The small amount Max put in James’s mouth was enough to bring some color back to his face and start rejoining the flesh of his open wounds.
“Now, I showed you I am up for keeping you alive. I need you to tell me if these unskilled actually have skills and why those skills make them dangerous.”
James winced, shaking his head for a moment until he saw Max begin to move his foot near his injured arm again.
“I don’t know! They only tell us a little bit! There are three types of unskilled. Reds, clears and blacks. Each one has a skill that can cause damage to everyone in the world!”
Remembering the times he had seen an unskilled, both had been red. Max wasn’t sure how often each color came up, but knowing that it was a possibility that there were more like him gave him a slight sense of hope.
The man cleared his throat, licking his lips as he lay there momentarily.
“Black. Rare and unbelievably dangerous. All I know is the council is afraid. That’s all I know.”
Moving his foot back, Max nodded and saw the man relax a little.
“Why are you here? This… Caleb, I believe you said. Why did you follow him?”
“He was a friend of Max. We weren’t sure if he helped him escape or might lead us to him. My job is to follow and see.”
Max started to laugh, his laughter echoing through the woods.
“And you thought I was this Max?”
James grimaced and nodded quickly. “A mistake on my part.”
“Yes. A poor one. I’m still not sure if I can trust you. I mean, what's to keep you from killing me the moment I heal you?”
“My stuff! You can have it all! Take my storage vault! Keep my weapons, just heal me,” James shouted as loud as he could, ignoring the pain that wracked his body as he did.
“Where is your vault?”
“My necklace… it's my necklace.”
Max leaned over slowly, finding the chain the man was talking about, turning it till the clasp was in his hand, and undid it. In the middle of the necklace was a silver pendant with a yellow crystal in the middle of it.
“Put some of my blood on it and tap the gem three times. That will unbind it from me and make it free for someone else.”
Max put the necklace against the man’s wound, blood touching it, and then picked up the man's arm, watching him wince as he took one of his fingers and prepared to tap it.
“What are you doing?” the man gasped.
“Being safe. I would hate to think you might not tell me the right way to do this.”
He saw James’s eyes go wide and knew he was right.
The [Banker] in town had mentioned bound dimensional storage vaults. Usually, only nobles or well-off merchants had them, but sometimes, he had said, the military men and women used them. That memory had come to him as he considered how dangerous James might be. He knew it would be better to be cautious than risk it.
“Stop! Stop! I lied… you are right! Put it in my mouth, I need to bite on it! Don’t use my finger!”
Letting the arm fall to the ground and watching James wince, Max shoved the pendant into the man’s mouth.
James bit down, a bright light appearing between his teeth, and nothing more happened.
Max chuckled, pulling the pendant out, and touched the gem, surprised to find this dimensional storage had fifteen slots compared to his ten.
Inside was one sword, five backpacks, and items Max assumed were healing potions.
“I think this is a fair trade,” Max said as he slipped the necklace around his neck and fastened it. “Now tell me, how will I be certain you and your friends won’t come after me once you get back to town and tell them what happened here?”
James’s face went white with the realization that Max was definitely more competent than he had given him credit for.
Max didn’t hesitate. He was done with James. It had been hard fighting his desire, knowing the possibility of consuming stats and skills.
His spear appeared in his hand, and Max cast a fire enchantment, watching James’s eyes react to what he saw.
“Is this too hot? Perhaps I could make it cold instead.”
Max cast his ice enchantment, watching the man try to move, his one good leg, fighting against the dirt to push his body away from Max.
Max smiled, moving after James as he tried to squirm away.
“Don’t go, James. You succeeded. You found me. I’m Max Hoste, and yes, I am the owner of the black skill.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Max drove his spear into James’s heart, watching the man twitch a few times before stopping.
A cold rushing sensation he had been waiting for came, so cold it felt like his entire body was packed in snow.
[ 2 Strength Consumed ]
[ 2 Consitution Consumed ]
[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]
[Would you like to learn [Dual Wield]?]
Without waiting, Max selected yes, and his brain matched the tingling sensation his body felt. He saw the sword on the ground and knew that he could use it in either hand. It wouldn’t work with his spear, but he felt like that could change in time.
He began searching the body of James and found out that everything the man owned was bound. He couldn’t take any of his armor off. Frustrated, he found only a small pouch with ten silver coins on him and put those in his storage.
“What to do about you?” Max asked the corpse out loud.
Throwing a few more logs on the fire, Max cast a firebolt, igniting them in a burst of magic before tossing the body on top of it.
James's skin began to turn black, and a smell of cooking flesh rose from the fire.
Turning away, Max walked into the woods, ready to get to bed. He needed to figure out some things, and right now, he had to sleep before deciding the next step.
The trip to his bed took a few hours as he ran, each step eating up more ground as strength filled him.
He couldn’t help but smile even though he was worn out. Two hours of sleep was not near enough, but he had promised his party he would be there this morning.
His strength was five times higher than it had been a month ago. In such a short time, he had consumed more stats than he would ever have imagined having in his life.
Tanila stared at Max, seeing how he looked as he walked over to where the three of them were waiting on him. She could see he was tired, but something else was behind those eyes. A memory tugged at her, a man she had seen once back home.
“Sorry, I’m late. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“That’s obvious,” Fowl declared as he poked Max. “You find a friend that kept you up or–”
Max snorted when he saw Batrire smack Fowl in the back of the head, causing the noise he had just heard.
“Don’t ask that, especially in front of us. No one here wants to hear about those kind of things.”
Batrire huffed and turned, heading toward the hallway where stairs would take them to the dungeon they were attempting.
Tanila moved off after her, leaving Fowl rubbing his head as he grinned at Max.
“Some of us would like to hear those stories.”
Giving the dwarf a gentle push, Max shook his head and headed off after the others.
“Nothing special, I promise. Just a lot on my mind.”
Fowl didn’t press and walked beside Max, glancing at his expression.
“You look different. The way you are holding yourself.”
Bobbing his head, Max didn’t bother to take his eyes off Batrire and Tanila weaving through the adventurers in the room. “I feel different. I accepted who I am.”
When they reached the hallway, and it was just Max and Fowl, the dwarf grabbed Max’s arm, turning him slightly. “And who are you?”
A soft smile replaced the hard expression Max knew he had been wearing all morning.
“I’m your friend and fellow adventurer, and I’ll never stop until I’m strong enough to fight in the towers and beyond.”
“Well, we better get to it then,” Fowl said after he snorted. “There is lots of experience to be earned.”
“And stats to be gained.”
“And stats to be gained,” Fowl repeated.
“You two, stop acting like love birds and get your arses up here!” Batrire shouted down the hallway. “You two are the warriors, after all!.”
“Ogre nuts,” Tanila cursed as she picked up the hem of her robe and watched the tepid water drip off it. “A swamp. This doesn’t feel right.”
Max grinned, looking at Fowl, who had already complained about the water being almost up to his knees in some places.
“I gotta ask. Just how bad do some of these places get?”
“Dungeons?” Batrire asked as she put a potion back in her pouch.
Max nodded, spinning around slowly in a circle and taking in everything.
“Some can be awful. Frozen wastelands that will freeze your nuts off, or lava-filled zones with enough heat to singe every hair on yer head off.”
“Not that you have to worry about those,” Fowl joked, ignoring the eye roll Max gave him.
“So this isn’t too bad then. Trees, occasionally with those hanging moss-like things, water up to your knees, and a stench that should hide Fowl’s presence.”
“Yeah, but you're not thinking about the other problems.”
Tanila had moved next to Max and pointed at a tree a little bit away from them.
“Try to stealth over to that tree.”
Max realized what she meant when he activated stealth and moved in the direction she pointed. Every step he took in the water sent out ripples and, no matter how he walked, there was always evidence of churned muck and more that showed exactly where he was and the direction he moved in.
“That’s going to suck,” Fowl stated. “How are we going to use his stealth if that happens?”
“Only time will tell just how much the creatures pay attention. For now, we need to start searching and see what we can find.” Tanila said as she pointed to her left. “We need to go that way. There is a dungeon wall over there.”
Fowl jumped up, trying to see the wall, creating splashes and sending water out in a spray around him.
“Stop that! It’s not my fault you’re so short.”
Fowl kicked a little water toward Tanila but stopped after he heard Batrire clear her throat.
“It seems we forget sometimes we are not here to die because we are acting like children. Perhaps we should let Seth lead since he is the only one not acting out.”
Max shrugged and then strode ahead, moving in the direction Tanila had pointed.
“All I want to do right now is find these ogres and higher-level hobgoblins and start taking them out. Too much experience and stats to get.”
Batrire laughed, moving to follow Max as the other two watched them trudge through the shallow water.
“Seems like we’re the bad ones now,” Fowl joked as he ran after them.
“We’ve always been the bad ones,” replied Tanila. “That’s why our families kicked us out.”