Xylus sat next to Victor for an hour, thinking about what his teacher had told him.

  "You wait until they're in your sight to strike." Xylus muttered to himself. He laid on his back, looking at the blue sky and bright sun. It was a nice day and Xylus wanted to take advantage of it, but he was stumped.

  "What does he mean by that? Don't you have to wait and see your target before you attack?" Xylus wondered aloud. His mind began to colorfully paint a picture. Xylus stood in the steam and would see a fish and then strike. The strike would pierce the fish, painting the river in splotches of red and he would have a fish in his dagger.

  "Why didn't it work like that?" Xylus asked himself. Every time he tried to do it, he could see the dagger plunging and then there wouldn't be a fish in his dagger. He rolled in his spot, facing his teacher as he casually slept.

  Xylus didn't know, but Victor was half-asleep. Xylus would come to find out in the future, it was a skill needed to survive in the work he would be doing. He stared at his teacher in annoyance. He didn't teach Xylus much. He just said, "run" and he ran. Victor said "find food" and he was just supposed to do that.

  Xylus sighed and lifted himself up into a sitting position.

  "I guess I should try again." Xylus plucked up the daggers and stood up. He made his way to the edge of the stream and followed it for a bit. "He's just waiting around for me to figure this thing out on my own, so I'm gonna walk for a bit."

  The stream slowly curved to the right. The lush forest echoed with life as Xylus listened to the sounds of the forest. He didn't know why he had gotten accustomed to listening to things, but it made him feel safer if he took in the sounds of his surroundings.

  When he was in Nessia, he would listen to kids playing in the slums. They would giggle and laugh as they ran around. His mind drifted to memories of playing with his friends. He wondered if they were okay. He wondered if they missed him at all.

  He had become a thief in the eyes of the adults in that town because it was necessary for him to survive. It was necessary for those in the slums who had nothing to survive.

  "Now I'm in a forest on a totally different continent not being trained by the teacher who's supposed to teach me." Xylus sighed. He began to turn to enter the stream when a bush shook. He turned to look and waited for whatever was in the bush, to come out.

  A bunny hopped out of the bush. It was bleeding and quickly scurried from where Xylus had came. A low growl quickly alerted Xylus as a wolf jumped out and sunk it's teeth straight into the bunny's body. The bunny's life faded from it's eyes.

  'It just pounced at it like it knew where it was gonna go.' Xylus observed.

  "You wait until they're in sight to strike." Victor's voice echoed in his head. The wolf dropped the bunny and looked at him. It growled at him and began to watch him.

  Xylus gulped as he took a step back. The sound of water splashing made the wolf growl even louder. Before Xylus could even make a decision, the wolf launched an attack straight for Xylus.

  Xylus screamed as he rolled to the side. The wolf flew into the stream, quickly turning around and fixating it's eyes on Xylus.

  "No, no, no!" Xylus shouted. He got on his feet and began to run into the forest. The wolf launched itself forward and went in for an attack. Xylus jumped forward as the wolf sank it's teeth into his leg. Screams of pain erupted from his mouth as the wolf closed down on his left.

  "ARGH!" Xylus screamed. Black flickers of energy began to pour out of the Daggers. Xylus swung at the wolf desperately trying to get it off of his leg. The wolf released it's clenched haw and jumped backwards, avoiding the attack.

  Xylus pulled his leg in and winced.

  "Stay away!" Xylus pointed the dagger straight at the wolf. The wolf snarled as blood dripped from it's mouth. The wolf jumped forward. It was gonna go straight for him. "Stay away!"

  Slllsh!

  Xylus felt warm blood splatter across his face and body. The wolf gurgled in front of him as blood pooled out of it's body. Blood splattered on the boys leg as the heavy weight of the wolf collapsed onto him.

  "Argh!" Xylus shouted in disgust as the weight of the warm body of the wolf pinned him against the ground. The wolf tried to nip at him but sounds of more plunging was heard.

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  Xylus opened his eyes and noticed darkness sinking itself into the wolf's body. The wolf yipped as life dropped from it's eyes. With all his strength, he pushed the wolf off and gasped for air. The smell of blood was too strong. He scrambled away, the pain in his leg forcing him to stop and scream in agony.

  [Wolf killed. XP Gained 25.

  First bonus kill! XP Gained 50!

  Quest Completed: Dark Magic User!

  XP Gained 100!

  Level 2 > 3! Xylus has gained 2 Ranking Points!

  Current XP: 55/200]

  "So much XP." Xylus huffed.

  [Current Rankings:

  2 Ranking Points Available!

  Health: 6/15

  Strength: 6

  Dexterity: 13

  Intelligence: 9

  Charisma: 9]

  "Huh, did my stats get boosted from leveling this time?" Xylus whispered.

  [Yes, you've gained the ability to gain passive stat increases due to finishing the Dark Magic User quest.]

  "Huh that's interesting." Xylus moved his hand and dumped his points into Dexterity.

  [Current Rankings:

  Health 6/15

  Strength: 6

  Dexterity: 15

  Intelligence: 9

  Charisma: 9]

  [Please notice, you have officially unlocked Spells. Would you like me to go over Spells and how they work?]

  "Sure." Xylus nodded. The screen shifted to the 'home' screen. Spells was now glowing and openable. Xylus watched as the System went into it and revealed two usable spells.

  [These are you current spells you have unlocked. They will use Mana in order to cast them. Mana shall be shortened to MP to easily explain to Xylus what everything does.]

  [Spells:

  Dark Spikes, 5 MP, Lvl. 1: A flurry of spikes pierce your enemy.

  Darkness Slash, 2 MP, Lvl. 1: Imbue your weapon with Darkness. Release the strike to send out a piercing attack.]

  [Dark Spikes and Darkness Slash are now available to Xylus. Dark Spikes is a ranged spell. You used it against the wolf earlier without realizing you did. Darkness Slash is a melee spell. You must imbue your weapon in order for the effect to occur. I've added your MP to your Rankings list.

  Your current HP and MP are:

  HP (Health): 6/15

  MP (Mana): 13/18]

  "Huh they don't reset when I level?" Xylus asked.

  [You are too low in your progress to gain that feature. Continue to level up and do quests to gain the feature.]

  "Okay, what's the next quest in the Dark Magic questions?"

  [Your next quest is: Slay 5 enemies using Dark Magic.]

  Xylus groaned and nodded. His eyes wandered over to the dead wolf. It had his dagger plunged into its stomach. Xylus slowly pushed himself up, limping over to the wolf. He pulled his dagger out and moved to grab the other dagger lying on the floor.

  "Shadowbane, release." Xylus commanded. The Daggers disappeared and Xylus groaned. "How do I take this back? Can I stuff it into my Inventory?" He moved over and leaned down, trying his best to ignore the pain in his leg.

  "What do I say…? Wolf to Inventory?" Xylus randomly asked aloud.

  [Wolf will be transported to Inventory.]

  The wolf lit up and disappeared into thin air. Xylus gasped in surprise as he suddenly lost his balance. He fell into the spot where the wolf was and groaned in pain.

  "Ow, ow, ow!" Xylus slowly pushed himself into his only stable leg and hopped over to the bunny. He stored the bunny and hopped back to Victor. It took him about fifteen minutes to get back, but when he saw Victor's sleeping body, he sighed in relief.

  "Victor." Xylus spoke his teacher's name loudly. He hopped over. "Mr. Cross!" He moved to shake his teacher when Victor's hand snatched Xylus' hand and pulled him to the ground. "Owwww!" Xylus howled in pain.

  "What the hell happened to you?" Victor asked. He quickly moved the boy to rest on the sack, noticing the large amount of blood on him. "What did you fight? Your leg!" Victor sighed as he looked around.

  "I fought a wolf." Xylus told his teacher.

  "Why'd you fight a wolf? I thought you were gonna fish. Did you leave the body behind?"

  "No, it's with me." Xylus told him. Victor sighed and a glyph glowed in the air. Victor stuck his hand inside the glyph and pulled a red potion out. He uncorked it and lowered it to Xylus' lips.

  "Drink this." Victor ordered. He slowly tilted the liquid and watched as Xylus started to take a couple of gulps. Victor pulled the potion back and corked it, sticking it back into the glyph.

  He waves his hand and the glowing glyph disappeared. Xylus could feel his body instantly healing. The pain in his leg was gone!