I examined the shiny coins I received from the corpse of the Slaver boss. 1 Gold and 5 Silver coins clinked against each other in my hand. Casey had received the same amount, plus the gear equipped by the boss. After the battle I retrieved the peculiar book I had spotted earlier, along with the loot from the other slavers. I tried to use Appraise on the tome, but received an error message. After summoning my AI, Lila then explained to me I needed the Advanced skill Evaluate for magical Items not obtained as rewards.

"If you say we're burying these pieces of garbage-" Casey began.

"Fuck that. They're slavers. Lucky for them this is a digital world, otherwise I'd take their tongues and eye's. Incase there is an afterlife y'know, let'em walk in it blind and mute." I interrupted without taking my eyes off the fallen boss.

"Yikes bruno, that's kinda morbid!" Casey exclaimed. "Not that they don't deserve it, or whatever..."

As her sentence trailed off, I added: "There are things that can break a person and then they have to live with what's left of themselves afterwords. It may be just an opinion, perhaps skewed or desensitized by growing up the way I did... I don't know. But I do know there are a few things worse than death in any world. I also know that people can sometimes be worse than monsters."

I had unintentionally ruined our victorious moment after our first boss fight. I collected myself and did my best to restore our morale.

"Enough of that dime store wisdom, we have a hidden quest to turn in!" I produced a counterfeit grin.

"False smiles don't look good on you Lizardman. If we're friends, I never want to see another. Ok?" She stared at me, until I looked away and changed my expression.

"Ok." I conceded.

"Lets go turn in that quest. I bet I get more than you do!" She cheered as she went ahead of me, her words echoing off the tunnel walls.

"We don't even know what we're getting." I countered.

"Yeah, but mine will be better!" She teased.

I carried the corpse of a hostage who was sadly killed before our arrival, while I led the four surviving Dwarfs back to the one who had given us the hidden quest. Casey was walking ahead of us, incase any of the slavers had concealed themselves. Fortunately we arrived at our destination without any problems.

Quest completed!

You have received a permanent increase of +1 to your Charisma and Merchant Attributes.

You have also received a temporary +10% increase to physical damage resistance for 23:59:59 hours.

"Well that's neat!" I exclaimed, In a moment of nerd lust.

"Wow. That's amazing!" Casey declared.

I was completely engrossed in the notification on my AVA, when I felt a tug on my Steel armor.

"I'd like to thank you, for returning my kin safely. I have a reward for the two of you, to show my appreciation." The quest giver announced, as a tear drop rolled down his cheek.

"Oh, we already received a reward for saving your people. You don't have to give us anything." Casey replied with a smile.

The Dwarf gave Casey a look of confusion and sadness. Before he could ask her how we could have received a reward for the quest he had just given us, I spoke up.

"She means the act of saving you guy's was our reward itself." I interjected with nervous laughter. "You don't have to do anything for us friend."

"..Oh. Well I insist on giving these to you both, and I'll be offended if you refuse." The Dwarf replied.

He then pulled two objects from his personal inventory, and handed me an object wrapped in fine cloth. He handed Casey a small dagger in a remarkably blue, leather scabbard. I began to unwrap the heavy object given to me, from it's cloth.

Quest reward acquired: Enchanted Shield of the Overwhelmed.

A shield made by ancient Dwarfs, for the "Berserker Knight"

Enchantment: Converts all Physical damage blocked into 5% of missing stamina. +1 Agility.

The shield I held was circular in shape, the sides resembled wings made of semi-glossy dark blue crystal and was sharply serrated were the feathers were detailed. In it's center, detailed in Silverite, was a Felgers head with it's mouth open wide like it was mid-roar. The craftmanship was absolutely breathtaking.

" It would sure help me thank you properly, if you told me your name." I smiled at the unidentified Dwarf.

"My name is Piccolo, but my friends call me 'Pike'." The Dwarf answered.

"Well thank you very much Pike. This shield is beautiful, I greatly appreciate it." I said.

"That shield was crafted for a famous warrior a very long time ago, but I'd still match it against any carried today." The Dwarf grinned then turned to Casey, "And for the Lass, a dagger my grandfather made for a princess who was exiled after her father was assassinated. She overcame her situation and became an assassin to seek revenge. She never married, so when she died it was sent to me. Now I give it to you."

The Silverite dagger Casey held in her hands, was engraved with intricate designs from blade to pommel and fashionably curved. The grip was made of the same blue pebbled leather as it's scabbard. It's edge was a jet black color I recognised from Stephin Roth's bow.

"That edge is made of Altinac, right?" I asked.

"That's correct. Please take caution." Pike instructed.

"Altinac is a naturally toxic mineral. It will inflict poison damage on whatever it cuts. so don't use it to slice apples." I chuckled.

Casey nodded and put the fancy dagger on her hip opposite of the steel dagger I had made for her, putting the purchased one that had been placed there in her inventory.

"Thank you very much Pike. I'll take good care of it." Casey vowed.

The Dwarf named piccolo, smiled in response and then lead his people out of the mine. After checking out our new treasures and double checking the mine for any missed loot, Casey and I also exited the mine. Once outside of the mine we produced the new pet crystals, and summoned our mounted feline monsters. We then found the road heading to Luhana and trotted along it casually.

"We leveled up, scored some new gear, and are about 5 gold richer than when we went in. Not to mention the Slavers gear should fetch a few silvers as is or broken down for scrap. Not bad for a detour, huh?" I cackled madly.

"It was a great score, we were lucky." She replied reluctantly.

Sniff. Sniiiff. I caught the faint scent of blood in the air. I looked ahead and saw a patch of trees and tall grass next to the road. Several boulders were unnaturally positioned in a line along the left side of the road. The scene had 'ambush' written all over it.

"We're gonna have to sprint far right away from the road. I smell blood and I assume there is an ambush ahead. We're close enough to Luhana to rush past them, I'm sure once we approach the city they'll back off. The guards will handle them if they don't." I announced.

"What if we turn around? We could take another road to the city." Casey asked.

"That's a good idea, but since we're unfamiliar with the area now, we are too exposed while we search for another road. They know we're here by now. Sorry I didn't smell the blood sooner, but they're downwind. I think we have the speed to get past them, I'm just worried about the difficulty of riding these mounts at full speed. If we get separated meet me at Luhana." I replied, while spending my unused attribute pont on Speed.

"I'm not leaving you." Casey quietly protested.

"You're not. You're waiting for me untill I catch up. You're cats faster, If you're looking back you'll certainly fall at full speed. If we get separated we can't risk either of us looking for each other and getting captured. If they get us both no one can return with reinforcements. On the count of three, Take off." I instructed.

"I-" Casey tried to interrupt.

"3.... 2....1....Hyah!" I yelled as we both took off at full speed.

The party of three noticed our acceleration and sprung their trap desperately. An Elf with a bow jumped out from his hiding place and started shooting arrows at our direction. Judging by his skill and accuracy he must have been a Sniper class. A short thin human in a tan robe and holding a carved staff, popped up from behind a boulder and began casting trap spells. Small circles appeared on the ground around us, but luckily we were faster than his casting. A large human wearing heavy armor finally gave up his hiding spot behind a wide tree. The largest human emerged holding two pet crystals that he used to summon two wolves. Casey was a safe distance away from him, But I was close enough for the swift wolves to catch my Felgers nimble legs in their powerful jaws. The wolves pulled my Felgers legs out from under it and I came toppling over all three animals. After I crashed down hard on the ground, I rolled to my feet. I used the crystal to withdraw my injured mount, then summoned my old heater shield and sword. Untill I know there isn't more than three I want my new shield safe. The wolves had recovered from the crash and growled at me. I growled back without hesitation. Taking my challenge the wolves charged me with open jaws. I ran Sparks through my shield and bashed the left wolf, then brought my armored knee up under the right wolves jaw and brought my sword down through it's skull. I took an arrow in the back from the Elven Sniper, before I could get cover behind a boulder. This was PvP and I was outnumbered. I looked over at Casey's location but only saw her mount. I turned to the direction the large human warrior was charging me from and saw Casey appear behind the Sniper in his shadow.

Damn Nightkin doesn't listen to a word I say, I thought.

I could hear the warrior close by now. I used my Taunt skill, not to keep his aggro but for the small buff it provides.

"You fucking camping piece of shit!" I shouted, as I faced off against the warrior.

The warrior's face showed his rage, as he raised his 2h great sword and rushed forward.

"It works doesn't it, asshole!" He cried as he swung his sword above my head.

I pushed my shield into his chest with my left arm, and activated Sparks to electrocute him. His heavy Iron armor was very conductive, making my attack "super effective." He roared in pain and began slightly glowing as if emitting an aura. I took a step back a second too slow, and received a kick to my stomach. His kick wasn't well placed and didnt greatly affect my HP. I didn't wait to find out what he was doing with his glowing technique, so I began bashing and stabbing, keeping him off-balance as much as possible and striking at every opening. I thought I would end this fight quickly until his sword crashed into my shield, as I activated my Guard skill. The impact of the sword hit my shield like a train and the vibration numbed my arm. The shield collided into my body, sending me backwards and my HP was greatly effected this time. I caught a glimpse of Casey knocking out the Sniper, then saw a notification:

You have learned the skill Berserker.

"Yikes! That's a hell of a swing you got there. Let's see If it's enough to take me down." I provoked.