Domison was able to move relatively unhindered after a few minutes of laying there and letting the energies of his core work through his body. He sat up and crossed his legs, asking for a full rundown of the system and how everything worked as far as she could tell. Confusion colored her face at first but she eventually answered, explaining that you gained a class at level five and to level up you had to obtain experience points.
The main way for obtaining said experience points was through fighting and killing monsters, but it seemed mundane activities gained experience points as well. Those experience points, however, were channeled towards leveling up the specific family tree of the action taken. For example, walking and running would increase physicality, while fighting increased combat efficiency. Mel hadn’t leveled those tertiary skills up as much since the system initialized, but from what she could tell they granted added bonuses.
While Domison was absorbing this information Mel went back to tending Mike’s wounds. She checked the padded bandage and ran fingers down his arms, the tips glowing as the wounds closed ever so slightly, “I was able to gain access to two skills, one labeled as active and one passive. The active skill allows for a minor healing effect, almost like it just speeds up and improves one’s own body's healing factor by a hair. While the passive ability increases any healing I do while in or near an active battlezone while also moderately increasing my own agility and healing under the same circumstances.” For a handful of seconds, Mel just stared down at the ground, hand hovering over Mike’s chest but when she spoke again it sent a spike of anxiety through Domison’s stomach.
Casting her eyes sideways toward the older man she started fidgeting before asking nervously, “You must have gotten access to a better class than I did…” She left the statement open, obviously waiting for a response to an unasked question.
“Uhh… You seem to have adapted to all of this pretty quickly, huh? You seem fairly comfortable talking about all of this.” Domison threw out the halfhearted deflection while simultaneously screaming out for Raze’s help in his mind.
‘It would be better to keep them both in the dark. We must keep the number of people who hold any semblance of understanding that you are a cultivator very small. Tell her that you are an Abyssal Courtier, sounds fancy enough. If she pushes for you to reveal a class rarity, just tell her you received a mythic tier. It would be better not to lie blatantly as once she understands more about classes and remembers your time together, she will understand the oddity in your abilities… Unless we give her something juicy.’
Mel broke the silence Domison had not been privy to during his internal monologue, “Are you going to make me beg? Fine. Will you please tell me what your class is? I’m really curious.” She didn’t leave Domison any room to answer though, as word vomit of an impressive scale spewed forth, “Look. You saved us twice now and each time was wilder than the last. Firstly you rip our car door off, covered in blood and only dressed in ripped black cargo pants, then you make an evil, wooly, deer lady’s head implode. I really appreciate what you’ve done for us and I don’t want to impose on your privacy, but… that was fucking crazy man. I’m really, really, really curious so just please let me stop talking and just tell me already.”
Finally, the girl had to stop for breath and Domison was able to get in a response, “That was a lot…” Her face flushed immediately and she quickly looked away. “I’ll tell you anyway, just cool it a bit next time, okay?.” Mel’s head snapped towards him so quickly he was surprised she didn’t hurt herself with the motion. Her eyes were wide and intently focused on Domison and a moment's hesitation caused her to start beckoning him to continue with her hands. He breathed a sigh and finally said, “I’m an Abyssal Courtier? It’s a mythic tier class so I guess it is pretty good but,-”
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‘Abyss damn you, child, you didn’t have to volunteer the information regarding a tier. Only if she was to ask you, damned fool.’ Domison couldn’t help but scoff aloud as the shadowling faded from his mind with a final remark, ‘The folly and idiocy that comes along with a naive youth. It will never cease to amaze.’
When Mel shot him a confused look Domison covered up the scoff with a light coughing fit. Finally, he finished the sentence he had aborted in the middle of completing, “Um yeah, what I was going to say is that I also had some hand-to-hand training over the course of my life. Cold weapons training too.”
Mel’s confusion grew for a moment but not for the reason Domison worried, “Cold weapons?” She drew the words out as if scrutinizing them, “No clue what that means, honestly. Care to clue me in?”
“Uh, yeah.” Domison was reeling slightly at her candor nature all of the sudden. He stumbled with his words at first while he regained his composure, “They’re weapons like blades… Uh, cold weapons that is. Things like swords, axes, and knives, while things that use projectiles we typically refer to as hot weapons. An old relic of the past seeing as how many projectiles can fire now without the use of explosive propellants, hence the name.” Domison was quiet for a moment as he thought back to the intensive training he received after Sam saved him from the twilight markets in Old Town.
“We need to rest up but we must start moving again as soon as possible. From what I gathered that thing was part of a larger group, possibly much larger. We have to clear this forest as fast as possible and get away from the battleground even quicker.” Domison motioned to the torn and bloody ground around them, pointing finally at the decrepit carcass looming in the distance.
Mel looked worriedly down at the heavily injured form below her for a moment, biting at her bottom lip, before she spoke, “We could move him… MAYBE, if we’re careful. But probably not far, at least for a few days.” Before Domison could protest, clear outrage flashing across his face, Me threw her hands out and shouted, “Please don’t be upset! I know you have things to do, and I know that having us as baggage is a major deviation from your plans, but… Just please don’t leave us…” Her voice grew quieter and smaller as she finished the proclamation, barely a whisper in the cool air at the end.
“He saved me, you know.” Mel filled the silence that followed, nodding down at Mike’s unmoving form, “He went to all doctors' visits and consultations, helped me shut out all of the deplorable voices filling my head with despair. He didn’t abandon me when I told him I couldn’t continue living as something I wasn’t… I can’t just abandon him here, please don’t ask me to Dom.”
Domison reeled for several seconds. While he had been angry, he wasn’t going to abandon them, nor suggest that she leave Mike. That wasn’t the only thing that unbalanced him though, the only two people who called him Dom were his mom… and Sam. Both were long gone from this world and Domison had always done his best to keep the past where it belonged. Buried.
“Firstly,” Domison said once he had recovered his stony expression, “I was not going to abandon you, nor suggest it. Second… We still need to get as far away from here as possible, before something else shows up.” As if to punctuate his words, a deep and resounding thudding started to appear on the edges of his perception. It sounded like a stampeding elephant from the history holo-cards he watched as a child, approaching ever closer and beginning to send a tremble through the earth.