***
You have killed Anol Kidree x7. Bonus experience awarded for killing enemies above your level.
Your skill [Bladed Weapons Mastery] has advanced to Level Twenty-one.
Your skill [Physical Resistance] has advanced to Level Twenty-Eight.
Your skill [Aura Control] has advanced to Level Twenty.
Your skill [Echo Relocation] has advanced to Level Fourteen.
Your skill [Acting] has advanced to Level Seven.
For gaining a fundamental understanding of lock picking through practice, you have received the following skill: Lockpicking (Common)
***
‘Not bad for killing so few of the creatures,’ Alex thought, gait slow as he and his team moved about the otherwise barren tunnels of the Kidree Stronghold. It seemed more than a few of his abilities had been close to leveling, but that made sense when considering just how many he’d collected so far. Bringing up the entire list on a semi-transparent window only he could see, Alex wondered if it was time to start leveling his abilities with a bit more purpose.
To an outsider, his build might have seemed uniformed. In reality, besides his plans for a weapons skill that was looking more unlikely by the day, every ability he’d gained had been due to happenstance. He still didn’t have a long range skill, magical or weapons focused, nor did he know of any way to reasonably acquire one out in the wild. Stifling a sigh due to his company, Alex refocused on his surroundings and pulsed a max range Sixth Sense.
He’d deactivated the skill shortly after joining the group, not due to trust, but rather the fear of another crippling mana headache. Constant pulses weren’t as useful as the always active version of the skill, but it kept him aware without being so demanding on his energy. His position as the rear guard also helped, since it didn’t leave Alex as exposed to sudden attacks as solo travel did, though he still avoided leaving long enough gaps for any ambushers to approach.
Seeing his scan come back clear, bar a few creatures they had no chance of crossing paths with, Alex was about to read over the description of his newest skill when Jason spoke up.
“Does anyone know where their gear is?”
The noble had taken point of their little party just about the second he was sure the man who’d saved him was done grabbing strays. At first Alex thought they might look to him to lead, but Jason had slid into the role naturally, and honestly it left him a bit relieved. The main reasons he’d decided to come along on this little trip was for the experience, and help with his quest. Not even accounting for the fact that he was mentally drained, Alex was neither prepared to, nor had any desire to, be in charge.
He instead felt it was much more beneficial for everyone if Jason spent his time ordering people around. That way, Alex could just sit back and decide if the man’s ideas were any good, rather than spend time coming up with his own. Even so, he still had a role to play in their little group, a couple of them in fact.
While he proved to be good with a bow, the last man they’d picked up had come out of the torture bad. He was unable to speak, and walked with a limp even after digesting the potion Alex had force-fed him. His injury slowed down the party considerably, something Jason had made his displeasure about clear, but even the noble was forced to halt his complaints after seeing the man shoot. As for the cat, they just followed along behind Alex, surprisingly tame compared to when he’d first met the beast.
Frontline, ranged fighter, and mascot accounted for; Alex had become something of the team’s quartermaster and scout. Though, based on Jason’s question, he was currently meant to play his more unofficial tertiary role of the leader’s sounding board. The noble had a habit of asking leading questions, and with him being the only other person who could speak at the moment, Alex needed to take the bait if there was to be any progress.
“I’m going to assume you’re not talking about the stuff you’re wearing.”
“Certainly not. At some point after I was captured, but before I was treated to the Kidrees’ hospitality, the lizards stripped me of my possessions. I have some very important stuff, not the least of which include my weapons and armor. I’ll hazard a guess that this type of search and seizure was the case for everyone. Hence, why I was wondering if the others had any idea where their stuff was.”
Their newly designated archer shook his head in the negative, while the cat let out a small meow that could have meant anything, but Alex picked up on the operative word in the man’s final sentence.
“Else?” he questioned, wishing the man would stop speaking in riddles.
“Well, one of my items is bound to my soul. I can locate it from a nearly infinite distance, save a few particular instances. Luckily for us, this isn’t one of those cases.”
“Guess you’re leading the way then,” Alex said, hand gesturing in a way that matched his words.
Seeing no resistance from the others, the noble nodded, a smile on his face, and when back to doing what he’d previously been doing. Stifling another sight, Alex looked back to his interface, hopefully something they could fight would show up soon.
***
Skill
Name: Lockpicking
Rating: Common
Grade: F
Level: 1
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Mode: Passive
Resource Cost: N/A
Description: What is a lock, but a keeper of secrets. The physical limit those who hold knowledge, wealth, or power, exert on the average person. Preventing them from gaining providence of their own, by giving access to only those they allow to hold the key. But there is one fatal flaw to the lock, and in turn the sanctity of the information within. Those without keys are not limited by the locks, but by their inability to do anything about them. No longer shall any simple lock hinder your path to power. Unlock your true potential. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity.
***
His wish was granted five minutes later as he picked up a few creatures straight ahead with Sixth Sense. Rather than warn the group immediately, he waited for them to get closer. Before setting out, there had been something of a sit down where everyone explained a bit about their skill set, but Alex was still wary of exposing too much about his abilities. He also didn’t want to risk notifying them too early, lest they try to avoid the fight and limit his experience gains. In the end his delay didn’t matter, between Jason’s surprisingly careful leadership, and the archer’s limp, they had plenty of time to prepare before moving in.
The moment they were alerted to potential danger, everyone quickly fell into ready stances. Their approach was near silent, allowing them to get close enough to take one out with an arrow before the beasts even noted their presence. Alex hadn’t known how well the group’s fighting styles would mesh back when they’d spoken, but honestly, it was a solid setup. The archer was a good shot even on unsteady legs, and Jason’s frontline capabilities proved to go beyond just leadership.
He'd claimed to be a classic sword and board user with a minor proficiency in illusion magic, but even with half his main weapon kit missing, the man was a terror. The moment the reptiles turned their direction, Jason moved to attract their attention. He charged forward with his weapon held in a two-handed grip, before stabbing out to pierce one of the creatures. Preparing to engage the group himself, Alex had activated a three-meter instance of Sixth Sense, but was surprised when his ability told him something different from his eyes.
Instead of the stab he could clearly see, Jason’s body was half cocked as if he was about to swing. Delaying his push to verify the outcome of the man’s attack, Alex watched as the kidree nearest to the noble dodged sideways to avoid the stab, only to be cleaved almost in half a moment later. Satisfied with its effort, the man’s illusion faded near immediately after his blade made contact, and Alex couldn’t help but be impressed.
The echo portion of his relocation ability clearly had similar properties to whatever Jason had done, but the noble seemed to have more individual control of his doubles than Alex did. Making a mental reminder to check if he could alter his own clones in such a manner; Alex refocused on the fight as the archer fired another arrow into the eye of a second kidree. Not wanting to be outdone, he dashed in, blades drawn as he aimed to finish one of the injured reptiles. The fight wrapped up quickly once all three of them were fighting in earnest, and Alex could appreciate the help of a team. Even with the system dividing the experience between the group, as he’d been told before, it was mainly merit based. So as long as he did a majority of the damage, he’d still gain a significant chunk of the bounty.
Groups of kidree, some patrolling, some set in tunneled rooms, became more common after that. Alex did his job as the team’s scout, while often also acting as their main damage dealer. Jason could have clearly held the role of the latter himself, but he opted to stay back and protect the archer in the majority of confrontations. Earlier, when it had been Alex’s turn to explain his skill set, he’d claimed to be a close quarters melee combatant with some scouting and defensive abilities. He hadn’t known if he was being too vague at the time, but the others seemed content with his answer, and now they were trusting him to have told the truth.
That wasn’t to say it was a solo affair, Jason acted as an impassable brick wall, while the archer constantly picked targets off from a distance. There were instances when Alex needed to retreat, or was caught out too deep, but an arrow or random burst of light near the kidree would always help open a path out. The cat wasn’t entirely useless during these fights, either. For the most part, she, a fact that Jason had revealed to the group, would disappear the moment a battle started only to reappear later.
The vanishing act had put Alex a little on edge at first, since he couldn’t even spot her with Sixth Sense, but once it was clear she didn’t plan to attack them with it, he relaxed some. Towards the end of one of their more prolonged fights, the cat had reappeared early, only to finish off one of the weakened Kidree by gouging out its eyes. The entire group had been a little surprised by the entrance, and subsequent messy slaughter, but everyone could recognize the vicious glee on the beast’s face after claiming her kill. It was a kill of passion, one of revenge.
As the group finished recovering the arrows from the archer's kills, Alex sent out a pulse of his sensory skill to verify their battle hadn’t attracted any others. It was rare, having only happened once, but the last thing they needed was to cause some chain reaction that led to the whole stronghold up in arms about their small group. Processing the information in under a second, Alex was surprised when he didn’t find any of the reptiles heading his way, but instead a new kind of kidree altogether.
They were nearing the edge of his skills range, only having been revealed due to the distance he’d traveled while fighting, but they looked distinct enough, and more importantly felt strong enough, he was willing to warn the group immediately.
“Shit, which direction,” Jason whispered, voice lower than it needed to be. A twinge of panic was clear in his tone, but Alex focused on answering rather than the worry.
“Maybe fifty or so feet in that direction.” Alex lied, greatly underselling the range of his ability.
“Fuck, that close. We need to move. Do you have enough space to grab these?”
Looking down at the nine kidree corpses, Alex put on a pensive look, as if checking to see if his literally infinite inventory had enough room. He’d avoided grabbing the majority of the corpses while battling, but Jason had already seen he had a storage device. Seeing the worried look, he didn’t delay too long before nodding. As he moved to store the corpses, Jason addressed the group, voice still low.
“Alright, so I think what Alex spotted are Kidrock, they’re an evolution of kidree that can happen during the latter half of the E grade. Taller, skin like stone, but the same lizard-like physique?”
“Yep, sounds about right.”
“So they don’t really bother with the section of the dungeon we’re in, something about mana levels I think, but they do guard the staircases further down.”
“So you think this is one of those staircases?”
“Yep, I think I might even know which one, but I can't be sure. My map is with the rest of my stuff.”
“Then why the panic?”
A brief moment passed where he considered addressing Alex’s phrasing, or focusing on the issue at hand. In true noble fashion, he chose the first option.
“I’m not panicked, just trying to convey the urgency of the situation. If a kidree alerts them of our presence, and they are bored enough to fight, we are fucked. Excuse me for being worried about potential death.”
Raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender, Alex avoided pushing the matter further. “We’re obviously not fighting them then. So what now? Your stuff just unrecoverable?”
“My stuff is much further than the distance you stated, maybe a fifteen-minute walk at our current pace, though that doesn’t count this new detour.”
“Alright,” Alex agreed as he stored the last corpse. “Any objections?” Seeing everyone was in agreement, the group began backtracking.
Though he’d technically always held the position, from there Alex effectively became the group's co-leader. The pair worked together to figure the best path to the reptile’s room, though Alex did lead them into a couple avoidable fights as payment for the extra effort. By the time they arrived at the storage room Alex knew he’d made the right decision in joining them, if only for this portion of the trip. He’d managed to gain a level, evolve another skill to the E grade, and according to Sixth Sense was about to get his hands on some sweet, sweet loot.