One female Vorclaw stepped out—the lack of a mane signified her gender—followed by another until the entire pride of about twelve demonic lions stood before Rey.

  [Vorclaw – E+1]

  Just like their now-dead patriarch, their hides were covered in the same thick gooey shit. He had to be careful where that shit landed as he had no healing potions, nor did he have a Talent to heal himself yet.

  Suddenly, Rey wasn't too keen on taking on the pride by himself. He couldn't back down now. The ladies would think him a wimp or even worse like the not-so-cleaver not-mouse.

  So, what if I don't have any skills or useful talents unlocked? I didn't have any last time either, and I made it through with all my limbs attached.

  Though, not all people were as lucky as him. Even if he didn't have his Talents or skills, he still had over half a decade of fighting experience drilled into him. That had to count for something, but this infernal system's nonsense drilled everything down to a skill. So, he couldn't say how much he remembered from his past life, or was it his last playthrough?

  The first Vorclaw leaped for him, and as he was about to swing his scythe and take off its jaw, another came from the side. Rey rolled to the side, came up on a knee, and turned his scythe in an arc. The blade pierced the demon in her side. She squealed as the rusted iron ripped through its innards.

  +1 Dexterity

  The second Vorclaw attacked before Rey could even get his scythe clear. He let go of his weapon and danced away, but he was pathetically slow compared to what he used to be. He could've ripped these things open with his bare hands.

  "Rey!" Kassandra shouted his name. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something hurtling towards him.

  He momentarily took his eye off the demon and saw the dagger flying towards him. He caught it without even trying and was reminded of how often she had done this. At this point, it was muscle memory.

  The Vorclaw came for him but he was ready for her this time. He sidestepped and stabbed down with his dagger, severing the demon's spine, and left it there to convulse and die a slow death. After all, these demons were cowards, and seeing one of their kind in such horrible pain would no doubt deter some of the others.

  +1 Dexterity

  The deterrent worked, even if for a precious few minutes, which was enough time for him to yank his scythe out. He drove the next few back with it but didn't get a hit. But if he didn't get to kill at least two more, he wouldn't be able to break their spirit.

  Then, a fireball came hurtling down on the Vorclaws. Their bodies lit up with green flames. The heat was so intense that Rey turned about face and ran away as fast as he could.

  The Vorclaws, too, tucked their tails and ran, at least those that weren't burning to death. All eyes were on an unassuming lad who had smoke fizzling out of his outstretched hand. He quickly clenched it and shoved it into his coat. Smoke still fizzled out slightly from the inside of his jacket.

  It's him! Rey's face lit up with a smile. The lad's name was Ajay. Rey remembered him to be a mostly quiet lad, but he was the first to figure out Talents and that skills were hidden in them, among other things. While everyone else bickered, he was figuring out how the Talents worked. Then Rey remembered his end and subconsciously looked at the burning Vorclaws.

  Everyone surrounded him, and he was sweating so much as if the fire was roasting him. Poor Ajay was about to face his biggest demon—public speaking.

  "How did you do that?" Filomena cried as she walked to him, and the lad actually flinched as if she were about to hit him, when in fact, he was just surprised that a girl as cute as Filomena would even look at him, let alone talk to him.

  He had confessed that much to Rey before. They had become good friends until that incident.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  How was it my fault that you didn't see the shadow demon who ended up gobbling up your leg? It wasn't like Rey had perfect vision in the dark. He could only slightly make out shadows. Regardless, he was happy that no one remembered all those embarrassing moments.

  "Uh, I-I just…" Ajay swallowed. "Looked in Talents. There's this thing…called Elements."

  "Yes, everyone huddle around the Indian guy for tech support," Rey said out loud, making everyone turn to him. "You know, since they're the best when it comes to IT support…Internal Talents support. Get it?"

  No one save for Kassandra laughed with a shake of her head. "Are you jealous?"

  "What? Of course not," he shot back. Why are you still talking to her?

  She shrugged. "Sounds like you're jealous."

  He huffed and looked away. The others busied themselves with Ajay, who looked like he wanted to bury his head in the sand and pretend he was an ostrich.

  "If you go to your Talents." Ajay went on with a lot of patting on his forehead and stuttering. "It opens up a lot of sub-menus, I guess. There are Skills, Core, Abilities, Stealth, Power, Arcane, Weapons, Elements, and more. Each of these sub-menus have their skills. Then there are all these professional skills, but I can't seem to unlock them. Do you see any of this?"

  He was just beginning to build confidence and overcome his nervousness when Filomena grabbed his hand and cried out excitedly. The guy almost passed out. Rey cracked up and, out of habit, looked to Kassandra, who thankfully was busy looking at her Talents.

  "So, you chose the fire element?" Filomena asked.

  Ajay nodded or trembled. It was hard to tell. "Y-Yes, but I didn't get any skills for it, which was odd, but when I went to the Skills section, the entire fire tree was open, and I selected the first skill I could unlock."

  He had the gist of it. Once you selected an element from the Elements section, you would unlock that element's entire tree in the Skills section. Every skill didn't unlock at once. Skills were locked by Tiers and sometimes even rank. The stronger skills could only be unlocked when they Tiered up some more.

  The fact that they were even seeing skills at the E Tier was fascinating because, in the normal system, there was no E Tier. Once Rey cleared Purgatory and went to the real Hell, all his E Tier skills were automatically transformed to D Tier skills. He never got around to asking Zalathar why he did that. Maybe he just wanted to cause more chaos.

  "This is amazing," Phil exclaimed. "I can do magic—real magic, and all these elements look so fun. There is a mirror element. I didn't even think mirrors were an element."

  "It's not," Rey said. "The asshole that dropped us here loves to cause chaos."

  Again, they gave him weird looks. Some were outright scared.

  He squinted his eyes. "What?"

  "Maybe you shouldn't curse a demon that was powerful enough to bring us back from the dead," said a black lady with neat dreads and a Jamaican accent.

  Rey didn't recognize her. She was new as well. He wondered how she would meet her end. There wasn't any Jamaican person last time, so he had nothing to compare her to. Of course, by now, three of them had died, and one was severely injured, but this time, everyone was alive. So, this was going to change things a lot.

  That butterfly effect better not bite me in the ass.

  Rey coughed loudly, but no one paid any attention. They were all busy staring into space, no doubt trying to figure out which Talent to pick. After all, they all had five Talent points to spend. By their looks, they looked like they hadn't picked up a video game in their life. Maybe Tom's nemesis had; Phil looked like he played games with his son, and Tech Support was definitely a gamer. The rest, not so much.

  If you help them now, they'll always look to Daddy Rey to save them. Demon Rey said. You've already saved them a lot.

  Shut up, Demon Rey. Things can be different this time. Countered his moral side.

  You don't know what saving them will do to the future. You've already changed things a lot.

  How do you know that? Snapped his good side. Even if you have, just telling them a few things won't drastically change the future, or do you want to see her die another horrible death?

  Rey sighed, and his moral side won that argument. "You all should get the Identify skill from the Core menu."

  A few heads turned towards him, including Ajay's, but it was Kassandra who asked the question in everyone's mind.

  "Why?"

  "Read it, and you'll know why."

  They got a faraway look in their eyes as they searched for the skill and read it over. The frowns showed they didn't think it wasn't a good enough skill.

  "Before you object," Rey said. "This skill is much more useful than you think. Once we Tier up, I'm sure its effects will also evolve. It will get better, even if it doesn't seem as good right now. In a game, knowing a creature's level is very important, so we don't end up attacking a strong monster and get in over our heads."

  Kassandra nodded. "That makes sense to me. I can even see what kind of daggers these are. It seems handy."

  Rey realized he still held one of her daggers as she spoke about the dagger. "Oh, sorry. I forgot about this." He held it out to her. "And thanks, it saved my life."

  She smiled. "No worries. Unlike some folks, I don't mind working with others."

  Rey cringed inwardly but didn't say anything. He turned from her and got ready to answer questions that no doubt the others had about Identify. But thankfully, none did. He wasn't sure who took the skill and who didn't, but he did his part. The rest was up to them. He had his own troubles to deal with, namely—which element to center his skills around. For they would determine if he would get his revenge or not.