The atmosphere in the tavern tightened as the lizardman made his announcement. All the chatter and clatter came to a halt as the adventurers’ hands drifted to their weapons.

“Looks like a level one rift break—maybe a level two, definite maybe.”

The tension deflated and a number of voices called out.

“Bah, lead with that next time! Sheesh!”

“Anybody know any threes or twos to clear the rift? We could call the Sword for some rookies, but it might be hard to find noobs reckless enough to visit an unstable, unrated world like Black Mountain—”

“We’ve got a few ones with us today, actually.” Raiden spoke up, ”you lot wrap up your breakfasts and we’ll leave this little problem in their little hands.”

A round of cheers echoed through the tavern.

“Good luck Ones!”

“Knock’em dead, noobs!!”

“Our own chosen ones!”

“The trick is not dying!”

“The trick is not making a mess in your pants like Charles when the—”

“Kimberly! People are eating for Pharaoh’s sake!” One of the barmaids shouted.

Nearly as fast as the atmosphere had tightened, it relaxed again. The sounds of breakfasting began to fill the tavern—the clinking and scratching of silverware and the salty laughter of the adventurers.

Raiden approached the lizardman, waving for Edgar and Mirai to come with him. They glanced at each other and followed.

“I don’t think we’ve met. What’s your name, Mr….?”

“Shepard, Clive Shepard.”

Clive Shepard

* Race: [Lizardman]

* Level: 5

“So, up the road you say?”

“Aye, a bunch of monsters came shambling down the road just now. The town defenses are fine—obviously—but, level one or not, it's bad form to leave a rift broken too long! There’s a big patch of berries I’m tending that I’d hate to see trampled.”

“Absolutely, thanks for reporting it.”

Raiden thumbed over his shoulder at Mirai and Edgar. “This will be a perfect training exercise for the ones.”

Uncomfortable, Edgar gave a bashful wave, but Mirai slapped his hand down.

The lizardman shrugged. “Normally, I’d ask what the hell you two are doing out here—two hops from the edge of the Network!—but today I’m happy to see you, so I won’t! Kek kek kek.”

Edgar whispered to Mirai. “Why are we the only ones who can clear the rift? We’re the lowest level of anybody in here—the lowest level possible, in fact. It seems like literally anybody in here would be a better pick?”

She rolled her eyes. “The system lets you ‘punch up’ and enter rifts above your level, but not down… At least, not very far down.”

”What do you mean, not far?”

”It technically lets you punch down two levels, but with the way essence and rewards scale per level... just don’t.”

“Why two levels?”

“Why is the sky blue?”

Edgar raised an eyebrow. “Well actually, when sunlight reaches the top of the atmosphere, it gets scattered and—”

Mirai gawked at him. “Nevermind the sky being blue! It’s just that when it comes to the System, we don’t make the rules. No one knows why things are the way they are. We can guess, but we don’t know for sure. Maybe you can ask Pharaoh, since you two are apparently best buds.”

Edgar scratched his chin. “Not an awful idea. Maybe I will.”

Mirai shook her head.

Raiden thanked Clive and turned to Mira and Edgar. “Ready to go?”

“Yes.”

“I had a few slices of bacon left, actually…”

“Great, let’s go get those monsters,” Raiden’s eyes shimmered with excitement as he turned to leave, with Mirai on his tail and Edgar lagging behind, eyeing the crispy meat sitting primly on his plate. Unable to help himself, he grabbed the meat and threw it in his inventory.

***

The trio made their way through town, heading towards the uphill side of town where the trail led further up Black Mountain. The weather was just as dreary as it was the day before, but Edgar had a suspicion that it was always like this. Maybe a quirk of the weather patterns surrounding the mountain? Or maybe it was just magic. He had a feeling it was. It wasn’t malicious either, it just was. The town wasn’t very large, so it didn’t take long to reach the wall along the perimeter. One guard was standing atop the wall and another was standing at ground level by the gate, which was barred shut. The guard at the top of the wall held a bow at the ready, launching off shots occasionally.

“That’s right! Back in the ground, you bags of bones!” the archer called to no one in particular.

Raiden raised an eyebrow as they approached the guard on the ground. “Hello there, Mr. Ashford. Nothing to worry about over here, all the monsters we’ve seen so far are ones.”

“Not even one level two?” Raiden asked.

“Not even one two, sir,” the Archer up top called down.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Excellent! Would you two mind opening the gate enough for us to slip through? We’re going to use these monsters for a little morning exercise.”

The man unbarred the gate and held it open. “Have at ‘em.”

Raiden slipped through first. Mirai and Edgar followed. Once they were through, they could hear the thump of wood as the guard barred the gate once again.

The guard at the top of the wall put away his bow and gave them a thumbs up, sitting back in his chair to watch.

Turning towards the road, Edgar noticed Mirai already had her sword drawn, so Edgar flexed his claws, preparing for a fight. The monsters looked vaguely humanoid, but their bodies were thoroughly decomposed.

Monster: Skeleton

* Type: [Undead]

* Level: 1

Edgar grinned eagerly. “Undead? As in Zombie apocalypse?”

Mirai and Raiden both raised an eyebrow at him.

“Swords were always my weapon of choice for a zombie apocalypse, so kudos to you, Mirai, although I do think my sword fingers are technically a bit better.”

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Raiden looked to Mirai.

“No clue.”

“Well, seeing as these monsters are just some basic level one skeletons, I think we’ve managed to avoid an apocalypse… At least for today.”

Mirai glanced at Raiden as he tailed off.

Raiden shrugged. “Black Mountain is technically unstable and unrated. We could get a level thirty break tomorrow. There’s a reason everybody here is giving you looks.”

Mirai shivered.

Edgar cleared his throat. “Level thirty, you said? Ahem, as in three-zero? Just making sure I’m following…”

Raiden laid a hand on Edgar’s shoulder, shutting him up. “You sure have a lot of energy. Let's channel that.”

Ahead, the figures shambled up the path. On a second glance, Edgar could definitely see that the dangly bits were scraps of cloths and armor, not flesh. They were skeletons without a doubt. Not zombies. At least the fighting wouldn’t be so gross.

The skeletons didn’t seem particularly scary, although there were a fair number of them.

“Undead often have poisoned weapons or necrotic effects, so try to avoid taking damage. Use the fact that they are so slow and be thoughtful about positioning.”

Edgar nodded, stretching his legs. Mirai lowered into her fighting stance beside him.

“Let’s go,” Mirai said and they charged.

As soon as the first skeleton fell, he felt a small trickle of something. It was a little bit of warmth, as if a tiny ray of sunlight shined on the core of his being. It was so subtle that he ignored it at first, but the same thing happened with the second skeleton.

He caught Mirai’s eye. “Can you feel that?”

“The essence, yeah. My master told me it’d be like this, weird right?”

“It feels kinda nice…”

“If you think this feels good, wait until we fight some real baddies. Even for level one, these skeletons are weak… Less than one percent essence from three of these… sheesh”

Edgar glanced at his character screen. “Wait a minute, seventeen percent? Since when?”

“Oh, I’d been meaning to ask you how much you got from the Prince. That’s a lot. I only got a couple percent… for obvious reasons, I guess.”

Edgar closed the screen. “So, this is new for you too, then? Getting essence from monsters? I thought you’d be a pro at all this, you know, leveling stuff.”

“The system doesn’t let you start leveling until your sixteenth birthday. Mine was just last week. I had a rift picked out for grinding my first level too… bah!”

“Tsk… I bet it was Pharaoh.”

She glared at him. “You better not drag me into whatever troubles you’re having with the Emperor. You’re too casual about this whole thing.”

Raiden called out behind them. “Less yapping, more attacking!”

The skeletons fell one after the other. They didn’t seem terribly vulnerable to his claws, and he spent awhile using [Scratch] on one before realizing his [Tail Whip] attack did critical damage, blowing them apart. The attack could even take down a few at once, if they were close enough together.

In the back of his mind, something from the MMORPG he used to play clicked in his mind. Skeletons were a pretty common monster type in games and they were usually vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. They were also resistant to slashing and piercing damage, which would explain why [Scratch] wasn’t working.

Glancing over at Mirai, she was dancing around the skeletons with precise footwork, but her damage output seemed low and he could sense frustration building.

After defeating a cluster of skeletons, Edgar paused to pull up the details of his [Tail Whip] skill.

Skill: [Tail Whip]

* Strike a single target with your tail.

* Cost: Low stamina

* Cooldown: 3 seconds

* Level: 0

* Experience to unlock leveling: 46%

“Hmmm… nothing about damage types? Maybe it’s implied…”

Quickly dismissing the screen, he rejoined combat to help Mirai take down the last few skeletons. Raiden appeared next to them as Edgar retracted his claws and Mirai sheathed her sword, stomping angrily on one of the dead skeletons.

He gave her an appraising look. “What are you thinking, Mirai?”

“Skeletons suck,” Mirai shook her head. “I had to land at least six hits to take a single one down.”

Raiden scratched his chin. “Edgar was facing the same issue, but overcame it. What did you learn, Edgar?”

Mirai stared daggers at him.

As if he would know something about this world she didn’t already know? The chances of that were basically zero.

“Well, ahem, it seems like some of my skills are way more effective against the skeletons than others, basically.”

Raiden smiled. “I have three critical lessons that I hope you both carry with you for the rest of your lives. The first is, in any fight, look to know your opponent. Understand their strengths and weaknesses so that you can counter their strengths and use their weaknesses.”

Edgar and Mirai nodded. That was obvious enough.

Raiden bent down to pluck two bones from one of the skeletons. “The second lesson, closely related to the first, is that you need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses.”

Raiden flicked his wrist, faster than Edgar could see, throwing the two bones. One flew at Edgar, but he managed to move his head just enough to dodge the blow.

“What the? What was that for?”

Mirai had deflected the other bone with the back of her wrist. They glanced at each other.

“You both are fast. That’s a strength you can use against your opponents. On the flip side, neither of you are particularly strong or varied in your attack patterns. You also don’t have any advanced skills, plus, you have low health and stamina. It’s not your fault, of course. Everybody starts at level one…”

“Ahem, I feel like you should list a few more strengths,” Edgar interjected. “At least as many as the weaknesses.”

Raiden ignored him. “The first two lessons are about seeing and knowing, but that’s only the first step. The third lesson is to use this information to the greatest effect possible. Find ways to make your skills hit harder. Make battle plans—as a team—that multiply each other’s strengths.”

Raiden placed one hand on Edgar’s shoulder and on Mirai’s. “If you can do that, then you can do anything you set your minds to.”

Edgar smiled. “Like winning the Primes?”

Raiden smiled fiercely. “Exactly.”

Mirai glanced between Raiden and Edgar, palming her face.

“But you’re saying we have the same strengths and weaknesses. Doesn’t that mean we’re an awful team? How can we possibly multiply each other?... Sigh… Well, it’s been fun, Edgar, but Uncle Ray knows best. Maybe we should split up.”

~~~~~~~~~~

* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here