Mike gingerly got out of bed the next morning. Tomahawk training had resulted in a few close calls the night before, the worst of which resulted in a set of broken ribs that hadn’t fully healed overnight. After some gentle probing of the area, he felt confident that the ribs would likely be healed after another night of sleep.

The physics behind his rebounding axes had once again surprised him the night before. On his first throw, he had anticipated that it would be somewhat possible to catch the rebounding projectile, since it would have lost some of its momentum when it collided with the tree trunk. Instead, the ax had shot back towards his position, seeming to gain speed as it approached him, until it matched the speed with which he had originally thrown it. Despite his surprise, his instincts had kicked in and he had tried his best to dodge, but had only been able to pivot slightly, taking the force of the ax directly to his right side.

Thankfully, the training had improved from there. He wasn’t able to bring himself to catch the flying axes, but he was never hit again. This was mostly due to him shifting sideways right after he threw each ax, decreasing the chance that he would be in line with the return fire. He hoped that this method was only temporary, as he still planned to one day be able to catch his rebounding axes, but he figured an increase in Dexterity was needed before he would have any success.

On top of being better able to dodge, his aim had also gotten better. While not weighted like a normal tomahawk, his strength made up the difference, and he was getting pretty accurate up to about 20 feet. Although increased accuracy meant he was testing from longer distances, which also meant that his axes rebounded farther, and he spent a huge amount of time searching for them in the chaotic mess of wood chips and fallen logs that marked his training area.

After almost losing one of his axes, he had decided to call it a night, with the intention to forge some additional axes the next day, just in case. The prospect of not spending the day dodging axes sounded incredible. And so it was with wild abandon, as much as that is possible with broken ribs, that Mike hopped into the riverbed and began to collect rocks, the soft mud squishing beneath his bare feet.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Bart couldn’t believe his eyes: Is Mike building a sand castle?

The old man was smashing a humongous pile of rocks in the same ratty clothes he had come to town in 6 days earlier, but now they were covered in mud and rock sediment. He had seen some pretty unique ways of training since the System Integration, but this was by far the strangest.

Perhaps it is a Strength training exercise that I don’t know about. Mike definitely looks leaner, and his shoulders are bigger than I remember them. He mused thoughtfully.

Allowing his eyes to focus on Mike’s surroundings, Bart could just make a round disk of clay next to the large pile of sediment. He had no idea what function it could possibly hold, other than some sort of structural base. A short distance from where Mike, Bart saw a few other small clay structures, and passed those, what seemed to be a full logging operation.

“What could he possibly be doing?” he wondered allowed, instantly regretted his voiced thoughts when he realized he may have to endure an unwanted response from Peter.

Thankfully, the scout was equally distracted by the scene, and no words were forthcoming. Worried that that could change at any moment, Bart raised his hand in signal, and the pair dropped back to the rest of the group who were waiting nearby.

In hushed tones, Bart began to explain the plan of attack, “Igor, you use your lightning bolt first, hopefully that either ends the fight immediately or stuns him enough that we can get in place. Fen, as soon as the bolt is off, we need you to attack and distract him long enough for the rest of us to arrive. Jake, your job is to get around behind him and Fen and try to land the killing blow.”

“What do I do?” Peter interjected.

“You stay here and try not to get in our way.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike had to admit it, he may have outdone himself this time. He had the idea to make as many axes as possible so he could begin fighting long range, but it would likely take two days to extract iron from all of this rock. He had initially stepped into the process with gusto, but as the hours wore on, his body was becoming tired from constantly exerting the force necessary to crush the rock.

A sudden flash of danger, not unlike the feeling he got before an ax rebounded at him, cut through the monotony and he flung his body to the side on pure instinct, all the while thinking that he was glad no one saw him try to dodge an ax that didn’t exist.

A large bolt of lightning struck the place he was just standing.

“Are you kidding me? I have to fight lightning now?” Mike yelled, frustrated that the sky would start attacking him like that.

A blur suddenly streaked across his vision, and he sensed two separate rebounds coming in at him. The hours of training coalesced in his mind, and he attempted to move and avoid both strikes, but failed completely.

Smack.

Thwack.

Smack. Thwack. Smack. Smack. Thwack.

A veritable barrage of attacks began slamming across his body, the majority of which were much softer than the beatings he regularly took from axes. Their sheer numbers were quick to make up the difference though, and quickly started amassing into something dangerous.

Pulling out his axes he began blindly swinging around, hoping to hit his invisible opponent.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Fen was having the time of her life. Through some unknown fortune, she had started the integration with 50 Dexterity, and had been training it like crazy ever since. Her Nunchuck skill gave her 5 dexterity per level and between leveling up and that skill already being at level 4, she already hd 72 Dexterity, making her much faster than anything else in the entire zone.

As the big buffoon flailed around blindly, she easily side stepped his moving arms and awarded him carefully placed blows to his tender underarms for good measure. She couldn’t wait to see how high her Dexterity would be when she finished the job and got to the Ranker Zone.

After only a few seconds of her merciless beating, her subject apparently gave up. He turned, threw his ax, and pancakes himself on the ground, covering his head with his hands.

She paused as she stood over him. “How are you the boss? What kind of a weakling just gives up that quickly? Get up and show me what you can d..”

Her voice abruptly died as her head was taken completely off by a rebounding ax.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike groggily climbed to his feet, his body covered in welts, stunned that his plan had worked. Laying flat on the ground while hoping a rebounding ax would finish the job wasn’t his last resort, but it was close. Turning around, he bent down to pick up the ax from the woman’s remains when he was greeted with a prompt.

[Congratulations! Branching skill unlocked, Ax Throwing!

+1 Strength and Dexterity

Would you like to replace your current Knife Throwing skill? y/n]

After only a moment’s hesitation, he selected yes, 2 stat points per level was superior to the single stat point he got from Knife Throwing, and he had already decided that he was going to forego making knives in the near future.

[Recalculating Skill: Ax Throwing

+2 strength to reach parity

9 kills remaining towards next level

+20% to accuracy and distance when thrown]

He was brought out of his reverie by thundering footfalls as the massive medieval biker closed in on him. Cursing his stupidity for taking down his guard, he did the only thing he could do and activated Unflinching Meteor right before the enormous claymore collided with him.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Peter was frustrated. He had been the one to lead them here, and now he wasn’t allowed to participate in the fight. He had initially been ok with that, since the idea of fighting a boss did seem particularly terrifying, even if the boss looked like an old man. But as he watched Fen beat the snot out of him, Peter wanted in too.

Charging the 200 yards, he watched as Fen was decapitated and the old man starting messing with his Character Sheet. Seeing Jake already closing the distance, he put on a burst of speed.. Pushing every bit of strength he had into his legs he struggled to close the gap, hoping to land the killing blow, but was still a few feet away when Jake’s sword connected.

Suddenly he was looking at the respawn timer: 48:00:00.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

A wet splash and a prompt that he had leveled up Unflinching Meteor confirmed Mike’s fears. The red sludge that was clinging to him as his immobile body sailed through the air was in fact body goop. Nothing was worse than body goop.

[Congratulations! Skill Ability Unflinching Meteor Level Up!

+1 to Toughness

You now enjoy an increased duration for a total of 12 seconds]

He read the prompt as he crash landed on his back, staring up at the sky. The presence of the giant alluded to Bart being there too and Mike could only helplessly stare up at the sky as the seconds of his immobility dragged by with agonizing slowness.

“Jake, quick, I think you managed to stun him. Hurry over here and grab his arms!” The shopkeeper's urgent voice said. A murmur too low to hear must have been the giant's reply and then the shopkeeper continued, “It doesn’t matter if your sword broke in half, we will be so rich if we kill him that you can buy ten new swords!”

Hope blossomed in his chest as he sensed the end of Unflinching Meteor, but the giant’s meaty hands enveloped his arms from nearly elbow to wrist and he found himself completely restrained as the Skill wore off. His struggles to free himself ended after only a moment when it became apparent that the giant must have way more strength than himself since the man didn’t even seem bothered by Mike using his whole body to try to get free. He was truly stuck.

He watched in trepidation as the shopkeeper approached him and pulled out a very large dagger from a tiny pouch at his waste. Not understanding Mike’s confusion, Bart chuckled and said, “Yes, I managed to get my dagger back from some lowlife in town. It feels like poetic justice that the same dagger I stabbed you with in my store and that you killed me with will now be your demise.”

“...Ok, but how did you fit it in that tiny sack?” Mike asked, genuinely curious but also trying to delay the inevitable. Maybe Bart would opine about his despicable plan or something.

“It’s a spatial storage bag” Bart said, not pausing his approach in the slightest.

Glancing around in desperation, Mike noticed a thin trickle of blood seeping out from between the giant’s fingers and a bad idea formed in his head, it basically relied on his luck to be unlucky which in turn could make him lucky.. So it was a bit of a loop, but it was the only idea that came to him at that moment.

“Activate Hands of Healing!” He blurted out and closed his eyes against the anticipated bright light, but even with his eyes closed, the light was near blinding. He heard Bart warble in surprise as the giant released him and toppled over unconscious.

Not wasting his chance, Mike rolled to his feet, and rushed Bart, who was scrunching his hands over his eyes in agony. Prying the dagger from Bart’s hands, he deftly utilized one of the many killing strokes he had been taught as a SEAL, sending Bart to respawn with as little pain as possible.

Grabbing the little bag at Bart’s waist and tying it to the loop of his pants, Mike turned to finish the giant. A week ago he might have felt badly about killing an unconscious victim, but now that he knew for certain that the giant would respawn, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Another quick killing strike and the giant was finished.

As he stepped away from the body, a glimmer in the giant's hand revealed the now-broken, bottom half of the biker’s claymore, causing Mike to croon aloud. It looked like steel. Such a boon would make his tool development increase immensely. He bent to pick it up, already fantasizing about how much stronger a steel tomahawk would be in a fight, when a warning exploded in his mind. His bent over position made evasion difficult, but he jumped erratically in the air, hoping to avoid whatever attack was incoming. His feet had barely left the ground when a large lightning bolt surged through his body and sent him rolling towards the tree line.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Igor had been watching from the bushes ever since his first Lightning Bolt had missed, leaving him the sole witness of the decimation of his team. It only took 3 minutes for his magical attack to recharge, but in those three minutes, their party had gone from 5 to 1.

His mind kept telling his body to leave, but in the face of such a great reward, the greed in his heart made him sit there and time his next strike perfectly. Only, it didn’t work that way. Sure, the lightning bolt hit the old fogey, and the man even went flying, but he almost immediately got back up and started storming Igor’s position.

Igors soaking pants clung to his legs uncomfortably as he turned and ran for the edge of the valley, straining to hear the footsteps of the angry boss monster behind him. But instead of footsteps, all he heard was “Chicken. Wild Rice. Asparagus” before a rock hit him in the head and he was knocked unconscious.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike was impressed with himself. “That had to have been close to 100 yards out, a new personal record for rock throwing.” he thought, as he sprinted towards the downed body. He had almost thrown a tomahawk out of instinct but decided that the man was worth more alive than dead for now. This was the perfect chance to get some answers. From experience, he could say that he didn’t particularly like torturing people, but this tiny mage didn’t know that.

While he waited for the man to stir, he went through the mage's dress pockets, or was it a robe? It was so hard to be certain these days. Eventually he found what he was looking for, a small book with a lightning bolt on the front. Maybe he could learn to shoot lightning as well. Add that to Bart’s dagger, two broken halves of a steel claymore and a magical bag, and this had been his most productive morning yet.

Easily tossing the man’s body over his shoulder, he carried him over to the river and splashed some water on his face, causing him to sputter and open his eyes, which looked around wildly til they landed on Mike and a small squeak came out of his lips.

Putting on his most menacing face, Mike said aloud, “I am going to ask you some questions, and if you don’t answer them immediately, I am going to start ripping off your toes one by one. Do you understand?”

The man nodded emphatically.

Mike smiled internally, he could already tell that this guy wasn’t going to hold anything back. “I’d like for you to start by telling me about magic and the elements.”

The mage began with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, “Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony…”

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Igor had actually been super eager to teach, to the point where he sometimes waxed philosophical, and Mike was forced to sift through and synthesize all of the information in a way that was understandable to him.

Elements were the basis of spells and item attunements. The four basic elements were Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, although they could be mixed into greater elements, kind of like the primary and secondary colors as far as he could tell, with Lightning being a mixture of Air and Fire. He didn’t know how relevant this all was to him currently, although his kiln did have a small chance of giving an item an Earth Attunement, not that he suspected that would happen anytime soon with his Luck.

Then there were items, which could vary in value based on their Quality, Durability, Rarity, and Elemental Attunement. Igor had stressed on this point that nobody was sure all of the levels of grading, but they had mapped out the following levels of the four categories:

Quality: crude, shoddy, apprentice, artisan, masterwork, exquisite

Durability: low, medium, high, very high, indestructible

Rarity: common, uncommon, rare, mythic, legendary

Elemental Attunement: low, middle, high, very high

After the subject of items, Igor had talked about Level, Evolution, and Zones. From levels 1–10, you were locked in the Noob Zone, which was a training ground to adapt to the System. Then from 11-70 you were locked in the Ranker Zone, which was essentially the same, except the monsters and the rewards they gave (apparently monster bodies just left goodies for humans) were both of higher quality. Finally was the Elite Zone, which was for everyone over level 70. There was still some philosophical debate on if there was anything after that. Evolution took place upon reaching levels 11 and 70 as well, which gave you a huge increase in power, and also allowed you to specialize the abilities and traits you had worked on up to that point.

Finally, Igor talked about the attributes, which were Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma, Toughness, Luck. Most people entered the System with 10 points in each, although there were some exceptions. For some reason Fen, the psycho with the nunchucks, had entered the system with 50 Dexterity and had been exclusively putting points into that up to this point. Attributes didn’t grant any special abilities, but they did scale linearly, meaning that if someone had double the Strength points as someone else, they would also be twice as strong. Igor had also provided the following information:

Strength led to an actual increase in power. Toughness led to an increase in sturdiness, how much damage you could take and how big of a load your body could handle. Intelligence helped train up magic. Dexterity helped with speed and motor skills. Charisma was really only good for shopkeepers and those still vain enough to pretend like the Earth was normal. And Luck basically just made things fall more often in your favor. Everything else was a subcategory of the six main Attributes. An example of this was endurance, which was a mixture of Toughness and Strength.

Mike had asked about Skill Abilities, and Igor had looked shocked. Apparently no one had gotten a Skill to Level 3 yet, so the only information the town currently had was that they existed and were extremely powerful.

It was a frightful amount of information, and Mike knew that he needed to understand all of it if he wanted to survive.

Deciding that he there was no need to prolong the Igor’s terror, he took five steps back and threw the ax in his hand.

May as well get another point towards Ax Throwing to make this morning perfect.