Duskbound

Velik grimaced at the number the system store gave him, but it had been hours since he'd been bitten and it wasn't getting better. If anything, his leg felt a little bit worse. No matter how many times he told himself he'd give it just one more hour, nothing changed. He had no choice but to flush his stash of decarmas on the antivenom now.

He'd spent the last few hours looking at class skills with an eye for something offensive that would merge into [Spear Warden] while he waited for his body to purge the poison, and even though he hadn't succeeded at restoring his good health, he had found two potential skills to choose from.

The first was called [Phalanx], and it wasn't really meant to be an offensive skill. It formed phantasmal spears to help defend against attacks from multiple angles, primarily by deflecting attacks and driving off enemies looking to close into melee. It relied mostly on his mental stat to control the phantasmal spears, but the exact number he could create at a time was tied to mystic. In the past, he would have avoided it simply because his whole build was optimized to stack physical and use skills that were primarily powered by it.

Now, with his new hobby of hunting champion elites, he was starting to feel the need to expand his repertoire. Unfortunately, the skills he needed didn't synergize so well with his current stat balance, so he suspected he'd be allocating free points elsewhere for the foreseeable future. He was holding off on making a decision primarily because while [Phalanx] seemed like something that he could modify to give him more offense, the other option he'd found scaled with physical instead.

[Savage Rhythm] was a strange skill, suboptimal in that it took more time to ramp up to a point where it was viable than most of his fights lasted. It allowed him to slowly speed up his attacks, with each successive attack building off the previous. The other problem was that he had to continuously attack without relenting in order to maintain the skill. Against a single, powerful opponent, it was the better option, but he had concerns about finding a viable way to even train the skill up.

His initial instinct was to lean into his strengths and add [Savage Rhythm] to his skill list. That strategy had worked well for him so far, and he was confident that he'd be able to merge the skill into [Spear Warden] within a few levels if he could find suitable targets to practice it on. With the mana compass broken, however, he wouldn't be getting any good use out of it in the near future.

[Savage Rhythm] is better for what I'm trying to do right now, but [Phalanx] will be stronger in the end, especially if I can shift it more toward offense. It'll also benefit more from [Spear Warden] up front, and probably be easier to fold into another skill. Okay, I think I've made up my mind here.

He added [Phalanx] as his newest skill, then navigated to the system store and spent two thousand decarmas on an all-purpose antivenom, leaving him with almost nothing left over. While he waited for the antivenom to do its work, he activated [Phalanx].

It was a strange sensation, a floating, ghostly spear that he controlled with his mind. It felt clumsy, nothing like he was used to, but he was able to send it spinning out into a stuttering spin for a moment before it broke apart into wisps of light. With a bit of practice, he was able to set it to doing basic defensive weaves and jabs, nothing complex, but enough to hold an enemy off his flank.

Then he added a second spear, and a third. That was as far as he could stretch his piddling mystic stat, and for the time being, it was more than enough. Controlling one phantasmal spear while he fought was challenging. Making effective use of two was beyond his limits, and even keeping three active at once taxed him too much to actually do anything with them.

But it's good to see how the skill will grow with practice. Maybe when I'm back home, I can try using it to kill some weaker monsters.

He had the supplies to stick to the deep wood for a few more days, but with the mana compass broken, he didn't see much point. His only lead was out of his reach for the time being, and rather than forage for food all the way back, he decided to just leave early. If it wasn't possible to fix the compass, he'd come out with a month's worth of preserved rations and go on a murder spree until he could buy a new one. Maybe I'll get a level or two out of it. I know I'm close to 31, just… not quite there, yet.

The sun rose before Velik left the grove, but with his new skills, he was confident he could still handle the higher-level monsters in the forest. It was a good test, either way, and it only took ten minutes to run into the first one.

With an eager grin, he summoned a phantasmal spear and got to work.

* * *

[You have advanced to level 4. +1 Mental, +1 free point.]

Sildra let out a great sigh of relief as the last of the blade mantises died. Despite only being six inches long, their scythe-like arms were more than capable of leaving long slices or even cutting off fingers. Even though she didn't have to get up close to the monstrous bugs like Gorm, it was still scary fighting a set of sharp blades attached to wings.

"I got the level up," she called to her bodyguard. "We should head back to town before the moon goes down."

Her first skill of her new class was called [Lunar Flare], and it allowed her to harness moonlight and turn it against her enemies. The skill said it wasn't actually fire, but it sure looked like it to her, albeit the same soft white as the moon. Regardless of how the magic worked, the monsters she hit with it were left with charred, ashy-pale flesh.

She quickly dropped her free point into mystic, as she'd done every level. Exhaustion from using the skill was her primary weakness right now, with her limit being far too low for her liking. Half a dozen uses was all she could contribute to a single fight, and then only if she got at least an hour to recover between fights. The monsters weren't always so cooperative though, so Gorm had come along, too.

"I'm glad to hear it," Gorm said. His eyes scoured the battlefield, and with a deft hand, he quickly harvested a trio of mushrooms with pale blue frills under their caps. "I bet I can get at least fifty hesplates for these."

A few weeks ago, that would have seemed like a lot. Now, she was in possession of no less than fifteen decarmas from all the late-night training sessions. It was a pittance when she looked at the price tags attached to the system shop, but in terms of everyday purchases using copper hesplates or silver vitrunes, it was a small fortune. She could even afford a handful of golden fulmites, had there been a single one in any of the frontier towns.

It almost made up for risking her life every single night.

"Hey, so, there was something I needed to talk to you about," Gorm said about half an hour later as they neared the wall surrounding Deshir. "I, uh… my contract with your mom is up. Technically, it was up a few hours ago."

"It is?" Sildra hadn't realized it had been six weeks already. She supposed she'd technically accomplished her goal, but it had been nice having the higher-level bodyguard with her while she trained and gained levels of her own.

"Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you got that last level before I left town, you know?"

"Oh. Would you consider extending the contract? I've got some money now."

Gorm sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, can't. I've got to be out of here in the morning to get to my next job. I already accepted the contract before I left Cravel and it's going to be hard enough getting back in time as it is."

"I see," she said softly. "Then, thank you. I couldn't have become a [Druid] without your help."

"It was my pleasure," he told her. "I've never seen anyone get a new class from a god before. Story to tell my grandkids someday. I wish I could stay longer and see you grow, but…"

"But you have obligations to meet, and you wouldn't be a man of honor if you abandoned them," she finished for him. "I understand."

"Right," he said lamely. "So, yeah, I'm heading out as soon as we get back. Hopefully I find someone with a wagon or a cart going the right way who doesn't mind me catching a ride while I sleep today."

The two approached the gates, which were manned by a pair of night watchmen. Both had high enough mental to see in the dark, or perhaps some sort of skill. Either way, they recognized the duo and nodded to each other. "Good hunting, Sildra?" one of them asked.

"Level 4," she said with a smile.

The other chuckled. "You'll be a right little powerhouse in no time at that rate. Here, let me get the gate open for you."

Once they were inside, Gorm walked with Sildra until she reached her parents' shop. "This is goodbye," he said. "Do me a favor. If you ever see that Black Fang fellow again, tell him I said thanks for saving my life."

"I will," she promised. "And thank you for everything, Gorm. I hope I see you again someday."