A chill ran down Kyle’s back as he went over his new spell options, and he glanced around in confusion before returning to the screen in front of him. He had managed to master his Minor Flame Enchantment in one of the battles since Fi had been knocked out by the Amoeboid, so he was looking for a damage increasing enchantment that was safer to use in a forest, luckily at his Rank there weren’t that many spells that he could learn so it wasn’t hard to make a choice.

“Brrr, oh sorry Fi,” Kyle said as Fi glared at him for nearly shaking her free of his shoulders when he shivered. “Anyway, I think I should just get the Minor Frost Enchantment, but what do you think?”

“That sounds like a good choice to me,” Fi nodded. Minor Frost Enchantment was a good choice because as Kyle upgraded the spell it would not only get increased damage, a longer duration and be able to be used more times but would have a chance to slow down enemies it damaged. Minor Flame Enchantment itself would likewise get the secondary effect of having a chance to set enemies on fire, dealing damage over time.

New Spells selected!

Minor Frost Enchantment. Wreaths a weapon in frost. Adds 2-3 Ice Damage to attacks. Duration: 5 attacks or 1 minute. Cooldown 2 minutes. Cost 20 MP. Spell Mastery 0%

The description was almost Identical to Minor Flame Enchantment just replacing Fire Damage with Ice Damage, but it was still a more than welcome addition to Kyle’s arsenal of spells and Skills.

“Right, that’s done what about my Skills Fi?”

Skills Increased!

Chain Fighting-Mastery

Proficiency Level 3-31% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that provides bonuses to fighting with chain weapons. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses

Increases damage dealt with Chain Weapons by 7%

Sub-Skills

· Lash- Increases damage dealt by 10%. Costs 10 SP

· Entangling Coils- Slows entangled enemies by 10% for 5-10 seconds. 5% chance for entangled enemy to be knocked down for 10 seconds. (The chain used for this Skill will be unusable for the duration of this Skill) Costs 15 SP. Cooldown 30 seconds.

Physical Conditioning-Mastery

Level 7-21% to next Proficiency Level

Provides Bonuses to HP and SP. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked.

Current Bonuses-One Bonus available for purchase

Increases HP by 7%

Sub-Skills

Thick Skin – Increases Physical Defence by 5%.

Mana Manipulation- Mastery (Trait based Racial Skill)

Level 8-9% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that unlocks Magic Schools. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked

Current Bonuses

Decreases MP cost of spells by 8%

Unlocks Magic Schools Slots- 0 Slots available

Unlocks ‘Mana’ School of Magic

Magic School Slots-1/2

· Mana -Basic Magic School Unlocked by the Mana Manipulation Skill

· Enchanting- A Magic School that allows magical effects to be added to equipment.

Sub-Skills

Meditation- Increases MP regen by 10% when seated. Passive

Seeing that three of his Skills had reached the next Proficiency Level Kyle breathed a sigh of relief.

“Only one more point to go,” he muttered. Despite everything else that had happened while they were here neither Kyle or Fi could deny that staying in the Zone had produce results. Now it was hard to believe that it was only yesterday that they had been worrying about getting rid of a deficit of negative 11 Skill Points.

He had also received a control Skill for his chain as well, it looked like he would have to rely on his Unarmed Combat or magic while he was using it, unless he started working towards unlocking the Dual Wielding Skill but it was nonetheless a useful edition to his arsenal of Skills, now all he really felt he was missing was an area attack.

“By the way Fi, what was up with your Companion Type?” Kyle asked suddenly causing Fi to blink in surprise at the sudden change of subject.

“Well, when you get your Tier 2 Class I’ll receive a ‘companion type’ based on the abilities that I’ve chosen, for example; Digby’s a tank and Ai’s a supporter,” Fi explained. “As for me, I want to be a caster.”

Your Class is interesting, but it has its own set of issues in that it spreads out your Stats too much,” Fi continued as Digby nodded his agreement. “I’m going to suggest right now that you specialise more into something that plays to the strengths you have due to your Racial Variant. Your Mana Charged trait is too big an advantage for you not to pick a Class that suits it.”

Kyle nodded as well, if he had been able to pick a better magic wielding Class than Mage or Aspirant he wouldn’t have even looked twice at this Class, but he still believed that this was the best choice he could’ve made with the options he had.

“Right, now that you guys are done with that we should start heading towards the exit of the Zone,” Digby said. “I just got a message from Jerald that he’s closing in on the boss’s location.”

“Digby, what’s wrong?” Fi asked.

The mole-like companion sighed heavily, “It’s this Zone, the monsters are developing too fast. Jerald’s fighting some boars that are over Level 10, Level 10 monsters shouldn’t be appearing for another two days at least.”

“Unless people started dying in the Zone,” Fi pointed out.

“True,” Digby admitted. “But there aren’t that many people nearby who would just wander into a Zone. In fact, other than the villagers at Farholt who are currently dealing with their captain of the guard going insane, the only people who use any of the roads anywhere near here are travelling merchants and they know to stay away from Zones.”

“So, what do you thinks going on?” Kyle asked. It was obvious to him and Fi that Digby was worried about something other than Jerald’s safety.

“I’m not quite sure,” Digby replied. “But there’s no way it’s a good thing whatever it is.”

And with those ominous words ringing in their ears the group moved on keeping a close eye out for more ambushes from the trees.

“By the way Fi, I think we forgot to go over the Skills that I got access to,” Kyle mentioned as the two checked their surroundings for monsters as Digby led the way through the woods.

“Hmm?” grunted the little serpent distractedly as she checked the nearby trees with her Heat Vision. “Oh right, that’s because you only got access to the Skinning and Butchering Skills.”

“So why didn’t you tell me?” Kyle asked tiredly.

“Because we both know that you’re not that interested in gathering Skills right now,” Fi explained. “It would be nice to have them but right now you’re more interested in getting Skills that help develop your Class, right?”

“True,” Kyle admitted. “But if I got the Skinning Skill now, I’d be able to get some decent quality skins to upgrade my jacket by the time I outgrow it.”

“It’s an interesting option,” Fi admitted. “But I still think that you need to think about the direction your Class will be taking, especially since you picked the Enchanting School. Right now, you’d be better off unlocking the Inscribing Skill so that you can make permanent Enchantments.”

“But my spells can’t even be used that way until they became normal enchantments instead of minor, can they?”

“True but at the rate you rank up your spells it won’t take that long, especially if you get into the Adventurers School,” Fi replied.

Inscribing was the act of first converting a spell from the School of Enchantment into a series of symbols and use the Soul Stones to charge the spell inscribed on the item. Apparently it was also possible to inscribe spells from other Schools as well as Skills but that not only massively increased the cost of completing the Inscription but required an exceedingly high level in both the Skill or spell you wished to inscribe and the Inscribing Skill, so high in fact that it was said that humans were incapable of reaching that level in their lifetime.

At low levels of the Skill you could use the Minor Enchantments after upgrading the enchantment until it became a Normal Enchantment. In other words, if Kyle upgraded his Minor Flame Enchantment from the base version that it was now past Minor Flame Enchantment (III) it would become Flame Enchantment and gain a damage over time effect after which he would be able to Inscribe Minor Flame Enchantment onto a weapon. As you levelled up Inscribing the cost of inscribing a spell decreased and you became able to inscribe the more powerful versions of the spells. This was one of the most sought-after crafting professions because of how difficult it was to reach the point where these enchantments would be useful and the requirement for Soul Stones, which required the fresh corpse of a monster to create. This had naturally led to people capturing monsters to sell them to Inscribers so that they had a steady supply of Soul Stones which was yet another job that Adventurers did. This had made inscribed equipment more common, but it didn’t make it easier for Inscribers to upgrade their spells to the next Rank any easier which meant that they often hired groups of Adventurers to escort them into dungeons so that they could use their spells in a combat situation or became Adventurers themselves.

“Especially since you already have a spell that allows you to gather the required resource for inscribing equipment which doesn’t use up one of your Skill Slots,” Fi continued. “So, unless you’re planning on becoming a Crafter yourself you should be using your Skill Slots to increase your capabilities in battle instead of filling them up with Skills that won’t help you obtain a better combat Class. If, when you get your Tier 2 Class, you still want to get more Gathering and Crafting Skills then we can rethink things.”

“Fair enough,” Kyle replied with a shrug. Fi was right he didn’t really want to be a Crafter so there wasn’t a lot of point in filling up his Skill Slots with Gathering or Crafting Skills. He just didn’t like to waste things and the skins and meat that he had managed to take were in pretty poor condition. He was interested in getting Inscribing due to its connection to Enchanting and how the Inscriptions looked similar to the markings that appeared on an Aethereal Human’s skin, especially since the markings that appeared on his own skin had changed.

They continued to follow Digby for a while before Fi suddenly sensed something moving on the very edges of her Heat Vision and tightened her coils around Kyle.

“Careful!” she hissed. “There’s something there!”

Kyle quickly slapped the manacle attached to his chain onto his wrist and prepared to fight as Digby growled in irritation at the interruption but made no move to stop the two as Fi spat a ball of shadow at the area she had sensed the heat source. This was of course her Shadowbolt spell and the projectile sped forwards at a slightly slower speed than Kyle’s Mana Darts which he had launched in the same direction as soon as he knew where Fi was targeting.

There was a familiar shrieking sound as one of the projectiles struck the thing hiding in the boughs of the tree that they had aimed at and a Slinger Squirrel leapt out like it’s bushy tail was on fire as a Mana Dart that had struck it disintegrated followed by two more of the giant rodents which started pelting the pair with stones causing Fi to take to the air as Kyle wove through the barrage of projectiles taking a few hits as he did so, they weren’t enough to badly injure him but they did slow him down a bit and the first Slinger Squirrel bared its teeth as it pulled a stone out of its pouch and wound its arm back taking a strangely long period of time to do so, as the other squirrels continued to hurl their own projectiles at him slowing him down further.

“Shit!” he shouted upon seeing this. “Fi that one must be the Variant!”

Fi’s eyes widened and she quickly shot a Shadowbolt at the monster which, seeing the attack coming hurled the stone in its paws at Kyle. The stone shot towards Kyle with incredible speed, propelled by the Slinger Squirrels’ Windup Skill and the young gasped in pain as it slammed into his shoulder with enough force that his clavicle broke with a loud snapping sound rendering his left arm all but useless.

The other two visibly flinched at the sound as the squirrels chittered in victory as Kyle’s left arm visibly dropped without the support provided by his collarbone. This was by far the worst injury he had received since they had entered the Zone but as he had received worse injuries while training Kyle was able to continue to dodge the stones which the other squirrels launched once they had finished their impromptu celebration, gritting his teeth as the movements jolted his injury even more.

Seeing the look of pain on his face Fi quickly cast Restore on Kyle, the spell wasn’t going to fix the broken bone, but it would at least prevent the injury from getting worse in the meantime.

“Thanks, Fi!” Kyle gasped as he took cover behind one of the trees before casting Mana Skin on himself causing his Skin to glow blue briefly before fading back to normal, other than the blue markings which continued to glow as he launched a Mana Bolt in the general direction of the squirrels.

Fi nodded as she darted towards the squirrels, easily dodging their attacks with her swift and agile movements before spitting a Shadowbolt directly at one of the smaller ones’ face causing it to shriek in pain before tumbling out of the tree.

Seeing his chance Kyle shot towards the fallen monster spinning his chain in front of him to deflect some of the increasingly desperate attacks of its fellows before simultaneously activating Lash and his new spell causing the chain to turn white as frost grew along its length as it smashed down on the already wounded monster caving in its head.

The two remaining squirrels screamed in rage at the sight of their fallen comrade and increased their attacks pelting Kyle with stone after stone until the smaller one ran out of ammunition and leapt at him its eyes red with rage.

Kyle upon seeing this desperate final attempt to bring him down rolled his eyes, these squirrels weren’t even a match for a Giant Rabbit in close combat, not having enough bulk to protect them from his attacks or the same level of agility on the ground that they had in the trees.

Fi darted in once more firing another Shadowbolt at the Variant Slinger Squirrel which watched in open mouthed horror as its final companion was easily dispatched by Kyle who first knocked it out of the air with his chain then finished it off by stomping on its head several times as Fi’s Shadowbolt smashed into the Variant causing the shadowy orb to splash over the monsters body before sinking into its fur as the monster yelped in shock from the unexpected attack.

The creature hissed at Fi as she darted through the trees three times now the agile serpent had foiled its plans, but she was too small and too fast for it to hit her with its normal throws and if it tried to use its Windup, either Fi or Kyle would interrupt it.

As the monster contemplated its next move Kyle flicked his chain upwards then swore as the agile beast leapt to one side spitting at him in rage and causing the weight to slam into the branch of the tree creating a small patch of frost on the branch and using up one of the charges of his Minor Frost Enchantment.

The squirrel started to pelt him again with stones causing Kyle to quickly leap out of the way of the jagged-edged projectiles gasping in pain as he jolted his broken collarbone upon landing. The squirrel growled as it put its paws inside the pouch that it kept stones in but couldn’t find any more to throw at the now prone young man whose body glowed briefly as Fi cast another Refresh on him causing the bruises from the stones that had struck him to fade.

Warmth flooded Kyle’s body as the spell washed over him, and he quickly got to his feet as the Variant Slinger Squirrel started ripping bark from the tree to throw it at him causing him to snigger at the futile attempts of the monster to hurt him. Even if it could throw stones hard enough to kill smaller animals and break his own bones, it would never be able to throw bark hard enough to hurt him and he simply ignored the impromptu projectiles much to the squirrel’s rage.

Whirling his chain he hurled it towards the squirrel which predictably dodged the attack easily leaping right into the path of another Shadowbolt courtesy of Fi and allowing Kyle time to pull his chain sideways as the weight pulled it downwards and activate entangling coils causing the squirrels feet to become tangled in the links of the chain as it staggered from Fi’s attack and fall backwards off its perch with its feet still tangled in the chain.

The squirrel screamed as it hurtled towards the ground headfirst before the chain pulled taught causing its jaws to snap shut as it came to a sudden halt just before it was met by a kick from Kyle which knocked it loose of the chain.

“Kyle, use Soul Syphon to finish it off!” Digby shouted seeing that the squirrel was looking like it was on its last legs. Kyle nodded at this advice and stomped down on the squirrel as it attempted to rise to its feet, leaning down on the creature as it spluttered angrily.

Casting the Enchantment right next to the monster caused its struggles to increase as the eerie purple glow lit the area before Kyle brought the weight crashing down on its head several times finishing it off.

“Damn that’s nasty,” Kyle groaned as the Soulstone tore through the flesh of the squirrel, this one was much larger than the previous one he had gotten from the rabbit, a testament to the creature’s Variant status.

Minor Soulstone

Item Tier (Rarity): Crude (Uncommon)

Item Type: Soulstone

Contains: Soul of Slinger Squirrel (Variant) Lvl 3. (8 Enchantment Points)

Durability: 6/6

Soulstones are used to power all forms of permanent enchantments both great and small.

“Wow, this one has way more Enchantment Points than the last one!” Kyle exclaimed as he examined the screen that Fi had brought up.

“Yup, that’s why I told you to use Soul Syphon, Variants have more powerful souls than normal monsters, so Soul Stones made from them are much more powerful than stones from monsters of a similar Level,” Digby explained.

“Now drink this,” he requested handing Kyle a small vial of liquid. “It’s a Boneset potion, not as fast as healing magic but it’s better than nothing which is your other option right now.”

Taking the potion Kyle felt a cold sensation around his broken collarbone as the potion began to numb the pain.

“Is that why they have Skills?” Fi asked interestedly but to her disappointment Digby just shrugged.

“Dunno, not really something I’ve ever been interested in finding out,” he replied. “Now take anything you want and let’s get going.”

“Right,” Kyle nodded and went about awkwardly dealing with the corpses of the dead squirrels ignoring the Variant due to the massive hole in its pelt where the Soul Stone ripped through.

“You done?” Digby asked a few minutes later and Kyle wiped the knives he had used to skin and butcher the squirrels off on the grass before passing them back to Fi who returned them to her Inventory.

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod.

“Good, let’s go.”