I wasn’t ready for this.

I REALLY wasn’t ready for this.

But [Monsters] waited for no man, especially not for one that had caught the attention of the [Goddess of Luck].

That must have been the worst deal in the history of [Patronages] ever.

Going back to me being tackled, it was from one of the [Guards], fortunately, who had come to rescue me.

Now, being under an armored person wasn’t comfortable, but by the sound coming from above me, with the [Guard] brawling it out with a [Ratton], I was having the easy part.

One guttural squeak later, followed by a sickening crack, the [Guard] got the [Ratton] off him, and then wasted no time in getting back up, take a defensive stance, and be on the look-out for any more threats.

"[Human], you’ve got to move! We need to reach the caravan and get behind the defensive line, I don’t know for how much longer we’ll resist on our own!" shouted the [Guard] that had just saved me, after scanning the battlefield.

"You don’t have to tell me twice!" I said, as I hastily got up from the ground.

I analyzed our situation, and while we weren’t exactly surrounded, we definitely would have to fight more than a couple of [Rattons], before being able to regroup with the rest of our party.

The [Guard] had already retrieved his spear from the ground, sent flying during the improvised tackle, and passed me the shield that was on his back.

"Know how to handle one of those?" he asked, without actually looking at me.

Since I was having difficulties to even keep it up I just sent him an unamused look and said "what do you think? Of course I don’t!".

"Well, just interpose it between you and the bad guys, and you will be fine" he responded with a little grimace and after a little shrug, he was off, clearing the way to the convoy, by decimating any [Ratton] that got in the way.

I really wasn’t ready for this whole thing, since at the first the sight of the eviscerated corpses of the [Ratton], with intestines and various body parts flying in different directions, was almost enough to make throw up the light meal from before right there.

And I was still left stumbling after him, hiding behind a shield that was almost as tall as me (which made it even harder to carry, but the adrenaline was enough to make me persevere).

I had to hear a high-pitched clanging noise twice before I realized that my [Lantern] was still being attacked by the first [Ratton] that had jumped at me, although the metal body of my [familiar] made it impervious to the racking from this [Monster].

Letting him stay there while getting battered, even when it was impervious to it, still didn’t sit well with me, so I told it to follow us.

If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn that I could see it wagging its bottom half when he disengaged from the [Ratton].

It floated out of the reach of the ugly rats and headed our way, which was when I realized how bad of an idea having a [floating Lantern] actually was.

We, the only two people that remained separated from the others, had now a glowing beacon of light following us.

"In retrospect, I should have just [Desummoned] it."

You do not say!?

Sass aside, [Buddy] was right… except that maybe it wasn’t!

"[Lantern]!" I shouted whilst glancing behind me.

My [familiar] shined brighter twice, as if in acknowledgment.

"Channel your [Light] into a beam and fire it at the closest [Ratton]’s face, and always switch target to the one that’s closest!" I voiced the plan that I had concocted.

The book had said that [Rattons] generally disliked sunlight, with their beady eyes especially weak to it, so in my mind this should have helped.

The [Lantern] slowed down a moment, closed all its sides except one, which started forming some kind of 'camera shutter' on it; I could see the [Light] from my [familiar] getting bright and brighter, together with the beam getting tighter and tighter.

And once the beam had reached a small enough size, it swung around and reoriented its ray to hit the closed [Ratton]: And it scream in pure agony, because where he was hit its flesh started sizzling, bubbling and then melt off, dropping on the ground, leaving behind sckeletal visages.

Now, that wasn’t what I was expecting, but I wasn’t about to complain, because the [Monsters] had suddenly become rather wary of approaching us from behind (meaning that the [Guard] with me could finally concentrate on clearing the front, without bothering with the rear).

Meanwhile, the [Lantern] was constantly switching targets, causing nasty wounds on any [Ratton] that got too close, with some even dropping on the ground, seemingly dead.

"Oh, fuck! Did I just kill something!?"

"Way to go [Human]!" said the [Guard], with a happy expression visible through his helmet, once he turned around to send me a nod, "we’re almost there: keep it up for a while longer!".

The sudden good news, combined with the macabre spectacle that was [Lantern]’s light-show, distracted me long enough to not make me notice the appearance of a new foe.

"SQUUEEEEAAAAAAK!!!" an incredibly loud noise came from my right, where the forest was now closest.

And out of the bushes came a couple more [Rattons], that were half again the size of their similes, and that seemed to be wearing armors made of wood and stones, and wielding similarly crafted axes and shields.

This time I didn’t freeze in place and kept running behind the [Guard], but I still gave it an [Inspect].

Name:

Forest Ratton Warrior

Affinities:

Earth; Nature

Danger:

Medium

"Oh no."

'On no' indeed, since this small group seemed to be just the first among many.

Soon, small armies of [Ratton Warriors] started coming out of the woodwork, seemingly having been waiting somewhere out of the range of [Unavoidable Detection] (which wasn’t as 'unavoidable' as its namesake would seem to imply).

Worse news, the majority of them looked to be converging on our position: not that great of a surprise at that point, seeing that [Lantern] was still melting faces, and the harmed [Rattons] were screaming bloody murder while pointing at it.

"Not good, we need to hurry, now!" and true to his words, the [Guard] started going faster.

But that also meant that I started lagging.

“Stupid [Strenght] of 4!” Was the only thing I could think about.

At that moment I did the only thing I thought reasonable at that point: I dropped the shield and started running like my life depended on it (which was exactly the case).

The thought of not having anything else between me and the [Rattons] was a bit jarring, but [Lantern] was doing a good enough job at keeping them at bay, so it was fine.

Or at least, it was fine until the [Ratton Warriors] got close enough to be targeted, and readily responded by just shielding themselves from the ray, while they still kept on advancing.

But, thankfully, the clearing wasn’t massive, and we had just reached the rest of the convoy (that at first glance, seemed to not be missing anyone).

The plumed [Captain] was barking about wounds and injuries, explaining the fact that they could easily get infected, which he repeated for our sake, once he noticed us.

He said one last thing after he was done checking upon the [Guards]: "Ok, everyone is present and accounted for, you can all set loose now!".

I pondered just for a moment what he meant with that, but it became soon clear when a deluge of [Spells] and [Skill] was unleashed upon the [Monters]’ army.

It was almost blinding to my [Demiurgic Sight], and made me realize that they were all trained into keeping the casting to a minimum when there was a chance of friendly fire.

My [Lantern] was still shooting into the fray, which was resulting in momentary useful distractions that let the targeted [Rattons] get hit by more powerful things, so I let it have its fun.

"Dude, is that the lantern from your attempt at making a [Light Spell]!?" one of the excited [Humans] suddenly said to me.

"Man, I wish I already had something that could help: I feel kind of bad just standing here without contributing" said Tyrone afterward.

"Well… honestly, I didn’t know it would be that useful: I just thought it would blind them, not do… that!" I replied, honestly.

The people closest to me frowned, and then one of the girls spoke: "Wait, you have a [Spell] that does something that you haven’t designed it to do? Is that even possible?"

And her concerns did have a point, but I already knew the answer: "I still was the one that gave it the tools to do it, [familiars] are just good at figuring out new ways to improve upon their own powers".

"That’s a [familiar]? Wait, you already have a [familiar]!? That’s like, soo cool! I wish I could [Summon] a bunch of fluffy creatures to fight for me!" exclaimed Vanessa, one of the girls.

"Doesn’t that make him even weirder though?" Someone muttered, quietly enough to not make me understand who it was.

I tried nonetheless to find who said it, and see if they had the guts to repeat it, but the looks on my compatriots were clear: they all agreed on that point.

"Great, and here I thought we were finally getting along!" I shielded my bruised ego by mentally lashing out at them.

Do not let them bother you, there will be plenty of people that will appreciate you for who you are.

"Thanks [Buddy], you can be surprisingly caring when you want to."

Of course, now that our banter has been made clear that it is simply a recurring jest, I will be even more ready to either be the stick or the carrot.

Depending on what the situation may need.

"Does that mean that I was in desperate need of multiple sticks, until now?"

Yes.

-_-

"Understandable, have a nice day."

Back to reality, the fight was abating, and most of the surviving [Rattons] were running away, allowing the [Guards] to sweep the rest of the clearing for loot and other dangers.

But mainly, they started fussing over us.

Thankfully, we were all fine, and once it was public knowledge that the [Magic Lanter] floating above our heads, which had been providing with cover-fire the entire fight, was mine, I ended up receiving way too many mailed slaps to my back (which hurt).

* * *

All in all, it didn’t take long for the [Guards] to clear the area, salvage anything that had been left behind, and dismantle the bodies of the [Monsters] (a very grim spectacle, by the way, but fortunately they just took fur, tail, claws, and teeth, so no visible intestines were being carried around).

Another thing to note though was that after the blinding firework of [Spells] and [Skills], there still was a lingering trace of [Mana] in the air.

"Wait, it’s actually [Aether]. I thought that normal people couldn’t use [Aether]."

That is not something generated by the casting from before.

"Then what is it?"

[Buddy] didn’t respond, but when the [Aether] began to coalesce, and be absorbed by those that fought the [Rattons], including me, it was clear what it was: [Experience].

I honestly wasn’t thinking about it when we were attacked, nor when we were fighting, but killing [Monsters] meant [Levelling up] and getting stronger, by absorbing the [Aether] they released upon death.

This was why the following screen that appeared was more than well-received.

The battle has ended, and the spoils have been collected.

You have received [Exp] for defeating multiple [Ratton Monsters].

You have reached [lvl 2]

You have reached [lvl 3]

You have reached [lvl 4].

Through your actions, you have been awarded multiple Status points:

+1 [Strength]; +2 [Dexterity]; +3 [Acuity]; +3 [Serendipity]; +6 [Energy]; +16 [Will];

I normally would have commented on how that looked like a lot, but I was busy dealing with the 'rush' that apparently came with [Leveling up].

It wasn’t exactly pleasurable, but it was definitely a heady feeling (which made me understand why it was left for after a fight was over).

"Good job everyone!" announced the [Guard Captain], "I’ll see about how the [Materials] will be distributed. And you, tiny [Human]" he was referring to me, if the pointed finger wasn’t obvious, which made 'someone' laugh, "I’ll see about some of that coin, which will come from this, will find its way into your pockets, as thanks for helping out during the fight".

Being rewarded for my action felt kind of nice, and if this was what being an [Adventurer] was like, I could live with it.

"But now that we’re done fighting, get rid of this blasted thing, all we’d need to be more obvious is a freaking fog-horn!" and he had to ruin the moment.

But he was right, so I dismissed the [Lanter], and I felt it go back to the [World Within].

Then the carriages were loaded anew, the civilian seated, the [Guards] mounted, and we were back on our way towards the [Guild].

Finding myself on my lonesome, once more, I started bickering with [Buddy] on whether to start on the [Barrier], or finish the books.

"There were a couple of really close calls there, I really think that I should make an attempt at completing the [Spell]."

And I remind you, that the more knowledge you pour into it, the better the potential of the Matrix will be.

"I mean… yeah, but I’m already done with the books that were about Magic, I’m not going to learn anything that would change the outcome from the remaining ones."

You cannot be certain of that until you have gone through every book: nothing says that there will not be side-notes that could be useful.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake!"

My outburst caught us both by surprise.

"I guess facing [Monsters] for the first shook me more than I thought."

Agreed.

Maybe a cast of [Rejuvenation] is in order?

I didn’t know how that could help me, but once cast it did end up relaxing me a bit, which made me realize that [Buddy] was right, and there could be something interesting inside the books that were left (while the need for the [Barrier] was founded, the precedent events were an isolated case, and I shouldn’t be facing anymore [Monsters] for weeks).

So I got back to studying and indeed found something.