“Oh, and I’m Harry by the way.”

Brock walked through the dry expanse with an excitable Harry in tow, the sound of their footfalls accompanied only by his tagalong’s continuous chatter. The kid had seemed nice enough when they’d met, if a tad bit daft, but after he had witnessed Brock in action, his attitude had gone from that of suspicious companionship to the adoration of a hero.

It quite honestly made Brock feel very uncomfortable to be the subject of it, especially considering he struggled dealing with people already. He hadn’t talked to one in a month, after all.

The teenager’s appearance had caught him by surprise at first, as he hadn’t at all expected to see another human being for at least some time. After some talking with the boy, it seemed the counter used in his ‘Second Dose’ quest was also the same one used for the countdown for wherever everyone had gone off to. A ‘Tutorial’ had been mentioned by Harry in passing, leading Brock to believe that his initial idea of people being taken to a safer place was correct.

Briefly, he remembered seeing a word like that during his time in the cosmos, but he hadn’t really taken much notice of it, especially since a slew of more eye catching error messages instantly followed after its appearance.

When Harry had asked him about the details of his own Tutorial, and why he was so strong, Brock hadn’t wanted to be bombarded by a whole new onslaught of questions, as he doubted he knew the answer to them, so he had just lied. For all intents and purposes, his Tutorial was one of vast cave systems and monsters and he found a secret technique or some shit.

Classic Xianxia, from what he knew. He didn’t know a lot about them.

The details hadn’t really been ironed out, but for the time being, the kid wouldn’t have any other Tutorials to compare it to other than his own. Meaning he was safe from the talkative teen’s scrutiny for now.

Through the child’s consistent talking, Brock had also managed to gather a basic idea of the structure of the Tutorial, as well as another few other nuggets of information. One of such was the use of basic ‘Common’ Ascendancies, the Shard they were given having capped them at the tenth level. It was an interesting concept, and probably one to restrict early growth.

Otherwise, people would probably end up like he was. Too powerful on a fresh world.

Brock had been evenly matched with Ur’Kahn with the use of the Vial of Combat he granted him, effectively doubling his strength. Taking that into consideration, he pinned his actual level as being somewhere around 20 to 21 in comparison to the werewolf, though it could be more, since Alphas seemed to transcend the strength of levels somewhat.

Aside from that, Harry had made him privy to the knowledge that the Common Shards of Awakening granted a simple Ascendancy, one giving out a total of ten stat points per level. Meaning, with Brock’s whopping total of a bit over 430 stat points, he was more than four times as strong as people could possibly get within the bounds of the Tutorial.

In addition, it was helpful to know that Augments didn’t seem to be at all common yet. Brock had shown Harry his own to shut him up, and the boy had evidently never seen one before.

He had only just got his own Ascendancy, one which was purple, or ‘epic’ if he was to quote the System. It was clearly something above that of white, and blue too from what he’d seen, but below gold in power based on his impression of the one he’d seen. So, it was probably placed in the upper echelon of the rarities. As far as he was concerned, his base stats essentially began as more than most level 43 Common Ascendancy users possessed.

Although he had a feeling beasts weren’t using commons, and that humans wouldn’t be using them much longer either.

Brock also noticed that with the newfound freedom of the pulsing crimson heart within him, he had gained a sort of sixth sense allowing him to get a feel for another being’s power through the aura their cores emitted. He could vaguely sense that Harry was holding power within, though it was a weak sensation, and the other beasts didn’t seem to have an Ascendancy, just a gathered centre of their power. Like he’d felt with Ur’Kahn.

On the topic of Ascendancies, Brock had felt his own level up upon slaying the Sand Wraith, washing him with a boost of power unlike anything he had ever felt prior to now. Almost giddy as he ignored the incessant chatter of his companion, he took a peek at his status.

Status.

User: Brock Carter. Race: Human [F] LVL 12 Ascendancy: Fetters of the Bound [F] Level: 3 [Stats] Strength: 63.6 - [+20%][Base: 53] Agility: 84.2 - [+20%][Base: 71] Dexterity: 54 - [+20%][Base: 45] Constitution: 63.6 - [+20%][Base: 53] Vitality: 64.8 - [+20%][Base: 54] Intelligence: 97.2 - [+20%][Base: 82] Wisdom: 84.2 - [+20%][Base: 71] AUGMENTS: Augment of Sparks (24.03%). TITLES: At The Precipice, Agent of Chaos, Blessed, Destined for Greatness, Underdog, Hidden Fangs, Leader of the Pack, Login Bonus, Opportunist, Enlightened, Mass Murderer, Needless Slaughter, Masochist, Trophy Hunter (Unique). FREE STATS: 18 SHARDS: 11,573 STARS OF ASCENSION: 3

Brock broke into a wide grin as he looked over his status screen. An even quicker calculation than ever before led him to believe his Ascendancy gave a total of 25 stats per level, 7 in Intelligence, 7 in Agility, 5 in Wisdom and 6 to the Free Stats section down at the bottom. His race also appeared to level up every two Ascendancy levels as seen so far, much to his delight.

It was a guess, but he’d be able to confirm it when he reached the next level in his Ascendancy. Although, he was aware that even when he reached level 100 in his power, which he assumed was the cap, it would only leave his race half levelled. Treasures still seemed like the way to go here.

Brock dumped five of his free stats into Dexterity to round it up and unloaded the remaining thirteen into his already gigantic pool of Intelligence, letting him return his focus to the rest of his status screen. His ‘Shards’ had finally gained what he thought was a decent value, and Stars of Ascension had a number directly corresponding to the level of his Ascendancy.

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What did catch his attention, however, was how slow his Ascendancy seemed to be levelling. He had singlehandedly slain a beast 27 levels higher than his own, yet he hadn’t even gained a fifth of the level to his own. The more powerful the enemy the more you levelled up, right? That was common logic.

It was only a feeling deep down... but he felt that something was wrong with this. Very wrong. Yet... he was left clueless as to what. For brief moment, he swore he heard a cackle enter his ears, but it must have just been the wind.

And now, when he thought back to his time in the jungle where the System constantly fucked him over, a sensation from the same place deep down warned him that he was lucky. The System had clearly had it out for him back then, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was due to him being an Error. Errors were meant to be glitches, malfunctions. Things that were meant to be removed and fixed. Terminated.

The fact that Brock had only been picked on, not killed directly, spoke of his luck greatly. He just hoped now that he was out of that hellhole it had less control over the events of his life.

Fuck... I kinda feel like a fugitive... I dunno why...

Sighing, he enjoyed the newfound mental clarity his heightened non-physical stats afforded him. While he found it somewhat fitting his Ascendancy added to his already exceptionally large pools of both Intelligence and Wisdom, Brock wondered why it had chosen Agility over everything else.

In addition to all of that and his System-related gripes, he was also stumped as to the use of his Stars of Ascension. They very clearly had something important to do with his Ascendancy, but no matter what he tried, no command would induce a reaction. Sighing, he ended up leaving them for another time and discarding his status menu, turning back to the seemingly endless trek ahead.

Smartly, he and Harry had decided upon making the kid lose his shirt and tying it into a sort of knapsack, allowing them to transport a small share of water and overly sugary, expired foods for the two of them. Brock would have to restrain his increased metabolism for the kid’s sake, but what was a bit of hunger when he had quite literally been injured in every possible part of his body.

Harry had actually pointed out more than a few of his rigid or fading scars along the way, interested in how they had come to be. Brock had replied by simply saying ‘Mondays’.

Although the heat was doing nothing more than annoying Brock himself, he could tell Harry was copping it hard, his body still loosely within the realms of humanity. While the teen was somewhat annoying, Brock found himself feeling guilty that he couldn’t do something to cool the boy down.

All his Augment would do was heat him up further, if not outright eliminate the problem by turning him to charcoal, and he had literally no pieces of clothing he could give up without being put on some kind of list.

It had been so long since Brock had had someone to talk to, and even though the kid spoke more than a five-year-old on heroin, whatever that looked like, the lonely office worker quickly found himself loosening up and opening to the teen.

He had killed monsters with power beyond that which was deemed scientifically possible, yet he was unable to hold back the gushing need for human contact he had honed over the past month in the jungle.

“What are kangaroos like?” Brock zoned back in just as the kid asked him a question. It was a fairly simple one. He pointed toward one of the many creatures in the herd stationed upon the horizon as it used those muscular arms to rip the head off some kind of human-sized lizard. He frowned.

Licking his lips, he guided Harry’s head away, “Basically a bunch of assholes on steroids.”

“What about magpies?”

Brock eyes flickered from the monsters, and his gaze met the boy’s own with an intensity that made him flinch, “You ever see one, tell me. I’ll make the problem go away. Very far away”

“…ok…”

**

Two hours passed by, and their surroundings looked literally identical.

To pass the time, Brock had been experimenting with the use of his Ascendancy, though he hadn’t even been able to get a single effect out of it. Even Harry had seen more luck, occasionally using his strange Ascendancy to kill a weaker beast here and there, something which the boy seemed oddly ecstatic to be allowed to do. He wasn’t gaining any levels, but at least he seemed to be enjoying himself.

He had previously proven to Brock that they could indeed be used. The kid had even mentioned something called a Technique, a sub-power of an Ascendancy that allowed the user to ‘channel aura into it and produce a unique effect’, as had been explained to him. Basically, from what Brock had gathered, it was like a ‘skill’ from the video games he had played years ago.

He was excited to gain one of his own and put his Ascendancy to the test as the raw usage of it seemed to always end fruitlessly.

He had tried everything, even directly asking the kid how he used his own, to which he had received the answer ‘I don’t know. It’s just like having another arm. You just use it’. The answer had only left him with more questions than answers. And a sneaking fear.

Am I superhumanly crippled?

While he had no proof or even a remote idea about how Ascendancies worked, it was probably possible, though not something he wanted to entertain. Trying to use the energy aura around the throbbing heart to infuse his weapon had proven ineffective, though Harry couldn’t do that either.

He could make it flood through his pathways, but no matter what he did, the energy wouldn’t respond, just slow down and eventually exit him in the wisps of energy he was used to. Essentially, his greatest success with aura was to waste it.

He’d then have to wait a few hours while the partially dimmed aura rejuvenated itself after being diminished, only for him to try something else and waste it all again. He thought that maybe the problem was that he was trying to use it similar to the way he used his Augment, the gentle flame orbiting his heart of energy tirelessly.

In the end, he had just somewhat given up until later, being forced to save Harry once or twice as he poked things that were actually hidden monsters waiting for prey, or idiots like himself. Though, he supposed that even he didn’t think the System would make the Australian Suicide Plant into a mass of roaming vines and thistles.

Thankfully though, Brock had levelled up twice over the course of the day and confirmed his theory about race levels. He had long noticed that his gains seemed to come at the disappointment of his companion. Harry also seemed to want to enjoy the thrill of levelling up.

The workaround to his predicament of being capped at level ten was the one time use ability Common Ascendancies granted to their user; the power to swap themselves out for a higher rarity Shard of Awakening with the same-coloured fluid within. Harry privately thought the latter part was due to the fact that the different colours of the liquid within seemed to correspond to the type of power obtained. Brock was inclined to agree.

He’d also made Brock privy to the knowledge that trying to consume an Ascendancy while in possession of one that wasn’t common was a good way to become some sort of mutant. And not the Wolverine kind. The puddle of sentient flesh and endless agony kind. Thank god I didn’t think to try consume the gold one back then…

Still, that didn’t removed the issue of Harry missing out on some level growth.

With Brock’s help, however, he had managed to get the kid get the Underdog title, so he could at least enjoy the benefit of +5 to all his stats. At the end of the day, as the heated sun dipped over the opposite horizon, they had set up camp around a somewhat dense area of shrubbery, not at all eager to make use of nature’s harsh pillows.

Brock hadn’t yet thought as far as to think about what they would do when night fell but continuing onward hadn’t been an option. The older man was sure he could skip a night or two of sleep before he started to really feel it, but Harry was still at the point where he required a good night’s rest beforehand.

Eventually, the teen managed to drift off to sleep, but Brock himself had been unable to. Not only was he not at all tired, but he was also certain he had sand in unnameable places, and it was driving him fucking insane.

With time on his hands, he once again began to experiment with his Ascendancy, though this time, he tried something different and attempted to forcefully expel the energies of it through the entirety of his body, instead of just letting it slide into his pathways.

It’s worth a try.

Slowly, he built up the energy and then let it loose after several moments, releasing it directly out of his body and creating nothing but an invisible and faint energy shockwave around him. Although, to his surprise, the action did induce a weak reaction from the ring he kept hanging around his neck.

He had almost forgotten about it and was amazed that it had persisted through with him all this time. Even the vine he had used to make the string was still intact, albeit looking a bit haggard and frayed.

Brock took off the necklace and held it up in the moonlight, his enhanced eyes cutting through the darkness and keeping it to dimly lit shades of greys in his vision. He used the remnant aura of his Ascendancy, letting the remaining energies flow through his fingertips and into the ring.

It worked. Holy shit.

With a start, he felt a feeble connection establish itself and he flinched back when a screen flickered up before him, detailing various items within a large grid of smaller squares. Brock scanned over the contents, finding that a mere mental prompt was all it needed for him to find more information about what the items were, albeit only general knowledge.

As his eyes trailed down the list, his mouth slowly widened into a grin.