Three champions stepped through portals into the capital of Lunara.

  One was a tall man with broad shoulders, a fur cloak wrapped around his shoulders, and he also wore leather pants and boots, but no shirt. He wielded a pair of gauntleted bracers etched with green florescent runes, a pair of four-inch claws protruding from the gauntlets’ knuckles.

  Then there was also a woman with auburn hair and feathered wings the same color as the hair growing from her lower back.

  She was lean, wore fur and leather armor, and carried a bow made of ivory with silver etching and blue, glowing runes. She stepped forward, looking around wearily.

  The third figure was another man, almost as tall as the first but built like a rapier instead of a bear. He carried a spear longer than he was tall, a nimbus of golden light surrounding its shaft and head, and he wore a mixture of chain and plate armor.

  They had appeared in a temple, and people stopped and looked at them in shock and fear. The spear-wielding man stepped forward, raising a hand to calm the crowd.

  “Do not be afraid, people! I am Torvin, Champion of Galdren, God of the Charge & Chivalry.”

  The man in a fur cloak and wearing the clawed gauntlets stepped forward. “I am Jamis, Champion of Artrix, God of Barbarians and Bears.”

  The woman stepped forward and gave the nod to the two men.

  “I am Mira, Champion of Jastrin, God of Archery and Hawks.”

  An elven woman with long silver hair braided down her back and wearing the garb of a priestess stepped forward. “We welcome the Allies of Order to the Temple of Luren.”

  Torvin turned to the other two champions. “My patron told me to find other champions to ally myself with and form a party.”

  “Artrix told me the same,” Jamis said. “We should compare our abilities later and see how we can best fight alongside each other.”

  “There are two other champions here in the city,” the High Priestess said. “They were chosen from the people of this world and were told to come here and wait for their companions. We have been expecting you for some time now.”

  “Then we should meet our new companions,” Mira said, slinging her bow across her back. “I look forward to hunting down the Champions of Chaos with them.”

  ***

  The bandits went to sleep in their tents, several lying empty as they had belonged to their now-deceased companions, leaving us with plenty of room. I took one of them, the largest, and I assumed it had belonged to Quin. I rolled out my sleeping bag and sat down.

  After collecting my daggers and warhammer, I had the bodies of Quin and the bandits dumped in the forest. My arsenal now included Quin’s maul, but other than that, the entire camp was barely armed. I lay down but could not find sleep.

  I grabbed a rock and held it in my hand. “Compress Earth,” I said.

  I watched as the rock, the size of a grapefruit, shrank to the size of a grape, its color darkening until it was almost obsidian. I tried to mold it and created a shape resembling an icicle, stabbing its point into another rock. They smashed together, but the tip of the stone only dulled slightly instead of breaking like an ordinary rock would have.

  I molded the rock again, giving it edges which were jagged but now resembled a spearhead instead of a tiny stalagmite.

  The Mark of Cain status struck me as ominous and weirdly connected to Christianity, which I was pretty sure wasn’t a thing in this world.

  Nevertheless, it enabled me to increase my damage with weapons made of stone by one stage. I didn’t know what a damage stage even was, but more damage was always good. I wasn’t sure if I’d get much use out of Bloody Pugilist, even with it increasing my damage; using fists instead of weapons didn’t make much sense.

  I kept working on my stone spearheads, thinning the edges, adding more and more stone to strengthen the point of the spearhead to cut and puncture without breaking or shattering.

  They each weighed around seven pounds, their surfaces glossy smooth, making them look like blades fashioned in glass.

  Grabbing all the rocks I could find in the firelight around the camp, I began turning them into stone spearheads. Having eventually made about a dozen, I finally felt tired enough, so I slipped into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.

  ***

  A scream ripped through the air, jolting me awake. I rolled out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my warhammer and a handful of stone spearheads, then stepped out of my tent to see a humanoid bending over one of my vassals, ripping into his neck with its teeth.

  It looked up when I stepped out of my tent, revealing its luminescent, milky white eyes.

  I hit the zombie over the head with my warhammer, pounding its skull into the dirt. Eleven more stumbled into camp, and I launched the stone spears at them. They took them all through the face and collapsed. I waited, but no more undead appeared.

  The notification appeared, and I waved it away. Looking at the now extra-dead undead, I realized they were some of the bandits I had killed yesterday. I looked around for the others I had killed, but nothing happened; these were the ones that didn’t have their skulls caved in. I wondered if I could use this to farm my Blood and Souls quest. I could kill creatures, making sure to leave the skull intact, then wait for them to return as undead… then kill them again!

  A groan sounded behind me, and the man on whom the zombie had been feeding began pushing himself to his feet. I smashed his skull in and looked around.

  I turned to the four vassals looking at the pile of corpses, their eyes wide with fear.

  “One of you must always be on watch while we sleep. Wake me up if anything else comes by. Oh, and do get rid of these corpses. I can’t stand to look at them.”

  I went back to bed, not feeling too bad about not participating in taking watch. After all, I was the one who would do all the killing, so I needed to be at my best.

  ***

  I woke up when sunlight began poking at my eyes. I groaned and wandered into the forest to take care of my business, splashing water on my face from the creek and filling my canteen. I returned to the camp and saw the four remaining survivors; they looked thin, weak, and scared. Pulling out the sketchbook from my backpack, I sat down, looking them over and surveying them. My Dominion ability had been activated, and I could analyze them, writing down the essential details.

  She had a higher Perception than me but nothing special in her other Attributes. She was pregnant, but that was an issue for another day.

  I looked at the other woman and analyzed her.

  Again, nothing special.

  The biggest man in the group had a bushy, black beard. I unconsciously rubbed my chin and the stubble there, realizing I didn’t have a razor. I examined the man.

  Better stats overall; excellent Might, and better Toughness and Endurance than I had. He could be a decent fighter if given better equipment.

  I examined the last man.

  He was built like a fencepole, but there was some strength in his lanky arms.

  I got tired of writing down their powerless stats. These were just people who had been useless against me, and I had shown up to this world a few hours before and hadn’t been wearing any armor. Maybe they would have other uses.

  “What are your abilities?” I asked them.

  “We don’t have any abilities, my lord,” Carla answered.

  “Ok, let me rephrase that,” I said. “What skills do you have, you know, professionally. Can you cook, sew, hunt… those kinds of things?”

  “I can hunt,” said Jand. “I was caught poaching deer. I can gut, clean, dress my kills and work with hide.”

  “I can cook, clean, and sew,” Carla said. “I used to work for a nobleman’s wife. She accused me of stealing her jewelry and had me thrown in prison.”

  I wrote down her skills, but didn’t care why she’d become an outlaw.

  “I worked in a tavern,” Maria said. She chose not to reveal why she had been arrested.

  “I was a smith,” said Fentren Smith. “A horse I shod threw its rider and broke their neck, and I ended up taking the blame for it.”

  I wrote down their skills, then, collected their spears and used my ability to fuse some stone spearheads, making lighter versions for them. These, I attached to the wooden shafts by letting the stone flow up and then tighten around it. “Your tasks today are these,” I said. “Jand, I want you to take someone with you and hunt and bring back food. Carla, you’re on cooking. Maria, forage for berries and other stuff we can eat. Fentren, you take someone, stand guard, and work on getting rid of the bodies. Take them farther into the forest or something. I’m going to explore the crypt more. If you get attacked, hide in there.”

  I left them to their tasks, gearing up with my two rusty daggers, warhammer and maul. I emptied my backpack of clothes and left behind my skillet and coffee pot, then ventured into the forest, found some stout sticks, took clothes from the dead bodies, and made torches out of them. Lighting the fabric took some effort, but eventually, I had a usable torch.

  Descending into the crypt, it was not necessary to go that far down the tunnel before I came to a stone door. I pushed at it, expecting it to be impassible like the last time, but this one slowly shifted and opened, allowing me to look out over a large burial chamber.

  There was no light except for that from my torch.

  A gaunt figure stepped into the torchlight. I was looking at the undead, its eyes a luminescent, milky white, but its movements were faster, and it seemed more intelligent than the unthinking undead from last night.

  I readied my warhammer, holding the maul with my Telekinesis.

  The ghoul charged me, and a dozen more emerged out of the darkness.

  My swing with the maul was a sweeping blow instantly whisking three ghouls off their feet, their bones snapping with the force of the impact.

  After this, I retreated slowly while my body blurred, ducking and dodging with my warhammer, lashing out to snap bones and crush a skull here and there; the maul was swinging like a power hammer, crushing ghouls into piles of bones and paste.

  Only blows to the head were final; anything less and they returned to their feet.

  The wounds did affect them. They were slower with crushed ribs and often, they only had one usable arm after I’d snapped some bones.

  My speed kept me alive.

  The ghouls were way more threatening than the bandits, their mindless aggression somehow a more effective tactic than careful coordination.

  It was probably because they didn’t care whether they died or were injured.

  I was at the door when finally, the last remaining ghoul was dead. I panted with exertion even though I hadn’t activated my boots. My heart, racing with effort, skipped several beats.

  I now had two rank points to use, considering saving them but decided against it.

  The fights were brutal, and I should ensure I could survive the present before worrying about the future.

  “Increase Telekinesis by one rank,” I said with five available rank points to use.

  I could raise my other abilities, but would need two more rank points before it could be Telekinesis again. There came a stirring from deeper in the cavern and I steadied my breathing. It might be possible, soon enough, to earn sufficient points to upgrade my skills.

  I threw my torch forward and watched three dozen ghouls emerge from side passages in what I now realized were catacombs. No way could I fight them all on my own, but I refused to run. So, I raised my left hand, focusing on ten of the ghouls.

  “Dominion,” I said.

  Ten of the ghouls stopped their charge and stiffened.

  I felt them try to resist the ability, but my Spirit crushed down on them.

  The other ghouls, oblivious to my actions, rushed past the ten over which I’d taken control.

  Readying myself for the fight, I was rolling my shoulders and adjusting the grip on my weapons before leaping over a stone sarcophagus, placing it between us, then smashing down with my warhammer into the skull of the ghoul on my heels.

  The ten taken over rushed in, setting upon the others from behind.

  They turned, surprised.

  I took advantage of their shock, stepping into their midst, cracking and caving in skulls, my arm aching as I refused to let it rest.

  I kept fighting, even as the notification appeared.

  More ghouls appeared. They saw the ones controlled by me fighting the others, but without being able to tell who was on whose side, they just sat on each other and at the height of their fecklessness, even tried to sit on me! The lack of the ghouls’ ability to communicate with each other imbued the battle with an element of chaos.

  I smashed in skulls, but one ghoul bit down on my leg, the thickness of my boot preventing its evil gnashing teeth from penetrating my skin. This encounter, however, delayed me sufficiently to enable another to approach and latch onto my arm.

  Alongside the strikes from my warhammer, my stone spearheads were sent on their lethal mission. With pinpoint accuracy, they pierced through rotten flesh and bone.

  Finally, the battle ended. All the ghouls on which I had used Dominion had died in the fight. I would only be able to use that particular ability on another five creatures today.

  I dismissed the quest notification, and my other quest update notification appeared.

  I panted and moved back up the tunnel, then sat down.

  By now, my nose had become insensitive to the smell of gore and rot. I had twelve rank points to spend, and needed to upgrade my abilities if I wanted to live. I could upgrade Telekinesis twice, but it would cost me nine of my twelve rank points.

  “Screw it,” I grunted. “Raise Telekinesis by two ranks,” I told the System.

  There was a burning sensation all around as my ability increased alongside my Spirit Attribute.

  I felt time almost pause as a new notification appeared in my vision.

  Despite an ominously developing headache, I felt excited as I looked over the options. I got the sense that I needed to choose quickly. Only one of them did any damage, the others being utility effects. The ability to levitate myself seemed cool. Still, it was slow, and I couldn't levitate any other objects while doing it. The no-Mana cost for suspending objects midair seemed like something I would take if trying to be a human crane.

  In the end, there wasn’t any real choice, so I went with the first option.

  Force choke unlocked. Nice.

  I marveled at the number of objects I was now able to levitate at once. It should be quite a sight to see! I imagined slinging around 48-stone spears, beginning to search the coffins. I came upon a rusty axe, a sword, a small pile of gold and silver jewelry, and another rust-free gauntlet. I picked it up, reading its description as a notification popped into my vision.

  I put the gauntlet on and continued searching, exploring the passages of the catacombs, looking through the alcoves and finding a few odds and ends but nothing of note, just some jewelry, and a few coins. Descending another set of stairs, there was another stone door. I pushed against it and it opened to reveal a cavern.

  This cave was not pitch black like the catacombs.

  There was an opening at least a hundred feet up in the ceiling where sunlight streamed through, giving the cavern some light.

  The air was wet with humidity and smelled of earth and fungus, and water could be heard cascading from a hole in the ceiling. The cave in the crypt had created a deep pond at its back while open coffins lined the walls of the alcoves.

  I got close to the pond and looked inside.

  Here, the water reflected the light, and I could see nothing inside.

  Stepping back, I commenced tapping the surface of the water with a rock. A creature exploded out of the water, a ragged corpse with long hair floating about it.

  The creature levitated, its hellish, unholy wail making my blood run cold. There came the desire to flee, but I stood my ground, launching a shower of stone darts toward it.

  Now, the creature raised its arms. A bubble appeared around it, and all the darts bounced off. It moved toward me, staying in the shadows as it moved slowly through the air.

  I focused my attention on it, and a notification appeared before me.

  My hammer rose and fell as I attacked again and again.

  Finally, the bubble popped, and the stone darts pierced into her. The wounds closed as soon as they were made.

  My face twisted into a grimace; should I have picked a weapon as my artifact? I had one other ability that might work on her. “Dominion,” I said, feeling the undead resist. It bucked against my will like a wild horse, but eventually, the brands appeared around its neck, and it began to tremble as it succumbed.

  I could feel the wraith trying to break free and was becoming increasingly concerned that it might succeed in doing so. With some indignation, I remembered my ability and that it could be opposed with a strong Spirit. “Move into the light,” I commanded.

  The wraith tried to resist, the brand around its neck glowing brighter and brighter. Eventually, it began to move forward, its form twisting and smoking as the light touched it. It withered and finally popped, becoming a shower of dust falling to the ground.

  I dismissed the notification and another popped up.

  I moved forward cautiously to the edge of the pool using my Telekinesis, feeling around in the water, seeking to grab any object touched by my power of levitation; I began lifting everything out, finding bones, rocks, and a few fish, which flopped to the ground.

  Eventually, I pulled out a dark, round, steel shield.

  “Finally, some boss loot!” I said, picking up the shield.

  I slipped on the shield, the leather straps still in good condition despite having soaked in water. I searched the pond further but only found a skull engraved with runes, a gem set into its forehead.

  Ah, right! That explains the undead from last night,

  After examining the skull in my hands, I then put it in my backpack, thinking that possibly, I might be able to use it to farm for XP or against my enemies somehow. I left the crypt, carrying the fish pulled out of the pond and the other items I had acquired.

  The decrepit axe I gave to Fentren so he could cut wood, keeping the rusty sword myself. Jand had caught a few rabbits, and Carla made them into a stew with some wild onions that Maria had found. She took the fish and gutted them, beginning to fry them in the pan.

  I took the time while we waited for dinner to cook to make more stone spearheads. Looking at Quin’s maul, I saw the wooden head had split and warped after its repeated use.

  The iron bands had burst open at some point too, the head barely holding on. I removed the wooden head and looked at the steel rod pole, finding it hollow but strong.

  Then I gathered some rocks and began to work.

  “Compress Earth,” I said and began to mold the stone around the top of the shaft, creating a new head for the maul, focusing and smoothing out the rock until a new glossy black maul head had been made. One side was flat, the other tapered to a sharp point for cracking armor.

  I threw the Maul, which obliterated a small tree.

  The head of the weapon hit the tree at its base and splintered it, and all that remained was a stump as the tree groaned and collapsed, the sound of its disintegrating branches snapping like firecrackers. I called the maul back. It slapped into my hand as I held it aloft.

  Of course, I wasn’t holding it. My hand was just wrapped around while my Telekinesis held it, suspended. The maul now weighed about a hundred pounds.

  I let it fall to the ground and decided to look over my stats.

  I had rolled my shoulder with the loot taken from the crypt and was now holding my arm, wincing. The adrenalin and excitement had faded and the pain from the wound was now at the forefront of my mind.

  I looked down at my arm, seeing black veins from the jagged teeth marks on my forearm.

  “That can’t be good,” I said.

  Hurrying out of the crypt, I went to the river to clean the blood and rotten flesh off me.

  I washed my wound, being sure to remove all the filth, not wanting to be taken down by any infection. The wound was clean, and I wrapped it in a torn shirt from my bag but the black veins still extended from the teeth marks.

  And as I looked at the veins, a notification appeared in my vision.

  “Great… a zombie infection!” I grunted.

  How to purify me?

  There’d be a priest who could do it, but I doubted I had time to find one. I had seven days left to find a way, so I asked my local guides, returning to camp and locating Jand.

  “I need a way to purify myself. What do you know about it?” I asked.

  “A priest can easily perform a purification ritual,” Jand said. “Or you could make a potion with herbs.”

  “Ok, that last option sounds better,” I said. “What kind of herbs?”

  “I don’t know,” admitted Jand. “But you have access to the System. You can analyze plants and find ones that can help you.”

  “Thanks,” I said and looked over his shoulder, seeing the two rabbits hanging from a cord over his back. “Do you need anything?”

  “A proper bow would be helpful, my lord,” Jand said. “But I’ve set some snares in the area for catching small game.”

  “When you’re done, take some of the others and clean out the bodies in the crypt,” I advised. “Make sure not to get infected. We’ll sleep there tonight; it will be easier to defend.”

  I returned to the woods, scanning every plant I came across.

  Nothing popped up, which I had learned by now meant the item was mundane. Only equipment or magical things had ever shown a display when I analyzed them. I kept moving, carefully taking note of landmarks as I searched for anything that might help me.

  I began looking for some herbs and plants, eyeing a red-leafed plant that grew like clover, and the System opened a prompt for me.

  A healing potion plant!

  I began picking it, using a T-shirt and piling the yarrow on it. Once I’d gathered sufficient leaves, I folded the shirt and shoved it back inside my backpack. I kept moving, scanning for new plants before coming across a patch of dark green fennels with bright orange and red around the edges of their leaves.

  I gathered the fennel, taking only the leaves and leaving their roots behind so they could regrow. I stored them in another T-shirt which I folded and returned to my backpack. I’d have to find better containers for them later or have my vassals make something.

  Keeping on moving, I soon passed a river that fed into a small lake, then followed a stream that issued from the lake and flowed down a cliff into a grotto. I looked down and saw a patch of pale-blue, semi-translucent petaled flowers, analyzing them from my vantage point, and the System opened up a notification.

  I started to look for a way down, then saw movement in the grotto below. Crouching, I looked like a lion with red fur and black stripes.

  As if on cue, an actual lion then emerged through a curtain of vines from a cave. As soon as I saw it, a notification appeared in my sight.

  That’s adolescent? I thought in stunned amazement. It’s the size of a freaking horse.

  I kept still, watching as the lion drank from the stream and disappeared into the cave beyond the curtain of vines.

  Nemean lion, I thought. If it’s like the Nemean lion from earth mythology, then it’s basically immune to physical attacks. Hercules strangled it to death, but I’ve no chance of that. I kept thinking. Strangling was just a way to suffocate something, but there was more than one way to do that: drowning… smoke inhalation… buried alive…

  Neither could I fight it. I could try to sneak down and grab the flowers.

  I looked at the cliff walls of the grotto. There was no way to climb those quickly. I'd be dead if the lion came out when I was down there. It was a little lower than my current range for teleportation, too, so that was also a no-go.

  Moving back, I kept exploring, mulling the problem over in my mind. For now, I would keep looking for another solution to reverse my infection. I moved around the grotto, searching for another entrance that the lion might use. The grotto’s walls were around fifty feet high, so I doubted it had left that way. I kept exploring and found it around a hundred yards from the grotto. There was a shorter cliff and a jagged, open cave mouth. The bones and remains of its prey were scattered around the area. I circled to get a view inside the cave.

  It extended for at least fifty feet, appearing to open out past the entrance, but I couldn't see much in the darkness. I explored the top, finding lots of boulders and a circle of stones around a large flat rock in the center, like a crude version of Stonehenge. I found some mushrooms, and the System gave me another notification.

  The mushrooms had a foul smell, and I was careful not to touch them as I harvested them.

  I didn’t use a shirt this time, instead using Compress Earth to create a jar.

  It occurred to me unhelpfully that I could have done this before for my other herbs, still getting used to having my powers.

  After this, I fashioned a lid, sealed the mushrooms inside, and stored them in my backpack.

  I could poison the lion but the only problem would be the smell of the mushrooms—absolutely foul. I needed to find a way to somehow disguise the reek or keep the beast from smelling them so that he ate them.

  That way, I might be able to kill it without a seriously dangerous fight.

  I kept searching until I spotted a creature that made me smile, a plan starting to formulate in my mind. A skunk was nibbling at a blackberry bush.

  I used Telekinesis and grabbed the creature.

  “Dominion,” I said and felt the creature’s will instantly dominated by mine. I waited, but no prompt for my quest appeared.

  Apparently, it did not consider animals worthy of progress in my quest.

  Carrying the skunk, I brought it back to the crypt. Now, the plan was really beginning to take. I remained quiet and acutely vigilant, soon spotting a small herd of deer.

  Using my stone spearheads, I brought down two of them, a buck and a doe. I set the skunk on my shoulder and levitated the two deer beside me.

  When I arrived back in the camp, my vassals had set up a fire in the roof. They had cleared out the rubble, creating a barricade, and pitched a few tents around a fireplace. The smoke rose to the ceiling, blackening it with soot.

  I set the deer aside, giving the doe to my vassals to prepare while I let the other lie undisturbed. Compress Earth proved useful indeed, and with it, I made a set of a dozen bowls, plates, spoons, and two-pronged forks. The stone dishes and utensils were stacked by the fire. I created a large serving bowl and poured out the hot soup from my coffee pot. Taking it to the river, I washed it out thoroughly and filled it with water.

  I used Compress Earth a lot and decided to upgrade it, having enough rank points to get it to Rank Two.

  “Raise Compress Earth to Rank Two,” I told the System.

  I felt a slight headache as my skill increased, and my Mind Attribute went from nine to ten, making me glad of the elevation. Based on games I had played in the past, ten was average.

  Having a below-average mind was not favorable; I guessed it was equivalent to intelligence. I didn’t feel smarter, but maybe my thoughts were coming to me faster? I would need to increase my Perception at some point since that was my lowest Attribute, but I’d worry about that later when I had the points to spend.

  I used compress Earth and created two dozen bottles the size of my fist, fitting them with stone corks and then heating the water in my coffee pot. When it was boiling, I added the red yarrow which quickly dissolved in the water, turning it a deep, thick crimson. I let it boil, then cool and poured out the thin, syrupy mixture into the different bottles.

  With my supply of health potions seen to, I began to work on my master plan. The skunk had been resting in my tent, gnawing on some meat I’d given it.

  Taking the skunk, I took another bottle, held it up to the animal’s ass, and pressed. The skunk released its pungent odor, some of which emanated into the air but was mostly contained by the bottle. Sealing it up, I set the skunk down. The subscription-sized pill bottle was full. I placed it with my other potions and took a bowl of rabbit stew, seasoned with wild garlic. The food was surprisingly good considering our limited available resources.

  “We will be attacked again by undead around midnight,” I told my vassals, watching as they paled. “One or two of you keep watch and wake me when you see them.”

  I went to bed early, letting the skunk wander around our camp. It acted like a cat and curled up on my pile of clothes, its belly round from the meat on which it had gorged itself.

  The nagging itch and pain in my forearm made it challenging to fall asleep immediately, but I did so after a couple of minutes.