“Okay, guys. This is Eric.”

  “Hi guys!” Eric gave a big wave, his brown hair tussling.

  My group took a long look at Eric, then at me, all of them looking some level of perplexed.

  “This is the guy that’s training us?” Ceri asked.

  “He looks like a puppy,” Jackal added.

  “Yup. This is the guy,” I nodded. “Eric knows more about mining than anyone else that I’ve met here. What’s your Pickaxe Mastery at, Eric?”

  “Pickaxe mastery, boss?” Eric asked, tilting his head.

  “He doesn’t even have the skill?” Finn questioned, sounding deeply skeptical.

  After a moment, Eric’s eyes flashed with realisation.

  “Oh. I don’t use that skill. I evolved mine to Pickaxe Expertise months ago.”

  “Doesn’t that require like, a ton of levels?” Maisie asked, suddenly staring.

  “Eric’s a Miner class,” I explained.

  There was a collective blink across all of my workers. They were suddenly looking at the small boy in a whole new light.

  “It didn’t take me very long,” Eric explained. “You can evolve skills more efficiently if you understand what you’re doing. I got my evolution at level sixteen.”

  “Wow,” Finn said. “My Pickaxe Mastery’s almost level forty, and I haven’t been offered anything yet.”

  “So… this kid’s just a mining genius?” Jackal asked. “And he’s seriously going to train us for free?”

  “Not for free,” I answered. “You’re all giving him ten percent of your take for the next month. Assuming Eric’s cool with that.”

  I hadn’t taken the time to discuss it with Eric, but Naska explained to me that she had made the same deal with him just this morning. It seemed fair enough, and if Naska’s larger group was all going to be undergoing continuous training, then it tracked that I needed my group to do the same.

  One thing I did know: after almost a month of being treated like he was worthless, Eric had been thrust straight into the spotlight. He was going to be making almost as much as a group leader.

  “Ten percent?” Jackal asked, staring at the much smaller boy. “What the hell is he gonna show me that’s worth a tenth of my sweat and hard work? That’s like… three days of free labour!”

  “Fifteen percent, actually,” Eric corrected. He held up a finger. “You’re gonna be mining twice as much per day after just a few sessions with me. Higher quality materials, too. You’ll barely feel the cost.”

  I almost felt proud watching him haggle. He’d really grown into his new role quickly.

  “If you don’t like it, you’re free to go off and work on your own,” I told Jackal. “But this is what the group’s doing today.”

  “Who died and made you king, anyways?” Jackal snarled, turning on me.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I told you, when Toar got hurt—”

  “Yeah, yeah, he left you with instructions.” He airquoted the word. “Funny how you’ve been here five minutes, and Toar seemed to hate you, but suddenly you’re his trusted confidant. And then he nearly dies?”

  I tilted my head, taking a couple of steps towards him. “Are you trying to say something?”

  Jackal held up his hands, laughing as he did. “Hey, man. I’m just saying it’s kinda weird. Don’t get pissy with me.”

  “You’re the one causing problems,” Marcois commented.

  “Did I ask your opinion? Keep your chins outta this.”

  “Seriously, Jackal,” Maisie added, seeming exasperated, her ears drooping. “You’re giving me a headache. Stop running your mouth.”

  “Yeah,” Finn nodded. “This seems like a good deal. We might as well take the lesson and see what we get out of it. Eric’s teaching his whole group already. He must know what he’s doing.”

  I pointed at Jackal. “You don’t have to stay here. Go do your own thing for all I care.”

  Jackal shrugged dramatically. “Fine, fine. I’ll shut up. That’s what you all want, right?”

  Ceri cackled as no one responded.

  Eric smiled calmly, awaiting the end of the bickering. Eventually, he gave a thumbs up.

  “Okay! Well, assuming you’re all ready, let’s get on with training!” He blinked, then looked my way. “You wanna join in, boss?”

  I shook my head. “I’m gonna sit this one out. Let you focus on the others.”

  I found a nice smooth rock to sit on as my team walked, dragged, and lumbered their way into position, following Eric’s lead.

  More training really wouldn’t hurt, but I felt pretty content watching over the group this time. I’d been considering evolving my [Pickaxe Mastery] skill, but there was a chance that I’d decide to combine it with something instead, so I was holding off for now.

  Speaking of skills, I’d gained a couple from my experience with Toar and Naska.

  [Persuasion: 7 >> 8.]

  [Marksmanship: Level 1 acquired!]

  Persuasion had seen a massive jump, I imagined the depth of my act to convince Toar had done most of it. I’d finally gained a skill for all my gun use, too. I was rather happy with that.

  “Hold it properly!”

  Eric’s voice cracked like a whip;it still sent a shiver down my spine to hear it.

  “Are your eyes decorative? Did you see anything I just showed you? Or are you going to make me do it all again, just for you?”

  After two weeks of training with Eric, I was familiar with the shift. My group were not. They flinched and panicked as the small boy suddenly transformed into a hardened trainer before them.

  I’d asked him on the first day, incredibly surprised when the mild-mannered thirteen-year-old had started shouting and berating me.

  Apparently, it was how his father had taught him to mine. Guess the mean streak ran in the family?

  “Okay, good! Good job!”

  I heard Marcois breathe a sigh of relief as his swings were inspected. I barely resisted a chuckle.

  That was the most jarring part. The moment you did something right, Eric turned back into his happy and bubbly self. But if you were making mistakes…

  “Why are you holding it like that? It’s not a snake. It’s not going to bite you.”

  “Well… I’m trying to…”

  “Umm, uhh, HOLD IT PROPERLY.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Eric once again demonstrated his form, ripping the pick out of Ceri’s hands and taking a few expert swings at the stone. Ceri followed, her hands a little clammy, her form improved.

  Wow. I’d never seen anything frazzle Ceri until now. It must’ve been the sheer shock of it.

  Maybe I should’ve warned my group about Eric’s training methods…

  Nah. This was way funnier.

  “WHO KEEPS CLOGGING THE WALKWAY? Do I need to explain to you why that’s dangerous?”

  I snickered at the display. He really was a little demonic when he got going.

  “Okay! Next one who leaves a rock for me to trip over is FUCKING EATING IT!”

  “Oh! That’s a nice, clean workstation. What’s your name?”

  “M-maisie?”

  “Good job, Maisie!”

  I couldn’t handle it anymore. I burst out laughing.

  I caught multiple looks, all varying degrees of annoyed or confused.

  I wiped a tear from my eye, trying to get the laughter to stop.

  “What? Did I say to take a break? Stop gawking and GET BACK TO WORK!”

  I enjoyed myself far too much over the next hour. By the time they were finished, everyone looked exhausted, though more mentally than anything.

  “That was great, Eric. Same time again tomorrow?”

  “You got it, boss!”

  With that, he bounded away, happy-go-lucky as could be.

  Eric having left, I looked over the rest of my group.

  “So… how’d you find it?”

  “That was…” Jackal started.

  “...intense,” Finn finished.

  Finn had caught the worst of it halfway through the session, when his overzealous hammer work had caused an uncontrolled rockfall that’d almost hit him on the head.

  Eric had screamed at him so hard I was pretty sure that Finn, two years older, had been reduced to tears. His red eyes were a pretty good indicator, at the least.

  Jackal had got it almost as bad for a messy workstation, plus a chipped pickaxe. At one point, I’d stood up, ready to intervene in case Jackal retaliated, but he’d thankfully held his tongue—and his fists.

  “It worked, though,” Marcois said. “I gained at least a full level.”

  “Same,” Finn said with a sniffle.

  “Same.”

  “Same here.”

  Everyone had apparently increased an entire level with just one session. I promised them the gains would come even faster once they’d had more sessions, as the same had happened with me.

  “I still think that kid’s a monster,” Jackal complained, immediately finding his voice once Eric was gone. “Prick wants to scream at us for a solid hour, then charge fifteen percent? We should be paid to have to put up with that!”

  “It was a bit much,” Maisie said. “I’m not exactly thrilled about doing that daily.”

  “You guys are a bunch of wusses,” Ceri commented, craning her neck to get a kink out. “When have we ever gotten useful help down here? You all should be excited to do this again.”

  “Yeah, you’re right! I should learn to enjoy being chewed out! That makes sense.”

  “I didn’t say to enjoy it,” Ceri corrected. “Just stop being a bitch about it.”

  “Real judgmental coming from the lowest earner here,” Jackal spat. “The fuck do you know?”

  “Maybe I don’t care about making money,” Ceri said. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong. If you give a damn about improving your life, take the help you’re given. Or don’t. I don’t give a shit.”

  “Why wouldn’t you care about making money?” Jackal asked, squinting at her.

  “I just don’t.”

  “Well, what else are you here for? The pleasant company? The stunning views?”

  “Stop talking to me.”

  That was all she said. No explanation, no anger. She soon walked off.

  I looked between the direction Ceri was walking and the rest of the group, who were still in the midst of bickering.

  “Wait here.”

  “Where are you going?” Maisie asked.

  “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

  “Don’t bother. She’s always been like this. She’ll just go skulk about camp. There’s no point in—”

  I ignored her and left.

  Maybe she was right. These guys had been around each other longer than I’d known them.

  But I’d met people who ‘didn’t care about anything’ before. Places like the orphanage I grew up in were full of them.

  You’d still hear them sobbing on late nights, missing their parents or lamenting their lives.

  And I’d like to know what made Ceri the way she was. So I chased after her.

  She looked a little surprised when I caught up. Her tail thumped against the ground as she turned to face me.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be leading the group today?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You realise you’re part of that group, right?”

  “Yeah. You heard them, the lowest earner.” Ceri barked a laugh. “A bit stupid to waste your time on me, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t waste time,” I replied in earnest. “The moment you convince me you’re not worth talking to, I’ll leave.”

  “Forget it. I’m not gonna be useful anyway. May as well go on without me.”

  Her expression was far less jovial than usual. Her purple eyes didn’t hold their usual sparkle.

  She looked tired.

  “Why did you come here, if it wasn’t to make money?” I asked her.

  “The pleasant company.”

  I simply looked at her, trying to make it as clear as I could that I wanted a real answer.

  “To find something,” Ceri conceded. “Needless to say, I didn’t find it.”

  “Well, what was it?”

  She hissed at me. “Why do you care? I was looking for something that doesn’t exist. It isn’t here. It isn’t anywhere. No use talking about it.”

  “Maybe I know something you don’t?” I ventured.

  “Highly doubt it.”

  “Well, here’s a question. You ever heard of a people called the Drassians?”

  She gave me an odd look. “No. Why?”

  “They have an entire facility in the underground. All kinds of crazy technology. I saw it while I was down there.”

  “Is this what you meant by knowing something I don’t?” Ceri asked, her eyes now trained on me.

  She was staring. It was a little intense.

  “Well, yeah. There’s tons of things down there I never knew existed. Maybe whatever you’re searching for isn’t so impossible. That’s my point.”

  Ceri laughed. It wasn’t the same shrill, careless sound as I was used to. More of a dry chuckle. Muted and hopeful.

  “You’re not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you?”

  “Would telling me make you feel better?” I asked her.

  Honestly, I hadn’t come here to learn Ceri’s secrets. I just wanted to find a way to smooth out things between her and the rest of the group. But if this helped me do that, then…

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  “Probably not, but screw it. Maybe you do know something I don’t.”

  She bit her lip, seemingly searching for words.

  “Did you ever see anything resembling medicine during your time in that facility? Or maybe some strange plants?”

  I thought it over. “No medicine, but I wasn’t there very long. There were quite a few plants, though. Big ones with yellow and purple buds. Longer than me.”

  Ceri’s eyes widened a little. “That’s interesting. Do you…

  “Do you think you could lead me to that facility sometime?”

  I hadn’t expected that at all. I stared back at her.

  “You’re wondering why. There’s a medicine that I’ve been seeking for—well, years now.” She shrugged. “I doubt it’s down there. I’m not sure it actually exists. But it wouldn’t hurt to look. Even if it’s just so I can justify giving up.”

  “Why do you need a medicine?” I asked, more out of impulse than anything.

  “I hurt someone,” Ceri responded bluntly. “I’ve wanted to make it right for a long time.”

  “But you gave up?” I questioned.

  “Yup. That’s what I do.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “Will you take me or not?”

  I blinked and nodded. “Yeah. As long as you know the dangers.”

  “I don’t care about the dangers.”

  “Alright…”

  I didn’t really know what to say after. We both just stood there. Ceri herself didn’t seem sure if she was staying or leaving.

  Maybe I could help with that.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” I told her genuinely. “When I asked about you giving up. I could’ve worded it better.”

  Ceri snickered. “It’s fine. It was a bit blunt, maybe, but it’s a natural question. Not like I talk any differently.

  “I’m a failure. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Well, how did you fail?” I asked her.

  “Iskala reptillians are raised with a specific life goal. A task they’re meant to devote their existence to. I was trained to be a live-in servant from age four. Well… servant’s a bad word. We call it a grishma but there’s no good translation. I was to be a diplomat, a maid, a chef, a poison taster, and a guardian.”

  “From age four?” I asked her with total incredulity. “Why would anyone have their life determined for them from such a young age?”

  “Don’t ask me. It’s just how we do things,” Ceri mused. “I had my role. I trained for it until I was ten, and then I was assigned to a prissy little noble named Carmine.”

  She laughed as she recounted it. “I haven’t spoken about this in years. I can’t believe I am speaking about this.”

  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I told her.

  “Well, I’ve started now. Aren’t you curious how it ends?”

  “A little.”

  “Miss Carmine bothered me at first. She was very silly. Extremely frivolous. She was two years older than I was, and, being human, plus raised half a country away, she was completely different to me, while I was still adjusting to life outside of my homeland.”

  Ceri smiled. It was a warm smile. “But… we quickly became friends. Or, at the very least, she made me feel welcome. She showed me how to play games that her and the other noble children played, and even let me join in despite my station. She defended me from bullies and weirdoes…

  “But it was my job to be serious. To keep her safe. To be a grishma. And after years around her, years through which nothing bad ever happened, I started to worry less. I wasn’t as fastidious with the protocols I’d been taught. I didn’t like eggs very much, so Lady Carmine would let me skip tasting them before she’d eat. She didn’t like to be made such a fuss over anyway.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. She glared at me.

  “What?”

  “Sorry, I just thought that lizards love eggs.”

  Ceri barked a short laugh. “Life probably would’ve been easier if I did.”

  She took a breath. “Someone must’ve caught on that I didn’t like certain foods. I don’t know who. I still wonder who. All I know is that they used eggs to poison her.”

  My face dropped as soon as I heard that. She only continued.

  “Oh, yeah. That’s who the imaginary medicine’s for. It’s been years, and she’s still suffering. The worst of the poison was dispelled, but Lady Camine’s been housebound and barely able to move for… three years, now? Yeah, long time.

  “She used to love running around in the field. She… she used to love playing games and… and I…”

  She giggled. “Isn’t it all so funny?

  “Lizards love eggs, right?”

  She sobbed between the laughter. I saw the tears squeeze from her eyes.

  I placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “Oh, bullshit. Of course it’s my fault. Worse than that, I’ve travelled to four rifts in the last three years, and I’ve found nothing to fix her. What am I doing now? Not even looking.”

  I shook my head. “You shouldn’t have had to be a body guard from such a young age… let alone a poison tester! You can’t blame yourself for this.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Ceri murmured, wiping her eyes as she spoke. “You didn’t have to see her face turn purple. Watch her choke on summer air. You didn’t have to bite her throat to try to rip the poison out, terrified you were going to kill her in the process.”

  “And you shouldn’t have had to do any of those things,” I maintained, whether she wanted to hear it or not. “But I understand. And I want to help.

  “If I can find anything that might help you with this, I’ll give it to you for free. Happily.”

  Truthfully, I had no clue if any kind of panacea existed in the underground. I thought if there was anywhere it would, a place like that was a good bet… but I had no clue. I had no idea what kind of poison we were even trying to cure.

  Honestly, I was surprised a powerful enough health potion couldn’t do the trick. The things superior health pots had recovered me from were astounding. I supposed whatever the persistent effects of such a poison were, they existed outside the boundaries of simple healing.

  “You’re too nice for your own good,” Ceri finally said.

  “Makes me more shocked at what you did to Toar.”

  I blinked at her. Worry almost crossed my face—I barely kept it restrained.

  “What I did to Toar?” I asked slowly, ignorantly.

  “Maybe I’m wrong,” Ceri shrugged. “I don’t care. Toar was… complicated, but I’m not gonna pretend he didn’t deserve some comeuppance. Does he deserve to die? I dunno. But he’s not dead. And it sounds like he’s gonna recover. So it doesn’t really matter.”

  She patted me on the chest. “So, whether you did anything or not, you don’t have to live with shit.”

  Ceri stretched her arms; she yawned. Her tail swished along the ground as she turned.

  “Come on, then. Let’s go back to the group.”

  She sounded way more chipper all of a sudden.

  “Just like that?”

  “Yeah. I had my little crying session. I feel better now.”

  “You don’t have to come back right now if you don’t feel up to it,” I told her, still a little concerned.

  “Nah, dude. Let me make your life easier. You listened to my melodrama, and even offered to help me. Least I can do is come be a part of the group, put some effort in.”

  “Can you stop baiting Jackal and Maisie, too?” I snickered.

  “Hah. Not happening.”

  “Well, good enough. I’ll call it progress.”

  The two of us walked back towards the group, Ceri cracking a couple jokes as we went. That sadness from earlier still hung in the air, but it was difficult to see.

  We were both laughing by the time we got back to the rest of the group, who were all sat in waiting.They looked shocked that we’d returned at all.

  “How the hell did you manage to drag her back here?” Maisie asked.

  “He reminded me of all the names I’ve yet to call you,” Ceri snickered.

  Someone bit back. Someone sneered. Someone stuck their middle finger up.

  I watched the exchange and I smiled.

  They were dysfunctional. They were somewhat ridiculous.

  But I liked them.

  Now, time to get these idiots to make me some money.

  ***

  The rest of the day saw a profound change in Ceri—namely, she actually worked hard.

  I’d seen how Ceri did things before. Down to her movements, everything was languid. Slow. It could be done ‘in a minute’, or otherwise delayed, and then, when it finally was being done, it would be half-assed.

  In fact, I’d been fully convinced that the main reason she remained in the group was that she knew her way around a frying pan better than anyone else here.

  All that had changed now. In terms of quality and even pure volume, the ore that Ceri managed to mine from the spot I’d picked out brought her to consistently third place in terms of earnings, and she was even managing to compete with Finn for second.

  Marcois still took first by a wide margin, and I was sure it was going to take months of work before I could match his sheer endurance and skill, but that wasn’t the point. Seeing Ceri work hard made everyone work harder. It made me want to get stuck in, too. Me and Jackal wound up competing for the fourth place spot alongside Maisie, and it was a fierce contest that didn’t have any clear cut winner.

  In the end, Jackal came last by a hair, Maisie barely beating him, and I arguably beat her. I’d managed to mine higher quality materials, but less of them. I owed it to the recent aches and pains I’d accumulated, though I knew that even in top form I had a ways to go until I could match Marcois, Finn, or even Ceri.

  Eventually, three miners from Naska’s group came by, including Adrian, the short guy with cropped hair I’d met before, and a couple I didn’t know.

  Everyone was on guard as they came over, expecting a fight, but I quickly explained the situation. We would be handing over forty percent of what we mined to Naska’s group as long as we mined in this area.

  “Forty?” Jackal loudly disparaged the arrangement as his rock pile diminished before his eyes. “Between the fifteen we give Eric and the forty we give these guys, that’s…” he counted on his fingers, “...more than half of what we mine being taken away from us before we even hand it in!”

  “It’s not, actually,” I said. “Naska’s group take forty percent. Eric takes fifteen from the remainder. So what we’re left with is actually…”

  I had to think about it to get an exact number.

  “Fifty one percent,” Marcois finished for me, just as I’d thought of it myself. “So, technically we keep over half.”

  “Awesome. Over half! I have over half another group’s boot up my ass!”

  “Wait until you think what percentage your contract leaves you with,” Finn snickered.

  “I… don’t even wanna figure that out.”

  Jackal deflated. It took me a moment of thought to remember that most miners weren’t on 60% like me. That I’d had to threaten my recruiter’s life to get that number.

  Most were on something like fifteen or twenty percent. Meaning that the amount they actually got to keep from what they earned was…

  “It doesn’t matter,” Marcois said.

  “How the fuck do you figure that?” Jackal sneered. “Maybe in the sense that we don’t matter. Sure.”

  “We’ve mined higher quality materials here than we have in weeks. And we didn’t have to sneak around or fight over them,” Marcois continued. “Even if we only keep half, we make a lot more doing this. And with less danger.”

  “That number will go up once we’ve finished our training, too,” Maisie pointed out. “We won’t be paying the fifteen percent anymore.”

  I was glad to hear as much from her. After earlier, I’d been worried about Maisie’s enthusiasm.

  “And we’ll be more skilled miners,” Finn added.

  “Hmm… Grr…”

  Jackal sighed.

  “Okay. I guess it’s not that bad of a deal.

  “Still sounds like a bad deal, though.”

  He stared down at the shiny materials still left for him on the floor. “Who came up with this shit, anyways?”

  “I did,” I announced. “I met Naska recently. We made the deal with Toar’s blessing.”

  Complete lie, but there was a truth in there.

  “Huh. Well… good job, dude.”

  “Yeah. This was smart,” Finn added.

  “I’m just glad we’re not being attacked by anyone,” Marcois noted.

  “What, so you can stand there and not hit ‘em?” Jackal teased.

  The ribbing and bullshitting continued, but the main takeaway was that this had been a good idea.

  And for the next few days, this became our routine.

  I woke up with the group early and we went to our usual spot. Ceri cooked us breakfast, and then we headed out. We met with Eric and he screamed at us all for a solid hour—me joining in the training from the second day on—and then we spent hours mining and putting to practice what we’d learned.

  I gained two more points in the [Mining] skill over the next few days, bringing it to five.

  [Mining: 3 >> 5.]

  At night, I continued to practice with my Spirit Stones and attempted to improve [Flame Body] using a sturdy stone wall as my punching bag. Doing so still hurt, but it became that bit easier with time.

  [Pain Tolerance: 4 >> 5.]

  I needed to get to the point where I could move and utilise my mana independently of [Flame Body], but despite me seeming to free up the flow of my mana with continued Spirit Stone usage and finding it easier to conduct [Flame Body], I still couldn’t use my mana without the aura spell guiding it.

  That being said, I was finding new applications for it. Pushing mana into my legs wasn’t just good for powerful kicks, it helped to increase my speed. After multiple attempts to use Spirit Stones and then activate [Flame Body] immediately after, I managed to find the same burst of energy in my legs and my lungs that my first real exposure had given me, and used that burst for both speed and endurance running.

  It wasn’t quite the sensation nor the speed that a [Rush Stone] had given me, but I was in full control of my thoughts this way and didn’t have to worry about the comedown. As such, with an hour’s training per night, my [Running] swiftly improved.

  [Running 7 >> 8.]

  Another skill I’d decided to shore up with use of [Flame Body[ was my [Throwing] skill. I’d realised quite quickly just how useful projectiles were, but I also only had half a magazine of submachine gun ammo left and realised that without a gun I needed to have a ranged alternative, considering I had no clue how to make more ammo.

  So it was that I began setting targets and using my [Flame Body]-enhanced movements to launch rocks and pebbles at them.

  The targets I used were clay cups I’d grabbed from the mess hall, tied up to jutting rocks on pieces of string or upturned on elevated surfaces.

  I started with smaller stones, taking a position about forty feet from my targets and beginning to pitch them one after the other.

  Accuracy was difficult. It took time for me to make the first cup smash, but when I did, shards flying, I felt immensely satisfied at the speed with which I’d sent the rock sailing.

  I decided to move back another ten, then twenty feet, increasing the challenge every time I hit one of the targets.

  By the time I was seventy feet away, I was having to majorly rely upon my [Flame Body] to launch bigger stones. Needless to say, maintaining their momentum was harder, and accuracy at this distance with a two or three pound rock took time.

  But I had time. Days. And within five of them, I was managing to smash cups from sixty feet away with rocks almost the size of my fist, hitting my targets dead on about a third of the time.

  Accuracy was still going to take more work, but the speed with which I’d managed to incorporate [Flame Body] into my pitches was incredible. I’d improved multiple skills throughout the process, too.

  [Throwing: 6 >> 8.]

  [Marksmanship: 1 >> 2.]

  I noticed the same level of practice had improved [Throwing] more than it had [Marksmanship]. I had a theory that while the principles of shooting were adjacent to what I was doing here, [Marksmanship] improvements would be a fair bit slower if I wasn’t using a weapon.

  But that was fine. I had another weapon I wanted to test out.

  And that was my [Hoard].

  While I’d made a fair bit of progress with launching rocks using [Flame Body], I knew it was possible to do the same thing using my [Hoard], that I could manifest objects around me and even launch them through manipulation of my [Hoard] menu as well as the position I stood in.

  After gathering all of the rocks around me, it didn’t take me long to start flinging them out of my [Hoard].

  It was… inaccurate, and the items I flung definitely didn’t have as much energy behind them as my mana-enchanced volleys, but I was able to fire items from my [Hoard] easily, simply by placing my finger over the item in question and quickly dragging it up.

  Though I couldn’t throw objects more than fifteen feet via this method, and while I didn’t have amazing control over an item’s trajectory, I could launch a series of rocks far faster than I’d be able to pick them up and throw them, or even grab them from my [Hoard] and throw them.

  I didn’t progress my [Hoard] in any way by practicing with it like this… but that didn’t mean it wasn’t close to evolving. That progress bar was standing at about 90% full now. It wouldn’t be long until it hit level 3.

  Level 2 had unlocked skill combinations and evolutions, as well as the ability to discard skills, something I hadn’t experimented with yet. Who knew what level 3 would bring?

  I continually stored everything I mined in order to try and bring that number closer. Right now, it was growing by about a percentage point per day.

  Finally, there was [Flame Body] itself, the catalyst to improving all of my other skills. With all the time I spent practicing with it, as well as using it to practice with other things, it had managed to jump fairly dramatically.

  [Flame Body: 3 >> 5.]

  Considering I’d taken two weeks to attain two levels with it previously, gaining two more in only a week felt like incredible growth.

  My team were becoming more easy to control. They were growing progressively happier with our arrangement with Naska, and the training with Eric was paying off. I was heavily considering evolving my [Pickaxe Mastery] at this point, and hoping the time I’d spent learning at level ten would be compensated by even faster growth once I chose my next skill.

  I’d already learned that doing something better and more accurately grew a skill more meaningfully than simply doing it repeatedly, so I wasn’t worried about taking some time to think.

  Honestly, everything seemed to be going well. My next plan was to use [Flame Body] to learn to jump higher. Climb faster. Then to see if I could use it to learn a heat resistance ability. That way, even if I one day evolved away from it, I’d retain all of the benefits it gave me.

  It was the eighth day since Toar’s untimely departure, and I was thinking over which brand of training I felt like putting myself through today, munching on my breakfast, when a vaguely familiar face showed up at my camp.

  …and a few more familiar ones. I recognised them immediately.

  I’d fought those three only weeks ago after being sent to a dangerous location by Toar. One of them had a flatter nose than last time.

  The look they gave me was murderous. I looked between the three of them, the tall, dark-haired boy who walked behind them, and the eight others who trailed him on the other side, including an orc girl almost as tall as Marcois, short-haired and rippling with muscle.

  He pointed a finger at me. “You. Where the hell is Toar?”

  I slowly raised an eyebrow. Everyone around me looked on edge; I couldn’t blame them.

  “He got hurt,” I replied. “Busy recovering. You have business with him?”

  “I did,” Selsor muttered, scratching at his stubbly chin. “Guess I’ve got business with you now…”

  He shrugged his shoulders. His lackeys began to envelop the camp from either side as me and the rest of the group around me all raised to our feet, getting ready to fight if we had to.

  “Toar owed me money,” the greasy-looking boy proclaimed, “now you owe me money. That or your rabbit. Your choice.”

  “His what?” Maisie asked, ears perking.

  “Yeah, his fucking what?” Jackal repeated. “Maisie ain’t no one’s. How about you all fuck off now, huh?” He licked his jowls. “Before this gets bloody.”

  I liked his spirit, but they outnumbered us two to one. Nonetheless, the idea of giving Maisie over to this guy was sickening, and I wasn’t about to entertain it.

  “How much did Toar owe you?” I asked him.

  “Ehh… two thousand.”

  I blinked at that. More than I could buy my way out of, even if I was willing to be shaken down. Guess this was why Toar needed money so bad.

  I clenched my fists as I stared at the quickly encroaching gang.

  I wouldn’t be able to hold anything back here. I’d have to fight with everything if I wanted to keep my group safe.

  “We haven’t met, yet, kid, so let me introduce myself.” The tall boy took a mock bow, stooping to my height. “Name’s Selsor, and I own you.” He whistled and pointed in my direction. “Grhinda, show ‘em what I mean.”

  I could barely even brace myself with [Flame Body] as the massive orc girl came barrelling at me and punched me square in the face.

  There was easily a Toar level of strength behind that punch. I hit the ground instantly and had to use all of my momentum to pull myself up. I was pretty sure she cracked a tooth.

  And she was still coming at me. At least, she was.

  Then a Marcois-sized figure charged in front of me. She ran straight into his shoulder. She hit the ground with a thump before kipping back up to her feet and wiping fresh blood from her mouth.

  She smiled.

  I stared at Marcois. He looked calm. Not enraged like before. I rubbed my jaw as I spoke to him.

  “Hey… are you okay fighting her?”

  “She’s about my size, and orcs are fairly hardy,” Marcois said. “I won’t kill her if I’m careful.

  “Focus on the rest. They’re coming.”

  Marcois and Grhinda began trading blows as ten other lackeys rushed at the pair of us, the rest of my group forming into a tight circle around me.

  Selsor took a seat beside our fire, pulled out a cigarette, and used the flames to light it, a smile plastered on his face.