Waking up after the sun had already risen was an oddity, but damn did it feel good. A sleep that refreshing could only happen because Jessica and I had reached our first goal. A huge weight had been lifted from my anxieties after hitting Level 10 and especially after getting the Necromancer class specialism. With Jessica as a Trapper and potential support from the newcomers too, as far as I was concerned, our current position was solid and safe. With this set up and the level of the monsters we’d faced, we could survive on the outskirts of this city for as long as need be: my main fear was that the challenge could grow too fast for us. Although we were leveling well, the world was evolving and changing alongside us.

We all rose bright and early, and ended up eating the remaining rations Lucas and Rebekah had in their apartment. I showed them the consumables you could find from drops, including HP potions and even actual Rations.

During the night, the monsters nearby had all respawned and the streets just outside the apartment were crawling with them. Jessica and I had to play cleanup to start the day off, because pulling and restraining a single ogre for our companions to kill wasn’t possible: there were just too many monsters and we didn’t want to risk Lucas or Rebekah’s safety.

What was apparent though, was that this ring had grown too weak for Jessica and I now, and slaying multiple ogres and banshees at the same time was no longer a risk. My skeletons were able to take multiple hits from these monsters, and the damage they dealt was outstanding.

Only after we had cleared a safe space to work with did we start pulling for them. The goal for the day was to get them to Level 8. By then they should be able to level alone and we could discuss the best way forward. I wanted to resume levelling up as soon as possible and I was sure Jessica felt the same. Once Lucas and Rebekah were safe in this area, I reckoned it might be best to split up and they agreed on that point. I did my best as we pulled each mob type to explain their abilities and what was dangerous about them.

Jessica’s pulls included the zombies, goblins, and the four-legged, alien-type creature. The grind was effective but dull and it wasn’t teaching them a lot. Lucas was simply chopping mobs to bits in full safety while Rebekah shot Energy Bolts. When they expressed that to me, I agreed it was safe enough for them to be more ambitious. As soon as they reached Level 6 we decided let them start clearing for themselves, moving towards the edge of the city.

On my advice, both Lucas and Rebekah put points into VIT and started to pull for themselves, making sure to be careful of thrown spear attacks from hidden goblins. Jessica and I were down to only a single bandage between the two of us, and I didn’t want to use it due to their carelessness.

I turned to Jessica, “What do you think? Should we leave them to it and try pushing further in?”

She pondered the idea, “Hmm, I’m sure those two will be fine, but we would be going into the unknown. I think we could handle it, but don’t we need to farm two Class Changing Stones first?” Of course, this was something I had forgotten. We had promised Rebekah and Lucas that we would provide them with a stone so they could choose their classes on reaching Level 10.

There were more elites in the next ring of enemies than the one we were in, but I reckoned that we wouldn’t be able to handle them at our current strength, not with the risk of adds that were themselves a challenge. Here, the non-elite ogres and banshees were no longer a threat to us, and while they gave very little exp – each kill was around three or four percent of our level – it honestly wasn’t bad for battles that were almost risk free.

To get to the elites of our current ring was probably an hour walk on foot, but we had reached a strength that we could travel this layer without much fear. Jessica could immediately discover any hidden enemies, and my skeletons were the perfect shield.

After a discussion, we parted from Lucas and Rebekah. They were going to continue their own grind, while Jessica and I went to get their class stones, with plan to meet up again at their apartment.

Jessica and I started our journey north again, towards where we had defeated the elite banshee. Between us, we had decided she was the weaker of the two elites. My skeletons countered her Fear and her Frost Bolt took way more hits to down my Skeleton General than the constant pounding from the elite brute.

The boss was merely a four block walk over, which took around thirty minutes given we were meticulously downing monsters. The idea that there was some form of dynamic scaling for loot seemed plausible, as we weren’t finding many drops. From about twenty kills, we did, however, manage to find another two rations and a hit point potion. Truthfully, this was easy and safe leveling for us, and after making the thirty-minute walk decided we would get all the EXP we could from this area.

As we moved and fought, Jessica and I discussed what we would do after the elites. So long as the EXP gain was 3 or 4 per cent of a level, we would continue in this ring, but once the EXP per kill was down to below 2 per cent, it would be time to travel inwards. This was probably only two levels away or so. As we finished clearing the remaining monsters in the block of space we had previously chosen for the boss fight, the elite banshee was nowhere to be found.

“I guess maybe it takes longer to respawn than regular mobs?” I questioned.

“Maybe.” Jessica said. “It doesn’t matter how soon we find them anyway; we’ll be grinding here for a bit regardless.” She wasn’t wrong, and when I looked at it that way I wasn’t in a rush at all.

We eventually did come upon an elite, but it wasn’t a banshee.

It was another ogre, and although I felt sick to my stomach looking at him, we managed to find a good place to pull him and defeat him. There were no untoward hooks thrown this time and the fight ended with just a few of my skeletons being destroyed.

Having an increased effect on Quagmire and the reanimated Banshee made so much of a difference. When the boss died, I was anxious in case a class changing stone might not drop since Jessica and I had already class changed, but that wasn’t the case.

A stone did drop, which I pocketed away. There was also another item that dropped.

Leather Gloves: Tight fitting gloves made out of a leathery but dirty-looking material.

AGI +1, DEX +2

Grants the user Nimble Fingers.

Again, this was another item made for Jessica, and honestly I wasn’t unhappy about it. The gloves were definitely made from the disgusting skin of the brute, and just that color made me feel sick. Wearing it on my hands all the time was a no go for me.

Jessica told me that Nimble Fingers increased attack speed by 5%, which wasn’t a small amount at all. The way she nocked arrows and sent them flying was growing more and more incredible. She’d really taken to this new world and I felt lucky to have her at my side.

Her archery had gone beyond what had previously been possible for a human, mostly a result of the assistance of increased stats. The time it took for her to pull the string back and aim was already less than a second, and her accuracy was on point.

I knew it was on point because I tested her. As we moved forward, looking for more enemies, I would occasionally pick up a baseball-sized rock and toss it in the air and call on Jessica to hit it. So far, in five attempts, she hadn’t missed a single one. An arrow went directly through each rock and split them into pebbles.

This had become somewhat of a game for me, but evidently more of an annoyance as time passed for her as at last she pleaded, “No more please.” The constant nocking and shooting might have been tiring on her, and I happily obliged.

With the EXP from the elite brute and then that from another ten kills, we both managed to hit level 11. I had also gained another skill up in Summon Skeletons, which granted me an extra skeleton.

Almost as if my complaining about the rarity of loot had been heard, we managed to get three items as well, two of them equipment and one was another HP potion.

Long Hunting Bow: A bow of considerable size. It takes great strength to fully draw it.

DEX +1, STR+ 3

There was no added passive skill, but the bow itself was clearly an upgrade to her crude short bow. Just the effort required to pull it back showed how much more force it would shoot with.

Skull Mask: A face mask made out of the skull of a dead animal. You look Demonic.

INT +2, VIT +2

Grants the user Intimidate Living.

Putting the mask on, I pulled up my stats immediately to take a closer look at this item.

I noticed that unlike the black on white colors of the game menu, which were the usual ones, Intimidate Living showed in purple, probably indicating that it was item granted. I read the description:

Intimidate Living: Living enemies feel fear when looking at you, making them less likely to attack. The wearer has a small chance to cast Fear when attacked.

From what I understood, the mask acted like threat reduction, reducing my chance of getting aggro? This could be important if my minions were going down: I might not be the next target once they did. I had experienced what Fear did firsthand, and if it proc’d, that would be amazing.

Besides that, the stats were good enough to warrant my wearing it. “Do you feel intimidated when you look at me?” I asked Jessica.

She looked me up and down and then smiled, “No, you just look kind of silly to me.” I guessed that in her eyes I wasn’t a threat, or simply that the mask didn’t affect allies. New people we meet might not feel the same. Having a skull mask gave me a bit of allure and mystery, which I liked.

We continued to head north, beyond the point Jessica and I had previously ventured. It was just more of the same, an endless waste of destruction and debris. I started to wonder if we would ever find more people. If they had survived, it was probably well away from the city and not towards the dangerous core.

The likelihood that we would find people that hadn’t started their leveling journey shrank each day, while those that had grown in power could be potential enemies. This wasn’t a pleasant thought at all: having to kill another person or be killed by them.

Sometimes in my sleep, I saw the image of the older brother dying, and I was thankful that I had immediately cast Summon Skeletons on the younger one’s body in the darkness. I don’t think that sight would have ever left my brain if not.

It was this line of thinking that prompted me to turn to Jessica, “Hey, I never asked you, but what do you want?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, what do you want to happen? Where do you want this all to go? Save the world somehow? Find a nice quiet place and live? What goal do you have?”

Her face lit up with an ‘oh’ and then she went silent, “For now, I think I just want to survive. If possible… it would be nice to find a spot less affected by this mess and continue to grow as a Trapper. Then I could choose my adventures better instead of being thrust into them. Maybe even help a community thrive.” She paused, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want some control back.”

My current goal was also to survive, and it was that simple in my head. I hadn’t thought beyond this to the level that Jessica had. Since I no longer felt death was looming at every corner, I had a more time to contemplate on my future. “Some control doesn’t sound so bad,” I agreed.

“Probably, its cities and population hubs that are most affected by this catastrophe. If we moved to the country, maybe there would be monsters, but nowhere near as bad as this. Especially those enemies in the inner rings.”

“Right,” Jessica nodded. “But I don’t think we should just leave. Not now, anyway. This is where we can get levels and new gear. And I worry that if we drop our pace, we’ll fall behind and never have a chance when in the future some monster finds us.”

I liked the way she spoke about ‘we’ and not just ‘I’.