Stepping through that gate was like having the world shift on itself. In one moment, the hallway beyond looked empty, and in the next, monsters appeared. Real monsters.

  "Goblins? Really?" Luke asked.

  They reached to about Luke's hips, with green skin, yellow eyes, wearing nothing but brown loincloths. Not the most menacing of foes. Three of them waited just a few meters into the hallway. Farther down, beyond those green little things, Luke saw other people fighting.

  Nate stepped up front, hefting his shield. "They might not look like much, but those spears can cause some pain. Trust me, I'd know."

  Irene stepped to the side, pulled the string of her bow back, then released. The arrow took the leftmost goblin in the shoulder. It fell back to the ground, letting out a yelp as it dropped its spear. The other two charged, ferocious little mouths opened wide to show rows of sharp teeth.

  "Move aside, please," Sarah said.

  Luke turned and then jumped to the side. "Sorry."

  Leveling both guns at the advancing goblins, Sarah shouted. "Nate, get out of the way!"

  "These are mine!" he shouted instead, advancing on their enemies, slashing.

  One of Nate's wild attacks found its mark, slicing into a goblin and leaving a long gash from shoulder to belly. It fell screaming while the other goblin thrust its spear forward. The blow struck Nate's shield, but it pulled back and attacked again before the Knight could react, and plunged the spear into his arm.

  "Ow! Shit!" Nate shouted, his shield arm dropping, unable to hold the weight after being wounded. He fell back, but the goblin followed, and the one struck by Irene's arrow was getting up as well, growling.

  Sarah fired both guns again and again in quick succession, missing most shots despite the short distance, but one or two bullets struck their mark, and that was enough for Nate to make his tactical retreat. For some reason, the bullets from the guns did less damage than Irene's arrow, but Luke didn't have time to ponder why as two more goblins charged down the corridor, coming their way.

  Irene let loose an arrow but missed, then Mingze stepped up, waving his wand around. A yellow light sparked to life at the wand's tip, then shot through the air to zap the closest goblin, which was now the one with an arrow in its shoulder.

  The goblin looked unaffected at first, but then, after a few more steps, fell in a heap, all its little muscles spasming. Nate thrust into the goblin's bulk, killing it, then withdrew his sword and stepped back, wincing.

  "Hey Luke, can you patch me up?"

  "Now?" Luke asked.

  "I need my shield arm."

  Sarah, Irene, and Mingze stepped up and battered the remaining goblins with ranged attacks, slowing them down.

  "Fine," Luke said, rushing up to Nate to put a hand on his injured arm. A growl from behind them made him turn. Another two goblins were rushing up, waving clubs in the air.

  "Where the hell did those come from?" Luke asked, hefting his quarterstaff.

  "They appear out of thin air," Nate said, stepping up beside Luke.

  The high ceiling allowed for an overhand swing with the quarterstaff, and it took one goblin right on its head, crunching down and caving the monster's head in. Pain shot up Luke's hands, wrists, arms, and even shoulders, and he fell back with a grunt to avoid the remaining goblin's retaliation. The tip of its spear missed Luke's face by mere centimeters, and Nate seized the moment, slashing at its arm with enough force to cut it off.

  The goblin shrieked, dropped the spear as its arm thudded to the ground, then turned and attempted to flee. Luke brought the quarterstaff down on its shoulder, slamming it to the ground where Nate could finish it.

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  "Not bad, for a healer," Nate said, grinning.

  The fight was over in seconds, but Luke huffed and gasped. "Thanks."

  Sounds of fighting from the others made them turn, but the ranged party members were just about finished with the remaining goblins. Mingze had a cut across his cheek and had lost some health, but other than that, they appeared fine.

  "Your arm," Luke said.

  Nate turned to show where the spear had penetrated. A stabbing wound, deep and bleeding. Without stitches and a lot of resting, it wouldn't heal right under usual circumstances. Good thing their circumstances were anything but. Luke put his hand on the arm, near the wound, and sensed the deep damage. The others dealt with the other goblins, and a notification appeared in Luke's vision.

  System Message: Congratulations! You have reached level 2!

  He ignored it for the moment, focusing on Nate's wound. Mana reacted to his will, and strands of the new essence reached into the cut, and Luke directed a thin strand through the flesh on one side, then crossed to the other side, pulling on the string of mana and letting it sink into flesh again, stitching.

  "Ouch," Nate said.

  Luke didn't take his eyes off what he was doing. "There's pain?"

  "Hell yeah, brother."

  "Just hold still."

  "Can't you just do it like with my leg?" Nate asked, speaking through gritted teeth. He was sweating now, his face pale.

  Luke shook his head, keeping his eyes on the wound. "Not if I'm going to improve and not waste all my mana every time you charge like a reckless bull."

  "So, you're using me as a training dummy?"

  "Yes. Now shut up," Luke said.

  The thin strand of mana moved to follow Luke's will, but keeping it from slipping was quite the challenge, and pulling on the thread to close the wound was like working with overcooked spaghetti. After what felt like an hour, Luke tied off the mana and wondered what would happen when he withdrew his attention. Logic dictated that the mana would pull away, too, opening the wound again. It did not.

  "There," Luke said. "All better."

  "We saw a different healer earlier," Irene grunted as she came up to inspect Nate's healed injury. "All he did was cast a spell, and the wound closed itself. Took, like, a second. What you did was, what, three minutes?"

  "And how long were you sitting around doing fuck all behind those bars before I got here?" Luke asked. "Healers are rare, so maybe you should try showing a little appreciation."

  Irene glared at him.

  "Now give me that spear," Luke said, holding out his hands.

  "What?"

  "The goblin's spear. Give it here."

  Irene looked at Nate, who shrugged.

  Luke put the quarterstaff into his inventory, accepting the spear, except his hand refused to close around the haft, and it fell to the ground then grunted. "Can't even hold it. Guess it's the staff for me. Mingze, you need that scratch healed?"

  "I'm fine," Mingze said.

  "Fair enough."

  "We should keep going," Sarah said. "The goblins will respawn soon."

  Sounds of fighting sounded from far down the hallway, but Luke didn't see anyone. "Let's go," Luke said. "But be careful. I'll check that level up while we walk."

  The interface showed a Level Up button. Pressing it brought up attributes. 5 points were available to distribute. He considered his options and whether to add to the physical attributes, but decided against it. If anything, he needed to improve his healing capabilities, which meant focusing on the mental aspects. Luke also had an inkling that training the physical attributes would be more straightforward than the mental ones. He added 1 point into Intelligence, and 2 points into Wisdom and Willpower, resulting in all his mental attributes being equal at 8 points.

  Like Mingze said, he didn't feel any difference right away, but any change would be incremental, with the attributes perhaps affecting only skill usage. Either way, it was time to check out the skill offerings his level up unlocked. Turns out, the list wasn't long.

  System Message: New skills available: None.

  But another option appeared, which was a little more interesting.

  System Message: Rank up skills available:

  Weaver's Eye [Passive]: Reveal the imperfections in a target’s life-weave.

  Threads of Mana [Passive]: Mana is the weaver's primary tool.

  It said nothing about what ranking those skills up would do, but it couldn't be a bad idea upgrading them, since they were the core skills of his class. So far, the injuries he'd healed were all rather obvious, so upgrading the ability to see injuries was perhaps not the most critical. Instead, he picked Threads of Mana, hoping it would lead to easier handling.

  Threads of Mana [Passive]: Mana is the weaver's primary tool.

  Turned into.

  Threads of Mana (Rank 2) [Passive]: Mana is the weaver's primary tool. Wield the threads with precision and focus.

  The change didn't clear things up much, but perhaps he'd notice a difference. Focusing too much on the interface wasn’t ideal while walking through a dungeon, so Luke dismissed the different windows as they turned in from the corridor, into a larger, cavernous chamber. The ceiling disappeared into the gloom far above them, where the light didn't reach, and the space opened up, showing another group fighting some strange thing.

  "Ew," Sarah said. "There it is."

  "Looks like a different group beat us to it," Mingze said.

  Nate pointed with his sword. "They're having trouble, though."

  "What the hell is a Groll?" Luke asked. "It looks like a..."