Dusk was settling in over the horizon, last breath of light stretching over the canopy of the forest, bringing with it cacophony of voices, an ode to life. But not all sound where those beings whose life continues to roll on. In the clearing, where the sun had already escaped the view, stood a man with long piece of metal called rapier by beings capable of sentient thought. Opposite of him, stood two boars, those enormous lumps of meat, muscle and bones, with deadly looking tusks ending with a point that looked like it pierce through concrete. Unfortunately for them, their position was currently a losing one. One boar had a thin, but bloody stab wound in its chest, and the other one was bleeding profusely from what looked like a thousand shallow cuts on its body. On the other hand, a man looked in pristine condition. On his face, a pretty unmemorable one if you discount his shining green eyes, stood a wide smile. After a few seconds of stare down, he murmured “Lunge” and instantly surged forward towards the stabbed boar. A moment later, his surge ended at a meter from unfortunate creature’s neck and with a word, “Pierce”, sword stabbed through its hide and flesh, not stopping until spine was severed.

“You have slain a level 15 Steeltusk Boar”

After a short whimper and quick shiver, the boar collapsed, dead just as it looked. Pulling his sword, man spoke:

“Naïve piggy boy, I don’t miss twice” trying to make his accent long and sound as dramatic as possible.

Meanwhile, a second boar charged, tearing through the dirt, branches cracking where it massive frame moved. Hearing it, man spoke softly “Dodge”, making a somersault to his left, letting the boar pass him in his rage-fueled mad dash.

“Can’t touch this”, a taunt came from a man after he got up to his feet, “but if you want to dance, I’ll gladly indulge you. Battle dance”.

Immediately, he felt a surge going in his body, giving him boosted reflexes and at the same time, revealing to him where the boar can be struck for maximum damage. He struck a pose that in his mind made him look like a paragon of swordsmanship, taking great care to let his long hair flutter in the wind that has been blowing. Hearing the taunt, boar halted his charge. The creature’s wounds were still bleeding, and finally the effect of that was seen on it. Its movement looked sluggish and there was pain in the eyes of the beast. When it zoomed in on the human that was the cause of it all, he was already on the move with “Lunge” his speed indiscernible to the beast. After the skill ended, he activated the next one, ”Stinging Cut”, this time silently with a just thought. His sword glowed for just a second, as he traced his edge along the massive boar flank. Large cut appeared on it, and with it came a lot more blood. Creature slumped on the ground, squeaking in pain as its pain receptors went into the overdrive. Stunned as it was, it had no chance to react to the next blow, which went through its skull and into the brain, ending its life.

“You have slain a level 16 Steeltusk Boar”

Man who struck that blow yanked the sword from the head and looked around himself yelling: “This evening’s dinner is boar meat, freshly made”.

Another figure stepped from thick underbrush surrounding the clearing, robed woman with long meadow blonde hair, whose robe did little to hide her comely figure and highlighting all the best attributes.

“What was that with that pose towards the end?” she spoke, her words carrying a mocking undertone.

“A true duelist always have a pose before striking a final blow”, a reply came, smugness radiating from the man.

Hearty laugh overtook woman and after getting it under control, she managed to squeeze a few words:

“Oh, Lucas, when are you going to grow up”

“Growing up is for suckers. Live fast, have fun, stay alive. That’s what will get you all the girls.”

“Mhm, you’re every girls dream”

“Even yours, Hannah?”Lucas said with a wide shit-eating grin

“I like boys with real swords, not with a tiny sticks and a pose” Hannah replied. “Come on, this boars won’t go on the fire themselves”

After a few minutes of grunting and carrying, Lucas arrived at the camp where his party made camp. Looking around it, he saw that John, the only old timer in Camp Hearth who still ventured on this kind of expeditions, had already struck a fire and placed a metal bars that will serve as a grill for tonight and now was in deep talk with Maraya, a black woman whose bulky frame looked uncanny out of her armor and tactical gear which she usually wear. On the edge of camp stood Michael, his lifetime friend and a trooper on shore leave who indulged in this kind of activity in free time. Depositing his haul, he went to Michael who spoke as soon as he noticed him approach:

“I see the hunt was successful”

“Yea, it was a good warm – up for the mission ahead. Speaking of which, I’m curious what have you got us into this time”

“Didn’t you read the briefing letter I sent you” Michael asked, already knowing the answer.

“That wall of text containing words like “risk assessment” and “tactical summary”. What do I look like, a fucking insurance agent?”

“Well, a dungeon in nearby area overflowed and spilled some of it creatures out. As I was walking out of my unit camp, I asked nearby sergeant if there is a quest for clearing it. He pointed me to Camp Hearth, and after that I contacted you. And here we are” Michael said.

“It looks like some kind of nature themed dungeon, ents and dryads riding some big – ass wildlife. Nobody has any idea is it a scenario dungeon or just plain old regular dungeon” he continued.

“So, blind barreling into potentially lethal encounters with unknown enemies” Lucas asked with faux-incredulous look on his face

“Yup, just as always. But don’t let John hear us, he will probably start talking about Vietnam or some such shit” he laughed.

Aforementioned John was already working the grill and soon enough the dinner was ready. Boars tasted terrible, but the night was pleasing and the fire burned brightly and so the banter went on. Hannah got to retell the story of the last acts of the hunts and soon enough laughs exploded in the camp.

“Discount Zoro here should take the watch tonight” Maraya spoke, everybody quick to agree with her.

“You are assholes” he managed to tell them before he slumped his shoulders and resigned to his fate. He got to up to find a stump which was strategically placed to overlook the camp, and started his not – so – diligent watch. As soon as the others went to bed he called “Status” and started browsing the prompts

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Duelist level 23

Attributes:

Strenth: 15

Agility: 22

Constitution: 14

Intelligence: 19

Willpower: 16

Perception: 23

Charisma: 28

Luck: 25

Free points: 0

Health: 420

Stamina: 638

Mana: 304

Skills:

Eye for details

Duelist Grace

Infuse weapon

Lunge

Dodge

Pierce

Battle dance

Death of thousand cuts

Stinging cut

Equipment

Curated leather chest

Curated leather pants

Curated leather bracers

Curated leather gloves

Curated leather greaves

High – quality steel rapier

Quests

Help the Camp Hearth

Titles

Lucas was fascinated with the System, as he always was when he opened it. Everything you are, laid bare before you and everyone else to see. This information brought the collapse of human civilization, as governments around the world couldn’t contain new monsters, both System spawned, and local wildlife infused with mana, a substance that kept everything together and was the elemental particle of the universe. To make matters worse, after a few months, invasions from all around the multiverse came to further the chaos on Earth. Humanity managed to unite and drive off invasions, but the Earth and its universe were still newcomers in this strange multiverses and countless beings that inhabits it. Not wanting to continue down that line of thinking, Lucas opened his skills submenu:

Eye for details(Common) – Basic skill that reveals status of another being. Amount you can see is tied to Perception and Intelligence and is counter by the target Perception and Willpower

Cost: None

Duelist Grace (Uncommon) – Duelist don’t just take down their foes, they do it with with style and grace. Buffs Agility for and reduce stamina used for abilities by 0,1% per level and also increase all damage user does by 1% per level and critical damage by 0,5% per level.

Cost: 100 mana, Duration: 10 minutes

Infuse weapon (Common)

Allows the user to infuse his weapon with mana, buffing the damage done with it.

Cost: 50 mana to activate, 10 mana per second for upkeep

Lunge (Common)

True duelist must always take the chance when he spots that the enemy has let its guard down. Allows a burst of speed towards the enemy in front of the user, stopping at the meter from your opponent. Agility buff the speed of the movement by 0,5% per point.

Cost: 15 stamina

Dodge (Common)

Dodge is epitome of the age old mantra: “It is better to not be hit than to be hit”. Allows the user to quickly react and avoid attack and grants limited preconception where the attack won’t land. Agility buffs the quickness and distance of the roll, Perception broaden the scope of preconception of the safe spots.

Cost: 20 stamina

Pierce (Common)

There is beauty and elegance in simplicity and duelist accepts that wholeheartedly, going for the simple pierce after dominating his opponent in maneuvering the arena. Does moderate amount of the damage, and buffs the critical strike damage of the duelist by 2% per level of class.

Cost: 15 stamina

Battle Dance (Uncommon)

Heat of the battle against a worthy opponent is where true duelist shine, letting the heat of the battle guide their combat flow. Allows the user a limited foresight into enemy attack patterns and grants knowledge of the spots in which you can inflict critical damage. Must be in combat against single enemy

Cost: 50 stamina, 10 stamina per second for upkeep

Death of the thousand cuts (Rare)

Overwhelming use of force is so mundane and the one who walks in a path of duelist should always abhor that course of action, opting to use finesse in thousand movements of hand and thousands of small cuts that bring even the mightiest down… eventually. Allows the user to rapidly increase his attack speed and grants a 100% chance to inflict bleeding on the opponent with every strike.

Cost: 15 stamina for every hit

Stinging cut (Uncommon)

Every swing of the blade is potential debilitating injury for the opponent of the duelist worth his salt, even if the slash doesn’t make more than the mere flesh wound. Stuns opponent for 5 seconds and 100% chance to inflict bleeding on the target.

After finishing reading everything, sun had started to rise, and Lucas got up to get ready for his real business in this forest – the unexplored Dungeon.