Opening his inventory to withdraw a bedroll he barely remembered collecting, Alex wondered if sleeping here was the correct choice. Back when he was still in the city, before getting knocked out and captured in broad daylight, he’d been trying to tone back his mistrust. He didn’t fault himself for it, a situation like his demanded a healthy dose of paranoia to keep oneself alive, but with the challenges mounted ahead of him, it was unsustainable. Then he’d been kidnapped almost immediately after deciding to ease off the constant suspicion, so who could blame him for relapsing a bit.
But now he had to make a choice, he could keep running, keep going at it alone, or he could try to put his faith in others again, and maybe get some real help. It would be so much easier if he could just go sleep somewhere else, then he wouldn’t need to worry about it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option, Jason had already included him in the watch rotation, and leaving now without a good reason would make returning complicated. Social anxiety and potential murder attempt aside, neither were very uncommon at this point, he also didn’t really have anywhere else he considered safe.
The tunnels he landed in were an option, but he doubted he could make it back in one piece, especially if any of the ones they’d cleared had repopulated. No, he was better off giving people another chance. It had become painfully obvious that no matter how hard he pushed himself, reaching anything remotely close to level seventy-five was a pipe dream. A full day of running himself ragged barely equated to three levels at this point, so he could only imagine how much progress would slow after he hit forty. Who knew, he might be able to convince these two to come along on his suicide quest. If he could find a better way to phrase it during the proposition that was.
Chuckling as he rested his head against the rocky wall, Alex pulled out a piece of charred heatray only a dumpster could consider food. He’d run out of real rations earlier in the day, and now his only options for sustenance were stuff he’d collected on his journey. The others had food, Jason had basically turned into Oprah after recovering his storage device, but Alex hadn’t asked.
Unfortunately, looting the room hadn’t been as lucrative for everyone else, namely himself, as he’d hoped. They’d spent around ten minutes total in the storeroom, only about two of which had been for the purpose of looting. Their primary purpose in coming here, recovering Jason’s gear, had been completed easily. A couple of his items, a spatial bracelet and shield, had been tossed haphazardly in a corner, much to the man’s displeasure. His sword was missing, as was his armor, but with no way to track where the beasts moved the stuff, he had no choice but to write it off as lost.
The same was true for the archer, Ronald, and his items. The group had learned the archer's name shortly after Jason started rummaging around in his storage. He’d pulled a potion out and handed it to the injured man, then another to repay Alex. It had surprised him that the noble was willing to expend his supply like that, at least until he realized Jason was just trying to stop Ronald from slowing their group down. While the archer stayed back to heal, the rest had taken a couple of minutes to explore the room, though hopes weren’t high that the filthy place would help them strike it rich.
Dust moved through the air in clouds and if not for the obviously recent deposit, Alex would have doubted anything had entered the place for the last year. As Sixth Sense revealed, the powdery shelves to hold nothing but rusted through weapons and tattered clothing, Alex was ready to call it quits when he heard a triumphant noise from the other side of the room. The space was small enough for it to easily carry, leaving Alex curious what had happened, but a stage whisper solved that mystery a moment later.
“I found a spatial ring.”
That was honestly surprising considering the lack of anything valuable in the rest of the space, but as Alex got a look at it, he supposed it made sense. The item was just as filthy as anything else there, and though something about its magic properties had likely fended off the majority of rust, it was obvious the piece of jewelry was old. Jason spent a few seconds trying to hype up the opening, speculating on what was inside, but the reveal was as mundane as its appearance. Apparently, the magic of spatial devices could break down after extended periods of time, and this item was an example of that.
It wasn’t entirely broken, the noble managed to withdraw a few items that looked to be camping supplies: a tent, sleeping bags, and other provisions; though many of them were no longer in good condition. Bottles and poles had been cut cleanly through as if with a buzz saw, and much of the organic materials had rotted over time. They decided to empty the ring onto the floor, the contents of which fit right in with the theme of the room, before giving it to Ronald. It couldn’t be considered much of a gift, but he was the only one without a storage, the only one who needed one at least, and it gave him somewhere to put his quiver.
After that, they’d used Jason’s map to find a good spot to rest, which the group arrived at in short order. It wasn’t exactly far from the nearest group of Kidree, though Alex wouldn’t have been able to spot them even when activating a max range Sixth Sense. The cave itself was nothing fancy, a single entrance group embed that would make it easy to spot anything heading in their direction. Alex had his reservations about Jason’s choice of resting spot but knew he could get away from almost any threat if necessary, so he’d avoided voicing any of them.
Now it was time to rest. That thought was mentally rephrased to ‘putting his guard down,’ but at this point keeping a low mana drain form of Sixth Sense active in his sleep was easy, so that wasn’t a fair assessment. It was less easy after the day he had, and his ever present headache wasn’t helping any, but there was no way he’d sleep without it. Finishing his “meal” with a frown, Alex downed a bit of water before opening his sleeping bag so he could crawl in. Jason would be waking him to take the second watch in about two hours, and he needed to get as much sleep as he could before that time came.
As he was shifting to get himself comfortable, a figure entered his sensory ability’s range, and Alex turned to focus on them. It hadn’t been one of the men, they were still on the other side of the room eating, but rather the cat. He didn’t get to ask what the feline wanted before she was moving to lay on an unobstructed portion of mat near his feet. It was a bit surprising, he hadn’t believed the cat liked him enough for that, though he supposed out of everyone in the room he was the most likely choice. This place was crazy, and definitely not where he wished he’d been given for his tutorial, but as he dozed off, Alex couldn’t help but smile.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He awoke an unknown amount of time later to someone entering Sixth Sense’s miniscule range. It was considerably smaller than he’d started the night with, Alex having been forced to reduce the distance as the others moved about the confined space. Their constant shuffling had led to a less than restful sleep, but he still felt leagues better than when he’d first laid down.
“Hey, Alex. It’s been two hours, your turn for the watch.”
Opening his eyes with a reluctance that reminded him of school, he shuffled out of bed, waking the small cat in the process. The beast let out a yawn as it looked from him to Jason, before closing its eyes once more. Seeing their burgeoning friendship hadn’t evolved to the point that the beast would give up sleep to hang out with him, Alex gave the noble a nod before heading toward the mouth of their embed. It seemed the man had found time to change his clothes and equip a spare set of armor during his watch.
Pulling the best chair he had from his inventory, Alex wondered how he’d fend off his boredom for the next few hours. With the use of mana no longer causing an immediate headache, keeping watch was mind-numbingly easy. A relatively tiny drain on his mana reserves had him with all the awareness of the single entrance he could ever need, save any particularly powerful stealth skills. And with the showing the kidree had given thus far, Alex doubted there would be any of those.
Two hours with nothing to do would have been the perfect time to test out his upgraded meditation skill, but he couldn’t since use limited his ability to interact with the outside world. Instead, he spent a few minutes considering future decisions and past mistakes, until he remembered to check on the query he’d assigned Lord’s Confidence.
This wasn’t the one he’d accepted after gaining Blunt Weapon Mastery, that had finished processing while they’d still been traveling. It hadn’t given him much in terms of response, the lack of information leaving the answer inconclusive at best. The question it had most recently finished was one he’d fed the skill before going to bed hoping it would help him pick the proper upgrade for Silent Strike. Deciding to reread the prompts since he had nothing else to do, Alex stretched as he navigated to the notifications screen.
***
You have killed Anol Kidree x19. Bonus experience awarded for killing enemies above your level. Experience reduced due to partial contribution.
Congratulations, you have advanced to Level Thirty-three.
Attribute Points Granted. Allocate Free (3) Point(s)
Your skill [Silent Strike] has advanced to Level Twenty-Five.
Your skill [Sixth Sense] has advanced to Level Twenty-Six.
Your skill [Thorn’s Touch] has advanced to Level Twenty-two.
Your skill [Tracker] has advanced to Level Ten.
Your skill [Silent Strike (Rare)] has advanced to E-Grade. Pick one of the following upgrades:
Speed Strike (Rare): Upon use, gain a temporary linear spike in movement speed, altering your direction prior to the boost's expiration will rapidly deplete momentum. Any attack made while or shortly after activating Speed Strike will gain a damage multiplier equivalent to the amount of stamina initially dedicated. Just don’t forget to stop for walls. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity and Endurance.
Silence of the Void (Epic): When active, gain a partial aura of the void centered around your movements. All noise made while possessing the aura of the void will be consumed by the aura, allowing your every action to appear silent. Just remember, the void is not friendly to trespassers, and your intrusion is a loud one. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity, Wisdom, and Willpower.
Pinpoint Accuracy (Rare): When in combat against a battle style you have encountered before, gain the ability to discern the area’s most vulnerable to attack. The more familiar you are with a form, the easier it will be to defeat. Allow your first strike to be the deadliest, as long as it’s the second time. Skill ability correlates to Perception.
Blade Swarm (Rare): When striking with a blade, exert stamina to force your body to move at speeds normally impossible. Speed of attacks is dependent on the amount of stamina used upon initialization. One strike or one hundred strikes, each may only take a single second. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity and Endurance.
***
He’d avoided picking before bed because for the first time after being presented with skill options he was entirely unsure what he wanted to select. Silent Strike was a rare skill so Alex had been hoping he’d be offered a couple epics when upgrading; he’d been offered one. The problem, besides the somewhat off-putting description, was the fact that the epic skill used mana. None of the rare abilities were mana related, which left him with plenty of options if he didn’t pick the void skill, but it was an epic ability. Lord’s Confidence suggested he pick either Speed Strike or Silence of the Void.
The first was the most direct continuation of Silent Strike and a potentially extremely powerful ability. Not only was it a stamina-based gap closer, the description didn’t mention a limit to the amount of stamina he could pump into the ability. Silence of the Void seemed like a blend of his Assassin and Planestrider classes, though Alex wasn’t sure the void and astral were the same place. The other two weren’t useless, death by a thousand cuts might be a reality with Blade Swarm, and if Pinpoint Accuracy could be considered rare it must have been viable. He just couldn’t think of a reason to pick either over Speed Strike or Silence of the Void.
Taking a few minutes to consider the benefits and pitfalls of each, Alex decided to go with Speed Strike. The void skill was great, and had fairly good use cases, but it wasn’t a reasonable upgrade to Silent Strike. The damage boost the ability gave was one of his main methods of harming opponents. He’d won all of his most difficult battles by stacking the few combat abilities he possessed and delivering large amounts of damage in a short period of time. Trading one of his few combat skills for another utility ability would weaken him too much in the short term to be viable.
***
Skill Silent Strike (Rare) successfully upgraded to: Speed Strike (Rare)
Grade: E
Level: 25
Description: Speedy strike, swift knife. Speed is a favorite of the weak and a necessity for the strong. An unrelenting concept that forces the urgency of your purpose onto reality. Upon use, gain a temporary linear spike in movement speed, altering your direction prior to the boost's expiration will rapidly deplete momentum. Any attack made while or shortly after activating Speed Strike will gain a damage multiplier equivalent to the amount of stamina initially dedicated. Just don’t forget to stop for walls. Skill ability correlates to Dexterity and Endurance.
***