Chapter 22

My eyes opened to a grey morning. I wasn’t sure what surprised me the most. That my trick worked and I survived, or that, somewhere in the middle of the ordeal, I actually managed to fall asleep dipped in mud and cuddled up with a huge rock for a teddy bear.

My body felt weird and unresponsive, like my muscles refused to work properly. With a grunt and a soft, crackling sound from my hand, I realized that wasn’t the case. Rather, the mud had hardened all over my body and was currently weighing me down, locking my movements in place.

I checked my character overview to get an idea how long had passed. Judging from the time remaining on my debuffs, it was nearly noon. Seven hours and change to go on the concussion debuff, and I’d been passed out for at least… eight hours. Huh. The sky sure didn’t look like that. Little by little, I eased myself around and checked out my surroundings.

Last night, I’d been able to see absolutely nothing. Today, I could clearly see… well, little more. A heavy fog filled the landscape, hiding anything that was more than a few hundred meters away. What I did see within that area? Nothing. Blessed, dull, peaceful nothing.

I didn’t try to plan. Planning, historically, wasn’t my strongest suit. I was more used to taking it on the chin and keeping up. Additionally, half of me was still sure the other shoe would drop and I’d get offed every second. Instead, I took stock of what had happened yesterday and where that had left me.

Sitting with my back against the boulder, softly shivering from the cold, with my gaze slowly scanning the horizon to ensure nothing was going to jump out at me, I checked over the system.

Current overview:

Liam Berg

Level: 12. Progress to next level 37%

Class: Fighter

Path: Path of Fortitude

Quirks: Enforced Anti-Violence, Tier 5. Passive Power, Tier 4.

Status: Concussion (minor), Damaged Muscles (medium)

Traits: Starved Growth (Temporary)

Health: 219/710

Stamina: 710/710

Mana: 70/70

Health regeneration: 8.5 health/hour

Mana regeneration: 42 mana/hour

Stamina regeneration: 99.4 stamina/hour

Attributes:

Strength: 13

Agility: 15 (-8) = 7

Dexterity: 8

Fortitude: 26 (71)

Perception: 11 (-3) =8

Mental Power: 7

Mental Control: 9 (-3) = 6

One talent point available. Apply now? Y/N?

Huh. That was… I’d gained about seventy health during my race, somehow? Oh. Fragments of the run returned to me, pain-filled moments of lucidity. I’d earned three levels during the scramble to escape. And somewhere mid-run, I’d realized that my stamina was going to run out and I would drop to the ground if I didn’t use some of my points.

I couldn’t even find it in me to disagree with night me. All three attribute points had gone straight into Fortitude for added health and stamina. On top of that, I’d gotten three talent points to work with. Two of those, I’d dumped straight into Improved Defense, maxing it out and making the efficiency of my Fortitude explode to where I had seven times the health of your average person, if healthy. The third point, I’d… left unused?

Giving it some thought, it actually did make a surprising amount of sense. Surprising, because I’d been feeling pretty damn desperate, and yet I’d still kept myself from tossing the final point into anything. But then again, what could I perceivably have used it for? Another point to Wheel of Magic, perhaps, to increase my ranged attacks, but at that point I was already running on fumes for stamina and even a fully maxed Wheel of Magic was unlikely to kill a lizard who could just run away. Nothing else among my options would’ve made a real difference.

I sure didn’t mind it now. Having a single point to play around with might turn out to be the difference between life and death for me.

Attribute points and talent points aside, the night’s trials hadn’t gone unrewarded.

My existing skills had also earned some increases. My Concentration skill jumped to three. No surprise there. Using my Deflect and Wave of Reflection talents to proper effect took a good deal of concentration. Even less surprising was Endurance rising all the way to eight and Stamina Regeneration to four. Running a marathon while dodging firebolts was a taxing business. But at least, with the added regeneration, now it only took me seven hours to fully regenerate my stamina, instead of ten. Identify had gotten a few boosts as well, from me trying to spot enemies during the chaos.

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My defensive skills had gotten the real workout, though. Armor leapt by six. Blunt damage resistance by four. Parry by three. Shield by a full seven points. Even Arcane Resistance got a single bump, though it was anybody’s guess where that came from. The stupid lizard spat fire, not arcane.

Equally unsurprising, my skills had been joined by the arrival of a handful of new skills. Some of those, I’d seen coming. Some were self-explanatory, like Climbing, Leaping and Stealth, which all stayed at level 1. Others had me frowning and reading the small script.

You have earned a new general skill:

Athletics

Passive skill

Some people are more physically gifted than others. They are the ones who always seem to stand out, do better when they use their body. Every level in Athletics will marginally improve your physical efforts. Your jumps will be higher, your sprints more explosive.

This new skill, already at Level 3, was an absolute keeper. Exercising had always been part of my life – where new schools, foster homes and, on one occasion, orphanages, turned every aspect of my life upside down, going to the gym gave me a sense of stability and consistent progress throughout it all. And now, it would appear, my efforts would start paying back dividends.

You have earned a new general skill: