“Elliot, how far behind is the Horde?” Orrin turned and asked the man. He was still trying to make it to his feet. The Canine bites festered and took off a few HP at a time.

That must be how he went down, Orrin thought. A few bites from a Canine and anyone who can’t heal would have to use everything they had to try and make it back for healing before they passed out.

“How di-“ Elliot started but grimaced in pain as his leg slipped out from underneath him. “Never mind. I’ve been running a full two days. They had just made it into the Pass. I’d guess we have another day or two before they get here.”

Daniel put Elliot’s arm over his neck and hefted the man upright. “Orrin, we need to [Teleport] back.”

Orrin watched his mana ticking back up. “I need another minute, max.”

Elliot looked between the three of them as Brandt started cutting tails off the five Canines.

“Proof of kills,” Brandt said to Orrin’s questioning look. “Plus, some ingredient shops will pay a lot for the tails. They can be used to make necrosis-resistance potions.”

As soon as his MP got to 180, Orrin [Teleported] all four of them to the Catanzano house.

“Why back here?” Daniel complained. “We need to get to the Wall and warn them.”

“And tell them that we just popped over for a quick jaunt?” Orrin asked. “I think just telling Silas would be better, don’t you?”

Daniel grunted but didn’t argue. The guards at the front door let them in and one went running for a [Healer] at Brandt’s order.

“Why does he need a [Healer]?” Orrin asked. “Is my healing not enough?”

“I don’t know the exact skills,” Brandt answered as he helped Daniel lower the man on a couch inside the front door. “But something else is needed here. See? The bite and claw marks open back up after a few minutes to weep.”

Orrin saw what he meant. The bite marks that had closed over with his initial healing spell were breaking open like a popped suture. The couch was already covered in blood and pus.

The sound of wheels on the tiled floor alerted Orrin to Silas entering the room behind him.

“What happened?” Orrin could see Silas take in the scene as he put his hand on the man’s head and turned to Brandt.

“Found a runner being attacked by Fetid Canines. He reported more Fetids, Kniferunners, and a Fogbinder, sir. Twenty four to forty-eight hours,” Brandt reported.

Orrin would have added a lot more to the story but quickly realized Brandt was a soldier reporting to his superior officer. Details could come later.

“Sir Bennett, I want you to go straight to Lord Wendeln and alert him of the Fogbinder. The only reports we have so far are of the dogs and spiders.” Silas closed his eyes as he touched his other hand to Elliot’s head. A long second passed and Silas’ eyes opened.

“Tell him I’ve confirmed a Fogbinder. Then go to the Timpe House. She’ll try to resist, but have her evacuate the nearest residents from the western side or this could be a bloodbath. Dismissed.”

Brandt saluted and ran.

“You two can tell me more later,” Silas said. “I’m guessing Brandt sent for a [Healer]?”

“Yes, he did,” Daniel answered.

“My healing doesn’t do more than put a bandage on the wound for a few minutes,” Orrin complained. “I can top his health off if he needs it though.”

“Best to wait,” Silas said as he put his hand over Elliot’s eyes. The man fell back fast asleep.

“What?” Orrin started to ask but just rolled his eyes. “Was that necessary?”

“He’s in pain,” Silas explained. “I simply let him sleep. Now, what were you doing on the wrong side of the Wall with my knight?”

Orrin explained what had happened, telling Silas that Daniel had told him about the potion and not giving the full extent of the potion’s strength.

“So, this was just luck?” Silas asked doubtingly. “You just happen upon a man about to die. A man who has information that will give us enough time to turn back a Horde that most likely would have killed hundreds. And you say it was due to testing a potion?”

Daniel stepped forward a bit. “You can believe us or not, but what Orrin said is the truth. If it weren’t for his [Map], we wouldn’t have even found Elliot.”

Silas sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I believe you. But that’s the problem. You two seem to have a knack for finding your way into things you should avoid at such a low level. Do you even know what a Fogbinder is?”

Orrin had already searched the ‘F’ section of his bestiary and come up empty while he waited for his mana to regenerate in the woods. He shook his head. Daniel did the same.

“The Demon race lives on to the west. The lands dip south, to where the Demon Lords usually lived but also far to the north as well. Demons roam in droves. Some build cities, but most wander alone. They wander with the monsters.” Silas paused.

“They wander with the monsters and become monsters themselves. A Fogbinder uses water or wind magic, we don’t know for sure, as the class is demon-only. They use this magic to control monsters. They can direct them remotely and don’t have to even attack themselves. That one is leading a Horde down the Pass...” Silas trailed off.

“You two and my daughter will take Sir Bennett and Sir DeGuis and get out of town tonight. I’ve already made arrangements with the Tarris family. You will have access to the Aqua Chambers. Brandt knows the way.”

A woman in her forties entered through the door. She bowed to Silas and then began moving her hands over the passed out runner. Silas chatted with her quietly as the man’s wounds closed slowly after every pass.

This was the first [Healer] that Orrin had seen up close. He wondered what other spells she was using.

He used [Identify].

Silas’ head swiveled to Orrin and his eyes flashed. Orrin’s skill failed and Silas gently shook his head.

“Orrin, we should probably get ready,” Daniel said, oblivious to what had just happened.

Orrin didn’t know [Identify] could be completely rebuffed like that. Silas hadn’t shown that ability when Orrin had used it on him. Of course, Silas had also been just hit with a debuff for the first time, so maybe he just hadn’t reacted quickly enough.

“Yeah.” Orrin nodded slightly to Silas and left the room with Daniel.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked as soon as they were out of sight.

“I tried to use [Identify] on her but Silas stopped it somehow,” Orrin responded.

Daniel hit him upside the head. “You did no research on the Hospital?”

“Ow!” Orrin rubbed the back of his head. “What the hell? No, I’ve had more important things to research lately. Why would I care about some healing facility?”

Daniel opened the door to their room and stepped inside. He started throwing all sorts of items on his bed from the drawers nearby. Ropes, a small ax that Orrin recognized from their first days here, and even a rolled up sleeping bag.

“The Hospital has a monopoly on healing,” Daniel explained as he started shoving the items into his old backpack. “You have to work there for a few years before they teach you how to unlock a healing class. Nobody really knows how it works, because [Healer]s are sworn to secrecy.”

“So if they know I can heal, they’d come after me?” Orrin asked, suddenly worried about yet another thing.

“No.” Daniel shoved the sleeping bag into the top of his pack and tried closing the top. “There are other people who occasionally figure out how to heal, but as long as they don’t go trying to compete with the Hospital, they mostly leave them alone. Madi said-“

“You got all this information from Madi?” Orrin interrupted. The look on Daniel’s face shut him up again. “...sorry.”

“Like I was saying,” Daniel continued as he finally got the top closed. “Madi said that rogue healers work mostly as midwives or triage doctors during wars, but have other skills they use most of the time. The last time somebody tried creating a competing Hospital, everyone was found dead and the building was burned to the ground.”

“Fuckkk.” Orrin whistled. “So using [Identify] to figure out their skills would probably be a highly terrible idea.”

Daniel nodded. “Silas probably just saved your life. If that [Healer] had [Awareness], she would have known you tried to read her.”

“What’s [Awareness]?” Orrin began to ask. “Never mind, I can look it up.”

Orrin pulled his store up and searched.

[Awareness]- allows you to know when scrying spells and skills are used on you. If used with [Hide Status], allows you to block most scrying spells and skills to a greater extent. -3 AP

“That reminds me,” Daniel said as he plopped his bag on the ground and sat on his bed. “You can see skills already right? With your [Identify]?”

“Yeah.” Orrin closed the blue box. “Why?”

“Don’t share that with people,” Daniel warned. “Madi said that [Identify] has some unknown power-ups. After a time, some people can read more than a general class type for people, with a health amount for monsters. But it is rare and nobody shares how that gets upgraded.”

“I just could see people’s stats and skills from the beginning though,” Orrin countered. “Why would I get an upgraded...” he trailed off. “I got [Identify] from that first quest I got to save you. Remember?”

Daniel shivered. “Don’t remind me. I guess saving the [Hero] was worth it.”

Orrin finished packing too. He didn’t bring a bag though. He put a sword and a few knives in his [Dimension Hole], along with his original bedroll. He left everything else in his drawers.

“Did you have enough time to look into the dungeon at all?” Orrin asked. Daniel shook his head.

“No, but Brandt has gone in a few times. He said the Aqua Chambers is mostly ice monsters. People turn back because they get too cold. Fire magic barely works in there. He said every time his party had to turn back because they ran out of supplies.”

“I have ten points. I could upgrade my [Dimension Hole] and carry food and water,” Orrin suggested.

Daniel shrugged. “We can ask Brandt. I know the general idea for a dungeon is just working our way further down until we find a core but I’m not sure how long we should plan to be away for. Silas doesn’t think we can really finish this dungeon off, but it will be good practice for the party.”

“So you’ve already given up?” Orrin chided. “What happened to the guy who ran stadiums until he threw up just to prove a point?”

“I did that because Mr. Johnson said I wasn’t in good shape anymore because I played basketball the season before. I had to show him that...” Daniel trailed off. “You’re just trying to rile me up.”

Orrin smiled. “Why would I do that?”

“You want to defeat this dungeon too, don’t you?” Daniel smirked.

“Just imagine the look on Silas’ face when we get back and tell him we destroyed the Aqua Chambers,” Daniel said, changing the tone of his voice to mock Silas when he named the dungeon.

Daniel’s eyes twinkled.

Orrin pulled up his status and selected only his skills and spells with progression.

Utility Warder 9 50/900 XP

AP: 10

Skills:

[Side Steps] Level 3 (5/300)

[Dimension Hole]- upgradeable.

Spells:

[Increase Strength] Level 3 (1,530/10,000)

[Increase Intelligence] Level 3 (1,665/10,000)

[Increase Will] Level 2 (5,000/5,000) !

[Increase Dexterity] Level 2 (5,000/5,000) !

[Teleport] (800/5,000)

[Heal Small Wounds] Level 2 (5,000/5,000) !

[Camouflage] (9,780/10,000)

He also could still buy [Utility Ward] Level 2 for 10 AP but it costs 200 MP to use. [Merge] was too expense right now at 20 AP. He also had the [Camouflage Ward] and [Light Ward] options for 5 AP and 1 AP respectively.

“Hey Daniel,” Orrin called out. Daniel was lying down and reading another book. Actually, it was one Orrin had originally grabbed, Spatial Magics.

“Hmm?” Daniel didn’t put down his book.

“You said the dungeon is all ice magic right?”

“Yep.”

Orrin pulled up the store and searched for ‘Ice.’

Thousands of options scrolled by, the same as normal. Orrin set the filter to show by smallest AP cost.

Ice dagger- summon a dagger of hard ice. Does minimal damage but will not melt in the hottest of fires. Each dagger lasts one hour. 1 MP per dagger. -1 AP Fists of Ice- coat your hands in hard ice. Counts as unarmed combat. Adds strength modifier damage to all attacks. 10 MP for one hour. -1 AP.

Orrin scrolled through all of the different Ice weapon options. Who would ever want an Ice Lance? He thought.

Icebolt- shoots a bolt of ice. Damage scales with Will. 50 foot range. 5 MP per bolt. -1 AP Shaved Ice- creates shaved ice by the gallon. 5 MP per gallon of shaved ice. -1 AP. Ice Defroster- makes natural ice within 10 feet melt into water. 10MP. -1AP.

The options started getting weirder and weirder. Most seemed to be set to specific jobs and not geared towards adventurers at all. The few that he did find were situational at best.

Ice Shield- create layers of ice in front of you to protect from attacks. 20 MP. -1 AP Ice Scream- let out a shout of frozen icicles that pierce your target. 10 MP. -1 AP

Orrin went back and pulled up [Icebolt] and [Ice Dagger].

“Take a look at these,” Orrin said and tossed the blue boxes towards Daniel.

Daniel read and frowned. “Why would you want these? Don’t you already have your [Lightstrike]?”

“I’m testing something,” Orrin responded. “I’m leaning towards Ice Dagger, just because I can throw them as knifes for really cheap.”

“Throwing knives are not a real thing. First, you have to be amazing at throwing them. Second, you have to be able to compensate and hit a moving target. Third, most knives wouldn’t penetrate bone, so the most you’d do is scratch someone...or in your case, yourself.”

Orrin threw a pillow across the room. Daniel didn’t move and the pillow landed by his feet.

“See?”

“Fine, but it could be any type of weapon, not just a dagger. Maybe an ice sword?” Orrin asked.

Daniel put his book down on the nightstand. “What’s the play here? Why do you want to waste an ability point so bad?”

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll feel stupid,” Orrin admitted. “But what if I can unlock an ice ward?”

Daniel gave it a thought, making Orrin feel better that his friend hadn’t dismissed the idea outright.

“That’ll work, I’m sure,” Daniel responded after a minute. “You shouldn’t take anything that you’ll have to aim. No offense but with me, Brandt, and Jude doing up close fighting, I don’t want us to have to worry about you chucking daggers or throwing spears. Why don’t you want to take Icebolt?”

“It just seems so...lame,” Orrin admitted.

“Anything else useful?”

Orrin spent a few minutes reading names off the store list. Although the names appeared, he had to select the name to read a description. Most were pretty easy to guess though. Daniel chuckled at [Ice Scream] when Orrin read it aloud. Orrin hadn’t gotten it the first time around.

“Just take [Ice Sword] or [Icebolt],” Daniel suggested. “It’s not like you are planning on actually using this long term right? Just to unlock an potential ward?”

Orrin nodded.

“It doesn’t really matter too much then does it?”

Orrin selected [Ice Sword] and spent a point. Down to nine ability points.

“You bought the sword one didn’t you?” Daniel smirked.

Orrin stood up and cast the spell. A short sword appeared in his hand. Although it was made of ice, the handle wasn’t slippery or cold. It just felt right in his grip.

“How’d you know?” Orrin asked.

“You really seemed to hate the idea of [Icebolt],” Daniel said and picked his book back up.

A cursor started blinking on his status page. Orrin opened it up.

[Ice Ward]- creates a ward around yourself and your party within 50 feet that protects against Ice Magic for MP maximum. 20 MP. -1 AP.

Orrin hit buy right away and smiled.

“It worked, huh?” Daniel was grinning. “You really think we are going to take down a dungeon that has stood for decades before you even reach level ten?”

Orrin swung his ice sword around the room. It really was weighted better than his sword that he carried around.

“Of course we’re going to defeat the dungeon,” Orrin responded smugly. “This is the Hero’s party after all.

Daniel let out a long groan.