She threw the bow to the ground and tugged at the spear in her leg with both hands. "Fuck!" she whimpered, tears streaming down her face. When the spear didn't come loose, she glanced at her bow on the ground.

  I drew my sword, pointing the tip at her in silent threat—mostly for show. She couldn't reach the bow anyway, not with the spear holding her in place.

  "Nate!" she screamed. "He's here! Help!"

  A green flash lit up her eyes for a moment. A skill, I wagered. I shifted in place, uncomfortable not knowing if she'd done anything. "Don't try anything stupid."

  "Fuck you! I'm dead anyway!" she protested, clenching her teeth. With the panic slowly escaping her, she returned to being the same defiant girl I'd seen arguing with their leader. This was better. This way I didn't feel as bad.

  I kicked her bow away, just to make sure, then circled her, removed the quiver on her hip, and threw it to the side opposite of the bow. She thrashed, trying to grab ahold of me, but I slapped away any attempts without too much difficulty.

  "What kind of fucking summoner fights with a spear," she growled, energy seeping out of her with each word.

  I pointed a thumb to myself. "This one." For some reason I felt like this was going to become a habit.

  "You can still walk away," she mumbled.

  "Sorry, I can't," I sighed and squatted out of arm's reach. I scratched my head with the handguard on my arming sword, mulling over what to say. The words didn't come to me, but thankfully a ripple in the light up ahead did.

  I straightened up, clearing my throat. "Welcome," I said and reached my arms out with a smile.

  The goldylocks Thief stepped out of his camouflage skill with that sweet smile of his. "You noticed, huh? I thought I was pretty good at hiding."

  "World class."

  "Says the guy who saw through me with a glance," he said and raised his hands for show. "I'm unarmed. Let's just talk through this. You don't need to hurt our red riding hood any more than you already have. We'll leave the way we came."

  I creased my brow. "And you wouldn't come back for revenge?"

  He chuckled. "Of course not. We're people just like you, not some kind of savages. We'll see the loss of old Paul as a stern warning. You have my word."

  Iron flew circles above us in the sky, his piercing eyes always watching over me, but they were currently locked on the patch of grass behind me. I rolled my neck. "And your leader? Will he give me his word, or is he too busy sneaking?"

  Goldilock's smile fell. He jerked his hands down to the daggers on his hip and kicked off the ground to charge me. I took a deep breath; the world around me slowed as I entered Flow State. Iron chirped in alarm, and I ducked as the metallic sheen of a dagger flashed where I'd just been standing. Without turning to look, I kicked my heel out in a wide circle, level with the ground, sweeping the leader off his feet.

  His camouflage rippled as he fell to his back and wheezed. I lunged to finish him, but Goldilocks was already upon me, forcing me back.

  "Get him, Nate!" the woman snapped with a sudden burst of energy.

  The daggers rained down on me in a constant barrage as he pressed me. I deflected them using my broken shield and blade. He was good, I had to give him that. Whenever I stepped back, he was quick to follow, not willing to give me even a second to catch my breath, yet he never managed to step inside my reach. With the limited reach of daggers, he had to step inside my reach to cut me, and I didn't let him.

  We scrambled over the earth, past the leader as he climbed back to his feet. I had them where I wanted: both in my field of view. Beads of sweat rolled down Goldilocks' forehead, gathering like small droplets in his eyebrows. I watched it bulge, then drip down into his eye, forcing him to blink mid-thrust. I struck, stepping deep inside his range and slamming the rim of my broken shield into his face. His head snapped back with a nasty crunch and a spray of blood. A gurgle escaped his lips, and I couldn't quite make out if he was trying to say something as my sword screamed through the air and bit into his chest.

  He took a few stumbling steps back then froze, eyes slowly looking down at his chest before he crumpled to the earth like a doll with its strings cut.

  "Nate..." the ranger muttered, her face pale now, her lips too. "Nate!" she screamed, her voice shrill and jarring.

  No more than a few paces off, the rough outline of a shape stood out against the contrast of the woodline. Small indentations pressed into the grass as the shape crept away from me. I pointed my blade at the shape and whistled, sending Iron down in a divebomb as he assaulted the level 11 thief with talons and beak alike.

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  His cover rippled, and he stopped. I took the opportunity and threw my shortsword, empowered by Enhanced Throw. The blade howled as it spun through the air with a low hum. It slammed into the leader's back, forcing his camouflage to drop completely as he shot through the air from the impact. The system chimed, and Iron flew to my arm.

  You have defeated [Redeemer Thief LV7]

  You have defeated [Redeemer Thief LV6]

  You have defeated [Redeemer Thief LV11]

  You have defeated [Redeemer Ranger LV9]

  You have defeated [Redeemer Ranger LV9]

  Enemy combatants defeated!

  Contribution points +210

  Spell up!

  Summon Familiar +1

  Choice available.

  Skill up!

  Bolster +1

  I glanced back at the woman who'd suddenly gone silent, her pale lips hung open in a final sigh. The bleeding had taken her. "Damn," I sighed. Fighting people never felt good, especially when they died slowly.

  It was even worse when they had equipment I might need. With a clenched jaw I stripped the woman of her cloak, then used it to gather up all the dropped weapons. In total the haul consisted of six daggers and two bows, along with two full quivers of arrows.

  I tied everything into a neat bundle with the cloak and left it by the edge of the small clearing, then I dragged all the bodies away. They were heavy, and it was messy work that made me sick to my stomach, but it had to be done. Leaving them would lead their group straight to the Verdant Glade.

  One after one I pulled the bodies to the edge of the river. It snaked through the forest in these parts, wide and raging. It would carry them far, I hoped. After an hour or so of grueling work I heaved the last body into the water, Nate. My muscles ached, and I slumped to the ground as I watched them wash downstream. Their clothes ballooned and kept them afloat, for now. Maybe I should have filled their pockets with rocks or something, but that just felt too sinister. At least this way I afforded them some kind of dignity.

  Having caught my breath after a few minutes, I groaned, pushed myself to my feet, then walked back to the clearing and retrieved the bundle of weapons. I was in no particular need of more, but with a bow and a dagger I might be able to unlock more off-shoots in the weapon mastery tree, and earn myself a few more subskills, which, of course, was a welcome bonus to my already quite formidable strength.

  The daggers clattered in the bundle I carried over my shoulder as I read through the system notifications. Summon Familiar had finally reached level five, but instead of awarding me with a sub-skill like I had expected, it presented me with a choice.

  Add new summon or strengthen current summon?

  I stopped and stared, then glanced to Iron. His beady eyes met mine as he tilted his head. I quite liked the guy. There was no denying his usefulness either, and with my mana pool already limited by both depth and recovery rate, the choice was easy.

  Interacting with the system, I chose to strengthen Iron. A list of options sprawled out in front of my eyes. It was maddeningly long and came with a wide variety of possible options. Above it all, blue text pulsed with light, screaming, "Read me."

  Choice may affect future evolutions.

  Just like that, I felt my heart begin to race. At first, I'd just wanted to get something simple, something that made him durable, but with future evolutions at stake, I felt a need to develop my companion in a way that would not just benefit his current form, but also his future one.

  I could have chosen to give him sharper talons, or a longer beak—things that made him stronger on his own. But that wasn't where his true strength lay. His true strength lay in his ability to cooperate with me, and I would keep developing him for utility and support, not as some sort of murder-bird.

  Dismissing all the options that had physical changes, I looked for ways to improve our synergies. Far down, and hidden in plain sight in the utter mess that was the list, I found what I was looking for.

  Spell gained!

  Iron’s Eye LV1

  If it was what I thought it was, then it was way too good to leave wasting away next to "Cutting Talons."

  The skill came with a high cost in mana and wouldn't be sustainable to keep active at all times, but by God did I want it. As I was at the moment, I'd need to use my entire mana pool to activate the spell, continually spending mana every second to keep it active.

  Still, I chose the enhancement without even a hint of regret at having to spend some points into Wisdom and Intelligence in the future. It came without any instructions, but at this point I had a pretty good grasp of how to use active spells and skills. I just needed to focus really hard and let my mana flow where it needed to go.

  Still carrying the bundle of weapons through the forest, I glanced at Iron. His beady eyes met mine, filled with anticipation. "Fly," I ordered.

  He flapped his wings, waving a current of cool air into my face as he climbed into the sky. I watched until he pierced the canopy before I let my mana move in accordance to the spell. All of it surged from the pit of my stomach and into my eyes. It felt like I was staring at the sun as the rush of energy linked me to Iron. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, greenery sped past below like old film through a projector.

  I yelped and recoiled from the sudden shift of surroundings, nearly falling. Stumbling around, I felt the rough wooden texture of bark press against my palm, so I leaned against it for support while I took in the view. All I saw was what he saw. And it was beautiful.

  We flew above a forest that stretched far in every direction. The river where I fell into the Titan's dungeon snaked through the wooded areas in an S shape. Far to the west, a mountain range painted a stark contrast against the blue sky, and to the east, I could just about make out the deep blue of water. For me to see it from this far away, it must have been a massive body of water. Maybe even the sea.

  For a tutorial area, this whole place seemed awfully huge. My mana ran out, and I tasted metal on my tongue as if I'd run for hours. I blinked, and my vision shifted back to the ground level of the forest. Casting a glance at the tree I'd used as my lifeline, I pushed myself back to my feet, my legs almost crumpling underneath. My chest ached, longing to see what he saw again. I rubbed my ribs with a dejected sigh and glanced back toward the river. Compared to what Iron saw, the forest, the fighting, the five bodies... It all felt impossibly small.

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