Fight. Level. Survive.

The second faction that has risen to prominence in recent years is the Talmoran family. Comprised of wealthy merchants and traders, the Talmoran family has become a major economic power within the Ganehfrel.

The members of the family are shrewd negotiators and savvy businessmen, known for their ability to turn a profit in even the most challenging of circumstances.

Despite their focus on commerce, the Talmoran are not solely interested in profit. They are also deeply invested in the armies of Ganehfrel and many are known to be skilled Martial artists.

Despite their successes, the Talmoran faced challenges in their rise to power. Some members have been accused of exploiting their business partners and engaging in unethical business practices. Additionally, their growing influence has caused tension with other factions who view their economic power as a threat to their own interests. Nonetheless, the Talmoran family continues to thrive, with many predicting that their influence will only continue to grow in the years to come.

- Excerpt from ‘The Trials’ Chapter 1, The Factions

Chapter 32 - Sarcastic Prick

Turns out, Mayry was kind of a badass. Her Chaos Ability was good but pretty much useless in a fight. What made her such a strong fighter was her Family Magic. She could control Fire, Water, Nature and Air.

He had been concentrating on his own Troll but had caught glimpses of the woman using her ability to destroy her opponents, despite it being three-on-one. From what he had seen she used her elemental control like an expert. She flowed from one element into another using their synergies to increase the impact of her attacks. She had finished them off so fast that she had even come to his aid because she had ‘gotten bored’ waiting for him.

He was wondering just how strong his companion was when the realisation hit him. The one person in this world he had spent the most time with, and he hadn’t thought to use Identity on her yet. He’d like to say he was a gentleman and didn’t want to invade her privacy, but really, he was an idiot.

He turned to look at her and used the ability.

Mayry Sparks - Companion Level 21

???

Dammit, was everything in this damn world a higher level than him?! And what was with the question marks? That had happened with her father as well, so maybe it was a family thing?

Zapping him out of his daze, his Thunderbird summons flew over and landed on his shoulder.

“Howdiddoboss?”

“You did great,” he said, petting the bird’s feather only to withdraw his hand as he got zapped again.

The Bird hadn’t done quite as well as Mayry, but it had definitely outdone him. It managed to leave its two trolls as nothing but charred corpses. Apparently, Lightning damage did just as much to the bastards as fire did.

During the fight, he had gotten a notification, which he had ignored. Strangely he had gotten more after Mayry had killed the last Troll.

It looked like he had gotten a third of the experience from Mayry’s kills and all the experience from his little sidekick’s kills.

Notification 1/4

You have received partial experience from party members kills.

Mayry killed 2 Level 12 Trolls - You receive 60 XP

Mayry killed 1 Level 15 Troll - You receive 35 XP

Mayry killed 1 Level 23 Troll - You receive 60 XP

Notification 2/4

You have received experience from party members’ kills.

Pygmy Thunderbird killed 2 Level 11 Trolls - You receive 220 XP

Notification 2/4

Level up!

Stat points allocated

All in all, he received 375 experience points and a Level up. Not a bad outcome considering he had failed to actually kill anything.

He looked at the notification and rolled his eyes.

New Skill Unlocked

Skill - Sarcastic Prick (Advanced)

Active Effect – When using sarcasm to taunt an enemy you have a small chance of causing crit damage. Chance depends on quality of taunt. Scales with Intelligence.

He wasn’t going to say no to a new ability but he couldn’t help but feel like felt like the system just wanted the chance to call him a prick. It was a pretty decent skill and knowing what he was like it was likely to see a decent amount of use.

Closing his menu, he walked the bodies and looted each of them.

Loot Received

Troll snot x 6

1 Club

1 Long sword (damaged)

18 Iron coins

Finishing up, he walked over to Mayry and handed her 10 of the coins. “You did the vast majority of the work, so you should probably get the loot.”

“Ah, cool, thanks.” She narrowed her eyes “was that all of it?”

“It was everything from your four kills unless you want the Troll snot as well?”

“Ew, no, you’re okay there. So what now?”

“I’d say we head to their camp, but I don’t know how much use I’ll be against the other seven. The bird only has a few more minutes left of his summons, so it won’t be any help. We could head back to town, pick up some extra firepower and come back tomorrow?”

“What? No way, we’re already here! I could have taken all six on my own. Why don’t we head to the camp, take them out, and then we can head back.” As she spoke, she had a look in her eyes which told Mason that she had enjoyed the fight a little too much.

Pausing, he thought through what he had at his disposal that might hurt the creatures, there were a few things he could try, but it was very possible none of them would work. “I have a few ideas, if you think you can really take them alone? Then yeah, fine”

“Yeah, of course. Don’t worry, I’ll protect ya.” She said, giving him a wink.

Rolling his eyes, he replied, “Oh great, my hero.”

Just then, the Thunderbird popped out of existence. One moment it was there. The next gone.

Mayry frowned, “Aw, I didn’t get to say goodbye! He was such a little cutie!”

Pulled a face full of disgust, “He was a little shit, is what he was. Come on, let’s go get the crap kicked out of us.”

They headed towards where Mason had seen their camp. Neither of them talking in case more Trolls had come looking for them.

Mason paused for a moment wanting to put the points he had earned from his level up into Intelligence.

Mayry, who had carried on ahead, stopped abruptly, “Oh shit.”

Mason jogged to catch up, “Oh shit.”

They had been walking up a hill, now, standing at the top, they could see right into the relatively well-lit camp. The Troll had Human hostages, men, women and… children.

He felt Mayry’s hand tug him back. He had involuntarily taken a step toward the camp, the men and women he couldn’t care less about… but his instincts were screaming at him to save the children. “This complicates things,” she said softly. "If I go in hard and fast, I have no doubt I’ll end up hurting hostages. We need a new plan… maybe we should go back to town."

“No. Fuck that. We’re getting those people out now. Do you think you could distract them without causing too much damage?”

“Yeah… Mason, what are you planning?”

=================

Six Trolls down, seven Trolls to go. He had checked each of their levels and saw they were all between Level 10 and 15. He had confidence Mayry would be able to deal with them fine.

He could only see six at the moment, but Mayry had already started her distraction. It was time for him to do his part.

It was a shame the system only awarded XP for killing things and not for coming up with genius plans, it was probably for the best. He didn’t want to get to level 100 too fast.

Invisible, he snuck into the camp and headed around the back of the tent the hostages had entered. He used his dagger to cut a hole in the tent and peered in. The smell was rancid. There were a half dozen people inside, who probably hadn’t had the chance to wash in weeks. They, sadly, weren’t the cause of the awful smell. Along with the half dozen people were just as many dead bodies. Some arms missing, some legs. Some were children.

…

…

…

Mason slashed his dagger through the tent, stepping inside. All the hostages backed away, looking terrified of him. He took his trunk out of his inventory and placed it on the floor.

“I’m here to help. The Trunk is bigger on the inside, there is space for all of you.”

He opened the lid. They all stared at him wide-eyed.

He could hear the noises of the battle outside, worried about Mayry, he shouted. “Get in the Trunk.”

The person closest to him jumped at the sudden loud noise but did take a hesitant step closer. As he got within arms reach, Mason grabbed the man’s shackles and pulled them apart, the man’s mouth opened in amazement that they were actually being saved, he climbed into the Trunk and disappeared.

Seeing this prompted the others to follow suit, a few minutes later, they were all in. He stuck his head in, “Wait an hour if I’m not back, then hopefully, we took out enough of the Trolls that you can all escape.”

Shutting the Trunks lid, he was pretty impressed at how heroic that sounded.

The sounds of battle had mostly died down now, he was hoping he’d exit the tent and see all the Trolls dead.

He left the tent and did indeed see six dead Trolls burnt to a crisp, smelling like Peppa pig had a house fire.

Sadly not all of the Trolls were dead. Mayry was currently fighting the biggest, ugliest one he had seen thus far.

Gler - Level 32 Troll Bandit Leader.

Mother of Gla, and really really angry.

Mayry was struggling. She threw fireballs, shot razor-sharp discs of condensed air and ice spikes at the Troll. The fireballs were doing damage, but the Troll just kept advancing on her. “WHERE IS GLA, WHERE DAUGHTER” The thing kept roaring.

Mason ran over and jumped on its back, using his dagger to slice the Troll from its neck to its butt. Letting out another roar, it spun, and Mason flew off. Landing on his feet next to Mayry, he heard her pained whisper, “It’s no use. Only fire and acid work. Leave it to me. I’ve got this.”

Mason dove out of the way as Gler threw a rock at them. It missed them both but allowed the Troll to get closer.

Mason watched as the Troll slammed its giant fist against the side of Mayry’s head. Her body went limp and flopped to the ground.