The fight continued, as the spiky humanoids continued to fall upon him. Arcs of green coursed through Hector’s body, flashes of light popping through the forest with every punch he threw. Each impact sent another creature flying or collapsing mid charge; their weak bodies unable to withstand the violent feedback of Overheal driven into them.

  Emergency Heal was working overtime, struggling to keep pace with the damage Vital Conduction inflicted on his own body. This fight needed to end soon, or he was going to hit a point where healing could no longer keep him upright.

  Pain Suppression was doing its job, but his body still felt sluggish; movements dulled by the constant cycle of injury and recovery. The only thing keeping him going was endurance. Raw, stubborn endurance.

  Another wave of attackers hit him as he continued the good fight. Cuts and quills slowly began to gather as healing slowed down. Low mana warnings flashed in view, but they were pushed aside so all focus could remain on the fight.

  The onslaught reminded him of the murder bunnies he had fought previously, except this hoard was much greater than them, and relentless. They attacked with almost suicidal intent, they watched their kind fall, yet still they charged, led by some unknown desire to kill him. As more fell to his power, a welcomed notification popped up.

  [Level Up]

  [You Are Now Level 38]

  He grinned when the notification appeared. The timing felt almost mocking, but the mild surge of strength via stats helped him push through the fatigue clawing at his limbs just a little longer. Another barrage of bodies slammed into him. This time sharp quills pierced his shoulder, and he hissed through his teeth as pain flared.

  [Pain Suppression is now Level 36]

  That did not surprise him. The onslaught had been relentless, stretching on for what felt like an eternity. Pain Suppression had been working overtime as always.

  [Warning: Health 62%]

  [Warning: Mana 37%]

  He grimaced as the system warnings appeared, but his spirit felt strangely buoyed. He was still standing. Still gaining ground. Every level felt like proof that he could outlast whatever the tutorial threw at him.

  Finally, the blurs of the creatures began to slow. Bodies littered the forest floor, quills jutting from torn flesh, blood soaking into the soil beneath his feet. Hands of Triage and Vital Conduction had been pushed hard throughout the fight. Overheal detonated on impact as his blows landed, creatures bursting or crumpling under the strain. The forest floor was slick with crimson.

  There were so many corpses that he had to watch his footing. More than once quills pierced his feet. The injuries sealed quickly under Emergency Heal, but the sensation still made him wince.

  Two Pukwudgies streaked past him on either side, moving like hedgehogs on steroids. Their bodies shredded his shoulders as they passed, and he felt fabric tear as one quill ripped through his Reinforced Hand Wrap.

  Something inside him slipped. It was subtle, but he felt it. Control was getting harder to maintain, and Overheal flooded his system. The way he fought now was a balancing act. His healing was both offense and defense. He endured longer than his enemies, breaking them down through attrition while his own body paid the price. This time he was wearing down. The damage from Overheal and the endless onslaught was starting to outpace his recovery.

  Another blur launched toward him. He tried to shift his stance, but fatigue betrayed him. The creature slammed directly into his forehead, driving him backwards, landing flat on the forest floor. Pain exploded through his skull as a quill punched into his skin. He expected the creature to thrash, to dig deeper, but instead, it went limp.

  [Hands of Triage is Now Level 50]

  He started laughing.

  “What an awkward time to get a level up. Headbutting upgrades my hand skills now? Did I really just headbutt that thing to death?”

  Preparing his body for defense, he winced...but nothing happened. He looked up and the forest was devoid of the blurs of light that had been assaulting him. The awkward weight of the foe stuck to his face slapped him, and he grimaced in pain as the quills dug a little deeper. He pushed himself upright and pulled the creature free from his face. Fire ripped through the wound as the quill slid out. He flared Emergency Heal and the injury closed, but the backlash forced him down to one knee.

  [Emergency Heal is now Level 47]

  He smiled despite the pain.

  “These level ups are really starting to get addicting.”

  Even after healing, his health hovered around fifty percent. Overheal continued to churn through his system; lesions opening and sealing as blood seeped and vanished in a constant cycle. He stayed on guard, waiting for the next attack. Thankfully nothing came, but the rush of combat was flowing through him. An attack felt imminent, a feeling he couldn’t seem to shake. He wished he had some kind of tracking skill, or creature sense, anything that would tell him if he was truly alone.

  After another stretch of quiet, he slowly cut off Vital Conduction. Arcs of green dissipated as a dim flash of green snapped out of existence. He let Emergency Heal run at a controlled pace, carefully mending the accumulated damage. His body felt uncooperative, heavy and sore, but he could still move without much trouble. What he really wanted was to sit down and rest.

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  The forest was blanketed in spiky corpses. They reminded him of a cartoon hedgehog he used to watch on television as a kid. Carefully, he began looting. The creatures did not carry anything remarkable. Each one yielded one to three Pukwudgie Quills. After looting several of the bodies, he collected about ten. Something Eden had lacked was epic tier loot; anything at this point would be better than monster parts. Stats were awesome, but upgrading his gear would be just as awesome. Maybe this next dungeon would be able to help with that.

  In the midst of the corpses one glowed. A faint white light permeated the forest floor as he approached. Reaching out to the creature he looted an item called a Pukwudgie Spirit Totem. Unfortunately he was not able to analyze the totem as a his instincts kicked in, alarming him to something dangerous. Quickly, he stored the device in his inventory as he remained vigilant.

  Then a feeling hit. A chill slid down his spine and every hair on his body stood on end. He straightened slowly, scanning the area. He saw no immediate threats, but the sensation of being watched refused to fade. Whatever was out there felt different. More dangerous than anything he had faced so far. The forest stayed quiet; no immediate threats presented themselves, but he remained tense.

  “Maybe I am just getting paranoid,” he muttered.

  Carefully, he reached out to another corpse. Right as he was about to touch the corpse, an immense pressure slammed into him, catching him by surprise. Before he could react and even greater blast of heat engulfed as panic rushed through his system.

  The impact sent him stumbling forward as a blinding flash lit the clearing, like a silent explosion tearing through the air. He rolled across the ground, breath ripped from his lungs, body screaming in protest. He tried to stand and nearly collapsed, and blood pooled beneath him. The pressure hit again. This time he managed to get to his feet and dove to cover behind the nearest tree.

  SNAP!

  Where he had been standing moments before, the earth was carved open. A trench six feet long and half a foot deep gouged into the ground; the soil blackened as if something superheated had passed through it.

  As his back hit the tree, pain flared along his side. Realization set in. Whatever that was must have been what hit him earlier. Grimacing, he reactivated Emergency Heal as much as he dared without pushing himself into severe Overheal territory.

  His body was healing, but it was tense and didn’t move right thanks to the exhaustion from the previous fight. He wasn’t ready for another fight yet, but it didn’t look like he had much of a choice. Then a voice spoke from the woods behind him. It was calm, too calm.

  “You are injured, and I will admit, I have no clue how you are still standing. Just lie there so this does not have to become more difficult than necessary.”

  Hector froze. His instincts screamed at him to move, to strike, to run, but the air felt heavy, like the forest itself was pressing down on him. Slowly, he shifted his stance, so the tree no longer fully blocked his view.

  A man stood several dozen feet away. He had not been there before. The figure was tall and broad shouldered, clad in muted gray armor that swallowed light instead of reflecting it. Overlapping plates were etched with thin geometric lines that resembled scripture more than decoration. His face was older, with white hair and a well-kept beard. The space around him felt dangerous. Like a blade waiting to be drawn, it only needed a reason.

  Hector had faced many tense situations before. Wildfires were not scripted; they were unpredictable forces of nature that destroyed everything they touched. They cared not for who was in their path; they just burned everything in front of him. Several times throughout his career he had nearly been the target of destruction. Thanks to careful planning and teamwork, he was able to make it out alive. He had neither of those right now, but he would not falter.

  “Let me guess, you are not here to help?” He said, forcing a tired grin.

  The man’s gaze swept the clearing, the bodies, the scorched earth, the faint green light still bleeding from Hector’s skin.

  “You endured prolonged overheal destabilization; you circulate restorative energy through your nervous system. You have managed the weaponize and heal with your skills, that shouldn’t be possible.”

  His eyes locked back onto Hector.

  “That should have killed you a long time ago.”

  Hector shifted his weight, testing his legs. Slow, but functional.

  "Creepy, have you been stalking me? Look I honestly have no idea how all this works, I am just trying to survive, not sure what the problem is.”

  The silence stretched. Then the man inclined his head slightly.

  “My name is Brother Alric, Order of the True Path.”

  Cold settled into Hector’s bones as the atmosphere began to feel denser.

  “Nice to meet you, Alric. So, I take it you are with the fanatical order the system mentioned. You sure got here fast; it makes me feel a little special. What did I do to earn a visit from one as esteemed as your ‘brother’?”

  Alric did not react.

  “You are a deviation. Your continued existence introduces un-modeled outcomes into a closed and controlled progression environment.”

  Hector barked out a short laugh.

  “I was just attacked by a pack of homicidal hedgehogs. If this place is ‘controlled,’ someone screwed up the controls.”

  Alric stepped forward. The ground cracked beneath his feet as if reality itself had yielded. Hector’s grin vanished and his heart hammered. Green light flared around his fists as he pushed Vital Conduction and Hands of Triage back into circulation, carefully riding the edge of control. Pain bloomed instantly, sharp and familiar, as Overheal weakened his body little by little.

  Instantly he realized he wasn’t healing properly; low-mana had caused loss of control before. This time though he wasn’t sure, he was weakened from the previous fight, mentally worn out on top of all the physical ailments. If only the system would give him more insight on his abilities, maybe he could figure something out, but he just didn’t have enough knowledge to know why his control was going out of whack.

  This fight would not be easy, even an amateur like him knew that. Fear gripped him, but he quickly pushed it down. Showing fear now would only work against him. His jaw tightened as he looked up at the man, Alric.

  He was not going to die today; this order of lunatics would not ‘correct’ him whatever that meant. All that was left to do was to suck it up and find a way out. He had no plans of ending up in a body bag. Pushing the fear further down, he smiled as he addressed this new opponent.

  “You know, typically when you meet someone new you start with the greeting before attacking. Not sure what your order teaches but I feel like you got it backwards.”

  “I am not here to speak with you; I am here to correct your vile deviance.” Aric stated coldly.

  The pressure snapped and Hector moved first. He surged forward, green lightning screaming as he threw everything he had into a single punch.

  Alric vanished and the air screamed as his punch missed. Hector barely twisted aside as something impossibly sharp carved through the space where his head had been. The tree behind him split cleanly in two, the upper half sliding away as if neatly removed. He skidded to a stop, breath ragged.

  “Well, that is terrifying.” Hector gulped.

  He turned just in time to see Alric standing behind him; arms extended.

  “This will be brief,” Alric said.

  Hector grinned, blood dripping from his chin, green light crawling across his skin.

  “Yeah, whatever you say old man.”

  Then he charged again.