Six weeks later.
The glowing sword made a strange whistle/humming sound as it was swung in a wide arc. It's wielder whipped the sword around once more, forcing his foes to back away from him, their eyes desperately seeking an opening, a chance to take the initiative. Finally their patience ran out, one of the skeletal warriors lunged forward, attempting to skewer the swordsman on his rusty iron spear tip. The swordsman was too fast, and too strong however. He grabbed the spear and stepped to the side, pulling the skeleton off balance before neatly decapitating it with a backhanded swipe of his sword. The remaining skeleton turn and ran, shrieking, before his dead colleagues spear hit him in the back of the head, destroying his cranium. It was an excellent throw by the swordsman, something only an experienced, high level fighter would be capable of.
He received notifications granting him experience from the kills, and from completing his mission, before feeling the falling sensation.
Kahlil was exhausted, that had been his third mission of the day, having done eleven over the past four days. He needed sleep. Tomorrow he was meeting a gold buyer and selling a few of his coins, he was getting below the market rate, but the buyer wasn't asking any difficult questions. It would pay for the pallet of Polish MREs he'd bought, and make a dent in the cost of the other supplies he'd bought.
Kahlil had initially been concerned about Stevo and Debbie pulling their weight, but over the past few weeks their progress had been incredible. They were both over level ten now, and could do a lot of damage in a fight. Debbie had received her inheritance from her Mother's passing, and immediately gave Kahlil ten thousand pounds towards their headquarters. Kahlil had signed a contract to rent the property he originally found online, with an option to purchase the property after twelve months. Kahlil knew that was extremely unlikely to happen. Debbie's contribution would help with some refurbishments, particularly improving some of the fencing, and making the large cellar below the main house into an emergency bunker. Stevo had also kicked in ten grand to help, but his real contribution was that he had been focusing on becoming a healer. He had stockpiled dozens of healing potions, and had bought a spell that allowed him to instantly heal anyone within a 3 metre radius of 15 points of damage. He could cast the spell three times in quick succession before his mana would be depleted. The spell had been expensive, but it would undoubtedly save lives, making it priceless.
Kahlil's thoughts began to wander as he lay down on his sofa and closed his eyes.
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Stevo was sat in what had become his regular place in the inn in Drebun. He'd discovered that whenever he healed someone of an injury or illness, he gained a couple of experience points. People would also tip him a few coins, or gift him something for his trouble. He could sit in the inn for an evening, cast half a dozen healing spells, and earn a decent chunk of change and some experience.
So far today he'd cast his spell on a blacksmith who had a nasty burn on his arm, earning 2xp and five copper coins in return. He'd also healed a young laborer who had broken his arm falling from the roof of a shed he'd been working on. Stevo had gained 3xp for that, and although the laborer didn't have much money, and only tipped him three copper coins, he knew that he'd earned the man's goodwill. Infact this healing skill had begun to make him a popular and respected person in the area. Stevo hoped this would payoff with information and help when the need would arise.
Stevo took a sip of his ale, it was cloudy and had a slightly yeasty taste, but it was fairly weak, cheap, and Stevo could nurse one or two mugs of it through the evening, waiting for people to approach him. He looked up to see Gregoor the guard approaching him, he was dirty, seating profusely, and had a worried expression on his usually friendly face.
"Stevo, please, come quickly. Our caravan was attacked outside the village, we fought the bandits off, but Daavid the wagon driver took an arrow in his shoulder, he's outside and in a bad way."
Stevo hurried after Gregoor, through the door of the inn, and across the rutted cart path to the village gate. There he found Daavid seated on the ground, with his back against one of the wooden cartwheels. His cream linen shirt was soaked in crimson, and the fetching of an arrow was visible just below his collarbone.
Crouching next to the man, Stevo checked and saw that the arrow had passed through the man, the point and a couple of inches of the shaft was visible having passed above his shoulder blade. It was fortunate that he had been shot by someone on foot, and the arrow had been rising when it hit him. David's extremely pale appearance, and the thin sheen of sweat told Stevo that he needed to act quickly.
"Gregoor, break the end off the arrow below the fetching, in going to pull it through from the back."
"David, this is going to hurt like hell, but we need to get the arrow out fast. Drink this, it will help."
Stevo uncorked a healing potion and held it to Daavid's worryingly pale lips so that he could take a few sips. Gregoor had found a pair of rustic looking pliers in a toolbox on the wagon, and cut through the arrow. The jolt as it broke caused Daavid to groan, which he repeated a second later as Stevo pulled out the remainder of the arrow.
"Gregoor, there are some clean rags in my pack there, use them and apply pressure to the front and back of the wound."
Stevo barked out the instruction, before subvocalizing the incantation required to activate his healing spell. A pulse of blue light radiated outwards from Stevo, momentarily bathing the area in a magical glow. Almost immediately Daavid started to look less ghostly. He gave Daavid the dregs in the bottom of the potion bottle to finish.
"How are you feeling Daavid? Do you think you can make it to the inn if we help you?"
"Yes, I think so. Your magic has taken away most of the pain. Ale will take care of the rest."
They hoisted the injured driver to his feet, and, on either side of him, steadied him as they crossed the path to the inn. Stevo noticed from his HUD that he'd received 4xp for his work on Daavid, who seemed to be gaining a little strength with each step.
As you might expect, a man with a blood soaked shirt, being half carried into the inn, killed the atmosphere somewhat, as every eye in the place watched the scene unfold. They were quickly seated on a corner bench, Daavid between Gregoor and Stevo. Gregoor's father, the innkeeper, brought a bowl of chicken broth, a bread roll, and a mug of ale for each of them. Daavid ate hungrily, the colour returning to his face.
"Thank you so much Stevo, I don't think I was going to make it, this isn't much, but I want you to have it, along with my deep appreciation."
Daavid pulled out a silver coin and pressed it into Stevo's hand. After the cost of the potion was taken into account, Stevo had only made five copper coins from this patient, but added to the money he'd already received from healing the blacksmith and the laborer, plus the experience gained, had made this a worthwhile evening.
He said his goodbyes, and advised Daavid to come to the inn tomorrow if he still had pain, before stepping outside.
A moment later he passed through a shimmering portal, felt himself fall, was was back in his living room. Although he'd eaten most of his broth at the inn, and it was quite tasty, Stevo felt drained as the adrenaline of the experience wore off. He decided to make a sandwich before heading to bed.
He pulled a cucumber from the draw of the fridge, and began slicing it when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The glass doors of the kitchen cabinet in front of him, reflected something terrible. Stevo whirled around stabbing his vegetable knife into the eye of the cyclops that was behind him, he stabbed it again and again, before it fell lifeless onto his kitchen floor. Stevo disbelieving, stared at the bloodied corpse for several minutes, a notification of 5xp gained snapped him out of his daze, before grabbing his phone. He sent a message to Debbie and Kahlil.
"My place, now. Urgent!"
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