Free Web NovelChapter 17: Knife tricks
Jimmy dived towards the city, and landed in one of its many rooftops.
The sharp cold of the stone that made up most of the city, hit his feet right away. He noticed that this was one of the few times he actually felt the cold. During other events, he had always been occupied with one goal or the other.
Now, as his mind cleared, he was a lot more aware of his surroundings. He wondered how far away winter was, specifically, how long his family was safe for, under the protection of his older siblings.
"We’re a moment after the arse-crack of dawn, but it’s warm... I guess winter is a few months away." he said, "Gordon is a good guy. He agreed to stay here for months, and didn’t ask for anything in return."
At this point, Gordon and Lora were the only family members he had a bit of respect for. Or, at the very least, they were the only ones who didn’t offend him as much as everyone else did. His mother didn’t offend him directly, but today, she chose to stay silent about his banishing, so he lost a bit of his respect towards her.
It bothered him that he was treated so horribly because of a simple apple. The calamity from last night, stretching all the way to early morning today, shouldn’t have unraveled the way it did.
"I can’t do anything about it now," he sighed, "I guess I won’t rustle their feathers for a while."
As he thought about what he should do next, he felt comfortable about the fact that the deeply rooted restraints that were nailed in his head just yesterday, were fading away today.
A harmless mistake got his father beaten, and he felt guilty about that, he couldn’t shake that feeling away, but now that his family was protected, rules seemed senseless.
"I killed two people..." he took a deep breath, "But I promise, their deaths will serve a purpose. They were innocent, but god damn, I got a lot of points out of them."
It was difficult to feel good about all the system points he had now, and internally, he hoped that he didn’t have to kill the innocent again, however, as he browsed through the evolution tree, his guilt was momentarily replaced by the accelerating feeling of opportunity.
"The Swordsmanship Comprehension evolution should do me good for a long time. I should upgrade it." He said, as he looked at the kitchen knife between his claws. "Level it up, system."
[Confirmed]
[Initiating...]
Jimmy instantly fell on his bum. He lost balance, and could feel his legs crackling like drywood on a campfire.
"This feels weird..." he grunted.
There was barely any pain worth noting, but as he looked at his feet, it seemed as if bugs were crawling beneath his scales. It was absolutely horrifying, and he almost hurled in response.
Then, a wave of pain did strike. It was as if he summoned it, and once it hit, he missed the condition he was in just a moment ago.
"My god, that stings!" he cawed.
[Upgrade complete]
[Swordsmanship Comprehension Evolution: Level 1 >>> Level 2]
[-650 system points]
[Remaining points: 8,137]
[Your ’second ankles’ can now rotate up to 70°]
[Your feet are now 15% tougher, and equally more coordinated with your reflexes.]
"I should’ve checked the price on that," he sighed, as he stood up. "This hardly feels like an upgrade. You basically pushed me through five seconds of the pain of child-birth just to tell me that my ankles work a little bit better now. I paid too much."
[You should always read the descriptions of your upgrades, yes. Some of them may not appeal to your goals, that’s why you have the option to skip some of them entirely, or push them aside for as long as you want.]
Jimmy immediately felt guilty that he complained. The system was trying to be helpful, and was only met by a nagging brick wall in response. He felt appalled by himself.
As he toyed around with the kitchen knife, as if he was trying to avoid eye-contact, he was shocked to discover that he could do the same tricks with the knife that those elders did with their daggers yesterday.
He spun them from claw to claw, and just when its spin seemed too dangerous to stop, his claw jerked forward instinctively, catching the knife right by the handle!
"Those sacks of bones were only at level two?" his face lit up in joy, "My god... I can destroy them if I wanted to, can I?"
A barrel of plans ran through his mind. He wanted to tear off the wings of the elders today, but he tried to keep himself under control.
"I have plenty of points to spend..." he said, "My Swordsmanship Comprehension is good enough for now, though, so... let’s see what else we got here."
The Evolution Tree was nearly endless. It was hard to pick just one thing to evolve, or one skill to buy, but thankfully, his progress was tossed down at the bottom of each of the five branches. He couldn’t buy everything in the evolution tree, he couldn’t afford it.
Most options were locked, apart from the ones at the bottom of the branches, so he had to choose between the weaker, simpler ones.
In the end, he chose to go with another IQ upgrade. It was a big plus that his brain was empty enough for the IQ upgrade not to hurt him. He didn’t feel more than a simple pinch on his temple during the upgrade. That was all.
[-400 system points]
[IQ: 114 points >>> 129 points]
"Oh..." his eyes widened in shock, "I feel... lighter..."
This upgrade provided him with something he had been craving for a while now, the ability to better comprehend all the purchase options he had.
"I can be a lot more efficient now," he said.
As he looked through the Evolution Tree again, his mind raced. He wasn’t able to make up his mind any better now, but rather, he was more frantic about the process, at what felt like a million miles an hour!
"Not efficient," he blurted.
