In the days that followed, the Player Slayers—including its newest member, me—all made our way back to Lore’s farm, where his “babies” were very happy to see him. His farmhand, Seld, had been happiest of all that Lore had returned, and had desperately tried to explain that the sheep seemed to have started playing a game where they could see who could headbutt him the most. Lore seemed to have been caught between believing his assistant and his sheep, and by the time I left a few days after that, he still didn’t seem to have made his mind up.

Arzak and I had left Lore, Corminar and Val at the farm while the barbarian had been trying to convince the ranger to help him shovel sheep waste—something that I suspected he wouldn’t be successful in.

The reason I’d left them was a temporary one: after the battle with the pyroknight, and everything that happened afterwards, I wanted to learn more about the artifact I had in my possession. No longer was it just a “spent” object, that I carried around simply for reasons of sentimentality. No, now I realised that there was more to it than that, that I might unlock power beyond my imagination if I just focused on getting the most out of it.

The last supposed “expert” we’d spoken to—the old man with the overdue library books, now dead, if the Player was to be believed—had given me the name of someone else who might be able to help me. Lillya, up in Thistle Fort, might be able to tell me more about the metal object I at this moment held in my grasp.

When I’d told the team what I intended to do, Val and Lore had jumped to come with me, but I told them that I was level 10 now and that I should be able to handle myself. They hadn’t seemed convinced, but their concerns were put to bed when Arzak said she would come with me. She’d said that she had family to visit in Thistle Fort, that it was a good excuse to go. I didn’t know if she was sparing me embarrassment by not saying that she’d be keeping an eye on me, too.

As we travelled, we talked, and I got to know the older orc a good deal better. She spoke about her time after the Player Slayers disbanded, about her freelance work and how she’d marketed herself. She told me about her family—a clan, really, and one that made little distinction between siblings and third cousins twice removed—and how most of them still lived in the orcish cities. And, most surprising of all, she told me about her passion: knitting.

Arzak produced her latest work in progress as we made camp one night—a long, dark purple scarf with circular patterns on it. It wasn’t until after she made me inspect it and got my opinion on it that I realised it was for me. ‘For die to save us,’ she had explained. ‘Is cold in Rose Home.’ Rose Home being what the orcs called Thistle Fort, of course.

The orc tried to get me into knitting too, and I gave it my best shot, but it was something that I just didn’t have the patience for. Arzak explained that it would be good for me to have a craft skill—that it was a good way to level up while we had some downtime—and I pressed on. After watching me getting into a state of knots and strands, however, she sighed, took the knitting needles away from me, and handed me instead a small sewing needle and thread.

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Sewing?’ I asked.

‘You want take more damage? Use light armour. You want make light armour? This where you start.’

I studied the needle, trying to push the thread through its eye. ‘You gonna tell Val?’

Arzak didn’t respond, only smirking.

Admittedly, I got on a lot better with this particular type of crafting, and soon I was the proud owner of level 1 in a new skill, as well as the relevant ability:

Needlework increased to level 1!

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

Ability unlocked — Stitch

Stitch (Needlework) — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Was it going to be make or break in the midst of fighting a Player? Absolutely not, unless they were particularly into the arts. But was it, long term, likely to pay off? Well, who’s to say? I was proud of it none the less.

That wasn’t to say I didn’t also have a few new much more handy abilities, courtesy of all the levelling up I did when I defeated the pyroknight. There were two new ones, each of which I picked to round myself out a little more. If I was going to keep investing in Intelligence, with little Vitality, then I figured it was a good idea to start picking some more defensive abilities.

Shrill Perimeter (Worldbending) — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

I’d tested this one out at Lore’s farm, to figure out precisely how it worked. My first observation was that it didn’t have a continuous drain on my mana while it was active, only taking an initial mana cost, though that amount was fairly hefty. My second observation had been that sheep did not constitute an enemy. However, a sheep after you took its food away did. What I took from this was that the label “enemy” was defined by their intentions towards you. Finally, I’d learned that the banshee’s wail was bloody loud, and very likely to piss off Val—this was the best news of the lot.

So that was the defensive ability. As for Knifework…

Mana-Fuelled (Worldbending) — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

When I’d seen this option, my eyes had lit up, I think. I’d been investing in Intelligence all this time, and so Dexterity hadn’t had much of a look-in. Now that I could use mana in place of stamina for my Knifework attacks, this wasn’t a problem at all—I could continue to invest in this stat and use it to power both of my main combat skills. This ability choice had required level 20 in any magick skill to unlock, and so was definitely geared towards hybrid magick/melee builds like myself.

These days, I was feeling like a fully grown adult once more.

* * *

Arzak and I parted ways the first morning spent in Thistle Fort, after I told her at least three times that I didn’t need her to come with me. When I left, she still wasn’t looking all that happy about it, but she did at least let me go. Alone.

I checked—she definitely wasn’t following me, though unlike in cities further south, her head didn’t stick up over the crowds, here.

I held my new purple scarf tight as I pushed through the blizzards rattling through the streets. Well, I say blizzards, but I did pass a grocer who seemed to be sincerely commenting on it being a “nice day”.

Pressing on, I found the address that had been given to me by the nice innkeeper at the tavern we’d found rooms in. A small wooden sign, its lettering faded, squeaked on its hinges as it blew in the wind. I wrenched the door open, pretty much threw myself inside, and slammed it shut behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I rid myself of the bracing winds.

An orc looked up from behind the shop counter, a pair of thick glass goggles making her eyes look enormous, a tiny device in her hands. ‘Woah,’ she said, looking at me, ‘big.’

I gestured to my face. ‘Glasses,’ I said.

‘Ah, yes.’ The orc hurried pulled the goggles off. ‘Oh, small now.’

I resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment, though if Val was around I thought she would have encouraged it. That or mocked me. I shook the last of the snow from my coat and scarf before responding. ‘You’re Lillya, right?’ I asked, and my question was answered with a nod. ‘I was sent to see you about getting some information.’

‘Oh? Someone send you? Who?’ Lillya replied, sitting back in her stool.

‘A man in Birrow.’

‘Old?’ the orc asked. ‘White hair? Small? Read lot of books?’

I nodded.

‘Bertram, yes,’ Lillya said. ‘How is he?’

Pausing for a moment to work out if there was any way of getting out having to answer this, I stumbled on my words. ‘Dead, I’m afraid.’

But the orc didn’t seem to take this news poorly. ‘Mm,’ she said. ‘Sound like him. What he send you for?’

I pulled the metal octahedron from my pocket, the one that had saved my life not once, but twice, by this point, and I placed it on the counter.

‘May I?’ the orc asked, gesturing to the artifact.

I nodded. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’

The goggles went straight back on the orc’s eyes and she studied the artifact carefully, turning it over gently in her hands. ‘Hmm,’ she said. ‘Mmm. You use this?’ Lillya placed the Sisyphus Artifact gently in my outstretched hand.

‘Twice,’ I replied, against my better instinct.

The orc froze for a moment, studying me, then nodded. It took me a second to realise that she was identifying me. ‘You do not say Player,’ Lillya said.

I blinked. ‘No. Why would I?’

‘Because only Players use Sisyphus Artifact.’

I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘No, no, I’m not a Player. Trust me, if you knew all I’d been through.’

‘Mmm. In blood, then. How well did you know parents?’

‘I knew my dad well, but—’

‘And mother?’ Lillya asked.

‘I…’ I started, stifling a gulp. My absent mother. The adventurer that my father had only met twice—once on the night they… well, you know, and the other on the night I turned up on his doorstep. ‘No, no she couldn’t have been—’

‘Is only way,’ Lillya said, reaching below the counter to pick up a gold amulet. ‘You know what this is?’

I blinked, still struggling with the revelation of who—of what—my mother might have been. When I finally looked down at the piece of jewellery, it took me a moment to recognise the symbol there on—a golden sun with a line through it.

‘I am member of ancient order,’ Lillya said. ‘One that stretch from the Isle of Old Ways to Badlands. The Cult of Ascendency, they say. You know us?’

‘I… I…’ I found myself saying, stumbling backwards.

‘We live to serve blood of Players. We live to serve you.’

I stared the orc down for a moment, searching desperately for signs that she was joking, that this was a prank, that this terrible revelation simply couldn’t be. But it rang true; the pyroknight had been surprised to see that I could use the artifact. Why would he be surprised, unless…

‘How I serve?’ Lillya asked.

The only answer I could give was to turn and run.

"Styk"

Level 10 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 26

Intelligence — 99

Dexterity — 31

Strength — 44

Wisdom — 26

Charisma — 2

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 23

Knifework — Level 21

Identification — Level 9

Stealth — Level 6

Needlework — Level 1

Abilities:

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

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

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

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%