Luke understood where she was going with this. "Soone with three epic skills… could go very far in the tutorial. Well, two epic skills, plus that extra rank skill"
"That's exactly why I want as many people as possible at that level of power. For the challenges ahead, it's practically mandatory. How do you expect us to get through the third chanism event, and then the castle, if we're dragging weaklings along? Epic skills are how we'll dominate this tutorial."
For the first ti, things were starting to click for him. The rank limit finally made sense now, especially paired with the reward of epic skills. Out of the three, he had already secured one.
I got Acid Blood Arrow, an absurdly strong power. And there are still two more skills waiting. I'll need to choose carefully.
He stared at the glowing system interface, his eyes fixed on his epic profession skill. An offensive force unlike anything else he possessed. The strongest skill in his arsenal, aside from Mana Infusion, but that one depended on having a weapon strong enough to channel it. Acid Blood Arrow, though, was pure destruction. Yet it was tied to his profession, a category never ant for offense in the first place. Which begged the question: what would his class-based epic skill look like? And since it ca from his Demonic Predator class, every part of it would exist for one purpose, killing. It had to be sothing devastating.
His precious arrow had been born from scraps of weak skills: Plant Growth, Mother Freya's Blood, Dark Blood, Thorn Mutation. On their own, they had been laughably minor, practically useless for battle. Thorn Mutation was designed to sharpen plants for gardening, and yet now it served as the foundation for a deadly weapon, shaping the arrow's razor tip. If sothing so trivial could evolve into Acid Blood Arrow, what kind of nightmare would his class skill beco?
Then sothing clicked. "You said there's another skill you get at race level fifty, right? I thought the system stopped granting anything after that."
She shrugged. "Don't ask to explain the system's logic. That one ca when I maxed out everything, race, class, and profession. I didn't choose it, it just appeared. It felt… personalized, like the system itself tailored it for . And it wasn't even the sa rarity as the others. Mine is Rank F."
That detail was gold. Imdiately, his thoughts turned to Bartholow and the enemies in Bastion. No doubt they had their own epic skills. Kruger almost certainly did.
"Alright then, Snow White. Let's talk about what you saw past that barrier," Evangeline said.
"Snow White?" Luke frowned. "Why do you keep calling that?"
"Because you're pale as death. With that face, you look like so porcelain doll."
"I can't tell if that was supposed to be a complint…"
She sat down beside him, smirking. "What you're missing is grit. Eat more. Put on weight. Build so muscle. Grow a beard, cut that hair. You'll do better with won." She gave him a once-over. "And dress better while you're at it. You look like a holess nomad."
"That's not the point," he muttered.
"There's always ti to talk fashion."
He exhaled through his nose. "And what about your fetish for dressing up like a ninja?"
Her smile widened. "That's my class. I evolved from Thief into Shadow Kunoichi."
Evangeline pressed a finger to his chest, trailing upward slowly. With her other hand, she tugged at the collar of her shirt, revealing the curve of her breasts. "What do you think of this? Care to sneak a peek?" she whispered seductively against his ear.
Luke caught her wrist and twisted hard.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" she cried out, wincing in pain. "Let go of my hand!"
He released her. "I'm not falling for your tricks."
She stood, flicking open a fan with a snap. "Female ninjas are trained in seduction. It's one of the advantages of my class. I know exactly what to say, how to move, how to make my voice sound more alluring. Body language, tone, presence… I can make any man I want fall in love with ."
"Who would fall for you? Certainly not ."
Her eyes lingered on him as she traced her hand along the curve of her own body. "Funny… that's not what your heart is saying."
She leaned closer, fingers sliding under his chin. "From the mont I first saw you, I was drawn to you. That quiet restraint of yours pulls in. What do you say we continue this conversation…" her voice dipped into a whisper, "…under the sheets?"
"As I already told you, I don't fall for tricks."
Her seductive mask slipped. Frustrated, she began pacing. "I swear I used all the magic words that should make a virgin boy like you tremble."
Grabbing a notebook, she started scribbling. "Maybe it's the way I say it. Do I need to be less direct? Maybe shy works better in certain scenarios…"
"I'm not your lab rat, you know."
With a flick of her hand, she closed the notebook and stored it away.
Then her fingers slid to her shirt, unbuttoning slowly. Her voice softened, timid now, a different shade entirely. "The truth is… I'm nervous. This would be my first ti. But if it's with you… I'd accept it."
"You do realize I heard you thinking about changing your approach, right?"
She huffed and dropped back into her chair, scooping a spoonful of beans from the can. "Anyway, that's how Kunoichis operate. A class that blends espionage, theft, assassination, and seduction."
Luke dug into his own can of food in silence.
"Still, admit it," she teased, "not even a little flutter in your chest? Not even a blush?"
"No."
"Seriously? Why not?"
He leveled a look at her. "Because you don't have anything that attracts ."
"And what is it that attracts you in a woman that I lack?" she asked, notebook and pencil already in hand.
'Big breasts. Maids. Elves.' Artemis's voice chid dryly in his thoughts.
For a brief second, Luke wanted to crush the necklace in his hand.
"Remind why the hell we're even talking about this?" he asked.
Evangeline set the notebook aside. "You already know I'm a tailor with the Shadow Kunoichi class. I've reached the peak of Rank F. Maxed everything. I was courteous enough to lay my cards on the table first. As partners, you should show yours."
"I'm not saying anything. You should've told your real motive before this. I never agreed to share."
She took another spoonful, unbothered. "I already know your class is Assassin. Princess Rhiannon told as much, trying to convince you could be trusted. That leaves your profession, if you have one. I need to know whether you'll actually be useful for the plan. We're all marching into hell together. The least you can do is tell what you specialize in."
"When Allison gets here, I'll tell you my profession."
From what Luke knew, Allison would return in just a few days, fresh from her mission against the Orc Lord.
"Did they kill the Orc Lord or not?" Luke asked.
"I don't know," Evangeline admitted. "Soone from the expedition dropped a note in a spot Jerry could find in the forest. The note itself was blank. That's how we communicate."
"That's a bizarre thod," Luke muttered.
"The point isn't the ssage, it's the act of leaving it." Her tone fird. "It ans they're alive, at least, and on their way back. We can't risk anything leaking to Bartholow. What if he's been watching the places we used to pass ssages these past few months? Allison being a noble, and Mason working alongside her, it draws too much attention. Especially after vanishing for so long."
She shifted in her chair. "There have been too many eyes on Haven lately. Ever since Marshall was taken out, things have been… off. Do you think Angelica was the only one targeted that night? During the ant attack, plenty of rchants and influential people died."
Her gaze darkened. "Coincidentally, or not, they were the sa ones who had their own groups planning to search for the chanisms. Local leaders, small factions. Even so strong fighters who were actually contributing. All wiped out in one night."
She tapped her fingers against the armrest. "Whether that was chance or sothing deliberate, we still don't know. But it was strange. Very strange."
Finally, she rose from her chair. "Once they get closer, out of the forest, Jerry can carry a letter directly to Allison. That'll make things easier."
***
Luke and Evangeline sat by the edge of a river, catching their breath. They'd stirred up quite the ss. Sneaking all the way to the gate that led toward the capital, they had slipped into the guard camp under cover of night. Luke had hurled a kukri charged with mana, blasting apart the barricade again, and then cloaked the chaos in a thick fog, leaving the soldiers stumbling in confusion.
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After that, they ran.
The two of them bolted like madn until their lungs burned, finally stopping only when the river cut across their path.
"We bought ourselves so ti," she said.
Their insane little plan had worked, or at least, it looked like it would. Either way, they'd pulled it off.
"You really think Bartholow will believe I went back to the capital? That this will actually convince him?" Luke asked.
"Better than letting him keep his armies focused on the Wild Zone. If we leave him unchecked, he might send his trusted scouts to keep watch near the second chanism while we're there. This way, at least he'll split his pursuit, thinking you returned to the capital."
It was the kind of sche the two of them only could've co up with while killing ti, waiting for Allison and the others to return.
"And besides," Evangeline added, "he'll never believe we'd try sothing this stupid."
"That much I'm sure of."
Luke let out a long sigh. "Now we've got to march seven hours just to circle back to where we started. He'd never think we were dumb enough to pull this off, and honestly, I can't even argue with that."
***
Evangeline had just sent her familiar, Jerry, off with a letter for Allison. According to the raven, they'd already made it out of the deeper parts of orc territory.
"I'd say within twelve to twenty-four hours, Allison will be here," she said.
Luke wasn't sure how to feel about that. Part of him was grateful she'd been on an expedition far from the Safe Zone, it made him feel a little less guilty for not going after her while he wasted ti chopping wood.
Evangeline moved toward the table. It was a disaster zone: spools of thread, wigs, even neatly folded underwear scattered across it. He'd tried tidying the place more than once, though only within the limits of what could actually be called "tidy."
He'd also learned she had the habit of sleeping in nothing but bra and panties. When he complained, she told him it was his fault for staying in her house in the first place, so she wasn't changing her habits. Luke was almost certain she did it just to ss with him.
"Let's go over the plan again," she said, pointing to a map.
The crude sketch showed the second fortress.
"The chanism is right in the center. Once it's activated, we have to be ready for the worst: the system might notify everyone, including Bartholow. And if that happens, you can bet he'll mobilize part of his army to co here."
She tapped the map. "That's why Allison, Mason, and I agreed on this beforehand. Before we seize the chanism, a group of trusted people will head out to the Haven to bring the others here. Which is why the activation has to happen at night. That way they can cross the Wild Zone under cover of darkness, without running into Wardens at sunrise."
Her finger traced the area around the fortress.
"This place will beco a Safe Zone. Our hope is to convince anyone Bartholow sends that this zone really is secure and that we've activated a chanism. That puts him in a corner. What will his army, so desperate to return to Earth, do once they realize the truth?"
She gave a thin smile. "Either way, that's our goal."
She pointed to the forest next. "Part of the orc territory will fall inside the Safe Zone. And guess what? It's filled with trees. Do you know why that's important?"
"Because… it's a forest," Luke said flatly.
"Rember that river we saw?" she asked. "After eight years stuck here, I know exactly how to move hundreds of people through the Wild Zone. And believe , it's a lot better than digging so tunnel. My solution is simple: boats."
"Boats?" Luke raised a brow.
She tossed him a sheet of paper. The sketch was a stick figure standing on a crooked little raft.
"Really? That's awful. You didn't need to draw it, I got the point."
He slapped the grand 'boat plan' back down on the table.
"You worked as a lumberjack, so you already know how this goes," she said. "We'll harvest wood from the forest around the fortress to build boats, while another group clears out the crocodiles along the river until its end."
Now it clicked. Luke finally understood one of the reasons the Orc Lord had been marked as a priority target. The river cut straight through orc territory. Back in Morvat's ti, this plan would've been impossible. But now, with the Orc Lord likely dead, using that territory as part of their strategy was finally on the table.
Evangeline tapped a crude drawing of chests on the paper. "At the sa ti, we'll be collecting potions and other resources for the second half of the plan. But Allison will explain that part herself."
Her finger slid toward the sketch of the capital. "The main group's task was to hunt down the third chanism. Oh, wait, scratch that. You already did the work for us."
A faint smirk tugged at her lips.
"All that's left is preparing to kill the serpent guarding the third fortress, and of course, bracing ourselves for whatever event the fortress triggers."
She leaned back, considering. "My bet is that once we take down the Beast Lord, we'll be strong enough to handle it. Not to ntion the rewards we'll get from its death."
Luke kept silent. How was he supposed to tell her that part of the problem was already solved? The Beast Lord was dead. That left only the event itself, and it ant the end of the tutorial was closer than ever. Most of the biggest obstacles had already fallen.
"But we won't advance until we've stockpiled enough healing potions," she continued. "For you, sneaking around the capital is one thing. For a full party, it's another story entirely."
Luke paused, considering. "Healing potions don't work miracles. If the second fortress was tougher than the first, then the third will be far worse."
"Better than nothing," she countered.
"What about a healer? Their magic can nd fractures, set bones, sotis even regenerate organs."
"I thought of that. So of Bartholow's healers might volunteer. But would you really trust your life to one of his people?"
Luke wouldn't. Even if a healer wanted desperately to return to Earth, there was always the chance they'd turn out to be another Paul, or a Kruger, or even Bartholow himself, sabotaging everything just to cling to the tutorial.
"What about Thiara? She's trustworthy," Luke suggested.
"Thiara's terrified of combat. She didn't even join the expedition. She's too valuable to risk. We'd need a healer reckless enough to follow us into certain death."
"Like so zealot obsessed with his goddess, determined to get back to Earth just to spread her word?" Luke asked.
Evangeline frowned, thrown off. "I… suppose that would work."
A faint smile tugged at his lips. "I think I know the perfect healer."
***
Allison walked with the mbers of Haven as they returned from the expedition that had finally brought down the Orc Lord.
"What do you think happened?" Quinn asked Gilbert as they trudged along the path.
"Evangeline said we needed to get to her hideout imdiately. I keep thinking maybe Bartholow found us out," Miranda muttered.
While they speculated, Allison remained silent. She already knew the truth. Evangeline's raven familiar had reached her and delivered a letter. Inside was a summary of everything that had happened. Luke had reappeared after all those missing months, and not only that, he had caused absolute chaos in the Safe Zone.
Evangeline's warning had been clear: they couldn't go back to Haven, at least not all of them. It would draw too much attention. She and Mason, being recognizable figures, couldn't afford to be seen. It would be too suspicious for Allison to suddenly return at the exact mont Luke launched an attack on Bartholow's soldiers.
If that happened, if both she and Mason resurfaced now, Bartholow would piece things together. He would guess their intentions and order the second fortress watched, ruining any chance of surprise. Ti was against them. Allison and the others would have to seize the second fortress as quickly as possible.
She had wanted to wait at least a week, to give the group ti to recover. But every minute lost would only make things worse. That night, ready or not, they had to face the fortress event.
What made it worse was that Allison hadn't managed to improve Luke's image with Haven's leaders. Her original plan had been simple: conquer the fortress first, then smooth things over once Luke returned. But now everything had collapsed into a handful of hours. Luke's situation, the fortress event, both had to be dealt with at once.
In the end, they devised a bold plan, the only plan left to them. Luke would have to surrender himself to Haven's leaders and tell his side of the story. There was no other way. What use was conquering the fortress if her friend couldn't even live there?
It had to be done like plunging into icy water all at once: a single shock, no drawn-out hesitation, no half-truths. They owed that much to her and to Luke. Without the two of them, Haven wouldn't even know the second fortress existed. They had been the ones to find the chanism's location. And without their pressure on Angelica, she never would have revealed the truth.
Allison had protected them from Bartholow by doing sothing she had sworn she never would, she revealed herself as Allison Rhiannon. For the people of Haven it had been a revelation, but for her it was agony. To speak that family na aloud had cost her more than they could imagine. But because of it, Haven was safe. Because of it, no one from Bastion dared to march into their settlent and act as if they owned it.
And after that, she had nearly died killing the Orc Lord.
After everything she had done for them, surely they would do this one thing for her. If she told them to trust Luke, to protect him, then they should. They owed her that much. Without her, most of them wouldn't even be alive. Beast Captains, Orc Captains, the Ant Queen, the Orc Lord, she had been there for every single one of those battles, fighting at their side. Why, then, couldn't they stand by her now?
She froze for a mont, noticing the faint curl of white mist escaping her lips.
Dragon's pride? She drew a steady breath. I need to calm down.
It was the curse of her dragon's heart, strengthened even further by the icy draconic skills she carried. At tis, her temperant flared too easily. Pride. Impatience. Harshness that cut sharper than she intended.
Her ntor's words echoed in mory: dragons are proud, impatient, possessive, arrogant, territorial. To balance those instincts is the key. So learn to temper them so deeply that they're called wise. But she was still young, still closer to human than dragon, and wisdom felt far away.
"I think we're here," Miranda said, breaking her thoughts.
"All the wells look the sa in this area. But yes, this is the one," Quinn replied, rapping his knuckles on the hatch, firm, precise, the exact rhythm of the code.
Soon, Evangeline would erge. And… Luke.
Strange. It had been months since she'd last seen him. Her own journey, through the wall dungeons, then into orc territory, had been so relentless that ti blurred. Was it four months? Five? Long enough that she'd spent more ti alongside Haven's people than with Luke himself.
And yet, did she even consider them friends? The people of Haven called her one, but she didn't feel it. With Luke, it was different. He was the first person she had seen after fleeing ho. They had walked through hell together. But to Haven's people, she wasn't Allison. She was Allison Rhiannon.
The hatch creaked open, and Evangeline climbed out. The Haven mbers greeted her warmly, voices overlapping after so long apart. Allison barely noticed. Her eyes were locked on the dark opening, waiting. For a second, she felt sothing cold, an absurd thought that no one would climb out. But Evangeline glanced at her, then toward the hatch, and Allison knew. Luke appeared, hauling himself up and out of the well. After all this ti… there he was.
And he looked different. Not just physically, though she couldn't quite put it into words. His skin was still pale as snow, clearly he hadn't seen the sun wherever he'd been hiding. His hair was longer now. His eyes were the sa, sharp and unreadable. His face carried that sa permanent scowl of disdain.
"What the hell is he doing here?" soone shouted.
That was her cue. Allison pushed through the crowd before anyone could do sothing stupid. mories surged as she walked toward him. Was she nervous? She couldn't tell. She also didn't know how deeply Luke had agreed to the plan.
"Hello, Allison," Luke said, calm. Too calm.
Hello, Allison? Really? After all this ti? The last ti we saw each other you knocked out and disappeared, and that's what you open with?
So she matched him, word for word. Calm. Cold.
"Hello, Luke."
And then… nothing. He just stared at her in that infuriating, familiar way. The sa stubborn idiot who vanished for months and left her to clean up the ss he'd made. She didn't waste another second. In one swift motion, she pressed the blade to his throat and carried out the plan.
Oh no. That might've co off too cold.
But it was too late. Evangeline caught his arm.
"He can't turn into mist if soone's touching him," she said quietly. "Sa rule applies to when I use shadows."
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