“Fucking bullshit world! Why the fuck does it have these assholes?!” William yelled in frustration as him and John made the most of their Dexterity, not even sparing a look back to see if they were being pursued after the [Fire-Wall] spell went off. They ran for several minutes, and William then risked a look behind him. The good news was that there wasn’t a single wasp in sight. Nor were their birds, or other wildlife. The bad news, probably the cause of no other life being nearby, was the smoke and flame about two hundred meters away, consuming the trees, plants, and grass it touched.

“Oh. Fire was a mistake here. We should continue running,” John said, having turned to look in the same direction as William, seeming somewhat sheepish at the outcome of his spell.

“Yeah, we should probably leave the entire woodland just in case,” William replied, as he continued running, John close behind. An hour of running later, the pair had cleared the tree-line. John flopped to the ground, trying to regain his breathe. His Dexterity, even though it was quite high for his class, wasn’t anywhere near as potent as William’s own. William was breathing faster however, coming closer to his own limit. William decided to fallback onto the grass and rest as well, after giving a brief scan of the surroundings. No creatures or people were anywhere in sight. His map showed that they had ran eastward in their panic. This put a burning woodland between them and Greenwell. Apparently, getting lost or stranded in unknown places also happened on any good boys day out.

“We might not be back in time for dinner,” William said, trying not to sound too lackadaisical.

“How long...do you think...it’ll burn for?” John rasped out, still trying to gather air into his lungs.

As if from an act of divine intervention, thunder sounded as a wall of grey sky encroached from the west.

“Not much longer. We don’t have shelter though, so we won’t be spared the rain,” William replied, looking up to the rain clouds, suspicious at how well timed the rainstorm was. He shrugged after a couple seconds of musing, it wasn’t like he’d get an answer anyway.

Rain soon descended upon them.

“Fantastic,” John groaned dryly, he seemed to have regained most of his energy.

It was rather refreshing to William, but he didn’t want to get drenched. They didn’t have umbrella’s, but William did have one thing to use. He expanded his shield again into a full tower shield and laid it over his head, torso and upper legs, leaving his feet and lower legs exposed. William held it about a half inch length above his body so he could see his surroundings still. He looked over at John who looked rather jealous. John activated [Mana-Ward] and William saw around half of the rain drops fail to come through it. William found it amusing that they both used defensive gear or skills to stay dry.

“You know anything other than fire spells for offence?”

John shook his head and replied, “When I chose my class, I got to choose what type of Mage I wanted to be. I had the four elements offered tome, and like the rest of us who chose Mage, I picked fire. It was the whole ‘man make fire’ mindset to be honest. None of us knew where we were or what to do, so fire seemed like a good choice. We do get to pick a second element to choose from at level twenty, and every five levels, we get to choose a new spell of our elements to add. Again, those of us above level five Mage chose the same thing in [Fire-Wall] due to the defense we’ll be performing soon.”

“I did wonder why you all picked fire, but it seemed that necessity was the real decision maker I guess,” William said, his hunch of fire being a choice and not a given, confirmed by John.

“I think that earth magic is gonna be my next choice. Oh shit, I forgot, I levelled up.”

William’s curiosity peaked then as he said, “We were having too much fun, obviously.”

The two shared a brief laugh as John turned his attention inward. William waited, watching the rain fall and blow in the wind, occasionally shifting direction. He could see every impact on the grass, each rain drop leaving an impact on the little green blades. He could picture each rain drop as a thrust of the blade, creating a storm of steel and his appreciation of Form of the Rainstorm grew further. William got up and turned the shield back into its buckler form. Summoning Sharpie as he took his stance and closed his eyes. He practiced the second form for a few minutes, synchronizing the thrusts with the raindrops falling around him.

William felt at peace, one with the storm, sharp steel flowing like water. He finished the kata and opened his eyes as the rain subsided, giving way for glistening grass and a glorious rainbow on the horizon. He briefly wondered if a pot of gold existed at the foot of it in this world, but dismissed the image as he noticed John gawking up at him.

“Sorry, I was practicing for a few minutes while I waited for you to make your choice,” William said, with a smile.

“A few minutes? Dude, you were at it for at least an hour,” John replied, still apparently dumbfounded at William’s sword work.

“What?!” William replied in shock, looking up at the sky, noticing the sun was already past its zenith. He let out a sigh and added, “I guess, time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Well, I’m glad that I ain’t your enemy. I almost pity the bandits,” John replied, starting to look more natural as his stupor wore off.

“So what’d you pick?” William asked, hoping to shift the subject back to John.

It worked as John replied, “[Ley-line Affinity] and [Mana Conversion] for my level ten milestone. I didn’t take [Aura Sense] as I feel like that would only detect you. Maybe at a later stage I’ll take it though.”

Both sounded like solid skills from the name alone, but he really wanted to know what they did, “So, how bullshit-ly overpowered are they?” William asked eloquence not coming naturally in the slightest.

“I’ll just read the prompts out for you, It’ll be easier.”

{Ascension_Protocol}

Ley-Line Affinity – You have the ability to detect where the natural Ley-lines of GAEA flow, including the Mana density of areas connected to Ley-lines. Skill is passive, and has zero cost.

[Notice – Skill does not function in Dead Zones, or Fell Zones.]

{End}

“Damn, that’s real good. Interesting that places like Dead Zones and Fell Zones exist in this world,” William said, thinking to his encounter with the Fell-kin Alpha.

The environment had seemed...wrong for some reason, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the beginnings of a Fell Zone. If so, he hoped that finding whatever Alpha lived in future, full sized Fell Zones would solve the problem. He had no clue about Dead Zones. Were they filled with undead? Barren of all life? Or just barren of Ley-lines? So many questions, and zero answers available.

“Do you get anything from it right now?” William asked, curious at how dense the Mana in their region was.

“It’s...disappointing. This whole region it seems, is lacking in terms of density. I can sense a small layer of Mana permeating the region, but we eclipse it with our own Mana channels and skills.”

“Explains why everything is so weak here,” William replied, some disappointment apparent.

John chuckled before adding, “Of course you’d say that. You already hit the region’s max level, and expect things to be fair game.”

“Hey, John, you never know when someone stronger will invade. I’m a fucking apex predator right now.”

“an exceedingly humble one it appears too,” John remarked, with a teasing grin.

“Asshole.”

John grinned wider, “Ah the greatest title of them all.”

“You know I named those wasps Assholes too right?” William returned cockily.

John pretended to be greatly offended, putting his hand on his chest, prompting William to raise an eyebrow it of curiosity, to see where this went.

John gave up after a long moment and started laughing, joined swiftly by William. The two men consumed in their mirth. William eventually brought the conversation back around to the topic at hand.

“So what about the other skill?” William asked, feeling excitement surge from within.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

{Ascension_Protocol}

Mana Conversion – You can channel the flow of your personal Mana pool into your other resource pools, providing a point for point gain to the affected resource pools. Skill is passive, and has zero cost.

[Notice – Skill is one way only.]

[Notice – modifications to resource pools made this way, revert to original levels after 8 hours.]

{End}

William would be lying if he said that he wasn’t envious of the skill, though the silver lining to that was the one way limitation. William would prefer a Stamina equivalent as he had that in spades. Nonetheless, being able to convert MP into SP was insanely good for a caster class. Trading some excess Mana to dodge and move faster removed a lot of the physical limitations of caster classes. It not only functioned for that class either. SP boosts to an archer class would also be really good.

“You got some game changers man, it’s interesting that you got completely different options to me though.”

“Probably class related,” John proposed, not too concerned about the difference.

“If that was the case, then why were all my options redundant for my classes?” William returned.

Fighter skills wouldn’t focus on game and party mechanics for such a class, so why? He couldn’t fathom it and got lost in thought.

“Maybe it’s personal skills as opposed to class related ones,” John said, regaining William’s attention.

John noticed William’s attention return as he added, “My Ley-line skill probably comes from my interest in botany and the like. Think of it like a...nature affinity I guess? Anyways, My guess is that the system offers at least some skills based off of the person’s nature. That makes the most sense, otherwise, wouldn’t everyone all have the same or similar skills?”

He made some very valid points. The party skill and mapping skill he had seemed fitting with the RPG video game elements and the latter two skills he had picked up recently were similar abilities of the hero he played in the MOBA he had been addicted to before Isekai fuckery, that was the mental foundation for his class combination.

By the time they had finished discussing about their theories of the world, and their classes, it was late afternoon. The pair decided to take the long way around Sylvar woodlands, estimating a return to Greenwell by noon the next day, including a stop for sleep during the night. Having a Fire mage would be clutch for camping, especially with plenty of wood nearby.

The two were about to set off, until they spotted a figure crest over the hill to the south. Then two men, then four, eight…twelve. All of which were dressed like the bandits they had been dealing with, except these ones had blue face paint striped across their face. Were they fucking Commando bandits? Banditos? Banmandos? He didn’t know, but the glint in the first man’s eyes indicated trouble.

For a long moment the two parties stared at one another, with John and William on the lower ground. Outnumbered and in an inferior position meant a bad time. William whispered to John, “On three, cast [Fire-Wall] on the group. Then run to the woods. We can regain the advantage there.”

John tilted his head marginally, indicating his agreement. William drew his sheathed sword and switched it to his shield hand, putting his lead hand behind him holding up three fingers. He took two steps forward so John could see the hand easily.

Three

“So, I’m guessing you’re part of the bandit group harassing the local population?” William asked the leader, locking eyes with the unknown man.

Two

“Ain’t that fuckin’ obvious boy? I’m guessin’, from your level, you are the one makin’ the boss’s life a nightmare recently,” The unknown man said, with a gruff and grizzled voice.

One

“Yes I am. Your boss is a fucking pussy sending you weaklings out to give me free EXP,” William said, getting many pissed off expressions from the bandits.

William was impressed at his own ability to piss large groups of people off in one sentence, as sounds of steel being drawn emanated from atop the hill.

Zero

A massive wall of Fire consumed the back half of the hostile group, creating many screams of burning torment. The wall was also at the back of the remaining five bandits. William expended the second charge of his sword, combining it with [Vortex Slash] and [Mana Investment], to create a Mini Alpha Strike. He dubbed it that because he didn’t have a full charge from his sheath, due to using it on Asshole earlier that day.

A wave of slightly weaker, but still fearsome cutting force flew straight at the survivors, bisecting three completely, and removing a hand from the fifth. Only the group’s leader and what appeared to be another fighter using a spear were unscathed.

William turned to see John pale, horror on his face as his eyes stared up at the bastion of ferocity that was [Fire-Wall].

“John, we need to go!” William shouted, grabbing John’s arm and dragging him away.

John didn’t resist as he started moving, seemingly on auto pilot as he followed William into the woods. The pair fled for several minutes, then took shelter behind a copse of trees. William let John process things in silence as he watched out for the survivors. After ten or so minutes, no one had appeared and William felt like they had escaped safely. He did wonder if there was any need to flee the last two people, but he didn’t know if more bandits were nearby and didn’t want to risk fighting on a field disadvantage. Big walls of fire were rather eye catching after all.

William thought back to his last sight of the group’s leader, before William fled. The man had a truly baleful glare that promised revenge, and showing a hatred ridden snarl that was more animal than human.

He had a feeling that the man would re-appear during the assault. On a positive note though, there would be even fewer bandits to deal with. It was a productive day.

“Good work man,” William said, trying to compliment his new friend.

“Nothing good about it William. I killed seven people and not just with a blade, I burned them alive,” John replied, struggling to remain composed.

“They would’ve done the same or worse to us. Us or them. That’s how our fight with the bandits will always go. Diplomacy is wasted on those vile creatures.”

“So that makes it okay to take their lives?”

“Absolutely. Their lives are worth less than nothing. They prey on innocent people, and whilst I’m not some moral fucking arbiter or some shite, I am going to cull their entire number so they can’t harm my family and friends. Their deeds of horror are what makes me so comfortable with putting them down.”

John looked up at William, too many flowing emotions visible on his face for William to interpret them successfully and quietly said, “But they’re still living people...or...were.”

John looked down at his feet, breathing slightly faster. What the fuck was William supposed to do here? Ideas came but swiftly left once again as he discarded them all. In the end, going with the flow seemed best.

He just put a hand on John’s shoulder and softly said, “You aren’t solely responsible for that scene. I decimated the remainder, and I’ve killed so many now, I don’t even remember the total number. I think its thirty-ish or something, but the exact number eludes me. How many have they killed though?”

Johns eyes, red rimmed and wet met William’s as he replied, “I...don’t know. Lot’s I’d assume.”

“Most of which, I suspect were innocents. Women. Kids. Elderly. You heard what happened to Armine’s home town, the bandits burned a fucking school with kids inside to the ground with ease. They don’t require even a tiny bit of consideration, empathy, or anything else. Their death is all that’s required.”

John exhaled shakily as he replied, “It’s...hard. Knowing I’ve killed. That bandit from weeks ago we...finished off, he still appears in my dreams sometimes. Now he’ll have company when he visits next.”

“How many did you save?”

“Wh-what?” John said, confusion apparent.

“How many people did you save earlier?”

“Um...myself? Maybe you? But I doubt you needed my help.”

“Wrong. How many lives did you save, by ending those seven?”

“None?” John said, and William noticed that he had stopped his harsh breathing and started to regain some composure from the distraction.

“What about tomorrow? How many more people will live because of those seven kills? When that group attacks another settlement, how much stronger will the defense and chance of survival be for the defenders? How many Greenwell lives were saved today? Seven less bandits makes our defense that much stronger.”

John’s eyes widened, having finally caught William’s meaning. William would be lying if he hadn’t been inspired from a similar speech in a JRPG he had played previously. It worked though, so he couldn’t fault his own logic.

“I get it now. That...helps. I still...don’t know how much...but thanks, William.”

William smiled and offered a hand to pull John up to his feet. John obliged and the two looked around their surroundings once more, just in case the bandits or what was left of them had located the pair. Fortunately, no bandits were in sight.

“Should we head back via the woods instead?” John asked, staring off into the direction they had come from.

William considered the idea. If some roving group like those bandits had ran across them suddenly, who was to say there wasn’t more such groups?

Alternatively, it could be a good way to thin the enemy numbers if they encountered more. That decision, however, would come at a cost; John’s mental state. Was he willing to risk that? In the grand scheme of things, one person’s mental health wasn’t as important as culling the enemy numbers, as the latter option would result in fewer innocent deaths. Was it worth jeopardizing his new friend’s sanity for a few extra kills? Where did he draw the line?

William looked back to the woods and resigned himself to his decision, “Let’s go back through the woods, but be on guard for Assholes and the other creatures in this place,” William said, patting his new friend on the shoulder. John failed to hide the expression of relief that took over his face.

It was time to head home.