Sitting on top of the dead bear’s carcass, I focused on the little mote in my left eye’s field of vision, opening the status screen. This time, instead of showing me my status, a single message appeared:
--You have received a new system message. Display Y/N?_--
Remembering the experience of trying to read my redacted class, I focused on the letter Y, until it shined golden, the message disappeared, and a slew of system notifications popped on my screen:
*You have killed a Three-eyed Ursine Cub Lvl-1* +20xp
*Bonus XP given for the first time kill of this monster type -2 times XP multiplier
*Bonus XP given for killing a monster of “uncommon” rarity monster -2 times XP multiplier
*Bonus XP given for the first time kill of an “uncommon” rarity monster -2 times XP multiplier
*Bonus XP given for Unarmed Combat modifier -1.5 times XP multiplier
*Congratulations! Class *Redacted* has leveled up!
Well, zero points for creativity with the bear’s name, not that I could have done any better.
That was way easier than I thought it would be, and I mean leveling up, although only my class leveled up and not my ‘human’ level, whatever that is. It seemed that the bear was an uncommon type of foe. Maybe that is why it gave me a fifth of the total experience I needed to gain a level. It would also explain why it did so much damage by just ‘grazing’ me a little in our fight, other than because it was a freaking bear!
I got bonuses for my first time killing that particular kind of monster, for killing an uncommon type, and for being my first time killing an uncommon, or was it for the first time killing that particular kind of uncommon type? So many questions, that only time would answer.
I also received a bonus for killing it unarmed, I wonder if I will keep getting that one since I have no weapons, and if I don’t die -again- in my next fight. But as Maeve said, I had to keep up with it to build my stats, improving my chances of not kicking the bucket. Maybe I would even get the two-time multiplier every time I got to kill a new type of monster? That would certainly be helpful. Finding a different kind of enemy to verify this would be a priority now.
So, if my math was correct, in the end, the multipliers summed up to a whopping 6.5 times the original experience given by the ‘ursine’ bear. Let’s see this class level-up information. Maybe I would even unlock some skills.
*Redacted* leveled up to Lvl 2
The following points have been distributed automatically:
Strength: +3
Agility: +1
Dexterity: +1
Endurance: +3
Vitality: +1
Intelect: +1
+1 FP
Don’t know how to react to that information, to be honest. I simply have no way to tell if it was good, bad, awesome, or terrible. I would go with the assumption that it was standard and go from there. The free points caught my attention though, can I just distribute those to any attribute I want to? I will, again, make the assumption that I can, and will save it for after I get the feeling of how this increase in attributes would feel for me in real life. I need more information so I do not end up squandering it on an intellect build, just because right now I’m thinking that if I was smarter I would get all of these stuff on the fly, become more pliable and adaptable to new situations, and could probably increase my chances of surviving just by not being a complete fool. This sounds very tempting, but I can’t be deliberate if I am not properly informed.
So, happy about the level-up, not so much at not understanding if now I could win against the same bear without so much injury. Another wait-and-see situation.
Finally, let’s check the stats screen.
------------------------------------
Name: William ‘Evelyn’ Hagen
Human -Level 1
Class: *Redacted* -Level 2
Job: N/A
Grade F
HP: 42/290
Stamina: 47/220
----------------
Strength: 12 (+3)
Agility: 11 (+1)
Dexterity: 11 (+1)
Endurance: 11 (+3)
Vitality: 9 (+1)
Intellect: 8 (+1)
Class XP: 30/200
Race XP: 65/100
Job XP: N\A
FP: 1 (+1)
------------------------------------
My heart sank to my stomach, my head spun a little, and had to vomit. Completely freaking out.
I had lost 140 HP by just being grazed a couple of times and the damage I got by the uppercut stunt. I had also lost almost all of my stamina. Getting ‘this close’ to dying again.
I looked up at the darkest sky and the brightest stars I had ever seen, allowing the beauty of it, the light breeze, and the smells of the forests to help soothe my racing heart back to normal.
I spent a long, long time like that.
The really scary part is that I felt no pain while I was fighting, losing HP did not give a physical response. I had no health bar or UI to tell me I was about to die. Frightening. I only felt pain when my right fist shattered against the bear’s snout and the strain on my leg muscles when I went really low with my stance. Weird. Pain is a main motivator for not getting hurt, it’s an evolutionary response. Well… it’s not like my entire Saturday night was an ordinary affair was it?
I must become careful about how I face combat or I will end up dead soon, very, very soon. I need to be able to choose where, how, and when to get into a fight, and with who. I did not even know the level of the cub until after I checked the system messages. I could not go on like that.
First I need to *DING*
Ok, so that is how I get system notifications, by hearing a bell in my head. Let’s see what the system wants now.
--You have received a system Quest. Do you wish to see it? Y/N_--
Again, I concentrated on the big Y.
Quest: ‘Save the proxy, save the world’
Your savior, the system’s proxy, has been captured by evil forces while waiting for your arrival.
You have to free her before the Dokkalfar dispose of her.
A guiding beacon will be lit for orienteering if you decide to accept the quest.
Rewards:
Save the World (Kinda).
The proxy will join your party.
Tutorial information, guidance, and unlocking of certain system features are to be provided by the proxy.
Job acquisition.
Time to complete: ASAP.
Failure to complete this quest will result in your immediate death, and probably the end of the world.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
--Do you wish to accept the quest? Y/N_--
“Why are you asking me such a stupid question?” I said out loud
--Because it is a standard protocol that we cannot circumvent, we can’t just send you an e-mail you know? So do you accept or what? Y/N_--
These fucking sys admins and their bipolar ways. This is getting kind of old you know?
I accepted the quest.
--System quest ‘Save the proxy, save the world’ has been accepted. Good Luck!--
A column of light illuminated the night, and by concentrating on it, I somehow knew that it was over a hundred miles away. in what I now knew was the center of the forest. Funny that now that the system needed me, I was intuitively gaining knowledge about my environs. Freaking sys admins.
I had work to do, I was not very fond of the idea of helping the admins or this ‘proxy’ of theirs, but that tidbit about ‘her’ being my savior was a juicy morsel of news that I was very keen on sinking my teeth into. As well as all those promises about information that I was sorely lacking.
The fact that ‘she’, right now, was literally a ‘damsel in distress’ had absolutely nothing to do with it. I was not the old-fashioned kind of guy, no sir, I had not been raised to be a gentleman by Dad and Papa Olaf, no, that had nothing to do with it.
But being honest, I had decided to save the proxy as soon as I read it was a ‘her’ and that she is currently captive. So there is that.
So I opened the resource pool section of my status screen, I had spent a bit over two hours, to my estimation at least, in my reverie and reading all the statuses, mostly trying to calm myself truth be told.
------------------------------------
HP: 282/290
Stamina: 220/220
------------------------------------
The good news was my stamina was full and my HP had almost completely regenerated, but my wounds were still there, and my right hand was still crushed, still hurting like a bitch. I could not move my fingers on it, and was now swollen around three times its normal size.
There was a dynamic here I did not understand, usually, in games and the stories Maeve talked about, as soon as your HP replenished, your injuries would heal, no matter how harrowing. Guess real life is not as forgiving as Isekai stories.
I could feel pain in my leg where the bear had clawed at it, my shoulders still burned and my head felt heavy at the top.
But I had work to do.
Standing up, I decided to boldly go, where surely some men had gone before. At least these ‘Dokkalfar’ the Quest talked about were there before me.
Heading toward the column of light in the distance, I entered the forest.
The darkness of the forest was thick, like a curtain of blackness that blocked all other colors. The trees loomed tall, their branches reaching out like fingers waiting to grab me. Only at times, the light of the column shined through the leaves of trees. The damp, earthy scent of decaying leaves and moss hung heavy in the air, mixed with the fresh, woody aroma of pine and the faint hint of animal musk. The darkness seemed to absorb all sound, making the forest feel unnaturally still.
With the forest feeling so eerie, and after almost an hour of careful walking, there was only one thing to do if I wanted to reach the proxy in before she was ‘disposed’ off by the Dokkalfar, to forgo all reason and start running. Because there was someone in need of saving, and I wanted answers. Hopefully, I can find some easy pickings below or at my current level and gain some XP along the way, because I have the sinking feeling I’m nowhere near ready to complete this quest.
Along the way I figured out some things, like how I could ‘see’ the level of other creatures now, don’t know why it wasn’t working before, but now I just receive the knowledge in my head, not that I can actually ‘see’ it, but same thing. I know their level, their Grade, their rarity, and their name.
I also figured the forest was called ‘Odenwald Forest’, because I saw a group of squirrels called ‘Odenwald Squirrel’, some hinds called, you guessed it, ‘Odenwald Hind’, and so on. All higher level than I was.
Until I saw, by a strike of luck, a giant level 1 spider going into a cave. So I boldly followed it. Usually, where there is one spider, there are more. And especially because by ‘giant’, I mean basketball-sized, Which was still pretty damn giant compared to the regular farm spider variation.
So I figured I could just squash them with my feet, being above their level, plus I did not want to use my right hand, being broken and hurting was a strong deterrent.
Following the spider to a semi-large opening a few feet beyond the entrance of the cave, I noticed that there was a nest of them and that there were many holes in the upper reaches of the walls of the cave, probably used by more spiders to get in deeper. I counted up to twenty-eight buggers before their mingling made it impossible for me to know if I was double counting some of them, and I was sure there were more inside those upper holes.
I had the option to retreat and keep running while searching for another opportunity or go full Hopak dancing on their ugly mugs.
Queue some Tetris music please, I have made my choice...
Never again!, I swore to myself right then and there, trying to remove goo, innards, and chitin from in between my toes by using some moss just outside the cave’s entrance.
I would never again go ham on a nest of spiders. Killing a couple was one thing, but after a hundred and forty-seven of the ugly little monsters swarmed you, bit you, spat their webbing at you, and overall tried to eat you, you ended up developing an aversion for the things. Not fear, no, just a healthy aversion.
Anywho, I had come back out of the cave somewhat unscathed, at least with no real injuries other than sore feet, a few scratches here and there, and a bruised ego; I was considering my foray into pest control as a resounding success.
Each spider gave me 2 XP, besides the first one, which gave me the ‘first time kill’ multiplier, and I was very happy to confirm that the ‘Unarmed Combat’ multiplier still applied, giving me a comfy 50% increase to total XP gains, for a total of 223 XP, the system rounded down it seems, another class level up and race level up. Which was very promising.
I just wanted to remove as much goo and icky stuff from my feet and pants as possible before sitting down and checking the level-up information and new attributes.
Some half an hour later, I was sufficiently satisfied with my cleaning, to sit down and open the level-up notifications.
*Congratulations! Class *Redacted* has leveled up!
*Redacted* leveled up to Lvl 3
The following points have been distributed automatically:
Strength: +3
Agility: +1
Dexterity: +1
Endurance: +3
Vitality: +1
Intelect: +1
+1 FP
*Congratulations! Race -Human- has leveled up!
Human leveled up to Lvl 2
The following points have been distributed automatically:
Strength: +1
Agility: +1
Dexterity: +1
Endurance: +1
Vitality: +1
Intelect: +1
+1 FP
------------------------------------
Name: William ‘Evelyn’ Hagen
Human -Level 2
Class: *Redacted* -Level 3
Job: N/A
Grade F
HP: 254/370
Stamina: 211/300
----------------
Strength: 16 (+4)
Agility: 13 (+2)
Dexterity: 13 (+2)
Endurance: 15 (+4)
Vitality: 11 (+2)
Intellect: 10 (+2)
Class XP: 102/300 (+223)
Race XP: 141/200 (+111)
Job XP: N\A
FP: 3 (+2)
------------------------------------
The little buggers had nothing on the Three-eyed Ursine. I had lost less than 40 HP, and almost no stamina, which made me wonder if adrenaline had something to do with Stamina consumption.
There were plenty of studies back on Earth about the effects of adrenaline on human strength, the famous case of a mother lifting a car just so she could take her son out of it after a crash was famous in the 70s, even The Incredible Hulk was based off a similar concept, so maybe it had to do with that.
In any case, I now had hope, hope for the possibility of going back to Earth, since I had a feeling that by ‘save the world’, the system meant Earth, it was a matter of tying loose ends, back in the white room, the old 5150 had said ‘Sector 1, Planet 3’ even if they had said ‘Eden’, I was sure they were referring to Earth, like this ‘system’ was going to be implemented on Earth, they even said that I was sure to die during the ‘trial’, wherever I was now, must be the ‘trial’. Also, calling Earth ‘Eden’ had some connotations that I was not ready to think about any time soon.
I hope that I can get answers to those and many more questions soon enough.
I had hope that I could keep leveling up at a steady pace, it seemed easy enough so far, and I was feeling stronger, for some reason, I felt like I could easily double the 200 pounds that I used to deadlift just last week. In a single night, since the sun had yet to come up, I felt twice stronger than yesterday. I’m pretty sure it’s not even Sunday yet.
I had a faint hope, that I could maybe, just maybe, see Dad, Raulin, and the gang again.
Wait for me guys, you are not going to believe it I was isekai'ed and no trucks were involved.
Would they even be able to accept that I am still alive? What happened to my body anyway? Oh well, more things for Future William to figure out.
Going back to a brisk jog, I started singing under my breath.
“Life goes on, brah
La-la, how their life goes on
And if you want some fun....”