Jenna and Valeria had gotten through their excursion well, a lot better than Elisa in any case. The redhead had taken down eight Trembler Moles in her strive to unlock the basic axe-wielding skill, and she looked like it too. Her face, hair, borrowed armor, and clothes had been drenched in blood when they had returned.

Cyn had mumbled something along the lines of how you should expect to be blooded when using such crude tools as axes. The comment had not gone over well and driven Liana’s peer into obvious discomfort and sadness.

Liana, while maintaining an effort to not get into the bad graces of the escort, had only somewhat comforted the girl, but the others had done plenty.

Maybe, it had been the fact that the other girl had been drenched in blood but she wasn’t going to tell anyone.

Jenna and Valeria had both disappeared for quite some time as well, especially Valeria, who had to venture into two corridors due to taking longer with getting the desired skill. Both however didn’t return with nearly as much blood on their bodies.

“Let’s get this over with. You ready to go?” the woman - who had just suddenly melded out of the floor - asked. The question wasn’t really one, she now knew. Cyn hadn’t taken kindly to having to wait longer for lunch than necessary and the woman seemed to be growing bored.

Liana just nodded. With swift steps, she followed the woman into the fifth shaft they had found branching off the main path.

“You’ll have it a bit more difficult than the others, just so you are warned. Depending on the level of the specific mole you are fighting you have up to a minute and as little as half to kill it before their movement impediment is rescinded. You need to go for the vital spots. I would recommend going for yes, snout, and ears. If you manage to damage those sufficiently them getting loose won’t be an issue either. Don’t forget that they can move their bodies just not their location.”

“Ok,” Liana just responded with a heavy heart. She had felt a bit queasy each time one of her peers had returned covered with blood, now she would experience the same. She would endure. The chance she had received, a one-time offer by the dukedom for all children of their age, was quite expensive and she would not let it go to waste. An old tradition still thoroughly enforced.

Combat skills were weird in how they worked. You could train each of them in their first rank without ever killing or fighting anyone. However, to initially obtain them though both - killing and fighting - were required. The reason behind the tradition came from military might. Each larger government would benefit from its citizens having the opportunity to pick up combat skills on a whim so they offered the chance early to obtain a bit of goodwill.

With trembling steps, Liana followed Susan into the unknown. Each step took them further away from the last vestiges of familiarity in this unknown place. The prickling in her belly intensified. She was nervous but tried to not let it show.

After another small bend in the tunnel, they encountered the first monster.

As Liana looked at the beast she somehow knew what it was.

Trembler Mole Lvl 3

There was nothing on or around the mole-like creature that vibrated in front of her that could have given her that information. Its grey fur almost covered its entire body, barring the long snout that ended in several fleshy whiskers. Where she would have expected eyes to be there was nothing just a flat surface. Which would have made sense to Liana if the creature lived in a dark place. This cavern - no this rift - was better illuminated than her home, so eyes should be appropriate. Slight protrusions on each side of its head indicated likely spots for ears or maybe the missing eyes.

“They primarily sense through vibrations in the ground as far as we can tell, so I recommend going for their appendages first. I encased their legs in rock, as you can see, to make them immobile,” her escort informed her.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the proper approach is to defeating them with unarmed fighting. Only thing you really need to look out for is that they can cause some pain through contact with their snouts. It probably is just easiest to hit them from behind. There is nothing bad about abusing an advantage. Don’t feel bad about hurting it. ”

With wiggling legs she slowly approached the mole monster, gathering up her spirit.

It didn’t work. She just couldn’t hit an innocent and even a cute-looking creature.

Sure, the snout was disturbing but that was not a reason to hit something otherwise so cute. What sort of person could, she asked herself.

“I… I don’t think I can,” she whispered, standing just a few feet away from the creature. Her head no longer held up but drooped down and a tear in the corner of her eye.

“Alright, you aren’t the first or last who can’t stomach it. What about we make a deal. I can either show you, that those things aren’t harmless, in fact quite aggressive. Or we can just leave. Cyn would love the second option, just so you know,” the calm woman joked.

“I don’t know,” she said, eyeing her instructor.

“Alright, let’s try the first option then. How about you stand a bit further behind me and I’ll just let it go?” With a movement of her hand, she pushed Liana softly back not waiting for a response from the girl.

After a few more steps Liana stopped on her own and waited for Susan to take further action.

Out of a sheath, she wore on her right side she grabbed a knife, bowed down to the ground, and knocked slightly with the hilt.

In just an instance the stoney encasement of the mole's legs crumbled. As soon as the mole was freed from its restraints it started moving in a flurry. Though not how Liana expected. Instead of running away, further into the tunnel, it charged straight at Susan.

She tried to ready a scream, to warn the woman, but before the shout could exit her mouth her heartbeat quicked even more and her brain screamed at her to run. The mole wasn’t charging at Susan anymore. It had wound through the woman's legs and was charging straight at her. Its small claws scratching over the ground, the sounds echoing throughout the cavern.

“Quick little things, aye,” Susan grinned while jogging just a few paces behind the mole.

The mole caught up quickly, even though Liana was running with all her might.

As she glanced behind, trying to find a better way to escape the vicious pursuit, the knee-high creature convulsed in an odd way. Expecting it to jump at her, she leaned forwards, readying a jump herself. A jump never came and Liana stumbled across the floor. Escaping a seemingly half-assed slash of one of its hideous claws.

The moment her eyes focused on the no longer moving creature she saw it had a dagger in its back and was increasingly encased in stone.

Out of breath, not because of the physical exertion but because of the stress she tried to keep still. Gathering herself took a while.

Your Party has slain Trembler Mole Lvl 3. No experience awarded.

“Need any more proof?” the grinning adult asked.

“No, I think I am ok,” she said, seriously reconsidering her and her parents' decision. To just abandon the entire goal crossed her head for a second too. There was the chance that Ms Rashan would help her unlock the skill and a few others during her apprenticeship but betting on an unknown was a poor decision.

And the end situation would still be the same, maybe worse.

She wouldn’t be happy about what she had to do but she would do it. If only to make her parents happy. Parents she wouldn’t get to see for over four years after tomorrow.

With determined steps, Liana led the path further into the tunnel.

The next mole they approached was slightly smaller.

Adolescent Trembler Mole Lvl 2

“Lower level. Might be good for an initial try. But don’t get your hopes up on getting a skill with this one,” the woman said. “Go ahead. Don’t be shy.”

Trying to recall what she had been taught since entering the rift she squared her shoulders, shifted her weight, and clenched her firsts.

Her sweaty hands placed ahead of her shoulders she took one last breath before engaging the monster.

Her first hit was enough to make two things certain in her mind. Feeling the soft flesh of the mole give way under her admittedly above average hits was utterly disgusting and reaching down to hit the beast was uncomfortable as well as required her to throw most of her previous instructions into the wind.

Almost puking when experiencing the feeling of squished flesh she leaned against the wall breathing for a moment. She was on the clock now but she also had to get her act together.

As luck would have it, she hadn’t struck a bone. Just imagining the sound of bone snapping or crunching was enough to make her reconsider her choice of [Unarmed Fighting]. But she had chosen her path forward and she would be out of here soon enough.

With another shiver running through her she turned away from the wall facing the monster again.

Seventy seconds remaining at most, gotta hurry, she thought.

Eliciting pain and destruction with her hands in itself felt wrong. Having only ever used her hands to create stuff or help people it felt wrong to sully them with the death she would have to bring about.

This all resulted in her choosing a different approach to attack. Liana didn’t have such high standards for her feet, having crushed plenty of insects through the sole of her shoes already.

Given the creature's height, it proved easy to stomp down on it. Always positioned behind the monsters she brought her feet down frequently. To avoid contact with the mole’s snout she backtracked several steps after each stomp.

Even though having incased its claws in stone, and adhered to the floor, it proved impossible to always dodge the snout.

After her third stomp something gave. For just a moment she just phased out, shocked by having caused actual damage to a living being. The next instance her leg was touched by the snout.

With two lairs of clothes, one of armor and one mundane she didn’t expect much to happened. She was wrong.

Screaming in agony her first reaction was to smash down again, and only afterward did she pull away. The injury incited felt like her skin was torn away from the rest of her body in a searing sensation.

After a few breaths, she had herself under control, again. She wanted nothing as much as return to her parents, to be gone from this cursed place and in their embrace. The promise given to her parents a few days prior, to strive for the best she could, reminded her to stay and not run.

“Hurts like a bitch am I right? Gonna be honest, it is really uncomfortable, almost like a burn. You’ll probably have blisters for a few days but nothing permanent,” the woman consoled her. “But you better go back to finishing this thing. You can calm down all you want later. Forty seconds remaining would be my guess”

Eventually, Liana lost count of how often she had stomped down on the creature. Whereas she couldn’t stomach witnessing her hits, in the beginning, she grew slightly callous, after the first counterattack.

Now she actively observed how much pain and damage each stomp caused. Her focus slowly shifted from attacking the back of the monster to the head and shoulder region. Feet and legs were long since broken, and the creature unmoving but no longer encased by rock.

Finally, once she snapped the neck of the creature she had received a signal of her success.

Your Party has slain Adolescent Trembler Mole Lvl 2. No experience awarded.

“Hahaha, that was great. Though don’t be surprised if you end up getting a sort of stomping skill first,” Susan chuckled. “Never heard of it but there is a first for everything, right?”

Silently Liana agreed. She had a seemingly useless skill - her blessed one - already. Which would have to literally be a first, as from what the keeper had told her there wasn’t a useless skill, and a blank description even less so.

After having calmed down, she tried to overcome the disgust, anxiety, and horror she felt over her past deeds. Unsuccessful as she was, she readied herself to try out her other two skills together for the first time.

“I’m gonna do something a bit weird, don’t mind me though, ok. It has to do with my trait,” she lied. The excuse her parents had come up for if she should ever end up using [Ocean Breeze] in public. The reason simply being to keep her safe and out of the eyes of criminals.

“Sure, do whatever you have to, just thought you all didn’t have combat traits. That’s why you are with us after all.”

“It isn’t a combat trait,” Liana negated.

Using the skill was an obvious decision after her last visit to the keepers. Skill descriptions were sometimes a bit vague, especially when it came to flow skills. What she had learned was that [Ocean Breeze]’s invigorating effect didn’t only decrease ones tiredness. The life aspect of the skill apparently also had very minor healing effects. While nothing grand they would surely lessen the pain she currently felt.

Starting with a few timid steps she slowly grew into the patterns her skill made her aware of. For the first few iterations of the choreography, she had to force her body to move along the moves. But with each, it grew more automatic. Her body following the flow in the air around her.

Her right leg extended to the side and she shifted her body low, the next moment she felt the skill tell her to move the other leg in the same direction, followed by a step ahead. Meanwhile, her arms swung rhythmically below her shoulders.

After the eighth pass through the pattern, she stood still again. The usually accompanying breeze only barely perceptible. Liana assumed that was due to less air being available.

The skill's effect didn’t work as desired, the knowledge of why that was instinctually beknown to her. The healing that was done through the skill was more akin to the natural healing of the body just speed up. She would have known as much, had they ever tried the skill in that specific scenario. They hadn’t though because no-one was willing to injure themselves for something she would eventually find out regardless.

“Wow, ok that was something, I even feel a bit refreshed. A pretty cute dance if I say so myself. It’s a deviation of [Invigorating Movements], right? Just with an area effect, maybe? You don’t have to tell me, it is nice though. Ready to move on?”

Appreciating how easy the woman swallowed the falsehood she just nodded. If it had been her decision she would have just told the trust. To be honest had been very important in her upbringing, making her uncomfortable even lying at all. Her parents though had been insisting about doing so.

In the end, it took three more fights for Liana to unlock [Unarmed Fighting]. Each fight went better and quicker than the previous. But to increase their pace and recuperate Liana still had to use [Ocean Breeze]. It made her wonder how the other girls had been so quick.

In her third fight, she had overextended and gotten another dose of pain through the snout of the mole, this time thankfully weaker due to shorter contact.

“Thirteen minutes give or take. Not too bad, let’s head back,” Susan said after Liana had informed her about her skill gain.

The excursion all in all had been a success, she had accomplished what she had come here for. Though the best thing had been leaving the rift and arriving back elevators with a new entry on her potential skill list. Now she would be happy to not enter another rift until she got her class, and maybe not even then.

[Unarmed Fighting] (Physical) - Supports the practice of combat forms. Increases the effects of Physique on joints, cartilage, and bones by 25% per level. Tissue is harder to damage on the knuckles, elbows, feet, and knees ( + 1 Agility)