Callum sprinted through the forest towards the cries for help. With his increased speed, he covered the distance in just seconds, finding a group of fifteen people in a small open area in the trees. Surrounding them were five of the same wolves he had fought the night before, but this time he had the jump on them.
He struck fast, aiming for the first one’s heart, dropping it in an instant. He activated Blade Dance and went to work.
The wolves were momentarily stunned by this newcomer, and he was able to fell the second one in short order, but by then, the wolves had caught on. All three lunged for him, forcing him to push Blade Dance as hard as he ever had.
He learned, that moment, how much specializing his skill had mattered. Each slash was deflected and returned with a blow of his own. Riposte was being woven in a much more noticeable way, awarding him many devastating attacks for the wolves.
Feeling his stamina at half, he slipped out of the melee and deactivated it. As he did, one of the wolves succumbed to its wounds, and the remaining two were limping. With their speed crippled, dealing with them was easy work.
In all, the battle had only lasted sixty seconds, and Callum turned his attention to the group who had called for help. They were completely stunned. His display of skill and speed was something they had never thought possible and had assumed themselves dead to rights.
He had taken a few glancing blows, but all it did was shred his shirt, not having enough force to get through his health.
[Rapier Novice 5 → Novice 6]
[Rapier Novice 6 → Novice 7]
[Duellist Level 7 → Level 8]
[Skill Selection Available]
Callum quickly dismissed the notification, he would have to come back to it after dealing with the people.
“Hi. I’m Callum.” Seeing their fearful faces, he followed up quickly. “I am not going to hurt you. I heard the cry for help and came as fast as I could. I hope you’re all okay.”
“Are you human?” a man in the crowd asked.
“I can assure you I’m human. If you’re wondering how I can do that, it’s through a class that I believe you all received at the beginning of this.”
Several heads nodded along, but just as many were confused. Callum didn’t want to go through a crash course in all he had learned while in the middle of a dungeon, but that short explanation did some good.
“How did you get in here? We have been wandering for a day and haven’t found a way out.” Another person said.
“Getting in is easy, I simply walked in. Getting out may be difficult. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe your homes may be gone. Taken over by what is now a dungeon.”
“Like a video game?” a teenager asked. “So it is like a video game,” he mumbled, answering his own question.
“Yes, like a video game,” Callum repeated, emphasizing the point. “I think the only way out is going to beat the dungeon, but I don’t know exactly requirements. I have done one before, but it was much more straightforward.”
“What’s that?” someone asked, pointing somewhere behind Callum.
He whirled, sword in hand, but it was just a chest, albeit bigger than the one he had found in The Goblin’s sewers. One that he assumed had appeared for defeating the wolves. Upon seeing what it was, he calmed, slipping his sword back into his belt loop.
“It’s a chest. It most likely contains some weapons.” He stalked over to the chest and threw it open.
Inside was a small arsenal. There were a few swords of varying types, a couple of bows, and quivers to go along. He quickly identified the items and determined that none of them were magical in variant like his buckler had been. It seemed like a gift for the people so that they could arm themselves, even though he had been the one to slay the wolves.
He motioned for people in the crowd to come over and investigate as well, but they all seemed afraid that it was some kind of trap. He settled for pulling a bow out of the pile.
Stolen novel; please report.
“It looks like you all have gotten lucky. There are weapons here so that you can defend yourselves. Odd, though, that it came after the danger. Did anyone choose the ranger class?”
A shorter woman in the back was the only one willing to admit to buying into what most likely seemed like insanity. Callum knew that all of this could easily feel like a fever dream, but he hoped that they would soon realize it was real and take things seriously.
“Catch,” he said, before tossing the bow in her direction. Luckily she caught it, otherwise, it would have gotten fairly awkward for Callum. “There’s arrows here as well.” This time he set the arrows behind him, hoping she would take the initiative to come and get them.
Thankfully, she did. Once they had seen someone step up, some others in the crowd found some steel in their veins and volunteered for classes so that Callum could distribute weapons.
At the bottom of the chest was something that had escaped Callum’s initial inventory. He inspected it, and what he saw almost made him palm it for himself.
[Wand of Firebolt] By channeling mana through the wand, the user is able to cast the spell Firebolt. (Poor Mana Efficiency)
[Firebolt] Shoot a small ball of fire that deals moderate damage, with a small chance to ignite the target.
He stopped himself as he realized that these people would most likely need everything they could to get themselves out of this dungeon alive.
“Did anyone pick the mage class?” he asked.
The teenager who had made the connection to video games spoke up. “Yeah, but I didn’t get any spells. Kinda lame if you ask me.”
“This will fix that. For now, at least.” Callum walked over to hand him the wand, but stopped before giving it over, remembering Ryan’s first try at magic. “Don’t immediately go firing this off, otherwise I’m taking it back.”
The kid nodded solemnly, and Callum figured he had gotten his point across. He watched for a moment to make sure he would be smart about it before moving on.
He could have easily Identified them to find out who to hand out weapons to, but he figured their capacity for understanding the supernatural was being stretched, and didn’t want to throw them any more curveballs. He still did so to progress his proficiency in Identify.
He also hadn’t planned on working with anyone to clear the dungeon. To that end, he decided that going off on his own was probably his best chance at helping these people get out. He settled on giving them a short warning.
“You have weapons now, and can fight back, but that doesn’t mean you can be reckless. Work together and I’m sure you will survive. I’ll see you all on the other side of this.” Callum tried to be motivational, but it wasn’t a strong suit of his.
With his warning given, he turned and jogged away, leaving them on their own.
Once he had put some distance between him and the group, he settled down into a walk and looked at his notification.
[Rapier Novice 5 → Novice 6]
[Rapier Novice 6 → Novice 7]
[Duellist Level 7 → Level 8]
[Skill Selection Available]
He opened the skill selection menu, seeing the familiar unchosen options, along with three new ones.
[Death by One Thousand Cuts] You have learned the art of slowly shredding an opponent, with no single wound being the fatal blow, but the sum of the wounds being greater than their parts. Unleash a flurry of blows devastating an opponent and overwhelming most defenses. Scales with Dexterity and relevant weapon skill. High Stamina cost.
[Barrier] Create a barrier of force out of mana capable of blocking blows so long as it is provided with mana. Scales with Intelligence and relevant magic skill.
[Discerning Intent] Any combatant tries to read their opponent to the best of their ability, but yours borders on precognition. Gain insight into how an opponent fights, and possible ways they would attack. Scales with Wits.
This was a veritable bounty to Callum. Each one was something that he wished he had. Stepping back with an analytical mind, he reread each one, trying to understand the implications and how each one would help him.
Barrier was something that he almost selected on the first reading, but it scaling with Intelligence concerned him, as that was not his lowest stat, but it was not really where his points were focused. He did like that it confirmed he could gain skills that weren’t directly related to his class. It also seemed like some of the earlier skills he had gotten and as such, he figured he could learn it without wasting a skill selection.
Death by One Thousand Cuts was appealing as well, as it seemed to be recognized by whatever governing force that he had learned it already, but this would turn it into something he could activate. It didn’t list how much stamina it cost, but he didn’t want to spend a lot of his stamina in the event a fight dragged on, so he passed over it.
That left Discerning Intent. It was the most mystical skill he had received so far, though it scaled with just one attribute and nothing else. Learning how an opponent fought, and possible ways they would attack seemed like such a great boon, though. He settled on selecting it as, to him, it seemed the best of the three, and better than the other skills he had not selected previously.
With his skill selection done, he set off back through the forest, but at a relaxed pace. It had been a while since he had been able to stroll through a forest. While this one certainly presented more danger than any he had been in, it was a welcome change of pace, and allowed him to sort through everything he had experienced so far.
As he went over the details of the last couple of days, he realized that he had completely forgotten to Identify his sword. The thing had been with him since day one, and as such felt more like part of him. It never left his side.
He strained his ears, checking for any out-of-place sounds, but the same eerie quiet that had fallen when he entered was still there. Satisfied, he pulled his sword from his belt loop and used Identify.
[??? RAPIER ???] ???? Crafted by ???? Scales with ???? Level.
“What the fuck,” he murmured.