Sword straight out in front of him, he collided with a boom, right into the boss’s chest. The weapon sank deep, wind driving the blade ever deeper. Quickly, he changed the wind magic to a fire imbue on the sword, tightly wrapping it in flame.

  Impacting with the troll hurt. A lot. But he didn't care. He had stopped it from hitting Korgrith while also dealing a massive blow to the boss. He didn’t think it would be enough to kill it, but it would definitely slow it down. A sword bursting with flames, stuck inside your chest, usually had that effect.

  Alex's impact with the troll had been brutal for both of them. The boss was staggered, barely able to stand. At the same time, Alex had fallen to the ground with a broken arm and pain shooting through his body from the collision. It had been like hitting a rock.

  But at least the sword was still inside the troll's chest.

  Rykos had sprinted up and dragged Alex away before the troll could retaliate or stomp on him. He got back on his feet right as Sarah reached him and began to heal him.

  “We need to attack now that he’s weakened. This is our chance," Korgrith said, ready to attack the boss.

  Wincing in pain, Alex replied, “Not yet. Wait till after Sam's attack."

  Alex had been keeping an eye on Sam, and he knew what was about to happen.

  A massive explosion rang out. Heat and dust flew in all directions, blinding and stinging anyone who had their eyes open. Then a second explosion bombarded their senses, one even louder. Sam had detonated the [Ember Veil].

  Before anyone could begin to move or figure out what had happened, a large flame spear flew toward the boss. It hit it square in the chest, right where Alex’s sword was.

  Helping the spear, Alex grabbed some of the fire and channeled it into his sword. Increasing the heat and flames by several-fold. The troll screamed in pain as its flesh and innards burned.

  "Now! Attack it!" he called out to the team. Alex summoned wind and fire magic, bombarding the boss from above.

  The rest of them attacked using their skills. The troll wasn't finished, though. The creature was out of its mind with pain from the sword in its chest and the burns covering its body, but it wasn't dead.

  It still held its two large metal clubs and began to wildly flail about, trying to hit them all. The troll was slowed and seemed to be having trouble seeing them. That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous, though. A single strike was enough to send them flying.

  Derek and Rykos quickly found this out.

  One of the troll's wild swipes hit Derek in the side; he had been unable to bring his shield around in time. The blow launched him ten feet and straight into Rykos. They collided and skidded across the ground.

  As the troll turned to follow them, Korgrith launched a devastating strike, right into the monster's weakened knee. It cut deep enough to bring the boss to one knee.

  It roared in rage and pain.

  As the troll bellowed, both Alex and Korgrith attacked. The minotaur sank the edge of his axe into the boss's throat, while Alex cranked up the flames on his sword, still inside the boss's chest.

  Deafening silence rang out shortly after, followed by a loud, ground-rumbling thud of the large troll falling over. The boss had died.

  Looking toward Sam, he saw him unconscious on the ground, and Alex chuckled.

  Well done, Sam. He thought.

  “Sarah, I’ll be fine for a minute. Check on Sam first.” He told her as he nodded towards Sam’s unconscious body.

  “Oh no, Sam!” she said after seeing him and took off running to check on him. Sarah had been so focused on Alex’s injuries, she hadn’t noticed.

  “I think he's fine. Probably just unconscious because he used all his mana.” He called out behind her.

  “The kid did well,” Derek said, walking over near him. He and Rykos had gotten up.

  Alex nodded. “He sure did.”

  They all sat down and took a few minutes to relax while waiting for Sarah. Most of the team had injuries that needed tending to, and Korgrith had already walked over and carried Sam closer to them.

  He observed the team and their surroundings. The plateau was flat and quite large, littered with canvas and wood scraps. Other than that, there wasn’t much to see except for the view and open sky above them. Now there were also a few troll corpses, all of them burnt and giving off an eye-watering stench.

  His party members were all sitting around, enjoying the moment of rest and recuperation. They had fought hard and won. The battle against the boss had been dangerous. It was strong, regenerative, and attacked swiftly with two weapons. It was a wonder no one had been seriously injured.

  They got lucky.

  Alex was the most injured one, having broken his arm and some internal injuries from the impact. But even that was on the mend. Between his passive regeneration and Sarah’s healing, he should be as good as new in no time.

  “Your shield isn’t looking too good, Derek.” Alex chuckled.

  He sighed, looking at the damaged chunk of metal. “Yeah, that boss really did a number on it. Blocking attacks from a strength-focused Bronze wasn’t the easiest. I’m surprised the shield is still functional, honestly. It’ll need to be replaced soon, but I can still use it until then.”

  After an hour of healing, relaxing, and recovering mana, they felt well enough. They got up to loot the boss, the chest that had spawned, and get out of the dungeon.

  The three trolls and the boss didn't have much loot; some of the remains were quite crispy, along with the equipment.

  The weapons were intact, though, so he inspected one before putting them away. The metal clubs were four feet long and weighed a hundred pounds each. They were solid, thick metal, with the handle wrapped in canvas strips. He wasn’t sure if anyone could wield them, but being solid metal, they could melt them down and use them on something else.

  None of the armor was salvageable, though, except for a single ring on the boss. One that boosted toughness and endurance, so everyone agreed Derek should take it.

  Rykos was the poor soul who extracted the cores. At the beginning of the dungeon, they decided to take turns, rotating the unfortunate task. It was usually messy and smelled horrible. Yet, Rykos didn’t seem to mind too much. He would usually get a snack or two while he dug out the core. He seemed to enjoy troll innards.

  They moved towards the large chest. “Go ahead, Sam, you're the MVP. Open it up," Alex said when they got close to it.

  “Hell yeah, don’t need to tell me twice.” He said as he lifted the lid on the chest.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The chest was large and shaped like a rock, its color matching its form. Had they not seen the chest appear before them, they might have walked right by it, not knowing any better.

  When Sam pushed on the top of the rock chest, it slid off like a well-oiled door. He didn’t struggle with its weight whatsoever.

  He took a moment to scan over the items inside, smiling, eyes wide. He pulled out the items one by one, and he set them on the ground for everyone to see. Some were grinning like fools, some looked disappointed in the selection, and some, like Alex, just loved loot.

  He looked over each item.

  Leggings of the Mountain (Rare) (★)

  These leggings are infused with the power of earth, helping the user remain as sturdy as a mountain. They will make it more difficult for the wearer's legs to be knocked out from under them, so long as they are standing on solid ground.

  +3 Toughness, +2 Strength

  Troll Champion’s Chain (Rare) (★★)

  A champion of the troll race wore this necklace. Wearing it for their long life, through many battles, and dying with it has imbued their power and regeneration into this item. It boosts some of the user's physical stats and increases natural health regeneration by 10%.

  +2 Strength, +2 Toughness

  Rockskin chestguard (Uncommon) (★)

  A chest guard created from the skin of a Mountain Troll. It is as tough as rock yet far more supple, allowing agile movement.

  +2 Toughness, +1 Agility

  Ring of the Earth (Rare) (★★)

  A ring enchanted with the power of the earth. This ring enhances the use of earth magic, making it stronger and easier to control.

  +5% Earth Magic damage, +10% Earth mana control

  +1 Toughness, +1 Intelligence

  Class Gem (Uncommon)

  This class gem is usable only by unranked individuals who are level 9 and eligible for class evolution.

  When used, it will unlock an extra class to choose from during evolution. Class option unlocked:

  Champion of the Mountain (Uncommon)

  This is a warrior-type class. It makes the user stronger and more sturdy. Mountains are hard to break; they stand firm and cannot bend easily.

  +3 Strength, +3 Toughness, +2 Endurance, +2 Free Points

  Manatide Robes (Uncommon) (★★)

  Robes that have been treated with mana during their creation, several times over. It allows ambient mana to flow more freely through them, while protecting the user from harmful mana.

  +10% faster mana regeneration, +10% reduced damage taken from harmful mana

  +1 Wisdom

  “Damn, not bad at all. I wish we had time to run this a couple more times. I’d like to see the different loot we could get," Alex said to them all. “Who wants what?”

  No one spoke up for a moment, but they all turned and looked at him.

  “Want my opinion?” he asked, chuckling.

  “It is your right and duty to distribute the spoils of war. You are the leader. We follow," Rykos said, nodding his head as if he spoke a natural law of the universe.

  They nodded in agreement.

  Letting out a big sigh, Alex announced who gets which piece. It was pretty easy to choose.

  “Derek, legs, and chain.”

  “Rykos, chest.”

  “Korgrith, ring.”

  “I’ll hold the class gem, since we can’t use it.”

  “Robes are between Sarah and Sam.”

  Sam spoke up first, “I’ll pass. She can have the robes.” He picked them up and handed them to her.

  “Thanks, Sam,” she replied with a genuine smile on her face as she held her new robes.

  Everyone agreed with his assessment; they saw no reason to do otherwise.

  “We’ll get you some loot soon, Sam,” Alex said.

  "Sounds good, boss man; no worries.”

  Searching around the plateau, they didn’t find anything of value. So they walked towards the exit. The exit was the same as the entrance had been—the exact location and appearance.

  “So weird,” Alex said. “It's like a reverse entrance. The exit and entrance are in the same location inside and out.”

  Near the exit, he could feel the hum of the raw mana in the air; it prickled his skin and wrapped him in its heavy, comfortable embrace. Stepping through the shimmering portal, his world narrowed to darkness, vision black, and he was spat out into the tutorial's outside world.

  Light returned to his eyes. Alex saw the bright sun high in the sky, its rays piercing the clouds and illuminating the world. The warmth of it seeped into his flesh, welcoming him back.

  They watched in silence for a moment, enjoying the warm breeze caressing the plateau beneath their feet. They could see far out into the forest below, the trees swaying in the wind. Alex hadn’t seen this much of the forest from so high. He never realized how big the tutorial was.

  They usually stayed near the camp, always within a few hours' journey. Never venturing too far, so they could keep the people in the camp safe. But now, looking over the expansive horizon, Alex knew he needed to explore it. He wanted to.

  “We should go back to camp. We’ve been away a few hours, so we should check in," Derek announced.

  “I agree, we need to make sure everything is okay before we do anything else,” Alex replied.

  As they turned to walk back toward the path that would take them down the mountain again, Rykos spoke up.

  “Smoke,” he said. Pointing out into the forest.

  ”Is that near our camp?” Sarah asked, worry in her voice.

  “No. Farther. Different direction.” He replied.

  “You all should return to the camp. With my wind magic, I can get there quickly. I’ll go check it out and meet you all there," Alex said.

  “Fine, but no fighting without us! I want some more action," Sam replied with his usual smirk.

  “Yeah, yeah, I won’t. I’ll check out what it is.”

  Before leaving the plateau, Alex and Sam both burned the pile of corpses to ash, letting it drift into the wind away from the mountain. It took most of their mana pools, but they couldn’t get them proper burials. Only this.

  They made their way down the winding mountain path, stones crumbled under their boots, and wind whistled through their hair as they were still high up the mountain. Without trolls around, it was a peaceful walk. Lovely scenery, good weather.

  When they reached the bottom of the mountain path again, they split the group. Alex headed toward the smoke while his team returned to camp. He couldn’t see the smoke from the bottom of the mountain, but he remembered which direction it was in.

  Channeling his wind magic, he wrapped it around himself. It felt strange to command the wind as such, to call upon it and have it do his bidding. Circling him, it gently moved across his skin, tossing his hair and clothes, as his body became lighter and quicker.

  Alex chose to run close to the mountain. He didn’t want to go into the forest yet; he knew it would slow his pace. The faster he could see what caused the smoke, the sooner he could reunite with his team at camp.

  While he had been out alone and planned to do so soon, he was also worried about leaving the camp for so long. The defenders didn’t have any Bronze ranks to help defend. If the goblin general, a commander, or any other ranked up person came and caused problems, they would be screwed. It's why he didn’t want his team to go with him. They needed to head back.

  Boosted by his wind enhancement, he made good time. Running through the plains, between the forest and the mountains, he didn’t see any wildlife or monsters, which surprised him. But then he remembered the goblins.

  With them being active in this area, any other monsters or wildlife would be hiding or dead.

  Going around a bend in the forest, he saw the smoke in the distance. It was still quite a way off, deeper in the forest, but he could tell there were many fires, not one. He didn’t want to take any risk, so he left the plains and entered the forest. It would slow his progress but allow him to remain hidden.

  At least he hoped so.

  Alex was a blur running through the forest. He recalled that first day he used wind magic and ran through the forest, slamming into a tree. He had vowed to practice. And he had. He could now run through with ease, even with his wind enhancement boosted up high. Not maximum, but high.

  Trees flew past, twigs snapped under his boots, and the brush of the forest parted ways for him to pass. He enjoyed this feeling of freedom. The freedom of running through the forest. No work tomorrow morning, no projects, paying rent, and no life responsibilities. Only growing stronger and protecting what's his.

  No dependence on other people.

  Before he could see the smoke again, through the trees, he smelled it

  He slowed and activated his Stealth. Alex didn’t know if they would be enemies or friends. But after a few minutes of creeping toward the sounds, he was sure of what they were.

  Goblins.

  He heard screams, human screams, from the camp ahead. There were fighting sounds of sword on sword, people yelling or screaming, and goblins yelling. Making his way through the trees, he finally reached an area where he could see ahead through the forest.

  Through the trees, he saw the goblins' camp. Or was it a prison? He wasn’t sure.

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