Karolina woke immediately when she heard the knock on the door. She got up and looked around, seeing a much changed lodge. When Ada had first seen the inside of the lodge yesterday, she had called it “not fit for human habitation”, and Karolina and Thomas had agreed. The lodge was now clean, or at least cleaner, with much of the detritus moved out of the lodge and everyone now having actual designated sleeping spots.

She went over to Thomas and shook his shoulder, and he rolled over with a groan. She tried again, and he tried to swat away her hand, but at least he seemed to be waking up on his own now.

She went over to Ada and shook her shoulder, but before she could take her hand off her shoulder Ada shot upright and held her dagger up to Karolina’s throat. Karolina held still and waited for Ada’s breathing to calm down and for her to fully wake up.

Once Ada seemed aware of what was happening, she brought her hand down sheepishly. “Sorry about that,” she said, not looking like she wanted to elaborate further.

“It’s okay. Nice dagger,” Karolina responded. It really was a nice dagger, looking way better than the dagger she pilfered from a goblin yesterday.

“Thanks. I got it yesterday from Jorge, the Blacksmith,” Ada replied. She got up, then looked over at Thomas, who was just starting to get up. “What’s taking lazybones over there so long?” she asked.

“Hey, I’m up, I’m up. I’m a heavy sleeper,” he protested, finally standing up.

Another few knocks came from the door. She didn’t know that knocks could sound that irritated. She went over to the door and opened it, revealing Aaron on the other side. She reflexively inspected him, and was surprised by what she found.

Aaron Smith: [Human (F) / Warrior] - Level 6

She hadn’t expected Aaron to actually go out and fight monsters. She would have thought that he would be too busy toadying up to Buckley, but apparently not.

“Now that you’ve finally answered the door, are you ready to go?” he asked, looking at her and Ada.

“Yes, Aaron. We’re so sorry for wasting your precious time,” Ada began sarcastically. “We’re all ready to go.”

“Excellent,” Aaron replied, either ignoring the sarcasm or not noticing it. He began walking towards one of the edges of the camp. Karolina, Thomas, and Ada followed him.

Once they finally arrived, Aaron turned around and addressed Ada. “This is the last section close to camp that we want you to scout out. It shouldn’t need to be said, but people are relying on your maps and information to come back safely, so do your best."

Although Ada looked annoyed at Aaron, she still nodded once firmly. It was clear that she took her task seriously. Aaron nodded back, and then turned on his heels and walked briskly back into camp.

They all just stood around for a few seconds, not quite ready to enter the forest. Karolina used this time to inspect her companions and check her status. She wanted to get a good idea of what level they all were before they headed into dangerous situations together.

Thomas Hargrove: [Human (F) / Magician] - Level 6

Huh. It seemed that developing mana perception on his own and working on one of his skills was enough for him to level up, twice. Well, it was good that he wasn’t as far behind her as she had thought.

Ada King: [Human (F) / Scout] - Level 9

She already knew what level Ada was, but it was nice to double-check it. She was only one level away from getting a skill, so she might get one today if today went well.

Status:

Name: Karolina Grant

Level: 10

Race: [Human (F)]

Class: [Monk]

Health: 290/290

Stamina: 280/280

Mana: 220/220

Stats:

Str: 38

End: 28

Dex: 40

Con: 29

Int: 30

Wis: 22

Free Points: 10

She was glad that she was checking her status; she didn’t do that enough. She still didn’t know what to do with her free points, but she had to use them at some point. She was leaning towards using them on Wisdom, as it was her lowest stat. However, she wasn’t really feeling a lack in any of her stats, so she decided to hold onto them for now.

After reviewing all of their information, she looked at the other two, wondering who was going to be the first to break the silence. It turned out to be Thomas.

“So, I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous about returning to the woods. The only other time I went in, I almost died,” Thomas said.

“Stop whining. If you need it, I’m sure that Karolina would be happy to save your life again,” Ada sniped back. Her sharp tongue apparently hadn’t softened any.

Karolina wanted to respond to that, but before she had the chance Thomas fired back, “Hey, I saved her life too! That’s what being part of a team is: working together to win fights and yes, save each other’s lives. I’m sorry that you’re too much of an imbecile to understand that."

“Thomas is right,” she cut in. “We’re all going to be working together, so let’s do our best to get along, huh?" She looked at Ada, who huffed and folded her arms across her chest, but nodded.

She looked over at Thomas next, and he also nodded. Satisfied that her friends weren’t going to murder each other, at least for the moment, she spoke. “Let’s get moving then, shall we?” Although she had calmed the situation down for now, Thomas and Ada’s dislike of each other was going to be a problem.

Almost as soon as they stepped into the forest, Ada gave a little wave and blurred off into the forest ahead of them. Thomas looked at Karolina, but she didn’t know what to say, so she just shrugged. Hopefully Ada wouldn’t go too far away.

A few minutes after Ada left, they were walking through the dense forest, trying to spot any unexpected movement in the trees. Thomas was walking in front of Karolina, which was almost the last mistake he ever made.

A direwolf jumped out from behind a tree and attempted to rip out Thomas’s throat. He stumbled backward, barely avoiding a fatal injury. She felt a surge of adrenaline course through her.

Karolina charged forward, a blue haze falling over her vision as she activated her Mana Armor. Thomas weakly batted at the direwolf, who easily avoided his pathetic blows. It was about to eviscerate him when Karolina finally arrived, fist first.

Killing the direwolf only took her one blow. She stood over the corpse, breathing far more heavily than a low-level monster deserved. Thomas had just almost died. She dismissed the blue screen informing her of her victory and then looked down at Thomas, who was looking a little shell-shocked.

She reached her hand down, and after a second he reached up and grasped it firmly. She pulled him up without much effort, and tried to smile at him.

“Alright there?” she asked, unsure about what exactly to say.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It would have been really nice if we had someone else with us who was able to spot that direwolf. Like, say, a Scout?” he said sarcastically.

She gave a little shrug. He was right, if Ada had been with them she would have spotted the direwolf. She wasn’t sure what to do about it, however. It wasn’t like Ada was here for her to yell at—that was the whole problem, after all.

“Are you sure that you’re fine? You’re good to keep going?” she asked. Going into the woods was dangerous, and she didn’t want to force Thomas into anything.

He must have caught how serious she was, because Thomas didn’t respond immediately. He took a few moments to consider his response, and then he spoke. “Yes, I’m sure. I want to learn more about this world and be able to do incredible things, so I need to be brave enough to come out here. Plus, I know you’ve got my back."

She stared at him, checking his soul to try to gauge his sincerity. He seemed like he was ready to continue, so they ventured forward again, Karolina making a point of walking in front of Thomas now.

They ran into a few more low-level enemies, with Karolina doing her best to only distract them and let Thomas get the final blow. Killing enemies this weak didn’t really do anything for her, but it seemed to help Thomas to level up.

Thomas seemed to regain his confidence as he fought more enemies without being in danger. He even started to smile when he managed to kill a goblin in a single mana bolt.

Finally, Ada reappeared, just walking out from behind a tree without a care in the world. If Karolina had to guess, she had been gone for over an hour.

She gave them a sunny smile, and then spoke. “Hey, I finished up my map of the area. Good to see you managed to survive, Thomas."

“I almost didn’t! A direwolf ambushed us, and if you’d been here you would have spotted him. Why did you just run off without saying anything?” he asked, upset.

“Well, I just told you, I was making a map of the area. You don’t listen very well, do you?” she snarked back at him.

Thomas swelled up, but before he could say anything more Karolina cut in. “Ada, stop being rude to Thomas. Also, in the future, you need to let us know before you go off on your own."

Ada stopped smiling for a second, and then nodded. “Of course. Don’t want you worrying about me, after all. Anyway, I found a big group of enemies in a nearby clearing. Want to clear it out?”

Karolina wasn’t sure if Ada really got it, but she would make sure that she did eventually. If they were going to be a team, they needed to actually be able to work together.

Karolina nodded in response to Ada’s question, eager for a more challenging battle. Thomas nodded too, but he still looked annoyed. Ada held her finger up to her lips and then gestured for them to follow her. They all walked carefully, trying not to step on any sticks or broken branches. Finally, they reached the edge of a clearing.

Ada was right; there was a large group of monsters in the clearing. A group of six goblins wielding rusty weapons were near the center of the clearing, surrounding a taller, bulkier goblin brandishing a surprisingly rust-free sword. Normal goblins were usually around three feet tall, but this one was at least five feet tall. There were also a few low-level direwolves scattered around the clearing.

She inspected the big goblin, and felt a flash of excitement when she saw his level.

[Goblin] - Level 15

Its level wasn’t quite as high as the direwolf’s level, but it wasn’t alone either. She looked over at Thomas, who seemed nervous, and Ada, who seemed excited.

“Are you sure we can handle this?” Thomas whispered.

Before Karolina could respond, Ada cut in. “You can sit this one out if you want. Not sure how useful you would be, anyway."

Thomas’s face grew red. “You’ll see how useful I can be. Just watch. Let me get off the first shot."

Ada looked over at him, curious, as did Karolina.

He started to form a mana bolt, but something was different. It was taking way longer than it should, and he almost seemed to be shaking with the effort. Finally, a red ball of mana formed in his hands. Besides the red color, the mana bolt also seemed more restless; it was flickering rapidly, and almost seemed to be made of flames.

With a grunt of effort, Thomas shot the red mana bolt towards the big goblin. Karolina knew what to expect: a strong kinetic impact that would stagger, but not defeat, the goblin. That was why she was so surprised when it exploded, covering the big goblin and a few of the lesser goblins in fire.

The goblins screeched in pain and terror, desperately trying to extinguish the flames. The goblins that weren’t on fire turned towards their fellow monsters, also trying to pat the fire out of existence. Apparently they hadn’t heard of “stop, drop, and roll”. Just as the fire started to go out, Karolina smashed into the goblins like a big blue bowling ball.

The goblins were disoriented and distracted, and Karolina took advantage of that fact. The lower level goblins took only two blows to take down, and the goblins were unable to put up enough of a fight to stop her from killing three of them.

However, the tide quickly began to turn against her. Scratches and dents began to appear on the surface of her protective bubble from the goblin’s attacks. She couldn’t use Combat Perception on more than one weapon at a time, so it was impossible for her to avoid the attacks of four goblins at once.

Finally, the big goblin landed a solid hit on her torso. Her blue shield instantly shattered, and she was thrown backwards, landing awkwardly on her back. She scrambled to her feet, backing up as fast as she could. Her mana armor was expensive enough that she couldn’t use it again immediately, not if she wanted to be able to use Combat Perception at all.

The goblins were heading for her, taking slow steps and moving to surround her. Before they could get into position, a blue mana bolt pierced through the head of one of the weaker goblins, leaving a sizzling hole in its face.

As it fell to the ground, instantly dead, Karolina turned to give Thomas a smile. He nodded back, and she turned to face the goblins with renewed confidence.

She lunged towards the small goblin on her right, easily avoiding its frantic attack with Combat Perception and sweeping it off its feet.

She quickly switched her skill to the big goblin’s sword just in time to slide under its blade. Still crouching, she knocked the wind out of it with a Strong Blow. It staggered back, and she dashed after it, trying to land another hit.

However, before she could hit it she felt something behind her. She dodged to the side, ready to feel stupid for dodging absolutely nothing, but felt vindicated when she saw the last goblin stabbing where she was a second ago with its rusty dagger.

The goblin had time to look briefly surprised before another mana bolt exploded its head. With the big goblin still out of commission for a few more seconds, she turned towards the goblin she had knocked down.

It had gotten back up, but it still looked a little dazed and had a cut on its head. It was easy enough to avoid its sluggish blow and crush its throat before it had the chance to regain its senses. She didn’t even have to use Combat Perception, which was good as she was running low on mana.

She turned back to the big goblin, which seemed to have recovered its strength. She stepped forward carefully, starting to feel the strain. She had maybe half of her stamina left, and was almost out of mana. She had maybe two more seconds of Combat Perception before she ran dry.

The big goblin still seemed singed from Thomas’s initial attack, but was visibly healing before her eyes. Was that one of its skills, rapid healing?

She stepped closer, eyeing its large sword nervously. She was maybe three feet away from it, just out of sword range. It seemed content to wait for her to get closer. She stepped forward, ready to initiate combat once again, and then witnessed Ada appear behind it and leap towards its back, dagger first.

The dagger smoothly plunged into its neck, and Ada immediately released the blade and retreated. The goblin roared in pain, immediately slashing behind it with its sword, but Ada was already out of its reach.

Karolina chose that moment to strike, hurrying forward with red glowing fists. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how much she was needed anymore, now that the goblin had a dagger sticking through its throat, but she didn't want to take any chances.

As the goblin slowly fell to its knees, clutching at its throat, Karolina hammered at it. It feebly waved its sword at her, but she used the last of her mana to avoid its attacks. Soon enough, she had done enough damage that its soul left its body.

She looked around to the rest of the clearing, seeing Thomas and Ada taking out the rest of the direwolves. Ada seemed much more practiced with a dagger than she had been earlier, and even though she was using a rusty goblin dagger now instead of her personal one, she was making short work of the direwolves she encountered. Thomas was at the edge of the clearing, bludgeoning the direwolves with mana bolts every few seconds.

It didn’t look like she was needed. There were only two stragglers left, and they both looked injured. As she watched, her friends dispatched both of them. Ada stabbed one of the direwolves in the side, the dagger snapping off in its body, and Thomas landed another mana bolt on the other direwolf, killing it instantly.

As soon as all of the monsters were dead, multiple blue screens popped up in front of her.

You have slain [Goblin] - Level 6, [Goblin] - Level 5, [Goblin] - Level 6, [Goblin] - Level 4, [Goblin] - Level 5, [Goblin] - Level 5, [Goblin] - Level 15, [Direwolf] - Level 4, [Direwolf] - Level 3, and [Direwolf] - Level 4.

Experience has been awarded.

You have leveled up. You are now a level 11 [Human (F) / Monk].

You have leveled up. You are now a level 12 [Human (F) / Monk].

She smiled, pleased at the level ups. She was almost halfway to her class evolution. She closed the screens and looked around, making sure that there were no additional enemies, and then moved closer to Thomas and Ada. She watched as Ada pulled her dagger out of the big goblin's neck and wiped it on the grass.

Karolina inspected them, curious how much they had leveled over the course of the day.

Ada King: [Human (F) / Scout] - Level 11

Thomas Hargrove: [Human (F) / Magician] - Level 9

The first of them to speak was Ada. “That was awesome! Thomas, I need to be honest, I didn’t expect much out of you, but you really surprised me. That fireball or whatever it was was incredible."

Thomas puffed up his chest a little, obviously pleased with himself. “It was, wasn’t it? Combining Mana Bolt with fire mana actually upgraded the skill, it’s Mana Bolt (E) now. Look,” he formed another red ball of mana in his hands, much faster than he had earlier. He started moving his hand as if to shoot the mana bolt into the forest.

“You’re not going to start a forest fire, are you?” Karolina interjected.

Thomas lowered his hands awkwardly, dispersing the mana. “No,” he said quietly.

Ada looked like she wanted to say something sarcastic, but Karolina gave her a warning look and she kept quiet.

“Ada, you also helped a lot,” Karolina said. “I might have dealt the final blow, but you’re the one who killed that big goblin. I can’t believe how good you’ve gotten at using a dagger in such a short time. You barely managed to hit the direwolf when we fought it, and now you’re confidently stabbing huge goblins,” Karolina said.

“Yeah, I’m a real prodigy at stabbing,” she smiled. “Actually, it’s mostly due to me getting Small Blades Mastery. I picked the right skill, that’s for sure. Anyway, you want to go kill some more stuff? This is unexpectedly fun."

“Sure. Just give me a minute,” Karolina responded. Ada shrugged and walked off with Thomas. Karolina turned her back and opened up her status screen.

Status:

Name: Karolina Grant

Level: 12

Race: [Human (F)]

Class: [Monk]

Health: 330/330

Stamina: 320/320

Mana: 240/240

Stats:

Str: 44

End: 32

Dex: 46

Con: 33

Int: 34

Wis: 24

Free Points: 12

Her stats were growing quickly. She should probably spend her free points, however, as they were currently being completely wasted. One stat immediately jumped out at her: Wisdom. Her class didn’t give her any points in Wisdom so it was lagging behind her other stats, and right now her mana was her biggest limiting factor.

What would it be like to be able to replace her Mana Armor once it broke? Or to be able to use Combat Perception as much as she wanted? She focused on her free points, and then imagined them being placed into Wisdom, sure that she was making the right choice.

Status:

Name: Karolina Grant

Level: 12

Race: [Human (F)]

Class: [Monk]

Health: 330/330

Stamina: 320/320

Mana: 360/360

Stats:

Str: 44

End: 32

Dex: 46

Con: 33

Int: 34

Wis: 36

Free Points: 0

Now Wisdom wasn’t her lowest stat anymore. It would be nice to be able to use her mana-intensive skills more. She closed the status screen, satisfied.

Now that she was finished with that, she looked over at Ada and Thomas, who seemed to be joking around with each other. She was glad to see them getting along, and that Thomas had won Ada’s respect. They weren’t quite there yet, but she was pretty sure that the three of them would eventually make quite a team.