Alarion didn't even bother to query the System about the identity of the first three items out of the box, instead sliding them neatly into waiting spaces on his bracer. The vials were aesthetically different, but the viscous red liquid was instantly recognizable. He had spent far too long weighing the pros and cons of drinking his first healing potion not to recognize one on sight.

The items below were more interesting.

"A ring?" Alarion asked, clearly perplexed.

"They're the most common magical items. By far. Something about the shape and the value assisting with enchantment?"

Sierra frowned as she realized he wasn't listening in the slightest.

Ring of the Durable Fist [Common](Rank I)

Description: A simple golden band engraved with the word "Don't."

Requirements: None

Attunement Cost: 6 points.

Type: Ring

Enchantment: Reduce all damage received for striking hardened targets with unarmed attacks by 90%. Increase unarmed damage by 10%.

Ability Bonuses: +4 STR.

"It should fit snugly on whichever finger you pick," Sierra said as Alarion struggled to choose. "And it will come off easily enough as well. Most magic items will resize to a new user within a day, but anything out of one of your quest boxes should fit perfectly. Like those sandals."

With the reminder that he wasn't finished, Alarion slipped the ring on his index finger and turned his attention to his other reward.

Sandals of Striding and Springing [Uncommon](Rank I)

Description: A staple item given to every recruit of the famed Midnight Company. This well-worn footwear is comfortable, stylish, and useful.

Requirements: None

Attunement Cost: 4 points.

Type: Footwear.

Enchantment: Increase movement speed by a slight amount. Increase maximum jumping distance by a minor amount.

Ability Bonuses: +2 AGI.

Alarion dispensed with his existing shoes in a heartbeat, though it took him considerably longer to deduce how to tie the crisscross straps to keep his new sandals on during a pitched battle. Eventually satisfied, the young man hopped back up to his feet. Then hopped again.

"It doesn't feel any different."

"That is because, wait!" Sierra began, only to have her words interrupted by a sharp bang and a sudden yelp as Alarion put his other item to the test.

Specifically, he threw a hook at one of the room's many marble pillars. To his credit, the punch left a slight crack in the otherwise pure white marble. To his detriment, Alarion's hand got the worse end of the deal.

"-that is because you have not attuned to the items yet. Honestly, Alarion."

"Mm," Alarion replied, the closed-mouth acknowledgement more pained than usual.

"Normally, you can do it almost immediately by channeling mana into them. But you do not know how to do that, do you?" At a shake of Alarion's head, Sierra continued. "You should be able to find the option to attune them in your system menu. It will take a few hours for each. How is the hand?"

He clenched and unclenched the offended hand a few times before he replied. "Sore, but passable."

"Good," Sierra said. Then she tossed him her notebook and the pencil. "You can write down your skill choices while I look for a way out."

Steel Wall [Common]

Description: Your violent experiences have taught you the value of having something else take the hit for you. This has revealed the truism of blocking. Sometimes, defense is the best defense.

Requirements: Block at least ten attacks during live combat.

Type: Passive/Active.

Effects: Reduce the amount of damage that bleeds through a properly blocked attack by 25%. Regenerate 1% of maximum HP if an attack is fully blocked.

Growths: VIT +4

—

Intercepting Parry [Uncommon]

Description: If knowing when to strike is essential to combat, then knowing when to strike a strike is the road to mastery.

Requirements: Parry at least twenty attacks during live combat. Parry an attack from an opponent of a UCL at least 20 higher than your own.

Type: Active.

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

Duration: 10 seconds

Effects: Spend a minor amount of stamina to increase the effectiveness of your next attempted parry by 25%. If this parry is successful, stun the opponent for 0.1 seconds.

Growths: AGI +3. PER +3

—

Vital Strike [Common]

Description: Sometimes the first strike can be the last. Eschewing the ebb and flow of combat, you focus instead on landing a single decisive hit to end the battle in your favor.

Requirements: Kill at least one opponent in a single strike.

Type: Active

Activation Time: 2 seconds.

Duration: 5 seconds.

Effects: Channel a minor amount of stamina for two seconds. Your next attack will strike for 50% increased damage.

Growths: STR +4

—

Pig-Headed Resilience [Exceptional]

Description: Your willingness to endure pain and damage in pursuit of a higher goal is as commendable as it is dangerous. This skill reinforces that tendency, allowing you to persist far beyond the realm of rational sense.

Requirements: Suffer from at least twenty-five conditions of Serious severity or higher.

Type: Passive

Effects: During combat, your HP can now drop into negative values. You will die if you exceed -50% of your total HP. This state will persist for up to one minute upon leaving combat. If you exit combat with a negative HP total, set HP to 1% and distribute remaining damage as internal injury conditions. Reduce all damage received below 0% HP by 5%. User gains moderate resistance to pain.

Growths: VIT +8

—

Unyielding Defiance [Exceptional]

Description: The mere fact that an opponent is overwhelmingly powerful is no reason to back down from a fight. You have bested such opponents in the past, and with the help of this skill, you may do so again.

Requirements: Defeat one opponent at least four times your UCL.

Type: Passive

Effects: Gain a slight to minor increase to the effects of all attributes when fighting alone against an opponent of a higher UCL. The effect of this ability scales with the UCL of the foe, reaching its maximum when a foe is four times your UCL.

Growths: STR +2. AGI +2. VIT +2. WIL +2.

"So, what do you think?" Alarion asked sometime later. He'd finished writing his skill descriptions in a matter of minutes and had joined her shortly thereafter in their fruitless attempt to find an exit.

As far as they could tell, the hole in the ceiling was their only way out. Set high into the ceiling, there was no way to climb to it, and neither was jumping anywhere near that high. Not even with his new sandals.

"Are you asking for my advice? Or do you just want my permission to choose the option you've already chosen?"

"The first one."

"Fair enough," she smiled and glanced back at the notes, "tell me what you think so far."

"The first three are… not good." Alarion seemed almost hesitant to make that declaration. As if he were worried some secret value had eluded him. "Lower rarity, and specialized. The parry skill seems okay. The Vital Strike, one feels awful."

Sierra's brows raised. "Really? Why do you think that?"

"The duration is short. You can't always know when you'll have an opening," Alarion replied. "I'm not sure what channeling is, but it seems like it would make it even more difficult to use."

Sierra inclined her head, conceding to his summary.

"All valid points. Honestly, I was worried 'hit things, but harder' would steal all your attention." Alarion mirrored her earlier skeptical expression as she pointedly ignored him. "Channeling is when you take one of your resources, your HP, your MP, or your stamina, and fill a vessel with it. That vessel can be a skill, an item, or a spell. The mechanism is the same regardless of the resource or the vessel, but the effects vary wildly. In this case, you'd spend about two seconds in the middle of a fight focusing on channeling stamina into your arms, during which you wouldn't be able to use them. For a potent attack, this might be worth it. But the tradeoff is abysmal for a mere 50% increase in damage."

"Don't the others lean too much into the flaw?" He asked.

"You have already burned that bridge," Sierra shrugged. "Getting five skill options is fairly normal for your level. If you'd taken the Novice Swordsman class, your first three options would have likely been similar, if not identical. The other two would have most likely been utility or general skills. The pig-headed power is probably an offshoot of a standard 'Bonus HP' skill. If the System is going to make your best options directly class-related, then you should take them."

"So then we pick from those two."

"Unless you have a frightful need to have moderately better parries," Sierra replied.

"Unyielding Defiance is a general improvement to everything if I'm fighting stronger opponents. Which I've been doing a lot of," Alarion mused, "while resilience is purely defensive."

"Pig-headed Resilience."

Alarion ignored her. "I already have a defensive power in Survivor's Endurance. So I should go with the one that boosts my offense, no?"

"Or you double down on your ability to stay up in a fight. Higher vitality means more HP, meaning you can go even further into the negatives," Sierra countered, "and being willing and able to take a hit can open up possibilities for offense."

He considered her words.

During his previous fight with the brute, the damage race between them had been at the top of his mind. Being a little faster, a little stronger, a little more durable and precise, these would tip the overall battle in his favor. But at the same time, he would have fought quite differently if he knew he could take a clean hit from the fiend and not end up crippled or dead.

"Will I get the option to pick the one I skipped later on?" he asked.

Sierra gestured uncertainly with one hand. "It is hard to tell. Sometimes, the System will offer the same skill over and over, especially if it is something the System considers a core skill of the class. Other times, a skill will be offered once and never again. Even when it is offered multiple times, you are effectively giving up a new option in favor of an old one. As a rule, it is best to assume that if you do not take it, you will not get it."

That seemed only to deflate the poor young man.

"Would you like a piece of advice?" Sierra asked.

Alarion looked ready to say something snarky, but instead, he nodded.

She produced a small silver coin from a pocket on her hip and held it out to him. "If I ever struggle to decide between two options I consider equally good, I flip a coin to decide."

"That seems like something ZEKE would joke about me doing," Alarion said as delicately as he could.

"I was not finished," she protested. "Flip a coin. If you like the result, keep it. If the result makes you unhappy, that is also your answer."

Skepticism remained on Alarion's face as he took the coin. He balanced it between thumb and forefinger, testing the weight, then flicked it into the air. It spun half a dozen times, then he snatched it from the air and held it against the back of his hand. "Houses for Pig-headed?"

"Of course."

Alarion took his hand away. The face of some Vitrian Imperator stared back at him. He navigated to his menu and selected his skill.

Thump.

The sudden sound reverberated through the unusual acoustics of the underground chamber, drawing Alarion's eyes to its source in an instant.

The body of a fiend lay half ruined on the floor, its red-pink skin glistening in the sunlight coming down the shaft from above. It lay unmoving for several seconds, then shuddered once and began to rise. It hadn't even reached a knee when another body streaked in from above. Then another.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Alarion could see them now. Fiends crawled down to the hole's bottom edge, then let gravity carry them the rest of the way. Most broke at least one bone in the fall. Some cracked their skulls and lay motionless as they regenerated. But for every one that was incapacitated, two more advanced on Alarion and Sierra.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

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