They found two other patrols of scouts, without armored orcs. Now that most of the boys either repaid the Exp contracts or were released of them, levels, morale, and their combat prowess increased with each victory.

For defeating 21 orcs, you earned 1,264 Experience Points. Your Exp contracts earned you 8,721 Experience Points. For using your Class proficiencies, you earned 1,000 Experience Points.

"We are owning these orcs!" Cheered Shane. "I barely got a scratch last fight."

"Yes, but that is because we have Cless tipping the scales in our favor," Pointed out Lyle. "Don't think that leveling up after every fight in a group of thirteen is anything but absurd. We are fighting things way above our league."

"Bah. All she does is to stand and pray after she runs out of arrows," Scoffed Collin.

"Shut it, Collin," Lawrence chided his friend. "I want to see you fight an orc one on one without Cless' buffs. Check your status sheet, idiot. We are getting ten points of proficiency from her leadership alone. Add on top of that the spells she uses during combat. We are fighting these orcs as if we were almost twenty levels above our own."

"You want to test? Let's find an orc and you can duel it on your own, Collin. Don't cry when you lose." Teased Arnold.

"I bet I can do," Collin mumbled.

Cless didn't intervene. She was busy alongside Silverfang, carrying in tandem a bundle of looted weapons from the orc scouts. Most of them were in a terrible state of repair but her Tinker Skill told her she could fix them.

After one more hour of walking through the forest, they found a cave at the side of a cliff hidden by a copse of trees that grew close together.

"This seems a good spot to make camp," Cless pointed out. "Please, no banter. Just keep quiet, keep watch and sleep. Unless you want another horde. Silverfang, is this cave safe?"

"Smells like bear but old. Faint."

Cless threw a Light spell inside the cave. Nothing happened. The cave was only a dozen meters deep. Then entered and searched the cave. Only dust and some yellowed bones. Vermin scuttled away from behind the piles of bones. Squeaks of their young rang as they fled between the rocks away from the bigger invaders' reach.

"We are staying here," Martin declared. "This cave smells less than me."

"You stink of orc shit, Martin." Shane teased him.

"Can you keep quiet?" Lyle hissed. "I bet the orcs are after us. They might be hunting or tracking us this very moment. Keep quiet unless you want to fight a horde every morning."

Cless laid the bundle of weapons on the ground and sat on it with her back to the wall. Ignoring the boys' antics, she took the prayer book and decided to learn the level twenty-five spell.

As she read the pages, she noticed there was a choice to be made. There wasn't a single spell but three and she could learn only one of them. The first one was Flamestrike. A pillar of holy fire descends from heavens to smite the Cleric's enemies. The next one was Scrying. She could use a reflexive surface like a basin of water to see and hear far away. And the third choice was Revivify. It had an awfully huge magic cost, thirty-seven power but could bring back to life anyone that died up to ten minutes ago, and it had a chance of failure based on the target's health, the caster's proficiency and Karma. Whatever Karma meant. She didn't know how a normal Cleric could have enough power to cast that spell.

She had to choose between attack, information or the odd chance to revive someone. Cless had no doubt she would hardly have thirty-seven power to spare on a person after combat tough enough for someone to die. However, the incident of that morning was fresh in her mind. She picked up Revivify even though her instincts were screaming to go with Scrying.

Revivify. Spend thirty-seven power to attempt to bring a creature back to life. The creature must have died within the last ten minutes. There is a chance of success based on the creature's Health Stat and the caster's proficiency. Proficiency does not reduce power cost. A revived creature cannot be targeted again by this spell for a year and a day.

They split into four groups of three for the watch. Cless spent half the night practicing the chant for the new spell. After that, she switched places with Silverfang and went to sleep.

Cless dreamt of the Orc King. A dark caster, a powerful warlock that could drain souls. And in her dream, the Orc King sat on a throne made of human skulls deep inside a cavern, kilometers away into the mountains. An unmeasurable amount of rock stood between them. But the orc king drained a human of his soul and then he stared straight at her.

His red eyes glowed in the twilight of the cave. And he was looking straight at her. She was in their cave and she couldn't look away. She knew the Orc King wanted her.

She woke up drenched in sweat. It was just a dream. She looked around and saw Silverfang at the mouth of the cave. Just a dream. Cless returned to sleep.

Without any bad dreams, she woke up to the smell of grilled pork. It was already morning and the boys were grilling some meat.

"What are you cooking?" Cless asked. She approached and saw it. A wild boar. from the claw marks, it was obvious what happened.

"Silverfang got us a boar. Finally some decent food!" Martin cheered.

"There are only boars left in the woods," Drooling for some roast boar, Silverfang remarked.

"Won't it attract orcs?" Cless asked.

"Nah," Martin waved a hand dismissively. "They don't like boar. Orcs are not cannibals."

"They eat people," Collin's voice came from inside the cave. "Of course they are cannibals."

Cless left the boys to their antics. She approached Silverfang and asked the werewolf, "I need a critter, some small furry one. Catch it alive for me."

He dashed into the undergrowth and returned ten minutes later with a frightened squirrel.

"Hold it for me." Cless stabbed the squirrel's chest with a dagger.

For killing a level 2 creature, below your level threshold, you earned 0 Experience Points.

She wasted no time wondering what a level threshold was. She started to chant.

"Revivify!"

The wound on the squirrel closed, the critter twitched as holy energy infused its body. And then it was gone and the squirrel remained dead.

Cless sat and ate a strip of jerky. She felt her energy return faster, but she knew it would be impossible to recover twenty-three of magic power before the ten-minute window was over. The squirrel was as dead as they come. All she could do was skin it.

Or let Silverfang eat it like he just did. "Find me another critter," she ordered.

Cless sacrificed two mice and one ermine in the name of a better chance of reviving her fellow humans. None of them were worth Exp to her. To her relief, the white ermine returned to life. But the critter remembered being stabbed by the girl very well and bolted for the undergrowth with an indignant hiss. She held Silverfang back and let the ermine live. The cloud of stink it left behind was a great deterrent too.

She tried her spell on the air. Purify removed the stench.

One in four was a bad prognostic. She could only hope that a human's Health stat was greater than a rodent and that her proficiency would kick in with better odds.

They ate boar and talked for a while, not a single one of them eager to go hunt orcs. Given the threat of the orc dark mages, Cless practiced her Light, Mending, and Hallow spells to get them to the soft cap of proficiency and kept dumping all her magic in Holy Bolt. She felt her energy recovering faster than normal again, and stopped to think about what was going on.

She drank some water and checked her status. And she found it. The [Eat Anything] Skill granted double recovery if she was well fed with normal food, which she was. It was a spellcaster's wet dream. She now was recovering magic power at double the normal speed! To think it was overlooked as just a 'dare to eat shit' Skill. It made her think if something like that wasn't happening right now with the other boys.

"Hey, guys, are you using your Skills to the best?" She asked and earned a lot of odd looks.

"What do you mean, Cless?" Lyle asked.

"I don't know. Just wondering. Because sometimes a Skill has uses one can't think about. Or combinations. Dunno."

"I can tell you that I am using mine to the fullest." Shane twirled his daggers in his hands. "What? I have Skills with wielding twin daggers. And Lawrence is using his every time he gets hit by an orc club."

"That's right. He got a club to the head that smashed his cheeks but his thick skull came out unscathed." Martin reminded them.

"Okay. I have unbreakable bones," Confessed Lawrence. "Like, nothing can break them."

"I think we are all doing well. Some skills are situational even though they are strong. Like yours in which you need the other party to agree to something, Cless." Lyle pointed out.

"Is yours highly situational, Lyle?" Cless fished.

"It is so situational that I'll only get to use it once in my entire life. But it is a B-rank Skill nonetheless." He proudly boasted.

B-rank Skills were as rare as hen's teeth. If you consider cockatrices hens, that is. The boys called Lyle a liar but some of them gave him approving nods. If Lyle really had a B-rank Skill, he'd be on the fast track to becoming a figurehead in the country. After all, there was only one rank above B. If you dismiss the fairy-tale S-rank.

"What rank is yours, miss guild master? I told you mine, it is only fair if you tell yours. As you can meddle with Stat and Experience Points it must be A. Is it an A-rank?"

"Not really." She shrunk in her seat. "It is not A-rank."

"Bullshit," Said Collin. "I bet it is A-rank. It must be pretty strong to mess with us like that."

Something stirred inside Cless. She had to stand tall and answer that provocation in kind. "I take that bed. I bet one unassigned Stat point the Skill I got during the rite of passage is not an A-rank Skill."

"Hah. About the time I get my stat points back. Bet accepted."

Wager created. Cless will reveal to Collin her Skill's rank. If it is an A-rank Skill, Cless must give Collin one unassigned stat point and vice-versa.

Collin saw a notification, it was obvious as his gaze became unfocused. He paled and looked at Cless as if she was a ghost.

Wager won. Cless gained 1 unassigned Stat point from Collin.

"Thank you." Cess mocked and showed her tongue.

Lyle looked between Collin and Cless. He asked Collin, "Is it A-rank?" Collin shook his head. He didn't speak. The boy just pointed upwards.

Cless got a 'no shit!' look from all of them. She shrugged and shrank a bit more. "Yes, it is above A-rank. That's all I'm going to say. Ask collin. He saw the Skill short description."

After some goading, Collin spoke. "Her Skill is just like the Devil in the legend of the seven heroes. It is an S-rank Skill that can make anything possible through a bargain if the other party agrees to. That's pure evil, Cless."

What he told her hurt the girl no small amount. "I'm not evil. And I've been called worse in my life. I tried to make right by you," She said wiping the tears off her face. "By each of you. I'm a level twenty-five Cleric of the One God, for crying out loud. If I'm evil, let Him smite me right now."

There was a pause where Collin and Joe even looked up to see if lightning was going to strike her. It didn't. Cless started to cry and ran inside the cave. She almost didn't hear Lawrence chide his friend.

"You hurt her feelings, asshole! Hurry up and apologize before its too late!"

Collin York broke the agreement and died. You earned 260 Experience points.

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 24 ( 289,739 / 300,000 Exp )

Class: Cleric 25 (300,000 Exp / ** )

Profession — Warmaster 11 (58,099 / 66,000 Exp) — Weaponmaster 11 (58,099 / 66,000 Exp)

Base Stats — Strength: 26 — Agility: 26 [34] — Health: 38 — Intellect: 38 — Magic: 51

Available Status Points: 2

Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ], [ Giant's Stamina (E) ], [ Trick Shot (D) ], [ Dangersense ⦅C⦆ ], [ Nimble Step (D) ], [ Eat Anything ⦅C⦆ ],

[ Elven Longevity ⦅C⦆ ], [ Tinker (D) ]

Proficiencies:

Appraisal — Status: 22

Crafting — Crude Weapons: 5 — Arrows: 1

Magic, Cleric

— Mending: 24 (+1) — Detoxify: 16 — Light: 24 (+3) — Turn Undead: 4 — Blessing: 14 (+2) — Holy Bolt: 18 (+6) — Purify: 10 (+1) — Protection: 16

— Hallow: 24 (+2) — Flametongue: 1 — Cure: 1 — Uncurse: 1 — Banish: 1 — Heal: 1 — Warding: 1 — Revivify: 7 (+7)

General — Prayer: 24 (+2) — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 6 — Math: 3 — Reading: 8 — Forestry: 9 — Skinning: 7 — Herbalism: 3

Social, general — Negotiation: 15 — Persuasion: 3 — Bluff: 6

Social, martial — Leadership: 22 — Intimidation: 21 — Tactics: 20

Movement — Tumbling: 3

Weapon — Long Blades: 18 — Short Blades: 2 — Unarmed: 11 — Archery: 23 — Spears: 3 — Maces: 22 — Staves: 4 — Axes: 9