Peacock almost forgot the danger he was in until he hit the gravel on the other side of the bridge. The tiny pebbles which made up the path between two mountains were uncomfortable on his unprotected hands and feet. More than that, a gravel path meant a used one.

He flattened against the ground. Of course, idiot. Why would there be a bridge if there wasn’t anyone to use it?

A quick scan showed nothing nearby, but the forested, mountainous terrain meant Peacock could only see a short distance in any direction. His stomach churned.

He knew little about the other races, but everything he’d learned from dragons wasn’t good. Dragons felt more like villains in fairytales, or the end bosses in games, which left a very good chance every other race was out to kill them.

Peacock’s sense of freedom withered. No. He shook his head. I’m not here to make friends, anyway. Who cares if everyone’s hunting me? Just more reason to get as strong as I can as fast as possible.

Everything in the wasteland hadn’t had a level or name tag. In his experience, that meant the mobs were far higher in level than he was. If the patterns of games held true in Rebirth worlds, then the areas surrounding the wasteland wouldn’t be much lower. Or higher, a small voice said. While true, Peacock couldn’t imagine Zenith Flight taking up residence anywhere but the toughest spot in the world. Just like end-game bosses.

He stayed low, crawling along the path until he neared the first rise. If there was something on the other side, poking his colorful head over would be a bad idea, sneaking or not. Peacock sidled into the trees on his right, flinching as fallen leaves crunched under him. Thankfully, there weren’t many.

The trees, reminiscent of pine, fir and broad-leafed oak, were all in full, green growth. If the world had seasons, it definitely wasn’t autumn. Still, the crunching under Peacock’s steps echoed in his ears.

He shimmied to the top of the rise. The path dipped down for what seemed like a mile, ending in a large, flat and oval clearing. The sides of the mountains shot out of the ground at the clearing’s edge, proof that it had been carved out, if the spiked outpost wall twice Peacock’s height didn’t make it obvious.

The wall stretched across the center of the clearing; its logs lashed together in a perfect symmetry Peacock had only seen in games. More logs lined the top and bottom of the wall, their tips sharpened and pointing out. Equally symmetric towers stood behind the wall at its left, right, and center.

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Heavily armored and armed Rebirths with various animal features milled around the inside and outside of the outpost. None of them looked friendly.

Alarms went off in Peacock’s head.

A bunch of angry Rebirths with a barricade right in front of the bridge leading into the land where Zenith Flight’s cave was. It took little imagination to guess what they were gearing up for. Probably an invasion, and probably involving dragons. Peacock doubted the Beastmen would welcome him, and since he was still level five, he had no chance in a face-to-face encounter. Although….

Peacock scooted back until the clearing was once again obscured from view, then pulled up his character sheet.

HEALTH: 108 ESSENCE: 108

AGILITY: 18 MANA: 23

STRENGTH: 28 FOCUS: 23

It had been ages since he’d looked at his UI. It hadn’t mattered. Thanks to Nex’s constant torture, he’d hit near-death at least once a day. All the xp he ever gleaned from ‘training’ disappeared by the end of training. Peacock flipped to his abilities tab and scanned down the list.

ATTACK ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (Magic/Fire) - Lv. 1

Fire element damage per second in a six-foot cone from the front. Slowly drains essence. Has a fifty percent chance to apply one stack of burn status for six seconds. Can stack ten times.

INNATE ABILITIES

Tracking - Lv. 1

Highlights nearby tracks of mobs and Rebirths of Lv. 1 or less. Can be channeled indefinitely. Cannot cast magic while tracking.

Stealth - Level 15

Makes user harder to detect while moving. A higher level equals more dampening. Casting and attacking breaks stealth for a short time.

Hide - Level 10

Makes user impossible to detect while holding still. Hiding in or behind an object reduces discovery chance. Movement breaks hide for a short time. Cannot be used while moving.

Peacock grinned as he saw the levels on his new abilities, then frowned as he read the descriptions. Equals more dampening? Breaks for a short time? Not terribly helpful.

All he could glean from the description was he could hide until he couldn’t. Grand. The levels were interesting, though. He hadn’t realized ability levels could outstrip his character level. If there were no link between the two, he could max out his stealth abilities without killing a thing.

Even more interesting, all of his levels in hide and most in stealth had come from his trek across the wastelands. It seemed power-leveling was alive and well in M and M. He could use that, but not here.

Peacock closed his UI and glanced at the sharp rise on either side of him. The clearing was a no-go, so was going back into the wastelands. That left scaling one of the mountains. After days without proper food and sleep, both looked torturous, but the left’s climb looked less steep. Not the best method of choosing, but it would have to do. With any luck, there wouldn’t be a massive bear or something waiting to rip him apart. He could hope.