3 – Grit

Andy looked at the people arrayed before him. On the right were Bea, Bella, Jace, and Jace’s sister, Lena. To his left were Omar, Madi, and Bree, her owl Cheechee perched on her heavily gloved wrist. The owl was staring at Bella, its eyes unblinking as it regarded Chani’s furry snout poking out of the pack she wore over her shoulder. “Yeah, maybe it’s best if Bree and Bella aren’t in the same group,” he said with a chuckle. “I mean, considering how Cheechee is devouring Chani with his eyes.”

“He wouldn’t!” Bree said, turning her body, but the owl’s head swiveled, his gaze focused on the small-dog-sized rodent.

“If he makes a move…” Bella growled, lifting her arm so her round shield blocked the owl’s view of her companion.

“Relax,” Andy said, waving a gloved hand. “I was just kidding…mostly. Anyway, how do we feel about this arrangement?”

Bea nodded, gesturing toward Madi. “As long as you don’t get her hurt—”

“They’re just going after goblins,” Jace interrupted. “It’s not like Andy and Omar couldn’t handle the whole pack by themselves.”

“I’ll be fine,” Madi insisted, looking at Andy earnestly. She’d recently gotten her Gatherer class to level ten, and, with the guidance of a quest, she’d made a healing salve out of some plants she’d collected. The result had been the offer of a new class: Herbalist. Needless to say, she was eager to gain levels in it, and Andy’s Codex made one thing clear: combat earned levels faster than grinding out craft recipes.

He nodded, giving her a good look-over. James and Lydia had outfitted her well—a short spear, a small hardwood, metal-strapped shield, a leather jacket layered with overlapping metallic scales, and a padded leather helmet with a metal cap. Honestly, she had better armor than Andy, though his drake-scale coat was probably tougher than hers despite the lack of metal scales.

“So, two parties of four.” Andy nodded, turning to lock eyes with Jace and Bella. “Just remember what we talked about.”

“Right, Boss,” Jace said, chuckling.

“We’ll be good, Andy!” Bella put her arm over Bea’s shoulders. “No risks we don’t have to take.”

Bea winked at Andy. “I’ll keep them in line.”

“And we’ll bring back a report on the dungeon,” Lena added.

They were all standing at the foot of the cliff-side trail, and Andy glanced up toward the top, wondering if any of the folks who’d come to see them off were still watching. He saw a few people up there, and one of them waved when he looked up—Eduardo. He waved back, then turned to the others. “Well? Are we ready, then?”

Bella picked up her pack, glaring at Andy. “That’s the only unfair thing! None of you guys have to carry packs!”

Andy grinned. “Well, maybe we’ll figure out this ring’s magic soon, but for now—”

“For now we hump it,” Jace said, hefting a much larger pack onto his shoulders.

“See you all soon,” Bea said, waving. “Madi, you keep Andy out of trouble. Don’t let Omar pretend he’s not hurting.”

Madi, only sixteen years old, nodded solemnly. “I’ll take good care of them, Miss Bea.”

Bea looked at Bree. “Look out for her.”

Bree smiled. “Cheechee will look out for us all.” She heaved her arm high, and the owl spread its enormous wings. “Go on!” With a flutter, the owl launched himself into the air, quickly gaining elevation.

With that, the two parties separated. They were both heading toward the Catalina foothills, but Andy and his team were heading northwest, while the others were going northeast. Andy led the way, amazed by how different the desert seemed compared to the last time he’d been out ranging. Everything was more green, and the barren stretches of hard, rocky dirt were narrower. Grass, tumbleweeds, cacti, and bushy shrubs encroached, making walking more difficult. More than that, the palo verde trees and mesquites were big and full—greener than he’d ever seen them—and they seemed to be growing by the day.

The air was warm, but not Tucson-warm, and there was more humidity than he was used to. That said, he quickly built up a healthy sheen of sweat and had to unbutton his coat to let some air in to cool off a little.

After they’d separated from the others for a while, Omar walked a little closer and asked, “You’re gonna stay in that Fighter class?”

Andy shrugged. “For now. If we find something unexpected, or I guess, if we get into a night-time situation, I could change back to Brimstone Stalker.”

“How long will it take?”

“That’s a good question. Sometimes it seems like ten minutes, but when I took this new class, it took more like two hours—hoping that was a onetime thing.”

“I think it was,” Bree said. When Andy looked at her, she added, “Lydia goes between at least three different crafting classes, and it always takes her something like ten or fifteen minutes.”

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“Andy, when I got the Herbalist class, Casey said I was out of it for like an hour when I switched,” Madi said.

Omar looked from the two women behind them back to Andy, saying, “Tracks with what you said—first time change takes longer.”

“Yeah, I think—”

“Hold it!” Bree hissed, holding up a hand. “Cheechee sees something.”

“How far?” Andy whispered.

Bree was quiet for a minute, her eyes closed in concentration. “Um, not too far, I think…in the direction we’re going. I only get impressions—can’t exactly see through his eyes. I get the feeling it’s something big and dangerous.” She looked up, shrugging. “Sorry, I can’t tell you more.”

Andy smiled. “It’s plenty.”

Bree had a bow, but Andy knew better than to expect her to be able to fill Lucy’s shoes. He’d seen her practicing, and while she could shoot, she was a heck of a lot slower at loading, aiming, and basically everything else. Still, he appreciated the familiarity of having a bow-using party member. “You and Madi should fall back a little. Give Omar and me about a ten-step lead.”

“But I can—” Madi started to say, but Andy shook his head, cutting her off.

“Defensive for now, Madi; the System will still recognize you as helping. I think it considers the risk of you being in the party and the fact that we’re relying on you for healing. Even so, keep that shield up because Omar and I might let something past us.”

“Not if I can help it,” Omar said, thumping his heavy mace against his large shield—another of Lydia’s creations, a big-brother to Madi’s smaller one. Andy started forward, feeling strange not to have any spells to cast or prepare. It was all down to his spear and his skill with its usage; he hoped the System was taking note and that it would recognize his intent to master the weapon.

Bree drew an arrow from her quiver, nocking it to the string of her smallish compound bow. Madi didn’t argue further, lifting her shield and holding her short spear ready—the way Andy had taught her. Satisfied, Andy nodded, readying his own long spear and stalking forward, with Omar off to his right. Together they ranged ahead, eyes sharp, scanning the lush desert foliage for any sign of the thing that had alerted Bree’s owl.

Andy’s ears picked up their quarry before his eyes did. It was a snuffling, huffing sound, and it was all-too-familiar. He glanced at Omar and whispered, “Gila monster!”

He nodded, crouching into a fighting stance.

Andy advanced. He’d fought a giant gila monster before. In fact, he’d backstabbed it and killed the gigantic creature in one shot. Something felt different about this one, though—the huff of its snorting breath was deeper.

He thought it was just ahead, past a thick stand of mesquites and buffelgrass. If he were guessing, he’d say there was a wash on the other side of that thick stand of vegetation. In the Sonoran Desert, rivers didn’t always run; they were dry until it rained, but considering the changes in the landscape, Andy wondered if many of the “washes” might now be actual rivers or streams.

When the grass ahead bent and rustled, Andy reeled in his distracted thoughts, sidestepping to the left, hoping to split the creature’s attention between himself and Omar. He’d only taken two steps, though when the snuffling, huffing breaths became a gasping hiss and an enormous black- and orange-scaled head lurched up above the grass. The gila monster was easily five times the size of the one he’d faced before. Its torso was bigger than that of a horse, and its four limbs were the size of people

.

When it lunged out of the grass, scrabbling with four-inch claws in the dirt, Madi screamed, and Bree’s bow twanged. Her arrow punched into the scales above the monster’s left foreleg, but it didn’t even seem to notice. Its yellow-eyed gaze was fixed on Omar as it hissed again. Andy got a good look into its mouth as it did so—black tongue and dozens of backward-slanted, razor-sharp teeth. Before the apocalypse, getting bitten by a gila monster had been a terrifying prospect. This one looked like it could fit most of his body in its mouth, giving the fear a whole new level of horror.

As if to illustrate Andy’s fears, it clamped its jaw shut with a wet, resounding clack. It shuffled toward Omar, and the Pyre Sentinel swept his mace before him, sending a stream of liquid-seeming flames onto the hard, dry dirt. It didn’t exactly create a wall of fire, but the flames made an impressive whoomph, flaring up, and the gila monster balked. Andy saw his moment. He lunged for the monster’s flank, focusing on the many perfect targets his Critical Mastery and Sneak Attack skills highlighted for him.

One particular spot looked especially ripe—a smooth bit of dark, leathery flesh behind its foreleg. Andy slammed the tip of his spear into the spot, felt it hit bone, then shift just a bit forward as it found the gap between two ribs. He was fast and strong, and his spear was hard, sharpened steel, bearing a Glyph of Hardness that he himself had carved into it. The bladed edge of his spear-tip cut the monster’s thick hide, and the point sank deep between the ribs.

Andy was certain he’d hit a lung and possibly the heart, but the gila monster didn’t know or care about that. It hissed again, jerked its body in a wild, thrashing movement, and tried to smash Andy with its thick, powerful tail. He was too fast, though; he leaped back, yanking his spear out in a shower of frothy crimson blood. As the monster whirled on him, jaws wide, Omar darted forward and smashed his heavy, star-shaped mace against its skull.

The weapon was enchanted with something called “minor force,” and when the heavy metal star crunched into the creature’s wide, flat head, the sound it made was like an axe hitting a hollow tree. To Andy’s amazement, the monster swayed in place, its eyes going out of focus as it drooped. The blow had stunned it!

Andy charged forward again, and despite how horrific it seemed, his instincts wouldn’t let him ignore a perfect attack vector—the monster’s eye. Spear couched, he leaped, and as he came down, he drove the full length of his spear-blade into the dazed monster’s left eye. Eight inches of hardened steel sank into that bulbous orb, and the gila monster shuddered and collapsed with an earth-shaking thud.

Omar held his mace high, whooping, and Bree and Madi soon joined in. Andy yanked his spear out, avoiding looking at the gore that clung to the blade. No sooner had he turned to smile at everyone’s celebrations when the System splashed a message across his vision:

***Congratulations, Andy! You and your companions have slain an Elite hostile denizen of the wild. Thanks to your efforts, you’ve gained three levels in your Fighter class and earned two Improvement points. Because of your proficiency with your primary weapon, your experience with combat, and your Notable Distinctions, you’ve earned the innate Fighter skill, Grit.

Grit – Innate: Through sustained combat and repeated exposure to hardship, you have developed a resilient foundation of endurance. Your morale is more stable under threat, reducing the impact of intimidation and fear. Your body has adapted to prolonged strain, reinforcing vitality and improving resistance to injury and fatigue. Recovery from wounds and exertion is more efficient.***

“You were right!” Madi cried. “I gained two levels!”

“What the hell?” Bree laughed, pushing Madi’s shoulder. “I shot the thing, and I only got one level!”

Omar grinned at Andy. “I only got one, but considering I was already level twenty with my class, I’m not mad.”

“Well,” Andy said with a chuckle, “I got three, and something else—something that I think will piss Jace off when he hears about it.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep