The first thing Morgan checked was whether any of the dead Urghat in the room had a dimensional bag similar to the one he was wearing. He struck out on the first two, but the third guy, the one that had mauled his shoulder, had a leather case, longer and narrower than his, with a strap, kind of like an old leather book bag. It was worked with runes that looked similar to the ones on his belt pouch. "Issa, check this out. See what's in there," he said, tossing the leather case over to Issa.

"You don't mind if I bond with this item?" Issa asked, picking it up, still keeping her eyes trained on the closed door that led from the room.

"Hey, you did just as much during this fight as I did. Besides, I already have this bag," Morgan replied as he rolled the urghat over, checking it for other belongings. This Urghat had a hard leather vest held closed by straps and brass-colored buckles. Morgan spent a few seconds undoing the clasps and then rolled the Urghat over, yanking the vest off as the corpse turned. Holding up the vest, he could see it was too large for him, but he could shorten the straps on the sides if he had something to cut them. Morgan took a few minutes rummaging through the other bodies, kicking broken furniture around. He came up with a couple of rusty knives, a few wooden mugs, a barrel of some kind of mystery drink, and various scraps of leather clothing that were either too filthy or too large to wear.

Morgan was using one of the iron knives to shorten the straps on the side of the leather vest when Issa started dumping items out of her new bag. Two more barrels of some kind of oily alcohol, a partially cooked hunk of meat, the furs of several large animals, some more loaves of the hard, dry bread, a club with large iron nails driven through the heavy end of it, and another knife, this one longer and sharper than the ones Morgan had found. Morgan smiled at Issa. "Hey, we should keep most of that stuff, except maybe the mystery meat. Can I use that big knife since my spear broke?"

"Of course," Issa replied, flipping the knife and holding the handle out to Morgan. He stepped over to her and took it. The knife was about eight inches of blade with a leather-wrapped hilt and a round, metal guard. It was heavy, sturdy, and sharp but not fancy at all. Morgan smiled and gestured to the door.

"Shall we?"

"Yes, we should keep going, but I hope we find a good place to rest soon," Issa said, though she gripped her axe and stood, crouched and ready just behind Morgan.

"Yeah, me too; seems like ages ago I woke up with a floating, glowing marble next to my head." Morgan gingerly depressed the iron latch on the door and slowly pulled it open.

*****

***Congratulations! You've achieved level 6 base human. You have 5 attribute points to allocate. You've learned Dagger Mastery - Basic.***

Morgan received this latest message from the System as he retrieved his knife from the back of an Urghat that he'd surprised. It had been looking through an iron grating on a closed, wooden door at the end of another long corridor. Morgan and Issa had been wandering through stone-block passages for what had to be nearly a day. They'd fought several more Urghat, though never more than two at a time, and had to backtrack and try different corridors and doors many times. Morgan indicated that Issa should search the corpse while he stealthily sidled up to the door and looked out through the grating.

The room beyond held another circular stairwell. This one was much larger than the previous one, though, and instead of a central spire with stairs around it, some stairs climbed along the outer circular wall. Morgan guessed that the stairwell was a good fifty feet across. In the center of the room was an iron stand about five feet tall. It held a metal basin at the top of it, and the basin contained a liquid that was burning with a red-orange flame. It lit the stairwell in an amber glow that created dancing shadows. Curled around the iron stand was some kind of creature. The first animal that came to mind when Morgan saw it was a rat. He wasn't sure why because it was about the size of a horse, and it didn't have any fur. Something about its sleeping face reminded him of a rodent, though. Its flesh was pale pink and was folded in many places from its thick neck all the way to its long, whip-like tail. Fangs that had to be six inches long jutted out of its upper and lower jaws, making the wrinkled, pale skin pucker around its lips. It was clear that this was the guardian to the next level.

Morgan held his finger to his lips and gestured for Issa to look through the iron grating in the door. While she studied the creature, he called up his status sheet.

Status

Name:

Morgan Hall

Race:

Human - Base 1

Class:

—

Level:

6

Core:

Vortex Class - Base 1

Energy Affinity:

9.2

Energy:

240/240

Strength:

10

Vitality:

10 (12)

Dexterity:

8

Agility:

13

Intelligence:

20

Will:

10

Points Available:

5

Titles & Feats:

Human Champion

Skills:

System Language Integration - Not Upgradeable, Spear Mastery - Basic, Dagger Mastery - Basic, Stealthy Maneuvers - Basic, Backstab - Basic, Energy Drain - Basic

Once again, Morgan wished he had a better idea of what to do with his attribute points. He felt like his intelligence was starting to outstrip his other attributes by maybe too significant a margin, and he hadn't felt like he was ever running low on Energy yet. He decided that no matter what, it couldn't hurt to have more vitality, especially considering how badly he'd been injured in a couple of encounters already. He decided to put all five of his free points into vitality. He wasn't sure exactly how it helped; he didn't think he felt any different.

Issa put her mouth right next to his ear and, barely louder than a breath, whispered, "I don't know what that creature is."

Morgan whispered back, "Do you think we can sneak past it?"

"Maybe. I don't have any stealth skills, but we can try." Issa shrugged. "You go first," she breathed, backing up a step and holding her axe in two hands.

"Can you cast that haste spell on us?" He whispered.

She shook her head, whispering, "Not and be sneaky."

Morgan nodded, and with the utmost care, millimeter by millimeter, he pushed on the latch to the door and carefully inched it open. He could tell that the door wanted to squeak, but he moved it so slowly that he managed to get it open a full two feet without making a sound. Ever so carefully, he edged, sideways, through the opening and padded on his still-bare feet toward the start of the stairway. He passed within twenty feet of the tail-end of the creature, and he could feel cold sweat spring up along his neck and head. He held his breath and kept moving, along the perimeter of the room, until he reached the first step. He silently crept up a few steps then looked back at the door.

Issa was standing in the shadows, her bright yellow eyes pointed his way, clearly waiting for a signal to move. Morgan motioned with one hand for her to come, and she carefully stepped through the opening. She was almost through when the handle of her axe just barely bumped and slid along the wooden door. In the silence, it sounded like a train crashing to Morgan. Issa froze, and, for a moment, Morgan thought it would be all right, but then he heard the papery, susurrous scraping of dry flesh unwinding. He looked at the center of the room and saw that the long, naked, rat-like creature had uncurled and was standing on its short, thick legs. Its eyes no longer closed, Morgan could see their baleful red glow as it stared at Issa.

Before Morgan could react, Issa started running. He didn't know why she would run forward instead of back through the door, but she did. Simultaneously, the rat creature lunged toward her, screeching in a discordant blast of oversized vocal cords. Issa shrank back, turning the axe toward the monster, but she seemed to freeze as the screech enveloped her. Morgan lept from the fourth step of the staircase, took two lunging steps, and then jumped toward the monster's exposed back. Just as he had with the Urghat earlier, he concentrated on activating his Backstab skill. He felt Energy pulled out of his core, and he knew just how and where to thrust his knife. He grabbed ahold of a loose fold of the creature's skin with his left hand, hauling himself up the side of the beast. With his right hand, he hammered the knife home, next to its spine.

With a shriek, the monster stopped moving forward and rolled over its right shoulder, smashing Morgan into the stone floor and sending him sprawling. His knife was left stuck in the rat beast's back. Having wholly forgotten Issa, the monster was listing sideways, clearly hurt with blood streaming down its back and side, but it focused its enraged glare on Morgan and stalked forward, gnashing its dagger-like teeth. Morgan, limping and aching all over, edged away from the beast, reaching a hand into his pouch and thinking about the spiked club he'd stored earlier. He felt it in his hand, and he held it up, just in time to thrust it between himself and the monster's gnashing teeth as it lunged at him. He might have been able to hold it back, but the teeth were just the first attack. The monster feinted to the side, bringing its thick, six-foot-long tail around in a cracking whiplash that snapped across Morgan's left side and back. Searing pain shot through him as his skin parted, and the force of the blow sent him smashing into the stone steps.

Morgan was struggling to his feet, holding the club with two hands, bracing for another attack, when he heard the creature shriek again, this time in a higher, more strident tone. He blearily looked around and saw half the monster's tail flapping on the ground while the stump sprayed a mist of blood around the room. Issa held her bloody axe before her, feinting at the beast while backing away in a circle around the room. Morgan grimly smiled and hefted the big club onto his shoulder; then, he started climbing the stone steps around the perimeter of the room. By the time he'd gained enough height to look down on the combatants, Issa had been backed around the room in almost a full circle, and she was sporting a few claw marks on her arms and legs. Morgan crouched on the steps above and waited for them to circle beneath him; then, holding the spiked club high above his head, he activated Backstab and jumped.

He wasn't sure the skill would work with a club, but it did have huge spikes on it, and he was performing a sneak attack, so he was hopeful. Morgan zeroed in on the spot he should strike, signaling the skill's success, and he smiled, bringing the club down with all his might as he fell. He landed on the beast's back, much as he would have if he were going to try to ride it, but at the same time, the spiked end of the club crashed into the base of its skull. Two of the long, thick, iron spikes buried themselves, and he heard a cracking noise like a board snapping, and the beast fell to the stone floor like a wet sack of laundry. Morgan rode the beast to the ground, keeping his balance by holding on to the club. He looked around and saw Issa collapse to her knees a few feet in front of the creature's corpse, breathing heavily. He started to climb off the beast's back when the usual golden motes began to coalesce all around it. He was just stepping to the ground when a massive torrent of Energy slammed into him and Issa.

***Congratulations! You've achieved level 7 base human. You have 5 attribute points to allocate.***

He staggered back, swiping the notification away in time to see Issa also transfixed by the torrent of Energy. Soon she stopped glowing, and he could see her wave her hand in front of her face. "I got a full level from that thing!" Morgan said, walking toward her.

"I did as well! It must have been an evolved beast. We're lucky to have lived."

"It didn't seem that bad," Morgan grunted, stretching out his newly healed, slightly bruised side and back. He was dismayed to see the creature's tail had ripped right through his leather vest. "What do you mean evolved?"

"Its race must have been higher than Base 1. Maybe Base 2 or 3." Issa shrugged. Morgan wanted to ask her more about races and evolving, but she exclaimed, "Look! Did you see that chest earlier?"