An unconscionable racket sounded through the cabin. Deep, loud, and vaguely reminiscent of a chainsaw. Saul was sitting in a chair near the very source and was trying his very best to light said source on fire with his eyeballs. Eventually, he just couldn’t take it anymore and he jumped up from the chair, stormed the gap between the two of them, and shook Ishan vigorously. “You… Have… To… Wake… Up!!!” The dark skinned man rolled slightly in the chair, half-lying and half sitting, his arm coming up to swat away Saul’s hands unconsciously. Undeterred, Saul persisted until the man opened his eyes slowly and reached up to rub the sleep from them. “What’s the matter…?” He said. Saul’s eyes practically leaped out of their sockets as he laughed, “What’s the matter? What’s the matter? You sounded like a train barreling through the living room! The snoring was too much!”

The man had the grace to look chastised. Saul took a few steps back and gave Ishan space to stand up. “Is your mana close to full again, Ishan?” The wizard closed his eyes for a few moments and a small smile played across his lips. He nodded. “Good enough. Let’s get started, shall we?” Saul moved to the door and opened it. “Come on, Basi.” The lizard hopped up and ambled outside. Saul and Ishan followed behind.

Saul tilted his head back to try and catch a glimpse of the sun. It was somewhat low in the sky in relation to the treeline. ‘Looks like a few hours until dark. Good enough.’ He sauntered over to the obelisk and concentrated on his inventory. ‘Should probably just bring the spear out… Ishan can take care of anything that engages from long range.’ With a thought the spear dropped into his hands. “Let’s do this.” He reached up and pressed his hand against the stone. It felt cold against his hand and in that cold, a sense of hunger emanating from within the stone. Something within him seemed to respond to the hunger, a vibration in his soul matching the frequency of the hunger. 

The humming sound droned out from the monolith, growing progressively louder. The sound continued to roar as he removed his hand. Saul heard a scream from the forest and he turned towards the source. He sank into his stance, on the balls of his feet, as steps thundered from within the forest. Moments later, something massive emerged from the forest, its steps loud enough to drone out the humming sound. 

The beast filled his vision. It stood on two legs and was covered in thick black fur, it’s body covered in bulging muscles. It pounded on it’s chest and then roared in fury. Dropping on all fours, it charged ahead. ‘This thing looks serious… It seems extremely heavy. I probably can’t take its rush head on. Its limbs are pretty far apart though. I might be able to…’ He yelled to Ishan, “Save your mana for this one. I’ve got an idea.” He rushed forward. ‘Basi, get ready to attack when I hamstring it.’ 

Just before he and the beast were going to collide, he jumped and turned onto his side, sliding between the beast’s arms. He lashed out with the spear as its legs passed over him, a sweeping cut that scored its left leg and ripped free a huge chunk. It screamed in pain as it collapsed, dust flying as it ripped up the ground.

‘Vicious Kong, Lvl 12’

Health: 85%

‘Looks like that got it pretty good. Basi, go now!’ He jumped onto his feet and surged at the monster. It was rolling onto its front when he got there, arms in a poor position for defense. The leg he’d attacked was still as if made lame. Basi arrived by it’s other leg and began to bite the monster, huge chunks of flesh torn with each attack from those jaws. The vicious kong’s arms flailed as it tried to defend itself, but it couldn’t reach its legs to harm its attackers. Saul ducked low to avoid one of those heavy blows from the arms and charged to stand next to its head. “I’m sorry.” He apologized to the beast before he stabbed it through the neck. Its health bar began to drain quickly, and as he jerked his spear free, its health expired.

Exp Gained: 1,000! Your share: 500.

‘Not bad,’ he thought as another roar sounded from within the forest behind him. A charging monster burst through the treeline. Another massive ape. Saul half-turned to face the beast when he saw another movement from the trees closer to him. Another enemy. This opponent wasn’t much bigger than him and was holding a spear. “Ishan, can you handle the ape? Basi will help you. I’m going to deal with this guy.” Saul began to approach the enemy in a sideways stance. “No problem!” Came from somewhere behind him. He felt Basi moving to attack through their bond. Heard the telltale gathering of mystical energies that precipitated an attack from Ishan. 

To Saul all of these things were just distractions. Noise. He drew in air, fortifying his body. He examined his opponent closely, watching his form for any sign of an impending charge. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he watched the creature move forward, its steps making him uncomfortable. It took him a moment to realize what was wrong - the knees bent forward. The sight made his stomach feel queasy. The opponent swaggered towards him with those strange steps that he couldn’t quite read. As it got closer Saul could see it’s face was human shaped but where its mouth should be, there was only skin. The same was true for its eyes. ‘How does it see? What is this thing?’ His curiosity was strong and helped him to fight off the feelings of unease. ‘Just breathe. Remember your training.’ 

The faceless monster exploded forward. Saul flowed to meet it, his steps balanced, his spear point angled up at the opponent. Their spears met in between, Saul encircling the opponent’s weapon and batting it aside to create an opening. He struck like lightning. One powerful step forward, his spear exploding forward to bury itself in the opponent’s abdomen. His opponent jumped back to avoid the brunt of the attack but Saul felt a small amount of give as his spear point found the opponent’s flesh. 

‘Faceless Man’ Lvl 11

Health: 98%

The Faceless Man didn’t seem bothered by the attack. It released its spear with one hand and beckoned Saul forward. ‘I get the sense it's smiling at me…’ He transferred his weight to his back foot and slid his front foot forward slightly, finding his center of balance once more. He repeated this technique to continue edging towards the opponent. He jabbed towards the Faceless Man’s head, aborting the strike halfway through and lashing out again aimed low. The Faceless Man’s spear was suddenly in the way, knocking Saul’s up and out of the way in a parry that left his guard open. He tried to slide back as the enemy’s spear exploded forward on a collision course with his chest, but the Faceless Man’s spear caught him in between one of his ribs and stole his breath. 

Gritting his teeth, Saul grabbed the enemy’s spear with his left hand and planted his feet. He brought his own weapon forward with his right. He pulled on the Faceless Man’s spear, his muscles bulging as he fought against the man’s pressure, to keep it from advancing further even as he twisted and stabbed at the opponent’s head. A sickly thud echoed out as his spear met resistance. He pulled back and stabbed again, and again, until he felt the pressure behind the enemy’s spear recede. The Faceless Man’s head looked like a crushed watermelon. At the sight, Saul’s stomach rolled mightily. The Faceless Man collapsed onto his knees, then fell forward, defeated. Saul bent over, his hands on his knees as his stomach attempted to empty itself. Luckily he kept his lunch down. 

“Another one down!” Ishan yelled.

Exp Gained!: 2,000! Your share: 1,000!

He felt stronger. Healthier. He glanced down at his health bar and saw it was totally full once more. ‘God bless leveling.’ Strength flowed through his body once more. He straightened up and turned to face Ishan. “This is going pretty well so far!” Another pulse flowed from the monolith as if in response to his positive attitude. Bass thundered in the forest. Drums. Something emerged from the forest. Next to it, another one. And another. Saul dismissed his spear and summoned his bow as the group of enemies gathered in size. Their frames were small. Thin. One of the beasts was carrying a banner. 

Saul grabbed three arrows from his quiver. ‘Never tried this before… Well, here goes nothing.’ He thought as he placed three arrows against the string. He turned his bow sideways and angled each arrow so that they were all pointing at one of the small figures. He drew in a deep breath and pulled back as far as he could. ‘Not used to holding it this way… Let’s make sure the angle is right.’ He pulled up just a bit on the bow and braced himself and let loose in the direction of the crowd. Whistling reached his ears as the arrows flew, two of them flying true and thudding into two of the small figures who immediately dropped, while another one thudded into one of those massive trees.

‘DemonKin, Level 6’

‘Gotta try again.’ He prepared three more arrows. “Ishan, do you have anything that can help thin their numbers? There are a lot of them!” They filled so many gaps between trees he lost count of their actual number. He fired again. Two more dropped. Again. As if a dam broke, the flood of enemies surged into the clearing, temporarily blackening the grass between them. There had to be at least sixty. 

Ishan’s murmuring rang in his ears as he continued to fire as quickly as possible. He dropped one of the ones in the front, who stumbled and fell beneath the feet of other kin. The corpse tripped a few, and like a domino effect several were on the floor. He fired at another of the front runners but this time the Kin’s death didn’t slow any of the others. His hand was a blur as he continued to nock, aim, fire. 

He heard Ishan’s staff hit the ground and suddenly a thick bar of fire shot out from somewhere just behind Saul. It carved through the kin, wiping out over half of the contingent. A thud came from behind Saul. “I… Have… Nothing… Left…” Ishan breathed. By the time they were close enough that he needed his spear, Saul guessed their numbers to be somewhere around 10. Basi rushed forward to help, the lizard bowling over one of the monsters and killing it with a swift closure of his massive jaws. Saul waded forward to meet the flood-turned-trickle like the sunrise greets a flower. He ducked low and swung in a wide arc, sweeping several kin off their feet. ‘Basi, get those!’ Six of the monsters remained standing. Six of the monsters jumped at him at once. 

He stabbed forward and took one out of the air, its momentum impaling it on his weapon and making it too heavy to use. Saul growled in frustration and willed the spear to vanish. The others were too close for him to bring the weapon out again. ‘Haven’t done this in a while…’ Two swords appeared in his hands, one crafted with a wicked edge and monstrous barbs in his right, the other a normal looking shortsword in his left. He spun with both weapons extended, slicing several of the enemies open. 

One managed to make it past his offense, latching onto his back, the weight throwing his balance off and forcing him to the ground. It was digging into his skin where it grabbed him, red flashing in his eyes as those claws pierced his tunic. The monster bit his neck and a scream of pain ripped free from his throat as those jaws closed down. A huge chunk of his health bar vanished. His whole world flashed red as searing pain entered his nervous system, a feeling like fire spreading out from the bite through his entire body. 

He slammed his back against the ground repeatedly, trying to dislodge the beast, but it hung on and continued to gnaw away at his flesh. He tried to reach back and stab the monster, but he couldn’t find it, and he couldn’t continue to flail with a sword behind his back for fear of killing himself.

His health continued to drop. “Basi!” He screamed in panic. The pain was intense, burning hot. He blacked out. 

He was lying on the ground when he came to. Something rough was licking him on the face, a tongue that felt like sandpaper. “Go away, Mr. Fuzzles…” He said, batting at the tongue. ‘Silly cat… Wait… I don’t have a cat!’ He opened his eyes and the massive jaws of his lizard filled his vision. Basi’s mouth was open in what he assumed was a smile. Ishan was seated nearby, leaned against the Monolith. “I’m glad you made it. I stopped the summons after that massive wave. We must have got you a healing pill just in time.” 

Saul reached for his neck. No pain. “Y...Yeah, I guess…” He glanced down at his health bar. 100%.

“How many of those things were there?” He propped himself up, moving gingerly as his muscles screamed in protest. Despite his full health, his body felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds. “I guess health doesn’t totally determine my pain level.” He said absent-mindedly.

“To your first question - It looked like sixty five or so? They’re a fair bit below our level, I’m disappointed we didn’t do better. To your second… Well, statement… That’s true. I’ve noticed that stats don’t tell the whole picture. Just most of it.” Saul nodded. He looked at the experience screen that flashed.

Exp Gained!:6,000! Your share: 3,000!

‘Good to have leveled at least…’ He tried to stand and as his legs wobbled, he found he didn’t have the strength. He rolled onto his stomach instead, and with unsteady arms pushed himself up until he was on all fours. “Better get some rest… Two levels in one day isn’t bad if you ask me…” He tilted his head back to see Ishan’s nod. “Want some help getting there?” The wizard asked. Saul shook his head. ‘Gotta have my pride…’ 

It took Saul a few minutes to make it back to the cabin. When he arrived, the smell of spice was drifting in from the kitchen. “What are you making?” He asked as he pulled himself up and into a chair, his protesting muscles sighing with relief as they took the opportunity to relax. “I’m trying to make shawarma. I’m making my best guess with some of these spices though. This smells close enough to Cumin.” He brought a jar into the living room and held it in front of Saul’s nose. “Earthy… A bit nutty… Yeah, I’d say that’s probably cumin.” The wizard grinned, “I love to cook. Just relax, I’ll bring some food when it’s done.”

Saul was fast asleep long before the food finished cooking.