As Colt exited the room, he found himself staring at the blue doors they had first passed through. A loud sigh came from his left side, where Beans and Donna had been waiting for him. Colt cast his eyes over the pair of women and noticed that they, too, had some new equipment.

Donna wore armour in the style of old Roman centurions, minus the helmet. While Beans had gained a longsword designed to make the blade look like a bird’s wing with intricate feathers detailed in the metal.

“What took you so long? Neither of us could even make it past the first test, but we still got rewards. You can’t have been fighting them for all of that time! What did you do? Go sightseeing?” Donna complained as she eyed up Colt’s new shield.

“Something like that.” Colt shrugged his shoulders as he brushed off her questioning.

Since they might end up as enemies at some point, it was prudent to keep the information he had gained to himself. Colt quickly pulled up his interface to double-check his current stats.

[Name: Exile]

[Title: God of the Hearth]

[Race: Local Deity (Human)]

[Tier: 0]

[Level: 3]

[HP: 50/50]

[DP: 6/6]

[Strength: 5 (+1)]

[Endurance: 8 (+3)]

[Speed: 3]

[Authority: 6]

‘I have a total of twenty-two base stat points right now. With the five for the Quest once we return to Jarxos, then I’ll only need three more to hit level four.’ Colt hummed as he thought about it. ‘I wonder at what point you can reach Tier 1?’

Naturally, this was what gripped Colt’s interest right now. ‘Everything in the game has been rather simple so far compared to everything else. So maybe level ten?’ Colt hoped that his guess was correct, but it could prove to be wishful thinking.

“So, did you heal as well?” Beans asked with a hesitant voice as she studied Colt’s face.

“Hm? Yeah, looks like it. But I’ve no idea when that happened.” Colt thought about it and wondered if art happened during his exchange with Allevia and he had just missed the notification… If there ever was one anyway.

“Did you get what we need for the Quest?” Donna pressed when she noticed that Colt seemed to be reluctant to talk too much. She had the vague feeling that he had completed the tomb where they had failed at the first step.

However, apart from the shield, she could not see any other new equipment on him. So what was the reward for actually completing the place? Colt noticed the suspicious look on Donna’s face and decided to move things along before she overthought things.

“Let’s go. I’m sure you want to get this Quest over with as much as I do.” Colt smiled before heading towards the door.

“Exile!” Donna yelled when she realised that he was going to leave them behind if they did not move. “Damn it! You’d think you were trying to hide something from us!”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t!” Beans retorted even though she had her own doubts. But she preferred not to sour their relationship with Exile so soon. After all, everything in the game was still so new to them, and they had a lot to figure out. “Come on, we’d better hurry before he really does leave us behind!”

Beans jogged up to Colt’s side just as he was placing his hand on the blue doors. Donna soon joined them, but her grumbling never stopped. Colt glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and became wary of her. She had started to suspect him far too soon. Was it just a gut feeling? Or had the girls discovered some information themselves?

As the doors began to turn transparent, their expressions turned grim. A wall of Lost Souls was standing there waiting for them!

‘Shit! The mobs didn’t reset!’ Colt cursed as he glanced at the tidal wave waiting to tear them apart. “Get behind me!”

The girls frowned before doing what he said. Colt pulled his shield up to protect his front and aimed the spike at the Lost Soul right in front of him. Before the door entirely faded away, Colt activated his Hearthfire spell. This gave the two women an extra point of Endurance each as long as they stayed within 10m of him, which should not be hard.

Colt grinned as soon as the barrier dissipated. He lashed out savagely with his shield and destroyed the poor soul in a single strike!

[Lost Soul (Weakened): 37/100]

When Colt saw the notification, he wondered if he could complete the Milestone before they reached the surface. However, that might prove challenging to do while making sure the girls survived.

Beans slashed at the Souls, who tried to move around Colt’s side. Colt paid attention to the fact that she could now kill them in a single strike as well. Beans was the weakest member of the group and had needed at least two strikes on the way down here before dispatching one of them.

‘That weapon seems to be pretty good.’ Colt remarked as Donna tanked a strike on her end. In Colt’s perception, Donna’s health only decreased by one point. ‘They both really benefitted from this.’

Colt could only sigh and shake his head at that sight. It would have been ideal if they only received the stat point reward at the Quest’s end. He did not like the idea of strengthening the other members of this temporary alliance, especially with the knowledge that he now had.

Colt drove forward, destroying one soul after another as the girls covered his flanks. The real struggle came when they reached the foot of the staircase because now they were completely surrounded. Beans’ health kept dipping as she exchanged blows with the mobs. This forced Colt to use Campfire twice! Bringing his DP down to 3/6 just to keep her alive!

Luckily, by that point, Beans’ health stabilised at 50% since all of the enemies behind the group had been taken care of. All that remained were the ones blocking their path forward, but they could not get around Colt’s defence at all!

[Lost Soul (Weakened): 40/100]

[45/100]

[56/100]

[70/100]

[99/100]