It came from Carl's right, from the encirclement.

The black lupine seized his barely healed forearm, which held the hated metal claw that just killed its comrade, and began savagely yanking it with a burr. That was a mistake.

Vicious Hook!

I might have been difficult to hit a mobile target, even if it was within arms length. Not to mention Carl lacked any realistic combat training. He could also sense some unnatural interference causing his movements to differ slightly from the envisioned trajectories. Although it felt exactly like having a bad aim in real life, Carl was a professional gamer – his aim was superb, and he wasn't used to missing, so to him this was an uncomfortable experience. He knew he would whiff attacks with long-reach weapons, and he shouldn't go for a sword any time soon.

But a stationary target? Or better yet, your own hand?

Carl pulled his right closer to him, fully aware of where it was and where it was going to be. The knuckle dagger touched down on the temple and forced itself through all the bone loudly, instantly claiming another fatality.

“Haha, brother Carl, nice work! But conserve your mana, you don't want to exhaust yourself! I can tell all those skills were grade 1, and you must be running low!”

Fleeting Tree came to his aid, chasing away all the wolves that had designs on taking revenge on their downed assailant with his bloodied scepter.

Recovering his stuck weapon and scrambling back to his feet, Carl hastily examined the surroundings.

“He actually managed to kill one black wolf himself and injure another one?”

It all happened so fast, that it took Carl by surprise. In the heat of battle, he could hear the whistling arrows and the dismal whimpering, but his subconscious relegated them to background noise. Only now did his vision widen, and his nostrils smelled the odor of carnage, while the pain reminded him of its existence.

As Carl looked around, he saw that half the pack had already been subdued, while the rest was in disarray.

There were his four kills sprawled on the ground all around him, and the poor gutted wolf dragging its feet, so to speak, a few meters away. There was the old cleric's kill with a horribly mangled skull, and a sad, limping lupine at a safe distance. And then there were four beasts with arrows sticking out of them, all still alive, but shaken and frightened. The young trio stood back to back with serious expressions, the big man safeguarding the two elven females with an intimidating posture, and the girls were laser focused on their respective jobs.

Fleeting Time, however, stood next to Carl with a huge grin on his carefree face.

“Liss, get the albinos before they run away!”

The skirmish was as good as over.

“Let them go, brother Carl, it's pointless to chase them,” the old man put his hand on Carl's shoulder, confusing him. “Let's just finish off the injured ones.”

“Aren't there any slower mobs for newbies? How are the casual players supposed to hunt these wolves?”

“They're not,” Fleeting Time smiled. “There's plenty of choice for beginners, even harmless herbivores. But they pay a pittance in comparison. Come, let's complete our work here.”

Following their exchange, Carl energetically rushed after the two albinos that Lissome Shot skillfully targeted, finishing one off with a Vicious Hook, and then after her remaining marks, unwilling to let them escape. Unfortunately, three still made it out alive, and carried the arrows buried in their flesh away with them. They were so brisk that the elven archer stood little chance in hitting them once they started fleeing, and she only managed to execute the limping one.

As Carl's mana dropped even lower, he began feeling a weirdly unpleasant sensation in his mind. It resembled something familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. It was as if a curtain was dropping down on his psyche, obscuring the previously clear perception.

“Huh, they must have used some existing biological mechanisms to simulate mental exhaustion …”

He could also distinctly feel physical fatigue. After all, it was about a minute of non-stop action, running and fighting to the death. His breathing, however, remained unencumbered. That's because this could cause hyperventilation of the real body, which lied motionlessly and didn't need the oxygen. This was one of the big downsides of electromagnetic interference VR compared to an implant-based cabin, which hijacked all senses entirely and could fool the brain however it wanted. Carl's breathing was only slightly faster from the thrill.

“I'll be damned, brother Carl, I had high hopes for you, but you're killing them faster than our whole team combined!” Looming Oak praised with jubilant reprieve.

“This was awesome! Brother Carl, we should go for another run after we return!” the outgoing Lissome Shot howled.

“Mhm!” the timid Merciful Breeze seconded, done with curing Carl's few wounds, but still holding her staff tightly from excitement.

“Haha, let the weary men rest, girls! The hour is late, and there will be another day! Let's find a few more packs and wrap it up. We can stay in touch with brother Carl after that, right?” Fleeting Time patted Carl affectionately with solid hits.

“Sure,” Carl smiled gently.

He was all too happy to gain new friends, and two healers at that. After all, the wolves were far too numerous to take on alone, and he didn't want to hunt any easier game, as it would be boring and time-consuming.

“Ten wolves, including an albino and an alpha! What a haul!” Lissome Shot rejoiced, and jumped to loot the sole albino.

“What's that, 1 gold and 44 silver?” Carl asked with anticipation. The 1 000 Gold Crowns no longer seemed so far off …

“Heh, I wish!” Fleeting Time laughed, while skinning his kill. “The pelts don't always drop. Depends on a number of factors, like your skill, proficiencies, or even the magnitude of inflicted damage. We'll be lucky to get three. Normally, the pelts pay about as much as the bounties.”

Curious about the process, Carl approached the elven archer. It wasn't very realistic, nor excessively gruesome, instead it was rather simplified and quick.

“Oh, sorry, did you want to loot it?” Lissome Shot faltered, remembering that Carl tackled and finished the albino off.

“No-no, I just want to watch how you do it. Can you show me?”

“Just look at your skill description. You can also ask the system to show you a demonstration.”

“Oh, okay. I should have thought of that.”

“System, show me a demonstration of how to skin prey.”

“I'm sorry, you do not possess the Skinning ability.”

Carl balked.

“Why is that?”

“Because you did not chose it. I would have recommended it to you, but you told me to not interfere.”

Carl scowled fiercely.

That's because the voice was annoying him too much!

He exhaled deeply.

“Oh no! It didn't drop …” Lissome Shot wailed with frustration, while the albino wolf turned into a bloody carcass.

“So it's an active skill?”

“Yes. It's a grade 0 skill, costing no mana and only requiring a knife.”

“Where can I learn it?”

“You can learn it from an instructor, from anyone who trained the skill to an advanced level, or by trial and error. I do not recommend that last option, unless you're willing to sacrifice possible gains.”

“Ha! that's two out of two!” the old cleric exclaimed victoriously.

“I got one, too!” Merciful Breeze shouted cheerfully, prompting an exasperated groan from Lissome Shot.

Carl sighed with resignation.

“How many?”

“I don't understand. How many what?”

“How many attempts before I learn the skill by trial and error. Statistically speaking.”

“I cannot give you detailed information about that. I can, however, inform you that it will be cheaper to seek an instructor – statistically speaking.”

“Go on, brother Carl, you can skin the five you killed on your own. We all need to train our skinning skill proficiency after all,” Fleeting Time offered generously.

“Have any of you, perhaps, trained it to advanced level yet?” Carl tried.

“Don't worry about that! We've already got three pelts out of our five attempts, which is unusually lucky, so you can– … oh … are you saying that you don't have the skill? It only cost one point to purchase it … didn't the system recommend it to you?”

“… I told it to be quiet, and I had no points left after choosing key skills anyway.”

“Well,” Fleeting Time scratched his head, “we're not even at the intermediate rank yet. Quite far from it, actually. You should seek an instructor after we exit. Though the prices are steep, I think the funds we earn from this run will suffice. We'll pool for you, if need be.”

“And what about learning by trial and error? I have 20 intelligence, after all. Have you heard from anyone who did that?”

“This …” Fleeting Time didn't know what to say. This sounded like such a waste.

“I don't know, the black wolves give quite a lot of experience, so maybe … ?” Looming Oak offered.

But Fleeting Time shook his head.

“20 intelligence is good, but the realism settings are more important. It would only make sense without any penalties, in my opinion, and you can't change the settings on a whim – it takes a whole day for them to take effect, otherwise everyone would abuse it.”

Carl pondered for a moment, then agreed. “Forget about it, I shouldn't harm our bottom line. This was a team effort.”

“No-no, it's fine, brother Carl. You killed those five fair and square, and we wouldn't have fared so well without you. They're your spoils, whether we loot them for you, or not,” the grizzled cleric championed.

Carl looked at everyone, and nobody seemed to have any qualms with that. He paused for a second, then approached one of the fallen lupines, drawing his karambit once more.

“Alright, I'll give it a try. Like that?”

He began tracing lines down the legs and belly of the beast, not squeamish at all. He had a looooong, brutal day already behind him.

“And now I just pull? But it doesn't … oh, here it goes! Oh …”

Carl stared at the bloodied carcass, so similar to all the other ones.

“It failed …”

“Mhm, without the skill you won't be successful,” Fleeting Time nodded.

“So how does experience gain work in this game? Do I have a hidden xp bar that will grant me the skill once it gets filled?”

“I'm not sure, but it's definitely much more complex than that. Training skills and proficiencies is simpler, though it has its intricacies, too. About learning new skills on your own, however, nobody has a clue yet, and everyone's only speculating. From what I understand, you might be successful even on your first try, but that's like winning the jackpot. You might also try and fail countless times, which is much more likely, and the higher the skill, the worse that ratio will get.”

“Well, it's the most basic skill in the game, probably. I guess I'll try again,” Carl resolved himself to go for broke.

As he moved from one black fur ball to another, leaving them red and white, the girls watched with pity in their eyes … but not for the wolves!

“Such a shame … we're so close to affording me that Fine Yew Bow …”

“Quit it, Liss. It's his business,” Looming Oak chastened. “Better go get his backpack.”

“You … !”

The girl tried to rebuke, but under the man's stern gaze, she relented. “Looming Oaf …” she muttered under her nose, obeying reluctantly.

“I heard that.”

“Good!”

…

“Alright, time for the alpha,” Carl rubbed his hands.

“I think I've got the gist of it. Aaand, off with you!”