"Is there anything else I can do for you, great hero," the servant said after he led me to my room — a huge, opulent room, decorated as lavishly as anything else, but I noticed that, there were no decorative weapons on the walls unlike everywhere else, they replaced by huge paintings.
Paintings that shared some fascinating themes. Each painting showed five men, fighting against some sort of horde. Not all hordes were the same, some showed scenes filled with ghouls and zombies, while others had dragon-like giant monsters filling the painting. One even showed some sort of metal machines, though too far different than the tanks and planes that he was used to, impossible to truly assess.
"No, you can leave," I said in a dreamlike tone as I focused on the paintings until I heard him slam the door and leave. I stayed locked at the paintings, not because I was truly interested in the scenes they deciphered, but because of the subtle sense of attraction that emanated from them.
It wasn't as intense as the one that was emanating off their voice, but still captivating enough to pull me in, and the more I watched, the more my heart stirred to be just like theirs.
A feeling that I might have felt when I was still a young, hot-blooded man, but in my sixties… No, I didn't need the sense of barrier between me and the magical pressure to recognize the foreign intrusion.
What an insidious way of brainwashing, I thought in fascination.
I continued examining the paintings, but it wasn't the feeling of attraction that made me look at them, but the fear that I might have been spied on. Who could guarantee that they didn't have security cameras or something similar?
My eyes locked on the paintings to trick any observer, but my mind drifted, trying to decipher what was waiting for me. They didn't tell me much, but the pictures showed that some sort of battle could have been waiting for me.
I might have questioned why, but the sudden sense of power that I earned when they helped me to kill that monster and asked to level up, gave me a good idea, especially when combined with the name of my … class.
Hero.
A lofty call and a declaration if there was any.
I remembered that killing the monster had given me a lot of experience, and I wondered if that would allow me to level up again.
I tried to focus on the feeling, but without his order, I found it more difficult to do than I had expected. "Level up," I whispered instead.
[-400 Experience]
[Level up!]
[Stat Points +10]
Amazing, I thought as I felt a glow surrounding my body, filling me with a radiant sense of … potential, but nothing else.
I remembered the other aspect, assigning stat points.
[-1 Stat Points]
[+1 Resilience]
And just like that, I could feel the attraction from the paintings weakening. Or, more accurately, the attraction stayed the same, but it got … more distant, as a blinding light bulb dragged away by a few feet.
Still bright, but much less impactful.
Immediately, I assigned the rest to Resilience as well. In a new world, where everywhere was filled with objects and people who could casually throw out mind-affecting powers, the ability to resist them was indispensable for me.
No matter how promising the name of Vitality was.
[-9 Stat Points]
[+9 Resilience]
Yet, even as I assigned the points, I could hear people's footsteps rushing forward as loud as thunder when they moved forward, their speed fast enough to rival a car.
I decided to try leveling up once more, in case they had other objectives.
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To my surprise, it worked excellently.
[-900 Experience]
[Level up!]
[Stat Points +10]
I immediately thought about assigning them equally to Vitality and Resilience. I would have preferred to add all to Resilience, but I hoped that the increase of Vitality would be enough to trick them.
Whether it would actually do so was a different question.
[-10 Stat Points]
[+5 Resilience]
[+5 Vitality]
Two changes happened simultaneously. One was mental, nearly the same of the earlier. A subtle sense of separation from the other command, one that reduced the impact of the portraits even more, allowing me to pinpoint the concept even more.
The second one was a sense of warmth spreading across my body, one that warmed my body like the first sip of coffee, sending a sense of awakening and elation. My aches had already disappeared before, but now, I was feeling even more alert.
However, that was the extent I could pay attention to the changes. Before the glow of leveling up even disappeared, the door burst open, hitting the wall like thunder.
Two familiar figures entered. Falael and the tall nameless one, both had their weapons drawn. I took a fearful step back and made a show of stumbling as I put my hand on my heart, breathing quickly as I did my best to look like I was having a panic attack.
Yet, even as I did so, I noticed them looking around the room rather than focusing on me, looking for some kind of threat. "What happened? Tell me!" Falael said, his voice accompanied by the same weighted sensation to force me to obey his command. Unlike his earlier gentle coaxing, it hit like a truck, accompanied by a primal sense of fear to force me to the truth.
However, with my increased Resilience, the effect just bounced away ineffectively from that ephemeral barrier, making it useless.
A detail that he failed to notice.
"I was looking at the pictures, dreaming to be a hero like them, just as strong … and … I leveled up again?" I murmured, giving a mixture of fear and excitement as I explained as quickly as possible.
"How, where did you get the experience?" Falael asked, while the nameless one continued to poke around the room.
"T-the first beast I killed," I muttered.
"What, really? How much experience did it grant?" he asked, though this time, it wasn't accompanied by that pressure.
I thought about underselling the amount, to hide the fact that I leveled twice. But, watching their actions, I decided against it. The speed they reacted implied that they were aware of my level-up, but their focus on exploring the room suggested that they might not be watching the room in real time.
I had a feeling that they had the ability to detect me leveling up. Maybe the glow wasn't just light, but some kind of magical noise as well. It was just my speculation, but still, it was enough to push them into a new stage.
"S-something like two thousand," I admitted truthfully.
I didn't expect their reaction. "Toross, I'll kill you! You definitely cost me an ability!" Falael growled as he turned towards him, and took a step forward. I took a step back and looked for cover in case a fight broke out.
I didn't want to die in the chaos of their squabble.
The second one, Toross, didn't look scared in the slightest. "Oh, I would love for you, especially without your pesky guards to help you," he answered, smug and eager as he grabbed his sword. "Just throw the first blow, I'm begging you."
"Hey, guys, maybe you should wait until later?" I said. "I have a feeling that I won't survive long if you start fighting."
They looked at me in frustration, and I gave them an exaggerated flinch, putting a front of panic rather than measured concern.
The more they ignored me, the better.
"Good point," Falael admitted with a sigh. "Still, mark my words, I'll make you pay one day."
"Oh, I would love it," Toross answered, his smile even more eager before he turned to me. "What did you do with your stat points?" he asked.
"I assigned them to Vitality. All of them," I said. Lying there was a risk, but trying to act like I had any free points available had its own risks. Either way, it was a blind choice.
Toross walked toward me, and without even asking for permission, put his hand on my shoulder. A flicker of energy flew into my body, and I felt a weird sensation rising from my body to fight against it.
It didn't wound me, but it targeted that unique sense of warmth that appeared earlier, and … cut a piece from it.
[-1 Health]
When he pulled, there was a soft, crimson glow on his finger, emanating a gentle warmth. But, rather than enjoying the miraculous sight, I focused on their face, exploring their expression.
"Very good," Falael said as he looked at the glow, and to his credit, he managed to sound halfway convincing. I was too experienced to miss the undertone. They were clearly unhappy with the result.
Remembering the discussion between them about possibly getting rid of me and trying again, I prepared myself to admit the truth if they decided to take action on that.
They didn't. "Clearly not a warrior…" Toross muttered in disappointment. "What do you think, a test for commanding potential, or should we ask for a magic trainer?"
"I think we don't have to bugging our guest with a boring discussion like this as he's still exhausted, and wants to sleep? Right?" he said, uttering the last word as he turned to me, once again accompanied by that pressure.
"R-right," I nodded immediately and watched them as they walked away.
Just before they left completely, Falael turned to me. "You are sure that you assigned all thirty stat points, right?" he said, his words once again accompanied by the pressure.
One that I loved, because the moment I gave him a positive answer, he nodded in agreement.
"Good, and make sure never to level up without one of us being present, and never accept any stats or assign points to them without confirming with us. It's very important for your future," he said, his words once again accompanied by a suffocating wave of obedience.
I nodded, pretending to take his words seriously, and he left, completely confident that he had managed to get the truth out of me…