The first thing Lee did as they began walking back was check his ability upgrades.
Ability Name: Healer's Touch
Ability Description: The Healer's Touch ability allows the user to heal injuries and illnesses of themselves and others through physical contact. Must remain in contact to heal.
+1.5 HP a second. Scales with Level.
A .5 increase? Isn’t that a little too good? Lee thought of what it would eventually be like in the future. If I make it to level 10 somehow, and the scaling doesn't change, won't I heal 5.5 health a second? If my total health stays the same, I could fully heal myself from near death in about 20 seconds?!
He now understood why sharing information about his healing with the wrong people would be a grave error. Lee decided to double down on Neia’s earlier warning of not casually telling people about it. Ruven mentioned healers being expensive. Do they heal with spells? If so, how effective are they compared to me?
He would have to ask Neia and Ruven about it later. He looked up the upgrades to his other ability.
Ability Name: Hidden Cache
Ability Description: The Hidden Cache ability allows the user to access a hidden pocket dimension or storage space where they can store items and equipment. Unable to be accessed by others.
Current Space - 2x2x2 Feet. Scales with Level.
The numbers doubled…
Lee needed some answers sooner rather than later and started up a conversation. “Hey Neia, you don’t happen to know how effective normal healers are, do you?”
Neia glanced over her shoulder, which caused her long braid to sway from the movement. “They vary depending on level. The higher the level the more potent spells they learn. The average lower level healer can heal moderate wounds, things like gashes, sprains, and broken bones. They can sometimes get rid of poisons in the body as well.” As Neia finished her explanation, she had a curious gleam in her eye.
Yeah, that was kind of obvious… let’s ask about how strong other healers are right after I level up. Well, might as well go all in. “And by chance, do you happen to know how much that Bag of Holding is able to hold?
Neia barked out a single laugh and said. “Why, I wonder what made you so curious?” She teased Lee as his questions were obviously not as subtle as he would have liked. He sighed, then gave away that he noticed the scaling of his abilities. “This Bag of Holding holds roughly 10x10x10 feet. It’s considered to be on the smaller side.”
Lee wiped an imaginary bead of sweat off his forehead. Okay, Hidden Cache isn’t nearly as strong as I was thinking. I wonder how many levels there are? Can these scale infinitely? Deciding that he was already asking questions to continue. “Is there a maximum level?”
Neia continues onward and instantly replied. “Not that anyone knows of.”
“What's the highest level you’ve heard of someone having?” Lee questiond.
She thought for a moment and then answered vaguely. “The highest level I have known about was in the upper five-hundreds.”
Lee’s brain stopped working. Did she say upper five-hundreds? How much killing does that take?
Lee looked back toward Neia just as they arrived at their former camp for breakfast. He wanted to ask their levels, but from what he had been told, it was considered rude. He decided the worst they could say was that they wouldn’t answer. “Do you mind if I ask you both a personal question?”
Ruven, who had been listening in, already knew where this was going. “Is the question our levels?” With a smirk, he held his hand out in askance, wanting the meat.
Lee gave him the jackalope meat and then shrugged.
“It may not be as much of a secret as you might think. The skill Identify is one of the most common skills in the world. For example, do you know when Identify fails?” Undoing her braid as the meat cooks. She begins to brush through it. It was much longer than Lee originally thought. Neia’s hair reached down to her lower back. It was lustrous and looked as smooth as silk. Lee stared for a moment before he realized he was asked a question. “Does it fail when they're at a higher level?”
“Yes and no, as long as whatever or whoever you’re trying to Identify is less than five levels higher than your own, you will succeed. There are some skills and abilities that reduce and sometimes outright negate the use of Identify though, so you must be careful.” Neia eyed the cooking meat, making sure they were not burning. Then, she continued to brush her hair.
Ruven glances toward Neia and smirked while spinning the skewers. “We are above level five. We will at least tell you that.” Neia attempted to smack him playfully and said in mock anger, “How dare you reveal our secrets!”
Everybody laughed, and now the food was done cooking, each of them grabbed a skewer. No spices, chewy and gamey. Lee quickly ate his share, then looked at his stat points.
Name: Lee Barnes
Titles: None
Level:2 XP: 10/200
HP:105/105 MP:175/175
Stats:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 7
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 10
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Unused Points: 3
Skills: Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth,
Spells: None
Abilities: Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache.
Do I focus on my strengths or shore up my weaknesses? What do healers even focus on? While thinking about the stats, Lee brings up the descriptions for each of them.
Strength:
* Determines physical power, allowing carrying heavier loads or deal more damage in physical combat.
* Increases Health by 5 per point.
Dexterity:
* Affects speed and agility, allowing the ability to dodge attacks or perform complex maneuvers.
* Can also improve accuracy with ranged weapons or helping with finesse.
Constitution:
* Determines physical resistance to damage.
* Can affect the ability to withstand disease or environmental effects.
* Increases Health by 10 per point.
Wisdom:
* Reflects mental strength, giving insight and perception beyond physical senses.
* Can improve the ability to resist spells or perceive hidden secrets.
* Increases Mana by 10 per point.
Intelligence:
* Determines Magical power, mental acuity, and problem-solving ability.
* Increases Mana by 5 per point.
Luck:
* Affects the chance of success with the secondary effects of skills, spells, or abilities.
* Can also influence the outcome of the quantity of drops as well as treasure hunting.
Strength would help if I stayed a melee fighter, but I don't know if I will continue to do so. All I have is a borrowed knife. Lee frowned and considered some of the others. Dexterity would have helped with the jackalope, but my Healer’s Touch healed my leg in less than 20 seconds. Constitution seems like a wise choice, but do I even need to “withstand disease”? Healer’s Touch seems to take care of that, but the physical resistance and health increase seems nice. Harder to die that way. He thought that constitution was the best choice so far, but he continued on.
Wisdom would help with spotting danger before I get into it. That would have helped with the goblins, but I don't have any way to use my mana yet. Intelligence is my highest stat, but I haven't noticed its effects at all. No spells to make use of the magical power and I feel about as smart as I was before. Luck is also kind of in the same scenario as intelligence. I have nothing with secondary effects currently, and I feel like my points would just be better spent elsewhere.
“Can I at least ask for advice about my stat points?” Lee asked while watching Neia finish braiding her hair. She stood up and motioned for everybody to get moving again. She spoke out as they started their journey again. “You may ask but I will only give advice.”
Lee knew that they were fully aware of his stats page, so he explained his former thoughts. When finished, Ruven spoke first. “Constitution is a good choice early, yours is even lower than average. so it would help you the most currently.” He quickly slid his gaze toward Neia’s back, then returned them to Lee and spoke again. “Intelligence is also not a bad choice. You may be able to get spells or even create your own once we arrive in Neldam.”
Neia added her own thoughts on the matter. “You don’t have to choose just one stat, you know.” Lee took that into consideration. Originally, he thought that for maximum value, increasing a single stat would have the most short-term effect. For example, he would almost raise his strength by 50% if he added all three into it right now.
After some thinking, he decided that living took precedence over doing cool magic, and he added all three points to his constitution.
Name: Lee Barnes
Titles: None
Level:2 XP: 10/200
HP:135/135 MP:175/175
Stats:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 10
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 10
Unused Points: 0
Skills: Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth,
Spells: None
Abilities: Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache.
Much happier with his new HP, he focused on the long journey ahead. Hopefully, tomorrow, they will all arrive in Neldam.
Most of the day passed uneventfully. Around noon, Neia found large owlbear tracks. She didn’t seem too concerned about it and started heading in a separate direction, but Lee was definitely concerned. The owlbear's footprints were easily three feet long.
About four hours later, Ruven signaled an immediate stop. “Neia! Do not move…” Ruvan walked up toward her and leaned forward near her feet. “There is a trap here.” He swiped his hands over the area in front of them, revealing what appeared to be a false layer of leaves atop some sort of dirty canvas. It was covering a hole dug around eight feet into the earth, at the bottom of the hole were sharpened spear-like sticks with black tips.
“Goblins,” said Ruvan. Both he and Neia began to check their surroundings while Lee readied his knife.
After a few short moments, nothing seemed to be amiss. Neia spent a few moments studying around the trap and then seemed to find what she wanted. Looking toward Ruvan, she said, “This way, at least six of them.”
Ruvan gave her a nod and then motioned for Lee to follow after Neia. Lee was about to face goblins once more. He was still scared, but he was in a much better mindset this time. They are monsters. They will attack on sight. They don't have the element of surprise. He began stalking forward. After a few minutes, Neia signaled for everybody to stop. She continued forward by herself, disappearing into the forest.
After a few more minutes, Lee began to worry. He didn't think it would take so long and looked at Ruvan, but he appeared unphased. Silent moments passed, but eventually, Neia returned and motioned them both forward.
Neia spoke quietly while slightly frowning. “There are nine of them.”
Ruvan, hearing this, frowned. “It will be risky because of Lee.”
Lee looked his way, now with a frown of his own. “I would much rather these monsters be killed, even if I don't get any of the experience.”
Neia slowly began to nod. “You can still participate but we will need a plan.”
She then smiled as if she had just gotten a great idea. “ Let's find somewhere to camp and then we can talk about our options.”