In the end, Sam decided to go ahead and purchase every piece of armour and scrap of gear he could get his hands on. His reasoning was simple: he could buy skill evolutions anywhere, whereas he only had limited opportunities to get new equipment.

  He and Arther returned to Homst the following morning, where he completed his kit with a liberal trip to Evelyn’s shop. Arther had smartly waited outside.

  Clothing, torches, rope, climbing gear, blankets, and a proper bedroll. He bought it all. He hated the feeling of unpreparedness he’d experienced in the Crypts, and was determined to make sure it never happened again.

  He’d spent a few hours the night prior making some simple meals with the help of Arther’s kitchen, storing them on paper plates in his inventory. They’d retain the temperature in storage, meaning he could eat hot meals on the go. He was determined to build up a stockpile of them. Days on end eating nothing but jerky and water had left him more appreciative than ever of the power of home cooking.

  One of his most essential purchases at Evelyn’s had been a simple black face covering. Despite no longer wearing his Warrior tunic, he thought he could feel the press of eyes on him as they rolled into the city. With the hood raised on his new cloak and the covering in place, there was no way for anyone to identify him.

  Unless, of course, they literally [Identified] him using a skill. But he was confident that between [Apostate] and [Basic Mental Resistance], he’d be able to thwart all but the most powerful skills. Only a handful of people knew he was on the eastern side of the Ring, and he planned on keeping it that way.

  He’d said a quick farewell to Arther before departing through the gate, taking off at a run that would have shocked his former self. Things had been courteous between them since the Warden’s confession, but there was a barrier erected that hadn't been there before.

  Sam knew he should be more outraged at the betrayal, but the reality was he simply couldn't fault the man’s logic. Even with the power of [Apostate], Sam was fighting from a disadvantage. Either he died day one, or ten, or fifty; it didn't matter. The result would be the same. He couldn't deny that the gamble had paid off.

  It didn't mean he had to like it.

  The miles bled away as he jogged between the trees, taking the opposite direction out of the city. As he trekked north, the landscape grew noticeably more rugged. Large crags and canyons littered the mountainside, often filled with all manner of beasts.

  Days passed in a similar pattern as he used [Arcane Eyes] to suss out the locations of various warrens and dens, attempting to take their residents by surprise. He was successful more often than not. His skill tiers and superior gear allowed him to make short work of all but the most powerful monsters.

  Everywhere, he could see evidence of combat. Bloodstains weren't an uncommon sight, and he came across multiple piles of bones and discarded pelts. The creatures varied, but most were some variation of ‘oversized Earth animal’.

  He fought wolverines and lynxes, bobcats and bears. He even came across one of the Elgror that Arther had mentioned. The beast stood almost ten feet tall, dominating the clearing it had made its lair. Its deep brown coat shone with a brilliant lustre, and Sam might have mistaken it for a peaceful herbivore if it weren't for the jagged spikes that jutted out just above its pointed hooves.

  If he hadn't had every single one of his cooldowns available, he probably would have tried to sneak past.

  Instead, he found himself drawn into a prolonged battle. The elgror’s massive antlers had the uncanny ability to reshape themselves at will. A simple headlong charge became a potentially lethal affair when the sharp points of bone suddenly morphed into pincers that latched onto spear and shield alike.

  Sam found himself launched nearly twenty feet in the air, his shoulder dislocated. Only his quick thinking in storing his shield at the apex of the throw saved him from being pounded into the rock. Instead, he became tangled in the dense branches that surrounded the clearing, where he was forced to hide and reassess his plan of attack.

  He debated trying to make an escape through the trees and coming back when he was closer to Bronze. The elgror was one of the only [Rare] creatures he’d seen in the wild, and if the scattered Warrior corpses were anything to go by, it was also extremely dangerous.

  Only the distinctly magical aura that emanated from its antlers had him reconsider. He’d taken to reading the book Arther had given him during his fleeting moments of downtime, and Elgror antlers were one of the items identified with Death Affinity.

  The antlers were made of living bone, a demonstration of life, death, and rebirth. Supposedly, the Elgror only shed them naturally once every one hundred cycles, so they were extremely sought after by craftsmen.

  Sam set his jaw—and his shoulder—and threw himself back into the fray. He used a similar guerrilla approach to his initial battle with the [Mountain Badger]. He utilized the superior reach of his spear to slowly whittle away at the hulking deer.

  Despite the weight of his new armour, he felt confident in the speed of his movements. In a potentially controversial decision, he’d settled on [Kinetic Discipline] when he eventually had enough spira to afford the [Basic Strength] upgrade.

  While a sudden burst of brawn would no doubt be helpful in a fight, he felt he was already committing too much of his combat power to time-limited cooldowns. The increased muscle response would be useful 100% of the time, not just in combat.

  He’d felt the impact immediately upon buying it. His coordination increased dramatically, and he knew that the evolution would scale extremely well with all other physical enhancements. Like it or not, his body was going through significant changes. Anything he could do to improve his fine motor control would only serve him well in the long run.

  He noted that there were purchasable dexterity skills, but they were locked at Bronze tier. Most skills that involved significant mental enhancements appeared to be restricted to higher levels. Given how awkward he’d been after purchasing his first set of skills, Sam couldn't say he was surprised. Changes to the body were one thing; changes to the mind took more discipline to integrate.

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  Eventually, his battle with the [Elgror Mauler] came to a brutal and inexorable finish. They’d each exchanged significant damage, but Sam had been able to leverage the tactful use of [Iron Skin] and [Tempest Shield] back-to-back to wade in through the flurry of bony spikes and deliver the critical death blow.

  He received a not-insignificant amount of spira, and he hoped his guess about the antlers was also correct. He sent Arther a message letting him know of the victory, and received a cautiously optimistic reply.

  As he settled in on his sixth day out from Homst, sitting around the fire, eating roast elgror meat off a stick, he figured that things weren't going all that bad. His daily spira totals were slightly lower than he’d wanted, but he knew that could all turn around if he stumbled across another unclaimed Dungeon.

  Supposedly, they continued to open intermittently over the course of the forty-nine days, meaning that Warriors needed to keep their eyes peeled for new entrances. Sam didn't mind. He was getting used to the near constant use of [Arcane Eyes], and the practice made it much easier to spot subtle inconsistencies in the magical texture of the landscape.

  While his waking hours continued to show success, the same could not be said of his scattered hours of sleep. Ever since his encounter with the ogre and his plunge into the river, he’d been plagued by a never-ending series of dreams.

  The vision he’d received while unconscious appeared to have burrowed its way into his psyche, and night after night he found himself standing on the same barren plane of broken black glass. Zetos, it seemed, had decided that if he couldn't exact his revenge in the waking world, he’d do so while Sam was asleep.

  Over and over, he experienced the woman’s death, and over and over, he was impressed by the strength of her resolve. Whoever she’d been, she’d had an incredible force of will. Her [Divine Skills] were unlike anything he’d read about on his tafla. Whoever her patron was, perhaps they no longer participated in the War.

  In either case, Sam couldn't help but feel the weight of her death as he packed up his camp and set off back towards the city. Days of broken sleep and constant battles left him feeling worn down. Only [Basic Stamina] finally reaching tier 5 gave him any measure of respite. He’d debated waiting for a potential skill morph, but none of his skills were close to reaching the next evolution. For once, his decision had been fairly straightforward.

  [Standard Stamina - Iron - Common - Upgradable]

  Improves overall endurance and recovery rate. Reduces fatigue buildup during combat or strenuous physical activity.

  Cost: 2,000 Spira

  [Pulmonic Drive - Iron - Uncommon - Upgradable]

  Retains the properties of [Standard Stamina]. Refines breath control and slows metabolism, reducing caloric needs. Increases stamina regeneration speed and grants minor resistance to exhaustion effects.

  Cost: 3,000 Spira

  [Prototype Cor - Iron - Rare - Upgradable]

  Retains the properties of [Standard Stamina]. Initiates the construction of a [Prototype Cor], which creates a physical manifestation of your [Heart Chakra]. Further evolutions will allow you to utilize [Enhancement Skills] to increase mana cycling and channel endurance.

  Cost: 5,000 Spira

  The inclusion of another [Rare] skill only further stamped out whatever lingering resentment he held for Arther. If he understood the wording correctly, it would allow him to scale his [Mana Network] using physical [Enhancement] skills. The potential upsides were enormous. He held off purchasing it in favour of doing it in the safety of the forge. He wasn’t sure exactly what was entailed in the creation of a brand-new organ, but it wasn’t something he was keen to do out in the wild.

  His trek once again took him back in search of the river–The Katanuxis–he’d learned, as he wove his way south through the rocky crags and towering pines. His senses were cranked to the max as he leveraged all his newfound skills to keep his presence to a minimum. Each step was placed with care as he drew closer to civilization and the potential for ambush.

  It was this focus on stealth that allowed him to hear the fight long before he saw it. A distant crashing pricked his ears, and his spear was in his hands before the echo faded into the mossy ground. Whatever it was–it was big. The sound grew louder as he approached; the breaking of tree limbs and the scraping of stones creating a cacophony that washed over the mountainside.

  Sam debated simply giving the combat a wide berth, but something about the sound's intensity drew him in. If a party were fighting a boss, perhaps it would be possible to yank the kill out from under them. If they were already tired and injured, all the better for him.

  He crept closer to the sound, shield at the ready. Ahead, a large bowl opened up in the earth, creating a wide ravine. Trees rose just above the edge of the drop, but the vantage point gave Sam a clear view of the proceedings. Strange grunts were added to the din, and for a moment, Sam wondered if he’d actually stumbled upon two monsters fighting rather than a group of Warriors.

  He was half right.

  A massive, armoured boar was engaged in pitched battle with the most enormous monster he’d ever seen. The snake was more than twenty feet in diameter, raised off its belly high enough to snap branches off the mature pines. Venom dripped from its mouth, and its eyes shone with an eerie green light.

  Immediately, Sam felt the impact as [Apostate] and [Basic Mental Resistance] slammed down like a barrier over his mind. Whatever skill the beast was using–it was incredibly powerful. The boar was certainly worse for wear, and Sam could make out deep puncture wounds on its unarmoured flank. It battled on regardless, charging the snake with reckless abandon.

  As Sam watched, an arrow flew from somewhere beneath him, burying itself in the snake’s snout. The creature let out a furious hiss, its body thrashing in pain. Sam peered over the edge to make out the silhouette of a figure leaning against a large rock by a narrow cave entrance.

  The Warrior’s form instantly triggered something in Sam’s brain, and he felt his chest contract as she resolutely drew back another arrow and let it fly.

  It bounced harmlessly off the snake’s scales as it wove its way between the trunks, trying to get past the wall of armoured pork. Its eyes fixed on the auburn-haired sylvan, and Sam watched her freeze, an arrow hung halfway to the string. She stood there for a moment, paralyzed, before swiftly being enveloped by a flash of green light. The skill freed her limbs, at the cost of significant strain to her aura. The glow illuminated her momentarily, allowing Sam to see the deep gash in her leg. Blood pooled beneath her, and her already pale face was whiter than a corpse.

  The light confirmed what he already suspected. The reason the sylvan looked familiar was that he’d seen her before, bow drawn, standing on the bank of a raging river. The twang of the bowstring was unmistakable, even as the arrow once again failed to pierce the creature’s scales.

  He didn’t know where her human party member had gone; the one who’d screamed at her for saving him. She appeared to be alone, injured, and outmatched. If it had been anyone else, Sam would have left them to their fate. They were in a War, and the snake was far beyond anything he’d expected to see at this level of the Ring. If it had been anyone else, he would have run without a second thought.

  Instead, he did something far dumber.