Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Ike hesitated despite himself. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his instincts screamed for him to flee. He turned to Wisp. Did she feel the same way? Or was it just him?

She looked at him. "What?"

I guess she doesn\'t. Maybe it\'s all in my head. I\'ve been working myself up about Mag betraying us, and now that we\'ve arrived, I\'m frightened for no reason. He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Kay." She looked away.

Even as she turned away, a fresh hesitation bloomed in Ike\'s heart. …I feel like I\'ve ignored my instincts before, and not with great results. Maybe I should say something.

He turned the corner, and forgot all about his instincts. His mind went blank. His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened.

"Whoa."

"Yeah, no kidding," Wisp agreed.

Out of the untamed forest rose an enormous fortress. Not a small outpost flung wide afield, half-forgotten and withered, but a fresh, beautiful fortress, with gleaming white walls and tall palisades. Fortified walls butted up against thousand-year-old trees. Tall towers thrust into the sky. The whole thing bristled with weapons and offensive magicks. Despite being an object, it practically thrummed with the intent to kill.

And yet, it was abandoned. From the outside, it appeared completely unmanned.

The fortress itself was unmanned, but the clearing before it was not. A few mages milled about, some speaking quietly with one another or desperately preparing last defenses and tricks. As they watched, more flew in on brooms or other flying objects. The Steelbound mages they\'d seen earlier stood in the corner, conversing amongst themselves along with another half-dozen Steelbound mages.

On Ike\'s back, Shawn suddenly woke. "Huh? Where are we?"

"I don\'t know," Ike said honestly.

"The Fortress of Trials. This trial realm only opens once every hundred years for one week. Whoever passes it is deemed worthy to protect half of that immensely powerful skill," Mag introduced it.

"Well, isn\'t that convenient," Ike muttered.

"Inconvenient, you mean. I was carefully sheltering that precious stone for decades, waiting for this day, only for two vagabonds to swoop down and assault me for no reason at the very last second," Mag complained.

"For no reason? I seem to recall someone demanding we hand over all our gold," Wisp said, raising her brows.

"That\'s right, you robbed me and then you stole my precious—"

A few of the mages were starting to look their way. Ike coughed, interrupting Mag\'s dramatic tirade. "Right, well, unless you want someone else to come in and swoop away your precious stone from us…?"

Mag\'s eyes darted around as he considered. Ike could see the calculations flying behind his eyes. He grimaced, annoyed. "Right, like those Steelbound mages you hate so much. What if one of them takes it? Then you\'ll have to deal with an annoying Steelbound mage instead of us."

At that, Mag sighed. He shook his head and continued, still as dramatic as ever. "I\'ve tried these trials before, but every time, I\'ve failed. So I\'ve simply had to sit on the other half of the skill in sadness, waiting for the day when I could have someone so kind as to help me through them."

"Right," Ike deadpanned. "How fortunate, then, that we came by."

Wisp tilted her head. "If this half of the skill is protected behind some kind of trial that only opens once every century, how\'d you get ahold of the other half?"

Mag grinned. He posed. "I\'m the greatest thief in the world. Stealing a trifle like that posed no difficulty at all."

Ike and Wisp exchanged a tired glance. "Did you attack it in transit, or something?" Ike guessed.

"What? In transit? A noble thief like myself would do no such thing. No, no. I ambushed it. They were trying to move the skill into the next region, directly through my palace. I waited until they lost all communication with their home sect, then struck with a swiftness. They died not knowing what killed them, not knowing I had taken their gem!"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ike frowned. "That\'s… in transit."

"You\'re in transit," Mag snapped back.

Ike nodded slowly. Right. He\'s a bit of a bird brain. I can\'t forget that.

Mag\'s story made sense, but something about it wiggled at the back of Ike\'s mind. He tilted his head, trying to puzzle out what it was. Is Mag lying? But no, the boy didn\'t seem to be. There were questionable aspects to the tale nonetheless. The party flying directly over Mag\'s palace, yet unprepared for Mag to attack, for example. Mag didn\'t exactly hide his location. In fact, he\'d announced himself to them before they\'d ever entered his valley. Also, the idea that they couldn\'t defeat Mag, despite transporting what was supposedly a skill so dangerous that it had to be split for the region\'s safety. True, Mag was a strong Rank 3, strong enough to pose a good fight to Ike and Wisp, but there were people far beyond their power level. Rank 4s, Rank 5s.

He could come up with a scenario where it all worked out such that Mag could honestly ambush them and succeed. For example, maybe Mag was sleeping and didn\'t announce himself. Maybe the travelers were low Rank to avoid suspicion. Maybe they really had meant to separate the skill halves by entire regions, put half the skill in a region where no one attached any particular value to it. But something still felt strange about the whole scenario. If it was really so valuable, why risk travelling through an area with a known threat with low Rank people and no countermeasures against Mag? Hell, toss a few shiny coins his way, and Mag would probably be distracted for long enough for the transport team to make a break for it. Ike shook his head. He touched his skill ring, his brows furrowing. There was something strange about this skill, and the way it ended up in Mag\'s hands.

And now ours, days before the trial opened. He thought back over their path to Mag, searching for any variables that an outsider might have manipulated. If Llewyn had allowed himself to be quickly defeated…No, that\'s not reasonable. After all, Llewyn had had no foreknowledge of Ike\'s desire for Storm Clad. Even Ike himself hadn\'t known he was going to invoke the skill in that battle, reforging himself stronger than ever before. And afterwards, he\'d needed to sleep for a long time to recover. There were too many variables. Too many free-floating situationals to the scenario in which Llewyn manipulated him to arrive right on time.

Unless he really did allow himself to be defeated, and Storm Clad had nothing to do with that. Unless he somehow snuck into Shopkeep\'s village and influenced my recovery. As he thought them, he dismissed them. At no point during the battle had Llewyn broken into Shopkeep\'s walls. If he truly had that ability, he surely would have used it when it counted.

Plus, why the hell would Llewyn care about a skill in another region that he probably doesn\'t even know about? I\'m really just being paranoid right now.

He looked at the ring again, thoughtful. But then, if Mag was manipulated into getting half of this skill, but Wisp and I really did just happen to stumble into the scenario without realizing it, doesn\'t that mean that whoever wants Mag to have half of this skill will target Wisp and I viciously the second they realize we\'re the ones who now have the skill? We can\'t allow anyone to know we have this.

He met Wisp\'s eye. She nodded. He was almost certain she hadn\'t walked the same path of reasoning as he did, but she didn\'t need to. As long as she understood the skill was valuable and they should reveal it under no circumstances whatsoever, that was good enough for him.

The yard before the fortress slowly grew crowded as more and more mages arrived. Ike hung back from Mag. He watched them quietly, as a third party, searching for anyone who paid particular attention to Mag.

Understanding that he\'d pulled away for a reason, Wisp nodded at Mag, drawing his attention. "So why hasn\'t some high-Rank person smashed the fortress and stolen the other half of the skill?"

"Well, the true location of the other half of the skill is a secret. It\'s just that this trial appeared all those millennia ago, right when the first half disappeared. No one knows it\'s there for sure, it\'s just where everyone thinks it is. Secondly, the fortress was enchanted by someone of the highest Rank to only let in people at mid-Rank 4 and below. Luckily, I\'m a strong Rank 3, so I\'m not scared at all," Mag bragged, thumping his chest.

"Oh, I see," Wisp said, nodding. She frowned. "Wait, how did you get…your pretty gem, if half of the skill was sealed millennia ago?"

"Only half was sealed. The other half was kept in the most powerful sect\'s treasury, as a show of their power. But power shifted. That sect weakened. In the moment it crumbled, it tried to send the skill far, far away… but instead…" Mag\'s eyes glittered.

"Yep," Wisp interrupted him.

Listening in with his Sensory Enhancement, Ike frowned. If the sect was dissolving, that might explain why the people carrying the skill were weak enough to be ambushed by Mag. Maybe it was all one big coincidence.

No… I don\'t think so. Someone wanted Mag to have half of that skill, I\'m certain of that much. But why?

Before he could puzzle it out, white light shimmered over the surface of the fortress. No longer did it bristle with offensive magics, but instead, it stood open, welcoming them in. Its vast wooden gate swung downward, and the younger, weaker-feeling mages rushed in.

Ike jogged forward, catching up with the others once again. "Shall we?"

"Find what you were looking for?" Wisp asked, as they walked forward.

"I have a few ideas," Ike returned.

She nodded. "Good."

"What are you guys talking about?" Mag asked.

"Nothing," Ike said, unconvincingly.

Mag narrowed his eyes.

"What Ike means to say is, out of everyone here, we\'re probably the ones who want you alive the most, Mag. So don\'t get any funny ideas. We\'ll work together, until the second we sense a hint of betrayal. And then…" Wisp drew her hand across her throat.

"Yeah, yeah," Mag said flippantly. He strode ahead, leading the way. "Come on!"

Ike pursed his lips, not quite pleased with Mag\'s reaction. Then again, if he was trying to set up a patsy to take the fall for something, he\'d pick someone who wouldn\'t take things like their own safety too seriously. Someone mercurial, changeable, a little stupid and not the best at plotting… someone like Mag.

And now we\'re on the same team as the fall guy. We have to watch our backs. Ike nodded at Wisp. She nodded back expectantly.

"Not now, but there\'s something important I need to tell you," he said.

"Got it. Watch our backs?" she asked.

"More than just that… but also that," Ike allowed.

She snorted. "I\'ve been feeling stray pangs of killing intent all morning. Someone wants us dead, and we haven\'t even met yet."

"Right. Don\'t forget that feeling," Ike said.

"Understood."

They reached the gate and stepped inside. The darkness swallowed them whole.