Chapter 25: Food?
byKaius sat in shock, the jagged stone that dug uncomfortably into his back entirely forgotten. What did it mean that he was an Observed? That shouldn’t have been possible. It was a children’s tale!
The evidence hung there, the notification staying stable in his vision as he tried to burn a hole through it with his gaze. He knew that he had a lot to learn about the Great Depths, after all, every time he tried to cajole his father for more information he’d just been fobbed off with more training.
Yes, that was probably his fault. After he’d been caught reaching out to one of the glimmering runic circles that acted as portals to the Depths he hadn’t been able to sit right for a week. In his defence, what sort of teen wouldn’t be fascinated with the world dungeon after umpteen stories about how that was where the strongest were forged?
He had thought that he would learn things that were mostly common knowledge! Like the existence of Champions. Not massive discoveries, like the fact that an ancient set of legends were secretly accurate, and society at large had simply forgotten how to trigger the attention of the system.
The secret was dangerous. Many, many of his fireside talks with his father had been about how people would kill for an advantage. It was the whole bloody reason they lived in the Arboreal Sea, hells!
A good hour of their conversation after his first brush with a Depths portal had been dedicated to exactly how pointless it would have been to dive in by himself. Father had hauled him back to camp, neck bulging in his rage. Throwing him down onto his bed roll, he had bellowed about how much of an idiot he had been. How a chaperoned unclassed in the Depths was all but completely neutered in their growth, and how its treasures would crumble to dust if passed into his hands.
Mostly though, his father had ranted about how if he had had to dive in after them they would have ended up weeks or months behind schedule. Kaius had stopped listening then, even if he had agreed in private that it would have been a disastrous result.
If people, especially those of means and power, learnt that not only could an unattended unclassed earn a natural treasure, but that by doing so they would be observed by the system?
It would be a slaughter.
Kaius could see it in his mind. Droves inexperienced scions, shunted towards almost certain death just for a simple chance at success.
He had to keep this secret. Had to learn more. Learn what it meant. Push himself harder. If the system recognised him for earning a simple, albeit rare, reward… What would it do if he slew a Guardian without a class?
He tore his eyes away from the notification, looking back to the aethereal tree that grew out of the pond. He had to spend his points. Get a move on and finish his trip around the glade. Rumination could wait until he was back behind closed doors.
He was tempted to divvy them up optimally. He knew what he wanted from a class, and from there the kind of stats it would favour. Bumping up those values could help to influence the options he was offered. He had no way to know for sure though.
He also knew he couldn’t afford to make that decision. There was really only one he had available. He’d come too close to death, too many times. He had to increase his Endurance.
Chewing on his lip, Kaius hesitated for a moment before confirming his choice. He slammed the points through as quickly as he could.
His body rippled, each muscle contracting at once. Lightning shot down his spine, branching to spread to every crevice and edge of his body. His head cranked back, smacking into the rock wall behind him with a loud crack. The pain of the impact was lost, overwhelmed in the swelling sensation of power surging through him.
The well of power in his soul that held his Health rocketed out, the boundaries of the misty pool expanding by half again. Every cell of his body seemed to condense, the constituent parts that made up his being bolstered by the flow of foreign power. Making him just that little bit harder to injure.
Slowly the wave receded, leaving him limp and panting on the floor.
That had been …. Hellish. Overwhelming. Not exactly painful, but different.
“Note to self… Don’t increase a stat by fifty percent all at once” He panted, pushing himself up off the floor with a still quaking limb. He slumped back against the wall, wincing as his bruised head bounced off its surface.
He pulled up his Status to check on his gains.
Status:
Name: Kaius
Dynasty: Unterstern
Age: 18
Class Selection: 1 Year, 47 weeks, 2 days
Race: Human (Dynastic) – +1 free stats per level
Layer Reached: 2
Resources:
Health – 300/300 (2/min)
Stamina – 200/200 (2/min)
Mana – 120/120 (2/min)
Stats:
Endurance – 30
Vitality – 20
Strength – 20
Dexterity – 20
Intelligence – 12
Willpower: – 20
Stat Points: 0
Class Skills (0/10):
N/a
General Skills (9/10):
Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) – 14
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