“Quickstep!” The brunette woman with an eyepatch yelled.

She was wearing a long white coat, but in her hands was a large grey one-handed war mallet.

As she sounded the command mid-swing, her body was pushed unnaturally three meters away. The woman struck successfully, but only the gravel road. Unfortunately, the target only bobbed their head from side to side with disapproval.

A bearded man in a simple teal long-sleeved shirt dodged the strike with ease. He reached into the socket on the weapon’s base and pulled it out in quick succession.

“Dad!” She cried out.

“What purpose does the skill that counteracts a weakness serve when your movements are as predictable as without it?”

Putting the orb inside his sword, the man uses it immediately. The newly raised mallet ends up striking nothing once again.

Getting a better grip, the woman used the range advantage to keep pressing onto her opponent, pushing the blunt weapon as forward as she could.

“Against a different opponent, it would have worked,” she defended herself.

“But I am your opponent right now.”

The man ducked under an unruly swing.

“Quickstep.”

Pushed all the way behind his daughter, he put his blade against her neck.

“And I won.”

“Ughhh, I forfeit…”

“Good sport.”

The bearded man smiled as the two returned to their regular bodies.

“These duels always end the same way. Not even interesting anymore.”

The crowd of spectators began dispersing.

“Fox, wait.”

The male duelist walked up to the yawning viewer ready to turn away.

“I need to talk to you about something,” he said.

“This can wait, go cheer up your daughter. She’s on the verge of tears, man.”

“That’s actually what I needed to talk with you about.”

“Oh well.”

Fox theatrically rolled his eyes.

He tapped the young woman’s shoulder as the two walked past her.

“You did well. Some real power in those attacks.”

“Thanks…”

The two walked inside a small dusty building.

“Are you not going to offer me tea?” The bearded man cracked a joke while sitting on his favorite armchair.

“We both know there’s no tea or food in this household, elder Sarge.”

“Be it, be it. That’s why I’ve brought my own.”

The man smiled. Reaching for a box inside his sleeve.

“Recourseful. If you are gifting your precious tea, it must mean there is something important to discuss.”

“Of course, of course, but first tell me how was the Brockur’s dungeon? He didn’t spend much time on it this time.”

“It had some puzzles and a troll at the end.”

“Haha, it was themed around that fairy tale?”

“Didn’t have much of what I was looking for, I left the gold and gems, but that another guy was also there. Might not be anything worthwhile left by the time you guys get there.”

Fox filled a small kettle with water from a wooden bucket and placed it on the spark rod’s tip.

The rods are small metal bars with a round skill notch that doubles as a handle. They are mass-produced for all the utility skills one may use. In exchange for not taking up an attunement slot, the skills you insert inside them can’t be taken out. What’s even worse is that the rods strain the skill orb until it eventually breaks. Some say it's planned obsolescence, but if that was the case, Fox was fine with it. Trirod and The Skill Emporium are what made the currency stable and meaningful within the kingdom and outside its bounds. As one of The Skill Emporium’s suppliers, he would like it if people appreciated their work more rather than complained.

“That boy from yesterday? I knew he wanted to go there. When will these kids realize Brockur’s dungeons aren’t so easy? And that’s not even mentioning the password requirement.”

“No, he would have cleared it just fine. He knew the password as well.”

The kettle whistled and Fox placed two cups on the table.

“What?! Was the chest at the end opened? By that scrawny guy? Is he a new rising star or something”

“Might be. He’s an Ivaldi, Brochur’s relative or something.”

“What?!?!? That would explain some things. You reckon he’s his secret son?”

“Elder Sarge, I don’t care.”

“You’re such a difficult person to talk with.”

The man took a sip of the drink after placing solid three and a half spoonfuls of sugar inside the warm liquid. The flavor from the blend didn’t take over fully yet, and the water was stale, but it didn’t stop Sarge from enjoying it.

“I’m not going to return once I leave today in quite some time.”

“Yes, everyone realized that once the news about the tournament spread. Will you stay there for a bit after before getting back?”

“No.”

Fox downed all the tea in one sitting.

“I don’t plan on returning at all. Not unless I’m forced to.”

Sarge coughed on his drink.

“I see. We will all miss you, you know. Especially the kids...”

“The kids will find new heroes to admire.”

“The village just keeps shrinking.”

The man propped his face with his palm and sighed.

“And now…”

He looked at Fox standing nearby.

“That rascal, Nora. She also wants to go.”

“She’s a grown woman now, she can decide where to go on her own.”

“She wasn’t a month ago. You’ve seen her duel, she is so arrogant.”

“Will get a few bumps on her head and come back; what’s the big deal?”

“Nora is inspired by your tales, she wants to slay monsters right now and right here. It’s fine when it’s goblins or orcs, they duel, but she’d want to go bigger. If I let her leave she’ll get herself killed.”

Elder Sarge sighed.

Fox shrugged.

“I wanted to ask-”

“I won’t marry her. I already have the love of my life.”

“Really now? You think this joke is less creepy now that she’s eighteen?”

The man’s frown is a good indicator of how stressed he is about the situation.

“You want me to mentor her, but I’ve already said no. What else do you expect me to say?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Not mentor, just… I don’t know, let her join you on your way to Jedom, teach a few tricks.”

“That’s called being a ment-”

“Fox, please.”

“Fine. She can tag along, but I won’t be teaching her squat. The life is the best teacher.”

“That’s fine, as long as you’ll keep Nora from any danger. I want her to become the new elder once she gets back. I’m getting quite rusty…”

“Why do I always end up agreeing…” Fox wondered.

After the village elder left never finishing his drink, the swordsman took out his precious weapon and looked at the black glass orb encrusted in its pommel. It wasn’t really black, rather, inside it, like mist, black cloudy powder covered the orb’s true innards.

“The only mission I care about is the one given by Sayra. I promise I will make you proud, my love.”

***

“Alright, here are the ground rules. Number one, don’t be annoying.”

Fox turned around and began walking down the road.

“Pfft.”

Nora giggled.

The girl adorned a small black overcoat with a hood dangling at its back. Underneath was a practical washed-up but spacious red shirt with clearly torn-off sleeves. Her baggy yellowish beige shorts were too short to be comfortable, but that was probably offset by the huge brown boots that almost reached her knees. On them and the ankles were black protectors, the girl’s father insisted.

“It’s crazy that after years of asking to go further than the local forest, all I get is a trip to the city next door with a weird uncle.” The girl looked around.

“It’s crazy how it took you less than a minute to break all the rules.”

Swordsman adjusted the bags he was carrying.

“Listen, Uncle Fox-”

She tried to keep up the man’s pace with her satchel.

“Just Fox isn’t as weird, you’ve grown enough.”

“Alright, Fox, I’m not going to listen to anything you will try to teach me. This is my adventure, and I want to challenge myself, okay?”

“Oh no. How horrible,” he answered sarcastically.

“Wait. Jedom is this way!”

Fox turned as soon as the village got out of view.

“I’m aware. Your trip could be longer than you think.”

Fox winked.

“I thought-”

“I still need to get stronger. Someone reminded me recently that I still have quite a lot of room to grow.”

***

They traveled south for about three hours while sharing stories that bordered between boring and mildly interesting. The plains that surrounded the village had a few huts here and there, where loners lived and worked. Nothing exciting happened yet, just the usual flora consisting of horned mantalizards prowling around, magmahurler cobras, winged beaver hives, and zorgarfls. The oddest of all was probably the horse brought from the deep south feasting on tall grass. It had a lot of vitality and carrying capacity, the perfect workforce.

Slightly hungry, both voyagers agreed that it was time for dinner.

“We are approaching the gates of Hedean.”

“I heard about those, are they somewhere on the mountain range?”

“In between.” Fox took a bite out of a roasted zorgafl scronglung, it was fine to eat if you avoid the poison-tipped gills and argunk. Those were usually cut off, just like the fins, horns, and multi-eyes. Zorgafls smell like a dirt-covered apple pie if they haven’t eaten in days, but, believe it or not, they taste just like chicken either way. Only the pseudo-tail had a flavor similar to a salted apple.

“They must be massive then, how do we pass that?”

“On top of that mountain is a person who raises them, but here’s a problem: a famous bandit group uses that mountain as their base of operations. It’s safer for someone to stay here and look after-”

“Okay, I’ll go up there.” Nora mimicked walking with exaggeration, a grin of excitement shined on her face.

Fox smirked.

“‘Kay. Go ahead.”

“But it’s my adve- Huh? You’re fine with that.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll take a nap meanwhile”

Fox lay on the grass and covered his eyes with a red handkerchief.

“Now I feel like I got duped. Aren’t you supposed to look after me?”

“Look, I trust in you. You can do this.”

Fox yawned.

“That’s your encouraging speech?”

“Okay.”

The swordsman sighed and reached inside his pouch.

“Put this skill in your hammer and let me use it. It's a gift.”

He gave an orb to the girl.

She followed the instructions.

“Second eye.”

Fox pointed the weapon at one of the nearby rocks.

The object sprouted two small arms and legs, an eye, and a mouth that looked drawn over.

“One, two.”

As Fox said the words, the rock double repeated them in a more muffled voice.

“What is that? Second eye?”

“It’s a scout, this way I can tag along to provide advice. Just don’t get it far from the hammer. You can make the thing hold it, actually.”

The stone kept repeating the words causing an echo.

“Your advice is useless though.”

“Sure, let me undo the skill.”

“No, no, no. It’s fine, thanks.”

“Don’t worry, Nora. All will be alright.”

“Uhum… Unc… Fox, why is it named “Second eye”? Shouldn’t it be the third eye or something like that?”

“Firstly, because it’s a skill you get from cyclopian slingers.”

“Oh…”

“Secondly, this is thematic because...”

He pointed at the girl’s eyepatch.

“Very funny, let’s laugh at the most traumatic event in my life. You go, gramps.”

The girl turned around, unable to hide a smirk on her face.

She began her hike.

***

“So, who are these bandits anyway?”

Nora lodged her hammer into the ledge.

“They used to be a bigger deal. This area was covered by three large gangs, one of them tried to take over your village, member?” Mini-fox answered.

“Your gang…”

She used the weapon to get up.

“After my team got dealt with, the other two started squabbling over the territory. One leader killed the other, and the groups merged, but, in the in-fightings, most members went rogue. Some became standalone.”

The skill construct held onto the hammer lowered to him.

“So they aren’t that dangerous?” Nora asked while pulling the living boulder up to her.

“Never said that.”

“Noted. Let’s be careful.”

She crouched, throwing looks all around from behind the cover.

“You look ridiculous right now, you know that?” The boulder waddled by.

“What are you even for…” She asked herself.

The trail had unexpected slopes, but otherwise, it was fairly straightforward. Sometimes, walls of rock surrounded the path and disappeared just slightly further; it was difficult to memorize a single part of the road as many segments of it looked alike. Odd craters and holes here and there threw Nora off. She constantly suspected a trap only to see mini-Fox walk right by them.

“Ok. To the left there is a small cave, we better avoid th… And she’s already going there.”

“I’ll just take a peak. Maybe they have something cool in there.”

“Cool, huh… I didn’t even mention it was the hideout.”

“So it was!”

Nora giggled as she walked down the mossy side passage.

“Just wait-”

Mini-Fox stumbled and rolled down.

“Hide,” he said, aiming to pretend to be just another rock before realizing something.

“Here?” Nora looked into the small hole in the ground as she jumped down the slope.

“There’s no lookout…” Skill construct muttered.

“Should we investigate?”

“No! We don’t have the time-”

The girl kicked the living rock inside and jumped after him. Sliding off the wall, they made it into the entrance to the hideout.

“Seeing this place must be quite nostalgic, no?” She asked the frowning stone.

“Let’s just get over with it.”

The duo walked down the tunnel corridor as the sounds of combat only got louder.

“This door is supposed to open only if you say a password…”

The large stone pathway had a corroded gap in it.BNora glimpsed inside. Her skin crawled.

On the floor, drained husks of men laid in a row by the feet of the woman in long red robes. She was shriveled and old, wrinkles covered the hand with which the creature strangled the last remaining fighter. The man was getting visibly older in seconds. Soon he could not hold his blade. The woman turned to the girl, her neck and the bottom of her face were covered in purple cracks that glowed with a weird unnatural light.

“It’s a skill witch,” the girl realized with horror as her breath slowed.

Letting go of the bandit, the robed woman pointed at Nora with her finger. Oddly enough, the witch’s hand was smoother than a few moments before.

A dagger pierced her chest.

“Rupture,” the drained fighter whispered. He has not given up yet. Determined to avenge his-

Lightning fast, the woman grabbed the malnourished face and began bashing it against the hard rock floor of the hideout. The hole cut through her chest seemingly didn’t bother the creature.

Again and again, she was thorough, with each strike more and more blood spilled across the room. The fighter dropped their weapon in a stupor, it stayed inside the witch’s chest. After twenty hits or so, the bandit finally fell to the floor.

Breathing heavily, the robed woman turned but the girl was nowhere to be seen.

“Ka-blam!”

The creature bounced off the floor from the impact of the war maul’s blow.

“Take that you hag!”

Nora smiled as she readied a finishing attack.

*Thud*