"Well, the good news is it's not getting ready to ambush us," Jack said.

Before flinching back as stone exploded just around the bend, frenzied tentacles smashing against the shoulder of the tunnel as it turned.

"Bad news is it's ready, waiting, and furious," whispered an awed looking Mitch. "Shit. It hits so hard the wall cracked. This is no fucking low level 'balanced' quest anything!"

"True," Jack said, frowning thoughtfully. "I don't suppose any of you have any sort of accelerant?"

Jacob frowned at him, before flashing a sudden smile. "You mean like flasks of oil, every adventurer's friend, even though our witch knows a will-o-wisp spell and we have a back-up glow stone?"

"And of course Sin has a Low-Light perk I'm pretty sure he'll turn to full on Darkvision as soon as he can," muttered Sharon.

Jack chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, wishful thinking," he thought. Before realizing he was being a complete idiot.

A trembling hand slipped into his mother's pouch of holding, as he carefully watched the furious flurry of monster tenderils slamming into the side of the cavern with greater intensity as the stone lurker prepared to turn the bend.

Only to pull out not just a single flask but a crate of brandy flasks. one of several he had flipped into his pouch of holding in his hasty efforts to clear space and free a handful of girls he had known all his life.

Mitch hissed. "Jeezus. Don't tell me you actually have a bag of holding?"

A part of Jack knew he was a fool, even to have shown it. But if he couldn't trust his team at this point... he and they really were a lost cause already.

So he said nothing, just passing flasks to Mitch. "Now's not the time for me to worry about leveling up my damned throwing skill. But for you to do what only someone with near Olympian stats to do."

Mitch flashed a grin, still axeless, though with a backup falchion at his hip. And with a single powerful throw, he validated the path he had taken and the stat boon he had earned with his choice when the reinforced flask ruptured without a hitch, timed just right to splash not one but three tentacles.

"Ignis Fons!" Jack roared for all he was worth, hot flame lashing out to bathe the brandy-covered limbs, already flammable, and now covered with an accelerant.

The hall blazed brightly and their ears bled with renewed shrieks.

But all of them stood firm, none fleeing as much as terror crawled up their spine.

Once more you have faced and overcome living nightmare, as you face horrors far beyond your level! You have achieved a permanent +1 to Willpower!

Wordlessly Jack passed his companion another flask. Resulting in another perfect throw and an explosion of flame with hiss ever improving spell.

And this time when the shrieks sharpened in pitch and the deadly barrage abruptly cut off, Jack and Sharon dove around the bend, their armor and clothing soaked through by his water spout, such that they ignored the roaring flames as they dove and struck as one.

"Ignis Fons!"

"Sublimato!"

"Ignis Fons!" Jack screamed, ignoring the scent of his own burning hair as the tufts escaping his elemental helm began to burn, his ice shield held at the ready to block the remaining two pseudopods, both covered in liquid flame.

So when both lashed out like serpents eager for the kill, Jack was ready, parrying for all he was worth.

"Sublimato!" As Sharon's deadly spell dissolved completely through the trunk of one tendril, the other sending Jack crashing to his knees, crying out with sudden pain.

Left forearm bruised! You have taken one Light Wound. You have kept your balance! Arm saves against breakage. Willpower check made!

Doing all he could to parry the now madly whipping tendril, holding his shield in both hands as the barrage of blows pounded into his shield, bruising and stunning him, for all that the shield held.

For now.

"Jack!"

But dizzy and stunned, coughing on thick smoke, Jack knew he wasn't going anywhere as the creature they fought howled and spasmed, before its final limb spasmed under the weight of unexpected words.

"May the spirits of folly and woe unite! Hinder this foe, so we might survive this night!"

And there was Lauren, looking so fierce and proud, despite the terror so clearly in her eyes as she dashed around the lip of the corner, fresh air from the windstorm now surrounding her allowing Jack to breathe smoke free gulps of air, clearing his woozy head in time to appreciate the sight of the howling monstrosity lurching back before turning an odd shade of purple, its one remaining intact limb frantically spasming as pustules and ruptures exploded all over it's flesh.

Opening wide its beak as if wheezing for air or whatever that abomination used to maintain itself.

Sharon chuckled with fierce satisfaction. "Perfect," she said.

"Sublimato!" She screamed, and this time her stream of bilious green orbs rammed right down the creatures open beak, with no limb or thrashing to block the strike.

And the glorious rush of euphoria Jack felt as his body was absolutely flooded with fierce sweet potency of a kill far beyond their level was almost but not quite as great as the agony he felt when both his eardrums ruptured.

Vitality check failed! Both eardrums have been ruptured. You have been deafened! -2 to all orientation checks. -5 to all communication checks.

Stone Lurker slain! Experience Earned!

Firestream is now Apprentice Rank 5!

Firestream is now Journeyman Rank 1!

You may choose a specialization.

You have chosen Potent Flame! (Choice retroactively made) All Potent Flame damage will be multiplied an additional 25%! Opponents have -4 to all skillchecks to counter your Potent Flame!

Firestream is now Journeyman Rank 2!

Firestream is now Journeyman Rank 3!

Ice Shield is now Apprentice Rank 5!

Ice Shield is now Journeyman Rank 1!

You may choose a specialization. (Choice retroactively made) Elementalist aptitude allows for Resilient Ice Shield! Your Ice Shield now has a bit of the resilience and flexibility of Mother Earth itself! In addition to absorbing 5 points per rank of damage from every blow parried, your Ice Shield also has HP = to 5x skill rank. Damage to shield beyond amount automatically absorbed will be drawn from this HP pool before shield bursts and the damage falls to you!

Ice Shield is now Journeyman Rank 2!

Shield and Weapon skill is now Apprentice Rank 2!

Shield and Weapon skill is now Apprentice Rank 3!

Spellboost is now Novice Rank 2!

Spellboost is now Novice Rank 3!

Jack wanted to shout for joy. Before frowning, realizing he couldn't hear a thing.

A bit dizzy, he turned around, catching the awed gazes and brilliant smiles on the faces of his group, but couldn't understand a word they were saying.

Mitch frowned, and yelled something, if his expression was anything to go by.

Jack shrugged and pointed to his ear, earning surprised looks and silent words that made it clear everyone else could hear just fine.

The golden light washing over him made him smile with relief.

The pain was gone.

But he still couldn't hear.

His heart skipped a beat, feeling suddenly disoriented and vulnerable, sudden thoughts of them abandoning him filling his head. But by the concerned looks they gave, pointing forward as if trying to communicate, made it clear they were going to go further ahead.

And it was Sharon who had the brilliant idea to pull up a charcole stick and a piece of tanned rawhide and write words in a language he had never seen before... and knew like the back of his hand.

We are going to rescue Sin. You follow us and shoot water or fire wherever Mitch points.

Jack held up a finger, already knowing what he had to do.

Reaching into his pouch of holding.

Pulling one of his precious healing potions out, infused with his own blood, his own experience points, and drunk deep.

skillcheck success! Congratulations, your healing has been restored!"

"Jack?"

Jack smiled and nodded his relief. "It's okay. I can hear fine now. So, let's go see what trouble Sin's gotten himself into, shall we?"

Mitch chuckled with relief, a powerful hand clapping him on his back. "Damn right we will. And with any luck, we'll be hitting level 4 by the time we pull his ass out of the fire!" his gaze was sympathetic, despite his smile. "That's right, you're not leveling at all. Sorry about that, but damn we're glad to have you on our team."

"That's alright," Jack said, flashing a reassuring smile. "My Firestream's already hit Journeyman Rank 3, and I have a Potent Flame Perk on it now. That's bringing me an effective 175% damage increase over and above baseline!"

And his Ice shield would mitigate any attack doing less than 60 damage, with an additional 60 HP to absorb damage over an above that 60, so it wouldn't shatter like a mirror when it finally broke. Of course, as ebullient as this made him, the hairline cracks and awful bruises Jack had sensed in his shield arm before the paladin in their party managed to heal that, even if not his eardrums, made it clear that some damage did bleed through. It was clear that Master Yohan's elite spell hadn't been made with monstrous smashing tentacles in mind. Still, it was a lifesaver he was incredibly grateful to have in his arsenal.

His ebullient cheer turned to uncertainty by the cool looks he was suddenly on the receiving end of.

"Did you say Journeyman Rank 3?" asked a stonefaced Sharon.

Jack swallowed. "Um... yes?"

Her angry gaze met his own for long moments before she chuckled ruefully, shaking her head, and the anxious pressure Jack had felt in the back of his throat instantly dissipated.

"Jeeze, you lucky, lucky bastard. Do you have any idea, any idea at all, how long it took us to train up through the apprentice ranks for our favored spells? Months, Jack! Not days, not weeks, but diligent practice every damn day for nearly 2 months! And that was just to hit Apprentice Rank 4!"

Jack blinked, feeling a sudden chill. Hadn't his friends said they had only been awake for 2 weeks? He smiled and forbore to comment, however, having sensed nothing but sincerity from Sharon from the moment they met.

She smirked and punched his arm, her eyes twinkling with an odd mixture of envy and appreciation. "And Journeyman. Don't even get me started on that! You do know that improving individual spells is how almost all NPC mages advance in this world, Right? Not spell schools. Only a few have that sort of talent, and how they crow about it when they do, but skills. Do you want to know how long it takes a diligent mage, the equivalent of a Grad student, to get through the Journeyman Ranks, and finally hit Adept, where they're instantly the equivalent of decorated officers or lesser nobles if their skills are military, or esteemed specialists making a fortune as enchanters or the like if their spells are practical? Years. It takes them years, if ever!"

She chuckled, shaking her head as they made their way past the massive hideous corpse now blocking so much of the tunnel. "But who the fuck am I to complain? If you didn't have the knack you so clearly do, if Lauren didn't have that epic tier 3 curse disrupting the man flows of magical critters and any mage about to cast a spell, if I hadn't invested my last saved point in bringing my Dissolution Orbs to Journeyman status and getting a Potency Perk myself, so we could crush this bastard... we'd all probably be dead right now."

"I think maybe that's Jack's class," said Lauren. "Maybe he really is a Jack of all Trades. He's not leveling up like we are, he doesn't have a class sphere to rank up for wicked damage bonuses and cheaper casting, but he can rank up skills and spells incredibly fast."

"Is that how it works for you?" Asked Mitch, as they proceeded forward again, this time no one complaining as Jack took the time to scorch any suspicious looking wall or ceiling at maximum range of his now larger than ever flame, thankfully finding absolutely nothing but dull grey stone.

Jack shrugged noncommittally, not wanting to inadvertently flex any more than he already had. "Well, certainly I have no class, and I couldn't be happier that I got a few skillups with that epic kill."

Mitch frowned. "Not to knock you or anything, but that makes you pretty damned limited. Long term, I mean."

"How so?"

"Well, you're missing out on the stat boosts that come with leveling up and the hit point pool you'd need to survive as a warrior. And if you have no Class sphere of magic to level up, how can you power up your spells, or learn higher tier ones?"

"I can answer that," said Sharon. "It's a bit different for everyone, from what I can tell. But in general, every novice tier gives you a 5% bonus to damage. That goes up to 10% For Apprentice Ranks, 15% to Journeyman ranks, and so on. It's additive, so the numbers aren't crazy, but Elite or Master casters are shooting spells for 500% or more damage. There's also a reduction in mana cost, but our mentor said that really does depend on the person.

She flashed Jack a sympathetic smile. "But almost no one skills up an individual spell that high. And having ranks in the underlying school of magic, or your class sphere, which might include multiple schools of magic, really makes a massive difference. For example, with 5 Levels in my Enhancer magic sphere, I multiply my Journeyman bonus of 90% by my Potency bonus of 25% by my 166% enhancer bonus, or 1.9 x 1.25 x 2.66, to get my final damage total for my Dissolution Orbs. That's around 630% in total!

Jack whistled. "So you're You're ripping out Dissolution Orbs for over 6 times base damage. No wonder the tentacles were dissolving off that horror!"

Sharon flashed a pleased smile. "Damn right I am. Between you, me, and Lauren, we're kicking some serious ass."

"Aren't we?" Agreed Lauren, flashing a grin at her man. "I'm just glad we have our men in steel by our sides, covering our asses while we do so."

"Always happy to help you there, babe," smirked Mitch. "But Jack's still stuck casting Tier 1 spells."

Lauren kissed his cheek. "Any NPC that achieves Adept rank in any Tier 1 spell can learn the related Tier 2 Spell. That's why those apprentice wizards we befriended back in Greyspeak are so motivated to study and train at the academy. And for the truly gifted that can rank up a Tier 2 spell to Adept and achieve a Tier 3 spell? They becomes part of a very elite, very influential group of mages."

Mitch smiled and nodded. "Alright, that makes sense. Still sounds like a lot of work, though. Between you and me? I'd much rather level up over a handful of adventures and gain a titan's strength in record time, flexing the power would take them decades to achieve."

Lauren laughed, gazing fondly at her friends. "I think that holds true for all of us." She flashed Sharon a sympathetic smile as Jack continued to light the way ahead with flashes of his Firstream spell. "Sorry about that point you had to spend."

Her friend shrugged. "It's cool. That point would be worthless if I was dead, and I could feel how much deadlier it was after I boosted it and picked the Potency Perk, and it will now be so much harder for any monster to resist or block it. Besides, Dissolution Orbs is a damn useful spell, even if it's just Tier 2, and now I'm more motivated than ever to rank up the skill to Adept, and seeing just how far I can go with it." She flashed her suddenly worried-looking friend a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I mean to rank it up via my own sweat and effort. Not wasting points. Next level, I'm getting rank 6 for my Enhancer Spell Sphere and finally picking a sweet Tier 3 spell of my own!"

Lauren smiled and nodded. "That's the way to do it, sister!"

Then Jacob froze, raising his fist. "Do you guys here that?"

Jack froze, hearing nothing.

Until he did.

A desperate cry and a panicked shout from a voice Jack instantly recognized.

"No time to waste, run!"