Victor woke up sore in a bed. Outside the window rain and dark clouds covered the sky, the pattering on the roof drowned out the sound of snoring in the bed across from him. Serena slept unconscious in front of him in the room. Gargrim sat against the door to the room snoring. He sat up in bed finally feeling the incredible thirst and hunger. He immediately reached for the water skin on the small table next to his bed. It was mostly empty and he downed the last of it panting. He placed the water skin back on the stand and noticed Swordie there. He picked up the book. “What happened?”

“Sir the plan worked. Serena and Gargrim moved at double pace only stopping to force water down your throat. She carried you all the way here. The two of them checked into this inn at Tinik and passed out yesterday. They haven’t woken up since. They are suffering from exhaustion.” Swordie explained.

“Thank you.” Victor hugged Swordie and looked to Gargrim. ‘I refuse to lose anyone I can save. If Luzuzal wants me to suffer he’ll have to come up with a better plan, because if it’s between my sacrifice or someone else’s life I’ll die every time.’ He grabbed the jerky tin from his pack and pulled out a few pieces. The salty meat made his mouth water with every bite. He panted trying to overcome the feeling of falling unconscious. ‘It happened so fast. Less than 10 seconds and I was out. Even with 30 more vitality It would have taken 2 hits to kill me. I guess that’s better than 1 but low levels especially for mages are unfair! How do mages even become powerful if low levels are like this!?’

Swordie added. “Sir you seem distressed.”

Victor quietly raged at Swordie in an almost aggressive whisper. “I’ve nearly died repeatedly. Three hits, I can’t even survive getting hit 3 times. How do people survive like this?”

“Mages often don’t emerge from mage towers until they hit level 10 or even 20. This is because mage defenses are magical in nature and improve massively at higher levels. Your inability to use spell augmentation this early is dangerous. Barrier spells become more powerful proportional to your speed since you can recast them faster. Higher mana regeneration allows you to cast many more spells per day. Reaching level 10 at least if you go for Spellsword will give you early access to the speechless casting for self buffs and spells through your weapon. The truth is you’re going to be weak. Finding a mage tower and spending some years studying may be the most reasonable measure to gain levels. At least it is the safest.” Swordie explained.

He looked to Serena. “I can’t do that anymore.”

“I understand your feelings sir. Gain additional experience by defeating lower level monsters. Group up with ideally slightly higher level party members. Leveling up the way you are going about it is suicide, and I did not return you to life so you could kill yourself.” Swordie let the words linger on the page to the cold patter of rain above them.

They sank into Victor like cold knives. ‘Am I being brave at all? The pain is real. My skills are real. The life I have now is real. It all feels real, and yet somehow I feel like I’m not treating it that way.’ Victor focused on his hands and formed a fist several time stretching. He ran his hand down his leg to feel the scars from the spider. ‘Dying again would be as fatal as the first time but I wouldn’t come back. Why does that feel… empowering.’ Victor traced the edge of the fangs from the spider. ‘If I die the suffering ends, if I live and fail the suffering gets worse. I can’t believe how simple that is. If it killed me that would be the end, but if Gargrim died that would stick with me forever.’ Victor shook his head. ‘Never back down is a foolish mentality. Delusional even. Perhaps Luzuzal wasn’t so far off. I’ll try not to get into a situation where I fight higher level creatures going forward. That way if I refused to back down I’d have some chance of success.’ He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for being such a fool. Is Cawthorn on the roof isn’t he.”

“Yes. The arrogant crow is on the roof.” Swordie noted.

“Being a hero means being powerful enough to be heroic. Any child can charge and die failing to save someone. I will follow your advice and try not to cause more trouble.” Victor sighed.

Gargrim opened his eyes and groaned and closed his eyes again. “Can you keep it down?”

“Sorry.” Victor answered.

“It’s my fault here. I should have stopped you.” Gargrim shook his head. “I really am getting old. I can’t keep doing this alone.” He paused. “You’re too weak for me to hunt artifacts with, and I still can’t return home to Goholt. Never get old son.”

“What would allow you to return to Goholt?” Victor asked.

“King Korvald dying or reaching level 55 to 60 so I could challenge him in personal combat is the only way I could ever return after that banishment. I’ll never reach that level and last I heard about a year ago he was still alive.” Gargrim sighed eyes still closed. “Once she wakes up I am going to find another room and stay there only sleeping and eating. I’d like to be left alone. Thank you for the lead on the bandit camp. May all your travels be safe.”

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“I wish I hadn’t discouraged you.” Victor took a deep breath. “Someone like you shouldn’t end up dead on a dungeon floor or drunk alone in a bar.”

“You didn’t discourage me son. You opened my eyes. To progress I’d need to find a group I trust with my life. I don’t think you understand how hard that actually is.” He took a deep breath. “Have you ever been literally stabbed in the back? I have. If his knife hadn’t broke on my at the time new armor I’d be dead. He died in a single hit but the two of them just wanted my gear and gold.”

“Would you trust the two of us?” Victor asked.

“In a heartbeat.” Gargrim answered. “You’re a one of a kind idiot I wouldn’t mind dying with one day.”

“You said you’d be in Kival right? Is that where you typically live?” Victor asked.

“Normally yes. I’m only out this far because the difficulty and reward didn’t match at all. That skeleton was an intelligent mage creating undead for a lich somewhere underneath one of these many mountains. The information was good. Had I not gotten involved with that troll the entire venture would have been extremely profitable and with how well everything went up to that I was entirely shocked. This is more in line with what I expect to happen. Go on a quest or hunt for an artifact followed by a long recovery period. Clearing something without taking significant damage lets you continue to progress. I actually leveled up off the troll.” He chuckled with his eyes still closed and his head hung low. “I already know your question and the answer is sure. If you reach my level or near it in the next decade or so look me up. You’re just about the only group I think I could trust.”

“If someone in the party tried to backstab you I’d shield you.” Victor noted.

“I know you would son. I know, but for now once she wakes up just let me stew in my failure. It’s my fault here. I didn’t react fast enough. I have to fix that.” Gargrim sighed.

The two of them sat there in silence save for the patter of rain on the rooftop. They both closed their eyes and Victor could not but think. ‘I will definitely find him again someday and make it up to him.’ He smiled. “I promise you’ll be there for the wedding.”

“I’ll be there.” Gargrim stroked his beard chuckling. “After all I got your present already.”

Victor audibly peaked his voice laughing. “Never change.”

Serena groaned her eyes still asleep. “Mm right there.” She bolted up realizing she had woken up. She looked around almost snap shooting what she saw with each blink and literally leapt from her bed to Victor’s. She landed on top of him and hugged him.

“Hey how are you doing?” Victor asked.

“I’m fine.” She muffled out to him squeezed against his chest. “You’re okay?”

“It does appear that way.” Victor wrapped an arm around her.

“I know you want to be stronger to help people.” She stopped to squeeze him again. “Can we please take more precautions and be safer? No mage should be doing that.”

“We won’t do any fighting until we recruit more members and we will be upfront that we intend to take quests and artifact hunt lower level creatures. How does the 5 to 8 range work?” Victor asked.

She squeezed him tighter. “Okay.”

Victor started to feel air being forced from his body. Serena is stronger than him but he hadn’t realized just how much stronger she really was. “Too tight.” He let out meekly.

“No.” She kept squeezing for a moment before letting go.

Victor let out a sigh of relief. “You’ve got quite the grip.”

“Yes.” She added.

Gargrim sighed and stood up. “With that, I will be going to my room. It has been nice meeting the two of you and I wish you the best. If you want to see me in the future Kival is where I’ll most likely be. I’m going to go to sleep.”  

“Thank you Gargrim.” Serena added.

“May the two of you have happy lives.” Gargrim closed the door with a final nod.

“Are you feeling well enough to engage in activities?” Serena asked as soon as the door closed.

Victor’s naiveté while strong did not deceive him from the intent of her statement. “I do believe I am.”