“Listen man… I don’t know, I mean, I’m not exactly keeping pace with the team, in case you hadn’t noticed…” I complained to Michael who sighed at my words.

It was two days since reaching level ten (though I was now level fourteen somehow…) so it was the nineteenth of December, and we seemed to be staying for a long time on the fifth floor, but having groups of five Lanterns everywhere was strangely alright… and I had finally decided to complain to someone about my inadequacies.

“Arthur, listen, your strength isn’t really what our group needs… it’s your mind, your leadership skills. I mean, I could maybe keep the group together but realistically Matt doesn’t listen to me often, Alice would crack jokes about it and John would laugh at my pain… Emilia wouldn’t even be there, you know she’d only follow you.”

I blushed a bit at the accusation but didn’t refute it… I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Emilia, but her only link to the group was me, and he was probably right…

Sure, she was friends with Alice now (and seemed to be both disturbed and impressed by Matt’s occasional insanity such as screaming or swearing) but if I wasn’t there she’d never have met any of my friends…

“Still, don’t worry about it for now… I’m pretty sure once we got magic figured out that you’ll be capable of doing some pretty awesome things, from what you mentioned about your Wisdom stat.” he added and I had to agree there… my build was starting to look more like a Spell-Sword every time I levelled up (Dexterity and Wisdom were my main focus points after all) but unfortunately I had no spells.

I remembered to warn Michael that I was starting to get used to being a leader though… and I noted that Michael would have more issues than he thought he would if he tried to be a leader. He just looked confused though… I’d have to explain another time.

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right… sigh… come on, let’s go.” I said, standing and swapping the shirt I slept in for another one… luckily for my state of mind, Emilia and Alice were at the shop apparently, buying sweets or something (I had asked for an energy drink for myself, it was one of my guilty pleasures… my father had hated the things and always complained if he saw me with one… I think I just drank them now to remember him scolding me about them)

So I had no girls in my vicinity as I changed clothes and inwardly complained about my ‘lack’ of musculature… because I did in fact have them, they just didn’t appear unless I was doing something… weird, but yeah, I guess I just have one of those body types.

About half an hour afterwards we were all in the dungeon and continuing on our way, and one and a half hours after that we were on the fifth floor (we were beginning to move faster through the dungeon now that we were getting stronger) and so we began hunting around for enemies... the lanterns got really annoying on this floor actually.

“Alright, let’s keep running around the fifth floor like we had been doing, maybe we’ll find the stairs today?” I didn’t really know whether or not that would happen, but I could hope (because I was really getting annoyed by now…)

…yeah, this floor was annoying… to me in particular… because I’d always end up fighting two Lanterns at once, and only recently had I become capable of actually killing one before everyone came to save me… it was horrible… I glared at Michael after the fifth group and he just gave an awkward look at me as we continued.

The EXP necessary was also getting huge, I mean, level 14 to 15 was 422 EXP… well, we’d get 25 EXP per fight, so it wasn’t too horrible, seventeen fights and we’d be done… though we were already pretty close to said level, just another twenty EXP to level up really.

“Okay, one more fight, we level up, and then we start looking around again.” I claimed and we began our search again, finding one more group of Lanterns, killing them, and levelling up to my delight…

Still, we had explored most of this floor (the floors were square shaped for the most part) so by process of elimination, there was only one place for the stairs to be…

“Okay… we have most of the map filled except for a small section towards the corner opposite of the stairs we came from; we’ll head there after allocating our points.” I stated for simplicity as everyone began to fix their stats to whatever settings they were beginning to enjoy (Matt most certainly had a high Constitution value, he could get punched by level 2’s and not flinch… though his sister might be level 4 or so now…)

Personal Information

Name:

Arthur Clive

Level:

15

495 EXP

Rank:

L

Anima:

Traveller’s Cloak

The Nameless Dagger

Stats:

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 20 (22)

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 20 (28)

Vitality: 17

Constitution: 13

Skills:

Shooting (H), Blade Wielding (D), Tactician ©, Recovery (F), Close Combat (H)

… I think I’ve been increasing Wisdom too much actually… eh, it was alright I guess… it would come in handy eventually… I knew that for a fact.

According to the scale of Wisdom, I’d actually be regenerating only around 2.8% of my max magic per minute, and… never mind, the second and tertiary effects of the Wisdom stat are a surprise.

Still, I was glad for my skill ranks to be rising like this, though I was waiting for level 20 when my Cloak would begin to boost my Strength as well… then at level 30 it would boost my Vitality. That was a while away though, I mean, I hate to sound like a numbers person (I was one though), but 495 EXP to level up meant twenty more fights… it was annoying, we’d have to essentially kill one hundred Lanterns to level up…

“Right, everyone done? Let’s move out.” I ‘ordered’ and we began walking to the most likely place for the stairs, and luckily encountering a few Lantern groups on the way (five groups… killed twenty five out of one hundred already…)

Soon enough though, we found the stairs and I just stared at our enemy… seriously, I had to just stare… my LEV was denoting it as a Lantern Brute. It was an apt name for the Hulk-impersonator that ‘stood’ in front of us.

Similar to a normal Lantern, it had a glass casing for a chest with a fire in it, and a vaguely humanoid shape, but… it was practically a Lantern with no sword and on steroids that were soaked in steroids.

I’m pretty sure that if I curled up into a ball I’d be as big as its bicep, and that was being generous considering it was huge.

“…I don’t want to fight that thing.” I said straightforwardly as the group as a whole chuckled, Matt patting my back. “Right… so how many plans you got to kill the heck out of that thing?” I blinked and sighed… my team knew me too well.

“Well, judging by its size it should be slow… but we don’t work on ‘should’ so assume that it’s as fast as a Lantern, if not a bit faster. Other than that, it’s hiding two Lantern’s behind it.” I noted making Michael narrow his eyes and look to the floor.

“Yeah, Arthur’s right, two behind it… hm… so it’s a distraction?” he asked as I shook my head… not quite right. I’m pretty sure that the others are the distraction.

“Nah, I think it’s more for the surprise factor, the Lanterns in the back aren’t that harmful to anyone who managed to make it through this floor, so I can only assume that they are there to keep someone still for that Brute to hit them…” I explained as they nodded, listening to when I would explain the plan. “So this is what we’ll do…”

Once I was done with the plan, I sighed at how easily the group agreed to it… and also how easily I took up my role… I mean, I’d been doing it for a while, might as well continue with it.

“Alright, let’s go!” I shouted as we moved forward at a faster pace, Matt… decidedly not in front where he should be, but there was a reason for that.

Matt was good at taking hits, but I wasn’t sure if he could take the hit… in which case, our person with the second highest Dexterity in the group was in front…

“I’m a rear-liner, why am I here?” shouted Michael as I yelled back from my place just behind him. “Because you are an ass!” I replied, knowing that he was just complaining much like I was during my fights with Lantern groups.

The Brute was… slower, than anticipated (as in, we expected a bit faster than usual Lanterns) and was instead a bit slower than normal Lanterns, aka Lantern Squires and, just like its smaller and weaker relatives, threw lots of telegraphed blows… which meant Michael dodged easily… luckily.

I had amongst the lowest Constitution stats in our group (highest was obviously Matt, second was Alice, and third was Michael, who claimed he needed the stat to keep firing.) so I would get the most hurt if I was hit, Michael could survive a blow that would typically break my bones though, and he was fast enough to dodge as long as his bow wasn’t in the way.

Bit of an information moment here, but Dexterity did not in fact determine speed, just control. Strength was actually the stat that determined how fast you moved, with Dexterity determining how precise your actions were, and how flexible you were.

Ignoring that bit of information (but keeping it at the back of our minds for reference) let’s go back to the fight.

So during the Brutes swing, the Squires appeared and rushed to go attack Michael who had rolled out of the way as I stepped forward, intercepting one with a parry and punch to the face with my off hand (I’d gotten surprisingly good at that move)

“Alright, one agro!” I shouted stating that I had one focused on me, the second still seemed to want to go for Matt, but it was quickly deterred once Alice decided to introduce her somewhere around 24 or so Strength stat (I actually think it was higher than it should be… much like my Wisdom, so maybe she has a boost for it?) to the equation and show how easily swords pierced glass casings surrounding heart flames.

…My life got seriously strange… anyway, in a deft move involving that stab, a punch and what looked to be an awesome throw/slam into the ground, that Squire was killed near instantly… usually Alice got no chance to do such awesome (it really did look like some awesome Fatality) moves due to being hounded by other Squires, so she seemed to be really happy with what just occurred… I’d honestly be too… I mean, I have the physical strength for it, not the weapon though…

Well, I had proven to the group (somehow) that despite not having a really good weapon, I could luckily match with the group by virtue of being nigh un-hittable and good at surviving and tactics, so I was a bit happier now… a bit…

Anyway, our plan was a really simple one once it was explained honestly… I’d try to agro (get the attention of) both Squires, or at least one after they attacked Michael. If one didn’t go for me, Alice would intercept and kill it as quickly as possible. During this, Matt would take one hit and determine for himself whether or not he could block properly.

After that, well, while I was busy with the Squire, the rest of the group would ruin the Brutes peaceful day… that thought had me open my mouth due to inspiration.

“Crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their women!” I swear if it wasn’t for the fight I’d be rolling on the floor laughing from how the girls just looked at me with the hatred of all female kind on their side… and I gave them one of those ‘I know what I did, I just don’t care’ grins.

“Your hatred makes me stronger!” I dodged a telegraphed blow from the Squire and lashed out with my fist as I grabbed its leg and swung.

Much like Alice, I was stronger than the average human now, almost four times stronger if my strength stat was to be believed, so it was relatively easy to do this to something the size of a human… also Matt burst into laughter at my words, the whole group smiling now.

It slammed into the floor and I thanked Alice in my mind for the inspiration as I twisted, stabbing my Nameless Dagger into the glass casing of its flames… not that it went deep…

Regardless of my newfound use for my strength, my Dagger itself didn’t cut that well… oh it was most certainly better than say, a kitchen knife, but against a sword… my Daggers only saving grace was that it seemed nigh-impossible to break, and if I read its abilities right, let me level faster.

Still, that didn’t mean I couldn’t compensate for my weakness… for example, punching the hilt of the dagger as it was stabbed in was a move I was fond of, it practically multiplied the piercing force and caused what would normally not kill an enemy to deal so much damage that it died. Once again, thank you Keanu Reeves for that move, it saved my life a few times.

With that done, I turned to see the group fight against the Brute, noting that Matt only seemed to be able to block occasionally (any overhead blows or two handed swings were dodged, otherwise they were blocked) and during his blockings Alice and Emilia would both alternate in attacking, Michael once in a while sending an arrow… I also noted a problem.

The glass plating of the Brute’s weak-spot was thicker compared to a Sword Lantern, which meant that, Michael’s arrows which were a step away from killing them in one shot completely, now did only a small amount of damage, and Emilia’s ‘buzz-saw’ attack didn’t do as much as it would… by the way, her ‘buzz-saw’ attack is really just her slashing a lot while spinning out of the way of counter attacks like a top.

So our only reliable damage dealer was actually Alice in this case, but that also wasn’t working out too well due to the Lantern noticing this and focusing its attacks on her.

“Alright, guess I had to try this sometime…” I said to myself with a frown as I moved my Dagger to my left hand, feeling some discomfort before my LEV informed me of my Right Handed weapon now being in my Left Hand. With that done, I used my LEV to remove a Lantern’s Sword and hold it in my right hand.

dual wielding, something that sounds awesome and looks awesome when seen… when attempted, it was very different though… as in, my balance was strange, and I wasn’t used to using a sword quite yet due to being used to smaller daggers and knives… not to mention that the style was strange.

It was my last resort really, to be used when I didn’t really have other more reliable plans. I just had to hope that my Wisdom pulled me through… oh yeah, that’s the second effect of Wisdom by the way, beyond increasing Regeneration Rate.

Increased learning rate was my description of it; basically, Wisdom allowed one to get better at something you knew at a slightly faster rate… on the flip-side, Intelligence allowed you to learn new things faster. Other stats also had hidden functions (like Dexterity suddenly affecting flexibility, Strength affecting speed, and so on) but they weren’t too important right now.

Hopefully the increased learning rate would help me out with my attempt at dual wielding despite not having the skill for it (I was planning on getting it at level 50, when I gained more skill slots… though I wasn’t really sure how many I’d get or how it would work) and I’d survive.

“Alright, Alice, let’s work together here.” I stated and she nodded. “Alright then, guess this has to work… you sure you won’t hit me?” I scoffed at her question… while I wasn’t confident in my skills involving dual wielding-

“I’d never hit a teammate.” I was confident in my words as I stepped forward, dodging under a massive right hook of the Brute (I frowned as I noted that its lower body was like a usual Lantern, no feet just floating, but some form of legs were there… massive thighs and half a calf, but still) and jumping to the left along with the returning fist, using it as a foothold as I stabbed the thing in the chest…

“Wow.” I faintly heard and subsequently ignored John say as I jumped back, frowning at not drilling straight through the thing. I had the second highest Dexterity stat after Emilia who had around twenty four, Michael had around twenty.

I was obviously more athletic than Michael with this stat arrangement, and more agile. Of course, with her high stats Emilia managed to do similar, more flexible moves, though she seemed much too comfortable with it… made me think of some interesting things, but this wasn’t the time for that, nor was it acceptable to think like that about a friend.

“Okay, so I can damage it and so can Alice… stabbing attacks honestly work best against these guys… Matt, let’s talk a bit.”

Okay, so everyone was keeping that thing busy as I turned to Matt, taking a look at his shield… from what he explained to me, he had a Strength Stat of around twenty, meaning four times stronger than the average human… considering I’m a lightweight and he could already likely throw me even before the world became the way it was…

“Hey Matt, have you ever considered a springboard tactic?” I asked as he blinked, then noted my look at his shield as he looked back at me… then he recalled that I could do some acrobatic things now that my Dexterity was high (I could kind of do them before, but… well, let’s just say I didn’t go out of my comfort zone due to laziness)… then he smirked.

“Alright then, I get the idea… straight?” he asked as I nodded… this would be attempted on the fly, so I didn’t know whether or not we’d get this right…

“Yeah, even if I get hit, let’s just get John to heal me, and try again… after all, despite how hard that thing seems to hit, it can’t kill us in one hit.” And that was the most reassuring thing that we understood at current… as long as we didn’t die in one hit, we’d be fine, John would pull our asses out of the fire, so to speak.

“…Alright then... let’s do it.” Matt looked like he swallowed a bug, but I just shrugged, Matt was occasionally strange, it was how he was.

We turned back to the fight and noted that everyone had gotten good at dodging that things blows though John made sure to stand far away when it ‘looked’ to him.

“Alright guys, Matt and I got an understanding here, all I need is for you to somehow keep it from guarding that weak spot!” I shouted as they seemed to get the gist, though I was wondering how they’d get this right… I mean, none of us had any type of ability suited for restraining or stopping defence… at least, so I thought until I saw this…

See, remember how I mentioned Michael could make blunt arrows? Well, I got hit with them a few times, but that was when we still had stats of five everywhere… now that he had a strength stat of around twenty?

It was like tossing bricks at a fist. A huge fist admittedly, one that seemed to still want to continue with its punch even after its momentum got held back a bit, but Michael was somehow keeping its fist from going in front of the chest piece… and when it didn’t work the fist went for him and he just stepped away and kept shooting the arm, trying to make it numb (not that it had muscles to make numb though…)

I jumped, getting a decent height… I could be a high jumper if I didn’t know that every human (that fought Demons anyway) would get to this point, but anyway, during my jump Matt stepped below me, angling his shield to a rough forty five degrees as I landed.

The other fist of the Brute was being stopped in a comical way really… what with Emilia somehow having gotten on the Brute and stabbing its shoulder, making it try to swat her off… both arms were trying now honestly.

I didn’t have time to think after that though as I got a springboard shove and ‘jumped’ forward at a high speed… this is going to hurt… I realized something mid jump and rotated (somehow) so that my feet were pointing towards the thing, and tossed my Dagger at it.

Now normally my Dagger wouldn’t do much, but see, Dexterity has a way of coming through at strange times… such as when I’m aiming a Dagger at a hole made by a sword wound. My Dagger didn’t dig very far in, but it was notable, and it stuck there.

I’d have done this with the sword, but it was a bit too long for me to throw it like that reliably… then, as I approached at a higher speed than I’d normally be capable of, I stretched out my foot and ‘kicked’ in the handle of the Dagger which was sticking out of its chest…

Hey, isn’t this what I normally do to smaller Lanterns, only using a kick instead of a punch? Nonetheless it seemed to have worked, as my Dagger practically flew into the flames inside its heart, causing the Brute to scream and try to grab at its chest (where I was) so I used the recoil of the kick to jump back…

Then fell to the floor cursing when I noticed my foot felt like it was broken… right, do that with boots instead of thin sole sneakers next time…

The thing thrashed around a bit, but soon collapsed, and just like normal Demons, dissolved into a strange black mist, leaving behind items…

[22 EXP earned!]

Counting the two swords dropped by the Lantern Squires already, I looked to the spot the Brute would drop its items in the hope of something good for this new, and annoying monster.

It was a… Soul Gem (Petty) which was slightly better than (Worthless) apparently… and… a book? After John concentrated some heals on my foot (it still hurt, but I had a habit of pretending serious injuries weren’t there, so I ignored it and walked with a very slight limp) and picked up the book.

[Tome Acquired: The Art of Enchanting and Magic]

I blinked… a Tome? Some new information flowed into my mind and then I smiled upon holding the book (I absently noted my Nameless Dagger reappearing in my left hand… that was a neat trick, a returning thrown knife) as I turned to my friends… then I frowned a bit.

“So, what is it?” Michael asked, looking worried because of my frown as I sighed. “It’s a Skill Book basically. It teaches you a Skill when you finish reading it, the more you understand what it teaches the higher ranking you’ll have once you finish reading it… this teaches Enchanting.” I stated making the group as a whole look confused.

I sighed, and then explained. “Enchanting is how magic weapons and armour are created, basically granting them special effects.” I said, and they all nodded with a ‘oh’… why did I have to be the one with all the RPG information? Oh yeah, they’re my favourite game type.

“I… I really want this book.” I admitted, making the group look at my face… then Michael sighed. “Take it man. I didn’t even know what that was until you explained it.” I noted one by one the reasons why the group didn’t want it as I smiled.

“Thanks… as a bonus, this book actually teaches one how to use magic, to an extent…” I said making Michael smile as he patted my shoulder. “That’s great, finally a use for that twenty eight points in Wisdom!” I blinked and looked at the rest of the group who seemed shocked at the words that just came from Michaels mouth… right, they didn’t know I had such a huge stat in Wisdom.

“Wait… so you mean you’ve been fighting all this time, effectively crippled by not using your best stat?” Emilia asked as I scratched my head… they seemed a bit too surprised by this.

“Well, kind of? I’d been waiting to somehow figure out magic, so I prepared. Besides, my Tactician Skill grants a passive boost to Wisdom.” I admitted making everyone stare…

“Wow, Arthur’s surprisingly awesome…” John noted as I glared at him. “Yeah, makes me wonder why he acts like a weakling sometimes.” Really now Alice, really… you’re going there?

“So basically, now you’ll be able to use that previously uselessly high Wisdom stat, that’s great!” Emilia added and I didn’t know whether to be happy that she thought that was great, or annoyed at the whole ‘uselessly high’ part…

“Alright then, so you going to read it or what?” asked Michael as I stared at him. “Uh, no, not here at least… I mean, yeah it’s an A5 sized booklet but I need to read and understand to learn Enchanting you know… I basically have to study to earn the Skill.” I said and the group as a collective groaned at the idea of studying for skills and power.

“Anyway, we know where the stairs are now-” I said, pointing towards the black wall and marble staircase (strange contrast there… I think the pain in my foot was making me note things I already knew…) “So let’s go home… I’m tired.” I said, and we all moved back, yawning but having to at least stay slightly alert in case a monster appeared…

Roughly an hour and a half later, we were out of the Dungeon and I sighed at feeling the sunlight on my face…

We always went slightly early in the morning then came out around three-four, today we came out around four… with how the Dungeon was working, we might have to stay overnight at some point… that would be annoying.

“Huh?” I blinked as I saw the Dungeon Entrance give a small shine, and I looked around but saw no one exiting… strange… maybe someone else caught that? I think I saw a small black blur…

No, no one else seemed to have noticed. I sighed and walked over to the payment counter, noting that there was a guy here instead of the normal girl.

“Ah, hello… you must be that Caliburn party… the name’s Shaun Fife, nice to meet you.” He greeted and I blinked at the politeness from the guy who seemed to be the human embodiment of the sin of sloth.

Messy black hair, dark rings around his eyes from what was probably a lack of sleep, sleeves a bit too long so he was wearing baggy clothing, and his glasses were kind of skew… I actually couldn’t comprehend where he got a tan from.

“Ah, sorry, nice to meet you, my name is Arthur Clive.” I said as Shaun nodded at me. “Yes, I heard. So, you should know the drill by now.” He said as I nodded, tossing all the Lantern Swords that were unnecessary into the box (everyone but Michael and Emilia kept one now, after seeing that smaller weapons couldn’t work forever… John used knives before.)

“Hm… alright, I got that recorded, anything else you want to sell?” I shook my head as he sighed and nodded… even for me this guy seemed too tired. “Alright then, now, about the things you got in the dungeon.” He said as I showed everything else we got, including the Petty Soul Gem and the Tome…

“Wow, a Tome, basically a skill book… wasn’t expecting to see that… and a higher grade Soul Gem… I noticed you’re keeping most of the Soul Gems… well that’s acceptable. For your ‘donation’, here’s two thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars.” Shaun handed over, and I nodded to him, and we left, splitting the money before going our separate ways.

“So, what did you see Agent Fife?” I listened with a sigh to the big boss man as I scratched my ear, looking to the box filled with forty seven Lantern Blades… knowing that it meant that at the very least, that group that just left killed forty seven monsters worth five experience points, thus earning them two hundred and five EXP in this one go, at the least, not to mention whatever dropped that Skill Book and Petty Soul Gem…

I removed my fake glasses and sat down, absently wondering why I wore them occasionally… oh yeah, because I used to need them and due to my Anima I didn’t need them anymore. Hence explaining why they were fake glasses and not real. I usually wore them out of habit, but today I wore them as an extremely weak disguise… glasses hid the flash of my eyes.

“Well, their group is strong, stronger than most teams in America at the moment, and that’s including most of our soldiers. They have a solid build from what I’ve understood, an archer, a healer, a tank, two girls, one a warrior, one a rogue, both damage dealers… the issue is their leader.” I admitted making the boss man stare at me as I scratched my head, uncaring of any unkempt looks I might show… it was my defence mechanism after all, I kept it to keep me satisfied.

“Their leader, sir, seems to be, like his role implies, the face of the team, and decision maker. Judging from his equipment, he should be a rogue-type, which both makes sense and doesn’t…” I admitted, making my boss sigh at my roundabout way of speaking… I already knew he was sighing about that.

He does it a lot due to how aggravating our personalities are for each other. I’m too lazy and he was too serious… then again, a man in his position was supposed to be… we got along very well despite this for some reason though…

“Well, with my ability I managed to at least check what his highest skill and stat were, as well as his level… his highest skill was Tactician, and his highest stat was a tie between Dexterity and Wisdom… considering Tactician boosts Wisdom, we can assume that he actually has more Wisdom.” I claimed.

“So what was the issue with him, other than the strange stat distribution?” asked the boss as I looked away… how to explain this… it’s something rare to see in people who weren’t soldiers after all.

“…I guess I could say it was he himself that was strange… the manner in which he held himself, and the way he acts was decidedly not normal.” I stated, making the boss perk up.

“How so?” he asked and I nodded. “From what I could tell from his stride, one of his feet was either recently dislocated or recently broken, judging from the fact they have a healer it should have healed, but there is always some pain afterwards, it’s our bodies way of saying ‘hey, you were hurt, don’t ignore that, even if you are okay now’… yet, he kept his limp to a minimum and seemed to ignore it. Furthermore, his… bearing, I guess, was strange. He doesn’t stand still like a civilian does.” I added, taking a breath before continuing. “He stands like a soldier, a veteran honestly.” I added.

“…But we have no records of him in our military, he’s too young to be a vet anyway.” The boss added and I agreed… it was weird.

“Regardless sir, he has some training for combat, he seemed to be doing it by instinct without him even noticing… I mean, he seemed weary of me, and I did my best to just seem as lazy as normal.” I added making the boss sigh.

“He constantly looked around, taking in information, he stood with his back to only his team and any movement caused a bit of a twitch as he’d glance at it, and when I appeared he seemed to flex his hand a bit, as if getting ready to draw something and either stab me or shoot me… he shows some heavily suppressed signs similar to PTSD…”

Not as extreme though, I noted internally. The kid (I was in my thirties, I had the right to call him a kid) seemed to be doing these things without noticing, and didn’t seem to go through any of the stress symptoms PTSD victims go through (none of them even considered going near the Dungeon, especially after Red Sky Day)… it was weird.

It was like a soldier had all memories of horrible things removed, but kept the skills… and was unaware he had those skills. “Alright then, you’re dismissed Agent Fife, you won’t need to run surveillance on their group again.” I was glad for that, as I saluted.

“Yes sir, Mr President Clayton sir.” I fell back into old military ways and frowned as I walked away… I was glad I wasn’t getting near that group again… even as an ex-Marine, their leader freaked me out.