Hunter knifed through the ghorum like death itself. His strategy of ambushing the demons with his overwhelming single-target damage was showing its efficiency. His high attack power combined with mobility meant that he finished off the last ghorum by mid-afternoon. He checked his stats and found that there were changes across the board to his skills.

He earned three levels in Gale Rush as that became his opening move in a battle and a standard two levels in Tempest Strikes, Black Tornado, Eye of the Hurricane, Wind Lance, Black Wind Evasion, Breath of the Black Wind, and Black Wind Augmentation. He only earned one level in those skills that he rarely used, like Soul Bond and Progenitor of the Black Wind. Finally, he earned a whopping four levels in Kata of the Black Wind. Adding the subsidiary skills increased its leveling speed until it was faster than all of his older skills.

The only skills he didn’t level were his Shadow of the Black Wind and Second Wind skills. Although that made sense, he only used Second Wind when he was close to dying, and he moved quickly enough that he didn’t make much use out of Shadow of the Black Wind. When he pulled up his stat sheet, he was proud of his gains.

Name: Hunter Gold

Title(s): Monster Hunter

Race: Human

Bloodline: The Black Wind

Class: N/A

Level: N/A

Experience: 0/2000

Life: 500 (1.80%/Min)

Stamina: 500 (1.75%/Min)

Mana: 490 (2%/Min)

Faith: 0 (0.0%/Min)

STR: 36

VIT: 36

DEX: 35

END: 35

INT: 35

WIL: 40

CHA: 12

PER: 30

FTH: 0/1

Active Skills:

Gale Rush (Lvl 9), Tempest Strike (Lvl 8), Black Tornado (Lvl 6), Eye of the Hurricane (Lvl 9)

Passive Skills:

Black Wind Evasion (Lvl 6), Kata of the Black Wind (Lvl 10), Shadow of the Black Wind (Lvl 4), Progenitor of the Black Wind (Lvl 5), Maintenance (Lvl 3), Black Wind Augmentation (Lvl 8), Breath of the Black Wind (Lvl 5)

Resistances:

Fire (Lvl 7), Shock (Lvl 4), Frost (Lvl 4), Nature (Lvl 4), Pain (Lvl 10)

Hunter started to consider the upgrades he wanted before returning to the Outpost. First, he had earned another point in Faith, so he wanted to consume that and use his free attributes. After looking at his stat sheet, Hunter saw his Charisma was starting to fall way behind his other attributes. It wasn’t a necessary skill, but he imagined that dealings with the Outpost would grow more complicated after completing the second quest. With that in mind, he converted his Faith over to five Charisma points.

The next thing Hunter needed to address were his Paths. He was disappointed to see that only two Paths had been awarded to him during his ghorum theriocide. With only forty-three Path points in the bank, he had limited choices now that his Paths seemed to be more expensive.

Rift Walker (0/100), Greed III (0/50), Mind of Will (0/50), Mana Incarnate (0/100), Kata of the Black Wind (0/25), Pain Resistance I (0/10)

Hunter sighed as he looked at his options. He could pick Kata of the Black Wind and Pain Resistance, but he wouldn’t be able to get anything else for a while. Additionally, all of the exciting Paths cost more than the points he had saved up. If the average cost of Paths went up based on how many Paths Hunter completed, then he wondered if his strategy of completing the low-requirement Paths was sub-optimal.

Without more information, Hunter didn’t want to make a life-or-death decision that could end poorly. He dismissed his Paths and decided to revisit the subject after he turned in his second quest.

Hunter turned toward the Outpost and started making his way to the familiar trail that led to its mouth. Aquila alighted on his shoulder, and despite Hunter’s increases in Strength, he still grunted as the heavy bird landed. He didn’t begrudge the bird a stable perch. It had been flying and fighting most of the day and had little time to rest. Hunter wasn’t sure how flying worked, but he bet it was exhausting for a creature of Aquila’s size.

Besides, Hunter doubted Aquila would want to follow him into the Outpost. The bird had shown contempt, if not an outright hatred, of creatures influenced by demonic power. Hunter had sensed an unwillingness from the bird to even be near him when he had a single point of Infernal Faith. It made Hunter wonder if some animals were predisposed to demonic influence like the bear he had faced or if it was just a natural by-product of being in the Rift. Although, if animals had a predisposition, then it was probably that humans did too. Hunter had to admit that his grandparents were uniquely suited to following the cardinal sin.

These thoughts were running through Hunter’s mind as he arrived at the entrance to the Outpost. He was surprised to see his old ‘friend’ Walt. Instead of hailing him, Hunter walked up to the entrance and nodded in the man’s direction. The blue-skinned tiefling smiled back like a cat sizing up a canary.

“Go on ahead, boy. The mayor and your grandparents are waiting for you. They send word on ahead.”

Hunter’s mouth drew into a grim line. There was something different about Walt that he couldn’t place his finger on. He drew his attention to Walt’s status with Eye of the Hurricane. Since the visage kept the skill active at all times, Hunter had grown adept at ignoring the information until it became relevant. It was amazing what the human mind was willing to do to conserve resources.

Lesser Greed Tiefling: Lvl 20

The skill still didn’t provide any more information beyond the race and level of the person he was looking at, but Hunter hoped that would change once he reached level ten in the skill. The concerning part was Walt’s level. Hunter was confident that when he had passed through the Outpost the first time, there wasn’t a tiefling above level ten. He wasn’t sure how much time it took to double in levels, but he didn’t imagine it was the two or so days that Hunter had been gone. If the Outpost had been here six months, and Walt had only leveled to ten, then what happened in the intervening days?

“Hey, Walt. When did you arrive in the Rift?”

The tiefling shot Hunter a suspicious look, but Hunter’s new Charisma finally seemed to have an effect.

“About six months.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” Hunter answered. “But how is that possible when I’ve only been here about a week?”

The tiefling shifted uncomfortably and used a claw to scratch at the stubble on his face.

“When we were cast away by the Archivist, we went somewhere…else. Fortunately, the Great One saw our value and claimed us as his own. He brought us to the Rift before it fully aligned with Earth. Time moved differently then, and there were costs associated with acquiring our blessed forms.”

Walt’s eyes widened after the words escaped his lips, and his face settled into a scowl.

“Get inside, boy, and stop asking stupid questions.”

Unfortunately, Walt’s brief lapse created more questions than they answered. It was news to Hunter that the tieflings had met the Archivist. It sounded like there was a sorting mechanism of some kind that the Heavenly Host used. People like Hunter’s grandparents had clearly been cast away, while Hunter had fallen through the cracks. Not good enough to be a part of the Host, but also not attractive enough to be swept up by the Horde. The knowledge annoyed Hunter. Once again, he hadn’t picked a side. He had thought it was his own decisions that led him to this point, but there was a larger game going on that he wasn’t aware of.

The warrior decided not to dwell on the issue. With a thought, he sent imagery over to Aquila and asked it to fly over the Outpost and keep watch. The instructions felt seamless as the bird lifted off from Hunter’s shoulder and rapidly ascended into the air. When the eagle was just a small silhouette in the sky, Hunter entered the Outpost.