The next week had passed by surprisingly quickly. Rather than trying to get anything done last minute, Victor had told me to spend some time thinking about my free stats. I’d expected him to directly tell me what to do, but apparently he wanted me to figure it out for myself. Honestly, I’d have just done whatever I wanted regardless of what he said, and endured whatever punishment would have come because of it. With how many points I was spending, it felt a bit too important for me to leave in the hands of someone else.

STATS

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 162 (223)

Speed: 57

Vitality: 57

Perception: 57

Mana: 27

Magic Power: 27

Free Stats: 165

I had 165 points to do with as I pleased. The problem was that I had too many options. Dexterity was by far my highest stat, even before factoring in my Dextrous Body skill. On one hand, I’d be gaining so much more by putting points into dexterity than I would for any other stat. On the other hand, I really needed to spare some attention for my other state. Mana Arrow was by far more useful than a mundane arrow, but I didn’t see myself needing to put any points into my mana stat. I could use the Skill 27 times before running out of mana, and that was honestly more than I could imagine having to actually use. If I was hunting something that wasn’t dead by the time I shot 27 arrows, then I was in huge trouble. Plus, I made an effort to not go into the very dangerous parts of the forest, where the scarier predators lived.

Magic power could use some points though, along with strength. Those two would both work in different ways to increase how hard one of my shots would hit. It would make hunting easier, as one arrow wasn’t always enough to take down a bigger animal, after all. Strength was also just convenient to have. Being able to lift more things would always be nice.

Speed, vitality, and perception had already been helped some, but I couldn’t just leave them where they were at. If I was going to make a big escape during the battle, I’d have to be quick. But I couldn’t just put all of my points into speed. If I did that, then I’d end up running face first into something, unless I put some into perception as well. And even if I didn’t there would still be people faster than I was. Then, I wondered if it would be better to just dump everything into vitality, and try to just shake off whatever injuries I might have been given. But that problem with that was that I’d just be way too slow. No matter what I did, it just wouldn’t be enough; I was too low level. There wasn’t anything I could do about it. Or at least, nothing I was willing to do. Somehow, I didn’t think Victor would have minded if I killed a few of his soldiers just to make some more levels before the battle. Or maybe he would have, if he was convinced I’d be leveling up during it so much anyway.

By the end of the week, I’d eventually decided that it was best to put some stats into everything. I just didn’t have any other options, as putting everything into one or two stats just wouldn’t do anything for me.

My highest increase was going to be to speed. Running away was often much safer than fighting something head on. If I ever stumbled into the wrong wolf’s territory, I likely had a much better chance of running and hiding in a tree than I did at fighting it head on. Not to mention that I didn’t think I was going to be able to fight off the entire legion tomorrow, if it somehow came to that. I’d put one point into perception for every ten that I put in speed. I was supposed to keep my perception at least at half of what my speed was, and figured that that mic would be close enough.

After perception and speed, which would take up around half of my total points, I decided I'd bring strength and magic power up to where my vitality was And the rest of whatever points I had left would be divided up equally between them. Mana and, sadly, dexterity wouldn’t be getting any increases. Or at least, I hadn’t planned for them to. There were two points left over, after getting strength, vitality, and magic power up to the same level. Since my speed had come out at pretty much double my perception, I felt comfortable putting the last two into my dexterity stat.

After assigning all the free stats, I felt pretty good about it all.

STATS

Strength: 64

Dexterity: 164 (226)

Speed: 131

Vitality: 64

Perception: 65

Mana: 27

Magic Power: 64

Free Stats: 0

I decided to take a jog around the camp, being careful not to actually leave the tent areas. Mostly, I was just testing out my improved body. I was so much faster than before! Not nearly as much as Victor, but still very fast compared to just hours ago. It felt refreshing to just break past my old limits without so much as breaking a sweat.

I also took a short trip to the archery range. The ringing bells that sounded everytime I hit a target with an arrow were much louder now. That said, I’d realized that I’d also found a problem. Mana Arrow didn’t use my strength at all. I’d never tested the Skill without drawing by bowstring as far as I usually did. But now that my strength had over doubled, I finally realized that I hardly needed to draw it at all. The Skill wouldn’t work if I didn’t pull it back at all, but how much strength I used in total didn’t factor in that much. I just needed a bit, and apparently, my 27 strength from before had been enough. ‘

In the end, it was fine though. Being stronger wasn’t bad by any means. And with how hard my Mana Arrows seemed to hit, I was pretty sure I didn’t even need anymore firepower.

I spent some more time at the range, getting used to my new stats. Eventually though, It began to get late. The legion would be marching tomorrow, and a battle would come soon after. I decided to get some rest before any of that happened. I knew I would need it.

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No one had told me just how boring marching would be. The legion had set out in the morning, just as the sun began to make its way into the sky. The tents had all been packed, and there was practically a caravan of wagons behind us which held all of the supplies. I assumed Victor's plan would be to have most of the legion set up camp outside the city after they won the battle. I wasn’t an expert on conquering cities, though. For all I knew, they were just making sure nothing was looted or stolen.

It took us just short of half the day to make it to the mountains, going at a jogging pace. Or at least a jogging pace for people who could run at incredible speeds. They towered into the sky, with peaks hidden above thick clouds. They were steep, especially toward the higher areas. Even with her dexterity, I was almost completely sure that I wouldn’t have been able to climb one of them. And that was before even taking into account that I would freeze to death soon enough.

Luckily, they wouldn’t be doing any climbing. The march continued on normally, as they entered the tunnels. In the meeting, Victor had done a great job at understating them. The tunnels were wide. Wide enough for thirty people to walk side by side. They weren’t more than ten feet tall, though. Still, I could only wonder how now one had spotted a hole so big being dug in the mountains. Or maybe they had, and the legion was walking right into a trap.

Torches were lit as sunlight eventually didn’t make it in as far as we were. There weren’t many, but wind mages were called out to make sure we all had air to breathe. We hadn’t slowed down either, so quickened breaths after a while of light exercise could lead to someone passing out, if the air didn’t circulate well enough.

Luckily, the tunnel hadn’t been nearly as long as the walk there, and only took around an hour in total to cross. The end of the tunnel hadn’t been dug out. The entrance would have us right next to the city, and there was no way someone wouldn’t have found it when it was right there. Instead, the earth mages would collapse and clear the last bit as soon as we were ready to attack. But first, the legion stopped to have some time to rest. We’d been marching the entire day, and it wasn’t good to go into the battle out of breath.

“Ever been to Belias before?” The soldier next to me asked, as I took a seat on the cold stone floor. The uniform I’d been put in actually did a good job of keeping me warm.

I shook my head. I hadn’t been to any city until now.

“It’s a beautiful place. I just hope we can take it quickly without having to destroy anything.”

I nodded, staying silent. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. We were only a few short moments away from what would determine the rest of my life. If I got away, I’d be my own person again. I’d have to figure out what to do with my life, aside from hunting. If I didn’t… Well, the worst case scenario was death. Aside from that, I wasn’t actually sure what would happen at that point, I just knew it wouldn’t be good.

“Ah, Luna, there you are!” Victor called out. I was sure that he’d known exactly where I was, despite pretending that he’d only just found me. He motioned for me to come over to him. “Here are the escorts that will lead you through the city.”

Three men and one woman stood behind him. Each of them had their faces covered, and wore gray clothing. I didn’t see any equipment on their bodies, but I was sure they had some weapons hidden somewhere. Or maybe they were just all mages instead.

“These four act as… errand runners for my legion. I assure you that you’ll be very safe while you are with them as well. There are very few people that can manage to get away from one of these elites unscathed.”

I activated Identify for each of them.

(Assassin - Level ???)

(Assassin - Level ???)

(Assassin - Level ???)

(Assassin - Level ???)

I’d never seen these four before, which probably made sense. If just using Identify was good enough to find out their profession, then they likely had little want to be around others very much. It also very much sent the message that Victor was trying to convey. He wasn’t sending me in with bodyguards. He was sending me in with assassins. People specialized in killing. I had no experiences of assassins to remember, but I still had the knowledge that they were a nasty bunch. The kind of people you really didn’t want to have around you.

I’d have been lying if I said there weren’t any nerves setting in, but I still had to try to get away. The alternative was killing innocent people who were just trying to protect their home, which I wasn’t too fond of. Plus, the assassins would just make escaping harder, not impossible. The group of four walked from behind Victor over to me, both their voices and footsteps silent.

“Back on your feet!” Another officer called out. “We’ll be invading in a few moments!”

Victor never turned his attention away from me. “Don’t bother marching with the others. As soon as the city walls fall, you’ll need to find a good vantage point and take out as many enemies as you can. Do well, and I’ll make sure you’re rewarded after the battle.” He finally left after that, a smug smirk on his face. Victor thought that just having a few assassins around would keep me in check. He thought wrong.

Everyone had gotten back into position quickly. Earth mages (some of which had also been the wind mages from earlier) lined up and got ready to open up the last bit of the tunnel. Victor was right behind them, with an arm in the air.

“3…” He spoke almost quietly, but his voice still echoed through the tunnel.

“2…” I shifted from one foot to another. In only minutes, there would be people dying. How many innocent civilians would become collateral damage?

“1…” Nerves flooded my body. If I died here, then what was the point of it all? Why even have a second chance, if it was only going to be taken from me.

Victor’s arm shot out in front of him, signaling a charge. “Now!”

The last bit of the mountain was blown away, rocks flying outward as everyone suddenly started running. Soon, I caught my first sight of the city.

Belias was a wide city, built in the middle of a steep valley. Its several story tall walls stretched from one mountain to another, prohibiting any travel through the area, unless you went through the city itself. For that matter though, on the side of the city we were at, there weren’t any signs of civilization. This part of the valley was completely closed off, and otherwise too hard to traverse for any army. A few people might be able to do it at a time, but thousands were out of the question. Unless someone had a bunch of high-leveled earth mages to quickly tunnel through an entire mountain, and secretly take an entire legion through it.

The city itself had buildings taller than its already high walls. They clearly weren’t all of the buildings in the city, but there were plenty of towers that were easily visible, at least twice as tall as the walls themselves. It was all made of marble, with the roofs of the towers being polished and shiny. Part of me really wanted to just stand and stare, but one of the assassins had pushed me forward.

I ran as fast as I could toward the city, unable to keep up pace with most of the army. I had a rare class that gave me plenty of stats every level, but that didn’t mean anything when people were just a much higher level than I was. And that just so happened to be pretty much everyone that was present.

When they were close enough, the strongest members of the legion got together and threw the earth mages at Belias’ walls. The city had already discovered and been alerted of our attack, but didn’t have nearly enough time to prepare for it. The earth mages landed right next to the walls, and started using Skills to weaken it. Even though they could tunnel through the mountains, they weren’t able to bring down Belias’ giant walls. They could weaken it, though. Cracks began to appear in the marble structures, showing their structural integrity weakening.

“Throw the explosives!” Victor’s voice rang out over the legion.

The same people that threw the mages were given large bags that were full of… something. I’d never been informed of this part of the plan. The bags were thrown at the walls, soaring through the air until they collided with the marble. And as soon as they impacted, loud explosions boomed throughout the valley. Just one was loud, but the dozens that happened at the same time genuinely hurt my ears. I could only imagine what the children inside the city had felt.

Regardless, Victor’s plan was working so far. At first, the walls began to chip. Another round of explosions, and they started to crumble. By the third round, they fell completely, with the earth mages getting out of the way as the crushing boulders of marble began to rain down.

The walls of Belias had fallen. It was time to attack.