Chapter 12

Slowly but surely, the undead approached the formation. Most of the monsters who got close were shot down by Lain, but he could only do so much to slow the tide.

The first to make contact was Tarkas. A slow-moving skeleton wearing a rusty grey helmet approached him, yet he just stared ahead unfazed.

Without warning, Tarkas swung his flail down from directly above the skeleton's head, as if it had crossed some imaginary death threshold.

The sound of shattering bones reverberated through the chamber, but he wasn't done yet. Tarkas instantly set to work using the heavy end of his flail to smash the nearby bones.

About the time Tarkas was finishing his bone disposal, a mummy carrying a small dagger entered the range of Dulmir. The body was instantly bisected by Dulmir's longsword. He then proceeded to cleanly remove each of its appendages.

Slowly but surely, more enemies approached. Each time just to get sliced down by one of the trio the moment they crossed that threshold. Any stragglers were swiftly done away with by Lain or Hallia.

They just made it look so... Easy. I swear I could see a hint of boredom on Tarkas' face.

If these enemies were such a joke to them, then why go through all the theatrics and not just wipe them out?

No, it made sense. These people were professionals, even I could see it. Every slash, every step, there was little wasted movement or energy.

They were waiting until the enemies got close not only so they can avoid being surrounded, but so they could safely and swiftly dispose of the remains to prevent further reanimation.

I had a lot to learn from them. Fia too, tonight.

I was looking forward to it.

Hmm, now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had looked forward to something since I...

Since I found out what my role was here.

What happened to my enthusiasm when I got here? When I was stranded in the desert to die I was still smiling about the future. My old life was over and I was just glad to have another opportunity, no matter how short. This situation wasn't any different, actually, if nothing it was better.

I had food, water, and a talented team of adventurers protecting me. All I had to do was tank a couple of traps for them.

I should have been thankful. I should be trying to glean as much information as much as I could take.

I have all the tools to help me survive in front of me, it's about time I learned how to use them.

I refocused my attention on the fight. It was just as much of a massacre as before. Undead enemies just walked to their deaths, the unlucky ones reanimating just to die a second time.

Honestly, it didn't seem like there was much more to get out of such a one-sided fight, but I would take what I could get.

I sat down for class.

-

I didn't learn jack.

The fight only lasted a couple more minutes after my revelation. On top of that, I've never actually held a weapon before. At my level, watching their handling of each weapon seemed more like a feat of strength rather than skill.

Maybe I would be able to remember some of the concepts, but I could already tell I was in need of the fundamentals.

I wasn't worried, I would have plenty of opportunities in the future.

The moment the fighting ended, the group dispersed across the room to check for traps and seal the entrances in silence.

For the first time in what seemed like a millennium, Bern spoke.

"We got a late start on the day today. We are going to make camp here. Prepare for a long day tomorrow."

It didn't take long to set up. Almost all of our provisions didn't require any sort of cooking. On top of that, our bedding was made up of just 5 bedrolls, as 2 people would be on watch at all times.

No one said a word about the fight, I guess there was nothing to say. It was clinical and efficient. Somehow that felt distant to me. I would have wanted there to have been some sort of triumph, even just a little.

You must become pretty numb to wins like these.

I sat down on one of the bedrolls with a piece of bread similar to the one I ate this morning.

It felt like such a long time ago already.

Before I could get lost in my thoughts, Fie sat down next to me.

"Are you ready for our lesson, Hale?"

-

"Tal is short for élan vital. It is the lifeblood of this world."

I listened to her explanation closely.

Tal is at the core of everything, the appearance of monsters, the magic of dungeons, the aura of fighters, and the holy power of priests.

It was abundant in nature. People, monsters, dungeons... Tal was attracted to them. Generally, something's strength is attributed to three things. These things vary in importance depending on the use case, but they are the three fundamentals of Tal.

1. How much Tal they can channel at once. This is decided by one thing, training. The use of Tal is like flexing a muscle, it must be taken care of and used properly, but with time it will pay dividends.

2. How well they can manipulate Tal. This is attributed to the control that one is able to ascertain over the Tal, even after it's left the body. Simple control over this can lead to the creation of an Aura, but more complex control, often aided by tools and incantations can allow nearly anything.

3. How much Tal they can store. This is defined by the size of one's tallo, an organ located directly beneath the sternum and attached to nearly every part of the body. It collects the latent Tal in everything entering the body.

The size and strength of this organ are mostly defined by genetics, but it can be trained through time, effort, and supplements.

"The pressure you felt was likely because you have never been in an area this dense in Tal before and your tallo was struggling to keep up."

Fie looked at me with a smile, content with her explanation.

I tried not to show on my face how much my heart had sunk.

Tallo, huh. An organ for storing Tal, the tool behind all the magic and monsters and amazing things in this world.

I looked down at my tallo-less earthling chest.

"So much for that, huh?" I inadvertently said out loud.

Fie looked up at me with discerning green eyes, "What do you mean?"

I couldn't eye contact and looked down at the bedroll, "I- Erm. I must have been born with a really small one then."

It wasn't that far from the truth, even now I could feel the weight of Tal pushing in on me from all sides. It felt like it was seeping into me, soaking into my skin, and weighing me down.

She smiled a toothy grin, "I wouldn't worry too much about that. You know what? We can check right now."

Before I could even voice a complaint, she sped off towards her bag, returning with something that looked vaguely reminiscent of the endpiece of a stethoscope. If a stethoscope was black and embedded with a large white gem that is.

"Hey, Fie I appreciate this but I don't thi-"

She was already moving towards me, "Don't worry it won't hurt a bit."

I backed away slightly, "That's not what I was-"

She placed the tool on my chest and I shut up, the cat was out of the bag.

"That's weird."

She moved it around on my chest.

"I'm not getting any readings, maybe it's broken?"

A chance. "Yeah, that's totally weird. It must be broken, it's alright, you don't need to worry about it." I rambled on not so inconspicuously.

My words fell on deaf ears, Fie placed the tool on her own sternum.

Nnnt.

A small vibration echoed and the gem was illuminated in a bright orange hue.

She looked at the tool, even more confused.

"Well, it's definitely working. That's so weird, when I checked your tallo, it was almost reacting like there was nothing... there." Her voice trailed off as if she had realized something.

"Hale, you said that you can't remember anything before the desert right?"

Fie's eyes were burning holes into me, "... Yes."

"And you've felt an intense pressure on your body since entering the dungeon, right?"

"... Yes."

"And you said that you've never heard of Tal before, right?"

"... Yes."

She paused for a moment, breaking eye contact to think.

"Have you had the feeling of something soaking into your skin, making it feel heavier and heavier?"

My eyes widened, "... Yes."

Fie's expression had been gradually changing with each question, now I recognized it. Worry.

"Hale, check your heartbeat."

I did as she said and put my finger to my neck.

...

Badump.

...

...

That's weird.

...

...

Shouldn't I have felt it by-

Badump.

I waited a few more moments, but each of the next heartbeats came and similarly long lengths.

For this beat, I counted the seconds between them. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 mi-

Badump.

A little over 2 seconds, just under 30 bpm.

(note: average human resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 bpm)