The rest of the day continued without incident. Artiv and Skerry returned once again at the end, reporting nothing unusual, both to Riza’s relief and worry. She didn’t even know what she wanted, except that tranquility was a lack of information and that worried her.

Lefie had dug a decent way into the blockage and Jakks subsequently solidified the tunnel walls so they’d be sufficiently stable.

For the second time in all her life, Riza would have to sleep underground.

Once again, the two soldiers volunteered to take watch during the night, on lookout for suspicious activity, while the rest of them slept. She was not going to reject the opportunity.

Sleep took a while to take hold of Riza, tossing and turning on the cold, hard earthen floor, curled up in her cloak as her worries and stresses threaten to deprive her so cruelly of what she desperately wanted.

Slowly and steadily, slumber succeeded, her mind drifting to that shadowy abyss where all dreams resided, detached from the woes of reality.

A loud shout. A cacophony of screams. The clanging of metal. Riza was abruptly woken by the din, sitting up and eyes suddenly wide open as she stared at the sight in front of her.

A giant demon, taking up nearly all the space of the open tunnel, was in front of her, taking a massive swipe at Artiv while Skerry laid bloodied on the floor. Artiv was already bloodied himself, spear in hand as he dodged the swipes and claws of the large, bear-like demon, thrusting tactically.

It was ape-like, with backwards-jointed legs and humongous, disproportionate forearms that could snap steel like a twig. It’s pure white skin was pulled taut over the clearly defined muscles, representing a physical form outside the reach of humanity.

Riza had no idea how long they’d be fighting, how much she had missed. Too long. Her mind was alight with activity, her esoteric senses on fire as they told her there was far more to worry about than just a single, large demon.

The sight of Skerry’s mangled body almost made her take the [Heal] skill at that moment to bring him back up for the fight but she knew it wasn’t wise to spend a skill point under such duress. She wasn’t thinking clearly.

The signals grew stronger, coming closer. There were numerous, splitting apart in her mind as their visual representatives gradually made themselves known.

Numerous demons, small and agile, scrambling down the tunnel like a pack of mad dogs.

Hastily, she roused both Jakks and Lefie, already half awake by the noise, preparing for the coming flood.

Name Riza Level 12 Health 100/100 Stamina 78/100 Essence

1344/1344 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (67) Spirit

55 (280) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

5600/day

Better to get the large one out of the way first. She had enough essence. Hopefully.

Standing up fully, she reached out towards the demon, feeling [Leech] activate as she burned its body alive with the pain of desiccation, starvation, and sleep deprivation.

She cut off the skill before the demon even fell to its knees. It was still standing, although noticeably harried and moving with a slowness typical of moving underwater. Hopefully, that’ll be enough.

Over half her essence was gone and it still wasn’t dead. It should be easier for Artiv to take it down now, not that the soldier had shown his appreciation, though.

But Riza reserved the rest of her pool of essence for the slowly approaching pack of demons. There were many, too numerous to count from this distance, and both Lefie and Jakks had noticed them—the former picking up her crossbow and bolts.

They tumbled in, devilishly fast and demanding Riza’s full attention. She turned her sights onto the closest one, reaching out with [Leech] and mentally pulling it to the floor, legs falling out from under it, dead. 100 essence down the drain. It was quick but too inefficient. She’d be out long before they all stopped coming.

Riza withdrew her knife, giving herself a pep talk as she stepped in front of her two friends, looking out of the corner of her eye at Artiv. He looked more hurt but the injury the large demon had taken seemed to make the fight more even.

He can keep up with it. I hope.

Her hand was shaking, palms sweaty, the dagger almost sliding out of her grip. Her heart was pounding painfully fast and she struggled to focus as it felt like the world grew quiet around her.

The first demon arrived, skidding to a halt. Riza flexed her muscles before jumping onto it, her arm landing in the beasts mouth, crunched upon by the sharp teeth unpleasantly as she [Leech]ed 110 health from the thing, stabbing into the head over and over again as her body was shaken and pulled.

30 essence down and the beast was dead, stabbed through the brain. Wasting no time, Riza jumped towards the next nearest demon, managing to avoid it’s searching jaw as she stabbed and slashed at it, able to take it down with fewer injuries this time.

She was just one woman, unable to quell a surging tide. Demons got past her, pestering Lefie and Jakks. She couldn’t see, merely sensing them behind her. They’ll be okay; Lefie can take them.

The next demon was down, only 20 essence spent this time. She was getting better at this.

The fighting continued for some time, Riza working her way through demons like they were prey to the slaughter. Artiv was doing well at withstanding the greater demon, even getting the upper hand it seemed.

Lefie was defending herself adequately as well, with flashes of water striking down and boring surgically narrow tunnels into skulls. She was alternating between killing demons and splashes of water, trying to keep the demons away as she juggled the cost of her skills. Jakks was hopelessly weak and she took it upon herself to make sure he survived.

And then the worst thing happened. The tunnel began to shake ever so slightly, the worst possibilities instantly springing to Riza’s mind. Again. So soon?

She felt unsteady, even as another demon fell at her feet. Her emotions were so tangled up—so indecipherable—that she busied her mind with solely fighting.

She kept one eye on her essence and health while she cautiously moved towards her next quarry. The clumsy, weak stabs that once made up her entire repertoire back in the forest was gradually expanding as her experience with her weapon grew.

Another demon down.

The cause for the rumbling around them finally showed itself.

Bulldozing down the wide tunnel, on six stout but strangely muscular legs came a rodent-like demon, larger than the rest and with a fuming, white fog cascading out of it’s closed jaw.

Shit.

Even the lesser demons seemed in awe of its presence, pausing or slowing momentarily before harassing the group with even greater fervour. Like mad beasts, they were unaffected by the deaths around them.

The sight alone caused Riza to wince, her muscles groaning in pain and exertion as she realised just how much further she had to go before tranquility returned upon them.

Essence is low. Not enough to take it out in one shot. She cast her eye to the side, observing Artiv.

With a victorious shout, he speared the fallen demon straight through the eye, foot against its head as he finally ended the enemy.

His armour was blooded, his left arm hanging weakly as he stepped back. Dents, scratches, and even torn sections of the metal plates were more than enough evidence for how hard-fought the fight was—even with Riza’s early assistance.

And they’d have to do it again.

She barely caught herself as the next demon jumped her, pushing her to the floor and jaws snapping shut just in front of her.

Frantically, she stabbed upwards again and again and again, blood dripping onto her torso as the massive heft of the body fell upon her. She struggled to push it aside, her arms nearly giving out, before crawling out from under it and getting back to her feet.

A quick [Leech] topped up her health, the action worrying her further as her essence descended even further below what she’d like.

The vibrations increased as the large form of the greater demon arrived, it’s humongous body barely squeezing into this passageway.

It’s jaw opened, the fog bursting forth from within as it submerged the creatures, revitalising them at the most opportune moment.Their muscles bulged as they practically climbed on top of each other, clamoring to get closer to their prey.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! She had to kill it. Quickly.

“Lefie!” Riza shouted through the din, catching the girl’s attention. “Stop caring about your essence and kill the fucker!” She pointed towards the greater demon.

“Yes!” The teenager shouted with no sign of hesitation in her voice.

She stepped forwards, snaking around the corpses at her feet as Riza caught another flying demon in the air, sidestepping it narrowly as she buried a dagger into its hide.

She tussled with it on the ground, its strength overpowering her but not enough to stop her relocating the dagger in its head as [Leech] finished it off.

Jumping to her feet, Riza barely caught a glimpse of water washing off the large demon but couldn’t spare it more thought.

The wave of demons felt never-ending as she fought with all her strength. Her essence ticked away, her mind twisting with more and more worry as the seconds ticked by and the greater demon remained standing.

Her mind was proverbially on fire, her muscles working in overdrive as she muscled her way through bodies. She couldn’t even feel the dagger in her hands anymore, having to rely on her grip to keep it there.

Bodies fell. Riza’s essence ticked down to nearly nothing. She was unable to concentrate, to even think, as brain fog overwhelmed her and her senses grew incongruous. Notification sounded, alerting her to one level up, not that she was in any state of mind to take in that information.

She was swarmed by bodies at one point, unable to make anything out apart from the undulating flesh, contorted by muscles and rapid relaxation upon death. She was immersed with her own survival, unable to pay any heed to the world around her.

The electrifying sensations began to recede. Calmness came over her mind as the hindbrain that alerted her to the presence of demons sounded no alarm. A metaphysical silence she hadn’t felt for so long returned.

The demons were dead, and Riza’s energy with them.

She collapsed onto her back, the tunnel ceiling unfocused as her mind began to relax itself, picking up bits and pieces it had ignored during her hyperfocus on the fight.

Sounds returned. Footsteps. Breathing. A quiet voice growing louder and louder.

A familiar voice.

With tired, aching bones, Riza shifted upwards, staring down the tunnel and the darkness that consumed it. Faint firelight illuminated the surroundings, the lantern undisturbed at the back, right near the blockage.

“Riza,” A voice croaked out.

With sudden alacrity, Riza was crawling along the ground, taking in the mangled form of her friend.

A large gash was slashed across her front. Her arm was barely attached to her body still, bones showing near her shoulder. Her brown hair was matted with blood, eyes not looking into Riza’s own as Lefie’s chest heaved heavily.

The teenager’s feet were scored with long, grey streaks carved into her flesh. Her better arm’s skin was similar grey, like rot, up to her elbow.

Fear creeped into Riza’s mind before she began to act. Immediately, after much practise, she gingerly touched Lefie’s arm and legs, the restorative green light sinking into the pliant skin as [Cleanse] got to work.

But that wouldn’t be enough alone. The arm was in a terrible state and they lacked any and all first-aid materials. Infection wouldn’t be an issue with Riza around but could the human body even [Heal] such an injury?

Amputation was an option but that had a high chance of death with how ill-prepared they were. Even just hoping the wound would [Heal] easily would mean Lefie being crippled for life, surely.

Riza’s head went straight to the worst-case situations as she panicked, unbidden emotions coming to the forefront of her mind.

Fuck it. It’s worth it.

She opened up her skills and with minimal hesitation, purchased [Heal].

Heal (1/10) -Learned

Restore 10 points of health to a living entity.

Cost: 1 es/sec

Her muscles loosened slightly, perspiration sliding down her skin as her health ticked down to 20 as she used [Essence Transformer].

[Essence Transformer] (10/10)+ -Learned

Convert health into essence

Conversion rate: 20 hp/sec

Efficiency: 10%

She maximised [Heal].

Heal (1/10) -Learned

Restore 50 points of health to a living entity.

Cost: 5 es/sec

And spent all her remaining essence and presence of mind crafting Lefie’s body back to how it should be.

First, the bones. Riza dug through her memory banks, thinking back to her biology lessons as she struggled to recall the material and structural make-up of bones.

After that, the muscles. She was used to this by now and Lefie’s muscles began to stitch themselves back together almost effortlessly.

Blood came next as Riza envisioned the different components of blood, all mixing together to create the vital fluid.

She racked her mind for any more information that she could drudged out. Tendons, nerves, anything that Lefie might be missing that Riza could give back to her.

She didn’t have enough time. The essence ran out quickly, leaving Riza still pondering upon the esoteric information she could barely recall from lessons many years prior.

Lefie coughed harshly as soon as the skill let up, blood sputtering out of her mouth along with water and mucus as she took in harsh, painful breaths, eyes now focusing on Riza’s own watery eyes.

Seeing the revitalisation in the teenager’s eyes struck Riza still, a conflux of emotions rushing through her, all convoluted and mixed up. She didn’t know what to feel.

She clenched her fists over and over as she focused solely on her breathing, scrubbing her mind clean of thoughts as she fought to get her pounding heart back in order.

Lefie opened her mouth, a raspy voice barely squeaking out a sound, so tired she was. A weak smile crept onto her face.

As the elation began to consume everything else inside Riza, a niggling kernel of guilt began to develop as the danger of the situation lessened. I did this. I told Lefie to step into danger. To kill that demon.

“I’m sorry,” Riza said, voice barely above a whisper.

The smile fell from Lefie’s face as she sat upwards, grunting slightly from her sore muscles and expected aches and pains. She wrapped her arms around Riza, holding her with as much strength as she could muster.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault,” Lefie cooed.

Tears came unbidden to Riza’s face, trickling down her cheek, epitomising how weak and vulnerable she felt.

As if it would do anything, she brought up her statblock. Just anything to reassert her strength to herself.

Name Riza Level 13 Health 100/100 Stamina 21/100 Essence

0/1344 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (67) Spirit

55(280) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

5600/day

levelled up. The thought surprised her. She hadn’t recognised a notification during the combat. She had five more stat points to spend.

Mechanically, she allocated them all to spirit, seeing her the numbers tick up slightly.

Name Riza Level 13 Health 100/100 Stamina 21/100 Essence

0/1428 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (71) Spirit

60 (305) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

6100/day

Level 13. I only have 2 more levels left until I hit my cap. The seemingly endless pool of potential she once had now seemed suddenly shallow.

Her growth was gradual. The numbers increasing slowly with each level. Should I pick up a new skill? Upgrade one, perhaps? I was waiting to learn more; maybe not spending any would result in a hidden boon.

Her mind returned to the monolithic wall of fog they had passed by earlier.

Riza gently peeled Lefie off of her, eyes searching for Artiv.

She saw him, kneeling before the body of his friend. His armour was dented and broken in many places. Chunks of hair were ripped from his head, his face bloodied and asymmetric.

Closing her eyes, Riza let the tranquility of [Meditate] wash over her as she lost herself to the feeling of nothingness.

In her head, all was calm. She could look back on everything with an objective eye, free from the chemical whirlpool that was her mind.

The fight went badly. Very badly. She hadn’t thought about it but at the back of her mind, she knew; Jakks and Skerry were dead.

The latter she knew from perhaps the very start of this thing but Jakks? Any casualty of her poor decision making.

Lefie was protecting him. They had fought together multiple times by now; he wasn’t a fighter—he barely knew how to even hold a sword.

Riza should’ve taken on the greater demon herself; she was the strongest out of the three of them.

But she didn’t. She was a coward, after all. She would’ve ran if that was an option. The thought was nauseating to acknowledge but it was true. Even after she promised to protect Lefie.

Riza dropped the [Meditate], her essence having ticked up to a nice 200 points.

Trudging over to Artiv, she dropped to her knees besides him, momentarily staring at Skerry before placing her hands on the soldier’s arm and infusing him with as much life as she could muster.

His eyes met Riza’s—cold, hard, and unfriendly—but begrudgingly accepted the healing. At least, that’s what it seemed to Riza.

Tapped out, her gaze fell to the corpse before them. Three large claw marks had cut a swathe out of Skerry’s chest. His armour bent like paper, intestines and stomach lining reaching out from his wounds like they were trying to break free from his mortal body.

The sight was horrific but mollifying. There was no dancing at the knife’s edge, for Skerry; he was already dead.

Life

0th Tier

Heal (1/10) -Learned

Restore 10 points of health to a living entity

Cost: 1 es/sec

[Leech](10/10) -Learned

Drain 110 points of health from a living entity

40m range

Cost: 10 es/sec

Cleanse (10/10) -Learned

Cleanse an entity from any toxin, disease, or contamination

Casting Time: 10 sec

Cost: 10 es

1st Tier

[Sapping Curse] (1/10)

Prevent a living entity from recovering health for 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 sec

Cost: 5 es

[Animate Critter] (1/10)

Raise a corpse smaller than yourself into a level 0 zombie

Casting Time: 5 sec

Cost: 5 es/sec

[Life Sense] (1/10)

Scan for either a general or specific form of life

2m radius

Casting Time: 1 m/sec

Cost: 1 es

[Last Words] (1/10)

Extract thoughts from an entity that died within 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 min

Cost: 5 es

[Animate Critter]. Would it work? Riza contemplated while staring glassy-eyed at the body.

He’s not smaller than me. It would also bring him back as a zombie, not a person. It wouldn’t even be for very long, either; my regen is only 1 point per second and that’s when I’m meditating as well.

There was more to consider, as well. Could she even use the skill in the first place? [Leech] and [Heal] were material in nature; all she had to do was know what constituted different parts of the body and the skill took care of everything else.

But [Animate Critter] brought life back to something. Or unlife, if the distinction was important. How something was alive, sentient, or sapient, was still a hotly debated topic from a world of advanced science and knowledge back where she came from.

Would she be able to dig through the endless philosophical and scientific literature stored in her brain to find the nugget of truth that she needed to resurrect someone? It was a big question.

“We should bury him,” Artiv suddenly spoke, disturbing Riza from her thoughts. “Jakks as well. They deserve it.”

Lefie crawled over to the body of Jakks, her trembling form casting dancing shadows on the walls from the single source of light they had.

“I’m gonna miss the fucker. Still owes me for all the beers he forgets he drank,” The man chuckled.

She didn’t respond.

“Ya know, he liked to seem serious. Pretend that he was a stern, devoted soldier. All bullshit. Whenever he had a few drinks in him, he couldn’t stop giggling. Laughing. If it was a late night and you heard someone laughing off in the distance, high chance it was ‘im.

“And don’t even get him started on the Dominion when he was in that state. The blasphemy he’d speak without a care in the world…”

Artiv carried on talking, not caring whether she was listening, but they were.

Riza hadn’t known Skerry for long—only a few days—and very little of that was spent actually getting to know the guy, but she appreciated listening to Artiv speak.

It helped her to realise the person in front of her was a living, breathing human being once. A death that mattered.

Lefie trudged over as well, her eyes red and sniffling as she arrived.

“What about your man? What was he like, ya know, away from it all,” Artiv urged, looking at the pair for the first time since he started reminiscing. His shoulders were slouched, the previous tension nowhere to be seen.

“We didn’t know him for that much longer than you did,” Lefie began. “A bit before we left to come here.” She paused.

Riza didn’t say anything. She was lost in thought, trawling through her memories of interactions with Jakks.

Nothing. She felt little for his death. Her mind was a calm, smooth sea when she thought about the fact that he had died. The bundled, anxious emotions she had felt towards Lefie? Absent towards Jakks.

And that troubled her. Her hand was shaking as she realised it.

“He was kind. Treated me like a person. When we first met, he introduced himself. He actually went out of his way to say ‘I’m Jakks’ even though, for all he knew, we’d never see each other again when we arrived,” Lefie explained.

“I didn’t give it any thought at the time,” She carried on. “But he was always talking to me. Listening to me. It was like he cared.” Emphasising that aspect of his character spoke volumes about how Lefie had been treated in the past.

“He seemed like a good bloke,” Artiv replied solemnly.

No one else spoke.

“We’re lucky. In a way,’ Artiv eventually said, disturbing the peaceful silence. “Only two dead when fighting a single greater demon, let alone double.

“I’ve never actually fought one before. They’re too dangerous for those without a second boon to handle.” He turned to look at Riza, his face lax with an unidentifiable emotion.

“Thanks.”

With a sniff and a grunt, Artiv stood up abruptly, hands on hips and looking down at his old friend. “We’d better bury them. Least we can do.”

“You still gonna go with yer plan? Digging the tunnel?” Artiv asked, sitting on one side of the tunnel, his voice carrying over to Riza and Lefie on the other.

[Heal] [Level up]

“Huh?” Riza’s eyes darted upwards, quickly processing what he said. She looked towards Lefie, remembering what they had discussed earlier.

The veteran soldier deferring to her unnerved Riza a little, taking her a few seconds to think through what she wanted to say.

“No. Can’t do it anymore.” She shook her head.

“Oh. Okay,” Artiv replied, slightly deflated. “Then… I guess we’ll explore again. Head back to the other blockage. See if that one has been cleared,” He said uncertainly. The exhaustion and hunger was clearly getting to him.

“Yeah,” Riza replied laconically.

Lefie was leaning against the wall, her head on Riza’s shoulder, as her chest undulated up and down with her gentle breaths, fast asleep.

Riza wasn’t sure but it seemed Artiv fell asleep not long after as well.

But not her. She was occupied with something.

[Heal] [Level up]

It had been so long since she raced through skill levels, she had forgotten what it had felt like. As joyous a feeling as it was, however, Riza merely acknowledged the progress stoically.

[Essence Transformer], after being neglected for so long, was finally getting some use.

[Essence Transformer] (10/10)+ -Learned

Convert health into essence

Conversion rate: 20 hp/sec

Efficiency: 10%

Heal healed a base of 5 health for 1 essence. [Lone Wolf] doubled that to 10 health for 1 essence. 20 health for 2 essence.

[Essence Transformer] consumed 20 health for 2 essence. Using both resulted in no net difference in health or essence, but helped to level up [Heal].

The level 2 version of [Heal] healed 15 health for 2 essence, doubled to 30 health for 2 essence.

Using [Essence Transformer] for 3 seconds gave 6 essence. [Heal] for two seconds restored all the health whilst only consuming 4 essence. A net gain of 2 essence.

The lowest common multiples varied as the skill increased but the underlying interaction remained the same.

Thankfully, Riza didn’t have to stall her slumber for much time at all. Not even half an hour had passed until she saw her final notifications.

[Heal] [Level up]

Heal (10/10)+ -Learned

Restore 190 points of health to a living entity.

Cost: 10 es/sec

[Heal] has reached level 10.

You can choose to spend a skill point to upgrade the skill or turn the skill into a passive.

[Heal+]

Restore 190 health, 2 stamina, 2 essence to a living entity

Cost: 10 es/sec

Heal (passive)

Constantly restore 40 points of health per second

More decisions. I have skill points but neither are something I particularly need right now. Essentially, the same as [Leech]’s upgrades.

Fuck, man. I’m too tired for this shit. I just want to sleep.

Both Lefie and Artiv were up before Riza. She awoke to a strangely tantalising aroma wafting over to her.

Sitting around a small campfire, Artiv was holding a ceramic bowl over the fire, steam gently rising from it.

“You’ve found food?” Riza asked as she walked over, feeling slightly guilty over not telling him about the alternative functions of [Heal].

“No, but it’s something. Some demon meat chopped up and boiled with water. Doesn’t provide substance but makes you full,” He replied.

Makes sense, I suppose. If they thrive on only essence, it’s not like they’d provide much to you when eaten.

Must mean they lack natural predators as well. Does their population go unchecked? She shuddered as the thought washed through her. Just like deers in Yellowstone or hedgehogs in Australia.

As he withdrew the bowl from the fire and dipped his fingers into the stew, picking out small chunks of meat and popping them into his mouth, Riza cringed from the sight.

“You shouldn’t do that. Your fingers are dirty. Could catch a disease.” It wasn’t the biggest thing on her mind but the easier one.

“It’s fine,” Artiv replied mid-chew. He swallowed. “I washed my hands with water earlier.” He went right back to eating.

“No-Uh. Let me,” Riza said awkwardly, shuffling closer and tentatively laying her hand on his, after quickly looking at his eyes. She was all too familiar with unwanted physical contact.

The essence ran through her, suffusing the man’s system with a cleansing energy as the familiar, faint, green glow leapt from her fingers and into his.

It didn’t take more than a second and she withdrew as soon as she could, not wanting to touch him longer than necessary.

“You do somethink?” His gaze was curious.

“Cleanse. You’re clean.”

The man grunted, clearly not quite understanding, and began eating again, somehow unperturbed by being the sole member of the group loudly slurping away at the broth.

“There’s something else,” Riza spoke hurriedly, her nerves picking up. Artiv gave her a glance, not stopping eating as she shovelled food into his mouth. His body was craving sustenance.

“Heal does more than just restoring health. It can [Heal] wounds. It can also satiate you.” The words tumbled out of her mouth rapidly, spoken almost entirely in one breath.

That gave the large man pause.

“You can cure hunger?” He asked incredulously, face hardening.

Riza nodded, somewhat beginning to regret telling him about it.

“Keep it to yourself,” Artiv finally said, his tone harsher than expected.

Dejected, Riza nodded her head, sitting back on her haunches as Lefie leaned towards her.

“How does that work?” Lefie whispered.

“Similar to how curing wounds work. You envision what’s lacking—such as flesh—and then use the essence to reconstruct what’s need to fill the gap. With a wound, it’s skin, bones, blood. With hunger, it’s all the nutrients that the body needs.”

The teenager’s eyes were practically sparkling during the explanation.

“You need to know what something is made of to create it?”

“Well, yeah. That’s how it works with [Leech] and [Heal]. Is it different for you?” Riza asked.

There was a niggling question she always had ever since Sylan first told her how to use cleanse; do I use skills differently from other people?

His explanation, although she didn’t understand a lot of it at the time, strongly reminded her of spiritualist movements from her world. They were based on pseudoscience and vague ways of manipulating a non-existent, non-scientific energy. Nothing easily reproducible and up for interpretation.

But, that way of thinking clearly worked in this world. The energy was real and it was essence. Sylan did have some medical knowledge but there were clear delineations between him and Riza; whilst she had a lot of scientific knowledge that he certainly did not, what he did know could be practically applied and apparently worked.

This was where her conundrum first begin; how can one achieve the same knowledge-based results without having the prerequisite knowledge? To repair flesh, you need to know what flesh was made of, something Riza did and Sylan did not. Yet, they both could repair flesh.

“It is,” Lefie answered. “Water is just… Water. I don’t have to think any harder than that. Instead, when I use [Conjure Water], it just happens. The essence wants to be water so I let it. Nothing more than that.”

“The essence… Has a will?” The concept sounded absurd as she said it aloud.

“No. Yes? I don’t know; it just works. Like-” Lefie held out her palm, a small ball of water quickly forming from a translucent ball of blue light.

The ball hovered barely an inch above her palm, hard to see in the low light. Just like Riza’s interface, she could make out a blue hue to the air but it was a glow that didn’t emit light on it’s surroundings.

A most peculiar physical phenomenon but not one Riza had pondered much on.

“You see how the light is blue?” Lefie asked. “That essence wants to be water. Just like your [Leech] wants to be health. It just needs a little nudge.”

Riza was getting nowhere with this explanation. Manipulating essence seemed to be far more intuitive for others than it was for her, it seemed.

All this philosophising isn’t helpful. We need to think about what we’re going to do next.

After Artiv had finished eating, and Riza had dealt with Lefie’s and her own gnawing hunger, the three of them gathered in a triangle to discuss what to do next.

“Firstly, how are we all doing?” Artiv began. “My health is full and so is my stamina.”

“I’m good,” Riza answered succinctly.

“I’m fine, health-wise, but I’m low on essence. Less than a quarter left,” Lefie answered. For her first five levels, she had apparently been pointing every stat point into her essence.

There hadn’t been much of a problem with that so far, especially since water skills needed a lot of essence, but with how often she was in danger right now, that decision was coming back to bite her.

Thankfully, she had started to invest in spirit with her past level ups after meeting Riza.

“Enough to continue tunneling?” Artiv inquired.

“But not enough in case we get attacked again,” Lefie replied solemnly.

“And there’s still a fair bit of blockage to get through,” He said in open thought.

Regarding food and water, Riza felt like they had infinite time with the capabilities of [Heal], but their time was still limited; the demon attacks were getting stronger and who knows how much worse the situation could get.

They were already down two people.

“I don’t like it. We’re sitting ducks here.” Artiv continued. “We gotta move. See if any of the other blockages have cleared. Maybe someone’s made their way through.” He stood up, stretching his muscles as his armour rattled about on his large frame.

“Can we vote on this?” Lefie asked quickly, before Riza herself was about to stand up.

“Err, yeah. Sure,” Artiv answered, surprise written on his face.

“I vote we stay and continue with tunneling,” Lefie offered her opinion. “I’ll get through eventually and we don’t have to spend time looking for food or water.”

“Eventually is not soon enough,” Artiv replied quietly. “And you?”

Riza paused, looking at Lefie as she processed her thoughts.

“I vote to explore. Check out the blockages. Fight demons.” Get stronger.

“Well. Okay. Seems we have a majority. Lets- Let’s get going.”