Dexter looked up when the sun started to rise. He and Alina had searched the entire night for her sister, but it seemed that a huntsman who didn't want to be followed would be impossible for him to catch.

Upon the first sight of a trail, he left Alina in a tree as an excuse to cover more ground, but the tracks had led him in multiple directions, only to stop at dead ends. Now light was starting to shine in the forest, and he was sure the night stalker had reached its destination.

Sighing, Dexter made his way back to Alina, hoping his gamble to search for Anna didn't harm the others. But after killing the elite, he was sure there weren't any more of the creatures lingering in the night. They roamed in packs, led by an awakened that held its own name and title. Such beasts likely had a den to call home, Dexter theorized. A lair which was the center of their power.

In order to complete his Adept Rogue quest and fill the path token, he would have to root out beast lairs and slay their leaders. It finally dawned on him why the quest was fashioned in such a way. The rogue architect was meant for assassins. Hunters that scored the most valuable kills. However, as Dexter leapt through the forest, he knew his current skill set didn't follow such a path. They were random, chosen out of necessity and a need to survive. But most importantly, his secondary skill slots were almost filled before obtaining a Class.

[ Abilities ]

Class: [ N/A ]

Attunement: [ Iron Shroud (Bronze) - Basic: lvl 8 ]

General skill slot: 4/6

[ Advanced Spear Mastery (Bronze) - Synergy: 0% ] [ Wind Scythe (Bronze) - Basic: lvl 5 ] [ Healing Pulse (Uncommon) - Basic: lvl 3 ] [ Shade Sight (Bronze) - Basic: lvl 2 ]

Dexter thought long and hard about how to unify his skills and decided on two in particular. The problem was that they were both auxiliary in nature, and would push him down the road of a mage, rather than a dexterity main. He supposed a Class would put him back on track, but he wouldn't unlock that until he unlocked all the attribute slots at level 25.

His next slot to unlock was Dexterity at level 20, and as he raced through the forest, he kept an eye out for any wild beasts gracious enough to offer him their vital energy. His Strength attribute had bolstered his attacks with his wind aura after his energy efficiency was driven through the roof, and he could only imagine the contribution Dexterity would make to his speed.

The efficiency was thanks to his new pathways that harnessed aura. They modified the effectiveness of his attributes like high-performance tires on an F1 race car. By now he had finished forming the channels on his right arm and worked on extending them over his chest and back. At first, he had difficulty finalizing the new paths. But over the hours, as he focused on the attribute, the process sped up, crystallizing the channels as they entwined with his musculature system.

However, the finality of the process caused him to hesitate, and he held off on creating other attribute pathways. Because as great as the efficiency bonus was, there was a price that came with it, and Dexter saw his energy reserves reduced as a result. Currently, his entire right arm cost him 11% and the number was steadily increasing as his back filled out.

Dexter neared the location where he dropped Alina off, when he realized that he had made a fatal error. By rushing the process and being too eager for power, he had failed to acknowledge his synergy with Advanced Spear Mastery. The mastery skill had been altering his bearing and energy fluctuations in minute ways, and by not overlapping them with energy channels, he had discarded a key moment of harmonization. A way to elevate the mastery skill.

"What's done is done," Dexter said, looking down at his palm. "I guess this is my strong hand."

An hour later, he landed before Alina, who was no doubt sleeping off stress and anxiety. Tear streaks marred the dirt on her face, and as he looked at her, he would swear lines had begun to form.

"Maybe I was meant for this world," Dexter sighed, gliding down to the forest floor to grant Alina much needed sleep.

As he stared at the god rays, adjusting his robe and spear, he couldn't deny the sense of adventure that he was falling in love with. There was danger, an existential threat that loomed overhead. But the governing system and skills had brought an atmosphere that his old world severely lacked. Like a paint job over a remodeled old home.

Alongside the danger, which he had to admit held a bit of excitement, there were countless possibilities. Avenues that would transform a failed artist like him into someone worthwhile. Perhaps his parents' marriage wouldn't have fractured after the death of his grandparents, transferring the anger out on the troubles of the new world instead of their kids.

For the first time in nearly two weeks, Dexter pulled out his guitar. There was no need to tune the instrument, he simply allowed his now callused hands to wander. Hands marked by the sharp path of the spear. Soon a rhythm was born as he took in the sights around him, admiring the flutter of leaves that danced under the yellow sun. How they fell to the forest floor, enriching the soil as they decayed—while at the same time providing nourishment for the seeds of tomorrow.

The biome provided sustenance that flowed from one organism to the next, giving strength to not just live, but thrive. There was a silent transference, a dance of flowing energy, and it mirrored itself in the expression of his guitar. The acoustics spoke of harmony, building with a rhythm that spread over the breeze. Like a wave, it echoed to the inhabitants of the forest, and Dexter noticed more than one squirrel approach, curious to the man that disturbed their hunt.

[ Forest squirrel - lvl 6 ]

For a second, he planned to summon Munchkin and put the overgrown squirrels down. However cute they may be, they were the size of a house cat, and he didn't know if fruits and nuts were the only culprit behind their extended bellies. At the first sign of bloodlust, he'd flay them alive for their fur and fashion himself a new scarf. Perhaps he could enchant it with a +5 to Dexterity.

But as the squirrels' curiosity ended, and they delved in search of treasure, Dexter lost himself to the music. He entered a deep trance where the cadence of his guitar stirred, imbued with the tune of his aura. Finally, the notes he formed to mold his energy, gained an outlet, singing for the first time. And as the air pressure wavered, blending with the rhythm of the forest, a notification flashed before him.

[ Points received! - 12,000 Renown! ]

[ Title: Elemental Bard - Compose a song that expresses the essence of nature. +15% to vital energy reserves. +3 to Magic. ]

[ By fusing a penchant into your aura, you have created a Spell. Similar to skills, vital energy forms the basis of spellforms. But such abilities have zero regulations governing their function. The spellform will proliferate until the energy cost required is met. ]

[ Breeze of Vitality (Uncommon): A melody composed by Dexter Hawk. Invigorates the spirit, granting a boost of .5% Strength and 1% to Constitution. Boost increases with intensity and duration of song. Proficiency - Basic: lvl 1]

The creation of the spell had been a surprise. But after reading the notification, Dexter couldn't help but intuit a warning in the explanation. Unlike skills, spells held no cooldowns and no set cost to operate. That meant there was no duration in the manner skills held. Instead, they'd continue to drain the energy necessary to complete the script imbued during their formation. Even now, after removing his hand from the instrument, Dexter felt the surrounding energy work to strengthen him, while siphoning from his reserves to power itself.

"All things in moderation," Dexter said, heeding the warning.

He had fallen low on vital energy before, but spells had the ability to overdraft him on vital energy, putting his reserves in the red. And he suspected the spell transformed into a curse, draining him of his entire vitality when it came to collect. With pathways currently stunting his energy pool, Dexter would wait to experiment with new spells.

But there was another piece of information he had obtained as well, and it had to do with the concept of spellforms. Was it possible to channel a spell through his pathways with the help of incantations? Dexter didn't know, but he filed the thought away for later and went to stretch his muscles.

After an hour spending personal time with his spear, dancing with the Breeze of Vitality applied on his person, Dexter tested the limits of the spell. He discovered that an instrument was necessary for the effects to take hold. He couldn't hum or sing to activate the spell, which forced him to utilize the guitar while in battle.

The interesting part was that no matter how fast he played, the spell triggered thirty notes in. And after that, it would begin to stack, draining his energy for each note added. For the spell's initial bonus, he averaged it lasting for one and a half to two minutes, where the duration was extended by fifteen seconds with each stack. In order to extend that initial bonus to five minutes, he had to add a stack of roughly fourteen notes.

After the test, Dexter sat his guitar down, focused solely on his spear work. It took time falling into the rhythm prescribed by Advanced Spear Mastery, but his joints were loosening with every strike, kicking away the stiffness built into him after sitting at a desk every week for forty hours. He was in the middle of a thrust when the bushes rattled on the side of him, and he heard his name called.

"Dex?" Alina said.

He turned to her, coming up short of words. Anything he said would announce his failure, including his silence.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say. "I searched the entire night, but there were false tracks laid in the dirt."

Alina opened her mouth but faltered. "Y-you said you killed the rest."

"I did, but—"

What followed was a barrage of expletives that overrode the translation function of the system. He knew that if he didn't find some way to reason with her, it would be impossible to convince her to return with him. Her life wasn't a bargaining chip, she'd toss it aside to see her sister safe. Briefly he thought about allowing her to take George's hand, but it was too gruesome and would set a bad precedent.

Spitting on the ground, Alina turned and walked away.

"Dammit," Dexter sighed. He wasn't a leader, yet he had to piece the fragmented situation together. But what hope could he offer? She wasn't naive enough to believe lies. To claim he killed the beast and then buried her sister would only demand visual evidence, and such dishonesty wasn't in him. Heartfelt sentiments would probably work on someone else, but to her, they were useless. Hell, if he were in her position, he'd feel the same. Claiming that Anna was in a better place would only amplify her death…

Death? Dexter thought, realizing that it was just an assumption. When he had killed the elite night stalker Vräodhir Shade Sight, the monsters accompanying it had gone out of control, so why would this one take Anna? If his burgeoning theory was correct, there was another elite that night. One for himself, and one for her.

A chill ran down Dexter's spine as he imagined the little girl being transformed into one of those things. But after analyzing the tracks, and racing to each of their ends, he was sure something larger was at play. Otherwise, what other reason would a mindless beast have to cover its tracks? Some sort of skill had been used by the elite, and he grew more sure of it by the second.

Before Dexter could even approach Alina, her claws extended, gleaming under the sunlight. As he took a deep breath, he knew that only time would reveal the truth.

"She's alive," he said. "They've taken her to their den. The longer we waste out here, the more uncertain her situation becomes. And we can't track them with our current ability."

Eyes searching for hope turned to Dexter, peering into his own eyes for glimpses of truth. After a long second, a tremble ran through Alina, and she began to break down. Pain and hope, memories, both good and bad, all sources of her emotions jumbled in a tight knot, poured out of her. What was left was an empty shell of vulnerability.

Dexter's stoicism cracked, and he awkwardly hugged her, but the gesture had been largely ignored. Though after a while she allowed him to usher her back to safety. Back at the tree, they sat in shadows crowded around its trunk. The area did little to heal her spirit, perhaps the opposite, but Dexter believed he had a way to counter that and began to play Breeze of Vitality.

Wind aura cycled around the pair with the strum of his guitar, and unlike before, Dexter noticed a scent within the energy. It was a whisper of the forest, and grew stronger with each note he stacked. Another addition he discovered was that he could exclude an individual from the spell, regardless if they were in range to hear the melody. And of course, the energy cost was increased when the spell was applied to more people.

Removing himself from the equation, Dexter played for five minutes, then ten, and then started to wonder if he was going to die just to cheer her up.

"Ahem," he coughed, finally getting a reaction.

Slowly, Alina lifted her head and stared at his guitar, but she didn't ask about his new ability. "Thanks,'' she said… "I'm feeling better."

"Glad to help," Dexter said. "Now let's catch up to the others. They should have arrived at the Safe Zone by now."

Sprinkling crumbs for his little fat forest friends, Dexter bent down to carry Alina on his back once more, and blitzed out of the meadow.