I brought up my status to get an overview. There have been a lot of changes recently.

Name: Marvin Omma Age: 24 Race: Human Level: 15 Sub Level 6 Class: Spectral Slayer 1/ Thief 14 Profession: Performer 6 Health: 510 Stamina: 510 Mana: 430 Strength: 27 Agility: 39 Dexterity: 42 Constitution: 24 Intelligence: 43 Wisdom: 31 Free Attribute Points: 5 Free Skill Points: 3 Skills Precision Throw 3 Quick Hands 3 Riding 8 Razors Edge 2 Detect Traps 8 Appraisal 5 Disarm Traps 5 Dodge 9 Stealth 9 Identify 7 Animal Care 4 Acrobatics 3 Light Armour 4 Sewing 5 Mana Manipulation 7 Grappling 4 Observant Eye 6 Free Runner 3 Thrust 7 Mana Control 9 Ambidextrous 2 Climb 6 Basic Blunt Weapons 2 Parry 3 Basic Axe 2 Steady Footing 2 Basic Longsword 2 Holy Strike 2 Create Dart 1 Steel Serpent 1 Medium Armour 1 Light Speed 1 Spectral Vision 1 Mastered Skills Basic Unarmed Combat 10/Max Throwing 10/Max Pickpocket 10/Max Lock Pick 10/Max Dash 10/Max Basic Small Blades 10/Max Clever Hands 10/Max Abilities Light Manipulation 7 Minor Regeneration 1 Spells Spark/Charm 4 Self-Clean/Charm 7 Self-Dry/Charm 4 Trim/Charm 5 Burning Light 3 Copy Image 4 Flash 6 Project Image 6 Animate Image 4 Cutting Light 1

The Spell seemed the easiest to understand. Cutting Light was an improvement on my Burning Light. It cut instead of burned. It was a very narrow beam and a very strong cutting ability. It cut all the way through the mud wall. It is only close-range and uses mana, but it is very strong. It will definitely cut bones. The range is only five meters from me. That will get further as the skill levels increase, but it is still effective against skeletons and undead.

Light Speed. It is a movement ability. It is an extremely fast movement ability that uses both stamina and mana. The further I travel, the more stamina and mana it uses. The cost will decrease with the skill levels, but it is awesome. It is also quite disorientating, as I am almost instantly somewhere else, but I will get used to that. I need both Steady Footing and the Sure-grip in my boots to stay on my feet, but I will learn to do that too.

The skill can be chained one after another, and for now, two meters is a good maximum distance. The limits of the skill are not in the skill but in the cost of using it. I can easily run myself dry of both stamina and mana.

It is also pretty devastating if I hit something while moving at Light Speed. I will have to be careful using it in battle. A weapon in the wrong place, and I could decapitate myself.

Well, those two are awesome. What is Spectral Vision? I activate the skill, and nothing happens. I kind of expected something to happen, and from the name, I expected it to enhance my vision somehow.

Wait, there seems to be something else—something I need to adjust. I experiment, and the area around me takes on a new tinge, some reddish and some blueish—just slightly. Then I look at my hand, which has quite a stronger red tinge. Am I looking at heat? Can I see if something is hotter than something else?

I use the charm Spark, and a small flame appears on my hand, blazing in my spectral vision. I am looking at heat. That is incredible. It is not costing me anything, either, like my Observant Eyes. I get excited. That is fantastic. I set a plank of wood on fire using Spark and moved back to get a sense of the range. The range seems to depend on the amount of heat differential. The hotter something is, the further I can see it, but the heat for something like the body heat from a Lynx is probably only visible at maybe five meters. Observant Eye is better than that for now, and the two seem to be able to work together. The sensitivity or range will probably improve as the skill levels.

Then I came back down to earth. Undead don’t have body heat, so it is useless for them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

There is another setting. I dialled it up one way, and if I put it all back to normal and then move it the other way, things get a bit weird. I look at my hand, and it looks like I am looking under the layer of skin. Is that possible? Am I seeing through the skin layer? I move to a wall. I think it is seeing through the layer. Rotten Timber is easier than the mud wall, so the material matters. The distance is short, but the closer I get, the further through it I can see. If I level this skill, will I eventually see through walls? This is awesome for a Thief.

What use is it for a Slayer? Sensing heat and, therefore, seeing through stealth and tracking people, I can see that it is useful for a Slayer. Too bad, who cares? My inner Thief is jumping for joy. My thief is ecstatic. I can see Cutting Light making short work of safes and locks and escaping at Light Speed.

That is exciting. I need to live and get out of here. I can make this work.

Wait, what are the levelling requirements for Spectral Slayer? 1000XP, Kill 100 enemies with weapons abilities and Level three Basic Weapons Skills to 5. Wow, that is a lot. A hundred enemies are not going to be a problem here, but the requirement for using a weapon and level weapon skills reinforces that this is not a Mage Class. This is a warrior class. I have Small Blades maxed out, so I need two more Basic Weapon Skills to get to Level 5. I am going to choose Longsword and Axe. Blunt Weapons is not my favourite.

I have wasted … no, not wasted, spent most of my time, and the Safe Zone has almost disappeared.

How am I going to handle ten archers and eight hounds? If I can draw them into the village, then that will limit the archer's sight lines. Will they come? If I were them I would play the waiting game and wait me out.

They could send the hounds in to try and flush me out. I can’t make a run for it against mounted archers. There is no hope. If it comes to a fight, I have to get close and very quickly.

I get out the two one-handed axes I have. These will be best against the Undead, and my Ambidextrous will manage it.

I allocate my attribute points to constitution, strength, agility, and intelligence, which gets two.

Now I wait to see what they do.

The safe zone disappeared, and I waited back from the gate by one of the timber buildings. I could see them through the broken gate. They just sat there and waited.

I waited.

They waited.

I waited.

They waited.

Hmmm. They had more patience than me. They are undead.

I might try sneaking out a gap in the wall to the side and see if I can sneak around them. Surely, my Stealth will do something to restrict whatever they sense with.

I backed off and worked my way to the side, and I manipulated the light as I went into full stealth mode. They didn’t use light to see but I might as well try anything.

Soon, I came in sight of the nearest archer, and a hound was also in sight. As soon as I was visible to them, the hound raised its bow and fired at me, totally disregarding the fact that I was in stealth at Level 9 and wrapped in light. The hound started towards me, and the next archer and hounds came around to fir as well. I stepped out of the line of arrows, but I was not going to fight undead hounds while dodging arrows, or at least not if I could help it. A third archer appeared, and there were three arrows at a time coming at me, and it was only going to get worse. I retreated back to the village, hoping to entice one of the hounds to follow. It didn’t.

Now what? When did they get smart? I went back to looking through the gate at them. This can’t last forever. If I don’t do something to break the siege, the trial is going to fuck me over in some way until I am dead. Probably more and more undead will arrive and I will have no chance.

How am I going to get out and keep moving? I need to keep moving. I am too vulnerable in one spot.

The absolute back of the village might be out of sight, but how will that help me? If I go out the back and run, I will soon be visible to the ones on the edge, and they will ride me down, and the hounds will come as well.

I can’t pretend to run with an image because that is not how they see. Will they even know there is an image there? Probably not. That is easily tested.

I move to the open gate, staying to the side. As soon as I am near the gate, four archers' heads turn to mine, and bows come up. That is interesting. That must be their sensing range. They don’t fire their arrows, so their sensing range must be longer than that of their bow range.

I create an image of myself, and it runs straight towards them. It is ignored.

What exactly are they sensing? They know the difference between me and the image. I can see heat now, so maybe they are sensing body heat? They don’t have body heat, so it doesn’t sound right to me. I am alive, and they are undead. It makes more sense that they are sensing my life force or maybe my mana. I throw a bit of wood out and burn it with Burning Light. That doesn't get their attention either. None of this seems to help me.

Question. Why are they not coming into the village? It can’t be the Trial is stopping them. The safe zone is gone, and the quest is gone. If the trial is stopping them, I would be able to lie down at the gate and go to sleep with no worries. I could stay here for weeks with the meat I looted from the quest. The Trial won’t allow that. The Trial wants to kill me.

Why? Are they waiting for something or someone? If that is the case, I need to be gone before then.

Do they have some sense of tactics? Do they see the wall and the village and know they will be at a disadvantage here?

Maybe it is both of those reasons? Or none?

I can’t think of any other reasons, and I need to be out of here before any reinforcements arrive. Therefore, I need to do something to change the tactical situation. I need to do something, so let’s try it.