I stomped on the ground producing a wave of molten rock in front of me. The charging swarm carrier, which had once been a massive boar, sunk into the superheated rock. It tried throwing leeches my way but the superheated air cooked them before they made it to me.

I made sure that none of the leeches escaped my attack.

This had been the fourth swarm creature we had come across in the last few hours.

“Is it just me or are we encountering them quicker than before?” I asked.

“Seems that way, you think we are getting close to their point of origin?”

“I don’t know, these creatures could have spread for hundreds of miles for all we know. Best to kill any we find though. Besides they are great for experience. I’m almost halfway to level seventeen already. You must be getting close to twenty, right?”

“I have a ways to go yet, remember the experience deficit I get?”

I hadn’t forgotten but I had hoped it wasn’t as severe anymore. I guess my hope was misplaced. I simply nodded as we moved farther into the jungle.

Fiona was a massive asset in our hunt for the creatures. She pointed me in the right direction and I dealt with the infected creature. This worked well and I only got infected one more time. Fiona was about to force us to stop right then and there but she stumbled upon something.

“You need to see this, come quickly.”

I followed Fiona as she wove her way through the dense underbrush. She kept her physical form and used her sword to slash a quick path through. What awaited on the other side of that jungle gave me pause. There was a large sinkhole, maybe a hundred meters in diameter but that wasn’t what concerned me, it was the writhing mass of leeches that covered the entire floor and most of the wall of the sinkhole.

Among that mass, I could see at least a dozen infected creatures at the bottom of the pit. Their bodies writhed as the leeches devoured their insides to produce more of themselves. The sight made me sick.

“I don’t think I'll be able to kill them all with one attack.”

“There is no way I’m letting you go down there,” Fiona argued.

“We can’t just leave them to propagate,” I countered.

“Who said anything about leaving them? Let's bring the fortress over and just blast the hole to bits.”

“Fine, but I’m still going to do a thorough cleaning with my abilities after, it wouldn’t do much good if we let one escape.”

“Fine,” she eventually replied.

So that’s what we did. We returned to the fortress and flew it back to the sinkhole. I didn’t use the mana cannons though, they weren’t designed to aim straight down. Instead, I utilized the defensive perimeter built into the fortress to turn the entire pit into an enormous bug zapper.

It might have been overkill, considering the lightning defense had been designed to kill things with much more health, but I must admit it was effective.

What greeted us afterward was a pit filled with ash. I still used my skills to tear up the floor of the sinkhole and surrounding walls to make sure none of the creatures had hidden or burrowed within.

Our efforts had been worth it as Fiona, finally ticked over to level twenty despite her deficit. With that came another big change. I only learned about this change when Fiona nearly tackled me to the ground with a bone-crushing hug.

“Oof… What's all this about?”

She released me and smiled. “Check out my class.”

I used Identify on her and was surprised at what I saw.

Fiona Clark | Spiritual Sword Dancer | 20

“You got your class back?” I asked in astonishment.

Her grin nearly split her face as she nodded at me. “I also got all of my old skills back and kept my new ones.

“That’s fantastic, any other changes?”

She read off the message she got from the system.

Your dedication to protecting your companion has been deemed exemplary. You will no longer be bound or restricted. May your new life be full of joy and companionship

It meant that Fiona was well… Fiona again. She wasn’t bound to me and she would no longer suffer under her experience penalty. She could also maintain her solid human form indefinitely. With her spiritual powers though, she would be a devastating opponent to fight. We also did a test of some light healing and no matter what form she took she no longer suffered damage from being healed. I guessed spiritual and spectral were two separate things. It was good to know in case I ran across other spiritual creatures.

After some more congratulations, we finished making sure the sinkhole was clear of those creatures.

“So, what class are you taking for your second?” I asked after we were safely inside the fortress.

“I’m honestly not sure. I never expected this day to come or be given back my abilities from my previous life. It's all a bit overwhelming if I’m honest.”

“I can certainly understand that. Would it be overreaching if I offered my opinion?”

She shook her head.

“Well, you have two options. Go all in as the world's most badass woman with a blade by picking a class that complements your first one. Or you could choose a complementary class that works with your abilities but doesn’t limit you to only being a swordswoman. I don’t know what classes these could be but take your time to decide. I think we can rest nearby for a few days.”

“Thank you for everything. I will think on your words and look over classes before I decide.”

I tilted my head slightly in reply and gave her a smile. I was overjoyed that she was no longer forcefully bound to me. There was a small part of me that was sad that she was no longer my companion but I kicked that piece of my mind into submission. She was still my friend and ally.

As Fiona walked off to her room to think, I decided to go over my gains. I had hit level seventeen in Maw of the Void after using the fortress to kill off the colony of leeches.

As with most levels, I didn’t gain anything except two more free ability slots. Fighting the leeches and the gorlophants didn’t earn me any skills either because they weren’t sapient creatures. That was fine, I had been neglecting my skill clean up anyway due to how busy I had been. I took the time to look over my skills and see what needed to go. As I had a few days of rest, this would be the perfect time to get rid of some.

Boiling Oil was the first on the list to go along with one of the useless skills I got from killing off Javier’s people. I checked to see what Void Lottery netted me.

Festering Wound: Causes the next open wound you inflict to start to fester. Deals 2 damage per second until removed. This is considered unholy damage and can be Cleansed. Cost 25 mana, cooldown 15sec

At first, the spell didn’t sound all that great. But it didn’t have a time limit and I suspected the effects would stack with each open wound I inflicted while the skill was active. While my main weapons didn’t usually open wounds, that was fine. Since the spell only said next open wound and not next weapon strike, I may be able to add it to some of my magical attacks. I would have to test some possibilities.

There were a few other skills I still wasn’t sure I wanted to hang onto. Hex Circle, I still hadn’t used or even thought about. And honestly, Area of Denial was becoming nearly useless. What had once been my main defensive skill was now relegated to absorbing one attack. Even my Enhanced Shield skill was almost more useful at this point. It's too bad it only absorbed a portion of damage instead of all damage.

Banshee’s Wail and Protection saw very little use anymore. Shroud was another skill that had become nearly useless as my enemies became stronger and had abilities to see through the magical fog. Before today, I might have also tossed Beacon into the mix but if it wasn’t for that skill I would have died to the first Swarm Beast. And while I hadn’t used Silence yet, I had an idea for that.

After some more thought, I got rid of Hex Circle as it didn’t really fit my fighting style and Shroud. I may have kept Hex Circle if it worked with anything besides magical chalk, besides it required a smooth flat surface just to draw it on. Making it useless in most situations.

Point Defense: A burst of magical energy will automatically intercept oncoming projectiles, destroying them. Lasts for 30sec. Cost 15 mana per projectile, cooldown 3 min

The skill was a bit odd, not something I had ever seen before. But it would be handy. I would have to watch it closely though as it could eat through my mana quickly. I wondered what it considered projectiles. I would have to test its limits. If it considered those leeches that were flung at me a projectile, that might come in very handy.

With the skills out of the way that left me with eleven open skill slots. I would have to find some creatures that I could get some skills from to fill those empty slots. In the meantime, it was time to rest and recuperate.

***

The next few days went by pretty swiftly. Fiona was still going over her choices for a second class while I practiced with my new abilities to help integrate them with my combat. This was something new for me but having used Cage of Vengeance for the first time and finding myself so restricted on ways to hurt my opponent, I figured I needed to test abilities before I got into combat.

Rampaging and throwing out random abilities during a fight would only get me so far. It may work on bestial opponents but fighting people was another matter entirely. I only had to reflect back on my fights with truly strong people to see that.

My fight with Randy Cotton was a good example. I had only survived due to dumb luck, something I expected was only made possible thanks to his meddling with fate. My combat skills were only average at best. I could still leverage that along with my unique abilities to overcome stronger opponents though.

With that in mind, I spent almost an entire day sparring with Fiona. My first test was to check the limits of point defense.

She hurled fist-sized rocks at me as quickly as she could. The spell would gather mana from my body and intercept the rocks, either deflecting them or blowing them apart. It was quite effective against rocks. We did have a bow but Fiona was only passable at firing the weapon. The spell worked as advertised and impacted the incoming arrow, causing it to explode.

Fiona didn’t have any ranged magic to test my new spell, but she did have her Reflect ability again. Unfortunately, it didn’t work with the prismatic rapier and its ability to cancel magic. She was able to switch back to her old sword though. I learned that most spells that were fired were considered a projectile by my defensive magic. As long as they were reflected directly at me. I learned that if Fiona targeted the ground near me my spell failed to intercept the attack.

It was an important thing to know and could have caused me to get seriously hurt during a battle had I not been aware of the limitation.

Fiona had also finally chosen her second class. And I understood why.

Fiona Clark | Spiritual Sword Dancer/Duelist | 20/1

The choice she made was a sound one. She had been easily taken out by a wielder of that same class. Yet that wasn’t the only reason she decided on that class. It gave her the ability to dual-wield her rapier and longsword. An arguably deadly combination, only made more so by her ability to now either deflect magic or nullify it. Her first level also gave her a skill called Sole Opponent which prevented anyone from interfering in a fight she was having. I had no idea what magic fuckery made that work.

I honestly thought the combination was more terrifying than Randy Cotton’s and he bent fate and controlled time to some degree. A quick duel showed that it was a formidable combination as I was hard-pressed to beat her even with my seventeen levels on her.