Free Web NovelChapter 17: Baby Steps!
–Chapter 17–
Title >> Baby Steps!
The grin was still on his face even as Xavier stared at the allocation screen...
Though he still felt slightly insulted. Eleven attribute points was the kind of amount that sounded generous. Until...
Well... until you realize every single one of them had to build you and justify its existence against the nightmare that was the first world event.
In the end... complaining wasn’t cutting it. He was already earlier than most, probably everyone.
Now he just had to work with what he had. Six days was still quite far away.
Looking at the Attribute screen, he decided to start from the bottom as usual.
First was Constitution, though he didn’t necessarily see a need for it.
Xavier flexed the forearm where the Wolf Scout had attempted and failed to bite him earlier.
Usually he should still have a phantom sensation crawling somewhere beneath his skin.
But right now, there was absolutely nothing of the sort. It was as if it never happened.
In the end, his dragon and demonic passive traits made pouring points into his general resilience and durability feel like adding hardened armor to an already buffed tank.
The next was Agility and honestly, other than the fact that it was also responsible for melee and magic combos...
It was a stat he wouldn’t even have taken a second look at. After all, with the Agility-boosting equipment he had equipped...
He was already shaping up to be an Assassin archetype. A path he wouldn’t have minded taking.
If...
And only if... this wasn’t now a death game and he wasn’t walking a hybrid bloodline path that was everything but subtle.
Moreover, he had a certain class and build in mind that would complement both the blade and his love for magic.
He looked at Intelligence and honestly he wasn’t even bothered about that in the slightest.
If it was anything like he remembered, his general knowledge would already make it feel almost as irrelevant as Luck, though soon it would definitely have its time.
But for now, it would have to make do with the general +1 to all attributes his title granted.
"Skip," he muttered.
Moving to the gem of the bunch at this phase of the game.
Xavier’s eyes settled on Spirit. And without ceremony or a moment of hesitation he pumped nine points into Spirit.
Leaving him with only two points.
The choice to add most of his points to Spirit was one that yielded immediate satisfaction.
He chuckled softly, watching how his mana pool swelled like bread with way too much yeast.
As appealing as the numbers were, something he hadn’t expected happened.
His body felt a faint, imperceptible and yet undeniable flow through it.
It was as if his body was finally starting to understand a level of frequency it had been deaf to all this while.
At this point, he could feel the ambient mana more clearly, the threads of continuous energy streaming across his fingers.
Ever since inheriting the Bloodlines and leaving the Realm of Untold Tales, he could sense mana, but it had just been background noise.
It had just been something he knew was there, but now... it had texture, it had direction and weight.
And for the first time since arriving here, he genuinely felt he could wield this mystic energy that he had always abused on the outside with a controller and keyboard.
"This feels amazing..." Xavier said softly, still swiping his hand around, feeling something he couldn’t see.
The sensation finally answered a curiosity he had carried for six years since Arillion Online launched.
It came from an earlier patch note that read:
"A bloodline in Arillion doesn’t give power. It recognizes when you’re finally capable of being more, and simply provides a path to attain more."
And this mana awareness was his Dragon Bloodline’s way of saying...
Finally... Took you long enough, rascal.
’Yeah... Baby steps!’
Xavier was about to move away from the numbers when he remembered he still had two attribute points left.
Naturally, he looked to the one attribute that had never failed anybody who didn’t know what to add since the beginning of time.
Strength...
He couldn’t go wrong with more Strength even though he had blown the head off a Marsh Stalker only a few minutes ago.
Apparently one-shotting a Level 5 monster wasn’t enough reason to stop a simple gamer’s dream of being Superman.
Especially with Stockholm Village ahead.
Veterans could already have adapted to the lock-in, formed groups and started figuring out the best builds to survive the upcoming world event.
Places like that, whether now or previously, were unpredictable.
And what better way to prepare for the unpredictable than to bulk up even more?
Xavier assigned the remaining two points to Strength.
The notifications appeared and his attributes changed.
[BASE STATS]
Strength: 11 (+7)
Agility: 13 (+14)
Constitution: 11 (+8)
Spirit: 17 (+3)
Intelligence: 13 (+7)
Luck: ???
HP: 220/220
Mana: 170/170
With this part of the forest now quiet, and most creatures giving him a wide berth...
Xavier decided it was time to really put his foot on the gas and get to his destination.
Quickly he made his way toward the outskirts of the forest, weaving through the undergrowth as birds burst from the canopy overhead.
The smaller creatines slipped deeper into the brush long before he reached them, as though the forest itself had learned to avoid him.
***
Merely seventeen minutes later...
The HUD ahead displayed it boldly for all who cared enough to look.
STOCKHOLM VILLAGE
Without breaking stride, Xavier rounded the tree line and arrived at the entrance.
But just as he reached the threshold and was about to enter, a blue notification screen flew in front of his face.
[Server Chat — Now Active]
[Irregular Status: Partial Integration begins.]
"About time," Xavier muttered.
His fingers moved forward almost immediately, but just then he heard it.
"Hyaah!"
Xavier’s eyes darted toward the sound and immediately widened.
Wait...
Are those...?
Yeah... those are definitely cotton.
Cotton panties!
–End of Chapter–
A/N: Kindly...support the story if you enjoy it!
