Chương 22: Chapter 21: Tactical Tally

I walked over to the neighboring lawn, recovered my recurve bow from the grass, and crossed back over the asphalt to greet the rest of the crew. I clasped hands with Johnny and Pete in turn, the tense atmosphere immediately evaporating into a sequence of heavy bro-hugs and solid, rhythmic buddy pats on the back.

"Speaking of healing," I said, rolling my neck and turning my attention to Johnny.

"Would you mind throwing a quick top-off our way? I definitely absorbed some blunt-force trauma from that textbook shield bash of his, and I know for a fact Joe took at least a couple points of direct damage when I bitch-slapped the side of his helmet with the flat of my blade." Complying with the request, Johnny closed his eyes, extended a palm, and triggered a localized group heal.

A warm, soothing wave of golden light washed over Joe and me, immediately dulling the ache in my cheek and restoring our vitals to baseline. I looked at Johnny with an impressed grin.

"Nice. That is a seriously clean spell cast." Tucking his heavy Spartan helm securely under his arm, Joe wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Man, you absolutely killed me with that Tombstone line in the middle of the street. I almost completely lost my edge right there."

"And you almost permanently decoupled my jaw with that opening axe sweep," I retorted with a dry chuckle.

"Hey, I would've pulled the leverage back in time if I actually thought the edge was going to connect," Joe said, giving me a slightly sheepish look. Then, his eyes drifted toward the sidewalk.

"But seriously... what about your hound there? If I had managed to drop you into the red one more time, I'm pretty sure I would've been converted into premium dog kibble." I simply shrugged my shoulders with a smirk, letting out a sharp whistle to call Dog over to our position. Joe extended a cautious, calloused hand, letting the massive, gold-eyed beast inspect his scent profile.

"What's this monster's name anyway?" Joe asked, scratching just below the thick leather collar.

"Dog," I replied smoothly.

"Yeah, I see it's a dog," Joe rumbled, looking up at me with a puzzled brow.

"I'm asking what his name is."

"Dog," I repeated, my face completely deadpan. Joe stared at me, thoroughly bewildered, until Johnny suddenly burst out laughing behind him, pointing two literal finger guns in my direction.

"Hold on, I've got this. The Alamo, right? John Wayne?" With a hearty laugh, I pointed back at him.

"Got it in one, Johnny." I paused, my expression shifting back to a seriousness.

"So... are you guys ready to actively get into some serious shit, or what?"

"Derrick, we've been neck-deep in the shit for three straight days now," Johnny said, his tone turning sober.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"It's a long, complicated story. Do you have a secure place where we can talk?" I asked, cutting my eyes around the immediate vicinity. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. During our brief, high-stakes duel in the middle of the roadway, a substantial crowd of displaced neighbors had gathered on porches and sidewalks, watching the clash with wide, anxious eyes.

"Yeah, no worries at all," Joe replied. He turned toward the lingering crowd, raising his voice to a commanding, authoritative boom that carried across the block.

"It's all good, everyone! Go back to your property. This is a very good friend of mine, completely trusted. Nothing to fear here—we were just running through some aggressive training drills!" Speaking of training, the second the high-intensity adrenaline began to recede, I remembered the cluster of digital notifications that had blinked into the corner of my vision at the conclusion of the bout.

I pulled up my logs to review the systemic feedback: [Skill Increased: Sword Mastery — Beginner 9] [Skill Increased: Bow Mastery — Apprentice 4] [Skill Increased: Inspect — Beginner 4] [New Skill Unlocked: Dodge — Beginner 7] Passive Effect: Grants a +15% increased probability to completely evade physical strikes. Active evasion maneuvers now consume 10% less raw Stamina.

[Attribute Attribute Changes: Dexterity +2, Strength +1] I blinked at the text, genuinely surprised by the high initial placement of the Dodge skill. After a moment of analysis, I deduced that the interface awarded significantly higher initial skill tiers if you could demonstrate proficient, real-world muscle memory of the athletic movement prior to or during the actual application. Then the mechanical pieces clicked together.

I was still operating under the ten percent modifier boost to my Strength and Constitution attributes from eating Denise's Nourishment meal earlier. That heavy physical padding had directly amplified my kinetic reaction speeds and agility in the street. Furthermore, my active Well Rested bonus was still generating a massive fifteen percent modifier to all raw experience and skill-training gains.

Satisfied with the data, I took a quick second to pull up my character sheet to review my progression: Status: Name: Derrick Miller Race: Human Level: 6 Class: Ranger Attributes: Strength: 19 Dexterity: 22 Constitution: 19 Intelligence: 18 Wisdom: 13 Charisma: 19 Vitals: Health: 190 / 190 Stamina: 20 / 220 (Regenerating) Mana: 180 / 180 Carry Capacity: 190 lbs.

Armor Class: 25 Skills: Hand-to-Hand: Beginner 6 Blunt Weapons: Beginner 9 Ax Mastery: Apprentice 3 Sword Mastery: Beginner 9 Bow Mastery: Apprentice 4 Daggers: Beginner 8 First Aid: Apprentice 9 Building: Journeyman 5 Crafting: Journeyman 5 WLDNS Survival: Journeyman 2 Sneak: Beginner 5 Herbalism: Beginner 5 Alchemy: Beginner 5 Inspect: Beginner 4 Dodge: Beginner 7 Arcane / Class Spells: Minor Heal: Beginner 5 Tame Animal: Beginner 9 Spike Growth: Beginner 2 Dark Vision: Beginner 5 Unassigned Attribute Points: 0 Unassigned Skill Points: 3 Exiting the interface overlay with a deep sense of satisfaction regarding how balanced my build path was progressing, I closed the digital screen.

I rolled my shoulders, falling into step beside Joe as he led the fire team into the wide, open garage of a residential home just a couple houses north of our little bout.