As Callum entered, he gestured to the second one a few feet in front of him. Callum was surprised at the difference in the way Ryan carried himself. His shoulders were relaxed and there was no air of nervousness that Callum had come to associate with Ryan.
“Have a seat,” Ryan said. “I find this position to be the most relaxing, but you should sit however you feel comfortable.”
Callum copied the way Ryan was sitting, finding it comfortable himself.
“Do you have any way of expending mana?” he asked.
“Yes. I have this buckler that uses mana.” Callum sought to emulate the serious tone Ryan had taken.
“Good, empty all of your mana, if you can.”
Callum complied, though it was a bit difficult to force the buckler to accept as much as he pushed into it. He checked his status and saw his mana was empty.
“Now, find a steady breathing rhythm and focus on the feeling of the mana entering your body. It may take some time.”
Callum closed his eyes and began breathing. He breathed in and out. In. And out. He sat with his legs crossed, just focused on his breathing for half an hour before he noticed anything.
With every breath in, he felt something seeping into his body. No, it wasn’t external, it was internal. He was pulling something from the air into his body.
He honed in on this sensation. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but there was a strength to it. More and more he pulled on it, forcing as much in as he could. Before long, he felt like a cup, completely filled and could not hold any more lest it spill over the edge.
And then he hit a wall. He could absorb no more. But something within him was satiated. Where he had felt stretched to his limits, he relaxed.
Opening his eyes, Ryan sat across from him, a wide grin splitting his face.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Ryan asked.
Before he could answer, a notification appeared in his field of view.
[Skill Learned: Basic Magic]
“Yes it is. Is that mana?” Callum asked.
“It is. I’ll have to teach you more tomorrow, as it’s getting pretty late, but sleep on it.”
Callum then realized how dark it had gotten. No light came in from outside, but the torches in the main room had dimmed as well as the one in the meeting room. At first, he thought it was due to what he had discovered, but the more likely answer was that they had dimmed on their own. There was enough light to not trip over anything, but dim enough that if he wanted to sleep there would be no problem.
Coming out of the trance-like state he had been in, the exhaustion of the day finally hit him. It had only been twelve hours since he stepped into that dungeon, but he felt he had aged three years.
At the moment, rest was the most pressing thing. It was no substitute for a mattress, but the mat that Ryan had provided would work well. He laid back and was asleep in seconds.
----------------------------------------
A howl ripped through the night, and Callum was wide awake in seconds. He jumped up and snatched his rapier from where it had been lying beside him. The dim torches were his only indication that it was still nighttime.
Glancing over to Ryan, he saw the man rubbing sleep from his eyes. The howl had awoken him as well.
“What is it?” Ryan slurred, half awake.
“Wolves by the sound of it. I’m going to check it out.” Callum said as he began putting his shoes on. He strapped his buckler on and exited the room.
Callum marched his way through the town hall. He could make out a few faces in the dim light, and each one had fear etched across it.
At the entrance, Eliza stood alert, knife in hand as her eyes were fixed on the darkness outside.
“Have you seen anything?” Callum asked as he approached.
“No. Not yet,” was her short reply.
“I’m going out there to see what’s going on. Will you stay here?”
She nodded her acknowledgement.
That would have to do. He stepped out into the night, waiting to go any further as his eyes adjusted. Fortunately, the moon was out. It wasn’t much light, but he could see clearly enough if he had to fight.
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Callum circled the town hall, confirming that it was safe, for now, before moving further away and repeating the circle. He went as far as he could while keeping the town hall in his sight.
On the second circle, he heard another howl, closer this time. On the third rotation, he saw a glimmer of something. The shape was wolf-like, but something about it was wrong. It wasn’t just the size, the thing was likely twice the size of a normal wolf.
Callum could just make out one. It was difficult, the black of its fur blended into the night. The only thing that helped was a streak of silver that ran down its back. He scanned the scant trees that were left, finding three more that matched the first. The single strip of silver was the only identifiable mark.
He tried to use Identify on them, but it failed. He got the sense that the distance that separated them was too great.
There was a flash of silver, and Callum nearly took too long to realize what had happened. The lead wolf was hurtling towards him.
Callum dove to the side as the beast whipped past him. He rolled and came up in a crouch, but the beast was on him again. Claws came down on him as he found his feet. He did his best to dodge, but they came so fast he couldn’t get out of the way of everything.
His health bought him enough time to activate Blade Dance. Everything was suddenly crystal clear. The claws of the beast did not slow down, though. It was all he could to do keep pace and strike back. He aimed each stab at its eyes, seeking to at least disable it.
He was only landing glancing blows. Slowly the beast was beginning to bleed when Blade Dance alerted him to another threat.
A second wolf charged him. Blade Dance allowed him to avoid the worst, but even being clipped by the thing, he was sent sprawling to the ground. The first wolf dashed at him but faltered and collapsed mid-stride.
Atop its back was Eliza, her knife embedded in the base of the wolf’s skull. She acrobatically flipped off its back, but that was the last Callum saw as the second wolf was on him.
The sprawl had knocked him out of Blade Dance, his concentration broken. Something he didn’t know was possible. He was forced to use his buckler to avoid any more damage as he looked for openings.
As with the first one, over a series of exchanges, he was able to make the thing bleed. It was extracting a price, though. His buckler was wearing down, and there were many open wounds across his arms and shoulders.
A final claw tore his buckler from his arm, and he felt the claws strike bone, but he had his victory. It left him open to stab through the beast’s eye and into its brain, ending the beast. However, the fight was not over.
He spotted the two other wolves prepared to rush him when a figure appeared on top of one. Eliza, again, had somehow managed to get on top of a beast and drive her dagger into it. The other, oblivious to the death of its companion, charged Callum.
He steeled himself, activating Blade Dance again. He saw it coming and had a plan. Once it was within twenty feet, it leaped, trying to take Callum’s head in revenge. He ducked, and exploded off the ground, sword first, into its body.
His rapier sunk a foot into the beast's body. Not enough. Blood showered Callum as he was carried, by his sword, with the momentum of the wolf.
They crashed into the ground, a tangle of limbs and claws. Callum withdrew his sword and rolled away as the beast found its feet. His Blade Dance had deactivated again, but he doubted he had the stamina to keep it running anymore.
Seizing the slight opportunity his daring strike had gained him, Callum pressed the advantage. He forced the creature on the defensive, but it was in his favor as the wolf was not used to defending. As he had many times before, he forced the creature to die a death of a thousand cuts, slowly bleeding it to death.
Breathing heavily, Callum came down from the adrenaline of the fight. As the adrenaline left his body, the extent of his wounds became evident. The pain forced him to his knees. He felt the level-up take place, and it stopped the bleeding but did nothing for the pain.
Looking down at his mangled arm, he saw what the fight had cost him. The muscle was completely shredded, and bone was peeking out from beneath the blood. He took deep, steadying breaths, trying to get himself under control.
The pain slowly receded, and Callum was able to process the notifications.
[One-Handed Weapons: Apprentice 1 → 2]
[Duellist: Level 5 → Level 6]
[Duellist: Level 6 → Level 7]
This time the level-ups weren’t as comforting as they had been before. He had just been reminded of his own mortality. Struggling to his feet, Callum saw Eliza approaching.
“Shit. You look bad,” was all she said, but it was the truth. His left arm was shredded, and blood stained what clothes were left. "Let’s get you inside."
As he reached the door to the town hall, Ryan was standing there. His jaw dropped and he stepped over to help Callum walk.
Callum waved him off. “I can walk just fine, its my arm that’s useless now.”
Ryan turned to the crowd of people, all now wide awake. “Is anyone a doctor, or a nurse, or something!”
“I’m a nurse,” someone speaks out from the crowd. Callum recognized the voice had been of the woman who had originally spoken up that same morning. “Let me see.”
She rushed over and delicately inspected the wound. “I need more light,” she said. Someone grabbed a torch from the wall, and once it was separated from the wall, it flared to life at full strength. The man who had grabbed it brought it closer and she was able to better inspect the wound.
“I have no clue how how it isn’t gushing blood, but it’s bad. I don’t have any equipment, but it needs stitches. It also needs to be cleaned out.”
She ushered Callum inside and had him take a seat with his back to a wall. Someone brought her a bottle of water, and someone else happened to have a spare cloth. As she worked on getting his wound cleaned out, he tried talking to her.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Sally. Are you gonna tell me why your arm isn’t pouring blood?”
“It’s the way all of this works, sort of. You have health, and when you lose it, then you can get injured. I leveled up after the fight, and since my health was restored, it stops any further damage.”
“That’s insane. You realize that. Before you say anything, I know things have changed, doesn’t make it any less insane.”
“What’s your class? Ryan told me you had all selected classes, but I didn’t know if that meant everyone.”
“Healer, not that it’s doing me any good right now.” Callum perked up at that revelation. “Stay still,” she admonished him.
Trying to contain his excitement, Callum asked a follow-up question. “And what skill did that class give you?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t really pay much attention. I thought it was asking me which one I was, and none of the others made sense.”
“Do me a favor and think ‘status’. Now, can you tell me what skill you have?”
“Heal.”