Lucas watched intently as they were casually strolling towards the barrack. As the former headquarters of the Town Guard, there wasn’t much distance from where they currently were to them, but even that short distance was filled with desperate and twitchy people, shockingly wandering the streets, calling the names of their family and loved ones and quarrelling among themselves. Somewhere even fights were popping out and Lucas, with the help of his party, already stopped a few of them as he was passing by. Even better, Bruce was already out in full force, the remaining force getting the hint when the first volley dropped and now already on the scene, bringing order and helping the people scour their former homes in search of the valuables or remaining survivors. Overall, the scenes were grisly and not for the one with faint of hearts, especially with the air despair hanging above the people who already searched the wreckages of their homes, assuring their loved ones are dead. It was hard to determine the amount of people dead, but seeing as thee blocks surrounding the skyscrapers held the most people, estimates being that nearly two third of the people inhabiting the Camp Hearth lived in those parts. Due to the indiscriminate nature of the spells and skills launched, the final death toll was sure to be high. It was now up to Lucas to find the man responsible for this before he skips town and once again dish out vengeance. Even with their casual stroll, they were standing near the barracks in less than five minutes. There, Bruce stood, flanked by two adventurers that were part of the people released from their cells when all of this started. He was doing the final choice speech, the remaining troopers listening intently and predictably choosing the option that left them live. The two adventurers moved to escort them out of town and Bruce turned to meet Lucas.

“Good job on the fast response. You saved a lot of lives today” he said. After finishing, he registered Margaret, who was still on Lucas’s back. He frowned and casted an inquisitive glance to Lucas. Lucas recounted the tale of they met, ending with how Margaret got in the state she was now.

“Is there any way to remove the block?” he finally asked Bruce.

“Of course, but are you sure that is wise?” Bruce asked back.

“She risked herself to help me. I will personally see to that matter if I have to” Lucas responded, adamant.

Bruce sighed and approached Margaret. He politely asked her to share her status with him, which she immediately did. Bruce looked at it a little bit and after some time, Margaret yelped happily.

“Yay, I’m free. Now, if you will leave me here. My expertise will be more of the use here” Margaret said, slowly gliding from Lucas’s back. He looked at her inquisitively and she threw a shit – eating grin at him.

“Hey, big boy, after this is finish we can continue to hang out. Here we have people injured. I have seen you fight, the General will not be a match for you” she said and Lucas nodded while the rest of the party chuckled. Turning to Bruce, Lucas asked for information.

“He is holed up in his office. I basically got the confirmation his archivist is a Loremaster, especially well versed in level interactions. I would like to ask you to bring him alive, if possible. I want to extract his knowledge, because he was hiding it from the rest of us.” Bruce responded to Lucas’s inquiry.

Not much left to say, Lucas and the rest of the party, minus Margaret who was already on her way to take care of the wounded, entered the barracks. Eerie silence that followed them on their every step darkened their mood, air of death and desperation spreading from the point in which presumably the Generals office was. Focusing more on the feeling, he realized it wasn’t just his imagination. There were real echoes of those emotions, mixed in with anger and confusion. But as he soon realized, the overwhelming fear was fear, with was almost suffocating now that Lucas know what to look for. H already had his suspicion what he had just felt, but the System saw it fit to spell it out.

“Congratulations! You have learned Aura Detetction”

“Wow, at this time. System, you really do have sick sense of humor” he sent a mental barb at the System. The System remained silent, after all this time still not responding to Lucas. He navigated to his skills submenu, trusting his teammates to keep an eye out while he read what the skill does.

Aura detection (Common)

A basic skill for detecting auras. The efficacy of the detecting is boosted by Perception and Intelligence.

Cost: None

“Stingy with the description, aren’t you?” Lucas asked the System who didn’t deem important to answer the question, once again remaining silent. Adding a mental note to ask Bruce about it, the question going on the growing pile of thing he needed tutoring on, Lucas closed everything and focused on the door. From there, the stench of fear was the strongest, giving him the feeling he was about to find the General behind them. Ted took point, kicking his legs and knocking the doors down. Loud booms were heard as soon as the door fell down, Ted’s armor throwing sparks as it intercepted the attack. They rushed into the room, finding the man in uniform, his gray hair and long pointed nose dominating the landscape of his face, his pistol now hopelessly laying on the table. In the other corner of the room stood a thin man with mouse like features and thin moustache. He was already on the ground, his hand in front of him while he whimpered. Lucas nodded to his party, Chen and Maggie separating to secure the man Lucas perceived was the archivist of the troops. The man behind the desk had his full attention, Lucas was almost able to physically taste the fear and despair emanating through his aura. Drawing his sword, he approached the man.

“Tell me, why hadn’t you skip town when you had the chance?” Lucas asked the man, feeling there was no need for the any kind of preamble.

“To what end? I was almost ruined once by the scum like you. If I retreated now, what would I have left?” he said and begun laughing hysterically, his mind hanging on by a thread in the face of almost certain death.

“You could find work somewhere, grind your level and leave in peace. I found the one I was looking for, I wouldn’t have chased you down” Lucas announced and the man just continued his laugh, fear and pure madness completely overtaking his aura. Lucas was getting nauseated just by sensing the emotions radiating from the man and he raised his sword, aiming to finish this. There was a big deal in the pre – System stories, that the last antagonist, the final boss was the hardest fight which tested the mettle of the hero before he overcame it and ride into the sunset with his princess or a prince. But, Lucas wasn’t a hero and this wasn’t the pre – System Earth. His sword find his mark easily, piercing through flesh and bone to find the heart of the General. After making contact with it, the man left out few lasts laughs that were more coughs really and then simply went limp on his chair, prompt informing Lucas the deed was done.

“You have slain Rick Alston, the General, Charming Grifter level 61”

“You have slain the current owner of the Camp Hearth. You are now the new owner”

“Congratulations! You are now Duelist level 44”

“Congratulations! You are now Duelist level 45”

“Stat allocation in progress…”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“Stat allocation completed”

“Class evolution detected”

The arrival of the last announcement stirred Lucas. He declined the last options he had when he reached level 40 due to the fact they were either to boring or just didn’t fit with how he evaluated himself. He didn’t harbor any hope that anything will be different now, but unlike last time, he didn’t had previews given by Bruce to evaluate. He opened his options to see what he got.

Harbinger of doom

You are the vanguard of doom, you arrival bringing misfortune to anybody who you meet. As you travel the multiverse, your skills and abilities will soften the people for the doom that always follow in your wake. This comes with the benefits of powerful spells that lets you unleash powerful magical and mental attacks on your enemies, giving them a preview of what awaits them when doom arrives.

On level up: +4 Intelligence, +4 Willpower, +2 Perception, +3 free points

The System seemed hellbent on turning him into a caster, as he also had several of the caster classes on last time he was offered. He instantly passed on it, although he did note the amount of stat class gave, marking it as a very powerful one. There was the second choice and Lucas dive right into it.

Sword of doom

When your enemies see you as the doom incarnate, you slowly start to become one. You are walking catastrophe, a death sentence for anybody foolish to wrong you or stand against you. While some fight for glory, other for the thrills, your fighting style is purely based on winning and killing your opponents in the most efficient way.

On level up: +5 Agility, +4 Strength, +2 Perception, +2 free points

Lucas was actually presently surprised by the class he got offered. It seemed to follow what he was doing in combat, even cutting on the flash which he also cut during the duration of the week, opting instead to kill his opponent quickly. He was now rarely using “Death by the thousand cuts” and “Stinging cut”, skills which were the definition of flash, opting instead for the “Guiding strike” and “Spin strike” which dropped his opponent more quickly. System, no matter how uninterested it seems, take note of everything and now was offering Lucas a more powerful class if he accepted the fact his youth days are over, when he could fight carelessly and with a style that impressed the lady. His opponents were now playing for keeps and Lucas guessed he was ought to do from now on. He commanded to accept the class he was reading and System responded.

“Change class

Y/N”

Accepting, Lucas was flooded with the flood of prompts and the sensation that overtook his whole body, making the world around him go blank.