“I don’t want to come across as a complaining jack, but these bags are getting heavy,” Daniel said, his rope belt loaded with the loot they’d pilfered from the ambush-like encounter. They had a third sack now thrown over Daniel’s shoulder.“I wouldn’t mind much if we knew how far we gotta go.”

“We might have to leave behind some loot,” Xanhilt said.

“Nah,” Noname said before sticking a thumb at Samantha. “Make her carry more pouches.”

Samantha frowned.

While his party talked about loot hauling issues, John was off to the side and in his head. He was replaying how things had gone while using [Concussive Punch] and maneuvering around the [Mauling Shambler]. He hadn’t put much mind to how easy it was to use a move granted by the game system, almost like pressing a button. But doing so removed the fine intricacies involved.

Like when he used [Dash Step] for short hops rather than big hops. That required some mindfulness. But sometimes, he couldn’t always be mindful. When he fought the [Shambler Low Knight], he was not mindful at all, and the use of his blessing was like pressing a button. He imagined it was a good idea to just do the latter and not think too hard. But there were times when some moves needed consideration.

I could probably dial back the power to [Concussive Punch] with some thought. John imagined a move like that could hurt or incapacitate without him having to throw a hard physical punch. There wasn’t much of a tell either. It didn’t make his fist shine. It did make the air vibrate slightly around his knuckles, but that was a tiny detail to notice. If he could dial his new WA Skill back, he could use it fighting other heroes.

I’m going to have to prepare for that, John thought. Because if they’re willing to attack us and rob us, they’re willing to face the consequences.

As long as nobody died, of course, then John was game.

Something poked his cheek, spooking him. John pivoted away and raised his fists. He dropped them when he saw it was Noname.

“Hey, uh, what’s up?” John asked, flustered.

For a slight moment, he saw a gleeful glint in Noname’s eyes. But it was gone soon as he tried to confirm that she was showing some sort of emotion. Instead of a vocal response, she offered him one of the necromantic-cursed knives.

“What do you want me to do with it?”

She shook it at him, offering the handle first.

Gingerly, he grabbed the handle. The moment he had a full grasp of it, he felt the sting of painful magic. It was like being pricked by needles. It made it uncomfortable to hold, but it was not impossible. With some willpower, John managed to hold it. Given time, he started to get used to it. It was annoying, but it wasn’t impossible.

“How can he do that, and I can’t?” Daniel asked.

“Is it that bad for you?” John asked.

“Yessir.”

Noname took the knife back and passed it to Xanhilt.

“Ouch. It’s still painful for me. I’m able to hold it for a moment, but it’s not desirable.”

“How is it compared to the last time you’ve tried?” Noname asked.

“Better, actually,” Xanhilt said.

Noname passed the knife to Samantha, but she could barely make herself grab it. One-touch made her squeal.

“Yeah, it’s probably got something to do with [Resilience],” she said. “Unless you’re me.”

“Someone who can’t feel?” Samantha accused.

“Someone who learned not to feel to survive,” Noname said, tossing the knife aside. “It is painful. I’m don’t have John’s [Resilience], but I know how to work my way through it.”

“Hm. That’s something the system can’t account for,” Xanhilt said. “Doesn’t that seem like a glitch?”

John found that a little curious, too. From what Reggie had told him, games were made with a balance in mind. Most players started on an even footing and progressed from there. The attribute points in their personal interface could change them. It could make them grow stronger in certain areas depending on the attribute. But what if they arrived at Urmatia with strong attributes or skills prepacked?

In John’s case, the system acknowledged his boxing abilities through his WA Skill selection, getting him [Advance Boxing, Rank 3] from the jump. So, that made John even more curious about what Noname would get when she selected a weapon art. Or what would Xanhilt get once he had a choice of a weapon art? What would they look like together when his friends could back him up further?

“If this truly is a second chance at life,” Daniel said, “I rather go back to farming once we reach safety. Heck, if this is as medieval as it’s supposed to be, I bet I can make a killing with everything I know.”

“I have an interest in technology,” Samantha said. “Or any machine that has some complexity to it. I don’t know if I’ll find the equivalent here.”

“I’ll like to research more about this world,” Xanhilt said. “Magic. Gods. The nature of these monsters. Why we’ve been summoned? Why summon us and endanger us if we’re supposed to be heroes?”

“Mmm,” Noname hummed.

John had nothing to say. What will I do?

He was an average student. Sometimes below average. He wasn’t the smartest kid. He was good at boxing most of the time. But sometimes, he would get wrecked by people who were superhuman boxers. The type of talent that made John so nervous he would feel slow and weak around them. Then he would come out of the bout looking like a chump when he could’ve done better.

In a sense, he was just a guy that got by decently. Maybe he could’ve gone to the Olympics if he tried hard enough and got over his nervousness. He could’ve made for a decent pro career. But if none of that worked out, he could’ve gone to college and went for sports medicine. Or he could’ve taken a gap year and worked with his dad in his food truck. He’d had options. He’d had a life back in the old world.

“I got nothing here,” John said. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Everybody looked at him silently, which made John feel worse.

“You can be a hero,” Noname said.

“And we aren’t already?” John asked dryly.

“Not because the game tells you, but because that’s what you want to be deep down,” she said.

“What does it even mean to be a hero deep down?” John asked. “Go around like crazy and punch every jackass I meet? I know that’s what you’ve guys seen from me so far, but there’s more to me than just that. Or… there used to be.”

Noname stared, unresponsive.

Xanhilt licked at the air, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Daniel and Samantha shifted around. They had some things to say, but they looked too nervous to get it out. John waited for them.

“Seems like you’re doing that hero biz with us,” Daniel said. “I can tell we ain’t cut out for this. So, having a guy like you around makes a fella think there’s something we can count on out here. Maybe there’s a real business there.”

“But if that’s not what you want to do,” Samantha said, “we can find other ways to live. I… I agree with Xanhilt that we need to learn more. Once we get to real safety.”

“Yeah, safety, let’s go find it,” John said, leaving it at that.

He put one foot in front of the other and returned to trekking down the forest trail. [Inner Compass] pointed the way forward through his chest. Wreathing mists curled around him, his party, and their [Brightlight Orbs].

With his future looking uncertain, he focused on what was in front of him. Gloom and mist. Dark shadows under a thick canopy. And monsters, of course.

***

They encountered the basic shambler mostly. Sometimes a loner. Sometimes a small group of them. They were easy to deal with for John, Xanhilt, and Noname. All John had to do was walk up and punch them in the face. He was powerful enough for his fists to plow through their skulls. It was kind of extraordinary to see.

People talked about how your hands could turn into lethal weapons when trained in a martial art. To literally see them deliver incredible damage that shouldn’t be possible was eye-opening when John started to think about it. For a moment, it was kind of fun to do. He’d call out a shambler, stroll up to it, then send its head flying with an uppercut.

Xanhilt acted disinterested as he put away random shamblers. With a short blast of his primary magic core, the shamblers disintegrated. One time he missed a headshot and blasted a hole through a shambler’s chest. Another time, he cut through a shambler’s waist and bisected it. He acted like it was just work, nothing special, but John figured the saurian was having fun, too. But that didn’t take away from whatever was bugging the guy.

Once John got out of his own head, he had a feeling there was something he was ignoring by accident. Something he was ignorant to that he was taking for granted. He couldn’t figure it out, and watching Noname get in some shambler kills didn’t help him concentrate on the issue surrounding Xanhilt. It couldn’t be helped. Noname was an interesting girl. She was someone that was almost more alien than Xanhilt.

When she flew into action against the [Forest Shamblers], she moved with such speed and grace, it was almost unreal. With her hair tied into a braided ponytail, fluttering behind her, she zoomed straight at the shamblers. She swerved around their attempts to grab her, kicked the back of their legs to drop them on their knees, and put her boot heel to the side of their heads with a vicious crack. Sometimes she used a shambler’s grab against them with a judo flip followed by a few head stomps. No matter the situation, Noname showed off skills she brought from earth that made her a living weapon.

It made John want to know something when she took a break from clearing the latest forest shambler mob.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“About what?” She tilted her head to the side.

“If we find safety and a civilization, what will you do?”

“Keep killing monsters,” she said plainly.

Xanhilt, Daniel, and Samantha were picking through the loot for the most essential items when they stopped to look at Noname. John shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable that the conversation had garnered the entire party’s attention.

“Is that it?” John asked.

Noname nodded. “It’s a pain. Fighting the dryad was really hard. Sometimes I wonder if it’ll be better to die.”

He wanted to say choosing death was never an option, but he held his mouth shut. A man should be patient.

“But it’s nice to know what I was made for in the old world is useful here,” Noname continued. “Maybe I can do good with it. I can be a good killer. And that’ll make me a hero.”

John had nothing else to say after that.

They continued their journey. Both Xanhilt and Noname reached Lvl 19 from picking on forest shamblers. John was unsure where he was in leveling up again, but it seemed like forest shamblers wouldn’t offer him much personal experience or weapon art experience. He asked Daniel and Samantha if they wanted help leveling up, but they declined. They were okay with just being the pack mules.

For the first time since John got here, he reached some form of normalcy. That was saying a lot. Nothing about their situation was normal compared to John’s previous life⁠—flirting, boxing, graduating high school. But five days in Urmatia had changed plenty.

A lot happened in a short time, John thought. But now that it’s slowing down a bit, I can feel myself getting a little anxious.

His chest was starting to itch.

Before it became a hive of anxiety, something new reached John’s ears. Everyone must’ve heard the same because the entire party stopped at once. It sounded like a horn to John. A series of pops and crackles followed. Shouts and clangs. These were sounds that didn’t come from shamblers.

The sounds came from somewhere in front of a gentle rise in the land they’d been following. When John looked up, he noticed the trees were starting to part ahead of them. Afternoon rays beamed through the mist, lighting the way toward what could be salvation.

John’s heart thumped faster. He had a hard time believing that the end of this trek was just ahead of them. There was no way. There had to be a trick involved. A trap. He could feel his [Inner Compass] pointing forward with more intensity. As if they were close to their destination. But he wanted to believe it was just another lie.

If he got his hopes up too high, something terrible might dash them away. Just like how the knight killed the hope of anyone drawn by the dryad’s false calls of safety.

A cool hand grasped his arm. It was Xanhilt’s.

“I’m scared,” the saurian said. “What if it’s another trick?”

John patted Xanhilt on the back. “Whatever it is, we got this, okay? It’s going to be alright.”

That was John’s father talking. Whenever John had felt scared about things in the future, his father always had the right thing to say. We got this. Things are going to be alright.

Regardless of his future prospects, John saw that everyone was looking at him to lead the way. That was a huge responsibility to carry, and John was unsure if he could handle that burden.

The best he could do was imagine more of his father’s sayings. Or Coach Jackson. They were strong men who could lead. John didn’t know the ins and outs of what it took to be a strong man who led others, but he could wing it as best he could.

“I got your back,” Noname said.

And every strong man needs a strong woman, John thought, feeling a pinch more confident.

He got them going again. They climbed the hillside. No shamblers got in the way, which robbed John of his confidence. If they weren’t seeing enemies, something major was going to come up. He could hear Daniel’s teeth shattering and Samantha muttering under her breath. Xanhilt was starting to fall behind. Before John could stop the group for him, Noname went back and grabbed his hand. She helped him forward.

Again, John felt a bit more confident from watching Noname’s example. They crossed the last bit to reach the top of the hill. The mist parted. The forest fell away. Sunshine and blue skies took over the world above.

In front of them, John saw the edges of a forest break apart into small thickets of trees in between green fields. Various trails, some small, some large, snaked around the hillocks stripped bare of trees. A lot of logging had been done here, leaving cut trunks in the earth. Further beyond that, the mist curled weakly along the ground, barely visible.

Even further was a dirty, dingy, rustic town. It was sandwiched between a port filled with hundreds of boats and the wooden walls that guarded it. Between the town walls and the low hills was a marshy field. In that field was a bunch of people. Most, if not all, weren’t human, from what John could tell.

And they were fighting an army of shamblers attacking the town.

Ding! You’ve discovered Skullhead Landing, Southern Isle of Artya, Old Celcia Republic. Experience rewarded.

Optional Quest Discovered, [The Cavalry Has Arrived I]: Aid the defenders of Skullhead Landing against a major shambler attack. Defeat 100 Forest Shamblers. Defeat 50 Jesting Shamblers. Defeat 20 Mauling Shamblers. Bonus: Defeat 1 Shambler Mid I Berserker, 1 Shambler Mid I Devil, and 1 Shambler Mid I Rider. Time Limit: You have until sundown⁠; 3 hrs, 15 mins, 1 sec.

Optional Quest Discovered, [Junior Guardian Angels]: Get the weak and wounded off the battlefield and behind the walls of Skullhead Landing. This includes heroes and the United Urmatian Alliance members and allies. Save a minimum of 6. Bonus: rescue young UUA nobles who get in over their heads. Time Limit: You have until sundown. 3 hrs, 15 mins, 1 sec.

Optional Quest Discovered, [Skullhead Landing’s Little Helpers]: If you can’t do much fighting or rescuing, at least assist the battle by running supplies behind the walls. Extra quivers of arrows. Pouches of reagents. Standard vitality potions. Tower shields. Etc. Accomplish a of minimum 50 supply runs together. Bonus: keep going until sundown. Time Limit: You have until sundown. 3 hrs, 15 mins, 1 sec.

***

John Wright, Lvl 21

Race: Outerhuman, Rank 1

Weapon Art: Cestus Art, Lvl 22

Blessing: One Good Punch, Rank 2

Total AP: 340

Resilience: 48 + (15)

Endurance: 50

Strength: 80 + (5)

Agility: 26

Perception: 20

Poise: 31

Intellect: 25

Soul: 40

Unspent: 0

Talents: [Relentless Fighter, Rank 1], [Decisive Spirit, Rank 1], [Identify, Rank 2], [Urmatia Linguistics, Rank 1], [Inner Compass, Rank 1].

Weapon Skills: [Advance Boxing, Rank 3], [Rabid Blows, Rank 2], [Dash Step, Rank 2], [Concussive Strike, Rank 2].

Magic Cores: [Ratel Rookie, MCP 19], [Brightlight Orb, MCP 2].

Available MCP: 0

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