Chapter 23

Milestones

Moments after Zeke pulled his disappearing act, Samuel entered the arena, he looked me over, taking in my relaxed body language. "I could not see anything through the darkness, but you seem unbothered."

I nodded. "It just brought out the same feelings…" That I had in the dream when the young Mana Beast hunted at night, I thought. "That I have when hunting prey in the dark." I finished.

"Well given Zeke's reaction, I am glad I am not your prey little brother." The guildmaster smiled. "Now shall we get you to your room? I would expect that the System will see fit to reward you for your experience today. Your goddess mark almost assures it."

"Ah, your little friend here seems like its patience has come to an end." Samuel released my staff from his grip. It sat quietly in the air for a moment

While it sent me a confusing mess of ideas. The old bear had talked it into staying with him while I trained, that much was clear. But it was unhappy. It sent me a series of feelings associated with the elements I had connected with in the training.

Then it flew over to me and proceeded to club me on the head, lightly. From what I could gather, it had been influenced by the elements I channeled, probably because of its new Elemental Absorption trait. It had liked channeling fire just as much as I did.

I reached out to take it in my hand, trying to think consoling thoughts. It dodged my hand. I gaped at it as it denied me.

"You can just let it float by you, that sort of thing is not an uncommon enchantment." Samuel said, amusement in his eyes. "I told your little friend a few things about how it could be expected to behave as a normal mage's staff. A staff that floats within arms reach of its master, and has some way to avoid the grasp of anyone not keyed to it would be seen as valuable, but not exceptional." He looked at the staff sternly "A staff that bats its master in the head, however, would be seen somewhat differently."

My staff tipped its end at him and moved to float quietly just behind me. I couldn't help but think that it seemed far more aware today than it was just yesterday.

"Come little brother, let us journey to the comfort of your room before you accept the call to commune with the System this time. I would not like to have to carry you across the grounds again." Samuel turned and started walking. I followed, my staff floating behind me.

The moment we entered my room I felt the System calling me to level. Perhaps the events of the day had fried my brain, I don't know why I failed to move to a comfortable position before answering.

Congratulations

For taking many novel actions in accordance with your class, you have been rewarded by:

Level up ×10

Intelligence + 30

Wisdom + 30

Perception + 20

Free Stats + 30

In my head I screamed, Nonononono. Not again. Why so much, so fast? I barely had a chance to think, before the levels took me. Samuel, bless his heart, caught me as I fell, and gently carried me to my bed.

The expansion of my core, and the rebuilding of my mind felt horrible, as always. Repetition didn't seem to be doing me any favors.

When my mind had just begun to function properly again, the System shoved its second message at me.

Please focus on the desired placement of free stats

I hesitated, in my still addled state I couldn't think of how I wanted them to go. I had failed to check, I wasn't sure, I wanted time to think. The System reacted to my uncertainty without seeking approval from me.

System allocation selected, running situational analysis. Running Simulations.

Optimal distribution determined based on ability to reach milestones in multiple statistics.

Processing allocation.

The System's mana took hold. I began to scream in pain, the scream didn't last long, as I lost all control of my body. It was as though I was being flayed alive from the inside out. Every part of me was touched by the System's mana. Every part began to be systematically destroyed. My awareness only lasted moments before I felt the System shut off my ability to process what was happening.

I came to, rebuilt. My whole body tingled. Last time I distributed stats, my muscles felt sore. This time, they felt loose, somehow foreign. Almost like when I was first placed in this body.

Name Angel

Race : Spirit Beast

Level : 41

Class : Adventurer (Wild Mage)

Str 50 Con 50

Agi 50 Dex 30

Int 142 Wis 135

Per 115 Cha 30

Samuel was watching me closely.

"What exactly are milestones?" I asked, apparently 50 was a milestone, and I had noticed that it meant a more dramatic increase the last time some of my stats had passed the number. But I wondered how often they came up.

"When you reach a certain numerical value the System rewards your efforts by granting you a a special feature associated with those stats. What you receive varies from person to person, and it is something you will have to discover for yourself, there will be no entry for it when you gaze upon your attributes. They occur every time you multiply a stat by 5. Starting at the value of 10. 50 is the first real milestone. By reaching 50, you have effectively told the system that a particular stat is of importance to you. When you reach 250, whatever it was you acquired will grow in strength. I am told that if you reach 1250, something very special occurs. Those who have attained such numbers, are silent as to the exact effect however." Samuel shrugged. "It is obvious that you reached at least one milestone, little brother. I am surprised you were not incapacitated very long this time."

I nodded, just moving my head felt strange. It was like everything was lighter. I went to lift an arm, and it shot up. It felt weightless.

I had to focus on moving in slow motion to sit up. I felt like I was trying to move in low gravity.

The guildmaster watched me closely. "Stay here, I will return, perhaps see to your staff while I am gone, but be very careful, do not try to hold anything. You will acclimate quickly, I am sure. But it will take more than a few minutes before you can safely interact with the things around you once more." The bear man left my room, locking the door behind him.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I looked at my staff, sitting quietly in its pot. Knowing my thoughts through the bond, it lifted itself up, and floated over to touch my open hand.

Living Wood Thorn Staff has been rewarded with level × 10

Living Wood Thorn Staff needs you to pick a trait.

1. Elemental Infusion

2. Size Shifting

3. Controlled Flexibility

4. Envenomed Thorns

5. Elemental Storage

6. Autonomous Spellcasting

Choices will reappear every ten levels.

I queried it on its choice. It chose the storage option. It let me know, without me having to ask, that Samuel, (who in its thoughts was labeled as something like "strong wise uncle") had told him that a mage staff would often hold mana for their owner.

My staff asked me what it should hold for me.

I thought about it. Life seemed ever present, air was available in great quantities anywhere I was likely to be. Water mana seemed variable though. There was always a little, probably representing the humidity in the air. It was enough that I could make a connection, but not enough to do much of anything without spending my personal mana.

Also water mana seemed like it would be perfectly happy to be stored. It was natural for water to get gathered up, and put in containers. For some reason that felt important to me, I never wanted to ask mana to do something that didn't suit its nature. I would never consider allowing my staff to store air mana, I felt that it could, and the air mana would be just fine. But it wasn't right.

A part of my mind told me that the mana didn't really think. Any indication otherwise was simply my mind affecting it. I don't know where that knowledge came from, but it felt like bullshit to me. I felt the desires of the mana every time I channeled it. Felt its love. The elements were very limited, and definitely not very smart, but to me, they felt alive.

I realized I'd had similar thoughts before, and shook my head. My ears flattened when I considered that it may be evidence of the System playing with my thoughts again. The worst part was I couldn't tell what opinion was my own. Both seemed to come from my own mind. I would err on the side of caution, and treat the mana like it was alive either way. Because treating a thinking thing like an unthinking one was cruel, and treating an unthinking thing as a thinking one was merely foolish. I would rather be foolish than cruel.

Decision made, I let my staff know that I didn't think there was enough water elemental mana in my room for it to store. We would head to the pond after I was acclimated enough to move around. It floated away from my hand bobbing up and down to acknowledge my choice, and settled itself back down into its pot.

While I was waiting for Samuel to return, I got up, and carefully tried to walk around my room. It went well until I saw myself in the mirror. I tripped on my own feet, and landed on the floor

The old man had said it was obvious, now I knew why.

My fur covered the effect a bit, and my large bones and prevented me from looking scrawny. But my muscles had shrunk to less than half their previous size. When I touched them, they felt like hard metal cords beneath my soft fur. They didn't look very impressive, but they were obviously much more dense than they had been.

I stood back up, focusing on moving very deliberately.

I punched myself lightly on the chest. It felt like hitting rock.

Then I noticed my horns. They had grown very large at the base, and they curled back over my head, around my ears, and framed the side of my face, tapering to sharp points that pointed forward, ending parallel to the sides of my mouth.

My entire skull looked like it had grown thicker. Now that I was paying attention to it. I bet I could really headbutt something if the need arose.

I touched one of my horns, they felt extremely solid, and strangely, my fingers tangled a little.

What was that creature called again?

Assume Form

Forms available: Demihuman, Mana Beast, Stormhorn Ram, Oak Tree, Elemental Squirrel

Yeah, Stormhorn, I hadn't seen them use their horns very much.

As I focused on them, I felt something building up at the base of my horns. I tried to stop the process, nothing coming from something called stormhorn should happen in my room. The process could not be stopped. There was a small bright flash, and a loud electric crackle. An afterimage lingered in my vision of a thin line arcing from me, to the mirror in front of me.

Thankfully the mirror was fine. I could feel some heat coming off of it though, and my room smelled of ozone.

It seemed strange to me that I was completely unaffected. My fur wasn't even standing up any more than usual.

I heard Samuel's voice through the circle on my door, "I am coming in now, I have some things to test you with." The lock on the door clicked, and my guildmaster entered carrying a basket filled with an assortment of objects, mostly rocks. But I was surprised to see a few fruits on top. After the door was closed and re-locked, he reached into his basket.

Samuel casually threw a rock at me.

I grabbed it out of the air, shocked that he would do that. There was a loud crunch. The rock broke apart in my hand. It wasn't smashed to dust, but the force of my unthinking grasp certainly was too much for it.

Some of the pieces fell to the floor.

"Again" Samuel said, and threw another.

That one cracked too.

He kept throwing the damn things at me, till several in a row were caught without breaking.

Then he threw something resembling an apple.

It took a while, and I was covered in various pulped fruits, and their respective juices, but I eventually managed to catch an orange without harming it.

I looked at the mess around me. "Couldn't we have done this outside?"

Samuel shrugged. "The cleaning ward will take care of it when we leave. You should be fine now."

I grumbled something both incoherent, and unkind under my breath. I was sticky, and covered in rock dust. It definitely seemed to have worked, but there had to be another way. I found I could not tolerate the idea of being so filthy.

Samuel chuckled, looking at me like a child. "Little brother, you seem so upset. This is a time honored technique for teaching a person to control their new strength quickly. Surely you won't hold it against me."

I grinned, and dashed over to him, crossing the ten feet in less than a second, and wrapped my arms around him. I made sure to burst the orange in my hand against his back. Looking back, I am absolutely certain I only managed to do it because he let me.

"Thank you so much for the lesson big brother!" I said with the maximum level of snark possible.

He reached around me to hug me back, cracking an egg that I hadn't noticed him carrying on the back of my head. "Any time little brother. "

"Now, we should go and clean ourselves off. You may do as you will, it is only late afternoon. Dinner is two hours after sunset. Is there anything that you require? There are showers at the end of the hall, next to the bathrooms." Samuel released me from the hug, and backed away.

I thought about it for a moment, and asked for directions to Brightwood's market. I had a merchant that I'd agreed to meet after all, and it seemed like I had time.

After a quick shower in the communal bathroom that everyone in the guild apartments shared, and some quality time with the brush. I headed off to town with my pack. It occurred to me sometime during the process that I had not had to use the other function of the bathrooms since my new life began. It was an odd blessing of this body, perhaps a side effect of its nature. I was alive, I had a heartbeat, I breathed, I certainly ate and drank. But I was definitely not a normal creature.

No one was at the gate, but Samuel had told me that the guild compound had me registered as a member. So I just had to place a little mana in the right place and the gates opened for me. I repeated the process from the outside to close and lock them.

As I made my way to the market, I became overwhelmed with the sensory data again. I had to pause a few times to collect myself. All the people made me want to run for the hills. Even though it could hardly be called bustling.

None of the vendors called out to me, and everyone on the path gave me a whole lot of space. I smelled some fear in the air. I did my best to ignore it.

I stopped at a stall run by a cat demihuman that sold skewered meats. They smelled wonderful, so I purchased several. The demihuman girl smiled at me, and called me big brother. I'm pretty sure she was flirting with me. I had a hard time keeping my eyes from wandering to places that I was never very interested in before this life. I ignored the odd impulses and asked her if she knew of a traveling merchant named Hoyt. She gave me directions. I thanked her, and wandered off to find my fellow reincarnator. He'd apparently rented a small shop for the week.