Victor’s new boots pinched his feet around the toes, and he frowned, thinking of the nice new boots and socks he’d gotten to enjoy for all of a few hours. He was tired, dirty, and sore but otherwise felt alright as Lam’s delvers made their way back to the forward camp they’d set up for the miners. Edeya had given him funny looks as they’d started out marching, and Gris had gruffly asked where the hell he’d been, but Victor just shrugged it off and said, “Ran into some assholes, but Captain Lam let me off easy, don’t worry.”

When he’d dug around in the chest, he’d come up with a large vest-like sweater that had originally been rust-colored, so the bloodstains from the previous owner weren’t very noticeable. It was kind of scratchy, but warm, and fit him well enough. After that, he’d stepped into the jacks, into one of the partitioned toilets, and slipped Gorz on under his vest. Having Gorz to mentally “talk” to helped the march go faster, and Victor had learned a thing or two about his attributes.

First of all, Gorz had been enthusiastically in favor of Victor putting points into intelligence, which made Victor feel better; he’d had some doubts after that snap decision. He’d also told Victor that his class awarding him some “unbound” points at every level was quite rare and that he’d get a chance to “refine” his class at level twenty, but it might be best to keep the one he had.

Another thing he learned was that Gorz really did remember just about everything he “observed,” and he assured Victor he’d know it if he got close to the delvers who’d jumped him. Gorz explained that, to him, every Energy user had a sort of signature that made telling them apart very easy. Victor had told Gorz to stay on the lookout because he wanted to find out where those assholes had their camp.

“Victor!” Sergeant Fath called out from the barricade. Victor looked up from his daydreaming and jogged over to him.

“Yeah?”

“Lam wants to take some of the veterans to explore around the latest ruins she found. We’re leaving you with a few others to guard the miners. Shouldn’t be too bad.”

“The miners aren’t even here yet.”

“That’s right. Keep the place tidy while you wait, and don’t let the miners get slaughtered by rats or something. We’ll be gone a while, probably ‘til quitting time.” Victor opened his mouth to object but realized this was one of those moments when the proper response was probably to say something positive.

“Alright, I got it.”

“That a lad. I knew you were up for it.” Fath held out a fist, and Victor bumped it.

“Excellent news, Victor! It seems this low-ranked authoritarian has deemed you worthy of some responsibility.” Gorz piped in with his tinny, mental voice.

“Huh, go figure.”

Lam, Sergeant Fath, and ten of the veterans left through the barricade a few minutes later. Victor was left behind, somehow in charge, with Edeya, Tyge, the rest of the new recruits, and two veterans that, apparently, weren’t worthy of any responsibility. He didn’t know if he should try to give directions or just kind of watch everyone to make sure no one did anything really stupid. He decided that, for now, he’d be one of those hands-off managers and just sort of watch, making sure nothing came over the barricade to surprise them.

While he stood on the low rampart, looking out into the dark tunnel, he “talked” some more with Gorz. “Is there any way to create more spells without altering one of the ones I have?”

“Yes, though it takes an adequate knowledge of spell patterns. I know some patterns, but it would be very hard to describe them to you verbally, and I’m unable to write with ordinary utensils; Reevus had a special slate that I was able to interact with.”

“Damn, what are the odds we could find the rest of his belongings near his corpse?”

“Not good, I’m afraid, though some of his belongings were consumed or carried away by giant vermin as they ate his flesh; we might find some near their nest, should we locate it.”

“Hmm, something to think about, that’s for sure.”

“Just gonna stare into darkness until they come back?” Edeya had come up behind him, and Victor turned to smile at her.

“Sure. That’s where the monsters come from, right?”

“I guess so, but Trilla says guarding miners rarely has any action. She said the big fights always happen when we claim new territory, like when we first came here.”

“Who’s Trilla?”

“That tall Ardeni girl, one of the vets they left back with us.”

“Well, Sergeant Fath didn’t leave her in charge, so she’s not worried about getting her ass chewed out if something goes wrong. I’ll keep an eye on the dark.”

“Wise, Victor!”

“Quiet, dude. You’ll make me say something dumb out loud.”

“Of course, my apologies.” Victor almost chuckled at the contrite tone Gorz had taken.

“Um, thanks for not saying anything when you saw Beal and me behind the barracks yesterday.” Victor looked back at Edeya; her eyes were down, and she was fidgeting nervously.

“What? Nah, none of my business. Don’t even worry about it. I’d be careful, though; I doubt Fath or Lam want people fucking all over the place.”

“Fucking?”

“Yeah, er, having sex.” Edeya’s face got very red at his words, and she stammered out a few attempts to speak, then she shoved Victor against the railing and walked away with a disgusted explosion of breath. “What did I say?” he called, but she didn’t turn.

“I’d say your friend found your choice of words rather crude and insulting.” Victor almost told Gorz he was being too sensitive, then he frowned and shook his head.

“I’m an idiot sometimes.”

“Perhaps so, but nothing some practice won’t fix. Why not apologize to the lass? It seems she is sensitive about her reputation and doesn’t consider her dalliance with young Beal to be a part of a larger pattern of behavior.”

“Well, I will, but I’m still not sure why she got so pissed; just because they were only making out doesn’t mean they weren’t horny for more.”

“Yes, but your implication was crude; be logical.” Victor thought about those words, “be logical,” and had to admit they were effective. If he looked at his words without any emotion, they really were something an asshole would say.

“Alright,” he said aloud, turning from the darkness and looking around for Edeya. He saw her standing on the stone incline that led to the upper chamber. The miners still hadn’t arrived, and the other delvers were spread all over the place doing their own things. He saw red-haired Tyge sitting with another delver playing with some carved bone dice. Tyge had been the first guy he’d met among the delvers, and Victor hadn’t gotten to know him at all. He determined to remedy that as soon as possible. “Tyge!” he called.

“Yeah?” The smallish Ardeni man called back.

“I need you and your friend to come up here and watch the tunnel. I’ll relieve you soon.”

“Um, alright.” Victor watched as Tyge and the other delver picked up their dice and climbed the ramparts.

“You guys know how to use these big bows?”

“The ballistae? Yeah, just crank the string back, put in the bolt, and pull the trigger.”

“Alright, I’ll be back soon.” Victor hopped down and walked over to the ramp where Edeya was sitting. “Hey,” he said as he walked up. She definitely had the whole sulking thing down—back to the wall, arms crossed, frowning and looking anywhere but at him. “Look, I’m sorry. I have a problem with putting my foot in my mouth. I wasn’t trying to say anything about what kind of person you are.”

“Well, it was insulting to say that! Even if I liked Beal like that, it doesn’t mean I’m going to ‘have sex all over the place!’”

“Yeah, I know. Look, I’m stupid, alright? We’ve already talked about how I talk funny, right? Can we just forget I said it; if anything, what I said speaks more about me than you, right?” She finally turned to look at him, meeting his eyes, and then a grin quirked at the corners of her mouth.

“Yeah, it does! It says a lot about you!”

“Right.” Victor wasn’t sure he was making the kind of progress he wanted with her, but it seemed good that she was at least smiling. “We okay? Cause I don’t want you pissed at me when we’re fighting, alright?”

“Alright. Thanks for the apology.”

“Yeah, you’re cool. No worries.” Victor gave her shoulder a little punch. Her smile broadened, and she gave him a return punch.

“Right on, that’s the spirit. Man, where the fuck are those miners?” He looked up the stone slope, seeing no sign of them.

“I don’t know! I was wondering that while I was standing over here feeling mad at you!”

“You think they ran into trouble in one of the upper caverns? Like where we fought the stickmen?”

“Maybe. Do you think we should check on them? Would Captain Lam get upset if we go anywhere?”

“Well, I think my instructions were to stay put…”

“Victor, your superior’s words were specifically, ‘...don’t let the miners get slaughtered by rats or something.’” Gorz piped up in Victor’s mind.

“Hmm, actually, I think our number one duty was to keep the miners alive, not to guard this shithole barricade. Hey, go get that veteran you were talking to; what was her name?”

“Trilla; I’ll get her.” Edeya ran over to where a group of three delvers sat around talking next to the amber-ore vein. A moment later, a tall, thin Ardeni woman stood up and strode over with Edeya in tow.

“You wanted me?” As she drew closer, Victor realized she wasn’t really very tall; Edeya was just short as hell. Her voice had a slight nasal quality, and she wore a perpetual sneer. Victor looked into her bright yellow eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m heading up to the next cave to check on the miners. I need you to guard the barricade with Tyge and that other guy.”

“Who made you boss?”

“You heard Sergeant Fath! He’s in charge!” Edeya snapped from behind Trilla.

“Whatever. Yes, sir, boss!” She sketched a mocking bow and turned to walk over to the barricade. Victor looked at Edeya and shrugged. He brought his fingers to his lips and whistled. When the other delvers looked at him, he motioned them over. They came slowly at first, but then with more urgency as Victor clapped his hands and said, “C’mon, hustle!”

“Listen, I think something’s happened to the miners. We need to head up and check things out. I’m leaving those three,” he gestured to the barricade, “to watch the tunnel; we’re going up. Let’s move!” He tuned out their questions, allowing Edeya to field them, and started climbing the ramp. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he needed to hurry. He reasoned it could be that he’d built up some imaginary emergency, and he’d find nothing, but it felt strange that the miners were taking so much longer than the delvers to get down to the dig site.

He was a much faster climber than the other four delvers, and by the time he climbed the ramp far enough to see out of the chasm into the next cavern, he was a good fifty yards ahead of them. A rumbling cracking cacophony signaled something going on up above, so he gripped his new baton tightly and crouched low as he approached the opening. He could hear the others scrabbling along behind him as he peered over the lip of the cleft into the upper cavern.

There, among the tumbled ruins where the delvers had fought the stickmen, Victor saw the backside of a fighting retreat taking place. The miners were being pushed back through the tunnel leading up to the next cavern by a frenzied, clicking mob of little men that seemed to be made of stone. They didn’t speak or scream or anything else you might expect of stone monsters, but their bodies ground and rumbled as they moved and clacked against the stone of the cavern floor. Conversely, though on the far side of the frenzied battle, Victor heard the miners grunt, scream, and roar as they tried to beat the creatures back with their mining picks.

Victor was planning a charge when he felt a cool hand grip his arm, holding on to his tricep. “Those are stone imps! They’ll slaughter us!” Edeya hissed in his ear. He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Bullshit. They don’t look that tough.”

“Well, they are!” Her eyes were wide and round with fear, and Victor looked at the other three delvers crouching behind her.

“Look, I don’t give a fuck that Lam told us to protect these miners, but I’m not someone who can slink away while some folks are getting jumped by monsters. Fuck that.” Without really thinking about it, Victor stood up straight and cast Inspiring Presence. Once again, he felt the surge of well-being and the brimming potential all around him. He spread his mouth into a wide grin and laughed. “Come on! You want to live like a bug in a hole? Let’s fucking kill these things!” Everything was brighter, everything seemed easier, and he could tell that his delvers felt the same way; they stopped cowering and gripped their batons.

“Let’s do it!” Edeya said firmly.

“Fuck yeah! Hit ‘em in the back while they don’t see us!” Victor turned and charged, not waiting to see who followed. He jumped over the broken landscape, hopping low crumbled walls and sliding around boulders. Before he knew it, the stone imps jostling and pushing toward the retreating miners were right in front of him, and he jumped into the fight, swinging his baton with heavy, whooshing blows that cracked into their rigid bodies, breaking off pieces of hard flesh and shattering little limbs. Victor howled and pushed more Energy into his Inspiring Presence, extending the duration and bolstering the ragged, battle-weary miners. His arms seemed to sing with power, and he started to laugh.

He was aware of his delver companions joining the fray, but his attention was on the dance of combat. Fighting under the influence of Inspiring Presence was a lot different than when he cast Berserk. While berserking, he was aware of his enemies and his need to destroy them, but he could focus on little else. Now, fighting among the stone imps with his delver friends, he was aware of everything; he could see the movements of the imps, the way their stiff joints seemed to follow a rigid movement pattern, and he was mindful of the best way to block them and slip past their slow, clumsy guard to smash their hard little heads. He concentrated on maximizing the efficiency of his movements and had enough cognizance left over to help a fellow delver with a missed parry or stumbled footing.

The miners and other delvers benefited also, and as their tempo of attack increased, and their actions went from harried and fearful to bold and precise, they began to shatter the resistance of the stone imps, who had to fight now on two fronts. Soon they’d reduced their number to just a few, and though Victor’s Inspiring Presence wore off, leaving everyone feeling hungover and sluggish, they managed to pulverize the last of the little creatures with no further loss of life among the delvers or miners. As they all stood around panting over the corpses of the stone imps, a thick carpet of Energy motes started to form over the battlefield and began to stream into them. Victor savored the rush as the Energy poured into him, refreshing his exhausted limbs and wiping away his hung-over haze.

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 15 Spirit Champion. You have gained 7 will, 7 vitality, and have 7 attribute points to allocate. Congratulations! You’ve learned Bludgeon Mastery - Improved.***

“Thank the Ancestors you all came up here!” a grizzled, old Ardeni miner with white and red peppered hair said, walking up to the panting delvers. Victor stood up and reached out to shake his hand.

“Yeah, we figured you all were taking a bit too long to get down, so we came to see what the hold up was. Did you lose any?”

“Aye, a miner and our foreman, but it would’ve been a lot worse. Thanks again.” He turned to gather up the surviving miners, eleven of them, and then they all stood around looking at Victor. Victor looked at his delvers, making sure none were seriously hurt, and then nodded.

“Well, that was a good fight. Good job, everyone. Let’s get down to the ore and get to work.”

“Ahh, shit on that idea! We just had the piss beat out of us!” One of the miners said, stepping forward.

“Who’s in charge of you miners?” Victor asked, frowning at the stocky, pickaxe-wielding Cadwalli.

“As I said, the foreman died,” the older, friendly guy said.

“Alright, well, get this straight; Captain Lam doesn’t give a shit how tired you are. You’ve got work to do, and I do too. Do you think Lam will let me slide if I tell her I sent the miners home because they were tired and scared? Now get the fuck down that ramp and get to work.”

“What about the bodies?”

“We’ll deal with them on the way out. Right now, I need you to hustle down because I’ve got three guys holding down the fort, and they could need our help at any minute!” Victor didn’t know where his sense of authority was coming from or how he was standing up to all these older men and women, but he didn’t care. He was sick of going with the flow, and as long as he was in charge, he was damn well going to do things the way he thought was right. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Yeah, quit arguing and get moving!” Edeya said, moving behind the miners to help shepherd them down. Victor nodded, and the whole group got moving. There was some grumbling, but the miners were generally glad to be alive, so they moved with the delvers down the ramp and to the ore vein and got to work. Victor checked in with the three delvers they’d left, and they reported no action.

“Figures you guys would get to have an easy battle while we sat around twiddling our thumbs,” Trilla groused, but Edeya wasn’t having any of it.

“Easy? Easy? Have you ever fought stone imps! If it weren’t for Victor, the miners would be dead, and we’d be down here hiding, hoping they didn’t come this way after they killed them all.”

“Relax, girl,” Trilla said dismissively.

“Everyone relax,” Victor said, putting a hand on Edeya’s shoulder. “It’s good we fucked up those imps, but let’s stay cool in case more stuff comes our way.” A loud crack interrupted him, and he turned, flinching out of reflex, to see the miners had somehow split off a considerable section of the amber ore vein and were starting to tap off chunks with their picks. “Shit, that startled me. Are those picks enchanted?”

“Of course,” Trilla scoffed, but she turned and stared into the darkness over the ramparts, and Victor took that as a sign that she was willing to let things drop. He turned and checked in with the rest of the delvers, and then he spent some time watching the miners work.

He knew there had to be more to this operation than just slaves running around with picks. No, it was slaves running around with magical picks and with bags that could hold thousands of pounds of ore. “Magic sure makes shit easier,” he muttered.

“Indeed, Victor. Speaking of which, I had an idea you might like to try,” a slightly metallic voice said in his head.

“Oh yeah?” he thought.

“Yes, there’s a spell that all Energy-using children are taught, and it requires no prior knowledge of patterns. It’s a light spell, and, though you don’t have any unattuned Energy, I think it will still work for you, perhaps with an added effect because of your attunement.” Victor walked over to the ramp leading out of the cavern and sat down on a square-topped boulder, keeping the miners and the barricade in his field of view.

“Alright, lay it on me.”

“Well, children who have developed a Core and pathways are often taught to channel some Energy into their palm, using their will to form and compress it into a ball. With pure Energy, this creates a yellow sphere that casts light. If one’s will is strong enough, it can be made to float around the caster.”

“And with my spirit Core? My attuned Energy?”

“I speculate that it will still cast light, though in a different shade, and it might have an emotional impact on those caught in its glare.”

“Alright, let me see here,” Victor turned his mind inward and looked at his Cores, but then he stopped himself, “Hey, I have seven points to spend. Any advice?”

“Will would help with this process, though your will is already quite good for your level. You should weigh that against your immediate survival needs. It seems you’re destined to fight a lot, so perhaps more physical attributes. I’m sorry I’m not more help.” Victor thought about Gorz’s advice, and he thought about how he’d spoken to the delvers and miners up in the other cavern. What had made him stand up so firmly? All the fights for his life? His will? His frustration? His inspiration or rage Energy? It seemed like a lot of factors were working to influence his demeanor. Demeanor? Where’d he pull that one from?

“It seems like mental stats are pretty important for survival too. My most powerful abilities require Energy to cast, and I think they’re helping me use words to influence people.”

“That’s an excellent point; sometimes, the best victory is attained by avoiding the battle.”

“Right,” Victor decided to put four points into intelligence and three more into will. The effects were subtle but, in his mind, undeniable. Then he returned to the scrutiny of his Core. He watched the pulsing, throbbing red light of his rage-attuned Energy, and then he coaxed a thread of it loose and pushed it through his pathways and out into the palm of his hand. It seemed easy to him, and he figured that his high affinity and will were responsible. As the thread of Energy started to dissipate into the air, Victor concentrated on it and pushed it back down, willing it to ball up and press together.

He kept coaxing more Energy out and adding it to the ball in his palm, and then it seemed to ignite with a bright red light, bathing him and the area around him in a pulsing, baleful glare. He felt a surge of heat in his chest, and a growl rumbled up out of his throat.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Enraging Orb - Basic.***

***Enraging Orb - Basic: You create an orb of rage-attuned Energy that will bring forth anger in those who behold its light. Energy cost: 50 Cooldown: minimal.***

The notifications caught Victor’s attention, and he let the orb of red light dissipate, breathing a sigh of relief when it was gone. Suddenly some golden motes coalesced out of the air around him and rushed into him, much like after a battle.

“Oh, nice! I got Energy for creating the spell like when I learned fighting skills.”

“The System rewards innovation with Energy. I’m sure you got some when you made the Inspiring Presence spell, as well; you were just too preoccupied to notice.”

“Well, that’s cool,” he said aloud. Victor looked around, wondering if anyone heard him, but didn’t see anyone paying him any particular attention. One of the miners eating a sandwich nearby gave him an odd look, but he figured that was because of the light he’d just made, not his words. “Probably better chill out with the spell casting for a while,” he thought to Gorz.

“Excellent job on creating that light spell, Victor!”

“Thanks. I want to try it with inspiration Energy later. Hey, is it possible to cast a spell with more than one Energy type?”

“Indeed! That’s how elementalists create meta-elements. I don’t have any information on combining spirit attunements, but I think it should be possible.”

“Alright, add that to my list of things to try out.”

“Noted, Victor!”

Several hours passed with no other incidents, and the miners made good progress on the ore vein. Not long after the miners took their second meal break, Captain Lam and the other delvers returned. Victor walked toward her as she came through the barricade and approached the miners. “Where’s Foreman ap’Thell?”

“He died,” the older, friendly miner said, sitting up from where he’d been taking a break. Captain Lam whirled around, and her eyes zeroed in on Victor.

“What happened?” Her voice was sharp, but she didn’t seem particularly angry. Still, Victor tried to choose his words carefully.

“Well, you’d been gone a while, and the miners were still not here, so I started to get worried. I took some delvers up to the next cavern, and we found the miners under attack by stone imps.” Lam stared at Victor for a moment, and then she turned to the miner.

“This is true?”

“Oh, aye. We’d of lost a lot more if your sergeant here hadn’t come up to the rescue.”

“I’m not a sergeant…” Victor started to say, but Lam cut him off.

“Huh, good initiative, Victor. And none of you died in the fight?”

“Nope, we caught ‘em from behind, and the delvers fought well. The miners made a good showing, too.” Victor shrugged, and Captain Lam studied him for another minute, narrowing her eyes. Then she smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Well, I’m going to authorize some extra contribution points for all of you that rescued the miners!” she announced. “You’ll find them added to your balance at the Contribution Store.” More quietly, she said, “Victor, I’d like a meeting with you when we get back to barracks.”

“Alright,” Victor said, though he couldn’t tell if that was good news or bad. As Lam moved to inspect the mining progress, he thought, “Gorz, you think I’m in trouble?”

“Not necessarily, Victor, though her Energy aura is quite powerful. I’d be surprised if she didn’t sense something about you.”