My first priority upon returning to the nexus was to check on the progress that I’d made. Well, aside from planting my ass on the floor and breathing in as much of the air as possible.
STATUS
HEALTH
28/28
MANA
10/10
RANK
-
Level
0
POINTS
168
RACE
HUMAN - 1
ACTIVE CLASS
none
SUB CLASS
none
FREE ATTR. PTS
5
ATTRIBUTES - BODY
ATTRIBUTES
Progress (%)
Total Attr.
STRENGTH
3
54
3
SPEED
1
85
1
TOUGHNESS
2
53
2
VITALITY
3
19
3
RESISTANCE
0
0
-
ATTRIBUTES - MIND
ATTRIBUTES
Progress (%)
Total Attr.
ARCANE
0
0
-
ARCANE. POWER
0
0
-
ARCANE. DEFENSE
0
0
-
WILLPOWER
1
12
-
AFFINITIES
??? - unlocked after clearing the trial
That’s it? I thought I’d get more from the amount of time I’d spent dying on that mission, the gains were lower than I imagined… It turned out that the 80% experience reduction was a bigger roadblock than I thought.
But regardless of how little it was, progress is still progress.
After returning from the failed mission, I noted the lesser density of people in the Nexus, a result of those who left to do missions or those who left through the portal on the back. I gotta say, the living quarters sounded more and more alluring when my brain was addled with the insanity of the deaths.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
But it’s not over yet, is it?
There were three other missions that I could finish today; The goblins — which wasn’t that difficult, aside from their numbers — and the lizard spearman mission, which is impossible, as I’d just died from it like, more than ten times in a row.
My level remained at 0, which prompted another quick question: How was I supposed to do to achieve a level up? If this was just a game, I’d gain levels through killing things, but… would it work the same way?
The time I spent vomiting and dying netted more results than just a few increases in my attributes. Over time, I grew used to how the shield felt, and the improvements were more than just the surface level. Tiny actions like how to brace properly before an attack landed, instead of stressing your arms the entire time, or how to push against an attack, which I did a few times against the spearman, were ingrained at a rapid pace inside of my feeble mind.
Death was life’s best teacher, after all. No one would forget the whats and the hows of the things that killed them, and they’d do anything to not experience it again.
The increases in attributes resulted in my total health increasing. From the naming of the attributes, I’d guess that either VITALITY or TOUGHNESS provided more health per point, alongside other things that I didn’t know yet.
However, somehow, someway, my WILLPOWER attribute was increased along with it. Initially, I thought that stat could only be raised from using or taking magic spells, but upon a deeper reflection, the amount of torture I experienced from the repeated deaths did test my willpower — The actual willpower, not the attribute itself — to quite a degree. I should be happy about it, I suppose, but if I had to die numerous times to level up that attribute…
My shoulders shuddered when the memories resurfaced.
Aside from that, the rest of my mind attributes didn’t budge, not even by a percent. This realization posed another question; Do I focus on magic, or do I focus on my body instead?
Magic is cool. No doubt about that. Throwing fireballs, and summoning rains of chaos upon your enemies was always a convenient solution to solve problems, and on top of it all, magic was somewhat of an equalizer. Well, what do I mean by that? If you put me against Phillip, for example; No matter how hard I tried to increase my strength, I would never be able to catch up to him, let alone surpass him.
But magic… I’d say that the majority of us were not experienced with it before. I wanted to say that it was a new thing for us humans, but after seeing the results of the aptitude test, I was beginning to believe otherwise. I’d say that focusing on magic would yield me a higher chance of going toe to toe with them, and with enough luck or effort, even surpassing them in that regard.
However, if I wanted to do it that, I needed to do it now, as early as possible.
The biggest hurdle I had to clear was getting a spell in the first place. If I could hop past that…
“What happened to you?” A familiar voice rang from behind, disrupting my thought process. It was Phillip, he smiled from ear to ear as he approached.
“Phillip? Hey… Are you done with the missions?”
He glanced at the obelisk. “Yeah… Aside from the one with the question marks.” He said.
The question marks? The secret mission? I had doubts about it too, something about the way it was worded felt off.
“Enough about me,” Tossing his thoughts of the mission aside, Phillip patted me on my shoulder. “You looked like you’ve been through hell. What’s up?”
That’s exactly right. “I’m just… tired, I guess?” Nobody had to know what I just went through in my combat training mission. I failed to imagine anyone who was willing to die over and over again, but that might just be my arrogance speaking for myself. “The combat training mission… I failed it.”
I felt Phillip’s strong gaze on my eyes. There was no doubt that he wanted to say something, but he decided against it at the last minute. At least, that was what I thought.
“Do you need help? I had more points than I knew what to do with.” He said.
Both of my eyes went wide. This wasn’t an easy topic to blurt out of nowhere. “Wait, what? How much do you have right now?”
He shrugged. “Enough to buy more of the skill or spell books. I didn’t know you can only buy one.”
A hint of excitement was obvious from the tone of his voice. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why he’d be so willing to share his points, and to be honest, in my position, I needed all the extra help that I could get. But if I accepted his help this time, what precedent would my actions set?
“I’d be lying if I say I’m not…” I answered after a slight pause, hesitant, “No, I can’t ask that from you. It’s just too much.”
Was it pride? Or was it the fear of being too dependent on others? Phillip was strong, no doubt, and no one would be surprised that he didn’t need much help from the points that he had accrued.
“Think of it as me returning the favor from you. I saw the others doing some kind of tradi-“ His speech stopped when both of his eyes went wide. What happened? “W-What is this?”
[Phillip has initiated a trade request.]
“Phillip?” There was no mirror, but I was sure that my mouth was hung open like his too. I never knew such a feature existed. “Did you…”
He gave another shrug, smiling. “The books were at 300 pts each, right? How much do you have right now?”
“168…” I replied, stunned by how casual he made this trade feel. How many points does he have currently?
I knew that the top tens were given extra rewards.
“Then I’ll give you 150. How does that sound? Good enough?”
[Phillip gave you 150 pts. Accept?]
“Phillip… this…”
I was about to refuse when he raised his arms to stop me from going further. “Just take it. As I said, I had more than I knew what to do with.”
Perhaps it was the truth, but some of the items, like the armor set, cost exorbitant amounts of points that everyone definitely needed to save for. Even Phillip must’ve needed those points, regardless of his reasons. I just couldn’t believe him when he said he didn’t need them.
But at the same time… having a spell NOW would be a massive head start, at least, I’d be competitive against those who were below the top ten.
Phillip’s eyes, however, didn’t show any hesitancy or regret. “Alright, tell you what, if you’re so against me giving away free points, then how about I loan you those points instead? You can pay me back later.”
I was about to open my mouth to refuse, but if it’s a loan…
[You accepted Phillip’s trade request.]
He shot me a bright smile, almost as if he was relieved that I accepted his help. “It’s hard to get genuine friends in here, and I have a feeling that you are one.”
“Thank you…” I said, staring at my points, “I’ll pay you back, I swear.”
He nodded. “Anyway, it’s time for me to tackle the secret mission. Pray for my return, will ya?” He bolstered a brave smile as he touched the obelisk. “See you later, Gray.”
“Good luc-“
His body disappeared before I finished my sentence.
What I did was… shameful, to be blunt. This loan didn’t set too well on my conscience. But If I wanted to wallow and bitch in my pity, then I’d better spend that energy on getting stronger and repaying him later.
These 150 points might not mean a lot to him, but to me, this could change my life.
I opened the shop menu. With my 318 points, I could nab one of the books and see what I was so excited about. I had the two free weapon vouchers, so I didn’t have to worry about saving points for them.
If I decide to go with magic… Then, the magic staff would be the best option. Wait, Do I need a staff to cast spells in the first place?
My eyes hovered above the spell book field.
[Purchase one spell book? Using this item will grant you a random spell from your desired affinity.]
I crossed my fingers and made the purchase.
[You purchased: 1 rank - 0 spell book.]
A thick, dark leather-bound book popped into existence in front of me. It didn’t smell of anything and remained still above the floor until I grabbed it with both of my hands.
[Use spell book?]
I gulped. Here we go…
As I willed an answer, the book snapped open, pages turning at a rapid pace until another message appeared.
[Select your desired spell affinity. Only the basic affinities are shown at your rank. A spell will be selected randomly that was associated with that affinity. All spells randomly selected will fit your current status.]
[Heat] [Cold] [Earth] [Air] [Thunder] [Light] [Dark] [Life] [Death]
My eyes nearly popped out of its socket from the list of affinities that the message showed. A few seconds passed with my mouth agape before I could snap myself out of my bewilderment, and even then, I was still in shock when I re-read the options once again.
The majority of the affinities listed sounded familiar — typical magic stuff — affinities like Heat and Cold, for example, were definitely related to Fire and Ice-type spells. The others, however, stuff like Light and Dark, and then Life and Death? The complexities of the affinities meant that this wasn’t just about the concept of elements, it was deeper than that.
Out of all these affinities, I’d say that the one that I experienced the most would be the last one. Death.
What would the spells related to this affinity do? Kill things? I bet all of the spells could do that as well. So what was so special about Death-affinity spells? Did it kill things harder? Faster? More dead than they already were?
A part of me wanted to select heat because big fire = big damage. Yeah, It was safe to assume that fire would be the go-to if I wanted to inflict pain. At least, the games and fantasy books portrayed them as such. But this isn’t a game, so that logic may not apply here.
I couldn’t sit still and lie that I wasn’t slightly interested in the Death option. Was it related to curses, and voodoo magics, or perhaps necromancy? If it was the latter, then I’d pick this option without a second thought. I loved necromancer classes in games; Something about death itself had always interested me, perhaps in part due to my own experience in the real world.
[You selected Death.]
The book shook with unrelenting vigor. It almost slipped out of my hands as I struggled to keep it steady. Then, a strange, black fog was emitted from the pages of the book, surrounding me with a nauseating smell that assaulted my senses. And yet, I was fine… Good, even.
In front of me was a screen filled with the details of what I just received.
Death Bolt
Rarity: Uncommon | Affinity: Death | Tier : 0 - upgradeable.
Fires a round of death-attuned mana. Deals damage proportional to your Arcane strength. If this spell kills a non-undead entity, you regain the mana equal to a percentage of the entity’s remaining mana.
Cost : 5 mana per cast.