The tavern now felt less welcoming than threatening, despite none of the staff or patrons displaying any shift in mannerisms. If what the Storyteller claimed held a shred of truth, I was in mortal peril already.

I quickly pulled up my Status Page, verifying what I suspected.

Skill Points 2

Abilities and Skills

Memory 3

Cleaning 1

Cooking 1

Skill Taker 5

Shapeshift 5

Spells

Fireball

Lightning Bolt

Healing

Evidently, I had two new skills and two free Skill Points, though I was unsure how to apply said points or use said skills. That meant that skills maxed out at five levels, too, a useful piece of knowledge that would be even handier if I knew how quickly skills could be leveled up, and that only if I survived long enough.

My mind began to wander again, as I considered the potential ramifications. If the Storyteller and my suspicions were right, I needed to act quickly and decisively even if I could disguise myself. After all, if she just handed me a panacea to my status as a wanted man, it wouldn't be much of a danger.

With a bit of mental effort, I pulled up my various skill and abilities in more detail, focusing on two in particular:

Skill Taker, Level 5 Legendary Ability. Allows the user to acquire abilities and skills from those in close proximity. Effectiveness is greater when the target has a higher level of the targeted skill, when the user has closer proximity to the target, and when the user and target have a greater affinity.

Shapeshift, Level 5 Legendary Ability. Allows the user to change in form and appearance for a given period of time depending on the user's “Intelligence” and “Agility” traits, as well as the user's mana pool. Usage relies on the user's mana, depleting mana over time unless the user possesses both the “Disguise” skill and the “Phantom Blade” class.

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"That's a lot to take in..." I muttered, mulling over what I had just learned. Evidently, I now had a very keen interest in learning how to acquire both a new skill and a specific class, assuming I could do so.

Setting that aside for the time being, I shifted my focus towards the "Shapeshift" skill, and quickly equipped it after dropping the "Cleaning" skill for the time being, doing the same with the "Skill Taker" and "Cooking" skills, respectively. "Now, how exactly do I use this..."

The door to the tavern slammed open, causing me to jolt upright in my seat. "Everyone, hands in the air! Don't move!" a gruff, deep voice demanded.

Slowly, I turned around to find myself facing an armored knight, with a large sword and a shield bearing the image of a snake. A dozen guards poured into the tavern behind him, each with a long, distinctly sharp and pointy spear.

I was screwed.

I had no weapons, no armor, and no allies. I could run, but they had a definitive aim to stop me from doing just that, if my suspicions were correct.

The other patrons began to stand, slowly raising their arms and hands as requested. The only exception was the bartender, who continued cleaning glasses.

A guard stepped towards me. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to-"

He didn't finish his sentence, as an arrow found its way to his throat. The arrow's point burst through the back of his head as it took him in the eye, blood splattering as the guard fell to his knees and collapsed.

"Seize that archer!" the knight cried out as the guards swarmed into the large tavern. Most of the tavern-goers quickly fled, as a base animalistic terror overcame their fear of the knight's threats. Several were trampled in the ensuing chaos.

Another arrow took a second guard in the neck, followed by yet another strike. I wasn't sure whether to thank my impromptu guardian angel or fear for my own neck. I didn't intend to stick around to ask who to thank, either, as I stood to begin my own escape.

In my haste, I almost didn't notice that the bartender had moved outside of the bar, where she now stood with a crossbow and a grim smile. Notably, the crossbow was pointed not at the guards, but at me. I idly noticed that the crossbow also couldn't have been the source of the arrows fired previously due to the direction not lining up.

I swiftly dived forward under the nearest table, scrambling across the room as a bolt narrowly missed me. The nearest door (or the one which didn't have guards streaming through) was across the tavern floor, past the bar and hopefully opening up to an alleyway from which I could flee without finding yet more guards blocking it.

I crawled and scrambled along the ground underneath the tables, trying to slip through the mass of fleeing patrons, some of whom were running for their own lives while others were scrambling for weapons of their own at this point. Thoughts of escape and survival were the only thing keeping me from screaming at the sheer madness unfolding around me.

As I was just about to make it through the back door, I felt a stab through in my ankle and came crashing down, pain coursing through me even as I quickly attempted to struggle to my feet. As I soon realized, the crossbow had struck its mark. With a loud cry, I stumbled forward, striking the doorway with one hand as I broke out into the chilly alleyway even as screams of horror and a cacophony of conflict came from behind me. A second jolt of pain pushed me forward as another bolt struck my shoulder.

Shambling onward, I barely made it outside before collapsing onto my back, unable to suppress the pain any longer. Everything hurt, and it was already becoming difficult to breathe. The icy air sucked the heat from my lightly-clothed body as I lay on the frost-coated ground. Time seemed to slow down as I listened to the distinct sound of footsteps quickly approaching.