Sometime later I collect myself and rub a hand roughly across my eyes before placing her form gently on the ground. I just look at her for a moment, so peaceful lying there…then I stand to my full height and take in the mountain top before checking that infernal timer again:
38.41
….
38.40
….
38.39
….
Hmm, still some time left then.
Moving closer to the center of the tree under its roots, I begin looking and testing the ground.
Bending down, I soon find a patch of earth that is more dirt than stone and using her trusty shield which I find vaguely appropriate, symbolically speaking, dig a small grave for her as its final duty.
I sweat and toil therapeutically as I dig up the tough soil, Artemis scratching at toughened patches to break it up for me to easier pull out.
I lose myself in the work, forgetting the loss for a time as I remember the small moments of happiness we had found over the past weeks together. Her kind smile, her support and constant defense of myself and my Companions. She truly made us better, just by being herself.
I place her in the completed hole, her thin cloak wrapped around her body and her spear held in her hand at her side and stretching the full length of the hole.
Last, I place her shield atop her chest, its final resting place in defense of her in death just as it did for her in life.
Covering her in a few moments with the loose dirt, I place a flat rock above the grave, using my ice-pick head to etch in an epitaph that reads:
Here lies the Bulwark, Belina
Defender of the Innocent
Friend to All
Beloved Family to Nova, Artemis, and Horus
Your beliefs will be held true, we three Companions so swear in love
Rest easy, kind sister
Standing back, Artemis comes to sit upright on my right side while Horus comes hopping over to stand at my left, together we have a moment of silence as we say our farewells.
“Thank you. We will not fail. With the force of my will and the power of our family, I shall see our victory done.”
After a few more moments of silent reflection and mourning, I can no longer ignore my vision fairly pulsing with notifications and finally allow them to come up with my Skill advancements first.
Wilderness Survival(J):28--29
Huntsman’s Athleticism(App): 26--27
Wild Rampage(App): 22--24
Natural Reinforcement(J): 28--29
Blood-Fueled(App): 23--24
Viking Defender(U): 7--8
Forest Fade(B): 6--9
Nothing noteworthy this time but some solid gains all the same. Soon enough, a number of them are set to tier up too!
Congratulations! You have killed a Peak Python while it held control of one of the 7 Continental World Treelings seeded on your planet, earning you 20,000,000 XP!
You have leveled up!
You have 2 free Attribute Points
Constitution +1
You have reached Journeyman Tier and have one new Class Path Choice available!
Class Path Choices: These choices appear at strategic levels and further the capabilities of your Class toward any of THREE available choices based upon your actions since the previous milestone. Choose wisely, each Class is different and each Player unique, there is no accurate way to know when a choice will appear or if one will appear more than once.
* The Contest Hunter ( 1st Tier)- For drawing so much attention from the System and being a prime candidate for Contest combat, you have shown your drive to advance, to win, to Grants additional Class ability--Leading Edge: All hunts, contests or games raises stats by +1 and increases XP earned by 5% for every 100 competitors (stackable, competitor restriction may change with further choices down this Path).
* The Natural Destroyer (1st Tier)- Through training, trials, and tribulations you have embodied the unbridled power of nature to destroy your foes. Grants additional Class ability Juggernaut: Each loss of 8 HP, gain +1 to all stats and ignore 5% of pain taken (stackable, HP restriction may change with further choices down this Path).
* The Beast Lord (2nd Tier)- You have journeyed through the wilds and the plains, the mountains and the underground with your Beast Companions. You walk a path of brutal freedom and wild power, your very Soul resonating with the hunt, the natural world and its myriad inhabitants. By selecting this path to move further along, you will be granted Authority over any of nature’s natural creatures while all artificial or mutated Beasts will feel the aura of your Authority and feel fear under your gaze. Grants +2 to Soul and +2 to Constitution. Additionally, grants ability Wild Dominion: Using ability will create an area of 4 square miles that will become your Territory for one month, all hostile Beasts and beings will be warded away for 1 month. Cooldown is 1 month as well.
Well, the first two are the same but my reasons for not choosing them before still stand just as relevant but the last, new choice….
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
It’s so perfectly me and as I look at the beauty spread out all around us and my friend’s final resting place, I realize where to cast that ability for the first time.
I choose Beast Lord and allow the stream of power, of Authority, of knowledge to flow into my mind, filling me to near bursting as I integrate the newly gained influx.
I feel an awareness spread from me, an aura of wild mastery, of dominion over my surroundings.
It sweeps over my two Companions, their mind’s registering first surprise and then joy, adulation even!
With pride and love in their hearts, they both turn to me and bow with a formality I have yet to ever see from them, Artemis’ message over our bond one of gratitude, of gratitude for being her best friend as well as a boundless love nearly unmatched.
I smile, though it only forms with some effort, allowing the warmth from the depths of my heart to spread across our bond, a mental hug to my Companions as we commune in new understanding together.
As the changes settle, a further notification flashes, something new to my eyes and made even more interesting due to my new Path ability:
For defeating the Landholder of this World Treeling, you have been granted the Territory from the base of the Marvel Mountain to the very tips of the Mountainous Maple. This grants control, access, and a broad knowledge of the area. Further options will need to be discovered to grow your Territory and to use the World Treeling for its intended purpose: As a refuge for System combatants as the world grows more changed and the Beasts more powerful and numerous. Grants title: Landholder in recognition and acknowledgement of your achievement.
Note: If Landholder is pulled into the Great Contest, the System will assign a Spirit Guardian to prevent any hostile entities from attacking or claiming Territory.
As my mind is flooded with even more data of wide proportions, I process the presence of the smallest stone at the base of the mountain to the thinnest leaf at the tip of the tree towering overhead. A fresh wonder, even in my mourning, grows as I mentally watch small insects go about their lives like small cities in the branches overhead, even as I look upon a gathering of mountain goats frolicking on the slopes below.
Reflexively as the feeling fades, I use my new Path ability, a pulse of nearly equal magnitude shooting down the mountain and stretching roughly a mile all around the base, my spot on the peak a perfect center point to allow a buffer to reach around the foothills.
As the land and its inhabitants feel this pulse, they all freeze in place, even the blades of grass seem to stop swaying in the gentle evening breeze!
My Authority, my Dominion washes over them and they too bow to my aural manifestation, their respect and acknowledgement of my position made clear.
Deep inside as I look over what I have claimed, my Soul speaks to me in a whisper of wind, a rustle of leaves, a skittering of rocks, revealing one, inescapable, adamantine fact:
This is mine.
And so it is….
Coming back to myself once more, I turn to my level up, placing my first point into Intelligence to bring it to 15 and, with the help of my Path choice, use the remaining point to bring my Constitution to 30 and into the Adept tier!
Congratulations! You are in the top ten of your world to reach Adept tier in any stat! Your title Top Tier III has been upgraded to Top Tier IV!
Top Tier IV: All Adept Tier leveling (Skills, Spells, Levels) will be 20% faster than normal.
That’s helpful, as this title pretty much always is.
As my Constitution completes its increase, my body’s cells seem to compact, grow denser and multiply rapidly. These new cells fill me entirely, my feet sinking into the ground slightly as my mass grows with the density shift.
Note: Reaching Adept Tier in an Attribute will result in a qualitative evolution as your body adapts to better handle your increased power and survivability on its path towards becoming pure energy made flesh.
Interesting…
I wonder what will happen when all of my stats reach that milestone?
The countdown pops up as it enters the final minute:
:59
….
:58
….
:57
I pull up my full PAID to see the full updated info while I direct my Companions to huddle up with me in front of Belina’s grave as we await the next adventure in the Apex System and its counterparts.
PAID
Player: Nova
Age: 27
Race: Human
Class: Wild Huntsman(R)
Class Ability: Huntsman’s Duty, Advanced Companion(1st Path Choice)
True Path: Beast Lord (Ability: Wild Dominion)
Level: 20
76,400/52,418,800 XP to Lv.21
Martial Style: Natural Disaster(A) Lv.32--34
Attributes (Human range between 1 and 5):
Strength 15
Dexterity 15
Constitution 26--30!
Intelligence 14--15
Soul 14--16
Mana: 240
HP: 150
Skills: Wilderness Survival(J) Lv. 29, Huntsman’s Athleticism(J): Lv.27, Wild Rampage(App) Lv.24, Viking Defender(U) Lv.8
Unlock next free Skill point at Lv.21
Spells: Natural Reinforcement(J) Lv.29, Blood-Fueled(J) Lv. 24, Eco-Missile(App) Lv.17, Environmental Clean(B) Lv.8, Forest Fade(B) Lv. 9
Unlock next free Spell point at Lv.22
Items: Icy Soul Hatchet(U), Basic Storage Ring, Huntsman’s Bark-Steel Jerkin & Greaves
Titles: Natural Born Killer, Soul Searcher, Top Tier IV, Human+, Dungeon Trainee I, Landholder
A long way from where I started and yet, the road ahead promises to be fraught with change and advancement, opportunities and dangers, that will likely alter and temper me even further into this System reality.
:05
…
:04
….
With the last seconds ticking away, I set my eyes upon the grave one final time as we are swallowed up by a beam of multicolored light, my last thoughts on Earth for some time ones of drive, of determination, of challenge:
Look out Universe, here we come!