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Unlike last time, this time I haven’t spent hours planning on how to distribute my stats, so I take a few moments to make some decisions. Opening my status page, I survey my stats with no small bit of pride. Sure, I know they’re nothing particularly noteworthy according to Nicholas’ world, but considering what I started with, I feel like I’ve made some good advancements.

status screen

Looking at the 100% sitting there, I feel a bit of frustration that I can’t gain any more Energy until I’ve levelled up. Then a thought occurs that makes me want to facepalm. I can’t gain any more Energy, but I can accrue Energy towards my debt. Or at least, could have since I don’t intend on waiting any longer before levelling. Once more, too little, too late. But at least it’s something that I can bear in mind for next time this happens. Besides, it’s not like I was in the right state of mind to focus on eking out every bit of gain I could when I’d just buried Spike.

So, the actual levelling. I have six points to play with, I know that. Looking at my stats, they’re all at ten or eleven points except for my Willpower, thanks to Kalanthia’s bonus. For sure, points in Willpower have the best ‘value’ since the plus twenty percent effectively gives me an additional point for every five that I add. However, is that the most useful stat for me?

Increases in Willpower certainly help me when using Dominate, but am I likely to be using that Skill often? I’ve only recently concluded that it’s not the kind of Skill I should be using without a good reason. Willpower, based on when I’ve earned the points, also helps with determination and capacity to push through pain or fear. It’s also relatively hard to ‘train’. But is that a good enough reason for adding points to it?

Strength and Dexterity have almost the opposite arguments for and against them: they’re stats that will most certainly help me with my daily life; they’re also the easiest to increase ‘naturally’. Although it’s taken a lot more effort to increase my Strength from ten to eleven, the fact that I could do it without explicitly intending to, is proof that it’s relatively easy to improve. Do I want to waste my precious level-up points on those when time and life will do my job for me?

Constitution is a given: I need more leeway between living and dying and gaining points in that stat means subjecting myself to perilous situations. Plus, as far as I’ve understood the system lore stone, Constitution also governs things like more acute senses and a body which is more difficult to harm, for example with tougher skin or bones. All of those are definitely an absolute necessity for me. The choice here is how many points to add, rather than whether to add points at all.

Intelligence and Wisdom are other questionable ones. I’m leaning towards adding points into Intelligence as, without further input in terms of new knowledge, I suspect that it will become harder and harder to increase my Intelligence. It’s also a useful stat as Lay-on-hands is the only reason I’m still alive, and I regularly hit empty on mana when facing dangerous opponents. Without any health potions, I need to make sure my mana store is sufficient to keep me alive.

Wisdom is in a similar vein – in the absence of a sufficiently large mana store, if my mana regeneration is sufficiently great, it doesn’t matter in a way how much mana I use: I’ll always have enough. At the moment, I’m earning approximately four and a half mana per minute, meaning that it takes just over two minutes to regain enough for another Lay-on-hands. In most situations, that’s enough, but when I faced the spider monster, it wasn’t, and if I’d faced the crocodile head-on and been bitten or lost a limb, it wouldn’t have been enough there either.

With six points, I could add one to each category, but I decide that that’s a cop out. When I’ve decided my points distribution, I mentally think: level up. As before, a couple of messages come through.

Accepting the first one, I hesitate over the second. I remember what happened last time – horrible stuff had come out of me and I’d vomited everywhere. I’m hoping that won’t happen again...but maybe I should take precautions anyway.

“Bastet,” I call quietly. Within a couple of moments, she comes sauntering over, sending a question down our Bond. “Can you come down with me to the river? I’m going to be levelling up and I don’t want to risk something jumping me while I’m distracted.” She gives me the equivalent of ‘wait a minute’ and goes bounding off. A moment later, she returns, sending me an image of Kalanthia watching as the cubs played together.

“Kalanthia’s baby-sitting?” I ask, wondering what kind of price Kalanthia might ask of me. Or maybe she won’t, since it was Bastet who asked. Surprisingly, Bastet and Kalanthia seem to have slid into a comfortable co-parenting relationship of all the cubs. In fact, the first time I saw Bastet cuff Lathani across the ear for something or other she’d done wrong, my eyes flew to Kalanthia in fear that she’d take offence.

Quite the reverse, she seemed approving that her cub was being taught discipline. Much different from Earth and humans. I remember being in a supermarket once with a little brat who wanted me to give him a toy off the higher shelves. I’d refused, saying that he needed to ask his parent. The kid immediately flew into a huff and kicked me in the leg. I’d grabbed him gently by the shoulder and told him that kicking isn’t acceptable.

At which point, the mother had come along, given me an earful for touching her precious darling, and hadn’t even given me a moment to explain the situation. She’d finished by storming away, her child clutched in one hand, throwing a threat over her shoulder of taking me to court. Of course, I’d never heard anything more about it, but it sure taught me a lesson of daring to say anything to a child of a stranger. Clearly, nundas and raptorcats are a bit more sensible about the whole thing than humans.

Walking down the hill, we soon reach the river and I undress, putting my clothes to one side over a branch of a tree. For a moment, I feel a bit self-conscious about being naked in front of Bastet, but as soon as the thought appears, I dismiss it. Bastet is naked. Permanently. Sure, she has furry feathers (feathery fur?), but technically she’s not wearing any clothes. Plus, I’m human; she’s a raptorcat. There’s as much shame in getting changed in front of her as there would be in getting changed in front of a pet cat or dog.

Preparing myself for a potential ordeal, I trigger the levelling-up process.

When my status screen comes up again, I choose to add a point each to Strength and Intelligence, and two points to Constitution and Dexterity. Why? Strength because I need the power. Intelligence because I need the mana. Constitution because I need the health and defensive bonuses. Dexterity because, as my experience this morning showed me, I need to actually be able to aim for the bow and arrow to be any more useful than any old stick.

This time expected, I get some more messages to refine my choices a little.

The choice is obvious.

This one is a little less obvious. Which one is most likely to help me fire arrows accurately? Agility probably is more about being able to fire quickly, fingers agilely picking arrows out of the quiver and nocking them. Flexibility has to be more about the positions my hand and body can make: is that what affects accuracy? Unsure, but hoping that either will have some benefits at least, I choose Flexibility. Since I have two points available, I have another hard choice immediately afterwards. Deciding to double-down in hopes that I will see a measurable improvement in my shooting abilities, I choose Flexibility again.

Since Constitution and Intelligence don’t seem to have sub-categories, making that final choice triggers the rest of the levelling-up process. Once more I feel Energy fill my body in a great flood. This time, I’m more familiar with energy and my body in general so, while it’s most certainly euphoric, I can actually feel a little more of what’s going on.

The very cells of my body are being re-written, I’m sure of it. I feel like my body, for a fraction of a second, is no more than a piece of elastic, or play-dough, Energy manipulating it into a new form. I even sense that more is happening than just in the physical, but my esoteric senses aren’t anywhere near attuned enough to even get the glimpse of what’s going on there. I suppose it’s progress enough that I can actually sense that something is happening.

When the Energy has finished its work, that’s when the pain hits. Once more, it’s like being submerged into a world of agony where nothing else exists. I’m pretty sure the experience doesn’t last long, but the fraction of time where it is happening seems to be a lifetime.

Finally, the pain ends and I’m left with an aching body covered in sweat and other, darker fluids. I feel the nausea build inside me, and I only have time to think, not again, before my body rebels and expels everything that’s inside it, and more.

More impurities are removed from my system making a disgusting mess on the ground. I’m glad to have done it here rather than messing up Kalanthia’s home-ground again. Still, I’m gratified to realise that there are fewer impurities in my vomit this time. Hopefully, eventually I won’t have any in there and I’ll be able to keep my lunch down after levelling up. Honestly, if the benefits weren’t so great, I might reconsider trying to level at all.

Jumping into the river, I rely on Bastet noticing any crocodiles – or anything else – coming my way and just do my best to get clean. I should have brought some of my soap, I bemoan. Ah, too late now. I’ll just have to do the best I can with what I have.

After this, I’ll need to do some archery practice. It’ll be interesting to see how my changed stats will affect my capabilities in that area.