22. Calamity

His boots were filthy. Mud clung to them, streaked with dried blood. He wasn’t sure how that had happened—he had stayed far from the fight.

The wounded. That made sense. And he hadn’t washed them after.

He clicked his tongue.

He would have to take care of that.

“Dareth,” Revel said. He wasn’t sure if it was the second or third time she had called his name.

Ugh.

His neck kept itching, so he scratched it. Again.

He would probably need to say something. He didn’t want to. It was getting uncomfortable. Fifteen people, all staring at him. Waiting didn’t seem to help.

Maybe he didn’t need to say much. It was just a tier five spell.

Well… it had cost as much mana as a tier nine. And he had barely managed three seconds. The nightmare had messed with his judgment.

He cleared his throat and looked toward them.

The ground had been easier to look at. This… wasn’t. His skin prickled all over. His mana was almost gone. That tended to happen whenever he got in a mood like that. Not ideal.

“What’s up?” he asked, stretching.

“H-How did you do that?”

“With a spell?” he said, tilting his head.

She shook her head. “That was at least a High Mage-level spell.”

“Tier five,” Adolin said.

Her expression didn’t change like the others. She was the one who had analyzed his spell.

He didn’t really care, but it was good to know who could analyze spells. It had looked like a basic one, not something high-tier.

“Tier five?” Edrin said. “How can that spell be tier five?”

Adolin just shrugged.

How was he supposed to answer that? His mentor had taught him that spell when he was still a regular mage. He hadn’t used it in years. But it worked well on lesser monsters. It had been useless on the demon continent. There were no lesser beasts there. Only monsters that could massacre a village in a single night. Well… there were lesser creatures. But they did their best to avoid his party.

“Dungeon skill book?” Clay said.

They mentioned the dungeon again. He still had no idea what that was. It was getting harder to live without a library in his pocket. Well, now that he thought about it… he should get himself a few bookshelves once he had access to the blessing’s storage.

“I don’t know.”

Too many questioning looks. Ugh.

“My master taught me.”

“Your master?” Revel asked.

He nodded. His mind swirled, trying to find a way out of the conversation. He could just walk away and hope they didn’t follow him. It felt wrong. It also felt right. As long as they didn’t follow him.

He still nodded at the question.

The stares were getting even more uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure how that was even possible. Some were whispering. Some even seemed to realize they were making him uncomfortable and avoided his gaze.

Edrin made a small gesture with his hand, and everyone looked away.

“Good job,” he said, stepping forward and hitting his shoulder.

Adolin blinked.

His men followed. “Great job, kid,” one said, hitting him even harder on the shoulder.
Then another followed. Then another. They lined up, each one offering praise and a hit. The ones in the back started laughing.

It got worse. Somehow. He was perplexed.

Revel tried to hide a soft laugh while Clay hid behind her.

He sat on the ground, his back against a tree. His shoulders finally relaxed once he sat down. The smell of iron calmed him.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

That was stressful. He had barely made it out.

He was sure more questions would follow. At least it was over for now. It was already too late to regret volunteering. He could still go back to the village. He scratched that. He had to see this through. However uncomfortable.

In front of him, the soldiers were collecting monster parts and making them disappear. Too many people were making things appear and vanish. It had to be tied to the blessing. At least, he hoped so. He glanced at his shoulder. The bag felt heavier than it should. No one else was carrying one. Only him.

He clicked his tongue.

Why didn’t the blessing come with a manual? It would make everything so much easier.

It was time to check his status. He had used a few new spells. And a few he had already used before. That was a mistake, but he hadn’t really been thinking when he slipped into that state.

“Status.”

[New Skill Detected: Ice Wall.]
[Skill Tier: 4]
[Level Increased.]
[Attribute Points Available: 1]

[New Skill Detected: Ice Lance.]
[Skill Tier: 4]

[New Skill Detected: Ice Shower]
[Skill Tier: 5]
[Level Increased.]
[Attribute Points Available: 2]

Well, it could have been worse. He could’ve used Ice Spear instead of Ice Lance.
Two new levels. Two more points to dump into Intelligence.

[Status:]
Name: Dareth Wood
Race: Human
Mana: 26/310
Level: 19
Class: /

[Attributes:]
Strength: 20
Agility: 21
Endurance: 22
Intelligence: 31
Constitution: 20
Attribute Points Available: 2

Six more levels until he could choose his class. He couldn’t wait. Maybe he could get what everyone else had. A storage spell. Or whatever it was. It would be useful.