*Clang clang clang*

Glimmers of steel could be seen between the two men, the swords only stopping briefly when deflecting or blocking. Both were panting hard, sweat pouring down their faces.

Their bodies were covered in numerous shallow cuts and scrapes, none of them looking serious. Although the blonde man was looking a little worse off than the dark haired one.

Why does everyone want to fight each other? Laira grumbled in her mind, watching the fight from behind the bush and tree she used as cover.

From what she could tell by peeking between the trees, they both seemed to be evenly matched, making her confused as to why they weren’t going their separate ways.

Are they gonna fight to the bitter end? Maybe I should just leave them alone, they don’t seem like very mentally stable people…

However, it did bother her that even more people were trying to kill each other. There were already enough threats from the trial itself, why did they have to harm each other as well?

Should I just throw a stone at them? Maybe that will confuse them and they will stop… but what if one of them gets killed because I distracted them? Wouldn’t that mean I kind of killed them?

Laira felt very uncomfortable at the thought of contributing to the death of another person.

She had also thought about showing herself to them, but she didn’t want to get attacked, so she thought it better to stay hidden.

But maybe if I use my skill?

She brought up her skill description again.

Loki’s Il̵̹̩̎lusionary Shroud - ? - Copper I You cha̵͕̓nnel Loki’s poŵ̶̧̧͖̠̥̜͔̱͕̥͉̰̦͇͇̹̪͓̭̟̫͓̞͙̺̈̂̈́̂͗̈́̔͊̉͐̔́̍͌̏̿͊̈́̊̂̋̃͘̚͝͝͝ͅer through̴̰͓̾̓̓͑́̅̽̃̇͘͝ your mind, ma̵̒̒̉͗͝king others see realities that have once existed. Effect:

Ǘ̴̹sing man̸͈̗͌̏̾̓͜a to call upon Lo̵͌ki’s divine power and channel i̵̤̖͛̿̅͜t through yoú̵̢̊r mi̵̤̖͛̿̅͜nd, you sȟ̴̨̪̺̳̟roud yourself in a̵̻͈̿n illusion.

Illusi̵͍̻̩͎̥̠͓̬͝ons must recreate realities you have experienced before.

Dura̵̻͈̿tion and the n̸͈̗͌̏̾̓͜ú̵̢̊mber of minds affected increase mana drá̶̭̽̄͑̈́̃̌in.

A̸̍ĉ̸̣͖t̵͐̃i̷ṿ̵͂a̵͝t̸͓́̑͜ion̸͚̰͘ ̶̧͑ŝ̶͉̀s̸̡̩̋͐ë̷͎͂͜ ̵͖̟̓s̴̖̀a̵͜͝s̵͚̑̓d̵̗̃s̸̝̋̐d̷͇̕͝ͅ ̸̼̒ͅn̶̛̳̅n̷̢̩̾̿ ̷̮̥̽̊ą̴͖̅ś̷͉̼̐o̴͔͛y̴̧͉̍͂ỉ̶̼̞̅ĝ̶̣̝h̵̳̏b̵̳͛r̷͓͉̄̐ ̴̙̄̒C̴̔́or̶͋rr̸̻̃p̷̰͉̀̕i̸o̵̬̣͒͋n̷̍͠. Ẅ̵̛́e ̶̻͇͝ḅ̴͘à̷̌r̷̗̀̇ ̷͍͒̅ļ̸̀v̵̿̆ā̷͇͔͑ṣ̵̨̈̎ÿ̶̟́̓.̴̭̆ ̶̷̴̡̛͕̫̬̈͒̍̎̈B̶̯̲̽l̷̟͗͑ ̶̝̊̔ć̶͎l̶̲͌͑s̸̾͗c̸̫̈́̃i̷͓͒ͅġ̴̑r̷̢̹̔g̸̞̑,̶̝̘̌ ̸̢͓͂La̶i̷r̷͍͗a̴.̸̛̖

To be honest, she wasn’t exactly sure how to use her skill. Well, she knew how to activate it, the System gave her that information somehow, but she didn’t know how to actually choose her illusion. Or what she could even choose.

The one thing that confused her the most was the “must recreate realities you have experienced before” part.

Since the skill also said she would shroud herself specifically, did that mean she could only change her own appearance? And only to what she had looked like in the past?

If that was true, then how exactly did the skill save her from getting killed last night? Surely the boar didn’t stop its attacks because she suddenly looked a little different, right?

And why did the others not take notice of her? Or did they and she herself didn’t know? But Laira was confident her sister wouldn’t just leave her behind if she had known she was there, so the illusion must have done something other than just alter her appearance a little.

Laira was scratching her head on what to do, when the blonde haired guy suddenly cried out. The dark haired man had managed to cut into his side with a dagger and the other’s sword flashed in response, crashing into his opponent with inhuman speed.

Everything happened very fast, and they immediately continued fighting, but Laira still had the feeling the blonde guy had lost the exchange, even though he seemed to have used a skill. His movements seemed slower than before and he was slowly getting pushed back.

Shit, it’s gonna be over soon if I don’t intervene.

Her thoughts started racing. She really didn’t want to see another person die, but at the same time she didn’t know why they were fighting in the first place, nor did she want to risk her own life unnecessarily.

The blonde man’s movement’s became more and more erratic, more new cuts appearing on his body. He was clearly barely holding on under the constant assault.

Clenching her fists she made up her mind. She willed the skill to activate, and with the System’s guidance, it did.

She gasped when something foreign suddenly crashed into her mind, almost making her keel over. It felt like someone was simultaneously pouring hot metal into her skull and zapping her with a taser.

Is this what channelling divine power feels like?

Pressure built in her brain, the energy rushing into her mind having no way to go. Her head felt like it was going to explode soon.

She knew instinctively, or perhaps because the System made her know it, that she needed to choose something. Soon. Before it became too much for her.

Gritting her teeth, she looked into the direction of the two men fighting and focused on the winning man. The System didn’t tell her how to choose the illusion, so she did the best thing she could think of.

She thought about how she didn’t want him to be here, how she wanted him to stop, how she wanted to drive him away. All those thoughts gathered in her mind like a whirlwind, mixing with the divine energies running rampant.

Once she felt it was enough, she pushed and everything burst out of her and towards him.

****

Sweet essence, I’m coming for you!

Jett parried a half-hearted strike with his sword and added another thin, red line on Lukas' arm with his dagger.

It had taken him a long time to finally find a gap in Lukas' defense and hit him good; he had to take the Empowered Strike to do it of course, but it was a trade in his favor.

Now it was only a matter of time until he would kill Lukas. Even if he regenerated enough mana for another Empowered Strike, it wouldn’t matter. Jett didn’t need to precariously dance around anymore, trying to find the slightest chance.

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No, now almost every single of his strikes inflicted a new wound while Jett didn’t get any.

Took me way too long anyways.

They had been fighting for almost an hour by now, which was just insane. Both of them were tired as hell, but Jett was obviously more used to fighting to the limit in a battle of attrition than Lukas was.

But fighting for so long was also dangerous. Noon was coming closer and closer, and he still didn’t have any useful combat skills.

He had finally gotten Swordsmanship down to zero essence and acquired it, but without the Copper II upgrade it was still useless.

And his current meager storage of 2 Copper I essence wasn't enough for the upgrade, as could be seen on the new textbox floating nearby.

New Skill available!

You have proven your mastery of the Sword, showing skill far beyond ordinary swordsmen.

You may pay 10 Copper I Essence to acquire the following skill:

Swordsmanship - Passive - Copper II

No longer bound by the limits of your body, you now handle your weapon with more control and finesse than before.

Effect: Expand your instinctive knowledge and skill of the Sword, significantly improving your abilities against armed opponents and adding a minor improvement to your abilities against unarmed opponents and beasts.

When in a fight using a Sword, add a minor improvement in your reaction time and agility and a negligible improvement in strength.

The cost was actually insanely cheap for a Copper II skill, but it was still too high with his current budget.

Lukas’ 4 Copper I essence would go a long way to pay for that, but he would still need to get more quite quickly to not meet an unfortunate end soon. The skill might not look that much more impressive to the Copper I version, but the meaning of keywords changed slightly the higher the grade of a skill was. If a Gold I skill said it added a negligible improvement, you could be sure it would be better than when a Copper I skill said something was a significant improvement.

The same was true for Copper I and II, although to a lesser extent. But in conclusion, the upgraded skill should enable him to survive against one or two Copper I wolves trying to snack on him.

But with how stingy the System was being, he wasn't sure he could bring the cost down too much anymore. Maybe one, maximum two Copper I essence further. In other words, the only way to acquire the skill was to gather more essence.

I really need to hurry a bit.

He readied himself for another attack when he suddenly heard someone cry out.

“Hey! You! Help us!”

In an attempt to use the distraction to get a more lethal wound on Lukas, he dove in and swung hard.

However Lukas kept his eyes fully focused on him, not letting the sudden cry for help weaken his defenses.

Tsk.

Jett retreated a little and finally turned his head to look in the direction of the voice.

“Hey-”

He did that just in time to see a boar crash into a red haired girl, dragging her along for a bit before she got thrown over its back.

Oh shit… it’s definitely Copper I.

He didn’t know how the girl had managed to outrun it just long enough to stumble upon the two, but it was a very unfortunate coincidence.

Unfortunate because now he wouldn’t get his essence anymore.

“Alright, I’m out. Good luck with the boar!”

Jett, without hesitation, turned around and ran in the other direction. He could hear Lukas making confused noises, seemingly overwhelmed with the situation, but he couldn’t care less.

There was no point in staying and trying to fight the boar. Sure, he might be able to win, if he tried his hardest, but with Lukas also being nearby it would get much more chaotic. So it was better to simply avoid it, the four essence be damned.

And since Lukas was more wounded than him, he would be slower and wouldn’t be able to run away as fast. He should be able to distract the boar for long enough so that Jett could run away in peace.

He could faintly hear the girl screaming again behind him, but his thoughts were already focused on how to best farm the remaining essence.

Can I pick out some of the nearby groups from Brett’s camp? They aren’t easy prey, but they would give a lot of essence.

His thoughts got interrupted when he heard the telltale grunting of a boar closing in on him.

What the fuck? Why is it going for me already? Did Lukas die immediately just to spite me or what?

He ran and jumped between trees in an attempt to lose it, but the boar was gaining on him quickly.

Fuck, now I do have to fight it after all. But with Lukas dead I won’t get his essence anymore.

If he knew he would die so quickly he would have fought the beast right then and there!

Whatever, at least it will also give me some essence.

He spun around, his sword and dagger ready, awaiting the beast.

It didn’t let him wait long, barreling around some trees and straight at him.

Jett caught sight of something stuck in its shoulder and frowned.

Is that… a spear?

Jett was struck by a strong sense of deja vu.

****

Lukas looked perplexed after the sprinting man who, moments ago, had been hellbent on killing him.

He would have chased after him, if he still had the strength in him, but the dagger strike had injured him quite badly. He could barely stand.

If he were religious he would have thanked the heavens that he was granted another chance so suddenly, but since he wasn’t, he was just standing around, lost.

It happened so suddenly and completely out of the blue. One moment the murderer had rushed into him in a weird and useless attempt to finish him off, the next moment he backed off and looked to the side.

Lukas had been suspicious of falling for any tricks, but he had also peeked to the side and… saw nothing. There was nothing to see.

However his opponent had obviously seemed to think differently, turning around and wishing him good luck before running off.

Seeing the man flee and leaving him behind did put him on high alert at first, but the prophesied boar didn’t show up even after several moments of anxious waiting.

I should move back to camp before he changes his mind and comes back to kill me as well.

He hesitatingly looked in the direction of his fallen companion, and then in the direction the man had looked before running off.

If it really is a boar, I probably shouldn’t, but…

Since it made that man run, it must have been one of the stronger boars, so he would probably get overwhelmed in a fight, especially with his wound. But he simply didn't see anything...

Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to check out what had alerted his opponent.

He slowly made his way over, when, after a few steps, a bush ahead of him shook slightly.

Okay, shit, maybe it really is a boar….

He gripped his sword tighter and slowly retreated again, having decided that satisfying his curiosity was not worth it after all.

Just before he turned around to make his way to his fallen companion’s corpse, he spotted something that made him stop.

Is that a… shoe?

It definitely looked like normal street-wear boots. More importantly, it looked distinctly different to how a boar would look like.

With quick steps he made his way toward the bush.

His eyes widened when he arrived and spotted a red haired girl lying on the ground, holding her head and groaning quietly.

She looked up to him when he approached, a spark of fear igniting in her eyes.

He put away his sword, held up his hands in a placating manner and then chuckled.

“You are lucky he thought you were a boar, girl. Though I guess we both are."

He sighed and held out one of his hands.

"Here, let me help you. We should get to the camp before he comes back.”