Tilly was alone in a tree, surrounded by big-headed hyena things. The only plus was that the crazed creatures didn't seem to be able to get to him. They just crowded the base of the tree yipping madly at him. A few of them jumped up to try and grab the lowest branch in their oversized jaws, but they clearly weren’t built to climb.
For a few moments, Tilly just crouched on his perch, catching his breath, while the Crocottas jumped and snarled and barked to no avail. As the flight instinct slowly subsided, a smile crept up the edges of his lips.
“I would have been in a real pickle if this had happened half an hour ago… but now, you guys just became free levels. Let the grinding begin.”
Tilly quickly pulled up his notification log and scrolled it back to the fight in the clearing to confirm what he had been hoping for.
Congratulations! You have struck down your first creature from a distance with your ax. You have learned the skill Ax throwing.
-Ax throwing. Level up! Level 1
Congratulations! You are now Level 3. 500 experience to next level.
You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame.
Tilly’s smirk turned into a full-on grin, and he threw 3 of his available points into Dexterity, and one into Constitution, because he didn't seem to be able to avoid getting hit just yet. And finally, one into Endurance to stay focused on his build. He then took in all his stats, ignoring the sound of furious barking in the background.
Health: 95% (+1% per minute)
Mana: 100% (+.7% per minute)
Status Effects:
-Minor exhaustion -10% Endurance, Dexterity, and Intelligence for 10 hours. (7 hours remaining)
Stats:
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 15
Dexterity: 16
Strength: 9
Wisdom: 7
Intelligence: 5(4.5)
He didn't love the debuff, but at least it was mostly offset by the bonuses his gear gave. He hoped he was doing the right thing by leaning into the build his class seemed to want from him. In the short term, he knew the increase in Dexterity was going to help him make full use of his hatchet's new abilities. In the long term, he knew he couldn't leave things like his Intelligence at 5.
Tilly looked back down at the creatures driven almost insane with anger. They were still stuck in the cycle of snarling and barking without displaying any of the animal cunning they had shown on the ground against the Crononos. Tilly’s smile fell.
'Yep, I need to put some points in Intelligence.'
He wedged his thigh in between two sturdy branches and launched one of his hatchets down at the abundance of enemies. This time, he missed fantastically, but he also noticed that besides continuing to rage up in their infection-addled delirium, they didn't react at all to him throwing the hatchet or it reappearing back in his hand.
'Looks like live target practice it is… This might take a while.'
He then tried a throw with his offhand, missing again. Part of him knew that if his build was going to work he was going to have to become ambidextrous and while such movements felt more natural than ever with his 16 in Dexterity there was still the trick of getting the ax to rotate the right amount of times before it hit the target.
After seven or eight attempts, Tilly was finally rewarded with a hit, a rather spectacular one at that. From his safe perch, he turned on battle notifications to learn a little more about how the damage was quantified, and what influenced those numbers.
His hatchet tumbled through the air before rotating into a perfect downward chop onto the bulbous black veined head of one of the Crocottas. It shattered the fragile skull and lodged into the brain. The Crocotta collapsed bonelessly to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Tilly scanned his notifications to catch what had happened on the system's side while continuing to throw, his motions becoming rote as he took aim, threw, and recalled the weapon.
You attack the Crocotta for 50% of its health. *Bonus x4 damage from striking a critical area.*
You have earned 75 Exp.
Ax Throwing Level up! Level 2
That was the second time he had seen that critical strike multiplier. He knew that his hatchets were never going to be devastating damage dealers per strike, but if he could develop a fighting style that incorporated many quick strikes at critical areas, he felt like he could stack some significant DPS for his build.
He also saw that while two of the creatures had earned him the 200 Exp to get him to level 2, now they were each only giving him 75 Exp a piece. Which followed game logic comfortably and let Tilly know that there was very much going to be grinding in his future. That said, he had not given up his dreams of finding some ways to cheat the system and gain some sort of unfair advantage that would increase his survivability significantly.
He kept throwing for the next few minutes, the motion beginning to burn as he tried aiming from different angles and postures to make sure his hatchet throwing became as dynamic and useful as possible.
After what seemed like 50-60 throws, he finally killed the last of the creatures. He found himself unsurprised that through the entire process, they had not tried to leave or even dodge for the most part, they had just kept snarling and barking up the tree as he picked them off one by one.
Not that he was complaining. The last few minutes had been immensely profitable for him and he spent a moment silently thanking the Carnonos for its gift. With the ability to almost instantaneously recall his axes, he had been able to make some serious gains in levels and abilities.
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-Ax throwing. Level up! Level 2
-Ax throwing. Level up! Level 3…
-Ax throwing. Level up! Level 6
You have earned 75 exp for defeating level 4 Crocotta
You have earned 75 exp for defeating level 4 Crocotta…
Congratulations! You are now level 4. 950 exp until the next level.
You have earned 5 stat points to distribute plus 2 points in Endurance and 1 in Dexterity from the class Son of Flame.
Tilly thought about it for a moment, before deciding, to leave his Endurance and Dexterity at their normal increases for this level, and put the rest of his points to balance out some of his glaring low points in his stat build. He put 3 points in Intelligence and 1 in Wisdom before throwing the last one in Strength to get it to 10.
His low Intelligence stat hadn't bothered him before, thinking it only affected his mana total, but after basically killing the Crocottas like fish in a barrel, he decided it was better to be safe than sorry and make sure there was at least a healthy presence of points in each stat, while still leaning into the strengths of his build.
He then pulled up his full character sheet to take stock of where he was at level 4.
Jonathan Luke Tillman
Level: 4 (950 Exp to next level)
Display Name: Tilly
Race: Human
Class: Son of Flame
Titles: Harbinger
Health: 100% (+1% per minute)
Mana: 38% (+.8% per minute)
Status Effects:
-Minor exhaustion -10% Endurance, Dexterity and Intelligence for 10 hours. (7 hours remaining)
Stats:
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 17
Dexterity: 17
Strength: 10
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence: 8(7.2)
Items
Origin’s primitive stone hatchets: +10% to Dexterity. (Legendary, growth type)
+Imbued Ability Recall.
Origin’s primitive leather armor: +10% to Endurance. (Legendary, growth type)
Skills:
-Forestcraft level 12
-Identify level 15
-Cooking level 12
-Hatchet level 9
-Animal Processing level 9
-Stealth level 6
-Herb Lore Level 2
-Ax Throwing Level 6
Abilities:
-None.
He still found the Abilities section of his character sheet to be depressing when he thought about some of the starting abilities he had read about on the other Paths to Power, but at the end of the day, he did have Legendary gear. Sure its bonuses didn't do much for him now, but he imagined that as he continued to invest in his build’s stat superiority, 10% would pay out more and more dividends, plus whatever increases they would show from their Growth characteristic.
As he climbed down through the tree, he looked up at the sky through the canopy, noting that even though it felt like hours had passed since his encounter in the clearing it had probably been less than one. The sun was reaching its apex and he still had plenty of time to look around before trying to make it back to camp.
The Carnonos had asked him to look into the temple further up the mountain and it was the least he could do while keeping an eye out for more food. He was starting to get freaking hungry. Plus he still wanted to find a vantage point above these trees to get a feel for the surrounding area.
He climbed down and took in the emaciated bodies of the Crocottas and briefly considered them as food, before gagging at the thought. The search for food continued and he moved on, holding his conspicuously clean sleeve over his nose as he moved past the carnage of his recent leveling.
He made his way back toward the general direction of the stream, knowing it was his most dependable landmark for navigating this area. Whilst moving in more or less open underbrush of the forest, he continued to try and train his stealth skill, but it was becoming more and more apparent that the sorts of skills involving interaction with hostile creatures could only be trained in a live-combat environment. Maybe more target practice with his hatchets wouldn’t be remiss, but it was obvious that he had only made gains in these areas while in actual danger.
That didn't mean he couldn't train any of his other skills. Every time he passed by a plant that seemed to have some specific characteristic that set it apart from the rest of the forest he would try and activate Herb Lore.
You have successfully used Herb Lore to identify Goose Grass. This long lush greenery is found in virgin forests and can be used for bedding for all sorts of domesticated fowl. It helps with egg production and fertility.
Hmm, interesting, but useless.
You have successfully used Herb Lore to identify Maiden's kiss. This flowering bush is known for its small white blooms. The scent of which can cause lightheadedness and a persistent flush to the blood vessels around the nose. For additional information, level up your Herb Lore.
The Herb Lore Skill continued to supply him with interesting but unhelpful bits of knowledge. He didn't have a way to store any of the things he was finding and didn't know if there would be any benefit to doing so anyway. He wondered what the Lore Codex was and if his discovery being added to it would let the world know about the wonders of the Charmin Tree.
Finally, he came around to something edible, and while he was hungry enough to eat them despite the consequences, he didn't think he would be making them a regular snack.
You have successfully used Herb Lore to identify Fingle's Flatulence berries. These pleasant-tasting yellow berries are filling and energizing, but are also known to cause gas in any of the taller humanoids. They are however a beloved snack of gnome kind. For additional information, level up your Herb Lore.
Tilly's stomach growled insistently, and with a grimace, he reached over and plucked a berry, before popping it in his mouth.
The supple skin burst with bright tangy juice that tingled as he chewed. His grimace melted away, and he figured he was alone in the woods anyway, consequences be damned. He quickly grabbed a few handfuls of the stuff and started eating them en masse.
With great satisfaction, he satiated the hunger that had already become his constant companion in his short time on Nephesh. After making a sizable dent in his hunger he grabbed a handful for the road and sighed in contentment.
“Ppppfffttt” His anal sphincter happily agreed.