Of course. OF COURSE.
After taking down that highly dangerous mage, I had only gotten from Level 2-5. What type of nonsense was that? At least my injuries were healed after levelling up...
[I generously let you take the EXP from my kill. Stop complaining.]
Tablet! Tell me how much more EXP I need to get to Lv6!
[Level 5]
[EXP: 136/500]
What the heck? The increments were so high? Where did the standard 10% more EXP per level system go?
[The increment increases even more every 10 levels.]
Whatever. I decided that being upset was pointless anyway. I looked through my stats and assigned them after a little thought.
[Truck Kun, Lv5]
[Stats]
HP: 20
MP: 10
STR: 2
MAG: 1
DEX: 1
AGI: 2
DEF: 3
I decided that I probably needed more HP so that I wouldn't die as easily, so I invested a single point into STR. As for AGI, if I had a faster startup speed, I might have been able to hit the mage before he cast his spells! I wanted to get my offense up. Well, hopefully, I'd get a skill later on that let me fight in other ways than just bodyslams. DEF is self-explanatory. If I had more DEF, the shockwave and slam would not have hurt me as badly.
[By the way, you get 1 Skill Point every 5 levels. You could try to roll for skills and get a list of 3 different skills to choose from or just upgrade one of your skills.]
I looked through my skills.
[Abilities]
[Eating I]
[Telekinesis II]
[Limited Shapeshifting I]
[Machine Communication I]
Sure, they were all fairly important. But right now, I didn't really need an upgraded version of them. Telekinesis III seemed tempting, but it wasn't a high priority at the moment. I decided to go for the risk of choosing between 3 random skills.
[You've decided then. Here goes!]
[Crash - 1 Star]
You do 50% extra damage when slamming into foes.
[Engine Burst - 3 Star]
Charge up your engine to the maximum, making it overheat. You gain a massive 50% strength and speed boost, but you will take 1 damage every 3 seconds. When this skill is at higher levels, you will spew red hot flames from your radiator while the skill is active.
[Fuel Efficiency - 1 Star]
Your fuel lasts 50% longer and makes you move 5% faster passively.
Whoa! I looked through them and found Engine Burst to be very powerful. The damage taken seemed really high, but at higher levels, I should have more HP to burn, literally, right?
Hey, Tablet. What do the stars mean? Like some sort of skill rarity thingy?
[Yes. The more stars, the better.]
[Here are the roll rates:]
[1 Star, 40%]
[2 Star, 30%]
[3 Star, 20%]
[4 Star, 9%]
[5 Star, 1%]
Damn! I felt pretty lucky.
[Incidentally, the chance of you getting a 3 Star skill is 48.8%, considering the 3 skill rolls. It's not that rare to get one.]
Well darn. Now I felt like it was bad luck that I didn't get a 4 Star skill...
Whatever. That just means I have a better chance of getting a good skill. I pick Engine Burst.
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[Engine Burst Acquired]
Hmm, but now that I think of it, my chances of getting Engine Burst specifically was pretty low, right? That was pretty good luck! I suddenly felt a lot better.
[Whatever helps you sleep at night.]
Do you have to be like this?
I sighed mentally. When I came "back to reality" and stopped starring at Tablet's screen, the first thing I saw was the mage under my wheel.
My guilt came flooding back. In a way, my "adrenaline" and anger suppressed it earlier. Not to mention Tablet's notifications distracting me.
[You can thank me later]
[Or now.]
Shut up!
I had killed a man! It was far worse than with the deer. Sure, he was a bandit that tried to attack and rob me, but what if he was going through hard times and needed a way to support his family? Wait, what if the deer had a famil-
NO! I could not think that way. I needed to get over it. What has been done, is done. There was no point moping over it.
[The point is you being a wimp. No guts. Literally.]
Neither do you! And can you stop interrupting my thoughts?
But despite me knowing how irrational it was, the guilt would not stop. Resigned I drove a long distance from the corpse, then activated sleep mode. I blacked out immediately.
----------------------------------------
...
Hmm?
I turned on my eyes.
Instantly the memories of the incident from the previous night flooded back in. Great. I immediately tried to suppress them.
Where was I going to go anyway? I doubt the EXP I get from running over insects was going to contribute much too, so I didn't feel like looking for more bushes. It would be nice if I could find my way to a town. We might not be able to communicate, but I still felt like it was worth a try. If only I had a map to a town or something...
"Well... I know you don't like it when I respond to your thoughts, but what about... uh... searching for one in bags of the bandits?" suggested Radio in a timid voice. "I know it's disrespectful, but I don't think we have much choice at this point."
Oh, that's a good idea. And don't worry about the disrespect, I understand the circumstances.
I started to drive over back towards the accursed place grudgingly. It was then when I suddenly realised something.
Radio?
"Yes?"
So the reason you weren't so chatty last night was because you were scared I would get angry?
Yesterday, I snapped at Radio when it responded to me thinking to myself. I felt kind of bad thinking recalling it. How could I act like that to my beloved Radio?
"Yeah..."
Well, don't worry about it! I'm sorry about yesterday. I was just a little snappy yesterday. Stress from suddenly being thrown into an unknown world, you know? I'm fine with you talking more!
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that!" Radio sounded relieved.
Besides, hearing you from time to time is a lot more pleasant than just having Tablet insult me, isn't it?
Me and Radio laughed slightly. I could feel the atmosphere improving by a lot.
[Watch out, you wouldn't want me to reduce your stats!]
Wait what? That's bullshi-
I mean, I'm sorry! I was just kidding!
[...]
[I was jesting too.]
[What, I'm not allowed to make jokes?]
I felt slightly relieved.
No no, I just didn't expect that from you.
"Yeah, you seem like a more... serious type?" Radio quizzed.
[Suit yourselves.]
"If you act like that, people would naturally think of you that way!"
[I do not care about how you two think about me.]
"You're mean!"
I reached the bandit's corpse as the two bantered. And just as Radio said, he was carrying a bag.
I spent a few moments starring at him.
...
I grabbed his bag, then searched through it. Inside was a few mana crystals, a sheathed dagger, a pouch full of silver and gold coins, a small crystal ball, cards with monsters illustrated and other miscellaneous stuff.
How disappointing... I decided to not keep any of the spoils. It would be disgraceful to the dead if I did so.
[Idiot! Activate the crystal ball!]
What?
[The crystal ball is a mapping and directional device!]
Oh. Don't call me an idiot? How was I supposed to know that?
Still I was slightly grateful. If Tablet didn't point it out, I would not have known.
[Save your gratitude. I was just growing tired of watching you fumble aimlessly in the wild. The orb requires a password. If you pass it to me, I will break the lock formation and activate it for you.]
Huh. Was it really necessary to have such security over a map? But, Tablet being was surprisingly useful!
[They would most likely have their base location on the map if it was customised. And don't expect me to help you too much. You will be on your own in most cases.]
Whatever.
The moment I floated the orb to Tablet, a strange force suddenly sucked the orb into Tablet's screen, somewhat reminding me of a ball dropping into water.
Tablet then grew for a bit, then had a hologram hover over it. It showed the entire forest from a bird's eye view. And there was a huge arrow pointing towards a city in the distance!
Whoa! That's really neat! Thanks, Tablet!
I decided to be more friendly to Tablet. Maybe it would be nicer to me if I- Oh crap, Tablet could hear me.
[Very much so.]
In the background, Radio chuckled lightly.