Well… on one side I’m sure this is not the status of an average Joe, even in the Nexus. On the other hand, I’m pretty pissed that I didn’t get anything for crossing the 2500 stats mark… or the hundred in every stat, I know I shouldn’t be greedy, but a freebie should be due, no? I got some of my best titles due to crossing stat thresholds. How many more do I need? Or maybe, there are no more? No… it can’t be. Probably after evolving my class, the requirement is stupidly high, and I technically evolved my class two times because of the token. Did I make a fatal mistake?

  But probably I would be dead if I kept holding back. Not that I’m not doing it, at least partially, but my skills are something else; every time I get forced to push more, I find that there is more to them than what I knew or what I could do before. So I will avoid evolving them for now. Still, my class… I could evolve that and proceed advancing in level, getting more skills and all that, but I already reached this point. And what if I can get more stat boosts at a safe zone? I could really go for a tonne of cursed potions and push my stats enough to earn more achievements…

  My thoughts got to a standstill as I heard another howl coming from the mask. I couldn’t even see it from my position, but it never really stopped screaming to my Arcane Sense. I noticed Rhea glance in its direction too, then she turned and gave me a look.

  “I’m not going to touch that with a pole… but… someone should check it…”

  As she said that, the mask stopped abruptly

  “Uh? What are you talking about?” Asked Quinn.

  “Adult stuff”, I told him with a smirk. “You can continue to nap; I’ll deal with it.”

  Rhea got on her feet too. “Then I will start working towards opening the door.” She nodded at that, a resolute expression on her face.

  At Quinn's confused look, I just said. “The mask, I think it died, or whatever equivalent there is for that in its condition.”

  “Yeah, no, I’m with Rhea on this,” Quinn raised his hands. “I just got these beauties back; I can’t risk them.”

  “I’m surrounded by pussies,” I said while smirking at him. “And not because most of you are girls…”

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  “I bet my pussy is bigger than the little pinky you have in your pants.”

  I barked a laugh at that. “You should have made a joke about balls, not dicks. Never joke about dicks Quinn, they nearly always backfire.”

  “I will heed your wisdom, oh great sage,” he said in a mocking tone. Then softer he went on. “Thank you for fixing my hands…”

  I stopped for a moment; there was sincerity in his voice. He got rattled by the mask more than I expected. I waved at him haughtily. “As your master and lord, it is only natural for me to take on the burden of your safety, given that our royal healer was indisposed.”

  He chortled at that, “I take it back; go on and get possessed or something…”

  I went because I was curious, very curious. And because Quinn needed some time to get back to normal, between the people I met these last few days, he was one of the only ones I was sure could follow me until the end of this tutorial. The kid was smart, had balls, and understood the reality of our predicament. He will go far for sure, if no other monstrosity tries to take possession of him.

  I was so pissed about all of this situation. Now that the battle has finished and I got time to think, I wanted to take that spirit in the mask or whatever it was and fucking murder it again. I didn’t have a spell for inflicting just pain, but I’m sure I could cook up something with my hexes. That thing lured us here, tried to possess one of my teammates, and would have managed it if Quinn hadn’t warned us about the statues.

  Being played like that made me want to tear this place down; if it weren’t so destroyed already, I would have.

  As I passed the dead warriors and went up the stairs, I took a look at the place. It wasn’t an altar – the thing the champion was hiding with his bulk; it was a coffin, or sarcophagus, more likely.

  As I approached, I saw a shallow pond at the end of the cavern, some twenty more metres away; the water, or whatever that was, was golden and magical for sure. The mask lay not far from the coffin, face down, vines of white bone and black corruption twisted one over the other. But I noticed that many of the white ones tried to reach for the pond… apparently it failed; it was too far away, and now the mask looked inert.

  Was that what I thought it was? I could feel a kind of energy coming from the pond; it was familiar but distinct at the same time. Can it really be?

  I approached, giving the mask a wide berth; passing by, I looked inside the coffin. The skeleton of an eldir layed there, but with it I saw a set of vambraces and sabatons seemingly made of stone, carved with swirls and patterns. I could feel it wasn’t some random piece; this was magical, like some of my items. Later, they were still worn by the skeleton. First, I wanted to see if the pond would help.

  As I looked down at my golden reflection, I felt it much more clearly; there was a tonne of life force here, like… a lot. But it wasn’t of the living kind; it felt more still, and looking at the roots that illuminated the place, coming from the ceiling and flowing down until they barely ended in the golden water, I think I had the answer to my question. This was lifeforce, but of the nature kind; it didn’t belong to any flesh-and-bone being.

  Could it be that it was the same as the fruits we got from the gorg chieftan’s cave? Should I? If the mask tried to reach it before dying… There was a high chance that it was beneficial. I took a knee and looked closely; it was inert, not rippling at all. I put a finger inside it. I didn’t know what to expect, but there was a great load of nothing happening.

  Mmm… maybe it is because I am fully healed… I took the knife everyone in camp always have as a backup, or tool, and put it to my finger, then sliced quickly at it before I changed my mind.

  Nothing happened… the knife was sharp, I barely used it and if one wanted it could be used to shave. But it felt like it was dull as it tried and failed to open a wound in my skin.

  My stats, they were way higher than before, I passed a hundred points in all of them, constitution now sat at 156 after considering my titles… it meant that I was generally fifteen times more resistant than a normal man. That was absurd, if stats scaled linearly like Quinn said. Apparently that meant that a normal knife had trouble cutting me now. If that was true, it meant that I was that much stronger or faster than a normal man… can I really run as fast as a car now? I felt more power, more strength in my limbs, but I never put it to the test for real. Quinn was right again; I was dumb for not using my stats fully. I’d have to put some thought into it. Maybe get a movement skill, like his Dash; I could have avoided the warriors and the champion, fighting by dodging instead of blocking… food for thought, I suppose.

  I refocused on the task at hand, I tried again with the knife and I managed to push it throught the skin only with the point, and after applying a lot of pressure. But eventually I managed to nick my finger, and a line of blood started to seep out of it.

  I took a breath, and then I put it into the golden water. My senses were on high alert, looking for every little thing that could pose a threat, but instead the only thing that I felt was the life force in the water slowly, gently entering my wound and mending it. In ten seconds or so, my finger was as good as new.

  “It’s a giant vat of health potion…”

  20 chapters ahead!