Achak was breathing heavily and bleeding from several spots, the Rompo had scored more scratches with its wild swings than he’d realized. This type of miscellany not only locked the door after a person or party entered but also, did not re-spawn any monsters so long as someone was still inside. Knowing this allowed him to rest for a time even though he couldn’t entirely let down his guard.

He removed what was left of his shirt and bandaged the larger gashes. He’d also realized that now he had eight unspent points to allocate and called up his interface.

[Designation: Achak Health: 190/220 Essence: 16/24

Level: 2 (0/200)

Soul: Ancient

Race: Human

Genus: None

Species: None

Strength: 6

Constitution: 7

Endurance: 9

Agility: 9

Dexterity: 9

Awareness: 11

Wisdom: 8

Capacity: 13

Free Points: 8

Skills: Shock]

“What attributes should I increase? - Wait a minute, weren’t these lower before?” After reviewing his stats he realized that he’d gained one point to each of his stats after the level-up. He was starting to understand that he was indeed a unique case, no one had ever gained anything more than the four free points on level-ups before choosing a genus.

Achak had had a hard life even before the fall so he wasn’t one to dwell on good luck the few times he’d gotten any. This was no different, he thanked his lucky stars for the extra points and moved on. Besides, he wasn’t exactly in a place where he could just sit and analyze things at the moment.

‘I think I’ll just bring up everything close to ten then bring strength to ten on the next one. That should shore up any weaknesses since I’m not sure what else I’ll face in here,’ he thought and split his points between constitution, endurance, agility, dexterity, and wisdom.

Both constitution and endurance would help speed up his healing. With the new stats, his wounds shouldn’t take too long to heal.

Just looking at the Rompo and the state he was in after the fight made him double-think moving into the tunnel and the rest of the miscellany. He had only walked in a straight line in the cavern b-lining it for the tunnel, but he knew there must have been more monsters in the large cave.

“Maybe I should stay here and get as many monsters as possible, try to push for a few levels before heading into the tunnel.” Achak was a loner by nature and had developed a habit of talking to himself when alone. He doubled back to the entrance and began moving to his right, looking for his next fight.

Achak made light work of the monsters in his way, he’d easily faced several more groups of Coquis and Rats, and was now facing another Rompo. He’d taken a few new scrapes and scratches from the Rompo but it’d paid a price for every scratch landed.

The Rompo’s fur was charred in many places and it was limping badly by this time. It jumped for his throat but Achak ducked low and came up with a devastating knee powered by his Shock skill. He felt the crunch of bones as he hit it on the jaw snapping it close with incredible force. The Rompo hit the ground hard and Achak quickly stomped on its head finishing the job.

[You have leveled up.]

[Choose a skill:

Orb - Conjure an orb of lightning that will attack for three seconds discharging lightning bolts at enemies within a ten-foot radius.

Chains - Conjure chains of lightning to tie down an enemy for three seconds.]

“Hmm, they both seem like good skills. Looks like the Orb will target any enemy in its radius making it pretty versatile, useful for both one or many opponents. The Chains are not as versatile, but tying down a strong opponent has its own merits… The chains don’t mention anything about causing damage though, which is what I need most right now. Hopefully, the Chains will be offered again,” he said as he chose Orb.

Achak activated the skill and conjured an Orb. It was a transparent reddish orb with red lightning bouncing around inside of it. The skill had cost five essence making it quite cost-effective. He tried to cast another one to see if it would cancel out the first or if he could stack them. Amazingly, casting the skill again did not cancel out the first one but spawned another.

He stood there watching the orbs for some time, then realized it had been more than three seconds. He pulled up the description again to ensure he had read it correctly.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

[Orb - Conjure an orb of lightning that will attack for three seconds discharging lightning bolts at enemies within a ten-foot radius.]

“It’s supposed to attack for three seconds… Wait a minute, does this mean that the skill will stay dormant until it needs to attack and that’s when the three-second timer starts?” He asked with a huge grin on his face. “I wonder,” he mumbled and stepped back a few feet. The orbs did not follow.

“So they stay dormant but also static. That is still great but it would be much better if they could move with me.” Achack reached up and grabbed one of the orbs. It was easy enough for him to maneuver it physically, and it hung effortlessly anywhere he placed it. This would let him prepare some in advance and carry them with him, but he wanted to maneuver them without having to use his hands.

Achak concentrated on moving one of the orbs with his mind but it would not budge. He did however feel a faint connection to it as he tried. He wondered if his wisdom stat had anything to do with it. He wanted to put his four free points into strength to bring it into the double digits like the others but maybe he’d be better served by trying to put them in wisdom.

He put two points into wisdom and tried moving the orb again. He felt a stronger connection to it as he did and this time he was able to move the orb just slightly. Achak grinned and put the last two points into wisdom pushing it to his new highest stat just above capacity.

This time, the connection felt almost solid and it was a little easier to move the orb with his will. However, it was inefficient. It required too much concentration and attention to will the orb to move. What he needed was for the orbs to follow him autonomously. He tried walking while pulling the orbs along with his will, but moving one orb was hard enough, moving two while walking was near impossible.

Achak figured he was safe enough where he was, he’d eradicated the monsters in the area, and even if any tried to attack, his orbs would warn him by activating once they were in range. He sat down and began practicing moving the orbs around with his will.

He started with just moving one until he felt he could do it easily. Then he moved on to moving both at the same time, first together in one direction, then in separate directions, then juggling them around. He kept at it for hours until it felt like second nature. He then attempted to walk while pulling them along again.

This time he could move them but it was still a distracting exercise requiring too much concentration. He needed to make it a simple task that would allow him to keep track of his surroundings. ‘Maybe I’m going about it the wrong way?’ He thought. He concentrated on ordering the orbs to follow him. To his amazement they did.

“What the what? No… Don’t tell me that I just had to do that from the get-go. - Damn it system why couldn’t you add an owner’s manual or something… Classic overthinking on my part though, shit. Now, what is the best way to do this?” He placed the orbs over his shoulders but figured he’d be in the way if the skill tried to fire at something on the other side of his head. He then settled for placing them above his head, one a few inches in front of him and one a few inches behind.

Achak scoured the area but found it empty so he returned to the entrance again and then began searching the other side of the cavern. Not too long after, a pair of Rompos tried to ambush him, one jumped out in front and one tried to sneak up behind. They were both bombarded by lightning from the orbs.

He quickly ran to the Rompo behind him and stabbed it in the forehead before it could recover from the lightning, dropping it dead on the spot. He pivoted to see the other Rompo recover and charge at him. The Rompo jumped for his face as it reached him, Achak ducked and stabbed up into the monster’s belly opening a large gash. The Rompo landed in a heap and Achak activated Shock and stabbed it in the head.

Achak was giddy at how amazing his new skill was. Not even a day ago he’d had a hard time killing one Rompo and now he made light work of two. He could hardly contain his grin as he moved forward.

***

Achak fought several teams of Rompos before reaching the tunnel once again, he’d gained one level and placed his points into strength bringing it into the double digits with his other stats. As he did a system message appeared.

[You have achieved a feat.

Apotheosis - Reach double digits in all stats before level ten. Adds a permanent 10% boost to all stats.]

“I had forgotten about feats since they’re rare. I’ve never heard of this one though. But I guess it would be one of the rarest since most, if not all, galvanized seem to approach their stats like a video game character that can only specialize in one area. Good thing I don’t share that mindset,”

He then remembered why he’d even jumped into the miscellany in the first place, “Those assholes chasing me should have given up on waiting for me by now, I hope… Time to get on with the rest of this miscellany.”

The tunnel had less lichen than the cavern making it much darker. Achak stood just inside the entrance letting his vision adjust to the darkness. When his vision finally did adjust, he noticed a humanoid figure walking towards him from the other side of the tunnel. He knew it couldn’t be another person because the miscellany only allowed one person, or party, in at a time. Also, its proportions were all wrong.

The humanoid was about five feet tall and held a trident. Its arms and legs were wiry and long, and its torso was wide and girthy. The humanoid began running toward him and suddenly jumped to the side of the tunnel and propelled itself forward while jumping from wall to wall aiming its trident at Achak.

Achak could make out the name of the creature as it came into view, Frongream, it was a type of frogman that fought using a trident and its powerful tongue. Before Achak could throw out an Orb the Frongream reached him and stabbed down with its trident.

He jumped back and the Frongream struck him in the chest with its tongue sending him reeling backwards. He quickly went into a backward roll and crossed his knives in front of him as he came up to his feet. The Frongream tried to skewer him but Achak parried with his knives.

Achak threw up an Orb and went on the offensive. Lightning danced around the monster for a few seconds as it leaped around evading. Achak tried to land a few hits between each bolt but the monster proved to be quite slippery.

Two more orbs were thrown out, finally catching the Frongream with several bolts. This is when Achak knew he might be in trouble. The bolts from his orbs stunned the weaker monsters and scorched their fur and skin when they struck, but the Frongream was basically unaffected. It wasn’t stunned by the bolts that landed, and none left any scorch marks on its tough hide. “Shit, that’s not good.”