Waking up at dawn, I feel groggy and can barely keep my eyes open. Dammit, I haven't been able to sleep properly since we got here, between the threat of a wolf attack and the constant interruptions for night watch. Struggling to my feet, I grab my spear, using it as a crutch.
I look at Max, nod, and say, "Max, wait. Let's figure out what each stat really does before we go hunting."
Max's shoulders slump, but a moment later he replies, "Fine, but I'm putting my current stat points into wisdom."
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I relent. "Fine. I'll go for dexterity, then."
With our choices made, I watch Max as he pours all three stat points into wisdom, conjuring fireballs and streams of flame with new found ease. At first, I don't see much difference other than less visible effort put into activating each skill, but when he splits a basketball-sized fireball into twelve smaller ones orbiting his palm and hurls them at a rock, I start to understand. As they hit, one by one, the rock disintegrates under the barrage. He then splits a stream of flame into two concentrated beams, drilling into the mud.
Whistling, I ask, "Was that all because of wisdom?"
Max smiles, lowering his hands. "Yes and no. Wisdom basically gave me magical instincts, letting me level up my skills."
Scratching my chin, I consider the implications. So stats can influence skill growth. This means we have to spend our points wisely—after we finish experimenting.
Hesitantly, I place my three points into dexterity. I grip my spear, assuming a wide stance, legs apart, slightly bent. Going through standard thrusts and slashes, I feel the movements flow more naturally. My grip and speed are noticeably better, each muscle contraction faster than before. Emboldened, I turn to Max and say, "Throw a weak fireball at me. Aim for my chest."
Max simply shrugs, conjures a small fireball, and throws it. As it speeds toward me, I feel a bit slow to intercept it—until Blood Rush activates, consuming ten stamina. My vision turns red, and the fireball slows down as if moving through molasses. With a controlled swing I slash it in half, watching the flames dissipate in a small cloud. When I looked up, Max stood staring, jaw dropped.
"How did you move that fast?" he asks, stunned. "One moment the fireball was there, and the next, it was torn apart."
Grinning, I lower my spear. "Dexterity boosts speed, reaction time, and mobility. Blood Rush enhanced that, making me even faster."
With a nod, Max smiles and starts heading toward the woods. Shaking my head, I follow, saying, "You're way too eager to hunt wolves."
The last of the four wolves charges me with an unyielding ferocity. With blood rush still in effect, I easily sidestep the attack and bring my spear down on its neck, blood splattering as it slides to the ground. A familiar notification pops up.
"4 Grey Wolves level 3 slain, 200xp gained."
And the one I was waiting for:
"You have leveled up. 3 assignable stat points received."
Both of us finally hit level five. With pride I open my status page to check my stats:
Species: Human
Age: 24
Level: 5 (0/400 XP)
Health: 140/140
Mana: 90/90
Stamina: 30/110
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 11
Endurance: 11
Vitality: 12
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 4
Available Stat Points: 6
Available Path Points: 0
Minimizing the panel to keep the three bars in view, I clean my spear's tip in the grass. Unfortunately, most of the wraps are torn, and the wolf bone I was using as the main blade was in bad shape, with cracks and chipping all throughout. Sighing, I remove the bone and sharpen the wooden edge with a nearby rock.
Midway through, I hear Max calling, "I'm investing in vitality and strength. Good luck with charisma."
Stopping the maintenance I look towards Max and give him a glare. "Don't you dare. Let's settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who has to test charisma."
Max's brows furrow, but he eventually agrees. I wish I had a luck stat because I lost. With a smug look, Max turns away, already testing his stats. Resigned, I put two points into charisma, bringing it to six but nothing happened. Frustrated, I shout to the sky, "Oh, I'll show you." I dump all remaining points into charisma, raising it to ten. This finally caused an effect as a new notification popped up.
"New Path Discovered."
Grinning, I open the Path to Mastery screen to see what the new option is.
"Karmic Warrior I, 5 Path Points to unlock."
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Just as my mood lifts, it darkens again. Walking up to the nearest tree, I pull my fist back and punch with all my strength, leaving a fist-sized hole in the bark.
Satisfied, I turn to Max and ask, "so what did you find?"
He raises an eyebrow. "Each point in vitality adds ten health, and strength improves the body's attack and defense."
Sighing, I explain my discovery. Max scowls. "Why waste points on something like that?" I snap back, "I did what I thought was best ok!" He laughs, shaking his head. "So, dying is what's best?"
With clenched fists, I storm off, sitting down to calm myself. Anger has never solved anything, what I need is a plan. If I can level up my spear mastery and get another skill, I might unlock the Karmic Warrior Path.
Grabbing some wolf bones from the pile near the campfire, I craft a crude bone sword and start practicing whilst envisioning the slash moves ingrained into my head from the spear path. Not long after, a new notification appears.
"New skill learned: Basic Bladed Weapon Handling, Common."
Grinning, I push myself to level the new skill to level three where it maxed out. In the process I was also able to level up basic spear mastery to level three. Without hesitation, I dumped all five newly acquired path points into unlocking the path of karmic warrior I. As soon as the points were assigned a new notification appeared:
"New skill learned: Karmic Vision, Uncommon."
Excited, I try to activate the skill, but nothing happens. Frustrated, I flop onto the ground. Max appears, eyebrow raised. "Have you finally lost it?" I look up and explain my new skill and what I was doing. Max crosses his arms, visibly annoyed. "Why waste resources on that?" I wave him off, ignoring him. "So, what were you doing in the forest?"
Max relaxes slightly. "Leveling up to level six. Which is what you should be doing too." I gesture toward the woods. "There's still time till nightfall. Let's go hunt more wolves till then and I do need an outlet for my annoyance." Max nods, looking at the darkening sky. "Don't worry my fire will lead us back if it gets dark."
We head deeper into the forest, but I feel on edge, spear and blood rush at the ready. Suddenly, everything dims, and gray lines appear and stretch out toward infinity. One line however stands out, pitch black, connecting Max and me in the direction we were heading. I stop and as I'm about to call out to Max, a new notification appears:
"2 Charisma consumed by Karmic Vision."
As the lines fade, color returns, and I quickly check my stat sheet. Charisma is now listed as eight out of ten. Catching up to Max, I explain what I saw.
Max's eyes light up. "So you didn't waste your points after all!"
I scowl. "This is a bad omen; we're walking into danger."
Max nods but doesn't move. "Let's at least check it out and aren't you curious as well?"
Shaking my head I ask "first show me your status sheet, need to know your combat prowess." Max agreed and shared the details of his status page.
Name: Max
Species: Human
Age: 24
Level: 6 (0/500 XP)
Health: 140/140
Mana: 180/180
Stamina: 100/100
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 8
Endurance: 10
Vitality: 14
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 4
Titles:
World walker, Epic
Skills:
Fire Ball Lv4, Common
Fire Stream Lv3, Common
Universal Language Comprehension Lv.Max, Rare
Personal Storage Lv.Max, Rare
Available Stat Points: 0
Available Path Points: 5
Raising my eyebrows, I look at Max and say, "Did you really just dump everything into intelligence?" Max defensively holds up his hands. "Yeah, of course—more mana means more fire and more fire means a higher survivability rate." Shaking my head, I gesture toward the path ahead. Max, noticing my resolve, puts on a serious face and crouches down. "Wait, let me use my path points."
I nod slowly, surprised he hasn't already shoved them all into the fire path.
Max notices my confusion and says, "Well, I discovered a new path. It's called Basic Mana Flow I, and it costs five path points."
My eyebrows shoot up, and I grab Max's shoulders, shaking him. "Unlock that path right now. Do you even know how useful things like that are?"
Max seems to grow more confident, quickly unlocking Basic Mana Flow I. As I'm about to ask about the changes Max suddenly falls forward, hitting the ground face-first. Remembering my own experience with the spear skill, I simply position him on his back and sit down on a rock formation nearby.
Only a few minutes pass before Max suddenly sits up, his eyes faintly glowing a light blue.
"You good?" I ask.
Max looks at me, then glances around, taking in his surroundings. Slowly, he stands and replies, "Yeah, I'm actually better than good. The path gave me the skill Mana Sight, Common, and it also added three points to my intelligence."
Chuckling, I get up and start walking toward the path. "Assuming your new skill shows you mana flow, what do you see in that direction?" I point toward the path, filled with presumed danger.
Max sharpens his gaze, then takes a step back. "That's a large amount of mana coming from that direction."
Sighing, I ready my spear, look at Max, and ask, "But you still want to find out what it is, right?" Max just gives me a thumbs-up, positioning himself behind me and crouching down. Sighing audibly, I roll my shoulders and begin a cautious, quiet approach toward the ominous source.
It doesn't take long for us to find what we're looking for. Ahead of us is a large clearing, easily ten times the size of ours. Wolves are scattered throughout, some napping while others tear into a rabbit-like creature. Aside from its size, the clearing is much like ours, with one notable exception: at its center is a massive rock formation, peaking about five meters off the ground. At the top rests a large stone with a rectangular, flat surface that looks carved rather than natural. At its center sits a wolf. As I squint to get a better look, I realize this is no ordinary wolf. It's three times the size of the wolves we fought before, with streaks of white and green fur running along its body and fangs glowing like jade in the sun.
Max gulps audibly. "That beast has a tremendous amount of mana. It's like looking at a beacon of blue light."
I make a mental note to ask him how I can also get Mana Sight later.
Max suddenly speaks again. "It's moving the mana toward its mouth, forming some kind of ball with it."
About to ask for clarification, I'm interrupted as my karmic eyes activate, revealing a thick black line of darkness stretching from Max toward the large wolf in the clearing. The black line grows even darker, as if absorbing all the surrounding light. Trusting my instincts, I activate Blood Rush at full charge and tackle Max out of the way. The moment we land, a sonic boom echoes behind us, and splinters rain down on our prone bodies.
We scramble to our feet and sprint away. As we run, an ear-piercing howl splits the air, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps closing in behind us. Not daring to look back, I shout at Max to do something since he's the only one with ranged abilities. Max nods, positioning his hands behind us, palms facing the wolves, and unleashes pure, unrestrained flames. I glance back briefly, seeing the chaos as flames engulf the wolves chasing us.
Turning to Max, I ask, "How much mana did you use?"
He looks worried, visibly sweating and breathing heavily.