The wizard seemingly amused himself shooting the horrific chaining fireballs at her, each preceded by a chill that left her limbs trembling like a leaf as she sluggishly stepped out of the way. The last one even singed her hair, and Alex was grateful that she had only had to suffer through six of the shots.

Even that short session had its benefits though, as Alex noted when a simple '+1 AP' notification flickered through her mind once the wizard fired off the sixth spell. The power instantly sank into her blood before she even had a chance to think about it. She caught the dwarf looking at her oddly in the same moment, but for the time being she was merely glad that the miniscule boost to her endurance eliminated the niggling pains in her ankles.

After that, they handed her a grey crystal called a Technique Catalyst, and the the orc and the male elf went to the side to discuss, leaving Alex with the dwarf and the female elf. Those two looked at each for a bit, then the dwarf approached.

"Ok. So! Technique Catalysts come in three grades: Grey, Azure, and Prismatic. Grey is all you can use right now, since an Azure catalyst would overpower your ah... Existence. Which you can think of as a sort of hidden stat. Now, before we start, I must be impolite and ask - do you have any partially unlocked techniques?"

Alex considered the pair, and whether lying was worth it. Not for long - the wizard had proved he could wipe her from the face of the world if he wanted and his companions all claimed to be the same rank as him, or some such thing.

"I have made progress on unlocking a sprinting technique." She stiffly responded, putting some more weight on her spear. It was still taking her a lot of effort to keep herself from ending the two adventurers who were in her range.

The dwarf winced and opened his mouth, but Alex interrupted him before he could continue his spiel. "Why do I want to kill you?"

He paused. "Ah, there's an antipathy principle between the different Factions, Integrators, Monsters, Citizens and Origins. Monsters hate Citizens, Integrators hate Origins and vice versa. At lower levels of existence it all expresses itself violently. The only reason you're not wildly lashing out at us is because of how far out of your league we are. On top of that is your spear technique. It is obviously much more prestigious than your own existence, so the instinctive knowledge that comes with its passive form is probably putting you under quite a bit of mental strain."

"And my partner was hurling fireballs at you" The female elf added drily.

"Quite" The dwarf said. "Now, not to keep up the bad news, but unfortunately [Sprinting] will interfere with [Walking], so you will have to cancel your progress with it. You can just think of abandoning it to the system but I must warn you..."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Alex hadn't quite finished listening to him when she had focused on [Sprinting] and thought of abandoning it.

She had dated a boy when she was thirteen, her first relationship. He had in retrospect been a bit of an ass(but then, who wasn't at that age) yet the inevitable breakup had left her a weeping mess for a week.

This did not feel dissimilar, like a hole had opened up inside her self, gnawing angrily away at all the brightness in the world.

She 'awoke' with a gasp from the odd nightmarish state she had found herself in, pangs of loss still clinging to her heart.

"Yes, that." The dwarf said, not unkindly. Alex shivered. "OK. So. Walking." The dwarf nodded. "And Killing Instinct. Walking is the one you need the catalyst for. Put in your mouth, and then crunch down on it, then walk in a cirlce."

The catalyst tasted horribly bitter for an instant before her mouth went numb.

Technique: [Walking] gained.

"OK" The dwarf clapped his hands together. "Killing Instinct has two purposes. One, it overrides your hesitance to kill things, if any, during a fight. And two, well. I'm sure you experienced that. Unlocking the technique is effectively down to visualisation and meditation on what it means to want to kill someone. That's the secret..." The dwarf trailed off, and glanced at the elven woman. "I'll leave you to it."

He walked off towards the other adventurers.

An awkward silence filled the air. Alex had to struggle to keep a rising wave of hysterics down as it dragged on. Abruptly, the elven woman looked up at the sky, frowning.

"Not much time, right..." she muttered. "OK. Divinity. What you and I use to complement our Techniques. Basically, spirits are hungry, limited beings. If you approach them the right way, or with the correct authority, they will do what you want, and that's... safe."

She peered at Alex. "What you did earlier was not safe, and I would caution you against it. At the same time, whatever it is you call on is aware of you now, and unlike the spirits of the land, these gods have an agenda."

Alex nodded, politely, unsure of the point the elf was making, which rapidly became clear to the other woman who rubbed her forehead. "Basically. Figure out what you called and who answered. Whichever god first answers your prayer has rights to your soul, which they can and will trade away if it suits them."

Ice filled her veins, and Alex could feel her stomach sinking. "I traded my soul? Just to destroy a shrine?" The woman nodded, hesitantly. "In a manner of speaking, it will go to whoever holds the right at the time of your death... The Gods would say you made it a real thing, but they're a bunch of narcissistic bastards anyway. Just find out who holds your soul."

Alex nodded, mutely, and kept her spear still. "Oh. One last thing. Get a Constitution Technique."

And then the elf simply turned, and vanished from her sight to appear next to the other adventurors. The orc had taken out an odd stone sphere, which flared to light. They were rapidly enveloped in a multicoloured sphere and hurtled towards the sky.

Alex watched until their faint trail of light had faded before tearing the rotten trees around her into dust.

Alexandra Johnson

Faction: Monster

Subfaction: Itinerant

Species: Human

Blood: 13(+3.9% Endurance, +13% Bloodline)

Bone: 10(+3% Tool Use, +10% Aura)

Flesh:10(+3% Technique Efficiency, +10% Regeneration)

Blessings: [Identify(Justice)]

Techniques: [Spear-Fishing][Walking]

Equipment Slots: [Weapon: Spear][Offhand: Tarnished Lantern]

Bloodline: First Serpent