“Lucian!” Annabelle shouted as he flew across the room. The knight was far stronger than the last one they had faced - and it was intelligent. Facing something like it terrified and excited her, but for some reason it didn’t terrify her as much as the idea of sitting back and doing nothing for her friend.

  Annabelle made a decision, watching as the knight slowly approached Lucian as he struggled to catch his breath on the ground. She couldn’t just do nothing. She took a breath and raised her hand out towards him, waiting until the knight was a little further away from her, “[Forest’s Protection].” A green glow surrounded her hand and bloomed around Lucian.

  The knight stopped walking forward, wheeling around to face Annabelle, “Very well.” It said, and pushed off the ground towards her.

  Lucian felt the pain in his chest recede as Annabelle’s magic touched him, the broken bones slowly beginning to shift back into place with a wave of relief. As he took another gasp for air he saw the knight turn towards Annabelle and move.

  “No!” Lucian immediately dumped his 6 free points into Agility - up to 68, and increasing his maximum Spirit to 94. He fought through the pain, aided by the effect of [Forest’s Protection], pushing himself up into a half standing half crouching position and activating [Quickstep].

  Annabelle saw Lucian force himself up as the knight rushed at her, then she saw him move in a blur, the whitish blue and green auras of [Spirit Barrier] and [Forest’s Protection] mingling around him like the trail of a comet.

  Lucian appeared next to Annabelle as the knight reached her, raising its sword. He would have gotten there much sooner, but the knight had a head start.

  He made a split second decision. He didn’t think he had time to grab her then [Quickstep], so he didn’t. He reached out with his left hand and pushed her out of the way.

  The knight’s blade fell. It crashed into the floor and unleashed a powerful wind,

  Pain blinded Lucian for a brief moment as his arm was severed at the elbow, before the adrenaline coursing through his body brought him back to his senses, “Fuck!” Lucian screamed as he leapt away, clutching the handle of his blade with his right hand.

  Luckily for Lucian, the bleeding began to slow and the pain began to decrease thanks to [Forest’s Protection]. Combined with the effects of Annabelle’s skill, the adrenaline in his veins let him ignore most of the rest of the pain. He took a shaky breath and tried to steady himself.

  Lucian knew that despite the slowed bleeding, he probably didn’t have long before passing out or worse. He also knew that he was no match for the knight, especially missing an arm.

  “Consider your resolve tested.” The knight said, giving Lucian a look he could swear was strangely approving, “Your sacrifice allows you to pass this test. Perhaps we will cross blades again further within The Tree.” The knight, seemingly satisfied with how Lucian handled the situation, turned and walked back through the doors it entered from.

  Neither Lucian nor Annabelle, despite being as angry as they were, was stupid enough to try and stop the knight.

  Lucian fell forward to his knees, groaning. At this point, he lost concentration on [Manifest Weapon] and the blade vanished, “Help me… Tourniquet this…” He glanced over to Annabelle, who came running over, tears welling up in her eyes. They used the piece of his hoodie that had gotten cut off along with the rest of his arm to tie a makeshift tourniquet, pulling it tight above Lucian’s elbow.

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  He laid back on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. Annabelle’s skill was still working, and combined with the tourniquet the flow of blood had all but stopped. She sat beside him, looking down at him as various emotions played across her face.

  “Don’t… Feel guilty or anything…” Lucian smiled, “If anything, thanks for the healing.”

  “Dumbass…” Annabelle pulled him up into a hug, “Thank you… And sorry about your arm… But maybe a healer could fix it?”

  Lucian nodded, “Oh, yeah. Maybe. I hope so.” He chuckled a little, “Fuck I’m thirsty.” He wanted water so he could start making up for lost blood, “Maybe we leave exploring the rest of this place for another day.”

  “You know, that sounds like a great idea.” Annabelle let him go and stood up.

  Lucian got to his feet, and the pair left the dungeon. The first thing they did was filter some water from the lake, which Lucian drank plenty of.

  Annabelle ran out of spirit soon after they left the dungeon, but recast [Forest’s Protection] as soon as she could. At some point during the healing process she leveled the skill up, decreasing its Spirit cost per minute and allowing her to sustain it for longer. After a while, the wound was fully closed, a stump of flesh preventing further blood loss.

  Despite it being the middle of the day, they were both mentally exhausted, and decided to go back to sleep for a while. They pitched their tents and Lucian quickly passed out in his, letting his dreams take him away.

  After a power nap they packed up, Lucian helping where he could with one arm, and began the trek back through the forest to the city.

  On the way back, they encountered a few monsters, which gave Lucian a chance to see how effective he was with one less arm.

  He manipulated [Manifest Weapon] into a more lightweight blade, trimming down the broadness but leaving the length as it was. It was strange at first, but he and Annabelle agreed that if he could get used to using only one arm then whenever he got his other one back it would make him that much more effective.

  It didn’t take long for [Manifest Weapon] and [Manifested Proficiency] to level up again.

  The levels didn’t offer any cool new features, but those weren’t necessary. Lucian was happy with a baseline increase.

  After a time, they arrived at the edge of the city. A large fence had been erected around the edge of the forest, and they walked along it until they found a gate. Soldiers moved around behind it, setting up more equipment.

  Lucian hailed them, and after a brief discussion and explanation, the gate was opened and they passed through, heading into the city proper.

  “Let’s go to Bianca’s first? I could use a proper meal…” Lucian looked over at Annabelle.

  “Sounds fine, then we should go look for a healer.” She agreed.

  Lucian nodded, “Believe me that's high on my list of priorities. I’m just worried we won’t be able to find one who’s a high enough level to do what we need.”

  “Reasonable fear.” She admitted, “But we can worry about it later, come on, let's eat.”

  The pair ventured towards Bianca’s family’s pizza shop, eager to fill their stomachs with proper food after all those relatively unsatisfying meals they had in the forest.