Alf dove to the side as a giant sword cut a deep trench in ground—right where he’d just been standing.

Rolling onto his feet, he swung his cane as hard as he could into the back of the giant’s thigh, but the stick buzzed in his hand with the metallic clank of wood striking solid steel.

Didn’t think so… He circled around the giant and sprinted for a thick stand of trees. Booming footsteps shook the ground as he threaded the two-foot gap between a pair of medium-sized pines. That should slow him down.

The thwack of splintering wood rang out behind him. Scrapes and snaps and pops pursued him until the crown of a falling tree crashed down on top of him, swatting him to the ground.

He flailed beneath the branches, too stunned to distinguish up from down. Fifty points of damage in a single hit. If the giant brushed him with as much as his little finger, he was as good as dead. Alf rolled onto his hands and knees and started crawling, pushing through the thickest, darkest parts of the underbrush.

The ground shook with the whacks and stomps and chops of his pursuer. Crawling out into a moon-lit clearing, Alf pushed onto his feet and ran. A backward glance revealed that the giant’s skin was a dark shade of grayish green. It had tusks like an wild boar or possibly an orc. Were orcs supposed to be fifteen feet tall? And since when did orcs wear plate armor?

The monster let out a roar and crashed after him, closing the distance between them with enormous seven-foot-long strides.

The thing was too fast. He was fresh out of options. He lowered his head and ran. Across the clearing, through the trees, veering left and right and left again, he gradually circled back towards the cave. Orcs were supposed to be stupid, right? And based on the way it plowed through the trees instead of going around them, it either had bad eyesight or too much momentum or both. He was counting on at least one of those options. Two would be a bonus.

Just as his stamina dropped below ten, he spotted the path leading up to his cave. By the time he reached the top of the hill, the giant was less than ten feet behind him.

The swoosh of a sword sounded inches from his head. He plowed through the thorny hedge, leaving a trail of blood and HP. The rim of the bowl-shaped valley sloped downwards at an impossibly steep incline. All the way to the pond. He plunged down the hill, bounding and sliding and windmilling his arms in a vain effort to stay on his feet.

And the giant was right behind him. If it swung its sword now, he’d be an ex-Alf.

Then he went down. Tucking into a loose ball, he bounced and jolted and flopped into a five-point, chest-abrading skid.

A heavily armored foot slammed into Alf’s side and then there was a loud splash.

Alf hit the water a second after the giant. Crashing waves and the turbulence of massive flailing limbs threatened to pull him under, but unlike the giant, he wasn’t wearing plate mail. After the waves quieted, he swam to the edge of the pond and dragged himself onto the shore. Two dialogs popped up to fill his field of vision.

Congratulations! You have defeated the High Orc.

Reward: 1600 EXP

Congratulations! You have attained Level 5.

Reward:

Ten character classes have been unlocked.

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 3 Skill Points

Alf dragged himself back onto his feet and hurried back to the cave, pulling up his attributes sheet as he ran. Select paladin! He pounded up the steps and ducked into the dark cave. His chest constricted for an heart-stopping second, but he finally located the patch of darkness that was Blix. Extending a hesitant hand, he gently touched her shoulder. Good, she was still warm. He let out his breath with a hissing sigh and rolled her gently onto her back.

The cave was too dark to be sure, but it seemed like her chest was still bleeding. Less than before, maybe. It was more sticky than wet, but oozing nonetheless. He pressed his palm to the wound focused on his 784 mana points, willing them to move to Blix. First aid, he flung the thought at the wound. Drain blood from her lungs! Suck out the air from the pleural cavity! Heal!

His palm tingled and his mana decreased by five.

“Blix, can you hear me?” He probed the wound with his fingertips. He couldn’t tell if it had changed or not. “Blix?”

He checked his skills and found a new entry:

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 1: (EL: 2.8, Cost: 5, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 8.4 points)

He focused on his six skill points and applied two of them to his new healing spell.

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 3: (EL: 8.4, Cost: 15, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 25.2 points)

Twenty-five points was more like it. He tried healing her again, but other than the further reduction of his mana, he couldn’t tell that it had any effect. So he put his four remaining skill points into healing.

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 5: (EL: 14, Cost: 25, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 42 points)

Major Healing 2: (EL: 5.6, Cost: 35, Freq: 1/hr, Effect: 200cc tissue regen)

That was unexpected. Apparently, five was the max for Minor Healing. Which totally worked in his favor. Major Healing sounded like the very thing he needed. He carefully placed his hand over the puncture wound and focused on Major Healing.

Intense pain shot down his arm and flowed into his hand. For what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to a minute, his hand felt like it was being stung by a swarm of hornets. When the pain finally faded, he ran his fingers over Blix’s ribs. Her skin was still sticky, but the skin was unbroken and smooth as silk.

* * *

Name: Jane

Level: 5

Class: Paladin

Health: 23/225

Stamina: 14/195

Mana: 729/784

Exp: 15/2800

Attr Points: 3

Skill Points: 0

ST: 13

DX: 11

CN: 15

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 7: (Effective Skill: 9.8, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 29.4%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1.23, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 3.7%)

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.95, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.85%)

Spells: (Basis IQ)

Minor Healing 5: (EL: 14, Cost: 25, Freq: unlimited, Effect: 42 points)

Major Healing 2: (EL: 5.6, Cost: 35, Freq: 1/hr, Effect: 200cc tissue regen)