West of the Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

Jut watched, stunned, as the four soldiers he was partied up with destroyed a huge dog monster. The part that left him speechless was how methodical they were about it and how well they worked so well together.

They approached the solitary monster slowly.

Jonny carried a scrap of metal he had fashioned into a tower shield and led the way. The large man also taunted the beast with words, which got the monster's attention. The other three stayed hidden nearby until the dog monster jumped at him. He caught the monster on his shield.

Then the others popped out of hiding and began wailing on the monster with their weapons. Brick used a bat very similar to the one Jut carried, swinging it with both hands. Larry also used a bat, but had his own smaller chunk of metal tied to his arm like a buckler. Randy used two daggers, lunging in and striking quickly. Each attack left brutal, crushing wounds behind. Jut didn't even get to help before the monster was dead.

Jonny pulled out a stick and began etching a circle around the monster, but Brick stopped him.

"Hold on. Let's have Jut do it with his Skill."

"Works for me." Jonny said before stepping away, gesturing at the monster with his shield. "I hate setting this puppy down if I can avoid it."

Jut shrugged and stepped in, activating his skill.

All three of his new acquaintances gasped as they saw the monster break down into nothing, leaving behind a slab of meat and a few chips.

"Very few soldiers have that Skill." Randy said reverently. "It will certainly help save on Mana Chips."

"Have you guys not figured out how to activate rituals without Mana Chips?" Jut asked, surprised.

Brick shook his head. "No. I saw you do it before, but I have not figured out how to do it."

"Dude, wait. You can activate rituals manually, without your skill?" Randy asked, sounding curious and excited. "How?"

"Let's bring down another Monster. We can figure it out together." Jut said with a smile.

All the men except for Larry cheered and they set out.

This time, with Brick coordinating the group, the five men and three pets took down a small pack of scorpion monsters. These were different in that they had hammers for claws instead of as their stingers. The stingers were jagged and dripped a bright red liquid from their tips.

Everything was going perfectly until Jut misread an attack and dodged right into Larry's bat. Jut was seeing stars on his back and Larry barely managed to dodge a hammer arm blow. The silent man didn't even yelp when he tripped over a scorpion corpse.

Jonny saved Jut from a follow up blow ad Randy sank both daggers into the soft brown carapace just behind the Monster's head. A greenish ichor Jut had come to know as insect blood sprayed all over him.

"Corpse check." Brick called out. The three other soldiers all dispersed, poking and striking the dead monsters. "Some monsters like to play dead and hit you where it hurts," Brick said to Jut as he crouched in Jut's line of sight. "You okay?"

Jut shook his head once before taking Brick's offered hand and allowed himself to be helped up. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Jut immediately turned to Larry and bowed an apology. "My bad, bro. I dodged wrong."

Larry scowled but just shrugged it off. His only sound was a grunt.

"Did you have any actual fighting experience before the Integration, Jut?" Jonny asked skeptically.

Jut felt himself blush as he shook his head. Brick thumped him playfully on the shoulder. "Nah, Jut's a total newbie." Brick chuckled as Jut felt uneasy.

Jonny and Randy both sighed, covering their faces, appalled. Larry shook his head disapprovingly. Jonny was about to say something but Brick interrupted him.

"But, he took down a Minotaur with one knife blow, saving our entire group on our way to the Safe Zone." Again, Brick smacked Jut playfully, pushing him towards the other two.

Larry cocked an eyebrow speculatively.

Randy said "Whoa" disbelievingly and he looked shocked.

Jonny held his chin thoughtfully. "Really? Then you might have potential. I'll find out before we fight again."

Randy waved his hands eagerly. "Lesson time! How do you activate ritual circles without a Chip?"

Jonny immediately etched a circle around a scorpion corpse, his scrap iron shield easily leaving a gash in the asphalt.

"When you activate a Skill, what do you feel?" Jut asked the group. He wanted to see what they experienced as he wasn't entirely sure of the process.

He looked at both Randy and Jonny as they both pulled two skill orbs out of their inventories.

"I don't like the idea of absorbing something foreign into my body. It has to be a bad idea." Jonny said as he placed the space colored orb and dark blue orb away again.

"I don't know what the colors mean. The lore is locked. What if this green one gives me a plant growth skill?" Randy shrugged. "I'm not a farmer and I want something more useful then that."

Larry stepped closer to Jut, his hand on his chest.

"From here. To here." Larry said, moving his hands to touch his palms. "Moves. Makes hammer hit harder. Ten seconds."

Jut's eyes widen and he nodded, pointing to Larry. "Try to create that same feeling by imagining it as you place a finger on the circle. Also, imagine the Harvest Ritual activating."

Larry looked thoughtful as he squatted by the circle.

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Jonny asked Jut a question as he kept an eye on Larry. "Is it that blue bar stuff?"

Jonny's eyes unfocused then he nodded. "Right. Thanks. That Mana stuff that does...?" He trailed off as the ritual in front of Larry was activated.

Larry picked up some Mana Chips and the stinger that were left behind. Randy cheered.

"Yes. It cost about twenty five percent of my mana to do this once. I don't know how much mana that is, but I am guessing the amount consumed is worth at least one chip's amount of mana." Jut said with a nod. "Great job Larry."

"But, what does that feel like?" Jonny asked.

Larry scowled and repeated his gesture of touching his chest and palms.

"That doesn't explain it. Use your words, Lair." Jonny said, sounding a bit annoyed.

Larry only scowled and repeated the exact gesture and words as before. "Here. To Here. Moves."

Jut smiled, amused by the pair. He stepped in. "I don't know how to describe it very well. It feels like I become less as something moves from my core to my hands. I was able to understand it by activating my Skill, Magical Strikes. It costs mana to activate. So do the rituals. I gave it a shot and it worked."

Jonny nodded again and pulled out the blue orb once more. He then looked very conflicted before putting the orb away again. "I just can't do it." He shook his head, disappointed in himself.

Brick laid a reassuring hand on the big man's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up, bud. The Monsters will do that for you since you don't have a snazzy Skill."

Jonny grunted and stared a Brick. Randy and Jut hid their snickering behind their hands.

"I'll figure it out anyway." Jonny retorted and crouched by the circle, dropping another corpse into the circle and starring at it.

"I'll use this one. Maybe I'll get a space magic skill." Randy said, changing his mind and pulling out the first orb everyone got. It melted into Randy, who immediately began screaming.

Randy rolled on the ground, writhing in agony. Jonny quickly abandoned his ritual and hopped over to Randy, trying to get him to lay still.

"Randy! You'll be OK! Hang on!" Jonny exclaimed. "See... I told y'all they were dangerous."

Jut, Larry, and Brick all scowled at one another but didn't say anything.

Just when Jut was getting uncomfortable and was about to say something, Randy smiled widely and laughed. "Ha ha! Got you, fucker. That shit was painless."

Jonny paled, smacked Randy a bit harder than was merited, and yelled "Asshole," before he went back to his ritual circle.

"Kind of an ass move." Brick said, suppressing a laugh of his own.

Jut and Larry shared an annoyed glance, neither finding it very funny.

"What skill did you get?" Brick asked once he was able to hold a straight face.

Randy's gaze became unfocused before he turned to them once more and explained his new skill, eyes wide in excitement.

"It's called Double Strike. As long as I am using small weapons, each strike I make when I activate it deals two blows. So cool. I should have used this before. It only costs a small amount of mana and has a very small cool down, too, which is awesome. I can use it a lot."

"Nice!" Brick cheered. "All the deeps."

Larry nodded in approval.

Jut gave Larry a thumbs up. "I had to use my second orb to get a combat skill."

Being a spoil sport, Jonny spoke up. "Let's celebrate where it's safe."

Both Brick and Randy booed at Jonny, but the group got to work.

To everyone's surprise, Jonny managed to get the ritual to work without a mana chip despite not having a skill. His scorpion disappeared in the usual manner, leaving loot behind.

Randy was easily able to pick it up after testing his skill out on a corpse. The joy on his face was plain and he almost passed out, trying the process right away.

Jut wondered why they were even given Ritual Lore that taught them about using mana chips instead of just teaching them this method in the first place. His ever present Guide popped up to add unsolicited commentary for the first time since his second near-death experience.

Lore Locked.

However, if I had to guess, I would say it's because more complex rituals will likely become too expensive, mana wise. Even now, some humans may not have enough Mana to activate the Basic Rituals.

Jut thanked Alex with a thought. He realized the possibility when he thought about how Randy became dizzy after two castings. It took Jut four before he was down to a sliver of Mana.

He quickly confirmed his suspicions by looking at Randy's Mana bar in his HUD after making it appear. The man's Mana bar was indeed almost empty.

To Jut's surprise, Randy's mana was refilling much faster than his was, about three times faster. It should only refill at twice the rate if he had half as much mana. Did Randy have higher stat that made the man regain mana faster than he did? He already knew that the Lore on Stats was locked. He couldn't even see what ones existed. He only knew about two of the attributes, which he believed to be different. Body and Mind.

Lore Found: [Attributes].

[Attributes] determine the power and potential an [Ascendant Being] has accumulated. Each [Attribute] determines a different aspect of the Being.

[Body] [Attribute]: How strong a Being is physically is defined by their [Body] [Attribute]. This includes how much they can lift or carry, how long they can move without rest, how fast they can move, how much damage they can take, and how much damage their physical attacks do. A higher [Body] [Attribute] will result in a more athletic body stature.

[Mind] [Attribute]: How strong a being is mentally is defined by their [Mind] [Attribute]. This includes how potent a Being's magical attack is, how well they resist magical damage, how much magic the Being can perform in short periods of time, and how fast they can process information.

Lore Locked: Lore Locked.

Given that information, did Jut have a higher mind stat than Randy? Did that mean Randy was smarter than he was or was it the opposite? Jut had more Mana while Randy regained his Mana faster. He wasn't sure how to process what that meant.

Jut also figured out that there was another attribute he didn't have access to. He didn't stop to think about it further. He just kept harvesting Monster loot.

When they were finished, they found an abandoned building that would be easily defended and took a break. Everyone was effectively out of mana. It was also getting close to lunch time.

The clothing store they holed up in was one large room. A majority of the goods there had been taken and turned over to the Safe Zone staff, so it was pretty empty.

Before Jut could sit, Jonny barked at him.

"Not you, Jut. You need instruction first. Come over here, Recruit." Jonny pointed next to him as he pulled a large club from his inventory.

Jut realized it was identical to the one the Minotaur from the mall carried, only it was a different colored wood.

Jut reluctantly stepped over to Jonny.

When Jonny began showing Jut the proper ways to hold the bat in one hand and then in two, Jut looked at Brick pleadingly. He hadn't signed up for boot camp.

Brick only gave him a shooing gesture and a wicked grin.

After many corrections in his stances, Jonny turned to Jut's swings themselves. He would correct him over and over again until Jut performed each swing correctly. They were different then when someone would aim to hit a fast ball so Jut kept making mistakes.

When Jut began to act annoyed or irritable, Jonny would flick him and Jut would scowl. Despite how inappropriate Jut felt that to be, it did break his concentration long enough for him to focus once more and listen to Jonny.

Jut knew he needed to do something. He had almost died multiple times already because he didn't know how to fight. If this highly trained, ex-military guy thought it would help him not die, Jut would do as instructed.

Before Jut got to eat, Jonny stood there eating and watched Jut swing his bat. He had Jut do three right handed, vertical swings. Then three horizontal ones. Finally, he would do three diagonal swings. Jut had to do this cycle perfectly ten times before he was allowed to rest.

Jut was tired, sweaty, and his arms burned. His arms weren't as bad as he feared they would be. He did have some stamina from his job. It was the rest of him that felt sore and broken. His back, hips, legs, neck, really the rest of him, made him want to lay down and not get back up.

"Good. Do that cycle five times, three times a day for a week. We will move to more complex stuff later. After you rest a bit, we can work on your lousy party dynamics." Jonny said sharply as Jut pushed his food into his mouth while laying out on the hard ground. Jut sighed but only nodded.