Hunter woke up blearily and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. They were still aching from the night’s activities, and the crimson light flooding the room from small windows set high in the wall wasn’t helping with the pain. He groaned and just lay there as he wondered what he did to deserve being flung into a Rift.

It was probably more of a what I didn’t do, he admitted.

Sighing, he pulled up his status sheet to start distributing the attribute points he had earned the night before. He had received twenty points from completing the Archive Acolyte path and another ten points when his bloodline consumed his two points of Faith.

Name: Hunter Gold

Race: Human

Bloodline: The Black Wind

Class: N/A

Level: N/A

Experience: 0/2000

Life: 390 (.6%/Min)

Stamina: 480 (1.45%/Min)

Mana: 470 (1.85%/Min)

Faith: 0 (0.0%/Min)

STR: 25

VIT: 12

DEX: 34

END: 29

INT: 33

WIL: 37

CHA: 12

PER: 30

FTH: 0

Active Skills:

Gale Rush (Lvl 3), Tempest Strike (Lvl 3), Black Tornado (Lvl 3), Eye of the Hurricane (Lvl 1)

Passive Skills:

Black Wind Evasion (Lvl 3), Kata of the Black Wind (Lvl 3), Shadow of the Black Wind (Lvl 3), Progenitor of the Black Wind (Lvl 1), Maintenance (Lvl 2)

Resistances:

Fire (Lvl 6), Shock (Lvl 3), Frost (Lvl 3), Nature (Lvl 3), Pain (Lvl 6)

The biggest issue Hunter noticed was his comparatively low Vitality. Now that he had a way of earning attribute points instead of Faith, he didn’t see the point of letting any one attribute languish. Right now, he was relatively weak, but over time, his bloodline would make up the difference. Hunter would probably never become a proper damage sink because he doubted he would get the skills that more specialized builds would acquire, but at least he wouldn’t be so fragile in combat.

The first thing Hunter did was throw eighteen points into Vitality, and he watched as his health regeneration practically doubled. He also noticed his body becoming lighter in a more spiritual sense than a physical one. He felt refreshed and pure. It was like he had gone on vacation for a month on a tropical island and didn’t eat or drink anything but healthy food and fresh water. It was a subtle change, but one that Hunter appreciated.

After that, he threw five points into Strength, one point into Dexterity, one point in Endurance, two points into Intelligence, and three points into Willpower. When he was done, he had nice, even numbers across the board. He didn’t bother with Charisma because his mask was doing the heavy lifting when it came to influencing others to like him, and he didn’t see the need to make friends with the tieflings in the village.

Points spent and body renewed, Hunter rolled out of bed in his boxers and padded out of the barracks. He felt more comfortable in his skin than before. Every movement felt smooth and practiced. Each footfall or swing of his arm was aided by the wind. Even while walking, he was moving faster than before. Hunter couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like he was walking at the same speed as pre-Rift Hunter did while jogging. It wasn’t even forced, it just felt natural to be moving that quickly.

Fearing that his abilities would paint a target on his back, he consciously slowed down until it neared the average human pace. In battle or while traveling by himself, Hunter wouldn’t hesitate to go all out, but he wanted to keep his new powers under wraps until it was absolutely necessary. His skills and his mask would keep him from garnering too much attention from the beings that could squash him like a bug and cause others to underestimate him. Hunter was fine with being nondescript. He had been misunderstood, mislabeled, and generally underestimated his entire life. He felt a certain satisfaction in weaponizing his previous flaws.

Hunter’s first stop was the crafting area. Sure enough, the wet armor he had left by the forge had been consumed by the Black Wind. Sighing, he left the crafting area and paced into the armory. His mouth dropped open in shock. Everything in the room that had magical ability had been swept away with no proof that it had ever existed in the first place outside of Hunter’s memories.

There were still miscellaneous items of clothing, so Hunter raided the room for his new wardrobe. He threw on a plain gray long-sleeved tunic and trousers combo, a pair of brown leather boots that were slightly too large, and finished it off with another gray cloak. He frowned as he studied his new apparel. He felt more like a Jedi than a warrior. He was missing his equipment keenly.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a weapon in sight. Everything had been consumed by the wind, and Hunter was left helpless. Praying that there would be something in the crafting room that would help, Hunter left the armory and returned to the room with the forge. He looked around in the hopes of finding something suitable, but there wasn’t a real weapon to be found. Despair dogging his steps, Hunter found a thin iron bar of metal that was about as long as he was tall.

The young warrior hefted the bar and twirled it around. It reminded him of being a child pretending to fight enemies with his broom handle sword.

At least it’s pretty heavy, Hunter thought.

He kept spinning the metal bar until it whipped around him faster than the human eye could comprehend. It generated enough force that he would likely stun or disable an enemy, but it wasn’t a deadly weapon. Hunter brought the quasi-quarter staff to an abrupt halt when an idea occurred to him. His new passive would allow him to convert any item into a focus once a day. A staff wasn’t his ideal instrument of carnage, but maybe channeling Black Wind through its length would be an effective way to defeat enemies.

With a thought, Hunter activated his passive skill and grinned as Black Wind whipped from his hand and scoured the metal bar in his hand. The black color of the staff was stripped away to reveal a platinum luster that gleamed in the sunlight. It thickened until it became a heavier, more suitable weapon and lengthened by a few inches until it was slightly longer than Hunter’s height. When the staff was done growing, small, tightly packed lines started to spiral their way up from the bottom of the staff before ending at the top. The grooves were so perfect they looked machined. Hunter was curious whether they were functional or ornamental, so he checked the description of his new weapon.

Spire of the Black Wind (Lvl 20): This unique focus is used to channel the Black Wind. Small grooves along the length of the staff allow the wielder to guide mana-infused wind to perform a variety of attacks. Like all Black Wind, it absorbs all forms of energy to replenish the wielder and upgrade the focus. More abilities will manifest as this weapon evolves.

Hunter whistled under his breath. This weapon didn’t have any piercing abilities, but it would allow him to knock around foes with ease. The warrior was imagining blasts of wind that would help in putting an opponent off-balance while wearing them down. Plus, any item could pierce with enough force thrown behind it. Hunter wanted to level his strength until thrusting with his spire would be just as deadly as a spear. He couldn’t wait to go hunting for imps and try out his new abilities.