"SPLIT BEAKS! WAKE UP, YOU LAZY LUMPS OF GRANITE!"

Richard was jolted awake by the shouts from one of the Dwarves. He jumped up groggily, attempting to put his helmet on, take out his shield, and brandish his sword all at once. The result being that he dropped them all, his helmet bouncing further under the outcropping. The rest of the party rushed past him towards the sound of the Dwarfs voice.

"Useless Human." Krr'rrk growled as he ran past. Richard couldn't even argue with him this time. This was his first real chance to prove that he could be useful to the party and he was making a fool of himself. He grabbed his sword and shield and chased down his helmet. It was still dark, and the moon was only half full, so it took him a few seconds to see a glint coming from a small crevice in the mountain. Richard used Kinetic magic to pull it into his hands and shoved the helmet on his head. Getting the strap tight under his chin, he rushed out into the open moonlight towards the others.

A group of about ten emu-sized birds were assaulting the others. Their bodies were fairly normal bird bodies, somewhat round and covered in thick feathers. But they had long scaled necks that were swinging around, attempting to reach their prey. Their small bald heads had beady eyes set on either side of long beaks that rose vertically in a wedge shape ending in jagged serrations. Richard shuddered to think of those digging into his skin.

The Orcs, Dwarves, and Krr'rrk were each fighting to keep the birds back away from the Elves, who were slinging support spells at the team. The split beaks scaled necks were deflecting the party's attacks and were long enough to keep them from reaching the birds bodies without risking taking a hit by those wicked-looking beaks of theirs. Even the birds heads were well defended, with their beaks jutting up like they were. One of the Orcs roared as a split beak landed an attack ripping open his forearm.

Richard was almost to the group when two more split beaks burst from a small copse of trees and made a beeline for the rear of the group. None of the others had seen them yet. Time seemed to slow as Richard extended his hand, releasing a stream of fire at the split beaks. The one in the lead dodged, but the second one took the full force of the blast. It shrieked in pain as its feathered body burst into flames and thrashed about in a vain attempt to escape the fire. The first split beak hadn't slowed, and Richard was still too far away to stop it. Time was still slow for Richard as the male Elf turned, his attention caught by the shrieks of the dying split beak. Seeing the bird almost on top of him, his eyes widened, and he tried to take a step back but collided with the female Elf, causing them both to start to fall to the ground.

Richard felt a swelling sensation build quickly in his chest and without fully knowing why yelled. "Over here, you ugly son of a bitch!" The split beak was mid-peck at the defenseless Elves but altered his swing to look directly at Richard, giving up the free meal. More swelling sensations filled Richard, this time in his legs, and with an incredible burst of speed, he was on top of the split beak before it had finished standing back up. Using his shield, he bashed the split beak in the head, allowing him to get close enough to thrust his sword into its chest. He wrenched his blade sideways, causing blood to spray out over him and the Elves. The split beaks neck was now more than half severed from its body, and its legs were already collapsing.

Time came crashing back to normal as the split beak fell to the ground, its neck flopping to the side. Richard almost passed out from the sudden rush of adrenaline and nerves that had been downplayed during that whole process. He was also assaulted by a rush of sensations throughout his body. When he had gained a new skill in the past, it was like a tingling sensation in his chest, similar to when carbonation tickled your nose. This was like someone had dropped mentos into diet coke. On top of that, he had the warmth spreading through him that signaled he had gained a level.

He didn't have time to marvel at the sensations too much, though, as one of the Elves shouted something behind him. He turned just in time to see the other split beaks had broken away from their respective fights and had their beady eyes all trained on him. Richard cursed to himself. That swelling in his chest must have been his ability Distracting Presence. Now all the split beaks wanted a piece of him. He managed to knock the first split beaks head aside, similar to the one from before. He was unable to land a hit, though. A second bird landed a strike. Thankfully on his helmeted head, so he didn't get hurt. He wasn't so lucky with the third. Its beak dug into the upper part of his sword arm, tearing a long gash into his flesh.

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Damage taken! 50 HP lost.

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'Wait that's it?' Richard thought in surprise. It stung pretty bad but didn't hurt nearly as much as Richard had been expecting. On top of that, he didn't lose nearly any HP. With the points he had added to Endurance the night before, he had a total of 1500 HP. 'If one attack like this only took 50 HP...' Richard grinned. During training with Grogg, no matter how many times he had landed on his backside, he hadn't taken any actual damage. He hadn't realized how much the fear of taking damage had been holding him back until it was finally gone.

Richard sprang into a flurry of motion, performing the moves Grogg had taught him. With a short sword, instead of the hand and a half sword, Richard found his movements were much more graceful. He was weaving in and out of the split beaks attacks. He still wasn't landing any hits on the birds bodies, but that wasn't his job. The others rushed up behind the split beaks hacking at their exposed flesh.

Richard kept the birds attention on him, spinning to knock this ones head away, stabbing at that ones neck to break its attack. The split beaks didn't slow down even as their numbers dwindled, and Richard took several more hits before the last one died. After the last one fell, Richard felt the warmth of another level overtake his extremities. 'Man, six months to reach level four. Then in one fight, I go up two levels? Doing nothing but training is a sucky way to get stronger.' Not that Richard didn't appreciate Yelxidor and Groggs training. He was well aware that without either, he'd probably be dead long before now.

Breathing heavily, Richard looked around to make sure there were no other split beaks before lowering his guard. The smell of charred flesh and blood filled his nostrils as he realized the rest of the party was looking at him differently than they had before. Not with respect exactly, but he felt like his presence was no longer a joke to them. Everyone except Krr'rrk, of course, who was congratulating the rest of the party for their efforts. Richard didn't expect any congratulations from him and didn't receive any either. Richard didn't care. He had proven he wasn't useless.

They spent some time cleaning up, calming down, and mending wounds. Even though Richard hadn't lost much HP compared to his maximum amount, he had still taken the most damage. The Orc being the only other one to get hit. The female Elf was taking care of the Orc, while the male Elf was seeing to Richard. Richard had tried to tell him he could see to his own wounds, but the Elf had insisted. Leaning over Richard, the Elfs face was one of conflict. Sealing up the final, worst wound on Richards leg, the stupid bird had gotten a critical hit with that one, the Elf seemed to make a decision.

"Thank you." He said softly.

"What for?" Richard asked.

"Saving me, of course." He looked away from Richard, shame filling his eyes. "I've never frozen up like that before. Without your intervention, I'd most likely be dead. Cremia too."

Richard smiled. "That's what party members do. They look out for one another."

The Elf stared at him for a moment. "You're not like the other humans I've met." Finally, he smiled back at Richard, sticking out his hand. "I'm Eriden Elwwayn."

Richard took the Elfs hand and shook it. "Richard Reeds. It's nice to meet you, Eriden."

There were still several hours till first light, so everyone was laying back down for a few more hours of rest. The Orc who didn't get injured was taking the last watch, he was off somewhere, making some noise. Richard settled in, leaning against the side of the mountain with his cloak wrapped loosely around him. He pulled out his Guild Crystal and checked his information.

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New Ability Learned! Slow Motion: Your mind moves at super speeds for a short time, allowing you to perceive time as slower than it actually is. 1-hour cool down.

Advanced to Level 5! 5 stat points are available to spend.

Skill Upgraded! Defender Level 2! You now take 10% less damage when equipped with a shield.

New Ability Learned! Sprinter: Allows you to cover short distances incredibly fast. 1-Hour cool down.

New Skill Learned! Battle Reactions: +2 to Dexterity while in the heat of battle.

New Ability Learned! Shield Bash: Use your shield to deflect enemies, pushing them away from you. Knocks enemies up to 10 feet back. 30-second cool down.

Advanced to Level 6! 5 stat points are available to spend.

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'Ay Chihuahua! That's a lot of upgrades.' Richard thought as he read through all his new abilities. He spent a short time studying his skills, not knowing when he might get a chance to read through them again. As he settled in for a couple more hours of sleep, he could hear the Orc off in the distance grunting.

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It turned out all that noise the Orc was making the night before was him preparing the split beaks and digging a small pit to cook them. As Richard awakened, there were already two fully cooked split beaks resting on a blanket, and there were two more roasting over a fire. Everyone dug in, enjoying a good meal after a hard night. Eriden held polite conversation with Richard and officially introduced him to the other party members. Cremia Miabella was Eridens fellow Elf. The Dwarves were Elrast Brickhide and Rathart Worldbrewer. Elrast had a multitude of small braids and beads in his beard, and Ratharts bright orange beard was wild and unkempt. As it turned out, the Orcs really were twins, named Yak and Tak. The others even included him when passing around seconds and drinks. Between everyone, they went through the first two birds, leaving the other two to get carved up and split for later meals.

As the sky started to brighten, they started along a small trail up the side of the mountain. The trail was narrow enough that everyone had to move single file. Krr'rrk took the lead, followed by one of the Orcs, Rathart, Cremia and Eriden, Elrast, the other twin, and Richard bringing up the rear. The path was gentle at first, and they weren't making very much upward momentum. After about an hour of climbing, the path curved back on itself, and the incline increased to a point where they were all struggling to catch their breath.

The path wound back and forth up the mountain, layers of loose dirt and gravel crunching under their boots. A missed step could cause any of them to slide back down the path. Or Worse. It was a couple of hours after midday when they reached a plateau. It overlooked the forest they had traveled through to get to the mountain. It was here that the path split. One section continuing up the side of the mountain. The other led off through a Ravine. Krr'rrk was looking at a map and cursing to himself.

"No flaming mention on here of how steep that path got. Could have broken our damn necks just climbing up here!"

"That maps close to 200 years old too, Captain." Cremia pointed to something Richard couldn't see on the map. "See, it's an old pilgrimage trail. It probably hasn't seen visitors in over a century." She glanced towards the Ravine with a bit of a hungry look on her face. Krr'rrk grunted in reply and turned to the party.

"Alright, you lot! We should come to another area we can rest at before sundown. We'll reach the cave system the Wyverns are supposed to be in before midday tomorrow." He rolled up the map and slipped it back in his pack. "We'll rest here for ten minutes and then continue up the mountain." Everyone broke out water canteens and leftover split beak meat. Richard also spent some time considering his new stat points.

'Split beaks did an average of fifty HP worth of damage.' He thought to himself. 'There's no way Wyverns aren't going to hit much harder.' He dumped enough stat points into Endurance to bring himself up to 2500 hit points. As he did, he noticed his fatigue fading. All the little aches and weariness from travel just disappeared. 'And that's the increase in stamina. Awesome.' He chewed on a piece of meat while thinking and brought his Dexterity up to an even ten. 'Nothing wrong with being a little harder to hit.' That used up the ten stat points he earned the night before.

Their ten minutes were up before they knew it, and Kr'rrk had them up and marching again. The further up they went, the more the path leveled out. Unfortunately, it also narrowed to a dangerous degree. At certain points, they had to walk sideways up the path due to spots where the path had eroded or simply crumbled. Even the Dwarves were nervous. Richard could hear Elrast mumbling to himself.

"The bloody things couldn't have been nesting under the mountain. No, they had to be near the bloody peak." Elrast was pressed hard up against the side of the mountain. "Dwarves are meant to dig through mountains, not climb them." Yak or Tak, Richard couldn't tell them apart, nodded in agreement. Richard, meanwhile, was too busy trying to keep his footing to reply. The dirt and gravel along the path was treacherous elsewhere, here, it could be lethal.

Krr'rrk disappeared around a bend calling out that the place they were sleeping was up ahead. The party was slowly following behind him, and one by one, they made it around the bend. The Orc twin in front of Richard slipped around and out of sight. For a brief moment, Richard found himself alone on the side of the mountain, looking out over several hundred feet of open air. The sun was low, casting a red haze on the horizon, and a gust of wind rustled the forest below, making the leaves look like waves in a green sea. It was beautiful in a terrifying way.

It was only another hundred feet until the pathway widened out into another open platform. From what Richard could see, it wasn't nearly as large as the place they stopped earlier but should be able to fit them all. Krr'rrk, the other Orc twin, and Rathart were already setting stuff down. Cremia and Eriden were just getting off the path. Elrast and whichever twin was in front of Richard had gained a good lead on him since he had stopped. As Richard shimmied his way along the path, the sound of dirt and gravel grinding under his feet began to get louder and louder.

The last thing Richard heard was Eriden yelling. "Richard, look out!" And then the pathway under his feet was gone. Richard flailed his arms desperately trying to find something to grab as he started sliding down the side of the mountain. His stomach was in his throat as he watched the edge of the small slope rush at him, knowing that this was going to be the way his adventure ended. Richard clenched his eyes closed not wanting to watch the ground rushing up at him. As soon as he closed his eyes he felt himself drop over the edge.