Ultimate Level 1

Everyone stood ready in the tunnel, waiting for Fowl to give the signal.

He nodded and Tanila moved forward, casting a fire bolt at the face of the small lizardman on the right, immediately moving back toward the entrance as the pack of lizardmen charged.

Max stealthed, moving along the tunnel as the larger lizardman and the small one not burnt moved to run down the mage dumb enough to attack one of their own.

The lizardman mage moved to follow, ignoring the plight of the one currently trying to get its vision back.

Max moved into position and as the mage came toward him, he thrust his spear out, catching it in the chest and watched as it’s eyes went wide. The spear was positioned perfectly, running it through the heart and killing it in one attack.

Doing his best not to stumble, Max turned and ran as his brain felt alive as cold power flooded into it.

[ 1 Intelligence Consumed ]

Max heard the sounds of battle as he came to the corner, seeing the smaller lizardman rooted, hissing and straining to be free of the roots that ensnared it. It never noticed Max as he came up from behind, receiving a spear thrust that pierced its back and chest.

It crumpled forward, falling for just a moment before its body was held upright by the roots as Max ran past it.

He saw Fowl smiling as he blocked the club that continued to crash against his shield. Each strike rang out, until Max repeated his performance of the earlier level, shattering the lower spine of the lizardman, watching it tumble forward with a roar.

Familiar movements flowed again, a firebolt traveling past him, another hiss and cry coming from behind Max. He ran toward the burning lizardman and drove his spear into its chest, killing it without the need for a second strike.

“Holy elf tits,” Fowl muttered, looking at the carnage around them before looking at Max. “It’s dead?”

Max nodded, motioning to the tunnel behind him. “I managed to kill it in one hit. A lucky strike.”

“Lucky strike my ogre’s arse,” Batrire said as she let out a chuckle. “the gods love someone here for sure.”

“Who cares,” Tanila declared. “We have never gotten past those four!”

The pattern that followed worked almost flawlessly every time. Max took out the caster first, even when there were three large lizardmen. His attack dropped the mage each time in one hit. He enchanted his spear when no one was around and crippled one of the two large lizardmen on Fowl.

From there, they simply split-tanked the two lizardmen until Tanila’s ensnare was up, and they could execute their well-practiced method of fighting.

“Goblin shite,” Tanila said as she started to smile. “You two are level sixteen now, aren’t you?”

Fowl and Batrire both nodded, having leveled before she had and knew hers would happen soon.

“What about you, Seth? Have you leveled yet?”

Max grinned and nodded at Tanila.

He had gained two more points of intelligence before the mages stopped giving him any more gains. Three points gained in a stat he didn’t use a lot, but every point mattered.

She let out a groan as Fowl chuckled.

“Sucks to be the lowest level, doesn’t it?”

She gave Fowl the middle finger even though he wasn’t looking, too busy cutting off the giant tail of the lizardman they had killed last.

“I don’t have any more room in my backpack. And my temporal storage is full,” Max said as he dropped the three clubs in a pile. “What do you want to do with these?”

Holding up his backpack, which was bulging, Fowl gave them all a shrug. “I got no room either. I hadn’t expected to get this far, or I would have brought a larger backpack.”

“So that means we are done?” Max asked.

Fowl glanced at the other two and then back at Max. “Trust me, we aren’t complaining. We can return and turn everything in and work on planning for doing this again tomorrow if you want.”

“I’d be down for that!” Max exclaimed content to have gained all the stat points he had today and feel like he might be in a solid group again.

Max stored his shield and spear, took out two of the four-foot maces, and added them to the stack of three on the ground.

“Load me up,” Max said as he held out his arms.

“A warrior and a pack mule,” Tanila said as she moved over to start putting the maces in his awaiting arms. “What else could a mage ask for?”

Max felt a little foolish standing in line for their turn with an attendant holding five massive clubs in his arms. However, the rest of his party thought it was great as people took notice of them, amazed at how much they had collected.

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They had sent Fowl to the quest board, where he had procured their quests for the turn-ins.

Each of them walked away with thirty-one silver in their pocket, smiling the entire way to an inn not far from the center of town to talk about tomorrow.

Fowl finished his first mug of ale before Max had even managed to take a drink of his.

“Now that hit the spot,” he declared as he waved at the waitress who had just moved off from their table.

“Ignore him just like we do.”

Max chuckled and nodded at Tanila who stuck her tongue out at Fowl as he gave her a scowl.

“You two quit egging the other on so we can focus on the task at hand.”

Fowl stuck his tongue out at Tanila before shifting in his chair and motioning to Batrire to begin talking.

“You mentioned you were planning on staying for a month or more. What is your reason for being here?”

“Besides getting stronger?”

Fowl snorted, ignoring the look Batrire gave him.

“Yes, besides that. All of us are here to get stronger. What else though?”

Max shrugged.

“That’s it honestly. I’m not doing this to be some hero or get wealthy. I don’t even care about fame. In fact, if I’m honest, I’d prefer not to be that well known.”

At his last statement, Tanila coughed, snorting ale out of her nose, struggling to breathe for a few seconds.

“You ok?” Max asked, leaning over and patting her on her back.

She waved her hand as she wiped her face and nose.

“You don’t want to be known, yet your name is Seth Pendal. Explain that one.”

Max heard the other two snort; all he could do was shrug.

“It is what it is. That is the truth, though. I want to be able to go to the towers and see what I can do there. In order for that to happen, I need to get a lot stronger.”

Fowl’s fingers started to tap on the table, and Max turned to see the dwarf man grinning.

“You know that journey will take a while. Right?”

Nodding, Max picked up his mug and took a drink.

“Tell me, what else is there for us?” he asked after setting his cup down. “I don’t want to guard some noble or merchant’s goods. I’m young, and now I realize that some of my plans aren’t going how I want. All I can think about every day is taking down something stronger.”

“For what it counts, I totally agree. I don’t want the life my parents wanted for me and I cannot tell you how much pressure they put on me due to my skills.” Tanila rubbed the top of her mug with her finger as she told Max those things. “My hope is one day to be in a party strong enough to really flex the power I have.”

Max cocked an eye at Tanila and heard a whoops come from her.

“The power you have?”

She coughed and looked at Fowl and Batrire who were both grinning and staying quiet.

Tanila sighed and glanced around the room as she leaned closer to Max.

“I have a lot more powerful spells than a simple firebolt and ensnare. If I were to use them, I would draw the aggro of the creature and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not really built for taking massive clubs across my back or chest.”

Max chuckled and nodded at her joke.

“Just how powerful are you?” he asked, giving her a wink.

Fowl groaned as Tanila shrugged.

“She’s strong enough that she shouldn’t be with us,” Fowl chimed in. “Maybe tomorrow she can show off for a moment but we would have to ensure that we could protect her. I’ve seen only one of her stronger spells one time and it came in clutch when we needed it.”

“Fowl, please don’t–”

“Be honest. He was honest with us,” Fowl said as he cut Tanila off. “All three of us are running from something we don’t want. That’s why we work so well together. Seth understands that and we all can see it.”

Fowl picked up his mug and took a quick drink before setting it down with a thump and tapping the table with his fingers.

“I’m not like my father. He was upset that I didn’t want to be a blacksmith like everyone else for generations. I was tired of the forge. So I found someone to train me every day for years as a warrior. When my selection came, my family was upset, knowing I had gone behind their back and done what I did. Worse yet was both skills were warrior skills, which really made it difficult for them to complain.”

Fowl paused a moment and then motioned to Batrire with his head. “One day, she might tell you how bad it got. Just know you aren’t the only one with problems and a few things you want to keep secret.”

Max nodded, seeing how Tanila and Fowl were now leaning back in their chairs and lost in their thoughts.

He turned and looked at Batrire, who began to laugh when she saw him do it.

“Don’t look at me. I’m the only normal one in this group. My only problem is liking that bullheaded guy right there.”

Fowl scowled playfully before leaning over and taking her hand to give it a gentle kiss.

“You wouldn’t trade me for anything.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “I’d trade you for a lot but sadly, no one will give me much for you. I guess that means I’m stuck with you until you become good enough I can sell you for a home in the capital.”

Max found himself finally relaxing, enjoying the casual conversation and jokes they told as they relaxed for another hour. Tomorrow morning, it was decided, that everyone would meet back at the adventurer hall outside the portal two hours after sunrise.

Max sat on the bed in his room, reading the books he had bought again as he tried to figure out why he had gotten the Swordsmanship skill from a lizardman. The book stated that most monsters and creatures below fifteen were believed to rarely have a skill, which meant him having picked up the Spear Handling when he did felt very off.

Almost like someone was providing me with it…

He caught himself glancing up at the ceiling as if he could somehow see into the heavens.

Now the creatures would be more likely to own skills and that meant he could possibly gain more.

“But why haven’t I?” he mumbled as his finger tapped a list of skills lizardmen could sometimes possess.

Swordsmanship, Blunt Weapons, and Shield…

He was certain he had fought a few of them, at least, that had those skills. The one that had thrown its weapon at him must have.

Leaning back against the bed, Max also considered that he hadn’t gotten a skill from any of the lizardman mages. They had a list of skills they could cast:

Fire Magic, Ice Magic, and Earth Magic.

None of the ones he had killed gave him anything besides the first few Intelligence points.

Placing the book on the small table near his bed, Max climbed under the thin blanket he had and reached up to turn off the light orb in his room.

“Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I can get another skill or something else.”

Closing his eyes he fell asleep, thankful to have found a group that seemed to be working out well.