The First thing I saw as I turned around, was that neither Andy nor Lilly had moved a step. They were both staring slack jawed at the three bodies on the ground. I was disappointed, I had told them before that they should immediately take cover if anything went south. They should be either running to, or behind cover right now. I sighed internally. I pulsed my Energy Control skill checking if anything had tried to sneak up on us since I had downed the three guys dead behind me. There wasn't anything I could sense, but I did a quick visual scan regardless. With the death of the three level 3's I could feel my class energy skyrocket. I gained a little more than a full level and a half it felt like. I held off my level up screen until I was somewhere else, I didn't feel safe here.
"Why are you two both just standing there ... didn't I tell you to run for cover if anything happened?" I frowned at my companions looking between the two until they closed their mouths.
They glanced at each other before speaking at the same time.
"Well, we were uh well yes but." They both started.
"Stop, one at a time. Andy, go." I stopped them so I could actually understand what they were saying.
"Right, well see we would have run but all three were just ... dead before we could even start." Andy replied looking gob smacked.
"What he said. You killed them SO fast! I sort of saw you move, then you were in front of Charlie, and then they were all dead and you were looking at us." Lilly sputtered.
I ruminated on what they were saying for a few seconds, I don't think I'm THAT fast, I think they're just slow.
"Hm, well next time you should be quicker to take cover. Anyways let's move out. Andy check Zack for anything useful. Lilly, you have Charlie." I wanted to get out of here quickly, and I wanted anything important they had to come with us.
Lilly and Andy gave me affirmatives and then got to work. I took the Roland schmuck, searching him for anything I thought would be useful. The first item I took was his gun, the next thing I removed from his still warm corpse was his ammunition. There weren't many 9mm rounds left, 13 rounds, and however many are in the mag, which also explained why he was only using the Glock 19 in emergencies. I cut the holster off his belt, and stored the gun, holster, and ammunition in my pack. The next thing I extracted from his pockets, and the last, was a granola bar, which I also stored in my bag. I looked over to Andy and Lilly.
"Anything useful?" I asked them.
"This guy just had the sledgehammer on him." Andy Said.
"Take it if you want to use it, otherwise leave it. How about your guy Lilly?" I turned from Andy to Lilly.
"He had his knife and a few granola bars." Lilly responded.
"Take it all and store it in your pack." I told her.
I waited until she was done packing the knife and granola bars into her pack, as soon as she was done, we were moving out, Andy decided not to keep the sledgehammer.
"Alright let's move, it's not quite dark yet, but we'll go straight to the apartment building." I told them as soon as Lilly was ready.
I was off before I could see their nods of ascent. I turned my Energy Control skill on and left it that way for the next 5 minutes as we got out of there. Even with the skill running the whole time I still kept an eye out behind us incase anything or anyone was following us. Not seeing or feeling anything, I started to relax, and slowed our pace, returning my skill to going on and off in intervals to save energy. I started to kill monsters instead of avoiding them, and it wasn't long before we made it back into the lobby of our apartment building.
The only thing I felt on our way back was monsters and the occasional human holed up in a few of the buildings, none of them had classes as best I could tell, and no one was in our building. I followed Andy and Lilly up the stairs to Andy’s apartment. We entered and before they could ask any questions about what happened I asked if either of them wanted to use the gun I took from Roland.
"Nah man I’m a warrior now I don’t use long ranged weapons.” Andy immediately replied.
I thought he was being naive, while yes technically warriors didn’t use ranged weapons that was only in books and games, this was real life, and a ranged weapon could save his life especially before he really leveled up. It was his decision though and I wasn’t going to force him to be smarter.
"I don’t really know how to use a gun so..” Lilly started, but I interrupted her.
"I can teach you how to use it, and after a few levels I think you’ll find it easy to use.” I told her. It wasn’t that hard to use a gun at close range and was better than not having it at all. If she got a class with any amount of dexterity or if she spent any unallocated points on it, she would be better than most shooters before level 10.
“Okay sure that sounds good, thanks.” Lilly gave me a nod.
"Very well then now that that’s sorted, why don’t you two start eating and I’ll be back to join you in a minute.” I removed the gun from my backpack and set it, the holster, and the extra ammunition on the table for Lilly before I left. I had a level up notification to go over.
Once I was in my own apartment, I allowed the level up screen to appear in my vision. It wasn’t very difficult to keep the text away until I wanted it, but until I brought it up there was this nagging feeling like something was trying to get my attention. Fortunately, it wasn’t annoying enough that I thought it would hinder me if I was in combat.
Congratulations, you have reached Level 2.
For reaching level 2, you have received stats according to your class.
+5 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, +4 Agility, +3 Dexterity, +4 Free stats
With that I opened up my status.
Name: Cassius Heart
Titles: Primus
Class: Void Tainted Spell Blade (Lvl 2)
Unallocated Stats: 4
Strength: [10] +20% effectiveness
Vitality: [10] +20% effectiveness
Endurance: [10] +20% effectiveness
Dexterity: [16] +20% effectiveness
Agility: [16] +20% effectiveness
Intelligence: [22] +20% effectiveness
Wisdom: [22] +20% effectiveness
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Skills:
Energy Blade
Energy Control
Burst
Void Tainted Sight
Void Tainted Cowl
I didn’t feel any different from when I allowed the System prompt to activate and now, which probably means my stats were allocated instantly upon gaining my second level. I’m surprised I didn’t notice my stats increase during our return trip but maybe I was just too preoccupied with getting out of there.
Either way I need to make sure I’m used to my new stats the next time I go out, which now that I think about it, I should probably go out tonight so I can test my night vision skill and see how my Tainted Cowl skill works in the dark.
With a tentative plan to go out tonight I decide to allocate my free stats. I put 3 points into Endurance so I can sustain myself longer on less, assuming that’s how the stat works. Then I add the last of my free stats into Vitality, as having some extra Vitality never hurts.
Now that I’ve finished with allocating my stats, I make my way back over to Andy’s and enjoy a decent dinner with my companions. We make small talk until the incident inevitably comes up, they ask how I could do things like that and tell me how cool that was and small comments like that. I simply respond by telling them that my skills allow me to do some interesting things and change the subject. Eventually they understand I’m not interested in explaining more and move the conversation to other topics.
Before we finish dinner Lilly asks me about training her to use a gun.
"When do you want to start practicing?” She asks.
"We’ll start tomorrow when we’re out hunting.” I tell her.
I tell my companions that I’m going out to test my night vision skill as dinner finishes up. They merely give nods and move on, understanding that I can take care of myself. With night falling and without lights I turn on my skill to proceed downstairs without falling on my face. As my skill activates the first thing I notice is that I can now see perfectly in the dark and that shadows are just different shades, though everything now has a grey coloration to it. I can still determine color, but it's like I'm seeing it through grey tinted sunglasses that dull every color into drab facsimiles.
What I initially thought was a group of beetles sitting outside my apartment building after using my Energy Control skill from the 5th floor, ended up being a group of beetles inside my apartment building. I only realized this as I thankfully pulsed my skill before stepping out into the lobby. What I saw only confused me more, for not only had I not seen monsters in our building since the first day, but these beetles were ... sleeping? I wasn't sure if beetles experienced torpor like ants, or if they actually slept, or if either of those things were even relevant to these monsters, but they were sat on the ground and not moving. Uncaring of why the beetles were easy targets, besides noting it down for any later consideration in my mind, I silently walked through the lobby piercing each and every beetle's carapaced head with my Energy Blade.
If all the monsters went to sleep at night I should have been hunting at night since they first appeared. It would also be a great way to get my companions some easy class energy. After killing all 16 beetles I pulsed my Energy Control skill. Rewarded for my caution with multiple pings outside, I move to the door to see which monsters were still awake at night. My skill tells me there is something moving from left to right on the other side of the street. I wait for it to cross and when it does, I stop breathing, blinking, and try to force my heart to shut up, because making too much noise might attract that ... thing and attracting it would certainly be my doom.
Only after whatever the flying fuck that abomination was passes by do I allow myself to start breathing again. I take several careful steps backwards, away from the door and go take a seat on the stairs. It takes me a full minute of deep breaths before I can even rationally think again. What I saw out there was the walking incarnation of nightmares wrapped in humanities collective fear and despair then turned to eleven and multiplied by fifty.
The very first thing I noticed, and the only thing anyone without night vision would see was the deep blood red glowing irises. Now that might seem scary on its own, a pair of floating red eyes prowling the streets, but I almost wish I only had my imagination to fill in the rest of the abomination. Unfortunately for me I witnessed the entirety of the creature in all its dark glory.
The creature was black as tar with a smooth carapace like skin interrupted by spiked protrusions and naturally formed plated armor copying its bone structure on the exterior of its body for protection. Its body seemed to devour any nascent light still around. Its mouth was slightly elongated, with an unnaturally unhinged jaw and a mouth packed full of at least three-inch-long needle like serrated teeth designed to rend flesh. Looking above the mouth and past the blood red eyes, the creatures face flowed into a spiked crest covering its elongated skull and curving out and back like a shield, naturally allowing hits to slide off without piercing. The abomination had four legs, but that wasn't where it stopped in the limb department, it had six lithe squirming appendages attached to its back alongside its spiked exterior plated spinal column armor. These six extremities, three to each side, were at least ten feet long, plated and spiked more heavily than the main body, and ended in a serrated dagger like chitinous tip that looked like it could pierce steel.
With a final deep breath, I stood and approached the door to the lobby with my Energy Control skill on full boar, as I didn't want any of the new monsters to sneak up on me. I had given myself fifteen minutes to digest what I had seen and suppress my instinctual fear of the monster which I have decided to call Night Stalkers. They deserved a far deadlier name, but that was part of why I turned down the coolness factor on their name to a solid 7 out of 10. I wanted to remind myself they were dangerous without instilling any intrinsic fear into the name. Arriving before the door I wait; another one is heading this way. I simply watch as it passes by, I still hold my breath and don't dare to blink. I continue watching them pass down the street one every few minutes sometimes with a few closer together, until I can see them without panicking.
I calm myself and prepare, it's time to kill an abomination of the night. As the next Night Stalker passes by my building, I activate my Void Tainted Cowl and step out onto the street. The Night Stalker doesn't seem to notice me, nor the door opening. I prepare to launch an Energy Dagger at the monster, with an exhale of breath I let the dagger fly. It connects, but to my surprise it only gives it a deep cut, not the usual destroyed heart. SHIT I mentally curse, the monster has stopped and has pivoted my way, but it doesn't seem to see me. I immediately launch another Energy Dagger, but this time I load it with three times the energy I normally do. It looks right towards me as the dagger flies at it. The Night Stalker is only able to shift a few inches before the dagger connects however, and it collapses under its own weight with a hole going through its chest and out the other side.
I pump my fist with victory and relief before making my way back inside the lobby dismissing my cowl. As I calm down and consider what happened, I'm first excited about how well my Void Tainted Cowl skill works during the night, even after it knew which direction my attack came from it was still unable to locate me. This is great news and an incredible development. The other important information I gathered was that this monster was much tougher than any of the others I had been hunting. It seemed stronger, and faster than them as well. This likely meant I was now dealing with higher leveld monsters, or however they gain power. Thinking back, I'm now glad I used more energy to attack the three men who tried to rob us. I had only used extra energy in case they had defensive skills or something like that, but now that I know higher leveled creatures are tougher, I know I could have been in danger if I had used my regular amount of energy. I think the cause of such toughness is likely related to the endurance or vitality stat, maybe the strength stat too, that means not everything is going to increase in toughness to the same degree as power levels increase. So, while I may have been fine killing the bandit trio with regular daggers, I'm glad I decided to be cautious.
With my ruminations over, and my energy recharged, I wait for another Night Stalker to come down my street. Before the next one arrives, I notice that my first kill is gone. I think that it was likely eaten by one of the Night Stalkers that passed by while I was inside. My fight with the second one goes much better with a single attack taking it down before it can react. I decided on using a doubling of my standard energy this time, as the regular amount wasn't enough, and the triple powered dagger bore a hole straight through the beast. With my second fight a success I retreat back inside to repeat the process again, as I can already feel I'm closing in on my third level after the large dose of class energy from Roland and his friends.
My third fight with the Night Stalkers starts out fine. I wait for one of them to come down the street, again noticing the body of my second kill is gone. I walk out in my Cowl and easily take it down. As I'm about to turn and make my way back to the lobby again I activate my Energy Control skill, this is something I've done at the end of every fight since I killed Rolands crew. It almost saves me from being cut open. However, it does save me from being killed instantly. Without any hesitation, the instant I feel an energy signature far too close to me, I activate Burst and retreat 10 feet backwards. With the creature now in my field of vision I see three of its spear like appendages swinging through the space I was just occupying. The dagger like tips have three-inch long reversed barbs splitting from the middle of each of the blades, meant for hooking into prey, and not letting go. I feel the pain then, there's two gashes on my arm, one in my left bicep about an inch and a half deep, and the other in my forearm this one only an inch deep.
FUCK THAT HURTS! I'm able to keep my scream internal but it takes an incredible level of willpower to do so, and with the remaining amount I raise my right arm and launch a tripled powered Energy Dagger into the Night Stalker piercing a hole straight through its chest and out the other side. With streams blood leaking from my left arm, I stumble my way back into the lobby of my apartment building.