Chapter 28 – Pugilism? (1)

Chapter 28 – Pugilism? (1)

Rowan made his way down the tunnel, mace held at the ready. If anything, he was hoping to run into some bloodspawn, if only so he could get his next set of rations.

It also seemed like he was at least somewhat close to gaining another level, but he couldn’t be sure.

He didn’t know how many level 3 enemies defeated equalled just a single level 7.

And even if he did, with the way the number of defeated enemies required to gain a level seemed to grow each and every time, he could only make guesses.

There were no vines here, and barely any of the little, skittering critters that had mostly faded into the background for him. They were too fast for him to catch more than a glimpse of one of them, and they hadn’t even done anything during his entire time in the territory of the bloodspawn other than just…exist.

Shaking his head, Rowan focused. Ahead, he could hear the occasional screech, but they were distant.

What wasn’t distant, however, were the scratches and sniffs he heard up ahead. Combined with the occasional noise that was more howl than scream, he was sure that there was at least one of the houndish bloodspawn up ahead.

As his chains lit the cave ahead of him, Rowan relaxed slightly. With so many creatures in the huge cavern not too far away, he’d feared that all of the groups would be large.

But the hounds in front of them numbered only two. He was still cautious, of course, just not quite as much as he would’ve been against four or even five enemies at once.

The beasts hadn’t noticed him yet, but he still readied his mace. He hadn’t been forced to use his chains for a while, and he intended to keep it that way.

The low mana use meant that his reserves were regenerating and might soon be full for the first time in a while. But before he engaged, he remembered something. He’d never distributed his free point after his last level up. So he retreated and took a moment to check his status.

Name: Rowan Crowe

Race: Human

Class: Chained Lord (Inheritance)

Level: 8

Stats:

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 9

Toughness: 20

Vitality: 15

Mana: 14

Free Points: 1

Active Skills(2/10):

Bind lvl 9

Mana Manipulation lvl 13

Passive Skills(0/10):

Quests:

Defeat the Guardian of the Forest or Defeat the Leviathan (Layer Quest)

Defeat 30 Enemies

Reach Level 20

System Credits: 110

He blinked in surprise. He’d hit twenty points in toughness. And yet, his arm was still broken…Rowan looked down at his limp left arm. It was frustrating to be constrained by only being able to use a single one, especially during combat.

A while ago, the pain from it might’ve been debilitating, but now it was just a minor annoyance.

Rowan smiled. All of the pain and suffering he’d gone through since arriving here had paid off, at least a bit.

Still, it was frustrating to be reduced to using a single limb.

Shaking his head, he pushed his annoyance down. His arm would heal. His skill levels had grown quite nicely as well. Then, he turned his attention to the reason he’d opened the screen in the first place: the free point.

Once more, he found himself torn between dexterity and mana. Dexterity was truly beginning to fall behind, and in the new environment he found himself in, Rowan thought he might actually need it. And not just for better dodging attacks.

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Still, he could always use more mana. It had proven itself time and time again to be his most versatile tool. Even his chains needed it to function.

But he already had a lot, and even now, his stores were nearly full. So, in the end, he invested his point into dexterity, finally bringing all of his stats above ten.