Levi stood in front of Joe in a sparring pit, once again.

Both grinned like madmen taking the next step into insanity.

Levi had spent the last two days sparring outside the safezone. He'd reached level 4. He hadn't gained any skills, but the level ups had kept his Parched Soul reset. He knew it was a matter of time before the level-ups slowed, and he'd be back to struggling to reset the debuffs again.

But it wouldn't happen yet. It was time to turn things up a notch. This was the first try at something they'd coined 'Hard Spars.' Almost full on combat with the exception that they'd refrain from killing blows.

Otherwise, it was all out.

There were some rules.

The first was that they each had someone refereeing the match. Less to call fouls and more to prevent accidental deaths. They each followed the fight and carried a healing potion in their hand for a quick response if, or rather when, something went wrong.

As an extra measure, a healer had to be brought in for quicker heals. But they were to only use the heals under two conditions. The first was the obvious situation where one of them suddenly took lethal damage. That would also mark the end of the match. The other was that each combatant was allowed to call out for a heal twice per match.

This would also allow healing classes to train, which was part of the new plan: Provide everyone an opportunity to train.

For Joe and Levi, they'd brought in Maddy. David had actually come to watch her at work and support her.

Most importantly, it was time to use full skills and gear.

"You ready?" Joe asked.

"Fuck no. You have a sword and mail armor. I have comfortable clothes with a few hard bits."

Joe grinned. "Well, you volunteered. I'm not going to go easy on you. You know that. You could also pick up a sword."

"Oh, I know. Just don't say I was cocky before the fight, and I'll be fine having my ass handed to me." The truth was Levi was extremely anxious. He'd spent that morning shitting his guts out with anxiety.

This was going to hurt a lot. It was guaranteed serious injury with a side of possible death. And he was pretty much bare fisted except for his arm and leg bracers to deflect blows.

But Levi did have something up his sleeve. He hadn't gained any skills over the past couple of days, but he had learned he could manipulate mana. In fact, he'd learned to use it in two ways.

The first was to increase his speed of thought. If he pushed the mana into his mind, it would allow his mind to process everything much faster. It hadn't become automatic or a skill yet, but he'd learned he could still use it in a spar. It helped his mind keep up when he used Empowering Flow. It would also cause a nasty headache if he used it for more than 30 seconds.

The other way he'd learned to use mana was to create a layer that protected him from blows or as he deflected attacks...and it even worked on his own fists to protect his knuckles when he struck something himself.

It still took more concentration than he liked, and he hadn't gained any skills or abilities to make it easier... but he could do it.

Tony walked to the center, giving each of them a long look. "Well, you both volunteered for this. I'm not going to try to talk you out of it. You both know the rules, so I'll only reiterate. If at any point you feel like ending the bout, please yell out or raise a hand. Seriously do that. Please. Ready?"

Levi and Joe both gave a single nod.

Tony backed up to give them space. "Ready. Fight!"

Levi triggered Empowering Flow and rushed forward, he pushed some mana into his mind as the distance closed, and threw a fist at Joe's solar plexus as hard as he could with that level of Empowering Flow. He projected a layer of mana over his knuckles to protect them from the impact of his fist hitting mail armor.

Levi's plan was simple. Overwhelm Joe with speed. Overall, Joe was a slightly superior fighter and had a strength and reach advantage on Levi. And that wasn't even counting the sword. But Levi had never seen him move faster than normal human capability, and Levi now had a huge advantage in speed.

Levi's punch landed, but Joe didn't budge. It didn't even looked like it hurt him. It had to have been a skill, because Levi had hurt Joe with far weaker strikes.

Levi was inside Joe's sword range and thought he was safe. If Levi didn't have mana flooding his mind and speeding up his perception, he would have missed Joe driving the pommel of his sword down at Levi's head. Rather than attempting to dodge and give up his advantage, Levi pushed mana to reinforce his skull, twisting and driving another fist into Joe's liver. He pushed in more stamina with Empowering Flow, pushing harder than he should have. He felt some of the muscles in his left arm and torso rip.

Their blows connected at the same time. For a split second, Levi's vision went white, but he was still on his feet. He immediately threw himself backward to create distance and then ended Empowering Flow and the flow of mana to his mind. Joe fell to his knees.

Whatever had protected Joe from the first blow hadn't been active, and apparently Levi's strike had been far more devastating than he'd anticipated. Joe was ghost white, gritting his teeth. "Heal." Joe barely choked out through the pain.

The pain showing on Joe's face eased as Maddy's heal washed over him.

Joe stood, still breathing hard. "Damn kid, I think you just popped my liver like a balloon. I mean, I actually felt it. I had no idea you packed that much power. Guess round one goes to you."

Levi reached up with his good arm, which still made him wince in pain, and touched his head. When he brought his hand back down, it was covered in blood. "Heal," Levi said through his own gritted teeth. It wasn't the worst pain he'd ever experienced, but he would be finished without a heal.

He felt his muscles knit together and was glad the spell Maddy used apparently helped ease the pain, too.

Levi shrugged. "I won the round, but barely. Ready?" Levi asked.

Joe gave him a grim nod.

Levi's plan was essentially the same the second round, except he intended to start with a leg sweep. It would be an easy win if he could get Joe to the ground. At least an easier win.

But as Levi made his initial rush, bright light burst from Joe's sword and Levi was blinded. He managed not to stumble, even with the insane speed from Empowering Flow. Unfortunately, a sword speared through him before he'd even regained his vision.

Levi knew it was a fatal blow the moment he felt it. Feeling the sword slide out much slower was somehow even worse. Yet, when he tried to scream, he only choked up blood.

It was a horrible, unimaginable pain, but luckily short-lived. Maddy's heal flooded him nearly instantly, and he felt someone push a potion to his lips a second after that. After just a brief moment, he was able to swallow, and he drank the potion greedily. It tasted like one of Grace's healing potions, but somehow, the taste of medicinal dirty sock was wonderful in that moment.

He hadn't he realized he'd fallen to the ground, but when he got to his feet, he looked around and noticed everyone was staring at him. He was still shaking slightly, but half of them looked worse than he felt.

"Hey, are you okay?" Joe asked quietly, his normal rasp seeming worse.

"Yeah. A little shaken up still, but fine. It wasn't quite as bad as when I smashed my toe and it burst like an overcooked sausage... but I didn't have a healing potion back then, so not a fair comparison," Levi said levelly.

Joe was shaking. His sword lay on the ground, still covered in Levi's blood. "For a second, I-I was just afraid the healing wouldn't be enough. I was afraid I might have killed a friend." Joe gave a nervous chuckle. "Guess that's what I get for insisting I go first."

And then Maddy vomited, finally drawing everyone's eyes away from Levi.

After that, everyone was a lot more hesitant to try the 'hard spars.' They decided that maybe easing their way into something that brutal was the better way to handle it.

Most spars after that took a slightly more measured approach, using training weapons or limiting striking to non-vital areas.

Joe and Levi had another spar without any restrictions. Levi won, but he was suspicious it was only because Joe was still shaken up and holding back too much.

One set of sparring partners did stand out, though. Craig, the man with the rapier, and Iara, the Kendo practitioner from Brazil, went hard with each other. All out would be a stretch, considering Iara never attempted to decapitate Craig, but they held back very little. They'd sparred three times, with Craig winning two, yet insisting it was because Iara was holding back.

Their fights were so brutal that some people had to step away because it was too much to watch. Apparently, watching someone push their guts back in while being healed was a little too much for some.

And that was just day one.

-----

Paige didn't hate her life, surprisingly. The first week or so had just been watching the bobcat hunt.

The game of keep-away the bobcat did after every hunt wasn't as stupid as Paige had thought, either.

The bobcat only kept the food moving away from her until Paige's own movements were quick enough to snag the actual prey. And by the end of that week, the bobcat had said it was time for her to hunt for herself. Paige had snagged the prey right away the last few times, and apparently the bobcat, who Paige had begun calling 'Mama-cat,' was satisfied she was ready.

It helped that Paige had gotten an ability upgrade that allowed her to use Share Traits on two traits at a time, rather than one.

She'd also gained Improved Sneaking, an upgrade to her previous sneaking skill.

And her first time hunting rabbit after the bobcat's tutelage went far better.

Paige basically meandered through the forest in what wasn't quite as good of a saunter as Mama-cat's, but a damned good imitation. She kept Share Trait locked on the bobcat's hearing and smell.

A breeze blew, and she sniffed the air. There were definitely some cottontail upwind, but they were farther than Paige would care to travel. Her ears had already picked up some movement in underbrush she was familiar with. She wasn't certain it was rabbits making the noise, but she knew that chances were good based on experience and her ears learning to discern the different movements of animals.

It was close to dusk. Finding the spot she believed the rabbits were, she took in a good sniff. There were definitely rabbits in the area. She found a good perch, higher than she'd climbed before. Rather than staying tense, she lounged on the branch. Waiting, Paige had learned, did not need to be uncomfortable.

After a while, as the sun started to slip lower and the forest grew darker, Paige shifted Share Trait from smell to cat eyes, making her vision much sharper and better at picking up movement in the low light conditions.

And the rabbits started to make their move out of hiding.

Paige stayed relaxed and only watched. The rabbits hopped cautiously for a while before becoming somewhat more confident. Paige watched as they moved around, nibbling on anything they could find.

She waited until one had passed beneath her before she roused from her relaxed position.

She knew the rabbit would take what it already considered the safe path back to its home. She wasn't even sure how she knew, but she KNEW.

She didn't quite tense herself to pounce, but just slowly repositioned her body to be ready and continued to watch. After a while, she lost sight of the rabbit, who'd gone farther to eat. But she knew it would come back, and as the sun went down completely, she saw the rabbit again.

It took its time, and Paige waited. When the rabbit was nearly directly beneath her, she finally tensed her body to pounce. Unless she made a sound or the rabbit caught her scent, the rabbit couldn't notice her when she was this high in the tree. She used Share Trait and shifted her bobcat hearing to cat-like reflexes.

And then the rabbit was as close to Paige as it would be. She knew it would hear her and run as soon as she pounced. But she knew the direction it would go. Home. The way it had come.

So, she led the rabbit by a small amount. She leapt and made her first successful pounce.

Her hands found the rabbit easily. This time, she grabbed the rabbit's neck, and with a quick jerk, Paige snapped it.

Switching quickly to cat claws, she peeled the rabbit like a banana. Rabbits were easy to skin. All you had to do was get the skin around the head loose and pull, and the skin peeled right off.

Paige tore in. After she'd stripped most of the meat from bone, she tossed down what was left for the crows.

The crows were keeping their distance, even more than when she'd begun her training. She knew they felt some trepidation about her learning from a predator but still considered her a friend.

Paige simply didn't have it in her to worry about that. She was focused in a way she'd never felt in her life. But she never forgot about them, either.

Licking her claws--fingers--Paige went to find Mama-cat, satisfied.