Ultimate Level 1

“Holy elf tits, are you serious?”

Max nodded at Fowl, who shook his head in disbelief after Max told them the stats and the skill he had gained less than an hour ago.

“You literally leveled up to level twenty-three. In one hour.”

“Yes, Tanila, but that means I won’t gain anything for a while. The only way I get stronger is by killing higher-level creatures–”

“Or people,” Fowl interrupted.

Max and the other two frowned at Fowl, who just held up his hands as he shrugged. “I’m just saying. Monsters or people.”

Both of the women grunted, and Max sighed before continuing.

“We will keep farming experience here, and until we can get you three leveled up and able to fight in the next dungeon, there will be a time when I become weaker.”

“What about your new skill? What does it do?”

“I was waiting till we were together to check.”

[Skill Description - Sonar]

*****

Sonar - Uncommon Skill: This skill is permanently active. Any creature or object within a five-yard radius is detectable. All vibrations, movements, and sounds will be detected by this skill. It can nullify invisibility as well as stealth. Improved hearing within the radius of the skill. Ultra-loud sonic attacks may cause bonus damage or disrupt this skill. Line of sight is not required to know how an enemy may attack.

*****

Max didn’t have to see Fowl rubbing his eyes and groaning softly.

“That seems… broken,” Batrire stated after hearing the skill description. “It’s great that you have it for us, but that basically means you can’t be snuck up on.”

Trying not to smile too much, Max nodded. “I actually can’t wait to test it out in combat. It was weird at first being able to tell that someone was behind me or off to the side. I could even feel where a chair or counter was. The first few moments were intense, like it overwhelmed my brain, but it got better quickly.”

“Well then, let’s get started so we can get out of this muck and mud and see what the second level of this place holds.”

Max nodded and then remembered what he had been meaning to do. Opening his storage, Max took out his red cloak and fastened it around his neck, giving it a quick twirl.

“What do you think?”

He heard the groans now. With his new skill, each of their attempts at trying to decide what to say was crystal clear.

“It can’t be that bad!” he exclaimed.

“I’m just concerned no one ever taught you how to dress yourself,” Tanila said. “I mean a red cape, black boots, bracers, a massive brown spike off your shoulder… it’s like you need to hire someone to pick out an outfit for yourself.”

Max frowned as Batrire and Fowl both grinned at him and nodded.

“Fine… I’ll keep it for now and see about replacing it once we get paid by the guild.”

“Maybe Tanila will help you with your fashion choices,” Fowl teased, watching the elf’s ears turn red.

She turned around and started walking through the stagnant water of the dungeon, grumbling about cutting Fowl’s balls off. Not that Fowl could hear, but Max could.

“Elf tits, that was a pain in the ass,” Fowl complained.

Max groaned and stretched his neck, nodding in agreement with Fowl.

“Two ogres are pretty nasty when combined with two hobgoblins.”

“At least you two aren’t fighting in the muck and mud. Nothing but solid rock now.”

Max nodded in agreement, quite content to fight on a surface that didn’t splash everywhere, leaving their boots and feet nasty and wet.

“So we can do this easily, especially with my upgraded strength.”

Batrire cast her buff again, realizing it was getting low enough she didn’t want to risk it going down during a fight. “That spear with your strength and fire enchantment is insane. Part of me wants to see how much damage you would do to Fowl.”

Fowl spun around, sputtering in shock as he saw the smiles his healer and mage were wearing.

“Bah, see if I stand between you and the next hobgoblin.”

“Idle threats,” Batrire replied. “I know you like what I give.”

Max coughed, knowing that this conversation had taken a turn he didn’t need to hear.

“Anyways… let’s get these guys harvested and move on.”

“Three ogres. Is this really an option?” Tanila asked.

Max was running his tongue over his teeth. Two ogres had tree trunks, and one had a massive axe taller than him. “I don’t see why not. Tanila ensnares one, Fowl pulls the other two’s attention, and I’ll come up and attack from stealth from behind.”

Stolen ; please report.

Fowl nodded, agreeing with the plan as Max’s ability to use stealth every fight had made things much easier than the first floor.

“Root the one with the axe. I’d prefer to fight that one last if possible.”

Fowl glanced at everyone and saw them nod. “Always the bait… you three suck.”

Things progressed smoothly with Max’s spear strike from stealth, combined with his improved strength, shattering the ogre’s spine above its legs. Max quickly stored his weapons when it fell and grabbed the log that had rolled away, picking it up easily in both hands. He came up behind the ogre fighting Fowl and planted his feet, swinging with everything he had, hitting the ogre in its hip, shattering it, and dropping it to the ground.

“Elf tits!” Fowl exclaimed as a shower of wood shards erupted in his face from the attack.

It took Max a moment to get the log repositioned, and he slammed it down on the ogre's back as it tried to get up, sending it crashing to the ground. It wheezed in a weird guttural way until Fowl took his hammer and bashed its skull a few times.

“Three!”

Dropping the tree, Max smiled, pulled out his shield and spear, and turned to face the last one.

“Let me try this on my own.”

He ran off, not waiting to hear what the others might say, and moved to a small pile of flat stones stacked on each other.

The ogre came at him, its axe over its head. It was preparing to chop at him.

It was weird. The sensation Max felt made the movements of the ogre almost seem impossible to miss.

Alone with just the creature and himself, there were no distractions. Max’s sonar skill told him everything he needed to know about what was coming.

The axe was aimed at his head. It was going to come down in a straight chop. If it hit his head, it would probably split him in two.

Max smiled, shield ready, and waited half a second for the swing to start its downward approach.

As it came, Max drove himself forward with every ounce of power in his legs toward the ogre’s chest.

Max saw the ogre’s eyes widen as he came between its fully extended arms, axe plunging toward the stone he had been on just a moment before.

Now inside the monster’s range and arms, Max thrust his spear under the ogre’s chin into its skull. The axe slammed into the stone, the ogre’s own momentum bringing its head down and onto the spear that pierced bone and brain until it came out the top side of its head.

Putting a foot on its chest, Max pushed off, yanking his spear free as the creature fell forward, hands still clamped to the shaft of its axe, unable to let go.

Landing to the side, Max rolled once and stood up as the creature hit the ground with a thud.

His mind turned cold, power wanting to fill it.

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[Would you like to learn [Axe Handling]?]

[ Yes / No]

He clicked yes. The sensation he was used to came upon him, knowledge of how to use a variety of axes becoming second nature like his spear.

He smiled and then frowned as he felt something inside him changing.

[ Skill Knowledge Requirement Met ]

[ Processing Possible Upgrade ]

[ Four Melee Weapon Skills Acquired ]

[ Combining Skills into New Skill ]

[ Melee Weapon Mastery Acquired ]

[ Skill Level Upgraded to Uncommon ]

Then he fell to the ground.

His mind swirled with so much knowledge. The spear in his hand that he had used for so long had been underutilized. He realized now how to string a combination of attacks together. All those simple single attacks he had done were nothing compared to what he knew he could do now.

His knowledge of axes and blunt weapons increased also. Even though he had not used an axe yet, he had no doubt that he could be just as deadly with it as his spear..

Combined with his dual-wield skill, his mind struggled momentarily to comprehend everything.

“Seth! Are you ok?”

He knew it was Fowl speaking, and he felt the other two right behind his dwarven friend.

Max nodded, holding his hand out to stop them as he took a few deep breaths and let all the things his skill felt he needed to know finish overwhelming him. It took another ten seconds or more, and then suddenly, the rush of knowledge stopped.

Standing up, Max looked at the three party mates and saw them staring at him, wondering what had happened.

“Are you sure you are ok? Did your skill do something or…” Fowl trailed off as he saw Max begin to grin.

“It did. I learned the axe skill from that ogre.”

Fowl’s eyes widened a moment, and then he nodded. “That makes sense, can’t imagine–”

“Your skills combined!” Tanila shouted, interrupting Fowl. “You have… had four melee weapon skills, and they all combined.”

Unable to help himself, Max chuckled and bobbed his head. “It was a bit more knowledge than I had expected. Knocked me off my feet and felt like my head was almost going to explode.”

“Holy elf tits,” Batrire muttered. “What skill do you have?”

“It’s called Melee Weapon Mastery, which is currently uncommon.”

‘Holy goblin humpin' elf tits with a frickin huge set of ogre balls!” shouted Fowl, spitting on the ground as he held his hands up in the air. “Are you kidding me? Ockrim, you never gave me this kind of love!”

“Shut it,” Batrire snapped. “You have a rare skill, and stop complaining. Ockrim blessed you enough, and that is why no one could argue with you being a warrior.”

Max looked at Fowl, who suddenly turned red in the face, and saw the dwarf nod.

“A rare skill?”

“Yeah… My shield skill is a rare rank. It is why I’m so good at blocking. Before I might have offered to spar, but now I’m pretty sure I don’t want to risk it.”

Max chuckled, and then it turned into a full-blown laugh after a moment. He knew they were looking at him, but he didn’t care. It took a moment to stop, amused at the situation he found himself in.

And then his mind realized what he had just missed.

Turning to look at Batrire standing there, confused at the laughter, she felt his gaze and sighed.

“You have a rare skill too.”

She nodded and grinned. “My Healing Magic is a rare rank. Yet another reason why this oaf and I travel together.”

Max wanted to laugh again, but he couldn’t. It was too much.

“How often do dwarves start with a rare skill?”

Fowl and Batrire looked at each other, making faces that looked like someone was pulling their beards.

“Not to sound repetitive, but rare,” Batrire answered. “Two rares in one choosing day about turned our city upside down. That is why Fowl and I left.” She paused and smiled as she winked at Fowl. “Among other reasons.”

Max shook his head, reading the room and seeing what he had failed to see all this time.

“Someone has done this… someone has brought the four of us together,” he whispered, his eyes looking at the ground as he spoke. “The odds of all this is impossible. An elf with a combined skill on her choosing day. Two dwarves with rare skills on the same day. And…”

“And a human with an insane skill,” Tanila said when Max stopped talking. “By the…” she paused, smiling and shaking her head. “Someone, and I don’t think it’s our gods, is pulling our strings. The real question is, why?”

Fowl looked at Batrire and saw she was nodding in agreement, and then he cursed so quietly that even Max couldn’t hear it.

“You’re telling me someone has directed our lives from three different kingdoms to end up in this damn dungeon as a party?”

Fowl saw his three friends all nodding.

“That can’t be… can it?”

No one spoke for a few minutes. The truth of what they had just figured out was hard to comprehend.

“That’s kind of scary and comforting at the same time. Who has the kind of power it takes to make that happen?”

Max looked at Tanila and groaned.

“I think I met her.”