The runes glowed on the hound’s bones as it charged. Its’ movement accelerated and it lunged for Edgar.
Activating [Acrobatics] and trusting his intuition for the skill and his new body, he jumped, twisting so that the hound passed underneath him. The tingle of the latent skill intensified, but remained dormant. Edgar landed wrong and was forced to roll onto his hands and knees, but crawled to his feet as the hound circled back towards him.
As the hound circled back around towards him, he could feel the skill run out. He scrambled to activate it again, but it was gray and lifeless—on cooldown.
Tsk, how could he have not learned the specs on [Acrobatics]? He only had so many skills and this was one of the ones he used regularly.
He scrambled to prepare a [Parry] in the last moment before the hound was on him.
Mirai must have sensed something, “Get it together, Edgar!”
Acting on instinct, he jumped again, using [Parry] to knock the hound’s bite downward and [Tail Whip] to do some damage, but mainly to propel himself away, out of biting range. The club of his tail caused a few cracks, but the monster barely flinched. It stalked him calmly, walking in a circle as the runes on its body recharged.
“Tougher than the other skelies…”
Paying close attention to his [Acrobatics] skill, he waited for it to recharge. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, it felt like forever. Reflexively, he opened his skill’s details screen.
Skill: [Acrobatics]
* Movement, flexibility, and the Player's awareness of their own body, are enhanced for a short time.
* Duration: 2 seconds
* Cost: 5 Stamina
* Cooldown: 10 seconds
* Level: 0
* Experience to unlock leveling: 66%
Ten seconds!? And it cost five stamina? He only had ten stamina total, so did that mean he’d only be able to use it once more? He knew his stamina recovered over time, but didn’t actually know how fast. It was probably safe to assume that letting his stamina hit zero would be real bad—especially during a fight. He dismissed the screen, just in time to notice the hound bearing down on him.
“Edgar, you idiot! Don’t read status screens in the middle of a fight!” Mirai shouted.
He reached for [Parry], but it was still on cool down. That left just [Scratch]. Blue light shined from his claws as he swiped at the dog at the last moment. His attack didn’t seem to do any damage, but it did make the dog’s bite miss. He danced away as the hound barreled past him.
Spotting the large rib cage embedded in the arena, an idea came to him and he ran towards it. He could hear the hound’s claws scratching against the floor as it turned towards him. He also didn’t miss the sound of crackling heat as its’ rune reached full charge and it reactivated its’ own movement ability.
[Scratch] was quick to come off cooldown though, and he activated this, using his claws to climb the bone up to the very top.
The hound jumped after him, but failed to climb up after him. Moments later, [Tail Whip] came off of cooldown and Edgar smiled as his hasty plan came together. To top it all off, the feeling of his latent skill surged within him.
You Have an Epiphany!
New Skill: [Leap]
Euphoric, he activated [Leap] and launched himself high into the air. The giant rib bone itself was about eight feet tall and his jump sent him soaring another eight feet upwards.
“Yahaaa!”
The sensation of flying through the air was incredible and he used his tail instinctively to balance his body midair, spinning himself to look down at the arena and the bone hound. He reached the pinnacle of his flight and hung for a moment, enjoying the view. Then, he began hurtling downward, straight at the hound. At the end of his descent, he unleashed [Tail Whip] and attacked with everything he had. The blow landed with crushing force and the Bone Hound’s body collapsed.
“Yaaaaa!” He shouted.
He could hear Mirai cheering from alongside the undead arena boss. The feeling of essence flowed through him and his eyes widened at the feeling. It was like defeating a whole mess of skeletons at once. Maybe ten, or even a couple more than ten.
He crouched to loot the Bone Hound and found ten [Bone] and a single skill shard for a skill called [Overdrive].
Item: [Skill Shard (Overdrive)]
* Player's speed is temporarily enhanced.
* Aspect: Fire
* Duration: 3 seconds
* Cost: 5 Mana
* Cooldown: 12 seconds
Item Actions:
* Use
It was awfully similar to his [Acrobatics] skill, except that it had the fire aspect and used mana instead of stamina. For now at least, he tucked it away in his inventory and walked back across the arena, climbing the steps to the spectator’s platform.
The undead frowned at him, “and I was just beginning to think I had you in the first round.”
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It gestured at the scoreboard and a check mark appeared on the scoreboard in his row for the first column.
“Two more to go,” he said, breathing heavily.
Mirai laid a hand on his shoulder, looking intense, “there are some things you just don’t do. You don’t look at your status screens mid fight. It’s not even some sort of adventuring wisdom, it’s just common sense! You’ve got to get your head on straight… You could have died… If I can’t trust you to keep yourself alive, you’re no good to me or anybody else in a party.”
Edgar shook her hand off, sufficiently scolded. “It was a mistake. It’s just all new to me. I’m the one that would have died, why are you so upset?”
“Because if you die, what do you think will happen to me? For all we know, I’d have to finish all your fights in the arena!”
Clink-clink-clink-clink, “That’s not a bad idea, actually… I’ll have to write it into the standard deal.”
“Ignore him,” she turned her focus back to Edgar. “I know it’s a lot. I can’t imagine… But you’ve got to adapt faster. Mistakes like that are the kind you only have to make once.”
He sighed, “you’re right… you’re right, of course. I will. I’m learning… You saw my slam though, right?”
She sighed with a half smile, “does your ego need fluffing after being scolded?”
Edgar blushed, “no, no… It’s just… I unlocked a new skill. That’s how I could jump so high.”
Mirai’s eyes widened and she grabbed his hands, “Oh, great Pharaoh, the latent skill! That’s incredible and it was related to your flipping and jumping after all. You’ve got a natural talent for acrobatics, it seems. Is that something to do with your past life?”
“I don’t think so. I wasn’t into gymnastics or martial arts or anything. I feel like I always had a decent awareness of my body though and that seems to be the key. One of my skills enhances that awareness too, which makes it feel pretty intuitive.”
“Is gymnastics some kind of aerial martial art?”
Ahem… The undead arena boss cleared his throat, “can we move along? The next opponent is ready for you, miss.”
Mirai sucked in a breath, looking determined and nodded.
The undead gestured towards the steps, “let me know when you are ready.”
“You’ve got this, Mirai. You’ve got more skill in your pinky finger than I’ve got in my whole body. If I can do it, you can definitely do it.”
She took a final breath and walked down the stairs and onto the arena.
Edgar sat on the edge of the small platform, as far from the undead as he could while keeping his extremities from hanging over the abyss below.
As Mirai prepared herself on the arena, stretching her limbs and twirling her rapier through complex maneuvers, Edgar glanced at his character details. His stamina and mana were already recovering, but it would take some time. He also pulled up his new skill.
Skill: [Leap]
* Make a single, enhanced jump.
* Cost: Low stamina
* Cooldown: 2 seconds
* Level: 0
* Experience to unlock leveling: 5%
He also made a point of pulling up the two skills he got from inside the first rift.
Skill: [Scratch]
* Attack a single target with your claws.
* Cost: Low stamina
* Cooldown: 2 seconds
* Level: 0
* Experience to unlock leveling: 36%
Skill: [Parry]
* Ward off attacks and mitigate skill damage.
* Cost: Low stamina
* Cooldown: 3 seconds
* Level: 0
* Experience to unlock leveling: 36%
“Did the bone hound drop essence or a skill shard?”
Edgar glanced over at the arena boss, wondering how much he should share, but he shrugged, “skill shard.”
Clink-clink-clink-clink, “interesting… have you used it?”
Edgar’s gaze lingered on the undead for a moment, realizing that revealing too much about his build would allow the arena boss to pick worse match-ups against him.
“Maybe… Maybe not.”
Tsk, “what’s the harm in sharing your skills with a bag of bones like me? If you tell me more… maybe I could choose more favorably.”
“For who, me or you?”
“Both of us! I can feel your soul yearning for calm, for stasis. I can tell that, not long ago, your life was peaceful, wasn’t it? Not so dangerous? I can hear it in the way she speaks to you. I can see it in your eyes. You’ve lost so much. Even now, the memories are fading—”
“Shut up!” A shout echoed through the cavern, rattling Edgar’s skull.
His attention snapped back to the arena where Mirai was pointing her sword at the undead, “NOT another word! Edgar, don’t let him get in your head! We’re in a rift. Don’t forget, this place was built to take us apart. He’s not your friend!”
Edgar shook his head, finding his eyes wet and his heart heavy. The memories of his past life were indeed fading. It felt almost as if his whole life had been a dream that he’d woken from. There was love in those memories and the warmth of that love was a candle he longed to keep alive, even as the wick came to a burnt end. He gingerly touched his forehead, trying to collect his emotions.
The undead smiled, shifting its attention to Mirai, “I take it you are ready?”
“Get on with it, you boner.”
“As you wish,” its voice boomed throughout the cavern. “I summon the bone turtle!”
The sound of cold wind rose again as a black tear formed and purple energy leaked out like sludge, globing together on the ground. It formed into the skeleton of a large tortoise. Glowing, blue runes were etched onto its shell and from the last fight, he knew the glowing runes meant skills. It turned to face Mirai, the hollows of its eyes locking onto her.
Monster: [Bone Turtle]
* Type: [Undead]
* Level: 1
Witnessing the rift and the undead's summon was enough to pull Edgar’s attention back to Mirai’s fight. She needed him. She had helped him in his own fight, after all, calling from the stands when he managed to distract himself. If there was any chance to pay her back, he had to take it. He wanted to be a teammate she could trust, one that made it more likely she’d survive, not less likely.
No. He needed to become that teammate. He didn’t have anyone else.
He steeled himself and finally found his focus. Down on the arena, Mirai also found her focus, exhaling and dropping into her fighting stance, her thin sword held at the ready, it’s blue-tinged steel glinting in the light of the brazers hanging around the arena.
The undead’s voice echoed out once more.
“Fight!”
~~~~~~~~~~
* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here