Lauri inspected his status as he was walked back to town.
{
Class: Ritualist
Profession: Level 1 Sealer
Effective Level: 4, EXP: 750/800
HP: 148/320, SP: 928/1240, PP: 0/400, MP: 12
Strength: 48, Toughness: 32, Agility: 12, Memory: 56, Reasoning: 32, Charisma: 124, Destiny: 4
Skills: 4
}
He opened up the System Market and filtered it to items he could afford, which wasn't many. He lamented that if he could have killed the 12 Ankheg, and if they'd dropped 4 coins each, then he'd have 48 more SP. While he appreciated that he's still alive he regrets missing out all the same.
{
SP: 6
[Cost in System Points]: [Item Name], (Misc. Value) Notes
2SP: Minor Potion of Healing, 100
2SP: Minor Potion of Power, 100
2SP: Minor Potion of Mana, 100
2SP: Minor Potion of Cultivation
4SP: Potion of Minor Protection, 100
5SP: Chitin Cracker Warhammer (2/10,000 durability) Note: You can tell people that you own one
5SP: Flaming Rapier of Penetration (14/8,000 durability) Note: Makes for good decoration
6SP: Potion of Potential Agility (+1/level. Caps at base 30) Note: Potion expires soon, bargain price
}
"That warhammer looks appealing after fighting all those Ankhegs but I was really hoping to find a ranged weapon."
An hour passed since he had used Drain Level on Rebecca and his statuses all changed. [Level up], [Gain 30AP], [Level up], [Gain 30AP], [Level up], [Gain 40AP]. Seeing all his stats drop prompted Lauri to open his status. "Make attribute potentials visible." This taught him that potentials are different than potential per level so he made those viable as well. After doing this he noticed that the attributes abbreviated into single letters.
{
Class: Ritualist
Profession: Level 4 Sealer
Effective Level: 4, EXP: 750/800
HP: 80/80, SP: 310/310, PP: 0/100, MP: 3
S: 12/112 (28), T: 8/200 (50), A: 3/72 (18), M: 14/56 (14), R: 8/64 (16), C: 31/96 (24), D: 1/4 (1)
Available Attribute Points: 100
Skills: 4
}
"All my attributes have dropped to what I had at level 1, despite now truly being at level 4. I suppose real levels don't scale like Drain Level levels do. Also it seems the overflow of Charisma has fixed itself. Even if I maxed Charisma I can't get my shield as high as it was before." Doing maths as he walked Lauri figured out that he had effectively gained 228 worth of attribute values while Drain Level effective level 4 and now he instead had only 100 attribute points to spend. He sighed in disappointment and decided to test the attributes a little. He felt confident that Strength effected his range of damage with melee weapons and he could dodge and fell easier when his Agility was higher. Those were less visible on the status display and he started by putting a point into Toughness and noting his max HP raised to 90. Putting another point in it became 100. "Great, my health was 320 before and to get that back I'd need to dump 24 of my points into Strength." He placed a point into Charisma and saw his max shield raise by 10 to 320. It then dropped to 0 and removed itself from his status screen as it's hour long duration expired. "I need to find a way to exploit this System."
First Lauri decides that he doesn't want any attributes below 20. Even 18 Agility at level 6 wasn't enough, those he does give credit that he was fighting against level 5 monsters. "8 points into Strength, 10 more into Toughness, 17 into Agility, 6 into whatever it was M stands for, 12 into Reasoning and 19 into Destiny." [Destiny Max is 4. Did you mean Increase Destiny With 3 Attribute Points?] "Yeah, sure. Then dump all the rest into Charisma for my shield."
{
Class: Ritualist
Profession: Level 4 Sealer
Effective Level: 4, EXP: 750/800
HP: 200/200, PP: 100/200, MP: 5
S: 20/112 (28), T: 20/200 (50), A: 20/72 (18), M: 20/56 (14), R: 20/64 (16), C: 81/96 (24), D: 4/4 (1)
Skills: 4
}
"Oh right, M stands for Memory, how did I forget that? PP went up to 200 and MP went up to 5, huh. Maybe I should have experimented a bit more? Oh well, there's always next level." Arriving at the edge of town he nodding to the gate guards and entered to see 3 of his friends waiting for him. "Did you really enter a dungeon?" The one to ask was Franklin, a 21 year old Priest with no interests in adventuring. While Lauri didn't know Franks stats, they were likely still low since Frank spent all his time being worked like a dog by the church.
"Yes, it was only the Training Dungeon but if not for the high entry cost I'd have entered Horses Trot."
Sarah who was 17 and Jimothy who was 14 were both excited to hear this and Sarah asked "What happened? Did you fight monsters?" Meanwhile Frank gave a disappointed look.
"I fought 5 skeltons, 5 zombies, a ghast and no less than 14 Ankhegs."
Jim exclaimed "wow, 14! What's an ank-head?"
Frank answered on Lauri's behalf, "an Ankheg is a giant insect which will definitely grab you in its big claws and bite your head off if you try to fight it alone, which the Tutorial Dungeon forces you to."
"Oh wow! And you fought 14 of them?"
"He did no such thing."
With a smirk Lauri insisted "I fought no less than 14 of them, all be myself, and came out alive."
"Really?" Frank scowled. "And what level does that make you then?"
"Hah! Don't be silly Frank. If I hadn't exited without trying to kill them all then I'd probably be dead. A lesson to the both of you, you need to get strong before you can kill lots of strong things so if you're not protecting anyone then run away. No point dying for no reason."
Jim suddenly looked sad. "All you did was ran away?"
"Sure did and proud of it. Though the ghast was too quick and cornered me. I had to lung at it with my sword. I killed it but it paralysed me in return. That allowed to skeletons to catch up and then I had no choice but to smash them all to pieces until my arm was sore."
"Wow! I want to be a powerful warrior like you once I get my System."
"I'm not a Warrior Class and the goddess personally told me that all the classes are good."
Frank almost choked on his words, "bullshit."
"You disagree with the goddess?"
"No, I mean, Goddess Dike hasn't talked to anyone in decades."
"Well, you'll see that on the sign-out sheet I ticked the checkbox saying she spoke to me."
"Oh really? And what did she say?"
"Yes, really, she said that all of the classes are good picks and that she carefully balanced all of them. Also, try not to swear around children."
Sarah interjected, "I'm 18 in 2 months."
"Sure." He gave her a smile.
"Don't give me your dads smile, it's creepy when you do it."
"Hah. Well, I was referring to Jim then. Anyway, dad's home by now so I don't want to keep him waiting too long."
Lauri was trying to say goodbye but instead they followed him all the way to his home, despite living the other direction than any of them. They chatted about the dungeon and he side-stepped questions about the goddess. At the house he noticed a bull monster chained in the backyard. Lauri's father came out to meet him and was followed soon after by his mum, sister and brother. Frank greeted them, "afternoon Mr and Mrs Williams."
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Joshua Williams smiled. "Hello Frank, Sarah, Jim. Welcome home son. I have two presents for you."
"Is the monstrous bull related to one of them?"
His little sister Jezebel, 15 years old, points to a scraped knee and says "look, I fell over and scraped my knee. Dad said you can heal it."
"I hope you didn't wait long for me, dad can heal that."
"I want you to heal it," she pouted.
His brother Nicolas, 16 years old, interjected "he can't because he became a Warrior like he wanted."
Laur's father smiled and presented a skill book of Cure Wounds, "I've had you read this 3 times at least but now you can consume it and heal Bel's little boo-boo." Bel didn't object to this as she enjoyed acting childish for her age.
"Thanks Dad! I really appreciate this!" Lauri politely accepted the skill book and mentally commanded "yes" the moment the System prompted to consume it. [Gained Healing skill: Cure Wounds]
While Lauri knew Minor Cure Wounds always cost 1MP, most skills tended to differ between people and unlike the sporadic PP, MP costs could be looked up. With a quick check he learnt that Cure Wounds consumes 3MP for him, and so he bent down and cast it on Bel's knee. The skin closed up and dirt was pushed out. Had this been the minor version it only would have stopped the bleeding and promoted scabbing, as well as restoring up to 100HP. Coming from a family line of Priests he understood well the difference between HP and the physical body.
"Thankyou big brother!" She smiled with glee.
Lauri's father continued smiling happily, same as before, as he said "I'm so glad. I heard such silly rumours about what you wrote on the ceremony exit sheet."
"You probably heard right. I wrote that I'm a Sealer, Ritualist."
With a friendly "hah," his father continued to ask "you really asked the goddess to become a Sealer?"
"No. I asked the goddess to be a Healer, Priest. Sure I wanted to be a Warrior or a Mage but without money, backing, talent, connections... I couldn't excel and become a hero. I'd just end up a dungeon chump, at best, throwing my life away for the profit of a scrupulous guild."
"Exactly right, you made the right call."
"But I don't want to waste my life slaving away at the church either, being told of charity and humbleness whenever I talk of being paid fairly or fame and recognition."
"And so you lied on the paperwork?"
"No, I'm a Sealer."
His dad's smile doesn't waver. "You may not know this but only professions within the Priest Class can learn healing skills. All healing is derived from our goddess."
"So what, you were trying to guilt trip me by giving me a Cure Wounds skill-book? Or was it a test?"
"Not at all, we love you no matter what. I was displaying how much I trust you. If you couldn't use it I could have held onto it for your brother or sister. Now, I purchased this bull so you could kill it and reach level 2. Also there's a high chance it will drop steak for dinner. If not we'll have chicken."
"I'm already level 4 but steak sounds nice. Do you have a weapon I can use?"
"Did the church not... oh right, they wouldn't have given you a weapon since you didn't write Priest in the register. Perhaps you didn't know that writing your Profession and Class is optional. People know they can't conceal such basic info long so they don't mind. Though it means that there is no need to lie."
"I didn't lie dad. Though Goddess Dike did end up making a customised Class, just for me, so I admit the class I wrote is very misleading. I can't use Priest weapons so do you have any universal ones?"
The so far persistent smile looks like it was smacked off of Mr Williams face with a shovel. Was there truth, perhaps, to his son talking with the goddess? He was thoughtful enough to answer the question but his mind was spinning, "no..."
"Okay, I learnt this trick in a dungeon, so I'll give it a try." Taking out his rope he made a noose and tossed it around the monster-bulls neck. He reckoned the best tension to choke it was to tighten the rope from the opposite side as the beasts throat. Jumping on it's back he pulled the noose tight but, naturally, the monster started to buck and toss. With the rope in one hand and as tight as it gets, he grabbed onto the noose with his other and tried to hang on. [+1 Potential Agility]. As he was bounced up and down, side to side, he wasn't able to rationalise but on a deeper level the System prompt reminded him of a time he was pushing a cart of bricks to be shipped. The ships captain said to him "keep pushing these heavy carts and by the time your ceremony comes you'll have more Constitution potential than the max of 30 that potions can take anyone, but it's way harder after the ceremony." He remembered being a bit annoyed, after all nobody really understands how these things work or everyone would know about them. Besides, it's different for everyone. This captain was taking advantage of his dreams to become a Tank type Warrior and he knew he was selling him false dreams. Still, he wanted the wage and he wanted to keep dreaming a little longer. [Bull tamed, 50EXP], [Level up], [Gained 50 Attribute Points], the prompts snapped him back into focus and he wondered why he was even clinging to the bull, instead of jumping off? Maybe because he wasn't thinking? Maybe because he risked getting trampled? Either way the bull had settled down and a loot drop appeared beside it, a saddle for the bull. "I levelled up to 5, thanks dad. Now, I know it's not steak but it's more valuable, so that's a good thing right?"
"You say you learnt that in a dungeon?"
What he was thinking of, with the Ankheg, was actually pretty stupid in hindsight so he quickly compensated, "a new friend, Bec, and I visited Horses Trot and she taught me a few things. Though I recall now I didn't enter because the entrance fee was a crazy 500 gold coins."
"Ah, a symptom of a dying currency."
"Gold coins are dying?"
"Yes. Not half a year ago a horse cost 75 gold coins. Now they cost over 250 gold."
"Ah, so they figure that if I caught even 2 horses then I'd already have a profit?"
"No, they think that they can get people to use their System Points to buy gold coins and that doing so will pump value into the currency. That's why the prices of things needed to earn System Points are being slapped with exorbitant price hikes."
Frank teases, "AHH, clearly Lauri gets his speech habits from you."
Lauri ignores him, "well, I have a mount now, so that's a huge win right?"
"Sure is, son. Now, let's go inside and talk in private about what happened at your ceremony." His dad's friendly grin looked the same as always to most but for some reason it sent a shiver up Lauri's back.
Frank leads the other two home as the Williams retire into their house. Lauri secretly checks his System while trying to think of how to avoid this conversation. He notices that the Flaming Rapier sold and impulsively purchased the Chitin Cracker Warhammer.
{
Class: Ritualist
Profession: Level 5 Sealer
Effective Level: 5, EXP: 800/1600
HP: 200/200, PP: 100/200, MP: 5
S: 20/140 (28), T: 20/250 (50), A: 20/95 (19), M: 20/70 (14), R: 20/80 (16), C: 81/120 (24), D: 4/5 (1)
Attribute Points: 50
Skills: 5
}
Now with just his father and himself in his room the hammer appears in Lauri's hands. He explains "it was a bargain and I didn't want to miss out. Oh, and levelling up gave me 100PP." He used all his PP on Renew Item twice and restored the hammer to 2,002/10,000 durability.
"Why would you buy such a broken junk... what did you just do?"
"It's not a fixed amount, it seems to be percentile. Oh, um, the goddess told me to keep this ability secret but I'm sure she didn't mean from you, dad."
Mr Williams, as a priest, was far too shocked by this casual breaking of fundamental laws of the world. "Actually son, I have decided it's better than I don't know, in case I prove to be a liability in any way. Never let anyone see you do that." After his dad left the room Lauri gave a sigh of relief and thought "difficult conversation somehow avoided."