Chapter 20: Temptation

Kaius’s legs shook as the undead pressed down on his sword. Leverage or not, it was a bad match up. Even at such a relatively low level its strength clearly exceeded his own. Regardless if he needed to train his skills or not, there had to be a better way than going toe to toe with undead in an avenue where he held none of the advantages.

A flick of his wrist disengaged their bind. Kaius pivoted his blade, sending the undead’s arming sword skittering down its length and away from his body.

**Ding! Block has reached level 3!**

“Still a bit too risky, I think.” He thought to himself as he stepped back to create some distance from the undead. Still, he would need to do it at some point, and blocking higher level creatures with a significant strength advantage would do wonders for his skill growth.

The undead charged back in, sword held ready to slash him. The dance continued unabated.

He relied on his footwork, allowing a few more stinging glancing blows that failed to penetrate his chainmail. He was careful to avoid anything that looked like it would allow the undead to connect with the full might of its strength. A simple side step or parry took care of those. Even if the chain held up and protected him from being eviscerated, a full force blow would be enough to splinter bone. He’d had enough grievous injuries for one day.

Finally, with a last glancing slash across his stomach, Kaius got the notification he had been waiting for.

**Ding! General Skill Available! Would you like to learn: Medium Armour Mastery (Uncommon)?**

A satisfied smile crossed his face as he saw that he had achieved his intended result from this unorthodox spar.

The final militiaman tried to capitalise on his momentary distraction, sword lashing out in a heavy chop. Its last attempt. Kaius parried the blow, lunging forwards as his sword screeched up the length of his opponent’s blade. The tip of his sword took it cleanly through its face, joined by a wet crunch as it pierced the bone.

**Ding! level 13 Wretched Militiaman slain**

Kaius rose from his lunge, flicking his sword to clear off the worst of the excess viscera. He wiped it briefly on one of the undead’s shirts, before returning it to its sheath.

As he walked back to his pack he pulled up his latest skills description

Medium Armour Mastery:

Level 1

Uncommon

If you are too slow? Too encumbered? You will get surrounded. Overwhelmed. If you forgo all but the slightest defence? You cannot avoid a horde. You die. Find the balance, and you might just survive.

Skill that increases the defensive efficacy and manoeuvrability of worn medium armour.

Each level slightly increases the integrity of worn medium armour.

Each level minutely decreases medium armour’s impact on range of motion.

Kaius nodded as he read the skill. Much like Light Armour Mastery, the gains were small at first but they added up quickly. Oh sure, it would take plenty of levels for something like soft copper to become as tough as steel, but that didn’t mean it was unnoticeable. Already he could feel the undersized chain chafing less at the pit of his arms, freeing up his movement. Even if only slightly.

He made a mental note of the small watch house that was adjacent to the cave entrance that carved a path away from the glade. It was a notable point of difference from its cousins that he had walked past on his circumnavigation. If he had come to know anything about the Depths, points of interest such as this served as a warning, and an indicator that it was worth a closer look.

A short walk and a quick investigation showed nothing of note in the building itself. A small table and a shattered chair sat in front of an opening facing towards the cave, but he found no great treasures or empowered opponents to cross blades with.

Whatever secrets were hiding, they were probably to be found further into the cave’s depths. He burned to explore it further, the familiar itch to poke around in unusual places rearing its head again.

Still, he had set himself a goal. Merge his next skill to guarantee a better degree of safety, and then go gallivanting around the depths.

He added the spot to his growing mental map of the underground glade and moved on. If he found nothing else of note in his exploration of the rim, it would be the first place he returned to when he was ready to move on.

As Kaius walked he finally had a moment to think.

He had spent a few weeks in the Depths now, time enough for the omnipresent anxiety that its dangerous confines induced to lull somewhat. There was only so much he could endure before the stress of it all simply muted, hyper awareness simply becoming his new normal.

He needed to find out the fate of his father, that fact was as solid as adamant in his mind. Kaius’s stomach clenched as he returned to the memory of the fateful morning where Father had forced him to flee. Screaming at him as he had stayed behind to confront the bandits.

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If he’d been able to drive them off, nothing would have stopped Father from searching for him. He would have followed the tracks, as his passage through the forest had been anything but measured and careful.