Ben

Harper's voice came from a box on the wall. "Ben, we are having a meeting in the conference room."

"Thank you, Hint, but I'm just not interested right now," Ben was reminded that there wasn't anything that went unnoticed here. I need some space. He thought.

Before his plans of stealthing into the wilderness could get too far, Hint spoke again, "Are you sure? Mathew said something about leveling up everybody. I think he forgot about me, but to be fair, I don't know if I have levels. At least not the way the rest of you do."

Putting his depressing thoughts aside, Ben sat up, his foot kicking the bag he'd brought back to the Hub. He'd scavenged fewer natural treasures than Grant. Still, he'd gathered some good things.

I can't give a present that won't be topped by levels. Ben thought of his earlier plans. Maybe that was Mathew's secret.

Embracing the futility of trying to give out gifts now, Ben took off his sweater and changed into shorts. It was hard not to crack a smile at the new luxury. The most important things in Ben's life may not have turned out how he wanted, but this was a good thing. The cynical side of him noted the change it had on his mentality. Almost Grant like. The way he looked forward to the event that just made him roll his eyes.

Stepping into the hall, Ben heard the clack clack clack of Mathew's steps. Again the ruby beauty had her hand on his arm. Turning his back to them, he suppressed a shudder. For all of his jokes of 'a worthy death' in the pursuit of getting some, the prospect of actually getting praying mantised was mildly terrifying. As much as he envied Mathew, from time to time, Mathew could have all that crazy for all that Ben cared.

At the top of the stairs, Grant came barging through the entry to the Hub. "What did Mathew do?" Grant barked.

Pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, Ben said, "Captain Boner called a meeting. Something about an opportunity to level up."

"That explains it," Grant ignored the pun.

Oh well, his loss, Ben thought.

The conference room finally had a round table in the center. It was held up by six thin pillars spanning from the middle diameter of the table to the ceiling. In short order, they had each found a seat, with Clare sitting on the edge with her legs in the water.

"Thank's for gathering. So first, I'd like to apologize for not keeping all of you informed of what I'm doing," Mathew's excitement about his announcement paradoxically made his apology come off as sincere. "I'll try to do better about that going forward. To make a long story short, following Clare's advice, I now have access to a lot of essence, but it will decay the longer we don't use it."

"How much is a lot?" Harper's question matched Ben's. Access to Earth was behind gathering this energy.

"A little over two thousand. Nowhere near enough, but it should act as a good investment for better future returns," Mathew made a dismissive gesture. "Regardless, our problem is that there will be an odd one out. One person will be a level behind the rest. If we start now, most of us will land at level nine."

Hmmm.... who is the least valuable? Harper is the only non-combatant. Maybe that isn't the right way to think about it, though. Is leveling up actually a good thing? Ben wondered.

As he wrestled with the validity of Grant's caution against leveling and what it meant now, Harper raised her hand.

"I can be a level behind. The higher level I get, the more my magic will recover. I still can't stand my magic being full, so I'd just be demanding more food," Harper shrugged.

"That conversion of food into enchanted buildings is a pretty significant benefit to us. Getting food just for reserves won't be a problem either," Mathew said.

"Will that work for scouting?" Ben looked to Grant. "Gathering attention by being higher level doesn't make sense for the hiding under the radar."

"Is that what he told you?" Clare smiled like a predator. "And you would claim to have helped him. Dear-" Clare paused to scan him. Ben felt her energy questing into his status and hid information out of habit. All but his name. Why had Grant trained him to hide?

"-Ben, your stealth skills will grow as your levels do. If anything, you will be able to scout better," Clare finished.

How does betrayal still hurt this much? Ben thought. The answer came readily. Grant was so integrated into Ben's life for the past several months. So many lessons and skills. If it weren't for Grant, Ben didn't know where he would be.

"Is it true?" Ben spat.

Grant leaned back, feigning disinterest. "If you have to ask that, you won't believe me anyway."

"Fine, tell me why," Ben demanded.

"The truth?" Grant's mask fell. "I don't know. All I know is that it kept us alive."

"Can you sense when I'm in danger?" Ben asked.

"No," Grant said.

Why aren't you lying! You never tell the truth.

"So you held me back to keep you alive!" Ben raged.

"Not quite," Grant made eye contact out of the shadows of his brow. "When I dedicate myself to die to save you, I'd feel my death when you were in danger."

Grant dying for someone else. Now that was the lie.

"Yeah, right," Ben lay back. Why do I even give him that much care?

"Fine, some proof then," Grant turned to Mathew. "I'll be the weak one. Give the power to everyone else."

Something passed between the two men, and Mathew nodded.

"Let's not waste any more time," Mathew's words were punctuated by a notification.

[Essence awarded by Carrion Knighthood

100% to level 7]

Ben felt his body and soul fill with blue system power as he jammed his will on the option to level up.

[Essence awarded by Carrion Knighthood

100% to level 8]

At the tail end of the echoes of his level up, Ben selected it again.

[Essence awarded by Carrion Knighthood

100% to level 9]

One last shock to his system, and he was feeling good. Enhanced endurance and resilience recovered his body and mind to a better rested state than he could achieve before.

[Benjamin Dean Miller ~ Gifted

Otherworld Human

Redacted 0% to level 10

Health 1350/1350

Reserves 1478

Magic stealth

Stealth points 684/1485

Free stat multiplier: 4.1

Note: may be distributed in part or whole; multi-stat selection is base adjusted

Body Total 81

Strength 27.6

Agility 22.8

Durability 11.5

Endurance 19

Mind Total 108

Willpower 33.5

Cognition 24.3

Resistance 18.9

Resilience 31.1

Combat skills

Netting 24

Stealth 34

Crafting skills

Sewing 14

Utility skills

Cartography 18

Spying 14

Deception 14]

With almost 1500 stealth points, Ben could nearly anticipate the potential he now held. With his higher willpower and resistance, he knew that each point would go further than they had before.

The manual effort he'd put in over the past several months had enhanced his strength more than his agility. Not that it was necessarily bad, but it wasn't the build he had initially envisioned.

Even though Ben had spent several weeks in his transition, he had learned so much time since then that his first build plan may not be the right way to go. His primary offense came from his usage of the net puppet perk. Which was fueled by willpower. Willpower that was refilled by resilience.

Ben could min-max down that path, and his raw combat power would go up. Even his net-based mobility would increase. Maybe agility and the mobility he hoped to gain from it would become a secondary result of willpower.

Checking the details of his free stat allocation, it took him a bit to decipher what it meant. Basically, if he wanted to put a multiple of three in one state and the rest of the bonus in another, then it would be rated as an increase rather than basically multiplying by one.

Honestly, that idea sounded excellent.

Having Redacted for a class would let him continue to adjust his build as he went. This wasn't Ben's last level, so he could afford to experiment. If the unbalance proved a problem, he'd just balance it later.

Selecting a three times multiplier for willpower and the remainder in resilience so his recovery wouldn't fall too far behind, Ben felt a world of meaning come into focus. As waves of blue system energy changed him again.

All of his desires were bolstered in waves. Resentment at being misunderstood flared to life before being suppressed by his empowered will to not be resentful. More of his conflicted motivations established their existence within Ben's psyche. Sometimes it was his conscious will that was empowered first, and a burden he had found heavy would suddenly ease away, before restoring itself.

Anger at Grant forgotten, Ben realized that so much of the resource he used for combat and stealth was locked by his inner struggles. With all his willpower at his disposal, rather than fighting himself, he would be able to do so much more. Maybe even be noticed.

Rejecting his thought while noting the irony, Ben checked out his new stats. His status intelectus trimming out what he didn't care about right now.

[Benjamin Dean Miller ~ Gifted

Health 1751/1751

Reserves 1478

Magic stealth

Stealth points 1486/2287

Body Total 81

Strength 27.6

Agility 22.8

Durability 11.5

Endurance 19

Mind Total 188.2

Willpower 100.5

Cognition 24.3

Resistance 18.9

Resilience 44.5]

"Clare, you said that my stealth skills will grow with my levels. Can you explain that?" Ben added. "Please?"

"Gladly. There is an evolution energy, shall we say, that all bodies here on Leternum produce over time. For humans connected to the system, that energy is converted into evolving skills. They are organs of the soul," Clare saw his skepticism. "I assure you that souls are quite genuine, and so are spiritual organs. The mind of a Spider that crawls through my mind is not the result of a brain transplant, nevertheless she exists. I will try to not be offended that you would easier allow Grant to fool you than listen to me. Where was I? Yes, I remember. That evolution energy originates from soul organs, hmmm... metabolizing for lack of a better term. In short, advancing your stats will help your skills grow faster."

"A planet of evolution and competition. A recipe for blood and death," Ben said. "Figures."

"A planet of evolution and power within a world of conquest and raids," Grant's eyes sparkled.

"So how do we measure up?" Mathew changed the subject.

Clare paused briefly, "Your combined strength is enough to hold this rock. But that is not what you are asking. With some preparations, you and yours could look into the conquest of another Territory."

"Any you would recommend?" Mathew asked.

"I do not know the strengths and weaknesses of your team," Clare closed her red eyes. "The Bramble Weavers expended a lot of their strength in the conflict over The Colony's former Territory. Fur, six legs and a venomous bite. Their Territory defense is top-notch, but pushing them back is still a realistic goal."

Mathew turned his eyes to Ben. New weight in the gaze pressed on him. "Can you scout for us?"

"Yeah, I'd love to. Let's see what a willpower of one hundred can do." Ben relished the wide eyes his proclamation drew before he exploded out of the water.

Ben had planned on hopping out smoothly but overlooked his nearly doubling of strength and agility.

"Guess I don't know my own strength," Ben knew he couldn't apologize with a grin like the one that crept onto his face. In all the rotten sewage shit that this whole abduction was, it had its silver linings. Ben knew he wouldn't be happy for long, so he enjoyed it while he could.

He managed to hold onto that feeling all the way through getting dressed and ready to explore. Because Clare mentioned venom, he'd thought to crack open his bag of hidden treasures. There was an antidote stone that would wear away toxins so long as his Health could hold out long enough.

Memories came back to him. Every item had a history. Some were natural treasures, some were given to him by Grant, but the ones that stripped away his happiness were gifts and plunder.

Maybe staying in the background was where he belonged. No one would give away their life or him then. No one would praise him; he wasn't worthy anyway.

Gloomy as ever, Ben made his way to the Hub's unique door.

"Hey," Harper interrupted him to hand over a leather satchel. "If you see anything interesting, please pick it up for me. And I put some Flintbark powder in the front pocket. Easy to grab on the fly, and it should help deter pursuit."

Ben looked the bag over. Claspings made of carved feather shafts, the birdskin leather even used braided leather cord. His sewing skill showed every flaw. But he knew it was first-rate for what little time they'd had to throw things together. This was made with care just for him.

"Thanks," Ben said. This means a lot. He kept the thought to himself.

Putting it over his shoulder, he activated his stealth magic and faded from sight.

Harper frowned with a cute wrinkle on her forehead. Her hazel eyes were greener than brown in the bright light. "Come back safe," Harper whispered to herself.

Standing there for far too long, Ben realized he was just burning magic. Sneaking out of the Hub, he turned to the land of the Bramble Weavers. Even with so much time running around to map things, he had never ventured very deep into their zone of the world. Everything was trying to kill you there.

Given in most places, you only had to worry about a few plants, carnivores, territorial herbivore, and the occasional superpredators. The difference was palpable, because every blade of grass and sharp hooked branch seemed to be teaming with poison. No animal or monster was left untouched by this toxic ecosystem. If a species didn't respond to the cellular killing mechanisms it would die.

This would be the challenge to sharpen his gains against. First, he willed his Netting Intelectus into existence, then he funneled enough power for it to flex its thinking. Getting his Netting skill to apply to his clothing was usually a power sink he would never consider for anything but life and death combat.

Now Ben's skill responded to his demands, and it felt like a drop in a bucket from him. From here, he could see the Chromosphere that drove their effort, someone to save. A chance at redemption, Ben's traitorous mind whispered. With more power than ever, Ben launched himself from the Spire at poisoned lands.