"Well, there's no reason for us to take on the other large female before taking out the smaller one, now. I have no mana. Bottomed out. It is going to stay that way until I level. It's best we just try to take out the younger females and hope that gets me enough experience."

"Man, that debuff is annoying," Joe said.

"Yep. Tell me about it. And it is only going to get worse, harder and harder to reset. I have to figure out a better way to deal with it. I have some ideas... theories really... but that is going to take some meditation."

"Hopefully, you'll figure it out," Paige commented.

"Yeah, it is a headache. Both figuratively and literally. I have an actual constant headache from the lack of mana." Levi stood up and dusted himself off. "Well, we should get started on killing the younger drakes, I guess. Hopefully, I'll get a level before we have to fight the next mature female. Everyone ready?"

Everyone gave him nods in the affirmative, except for David, who was distracted, staring into his pack.

"David... you ready, man?" Levi asked directly.

"Huh?" David's head jerked up. "Oh, yeah, let's go." David quickly closed his pack and stood.

Killing the four younger Drakes proved easy. Unfortunately, Levi wasn't able to contribute much.

'Well, fuck,' Levi thought as he stared at his experience points.

Experience to next level: 5396/5400

"Well, fuck," Levi repeated aloud.

"You're kidding. You still didn't level?" Paige asked.

"Nope. 5396 of 5400." Levi closed his eyes and shook his head. "I swear I hate this class sometimes."

"Seriously? Four fucking points away, that's bullshit," Joe said.

"Isn't there something you can do to push those last four points?" Maddy asked. "Sparring gives some experience."

Levi shook his head. "Sparring by itself doesn't give experience unless I am learning something. No offense, but I haven't really gained any experience from sparring you guys for a while. I could probably get some experience from sparring Paige, but without Mental Boosting, I'd never be able to compete enough to actually gain experience."

"Oh, come on. It is just four fucking experience points. You can't tell me there isn't any way for you to pick up four experience points real fast. You always have some trick up your sleeve. Don't tell me you can't think your way around this problem," Joe said. "We're not on a strict timeline, with the time dilation."

Joe was right, but Levi didn't have any ideas off the top of his head. "Give me a minute. Let me think."

Levi paced. He hadn't had a chance to work on learning any more skills. He didn't think sparring would help. His head hurt. He felt like he wasn't able to think as clearly as normal.

"Are you alright?" Paige asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Levi looked up and caught her gaze. "Yeah. It's just this headache and not being able to think clearly. I've never gone this long with the debuff active... well... I have, but I've never gone this long without any mana at all. I think the lack of mana is actually making it difficult for my brain to work right. I mean, I know that this probably should be easy for me to solve. But I can't even focus on it. Four fucking experience points feels overwhelming, and I just want to lay down and close my eyes."

"That actually makes the debuff worse than you thought," Paige commented.

"Yep. But I do have an idea about how to get around it. I just can't do that right now. Not only will it take some time, but I don't think I have the mental capability to even work that out right now."

"How about we just make camp for the night?" Paige suggested. "Like Joe said, we aren't on a strict timeline."

"Yeah. That sounds good. Can you let everyone know. I just want to go clear my head for a minute."

"Yeah, sure." Paige squeezed his forearm.

----

"I'm not sure it's just the debuff affecting him," Maddy said, as she threw another stick into the fire.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked. "Levi seems pretty convinced it is the debuff."

"Yeah, and it probably is mostly the debuff, but I don't think that's all of it. He hasn't said much about it, but I've been paying attention. Something happened in that fight with Eric. Levi's hinted at it a time or two, but never said what happened outright. But he's all but said he messed himself up somehow. It's just a guess, but I suspect that may have something to do with it."

"You know anything about it, Paige?" Joe asked.

Paige thought back to what Levi had said about nearly dying when he upgraded his Core. Beyond that, he really hadn't told her anything, and she didn't think that had anything to do with what was going on with Levi. She just shook her head. If his Core upgrade had nothing to do with it, she wasn't going to mention what Levi had shared with her in confidence.

"Huh." Joe scratched his beard. "How about you, David, any thoughts?"

"What?" David pulled his gaze away from the inside of his pack. "Oh, no, Levi doesn't really talk to me much. I have no idea."

"What's going on with your pack? You've been staring into half the day," Maddy asked.

David closed his pack. "Oh, just keeping a count on the arrows I have left. I'm getting low on my good arrows. But don't worry, I should have what I need until we get back through the portal."

Maddy stared at him suspiciously, but gave no further comment.

"Well, we need to find out for sure. Paige, can you talk to him and find out what's going on?" Joe said.

Paige nodded. "Yeah, I'll ask. But it really could be nothing, or he just may not want to talk about it."

"Well... still, you try. Go talk to him." Joe stared at the Goblin warrior giving sword lessons to a few of the youth. He stood and started walking toward the Goblins. "And tell him I may have found a way to get him those last four experience points."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

----

Even in meditation, Levi could feel the constant headache. It had taken him a while to locate what he thought to be the source, but he was pretty sure he understood what was causing it.

Though his mana channels were empty, there were places where the mana and stamina channels now touched. When mana and stamina were both available, those spots would spark and create a new type of energy. He was still trying to understand what that was, though he theorized it was some form of hybrid energy that was somewhere in between mana and stamina.

He planned on experimenting with that. He had the idea that he may be able to use it to circumvent his debuff in the future, but knew that he wouldn't be able to make that work easily, and definitely not in his current condition. But with the way his stamina and mana channels continued to grow more entangled, he had no choice but to either figure out how to make that work or be completely crippled by it. The stamina and mana channels were getting worse by the day.

What used to be clear, seperate channels of energy were slowly growing into a confusing mess.

But he couldn't do anything about that without mana. In fact, the lack of mana seemed to make the consequences of the two channels mingling even worse. And that was the problem, as far as he could tell.

Now, there was no spark of a new third energy. And even as he tried to focus and his mind attempted to draw on trace amounts of mana from his channels, all it did was pull stamina from where the two energy channels touched. Every time stamina was pulled into his mana channels, a thrum of pain would go through his head.

If his mana and stamina channels weren't touching, that wouldn't be possible. He didn't think he'd have a headache at all. If he had mana, the two energies would mingle and create the third energy. Even if that produced some unpredictable effects, they seemed to result in a net positive.

But his stamina simply being drawn into his mana channels was doing nothing but harm. It wasn't even resulting in the new odd growths, but rather slowly causing damage to his mana channels. It wasn't as bad as it had been after the fight with Eric, but the mana channels were definitely taking a beating.

He was running out of time to solve the problem. He knew it. It almost felt like being diagnosed with a terminal illness. If he didn't find some way to rectify what was going on, he was screwed. There was the possibility that it could literally kill him.

He looked to his Core. He hadn't focused on cycling faster since his first Core upgrade, but he did now. He didn't think it would fix him, but if it came down to it, he would attempt a Core upgrade. So he made his Core, the main ring, and the secondary ring he could barely perceive spin even faster in their gyroscopic rotations.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling his concentration from meditation. Somehow, he knew it was Paige.

"Hey, Paige," Levi said before he'd even opened his eyes.

"Hey, you," Paige said as she sat down next to him. "What's going on? Really. Full disclosure, Joe did ask me to talk to you, but I'm here for myself. And if you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't... but at least tell me what is going on."

----

"You took a Lians-thrak egg? Why?" Maddy demanded.

"Shhh. Keep your voice down." David looked around to make sure no one had overheard. "I'm going to try to bond it as my companion when it hatches."

"Have you lost your fucking mind, David? Not even Paige has tried to make friends with the drakes. They're monsters. They're dangerous. What even makes you think you can?" Maddy's attempt at a whisper was almost loud enough to carry.

"Shh. I got the option for an animal companion when I hit level 15. I didn't take it at the time, because I didn't really think there was anything I'd really be interested in. But then the egg was just there... if I can get a new Ability selection before the egg hatches, I think I can bond to it when it does. Please don't tell anyone."

Maddy stared at David for a long moment. "You're a fucking idiot." She sighed. "Fine. But if you can't bond to it, you better fucking kill it."

"I swear, I will," David answered.

----

"So, it's like that," Paige said. She stared at Levi, heart pounding.

"Yep. It is like that," Levi answered.

"And you're sure you can merge the two before it pretty much cripples you, or worse, kills you?" Paige watched him as he answered. She silently switched her Trait Share to the Wolf's sense of smell.

"Nope. Being honest, I'm not sure I can do it. But I think I can, and I know I really don't have a choice."

"Well, at least you aren't lying to me." She said as she tried to lean back and relax. It wasn't working. Her heart beat hard in her chest. She hadn't had any idea how bad Levi's condition was.

Levi turned to her and looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. But no, I wouldn't lie to you. But please don't tell anyone else. It is something I figure out or don't... but sometimes, other people's opinions, especially on my meditation stuff, just gets in the way more than it helps. I just want to do it without a bunch of other opinions confusing me."

Paige stared back into his eyes. They stayed tightly slitted for a long moment, before her pupils finally relaxed into dark pools of black. "Fine. I trust you. I believe you can do it... so you better."

"I'll do my best," was the only answer Levi could honestly give.

"Okay. Well, come on. I think Joe has a plan to get you to the next level. Pretty sure it involves training with the goblins." Paige lept to her feet and extended a hand down to Levi.

After a second, he took her hand and stood. "I probably would have thought of that myself if my head wasn't killing me."

----

As Levi approached, Joe gave him a smile that seemed strained.

"Hey there, Devil Dog," Joe said in a tone that sounded a little too sympathetic.

Levi closed his eyes in irritation. "Joe, I know you're just trying to play the situation as cool as you can, but 'Devil Dog' misses the mark by a lot." Levi opened his eyes and caught Joe's concerned gaze. "I'll be fine. And I do think this is a good idea, but you calling me Devil Dog like that feels a little forced and reminds me way too much of how we talked to young Marines with serious PTSD. Trust me, this isn't the same. It is something else."

Joe stiffened a bit. "Yeah, fair enough, but I don't know what the fuck is going on and you aren't telling people. I'm just trying to help you out here."

"I know, Joe. I know...bu--"

Before Levi could finish his thought, Paige butted in. "He's fine, Joe. He knows what he is doing, just kind of stuck on something. But don't worry so much. Right, Levi?" She turned her gaze to Levi.

He was grateful that she was covering for him, but the pressure of not letting her down, of her trust in him, squeezed around his heart for a moment. "Yeah, that's right," Levi finally managed to say.

Joe looked back and forth between the two, face an unreadable blank mask. "Fine. I'll trust that." Joe pushed a sheathed, short Goblin sword into Levi's hand. "But we still need you to level. This goblin sword is close to the same length as your own Ability sword, so it should be a good sword for learning how to wield your own. You're going to practice until you I learn something and level, and I don't care how long that takes. We've got time. You need to learn to use a sword anyway."

Levi nodded as he looked Joe in the eye. "Thanks, Joe. I haven't been able to think clearly. And I'm sorry about that. But once I level, things should be fine. Thanks for thinking of this."

"Just fucking train. Train until you level up. We'll talk about everything else afterwards."

-----

"No, you hold wrong." Bak-siehk, the goblin warrior said as he adjusted Levi's grip once again. "Now sink body, go forward, go up. Thrust sword. Beneath enemy, you see. Move low, strike high."

The goblins' way of swordmanship was designed for a people who always fought larger opponents. As much as Levi hated to admit it, it was suited to his shorter Falcata styled sword, the fact that he may often be facing larger opponents in the future, and that most humans he'd ever considered threats had been taller than him.

As he went through the movements the goblin showed him, he must have done something wrong, because he felt the smack from the stick the goblin wielded strike his wrist.

Levi straightened. "Look. Let me try, one more time, the way I practice. Slowly."

"Why slow?" The goblin asked, staring up at Levi.

"Because I can focus on the movements better. Once I learn the moves well, I can go faster. Just let me try it my way," Levi was trying not to get frustrated with his goblin instructor.

"Fine. You try, I watch," the goblin said with a glare up at Levi.

Levi settled into the stance the goblin had shown him and closed his eyes. Slowly, he pulled his sword hand to his ribs, ducking forward and extending a foot, his whole posture very close to the ground. Then he brought his rear foot forward. After it touched the ground, he placed his other foot slightly wider, in a more solid stance, and slowly extended his body, from toe to sword-tip, at the imaginary foe."

Ding. You have learned Basic Sword Form: Goblin.

Ding. You have leveled.

As Levi opened his eyes and gave a relaxed sigh, his goblin instructor struck him with the stick again. "Was good. Not done practicing. Focus, Spirit-bonded."

Levi still smiled as he shook out the pain the Goblin had just caused his wrist. He'd done it. He'd leveled. Plus he'd learned a basic sword form.

Unfortunately, his goblin instructor was far from satisfied.