The shot of healing energy from a triple level up was enough to heal his leg enough to walk on and he gingerly put weight on the limb.

“Jeffrey!” He called out, to gain the attention of the other man. Rax padded over to him and pawed at his leg with his front limbs. The beast had largely been unharmed by the chimeras as they didn't see him as a threat. He was a bit bigger now though and Sam checked the party link to see if he had leveled up.

Party:2

Torturna Salvinii-Brescon: Level 10. Health 190/190

Rax:Level 9. Health 170/170

Both of the others had only gained 2 levels from that fight. Perhaps a party didn't share levels equally, but more of them went to the person who actually killed the monster.

Jeffrey was still nowhere to be seen so Sam allocated his points. Not wanting to pull up his full status sheet every time that he leveled up, Sam imagined only seeing the table with his stats on it. To his surprise, it worked.

Level 12

(6 stat points unspent)

Strength

26

1.325x

Constitution

16

1.325x

Resilience

19

1.325x

Dexterity

12

1.325x

Intelligence

12

1.325x

Wisdom

15

1.325x

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Looking at his stat distribution, Sam was happy with where his Strength and Resilience were. What he really needed now was more health and more speed. He knew that he would have to invest in the mental stats later, but for now his titles had increased them naturally. He evenly split the points between Dexterity and Constitution, nodding happily as his bonuses increased the points to four rather than three. Now he had 200 health and the speed of an olympic sprinter. After the effects of the levels ceased, he tested out his new power. He knew that his strength was high now, but he craved the feeling of speed that the Dexterity would give. His feet flashed over the ground as he ran and he looped the clearing multiple times in the time that it would normally take to go once. Finally, when he had finished, Jeffrey came back.

“There you are! Where were you?” Sam asked the man as he entered his line of sight.

“That damn beast broke my arm. Luckily you killed it or I wouldn't have healed. That thing was a lot stronger than creatures in this area should have been though. It must have been at least level 16, on account of its size and toughness.”

“Its size has something to do with level?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, a lot of monsters gain mass when they put their points into their physical stats. Only Dexterity or mental based ones remain the normal size. Haven’t you noticed that Rax has been growing too?”

Sam nodded. He had noticed that. Would the herpetopede eventually be the size of that chimera? Sam had a brief vision of a planet sized Rax, curling around Earth. He laughed at the thought.

“If you both reach the top of the Enlightened Tier, that might not be so unrealistic.” Jeffrey said. Sam had forgotten about how party members could hear his thoughts when he was in it.

They left the clearing and continued walking. They wanted to find somewhere where there were more people. Not to join up with them, Sam had no intention of exposing himself as the Arbiter, but he hoped that there would be items for sale there. The System had said something about how merchants could enter the universe and perhaps there would be one of them at the nearest population center. Maybe he could ask them for more information.

Jeffrey had provided quite a lot, but most of it was irrelevant to his life in this universe. The chicken man could write a dissertation on the subject of Rathnarian perfumers, but that was completely useless to survival. Sure, he knew a decent bit about the System, but it wasn't anything groundbreaking.

The coating of chimera blood on Sam must have scared off the monsters in the woods because they were not attacked by another monster for the entire duration of their trip. Eventually, after hours of walking, a strange sight appeared. A beam of white light extended into the sky from a point behind the trees and illuminated the dusk sky. The made their way to it cautiously, not sure if it was an enemy or a potential ally. As they edged their way through the woods, they could make out what it was. A mile wide patch of trees had been removed from the forest and in their place a shimmering dome of light was visible. Every now and gain, monsters would slam into it, recoiling with flashes of light and a faint smell of burnt flesh. Inside the dome, they could see people moving about. Some were human, but there were a few that were totally alien in appearance. A gateway stood on the opposite side of the clearing and a set of turrets dissuaded any monsters from coming near. Every now and again, a party of people would walk through the gates and into the area.

“I think we should go in there,” Sam whispered. Jeffrey nodded. They slunk around the edge of the clearing and approached the gateway. The turrets pointed at Rax briefly, but they seemed to realize that he was part of their group. The turrets pointed the other way and the gate opened slowly. They walked in and immediately felt the difference. The air inside was much warmer than the air outside and they could see why. Many cacti and palm trees lined the streets, but they were unearthly plants, most of a shade of deep red. People walked along the street, most of them clad in armor of some kind. Sam felt vulnerable in comparison to them, in his dirty overalls and shirt. Street hawkers called out their wares in strange accented voices. There were few humans working the stalls and most of the workers were aliens. Above each stall, a different emblem was visible and they all would call out a name now and again.

“Buy from the New Barcuhia Trading Company!”

“Best wares in the galaxy, buy Trohonia!” They sounded like a typical market square, busy with vendors and patrons. The goods were not normal though. As Sam eagerly eyed up the exotic looking wares, he realized with a sinking heart that he had no money.