“That sounds… like it might work…” the man stuttered in disbelief.

Nordan smirked, “Good… then what should I call you? I don’t even know your name.”

“Jeb… My name is Jeb,” the man said with a nod.

“And you may call me Nordan… Good… well, then Jeb, we have much to do if you are to stand a chance against your family’s killer in the foreseeable future,” Nordan grinned.

“Hm? How long will this take? I won’t let them get away.” Jeb said sharply.

“It will take however long you need it to. To put it more precisely, the training will depend on the effort you put into it,” he responded.

Jeb nodded his head confidently. He didn’t care how much pain or torture he was put through. He saw what this man was capable of and that was likely only a glimpse of his true abilities. He wouldn’t throw this opportunity away.

“So? When do we start?” Jeb asked.

“Now,” Nordan smirked as he waved for Jeb to follow him.

He walked out of the cave and back into the greenery outside. The remnants of the explosion he had caused were still staining the ground.

“Wait! But there’s nothing left out here! You killed everything!” Jeb called out.

“Not now there isn’t,” he muttered as he summoned some wolves out behind the treeline.

He then suddenly started making weird calling noises as if he were attracting the wolves. Jeb looked at him like he was crazy until the wolves Nordan had summoned howled out in the distance.

“Holy shit! How did you do that!” he cried out in disbelief.

Nordan smirked. “That’s unimportant. There are currently enemies heading in our direction and you’re standing here all flabbergasted. Have you even spent your stat point yet?”

Nordan could see the status of each living creature so naturally, he could see that Jeb was level one with his sole skill point still unspent.

Jeb widened his eyes as he brought up his status. “What should I spend it on!”

“Hmm, that’s up to you… but do keep in mind your situation. Oh, and also your special ability will depend on your choices as well.” Nordan said.

Jeb nodded as he took a moment to think. “My dad chose strength… so maybe I’ll do the same!”

Nordan sighed as he shook his head. “And where did that lead your dad?”

Jeb growled as he glared at Nordan. “Don’t insult him! He…He…”

“Wasn’t strong enough to save your family. Don’t make the same mistake,” Nordan said harshly.

Jeb scrunched his face up in fury yet Nordan could tell he got his point across.

“Now, hurry. The wolves are nearly upon us,” Nordan added.

“If not strength then what!” Jeb cried in a panic.

Personally, Nordan adored intelligence. He had added a lot of cool abilities for it since he liked magic the most. Unfortunately, the people of this world never went that route and always ended up choosing strength, agility, or endurance. He had added charisma in hopes of getting people to act more kind to each other but he failed to realize that absolutely no one would put stat points into it.

“You must make your choice… but I will say… you are not like most people I have met… maybe your choice should reflect that,” Nordan said mysteriously.

Truth be told, Jeb should choose something like strength, endurance, or agility for his first level. Intelligence really didn’t start to become useful until people leveled up higher and had more stat points to play with and were nearing their first ability. They still needed to survive after all.

Jeb thought for a little while longer until finally nodding his head. He had chosen… and just in time. The wolves were basically upon them.

The three menacing creatures growled as they slowed down to a halt next to Jeb and Nordan. Nordan had specifically chosen this many because he had wanted just enough to get Jeb to the next level. These three would do just that as they had one astral energy each.

Suddenly, one of them leaped toward Jeb. He dodged at a similar speed to what Nordan had seen before. It was clear he didn’t choose agility.

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Another wolf jumped at him and this time, Jeb punched it in the jaw. It yelped for a bit but was relatively unharmed. It seemed he also didn’t choose strength.

The three wolves growled as they grouped back together. All of three of them attacked at once and Jeb wasn’t able to dodge every single one of them. He was bit in the arm; however, the wolf yelped in pain as it failed to bite down fully. Jeb grabbed it’s neck and swiftly broke it.

He dropped the wolf as he glared ferociously at the next two enemies. He would be giving them the same fate.

Nordan smiled. Jeb had chosen endurance.

The wolves pounced back onto the Jeb as he easily tanked their pathetic attacks. He slammed his fists into the gullet of one of them causing it to jump back in pain. He then threw himself onto it and twisted its neck as well.

The final wolf was clearly not happy with the slaughter of its companions. It yipped and cried out in anger… but that wasn’t about to stop Jeb.

He used his arm as a shield to the wolves strike and punched it in its stomach. He continued to relentlessly slam his fist into the wolf until it went limp from trauma. As soon as it did, he dropped it and walked back toward Nordan.

“I leveled up again. This time I got two stat points instead of one,” Jeb said.

Nordan nodded. “And then at the next level you will get three. Now, tell me… what are you going to do?”

Jeb thought for a moment until saying, “What’s int… and cha? I’ve never heard of anyone using them before.”

Nordan smirked, “Charisma won’t be useful for you right now; however… intelligence is a different story. You won’t be as strong as other people at first but where int really shines is your special abilities…”

Jeb nodded his head in understanding. “I understand. I think I will choose intelligence then. You’ve told me to choose something different… and I am going to trust your words.”

Nordan smirked. “A wise choice… now, are you ready for the next opponents?”

Jeb looked at Nordan with shock. “Already?”

A plethora of howls filled the air as nine more wolves appeared. Nordan wasn’t playing around. If he wanted Jeb to stand a chance then this was necessary.

Jeb gulped as the wolves surrounded him. They could all clearly see the three wolf corpses around Jeb and were clearly not happy about them.

Nordan took a step back and waited for Jeb to do his thing. He may have exaggerated when he said he wouldn’t help him at all. Of course, he wasn’t about to let Jeb die but he needed him to think so if true learning was to be done.

So, he watched as Jeb struggled against the wolves and fought each other mercilessly. He gave tips when he found it necessary but always made it clear that Jeb’s life was on the line.

Currently, Nordan designed the system so that each point mattered tremendously. The singular point that Jeb put into endurance was able to make him immensely more resilient to the wolves than before.

After twenty minutes of constant fighting, Jeb finally rose victorious. His entire body was broken and bloodied yet he somehow found the strength to stand. Nordan wasn’t exactly sure how but he was shocked at the young man’s determination.

“Rub this on you, it’ll heal you up quickly,” Nordan tossed a bag of ointment from the healing plant he had created.

Jeb immediately did so and relaxed his tense body as the healing took place. He then gave a puzzling look toward Nordan. “It’s strange… I leveled up again. According to my system, I got the exact amount of energy I needed too.”

Nordan nearly gulped as he realized he was being too suspicious. Of course, he would know everything about the system since he was the one who created it. However, nobody else would.

“A coincidence perhaps? Anyway, you should have received more skill points correct?” Nordan said, changing the topic.

Jeb nodded. “Yes, I received three more as you said… I have decided to put one point into endurance and the rest into intelligence.”

Nordan couldn’t help but smirk at this build. Nordan had made it so that each combination of stat points would lead to a different ability based on those skill points. Jeb was currently on his way to gaining a very powerful one indeed.

“Interesting… I approve of your choice.” Nordan said with a nod.

Jeb looked expectantly at Nordan as if he were waiting for something. “Aren’t you going to summon more wolves?”

Nordan was about to respond with a yes but suddenly a thought crossed his mind. If Jeb continued to only fight simple creatures like wolves then it would take years to get him to compete with what was likely his family’s killer… and that was assuming they weren’t leveling in the meantime. That, or he would have to go and hunt other humans. Nordan was not about to allow that.

He put his fingers up to his jaw in thought. He had plenty of creatures in his world. Many of them were based on real life earth animals such as wolves or sheep. These creatures lacked intelligence and therefore, the ability level up.

The problem wasn’t that the wolves or plants could not gain astral energy. Naturally, if they killed someone then they too received it. The problem was that they were too dumb to access the system and assign stat points or use special abilities. Nordan needed to change the system to automatically assign them points but he wasn’t able to without changing it for all creatures.

He could create other fantastical species like goblins or orcs but Nordan feared that they would quickly kill the humans in their current state. No matter what had happened, he still had a preference for his native species and he wouldn’t just let them get slaughtered like that.

Alas, even after all that thinking, he couldn’t come up with a proper solution. However, he did have one option. He had enough to level up. Usually, that came with at least something to help him out.

“What are you thinking about? I thought you said I would need to train hard to defeat the killer!” Jeb chimed in.

Nordan smirked, “Relax, you will have plenty of time to train to your heart’s desire. For now, you will take a break.”

“What? I don’t a break! I need to get stronger!” he cried.

Nordan shook his head. “And you will… but I need to test something first. Trust me, you’ll want this break… because after I’m done you won’t be getting one for a while.”

Jeb’s face paled as he caught on to Nordan’s sinister smile. “I…I understand.”

“Good, now rest.” Nordan motioned for him to go back inside the cave.

Jeb did so, leaving Nordan alone outside. It was time to level up.