Chapter

Thirty-Seven

May as well get the bad news out of the way first. It was time to look at Scarred again and see if he’d missed anything. It was totally unfair. A fight to the death with an absurdly high-level undead, and he got a decrease to healing speed? He had to be reading that wrong. When he pulled up the status screen, there was a little more information.

Title: Scarred

An undead delivered a wound to your face that inflicted necromantic rot. You have been scarred.

Your wounds heal 10% slower.

This title cannot be lost while the wound or scar remains.

That sounded like the Title had come from some kind of ability or Skill. The wording “while the wound or scar remains” was promising, though. Hopefully that meant that there was something he could do to nullify it, or possibly even turn it into a positive?

He remembered back in his old world, there were internet communities who liked to come up with worthless superpowers and then find a way to exploit them to be crazy powerful. Your toast always lands on the butter side down? Put butter on both sides and you have infinite energy. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of an exploit for “your wounds heal slower.”

It was dumb because he wasn’t even scarred yet. Scarring was what happened later. You weren’t scarred when your wound was still bleeding. The cheek where he’d been punched ached, while the one where he’d been cut felt like it was on fire. He didn’t even have anything for it now, but he didn’t think he was in danger of bleeding out or anything. He could take care of it when he got home.

The next notification was more exciting.

Alert!

You have defeated:

Elite Undead Soldier Scout [32]

Due to level disparity extra experience will be rewarded.

Alert!

Your System is currently locked. Experience will be rewarded as free attributes.

+5 free attributes.

Please assign them within the next 13 hours or they will expire.

Brin pumped his fist. That was eight now. He could bring Dexterity, Will, or Vitality to the second threshold. Or if he put them all into Magic, he’d only need three more to get to the first threshold. Then he’d have the complete set.

He could do it, too. He didn’t need to fight monsters alone anymore; he already had that achievement. He just needed a bit more experience. Surely Hogg would help him with that.

It was also strange that Cadwy was only level thirty-two, when he was so much stronger, or at least faster, than the other undead he’d fought. The word Elite must be important. Levels weren’t always a good judge of how dangerous something was. He’d proven that tonight.

Congratulations!

You have upgraded an achievement.

Warbound (Epic)

Without aid, you have defeated an enemy soldier before unlocking your System.

You sing the song of the battlefield and your enemies fall before you.

+10% Dexterity. +50% experience from melee combat upgraded to +100%.

Skill granted: Battle Fury

Notice: System skills are locked pending full System access.

Oh come on! Why was he only rolling snake eyes today? The System had unlocked Monster Sense for him, but not Battle Fury? That was unfair. He couldn’t wait to find out what it did. It sounded awesome.

Although, the 100% experience increase was incredible. He’d basically level up twice as fast as anyone else, from melee combat, at least. He was starting to realize he didn’t actually like melee combat. Too much of a chance of getting his face cut to pieces, even when he won. He should really learn to use a bow.

The notifications weren’t finished.

Congratulations!

You have gained an achievement.

Filial Piety (Epic)

You performed a noble act of service to your father at great risk to yourself, freeing his captive soul from those who bound him in servitude.

Extra resistance against mental manipulation, soul manipulation, and Mana pool manipulation.

You may also pick one of the following options:

Strength of arm to match your strength of character

Mental fortitude to always know what must be done

Magical growth to gain more wisdom of the world

Brin didn’t have to think about the choice for long. He selected magical growth.

You have received:

+100% Magic attribute growth.

He had been hoping it would be a straight-up increase to Magic to push him over the threshold, but still it was an unexpected boon. He had never considered that man his father, but apparently it counted even if it was only your birth father. The 100% Magic attribute growth was like water in the desert. Hogg had made light of the regular +10% attribute growth he’d gotten with other achievements, saying it didn’t mean much against the natural rule of diminishing returns from training your attributes, but 100% still had to be something special. He might even be able to train up to twenty-six using the Mana drainer, never mind getting Hogg to help him hunt monsters.

As far as the other stuff was concerned, it was kind of scary to hear the System talk about soul manipulation. Was that something that could happen? Hopefully that just meant being bound as an undead. Cadwy hadn’t seemed all that bothered by the experience. And mind manipulation? What did that look like? Would he even know if it was happening to him? Well, better to know what was out there and have resistance to it, rather than not know and be vulnerable.

Things were looking up, but he was feeling… down.

The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off, and now the pain from his wounds was starting to overwhelm him. The burning cut, the aching bruises, not just on his face, but everywhere. Was there any part of his body that didn’t get hurt somehow? Even the spider bites from earlier were painfully itchy.

He grabbed everything from the area he felt he should. His sword. The spear. The head of his father. He needed proof of what he’d seen tonight. Hogg would believe him, but he figured the town would need to see a zombie head for it all to sink in.

He stumbled back south… ish. Night was falling and he couldn’t find the sun behind the clouds.

His journey felt long, although he probably only went ten steps before Hogg caught him.

“Oh, thank G—thank Solia,” said Brin. “Were you watching?”

“Of course I was watching,” said Hogg.

“You said you weren’t going to watch.”

“Of course I said I wasn’t going to watch. Otherwise you’d have known there was a safety net and your rewards would’ve been smaller,” said Hogg. “Look, you can trust me. Just not always my words.”

Hogg eased Brin onto the ground and then started digging around in a satchel. He had that and a backpack—Brin’s backpack. The one with Marksi in it.

Hogg himself looked pale and worried. Oh, he’d probably heard all that stuff about the army.

“I didn’t like it. I knew you wouldn’t want me to intervene in that fight, not when it still looked like you were going to make it, but just sitting there watching you fight for your life and not doing anything? I didn’t like it. I really—” Hogg stopped abruptly, frowning hard.

“Thanks,” said Brin. “Thank you for trusting me. And thank you for looking out for me. Next time, you can step in.”

“There isn’t going to be a ‘next time.’ Your days of going off on our own are done, you hear me? You want to get stronger, you’re doing it the normal, slow way.”

“Fine with me. But Marksi⁠—”

“Huh? He’s fine. He’s in here. Sleeping.” Hogg absently patted his backpack, then apparently found what he was looking for in the satchel. It was a white square. An adhesive bandage of some kind. He pressed it against Brin’s cut cheek.

He hissed when it felt like he’d been stabbed all over again, this time by something cold, but the pain soon faded, and it took the burning pain with it, drawing it out like oil from the desert. From the corner of his eye, he saw the bandage turn black and start to steam.

“He got you with something potent here. Lucky I got to it,” said Hogg.

“Was it… poisoned? I didn’t know they used poison,” said Brin.

“Probably a Skill of some kind.”

“I got a Title off that. Scarred. It’s a permanent ten percent loss to my healing speed,” said Brin.

Hogg winced in sympathy. “Stronger undead have permanent debuffs. Nasty stuff, that. Scarred can be fixed, but it’ll take a specialist. Nobody like that in the Boglands. There are other ways to turn it around, though.”

Hogg prodded his spider bites, then took out an ointment and started dabbing it on.

“Ok, but Marksi, he ate something,” said Brin.

Hogg paused. “What?”

“Some kind of stone. Probably a beast core, from the Fecal… Falafel…”

“Facaldagart.”

“Yeah, that.”

“Bit of an expensive snack, but he can probably handle it. We’ll keep an eye on him.”

Brin sagged in relief. “Oh, good.”

“Alright, where else are you hurt?” asked Hogg.

“My chest?”

“Nothing broken, but you’ll be sore in the morning,” said Hogg. “You’re bleeding somewhere else. I can smell it.”

Brin tried to think. There’d been so much today that trying to think of every time he’d been hit was difficult for his frazzled mind. The spiders had bit him, and the giant lizard had knocked him around, but the armor had protected him. The undead soldier… Oh, right. His arm.

He held up his forearm. “I’m surprised you couldn’t just, you know, see in the dark.”

“We don’t know what else is watching. I’d rather not turn the lights on,” said Hogg.

Brin held up his lighter with the other hand and created a candle-sized flame. His forearm looked worse than he remembered it being. Blood ran through the rent in the armor and down to his elbow.

“I think I can glue this shut,” said Hogg, and reached into the rent with a dab of a green substance that smelled like rotten spinach. It stung when it touched the skin. Hogg pinched the cut closed, and the bleeding stopped soon after.

“Next time I go on an adventure, I’m bringing medical supplies,” said Brin.

“You think?” asked Hogg.

Hogg dug in his rucksack again and brought out a small yellow bottle. “Drink this.”

Brin examined it. Ten silver. He knocked it back and it tasted like nothing, but somehow had a really terrible limey aftertaste.

He started feeling warm. Light. The pain in his body seemed to melt away, and the fog in his mind lifted. He’d really been fading there for a second; now that he was back to himself, he could tell.

He wasn’t just free from pain, he felt good. Energetic. He could run the entire way back home.

“What is that stuff?” asked Brin. “You’ve been holding out on me! I know it wasn’t that expensive, so why aren’t we drinking that all the time?”

“Because it’s absurdly addictive. I’m not even going to tell you what it’s called, because you’re going to be craving it for the next two days. Also, it doesn’t actually fix what’s wrong with you. You’re still going to be very sore in the morning, and now your headache will be ten times worse.”

“Huh,” said Brin. Sure that didn’t sound the best, but right now he didn’t care. He tested winding his arms around in circles, marveling at how all the soreness was just gone. “So you heard all the stuff my zombie dad told me?”

“I did!” Hogg’s face lit up. “It’s great. Well, no, it’s terrible. The worst possible scenario. But at least now we know. Finally. I’ve been in the dark for so long, imagining every possible nightmare, and now finally we have something to go off of.”

“What are we going to do about it? We have to tell everyone,” said Brin.

“Already on it. I have a mirror image in Oud’s Bog as we speak, dictating letters to send to every corner of the nation, and hopefully it won’t matter if they arrive or not, because I have eyes heading to the capitol and the Tower, as well as the front lines with the same message. Soon, everyone will know. We need to warn the town, too, though. You should take that head to the Prefit. Tell him everything you saw and heard. The undead, the army, and don’t forget to mention that a certain [Weaver] manipulated a child into near certain death. She may have saved us all, but that kind of thing is illegal around here, or so I hear.”

“Got it,” said Brin with a smile. “But what are you going to do?”

Hogg looked off into the forest, then back at Brin, clearly conflicted. “I have to go after them. They can fool my illusions, but I can track them in person. This might be our one chance to find the real army. Even with the letters, and even if it’s me saying it, if we don’t have the army, then…”

“Go,” said Brin.

“But—”

“You should go! Get going now, the trail is getting cold! I’ll be fine,” said Brin. “I’m going straight back to town, and you just came from that direction. There’s nothing there. I’ll be safe. Just make sure you come back, ok?”

Hogg clenched his jaw. “Arg! Fine. I’m keeping a mirror image with you, just in case.”

A fake Hogg popped up next to Brin, and the real one disappeared into the forest.

Brin shrugged. “Well, I guess I’ll be getting back.”

He started walking with Hogg’s mirror image by his side. He didn’t engage the man in conversation. Hogg was doing at least three things at once right now, and it wouldn’t be helpful to pull away any of his attention. He contented himself with the cool night air and the feeling that the danger was finally over.

It was probably the drug potion Hogg had given him, but he felt good. Content. It was a beautiful night. The clouds were blocking the stars, but the rain had stopped and the world felt fresh, and that beautiful after-rainstorm aroma hung in the air. It was quiet, as the birds and bugs were still asleep from the cold and rain, but he figured they’d start chirping any moment now.

Hogg knew where to go, so Brin followed him, hands on the back of his head.

With no warning, Hogg’s illusion disappeared. A second later, Brin heard crunching footsteps behind him—loud walking so he wouldn’t be startled. It was Hogg, the real one.

“Nope. I don’t feel good about it. I’m not letting you walk back alone. I’ll pick up the trail later if I can, but only after I see you safe in town.”

“That’s stupid,” Brin pointed out. “Even if I die on the way back, which I won’t, the army is more important. Figuring out where the army is could save thousands.”

Hogg shook his head. He walked right past Brin, moving quickly so that Brin had to trot to keep up. “I was thinking, see? I was thinking about what the [Weaver] done. She used you, she messed with your mind playing all those games, pushing you to get stronger and meaner. Oh well, people are mean sometimes, I thought. Lots of people are mean to children because they just don’t like children. [Weaver] at least, she got a reason, right? [Weaver’s] always got a reason.”

Hogg was slipping into an accent, one Brin didn’t really recognize. Hogg never had the most meticulous diction, sure, but this was new.

“Maybe it was a good one,” said Brin, not knowing why he was sticking up for someone he truly didn’t like.

“Yeah, but then tonight. She put you in danger with her ‘choice’ that was no choice at all. And I… I went along. That’s what I’ve been doing wrong, see? A village elder, she can say ‘One must die for the good of all,’ but a parent, that’s something different. Parents protect their kids no matter what, even if all the rest of the world burns for it. I had no call to let her do that to you. I should have put a stop to it.”

“I didn’t want you to,” said Brin.

“That’s the truth. Well, so what? That’s also part of being a parent. I should have done it anyway. I should have told you that you had to take a break once in a while and have some fun, rather than training all day every day.”

“I’m not a child. I⁠—”

“Grown-ups need someone to tell them that, too. You have one week of childhood left and I learn all this now. Noctis’ starry abyss, I’m a slow study.”

Brin put a hand on his shoulder, awkward because of how quick he had to walk to keep up. “I think you’re doing just fine. You’re trying. I can see that, and it’s all I ever asked.”

Hogg grunted.

They walked along, and Brin expected his energy drink to wear off, but if anything the effect just got stronger and stronger, until he started feeling like they were going too slow. Yeah, people really shouldn’t be drinking this stuff. It hadn’t even worn off yet and he already wanted another one.

“What’s she doing now?” asked Brin.

“She’s with the Prefit,” said Hogg.

“What are they talking about?”

“I don’t usually eavesdrop on people I know, but… yep. She’s flirting with him. Awkwardly. He’s not having it. I’m shutting that out.”

Brin laughed at the scandalized expression on Hogg’s face.

“Hey, so listen, I was thinking,” said Brin. Now was as good a time as any to bring up the Magic threshold thing. He figured he’d start with asking Hogg to skip town, and when he shot that down he’d ask Hogg to help him hunt monsters. Better chance of getting a yes on the second question. “System Day is in a week, and frankly it sucks. It’s completely unfair that I’m losing out on almost six months of preparation just because this town has a stupid Skill. Is there any chance you could get me to another town and register residency there so I’d have a bit more time?”

To his surprise, Hogg actually took the time to mull it over. Then he nodded. “Sure, we could do that.”

Brin stumbled over his own feet, tumbling to his knees. Hogg helped him up.

“You mean… just like that?”

“Well, why not? I mean, I want to protect my home. But I also want to protect you, and frankly, Lumina would thank me if I took you away from the center of the coming disaster. There are plenty of places that would be safer than Hammon’s Bog for the next year or two, looks like. I could get you to Eduard’s Bog in a day, or Oud’s Bog in three days if we hurry. Hammon’s Bog won’t miss me if I’m just gone for a week or two. I reckon they won’t miss you at all.”

Brin laughed. “No, I imagine they won’t.”

A notification appeared.

Alert!

You have reached majority.

Your System will be unlocked.

Please prepare for Class Selection.

“What? What, no. That can’t be right!” Brin said, desperately trying to blink away the notification. “I still have a week!”

“What is it? What’s going on?” Hogg searched Brin’s eyes.

“It’s saying I’m unlocking my System. Can people spoof System messages?” asked Brin.

Hogg’s eyes glazed over. “Damn it all! The Prefit did this! Tawna had him move System day up a week!”

“What? Why?”

“More like, how did she know what we were just talking about? It can’t be anything else, can it? She doesn’t want us to leave. Burn her! And burn this town! They can’t do this to you.”

“What should I do?”

Hogg wiped his face with his hands. “Get ready, I guess. Let’s find someplace dry so you don’t wake up soaking wet.”

Hogg found a pine and swiped away the lower branches with one slash of his shortsword, making a nice covered little area where they could sit on dry pine needles.

Brin sat, in shock. Well, no, the sad part was he wasn’t shocked. He knew, somehow, that they were going to take it away from him.

He had to make a quick decision. Vitality was higher than Dexterity. He put six points into Vitality, bringing it up to the second threshold. Notifications announced that he got the expected Lively II and upgrade to Workhorse. He didn’t read them. He put the last three points into Magic, bringing it up to eighteen. Hopefully it would be enough.

Hogg couldn’t even look at him. The old guy’s jaw was clenched so tight it looked like he might break his teeth, and he kept gulping.

Brin sighed. “I’m ready.”

Class Selection Initiated.