I stared at the flood of notifications, my eyes scanning the glowing text over and over, trying to make sense of it. You killed an Eldir – Lv 28… Level Up… The Hexer class reached Level 25… Class Evolution available… Skills increase everywhere… It was… a lot. Too much, too fast. My mind buzzed, trying to track it all, while my head still throbbed with the lingering strain from the battle.

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  I exhaled slowly and leant back, letting the sensations settle. Level twenty-five. And all this in a single day. Am I… supposed to feel accomplished? The system had shoved the tools for rapid progression into our hands, but something about it felt off.

  I hadn’t even touched my last Hexer skill yet. What if selecting a new class now altered the way it evolved? What if the choice closed off possibilities I hadn’t even imagined yet? And the achievements – I had none so far since my last class evolution. Did this insane speed of progression mean I’d miss some hidden opportunities? No. I’m powerful enough as it is. I just need to refine it, not to rush it.

  I let my eyes drift towards Melissa, who was fiddling with her barrier skill. The way she shaped it, pushed it, moulded it around the enemies she’d faced… It was elegant, precise, and completely different from the crude way I used mine. That was the point; I needed control and flexibility. I couldn’t just throw stats and skills at everything and hope it worked. I had to improve.

  I leant forward and ran through my new stats in my head, mentally assigning points for a moment. One hundred fifty free points. My willpower was already the linchpin of everything I did, fuelling my hexes, curses, and even my ability to manipulate spell forms on the fly. If I invested everything there… I’d almost hit 500. Could there even be an achievement for reaching a threshold in a single stat? The thought was tantalising. But then, what if there wasn’t? What if I destroyed my flexibility, my options, for nothing?

  I shook my head. Not yet. Patience. The foundation had to be solid. The temptation to overload was strong, but I could wait. I’d let the points sit for now. It's better to gain more achievements, find more information, and master my current skills than rush into something irreversible.

  I still had decisions to make. My last Hexer skill needed selecting, and four other skills had reached level ten. Each one could evolve. Choices lay ahead, and each carried consequences and opportunities alike. But that wasn’t the priority right now.

  I felt the faint thrum of residual pain in my side, the wound from the fight. That’s because I haven’t been using all my tools. I had the Arcane Sense skill, almost dormant. My barrier skill is rarely used too. Multicasting, capable of holding defences and attacks simultaneously… yet I’d been ignoring it in favour of brute force offence. If I practised integrating all of it, I could be almost untouchable. My “squishiness”, as Quinn liked to put it, would become irrelevant if enemies couldn’t breach my barriers.

  And then there was the curse rebinding. My grimoire was still not fully under my control. I couldn’t remove the curse from it and store it cleanly yet. That had to be next; Marcus could craft more wooden vessels, but maybe I should learn to do it myself. I needed autonomy over this magic. My future depended on it.

  I took a deep breath and focused on the present. Step by step. One decision at a time.

  Step one: select my next skill.

  I stared at the three options floating in front of me, each humming with potential. My mind raced, running through the implications, the synergy with my current ones, and the long-term consequences. Choosing wrong could slow me down, or worse, close off opportunities I hadn’t even thought of yet. I had to be meticulous.

  Marionette of Regret.

  I read the description again: “You implant a crawling curse into a target’s shadow. At will, you may seize control, forcing a single action that the target will fully remember committing by its own will.”

  The pros were obvious. Absolute control over a single enemy, even for just a moment, could turn a fight completely in my favour. The psychological component, making the target remember the action, was dangerous. Perfect for manipulation, for sowing chaos in groups of enemies, or if we talk outside of combat, for manipulating someone into doing something they didn’t want and making them believe they did, for some reason. Seems too good to be true.

  But the cons were equally apparent. One action per target – was it only a one-time thing? This was looking like a situational skill fit more for a setting outside combat. But could I use it in combat, or was the action something the target could resist? Let’s move on.

  Rite of the Shackled. I chewed over the words. This was unique, capturing a lesser malign entity and essentially storing it for later. Potentially, I could summon it in battle as an ally or use it to empower my other spells maybe. That would increase versatility. In theory, this skill could give me more tools, creating a buffer of power I could deploy when needed.

  But the drawbacks were clear. It relied on the presence of lesser entities and required preparation. I needed to find these creatures before binding them to me. And if I didn’t manage it carefully, one misstep, and a bound entity could escape, possibly turning against me. Last one.

  Brand of the Twice-Cursed. Now, this one immediately caught my eye. Awareness of marked targets. My Hexer build thrived on debuffs and precise strikes, and knowing where a target was at all times was a massive advantage. I could coordinate attacks with teammates, track evasive enemies, and eliminate threats before they even reached my allies. This skill also synergised perfectly with my current strategy: apply multiple hexes, weaken a target, and finish it efficiently.

  The downside? It didn’t directly control or damage enemies. Its power was tactical. In the thick of battle, it wouldn’t stop a claw swing or a projectile, but in the bigger picture, it would let me track foes that relied on stealth. No, wait. If I had to face someone like Quinn, he wouldn’t face me directly at all; I wouldn’t have the time to apply the first hex, and I would just get my throat slit, and that would be it.

  I leant back and considered my fighting style.

  I tapped the confirmation. Marionette of Regret. Immediately, I felt the subtle link to the skill, the thread of intent and shadow forming in my mind. I could feel the potential… the slight tug of life and will as though the people around me had become just a little more pliable.

  I leant back, a smirk tugging at my lips. The Rite? Forget it. I had no idea where to find those creatures, and frankly, I didn’t want more cursed things on me. Shadows were not for harbouring monsters. That path was a distraction, a risk I didn’t need.

  I could almost hear the possibilities spinning in my mind: take a step back from the front lines, influence battles subtly, push enemies into mistakes, and sow chaos without risking my body. And outside of combat… opportunities for leverage, infiltration, and manipulation. Marionette was a fantastic skill; I’m sure I was just scratching the surface of what it could do.

  I exhaled, feeling the pulse of power in my fingertips.

  Now, the skill evolutions.

  20 chapters ahead!