The hallways of the Baronry of Umlok were surprisingly empty, considering they were owned by, you know, a baron. You’d think they’d splash out for some personnel to roam such a grand estate. It was only good news for us, though, as we made it up out of the dungeons and servants' quarters without so much as seeing another soul.

That all changed, however, when we found our way out. We got overconfident, I’d say, but that was as much Val’s fault as my own. We hurried up the stairs to the ground level, rushing around a corner towards what I noted as natural light, and Val came to a sudden halt in front of me.

Not quite as athletic as I was a few days ago, I wasn’t able to stop in time, and I crashed into the sorcerer’s rear, eliciting an unintentional oomph from each of us. In front of us, a hulking woman in medium armour stood from a chair and table, and put her hand on her sword.

As if that wasn’t problem enough, the guard stood between us and our exit—the door to the castle yards at the far corner of the room, next to a thick stone wall lined with ornate tapestry.

‘Err…’ I started, staring at the woman.

As if completely lacking in awareness of my hesitation, Val shoved me forward. ‘Your turn!’

Brow furrowed, I turned back to her and mouthed, ‘Mine?’

When I turned back, the guard was upon me, but with her sword down she was looking like she was in no rush to attack, so I could only assume that she’d done a quick identification of me and deemed me no threat.

Well, I decided, it was time to show her what I could do with a knife. Even if it was a butter knife.

I raised the blunt blade, causing the guard to raise an eyebrow, and then I struck blindly forward. I remembered, in that moment, a time when my knife strikes were highly targeted and highly specific, where I could both aim at and hit a quarter-inch segment without much trouble. Without all my Knifework skill possession, though, I felt clumsy—and the slice reflected that.

The guard didn’t react as the butter knife struck her chest armour, though her eyebrow remained raised. It was almost like I hadn’t attacked her at all.

‘You know you just did… one… point of damage, right?’ Val asked.

I looked at her, then back at the woman in front of me. All I could do was force an apologetic smile to my face, then shrug.

The guard… did not look impressed.

I gripped the butter knife tighter, and slashed again, once more barely leaving a scratch in the woman’s armour.

‘Did you just try…’ Val started.

I flung my hands into the air. ‘I don’t know!’

The guard with the slightly indented leather chest armour glared at me, and one hand began to slowly draw a long, shining sword from the sheath at her hips.

‘Err… Styk?’

‘Yes?’

‘Duck.’

Maybe combat wasn’t my thing right at this minute, but falling? Yes, I could do that. My chest hit the floor before I’d really had a chance to register what I was doing, and I felt a great wind pass over me.

Glancing upwards, I saw a cloud of dust—punctuated by the odd small stone—pummelling into the guard. She staggered backwards with every hit of rock, and held her hands over her eyes to keep them unharmed.

Feeling uncomfortably close to this magic cloud, I hugged the floor tighter, allowing myself just enough room to keep an eye on the woman who’d accosted us.

She grunted as her back hit the far stone wall, allowing her to retreat no further. I waited for Val to up the attack, to press the guard while she was routed, but instead the gust faded away.

The guard growled. ‘Now you’re—’

Another magically created gust of wind sprung into life, flinging the door open and smashing the guard in the face. She had just enough time to mumble something that began with ‘What…’ before tumbling, unconscious, to the ground.

Level 17 Guard defeated!

Knifework unlocked!

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Knifework — +100xp

Knifework increased to level 1!

Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)

Ability unlocked — Slice

Slice (Knifework) — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

I pulled myself back to my feet, staggered across the room, and looked down at the unconscious body of the guard. There must have been a smug smile on my face, because Val was soon to call me out on it.

‘What’s got you looking so happy all of a sudden?’

I held up the butter knife. ‘Gonna be rid of this before I know it.’

‘You… you got xp? For that? The system recognised that as contributing to the fight?’

‘You said it yourself: I did one point of damage.’

‘Two, actually.’

‘Two points of damage!’ I supported this point with two raised fingers, just in case Val had forgotten how to count in the past few seconds.

Val shook her head in wide-eyed exasperation. ‘Maybe you’ll be able to wield a soup spoon next.’ With that, she pressed through the door and out into the castle yard.

I followed, keeping—as she had—to the shadows at the perimeter of the yard, this particular area apparently used as a stable. We paused at the castle’s exterior wall, and as there was no obvious way to climb it, we instead looked for a ground-level exit.

Across the yard, inconveniently located at the very far side, was the gate. But between us and it? A good half-dozen guards, standing—admittedly rather disinterestedly—at their posts.

‘Got any bright ideas?’ Val asked.

I looked at our surroundings—at the three guards that would easily spot us if we continued on our path around the perimeter, at the bows hanging on two of the further guards, and at the handful of horses watching us while lazily chewing on dirty hay. I might have lost my skills, but that didn’t mean I’d lost my brains—and I had a good head for strategy.

‘You know?’ I replied. ‘I think I just might.’

Before Val could respond, I picked up the last few strands of hay, and the three nearest horses immediately stopped chewing. Mid-mouthful. They got as worried as I did when someone got between them and their food, then.

‘Shh,’ I said to the nearest one, brushing its face gently. ‘Here you go.’ I dropped some of the hay in front of it, leading it ever so slightly away from the wall—and closer to the gate.

Val remained crouched in the shadows, her eyes narrow.

‘Well?’ I asked. ‘You coming?’

She sighed. ‘Suppose I am.’

We kept well hidden behind the massive beasts as I led them forward, dropping small bunches of hay every few paces. I directed them ever so slowly across the stable yard, keeping my breath shallow, willing that none of the guards spotted us.

Two prisoners and three horses reached the far side of the horses’ yard just as I ran out of hay, and—after a quick scan over the horses’ back from Val—we dived over the fence for the cover of a low wall. From here, it was easy; we’d made it through the eyelines of the guards on the ground floor, so from here we scuttled for the gate, slipping through it.

As we reached a hay bale in the surrounding farmlands, I felt a notification or two pop up.

Stealth — +80xp

Stealth increased to level 1!

Base Points gained — +1 DEX, +1 WIS, +2 Free Points (DEX/WIS)

Ability unlocked — Basic Stealth Attack

Basic Stealth Attack (Stealth) — Passive. 10% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Level up!

You increased to level 3!

Level 3 already—and I wasn’t even out of here. Suddenly I was feeling a little more optimistic about my chances of surviving in the outside world long enough to return to a respectable level. And that was quite the number of base points I was building up, too.

I looked to Val, who was waiting with hands raised, a look on her face that said something like “what the hells are you waiting for?”

‘What the hells are you waiting for?’ she asked.

‘Sorry,’ I mumbled, hurrying after her—but not before putting two of my four free points into vitality and the other two into dexterity. At this point, both those stats were safe bets, as they’d boost my health and my stamina, respectively—both of which I needed… desperately.

We ran for the safety of the woods, not looking back until the Barony of Umlok was long behind us. Finally we came to a rest, out of breath, though Val looking in a much better state than low-stamina me. We took a moment in silence, catching our breaths, and it was the sorcerer who finally spoke.

‘Well that was fun, huh?’ she said.

"Styk"

Level 3 Peasant

Base Stats:

Vitality — 2

Intelligence — 5

Dexterity — 4

Strength — 1

Wisdom — 8

Charisma — 0

Skills:

Identification — Level 4

Knifework — Level 1

Stealth — Level 1

Abilities:

Slice (Knifework) — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Basic Stealth Attack (Stealth) — Passive. 10% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Basic Identification (Identification) — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +400%