With their venture in the Dungeon completed, Colin and Rielle left the extra-dimensional space where they’d been spending their time and went back to their hotel. While their health was full, the day’s experiences were exhausting, and all that both of them wanted to do was go and lie down. The feeling was especially true when he remembered that he hadn’t seen a single elevator in this world, and they had to climb the stairs to their fifth-floor room.

At the end of the harrowing trip, Rielle dragged herself to her bed and fell into it. Not even bothering to take off her boots before starting to fall asleep, “Walker?” she called out with a yawn, her face in the bed’s covers. “What are we doing tomorrow?”

“I need to get stronger, and we cannot go back to the Dungeon. Do you remember why?” Colin asked.

“Because that Demon remembered you from the first time you died in there, there is a chance it will remember that you killed it and took its stuff?” she responded, her voice becoming quieter as the moments passed.

“Right, so what are our options,” Colin asked, raising his closed fist in the air. “We can focus on training skills so that even if our levels are lower, our skills should make up for it,” he raised one of his fingers with each option. “We can leave the city for a short trip where we kill everything in our path. Or we can-” he stopped and grinned.

Rielle had passed out on her bed was breathing soundly while Colin watched for a moment. A second or three passed before he felt like he was being creepy and groaned as he got to his feet. He walked over to their stash that had been left in the room this morning. It contained containers of water, food, medicine, and even magic caffeine tablets.

Popping one of the tablets that guaranteed to wear off when you were ready for it to end, Colin pulled a blanket over her too thin form and walked to the door.

On his way out of the Dungeon, Colin had weighed his options and observed his level’s growth and deemed it too slow. To that end, Colin knew what he had to do and determined himself on the path.

A decision had been made, so Colin had to achieve it.

Leaving Rielle in the room, Colin locked the door behind him as he went and took his time as he walked up the stairs towards the roof.

From his shadow, Nox spoke up, “DevilWalker. what are you doing?”

“Going out,” he answered simply, something in his peripheral vision, making him consider stopping and investigating. But decided against it when Nox confirmed his suspicions a moment later.

“I take it you saw that too,” Nox asked, his voice low.

Colin nodded, “I’m going to the roof to get down without being noticed, but I guess that idea is out the window. Opinion?”

“If the roof is clear, it will make whoever that is easy to spot,” Nox answered.

Colin nodded and focused on keeping his eyes on the stairs in front of him. His body felt heavier with each step, and he wanted more than anything to stop, rest, and breath for a moment. But everything he knew told him that it was ill-advised to stop moving. As a comforting presence, Colin reached with his right hand towards the Mythic Xiphos on his belt and gri-

The Mythic Xiphos was gone, leaving only the scabbard attached to his belt. Panic set in as he started looking around him and internally panicking as he went through his memories and knew he had it but a minute ago.

“Nox?!” Colin spat, “did you see who took my sword?”

“No,” he hissed. “Which means that they must have some kind ability that lets them bypass my sight,” Nox informed Colin, his voice agitated. The Goblin sent tendrils of shadows in all directions, looking for the taken item.

A short way ahead of him on the stairwell, a startled yelp met their ears, and Colin hurried forward. Standing on the stairs, a woman ahead of them held a tendril of shadow in what looked like a dome of twisted space in one hand. In her other was Colin’s crystal handled, dark iron xiphos that she seemed to be having a problem holding.

Their eyes met, and she looked at Colin as a playful smile crossed her thin lips, “you know, I saw the weapon and was hoping for a closer look. Yet, all I am getting when I appraise this weapon is that it is made from a rare metal. Also, you noticed faster than I expected you to for your level. Most Outworlders aren’t as observant as you, it seems.”

“One chance,” Colin said, gritting his teeth at the woman. “Who are you, and why did you take my sword?”

“Me, I believe you were hoping to meet me. My name is Georgia Bernz, I’m the leader of that thieves group you’ve helped. As for your sword… its handle was shiny, and I was curious?” she said, her words ending like a question.

Bottling his anger that was calming from roiling wrath to simmering annoyance, he approached the woman and extended his hand. She looked down at the hand for a moment before her mouth opened in the universal ‘Oh’ face, and hefted the sword’s handle into Colin’s hand. He immediately looked it over to confirm that nothing was amiss, that no bombs or poisons had been placed up his weapon.

When nothing appeared to be amiss, he slipped the sword back into its scabbard and looked back up at the woman.

Actually, young woman was more appropriate given that she looked around twenty to twenty-three years old. Her dark, smooth skin was marred in several spots by pale scars, and her dark curls were pulled back into a ponytail. Built anorexically thin, Georgia wore a shimmery black cloak that was pulled behind her shoulders like a cape. This showed off the green Victorian dress accented with white lace that hugged her form gingerly.

Nox walked up the steps to stand next to Colin. Squinting at the young woman in front of them, the Goblin grinned as he observed his captured shadow. “A Dimension Focused class, or are you spiritually harmonized to it?”

“Class, unfortunately. I am hoping, when the time comes, to be able to harmonize with dimensional magic. I don’t even know what will happen, but it’s sure to be amazing. I am guessing that you have a Shadow Class and have spiritually harmonized with shadow?” She asked, her head quirking to the side.

“Indeed, I-” Nox stopped, his grin fading and turning more neutral. “How high is your Charisma Attribute?”

“Oh, pretty high. I have a rare ability that uses a small percentage of my Charisma to augment my Intellect and Wisdom Attributes effect on maximum mana and mana regeneration rate. This is pretty cool since my Base Class uses Charisma instead of Intellect for its passive abilities.

“Okay, can you both please shut it and explain a few things before I talk to you, Georgia. What are you talking about when you say focus and Spiritually harmonized?” Colin demanded, looking at his companion.

“Has no one told you about the leveling progression part of the system?” Nox asked. “I assumed you knew about it since you knew about Classes, subclasses, and true classes.”

“Does this look like the face of someone who knows what any of that means?” Colin asked, his face set in an overexaggerated frown. “Obviously, I don’t. So enlighten me, Friend.”

Nox pointed up the stairs, “let’s go where we are less likely to be overheard.

Georgia Bernz started up the stairs with Nox stepping into Colin’s shadow as he began seconds after her. Exhaustion was forgotten as the idea of this information was just too good to pass up. The idea that Nox hadn’t told him about whatever this was this annoyed him a little. Still, he could understand the Goblin’s reasoning.

There was so much that he didn’t know about this world that Colin had yet to learn. The more he figured out and was told, the more there seemed to be discovered and utilized.

Georgia Bernz reached her hand towards the handle at the door to the roof and jiggled it experimentally. It was locked as was expected, and the young woman looked back at Colin to make sure he was watching. She pulled away from the handle for a moment, her hand becoming distorted as if it were a reflection in a funhouse mirror. Then she moved her hand back to the handle and pushed her hand through it.

With a click, the door unlocked, and Georgia pulled her hand free from the door.

“After you, Walker,” she told him, opening the door and holding it for Colin.

So Colin passed through, and Nox hopped out of his shadow now that the stair walking was over. “So, you were about to say?”

“I know that you are aware that you can get your base class at level one and that at level ten, you can get a subclass? Well, the trend continues in that, every ten levels, you get a choice of something that will refine your body, heart, mind, and soul into what you’re supposed to be. Level twenty, you get to choose a Career, don’t ask now, I’ll explain a little later. Level thirty, the system will take in the entirety of your being and give you what options you’ve unlocked for your True or Specialized Class.” Nox took a breath and was about to continue.

At least before Colin waved his hands in front of him, cutting off his train of thought, “options? What kinds of options?” Colin asked, trying to understand everything his friend was saying in case it never got repeated.

“It all depends,” Georgia took over. “Most people theorize that the Specialized Class choices depend first on your base class, subclass, followed by what career you chose to pursue at level twenty. Then it adds up your skill proficiencies and abilities to see what Specialist Classes you qualify for. No one knows how many there are, and most think that we will never know.”

“As she says,” Nox agreed. “I became a War Chemist out of around a dozen choices when I became level thirty.”

Colin rubbed the tired out of his eyes and focused on rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I think I follow you. So there is no way to know what Specialized Classes I can choose from until I get to level thirty. What about after that?”

From there, Nox got impatient. “Normally, I’d tell someone asking this many questions to not worry about it so much. You’ll get there when you get there, and the choices you get are the choices you have, there is no reason to worry so much over it,” the Goblin told him.

“Still, I want to know,” Colin told him, and Nox nodded.

“At level forty, you can choose how to augment your body to better hold in your growing power. Fifty, you can choose how to augment your Class further with a skill you are familiar with. Sixty, you augment your mind. Seventy, your spirit. Eighty, your Class gets an upgrade that depends on your achievements. Ninety, your metaphorical heart gains strength. Finally, at level one-hundred, your class title changes to Legendary. After that, it seems to be different from person to person,” Nox shrugged.

“I’m not sure what happens after that since most people do not survive that long, and I’m-” he looked at Georgia before speaking again. “I’m not that strong yet.”

“What about Outworlders?” Colin asked. “They don’t stay dead, so shouldn’t that mean that there are at least a few?”

Georgia shrugged, “Not really, it takes a long time to level up, especially at higher levels. That’s even more so if you aren’t solely focused on advancing your personal level. So while there are a lot of Outworlders in this city alone, the highest level Outworlder that I’ve heard of is level seventy-eight.”

“What is the highest level Outworlder that you’ve heard of?” Colin asked, curious about what level he should be aiming for to be reasonably safe from his own people.

“Anywhere?” she clarified. “Like, anywhere in the world? Hmmm, I don’t know. I think I remember hearing of an Outworlder who became something called a Dragon Witch. I think she took over a providence in the Jasmine Confederacy and proclaimed that she was level ninety-three.”

Well, there went that reasonable amount of hope.

“Okay, I think I follow everything you guys are telling me,” Colin said, moving the information gathered aside until later. “Now that all that is out of the way, and I will be asking more questions later,” he gave Nox a look before turning to Georgia, “how long have you been following me?”

“Just since you left the Dungeon,” she answered. “Henrietta convinced me to meet with you so that you can ask me about the subclass.”

Colin nodded, feeling a little better now that he knew the woman hadn’t been stalking him for days, and he hadn’t noticed a thing. “I was hoping you’d give me your psionic class as my subclass,” he told her frankly.

The young woman smiled at Colin, all amusement and condescension in her face. “I could, you did rob that asshole Prince, and that does please me a lot. You also saved Daphne, gave Henrietta a cut off the top from everything you stole, and killed a Fey noble in the process. For all that, I might be willing to give you what you want. For a favor,” she said leadingly.

Sighing, “there is always something, isn’t there? Alright, what do you want?”

She smiled, “it’s actually pretty straight forward, and I will give you what you want now. All I want you to do is deliver a letter to Speaker Fahtagin of the Cult of Scylla. The address where it is to be delivered is on the letter, and all you have to do is make sure it gets into his hands alone. Sound acceptable?”

“A little too simple if you ask me,” Colin told her flatly. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“There is a chance that they will ask for a toll, which I will give you freely, and possibly they will likely give you a sermon about their faith and try to convert you. Those… crazy people will try to recruit anyone to their faith,” she said shrugging. “In all honesty, I couldn’t get anyone in my little group to do it because they’re all nervous that they’ll be sacrificed to their monster-goddess.”

Frowning a little, he asked, “that won’t happen, right?”

“I am ninety percent, Nah, ninety-five percent sure that won’t happen,” she said with a shrug. “For some reason, that did not inspire confidence.”

The task was simple, personal risk sounded low, and he had already been considering making a trip to the cult anyway. With his new and still unused Channel Effigy Skill, he figured there was a chance that monster-goddesses would apply with the skill. That was the prevailing theory given that Janaxi, the Demon he’d taken the skill from, was hoping to use it to channel the power of Archdemons.

“You have yourself a deal,” Colin said, extending a hand for Georgia to take.

She took it in both of hers and shook it vigorously, a broad grin on her face, “finally, I’ve been waiting for someone willing to take this message. So, do you want the Class now?”

Colin nodded, and Georgia flickered out of existence, only to reappear a second later, her nose a foot from his face. She raised both of her hands and placed them to the side of Colin’s head, horror movie fashion. “Consent given, and a choice made. With my mind to open yours, Walker, to what it may accomplish,” she said, her voice becoming distant to Colin’s ears with every word.

A faint buzzing in his ears had started when her hands touched him and just grew until it was all he could hear and feel in his brain. The pain moved in his head as something in there didn’t like what was happening and rejecting it. There was a tension in his head that he could somehow feel, like a jack-in-the-box that he figured would be bad if it popped. But he grit his metaphorical teeth and felt something in his head snap into place.

Congratulations! You have gained the Psychic subclass! For making the Psychic your subclass, you get fewer choices for your starting skill than one who’d chosen it for their base class. Your options are: Mental, Empathic, and Kinetic. (!Error! You already have Kinetic Magic Manipulation. Please choose from one of the other choices.) You have gained the Psychic Resonance Ability. Using your Charisma and Wisdom Attributes as modifiers, you may amplify the power of a single spell per day at a greater cost. Spell type doesn’t matter, as long as you can announce that you are using this ability at the same time as you are using the spell.

The receding pain made it hard to think, but to Colin, the choice felt easy. When another prompt appeared, he selected yes when it asked to confirm.

Congratulations! You have gained the Mental Magic Manipulation Skill level 1. You have gained the subskill, Memory Lapse. At level one of this skill, you make someone forget a small, inconsequential detail of a very recent memory that the skill holder is in. Time limit for skill cast: 30 seconds. Distance: 5 feet/ within sight. Mana cost: 50 mana.

A grin spread across Colin’s face after reading the subskill. That and every possibility it presented now and later when the skill leveled up.

“Thank you,” Colin said, genuine gratitude for the powers she’d given him coming through the smile.

“Sure,” she said, her own grin mirroring his. “The letter I asked you to deliver will be at the front desk of this fine establishment in the morning.”

Georgia turned to walk towards the edge of the roof before Colin called out. “Yes, is there something else?”

“No, just a question. What’s with the fancy get-up? You’re the leader of a group of sneak thieves and cat-burglars. I’m just not sure why you’re dressed like an upstanding fancy lady,” Colin asked, finally asking the one question Nox may not be able to answer.

“First of all, I am a fancy lady and don’t ever say otherwise. My Specialized Class helps me blend in with high society easily, I use it to get where I normally wouldn’t be able. The get-up is just a part of what I have to do.” she explained before falling through the floor and disappearing from sight.

“Wow,” Colin said. “Think I’ll be able to pull that off?”

“Not anytime soon, DevilWalker,” Nox told him frankly.

“Of course not,” Colin moaned. Then focused on what his plan was for the rest of the evening again. The visit from Georgia Bernz was unexpected but extremely welcome, and now it was time to go back to work.

Taking a deep breath, Colin sprinted towards the roof’s edge and dove off towards the next building.

Tucking into a roll, Colin stood up the instant his feet met the next building’s roof and just kept moving. Vaulting over boxes and vents, diving down buildings and grabbing onto ledges, and doing whatever he needed to keep moving. Parkour was something he’d been passable with it in real life, and here was no different. Now he was using it to get around quickly and work his way down to the ground. Which he did after almost minutes of sprinting, jumping, one shin bash with cast-iron railing, and crossing just over a mile across the rooftops.

On the ground, Colin was sitting against the side of a building, breathing heavily and shaking his head at the exhaustion. His body back on earth could have done that run faster, with less fatigue, and without hurting himself. It proved that he still wasn’t up to what his body on earth could have done and that the system didn’t have a skill for everything.

You have gained a new subskill for acrobatics; Parkour Level 3. You can run, skip, climb, and leap off of tall buildings without flagging. Exhaustion at the end of a Parkour session is reduced by 9%, mistake chance reduced by 3%, speed increased by 12%, time and activity needed to start a parkour session decreased by 15%.

“I stand corrected,” Colin stated, standing up and groaning as his right shin, in particular, did not agree with him.

Then he began to prowl. Colin kept his eyes and ears open with the late-night starting, hoping for an easy target. He walked slowly, every step deliberate and steady to carefully limit his noise and presence in the streets and alleys he walked. People, both players, and NPCs passed him as he made judgment calls on everyone. Most everyone minded their own business, but players just tended to be louder and evident in their armor or gaudy fantasy clothes.

Hell, he passed a woman in a Japanese school uniform, and his only thought was that McKenna had mentioned how cute she thought those looked. Another idea came to mind, but he shelved it for later when he wasn’t in the middle of something else.

After what felt like forever with his exhaustion, he found what he was looking for.

In his mid-thirties in plate armor, including greaves, pauldrons, and chainmail underneath it all, a man was walking out the back of a bar. His blonde hair was plastered to his head unnaturally, with a lime sticking out just behind his ear. He stumbled a little as he walked, and his gaze never wandered from the ground as if he needed to see where every step he took.

Yup, excellent for a first victim and test.

Colin watched the player as he walked through a few alleys, only one of which had anyone in it, and the bums barely looked as he passed by.

After a little time, Colin was walking openly behind him, and whoever he was didn’t even turn at his footsteps. Shrugging, Colin entered stealth and activated what buffs he had. Kinetic Vigor, Empowering Mana (Fire) and then triggered Aligned Strike.

His blade glowed a vicious bloody-red, and he thrust his Mythic Xiphos into the back of the man’s neck.

The blade sunk deep, but the man didn’t die. Reactivating Aligned Strike, Colin drew the blade out in a wide arc, widening the wound and dealing a lot more damage as the blade came free. Colin quickly plunged his blade into the man’s chest seconds before his mana pool ran dry to guarantee the player’s death.

You have killed an unknown player, and your ability Player Killer 1 has triggered. You gain 1501 EXP out of his held experience points to the next level. You now have 10189/9115 Experience remaining until level 11. Level Up! You are now level 11 and have 5 Attribute points to spend. You now have 1074/ 13,672 until level 12.

He looked down at his victim and considered trying to get what loot from the player he could but decided against it. This guy was already going to be pissed off that he was killed and lost power. He would be more so if he was looted and lost something important as well. So Colin left him alone, and only wiped his blade on what little cloth the man wore.

Making his way back to the hotel, satisfied with the level gained, he would not know that this was the rumor mill’s start back on earth.

When the man Colin killed logged off for the night, he immediately went onto the most popular forum for Resengard Worldwide. He went onto a long-winded rant that was sixty percent a lie and didn’t even mention that he was drunk. This forum page became one of the longest and most debated topics after a mere week of discussion. Victim after victim came forward and said that they were killed in the city of BriarThorn.

The legend of the BriarThorn Killer had begun, alongside Colin’s first reign of slaughter.