Adam dodged to the right, barely avoiding the level 1 cave bat that tried to rake him with its talons. It let out a trio of squeaks as it flew by. They sounded angry but Adam surmised that all monsters must sound angry when they were attacking you. He swung out with his basic dagger but the creature was already out of reach. Adam whirled back around to keep his focus on the battle, just as something collided with him. He let out a yell as a stabbing pain shot through his left shoulder.

[Cave Bat damages you with Bite.]

Adam read the pop-up and lashed out with his dagger. The bat removed its fangs from Adam’s shoulder, eliciting another cry of pain from Adam, and flew away avoiding the dagger. Damn it, Adam thought, how am I supposed to fight when I don’t even have any skills. He looked at his health gauge, that single attack took out over one third of his HP. He glared at the dagger in his hands.

“You’d better watch out Adam,” Alastair chided with a laugh. He killed a bat with an effortless swing of his sword.

“Don’t worry Adam, I'll heal you!” said Naomi, she gripped her mace tightly and flung out her hand toward him. “Lesser Heal!”

Adam felt a warm sensation roll over his body, along with a light that reflected off of the cave walls. It was almost like a weight being lifted off of his shoulders. His HP was restored to full.

Another bat came flying toward the party screeching. Adam covered his ears and fell to one knee. It was hard to focus, he smacked his palm against his forehead. The sound reverberated around the inside of his skull just as it echoed around the chamber. None of the other people around him seemed so affected.

[You have been afflicted by Confusion.]

The bat dived toward Adam, either sensing weakness or just because he was the only one seemingly stricken by the status effect of its shriek. Adam hit his head again trying to focus but he pitched to the side, dropping his dagger onto the stone floor of the cave. He could see the bat coming toward him but his body refused to do anything about it. He managed to grip the dagger and tried to swing it, but his arm just flopped sideways.

“Cleave!” yelled Maximus. Suddenly a large figure blocked Adam’s view. Maximus leapt into the path of the bat and brought his two handed battle axe down on the bat’s head splitting it in two.

Two more bats came at Maximus, he had picked up their hate when he killed the other bat. Drawing them to him.

“Spark!”

A bolt of electricity shot out of Lynn’s wand and hit one of the bats squarely. Trails of electricity ran across the creature’s body and it fell to the ground dead.

“Strike!”

Alastair appeared to the side of the second bat, his longsword splitting it in two just as Maximus had done with his larger two handed weapon.

“I know you’re useless and are only here to fill out the party, but try not to be a burden on us,” said Alastair, sneering down at Adam.

Adam scooped his dagger up and stood hesitantly, his head clearing. It had only been maybe three or four seconds but it had felt like an eternity. Adam shook his head and tried to banish the feeling of helplessness from his mind.

“I’m sorry,” Adam started. “It’s not easy without any skills, or this proficiency.”

“Oh I know, if you could even call barely a Rank E proficiency with daggers a proficiency at all,” laughed Alastair. He felled another bat with a basic attack from his sword. Swatting the creature away as one might swat a bug with their hand.

“It’s not his fault he’s trying his best,” said Naomi. She smiled at Adam and gave him an encouraging gesture. “The testing committee forced him to come, we needed five people to be safe.”

“Safe?” barked Alastair incredulously. “He’s a liability, he shouldn’t even be here. I have two Rank S proficiencies. Everyone else has several Rank A’s. He barely got one to show up as a Rank E, that’s basically zero. The adventurers will barely accept you with a Rank D. Let alone any respectable enterprise.”

Naomi started to protest but Maximus cut her off.

“Alastair is right, we have to protect him, which means that we can’t focus wholly on this test.”

“Spark!”

Another bat died. Struck dead by Lynn’s magic.

It seemed to be the last one in the chamber. The silence hung awkwardly in the air. Naomi looked at Adam and then at her feet. Adam felt his cheeks flush, thankful for the half gloom of the cave. The torches mounted to the cave walls in sconces. Most likely put there by the testing committee, since this cave outside of the village had always been uninhabited, by both man and beast.

“In any case we should move on,” said Alastair with a grin. “This is amazing, I always knew that I was destined for great things. I will leave this town and reclaim my family's rightful honor.”

The party headed out, with Alastair taking the lead. Maximus with his imposing physique and two handed axe following. Lynn and Naomi followed after. And that left Adam to bring up the rear.

Adam cursed his uselessness. It was just his luck to have not awakened at all, his pathetic dagger proficiency aside. He tried to clear the negative thoughts from his mind but it was fruitless.

What was he doing here? Was this all that life was going to be like? Living in the small mining town of Lockinge at the edges of the kingdom. Lorded over by some fallen noble family who owned the mine and the town. He had hoped that when the other youths had awakened that he would awaken too. He hadn’t even hoped for their mystifying proficiencies, just a Rank C or even a Rank D in something and he could apply that somewhere and get out of this town. Yet it seemed fate was not done jerking him around.

The party entered another chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites stretched out across the floor and ceiling. More torches were fastened against them and along the walls. The cavern was large, the largest one so far. A stone bridge barely wide enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder stretched across a chasm in the center. Two lit braziers flanked either side of the entrance to the bridge.

“This must be the end,” Alastair said, his voice echoing through the chamber. He brushed his golden curls to the side and made his way to the bridge.

“Do you think that’s it?” asked Lynn. “We haven’t even leveled up yet, I think we’re close, but the committee won’t be able to test our stat growth if we don’t level up.”

“Don’t worry,” Alastair said with a smirk. “The royal advisor from the capital told me everything about this test that they set up. There’s no real danger, and they wouldn’t dare risk hurting a noble like myself, there’s some large bat in here to be the boss of this fake dungeon along with some more bats like before.”

Alastair reached the beginning of the stone bridge. He began to cross without even sparing a glance over the edge. Maximus followed suit. Lynn and Naomi peaked over the edge, Lynn hurried along and Naomi gripped her mace even tighter.

Adam looked over the edge, he couldn’t see the bottom. Was this cave always like this? He had played here once with Naomi when they were younger, but they had never gone too far inside. Adam swallowed and followed the rest of the party.

The cave was silent. Only the sound of their footfalls could be heard, and the dripping of water somewhere off to the left.

The party reached the center of the stone bridge and stopped. Suddenly a loud squeak and the flapping of multiple wings echoed throughout the cavern. Several bats flew down from the ceiling of the cave, and one of the large stalactites unfurled itself revealing itself to be a large bat almost the size of a man. It was an ambush.

[Large Cave Bat Level 3 - Boss has been triggered.]

The boss let out a mind numbing shriek that shook the cavern. The party dropped to their knees clutching their heads. The smaller bats dive-bombed them, the party was caught out. Two of the bats made a straight line for Naomi.

[You have resisted Confusion.]

It was a lucky break, Adam wasn’t sure how but he was the only one unaffected by the status effect of the boss, he was however basically useless. He ran toward Naomi and threw himself at the first bat knocking it away with his shoulder. It let out an angry squeak and flew off. The second bat hit him in the back and a sharp pain stabbed into him.

[Cave Bat damages you with Bite.]

The bat flew off and Adam clutched at his back, it was wet and a warm trickle began soaking his shirt.

[You’ve been afflicted with Bleed.]

Adam cursed, this was not going well. He glanced at his HP, a third was gone like before, but now it was draining very slowly, he’d be fine for now. The other members were still kneeling holding their heads, it had been at least three to four second like before. Maybe this status effect was stronger coming from the boss.

The boss dive-bombed them next, this time it targeted Alastair at the front of the party. Adam moved reflexively, the thing was huge in comparison but he didn’t have time to think. He collided with the beast just before it was about to slam into Alastair. It hit him with one of its wings knocking the breath out of Adam and pitching him over the edge. He barely managed to grab onto the lip of the bridge. Blood filled his mouth and he spit it out gagging.

[Large Cave Bat damages you with Wing Beat.]

Adam could hardly breath, his stomach and ribs screamed at him. The creature’s attack reminded him of the time he had fallen out of a tree when he was younger, slamming into one of the branches on his way down. He glanced at his HP, it was dangerously low, under ten percent and slowly dropping lower from the bleeding.

Alastair got back on his feet and looked over at Adam.

“Help me,” Adam shouted.

Alastair regarded Adam for a moment longer and then turned toward the boss. It batted another wing at him. Alastair blocked it with his sword but not completely, his HP dropped maybe fifteen to twenty percent. He grunted and lashed out with his sword striking the boss.

“Spark!”

“Cleave!”

A bolt of electricity hit the boss causing its hair to stand on end and Maximus slammed his axe into it knocking it back. It flew away back toward the ceiling, its wings spasming unevenly.

“I stunned it!” Lynn yelled.

There was no reprieve however as the other bats descended upon the party. Maximus slashed one with his axe knocking it away, Lynn finished it with a bolt of magic from her wand. Two others attacked Alastair, he hit one with his sword killing it in a single blow with Strike, but the other one bit into his shoulder dropping his HP to half.

“Heal me!” Alastair shrieked at Naomi. His eyes were wild and he flailed out with his sword missing the bat.

She gripped her mace frozen, looking between him and Adam. Adam struggled on the side of the bridge unable to pull himself up, his HP was just a sliver, only a few percent left.

“But Adam,” she stammered.

“Let the orphan die! He shouldn’t even be here, he won't be missed!”

Naomi was on the verge of tears and she outstretched her hand.

This is it Adam thought. What a way to go. Well maybe he would wake up on the edge of another forest as another naked eight year old. His vision began to darken and he felt his grip weaken, it was like falling asleep.

“Lesser Heal!”

Adam felt some strength return as a familiar warmth rolled over him. His HP was back up to half, Maximus pulled him up quickly and dropped him onto his backside onto the bridge.

“What are you doing!” Alastair yelled. He didn’t have time for more as the boss had circled back around and was diving at him. Maximus leapt in between them using his large axe to ward off the beast, its talons wrapped around the handle pinning it against him. A bolt of electricity hit the beast again and Alastair slashed it with his sword. There was no room for Adam to try anything, the bridge was too narrow.

Alastair was lit up for a moment and his HP was restored up to full. “It’s about time,” he yelled.

The boss retreated but the two remaining bats attacked the party in its place. They were felled easily by Alastair and Maximus. Only the boss remained.

“Let’s finish this bastard,” yelled Alastair. “We just leveled up!”

It was true, Adam saw the swirls of multicolored light rise off of the party indicating a level up, but no such luck for him, he was still Level 1.

The boss flew at them. Lynn hit it with Spark and several bolts of magic from her wand but it was not deterred. It slammed into Maximus but he pushed it away with his axe, his raw strength overpowering it. Alastair and Maximus hit it with a combination of Strike and Cleave. The boss shrieked one final time, but not the shriek meant to render the party incapacitated, it fell to the ground dead.

[Congratulations you have killed the boss Large Cave Bat Level 3.]

Adam was cloaked for a moment in multicolored light, it swirled off of him in a myriad of different tendrils, dissipating into the air above him.

[Congratulations you have leveled up to Level 2.]