Torin dodged a swipe of an Aphids claw, skipping backwards as he nocked another arrow before burying it in the eye of the Anteros currently trying to kill his companions. The arrow didn’t kill it but the creature was blinded and distracted long enough for Anna to cleave one of its legs off at the joint. Too bad the damn thing had five more, but at least it was a lot less mobile now.

Their little thrown together team was badly matched for the new enemy. Anteros where the massive, building sized unholy combination of ants and rhinos. Long thick legs and a barrel body of thick muscle ending in a massive razor sharp horn resting above a pair of crushing mandibles, all covered in an armored exoskeleton.

The oversized insect would have been cinch for a mage to take down, but sadly mages were apparently a rare commodity. Despite having met eight people so far Torin hadn’t come across any mages. Torin’s new [Imbue] skill helped, letting him imbue his arrows with mana, but since it mostly increased the durability of his arrows it wasn’t a big help.

Torin ducked into a roll, dodging the leap of another Aphid. As it landed Sharptooth appeared, claws and teeth ripping into the Aphids rubbery skin before the wolfhound disappeared back into [Stealth]. Sharptooth had apparently managed to connect to the Realm of Shadows, boosting his sneaking skills to the level of near invisibility.

Leaving the Aphids to Sharptooth Torin focused back on the fight with the Anteros. Anna, the axe wielding Skirmisher, was currently working on cutting off another leg but not having much luck. The monster had managed to get rid of the arrow in its eye and had almost finished healing the damage. It was still mostly blind in that eye but it wouldn’t be for long.

Sprinting towards its blind spot Torin nocked an arrow and began imbuing a hundred points of mana into the arrow, letting his mana flow into the natural channels within the arrow. As Torin had discovered, everything in existence had natural mana channels spread throughout them. [Imbue] let Torin fill the channels in his arrows with mana, reinforcing their internal structure and giving the arrows an extra kick where the channels led to the open air.

With [Imbue] still being a relatively new skill and his arrows being basic quality it took Torin several seconds to imbue the arrow with twenty points of mana. As soon as he did he pulled his bowstring back into full draw and began aiming. Taking a moment to line up his shot Torin fired, the arrow streaking through the air to lodge into the Anteros’ short stubby throat.

Thanks to the arrow’s reinforcement and the weaker armor covering the Anteros’ throat the arrow managed to pierce completely through, the tip just barely poking through the skin while the fletching was just visible on the other side. The Anteros reared up in pain and tried to roar but all that came out was a strangled gurgle.

The wound was fatal. The Anteros’ own blood was currently flowing into its lungs and with the arrow stilllodged in its throat that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Sadly, the wound wasn’t immediately fatal, it would still take several minutes for the Anteros to die.

In the mean time, it went insane. Knowing its demise was imminent the Anteros was determined to kill the creatures that had hurt it, starting with the archer. Disregarding the pain, the wounds and the blood filling its lungs the Anteros charged at the loathsome archer, intent on crushing his pitiful body under its claws.

Torin had already started running as soon as he saw his arrow land. The sound of the Anteros charging after him vindicated his decision but if Torin was being honest then he would have rather looked stupid running from a dying monster that wasn’t charging after him.

Torin was a Ranger with a build emphasizing Agility, speed was his thing and he was good at it. Sadly, the Anteros was a Tier 2 monster that, while it was slow in most things, had a very fast charge. It meant that the massive monster reached Torin seven seconds after he began running, something that Torin had been expecting. The monsters speed was how it managed to take out Milandros, the warrior needing emergency healing from Darros after the Anteros’ horn tried to turn his insides out.

Torin took roughly twenty points of mana and released it under his feet while leaping towards his right. The technique, known as burst stepping, was a well known and well loved technique amongst the speedier fighters. Someone proficient with the technique could increase their speed almost double and could even use it to run through the sky.

Torin wasn’t proficient with it. He was getting there, but the control needed to keep the burst of mana from hurting his feet was beyond him for now. The sudden change in direction let him escape the Anteros’ charge but the backlash twisted his right ankle and broke two toes on his left foot. Rolling to his knees Torin nocked, pulled and released an arrow, taking only a moment to aim

The Anteros was skidding to a stop, attempting to turn around and continue its charge, when Torins arrow impacted the joint of its middle left leg. Its front left had already been chopped off by Anna so when Torins arrow impacted the Anteros buckled and collapsed, its left over momentum turning that into a roll.

By the time it managed to get up Milandros was back in the fight and Darros was tending to Torin’s feet. Milandros leaped and bashed the unsteady monster, sending it crashing back to the ground. After that he simply started wailing on the monster with his sword. Milandros wasn’t doing much damage, the armored exoskeleton shrugged off his blows with ease, but after his brush with death Milandros really needed some catharsis.

Torin left him to it. With two legs out of commission and a pissed off warrior wailing on it there was no way for the Anteros to regain its footing, lowering its threat rating from serious to annoying. Torin looked back to find Sharptooth grappling with a couple of Aphids, the slippery wolfhound darting in and out of the fight, nipping at legs and harrying them with quick slashes of his claws.

Nocking an arrow Torin imbued it with five points of mana, enough to reinforce it without wasting too much mana. With no way of getting more Torin had to be careful with his arrows. Once the arrow was imbued Torin let it loose, catching one of the Aphids in its soft belly. The soft skin burst, green blood pouring out in a small stream.

The Aphid collapsed in seconds, distracting the other with its demise. Seeing the opening Sharptooth darted in, leaping and latching onto its neck with his teeth before thrashing his head while ripping with all his claws. Sharptooth’s fur became drenched in green blood as the Aphid transformed from an oversized insect to an exploding bag of green blood.

Torin watched on in dismay. They were standing on a massive tree with not a lick of water in sight, how was he meant to get Sharptooth clean? Sharptooth’s collar would passively clean him but the enchantment was simple, there was no way it could handle a mess this big.

“Oh come on Sharptooth! How the Hel are you going to get clean?”

Sharptooth looked at him, cocking his head as it thought it over. Then, with a look that could only be described as wolfish, Sharptooth began to stalk towards Torin. Torin was confused for a second before his eyes widened.

“Oh, Hel no! Don’t you dare!”

The only effect Torins words had was that Sharptooth began to run. Torin immediately swiveled and broke into a sprint away from the wolfhound. Milandros, feeling much better after venting his shock onto the Anteros, turned around after hearing a commotion behind him. He was surprised to find Torin sprinting towards him, a wild look of fear in his eyes. Readying himself Milandros looked behind Torin, ready to fight whatever scared the Ranger like that.

He was shocked for a moment to find that instead of a monster there was a green wolfhound chasing the rogue. That moment of shock was enough for Torin to bolt past him and leap over the body of the Anteros. Connecting the dots took Milandros another moment, at which point it was already too late. Sharptooth tackled him as he was trying to turn and proceeded to rub himself all over the warrior, doing little to remove the green blood covering but doing plenty to cover the struggling human.

“Arrgh! Get off me you bloody mutt!”

Milandros finally managed to shove the deceptively heavy wolfhound off him and stood up, trying and failing to wipe the green blood off his armor. Torin had wandered back by that point, his guard still up in case Sharptooth tried to get him once again.

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“You bloody shit, this isn’t wiping off!” Milandros shouted at Sharptooth, who had the decency to look admonished, though the wagging tail portrayed his true feelings.

Turning to Torin he demanded “Get your bloody mutt in line.”

Torin shrugged. “He’s a wolfhound, he isn’t meant to be controlled. Besides, the green does wonders for your look, all that shiny metal just made you look like a noob. Now however, you look like you’ve bathed in the blood of your enemies.”

Milandros frowned and looked down at himself. “Huh.”

Torin clapped the man on his shoulder. “Trust me, woman love a man painted in the blood of his enemies.”

Milandros nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. All right, thanks. Try to warn me next time, okay?”

Anna and Darros watched the blatant manipulation with disapproving expressions, though neither bothered to point it out. If Milandros was foolish enough to fall for it then he deserved whatever came to him.

Torin nodded. “No worries, glad we cleared up the misunderstanding. Anyways, let’s go turn in that quest and get that there treasure!”

The mention of treasure sharpened everyone's gazes, apart from Sharptooth who didn’t care about the treasure.

Three hours earlier their ragtag group had come across a person sized squirrel. After facing several dozen Aphids a different kind of monster was appreciated but before they could do more than look eager the squirrel spoke. Identifying itself as a fragment of Yggdrasill’s caretaker Ratatösk it proceeded to give them a quest to hunt down and kill an Anteros. In exchange they would gain one of Yggdrasill’s treasures.

The four agreed, though Anna and Milandros wanted to first have a bout with Ratatösk to see if they could gain the treasures the old-fashioned way. The squirrel-like being then picked them up and proceeded to juggle them until they threw up. Seeing Ratatösk turn the warriors into helpless juggling instruments Torin decided to see if an arrow would do anything, only for the arrow to be caught in mid-air between Ratatösk’s teeth and then snapped in half.

Not wanting to waste any more arrows Torin and Darros dragged their dizzy companions away and off to find an Anteros. Amusingly, after three hours of searching it was the Anteros that found them, ambushing them whilst they were busy fighting Aphids.

Now that they had killed the Anteros the group were eager to return and get their hands on the treasure, if only to find out what it was. Ratatösk had been annoyingly vague on the details.

The journey back was much quicker and only took them an hour. When they had searched for the Anteros they had circled the branch to try and ensure they didn’t miss any, making their journey far longer than their linear distance would suggest. When they reached the squirrel they found him sitting on an exquisitely crafted wooden seat sipping tea out of a wooden cup and reading a book.

As they approached Ratatösk closed his book and stood up, both the book and the cup disappearing as if they were never there.

“Ah, greetings! I see you have managed to return safe and …” Ratatösk took in their appearances, especially that of Milandros and Sharptooth. “Ahem. Yes, you have returned safe, and victorious. It is good to see that you have prevailed against the Anteros. I was worried that it may be too much of a challenge, given your lack of magical assistance, but I can see that I my fretting was unnecessary. Well done indeed.”

“Now, for your rewards. As thanks for taking care of this pest and aiding my in taking care of Yggdrasill, I will award you each with a random combat skill stone.”

The group got excited. Skill stones were rare rewards found only in the higher end dungeons and combat related skill stones were even rarer. Skill stones could allow anyone to learn any skill as long as they had a general skill slot open.

Ratatösk reached out and his arm disappeared, likely accessing some kind of spacial inventory. “Right, for the Healer, let me see here. Ah, here we go, the [Mana Kite] skill! Oh dear, perhaps not the best for a healer, but one should always have a good attack spell or two at hand for emergencies.” Ratatösk pulled out a icosahedral stone made of pure crystal. Handing it to the uncertain looking healer the squirrel moved on.

“And for the ax wielding warrior, a [Weapon Recall] Skill. Oooh, a spot of good fortune there. Now you never need fear being disarmed.” Ratatösk handed the twenty sided orb to the happy looking warrior. Anna was already thinking of all the things she could do with the skill.

“Now, for the sword and shield warrior, let us see what we have for you.” Ratatösk rummaged around before pulling out another skill stone. “Oh bother, that is not what you want. I’m afraid yours is the [Drill Shot] skill, a rather nice skill for an archer or even a mage, but rather useless for a warrior I’m afraid. This is the danger with random selections, sometimes you end up with something rather useless to you. Cheer up though, perhaps your Ranger friend would trade his skill with yours? Speaking of, let us see what we can find for our Ranger friend shall we?”

Ratatösk began to rummage around in his storage space once again but was interrupted by Torin.

“Excuse me, Mr. Ratatösk sir, but could I perhaps exchange my random combat skill for a specific utility skill, a cleaning spell for instance?” Torin asked, gesturing to the still green Sharptooth.

Ratatösk paused in his rummaging and cocked his head to the side with a thoughtful look on his face. “Hmmm. Usually I would say no. The rules are the rules after all, and breaking them can be quite serious, but I do think the exchange is fair and balanced. Besides, I too know the trials of keeping ones fur clean on the battlefield, and I can commiserate with young Sharptooth here. Very well, let me see what I can do.”

With that Ratatösk continued rummaging, this time popping his head into the storage space as well. The group could still hear him muttering, a disconcerting thing coming from what looked like a wriggling headless body.

After a few seconds of wriggling and muttering Ratatösk pulled his head and arm back out saying “Ah, this should do nicely A decent cleaning spell, suitable for fur and skin alike, with no combat applications whatsoever. [Luxurious Cleanse], a rather frivolous spell utility wise but second to none when it comes to personal hygiene.”

Handing the skill stone to Torin Ratatösk addressed the group. “Congratulations on completing your first quest and gaining your first treasures. Now that this business has been sorted I will bid you farewell and good luck on the rest of your time here.” With that Ratatösk gave them a flourishing bow and dissolved into motes of light drifting off into the sky.

The group were mildly surprised at the exit but it was drop of water compared to the ocean of crazy they were surrounded with.

Torin broke the silence. “Alright, not sure about any of you but I’m going to use my skill stone asap.”

“Well, I sure as Hel ain’t, stupid bloody useless skill.” Milandros sighed. “Ah, never mind. Seems like skill stones will be common, I’ll trade this with an archer for something good later. Speaking of,” Milandros turned to Torin. “First person you use that skill on is me, as payment for not grabbing something I could switch with you.”

Torin cocked an eyebrow. “Okay, here’s all the things wrong with that. One, I never agreed to doing that plan, so I can’t be blamed for not following along. Two, just cause I want your skill doesn’t mean you’d want mine. I might have gotten a crappy mage skill like [Mana Kite], no offense Darros,” “None taken” “So you might not have wanted to make the switch anyways. Finally, I don’t think any of us wants to be anywhere near Sharptooth when that blood starts rotting. Can you imagine the smell?”

Everyone looked at the wolfhound who stared back at them, slowly dripping.

“Alright, I’ll give you that. Still, do you mind giving me a clean?” Milandros asked.

Torin smiled. “Of course. In fact, I’ll give everyone a clean, as often as they like, but in exchange I reserve the right to take first pick of rewards once.”

Anna, who wasn’t one for talking, looked at him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“Simple. At some point in the future when we’re receiving rewards I can call in my right to choose first among the available rewards, if it’s a choose who gets what scenario. If it’s like now where we each get given an individual reward then it doesn’t matter but if Ratatösk had pulled out five skill stones and told us to choose then I’d be able to choose first, though only the once. In exchange I provide free cleaning services from now until we leave. Bear in mind that this might never come up, Ratatösk might give out individual rewards all the time, in which case you get cleaning for free.”

Anna, Milandros and Darros looked at each other and after a few questioning looks and some non-committal shrugs Milandros looked at Torin. “Deal.”

“Great. Now, if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to go ahead and absorb this skill stone now.” Torin said.

Torin held the stone in both hands and focused on it, getting a prompt from the system asking him if he wanted to absorb the skill. Nodding his assent the stone burst in a flash of light, turning into streams of mana that streamed through his eyes and into his mind.

Torin was just busy going over the details of the spell when a voice called out from afar.

“Hey, Torin! Long time no see!”