Lucas ran through the forest, his instinct for survival taking over while his mind was numb due to the betrayal of someone he considered his friend, even his brother. Foot steeps behind him thundered in unison, but their Agility was clearly lacking as Lucas gained on them with every step. They tried to lob grenades without line of sight, but just as Michael’s flew harmless in a fight with the alchemist so did theirs. Recovering a bit, Lucas swerved to his right, disappearing in thick trees. Troopers pursuing him obviously didn’t have a dedicated tracker, as they just stormed on the path they were on, buying Lucas some reprieve. And Lucas was certainly in need it. Low on health, with depleted mana and running on last stores of stamina, he was in mortal peril. Worse yet, he was unarmed, not managing to recover his sword before running. He scouted a bit, always on the move and, luckily, soon found a big enough tree for him to climb on, with branches rich with leaves hiding him from sight from all but the most keen eyes, which certainly seemed like the troopers lacked. He nestled on a branch that seemed certain to hold him and once again lost himself in his sorrow.

“How could I be so blind?” he asked himself over and over, always drawing blank when he tried to provide answer. He believed Michael was rushing them because of his new found attitude, drilled in him in his time with the mercenaries, not because he was trying to get the job done and kill them quickly. He started sequencing events in his brain, realizing he took four of the best people that were at Camp Hearth at that moment.

“But why he waited after the dungeon?” he wondered. Loot was obviously the factor, but was that all there was? Lucas couldn’t tell and he dropped that line of thought. Fatigue was slowly descending on him, as adrenaline run its course and he fell asleep. His sleep was restless, nightmare haunting him, wearing faces from his party. In one moment John was accusing him of cowardice, in the next he saw Hannah mangled body. But for the most part, he kept seeing Michael with his rifle, aiming at him. One time only, he fired and flash filled Lucas vision, waking him up. Morning light was gently caressing all the eye could see, which wasn’t much, mind you, seeing as Lucas found himself deep into the forest. Although he felt fine physically, mentally he was still exhausted, nightmares preventing him from getting a good night of sleep. He still felt a enormous amount of grief and his dread, that was haunting him from the most part of the dungeon returned. He actually lost his whole party as he feared. Worse yet, he objectively wasn’t at fault for what happened, but he fell so dirty just running away, for all his, currently weak, rational part of the brain told him he didn’t have a choice. Outnumbered and without reserves, he stood no chance at besting ambushers or saving any of his team mates. He dropped down from tree, realizing how hungry he currently is. Knowing rations were in Michael’s bag, he instinctively turned around before remembering what transpired.

“Fuck” was all he could muster, unarmed and deep into the forest. Suddenly, it dawned on him he wasn’t unarmed, wooden gladius he took from dead dryads still with him. He pulled him from his belt and inspected it.

“Gladius of the Viridi

This gladius was made from a tree native to Viridi, aged two thousand years by mutation, which made its bark extremely hard and durable. Sharpen in the process of wood shaping, this sword can withstand even the heaviest assault.

+2 Strength

Durable”

“No change” Lucas noted as he tried a few test swings. Sword was almost as balanced for stabbing and piercing as his old rapier, but he couldn’t penetrate as deep with him due to his wider edge. What it could do, however, was making more internal damage if he managed to strike something important. He then remembered he leveled up so his called his status to check what’s new.

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Duelist level 35 (Skill points available: 2)

Attributes:

Strength: 37

Agility: 58

Constitution: 21

Intelligence: 30

Willpower: 25

Perception: 42

Charisma: 29

Luck: 30

Health: 735

Stamina: 3248

Mana: 750

Skills:

Eye for details

Duelist Grace

Dodge

Battle dance

Death of thousand cuts

Stinging cut

Punch parry

Mana Punch

Infused Piledriver

Equipment

Curated leather chest

Curated leather pants

Curated leather bracers

Ceramic – laced gorilla gloves

Curated leather greaves

Gladius of the Viridi

Quests

Help the Camp Hearth

Titles

Monster Slayer

Colossus Muncher

Home – schooled

Scenario dungeon diver I

He decided to throw his points into Agility and Charisma, two and one respectively, rounding them up. Not in the mood to check skills now, he closed the menus and went hunting. Without John’s keen eyes to guide him, Lucas had trouble finding any game. Just as he was getting desperate, a pair of stags appeared in his sight. Quickly activating “Eye for details” he identified them.

“Deep – Forest Stag level 29”

“Deep – Forest Stag level 30”

He prepared himself and activated his ultimate skill to start his spin and gain momentum, slamming into his target, a stronger stag, shredding into him but missing anything important due to shifted balance and gladius being a little bit heavier than what he was used to. As he anchored himself, his victim turned around to face him and instantly charged at him with his massive horns. Other stag was reluctant to join the fight and Lucas hoped it would stay that way. He activated “Dodge” and avoided the charge and as soon as he got up, he retaliated with a “Stinging cut” that proved effective with wider edge gladius possessed. Stag went down, thrashing in pain and that proved enough for the second stag to turn tail and run. Swinging with all his Strength, Lucas landed a blow in the stag’s head. Gladius went deep, almost splitting the head in half. Stag went limp and in few minutes Lucas was preparing him for a quick roast over the fire. Midday came and went with Lucas cooking and eating his hunt and when he was full he finally felt a bit better. He once again went into his thoughts, but this time instead of grief he started to formulate his next bits of action. He certainly wasn’t ready to live in the woods, so first order of business was to get to Camp Hearth where he also planned to turn in his quests and get some good equipment. After that, however, he planned to hunt down Michael and get revenge, both for himself and his party.

“Wait, it’s not like was too attached to them. I did a few odd jobs with John and Maraya was generally obnoxious. Only Hannah was someone I would consider a friend” Lucas corrected himself “I’m in it for me and only me” he corrected his reasoning. Not one to be undone, System responded to this plan.

“New quest: You felt the sting of betrayal and it left a deep mark on you, exacerbated by the fact it was done by someone you would consider not only a friend but a brother. You had decided to turn Heaven and Hell if necessary to find your betrayer and mete out your vengeance.

Rewards unknown”

“Weird, it was accepted automatically. And without rewards” Lucas mussed before he decided it wasn’t too important as it hadn’t change his plan at all. As he finished his introspection, he went up and started trekking back through the path he took yesterday, hoping his memory will serve him good. And serve him it did, as he found his way back with little trouble and just one wrong turn which he corrected before it led him too astray. After returning near the spot where dungeon once stood, he found telltale marks of battle that he knew happened here. Even better, with just a little strain of his Perception, he found marks that marked the way remaining troopers left and he decided to follow them, betting on them going towards the settlement. Soon enough, he was proven correct as he found himself at the edge of the forest, with a familiar sight in his eyes. Laying on a hill overlooking the forest from which Lucas emerged from west side and the flat lands that stretched in the east, Camp Hearth was a magnificent peace of architecture, combining elements from urban pre – System Earth architecture with a more System look of buildings that carried gaudy facades or prefabricated buildings that looked like they came straight from some sci-fi TV shows that people used to watch before the System came and made it reality instead of fantasy. Pair of crumbling skyscrapers dominated the entire city, only magic of some kind preventing them from collapsing, symbol of resilience and adaptability that Earth humans possessed. They became administrative centers of the city, where other buildings expanded from them in concentric circles. Camp Hearth itself was considered barely a medium sized city on this new Earth, being called home by some 150,000 souls. But in the collective mythology of Earth, it played a important part, being a settlement which held at bay last invasion force, a war host of centaurs that carried pretty modern weapon, courtesy of the System. Combined forces of humans, which were led by living legends and people that adapted the best to the new environment, fought themselves to the portal that marked center of the invasions and closed it, finally freeing Earth from the scourge of invasions and establishing humans as a race of multiverse. Tutorial vids that local Loremaster of Camp Hearth prepared and Lucas watched when it came the time for his initiation into the System showed that after that event Earth got half a century before integration into multiverse is completed and Earth became mappable for other species of the multiverse. And Lucas guessed a lot of them had a score to settle. But for him in the here and now only thing that mattered was to get to the skyscrapers and cash in his reward for a job done.