Attempting to take his mind off of things, he brought up a screen to study his skills, bringing out his portable grill at the same time.
Miscellaneous Skills
[Martial: Shield] Level - 50
[Cooking] Level - 2
He hadn’t even been sure when he’d gained the cooking Miscellaneous skill. He knew one gained Miscellaneous skills from actions they took during their life, unlike normal skills which had to be unlocked through a class. Not only that, but one would need to study the intricacies of a craft in order to gain access to the Miscellaneous skill attributed to it. Simply putting a slab of beef in a pan wasn’t enough; you would need to season it, smell the aroma to determine which seasoning to use next, and succeed in seasoning it well to gain the Cooking skill. It was the same way with every Miscellaneous skill; you had to know how to dress to unlock Cosmetics, had to know how to clean to unlock Cleaning, and so on.
Arthur knew how to cook. Maybe not well, but he’d only had a few chances to apply that knowledge. He’d also had no interest in pursuing it as a career, as the aspect of cooking he enjoyed was of the homely comfort sort. Though he worked at a fast-food restaurant before the System arrived, he hadn’t really considered that cooking. It was more like… a glorified assembly line.
He moved on to the rest of his skills.
Skills: Passive
[Audacity Knight]
[Mighty Escutcheon]
[Steel Soul]
[Sentinal Aura]
Skills: Active
[Intricacies of Exaltation]
[Intricacies of Engagement]
[You and Me]
[Not Today]
[Phalanx Demesne]
[Aegis Arts]
[Absolvement]
[Champion’s Plate]
[Ironclad Will]
[Unflinching Will]
[Coordination]
[Challenging Moxie]
[Insurmountable Wall]
[Audacity Tempering]
He gaped for a moment at the sheer difference in number between his passive skills and active skills. Since his True Heart of Devotion wasn’t technically a skill, the passives it granted weren’t on the list, despite them being the strongest passives he had. He also thought that the Intricacies would be under his passive skills, as they always stayed active. He simply switched between them, and unless he turned them off for whatever reason, the base version stayed active. Even now, Intricacies of Exaltation was still active. Arthur theorized that because they could be switched on or off and had activatable factors, they counted as such.
After getting the fire to catch onto the dry wood and torn up paper under the grate, he took out a frying pan and some ingredients. He dearly wished that he’d find some charcoal soon.
As he poured some chicken stock he’d found into the frying pan, he realized that he used less than half of his current arsenal of skills regularly. Challenging Moxie was, without a doubt, his currently most used skill, aside from Champion’s Plate. Thinking about it… since it’d been with him longer, was it actually his most used skill? He’d had You and Me from the beginning, but after gaining the AOE aggro skill, he’d opted for that much more often. Insurmountable Wall was a situational mess, and he didn’t really count his Intricacies because they were always active. He felt that many of his skills were good for specific situations, and the ones that were good in every situation were the ones he used the most.
Arthur sighed. Putting two sausages in the bubbling stock on the grill, he thought about his family for the first time in what felt like a long while. What if they weren’t in the new city like he’d thought? They could be out there somewhere, struggling, maybe even…
He abandoned that line of thought with a shiver. Such thoughts wouldn’t help him right now. The only thing that he could do now was follow the first and only lead he had. Returning to his previous thought process, he wished he could use all his skills more often. While gaining more skills was all well and good, there was something to be said for being good at using your skills. Both Ironclad and Unflinching Will were only useful if he was fighting something that could threaten him. Absolvement was hardly useful right now, as Ema took away any need for the emergency treatment the skill represented. If he didn’t use his skills more often, he feared that he’d overlook certain options he’d have while in a fight, or even forget about the skills he had entirely. He also hoped he’d eventually gain at least some attack oriented skills. Even if he did, however, he’d long since resolved not to lose sight of his role. He was a tank.
He took the sausages out of the stock. Careful to not lose too much umami juice, he pressed a wooden stick into each sausage, then placed them on the grill with a sizzle. The sausage’s sweat dripped onto the fire below the grate, lending further popping sounds to the sizzling meat. Flipping them over to cook on the other side, he received a notification.
Miscellaneous Skill
[Cooking]
Has leveled up!
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Cooking]: Level – 2 ? 3
Taking the sausages off of the grill, he cocked his head to the side. He’d thought he’d heard something, but wasn’t sure. After a moment of silence, he heard it again. Something like rustling in the woods. Arthur wasn’t sure if it was just an animal of some kind… until he heard a panicked shriek. Rushing to put the sausages back in the still hot broth, he got up and speed walked to find the source of the sound.
He made his way through the bush, looking for the source of the whimpering he’d heard earlier. He tried to be quiet, to avoid scaring whomever he was pursuing. Tried being the operative word, as the ground beneath him crunched regularly. Arthur stayed still for a while, straining his ears. Finally, he heard more movement coming from his left. He might’ve been wrong, but it sounded close.
Mary ran as fast as she could, despite her fatigue. She’d been running for almost a full day now, but the men after her were dogged and wouldn’t give up. She sucked in the chilled night air with a hiss and wheeze, stopping at a tree to catch her breath. The surrounding woods were new; she’d never been here before. After her husband had been incarcerated, she hadn’t visited him even once, not until their daughter’s birthday. The humor in the world ending the one day she’d caved to visiting her “husband” had not been lost on her, and thinking of her daughter brought tears to her eyes anew.
As she rounded the tree to leave, she suddenly crashed into something that hadn’t been there before; a shirt covering an average male body line. She panicked, thrashing immediately and instinctively. Arms grabbed at her sides, attempting to hold her still. Her panic redoubled, building upon itself until she felt rabid. No matter how hard she pushed, neither the arms nor the body would move. She knew this kind of strength; it was the type from someone who’d gained a class. Someone who’d killed for power. During her time trapped in the penitentiary after the System ruined her life, she’d seen it countless times. She wasn’t even sure how much time had passed, holed up with people who saw her only as a slab of meat. The only reason she’d stayed safe was because of her husband. Even so, she still didn’t forgive him for what he’d done.
The woman thrashed with all her might until she heard a voice.
“Please, calm down! What’s wrong? Are there monsters?!”
The voice was different from the men from the prison who were pursuing her. She opened her eyes, seeing a shirt riddled with holes and a strange, light gray vest underneath it. Now that she was paying more attention to detail, while the shirt on top felt dirty but normal, the vest underneath felt rough and scaled, almost like an armored vest from the old world but with a fish’s scales.
She looked up to see a man’s face, green eyes filled with concern. His stringy, shoulder length dark brown hair swayed in the chill wind. Mary found her voice after a long, awkward moment. She wasn’t sure if she could trust this person, but maybe he could help.
“P-…Please… please help me…!” She said, surprised at the hoarseness of her own voice. She hadn’t meant to stutter so much, but the cold was getting to her. When she’d been trapped, she’d only been wearing a simple dress and loafers. The outfit choice had only enticed her to the prisoners even further, but she’d been too scared to be by herself long enough to change into something else. Being found by a monster, a prisoner, or even a former prison guard terrified her, and her “husband” was too busy with their war against the former guards to find her any clothes worth wearing. Although even if he had been willing to do that and accompany her to change, she couldn’t stomach letting him see her bare body. Not after what he did.
The man’s eyes met hers. “What’s the matter? What are you running from?”
She pointed behind her. “P-people are ch-chasing me. They’ll be here any minute… do you have s-somewhere to hide?”
The man’s face became serious. “Who’s chasing you?”
“Does it f-fucking matter?! We have to-”
The middle-aged woman’s words were cut off by the sound of three men entering the area, stepping over branches with loud crunches. They wore prison outfits, their purposefully bright orange standing out in the night’s gloom. Mary made a terrified sound, eyes wide and locked on the leader of the group, who strolled up with a snicker.
“See you got yourself a sucker. Well… That’s just more fun for us.”
Arthur listened to the man in front talk, slowly inching the mystery woman behind him. She was shaking, but he was unsure if that was because she was cold or scared. She tugged at his shirt, urging for them to run.
“Who are you?” Arthur asked, his arm continuing to hold the woman behind him. She looked increasingly panicked, clearly regretting her choice to interact with the stranger. Apparently, he was crazy enough to think he could do anything other than run from 3 of the worst humanity had to offer, further enhanced by the System. She debated leaving him and running alone again; maybe she’d finally lose them while they beat this stranger to death.
“Now what’s the point of telling that… to someone who’s already dead?” The man in front asked. The other two near him brought weapons out of their Vaults, one brandishing a knife while the other held a baseball bat.
[Human]
[Ravager]
Level: 9
[Human]
[Ravager]
Level: 7
[Human]
[Ravager]
Level: 10
“We don’t have to do this,” Arthur said, feeling the woman tug on his clothes harder than before, hissing something at him. “If you leave now, we can-”
Arthur was interrupted by the men’s raucous laughter. Tears formed at the corner of their eyes as the leader spoke again. “Did… did you hear that?! We got a big hero! Where’s your red speedo?!” They laughed for a while longer, Arthur not moving or saying anything. The woman put her hands over her face in disgust and embarrassment. Of course, the one person she’d found was not only an idiot, but also crazy. Why had she trusted a random person? She was certain that running was now pointless, as the 3 prisoners would kill a fool like this in moments. It was better to just go back with them quietly, and hope they don’t do anything to her on the way. She prepared to give herself up… but stopped. This idiot had ruined her chance to get away… why shouldn’t she let him pay for it? She’d give herself up before they killed him, of course, but if they didn’t stop then it wouldn’t be that big of a-
“Then you won’t leave…?” The man said. After looking down slightly in reluctance, he stepped forward. “I’ll try to make it quick, then. I can’t promise it’ll be painless, but I can do that much at least.”
The leader of the group stopped laughing before the others. He’d been getting into fights all of his life, and had experience with dangerous people. The ridiculous man in front of him was setting off his alarms, and his confusion why was all too short-lived.
[Viridian]
[Audacity Knight]
Level: 38
Another System user’s information only became visible when said user became hostile. It was a measure to protect privacy, and while there were skills for identifying or appraising, they were rare, and only showed what a hostile System user screen would.
The other prisoners finally stopped laughing upon seeing the new screen in front of them. They blinked, as though trying to refocus their eyes. They struggled to believe the number in front of them, despite looking right at it.
“H-Huh…?”
Before the prisoners could fully process what was about to happen, Arthur became a blur. Since Ravagers had high dexterity, the other two of the group could at least see the fist that caved in their leader’s face. He flew back, crashing harshly against a tree before falling to the ground, out cold.
The man with the baseball bat turned to swing, only for Arthur to grab the bat, crushing it in his grip. He swung upward, catching the former prisoner in the gut. The force of the blow was strong enough to lift the man off of his feet and empty his lungs entirely. He fell to the ground, coughing and hacking profusely.
“Er… sorry,” Arthur said meekly. “I thought that’d knock you out. Like in the movies, when someone gets hit in the gut really hard, sometimes they-”
Arthur felt a knife strike his back… and promptly snap in half. The prisoner gave his weapon a confused look, unable to understand what was happening. He looked up to see that he’d failed to even penetrate the strange vest on the man. As he wound up to try again, a fist slammed into his head, driving him into the ground. The bat wielding prisoner had recovered a bit by now, and was looking at the scene with pure terror. Arthur turned to him.
“So… will you sod off now?”
The only remaining prisoner didn’t need any more convincing. He ran as fast as he could, stumbling over the brush almost comedically.
Arthur turned back to see the woman, aghast at what she’d just seen. Her mouth was open wide, and her guarded stature had gone slack.
“If you leave you mouth open like that, you’ll swallow a fly,” Arthur commented. The woman closed her mouth, looking incredibly embarrassed for some reason.
“Uh… t-thanks.”
“You look half frozen to death… here, come with me. We have a camp nearby with food and everything. I just finished cooking, actually! We can split it.”
The woman followed the strange man listlessly, still stunned about what’d just happened. She couldn’t help but wonder if coming here had been an even bigger mistake.