"Fuck," Brett cursed softly as he checked his notification. 

Congratulations, you have reached level three! One free stat point is available to allocate.

He supposed it wasn't fair of him. Leveling up wasn't a bad thing, but he had hoped that his skill would level instead. The increased duration of the skill would mean a lot more right now than a single stat point. I also need to ask Ravenous how long it takes to level skills. Brett added another question for the list he was compiling for when he got back to the city tonight.

"What's wrong? Did you get hurt? D-did I do something wrong?" Shilia asked with a worried tone. Brett realized that she must have pretty good ears to have heard his muttered expletive.

"No no, you did good." Brett reassured her as he added the stat to endurance. He hoped that it would help with the penalty for using his skill, but it would be hard to tell with a less than ten percent increase. "How did the dagger feel?"

"Alright. I mean, it felt wrong, but it worked." Shilia said slowly. "I don't think I’ve ever finished an enemy on my own so fast."

"Good!" Brett encouraged; that was fast for her? "It looked more fluid for sure."

Three down? The next one will also have four, but the weapons might be better. Brett thought. Shilia nodded, "Yeah, true. I think I need some practice with it before I'm any good."

"You don't need to get good with it right? You’re just trying to get strong enough to use your mace. So long as you’re good enough to get you there." Brett said, "Next ones have swords?"

"No - I mean, yes, two will have swords." Shilia answered. "But no. I think by the time I get strong enough to use the mace, then I will either be fighting down too many levels or the mace won't be effective in the dungeons I'm in. It’ll be too light. I think I need to work on my base strength for a bit so I don't out level the enemies I can fight."

"As long as you distribute the stats the way you normally would, it should be fine right?" Brett asked, slightly curious.

"Well, yeah, but to get caught up with my mace skills it will take a long time." Shilia said with a shrug. "I guess you are right, but either way I need to spend more time working on my strength."

Brett got it; dedicating time and energy to training was hard when something like leveling could give you the same benefits. There was a reason not everyone from his side was ripped; of course, having stats to track that progress might help, but he didn't really think it would.

"Doesn't everyone train until their stats are at the max? I know you can get-" Brett cut off as the next wave spawned. "Can you take two or want to stick with one?"

"Only one of the enemies with swords, maybe two with daggers," Shilia answered, refocusing on the task at hand. Brett ran forward to intercept the goblins as far from her as possible to give him time to take down a few of them. This time he didn't activate the skill right away, just in case the sword goblin gave Shilia issues and she needed help. 

The first one he ran into was a dagger wielder, and he threw a pair of slashes at it. To his surprise, the goblin ducked under the first one and deflected the second, leaving him out of position. I can't get complacent. Brett scolded himself as he made up for the out-of-place blades with a kick to the knee. 

Goblins were relatively quick, but they didn't have much mass. A kick from a bigger guy like Brett was more than enough to send the joint snapping backward like he was kicking a dry twig. Brett moved past the downed enemy and engaged the two sword goblins at the same time. 

He deflected a blow from the one on the left, intentionally closing in with it. Luckily, the other goblins decided against coming at his side and instead moved toward the lone figure at the back, thinking Shilia was some back row fighter. Brett let them go and activated his only skill. Three quick cuts finished the goblin in front of him.

Leaving the two defeated opponents on the ground, Brett sprinted the few steps to the last of his goblins. Taking his movement and using a half spin to turn it all into cutting power, Brett slammed his right sword into the pathetic block the goblin tried to make with the dagger. The arm collapsed into the body, and the force of the swing flung the goblin to the side, right into the sneaky slash of his left blade.

Not waiting to see the results of his brief rampage, Brett turned to see how Shilia was faring. She was being pushed back by a series of quick cuts, just not able to close the gap against the reach of the sword. Brett still had plenty of time on his skill, so he jogged back to her, ready to help out if something went wrong.

After a little, it was clear that this was going nowhere. The goblin wasn't going to make any progress, Shilia was too good at keeping her distance, and that wasn't even counting the armor that she wore. Brett wasn't even sure the goblin could scratch it if given a free hit. Still, she didn't need him to jump in to steal her kill, so he settled for some middle ground.

Finding a loose pebble from the crumbling floor, he threw it at the goblin’s back. The surprise caused the goblin to jump and half-turn. Shelia wasn't so slow as to miss such an opportunity and lunged at it. A few thrusts later and the goblin was down.

Before she had a chance to protest his intervention, Brett spoke up. "You were doing okay, but I think you need to be a bit more aggressive. You fight like you aren't wearing armor, but you are. And it’s still slowing you down." 

Brett felt wholly inadequate to be giving bladed combat advice, seeing that she likely had years more training and experience than he did, but her problem seemed obvious. He would stick with observations for now. Luckily, she took it well. Shilia nodded. "Thanks."

Looking back, Brett saw that the first of his goblins wasn't dead yet. "We got a second before we need to move on to the next wave. What do you want to do?"

"The fifth wave, right?" Shelia confirmed, going back and counting them on her fingers. "All five have daggers. We only tried it once and Ard'st got hurt when we did it yesterday. I don't know."

"I don't need to keep going." Brett said. He wasn't getting much from this anyways. He didn't think that he was getting much skill training from these enemies, and the single level didn't feel worth the energy. He wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't alone or just that she was at a higher level, but it felt slow.

"I can do another one." Shilia said, but she sounded a little uncertain. 

"Well, if they all have daggers I can take four." Brett offered. "It would be the last one though."

"I can take two with daggers. At least let me try." 

I understand the sentiment, but trying here is a bit of a misnomer. If she fails, she could die. I can probably get to her in time. In the end, it was her choice. "If you can take two we can keep going. But if I need to step in we will have to leave."

"That's okay." She nodded, conveying a bit of confidence. Brett shrugged and walked over to the goblin with the broken knee and triggered the next wave.

Brett charged the five goblins again. This time he forced himself to be present the whole time and take each swing with focus and drive. No more halfhearted attacks got blocked or avoided. The rhythm of his movements pulled at his mind until there was nothing left but his blades and his enemies. Each movement with purpose and no energy wasted.

Only when he looked up did he realize that he neglected to let any past him. What was that!? Brett thought in shock. I didn't activate my skill or anything, did I? He checked, and his skill was still ready to trigger. Looking over his shoulder, he had left a trail of five goblin bodies.

Shelia just stood there watching him from behind her helm. He really wished he could see her face. "I'm sorry…. I don't know what happened there." 

Shaking her head, Shilia said something that he couldn't hear. Walking over to him, she repeated herself. "You were glowing."