After I assigned Technology as my chosen stat, I moved on to Dismantle and Crafting. Since I hadn’t even seen a crafting bench yet, I went with Dismantle, taking it up to level 4. That seemed more economical anyway. After all, it would take more experience to go from level 3 to 4 than it would take to go from 0 to 1.
As soon as I chose that, the screen refreshed to another level-up screen. I barely even got to celebrate my upgrade before they wanted me to handle the rest of my new levels.
“By the way, time’s running out,” Dave said.
I unfocused my gaze on the menu and refocused on him. “What?”
“The fans paid to shorten the time you’re in here. They can’t take it lower than two hours, but we’re only a few minutes from it now.”
I checked the timer on my HP orb and cursed. It read 14 minutes, 32 seconds and counting.
“They can do that?”
Dave cocked his head at the wall, gave a tentative peck, and said, “Anything for the fans.”
Fuck the fans.
Cursing some more, I looked at the new level-up options.
Level 11!
You gain 1 max MP.
Your resistance to 3 of your usable elements increases by 5% each. Note: Your elements have not yet been determined. This bonus will retroactively apply once you select an Aspect.
You gain an increased regeneration rate of 2 points per second in MP, HP, or Depth. Assign?
You gain 1 stat point of your choice. Assign?
“Whoa,” I said. “This is way better than level 10. Should I increase HP regen rate, or let the Belt of Bullshittery handle that?”
“Well, seeing as how you have only 2 mana potions and it doesn’t regenerate on its own, maybe go with that first.”
My finger hovered over the icon. I had never been very good at magic in the real game. Maybe I should go all-in on melee weapons instead of spells?
No. You want to dual-load Intelligence and Tech. You’ll be casting spells.
I chose MP regeneration rate. The other option, Depth regen, was less important in the early game.
I chose to upgrade Intelligence, and the screen instantly refreshed.
Level 12 offered me only a stat point. That went to Tech. I was hoping to move through these menus fast, but then level 13 hit me with another new thing.
Level 13!
You gain 1 max MP.
You gain 1 stat point of your choice. Assign?
You gain 1 World Tree node of your choice. Assign? Note: When you choose a Class, you will have the option to reset the World Tree at the loss of a single node.
What the hells was a World Tree node? I selected Intelligence for my stat, then opened the World Tree menu.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Oh, fudge nuggets,” I said. It was a whole damned skill tree of passive abilities and upgrades. I’d seen something like this in other games, and as much as I wanted the boost now, the decision was going to kill me. I could spend hours poring over something like this.
I gave the whole thing a brief look-over. At the trunk of the tree, there were three circular slots, each one leading to another slot, then another, all the way up the trunk and then branching wildly after that. These contained options like increasing regen rate or base HP, improving stats and resistances, or even adding passive perks.
The first choice was between several perks, each with names:
Live for Death.
Every time you kill an enemy with a weapon or spell, your health will gain 1% regen rate.
Hinder the Reaper.
Every time you heal a target under 10% health, your health will gain 1% regen rate.
Name the Blade.
Every time you trigger a weapon’s active effect, your health will gain 1% regen rate.
I read them a second time, then scanned up their respective trees. I got the gist. Each one gave me access to bigger and better perks down the line, but selecting one made it impossible to switch to another tree later—at least until I chose a Class. That threw me. Classes were normally chosen at game start, but not anymore.
“I have to choose between getting healed by killing, getting healed by healing, or getting healed by having a fancy weapon with fancy effects,” I told Dave.
“Easy. Killing.”
It seemed a simple choice, but the last time I’d been in a forest of mobs, they had all been humans. I wasn’t always going to be able to kill all the mobs I saw, and even if I could, it would take ages to kill all but the weakest enemies. A Hunter, for example, was not going to be easy. It was a lot of work just to gain that 1%.
“It’s good if I wander into a field of bunny rabbits,” I said. “I can then treat them as my personal heal spell. But if I’m wandering into a field of bunny rabbits, I probably don’t need a heal.”
“Huh… you make a fair point.”
“But that tree will probably lead to Intelligence and Strength boosts. Maybe I should pick it anyway.”
Dave squatted in front of his carving. It was hard to see what it was, since the wall was made of white stone, but I strongly suspected it was a set of perky breasts.
“Maybe you should pick the heal one, if you really plan to babysit 40 Conscripts. It’ll take a lot to keep them alive.”
I considered this. Maybe, if I changed tack now and switched to Intelligence, I could play healer to my army and—
“I meant that as a joke,” Dave said, snapping his head around. “Please, for the love of Jerome’s left and holy testicle, do not pick that one. Please.”
I waved a hand. “The last one might be better anyway, if I’m going to focus on building my own weapons. I should have some control on active effects then. And something tells me no one is going to pick that, since it won’t be immediately useful unless they already have a weapon with an active effect.”
“You mean like how you don’t have a weapon with an active effect yet? You mean like how it will be useless to you?”
I ignored him, selected Name the Blade, and moved on to the next screen. We were down to four minutes.
Please let the next choices be easy….
Level 14 , 16, and 18 offered nothing special, 15 let me upgrade Dismantle again, and 17 allowed me to get the usual 1 free stat plus the option to add 2 stats of my choice or 1 Luck. I chose the Luck, because I knew it was near-impossible to bring your Luck up in this game. I’d take all the free Luck I could get.
All in all, there had been no new hard choices to make. I got 9 total max mana points automatically, which was great since the game had started me at only 9, and I added 5 Technology stats and 3 Intelligence altogether. It was a good start, but I was leery about my low Constitution, so I three 1 stat into Con at the last second, instead of putting it into Intelligence.
By the time the last screen closed out, I had only 45 seconds left on the timer.
Achievement! My Widdle Baby’s Aww Gwown Up!
You went through your first level-up screen! Now I can say I popped your cherry!
Reward: a Red Took You Long Enough Box.
When the Game Host stopped talking, an object in the shape of a box of chocolates appeared on the floor next to Dave. I looked at the time. It read 44 seconds.
Holy Jerome’s testicles. It really did dilate time.
I opened my inventory. I still hadn’t equipped my two weapon sets, one as my main, and one as a backup. All I had in there was the Mace of Decimation, so I threw in the one-handed Dragonscale Shield to go with it.
For my backup weapon set, all I had left to choose from were a stone hammer or stone mace. Neither would carry me very far. If the Mace of Decimation failed me, I was already toast. So instead, I hot-keyed the Oversized Storage Orb and the Well-Aimed Rock into my backup slots. If I switched to them with a gesture, they would be instantly available to use without the need to fiddle with my inventory. They seemed like the types of items to come in handy randomly, so I was satisfied with that—
The thought had barely completed before I found myself standing on the front steps of the bank vault. Dave spread his wings to launch from my shoulder as I pulled up my shield and whirled to face forward.
I didn’t see anyone—
KA-BOOM!
Across the street, flame expanded into a yellow, whirling shroud.
I heard myself think, I’m impervious to fire. I’ll be fine!
And the water tower started to fall.
