Congratulations! You have gained a level!

You are now level 18!

You have learned the Ability: Blessed Blade

A surge of excitement runs through me as the Nether Troll goes down in a burst of white light, complements of Gilly and Aiko’s combined Holy Burst spell. We’ve spent most of the morning battling these things, and thanks to a combination of our well-formed trio and the high XP value of the trolls, I’ve managed to blast through all the levels I need for my subjobs already.

Although admittedly, I haven’t been able to help out with much of the combat itself and was relegated to a third wheel for most of the fights. We started the day by setting up a small camp just outside the Goblin Queen’s mountain fortress. Aiko then headed into the enemy stronghold, seeking groups of trolls, and after stealthily assassinating the controlling Goblin Clerics, she one by one, pulled the zero intelligence mobs to us for the slaughter.

Aiko would dodge tank while Gilly and I would chip away at its health, me using a long sword that I hadn’t skilled-up since I was a noob Warrior back in the Crystal Shards. Finally Aiko would coordinate with Gilly to cast Holy Burst and after two or three of those, the troll would go down. I’d only get a few thousand XP each kill, due to the three-way split and my low damage, but at such a low level, it was more than enough to gain several levels each time.

“All set now?” Gilly asks, taking a swig of rejuvenation potion to help replenish her TP.

“Just about,” I say and switch back to Ninja to slot in my newly gained ability.

Luckily gaining access to the Knight class was as simple as Lady Diana dubbing me as one. And considering it’s a melee class, Blessed Blade is thankfully considered a cross-class ability as well. Adjusting my Veteran Points, I drop out my crowd control abilities and slot in Blessed Blade. I then raise my katana to the sky and the weapon glows with a white hue.

You use Blessed Blade!

Attacks now do Holy Damage!

The buff on my HUD looks to last a good five minutes.

I grin. “Now I’m ready.”

We meet up with the rest of our friends who have been partying on their own, tackling small groups of goblins and trolls as well. Val Helena is doing most of the tanking and healing while Maxis goes to town with his superfast combos, stunning the massive troll every chance he gets with AOE stomps. Blacktop then roasts the thing with his flamethrower and with Val Helena holding hate, they take down the troll with ease.

Checking their stats I see they have gained a level each already.

My brother catches sight of me and slams his fists together with a grin. “Looks like someone’s ready to rock. Let’s get your ninja butt on the road. We need to punch out these levels.”

“I’m with you,” I say and then look to Aiko. “You can go full mage now. I’ll handle the tanking.”

Aiko sighs a little and then swirls with nanodust as she changes class. To everyone’s surprise, she emerges completely naked except for her skimpy elf lingerie.

“What?” she says with a nonchalant shrug. “You think I keep gear on me for every stupid class I’ve leveled? I’ve been playing this game for like 10 years, you know?”

“Hey, I don’t mind at all,” Blacktop says with a grin.

“Me neith–” my brother begins to say, but gets a quick elbow to the ribs from Val Helena.

We all laugh, save for Val Helena who gives Aiko an eye roll. “Put something on. There are minors here.”

“What minors?” Aiko waves her hand dismissively. “Reece is a big boy and so is his brother.” She then shoots Val Helena a mischievous grin. “Maybe if you stop dressing like such a prude, he won’t be tempted to look this way.”

Blacktop hoots and hollers while Aiko gives one of her patented cackle laughs.

Val Helena flushes with what I think is anger at first, but when she doesn’t retort right away, I realize it’s a blush of embarrassment. But then her brows lower and her body begins to swirl with nanodust as well. She emerges in her skimpy Warrior tartan and leather sports-bra top, revealing her six pack abs and muscled arms and thighs.

“You’re right,” she says with a confident smile. “Two can play at this skimpy game.”

“Whoa babe!” Maxis says wide eyed. “You’re going warrior?”

Blacktop laughs like an old horn dog, nudging me in the side. “I like where this is going.”

I chuckle politely and share an awkward glance with Gilly. She must mistake my glance for a sign of encouragement or something though, because she then immediately shakes her head with a “no way” gesture. “Don’t expect me to get caught up in their bizarre nakedness rivalry.”

“No, I wasn’t suggesting—”

My words get cut short as Gilly elbows me in the ribs just like Val Helena. But then she gives me a playful smile and she sends me a PM.

Gilly: Bet you’re in your glory. Two of your favorite fan girls on display. Horn dog. ;)

It’s my turn to blush as Gilly teases me with a laugh.

“Okay let’s stop kidding around with the male-orientated eye candy,” Gilly says, switching gears. “We’ve got people to save, remember?”

That pulls us all back to reality and we spend a few minutes adjusting our characters for the marathon XPing to come. I then notice that Val Helena has not changed back to Paladin and shoot her a PM.

Me: Hey… you’re actually going to XP as warrior? I though you just did that to get back at Aiko.

Val Helena: Oh, I did. But then I figured it sort of makes sense to stay Warrior. No sense us having two tanks, right? With your Holy buff you should be able to hold hate. And I can actually cut loose and enjoy myself with a little bit brain dead DPS for a change.

Me: Yeah, but… Didn’t you sort of switch mains for a reason?

I’m referring to the conversation we had down in the wormhole cavern following our one-on-one sparring session. She made a vow to change from her old impulsive ways, switching her main from Warrior to Paladin as a result. I wonder if she’s forgotten why she did that or if perhaps she’s had a change of heart.

She must see the look of question on my face and gives me a smile.

Val Helena: I needed to make that change back then…physically, I guess, because of what I’d done. But I think I’ve come to grips with it all now. We need damage so I won’t let that hinder my ability to help out with what the team needs to win.

Me: So you’re going back to Warrior full time? Because you’ll be leveling that now instead of Paladin when you get XP.

The big lady shrugs.

Val Helena: Doesn’t matter. I live for this stuff. I’ll level both. But I’m here as whatever you need to me to be, Reece. And today it looks like Warrior.

I smile at her as my heart warms.

Me: Thanks, Val… <3

She returns the smile with a small thumbs up and I feel grateful for the wonderful friends I have.

“Okay let’s do this guys,” I say. “Buff up.”

After combining our two parties, Gilly casts Major Favor of the Goddess and I hit us with a Shadow Wall spell. Val Helena then uses a Blessed Blade spell of her own, imbuing her huge double-headed Axe with a golden hue.

“I’ll bring the first group of trolls,” I say. “Give me a few attacks to establish hate before you guys go to town. Hopefully you should be able to get a sneak attack bonus from the invis too.”

I leave the group and head up the hillside into the outskirts of the Goblin Queen’s mountain fortress. I tag stray trolls with my new Shuriken ability, pulling them from a safe distance. With the advantage of range, it’s much easier and safer than drawing their attention with a melee attack or a War Cry and I manage to tag four of them before heading back down the hill towards my waiting friends.

“Incoming,” I say through the chat with the monsters chasing after me. I buff myself with Shadow Copy and Shadow Haste, slipping into tanking mode. I turn about to blast the giant Nether Trolls with a War Cry before buffing with Shadow Tendrils. Time slows as I weave through their quick attacks. I retaliate by jabbing each one of them with a flurry of buffed katana blade swipes.

Critical Hit!

You hit the Nether Troll for 2374(1178) Holy Damage!

Critical Hit!

You hit the Nether Troll for 2216(1108) Holy Damage!

Holy crap! My crit damage on these things is off the wall now with this Holy Buff!

I land a good five hits on each troll in the space a second or two, dropping them down 5%. I then shout to my friends.

“Go now!”

The world around me explodes with a flurry of attacks. Maxis double AOE stomps, while Val Helena spins her massive axe in a fury, hitting all of them at once. White light engulfs reality as Gilly and Aiko’s Holy Burst spell goes off, dropping the trolls down to 60%. The whole time Blacktop unleashes with his double barreled flame thrower, channeling constant damage in a steady stream.

The damage numbers scrolls up my HUD so fast I can’t even read them. I keep the Trolls’ attention by attacking with my blades and unleashing another War Cry, losing my shadow and a few HP in the process.

Aiko and Gilly combo again and the trolls fall to the ground in a fiery mess.

You defeat the Nether Troll!

You gain 34500 experience points!

You defeat the Nether Troll!

You gain 34500 experience points!

Kill chain x 1!

You gain 17240 bonus experience points!

You defeat the Nether Troll!

You gain 34500 experience points!

Kill chain x 2!

You gain 25875 bonus experience points!

You defeat the Nether Troll!

You gain 34500 experience points!

Kill chain x 3!

You gain 34500 bonus experience points!

“Sweet,” Gilly says. “Let’s keep the chain going.”

We fall into a rhythm with me pulling larger and larger groups of trolls. We get as high as managing eight trolls at once, but after a while, settle on a pack of six as being the optimal number to get the max kill chain bonus of 200% while still maintaining the chain.

We continue for hours, each of us leveling at least once by the time we hit late afternoon.

“Too bad we couldn’t bring that stupid putz, Xavier out here to help with the AOE,” Maxis says as we finish off another pack of trolls and rest up for the next one. “We could maybe maintain an eight pack kill with the added damage.”

“I wouldn’t trust that freak even in his emerald jump suit,” Aiko says bitterly. “Especially not out here.”

I have to agree with her. We’re on the edge of enemy territory and I wouldn’t put it past the conniving mage to lure us into some kind of trap, even within the confines of the mind-control clothing. I still haven’t gotten a chance to interrogate him properly yet, but that can wait. I know I’ll need to eventually to deal with the final phase of the Braxus elimination plan, but I’ll need to wait for him to show up with his army first.

“Lord Xavier is better off being with Lady Diana back at Brookrun,” Val Helena says. “She’s a much better guard than we’d ever be. Plus she’s using him to help protect the walls while all those cannons get built. How soon do you figure for them, by the way, Gilly?”

“Most should be ready by the end of the day,” Gillys says. “Which reminds me. I promised Keith to supply his men with upgraded mining tools so we can start building the escape tunnels. So as much as I enjoy the XP guys, we can’t spend all day out here. I’ve got work to do back in town.”

I smile at Gilly and can’t feel more proud of her. She’s done an amazing job already setting up a new foundry and other facilities back at Brookrun. She did a great job boosting the morale of the miners as well; especially after I spoke with them.

Using her experience from back in that frozen keep, she convinced the miners that building an escape tunnel would be a good use of their time and talents. It worked wonders. They had a new task to keep their minds off their brethren trapped in the mines and a way to put their skills to use.

I also took Aiko’s advice somewhat when I spoke with Keith earlier and spared him the full details of our discovery at the bottom of the mines. I told him that we had found his people and while he wasn’t happy that we weren’t going to charge into the lion’s den right away, he eventually accepted that saving them would take preparation. I ended the conversation by promising him that we were making every effort to free his people as soon as possible.

Which was the truth.

What I didn’t tell him was that the Goblin Queen was slowly using his men to create the Nether Trolls. I check my XP bar now sitting at 87%, about to gain another level and a pang of guilt runs through me.

The point isn’t lost on me that as great as these Nether Trolls are for XP, by chain killing them, what we’re eventually doing is forcing the Goblin Queen to make more of them to take their place; sacrificing more miners in the process. I’m not sure if that fact has registered with anyone else as yet, but I keep it to myself for now.

Same as keeping the truth back from Keith.

Ignorance could be a mercy as Aiko had said.

But the weight of knowing my power was being inadvertently gained from the sacrifice of innocent people rests heavily on my mind. Still, it’s the best way forward that we have. I just pray that when we eventually got strong enough to face the Goblin Queen, that there would still be someone left to save.

“You okay?”

I turn from my thoughts to see Gilly studying me with a look of concern on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Looks like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders just now. We’re you thinking about back home?”

I hadn’t been, of course, but I nod anyway. It was a much easier explanation than what I was actually thinking about. But acknowledging that did get me thinking about all the people we still needed to save back in Citadel; not least of which was my very own mother.

“How long have we been out here now, Gilly?”

She shrugs. “A few weeks?”

“Feels like longer. Feels like months.”

“We’ve just grown a lot, is all. A lot has happened.” She looks down at the ground a bit melancholy. “We’ve lost a lot too.”

I don’t need to see the tremble in her eyes to know she’s talking about Lexi. With all that has happened, it’s hard to believe it’s only been a few weeks since we lost her. I know Gilly deals with her grief by keeping busy, so it’s hard to tell she even grieving. But I know the loss hit her more than anyone else as well.

“Don’t worry,” I say, patting her hand. “We’ll find a way to bring her back. I know we will.”

Gilly nods but doesn’t say anything.

I hope it’s true.

I hope I can somehow find a way to bring her friend back.

But at what cost?

I look down at my hands. Hands that have now shed blood and was still shedding blood by killing these trolls. All in the name of saving citadel. Of saving people like Lexi. Like my mom. “It will all be worth it in the end,” I say, more to myself than to her. “We’re so close now. We just need to keep going.”

“We’ll get there,” she says, taking my hand. “And you’re doing a good job leading the way. Don’t doubt yourself.”

I laugh. “Is that what it looked like just now?”

She smiles and shrugs.

Perhaps she was right. I can’t doubt the path I’ve chosen. I need to believe in the goal and see us though. No matter the cost.

“Okay,” I say with renewed resolve. “Let’s get another pack of trolls.”