Day 2:
His eyes opened.
"What? Where am I?" Jason asks confused, the dim light of the gymnasium flicker in his eyes. He tries to sit up, his body achey but definitely in a better state than the fight."
Jason looked at his left arm, expecting to see a gaping hole where the stinger pierced him, yet.. there was nothing?
"Looks like you finally woke up mister" Hannah said chuckling. "You almost died last night, I knew you should've stayed with us, what were you thinking, that wasp must have been level 7 or something, for you to barely defeat it at your level."
Jason laughed internally, she hadn't seen the fight so she wouldn't know how powerful it really is.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Well we heard the buzzing, and the commotion and thought you were most likely being attacked, when we arrived we saw you lying next to the dead wasp. You were poisoned and unconscious so I used my ability and healed you, as best as I could."
"You're lucky we found you before something else did" Luke added from across the room with his arms folded.
"There were a bunch of other monsters we killed last night while you were unconscious, we all leveled up quite a bit defending this place. Speaking of finding things, look what loot you picked up when the wasp died." He tossed a pair of boots towards Jason.
They had a tinge of blue highlighting them. "They seem pretty high quality too, better than the weapon I picked up from killing the spiders." He smiled as he showed Jason his own personal dagger, "it seems like the weapons and skills we get have something to do with how we fight and what we killed. My dagger is in the shape of one of the spider legs, and gives me increased agility when stabbing."
"Oh interesting" Jason replied as he glanced at the boots.
[Agility Boots] (dropped from level 14 elite wasp)
+ 10 agility
They must not be able to see what it dropped from, otherwise they would have known I fought a level 14 monster, Jason thought to himself as he equipped the boots.
"Nice, now I'll be as fast as you Luke", he joked.
"Yeah yeah, you're lucky I didn't steal them for myself" Luke replied teasingly.
"Anyways, we're about to leave to go get raid the mini marts so you stay here and rest up", don't bother running away either since you're not fully healed. When Hannah gets enough of her mana back to heal you, she'll finish off the job."
"Thanks, I owe you guys one." Jason responded.
"If anything, we're the ones that owe you, If that wasp had found us in here many people would be injured if not dead" Hannah replied, standing up to leave.
Once they'd left the room Jason reached into his pocket searching for the parchment paper. He distinctly remembered leveling up and reaching for the skill before passing out.
His fingers grasped the thin sheet and pulled it out, the words that he read shocked him to the core.
Active Skill: Level 1: Gravity Shift
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Cost: 3 Mana per second
Effect: Increase or decrease gravity on yourself up to 2x
Would you like to equip this skill? - 3 Active skill slots left (Y / N)
Jason stared at the glowing text, his mind racing with possibilities. "Increase or decrease gravity on myself…?" He muttered under his breath.
The ability to manipulate my own gravity? He could get faster. He could hit harder. This would change how he fought completely.
Without hesitation, he said yes.
A faint, invisible force wrapped around his body, like an unseen weight pressing and lifting at the same time.
He clenched his fists, checking his updated Stats:
Name: Jason Cole
Level: 14
- Health: 39
- Agility: 57 (47 + 10)
- Endurance: 36
- Strength: 34
- Mana: 48
Unassigned Points: 4
"Wow, killing that wasp increased my stats by so much..."
Passive Skills:
Hunter's Instinct Level 2 - Enhances combat senses, reaction speed, and the detection of weak points
Active Skills: 3/5
1) Exoskeleton
Cost: 5 Mana per activation + 1 mana per second while active
Effect: Reinforces the user’s body with a tough exoskeleton.
Increasing Health + Strength by 20% and reducing all incoming damage by 15%
2) Overdrive
Effect: Converts one point of Endurance into Strength or Agility (1:1 Ratio) for up to 30 seconds.
3) Gravity Shift
Cost: 3 Mana per second
Effect: Increase or decrease gravity on yourself up to 2x
Jason got up from his makeshift bed, eager to test his new ability. He started by reducing gravity on himself, then jumped with full force. Instantly, he exploded into the air, soaring higher than he expected, barely stopping himself from slamming into the ceiling.
This is insane. Jason’s eyes widened as he landed lightly on the ground. With this skill, I’m on a completely different level.
Fueled by his excitement, he decided to increase his gravity and test his strength. His body felt heavier, more powerful, his footsteps thudding against the gym floor like weights had been attached to his legs. He threw a punch, and the sheer force behind it was staggering—if he’d had this ability against the wasp, it would have been obliterated in a single hit.
Jason smirked, confidence swelling inside him.
Then he threw another punch, this time at full power. Pain shot through his arm. He stumbled slightly, breathing heavily. His body wasn’t strong enough to support double his weight’s force yet. He was close, but not quite there. "I need more strength first." He thought aloud.
He shook off the discomfort, still thrilled with his progress. His mind raced with tactical applications for Gravity Shift, especially how it could enhance his swordplay.
Just as he sat back down, thinking through his next move, his mini-map flickered. New dots appeared.
They were moving fast straight toward the group that had gone to raid the mini-mart.
A party of ten volunteers, mostly low-level students with little combat experience.
Jason exhaled, watching the dots closely. Surely they’ll be fine.
But then he remembered, Hannah was low on mana.
The ambassadors had apparently leveled up quite a bit last night, however what might be considered easy for him could be lethal for them. Jason picked up his worn sword and dashed out of the gym.
He arrived just in time to see them engaged in battle a pack of level 10 mutated wolves had surrounded them.
The ambassadors were holding their own, but the lower leveled students were struggling to survive with limited fighting experience and skill
Jason clenched his jaw. He had no interest in wasting his time on weaklings who would only drain his resources.
But… he wasn’t raised to stand by and let people die when he could do something about it. With a sigh, Jason sprinted into battle.
The wolves harassing the helpless students were only Level 10, plus they hadn't fought stronger enemies since the beginning like he had. Perhaps they were similar to the ambassadors but nothing compared to him.
His sword flashed, cutting through the pack with effortless precision. One slice, one kill.
The ambassadors, meanwhile, were handling their side of the fight.
Emma activated her Charm ability, disorienting a wolf before using her second skill to shoot a thorn into it's chest, killing it.
Luke danced around his enemies, his agility-based skill allowing him to move like a blur, weaving between attacks before slashing with his dagger.
Ryan did his best to damage the remaining wolves with his fire blast skill, keeping the other students behind him, trying to defend as many as possible.
The battle wasn’t over yet, but with Jason here it wouldn’t last much longer.