Jack carefully made his way through the dim, pre-dawn light of the forest, his footsteps masked by the sound of falling rain.

It had been a rough night.

He’d only discovered the group of people he was approaching in the late evening as they set up camp, and with the fire they were burning it had been impossible to get a good look at them. That left him with a choice to make: Move far enough away for a proper camp and risk losing them in the morning; or spend the night huddled up in a miserable dark hole where he could keep an eye on them. In the end, it wasn’t really a choice. Not once he overheard a couple of guards musing about what a dragon-egg omelette would taste like. Unfortunately, they’d also made it clear that the eggs weren’t in their possession. They had information, though. Now all he needed was a way to get that information without getting himself killed.

Jack shuffled closer to the camp. Now that there was a bit of light, he was hoping to catch sight of some usable intel, but he wasn’t fond of the risk he was taking. Still, you did what you had to, so he settled himself into the ground and took in what he could, doing his best to catalogue their prospective skills based on their movements and attire. As he did so, he found himself chuckling quietly.

It was strange. Even though Jack knew these folks were hostile, the fact that they were people—or at least people-shaped—made the job seem more manageable. People he knew. People he could at least plan for. It wasn’t like everything else in this damn forest, where you had no idea if it would zip through the air, or transform into a monster, or shoot its damn eggs into your eyeballs. Yeah, there were probably folks running around who could blast you with fireballs, but if he had to pick between some guy waving his hands and flouncing around in robes or a German hidden in the underbrush with a scoped Mauser, he’d take the robe-flouncer any day.

Damn messed-up planet.

Jack had never been a proper scout in the Army, but he’d done more than his share of patrols and a fair bit of game hunting after that. He wasn’t too concerned about his ability to stay quiet, especially with the rain. His ability to keep out of sight, though…that was a bigger question mark. The clothes he’d been given by the space lizard were a uniform beige colour that didn’t exactly blend into an evergreen forest, and the Chian’dir weren’t able to supply a replacement. He’d tried rubbing the fabric down with charcoal to darken it as best he could, but it was a poor solution. He had no interest in tracking down a group of baby-killing lunatics dressed like some kinda granola-eating day-hiker, though, so during the night he’d done his best to cover his clothes, hair, and face with mud, varying the colouring by rubbing in some of the charcoal he’d brought with him. Using foliage to create more complex camouflage would have been impractical while on the move, but now that he was trying to approach a stationary enemy, he’d added a variety of local plants to cover his approach. Hardly a ghillie suit, but at least they wouldn’t wash away if the rain got worse. It’d get him close enough to spy on their camp, at least.

On the bright side, he took some comfort in seeing that this planet considered Stealth a Skill. He’d worked that out when he finally took the Chian’dir elders’ advice and spent some time looking through the alerts that had popped up during his encounter with the feaster bunny. He’d been a bit surprised when he discovered he could still read his Tome in the pitch-black of night, but he was starting to get a handle on the whole magic thing and had put that strangeness aside without too much thought.

NEW SURVIVAL SKILL LEARNED!

Stealth – Level 28 (Tier-II)

People don’t usually get this for climbing a tree, but somehow there were like, fifty goblins who walked past before they spotted you, so apparently you know what you’re doing.

Tier-I Bonus: Chance of scent detection reduced by 25%.

Tier-II Bonus: Unlocks Silent Communicator Ability.

New Ability Acquired: SILENT COMMUNICATOR

Holders of this Ability can speak to each other silently so long as they are within a range of 5 metres.

Requirements: A stealth-based class, or a rank of “Proficient” in the Stealth Skill.

Rope Use Skill Increased to Level 25 (Tier-II)

Okay, that little rope seat thingy was kinda neat.

NEW GENERAL SKILL LEARNED!

Taunting – Level 11 (Tier-I)

I expected this to be higher, but I suppose you don’t do much taunting in large-scale warfare.

Tier-I Bonus: +1 bonus to Charisma when using this Skill.

NEW SURVIVAL SKILL LEARNED!

Running for Your Life – Level 38 (Tier-III)

Fun fact: You earned almost all these levels in your past life by running towards danger, not away from it. Have you worked out why your Luck stat is so high yet?

Tier-I Bonus: +1 bonus to Luck when using this Skill.

Tier-II Bonus: +2 bonus to Dexterity when using this Skill.

Tier-III Bonus: Additional +5 bonus to all Base Stats when using this Skill.

NEW SURVIVAL SKILL LEARNED!

Tracking – Level 29 (Tier-III)

I mean, yeah, it’s a gigantic frigging bunny absolutely crushing a forest. You still needed to work out which way it went though.

Tier-I Bonus: +1 bonus to Intelligence when using this Skill.

Tier-II Bonus: Can accurately distinguish individual creatures from their tracks. This includes humanoids.

Taunting Skill Increased to Level 15 (Tier-I)

You get one point for taunting a dragon. The other three are for living through it.

30,400 XP Earned (cumulative)

*Hey, so FYI, the group of us got together and decided to stop writing out that whole, “new Skill commensurate blah blah” spiel. Instead, we’ll just slap an asterisk on there and call it a day. That said, we’re not technically allowed to do that, so it’s kind of a “better to beg forgiveness than ask permission” situation. I don’t think any of you are going to complain, though.

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 19 Achieved

RENOWN LEVEL UP!

Level 20 Achieved

XP: 115,650

XP to next Renown: 12,350

The notifications were mostly a string of gobbledegook he was better off without, but there was some actionable intelligence in there. At least that Tracking Skill seemed to be working. Or so he figured, given how he was able to tell that there were exactly ten people— “humanoids,” according to the Skill—in the camp. Now that he was a bit closer, he could also tell that four of them specialized in melee, while another four had crossbows. The ranged fighters carried melee weapons as well, though, so the main difference was in their armour. The last two party members were unclear. A human man and a woman that weren’t heavily armed, and both of them had a bunch of miscellaneous crap on their belts that were probably some sort of magic doohickies he’d need to keep an eye on. As for medics, nobody seemed specialized in that role, so he would assume they had potions or something to handle that. Which meant any one of them could get back into the fight if they weren’t put down for good. All in all, they looked like a crew itching for a fight, which raised a hell of a lot of red flags. Not the least of which was what Jack had discovered from their tracks.

They were headed west, not east.

The direction made no sense. They’d already gotten what they came for, so why head back into Val’s territory? It was such an odd decision that Jack might have assumed they had nothing to do with the dragon’s quest if those two jackasses hadn’t been debating the taste of her eggs.

So now what?

Under normal circumstances, Jack would have headed back and told Val about these folks. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that they were surprisingly disorganized. That opened up the possibility of placing a few traps or even picking off their sentries one by one. That said, those two magic folks were a wild card he couldn’t plan for. Maybe his grandkids would’ve had some idea what to expect, but his experience with fantasy literature was limited to the half of The Lord of the Rings he’d gotten through before all the drug references made him toss it aside. The movies were good, though.

Well, he’d have to worry about that later. Right now, his biggest concern was the person lying on a tree branch a half dozen metres to his left who was also spying on the camp.

He glanced towards the tree. Whoever the person was, they were good. Really good. Getting up a tree this close to camp without being spotted by one of the sentries was no easy feat. Hell, the only reason Jack had noticed them at all was because a sentry picked that tree to piss on, and Jack just happened to be at the perfect angle to catch a glimpse of dark fabric ruffling in the wind. Anywhere else and he would have missed it entirely.

Which left him with a dilemma. Did he try to contact the person, or avoid them? He had no illusions about being able to follow whoever it was once they came down and disappeared into the brush. Their ability to stay utterly motionless for hours indicated a level of Stealth he couldn’t compete with. The problem was, if he did want to contact them, he had no way to communicate that his intentions weren’t hostile. Hell, they might respond with hostility no matter what they thought of Jack’s intentions.

Still…it might be better to chance it. If Jack lost whoever it was in the bush, there would be no way to know if the spy had looped back behind him. If that happened, he would be completely at their mercy with no chance to plead his case.

In the end, the choice was made for him when the person got out of the tree and made a beeline for Jack, staying so low and hidden you’d think they were raised by wolves. Jack didn’t budge a muscle until the person got close enough to tap him on the foot, after which they gestured for him to follow them away from the camp.

So much for attempts at camouflage, he thought, trailing after the stranger.

Once they were far enough away, the person turned and scrutinized Jack, wiping some rain off her face as she did so. Her, not him. To Jack’s surprise, the mystery person was a woman. He’d assumed it was a man based on the easy strength she’d shown in descending from the tree, which was a good reminder that Arenia’s system of Tomes and stats rendered a lot of his preconceived notions moot—something that could bite him on the ass if he wasn’t careful.

Pushing aside his momentary surprise, Jack took a better look at the woman. She was probably in her early 60s, with the appearance of someone who’d spent a good chunk of time outdoors, and she had a scar that ran from her left ear down to her throat. It wasn’t her only scar, either. The gal clearly knew her way around a fight.

“Who are you?” the woman whispered, staying close to the ground to avoid creating a visible profile.

“I was thinkin’ the same thing,” he answered. There was an odd, muffled feel to their words, but he didn’t know what was causing it.

She scowled. “I’m Eliza. Ranger from Palmyre. Now it’s your turn.”

Dang it, Jack thought. If this Eliza woman didn’t mind revealing who she was, she was probably confident she could kill him quickly if push came to shove.

“Name’s Jack,” he said. “I was headed to Palmyre when I picked up a quest to deal with some folks.” He gestured with his thumb in the direction of the camp. “These asshats are part of that crew.” A thought occurred to him, and he looked at her curiously. “Hey, any chance you’re from that group that was tryin’ to talk Val into killing the overstuffed rabbit?”

The woman looked confused. “Val? Who’s Val?”

“Y’know. Dragon. Big. Red. Lots of horns. I kinda got the impression I wouldn’t need to be more specific, but the way you’re lookin’ at me suggests otherwise.”

Her eyes went so wide that they caught the early-morning light. “Are you calling the Great Dragon of Bookspine ‘Val?’”

“I can’t very well call her by her real name, can I? She made a big deal outta that, so I ain’t gonna go using it just ’cause I’m outta earshot.”

Eliza’s eyes darted around as though the dragon might be hiding behind a tree. “You know her real name?” she hissed. “Are you insane? She’ll kill you.”

“Nah, she wouldn’t do that. I’m givin’ her a hand. Probably doesn’t want to get on the bad side of Nochd, either. Even if that guy is mad as a hatter.”

The woman shook her head. “Now you’re asking me to believe that not only are you on a first-name basis with the Dragon of Bookspine, but you are also acquaintances with the god of Death?”

“Not by choice,” he muttered. “Damn fool won’t leave me alone.”

By this point, the muffled sensation engulfing their words was getting really annoying. It felt like Jack had water in his ears, and he shook his head a little, trying to clear it out.

“What are you doing?” Eliza asked.

“I’ve got this weird sound in my ears. No idea what’s causing it, but it’s startin’ to get to me.”

“You’ve got a…wait, are you talking about our Silent Communicator Ability? We’ve been using it this whole time—how are you just realizing that?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s your class?”

“Don’t have one,” he said, his feelings about the muffled sensation going from annoyed to appreciative. Nice little Ability, given their situation.

“You’re out here in the woods without a class?” Eliza said incredulously. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Been okay so far,” Jack grunted.

She shook her head. “You are a fool. I know when a person is out of their depths.”

He scowled. “Stow the attitude, missy. I’m too old to be lectured by a girl young enough to be my daughter just because some fancy book says how plum dandy she is.”

Eliza gaped at him. “Young enough to be your daughter?” she said, showing no small amount of confusion. Then she cocked her head and peered at him closely. “Wait…you wouldn’t happen to have a granddaughter named Beth, would you?”