My immediate reaction was to panic and I quickly attempted to stutter out a denial whilst I stepped back in terror, despite knowing there was no chance to flee someone anywhere close to her level no matter how hard I tried.

“Don’t bother denying it I have been researching and examining the oddities of the system for longer than you have been alive.” Lady Xing said casually “and even if it didn’t the panic is a bit of a giveaway, you really should know better princess.”

“I’m not telling you anything” I said vehemently “Details of our class is one thing that is sacred and should never be revealed.”

“The problem with that statement is you need to be strong enough to defend it.” Lady Xing said slyly “You have some identity skill and therefore if you were stronger when you used it on me you would be ignoring the very statement that you are using.”

And without another word I felt the rogue profile I was using to protect the absorber class hit by a crushing force, instantly driving me to my knees as I tried to hold myself together. By some miracle it hadn’t pierced through my defences and I tried my best to instinctively reinforce them shoving with my mana to try and hold back the dam. Seconds after I felt another blow and then another as Lady Xing continued to batter at my defences whilst I tried to reinforce them. Looking at her I saw steely determination and a flat emotionless expression that chilled me to my core.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?” I asked desperately gritting my teeth against the mental strain of holding what felt like tissue paper together against the hammer that was whatever skill Lady Xing was using against me. As liquid streamed down my face I realised I was crying at the pressure “Please stop this!”

A look of horror seemed to cross her face and the pressure eased, and as it did so I sunk to my knees in relief. I felt a drip coming off my lip and pressing a finger above it came back red. Somehow the desperate mental defense I used had burst the blood vessels in my nose.

“Be very careful about doing that i you n the future” Lady Xing said quietly “you almost killed yourself just then protecting whatever secrets your trying to hold. You probably drained all your mana and possibly some of your health.”

Looking at my notifications I saw that she was right and my man’s had indeed bottomed out along with half my health. However I saw something else there that shocked me.

Congratulations the skill has reached level 2

***

Congratulations the skill has reached Level 1 Uncommon! Read the description for more information.

I gasped in disbelief looking at how much the skill had upgraded, and my first uncommon skill! I was so surprised and looking at my new skill upgrade that I completely missed the bottle thrown at me.

“Oww” I said in shock as the glass vial bounced off my head, completely distracting me from the upgrade. “Are you trying to kill me?

“If I was trying to kill you, as you just saw from my non aggressive skill use on you you would be dead” Lady Xing said in complete seriousness. “You badly need to get stronger and you have limited time to do it.”

“I’m well aware,” I muttered darkly “but whatever you just did helped with one of my skills.”

“Oh is that so?” Lady Xing asked “which one?”

“The one that allows me to change the display…” I trailed off and glared at lady Xing.

“A curious skill, and that is all the explanation I need for the moment, people with such a skill normally have quite a strong class so congratulations!” Lady Xing said, clapping and turning on her heel to walk away.

“Was that a skill?” I asked suspiciously, trying very hard to avoid stomping after her in anger, “and are you going to actually help me or are you just going to drag me around and give me vague suggestions, you have explained nothing!”

“Because I can’t “Lady zing snapped turning around quicker than I could blink, grabbing my shoulders and rooting me in place with a grip stronger than Iron. “I'm toeing the line of making your life more difficult as is! The more I spoon feed you the less you can work out for yourself and therefore the less you can achieve! I raised you, do you think I don't want to help you more!”

I hissed in pain as her grip caused my bones to groan, strained under the pressure. However Lady Xing ignored me and the strain actually increased as she continued to rant. “This path is a path for one! People in teams and groups always learn slower and will never advance as quickly as one thrown into the fire. So you want help, what do you think im doing! Throwing you into situations you will learn and need to survive. Got me!”

With that I screamed as there was a crack as she broke both my collar bones, and before I could react she kicked out at my knee where i felt a horrible popping sound and dropped to the ground gasping in pain.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“You want my help child, this is how you become strong enough to survive. No help, no support, just live. This is how I did it and how all of the strongest have done it. Get home and find a way to heal yourself, I will leave your next task on your bed for tomorrow.” Lady Xing said, turning around and walking away.

“You're going to leave me here, now as it's coming to night in this city!” I asked in shock trying to avoid moving to avoid aggravating any of the aches that I had coming form my shoulders or my knees. “You monster!”

“My darling princess, to survive we all must become monsters.” Lady Xing said, turning and disappearing in a flash of smoke, ignoring my cry of outrage that echoed in her wake.

Struggling to my feet and looking around in horror I watched as the sun setting behind the castle almost on the opposite side of the city from the east gate I stood at. Just then the horror of what Lady Xing had done sunk in. She had left me in Pearlrock, alone at night, and injured. And in a city known throughout the whole plane for its controlled criminal element and impressive nightlife.

*****

Hobbling and wincing I, scrambled up a fence and managed to climb on top of the nearest house, gritting my teeth to hold in the yells and cries of pain. Considering how many alleyways that were narrow enough to jump across and how tight together buildings were if not stacked into townhouses I decided that whilst it may be more painful it was almost certainly the safer way to travel.

Keeping low and moving slowly and carefully to not activate my wounds I activated silent footsteps to keep quiet. I learned quickly that fade was designed for crowds and not when obviously walking along a roof. I kept it active anyway just in case it provided me with any additional benefits. Hobbling, I slowly jumped from rooftop to rooftop aiming back towards the castle as best I could. Scanning the horizon as I tried to plan the path with the least jumping required I saw movement coming from ten blocks over heading in my direction.

Not willing to risk a confrontation or expose myself if at all possible I attempted something risky. Using the chimney on the roof and the shadow it contained as cover I crouched down and cast shadow magic to conceal myself blending into the shadows. Or at least that is what I tried. My poor fumbling around using a skill i had never used before instead just covered the entire roof and a massive area around me in shadows and using my senses skill I was barely able to see out of the shadows, however I definitely noticed the few people around me looking up to the area I was in with surprise.

Panicking as I looked around and saw that the group of at least five people were now coming towards me with significant speed I quickly decided to attempt to go through a crowd that I saw forming earlier a couple streets away. Jumping down I ran as best I could over to the crowd I saw looking behind me as the men jumped off the roof and followed after me. using my fade I ran into the crowd. Deciding to head into the middle to avoid the group as best as possible and trying to hide the tremendous pain I was in I almost missed the crowd ending. Inside the large ring of people that had been made on the street two men were fighting.

I gasped in surprise watching the two men, looking around and trying to fade back into the crowd in case I had been seen, but the two men who were fighting were fighting using skills! I had rarely seen this and definitely not in some public place over what appeared to be an actual grudge. Watching the two men were seemingly low level elemental users one being flame based and the other being earth based. As I watched the rapid display of combat the fire mage using a heated knife and the earth mage using heavy metal gauntlets I began to truly understand what the difference of classers were. Their moves were so fluid and they striked, parrayed dodged and kicked in almost a blur even to my enhanced vision.

Identifying them I saw that they didn't seem to be as high leveled as some however they both clearly were well above my capacity to defend against.

[Spark] lLevel ??

[Soil Manipulator] Level ??

As I watched the fight, still enthralled however still walking my way out of the crowd I saw one of the men making a beeline for me. Identifying him I realised I had a problem.

[Hound] Level ??

Clearly he had some kind of tracking skill considering he was beelining in my direction and the remaining men I could see spreading themselves through the crowd in an attempt to catch me if I tried slipping past. I also saw that one of the men calling out to the fighters. “Wrap this up Sam, we have need of you.”

Within three exchanges the spark was unconscious and bruised lying facedown on the cobbles with the Soil manipulator coming over to speak with the man who had called out for him. Groans of disappointment and jubilation echoed as the crowd slowly started to disperse.

Cursing to myself softly I started to head over to the hound, hoping I could get rid of him and hopefully get away, I didn't know what I had stumbled into but I knew I wanted no part of it.

Slowly I stepped to the side and started looping back towards the man in an attempt to slip through the line, particularly before the earth manipulator joined in.

With some relief I noticed the man was trailing the exact path I had followed and had yet to see me having turned around. Making sure I kept out of his range of sight I waited until he turned slightly. Immediately I took the opportunity to strike out hitting him in the back of the head with the pommel of my dagger. Crying out he fell on the cobbles in his surprise and I took the opportunity to kick him in the head as hard as I possibly could.

“Gotcha” a voice came out from my left and with the warning and my reactions I managed to escape his grasp, tuning in shock to see a man appear as if from thin air to his left. “Benson’s down” he cried out as he tried to grab me again. As best I could I dived into the remaining crowd as all the men started to run towards the voice.

Turning down a side street I heard the pounding of footsteps and a chunk of dirt hit the wall behind me., letting me know that the mage was now on my tail. Sobbing in pain due to running on my injured knee I put on a burst of speed down several tight alleys trying to loose them, still hearing the pounding of footsteps, seeming to spread out down the streets, having lost me in the first few turns. I thanked the upper plains inwardly that the earth mage was not strong enough or smart enough to manipulate the ground or the walls of the alley as I ran past, or had found me after my first few turns, considering he likely had higher stats considering the fight I saw.

Diving around several blind alleys ten minutes later I finally managed to lose my pursuers. In a nicer part of town I slowed down and started to relax hearing no one behind me.

Hours later I managed to get back to the castle, and as I entered my room I collapsed onto my bed tired, and still in tremendous pain but without the will to go any further that night.