10.

I was moving before the sun rose. I had passed on holding the walls for the last time, instead insisting we all needed a good night sleep instead. My first stop had been the armory, which held more supplies than just weapons. Packs, tents, flints, canteens, and all the other little things one needed to go out into the wilds. I had raided it all. Four packs loaded with enough gear that we could survive for a week away from the fort.

As I was leaving the armory I saw Luke. He was sitting at what was rapidly becoming his own personal table. Resting there, in the faint light of the lanterns, he was polishing and oiling his spear as he did every morning and night. He was still covered in fishmen offal, only his hands clean as he worked chunks of flesh and blood off of his weapon. He watched me with his pale green eyes, if I hadn’t already decided he needed to die, that look alone would have had me looking for grave sites for him.

He didn’t stop me as I hit the kitchens. Most of the food the fort generated was breads, with the only meat it gave was fish. I still took a half dozen rolls and some smoked fish and then filled the canteens. It was cold outside, but one still needed to drink water even if they didn’t think they were sweating. Then it was the infirmary and stealing the healing draughts. There were plenty now, most people avoided injury now that the gates were sealed and they could just stand on the wall firing down on the amphibious hordes. I didn’t want to imagine what I looked like as I trundled out of the infirmary and sat down by myself at a table. I had all four bulging packs, enough weapons to start a war, and spare clothes piled up all around me.

I was arming myself with everything that I could carry. Each weapon is a tool for a purpose. I had been watching as the emerging warriors of the fort had started to focus only on a single weapon or a set of weapons like sword and shield. I understood the thought practice, but it was dumb. Different weapons for different purposes. I wasn’t going to hunt a boar with a sword. I wouldn’t use a boar spear to knife someone in the dark. Every weapon had its place and I had been training hard to at least become competent with them.

A long spear, six feet of shaft with another eighteen inches of glistening steel. Good for keeping things at distance, the crossbars on it prevented anything from sliding down the spear to get to me. Circular shield, wood with a metal hub in the center and around circumference. There was a comfortable weight to it, good for taking hits or dishing them out. A short ax that rested on my weapons belt. Good for splitting skulls or wood. Then finally a crossbow. For when I didn’t want to get blood on myself.

I had secured a second crossbow for Agatha, the older woman having practiced almost exclusively with the distance weapon. Bobby’s warhammer didn’t leave her sight, and aside from a long belt knife, she carried no other weapon. Miguel had trained with a short sword and buckler, using his skill to move around the sparring golems in a burst of speed that they couldn’t match. He was getting good at appearing where he wanted to with his skill, and his skill with the blade was growing with every day. Regardless of the fact we were all terrible with our weapons, less than a week of training and none of us were approaching mastery levels. Still, every day we got better.

More and more as the days went on, I saw the other fighters relying on their stats rather than skill. One didn’t need to know how to use a spear, when they could simply move faster than their opponent. Who needed footwork when a single blow was enough to shatter stone? The thought process was spreading, people spending less time in the training yards and more time grinding out levels. My disdain for them grew with every day, they still weren’t adapting. These weak foes the tutorial was throwing at us every night would eventually fade away as the actual faction fighting began. Then we would be facing other sentient beings, we just had to hope they relied on their stats as well.

The few exceptions to this reliance was my own team, who had continued to follow my advice on not using their earned levels to advance their stats. Luke, who was a fiend for the training yard, and Dan and his soldiers who trained religiously, but for them it was more of a chore to be done than a love. I could see in Luke and Miguel’s eyes, the love for the skill they were building. No one else had that love yet, for them it was just another proficiency to learn. Which I couldn’t fault, I was the same way.

As the sun began its ascent and the nightly assault faded away with vanishing tide, the rest of my team came staggering out of their bunks. We ate breakfast, simple oatmeal, and then we were strapping on the packs I had made. It was good to leave, as we passed out of the gates and into the tundra I looked back at the oily black stone. It felt like goodbye, but I knew I would have to come back. My plans were starting today, my research having borne fruit to let me, and to a lesser extent, my team to pull ahead. Now we just had to survive to enact it.

For the first two hours we marched in silence Northward. A simple footpath that followed the shoreline, the sandy dirt shifting with every step. To our right, there were only grasslands, gray and green stalks of grass swaying in the steady breeze. Our left was the dark sea, far to the North we started to make out a glacier in the ocean. Ten miles on flat land would take three to four hours normally, this march would take most of the day. The trail we followed was rough, following the contours of the land rather than blazing though it in a straight line to the keep.

With the sun firmly above us I decided now was the time to see if they would follow me. Another risk, another step further into building the trust between strangers. It wasn’t even much of an ask.

“If we head into the grass we will be able to find some monsters that have mana hearts that will boost dexterity.”

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“You’re just now telling us?” Bobby asked from behind me. Since I was the one who had the map, they had me leading.

“Didn’t want anyone from the fort following us. There’s a variety of monsters around here who we will be able to farm, not just the monsters the tutorial sends to attack us.”

“Why did you wait two hours to tell us?” Bobby continued. Miguel keeps his silence but when I glance back I can see him staring at the grass with a hungry look. Agatha was scrutinizing me.

“Didn’t know if I wanted to try it. They’ll be a bad match for us. We don’t have any of the fort's advantages which allow us to kill the crabs, and the only one who will be able to come close to matching their speed will be Miguel. It’ll be dangerous.”

“You should talk to us, and not just keep these things to yourself. We need to work together, not be led around by our noses.” Agatha stated. Seemed she was finally finding a spine.

“Sorry. I’ll do better.” I lied.

“What are they?” Miguel chimes in. He couldn’t care less about me withholding information. His eyes are full of greed as he stares at the grass, one hand touching the hilt of his sword.

“Rabbits. Well hares I should say. Just bigger. With fangs and claws.” The descriptions in the library hadn’t been the clearest. It sounded like the tutorial had blended a rabbit with a wolf and given it a temper. Still they were some of the more populous monsters that carried mana hearts in the region. They were also edible and I was hungry for something other than bread and fish.

“I say yes.” Bobby cast her vote. She kept it hidden, but there was an edge of fear that pushed her. The more time I spent around her the more I could see it. She would grow as strong as possible to bury that fear, I just wanted to know who it was that scared her enough she was willing to risk herself out here for the slightest edge.

“Same.” Miguel said with a smile.

“I can do this.” Agatha whispered, more to herself I think, than to anyone else.

“Let’s make a small camp at the top of the hill ahead of us, leave our extra gear there, and then we will start our hunt.”

It was a small hill, but compared to the relatively flat landscape it stood out. We set down our gear, and before we rushed off into the grass, I built a quick fire pit. Just digging the sandy earth out in a small circle and finding some rocks to form a ring. When they looked at me with curious expressions as I worked I smiled before replying.

“The library said they were delicious.” That was more than enough to have Miguel searching for wood and soon we had found enough sticks and fallen wood that would hopefully burn for us.

“Do you know how to butcher an animal?” Agatha asked as we started into the grass.

“Not really. Do you?”

“I’ll teach you.” Agatha said as she put her crossbow into the crook of her arm. We kept walking deeper into the grass, our hill and camp disappearing eventually, until all around us was the waving grass. I pulled my ax free and pulled the jumpsuit sleeve up and drew the sharp steel across the back of my forearm in the fleshy part. Just a small cut, hardly deep enough to get red blood flowing free of the wound.

“They’re attracted to the smell of blood. Doesn’t have to be much either. Crush down the grass around us, I’ll take the first rush, Miguel and Bobby attack, Agatha shoot any of them that look like they’re trying to get behind us.” I issued orders without knowing with certainty what I was doing. I didn’t want the rabbits sneaking up in the high grass and I was the biggest and strongest with the highest constitution and a full shield. Let them bounce off me and then Bobby and Miguel could finish them.

As we crushed down the grass in a widening circle, I realized my mistake as a pair of crimson eyes came bouncing forward in a blur of speed. We should have gotten our fighting place ready before I put out the bait. I barely get my shield up as it crashes into me. The blow numbs my shoulder, my head snaps back and I stumble a few steps as claws rake across hard wood and steel.

Taking a step back I get a good glimpse of the monster as it jumps backward. Rabbit was a stretch to call it. It had the oversized back legs of a hare, powerful muscles bunching under a layer of fat and fur. Its coat of fur was dappled grays and whites, blending well with the grasslands. Its lips were pulled back revealing a mouth of fangs while its front claws dug into the earth as it settled into a crouch. Also it was the size of a mastiff. Had to weigh over a hundred and fifty pounds of pure murderous rage.

“Miguel! Bobby!” I had time to shout before it jumped at me again. Soil exploded behind it as it accelerated and it lowered its shoulder as it rammed into my shield again. Something cracked and I hoped it was the shield. As it fell back I thrust my spear at it while trying to keep my shield up. It was clumsy and slow, Luke was better with a spear on the first day compared to my current efforts. An almost lazy jump had the monster out of range as it moved to my right, trying to get around the shield.

Bobby’s hammer met it’s head with a sickening crunch. I hadn’t even seen her sliding to the side quietly, the heavy hammer falling even as the monster was moving. Exquisitely timed and anticipated. The monster went limp as it head was caved in, it’s back legs twitching a few times before it stopped moving. The sudden violence of it all, Agatha hadn’t even had time to put a bolt in her crossbow, my heart was a hammer against my ribs. A smile was threatening to cross my face though, the adrenaline surging in my veins like fire. Something primal wanted out, something that reveled in this brutal fight that had ended as fast as it had begun. I only had a moment to think on my own inner desires. The grass was rustling.