“Well, that was unexpected,” Tennison said as he wiped off his blade. Hailey caught him staring at her too intently again and felt a shivering sensation crawl down her spine. He took a step back and froze.

  “What’s wrong?” Hailey asked. She looked down at her arms and saw one covered in the monster’s blood. The blood was a deep dark shade of red, almost black in colour. Her other arm began to hurt as she saw her own flesh had been cut into. Three long streaks, two on the inside, one on the outside started two inches past her wrist and carried on towards her elbow. Her own blood ran down her arm at an alarming rate.

  She clutched the wound as the pain asserted itself at the forefront of her mind.

  “Oh, fuck, it hurts,” Hailey said.

  “Of course it hurts, you idiot, you let the bird take a swipe at you. Here,” Tennison said as he unshouldered his pack and pulled out a glass bottle and a roll of fabric.

  “Let me see the arm,” he grabbed her injured arm, setting the bottle on the ground. He tore a strip of fabric from the roll and used it to clean off her arm. The pain grew with every pass. Hailey wanted nothing more than to pull away, but Tennison’s grip was too strong.

  “I know it hurts, but we need to address the wound now so it can heal back properly.” He threw the spent bandage on the ground and picked up the bottle. Undoing the cap and setting it down gingerly on the ground, keeping the inside clean, he began to drip the contents over her cut.

  Each drop felt like candle wax was being poured into her wound, the heat burning her flesh along the cuts. Hailey pried her eyes open to watch what was happening. The liquid came out of the bottle as a clear liquid, but upon contacting her wound the liquid thickened and became an opaque oily grease.

  “This is healing ointment. Its not fast acting like a proper health potion, but it works just as well, and it’s cheaper, as reassuring as that is at this moment,” Tennison said as he recapped the bottle.

  Then he took the fabric roll and began to wrap her arm. He released the death grip holding her arm still, and Hailey could feel the blood begin to return to her half-asleep hand. The pain in her arm had already begun to fade. The added pressure from the binding felt calming to Hailey.

  “This will keep everything clean and the ointment in place until it’s done its job. How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better. But I’m good. That’s some strong stuff,” Hailey said.

  “That it is. It’s saved me more times than I care to speak out loud. It’s an important tool in a watcher’s toolkit. You can’t have the people responsible for hunting down strong monsters and protecting the town dying because they took one scrape without a healer present. But enough about that, I see that you’ve gotten yourself a class.”

  “I did. It’s the, uhm, assassin class,” Hailey said, her voice unsure how to continue. From her schooling she knew there were a couple of illegal classes to have. Classes that would not be suffered to exist within civil society. Necromancy, mind readers, and espionage-based classes usually made the top of the illegal list. An assassin fell within the espionage category.

  “Fuck. I was hoping my skill got it wrong. It does that sometimes. But this is not good. The Watcher’s code is strict on what is supposed to happen when someone awakens an illegal class.”

  They looked at each other, each trying the gauge what the other was thinking. Hailey watched as Tennison’s grip on his swords hilt tightened and loosened over and over as he was clearly debating on what to do. He let go of his sword and let out a sigh.

  “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to be a watcher and guard the people, not slay them for violating words on a sheet of paper written by people who are long dead. Let’s take a break and think this through.”

  Tennison found himself a nice rock to sit on, popped open his canteen and took a large swig. Hailey joined him on an adjacent rock. She undid her hunting belt and tossed it away from them.

  “Check your status. Maybe you got something useful,” Tennison said. Hailey nodded and braced herself for the reality she was about to see. Status.

  Owlbeast slain.

  *Ding* New class discovered: Assassin. Class 1 updated.

  *Ding* New Active Class Skill acquired. [Shadowstep]. In desperation to reach your target you have reached into the realm of shadows and found it welcoming. Step towards your enemies and appear within their shadow, can only be used with violent intent. Cost: 10 Mana Points

  *Ding* New Passive Class Skill acquired. [Masking]. An assassin must hide away until it is time to strike. It does no one any good to walk around with a target painted on your back. Masks the information that can be gleamed from you using an identify-like skill. Upkeep cost: 50% of Mana (Restricted). Note: [Masking] can be pierced by stronger identify-like skills.

  “Well, I have some good news,” Hailey said. “What legal class do you think closely resembles an assassin?”

  “Uhm, let’s see here. You need to match the dexterity specialization too. How are you with a bow?”

  “Terrible, my ranged aim could use a lot of work.”

  “Ranger would be a good pick if you could improve your aim. While not all rangers use bows, and slings, they are proficient in their aim. Ranger is also a bad idea because they try to saddle you with joining the Watchers, which would be the exact wrong place to go. I doubt you’d be able to hide your class there for longer than an afternoon.”

  “So, a dexterity specialization, and not a guild-targeted class. And not a profession class either. It must be a combat class to boot. I don’t think I could fake having profession skills. Could I not just go with a basic rogue class?” Hailey asked.

  “You could, but I think we want to move another degree away from assassin, if possible. What about fighter?”

  “My strength sucks balls. I only have 3 strength and endurance. I don’t think I could put up a good enough act when it comes to what I assume would be straightforward fighting.”

  “Your intelligence stat is high then? So more towards a magic user, but you don’t have any flashy spells to show off. No fireballs, or lighting strikes? I’m assuming your active skill was that gap-closer ability, right?” Tennison asked.

  “That’s correct. It’s called [Shadowstep]. It let’s me step out of my opponent’s shadow.”

  “Hmm, fuck, let me get the banned list out,” Tennison said as he rifled through his pack. He eventually found an envelope with an official Watcher seal broken on it. Inside he revealed a single piece of paper with all the potential banned classes on it. He looked down the list.

  “Shadow fighter,” Tennison said.

  “That sounds sick as fuck, but I don’t think I can pull off the fighter bit. And it sounds to close to assassin,” Hailey said.

  “Well, I’m rethinking that part. If you have shadow magic, you are already within spitting distance of being an assassin. You might as well hide in plain sight. That makes the lie more believable. Then you can use your magic without having to invent reasons why you can’t use it. You will have to work hard to make up your shortcomings as a straightforward melee combatant, but anytime you add a modifier to a class, their stat pool becomes more muddled.”

  “Okay, so shadow fighter it is then. Let me see how to make this happen,” Hailey said.

  “Just think about using the skill with intent. I’m not too sure how-to intent to relabel yourself, but, uhm, the skill should help guide the way? The system works in mysterious ways,” Tennison said.

  “You can say that again. Here we go,” Hailey said.

  [Masking] change my class to shadow hunter.

  Hailey felt her body drain of an energy she didn’t know she had. It had only been twelve or so hours since she got a mana pool and so far she had only spent 10 points. 10 points wasn’t a big drop in the bucket when compared to the full 70 she had. Remembering what she had been taught in school, the more of empty your resources, the worse you’ll feel. It was percentage based, rather than raw numbers.

  Let’s see here. I was at 61 points of mana, then I cut the pool in half, so my maximum is now 35 points. My new spendable portion should be 26 points. But it feels so much, worse? Empty maybe? Then it should be. Does that mean I feel it against my total mana pool size, so 26/70 points, rather than 26/35. Fuck this is going to suck.

  “There, done. Try your skill out now,” Hailey said.

  Tennison once again looked at her closely, then smiled as Hailey once again felt the shiver of an Identity skill being used against her.

  “Shadow fighter. Nicely done. Check your status and see if it has changed there.”

  Status (truncated).

  “There we go. Shadow fighter is now displayed, and [Masking] is now active. The mana cost hurts though,” Hailey said.

  “That’s a small price to pay when the alternative is death. Now, we still have lots of day left to burn through. If you’re up for it, we can probably get a level or two under your belt before its dinner time,” Tennison said.

  “Sounds good to me. I’m going to need all the practise I can get if I’m going to pull this off,” Hailey said.

  The two continued through the forest, wandering in no specific direction by Hailey’s reckoning.

  Maybe he’s got a skill that helps him with location, like a pathfinding skill, or a good memory of where we’ve been, or something.

  Time continued to pass, but luckily, or unluckily enough, it took quite a bit of time to find another monster. Tennison had said something about monsters not wanting to hang around other powerful domains, and the natural selection that occurred when one got close enough to the village. As a result, the less powerful monsters required a good trek to find. Monsters that could move quickly, like the owlbeast, or those with strength that challenged the human domain could be found within the buffer zone. The latter was a rare occurrence as monsters tended to keep to themselves. Usually.

  Once they made it into the so called ‘realm of monsters’ as Tennison had described it, Hailey stopped in her tracks as the domain washed over her. The air felt heavy to her once more, but, not as direct as the owlbeast’s domain had been. This was more like a public service announcement that the monsters who lived here did not want to be disturbed.

  “Do you feel that, how it’s different?” Tennison said. “That’s how the village’s domain would probably feel to a monster. If I had to guess. The joint domain of the inhabitants here. But, make no mistake, they don’t live here in harmony with each other. It is still very much survival of the fittest. Knives up, Hailey.”

  Hailey unsheathed her knives and brought them up into a defensive stance. The world once more began to feel sluggish. The breeze moving through the leaves on the trees felt slow, like the leaves were hanging for a moment longer than they should have been before swaying.

  “The more you get used to the time dilation effects of perception, the better. I know it can be jarring at first, but you need to know just how fast you can react, to… well react. A faint or a parry only works so well if you telegraph it to the world. Being precise and fluid will be an important part of becoming a better fighter,” Tennison said.

  “But how can I hear your words just fine?” Hailey asked. “Shouldn’t they be slowed too?”

  “You would think that, but the system provides a helping hand in matching languages and pacing. To a degree. If I do this,” Tennison started. “Then things become- fast- you.” His words picked speed until only the odd word was deciphered by Hailey’s mind.

  “Then things become too fast for you.” Tennison restated at the system adjusted normal pace.

  “I only missed a couple of words there,” Hailey said.

  “You must already have good perception. I, on the other hand, do not, and my intelligence stat is in the same state, so you will quickly catch up, if not surpass me before too-“

  The bush in front of them shuddered. A boar-like monster came charging out from its hiding spot and looked to take Hailey out at the knees. She reactively turned and took a step back, pushing herself out of the boar’s path. The monster skidded to a stop, its momentum carrying it further than Hailey thought it would have, then it started to turn around, only to get punted in the ribs by Tennison.

  The boar was knocked off its feet, hopping a good half a foot in the air before landing back on its feet, stunned for half a moment. A moment that Hailey took to [Shadowstep] into the boar’s shadow. The movement was, disorienting, to say the least this time, but she realigned herself with the boar, and struck at its thick neck, plunging the battered hunting knife into its throat.

  She twisted and pulled it back out, just as she had been taught, then buried it in a new spot between its ribs. The monster squealed, somehow working through the lethal throat injury and reared back, looking to stomp at Hailey.

  Tennison stepped in, his motion blurry to Hailey as he once again kicked the boar monster in the chest, sending it tumbling backwards. It scrambled to get back to its feet, twisting back and forth, giving Hailey the opportunity to lunge forward and jam her daggers into it once more. This strike was less coordinated than the first had been. One knife found purchase on some soft belly tissue, while the other left a surface gash as it glanced off the beast’s bone-supported tough hide.

  With another squeal the boar managed to find its footing, moving a length away from Hailey. Then its eyes turned red, and it launched itself forwards once more, now moving even faster. Hailey moved, her sense of danger at the back of her mind telling her to get the fuck out of the way, which she did, almost.

  The boar’s tusk caught her shin as it careened past her, ripping into the worn leather of her boot, her skin beneath getting a surface level abrasion wound at the tusk and material pulled at her leg.

  The monster carried forward, changing its direction just slightly to now threaten Tennison with the same charge. Tennison slashed out with his sword, timing his movements just right to both sidestep the boar, but to also cleave through its jaw, separating it lower mandible from the rest of its skull.

  Movement in the corner of Hailey’s eye caught her attention as she watched another red-eyed boar charge out of the forest, straight towards Tennison’s blind spot. She moved, stepping into the beast’s shadow and managed to hook her knife into its eye socket. The movement shocked Hailey, sending her sense of balance into turmoil. The beast’s momentum carried forward, ripping the knife out of her hand, but after a step it crashed into the ground and laid still. Hailey joined the beast in its pursuit of terrestrial support as she twisted, pitching downwards, landing on her side as everything began to go black.