Warren’s eyes cracked open to a suspicious lack of pain. Looking around his situation came crashing back and relief at the fact nothing had come upon him while he was unconscious flooded him. Thinking back to the circumstances of his blackout he shivered and summoned the screen to figure out what exactly had happened
The first thing he noticed made him raise an eyebrow as he saw there was actually a list of the notifications he had missed while unconscious. Going over them it looked like that mite had been some kind of evolved version of the bugs. ‘Wait wait wait, there's no way that says 10 times!’ Warren froze in shock at the second message. If that was true then he really was a lucky bastard to have fought the thing when it couldn't even move.
Turning back to the glowing messages hanging in the air in front of him Warrens a grin slowly spread wider and wider as he read the messages
[Congratulations! You have reached level 5!]
[You have awakened a Skill]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 6!]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 7!]
[Something stirs deep inside you]
[You have awakened a Skill]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 8!]
Failing to contain his excitement he hurriedly cleared the messages and looked at his status in its new glory
[Name: Warren Kingsbrook]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Unearned]
[Soul: Unawakened (Aero/???)]
[Level: 8]
HP: 25/35
MP: 25/25
STM: 15
STR: 4 (+2)
AGI: 6 (+5)
VIT: 6
CON: 5
INT: 7
MNT: 5
LCK: 10 (+1)
18 Status Points Available
[Renown: 0]
— Class —
— Titles —
[Champion Select] [Trailblazer] [Wind Walker]
— Skills —
[Tireless lvl 1] [Sixth Sense lvl 1] [Aero Affinity lvl 1] [Dash lvl 4] [Stab lvl 3]
— Archetype —
Lucky Bastard: A talent for the untalented
* Increases the effect of LCK
—- Evaluation —
‘[Promising, barely, lets see how you do on the road]
Beaming at the new entries on the screen he focused on them to find out more about his new abilities
[Sixth Sense]
Skill Type: Race
Activation: Passive
Description: Feel the call of Fate
[Aero Affinity]
Skill Type: Soul
Activation: Passive
Description: A Facet of Tempest
Rubbing his hands together like an old oil baron Warren laughed as he looked at his new skills, [Sixth Sense] has pointlessly cryptic description but he could guess what it did [Aero Affinity] failed to offer anything helpful but he'd bet anything it was the key to magic
[Trailblazer]
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A pioneer in a new world, taking every change in stride you have chosen not just to survive but to thrive, taking fate in your hands you have slain a mighty beast far beyond your level proving yourself a bearer of mankind's torch, A Trailblazer.
Effects:
+1 Status upon leveling
[Wind Walker]
The magic of the first storm rages in your path
Effects
+2 AGI
+1 effective level of [Aero Affinity]
‘Holy shit’ while he was still alone he had no way to gauge how important [Wind Walker] was without trying to level up [Aero Affinity] on his own but the implications of [Trailblazer] were enormous. He had already experienced the benefits of extra stats from his [Champion Select] title but this was far more significant than that.
With it he’d be advancing 50% faster than anyone else who lacked a similar title. Even now it had netted him an extra 6 points from his kill on the [Monomite Soldier] and that was exactly what he needed because if the title description was any clue he had no right to fight these things as weak as he was.
As he had this thought Warren glanced around at the forest warily finding nothing, he was safe for now but the bug he had just killed was starting to recover when he took it on which meant the others would probably be moving by now considering his blackout.
Glancing up at the sky and noting the sun was starting to set, Warren decided it was probably better to wait till morning before making the rest of the trip back to the crash instead of stumbling around in the dark. Letting out another sigh he found a suitably tall tree, split half his free points between CON, STR, and AGI feeling strength flood his limbs, and effortlessly swung up into the tree and settled in.
‘Well this is as good a time as any’ Warren thought as he closed his eyes while sitting in the tree in an attempt to ‘become one with the wind’ as his skill described
~~~~~~~~
Hours passed as Warren attempted to meditate while sitting in the tree. He had never really meditated before and his increasingly frayed nerves didn't help.
At some point the distant roars of whatever hellish creatures now roamed the earth had grown much louder than before and between that and the incessant chirping of insects around him he was unable to find peace.
Sighing as he shook his head, Warren contemplated other ways to try and make use of his skill. He possessed mana so there must be some way to use it, he just didn't know how.
Thinking back to all the books he'd read he tried method after method to try and shut out the world around him until eventually he had an idea.
Grabbing his headphones from around his neck, Warren put them on. They were a pair of electric blue noise canceling headphones his brother had sent him when he graduated
His phone had died long ago but the headphones thankfully still worked. Turning them on the forest immediately grew quiet, the sounds were still there but now at a level where he could happily ignore them.
Closing his eyes amidst the near silence he focused on his heart which he could feel beating in his chest. Clearing his head he first went over everything he had been through that day. The crash, killing the mite at the crash, the subsequent chase through the forest, losing his food-
Shit!
In the adrenaline rush and subsequent loss of consciousness of killing the [Monomite Soldier] he had forgotten the damn thing had burned his rations, which meant he had not that long before it became an issue. Sighing, he went back to task.
He had felt like something had cracked inside him when the bug died and he claimed its energy which felt important but he had no clue how to start investigating it at the moment so he pushed that to the back of his head as well. Thinking for a moment longer he decided his priorities were as such:
1: Make it to Stellar City and find Carter
2: Find some kind of food
3: Learn more about the system
4: Learn magic
Getting to the city, or at least some town where he could get directions, would hopefully solve any future worries about food and figure out what the hell he should be doing, until then Warren suspected he’d be banking on his seemingly high luck to keep from eating anything poisonous or trying his hand at hunting.
On the other hand while finding food and his brother were absolutely necessary, he more immediately needed to find out what his new limits were and how he could push them even further. Warren of course also had no intentions of letting magic escape his grasp.
One, who the hell wouldn’t want to be able to use magic. Two, he didn’t exactly envy the idea of being forced to keep his fights so close and personal. Whichever reason was more compelling he couldn’t say but he knew that he wasn’t going to make any progress until he had some way to use mana which the System claimed he possessed.
Before he could plan out his rise to ultimate arcane power any further Warren was interrupted by a strange feeling. It felt like the space around him was slowly closing in. Confused, he pulled up his status trying to remember if there was a skill that could have caused this.
Of his five skills the only ones that made sense were [Aero Affinity] and [Sixth Sense] and the latter felt more likely, as the strange pressure grew stronger Warren grew more annoyed trying to understand what ‘Listen to the echoes of Fate” was supposed to mean.
Clearly it was some kind of utility skill but he had no way to decipher the input it was giving him, he could feel it getting stronger constantly but it wasn't even linked to a specific body part or direction- as he thought that the pressure suddenly doubled in strength before converging into a point on his forehead.
Warren’s eyes shot open as he experienced what felt like a knife getting shoved into his skull, smacking his hands to his head in a vain attempt to blunt the pain he looked around wildly to try and see what was setting off the skill, only to mutter a string of curses as he realized the twin suns had set completely, drowning the forest in darkness.
As he was growing increasingly worried the pressure suddenly vanished, taking with it any trace of pain. More angry than anything at this point Warren went to grab his spike and climb down the tree figuring he’d stand a better chance on solid ground against any attackers in the night. Only to knock it off the tree in the darkness triggering another string of expletives.
Irritation mounting, he resolved to grope around in the grass until he was able to find it as he felt around for a suitable handhold on the tree. As he did so he heard the now familiar ping of the System's voice as the world around him suddenly lit up.
[Congratulations! You have learned {Night Vision}]
Huh, that’s new
He thought at the System naming the skill he had acquired in the notification, moving past that thought Warren began to take in the sight that had been revealed to him. The forest around him was outlined in a vibrant neon blue, this did steal his ability to discern color but the ability to see at night was more than worth the price.
Originally [Tireless] while welcome wasn't actually of much use, between the near certainty of getting lost if he tried to travel at night and his ability to make himself stronger and faster, it wouldn't really let him travel any faster. But now he could keep moving day and night, endlessly if his skill worked as he hoped, but at the very least he’d have a much better pace than before.
The smile that had slowly crept onto Warren’s face suddenly died as the pressure from before returned, this time even stronger, stabbing into the back of his now turned head. Abandoning his planning once more, Warren quickly dropped to the ground and rolled for his weapon. As he grabbed the spike and came back to his feet he froze at what his new sight revealed was waiting for him
High above him, perched on a tree nearly triple the height of his previous one was a bird that was around a foot taller than he was. His sight failed to show what color it was but outlined in great detail its feathers that were each the size of his forearm, a jagged beak longer than his entire arm, and two empty circles that he assumed were its eyes.
All in all the thing was already a nightmare and the fine details of [Night Vision] weren’t helping, as he stared he saw the creature head tilt slightly before seemingly locking eyes with him. Tightening his grip on his weapon, Warren brandished it in both hands as the bird let out an ear piercing screech and began to dive towards him