As Ethan’s head snapped back and his legs failed to hold him up, a small part of his mind—that wasn’t currently being jostled by the impact—held on to the short man’s smile.

As his behind hit the cold stone, he recognized that look. The feral gleam in the man’s eyes. Bared teeth. The taut smile, filled with nerves and adrenaline.

He just tried to kill me.

Ethan groaned from the disorienting headache as he looked up. A part of his mind went quiet as he focused on his murderous opponent. In front of him, the man’s smile winked out. His eyes went wide as he took a step back.

“W-how? What the f—”

Ethan tuned him out. The pain and disorientation were receding. Meanwhile the man raised a simple wooden wand and shook it. It reminded Ethan of trying to change a channel with a remote that ran out of juice.

[Human - Level 4]

Ethan jumped up, stepped in and swiped the man’s arm with his claws. Blood splattered down as the talons cut deep into the man’s flesh, who recoiled with a shout. The man raised his wand again and this time it began to glow, a familiar rictus of pain and rage on his face.

Almost the same look Ethan’s father had given him, all those years ago. The only missing thing to recreate the scene were the manic screams of his dying mother. And a knife in his father’s hands.

Ethan shook his head and pushed the memories away. Instead, he recalled his bastard of a mentor—and for a time, foster parent. “Stop whining and take responsibility.”

The glow of the wand intensified, and a projectile shot out. Ethan slipped to the left, barely dodging the glowing projectile, while his right claws went for the man’s throat.

Blood spurted. The man’s hand went to his throat and the rage and mania was replaced by surprise and fear. He gargled, falling to his knees. Still, he raised his wand, so Ethan kicked the arm away. The wand flew and hit the wall, and then the man fell, face forward.

You have defeated [Human - Level 4]

You have reached Level 5. 1 stat point awarded.

Congratulations. Side quest completed.

1 stat point awarded. Trait: Universal tongue has been granted.

New side quest unlocked.

Side quest:

Reach level 10

Reward:

1 trait from a list of tailored options.

3 stat points.

Ethan stared down at the dead man, head still ringing. He felt nauseous. Cold. The image of his dead father kept trying to superimpose itself onto this person, so he looked away.

He didn’t care for this stranger. Not when the man’s first impulse was to try and kill him in cold blood, only to try again seconds later when it didn’t work the first time. But he hadn’t expected things to get this nasty this quick.

Was that how it was going to be? He couldn’t even trust people?

He thought he’d be dealing with monsters and lizardlings. Not other humans.

Behind, screechy shouts creeped closer and slowly filled the corridor, so Ethan shook himself out of his dark thoughts.

Stepping over the pooling blood, he touched the wand. It dissolved into familiar golden light before being sucked into his hand.

Wand #1: 3 fragments collected.

Next, he glanced down at his stabbed arm. It was still caked in blood, still sore and glistening, but it was in a lot better shape than before. All thanks to Toughness.

Glancing down at the man, he recalled his shock. He must have thought that one hit could have killed Ethan, but clearly, Toughness came through again.

Ethan glared at the man. Level 4. Was he going around killing people?

From the man’s lack of hesitation, it seemed likely.

The sound grew louder in the corridor. There were a lot more lizardlings. Ethan could run… but he could also get a handful of levels and a lot more fragments.

Fuck it.

Ethan put one point in Mana, then dumped everything else into Toughness. He needed it. For the lizardlings and for backstabbing humans.

He grit his teeth, opening and closing his fists, feeling the sharp edges of his claws as heat scoured his body. Looking at where the man had come from, he saw another flight of stairs leading down into darkness.

He hoped that meant no lizardlings. It would be nice not to be pincered, otherwise he’d have to try and push through.

The lizardlings were half a minute away by the time the magic finished sinking into his flesh, so while he waited for his opponent to get closer, he decided to run a little test.

Toughness was now his highest stat with six points. Slowly, Ethan pushed a claw against the skin of his forearm and dragged. As the sharp claw traced a white line across his skin, Ethan’s eyes went wide. He was putting some strength behind the sharp talon, and it still couldn’t break skin?

Damn.

The sound was growing louder, and the lizardlings were only seconds away when he managed to draw blood. Ethan couldn’t suppress the stupid grin on his face. It had taken a surprising amount of effort for him to cut into his forearm.

He didn’t use his full strength, of course. He had a fight ahead of him. But the lizardlings would need to get their angle right and make sure their weapons were sharp to cut deep into him.

Ethan rolled his shoulder and breathed deep. He had to win the next encounter. Then he’d be able to afford a handful of wand upgrades.

I got this. I can do this.

His heart was thumping into his ears, barely audible over the ruckus of the lizardlings. This would still have to be a running fight. He couldn’t just waltz into their group and hope for the best.

He tensed as he waited against the cold wall, body low. And when the first clawed foot turned the corner, Ethan’s claws shot forward and blood splattered the wall.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

For the next five minutes, his world was filled with the smell of blood and the screeching of lizardlings.

***

Ethan panted as he shoved the lizardling away. It gurgled as his claws slipped out of its chest, then it fell and Ethan stumbled backward.

His joints and muscles were on fire. He didn’t know how many notifications he’d gotten; he’d stopped counting at some point. He knew he’d gotten three levels, because he’d shoved two more points in Toughness and one into Might, hoping the latter would relieve the pain in his muscles. But even with that, Ethan struggled to stay up. One eye was shut, sealed with his blood from a close call that almost lost him his eye, while his thigh throbbed from a spear thrust he’d gotten moments ago.

And unfortunately for him, the fight wasn’t over.

[Lizardling - Level 9]

The last lizardling wasn’t looking much better. Ethan had gotten it a couple of times, but the dagger-wielder was spry, which resulted in only superficial injuries.

“We will feast on your flesh, hu—”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up and let’s get this over with,” Ethan cut the lunatic off. The universal tongue trait was overrated. The lizardlings were complete nutjobs whose only goal in life was to kill and feast on the flesh of anything that didn’t look like them.

Frankly, he was sick of hearing them. He’d rather have gotten another trait.

The lizardling surged forward, body close to the floor. Ethan relaxed and slowly exhaled as the lizardling quickly approached.

Focus. Don’t fall for it.

Ethan raised his hands, wincing at the pain in his shoulders, and waited for the feint. The lizardling took a step to the right and, as expected, his momentum changed and went lower.

Ethan put his weight on his uninjured leg and readied himself to dodge.

The lizardling lunged, straight as a spear, dagger aimed at Ethan’s heart, but the young man was ready. Ethan sidestepped, and had the pleasure of seeing the lizardling’s eyes grow wide as they tracked his movement to the right.

A clawed hand flew up in an uppercut, catching the lizardling in its guts before it could even react, tearing into its flesh. A wheeze escaped the dagger-wielder as it fell to the ground, its blood pooling under it, while Ethan groaned from the pain and took a step back.

The lizardling, trembling, began rising once more, only for Ethan to take a step forward and kick it in the face. The lizardling took the hit and rolled away, then somehow still managed to drag itself up to its feet, blood seeping down from its stomach.

Ethan panted, and readied himself. He did not like the glare he was getting from his opponent. Not when it was this close to death.

Unfortunately, before he recover any of his strength, the lizardling rushed him, dagger flashing toward his leg and when Ethan tried to jump back, his feet refused to leave the stone floor.

Ethan grunted with pain as the dagger sunk into his thigh. The lizardling’s mouth stretched into a toothy smile that turned into a grimace when a clawed hand fell toward its face. Ethan dragged his talons through the side of its neck, tearing arteries, veins, and even a windpipe on the way out.

The lizardling stumbled backward, and its dagger clattered to the floor. It tried to stop the blood flow as it fell to its knees and a moment later, it fell to its side.

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 9]

You have reached Level 9. 1 stat point awarded.

Ethan fell on his ass, grimacing with pain. He slowly dragged himself backward until his back was against the wall, and was immediately tempted to put that in Toughness as well… but he held off on it.

Maybe in a few minutes.

Looking down the hall, he saw the many spears, daggers, shields and even a couple of enhancer wands. One had claws, similar to his own, while another had a significantly larger tail that he’d used to whip at Ethan’s face or feet.

That last one was up the stairs.

Ethan sighed. He had to get up and collect all of their fragments. Before anyone—or anything—showed up.

Yeah. I have to hurry.

Eyes and ears peeled, Ethan dragged himself up and, painfully, began collecting the many fragments from his fallen enemies.

He made his way through the bodies, then up the stairs, then around the corner. Once he was done, he couldn’t help but smile at the loot he’d been able to collect.

Wand #1: 19 fragments collected.

That put him at 28 fragments total. Next, he pulled his wand interface and went to the upgrade section. It was time to get the big item.

Available wand upgrades:

[Tier: Increase by 1 - 25 fragments]

[Stat Bonus: Increase by 1 - 5 fragments]

[Cast refresh: Decrease by 0.25 seconds - 1 fragments]

[Mana regeneration: Increase by 0.04 - 1 fragments]

With the tier upgrade, he would be able to use [Flaming Enhancement].

As soon as he made his selection, the dust around him was pushed away. Motes of golden light began appearing around him, circling for a few seconds, gaining momentum. His skin tingled. The hair of his arms stood straight, and then the lights rushed to his hands. His claws twitched as the electrifying energy sunk into them. Slowly, bit by bit, the feeling faded.

Wand #1: Upgrade from tier 0 to tier 1 was successful.

When Ethan brought up his updated menu, he couldn’t help but whistle, his lips stretched into a pained grin as he saw his stats and the improved bonus from his wand.

That was so damn worth it. And now I have even more upgrade options.

Name: Ethan Voss

Traits: [Universal tongue]

Level 9

Might: 7

Toughness: 8

Spirit: 6

Mana: 2

Unassigned: 1

Wand #1: [Form: Claws][Sequential: None]

Class: Enhancer

Tier: 1

Unique Trait: None

Cast Setting: Sequential

Capacity: 1/2

Cast refresh: 5s

Mana regeneration: 0.01 (0.5%)

Stat Bonus: +5 Might +5 Spirit

Fragments: 3