As Ethan’s head snapped back and as his legs failed to hold him up, a small part of his mind—that wasn’t currently being jostled by the impact—held on to the short man’s wide eyes as he stumbled back and hit the ground. His head rang, but through the pain and disorientation, a memory still managed to drag itself out of where he’d tried to bury it. The feral gleam in the eyes. The bared teeth. The unhinged rictus of a smile, filled with nerves and adrenaline of a desperate man right teetering on the brink of sanity.

  He just tried to kill me.

  Ethan struggled up to his feet, hand raised protectively in front of him while the pain began easing up. A part of his mind went quiet as he focused on his murderous opponent. At the wand still pointed at him.

  The man’s features slacked before his eyes grew wide as he took a step back. Ethan quickly noted the disheveled and dirty clothes. The blood spattered on the green torn jacket.

  “W-how? What the f—”

  Ethan tuned him out. The pain and disorientation were receding, but his confusion only grew. What was this man doing? “Why?” Ethan asked.

  In response, the man raised a simple wooden wand and shook it, as if it had been a dead remote and he was trying to change the channel.

  He’s trying to shoot me again.

  [Human - Level 4]

  Ethan grit his teeth. He stepped in and swiped at the man’s arm with his claws. Blood splattered down as the talons cut deep into the man’s flesh, who recoiled with a shout before he raised his wand again and this time it began to glow, a familiar rictus of pain and lunacy on his face.

  Almost the same look Ethan’s father had given him, all those years ago. The only missing things to recreate the scene were the screams of his mother and a knife in his father’s hands.

  A cold sensation coursed through Ethan’s marrows as the glow of the wand intensified. A projectile shot out, but Ethan already slipped to the left, barely dodging the gray projectile, while his right claws shot at the man’s throat before he could realize what was happening.

  Blood spurted. The man’s hand went to his throat and the rage and mania were replaced by surprise and fear. He gargled, falling to his knees. Still, he raised his wand, pointing it at Ethan’s chest.

  Two claws pushed it away to the side as Ethan’s heart hammered in his chest, and a second later, the hand fell, and the man soon followed.

  You have defeated [Human - Level 4]

  You have reached Level 5. 1 stat point awarded.

  Congratulations. Side quest completed.

  1 stat point awarded. Trait: Universal tongue has been granted.

  New side quest unlocked.

  Side quest:

  Reach level 10

  Reward:

  1 trait from a list of tailored options.

  3 stat points.

  There was one more prompt that Ethan had ignored, and now he looked at it.

  Humans

  A sapient humanoid species with a remarkable capacity for adaptability. While individuals display a broad range of behaviors, caution is advised in dealings with unknown members. Potential for constructive or destructive impact is significant.

  Ethan stared at the prompt then down at the dead man, head ringing. He felt nauseous. Cold. The image of his dead father kept trying to superimpose itself onto this person, so he looked away, claws digging into his palm as he forced himself to breathe slowly.

  Why?

  Why had this man tried to kill him? He hadn’t seemed to be sane, but Ethan couldn’t just stand there and eat more shots. What if one of them had been more dangerous? What if the man had been able to cast something else?

  Ethan didn’t feel good about killing the man, but he didn’t want to die either. Between his life and a stranger’s, the choice was clear. Maybe he could have tried to disarm the man if his fight or flight hadn’t kicked in, but then what?

  Tie the man up? With what? Trust him?

  Ethan shook his head. That would be suicidal. Plus, the lizardlings were coming. He had to be ready.

  Glancing down at the man, he recalled his shock. He must have thought that one hit could have killed Ethan, but clearly, Toughness came through.

  Level 4. Was he going around killing people?

  From the man’s lack of hesitation and the flecks of blood on his clothes, it seemed likely.

  Stepping over the pooling blood, Ethan leaned down and touched the wand. It dissolved into a familiar golden light before being sucked into his hand.

  Wand #1: 3 fragments collected.

  Was this how this tutorial was going to be? He couldn’t even trust people?

  Ethan’s worries came to a halt when screechy shouts reached his ears from deeper down the corridor.

  He put his back against the wall and listened.

  There were a lot more lizardlings. Ethan could run… but he could also get a handful of levels and a lot more fragments.

  He looked down at the corpse in front of him.

  I need the levels. If I have to worry about people, I need strength. And to be honest, I don’t want to run.

  The sound grew louder, echoing along the stone walls, calling to him. He could picture himself tearing into the lizardlings. Expending all the anxious energy he felt in his stomach.

  Ethan put one point in Mana, then dumped everything else into Toughness. He needed it. For the lizardlings and for backstabbing humans. He grit his teeth, opening and closing his fists, feeling the sharp edges of his claws as heat scoured his body. Looking at where the man had come from, he saw another flight of stairs leading down into darkness.

  He’ll have to be careful when he leads the lizards down there.

  One last thing.

  Back against the wall, Ethan dragged a claw against his forearm. At first, gently, and as the sharp claw traced a white line across his skin, Ethan’s eyes went wide. He was putting some strength behind the sharp talon, and it still couldn’t break skin?

  Damn.

  Ethan would have to do some more tests about how Toughness was affecting him, but from this quick test, it looked like the lizardlings would need to get their angle right and make sure their weapons were sharp to cut deep into him. Which was perfect, considering what was coming.

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  Ethan rolled his shoulder and breathed deep. He had to win the next encounter. Then he’d be able to afford a handful of wand upgrades.

  I got this. I can do this.

  His heart was thumping in his ears, barely audible over the ruckus of the lizardlings. This would still have to be a running fight. He couldn’t just waltz into their group and hope for the best.

  He tensed as he waited against the cold wall, body low. And when the first scaled foot turned the corner, Ethan’s claws shot forward and blood splattered the wall.

  For the next five minutes, his world was filled with the smell of blood and the screeching of lizardlings, and he forgot about humanity for a few minutes.

  ***

  Ethan panted as he shoved the lizardling away. It gurgled as his claws slipped out of its chest, then it fell and the man stumbled backward.

  His joints and muscles were on fire. He didn’t know how many notifications he’d gotten; he’d stopped counting at some point. Ethan knew he’d gotten three levels, because he’d shoved two more points in Toughness and one into Might, hoping the latter would relieve the pain in his arms. But even with that, Ethan struggled to stay up. One eye was shut, sealed with his blood from a close call that almost lost him his eye, while his thigh throbbed from a spear thrust he’d gotten moments ago.

  And unfortunately for him, the fight wasn’t over.

  [Lizardling - Level 9]

  The last lizardling wasn’t looking much better. Ethan had gotten it a couple of times, but the dagger-wielder was spry, which resulted in only superficial injuries whenever Ethan’s claw had found him.

  “We will feast on your flesh, hu—”

  “Yeah, yeah, shut up and let’s get this over with,” Ethan cut the lunatic off. After getting level five, Ethan had gotten the universal tongue trait and decided that it was overrated. The lizardlings were complete nutjobs whose only goal in life was to kill and feast on the flesh of anything that didn’t look like them.

  Frankly, he was sick of hearing them. He’d rather have gotten another trait.

  The lizardling surged forward, body close to the floor. Ethan relaxed and slowly exhaled as the lizardling approached.

  Focus. Don’t fall for it.

  Ethan raised his hands, wincing at the pain in his shoulders, and waited for the feint. The lizardling took a step to the right and, as expected, his momentum changed and went lower.

  Ethan put his weight on his uninjured leg and readied himself to dodge.

  The lizardling lunged, straight as a spear, dagger aimed at Ethan’s heart, but the man was ready. Ethan sidestepped and had the pleasure of seeing the lizardling’s eyes grow wide as they tracked his movement to the right.

  A clawed hand flew up in an uppercut, catching the lizardling in its guts, tearing into its flesh as it passed by. A wheeze escaped the creature as it went skidding, its momentum carrying it forward, while Ethan stumbled to the side, groaning at the pain from his thigh.

  The lizardling pushed itself up to its hands and knees, its rasping breath punctuated by the sound of blood dripping on the stone floor. Trembling, it began rising once more, only for Ethan to take a step forward and kick it in the face. The lizardling took the hit and rolled away, then somehow still managed to drag itself up to its feet, blood seeping down from its stomach.

  Ethan, panting, readied himself. He did not like the glare he was getting from his opponent. Not when it was this close to death.

  Unfortunately, before he could recover any of his strength, the lizardling rushed him, dagger flashing toward his leg and when Ethan tried to jump back, his feet refused to leave the stone floor.

  Ethan grunted with pain as the dagger sunk into his good thigh. The lizardling’s mouth stretched into a toothy smile that turned into a grimace when a clawed hand fell toward its face. Ethan dragged his talons through the side of its neck, tearing arteries, veins, and even a windpipe on the way out.

  The lizardling stumbled backward, and its dagger clattered to the floor. It tried to stop the blood flow as it fell to its knees, and a moment later, it fell to its side.

  You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 9]

  You have reached Level 9. 1 stat point awarded.

  Ethan fell on his behind, grimacing with pain. He slowly dragged himself backward until his back was against the wall, and was immediately tempted to put the new point in Toughness as well… but he held off on it.

  Maybe in a few minutes.

  Looking down the hall, he saw the many spears, daggers, shields and even a couple of enhancer wands. One had claws, similar to his own, while another had a significantly larger tail that he’d used to whip at Ethan’s face and feet.

  One or two more lizard creatures were up the stairs. Ethan had dragged the fight down the stairs and around the somewhat dark corridor until the lizardlings had been thinned out enough for him to hold his ground.

  Now he had to get back up the stairs and start collecting his earnings, before anyone—or anything—showed up.

  Eyes and ears peeled, Ethan dragged himself up and, painfully, began collecting the many fragments from his fallen enemies.

  He made his way through the bodies, then up the stairs, then around the corner. Once he was done, he couldn’t help but smile at the loot he’d been able to collect.

  Wand #1: 19 fragments collected.

  That put him at 28 fragments in total. Ethan stumbled his way back around the corner, then let himself slide down against the wall as he sat back down. “Ow… ow ow”.

  Panting, he pulled his wand interface and went to the upgrade section, gritting his teeth as his body screamed at him. It was time to get the big item.

  Available wand upgrades:

  [Tier: Increase by 1 - 25 fragments]

  [Stat Bonus: Increase by 1 - 5 fragments]

  [Cast refresh: Decrease by 0.25 seconds - 1 fragments]

  [Mana regeneration: Increase by 0.04 - 1 fragments]

  Ethan looked through all the upgrades, but he already knew what he wanted. With the tier upgrade, he would be able to use [Flaming Enhancement].

  As soon as he confirmed his selection, a burst of air pushed out surrounding dust. Motes of golden light began appearing around him, circling for a few seconds, gaining momentum. His skin tingled. The hair of his arms stood straight, and then the lights rushed to his hands. His claws twitched as the electrifying energy sunk into them and slowly, bit by bit, the feeling faded.

  Wand #1: Upgrade from tier 0 to tier 1 completed.

  Ethan opened and closed his clawed hands and as he looked at them, he felt they might be a bit thicker. The claws a little longer. And when he brought up his updated menu, he couldn’t help but whistle—which quickly turned in another groan. A pained smile stretched across his lips when he realized he wasn’t imagining the feeling of renewed strength that lingered after the upgrade.

  I’m getting more bonus stats thanks to the upgrade. And now I have even more upgrade options to choose from.

  Name: Ethan Voss

  Traits: [Universal tongue]

  Level 9

  Might: 7

  Toughness: 8

  Spirit: 6

  Mana: 2

  Unassigned: 1

  Wand #1: [Form: Claws][Sequential: None]

  Class: Enhancer

  Tier: 1

  Unique Trait: None

  Cast Setting: Sequential

  Capacity: 1/2

  Cast refresh: 5s

  Mana regeneration: 0.01 (0.5%)

  Stat Bonus: +5 Might +5 Spirit

  Fragments: 3