With a grunt, Lucas sat down on one of ripped trees from last night, eyeing his big slab of meat on a stick warily

“Dive right in” Michael said as he joined him “after all, wasn’t you the one who insisted that we can hunt for food and to leave space for all of the “shinnies” we would find?”

“What can I say, nobody ever accused me of being responsible” Lucas said “I would even say it’s your fault for listening to me. As a matter of fact, I will do exactly that.”

“Whatever rocks your boat, man. It’ not like it will make that less gross” Michael responded.

As much as he would like to pass on this “delicious” food, Lucas knew his stomach wouldn’t give him the choice in the matter. So, he listened to Michael and dove right in. Meat was stingy and dry, and the taste was exactly as expected from unseasoned tiger meat cooked over a campfire. Which is to say, absolutely disgusting.

“Bon appetite” Michael said, clearly delighted by disgust on Lucas’s face.

Lucas throw a punch in his arm to which Michael immediately responded with one of his own. Bursting in laughter, Michael spoke: “You still hit like a little bitch”.

“Just when hitting sissies. Wouldn’t want to break you, after all. With whom will I go and get wasted?” Lucas responded

“I mean, with how much of light drinker you are, even a quarter of me would suffice. Can you even hold more than two beers?”

A rude gesture was the only answer Lucas felt dignified to give.

“Anyways, what’re your plans? I would like to move before the night falls. If we do a quick march, we could be in front of the dungeon today” Michael spoke, his tone becoming professional all of a sudden.

“I need to try something. We were outmatched one on one last battle. We cannot rely on Big Kong again, I’m pretty sure he was one of a kind.”

Michael looked pretty interested “What are you planning?”

“Well, as a star of this team, I’m planning to level a field a bit. Stick around and see for yourself” Lucas smiled. He hadn’t forgotten Michael’s reluctance to go after the Quest that brought them to this place, and believed his old friend finally remembered how much fun this was.

“Whatever you do, do it quickly” Michael said “I want to finish this”. Lucas frowned, dismay at attitude of his friend once again showing. Spotting this, Michael quickly added: “Sooner we finish this, sooner we can let all those maidens back home bask in our glory”

“Mhm” Lucas indifferently responded, throwing what was left of his meat and walking away. Michael demeanor was confusing him and he was getting tired of it. Clamping down on that, he focused on the task at hand. Namely, he wanted to copy that strange ability which Corvid knight had, the one where she made herself a bird and close range to anyone she fought.

“Of course, I will not be a bird. That is stupid” Lucas snickered.

What he wanted to do was to boost his “Lunge”, essentially to transform the skill into attacking move, allowing him reach he currently lacked. He tapped into his mana and pushed it into his legs, marking the start of a serious of footwork drills he devised, watching movies and fencing competitions from the Old World. Instantly, he felt euphoria, a sure fire mark of progress. Doubling his efforts, he poured even more mana into his legs, doubling layers on his feet. An hour into his effort, Lucas felt a surge in inspiration, and send some mana into his arms, jumping forward. In an instant he started spinning, sword arm in front of him. And yet, Lucas field of vision remained clear, and he felt he have a limited amount of control in changing the direction of the attack, and more importantly, he could stop at any moment by planting his feet into the ground, aborting the attack if the need arises. As soon as he stopped, a notification appeared before his eyes:

“Synergy detected. Merging Lunge and Pierce. New skill detected: Piledriver (Rare)

Do you wish to learn this skill?

Y/N”

Without much fanfare, Lucas accepted. And then the second prompt appeared.

“Congratulations! You learned Piledriver”

“Synergy detected. Merging Piledriver and Infuse Weapon. New skill detected: Infused Piledriver (Epic)

Do you wish to learn this skill?

Y/N”

Lucas stared at the prompt in shock. Epic skill for one hour of work? If there are Gods in this multiverse, Lucas would kiss them all, repeatedly. Fearing to blink and miss it, he accepted the second offer urgently.

“Congratulations! You learned Infused Piledriver”

“Title awarded: Home-schooled”

Smiling from ear to ear, Lucas couldn’t believe his luck. Epic skill and a title? And he barely even broke a sweat doing it.

“Thank you, bird bitch” he thought to himself, remembering where the inspiration for all of this came from.

Starting his journey back to camp, Lucas opened his menus to revel in his gains. He first went to skills submenu and found his new skill:

“Infused Piledriver (Epic)

While some duelists chose to use movement and momentum as a defensive and evasive options, you went in different direction. Using momentum from you movement, you ram into enemies, piercing trough their defenses with your mana infused weapons and doing a massive amount of damage. Bonus damage for critical hits. Agility buffs speed of movement and damage done by 1% per point.

Cost: 150 stamina, 100 mana”

Frowning at the cost of skill, Lucas started analyzing it. The high cost prohibited him from using it with abandon as he did with “Pierce”, making him rely more on his bleeding attacks before using this as final strike on tired and battered opponents.

“Maybe the Dungeon isn’t the best place to adapt to a new fighting style” Lucas mussed for a second before he realized he didn’t care that much “It will certainly ramp up fun, at least” he concluded.

Arriving back to camp, he quickly nodded to other party members before focusing on his shinny new Title

“Home – schooled

You created an epic or higher rarity skill without the input from a Loremaster. +5 skill points”

“And they say I should have paid more attention during Tutorial vids” Lucas thought “I don’t even know anyone else who learned a skill by themselves, and here I am, rocking epics”

He tried to picture the local Loremaster back home when he learns what Lucas done. The old man always said he will get himself killed if he don’t start learning the underlying theory behind the System.

Michael approaching him shook him from his gloating. “Are you done” he asked.

“Rocking a new epic as we speak” Lucas responded

“Epic? You are bullshiting me?” Michael asked him, incredulous look on his face sweetening this whole exchange for Lucas.

“You jealous?” Lucas simply asked

Michael rolled his eyes at the comment. “Be ready in fifteen then. If we hurry, we can make it to the Dungeon by nightfall”

“Aye, aye, big bossman” Lucas said.

As Michael turned to leave, he gave Lucas a dark glance for quick second. Lucas opened his mouth to ask what that was, and then he reconsidered, not sure that what he saw was true or just his mind playing tricks on him. Canning it for later, he helped to pack camp quickly and soon they were on the move again.

“Last chance to prepare” Lucas thought to himself and mentally called “Status”

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Duelist level 26 (Skill points available:6)

Attributes:

Strenth: 27

Agility: 37

Constitution: 21

Intelligence: 26

Willpower: 23

Perception: 35

Charisma: 29

Luck: 30

Health: 542

Stamina: 1776

Mana: 598

Skills:

Eye for details

Duelist Grace

Dodge

Battle dance

Death of thousand cuts

Stinging cut

Infused Piledriver

Equipment

Curated leather chest

Curated leather pants

Curated leather bracers

Ceramic – laced gorilla gloves

Curated leather greaves

High – quality steel rapier

Quests

Help the Camp Hearth

Titles

Monster Slayer

Colossus Muncher

Home – schooled

As night began to descend over the forest, with moon clearly in sight, the party arrived at their destination. With quick nods to one another, as an encouragement they stepped in.

“Here we go” was Lucas’s last thought as he was plunged into the darkness.