I followed Zack through the portal and entered a massive chamber filled with roaming packs of wargs in small groups. “I don’t see any exits, is the entire dungeon just this one room?” Gabrielle asked as we crouched by the portal, each scanning the room for threats.
Aaron pointed to our right a few hundred meters away and said, “Over there, where the stone rises up in a mound. There’s another cave.” I looked over where he pointed and squinted my eyes to try to make out the details. I could see a wide cave mouth but it was mostly blocked off by wargs patrolling and others resting by its entrance.
“Let’s start moving in that direction. We’ll hug the wall and Aaron will lure the patrols towards us.” Gary said as he started walking. Ten meters later Aaron shot towards a patrol that was heading in our direction. The warg howled in response to the arrow sticking out of its leg and I saw four different patrols look towards us.
Gary cursed, “Keep your backs to the wall, Eli we’re gonna need you in front with me and Zack. Barkskin on us three.” he spoke quickly, dropped his pack by the wall and moved forwards to intercept the closest group of wargs. I dropped my pack where I stood and rushed to follow his orders.
“Barkskin.”
“Barkskin.”
“Barkskin.” I cast the last spell on myself as I ran to my position just before a warg slammed into Gary’s spear. I focused in front of me where an entire patrol of four wargs were sprinting towards me and quickly closing the distance.
“Thornbolt."
“Thornbolt,” I cast two times as quickly as I could, hitting the two wargs on the right before I grabbed my short spear with two hands and stabbed towards the closest one. The warg ducked under my stab and sank its teeth into my ankle with a snarl.
Barkskin level 5
I winced in pain, for once not caring about a level up as I stabbed down at the warg wrapped around my leg. My spear sank into it and I felt the resistance as it slammed into its spine and shattered it. Another warg leaped at my face from my left and I swung the butt of my spear at it just in time, sending it crashing to the floor. I focused my attention back to the other side as I felt claws scratching into the leather of my jerkin and sending me stumbling back. I felt a fireball whizz over my shoulder and slam into the two wargs on my right, giving me time to stab the one on my left as it tried to bite at my leg.
“Fortress!” Zack shouted, using his skill to surround us with a massive steel shield. The two wargs on my right were trapped inside with us and looking around to see what happened. I rushed forward to take advantage of their surprise and stabbed one through its mouth as it turned back to face me. Aaron sent an arrow to claim the others' life and I hurriedly backed up to get to Gary's side before the fortress fell from the constant scratches that filled our ears. I heard my heart beating faster and louder than I ever remembered before and the wall shattered around us, wargs appearing in its place.
“Thornbolt!” I cast towards one of the wargs rushing at Gary, seeing none of them left in front of me. The thorn plunged into its side and I followed it up with a thrust in the same spot, pushing the thorn deeper inside.
“Thornbolt, Thornbolt, Thornbolt!” I took advantage of the situation and emptied the rest of my essence casting at the rest of the wargs swarming Zack and Gary. As soon as I cast the last one I circled behind the wargs and started stabbing and slashing my way through them. None of the wargs turned to face me and I quickly finished off the last of the wargs that were clawing ineffectively on Zacks greaves while he bashed another on the skull. I looked around, eyes wide as I looked at the bodies piled in heaps around the five of us. My legs were completely covered in blood and I quickly backed away, boots dripping as I walked back to the wall where Aaron and Gabrielle sat on their packs drinking water. Somehow not a single warg made it past the three of us upfront to reach them.
“Good job everyone,” Gabrielle said after she finished chugging half her waterskin. “I’m completely drained of Essence, but I don’t think any other patrols will head this direction.” I looked around the chamber and nodded. It seemed like we wiped out the entire section of patrols for the surrounding hundred meters or so. Hopefully, the rest wouldn’t investigate while we recovered.
“That was crazy. So much for grabbing one patrol at a time,” Aaron said while staring at the stacks of bodies. “18 wargs by my count. Did any of you three get injured?” he asked. I looked down at my ankle, untied my greaves, and pulled up my pants leg to see a few red marks but no punctures. Both of my sides felt like they might be bruised, but nothing worse.
“One of them clawed my hand, but it barely penetrated at all. Barkskin saves the day again,” Zack said, nodding his head towards me and showing off four thin cuts on top of his hand.
“18 wargs and barely a single injury. I know I’ve said it before but I’m proud to have you all with me.” Gary said with a proud smile.
“Barkskin just reached level 5,” I remarked with a grin.
“All that training is paying off, eh? I just reached Drill Shot level 4 during that fight as well.” Aaron replied.
“Fireball level four for me, too.” Gabrielle cheered.
“Balanced Foundations finally leveled up to two during that fight. Looks like it increased all my stats by one again. Starting to pay off already.” Gary said and I couldn’t help but be impressed. A skill that increased all of your stats every time you leveled it would be incredibly helpful. All of us were rapidly increasing in strength from the difficult dungeon and we still had at least one more large group of wargs to take out before we reached the cave. I drank some water to pass the time while we finished waiting for our Essence to recover and I went over my performance during the fight. I knew Thornbolt could kill the wargs in one strike if I hit them in the head, I needed to prioritize my aim over my speed in the future.
“Now that we know it’s going to be a big fight like that let’s focus on thinning them out before they reach us. If either of the flanks can get cleared out quickly do what Eli did and get behind them.” Gary advised as we prepared to move forward. We continued along the wall towards the cave about 200 meters in the distance. I started counting out how many patrols we would most likely pull when we engaged in the next fight.
“Either five or six patrols this time, depending on if the wargs laying around the cave entrance come at the same time,” I informed the team. A short walk later we decided on our position and Aaron sighted his bow at the closest patrol. I quickly cast Barkskin on the three of us in the front.
“Drill Shot.” he led with a cast of his skill to guarantee a kill on the first shot. The warg walking beside the one he shot howled in response, alerting all the nearby patrols just like before. I glanced towards the cave on my right and winced as I saw all the wargs standing up and starting towards us. Two of the wargs were nearly double the size of the others and stayed near the back as they waited for the others to attack us first. I counted seven wargs heading directly towards me.
I took my time and cast Thornbolt three times towards the nearest wargs. My first shot slammed into a wargs skull, killing it instantly. My second shot was slightly off and skittered off the ground underneath another. My last spell was point-blank and dropped the warg lunging towards me, giving me time to bat away another coming up on my side. A Drill Shot whistled over my shoulder, defending me from one of the other wargs and giving me time to stab the one I beat onto the ground. A warg grabbed hold of my thigh and I cried out in pain as I let go of my spear. The wargs teeth sunk deeply into my thigh and it twisted its head as I jabbed down with my elbow over and over, as I tried to get it to loosen its grip. A fireball slammed into its side, filling my nose with the smell of burning hairs and causing it to let go as it whined and danced backward. I gasped, falling to kneel as I picked up my spear and furiously blinked the tears out of my eyes.
“Thornbolt.” I cast at one of the wargs attacking Gary, the thorn vanishing into its skull.
“Thornbolt.” I killed the last warg on my flank as it danced around me in an attempt to get to Aaron in the back. I felt at my core of essence in my gut and knew I had enough for one more cast. I looked back towards the cave and saw the two larger wargs standing there, eerily watching us battle without moving.
“Thornbolt.” I used the last of my essence, hitting a warg in its back as it held onto Gary's greaves while he stabbed another. I used my spear as a crutch and stood back up before I winced at the burning pain shooting through my leg. Zack finished off the last of the wargs as I watched and I worked on bringing my breathing under control.
“Keep watch on those two by the cave. Sit on your pack Eli.” Gabrielle directed me towards my pack sitting against the wall. I limped over and sat with a grimace, feeling blood gush into my pants and down my leg. I glanced away as she started pulling my pants down, feeling embarrassed despite the pain and I distracted myself by checking the wargs up by the cave. They hadn’t moved at all, it looked like. They stood there and stared at us from 50 meters away as they waited for us to get closer. I glanced down at the cold feeling of water being poured on my thigh, then gritted my teeth and looked away as she started wiping the wound with a rag. Tears started pooling in my eyes involuntarily as she tightly wrapped the wound in a bandage.
“All right, it doesn’t look like they’re going to move towards us,” Gary said as he walked back towards the wall to join us. “How bad is it?” he asked with a frown towards my leg. I took a deep breath and wiped at my eyes and started to pull my pants back up.
“It hurts, but I’ll be able to walk, I think,” I said to their sympathetic looks. I frowned as I looked down at my leg, feeling like I let down my team one day after we got back to the Bloodfields. I used my spear as a crutch to lift myself off my pack and put my weight on my leg, flinching at the pain. I took a few slow steps and decided it wouldn’t be a problem to walk, but bending and fighting would be painful. I gritted my teeth and tried to harden my thoughts. It wouldn’t be debilitating as I thought at first, I would just have to be more careful.
“We’ll keep you in the backline with Aaron and Gabrielle, then. Take a seat, we all need time to recover essence.” Gary said as he stared at the two wolves in the distance. I followed his advice and sat back down with a sigh, then pulled up my status to distract myself while I waited.
Eli - Lvl 2 Druid
Experience - 412\500
Strength-5
Dexterity-5 (+1)
Perception-4
Vitality-5
Spirit-6
Willpower-6
Barkskin - Level 5\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 42\1600
Thornbolt - Level 2\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 202\400
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At least the experience was impressive, and it looks like I finally raised my dexterity to 5. Thornbolt was already over halfway to level 3 and it’s almost guaranteed that we would reach class level 3 during the dungeon. I wasn’t sure if more skills would appear on my skill page after I leveled, but I was hoping that was the case.
“Everyone ready?” Gary asked, “Don’t worry about it Eli, we can still handle this dungeon.” I nodded, having two people in the frontline hopefully wouldn’t be much worse. At least going forward there should be fewer monsters attacking us at the same time, judging by the size of the cave behind the larger wargs.
“I’ll grab the one on the left, you get the other?” Zack asked, hefting his blood-stained mace with both hands. Gary nodded in reply.
“We’ll focus the one on Gary, then,” I said, trying to push down the pain and focus. With the strategy settled we started walking along the wall towards the cave.
“Barkskin.”
“Barkskin.” I cast on our two front liners and hobbled my way back between Aaron and Gabrielle. I was confident I had six Thornbolts worth of essence, with maybe one more depending on how long we fought for. The two wargs snarled at the same time once we got within 20 meters of them, but they still didn’t move from their position.
“Aaron?” Gary nodded towards us as they held their position a few meters in front of us.
“Drill Shot!” Aaron sent a shot towards the warg on the right but it turned its body to the side so it wouldn’t hit it in the eye. The skill still penetrated about half the length of the arrow into its shoulder and both wargs howled as they started bounding towards us. I used my spear as a crutch and focused my aim with my other arm extended.
“Thornbolt!” I cast on the same warg when it was 3 meters in front of Gary as he got ready to stab forward. I hit the warg in its eye, blinding it right before it reached Gary and giving him an easy opportunity to stab its chest. Gabrielle was shooting fireballs one after the other with no break in between, focused on keeping a constant barrage of fire in its face and giving it no time to retaliate. The warg was already seriously injured, and I looked towards Zack, seeing that they had it under control. I gasped, seeing Zack falling back towards us with blood pouring from his chest.
“Thornbolt, Thornbolt, Thornbolt!” I cast three times as quickly as I could, trying to keep it from taking advantage of Zack’s slow retreat. He could barely hold onto his mace and as I shot my last spell he dropped it and fell to the ground a few steps in front of Aaron. I saw the other warg fall to the ground out of my peripherals and yelled to draw the rest of my teams’ attention.
“Charge!” Gary charged directly into its path as it brushed off my three thorns sticking out of its chest.
“Drill Shot!”
“Thornbolt!”
“Fireball!”
Our combined assault proved too much for the warg and it cried in pain, unable to look towards us as we unleashed a constant stream of spells. Gary finished it with a thrust through the neck while it turned its head to the side to avoid our skills. I started rushing as quickly as I could to Zacks side and I got there as Gabrielle turned him over onto his back. His eyes were closed and blood was pumping out of three large cuts from his shoulder to his waist through his leather jerkin. Aaron pulled out bandages as we unbuckled his leather jerkin as quickly as we could.
“Patrol incoming! Eli and Aaron get up!” Gary shouted, his voice was frantic and I looked up from Zack’s bloodsoaked body to see three wargs a few steps away from our huddle around Zacks body. I leveraged myself to my feet with my spear, ignoring the pain shooting down my leg, and aimed at the closest one in a rush.
“Thornbolt!” I cast my spell with the last of my essence. I aimed slightly high and hit it in the back as it prepared to jump at Gabrielle beside me. The warg groaned and fell to the ground. I put most of my weight on my uninjured leg and stabbed down. Which shattered its spine. Aaron was shooting rapid-fire arrows at one of the wargs while Gary killed the other. Gary swung the butt of his spear at the warg riddled with arrows and it slumped onto the ground, whining and dripping blood from its mouth. He thrust one more time, driving his spear through its skull, and sat heavily on the ground with a pained grimace on his face.
Druid Level 3 reached
1 Skill point and 1 Statistic point are available
I ignored the messages and limped to Gary’s side, seeing his mangled foot laid out in front of him. I cursed and felt helpless as I slowly worked his boot off and saw the bite marks along the top and bottom of his foot. I wrapped it tightly in our dwindling supply of bandages while I tried to ignore his pained gasps.
“How’s Zack?” he asked once I finished, and I looked back towards Aaron and Gabrielle who were knelt by his side a few paces away.
“His breathing is slow, he lost a lot of blood.” Gabrielle stammered in reply.
“I don’t think he’s going to make it.” Aaron sat back with a forlorn look. I cursed, if I hadn’t gotten hurt because I was too slow earlier, this wouldn’t have happened. I would have been by his side, not standing in the back using my spear to stand up. Reaching level 3 felt like a poor reward as I dejectedly looked around at my team sitting near Zacks’ prone body and Gary looking at the ground beside me. Status, I thought.
Eli - Lvl 3 Druid
Experience - 2/1000
Strength-5
Dexterity-5
Perception-4
Vitality-5
Spirit-6
Willpower-6
Barkskin - Level 5\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 88\1600
Thornbolt - Level 2\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 288\400
One Skill Point Available
One Statistic Point Available
I mentally selected Skill Point, hoping it would show a new skill and not just options for upgrading my current skills that I wouldn’t be able to use yet.
Rejuvenation
Entangle
I selected Rejuvenation the moment the menu allowed it and felt the familiar sensation of tingling as Essence was directed from my core towards my head. The essence flowed into a specific formation and was imprinted into my memory in an instant. I levered myself to my feet and rushed to Zacks side.
“Rejuvenation.” I cast once and felt over half of my essence drain into Zacks’ prone body. Everyone stared at me, eyes wide as they realized what I had done.
“A healing spell!?” Aaron shouted out a question as we all gazed worriedly at Zack.
“I think so. It feels like,” I broke off, frowning as I studied the feeling the spell gave off. “Growth. It feels like a season full of growth.” I looked around, gauging the rest of my team's expressions. Aaron looked astonished, Gabrielle hopeful and Gary looked completely awestruck. I remember my father telling me of a healer serving in a luxurious position under royalty in the city of Wonders. The Capital of Foren. I swallowed, then focused back on Zack. It would be about five more minutes until I could use my skill again.
“The bleeding stopped. Can you use it again?” Gabrielle asked as she checked the bandage with a worried look.
“In five minutes. It took over half of my essence to cast.” I answered. His breathing looked a little better already. I started to feel the tension drain out of my body as I realized he could pull through.
“I’ve only heard of two healers in all the cities of Foren.” Gary gushed out, “and both of them work for the King.”
“We won’t tell anyone, Eli,” Gabrielle reassured, “Right?” She gave a serious look towards Aaron and Gary and they quickly nodded in reply.
“Wait, why?” I asked, confused. I focused most of my attention on my core while I waited to recover enough essence to cast a second time.
“Those healers might be rich and live in the city of Wonders, but do you think they’re allowed to leave? I bet the king keeps them under watch at all times and barely lets them leave the palace.” Aaron explained, looking like it was obvious.
“Rejuvenation.” I cast a second time and felt my essence drain completely. I frowned, of course, they’re right. If anyone knew that I could heal their injuries they would do anything to have me as their personal healer.
“I’m taking off his bandage,” Gabrielle said as we kneeled around Zack and watched his breathing rapidly improve from the second cast. She gently unwrapped the bandage and I felt my mouth drop open as I watched the long cuts slowly turn into scabs.
“Amazing,” Gary breathed out. The healing continued for another 15 seconds before it stopped.
“30 seconds, by my count.” Aaron said, “It kept healing him for 30 seconds before it ended.” he explained. I nodded, which lined up with my guess as well. I brought up my Status and assigned my statistic point to Spirit to improve the amount of essence I could store. The closer I could get to be able to cast two in a row, the better. I brought up my new Status to check it over now that the crisis seemed to be over, ignoring the rest of my team for a moment.
Eli - Lvl 3 Druid
Experience - 2/1000
Strength-5
Dexterity-5
Perception-4
Vitality-5
Spirit-7 (+1)
Willpower-6
Barkskin - Level 5\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 88\1600
Thornbolt - Level 2\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 288\400
Rejuvenation - Level 1\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 20\200
The experience was pretty good at 10 per cast, although the cost was extremely high. The first few levels would be quick as long as I switched my training from Barkskin to Rejuvenation, for now.
“E-Rank by the time the hordes arrive!” Gary finished saying as I focused back on the conversation.
“Without the need to take time off when someone gets injured, we could make it to A rank someday,” Gabrielle said with a wistful expression on her face. Zack coughed a few times and opened his eyes.
“Uhm... I’m alive?” he mumbled before he blinked a few times and glanced between us. I heard Aaron snort and before I knew it everyone was laughing. The extreme tension and stress we had all been feeling started falling away.
“Eli got a new skill, Zack. Rejuvenation.” Gabrielle informed him with a smile as we finished.
“But, rejuvenation? That sounds like a healing skill?” Zack looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. “Gods!” He used a hand to push himself to a seat and leaned back against his pack I pushed into place. He ran his hand across the three cuts that stretched across his torso, touching the scabs that looked weeks old.
“Should we camp here?” I asked as I looked around the room. On the far side of the chamber, there were still another 40 wargs slowly patrolling that section of the cave. Beside us was a tunnel that stretched downward for a few meters before disappearing.
“We’ll camp by the portal for now,” Gary pointed, “I don’t think the wargs will attack but that way we’ll have a way to retreat if necessary.” I got back to my feet and waited while Aaron helped Gary as Gabrielle helped Zack.
“We look like we’re coming back victorious after beating back the hordes,” Aaron joked. I was still using my new spear as a crutch, Aaron had an arm around Gary's back to take his weight and Zack was only able to take a few steps at a time before he needed a break.
“Did anyone else level?” I asked once we arrived back by the portal. We sat in a half-circle with our backs to the wall and leaned against our packs.
“Of course. I’m still trying to decide which skill to take next.” Gabrielle replied with a frown.
“I chose Haste,” Aaron said after a moment. He stood up and walked a few paces away from the group.
“Haste,” he cast and then sprinted towards the cave in the distance so fast that his legs appeared to be a blur. A few seconds after he started he slowed back down to his normal pace and jogged back towards us with a grin.
“Awesome!” Zack congratulated him and I shut my jaw with a click. When he used that in battle he would be able to send a dozen arrows in just a few seconds.
“Impale. I believe it focuses essence in my speartip, helping me pierce tough monsters like that beetle.” Gary said.
“Sounds helpful, I’m expecting more of those beetles to be at the end of this dungeon,” I replied.
Gabrielle stood up and pointed to a spot a few meters away from us with a look of concentration.
“Meteor,” she cast which caused a large sphere of flame to pool a few meters above her. I watched with eyes wide as the ball of flame grew until it was the size of my body. The meteor rushed down towards where she had pointed and impacted with a thud, the flames spreading a meter in each direction before disappearing.
“I chose the wrong class, gods!” Zack shouted, his eyes alight. I couldn’t help but feel jealous after I saw that display. I can’t imagine a regular human surviving that.
“Enhanced Physique. It’s a passive skill that gives me two vitality, strength, and dexterity. After I level this a few times I’ll be able to go punch for punch with those hobgoblins,” Zack bragged as he looked like he was already forgetting about his injury. I finally had enough essence for another cast, I realized.
“Rejuvenation.” I walked over to Zack and cast it on him for the third time. Immediately he started twitching back and forth and his face twisted into a grimace.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my eyebrows coming together as I watched him squirming on the ground.
“It itches! Everywhere! I thought you said this was a healing spell!” Zack shouted. His voice got more and more high-pitched the longer he talked and I laughed with Aaron. I looked up at Gabrielle rolling her eyes and saw Gary grinning as we watched.
“That was horrible! Just wait until he uses it on you, Gary. Let’s see how you deal with that when your foot feels like it itches inside your skin.” Zack complained with a hurt look, “Next time just let me die, I’m not built for that.” Despite his grumbling, he quickly got to his feet and started stretching to test his injury.
“I feel as if I was injured a couple of months ago, now. My chest still feels tight and sore but the pain is mostly gone,” he said after a few moments. I grinned and felt proud of my new capabilities. When I chose this class I was hoping for something that would make me useful to a team and allow me to grow. So far it’s been everything I wished for and more.