Our destination was the tallest building of the city, just four blocks back in the northern direction. This was a landmark which allowed me to recognize the inner part of the city and because of it, I had recognized the increasing rings of difficulty resonating from the center.

The monsters we had dispatched earlier hadn’t respawned yet and I could see the eyes of Lucas and Rebekah looking around in confusion: there was no danger around us. They seemed skeptical as we approached the tall building and made our way to the roof.

Once on top they looked out and their eyes nearly fell from their sockets. The challenge we faced was clear as day from above, with the myriad of enemies below and in the distance. A clear division of difficulty and monster variety as one approached the center.

Their eyes traced the distance and then eventually the immediate few blocks we had already cleared, “Don’t tell me… you two cleared these blocks yourself? That’s why there are no monsters roaming about?”

“Right, we cleared them.” I said. “And don’t let that make you think they are easy. Can you see the stratification of enemies? Right now we are in the second-most outer ring. Those goblins you fear so badly are in the most outer ring. They are cannon fodder to us at this point.

“Do you see those brutish monsters? One of those hitting you would kill you two times over as you are now. You are trapped within this ring and would never escape alone,” I continued.

“You should join us, we have to work together,” Jessica said. “We just want allies to help us survive. Everything seems to be getting harder and only groups of trustworthy, like-minded people are going to be able to cope. Helping you get started is our way of building a relationship and showing our sincerity.”

Her words were like the cherry on top of the conclusion the view was leading them towards. I didn’t know she had such a way with words, and the two immediately were more convinced hearing the argument for solidarity among survivors from someone as charming as Jessica.

Lucas leaned in close and started whispering in Rebekah’s ear. The hesitation they were both feeling seemed to disappear, “What do we need to do?”

“Does that mean you will join us?” I asked.

“We will join, and follow your direction as long as you are not irresponsibly putting our lives in danger.” His response told me he truly had thought about it. He wasn’t just blustering with his answer, and I immediately had high expectations for Lucas.

“Good, we can power level you to start. Getting your class change immediately isn’t wise as the selections are determined by stat and skill choice. It would be a good idea to start thinking about what you would like to be, when I say that I mean in the sense of class-type: spell caster; melee fighter; tank; or something else.

“We only have one skill book currently available, but it isn’t useful without a ranged weapon.” I added. With that, we walked back down to ground level and returned to the building we had slept the night prior.

Our spears were located there, even though we weren’t using them anymore. Jessica and I each passed one across, and they took them with evident fear on their face. “Don’t worry, you just have to stab. We’ll pin them down. It’ll be fine,” I promised.

We headed a bit more inward towards an area that had monsters available. “How about setting a trap?” I suggested to Jessica.

“Quagmire?” she asked.

“Yeah, and then pull an ogre.”

She nodded and then set a Quagmire trap before pulling her bow from her inventory. The visual of the bow appearing in her hands out of thin air both shocked and excited Lucas and Rebekah.

She pulled back the string and the two couldn’t look away as an arrow materialized out of light on the bow string. She put an arrow directly into the thigh of an ogre and ensured it would run right through her trap.

As soon as the trap was triggered I sent all my skeletons to swarm it, and instructed them to hold the monster in place. They didn’t attack, and merely constrained its limbs. With Quagmire and my skeletons holding the brute in place, it couldn’t move even in the slightest.

“Now it’s your turn. Just go up and stab it. The skin is quite thick and leathery so you’ll need to put some force into it.” I caught myself, “Oh wait, you two should make a party. One of you just needs to think it and it will invite the other.”

Lucas halted his advance and then turned back to Rebekah. It seemed to me he was picking everything up quite quickly. Once the two were in a party together they approached the brute with spears drawn.

Rebekah stabbed half-assed and couldn’t even break the skin while Lucas did his best to drill the tip into the ogre’s neck. Once he pierced it once, he continued to stab it over and over in the same place like a madman.

Blood gushed out of the wound and covered the bulging belly of the monster before dripping to the floor. Some was spurting onto my skeletons, who were holding strong. After dozens of seconds and at least twenty stabs, the ogre went limp and collapsed to the ground.

“I gained two levels.” Lucas said with a smile.

“Me as well.” Rebekah chimed in.

“Good, so this tactic for power levelling does work.” I sighed in relief. Just doing this a few more times would get them close to Level 5. From there they would be able to battle in the outer ring with goblins and zombies and the alien creatures relatively safely with a proper battle strategy.

I instructed them on how to open their stats and gave a brief description of what I believed each stat would do. I didn’t have any opinion on what Lucas should do stat wise, as he seemed comfortable going into melee range. His options for classes were completely open.

Rebekah, however, seemed uncomfortable with being anywhere near a foe. I suggested she consider a ranged class, and decide if she wanted to cast spells, or use ranged attacks, or even play a support role.

Just as I had done, Lucas added some points to STR for an immediate boost in his power. It was a useful stat even outside of fighting, and wouldn’t hurt to have a few points in it to start with. It would make damaging the ogres even easier.

Rebekah didn’t use any points at all, and it seemed Lucas was completely fine with her not contributing to the kills. Five more brutes was all it took for both of them to each hit Level 5, and I wasn’t sure if It was pure luck or the relative difficulty, but three skill books and two items dropped.

It was possible there was some sort of dynamic scaling. Defeating monsters of much higher level or stronger than you provided better loot: which made sense from a fairness standpoint. Did that mean lower level monsters dropped you nothing? I’d assume they still would, just that drop values reverted to default, which in my experience had been very low.

I collected the items and the skill books and took a look over them.

Book of Wind Slash LV. 3: Allows the user to strike out with great speed creating a blade of wind that travels through the air to cut enemies.

Cast Time: Instant

MP Cost: 6

Distance: 3 Meters

Requires a sword to be equipped.

Book of Healing LV. 2: Allows the user to use the spell Healing Touch. Healing Touch restores 25% of the target’s maximum HP.

Cast Time: 2 Seconds

MP Cost: 15

Distance: 5 Meters

Book of Energy Bolt LV. 1: Shoots a concentrated bolt of energy at the target.

Cast Time: 1 Second

MP Cost: 5

Distance: 4 Meters

None of the skill books held any appeal for me except Heal. The fact that full support skills must exist was a given but it was the first I’d seen drop. There was no guarantee all skills were weighted equally, though. Perhaps healing abilities were incredibly rare, because they could save a life.

As for the items that dropped:

Carbon Steel Nodachi: A beautiful Samurai sword that measures over 6ft in length.

AGI +2, DEX +1, Attack Speed +10%

Geloas’ Eyes: A pair of goggles that greatly increases vision.

DEX +4, True Strike + 10.

Grants the user Clear Vision.

I pocketed Heal and then presented Energy Bolt and Wind Slash to show them to Lucas. He seemed interested in Wind Slash as a skill, and then when I presented the Nodachi to him, he was completely sold.

He took the book from me and learned it on the spot, which prompted me to hand over the Carbon Steel Nodachi. As for Rebekah, her only option was Energy Bolt. I was hesitant to allow her to learn Heal. She had yet to prove herself under stress and a healer had to be able to make smart decisions in an instant.

Heal was just too useful of an ability to hand it out irresponsibly. If I gave it to her and she decided she didn’t want to live this type of life, and I discovered Heal was incredibly rare, it would be a disaster.

“You can wait to learn a skill as well, if you’d like,” I said to her.

“No, it’s okay. I’m happy with the idea of using magical spells,” she confessed before learning Energy Bolt. As for the Geloas’ Eyes, I passed them to Jessica happily. The goggles looked like they would work wonders for her tracking ability, and I was curious what the special effects were.

“This is incredible!” Jessica cried.

“What does Clear Vision do?” I wondered aloud.

“Clear Vision grants the user perfect vision,” she seemed to be narrating from the menu that only she could see. “True Strike gives me a ten percent chance to land a critical hit.”

This was really welcome news and I felt a surge of elation. Soon too, the newcomers were be adding a great deal to our combat strength. The Nodachi Lucas wielded looked so on so menacing I doubted he would replace it anytime soon.

“It’s getting dark, we should head back,” Jessica said. I agreed and didn’t feel like sleeping on hard concrete anymore.

“Why not come back to our apartment?” offered Rebekah, who seemed to be coming out of herself. “We have a spare bedroom.”

Only after I was safely in bed did I take the time to look at my own stats. Killing the Elite Banshee had pushed both me and Jessica to Level 10. It was possible for me to learn a new active skill now. I opened my stats.

Name: Mike Reynolds (27) Class: Necromancer Level: 10 EXP: 13%

HP: 230/385 MP: 133/210

STR: 5

AGI: 2

DEX: 1

VIT: 12

WIS: 12 +3

Available: 3

Skills: [A]Summon Skeleton LV. 4 |[A] Decay LV. 1| [A] Reanimate Dead LV. 1 | [P]Sixth Sense | [P] Bravery LV. 2 | [P] Mutated | [P] Pain Resistance | [P] Skeletal Mastery

In the several hours since we downed the Banshee, I had recovered a decent amount of HP and a decent chunk of MP. The question I was asking myself was if Bone Armor should be my next active skill.

My biggest fear was dying to something unexpected. Right now, it didn’t feel like we could afford to make any mistakes, even though my HP already felt incredibly high given my level. Honestly, that feeling was just pure stress, and it was accumulating slowly.

At the same time though, leveling for the next few days was going to be purely grinding mobs we could deal with easily. I didn’t want to abandon Lucas and Rebekah just because they had gotten their skills and could nearly fend for themselves. There was potential in this group for the longer term.

Tomorrow would be another day of assisting them, and then Jessica and I would make preparations to move towards the next ring. There was still time to see a few more skill books drop, and by the day we made a move inwards, I could make a decision.

There was also Jessica to consider as well. Her spells could be used as traps, which meant even non-normal skill choices could work. The only limiting factor was the drops we received and our own creativity.

I never thought sleeping on a bed could feel so good, and it was the first time in a long time that I didn’t feel anxious about closing my eyes. Nothing was going to wander upon us and attack us in the night. But before I fell asleep, I heard Jessica from the bed at the other wall.

“You did well today Mike. And with Rebekah and Lucas, I feel hopeful for the first time since this disaster.”

“You too, I don’t think they’d have given this a try without you.” I said.

I waited for a response, but could hear her breathing was deep and steady. Like me she must have been exhausted and had fallen asleep. I let myself do the same.