"Honey! Duck!"

A blade of wind flew over Veronica's head and sliced deep into the flesh of the creature that laid opposite to her. It was a vile creature, enveloped in bulbous pustules and mushrooms that smelt of rotten flesh. Its hide was covered in patchy black fur that covered its entire body. The rat-like beast released piercing screeches that nearly blew out the couples' eardrums over and over.

Having their ears messed with constantly threw them off their balance, disrupting the flow of the fight.

[Infected Rat Beast: LVL 3]

The rat lost its front legs after the wind blade, allowing Veronica to get in close. She got in two sword swings before the beast charged forward using its remaining back legs and tried to bite her. The teeth were yellowish-white, ending in sharp points instead of the usual rat teeth.

Veronica shouted backward, "This bastard is tough! Aim for the back legs instead!"

Rupert took in a deep breath. The previous \Wind Blade\ left him with two-thirds his mana left, enough to help in other ways.

"\Empower\!"

A yellow light draped over Veronica's body, giving her a 5% bonus to her strength and agility stat for 10 seconds.

She didn't waste any of this time, rushing at the regenerating rat and sending a \Slash\ at it. A glowing red blade of light flashed from the sword and traveled two meters into the rat's back right leg. The blade didn't cut clean through, leaving a gaping wound with the bone sticking out and blood pouring onto the ground.

Neither of them flinched at this gruesome sight; outside of their usual character.

The rat's front arms had mostly regenerated at this point, and now with three legs, it could properly activate its \Charge\. Wreathed in a slightly red light, it accelerated quickly at Rupert; who began to panic.

"Activate the thing! The thing!"

Veronica aimed herself at the rat and activated \Distract\. A shout escaped her mouth that could only be heard by the charging rat. This caused it to forcefully dispel its \Charge\ and rotate to face Veronica once again.

The mage no longer being targeted, Rupert could focus on activating his \Wing Blade\. It took three seconds to cast, not a second sooner. During that time, he had to focus entirely on the skill and point it at his desired target.

Veronica used \Tank Shot\ right before the rat slammed into her. The skill distributed the force from an attack over her entire body and sent some of it into the ground, causing her only minimal damage.

Still, her nose started to bleed as the blood vessels couldn't handle the strain. This only incited her anger. The usually calm Veronica lashed out.

"You FUCKER!"

She charged at the disoriented rat and started wildly slashing with her iron sword. The rat tanked hit after hit from the angry woman. It shook itself to regain a clear mind but was met with a wind blade to the left back leg.

With both hind legs out for the count, it could barely move. It screeched as loud as possible at the couple, hoping to disorient them. It didn't work.

Veronica charged up a \Slash\ directly at its skull and executed the skill. The red crescent flew through the air and split the rat's head in half. Brain matter and blood slushie dripped out and onto the ground. The rat finally succumbed to its heavy injuries.

Veronica looked at the notification

[Infected Rat Beast LVL 3 defeated. +23 xp]

[Xp split based on contribution]

Veronica unsteadily walked laying down Rupert.

"I can barely move. Mana depletion hits HARD."

She extended her hand towards him. He grabbed it and was pulled to his feet, still very tired. They had learned that killing things earns them xp, something needed to level up. Both of them were level 2 after killing a bunch of level 1 rats. The big one they just dealt with was their leader, netting them a good deal of xp.

"How much did you get from that?"

"Only 15, you probably got much more than that. It seems that the final kill gets a heavier skew in the division."

[Veronica Vance: Lvl 2 || Xp: 45/100]

[Class: Warrior]

[Hp: 110]

[Mp: 110]

[Strength: 11]

[Agility: 9]

[Intellegence: 11]

[Skills: \Slash lvl 1\ \Tank Shot lvl 1\ \Distract lvl 1\ ]

[Passive: \Warrior Apprentice lvl 1\ ]

[Free Items obtained: Iron Sword, Iron Chestplate, Rations]

[Rupert Vance: Lvl 2 || Xp: 12/100]

[Class: Mage]

[Title: Gifted of the system]

[Hp: 70]

[Mp: 480]

[Strength: 7]

[Agility: 5]

[Intellegence: 24]

[Skills: \Wind Blade lvl 1 \ \Heal Wound lvl 1\ \Empower lvl 1\ ]

[Passives: \Mana Genius\ \Magic Apprentice lvl 1\ ]

[Items: Staff Wood Wand, Mage Robe, Rations]

Rupert had gone through the same introductory shpiel that Veronica had, but had also gotten a title. Neither knew what caused it, and neither questioned it. The passive doubled his mana, allowing him to cast three wind blades from a full mana pool. Unfortunately, it did not double his mana regeneration speed.

To go from 0 to 480, it took a full 48 minutes; 10/min. The regeneration speed seemed to increase a bit with every level up, increasing by 1 point from level 0 to 1, and another 1 point from 1 to two. Their sample size was not big enough to extrapolate, but so far it was concrete that leveling increased regeneration speed, both Health, and Mana.

"I'd heal you, but I would need an hour. By then, you would probably be entirely healed on your own."

They both stiffly chuckled. It was insane that they could go from completely drained and even injured back to full health in a few hours.

Rupert walked over to the rat corpse. He borrowed Veronica's sword and started to cut off some meat strips. The infected meat was purifiable just with cooking. It would make the two a great meal for that evening.

As Rupert continued to cut the meat, they started chatting a bit.

"You are surprisingly good with that sword. More so than I am with magic."

Veronica laughed.

"Well, my thing existed before last week. I have no idea how you do that magic stuff."

Rupert shrugged, "Neither do I. It is just point and shoot. The skill does everything. And the only way I know it worked is from my decreased mana; and, ya know, the blade of wind that shoots out."

Haha...why is this happening?

She grabbed his bloodied hand as they walked back to camp together, one of the few normal moments that continued after the integration. Rupert placed the meat onto spits around their small fire. It had taken Rupert four hours of hard work to get a small spark, but it was worth it for the heat alone.

Both washed their hands in the nearby stream before they resumed cooking the meat. They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Veronica got a devilish smile on her face.

"Your \Empower\ help enormously in that battle, in fact, maybe a little too well..."

Veronica slid her hand towards her husband's crotch. The terrible innuendo made Rupert smile.

Even back then, her pick-up lines sucked.

Rupert questioned if the forest of an unknown planet was the place to engage in such an activity; quickly checking their surroundings.

We did just clear all the monsters surrounding us... Fuck it.

He gave in to the demon on his shoulder, foregoing rationality and embracing the primal. They needed to relax if they were to remain sane. But above all, he loved his wife, so he would give her as much sex as she wanted.

---------

The human pair stared up at the blue sky above. The morning had long passed, evident by the sun almost overhead. It was the first truly relaxing night they have had in a full week.

Veronica laid her head on Rupert's arm, embracing her bare-chested husband. He was never muscular, looking fairly thin and fragile. Even so, he always found a way to please her regardless of his physical endurance. Though now, her strength stat has gone way up, drastically out enduring her husband.

Veronica smiled sweetly, "We haven't had that much fun in a while."

"Yeah..."

They relaxed together for a few more minutes until a shadow passed over them. Veronica was the first to spring into action and grab her sword. They both dressed quickly, though sloppily, thinking themselves ready for whatever was coming at them. The silence before the confrontation was unnerving, filling the air with uncertainty.