"Hello, Aria, James," Mark shouted. "I'm with Theodore!"

It took a few moments for a woman to crawl through the hole and drop down. She grunted in pain as she hit the ground, but stayed her distance.

Mark's minions looted the bodies and found nothing of importance, not even a healing potion. These people were fodder. He could tell.

"Where's James?" he asked.

The woman hesitated to speak before glancing back up at the hole. "Very injured," she said. "He got hurt protecting me."

"Is he too injured to crawl out?"

She nodded. "Can you please help him? I have something here that will make it worth your while," she said, taking out a round object. "These people were chasing me because of it."

"Really? Hold on." Mark told her about what happened to Hector's team. "I thought they were attacking you to finish the job."

Aria frowned. "Yeah, something's not right." All they knew was that two separate teams of people attacked them at the same time. They shouldn't be linked together, especially given the distance, but Mark still felt something was off. He needed more information on the scope of the threat they were dealing with.

Now Mark needed to make a decision. "I have a potion from Theodore. Do you think it will be enough?"

Her eyes widened. "You do? That's great! You can drink three-quarters of it and give the rest to James," she said. "You'll still gain the stats, while he gets the healing." She then handed him the round orb in her hands.

"Are you sure about this?" Mark tried to Identify the object.

[???] - ???

Completely unknown. This thing was currently too far beyond his skill - which meant it was a higher level artifact than anything he had ever acquired.

"Yes. Have you seen Theodore's regular healing potions? They have gold specks because they're diluted versions," she said.

"Couldn't I still save my portion for later?"

"It's some kind of magic. The stuff that gives the stats sits near the top, while the healing is spread throughout. That's why the stat gain will only work if you drink it first."

Mark nodded. That did make sense. And with the artifact in his hands, it was worth a try.

Mark Winters - Level 16

Class: Mage (Common)

Stats

Strength: 6 -> 8

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 11

Vitality: 11 -> 12

Intelligence: 39

Wisdom: 9

His status screen changed once he downed three-quarters of the potion, just as she had said. Mark immediately stopped drinking and gave her the rest, but she shook her head.

"I still need to go find some food for us. Could you do me a favor and climb up for me?"

"Sure." Mark looked up the wall and found several spots where he could place his hands and feet. Inch by inch, he climbed up. Once he made it to the small hole, he pulled himself up and crawled inside. The potion had made him much stronger.

The burly man laid on his back, staring at the sky. His sword and shield never left his grip even though he was barely breathing. Once Mark stood over him and peered into his murky eyes, a silent snarl appeared on James' expression.

"Stop," Mark whispered. "Aria sent me to help you, James."

James paused after hearing their names. His grip slackened a little, and he turned his head to stare at the tunnel. That allowed Mark to take a look at his wounds.

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

To be frank, they were horrific. Burn scars marred most of his body, but they looked as if someone had applied them with their fingers. "Did she cauterize your wounds?" he asked.

James tried his best to nod, but his neck barely budged. The man moved his eyes up and down instead.

Mark understood what he meant and sighed. "You're a hero," he said. "Sacrificing your body just to buy you both some time. Good job." He took out the leftover potion and poured it down James' mouth. The man twitched, and fell asleep.

Mark took a look at his Sleepy Sap and decided to keep it for now. He might still need it for healing.

After jumping back down and easily absorbing the impact, he met up with Aria again and asked if she had anything else to trade with him. She shook her head though. "I have to stay and protect James. That woman will probably come back for us, and I want to leave before that happens."

"Hopefully, you can find healing before you have to face more of them," he said. "Or she goes and dies to Theodore."

A grim smile grew on her face. "I hope she burns," she spat. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you, too." After she returned to the hiding spot high up on the cave wall, Mark returned to the entrance of the cavern. His enhanced torch lit up most of the spots, and he was disappointed to find that not much edible food grew here, even with the sweet aroma. There was fruit, but the amount was lacking. He left it for Aria instead since he didn't need it.

Then Mark found a tunnel descending downwards like the other two he had seen before. He did find it weird that they hadn't managed to find a way up to the floor he had dropped down from. Was there really no way up to the surface?

He cast his doubts aside. Mark sent his minions down the tunnel and immediately found a large horned beetle, Level 13. Its blazing speed and strength rammed into the tower shield skeleton and sent it flying. But its movement completely stopped, allowing his skeleton warrior to dash in and cleave the monster open. Then a Magic Missile burst through its body for the kill.

Mark tried to use Raise Dead on the beetle's corpse, and it did drain his mana. But the reanimation consumed a lot more mana than he expected. Even more than a Level 15 skeleton leader with a skill. Knowing that something was wrong, Mark canceled the spell.

He found another beetle roaming around the tunnels perfect for another attempt at reanimation. This time, he made sure the body remained as intact as possible. His skeletons aimed for its weak points and successfully killed it without much damage, but that changed nothing about his inability to efficiently reanimate insects.

Though Mark had some guesses, Raise Dead's mana cost had a few other factors to it that he had yet to figure out. He needed to find a few living animals to test his hypothesis. For now, he knew humanoids were generally easier to control than undead creatures. Meanwhile, these insects were one of the least efficient.

Mark reached the end of the tunnel and heard the sound of rushing water again, closer than before. He looked around but the cave was too dark for him to see anything. So he stepped forwards and waved his torch, finding only darkness instead of a floor.

It was another ledge. Mark checked the walls next, and discovered dirt paths winding downwards on both his left and right. His current options were to either follow them, or return to the carnivorous vine and try killing it. Unfortunately, he lacked powerful ranged minions, or he would've done that already.

There was also the ruined castle. It was clearly an important location, considering that Theodore was willing to attack personally. The secrets inside were still ripe for him to take. At the very least, he could reanimate a few of the skeleton archers, and use them to kill the carnivorous vine. Then he'd be truly done with this floor.

Mark decided to do just that. But he first grabbed a small piece of beetle flesh and cooked it on his torch's flame. Though it tasted disgusting, he was surprised to find his stomach had no issues even after an hour had passed. That gave him an additional food source to consider, and so he pushed the various beetle corpses inside - six in total.

With Aria and James safe, Mark began running back to the pool to pick up the skeleton bodies scattered around. He reached it within an hour, much faster than he had expected. His higher physical stats were beginning to have a good effect.

Every time he picked up a body, he practiced using Inspect on it. Though each usage gave him no new information, he somehow felt more accomplished after each cast. Perhaps this was the best way to level up the skill in the tutorial.

After finishing up, Mark ignored the pool area and continued onwards to the third floor tunnel, soon reaching the stone battlements. Now, he had free reign to kill all the archers on top. He carried his goblin apprentice on his shoulders as it began to hurl flaming spheres.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 17!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 18!

This place was practically an experience farm. The skeletons, though inactive, were actually all still alive. Killing them in the right order gave experience like killing a massive horde, only without having to fight them all at the same time.

Once none remained standing, Mark pushed past the ruined gate and entered the castle again. The main room had remained inert ever since he took out the damaged mana core. But there was still a door leading deeper into the castle. With a slight push, he opened it up and saw darkness.

Before stepping in, Mark raised two weaker skeletons carrying bundles of torches in their arms and threw them into the darkness. Light spilled everywhere, and a hallway of dark, headless armor pieces emerged facing his direction.

Living Armor - Level 15

Mark ordered his skeleton warrior to attack the closest one. But the Sword of Ruined Light simply bounced off. And in response, the suit of armor stepped off from its pedestal. His skeleton warrior backed away.

Mark also retreated, but the door remained open, and the monster continued to slowly advance. Several Magic Missiles sank into the armor's joints but did nothing. His enchanted sword was good against flesh and bone, but not against armor. There was no visible weak point for him to exploit - except for one thing.

His eyes turned to the top of the battlements, and mana began swirling into his pocket plane's key.