After the talk with my mother and the "friendly" chat with Amina, I knew I had to activate this System as fast as I could. I waited for nightfall, and made my move.
This [Empire] had no want for criminals. This forsaken cesspool of corruption instilled dishonesty and falsehood on people from the day they were born. Not to say we didn’t have honest and truthful people, but these were often taken advantage of. Naivety was regarded as an unwritten capital offense.
The wards didn’t register creatures leaving the palace either. The rationale was that if they could keep intruders out, everyone else was thoroughly vetted by the admission system. Right. I flew over the city and didn’t recognize the town Silverstreak once lived in as a slave. It was thousands of years ago.
It would take too long to go into the wilds to find a monster. The sprawling metropolis, the heart of the biggest nation in the entire world wasn’t accomodating to Nature. Only stone, wood, and smog from thousands of chimneys dotted the landscape, with faint rays of light from nightlights piercing the darkness. Therefore, my goal was to find a criminal I wouldn’t be too sad to see dead and get my activation.
I really didn’t have to search too long. I found two [Pickpockets] robbing a drunkard blind. They took the man’s shoes, belt, copper coin pouch, and a half-empty bottle of booze. They only left the pants because it was too shit-stained even for those lowlifes’ taste. They disappeared in a back alley to everyone else but me. Even without the System, I could tail them from the rooftops.
Once they reached what they considered a safe spot, they paused to check their loot. While one of them chugged the grog, the other checked the goods. The money pouch was anemic and had only bent coppers. Nonetheless, it was the drunkard’s life savings. The one with the coin demanded some of the throat wash and handed over less than half the coins, for less than half the booze. Even if there was no honor among thieves, the trade was rather fair.
Nenandil landed silently and invisible next to me. I removed the brooch and balanced myself on the roof shingles, trading one magical trinket for another. I slid the [Bracelet of Ruby Kitten Transformation] on my wrist and changed to a cat form. I was rather comfortable fighting in such a form, after centuries of doing so.
I tested my claws and almost growled, so comfortable I was as a cat. As the first thief raised the bottle to his lips, I dove on his neck, biting and clawing at his jugular. I ripped the soft skin and tasted the metallic tang of his blood. It wasn’t a vorpal blow or even instant death as I was an ordinary house cat. He would probably survive if he got medical help or magical healing. I knew they had no potions on them, so that was not a concern.
“What the hell!?!” The other dropped the coin pouch as I darted underneath some crates. No System message yet. Damn. “Show yourself!” The second thief said as he drew his dagger.
Yup, I had to go out and fight. I yowled and hissed as I left the crates on the other side.
“Damn, what are you? One of the Therians? What are you doing here out of your enclave, kitty?”
I dashed forward. He prepared to slice me open. I jumped, wary of the dagger. I would let him hit me but it needed to be just a scrape. I knew I wouldn’t die from this stab but I didn’t want to get too hurt and probably activate {Cyst Hibernation}. I felt the sting of the cut and my vision was filled with red. The good kind of red.
> EMERGENCY ACTIVATION. FAIRNESS PROTOCOLS LOADED.
>
> Congratulations. You are now a part of the System because you engaged in deadly combat. You are not an adult yet.
Oh, they brought the old message back. Wyxnos hated it. He hated the fairness protocols because they kept him from doing whatever stupid thing he came up with next.
I landed on the other side of the alley and the bracelet fell from my paw. It only worked on the non-activated. As I shifted back to my normal form, I suppressed the growth of my horn, wings, and tails. I wouldn’t have a repeat of what happened to Haru. I felt my Status and strength return. A brief check showed I had some messages to deal with.
> 1023 Attribute points withheld.
>
> You gained the Perk, Surpasser LXXXIII (combined): Increase all Attribute caps by 830%. You gain 83 Attribute points every 20 levels.
Every twenty levels?
> You are an Imperial Lancer (Human). As an Ultra-Rare Class, you gain the following benefits:
>
> 5 to all Physical Attributes at level 0. Attribute Points above the cap withheld.
>
> 1 Attribute point at every level.
>
> +1 Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance at every level.
>
> +1 Willpower, Mind every odd level.
>
> +1 Soul, Charisma every even level.
>
> 18 base HP every level.
>
> 9 base Energy every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level, plus a bonus perk at levels 10 and 20.
>
> [Spear] Proficiency.
>
> 2 combat proficiencies.
>
> 2 Free proficiencies (+1 from Perks).
>
> You gained the Perk, Imperial Royalty (ultra-rare): You gain 2 base HP and Energy per level. You gain 1 additional Attribute Point at every even level.
What? Where’s the species classification? The base resources were too high too, and so were the Attributes. I didn’t even fuse the Classes yet.
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> Level 0
>
> Strength: 37+33 (70) - Dexterity*: 37+63 (100) - Endurance: 37+53 (90)
>
> Mind: 37+59 (96) - Willpower: 37+52 (89) - Charisma: 37+62 (99)
>
> Magic: 37+52 (89) - Faith: 37+10 (47)
>
> Ego: 37+45 (82) - Luck: 37+57 (94) - Soul: 37+57 (94)
>
> HP 3.089.356 (2.789 HP/s)
>
> Energy 5.765.913 (12.295 E/min)
The values changed. They made some modifications to the way the Proficiencies and Perks were calculated. Or just fixed some bug Wyxnos didn’t. My money was on the latter. It was good to see that Tuisto is doing some housekeeping.
“What? Who are you?” The rogue distracted me from the System windows.
I turned around. “[Prince] Percival,” I said showing the cut in my arm, which promptly closed when I allowed it. “You just wounded Royalty. {Kneel and be silent}!” I imposed a {Royal Geas} on him.
The other thief was bleeding from his neck, gasping for air and staring at me with wide eyes.
“The penalty for harming me is death,” I said as the [Unicorn King’s Spear] came to my hand. I was acting, just in case, someone was eavesdropping on the incident. One could never be too sure.
I placed a {Death Contract} on each one moment before striking. A quick stab on each of them granted me their Exp award.
> For killing level 31 [Rogue], you earned 407 M Exp (Base 175,964 x100 Fast-Learner, x3.05 Favored enemy x7,59 Death Contract x2 rank x0.5 Class rarity)
>
> You ranked up. All available Exp is divided by 100. 113 Attribute points above the cap withheld.
>
> You gained the Perk, Surpasser LXXXIV [...]
Since when did a level 31 rogue gave that much base Exp?
> You ranked up into an Imperial Lancer (Human, ultra-rare, 2nd rank). Your upgraded Progression is,
>
> 1 Attribute point at every level.
>
> +1 Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance at every level.
>
> +1 Willpower, Mind, Charisma every odd level.
>
> +1 Soul, Luck, Dexterity every even level.
>
> 21 base HP every level.
>
> 10 base Energy every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level, plus a bonus perk at levels 10 and 20.
>
> You reached Imperial Lancer level 9. You gained 9 Attribute Points. Ultimate Surpasser granted you 37 Attribute Points. Imperial Royalty granted you 4 Attribute Points.
>
> Your Class Attribute bonuses are: +29 Strength, +33 Dexterity, +29 Endurance. +15 Mind, +15 Willpower, +15 Charisma, +5 Luck +14 Soul
Oh, I got it. They combined Species and Class into a single entry. That’s why the per-level bonuses look doubled. That means I’m level 29 right now, which should be equivalent to a 58 from before. Did the level cap stay at 200 or did it shrunk to 100?
I checked my level-dependent Perks. The resource bonus per level doubled on all of them, and now {Bygone Hero} interval is two months instead of one. So it is a streamlining of the leveling up process. The Class name didn’t change either. That’s too bad. I liked the colorful names they had.
The Attribute bonuses were correct because I hadn’t fused my Paths yet. But it seems that the Attribute values for species are mixed in there. It changes little for most people, but for me it was bad. I needed to fuse the Paths soon. I had no idea when someone would come and cheat me out of my life again. All bets were off.
The other rogue fought to break free from my geas, but he only hurt himself. I put him out of his misery too.
> For killing level 29 [Rogue], you earned 178 M Exp (Base 153,992 x100 Fast-Learner, x3.05 Favored enemy x7,59 Death Contract x0.5 Class rarity).
>
> You reached Imperial Lancer level 14. You gained 5 Attribute Points. Ultimate Surpasser granted you 21 Attribute Points. Imperial Royalty granted you 3 Attribute Points.
I spread the points on all the Attributes and the rest on Strength, grabbing the {Pinnacle of…} for all but one of them.
> Level 34
>
> Strength: 49+33 (82) / 75 - Dexterity*: 37+63 (100) / 75 - Endurance*: 47+53 (100) / 75
>
> Mind*: 41+59 (100) / 75 - Willpower*: 48+52 (100) / 75 - Charisma*: 38+62 (100) / 75
>
> Magic*: 48+52 (100) / 75 - Faith: 37+10 (47) / 75
>
> Ego*: 55+45 (100) / 75 - Luck*: 43+57 (100) / 75 - Soul*: 43+57 (100) / 75
>
> HP 30.009.343 (82.712 HP/s)
>
> Energy 33.912.892 (55.185 E/min)
I was about to finish meddling with my Status when I got a call on the “red phone”.
> [Administrator Hotline]
>
> CALL START
>
> Loki: Hey, long time no see. What a mess of a death, eh?
>
> Matriarch: You tell me. What happened, exactly?
>
> Tuisto: We don’t have much evidence, but it seems you were forcibly disconnected from the System. You were unable to contain your mana and exploded, destroying yet another city. Not your fault. Who attacked you?
>
> Matriarch: Some weird guy claiming to be from Dallas. I think he was a God.
>
> Loki: That is the truth. I think I know who he was. Was, because he’s dead. We believe Wyxnos killed him. It’s a dog eats god world.
>
> Matriarch: Why does it seem a lot of time passed? From what I saw of the official calendars, it’s been some three or four centuries. How long until the dragon-lady comes?
>
> Tuisto: It was more than that. You have three hundred years left.
>
> Loki: Regarding that, I have a proposal for you. We checked your Status using Wyxnos backdoor log-monitoring tool, and you got a pretty good Class. Here it goes… Become my [Valkyrie].
>
> Matriarch: Loki…
>
> Loki: No strings attached, truly. Become a [Valkyrie], an Asgardian battle-maiden, a Chooser of Souls. You’re already halfway there, anyway.
>
> Matriarch: What’s the catch? I won’t become your subordinate or anything.
>
> Loki: Here’s the deal. We believe the group of Gods who helped the current pantheon are coming here. I want you to kill them, and get their souls as Einherjar. They’ll make mighty gifts for the All-Father’s halls. Any deity you kill here in Yznarian, you deliver their souls to me as Einherjar.
>
> Matriarch: Does that include Wyxnos, the current Pantheon, and the Demon Lords?
>
> Loki: I knew I picked the right guy. That’s correct.
>
> Matriarch: What about the Cores?
>
> Loki: You can keep them. Trust me, you’re going to need the help to fight the Broodmother. And you know I’m one of the most honorable deities in all the Nine Realms. I always keep my word. Take my power, become a [Valkyrie], kill some Gods, and harvest their souls to me.
>
> Matriarch: Tuisto, do you have something to say?
>
> Tuisto: That’s between you two. Loki created the Class entry quite some time ago.
>
> Matriarch: Any other strings attached? Like getting a tithe from my Divinity?
>
> Loki: Absolutely not. The terms are stated above.
>
> Matriarch: You have to forgive me, Loki, but I’m going to pass. We can discuss that later.
>
> Loki: I understand perfectly. I’ll bring that up at a later date, but only one more time. If you refuse it again, that’s it.
>
> Matriarch: Hey, what changes did you enact during this time? Can you send me the “patch notes”?
>
> Tuisto: Sure.
>
> CALL END
The changes included a lot of itty bitty fixes and removal of stuff Wyxnos obsessed over, including more Exp for things not related to actually murdering stuff. They merged Class and Species, reduced the level cap to 100. Basically, people needed half as much Exp to reach the cap. It was still a lot of stuff, but the biggest change was the Exp award table. Things near the limit for a rank-up were worth more, way more than before. A level 100 kill gave four times as much Exp than a level 200 in the previous iteration. These two were roughly the same power. It meant one would reach level 100 now with the same effort necessary to reach level 192 before.
However, just as they did with the Proficiencies, they cut the lifetime Perks gained by half. An ordinary person would still have versatility with the Path system where they could change roles, but it meant I would gain half as many Perks per life than before. Oh, well. It worked both ways.
I scanned around for threats but found none. Before I went back to the Palace, I set my proficiency picks. I selected [Combat Technique] and [Blades] as the two combat choices, then [Spellcaster], [Enchanter], and [Alchemist]. When I checked the available Ability picks, I had three.
> Blades [ 400 / 434 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Duelist: When fighting against an armed opponent, you gain (P/10)% Accuracy, Evasion, and Damage.
>
> >>> I had decided that [Blades] was my antipersonnel go-to weapon, so my choice was easy.
>
> Combat Technique [ 532 / 594 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Wounding Strike: Your attacks slow the opponent’s HP recovery rate by (P/10)% for (P/50) seconds.
>
> >>> Regenerating enemies were a pain in the Kitsune tail.
>
> Harvester (**) [ 406 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Core Potency: Increase the potency of Cores and magical gems you harvest by (P/10)%.
>
> >>> Stronger Cores meant more Points for both enchanting and eating. Which reminds me, I didn’t consume the Mantursine Core last life, missing out on a hundred Attribute Points.
I didn’t bother spending the Perks as the picks would be reversed when I fused my Classes. But I really had to go home now.