Erin had changed significantly during the short time since her awakening and through many lenses the changes looked positive. Erin had always been intelligent and capable, but leaning into the Unified System had allowed her a specific index for her abilities. She now had access to the kind of data that she needed to really be scientific about her drive to be a better person.

With this new information and the opportunities that it created Erin’s confidence also improved. The new Erin was very vocal about her thoughts and became a more active contributor to the group. These were positive changes, but there was also a darker side to these improvements. As Erin became more confident she also became more controlling and assertive where other members of the team were concerned, especially Sarah.

Sarah had certainly become much more withdrawn as she spent less time with the group at large and more time in private with Queakers or alone. Erin could have also benefited from some time to herself to think through the changes that everyone was experiencing and gain some perspective. Instead she rode her high of empowerment to push her friendship with Sarah. Their interactions became more one sided and less healthy, causing Sarah to withdraw further and Erin to get frustrated.

Adding fuel to this fire, at least indirectly, was the fact that the team had entered the Ranger focused portion of the tutorial. This segment was of course led by everyone’s favorite negging elf, Elen. Elen and Erin had an unpleasant dynamic where Elen “praised” Erin’s strong performance in their daily shooting exercises with backhanded compliments that only sounded positive based on how hard they dragged everyone else. Elen liked to say things like “Erin, that was a good shot for someone just starting out, watching the others shoot I was worried that the humans of Earth lacked depth perception. Maybe you can practice with your friends in their spare time so that my lessons aren’t completely wasted on them.” Elen knew what she was doing, which only made it more annoying to most of the rest of the team when Erin took it seriously.

Despite being a bit of a sociopath, Elen was a fair teacher with all manner of bow and in her style of agility based combat. Everyone who participated developed some skill in ranged combat and some techniques that they could use to put distance between themselves and an opponent to reset a fight. With her natural ability and previous experiences, Erin was an extremely quick study in Elen’s way of fighting and it seemed a foregone conclusion that she would be able to upgrade her Fighter class to a Ranger class during her class quest.

Category

Value

Notes

Name

Erin White

Race

Human

Origin: Earth

Class

Fighter

HP

120

MP

70

Spirit

500

Strength

75

Intelligence

110

Agility

120

Dexterity

110

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Wisdom

80

Charisma

80

Discipline

100

Ingenuity

120

Despite picking up Elen’s style with relative ease, Erin didn’t have the benefit of any actual combat experience with any of the techniques that Elen taught. The training by Phraan had been by far the most hands-on and the training with Elen the least. Shooting targets and moving around an obstacle course with Elen’s parkour type moves did help to build some skills, but it didn’t bring things together like an actual fight. In fact, none of the team had scored a monster kill or even engaged a monster in a fight after several months in the tutorial.

***

I was covered in blood again. Thankfully most of it wasn’t mine, but I was confident that without magical support I would never be clean again. Why did the energy armor let the blood through? Why hadn’t I modified the shield that I made to block rain drops to block blood drops and deployed it with my gear for this run? Both good questions, but now was hardly the time. We had spent the better part of a week carving a path through duck territory as we pushed out toward Ghostlight Falls and it was tough going.

Duck was apparently a general term for any of the theropod bird-lizards still tromping around the taiga. Ducks swam in the water. Ducks walked on land. Ducks also flew in the air, at least when magic enhanced physics allowed. The variety ducks presented was as staggering as their incredible propensity for violence. The density of life in this area was unexpected and there was a threat around every corner. I was beset from all sides, but Deldes and Delirin were only targeted infrequently. That night we made our camp in a secluded cave with a narrow entrance that Deldes had both fortified and obscured with magic. The three of us were sitting around a small fire when I asked the elves to explain how they were avoiding so much of the unwanted attention that I was receiving. Delirin met Deldes’ eyes for a moment before she seemed to just disappear into the shadows.

I had had plenty of occasions to see how stealthy the wild elves could be, but I was surprised to see Delirin simply vanish. I felt Delirin’s hand slide over his shoulder. She must have been somewhere just in front of me, but I couldn’t make her out in the flickering firelight. Then her hand was gone, but I heard her whisper in my ear. Her face must have been right next to mine but I still couldn’t detect her at all. “Harris. It is simple. Stealth erases the traces of you that others can detect, there are many flavors of this technique, but the best magical stealth techniques always have visualizations that are as automatic as breathing. Until you get there, it can be pretty tough to explain, so with this magic, practice makes perfect. Keep heading east. It's only another seventy or so miles to Ghostlight Falls. If you save your breath, I feel a man like you could manage it. We’ll go on ahead. Arrivederci.”

The feeling of ice cold liquid shot down my spine. At this point, Delirin and Deldes liked to tease me at every opportunity, but this felt serious. Deldes vanished at the same time that Delirin said goodbye. This felt real, like they were really gone and I was really on my own. The way back to the Emerald Sea was a little more than eighty miles and it was completely infested with murderous ducks. I expected the seventy or so miles to Ghostlight Falls were equally infested with ducks or worse. I didn’t feel like Delirin and Deldes were trying to murder me per se, but I also didn’t have any confidence that this was survivable for me as things stood.

Deldes and Delirin were mercurial and capricious, but this also felt planned. We were just over halfway to the falls. We were in the safest place that we had ever camped. I could probably stay here for a while safely with my current equipment and have some time to make my decision and my plan. Also, it felt like Delirin was trying to give me a hint with her cryptic speech. This was the perfect time for this stunt, but it also felt like I had initiated this by asking about their stealth technique. How did they know that I would ask about stealth at that moment? It didn’t really matter. I needed to figure out my next steps and I needed a plan now.

I knew that I needed to make a decision about the direction I would travel, get what rest while it was safe and get moving at first light. Duck meat could be prepared in many delicious dishes and some monster parts from ducks were valuable materials, so we had been making regular connections with collectors from the wild elf clan to which Deldes and Delirin belonged. However, I didn’t know any of Deldes and Delirin’s clansmen and even if I did, I would be shocked to see one of them without Deldes or Delirin around. Beyond the collectors, who would likely be no help, I hadn’t seen anyone else outside of the Emerald Sea. Ever. So eighty miles deep in duck territory, I also wasn’t banking on seeing anyone else who could help.

With a shorter distance to possible help and the completion of my other goals, pushing through to Ghostlight Falls seemed like the best course of action. I couldn’t be sure that Deldes and Delirin would help me when I arrived, but if this was a lesson, I wanted to put my faith in them that this was necessary and helpful and the right thing to do. The wild elves were inscrutable, but the more time I spent with Deldes and Delirin the more I could see that they had reasons for what they did and that they often planned much further ahead than I could imagine.

I also really wanted to master a stealth skill as soon as possible. Stealth was a huge tactical advantage and I had plans to make it a centerpiece of my skill set in combat and a number of other pursuits. I hoped that I would have a high affinity with a stealth skill to avoid fighting when possible and to conceal my position when it wasn’t. This was a huge advantage for a ranged fighter like me, especially at long distances, where my firepower could have a disproportionate impact if my opponents couldn’t quickly identify my location to respond. Not only was pushing on the best option, but it came with the added bonus of helping me to obtain the skill that I needed most.

With my decision made, I spent a few minutes maintaining my weapons and inspecting my defensive equipment and gear. I also reviewed my rations, looking for the opportunity to lighten my load and consume as much as I could in relative safety before striking out in the morning. Following a veritable feast of crappy camp food, I ensured that my defensive equipment was active and curled up to get what sleep I could before setting out. I was agitated, but I quickly fell into a dreamless slumber. It had been months since the last time that I had a dream, but at the time I wasn’t worried about anything but how I’d survive the next seventy miles.