The party moved through the woodlands in the formation Barnes had decided. The rogue woman in front, scouting ahead as the fastest member with relevant skills. Barnes followed about ten yards back with a warrior and the monk trailing close behind. In the center of the squad was Shin and the two mages, flanked by two warriors with the ranger bringing up the rear.
It wasn’t a particularly dense forest. The party of ten could keep formation with relative ease without being bottlenecked, although the generous environment was no help for their personal incompetence and lack of experience. Still, there was enough shrubbery and clusters of trees to make scouting difficult. With danger potentially lurking behind every corner they had to maintain vigilance at all times, the strain of which was already becoming apparent in the short hour since they started moving.
All things Shin had taken note of from the start but paid hardly any mind to now. His focus was entirely spent on controlling his eyes, which he had gotten significantly better at, his vision now shifting between swirling colors and a blurry normality. In his trial and error, he found the more strongly he desired it, the more he could affect it. But it was still proving to be an issue and the strain on his mind growing ever more taxing.
However, in the last ten minutes or so, his progress saw little improvement, a natural bottleneck of sorts had been reached, he suspected. So he turned his attention finally to the prompts which had been haunting him since this ‘trial’ began. Options for two new abilities. Shin had been saving them in the event that his vision couldn’t be solved himself, whereby he would then seek the help of an ability. But it seemed like it would be something he could fix without wasting a choice.
Shin first did a cursory sweep of the skills with the same intentions as he had in that starting space but the results were the same. Thus, he scoured through the long list of skills and traits in more detail. His first choice was rather easy for him, selecting it without a second thought.
[Acquired common tier skill Cushion.]
‘Create a thin layer of mana around the target that reduces physical impacts. Duration: 7.5 minutes.’
A shorter duration than his angel but also less costly. Shin’s physical stats were decent, at least compared to his party members and the few monsters they had encountered thus far, but he had no plans on improving them. Defensive skills would become increasingly important as others grew stronger.
His second option, however, made his hesitate. He had written off ‘spirits’ due to them being unrelated to the afterlife, but some of the things he had seen through the Eyes of the Spirit King made him reevaluate. If he let his eyes look freely, it was as if he could see through the world into another one, one where glimpses of mystifying creatures and environments tested the imagination.
And as he had to remind himself, it was these eyes that had allowed him to see ghosts. A connection was there and perhaps it was a good idea to explore it further. As such, he pulled up a skill he had written off before.
[Acquired the common tier skill Call Petty Spirit Lvl 1.]
‘Call forth a common tier spirit from the ethereal realm to command.’
From the single time he summoned it, his angel seemed to have some form of intelligence but it behaved more like a golem than a sentient being. A spirit might be different from his celestial summon. Something he could interact with. Question.
Shin could see and hear the prompts clearly but based on the lack of reaction, it seemed the others could not. No one had realized he advanced his rank either, but that likely wouldn’t last much longer. He had until the sun set at the latest, providing they didn’t find a suitable place to make camp before that.
“How are you feeling?” The mage woman asked in a caring tone.
“Better.” Shin turned to the woman who had been lending him a shoulder while they walked. His vision wasn’t good enough to make out her face properly but he could see her rough profile now. She was average height, light skinned with shoulder length sky blue hair and by the sound of her voice, somewhere in her twenties. Grace was her name, something he had learned in the brief conversations they had on the move.
They both had summon skills, Shin with his angel and her’s being a small ball shaped elemental called a Wisp. A major difference, she had explained was that her summon drained mana over time as opposed to his being a one time cost. They had been instructed to only use them if the group couldn’t handle things on their own. Given the costly nature of summons, it seemed the self appointed leader wanted to keep them as reinforcements they could fall back on.
“If you need to rest…”
“I’m alright. It’s easy to walk, thanks to you.”
Shin couldn’t see but Grace’s face flushed slightly around a nervous smile. He also couldn’t see the less than pleased reaction to that of the other mage behind him.
“Yes, you should be grateful someone as kind of Grace is in our party. We all should be, really.” The thin pale mage spoke out, his second comment aimed more directly at the woman of topic as he tried to sound appealing. “Grace, I could take the burden off you for a while, it must be tiring.”
“That’s alright… It’s no problem really…” She made an effort to keep things cordial, despite her obvious aversion.
But the mage didn’t relent with that. “That’s no good. Magic dps like us need to conserve as much energy as possible. The party relies on us.”
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“Well…”
“Eyes up, mouth shut! Stay sharp!” Barnes commanded, raising his voice loud enough to be impactful but not quite enough to be a shout. An understandable demand given their situation unrelated to the petty social dynamics of the center, but one that saved Grace from having to think up a response to pushy mage.
Milton clicked his teeth and muttered something under his breath but Shin paid no attention to him. His focus was already back on his new skills. He needed to level them up, and more importantly, he wanted to summon the spirit, but as things stood, it was still better to keep them a secret from the others. They were only a party by chance, after all, with no guarantee they wouldn’t be an issue.
Faint rustling from his left reached Shin’s hears but he took no action other than turning his attention to that side, waiting quietly. It only took a few moments before a figure lunged from the brush and struck the shield of the warrior who managed to hold it up in time, if only because of the snarls of the creature.
“Monster!” The man shouted as he took an amateur stance to face it down. Standing about 4 feet tall, green skinned with piercing yellow eyes, long pointed ears and a pointed chin, it wore only a dirty fur loincloth and carried a worn down iron axe, drool leaking through its sharp teeth and out its mouth.
“Goblins!” The rogue woman shouted as she sprinted passed Barnes and the vanguard. Several more of the creatures followed after her close behind and the vanguard engaged. The warrior on the other side back away closer to the center, holding his longsword out and forward with both hands, glancing at the foliage sporadically.
The left warrior engaged with the goblin seemed to struggle a little. Milton held his hand out ready to cast a spell but the warrior was too close to chance the friendly fire.
“Knock it back!” He shouted.
“Shut up!” Mendez snapped back, completely on edge and focused on the threat in front of him.
He willed himself forward and thrust a shortsword at the goblin but only managed to graze its cheek. A snarling roar startled him off balance slightly as the goblin swung its axe. The warrior’s leather armor couldn’t block the impact fully and it buried an inch into his thigh.
“Fuck! Jeter!”
“Y-yeah!” The archer moved up to a position with the goblin in his line of sight and anxiously nocks an arrow. He took aim with unsteady hands at the ensuing struggle. He shot and the arrow lodged firmly into the tree behind the goblin.
“Shit!” He nocked another arrow in a panic and raise his bow again. This time the arrow found its target, sinking into the side of the goblin’s torso, not enough to kill, but enough to slow it down for the warrior to pierce through its throat. The death throes of the goblin didn’t last long as the warrior stabbed down on it again and again, cursing all the while, until it stopped moving, then kicking it once for good measure.
At the same time, the vanguard finished off their enemies, with far less difficulty, partly thanks to the rogue darting around, throwing knives at the goblins. The warrior of the vanguard even releasing a victory shout, while Barnes walked back to assess the rest of the party.
“Hey, healer!” The long blacked haired tan man with the wounded leg shouted.
“Shin.”
“Whatever, hurry the fuck up!”
“Yes!” Grace hurriedly replied, leading Shin over to the injured warrior.
The wound left by the goblin’s axe wasn’t too bad but it would certainly impact his ability to fight. All of them were given healing potions by way of the spatial bags the system had granted them, healing wounds better than Shin could, albeit over time, as Barnes had elected to make someone test once. As such, he had also elected to save them for when they were truly needed. Along with the potions, Shin the bags came with a block of bread called Manna, an inferior tier Hatchet which seemed to be a normal steel woodcutting axe, a tent, and a long cord of rope. Valuable tools for survival certainly, though there were of little help against the danger of monsters.
Shin raised his arm and cast Treat Wounds. The bleeding soon stopped and the wound slowly began to close, leaving behind scar tissue in its place. 6 spirit to heal that small injury, something that would take him nearly an hour to regenerate.
[Treat Wounds has reached Lvl 3.]
Shin didn’t get anything further prompt or any change to his skill description, much as it had been the case for the first level up. But it likely would bring the same effect as lvl 2, increasing the speed of healing slightly. Subtle at the moment but noticeable, even from the small sample size.
“Creepy fucker.”
“You’re welcome.” Shin’s blank smile had remained unchanged since they started moving, the source of the warrior’s hostility. His tone which could be mistaken for vague sarcasm hadn’t done him any favors either.
With that issue sorted, Barnes turned to the archer. “Get your arrows. Can’t shoot if you don’t have ammo.”
“Yes sir!” The ranger rushed to do as their party leader said. The rogue woman in the distance was already retrieving her knives without needing to be told.
“Anything from your side?” He asked the longsword warrior on the right who had remained guarding the flank.
“Nothing.”
“Alright, let’s move before all this blood attracts more of these things.”
“Wouldn’t need to worry much if people didn’t stand around doing nothing.” The sword warrior glared at Milton.
“You were in the blast range… it’s not my fault. Mages need to conserve mana anyway for when something warriors can’t handle shows up. You should just fight better.”
“You wanna fucking die?!” The warrior pressed towards the mage as he balked in fear.
“Cut the shit! We can talk about who did and didn’t fuck up when we’re in the clear.” The two fell silent under Barnes’ assertiveness. “Everyone ready to move?”
“Hey…” The rogue spoke up, her icy cold eyes focused on Shin. “I can’t read his rank.”
The suspicious stares of eight pairs of eyes was almost tangible. Shin felt a subtle prickly sensation. They were using Identify on him, he guessed. It was a tenuous situation to say the least, but one wouldn’t have thought so seeing Shin’s unbothered expression.
Barnes walked towards him, the presence he gave up every bit as imposing as his physique, until he was right in his face. “Did you increase your rank?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Don’t know.”
“Did you get anything for it?”
“25 points.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
The leader’s grim expression grew even more intimidating. “And you didn’t think to share this with the rest of us?”
“Didn’t have to.”
“I see.” His tone remained grim and calm. “Well now you have to share everything you learn with the group. Understood?”
“Yeah.”
The bearded leader stared at Shin’s casual, unfaltering expression for a few moments before turning back around. “Let’s move.”
The confrontation ended without incident but the suspicion remained. Shin could feel the wariness and distance between him and the others. Only Grace was different, her attitude seeming more confused and concerned than anything.
“Can I use your shoulder?” Shin asked her as if nothing had happened.
“Huh? Oh… Yeah.” He put a hand on her shoulder as he had before, and the party started to move at Barnes’ signal, everyone back in formation.
Shin tested his control over his eyes again. His vision was still blurry but he could sustain it for extended periods of time. By sundown it would probably be enough to fight unskilled enemies at least. It would have to do. Shin fell into silent thought, the look in his eyes a bit deeper than normal.
“This party isn’t right…”