Chapter 35: The Horror of Nothing

After nearly ten straight minutes of walking along the dirt path, Zach finally spotted a scarecrow that was right out in the open and ready for the taking. By his best estimation, he figured the three of them were now only a mile or so away from B3’s exit. Hopefully, there’d be at least a few more of these scarecrows before they reached it, as once they’d crossed the remaining distance, their plan was to turn back around and begin hunting the “comparatively” easier ones to get to, which in all cases, would mean battling their way through an untold number of purple pumpkins that seemed to be guarding them like loyal foot soldiers; for now, however they were going for any and all Aggrieved Scarecrows they found on this guided pathway, of which this mob was now the third, including the two they’d already killed. This one in particular was halfway up a relatively minor hill that flattened out after about fifty feet of distance. With a grin, Zach prepared to aggro it.

This is the one that’ll get me to level 6, he thought enthusiastically.

“Okay, guys, let’s do this just like we talked about,” Zach said. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Rian and Lienne nod.

Since this was a unique mob in that it only had a single attack—one that, with due diligence, was almost completely avoidable as long as Zach stayed focused and didn’t do anything foolish—Rian had agreed to let Zach tank since evasive maneuvers were more his thing anyway. And so, approaching to within the scarecrow’s aggro radius, he waited for the creature to run directly at him and begin its unrelenting but totally predictable assault.

“Ssssrraaaaaash!” it shrieked painfully as it charged forward at him. “Ssssrraaaaaash!”

“Ten hits!” Zach called back to Rian and Lienne as he lowered himself down and avoided the first of its attacks. “Let me hit it ten times to get full aggro, and then you two attack!”

Since Zach did not have the liberty of using a taunt as Rian did, he reasoned that if he could get ten or so good hits on the creature, it should be enough to carry them through the fight. In the worst-case scenario, if for any reason they found themselves losing control of the situation, everyone knew to simply throw themselves on the ground where it couldn’t harm them.

Time to level up!

Zach decided that, given the very real strength behind each of the mob’s spinning, clawed strikes, it would be best to play things as safely as possible. Hence, after coming upright after a duck, he would only strike twice with his blade before again dropping down. In actuality, a third strike, if fast and carefully managed, was totally doable, and yet after talking it over with Rian and Lienne, the three of them had agreed that it was nevertheless unwise to attempt, as it introduced the possibility of a mistake, and with these particular mobs, even just one mistake likely meant an immediate, unpreventable, and graphically violent death.

Thus, after firmly establishing aggro, Zach and his two friends fell into a familiar, constant rhythm. Zach alternated between ducking, striking twice really fast, and then ducking again. Each time he dropped down, Lienne’s blue, missile-shaped flame along with Rian’s thrown axe would strike the creature for about 40 damage and 10 damage respectively. Earlier, Zach recalled the very same fire attack hitting for only 31, which meant her two additional points into intelligence were having a starkly noticeable effect. Zach himself was only hitting for about 10 points of damage, but in fairness, he was prioritizing speed, form, and quickness over power.

Blow by blow, the three of them whittled the creature down as their pattern of attack proved to be effective, fast, and relatively safe—at least from the threat perspective of the scarecrow. In truth, Zach now faced more danger from his own friends than he did from the mob. He needed to trust that each and every time he ducked—and only when he ducked—their combination of axe and fire would strike the mob with perfect timing. If they were off by even a half-second, he could find himself with an axe sticking out of his back while he was set on fire.

So far so good, Zach thought, evading the scarecrow’s clawed spin with ease.

He came up, struck for 10 and 10, and then went back down, as Lienne and her brother sent another 50 its way. The only foreseeable issue was the exertion cost on Lienne’s part, as he could hear her breathing heavily after just three uses of her Flamestrike. Yet with a combined estimated total of around 70 damage every two seconds, the entire fight, to begin with, would likely only last around eleven-and-a-half seconds—which indeed, was all it did. Somehow, even as she began to groan loudly with each utterance of “Val En Flamir,” Lienne managed to launch all six Flamestrikes necessary for their rhythmic tri-attack to fell the disgusting creature and extinguish the green fire in its eyes and mouth for good.

Zach let out a cheer as it fell backwards to its death, landing on the dirt with a thud. And then, soon after vanishing into a puff of smoke, it became his turn to see those beautiful words he longed to see. The words that told him he had finally reached another milestone of progress in his journey to become a true adventurer so that he could reunite with Kalana.

Level up!

Bank and Storage Acquired!

As Zach read the words in the air in front of him, it took him several confused moments before he could even comprehend what he was seeing. He became so perplexed that he almost didn’t notice Rian and Lienne moving to stand by his side. Even after the words had vanished, he continued to stare at the spot where they’d been, totally baffled; his mouth fell open slightly and he looked around as though a better explanation lay in the world around him.

“The…hell?” he whispered.

Lienne placed an arm on his left shoulder, and Rian placed one on his right. The conciliatory gestures actually made him feel worse, and he shrugged them both off. Then he pointed to the spot where the mob had just died. “Did…did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” Lienne said.

“Then why didn’t…” He shook his head. “Why didn’t I get any points?” he shouted. Anger submerged his consciousness to the point he could barely see straight, and it combined with a sense of unfairness that made him kick the dirt where the mob had vanished. “Did I just get a blank level up? Is that even possible?”

Rian again put a hand on his shoulder, and angrily, Zach again brushed it off. He wasn’t trying to be a dick; he just didn’t feel like being touched right now. His entire sense of being flared up in indignation. How could this even be possible? How could he level up and not even get a single point in a single stat? This shouldn’t be possible. In what universe was this fair? In what universe was this just?

“Fuck!” he shouted, again kicking the dirt, this time sending a clump of it spraying in front of him. But it didn’t help ease his temper, and so several more times, he swore and kicked more dirt. He was now not only demoralized, but he was incensed, and he felt like he wanted to strangle someone or something. This wasn’t just unfair. It was total, complete, and utter bullshit. He earned that damn level up! So how could he have received nothing other than the guaranteed racial ability that every human would apparently receive at level 6?

“Zach,” Lienne whispered.

“What?” he snapped at her. Then, seeing the hurt on her face, he immediately regretted his actions, and he was quick to apologize. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m really, truly sorry. I’m just pissed, but…but I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

She smiled, though it appeared forced. “I totally get why you’re upset. I’d be really mad too.”

“I just…” He removed one hand from his sword and began rubbing his face as the frustration continued to mount and the sense of hopelessness settled in. “I just feel so weak. So useless.”

“You shouldn’t, though! I mean, my Gods, you’re amazing.”

At this, Zach let out a scorn-filled laugh. “You’re saying that because you’re my friend.”

“No, I don’t think that’s why she’s saying that at all,” Rian said. “Seriously, dude. I mean, you’re right, we’d say stuff like that anyway to cheer you up, but in this case, I really don’t think that’s where Li is going with this.”

“Oh yeah? And how so?”

Lienne raised a finger. “For one, you have an attack that for some reason can deal the kind of damage no one at your level should ever come close to dealing.” She raised a second finger, which joined the first. “And two, the way you fight with that blade…like, you said you’ve only been training for um…what, a few days? But if you told me you’ve been practicing all your life, I’d believe you, Zach. I swear I’m not just trying to make you feel better. So please, at least try to believe me when I say that you fight like you’re ten levels higher than you actually are.”

“Well, I sure hope I do,” Zach grumbled, “because at this rate, I’ll have the same stats I do now when I get that far.”

“I don’t believe that,” Lienne said. “Actually, you know what, Zach? I bet you it’s only going to get better from here on out.”

“Exactly,” Rian agreed.

Zach shrugged. “Well, if there’s one good thing about this floor, it’s that we won’t have to wait long to find out. In fact, let me check how much I need.”

Zachys Calador: Level 6

(25/400xp)

Armor Bonus: 8

6 strength

4 dexterity

5 constitution

1 intelligence

3 speed

2 luck

Zach nodded. “Okay, that seems like a lot, but with 100xp a kill, we just need to find four scarecrows to put down.” Drawing a deep breath, he released it in a slow exhale as he tried his best to remain optimistic despite the hideously awful non-level he’d just received. “Hey, look, maybe I’m overreacting a bit. Let’s just keep going. I’m…I’m a bit demoralized, but you know what? To hell with it. Let’s keep it going. Oh, and on an entirely separate note, I just realized my armor’s only 8. I don’t know if it really matters since we’re screwed if we get hit anyway, but maybe we should reapply the armor buff just in case. Better safe than sorry.”

“True,” Lienne said, taking a step back. “We're probably going to end up aggroing some of those yucky purple pumpkins. I think if that happens, it’ll make a big difference.”

As she began to use Lesser Enchantment of Fortification on all three of them, Rian asked, “Speaking of the pumpkins, why don’t we make them a target, too? They’re not that hard to kill, and 5xp adds up over time.”

Zach lifted his shoulders in a gesture of indifference. “I don’t mind killing them if you want to do that,” he said. “It’s just…it seems like most of them are way too clustered together. There aren’t a lot of places to just pull one or two of them alone, and I feel like the chance of getting bitten and injured goes up with each one we go after. I’m just thinking we might be better off only killing the ones in the way of a scarecrow to minimize risk. But that’s just my opinion. I’m not ‘in charge’ of us, and I just want to make clear that I don’t mind doing it a different way if you guys think that that way is better.”

“No…you’re right,” Rian said, tapping his chin with his thumb. “I don’t think the pumpkins are all that dangerous, but Lienne will have to use energy healing us if one of us gets our face ripped off. Not to mention it’ll hurt like a bitch. Okay, let’s just stick to our original plan. At least for now.”

With that, the four of them headed off in the direction of the exit. Zach was eager to level up as soon as possible so that he could set his mind at ease. At this point, he just wanted to gain something. He didn’t even care what it was anymore. To think, he’d bitched about only getting a single stat point two levels ago. Hah! Now, he was terrified he’d never get another point ever again. Even if he got a garbage level up with like a single point into luck or whatever, he’d gladly take it now just to be sure that this wasn’t some kind of dead-end he’d bumped into. He just needed to know. He needed to see some kind of growth with his own two eyes!

Unfortunately, not another scarecrow appeared in the middle of the dirt path for the last stretch of their journey. Eventually, at the very end of the path, the three of them came upon a small wooden shack that looked like it was used for storing tools and gardening supplies. Yet, rather than contain a matching wooden gate, the entrance was instead a dark blue, metal push-bar door, above which was written in black ink: B3->B4. Time expired for bonus experience.

“All right, so…it looks like we’re gonna have to do some clearing,” Rian said.

Folding his arms across his chest as the coldest breeze yet rolled in through the air, Zach asked, “We still have about two-and-a-half hours left on our campfire. Maybe we should actually start from there and work our way out. That way we can warm ourselves up in between pulls.”

“I’m fine with that!” Lienne yelled. From the way she curled her lips and giggled, Zach imagined she hadn’t meant to shout her reply. Shivering, she said, “It’s s-so c-cold.”

“I feel like I’m the only one who’s only a little bit chilly,” Rian said with a laugh. “You two are struggling way more than me. You sure you want to go all the way back? It'd be quicker if we started from here.”

“But, Rian, I’m c-cold!”

“All right, Li, I hear ya. I mean, it might waste some time, but all right. Let’s go back to the fire and start from there, then.”

As the three of them performed an about-face and began marching back to their campfire, it did not surprise Zach in the slightest to discover that none of the Aggrieved Scarecrows they had killed so far had respawned. As he’d predicted, the spawn timers on them must be exceptionally long—and that was likely by design. He would be genuinely shocked if he saw a single one of them respawn before they left this place behind.

With nothing to impede their progress, and the cold hurrying them along, it took less than fifteen minutes for them to return to their campfire, and after a brief, half-a-minute discussion, they all agreed they’d spend the next ten minutes warming themselves up. Zach truly wasn’t certain, but it felt like the temperature had actually dropped since they’d gotten here. But it could also be their prolonged exposure to the cold. There was no real way of knowing. Either way, the feeling of heat from the fire was pure bliss. Maybe even too blissful, as after the ten minutes were up, they lingered another five, and the temptation remained to linger another five after that.

“What’s another few minutes?” Lienne asked. “It’s so damn cold out here, and this feels so nice.”

“I know it does, Li, but we have to get back to it.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she grumbled. “So, where are we starting?”

“I’m not sure.” Rian turned his head in Zach's direction. “Zach?”

“Uhh…well, let’s see.” Zach looked around. There were a few possible targets, but one stood out as being the simplest. About fifteen steps forward and then around a hundred fifty or so feet directly to the left, there was an Aggrieved Scarecrow that seemed fairly lightly guarded. “How far can you throw your axe, Rian?”

“Fifty feet.”

Zach scratched his cheek as he tried to visualize what would be required. For sure, they’d need to deal with that tightly knit cluster of eight of the purple demons that was just off to the side of the dirt road. After that, there would—or at least should—then be enough space for them to circle around a sporadic grouping of them, but to get any closer after that point, they’d have to deal with two more separate patches of about five each.

“Okay, let’s start by killing those eight,” he said, pointing. “Rian, you should probably tank these.”

“Yep,” he said with a friendly sounding chuckle. “I don’t think they can actually hurt me. My constitution might be stronger than the force of their bite. I say that because I’m pretty sure one of them tried to nibble on my leg earlier and I didn’t feel it. So, I think for this kind of fight, it's best if I go straight up to them and—”

“W-wait!” Lienne said, suddenly running in front of her brother and barring his passage.

“What is it, Li?” he asked, sounding annoyed at having almost bumped headfirst into her.

“Can I…can I try something?”

“Try what?”

“My new ability. Flame Geyser.”

Rian looked at Zach, and then they both shrugged at one another. “I actually do want to see it,” Zach said. “But aren’t you worried about getting aggro?”

Lienne shook her head. “I don’t think so. Those eight are so close together that I’m pretty sure I can kill them all in one go. This is a moderate exertion ability like your Wave Slash, though. So it’s gonna take a lot out of me.”

“Then isn’t it better for us if you save your stamina for the scarecrow?”

Lienne made a silly but cute grin and said, “Well, yeah, but I really wanna see what it does. Please?” she asked so sweetly that it would have been impossible for anyone to refuse.

With a sigh, Rian extended his shield in the direction of the purple pumpkins as though in a gesture for her to continue. Releasing an excited yelp, Lienne made her way forward. Then, gripping her staff with both hands, she held it close to her chest, and she shouted, “Val En Maxi Flamir!”

Zach watched, fascinated, as a growing, bright line began to move in a circular motion around the eight purple pumpkins. It looked as though someone was running a knife through the dirt and pouring lava in the small hole left in its stead. It actually took three or four seconds before this bright line had completely encircled the purple monstrosities; actually, it was only just big enough that all eight could fit inside. Had there been even a single additional pumpkin, she wouldn’t have been able to entrap them all. Interestingly, Zach noted that, even as they became surrounded, they did not stir. They seemed to pay no mind to the fact that a brightly glowing, orange circle was now practically engraved into the dirt around them.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“So, now what?” Zach asked. “What’s supposed to happen ne—”

He yelped, startled, as a massive, cylindrical, fifteen-foot-high pillar of pure orange flame burst up from the ground with a loud, distinct whoosh! It was so bright it lit up the entire area around it, and even from where Zach stood, he could feel the heat of it. Despite the cold, it heated the air to such an extent that his forehead began to sweat. He actually had to briefly close his eyes as the heat caused them to sting.

Incredibly, at the same exact instant that this “geyser” of flame arrived, all eight pumpkins sprouted their arms and legs, finally activating; this, even as numbers such as 51, 48, 55, and numerous others in that general range began popping up around their heads. In fact, before their limbs had fully extended, the names that appeared above them indicated that nearly all of them were already at 0HP.

[0/30]

Audacious Pumpkin A

Level 4

[0/30]

Audacious Pumpkin B

Level 4

[0/30]

Audacious Pumpkin C

Level 4

This was the same all the way up to Audacious Pumpkin G. Only a single pumpkin of the eight of them—Audacious Pumpkin H—managed to scrape by with just 1HP as the other 7 roared and growled in convincing-sounding pain as they vanished, netting their party an easily earned 35xp. With an impressed-sounding “hmph,” Rian threw his axe at the lone survivor, splitting it in half for another 5 as its disgusting juice splattered and thankfully did not reach any of them.

“Not bad, Li. Really, not bad,” Rian said.

She was breathing heavily. Though she didn’t look quite as exhausted as Zach had after using Wave Slash, she still had the appearance of someone who was a great deal winded and needed a moment to collect their breath before they were able to speak. After a minute or so had passed, during which she was half doubled over with her mouth open wide as she sucked in lungful after lungful of air, she slowly released her right hand from her staff, raised it, and gave the two of them a thumbs-up.

“Your stamina must be way better than mine,” Zach said with a laugh. “When I use Wave Slash, I have to struggle just to stay on my feet. Hell, the first time I ever gave that ability a whirl, I passed out for half an hour.”

“Using…using these…these abilities,” she said, panting, “is…is one of the best ways of raising…stamina.”

With the eight pumpkins dead, Zach gave the spot they'd died a quick glance over to ensure there were no drops, and then he followed Rian and Lienne as they took a carefully navigated path around a bunch of individual pumpkins and a few that were in small groups of two or three. They managed to aggro only a single one on their selected path, and Zach took care of it with a single powerful slice. Eventually, they came upon the next cluster they would have to wipe out.

“I’ll aggro this bunch. You guys hang back for a second, okay?” Rian said, extending his shield and raising his axe. “I’m not gonna range pull. I’m gonna body-pull.”

“Body-pull?”

He nodded. “It means just run right into them as opposed to pulling them out and back to us. Keep an eye out for adds, though, all right?”

“Adds?” Zach asked. “What in the hell does that mean?”

“You know…adds.” Rian gave him a questioning look, but then, blinking twice in quick succession, he widened his eyes and said, “Ahh, right, yeah, yeah, you wouldn’t know that word. Durr! Sorry, Zach.” He laughed. “Okay, so, an add is when you try to aggro either a specific mob or a specific number of mobs, but you end up ‘pulling’ more than you intended. The extra ones are called adds, get it? Because, you know, they ‘added on’ to the rest? So if I body-pull those five and then, like, two more of them that I didn't even see just come straight out of nowhere and start running towards you, those are adds.”

“What if they come running to you, instead?”

“Still adds, since I’m only trying to pull these five.”

“Ah. Well, that makes sense,” Zach said honestly. “All right, then. I’ll keep my eyes open for…‘adds’.”

Luckily, there were no adds. Rian managed to easily aggro the five—and only five—pumpkins that stood in his way. The moment he struck just one of them with his axe for 19 damage, the four that were so near they were practically touching one another sprang to life, and all five jumped on him. Three of them managed to bite his chest, and one definitely got its teeth around his nose. It happened so fast that there wasn’t even time to react.

“A-are you okay?” Zach shouted. “Rian!”

For a split second, Zach thought he could hear the sound of Rian crying in agony, but he soon realized that his friend was just letting off a haughty, arrogant, and odd-sounding chuckle that was more of a “ho-ho-ho” than a “hah-hah-hah.”

“They can’t hurt me. Especially with my last level up. I’m rocking like 40 armor right now and sixteen constitution. Even a bullet wouldn’t be able to nick me. Gods, they smell bad though.”

Zach watched as he plucked each one of them off his body and threw them roughly to the ground, actually dealing 3 damage to them in the process. It was somewhat futile, as they only jumped back up and latched onto him again.

They would definitely break my skin, even with the armor buff, Zach thought. But I guess Rian’s armor plus constitution is enough to make him truly invulnerable.

“Hey, Rian,” Zach said. He spread his feet wide apart, raised his sword so that the hilt was level with his eyes, and then bent his knees with his blade pointed directly upwards. “Send them over here like you’re the thrower in a game of ball-runner.”

Rian snickered. “Okay, that sounds pretty fun, actually.”

Plucking one of the disgusting purple pumpkins off his face, he held the creature like a ball and then sent it hurtling towards Zach, who lifted his front foot, stepped down and into his swing, and then sliced it open right down the middle as opposed to sending it flying away, as he’d have done if this were actually a game of ball-runner and he was using a club instead of a sword.

For the next half a minute, the three of them came up with silly and creative ways of dispatching the purple, growling pumpkins. Then, fresh out of ideas, they stuck to a more or less traditional approach for killing the next 5 after that. In total, they netted 50xp for their party, and Zach, not wanting to have to take out his stats every time, was keeping a mental tally in his head.

He was fairly sure he now had 120/400xp, which meant he’d now only actually have to kill three of the scarecrows to hit level 7. Becoming curious, he inquired as to how much Lienne and Rian needed. They, on the other hand, actually had to pull out their stats, clearly not keeping it in mind.

Rian Astafort: Level 7

(195/600xp)

Armor Bonus: 40

3 strength

4 dexterity

16 constitution

3 intelligence

2 speed

5 luck

Lienne Astafort: Level 7

(195/600xp)

Armor Bonus: 13

1 strength

9 dexterity

3 constitution

17 intelligence

1 speed

1 luck

“I’m pretty good with math and numbers,” Zach said. “I can keep track of it in my head for you guys.”

“Thanks,” they both replied.

Left unsaid was the fact that their experience wasn’t the only thing he was keeping track of. Bitterly, he realized that, the summation of his own points—including gear—was a 21, whereas Lienne’s was 32 and Rian’s was 33.

I need to catch up, dammit. I can’t keep having these bogus, bullshit level ups! Especially since it looks like the xp starts to really jump. 600xp to get from 7 to 8? Damn, that sucks.

Now that they were close enough in range for Rian to use Axe Throw, Zach gave him a thumbs-up and, carefully, as if to avoid catching the aggro of any of the much-larger clusters of pumpkins between them and their target, he launched his axe. Zach watched as it caused a rippling sound as it flew through the air and struck the scarecrow mob, which then came running over towards them with its typical shriek.

“Let’s back up a bit so we have some room to fight,” Zach said. To which both Rian and Lienne nodded.

As it turned out, that wasn’t something they had to worry about. Because in a total, complete oversight that made Zach feel like a moron, it occurred to him that using Axe Throw on the thing from max distance was never going to actually work, as the moment it crossed 30 of the 50 feet of distance between them, it immediately stopped, turned around, and began walking back to its spawn point, which of course it would do! How could he have forgotten about the damned thing’s incredibly short de-aggro range, which Zach continued to believe was deliberately designed by these so-called ‘Great Ones’ to make things difficult for them?

Son of a bitch!

To make matters even worse, Zach had also forgotten the lesson he’d learned very early on in B1 when he was grinding Skelly Grunts by himself. Back then, he’d parried Skelly Grunt A’s scimitar with enough force to knock it out of its hand and send it careening across the area, where it had landed right next to Skelly Grunt B—causing that one to aggro, which he had understood at the time to mean that mobs could aggro other mobs and create something of a chain. Apparently, this was something that somehow Lienne and Rian didn’t even know, as they gawked in total confusion as what seemed like twenty pumpkins all sprang to life and began growling as they ran on short, stubby legs at the three of them.

“What the hell?” Rian asked.

“Shit!” Zach swore. “You mean you didn’t know?”

“Know what?” Lienne asked.

Zach sighed. “Mobs can aggro other mobs onto people. I learned this back at the start of the dungeon but somehow forgot about it until now. Wait, you guys didn’t know?”

Rushing forward to meet the vicious purple monsters head on, Rian shouted, “Nope! I do now, though!”

Luckily, the scarecrow had only run through twenty of these things, as if they had approached it from even a slightly different angle, the current twenty purple pumpkins could have easily been two- or three-hundred purple pumpkins. Though Rian tried his best, he only managed to achieve aggro on about twelve or so of the pumpkins. The other eight made straight for him and Lienne. And it was in this moment Zach realized that, if nothing else, at least Lienne really was correct about him: he was getting so Gods-damned good with his sword.

Despite four of them leaping at him from completely different angles, Zach actually found it easy to deal with compared to the drills Fluffles had put him through with the various wooden swords, which had moved far faster and were likely far more deadly due to their speed than even the sharp-teethed pumpkin things that were trying to eat him.

Whirling his sword through the air, he cut each one of them down before they managed to reach his flesh; each time, a spray of horrific-smelling—and now, he discovered, horrific tasting—thick, slimy pumpkin juice splashed all across his face, mouth, and chest. Yet, at the very least, he managed to stop each one before it could bite into him. Even more so, he was also able to cut down the three that went for Lienne. The last of the three came close to biting her nose off, however, and it made Zach realize that, if they had aggroed even a single additional pumpkin, it might’ve been more than he could handle. Much like the Eeps, these guys could become very dangerous in swarms—although maybe not quite to the extent of those bat-like creatures, as they could fly and they also seemed to pack a bigger bite. Coincidentally, those had also been purple in color, too.

“Guys, a little help here!” Rian shouted, drawing his attention. “I’m okay, so don't panic, but…but this is incredibly uncomfortable.”

Zach opened his mouth to reply—then burst out in uncontrollable laughter as he saw his poor friend absolutely covered with pumpkins, which had latched onto him like purple-shelled leeches. One was on his nose, about three were biting his girthy belly, there was one on each of his arms and legs, two on each of his hips, and lastly, one with its mouth locked shut on his ass. Together with Lienne, they slaughtered each one, taking great care not to accidentally strike Rian in the process.

“Ugh, I tasted it!” Lienne yelled as some of the goop splashed on her mouth as well. By the time it was over, all three of them were drenched in the sticky, nasty, bad-tasting, bad-smelling pumpkin juice. There weren’t even any seeds in it. It really was more like a type of blood than any kind of fruit.

Well, at least that earned us a hundred xp, Zach thought. That puts me at 220/400xp.

“So,” Zach said, not even bothering to try wiping away the disgusting fluid all over his face and body, “it looks like we cut a path through to the scarecrow.”

“Yeah, you ain’t kidding,” Rian said with a groan.

Once again, Rian threw his axe, this time from what Zach was fairly sure was its maximum range before it would de-aggro. Like before, the Aggrieved Scarecrow shrieked and charged at them, but this time around, they were within thirty feet of it.

A moment before it was upon them, Zach stepped in front of Rian and, as they’d planned, he sliced the creature once to draw aggro, and then another ten times in perfect rhythm before the three of them began their now-familiar dance, making short work of the thing and taking it down just as they had before. As the creature vanished, Zach took mental stock of where he currently stood regarding his level.

“I need 80 more experience points,” he announced. “You guys need two-hundred and five.”

Sheathing his sword and axe, Rian pointed in the direction they’d come. “So, I guess we’ll relax and warm up in the fire and then figure out which one we go after next?”

Lienne nodded, though it was a slow, disgusted nod that caused some of the purple pumpkin guts—or whatever the hell it was—to fall off her ponytail. “I’m freezing c-cold. Let’s go take a break.”

“But guys,” Zach said, becoming impatient. “I’m only 80xp off.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll get you there, dude. No worries.”

“I’m just…I’m worried I’m going to get another bullshit level up.”

“We’ll see soon enough.”

Zach shook his head. “I literally can’t wait. I need to know. It’s eating away at me.”

Rian narrowed his eyes. “Well, that’s too bad. Because we need a break.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Zach said. “I’m going to take care of this next one myself.” He pointed to one of the straw and cloth creatures way off in the distance where it lurked beyond what had to be thousands of pumpkins residing between the three of them and the scarecrow. “I’ll just kill that one really quickly.”

Rian chuckled, but it was a sound that came across as more worried than humored. “And how are you going to do that?”

“There’s no range limit on my Wave Slash. I just need to aim well.”

At this, Rian’s eyes widened. “Wait, for real?"

"Yeah. I'm going to use it."

"You’re kidding me, right?"

"No."

"You can actually hit that thing from all the way over here, Zach?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe it."

"Well, it's true."

"Can I see that ability, please? You mentioned it, but you never actually showed it to me.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Lienne said. “Can we please see it?”

Zach shrugged. He didn’t see why not. They were allies, after all. Moving closer so that he stood parallel by their sides so that all three could look on at the same time, he brought forward the information on the very first ability he’d ever learned back when he’d reached level 2 with Kalana.

(Inner Ability) Wave Slash (UNIQUE)

Requires Sword. User channels energy into their strike, unleashing a projectile that slices anything that crosses its path, dealing damage that scales with the user’s strength. The speed of the projectile scales with speed. Cannot be used with short-swords or daggers. Exertion Level: Moderate.

“That’s so amazing,” Lienne whispered. From the way her head was moving, she was reading it over and over. “It cuts anything in its path? And there’s no range limit? So if you aimed it just right, couldn’t you kill a thousand pumpkins for us?”

“In theory, yeah,” Zach said. “But aiming it so it flies a few inches off the ground in a straight line? That’s not something I think I can pull off. In fact, I can’t even really aim it exactly. I think about where I want it to go, and my body makes the movements on its own.”

“Oh, wow,” Rian said. “It’s a reactive ability.”

“Reactive ability?”

He nodded. “Some abilities require the user to move a certain way, speak certain words, or face a certain directions.”

"This one defintely fits the bill," Zach said with a laugh. Then, more seriously, he said, "Shit, I hope I don't pass out again."

Rolling his shoulders, bending and unbending his knees, and trying to keep his body loose, Zach raised his blade and trained his eyes on the scarecrow far into the distance. It had to be at least a half-mile away. “You said that this is the best way to increase my stamina, right? To use this thing more often?”

“Yep,” Lienne replied.

“This is going to be so Gods-damned exhausting.” Zach braced himself. “All right, here I go."

Lifting his blade high into the air above his head, he activated his ability, and then his body moved all on its own. "Wave Slash!” his mouth forced him to scream as he swung his sword downwards diagonally.

As the resulting green energy solidified into a genuine metal object—a double-bladed ring—that then took off towards the scarecrow, it confirmed something that Zach had only suspected and did not until now know for certain—that the farther the razor-sharp disc traveled, the faster it moved and the more accurate it became. This, in turn, caused its screech as it cut through the air to grow louder and louder until, by the time it reached its target, it sounded like a jet airplane coming in for a landing. Zach watched in exhausted satisfaction as his Wave Slash moved with such incredible speed that, rather than split the scarecrow in two, it simply exploded into a shower of straw and cloth. The thing was just absolutely disintegrated.

875

“Holy Gods!” Rian actually screamed. “Eight-seventy-five. Eight-seventy-five! Li, do you see this shit?”

“I see it,” she said with a gasp.

Zach didn’t even care about the damage. He was too nervous. Too concerned. Too worried. Too on edge. If not for his paranoia, he might’ve found it interesting that the size of numbers seemed to scale with distance so that they could clearly see what was being written even from a half mile away. In fact, he’d definitely find this cool as hell if he were in a normal state of mind. Instead, he agonized so intensely over his level up, which was an instant from appearing, that he somehow tuned out the overwhelming exhaustion that threatened to bring him to his knees. Holding his breath, he spotted the +100xp, and then immediately thereafter came the words he was waiting for.

Level Up!

…and that…that was all.

That was all it said.

Zach’s knees buckled both from emotional agony as well as physical exhaustion as a heavy weight of pure disappointment and sadness settled on his chest. “I give up,” he said in disbelief. “For real. I give up. I’m done. I’ve had enough of this shit.”

“Zach,” Lienne whispered. “It’s okay, it’s—”

“I’m fucking done!” he screamed, far louder than he intended but still somehow not loudly enough to satisfy his burning rage.

Lying down in the middle of the field, he ignored his two friends who were begging him to get up and rejoin them at the campfire. Zach didn’t care. He’d had enough. Something was wrong with him. Something wasn’t right inside of his soul. And after two level-ups with literally zero gains, that much was no longer in dispute.

Why even bother to try anymore? Twice in a row, he’d gotten nothing. Just…just nothing! Why should he even bother anymore? Leveling up was not helping him in any way. His levels had been progressively getting worse, and now he was getting nothing at all! Why would level 8 be any different? Why bother trying to reach it? It would just be another blank, bullshit level.

He was done. He was so over this. He'd had enough. All he wanted now was to rush through this Gods-damned dungeon and find a warm bed to sleep in. His morale was shot, his hopes were dashed, and his optimism was now nonexistent. At this rate, would even a regular adventuring guild take him in? Him, the boy who was for some reason physically unable to grow stronger with leveling? Even if they did, he would just be a charity case: someone let in out of pity and not merit.

"Guys, please stop bugging me," he grumbled as Lienne and Rian continued to insist without a shred of evidence that things would improve.

"Zach, I'll make you a deal," Lienne said.

"What deal?" he growled. "Sorry. I'm not grunting at you. Just my situation."

"I know, Zach. I get it. I really do. But still, let's make a deal."

"What deal?"

She bent over slightly and reached out, extending her hand in his direction. "Try one more time," she said. "Just one last level. And if it sucks, I promise you I'll leave you alone. I won't bug you anymore."

Zach exhaled sadly, feeling exhausted. "Really?"

"Yeah," Rian said, joining his sister. "I refuse to believe this is just some cruel joke being played on you. One more level, and I promise you, if it's another blank one like that, me and Lienne will break you out of this dungeon ourselves and you can never look back if that's what you want. We'll go away and never bother you again, too."

Zach frowned. "We can still be friends, you know? Even if I quit."

Lienne sighed. "Fine. We'll still be friends. But please. Just please try one last final time. Please! One more level and I swear on my life, if it's another one like this one, we won't say a word. You can quit, and we won't even try to stop you."

Zach sat up, banged his fist on the soil, and swore. "Fine!" he said. "I'll get level 8. But you better keep your word. If nothing comes of it, I'm quitting this whole thing. No more leveling. No more adventuring. I'm not going to just keep humiliating myself as I realize how weak I am inside. Level after level, I just…I just get fucked! I'm not even normally a quitter, either. I've just hit my Gods-damned limit. But fine. I'll try one last time."

He took her hand, and she helped pull him up to his feet. Zach fixed her with a hard look, which he then gave to her brother as well. He meant what he was saying. This would be his last chance go at this. If level 8 didn't at least give him a single stat increase, he was done. His story as an adventurer was over. And he would never look back.

It was said—and he truly believed—that leveling up brought out a person's inner strength. It was what they had inside themselves all along. Leveling just brought out the power deep down inside one's soul. It was for this reason that Zach was so close to giving up. Because for the past two levels, he had reached into his soul to see what resided inside, and both times, the answer had been nothing! Zach could no longer withstand reminder after reminder that his soul was so empty: so lacking in strength. It hurt. It confused him. It made no Gods-damned sense.

"This is the last time," he said again. "The very last time."

When Varsh had beaten the snot out of him back in Whispery Woods, Zach had made a promise to himself: he swore to become more powerful at any cost. He swore to never allow himself to be in that kind of situation ever again. But that promise relied entirely on the strength to stand tall residing within his heart. If there was truly nothing in his soul but emptiness and longing: if his soul was truly as barren as it now seemed, then this was a promise he never stood a chance of keeping no matter how pure his intentions.

How could he face Mr. Oren or even Kalana? How could he show up at level 10 or higher and have the same stats as a level 4? How could he endure listening to them "pretend" that this wasn't such a big deal and try to downplay the fact that he was so lacking in "inner strength" that he couldn't even get a single stat point after working so hard to level up?

No, he made his decision and he intended to stick with it. As long as he got at least one stat, no matter which one, he would continue to fight. But if his next level was devoid of anything at all, then he was done. He was giving up. Not because he was a quitter, but because it would be a sign that it just wasn't meant to be. If he couldn't get stronger through leveling up, then why level up at all? Leveling up without stats wasn't truly leveling up. If he couldn't level up, then why risk his life? It was only logical to ask himself such a question. Without growth, his effort was wasted.

Just one stat point, he said in his mind in what was a cross between a thought and a prayer. When I get level 8, just please! At least give me one single stat point. I just want to know that I have some kind of inner strength. Any at all. Even if it's just a point into luck. I can't cope with the idea that I am so worthless that I have nothing in me left to give!

That was now the bare minimum. There could be no more wiggle room. The next time he leveled up, he had to get something--anything! It was either that, or he gave up on his dreams. How could it possibly be any other way?