Time Elapsed: 00:57:12

"Is that all you've got, Twiggy?"

Severance snarled a wordless reply. He didn't have any breath to waste on speaking. Not when Dhin had him in a chokehold.

They were on the ground, Dhin using his arms and a leg to trap Severance in a painful hold. Though the Veiled man didn't apply too much pressure, it was still enough to make Severance see stars.

"Come on, use what I showed you. Even Tayci can get out of this one."

It was a lame insult, to insinuate a tiny girl child could do better than him, but it still spurred Severance to twist and throw a jab towards Dhin's face. Dhin hunched and caught it on his shoulder, a low laugh spilling free. His arm pressed harder against Severance's throat.

"Wrong. Try again."

Spots danced before Severance. Leverage. That's what he needed. He twisted his hips, getting a foot braced on the ground, and then turned his whole torso inward towards Dhin. Both the arm and leg trapping him loosened. He swung his free knee up, catching Dhin's leg as the clansman tried to strengthen his hold.

Severance fought, exerting all the strength he had. He got a hand up under Dhin's arm, gaining some breathing room, and then squirmed like an eel, trying to worm his way out from beneath the arm. It wasn't how Dhin had showed him to break this type of hold, he was sure of it, but right now, with a blood-deprived brain, it was the first idea he had.

Dhin wasn't about to let him go without a fight. The two grappled for a long moment, before Severance managed to elbow Dhin in the ribs. With a grunt, Dhin's hold went slack and Severance pulled free.

He wheezed in tired elation, proud of finally succeeding. He hadn't gotten anywhere yesterday after asking Dhin to help him, but today, after an hour of getting beaten, Severance finally felt like he'd improved.

The System was proud of him too, for it promptly rewarded him with a cheery chime.

+1 Strength
Congratulations, Severance! You have reached Level 47.
You have unassigned skills.

"Ha." Severance flopped onto his back. Refreshing energy surged through him, erasing all aches and bruises. "I finally hit 47."

"Yeah?" Dhin sat up. He rubbed his ribs and winced slightly.

"Mm. System, Skills."

The screen appeared before him, and without bothering to sit up, Severance reached up and tapped it.

Unassigned Skills
Level 47 Skills – Choose one

Flourish – Ability. Boosts next skill by 50%. Cooldown: 5 mins**
Quelling Steps – strike your target. In Earth Dance: restores 10%hp; if chained after another Step skill, 20%hp; if chained after two Step skills, 30%hp. In Sky Dance: if chained after one step skill, damage increases by 10%; if chained after two Step Skills, decreases target's Strength & Intelligence by 10% for 8 seconds. Cooldown: 12.5 secs*
Restoration – Ability. Restores target hp to full. Cooldown: 5 mins**

*Because you have ≥30 wisdom, cooldown times are slightly decreased.
**Abilities are not affected by wisdom.

"Oh." Severance's eyes lit up.

These were actually pretty good. His attention fell on the second one in particular. He already had Restoring Step and Flowing Step, which meant he'd easily meet the condition to activate that strength and intelligence debuff. If he ran into a Knight again, it might come in useful.

"Did you get something new?" Dhin asked.

He'd already seen Severance fiddle with the System multiple times, and even though he couldn't see any of it himself, he more or less could guess what was going on.

"I did." Severance tapped the window.

You have learned the skill: Quelling Steps.

"What is it?"

Severance stood. He brought his war fans out of Inventory. They appeared in his hands, folded into the closed position. Instead of answering Dhin, he silently activated Sky Dance. At once, blue ripples of electricity burst into life. They writhed around his legs and sparked around his fans.

Dhin's brow furrowed and he subtly moved further away. "Twiggy?"

The caution displayed on his face amused Severance. As if he'd unleash a lethal attack on his own clansman. But maybe Dhin was finally feeling guilty for all the brutal beatings he'd been dishing out. Sure, Severance had asked for them, but there was no need for Dhin to be so eager about it.

Severance approached a sturdy tree near the edge of the clearing. It was mostly dead and had lost the majority of its branches, which left a nice bare trunk. He and Dhin often used it as target practice, so it had many holes and cuts scored into its bark. Now, Severance was going to give it a few more scars.

"Restoring Step," he murmured. He didn't need to verbally activate the skill anymore, but he tried to do so anyway just to keep in the habit. The other players didn't need to know he could do otherwise.

Both fans snapped open in burst of brilliant blue. He slashed at the tree, the teeth of each fan gouging through the bark. Each new wound sparked briefly.

"Flowing Step." His feet lightly carried him sideways, and his attacks followed suit. A shower of new sparks accompanied each strike, turning the wood black with their heat.

"Quelling Step!" Electricity flared around him, bright and incandescent with power. Before the edge of his fans even reached the tree, arcs of electricity crossed the distance before them, striking the tree. Each hit came with a buzz and a crackle.

Blue flames flared along the scorched bark.

But Severance wasn't done. He stepped back and invoked Earth Dance. The blue flickering storm around him abruptly morphed into a gentle green breeze. Each of the Step skills currently had a cooldown of 12.5 seconds, so he only had to wait a short moment before he could begin again.

"Restoring Step," This time, wind accompanied him, dealing attacks that were gentler and more graceful.

At the end of the skill, he tipped the leaf of one fan towards Dhin, sending a dizzying swirl of wind to the clansman.

"Flowing Step." The wind picked up, fanning the scorched wood of the tree. Yellow began to glow as particles of ash flaked off and flew away. Again, Severance sent a gust towards Dhin. It was stronger, tugging at his hair and raising a cloud of dust.

Dhin grimaced and tried to smooth down his hair.

"Quelling Step."

Dhin's attempts at fixing his hair was ruined in an instant. More wind immediately assaulted him, briefly surrounding him in a tiny tornado. It kicked up dirt and dried leaves and tossed them into his face, even as it sent healing warmth into him.

Severance's target, the tree, fared even worse. He should have realized that mixing wind and heat wasn't a good combination. Orange flame flared to life, and the next thing Severance knew, he was standing before a tree on fire.

"Oh," he said. "Oops."

He backed up, lifting an arm to shield his face from the sudden surge of heat.

"What are you trying to do?" Dhin exclaimed. He shuffled his hands through his hair, shaking out loose dirt and leaves.

"I was just trying to test out my skills," Severance retorted.

"Right. And now you've set the forest on fire." Dhin bent, scooped a handful of dirt in his hands, and proceeded to toss it on the tree.

Severance raised his brows. "Is that supposed to do something?"

The next handful of dirt caught Severance in the face. He chocked, spat, and glared daggers at the Veiled man. He had half a mind to-

"Grab the axe, Twiggy. You wanted to build strength, now here you go. Start chopping."

"You're kidding." Severance looked at the axe on the ground. It was old and worn, and a whole lot heavier than the variety he'd seen on earth.

He looked at the tree. One entire side of it was on fire. Smoke lifted off it in choking plumes. Right now, there was more smoke than fire, but that could change quickly, considering this tree was more dead than alive.

Dhin grabbed the axe and thrust it at Severance. "I am not. We don't have any water here. So that tree has to come down into the clearing here so we can control the burn. If it collapses into the other trees, it'll spread. Come on, Twiggy. I'll clear the area, you chop."

There wasn't much arguing with that. Severance made a face, but he took the axe and approached the tree. He'd never cut down a tree before in his life, but now was as good a time to start as any.

***

"Whoa, what the heck happened to you?"

Severance sighed. He knew he should have changed his clothes. He'd washed the soot off his face at least, but there hadn't been much time to do anything else before rushing off to Tomorrow's Edge.

His raid team was online now, and he'd gone to collect Awesome Dude like usual. If he left the Shade to his own devices, who knew what trouble Awesome Dude would find? It was easier for everyone if he met up with his friend first before teleporting over to the raid entrance.

"I set a tree on fire," he answered reluctantly. "And then Dhin made me put it out."

"Really? You did? No way." Awesome Dude chortled, like he couldn't believe it.

Feeling slightly insulted, Severance folded his arms. "I was trying out a new skill. But never mind that. I wanted to ask you something before we go to the raid."

Awesome Dude snickered. "Fine, what is it?"

"So, I'll be fifty in a few days. That means I'll be able to start doing the level 50 dungeon." Severance paused, realizing something, "You know about that, right?"

His friend snorted. "Yeah, I know about it. Everyone knows about it now, Sev. Why else do you think the Traders have gone crazy? They wanna get rich off the dungeons before anyone else. People are saying there's some real cool loot in them. Too bad they're so tough to get into. Not everyone can get a key like you."

Severance ignored the mock accusatory glare. He hadn't realized the news was so widespread now, but perhaps that was his fault. He hadn't opened the World Chat in a long time, so he wasn't in touch with what the other players were up to.

Then again, it wasn't a surprise. Once he found the first map key to a dungeon, it was a given other players would discover them as well.

"Right. Anyway, I'm putting together a team with Jack and I wanted to ask if you'd join us."

He wasn't expecting Awesome Dude to wrinkle his nose. Nor was he expecting his friend to shake his head.

"Sorry, Sev. You know I love helping out and all, but I'm not dungeon crazy. I got a job here in the city and stuff."

Severance's heart fell. "You don't want to?"

"No, I mean yes, I'd like to, but Sev. That end game stuff takes a lot of time. And commitment. If you're going to do it—and it's awesome that you want to, cause you used to be a real noobie, remember?—but if you're going to do it, you have to go all in. You get what I'm saying?"

He had a good point, Severance realized. Not everyone wanted to commit every hour of their available in game time for a single task. His friend was already offering most of his time just to help Severance and the others level up.

In Severance's case, it was fine. He practically had unlimited game time. But it wasn't the same for the rest. And more importantly, almost no one understood what truly lay at stake. If they didn't know, how could Severance expect them to understand the urgency of this?

"It's okay," he said, trying to hide his disappointment. It was a good thing he asked Jaema about finding someone earlier. "I get it. I just thought I'd ask in case you wanted in."

Awesome Dude grinned. "Of course! I'd be asking you too if I had a super cool dungeon to explore. But hey, if you need a fill in or something, just let me know, 'kay?"

"Sure." Severance smiled and laid a hand on his friend's arm. "Should we get going? Jack's probably going to have a heart attack if we're late again."

"Let him have one!"

Despite his retort, Awesome Dude immediately accepted the teleport request. Both of them vanished from the city.