It had been an hour since seeing the quest. Neither John or I had expected anything to appear on our Slates yet we probably should've. The existence of a [System Shop], a physical location, baffled me. And to reward us [Points] too.

I groaned, leaning against the softest pile of snow I could rake up. My back and neck were still bruised and since there were no mirrors John was helpful enough to tell me it looked as bad as it felt. The area around our lookout was fairly quiet.

John rounded the corner from the main room of the outpost. "There." He whispered, patting the snow off his hands. "Hole's all sealed up. I sent Gibber out, see if he could spot anything."

"Good." I said shortly, the pain was returning to me with nothing to focus on.

I held the same card up to my eye. Willing more information on it, writing scrawled itself across the bottom neatly.

Group Tutorial Quest: [Against All Odds]

Quests are the main method in which the [System] bestows boons. A small armed force of tuskers threatens to wipe out your group, finishing the job that the environment couldn't. Survive their slaughter or slaughter them first.

Current Contribution: 9 Kills

Rewards: Nearest [System Shop] Location, [Points] based on contribution.

John must've seen the look on my face. "What's wrong?" He rose an eyebrow.

I blew out air. "Nothing. I got nine of them is all."

John cocked his head at me. "When did you manage that?" He said wide-eyed. "You were with me the whole time." He kept his voice down yet hit tone was anything but.

"I told you we had a lot trying to climb after us." I tried to shut out the memory. It came unbidden. I saw myself climbing the tree, remembering. "Three climbers in the throat. One mage. Four archers in the back." I snapped out of it, wondering where the last came from. "And maybe one of the ones below us just now."

"How?" He said.

"Regretfully. Painfully." I looked at him, realizing I was too lost in my thoughts to have given an actual answer. "My [Powers], sometimes its helpful."

"I've seen you with a weapon before, out of nowhere. You have something like mine?" He asked.

"I thought you said we should keep our [Powers] to ourselves."

"We've already almost died twice together in as many days. You've saved my life and kept me safe while unconscious earlier today. I can safely say we're past that." He shrugged. He looked at me for a moment, before speaking. "[Violet Shaping]. I can form things at will, sturdy and durable, and extremely lightweight. Perfect for any tool."

"I've got a bunch of random [Powers]." I said in response.

"Not exactly the description I was wanting."

"No, literally. A temporary random buff, weapon, and armor." I gestured to his armguards. "Those things were supposed to be temporary but another one of my [Powers] allowed me to [Gift] it to you and save your life."

John sat back, finding a spot against the tunnel wall. "So you've been getting lucky?" He asked in all seriousness. "That's why I'm alive right now?"

"Only fools get lucky, John." I recited one of my mantras. "The smart ones don't settle for lucky. They turn luck into fortune." I said smiling.

John chuckled. "You have a [Class]?" He asked. "Those seem fairly specialized. As much as random can be seen as specialized."

"No, just fortunate." I grinned. "You?"

"[Shaper]." John glanced at me. "Bumps the [Attributes] up that my [Power] relies on. [Willpower] and [Mind]."

I was curious. "What does a [Class] even do, besides that? Those abbreviations are [WIL] and [MND], right? I think I've seen those through the [System Shop] at least a few times."

"Hit the nail on the head." He nodded, crossing his arms. He spoke softly. "As for the [Class], well it gave me [Violet Shaping] for one. It raised my [Attributes]. I've also gotten [Perfect Imagery] and [Fortess Mind] after a few... events. They seemed underwhelming at first, but that [Perfect Imagery] allows me to do stuff like this."

He held out his hand and for once I was able to decide on the color. A violet deer, grazing on grass that fit his palm. A whole wooded clearing made of violet light. I saw motes of light that could've been butterflies, wind in the trees. And then I saw John's eyes simply staring in small delight as I did.

The whole image winked away as his hand fell to his side. "Translates to weapons." He said, forming a sword in his hand and an axe in the other. "As for [Fortess Mind]. It's as if my mind is my own, more than it had ever been. I wouldn't be far off the mark if I said it's what got me through most of the trauma." He said calmly. "It's definitely got me through all the blood."

I remembered John speaking of their deaths, seemingly all too at peace. He was sad and accepting and yes, there was grief in his words and his voice, but there was no denial. No wasted emotions on what couldn't be changed. He was... secure of himself. Sound.

Maybe there was a lesson there.

"I've got [Lottery], [Cheat], [Armor Roll], [Buff Roll], and [Weapon Roll]." I listed them off to John's gaping mouth.

"You're kidding. How many [Points] did you start with?" He shot off. "That's something like 20,000 [Points]!" His voice was a harsh whisper.

"I may have had a little [Gamble]." I said in way of answer. "The payout has been worth it so far, even if I'm learning how to best utilize what I have. But no, no [Class], just fortunate."

"What do they do?" John said incredulously. "I could guess, but still."

"[Lottery] is just that, and the rewards are permanent. My [Cloak of the Frozen Icicle] was the thing that got me through that first day. I would've froze to death otherwise." I pulled the cloak tighter over me. "It kept me from getting stabbed and bitten from one of those snowmen. It got me to you." I said. "[Cheat] tips the scales for my chance-based effects and was probably the only reason I lucked out so hard for the cloak. Not to mention the [Exquisite Ration] as well; that's going to sustain me for the next two weeks. The cooldowns for both of those are a whole day, so far as I've experimented."

John's mouth made an 'O'. His eye twitched. "A chance for something every day is pretty nice. No matter how small." He finally said. "Gives you some incentive to survive till tomorrow." He adjusted himself. "But [Cheat] seems powerful given your set of [Powers]. I'm not even going to try to understand what an [Exquisite Ration] is."

"[Cheat] is less powerful taking into account the temporary nature of my [Powers]." I explained.

"True." John said.

I looked at him amused wondering if his [Power] [Fortress Mind] might've come into play.

"As for the rest." I trailed off.

Buff: [Charismatic Wit]

A silver-dipped tongue and nimble mind allow words to flow easy. When talking your voice is rhythmic, easy to listen and more likable. Your ideas and suggestions are more easily received. Increased [CHA].

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Do you sense the silver on my tongue?" I tested, slowly. "The quick of my wit? The knowing, that, with a flick of my wrist, I could bear a weapon and armor full kit." I said the words with confidence that astonished me.

My voice sounded smoother than it ever had the right to be. It wasn't so much the words I spoke than the way I said them, the tone I used, and how each fit together like the most satisfying of jigsaw puzzles.

John tilted his head. "What is that?" He said, noticing the chime of my words. "Why are you talking like that?" 

"A buff, John. No need for unease." I spoke. "To speak clear, the words breezy and - here." I gestured to my hand.

Weapon: [Fasts Blade]

An inferior sword modeled after the legend of an [Animator]. A blade lined with ink whose strikes and cuts sink black ink into wounds. A weapon as much a quill, a tool of war as much as one of art. An animator brings his strokes to life.

"Woah." John whispered as the green light coalesced. "What is it?"

"A sword, a blade. Made with ink, squid splayed." I turned the blade over in my hand, noticing blank ink pushing at the edge like a ballpoint pen. "Random, fortune or not, and always the case. Appears in my hand; them, regardless of place."

"This is crazy." John sat back. The sword and axe he set aside turned to motes of light as they dispersed. "They're just yours to use?" I nodded.

He held [Fasts Blade] in his hand. Soulbound to me, I doubted it would work for him more than being a regular sword. I still wasn't sure to what extent a soulbound item lent itself to others, but perhaps that was worth testing.

"Try the blade, a single slice against the ice." I gestured. Mentally, I pushed against the soulbound nature and relaxed the item, allowing John to use its power.

John pointed the blade and scraped a single black line against the ice. "Ink." He spoke, unaware of my musings. "Why ink?"

"The blade of an [Animator]." I explained. "Ink to bring creatures to life, I think." Shrugging, I gave John my best guess.

He sat for a moment playing with the [Fasts Blade].

I felt [Charismatic Wit] vanish and following that, the blade in John's hand did as well. Breaking into shamrock mist. 

He stared at his hand for a moment."Right. Temporary." He said to himself, having been in the middle of drawing a crude circle on the wall. "And the [Armor Roll]?" He wondered looking at me.

"I've been wearing it." I said.

Armor: [Mesh Scale Armor]

A durable one-piece created from the hard scales of various beasts. The individual properties of each scale are unknown but each shares the same level of hardness and durability.

I pushed my cloak to the side and pulled my jacket up. It had attached itself over my shirt but under my jacket. The [Mesh Scale Armor] glinted a dull rainbow of colors. John had time to admire it for half a minute before it too dissolved into mist.

We had time to discuss our next move. Every now and then, we'd hear distant yelling. The tuskers, as I now knew them to be named from the quest description, were still on the attack. But the Northbounders rather than running, it looked like there was a skirmish going on. The Northbounders weren't staying in their same encampment, instead, they were spread out now, as heard by the various directions the sounds of fighting came from.

John and I being somewhat near the center of the conflict. 

We had gotten to talking about whether we were prepared to face anything.

"They are our group, apparently." John and I had moved into the main room of the outpost, speaking at normal volume here wouldn't leak out into the forest below. "It's a tutorial quest."

"What, like an introduction to the [System]?" 

"Seems like it." He scratched his beard, sitting on a lump of snow. "We did come in a group. Well, a good chunk of us came at around the same time. Within the month. "

"You want to kill them?" I said slowly.

"They want to kill us." He responded. "The way I see it, we were attacked first. You saw them waiting to ambush us. Did they look they had any regrets?"

I flashed back to the first tuskers I saw in with [Keen Eye] earlier. All I saw was cold determination. Their eyes were set, perhaps glinting with some hidden emotion. I took a page out of John's book; accepting things for what they were. This is was life or death, literally. Survival. Not the waiting game that was starvation, dehydration and shelter, this was immediate and present. Killers.

I closed my eyes smiling as I shook my head, the decision made. "That [Fortress Mind] really makes things easy for you doesn't it?"

John laughed lightly.

Our plan was simple. We'd wait here in the trees and pick off anyone we saw so long as we could do it stealthily and under the radar. This consisted of John necessarily widening our line of sight, meaning digging tunnels. With Gibber's help he was able to carve from the main room outward in another direction, covering more area from our central tree.

John and I silently moved between these two sections of tunnels eventually each settling on our own ends. I was in the northern tunnels, watching towards the Northbounder's camp, now devoid of steam and people. John was facing backward in the southern tunnels.

A snowball hit the entrance to my tunnel.

I got up sorely and moved to John, who had spotted something. He had a bow in his hand and his head was covered in snow, barely moving. Similarly, I put my hood on and carefully peered out of the viewing window.

This time there were only two warriors, bigger tuskers holding an axe and club each. They were doing a decent enough job of moving silently, using the trees to their advantage. I could only guess their intended direction, but from the way they were looking, I'd guess the Northbounder's had managed to hold a line. It seemed the general skirmish layout were the humans on my side and the tuskers on John's.

John nocked an arrow while I tried for a weapon and buff.

Weapon: [Ornate Greatsword]

A greatsword decorated with common jewels on its hilt. Its blade is whetted to near perfection, but the sharpening has left the blade thinner than normal.

Buff: [Greater Strength]

Power courses through your veins, delivering force to every part of your body. Lifting boulders and vanquishing your foes become as easy as swatting a fly. Greatly increased [STR].

The sword that most definitely was supposed to be two-handed, rested almost disconcertingly lightly in my hand. I looked at John quickly and shook my head. 

He unnocked his arrow and let them pass under us.

As the two warriors walked by untouched, they gave a short call backward and a small contingent of tuskers revealed themselves, walking into our view. Several of them were mages. I spotted the fireball throwing mage, blistered in the face, but leading nonetheless. He must've survived the scalding steam.

John looked at me and wiped away the imaginary sweat on his brow. There was no telling what would've happened if we had let loose a shot. 

They all passed under us within the minute.

Silently, we followed their procession from above, moving to the northern section of tunnel. They found the dead archers. Each one rummaged through the bodies of their fallen comrades and came up empty. Garth had taken it all earlier.

My [Ornate Greatsword], which I had left in the other tunnel, had just disappeared. How I knew that I wasn't so sure, but so began my cooldown. My [Greater Strength] followed suit, though that one was much easier to measure.

Blister, as I'd so aptly named him, came forth and laid his staff on their heads. He muttered some words and they were seething with rage. Then suddenly, all the tuskers were low to the ground. Blister had ordered them down after one of them had said something.

They peeked over the snowy ridge.

It was a handful of people, humans. They didn't look armed, but again, that was misleading. They didn't look scared either and I wasn't sure whether that was better or not. I saw John spot them too, he was right beside me.

I looked down, immediately concerned. I tapped John's shoulder and pointed.

The tusker, Blister, had fire swirling around his staff, partially liquifying the ridge, but hidden still. His words had a ringing hum to them that I wasn't entirely sure I was even hearing. Arcane fire, liquid, dripped down onto the snow starting a small hissing noise. It caught the attention of their targets.

The fireball expanded before John and I could even debate yelling a warning to the group. And it went flying, soaring through the trees and angling straight towards them.

Someone punched the fireball and it erupted into embers, broken fire. Someone punched the fireball. I blinked and John did the same, his bow and arrow ready again. 

Then there was chaos. Shouts filled the air, a contrast to the near silence John and I had been used to the past hour. The twang of bows, and screaming charges of the tuskers below us. The mage, Blister, yelling orders and throwing more roaring flames. Another threw balls of shadow that swirled like a vortex.

The humans yelled. I saw someone standing the way of every magical spell, countering each effect with his limbs. Where he sent the balls of magic, steam erupted, or snow exploded in darkness. Everyone else was on the attack. I was surprised to find two men charge the already advancing tuskers, enough surprise in their eagerness to halt them before they collided in a clash of bodies. Snow was thrown up, powdering the entire clearing.

Someone, a human, threw a glob of something sticky. It landed against a tusker and suddenly the air was only his screams. The acid burned through his fur and his flesh in moments, the smell wafted up to John and I and we tried not to gag.

The tuskers, meanwhile, were holed up right below us. Their artillery kept the humans from nearing, their warriors were scuffling off the side, managing the humans that tried to attack them. The archers below us were peppering any stragglers than decided they wanted to try something. It was a locked-down skirmish. The humans were losing.

I rolled again.

Buff: [Aura of the Eagle]

An aura surrounds you that affects allied entities. The piercing eye of the eagle sees all its prey. Increased perception of surroundings and hand-eye coordination. Increased [DEX] and [ACC].

Jackpot Weapon: [Phoso Shardbomb]!

A crystalline shard bomb that when primed, after five seconds will erupt into a violent explosion of crystal fragments. Crystal fragments will inflict [Phoso Sickness].

- Affliction: [Phoso Sickness] 

The innate properties of the phoso crystal absorbs lifeforce, consuming its host and proliferating across their body. The crystal must be removed before vital parts of the body are crystalized less the host become a permanent crystal fixture.

I didn't need eagle eyes to stare at the grenade in my hand. It was shaped like an apple, except covered in spiky shards. There was a section of it that my hand fit into, which was where it naturally formed. And there was an obvious piece of crystal shard I knew had to be broken off to prime the thing.

I stared at the tuskers below me, killing humans. Four archers spread out. Two on the ridge and two on opposite sides, shooting from the cover of tree trunks. Three mages including Blister who wasted no time throwing fire and shadow. Meanwhile, warriors struck down a man who faced him, clubbing his face in a mess of red pulp.

"John." I said, very carefully. I held up the thing in my hand. 

John found my eyes then naturally drifted to my raised hand. "Vak." He said quietly, understanding the form he saw. "Is that what I think it is?" He looked at the grenade and then down to the tuskers.

I pointed into the main room, away from the tunnel. John slowly got up, looked at me, and went. 

I broke off the crystal shard and dropped the [Phoso Shardbomb] straight down.

The sound I could only ever equate to a billion panes of shattering glass as I dove for the main room.