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Chapter 200 - Levels Galore
🕑 Added 2024-12-13 21:27:21 +0000 UTCChris
My body was still racked with pain and every breath made it flare up. I was unsure of the specifics, but it felt like every bone in my ribcage was broken and stabbed into me every time I inhaled. Even the floating one.
Not to be outdone, it felt like my right arm was on fire even though there wasn't even an arm to get feeling from!
Other than the pain, waking up to find an arm missing was a surprise, to say the least. While not totally unexpected of an injury to receive, it was still jarring to try and reach for something only to realize my arm was missing. It was the closest body part to the explosion after all.
It being my dominant arm only made it worse.
"Ughh," I groaned.
I felt even worse than after I woke up all because I had to go through my weight around.
Immediately after walking out there, I came back and flopped onto my bed of furs ungracefully. Sitting hurt worse than standing and only when I laid flat on my back was the pain the easiest to deal with.
It never went away, but it at least let me function.
There were so many thoughts running around in my skull, that I wasn't sure which to focus on first. I hadn't exactly had the time to process everything after waking up from what I thought was my death.
Finding out I wasn't dead made everything all the more confusing. When I swung at the portal, I thought for sure I was dead.
Thankfully, everyone crowding my tent left me alone to gather myself when I asked for some space. They were all staring at me like I was some messiah and I needed a few minutes to get my thoughts in order.
Thoughts of the battle, the commotion I woke up to, the losses we experienced, the incessant blinking of goddamn notifications.
It was all a lot to take in after thinking I had died.
Even my body felt different for some reason. Not in the obvious way with all the pain and missing arm, but like something was different. The chill I felt running through me in the void was still there.
With so much garnering for my attention, it made me want to shove it all away and deal with it later.
The one thing I did do, was sate my curiosity.
I had seen the levels gained by those in the group, and most importantly, felt the change in Rachel. She was flaunting her power most obviously and it was a stark change from before.
The feeling she gave off had increased steeply and it made me curious.
Pulling up what I knew to be a long list, I marveled at the length of it all. It was even longer than I assumed it would be.
You have slain...
You have slain...
You have slain...You have slain...You have slain...You have slain...You have slain...
...
You participated in slaying...You participated in slaying...You participated in slaying...You participated in slaying...
...
The list went on, and on, and on.
The last half of it was all participation notifications, which was a bit sad. If all the Demons I killed from the explosion were all counted as partials, I wouldn't have gotten all the essence.
What followed after the kill notifications made lamenting the participation kills meaningless.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
Congratulations! You have leveled up.
14 Levels.
Pinching myself, I had to make sure I was seeing it right. The pain barely registered but I did it anyway. Other than the deluge of level-ups, two more notifications were the icing on the cake.
Skills Available
Skills Available
Not one, but two class skills to choose. My level now sat at 82. It was the single largest gain I had ever received. Even fighting the waves of the tutorial alone hadn't given me 14 levels. Those didn't have thousands of Demons, but still.
Knowing how many stat points I had just received, it made me wonder if the changes in my body were from that or the aftermath of the battle. An abbreviated status willed in front of me.
~~
Name: Christopher Zalenski
Race: (E) Human*
Class: (E) Hammer of the Jotnar(Legendary) – Level 82
Profession: (E) Runesmith(Rare) – Level 59
Affinity: Arctic
Faction: Frostheim (Outpost Leader)
Strength - 1217
Agility - 535
Perception - 315
Fortitude - 979
Endurance - 603
Vitality - 407
Intelligence - 215
Wisdom - 417
Acumen - 230
Free Points: 145
~~
My strength alone jumped from 920 to 1214, breaking through the thousand-point milestone with ease and sat a fifth of the way to the next thousand. My Fortitude made a similar, but smaller jump, up 257 points to 979.
I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get used to the changes.
Maybe recovery will make the adjustment smoother?
Recovering old capabilities mixed with exploring new ones sounded like it would be faster done together than separately in my head.
The only other thing I did with my status screen was dump half my free points into Vitality, bringing it to 477. Quite shamelessly as well. Vitality hadn't been any of my Classes or Professions focus and it was on the lower end of my attributes.
It even fell lower than Wisdom and only just became even with it after all the levels I just received. There were a few reasons to do so. The most obvious was to heal faster but it wasn't the only.
The fight with the Demons was the first time experiencing it and it was something I wanted to remedy. My toughness and ability to take blows was a strong suit I loved. The only thing I liked more was my ability to dish them out even stronger.
But, at times in long battles, the wear on my body would accumulate. It was inevitable when fighting swarms of countless enemies or significantly strong ones.
[Frozen Patchwork] helped mitigate that, but it didn't heal it. All it did was patch me up so I could keep going, delaying the inevitable. It usually lasted until I was able to get to a Healer, drink potions to fix it, or rely on my natural Vitality and [Cold Meditation].
That last bit was what I needed to boost. As Vitality fell behind, my body began to take wounds that my Vitality couldn't fix alone.
I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all, but I at least didn't want it to fall too far behind. With that, I closed all the screens in front of me to sit and relax. I left distributing the rest of my Free points for later.
While my mind was getting into a better headspace, I could hear the people outside my tent. While they agreed to give me some space, I wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer.
The last thing I did was look at the skills available to me. With two to choose, the list was longer than before but not large. There were 7 in total. The last time I got the option there were only 3.
Making decisions right now probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I at least wanted to look over what was available to me. To see if any stood out.
Of the list, I focused on one that I would grab no matter what. My current Class was supposed to be both a weapons and armor specialist and I had already chosen a weapon skill.
The next skill I picked was planned to be an armor one, but the one I was looking at was close enough. It wasn't armor-related, but it was defensive.
It was an upgrade of a skill I already had but it was so much more. [Reinforced Body] flooded the body with mana to make it tougher and harder to injure. The skill started as [Fortified Body] which had the lesser effect of increasing fortitude.
Fortified Body(Common) – Uses mana to fortify the body. Bonus to fortitude while active and the user is harder to knock back.
It felt like ages ago I picked up the skill. The second to ever grace my status sheet. It was a staple back then and was always in use while fighting. I had pushed it to Uncommon with [Reinforced Body].
Reinforced Body(Uncommon) – Saturates the body in mana, increasing natural fortitude and toughness. Increases defense against most attacks while active and the user is harder to knock back.
The skill offered went above both of those.
Jotun's Resistance(Legendary) – The famed resistance of the Jotun. Floods the body in Arctic mana increasing all physical resistance. Increases magical resistance to certain affinities: Cold and Wind. All natural defense is increased while all Cold-related attacks are nearly nullified.
[Jotun's Resistance] went above both of those, far beyond where I thought I could upgrade them to. The scope was miles apart from [Reinforced Body].
While it didn't state the exact extent it would boost my physical resistance, the Legendary tag it carried was a good indicator. The only other Legendary skill I had created my prized hammer, what would a Legendary Resistance skill do for my body?
Thinking of my hammer brought a wave of sadness.
While I knew it wasn't permanent, it still hurt to know it was gone.
While swinging down on the portal, my arm wasn't the only thing that was lost. The hammer was destroyed as well.
Everything leading to and holding onto my hammer was gone. I was told that they looked for my weapon and arm in the aftermath and found neither. I could have told them my hammer was gone but that was before I had woken up.
There was a connection I had with the hammer that made it so I could feel where it was. That connection was gone. It was the reason I had to make a ramshackle hammer to intimidate the crowd.
The hammer wasn't gone for good, but I would have to resummon it.
The first time I did so it took everything out of me. I guessed that how strong it was depended on how much energy was used to summon it.
I had only summoned it once, back when I first got the skill and I was in no condition to do so again, forcing me to go without until I was in a better state.
To make it as strong as possible, I wanted to wait until I was completely recovered but that would depend on how discussions went. If Ashton was going to fight me over the Mana crystal mine, I would be in need of my weapon sooner rather than later.
Not to dwell on my lost hammer, I picked up [Jotun's Resistance]. It was aggravating I couldn't try it out now, but I was looking forward to the chance. Maybe I would get to test it against Light attacks soon.
The other 6 skills were all not relevant to me right now and I was already forcing myself to keep going. While picking a defensive skill after what happened could be seen as hasty, I didn't want to use both my skill slots in the state of mind I was in.
Plus, after how many stat points I just got, I feared nothing that the other city could throw at me. If combat arose, having another skill wouldn't be the difference maker.
The tent flap rippled and it seemed they couldn't hold back any longer.
My mother poked her head in first followed by Gabriel. Next came Ashley to check on me and the floodgates opened.
Everyone wanted to check up on me and with so many people, it was slightly overwhelming.
I could tell that some of them wanted to discuss what we were going to do about the mine but a quick look from my mother cowed any who started to bring it up.
While it was slightly stifling, it was nice to be loved. It was a nice feeling to have and one I cherished.
Comments
musashi
s/through my weight/throw my weight/
Akkido
Strength - 1217 "My strength alone jumped from 920 to 1214"
Penguin Glutton
Tftc!
Michael Flattery
Tftc and Congrats on 200 Chapters!
Cole Ford
that's the usual schedule
KipBR
Hi! Just joined, what is the chapter schedule? Is it 5x a week on weekdays around this time?
Demonlord
Oh and congrats to 200 chapters 🥳🥳
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 His new skill sounds awesome and 14! LEVELS! is damn much... But he definitely earned it 😊
Cole Ford
not going to lie, I spat out the food I was eating while laughing like a maniac when I saw all the level ups
James Faulkner
Tftc!
Alexander C Hyde
I felt even worse than after I woke up all because I had to go (throw)through my weight around.
