1.41 – Advancement

Under a hail of arrows and firebolts, Rika pulled further back toward the valley mouth. She kept her shield up, relying on its protection to save her from the worst of what the shamans and hunters could throw at her. For the zombies, she took whatever swings she could afford. They were slow, and she could pull back more quickly than they could advance. If not for the relentless barrage of ranged attacks, she’d have just turned her back on them and run to where Erik searched the huts.

At least this way she could thin their numbers a little. Although she wasn’t entirely certain what difference it made. From among the huts further in the valley, more and more zombies kept shambling her way. Although the three shamans weren’t any more—they’d probably run out of the ones she’d killed—there had to be plenty of bodies left near the altar at the far end of the valley. There also had to be plenty more shamans, too. She hadn’t gotten a count on them when she scouted the war camp, but she found it hard to believe that for a group this size there would only be the three.

As she drew within shouting distance of the huts, Erik called out to her. “I can’t move most of this, but I think you could.”

That settled it. She lunged forward and hit the closest lesser zombie with a Shield Slam. It stumbled back half a step, then she kicked it into the crowd. Ducking another hail of arrows, she turned and sprinted back to the hut. As she’d expected, she took two solid hits from the firebolts, while the third went wide.

The huts themselves were small, shoddy affairs. Little more than tents, really. Hides had been stitched together and stretched over a timber frame. The wood hadn’t been stripped of its bark, let alone cured. Being goblin-sized, Rika would have to stoop to make it under the rough doorframe with its ragged curtain.

“There’s some chests inside,” Erik said when she arrived. “Some broken wood, a cart, I think. It’s all looted. Nothing that would really block the whole entry, though.”

Rika glanced back at the zombies all shambling her way. “It’ll have to do,” she said. “Hopefully, this won’t take long.”

She poked her head inside the closest hut and saw what Erik had meant. Aside from the heaps of furs and dirty cloth the goblins used as bedding, the hut was basically filled with trash. The already cramped space had a stack of broken scrap wood, planks that had been snapped in half so they’d fit, sitting in a heap opposite the entrance. Likely meant for firewood, as she’d not seen any other means the goblins had of keeping their fuel dry. A wagon wheel lay on top of the heap, also broken into several pieces. Next to it, though, sat a large, sturdy chest. It was the sort that wealthier travelers stashed their belongings in, crafted of heavy wood and bound in iron. Still, between the chest and the broken-down wagon, she wasn’t sure if she had quite enough to barricade the door, despite its size.

Not as if they had many other options.

A firebolt streaked her way from the shamans. Rika brought up her shield and defended, then blocked the next too, as well. She didn’t have the luxury of ideal conditions. They’d have to make do.

“Inside,” she said, ducking back under the door frame.

Inside the hut was even more cramped than it had looked. While Rika wasn’t by any means tall, she still had to stoop under the low timber frame. Once Erik was inside the hut with her, taking up most of what little space they had, she shoved the chest up against the posts framing the doorway. Then she piled what broken pieces of the cart she could on top. The result was a shoddy barricade that wouldn’t hold against any real attempts to break through it, at least not for long.

Her best hope was that the zombies were too slow and too stupid to deal with it in time, and that whatever advancing to Grade II entailed would be quick enough that they wouldn’t both die during the process. She grimaced at the thought of going through what, in other circumstances, she’d have called the worst plan she’d ever come up with.

“Alright,” she said aloud, as much for Erik’s benefit as to alert Chryson. “Let’s do it.”

Rika’s vision turned black, and she barely felt herself fall before she stood in that endless black void once more. It was the same as when she’d been in her Trial of Destiny. In a place that was also somehow not, she stood on what felt like solid ground, in a blackness that was more like an absolute absence than anything else. All she could see was herself, a bloody and exhausted figure clad in armor and grasping at her last hope, and Chryson.

Chryson floated before her, his iris a swirl of cosmic lights. The utter blackness of his pupil reminded her of this space. Like the liminal space she stood in now was contained within that infinite blackness at his center. The four tendrils hanging down from beneath Chryson drifted as he unlocked the next stage of her class.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 19!

Name: Rika

Class: Dark Warrior (Basic, Rare)

Level: 19 (Grade I)

Affiliation: Adventuring Guild – Novice

• Stats Increased: Might +4, Finesse +4, Resilience +4, Magic +2, Control +2, Ward +4

• Primary Stats

  • Might – 39

  • Finesse – 39

  • Resilience – 39

  • Magic – 21

  • Control – 21

  • Ward – 39

The initial flood of power slammed into her. The impact was greater than all the previous ones, and somehow she realized it was because she was here, in this strange void that somehow was a critical part of her class. Through the flood of cosmic power she could only just contain, she forced out a single syllable.

“Gem.”

The rhombus next to her status winked out. The power flowing into and through her redoubled. Cosmic fire swept through her. The countless injuries she’d taken that Erik hadn’t quite healed yet vanished. Not in the uncomfortable and often painful process of bones twisting back into place before fusing together, or flesh pulling together as it closed. This was as though she’d simply been made whole by whatever power caused her to grow in strength as she leveled up.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 20! Grade Increased! You have reached Grade II! Stat gain per level increased!

Name: Rika

Class: Dark Warrior (Basic, Rare)

Level: 20 (Grade II)

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Affiliation: Adventuring Guild – Novice

• Stats Increased: Might +4, Finesse +2, Resilience +3, Magic +2, Control +2, Ward +3

• Primary Stats

  • Might – 43

  • Finesse – 41

  • Resilience – 42

  • Magic – 23

  • Control – 23

  • Ward – 42

• Class Features Upgraded

  • Mental Redoubt III – Duration and potency of mind-affecting conditions are reduced by 70%.
    Your mind is a fortress. Stand firm in the face of untold horrors.

• • Balance Defense III – Adds 70% Ward to physical defense. Adds 70% Resilience to magic defense.
    Might or Magic matters not. You endure, no matter the hardship.

  • Tempo II – Each consecutive hit in combat provides a moderate boost to damage (stacking, maximum 10). Effect ends after 6 seconds, or when receiving damage. Duration is refreshed upon activation.
    In battle, momentum carries the day. March forward to the drumbeat of victory.

• Class Skills Upgraded

  • Dark Strike III – High damage Dark aspected attack using an equipped melee weapon. 6 second cooldown.
    Harness the Dark and strike true, warrior.

• Class Skill Gained

  • Dark Counter I – Dark aspected shield enchantment. Absorb damage with an equipped shield to charge the skill. When fully charged, unleash a shockwave of Dark aspected damage. Deals high Dark damage proportional to the damage absorbed when fully charged. Automatically releases after 30 seconds (reduced damage). 2 min cooldown.
    Stand resolute before all. The Dark punishes those who would dare strike you.

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