~~

Name: Christopher Zalenski

Race: (E) Human*

Class: (E) Hammer of the Jotnar(Legendary) – Level 68

Profession: (E) Runesmith(Rare) – Level 58

Affinity: Arctic

Faction: Frostheim (Outpost Leader)

Strength - 892

Agility - 443

Perception - 254

Fortitude - 727

Endurance - 404

Vitality - 295

Intelligence - 207

Wisdom - 387

Acumen - 150

Free Points: 150

Laws: Lesser Law of Ice, Least Law of Wind

Body Stage: Body of Wood(Northern Wind Body)

Spirit Stage: Anchor Formation

Class Skills:

Frostbound Hammer(Legendary)

Shattering Hammer(Epic)

Pervading Cold(Rare)

Icy Bastion(Rare)

Righteous Fury(Rare)

Frost Armor(Rare)

Momentum of the Avalanche(Rare)

Glacial Presence(Rare)

Frozen Patchwork(Rare)

Desolate Blizzard(Rare)

Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Journeyman)

Mighty Blow(Uncommon)

Reinforced Body(Uncommon)

Sweeping Snow(Uncommon)

Ice Manipulation(Uncommon)

Cold Meditation(Uncommon)

Ice Arrow(Uncommon)

Shatter(Uncommon)

Permafrost(Uncommon)

Mental Freeze(Uncommon)

Body of a Barbarian(Uncommon)

Frozen Fortitude(Uncommon)

Heavy Armor Proficiency(Apprentice)

Throwing Weapon Proficiency(Apprentice)

Identify(Common)

Profession Skills:

Runesmithing(Rare)

Mana Engraving(Rare)

Basic Runecrafting(Rare)

Forging Style: Rhythm Forging(Uncommon)

Warding(Uncommon)

Formations Mana Flow(Uncommon)

Forging Proficiency(Apprentice)

Sense Metal(Common)

Create Weapon(Common)

Create Armor(Common)

Metallurgy(Common)

Mana Infusion(Common)

Coins: 0

~~

It was almost nostalgic to look over my status sheet before what we were about to face. A nod to old times when I looked over all I had accomplished in the three days between the waves.

This was a touch different as it had been far more than three days since the last wave, but it felt the same nonetheless.

The changes that had happened to the sheet were extensive since our return. Just the stats alone had a massive jump. My strength was nearing four digits and my fortitude wasn't far behind it.

Even though the levels took longer and longer to climb, they meant more than before. I was receiving 21 points in strength every level in my Class alone compared to the 2 at the start.

A positive about not having the threat of waves breathing down my neck was I could now spend more time on deciding where to spend my free points. 150 of them had built up and I still wasn't sure where I wanted to spend them all. 100 of them were already accounted for but the rest were fair game.

It wasn't like I had to spend them now, saving them was fine, but it felt wrong to have that much power sitting in limbo. Plus, it was way too many to spend right before a big fight.

Adjusting to the change that many stat points would bring took time and being discombobulated before a fight would cause more harm than going into it 150 stat points less.

The multiplicative effects of some of my skills would only make it worse as well.

The reason I was stockpiling them was because I had a few problems I wished to address and I had to wait until the right time to do so.

One, my Acumen was struggling to keep up. If I spent my entire mana pool right now, it would take over half a day to refill completely. Spending massive amounts of mana to engrave Runes throughout the Castle and then having to wait hours for it to refill was frustrating.

If I made the gap between Wisdom and Acumen even larger by throwing my Free points into Wisdom as I had before, it would take even longer for it to refill. Generally, if Wisdom and Acumen were equal, it took around 3 hours for your mana to refill to full.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Things could change that and not everyone was the same, but that was the rule of thumb we had come up with after getting a large enough sample size. Mages were on the faster end and would sometimes break that rule due to other skills, but it was a good benchmark to use.

The mana density of the area you were in mattered as well, obviously, but we already adjusted things to match where we were. If I sat in a mana-gathering formation that entire timeline would be thrown out the window but that wasn't the point.

While Acumen was my lowest stat, it wasn't the only one that needed some love. Over time, we had figured out the different effects stat imbalances could have and I wished to avoid that issue.

Too much strength and not enough fortitude caused you to hurt yourself when exerting that strength. Strength without Agility made you uncoordinated and clumsy.

Agility without Perception made it impossible to see where you were going and your eyes couldn't keep up with your movements. Agility without Strength and muscles would tear when making sudden movements.

It was all one big circle where one stat affected another and one that got too far ahead could cause problems with the rest.

The problem I was beginning to run into now was my Endurance. I was built for long sustained fights and it was how I survived the tutorial in the first place, but I was losing that edge.

Points in Wisdom would make the pool bigger and let me extend fights magically, but it was physically that I was beginning to falter now.

As Strength increased, it took more energy to utilize, or Stamina, as I equated it to. To swing around my hammer with the speed and strength I did, it took a mountain of stamina to do for extended periods.

But as my Strength skyrocketed with the levels, my Endurance didn't keep up. It was below that 2:1 ratio I liked to keep. Plus, [Avalanche] and [Rage] drained Stamina at astounding rates.

The only reason I suspected my Endurance kept up for as long as it did, and I was only feeling it lagging now, was because of my Anchor. It bolstered my body and kept me going when I started to flag. It burned Spirit to keep my Stamina from bottoming out I suspected.

The obvious answer to the problem was to throw more points into Endurance, right? The problem with that was it caused a cascading effect. [Body of a Barbarian] took every second point in Endurance and applied a point in Strength.

So, for example, if I threw 42 points into Endurance to bring it to 446, exactly half, it would then add 21 points to Strength, causing it to fall below half again.

The end result of balancing the two would take 56 points into Endurance causing Strength to go up by 28. That was a large enough jump to take a day or two to get comfortable with.

That didn't sound too bad until you took into account the delicate work I had been doing. Carving Runes throughout the Castle, especially the doors, took a tremendous amount of precision and I wasn't about to alter everything during such a delicate procedure.

The fact I would spend days breaking things trying to adjust was only a secondary reason to hold off, if a bit mundane.

Now that the Castle was finished and I had time to rest, I would have to go through with it, but that would come after what we were facing. Same with using the rest to boost Acumen.

As much as I didn't think this fight would be threatening, I didn't want to throw myself out of proportion right before it, just in case.

The other changes in my status were smaller. My affinity reflected the upgrade I had gone through along with my faction changing. The Zalenski Family Faction ended with the tutorial and it had been left empty for a while.

It wasn't until we placed our pylon that we could form our new one. While tempted to rename it the same, I refrained from doing so. Faction names were how the rest of the world would refer to us. I would eventually change it from being the same as our city name, but that was a problem for the future.

Other than Affinity and Faction, my new Law was added to the list along with my new skills. Besides that, it stayed mostly the same. Coins still being 0 was annoying, but it wasn't worth the cost to transfer them only to give them out in payment.

Finished overlooking my status, I closed it to look over the people around me. It was a far cry from the first time we had faced a wave and it showed in our arrangement.

To place the pylon, over 100 people stood to fight. That number had now doubled.

Our population steadily rose as the days went on as people found us and joined but most of the growth happened after Winter ended. Not many were out and about during the heavy snows.

Some found us through odd means, professional or class wise, while others were lucky. Austin's spotty divination skills through Explorer were far from the only divination skills in the world.

While our growth was low, due to how far out of the way we were, we still grew. One of the main reasons for our growth now caused a comforting presence to be missing, but that was for another time.

I didn't wish to get into that right now.

Our growing size had other effects, and not all were good, but the one effect I focused on right now was the increasing number of guards.

200 people stood geared for battle and it filled me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I knew it was a stretch to say they were directly fighting for me but it felt the same.

They were fighting to defend something I had built and that felt good.

The Archers and Mages stood elevated along the walls of the castle while everyone else stood down in front. I didn't order them to, or was it necessary for them to, but they took this as an opportunity to grow.

Similar to how Austin and I fought in front of the gates not long ago.

The fact no one had died yet only emboldened people further and I would eventually have to tamp the enthusiasm down, but it was alright for now. Our pylon was still only at the Outpost level and the waves it sent were enough for people to gain experience without it being a major threat.

We would soon upgrade our pylon and things would change, but for now, things were fine. The difficulty would go up when we upgraded it to Village and then Town, but I was in no rush.

We could wait until we had a proper wall before we went through with all the upgrades.

We were missing out on the benefits of an upgraded pylon, but those benefits weren't enough to warrant rushing. We gathered most of the materials we needed ourselves and the things we traded for were small, so increasing that range wasn't as valuable.

Jonathan being E-rank already got us enough range to reach other pylons, reaching further wouldn't change much. It would increase the variety of things available, but I doubted anything truly valuable was being sold.

There were other benefits to a higher-tier pylon, but those wouldn't help us right now and also weren't worth rushing for.

This would be the fourth wave we would face since placing our pylon and it would be our fourth victory. The waves were all similar to what we faced the first time, around 200 to 300 level 30 enemies with a few above that.

Those numbers were going up, but not nearly at the same rate as the tutorial. The increased numbers were hard to quantify at first they were so small.

Some said it was the rising mana levels of the planet causing the increase and I was inclined to believe them. The mana levels had continued to rise and no one could tell when that would end.

Our planet was technically still adjusting to mana. We weren't told what the final grade of the planet would be, but we knew it was currently approaching D-grade.

Mana would continue to rise until the planet reached its final grade and only stabilized after that, but until then, it was something we had to account for.

The stronger challenge of owning a city wasn't something we could change, nor did I want it to. It was a bit wrong of me to wish for it to be harder, but the harder it was to own a city, the fewer there would be.

The fewer cities there were, the fewer conflicts over land would arise. That circle kept flowing but the point was, the fewer cities there were, the smaller the chance of someone trying to fight for mine.

While I wouldn't seek out war and would try to avoid it if I could, there was a Latin saying that summed it up pretty well. Something I had heard from my father once upon a time.

Si vis pacem, para bellum.

If you want peace, prepare for war.

I hoped to build something strong enough that people were deterred from even the thought of attacking me. The Castle was only the start.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the chime of a notification. The familiar notification that came before every wave.

'Defend your claim!'

None of the nervous twitches accompanied it this time as everyone here had faced one before. People only rechecked armor straps or pulled lightly to test bowstrings, making sure everything was ready.

It was with a small smile that I faced the coming monsters and led from the front, "Archers,"

The odd twenty or so standing near me on the wall moved in unison, nocking flowed into a full draw fluidly before waiting for the order. A stark difference compared to the first time we had done this.

While I didn't care much for leadership, it felt good to command such a response.

My small smile turned a touch bigger.

"Fire!"