Trust is an elusive thing, and it is not easily given a second time.

  - WHA Chronicler Dorty -

  Laying in bed, it’s been hours since Cortez reciprocated her demand back, and it was… well, really fucking good. She’s lying next to me, sound asleep, looking as beautiful as ever. I want to go back to sleep, I want to hold her and just forget about everything that’s happened. But I can’t. Every time I close my eyes, the dreams come, and I see more of the memories. Not just my own nightmares. I see the fox ones, and other memories. Memories from the Wyvern. It wasn’t just the fox world that they burned. They’ve done it before. Makes me wonder, what’s the gain in it? Does the system reward them for purging worlds? What’s their motivation?

  Shaking it off, at least I’m not seeing goblin memories yet. I wonder if it’s because they were weak compared to the other… souls? Yeah, I guess they’re kind of like souls. Don’t really know what else to call them. Even after expending their Wither Charges, I still get glimpses of the mother and father fox memories. Feelings mostly now, sometimes flashes of images or something. It will probably fade with time. Not that I want the fox ones to disappear. There are happy memories in there as well. Shit. This is heavy. Pulling up my interface now, time for a distraction. Putting the rest of the emotional baggage back into the bottle, I swipe through and pull up the Level notifications.

  [ System Notice: Level Up Roll Ready ]

  [ Start? ]

  [ Yes / No ]

  Clicking yes, I breathe deep. Hoping for a good roll. Should be seventeen points, since we get an extra ten from level ten as the boon. I’ve heard you can even get rare items or bonus points. Never had it happen to me though.

  [ Rolling Level Up Attribute Points… Success ]

  [ 17 New Points Allocated ]

  No hidden bonuses, still, seventeen points is a lot. My eyes feel weird all of the sudden, my body feels like it’s being squeezed. I’ve never opened more than one level-up at once before. I feel queasy. Holding my belly for a minute, it simmers away. I feel different though, noticeably different. It will take a few days or weeks for the stats to fully kick in, but I’m pretty excited. Alright, let’s see what we rolled. Pulling up my status sheet now, it shows me the recent changes from my previous one. Next time I pull it up, I won’t see that part.

  [ Name: Jimmy Novak ]

  [ Race: Human ]

  [ Class: Witherbrand ]

  [ Subclass: None ]

  [ Level: 14 ]

  [ Titles: Ready to Claim ]

  [ Strength: (14 + 1) = 15 ]

  [ Dexterity: (16 + 3) = 19 ]

  [ Constitution: (12 + 4) = 16 ]

  [ Intelligence: (14 + 2) = 16 ]

  [ Wisdom: (10 + 3) = 13 ]

  [ Charisma: (10 + 3) = 13 ]

  [ Luck: (21 + 1) = 22 ]

  That’s… good I guess. Was kind of hoping with such a high luck stat for my level that I’d get something extra. From a total stat point of view though, twenty-two luck isn’t extreme in higher levels. In fact, I’d be willing to bet it’s normal in the thirties and up. Overall this felt like a pretty normal balancing. I’m not sure what stats benefit Witherbrand the most. If I had to guess, probably Dexterity so that it’s easier to evade and apply the brands. Then maybe Luck? Seeing as it has an activation requirement to work. It’s hard to know what else might be useful. There definitely weren’t any guides or information about this class.

  Okay, now let’s see what the new skill is. Please be good. Opening up the interface, I select the new skill notification.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  [ Level Ten Milestone Skill Roll Ready ]

  [ Roll? ]

  [ Yes / No ]

  I hit the yes. Sitting up a little in bed.

  [Rolling for Witherbrand Class Skill… Success]

  Anticipation builds as a new series of boxes show up, and my eyes blink twice at them. I’ve never had it do this before. Strange fanfare appears around the notification, holy shit…

  [ Congratulations Hunter ]

  [ You have rolled the Witherbrand Class Ultimate Skill ]

  Ultimate skill? That’s supposed to be stupid rare to do. It’s the highest level of skill you can get for the class. There is no stronger skill… I rolled the peak skill at the level ten milestone? My heart is pounding, swallowing hard, I read the next text box.

  [ New Skill: Requiem of the Forsaken ]

  I can’t stop staring at it. It’s an Ultimate Class Skill. What does it do? How do I use it? Blinking, I swipe the screen away quickly to open the skill interface. Pulling up my current skill display.

  [ Skills: ]

  [ Respec on Death ]

  [ Triage ]

  [ Brand of Withering ]

  [ Whispering Decay ]

  [ Requiem of the Forsaken ]

  My finger hovers over it, heart still racing. Suddenly, a Red system message pops up before I can press it. There’s something else strange, Red and Ulana, they’re no longer fighting in the corner of my vision. It’s almost weird to get that area back.

  [ Respec on Death Quest Reward Ready ]

  [ Begin?]

  [ Yes / No ]

  Knowing Red, if I don’t click it now, it might put it back up for debate with Ulana. I want that extra Respec on Death Token. Not that I plan on dying. But three isn’t a lot, especially considering how strong the opposition was for the last quest. I barely managed to pass it without dying and wasting a Respec. One misstep and I would have. Clicking yes, the next set of Red text boxes show up. The last one though is gold for some reason. Maybe because she gave me the skill. I don’t know.

  [ New Title Received ]

  [ Rare Item Treasure Roll Received ]

  [ Respec on Death Token x 1 Received ]

  Another title, I still need to figure those out. I’ve heard of them before. Some give passive effects and stuff like that. Nothing crazy though from what I’ve been told. Usually, people get them for getting the final hit on the boss of a quest. Or something similar. It’s like the System’s version of achievements. Rare item treasure roll. That’s something to celebrate though. That means it’s guaranteed to be Rare quality or better. Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. People like me almost never get above Common treasure reward rolls. Not that they’re bad, but they are… well, common.

  I’ll save the treasure roll for after I see what the hell Requiem of the Forsaken is, I have an itch that needs to be scratched. There’s a feeling in me that it’s the single best thing I’ve been given. Opening up my skill menu again, my eyes trace down, but they stop for a moment, on the Respec on Death skill. It’s not blue like it normally is… it’s gold now. Weird.

  [ Skills: ]

  [ Respec on Death ]

  [ Triage ]

  [ Brand of Withering ]

  [ Whispering Decay ]

  [ Requiem of the Forsaken ]

  My finger clicks Requiem of the Forsaken, expanding the skill description.

  [ Ultimate Witherbrand Class Skill: Requiem of the Forsaken ]

  [ Cost: 100 x Wither Charges ]

  Where’s the rest? I click it again, but nothing. I reset the menu, going all the way back through. Still, nothing else besides an unachievable cost. I’m level fourteen now, I can only fucking hold fourteen charges. What’s the point of getting this skill before level one hundred? This is ridiculous. I can’t even use it.

  “Fuck,” I curse.

  Cortez stirs, her eyes flitting open for a second before closing again.

  So, that sucks. Whatever. I guess if I ever make it to level one hundred I can use it. Breathe. Calm down. Everything’s going to be okay. Moving back through the skill menu, I look at the now gold text Respec on Death. What does that mean? Did it upgrade? Can it be upgraded? I click it. Strangely, I don’t get the error message this time. The text is all gold on the new description boxes.

  [ Divine Skill: Respec on Death ]

  [ Tokens: 1 ]

  [ Enter Custom RoD menu? ]

  My eyes barely linger on the question, moving back up to the number of tokens I have. Why does it say I only have one? I should have four. Ulana said that I had three tokens. Plus this quest’s reward, that’s four? I’m not a mathematician but this is pretty easy math.

  I think back to what the box said. In no uncertain terms, she said I have three tokens. It’s why I nutted up and… I blink. Did she…

  Blinking again, an uneasy feeling crawls across me. Thinking back to her callous option to sacrifice the baby fox for a reward. Moving further back, to when I first met her. She watched all the soldiers get slaughtered before she intervened, and only right before I died.

  Did she lie to me? Did she tell me that I had three lives when I didn’t even have one… I look at the screen again. Only one token. The skill was blue before and I wasn’t authorized to look at it. She fucking lied. I could have died for real. Perma dead. She knew that. What the fuck?

  My heart is pounding, sweat beading on my brow as my mind replays almost dying. Each time I survived, pure chance. I barely survived. She doesn’t give a shit about me. I’m just a toy to her. A pawn on the table of her chess match against Red. Holy shit. Where does this leave me? Can I trust her again? No, I can’t. Neither she nor Red is on my side then. I’m just in the middle of their argument. Inconsequential.

  My breath is fast, I think I’m hyperventilating. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I force the air to hold in my lungs. Calm breaths. I’m not dead. This doesn’t change my goal. Get stronger. Strong enough that I can choose my own fate.