Considering I had gained two whole levels from that last battle, I was hoping to reach level 10 today. Cass and Leo had also gained a level each from the first wave, making Cass level 10 and Leo level 6. I pondered how the class system worked here; would it be like a video game where you could choose your class? I was about to ask Telovir when I heard a crash near the arena entrance. A cart was magically pushed into the arena by a pair of mages behind it. A thick cage was being transported on it. Inside the cage was a creature that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was reptilian, around the size of a crocodile, and thrashed furiously at the bars of its prison.

The mages stood well away from the creature and cast a spell that ripped the front bars of the cage off. The mages sprinted to the arena exit, and the portcullis slammed behind them. I focused on the large beast:

[Wasteland Basilisk - Level 11]

Health: 98%

Mana: 1000/1000

Wasteland Basilisks prefer dry, arid climates. As ambush predators, they use their natural camouflage to blend into their surroundings and wait for prey. Making direct eye contact with them can cause intense fatigue. Their tough scales are extremely resistant to magic.

I relayed my interface's information to my teammates and warned them to avoid eye contact with the beast. The giant reptile slithered out of the cage and onto the ground before taking in its surroundings. It had a long, flat snout filled with jagged teeth. It walked on eight short legs, each with four curved claws, and had a powerful tail, ending with a vicious barb. The creature was almost the exact same color as the white sand we stood on. I did my best to avoid peering at its eyes but noticed they glowed a bright orange color. The basilisk spotted us and began slowly walking our way.

"Okay, I'll do my best to keep it distracted. Leo, focus on healing and see if your offensive magic has any effect, but if not just keep your distance and heal us. Cass, stick to its sides to avoid the mouth and tail," I instructed. I equipped my new spear, shouted a War Cry, and readied my shield. "Time to go facetank this overgrown lizard." I said. It earned me a pair of confused looks from my teammates, but they remained silent.

I began the fight with a Shield Charge, my kite shield slamming into the basilisk's face and causing it to let out a nasty growl. A lightning bolt flashed past me and bounced harmlessly off the beast's back. Fuck, that is some serious resistance. Cass rushed past me and began hacking at the creature's legs. It went to turn and face its new assailant, but I was right there, stabbing my spear into its face and neck. In lunged towards me with surprising speed and managed to bite my unarmored calf. I winced from the pain but hit it with a Crushing Blow before it could cause any serious damage. The basilisk's jaw went slack as the stun took effect, and my leg was free. I felt woozy as I stood up and noticed a debuff icon. Inspecting it generated a prompt.

[You have been poisoned by 'Basilisk Venom'.]

Every second that passed made me feel worse and worse, and it wouldn't be long before I could no longer even stand. "Leo! I'm poisoned, anything you can do about that!?" I shouted to our healer, my words a bit slurred. A moment later, the awful feeling passed and I felt Leo topping up my health. I directed my attention back to my foe. The basilisk was currently ignoring me and lashing out at Cass with its tail. I let out three quick spear jabs at the beast's foremost shoulder, each causing deep puncture wounds. It snapped its attention back to me and let out a growl. I felt the power of its gaze the moment I made the mistake of looking into its eyes. I immediately turned my gaze away, but I was noticeably more exhausted. Luckily, my Relentless ability counted that as a control power, so I was healed for 10% and my health was now full. I stabbed again, scoring a deep wound on its neck. The beast let out a howl and I initially thought maybe I had struck some vital organ. It looked back toward the woman who had actually harmed it. Cass had cut one of its legs entirely off, and red-orange blood poured onto the sand. It flicked its barbed tail at her, and she narrowly avoided it. It repeated the attack, but I had already moved in and shouldered Cass aside, my shield ready. The barbed tail hit my shield, deflected downwards off it, and impaled me straight through the stomach, piercing my armor as if it wasn't even there.

"Oh, fuck," I managed to gasp as I fell backward.

Cass did not hesitate. Holding her swords low, she swept them upwards diagonally and severed the beast's tail; the lower half still skewered through my gut. I could feel Leo healing me, but I had to remove the tail before any serious health could be returned to me. I gritted my teeth and yanked with all my might. The intense pain made me scream involuntarily. I was breathing heavily now, and the sand beneath me was soaked with my blood. The barb tore my wound even more as it came out, but I managed to remove the damn thing. Leo got to work healing me, and after a long single cast from him, my wound closed nearly all the way. I shakily got to my feet and thanked him. More healing magic flowed into me, and I was good as new after a few seconds. I rushed back towards the now tail-less beast.

I let out a War Stomp. The damn lizard then reared up on its four hind legs. It was missing one of the front legs, but its teeth and three sets of claws were plenty for me to handle. It reminded me of a fucked up centaur. I activated Frenzied Strikes. I stabbed its raised abdomen and sidestepped the lunge it made at me. I attacked with my spear again, blocking or dodging its clumsy counters. I landed four more stabs against the beast and maxed out my attack speed bonus. I punctured the creature relentlessly as anger flared at the pain it had caused me. The haste buff made it an absolute blur of stabs and slashes. It toppled forward under my assault, and I rolled aside to avoid being pinned underneath it.

The basilisk was riddled with jagged spear wounds, its blood staining the ground around it. I figured it had to be close to death, but my execute was still unavailable. Cass was now leaving cavernous wounds with her swords along the basilisk's back and side, probably due to the stacks from her Bladedancer ability. Finally, the executioner icon appeared, and I leveled my spear at the beast's open mouth. I stabbed forward with all my strength, and the blade pierced through its upper jaw and into its skull. The basilisk went limp, and a notification appeared.

[Congratulations! You have received a new Augment Rune!]

The loot prompt appeared '[Loot - Wasteland Basilisk]' - and I mentally confirmed it. You received [Wasteland Basilisk Leather x 10]. You received [Basilisk Leather Leggings]. I inspected the armor.

[Greaves of the Wasteland]

Uncommon Medium Armor - Legs

50 Armor

+8 Strength

+15 Vigor

+10% Magical Resistance

I equipped them, replacing my worn-out basic leather leggings. Then, I collapsed backward, landing on my rear and panting. "You guys saved me yet again. Thank you." They both smiled at me and downplayed their heroics as usual.

"Hey, I leveled again! I'm now level 7!" Leo exclaimed.

"Good, man. You should be getting your final Rune soon, right?" I asked him.

Leo nodded, and his eyes went glossy as I presumed he was looking at his own interface or whatever version the magic displayed for him. Cass sat next to me, then laid down on the sand.

"That was one hell of a battle. Thanks for shoving me out of the way and nearly getting yourself killed. I guess that's what 'facetanking' is?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at it, obviously. You're lucky to have me on the team," I joked.

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"I could have dodged that second tail strike anyway, so I wouldn't go that far," she stated with a sly smile.

"You certainly would not have dodged it, Cass. You were off balance and still reeling from the first one. And if facetanking means getting mortally wounded, so your healer has to save you, again and again, I'd say you're the best at it, Alex." Leo chimed in.

We all shared a laugh, and I felt relieved that the three of us managed to make it through the battle. It was incredible how quickly our friendship had been forged. Combat had a way of building trust, a way of letting you know who the person next to you truly was. I felt as strongly about Cass and Leo as I had about any of my lifelong friends, and I'd only known them for a few days. This revelation strengthened my role in the team. I may not be the all powerful mage, or the berserker killing enemies with one blow, but I could take a hit. I could shield my friends from danger and keep them in the fight. It felt good to have a purpose driving me forward. It held the despair at bay.

Telovir wasn't kidding when he said it would be more difficult. I felt a wave of panic set in as I considered if there would be a third, even more dangerous creature we had to fight today. The fightmaster relieved my worries and instructed us to return to the courtyard for lunch.

Sam brought out grilled fish and various vegetables, and I tore into it, ravenous from my earlier activities. None of us spoke as we ate, all too tired or too deep in thought to focus on anything other than food. Telovir told us to take the rest of the day off, so I stood and told everyone I was heading to my quarters for a bath and to inspect my new rune. He asked me to leave my armor behind so it could be cleaned and repaired, so I mentally removed it from the Cache and left it on a table.

"I would appreciate that, Tel," I said as I began to leave.

"I want you back here for dinner! We will discuss today's fight in detail!" he shouted as I walked away. I didn't turn but gestured with my hand that I understood.

After getting clean, I laid down on my cot and brought up my Runes interface, inspecting the new one:

Augment Rune 3: Guardian (Novice Level 1 - (0%):

* Provoke - Let out a challenging roar that causes all enemies within 6 yards to attack you for 8 seconds. Has diminished effectiveness against sapient beings. Cooldown: 25 Seconds. Cost: None.

* Intercede - Charge to an ally's position; any damage they receive for the next 3 seconds is negated. Cooldown: 60 Seconds. Cost: 30 Mana.

* Freya's Blessing - (Passive) Your Vigor Attribute is increased by 100%. Your natural Physical Resistance is increased by 25%.

* Titan's Favor - (Passive) Every time you block or parry an attack, you gain an instance of Titan's Favor. This ability may stack up to 12 times. - [Titan's Favor: Increases your strength by 2% for 2 minutes.]

I was excited to read about my new skills. I gained a taunt and the ability to rush to my team's aid. Titan's Favor meant the longer a fight lasted, the more powerful I'd become. Freya's Blessing was insane. Double the vigor? That meant I would have double the survivability. I pulled up the attribute menu:

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 8

Vigor: 16

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 8

Regeneration: 8

Magical Resistance: 0%

Physical Resistance: 25%

Unfortunately, my armor was being cleaned, and I was just in simple linen clothes, but I still had my spear in the Cache, so I equipped it to see if the vigor increase applied to stats gained by gear also.

Strength: 23

Dexterity: 13

Vigor: 26

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 8

Regeneration: 8

Magical Resistance: 0%

Physical Resistance: 25%

Hell yeah! The spear only offered 5 vigor, but upon equipping it, I gained 10. This was a game-changer. Something was nagging me about the ability's name, though. Wasn't Freya a Norse goddess from my world? Why would a power I gained here have her name in it? I got up and ran back to the courtyard, hoping someone was still there.

Telovir was seated at a table, eyes closed, and deep in thought. I called out to him from a distance so as not to startle the man.

"Hey, Tel, I was going over my new rune abilities, and one of them has something odd in the name." I told him. He gestured for me to continue, so I did. "The ability is called Freya's Blessing. Freya is a mythological goddess from my world, so why would her name appear here?" I asked.

His eyes went wide. "Freya is a goddess here. The Goddess of Vitality. You're telling me you gained a deity's blessing as an ability name?" he asked without giving me a chance to answer. "Millenia ago, our worlds were linked by spatial magic, it was easy for mages to open portals where travel both ways was as simple as taking a step. They could even summon specific targets to either world. A long time ago, something changed, and the connection weakened or possibly severed. Now, as you know, spatial mages can only summon random beings from your world." Perhaps our people shared knowledge with each other, and your world adapted it into its own mythology over the years. Tell me, what does the blessing do?" he queried.

"It doubles my vigor attribute, both from levels and gear, and increases my natural physical resistance by 25%." I stated simply.

His eyes bulged when he heard that. "That is incredible, it doubles your health, and decreases all physical damage dealt to you by 25%! That truly is a blessing from the Goddess!" he exclaimed. "Blessings are rare, typically only reserved for the high priests of each specific deity," Telovir explained.

"So, is there a Thor here? Odin? Zeus? Aphrodite? Athena? Mars? Osiris?" I probed further. Maybe it was just the one name, but if what Tel said was true, I seriously doubted only one actual deity's name would have been added to Earth's mythology.

"You have to understand, there are countless gods and goddesses here. Some major deities, like Freya, and many other minor deities. I haven't heard of any of those names, but that doesn't mean they aren't here. I'm not a religious man, and I only know of Freya from hearing my mother pray to her when I was a boy." His eyes turned glossy at the mention of his mother, and I could see the sadness on his face.

"Well, check out my full Rune tattoo!" I said with a grin. I held out my right arm to show him. I had the Shield Knight taking up my shoulder, then the gold runes of Warlord on my upper arm. Then followed the crimson runes of Onslaught on my upper forearm, and finally, on my lower forearm, the navy blue runes of the Guardian Rune.

I could tell by his face that he appreciated me changing the subject and not probing him about his mom. He stood and inspected the tattoo.

"Looking good. Just two more levels, Alex, and you'll-" he was interrupted by Cass shouting at us while running towards the courtyard.

"I did it! I did it!" she was shouting repeatedly.

"Did what!?" we yelled back to her simultaneously.

"I was meditating and I was assigned a class! Check it out!" she said proudly. I inspected her:

[Cassilia Huxon - Level 10 Valkyrie]

"A Valkyrie, huh? I guess you do choose who to ferry to the afterlife on the battlefield, in your own way." I said with a wink.

"Yeah, I do. Wait, what?" she said, a confused look on her face. Then she punched me in the gut. I doubled over in pain, although I had the vigor buff, I had no armor equipped and no bonus stats.

"What was that for?" I asked through gritted teeth, genuinely confused.

She shrugged. "Figured you were either insulting me or hitting on me," she said while adding her own exaggerated wink.

"I wasn't! I protested. "Valkyries from my world would choose who - oh, forget it," I said and stood up, still clutching my aching stomach. "I'm happy for you Cass, even though you just sucker-punched me," I stated. She acted as if she was about to hit me again, but pulled back at the last second. I flinched backward and she laughed.

"Sorry, kid, have to keep you on your toes, y'know?" she said with a grin.

I scoffed but kept my mouth shut. I had a plan to tone down her smugness once I got my armor back, but for now, I'd let her have this one. I announced I was going to head back to my room and meditate, but I'd be back for dinner.

"I'll have Sam bring your things to your room. They should be done soon," Telovir called after me.

I shouted my thanks and headed back to my quarters. I was meditating when a knock at my door snapped me out of it. I opened it and found Leo standing there with a grim expression. I invited him in, and we sat on the cot.

"Everything okay?" I asked him.

"No, to be honest. I wanted to take you up on your offer to talk," he told me.

"How can I help?" I queried.

He rubbed his hand over his face and hesitated. This was probably a new experience for him. I told him to take his time and waited patiently. I remember how difficult it was for me at first. The fear of telling someone that you're struggling.

"I just wanted some food and shelter, you know? I was fourteen, with nowhere else to go. I figured they'd make me sweep the floors or something. I did clean for a while, and then they started sending me out to remove the bodies. I was horrified. I felt myself wishing I could help those people who had died. That's when I got my Prime Rune. It's called Tree of Life, and it offers powerful healing spells. That's when they started training me. They figured I'd be a good healer if I got some more Runes. I got the third one earlier this year, and they put me in the Games," he explained sullenly.

"That's awful, Leo. You were just a child. I'm so sorry. I'm glad you came to me, though," I told him.

"I've never said that out loud before. I've been alone for so long. I miss my parents," he stated as his eyes welled up with tears.

"You have me now, and you have Cass, too. Don't forget that," I instructed.

"Thank you, I'll see you later," he said with a weak smile, then stood and left. I didn't try to stop him or prod further. I was just happy he had enough trust in me to come at all. I sat back down and continued my meditation.