“Math test! Surprise quiz! Dad’s home! No one thinks you’re tough!”

The level three [Bully] literally broke into tears under Alissa’s sadness assault. Rek grinned as he swept into its open guard and shoved his sword through its neck. The creature sputtered; a final, maddened swing of its meaty arms aimed at his back. He made no attempt to dodge, allowing instead the tendrils of darkness that erupted from within his shadow to arrest the [Bully]’s final, desperate assault.

The creature groaned, its arms and legs locked up tight. Its last breath came out as a wet gurgle, and then it slackened, dead.

[ Level Earned! 4 >> 5 ]

[Spell Acquired: Blood Ink: Sabremaw]

Sabremaw? Rek grinned toothily. He hadn’t expected to be gifted access to a Blood Ink spell so early into his levelling curve. He tried to recall how long it'd taken him before he’d earned one in the other world.

Much longer, he remembered.

He supposed that it shouldn’t have been surprising. He hadn’t experienced even a quarter as much combat at these lower levels in the other world as he did now, and The System had recognized that change.

Good.

It meant that he could expect more combat-intensive spells from now on.

Rek pulled away his Goth Mask and wiped away a line of sweat from his eyes before he eyed his partner-in-crime. She’d earned her third level, and he didn’t doubt that it wouldn’t take her long to earn her fourth. The woman was faring better than he’d expected.

She didn’t have an all-too wide smile across her lips anymore, at least.

Nothing good laid down the path of muting one’s true feelings. A mental health professional should have recognized that. And she did. He hoped.

He plucked his pilfered phone from his backpack. The time read that it was approaching evening. It was hard to tell given that none of the classrooms had any windows, so phones and clocks were all they had to keep track of the day.

“Are you able to continue?” he asked Alissa.

The woman downed a quarter of her water bottle before she nodded. “Keep on keepin’ on.”

He liked the sound of that. The two immediately set off anew. Finding monsters to fight grew easier and easier the closer they inched towards the cafeteria, and it wasn’t long before they stumbled into a group of four level two [Nerds] chittering at things only the creatures understood. The two made quick work of the group, having prepared ear-plugs in advance to deal with the only threat the monsters possessed.

The encounter earned them a new item drop, a pair of overly thick glasses.

[ Nerd Glasses

Mundane

+2 PER ]

"I’m guessin’ that I get to keep these.” asked the woman as she slipped the pair on.

He shrugged. “Can’t wear glasses over mask. They’re yours.”

“Damn. They really do make my sight clearer. Heck, I feel like even my smell got better after putting them on. How does that work?”

“Plus two perception. Affects all your senses.”

“Wow, that’s pretty good. Though, on a scale of one to ten, how stupid do I look in these?”

Rek studied her face. The glasses made her eyes look twice as big, like two silvery saucers staring into his soul. He snickered. “Dumb.”

“That wasn’t on the scale.” grumbled the woman. “Whatever. We’re in the middle of the apocalypse, not a fashion show. I’ve got fuckin’ books taped to me for cryin’ out loud.”

Rek grinned. “Still dumb.”

Alissa chucked an eraser at his head. He dodged with ease.

“Y’know, why doesn’t our armour count as a System item? We made it, right. Or is that not what matters?”

“Items made by System count. Items made by a power, or skill count. Taping books to chest doesn’t count.”

Alissa hmm’d.

Their hunt continued anew afterwards, with a [Bully] and four [Wimps] falling to their efforts in quick succession, pushing them both closer to their next levels.

It was almost an hour later that Rek finally decided to call it quits. They weren’t exhausted yet, but it was never smart to train until you were dead on your feet unless in a safe, contained area. The two retreated to a classroom that they barricaded shut, and then enjoyed their well-earned peace in relative calm.

Alissa sat with her eyes shut, her focus lost to a meditative trance whilst Rek was occupied with his newest acquisition. Calling upon the Blood Ink, Rek was ready for the familiar sting as the magic drew on his own blood to power its magics. It didn’t take all too much, not with just the partial activation that he’d limited it to, but it still took enough for him to feel the slightest twinge of weakness take hold of his body.

Its due received, the spell called forth familiar lines of reddish-black patterns that came into being across his arms and legs, swirling and curling in scythe-like designs. Sabremaw was an offensively oriented pattern that called upon the primal speed and focus of the beast it represented.

As such, he could feel his legs grow lighter, and his arms fill with a surge of bestial strength. His focus grew keener, his senses narrowing with greater precision onto whatever he cared to perceive. But the changes weren’t just purely physical. Rek grimaced as the aggression of the sabremaw crept through his mind, pushing him to continue the hunt. To seek prey. To dominate.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Its influence was muted with some effort, and it was only then that Rek allowed the spell to fade away. He loosed a long breath. He would need to find a way to carry blood around from now on. Draining himself in the midst of combat seemed like an easy way to an early grave, no matter how worthwhile the gains were. Fortunately, the spell didn’t require that he sacrifice his own blood, and the dungeon abounded with volunteers aplenty for his needs.

A [Bully] would do fine, in fact. The aggression in their nature would sate the spell’s needs perfectly.

Adding a mental note to seek one out later, Rek returned his attention towards Alissa. The woman was no longer meditating, her eyes open and affixed firmly onto him.

“What?”

She said nothing for a few seconds, her gaze distant, before she seemed to finally find her voice. “Do you see spirits all the time?” she asked softly. “I mean, have you seen... others?”

Ah. Rek sighed. It was an altogether unsurprising topic for her to bring up, all things considered.

“Not all the time.” he replied. “My range is small. Not all dead things create spirits that linger either. Some ascend directly, and others take time to appear even if they linger. It depends.”

“So, you haven’t seen any other... students?”

“No.”

“Good. That’s good, right? We haven’t seen any bodies either. Any... any more bodies.”

“Not a sign. Dungeon will clean up bodies after a while.”

“It will? But...”

“She hadn’t been dead long enough. Bodies only stay if interacted with by something. A person, monster, or spell. Like that. Cut up monster parts to use for a power, or food, those parts won’t disappear, mhm. Understand?”

“Yeah, I guess so. So, she hadn’t died long before we arrived...” The woman went silent after that, though Rek didn’t need words to guess where her mind was going. He stared at her, and she stared back, a sad smile on her lips.

“I’m not going to blame myself, if that’s what you’re thinking. I know that we couldn’t have saved her when we hadn’t even known that she was there. I know that, logically. But...” Alissa sighed and leaned back; her eyes raised towards the ceiling. “... our feelings don’t really care for logic, do they?”

He supposed they didn’t. Rek said nothing more after that, and neither did Alissa.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Alissa stretched her arms before wincing. “I’m not built to sleep on the floor.” she grumbled as she rubbed at her back.

“Get used to it. Not queen at her palace.”

The woman gave him the stink-eye. “If I was, I’d fire you for disparaging your sovereign.” she grumbled under-breadth. Rek allowed a small smile to cross his lips as he stretched his own limbs. The two of them had rotated being on watch whilst the other slept, a precaution that Alissa had been the one to suggest, though he would’ve done it anyway. Barricaded room or not, there was no telling what tricks the dungeon could pull.

After inhaling a breakfast of chips, chocolates and water, the two set off to continue their steady march towards the cafeteria.

Slinking from room to room, they slaughtered the same variety of monsters they’d encountered thus far, and Rek eventually clawed his way towards his sixth level, and Alissa to her fourth. Rek also managed to gather a bottle full of [Bully] blood that he kept sealed tight and taped to his side. Alissa hadn’t asked any questions about it, though the woman clearly had been perturbed by the sight of it.

“Just shaman things.” he’d told her by way of explanation, though it hadn’t seemed to set her any more at ease, much to his amusement.

It was nearly a half hour into their journey that Rek signalled that they come to a stop.

There was a room ahead. One of dozens, but his senses picked up on something different about this one. His eyes narrowed; he gestured that danger lay ahead.

“I smell chemicals.” remarked Alissa quietly as they pressed against the hallway walls. “Wait. I know that smell. It’s paint.”

Rek nodded. Quietly, they crept forwards until they stood before the precipice and snuck a glance into the open room.

It was a large space, but it was no simple classroom, for once.

It was almost entirely covered in splotches of paint, for one. The colours were so varied and so bright that the space threatened to give him a headache from just the sight of it. And the smell was worse. The stink of art supplies hung thick in the air, intermixing into a noxious stench that brought tears to his eyes.

Alissa fared just as badly; her heightened perception punished by the room. She was forced to pluck off the glasses and step away from the doorway, her face flush as she sucked in deep breaths of fresh air and drank in the dull, muted colours.

Rek stayed on; his eyes narrowed as he studied the contents of the room. Monsters abounded in the form of level three [Art Students]: creatures that looked mostly human-like – though he did spy some alien varieties amongst the mix. He could’ve even mistaken them for ordinary people at a glance, if it weren’t for their common, defining feature. The oozing paint that covered them in large, randomly scattered patches. Each of the creatures dripped a different colour of paint, seemingly producing it themselves, and they ambled around the room in a slow, directionless horde at least a few dozen strong.

But they were green-named, so they were no direct threat. The being in the middle of the room, however, was a different story.

[ Art Teacher Lvl. 15 ]

It stood thrice as tall as the average man, and like its minions it was covered in an abundance of paint, though the teacher had no skin visible to the outside. Paint slathered every inch of it, a variety of different hues and shades, each more garish than the last, mixing and blending in and endless soup of colour. Its head took the rough shape of a human man, sporting a large afro and an easy-go-lucky smile across its paint-slathered lips. Its thick, dripping arms held a palette in one hand and a brush in the other, which it dipped into itself before flicking the paint onto the floor.

It would stare at the meaningless nothingness it created with a look of pride, before it mumbled something about a ‘happy tree’. It then continued to splatter paint every which way.

Rek grimaced. Artists. He’d never understood their ilk.

The monster was at least yellow-named, which to Rek spelled opportunity. He pulled away from the room to enjoy some clean air.

“Going inside?” It was a question. As much as he often took the lead, Alissa was his ally, and he didn’t want to push for this without her opinion.

To her credit, the counsellor didn’t argue against the option, though her expression made it evident that she wanted to. Instead, she covered her nose with the sleeve of her jacket before giving him the go-ahead.

Rek nodded and took the lead. “Don’t use powers on anything. Not unless no choice.”

“Got it.”

His mask on, his sword and magic at the ready, he cautiously slipped between the splotches of paint towards the creature. The [Art Students] paid no attention to them as they walked by. The room was quiet save for the drip of paint and the wet slap of their shoes against the floor.

Multi-coloured footsteps trailed their path as they meandered towards the massive creature at the room’s centre. Enraptured as it was by its act of creation, the monster was still quick to notice their approach. Its gaze honed in on them with such focus that it was an almost palpable sensation prickling against their skin. Rek stopped mid-stride, as did Alissa behind him.

“Wow. That is one happy monster. Like, pure joy levels of happy.” whispered Alissa, expertly looking away from the monster so as to not give it the idea that she might be addressing it.

Rek made note of the information as he calmly raised an arm into the air.

The monster appraised him, its blob-like face shifting and churning as the paint swirled in psychedelic patterns.

“New students!” it rumbled after a tense moment, its voice surprisingly soft despite its size. “How can I help you? Do you require art tips?”

“No. Just wondering if you had any tasks you needed a student’s help with?”

“Tasks?” The creature thought on that for a moment before it regarded him again.

“Why yes. I do have a little assignment for you. Would you be interested?”

[ Assignment Available:

Finish painting the unfinished portion of the Art Room.

Time Limit: 2 hours

Reward: Power Paint Bucket ]

Rek grinned. Bingo.