12 — Lionheart's Madness

Alex felt surprised by his own actions. He wasn’t the type to take unneeded risks, neither was he the type to rush into battle blindly. And even now, his mind was running precise calculations on his chances of victory and just when he’d need to run, playing catch up with his decisions over the last few seconds. 

But what he didn’t do, more than anything, was let emotion cloud his judgment while heading into battle. 

Alex kicked in the guild hall doors feeling more anger than he expected from himself. It wasn’t an outward bubbling fury, but more of a soft fire—burning under the winter storm that was pragmatism. His clothes and armor were in tatters, he had cuts and bruises all over, and on his path here he’d picked up a stone off the corpse of an Indian man he had found right outside the Guild doors. He’d known what it meant immediately. It was the skill stone Jun had taken from the Necromancer, though he never expected that it would generate such a rare skill.

Alex recognized the guy, if just barely. It was someone he had met in his past life. He remembered escaping via the underground paths with him and some others. But the corpse he’d found had come from the Guild Hall instead this time, and now that he knew why, that revelation burned. In his first life, this scenario had four survivors and now he knew for certain that he was the only one left.

They chose wrong this time.

There was a saying for it, and it went like this: “Nightmare is where good men go to die.”

But there were no longer any good men left, and that was what burned him more than anything. The tutorial had a type afterall, and it seemed no one had fit the bill this time around. No one but him.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Alex demanded. His foot shattered a glass of water underfoot. His voice seethed.

“Watching,” the undead said. Across the room, the guildmaster just sat there, crouched over the slumped figure that was Jun, unmoving, bleeding out onto the floorboards. He hardly even took note of Alex, offering no other context until he took another heavy step, “Seriously, I’m not in the mood. Go away.”

“No. Answer the question.”

The undead sighed, scratching his head in confusion, “He tried so hard to live…I just wanted to see if I cared.”

“And?”

The undead lifted his sword for a decapitation, “It’s… amusing—”

[Pierce]

The undead dodged away from Jun’s body, clattering messily against one of the tables. His head snapped Alex’s way for the first time, locking onto his weapon. There was a sharp edge to his stare and Alex could feel him putting the pieces together in his head as his voice took on a low hum growl.

[Named Quest has been triggered! - LIONHEART’s MADNESS]

GuildMaster Lionheart has slept the living, imbuing them with the Sacrificial Mark! Only he can complete the ritual and it falls on you to foil his evil machinations!

Clear Conditions: Disrupt the Sacrificial Ritual

Rewards: 5,000 essence crystals

Time to Ritual - [12:37]

[You have aggroed the Scenario Boss. Quest has been accepted]

A hidden quest…

Alex’s attention slipped back to Jun’s corpse. He had no clue how the man had triggered a named quest, but it was just… unfortunate. People died. That was just the way it was, especially in Nightmare. It’s why he tried not to put too much expectation on them, and he would’ve accepted any other death for the man. It would’ve just proved him right to do so, but this…

“There’s a saying you know,” Alex said, “That Nightmare is where good men go to die. And it’s often meant literally but…” 

He sighed. The guildmaster wasn’t listening. 

…But not always… Just rare that you find someone so fucking stubborn about it is all.

He shifted away from the open clearing and circled closer to where all the tables lay strewn about, eyeing his enemy, the first boss he’d face in this life.

The undead known as Lionheart hulked nearly eight feet tall with bones that were almost luminescent in the tavern’s dim lighting. Fury was written into his features and his empty eyes burned crimson with hatred as he sent food and drink flying from a nearby table, “...Lugrin, the Mayor—all those men and women—you killed them! That sword…” 

“It’s a mercy,” Alex said. 

Something about the way the Guildmaster’s frame heaved in rage told him he didn’t see it the same way. The boss ground his jaw so hard that flakes of bone tapered off and he seemingly peered into his eyes, “You… “You know what you’ve just done, don’t you! You—[SYSTEM REDACTED]”

Alex could tell what he was probably saying even with the redaction. The system broke everyone in different ways, but few fates were more pitiful than the one playing out before him. 

Regardless… 

“The struggle of the living cannot be mocked by those who gave it up. You’ll regret not wearing your shiny armor you bastard.”

He spat a bloody tooth out onto the floor. His health was already below the threshold he’d set for himself, but that fire was still burning. With desire, with anger, with anything and everything that could keep it alight these long hours. 

He wasn’t a good man. No, Jun had been a good man. And good men died in Nightmare. He wasn’t good, and he couldn’t be good. But even then, even though he knew that, if he could cross avenging one off the bucket list then today could still be a good day. 

Christ. Jordan would laugh if he saw me like this.

He locked eyes with the boss and found that their feud had turned strangely personal. He’d had a feeling it would, ever since he’d seen that item. So he’d taken liberty to slaughter all the adventurers out there before entering. Nobody would be intruding on this fight. And no one would be leaving prematurely either.

Ah, that’s right…. that’s how it’d been, hadn’t it?

He found himself unexpectedly laughing. It was funny, you live a few years without gambling and you start to forget your habits… but I tend to bet all in, don't I?

As soon as he had the thought, the Boss charged straight for him.

***

The 2,132th Boss Battle has Begun.

The 2,133th Boss Battle has Begun.

The 2,134th Boss Battle has Begun.

…

Request for further purview has been granted.

Battle 2,134

Scenario Model: Undead Starter-Town

Progress:

68 Undead Villagers have been killed

37 Undead Adventurers have been killed

5 Undead Captains has been killed

11 minutes, 43 seconds until Hidden Scenario Quest ends.

BATTLE

Alex Smith vs Guild Master Lionheart

…

Request for Additional Status has been Processed

Request Granted.

Alex Smith
Race: Human

Bloodline: [Forged in Fire]

Class: N/A
Level: 12

Titles: [The First Spark], [Half-Dead Persistence]

HP: 78%
Mana: 73%
Stamina: 85%

Skills: 

[Stealth] Lvl 17 (novice)
[Metalwork] Lvl 9 (novice)
[Meld] Lvl 6 (novice)
[Examine] Lvl 3 (novice)

Free Skill Slots: 10

Stats:

Vitality – 3
Strength – 12
Dexterity - 8
Fortitude – 7
Perception – 6
Arcane - 5

WARNING: THIS IS A SYSTEM-HOSTED BATTLE. UNSANCTIONED BETS AND INTERFERENCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Please Enjoy.

***

As soon as the fight began a familiar notification appeared in Alex’s interface.

The Constellations have taken interest in your fight.

He swept it out of mind as Lionheart charged at him, barrelling through chairs and tables to do so. Splinters flew from his path like a blizzard, but it still gave him time to charge his blade.

[Pier—

Alex cut the skill off at the last second as he’d planned to. He’d shown this one already and the undead was caught off foot by the timing. He’d already been dodging left, but he made a sudden shift in direction—smacking into the wall with his right shoulder as Alex swung up at his left.

Clang!

The boss’s bulky longsword was five feet and unmaneuverable in the corridor between the wall and the next table over. But he’d switched it to his left hand, wielding it  as if it were a dagger as he intercepted. Even Alex’s newfound strength paled next to once-heroes.

But he was well used to being the weaker one in such an exchange. 

As the boss pressed down with more strength he slid his own blade along the Boss’s, sparks flying along their path. The system offered him [Glancing Blow] but he denied it, arcing his blade towards the epicenter of his chest—its core–

An elbow whiffed by where Alex’s head had been. He quickly pulled his blade free, the bottom three rungs of the boss’s rib cage falling away from his right side. Lionheart used that moment to recover, shifting back to a proper two-handed grip in pursuit.

[Light Foot]

Alex had relearned the skill when he faced the adventurers out in the town. Facing off a boss alone without any type of movement skill was just suicide afterall, and as it activated his soles suddenly felt as if they were made of air. 

He ducked effortlessly to the right as the greatsword whipped past. 

But devastation followed that blow. Chairs shattered, gashes were carved into floor planks, and… even with all that force behind the attack, the boss left no other opening for attack. It spoke not just of sheer power… but technique.

Shit.

Alex backed away. Not that he expected it to be easy or anything. Else he’d have just gotten [Glancing Blow] and been done with it. 

If this guy’s as tough as I think–

Two more vehement lashes assaulted his ears as they soared inches away, showering him with splinters where wood exploded. Alex danced away, weaving behind more circular tables until he found his back up against the far wall. He used all his remaining essence.

You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!

+2 Dexterity
+2 Perception

Pleased to see his training working as intended, he readied his energy pierce for real use this time. He had a handful of splinters stuck in his skin and his health ticked down a point from the numerous cuts and gashes he’d attained outside. With a broken lifeforce, blood trickled through in small amounts as he moved. He scanned his surroundings and immediately readied another plan, but… he didn’t need it. Not for the moment. 

Across the pub, the undead straightened back up… laughing. Instead of pursuing, he laughed. And as he turned towards Alex the look in those hollow eyes chilled him. There wasn’t anger there anymore. Replacing it was a look he recognized, one he’d woken up to every day these past many years. Tiredness.

“Ha! Haha… hah…” the undead covered those eyes with bony fingers as he barked, “Ohh… that’s relieving. So relieving! Lugrin, you see. He’d always said he wanted to die in battle, against a worthy foe! Well—die as in…”

“I know,” Alex said. As in before.

“And well, I really do apologize. I saw that weapon of yours and I thought you were one of those. Really put me into a rage, that did. ”

Alex nodded. He knew the type all too well. A constellation’s plaything. 

The system didn’t allow for any patronage or sponsorships this early, but they always had their ways. Little gifts hidden here and there. Whispers of knowledge or contracts made before the tutorial even began.

“But it seems my friend Lugrin got his wish afterall! Good for him, eh?”

“Yeah, good for him.”

And how pitiful for you.

The creature probably couldn’t even put a name to the feeling it felt. It was called loneliness. But this conversation would have to be cut short. All this talk about constellations, it reminded him that they were watching, even if they couldn’t hear them.

This early, huh…

He looked down at his blade, remembering the title he’d gotten when he made her.

[Sole Spark]

You are the first person to have crafted a blade in Nightmare

“I suppose I also must apologize,” Alex said. 

His heart still hammered in his chest, but he found his anger slowly fading. He’d forgotten, in the years since he’d last faced them. Undead were many things; creepy, deadly, tediously hard to kill, but above all they were dicks. Irredeemable assholes—and it wasn’t all their fault. There were things that were taken from them, things they couldn’t even know are missing.

Things no proper human would give away.

And perhaps another person might just handwave them away at that, but Alex understood now. Afterall, he too, had once been broken. 

But no longer.

“It seems I’ve been hypocritical,” he said at last, “I hold no grudge against you now, but I will be avenging that man over there if you don’t mind kindly dying for me.”

The boss had been practice-swinging his sword arm while looking curiously at his ribs, but he stopped at that. Whatever trace of emotion Alex thought he saw gone from his expression as he laughed some more. It was a deep laugh, infectious and booming. The kind that made a man feel like death couldn’t be so bad when led by a man like him. The kind of laugh people followed.

“Ha!” he barked, “I’d have it no other way! Guess this one will be for my fallen comrades then. But… not like this. No, this won’t do at all. These things have a proper start don’t they? Let's see… how did it go…”

He scratched his head, then stopped—seemingly remembering something. The atmosphere of the room shifted. Lights flickered slightly overhead and the undead boss straightened with unreal posture. His left foot snapped to attention next to his right, the flat of his sword was held straight in front of him. Behind it, what hair he had left began to flow from his cracked skull and Alex imagined there what must have once been a luscious mane of red.

“My name is Lucius,” the boss said, “Second son and heir of the Lionheart Earldom. I was once the 18th General in King Eldiwin’s army, known as his Righteous Blade. After my retirement I became the Guild Master of the Misting Valleys, known then as Banisher of Fog and the Valley’s Protector. I am still known as Guild Master here, but as you can see we’re in need of a refurnish,” He gestured about the room with an offbeat sense of humor as one of the candle-lit chandeliers crashed, spreading fire on a severed table.

There was an energy to him, and Alex knew he wasn’t just imagining it as it began to spread to his sword with the scent of death and tarnished honor. And more than that, eagerness. To fight, to kill, to spill blood across the land this night for the moon to witness.

“I tell you this,” Lionheart continued, “Not so you remember me. But so you know your death will be honored by my blade. This is your end human.”

His stance shifted as he turned the sword’s sharp edge Alex’s direction, and he saw a visage there. Of the General he described himself.

It was curious now that Alex thought of it, the reason the tutorial sent them all here. It was never much of a secret that they wanted them to do their dirty work for them, but he hadn’t really thought past it in his past life, never thought to wonder why it needed doing. He hadn’t had the time or freedom to wonder.

You still don’t, he reminded himself. His hairs bristled the hairs of his skin from the pressure the boss gave off and he lost yet another health point. Alex's dueling skills were rusty given how long it'd been since he'd fought one, but he felt his lips crack in a smile regardless.

“Good,” he said, “Your life will make for an excellent reforging.”

He held his own blade at the ready, and he felt her shiver. There was a tension to her, a desire in line with his own, a yearning for finality, and then that profound sense of sadness underlying it all.

Alex focused his mind, then tried to cloak stealth over himself.

Warning: You cannot cast stealth in the presence of enemies—

Liar.

Alex reached for his freshly earned dexterity, using it to slip into the skill. His essence whirred, strengthening the bonds between his body, mind, and soul.His stealth level  rose. 

Stealth has leveled up!
Stealth has leveled up!
Stealth has leveled up!

Stealth is now level 20!

Progress towards Apprentice rank: 100%

Proficiency with [Stealth] has reached 100%. Would you like to—
[Stealth] has been upgraded to Apprentice Rank. 

[Stealth - Level 20 (Apprentice)]

Stealth can now be cast and maintained in the presence of enemies.

A dark, hazy, and formless shroud covered Alex now and the difference was immediately noticeable. Where before it had been like he was entering a shroud of imperceivable darkness, it was now as if he were wearing it like a cloak. It didn’t hide him in entirety of course, not under Lionheart’s direct scrutiny, but now his form would be more shapeless, harder to discern.

He had no generational talent like Jun. His senses couldn’t discern or navigate the pathways of these skill patterns the way prodigies could, working backwards to learn more skills. But what he did have was experience. 

Stealth was his very first skill in his last life as well, and he’d used it countless times, wearing it for hours on end some nights like a snug blanket where dangers prowled. He may not know those patterns for what they were but he knew what the skill felt like.

Lionheart charged towards him, barreling through the tables with ease now. Alex didn’t have time to start Pierce and he wouldn’t have either way. It had a cost of 10% mana and now that he knew what his enemy was made of he found it futile.

A large hulking blade soared towards him, a venomous roar behind it.

Shit!

Alex cast [Feather foot] and nearly stumbled over himself dodging out of the way as Lionheart severed a lock of hair. No—that wasn’t all! The strands slowly turned gray where his blade brushed by and Alex had to leap behind an upturned table as he gave himself an impromptu haircut. A split second later the blade carved through it and rolled out and under the blow, scrambling for more cover.

Literally, scrambling. The reason the upgraded Stealth ability required a skill weave into the Perception stat was because it also made it harder to discern where your own damn feet were! Add into that some scuffed footwork with feather foot and it was like trying to track your own shadow in a field of shifting lights! Not to mention, he had to watch Lionheart for—

SMASH!

Body-cues on where—

KABOOM!

His next damn attacks wer—

WARNING

You have been inflicted with the Sepsis debuff. So long as you have open wounds, HP will drain 5% every thirty seconds for 2 minute—

WARNING

Your Lifeforce is broken. Sepsis cannot be combated with Vitality. So long as you have open wounds, HP will drain 10% every thirty seconds until death.

Alex touched his cheek, cursing, but it came out mumbly. 

A small thin line of blood trailed along his cheekbone where the sword had barely grazed him and that side of his face was already starting to numb as his veins started turning gray underneath, spreading like cracks on a mirror. Soon his left eye would cease to function, and eventually, the whole left side of his body.

“What’s wrong,” Lionheart teased, “Cat got your tongue?”

“Tha wazen vewy nobvle ov you.”

“Yeeeah,” he cracked his neck, “I don’t know where I was going with that crap anyways.”

Alex said nothing to that. 

He was out of time, and not because of sepsis, but because of his Mana. The warning had said inflicted not infected, which meant the effect would wear off once he killed the one behind it. His health could tank that. It was only once he crossed the 20% mark and—No… 

Thirty-five percent, he realized.

With his Lifeforce broken and Vitality out of function it would only take two more ticks before his health went from 54% to below the 34% threshold. From there he would be unable to stop the bleeding effects without a healer or health potion—the second of which he had, but it was useless to him still due to his broken Lifeforce. A ruthless cycle, but it still wasn’t the main threat.

[Mana: 24%]

Both Feather foot and Stealth were passive skills and it was too dangerous not to have both of them active during this fight. The combined drain totalled up to about 3% every twenty seconds, and running below 20% would destroy his chances in this fight, killing him either way.

He hadn’t been running away for nothing of course, but between the tax of the two skill’s confusion, the tax of diverting the mana flow to power two skills at once, and the tax of reading the movements—of someone who he suspected was once a veteran swordsman—his mental capacity was overclocked.

Though—

He leapt behind the Info-desk counter.

I suppose that creates the perfect conditions for training, doesn’t it?

Lionheart sent a horizontal slash through the info-desk creating an absolute blizzard of broken wood and appliances—and for once, Alex had the chance to activate stealth while out of sight of the monster. He took full advantage of it, trailing the large chunk of debris that was the desk surface and it bought him a precious second as the Guildmaster’s head swerved to find him. 

But he’d been steadily growing more capable of the Stealth-Feather Foot skill combo with each second that passed and by the time that gigantic sword trailed his path he was already where he needed to be.

The Guildmaster’s sword art was impeccable. On par or perhaps even greater than Alex's own, yet, as Alex saw more of it  he’d noticed a weakness to it. 

Cutting off a few rungs of an undead’s ribs didn’t hinder it the way it would a human, but with such a large sword the body’s structural balance was still important. Alex had been expecting the boss to correct it after the first few swings, and he had. He’d overcorrected it. And then adjusted down from there. This told Alex two things:

One, if he’d overcorrected it once, he’d be liable to do it again with more pressure. And secondly… this wasn’t a Level 12 boss he was dealing with. Not truly. It was someone higher than that. Much much higher. And he was unused to fighting in a body so weak. It was… a bad match for his sword style.

I would’ve wished to fight you at your best, Alex thought. He added an addendum to that.

And me at mine.

Sepsis ticked away another inch of his health and he brought his sword up to parry the undead’s giant swing, glancing it off at an angle. It had too much force behind it and his death blade started to crack, but he had faith in her structural integrity. 

Osmium, for all it allowed, was still a soft metal and Lionheart’s own blade was properly crafted steel unlike all the other’s weapons. He’d avoided taking direct clashes with it most of the fight, but just this once. 

Just this once, she’ll hold.

Those cracks deepened along her spine from stress. His left-side vision blinked out. His face slackened even as his well-placed footwork carried him out of the way from a knee blow and inside his the large man’s space. Wisps of shadow followed him and sparks flew where his blade followed the other down to the hilt, severing a loose thumb.

All these things happened at once as Lionheart’s momentum threw the blade slicing over where Alex now crouched. The fire from the fallen chandelier spread around the pub and it was starting to smoke.

He eyed the undead’s core as it started to swim from his blade’s path, away from any accessible rib gap and behind the sternum. 

His blade may be an undead’s kryptonite, but those bones would still slow him down too much. It would only be a fraction of a second, but—

[Mana: 21%]

He followed through with his swing regardless, pulling on a tide of mana. But not for Pierce. No, Alex instead called for a different skill. One he had learned in his past life.

His mana  practically burned his body from the inside as all of it  joined the storm, following those tethering pathways—and he reached for a familiar skill—the only one he could count on, feeding his greedy sword until his mana was at 1%

[Sever]

He sliced the undead in two.

The only thing he hadn’t expected was the shrill scream from his blade as he did so. 

Throughout his years, Alex always liked to think he was more in tune with his blades than the average swordsman. That he was as much a vessel for them as they were to him.

This was something different. Something he’d never experienced. And as the shrill, metallic scream reached a fever pitch—as it reverberated in his bones—he thought he could see it. The place this had once been.

Music chiming a joyous Celtic rhythm, barmaids scampering to and thro, everyone had genuine expressions on their faces as they gambled away that day’s earnings—it was the kind of place Alex himself might frequent. And in the middle of it all was Lionheart—younger than he must’ve been when he died—grinning ear to ear with a satisfied look in his eyes.

It wasn’t just your guild, it was your home…

Then just as quickly as it appeared it was gone. The pub was burning up in flames. Lionheart was nothing but ash and bones, the gear and weapons he'd worn collapsing in a pile besides his remains.

Guildmaster Lionheart [Lvl 17] has been slain!

+X Points!

+5,000 Essence!

Quest: [Lionheart’s Madness] Complete!

Evil has been vanquished! Guild Master Lionheart’s maddened ritual of sacrifice has been ruined and those afflicted with his deathly mark have reawoken! The High Council awards your sense of Justice!

5,000 Essence Crystals have been awarded!

Alex hardly took note as the notifications blipped by or the essence settled into his soul. He just watched with his blank look on his face where the boss’s core was sliced in two—lifeless.

No…

He knew he wasn’t just imagining it now—that mischievous glint his blade had, but it no longer has that sharp edge to it, nor that underlying sense of sadness. She was… satisfied, oddly peaceful. As if she’d just had the most filling meal of her short life. And the Boss’s core that should’ve been there was dull and drained of all its aura.

She can do no wrong, she can do no wrong, she can do no wrong, she…

Alex repeated it like a mantra as he restrained himself from continuing what Lionheart had started and snapping her in two. It was only when he began to lose that battle that he realized his sepsis debuff was still ticking down.

[Health: 41%]

He let loose a long exhale as a support beam crashed down beside him. Then he pulled the iron sword and all the other loot into his inventory as he got up. All things considered, he was in no shape to be crying over spilt cores. 

Quickly, he pulled his knife from his inventory and heated it by the collapsing pub’s fires. He had no way of stopping the Sepsis affliction at this moment so he’d really been hoping it would go away with the boss’s death, but he did at least have a way to stop its bleed effect. He grimaced as he lifted the hot knife to his skin, then froze.

He suddenly spotted another prize in the boss’s ashes, one he could’ve sworn hadn’t been there before.

[Holy Gauze]

Gauze enchanted by a Divine being to stop prevent blood loss from wounds and seal Death-aspected afflictions.

Alex’s grimace deepened into a scowl as the item instantly wrapped itself around his wounds, but he equipped it regardless. He’d have been stupid not to, cauterization would’ve worked well enough, but the scarring would’ve been permanent.

Still, he didn’t take it lightly. A Constellation had broken the system’s rules to give him this, and he wasn’t mistaken on what it really was. Being a one of their playthings was bad enough, but if this was a sign of support it would’ve come with an overpowered skill and an enchanted weapon. Alas, it was just life-support, and it was no more a gift than it was bait on the hook.

The only thing worse than being a constellation's plaything was being one of their pawns.

It still didn’t make sense how they’d found him so quick. Looking back they’d joined the fight too early for it to have been his trait, and they shouldn’t have access to his information this early outside of boss fights.

But there was only so much enlightenment to be gained from wondering so Alex simply let out a sigh and stood up.

[Sepsis] has been sealed. Bleed effect has been halted.

He’d never willingly cut a gamble so close as he had this one. Not one he’d simply walked away from, at least. And yet, he was alive. 

So alive. In those final moments, when sepsis had been slow-crawling towards his heart, he’d felt the most alive than he had in ages. His heart still echoed that riveting beat even now.

He walked slowly through the torn up and still burning pub, careful not to put too much stress on his injuries. He held his blade gingerly in both hands and his gaze lingered there for an instant.

Consuming the core's aura like that...

He could only assume that what had occurred in that moment was the phenomena known as ‘Lylith’s bond’. It had a more scientific name but that was the one he’d known it by. It was when a blade’s trait synergized with a skill beyond what could logically be expected. He’d only witnessed it a few times in his life, but when Lys had shattered from his [Energy Pierce]… he was certain that was what had occurred. But it was extremely rare and he’d never heard of it occurring with an uncommon blade. 

On the other hand, [Sever] wasn’t anything too special at all. It was an uncommon skill—which was always a privilege to luck into for someone who’d been at his level at the time—but it was essentially just [Cut] with the added bonus of being more effective on undead. He couldn’t say why. He hadn’t ever needed to, and he was realizing that was true about a lot of things now. He had a lifetime’s worth of trivia from the thing’s he’d experienced, but he never felt the need to ponder the question. And now that things weren’t adding up it was really starting to grate.

He looked at his blade.

Examine.

[Undeaths Bane (Uncommon, F Grade)]

Status: Disrepair

He sighed as he made the wise decision to move his death blade to his inventory as well, lest she crumble in his hands. She’d started looking less like a blade and more like ice that was beginning to crack and split.

Soul Link has been damaged. HP cannot be restored.

Alex paused a second to look out the door of the tavern. One of the hinges was broken and he could see the roofs of the other buildings through the gap. There were still hundreds of undead villagers and a few Adventurers still out there, but with few capable leaders they weren’t a threat for the meantime. 

They had all been human once. This was their world. Alex and all the others had been sent to eradicate them. These three facts had never been hidden from them, but fighting Lionheart Alex realized he’d had something backwards. He’d thought that when they’d been turned undead they’d been strengthened by the system. But no, they’d been weakened… to match them. And that was just confusing.

Most confounding of all, how the fuck had he returned to his younge—oh fuck it, who cares?

He. That’s who. But he couldn’t bother with that at the moment. The place was literally burning down around him, which would make for a pathetic end of things after such a lively battle. It was Socrates who’d phrased it best when it came down to it: The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.

That could be his enlightenment for the day. Along with another classic, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“It’s done,” Alex said, “You’ve been avenged.”

He gave Jun the longest moment of silence he could risk to offer as he set the skill stone on the man’s corpse. It was a precious treasure, even if not one that he wanted, but Alex wouldn’t be hurting for those soon enough. And he’d meant it when he said it was an even split. This night was his rebirth, if there was ever a time to uphold senseless honor, now would spell for a good omen. 

[Skill Stone]

Skill: Arise 

But more than that, it was respect that had driven Alex's actions. Regardless of talent, the man had neither the instincts nor luck required to survive Nightmare, but he had something just as important. Something Lionheart lacked. Something Alex hadn’t even realized how sorely he was missing until recently. In all the world’s, there were harder, more magical, more potent ores than those you could find on earth, but there was nothing he found more reliable than steel. It may bend, but it didn’t break.

“If even this place couldn’t break you,” he said, “Then nothing can.”

Amen.

It was only when he’d turned his back that Alex felt the slightest pulse of essence. 

He froze.

Then he staggered back, stuck between maniacal laughter and a loathing, jealous sigh. He settled for a median of stunned silence as he uncorked his health potion and poured it between the man’s lips.

“Fucking talent…”

Never should it be taken as an indicator of survival… but never should it be taken for granted either.

Especially not something like this. The night may have taken that boss’s core from him, it seemed to have given him something better in return. And as it truly soaked in how much better, the maniacal laughter finally came.

Alex had been surprised when the man had survived that first night. But it was when he’d mastered cultivation of his essence into Vitality  so quickly, that the doubt had come. Just the tiniest sliver of in Alex’s mind. But the odds were so astronomically low that he’d written it off.

Now he knew his hunch had been right. 

Jun technically didn’t have any talent at all. What he had was one of the rarest, most priceless affinities known to man: an affinity with the Life Aspect. And though it was incredibly useful for healing, anyone who took that as a sign that they should just become a healer was a wasteful fool.

He sighed, the laughter dying down. The pub burned as hot as a furnace now, and he was well aware that each second he spent here was another gamble. But that was the thing about gambling, wasn’t it? You roll the dice once, you can be damned sure you’ll roll it again. And someday… someday that karma comes back with a vengeance so bitter that you walk away for good. You vow never again.

That day wouldn’t be today. That day would be never. But especially not today if the way Jun tossed and turned was any indicator.

The first thing this fool will want to do when he wakes is go save those ex-sacrifices.

That was fine. He wouldn’t stop him. He had reason to believe it wasn’t as futile an effort as it originally would’ve been, and if good steel didn’t survive the tempering stage then that was simply a fact of the process. Alex wouldn’t join him, a good gambler knew when to step away.

And if Jun survived this, if he returned, then that’s how he knew he was an ore worth shaping.

It would take some convincing of course. A lot actually. And even if Jun forgave him, he wouldn’t at all be happy to hear what Alex had in store for him. But at its core, the reason the Life Aspect was so priceless was so simple it had been the first thing he’d explained to the man. Life—essence—is power. And there was only one class Alex could think of that could make the most of the affinity.

A Necromancer.

…Yeah, Jun wasn’t going to like it one bit. But that was fine for now. No amount of pragmatism could smother the joy a craftsman felt when laying eyes on such priceless material. Nor could it quench the fire that bellowed in his heart. It had truly been a night of enlightenments for Alex, but if there was one it had brought above all others, it was this:

Humans, too, could be forged.

SCENARIO TWO HAS ENDED.

Please wait as achievements and rewards are handed out.

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Hey yall! Hope you enjoyed this chappie! My wonderful and handsomely cool co-author and I worked hard on getting it ready for yall, and I'm glad to finally kick this patreon off with the three advancies I promised.

Also, I'll be making an announcement for this on RR as well, but my schedule going forth will be chapter uploads every Tuesday and Saturday (twice the rate of RR) until I'm at 10 advance chapters. Then I'll have to slow down a bit since it's not sustainable for me in the long run without my current backlog. I'll be starting this schedule on Tuesday cause I busted ass getting these last few chappies looking up to standard and I gotta catch my Z's now.

In anycase, here's the fluff! This one's called "Deer"