Nice. I need to kill only one more level 5 Kobold to advance to Level 6.

  The last few fights had confirmed something—XP gains were tapering off. The stronger I got, the less I earned from killing Kobolds, and the XP required to level up kept climbing. Progress wasn’t slowing because I was weaker; it was slowing because the System wanted to make sure, I worked for every inch.

  The last Kobold had dropped a Knowledge Shard—just an Advanced one, though. Still, progress. Maybe a Level 6 Kobold would finally yield a Rare. The Free Points Token was a nice bonus too, every little bit mattered.

  It was still early, and my mana reserves were full, so I decided to go for it—to find another one and push through to Level 6.

  The Mini Map pulsed faintly in the corner of my vision. A few red dots scattered nearby—low-level Kobolds, nothing useful. Then, a single dot moving steadily across the grid. Level 5. Perfect.

  I trailed it for a block, making sure it was alone before setting up. When it rounded the corner, I was already hidden behind a parked car, staff ready.

  This time, I waited. Let it come to me. Patience over pride.

  Freeze, Fleetstep, Mana Slash—clean execution. No wasted motion, no panic, no injury. The Kobold went down hard and stayed down.

  I exhaled slowly, a grin tugging at my lips. “Level six,” I murmured.

  The dome formed around me, and the base stat sheet popped up in front of my eyes.

  I allocated my points and decided to choose my spell …or upgrade when I was back at my apartment. I knew I was going for the upgrade, but I knew from experience the system was going to give me a spell to upgrade or allow me to take a chance.

  I also had the points to allocate from Free points Token, and I was sure it would give me a choice of chance as well.

  I walked through the dome and carefully made my way home. There were Level 6 Kobolds out there and I did not want to meet them, not yet anyway.

  I got home without incident. I had to wait a bit to allow some Kobolds to pass. I was hiding behind a vehicle. They were only Level 3, and I could have easily killed them, but the loot was not that good and… why bother.

  I first took a long shower and after that I sat on my bed, snacking as I chose the upgrade for my spell choice.

  I was just about to blurt our chance and then I stopped. Upgrading Freeze would actually be good. If I could immobilise a Kobold longer, it would make my attacks more effective.

  I choose spell

  A blue screen opened, and I studied the new spell. I wad very happy with it.

  The new Freeze was a serious upgrade. Six full seconds of lockdown — that was huge. In a real fight, six seconds was the difference between breathing and bleeding out. Long enough to move, think, or hit hard before the Kobold even remembered how to blink.

  The Frostbite effect was the cherry on top. Even after breaking free, it stayed slowed and sluggish. Made follow-ups cleaner, safer.

  The cost though… yeah, it stung. Eight Mana per cast — double the basic version. Not cheap, but fair. Power always came with a price. The cooldown was still manageable, twelve seconds, which meant I could keep it in rotation without standing around waiting.

  I moved on to the Free Points Token.

  Seven was a fair number of points but I have a good feeling about chance so I will give it a shot

  “Chance.”

  I retrieved the dice and rolled. It landed on a plus sign.

  I hesitated for a second and then rolled. I felt like crossing my fingers but … would just take what I could get.

  It rolled and ended on five. That was ten. I gave a little whoop as I gained tree points with my little gamble.

  Now to allocate the points.

  I opened my Stat Sheet stared at the glowing list for a while, thinking back to all those fights. The misses. The near misses. The moments when I’d run dry on mana or moved just a fraction too slow.

  Intelligence was the obvious one — no mana, no magic. That came first. Three points in INT.

  Wisdom next — not just more mana, but better recovery and sharper focus. Two points there.

  But I couldn’t ignore how often movement had saved me. Speed and reflexes kept me breathing, especially when kobolds decided to get creative with flank attacks. Two points in AGI.

  Dexterity got one, just enough to tighten my staff work and keep my strikes on target.

  Perception — one point. Needed it for awareness. The Mini Map helped, but my eyes had to do their part too.

  And finally, Endurance. One point. I wasn’t planning on tanking anything, but it never hurt to take a hit and stay standing.

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  first Royal Road chapter of each pair. The second one won’t have pictures. If you want to see all the art together (or earlier), it’s on Patreon with the combined chapters!