Chapter 10 – Verdant Expanse

Jake ripped his gaze from the portal, his eyes trying to adjust back to the darkness. A Skulker even larger than the one Jake had faced crashed into the wall. It stomped down the hallway, all muscle, hefting a ship’s anchor. It wore an assortment of scrap metal armour, with a helmet that entirely covered its face.

It smashed through a television, rupturing dry wall and everything in between. He’d never seen Edwin so scared.

He took a single second to glance behind him. It was a long corridor down with no promise of safety. His mana container was half empty, but what was worse was how exhausted he was. His arms felt like lead, his legs like they had weights tied to them.

“In here,” he said, pulling Sloane by the back of her shirt, and throwing her in. She squeeled, and before she could mutter a word of complaint, he had already joined her.

The others filtered, eyes widening in complete shock at the scenery they found themselves in. The lumbering monster appeared in the doorway.

Jake instantly placed both of the points he had gained from his reward of levelling up into strength, then with everything he had left, snapped a kick to the Skulker’s chest. It did little but make it stumble, but that’s all he needed.

He slammed the door shut.

Could it open it?

He asked himself that question a beat later, but the door simply vanished.

Uh oh.

“Jake,” Sloane asked, staring into the woodland. “What did you do?”

“Are you asking if I’m responsible for opening a portal to another world? Then no.”

Edwin glanced down at his crossbow. One of the limbs had snapped. He tossed it to the floor with a click of his tongue, then scanned his surroundings. “Where the hell are we?”

“The door said Verdant Expanse,” Jake said, looking at the crossbow on the floor. It was a sour reminder that he had left his own bow behind somewhere lurking in the disgusting water.

He scraped at his tongue as the memory of what the water tasted like resurfaced.

Not doing the trick, he ripped a handful of grass and chomped on it. It was bitter, but anything was better than that water.

Susan limped over. “Hey, Jake,” she asked, the madness gone. “Can you spare a heal?”

Jake first checked his mana container. He had enough for one more use, but he wagered that if he didn’t heal her right now, she’d bleed out in the next few minutes. In fact, she probably should have already bled out by now.

How much Vitality does she have? I wonder if, like me, her Trait (whatever it is), gave her a big boost?

“Sure,” he said but first assessed her wounds.

She had a massive gash from her chest to her shoulder, a gouge in her thigh, and a new set of nail trails across her face. He had her sit down.

It was obvious the system rewarded mastery. Because of that, Jake didn’t want to just heal the wound without a further thought. If he did that, then would he only be able to restore surface wounds for the rest of his life?

This time, he pressed his hand against the worst of her wounds—her thigh. Blood was gushing out; had it hit an artery? If it did, then it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. She grimaced at the pain, a faint bite of her lip. She was way more brave than he was.

Must be her Vitality. Maybe something to do with pain resistance? That would be handy to have…

He studied the wound and a full minute later, came up with the best way to focus his Minor Heal to make sure that it healed quicker and more effectively.

He healed it, trying to press the ability deeper than usual. With how strong the monsters were getting, a stronger healing skill was a necessity.

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Feeling that faint bout of weakness that usually arrived when he overtaxed his mana, Jake checked in on his Minor Heal Mastery progress as Susan thanked him and started tying up her other wounds.

It had just hit the 10% mark; it was as he had thought, using a skill with meaning, not just going through the motions, increased the mastery gain considerably.

You have entered the Verdant Expanse.

Exit condition: Slay the Goblin Chief.

Reward: 100 Credits.

Glenn wandered to where the door had just vanished. He looked around. “Where the hell is the door?”

“Wait,” Chloe breathed heavily from the sudden sprint in the hallway. “Does this mean we’re stuck here? What about the others?”