His head was wracked in pain as he slid down the wall that held the strange contraption that raised the stone bridge from the lava below.
After that rock hit him on the head, that messed up his vision for a while. But he was able to conjure a barrier between himself and the rest of the rocks falling on top of him, able to reach the ledge in time.
At the time, his mind whirled from the pain, but there was only one thought in his mind–survive. Perhaps because of that hardened will, he was able to not just make a barrier over himself, but another barrier right below him to keep him steady enough to reach the ledge.
The barrier that protected him from the rocks instantly fell apart. It was too unstable to continue existing, but it did its job as the rocks avoided him entirely.
Looking back at the crossing now, it was a long distance between the chasm, so he took the time to study his wounds to see just how bad he was. He was already chomping on that pink pear he liked so much from the nearby barrel beside him. The soothing juices going down his throat enabled him to keep focus on his mind rather than the sheering pain.
Wounds were everywhere, especially the bites from those snakes. Thankfully, it wasn’t so bad because none of those snakes were venomous.
Then he realized something particularly interesting. Without even realizing, he was already using Meditation even while his eyes were open and gladly chewing on the pears. Now that he thought about it, he still had those blinking notifications blaring off for a while now. He subconsciously put them aside while he was running for his life.
Honestly, he was surprised he had enough mana to conjure two barriers. He figured the worst was about to happen, but surprisingly it wasn’t as bad as he expected. He just felt… empty.
His body was cold and shivering, on top of the blistering heat and the pain. His head was aching more than because of the rock that fell to his head.
The only reason why he could keep going were because the notifications were waiting for him. Excitement slowly rolled through his body, taking over the pain and the cold as he opened them up.
> Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 3.
>
> You have gained +1 VIT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
> Meditation Level Up! It is now Level 3.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
> Mana Perception Level Up! It is now Level 3.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 SPI from your skill.
> Barrier Craft Level Up! It is now Level 4.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
> You have gained +2 SPI from your skill.
> New Title available:
>
> Trailblazer:
> Your path will never be obstructed. Your will is strong and your spirit is unmatched.
>
> You have gained +2 VIT from your title.
> You have gained +2 END from your title.
>
> Title Skill attained: Onwards!
> Onwards! (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)
> Your steps will never falter as you continue on your path. Increase resistance against damage and debuff attacks by 1%.
All of a sudden the pain just went away. He could no longer function, his mind whirling at the possibilities his notifications just gave him.
That was a crap ton of skill levels gained all in one go. He wouldn’t complain about that, especially since his Barrier Craft got a level up again after a long time of being stuck at level 3.
However, receiving a Title was never something he imagined getting. It even gave him a Title skill, almost like a General Skill and an Acquired Skill. However, he felt that compared to the rest of his skills, his Title Skill was more distant than the rest. It was a passive increase just like Mikella’s Acrobatics, however, it only increased a measly one percent after everything he’s been through.
Maybe that one percent is actually impressive, but he’ll most likely forget this skill ever existed as time went on. However, opening up his status screen to look at the results made him aware that he won’t be forgetting this anytime soon.
Having more points to his preferred stats was definitely a bonus.
He just got a lot stronger. Or perhaps a lot tougher, considering that he gained mostly resource-based stat points and resistance type skills. He later opened up his status page, noticing the differences immediately.
> Name: Zeke Parlow (Trailblazer)
> Race: Human
> Novice: Level 6
> STR: 6
> DEX: 10
> INT: 16
> SPI: 20
> VIT: 13
> END: 13
> Free Points: 0
>
> General Skills:
> Pain Resistance (U) Level 3
> Meditation (C) Level 3
> Mana Perception (U) Level 3
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Barrier Craft (R) Level 4
>
> Title Skill:
> Onwards! (T), Level 1 (Maxed)
Having an entire new section open up in his status page was surprising, but not unwelcome.
But before he could delve further into his musings, he felt someone hugging him tightly, causing him to yell out in pain.
“Zeke!” A childish voice rang out. He finally noticed that Clara was hugging him tightly, her arms trying to wrap his body.
“Ah, Clara… hold on…” Zeke groaned, the small body causing most of his wounds to act up.
“Clara! Stop, you’re hurting him!”
Thankfully, Mikella came in time as she pulled the surprised Clara away, leaving Zeke to lay his head against the surprisingly comfortable stone wall. Clara apologized profusely, but Zeke smiled at her sincerity. Who could get mad at her for being glad he was okay?
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“Zeke, you look like shit,” Mikella said, nearly hissing at every part of his body when she gave him a look over. “But I’m glad that–Oh my god, Zeke! There’s still a snake on you!”
Zeke’s eyes popped wide open when Mikella forcefully dragged Clara away from him. He looked back down to see his body, only to see that there was a snake on him.
It was actually biting him on his lower left leg, thankfully away from where Clara hugged him on his right. The resilient snake continued to bite him, the fangs still piercing right on his leg.
He didn’t even realize that there was still a snake on him. Now that he saw it, the pain finally registered, though it was just a slight itch that he needed to scratch.
His first instinct was to grab the snake and toss it to the side–And that’s what he did. He grabbed the snake’s head and pulled the fangs out of his body. Then, he hurled the snake with every fiber of his Strength.
The snake flew straight over the ledge, hissing all the way to the lava below. A stream of black smoke trailed upwards from the now melted corpse.
“Fucking snakes…” He shivered before laying his head back down on the wall. He was certain he’s gonna start having a phobia of snakes from now on.
“Whoa…” Mikella uttered, sounding impressed somehow. “That was… pretty hardcore. Didn’t you feel any pain?”
Mikella finally approached him as Clara, no longer held by her, ran up to him with a worried look on her face. Zeke smiled back at the worried young girl, showing that he was fine.
“I… I gained a new title,” Zeke said. No matter how hoarse his voice was, it was still tingling with excitement. “I got plenty of new goodies to tell you about.”
…..
It took Zeke a while for his Meditation to recover his lost energy. Zeke was thankful of the reprieve as he still felt his body aching in several places despite his Pain Resistance leveling up.
Mikella was surprised to find that Zeke gained a new title along with some decent attribute increases.
“So we can get titles too now?” Mikella said, letting out a huff. “And a skill along with it. But seriously? Just one freaking percent? That doesn’t sound impressive, unless I’m missing something?”
“No, you’re right,” Zeke shook his head. “But I’m thankful for the stat boosts. And I guess having it around is better than nothing, right?”
“That’s true,” Mikella shook her head. “Still, you deserved more than that after the hell you’ve been through.”
She looked back at the chasm, her face riddled with unbridled frustration. She yelled. “How the hell are we supposed to go through that and survive?”
Zeke just pursed his lips. Now that he went through it, he knew it now–this castle was literally trying to kill them all. Shaking his head of the somber thoughts, he spoke aloud.
“Still, we gotta move forward,” Zeke said, angling his head over at the cavern near them. Just as he saw, it was a small cave-like entrance that was utterly dark inside. He could also feel the atmosphere inside cooling, which somehow made it clear that this place was a lot more unrealistic than they imagined, almost as though it was a very, very horrifying illusion.
“Zeke.”
He turned back to Mikella, worried whether she had given up the pursuit to get out of here after seeing what happened to him. However, he almost flinched when he saw her staring at him. Her eyes were like steel, unrelenting and determined.
“This time, let me be in front,” She said, her voice resolute. “I can’t let you hurt yourself like that anymore. From now on, I’ll do what I can to keep up with you. Okay?”
“...Y-Yeah,” Zeke slowly nodded, somehow unable to deny anything no matter what she said thanks to the look in her eyes. “I know you got my back.”
Those words that he spoke as though it was obvious made her smile back at him. It was a beaming smile, almost radiant even. She held out a hand to him which he took gladly.
The three headed inside with Mikella in front, the cave instantly helping them cool down despite literal lava still behind them.
Zeke did his best but he still limped to keep up, his legs sore from all the snake bites. Mikella slowed her pacing to keep up with him while Clara stayed and offered herself to keep him steady. He felt a little ashamed, but then gave himself a break as he tried to fill the silence with his discoveries.
With his mana recovering, he tried to experiment with the newly leveled Barrier Craft. It was revealed that he can finally conjure two barriers, and even some more at the cost of some more mana. He wasn’t intending on continuing to experiment as he just wanted to try out an inkling in his brain.
With this, he can keep a barrier around himself and Mikella now, providing extra defense. His Mana Perception leveling also improved his casting by leaps and bounds. Slowly, he felt like he could connect with his barrier, understanding its limits more than before.
“With all those skills, you’re really becoming like a mage,” Mikella said, shaking her head. “I wish you can at least have one attack spell or something. That would be useful by now.
“Tell me about it,” Zeke let out a tired breath. His body was still aching, seemingly without end despite an hour passing by. “But I think as long as you’re here, we’d make a pretty awesome duo. Not that this is gonna last long.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Mikella asked, turning back to him with her head tilted.
“Huh?” Zeke tilted his head back to her. He figured that as soon as they found a way out of here, they would figure out a way back home. At that point, is there a point to him sticking with them?
“Zeke…”
He turned his sight back to Clara putting her hand to his arm. He noticed her eyes softening as her next words hit him to his core.
“Are you going to leave us? Zeke, is that true?”
Zeke felt his heart twinge in guilt, almost breaking apart. It was like before when Clara thought he was leaving them. He already promised her that he wouldn’t, so if he said that they won’t be around forever, would she think that he’s breaking his promise?
He didn’t know what to say. What can you say to a child that still sees the world in black and white? He became someone important in her eyes, so if he left now…
“He’s not leaving, Clara. Don’t worry.”
Mikella smiled gently at Clara, leaving her to smile back and letting go of Zeke. She turned back to him, showing a look that was a mixture of understanding and expectancy.
“I’m sure Zeke will stay with us. Right?”
“Yeah,” He answered, not really thinking of the context behind it. “Of course. I’ll never leave you two.”
“See?” Mikella smiled again. Clara nodded, smiling in delight.
He kept walking along with them, trying to understand what just happened.
He was only saying that he wouldn’t be around and pestering them for the rest of their lives. Not that he thought of himself as a pest, but what kind of family would have a strange man being near them outside of this very strange and dangerous situation?
But somehow, the two girls now refused to leave him, or rather, they refused for him to leave them. He didn’t have a problem with that, but…
I feel like I just signed a contract without reading the fine print, Zeke thought.
Eventually, the three reached the end of the long and dark cavern, lit with the same light sources as before the lava chasm. However, these lights were blazing bright blue.
The air here felt cool, almost freezing. He knew his mana pool reached full so it wasn’t the lack of Mana that was making him feel a chill. Even worse, it’s the sort of chill that made him think he entered into someplace they shouldn’t be going.
They kept walking through another hallway filled with dense rocky stone for walls and the torches lighting their way.
Mikella had her sword in hand, but as a precaution, she also had a spear in the other. Thanks to her high Strength stat, she was able to keep up with handling both weapons at once, though it would be extremely useful had they found anything to help keep the sword holstered to her hip rather than just kept in her pack. It somehow required a lot more thought and effort to pull an item out of their packs than just pulling it out of a sheath by your hip like in the fantasy movies.
Zeke made sure to keep Clara at his back at all times. His barrier was the only shield they needed, and if he could, he would help out whenever Mikella got into a tight spot. But despite another hour of walking, there were no enemies in sight.
And the hallway just kept going forward, without turning to any other direction. Just moving forward with no end in sight.
They eventually found the end of the long hallway, getting the three to enter through the open area without hesitation. With everything that happened, they will no longer hold back on expecting the worst.
But what they saw was nothing like what they expected.
“Zeke…?” Mikella said, her mouth gaping wide. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Yeah,” Zeke said, nodding along. “I’m just as confused as you are.”
Just as they saw the lava caverns behind them, what they saw before them was massive piles of gold coins, gems and jewelry that seemed to cover the entirety of a room comparable to a giant warehouse.
Crystalline stalagmites jutted out of the ceilings and walls, proving that very same light from earlier in an azure glow deep within the crystal.
The room seemed to go on for miles somehow, unable to see the end. The three went forward with Clara stepping out to the front and exclaiming with a gasp.
“Treasure!” She screamed, and the two adults behind her couldn’t help but agree.