Chapter 11 – On the Move (Patreon)

The monsters didn’t have much on them. More nondescript monster meat and nothing else. Luke wondered if the Rogue knew what they dropped and hadn’t bothered to loot them.

When they arrived back at the upper floor, everybody was up, including the Gladiator, minus one arm. She looked forlornly at her shield, then at the mace on her hip.

She might not be able to use a mace and shield again, but at least she was alive.

Tracy’s eyes were glazed as she glanced at them, hardly registering their appearance.

Ed peeled off to go talk to her and Rachel. Luke tried not to watch him. If he decided to spin a story, there was nothing he could do about it.

Luke and John shared a glance and went off to the side to talk. Using his superior Dexterity, Luke palmed a health potion into John’s disbelieving hands.

“I found one downstairs, so now you don’t have an excuse if you die,” Luke told him. “I’m not going to have that hanging over my head.”

John put it into a pocket on his forest-green cloak and nodded with a chuckle. “I knew there was an optimist in there somewhere. You say you’re a pragmatist, but if you were, you’d keep it for yourself until I needed it and otherwise keep it against your own wounds.”

Luke shook his head. “Hardly. I can’t be everywhere at once. What if a monster broke in while I’m out on a hunt and you or somebody else gets hurt? I don’t want to come back to a camp that’s been wiped out.”

There was a twinkle in John’s brown eyes.

“What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

John slung an arm around Luke’s shoulders and grinned at him. “Because you were just talking about a camp! You were planning for the future and that future included us. I admit that your reputation with the group is a bit low right now–”

“More like in the basement.”

“–but we can fix that.” He patted Luke on the chest. “It’ll all be water under the bridge soon enough. So, buck up, we’ll work on it all right? You belong with us Luke, you’ve got a place here. Don’t forget that.”

Luke nodded as John led them over to the group at large. The entire time, Luke was trying hard to ignore the itching sensation at the back of his mind that was his Rogue skill selection.

Prompted by John, he told the others what he saw, leaving out the fight with the Rogue and the dead monsters below. Ed caught his eye once or twice, but for a wonder gave nothing away.

“All right,” John said once Luke had given his advice. “I, for one, am inclined to trust his assessment. Monsters were literally making a nest above our heads. I think it’s a good call to move out. Find a new defensible location, preferably one story, and decide from there. All in favor?”

Hands went up, though not as many as Luke would have thought. He struggled not to let the disappointment show on his face, but he had to remember that these people were all office workers.

As dangerous as this tower was, far more dangerous than he had originally thought, it was shelter of a kind. Anything could be outside, and that was scary.

The vote still ended up in favor of moving. Everybody gathered up their things and began the slow, careful march down the stairs. They headed down the tower aided by the two lanterns Luke and Ed found. One in the front and another in the rear.

Alice figured out the trick to imparting mana to the lanterns first. Which made sense. She had been using mana the most out of all of them. Though, it was possible she had a knack for magic.

Luke didn’t waste any time learning the trick from her. She seemed happy enough to teach him, too.

It took a few false starts for Luke to successfully push mana up through his arm and out his palm. And then it took a couple more tries to muster enough force to slip the mana out of his body and into the object he was holding. Physical contact seemed essential, though maybe he could surpass that limitation with practice.

He didn’t bother to mess with the lanterns, but instead instilled mana into his belt.

He would have refilled all his daggers, but he didn’t want to bring attention to his extra belt. That would only lead to questions about where he got it, and he wasn’t ready to admit that he killed someone. He didn’t even want to think about it.

Ed elected to lead the way, giving Luke the cover to go over his notifications.

You have Rogue skills to select.

Time Remaining: 3h:15m:17s

Luke winced. So he couldn’t defer selecting his skills forever. Considering the time left, it seemed there was initially a 4-hour window to select the skills. He didn’t want to know what happened when it hit 0.

He quickly looked at his available Rogue skills.

[Novice Stealth (Common)]

(Rogue Class Skill)

Blend into the environment to hide your presence, reducing the sound of your actions and the chance for other entities to detect you. While under the effects of Stealth, sneak attacking increases your chances of landing a critical hit. Adds a slight bonus to the influence of Perception, Dexterity, and Endurance when using this skill.

That was pretty good. Luke had to admit, he was more than happy to be even quieter than he was. That seemed to be a core function of a Rogue, and if not for Ed being bait, the Rogue might have discovered him.

If he had stealth, that might have been different. Likely, the Rogue did have it considering how silently the man moved. Luke wasn’t even sure how he had noticed him. He certainly hadn’t heard him.

Which kind of makes stealth a little less useful, he thought to himself. If you could still see a person using stealth, then that significantly diminished its utility.

[Lacerate (Common)]

(Rogue Class Skill)

With a slashing weapon, deliver a debilitating blow that inflicts a [Bleed] affliction. Repeated use generates stacks of [Bleed] affliction and lengthens the duration. Increased effectiveness against vulnerable vital points and unarmored enemies. Adds a slight bonus to the influence of Dexterity and Strength when using this skill.

That was a more impressive skill. [Lacerate] would be his first offensive skill, which made it incredibly desirable. If it worked how it seemed, then he might be able to trigger the effect with his throwing daggers.

With enough speed, he could keep out of range and bleed out any opponent from a safe distance, effectively being a poor-man’s Archer. It wasn’t great, but it meant he could go in for the kill, apply [Bleed] and then dip out again to let the affliction finish off his opponent.

Earmarking [Lacerate], Luke moved on to the last skill.

[Lockpick (Common)]

(Rogue Class Skill)

Defeating locked chests, barred doors, and trapped rooms is a hallmark of the Rogue. With tools ranging from high-end magical implements to a bent piece of wire, you’ll be able to pass through the most secure locations like a breeze in the night. Adds a slight bonus to the influence of Dexterity and Perception when using this skill.

Disarming traps seemed incredibly important and considering their environment of ruins, even more so than usual. Now, if they were out in the middle of the woods, it would be a lot less tempting.

On the other hand, [Lacerate] would help him gain more experience and therefore hit level 10 even faster. Unless he gained experience for using [Lockpick] it didn’t satisfy the one requirement, he had: to enhance his leveling.

By the time they headed out into the golden light of sunset, Luke had picked up [Lacerate] and was pleased to find that using any bladed weapon would trigger the effect.

If he ever bothered to pick up a bow and arrow, that would trigger [Lacerate] as well. Not that he intended on doing that. If anything, he preferred to keep using his daggers.

They were small, nondescript, and easy to throw multiple at a time. He had thoughts about using a crossbow, but they were so big and clunky that it seemed almost antithesis to being a Rogue.

Luke headed up the rear, with Ed up ahead and John beside him holding the other lantern. He didn’t mind being in the back despite having the best Perception.

He placed his free point from level 5 into Strength, bringing it up to a total of 20. It was oddly frustrating to see it sitting at 19. Besides, his Dexterity was beginning to rapidly outpace his Strength thanks to both his [First-Rate Soloer] title and his [Ambidextrous] race skill.

If he wanted to keep focused on dealing as much damage as possible, he needed to keep putting points into Strength.

If only they had been this quiet in the beginning, Luke found himself thinking a few hours later as they weaved through a warren of tumbled ancient pillars that leaned drunkenly against one another.

There was no end to the ruins, and the going was painfully slow unless they were willing to climb a pile of rubble and be backlit by the setting sun where anybody with a bow and arrow could take them out.

Not that anybody seemed to think that likely.

Luke had tried to suggest–rather heavily–that the monsters would easily be able to see them if they stood somewhere high. Nobody wanted to run into another monster, and for the time being, Luke was happy to go along with that instead of convincing them of the real threat: other people.

He wanted to be far away from the tower when that Rogue’s friends went looking for him. No doubt there were other murderers like him. Without a body to find, they would probably think a monster got him.

It was the most likely cause for death unless everybody had gone all Mad Max. Every so often an inhuman shriek echoed across the stones, but due to the way the half-crumbled streets and buildings were set up, it was impossible to tell where it had come from.

They came across a small group of strange snuffling creatures, like a cross between rats the size of golden retrievers and, strangely enough, buffalo. They had odd horns spread across their heads like a unibrow of pain.

The creatures were only level 1 and despite taking out half a dozen of them with the group, Luke didn’t level up once. This confirmed his theory that the experience was split between each person. With 8 members in the group, even if there was a hefty bonus, it was still split heavily.

It was hard to watch Tracy fight, if only because she could only use either a shield or her mace at one time. Every so often, she would try to reach for the other and her stump would wiggle.

Eventually, she defaulted to using a shield and defending the others.

Grumbling stomachs forced them to stop for the night in a small sequestered section of the ruins that was impossible to see into until you were face to face with the occupants. It was one of the better spots they could find.

It was obscure enough that John figured any hostile creatures looking for others would wander right past it, while having three sturdy walls to back up against should they need to fight something.

Luke struggled not to see it as a death trap. With a good group of adequate fighters, they could hold out here against a much larger force. But these people? Luke felt unaccountably claustrophobic, knowing he was counting more on security-through-obscurity more than anything.

His group gathered to rest around a pile of stones full of ashes that resembled an old, used-up fire pit.

It was a difficult choice between building a fire to cook some monster meat and risk discovery by monsters or eating raw food.

In the end, the fire was risked just because the bathroom situation left a lot to be desired. Nobody wanted to get sick. Things were hard enough as it was. People needed something to keep morale going.

Thankfully, Janet was a surprisingly good outdoorswoman and knew how to start a fire easily enough with the detritus they had found. Her [Mana Bolt] made the old wood burn readily, and they soon had a tough and bland, but filling meal.