Mia and Ken, the short-name duo, allowed him to check to make sure they weren't Hollows. Sure enough, neither of them had monster cores. Luke never thought they did, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. Hollows not talking or using weapons was a theory, not fact. Also, he had an inkling that the Hollows he'd met so far were learning, their tactics becoming more advanced. Them learning how to speak was not an impossibility.

  Luke healed the wound in his side as they walked back to the portal, focusing on doing so without spending the little mana he'd regenerated. Pain flared with every stitch, but this was an important process to get used to. Healing himself while walking, and even doing so without using Weaver's Grasp, meant it was all happening without the process being visible. All that inward focus meant he wasn't much of a conversationalist.

  "Do you know that Reaver guy?" Ken asked.

  "No," Luke said.

  Mia glanced his way. "You fought well together."

  "Mhm," Luke grunted, gritting his teeth.

  Soon, they walked past the last building, revealing the portal and a host of people milling about. Most were clumped around the portal itself, but many were already heading out deeper into the ruined city-like dungeon. All manner of people waited around, unsure what to do from the look of things, when he arrived.

  Luke turned to Mia. "Didn't you say there were injured people here?"

  "There were," Mia confirmed.

  A young guy who couldn't be more than 18, with short red hair and a face full of freckles, broke free from a clump of people nearby and ran up to them, waving. "A healer came by! You should have seen it!"

  Inspected Integrated: Stefan. Rogue. Level 3.

  "What was his name, Stefan?" Luke asked.

  Stefan stopped dead in his tracks and narrowed his eyes. "Do I know you?" Then he caught on. "Oh! The inspect thing, of course!"

  "The healer? What was his name?" Luke asked again.

  "Kenny!"

  "Right," Luke said. It was the healer he'd just fixed up the day before. "Where is he now?"

  Stefan shrugged and pointed. "He went that way with a group of people."

  "Thanks," Luke said.

  Stefan waved and ran off again. "Anytime!"

  "Guess we brought you over here for no reason," Mia said.

  "That's fine," Luke said. "I need a party to join, anyway."

  "Join us!" Ken said.

  Luke eyed them. The two spellcaster types were inexperienced, to say the least, but so was everyone else. This was the first outing for most Integrated since leaving the Tutorial Dungeon. "Fine," he ended up saying. "Sounds good. Find us some melee classes and spread information about the Hollows and what they're capable of."

  Luke pointed to the side of the portal where a small group of people had gathered. "I'll be over there."

  "Wait," Ken said. "What are the Hollows capable of?"

  "They have self-healing, so you need to make sure they're dead. Really sure. The Hollows can take the appearance of anyone, as far as I know, and they bite and attack with their claws. I haven't heard them make a sound, and I don't think they can copy your weapons and skills."

  Ken and Mia exchanged a glance, like they were thinking of walking back out through the portal after hearing what they were up against, but then nodded and walked off to recruit some more party members.

  Luke turned his attention back to the group near the portal. One person in particular. With dark, almost black hair, pale skin, and a sort of emaciated thinness to his frame, this person worked some skill that drew Luke's attention.

  Inspected Integrated: Simon. Mana Harvester. Level 6.

  Simon sat cross-legged with his hands held cupped in his lap, head hanging down toward the ground, focusing on a blue glow pulsing between his palms. Luke sat down opposite him on the pavement and observed for a little while. That light resembled Threads of Mana in color and in its semi-transparent wispiness. Luke wanted to reach out and touch it with a thread to see what would happen.

  As if sensing Luke's interest, Simon looked up from just as the light in his hands solidified into a crystal-like object.

  Inspected Item: Inferior Mana Gem.

  "What?" Simon asked.

  Luke nodded to the item. "What is that?"

  Simon held it out for Luke to take. "I have a skill to make them. They work like mana potions, and I think some crafters can use them. Mostly, I've been selling them to the Integrated shop for credits."

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  "Thanks," Luke said, looking down at the gem in his hand as light played across its surface as he turned it this way and that. "And you gain experience from making them?"

  "Yep," Simon said. "Like the other crafters I've met. Not much, though, at least not here."

  "Not here?" Luke asked.

  Simon looked out across the increasingly large group of people. "I'm not sure, but I think more people mean less dense mana in the air. My gems were stronger in the Tutorial Dungeon than here, and that's not saying much."

  "You got something to write on?" Luke asked. "Give me your number. I've got a way to tell when a portal is going to open up. You can be first inside with me."

  "Why would you do that?" Simon asked, hesitation in his voice.

  Luke got up on his feet and dusted himself off. "You'll show your gratitude by making me some more gems, of course."

  "Hah," Simon snorted, shaking his head with a smile on his face. "Deal."

  Having exchanged numbers, Luke took another look around.

  A woman, maybe fifty years old, wearing a leather vest and a red handkerchief tied around her head, sat behind a rough-hewn table of untreated wood. She kept talking to passersby, trying to get them to look at the items on her table.

  Inspected Integrated: Fiona. Tradeswoman. Level 6.

  "What's this?" Luke asked.

  "The finest wares in all of Chicago!" she replied, moving her hands across the table while fluttering with her fingers.

  Luke looked over the items. "You're a merchant?"

  "Yep! Usually do fairs, but my hubby loves all things fantasy, so we touched the orb together," she croaked, voice like she'd been smoking all her life. "Now, here we are!"

  "So, what type of skills do merchants get?" Luke asked, picking a vial off the table.

  Inspected Item: Minor Health Potion (200 credits). Purchase? Yes/No.

  "That's a fine choice, young man! You never know when you'll need a little pick-me-up after getting skewered by a goblin!"

  Luke selected yes and bought the potion. Only then could he put it into his inventory.

  "Well, thank you, kind sir!" Fiona said, rubbing her hands together and sounding like a poor rendition of a fishmonger in some backwater village in a fantasy book.

  "Skills?" he asked. The subject interested him. With the huge selection of classes, of course there'd be non-combatant ones, but Luke hadn't seen any before just now.

  "This and that," Fiona said. "Most of them affect trading or the Integrated Shop. Nothing exciting, not like a Lifeweaver, I reckon, whatever that is."

  Luke looked around at the group. With more people pouring through the portal by the minute, it was almost getting crowded. "Where's your husband?"

  "He wanted to be a warrior and hit things over the head, so he's out there somewhere," she said.

  "But not you?"

  She laughed at that. "Oh no, I don't like blood. Never have."

  "Luke!" Mia waved him over from behind a bunch of people.

  "I have to go. Nice talking with you," Luke said.

  Fiona winked. "Be careful out there so you can return and buy more potions."

  A group of five waited for him, and Luke disbanded his one-man party and received an invitation to join theirs. He stopped and narrowed his eyes, looking around. No, not theirs. The party invite was from someone else, some dude named John he didn't see anywhere. He dismissed it and got another one right away. This new invite didn't match the name of anyone in the group standing with Mia and Ken, either.

  Looking out across the sea of people, Luke shook his head. Quite a few people were glancing his way. A woman his own age, wearing a too-tight knee-length white dress, broke away from the crowd and approached him.

  Inspected Integrated: Samantha. Facilitator. Level 4.

  Samantha ran a hand through her blond, shoulder-length hair and gave him an inviting smile, biting down a little on her lower lip. "Hey there."

  "Hi," Luke said, glancing back at the group waiting for him.

  "Someone said you're a healer? I love healers."

  "Healers are pretty great," Luke agreed.

  She let out a silvery little laugh and punched him in the arm. "Funny, too!"

  "I should go," Luke said.

  Samantha looked past him at the group with Mia and Ken, then brought her arms together so they squished her chest, making her ... assets even more pronounced. "You should come with my group instead. We have a bunch of strong guys, but no one to heal us. You wouldn't want me getting hurt, would you?" She leaned forward and looked up at him. "Would you?"

  Luke cleared his throat and felt heat rising to his face, then shook his head and took a step back. "You be careful out there!"

  He turned and hurried the hell out of there, dismissing another wave of party invites. The nerve of some people! Those waiting for him looked amused, if nothing else.

  Mia raised an eyebrow when he joined them, giving a nod of greeting to everyone. "Someone you know?"

  "She just wanted a healer," Luke grunted.

  "Wanted a healer real bad," a tall, handsome guy with sand-blond hair and pale blue eyes said, his voice calm without a hint of teasing in it. His eyes glittered with mirth, though, and Luke shook his head and sighed.

  "Better let me create the party and invite everyone. Can't remove the invites from other people fast enough," Luke said before addressing Mia and Ken. "You told them what we're up against?"

  "Yep," Ken said.

  Luke assessed the assembled party and liked what he was seeing. The two mages had selected a well-rounded group.

  Inspected Integrated: Mia. Chaos Mage. Level 4.

  Inspected Integrated: Ken. Mage. Level 4.

  Inspected Integrated: Josh. Juggernaut. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Lucy. Thrasher. Level 6.

  Inspected Integrated: Gordon. Bard. Level 4.

  Inspected Integrated: Luke. Lifeweaver. Level 9.

  "Let's head out then," Luke said. "Josh, you want to take the lead?"

  "Sounds good," Josh said. "Let's find us a queen to slay."

  Name: Luke Quinn

  Class: Lifeweaver

  Level: 9

  Physical Attributes

  Strength (Raw physical power): 5

  Agility (Speed and finesse): 4

  Endurance (Stamina and physical recovery): 4

  Vitality (Health and physical resilience): 14

  Mental Attributes

  Intelligence (Mind potency): 10

  Wisdom (Mana efficiency and mana regeneration): 20

  Willpower (Channeling stability and speed): 12

  Focus (Control and precision of mind): 16

  Skills

  Needle of Life (Rank 2) [Active - Mana Cost: ?]: Use a precise touch to assert your will upon the weave.

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

  Weaver's Eye (Rank 2) [Passive]: Reveal imperfections in the weave.

  The Healer's Moment [Active. Mana Cost: Moderate]: A mere moment can cut through the chasm between life and death.

  Weaver's Grasp [Passive]: The Weaver's control extends beyond their touch.

  Weaver's Will [Passive]: The resources of healing are the Weaver's to command.

  The Healer's Staff [Active. Mana Cost: Low]: Turn your weapon indestructible for a brief moment.

  Profession skills:

  Sense Dungeon. Profession skill. Seeker: The Greater System sees your innate curiosity and grants you the ability to sense the location of dungeons.