Liz

When Liz had left her shop and walked into the strange portal, she had hoped to get through the tutorial quickly. Maybe watch a video or two then head home for a well-deserved shower and dinner.

She hadn’t expected to find herself in a cage this quick. She also didn’t expect to have to comfort a stranger while they had a meltdown. “I’m sure they’re fine,” said Liz as she studied the cage she was in yet another time. “The aliens gave us a choice, didn’t they? You don’t give a tutorial to someone you want to kill, and it’d make no sense for them to bring children in here. I’m sure they’re somewhere safe. We’ve got to get out of here. Whatever has them riled up won’t last forever, and I’d rather not end up in a stew.”

Martha loudly hiccuped and wiped at her eyes. “But what am I going to tell their parents? It took me away without letting me make sure they’re safe! What if—”

“For the love of god, lady,” growled Gerald. “We’re in goddamn cages and these monsters keep smacking their lips at us whenever they come by. How about you worry about yourself for a second?”

Liz gave the man an annoyed look. She agreed with the sentiment but not with how it was said, but whatever. Now wasn’t the time to comfort the distraught young woman.

The mechanic turned her attention back to the cage. She could break out of this. That was the easy part. The problem was, how were they going to deal with all of those lizard things surrounding them? Most of them were above level 4, while Liz, Martha, and the man named Gerald were all level 1.

Her eyes fell on the pool of blood next to the broken cage and her stomach twisted itself into knots. If they broke the cage, the lizardlings would fall on them like a bunch of feral rats.

Someone had tried, and the screams were still echoing in her ears.

Liz shook her head and pushed the fear gnawing up in her chest down. She looked through her system again. The crossbow she’d selected was a good weapon. But she’d only discovered that she had a crappy aim once she was inside the tutorial. The thing took too much out of her. When she woke up and found the lizardlings, she was only able to shoot one arrow before getting dizzy. And then that was it. She got caught.

As she stewed on her failure, she narrowed the cause down to one thing, and one thing only: Mana. She needed to raise that stat and its regeneration. But how? Why wasn’t there a guide or a manual for this crap?

She turned to Gerald and found him looking at her. He looked resolved, and he must have been thinking the same as her.

We can’t stay here.

She gave him a small nod, then asked. “Risk it?”

The man looked at their surroundings for a second, then turned and nodded. “Once they give us a chance,” he whispered back.

They couldn’t keep waiting. They couldn’t wait for the lizardlings to get hungry.

Liz looked away for a moment, wondering what the chance would look like when she saw it.

Down the tunnel she’d been brought in from, two torches were moving. At first, her stomach dropped. She thought it was the little army of lizardlings that was coming back. But when the young man stepped into the room, hands burning with fire, Liz jolted up to her feet.

This was it.

Liz gripped the flimsy rods that made up the cage and turned to the other two. “Hey! Help’s coming. Get ready,” she told them as her simple metal and wooden crossbow appeared in her hand. A glowing bolt was already set, and Liz exhaled and aimed.

I have to hit something. I need the levels. I… holy shit.

Liz couldn’t stop watching the carnage taking place. Within seconds of the newcomer stepped into the room, blood and smoking viscera began flying around him. A lizardling got knocked down with a punch, while another got grabbed and swung by its tail into another group right before he turned his attention back to the first one. The man stomped on the downed lizardling’s neck and killed it.

The level above the man’s head changed from 9 to 10.

In a way, it reminded Liz of an adult roughhousing with toddlers. Only the difference here was that the lizardlings were being stabbed, kicked, and left burning, bleeding out, or both.

It was just so… one sided. The remaining lizardlings rushed to the man, only to be quickly dealt with. The spear tips—whenever a lizardling managed to get to him—barely went into his flesh.

They might as well have been toothpicks.

Within seconds, barely a handful of lizardlings were still up.

[Lizardling - Level 5]

[Lizardling - Level 8]

[Lizardling - Level 14]

[Human - Level 10]

“He’s already level 10… How?”

Gerald scoffed. “Probably got lucky.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Liz looked sideways for a moment, then ignored the man. That didn’t look like luck. The young man looked too comfortable fighting, and those feints and leg-grabs looked way too smooth for a beginner. This was either a very privileged person who’d had personal trainers since they were four years old, or it was someone who’d grown up around the wrong crowds.

What am I doing?

Liz shook herself awake and raised her crossbow, aiming at the closest lizardling. The level 5. She exhaled, then pulled the trigger.

The bolt of blue light flashed forward and struck into the lizardling’s back.

Liz lowered her shaking arm and leaned against the wall as the world spun around her, but it was worth it. She’d hit her mark. It would have been embarrassing to miss the lizardling when it was barely ten feet away.

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 5]

You have reached Level 2. 1 stat point awarded.

You have reached Level 3. 1 stat point awarded.

Liz immediately put the points in mana, then began working on the fibers that held the cage together.

***

Well, they aren’t completely defenseless, at least, Ethan thought to himself as he noticed the crossbow shot. He turned his attention back to the highest leveled lizardling. The chieftain.

He’d hit level 10, which meant there was a trait waiting for him. He wished he could get his trait right now or look at the new quest, but he couldn’t afford the distraction. Not when his enemy was another enhancer-wand user who was slowly positioning himself to use that massive tail of his.

Seriously. The thing was as long as the lizardling was tall.

The two kept circling each other, which frequently opened Ethan’s back to a wanna-be ambusher. Of course, they were quickly dispatched, which seemed to progressively worsen the chieftain's temper until it finally spoke in a scratchy voice.

“You will pay, human. We will fea—”

“Shut it,” said Ethan as he lunged forward.

The chieftain’s eyes narrowed, and it whipped its tail forward, aiming straight at Ethan’s face and at the last second, a smile stretched across his lips.

Jackpot.

He hadn’t been sure where the tail was going to hit, but he’d hoped for something high. High enough he could tear into it quickly. Toward his feet or knees would have been awkward, and he would have had to defend himself or jump—which would open him to another strike. But eye level?

Ethan parried with his left hand and grunted at the impact that rattled his shoulder. With his right, he swung down and tore four deep grooves which scratched and sizzled the lizardling’s tail to the bone.

It screeched with pain, but Ethan didn’t let it recover. He stepped closer and aimed a clawed hand straight at the chieftain’s neck, but that tail was a lot faster than he expected. It slapped Ethan’s hand away before it could hit its mark.

The second tail-whip went for his left foot and Ethan readied another strike, only to be caught on his side by a different tail.

Ethan threw himself back and wheezed with pain. The chieftain had two tails now, and it leered at him with its slitted eyes. A forked tongue slipped out, tasting the air as Ethan straightened back up.

“Crafty little shit.”

Ethan took in his surroundings again. The three prisoners had broken out of their cage and were fighting one of the lizardlings—well, two of them. One woman was still basically just standing behind the other two, doing nothing.

Ethan noticed the level of their lizardling, and his lips drew into a line. A level 8 lizardling might be too much for them.

He focused back on his own opponent and stepped forward. The lizardling chieftain dragged both tails back, ready to strike.

Can’t help them if I don’t finish up this guy first.

Ethan smiled at the lizardling, then ran a couple of steps and took a leaping jump.

The lizardling was surprised for a second but it reacted quickly by whipping one tail at ground level and another at head level.

Ethan tanked both tails, wincing from the impact while his right claws shot toward the lizardling’s throat. A tail whipped up, barely deflecting his strike, but he still drew blood. Ethan raked the chieftain’ shoulder, but not enough to be debilitating. The lizardling gave him a vicious look as it readied itself for another tail-whip, but Ethan was close enough. And he wasn’t done.

He took a small step and stabbed with his left arm, sinking his claws wrist-deep into the chieftain’s chest. Yellow slitted eyes stared at him in surprise, and Ethan wrenched his hand back and wrinkled his nose at the smell of burnt flesh.

“No feasting for you.”

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 14]

You have reached Level 11. 1 stat point awarded.

Wand #1: 8 fragments collected.

With the chieftain’s fragments collected, Ethan went to give a hand to the other participants.

As he approached, he found the lizardling toying with the man. The stranger had opted for a sword, and even though he didn’t seem that proficient with it, it still kept the lizardling at bay. The second fighter, a young woman wearing blue and stained overalls had a crossbow in her hand, and she seemed to be struggling to breathe as she turned toward him.

The lizardling finally noticed his arrival, then its eyes drifted to the smoking corpse of the chieftain.

It began turning its dagger toward Ethan—

And he tore half of its neck out with a quick clawed swipe as a blue glowing arrow hit it in the chest.

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 8]

Ethan eyed the arrow for a second, then turned to the shooter, a question on his lips. Had she also received the notification?

He quickly realized his question would have to wait. The crossbow-wielder stumbled, her weapon dissolving into motes. She panted, a hand on her chest, and Ethan recognized the phenomenon. Luckily for her, it should be easy to fix.

Plus, well. She did help take the lizardling down.