Chapter 19

Leon called out to Ava, asking her to keep an eye out for the wolf. Hopefully, the beast didn’t understand humans, and the annoying noises would pull its attention between them, allowing Leon to take a swing or two at it each time. It worked, but the sun begun to set, and it was tedious and dangerous work. More than once, the wolf had been an inch of snapping off one of his body parts. Still, it was the better choice. Leon cast his eyes to the side of him each time he jumped into the hole, just waiting for some godlike monster to show its ugly face and kill him. They needed to get out of here before any of the creatures inside noticed him.

“It’s laying down again,” Ava shouted. She’d started out enthusiastic, but now, her voice was more of a drawl.

Leon climbed the roots that sat imbedded in the dirt, familiar to him now. The beast sniffed the air and jumped toward him. Leon jumped back into the pit, landed on his feet, and rolled to the side. Then, he struck the paw with the sword and dagger. The wolf yelped, as always, and backed out.

“It can’t be much more, right?” Ava said. “I mean, I know it’s big and all, but you’ve done this for ages and ages.”

“Yeah.” At least Leon had learned how to land on his feet more than on his back. He sighed and peered up the hole. He’d tried calling the wolf, like he’d done with the monster’s kin, but it either didn’t listen to the tempting call for help or simply didn’t care. Or had learned its lesson.

“Alright, it’s laying down again.”

Leon climbed up, caught the wolf’s attention, and jumped down, rolling to the side. A second after, the wolf’s head stretched inside, its ears laying slick against the wall. Leon slashed the weapons down over the muzzle, and a box popped up.

’Splinter has activated!

Your enemy is enraged. Effect lasts until pulled out or the enemy has died. Cooldown 3 hours.’

The wolf gritted its teeth, pulled out its head, and howled, its head casting a shadow flinging side to side on the wall of the hole. The paws boomed down on the ground, and the head appeared again, eyes spinning to look for Leon, and jaws clapping, fuming up the entire area with the stench of its rotten breath. Leon coughed and held his elbow over his nose and mouth. The beast squiggled its head too much to get a clear hit, but Leon tried and swung after it. The blades missed.

He backed, trying to look for an opening where the jaw wouldn’t fling him to the ground or the teeth wouldn’t grab him.

Leon spun around at a shuffling sound, and at the furthest everlight stood an old man with bushy eyebrows. He wore a green monk robe, and his eyebrows were so thick and long that they covered the man’s eyes. He held a knotty staff long as himself with two rocks fastened in nets on top.

“Uh—” Leon backed. He’d intended to say hello, but the man tilted the staff toward him and shook it, mumbling something under his breath. The ominous presence he’d felt in the air increased tenfold, and for each syllable, Leon had a weight pull him down. He quickly shook his head, and without thought, sprang toward the wolf. The safe place.

He jumped at the snapping head and hit the jaw, clenching his fists around two fangs of the wolf. The jaws clapped shut as Leon slipped, clinging onto the beast’s lip. With his hands grasping the moist flesh, the wolf flung its head up into the air. For the second time that day, Leon flew. He flailed with his arms, and when he landed on the wolf’s back, he grabbed the fur.

“Great idea,” Ava shouted. “You’re so awesome! Now stab it!”

Leon looked into the hole just as it exploded.

“No! My weapons!”

The blast left the sides charred black, and his heart sank.

The wolf shook its body, but Leon held on. What the hell were they supposed to do now? He thought back to when Ava had dropped on the wolf. How could they get far up enough to cause damage to this behemoth? Was it even possible?

The wolf stilled, and Leon almost fell off at the sudden lack of movement. He grabbed the fur tighter and wondered why an enraged creature would just stop. No, not just stop. Tremble. It stared straight at the hole in the ground.

The bald top of the old man’s head, then the eyebrows, and then the whole robed body rose to stand before them. The old man frowned, causing his eyebrows to cover half his face. He sniffed the air with a long puffy nose and smiled. He shook his staff and mumbled something, and a few seconds later, the stones on the staff clapped together and sent out a shining blue bolt, hitting the wolf squarely in the chest.

The wolf slumped down with a groan and Leon slid off. Leon couldn’t move after he landed at the side of the beast’s massive body, even though his whole being told him to run. The man tucked the staff under his arm and approached the beast, smacking his lips. He stopped just in front of the beast’s face and took a deep breath, then he took out a knife from within the robe. He lifted the wolf’s lip and started cutting.

“Hey!” a voice shouted.

Leon looked to the side. A swarm of silver butterflies came buzzing in, and Ai formed a few feet from the old man.

The man’s eyebrows rose, revealing blank white eyes.

“What are you doing? That was for my pets!” Ai snatched the knife from the man’s hand.

A box popped up.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock is displeased.’

“I don’t care about your meal.” Ai crossed her arms.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock is confused.’

“Not your food. Challenge,” Ai said, tapping the lip of the wolf with the knife and then pointing it to Leon. “Be a darling and come down.”

Stunned, Leon obeyed. He approached with cautious steps.

“Now, look here. I set this challenge for them, and here you come and ruin it.” She waved the knife around. “It was very enjoyable to watch Leon lose his weapons, fearing to die, wondering what to do...” She stabbed at the man, but stopped just before the knife would hit his throat. The man didn’t flinch. “And then you come and make it easy for him.”

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock doesn’t think the thing looks like a lion.’

“Of course he isn’t a lion.” Ai sighed. “Now we have to start over.”

The old man’s eyebrows rose again, and a pink tongue brushed over his lips. He gestured to the knife in Ai’s hand.

“No.” Ai said. “This isn’t for you. Now, you go get Leon’s weapons. Then maybe I can give you this wolf and restart the challenge.”

The man clambered down the hole and came up with two charred pieces of wood. They broke apart in his hands.

Ai stomped her foot. “Seriously? Without weapons, it won’t be any fun. He’d die too soon.”

The man bent down and picked up a branch and held it out to Leon.

Like a robot, Leon stretched out a hand to grab it.

Ai shook her head and slapped the branch out of the man’s hand. “Fucking hell!” She sucked in a breath. “Why can’t I just restart the tutorial and conjure a weapon?” She pinched the bridge of her nose and cast a glance at the discarded branch. “Okay, I’ll have fun later, then. I’ll add the victory to your party, Leon. The wolf had 21 HP left, so it was a sudden death situation, anyway. Last blow, or last breath.” She pointed to the wolf, and it splintered into pixels, leaving a pile behind.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock is angry.’

“You ruined the pivotal moment,” Ai snapped at the man. “Go on, Leon. Take the loot.” Ai pushed him forward with a smile. “It’s yours. For your hard fighting.”

Leon swallowed and bowed to the old man. “I’m sorry.”

Leon approached the pile and picked up two wolf claws, a wolf fang, and a golden piece, earning him 350 coins. That was a lot. He pocketed the items and threw a glance toward Ava. She must witness the whole thing.

“Thanks,” he said. It didn’t matter that the man had taken down the beast or felt so ominous; he’d shown goodwill, even though he’d destroyed his weapons.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock wants food.’

“You’re welcome,” Ai said.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock thinks Tutorial Meat should bring back the food.’

“Nah.”

Quick as a lightning, the man took out the staff and slammed the bottom into the ground. A razor-like rock sprang up and leaped in a line toward Ai. Before she could react, it hit, and she shattered into silver crystals.

“T-Thanks,” Leon said with a shaky breath.

The old man stared at him and tilted his head.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock wonders if the noisy meat might settle his stomach.’

“Hold on, I—” Leon backed a step. “I’ll call on some wolves for you, is that okay?”

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock thinks the meat wants to appease him.’

The man walked over to one of the nearby rocks and sat, resting his hands around the staff.

Leon put his hand around his mouth and felt warmth creep up his neck. “Help! I’m dying, help!” He took off his backpack, and then the shirt, bloody from before, waving it in the air.

It didn’t take more than a minute for two wolves to appear from the bushes, and before Leon could flinch, the man cast something with his staff and the wolves fell down. The keeper bent to pick up the knife and proceeded to cut different parts off the wolves’ bodies.

It was a silly shout, but it worked every time, and Leon was more happy than ever that Ava had figured out the call. Not that she’d ever do it herself again, if he could help it. He pulled on the shirt and backpack.

‘Dungeon Keeper Prelock is somewhat pleased with the offering.’

Leon nodded. “Well, I... I guess we’ll take our leave.”

Leon bowed again and backed away, keeping his eyes on the man, and continued doing so until he bumped into a something soft.

“You can stop now,” Ava said.

Leon turned around and grabbed her arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, and at last, Leon could breathe. He drew in a few deep breaths.

“You okay?” Ava asked.

“Yeah... yeah, I think so.” Truly, he wasn’t. But the best thing for now would be to just let it go. Think about something else.

“I understand. Or, I kinda don’t, but that doesn’t really matter.” She grabbed his arm. “But hey, now you’re level six, and I’m level five! Have you figured out what to do?”

Leon stopped and frowned. “What do you mean? I didn’t level up.”

“Yes, you did! I got a message. The party’s level also rose by two.”

Leon opened his status page. It was true; he was level six, and he’d been fully healed, had fifteen unplaced SP instead of ten, and when he opened his inventory, a small black box sat inside. Had he accepted it in a daze, or was it just accepted for him? That was kind of unfair, but at least he got the boons for it. He hadn’t gotten the party level up notification either, even though it leveled up two times. He explained this to Ava, and she nodded, agreeing that he’d been so shaken up, that must be why he didn’t see the pop-up.

They approached Pura when dusk fell and jogged through the Slums. Even though the dark side of the Scabs hadn’t fully awakened, it was better to be on the safe side.

Leon took Ava’s arm as they passed the crafting fountain, and they stopped. “Hey, um... would you mind if we go easy for a while? I mean, stay away from hunting?”

Ava nodded. “Yeah. I can’t believe the forest had something like that in there. I mean, the man didn’t look that strong, even when he took down the wolf, but that he could crush Ai...” She bit her lip. “Do you think she died?”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.” Leon shook his head. “And now I’ll have to get another weapon. Hopefully two, but with the general assortment store’s prices, there won’t be much choice.”

“You might get lucky, you know,” Ava said.

Leon shook his head, and they continued walking.

As they entered the door, a red-faced Margaret stormed toward them.

“Ava! Where have you been? The dishes are stacking up!”

“I’m sorry, Marge,” Ava said, looking at her feet.

“It’s not her fault.” Leon stepped forward. “We encountered some trouble.”

“Oh?” Margaret said, crossing her arms.

Leon and Ava told her about what had happened, and the red in Margaret’s face paled into white as a corpse.

“Oh. Oh, no.” She stepped forward and pulled Ava into a hug. “Oh, sweetie, I’m glad you’re alright. But this isn’t good. Isn’t good at all.”

“What do you mean?” Leon asked.

Margaret looked up from Ava’s hair. “I can’t say. It’s against the rules. And I can’t give advice, not until you’ve unlocked more information.”

Leon frowned. “Margaret, are you a player?”

She shook her head. “I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.”

“So what happens if you try to tell us something?”

Margaret shook her head. “It’s blocked.” She stepped back from the hug, held Ava’s shoulders, and looked into her face. “Why don’t you take the night off? Go get some sleep.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Margaret smiled.

Ava’s face reddened. “Okay. Thank you.”

Before Ava walked off, Leon asked what she wanted, and she chose one of the wolf claws.

Leon headed upstairs, washed himself off, and continued to his room, pondering Margaret’s words. They had come back alive, but done something horrible? Or was it something else? A consequence of opening the dungeon, or maybe gleaning Ai’s attention? It could be any and all, and if he’d fire out a guess, his first bet would be on the latter. Leon sat down by the chest and stroke Troublemaker’s fur. The rabbit’s eyes looked up at him and pushed its head against his palm. Soon enough, he’d find out about her worry. That stood clear after she said that they needed to unlock more information, but what was that exactly?

Leon rose and made his way over to the bed. He was fully rested, but his mind had too many impressions for him to sort right now. Maybe it was better to sleep and see if he could come up with something new tomorrow.

He opened up his status page and looked at it.

Name: Leon Level: 6, 1%

Class: Warrior

Title: NooB Guild: None

HP: 210 Fatigue: 0%

—————————————

MP: 12 Coin: 527

—————————————

Strength: 15 Agility: 12

Vitality: 10 Intelligence: 9

Sense: 10

—————————————

Available Status Points: 15

—————————————

Skills

Passive: Warrior’s Build

Passive: Lumberjack 1

Passive: Lumberjack 2

Insight (Rank F, Leader Skill Tree)

—————————————

You have the following unclaimed rewards:

Level up: You have reached level 5!

It was probably time to think about what to do about the points. If he’d thought about it while fighting the behemoth, he probably would have defeated it much quicker, and he’d need it now that the time approached going into the first level. But where to put them?

He thought he’d get a better idea or game plan as he continued on, but he wanted to invest in all of them, though that was never a wise choice. What he needed most was strength and vitality, but his agility would save him from danger as well. Something useful could come from raising his sense, but not enough to outweigh the other ones, at least for now, and from his understanding, the intelligence stat had more to do with mana-based abilities than actual intelligence, and since all his skills so far didn’t need MP, he didn’t need to increase it.

He increased his agility and vitality, and spent the remaining seven points in strength, wondering how he would feel the effects of the increases. As of yet, he couldn’t feel that anything had changed. He threw a last look at the status window before he closed it.

Name: Leon Level: 6, 1%

Class: Warrior

Title: NooB Guild: None

HP: 210 Fatigue: 0%

—————————————

MP: 12 Coin: 527

—————————————

Strength: 22 Agility: 15

Vitality: 15 Intelligence: 9

Sense: 10

—————————————

Available Status Points: 0

—————————————

Skills

Passive: Warrior’s Build

Passive: Lumberjack 1

Passive: Lumberjack 2

Insight (Rank F, Leader Skill Tree)

—————————————

You have the following unclaimed rewards:

Level up: You have reached level 5!

Hopefully, any change would show itself.

Leon opened up the quests page and scanned through the quest tabs. He was level 6 now, and the quest to go into the tower was approaching fast. He’d like some more time to prepare, but somehow he felt like that would always be the case. He’d done what he could, and now he had to deal with the hand he’d dealt himself.

Leon's eyes caught on one of the two personal quests. Since his first run through the Slums had ended in such a weird way, he hadn’t thought about it at all.

He sat up, removed his shirt and Troublemaker from the flat chest, and opened it up. A box with twenty slots showed up, five of which were full, four with Ava’s chosen items; all crafting material from wolves and a stack of tree sap; and one with the doll.

Leon placed Ava’s promised wolf claw into the chest and took out the doll. The girl who had asked for a toy hadn’t approached him again, and he felt bad about forgetting the promise.

Leon put the doll into his inventory and closed the lid, placing shirt and rabbit back on their proper places. He’d deliver the doll tomorrow when he went for his run and got his sword.

He opened up the party window, too. He hadn’t looked at it since they’d created the party, and he scanned through it.

Party name: Hert’s Party (level 4, 23%)

Current boon for each class:

Tank: (1) +6% defense

Cleric (1) +5% buff boost

Warrior (1) +2% strength, 4% vitality

Additional boon for all members of the group:

Skill cost: -2.6%

Experience gain: +0.7%

Luck: +0.8% (base: 18)

It had risen quite a lot, which was a good thing. He wondered about the luck again, and where it came from. It wasn’t a stat, and from what he could tell, it didn’t get unlocked by any other skills or items. The rabbit’s foot that laid by the two remaining carrots by the chest gave nothing either, except some cute moments where Troublemaker snuggled up to it. Leon closed the window. He had to talk with Hert first thing tomorrow.

Just as he closed his eyes, shouting started downstairs. Someone was having a really bad day.

After minutes of continued rowing, Leon jumped out of bed to see what it was all about. He stopped in the middle of the stairs toward the ground floor.

Margaret stood with her hands on her waist, clutching a wooden spoon in one hand, and stared up at Hert, who towered over her.

“You have no right to know which room he’s in, or to talk to my kitchen help without them inviting you!” She smacked him on the arm. “Out! They have had too much for one day, both of them, for you to clamp in here, acting like you have the right to do so.”

“Margaret, it’s fine,” Leon said, even though the look on Hert’s face almost made him change his mind.

“Oh, fine, is it?” Hert asked, stomping toward him. “You almost kill me, and it’s fine? I’m 86% to level 6 for fuck’s sake! You forgot about me, didn’t you?”

“No,” Leon said. “Just that something unexpected happened.” He nodded up the stairs. “Margaret, is it okay if he comes up to my room? I have some explaining to do.”

Margaret clapped the spoon on her palm a few times, staring up at the burly blacksmith with narrowed eyes. Then she nodded to the side.

“You do any fighting, you have another thing coming!” she shouted after them.

Leon let Hert into the room, and they sat on the floor while Leon explained.