> Collin York broke the agreement and died. You earned 260 Experience points.
Cless wanted to ignore it. She wanted not to care. She wanted to curl in her corner of the cave and cry the world away. But a fact was, she did care. So she picked up herself from the ground, sucked on her tears and moved back to the entrance. She looked at Collin, at the corpse of Collin and her wish was to kick him. Scream at him. How much of an asshole can someone be? Enough to get killed by running his mouth, apparently.
"Back off. I'll try to raise him." She kicked the corpse. Probably broke a rib.
"Please," Lawrence asked. It seems the boy was crying too. Another one that cared for the asshole.
"Now that he died, he is no longer bound. I can't let my secrets out. If word gets that someone has an S-rank Skill, it will be hell. I will try to revivify him but there's a chance it won't work. And I will have to bind him so he can't run his mouth. But I have just the right thing. You three, I'll update your contracts as well so you don't die because you were mean to a girl."
Her callousness startled them.
"I'll do anything!" Lawrence pleaded.
"Fine. Maybe it'll work with you. In exchange for my resurrection services, Lawrence as the executor of Collin's estate will give away Collin's memories of Cless. Specific details about redacting items about this mission will be cleared with Collin himself. Do you agree, Lawrence?"
"I agree."
Her Skill didn't trigger. It seems Lawrence couldn't enter a binding contract on Collin's behalf. Maybe that was why people make wills, thought Cless.
"Next try. In exchange for revivifying Collin, all the human males present agree to hold Collin down and keep him from cursing at the caster until an agreement regarding redacting his memories and a personal compensation from Collin himself can be reached. They shall be compelled to obey if they try to refuse."
They agreed and Cless started to pray her spell.
"Revivify!"
Collin stirred as the gold light enveloped him. The wound where she kicked him healed and the boy gasped for air. Collin screamed.
"Gaaaa! What happened!" Collin was disoriented and started to thrash. The boys held him.
"Check your notifications. You died, asshole!" Cless told him.
Collin checked and was surprised and happy with what he saw.
"You stupid bitch! I'm free, I'm free!"
That was when eleven boys held him down. Lawrence shut Collin's mouth with his own hand.
"Collin. You died and I revived you. As you noticed, you are no longer bound by a contract with me. But I revived you. I demand compensation. If you don't agree, I'll just kill you again. Maybe. Shake your head if you understand."
Collin looked around and Lawrence told him.
"Just go with what she wants. You'll be free of her. Tell him what you want, Cless."
"First thing, I want to see your status. Grant me access to your status for nothing but your amusement at me looking at how awesome you are." She demanded, sarcastically.
Collin nodded.
> Name: Collin York
>
> Race: Human.
>
> Level: 7 ( 25,678 / 28,000 Exp )
>
> Class: Warrior 5 ( 14,025 / 15,000 Exp )
>
> Profession — Scout 2 (1,402 / 3,000 Exp)
>
> Base Stats — Strength: 16 — Agility: 13 — Health: 13 — Intellect: 8
>
> Available Status Points: 0
>
> Skills: [ Jester's Antics © ]
>
> Proficiencies — Math: 1 — Reading: 2 — Tracking: 5 — Forestry: 1 — Skinning: 2 — Herbalism: 2 — Negotiation: 3 — Long Blades: 5 — Short Blades: 2 — Unarmed: 4 — Spears: 6
> [ Jester's Antics © ]
>
> Grants the Jester proficiency in Taunt, Acrobatics, Tumble, Juggling, Carousing, and Joke-Telling equal to Level +5. Increase physical evasion rate by 25%.
Cless did a double-take. Collin's Skill was really interesting. Another thing she noticed was how high-ranked these boys' Skills were. Three of them had C-rank Skills and Lyle had a B-rank if he wasn't lying.
"Wow, that is some Skill. Six maxed-out proficiencies and a big boost to dodge. Congratulations. Too bad you're using it wrong." She stopped to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Time to make a deal. Here's what I want. You are going to give up all the memories you have of me. You can make up whatever story you want but you were never with Hector in that warehouse, to begin with. You never even noticed me in the church school. You were hired along with your friends to this expedition and you met me here. You didn't pay attention to me besides following my orders."
"That's it?" Lawrence asked.
"Yes. I don't want any of his Stats. In fact... Hey Collin, are you thinking of ever learning magic? Let him speak."
"I don't think so," Collin replied.
"Well, you have a Magic stat of ten doing nothing. Wanna trade three of each Strength, Agility, and Health for nine of your useless Magic stat?"
"You are giving me Stat points?" He asked, suspicious.
"Yes. Nine for Nine. A fair trade."
"Deal!"
The notification rang, Cless felt at the same time herself weaker and the magic flowing into her.
"Now, regarding the memory deal, what is going to be? Forgetfulness or death?"
"Only if you agree to never make any deals with me ever again."
"All of you, remember that Collin is now an outsider. Speaking of which, Joe, Allan, and Jimmy. Do you want the same deals as Collin? The Stat trade and the forgetfulness one? If you agree to forget about me, You won't be bound by anything but the Exp contract. Once it is done, you'll be free as well."
Joe and Allan agreed to trade stats. All three of them agreed to forget.
Once again the notifications sealed the deals with Cless' Skill. The four deserters shuddered and soon he blinked.
"Why are you guys holding me down?" Collin asked, confused.
"You ate a poisonous mushroom on a dare," Cless explained.
"That was dumb, dude!" Lawrence snickered and hugged a confused Collin.
Cless checked her status. Now she could cast revivify twice in a row. She even kept her two stat points unallocated. Who knows what she'd need?
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"Pack up camp. We need to hunt orcs and it is almost noon!" She turned to the werewolf, "Silverfang, can you find this cave again if we need it?"
"Yes. I know these woods."
"Good. Help me hide the weapons. We'll come back to get them later."
And she just lowered her Strength by nine points. She couldn't carry the weapons even if she wanted to. They moved some rocks to hide the stash.
The thirteen humans and one Lycan went on through the woods searching for Orc patrols. To their surprise, Collin started to act professionally, without refusing Cless' commands or snapping at her. He took the lead and searched for tracks. The first thing they noticed was that the orcs were also searching for them.
"There are several fresh tracks of Orcs going back and forth," He said. "They are looking for us. We will need to end our fights quickly or there's a chance for other patrols nearby to join in."
Cless pondered and decided. "Our ambush tactic won't work. It gives them too much time to call reinforcements. We are going to charge in as soon as we spot orcs. Protection only lasts a few minutes. We'll rely on Arnold to block most of them. Keep daggers ready to throw at the orcs as we charge."
It didn't take long to find a patrol. Cless started to shoot at their eyes as the boys and Silverfang charged. She moved forward to get a better shot and the melee started.
The first thing she noticed was that the composition of the patrol changed. Instead of ten or eleven orcs in leathers, there was now fifteen, the five additional orcs bigger and clad in metal armor. They also started to shout in their language, obviously calling in reinforcements. She aimed at them but they were wary of her and blocked her arrows. She did get two of them during the initial surprise and the odds were relatively even.
Until two bolts of dark magic flew from the undergrowth behind and at the sides of where the orcs were. Their mages obviously ducked into the bushes when they noticed the first signs of engagement. One of them missed Collin but the other hit Allan.
"Silverfang, chase and kill the mages!" Cless closed in, five meters behind the line of her comrades and chanted her spell.
"Hallow!"
The spell grew in range and the pulse of consecration reached the mages. They immediately started to burn and ran away in opposite directions. The werewolf bounded after them.
She kept shooting at the orcs' exposed vitals, mostly eye and neck whenever she had an opening. Lawrence was bashed down but Cless knew he couldn't suffer broken bones. There were only five orcs left. Two minutes later and they were dead. Cless stopped chanting and rushed to heal Allan and Lawrence.
Other orcs were coming. They had no time to loot the ones they killed. "Get my arrows whoever can. Silverfang! We are moving!" Cless shouted and they ran in the opposite direction. After hiding in a depression, they saw a patrol of orcs running past in the path they were using.
They didn't bat an eye in their direction. She thought it was strange but she remembered they were three days fighting without bathing. Right now, they were smelling like orc blood and gore, just like any other orc.
Silverfang could smell them though. Soon the werewolf arrived with two fetishes. He presented them to Cless saying, "The wands of the dark mages."
> For defeating 17 orcs, you earned 1,144 Class Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 14,476 Class Experience Points. You reached level 25. +1 stat point. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 1,800 Class Experience Points.
"Who leveled?" Cless asked.
Everyone but the three deserters still paying off the Exp contracts did. Collin, one of the lowest leveled ones, raised to eight. With the danger gone, Cless tended the wounds of her group. All of them had some sort of bruise or cut. They rested to recover stamina and left the depression to return to the path.
They walked through the woods hearing orcs shouting here and there. It was unnerving but maybe that was the idea. The orcs could comb the whole woods if they wanted.
"We need to start making it back to town," Shane suggested. "If the orcs get lucky or if we are pincered, it is going to be bad. We are getting too tired from fighting."
"Shh. There is one group coming!" Collin warned.
"Cless, don't stand behind and shoot," Lyle suggested. "Come with us and use Hallow earlier. Since you leveled and increased your Magic stat, it made a huge difference.
Cless readied stone arrows in the top of the quiver. They charged at the orc patrol. It had more armored orcs than the other. Cless shot on the run, accuracy hindered but it had the effect of forcing the orcs to defend the arrows. The melee engaged, Cless remained three paces behind them and used Hallow.
The mages hidden behind the bushes burned because of the holy ground before they could cast their magic. They fled but Silverfang decided to stay and help. At point-blank, Cless' arrows were deadly. With her own professions, she was shooting like an archer eight levels above hers. Her agility was lacking but against these orcs, it was enough. The Hallow spell added a ten-level gap between them and the orcs when you consider both the buff and debuff.
The combat efficiency of those that contracted the Stat point tradeoff with Cless was also noticeable. The unity and teamwork of the guild improved every battle. Gaps and openings of one were defended by the next group member. Shane and Silverfang kept on their free-roaming ways, dealing attacks of opportunity whenever one presented itself.
Combat ended without any serious injuries. Another group of orcs was coming. Cless had an idea.
"Leave everything and hide in those bushes. The orcs will try to loot the bodies we left here. We ambush the second group."
They hid and checked their notifications while staking out the next patrol. Cless healed some of the most wounded ones but spared magic power for the next combat.
> For defeating 14 orcs, you earned 990 Class Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 14,859 Class Experience Points. You reached level 26. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 1,250 Class Experience Points.
The next group of orcs came and as Cless predicted, started to loot the dead bodies. The scouts especially were trying to don the metal armor of the dead warriors. Their inner animosity struck and they started to fight for the armor while the warriors were bullying the weaker scouts.
Until two of the warriors sprouted arrows from their eye sockets and a dozen human warriors sprung from the undergrowth. Cless wasted no time as she chanted Hallow. The dark mages among this group and the others from the previous that were returning burst in holy flames. Chaos ensued and five scouts and another warrior were out due to ambushes when they were exposed with their armors in the way. Cless spared her metal-tipped arrows, shooting the stone ones. Ammunition was becoming a critical issue for her. Almost none of the scouts they found so far had arrows and those that did were bad.
The dark mages tried to flee the holy ground and this time went all in the same way. Silverfang pounced the group of four mages. Unable to properly defend themselves because they were on fire, the werewolf did quick work of them, rushing to join the melee. Arnold taunted the metal-clad warriors and used his shield to deflect their massive clubs. Outnumbered and surprised, the orcs were once again quickly dispatched.
"Anyone hurt?" Lyle and Martin got a Mending spell and the others gathered arrows and knives.
Another patrol of orcs came from the riverside. They heard a second one coming from the north and maybe a third one from the south. Three groups of orcs were too much.
"Run to the hills!" Cless shouted. It would take them deeper into orc territory, but it was that or facing thirty orcs with warriors.
They ran, leaving the bodies behind. It would mean armored scouts, but that was a problem for another moment. The greedy monsters stopped to loot the defeated groups and the party of humans halted to catch their breaths after hiding behind a boulder away from the beaten forest trail.
> For defeating 15 orcs, you earned 1,107 Class Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 16,614 Class Experience Points. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 900 Class Experience Points.
Two more orc groups and the deserters Exp contracts would be paid. Cless growth spurt would halt but all the boys would grow in levels.
The patrols somehow caught their trail and were coming. Without a choice, they decided to climb the hill. They went up a saddle between two tall hills and when they were at the top of the saddle a patrol from the forest side spotted them.
"Get that round boulder, let's bowl them down!" Lyle pointed at one roughly round and apparently loose stone.
Cless stood at the top of the saddle formation and started to rain down arrows upon the orcs. Climbing that hill was a hard exercise and the armored orcs slowed down the whole group. She saw the dark mages casting their dark bolts and she ducked back. Change of plans put Protection on everyone. She could do two targets with one casting now. She checked her remaining power, she could use Hallow and hope to have enough for a Revivify at the end of the combat.
The boys dislodged the boulder and rolled it over to the path, getting momentum and quickly sending it tumbling down. The orcs had enough time to react and duck out of the way but the boulder still caught four of them. The others lost their footing and slid down back to the foot of the hill. Cless returned to her spot and started to shoot at them, aiming carefully her shots. The others didn't stay idle either. They got stones they could carry in groups of two and tossed them down at the orcs.
Four orcs that survived retreated back into the treeline. The dark mages were nowhere to be seen. They cheered but quickly shut up when they heard their own voices bouncing back. Lesson learned and paid with three lives. Don't make unnecessary noise in enemy territory.
> For defeating 15 orcs, you earned 1,088 Class Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 16,983 Class Experience Points. You reached level 27. +1 Stat Point. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 600 Class Experience Points.
Cless checked her remaining ammo. Half quiver of good arrows, one and half a quiver of stone arrows. She was considering going down to get the arrows when the other two patrols that were chasing them showed up.
No choice but go deeper into the hills and away from home.
> Name: Cless (no surname)
>
> Race: Human.
>
> Level: 27 ( 363,550 / 378,000 Exp )
>
> Class: Cleric 25 (300,000 Exp / ** )
>
> Profession — Warmaster 11 (65,479 / 66,000 Exp) — Weaponmaster 11 (65,479 / 66,000 Exp)
>
> Base Stats — Strength: 17 — Agility: 17 [22] — Health: 27 — Intellect: 38 — Magic: 78
>
> Available Status Points: 3
>
> Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ], [ Giant's Stamina (E) ], [ Trick Shot (D) ], [ Dangersense ⦅C⦆ ], [ Nimble Step (D) ], [ Eat Anything ⦅C⦆ ],
> [ Elven Longevity ⦅C⦆ ], [ Tinker (D) ]
>
> Proficiencies:
>
> Appraisal — Status: 22
>
> Crafting — Crude Weapons: 5 — Arrows: 1
>
> Magic, Cleric
> — Mending: 25 (+1)— Detoxify: 16 — Light: 24 — Turn Undead: 4 — Blessing: 16 (+2) — Holy Bolt: 18 — Purify: 10 — Protection: 19 (+3)
> — Hallow: 25 (+1) — Flametongue: 1 — Cure: 1 — Uncurse: 1 — Banish: 1 — Heal: 1 — Warding: 1 — Revivify: 10 (+3)
>
> General — Prayer: 24 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 6 — Math: 3 — Reading: 8 — Forestry: 9 — Skinning: 7 — Herbalism: 3
>
> Social, general — Negotiation: 15 — Persuasion: 3 — Bluff: 6
>
> Social, martial — Leadership: 24 (+2) — Intimidation: 21 — Tactics: 23 (+3)
>
> Movement — Tumbling: 3
>
> Weapon — Long Blades: 18 — Short Blades: 2 — Unarmed: 11 — Archery: 26 (+3) — Spears: 3 — Maces: 22 — Staves: 4 — Axes: 9