Ellis had trouble sleeping in a house full of corpses, and thus was the first to wake. Ameena rose at first light, slinking out of the tent she had set up right in the middle of the lounge after they had cleaned it up. They went through a silent morning routine, before they both walked over to the stairs.

  The stairs themselves had to be removed one by one, Michael waking up as Ellis was half way through. He was surprised the man had woken up at all, since he had slept since yesterday afternoon. He limped up behind Ellis, and wrenched all the stairs out of the stairwell.

  That done, he turned to Ameena. “Can I get some healing?”

  Ameena nodded to his request, and held out her hand as a blue ball filled her palm. She shoved it into his chest, and it worked overtime to fill his entire body before it flowed down his leg and collected on his foot. It looked even worse than the wound on Ellis’s wrist, but clearly she did not think it needed the same level of care.

  “Why does he get to be fussed over for ten minutes while I barely get a wave of your hand?” he complained, shoving Ellis aside as he threw the last of the staircase behind him.

  “Your constitution assists my healing. His does not,” she responded coolly, striding into the room once the doorway was clear.

  The room itself felt lifted from a song, weapons and armour lining one wall while chests lined the other. Michael took one step into the room, noticed the chests and then skipped toward them like it was his birthday. He punched the biggest chest, made of a metal of some kind Ellis couldn’t place, and left a sizable dent into its door. He pouted at that, looking at his fist like it was the reason he failed to break a metal door.

  Well the chests and armour were far more than Ellis had hoped for, it seemed Ameena had found what she was looking for. She strode towards the far wall where unlike the rest of the room, every item placed upon it was done so with a measure of care, far apart from one another to give each their place in the spotlight.

  And at its center sat the object of honour, drawing every eye that entered the secret room towards it. It looked like a stone, placed at the very heart of the display like it was somehow the most powerful thing in the room, despite the armour and swords lining the wall. Ellis eyed Ameena’s back as she stood before it, her palm glowing faintly as she assessed the stone despite the banging from Michael’s fist striking the chest.

  “What is that!?” Ellis called over the noise.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him, and her voice seemed to cut through the banging like a knife. “A travelstone.”

  “What’s a ‘travelstone’?”

  “Think of it as insurance. Now stop gawking and check the armour sets.”

  With a sigh, Ellis did as he was told and strode up to the first armour set. From the left to right, they seemed to go from your bog standard gear that a guard would wear, to more and more outlandish pieces of armour. One of them even had a helmet lined with feathers at the very end. Ignoring the outlandish pieces, he stepped up to the first armour set and hoped its standard looks were deceiving. Unsheathing the sword at its hip, he opened his stats.

  Not a single bonus popped up. The sword must either be of a poor make or already had an item assigned to one of the stats he was using. A bit miffed at the failure, he put the sword back as a loud clank filled the air, followed by the sound of a door opening. Michael was somehow successful in opening the chest with his bare hands. Inside were golden coins, piled all the way up to Michael’s ankles. There was a shelf that cut the chest in two, atop which sat a cloak of almost pure black.

  Michael grunted happily, ignored the cloak, and started pocketing the gold into the bag he had brought from the Ant Killer’s daughter. It kept getting wider and wider with every gold piece added, going from a bag that could fit into Michael’s palm to one that looked like it could swallow the entire chest.

  He wanted to go back and ask the kid why she would sell a bag like that, but shook his head at the sight. Ameena’s voice cut through the air when the bag was half way full.

  “Michael, leave the gold. It is of no use and would just weigh us down.”

  Michael, sanely for once, scrunched his eyebrows and tried to protest. But she shot down every argument and managed to convince him that weapons and gear were more important than gold now, since they would not be in the city for much longer and thus the gold would be useless.

  Grumbling and swearing under his breath, he put the gold back.

  Ignoring the argument, Ellis took off his braces and with some hesitation, his ring. He was stupid for keeping them on earlier. A pang of longing went through him for his father’s broken bow, but he shook his head and banished the thought. He had strength and constitution items, so he was looking for gear that would assist him with his other stats or give him better bonuses than the gear he did have. After placing them on the floor, he went through each and every armour set.

  Some items had a +1 at best, but most seemed purely cosmetic, much to Ellis’s chagrin. Still there were a few pieces with impressive stats that he picked out, knowing Michael and Ameena would want a look at them. He had to somehow find what he was missing while also remembering he was only going to receive scraps.

  After laying all the noteworthy pieces down, from two pairs of boots, a ring and some other odds and ends, he came to a stop before the last set. It had a feathered helmet, a bright orange chest plate and white pants with a hideous cloak. This set seemed to have the best bonuses, since everything he picked up granted at least a +2 to a stat. The sword granted a +3 in strength, its hilt in the shape of a dragon that Ellis could barely squeeze his fingers around to pull out of its sheathe.

  He placed that on the floor and threw the armour’s cloak around his shoulders. It was the strangest piece of clothing he had worn, made of green, blue and red colouring that all had unique zigzagging patterns across it. It must have cost a fortune, and granted the biggest bonus from what he could see of +5 dexterity.

  Swallowing, he decided to keep the ugly cloak. Michael already had a good item for dexterity and Ameena had wrinkled her nose when he put on, so he almost prayed that the cloak could remain his. He would never be the strongest or toughest… but with this, he might be the quickest. Ameena had her weapons, and Michael seemed to have enjoyed the sword from the dead guard, so he hoped he would get to keep the sword with the +3 as well. Picking it up, he let the bonuses do their work. The dexterity made the entire world around him slow down a touch, the barely perceivable tremors in his hand disappearing. The strength from the sword made his entire body taught, like a coiled spring ready to release.

  A part of him wanted to put the entire armour set on, but the helmet alone made him cringe at his imaginings of strutting around the city like a beautiful peacock. The rational part of him decided that standing out that much was humiliating at best, and more likely than not suicidal.

  So with a sigh, he left the helmet with its +3 in constitution and fetched the ring he left by the door. He was about to assign his two new stats when he felt a big hand fall on his shoulder. “And what you got there Ellis?”

  “New cloak and sword. Cloaks nice, glad I got a weapon at least,” Ellis tried, already planning to take off his new items as he turned to Michael, who eyed the sword like it was a snake.

  “That is very fair. But have you considered that I use swords?”

  Ellis’s hands froze at the clasp around his neck. “...uhm… yes?”

  He tsked, shaking his head from side to side like a disappointed father. “And yet you still chose to pick one up. We got our own roles, kid, best stick to them.”

  He grabbed a hold of the sword, and wrenched it and the scabbard off Ellis’s hip with a single tug of his wrist. “What were its stats by the way? Anything good?”

  Ellis stumbled from Michael’s wrenching. The rage bubbled up and out of him long before he could even think of pushing it back down.

  “Why does you using a sword matter!? It would be better if all three of us had ém! We’d be safer that way!”

  “Shhh now Ellis, your whining grows old very quickly. Stats. Tell me its stats.”

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  Ellis told him before snatching the braces from the floor with a grumble. Michael actually seemed pleased with the sword, throwing his old one onto the floor before sheathing the +3 in strength. Ameena called Ellis over after Michael started going through the armour, and he obeyed, trying his best not to yell that he wasn’t a dog.

  “Here,” she said, slamming a crossbow into his chest that almost knocked the wind out of him.

  The crossbow of plenty:

  Passive: While holding 1 mana, the user’s bolts shall ignore wind, rain, snow or hail in its flight.

  Activate: allows the user to shoot (base dexterity) amount of bolts per single bolt fired. (cost: 1 mana to fire.)

  “Wow…” Ellis whispered, genuine amazement rather than disgust at what the weapon could do going through him as he turned it over in his hands. The stock was a warm gold, the wood solid yet smooth beneath his fingers. Across the golden component, was light floral patterns that seemed to guide his hand around the trigger, which responded to the lightest of touches. He braced the stock against his shoulder and despite the weight, it felt perfect for his height and build as he aimed down its sight at Michael’s back, who was trying on the feathered helmet with a shit eating grin.

  Ameena inspected his handling of the weapon, before she held out a quiver full of bolts. “I must say, that weapon seems almost tailor made for you. Seems the gods might be giving you some help for once.”

  He threw the quiver of depleted arrows to the ground before throwing the one she held out onto his shoulder.

  “I would’ve preferred their help a week ago.”

  She didn’t say anything to that, just turned towards Michael, who eyed them with envy through the feathered helmet, looking like an overly jealous chicken as he thumbed the sword in his hand.

  “I do have something for you as well Michael. However… you need to activate your mana with it.”

  He threw the helmet aside with a smile as her attention turned to him, before waving off her concern. “If Ellis can learn mana, so can I.”

  With a skeptical look in her eye, she handed over a ring to him, decorated with two dragons coiling out from a red ruby that decorated the golden metal.

  “What does it do?” Ellis asked, cursing Ameena for making him more powerful.

  “Let’s me ‘bathe my enemies in fire’ or some such,” Michael answered. “Costs one mana to activate though. Alright, Ameena, how do I cast mana?”

  “It will take you a few days which we don’t have to learn, but…” Ameena gave Michael the same explanation she had given Ellis. “Do not be disheartened, the silence takes a long time to fin—”

  She was interrupted as Michael held out his hand towards the door, fire leaping from his fist. The flames licked the ceiling and floor, the angry inferno reaching the only exit and leaving a black mark across the door’s center as it disappeared. Ellis didn’t even realize he had activated his own ring during the fiery show. Ameena’s knife leapt into her hands, and both of them had taken several steps back from where Michael was standing. The door, floor and ceiling were burned, but the armour and chests remained untouched by some miracle.

  “Wow! This mana thing is great! Thanks Ameena!”

  Michael had a huge smile on his face before he looked around and saw that Ellis and Ameena were no longer standing next to him. He turned to face where they stood, scrunched his eyebrows and put his hands on his hips, before giving them a questioning look.

  “...where did you learn how to use mana?” Ameena asked after a lengthy, uncomfortable silence.

  Michael looked at her like she was going daft. “Right here? With you?”

  She shook her head at his musings, but did not argue. Ellis still had 1 mana after activating his ring, so he knew Michael was telling the truth… somehow. Turning away from her gawking, Michael inspected the fire ring on his outstretched hand, that pleased smile returning to his face.

  Was the ability to learn something within an instant another one of his ‘gifts’ the gods seemed so fond of giving him? It took all the self control Ellis had to bite back the curse he wanted to scream up at them.

  “What's the plan now?” Ellis asked.

  “You two leave while I get dressed. Then we shall assign stats. I know that the crossbow scales with mana and dexterity, but you should assign your stats to strength or constitution,” she commanded, turning back to the wall.

  Ten minutes later Michael and Ellis stepped back into the room. And while Ellis had been waiting outside and ignoring Michael’s lewd comments about Ameena, he had been keeping watch on his mana’s recovery rate. It seemed to take about twice the amount of time his necklace could stay activated, which had been about 6 minutes. It was the same amount of time his ring stayed activated, but he was less focused on that for now. And it had taken roughly ten to twelve minutes to recuperate his mana.

  If he timed it right, he could spend 1 mana, wait until it ran out and then activate it again. If his numbers were right on the upper end, the moment his first activation ran out he should be able to activate it right at its cut off, and then again on the second cut off, giving him close to eighteen total minutes of his ‘truth sight’. He had to call it something, might as well give it an apt description.

  Michael finished changing right next to him. His new clothes were untouched by blood, but Ellis knew that wouldn’t last long. He wore a simple white buttoned shirt, with a light greenish brown pants, and new heavy boots adorning his feet. Ellis activated his necklace as the large man assigned his stats.

  A child of Dumiso:

  *Michael:

  Strength: 17 (Sword of the dragon: +3)

  Mana: 7

  Dexterity: 10 (Greaves of the quick: +6)

  Perception: 6

  Endurance: 11 (Boots of a soldier: +4)

  Constitution: 11(A warrior's pants: +3)

  Total stat points: 62 (+16)

  Level 9

  78 stat points in total. A total of 8 total increased stats points from the last time Ellis had checked the man’s status. He had dumped all his new stat points into mana. Ellis tried not to shudder at what that would allow the monster to do.

  Ellis remembered the man had boots with a +2 in strength. Perhaps he could use them as a backup for his braces? But one glance at the boots Michael had left discarded at the base of one of the armour stands, with blood spilling out the hole at the top of one of them, told him it was most likely broken beyond his ability to repair it.

  He assigned his own free stats points, then whispered status under his breath:

  A child of Anwir:

  *Ellis Marsh:

  Strength: 5 (Guards braces: +2)

  Mana: 2

  Dexterity: 6 (Cloak of the tasteless: +5)

  Perception: 8

  Endurance: 6 (Runner's pants: +2)

  Constitution: 5 (Minor ring of protection: +1)

  Total: 32 (+10)

  Level: 3

  His total stat points was 42. That would have put him in one of the strongest people at Solrise. When Michael had told Ellis that he leveled twice he had been terrified, but now that he looked at his stats…he wasn’t as far behind as he had feared. He had increased his total by 6, only 3 behind Michael’s increase.

  Not as far behind, and yet not good enough.

  “Ameena, I have a gift for you,” Michael said with a nervous grin, walking towards her with his hands behind his back after they had all finished changing. The effect was ruined for Ellis, since he could see an item’s status screen poking out at his side.

  The shadow’s cloak:

  Passive: makes one harder to spot in darkness

  Activate (cost 1 mana): allows the user to disappear when standing/walking through shadows or crowds

  Ameena did not ask for clarification as she turned away from the wall, eyeing Michael with suspicion in her eyes. With a theatric flair, he pulled out the cloak from behind his back with a ‘tada!’

  Inspecting the cloak, a hint of a smile curled at her lips. “For once, I am surprised. You did well.”

  Michael beamed like a puppy at the compliment.

  “What’s that do?” Ellis asked, knowing what it could do but trying to keep his spying on their stats a secret.

  Ameena was almost smiling. “It’ll help me blend in with the crowd, or shadows if my understanding of its description is right.”

  And with that last comment, she assigned her new stats:

  A child of Evosa:

  *Ameena Fray:

  Strength: 7 (Loggers pants: +3)

  Mana: 10 (Wand of deception (bonded to: Ameena Fray): +5)

  Dexterity: 6 (a fighters ring: +2)

  Perception: 6

  endurance: 5 (Messengers necklace: +2)

  Constitution: 6 (The boots of the hardy: +4)

  Total: 40 (+16)

  Level 4

  Skills: knit flesh(level 3), mend bone (level 1)

  She had added 1 to strength and perception. Ellis was surprised she hadn’t thrown it into one of the more ‘useful’ stats. She had also changed her clothes, now wearing a dark brown pair tied around her waist with a white string, her old leather jerkin now worn over a reddish shirt. Her boots were the issue though, ones Ellis had picked out from the armour stand. They were strong, and he burned with envy at her having taken them.

  But, as usual, he uttered not a word of complaint.

  “We have the weapons you kept going on about. Now, can we finally get to the good part?” Michael asked with a wolfish grin, rubbing his hands together like a greedy merchant.

  A real smile tugged at her lips now, one that almost equaled his in terms of its bloodlust. “Yes. First we shall hide all the bodies in this room and clean up the house until it's spotless… but after? After, we storm the palace.”