After they cleaned up in the river, the group returned to the area inside the moat. Since they were still anticipating an attack, Frank couldn't use up his resources by spamming active skills. He could train his Saber Mastery, but doing so outside of an actual battle felt quite slow. Instead, he decided to conduct some tests in regards to magic skills one could learn. But first, it was time to spend the GP he had accumulated from the two hours of digging.

The gains were quite nice, even if not combat-related. Digging went up by 6, Physical Labor by 4, and Fitness by 1. Combined with the previous level up in Meditation, he had just enough points to finish the Healer grid. As a reward, he got 1 R affinity, 1 Focus, 1 Willpower, and 3 free attribute points, as well as the following notification.

Congratulations on completing the Healer grid. You have been awarded the Healing Touch skill.

As a reward for completing the Healer grid, the following grids have become available: Single Heal, Group heal.

You have learned a skill: Healing Touch, level 1: Even in the bleakest of circumstances, you give hope to your companions. So long as you stand, so will they. Except you need to physically touch them to cast the spell, leaving plenty of time for them to die. This skill restores (15 + 3*level + R affinity) HP to target for (5 + level) R mana. Must physically touch someone to use it, 10 seconds cool down.

Comparatively mild stuff, Frank thought of the description's insult. A healing skill to augment Margaret will bring a huge boost to our survivability. But, what should I focus on next? He caressed his chin as he looked through the options. I should focus on my advantages, which would be Die Hard and Taking the Lead, the latter being harder to obtain, which, hopefully, means its reward is better. Having settled on his future course, Frank put the 3 attribute points into Willpower. A smile broke out on his face as he admired his profile.

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3 (+1)

Quickness: 6 (+3)

Perception: 2 (+1)

Constitution: 1

Vitality: 11

Endurance: 7

Destructive Magic Affinity: 2

Restorative Magic Affinity: 4

Focus: 7

Control: 2

Willpower: 8

HP: 48/48 (62/hour)

Stamina: 40/40 (125/hour)

D Mana: 20/20 (31/hour)

R Mana: 40/40 (61/hour)

Still too low to rely on mana regeneration in battle, but I am slowly getting there. HP is a bit low, especially if I want to train resistances... I should probably boost my Constitution some. D affinity is also lagging a bit. Frank sighed, his idea to go for high regeneration, which would allow him to train more, leading to more GP, more completed grids and attributes, also meant that he would fall behind, for a while. While he felt his theory was sound, there was something to be said about gaining power quickly.

Pushing the doubts out of his mind, he sat down and began to try to cast a certain spell. The reward for completing the Magic grid was a skill called Arcane Bolt – the blue bubbles of energy that he saw during the fight against the gnolls. What Frank wanted to test, was what would happen if he tried to learn the skill, like he learned his Lightning Bolt skill. After getting Amy to demonstrate the spell to him a few times, he had a decent understanding of how it worked.

Frank focused his mind on the image of the spell, as he tried to project it from his mind into reality. As time passed, he felt quite close on succeeding on several occasions, but at the last moment, something would push back against his mind, stopping the spell from manifesting. Finally, after ten minutes of trying, a notification popped up.

The skill you are attempting to learn can only be gained as a Grid reward.

Heh, as expected, though not what I was hoping for, Frank thought as he shook his head and leaned back to relax a little after the mental strain. For his next experiment, he picked up a bit of earth and used it to dirty his pants. Then he focused his mind, imagining a spell that would clean his dirtied clothes.

He didn't get far in his attempt when he heard shouts about an incoming attack. His eyes snapped open and he looked at the nearby forest, but there were no enemies. Turning around, he saw everyone moving toward the side that was facing the mountains, where he could see a group of large creatures slowly emerge from the forest, and begin to shuffle toward them. They were still over a mile away, which gave the humans plenty of time to prepare.

The mages were arranged along the moat, while melee fighters and healers concentrated on the two passes through the moat. Such an arrangement would make it a simple fight, the melee just had to stall the attackers long enough for the mages to nuke them all down. However, the more he thought about it the more uneasy Frank felt. Given how previously the gnolls ambushed them, he just didn't believe this battle would be so simple.

As the monsters got closer, he could see them better – huge, fat, gray-skinned humanoids, at least eight feet tall, with wide shoulders, their arms stretched to their knees. They were armed with large wooden clubs, a good five-six feet in length. About fifty of these monstrosities were shambling toward them.

Then, something clicked in his head and Frank began to run to where the Marshall stood. Disregarding the calls of his group mates, he pushed through the crowd, shoving people out of his way. Luckily, most of the people were standing along the moat, and it didn't take him long to reach his destination.

“Marshall,” he shouted to get the man's attention before continuing, “we got to get everyone out of here. Look at these things, they are like eight feet tall, the moat won't stop them. They can probably leap over it, and even if they can't, they can still attack while standing in it. Not only that, if they get in here, they can also use the moat to keep us bunched up. Look at their clubs, you can't tank a hit from that. In the field, we can use hit and run tactics to exploit how slow they are. But in here, they will just push us against our own moat and then clobber us to death,” Frank explained frantically, trying to be as persuasive as he could.

The Marshall looked at him, then at the approaching monsters, then at the moat they had dug up. His face turned sour and he swore, before shouting loudly.

“Everyone! The moat isn't deep enough to stop them. Move out of this area, fight them in the open field. Don't fight them head-on, use hit and run tactics! Go, go, go!” he shouted while gesticulating wildly.

Seeing that his advice was taken seriously, Frank started to run back to his group before the Marshall even finished. After his return, the group followed the other people out of the moated area, into an open field. There, the humans split up moving to the left and right of the moat facing the attackers. Seeing their prey split up, the trolls followed suit, some twenty-five of them heading into each direction.

“This is going to get chaotic, but try to stay together while retreating. And be mindful of your surroundings, you don't want to retreat into a path of a troll someone else was running away from. Also, if we get more than three to come after us, then just run away from them, let the others kill them while we kite. If it's three or less, then use hit and run tactics,” Frank tried to tell the others as much information as he could.

Young Troll, level 10

The monsters were now close enough, for Frank to see their description. Once in range, they grunted something, seemingly pleased with themselves, raised their massive clubs, and rushed forward. A few spells flew forward, but for the most part, the line of humans turned around and began to run away. The trolls roared in fury and anger, as they pursued the fleeing prey. But the humans were faster and they kept splitting up, causing the trolls to stumble while trying to decide who to chase. Their frustration mounted, as they fell increasingly behind. Finally, one of the trolls had enough, he swung his arm, sending the club flying toward the humans, trying to smash through them like they were bowling pins.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief, as he watched people dodge the massive club that went sailing by. Luckily the trolls waited too long to use such a method. If they did it right away, the results could have been disastrous. As it was, the attack missing caused the trolls to go mad. Roaring in fury they all charged after whatever target had caught their fancy, no longer trying to move as a cohesive unit.

The humans just kept running, getting the monsters to split up even more. Turning to look back, Frank grimaced as he saw four trolls chasing his group. After some fifty yards, one of the four monsters gave up, choosing to chase after someone else. Now with manageable numbers, their group split up once more. Roaring in uncontrolled rage, the trolls chased after Hank, Kevin, and Frank, allowing their remaining three members to position themselves for a counter-attack.

Frank didn't have time to watch, he had an angry monster after him. Its club raised, the troll was ready to smash him into the ground, if only it could get close enough. Running just slow enough to keep the monster's attention, Frank moved over a hundred yards away from the others, before deciding to loop back. Springing back, he watched four members of his group play ping pong with a troll, as Bill and Kevin took turns hitting it in the back from opposite sides, while Margaret and Amy peppered it with spells. Deciding that they had it under control, he gave chase to the monster that was after Hank.

Hank was still running away, apparently wanting to separate the trolls even further. It was probably overkill, still, they didn't know how tough these monsters were, it was better to be safe than sorry. Frank sprinted after the pair, marveling at the speed with which he could move. Not superhuman, but far faster than what a seventy-nine-year-old should be capable of.

Soon, Frank had reached the troll. Gripping the handle with both arms, he stabbed into the massive back, using his momentum and activating Power Attack. For a moment, he thought the saber would snap, the blade flexing dangerously before the tip penetrated through the tough skin, and the whole blade sunk inside. Frank wiggled the handle, trying to cause as much internal damage as he could before taking a step back.

The troll groaned in pain and jerked to face him, only to get hit by three Phantom Strikes in a row. By the time it regained its senses, Frank was already running away. Briefly, the troll considered chasing him, but a burst of pain coming from its side put a stop to that thought.

Choosing to play it safe, Hank yanked the sword out of the troll's side and returned to the group. Having finished with their first target, they were now ready to receive the next one. They pounced on the wounded troll. Bill and Kevin hit it from the sides, while Amy's spells hit it from the front. Bill's axe sliced into the troll's leg, causing it to fall to a knee, Kevin stabbed with his spear, piercing deep into its body. The attacks didn't relent, and the troll was unable to put up much of a fight.

Seeing their success, Frank brought the last troll to them. Seeing its two brethren dead brought some sanity to the creature. Rather than mindlessly charge between Bill and Kevin, it slowed down and took up a defensive posture. But it was too little, too late. With all of their group present, they quickly surrounded it. Once encircled, it was just a matter of feigning attack from one side, then attacking from another. The troll swiped its massive club left and right, but wasn't able to catch anyone. Soon, the wounds to its body began to mount, and after an especially vicious slash of Bill's axe, it collapsed to the ground and was quickly finished.

Scratching his head, Frank thought about the fight just now. He couldn't cut through the tough skin with his slashes, even backed by Power Attack. All they did was leave a red line on the troll's skin. He could pierce through it with a stab, but doing so from the front would leave him defenseless. Good thing their numbers were low. If it was one on one, I'd likely die, as would most people, he thought.

Their pursuers dealt with, the group moved to help deal with the few monsters remaining. Dumbfounded, Frank watched a man tackle a troll from behind – arms wrapped around its waist, he used the momentum to push the troll forward, then wrapped his leg around the troll's, causing it to fall face-first on the ground. The man scrambled to his feet, mounting the troll's back before his fist smashed into the back of its head. Sounds similar to a beating drum filled the air, as he continued to rain punches on the defenseless troll. Some twenty seconds later, the man stood up, victorious. Squinting his eyes, Frank recognized the man, it was the MMA guy he briefly exchanged words with after telling everyone about the skills and how to obtain them.

That looked pretty insane. He could probably win even in a one on one, Frank thought, his mind already musing on his own choices and the need for power in this new, brutal world.

After the trolls were dealt with, the Marshall once again brought everyone inside their would-be base. The Sun was beginning to set, it was important to organize for the night. Apparently, one of the groups sent into the forest had returned and joined the battle. They've brought back a whole bunch of edible things but would have to go back into the forest, with several other teams, to bring back enough wood to have several fires going all night long.

Their group wasn't chosen for this task, giving them a chance to sample the foodstuffs. Strangely enough, none of the items were normal, Earthen plants, instead it was some weird amalgamation. There was a fruit like a peeled orange, except it was red and, apparently, grew on a tree, like apples. Fist-sized nuts, the insides of each resembled a cantaloupe. Small, dark berries that smelled like chocolate. Finally, a watermelon-sized, blood-red fruit.

Frank looked dubiously at these gifts of the forest, but when his stomach growled, he could only shrug. Everyone lined up to receive their food, and when it was his turn, he was handed half of the orange, and the nut, a few of the chocolate berries, and a slice of the blood-red fruit. It wasn't enough to satiate his hunger, but it went a long way to keep his stomach from rumbling.

As they ate, everyone shared their theories of where they were. The strange plants raised a real possibility that they were no longer on Earth, while the first System message made it sound like they were still on Earth, but in some special zone. Slowly, the conversations changed to wondering if these exotic plants grew all over the world now, and what sort of effect it would have on agriculture in general, and the ability of people to feed themselves. With electricity gone, it would be impossible to sustain the population of a large city. This subject naturally brought concerns for their loved ones to mind, and the energy was quickly sapped out of the chatter. With no idea of where exactly they were nor what sort of changes had happened to the rest of the world, talking about those close to them, would only fill people with worry.

After eating and going to the river to clean up, people began to settle in for the night. Chances are, the System would throw a night-time attack at them, but for the time being, they felt safe. Laying on his back, it took Frank a few minutes to remember what he was doing before the attack. Ah right, I was trying to cast a cleaning spell, he thought lazily, as the blue bubble of Mana Shield shimmered around him. Since they were no longer waiting for an imminent attack, he could now spend his resources freely.

Briefly, he considered going over his gains from the fight but decided against it. He certainly didn't have the 50 GP needed for the Taking the Lead grid, and looking at his profile now would only make him tempted to compromise and go for one of the less expensive choices. Getting some extra attributes would help, but... no, he shook his head to clear his mind and sat down. Also, the Sun was setting, there was still time to do some training before packing it in for the night.

After using his stamina on Phantom Strikes and Power Attacks, he tried to cast a cleaning spell. The task proved to be a difficult one. First, the spell had to tell what Frank considered to be 'dirt,' it then had to destroy said dirt without damaging whatever it was attached to. He was still trying to cast it when the teams that had gone out into the forest returned.

Taking a break from his attempts, he watched the teams dump a bunch of firewood in the middle of the area, and begin to set up fires by the three passes through the moat. Then he caught the Marshall's figure nearby, which triggered some of Frank's memories. Might as well go talk to him now, he thought, as he got up and walked after the man.