The linen shirt felt cool and airy against his skin. It was a nice dark brown, not too loose and too tight. He turned, trying to see the shirt from the back. Despite being at the best tailor in Holdenfor, the mirror against the wall was some kind of highly polished copper, and Alex had to see himself in a strange golden-brown color, like he was an insect stuck inside a piece of amber.

  He didn’t quite feel comfortable with that image, but the shirt itself felt great.

  “I’ll take two of them,” Alex told the smiling shop owner. “Two of the wool ones as well, two of those dark pants you showed me earlier, the socks, and the, uh, underpants too.”

  Those were not great, but he’d rather save the underwear he’d brought with him for when he was having a bad day and needed to feel like a modern human for a bit.

  The tailor almost lunged in to give him a kiss. She should too. He was forking out an entire silver halo for all this, but he figured he would need them sooner or later if he ever wanted to blend in with the people of this world. Instead of keeping the shirt on, he slowly undid the laces at the top and took it off. He had a different outfit planned for the day.

  The plan was quite simple, really. Dress up as Celia’s guards and bait an ambush on the west road. Only instead of regular human guards, the Kruwal would be facing the chasers and the best volunteers amongst Celia’s and Holdenfor’s guards they could find. Valerian had told them it was unlikely the powerful Matriarch with the water magic was sitting along like a common robber, waiting to ambush them.

  It was a gamble, but Alex hoped that, with the element of surprise turned on its head, they could get the upper hand and capture at least one of the monsters. If Scarface could speak the human language, then maybe one of the Kruwals they captured would be able to answer all the questions they had. Where their camp was, how many of them were there, and where the captured humans were being kept.

  Alex was confident it could work. They could finally get some real planning done with that information. And, he had to admit, he was itching to let the heat constantly simmering deep in his chest loose. He’d barely used his power after the battle of the bridge, only lighting up the lantern in his room at the inn a few times. Even then, the small uses were a thrill to him, and he couldn’t wait to do more than just that.

  As the tailor got her assistant to ring up his new clothes, Alex opened up his status page.

  [Status]

  Name: Alex Hart

  Level: 7

  Class: Mage

  HP: 80/80

  MP: 160/160

  [Attributes]

  Strength: 6

  Dexterity: 10

  Vitality: 8

  Power: 20

  Soul Affinity: 16

  Free Points: 5

  [Skill Points]: 2

  Fire Proficiency - 5/5

  Water Proficiency

  Lightning Proficiency

  Air Proficiency

  Earth Proficiency

  Arcane Proficiency

  [Locked]

  [Locked]

  …

  For a few days now, he’d hesitated committing any stats or skill points. His Fire Proficiency was completed, so he knew he’d have to branch out to other proficiencies. He’d thought maxing out one of them would unlock the next step in its evolution, maybe lava proficiency, or some kind of special fire. But there was nothing.

  The first possibility is that it would only happen when his mage class turned into its second rank, like Valerian and Cedric with the warrior class. Or, as he suspected, it was another quirk of his inconsistent system, which didn’t seem to follow the exact rules that everyone else’s powers seemed based on.

  Perhaps when he got to level ten, or fifteen, he’d get his answer. But for now, he had to contend with the choices he had.

  And having witnessed other mages like Diana, the Reaper, and even the water magic of the Kruwal Matriarch in action, he knew there was no right or wrong choice. Every element available to him had its strengths and weaknesses.

  The only one he felt unsure of was Arcane Proficiency. It was the most abstract one, and it seemed to require knowledge of runes, which he didn’t have, and time to create new arcane pieces like Diana’s Siren, which he certainly didn’t have now.

  That left Water, Lightning, Air, and Earth. He’d seen all but Lightning being used, with Earth Proficiency being the one he was most tempted to pick. With fire being a primarily offensive element, he figured he was due something to bolster his defenses. And Earth powers were so incredibly versatile. Diana had stopped the charge of a full Kruwal war band on her own, basically. And despite being talented, she had no formal training and was only considered a hopeful and not a full chaser.

  Still, he couldn’t help but think of all the drawbacks of going for Earth Proficiency, especially in the situation they were in. In a strategic sense, they already had two competent Earth users on their side for their fight against the Kruwal. Even if he put the two points on Earth, he would still be a poor copy of Diana and the Reaper, and wouldn’t even be able to do half of the things they could do half as well.

  In the end, since he couldn’t boost his fire powers any further, he decided to save the points for later. His mind went back to his first attempt with fire magic against one of the Wild Boars, which resulted in a blundered spell and a ramming that cut his HP nearly in half. In a fight against a Kruwal, that would be deadly. He didn’t want to rely on new powers he had no combat experience in just to mess it up and end up causing his or other people’s deaths.

  He’d rather save the skill points for when he was sure of his choice and had some time to get used to the new proficiency. And in a pinch, he’d still have them available to allot however he wanted.

  Then he came to his attributes.

  Thinking back to the bridge, the raw power of his traces had been enough to take out the Kruwals—aside from the weakest ones like the fire arrow. But he doubted that even if he put all five points on Power, his arrows would suddenly become deadly. The Kruwal’s skin was too tough for it.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  In reality, he couldn’t focus on damage output only. There was more to a fight than making his fire attacks hotter or more concentrated. His experience in the dungeon against the Deadwood came to mind. It had been dexterity and some quick thinking that saved him, not raw power.

  In a flash of decisiveness, Alex made the changes.

  [Attributes]

  Strength: 6

  Dexterity: 10 (+2) = 12

  Vitality: 8 (+2) = 10

  Power: 20

  Soul Affinity: 16 (+1) = 17

  Free Points: 0

  More speed. More health. More mana.

  Just like Power and the fire arrows, his Strength wouldn’t match that of a Kruwal even if he dumped all five points on it, so it was a stat he’d have to focus on later. For now, he was satisfied with his choices.

  Nodding to himself, he quickly paid for his new clothes and left the store. Outside, the main street cutting through Holdenfor was a lot less subdued today. The imminent famine had initially cast a pall over the town, but a day later that had turned into a frenzied scramble to prepare. People walked hurriedly to and from, as if every second they weren’t working might mean their future demise.

  On the other hand, Helga told them earlier that Bryon had been working like a horse after Bernier had ordered all the blacksmiths in town to stop their normal jobs and focus on making new weapons and armor or repairing old stock, and every half-decent bowyer and fletcher were busy mass producing as many bows and arrows they could.

  Children had been drafted as runners, men of eligible age were training with the town guard, and dozens of women had been working day and night making clothes and bedsheets into bandages for the coming fight.

  The town was preparing for a full on assault.

  His new favorite bake shop had temporarily shut its doors as well. Apparently, you don’t sell gourmet buns and cookies during rationing. Sensible but tragic, he thought.

  Without the sweet smell of fresh buns in the air, Alex didn’t dally on the street and went straight back to the Hail Stranger inn where they were staying. It was still early in the morning, and they planned to leave for the ambush before noon.

  The common room of the Stranger was smaller than the Bedstone, and he had no problem spotting Cedric perched on the bar with a half-empty tankard in hand. He was almost laying on the sticky countertop, his head resting on his left arm and his legs dangling from the stool.

  Seeing him arrive, Myer gave him an awkward wave. Alex waved back as he walked past them. He hadn’t spoken more than a few words with Cedric since they arrived in town. Not that he could anyway. The lancer only spoke in slurring sounds and garbled apologies. He’d been a drunken mess every hour of every day, and just in the time they needed him the most. It was the type of thing Alex despised the most.

  Despite himself, he hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. For a moment, he thought of going up to the man to clear the air. One last try. Having their most powerful chaser come with on his plan would be helpful. Then Cedric slipped out of his stool and fell to the ground, dunking the tankard on himself. He didn’t try to get up, just stayed there, his clothes soaked with booze.

  Alex didn’t spare him another look before climbing up.

  xxx

  After dropping off the new clothes in his room and dressing up with the guard uniform Celia had provided, he knocked on the next door over.

  “Hey, are you guys ready?”

  There was a call to come in from the inside, and when Alex stepped inside the room, Daven was pointing accusingly at his sister.

  “Diana’s not going,” the archer said.

  “What?”

  “Oh, will you drop it?” Diana snapped at her brother. She was sitting at the edge of one of the two beds in the room, arms crossed in front of her.

  Daven ignored her. “She’s a lying liar who likes to lie.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and called him something Alex couldn’t quite understand. An inside insult, probably. He felt a headache coming in.

  “Can you translate that to adult speech, please?” he asked.

  Daven turned to him. “You know how she said she was alright to go this morning? Well, she isn’t.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, sighing. “I told you already.”

  Instead of replying, Daven shot her a withering look.

  Surprisingly, Diana seemed to wilt under it. “Alright, I’m a little fine,” she admitted. “Not great, but I can handle myself. It’s just the more power-intensive traces that still leave me kind of doozy.”

  “Power-intensive?” Her brother scoffed. “Diana, I just saw you mess up the simplest air trace thingy ever invented. It didn’t even make my hair blow, and it’s really prone to doing that.” He brushed his hand over the shock of fiery red hair on his head.

  Diana sighed and laid back on the bed, defeated. “It’s just… it usually takes less than a week for me to get better after I push my mana too far. I should’ve been fine already.”

  “Yeah, well, this one was worse than the others, you know,” Daven said, serious now. His brows were furrowed in a way that made him look sad and angry at the same time. “You almost died, Di. And I had to watch it.”

  Silence. Diana looked at her brother from the bed, expression shaky.

  Watching the emotional scene unfold, Alex could only stand rooted in place. Though he didn’t doubt he was unconsciously taking tiny backward steps toward the door. He felt like a boy watching his parents fight. Which was strange, since he didn’t remember his parents ever fighting. They had a simple way around it; they just never talked to each other much in general.

  “Alright, alright. I’m sorry, I get it, I’m not at my best.” Diana totally did not pout. “Now stop being all sensible and nice, you don’t have the face for it.” She pointed his way. “And look, you made Alex uncomfortable.”

  Daven looked at him. “What?” The archer crossed the room in two steps and hooked an arm over his shoulder, then shook him slightly. “No he’s not, see. He’s fine. See.”

  Alex suffered in silence. I should’ve left when I had the chance.

  “Oh yeah, now he's comfortable again.” Diana laughed. “Good job.”

  “Right.” He pushed Daven away. “As much as I hate to admit it, Daven’s right. Not to be too callous, but if you really can’t use your powers like you’re used to, you’re more likely to be a liability out there than anything else.”.

  Despite her earlier acceptance, Diana didn’t take that too well. She had the look of someone about to go into a rant, so he raised both his hands to stop what was coming.

  “All I’m saying is, what happens if you try a trace, fail, and that causes someone who was depending on you to die or get seriously injured.” It was the exact reason he didn’t want to try out a new proficiency now. “And Daven’s going to be more distracted trying to keep an eye on you than having his head focused on the fight. Does that make sense?

  Diana seemed to get what he meant, for she gave him a reluctant nod. “Ugh.” She massaged her temples for a moment. “When did I become the unreasonable one and you two the wise ones?”

  “Oh, dear sister, that has always been the case,” Daven said. “It’s just that idiots are the last to find out they’re the idiots.”

  That got a snort out of her. “Don’t I know it.”

  Alex considered things for a moment. Diana not going was a blow.

  “This does complicate things,” he said, trying to steer things back to topic. “You can’t go because your powers are messed up. The Reaper’s out digging ditches around the walls, and Cedric’s passed out downstairs again. That’s less people than I would’ve wanted to make this work.”

  Daven didn’t agree. “Are you kidding? I’m back in the game, dude. I got a bow with me now. Those tall red freaks don’t stand a chance.”

  Alex couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm. Trust Daven to always cheer things up. He would miss the annoying bugger when they wrapped things up in Holdenfor and he finally left.

  “Wait,” Diana said. She sat back up on the bed.“Can we push back the plan for later today? I… I have an idea.” She looked up at him, eyes fiery. That was more like her. “I can’t do power-intensive traces, but I can do small things. Small things that can actually be pretty huge.”

  Smiling back, Alex nodded. He had an inkling of what she meant. He’d go down to the western gate and let Celia and her guards know they’d be going out early in the afternoon instead. Bernier might fret, but he couldn’t well force them to go. Being a chaser had its advantages.

  Unlike him, Daven didn’t quite get it.

  “Small things that are huge?” he repeated, then turned to Alex. “See what I was saying about idiots?”