They limped through the freezing cold rain, leaving a trail of blood in the mud. Each step was agony. Each step aggravated the wound on his back, causing the knife to dig a little deeper into his flesh. Tony stumbled in the thick mud, and Aaron was forced to catch him. His stab wound protested at the sudden movement.

“Don’t be concerned, but I can’t feel my left leg,” Tony said, perfectly calm. Aaron looked at the old man with concern; their destination was still far away, he wouldn’t make it on his own. He gestured to Jess; she understood his meaning. Together, with Jess, he carried the old man. Forward, into the thick mist, they continued.

It may have been his imagination, but the island felt much larger than before. Then again, carrying two hundred pounds on your back could make the shortest of journeys feel long. They endured the torrential rain, freezing winds, and flashes of lightning till they reached their destination.

A small wooden storage shed was situated a hundred feet away from the dock. As Aaron came closer, the shed's poor condition became clear. Its single glass window was cracked, and the paint was peeling off it. Still, it was better than standing out in the rain.

They entered the rundown building, grateful to get out of the elements. Before too much water could get inside, they closed the door. Not that it mattered much, their clothes were already soaked.

Aaron gingerly sat down next to a pile of rope, careful not to bump the knife sticking out of his back into something. The shed was filled with random objects, leaving barely enough room for the three of them to lie down.

Tony moved a bucket of paint then joined him on the floor. “Nice and cozy; it reminds me of an Italian sweatshop.” Blood mixed with water as it pooled beneath him. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the most disgusting thing about the shack. It reeked of a rotten scent, something he had never smelled before.

Jess shivered, and her teeth clattered from the cold. “Really, I didn’t know they had those in Italy.”

“Of course they do. The desire to make money off others misfortune is universal.”

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe there’s something useful in here.” Jess dug through the unorganized mounds of objects. She hissed in pain as something bumped into her burnt arm. She chucked the object to the side and continued searching. Eventually, she found what she was looking for - a small camping stove. She placed it in the center of the room and lit it, warming up the room. “Are you alright?” Jess asked Tony.

“I still have some HP left,” he pronounced the last words strangely as if they were a foreign language. “Once I get some mana back, I’ll patch us up.” He began to cover up his worst wounds with ribbons from his tattered shirt, slowing their bleeding.

A normal person would have died against the Cevrom Rogue, but Tony was tough. With the System enhancing his body, there was no way he would die from something as mundane as blood loss. At least that's what Aaron hoped. He couldn’t do anything either way; he wasn’t a healer.

"Do you want some help with that?" Aaron asked. He wasn't a healer, but the least he could do was offer to help. He didn't enjoy watching his friend bleed out.

"No, I'll be fine. This is nothing." He wrapped a strand of cloth around his leg, covering a wound. His hands froze in place, then he smiled like he was remembering a fond memory. "This reminds me of the time I was shot 22 times in the chest in Mexico. It must have been over 30 years ago. You know, back then, the region was quite the lawless place. It wasn't as developed as it was now. Anyways, the locals didn't react too kindly to me killing one of the leaders of the cartel. They chased me for miles. Long story short, if I can survive getting shot in the chest 22 times, I can survive this."

Aaron smiled; If Tony had enough energy to make up stories, he was confident he would survive. He also smiled for another reason; the old man had cut his story surprisingly short. Normally, they were at least ten minutes long. A short story was a cause for celebration.

"Bullshit, there's no way anyone could survive getting shot in the chest 22 times," Jess said.

Aaron watched the two argue like children. He did his best to ignore what they were saying. His sanity wouldn't be able to handle listening to them for too long. While waiting for them to finish, he thought about how to deal with Jessica.

He hadn't planned on her joining their group, and frankly, she represented a threat to their safety. However, for the moment, he was stuck with her. He couldn't kick her out of the shed and send her into the rain. He imagined she wouldn't react too well to that - that decision would probably spark a fight, something he wanted to avoid while Tony was injured.

It wasn't all bad; she had proved useful while dealing with the imps. He would keep a close eye on her, but he was optimistic about his chances of not waking up with a knife in his back. He paused. He already had a knife in his back. Well, whatever, the point still stood. She seemed like a relatively mentally stable person - at least by the standards of Alcatraz. He could work with that.

She turned to face Aaron, her argument with Tony forgotten. “And you, aren’t you going to pull that knife out of your back. Looking at it is making me sick.”

Aaron strongly considered pulling out the weapon, but he thought better of it. The wound would just get worse if he did that. It was better to wait till Tony was able to properly heal him before he touched it. “You’re missing your eyebrows, don’t complain about how I look.”

She touched her face in shock. “Those rat-faced, no-good, rotten, inbred, bug-eyed, smelly, brainless, ugly, midgets burnt off my eyebrows! We have to get revenge.”

She was right, but for the wrong reasons. Eventually, they would have to fight the alien invaders again. It was unavoidable. The longer they waited, the worse it would get. Which was saying something, considering how disastrous their first real confrontation with them was. Things wouldn’t get easier; more powerful enemies were coming. So, it was in their best interest to defeat the Cevrom and close the portal as quickly as possible.

“Tomorrow, we’re in no condition to fight now.” Tomorrow they would fight for their lives and quite possibly the future of the world. But for now, all they could do was wait and lick their wounds. They sat in silence around the campfire stove, absorbing its heat. No one was in the mood for talking; they were all too busy dealing with their respective injuries.

Aaron opened his [Status] screen to take his mind off the pain.

Name: Aaron Green Class: Mage Lvl 9 (225/1100) Hp: 171/300 Mp: 63/430 Sp: 52/90 Strength: 15 Endurance: 14 Recovery: 13 Defense: 13 Dexterity: 23 Agility: 13 Perception: 20 Mind: 32 Magic: 43 Spirit: 9 Skill Points: 46

He was filled with a sense of pride. He’d come so far in a few short hours. He was now able to do things he previously thought impossible. The increase in capability was addicting. However, there was one aspect of his [Status] screen he was unsatisfied with: he had too many unspent skill points. It was a problem he was ready and willing to resolve.

Still, he was disappointed in himself. If he had spent them earlier, he could have been able to defeat the alien invaders and thus avoided a knife to the back. It simply wasn’t a factor he was used to monitoring. He made a mental note to not let his Skill Points pile up like this in the future. He opened his Skill list.

Class Skills (2/6): Mana Bolt Lvl 31 (Common - Tier 3): Skill Paths: 7 Fires a ball of mana in a straight line out of your hand. Costs 5 mana. Damage based on skill level and stats. Explosive Mark Lvl 3 (Uncommon - Tier 1): Skill Paths: 1 The spark of all creation was an explosion. Place a mark on a flat surface that lasts for ten seconds. At any point during the mark's duration, you may decide to detonate it. Mark duration, damage, and fidelity increase with skill level and stats. Costs 50 mana per use. General Skills (4/4): Stealth Lvl 6 (Common - Tier 1): Skill Paths: 2 Walk through the night undetected. While active, you are harder to notice. Effect is amplified while in shadows. Costs 1 SP per second. Improvised Weapon Master Lvl 22 (Common - Tier 1): Skill Paths: 4 Turn a pencil into a deadly weapon. Gives knowledge on how to make and wield an array of improvised weapons. Meditation Lvl 1 (Common - Tier 1): Skill Paths: 0 First understand yourself, then understand the world. Increased Mana and Spirit regeneration while active. Increased introspection and inner peace while meditating. Survivalism Lvl 2 (Common - Tier 1): Skill Paths: 1 Rain or shine, you’ll still be there. Decreased food and water requirements per level. Increased ability to scavenge food from any source.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that the pending skill list was missing. It made a certain amount of sense; he couldn’t gain any more general skills, there was no point in displaying them anymore. Also, it seemed the amount of skill paths available directly correlated to the skill’s level. He had a couple skills at a high level because of this, he had a lot of different options to choose from. This is going to take a while. He went through the list, from top to bottom, and read through every path before making any decisions.

Speed 1 (0/5): There is no speed limit; why limit yourself. Moderately increases Mana Bolt’s speed. Barrage (0/5): Two is better than one. For a slightly increased mana cost, send out two mana bolts at once. Resistance 1 (0/5): A strong defense is the best offense. Slightly increased resistance against foreign mana. Moderately increased resistance against your own Mana Bolts. Shaping (0/5): One by one, the shackles of early mage-craft fall away around you. You can now freely change the size and shape of Mana Bolt. Mp cost scales with the severity of changes. Overload (0/10): Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. At the cost of an increased charge time, Mana Bolt can now contain more energy. Warning, forcing too much mana into the attack will cause it to prematurely explode. Pathless (0/10): Stray from the provided path. Allows for the manual aiming of attacks. Mana Bolt can now move non-linearly. Power 2 (0/10): Where obstacles once stood, open doors now welcome you. Who’s to tell what you could accomplish with more power? Further, improve the damage of Mana Bolt.

Out of the seven paths Mana Bolt offered him, he was interested in only 3 of them: Power 2, Speed 1, and Shaping. The other paths didn’t seem that useful. Overload just sounded like a worse version of Power 2, and he had no intention of hitting himself with Mana Bolt, so Resistance 1 was out of the question. Furthermore, he was already able to rapidly fire multiple Mana Bolts without barrage.

Out of the paths he had disregarded, Pathless sounded like it would be the most useful. However, the restriction of Mana Bolt only being able to fly in a straight line hadn’t proved to be much of a problem so far. The more that he thought about it, the more useful the path sounded. Curving Mana Bolts would potentially allow him to attack from behind cover. If he had Skill Points left over, he would pick it. He moved on to the next skill.

Multi-Task (0/10): Why do one job well when you can do two poorly? Allows access to other spells while Explosive Mark is being prepared. Spell efficiency and effectiveness are reduced while multitasking.

He squinted; the path explained why he was having trouble using Mana Bolt before. It seemed decent, though he was leery of the reduced spell effectiveness. It was another case where he thought that he may be able to manage the task without the path. He put Multi-Task in the maybe category and moved on.

Passive 1 (0/5): True mastery is not achieved till a skill becomes a habit. With this path, an extremely small portion of Stealth’s abilities will constantly be in effect. Silent Steps (0/10): The unseen blade is the deadliest, but the unheard blade comes in a close second. Greatly reduce the sound that all actions produce while Stealth is active.

After reading over the paths, he was glad he didn’t take the Muffle Sound skill. He placed Silent Steps in the maybe category. Walking around without making noise sounded useful, but its cost put him off. If it cost 5 skill points, he would have strongly considered taking it. As for Passive 1, he wasn’t looking for the extremely small effect the path was offering. Perhaps, once Stealth reached level 100, it could be worthwhile to invest in it.

Bomb Making (0/5): Kaboom! Boost the effectiveness of all explosive devices you make, whether they are physically or magically based. Repair (0/5): Nothing is worse than fighting with a broken weapon. Revert an object to its original state. The mana cost is based on the severity of repairs. Missing Link (0/5): A handle for a sword or a fuse for a bomb. Provides the material to fill in any gaps in your creations. Mana cost based on what is created. Specialty (0/10): Jack of all master of none is a catchy title, but unfortunately, it isn't very effective. Specialization always wins in the end - all that is left is for you to make your choice. *Warning! Branching Path. Complete at your own risk.*

Bomb Making immediately caught his eye. According to its description, it applied to both physical and magical explosions. Which should mean it should boost Explosive Mark’s effectiveness. Anything that could make his most powerful spell even stronger was good in his book. At the low cost of 5 skill points, he would have to be an idiot not to take it.

As for the other paths, they were all in the maybe category. He could see them being useful. If he had leftover skill points he could see himself taking them. Even though he wasn’t taking Specialty, he was intrigued by the mention of a branching path. He had never heard of anything like that before. He asked both Tony and Jess, they both confirmed that they had never heard of anything like that. Just because of its rarity, he was hesitant to take it. Plus, the description sounded a bit ominous.

The next skill on the list was Meditation, but he hadn’t unlocked any paths for that skill yet, so he moved on to Survivalism.

Heat Resistance 1 (0/5): You can’t call yourself a survivor if you can’t handle the heat. Slightly increase resistance to heat.

After being burnt by the Imps’ flames this skill was an immediate yes. He had no desire to get clipped by a fireball ever again, but he knew the odds weren’t in his favor. Sooner or later, those annoying little bastards would light him on fire again. He wanted to be prepared for when that happened.

He scratched his head as he thought over what paths to take. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, especially because he knew his life was hanging in the balance. Selecting the wrong path could lead him to his demise.

Out of nowhere, another earthquake ravaged the land. The walls shook, and the piles of objects vibrated. Jess, Tony, and Aaron had seen this one too many times; they were no longer surprised by the random earthquakes. All the natural disaster garnered from them was a groan of annoyance.

“What the heck, I was just about to fall asleep,” Tony complained. The shaking continued for ten seconds before abruptly stopping.

“Don’t go to sleep, old man. With your injuries, I wouldn’t be surprised if you never woke up.”

Tony stuck out his tongue like a two-year-old then closed his eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

He went back to thinking over what paths to select. However, he was interrupted once again. A droplet of water fell on his head. He looked up just in time to catch a stream of water to the eyeball. “What the fuck.” He scooted away from the cold water pouring into the shack.

He looked up again. The earthquake had broken part of the wooden roof. The planks were cracked and misaligned, allowing water to seep through. He clenched his jaw as another stream of water landed on his head. He bit back a curse. To his side, Jess screeched as cold water fell onto her. Their shelter was no longer safe. If this continued for long, it would flood.

He glared at the roof; at least he knew what path to take now.