he was acutely aware of its presence.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Abaddon had vehemently refused to travel to James¡¯s village and cast the spell on everyone there. In fact, that was the only reason the party had waited an entire extra day to head home. A whole day was wasted trying to persuade the robed figure, but he wouldn¡¯t budge. The entire situation left a bad taste in James¡¯s mouth, even after Abaddon finally disclosed the reason he couldn¡¯t leave. It turned out that the Soulless were all slowly turned feral, and that the vast majority of the undead were not actually evil, yet. Abaddon was looking for ways to slow down the process that turned his kind into feral beasts. He needed to buy some more time for his people, and especially his daughter.

    James learned that the rotting man was indeed a Mystic, but he wasn¡¯t a master of holy light, which is the magic type you needed if you wanted any spells that had to do with manipulating the soul. Abaddon was actually a powerful lightning Mystic and had spent much of his life mutated by the magic. Finally, when he achieved his Mystic status, he was able to reverse his mutations, or at least control them. Abaddon explained that he lived most of his life mutated and that he vowed to never do it again. He said that he used to plead with everyone he came across not to take the path of the mage. But then, the Lich King stole his and his daughter¡¯s souls and he had to walk down the path of the mage once again. His body was currently mutated by light magic because he hadn¡¯t mastered it.

    All those excuses didn''t help James though. Sure, the rotting man''s story was a sad one, but none of the excuses caused the bad taste in James''s mouth to disappear.The rotting man told James that not having a soul does odd things to a man, and after casting the spell that protected James¡¯s soul, Abaddon could already feel himself becoming more feral. That didn''t help either.

    When James offered to go and kill the Lich King right away, Abaddon laughed. James didn¡¯t see the holdup. He figured the rotting man could go to the village with them, cast the spell that sealed in everyone¡¯s souls, then they could go to the dungeon and kill the Lich. It turned out that wasn¡¯t the case. Abaddon informed the party that the Lich King would not be easy to reach, even if they had the strongest army of Mystics in the land. Magical seals, spells, doors, and his minions would be protecting him. Abaddon said that the Lich King wasn¡¯t the strongest evil in the land for no reason. The Lich King was as smart as he was cruel, and would have every manner of protection stacked upon brute force and made redundant by magic. All of this information made James even more impatient to get home. He immediately dismissed his party, knowing that he wouldn¡¯t get any more help from the rotting man, and commanded everyone to get some rest, because they would be leaving before the sun rose the next day.

    James couldn¡¯t actually tell when the sun rose that morning, but he woke up early like usual and silently gathered up his party. The gold cloaks were all still running about, casting various spells, and finding the best ways to raise their light masteries, but none of them bothered his party as they snuck out.

    ¡°Okay¡­ the skeletons will attack again, but if we stay together and don¡¯t give them any time to build up, we should be fine,¡± James whispered to his party just outside the golden dome, ¡°3 - 2 - 1 - go.¡±

    James pushed his body through the magical membrane and felt his skin pull back. When he landed on the other side he waited just long enough to make sure the rest of his party made it through as well. Then they all ran.

    Unlike James''s party, the bones that covered the floor of the Underworld had no trouble waking up early in the morning. As soon as the party started running, the bones skittered and jumped after them. It wasn¡¯t until the party was halfway to the tunnel did the bones start joining forces and combining into rolling pinwheels of doom, canine creatures, and the least scary version of them all - regular skeletons.

    James looked back to check on the lagging redhead just in time to see a fanged skull fly through the air. Its mandibles chomped as it went, all the way into Patrick¡¯s back. The redhead howled in pain. Alex blinked and punched the skull with his reinforced fists. The skull refused to release it¡¯s bite on Patrick, even with Alex¡¯s Pointy Bracer Cover piercing it. Four more skulls launched into the air.

    Shit, James thought as he watched Alex and Patrick¡¯s awkward attempt at dislodging the skull as the ran.

    ¡°Is that a trebuchet?¡± Omero asked as he pointed off into the shadow.

    James split a skull in half with his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword as it fell into him and batted another away with the flat of his skinning knife. Pieces of skull rolled back into the darkness. He followed the direction Omero was pointing with his eyes and saw that the bones had formed a triangular structure within the shadows, complete with a counterweight.

    Fuck, the superior siege engine, James swore to himself as he watched the trebuchet launch another volley of skulls. Thinking quickly, James cursed the siege engine and launched a volley of firebolts in response. Another swear left James¡¯s mouth when he realized his firebolt didn¡¯t have enough impact damage to dismantle the structure and the burning effect didn¡¯t actually affect the bones at all.

    ¡°Keep running! I will catch up!¡± James said as he watched a large skeletal creature load itself into the bucket of the siege engine. James activated Jump Strike and exploded into the air. The trebuchet was far enough away that he didn¡¯t run the risk of smashing into a stalactite, but he did have another concern, like the six or so skulls that were chomping their way over to him. James wasted no time in casting and quickly had three firebolts burning their way to intercept the skulls. He couldn''t cast anymore by the time the other three skulls reached him. James split two in half with his short swords, but one got through and embedded itself into his leg. He struggled to dislodge the bone as he plummeted toward the siege engine.

    The trebuchet launches its cargo moments before James could smash it into the ground. A creature with numerous appendages that consisted of long leg bones that were sharpened to a point soared past James. He did his best to try and chop up the creature before it could reach his party, but the creature twisted its complicated joints in unpredictable ways in an effort to avoid James¡¯s prodding swords. A second later, James smashed into the superior siege weapon. Fire billowed from underneath his feet and traveled outward, carried by his shockwave. His landing proved too much for the skull attached to his leg. It fell off and shattered onto the ground, pushed by the momentum from James''s Jump Strike.

    James spotted his party in the distance and considered running back to them. A quick survey of his path forward let him know that he would be tripped and stabbed by the various bones undulating on the ground. James looked up and nervously waited for the multi-appendaged creature to land by his party. If James had a watch, he knew he would be ignoring it and staring down the bones that were creepily rolling towards his feet.

    The creature hit the ground a dozen paces in front of his party and immediately extended all of its appendages outward in an effort to skewer his party. James activated Jump Strike once again.

 Book 2 - Chapter 26 - Jamess Worst Nightmare

    ¡°I would like to request that I never be made to go back to that place,¡± Omero requested of James, quite seriously.

    ¡°Request granted,¡± James laughed as he looked to the sky. The sun already rose, and was quite further in the sky than James would have liked, ¡°Damn, we did wake up late.¡±

    Patrick ran ahead, twisted through boulders as large as he was, and disappeared into the Great Savanna. His voice echoed back to James, ¡°Forget the sun, come look at the Savanna!¡±

    James navigated the same boulders and sloping land that hid the entrance to the Underworld and stepped out into the Great Savanna. What he saw almost brought tears to his eyes. Any traces of snow that still plagued the savanna were gone. New grass grew and swayed in the wind. The grass was much shorter than what James¡¯s was used to, but what it lacked in height in made up for in color. A sea of green stretched before James. Floating on the top of that sea, where strange and beautiful flowers. James spotted a particularly foreign blue flower and bent over to pluck it. Its long stalk was so smooth that James had trouble gripping it. James doubled down with grunt, and pulled the flower out. A loud scream was heard. James fell backward. Something chittered down his chest. Patrick bellowed in laughter.

    ¡°What was that?¡± James asked confused as he climbed back to his feet.

    Patrick laughed harder, ¡°I have no idea, but you should have seen your face! Little thing scared the crap out of you!¡±

    James looked around curiously and watched the blue flower skitter across the Great Savanna, leaving a cloud of dull blue pollen in its wake. As the pollen came into contact with the buds of other blue flowers, they pulled themselves from the ground and skittered away.

    ¡°I think you scared them!¡± Alex commented as he watched the flowers follow the first one to safety. James didn¡¯t know how to react but promised himself not to pluck any more flowers without first consulting a Martyr.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go home,¡± James said, relieved at the thought of being back in his village. When Omero was finished jotting down notes about the blue flower, the party set off.

    ***

    ¡°Check that out,¡± Alex said as he pointed somewhere to the East.

    James realized he had been smiling as he walked. He figured it was probably because the Great Savanna was back to the state it was when he originally fell in love with it, but he let his smile die nonetheless. It wouldn¡¯t do him any good to tire out his smile muscles before he got back to the village. Following Alex¡¯s finger, James spotted a large cloud of the dull blue pollen in the distance. The cloud had a tail that covered a large distance, like a heavy creature was walking the Great Savanna and disturbing every blue flower as it went.

    ¡°Think it is a No-No?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s a No-No?¡± Omero inquired as he pulled out his book of maps.

    Alex raised his hands up above his head and gave himself horns, ¡°It is a large Rhino-like creature with the horns of a deer. Apparently one of them almost smashed Patrick to death when he first entered the game.¡±

    Patrick glared at James accusingly. James shrugged, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell him that,¡± James deflected. He was ninety percent sure he never told anyone the embarrassing story of Patrick¡¯s first few days in the game, but then again, alcohol flowed quite freely during some nights in the cabin, so he couldn¡¯t be completely sure,

    Patrick grunted, ¡°Well, I am a lot bigger now - let¡¯s go say hi to the beast.¡±

    James looked Patrick up and down for the first time in a long time. The red-head had grown a lot since he first entered the game. James guessed that he was almost two feet taller than he used to be, but couldn¡¯t be sure. Without an accurate thing to measure the redhead against, James would never be certain either. He couldn¡¯t use himself to measure either, as James had been investing in strength lately and had grown quite considerably himself.

    The party entered into the outskirt of the dull blue cloud they realized two things. One, they learned that pollen was quite refreshing to breathe in. If James¡¯s lungs had taste buds he would describe the pollen as sweet and chilled. Two, the party learned that it wasn¡¯t a No-No that was roaming the Great Savanna and causing all the blue flowers to send out danger signals. It was a small pack of Ingos.

    James squinted his eyes, They¡¯re back, he thought as his body shuddered with rage.

    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± James said, turning around, ¡°As much as I want to kill them, the Martyr¡¯s probably need them to live for some stupid reason¡­¡±

    ¡°No wait,¡± Alex said, holding his fist into the air in a militaristic signal that encouraged everyone to halt, ¡°I think there is a human with them.¡±

    James turned back around and reluctantly focused his sight on the creatures that loved to wake him up in the morning with their annoying calls. James saw that the human was walking with the Ingos for some reason. James had no idea why anyone would want to walk with such vile creatures and decided that the human wasn¡¯t anyone he wanted anything to do with. He didn¡¯t need that kind of energy in his life. A friend of an Ingo was no friend of his. Immediately after James decided to ignore the Ingo lover, he realized that it was his own brother.

    Traitor, James thought before reluctantly calling out to his brother.

    Michael turned to the sound of James¡¯s voice and walked to meet him. The Ingos followed.

    ¡°What are you doing here man?¡± Patrick asked as he waited to greet the only man in the Great Savanna that was bigger than him.

    ¡°Oh man, am I happy to see you guys. I thought I would get lost in this blue cloud for the rest of my life.¡± Michael said as he released James from a hug. ¡°Patrick! I got your mounts!¡±

    ¡°Awesome!¡± Patrick said enthusiastically, jumping up and down like an eight-year-old girl that happened to have a beard, ¡°where are they?¡±

    James looked around as well, curious as to where the mounts were. The blue cloud was slowly dying down now that they weren¡¯t walking anymore. James figured the mounts were either hidden in the cloud somewhere or Michael would give them a harness or a horn or an ocarina or some other device used to summon the mounts.

    ¡°They are right here!¡± Michael said.

    James looked around more furiously, deciding that the mounts did not have an item needed to summon them and were instead hidden in the full blue cloud.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo,¡± one of the Ingo¡¯s announced annoyingly.

    James turned completely around, utterly confused at where the mounts could be hiding. Then he had the exciting thought that they were flying mounts. That would certainly explain why he couldn¡¯t find them. James looked up but was only greeted by the bright sun doing its best to blaze its way into the blue haze.

    ¡°Dude,¡± Patrick said.

    James gave up searching the sky and looked at Patrick. For some reason, the red-head was sitting on top of one of the Ingo¡¯s back. Patrick face and the Ingo¡¯s stupid beaked face where staring back at him blankly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see them,¡± James said with a frustrated shrug, ¡°and why are you sitting on that Ingo? Why are you all sitting on Ingos¡±

    Then the only Ingo that wasn¡¯t mounted by one of James party members walked up to him and James came face to face with one of his worst nightmares.

    No¡­ Anything but that...

    ***

    James sulked as his Ingo mount trotted along. The rest of the party was busy catching up and exchanging stories, but James was too busy thinking about how much he hated his mount. Everything about it was annoying: its long stupid neck, its long skinny legs that shouldn¡¯t be strong enough to even hold anyone, the way James bounced as he rode on top of its annoyingly brown back, all of it.

    ¡°The Outpost was full of racist people man, they all hated everyone. Or at least we thought they hated everyone until the city was attacked. It turned out that everyone there slept during the day and was awake at night since that was when they got attacked.¡± James overheard Patrick say.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Oh, they were attacked by the monsters I helped write lore for! Don¡¯t forget that part!¡± Alex added, just before James tuned them out again.

    James looked around and couldn¡¯t help the feeling that his mount was purposefully bouncing more than the others. He studying his companions for a bit and confirmed his suspicion - his mount was purposely bouncing more than the others! He gave his mount a sharp kick with his boot, ¡°You better walk normal or I will eat you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...¡± James threatened, ¡°...for a whole month. Trust me, I have done it before and I would happily do it again. My cooking skill is getting quite high. I can make even your stringy meat taste good.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Then Sorrell threw one of her foot bones into Alex¡¯s mouth!¡± Patrick continued his story cheerfully.

    James looked at his hands, not sure where to put them. His mount¡¯s neck didn¡¯t really have any fur to hang onto, and besides, it was too skinny to support any of his weight anyway. James just let his arms droop sadly by his side. He looked to his party, who didn¡¯t seem to have the same problem since they were using their hands to expressively tell stories. Alex was pretending to choke as he spat out an invisible bone.

    ¡°Well, at least I can take you into battle then,¡± James said as unsheathed his short swords and gave them a few practice swings. His mount came to an abrupt halt, causing James to lose his balance and almost fall off. James gave his Ingo a prodding with his boots, ¡°Onward. Go! Start. Proceed,¡± James commanded his deaf mount. Alex, Michael, Patrick, and Omero continued on in the direction of the village. James called out to them to wait, but they didn¡¯t hear him over their laughs.

    James sighed. ¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t take you into battle.¡± the mount walked forward, trotting slightly faster to catch up to the party. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to fight, what are good are ya for then,¡± James whispered under his breath. Immediately after, the ground came up to punch him in the face.

    ***

    By the time the moon rose over the Great Savanna, James thought that the mood should have risen over the Great Savanna at least twice. The day went by so slowly that James seriously thought there might be a spirit vessel nearby that was slowing down his perception of time. There were no mystical causes for his misery though, just a simple, well-meaning Ingo mount. James plopped his fur pile out of his satchel and fell into it, not even bothering to rearrange the individual furs into his normal configuration. The resulting pile of Ingo furs was uncomfortable and caused his body to bend in odd ways. James didn¡¯t even know where his Abominar skin was within the pile and had no desire to fish it out. His uncomfortableness was counterbalanced by one simple fact that made everything okay - he was laying in a pile of furs made from the ancestors of his annoying mount.

    The party had to make camp by an Ingo pond, much to James¡¯s dismay, so their mounts could drink. It meant that he would once again be woken up by their annoying calls. James idly wondered if the party thought it would be inappropriate to clear out Ingo nests now that they were supposedly allies with the creatures. James couldn¡¯t help but feel a tinge of guilt at the thought of clearing out an Ingo nest in front of his mount. He shook the unwanted weakness away and pulled up his interface and checked his battle skills, hopeful that he would have new abilities to test out on the wild Ingo¡¯s sleeping engagingly close to him.

    Battle Skills

    Sneak, Level 9 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 9% while sneaking.

    Fire, Level 36 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 36%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Curse of Fire Augment - Cast a curse on your target, attracting all Fire Bolts in the immediate vicinity.

    Short Swords, Level 41 (4 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 41%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 15 - Chance to stun 100% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Meteor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for ????1 second.

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 17 (4 levels gained recently) - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 17%. ??Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 43% for both weapons.

    Party Leader, Level 15 (3 levels gained recently) - Damage taken by party members reduced by 15%

    Moral Defender Sub-Skill, Level 1 - Those under your command gain an additional armor point.

    Ingo Mastery, Level 2 (2 levels gained recently) - Friendliness with your favorite Ingo has increased by 2%. Friendliness from all other Ingos increased by half that amount.

    James opened his notification to see what new skills or augments he would be offered for his Short Sword skill.

    Congratulations! Your Short Sword skill has surpassed level 10. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills or augments.

    Sub-Skill 1 - Challenge, send a challenge to battle your opponent. The loser will be left with 1 health point, and the winner will gain 1 level with their weapon of choice. 1-week cooldown.

    Dual Wield Augment 1 - Flame Whirlwind, Your blades gain a mind of their own for a short time and whirl around your body. They move so fast they ignite the air, encasing your body in a tornado of flame. 30-second duration. 1-day cooldown.

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± James whispered from within his fur pile. The ability to win duels and gain a level in his short sword skill could come in handy at later levels. He was relatively certain that he gained more than one level every week, so the skill wouldn¡¯t do him any good now, but definitely an interesting skill nonetheless. James had actually been waiting for an augment for his dual wield skill. He wished that his augment would be fire based, and that wish came true. James selected the Flame Whirlwind augment. It was just what he needed to cheer himself up.

    James went back to his Battle Skill screen and paused at the Moral Defender augment to his Party Leader skill. By his calculations, the skill should have risen by at least two levels. His party had found an entire swath of skeletal creatures and structures on their way out of the Underworld.

    Surely, that would be enough experience to improve a level one augment, James thought curiously as he racked his brain for an explanation.

    ¡°Hey man¡­ can we get a fire or what?¡± Patrick grumbled as he dropped a small armful of dead twigs, grass, and one large log in the center of the camp. James let his arm protrude from his pile and cast a Firebolt. The bolt impacted the ground and showered Alex in dirt.

    The veteran simple ruffled the dirt from his hair and said, ¡°Your gonna have to get a new spell soon, one that is designed for starting fires and not blasting your enemies to smithereens¡­¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± James said as he climbed a little bit out of his fur pile, ¡°Hey, did you guys get unlock Ingo Mastery in your interface?¡±

    Alex and Patrick¡¯s eyes glossed over as Michael nodded, ¡°Yea, I meant to mention that earlier. I am at level seven you?¡±

    ¡°I am at level two¡­¡± James replied.

    ¡°Oh yeah, I got it,¡± Alex said as his eyes came back to life, ¡°I¡¯m at level four!¡±

    Patrick snarled, ¡°I can¡¯t find the damn thing¡­¡±

    Alex laughed, ¡°What do you mean you can¡¯t find the thing? Do you even use your interface, Patrick?¡±

    ¡°Not usually,¡± the redhead admitted, ¡°I usually only pay attention to my notifications, and even those aren''t that helpful. Oh! Here it is. I am also at level four.¡±

    Alex and Michael both turned to James. James turned to his mount and shook his head, defeated.

    ¡°Maybe if you were just nicer to him¡­¡± Alex suggested warily.

    ¡°Yea¡­ yea¡­ I guess I could be,¡± James finally admitted.

    ***

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo,¡± James heard echo through the finished Chieftain¡¯s hut. His village was having a feast. He had invited everyone, including the Martyrs and their growing cubs, his villagers, Salmaana, and surprisingly, even Noma managed to make it. The Soul Merchant had stayed with Abaddon to help him in his research but gladly came over for the special occasion. James happily took a piece of meat from Salmaana¡¯s spectral hand. The meat was crispy and flavored with a blend of 13 herbs and spices, or at least that was what his new chef had told him. James stood up from his chair and gave Torunn a hi-five before walking over to the window. His crafters had finally figured out a way to make glass. It was every bit of the improvement to his quality of life as he thought it would be. In the mornings he never had to tear down animal skins to see the sunbeam through his cabin and at nights he never had to put up animal skins to keep the cold air out. James spotted Dreng walking through the town and knocked on the window to grab his attention. The Chieftain was too large to fit in his own hut, but he was happy guarding the entire village while everyone relaxed and had fun. Dreng waved back with a terrifying smile, dropped his massive hand to his side, and returned to his eternal duty of protecting the Martyr race. James turned from the window and set out to rejoin the feast. That was when he heard the sound again.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo.¡±

    James looked around confused. He had invited everyone to the feast, but he knew for certain, that he didn¡¯t invite any damn Ingos. James watched Michael stand up from his chair at the long table and walk towards him. James¡¯s brother seemed to have something stuck in his cheeks. They were bulging like a starving chipmunk that was just let loose in a peanut factory. James was about to tell him brother so, as his brother would definitely appreciate his silly example, but Michael spat in his face before he could. James was taken aback and when he thought the liquid being spat at him from his brother¡¯s mouth was running low, it kept on going. Finally, James was able to catch his breath.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo.¡±

    James wiped his face and desperately searched the room for the Ingo. Alex stood up from his chair. Finally, James thought, Alex always comes up with solutions. He will help me find the Ingo. James thoughts were proven wrong when Alex turned and could see that Alex¡¯s cheeks were filled up much in the same fashion that his brothers were. James watched in horror and confusion as Alex walked over to him. Water streamed from Alex¡¯s mouth, and James¡¯s face was once again, soaked. The same process repeated over and over until it got to Salmaana. The spirit stood up and floated over to James, she spat out her ghostly water just as everyone else before her, but she took it a step further. She finished James off with a punch to the stomach.

    ***

    ¡°Ahhh!¡± James cried as he doubled up in pain. He blinked the confusion from his eyes and what he saw made him even angrier. His mount was standing, with one leg on James''s stomach.

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-doo,¡± the Ingo said as it bent over to lick James.

    "No. no. no. Absolutely not,¡± James said as he did his best to squirm away from the beast. His squirming failed, and the Ingo once again licked James in the face.

    ¡°Why is your tongue green?¡± James asked, equally disturbed and confused.

    Then the Ingo raised his foot off of James¡¯s chest. James did his best to guard his precious bits against another stomp by the beast, but the Ingo¡¯s foot never came back down. James watched as it just sort of hovered and wiggled there, just above his chest. Then James spotted a ring on one of the beast¡¯s long and knobby toes. The Ingo waved his feet again.

    ¡°Am I supposed to take that?¡± James whispered, subconsciously aware of the tossing and turning of his nearby companions. James slid the ring off of his mount¡¯s toes and the Ingo walked off into the night.

    Is that it, you woke me up to give me a gift? James thought. He figured it could have waited until the morning, but when James read the stats on the ring, his frustration magically melted away.

    Congratulations! You have received Brutus¡¯s Ring (Extraordinary) +10 Strength

 Book 2 - Chapter 27 - Home

    Travel weary and covered in various pollens, James pulled up his map.

    ¡°We should be home in a few hours. Thank god for these mounts,¡± He said as he patted the Ingo below him. James¡¯s mount coo-ed.

    "Awesome," a tired Omero said as he balled up a successful fist and shook it.

    James figured that the time required to journey back home was halved because of the party¡¯s increased travel speed. They would have gone even faster if they didn¡¯t get stopped by so many aggressive creatures though. James made it a point to not fight or kill anything in the Great Savanna without the Martyr¡¯s permission, but he was often given no choice but to defend himself and his party. The first beasts to attack the party were a group of large boar-like creatures. They looked exactly the same as the first creatures James came across when he entered the game and was trapped in Freydis¡¯s tent. The pile of creatures in the tent where the first things James practiced his skinning skill on and he could remember how large they looked at the time. He was surprised at how small they were when he saw them alive, no doubt because he had just grown so drastically. But what the boars lacked in relative size they made up for in ferocity and determination. James had instructed his party to run away when the tusked boars charged them, but they simply didn¡¯t give up and chased the party. It became clear that the boars didn¡¯t have any sort of aggro zone, but that wasn¡¯t what made James decide to kill them. He would have happily ran from them until they had to make camp for the night, just to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t give up. The only problem was that the boars scared every blue flower on their relentless pursuit. After a few hours of being chased by the boars, the party found themselves in another dull blue fog of pollen. Alex was the one to suggest that the blue pollen served as a sort of warning signal to other flowers, letting them know there was something dangerous around. The party quickly found out that the blue pollen wasn¡¯t just a signal for other blue flowers though, it was also a signal to larger predators.

    As the party ran from the boars in a fog of blue pollen, an Abominar attacked. It took the party much longer to defeat the beast than the first time due to the fact that they couldn¡¯t see the creature through the blue fog until it was either attacking them or falling through the sky in an effort to crush someone. It also didn¡¯t help that Patrick got a case of the ''suicides'' again and decided that he would get to the village quicker if he was just sent to respawn. James didn¡¯t have a good grasp on the respawn system yet and wasn¡¯t sure if they would respawn at the last respawn location they visited or at whichever one they were closest to. It was a risk he wasn¡¯t willing to take considering that James was planning on entering the Lich King¡¯s dungeon, along with Patrick, as soon as they got back to the village. So James was forced to Jump Strike into the Abominar that was smashing an indifferent Patrick into the ground.

    Once the party learned how to traverse the Great Savanna without disturbing the blue flowers, their journey went by much more smoothly. They still had to kill various smaller beasts, but those battles didn¡¯t take hours to win like a fight with an Abominar did.

    ¡°You''re getting pretty big there buddy, did you stop investing in Wisdom?¡± Patrick said as he pulled up to James.

    ¡°I did actually, but my recent growth is from a ring I got. My Ingo woke me up the other night and gave it to me. Plus ten to strength,¡± James said with a smile.

    Patrick¡¯s face twisted in confusion, ¡°You mean the mount that you hate¡­ went off and found you some rare loot?¡±

    ¡°Extraordinary loot,¡± James corrected with a wink, ¡°but yea. And I don¡¯t hate him anymore - we are working through our differences. Right bud?¡± James said as he patted his mount.

    Patrick laughed and shook his head, ¡°What do I need to do to get my mount to find me things?¡±

    ¡°No clue man,¡± James answered with a shrug.

    ¡°Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on your size. You''re almost as big as me now!¡±

    ¡°I know, it¡¯s weird,¡± James said as he looked around. The red-head was right. James was now the second biggest person in the party. Just a few days ago, Alex was taller and more muscular than him. James¡¯s thoughts drifted off to the Martyrs. He wondered if he would be bigger than Torunn now. Then he wondered how the village was fairing without him.

    I am sure they are fine, James told himself. Patrick drifted away as the conversation died down. Such was the way of traveling the Great Savanna. It was so large that their days stretched on for small eternities. They did their best to chat when the had something to say, but when they didn¡¯t - they all drifted off into their own thoughts.

    James opened up his interface to see just how strong he had gotten.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 29 (2 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 18 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 29 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 10 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 12 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, and more.

    Health, 180

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 340Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    4 statistic points ready to distribute.

    James decided that he would bring his Strength up to thirty and then start investing in something else. Constitution was his next choice, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was necessary. Patrick, Michael, and Alex all had pretty high health levels, so James didn¡¯t want to follow that same path. Now that his strength was almost as high as his intelligence, James did a good amount of damage with his short swords and his FireBolt spell. He was an adaptable fighter, which he thought was good, but if he focused on his constitution now he felt like he would become too spread out, stat-wise. Besides, if he ever found himself in a sticky situation, James had a feeling that he could rely on his health reserves granted by his Will skill. He could always focus on increasing that statistic through actions. He just had to find a way to train in such a manner that increased that statistic. If he did he would have a reliable way to essentially increase his health points without wasting the stat points he got every level. James wasn¡¯t exactly sure what digging into his ¡®health reserves¡¯ looked like in real life as he never had the chance to do it. He had come close to dying when he had to save Patrick from the latest Abomminar attack, but his health never got low enough to activate any sort of reserves. Still, though, James figured he had enough information to focus on something else.

    His next obvious choice was to focus on increasing his intelligence, but the entire idea of becoming a mage gave him anxiety. Abaddon and Sorrell both told him that if your mastery of magic increased enough the magic would warp and affect your body. He wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted that to happen more than it already was and he knew if he focused on increasing his intelligence he would cast more spells with his larger mana pool and therefore increase his fire mastery faster.

    Shit, James thought before closing his interface and feeling the ring around his left ring finger, Should I just remove this? James nodded to himself as his mount plodded along. Then he removed the ring that allowed his fire mastery to increase at a faster rate. He put the ring into his satchel. Maybe I will need you later, but not right now.

    James pulled up his interface again and realized that for the first time, he wasn¡¯t sure what his growth strategy should be. It was an odd feeling. The party, he reminded himself, I have to make up for the party''s weaknesses.

    James put one of his free points into strength, bringing it up to 30. His notification icon starting blinking, but he decided to check it out after. He used another 2 points to bring his constitution up to an even 20. He would no doubt have another notification to look at now. James spent his final point on agility, just because he had tripped numerous times already. Once when fighting the Abomminar and another time when he fell into Abaddon¡¯s magical dome of protection and hit his head on the marble floor. James looked over his stat sheet once again and became familiar with the numbers.

    Okay, that is where all of you are going to stay for awhile, except intelligence,James thought, making the decision on his future growth plan. He would invest in intelligence because his party already had a good deal of competent fighters, but he wouldn¡¯t use more fire spells. Instead, he would focus on learning a new mastery, a new type of spell. His party needed a mage, but they didn''t necessarily need a fire mage. Maybe that woman in the village can teach me water mastery, James thought idly as the two feet of his mount devoured the distance left to the village.

    ¡°Hey, did you guys name your mounts?¡± James yelled to his party, who were consciously drifting apart so they could avoid stepping near the blue flowers better.

    ¡°Patrick,¡± Patrick said.

    James sighed, ¡°You can¡¯t name everything after you.¡±

    Alex and Omero both laughed as they shook their heads in disbelief.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Patrick replied, ¡°His name shall be¡­ Mounty. He is bigger than the other mounts, like a mountain, and he is also a mount¡­ so Mounty.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, not bad, not bad,¡± James said with a smile, ¡° At least we will be able to tell him apart from you and the Martyr cub now.¡±

    ¡°Sort of,¡± Omero yelled over the sound of numerous Ingo feet beating against the Great Savanna, ¡°They are all tall, fat, and hairy! Could still get confusing.¡±

    James¡¯s laughter joined that of his partys. When everyone was done congratulating Omero on his insult, James patted his mount and leaned toward its ear, ¡°You will be Fetcher,¡± James said. The mount cooed in approval.

    ***

    Congratulations! Your strength has reached level 30! You are becoming so massive that your muscles provide a small boost to armor. +5 armor.

    Instead of asking Patrick about what his level 30 strength perk was, James went straight to Omero. James could tell from the notes that Alex never got a strength perk that increased his armor, but he could see that Patrick might have. The only difference between Patrick¡¯s perk and James¡¯s most recent one was that Patrick¡¯s prompt just said, ¡°Grats, your muscles are like stone,¡±. That was no surprise to James though. Everyone knew that Patrick¡¯s interface prompts were less than helpful because he never spent a single point in intelligence. What did surprise James though, was that according to Omero¡¯s notes, Patrick got the prompt at level 20.

    We all get different perks, James thought, son of an Ingo bird. That makes everything SOOO much more complicated.

    James briefed the party on his new discovery. They all seemed like they couldn¡¯t care less. He tried to describe to them the importance of the discovery, but no matter what he said, no one was phased.

    ¡°Do you still want me to keep track of all these things?¡± Omero asked as he tapped his burnt stick against his book of maps.

    ¡°Yes,¡± James said, ¡°We should still track it all, even if everyone gets awarded different things. I am sure there is a limit or a pattern somewhere, and if there is¡­ we need to find it.¡±

    Omero nodded happily, ¡°Good. I still think it is a good idea,¡± Omero said with a smile.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, man, me too,¡± James said, appreciative of Omero¡¯s sentiment.

    ¡°Land Ho¡¯!¡± Patrick bellowed from up ahead.

    Omero seemed to grasp what Patrick was talking about a split second before James did. The Italian dug his heels into his mount and sped off. James watched Omero speed away, leaving him in a cloud of dust. James looked down to his own mount and attempted to dig his heels in the same way Omero did. Fetcher didn¡¯t increase his speed at all and instead only let out a pitiful groan.

    ¡°C¡¯mon bud, we are finally home!¡± James pleaded, to no avail. He looked around and realized that the rest of the part was still keeping pace with him, unable to motivate their mounts to run faster.

    James pulled on the furry feathers on Fetcher¡¯s right shoulder and the mount changed direction slightly. Out of Omero¡¯s dust trail, James could finally see his village for the first time. A large weight was finally able to fall off his shoulders. He was finally home, and what was even better was that his mission was successful. They found a spell that would allow them to enter the Lich King¡¯s dungeon and save the imprisoned humans without worrying about dying. They couldn¡¯t cast the spell on everyone just yet, not until Lilly journeyed to the Underworld and learned the spell, but they had enough protected people to start dungeon diving.

    Patrick and Alex condensed their traveling formation and strode closer to James. Patrick nodded his head toward the village and asked, ¡°That village is our home right?¡±

    James¡¯s face twisted in confusion. He couldn¡¯t see everything in detail just yet, but he could certainly make out the mountain range that they slept under. James squinted his eyes and was able to just make out a brown splotch a little distance up the mountain that was their cabin.

    ¡°Yea, of course, it is. Why do you ask?¡±

    Patrick laughed, ¡°Well I was just wondering how long we were going to call it ¡°our village.¡¯ If it is going to be our permanent home it needs a name of its own.¡±

    James nodded his head, ¡°You are absolutely right, sir. I already know what we should call it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Alex and Patrick asked in imperfect unison.

    ¡°Dreng¡¯s Rest.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 28 - Human Error

    As the party approached Dreng¡¯s Rest, the echo of a horn being blown sliced through the air. The sound caught James off-guard, as he didn¡¯t recall setting up such a security measure. Closer to the village now, James could make out subtle changes.

    Alex seemed to notice them as well, ¡°Have our walls always been that high?¡±

    ¡°They look longer too,¡± Patrick added.

    James studied the wall, trying to spot what changed. The walls were certainly taller, but they also seemed to reach further out into the Great Savanna. He could also see new towers that were built in the Martyr construction style. They were made primarily of wood, rope, various horns, and even some sort of tribal paintings.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± James said, ¡°It looks like Torunn and Birger did not sit around idly while we were away,¡± James commented as the party approached the village.

    Omero finally reached the gate of Dreng¡¯s Rest, but was not welcomed inside. A couple minutes later, James caught up to the disgruntled Italian just outside the gate. Omero was busy shouting at someone on the other side of the wall through an eye hole in the gate.

    ¡°Let us in! We have been out here for months!¡± Omero yelled.

    James threw one leg over the side of Fletcher¡¯s back and hoped to the ground, ¡°Whats the problem here?¡±

    Omero turned to James, ¡°This guy won¡¯t open the gates for us.¡±

    James walked up to the eye hole, admiring the craftsmanship of their new gate, ¡°Who are you?¡± James asked the guard.

    The guard stuttered, ¡°Well¡­ I am.. The guard.¡±

    ¡°I see that, but what is your name?¡± James inquired gently.

    James could hear scuffling behind the gate, followed a Martyr''s deep voice, ¡°Open the gate!¡±

    ¡°Yes.. yes sir, right away!¡± Guard replied diligently. James could almost hear the guard saluting and couldn''t help but laugh.

    The gate broke in half and slide open. Torunn stood there in all of his glory. Any hopes that James might have had about finally growing larger than his game-brother where smashed. The Martyr Chieftain was huge, almost as large as Dreng had been. Good thing I have been investing in strength, James thought. He estimated that Torunn had almost a good foot of height on him now.

    Torunn¡¯s reserved leadership face fell and was replaced with the same mischievous grin that James¡¯s had grown to love. Torunn held out his long arms, ¡°Welcome home, brother,¡± He said, his voice markedly deeper.

    James smiled genuinely and hugged his game brother, ¡°It is good to see you again brother,¡± James said before taking a step back to survey the Chieftain¡¯s growth, ¡°You have grown a lot since we last seen each other!¡±

    ¡°So have you I see!¡± Torunn said with a nod, ¡°Frode has been working me to my bones, but it is paying off. What about you - finally, stop putting your points into Wisdom?¡±

    James laughed as Patrick, Omero, Michael, and Alex all took turns greeting the Chieftain, ¡°Yea, only temporarily though!¡± he said as he looked past his game-brother and took in the sight of his village for the first time in months.

    The sun was setting behind him causing the wall to cast a large shadow over the village. New, Martyr-constructed towers burst through the shadows and reached toward the sun. Numerous bridges could be seen connecting the various towers and James could see humans and Martyrs alike frantically shouting and running back and forth between them. Underneath the swaying rope bridges, the statute of the Legendary Chieftain Dreng stood in defiance of anything that would bring harm to his rest. New Cobblestone roads flanked the statue, littered with various cabins, shops, and crafting structures. James looked around, trying to find the other Martyr¡¯s, but there was no sign of them.

    Torunn must have seen the confused expression on James''s face, ¡°Come, brother, I will update you on our growth in due time, but please, let¡¯s discuss the dungeon first.¡±

    James nodded and the party followed Torunn into the Chieftain¡¯s Hut. James returned a few waves to the villagers he recognized, but for every person that he was familiar with there were two more he wasn''t. James paused on their way to the Chieftain''s Hut and placed a hand on the statue of Dreng.

    "Thanks for everything," James whispered to the statue. He wanted to thank Dreng for all of his leadership advice, his mentorship, and for all of his sacrifices as well but didn''t get the time. Something from the corner of his eye caught his attention, causing him to jump and unsheath his short swords.

    "Oana?" James said with a startled, questioning tone. Before he could take any action though, he felt Torunn''s large furry hand land on his shoulder.

    "It''s okay," Torunn advised, "They are apart of the village now."

    "Oh, glad you were able to capture them," James said as he watched the Oana villagers sit around a fire and cook various meats, "What exactly do they do?"

    Torunn laughed heartily, "They don''t actually do much, besides sit in their areas on the outskirts of the village. Every now and then though, a few of them will leave the village and come back a day later with a mountain of meat. They also don''t cause too much trouble when we walk up and eat their food either. We haven''t had to hunt or cook since they came to live with us."

    "Sounds like a great deal!" James said as he let himself be lead to the Chieftain''s hut once again.

    "It is now, but you should have seen all the convincing I had to do to get my people to agree to it," Torunn scoffed, "I had to use my Controller class abilities more than a few times that day."

    "Yikes," James commented with a raise of his eyebrow.

    ¡°Alex!¡± Lilly cry pierced the air as the party entered the Chieftain¡¯s hut. The lithe blonde woman ran full speed into the veteran, smashing her face into his. He grunted, then laughed, then returned his lover¡¯s aggressive kiss.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Welcome back James!¡± Freydis said from her chair next to the Torunn¡¯s softly glowing throne, ¡°Welcome back to all of you. Frode tells me you are all to be honored as heroes.¡± Freydis pointed an elbow to the wizened Advisor, who nodded solemnly from behind the throne. James nodded to both of the Martyrs respectfully and gave Freydis the hug he had always wanted to but was never big enough to attempt until then.

    Frode stepped from around the Chieftain¡¯s throne and cleared his throat, ¡°I have sensed the power of another Mystic in the Savanna. Is it safe to assume that that was your doing and not another Oana Mystic we need to worry about?¡±

    James nodded, ¡°Yes, the Mystic is friendly, at least for now¡­¡±

    Torunn sat down heavily in his throne and let out a sigh that only someone responsible for the wellbeing of an entire race could manage, ¡°If the Mystic is friendly for now then we have more pressing matters, friends.¡±

    Torunn paused his speech to wait for Patrick¡¯s attention, who was busy thanking Freydis for the mounts that were tied up outside. Everyone¡¯s eyes fell upon the redhead, who reddened further before growling an apology.

    ¡°It is okay Patrick, I am just glad you guys are back. I will get straight to the point. Your race has been very difficult to manage. I have been having trouble dealing with a few issues, and I am glad you are here to take over the responsibility for them,¡± Torunn said with a long exhale.

    James furrowed his brows, ¡°What issues?¡±

    ¡°There have been a few. Most of them include human-specific things that I am not equipped to understand, like the need for some of your females to shave. Some of them have started shaving their legs with swords. My reserve of intensive healing potions has been almost decimated by their increased demand.¡±

    Patrick couldn¡¯t help but giggle. Torunn relaxed slightly and gave a sharp smile, ¡°You see, I am sure this issue would be easy for you guys to solve, but for me, it was entirely foreign. I tried appointing a temporary human leader, but everyone cried out about the lack of demo¡­¡± Torunn paused, his beastly throat struggling to pronounce the word, ¡°...crazy. Demo-crazy. It did not go over well. Regardless, there is a dozen of those kind of issues, but the most pressing issue is actually one that I understand well, although I am still stumped on how to handle it.¡±

    ¡°The Dungeon¡­¡± Omero commented, ¡°Some of the humans went inside didn¡¯t they?¡±

    Torunn nodded.

    ¡°How long ago?¡± James asked with a deep concern. If any of his villagers went inside they were almost guaranteed to become prisoners themselves or worse.

    ¡°One full moon ago,¡± Torunn replied gravely.

    James looked at his party for a translation.

    ¡°I think that is a month,¡± Omero answered with a cringe.

    ¡°And you haven¡¯t heard anything from them since then?¡± James interrogated.

    Torunn shook his head gravely.

    Frode stepped up, ¡°We have been using all of our resources to keep the rest of the human fighters from going after them. Meanwhile, the Great Savanna has been growing at a rapid rate and is teeming with predators. We¡­¡± Frode said, pointing to the other Martyr¡¯s, ¡°Need to focus on the Great Savanna right now as it is in a very important stage of growth. If we fail to take action, it can grow out of balance and turn into something else entirely. If we don¡¯t take action soon, we might not be the strongest things around for much longer.¡±

    James nodded, ¡°I understand, we will enter the dungeon immediately. Omero, I need you to take care of the other concerns in the village while we are gone. Make sure everyone knows we went inside to rescue-¡±

    Frey interrupted James¡¯s orders, ¡°Wait, you need to rest, James. When is the last time you have all gotten a good night''s rest? If you go in there now you will just be torn apart.¡±

    James wanted to disagree, but something gave him pause. He didn¡¯t mind fighting while he was tired, especially when there were real human lives on the line. But then he remembered a conversation he had with Abaddon. The rotting man had told James that the Lich King wasn¡¯t only defended by fighters and Brutes, but with obstacles, magical doors, and labyrinths. If Abaddon was right, then James¡¯s party would have to be rested not only physically, but mentally as well.

    ¡°I have something for that,¡± Torunn said with an extremely human wink. He reached into one of the fur pouches strapped to his belt and pulled out a few smaller pouches. He tossed them to each member of James¡¯s party.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Michael asked as he opened up his pouch and took a scientific sniff.

    ¡°It will replenish your endurance, mana, and health reserves. I just reached a high enough level in my Alchemy skill to make it. I am not sure what those reserves do, but when I tested it out I felt like a cub again.¡±

    James raised an eyebrow at the sales pitch, remembering how energetic Torunn had been when he was a cub.

    ¡°It¡¯s chewy,¡± Patrick said through a mouthful of Torunn¡¯s potion.

    James peeled the chewy paste from the inside of the Ingo skin with his teeth. Before he could confirm Patrick¡¯s observance that the paste was, in fact, chewy, an upset Lilly put a stop to the conversation.

    ¡°I won¡¯t do it!¡± Lilly yelled at Alex from the outer edges of the Chieftain¡¯s Hut, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be away from you again. Can¡¯t someone else go?¡±

    ***

    A few hours later, James stood behind the bar in the cabin, in the same spot he stood so many time before. The spot felt comfortable to him, familiar. He handed Omero, Michael, and Patrick a mug of Spiced Cider each as he went over Omero¡¯s responsibilities as his temporary stand-in. To Omero¡¯s credit, he didn¡¯t miss a beat and even suggested some things to improve the morale of the villagers that James didn¡¯t even consider. It was clear that this sort of thing was right in Omero¡¯s wheelhouse. He was a natural leader of people, and James was happy to have him. A couple of months ago, James would have felt awkward trying to delegate responsibilities that he believed should have been his. Now though, he knew that a leader didn¡¯t have to be the strongest, or the wisest, or even the person that gets everything done all by himself. Omero was better at a lot of the village management things that needed to be taken care of, and James was finally comfortable admitting something like that.

    Alex walked down the stairs that lead to the second floor of the cabin and flopped onto a barstool, ¡°She¡¯s not immature, ya¡¯ know?¡± he said as he pushed a hand through his knotted hair.

    Everyone stayed silent, even Patrick, who was busy polishing his True Iron Maul. James slid Alex a mug of cider, which was promptly finished.

    ¡°She is just having a hard time dealing with everything. She gets that she needs to go to the Underworld and train under Abaddon, she just doesn¡¯t feel ready.¡±

    James refilled Alex¡¯s mug and handed it back.

    Alex continued, ¡°She hasn¡¯t really ever left the village, and when her parents died I was her rock,¡± Alex finally made eye contact with the party, ¡°I think it will be good for her though.¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°She will head out to the Underworld first thing in the morning. Abaddon will be there to meet her outside and escort her in right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± James answered with a nod.

    ¡°Good, some of our fighters with escort her, as well as little Patrick.¡± Alex said as he downed his second glass of cider, ¡°Phew, I feel better now that that is all sorted."

    ¡°Where is my little friend by the way!?¡± Patrick bellowed from the center of the cabin.

    Omero turned to face the red-head, ¡°Most of the Martyr cubs have been hunting in the Great Savanna. Torunn said that they were too unpredictable to help stop the humans from entering the portal, so he sent them away.¡±

    James patted the table, ¡°Well, that¡¯s it then. Everyone ready to go dungeon diving?¡±

    Michael sighed, ¡°I wish I could go with you guys.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± James said with a wave of his hand, ¡°Patrick, Alex, and I should be able to handle it. Besides, Omero could use your help here and I don¡¯t want you to get into a situation where you would be forced to use your death magic.¡±

    ¡°Yea,¡± Michael said in a tone that suggested he understood, but still wasn¡¯t happy about it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± Patrick said as he hefted his True Iron Maul over his shoulder, opened the cabin door, and stepped into the night.

    James exited his post behind the bar and patted Alex on the shoulder, ¡°You heard the man. Let¡¯s do it.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 29 - Quake

    ¡°Are you going to poke your hand into it again? Patrick asked with a sly grin as the party approached the portal that was dug into the mountain behind the cabin.

    ¡°Ha. Ha,¡± James faked a laugh, seconds before stepping into the portal with his entire body, just to make sure he didn¡¯t get the discombobulated feeling like he did the last time he just stuck his hand through.

    James looked around the broken spirit battleground with a long exhale. The shattered spirit vessel that Salmaana once lived in for an eternity as she fought against the Lich King¡¯s forces had a layer of dust on it, but the place was otherwise unchanged. James looked up at the sky. It seemed to stretch on forever. It was an infinite darkness without even the smallest hint of a star, and yet, the spirit battleground was still somehow lit. The light didn¡¯t seem to emanate from any certain direction - it just was.

    Will I ever get used to this? James thought, pondering his life in the game world.

    Alex and Patrick stepped through the portal and into existence just behind James. Everyone paused for a moment, in remembrance of the long battle they fought there. Then silently, they set out. James lead the way running quietly down the middle path. As he suspected there were no minions or any other signs of life to try and stop them. As James hopped over a dark crevasse in the ground, he wondered why the Lich King didn¡¯t bother extending his realm and stationing defenders in the broken spirit battleground.

    Either he is too cocky and thinks he is already secure in his lair, or he wants nothing to do with the zone he was imprisoned within for so long, James mused.

    James, Patrick, and Alex descended the hole in the other side of the Spirit Battleground that could be considered stairs. The vertical distance between some of the outcropping rocks they stepped down presented a problem, especially considering that the hole was so dark, but they all agreed this was a much more pleasant way of descending into Ogrim¡¯s level than simply falling down a ravine like last time. Vague echoes of metal striking rock could be heard when the party reached the second floor of the dungeon.

    James looked around the labyrinth of tunnels, ¡°Okay, Michael said to just keep going down and we will find Ogrim¡¯s lair. Anyone see a downward slope?¡±

    ¡°No, but I think I remember coming from this direction last time we were here,¡± Patrick answered quietly while pointing his large fingers down one of the center tunnels.

    ¡°Okay, lead the way tank,¡± James said.

    Patrick nodded, unstrapped his maul from his back, and set off down one of the tunnels. Torches lit their way and flickered against the walls they were fastened to, leaving scorch marks against the stubborn rock. The red-head peaked around a corner and raised his closed fist in a stopping motion. He turned back to the party.

    ¡°Mini-Ogrims. Three of them,¡± he said.

    ¡°Think you can tank them all?¡± James asked. The red-head nodded. ¡°Okay, then you do that, I will cast Firebolts from behind you. Try not to let them past you so they won¡¯t bother me. The tunnel is pretty narrow, and you are... uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Fat,¡± Alex suggested.

    ¡°You are not narrow, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Alex, you blink behind them and strike them from the back. If they turn to fight you, just blink back to me. Sound good?¡±

    ¡°My Blink ability has a short cooldown, but yea, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Alex agreed.

    ¡°Oh, and try to be as quiet as possible, we don¡¯t want to attract more attention,¡± James paused, thinking, ¡°until we want to attract more attention.¡±

    Patrick nodded and turned the corner. He strode right up to the brutes who were busy widening the tunnel with Pickaxes. James crept up behind him along with Alex. They stopped when Patrick got within steps of the brutes.

    ¡°Hey¡­¡± one of the brutes said as he slowly realized that Patrick wasn¡¯t the same sort of brute that he was. Patrick¡¯s maul slammed into the brutes head. Surprisingly, the brutes skin proved to be extremely resilient and didn¡¯t break or drip with blood, but the worker brute did fall to the ground all the same.

    Alex blinked away, moments before James brought up his hands to weave his complex curse into the air. He made sure to place a curse on each of the brutes, even the one that was still struggling to get its life together after Patrick¡¯s attack. Two of the brute¡¯s pickaxes were held high into the air ready to mine Patrick when James released his first Firebolt. James watched the Firebolt blaze through the air angrily as both of the Brute¡¯s pickaxes descended. Then something strange happened. The Firebolt jerked from side to side, unsure of which curse to be attracted to. Then, the Firebolt split into three parts and slammed into all of the Brutes.

    Cool, James thought as he moved his hands in the opposite pattern of the curse twice, effectively removing it from two of the Brutes. James figured he would rather have one strong FireBolt than three weaker ones, but more importantly, he didn¡¯t want to do anything new with his fire spell for fear of improving his fire mastery faster. He was already forced to come into the dungeon without learning a new spell mastery like he would have liked to, so he planned on trying to avoid using his fire spells as much as possible.

    Two loud clanks echoed through the tunnel as the Brute¡¯s pickaxes struck Patrick. The redhead winced from the pain, but otherwise kept the attention of the three mini-Ogrims. James was surprised at the lack of blood from such powerful strikes but didn¡¯t let it distract him from casting one last Firebolt. When the first brute¡¯s health points finally dropped to zero, James¡¯s moved closer to attack with his short swords. Fighting so close to Patrick severely limited both of their movement abilities, but James first strike with his Legion Commander Short Sword showed that it was worth it. When James attacked with his Martyr¡¯s Skinning Knife he only left a small scratch on the Brute¡¯s skin. His legendary short sword, however, torn through the brutes tough skin like butter, resulting in an outpouring of blood. The party made quick work of the remaining two Brutes.

    ¡°Ohh,¡± Patrick said in delight as he bent over to pull an item out of a pool of Mini-Ogrim blood, ¡°this one had a green pickaxe!¡±

    ¡°What does it do?¡± Alex asked curiously.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°It improves mining speed by 5%,¡± Patrick said, lovingly.

    ¡°It¡¯s yours,¡± James interrupted as he hopped over the pool of blood, ¡°let''s keep moving.¡±

    The party cleared out a dozen groups of Mini-Ogrims as they traveled through the network of tunnels. James changed his attack strategy to only using his short swords, and the fights steadily got easier and easier. The party fell into a routine and got so good at it that they could clear a mob of three brutes without even letting Patrick get hit once. Patrick appreciated that fact and admitted that he had begun to forget what pain felt like until the first two Brutes hit him with their pickaxes. None of the mobs dropped anything else of use. Alex did manage to find a few rocks filled with various ores and gems hidden in wheelbarrows though. He promptly added them to his inventory, saying that the ores will help him improve his blacksmithing faster than the ore Patrick mined from the mountain that Dreng¡¯s Keep was set against. James didn¡¯t mind, especially since he knew nothing about crafting skills. He resolved to fix that problem as soon as he had a moment, and only after he learned another spell mastery. He figured getting a crafting skill would be a fun skill to practice and a welcome break from grinding his fighting skills and managing the town.

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Alex said as the party jogged through the rocky tunnels. James looked ahead and spotted a tunnel that dropped sharply. ¡°That¡¯s the tunnel into Ogrim¡¯s chamber.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s rest up and prepare,¡± James commanded as he slowed down to a walk.

    The party lowered themselves to a sitting position by sliding their bodies against the wall. James pulled some Abomminar Fat Stew out of his satchel and handed a bowl each to his two companions. He could tell by his health bar, which showed his current health points including the extra points granted by buffs and various items, that the party was already under the effects of the Stew¡¯s +10 constitution buff, but he was hungry nonetheless. He had some Ingo meat as well, but he didn¡¯t want it to replace the buff he got from the stew. The party greedily slurped up the offered food.

    ¡°Whuts at,¡± Patrick said through a mouthful of food. He swallowed and tried again, this time putting his stone bowl aside and pointing down the tunnel to Ogrim¡¯s cavern, ¡°What is that?¡±

    James followed the direction of Patrick¡¯s beefy fingers and saw various lights gleaming from the tunnel, ¡°loot?¡± he asked.

    Patrick stood up and cautiously peaked down the tunnel, ¡°Yea, that is loot alright. Why is it there though?¡±

    ¡°Think it¡¯s a trap?¡± Alex commented curiously.

    James shook his head from his seat by the wall, ¡°No, I think that is just the loot from the last time we were here. We were in a rush to escape and didn¡¯t grab it. It odd that none of the brutes did though.¡±

    ¡°They only seem to be interested in hitting rocks to find other, shinier rocks,¡± Patrick said with a shrug, ¡°I¡¯m gonna grab it.¡±

    Patrick dropped the pile of multi covered loot by James¡¯s feet and took a seat beside him with a grunt. One of the extraordinary items with a purple glow immediately caught James¡¯s eye.

    A map? He thought as he reached out to grab the item. As soon as the purple paper touched his hand it disappeared. James¡¯s interface popped up without his instruction, causing James to reflectively pull his head back. It bumped against the rock wall.

    ¡°Ouch,¡± he complained as his eyes adapted to the interface.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Alex asked curiously.

    ¡°I think that map was just added to my Adventurer¡¯s interface. When we got down here my map was just all black, but now I can see everything¡­¡± James said, his voice drifting off in concentration, ¡°I think there might be some prisoners on this level of the dungeon!¡±

    James swiftly printed out three copies of the second-floor dungeon map and handed one to each of his companions.

    ¡°Over here you mean?¡± Alex said, pointing to a section on the map that displayed a cavern filled with square symbols, ¡°It looks like we would have to actually loop around to a cave that is behind Ogrim¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Yea, it¡¯s worth a look though. I figured that the Lich King would have transferred all of the prisoners down to the lower floors already, but maybe not. That symbol has to mean a cage right?¡± James replied. Alex and Patrick agreed with a nod.

    ¡°Let¡¯s split up this loot and head over,¡± Patrick suggested with a nudge to the glimmering loot pile.

    ***

    James let Patrick lead the way as he checked out his equipped items interface.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Reinforced Leather Boots (Uncommon)

    Legs - Ingo Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest - Ingo Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Empty

    Wrist ¨C Reinforced Leather Bracers (Uncommon)

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1 ¨C Brutus¡¯s Ring (Extraordinary)

    Sheath 1¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2- Oana Scythe Sheath (Common)

    Bag - Adept Adventurer''s Satchel (Uncommon)

    James was happy to see his equipment tab slowly getting more colorful. When he and Patrick managed to take down their first Abomminar, James managed to upgrade his boots and bracers. The newish items didn¡¯t offer any stat boosts, which James thought they should since they were of Uncommon rarity, but they did seem to provide more armor than other items of the same rarity. James figured it was a good trade-off even though he would have preferred a stat boost. Alex got the best items from this most recent round of loot. The extraordinary pair of spiked gloves he received made his fists look like harbingers of destruction. The sight was made even more impressive since the spikes traveled up to his bracers, due to the Spiky Bracer Covers James had gifted to the unarmed fighter. Patrick received a few items that drastically improved his armor. He seemed overjoyed about the improvements. He said he had been collecting armor like candy because of some update he got from his interface. He said he was pretty sure he would be able to be the most powerful tank in existence if he could only raise his armor points a little bit higher. James questioned the red-head about it but didn¡¯t get any helpful information. The red-head just said he thought his mining and stoneworking skills was giving him a unique mastery, and if he could improve that mastery, he would be unstoppable. James decided not to inquire further since getting information about Patrick¡¯s interface was like pulling teeth. Also, James had his sights set upon the Uncommon bag in the pile of loot. He might not have gotten any items that made him a better fighter or mage, but the bag was a better item for a long-term strategy. The new bag lowered the drop chance of all of his items by ten percent. That meant that if he died for any reason, his Legion Commander¡¯s Shortsword would only have a ten percent chance of dropping. To James, that was better than all the loot Patrick and Alex picked up, combined.

    The party suddenly halted as the floor beneath them began to quake. James braced himself against the wall, waiting for another quake. It came a few seconds after the first, and another came a few seconds after that.

    ¡°Those feel like really heavy footsteps,¡± Alex said with furrowed brows.

    ¡°My mom must be just up ahead,¡± Patrick said with a shrug as he continued down the tunnel. James blanched and looked at Alex, who was equally speechless.

    ¡°Did he just Mom-joke himself?¡± Alex asked with a brief laugh.

    Alex¡¯s laugh stirred something in James that caused him to laugh as well, ¡°I think he did¡­¡±

    Patrick chuckled without stopping or turning around, ¡°C¡¯mon guys, we have prisoners to free.¡±

    James nodded to Alex and stifled the laughter threatening to spill out before heading after Patrick. James was pretty sure Mom-jokes wouldn¡¯t go over well in the village considering that a lot of people had no idea if their mothers were still alive, but he was happy his companions were close enough to not get offended over the joke. He figured that if they were going to get stomped to death by whatever was walking around and causing the ground to tremble anyway, some humor would do them some good before they were sent to respawn.

 Book 2 - Chapter 30 - Patricks Mom

    ¡°What the what¡­¡± James whispered as the party entered the mouth of a cavern even larger than Ogrim¡¯s. Unlike Ogrim¡¯s cavern though, this one was barren. There was no scaffolding, small brutes running around with pickaxes, nor was there a sparkling throne of precious metal ore. In fact, there were only three things in this cavern, at least as far as James could count. Two of those things were large cages. James could almost make out the figure of human bodies in the cage, but he was too far away to determine if they were alive or not. The sacks of potatoes that James suspected, or rather hoped, was actually human prisoners that he could rescue came in and out of his vision as the large legs of a lumbering creature paced the cavern.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if we can defeat that thing,¡± Alex said perceptively.

    James looked up to get a good view of the creature. It looked to be entirely made of stone. In fact, if it stayed still long enough James figured he would lose sight of it entirely. It was so large that even it¡¯s human form wasn¡¯t a dead giveaway that thing was alive at all. It¡¯s arms, legs, and all of its proportions were so proportional that they were entirely unproportional to a human. In that way, the human form wasn¡¯t human-like at all.

    ¡°It¡¯s a golem,¡± Patrick said matter-of-factly, ¡° a rather old one too.¡±

    James gave Patrick a sideways stare, searching for any hints of emotion on the red-head face that would let him know if he was just being funny or if Patrick actually knew something about the creature. Before James could verbalize the question that he thought his sideways stare would ask, Patrick, activated his Bulldoze ability.

    As the ringing in James¡¯s ears finally subsided he could make out a faint, ¡°JENKINS!¡± roar from the red-head, moments before he smashed into Golem.

    ¡°Damn,¡± a frustrated Alex said as he hastily fastened his spiked gloves, ¡°why are we always chasing after him?¡±

    ¡°Who is Jenkins?¡± James said, still not fully recovered from the combination of Patrick¡¯s sudden blast of broken sound waves and the shaking of the ground as the Golem walked.

    James shook his head and surveyed the Golem for any weak points that he could Jump Strike to. No highlighted areas or exposed beating rock hearts presented themselves, so James threw some Firebolts to buy himself some time to think. The Golem swayed after Patrick¡¯s impact. It fell against the wall as Patrick tumbled to the ground. James watched as the red-head gathered himself and prepared to charge the giant rock beast again. The red-head ran. The Golem swayed. A portion of the cavern wall crumbled under the Golems heavy hands, causing it to further lose its balance. In an effort to regain its footing, the Golem bashed its head into the wall. Dust and loose boulders exploded from every surface that was made out of rock, which was all of them. The Golem scrambled, which James thought was an odd sight to watch, if not slightly silly, because of the Golem¡¯s massive size and inherent slowness.

    ¡°Shit,¡± Alex swore as realization dawned.

    James widened his eyes as he watched the red-head skid to a halt mid war cry, which wasn¡¯t a frequent occurrence. James knew that once Patrick had his hard head made up, it was nearly impossible to get him to change his mind. In this circumstance though, the cumulative weight of a giant stone Golem falling towards him must have been enough for Patrick to change his mind and run away.

    He¡¯s not going to make it, that idiot. Should I Jump Strike? James thought, attempting to work out a plan of action in a split second. No, I will be squished along with him.

    ¡°Blink!¡± James said to Alex so fast that the command seemed to consist of less than one syllable.

    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± Alex replied, ¡°He is too heavy! I won¡¯t be able to blink away with him!¡±

    James cringed. He did recall reading Alex¡¯s character notes in Omero¡¯s notebook. The veteran¡¯s blink ability was progressing nicely and he did have the ability to blink with things, but it was dependant on a complex formula of his strength, sneak skill and the weight of the thing that they haven''t exactly managed to figure out. They didn¡¯t need a complete formula to deduce that Patrick was much heavier than he looked and that Alex¡¯s blink skill was nowhere near strong enough to pull the feat off though.

    With one of his commands as a leader useless, James sent his brain into overtime to find another solution. He was becoming quite good at the whole leadership thing. He studied Omero¡¯s notes every opportunity he got, he went over ability combinations as he ate, and he often couldn¡¯t fall asleep at night because his body was too preoccupied imagining intense battle scenarios that weren''t actually happening. He wasn¡¯t always the best leader, and he wasn¡¯t now, but he was decent. He knew that if anyone could come up with a solution it was him. Sure, Alex was arguably born a better leader than James, but James had been putting in the work, studying the craft, while Alex and everyone else not including Torunn was preoccupied with their own personal growth. Not James though, he was focused on preparing for situations like this. Situations where his party would need a quick thinker, someone that was intimately familiar with the party¡¯s dynamics and could come up with out of the box and genius solutions. Then it came to him.

    ¡°Run,¡± James commanded.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°What?¡± Alex asked, dumbfounded.

    ¡°TAKE COVER!¡± James yelled as he dove behind a large boulder. A second later, Alex landed on top of James. Two seconds later, a deafening blast echoed through the entire floor of the dungeon as the Golem hit the ground. Somewhere between two and three seconds later, a wave of force blasted past James, taking his boots along with it.

    Damnit, James thought, forgot to tuck my feet.

    As the dust settled, James stood up and checked on the situation with his overzealous companion. Patrick was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Did he die?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°No,¡± James said after a quick glance to his party leader interface, ¡°He did take a lot of damage though,¡± James paused to pull up his map. Patrick¡¯s player icon was smack dab in the middle of the area that encompassed the avalanche of stone that was the Golems body. James wasn¡¯t completed sure, but he guessed that Patrick didn¡¯t manage to escape the falling Golem and was instead directly under it. The only reason he wasn¡¯t sure of it was that somehow, Patrick was still alive, ¡°I think¡­ he is under the Golem.¡±

    ¡°GRRRRRAGGh,¡± A voice that resembled the sound of two sedimentary rocks attempting to grind each other into dust with their own rough surfaces complained. The Golem¡¯s head rose and peaked around the room, it''s vaguely human-like face a perfect mixture of earthen animosity and gravel bewilderment.

    ¡°Uhh, should we attack?¡± Alex inquired.

    James happened to be wondering the same thing but didn¡¯t have the opportunity to come up with another one of his genius plan of attacks. The Golem¡¯s eyes, that happened to be boulders half the size of James, locked onto Alex as he talked. The boulder-eyes heated up, turning magma red. The Golem swiped out his arm, attempting to crush the tiny creatures that made it fall over. James figured that the Golem must have been angry since it arm moved much faster than he thought possible. He idly wondered if falling down was one of the worst things that could happen to Golems as he reflexively activated Jump Strike. He flew the air and couldn¡¯t help but wonder how long it would take the lumbering creature to get back up to its feet.

    Not long enough, James thought as he flew through the air and watched the Golem deftly sit up. The freshly revealed ground was perfectly flat from where the Golem smashed into it, except for a human-shaped indent. Patrick dizzily crawled out. How do you even survive these type of things, James thought, remembered all the times Patrick took an amount of damage that easily would have killed anyone else in the party.

    James landed on the Golems head in an explosion of fire that the giant rock beast either promptly ignored or promptly failed to feel. James was slightly offended that the creature didn¡¯t even pay any attention to his upgraded Jump Strike landing.

    ¡°Go get the prisoners!¡± James yelled as he shoved his short swords into the top rock that served as the Golem¡¯s head. The creature howled in pain.

    Ah, that got your attention, didn¡¯t it? James snarled to himself, moments before he was thrown off of the berserking pile of rocks. He landed harshly, losing a fifth of his health in the process. James quickly pulled a healing poultice from his Satchel and ate it, figuring it had to work on internal wounds as well as external ones. Finally, the Golem got to its feet. James ran in the opposite direction of his party, yelling obscenities and persuasive insults the entire time. The Golem didn¡¯t take the bait though and instead turned to Patrick and Alex, who were almost to the large metal cages.

    A loud sound echoed through the cavern as the Golem bashed its fists into the walls. Dust exploded from everywhere, shortening James¡¯s line of vision and getting into his eyes in the process. His insults directed towards the Golem became more personal. James had to slow his pace so he didn¡¯t run into anything and launched a few Firebolts in the direction he last saw the rock monster. Suddenly, he smashed into one of the walls he was trying to avoid, only, he was pretty sure there was no wall there moments ago. James checked his map and confirmed his paranoid suspicion - the Golem had caved in the tunnel so they couldn¡¯t escape.

    ¡°It blocked the prisoners off!¡± Patrick¡¯s voice bullied its way through the dust particles in the air.

    Realizing that there was only one option left, James mentally targeting the glowing red eyes that were now facing him and activated Jump Strike. The dust that always seemed to get into James¡¯s eyes turned out to be a blessing as it hid James¡¯s attack. He smashed into the Golems face unobstructed and dug his short swords into the Golems eyes. James¡¯s world became a twister that was moving faster than naturally possible as the Golem flailed around in pain. James became acutely aware of the lava dripping onto his hand and thanked his Embrant class. Without it, he would have certainly let go of the short swords that were keeping him attached to the Golem. James had no desire to fall to the ground again. Partly because the healing poultice didn¡¯t, in fact, heal internal wounds and another fall or two from such a height was likely to send him to respawn, but mostly it was because James wanted to take out the Golem¡¯s other eye while he was up there. It was more efficient that way.

    When the Golem seemed to be going less berserk, James pulled out one of his short swords then shoved it back into the creature¡¯s face, one foot to the left. He did the same thing with his other short sword, then repeated the process until he was able to destroy the Golem¡¯s other eye-bolder. Magma flooded out of the wound and the creature went even more berserk that when he was fully berserk moments before. James suspected such a reaction though. He was very experienced with the rage that was caused by something tiny falling into your eye, causing you to lose your eyesight. James brought his legs up to the creature and used them to vault away. He sailed through the air rather clumsily until deciding to activate his new Dual Wield skill. James short swords were torn from his hands and took on a mind of their own. They spun around James. He did his best to follow their progress, but the fact that he was also spinning made it difficult. The swords increased their speed until they became a permanent silver streak in his vision, just outside of his reach. The streak grew until it encompasses his whole body and shut him out from the rest of the world. James did his best to orient himself to gravity and found that he could move relatively easy within the orb. Suddenly, the orb burst into flame and exploded outward. James fell the remaining inch or two to the ground with the slightest of bends in his knees. He looked down as if to ask the ground when it got so close and noticed that his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword was now back in his hand.

    James pointed his nose upward, ¡°Not too shabby, not too shabby.¡± Satisfied with his new ability, James activated his Jump Strike once again and joined his companions in battle against the Golem.

 Book 2 - Chapter 31 - Maelstrom

    The Golem was not a difficult mini-boss to beat because it had a myriad of abilities that it relied on. It didn¡¯t heal itself when it reached 50% health. It didn¡¯t call in reinforcements when it felt like it was going to lose and it didn¡¯t have a special ability that it used every other minute to stun the entire party. No, the Golem was difficult to defeat because it was enraged and blind. It was also rather huge and made out of dense rock. All of that made for a deadly combination. The Golem whirled around the room, smashing into walls, swinging it¡¯s large rock-chain arms around haphazardly, and generally just trying to smash anything animate and inanimate alike.

    James dodged a large foot that descended upon him with a leap to his side. He rolled and got back up to his feet just in time to dodge a falling boulder. James did his best to run to an area that was currently free of the Golem¡¯s destructive flailing and gave a quick glance to his party member icons.

    James ¨C Level 29 Embrant

    Health - 100 of 300

    Energy - 39 of 110

    Mana - 0 of 340

    Patrick - Level 26 Warrior Stoneworker

    Health - 280 of 510

    Energy - 22 of 200

    Alex - Level 17 Metalworker

    Health - 40 of 320

    Energy - 115 of 220

    Damnit, we need a healer, James thought as he realized his party might escape the cavern alive. He couldn¡¯t help but feel like a small doomed blueberry inside a giant blender, destined to get smashed and cut up into smaller pieces by the Golem.

    Alex appeared next to James suddenly and placed a hand on his shoulder as he caught his breath, ¡°Patrick said he is getting tired and he won¡¯t be able to run much longer. We need to finish this.¡±

    James nodded, already aware that the redhead¡¯s endurance points were approaching zero. So far the party had only managed to take off a third of the Golem¡¯s massive pool of hit points and the majority of that damage came from when James stabbed out the creature''s eyes. The Golem only seemed to have a small resistance to flame, but James had already used up all of his mana anyway, so the option to stay back and cast spells was out. The problem with getting in close to strike the rock beast was that it was never in the same spot for more than a second. Its blind rage caused it to thrash about everywhere. Whenever the party got close, nine times out of ten they would just be kicked or smashed away. James dodged another giant foot and managed to squeeze a plan out of his brain as he did.

    ¡°I have enough energy left for another Jump Strike or two. I will hop on the thing and try and distract it. Blink to Patrick and tell him to take his pickaxes out. I want you guys to detach his legs, and then hopefully his arms,¡± James said as his legs curled beneath him. Alex nodded in acknowledgment and James jumped into the air, propelled by the inhuman strength his ability gave him. The Golem collided into a wall but didn¡¯t stay there punching it like James had hoped. Instead, it pushed itself away and barreled into the opposite wall, thrashing at everything and nothing along the way. James crashed into the wall next to where the Golem was just moments before.

    Crap, he thought as he watched his health fall another ten points. He dusted himself off and caught a glimpse of Alex and Patrick running after the Golem with their pickaxes held high. Patrick¡¯s uncommon pickaxe gave off a soft green glow that reflected off the thin plume of dust that hung to the floor and was never given the chance to fully settle. James hoped that the mining speed increase would give Patrick the edge that they needed. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure that the Golem could be taken apart like an actual rock, but it was the only option they had.

    James waited patiently, mapping out the erratic movements of the tremendous hulk of boulders and trying to predict where it would go next. He spotted his opportunity and used the last of his endurance points to leap into the air. He smashed into the Golem¡¯s chest, digging his short swords into the rock as he went. He fell for a foot or two, but eventually, his Legion Commander¡¯s short sword found purchase. James gave out an involuntary sigh of relief as he swung from the rampaging Golem, hanging from one arm. Looking down, James saw his companions still chasing after the creature.

    Just got to distract it now buddy, James told himself as he slammed his Martyr Skinning Knife into rock. The action wasn¡¯t as easy as it was with his legendary sword, but the trusty skinning knife came through for James as usual. Little by little, James climbed the pile of animated rock until he reached its mouth. James climbed inside the cave. James fell against a jagged mass of mineral that must have served as some sort of molar as the creature headbutted a wall. His health fell another twenty points as his back came alive with pain. Everything was sharp in the mouth of the Golem, but thankfully, James didn¡¯t see a tongue or any other device that could push James into the gaping darkness that was the creature''s throat. James found a secluded spot in between the serrated teeth and activated Martyr¡¯s Rage. He didn¡¯t have much health to fuel his ability, but hopefully, he could cause the creature a serious toothache while he was alive. James felt the familiar measured fury course through his body as the skin of his back split. Without wasting a second, James became the worst, and probably first, dentist the Golem had ever been visited by.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    A few destruction filled seconds later, the cave James was working in finally stopped swaying and large oblong rocks came to investigate the source of their owner''s toothache. Martyr¡¯s Rage deactivated as James¡¯s health reached one point and he swiped at the Golem¡¯s prodding finger, causing it to flee, but only momentarily. Another curious prodding, and another swipe. The Golem¡¯s third and final investigation into its own mouth wasn¡¯t as deliberate as the first two. Three oblong rocks were shoved in after James, smashing him unceremoniously against the mouth wall, stealing away James''s final hit point.

    ***

    James fizzled into existence and opened his eyes. The stone walls he was surrounded by moments before were replaced with wooden ones, decorated with tribal paint, horns, and various herbs.

    James heard Torunn speak, ¡°No, if we deprive the Tok¡¯nua of growing into the Eastern hemisphere it will upset the migration of the Blue Nifrits,¡±

    Another Martyr''s voice grumbled its disagreement, ¡°We can migrate the Blue Nifrits the manual way. It will be well worth the time investment in the long run.¡±

    ¡°And risk an attack by an Abominar or worse?¡± Torunn replied harshly, ¡°No, it will cause more trouble than it is worth. We will be turning a floral issue into a beastly one. It is a shortcut and one that is clearly not worth the risk. I forbid it.¡±

    If the second Martyr had a logical counter-argument to the Tok¡¯nua issue, James didn¡¯t have time to hear it. He hopped out of his respawn point behind Torunn¡¯s throne, causing the discussion to halt. Torunn pressed himself into his glowing throne in surprise and showed his teeth with a deep growl.

    James waved, ¡°it¡¯s only me, just passing through, sorry!¡±

    Torunn composed himself and tried to inquire about something. James figured he was curious as to why James was behind his throne and not inside the dungeon, or how long James was behind the throne for, or how he got there, but he cut his game brother off with another apology and ran out of the hut. The sun was just starting to send scouting tentacles of light over the Great Savanna as James ran up the Tower of Stairs to get back to the portal. James''s muscles ached, as did his bones, his skin, his hairs, his brain, and probably his soul as well. He was exhausted but fueled by determination. The effects of Torunn¡¯s newest chewy poultice had mostly worn off, and the lack of its effects left James¡¯s feeling even more worn out than before. Still, he ran on, pushing through the lactic acid that threatened to seize up his motor function. A notification invited itself into James¡¯s vision.

    Congratulations! Your Will has increased by 1!

    James reluctantly smiled at his accomplishment and waved the intrusive prompt away. He rounded the corner of the Cabin on the Cliff and let his hand brush against it lovingly as he went.

    "Soon, I will be inside you," James whispered to the hut as he daydreamt of pouring himself a mug of ale before curling up inside a warm pile of furs.

    James entered the cave Patrick had created for the portal to the Lich King¡¯s dungeon and ran into the portal without slowing. His momentum was unwillingly slowed though, and quite suddenly at that.

    ¡°Whyyy,¡± James complained as he clutched his nose in pain. He looked up to the portal that was unwilling to port anything at the current moment in confusion. The dark purple swirls that once tricked James into thinking Torunn killed Michael seemed to be frozen in time. Against his better judgment, James attempted to send his hand through the portal once again. It wasn¡¯t sent to another dimension like James had cautiously hoped, and instead crumpled and curled into itself as it collided with the impenetrable surface.

    What the hell, James thought as he tried to recall everything he knew about portals. It turned out to be very little. James couldn¡¯t recall Salmaana saying anything about entry requirements or really any pertinent information that would explain why the portal was suddenly shut off. James was left with only the lingering memory of Abaddon¡¯s words to rely on. The Lich King either found a way to close the portal completely, or there was some entry requirement that he wasn¡¯t aware of. Defeated, James looked around the shallow cave for inspiration. None came, so he sat patiently, waiting for something to happen. He considered going back to Torunn¡¯s throne to wait and see if Patrick and Alex would be sent for respawn, but sleep greedily took him instead.

    ***

    ¡°Get up,¡± A voice intruded into James¡¯s fleeting dreamscape. A boot followed the voice, cementing James emergence into reality. ¡°Give me a hand,¡± Patrick said as he handed James a barely conscious, skeleton of a body.

    Any traces of James¡¯s sleepiness were washed away like a fire hose directed at cobwebs. He spurred into action and grabbed the malnourished prisoner. Patrick went back through the portal. Good, they managed to defeat the Golem and rescue some prisoners. The Lich King didn¡¯t shut off the portal. Where the hell is Torunn, James thought frantically before yelling for help. Dreng¡¯s Rest was already beginning to come alive with the soft whispers of neighbors greeting each other, builders gathering their tools, and the occasional call of an Ingo mount. James¡¯s pleas served as caffeine to increase the speed at which the sleepy village came alive. Martyrs and humans alike started picking up and echoing James calls that spilled over the top of the cliff. Soon enough, James found himself looking at a confused and alarmed Torunn.

    James set the prisoner down in front of the Cabin, ¡°Do what you can to heal him, I think there is more coming.¡± Torunn nodded gravely, already pulling out various herbs and potions from the sacks tied to his belt. James ran back to the portal, its dark purple and black swirls swirling once again. He stepped through.

 Book 2 - Chapter 32 - Lost

    It took the entire day to rescue the prisoners, heal them, set them up with sleeping arrangements in the Chieftain¡¯s hut, and manage various concerns from the rest of the villagers. All in all, they managed to save six humans from the Lich King¡¯s dungeon. Only one of which was conscious. Unfortunately, consciousness didn¡¯t guarantee sanity, a fact that James was busy ruminating over as he finally laid down for the night. His nap by the portal did him good. It allowed him to tie up some loose ends and address various concerns with the villagers long after Patrick and Alex went to sleep. Before they did, James managed to get a debriefing of the events that unfolded after he got locked out of the dungeon.

    Ogrim was back, and according to Patrick, stronger than ever. The duo managed to take apart the golem with their pickaxes. As soon as the golem died, the rock walls that trapped them inside the cavern fell away. Alex said that the Golem fell into the rock walls, essentially knocking them over, but James suspected it was just a game mechanic. A well-hidden one, but a game mechanic nonetheless. After the Golem died, Alex had to enter Ogrim¡¯s cavern to get a key to unlock the prisoner¡¯s cages. He was surprised to see Ogrim alive and well, but managed to find the key while sneaking. When he grabbed the key, Alex said that his sneak ability must have been deactivated, since Ogrim was immediately alerted. He hit Alex with one strike that almost immediately sent him to respawn. Alex said he got away thanks to his blink ability and the fact that Ogrim didn¡¯t erect any barriers that prevented him from leaving the cavern like the Golem did.

    Alex finished his debrief with a harrowing sentence, ¡°We aren¡¯t strong enough to save anyone else.¡±

    James hated that fact. He felt strong, he was practically two feet taller than he had been when he first entered the game and with an estimated twenty pounds of additional muscle. And if that wasn¡¯t enough, which apparently it wasn¡¯t, most of his party members had even more impressive statistics. So James sat there in his fur pile in a room on the second floor of the cabin, trying to come up with a plan to grow stronger as fast as possible so they could rescue more prisoners. Hopefully, before they went even more insane.

    ***

    ¡°Report,¡± James commanded as his inner circle gathered around the training area, mugs of Spiced Cider in hand.

    ¡°There are a few buildings that need your attention, sir,¡± Birger, the chief builder in Dreng¡¯s Rest reported, ¡°As you have probably noticed, we have dismantled our old stone wall and built a new one that stretches further away into the Great Savanna. We have also built a number of guard towers and other buildings. These buildings are not yet complete though. Since they were started under my direction, and not yours, they would not benefit from any boons granted by your Builder¡¯s Interface. We have left all this new construction with one or two pieces of material not yet placed. If you could kindly navigate to your interface and start construction on the things we have already almost completed, I have a feeling that once we add the final pieces, they will gain your buffs.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking Birger,¡± James commented as he navigated to his builder¡¯s interface and selected the partially completed buildings for construction. ¡°We will have to come up with an appropriate reward for your proactiveness.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that won¡¯t be necessary sir,¡± Birger replied with a wave of his hairy, and rather large, hand.

    James raised an eyebrow, but before he could insist that Birger be rewarded, Torunn leaned in and whispered into James¡¯s ear, ¡°My people do not require rewards, Brother. It is a weird Martyr thing, as you would say.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± James replied without whispering and turned back to Birger, ¡°Well, at the very least, just call me James. You don¡¯t have to call me sir.¡±

    This time Torunn didn¡¯t have any commentary and actually looked just as confused as James did about the sudden formality of the Chief Builder.

    Birger, aware of all the attention focused on him, offered an explanation, ¡°Uh, of course, James. It was just a suggestion from Freydis, I meant no offense by it. She just remembered from long ago that humans liked to be addressed as sir or mams, and said I should address you that way. I actually wasn¡¯t sure which one you preferred, the sir or the mams. Is it because I chose wrong? Should I have said mams?¡±

    James chuckled briefly and laid a hand on Birger''s shoulder, ¡°No, no my friend. Human men are sir, and human woman are mam,¡± James said, purposefully pronouncing the terms correctly and loudly, ¡°you had it right, but I am your equal, so you do not need to address me that way. James will do just fine.¡±

    Birger nodded, relieved to have the attention off of him and eager to get back to things he could understand, like stones, hammers, wood, rope, and motivating exhausted laborers.

    Alex spoke up next, ¡°Lilly briefed me on the Library before she left. Unfortunately, she thinks something is missing and that she wouldn¡¯t be able to translate the books no matter how long she spent with them.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± James swore after swallowing a gulp of his hot cider, ¡°we will have to put that on the backburner for now then. In the meantime, everyone keep the library in mind. Information is always a priority, so if anyone comes up with any ideas, or comes across anyone that could help, let me know.¡± James turned to Omero and dipped his mug at him.

    ¡°The people are happy with their new cabins,¡± Omero said with a smile, ¡°I think having somewhere to call their own and some privacy is doing them good. Quite a few people have already begun growing things in their backyards. I think we will have quite a few new crafting or gathering classes to study soon. Also, in the future, we might have to build bigger cabins. Family sized cabins if you catch my meaning. No one is pregnant yet, but I have seen some budding romances as of late.¡±

    ¡°Can a woman even get pregnant here?¡± Patrick asked with an uncharacteristic amount of interest.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know for sure yet,¡± Omero said with a shrug, ¡°but we will probably find out soon.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± James commented, ¡°Anything else? How is the morale?¡±

    ¡°Morale is okay. It could be better and it could be worse. For the most part, people are happy that we are finally able to rescue people from the dungeon, but they are still worried about the two people that went in while we were gone.¡±

    ¡°Who were they?¡± James asked.

    ¡°A water mage, named Jess, and a fighter named, Trevor,¡± Omero said, without even consulting his book.

    James cringed. He had hoped to consult with Jess so she could teach him how to get water mastery. Now he would have to do it the hard way. ¡°Is there anything in your book about how she got her mastery?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Omero answered, ¡°Nothing that you don¡¯t already know.¡±

    James nodded reluctantly, ¡°Okay. Well make sure to let everyone know we are doing everything possible to get Jess and Trevor back." James paused and looked around his circle, "My turn then. Patrick, Alex, and I need to get stronger so we can defeat Ogrim and save more prisoners. I expect we will be intensely training for the immediate future. So if anyone of us needs anything, or asks anything of you, make sure to give it priority. If you guys have anything to report save it for these morning meetings. Do your best not to disturb any of us during the day. If there is an emergency, see Torunn. If Torunn can¡¯t help, and only then, come to find me.¡±

    The inner circle gave a collective nod.

    ¡°Anyone have anything else to report?¡± James asked as he finished up his mug.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Michael said, ¡°I want to establish some sort of science community. Maybe not science, but something. We need calendars, we need a way to keep time, we need infrastructure other than buildings. Omero, can you look out for people that might be good with this sort of thing? I¡¯m looking for smart people that I can sit down with and we can brainstorm ways to improve our quality of life here.¡±

    Omero nodded and tapped his book, ¡°Yes, I have a few people that come to mind already. I will get with you after this.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± James added, ¡°I am glad that we can finally worry about our quality of life, instead of just if we are going to be alive or not.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Michael added, ¡°It will make it easier for new prisoners to adapt once they are saved from the dungeon as well. I will call it the Culture Initiative.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    James held in a chuckle at the name. His brother had always been terrible at picking out names for things. Maybe not terrible, but certainly not creative. His names were always bland, like the time he had the brilliant idea that they created a moving company and name it, ¡®Two Brothers and a Moving Truck.¡¯

    ¡°Great, I look forward to your next report,¡± James said before giving a wink to his brother and turning his gaze to his game-brother, ¡®Torunn?¡±

    Torunn nodded his large hairy head, causing his ears to flap slightly, ¡°Freydis would probably like to join this Culture Initiative of yours, Michael.¡±

    Michael smiled, ¡°I would be happy to have her.¡±

    ¡°Other than that, our Great Savanna is doing well. It is nowhere near as balanced as it should be, but it is a lot better than many of us have ever known. If anyone ventures out, please be aware that there a lot of aggressive things running around. Even some of the plants have been known to attack,¡± Torunn said as he idly fondled a scar by his ankle, ¡°They can be vicious as well. Still, though, it is best not to kill some of them. Birger has built us a wooden structure that I have placed at the entrance of the village, on it you will find drawings of what can and cannot be killed. Please consult the board anytime you leave the village.¡±

    ¡°A quest board!¡± Patrick whispered, letting James know that he wasn¡¯t, in fact, dozing off.

    James printed off some more maps and handed them to Omero to top up his supply, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get to work. See you all tomorrow morning at first sunlight.¡±

    The meeting was adjoured with the imperfect echoes of everyone clapping there hands together, moments after James did.

    ***

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A voice interrupted James¡¯s concentration, causing him to jump and the water that was carefully pooled up in his hands to spill, ¡°Oh, I see you got your boots back?¡±

    James sighed, ¡°I am trying to learn water mastery and yea, it was a good thing I wasn¡¯t wearing them when I died cuz I probably would have lost them.¡±

    Alex gave a surprised look, ¡°Oh, yea, I forgot that happens, you know, since I haven¡¯t died yet and all.¡±

    ¡°Yea yea, rub it in why don¡¯t ya,¡± James said as he pulled up another bucket of water from the town''s well.

    Alex laughed, ¡°So what did you lose?¡±

    ¡°Man, I lost my Martyr¡¯s Skinning Knife and a pair of uncommon bracers,¡± James said with another sigh.

    ¡°So you can¡¯t dual wield anymore?¡±

    ¡°I can. Freydis had a bunch of knives and just gave me another, but it isn¡¯t the same ya¡¯ know? That specific skinning knife was the first item I ever had. I am more pissed that I lost that than my bracers,¡± James laughed.

    Alex chuckled as well, ¡°Gotchya. Well, how is the water mastery thing going?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± James said as he dumped the a bucket of water over his head, since it was the only thing he hadn¡¯t tried yet, ¡°I have been out here for hours and haven''t got a single notification about learning a new mastery.¡±

    ¡°Odd,¡± Alex added insightfully, ¡°didn¡¯t you gain the fire mastery pretty easily.¡±

    James nodded his wet head, ¡°Yea, it was a bitch to level up, but I got the mastery almost immediately.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Alex pondered, ¡°Maybe we all have different predispositions for magic. I know a lot of the villagers have been trying to learn fire mastery after they saw you shoot that firebolt for the first time. Pretty sure none of them have succeeded yet.¡±

    ¡°That would make sense,¡± James said, pulling up another bucket of water, ¡°I¡¯m not gonna give up though.¡±

    ¡°Yea, you wouldn¡¯t¡± Alex commented knowingly, before bidding James farewell and good luck.

    A few hours and hundreds of buckets of water laters, James gave up. Except he didn¡¯t admit that to himself, instead he walked away from the well, frustrated and dripping, under the guise that pursuing water mastery wasn¡¯t an efficient use of his time at the moment.

    ***

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A voice interrupted James¡¯s intense concentration for the second time that day.

    ¡°What are YOU doing?¡± James rebutted as he flapped his arms and legs into the mud he was laying in.

    ¡°I work here,¡± Patrick said as he hefted his pickaxe up and let it land on his shoulder to rest, ¡®no one ever comes into this cave beside me. Seriously though, why are you making mud angels?¡±

    ¡°I am trying to learn a new mastery?¡± James finally answered.

    ¡°Mud mastery?¡± Patrick asked with a completely serious expression.

    ¡°We.. well¡­¡± James stuttered ¡°I was thinking Earth mastery or something like that...¡± James trailed off.

    Patrick harrumphed, ¡°Is that a thing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know man!¡± James replied, loud enough for his voice to echo in the small, torch-lit cave Patrick had been digging into the mountain to harvest stone and other building materials.

    ¡°I see,¡± Patrick said knowingly, ¡°Well, you might want to watch out. I am going to try and mine until my will increases or I pass out from exhaustion. Seriously, I go beast mode in here and it¡¯s probably not a safe place to be.¡±

    James leveraged himself out of the mud with a loud sucking sound and backed away from the red-headed miner. Just before he turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of Patrick in action. He swung his new, rarer pickaxe at the stone, which exploded angrily under the impact. The next few seconds became a blur of stone and grunts that flew through the air. Between the dust, James could see that Patrick had already made it a few inches into the stone, confirming that he did, in fact, go beast mode in there.

    ***

    ¡°What,¡° Torunn¡¯s voice echoed from behind James, ¡°doing?¡±

    James turned around from his spot on a guard tower and watched Torunn deftly navigate one of the many rope bridges that hung above Dreng¡¯s Rest. ¡°Just thinking about lightning bolts.¡±

    ¡°What are those?¡± Torunn asked as he joined James on the tower.

    James chuckled, remembering Torunn¡¯s experienced rain for the first time,¡± It is¡­ it¡¯s like. Well, do you remember those large dark clouds that floated in the sky when it rained?¡±

    Torunn squinted his eyes as if he was looking into the past and nodded.

    ¡°Well sometimes, big powerful sparks come out of them and hit the ground,¡± James said, happy with his explanation. Torunn nodded again, but this time much more slowly. James figured that Torunn must have seen the sparks that flew from the blacksmithing anvil and that he was just trying to picture it happening in the sky, so he continued on, ¡°One of the Mystics I met told me that he was once a powerful Lightning mage. I was trying to work out how someone would gain such a mastery.¡±

    ¡°Just catch one,¡± Torunn growled simply.

    ¡°A lightning bolt?¡± James said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I could. You can¡¯t really predict where they are going to land.¡±

    ¡°Then it sounds like the Mystic was very lucky¡­¡±

    ¡°Yea,¡± James sighed, shelving his hopes for casting lightning bolt spells for the time being, ¡°Besides, it doesn¡¯t even rain in the Great Savanna anyway.¡±

    James sat with Torunn for the next hour or so, or at least, he predicted that it was about an hour or so. It was hard to tell without a reliable way to tell time at night, a problem which he hoped the new Culture Initiative would solve eventually. The two companions talked about the good ole¡¯ times, leadership, life, nature, and other fundamental truths. An anxiety that told James he had to grow stronger grew in his stomach, but he pushed it back down. He seemed to have precious little time to spend with his Martyr brother nowadays, and he decided that an hour or so whenever he could get it was important for multiple, logical reasons that all boiled down to, ¡°he missed Torunn¡¯s company.¡±

    But then James got a wonderful, awful idea. An idea so wonderfully awful that if he could pull it off it would solve his most pressing issues and get rid of his growing anxiety. James hugged his game-brother and bid him farewell before running out across a maze of rickety rope bridges.

    ***

    ¡°Ah, I knew I would find you here,¡± James said to his actual brother as he entered the Cabin on the Cliff, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Michael turned in his chair by the bar, ¡°Just going over my notes from the Culture Initiatives first meeting earlier today. We got some really smart people to join. Ya¡¯ know, I think I should maybe change the name-¡±

    ¡°No, the name is perfect,¡± James interrupted his brother as he pulled up a chair next to him, ¡°What can you tell me about death magic? How did you get it? How long did it take you to get the notification that says you learned the mastery? How long does-¡±

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa,¡± Michael headed, ¡°First off, please tell me that you are not trying to learn death magic. Two, do you really like the name? You always think all my names are terrible.¡±

    James nodded impatiently, ¡°It is terrible, but that is why it is perfect. And yes. I want to learn death magic. I figure it should be okay for me to learn since I don¡¯t have the mark of the Lich King and I won¡¯t go mad.¡±

    Michael shook his head, ¡°No, man. It won¡¯t be okay. I wouldn¡¯t choose to learn death magic again even if I never had gotten the mark. It¡¯s fucking terrible man. You have to be very close to death. Not only your, real, death, but you also have to be around people that are actually dying, and not just being sent to respawn. There was a reason I was crazy when you guys found me, and honestly, it had little to do with the Lich King¡¯s magic.¡±

    James deflated, ¡°Yea, sorry. Maybe I got a little too excited about casting those death bolts.¡±

    Michael gave a soft chuckle, ¡°Man, those things are terrifying as well. I know they probably look cool, but every time I cast one I have no idea if the thing is going to consume my enemies or me. I have nightmares about that skull chomping its way toward me every night. I swear I can still hear the skull¡¯s laugher for a few minutes after I wake up.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± James said quietly, ¡°I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was still bad. Anything I can do?¡±

    ¡°Nah, I think I am okay now. I think the fact that I am not able to fight in the dungeon right now was a blessing in disguise. I have high hopes for the Culture Initiative. It''s nice to focus on something other than violence right now. In a weird way, it helps me see the bigger picture better. It gives me clarity. It is so easy to get lost in stat points, abilities, and skills, finding ways to do more damage, finding ways to take less damage. I don¡¯t know how to explain it,¡± Michael paused, ¡°It''s like you get lost in the fighting side of things and YOU get lost, ya know?¡±

    James nodded his head knowingly, ¡°Yea, I have been lost all day, trying to learn a new mastery so I can fight Ogrim better and break into another floor of the dungeon,¡± James paused long enough for him to turn his gaze to every inch of the cabin in thought, ¡°Maybe I need to step back to get ahead.¡±

    ¡°Probably a good idea,¡± Michael agreed.

    ¡°I am going to learn a craft. It will clear my head, and who knows, maybe I will get some good gear or stat points in the end,¡± James said matter of factly. He stood up, found his spot behind the bar, and pulled a small wooden barrel from a lower shelf, ¡°Beer?¡±

    ¡°You know it,¡± Michael said, happy to take a break from studying his notes to achieve an even higher level of clarity, ¡°Only one or two though. My boss is a dick and makes me report every morning at the crack of dawn¡±

    James chuckled and raised his mug to meet Michael''s, ¡°To your dick of a boss!¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 33 - Campfire Friendship

    ¡°Report,¡± James commanded through the steam of Spiced Cider that was held close to his mouth.

    ¡°The buildings and other various construction that we discussed yesterday have all been completed, Si¡­¡± Birger stuttered to a pause mid-sentence. James raised an eyebrow. ¡°James, not sir, James,¡± Birger recited, mostly for himself. James smiled and took another sip of his warm cider. ¡°My hunch was correct and everything we completed received various buffs from your builder¡¯s interface-¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± James interrupted, ¡°Anything I should know about?¡±

    ¡°The buffs?¡± Birger confirmed. James nodded. ¡°We received various benefits should we ever be attacked, benefits for trade, for crafting professions, and for food, among other things.¡±

    ¡°Which building grants the food buffs?¡± Michael asked.

    ¡°It is actually a building for the Oana. We upgraded their camps with improved fireplaces, meat drying racks, and even built them a shack or two. They didn¡¯t seem to appreciate it much, but I managed to grab some dinner from them last night and it was markedly better than it was the night before.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± James mused, ¡°did you know building an improvement to their camps would grant such a benefit?¡±

    ¡°Actually, no s..¡± Birger forcefully swallowed, ¡°No, I did not. My workers had actually completed all their work while you were away so I was just trying to keep them productive. I saw the upgraded camps long ago when the Oana lived with us in the Great Martyr city. Admittedly, I am at a loss at how you got the building plans that granted them the buff. I was not expecting that.¡±

    ¡°Neither was I,¡± James said, taking a moment to think. Everyone silently took a sip of their cider. ¡°I know I unlocked the Oana style of building, but I never got the plans for an improved camp, even though I have been to them. Maybe I unlocked bigger building plans by unlocking the constituent parts, or I simply unlocked all the basic Oana buildings because I have a hidden builder level that reached a certain number, or-¡±

    Patrick cleared his throat.

    James did the same, ¡°Ah, sorry about that. Either way, it is great news. Maybe you, Omero, and I can discuss it later. In the meantime, I will keep an eye out for new buildings that I have managed to unlock.¡±

    Birger nodded and took a step back.

    ¡°The Culture Initiative had its first meeting last night,¡± Michael said, ¡°So far it consists of myself, Omero, Freydis, and three other villagers from broad and impressive backgrounds. So far, we have decided that the first thing we need is a center of knowledge on the main avenue of Dreng¡¯s Rest. We would like it to be as accessible as possible, but we can work those details out later. This Center of Knowledge, if you will, will serve as somewhere we can work out of for future endeavors, a storage facility for Omero¡¯s growing number of books and any other books we manage to translate and get ready for...,¡± Michael pause for dramatic effect. Without missing a beat, and again letting James know he wasn¡¯t dozing off, Patrick pulled up his dirty cloth shirt and patted his stomach to the tune of a drumroll. ¡°A SCHOOL!¡± Alex announced excitedly.

    ¡°Oh!¡± James said, genuinely surprised, ¡°It sounds like you will need a big building then.¡±

    Alex nodded, ¡°Yes, the bigger the better. Freydis seemed rather passionate about being a teacher. She said that learning everything from Omero¡¯s notes would be good for her and teaching people sounded way better than looking after twenty cubs.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t she only have ten?¡± Patrick asked, confused.

    ¡°Those were her exact words,¡± Alex answered with a chuckle, ¡°I think they wore her out to the point where she felt like there was twenty of them.¡±

    Torunn gave a solemn nod, well aware of the energy required to raise just one Martyr cub, never mind ten.

    ¡°Where are the cubs anyway?¡± James asked the group.

    ¡°They are still training in the Great Savanna,¡± Torunn offered, ¡°there is much about their land they must learn before they are accepted as adults."

    ¡°I see,¡± James said, rather sadly, ¡°Well I hope they finish up soon. Who is next?¡±

    ¡°Meee,¡± Torunn growled, ¡®The humans we rescued are improving. We were able to waken every single one of them. Unfortunately, none of them have managed to say anything that has made any sense yet.¡±

    James sighed, ¡°Well, improvement is still improvement. I will stop by and visit them today.¡±

    ¡®That would not be wise, brother¡± Torunn warned, causing a confused, and slightly offended look to find its way onto James¡¯s face.

    ¡°Uh,¡± Omero began with a step forward, ¡°I have been visiting them rather regularly James. The human contact is good, but I fear too much of it will overstimulate them. I want them to get comfortable with just Torunn, Frode, and I so they begin to trust us. Adding anyone else to that may have the very real chance of complicating their recovery."

    ¡°Okay,¡¯ James conceded, ¡°That makes sense. Please let me know as soon as I can visit them without risking their recovery. Omero nodded and took a step back. ¡°Everyone good?¡± James asked as he leaned forward, his hands ready to clap.

    ¡°I have something!¡± Patrick interjected. James''s hands fell. He was excited to get started on his crafting, but that didn¡¯t stop him from being intrigued by whatever Patrick had to say. ¡°I am getting much stronger. BIG things are coming for Patrick,¡± Patrick said with a smile that almost reached his ears.

    James blanched, ¡°Is that all. How are you getting stronger? What big things?¡±

    Patrick held up his hands and shook his head, ¡°I can¡¯t say, it will be a surprise! I will give you more information when I am ready.¡±

    The inner circle all stared at the red-head. James knew from experience though that if Patrick didn¡¯t want to do something, or vice-versa, he wouldn¡¯t, so James didn¡¯t press him any further.

    James leaned in, spread his hands out wide, and purposely brought them together with a clap. The inner circle did the same and James was seconds away from doing a happy dance, That was, until he heard one, poorly timed, rogue clap. He looked around for the culprit.

    Of course, it was Patrick, he thought with a mental roll of his eyes.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Patrick chuckled, ¡°I distracted myself.¡±

    ***

    James left the training area and wandered around his village for a while, looking for a good spot to choose a crafting skill and get to work. He took a pull of cider from his mug and passed the tower of stairs. He turned away from the mountain and looked down his main avenue. A long cobblestone road stretched out before him. In the center was a raised area that housed a variety of colorful flowers being carefully tended for by an aging female Martyr. In the center of the raised area was the back of the Statue of the Legendary Chieftain. James walked up to Dreng and placed a hand on the statue to pay respects. He stood there for a moment wondering what advice Dreng would offer him if he were still alive.

    You would probably tell me to forget about crafting and just focus on fighting, James thought with a smile before chuckling, Although, you got pretty open-minded toward the end there, so who knows.

    James bid farewell to his old advisor and mentor and got the odd feeling that Dreng wouldn¡¯t have any advice for him if he were still alive. The thought made James feel both alone and proud.

    Nah, I have Torunn and everyone else, we will figure this out together, James thought. For the first time since Omero fled an Abominar attack, James thoughts were not focused on the Lich King¡¯s dungeon, or the Oana threat, or anything else related to the game. They were centered around Earth, and what the hell he was going to do about¡­ it.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Is this really my home now? He thought as he took in the sight of Dreng¡¯s Rest. He could see human villagers begin to emerge from there cozy cabins. Behind a row of those cabins and various empty shops that flanked the main road, he could see Oana villagers, lazily going about their simple lives of roasting large chunks of meat and hanging out by a campfire. Above him, he could see Martyr guards changing shifts among the labyrinth of hanging rope bridges. He found comfort in knowing that the Martyr cubs were out in the Great Savanna, learning about the wildlife, animal migration patterns, and food chains, while the remaining Martyrs slept in like they were apt to do.

    It¡¯s not a bad one, as far as homes go. I have roots down here. People I love and care for, James thought with a sigh. He finished his mug of Spiced Cider. A villager he vaguely recognized waved at him. James was ninety percent sure the villager¡¯s name was Jim. He waved back.

    ***

    ¡°Okay,¡± James chanted to himself as he tossed out bundle after bundle of fur from his satchel. He made sure to keep the pile of furs he usually slept in separate from the others, especially the Abominar fur that he used as a pillow. Inside the cabin on the cliff, James had pushed all the tables and chairs against the walls and set up various equipment he would need for crafting. He managed to find a tanning rack from the Oana villagers, which was inside temporarily until he figured out how to use it. The first camp he went to seemed rather upset he was taking their tanning rack. They didn¡¯t attack, but they did show some teeth and shoot James some nasty glares that motivated him to put the rack back and try a different camp. The villagers there seemed indifferent about losing the rack. James figured it might have been since they had an Oana that could craft a new one or some other reason. Either way, he took it as a good sign. James also managed to find variously shaped needles of different diameters, along with some thin string in one of the empty shops. The majority of the shops that flanked the main road of the village were empty, but the one with the gear he needed was filled with various odds and ends. He figured that Lilly must have just dropped everything of use off there. Eventually, James would have to come up with some sort of currency and find someone to manage the shop. The village was running fine now, but once more people leveled up crafting he imagined that some sort of commerce would have to take place. The sort of socialist, everyone gets what they need and sometimes what they want, system they had probably wouldn¡¯t work forever. Besides, returning to a familiar commerce system would probably be comforting to the humans. Coming up with a completely new system was a novel idea, but James didn¡¯t have the time or energy to deal with the unknown issues that were bound to crop up with one.

    ¡°Okay,¡± James chanted again, ¡°time to get to work.¡±

    James said down on the floor of the cabin. He grabbed an Ingo skin from his pile. Then he looked at the pile of needles and grabbed a hooked one with his other hand. That was when James realized he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

    A long moment later, followed by an even longer moment of mental blankness, a moment of inspiration hit him. It wasn¡¯t the sort of inspiration that drove great artists to create something legendary, but it was enough to get James moving. He opened up his interface and looked for gaps in his gear.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Reinforced Leather Boots (Uncommon)

    Legs - Ingo Cloth Pants (Widespread)

    Chest - Ingo Cloth Shirt (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Empty

    Wrist ¨C Empty

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Empty

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1 ¨C Brutus¡¯s Ring (Extraordinary)

    Sheath 1¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2- Oana Scythe Sheath (Common)

    Bag - Adept Adventurer''s Satchel (Uncommon)

    James figured he could either create something for his head, shoulders, or wrists since he lost the uncommon bracers he had the last time he died. He racked his brain for a while, mulling over the logistics of creating each item in his head. He settled for creating bracers since they seemed like the easiest option. He could always create a head and shoulder item when his skill leveled up, and hopefully, then he would just be given the knowledge of how to create them.

    James placed the skin he was working with on top of another skin and used his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword to cut two long and thick strips from it. He folded each strip over his wrists and marked where they should be cut so they would fit him. James made the cuts, then threaded his string through the hooked needle. James had watched a doctor give him stitches before, so he figured this couldn¡¯t be much different. He couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. The first problem was that he had no idea how much space the stitches should have between them. It was also way harder to stitch the material since it wasn¡¯t like stitching a human at all. If he went in too deep he just pierced the other end of the fur. James had gotten a few stitches in multiple different times, only to realize he had gone too deep on one loop and essentially closed off the hole that his hand would have to go through. Eventually, James completed one bracer and started on the other. The second one was still a struggle, but slightly less so.

    James finished his bracers and slipped them over his wrists. For some reason, that was when it clicked - they were fur bracers.

    Leather, I want leather. What will fur bracers do? James chastised himself as he flung his arms in the air. The fur bracers slipped over his hands and each landed somewhere different inside the cabin.

    James stood up and waddled over to the tanning rack with legs stiff from sitting on the wooden floor for too long. He inspected the rack. It was a large open rectangle with legs that kept it upright. He figured that the skin would go inside the square and be stretched out and fastened in place with the thick hooks that hung from equal distances along the inside of the rectangle.

    Pretty easy, James thought. Once again, he couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. He destroyed at least a dozen Ingo skins because they were either too small to be stretched so far or they were too thin and tore when he pierced them with the hooks.

    James stood back from his tanning rack, growing pile of ruined skins, and dwindling pile of good skins and cupped his chin. He contemplated his life.

    ¡°Okay,¡± He chanted once again, ¡°I just have to find the perfect skin for this size rack. Simple.¡±

    A minute or two later, the inside of the Cabin looked like the house of a cruel and opulent collector of exotic animal pelts. James emerged from the Cabin, dragging his tanning rack behind him, all set up with the perfect Ingo fur. James set it out in the sun.

    Now what? He thought with his hands on his hips. He looked over his village and whistled a tune. A rogue thought crept its way into James''s brain. A thought that he didn¡¯t want to think. The thought said that if he ever wanted to be any good at leatherworking he would have to get a bunch of tanning racks so he would have a constant supply of tanned leather to work with. James checked on his tanning Ingo skin. It was still soft enough to sleep on.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± he sighed as he kicked the dirt. James finally caved to his rogue thought and marched down the Tower of Stairs, into the general shop to grab some woodworking tools, over to his Ingo mounts to say hi, across the village, and up to one the Oana camps.

    The scaled humanoids studied him with a lazy interest. He pulled up a rock and sat down next to one of them. He grabbed a nearby stick and poked at the campfire. James had gotten rather experienced bonding with strange creatures over a campfire. It was arguably one of the main reasons he felt so close to Freydis. After a long couple of hours, that felt like days to James, he had built that bond with the Oana villagers. It was the bond that couldn¡¯t be seen, but could only be felt. It was a bond that could only be created by retreating into your brain and contemplating the many beautiful and complicated facets of life in the silent, shared company of others. You also had to poke the fire and restock the woodpile every now and then for maximum bondship, James found.

    ***

    A day later, and only after his morning meeting in which James tasked the Culture Initiative council members with coming up with prospective currencies and ways to stimulate trade so he could put merchants in all the empty shops, James had ten new tanning racks, all produced from his friends over at Oana Camp Lagoon and Oana Camp Silent Contemplation. He lined the racks up outside the Cabin on the Cliff, where the old training area used to be.

    ¡°Okay,¡± James said with a nod, ¡°Alright.¡±

    He walked around the corner of the cabin to gather some skins. Along the way, he stopped at his original tanning rack to check on his first prospective leather. It was still soft enough to sleep on. With horror, James realized the skin still had fur on it.

    He gave a long, long, dramatic sigh. After that, he decided that he probably needed another cup of Spiced Cider.

    Three cups of cider and two hours later, James sat on the floor of the cabin, buzzing with jittery amounts of morale and the exciting knowledge that if he shaved the Ingo skins before he put it onto the tanning rack, they turned to leather much faster. James set a piece of successfully tanned Ingo leather onto another one and cut it into the same long and wide strips he needed for bracers. He wrapped them over his wrist to measure them and cut again. He grabbed his hooked needle with string and set to work. The leather was much harder to pierce, a quality that he hoped would translate to increased armor levels, but at that point, James''s hands were already callused from manipulating the needle and he didn¡¯t have many additional problems sewing the hide together. It also helped that James''s hands seemed to be getting familiar with the required motions. He finished up his bracers and slipped them over his wrists. The measurements and cuts he took were perfect, so he did have some trouble getting them on, but at least they wouldn¡¯t slip off.

    Congratulations! You have received Shoddy Leather Bracers (Widespread)

    Congratulations! You have learned the Leatherworking skill! (max level = 10)

    ¡°Yes!¡± James exclaimed as he threw his Shoddy Leather Bracer covered wrists into the air and fell back into a pile of untanned furs. The new bracers might have only been of widespread rarity, but they felt Legendary to James.

 Book 2 - Chapter 34 - Frode

    ¡°Where did I put that damn Tuki Tuka power?¡± Frode grumbled to himself as he browsed the various herbs and sacks hanging from the inside of the Chieftain¡¯ Hut. The new living arrangements were nice, definitely better than working out of a cramped tent, but Frode still managed to be grumpy. No doubt due to old age and having to mentor yet another hard-headed Martyr Chieftain.

    At least Torunn isn¡¯t AS hard headed as his father, Frode pondered. Truthfully, this round of mentorship had been pretty challenging, even for someone as wise, intelligent, and fearsome as Frode. The Martyrs faced a new challenge these days, they were in a new era. One that focused around returning to their ancestral roots of caring for and protecting the Great Savanna. And even though Torunn did have some of the hard-headedness of his father, he also managed to be a completed different type of leader. All of those things made Frode feel more alive - no less grumpy, just more alive. It was like he was young again and learning how to harvest WhipLash root, without getting wiped or lashed, for the first time again. It was a painful process, but a uniquely rewarding one.

    ¡°Ahhh, here it is,¡± Frode muttered, ¡°just where I left it...¡± The Chieftain¡¯s Advisor didn¡¯t have a problem with people touching his stuff and moving it around. Torunn often borrowed his Shaman supplies, as they often carried over to his Alchemy skill, but the young Chieftain always returned them to where he found them. No, Frode¡¯s problem was just that he had trouble remembering where he put things.

    He grabbed the small sack of powdered Tuki Tuka from the wall and poured some of it into his hands. With the grace that only came with old age, Frode mixed the powder into the fur on his face, giving special attention to not breathe in the powder or let it get into his eyes. Ingesting too much of the powder at once was the leading cause of the Mad Shaman debuff. It was a temporary debuff, one that went away naturally in a day or two, but it was terrible when it was active. His father often warned him with tales of Shaman grabbing skinning knives and cutting off their fur before disappearing into the Great Savanna for a few days, all the while shouting nonsense about Nifrits that changed their color to every color other than blue as you watched them. The most concerning of these tales was that some of the Mad Shaman recalled that the Nifrits talked to them. Frode knew this was nonsense. Blue Nifrits were known to uproot themselves to waddle around and they were known to communicate with other Blue Nifrits via a complicated system of pollen and plant pheromones, but were never known to talk. Or at least they were never reported to talk by anyone other than a shaman that had accidentally inhaled too much Tuki Tuka powder.

    Frode carefully walked over to the prisoners, who were all busy grumbling the rantings of a fever dream. He stretched his hands out over the prisoner¡¯s fur piles. He began to chant.

    ¡°Savanna nah nah nah,¡± Frode recited, as he did everytime he needed to use his Sense Magic ability.

    ¡°Hana heyyyyy,¡± He continued, building up rhythm and allowing his body to sway with it.

    ¡°HA!¡± Frode shouted, allowing his head to jerk slightly. Some of the Tuki Tuka powder trapped within the fur of his face came loose and floated into the air. He inhaled it.

    ¡°Savanna nah nah nah,¡± he chanted, this time with more gusto, and more rhythm. His feet stepped back and forth and his body swayed. He closed his eyes and allowed his body to fall into its carefully choreographed tempo. If he moved to fast, he would go mad. If he moved too slow, it wouldn¡¯t work.

    ¡°HA!¡± Frode shouted louder this time with a more forceful jerk of his head. He inhaled more powder. His senses became aware of things. Things that Frode knew would disappear if he opened his eyes.

    ¡°HA!¡± sounded from Frode¡¯s mouth, this time almost unconsciously.

    ¡°HA!¡± Frode inhaled yet more Tuki Tuka powder. Lights began to daze around in the Advisor¡¯s vision, even through his closed eyes. They waved around vaguely, always retreating if Frode focused on them. Frode let himself be consumed by his chant. His head jerked and waved around violently. His feet stepped in rhythm with his body, all the while, his hands hovered above the insane prisoners.

    The colors that floated around Frode¡¯s consciousness became clearer and less afraid of his focus. They became bolder. They settled into the outlines of the Chieftain¡¯s hut. More of them appeared and burst into a cloud of colorful mist that fell to the floor just below Frode¡¯s hands.

    Suddenly, Frode stood there, in the vague and colorful realm only a handful of the greatest shaman¡¯s have ever entered. He didn¡¯t have much time, he had to get to work. He dropped to one knee and surveyed the magic that flowed through the bodies of the prisoners. He knew that they were always inflicted with two types of insanity. One, which he knew from Omero that only affected Earth humans and was caused by stress, and the other, a more purposeful type of insanity. A type that was created by the Lich King to poison the minds of those inflicted, to make them malleable, to make them ripe for harvesting.

    Frode identified the malicious magic that flowed through the prisoners'' ethereal bodies and attempted to coerce it away with a chant. He recalled the shamanic lessons passed down to him from his father, who received them from his father, and so on. He connected with the toxic red mana flow and gave it a sharp tug with his fading consciousness. It came loose. Without wasting an extra second, Frode activated Martyr¡¯s Rage. The fur on his back split and he felt a familiar calmness come over him along with the searing hot pain. He leaned into the red mana whipping about angrily above the prisoner¡¯s bodies and took a deep inhale, absorbing the magic with his intangible shaman form. Then¡­ he collapsed.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ***

    ¡°Son,¡± a voice intruded into Frode¡¯s brain. His eyelids shot open, revealing bloodshot eyes.

    This is not the shaman¡¯s realm, Frode thought, panic growing inside him as he looked around. He was at a large feasting table, a circular one with a large fire in the middle. He recognized it, but couldn¡¯t place from where. All around him, Martyrs were feasting on hunks of meat and whole beasts.

    ¡°Son,¡± the voice repeated.

    Frode turned right, and his eyes recognized his father for the first time since he was a cub. Frode furrowed his large brow and looked around again. Realization dawned.

    ¡°I am at the Great Martyr City,¡± Frode said out loud.

    ¡°Yes, my son. I am happy you finally came for a visit,¡± Frode¡¯s father said as he took out a chunk of the meat in his hand.

    ¡°But how?¡± Frode whispered.

    ¡°You finally became a Great Shaman, that''s how,¡± Frode¡¯s father said, swallowing his chunk of meat with an involuntary growl, ¡°I knew you could do it, son!¡± Frode half expected a pat on the back, but it never came. Frode reached out to touch his father, but his hand simply passed through him.

    ¡°Is this the afterlife?¡± Frode wondered.

    His father scoffed, ¡°I don¡¯t think so! I would hope I wouldn''t have to work so hard in the afterlife,¡± his father learned in, ¡°Just between you and me, I could use a vacation,¡± his father leaned back and nudged the Martyr next to him and gave a loud chuckle, ¡°or a nice nap!¡± The Martyr two seats down from Frode agreed with a hearty laugh and a returned elbow.

    Frode felt out of place. He felt small again, even though he was one of the oldest Martyrs alive. Still, though, he could sense that everyone around him was much more wise, intelligent, and fearsome than he was. He looked around, finally recognizing the great shaman¡¯s that he learned about through story after story in his childhood. Among all the legendary shaman, sat one small human woman. She was so small that Frode didn¡¯t even see her at first and simply mistook her for a gap between two other Martyrs.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± Frode said, pointing his finger at the woman.

    ¡®Ohhhh,¡± Frode¡¯s father said excitedly, ¡°she is an honored guest. She got here not to long ago actually and is the first ever human to make it here! Quite impressive if you ask me. And I think you two have already met. Her name is Salmaana.¡±

    Frode nodded his head slowly as if his head was weighed down by a distant memory, ¡°Yes. We have met.¡±

    ¡°Thought so,¡± his father said as he finished off a mug of frothy liquid and became much more serious, ¡°It is good you came when you did, but even the most powerful shaman cannot stay here forever. You still have much to learn, so I am afraid your time is very limited. Come with me.¡±

    Frode stood up and followed his father away from the feast. They walked the familiar, yet foreign, roads of the great Martyr city. Rope bridges swung above his head just before the blank grey sky. They twisted and changed elevation, forming a village of their own in the sky. Frode was led up a large wooden ramp that twisted around a wooden tower that was as thick as the entirety of Dreng¡¯s Rest.

    ¡°I have some grave news son,¡± Frode¡¯s father said as they climbed the tower, ¡°It will not be easy to hear.¡±

    ¡°Out with it,¡± Frode said firmly, finally remembering who he was and all he had accomplished in his long life. Finally remembering that he deserved to be counted among the great shamans.

    ¡°Very well,¡± his father growled, ¡°the humans are destined to destroy everything our race holds dear. They are destined to destroy the Great Savanna.¡±

    Frode shook his head, ¡°No, the humans protect the Great Savanna. Without them, it would have already been destroyed. You yourself predicted that they would come and do great things for us when you were alive. Humans that could command the fire and spend stat points before they reached adulthood. That was your prophecy, father.¡±

    ¡°Great does not always follow benevolence,¡± his father said sadly, ¡°I was not insane when I was granted that prophecy, but the prophecy was limited at the time. When I died and came here I was able to talk to people that understood me and didn¡¯t label me a Mad Shaman. I grew more powerful and saw the prophecy more clearly. With Salmaana¡¯s help, we were able to see even clearer. The humans are destined to destroy all the lessor Spirit Vessels, which is a great dead of benevolence. But with this deeper sight Salmaana has granted us, we also discovered they will accomplish great deeds of malevolence as well.¡±

    Frode reached the top of the tower and stood on its flat surface, overlooking the entirety of the great Martyr city. He stepped to the edge and caught a glimpse of the feast¡¯s fire breathing life into the dull greyness of the city.

    ¡°They will destroy the Great Savanna if they are allowed to,¡± his father continued.

    Frode turned to face his father and shook his hard head. He refused to believe that James and the other humans; the humans that grew stronger under his very eyes, who fought side by side with him, who helped bury Dreng, would ever betray them. The humans were wise, intelligent, and they were fearsome friends. They would never betray the Great Savanna. Frode wanted to tell his father all that and more, but he couldn¡¯t. His breath caught in his chest as his body lurched. His father pushed him off the tower.

    ¡°I am proud of you my son. Please do come visit when you have enough power again!¡± his father yelled as he looked over the edge of the tower, ¡°In the meantime, look out for the signs!¡±

    Pain snaked through Frode¡¯s body and lit all of his nerves on fire. He came to with a powerful roar that could have come from Dreng himself. He was back in the Chieftain¡¯s hut.

    Frode calmed his breathing and deactivated Martyr¡¯s rage, allowing his wounds to slowly seal. The prisoner¡¯s below him tossed and turned peacefully. He couldn¡¯t sense any of the Lich King¡¯s evil within them anymore. They would heal as long as they could overcome Omero¡¯s PTSD insanity. Frode wanted to feel relieved now that his portion of helping the prisoners recover was completed. Instead, he felt restless.

 Book 2 - Chapter 35 - Patrick

    ¡°ABSOLUTE POWEEEEER!¡± Patrick yelled as he bore deep into the mountain like a nuclear-powered drill and quoted a line from his favorite Disney movie - Aladdin. He swung his pick with enough force that it threatened to break. In fact, he had been lucky to find a rarer pickaxe, since all the lower rarity ones broke whenever he tried to use them now. He was becoming stronger and stronger by the minute. Everything was coming together. He would be ready for his big reveal any day now.

    I used to be a fat little caterpillar, but soon I will emerge from my furry red cocoon, Patrick thought excitedly as the rock of the ancient mountain melted to his whim as if it were the brown sugar his mom used to simmer in a butter-filled pan when she baked him cookies. I will be a beautiful, powerful, muscle filled, butterfly.

    Truth be told, Patrick wasn¡¯t sure what he would look like after the reveal. He had a vague idea he would become slightly taller than any Martyr. He hoped he would be as big as Dreng, or as close to it as any of the other humans could ever get. But he hadn¡¯t really put much thought into that part. His mind was preoccupied with the reveal. He contemplated going into the dungeon and challenging, ¡®his mom¡¯ to a one on one fight. Everyone would cheer him and watch him transform into a battle machine that had enough hit points and armor to withstand any attack, even one from a large rock creature. Afterward, everyone would try to carry him away in celebration of his dedication to protecting the village, but they would fail, because he was too heavy to carry, even for a large crowd of people. The only problem with that plan was that James and Torunn would definitely stop him from letting villagers into the dungeon to watch his show, so he would have to find another enemy to defeat and demonstrate his new power when he got it. He wanted to activate the ability mid-fight, so the onlookers could see the difference in him - like the before and after pictures he took that one time he went on the Atkin¡¯s diet. This time though, the difference would be visible, because this time he was dedicated, and there were no brown sugar cookies to break his determination. So there was only one thing left for him to do¡­ well, there was two. He had to find an enemy powerful enough to kill him, and he had to actually level up enough to get the new class.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Grats! Your mining skill got better. Choose one;

    - More muscles

    - Faster rock breaking

    ¡°Oh!¡± Patrick exclaimed like a fat kid in a cake shop. He choose to increase his strength since he had already increased his rock breaking speed so high that he could barely use any pickaxes. Patrick felt his muscles become even bulgier and his shoulders even broadier. Just when his head hit the ceiling of the tunnel he was in, he grew some more.

    Oh, wow, that must of been a big increase, Patrick thought, still growing.

    When he finally stopped growing, he barely had enough room to move within the tunnel. His head was bent against the rough ceiling and his shoulders were scraping against the walls. As Patrick stood there contemplating what to do, he quoted another line from his favorite Disney movie, this time from the good genie instead of the evil one.

    ¡°PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER,¡± He bellowed before channeling his squeakiest voice, ¡°Itty bitty living space.¡±

    Patrick chuckled at himself, moments before the the lack of space started to bother him. He pushed against the rock above him with his head. It felt malleable. The muscles in his neck tightened and he pressed his head harder into the ceiling. It gave way and rock crumbled to his feet. Patrick pushed his head to the left, forward, backward, and to the right to mine himself some additional headspace.

    ¡°Ah,¡± he sighed, ¡°that¡¯s better.¡±

    Then Patrick gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. The rock walls felt malleable to him as well. He took in a deep breath and puffed up his chest as wide as it could go. His shoulders pushed up against the rock.

    ¡°Just...A¡­ Little,¡± Patrick said between inhales, ¡°bit more,¡± he finished, just as the rock walls crumbled under the pressure of his impenetrable skin.

    Freedoooom! Patrick thought, finally having enough room to bend over and grab his pickaxe, Whelp, back to work, back to work.

 Book 2 - Chapter 36 - Leatherworker

    ¡°Those look awesome,¡± James said as he held a hand above his eyes, shielding them from the sun.

    Alex nodded in agreement and pointed to the gargoyles that were now stationed across the top of the village walls, ¡°And they will come to life and attack anything that tries to get into the village?¡±

    Patrick scoffed, ¡°Well no¡­ but they do offer us some attacking buffs when defending the village. Basically, the same right?¡±

    ¡°Yea, except less cool,¡± Alex laughed then patted Patrick on his broad shoulders, ¡°just kidding man, they are great¡­ Jesus man, you are getting pretty big. What is your training routine like?¡±

    Patrick shrugged, ¡°I just work on whatever skills I think will offer a strength increase when I level them up enough. That and I eat a lot¡­ not sure if that matters...¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± James said as he studied the myriad of different golems through the blinding sun, ¡°why are they all different?¡±

    Patrick pointed to a golem in the shape of a strange fanged creature with dagger-like talons, ¡°That one there gives us an increased damage rate when using sharp weapons. That one there with the bulky mass on its tail? That one gives an increased damage rate when using blunt weapons. There should be one for each attack type, even unarmed attackers like Alex. I wasn¡¯t high enough to create any Gargoyles that increase damage done with spells though. I had the option to choose that crafting sub-skill, but I took the strength increase instead.¡±

    ¡°Figures,¡± Alex said with a chuckle.

    James shrugged, ¡°It was probably a good call in a weird way. We still have to get deeper into the dungeon, so that strength will come in handy. Besides, I don¡¯t think Dreng¡¯s Rest will get attacked by anything anytime soon, now that the aggressive Oana are all taken care of.¡±

    Patrick nodded in a way that attempted to make it look like that was his plan all along, but it didn¡¯t fool James and he was fairly certain it didn¡¯t fool Alex either.

    ¡°Alriiiighty then,¡± James said, breaking the awkward silence, ¡°I am going back to grinding my leatherworking skill. See ya guys later."

    ¡°Hang on a sec!¡± Alex said just as James had begun to turn away, ¡°When do you want to try the dungeon again?¡¯

    James faced his companions and shrugged, ¡°Tomorrow?¡±

    Patrick shook his head, ¡°I need at least two days.¡±

    ¡°In two days you will be strong enough to defeat Ogrim?¡± James inquired.

    ¡°By myself? No. But I will probably be strong enough for that in a week or two. I think in two days we will be strong enough to do it together.¡±

    James nodded, ¡°Okay, I am good with that. Just so you guys are aware, I haven''t been training anything other than my leatherworking. I will try and have some new armor for you guys, but that is the only new thing I will be contributing.¡±

    Patrick shrugged, ¡°Fine with me. I am progressing fast enough for all of us."

    ¡°Same,¡± said Alex.

    ¡°Cool, I¡¯ll see ya guys later. For real this time,¡± James said with a wave. He turned around and headed back into Dreng¡¯s Rest. The gates were open, as they usually were not that he was back, so he sauntered through easily. His only resistance being that of nervous guard stares. Just as he passed that statue of the Legendary Chieftain, he became aware of footsteps following him. He turned around to question his would-be stalkers, but only found the amused faces of Patrick and Alex.

    ¡°I thought I already said goodbye to you guys?¡± James asked with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°You did,¡± Alex laughed, ¡°We are just going the same way as you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you hate when then happens?¡± Patrick said in a flat tone, ¡°You say goodbye to someone, then end up walking the same way as them? Awkwaarrd.¡±

    ***

    Congratulations! You have received Superior Leather Bracers (Common)

    Congratulations! Your Leatherworking skill has increased! Current level = 10 (max level = 10)

    ¡°Niiice,¡± James said as he inspected his latest piece of armor. Apart from looking better and no longer having the words, ¡°shoddy¡± in their name, James could sense their increased quality. Before, he would have only been able to tell the rarity of an item from its name, but now his senses were becoming in tune with leather. He could see that the cuts in the leather were clear and sealed properly. Meaning they wouldn¡¯t easily fray or become worn down in the elements. He could feel that the knots that tied the leather piece over itself were strong and well-hidden, so they couldn¡¯t be chopped off by an enemy attack. Hell, his new bracers even smelled higher quality than all the other ones he made. James smiled to himself and swapped out his current leather bracers for the new superior pair. He purposefully tossed them into a pocket into his pants. He could have easily put them into his inventory, but he knew if he did, he would forget about them and never add them to the village¡¯s steadily growing stockpile of goods.

    James took a few steps in his new armor set and got the feel of it all. It didn¡¯t feel like it weighed him down all that much and as a bonus, he felt way safer. James pulled up his inventory to see the fruit of all his hard work on paper.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    Right Hand - Martyr Skinning Knife (Widespread)

    Feet - Reinforced Leather Boots (Uncommon)

    Legs - Leather Trousers (Widespread)Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Chest - Leather Cuirass (Widespread)

    Shoulder ¨C Leather Pauldrons (Widespread)

    Wrist ¨C Superior Leather Bracers (Common)

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Leather Helm (Common)

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1 ¨C Brutus¡¯s Ring (Extraordinary)

    Sheath 1¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2- Oana Scythe Sheath (Common)

    Bag - Adept Adventurer''s Satchel (Uncommon)

    ¡°Awesome,¡± James said, still excited to see everything in his interface, even though he was already wearing it all. Even though most of the things he was able to craft so far was of widespread quality, James couldn¡¯t believe that he hadn¡¯t ever crafted anything before.

    ¡°I could have had full armor sets this entire time¡­¡± James said, absently mindedly searching for a mirror inside the cabin and failing.

    Damn, he thought, realizing that he would only be able to see the blurry version of himself that a reflection of water happily offered.

    Alex burst through the cabin door. James was ready for him though. Somehow whenever he seemed to be doing something embarrassing, like strutting around in a new armor set, someone always managed to walk in on him. It was just the way things happened in Dreng¡¯s Rest. There was no privacy. At least for him. And maybe Torunn.

    James gave Alex gun-fingers, but the military veteran didn¡¯t seem to notice as he made a b-line for the bar. He purposefully poured himself some Ale and flopped down into a stool

    James, clad in leather, approached, ¡°You okay dude?¡±

    Alex jumped, almost spilling his ale in the process, and glared at James, who couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ¡°Finally,¡± he said, ¡°I am sick of always being the one getting snuck up on.¡± James took a seat next to Alex. ¡°What¡¯s going on man? It¡¯s only like... lunch time.¡± He nodded to the mug of ale in Alex¡¯s hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s five-o-clock somewhere right?¡± Alex said before taking a swig.

    ¡°Welllll¡­. We don¡¯t know that actually. There isn¡¯t even a way to tell time here yet and who knows if they have different time zones.¡±

    Alex scoffed, ¡°You sir, are an asshole.¡±

    James shrugged, ¡°Never pretended to be anything else. So what''s the deal?¡±

    ¡°Ahh, nothing,¡± Alex said as he ran his fingers through his long hair, ¡°I just keep getting caught up in blacksmithing things for other people. I thought it would be a fun craft skill to have, but it turns out that it isn¡¯t so fun when you have to craft a bunch of miscellaneous items.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± James asked, pouring himself an afternoon ale in the process.

    ¡°Random hinges, special nails, and a million other things for Birger. Pots and pans for villagers. The occasional trinket for Torunn¡­¡± Alex replied and held his mug out. James lightly tapped it with his own. ¡°I am pretty sure he uses them for Alchemy, but you get the idea. I keep having to craft things for other people.¡±

    James shook his head, ¡°Nah man, that''s not supposed to happen. I told everyone to leave us alone while we prepared to face Ogrim again.¡±

    Alex waved a hand dismissively, ¡°Ahh,¡± he said, ¡°It hasn¡¯t really taken up to much of my time. I just hate being an order taker. The real problem is it takes up valuable skill points to be able to craft these random things.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean,¡± asked James.

    ¡°You have to have a certain sub-skill thing to be able to craft things for other crafting skills. For example, I took the builder''s blacksmithing sub-skill first so I could create the hinges we needed for the front gate,¡± replied Alex.

    James took another sip of his ale and thought for a long while. When he spoke again, his voice took on a persuasive tone, ¡°Okay, I think I have a solution. I will find you a reliable assistant blacksmith. In return, you prioritize teaching him a skill that will allow him to be able to craft things for leatherworkers. What do ya say?¡±

    ¡°Psssh, I have looked all over for an assistant. If you can find me a reliable one I will teach him how to sing and dance for you.¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± James said with satisfaction as he held his mug out in front of him. Alex gently tapped it with his own, careful not to spill any of the precious afternoon ale.

    ¡°Deal,¡± Alex said, finishing off his mug and standing up to leave. He turned just before the door, ¡°Oh by the way¡­ this was just added in Omero¡¯s notebook, so you probably haven¡¯t seen it yet but¡­ when you are crafting, the last item or thing you make that takes you to the next level - as long as it is in a 10 level increment - will be of the next highest rarity. Just thought that would be useful.¡± Alex hiccuped and exited the cabin.

    Yea, James thought as he downed the rest of his own ale, I figured that.

    ***

    After grabbing lunch at Oana Camp Silent Contemplation, James sauntered over to Torunn¡¯s new quest board. He took his last bite of the Oana food and studied the odd penmanship of the board. It was clearly written by Omero, in some sort of red ink, no doubt crafted from Torunn. An interface box exploded into James¡¯s vision, almost causing him to choke on the strangely spiced meat in his mouth.

    Town Quests are Available!

    ! Hunt down five BisonBogs !

    ! Gather 20 Lame Danders !

    ! Track down and report the migration direction of 3 Blue Nifrit colonies !

    ! Hunt down one Giant Ingo !

    Cool, James thought as he telepathically selected the first quest. Gone were the days were he poked around in the air to navigate his interface.

    Quest Accepted! Hunt down five BisonBogs.

    Quest Rewards - Experience and Town Standing Points

    Special Objective - Only Kill five Bisonbogs and turn the quest into the Chieftain immediately.

    Adventurer¡¯s Bonus - Five Bisonbogs have been marked on your map.

    Even cooler, he thought as he pulled up his map and verified that it showed the location of the Bisonbogs. It didn¡¯t show exactly where they were since he was still in the village, but it did show an arrow pointing to their direction. He figured that once he entered the Great Savanna, or at least got closer to them, he would be able to see their exact location.

    ¡°Sir,¡± A guard said mid salute as James turned to leave his village. He paused and looked at the guard. It was the same nervous teenager that stopped Omero from entering the village when they got back from Abaddon¡¯s Land of the Undead.

    ¡°Do you like being a guard?¡± James pondered out loud, in the direction of the teenager. At least he guessed it was a teenager. Size was all relative nowadays, and not really a good hint as to someone''s age. The boy was definitely man-sized, but even that was hard to nail down. James had been man-sized when he entered the game, but now he was much larger. In the end though, what made James think the guard was still only a teenager was his nervousness.

    ¡°Y yy yes,¡± said Guard.

    ¡°No truly,¡± James said, doing his best to take on a friendly tone, ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone here doing anything they don¡¯t want to do.¡± James laughed, ¡°Otherwise, what is the point of all this?¡±

    Guard laughed.

    Got you now, James thought.

    ¡°Well¡­ I guess not really-¡±

    ¡°You look quite strong,¡± James interrupted, softly slapping the guard''s shoulders.

    ¡°Oh, I am no stranger to hard work,¡± Guard said proudly.

    ¡°Good!¡± James exclaimed with a nod, ¡°and creative too, I suppose?¡± He added while pointing to the guards oddly pleasant looking assortment of armor taken from the village¡¯s stockpile.

    ¡°Oh yes!¡± Guard replied excitedly, ¡°That¡¯s me alright.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± James said with a smile, ¡®Then I have a job you will love!¡±

    Guards face darkened, ¡°Well¡­ w w wwwhat about my post, sir?¡±

    ¡°Leave here right away and go straight to the Chieftain. Tell him I sent you and that I require that he find a replacement guard for you. Tell him it will help me defeat Ogrim and he won¡¯t give you any problems. Once you do that, go find Alex right away. He will probably be in the training area or the blacksmith''s hut. Got all that?¡±

    Guard muttered to himself for a brief moment before nodding and saying, ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Guard gave his final salute as a guard, a rather rushed one at that and sprinted away.

    ¡°Good lad,¡± James said to himself as he stepped into the Great Savanna. He put his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud whistle. After a moment or two, Fletcher, James¡¯s loot finding mount, turned the corner of the village wall excitedly. James patted his mount on the head and hoped on its back, ready to hunt some Bisonbogs and finally reach level thirty.

 Book 2 - Chapter 37 - Turn In

    James found the Bisonbogs exactly where his map said they would be - part way up one of the mountains that surrounded the savanna. He was relatively sure that he had seen Bisonboggs before when he first entered the game and skinned that pile of dead animals inside Frey¡¯s tent, but he had no idea that they would live in the mountains. Even more surprising was the fact that they didn¡¯t seem to be good at it. James recalled seeing mountain goats on the National Geographic channel that could seemingly walk up vertical cliffs with ease, and figured that that was a quality all mountain dwelling animals should have. But no, the Bisonbogs were clumsy. They climbed the mountain with a determination that even James struggled to match in search of some sort of flower. When they found it, or even when they didn¡¯t and just stepped the wrong way, they would tumble down the mountain, bouncing off of rocks and other Bisonbogs on the way down.

    This is ridiculous, James thought as he did his best to swipe at a falling Bisonbog with his legendary short sword and not lose his own balance in the process. A large Bisonbog grunted to the left of James as its large hoofs struggled to find purchase on the steep mountain. James considered climbing over to it but ended up opting to watch it instead. Its would stop periodically and its large snout would quiver and snort, apparently trying to sniff out the best route to the top of the mountain or something. Then it would put its snout back to the dirt or rock below it, and begin to climb again, all while not even looking at where it was going.

    ¡°It''s no wonder you guys fall all the time,¡± James said out loud. The Bisonbogs ears perked up, followed by its snout, which was followed by its temper. The Bisonbog grunted and lunged at James, only to slip and tumble down the mountain.

    Idiot, James thought, Maybe I can just wait near the bottom and try to kill the falling ones? It''s not as steep down there. So I would be able to move easier¡­

    A squeal of delight interrupted James''s plotting. He looked up the mountain and discovered another of the Bisonbogs tumbling down the mountain. This time though, the animal was heading right for him.

    Jump strike? he asked himself in a fraction of a second, but opted against it. Instead, he opted to do nothing. At least he until the last possible moment. When that moment came, James gave into his intuition and let his body react, independent of his brain. As he let go of the purchase his feet and right hand had found, he swung to the left. The Bisonbog happily smacked against the rock where his body had been just moments before. As the animal continued its rocky decent and James swung back into his perch, he got a glimpse of something in the Bisonbogs mouth.

    ¡°Horned Moya Fruit?¡± he said, ¡°The fruit that makes cider? The same fruit that I have tons of in my bag? Damnit.¡±

    James slipped. Instead of reaching out for something to slow his descent he unsheathed both of his swords and activated his new Flame Whirlwind ability. His short swords jumped from his hands and began to swirl around him. Soon enough, he was floating down the rocky mountain cliff on a breeze of air and fire.

    ***

    ¡°Hey Torunn,¡± James said as walked up to the Chieftain in the center of the village. He was inspecting the various herbs and flowers that grew in the raised area in the center of the main road. ¡°I completed your Bisonbog quest just now.¡±

    Special Quest Objective Completed! Additional experience and Town Standing points received!

    James mentally waved away the intrusive interface prompt and mentally added figuring out what the hell Town Standing points were to his to-do list.

    ¡°Great news Brother!¡± Torunn growled excitedly, ¡°I will remove the quest from the board right away.¡±

    ¡°Why did we have to kill them anyway?¡± James asked as he followed Torunn the short distance to the Quest Board.

    ¡°They attack things on sight, but apart from their extremely durable skin, they are usually easy to defend against...¡±

    James nodded knowingly. He had found out first hand just how tough the Bisonbogs skin was. They easily survived multiple falls down mountains that would have killed a normal person. If that wasn¡¯t enough, only James¡¯s Legendary Short Sword was able to do any meaningful damage to them. And to top it all off, James skinned all five of the beasts, but only walked away with a single pelt.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°That is until they become overpopulated,¡± Torunn continued, ¡°Once that happens food becomes scarce and they start climbing mountains, causing extreme erosion...¡±

    Torunn continued to verbally express his knowledge and passion for the Great Savanna¡¯s ecosystem, but James got distracted. What is on the other side of the mountains? He thought, What if we can use the Bisonbogs to erode part of the mountain for easy travel?

    ¡°...that is why controlling their population is so important, James. Thank you,¡± Torunn finished.

    ¡°Your welcome,¡± James said before bidding farewell to his game brother and rushing off. He hit level thirty when he turned in the quest and was anxious to see what new classes he would be offered. Although eroding part of a mountain range was an interesting idea, James wasn¡¯t, in fact, in a rush to destroy the Martyr¡¯s, and his own, homeland.

    He got back to the cabin and habitually grabbed all the torches from their sconches and took them outside. He held them up to the mountain and cast a firebolt to light them, then brought them back inside and hung them up. It wasn¡¯t dark yet, but it would be soon and he didn¡¯t want to get lost in training and have to interrupt himself to light them. James sat down at a circle table separate from the bar and pulled up his notifications.

    Congratulations! Your constitution has surpassed level 10. You are now more resilient to health stealing abilities and spells.

    Hmm, when did that happen? he pondered. After a moment of though he concluded that it must have been a leftover notification from the last time he spent stat points. I really need to get better at checking out my notifications, he thought with a slow shake of his head, and how in the world do find health stealing spells!?

    Your Leatherworking skill has reached its max level. Choose a crafting class if you would like to grow further in this skill.

    Congratulations! You have surpassed level 30! You can now choose to pick a class.

    Class 1 - Leatherworker, allows you to progress this crafting skill past level ten and unlocks specializations and sub-skills.

    Class 2 - Warrior, unlocks energy regen skills and increases damage done by weapons.

    Delay Choosing - Choosing to delay your class will award you 20 stat points at the risk of permanently losing the option to choose the above two classes. Upon reaching level 40 you will be given another option to choose between two classes or subclasses depending on your actions and skills.

    ¡°Damnit,¡± James said as he realized that if he would have delayed choosing at level twenty his stat bonus this go-around would have been thirty points.

    Are there people out there that never pick a class, James wondered, they must be pretty powerful¡­ Well, at least I got the option to pick warrior again just in case. That is good news.

    James chose the Leatherworker class and was overcome with ideas of all the new things he could craft. It wasn¡¯t enough to let him know exactly what he could craft and how, but it was enough to let him know that getting that guard to apprentice under Alex was a good call. James was pretty sure that as soon as the guard learned enough to be able to unlock the leatherworking specialization, he would be able to make studded leather armor. He wasn¡¯t sure how exactly, but he was confident that he could figure it out.

    Feeling accomplished, he leaned back in his chair and pulled up his statistics.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 30 (1 levels gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 20 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 30 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 11 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 12 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 34 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, your crafting speed, and more.

    Health, 200

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 340

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± he said as he mentally added his two free stat points into Intelligence. The fact that his wisdom description updated to tell him that the stat affects his crafting speed was almost enough to get him to put his points into that, but at the end of the day, James needed to be a strong mage. His strongest asset when it came to defeating Ogrim was his fire spell. If he had to risk turning into some sort of flaming monster in order to save some prisoners, then that was just what he had to do.

    But what about that life stealing spell¡­ James thought again, daydreaming aboutcasting lifeforce stealing spells like some sort of vampire wizard. It was a pretty impressive idea, and his daydreams were creative enough that he got lost in them. Just as he was about to drift off into real dreams, a loud horn sounded and jolted him from his chair. It was the horn that signified trouble for the village.

 Book 2 - Chapter 38 - Traders

    James burst out the cabin door, ran up to the edge of the cliff and searched his village for the cause of the horn. He could see people and Martyrs scrambling around and gathering at the front gate. Guards were running along rope bridges and manning the walls. A large cloud of dull blue could be seen growing just after the gate, low in the Great Savanna. Behind that, a sunset.

    He turned and scampered down the Tower of Stairs two or three at a time and sprinted down the cobblestone main road. He could hear screaming. He unsheathed his short swords and scanned the crowd for an enemy to jump strike to.

    Pushing through the crowd, James yelled, ¡°What''s going on here?¡±

    No one answered, or everyone did, but either way, James still didn¡¯t get a clear answer. The crowd was awash with growls, terrified screams, and gossip. He stepped through the open gate and into the Great Savanna and found a place next to Torunn, Michael, and some guards. Underneath the dull cloud of pollen, he could see a cart full of equipment being pulled by¡­

    ¡°Bisonbogs?¡± James asked.

    Torunn grunted.

    Next to the cart, a skeleton walked. A humorous bone rose and flanges waved. The skeleton blew a kiss. More than a few villagers behind James screamed.

    ¡°Hi handsome!¡± the skeleton said with an excited feminine voice, ¡°Did you miss m-¡±

    A spear flew from somewhere above and behind James and landed in the dirt just a few paces in front of the skeleton. James turned and signaled for the guards on the wall to stand down.

    ¡°HEY! That is no way to greet a lady!¡± the skeleton said.

    ¡°Do you know¡­¡± Torunn growled and pointed to the skeleton, ¡°that?¡±

    James laughed, ¡°Unfortunately yes. And I wouldn¡¯t call her ¡®that¡¯ in person. Her name is Sorrell. She is Abaddon¡¯s daughter.¡±

    Suddenly the ground shook, causing James¡¯s knees to nearly buckle. He looked around and found Patrick dusting himself off at the bottom of the stone wall.

    ¡°NOMAA!¡± the redhead yelled as he ran out of his crater.

    James raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze back to the cart. There were a few humans walking with it. Slowly, a greenish brown figure rose from the equipment filled cart on elongated legs.

    ¡°Let them in,¡± James said, turning to Torunn, ¡°They are friendly. Make sure the gates get closed at night for now on though. I will find everyone lodging an update you in the morning meeting.¡±

    Torunn nodded and began barking orders with his controller class. The crowd cleared in seconds and made way for the Bisonbogs and their towed luggage. James welcomed Sorrell and Noma into Dreng¡¯s Rest with a warm wave and received a skeletal wink in return.

    ***

    An hour later, Sorrell and Noma sat with the party in the cabin. James was busy watching his ale flow down through Sorrell¡¯s mandibles, bounce around in her rib cage, and mysteriously disappear with a frothy fizzle.

    ¡°It is rude to stare love,¡± Sorrel said as she put her mug down on the table with a thunk.

    James cleared his throat, ¡°Hmg, what did you say we owe this visit to?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Sorrel said with another wink, ¡°but if you must know, I discovered a merchant cart that was fleeing The Outpost.¡±

    James pointed upstairs to the rooms he gave to the exhausted humans Sorrell was traveling with, ¡°They were merchants?¡±

    ¡°Not good ones,¡± She replied, ¡°but yes. Apparently, they were on their way here.¡±

    ¡°The merchant¡¯s shop we built?¡± Michael asked, confirming James¡¯s suspicions in the process. He knew for a fact that no one from Dreng¡¯s Rest requested a merchant cart. He would have loved to know how to do it and would have if he knew, but he didn¡¯t. That only left the merchant shop. It must have opened his village up for trade in some sort of game interface.

    James nodded, ¡°and they were attacked? By what?¡±

    Sorrel leaned closer on her ulnas and whispered, ¡°You didn¡¯t hear? The Outpost has fallen,¡± she leaned back into her chair and took another pull of ale, ¡°Good riddance if you ask me, but apparently, there are some survivors. They attacked the merchant cart and stole everything that could be eaten.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°The Hedgemon¡¯s finally took the city?¡± Alex confirmed. Sorrell and Noma both nodded, the soul-merchant a little more gravely than the skeleton.

    ¡°They will probably try and spread their domain into the Great Savanna, James,¡± said Noma, ¡°We came as soon as we found out to warn you and Dren¡­ uh, the Chieftain, Torunn.¡±

    ¡°We need to fight!¡± Patrick bellowed from the floor, as he was too large to sit comfortably in any of the chairs.

    ¡°You and I cannot. Neither can Alex,¡± James said making firm eye contact with his only party members with protected souls. ¡°This will have to be Torunn¡¯s battle until we can free the prisoners from the dungeon. I will go talk to him now.¡± James stood up from the table without finished his ale.

    ¡°Can I come with you?¡± Sorrell purred as James swing open the Cabin¡¯s door.

    ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°I am pretty sure you would give Frode a heart attack. Stay here and get some rest. It is already late and we will be having an early morning tomorrow.¡±

    ***

    Tomorrow came as early as James feared that it would. He rolled out of his skin pile and quietly woke up his party members. Although it was much earlier than they usually woke up for their morning meetings, everyone went about their business without complaint. Patrick hefted the large stone pot of cider onto his shoulders, only after James filled up his own cup, and left the cabin. The only noise made was the sound of him softly grunting as he tried to fit his body through the large door. Alex silently gathered up all the stone cups and set out as well. Michael was already gone, no doubt waking up the rest of the village¡¯s management team. James stepped over the dead pile of bones that was Sorrell and tip toed out of the cabin himself.

    He paused at the top of the cliff and looked out over his village, groggily. Holding his warm cider cup to his chest, he let out a tired sigh. Usually, this was his moment of peace. Usually, he watched the sunrise for a moment or two before heading down to his meeting. Usually, he had a better handle on what was going on in his life. Today, he felt like he was being pulled in all sort of directions, none of them leading anywhere close to Earth. Today, the sun was still an hour or two from rising.

    Torunn will handle it, he told himself, He was confident the Martyrs would be able to hold The Outpost last night, so all I need to worry about is Ogrim. Torunn will handle it.

    James let out another sigh, this time he felt his stress go away with it. He wasn¡¯t sure why he was so worried about the Great Savanna. Sure, it had been his home for what seemed like an eternity, but he knew Torunn was strong and capable, as were all members of the clan.

    James morning thoughts were interrupted when a movement from the village below caught his attention. Michael was waving to him. Everyone that was usually present at the morning meetings was ready, cups of cider in hand. James nodded and headed down.

    ¡°Alright, today is going to be a little different. I will go first and then you guys can report,¡± said James.

    ¡°Don¡¯t we want to wait for Torunn?¡± grumbled Birger.

    ¡°No,¡± James said tiredly, ¡°Torunn has left the village. The Great Savanna has a new line of defense, and it isn¡¯t our village. A city that protects the savanna from a race of bristle back creatures called Hedgemons has fallen. Torunn has set out to retake the city and defend it from attacks.¡±

    Birger was taken aback, but James continued on, ¡°We must all focus on sending Torunn aid. All but a few of our soldiers and guards must be prepared to head after Torunn and the rest of the Martyrs by noon. Everyone that cannot fight needs to be focused on crafting armor, weapons, and anything else that will help our soldiers defend The Outpost.¡±

    He turned to Omero, who was furiously scribbling notes into his book, ¡°Omero, do you think you can work out all the details?¡±

    The Italian man looked up from his notes just long enough to make eye contact and show that he was listening, ¡°Glady. I will gather our soldiers immediately after this and have them ready to head out by noon, if not earlier. I will task everyone else with providing aid to the front lines. How many fighters do you want to stay?¡±

    ¡°Just five humans. Three of them will escort the merchant''s cart when we have enough supplies to send out and two of them will remain to guard the village. Our gates will be closed from here on out. The two remaining guards on duty will be to sound the horn if they see any danger. They will be pulling long shift, so make sure to check on them often. Hopefully, Patrick, Alex, and I won¡¯t be in the dungeon if the horn sounds, but I don¡¯t think it will at all. Besides, Frode is still here to look after the freed prisoners as they recover. I am sure he can handle anything that would attack us from the savanna.¡±

    ¡°You want me to go with the soldiers?¡± Michael asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± James answered, ¡°You will have to put your culture initiative on hold for now, sorry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay with me,¡± said Michael, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

    James turned to the only able-bodied Martyr left in the village, ¡°Birger, I will need you to head out with our soldiers. You have experience leading men. Once you meet up with Torunn and the rest of the Martyrs I need you to build up defenses. They won¡¯t have any builder¡¯s bonuses until I can make it over there, but it will be better than nothing.¡±

    Birger nodded, eyes wide.

    ¡°Okay,¡± James said, taking a brief moment to enjoy his first sip of cider. Through heavy brows, he asked, ¡°Anyone have anything important to add?¡±

    ¡°Sorrel said Lilly is doing well,¡± Alex added, ¡°but it will still be a while before she is strong enough with light to learn the Seal Soul spell.¡±

    James nodded and gave a soft smile, ¡°We all look forward to her return. For more than a few reasons.¡±

    Suddenly a voice broke the serenity of the early morning, ¡°I DID IT!¡± the voice echoed, ¡°I DID IT!¡±.

    James looked around and found that the only other people that were awake so early, who also happened to not really be people per say, but Oana villagers, were also confused and slightly upset about all the yelling.

    Alex sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, ¡°That is my apprentice, Smith.¡±

    ¡°You mean Guard?¡± James inquired quickly.

    ¡°No, I mean Smith. I don¡¯t know what his real name was, but he asked me to call him Smith. And you should too because I think he was up all night working to try and impress you.¡±

    ¡°Well then¡­¡± said James hesitantly, ¡°Let¡¯s go find out what... Smith¡­ has... smithed? Reeadddy BREAK!¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 39 - Frode & Frode

    Frode watched from the shadows as the leaders of the human clan met earlier than they usually did. Stalking the shadows wasn¡¯t something Frode usually did, and it wasn¡¯t something he was particularly suited for either. He had the wrong body type - which was large and heavy. Still, the fact that everything was coated in shadow in the early morning made it easy and he couldn¡¯t resist the opportunity to study the humans without being seen.

    ¡°He is simply crafting items to help us out,¡± Frode told Frode.

    ¡°No, he is up to something,¡± Frode argued, ¡°he could be crafting something malicious.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± Frode said quietly, ¡°he just learned to craft. There is no way he could create something powerful enough to become a danger. Besides, he chose leatherworking.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but now he is working with the blacksmith. They are probably gearing up to attack us,¡± Frode said.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°No,¡± Frode whispered, ¡°He wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°HE WOULD!¡± Frode said loudly, just before lowering his voice and continuing, ¡°Why did Alex never come to discuss the Quest Interface that the humans talked about. They have been back for weeks now and should have requested a meeting soon after. They are hiding something!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Frode affirmed to himself once again with a violent shake of his head, traces of Tuki Tuka powder being released into the air from his last failed attempt at contacting his father and the other Great Shamans. He breathed the dust in and disappeared into early morning shadow.

    Train, he told himself, we must train harder. We must get stronger. Much stronger.

    The Chieftain¡¯s advisor stepped into the light and cringed. Training the freed prisoners in the darkness of the hut for so long had run its toll. Arriving at the training ground, he immediately got to work. His long hands twisted as his arms shot forward. They twisted the opposite direction then he swept his arms around him twice.

    ¡°Good,¡± he told himself as his spell completed. The only reason he felt comfortable practicing his new spells out in the open was that they were mostly invisible, but he could feel the dome¡¯s presence all around him. ¡°But we need to do better¡­¡±

    Frode set his jaw and prepared his old bones for a grueling day of training.

 Book 2 - Chapter 40 - Dungeon Day

    ¡°Okay, I can work with this,¡± James said as turned a small metal sheet over in his hands, ¡°Good job, uh Smith.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir!¡± Smith said through a coal-stained face, ¡°I can make much more if you need it. It is rather simple actually. Now that I have the required skill I am filled with ideas on how to make your leather armor stronger. I could make chainmail straps, some curved plates for helms, even some lightweight mesh. Oh and-¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± James said with an exaggerated nod, ¡°I can see that you''re passionate about blacksmithing, but give me a bit to figure my side out.¡± Smith¡¯s zealousness fell to a manageable excitement. ¡°I will be back in an hour or two. Keep making more of these studs until then.¡±

    ¡°Roger that sir!¡± Smith said, saluting with a hammer still in his hand.

    James smiled in reply and motioned for Alex to follow him out of the open-walled hut.

    ¡°Won¡¯t he need to sleep or something?¡± asked James in hushed tones.

    Alex shrugged and said, ¡°I think he will be good for a while. Last night he told me he is working on his willpower by working for long hours. He told me that he once pulled a 24-hour guard shift and got an increase of will from it. So I think he is okay with staying awake. Besides, Torunn gave all the guards some of that health and endurance reserves potion. I think he still has some.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± said James, ¡°Well let''s get some work done. I want to enter the dungeon right after all of our fighters leave the village.¡±

    ¡°Roger that, sir!¡± Alex said, saluting in his best impression of Smith.

    ¡°You sir, are an asshole,¡± James laughed.

    Alex shrugged, ¡°Never pretended to be anything else.¡±

    When James entered the Cabin on the Cliff he was greeted by his assortment of crafting supplies. Noma and Salmaana were still fast asleep, no doubt exhausted from the long journey to Dreng¡¯s Rest. By the fact that he couldn¡¯t hear any creaking coming from the second floor, he figured the merchants were still asleep as well. James carefully emptied the contents of his hand on the table. Metal studs rolled and scattered. Noma stirred but didn¡¯t wake.

    Okay, just need to craft some things before they wake up, James thought as he carefully grabbed a leather strap and took a seat at the table.

    He picked up one of the metal studs and examined it. On one side it looked like just a normal ball that was cut in half. It was about the size of a quarter. The other side had two spikes in it.

    ¡°Hmmm¡±, James whispered as he brought the studd spike down into the leather strap. He pushed, but the spikes did not go through easily. James envisioned leather armor that was filled with the studs. He was good at imagining a finished product now, and getting better as his crafting skill increased. What he wasn¡¯t getting magically better at though, was how to actually make the finished product. Sure, he had a general idea, but the minutiae was uncertain and clearly needed to be discovered.

    After a grunt that came out louder than expected, James succeeded in pushing the spikes out the other side of the leather strap. He flapped his hands around, letting the blood return to his fingers and replace the pain.

    He studied his small accomplishment, then deflated with a sigh, there is no way I can add hundreds of these by hand.

    ***

    A half hour later, James had all of his crafting equipment moved into the recently vacated cabin next door to the blacksmith. The villagers that lived there couldn¡¯t stand the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil during the day, and apparently, the fact that Smith worked the entire night was the last straw. Omero said that they were frustrated at first, but ended up being happy with the move since the cabins across the street were slightly larger. James agreed that it was for the better and added that all the villagers should live across the street, that way they will all be furthest away from the crafting buildings.

    Despite James¡¯s concern, Omero also offered to help bring the crafting equipment down from the cabin. He argued that the soldiers were busy prepping gear and there was nothing else he could add at the moment. James agreed to the extra help, only because he knew just how organized of a leader Omero was. If he said he could help and still get the soldiers out of the village by noon, then who was James to question that.

    ¡°Alright!¡± James said inside his cabin. Smith could be heard banging a piece of metal into shape next door. He enjoyed the sound and the mood it set. The cabin was nice but disconnected from the rest of the village. ¡°I might as well just make this my home.¡±

    He surveyed his workspace. The cabin was essentially one large room with a ladder that lead to a loft. He had one door in the front that opened into the main cobblestone street, and another in the back that gave him quick access to the Oana camps and occasional Martyr tents. His tanning racks were all moved out to the back of the house and all his remaining tools laid inside on his only table. The sole window of the cabin faced the main street. It didn¡¯t have any actual glass, like all the other windows in the village, but James didn¡¯t mind.

    The cabin must get more of a breeze since it is up the mountain some ways, James mused as he organized the small hammer and stone Smith had given him. He set the stone on the packed dirt floor, laid a leather strap across it for testing purposes, then put a metal stud in one hand and his small hammer in the other. With one quick and precise hammer-strike, the stud was successfully embedded into the leather strap. James picked it up and as he hoped, the spikes were through and bent outward, thanks to the stone, and wouldn¡¯t pull out easily. James smiled. Then he got to the real work.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Noon came at about the same time James finished punching studs into all of his armor. He even managed to create two extra Studded Leather Curaisses. One each for Alex and Patrick. He figured that Patrick would probably rather wear heavy plate armor or something, but Smith was just not high enough level to make that yet and neither was Alex. He would just have to make due with what they had for the moment.

    James had been aware of soldiers forming up outside his window for the past hour or so but did his best to tune out the chaotic noise of it all. A knock on his door told him that he couldn¡¯t tune it out any longer and that he wouldn¡¯t be able to create more pieces of armor like he had hoped.

    ¡°They are ready to move out,¡± Omero said as James opened the door to his workshop.

    James nodded and stepped out, clad in an entire set of studded leather armor. He walked around the backs of the soldiers, who were milling about in a casual formation, gear at their feet. Other villagers meandered about, wishing their friends and brethren a safe journey and successful return. Everyone quieted when James turned the corner of the formation and found a place in front of it. He removed his Studded Leather Helm and studying the fighters. He recognized all of them. While he couldn¡¯t say he was friends with any of them, they were all still close. They shared a bond created by mutual hardship and strengthened through grueling combat drills in the training yard. Everyone in front of him was a fighter. James had been sparring partners with all of them at one time or another. He shared their sweat. He saw in their faces the same focus and determination they wore in the training yard every day. They were here to defend their home. More importantly, they were READY to defend their home.

    ¡°Looking at all your faces, I see determination, grit, and ferocity,¡± James started, ¡°I don¡¯t need to tell you why it is important that we defend the Savanna. I don¡¯t need to explain why it is us that have to do it. You all already know. I see it in your eyes,¡± James met the eyes of everyone in front of him individually. Some nodded as he did so. ¡°Something threatens our home!¡± he said, raising his voice as he paced, ¡°And we will defend it!¡± Someone hollered. ¡°There is nothing else to say about it, it is a simple fact.¡± The three fighters with shields banged their weapons against them. ¡°What isn¡¯t simple is what comes afterward. Once we seal in the Great Savanna and take it under our control, the real work will begin. We will swing hammers until our hands are raw. We will craft until fingers bleed. What happens after will be the next phase of our lives. We will prosper! We will be happy. And we will figure out why the fuck we are here!¡±

    The formation roared. James slammed his fist into his chest in a Maryrian salute, paying respect to the late chieftain, the current chieftain, and everyone that was wise, intelligent, and fearsome enough to defend the Great Savanna against any enemy that threatened it. The acknowledgment was accepted and returned by the formation, and even some of the older villagers that wished they could still fight. With a wave of James¡¯s hand, the formation of soldiers set off, flanked by the merchant¡¯s cart made heavy with supplies.

    James found Patrick and Alex, ¡°Now it¡¯s our time to shine,¡± he said, pulling out his extra cuirasses from his satchel, ¡°Put these on and let¡¯s go.¡±

    ***

    James studied his party member icons as they walked into the beginning tunnels of Ogrim¡¯s lair.

    James ¨C Level 30 Embrant Leatherworker

    Health - 300 of 300

    Energy - 110 of 110

    Mana - 360 of 360

    Patrick - Level 29 Warrior Stoneworker

    Health - 530 of 530

    Energy - 200 of 200

    Alex - Level 21 Apprentice Weaponsmith

    Health - 320 of 320

    Energy - 300 of 300

    He could see that Patrick had leveled up his Health slightly, no doubt putting the rest of his points into strength. He was also quickly catching up to James in the level department. Pretty soon he would have to choose his next class. James made a mental note to talk to the red-head about it right after the dungeon. Alex managed to level up the most and clearly put his free stat points into energy, which was useful for him since he moved around the battlefield the most and used a lot of energy based strikes.

    ¡°Hey Alex,¡± James said as he unsheathed his short swords, ¡°What did you choose for a class after level twenty?¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Alex said as he removed his satchel, ¡°I almost forgot.¡± He pulled out a blue-tinged short sword. It glistened like a freshly polished car in the torchlight. ¡°Here I made this for you the other day.¡± James grabbed the short sword.

    Congratulations! You have received Short Sword of Weeping Wounds (Uncommon) A weeping wounds debuff is sometimes applied to an enemy, causing them to bleed for an extra 10% of weapon damage over 10 seconds.

    ¡°Nice!¡± James said after reading the item¡¯s description, ¡°How in the world did you make this?¡±

    ¡°I chose another crafting type class at level twenty. It allowed me to specialize in making weapons like I wanted to do. The idea for the sword just kind of popped in my head and I figured out how to do the rest. I can¡¯t really control the special effects of the weapons yet, but I have a feeling that will come later.¡±

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± James said as he blasted a firebolt at an unsuspecting Brute. He caught on fire after the initial blast and took a few flaming steps toward the party before collapsing. Patrick charged to meet the two other Brutes.

    ¡°Thought you weren¡¯t doing that anymore?¡± Alex asked as they both ran after Patrick.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really have another option since I couldn¡¯t learn a different mastery,¡± James said as he dodged a pickaxe, ¡°Besides,¡± he brought his new short sword up above his head and slammed it down into the Brute¡¯s arms. They fell away from his body. ¡°Besides,¡± James yelled over painful screams, ¡°I have been thinking. Maybe I can raise my mastery without any risk. What if my body is only affected when I choose abilities, augments, or classes related to the mastery?¡±

    Alex bent over to sort through the dropped loot. He stood up with a green rock in his hand. ¡°Malachite. This is the stuff that adds the special effects to my weapons. But yea, that makes sense to me I guess. I hope that is the case though because we are going to need your spells when we get to Ogrim.¡±

    ¡°Yea,¡± James said tilting his head to Patrick, who was already trekking down the tunnel again.

    James was beginning to know the twisting tunnels of Ogrim¡¯s lair like the back of his hand. Before he knew it, the party had easily slain a few groups of miner Brutes and where outside of the tunnel that lead to Ogrim.

    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± James said, already having checked their icons to see if anyone was missing any health or endurance.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Patrick bellowed in an extremely deep voice. James¡¯s saw the words come out of Patrick¡¯s mouth, but his brain still had trouble believing the voice came from him. Before he could comment, Alex spoke up.

    ¡°Let¡¯s ruin this dudes day and piss on his makeshift throne,¡± he added.

    ¡°Dibs on calling him bald,¡± Patrick rumbled, before slowly turning his wide body around and squeezing through the tunnel.

    Alright¡­ let''s do this, James thought as he followed his party.

 Book 2 - Chapter 41 - First Floor Complete

    ¡°Welcome back, James!¡± Ogrim boomed from his metal ore throne as the party entered his cavern, ¡°My mace missed you. I hope you are here to say hello to it.¡±

    The thundering sound of dozens of pickaxes hitting stone halted as Ogrim spoke. James noticed that no one was in a rush to break the calm before the storm, so he took the opportunity to reaffirm the plan.

    ¡°Alex, distract Ogrim since you are the fastest. Patrick, tank all the Brutes if they come down from the scaffolds. I will provide support and ranged damage.¡±

    ¡°Roger,¡± Alex said.

    ¡°Mhmm,¡± Patrick hummed as he gripped his True Iron Maul.

    ¡°GO!¡± James yelled. In a split second, Alex was gone and Patrick had begun his charge. The boss of this floor of the dungeon barked a command, which was interrupted by a strike from Alex. Still, some of the Brutes all along the scaffolding of the cavern showed a surprising amount of intelligence and jumped down to join the fight. Patrick was ready to meet them. James watched as the redhead took up a batter¡¯s stance as one of the Brutes fell towards him. He slammed his maul into the Brute before it could hit the ground. The monster gave an involuntary grunt as all the wind was forced out of it and was sent crashing into the nearest wall. The impact caused the scaffolding to shake, knocking some of the dumber Brutes off in the process.

    ¡°Jesus,¡± James said, marveling over the power Patrick had accumulated. He cast a firebolt at one of the Brutes that remained on the scaffolding. It was picking up rocks and chucking them at Alex, who was struggling to dodge them along with Ogrim¡¯s larger maul. Patrick howled in war lust as a dozen Brutes surrounded him. They raised their pickaxes in slow unison and brought them down with the power only something that was built for such an action could muster. It wasn¡¯t enough though. The strikes from the few Brutes that were lucky enough to not to get their heads bashed in simply bounced off Patrick¡¯s toughened skin with an audible tink. The red-head laughed heartily as he casually swung his maul over his head and dealt final counter-strikes.

    I need to get a handle on how armor works, James thought as his hands formed the necessary patterns for a curse of fire. Alex was failing to deal much damage to Ogrim with his fists, but the boss Brute still managed to become enraged over not being able to land a hit on the agile veteran. Ogrim¡¯s strikes became faster and wilder. Alex had stopped using his blink ability, no doubt for fear of blinking into Ogrim¡¯s maul or a thrown stone. James could tell he was losing ground. Dozens of smaller Brutes had caught on to the idea of throwing stones. James studied the scaffolding and finished his curse. Seconds later, double fireballs twisted around each other and exploded not onto a Brute, but onto the matrix of wood that held them up. James repeated the spell combination twice more on separate walls, just enough for the cavern to shed a layer of stone-throwing Brutes. James jumped to Patrick¡¯s aid like a meteor entering the atmosphere. The two quickly dispatched the rest of the smaller monsters.

    They turned to Alex, just in time to see Ogrim¡¯s maul sweep one of his legs. The veteran blinked away from his position on the ground before he could be smashed into a pulp. James could see that a quarter of his health was already gone.

    ¡°Hey, Baldy!¡± Patrick roared, then ran his free hand through his own hair. James noticed for the first time that it had actually grown rather long. He figured he hadn¡¯t noticed before because Patrick¡¯s body had been growing faster in proportion.

    Ogrim stopped looking for Alex and touched his own head. He spun around to glare at Patrick, then charged. Both humans ran to meet the boss Brute.

    Before they could clash, James yelled, ¡°He¡¯s yours!¡± Then cast a firebolt at Ogrim¡¯s face and slid out of the way. A second later the sound of two large boulders crashing together echoed through the cavern and deafened James. He yelled for Alex uselessly as he fished his satchel around his arm and brought it in front of him. Tossing one of Torunn¡¯s potions to the pained Alex, he mouthed, ¡°Let¡¯s finish this.¡±

    As the party converged on Ogrim in full force the boss Brute immediately began chanting. He coerced the ground to break and a totem to grow. I tribal face exploded from the ground and a leash of red energy connected to him. It fueled his battle rage. His strikes became even faster and more deadly, but everyone besides Patrick was still able to avoid them. Ogrim¡¯s maul flew in an arch, high at first where Alex could duck under it, then low where James could jump it, and smashed into Patrick¡¯s studded leather cuirass, causing him to fall backward with enough force that he rolled over his own head. As the large red-head struggled to stand, James and Alex took the opportunity to do as much damage as the could before they had to flee.

    ¡°Three-quarters health!¡± Alex reported as he blinked backward. Ogrim¡¯s attention was now focused on him.

    ¡°You need to lose weight!¡± James said as his hands began to build a spell.

    ¡°Never,¡± Patrick grunted, finally completing the arduous process of getting to his feet. Then he shot forward in a blur. A sonic boom followed him. James reflexively covered his ears, but his hearing was already reduced to a dull ring. He missed the part where Patrick bulldozed his way into Ogrim but looked over just in time to see the pair collide with the wall. Patrick stepped away, letting the boss Brute fall to the ground, dazed. James activated his Jump Strike ability just as Alex blinked over and a True Iron Mail was slammed into Ogrim¡¯s face with a spray of blood. Through missing teeth and a bloody maw, Ogrim chanted.

    Towards the center of the room, the tribal totem grew. James double checked his energy and mana levels.

    Just enough, he thought before sighting the growing totem and activating his last Jump Strike. James plummeted into the totem. It swayed under his shock wave, but its magical essence kept it from catching fire from the billowing flames of his landing. Using his last bit of mana, James activated his Flame Whirlwind ability. His Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword and his Short Sword of Weeping Wounds lept from his hands with a mind of their own and began to orbit him. They spun and chopped with increasing velocity until James couldn¡¯t see past them in any direction. When the ability was spent, splinters of tribal colored wood lay scattered on the cavern floor, mingled with the embers of the scaffolding. James smiled as he realized that his plan was a good one, but his smile quickly fell.

    Ogrim¡¯s shoulder rocketed into his face. He fell onto his back. A large mace poised above him became his world. His fingers struggled to pull out the small Ingo skin filled with Torunn¡¯s potion that he had tucked in his belt for emergencies. He didn¡¯t have enough time. The mace fell. James rolled left. He felt rock shrapnel embed into the Studded Leather on his back. Popping to his feet, James''s head turned around just in time to see Alex take a devastating strike. His life bar fell to the red in James¡¯s upper left peripherals.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°I¡¯m out of energy!¡± Alex said as he limped away.

    ¡°Hey, No Hair!¡± Patrick bellowed as he ran over. His taunt was not enough to distract the enraged Brute again though. Ogrim hefted his heavy maul with one hand and launched it. It flew end over end in the air until it found Alex and brought his life points to zero.

    ¡°Now¡­ now, there will be one less of you for the lower levels,¡± Ogrim seethed victoriously, blood flowing freely from his mouth as he spoke. James jumped forward and sliced at Ogrim, who took the hits without defending himself. He fell to his knees as his legs gave out. ¡°You will not make it¡­ far enough¡­ you will,¡± James embedded his blades into the back of Ogrim¡¯s skull, ¡°Die. When you do,¡± he collapsed, ¡°I will be ba-¡± Patrick¡¯s True Iron Maul landed on top of James¡¯s blades like a log splitter and a wedge, cutting off the Brutes tirade.

    ¡°Damn it,¡± James said as he let himself collapse heavily to the floor. Patrick did the same, causing the floor to quake slightly.

    ¡°Got anything to fill our bars up faster?¡± Patrick asked.

    James glanced at his party member icons. The red-head had practically a full health bar, but his energy bar was completely empty. ¡°Yea,¡± James replied, grabbing two potions from his satchel and tossing one to the red-head.

    ¡°Oh shit¡­¡± Patrick whispered after downing the thick potion. He bent forward and pulled an item out of Ogrim¡¯s dropped loot. It glowed purple. He turned it over in his hands, then tossed it over his head. ¡°Metal pauldrons!¡± he said excitedly as he got to his feet.

    ¡°Not just metal pauldrons, spiked metal pauldrons!¡± James said, adding to the excitement. ¡°What do they give you?¡±

    ¡°They give me five points to strength and constitution¡­ and¡­ they have some effect that doesn¡¯t really make sense.¡±

    ¡°Let me see,¡± James said holding his hands out, ¡°your interface is useless.¡±

    Patrick placed his hands on the edges of each pauldron and pushed upward. Nothing happened.

    ¡°Are they stuck?¡± James asked, moving behind Patrick to get a better look. The red-head pushed again, this time grabbed the piece of metal armor at a different spot, being careful not to cut himself on the long spikes.

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Patrick cursed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see anything they could be stuck on. I made the cuirass myself so nothing should be jutting out.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well. We can figure it out later. It''s not like I was ever going to take these bad boys off anyway.¡±

    James laughed, ¡°Yea, I don¡¯t know how you sleep in your armor man.¡±

    The red-head shrugged and regarded the rest of the pile. ¡°There is a ring here. Gives plus five to wisdom.¡± James caught the ring.

    ¡°Everything else is just junk to add to the village¡¯s stores.¡± James nodded, slipped on the ring, then checked out his equipped items tab.

    Equipped Items

    Left Hand ¨C Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword (Legendary)

    Right Hand - Short Sword of Weeping Wounds (Uncommon)

    Feet - Reinforced Leather Boots (Uncommon)

    Legs - Studded Leather Trousers (Common)

    Chest - Studded Leather Cuirass (Common)

    Shoulder ¨C Studded Leather Pauldrons (Common)

    Wrist ¨C Superior Leather Bracers (Common)

    Back ¨C Thick Ingo Skin Cloak (Common)

    Head ¨C Studded Leather Helm (Common)

    Neck - Necklace of Lucidity (Uncommon)

    Ring 1 ¨C Brutus¡¯s Ring (Extraordinary)

    RIng 2 - RIng of Young Wisdom (Uncommon)

    Sheath 1¨C Clunky Short Sword Sheath (Widespread)

    Sheath 2- Oana Scythe Sheath (Common)

    Bag - Adept Adventurer''s Satchel (Uncommon)

    ¡°Okay, I am starting to look pretty good,¡± James said, regarding himself, ¡°Well, I look stupid. But I meant my equipment is coming along well¡­¡±

    ¡°Yea yea, let¡¯s roll out,¡± Patrick said moments before James saw him regard himself.

    ¡°One second. I want to check out my skills just in case I have something new.¡±

    Battle Skills

    Sneak, Level 9 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 9% while sneaking.

    Fire, Level 37 (1 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 37%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Curse of Fire Augment - Cast a curse on your target, attracting all Fire Bolts in the immediate vicinity.

    Short Swords, Level 43 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 43%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 15 - Chance to stun 100% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Meteor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed ????for 1 second.

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 19 (2 levels gained recently) - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 19%. ??Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 41% for both weapons.

    Flame Whirlwind Augment - Your blades gain a mind of their own for a short time and whirl around your body. ????They move so fast they ignite the air, encasing your body in a tornado of flame. 30-second duration. 1-day ????cooldown.

    Party Leader, Level 18 (4 levels gained recently) - Damage taken by party members reduced by 18%

    Moral Defender Sub-Skill, Level 1 - Those under your command gain an additional armor point.

    Ingo Mastery, Level 3 (1 levels gained recently) - Friendliness with your favorite Ingo has increased by 3%. Friendliness from all other Ingos increased by half that amount.

    ¡°Have anything?¡± Patrick asked, interrupting James¡¯s thoughts on why his Ingo mastery was classified as a battle skill.

    ¡°No, you?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go. The portal is this way.¡± James said, pointing to a swirling purple rip in the surrounding landscape.

    James stepped through and was instantly brought to another world, as simply as if it was just around the corner. Clear organic looking tubes pumped swirling smoke from one end of the large cavern to another. Hooded figures cast complicated spells on top of glowing runescript, unaware of his presence. Steam whistled rhythmically from various foundries that burned light into the otherwise impenetrable darkness. Through it all, James could see a portal to the third floor, guarded by an eerily familiar creature.

    ¡°Is that¡­¡± James whispered to Patrick as he popped into existence in the cavern, ¡°Noma?¡±

    Patrick looked along James¡¯s finger, through the undulating matrix of organic tubs, and at the creature that guarded the portal. ¡°No, it can¡¯t be,¡± He said.

    ¡°Is it a different Praxk?¡±

    Patrick nodded, ¡°It must be. A Vagrant one at that.¡±

    James nodded back, studying the looming creature as it stood there, slightly bubbling with unchecked greed. ¡°Okay,¡± he whispered, ¡°we will worry about him when we get there. First, we need to figure out what the hell this¡­ machine¡­ is.¡±

    ¡°I think I know,¡± Patrick said gloomy, ¡°It¡¯s not a machine, it''s a spell. Look there, and there. Cages.¡±

    James looked and spotted two human-sized cages on either side of the cavern. Runescripts glowed beneath them, causing the mist to burn upward where it got caught in the organic tubes. James followed the tubes and realized they connected to a central runescript in the middle of the room. More hooded figures stood around it, directing the steam into an ornate Warhammer as large as James himself.

    ¡°They are making soul weapons here¡­¡± said Patrick.

    ¡°Shit.. you are right,¡± James admitted as realization slowly crept up his spine, ¡°Fuck, I bet you they have Jess and Trevor in those cages!¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°The two villagers that went into the dungeon while we were gone!¡± James said, eyes wide, ¡°Come on, we have to get them out,¡± James started to run to one of the cages. He yelled back, ¡°Distract them!¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 42 - Soul Harvester

    ¡°Okay,¡± Patrick said, caught off-guard. He was the one that usually ran off first, forcing others to follow after him. Patrick didn¡¯t want to pursue after James though, as that wouldn¡¯t cause a good enough distraction. He scanned the room until his eyes fell upon the golden Warhammer in the center of the room. It floated in the air, turning slowly due to the purple mist being forced into it. His fingers twitched. Then he smiled, placed his True Iron Maul into his satchel, and activated his bulldoze ability. The world around him became a blur. The world in front of him was the Warhammer. In the split second it took him to barrel into two unsuspected mages and send them tumbling across the room, Patrick wondered if he was even large enough to wield the Warhammer. He decided he didn¡¯t care. Soul mist spewed out of the tubes without a mage to direct it and clung on the floor like a dense fog. He heard strange voices yelling, but he couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying. He couldn¡¯t make out anything other than the Warhammer. He reached out and snatched it from the air.

    ¡°AHHHHHHH,¡± Patrick involuntarily screamed as he hefted the Warhammer above his head, body pulsating with newfound power¡­ and rage. The Warhammer was his. No one else was large enough to wield it. Only him. He deserved it.

    Grats! You received a Legendary Warhammer!

    Patrick grunted away the notification as his eyes locked on the terrified mages in front of him. He let the Warhammer descend. The weight of the falling weapon would have been enough to kill the mages, and Patrick was keen to test just a theory, but the Warhammer had other plans. Patrick felt the weapon¡¯s bloodlust flow through his hands and into his heart like hot plasma. The blunt edge of the hammer sunk deep into the ground, liquidizing the mage that once stood it its way. The other mages ran.

    ¡°AHahaha!¡± Patrick chuckled maniacally. He knew he would never catch the mages, not while carrying such a heavy weapon. So the giant red-head hefted it up once more and let it crush the organic tubes. He might not be able to catch the mages right away, but he could at least destroy all their hiding spots.

    You can runnnn, He thought as he let the weapons energy consume himself. Metal, rock, organic matter; it all became his paper prison. As the Warhammer swung around, Patrick¡¯s massive body was thrown off balance and into tubes, cast iron foundries, and mages, causing almost as much damage as the weapon itself.

    The remaining mages finally mounted a defense. Patrick could see them casting in the distance, in his direction. The molten rock that oozed from the foundries crackled as it traveled along the floor, lighting up his Warhammer and the mages worried faces. He activated his bulldoze ability. Instead of shooting forward with a sonic boom, he fell to a knee. A debuff told him that he was immobilized and nothing else. His rage built up in pressure, not having an outlet to escape.

    ¡°GAAHHhhhhhh!¡± the red-head yelled, gripping the handle of his new weapon as it stood on the floor, hammer-side down.

    Patrick looked over at James. He was busy dragging the first human from a cage. It was clear that he needed more time to get them to safety. Patrick heard the mages laugh to his right, and his rage built to a fury. They were mocking him. He turned around, just in time to see a laughing skull, chomping its way over to him. The skull seemed to scream and chuckle at the same time. He grew cold, and then he was hit by the spell. He collapsed, letting his hand fall away from the Warhammer¡¯s long hilt.

    His breath caught in his lungs, Pain, he thought. It had become an unfamiliar feeling as of late. He turned his head weakly. The mages had disregarded him and now focused on James.

    ¡°No,¡± Patrick whispered. He navigated to his notifications.

    Grats! You¡¯re level 30! Choose;

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.1 - Get inhumanely strong. (Stone Mastery)

    2 - Understand fighting things better.

    Good, my stone mastery class, he thought. He felt his skin chill as a death bolt flew through the air. It left a lingering depression in the air.

    ¡°No,¡± Patrick snarled as he picked himself up off the ground. He wanted to scream but could barely find the motivation to stand. The room was left empty in the death bolts wake, and so was his resolve. The only thing keeping him from staying on the floor was that he knew his new class could probably save James. That and the anger about the fact he wouldn¡¯t be able to announce his new class with the fanfare it deserved. The hints his interface gave him about it showed that it would be awesome.

    ¡°Is it too much to want to experience something with my friends?¡± Patrick asked the empty air. Then he chose his class. His head grew heavy and fell involuntarily to his shoulder. His powerful neck strained to get control of it. Then his left arm grew heavy. He collapsed to the floor again.

    ¡°What¡­¡± he said, the words coming out of his mouth reflexively, ¡°is¡­¡±

    Then his eyes rolled into his head. He tensed them, forcing all his will into regaining control over that one part of his body. They rolled against his lids like marble balls in sandpaper, and eventually fell upon the Warhammer.

    He reached out with his right hand. He fought against the growing heaviness of it and the foreign feeling of not being strong enough. It had been so long since he wasn¡¯t strong enough. He could do anything now, and he wasn¡¯t going to fail his friend. With one final push of will, his trembling fingers wrapped around the hilt of the Warhammer. The rage that fueled him before the deathbolt hit him returned. His eyes gleamed a bloody red as he dismissed a notification about his will increasing. Then, he stood; panting, confused, and furious.

    The debuff that glued him to the floor was gone. The emptiness from the death both was still present, but only a distant memory compared to the rage flowing from the Warhammer. Patrick sighted the hooded death mages and activated his bulldoze ability.

    ***

    ¡°Can you fight?¡± James asked Jess as he pulled her from the bent bars of her cage. She shook her head. ¡°Shit.¡±

    James threw her arm over his shoulder and walked her over to the portal. Laying her down next to Trevor, he looked back. Destruction littered the cavern. Fires burned from spilled magma. Purple fog dispersed along the floor and steam gathered above it. Past the wreckage, a small rock golem was locked in battle with the Prakx that guarded the portal to the lower levels.

    ¡°Patrick?¡± James said quietly to himself before yelling it into the cavern. The golem didn¡¯t answer.

    Shit, James thought before looking back and forth between the two fighting giants and the two prisoners at his feet, let¡¯s get you guys out of here. Patrick, if that even is him, will have to respawn.

    ***

    ¡°Frooode!¡± James yelled as he descended the tower of stairs, two half-conscious prisoners leaning on either shoulder.

    ¡°Frode!¡± he yelled, rounding the corner of the Chieftain¡¯s hut.

    ¡°Frode,¡± he whispered, collapsing past the hut¡¯s main flap, exhausted. Strange smells burned his nostrils and dirt flowed freely into them as he struggled to catch his breath on the ground, but he was too tired to care at the moment. He called for Frode again, but no answer came. In fact, the whole village seemed empty now that he thought about it.

    Everyone is just on their way to The Outpost or working, he told himself.

    After a long moment, his energy bar returned, and he propped himself onto his elbows. The prisoners lying next to him could have done without a fall, but they were still breathing. Looking into the darkness of the Chieftain¡¯s hut, he thought he heard movement.

    ¡°Frode?¡± James said, throwing his words into the darkness like chum thrown into the ocean to distract a shark. Two Martyr legs stepped in front of his vision, seemingly out of nowhere. James reeled backward. Long hairy fingers wrapped around his arm and pulled him to his feet.

    ¡°What¡­¡± the Chieftain¡¯s Advisor rumbled, ¡°are you afraid of James?¡±

    James met the advisor''s eyes. In them, he saw curiosity, intelligence, wisdom, and everything else he came to relate to the wizened Martyr, but behind them, he saw something else.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± James said, ¡°You just startled me is all.¡± Frode released his arm. James patted himself off.

    ¡°More prisoners,¡± the advisor confirmed with a tone that suggested it could have been a question, ¡°Good work, James. I will take them from here.¡± The Martyr gently lifted the prisoners up, cradled them in his arms one by one, and laid them down in makeshift Ingo-skin cots. The mood in the room went from a gloomy one to one where he wasn¡¯t welcome anymore. James nodded and stepped out.

 Book 2 - Chapter 43 - Leader of the Flames

    ¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± Alex said from his perch on one of the many rope bridges that swung over the village.

    ¡°But where,¡± James said as he looked across the Great Savanna. He didn¡¯t think he would spot the golem, but he couldn¡¯t help but try. Patrick was his friend. One of his first friends in the game, at that.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Alex, looking down to his feet. Then he looked up and at James and tightened the knot of his black headband. ¡°We searched everywhere. I think it is time that we focus on something else.¡±

    James didn¡¯t reply. He didn¡¯t need to. Alex¡¯s suggestion was long overdue. They had spent at least a week searching every corner of the Great Savanna. Thanks to their new mounts, the map in James¡¯s interface was almost entirely filled in. He and Alex had seen most of what the Great Savanna had to offer, and it didn¡¯t offer Patrick. The creatures that they were familiar with; Ingos, Oana, No-No, Bisonbogs, and those blue flowers, were only the tip of the iceberg. James was truly amazed at how abundant life on the Great Savanna was under Martyr protection. But none of those wonders had red hair, and none of those wonders were made of animated stone.

    Something moved on the horizon. James finger slowly rose to point at the object as his confidence that it wasn¡¯t a figment of his imagination did.

    ¡°Its a rider,¡± Alex said.

    James squinted his eyes, ¡°How can you tell?¡±

    ¡°From the sneak skill tree,¡± Alex said before turning and running to the other side of the rope bridge. ¡°C¡¯mon!¡± he yelled from its end, ¡°I think it is your brother!¡±

    That can¡¯t be good, James thought. If he is back already it means that he couldn¡¯t find Torunn or worse.

    James followed Michael through a labyrinth of bridges and guard towers. It wasn¡¯t that there were many towers, but there were many bridges. The Martyrs seemed to build one for every possible path. Every high point of the village was so well connected that you could go anywhere without having to take more than one bridge. Eventually, he reached the ground exactly where he wanted to: at Oana Camp Silent Contemplation. Fletcher was there, taking a macabre joy in bothering the peaceful Oana villagers, who wanted nothing more than to eat him.

    ¡°C¡¯mon you fool,¡± James said, grabbing the leather straps of his self-crafted saddle. Making the custom seat was much the same as creating leather armor. The problematic portion was taking it on and off the Ingo. Fletcher didn¡¯t want anything to do with strapping into the contraption. Luckily, he didn¡¯t seem to notice it once it was finally on, so James left it that way. He figured he would for the foreseeable future as well, as long as it didn¡¯t end up hurting the creature.

    Fletcher let himself be pulled away from his staring contest with the villagers. James hoped on his back and navigated to the outside of the village where he met Alex.

    ¡°Ready?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Alex answered.

    James gave Fletcher a soft kick. He lurched forward. Alex did the same, except his mount was considerably faster. Them James gave Fletcher a distressed look and pulled up his interface to find out why he was so slow.

    Battle Skills

    Sneak, Level 9 ¨C Visibility & sound decreased by 9% while sneaking.

    Fire, Level 39 (2 levels gained recently) ¨C Your mastery of fire is increased by 39%.

    Fire Bolt Spell - Damage is equal to 2.5x Intelligence.

    Curse of Fire Augment - Cast a curse on your target, attracting all Fire Bolts in the immediate vicinity.

    Short Swords, Level 46 (3 levels gained recently) ¨C Damage done with short swords increased by 46%.

    Jump Strike Sub-Skill, level 15 - Chance to stun 100% (25% + 5%/lvl).

    Meteor Augment - Land with such force the ground trembles beneath you. Surrounding enemies are slowed for 1 second.

    Dual Wield Sub-Skill, Level 23 (4 levels gained recently) - Damage penalty from dual wielding decreased by 23%. Current damage penalty when dual wielding equals 41% for both weapons.

    Flame Whirlwind Augment - Your blades gain a mind of their own for a short time and whirl around your body. They move so fast they ignite the air, encasing your body in a tornado of flame. 30-second duration. 1-day cooldown.

    Party Leader, Level 20 (2 levels gained recently) - Damage taken by party members reduced by 20%

    Moral Defender Sub-Skill, Level 1 - Those under your command gain an additional armor point.

    Ingo Mastery, Level 4 (1 levels gained recently) - Friendliness with your favorite Ingo has increased by 4%. Friendliness from all other Ingos increased by half that amount.

    James tried to re-organize his skill prompts again, but was met with the same notification that his intelligence wasn¡¯t high enough. He sighed and mentally navigated to his notifications.

    Congratulations! Your Dual Wield Sub-Skill has surpassed level 20. You can now choose from the below 2 augments.

    Incessant Flame Whirlwind - Halves the cooldown and damage of the basic Flame Whirlwind Augment.

    Piercer - Your intimate knowledge of Leather allows you to deal 15 percent more damage to enemies that wear it.

    Easy, James thought. He used his flame whirlwind augment as a utility skill, so it seemed only natural that he could improve the augment in such a way that fit him. Being able to use it twice a day instead of the usual once a day would be a considerable improvement. So what if the damage was halved in the process? James chose the Incessant Flame Whirlwind augment. A slight burning sensation swept through his body, so quickly he barely noticed it. Then he moved to his next notification. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Congratulations! Your Party Leader Skill has surpassed level 20. You can now choose from the below 2 sub-skills or augments.

    Spiritual Morality Augment - Your Moral Defender sub-skill is now twice as effective, but if you do anything immoral, your buff will enter a 24 hour cooldown period.

    Leader of the Flames Sub-Skill - Those under your command have a small chance to catch enemies on fire, dealing a percentage of weapon damage over time.

    Easy, James thought again, choosing the sub-skill over the augment. More heat burned within him, this time it was enough for him to notice it. He looked down at his hands, worried. They were clutching the leather straps of the makeshift saddle, looking normal, but James sensed something was off. They felt different, somehow.

    ¡°HEY!¡± Michael yelled at the boundaries of voice distance. James smiled. So did Alex. Seeing his brother, even though it has only been a few days, was like finally sitting down by a cozy fireplace after being lost in the snow. The feeling wasn¡¯t enough for James to forget about the way his body, and especially his hands, were changing though.

    When the Ingo mounts brought the three humans together, Michael spoke up, ¡°We need your help. The Hedgemon¡¯s have made much more progress than should be possible.¡±

    ¡°Is everyone okay?¡± James said, idly caressing the back of his hand now that Fletcher was calm and he didn¡¯t have to hold the saddle straps.

    ¡°Yea, for now,¡± Michael replied pointing to the saddle, ¡°I am going to need one of those.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Alex said before facing Michael once again, ¡°How bad is it? Are they already in the Great Savanna?¡±

    ¡°Its bad, but they haven¡¯t made it into the Savanna yet,¡± Michael answered, ¡°They send scouting parties, but the Martyrs have had no issues defeating them. We have managed to keep the Hedgemons to The Outpost for the most part, but it won¡¯t be like that for long. Soon they will see that they have more numbers than us and attack. We need to make a move before that.¡±

    James looked to Alex, ¡°Do you need to go back to Dreng¡¯s Rest for anything?¡±

    Alex shook his head and pointed to his satchel, ¡°Nope. I have a magical bag that stores all my stuff no problem. You?¡±

    James grabbed Fletcher by the neck and turned around. Dreng¡¯s Rest looked calm. With all the Martyrs and Humans of fighting age gone, the town resembled a cozy mountainside vacation resort: peaceful and timeless.

    ¡°No,¡± James said out loud. Then he turned back and gave Fletcher another kick. Frode doesn¡¯t need me for anything, he thought.

    ***

    The party, or at least the most complete version of the party possible, was preparing for war. Torunn and the rest of the soldiers set up a base of operations just outside The Outpost. Savanna trees, which seemed to be much more common as of late, were carefully pulled from the ground and sharpened until both ends became dangerous. The Martyr cubs, fed by a life on the Savanna and wizened by all it had to teach, where busy pointing the sharpened trees toward The Outpost.

    The bristle-covered creatures everyone was referring to as Hedgemon Fighters, could be seen guarding their ransacked city. The tired humans they displaced glared them. James could see a hatred building behind their eyes, one that burned even hotter than the generic hatred the past residents held towards perturbers. A lifetime of sacrifice feuled it. A lifetime of defending a town, only for it to be taken away. James knew the hatred the survivors of the ransacking held would come in handy. They would be stronger than the average soldier.

    James massaged the back of his hand with one of his thumbs as he studied the patrol paths of the Hedgemon¡¯s. He was seated on a pile of furs while the camp moved and buzzed around him. Preparations had to be made, and he would do his part to make them. He wasn¡¯t the best crafter around, but he was actually the best Leatherworker. He would do his best to outfit anyone with glaring weaknesses in their gear. As James punched the final metal studd into a simple helm for one of the human fighters, Alex took a seat.

    ¡°Do you think they will attack us tonight?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°Probably, yes. Torunn says they are smarter than the average Oana but not as smart as us. So really, it is hard to predict what they will do. Because of that, I want to attack tonight. As soon as I am done outfitting the other humans.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Alex replied with a smile just as James¡¯s brother pulled up a pile by the fire.

    ¡°Did I just overhear that we are attacking tonight?¡± Michael asked as he sat down.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Alex said.

    Michael nodded and gave a smile, ¡°Good.¡±

    Alex laughed, ¡°That is exactly what I said.¡±

    James shook his head but remained silent, his mind easily distracted by the odd sensation in his hands. He put them to work to ease his mind.

    After a moment or two, Alex spoke up again, ¡°Well, what''s the plan of attack?¡±

    James set down his leathers and cupped his hands. He slowly rubbed them together as he spoke as if doing so would rub away the feeling that had been bothering him, ¡°Only the humans will fight in The Outpost. The Martyrs will defend against scouts that leave the city and keep building up our base, as they are doing now. We will attack in force and not stop until the Hedgemon¡¯s are completely rooted out. Then we will move in.¡±

    ¡°What happens if we die and are sent to respawn?¡± Michael asked.

    James nodded at the question. It was one of the first concerns that he discussed with Torunn when he first arrived at the camp. They both agreed that if the humans were sent to respawn, then the Martyrs would hold tight. If attacked, they were to retreat, no matter what. James Michael and Alex as much, and they both accepted the plan as good.

    The party went silent again, painfully aware that two of them were not present. For the most part, James had gotten to the fact that Lilly was gone. He knew Alex was having a much more difficult time with it, but he too had learned patience. Lilly would return when she was ready. Either that or the party would visit her. Abaddon didn¡¯t say specifically that that wasn¡¯t allowed, so it would be a priority as soon as they were able.

    Why hasn¡¯t he asked to go visit? Not that he needs to ask, James thought to himself. If he had a loved one, he would want to see them as much as possible, especially now that he had a means of travel that made the trip much more do-able. We do have a lot going on¡­

    James cleared his throat, ¡°Once this is done and we build The Outpost back up, I think we all need a vacation.¡±

    Alex and Michael gave a collective scoff, then they both returned to staring at the guarded city and polishing their weapons, respectively.

    ¡°When do you think Torunn will want the other half of his father¡¯s maul back?¡± Michael asked the fire.

    James grunted as he fiddled with a troublesome metal studd that was sent through his latest piece of armor, diagonally,

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he is too worried about it, having his hairy hands full with leading an entire race and all.¡±

    ¡°True. Maybe a Hedgemon will drop something decent for me,¡± Michael replied and jabbed a thumb over to James, ¡°I could use one of those Legendary items like James has over here.¡±

    This time it was James¡¯s turn to scoff, ¡°Yea, I only have it because I was the party leader in the Spirit Vessel that we destroyed. If one drops in real life, it is fair game!¡±

    ¡°Yea, right!¡± Alex laughed, ¡°If one drops in the upcoming battle it is mine.¡±

    Michael joined in on the laughter, citing facts like how he is the largest of them all and therefore it would make the most significant impact if he had a legendary weapon. He was dismissed rather quickly, as the Maul that was gifted by Dreng wasn¡¯t exactly a common item. It was only one level below legendary, and as far as James and Alex were concerned, that was enough.

    Michael stopped laughing first, his jolly expression dying as a shadow crept its way from behind James to over him. He whirled and got a sight that transported him back in time. For a split second, James wasn¡¯t sure if he saw a ghost or if he was waking up from an almost year-long dream.

    ¡°Where is Patrick,¡± Little Patrick bellowed, his voice as deep as Dreng¡¯s used to be.

 Book 2 - Chapter 44 - Shaman

    On the other side of The Great Savanna, Frode¡¯s head twisted, and his eyes whirled, doing their best to avoid focusing on any of the lights in his mind. He inhaled his final dose of Tuki Tuka powder and in the same moment, noticed a shift in mood from the lights. He pushed his will into them, filtering out the good and locking on the bad. The Lich King¡¯s mana wasn¡¯t always easy to find, but Frode had become attuned to it. Now it was just as easy to destroy as it was to locate.

    With the spiritual equivalent of a black hole, Frode snuffed out the evil mana lingering in the newest two prisoners. The exertion of so much of his will left him lightheaded and with tingles just below his fur. He pressed on.

    ¡°I know there are more of you in here,¡± Frode whispered. His head was calm and aware of all. Split into two; his faithful body stood guard of any physical threat and everything that wasn¡¯t his body guarded against the ethereal.

    A physical threat came first. It crashed into the black and mana filled world of his Shaman¡¯s Chant and tackled objects that he couldn¡¯t see, objects without any mana. Frode smiled at the opportunity. He would finally get to train on the real thing.

    Frode gently pushed a portion of will into his body. It accepted it and began to react to the situation around it. Its first assessment was that the threat was not an Abomminar, nor was it James. It was also destroying the Chieftain¡¯s Hut. Frode left his sentinel to deal with the threat, eager to see its performance and returned to hunting the Lich King¡¯s touch. The red strings of his mana always seemed to hide where you wouldn¡¯t think to look. They became thinner and thinner as they aged. Frode had to sacrifice massive amounts of will to find the smaller strands inside the previous round of human rescues. Luckily, that wasn¡¯t the case with the newest two. Confident that he eradicated the Lich King¡¯s presence, Frode turned his will to his apprentices. The mana hidden inside them came to life. Frode pulled it towards him as the Chieftain¡¯s hut crumbled.

    ¡°Focus,¡± he commanded, ¡°do not break the connection or return to your body.¡±

    The mana inside the apprentices grew brighter. A wooden log detached from the ceiling at one end and swung downward. Frode¡¯s body cast a spell, and the log crashed into an invisible dome. It brightened for a moment as light cascaded from the impact, only to disappear again.

    Frode smiled at the reaction time of his body. He had finally learned the right amount of willpower to allocate to the physical world to remain safe. His apprentices were not as skilled, but it was the perfect time for them to learn.

    ¡°Listen! Focus on keeping your body separate. Do not get tired. And do not get distracted. If your body gets hit, do not run to save it. Stay here at all costs. Is that understood?¡± The mana that made up his apprentices flickered to a higher intensity and back again. Then Frode made his move. He cast his will outward like angry hands and latched onto each of his apprentices. They all sat cross-legged at the back of the Chieftain¡¯s hut as Frode¡¯s body battled the threat. They jumped as his will connected to them, grabbed them by the metaphysical collar, and yanked them from the physical world; severing their final ties. Such methods were not passed down by generation after generation of Shamans, but his situation called for extreme measures.

    As expected, some of his apprentices didn¡¯t have a high enough mastery of any sort and snapped back into their bodies. They took a look at the monstrosity that was battling the Advisor and ran out of a newly made hole in the wall.

    Three apprentices remained. Frode''s most recent rescues were still present. He knew the water mage, Jess, was going to make it but did not expect her companion to as well. The third apprentice was a complete surprise and gave Frode more questions than he already had. The third prisoner was the one that spent the most time in the dungeon out of them all. Frode didn¡¯t let the confusion show on his face though. Instead, he pulled his three apprentices into a ghostly huddle. They stopped looking around in wonder and did their best to focus on their teacher.

    ¡°Look down. See that light swirling around inside you? That is your mana. You can move it with your will. Gather some of it up and send it to your body. Now.¡±

    Frode watched as the mana inside his unlikely follower immediately left and flowed into a body. Two other lights began to jerk and tremble, moments before crashing into their vessels.

    When his three apprentices finished animating their bodies, Frode turned his attention back to his own. It was busy protecting the apprentices in the physical world. From his dual perspectives, Frode could see his young shamans experimenting with the amount of will required for various actions.

    Then something else struck his dome spell so violently that it illuminated the darkness of the ethereal plane. Normal light wouldn¡¯t make it there, but when his spell turned physical force into light, it produced mana as waste.

    Waste that could be seen in the spirit world, he thought. Then he got an idea and spent his last bit of his will. As he felt it leave his body, he whispered, take it. Then he fell from the spirit world and collapsed into his aging body.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Still blinded, Frode reached out with his mana and immediately recognized a signature. It carried the same dull pattern as Patrick. Frode was sure it was his because it was the smallest mana signature he had ever seen, including Dreng¡¯s.

    Legendary Intelligence Enhancement - Your intelligence is increased by 60 for 10 minutes.

    Frode inhaled sharply at the sudden boost of intellect then opened his palms to the Earth. A seed, just below the surface, cracked and sprouted. A green leaf exploded from the ground and reached for the sun. Its stalk grew thicker as it did higher, constantly twisting and growing, twisting and growing. Finally, it stopped and hardened. Frode plucked it from the ground.

    Congratulations! You have received Harmonized Savanna Cane.

    The Advisor gripped his staff and gave a test thwack, just before the Golem broke through the dome. As his spell crumbled, Frode could feel mana and willpower funneled into him. It wasn¡¯t enough of either to allow him to visit the spirit world and check on how it was happening, but it was enough to know that it was happening. Frode spun his staff overhead and slammed into the ground from which it came. The blunt weapon would be no good against rock, but it was good for one other thing. The Savanna accepted Frode''s offering, and the staff ripped into the ground and traveled just under the surface until it reached the Golem. Vines exploded from the ground. They wrapped around the animated stone, bringing Patrick down.

    ¡°Are you in there?¡± Frode asked, stepping closer to the prone Golem and looking into it¡¯s orange eyes.

    ¡°Advisor,¡± Jess¡¯s voice rang from a distance, ¡°We watched you from the spirit world. How did you do that?¡±

    Frode had a sneaking suspicious of what she was talking about, but couldn¡¯t be sure. When he sent a portion of his willpower to take the mana from the dome spell, he wasn¡¯t sure what would happen, but something must have. He was only ever taught how to manipulate the physical world with mana. Manipulating ethereal things, including mana, with his willpower was utterly new. He felt like he was on the verge of something great. Right now though, he didn¡¯t have time to investigate. Elder humans, Oana villagers, Noma, and Salmaana, were all gathering around the wreckage of the Chieftain¡¯s hut.

    Patrick noticed the crowd as well. His gentle eyes grew panicked as everyone looked at him. Some let out terrible screams, but the silent ones were the worse. They just stared in quiet disgust. Patrick felt his Warhammer grow heavy and his body almost slid closer to it. The reactions from his fellow humans were beginning to weight on him. It was clear he wasn¡¯t recognized, for how could they remember him? He himself only had the faintest of memories of who he used to be.

    ***

    Frode slumped in the Chieftain''s chair. Wooden planks lay in heaps and piles all around. Many thoughts bounced around in his mind, now that it was so clear. The effects of the Tuki Tuka powder were no longer necessary, as he was finally strong enough to enter the spirit realm without it. Admittedly, he suspected he had been strong enough to do so for a long time now, and he just didn¡¯t know how. Now that he was familiar with the feeling though, it was more than comfortable enough to transition, even while dragging his apprentices along with him.

    And I didn¡¯t even go mad, Frode thought.

    Jess, Trevor, and Frode¡¯s third apprentice, Kenji, who must have come from a different clan than the other humans, had left not too long ago, tasked with the critical mission of tracking the Golem. Frode was reasonably sure that Patrick was somewhere inside of that stone body, even if his human body was completely gone. The apprentices themselves didn¡¯t know Patrick that well, but we''re excited to leave the Chieftain¡¯s hut after all their time in recovery and secret training. Frode was careful about letting them loose for many reasons, the most important being that he was pushing them very hard. They were hurtling down the path of the Shaman much faster than those that came before them and therefore, learning skills much quicker than they could master them. Frode was worried that they would cause destruction or harm themselves with their growing power, but circumstances allowed for the risk. Besides, he couldn¡¯t babysit them forever. Patrick ran away, and there was no one left in the village to give chase. The three apprentices were the only option, other than the strange green creature and its skeletal companion, who seemed more concerned about spending her time somewhere below the Cabin on the Cliff.

    ¡°Only one thing left to do,¡± Frode said as he stood from the chair that no longer held a glow. ¡°Keep training.¡±

    He would get stronger. He had to, especially if he wanted to see the prophecy himself. And according to his interface, he wasn¡¯t that far off from being able.

    Statistics

    Frode ¨C Level 89 High Shaman Advisor

    Constitution, Level 58 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 32 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 20 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 10 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 83 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, mana reserves, and determines how long you can stay in the spirit world and what you can manipulate once inside.

    Intelligence, Level 35 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 32 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, your crafting speed, and more.

    Health, 580

    Endurance, 200

    Mana, 350

    Willpower, 830

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    With a grunt, Frode allocated his free stat points to will, bringing it up to 85.

    ¡°Just one more level. Then I will be strong enough to see the truth,¡± he told himself. Then he held an open palm to the ground and activated his Grow Staff ability. The earth exploded, and a large vine grew. Frode snatched it as it hardened into a dense wood and set off for the training area.

 Book 2 - Chapter 45 - Little Patrick

    A pile of rocks was slowly growing. A long one was added to the top. It split in half as it came in contact with the peak of the pile and the two pieces clanked their way down until gravity could no longer pull them. By the time the new rock settled, another one was soaring through the air. This rock didn¡¯t stay on top of the pile either. Instead, it rolled right down and into the foot of one of Little Patrick¡¯s sisters.

    ¡°What are you doing Patrick?¡± Lorelai asked, picking up the satisfyingly round rock and tossing it from one hand to the other.

    ¡°Digging for Tucca,¡± Patrick said from inside the hole he had created.

    ¡°Gathering food for the camp was yesterday¡¯s quest. Did the human soldiers require more that we thought?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Little Patrick rumbled.

    ¡°Did the Hedgemon¡¯s manage to sneak in and destroy our stockpile?¡±

    ¡°NO.¡±

    ¡°Then what is it?¡± Lorelai asked.

    Little Patrick grunted, tossed a large boulder into the air and whirled on his sister, ¡°Patrick is gone!¡±

    The boulder crashed into the rock pile, crushing the smaller rocks below it and pressing the larger ones into the ground so thoroughly that they could no longer be seen.

    Lorelai stepped back, ¡°What? What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°No one has seen him,¡± Little Patrick said, leaning against the wall of his hole and sliding down it.

    ¡°What do you mean? We have been all over The Great Savanna since before this whole Hedgemonic threat. We would have seen him. He must be in Dreng¡¯s Rest still.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Little Patrick growled, ¡°he isn¡¯t. James said he disappeared after a dungeon run.¡±

    Lorelai didn¡¯t speak up. Instead, she pointed behind Little Patrick. He stood up and climbed out of his hole, idly tossed the Tucca in his hands, and looked. Three hunched creatures fell from the far end of The Outpost¡¯s walls and were busy sneaking off into the mountains. They were rather large for intelligent creatures, Patrick thought. They didn¡¯t scare him though, as he still had more size than they did. A normal sized Martyr or Human fighter might have a problem dealing with them, but Patrick wouldn¡¯t. It was one of the reasons he was upset, other than the fact that his favorite brother Patrick was missing. The same brother he shared a name with. His other brother, the eldest of them that also happened to hold the title of Chieftain, had forbidden Little Patrick from attacking the Hedgemon¡¯s inside the ruined city. He didn¡¯t say anything about attacking them from inside the Great Savanna though.

    Without saying a word, Little Patrick hefted the nearest boulder. He squeezed it like a bear, then began to spin around. He built up some momentum and released, sending the stone high into the air in the direction of the flanking Hedgemon¡¯s.

    ¡°Is that suppose to hit them?¡± Lorelai asked.

    ¡°That WILL hit them,¡± Patrick said, dusting his hands off, ¡°I guarantee it. Tossing things high into the air runs in my blood.¡±

    ¡°Well then it runs in mine as well,¡± Lorelai said, grasping a boulder of her own. She didn¡¯t have to look too long to find it. Rocks became more and more frequent the closer you got to the impassable mountains that surrounded the Savanna. Lorelei spun, then released. Moments later, Patrick¡¯s rock crashed down, crushing one of the Hedgemons completely. The only evidence that it was ever there to begin with was its confused and panicking friends and the handful of long needles that fell from its back on impact.

    ¡°Dang,¡± Lorelai said. It was a word that not many of her brothers and sisters used, but she did. Lilly had taught it to her, and Lorelai liked the way it sounded. It was much better than some of the other words that the male humans used in its stead. ¡°I missed, but at least I learned a new skill!¡±

    ¡°Put away your interface,¡± Patrick seethed, ¡°let¡¯s go finish them off before they get to wherever they are trying to sneak off to.¡±

    Lorelai quickly added two of her available stat points to agility then looked at her brother. They exchanged a glance then dropped to all fours and charged.

    ***

    ¡°Check that out,¡± James said, pointing over to Little Patrick and Lorelai.

    ¡°It looks like they spotted a few enemy scouts,¡± Torunn reported from his chair by the fire.

    Michael straightened up on the wooden crate he was resting against and quickly dismissed whatever he was browsing in his interface. Everyone else did the same, eager to see an encounter with the strange bristle backed beasts, even from afar. James held his breath, waiting for the Martyrs and Hedgemon¡¯s to meet. Little Patrick was moving extremely fast for someone of his size. It was like seeing a young Dreng, in the best shape and years of his life. Finally, the two parties collided. A roar could be heard, even from James location, then a pink mist rose in the air, and everything went calm.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°He is not taking the news about Patrick well,¡± Torunn commented.

    ¡°Yea,¡± James sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t blame him. They were close.¡±

    ¡°They were,¡± Torunn confirmed, ¡°Little Patrick is ran by his emotions, just like big Patrick. I am worried he will do something extreme.¡±

    ¡°Why? Has he done so before?¡± Alex inquired with a raised eyebrow.

    Torunn tilted his head, ¡°He once challenged me to back up one of my commands with blood, which is something I usually encourage the clan to do, but it was over something small. Usually, us Martyrs do not challenge each other unless it is something we feel passionately. I think you know by now that we do not usually feel passionate about anything. But Little Patrick feels passionate about many things.¡± Torunn cleared his throat, ¡°So no, he hasn¡¯t done anything extreme yet, but if anyone of us is going to, it would be him.¡±

    James recalled the moment he first saw Martyrs challenge each other. It was Dreng that challenged Freydis over her decision to adopt James as a cub. Torunn was a cub himself back then. He probably didn¡¯t even know that the challenge even happened.

    About a year, James realized. That was how long he figured it took a Martyr to reach adulthood. One crazy, whirlwind of a year.

    Alex inquired something about Martyr¡¯s Rage, and Torunn went silent, lost in thought. James was lost in his thoughts as well and didn¡¯t catch what Alex said that sent Torunn into a fit of contemplation, but he used the quiet moment to check his interface. The sun was setting in the direction of Dreng¡¯s Rest. It would be night, and time to storm the fallen city soon.

    Statistics

    James ¨C Level 31 Embrant LeatherWorker (1 level gained since last open)

    Constitution, Level 20 ¨C Controls how much health you have and the rate at which you regain health.

    Strength, Level 30 ¨C Affects your ability to use weapons, lift objects, and your size.

    Endurance, Level 11 - Controls how much energy you have and the rate your endurance regains.

    Agility, Level 11 - Controls your movement abilities in battle, dodge, critical strikes, and unarmed combat damage and your ability to resist character controlling abilities.

    Will, Level 12 ¨C Affects your ability to tap into health, endurance, and mana reserves.

    Intelligence, Level 36 ¨C Controls the data you can gather from your interface, the world, and how much mana you have.

    Wisdom, Level 35 ¨C Controls the rate at which you gain all types of experience, your crafting speed, and more.

    Health, 200

    Endurance, 110

    Mana, 360

    2 statistic points ready to distribute.

    Like usual, James put his two free stat points into Intelligence. He needed one more level before his intelligence would hit 40 and he would be able to customize his interface layout further. He checked his miscellaneous skills tab and his gathering skills tab as well, but there was nothing new that would help him in the upcoming battle. His skinning ability was progressing nicely, but since it was a gathering skill, it had no sub-skill, only augments - and he was happy with his current augment setup. It allowed him access to tougher skinned animals, like Abominars, No-Nos, and Bisonbogs.

    Suddenly, a sense of excitement filled James. After this, he thought, I can finally craft something with tough leather.

    He set down his bowl of Abominar Fat Stew and made a, ¡®Come here¡¯ motion in the air, just to quickly double check his interface. His crafting skill was already level 30. He figured it must have reached that level right around the time he started getting crafting ideas that utilize the thicker, tougher leather. It also meant that he gained thirty entire crafting levels in the same amount of time he went from personal level 30 to 31, and all that extra time dedicated was about to pay off. Or so he hoped.

    He would have to find out later. The sun was down. Conversations went from unimportant and a way to distract your nerves as the battle loomed closer; to non-existent. Everyone was silent. Everyone was looking at James, the War Leader. He was who they looked to accomplish the hard tasks. The tasks that weren¡¯t worth completing when you only had but one life to spare.

    It was in that moment that time slowed, and James realized he would endure many deaths. He would die for honorable reasons, and he would die for dumb reasons because he would live forever. That is why the fearsome Martyrs were looking up to him. It wasn¡¯t because he was as big as all of them other than Little Patrick, it wasn¡¯t the fact that he could shoot fire from his hands, and it wasn¡¯t any unique talents or skills. It was the fact that he was immortal, and more importantly, he wore that attribute as if it was a simple hat: instead of the crushing cloak of infinite time and boundless pain that it was. He kept pushing on, just like he had when he was younger. He didn¡¯t question why his parents died and left him nothing then, and he didn¡¯t question why he was uploaded into a game world, and his best friend was turned to stone now. He just kept moving on, or at least that is what they saw. In reality, James did question all of that, and it did weigh him down. The thing he realized about himself was that he never let it slow him down. He DID keep moving, carrying the increasingly heavy weight, but never slowing. He held a steady pace. He was a steady leader, stuck inside an increasingly complicated and changing world.

    James sat there in silence for longer than he intended to, but when he looked up again, his soldiers were still waiting, looking for his signal. The humans that marched here where calm. Every trace of the twitching and fidgeting that once diseased their collective pride before they set off to march The Great Savanna for the first time was gone.

    They finally realized they can¡¯t die, James thought. He felt terrible for them. They endured the torture of being imprisoned in a dungeon, but even that wouldn¡¯t prepare them for the suffocating grip of immortality. He wanted to say something. To warn them or something. But he didn¡¯t. They would all realize in their own time and who knew, maybe if he said something now, it would ruin their brief phase of joy and celebration from besting the grim reaper. As far as James was concerned, they would have to discover on their own that the Grim Reaper was a friend, not a foe. It wasn¡¯t the sort of thing you could learn from someone else.

    Alex, Michael, and Torunn were looking at him as well. James stood. The sound of his dual short swords sliding out of their sheathes was followed by a dozen other weapons being readied. James gave one final glance to the walls of the city he was about to emancipate, then saluted, the metal studs in his bracers clapping against the studs in his cuirass. More metal claps followed. James pressed on through them, and once he was past his men, he activated sneak mode and disappeared to the average onlooker.

    Let¡¯s do this, he thought.

 Book 2 - Chapter 46 - Thimber

    ¡°SON OF AN INGO BIRD!¡± James yelled as he pulled one of the Hedgemon¡¯s nettles out of his leg. As far as signals went, it was as good as any. Any second now, the bulk of the human soldiers would be giving up their hiding spots just outside the wall and charging the city. James just had to make sure the drawbridge was down before they got there. He tossed the hallow barb to the ground and looked over the wall¡¯s ledge.

    ¡°Too far to jump down,¡± James said. He was pretty sure he could receive fall damage, and that it wasn¡¯t pleasant. So James targeted a Hedgemon on the ground level inside The Outpost and activated Jump Strike, moments before the first Hedgemon he ever saw up close caught up to him. He soared through the air and left the lumbering creature behind. It shot a glare his way and bashed its wooden club into the ramparts in an apparent threat.

    So far, James thought the new enemies weren¡¯t all that bad. They were slightly smaller than him and ranged from tan to dark brown. Their skin was made of microscopic scales and covered their entire body, except their backs, which resembled the uncomfortable end of a porcupine. They all wielded clubs, which they swung ponderously. James figured they did not need speed or agility. Nothing could flank them or sneak up and stab them in the back because of the nettles. The advantage of their barbed back, which was already a pain to deal with, was balanced by their slow speed. They should be easy to defeat as long as he figured out the best strategy for them, individually.

    ¡°ArHHg,¡± James said as he landed with an explosion of fire and pain. He pulled another barb from his leg and limped over to the city gate. The Hedgemon he fell on turned, looked around, found James¡¯s back, then roared. Then another roar was heard from up high. More followed them, but James didn¡¯t care. He was already at the gate. Moonlight flashed as James swung his Legion Commander¡¯s Short Sword at heavy chain. It cut through like butter, and the chains fell. Along with them, the drawbridge.

    James stepped forward and waved his people forward. He watched as they ran, screaming for blood. Then something hit him in the back, causing him to fall forward and lose his breath.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he said, terrified. The thing that hit him wasn¡¯t a club, but a heavy net. The Hedgemon¡¯s weren¡¯t slow because they had natural back protection. They were slow because you don¡¯t have to run when you can throw a net!

    Alex was the first to make it to James¡¯s aid, thanks to his blink ability. No matter what he did though, he couldn¡¯t remove the netting. James would have to wait the entire two minutes for his magical debuff to expire or use an ability to get out. James smiled. It was nice to have multiple skills to rely on. He activated Martyrs Rage. His body stood forcefully, refusing to pay any mind to the magic that held it down. As James felt the flesh on his back start to rip and tear, he deactivated the ability and let out a sign. Pieces of netting fell around him.

    James stationed two of his soldiers at the gate and told them to keep control over the escape route, just in case. He told the same thing to two other soldiers that he left as lookouts at either end of the street.

    ¡°This will be our base of operations,¡± he said to each of them, referring to the area they were now guarding. The other soldier¡¯s, including Alex and Michael, were busy fighting the Hedgemon¡¯s, dodging nets, and doing their best to defend their netted allies that didn¡¯t have any utility skills to escape. These people had to wait two entire minutes until they lost the net debuff, which effectively meant they missed the battle. James decided that if he could take a net for someone, he needed to. That would be a much better use of his skill set, especially considering his short swords were not suited for fighting the Hedgemon¡¯s. He couldn¡¯t stab the creature¡¯s in the back without stabbing himself on their barbs and when he attacked them face to face the results were nearly the same. They didn¡¯t have nettles protecting their front, luckily, but they were extremely hunched over, making it easy for them to protect the soft parts on their stomachs. James relied heavily on his Fire magic. It was effective, but he needed to conserve it as much as possible. He had no idea how long it would take to clear the entire Outpost.

    ¡°All clear,¡± Alex announced as he exited one of the wooden houses that flanked the cobblestone street.

    The party kept on this way for hours. Eventually, wooden cabins turned to cobblestone cabins, and then stone cabins that only used wood for aesthetic appeal. As the quality of construction went up, the number of homes on each street went down. Three soldiers were killed and sent to respawn, a fact that threatened to dampen James mood. He didn¡¯t let it though, as three deaths by this point was by no means a mission-critical failure. Sure, he wasn¡¯t able to guard as much of the city behind himself as his small army went on, but if they killed everything in the city, they would have nothing to protect it from. Besides, as his party fought on, they became better equipped. It turned out that the Hedgemon¡¯s dropped the good stuff.

    ¡°Patrick would be having a blast right now,¡± Michael said as he smashed his Maul into one of the spike-backed creatures.

    ¡°Yea,¡± James said, before clearing his throat and repeating himself, but louder.

    ¡°All clear!¡± Alex said as he materialized from a set of hanging vines. James¡¯s mind flickered. The last time they were at the alchemy building, Patrick was being chased out by an old lady with a stone Mortar. They were completely different scenes in James¡¯s mind. They felt different too. One was happy; another was tense. They were similar in ways other than location though. They both had violence. Before the old lady whacking Patrick over the head and now this slaughter, James thought, are we all being turned into monsters?

    ***

    ¡°They¡¯re retreating!¡± Alex reported after blinking up to the city walls. A long chain of slow-moving Hedgemon¡¯s could be seen trying to hustle out of the city and back to wherever they came. James walked through the courtyard and up a portion of fallen wall to join Alex. This side of the city was nicer than the Savanna side. The walls were thicker and offered more protection for defenders. The courtyard had enough space to prepare a small army, whereas the entrance on the Savanna side only let into a narrow side street. It was easy to tell that the original builders didn¡¯t expect much danger from the Savanna side.

    That¡¯s probably why the Oana attacks weakened them so much, James thought as he turned the same direction Alex was facing. The ex-veteran was quiet. The liveness he felt from clearing buildings with a select few trained soldiers was gone and replaced by something else. When James saw what he was looking at, he knew why. The feeling was unconstrained wonder. Suddenly, James forgot about everything he was thinking about, everything he just did. He didn¡¯t even realize he was staring at what laid beyond the Great Savanna for the first time until he had already felt every emotion in the book, twice. The land beyond the Outpost, the land that the Hedgemon¡¯s were fleeing to, was hard and gnarled with protruding roots. The roots dug deep into the ground, twisted out, and then dove back in, sucking up nutrients to feed the larger roots that connected. James slowly realized that there were no trees at all, only ever larger roots. He wasn¡¯t looking at a forest or at least a conventional one. He was-If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Alex asked, verbalizing what they both were thinking.

    As he spoke, the largest of roots curled up on itself to open a pathway into the tangle.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± James said, shaking his head, ¡°but I do know that if we don¡¯t follow them now, they will lose us in the tangle.¡±

    ¡°I agree¡­¡± Alex said.

    That was all James needed to hear. He let his eyes lock on a target that he could Jump Strike to. He found one, but the Hedgemon seemed to grow even further away as he looked at it. The walls on this side of the city were taller than on the other. The ground on the other side of the wall sloped downward until it met the bramble, whereas the Savanna was mostly flat.

    ¡°¡­But I think it is okay to lose them. If we go down there, we will have to fight on their turf. We would be open to ambush and probably worse.¡±

    James let out the breath he was holding. A soft chuckle slipped out with it, ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t looking forward to jumping down there!¡±

    Alex didn¡¯t seem to appreciate James¡¯s moment of relief and instead held up a finger. Then he moved his hand downward and pointed. ¡°Who is that?¡±

    James¡¯s smile died. Then he realized he would have to jump after all.

    ¡°I will meet you down below!¡± Alex said as he blinked away.

    ¡°Damnit, Michael,¡± James said, not for the first time, before activating his Jump Strike ability and leaping off the ramparts. Instead of going up like usual, James found himself rocketing straight down to the retreating Hedgemon¡¯s below. The last of them was running from the East gate and down the dirt hill. Soon they would all disappear in the fifty-foot-high tangle of root and thorn.

    As James was moments from landing, darkness, and depression passed by below him. He felt his mood drop and his outlook become hopeless. That was when he spotted the chomping skull of a Deathbolt fly by, laughing and screeching the entire way. It spread its bone jaws wide and consumed James¡¯s target. He hit the ground hard and watched his endurance bar suffer.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± James asked, his arms waving frantically, suggesting that there was no correct answer to his question.

    Michael didn¡¯t answer. He didn¡¯t even look at James as he ran by.

    ¡°Hey!¡± James said as he turned, ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Michael¡¯s back disappeared into the Hedgemon¡¯s land.

    Alex blinked into existence next to James; his face asked the same questions James had. Then they both gave chase. As James ran over the bridge and down the slope, an interface prompt covered the upper portion of his vision. Inside the nature encrusted border where the words.

    You are leaving the Great Savanna.

    James wanted to pause. This would be the first time he left, ever. He couldn¡¯t stay and throw a party though. He pushed passed the notification and the border surrounding the prompts changed. Thorns replaced flowers, and healthy vines became cadaverous.

    Welcome to Thimber!

    As James waved the notification away, he caught sight of a giant root moving to block the escape of the Hedgemons. He dove underneath. The studds of his armor caught in the dirt, causing him to roll instead of slide. He kept the momentum going and made it underneath just as the root finished its descent. James stood up, caught his breath, and looked at the makeshift door. The moving root was the same size as a tree but laid horizontally. It moved like an elephants trunk, but James couldn¡¯t find the mechanism that allowed it.

    ¡°What the whattt¡­¡± A familiar voice repeated James¡¯s favorite expression. James turned around, joined Alex, and repeated the phrase once again.

    The brown and tan roots that were visible from The Outpost¡¯s ramparts did not take up the entire zone of Thimber. Instead, they only encased it, like a woven dome. A green moss carpeted the floor below them, but that wasn¡¯t the first thing James¡¯s noticed. Among the braided vines above him, certain ones stood out. They cast a dull grey light and illuminated the areas below them. They luminescent vines snaked and twisted up above, leaving a path of light on the ground. James patted Alex on the back and followed the path.

    Further ahead, small green vines draped from their more massive and less pliable counterparts, forming an opaque wall. James spotted his brother just before he disappeared into them.

    ¡°What is he doing?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡°I have no idea. Let¡¯s find out.¡± James replied, and Alex blinked away.

    James ran forward. His hands parted the wall of slick green string in front of him, then Alex¡¯s voice rang out.

    ¡°Its an ambush!¡±

    It was too late. James was already committed, and he probably would have entered even if it wasn''t. The area past the vines opened up into a larger one. At the center was a beast James had never seen before. James inspected the name tag above it.

    King Hedgemon

    A part of James wished that the Hedgemon was actually a king. If it was, then he might be able to marry off his stupid brother to solidify an alliance. It was larger than the other Hedgemons, but it didn¡¯t seem like it was in better shape. In fact, it was rather plump. It screamed as Michael¡¯s mace smashed into it, and lit it on fire, thanks to James¡¯s new Leader of the Flames sub-skill. James began to build a firebolt to add the King¡¯s pain. As he did so, he inspected his party member icons in the upper left of his peripheral vision.

    ¡°Michael has been taunted!¡± James yelled over the noise of Hedgemon¡¯s closing in. He counted at least six of them. Fire left his hands and impacted the nearest ambusher. The impact didn¡¯t give the Hedgemon much pause, but the flames that washed over it did.

    No, seven, he thought as he struggled to keep track of them all. They slowly stalked towards him and Alex, pushing them closer to the King. Then James lost sight of his brother. All the thorns, vines, straight lines, crooked lights and the shadows they and the various flames cast was too much to keep track of. James watched on with growing panic as Michael¡¯s health bar started to trend downward.

    ¡°Michael!¡± James yelled. No response. He gritted his teeth and charged forward anyway. The Hedgemon¡¯s were eager to meet him and turned around to show him their needles when he got close. James activated Flame Whirwind. He couldn¡¯t see much after his short swords left his hands, caught fire, and started to spin around him, but when they stopped, James was no longer surrounded. Alex had blinked away, and now the Hedgemon¡¯s carefully orchestrated ambush was in shambles.

    ¡°Where am I?¡± Michael asked the night air as his taunt debuff timer expired, ¡°What-¡±

    Suddenly the King Hedgemon lurched forward and unhinged its gold scaled jaw. A horrible sound followed, cutting off Michael¡¯s questions. What followed after the sounds, was even more horrible. An egg, or at least, what James could only assume was an egg, rolled out of the King¡¯s mouth. It made splashing and sucking sounds as it tumbled to a stop. James¡¯s curiosity got the best of him, and he gave the strange creature and its peculiar egg his full attention. The price he paid was half of his health points and ringing ears when a Hedgemon was finally able to get within striking distance, but it was worth it to see what happened next. The king waved his short arms around, seemingly casting a spell. Alex blinked in to interrupt it but was halted by two of the normal Hedgemons. When the spell completed, a wave of bright energy left the King¡¯s hands and entered the egg. The light felt warm to James, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile as a portion of the spell emanated outward and washed over him. The egg¡¯s surface began to undulate and pulse until it grew in size. As it did so, appendages sprouted, and eventually needles.

    ¡°Crap,¡± James said as he watched what was once an egg stand up and take its first steps. A new Hedgemon was born and grown, all in the span of a few seconds. James was present for its entire life cycle. Suddenly, a tingle grew in James¡¯s fingers and traveled up his hands. It was a foreign feeling, nothing like the innocent tingle you get when Savanna grass brushed your bare skin or after a satisfying yawn. These tingles were uncomfortable. Angry almost. They called for action. They called for the King Hedgemon¡¯s head. Logically, James knew that it was an excellent strategic move to kill a creature that could spawn enemies in an instant, but the tingle gave him pause.

    Where does it end? James asked his hands. Someone always dies. If it isn¡¯t us, then it is them, but it is always someone. Why?

    ¡°No, wait!¡± Alex yelled as he backpedaled away from a slow-moving Hedgemon. James looked up, letting out an involuntary sigh as he forced his short swords down.

    ¡°I remember this guy.¡± He pointed to the King Hedgemon, ¡°Its called a Consort.¡± As Alex talked, the name tag above the creature adapted, ¡°If we capture it, I think we can get it to lay worker eggs for us!¡±

    Holy shit, James thought, Alex really was a game designer?

 Book 2 - Chapter 47 - Consort

    It took James, Michael, and Alex the rest of the night to capture the Hedgemon Consort and drag it all the way to The Outpost, through it, and into the Perturber¡¯s keep. It took them another two days to reinforce the building so the creature wouldn¡¯t break out.

    ¡°Too bad we don''t have one of those magical pendants that trapped Sorrell in there,¡± James chuckled from outside the thick walls of the Keep.

    ¡°Oh, why didn¡¯t you say you needed one of those. I have one right here,¡± Michael said, reaching into his pants like they had a pocket. He pulled out an empty hand and laughed.

    James kept his expression still, ¡°That¡¯s funny! I have one of those as well, but better.¡± He reached into his pants, searched around for a bit, then pulled out a middle finger and presented it to his brother.

    The party shared a laugh. Then they all remembered how nice it was to have pockets and shared a sigh as well.

    ¡°Okay, Alex,¡± James began, ¡°any idea how we get the Consort to make workers for us?¡±

    The party¡¯s proclaimed rogue-turned-blacksmith shook his head and gave his shoulders a shrug, ¡°No. Sorry.¡±

    James figured he would get that answer and had already pulled up his Builder¡¯s Interface to search for answers. A bird¡¯s eye view of the entire Outpost popped into view. The first thing James noticed was how much bigger his new city was, compared to Dreng¡¯s Rest. There, he only had a dozen or so building plots. Here, he had hundreds, all of various sizes. The majority of the building plots were already taken up by human cabins of various quality, but there were still more empty lots than he knew what to do with.

    ¡°Hey man,¡± Alex said after what only seemed to James as a second, ¡°we are going to go help Torunn put the finishing touches on the East walls.¡±

    James nodded without minimizing his interface. He involuntarily checked on the walls in his interface and saw that they were almost complete. The only thing left was reinforcing them and the gate so it wouldn¡¯t be as easy for the Hedgemon¡¯s to take them down again. He had a feeling they would try, especially because he kidnapped their Consort, so he made sure all repairing efforts focused on that side of the city. Once the wall and its gate were impenetrable, he would find someone that could carve some statues for the city. That way they could all benefit from statistic buffs when they inevitably had to defend themselves.

    Where the hell is Omero, James wondered when his thoughts turned to Patrick. If anyone had an explanation of what happened to him, it would be the Italian. He studied everyone¡¯s character notes every night. If there was an explanation at all, he would have it, with him, at Dreng¡¯s Rest. James sighed as he realized how far the village was from The Outpost. It would be a while before he got answers, as going back to Dreng¡¯s Rest was not a priority at the moment. His builder¡¯s interface and the unique building attributes it granted was just too valuable.

    James put his attention back into his map overlay. The Outpost was broken down into four quadrants. The North West quadrant was were James was located. It held the Perterburs Keep, its excessively large lawn, and a couple of farms. He hadn¡¯t got the chance to check on the farms yet, but he wasn¡¯t really in a rush to do so, mostly because he could smell the manure from where he was.

    James crinkled his nose, where do we even get manure from? Now that thought excited him. The Martyr¡¯s are mostly hunters and gatherers, he thought, but they know way more about the growth possibilities in the Great Savanna than whoever farmed here previously.

    Images of discovering better farming techniques, growing plants that could talk, and harvesting rare and colorful fruit flashed. James smiled at the possibilities. With the Martyr¡¯s expertise in the natural, he could breath new life into those small farms, and maybe even his stagnant cooking skill. Maybe not talking plants, he reasoned with himself, but deep down he held out hope. Migrating blue plants were already a thing, why not talking ones too?

    Before he moved on to studying the other quadrants of his new city, James wanted to do one thing. He navigated to the name that floated over the Perterber¡¯s Keep from his bird¡¯s eye view and changed it. To keep it simple, the Main Keep in the North East quadrant would retain its name, and this one will be called the¡­

    Auxiliary Keep - A heavily enforced Keep capable of containing medium-sized creatures. Additional protections may be needed for larger, or smarter creatures.

    Contained Within - One Hedgemon Consort

    Abilities Granted - Exchange 100 food for one Hedgemon worker.

    ¡°Well now,¡± James said to himself as he looked to the direction Alex and Michael had run off to, ¡°they are going to wish they saw this.¡± A prompt appeared.

    Exchange 100 food for 1 Hedgemon Worker?

    James smiled and nodded with much more enthusiasm than required. Then he noticed the number in the upper portion of his overlay that signified his food stores drop by 100 points. Luckily, the Hedgemons didn¡¯t destroy the city¡¯s reserves. He had more than enough food left, and with his relatively low population count, that food would last him at least a few months. James felt a pleasant feeling wash over him. It was followed by a soft glow of golden light that beamed out of the Auxiliary Keep¡¯s windows. James ran forward and looked inside.

    The spike-backed Hedgemon Consort was waving his short arms around, whirling the golden glow in the air and coercing it into a slimy egg at its feet. When the spell completed, the egg wiggled against the dry hay on the floor and cracked. A ball of golden scales rolled out, opened, and a small mouth protruded. It let out a soft whine as it gulped in the golden magic that still lingered. As it did so, it grew. Larger and larger. Stubs became limbs and a neck sprouted from behind the drinking maw. Then the larger Consort turned, walked to the back of the Keep and laid down, careful not to bend any of its thin spikes off.

    Interesting, James thought, it doesn¡¯t look particularly upset. He told himself that if the Consort showed any signs of intelligence, or awareness other than that of a beast, then he would release it. He told himself that the ability to essentially create life out of thin air, and food, wasn¡¯t worth becoming a slave owner. Realistically, he was glad he didn¡¯t have to make that decision. The Consort seemed content.

    The newly grown Hedgemon Worker did not, however. Intelligence glinted behind its eyes as they combed the inside of the Keep. James detached his gaze from the window and walked over to the door. He unbarred it and swung it open. The worker immediately greeted him. James''s heart beat a tad faster than it did a minute ago, but the worker never attacked. It didn¡¯t even move. James quickly closed the door and barred it. Stepping in front of the Worker, who met his eyes, James asked if it could talk. The Worker didn¡¯t answer, so James brought up his interface. He was greeted by a prompt.

    Please assign a dedicated living area for your Hedgemon Worker. If you do not assign one in the next day, one will be designated for you.

    James selected a small plot of land next to East walls, that way the workers will always be close to where he assumed the most work would need to be done on a consistent basis. Then the Hedgemon worker walked away.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Bye,¡± James said with a wave. He spent the next hour creating nineteen more workers. He ended up having to expand their living area into the adjacent plot, but other than that, the process went off without a hitch. The Consort never complained or roared, and it didn¡¯t even try to use any magic abilities and bait him into attacking. In the end, James exchanged 2,000 units of food and barely made a dent in his reserves. Even though it would be a while before they needed to worry about eating, James was excited to dig into the farming process. He wondered if it would be a class or just a skill that he could pick up and grow when he had the time.

    Later, though, he told himself. Right now he had to get a handle on what to do with the rest of the city.

    The North East quadrant held the main keep. It was visible from almost every part of the Outpost; its dark metal fences jutted from the grey stone in was built upon. James could tell from afar that it was much larger than the Auxiliary Keep, and could probably house all the Martyrs and humans in his care. Seeing it on the horizon filled James with excitement. He would finally get to see a real castle, and he didn¡¯t even have to save for years to afford a plane ticket. And yet, he refused to move into it. At least, he refused for the moment. It still made much more sense to camp near the wall that separated them from Thimber. But, as soon as the Outpost was secure, him and all his officers, at the very least, would be moving in.

    Do I want everyone to live there? James thought. His head began to swim with the politics behind pecking orders and authority, but at the end of the day, he knew he wanted no part in that side of city management. Let¡¯s leave that to Omero, he decided. Realistically, they had enough stone houses, rooms in the keep, regular cabins, and makeshift tents hidden inside alleyways, that everyone could take three of each.

    What I really need is more soldiers to patrol the streets, James thought. Then he brought his eyes to the South East quadrant, right under the Main Keep. That quadrant held another neighborhood, much like the one that greeted James when he first visited The Outpost and met Abaddon in that tavern. Except these houses weren¡¯t built on top of, and in between each other. They also seemed to be constructed with either stone or metal, only using wood as decoration. James inspected the buildings and discovered they were the same Human Cabins that he could build, just of a much higher level. He made a mental note to touch them, that way he might unlock the secrets to creating them.

    The South East quadrant also held the newly assigned Hedgemon Worker plot. James couldn¡¯t see any construction there yet but figured they would build their races equivalent of Oana Camp Silent Contemplation. He selected the occupied lots, and another menu popped open. He poked around for a bit to familiarize himself with his options, then found what he was looking for.

    Would you like to upgrade Hedgemon Worker to Hedgemon Soldier?

    Abilities Gained - Throw net and Bludgeons.

    Cost - 200 food, a blunt weapon, and a throwing net.

    James gave a mental nod. Surprisingly, it was followed by a success message. Did the Hedgemons we push back, drop their weapons? James wondered. That didn¡¯t add up with what he knew about drop mechanics though. He knew that slain monsters didn¡¯t merely drop the weapons they were using. When something died, it waiting around until it could be skinned, if that was an option, or it just disappeared, leaving behind a portion of everything it was carrying based on item and bag rarity. James upgraded five more Hedgemon workers and discovered that that was his limit. He only had a handful of the bludgeons and nets needed. They must have just dropped normally, James thought as he explored his builder''s interface.

    The South West quadrant was were James first entered The Outpost. It held the many buildings that housed the racist and battle weary humans that first greeted them. It was also home to the only Tavern James was aware of, and many various shops. The only thing to do in this quadrant was to get people to man the stores and different crafting labs. Torunn would no doubt take over the vine-covered Alchemy lab when he had the time, but that was only one profession out of many.

    James added, ¡®People and Profession¡¯ management to his growing to-do list and let out a sigh, this time, of happiness. For once, he was enjoying the various tasks and projects that piled up all around him. He would certainly need to gather up his party of leaders and make sure nothing was falling through the cracks. As his thoughts fell upon Torunn, Michael, and Alex, he began to worry of Patrick again. Wondering where Patrick had gone, and if he was doing okay was a constant concern of his. Even when he was busy with other things, a portion of him was always with Patrick, wherever he was.

    Suddenly, something clicked. Two plus two equaled four and James jumped. He quickly exited his interface and turned South East. Martyrs would be busy reinforcing the East walls. His party would be running around, making sure there are no other weak points to defend, and he just released five Hedgemon Soldiers into his city. There was no way anyone could know they were friendly!

    James sprinted away from the Auxillary keep and the Consort it held, through its once manicured lawn, and down a small hill. He hopped the rickety wooden fence that surrounded one of the farms and ran through it. Jumping the fence on the other side, James found himself sprinting down a dirt rope that sloped downward. The rode eventually changed and became a cobblestone one. Now the Main Keep was on his left, looming over the entire Outpost. He could take the cobblestone path up and to the Keep, or he could continue running down the slope and to the South East quadrant. He chose the latter option and began to pass by large cabins. Their A-frames practically touched the ground and rose to high peaks, where smokeless chimneys protruded. He stole a glance between the cabins and found the East wall he was looking for. Turning down a side road, the entirety of the castle''s walls opened up before him. Before, he could simple climb their rubble to get atop them, but now he would need to climb makeshift stairs to get there and see the thorny land that lay beyond. Birger was overseeing the work of other Martyrs and even a few of the humans that fought to free the city. He waved as James ran by, but it was the same moment the Hedgemon Soldiers came into view.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± James started, ¡°Whhaaat.¡±

    He expected to find the Soldiers patrolling the city and causing panic at the very least. Instead, they were seated against the wall, while their smaller counterparts shaded them from the sun with large pieces of wooden debris. James slowed to a stop and watched the strange race for a moment. They generally milled about peacefully, starting fires and exploring their small lot. But every now and then, one of the Soldier¡¯s would bark something, and the workers would come running to do whatever the Soldier¡¯s commanded.

    ¡°Now that is a clear pecking order,¡± James laughed to himself.

    Birger caught up to him, ¡°Hello James, how is everything?¡± The Martyr foreman followed James¡¯s gaze, ¡°Oh, them. I got a notification that I had new workers available, and then they arrived shortly after. I figured it was your doing, so when a few of them disappeared and came back with weapons, I figured that was your doing as well.¡±

    ¡°You were right,¡± James said before turning to his foreman and grasping his hand. The gesture was still strange to the Martyr, but by this point, it wasn¡¯t entirely foreign. Besides, it was nice to be able to grasp a Martyr''s hand as equals, so James kept his Earth method of introduction alive. ¡°How is construction going?¡±

    ¡°It is going well,¡± the foreman started, ¡°I have already put some of the Hedgemon¡¯s to work, but it won¡¯t let me take all of them. I think they have some sort of cultural limitation. For every soldier we have, we need two workers to attend to their needs. From what I was able to tell from before you got here, it seems entirely unnecessary. The workers don¡¯t do anything that the soldiers can¡¯t do for themselves. It is completely for show or a respect thing, but regardless, we only have ten Hedgemon workers available.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± James said, ¡°is there any way around it?¡± As he spoke, the Hedgemon Soldiers stood, gathered their weapons, and formed up in front of him.

    Birger shrugged his massive shoulders as he regarded the creatures from the corner of his eye.

    ¡°Patrol the city,¡± James commanded on a hunch, and the Soldier¡¯s headed out, followed by two Hedgemon Workers each. James turned to his foreman, ¡°That¡¯s fine. It just means we will use more food than I had thought, but it still shouldn¡¯t be a problem. How many more workers do you need?¡±

    ¡°Ten will do for now. I need to train another foreman before I can manage more workers anyway. Besides, the wall is nearly complete, and we don¡¯t have any building quests after this one.¡±

    ¡°You probably will by the time you finish here.¡± James said, ¡°Good job by the way. You finished this wall extremely fast. What will its boon be, by the way?¡±

    ¡°The reinforcements you have requested will add a hardened feature. The wall will now be more resistant to blunt attacks, which we think is how the Hedgemons got in - by repeatedly smashing up against the gate with large numbers.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, Birger, thanks again. By chance, have you seen Michael and Alex? They said they were heading this way.¡±

    Birger shook his head, ¡°Yes, they went to that castle up there not too long ago, along with Torunn.¡±

    Damn, James thought as he shook Birger¡¯s hand once again, just missed them.

 Book 2 - Chapter 47 - Consort

    It took James, Michael, and Alex the rest of the night to capture the Hedgemon Consort and drag it all the way to The Outpost, through it, and into the Perturber¡¯s keep. It took them another two days to reinforce the building so the creature wouldn¡¯t break out.

    ¡°Too bad we don''t have one of those magical pendants that trapped Sorrell in there,¡± James chuckled from outside the thick walls of the Keep.

    ¡°Oh, why didn¡¯t you say you needed one of those. I have one right here,¡± Michael said, reaching into his pants like they had a pocket. He pulled out an empty hand and laughed.

    James kept his expression still, ¡°That¡¯s funny! I have one of those as well, but better.¡± He reached into his pants, searched around for a bit, then pulled out a middle finger and presented it to his brother.

    The party shared a laugh. Then they all remembered how nice it was to have pockets and shared a sigh as well.

    ¡°Okay, Alex,¡± James began, ¡°any idea how we get the Consort to make workers for us?¡±

    The party¡¯s proclaimed rogue-turned-blacksmith shook his head and gave his shoulders a shrug, ¡°No. Sorry.¡±

    James figured he would get that answer and had already pulled up his Builder¡¯s Interface to search for answers. A bird¡¯s eye view of the entire Outpost popped into view. The first thing James noticed was how much bigger his new city was, compared to Dreng¡¯s Rest. There, he only had a dozen or so building plots. Here, he had hundreds, all of various sizes. The majority of the building plots were already taken up by human cabins of various quality, but there were still more empty lots than he knew what to do with.

    ¡°Hey man,¡± Alex said after what only seemed to James as a second, ¡°we are going to go help Torunn put the finishing touches on the East walls.¡±

    James nodded without minimizing his interface. He involuntarily checked on the walls in his interface and saw that they were almost complete. The only thing left was reinforcing them and the gate so it wouldn¡¯t be as easy for the Hedgemon¡¯s to take them down again. He had a feeling they would try, especially because he kidnapped their Consort, so he made sure all repairing efforts focused on that side of the city. Once the wall and its gate were impenetrable, he would find someone that could carve some statues for the city. That way they could all benefit from statistic buffs when they inevitably had to defend themselves.

    Where the hell is Omero, James wondered when his thoughts turned to Patrick. If anyone had an explanation of what happened to him, it would be the Italian. He studied everyone¡¯s character notes every night. If there was an explanation at all, he would have it, with him, at Dreng¡¯s Rest. James sighed as he realized how far the village was from The Outpost. It would be a while before he got answers, as going back to Dreng¡¯s Rest was not a priority at the moment. His builder¡¯s interface and the unique building attributes it granted was just too valuable.

    James put his attention back into his map overlay. The Outpost was broken down into four quadrants. The North West quadrant was were James was located. It held the Perterburs Keep, its excessively large lawn, and a couple of farms. He hadn¡¯t got the chance to check on the farms yet, but he wasn¡¯t really in a rush to do so, mostly because he could smell the manure from where he was.

    James crinkled his nose, where do we even get manure from? Now that thought excited him. The Martyr¡¯s are mostly hunters and gatherers, he thought, but they know way more about the growth possibilities in the Great Savanna than whoever farmed here previously.

    Images of discovering better farming techniques, growing plants that could talk, and harvesting rare and colorful fruit flashed. James smiled at the possibilities. With the Martyr¡¯s expertise in the natural, he could breath new life into those small farms, and maybe even his stagnant cooking skill. Maybe not talking plants, he reasoned with himself, but deep down he held out hope. Migrating blue plants were already a thing, why not talking ones too?

    Before he moved on to studying the other quadrants of his new city, James wanted to do one thing. He navigated to the name that floated over the Perterber¡¯s Keep from his bird¡¯s eye view and changed it. To keep it simple, the Main Keep in the North East quadrant would retain its name, and this one will be called the¡­

    Auxiliary Keep - A heavily enforced Keep capable of containing medium-sized creatures. Additional protections may be needed for larger, or smarter creatures.

    Contained Within - One Hedgemon Consort

    Abilities Granted - Exchange 100 food for one Hedgemon worker.

    ¡°Well now,¡± James said to himself as he looked to the direction Alex and Michael had run off to, ¡°they are going to wish they saw this.¡± A prompt appeared.

    Exchange 100 food for 1 Hedgemon Worker?

    James smiled and nodded with much more enthusiasm than required. Then he noticed the number in the upper portion of his overlay that signified his food stores drop by 100 points. Luckily, the Hedgemons didn¡¯t destroy the city¡¯s reserves. He had more than enough food left, and with his relatively low population count, that food would last him at least a few months. James felt a pleasant feeling wash over him. It was followed by a soft glow of golden light that beamed out of the Auxiliary Keep¡¯s windows. James ran forward and looked inside.

    The spike-backed Hedgemon Consort was waving his short arms around, whirling the golden glow in the air and coercing it into a slimy egg at its feet. When the spell completed, the egg wiggled against the dry hay on the floor and cracked. A ball of golden scales rolled out, opened, and a small mouth protruded. It let out a soft whine as it gulped in the golden magic that still lingered. As it did so, it grew. Larger and larger. Stubs became limbs and a neck sprouted from behind the drinking maw. Then the larger Consort turned, walked to the back of the Keep and laid down, careful not to bend any of its thin spikes off.

    Interesting, James thought, it doesn¡¯t look particularly upset. He told himself that if the Consort showed any signs of intelligence, or awareness other than that of a beast, then he would release it. He told himself that the ability to essentially create life out of thin air, and food, wasn¡¯t worth becoming a slave owner. Realistically, he was glad he didn¡¯t have to make that decision. The Consort seemed content.

    The newly grown Hedgemon Worker did not, however. Intelligence glinted behind its eyes as they combed the inside of the Keep. James detached his gaze from the window and walked over to the door. He unbarred it and swung it open. The worker immediately greeted him. James''s heart beat a tad faster than it did a minute ago, but the worker never attacked. It didn¡¯t even move. James quickly closed the door and barred it. Stepping in front of the Worker, who met his eyes, James asked if it could talk. The Worker didn¡¯t answer, so James brought up his interface. He was greeted by a prompt.

    Please assign a dedicated living area for your Hedgemon Worker. If you do not assign one in the next day, one will be designated for you.

    James selected a small plot of land next to East walls, that way the workers will always be close to where he assumed the most work would need to be done on a consistent basis. Then the Hedgemon worker walked away.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Bye,¡± James said with a wave. He spent the next hour creating nineteen more workers. He ended up having to expand their living area into the adjacent plot, but other than that, the process went off without a hitch. The Consort never complained or roared, and it didn¡¯t even try to use any magic abilities and bait him into attacking. In the end, James exchanged 2,000 units of food and barely made a dent in his reserves. Even though it would be a while before they needed to worry about eating, James was excited to dig into the farming process. He wondered if it would be a class or just a skill that he could pick up and grow when he had the time.

    Later, though, he told himself. Right now he had to get a handle on what to do with the rest of the city.

    The North East quadrant held the main keep. It was visible from almost every part of the Outpost; its dark metal fences jutted from the grey stone in was built upon. James could tell from afar that it was much larger than the Auxiliary Keep, and could probably house all the Martyrs and humans in his care. Seeing it on the horizon filled James with excitement. He would finally get to see a real castle, and he didn¡¯t even have to save for years to afford a plane ticket. And yet, he refused to move into it. At least, he refused for the moment. It still made much more sense to camp near the wall that separated them from Thimber. But, as soon as the Outpost was secure, him and all his officers, at the very least, would be moving in.

    Do I want everyone to live there? James thought. His head began to swim with the politics behind pecking orders and authority, but at the end of the day, he knew he wanted no part in that side of city management. Let¡¯s leave that to Omero, he decided. Realistically, they had enough stone houses, rooms in the keep, regular cabins, and makeshift tents hidden inside alleyways, that everyone could take three of each.

    What I really need is more soldiers to patrol the streets, James thought. Then he brought his eyes to the South East quadrant, right under the Main Keep. That quadrant held another neighborhood, much like the one that greeted James when he first visited The Outpost and met Abaddon in that tavern. Except these houses weren¡¯t built on top of, and in between each other. They also seemed to be constructed with either stone or metal, only using wood as decoration. James inspected the buildings and discovered they were the same Human Cabins that he could build, just of a much higher level. He made a mental note to touch them, that way he might unlock the secrets to creating them.

    The South East quadrant also held the newly assigned Hedgemon Worker plot. James couldn¡¯t see any construction there yet but figured they would build their races equivalent of Oana Camp Silent Contemplation. He selected the occupied lots, and another menu popped open. He poked around for a bit to familiarize himself with his options, then found what he was looking for.

    Would you like to upgrade Hedgemon Worker to Hedgemon Soldier?

    Abilities Gained - Throw net and Bludgeons.

    Cost - 200 food, a blunt weapon, and a throwing net.

    James gave a mental nod. Surprisingly, it was followed by a success message. Did the Hedgemons we push back, drop their weapons? James wondered. That didn¡¯t add up with what he knew about drop mechanics though. He knew that slain monsters didn¡¯t merely drop the weapons they were using. When something died, it waiting around until it could be skinned, if that was an option, or it just disappeared, leaving behind a portion of everything it was carrying based on item and bag rarity. James upgraded five more Hedgemon workers and discovered that that was his limit. He only had a handful of the bludgeons and nets needed. They must have just dropped normally, James thought as he explored his builder''s interface.

    The South West quadrant was were James first entered The Outpost. It held the many buildings that housed the racist and battle weary humans that first greeted them. It was also home to the only Tavern James was aware of, and many various shops. The only thing to do in this quadrant was to get people to man the stores and different crafting labs. Torunn would no doubt take over the vine-covered Alchemy lab when he had the time, but that was only one profession out of many.

    James added, ¡®People and Profession¡¯ management to his growing to-do list and let out a sigh, this time, of happiness. For once, he was enjoying the various tasks and projects that piled up all around him. He would certainly need to gather up his party of leaders and make sure nothing was falling through the cracks. As his thoughts fell upon Torunn, Michael, and Alex, he began to worry of Patrick again. Wondering where Patrick had gone, and if he was doing okay was a constant concern of his. Even when he was busy with other things, a portion of him was always with Patrick, wherever he was.

    Suddenly, something clicked. Two plus two equaled four and James jumped. He quickly exited his interface and turned South East. Martyrs would be busy reinforcing the East walls. His party would be running around, making sure there are no other weak points to defend, and he just released five Hedgemon Soldiers into his city. There was no way anyone could know they were friendly!

    James sprinted away from the Auxillary keep and the Consort it held, through its once manicured lawn, and down a small hill. He hopped the rickety wooden fence that surrounded one of the farms and ran through it. Jumping the fence on the other side, James found himself sprinting down a dirt rope that sloped downward. The rode eventually changed and became a cobblestone one. Now the Main Keep was on his left, looming over the entire Outpost. He could take the cobblestone path up and to the Keep, or he could continue running down the slope and to the South East quadrant. He chose the latter option and began to pass by large cabins. Their A-frames practically touched the ground and rose to high peaks, where smokeless chimneys protruded. He stole a glance between the cabins and found the East wall he was looking for. Turning down a side road, the entirety of the castle''s walls opened up before him. Before, he could simple climb their rubble to get atop them, but now he would need to climb makeshift stairs to get there and see the thorny land that lay beyond. Birger was overseeing the work of other Martyrs and even a few of the humans that fought to free the city. He waved as James ran by, but it was the same moment the Hedgemon Soldiers came into view.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± James started, ¡°Whhaaat.¡±

    He expected to find the Soldiers patrolling the city and causing panic at the very least. Instead, they were seated against the wall, while their smaller counterparts shaded them from the sun with large pieces of wooden debris. James slowed to a stop and watched the strange race for a moment. They generally milled about peacefully, starting fires and exploring their small lot. But every now and then, one of the Soldier¡¯s would bark something, and the workers would come running to do whatever the Soldier¡¯s commanded.

    ¡°Now that is a clear pecking order,¡± James laughed to himself.

    Birger caught up to him, ¡°Hello James, how is everything?¡± The Martyr foreman followed James¡¯s gaze, ¡°Oh, them. I got a notification that I had new workers available, and then they arrived shortly after. I figured it was your doing, so when a few of them disappeared and came back with weapons, I figured that was your doing as well.¡±

    ¡°You were right,¡± James said before turning to his foreman and grasping his hand. The gesture was still strange to the Martyr, but by this point, it wasn¡¯t entirely foreign. Besides, it was nice to be able to grasp a Martyr''s hand as equals, so James kept his Earth method of introduction alive. ¡°How is construction going?¡±

    ¡°It is going well,¡± the foreman started, ¡°I have already put some of the Hedgemon¡¯s to work, but it won¡¯t let me take all of them. I think they have some sort of cultural limitation. For every soldier we have, we need two workers to attend to their needs. From what I was able to tell from before you got here, it seems entirely unnecessary. The workers don¡¯t do anything that the soldiers can¡¯t do for themselves. It is completely for show or a respect thing, but regardless, we only have ten Hedgemon workers available.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± James said, ¡°is there any way around it?¡± As he spoke, the Hedgemon Soldiers stood, gathered their weapons, and formed up in front of him.

    Birger shrugged his massive shoulders as he regarded the creatures from the corner of his eye.

    ¡°Patrol the city,¡± James commanded on a hunch, and the Soldier¡¯s headed out, followed by two Hedgemon Workers each. James turned to his foreman, ¡°That¡¯s fine. It just means we will use more food than I had thought, but it still shouldn¡¯t be a problem. How many more workers do you need?¡±

    ¡°Ten will do for now. I need to train another foreman before I can manage more workers anyway. Besides, the wall is nearly complete, and we don¡¯t have any building quests after this one.¡±

    ¡°You probably will by the time you finish here.¡± James said, ¡°Good job by the way. You finished this wall extremely fast. What will its boon be, by the way?¡±

    ¡°The reinforcements you have requested will add a hardened feature. The wall will now be more resistant to blunt attacks, which we think is how the Hedgemons got in - by repeatedly smashing up against the gate with large numbers.¡±

    ¡°Excellent, Birger, thanks again. By chance, have you seen Michael and Alex? They said they were heading this way.¡±

    Birger shook his head, ¡°Yes, they went to that castle up there not too long ago, along with Torunn.¡±

    Damn, James thought as he shook Birger¡¯s hand once again, just missed them.

 Book 2 - Chapter 48 - Quarters & Trade

    By the time James reached the dark iron gates of the Main Keep, every breathe came heavily. It was now clear to James that the Keep loomed over the rest of the city not only because its various towers reached into the sky, but because it was built at the highest altitude. In fact, only two sides of the square courtyard were fenced. The remaining two sides faced a sheer rock wall, a portion of the impassable mountains.

    James swung a gate open with a screech that echoed and bounced off the grey marble below his feet. Half mined blocks of the resource could be seen peeking behind the castle¡¯s walls, just waiting to be fully removed from the mountain.

    ¡°A marble quarry?¡± James asked himself as he walked toward the Keep¡¯s heavy stone doors. When he pushed them open, a long hallway greeted him. Doors littered the side walls and wide columns held up what James guessed to be, at least three more floors of rooms. Ahead, he could see Torunn, Alex, and Michael all seated at the end of the hall, but couldn¡¯t resist the opportunity to inspect the building. He bent a knee then placed one hand on the cold marble. His eyes closed to block out the light, but he could still feel its warmth cascading down from various domed windows and washing over his exposed skin. In contrast, the skin beneath his studded leather armor was cool, and a bit clammy. The feeling the marble gave his hand was the direct opposite. It was smooth, hard and warm in places where the sun reached it. It also held a fine layer of dust, but not the type that came from abandonment. This dust was a part of the stone, and it dried the dampness between James¡¯s fingers as he touched it. And although the dust was present wherever there was marble, it did not linger in the air or have a noticeable smell. In fact, the air in the entire North East quadrant smelled crisper than the air below it. A prompt appeared, causing James to open his eyes. Michael was waving him over from further down the hall, but James ignored him for the moment.

    You are not skilled enough in the Undead building style to learn this building.

    ¡°Damnit,¡± James said as he stood, and although he mouthed a curse, the information filled him with even more excitement than farming did. Sure, he couldn¡¯t build a castle yet. But eventually he would be able to, and just maybe, he would be able to create something even better. He had a hard time imagining what that would be, but it was fun to do all the same.

    ¡°I thought you guys were going to help Birger?¡± James said as he joined his party. The long hallway ended with a throne of sorts. Tall, and somewhat uncomfortable looking stone chairs made up a half circle that faced the open hall to the Keep¡¯s only entrance. They chairs touched the floor and were carved directly from a large block of marble, much like the majority of the Keep seemed to be.

    ¡°Eh,¡± Michael began to answer, ¡°Birger said he didn¡¯t need any help, so we followed Torunn up here. We figured you would either be too curious to stay away from this place, or Birger would point you in our direction anyway.¡±

    James nodded. His brother was right. ¡°Gotchya,¡± James said before looking to Torunn, ¡°How are the Martyrs doing?¡±

    Torunn¡¯s lips parted, and his sharp teeth flashed. His lips continued to part until his smile reached his ears. Alex chuckled at the sight.

    ¡°What is it?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Lorelai and Helga are both having a litter!¡± Torunn practically howled.

    James looked around blankly until the meaning of his game-brothers words hit him. They are pregnant?

    ¡°Wait what?¡± James said, ¡°Isn¡¯t Lorelai one of Freydis¡¯s cubs and your sister? How is she old enough to-¡± James cut himself off. He had managed to ignore the finer points to Marytr reproduction ceremonies completely and had no desire to discover them now. ¡®Never mind,¡± he said, ¡°Just¡­ congratulations, man.¡± James smiled, stood up from his stone throne, and embraced Torunn.

    ¡°Thank you, brother,¡± Torunn replied, ¡°It is a great blessing. And now that the Savanna is safe and we control its only entrance, they will both be able to give birth the natural way.¡±

    ¡°Ha,¡± James said, ¡°you mean by destroying everything around them in a fit of rage and pain?¡±

    Torunn nodded, his smile refusing to fall.

    ¡°Well, good. That makes me happy,¡± James replied, matching Torunn¡¯s smile.

    Alex cleared his throat, ¡°Well fellas, what''s next? What the hell are we going to do with an entire city?¡±

    Everyone laughed at the sheer enormity of possibilities laid out before them. Then all got quiet, and James felt questioning gazes fall upon him.

    ¡°Easy,¡± James said while making eye contact in turns, ¡°We are going , and we are going to carve out a place in this world where others can do the same.¡±

    Michael nodded, then asked, ¡°How are these other people going to find us?¡±

    James didn¡¯t have an answer to that question, but luckily, Torunn did.

    ¡°Trade,¡± he growled, ¡°We need to build up trade routes. They will connect us with the rest of the world.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± asked Alex. He fidgeted uncomfortably in his stone chair, before settling in an awaiting an answer.

    James was already in his Builder¡¯s Interface searching for answers. With an aerial view of the city, he located one of the small general stores in the South West quadrant and inspected it. A trading window appeared.

    ¡°I think I found it,¡± James said, ¡°One second.¡±

    He read over all the options and discovered that he could trade various goods from his shops and storage buildings to Dreng¡¯s Rest. He was even able to see what the cozy village was capable of producing.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± James said, the words slipping from his mouth, ¡°Apparently, everyone still at Dreng¡¯s Rest have been busy. It makes sense I guess, as they were all elderly or non-combatants. They have been crafting a ton, and we can trade with them.¡± Admittedly, most of the items available for trade were only of uncommon quality and below, but it was a start. Left alone, Dreng¡¯s Rest would be outputting high-quality gear in no time. Well, as long as they had the raw materials, James figured. He took a moment to compare the goods each settlement had available for trade, what they could produce, and then he attempted to set up a trade mission based on what each city needed. His interface split into two inventory lists, with an empty section in between that he could drag various items into. He took crafted goods and metal from Dreng¡¯s Keep since that is what The Outpost was short on. In return, he took Marble and everyday essential items, like pots and pans, from The Outpost.

    Would you like to make this Trade with Dreng¡¯s Rest?

    James nodded his head but was met with an error message.

    Attention! You do not have a Merchant¡¯s Caravan capable of transporting these goods.

    James frowned, and experimented with the number of goods selected. It turned out that he initially put too much marble into the trade window. It would be impossible for the only merchant cart they had to carry so much weight, so he took it out. This time, a different error message appeared.

    Attention! No merchants are available to oversee this transaction. Would you like to issue a quest to the closest merchant?

    Quest Objective - Travel to The Outpost and oversee a trade with Dreng¡¯s Rest.

    Quest Reward - 50 Town Standing Points (The Outpost)

    Well, well, James thought, these things again. He turned to Torunn and asked what he knew about town standing points.

    ¡°Traditionally, the clan used them to decide who gets the first pick of the meat from hunting trips, but I suspect they could be used for more. Dreng was not able to teach me that portion of leadership before he activated his Last Seed ability. At the time, there were more pressing concerns. Frode may have more information.¡±

    James did his best to inspect every iteration of the words, ¡°Town Standing Points¡± that he could find in his interface, but if there was more information, he didn¡¯t have access to it. He set his questions aside and focused on trading once again. Before he released the quest to the nearest merchant, which was likely still in Dreng¡¯s Rest, James searched for other places to trade with. The map in his builder¡¯s interface wouldn¡¯t expand beyond the walls of the city, but he did find a drop-down list under trade options. He probably wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if he didn¡¯t know that the merchants must have come from somewhere outside The Great Savanna. James wasn¡¯t able to see what the new city option had available for trade, so he just put some of his items into the empty window and figured it would be up to the merchant to exchange the goods the best he could. He was relatively confident there would be an entire class dedicated to getting the best deal possible.

    Would you like to make this Trade with Grelstead?

    James had no idea what Grelstead was, but he was unconsciously aware of another human city that laid beyond the land he now knew as Thimber. It was where the previous inhabitants of The Outpost migrated from so long ago, and it was probably where the merchants at Dreng¡¯s Keep started from. James nodded and was met with yet another error message.

    Attention! This trip is dangerous. Assign guards to the trade caravan or risk your merchant''s lives and the goods they carry. Would you like to assign guards?

    James assigned all of his Hedgemon soldiers to the caravan, figuring he could always create more and watched as the percentage next to the words, ¡°Trade Success Chance¡± change to ninety-five. He then released the quests to the merchants.

    Vario has declined your mission.

    Duston has declined your mission.

    Congratulations! Noma has accepted your mission.

    O f course Noma would be a merchant, James mused before clapping his hands and exiting his interface, ¡°Good news everyone! Noma is on his way here!¡±

    James could tell everyone¡¯s thoughts immediately fell to Patrick, who was easily the Soul Merchants closest friend. They were all rather close, but the red-head held special connections with Noma and Little Patrick. James figured it was because he identified in some way with each of them. The ¡°goblin¡± as Patrick once made the mistake of calling him, probably reminded the red-head of the difficulty he had growing up and who he was back on Earth. Little Patrick was as close to who Patrick was in the game, as their names were.

    ¡°Good,¡± Alex said, ¡°it will be nice to see that little guy¡­ but what does that have to do with trade?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± James said before apologizing and reciting everything he accomplished in his builder''s interface. When he explained that the merchant cart had weight and other limits, Alex offered to try and forge a metal cart.

    ¡°That way,¡± he reasoned, ¡°we will have one cart to make the long journey to Dreng¡¯s Rest, and another, sturdier and larger cart, to brave the journey through Thimber.¡±

    Everyone agreed that that was the second smartest thing Alex had ever said, right after his suggestion to capture the Hedgemon Consort.

    ¡°Oh, I meant to ask you,¡± Michael started as he turned to James. His brother was still slightly larger than him, but now that they were all finally around the same size as adult Martyrs, the size difference seemed normal. The only time the size difference was noticeable, was when walking into small cabins or when interacting with other humans that decided never to pick up a weapon. James always had to look down when talking to them. He always wondered if he should take a knee so he could look them in the eye, but couldn¡¯t decide if they would get offended or not. The entire ordeal was awkward. Michael continued, ¡°can you print out a bunch of maps to the city? I still haven¡¯t been able to explore everything.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± James said leaning forward and poking the air, ¡°Good call!¡± He opened the map of the city but paused before he printed anything. ¡°I just had an idea. I think we should rename all the quadrants to something more helpful than their directions.¡± He printed out a copy for everyone to work from, and decided he would print out much more after the names were officially chosen.

    ¡°The North West quadrant holds the Auxillary Keep and the majority of our farms, along with a decent amount of trees we could harvest if we need,¡± Michael commented, ¡°Why don¡¯t we name it the Farmer¡¯s Quarter?¡±

    No objections rang, so James made the change.

    ¡°There are a lot of shops and houses only befitting your human cubs in the South West quadrant,¡± Torunn stated. James butted it to make sure Torunn understood that some of their elderly were very small, but that didn¡¯t mean they were cubs. Torunn nodded, but everyone could tell from his face that he didn¡¯t understand. It was Alex who figured out when Martyr¡¯s say ¡®cubs¡¯ they just mean ¡®small¡¯ and not necessarily, ¡®a baby.¡¯ A few minutes were lost when everyone realized in wonder that the Martyrs didn¡¯t even have a word for baby. ¡°So, the South West quadrant,¡± Torunn started again, ¡°Our small humans will live and craft there, so we should name it the Quarter of Commerce.¡±

    No objections rang again, so James made the change.

    They decided that the North East quadrant would be referred to as just, ¡®The Grey Keep¡¯ since it took up the majority of the quadrant anyway, and the South East quadrant would be named the ¡®Soldier¡¯s Quarter¡¯ since it made sense for soldiers to live close to the wall they would have to defend and the houses there were larger to account for a soldiers stature. James printed out more than enough copies of the updated map for anyone that wanted one, whipped up a quick stew to eat, then concluded the meeting.

 Book 2 - Chapter 49 - The Ancient Books

    Noma¡¯s small frame burst through the heavy doors of the Grey Keep two weeks later, followed by his Hedgemon Escorts, Salmaana, and Omero. James wasn¡¯t sure when the Soul Merchant would arrive, but Alex had assured him that he would handle the arrival when the day came. The veteran had dubbed himself the City Captain, and recited some line about leading from the front, right before he moved into the Soldier¡¯s quarters to be with his people. James didn¡¯t mind, it meant that the entire castle was left to him and Michael, and besides, Alex was a great leader of the Hedgemon¡¯s and was able to teach them an assortment of commands, including escorting esteemed guests directly through the Quarter of Commerce¡¯s many roads and to the Grey Keep.

    Torunn had returned to The Great Savanna to be with his sister during her birthing after The Outpost was fully reinforced. Afterward, he would return to Dreng¡¯s Rest to debrief his Advisor. James had offered to build the Martyr¡¯s their own area within the City, but he said his race would never be a fan of giant walls, and if he ever did need to sleep in the City, he would find a quiet spot on one of the farms. As far as reinforcements went, Birger had said the only other things they could do to improve their defenses would be to craft better weapons and get someone to carve statues. He did not think that the city walls would fall to Hedgemon¡¯s again, mainly due to the Hardened feature granted by James¡¯s Builder¡¯s Interface, but also because we had mages. The humans that inhabited The Outpost didn¡¯t like the company of anyone with a mastery, and hence, were sorely lacking in everything but the physical damage department. Coincidentally, the Hedgemons were the type of enemy you definitely didn¡¯t want to fight hand to hand.

    Between leveling his Leatherworking skill and commissioning another Advanced Training Area, James had constructed a Sculptor¡¯s Hovel and even found someone to manage it. Alex wasn¡¯t happy to let one of his human soldiers out of training early every day, but James was able to persuade him. The crafter/soldier was able to carve two very impressive statues that would be unveiled at the ceremony James was planning. Its purpose would be to mark the official success of re-taking The Outpost and also to show respect to those that fought to take it, and those that fought and failed, to defend it in the past.

    James wasn¡¯t sure how honoring the humans that locked Sorrell and other Perturbers away would make people feel, but it would be done regardless. Politics aside, the statue carver explained that his Hovel contained two gems. He said that the building would collect the essence of ¡®great occasions,¡¯ and that he would be able to socket said gems into the statue. The finished product was something many levels above what he could craft under normal circumstances. When James asked, the carver also said he believed Patrick must have had one of the same gems when he carved the statue of the Legendary Chieftain. So regardless of politics, James would allow such a statue to be crafted. He wanted his City to the strongest as possible, and he would honor those that lived here before him if it helped the cause.

    ¡°Welcome!¡± James said with his leather covered arms outstretched. He stepped away from the tanning racks he was positioning in one of the dwindling sunbeams and greeting everyone with a hug. He motioned to one of the many stone thrones and took a seat himself.

    ¡°Congratulations on finally unlocking the secrets of trade,¡± Noma began, ¡°I am sorry I wasn¡¯t able to show you the ropes sooner,¡± he gestured to Sorrell¡¯s bone figure, ¡°we have had other pressing concerns.¡±

    ¡°That is okay,¡± James said with a raised brow, ¡°How is everything at Dreng¡¯s Rest? Are these concerns anything I need to be aware of?¡±

    ¡°Yes-,¡± Sorrell began but was cut off when Noma held up a small greenish-brown hand. Her animated mandibles formed an angry scowl.

    ¡°They are, but I would prefer if you pointed me in the direction of my trade caravan. There is a long journey ahead of me, and I am eager to train one of your escorts in the art of the merchant, that way you don¡¯t need to rely on me,¡± Noma stated as he stood.

    ¡°Uh, of course!¡± James said, hesitantly standing as well, ¡°One thing before you go. How come the other merchants at Dreng¡¯s Rest refused my quest?¡±

    Noma nodded, ¡°The quest reward was Town Standing points. They assumed that those points held no value, and they wouldn¡¯t because you don¡¯t have someone with the Aristocrat class.¡±

    ¡°Well, at least you didn¡¯t,¡± Omero interjected with a bow, ¡°I earned the class on the journey here. It will allow me to set up a system for your points. But,¡± he motioned to Noma, ¡°we can discuss that later.¡±

    James got the point and had a Hedgemon Soldier escort Noma to the Trade Caravan stationed in the Quarter of Commerce. After a rushed goodbye, Noma left as quickly as he came.

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Sorrell apologized, ¡°he has been weird ever since he heard the news about Patrick. He respawned ya know!¡±

    James''s eyes darted to her sockets.

    ¡°Yup,¡± she explained in her uncomfortably upbeat tone, ¡°He destroyed half the Chieftain''s Hut as he did so. Attacked Frode¡¯s apprentices too, before he ran away.¡±

    ¡°So he is a Golem then, for sure,¡± James mumbled. The resulting silence was the only answer he needed. ¡°Any clue as to why he is a Golem, or how we can free him?¡±

    Omero looked to Sorrell, who looked down that hallway Noma had just departed, ¡°No.¡±

    James took a moment to compose himself. It took longer than he would have liked, especially when you considered that the new information didn¡¯t change his plan. The Martyrs would search the Savanna for Patrick, and when he could spare enough soldiers, they would search Thimber and the lands beyond for their friend. ¡°So Frode has apprentices,¡± James finally asked.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Sorrell said, the jolly undertones in her voice returning, ¡°It was a surprise to all of us I think. They train alongside him practically all day,¡± she leaned in closer, ¡°its a terrible apprenticeship if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± James said, ¡°I would very much like to see Frode and his apprentices again. I think I would have accepted the job if he offered it to me.¡±

    Sorrell shrugged her shoulder sockets, and Omero gave a confused nod of agreement.

    ¡°So,¡± the Italian began, ¡°how is everything going here?¡±

    ¡°Omero,¡± James gave a small smile, ¡°we have a ton of work to do.¡±

    Sorrell stood up, ¡°Well, I will let you men get to your work,¡± she pointed upstairs to the internal balcony and all the rooms situated on the upper floors, ¡°which room is yours?¡±

    James had a hunch that the woman was up to no good, so he pointed to the room his brother had claimed. Then James directed her to the door that hid the stairs, and she was gone, her hard bones clinking against the grey marble as she walked.

    The beams of light that once shown down upon James¡¯s Leatherworking stands moved considerably as he and Omero discussed what they wanted the purpose of Town Standing points to be. By the time they finally settled on a solution, it was night. The Town Standing points were to be used as a type of currency. Citizens of The Outpost could get them from various quests. James would work with city leaders to set up quest boards in each quadrant of the city. The crafting quest board would be placed in the Quarter of Commerce, and Omero would manage it. The board that would offer fighting and bounty-related quests would be placed in the Soldier¡¯s Quarter, and maintained by Alex. A high-level quest board would be set outside the gates of the Grey Keep, and would be overseen by all the town leaders. The final quest board would be found in the Farmer¡¯s Quarter and would offer farming and Great Savanna related quests from Torunn.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Every shop, tavern, hall or food stand would accept Town Standing points as currency, and there would also be storage houses where citizens could rent or claim widespread items for cheap. These storehouses were where most of the crafted goods were held so far, as none of the humans that claimed a shop wanted to waste their time selling common items. The storage houses also contained raw materials for crafters and were stationed alongside main roads, that way they can be replenished easily when trade caravans arrived.

    ¡°Well,¡± James announced, ¡°That is enough for today. I want to be well rested for the ceremony tomorrow.¡±

    The two walked up the marble stairs together and parted with a goodnight as the reached the second floor. James entered his room. It was quaint and quite drafty, but that didn¡¯t bother James when he was inside his pile of furs. Sleep took him quickly.

    An hour later, James was awoken by the screams of his brother Michael.

    ¡°You¡¯re not James!¡± Sorrel complained, her voice echoing across the balconies that overlooked the throne room and separated them.

    Gotchya, James thought with a smile, before falling back asleep.

    ***

    ¡°FORM UP!¡± Torunn¡¯s voice called from the marble courtyard outside the Grey Keep. Martyrs and human soldiers alike ran into position in front of the Chieftain and fell to a knee. Beside the Martyr Leader, where the human leaders: Alex, Michael, and James. James could see Alex¡¯s face flash with a hint of jealousy over Torunn¡¯s controller class abilities. The Chieftain merely had to give a command, and it had to be followed, regardless of what the person wanted. Alex, however, needed to rely on old-fashioned leadership qualities such as building rapport and being the strongest person with the best ideas.

    Behind James were two statues, both covered in Ingo skins. Behind them, was the doors of the Grey Keep, and behind that, the impassable mountains and the marble quarry that ate into them. In front of James, the soldier knelt. Behind them were the various non-combatant citizens, all seated on sturdy wooden chairs. Past them, the entirety of The Outpost stretched before them, and then, The Great Savanna lead the way to the horizon. The city was quiet, as everyone that lived in it was currently present at the ceremony.

    ¡°Today we celebrate,¡± Torunn boomed for all to hear over the wind. ¡°We celebrate our victory over the Hedgemon¡¯s, and we celebrate the sacrifices of those that stood this city up, and protected it for many years afterward. Today we celebrate a new age! An age of peace and prosperity, and more importantly,¡± he raised his voice even louder, ¡°an age were we have PLENTY OF SPACE!¡±

    The Martyrs present exploded into hoots of agreement. Their unbridled joy at never having to be caged behind any walls other than the impassable mountains washed over the entire Savanna.

    Torunn held a hand up, and the Martyrs quieted, but it was still another minute before the cacophony of echoes puttered out. ¡°All of you here fought honorably. I am proud of the way our two races came together for a common cause. Each and everyone one of you had your part to play in that, no matter how small,¡± Torunn stepped forward and looked past the soldiers and into the small crowd of citizens, ¡°and for that I am thankful. To show my appreciation, I will be doing something I should have done many moons ago¡­¡±

    The Chieftain walked down the line of soldiers and stopped at one end, ¡°I, Torunn, Chieftain of the Clan of Honor, Defender of the sole remaining members of the Martyr race, grant you, my mark,¡± he placed a finger on the chest of the first kneeling soldier. Then he repeated this process for all the humans in the line. When he was done, he returned to his position by James, ¡°Marytrs!¡± he called out, ¡°I encourage all of you to share your marks with the humans freely. Doing so will further cement our alliance and ensure our successful future.¡± Torunn stepped aside after a salute and gave a nod to James.

    ¡°Our prospects are growing,¡± James began, ¡°we have fresh food, fresh water, and a safe home, but things are not all great.¡± He cleared his throat and let a somber silence bloom before he spoke again, ¡°We have lost one of our own to something unknown. Our believed Patrick has been turned to a monster, and cannot be found.¡± James turned around and signaled the Sculptor. She pulled the skins from the statues, revealing a tall and lanky soldier. His face was gruff and hard, two attributes that carried across stone well. James had him modeled after the boisterous soldier he met in The Outpost, moments before he reached his final fate. The soldier carried a shield in one hand and a book in the other. As the ceremony inspected the statue, so did James.

    Motivator of The Doomed - Falling below 20% health while in the city walls will supply you with a shield capable of blocking all damage from one attack. The shield prevents both magical and physical damage.

    The next statue was a perfect replica of Patrick, in Golem form. It was modeled from extensive interviews with anyone that had caught sight of the red-head after he turned.

    God of Stone - 10% of blunt damage taken is reflected back to the attacker. Only works for citizens of The Outpost.

    ¡°Let these statues serve to protect us in this world, and serve as a reminder for us Earth humans. Dangers do exist for us. Dangers that we cannot even begin to comprehend. We must remain watchful, and not grow cocky from our own immortality.¡±

    ***

    After the ceremony, the majority of the city retired to Gill¡¯s tavern. James took over his position at the bar and greeted everyone as family when they walked in. The tavern itself had been rebuilt to accommodate the larger size of adventurers and Martyrs, and it was even expanded enough to fit almost everyone inside at the same time. Multiple fireplaces crackled across the room, as did conversation. It was the first time everyone had been in the same area in a relaxed environment since Dreng¡¯s Rest and the sound of everyone catch up was deafening.

    ¡°James!¡± a saucy voice rang out, causing him to turn.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he said as his eyes fell upon Sorrell, ¡°Hi, need a drink?¡± James began to turn away so he could grab a mug, but a boney grasp gave him pause. The skeletal woman said something, but James could not hear it over the Tavern¡¯s excited ambiance.

    ¡°It¡¯s about Patrick!¡± she yelled. James''s eyes widened, and he motioned for his brother to relieve him. He exited the bar and led Sorrell up the stairs and into one of the private rooms. He had expected the woman to have snarky remarks at the ready, but they never came, even when James closed the door behind them.

    ¡°What is it?¡± he asked as soon as the din from below was shut out. She didn¡¯t reply. Instead, a tomb was thrust into his hands. He turned it over.

    ¡°Golems,¡± James said as he read the title out loud. Then he flipped to the front page.

    Shunned by the other Gods, the Golem seeks strength. With an aptitude for the physical, he quickly finds that which he seeks. Once released upon this world, the Golem will¡­

    The rest of the passage was marked with the same strange language Lorelai had attempted to translate before she went to train with Abaddon. ¡°What is this?¡± James asked, the book held out accusingly, ¡°This is about Patrick?¡±

    Sorrell nodded again, all semblance of her uncomfortable flirtiness gone, ¡°Yes, I think so.¡±

    ¡°Where did you get it?¡± James asked.

    ¡°The Ancient Library. When Lorelai arrived in the Undead Land, she brought it up at dinner. Her story about the library was intriguing enough for Abaddon to release us from our light magic research and grant us the quest to discover the purpose of the library. That was when we started the journey to Dreng¡¯s Rest and discovered that The Outpost had fallen. Once everyone left to retake the city, I went through all the books. Every single one, bit by bit. The one in your hands is the only readable book out of the entire lot.¡±

    James fell onto the bed, ¡°We checked them all too, back when Lorelai was there.¡±

    ¡°That means its secrets were only revealed after Patrick transformed¡­¡± she said, ¡°why?¡±

    James let the silence between them grow, but inside his head, the noise was unbearable. Questions bounced around and off of statements. Emotions ran wild, attaching to possible answers in his head and fighting for dominance. None of them could win.

    ¡°I¡­¡± James muttered, shaking his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Later that night, James was awoken by his Hedgemon guards. They stood outside his door, the spikes on their backs scrapping against marble as they fidgeted under his gaze.

    ¡°What is it?¡± James asked, his tone a mixture of mental and physical exhaustion. As he spoke, they all turned as one and faced the stone archway that lead to the stairs. James ran back inside his room and grabbed his Abomminar skin. Wrapping it around his back, he allowed his guards to lead him into the night. They poured out of the Grey Keep and formed up just outside the door. James looked around.Where¡¯s Alex?Then he saw it. The Statue of the Legendary Friend was gone.

    Far across the Great Savanna and high up the Impassable Mountains, a Golem stirred. Weaker rocks were crushed under its feet as it climbed into its cave, carrying a replica of itself. The statue was set down with human levels of care. It gently rocked back and forth, until large hands steadied it. Those same hands fell upon the shoulders of the statue, then wrapped around its back. The statue crumbled under the inhumane pressure of the embrace, causing the Golem to stumble forward. It looked down to study the remnants still in his hands. Then, a howl of pain echoed from the cave and washed over The Great Savanna.

 Book 2 - Chapter 50 - Golem Digs Deep

    Far across the Great Savanna, the Golem thrashed around in its cave. The magically hardened rock of its body collided with the insides of the Impassable Mountains, causing rocks to crack as they fell onto its head. The Golem felt many things; confusion, loneliness, and even despair, although it couldn¡¯t remember why. It couldn¡¯t even remember why it was thrashing around to begin with, so it stopped. His home was wider now, far too wide for only him to reside. As he let himself fall backward, his body pressing into gravel until it formed around him, he caught a glimpse of a strange face carved into a stone on the floor to his right. It was somewhat familiar, and consumed all of the Golem¡¯s limited attention span for an entire half hour. Then the Purterber stood, threw a massive fist into the cave wall and pulled out another stone. Bringing its hand up to its eyes, the creature inspected its fingers. They were bulbous and thicker than they were long, except for the pinky finger. That one was relatively sharp. Pushed on by a vague sense of who he used to be, Patrick began to carve the tall stone with his smallest finger. He had a flickering idea of what he wanted to accomplish: something that would calm the aching in its chest, something that he could look at and remember, something that he could embrace.

    Stoneworking Skill Higher Now

    The words intruded into the Golem¡¯s vision like an explosion. He reeled back, falling into the cave wall and leaving a dent. He laid there, remembering. He used to carve statues. He might have even been good at it once. Why couldn¡¯t he remember more?

    Without taking his eyes off the crude human carving in the center of the cave, Patrick stood again. For a second, his loneliness crawled into a hole inside him and didn¡¯t come back out. Carefully, he embraced the statue as his friend. It crumbled under his touch, just as the previous statue did. This time the Golem didn¡¯t feel pain, but anger. It realized that the humans were not his friends, because they were not made from rock. They did feel familiar for some reason, but now that he thought about it, they felt dangerous too. He couldn¡¯t remember much after fighting that Prakx in the strange cave, but he did recall the frightened faces that stared at him after he re-spawned. They were horrified at the sight of him. Even the Martyr that carried a staff seemed to look through the Golem and find him wanting.

    The Golem¡¯s face hardened, which was an impressive sight, considering. The two rectangular protrusions that could be considered his cheeks, sharpened. Their chipped or eroded edges filling in with the same strong magic that kept humans animate long after their souls left, only of a different element. The hole in his face was liable to scuff up a human hand, long before it could reach the Golem¡¯s mouth, which was sunken into its craggy face and not much different than the cave he paced inside. Deep within his porous head, a thought stirred. He knew the name of things, yet he didn¡¯t know the names of all things. Like the origins of the glimmering gems in his mouth that he uses to smash up the tasty rock, which always happened to be the hardest. Or the reason that the humans and the Martyrs tried to cage him in that wooden hut. Or why his thoughts became muddy any time he wielded his War hammer. The Golem paused to marvel the creation at the thought. It was long and heavy, but in his hands, it was a perfect one-handed weapon. Anytime he used it, the golden etchings of its round backside reflected against the orange of his eyes. That was about the only thing he remembered if he carried it for too long. That was why he forced his eyes away from the evil object, lest it take him over again.

    Patrick decided that he needed to find his people, whatever and wherever they might be. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t look at him like the humans did, and maybe they would be able to help him get his memories back. He punched the floor, causing various minerals and ore to fly at his face like shrapnel from a grenade. Then he punched it again and again until he stood in a hole, a constant stream of pebbly sand gathering along the edges and trickling back inside to slowly undo his work. Opening his fists, he began to tunnel downward at an angle. He dug deeper and deeper into the ground, where the rarest of rocks hid. If there were creatures like him, that¡¯s where they would be.

    When the weight on his back became to much the bear, Patrick turned around and pushed on the rubble he pulverized. It was straining, even for him. His wide feet and stubby toes dug into the soft rock, giving him a slippery source of leverage. He pushed and pushed until the tunnel he was creating bore the regular spacing of deep grooves in the floor. The Golem paid no mind to the smaller rocks falling past his hands, he would smash them on his way back down or grab them on his next haul up. After a while, the rock debris became too heavy to push. Although he wasn¡¯t consciously aware of why, he knew it to be that the far end of the rocks had gotten stuck in the cave. He also knew that if he kept pushing, one of them would break and allow the rest to stream out. Sure enough, with only a slightly deeper groove in the floor to show for it, the magical stone of his body won out, and he could push again.

    Willpower increased by 1

    The Golem batted away the pesky words and finished clearing out his tunnel. Now he was standing on a large pile of the rubble outside his cave. He considered reaching down and eating some of it since it was already ground down into the size he liked but thought better of it. The good stuff would be hidden deep below the surface, he just had to find it. It took him two housekeeping trips to the surface and doubling the depth of his tunnel before he did.

    The first tasty rock was a deep maroon. A small portion of it protruded from the tunnel wall. He couldn¡¯t see it in the darkness of the deep, but he still knew it was there, just like he was subtly aware of all the rock around him. It was almost as if he could smell it. If he had saliva glands, he would be drooling. He did have a silicon version of lungs though, so he growled in anticipation instead. Never in his short life did he happen upon such a tasty smelling meal. The Golem¡¯s stubby fingers dug into the cave wall and snatched away the gem. His diamond teeth greedily chomped it to pieces before the slab of metamorphic rock in his mouth forced the flavorful sand down his gullet.

    Strength increased by 1

    The tunnel grew steadily deeper, but no other gems of the same color showed themselves. The Golem found that he could dig a little faster after the last words entered his vision, so he focused his rock sense ability on the maroon gems. They would help him find his people faster.

    Days came and went in the complete blackness of the Golem¡¯s tunnel. When he could no longer dig, he rested and tried to remember. When his hands were chipped and cracked, he rested and waited for them to heal. It was a lonely and solemn period for the Golem. Over time, all his fears and his desire to remember went away. He became one with the rock and soil. He would dig, clear rubble, and eat iron ore, again and again without much thought at all. The most stressful part of his day was when he needed to touch his Warhammer to bring it along with him.

    The Golem was now deeper under the Great Savanna than anyone had been in ages. He was below the underground Ingo lakes were the creatures were born and raised. He was below the vast network of roots of an ancient tree waiting to be reborn. He was even below the vine-filled cave that contained the Heart of the Great Savanna. Life pressed on above him, but he was blissfully unaware that life pressed on below as well.

    The fully Perturbed human fell into a pile of rocks for his usual rest break. The days passed by in such a rhythmic manner that he had forgotten to think while he lay there, the cracks in his body slowly filling with reflective silicon. If someone were to see him, they would think him asleep, but his kind didn¡¯t need that. They thrived in simplicity, and laying down for long periods without a thought to disturb them was as simple as it got for Golems. Two days came and went in utter silence, and more would have if he wasn¡¯t disturbed.

    A small creature tunneled in the wall above him. It had all the same parts as a human, only smaller. It was twelve inches of honor and bravery with a beard and a pickaxe, and it just stumbled upon the largest Sapphire it had ever seen. It swung its tiny pickaxe with precise strikes and had the giant gem nearly free when it disappeared. There was now a dark hole were the Sapphire had been.

    Thoughts began to stir within the Golem¡¯s head after a large Sapphire fell onto it and skittered down his tunnel. A high pitched voice echoed above, but the Golem was too focused on the new smell of the softly glowing blue gem to pay it any mind.

    ¡°We have another cave in!¡± the small creature yelled while looking over the edge of the hole from the Sapphire. He reached behind his back and pulled out an unlit torch. He lit it with a snap of his fingers then tossed it into the hole. From his perspective, it fell for ages. A flicker of movement caught the creature''s eye, so he squeezed his pickax harder. ¡°Gistoud, Bronzegut, Nordra, get over here!¡±

    ¡°Hold your hound dogs Grimthane,¡± Nordra said with a wave of her free hand. She wore her long hair an nothing else, apart from the leather strap that held her pickax to her back and covered her sensitive bits. Leather was in short supply in the world below the surface. If it hadn¡¯t been for the fight with the Long Worms they wouldn¡¯t have any at all. ¡°We¡¯ll all get to the surface when we are ready. There¡¯s no use in rushing it.¡±

    Grimthane chuckled, causing his portly stomach to jiggle, ¡°Oh what¡¯s that I hear? Nordra is giving up her share of the Saphire I just found?¡±

    Bronzegut rounded the corner of the small tunnel in an instant, always one to perk up at the mention of food. His hair was a deep red and twisted into a thick braid behind his back, as to not draw attention away from his prized bronze colored stomach. He took great care in dipping it in mud any chance he got. ¡°Did you say Ruby?¡±

    Grimthane let his head fall backward, ¡°No, Bronzegut. I said Sapphire. You know there hasn¡¯t been any rubies in months.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    If Bronzegut was disappointed in the news, he didn¡¯t show it very well. ¡°Well, where is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s here, down this cave,¡± Grimthane said, pointing behind himself with his torch.

    Gistoud and Nordra caught up and they all peered down the hole together. Gistoud spoke up first. He was the smallest of the bunch and joined the group just six months ago. As such, he didn¡¯t find many Rubys on his own, which accounted for his smaller stature and lower strength. ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s not a Sapphire.¡±

    Nordra extended her torch out of the hole as far as she could without falling. Then she waved it around. ¡°I think your right. That looks like two Citrines to me.¡±

    Bronzegut was confused, ¡°I thought you said Saphire, not Citrines, Grimthane.¡±

    Grimthane scoffed, ¡°Do you think I would lie about such things? Do you think I would lie about anything at all!?¡±

    ¡°Now now,¡± Nordra said with a calming gesture. Gistoud slowly stepped backward, just in case it didn¡¯t work. His kind was always liable to fight, especially for reasons of honor, and he had no desire to be caught up in the middle. ¡°Whatever the gems are, we are going to eat them. So let us stop bickering and get down there. Gistoud,¡± Nordra looked around, ¡°Where did you run off too? Fetch me the rope will ya?¡±

    Bronzegut¡¯s bronze gut rumbled, ¡°Hey, uh, I think those citrines are moving.¡± The cave became quiet as everyone watched the citrines soft orange flow sway in the blackness of the hole.

    Grimthane was the first to consider the fact the orange gems might belong to a Golem. They were apt to use various gems for teeth and eyes. He knew of only one way to be sure of it though. Golems were mystical creatures born from the rock and soil, just like he was. Yet they did have their differences. One of those differences had to do with their skin, or more precisely, the fact that Golems didn¡¯t have any. When they got hurt, or the rock that made up their bodies cracked or chipped in any manner, the injuries would refill with shiny silicone before solidifying further.

    ¡°Watch this,¡± Grimthane said as he tossed another torch into the hole. It fell to the ground in much the same manner as the last one. This time though, its light reflected off a web of silicone.

    Like a deer caught in headlights, the Golem stood there as the cracks in his body came alive with reflected light. When the minuscule torch fell to his feet, he looked back up at the strange creatures.

    ¡°Greetings Rockborn, I am Grimthane the Dwif. This is Bronzegut, Nordra, and uh, Gistoud is here somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that rope!?¡± Nordra yelled down the small tunnel.

    A low grumble escaped the Golem¡¯s diamond filled mouth, ¡°WWwwwww¡± Patrick moaned, ¡°Wwwwhaat¡¯s aaaa Dwifff?¡±

    Bronzegut proudly gave his stomach a pounding, ¡°We are!¡±

    ¡°And you are a Golem,¡± Grimthane said, knowing that it was always best to keep things simple when around other Rockborn. Then the Dwif threw up his hands in frustration. ¡°It looks like Gistoud got lost again. Say Golem, would you be so kind as to bring us down there with you?¡±

    Bulbous fingers floated out of the darkness and up to the edge of the small hole. The Dwifs climbed on top, leaving their slower counterpart behind, as it was understood Gistoud would benefit from the physical labor of climbing down a long rope. The Golem carried the Dwifs with all the gentleness it could muster and set them safely down on his tunnel floor. They promptly skittered away. He looked around, trying to follow the light of their torches, but his eyesight wasn¡¯t any good so far below ground. Instead it relied on its nose. The Dwifs smelled of coal and iron. A rather comfortable combination as far as the Golem was concerned. He tracked down the creatures and took a half step to catch up to them. They were marveling over a blue gem that fell onto his head just moments ago. It smelled tasty, so he picked it up. He almost tossed it into his mouth too, but the mouthwatering smell of the Sapphire was tainted with iron.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Grimthane screamed, causing the Golem to cringe as the high pitched noise pierced through his body. ¡°Gentle Golemsir. You seem to have forgotten the law of the Rockborn! We share all the gems we come across down here. Otherwise, you are no better than the Long Worms!¡±

    Nordra, who was also attached to the Sapphire hovering far too high in the air, whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t taunt him. Not now.¡±

    ¡°It is not a taunt,¡± Grimthane said, vehemently shaking his head, ¡°It is a fact. Us Rockborn need to stick together, Golem. We look out for each other.¡± The Golem was clearly out of his element, but something about the Dwifs words stuck out. He did want people looking after his well being. And he wanted to look out for the well-being of others even more, so he nodded.

    ¡°Good,¡± Grimthane said with a smile, ¡°Now set us down and we will split this Sapphire properly.¡± A few seconds and an impressive pickax strike later, the Golem had half of a Sapphire in his mouth.

    Intelligence Increased by 5

    Patrick, the Golem thought. His name flooded into his head faster than he could realize what it was. My name is Patrick. In his cumbersome and drawn out manner of speech, Patrick told the Dwifs as much.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Patrick,¡± Bronzegut said, holding out a hand then awkwardly putting it back on his belly after a moment.

    Behind Bronzegut, Grimthane eyed the Golem. They don¡¯t usually have names¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m back,¡± Gistoud announced, unaware he was walking between the Golems legs. When he did realize it, he jumped and ran away. Norda shoved something into his chest when he got close. It smelled fresh and clean, with a hint of what Gistoud imagined how the sky would smell.

    ¡°Eat this,¡± Norda said, letting go of the other half of the Sapphire.

    Bronzegut whirled, ¡°All of it?¡± he complained.

    Grimthane put a hand on his shoulder, ¡°Yes. Our brother needs it more than we do. If he is going to make it to the surface, he¡¯ll need to make up for his lack of strength.¡±

    Gistoud bowed, ¡°Thank you Grimthane.¡± He took a bite of the gem. It tasted exactly as it smelled and even though it was almost as large as he was, the jewel was gone before he knew it. Ancient knowledge rushed into the smallest Dwif''s head. He used it to move his hands in a pattern he had never considered before.

    High above the tunnel floor, the Golem was piecing together his short life. His first memory was of a different cave. It smelled of corrupted iron and molten rock, the type that gave him a stomach ache. He vaguely remembered fighting a Vagrant Praxk. He now knew that it was odd for such a creature to be so far underground with him. That wasn¡¯t the cave I was born in, Patrick thought. All of this came slowly, and with much strain.

    Meanwhile, Gistoud was zipping around the tunnel like a fly on fire while his companions scurried below him, doing their best to find a position to catch him when his new spell ended.

    ¡°I neeeeed mooooore bluee rocks,¡± the Golem¡¯s voice rumbled above like the first warning signs of a rock slide.

    Grimthane was the one that finally caught Gistoud. He set him down and stepped up to the Golem. ¡°Fellow Rockborn.! We will help find you more Sapphires if you help us get to the surface. How does that sound?¡± Patrick shook his head. The surface was violent and harsh ¡ª no place for a tiny Dwif to go. Grimthane expected to be met with stubbornness from the creature, and already had a plan prepared. ¡°Whatever you wish Golem,¡± he bowed, ¡°Our destiny calls us to the surface. I thank you for your help. Good day Golem.¡±

    With that, Patrick was alone again.

    ***

    Tunnel progress had slowed the past couple of days. Every time Patrick got into a grove of smashing and digging, a sudden pang of loneliness attacked him. It shot through his body in an instant and stole his breath away. In moments like these, he remembered the Dwifs. They were strange and squeaky creatures, but they were more like him than the humans. He remembered their time splitting the Sapphire well, and it warmed him. That warmth made the biting cold of his loneliness all the more painful. He wanted nothing more than to dig and be absent of thoughts and the pain they brought. That was why when he found a cluster of gems, he was hesitant to eat the blue ones. If he did, he would think more, he would feel more. Words entered his vision as he chewed a spicy yellow gem and regarded the Sapphire.

    Constitution Increased by 2

    Is thinking bad? Patrick pondered, is digging good? Yes. Why is digging good? Because I can find people like me. What if thinking will help like digging will? Do I want to know? His thoughts continued in a roundabout way before finally making sense to him. Or at least, until hunger won out and he ate the Sapphire anyway. For good measure, he tossed a handful of emeralds in as well. Flavor bloomed in his mouth like all of springs flowers. The clean crispness of the Sapphire contrasted against the earthy crunch of the emeralds in such a pleasant way that Patrick fell over in delight.

    Intelligence Increased by 3

    Agility Increased by 6

    ¡°Nooooo,¡± Patrick bellowed, regretfully spitting out a portion of his gem salad. ¡°Dwiiiiiiifs,¡± he cried as he carefully peeled himself off the floor. ¡°Dwifs.¡± He whispered to himself once more, hoping his words would summon them. When they didn¡¯t, a small glint appeared in Patrick''s eye. It was white, and illuminated the tunnel he sat inside. When the glimmer solidified and twinkled to the floor, more followed. Tiny and precious jewels fells from his eyes as he let his loneliness consume him. When it was done, Patrick sat in a small pile of his mineral tears. If an alchemist has stumbled upon them, he or she would have a heart attack, for Golem tears are so rarely made. It takes a lot to make a Golem cry, but Patrick wasn¡¯t a normal Golem.

    Regretting his decision to eat the Sapphire, Patrick stood up and gripped his Warhammer. He let the mental fog wash over him and struck his tunnel wall. An entire section of ore and stone as massive as he was, disintegrated. He hit it again and again. Eventually, his mind went quiet.

    Patrick woke up sometime later. He was much deeper underground now, and his Warhammer was splayed out on the ground just as he was. With a grunt, he sat up and looked around. Purple gleamed from his left, causing the cracks in his body to reflect the color. Carefully, he crawled into the cave of color. Did I make this? His head bumped into the ceiling, eliciting a dangerous ruble from the earth above. No, it¡¯s much too small. Human-sized. Patrick glanced back to his Warhammer. It was still there, silently taunting him. The strange light came from a circular disk floating in the air. It was mostly one dimensional, a fact that perplexed the Golem for a long moment.

    Its edges were violent. They cracked and sputtered as if the circle was going to collapse at any moment. He looked into the purple surface. Blacks and violets swirled around, creating shapes that played tricks on his brain. He thought he saw a human he recognized, but when he focused on it, a Martyr tackled him and they both disappeared. A Praxk this time. It was smaller, obviously not Vagrant like the one he fought. It was friendly, even going as far as to stretch its hand out to Patrick. The hand gained another dimension and bubbled from the surface of the circle. Then with a loud crack, it popped. The image of the friendly Praxk was gone, replaced by a bone.

    A haunting chuckle echoed through the small cave, setting Patrick¡¯s diamonds on edge. ¡°Is this our welcome party? We weren¡¯t expecting you to find us so far down below the Great Savanna.¡± The human bone pulled itself out of the circle until a skeleton tumbled out. More came afterward, forcing Patrick to grab his hammer. ¡°It makes sense. You have grown quite strong since the last time we saw each other in Salmaana¡¯s battleground.¡± The skeletons formed up and faced Patrick, but none of them were speaking, only sizing up the worth of his soul. ¡°Or have you¡­¡± The voice was intrigued now, ¡°Oh! Look at this! You have become a Mystic the wrong way!¡± another ethereal chuckle, ¡°Oh, what a delightful turn of events. James has lost one his best soldiers!¡± Without warning, all semblance of humor evaporated from the voice, ¡°Enjoy my army, Patrick. I know they will enjoy tearing your limbs off and leaving you here to succumb to your sleepiness.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 51 - Aldenraj

    James set down his stone mug on the bar of Gil¡¯s Tavern, ¡°Another one, please.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing James,¡± the barkeep said. His name was Terry, a bear of a man. He was one of the few soldiers that survived the downfall of the Outpost. Since James and Torunn took over, he had resigned himself to run the tavern during the day and happily laid down his weapons for good. ¡°Bread?¡± He asked as he set a mug of ale in front of James, a loaf in his other hand.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± said James. He took a bite of the bread. It was hard from storage, but the ale made it pliable in his mouth. He turned around in his stool as he chewed. Regulars sat in their normal spots, making small talk to pass the time as they waited for excitement to walk through the door. The Tavern was a good place for that. It was one of the first public buildings when you entered the city from the Savanna side. As such, Martyrs on patrol stopped in before turning in their quests, as did any merchants on their way back from the long journey to Dreng¡¯s Rest. The survivors that lived in the Outpost before the Hedgemon¡¯s took the city were slowly getting accustomed to their new lives. The ones that still harbored hate for magic sulked in the shadows, but most of them were harmless. James figured they hated having to defend their walls every night more than they hated magic and those that welded it. Under his rule, they could live their lives in peace as long as they gave up their dislike of Perturber¡¯s, or at least, didn¡¯t attempt to cage any of them. Only one person out of the fifty or so survivors had made trouble. Luckily, Omero got to him before he could do anything drastic. Good thing too. I don¡¯t have time to set up an entire court system. Not with Patrick still missing. Still, the day will come when there is a disagreement or worse. What will I do then? His mug was empty now. ¡°Terry, another.¡±

    James pulled up his inventory tab and removed one Town Standing Point. The number in the lower portion of his overlay dropped by one, and an iron coin materialized into his hand. Remembering that he was in a position of high authority, he pulled out another coin for a tip.

    ¡°Thank you, sir,¡± Terry said with a nod. James nodded back.

    The door to the Tavern opened, and a short man walked in. James did a double take. He was about five feet tall, short even for non-combatants and yet he carried a massive Warhammer on his back. He wore a long beard that could be tucked into his dark leather belt if needed. A dwarf? James watched the half-man grab an ale from Terry and head to a table by one of the three hearths. Everyone in the Tavern was watching him now. The constant din of conversation died, and hushed whispers grew from every table.

    ¡°Is that a Dwarf?¡± Asked James.

    ¡°Aye,¡± Terry said, careful not to react in any way that could be misconstrued as Perturber hate. He wasn¡¯t sure if Dwarfs fit into that category, as he had never seen any of course, but he was happy to finally have a peaceful job in the tavern, so he played it safe.

    James stepped away from the bar and carried himself and his mug to the Dwarf¡¯s table. ¡°May I join you?¡±

    The Dwarf¡¯s face was rigid with keen black eyes. They surveyed James quickly and with a slight curiousness, ¡°Sitting down with a Dwarf? You must be the new leader of this place.¡±

    ¡°James,¡± he said, holding out a hand to the half-man. By James¡¯s calculations, he was approaching eight feet tall now. And yet the Dwarfs strong grip fit within his hand perfectly. ¡°These are some paws you have here,¡± James said, surprised.

    The Dwarf chuckled. It was a hearty laugh. The type that comes when you are least expecting it and lingers long after you thought it would. James smiled. ¡°They make it easier to hold a pickax. And a Warhammer for the days an axe won¡¯t do the job. My name is Jordic.¡±

    James nodded and offered his mug for tapping, ¡°What do we owe the pleasure to, Jordic?¡±

    Two mugs collided with a sharp echo of stone, ¡°I have long heard rumors of a human city far past the land of Thimber. When I heard another, that the land of Thimber was being cleared of Hedgemon¡¯s to set up trade routes, I thought it was finally time to see this old city. I was surprised to find out it was real.¡±

    ¡°Are you a traveler by trade?¡±

    ¡°All dwarfs are travelers by trade, whether we like it or not.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    Jordic smiled. His teeth were crooked but clean, ¡°When you live forever, life tends to take you places.¡±

    ¡°You cannot die?¡± James asked, suddenly much more intrigued, as if that was possible.

    ¡°Not by natural causes,¡± he said before taking a long swig of his mug and setting it on the table, causing it to rock slightly. He looked James in the eyes and furrowed his brow, ¡®You have never seen a Dwarf before, have you?¡±

    James shook his head, ¡°No, I am not originally from these parts.¡±

    ¡°Understandable. Not many people have seen us. We are born from the rock deep below the ground,¡± he frowned, ¡°but no one has seen a new dwarf in ages. I¡¯m not sure how many of us there are left, but all of us are sick of asking questions.¡± He gave James a wink.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± said James, ¡°I am sick of asking questions anyway.¡± He downed his mug and signaled for two more, ¡°Last one though because I am the same as you in a way. How do you deal with immortality?¡±

    ¡°A day at a time.¡±

    The two looked at each other again, no more ale in their mugs to provide a social buffer. James had been struggling with many things as of late. One of those things was his immortality. It was such a strange thing, re-spawning every time you died. Although each death didn¡¯t leave any physical marks, the mind still remembered. It remembered every stab, every cut, and every bruise. Worse yet, it remembered each time you dealt those things to others. Over time, James could see his life becoming one drawn-out war. There would always be fights, especially in his new world. He couldn¡¯t avoid them. But deep down, that is what he wanted to do. All this and more had been weighing on James, and yet the Dwarf had a simple solution, to take it a day at a time. It was so simple that it was almost funny. Hilarious really. A smile grew on his face as he studied the Dwarf looking back at him. Then laughter exploded from them both. It was unabashedly loud, taking no heed to the regulars that watched them interact with judging eyes.

    James and the Dwarf continued telling stories about their immortality. A mug for each story and the Dwarf seemed to have a never-ending supply of them. James drank and listened to Jordic describe far away cities filled with all manner of creatures, floating sky dungeons, and underground rivers that you could float on top and enjoy the subterranean flora for as long as you wanted. Not all of his stories were pleasant though. His true age showed itself in his weathered face when he remembered the Lich King.

    ¡°He brought unity to the scum and villains, to the wrong sorts of Mystics, and to the lost and forgotten. His army washed over villages, cities, and entire lands, leaving behind nothing but the people he ripped the souls from to fuel his magic and equip his army.¡± Said Jordic.

    ¡°Until Salmaana came.¡± James said knowingly.

    The Dwarf scoffed, ¡°Salmaana!? Oh no.¡± He shook his head, ¡°She didn¡¯t come until much later. Hell, she probably wasn¡¯t even born when the Lich King was truly powerful.¡± Now he leaned forward, across the table, ¡°That creature spread his devastation and disease far across Aldenraj for years before she saved us,¡± he whispered. ¡°Many dwarves and many more-¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Aldenraj?¡± James asked, beginning to sway a bit in his chair.

    The dwarf spread his bulky arms into the air, ¡°All of this. The soil we stand on. The rock beneath it. The sky above. It is all Aldenraj. How do-¡±

    ¡°Aldenraj,¡± James whispered underneath his mug, savoring the words. Then all at once, he stood up. ¡°Come on. We must tell my people!¡± Jordic, who was tired from the perilous road through Thimber stood up and followed James. He was unsure how someone could be so ignorant of the world, but something about James reminded him of himself when he was a young Dwif. So for the first time in years, Jordic did something on a whim. He followed the hooting human out of the tavern and into the city streets.

    It was late. The moon lingered high above the sky, illuminating stones and steel moist from the Great Savanna¡¯s perpetual nighttime dew. Jordic¡¯s had his covered caravan parked in a cobblestone alley next to the Tavern. ¡°James, where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Everywhere,¡± he said as he turned around to face the dwarf and the slanted steps to Gill¡¯s Tavern.

    ¡°Well,¡± Jordic said, ¡°We will certainly need some ale for the road!¡±

    ***

    Thirst. Bright Light. A dry mouth. James flicked his eyes open and was greeted by swaying Savanna grass. He sat up with a groan. At the edge of the clearing he must have made while sleeping, there were a pair of boots. James leaned forward and swatted them.

    ¡°Gahhh, what?¡± Michael said, rolling to his stomach and flattening more grass.

    ¡°What happened last night?¡± James said, blinking the sleep, or lack of it, from his eyes.

    Michael sat up, the dark green Oana scales of his pants glimmering, ¡°You woke up the entire city.¡± He rubbed his face, ¡°Eugh, you were telling everyone the world was called Aldenraj. Everyone met Jordic.¡± He fell back down on his bed of grass, ¡°I think we must have visited every building in the damn place¡­ and drank all the ale.¡¯

    James shook his head and sat for a while, trying to recall it all and failing. He checked his notifications for answers instead.

    Jordic punches you. Minus 10 hit points.

    You punch Jordic. 7 damage dealt.

    Jordic punches you. Minus 12 hit points.

    You punch Jordic. 8 Damage dealt.

    Michael punches you. Minus 9 hit points.

    Alex punches you. Minus 32 hit points.

    Son of an Ingo Bird, I must have tapped out after that one.

    Congratulations! You have learned a new skill - Unarmed Combat!

    Congratulations! You have learned a new building plan - Large Human Cabin

    Congratulations! You have learned a new building plan - Extra Large Human Cabin

    Congratulations! You have learned a new building plan - Reinforced Marble Wall

    Congratulations! You have learned a new building plan - Magical Water Well

    Congratulations! You have unlocked all basic human building plans! Your basic knowledge of human building styles now grants you the ability to design building plans!

    Congratulations! Your Intelligence has surpassed level 40. You now have access to the Kingdom Builder interface.

    Congratulations! Your Wisdom has surpassed level 40. Your Party Leader skill now increases the experience gained of those in your command.

    James shot to his feet, ¡°I can create building plans now!¡±

    Michael only groaned at the news, but a voice hidden behind Savanna grass was more excited than him, ¡°Told ya you could do it!¡± Jordic said. James watched as the Savanna grass parted to reveal the Dwarf. He looked as if he had a full nights rest and then some. ¡°Here are your pants by the way. It turns out you were right on that part. They were too big for me.¡± The Dwarf bent over and pulled down his pants around the same time James realized he was wearing Aldenraj¡¯s equivalent of a loincloth.

    ¡®Why¡­¡± James said, taking his pants from the Dwarf and sliding his feet inside, ¡°Never mind. I don¡¯t want to know. What happened last night, besides us swapping clothes.¡±

    ¡°OOooo, buddy. A lot happened last night. I met your villagers. A lovely bunch of racists they are, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ehhh,¡± James said, ¡°They are mostly harmless. Just a little sheltered is all.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Yea,¡± Jordic laughed, causing his belly to hop up and down, ¡°I figured that out when you didn¡¯t know the name of the soil you stand on. You need to build a better rapport with your merchants. They are a wealth of worldly knowledge.¡±

    Michael coughed, ¡°Its the Great Savanna. We at least knew that much.¡±

    Jordic¡¯s jolly expression died. He glanced at the pitiful pile that was Michael, to James and back. ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°The Great Savanna. That is where we are. We knew that much at least.¡± James replied with a shrug.

    Jordic looked around. A fruitless effort, as he was barely able to see over the quickly recovering Savanna grass. ¡°THIS,¡± he said, pointing both pointer fingers to the dirt, ¡°Is the Great Savanna?¡± James nodded, just enough to get the message across without giving his head an opportunity to ache.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t get a not-¡± James halted his question, remembering that the NPC wouldn¡¯t have gotten a notification upon entering a new zone. ¡°Nevermind.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so last night!¡± he looked around again, this time appreciating his limited scenery a bit more, ¡°Never would I have thought a rumor about a hidden city would take me here¡± He met James¡¯s eyes. His gaze was panicked. ¡°James. You have no idea what you care for. You need to stop trading with other cities immediately. You¡­ you¡­¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± James shouted. Michael was sitting up now.

    ¡°The Great Savanna is the only land with its heart still intact. It was whiped from every map in Aldenraj when the Lich King came. Its the only land that the he wasn''t able to harvest and ruin. No wonder Salmaana chose to hide her spirit vessel here.¡± Michael shook his head at the realization James had told Jordic, a relative stranger, so much. James shook his head as well, always one to get a little too trusting after a shared ale, ¡°The Lich-¡± The Dwarf unsheathed his Warhammer from his back and swung it with such speed James barely had time to blink. The weapon was pushed into the dirt now ¡ª a wisp of dull blue pollen floating from it.

    No, James thought, taking a knee and glaring at Nordic to remove his weapon. The massive Warhammer moved to reveal a flattened Blue Nifrit. The thin roots that made up its many legs twitched, then went slack. The blue petals of the dying flower were silk on his dirty palms, ¡°You can¡¯t kill these Nordic. They are a part of The Great Savanna.¡±

    The Dwarf shook his head, ¡°None of that will matter if we don¡¯t kill the Lich King. He will make it out of his prison given enough time. And when that happens, he will come here to take the Heart of the Great Savanna. This land will become like the rest of Aldenraj, only a shell of its former glory.¡±

    Michael was standing, ¡°Why do we need to stop trade? That is the only way we can get enough gold to bribe the Vagrant Praxk and get into the lower levels of the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Because if there is anyone still loyal to the Lich King, they will be looking for the Great Savanna. If a merchant lets it slip that this is a real place, and not just a legend whispered to children, everyone will come. Millions will pile up outside your gates, begging to be let in.¡±

    ¡°Is that such a bad idea?¡± asked James.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Replied Jordic. ¡°If the heart gets in the wrong hands we are all doomed. Ages ago, when Dwarfs first crawled from rock, every land had a source of magic. They took the forms of gems, swords, trinkets, almost anything. If the Lich King gets the last one, he will become unstoppable. But if we find it, we can use it to create more and repair the lands beyond here.¡±

    James felt something scurry over his boots. Then he caught a glimpse of another Blue Nifrit running off to his right. He checked his map. They were running to the Outpost. Jordic¡¯s face was desperate now. ¡°Okay, what are you suggesting?¡±

    The Dwarf sighed, ¡°Well, last night you told me about your struggle to get to the Lich King, so I helped you get more building plans. We need to grow the Outpost¡¯s defenses, and we need to stimulate trade enough so we can afford to bribe that Prakx that killed your Golem friend. But now we don¡¯t have trade routes with the other cities to rely on, so we must create something of value without them. ¡±

    ¡°We?¡± asked James.

    Jordic nodded, ¡°Aye. I am with you now. A thousand Eagles couldn¡¯t pluck me from the Great Savanna now that I know it¡¯s real.¡±

    ***

    The Outpost wasn¡¯t too far away. It only took them ten minutes to walk to the gates. It took James another hour to recall all the merchant carts he had out on trade missions with the lands beyond Thimber, summon and brief his inner circle, and settle into the Grey Keep.

    ¡°This heart you speak of,¡± Torunn growled from his marble throne next to James¡¯s, ¡°Why have I never heard of it.¡±

    Jordic faced the triple thrones of the Grey Keep, ¡°I don¡¯t know Chieftain, but I assure you it exists. You have a life here. Nothing beautiful grows beyond this place. Nothing but death and the creatures that thrive within it.¡±

    James cleared his throat, ¡°If it exists, we need find it. You can''t protect something if you don''t know where it hides,¡± he told Torunn. Then he turned his attention to Birger, who was standing behind the Chieftain¡¯s throne, ¡°I am going to have some new building plans soon. I need you to be ready to work on them in an hour. Highest priority. You can pause all other construction if you can¡¯t finish it in time.¡±

    ¡°We will be ready,¡± Birger said, stepping forward as he spoke and excusing himself from the Keep with a bow when he finished.

    ¡°Now,¡± James started with a sigh, ¡°We have a book that we suspect is tied to Patrick somehow. We have a theoretical gem or something hidden within the Great Savanna that the Lich King is likely after. And we have a near constant barrage of Hedgemon¡¯s attacking our patrols in Thimber. Does anyone here have a solution to any of that?¡±

    Michael, who sat in Frode¡¯s marble throne when the Advisor was away, spoke up next, ¡°You mentioned that you can create building plans now. I think you should try and create something for our crafters. If what Jordic says about the Vagrant Prakxs is true, and that we can bribe-¡±

    ¡°You always can,¡± Jordic interrupted, ¡°None have ever refused my gold.¡±

    ¡°Then you haven¡¯t met Noma,¡± James added, making it clear to his new friend that his brother was not to be interrupted.

    ¡°My point is,¡± Michael continued, confident enough in his prowess not to take the interruption personally, ¡°Our best crafters can only create common items. If we cannot trade with other cities any more than we need to be able to craft something of higher value for this bribe. As it is now, we cannot.¡±

    James nodded, ¡°That gives us a path to solve one of our problems. I will find a way to create or help the Merchant¡¯s Quarter craft something of great value. We will bribe the Praxk one way or another and take the fight to the Lich King once again.¡± He faced the room again, ¡°What about the Heart of the Savanna. Who will go searching for it?¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Torunn said roughly. James could already see that his Martyr brother had spent too much time in the Grey Keep. The walls always weighed heavily on him, as they did every Martyr other than Birger.

    ¡°Good,¡± said James, ¡°Now what about the book? The Hedgemon¡¯s?¡±

    Michael motioned to Alex, who stood between his throne and James¡¯s, ¡°The Culture Initiative has finished our first project. A giant sun-dial between the Merchant and Soldier¡¯s quarters. I would be more than happy to join Alex in repelling the Hedgemon¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± said James. He turned to Alex, ¡°Since you have your soul sealed, I will need you when we go back into the dungeon to bribe the Praxk and clear the lower floors. Use this day as I figure out how to design building plans to train Michael to replace you as Commander.¡±

    The door to the Keep swung open.

    ¡°Now, that only leaves the book.¡± James looked up to Sorrell, who was leaning over the balcony of the second floor and listening from above. That is why he didn¡¯t notice a dark figure enter the open doorway at the other end of the Grey Keep¡¯s main hall. It furled its wings into its back as it blocked out the sunlight that beamed from outside. Alex was the first to see. He crossed the 100 paces to the doorway in an instant.

    ¡°Abaddon?¡± he said. Then he turned to his Hedgemon guards, who were now unsure if they should have let the creature inside or not, ¡°You did the right thing. He is an ally.¡±

    ¡°Greetings Alex,¡± Abaddon said, his half-rotten body now completely concealed under his robes, ¡°We were hoping to find you here.¡±

    ¡°We?¡± Alex said, taking a step outside the door and peering around. The square court of the Grey Keep was a bright grey of flat marble all the way up to the dark iron fences. There was no one inside it, other than himself and his guards.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Abaddon chuckled and pointed up.

    The peaks of the Impassable mountains lingered close. Tall towers of the Grey Keep attempted to match their height as they reflected the bright sun. Alex turned around. Above him, something blotted out that Sun. It only lasted an instant, but that imagery burnt itself into Alex¡¯s mind for years to come. He did his best to follow the object through squinted eyes as it glided closer. Then all at once, the reason he lived and pressed on in this new strange world landed. She was even more beautiful than he remembered ¡ª the sunlight that she flew through seemed to stick to her. It flickered against her new golden robe and masked the outlines of her comely face.

    ¡°It''s you,¡± Alex gasped.

    Lilly smiled, ¡°It''s me.¡± She held out two hands and twirled. Her robed whirled at her knees, casting light in a circle as she went. Alex was enamored. He was vaguely aware of someone calling after him, but couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off his lover.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go deal with James,¡± Abaddon said, excusing himself with an unnoticed smile.

    ¡°You, have wings.¡± Said Alex. He meant it as a question, but it sounded more like a hesitant statement.

    Lillyi nodded. Then she shifted uncomfortably. Not because her reunion with Alex was going differently than she expected, but because she wasn¡¯t quite used to unfurling them yet. She rolled a shoulder, allowing the back of her robe to open and her wings to become free once again. She flexed her light magic like a muscle and all at once; they shot open.

    Alex took in an unconscious breathe. Lilly¡¯s wings were nothing like Abaddon¡¯s. Where he had bones, she had blonde fur. Where he had thin and rotten webbing, she had golden feathers that gathered nearby light and trapped it within. Gorgeous. Just as you are, he thought. Then, as if forgetting himself, he shook his head and embraced her. He was careful not to disturb her new wings, but found that it wasn¡¯t necessary. As his arms reached around her, they passed through her wings, as if they were only an illusion.

    ¡°You can¡¯t hurt them. Don¡¯t worry,¡± Lilly whispered into his ear.

    ¡°I am so glad you are back. It¡¯s been an eternity.¡±

    ***

    A hefty tome landed on a marble table with a puff of dust. Lilly gently scooped it up. ¡°It¡¯s a binding spell.¡± She said after flicking a few pages. ¡°Mystics cast a curse and a binding spell onto these books and use them to track their enemies. The book will tell the story of whomever it is bound to, and the Mystics that have it will try to glean information of the whereabouts on who they are tracking. It¡¯s an old spell, but still effective.¡±

    James shifted in his uncomfortable throne. Everyone with a mission had left after greeting Lilly, leaving the Grey Keep eerily quite. His voice echoed as he spoke, ¡°Patrick must have bound himself to this book when we first entered the Ancient Library.¡± Lilly nodded in reply.

    ¡°How do you know all of this?¡± asked Alex from Frode¡¯s throne.

    ¡°Abaddon took me many places to train.¡± Lilly said as she sat, legs crossed on Torunn¡¯s throne. One of those places was a human city where Salmaana once studied. I learned a lot about magic use and mastery there.¡±

    As if the mention of his name was a summoning spell, Abaddon appeared from behind a large column to the right of the triple thrones, ¡°Lilly was quite the student. I have dozens of gold cloaks testing different paths of light mastery for me, and Lilly quickly became the most fruitful of them. She discovered an entirely new path I was unaware of previously. What do you call it, dear?¡±

    Lilly¡¯s golden skin flushed, ¡°Holy magic.¡±

    James raised an eyebrow and pride surged within Alex. Abaddon continued as he paced around the triple thrones, ¡°I suspect that holy magic runs in her blood, and yet, she is the only one of her family still alive.¡±

    ¡°What Abaddon is saying is that he wants to open up another magic research facility in The Outpost,¡± Lilly offered with a glance to her mentor.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Abaddon said, halting a few paces from James, ¡°Conciseness. Sometimes you end up learning more from your students than you can ever hope to teach them. That perfectly sums up our time together as Master and Student, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Lilly flushed again. ¡°If you will allow it. I want to move here with my gold cloaks. We will train any of your people with an inclination to light magic,¡± the rotten man finished, concisely.

    ¡°I have seen you in action, Abaddon. We would appreciate your presence in the Outpost greatly during these times. Make the necessary arrangements, and I will either find you a building or make you one.¡± Said James. ¡°Now, if there is nothing your light magic can do to help us, I am afraid I need to ask you to leave so I can spend some time with my interface.¡±

    ¡°There is something,¡± Abaddon offered with a glance to his student.

    ¡°Yes. I learned a Holy variant of the Seal Soul spell. It is much easier to cast than the Light magic variant. I should be able to cast the spell on all of your fighters.¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± James said, perking up a bit at the good news. "Having more fighters available to send into the dungeon will greatly increase progress once we get past the Vagrant Prakx. What about Dwarfs? Does the spell work on them?¡±

    Abaddon¡¯s cloak began to undulate when a soft chuckle escaped him, ¡°From the little I know about the Dwarf race, I can tell you that your friend will fight in the dungeon, soul protected or not.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± James said. He knew a bit about Dwarfs from movies and such, so he thought he might have an answer to his question. ¡°Will he be too stubborn or honorable to miss a battle?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Said Abaddon, raising two hands an inch from his side dismissively. One was normal, and the other bone, a fact that never seemed to escape James¡¯s notice. ¡°Think of this as your first lesson James. A snippet of what you could learn if my new school opens in The Outpost. Consider this; what happens when you level up enough to choose a class?¡± The half-dead man continued, leaving no opportunity to answer his question. ¡°If your intelligence is high enough, you get the option not to pick a class, and instead receive free stat points.¡±

    James nodded in his chair, ¡°Delay choosing. Ten points for level ten, twenty for twenty, and so on.¡±

    The robbed figure standing in front of James nodded back, causing the sunlight streaming in from behind him to flicker in James¡¯s eyes. ¡°That is correct. But Dwarfs and other Rockborn only get that option, no matter their intelligence. They can never choose a class and can therefore never learn any truly useful abilities, either combat related or not. They get interface upgrades and boosts from stat points, but they cannot become crafters, or shoot through the sky and land like a meteor, as you can.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± James said, leaning back into his chair and getting comfortable.

    ¡°This is why all Rockborn are hardy and capable soldiers, but it is also why none of them have ever become heroes on their own. Learning skills is the only way to survive combat once you get to a high enough level. So this disadvantage they seem to have is offset in another way ¡ª a racial ability that allows them to eat diamonds and sapphires and any other rare mineral from dungeons, specifically. It doesn''t work for jewels that are found outside of them, at least not once they break the surface from below for the first time. And when they do eat them, they get stat increases... That could be another reason, your friend will fight in the dungeon, other than his honor, of course. It will be ripe with Dwarf food.¡±

    ¡°So Dwarfs cannot learn magic either? They have no affinities, not even for stone?¡± asked James. He wasn''t worried about Jordic''s intentions. One of the first things he did after gathering everyone up was have Omero study him. The Dwarfs words were true, but James''s appretiated the council regardless.

    ¡°There are whispers of Dwarfs wielding magic in the various lore books I have come across, but they are likely only legend.¡±