He fought five more Lodytes, all seemingly alone and wandering, on his way down. Nothing worthy of note happened until the fourth battle however. As Tyler stood over the corpse of the Lodyte, breathing heavily, he grinned at the prompt that made its way into his vision.

As a result of your actions, a new skill has been discovered.

[Unarmed Combat]

Common

Level 1

Something most bipedal races learn eventually is the ability to fight with their bare hands, feet, and general body. Who needs magic or swords when a fist in the right place and right time can shatter bones and rupture kidneys? Damage while unarmed, or with weapons classified as "Monk*" increases slightly per skill level. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Dexterity and Strength when attacking and utilizing this skill.

Unarmed Combat is Level 2.

...

Unarmed Combat is Level 5.

He had decided to forgo any spells in this battle, simply seeking to put his old martial arts moves to the test. He had dodge and gotten hit too many times to count but the club seemingly only did about 20 damage if he took it full force. He supposed he should be lucky, given he was, currently, at half health. Though he was thankful to note that as he sat down, his health and stamina started to tick back up. So if he waited he wouldn't need to see a healer. Unless he had, like, broken bones or was severely damaged, he guessed. Good to know. It would have sucked if he required a healer every damn time he got hurt. He didn't have any way to heal outside of when his Class Card's passive activated. Speaking of that passive, he was still a bit miffed that it's secondary effect hadn't activated yet. But then again at a one percent chance, it was like gambling for a card at that rate. Heh, that brought back memories of gacha games on Earth.

With his body fully healed after a good fifteen minutes, Tyler got off of the ground and started walking again. Thirty minutes later, give or take, he finally found some semblance of civilization. Even before he saw the small village, the sounds of battle had clued him in. Reaching the apex of a small hill that hid the commotion, the first thing that caught Tyler's eye was the settlement itself. It was small, almost comically so. It could, at best, house maybe two-hundred people if he had to guess. It was protected by a simple stone wall that had a few archers, no...squinting, he realized they were crossbowmen. The ranged attackers, two of them, were pelting what looked to be like a dozen Lodytes from atop their battlements. But aside from the town, the closer Tyler got the more he could make out the single figure holding off twelve enemies at once. It was a woman, he could tell from the voice and long hair even if her heavy plate armor, steel of some kind, hid any curves. No boobplate here it seemed.

The woman wielded a giant axe as tall as herself that was stained red with the blood of the creatures she was hacking to pieces. Her skin was the same color as his, gray, but much more of a basalt gray compared to his dirty marble. And her hair, orange and bright in stark contrast to everything else, was actually on fire at the tips. She was also short. Maybe four feet at most? Stocky too. That's when it clicked. She had to be a dwarf, there was no doubt about that. The woman seemed to spot him as she did a cleaving maneuver. Her eyes, colored like hot coals from what he could see, narrowed. But when she saw that he wasn't a Lodyte, she spoke with a wicked grin even as she backhanded a monster.

"Ye just gonna stand there like a dendrophile? Or are ya actually gonna help me kill these feckers?"

Yup, definitely a Dwarf of some kind. Though if this was a whole nother world, why the hell did she have a thick Scottish accent? Pushing the stray thought aside, Tyler grinned. Maybe it was because he finally saw civilization after being tossed down that cave for...who knows how long. Or maybe it was something else. Either way, he could worry about that later.

"I thought you'd never ask!"

Then, he entered the fray, purple-black energy coalescing in his hand as he targeted a group of Lodytes with one of his spell cards.

"Wither!"

A purple rune of mana emerged under a cluster of enemies and purple motes of power started to spread across the Lodyte's like smoke, making them howl in pain and anger. The battle was joined, and Tyler just hoped he would finally hit Level 20. Then he could get his bearings and maybe some actual food. That would be nice.

A sickening purple-black erupted from the center focal point of the spell Tyler cast, and a wall of light surrounded the magical circle. Similarly to Grasping Tentacles, it seemed this card granted ability applied a similar damage over time effect. He was sure there were some differences but they all stemmed from the same type of element as far as he could tell. The Lodytes that were affected by his spell seemed to lose color and cracks formed along their body. Thankfully they kept their loincloths at least, but now it seemed the dwarven woman was having a much better time fighting off multiple.

Speaking of the Dwarven woman, she gave him a small, nearly imperceptible nod as recognition of the debuff he had places on the creatures. Then, she charged her own ability. Red energy leaked from gaps in her armor and combined to create what Tyler could only call an aura. Her body tensed up as the energy suffused her, while her eyes seemingly became even redder.

"Berserking Rage!" She intoned through gritted teeth before she shot forward.

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If he had thought she was fast before, Tyler hadn't seen anything yet. The dark gray of her bladed axe swung forward as the dwarven woman went through the Lodytes almost like tissue paper. Where her blade met flesh, blood and viscera soon followed, leaving a wake of bloody carnage as she passed. It was honestly a very impressive, and slightly scary sight.

Tyler himself was busy handling Lodytes one by one, and he was thankful that this Dwarven woman seemed to hold most of the things' attention. Narrowly dodging a strong, if clumsy, strike from the mutated humanoid he was fighting, he lashed out with a punch at where he assumed its kidneys were located. Bony fist met meaty flesh with a loud smack and the creature grunted as it seemed to stop attacking, instead choosing to sway. Having momentarily stunned it, Tyler backpedaled a bit of ways away before trying out his third new card. His hands moved into esoteric motions as he called upon the power that resided within him. In less than a second, he thrust his hands forward in a triangle shape, guided by the System, and dark purple energy formed a sphere of power before him. The thing vibrated menacingly, giving off an almost wicked glow as purple hues danced across Tyler's face and body. With the card's power now activated, he called out.

"Mind Sear!"

The sphere of energy in his hand warped in on itself and formed a mobius strip before it shot forward. It extended, lengthening until it became a beam of colorful energy that struck the Lodyte in front of Tyler with just the slightest push back on his part. The actual effect was quite the sight, however. The Lodyte in front of him let out a pained scream as the stun effect wore off, only for the thing to collapse to its knees in weakness, the sudden attack on its small and insignificant brain too much for it. The monster did try to move forward, but the pain wracking its head made doing such a menial task a rather slow and painful effort. Rings of similarly colored energy also sprang outward from the point of impact on the creature, sending small pulses of energy into the other surrounding Lodytes as well. This made them falter just enough that the dwarven woman was able to dispatch them with ease. As soon as the last enemy was felled, a rush of experience entered Tyler's body and he heaved out several ragged breaths, his mana having been spent by about 75%. Okay, so one thing to note. Apparently getting low on mana caused a very irritating headache. Lovely. Tyler watched his mana tick up slowly in the corner of his vision, so he decided to look at the notifications in the meantime.

You have slain:

Cavern Lodyte x2

You have assisted in the death of:

Cavern Lodyte x11

Bonus experience is awarded for killing an enemy above your level.

As he finished reading the notifications, two streams of energy from his personal kills streamed into his body along with the experience granted by the System, slightly revitalizing his mana pool and the small slivers of health he had lost in that small scuffle. He hadn't leveled up though, it seemed. Which meant that he must have gotten much less experience for simply assisting with a kill. That was a shame, but he supposed that it made sense. If you could level up just by scraping an enemy then the System would be kind of shit, in Tyler's opinion.

"Right nasty bit o' magic, that."

The sudden statement brought Tyler out of his inner thoughts as he looked over, and slightly down, at the dwarven woman.

"Come again?"

She raised a near-crimson eyebrow at him before pointing an armored finger at his face.

"That technique, some kinda consumption-type magic, ya?"

At his nod, she continued. "Not too common these days, not orally at least. The few times I've seen them, people usually use their arm so they don't have to deal with the taste and all that. Thanks fer takin' care of some of those nasties. Feckers have gotten more aggressive lately. Name's Agha, by the way tall-man. Agha Soothammer, at yer service."

The stout woman held out her hand, and he moved to shake it, but instead she clasped his wrist as a greeting. So, he did the same. A second later they pulled apart.

"Nice to meet you, name's Tyler Orchardson."

"Orchardson? Ye sure yer not a dendrophile? Name like that just screams druid or some fancy half-elf type."

The off-hand comment made Tyler snort as he responded.

"No, no leaves or bark here, I'm afraid. It's all darkness and purple lights."

Agha looked him over and hummed to herself. "Dangerous magic, that. At least if you asked anyone not from the Underground. Anyway, enough dallying around these corpses, let's head into town. I'm sure my Pa would like to meet you. Don't get too many new faces round these parts. Somethin' tells me you have a bit of a story to tell."

The two of them walked away from the Lodyte bodies towards the gate that led to the small village. The guards gave Tyler a cursory glance, then at Agha. Then the two stationed just shrugged.

"Well, we saw ye fight those beasties down there with the lass here. Ye cannae be too bad o' a person. Just don't go causin' any trouble, ya?" Said one of them, a similarly gray-skinned Dwarf with a beard that seemed to smoke at the tips.

Huh, funny. Agha had the same effect, though she lacked a beard. Instead the tips of her auburn hair seemed to glow when she turned, the torchlight making it more obvious. After being let through the front gate, Tyler took stock of the enclosed population center. He still wasn't sure if it was classified as a town or a village.

It was, as far as he could tell, bog standard if on the tinier side. The whole town was surrounded by a wall about twenty feet or so high from what he could surmise. Several patrolling guardsmen with crossbows walked across the walkway. The lower wall, a parapet if Tyler's memory served correctly, offered strategic holes in the higher raised portions of the battlements. These were probably where said crossbowmen could fire while under cover. Each raised section did seem to be at about eye level with the dwarves.

Aside from the wall, there were multiple buildings strewn about the town. Most on the outer edges seemed to be residential ones that could house maybe a family of four, but there was also a rather bustling inn, or was it a tavern? Either way, he saw a Dwarf get kicked out of the double saloon-like doors, the man grumbling drunkenly before puking on the road. That made a guard run up to him and smack him upside the head before taking him away. That made Tyler snort, getting an odd look from Agha. He smiled sheepishly before returning to looking at his surroundings.

Like the walls, the majority of the buildings were made of some type of stone, probably the same stone that lined the cavernous underground if the color of the hovels were any indication. The style of the buildings was...what was the word again? Oh right, Brutalist. They were very minimalist in their design and didn't offer much in the way of decoration. Not to mention they were mostly made out of squares and rectangles. Very angular, and different from what he had known on earth. Still, it wasn't like it looked bad. Just different.

The duo passed by a rather long building that had an open patio, for lack of a better word. On that patio, a male dwarf in a leather apron was hammering on an anvil. The man's arm swung down, holding a heavy hammer that hit the heated metal on the anvil with a sharp metallic twang. Looking up, he saw Agha, then pivoted to peer slightly up at Tyler before turning back to the dwarven woman.

"Afternoon, lassie. Didn't take you for being into tall-men."