Across the forest, plains, past a mountain, and a thousand miles from the encampment, a man wielding a massive battle ax stood over the corpse of a large treant. The monster had been level 28, and had been the man's most difficult battle to date. It had brought him to level 25 in his class, and all that blocked him from his evolution was getting his profession, a construction job that he barely cared about, the extra level to get up to level 25. At least, that was what he thought. Right there, in his system menu, was the button to evolve. It was only next to his class. From an outsider's perspective, his eyes went blank for a moment, and he began to tip over, before catching himself mid fall. He stood tall once more, taller even. He smiled looking at his status sheet.
Name: Klint
Race: Human (level 25)
Specialized Class: One Man Siege (level 25)
He no longer had that stupid profession that had been holding him back, and now he was free to continue his journey of desolation and destruction.
_________
Mike cleaned his hammer, having just defeated his most recent foe. The corpse of a level 34 Brood mother sat next to him, its skull having been caved in from repeated blows. Having his stats double had been very beneficial to his growth, but as he delved deeper into the Spiders nest, it was clear that he wasn't the only one getting stronger. The spiders were getting to a point where he wasn’t sure if anyone from the camp, aside from the absolute strongest, could even handle the guards. He’d struggled a bit against the spider, and it was reflected in his level.
*Tarantula Broodmother (level 34) slain*
*Class level up! Mighty Feller of Giants (level 26)*
It might seem like an easy level, but he had slain dozens, if not hundreds of spiders with a higher level than his while working his way deeper into the nest. He had quickly realized that shockwave wasn't a very effective skill against powerful foes.
Against hordes of weaker enemies, however, it absolutely devastated the tide of enemies. It had splattered several spider against walls with each swing, even if he didn't hit a single one with his hammer. He began breaking down the corpse to bring back to the surface, when a notification blocked his vision, startling him.
*[Planet Notification] Earth's First Encampment has increased in rank, becoming a settlement. Settlements no longer experience nightly raids from monsters, instead being subjected to more powerful waves spaced at least 10 days apart.*
Mike guessed it probably wasn’t his camp that had ranked up, as Jonas had mentioned at some point that they needed a larger population for that. He used some twine rope that some of the material workers had made for him to tie together bundles of spider legs. He did a few stretches, mostly to psych himself up for the mad dash he was going to be making out of the cave. He hoisted the legs over his shoulders, and began sprinting at top speed.
A few hours later, Mike made it back to camp, not leaping over the wall. He had already gotten a few dirty looks from the guards for so blatantly ignoring the security people had worked so hard to set up. He walked through the main entrance, getting slightly less dirty looks than normal. Progress was progress. He entered his home, realizing quite quickly that he didn't have anywhere to store his materials. He simply set them in a pile in his workshop, before setting off to find someone who could make him a shed.
Mike walked up to the construction crew who was working to expand the walls. The space within the wooden wall, which had seemed so plentiful when they had just a hundred people, was getting cramped with the close to 700 that now lived within them. Mike didn’t need to be involved in the process this time, as some of the better construction workers were able to infuse the walls and improve their durability. Mike identified each of them, walking up to the highest leveled one he saw.
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*Human (level 17)*
Mike had to admit, for being the lead of the construction crew, that felt like a low level to have. He tapped the man on the shoulder to get his attention.
“Hello, I was wondering if you could spare anyone to make a quick shed for me?” Mike asked, trying to use a voice that would make him sound as agreeable as possible.
The man turned, before slapping down Mike’s hopes. “Sorry, can't spare anyone. Jonas directly told us that the wall takes priority.”
“Oh, well, thanks.” Mike said, before walking away. He didn’t want to be the asshole that asked the people keeping the camp safe to come and make him a shed. Mike noticed as he was walking away that the new perimeter that was being made was significantly taller than the old one. He stared for a moment, before hearing snickering from nearby. He looked over, and saw one of the wall guards stone faced, except for the slight smile poking at his lips.
At that very moment Mike made it an affirmation to leap over that wall once it was complete. It looked daunting, being 40 feet in height, but he was sure he could do it. He dumped his free points into strength, knowing that when the time came, every bit would count.
He got back to his little cabin in the forest, which also happened to be the second largest in the camp thanks to the workshop attached, and piled up the spider legs, ready to try one of his newest professional skills. He cast Arcane Fusion on the pile, watching as the spider legs glowed, and pulled into one another. He had left one to the side, wanting to compare the differences the skill would make. When the glowing died down, a new leg sat in front of him. Mike was, to put it lightly, not impressed. Not much seemed different from the one he’d left alone.
He set them down side by side, wanting to see if anything had even changed at all. The first difference was that the fused one was slightly larger, maybe a few inches longer than the already 6 foot long normal leg. He tried poking at them with a few of his tools, discovering that it was also slightly tougher, though it was so minute of a difference that Mike couldn't even tell right away. Thoroughly disappointed with his new skill, he decided to move onto his next one, setting his hammer on the anvil.
He cast Soul Binding on the hammer, feeling his soul open up. It was a very, very uncomfortable feeling, and before it could last any longer, he tried shoving the hammer into the “opening” that had been formed. It was similar to closing his system menu, and the hammer similarly disappeared as he pulled it in.
*Item Bound. Mighty Slayers Maul (Epic) (Class-bound) (Soulbound)*
*Profession level up! Prodigious Artisan of the Arcane (level 26)*
*Race Level up! Human (level 26)*
He once more threw his points into strength, before sitting and dropping his perception into his soul. Inside he saw exactly what he had been expecting. His hammer, in all its glory. It floated in his soul, slowly spinning theatrically. He noticed pretty quickly that his fragment for his class before he had evolved for a second time was embedded in his hammer, still in the exact shape he’d put it in when he had made the hammer. He eagerly tried using his new class fragment to improve the hammer, but found himself unable to as he identified the fragment.
Fragment of the Mighty Feller of Giants (Epic)
He was not able to affect the fragment in any meaningful way, which was a little annoying. He felt like he should be able to do it, but it was just too heavy. It was similar to lifting weights before the system, where you felt like you could lift anything on a good day, but quickly realize that the laws of physics don't give a shit about how much you think you will raise your maximum bench press. He grumpily left his soul, and upon opening his eyes, smacked the man sitting in front of him out of fright.
“Ow!” Lucas yelped, rubbing his cheek. “What was that for?”
“For creeping up on a man in meditation. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I will probably be winning our bet, I have something big planned.”
“Oh really, and what is said big thing?”
“You will see, and so will each and every person in this camp.” He said, before leaving the house. Mike looked at the door, both confused and a bit scared of ominous words the rogue had left with.
“Should I warn someone? It’s probably fine.” Mike said, trying to forget he ever heard the man, giving himself as much plausible deniability as possible.