Zeke was exhausted after yesterday. When he offered Mikella to rest and let him watch over, he spent half the time looking at his screen and experimenting on his Barrier Craft spell.
Then he heard some rusted metal clanking on the other side. Fearing that it was an attacker, he went in to check, only to find that it indeed was another Knight.
His mana pool was under half after his practice, so he had to fight the knight on his own with barely any Mana. Trying to wake up Mikella for help would only make things worse. Her deep sleep would only put her off and possibly endanger her life. He knew he wasn’t a morning person, so doing anything after waking up would’ve been a nightmare, and that included a battle to the death.
So he did his best. His axe work was abysmal compared to what Mikella can do with her sword thanks to Sword Mastery. But despite that he still managed, however the knight fighting him was annoying. He had a partisan, which worked like a spear and an axe altogether. Even though Zeke dodged a few strikes, the knight used the partisan more deftly than he expected, giving him some deep cuts.
Eventually, he managed to recover enough Mana to conjure a single barrier right before it swung. With enough force, he roared and slammed the axe down, decapitating it.
Rather than try to swing haphazardly, he decided to try and move only in ways to avoid wasting energy, allowing the knight to think he had an opening. That also revealed another quirk– they were alive and they knew how to fight, but without actual bodies they tended to have a difficult time adjusting to sudden changes.
Honestly, he could’ve done better. Still, the notification that dropped on him was enough to placate him.
> You have gained +1 VIT from your actions.
>
> You have gained +1 END from your actions.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your actions.
> Level up! You are now Level 4. You gain 2 free points (2 FP total).
> Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 VIT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
As usual, he put his free points into Spirit. He decided with Mikella that being a one-stat pony was bad, but considering how useful his barrier was and how expensive it is, he really didn’t have another choice.
Besides, without him even trying, his other essential attributes kept increasing, so he decided to keep up the pace for survival.
> Name: Zeke Parlow
> Race: Human
> Novice: Level 4
> STR: 6
> DEX: 7
> INT: 10
> SPI: 16
> VIT: 8
> END: 9
> Free Points: 2
>
> General Skills:
> Pain Resistance (U) Level 2
> Meditation (C) Level 1
> Mana Perception (U) Level 1
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Barrier Craft (R) Level 3
His Intelligence reached ten, and unlike with any physical stat, he felt… nothing. Not at first.
He did realize that his senses has gotten sharper. His thoughts felt clearer and slightly faster than before. He didn’t grow smarter, not enough to know how to get out of here alive with the others–he just felt less foggy than before.
But not even all the Intelligence in the world would help him when he found out that Clara was near him this whole time.
He was surprised to find out that she followed him out of fear of the two sisters being abandoned. While that only made him worry about the potential danger of her going off on her own, he couldn’t help but feel weak at the knees from her concern.
After they got back, Zeke took the chance to rest a little this time, knowing how the knights’ pathing system worked. After one finds them, it usually takes a while for another to show up. Perhaps another hour or so. What really surprised him is that the lights around them seemed to darken when they were resting, almost as if to reflect their exhaustion and made it easier to rest.
Or was it trying to dissuade them into thinking it was safe to rest, then have a knight go after them? If so, it almost worked and that made Zeke even more nervous.
So he tried to use his new skill he gained earlier, Meditation. When he tried, it was as though nothing could get to him anymore. But at the same time, he felt constrained–but in a good way.
He wasn’t sure how to explain, but his emotions were calm and his senses were even sharper than before. Even his mana that was still lagging started to recover gradually faster than normal. For about an hour or so, he continued meditating even though his mana was topped off by now, and even received a surprising notification from this.
> Meditation Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
Nice.
Eventually, Mikella woke up after that and allowed him a bit more rest, this time having her watch over him. He wasn’t concerned at all about what she might do to him.
What else can she do? It wasn’t as though he had any reason to be in danger. If anything, he was worried that they might leave him alone to fight for themselves.
When he woke up, however, that proved to be wrong. They eagerly waited for him to wake up, both Mikella and Clara. Clara surprised him the most, showing her face right in front of him the moment he woke up. He nearly looked aghast at the sudden face, showing a smile at him and yelling good morning.
He wasn’t used to this, but he replied the same. The trio then had a hearty breakfast filled with fruits and discussed what to do next.
What surprised him the most was that by the time Mikella woke up, she found that she leveled up.
“Seriously?” Zeke asked. “I was just fighting the knight yesterday while you were asleep. Oh, but don’t worry, I handled it well.”
“O-Oh, really?” Mikella asked, sounding surprised. “You should’ve told me!”
“I didn’t want to wake you up. And besides, it was just one knight anyway.”
“Zeke is strong,” Clara suddenly spoke up, adding to Zeke’s claim.
He worried whether Clara would add anything else, such as being there to watch the fight, but she just left it at that. Somehow that only bolstered his ego a bit, making him realize that he did take that knight down by himself.
Though if he was honest, it was still a pittance compared to what Mikella can do now.
On the other hand, Mikella didn’t seem surprised to hear that somehow. Instead, she nodded as the two discussed some more. Zeke got curious about her having that reaction, but decided to let it be. Perhaps Mikella just trusted Clara that much more.
“But how did you level up while you were away and asleep…?” Zeke added, not realizing that Mikella flinched at that. He stared at her, noticing her looking away.
“Y-Yeah…” Mikella said, somehow dampened.
He worried whether she thought that he was blaming her for receiving experience that didn’t belong to her, considering that she didn’t participate in the fight at all. He lifted his hand to her.
“H-Hey, I’m not blaming you or anything,” Zeke said in consolation. “Besides, this is great! This means that either of us can gain experience even without fighting.”
That also increased his suspicion as to why he received as many experience points as Mikella despite her doing the most effort to take knights down. The only thing he provided was barriers, after all. In terms of participation, Zeke was doing the least despite how useful his spell was.
So this meant that the two shared experience, somehow. Were they in a party together? If so, that would make sense as to why they share the equal amount of experience.
But since when were they part of the same party? By the time they woke up? Or was it when they started fighting and working together? If that was the case, it might make sense, but he figured the system would notify him if that was the case.
Either way, he tried dozens of ways to open up more menus, but somehow that didn’t seem possible. He tried opening his party menu, but nothing showed up.
He instead looked at his skill menu, showing his still Level 3 Barrier Craft. Even during that harsh battle, it didn’t level up. He expected it was going to take more than just fighting random Knights to level it up again, making it stronger and easier to cast.
This time, he made sure to keep a healthy supply of Mana and stopped training with his spell. He already has a good grasp of it, like using a tool he can conjure with his mind. He wanted to try and experiment farther, but the experience from yesterday reeled in his grinding mindset. This wasn’t a video game where he can just reliably rest up and fight again–he could seriously die if he keeps messing around with important resources like his Mana.
Worse yet, he would never forgive himself if his mistake ended up costing the girls’ lives. He assured himself that no amount of skill levels is worth an innocent life.
Mikella decided to focus more into her Strength and Dexterity with her free points. He asked about her Endurance or Vitality since her mental stats weren’t useful for the coming fights.
“I’d rather just hit them hard and fast and avoid wasting so much time. Besides, I got your barriers–wouldn’t it be better to work together to get out of here faster that way?”
Zeke nodded to that. Normally he preferred to fight by himself, so he would always base his game characters to handle solo battles. But this was real life–he was more than happy to support another person. All of a sudden, he didn’t care about his attribute distribution if it meant being useful to help themselves stay alive.
Funny how that works.
After discussing their future paths, the trio headed out to explore the rest of the castle.
Eventually, a few minutes down the line, they were met with more knights to fight. Thankfully, despite having to fight all two encounters on the way, they survived just fine, working together rather well. In return, they got themselves an extra longsword and axe, making them extra spares in case theirs get broken.
But this third time around, they met their match.
They faced three knights this time, each carrying a different weapon; and one held a bow with dozens of arrows inside a quiver by its hip. Zeke had to pay full attention to the archer while Mikella handled the other two knights.
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Of course, he also took a careful glance at Mikella as well, and when he saw her getting taken down a peg by the two knights carrying a warhammer and a studded club at her, Zeke put up a barrier to protect her from both attacks.
And that caused an arrow to slip by and puncture his right leg. He screamed from the red-hot pain, all the while Clara was hiding behind him. He panicked, thinking that the knight was aiming for Clara instead.
By the time he recovered from the shock of the pain, Mikella had already taken out the archer after taking care of the two knights. It goes to show just how reliable it is to have someone with high physical stats to take care of things while the mage was down.
“Zeke! Are you alright?!” Mikella screamed, running to Zeke after the final archer knight was down. He also noticed Clara running to him, tears in her eyes.
“Zeke… don’t die…!” Clara exclaimed, and Zeke couldn’t help but chuckle.
It was completely painful but despite that, he wasn’t as afraid as before. Judging how his body recovered, he can tell that he’ll survive even with a giant ass arrow sticking out of his knee.
How’d it go again? I was an adventurer like you ‘till I got an arrow to the knee. Wasn’t that some jargon about getting married?
The pain was getting to him. His mind was getting delirious before a shooting pain traveled up his leg all of a sudden, causing him to yelp and grunt out in pain.
He saw that Mikella, with the best of her knowledge, pulled the damn arrow out of his knee with enough force to leave a gaping hole behind.
“S-Sorry!” Mikella apologized, throwing the bloody arrow to the side and summoning the barrel full of colorful fruits, giving out a waterskin for him to drink. “Here, eat and recover.”
Zeke never once complained as he tore into the fruits, particularly the pears. While the blue apples were delicious, the strange pink pears had a succulent sweet taste with an added sourness that really delivered the punch. It helped his mind as he also activated Meditation, which thankfully can work while he wasn’t entirely focusing on it.
Several minutes passed as the wound finally closed up. No matter how much he often saw it, seeing a gaping wound close up like someone fast-forwarded a video was still too incredible and unbelievable.
The arrow was sharp. Looking at the discarded arrow now, he couldn’t believe it was inside him just now. The arrowtip alone was more than a few inches in height, and its width was just slightly below that amount.
And way more than the tip got into his knee. If his body was the same as before he got kidnapped here, he would’ve lost his leg by now.
“I’m so sorry,” Mikella took him out of his musings, a look of shame crossing her face. “I took too long and let that bastard hit you.”
“It’s fine,” Zeke shook his head. “I should’ve put up a barrier around me as soon as I put yours out.”
“But why don’t you put up two barriers? One for me and for you and Clara?” Mikella asked, tilting her head. “I was wondering about that for a while.”
“I actually can’t,” Zeke shook his head, surprising Mikella. “I tried to, but I don’t think I can make several barriers… at least not yet.”
“How’d you know?”
“I’m not sure…” Zeke tilted his head in thought. “It’s like I can tell with the skill sometimes. Unlike the general skills, Barrier Craft just sort of… tells me, I think? All I know is that it’s too soon to make more barriers. It’s actually taking a lot just to keep the one from not breaking after a while.”
“I see,” Mikella nodded. “That kinda sucks, but I guess not even magic can be overpowered.”
“Yeah,” Zeke frowned. “And it gives me a huge headache sometimes too.”
Whenever Zeke goes all out with his barriers, he feels his magic draining and his head aching. Thankfully it wasn't so bad that it distracts him in battle, but it’s mostly an inconvenience.”
“Yeah, I can’t handle headaches,” Mikella gestured while waving her hands. “You handle the magic stuff. I just stab things.”
“Sissy is best when she stabs things.”
Zeke almost flinched at Clara’s response, surprised by her intervention. He’s more surprised at what she said, actually.
“That I am,” Mikella said, puffing her chest out with pride. “And Clara, you’re doing a great job too.”
This time, Clara wilted as she looked down. “All I’m doing is hiding like a bitch…”
Zeke’s head hung back even more this time, unable to process the words of this ten year old girl. Mikella just chuckled as she knelt down to her level and brushed her hair.
“You’re not a bitch. You’re a kid that can’t even fight. You’re already doing such a great job of making sure to keep yourself safe. That way, Zeke and I can focus on fighting better. Right?”
“Y-Yeah,” Zeke nodded along. “And it doesn’t matter what happens to me–you keep away from the monsters until they’re all dead, okay?”
Clara nodded slowly at that, taking the words to heart. Zeke wondered if he took things too far with lecturing her sister, but Mikella just nodded in approval.
For once, he did a good thing as an adult. He mentally cheered in his head, no matter how sad that might be in others’ eyes.
Eventually the two went over to the suits of armor and collected the loot. After the bodies disappeared, they got their usual drops of weapons and armor pieces. This time, they even have a bow and a quiver filled with arrows.
“Calling it,” Mikella said, picking out the bow.
“Hey, it’s all yours,” Zeke raised his hands. But if you find a spell book, let me–”
His eyes widened, and suddenly he felt his skin crawl.
“Oh shit…” Zeke cursed. The trauma returned in full force.
“What’s wrong?” Mikella asked. When she turned to where he spotted the thing that made him pale, her eyes widened.
It was another heavy-looking tome–a Skill Book. This time, he could feel the mana emanating from the book. His Mana Perception made it easier to see exactly how the book was made up.
While the outside of the book remained the same as before, mana covered the book in a heavy layer of bluish tint. He felt the book’s cover, noticing that the mana just got wept up along the fingers, but then trailed itself back to the book.
He could tell at a glance. This book was packed with mana. More than his barrier ever could have, which was strange considering that his barrier was completely made up of mana.
“It’s… a skill book, right?” Mikella asked. Just like him, she looked slightly pale. Even Clara hid behind Mikella’s leg at the sight of it.
That made sense, considering it was the same type of book that made Zeke almost die after learning Barrier Craft. However, if it was truly a skill book, they have no other choice. It’s literal power right there, and all it took was a lot of pain to use it.
He picked it up, and even Mikella went forward to check. Though he did notice that she didn’t try to pick it up herself. Understandable, he thought, as he checked the notification.
> Skill Book: Acrobatics (Rare)
>
> You are only able to learn this skill after meeting the following requirements:
>
> DEX: 500—ERROR!
>
> Your Otherworlder state changed the requirements. Adjustments will be made.
>
> There are no requirements. You are able to learn the skill.
“Acrobatics…” Zeke said, tilting his head.
It didn’t sound like any skill he knew, at least as a form of attack or spell. However, he did realize that he could venture into the book like before, and his eyes widened.
His body felt more lively, nimbler, and stronger than before. He swore he could move faster and react better than anything else.
This wasn’t an attack skill or some spell–was it a buff? Or perhaps a passive skill? Either way, it made his body more physically fit.
And who better fits this skill more than his current teammate?”
“This is for you,” Zeke said, handing the book over to Mikella. He might as well shoved literal crap to her face as she backed up from him in shock.
“What? W-W-What do you mean?” She stuttered, clearly flustered.
“Oh, sorry, I…” Zeke grimaced. She probably thought he wanted her to feel the same pain as he once did. “Just… check the book for yourself. You can feel how it works in your head, right?”
Mikella stared straight at him, and after a while slowly took the book for herself. After a few moments, her eyes widened in recognition.
“Yeah… this definitely feels like it would be perfect for me,” Mikella said. There was actual excitement in her tone. But that excitement quickly dissipated as she continued. “Ugh, but… to learn it means…”
“Look, you don’t have to learn it if you don’t want to,” Zeke said, trying to console her. “I just thought it would work out for you. But… if you don’t want to, you don’t have to force yourself.”
Zeke looked down at the book, and he assured himself.
“But I might have to myself.”
Her eyes widened at him. In other words, he would gladly learn the skill if it would make him a better fighter–even if it meant taking on another painful skill to learn.
He felt guilty, taking on another powerful sounding skill for himself. However, trying to force Mikella to undergo that terrible pain was too cruel to ask.
For a moment, Mikella considered this. She stared at the book hard as her eyes suddenly turned steely. She turned to him with a resolute look.
“No, I’ll do it. Your Barrier Craft saved my life dozens of times. There’s no way that this won’t help me in the future. Just… umm, get that barrel ready just in case.”
Zeke didn’t even have to wait for her as he already pulled out the barrel of fruits from his pack. Mikella paled again at the sight of the giant barrel, but turned to Zeke when he gazed back at her.
“I’ll make sure that Clara doesn’t see,” Zeke promised, grimacing as Mikella almost scrunched her face up in terror before nodding in thanks.
It took a while for Zeke to convince Clara to not see the next event that will occur. He also made sure to cover her ears to avoid terrifying the little girl as Mikella took the time to learn the skill.
Soon, the book started to glow in front of her. What happened next was exactly what Zeke feared.
“Aaaaaagh! Aaaagh!”
Her screams of pure pain exuded from the hallways, even making Zeke wanting to close his ears. The extreme volume of her voice was almost painful for him too, and he had to force Clara from not looking as he looked back himself to see the result.
Mikella was writhing on the ground, desperately clutching onto the barrel as she tried to pick up an apple from there. But the pain was filling every part of her body as she seemed to be locked up by the joints, unable to move.
Zeke panicked whether to let Clara get traumatized by seeing her sister in so much pain or to help Mikella eat her fill and recover. But thankfully, Mikella was made of sterner stuff as she eagerly ate the fruits from the barrel without hesitation.
Blood poured from her eyes, ears, and even from her mouth, making a horrifying visage to Zeke. Now he was glad that he made his choice. Clara did her best to do as Zeke said, but her trembling shoulders was proof that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop Clara from hearing her sister’s agony.
Eventually, a few minutes passed as the screaming slowly ceased, her blood creating a puddle on the ground. But thankfully she didn’t look worse for wear. Zeke immediately ran over to her, Clara following suit.
“Mikella!” Zeke shouted, noticing that Mikella was on the ground writhing and groaning. He gently picked her up by the torso, avoiding to touch anything personal as he dragged her face upwards for the two to see. “Mikella! You okay?!”
Mikella’s eyes were shut tight, unable to see. Slowly, she opened them, her eyelids rising to find almost clouded brown eyes looking back at him.
“Sissy! Sissy!” Clara shouted, finally bringing Mikella back to the world of the living as she focused herself. She immediately stood up, leaving Zeke to try and get another fruit just in case she needed it.
“How are you feeling?” Zeke asked, offering her the grape-like fruit. Despite eating quite a lot before, she greedily took the grapes, a strangely yellow color instead of the usual purple or green. She bit off everything, including the vines, its juicy interior sloshing over her lips and chin before answering.
“I’m…” Her voice was hoarse and almost dry, continuing to eat without really stopping. “I’m fine. I had Meditation on while I was eating…It was just… really, really, really painful…”
“I think yours was a lot worse than mine,” Zeke said, making a complicated face by the feel of it.
“Did… Did Clara see?” Mikella said, pointing to Clara who kept hugging her, hoping that it would make the pain go away. Mikella took it gladly, rubbing her shoulders and nestling to her sister.
“Nope, thankfully,” Zeke snorted. “Though I wish I did the same. I’m gonna have nightmares now.”
Despite it all, Mikella chuckled at that. It was nice to hear her laugh at his crude jokes, despite the situation. They needed a little relief every once in a while, especially after situations like this.
“So, did you learn it?” Zeke eventually asked, prompting Mikella to nod.
She made her own screen pop like before, then swerving it to his side. He looked over at the screen and read it.
> Acquired Skill learned: Acrobatics.
> Acrobatics (Rare), Level 1
> You can overcome your body’s limits. All physical stats (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Endurance) receive 1% increase each level. Stamina consumption decreases and overall balance increases.
“T-This is incredible,” Zeke said, his tone in awe. “A passive increase to your stats. This is considered totally broken in games!”
“Huh, really?” Mikella perked up at that. She still looked a bit off from learning the skill, which Zeke understood completely.
This skill was absolutely perfect for Mikella, being the physical fighter of the group. She’ll only get stronger and faster, even better when it also increases her Vitality and Endurance to keep her healthy and longer lasting.
Now that he thought about it, his Barrier Craft seemed perfectly suited for him as well, with him having a lot of Spirit in the first place. What’s more, thanks to his high Spirit, his Barrier proved to be much better suited for support rather than an attacking spell like a fireball or something.
Were the drops somehow coordinated to fit their natural attributes? Although that didn’t seem likely considering that if Zeke wanted to, he could’ve learned the skill himself. But this felt too tailored made for them.
Questions wracked his brain, none of them bringing a solution thanks to his lack of information. For now, the only thing he can do is to be thankful for this as this would help increase their survivability all the more.
But once they get strong enough, he’s gonna find out those answers, even if it might lead to something disastrous in the future. He can’t rest easily if he doesn’t.