12 – A small break

Cal’Eer sipped his drink, chilling on the makeshift bed made of soft sand. He lazily browsed the system shop, hunting for all the exotic items that were completely useless to fight monsters, but definitely fun to look at otherwise. He eyed what appeared to an iced cocktail, and shrugged. The beverage, costing a whopping 300 runes but very much worth it under the blistering sun, appeared in his hand.

“Are you going to stay there the whole day?” Julian’s voice came low and muffled, covered by the sounds of the fight.

It was a change from the usual grunts and curses that came Cal’s way from the small crater Julian was in, where he was wrestling with an oversized scorpion.

“Yep. You said you wanted to vent against some monsters, not me.”

The scorpion collapsed to the ground, head chopped clean off. It disappeared in a puff of glittery smoke soon after Julian retrieved the crystal core from it. Shaking the gross stuff from his arm, he climbed out and sat at the fire beside Cal.

+382 Runes.

“It’s not fair that you do nothing and still gain runes.” Julian muttered.

Cal shrugged. A finger pressed on the button he was eyeing for a while in the system shop, and a small beach umbrella materialized itself next to him, to shade him from the sun. He looked at Julian with a smug, challenging face.

“You can respawn. I, on the other hand, am not risking my life again today. Also we both know you’d be doing this regardless of me being here or not. So, why waste the double runes?”

“Whatever,” the man said as he approached the edge of the crater, not taking the bait. “Your laziness will be your downfall. More combat experience for me.”

“Not if you’re there to save my ass!” Cal said, sticking out his tongue.

Julian looked away unsure if he should be grossed out or irritated, sat at the fire and got up refreshed and healed up, only to head back down the crater where another scorpion soon emerged from the underground nest. His armor was getting shredded each fight, and every time it got repaired at the fire it was a bit worse for wear. At this rate, Cal mused, he was going to have to fight naked.

***

Julian emerged from the crater covered in blood and various fluids he preferred not to think about, and once again sat at the fire. The armor mended itself and his wounds healed, and his breathing returned to normal as his stamina was replenished. Despite the non-stop workout and the forced healing of his muscles, it was not getting any easier after each round, he noticed with a hint of disappointment. It probably doesn’t count because I am not gaining new mass from eating meat. Not too big of a deal.

Julian V. Terror.
Level: 9 -> 11
Class: null

VIGOR: 15 -> 16
MIND: 10
ENDURANCE: 12
STRENGTH: 10
DEXTERITY: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 10
FAITH: 10
ARCANE: 12 -> 13

Runes: 34
Runes needed: 3920

“Aaaand another point in Arcane, let’s go!” he said, skipping the skill lottery for now.

“Why are you raising Arcane so much?” Cal asked him.

“Because in real life, my friend, artificially controlled luck is more valuable than anything else.” He said, but Cal was not convinced. “It's clear to me that you don't get it. Despite the similarities, this is not a Souls game. Do you have Souls games on Tharlax?”

Cal’s face was even more confused. “Games? What are talking about?”

“Video games?” Julian said.

Cal looked at him blankly. "Like a tournament?"

“Nevermind. I can see why you lack basic knowledge.”

“What are you talking about? I was educated from a young age...” he stopped.

Julian made a go on gesture. Cal shook his head and looked down for a moment before his face brightened again.

“Nothing. But don’t act like you know how the multiverse works. My species has had the system for millennia, yours only for a few days.”

“I never claimed to know the multiverse. The system on the other hand... let's say many of us had some involuntary practice with it before it even came. A particularly observant person would even go as far as see the similarities and ask questions about it. But I won't.”

“You knew the system would come, that's how you managed to make changes to it, isn’t it?”

“I did. And yes.”

An uncomfortable silence fell on the two of them. Cal seemed pensive, far from the usual cheerful and carefree personality that he was. He even returned his beach umbrella to the system, gaining most of the spent runes back. It was getting dark, yes, and the sun was not as hot anymore but the gesture meant a lot. After a while, as a way to break the ice, Julian decided to ask him about the system and about what he knew about it from his “Tharlaxian education”, being very careful not to ask what sort of education that was.

This seemed to make him open up a bit more. The first thing Julian learned was that his friend was a little over 20 years old. 18 was the age when the youngsters were sent to a new colonized area by the system, but there was always a wait time before there were enough people to send over from a single planet.

According to Cal most of these youngsters, especially the heirs of powerful families, were encouraged not to leave their tower until level 150. That gave them the chance to evolve their class at level 100 and then enough time to get used to their new abilities. Even if doing so meant losing positions in the ladder. After being asked he also revealed that the skills normally leveled up on their own after a lot of practice, while to evolve them into more powerful versions or to gain new ones the system handed out special quests. Rare skills unlocked access to rare classes at level 100, so people were told to do extraordinary feats that the system would reward by giving them special quests.

Julian was very aware that asking these questions would reveal that his system was fundamentally different than anybody else's, but at this point he also knew that Cal knew that there was something different about him and decided that he might as well go all in. He was not going to reveal how his system worked unless asked, and when Cal did not ask he was very surprised.

Convo is dead… time to assign skills.

Julian pulled up the skill menu, and walked absentmindedly beside Cal. They were going towards a landmark Cal had spotted in the distance, having decided to take the exploration approach to the tower.

Oh, a level-up round for my current skills! Nice. Let’s see, the first one looks nice. I have a lot of crystals harvested from all the monsters I have killed. The second one is pointless because I don't have a storage ring. And the plant based one? I mean I think it could be useful but… I don't know… I prefer the first. Which reminds me, I still need to try absorbing attributes from a crystal at a fire. Make a mental note.

He selected the first one, Efficient Crystal Absorption, and moved on.

This was not an easy choice, because all three skills were extremely useful. Julian did not reach a decision for a few minutes, even though the precision morphing skill kept calling out at him. His eyes were drawn to it, and he could already picture in his mind all the machines he would be able to build with it. Slowly but surely he was sure he was going to rebuild his old technological marvels that he had to leave behind.

Eventually he chose precision morphing, and as soon as the menu disappeared he was flooded with a sense of relief, almost as if he had been scared he would choose another option over it. He decided not to dwell on the unpleasant feeling more than one fleeting second, for not only was it uncomfortable it was also very unlike him to be like this.

I have been acting weird ever since I appeared in this tower. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. I need to get a hold of myself.