The horses backed away nervously, pushing against Tobias who stood near the rear. Then Brock's gaze fell to Max and his expression went from irritated to near panicked.

"A leveled beast?"

How had he figured it out so fast? Oh wait, Tobias' own gaze flew to Max and he saw that there was now a tag over his head. How had he missed it? Though... the tag itself wasn't impressive. It showed [Horse -Level 1], but the fact that he had a tag at all...

Brock moved so fast that he was a blur. He charged towards Max with a red light gathering between his fingers. Tobias didn't know what class he was, but he had seen that light actually disintegrate people.

A bolt of panic flashed through him and jumped through their connection between him and Max. Only, once it reached the horse, Tobias' fear turned into pure rage.

Brock might be moving in a blur, but there were still several rows of horse flesh between himself and his target. Max screamed and rose up to bite at one of the geldings in front of him. That horse kicked out to a neighbor in protest and shoved the horse next to him. Max screamed again and within seconds, herd mentality took over. The horses moved away from Tobias and Max, straight down the lane of stalls toward the wide-open door and the outside paddock.

And Brock was in their way.

He caught the spell in Brock’s hands sputtering out as he was bowled over. He didn't know why Brock didn't use it against one of the non-leveled horses. Maybe he was afraid of retribution if he killed one of the Overlords' working beasts. Maybe it was just bad luck, or he was saving it for the right moment and got distracted. He'd heard that a mage's spell could die prematurely or rebound on the caster if they lost their concentration at the wrong moment. That was why magic users had to be mentally sharp, focused, and disciplined. Either way, Brock fell.

For regular people, being trampled by a dozen panicked horses would have been more than enough to kill them. But Brock was a leveler, a high leveler... or so Tobias had always thought.

He got over his moment of shock and realized that now that he had access to the system, he could read tags too. And there was a tag over Brock's head.

[Gary Olin-Smith: Level Three]

Only level three?

Tobias would have laughed if the situation weren't so dire. The man wasn't high leveled at all. And Gary? He’d changed his name?

The last of the horses passed, leaving Brock laying there, slightly dazed. But within a few seconds, he was pulling himself up to his feet. The red light was gone from his hand. Tobias knew that he could rekindle that spell at any moment.

Then Max reached the man.

"Max!" Tobias yelled, running to him without even realizing that he was doing it. "Stomp down!"

The stallion reared up on his hind legs and brought giant, plate-sized hooves down on a leveler.

Max has gained 1 level in skill: Stomp.

Brock was knocked back down, and Tobias heard the wet wood snap as bone broke.

Screaming, Brock flailed with an arm that was facing the wrong way. No, Tobias realized with a new jolt of horror, he wasn't flailing. He was trying to grab the blade attached to his hip.

Tobias reached Max just as the horse came down again with another sickening crunch—this time on Brock's legs. Despite the double blows, Brock was clearly pushing past his initial shock. He managed to flail his non-injured arm across his body to grab the dagger. The weapon glinted blue steel, just like the spurs.

The man was three levels above Tobias and had a system-enhanced weapon. By all rights, Tobias should be running away. He was on the Support path now and had seen time and time again the Supports had no chance fighting against a Warrior.

Tobias didn't care. He was a step away from Max and reached up to grab a hank of black mane. With a burst of adrenaline, he pulled himself up on the tall, wide back. The moment he landed on his seat, he felt the connection thrum between himself and his steed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He also felt lightning—Max's element—course through him.

Max’s training was just about nil, starting and ending with the Overlord’s clumsy attempts to saddle break him. But he reacted when Tobias pulled his mane to the side, sidestepping just in time to avoid a sloppy slash from Brock's dagger.

Tobias looked down at the man. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he was visibly pulling himself together.

Their gazes briefly locked and Tobias saw determination and his own death in the man's eyes.

Tobias reached for Max's lightning. It flowed out from a well that he did not even realize he had until that moment, filtered harmlessly through Max and shunted through the horse's hooves as the stallion stomped. He caught Brock’s elbow with one hoof and his stomach with the other. Electricity rolled through the man and he convulsed.

Max came down again and again, frantically, practically dancing on the man with all four hooves, with the lightning element enhancing every step.

With the electricity locking his muscles, Brock had no chance to bring up the dagger again. A slash would have been devastating as the horse's legs and feet were its weak points. And Tobias had no doubt that a blade like that could part through anything.

It didn't matter because Tobias nudged Max's flank with his heel, and the horse turned at his command as if finally trained. He felt Max's intention and closed his eyes.

In his wildest dreams, Tobias would have only ever expected to cripple a man like this. Just long enough to get away. Higher level tiers were almost impossible to kill. Yet despite all the fear, hate, and pain that Brock had put him through over the years, he was only a level 3.

Max’s hoof slammed down on Brock’s head. It was a fatal blow, and power of a different source—not electricity, but pure unadulterated energy—swept up from Brock's body through Tobias and Max.

Behind his closed eyelids, Tobias received another notification.

Warning, experience allocation has not been set. Experience has been shunted to a default 50/50 split with existing steed.

Congratulations, you have reached level 2.

For reaching level 2, you may train two more steeds.

Tobias stared at the words, shocked.

And in his moment of distraction, Max raised up again in a double kick, first front legs, followed by a whipcrack back buck. Not to stomp down more on the corpse, but to shake his rider off.

Tobias hit the ground, hard, but between his shock, and the new levels, he barely felt it.

Max tossed his head and pranced around, and Tobias had the feeling that he was enjoying the feeling of leveling up. His coat seemed shinier, his neck and legs thicker with muscle. He was a young horse, rangy, and clearly growing.

And... maybe it was that Tobias was sitting on the ground, but his horse seemed taller.

His horse.

Tobias was nearly overwhelmed once again with everything that had happened, but now was not the time to freeze up in shock. Now was the time to act. There was every possibility that somebody would be alerted to Brock's death. The worst case would be the Overlord, though there were even odds that he was passed out drunk from high-level liquor at this time of night.

Even if the Overlord himself wasn’t alerted, Brock was in charge of the stables as well as a few farms in this area. Even the Overlord's braindead lackeys would notice something odd if they saw the horses all running wild in the outside paddock this time of night.

Max was snorting, pawing at the ground again, and eyeballing Tobias as if considering if he should give him a good stomping as well. It seemed that whatever alliance they had forged was on shaky ground. But he hadn't attacked yet. Tobias would consider that a win.

Ignoring him, Tobias rose to his feet and went to what was left of Brock.

He grabbed the dagger—a wicked-looking thing, serrated and dangerous with a faint tingle he assumed was magic.

Then a glint of silver caught his eye. Brock wore a ring on one mangled hand.

That's a storage ring, he thought on reflex. I'm not allowed to touch—

Ruthlessly cutting that thought off, he yanked the ring off Brock's finger before shoving it onto his own. The storage ring shrunk slightly and fit Tobias's finger like it had been made for him. An inventory list appeared in his mind, and what he read there made his eyes widen.

It seemed that Brock had kept his personal wealth with him at all times. Tobias was brand new to being a leveler, but it seemed there was more inside the ring than a simple level 3 should have: Over a hundred gold, three times that in silver, and thousands of copper coins.

Tobias had only seen coppers in person before.

There were more daggers, a broadsword, and brass knuckles. Most importantly: food. There were whole cooked meals, frozen in a timeless storage space. Snacks in colorful packaging that reminded Tobias of his childhood before the system, jugs of water and ale.

Tobias's stomach growled and he had to force his mental eye away.

Then, remembering, he grabbed the spurs from his pocket. With a thought, he shoved them into the storage ring. They seemed to shrink to nothing in his hand and the inventory list popped up again, now showing a new item.

Enhanced Spurs (Magical)—Uncommon (One Pair)

Tobias looked at Max. "That's done with. We need to get out of here." Then he turned to head to the tack room.

Max gave him a stubborn look and didn't move. Tobias glanced back at him over his shoulder. "I told you that I'm getting you out of here. This is the best way." He paused. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you like the Overlord did. Look what we've already done together." And he gestured down to Brock. "And we've just gained two levels. I'm not going to hurt you, Max."

Max gave another snort and maybe it was his imagination, but Tobias could easily picture him saying, As if you could hurt me, little human.

Then he followed Tobias to the tack room.

Time to get his steed saddled up.