"What the–where did they come from?" Mill said, staring at the incoming bandits in disbelief while keeping her healing light steady on the wounded Warrior in front of her.

  "They're likely reinforcements coming back from another raid elsewhere," Izick said, clicking his teeth as the sweat rolled down his face.

  "This is bad. Our best fighters won't make it back here in time, and we don't have enough bodies here to fight back. They'll kill us first, then crush the rest of the mercenaries behind us," Mill said as she moved onto the next injured Warrior.

  Izick stepped back as he thought about a way of escape. He couldn't die here when Cylvia still needed him.

  Simulations ran through his head, but each one had him and Mill getting stabbed to death or overrun by bandits.

  His head began to swirl with fear and loathing as options evaporated until the only option became obvious to him.

  Izick looked down at the Honor Rod and then back at the incoming bandit reinforcements. The solution was always in his hands.

  Running away wasn't the answer.

  He sighed, then began to walk toward the fast-approaching bandits.

  Mill stood with her face tightening with worry.

  "Izick, you can't fight them by yourself."

  "Yeah, that's true for Izick the Scout, but unfortunately, I'm Izick the Staff Hero right now," Izick said as sweat rolled down his face.

  "Foster Braun said that I'm now the Staff Hero, the Hero of Light who illuminates the path to victory. I have no choice but to test his theory."

  "Then I'll help you."

  "No way, you're barely conscious right now, and these people need you here. You can focus on your job, and I'll focus on mine."

  Mill furrowed her brow as she knelt again to resume her healing.

  "I'll trust you. Just don't overdo it."

  Izick didn't respond as he walked towards the charging reinforcements. He pulled the Honor Rod's trigger, creating a small yellow ball of light on the end of its muzzle.

  [ ATTENTION: SYMBOL LINK ENGAGED ]

  [ SYMBOL LINK: 70% ]

  He side-stepped five incoming arrows without letting go of the trigger as the bandits zeroed in on him after noticing his presence. The yellow ball of light continued to grow larger.

  [ ATTENTION: SYMBOL LINK ENGAGED ]

  [ SYMBOL LINK: 23% ]

  Not yet, this wasn't enough Mana. He was going to use as much of the Honor Rod's Mana as he possibly could. The ball of light grew even larger.

  [ ATTENTION: SYMBOL LINK ENGAGED ]

  [ SYMBOL LINK: 0% ]

  Still not big enough, even more Mana was needed. Izick stared down at the Honor Rod before channeling his own Mana into it.

  [ WARNING: Honor Rod internal Mana is empty. Now pulling Mana from Player's Mana Base via [SYMBOL LINK] ]

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  Almost instantly, he felt the familiar but ghastly feeling of his Mana being ripped out of his body, but he held back more of his Mana with his slightly improved Mana Shaping.

  Not this time. The Honor Rod wasn't taking all of his Mana like before.

  [ ATTENTION: SYMBOL LINK ENGAGED ]

  [ SYMBOL LINK LEVEL: 0% [+80 MP from Player] ]

  The growing ball of light on the Honor Rod's muzzle made seeing ahead difficult, but he ran to the side to avoid more falling arrows.

  The bandits began to panic as the lone enemy in front of them powered up a strange Mysteria Skill. Izick dodged the panicked arrows and spears as he stopped to prop himself against a sturdy tree.

  He released the trigger. The ball of light exploded with a boom, sending him into the tree as a steady beam of yellow light from the Honor Rod's muzzle across the ground, vaporizing every boulder or tree in its way.

  The Honor Rod pushed him into the tree as its white metal body burned his hands. The beam tore through the bandits' numbers like a spear, erasing every bandit on the beam's path out of existence.

  Izick's beam of light stretched out into the distance until it destabilized and faded away. Only ashen and smoldering earth remained where a horde of bandits once stood. The surviving bandits turned tail to retreat, abandoning the injured or those too scared to move.

  Izick fell to his knees while the few Warriors protecting the wounded charged past Izick to kill or capture the remaining bandits.

  "Izick!" Mill said as she ran up, holding a compass made of green light. She grabbed his shoulder and waved the green compass over him before sighing in relief.

  "You're Mana exhausted like me, and your back got messed up. Not to mention your hands are charred. I thought I told you not to overdo it?" Mill said as she pulsed green light into Izick's shoulder, resetting his back and healing his hands.

  "At least I didn't use up all of my Mana like the first time I fired the Honor Rod. We somehow survived that horde. It definitely could've been worse," Izick said as he looked at the destruction he brought with the Honor Rod.

  Mill looked at the scorched earth and the dead bandits before turning back to Izick.

  "Izick, are you OK? I know they were bandits, but you snuffed out many lives with that last shot…"

  Izick looked up to Mill and nodded with understanding.

  "I understand where you're coming from, but I have no sympathy for those who want to take my life. Cylvia needs me to be alive right now, and I still have some unfinished business with a certain former Staff Hero. I can't die here," Izick said as he looked down at his healed hands.

  Mill showed a weary smile before helping Izick back to his feet.

  "Thank you for the sacrifice. I appreciate what you've done here, even if I'm the only one."

  Her eyes softened as the smile dropped from her face.

  "Just don't become a monster, OK? We already have too many of those in this world."

  Izick nodded silently as he and Mill walked back to the injured Warriors. He began to wrap the now charred warding cloth around the Honor Rod when he suddenly stopped to stare to his left.

  Mill looked in that same direction but saw nothing of importance.

  "Is something wrong?"

  "The Blessing wrote me a message…"

  [ Congratulations! New Skill [Burst Cannon] acquired! ]

  [ BURST CANNON: Shoots a large beam of Light Mysteria that vaporizes everything in its path ]

  [ Congratulations! New [Block] acquired! ]

  [ +1 SP ]

  [ +3 Crystals ]

  [ [SKILL TREE] tab is now available after meeting the condition of gaining your first new [Block] ]

  [ NOTE: [ATTRIBUTES] tab will be available when you gain your second [Block] ]

  Izick watched in even more confusion as the [+3 Crystals] message box glitched red and green before disappearing like it was never even there in the first place.

  He didn't know what a Crystal was anyway, like everything else in the message from the Blessing, so he waved the messages away with a sigh.

  "What did the Blessing say?"

  "I'm not really sure. A lot of nonsense about 'Blocks' and 'Skill Trees'. The only thing I somewhat understand is the bit about a new Skill I learned from that last attack. It's the same thing as when I learned [Bang Bullet] with Foster Braun. I'll write down everything I saw once we're done here."

  Izick and Mill turned to the sounds of cheering in the distance. Barson marched into view with mercenaries behind him and many Wolf Kenomi bandits in tow.

  Barson and the mercenaries looked at the destruction ahead of them in shock. His eyes followed the path of destruction to see its cause, but he only saw Izick and Mill, along with many of his injured mercenaries and a few dozen of his Warriors. He grunted and then turned to his mercenaries behind him.

  "Tie every bandit down here so we can turn them in at Ambri for a reward. Make sure to check every crate in those carriages, I'm not losing this bonus over some stupid ambush," Barson barked as he sheathed his sword and swaggered away.

  The conflict with the bandits was over.