Luke perused the interface Integrated with his vision.

  Name: Luke Quinn

  Class: Lifeweaver

  Level: 1

  Guild: None

  Profession: None

  Health: 140

  Stamina: 120

  Mana: 160

  [Attributes - Skills - Inventory - Quests]

  Opening and navigating menus was as easy as a thought, and by simply willing it, the skills window opened.

  Needle of Life [Active - Mana Cost: ?]: Use a precise touch to restore health.

  Threads of Mana [Passive]: Mana is the weaver's primary tool.

  Weaver's Eye [Passive]: Reveal the imperfections in a target’s life-weave.

  "That's... Interesting," Luke said.

  "What is?" Nate asked.

  "Didn't get much in the way of skills, but maybe that's to be expected with a skill-based class."

  "Skill-based?" Irene asked.

  Luke ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "You could sort the list. Way too many to pick from."

  "I just picked one that sounded cool," Nate said.

  Sarah spun one of her guns around her finger. "And you picked Knight?"

  "Knights are cool," Nate muttered.

  While they continued deliberating the different coolness factors of their chosen classes, Luke looked at his attributes. At level 1, they weren't much to look at, but it was good to get an idea of what he was working with.

  Physical Attributes

  Strength (Raw physical power): 4

  Agility (Speed and finesse): 3

  Endurance (Stamina and physical recovery): 3

  Vitality (Health and physical resilience): 4

  Mental Attributes

  Intelligence (Mind potency): 7

  Wisdom (Mana efficiency and mana regeneration): 6

  Willpower (Channeling stability and speed): 6

  Focus (Control and precision of mind): 8

  It came as no great surprise that his mental attributes were higher than his physical ones, but this was just pitiful. Boon of Potential would need to put work in getting the physical ones up to par.

  "Question," Luke said. "Did you notice any difference when you leveled up and added new attributes? Also, how many attributes did you get at level up?"

  "Five points to distribute," Nate said, turning from the still-going coolness argument to flex his biceps. "Sure did! Threw 3 points into Strength, and I feel stronger. Vitality didn't make me feel any healthier, though."

  "Agility made me faster," Sarah added.

  Mingze shook his head. "3 points into Intelligence didn't make me feel any smarter, and Wisdom was a bust, too."

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  "Too bad," Luke said, nodding at Mingze.

  Mingze shrugged. "I'm plenty smart already."

  Luke saw the impatience in Irene's stance and expression. "Just one second. Almost done."

  A quick check in his Inventory revealed a few items:

  Quarterstaff

  Starter robes

  Minor Health Potion (3)

  Minor Mana Potion (3)

  "I'm not wearing a robe," Luke said, equipping the staff. It appeared in his hand out of nowhere, brown with some solid heft to it. Finishing up, he checked the Quests menu, only finding one.

  Quest: Complete the Tutorial Dungeon

  Reward: 1000 Credits

  The mention of credits reminded Luke of the shop mentioned in the list of boons, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't get it to open.

  "Seems like the shop isn't active yet," Luke said.

  "Shop?" Mingze asked.

  "That long list of boons mentioned a shop."

  "Huh. Didn't notice that," Nate said.

  "OK," Luke said, dismissing everything except his health, stamina, and mana bars. "Let’s try some healing."

  Nate's health was at around 75%, and Irene's was almost at 90%, so Luke walked up to the Knight and activated Needle of Life.

  Out of range.

  "That's weird, I'm standing right next to you, but it still says out of range."

  Nate took a step closer.

  Out of range.

  Another step.

  Out of range.

  With his hand on Nate's shoulder, a shiver went through Luke, and a dim, blue light spread around the hand. It entered the knight, and Luke drew in a sharp breath as a faint pulse spread through Nate. An image flashed in his mind, giving him a sense of what was wrong.

  "Your leg," Luke whispered as he activated the skill.

  Mana flowed from somewhere within Luke, through his hand and into Nate's shoulder, continuing down to the knight's leg. A gash on his leg still trickled blood. Without Luke having to do anything else, the mana surged to the wound.

  Luke stood there, dumbfounded. "...What?"

  "I'm grateful and all," Nate said, putting some weight on his leg and wincing. "But... That's it?"

  "What happened?" Irene asked.

  "Let me try again," Luke said. "I must've made some mistake."

  Irene waved her hands in front of Luke's face. "Hellooo?!"

  "Look at Nate's health," Mingze said.

  "It's the same as before."

  Mingze shook his head. "It rose a little, maybe 5%?"

  "7%," Luke muttered, activating the skill again.

  Now that he knew what would happen, focus came a little easier, and the sense of mana flowing through him and into Nate wasn't just a torrent of energy. No, perhaps he could... Gritting his teeth and doing his best to shut out Irene's whining, he grasped for the mana, holding on to it with his mind. For the briefest of moments, Luke held on, manipulating the mana in the wound like a sharpened needle, going into the flesh, as if stitching the wound closed. Then, he fumbled. Mana surged out of him, and Nate's entire leg lit up with that bluish light. That drained all of Luke's mana in an instant, and he stopped, gasping.

  "Hey, look at that!" Nate shouted, kicking into the air. "All better!"

  "I fucked up," Luke said.

  Nate started doing squats. "No! See?"

  "His health is full again," Sarah said.

  "That took all my mana," Luke said, pursing his lips and looking down at his hand. A headache was coming on, but it disappeared the moment he consumed one of the mana potions from his inventory, restoring about half his mana. "It wasn't supposed to do that."

  "Eh, whatever," Nate said. "You'll get the hang of it, I'm sure."

  "Me next," Irene said.

  Luke reached out, and she shied back.

  "What are you doing?" she asked.

  "My healing works through touch."

  "That’s awful."

  Luke sighed and nodded to the open gate. "Do you want healing or don’t you? I want to go see what’s through there."

  "Fine, just don’t let your hand linger," she said, adjusting the piece of leather covering her arm before holding out her forearm, hand closed in a fist. A narrow cut ran along the side of her arm. The wound was full of yellow pus, the skin along its sides red and inflamed.

  "Is that from down here?"

  Irene narrowed her eyes. "Why? Why does it matter?"

  "I’m not saying it does. At least I don’t think so, but that right there is infected. It would heal just fine on its own as long as you clean it with alcohol."

  "Do you have alcohol?" Irene asked.

  "No."

  "Bummer," Sarah said. "Not much of a party without booze."

  "No, I didn’t get the cut down here, but it makes my arm weaker and I need that to fire arrows," Irene said. "Can’t you just heal it?"

  "You don’t fire arrows, you loose arrows," Mingze said.

  Irene gave him the finger. "Thanks for the history lesson, nerd."

  "Fine," Luke said, gesturing for her to hold out her arm. She eyed him, then did so, and he activated, or whatever you called it, Needle of Life while resting his hand right next to the wound. Proximity to the area helped Luke keep his focus, but holding the threads of mana did little when he was unsure what to do with them. Stitching wasn’t required. What she needed was topical antibiotics or for her white blood cells to fight it off, but neither of those options was available. Unless…

  Luke quested inward with strands of mana, attempting to reach deeper. Neither bone in the forearm produced much in the way of white blood cells, but the humerus in the upper arm did. If he could only get in there, perhaps…

  "Hey! I told you not to linger," Irene said, her voice hard.

  Luke’s focus crashed down around him. Mana surged to the wound and cleared the worst of the infection, draining all of Luke’s mana in the process.

  "FINALLY," Irene groaned, pulling her arm back to inspect the wound and clenched her hand into a fist, testing it. "Better, at least."

  "You’re welcome."

  A sword and shield pair appeared in Nate’s hands. "Looks like we’re ready to head back out there!"

  "Don't forget to add him to the party," Sarah said as she readied herself by equipping a gun in each hand.

  "Party?" Luke asked.

  "You get the notification when you pass through the gate, but I'll add you right away," Mingze said.

  A notification popped up asking if he wanted to join, and just like that, Luke was part of his first ever dungeon party. Not much changed, except miniature versions of his life, mana, and stamina bar, one set of three for each party member. That would come in handy.

  "This way, you're sharing experience with us, too," Sarah said.

  "Hadn't thought of that," Luke said. "So this really is like a game."

  "Except you aren't controlling an avatar, we are the avatars," Mingze said.

  "Pressing a button isn't the same as swinging a sword," Nate said with a grin, turning to head out through the gate. "Let's go!"