Leo took a moment to consider which Feat to use his points on. They were all useful in their own way, however, some options were better than others.
The first to consider was [First Delver]. It was currently at level four out of ten, and maxing it out would bring him a whole eighteen stat points. The main drawback is that only eleven of them were free. The rest seven were evenly spread among the stats, which wasn't a bad thing per se, but Leo played enough MMORPG games to know that generalist characters would usually underperform long-term.
The second option was [Trailblazer] while it would only net him fifteen free stat points and give him no additional stats, this feat would grant him [Lesser Aura Release] skill. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any description yet, so it was a kind of a gamble. And spending almost half of his feat points on an uncertain outcome could be a critical mistake in his situation. Though, he still had enough points to max out both of these options.
The next ones for consideration were his two new feats. Both of them gave percentile increases so the value of their effects would remain the same no matter how strong Leo becomes in the future.
[Dazzling Retreat] would grant him five free stat points, four stat points spread evenly among AGI and END, 10% movement speed, and a new skill called [Retreat] that was a way safer bet than [Lesser Aura Release] since the skill's name was pretty much self-explanatory. However, the raw stat gain would be severely lacking compared to other options, and whether would it outweigh the increased ability to get out of harm's way was an unresolved question.
[Daredevil] on the other hand would give him a sizeable amount of stats, fifteen free stat points, and six assigned stat points, three in VIG and three in END. Furthermore, he would also gain a 10% increase in the regeneration speed of his health and stamina, which would be incredibly valuable as long as he is alive.
There were also [First Steps] and [First Blood] but both of them were quite underwhelming. [First Steps] would just give him 12 stat points in total which was less than other options, and [First Blood] was basically a worse [First Delver] and it would cost more to gain the completion bonus since [First Delver] was already at level four.
After a minute of comparing costs to benefits, Leo finally made his decision. He had twelve free feat points, and eleven of them he would use on maxing out [First Delver] and [Trailblazer] since they were already at level four and five respectively. The last point would go into [Dazzling Retreat] since it would be the best option to focus on. While lacking in raw stat gain, it would give him a skill and a percentile bonus to his speed, which was huge just by itself.
Satisfied with his efficient distribution of feat points, he quickly opened the stats panel. He had thirty free stat points waiting for him to spend, which would give him a considerable power boost, but the main question was where should he put these stat points. Currently, his stat points were mostly concentrated in the physical stats block, while his mental stats were roughly one-fifth of his total stat count. The obvious choice would be to keep enhancing his physical stats. The stronger, faster, and more enduring he was, the higher his survivability would be. However, the Old Keeper promised him a magical art as a reward for the quest, so focusing on physicality would undermine the value of the magic art. After all, if you think about it logically, mages are way better at dealing damage than warriors, especially in later stages, since no matter how hard and fast you swing a sword, it is still not a fireball.
This gave birth to an internal conflict. Leo didn't want to focus too much on physical attributes and leave magic art behind just to grow stronger physically, but at the same time, he couldn't afford to ignore physical aspects completely since before getting the magical art he still needed to defeat the Kobold Chief, and probably several dozen ordinary kobolds as well.
And it was not impossible an impossible task after all. Leo wasn't a stranger to fighting. He did HEMA as a hobby and even claimed first place in an amateur tournament twice, with a halberd as his weapon of choice. Despite never having taken proper martial arts classes, he got rather good at it, so killing a bunch of kobolds should be possible in theory, considering how weak an individual kobold is. Plus his strength was high enough to crack a kobold's skull with a rock already. Thinking about it, his initial strength stat score was one, and now he was at twelve.
Leo shifted his body to a more comfortable position to lie down by the pool. Staring at the intricate ceiling bathed in golden light he tried to recall the past events.
"When I finally got out of that hole, my strength was around seven. One free stat point, two levels of physical conditioning, and three points from level four of [Trailblazer]." He spoke quietly to himself as if wanting to confirm his train of thought. "Strength score of seven was enough to practically one-shot a level three kobold. I may be strong enough already." He nodded in agreement with himself. "But I can't forget that kobolds aren't just mindless creatures like rabbits or snakes. They are intelligent monsters with working brains. It may not be of the highest quality, but it's enough for them to use weapons and simple tactics."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"The biggest advantage I have is that they are not organized like humans are, and even if they do band together and surround me, they won't coordinate their attacks which gives me more chances to strike them down."
"So, I'm stronger and generally smarter than they are, but does quality beat quantity in this situation?" He asked himself before answering his own question. "It most certainly does."
Leo sat up with a frustrated expression. "I just need to make sure I don't get overwhelmed. I have to try my best to prevent myself from fighting large groups at a time. That means I'll have to focus on ambushing the stray kobolds to get the upper hand. Only after confirming that I'm capable of fighting them in small numbers will I try to hunt a bigger group. This shouldn't be a problem, with the way kobold patrols behave, it seems like they will go out of their way to search for me. And who knows? Maybe if I keep fighting those kobolds I can reach a sufficient state where I can easily overwhelm their defenses with pure brute force. Killing the kobold chief would be a piece of cake by then."
"No matter what happens, I will not face the whole Kobold tribe at once. This is not a game, where you can just press a button and summon NPC or your buddies for backup, or revive yourself with a quick trip to an altar." He closed his eyes, leaning his head on the cold stone. "I need to be smart about this. I don't have unlimited lives or resources, not to mention that even if I can take a hit, I have no armor nor any defensive accessories or enchantments. Bow would be a great option since I could attack kobolds from a safe distance, but sadly I don't have one." He sighed.
"So, the question remains, what should I focus on?" Leo looked up at the ceiling. "Purely physical combat would be a genuinely viable option in this scenario. And if I had the proper equipment, though there is nothing I can do about it for now." He said after briefly thinking about it.
"It's true that mages tend to be far more powerful when fully matured, but for now, there's nothing I can do about it. The class system is out of the question and I have no magic to fall back on as of yet."
He looked at his stat window once again.
"I can't use magic at this moment, so I should spend at least some of the points on the physical stats. I can spend all the future ones on mental stats if magic proves to be a good option."
With a resolute nod, Leo allocated some of his free points to his physical stats, bringing all of them to the score of twenty. It left him with six free stat points left and after a moment of deliberation, he put all of them into his perception, since this stat influenced his [Sneak] skill. He didn't know how exactly strong it made him, but the wave of energy that surged through his body made him feel a little bit excited. It was a great feeling, almost an addictive one.
"If I assume that one level would give someone a ten stat point increase in total, that would place me roughly at level ten. However, kobolds aren't the only creatures that live here." Leo almost shivered as he recalled his encounter with a monitor lizard before. That time he was paralyzed by a mere look from the creature.
"I wonder how it would feel now." Leo spoke as he raised his hand slightly. He tried to concentrate, calling the mana flowing through his body into his palm. At first, there was nothing happening. It almost seemed like it would fail, but then a sudden wave of pain flashed through his body.
"Aaaagh!" He screamed as a small cloud of pale blue smoke rose from his palm.
"Goddammit!" Leo cursed, holding onto his head as a sharp pain pulsated throughout his brain. He wanted to stand up and move his body, but a surge of weakness caused him to collapse instantly. A dull ringing sounded in his ears and it took almost an hour before the headache subsided.
"That's enough for now." He murmured as he wiped off the sweat dripping down his forehead. He dragged his weary body to the room he woke up in. There, under the soft, nurturing golden light, he fell asleep.
Stats:
Name: Leonel Romero
Age: 20
Species: Human(F)
Trace Bloodline Potential Detected
Class: ---
Level:---
Profession:---
Health: 150/150 +34/Hour
Mana: 44/44 +10/Hour
Stamina: 150/150 +35.5/Hour
---------------------Physical---------------------
Strength: 20
Vigor: 20
Endurance: 20
Agility: 20
--------------------Mental--------------------
Mind: 6
Intelligence: 4
Perception: 12
-----------------------------------