Reaper has harvested one Native life. Intelligence increased by one. Reaper Damage increased from one hundred thirty to one hundred forty.

Dren dismissed the message and dropped the mage’s corpse with a growl. Tendrils of smoke rose from his body and new singe marks were added to those already marring his gear. The level twenty eight mage had been far more powerful than he expected from a basic class. Not just sending weak slow casted bolt spells, but a coiling serpent of flames and a rolling wave of fire had been deployed against him.

Back in the dungeon, after they restored their health to full Dren decided to push for the next dungeon right away. Exiting the dungeon in stealth they had been prepared for an ambush. Only one never came, the area around the dungeon was empty. But an hour later as both of them traveled through the woods towards the next dungeon there had been an ambush. Dren thought it might have just been a group going bandit against fellow natives. But then one of them shouted out that they had “really” found the invader.

That had been a meathead of a defender. Decently leveled but did little more than stand there huddled behind their shield. That might work against a dumb monster, but not an assassin. Definitely not against a Profane Blade. Dren had slid right through his defense before using both his Profane Blade’s active and Reaper with a critical strike. The combined damage was enough to instantly kill their front-line tank in a single hit. After that, their solid looking formation seemed to fall apart as Dren teleported around the battle rapidly. While Ren was a dervish of glistening silk threads. Still, they had gotten a few blows in. Dren had actually ignored the mage after seeing them use fire magic.

The thought of fearing a few weak fire bolts after the cooking he had just given himself in the last boss fight was laughable. Yet, it seemed that the mage had far more tricks up his sleeve. He got off several spells before Ren restrained him. Now of the five members that had attacked them, only one remained. He had shouted for Ren to capture them particularly. That order had broken what little resolve they had left. With already two of their five members dead within less than a minute of fighting. They decided to run when they were targeted. They hadn’t gotten very far.

“How. How did you kill Kirk in a single blow? He was a defender. That just isn’t possible. It isn’t possible.” The native wrapped in steel silk from his neck down to his toes lay on the ground looking up at Dren with an almost feverish look.

“What? Didn’t you know Assassins deal a ton of damage? We have to kill quickly as we are so squishy.” Dren responded as he crouched next to the man while yanking an arrow out, it had impaled him right over his heart. The arrowhead had barely pierced the leather of his armor to do little more than scratch his skin. Or more accurately his skin had stopped it from penetrating any deeper. It might have been a stupid move, but Dren had been curious. Plus none of their attacks felt dangerous. His instincts were growing sharper as he fought more and more. Until he had started developing an almost sixth sense while in combat. It told him which attacks he needed to doge. Which ones he could block or parry. Or even which ones he could just straight-up take on. This wasn’t an unusual ability based on his past reading. The main debate was if it was a hidden skill or based on an attribute like intelligence.

Either way, particularly after the endurance run that was the Monster Surge he had started honing it. Besides, he had his Life Surge at least partially refilled and mostly he was curious. He needed to know where his power measured up against the natives now, especially one with a rare class.

Like the native in front of him that was a level four Hunter. “What? But you… you are a beast tamer. A level twenty four beast tamer, not an assassin.” The mostly broken hunter babbled looking up at him, his eyes squinting repeatedly as he identified Dren over and over.

“So, my skill is still working. Then how did you know I wasn’t a native?” Dren asked, then sighed when the man just stared at him. “No, let me guess. That Seer named Maria told you right?”

“Yes! Yes, she set us up. Told us to ambush you and you would be a quick easy kill. They promised so many rewards. Did a system contract and everything.” He wiggled around like a worm in his cocoon. “That bitch set us up. I can help you. Help you get revenge. Just let me out and I’ll help. Just let me live.” He begged out the last sentence. Dren frowned down at the man a bit disgusted. They had been more than happy to murder him for rewards.

“One that sets out willing to take a life, should be prepared to lose their life.” Dren said, repeating a phrase he had once read that always stuck with him. It had been a phrase that drifted into his thoughts many times since he first arrived on this planet.

Raising his dagger the man started screaming as the blade shimmered with the power of his class skill and then turned inky black with the activation of Reaper.

Reaper has harvested one Native life. Agility increased by one. Reaper Damage increased from one hundred forty to one hundred fifty.

Sucking in a deep breath through his nose he looked around the battlefield. Two defenders, though one had used a two handed sword instead of a shield. Then the hunter, one mage, and a healer. One agility, intelligence, spirit, strength, and vitality. Not a bad increase in power for less than three minutes of fighting. Yet, Dren made a face under his mask. When attacked he hadn’t hesitated, not even after the battle was over and the last member of the native's ambush was helpless. Killing them had been a forgone outcome the moment they attacked him. But, why did he feel like he had just bullied some weaklings? This one had a rare class too and hadn’t been that much stronger than a basic class. Sure his level in his rare class was still low but really, he felt weak.

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“At least he wasn’t a stupid Belly Dancer.” Dren said out loud then shrugged, they had made their choices. Now they were dead. “Time to loot. I wonder if any of them had anything useful.” His tone was a bit excited and laced with greed.

*****

Maria sighed as the system contract she had with Micky the Hunter was terminated due to the death of one party. That made five terminated system contracts in the span of a few minutes. While the group she had sent out to ambush the invader dying had been a real possibility, they only had about a fifteen percent chance based on all her calculations. But the speed at which they had been wiped out was a bit unsettling. The lowest level, not counting the recently evolved Micky, had been twenty seven. Surely a group of five knowing exactly where and when to ambush the target should have lasted longer.

“Well?” A voice that sounded like bones scraping against each other asked. Despite their unnatural voice they somehow managed to still sound annoyed. Maria sighed internally but spoke out calmly.

“They have failed.” Beside her, there was an angry rattling sound as the Skeletal Lord turned away swearing in anger.

“I told you. I should just go out there and deal with that murderer myself. They have to die for what they did to me.” Richard reached up and scraped the sharp tips of his bone fingers down his skeletal face, the sound it made was like nails on a chalkboard. But luckily lasted only a few moments.

“You can’t leave the Haven undefended. You are the strongest fighter we have.” Maria did her best to placate the man.

They let out a harsh jeering laugh. “Strongest? I’m only level three. I can’t level up if I stay here in the Haven.”

Maria started to remind him it was his own choice not to leave the safety of the Haven. That she had recommended he go out and level in a dungeon, multiple times. He could easily clear dungeons solo with his ever growing skeletal army. But the Skeletal Lord was too focused on killing the invader. Maria sighed again, this time out loud even. For some reason that invader had grown harder and harder to get calculations on. Whenever she had the system calculate any potential future for him, she got strange improbable responses. She had resorted to putting people on paths to interact with him and reading their futures. It allowed her to circumvent whatever was obscuring her skills, but only somewhat. Unfortunately, Richard himself was hard to get readings on now that he had evolved, so figuring out the outcome of those two clashings was impossible.

But Maria didn’t think he would be the one to survive, she didn’t even need her skills to know that. Richard’s strength was his immortal army and fighting from a safe distance far from the battlefield. Unfortunately, he needed more levels to truly unlock the full potential of that fighting style. Levels he wasn’t getting. She was starting to wonder if she should toss in with that other idiot from Charleston. Mentally she snickered at his arrogantly naming his hovel of a settlement after himself.

No, that one would be even worse than Richard. His unlocking a rare class had only made him even more insufferable to deal with. Thinking of that idiot made her think of that woman, Jen. She was another potential option. No, she was even more obsessive than Richard about the invader boy. She had almost brought the Necropolis and Little Garden to open conflict after visiting the Purifier to learn more about Dren’s actions there. Maria mentally sighed, all her careful planning was being ruined by idiots and madmen. Well and Madwomen. At least she had evolved her class and profession.

She mentally glanced at her status just to see it there.

Class: Noble Seer

Profession: Fate Weaver

Richard evolving his profession to noble had evolved her class. While her profession also evolving had been a surprise to even her.

She was pulled from her own thoughts by Richard smashing his bony hand on the table. “Fine, if I can’t kill him myself. Send a real party after them. None of these low level and basic class trash.” Richard said, sounding slightly calmer after his final outburst.

“Very well. I shall arrange it.” Maria considered involving Jen but decided not to. That woman’s fate was strange. Mostly because she was supposed to have died already. Now her fate was all over the place. Ranging from dying soon to reaching grand heights in the years to come. Sending her off to most likely die now would be a waste of a potentially powerful piece. Plus, the last thing she wanted was for Richard and that woman to meet. She felt if they did it would cause no end of problems. With that thought, she created the quest asking for rare class holders to apply for a mission working directly for the Haven Lord. Then using her power as assistant to the Haven Lord it was issued to every rare class holder within the Haven. Done with that she had two hours to kill before any interested were to gather.

“It is done. Now, why don’t you head out to a dungeon? You really need to get to level twenty as soon as possible. The skill you will unlock is critical.” Maria said, deciding she could spend those two hours trying her best to talk some sense into this bonehead.

*****

Dren paused to examine the road in front of him. It was another of those oddly smooth paved rodes from before this world had integrated. But it wasn’t the road that truly occupied his attention. No, it was the group of natives hiding in the trees on either side of it. Seemingly unaware of his presence. The thing was, how likely was it they just so happened to be hiding in ambush right on his path? This was definitely another ambush by that damn Seer. Dren felt one of his eyes twitch with annoyance. He had planned to just ignore the meddling Seer after leaving the Haven. Then after the first ambush he had decided she still wasn’t worth messing with. Leveling up in the dungeon and getting those sweet prime rewards was more important. But if she was going to pester him with a ton of ambushes and other annoyances he might need to do something about that. ‘Then again, Reaper could use more leveling of its own. Same with that.” He glanced at part two of his invader quest which now showed one of ten.

*****

Kitty strolled into the room while looking around curious. She still hadn’t decided what she was going to do. Not after the madness of that night. So, when she got a notification offering her a quest directly from the Haven Lord. One offered only to Rare Class Holders, she had decided to at least see what it was all about. Besides, she wanted to meet this Haven Lord for herself. Maybe meeting him would help resolve some of her own unease over recent events.