Ultimate Level 1

“Man, that smell,” Max said as he winced. “Seriously, why does it have to be this bad?”

The swamp they were standing in had some of the nastiest water Max had ever seen. Scum floated across the top of it, and the trees all looked like they should be dead from the moss hanging off their branches. Small islands of dirt rose up occasionally, each covered in trees and more moss.

“Just wait till you fight the Yeti’s or the damn fire lizards. I’ll take this smell every day over freezing my balls off or roasting my beard,” one of the dwarves said.

A hand tapped his shoulder, and Max turned to see the caster smiling at him. “Because those two fools are ignorant, let me introduce myself. I’m Ulyik, a mage, obviously. Like you, that one in the chain is Khorus, and the grumpy one who looks like they have never been kissed is Hegelbert, our healer.

Both dwarves Ulyik had introduced gave Max a nod as they began putting on gear and taking out their weapons.

Max turned to see Dexic suddenly appear in full plate armor.

“What the heck was that?”

She turned, her golden helm disappearing, and smiled.

“You may one day get a dimensional storage like mine. It allows for changing clothes and equipment without having to actually put it on.”

Max could feel his eyes going wide and then saw Dexic look at him, realizing his left eye looked worse then she first thought.

“Are you blind?”

Max shook his head from side to side. “No. In this one eye, you will find I do well without it. I’m working on an elixir to heal it, though.”

“Goblin shite,” she muttered under her breath, but Max picked it up like she had shouted it thanks to his sonar skill.

“I’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ve faced far worse situations, and our party has never had an issue.”

He could feel Dexic looking at him harder now. Her gaze felt oppressive.

Pointing a gloved finger at Max, she spoke in a voice devoid of all emotion. “If you die here, just know I won’t seek out your friends. This will be on you. Do you hear me?”

Max nodded.

“I won’t let ya die,” Hegelbert whispered as they began to follow Dexic. “She is right, though. Don’t be stupid. Besides, she is helping us.”

As they walked, Max looked at Dexic and how she moved. Her entire armor was the color of gold, but he knew it couldn’t actually be made of that. She had a presence that he had only felt once before.

“She’s level fifty or higher…”

Two of his new companions laughed, and he turned to see Ulyik and Hegelbert nodding.

“She is helping us level. Part of the perks of being in a Faction.”

Max nodded as Ulyik smiled. “Does every Faction do this?”

She shrugged and nodded. “To a degree, yes. As you grow in rank and levels, they help keep you moving along. The Faction grows stronger when its members grow. They want you to get into the tower. You will have to give up some reagents and other items you find until you hit a certain level, but the flip side is you get assistance.” She stopped talking and gave Max a curious look. “You know this, right?”

Max nodded. “Yeah, but it’s harder to find all the details about Factions until you can join one. For some reason, people in our kingdom don’t freely give out that kind of information.”

“I’ve heard that,” Ulyik replied. “Stupid, but it is what it is.”

“You two shut it!” Dexic snapped. “There is a troll ahead.”

Forty yards away was a troll that, to describe as ugly, made an ugly person feel really insulted.

All over its body were boils and sores. Green skin that was spotted and splotchy helped it to hide in the swamp they were walking through. It was ten feet tall and held a club with metal spikes encircling the top of it.

“Looks like your last boyfriend,” Khorus muttered.

Ulyik gave the other dwarf a finger, and Max couldn’t help but smile, knowing every party seemed to have its own joking system.contemporary romance

“Buff up. Let me go over the rules.”

Dexic came back to where the four of them were standing.

“The good news is there is only one this time. After that, I expect groups of two. Maybe three. For this one, I want you all to work together on attacking. Find out how to strike without drawing its aggro or getting hit.”

Dexic paused and looked at Max. “You really need to not get hit. I cannot promise that if you do Hegelbert can heal you in time.”

Max nodded.

“I’ll draw its attention and land a few hits. We will weaken it. When it is time, Ulyik, you need to finish it. Wait for my signal.”

Everyone nodded, no one asking a question.

“Good. Let’s do this.”

Dexic didn’t wait for a response, moving forward and pulling out her sword and shield which, of course, were a gold color.

“Can I have your stuff if you die?” Khorus whispered as he moved past Max, pulling out two daggers and going into stealth.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Ignore our thief. He asks everyone that.”

Max nodded and couldn’t help but grin. This was going to be fun.

Dexic looked like a parent wrestling with their eight-year-old kid. No matter what the troll did, she blocked it and absorbed the attacks as if they were nothing.

However, Max could see the force and hear the impact of each strike. If he did take one of those to his chest or head, odds were he would not make it.

Standing back while she sliced it at, carving off chunks of flesh that rapidly healed within ten to fifteen seconds, he waited.

Even when Khorus came out of stealth and delivered a massive attack to the creature's back leg, crippling it for a few seconds, Max waited.

“You going to try?” Dexic called back, never taking her eyes off the troll.

“Making sure you had its attention,” Max replied as he moved up, taking his weapon from storage.

She nodded slightly, her plated helm moving just enough for him to know she understood.

Working his way behind the troll, Max moved forward, slashing at its knee.

His axe blade cut a gash a few inches long, unable to pierce the skin any more than that as the creature was a tier above him.

It howled, different from the other times it had when struck.

Max noticed the cut he had made wasn’t healing. The fire enchantment was working.

It turned slightly to see what had hit it when Dexic unleashed a slice across its chest that ran from its shoulders to its hip.

It roared and turned its attention back to her.

Max made another attack on the same spot, getting a little deeper into the knee and causing it to almost buckle when it hit the bone.

It howled loudly, its left arm coming back toward Max.

Holding his halberd out to parry, the blow it delivered still sent him flying back over six yards, tumbling through the murky water.

Rising to his feet and dripping wet, Max heard Dexic shouting at him.

“What the hell is that weapon?”

“Fire enchanted!” he replied, returning to where he had been.

“Gods! Why didn’t you tell me? That will piss it off way more than you realize!”

She changed her attack, hitting the weakened knee with her sword, causing the troll to howl in anger from her abuse of that spot.

“I’ll strike! You hit right after! We can take off this leg!”

Max prepared himself, waiting for her attack.

He saw her sword streak through the air, slashing deep into the leg and then going all the way through. He followed up behind it the moment it had, driving his blade against the part that she had just cut off as it began to fall. The troll's skin bubbled and hissed where he cut it as it crashed into the ground, roaring at them.

Everyone backed up, watching the creature flail.

Dexic drove her heel into the troll's back, sending it face-first into the water.

“On this arm! Now!”

Her blade came down, cutting off the elbow, and Max moved in, repeating the process.

Fifteen seconds later, the troll was missing both arms and legs while it flailed in the water, still unable to get out from under the boot of Dexic.

“What now?” Ulyik called out.

As if time didn’t matter, Dexic stared at Max. He could see her eyes through the slits in her helm, but that was it.

“He will kill it. Then we need to talk.”

She pointed her sword at the head and adjusted her stance a little.

“Come over here. Keep hacking at it until the head is gone. Let’s see how many strikes it takes.”

Consume it!

The voice came, and Max tried to ignore it. He had felt the desire the moment he heard Dexic tell him the kill was his.

Max moved into position, and after getting set, he swung his halberd, the bladed side only penetrating the thick skin on its neck by half an inch. Still, it sizzled and smoked, not healing as the other had. Two strikes, three, and then four.

Finally, the skin on its neck and the bone underneath it gave way on the fifth strike, causing the troll to stop moving.

Three attacks later, Max felt a wave of cold like never before rush through him as he cleaved the head completely off.

[ 6 Strength Consumed ]

[ 6 Constitution Consumed ]

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[Would you like to learn [Regeneration]?]

[ Yes / No]

Max stumbled forward as the power of what he experienced surged through his bones.

A hand caught him and stood him upright as he almost lost his grip on the halberd.

“Easy there,” Dexic said as she held him up. “That last swing did the job.”

Max nodded, grinning at her.

“That was impressive. Now I feel like I do a horrible job.”

Max turned his head and saw Khorus sliding his daggers into their sheaths.

“What do you mean?” Max asked, having regained his balance and storing his weapon.

“Well, there is no way I could have done what you did because my weapon isn’t that strong.”

Shrugging, Max pointed at the corpse. “It was why I was considering doing something stupid, I had read they were weak to fire, but there was no way I could have hoped to survive one hit from that club.”

“Harvest this,” Dexic said to Khorus, pointing at the corpse. The dwarf nodded, grimacing as he started the task. She turned and looked at Max, her helmet gone and her blue eyes staring into his brown one. “You, come with me for a moment.”

“No kissing,” Khorus called out as Dexic just walked off, not even giving the dwarf any indication she heard.

Max hustled after her as she moved twenty yards from the others.

She was waiting for him as he arrived.

“I will only ask once. Do not lie, or you can consider any chance of joining our Faction over.”

Max nodded, waiting for whatever question she had for him.

“Were you really going to be stupid enough to come in here and attempt to solo one of these things even though you are too low of a level?”

Holding back the sigh he felt, as this was not the question he had expected. Max nodded.

“I was told I need troll blood for the elixir that might heal my eye.”

She nodded.

“The bosses, but yes, I could see how you might not know that.”

She stood there looking at Max for another minute.

“Has your party indicated what Faction they might be interested in?”

Max shook his head. “We haven’t actually talked about it other than the fact. We can only join a few. We won’t leave each other. We are like… a family.”

His answer made her smile just a little before her expression went blank again.

“Part of me wants to let you continue with us and see what you can do. The other part of me knows I cannot because if I do, these three will not get the experience they need. Does that make sense?”

Max nodded and grinned. “It does. I understand. No worries, either. I am grateful for this moment. Now I know not to be stupid.”

She laughed, letting her emotions show for a moment.

“Yes, that is probably the smartest thing I have heard from you since we met. Now then,” she pulled something out of her storage and handed it to Max. “This is a token for our Faction. If you decide to apply, I will vouch for you.”

Max looked at the token she handed him. Like her armor, it was covered in gold. On both sides was an axe. “The Golden Axe Faction… I should have known.”

Smiling, Dexic nodded and motioned for them to rejoin the others.

“Indeed you should have. Now, I need to go and help these three. I look forward to hearing your name as a potential member, Seth Pendal.”

He saw her smirk as he walked beside her, knowing his name had caused it.

“Thank you for today, Dexic. I owe you more than you know.”

done.co