***

"Son of a... ugh," Peter rubbed his face with both hands. That blasted bracelet hit him right in the nose after it materialized. He was still laying on the ground recovering after the fight, and didn't feel like moving just yet.

After he got over his anger at the inanimate object, he reached over and picked it up. It was a dark blue bracelet with little white flecks sparsely dotting its surface. It reminded him a lot of a night sky.

"Hmm. This must be a world energy item. It just appeared out of thin air, like Chandi mentioned."

Peter saw no reason why he should hold back his curiosity, so he used [Identify].

Night Band of the Spider Quality: Fine Defense +10, [Wall Walking] Dexterity +10, Perception +10

"Woah. Interesting."

He got up with a lazy struggle, and stood straight. He stretched out his arms, then his shoulders. His sword arm gave him the most trouble, as it felt sensitive and stiff from having just healed. He ran his hand up the back of his thigh, and found that his armour was all repaired, and the skin was fixed up by his evolution.

Peter took a look at the bracelet and slapped it on his wrist. His vision became so precise that he could see something move on the other side of the cage, through the webbing and wire mesh. Two figures were walking around to the front entrance of the building, one was large and tough looking, while the other was much thinner, and dressed in white.

"So they were watching me the entire time huh? I wonder if they would have helped eventually," Peter pondered out loud.

He droopily walked over to pick up his shield. When he put it back on his arm, he sighed with relief at regaining 4 [Vitality] and [Endurance]. The evolutions he earned were still making him feel like crap, but the stats made it much easier to handle.

Also, now that the fight was over his adrenaline didn't keep any of the pain from overwhelming him. It was beginning to put him on edge, so a distraction was in order. He checked his status to see what the gains were like from the fight.

|12:31 PM| |Status| |Backlight: [Off]| Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: 10 Gender: Male Influence: 9 Race: Human Variant Fame: 10 Class: Arbiter Unspent points: 38 Stats Health 513/540 Stamina 386/390 Vitality 25 (29) Endurance 20 (19) Strength 32 (17) Perception 15 (15) Dexterity 20 (24) Processing 20 Karma -78 M. Resistance 10 Defense: 77 Evolutions [Enhanced Recovery] Grade: D+ Traits [Tap to display] Skills [Auto Translate] Transcendent level 10 [Student of a God] Expert level 1 [Identify] Adept level 8 [Soul Drain] Novice level 9 [Evolve] Uses remaining: 1 [Exo-Skeleton] Novice level 7 [Momentum] Adept level 1 [Patience] Adept level 1 [Fervor] Adept level 2 [Toughness] Adept level 1 [Fear Aura] Novice level 7 [Dash] Novice level 10 [Free Slot] [Free Slot]

The amount of unspent points made Peter almost stumble over. It was almost as many points as he got when he first arrived on this planet. Ten came from him killing the elite, 8 came from his two levels, and that leaves 20 that could only be from [Patience].

Peter brought it up from his status to check on why he got so many.

[Patience] Adept level 1 Type: Passive Decreases unspent stat points gained per level by 1. Every 10 levels you will get those points all at once, with a 100% interest rate added on.

On tier up: Increases the interest rate.

This skill only levels up by gaining normal levels. Cost: None Cooldown: -N/A-

"Ah. So it raised to adept right before I hit level 10. That must be because of [Student of a God]. Normally someone with this skill wouldn't get a full 100% interest until level 30 or so."

Just then, the two people Peter had seen outside came in through the vestibule.

"Well done Peter!" Jogun said with a triumphant smile, "If people knew you were capable of at level 0, they would be blown away! It's too bad we need to keep everything that happened here quie..." Jogun looked down at Peter's arm, "W-What is that?"

"Well nice to see you too Jogun, I ought to rearrange your nose for you for making me fight tha--" Peter was interrupted by Jogun grabbing his arm, and holding it up for him to see.

"No. That couldn't have been a..." Kayel said, as he leaned in for a closer look.

Both of the older men were looking at the navy blue band on Peter's arm in total disbelief.

Peter noticed that the dark band had attached itself to his arm much like his armour usually did. It was beautiful actually. The band had become one with his armour.

"Is it a--" Jogun tried to ask, but was cut off.

Kayel answered too fast, "I think it really is... a world energy item."

"But that shouldn't be possible! We were told that the highest level spiders in here were level 10. There can't be a level 10 ranked monster can there? The lowest I've ever heard of was a level 15," Jogun shook his head, "Plus it couldn't have been a ranked monster. Peter would have been dead the moment it had him. There's no way a level 0 could have fought one of--"

"It was an elite warrior blood arachnid," Peter interjected, "And it was level 18, thank you very much," He said through gritted teeth, "And yes, I WAS almost dead the moment it had me. Luckily I wasn't level 0 at the time or I definitely wouldn't have survived being under that thing. I was level 8. Now after killing it and the rest of the spiders in the cage I'm level 10."

Jogun let go of Peter's arm and stood there with a stupefied look on his face. Kayel was no better off.

"Oh and before I forget," Peter pulled his arm back, then launched forward, punching an unaware Jogun straight in the face.

Jogun flipped onto his back, and slid for two meters. He still had a dumb look on his face, but looked totally uninjured. Peter, however, was shaking his limp hand back and forth. He had actually lost 4 [Health] from just punching his face.

"That, was for leaving me to die in here. These monsters were clearly way more than I should have been put against..."

Jogun didn't get up, instead he just stared at the ceiling thinking to himself.

"P-Peter. You have to believe me. No monster in here was supposed to be level 11... never mind 18!" Kayel said in Jogun's defense, "Heck.. never mind being an elite! You should be dead right now!"

"I know. I heard you guys the first time. I just felt frustrated and needed to let that out," Peter crossed his arms and looked around, "Do you know how the strong ones got let in? And what the heck IS an elite anyways? It was so strong that I couldn't do anymore than break through its carapace with my strongest attack."

Kayel clenched his fists, "I don't know how, but I will have it investigated. And I will find out who did this," He said as he walked over to Jogun and helped him stand up.

"That was... quite the punch," Jogun moved his jaw in a wide circle, "I actually lost 4 [Health] from it."

"Same." Peter smirked and looked at his hand, which was completely healed by now, "But I've already regenerated that."

Kayel's eyes widened, "You probably owe your survival to whatever allows you to regenerate so fast."

"Most definitely," Peter replied.

Peter then got the full rundown of exactly what elites were and how they came to be.

Elites were enhanced monsters. Not enhanced in the same way that levels make you stronger, but enhanced by passing specific requirements which grant them a title. Those requirements could range from leading a pack of their own kind, to killing enough other monsters or people in a short time period, to being appointed by a higher ranking monster.

There were multiple types of these titles that could be earned. They were ranked 'Greater', 'Elite', 'Queen', and 'Tyrant'.

Killing one of these types of monsters while below their level would grant the killer a bonus. Killing a greater while below its level would grant you 5 unspent stat points, and the chance to get a low quality world energy item. Killing an elite while below its level would grant 10 unspent stat points, and the chance to get either a low or medium quality world energy item. Killing a Queen with a party of only 5 people, who are all below the queen's level would give each of them 20 stat points, and 1 medium quality world energy item.

Regular monsters were at the bottom of the totem poll, with Greaters and Elites being just above them. The last two, however, were more of the same level. The 'Queen' title was given to a relatively powerful monster with the ability to create their own armies by absorbing world energy. Just like the Blood Arachnid Queen that these spiders came from. Tyrants, on the other hand, were like kings to the monsters. They were the most powerful individually, and were incredibly rare.

Nobody knew what the requirements were for getting the bonus from a tyrant monster. A few had been killed, but only by large parties of very powerful warriors and mages. People speculated that some higher end guilds knew what the bonuses were, and how to get them, but had not made that information public.

"So if I was level 19, I wouldn't have gotten the bonus for killing that large warrior arachnid?" Peter inquired.

"No," Jogun replied, "The only thing you would have gotten was that world energy item. It is awarded regardless. It's a miracle you survived. The tricky part about Queens is once a week, they can promote their offspring to 'greater', or they can wait a month to promote one of their offspring to elite," He rubbed his brow, "She must have just decided it was time to kick it into high gear and make us regret capturing her."

Peter smirked, "It feels like it was less of a miracle, and more that my stats are incredibly inflated early on. I feel like if I hunt lots of elites and greaters I can snowball my stats forward."

He pondered for a while, thinking on what he could do to capitalize on this new knowledge, "Besides, I saw you guys watching me towards the end of the fight. I wasn't in any real danger right?"

Jogun's expression turned a little guilty, "Yeah!.. yeah of course we would have helped yo--Ouch!"

Kayel punched Jogun in the shoulder, "That's not important. We were watching you, and I would have flattened this old fool to save your life no matter what. You don't have to worry."

"Well if that's the case then I need to fight more elites. If I can keep up my advantage by earning more stats than I should have at my level, then I'll be able to kill more high ranked monsters," Peter noticed black dots in his vision, and felt light headed, "But for now, I need to.. ughh.."

Thud

Peter fell backwards, and fainted.

***

"Well If .... going to wake ..... we should ..... him lunch," Came a distant, and broken voice.

Peter groggily opened his eyes.

"What on Athone.. ugh my head is killing me. Status."

|2:40 PM| |Status| |Backlight: [Off]| Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: 10 Gender: Male Influence: 9 Race: Human Variant Fame: 10 Class: Arbiter Unspent points: 38 Stats Health 307/550 Stamina 278/400 Vitality 25 (25) Endurance 20 (15) Strength 32 (15) Perception 15 (15) Dexterity 20 (20) Processing 20 Karma -78 M. Resistance 10 Defense: 65 Evolutions [Enhanced Recovery] Grade: D+ [Enhanced Durability] Grade: D [Enhanced Energy] Grade: D Traits [Tap to display] Skills [Auto Translate] Transcendent level 10 [Student of a God] Expert level 1 [Identify] Adept level 8 [Soul Drain] Novice level 9 [Evolve] Uses remaining: 1 [Exo-Skeleton] Novice level 7 [Momentum] Adept level 1 [Patience] Adept level 1 [Fervor] Adept level 2 [Toughness] Adept level 1 [Fear Aura] Novice level 4 [Dash] Novice level 4 [Free Slot] [Free Slot]

After thoroughly looking through his stats, Peter noticed the stats he usually had from his shield and sword were gone, but his [Health] and [Stamina] were still 50 points higher than they should be. He found it very strange.

He looked down at his arms, and saw that his armour was still firmly attached to his body, but his sword and shield were gone. No huge loss all things considered. They were mediocre at best.

After shaking off his extreme headache, and looking around again, he saw that there were multiple people in the room with him. Jogun was one of them, and the two others were women he'd never seen before.

Jogun looked down on him and said, "Well that wasn't too long was it? Haha."

"Ughh.. What.. Where am I now?" Peter said with a groan.

"You passed out kid. You gave us a little scare actually, but the nurses here said you were fine, but in a state they had never seen before," Jogun gestured to the ladies doing various things around Peter, "They have a skill that allows them to see what exactly is wrong with people, and they said you were in a state called 'Genetic Update', and that its threat level was minimal."

Peter flopped his head back on his pillow, "Hmm.. Seems like I can't resist the evolutions forever."

"Sir," One of the nurses came over with a tray, "Here. Eat this quickly. It's--"

"Infused with health and stamina potions, yes I know, thank you very much," Peter said impatiently as he sat up and began eating.

The nurse laughed a little at his behavior. She was also impressed that he knew what was added to the food, but figured he must have known because they added it to his supper for the last couple days.

"Well, since you're doing just fine now, we'll leave you be to recover. I'll go inform Kayel that you're going to be just fine."

Jogun then performed a hand signal, and the two nurses followed him out the door to leave Peter on his own for a bit.

He was thankful to have a moment to himself. He desperately needed to check out everything that he gained from the fight earlier today, and choose stats/skills.

Peter finished eating, and opened his status again. He decided to check out all of his evolutions.

[Enhanced Recovery] Type: Evolution Increases the natural rate at which your [Health] and [Stamina] recover themselves by 5 per minute.

Recovering your stats naturally or with potions will raise your progress to increasing the Grade of this Evolution. Increasing the Grade of the evolution will enhance the benefits it gives. Grade: D+ Progress: 99.76% [Enhanced Durability] Type: Evolution Increases the natural durability of your body by 50 points.

Recovering your [Health] naturally, taking damage, or staying at maximum [Health] for long periods of time will raise your progress to increasing the Grade of this Evolution. Increasing the Grade of the evolution will enhance the benefits it gives. Grade: D Progress: 2.56% [Enhanced Energy] Type: Evolution Increases the natural energy your body stores by 50 points.

Recovering your [Stamina] naturally, performing strenuous activities, or staying at maximum [Stamina] for long periods of time will raise your progress to increasing the Grade of this Evolution. Increasing the Grade of the evolution will enhance the benefits it gives. Grade: D Progress: 2.56%

Peter couldn't help but grin at this information. His first evolution would be going up a grade again today, and he had two more evolutions that were even easier to rank up than the first one was. The benefits this gave him were incredible, but necessary. He may be a lot stronger than regular people, but he had yet to go up against a mage of any kind. Magic seemed like an insurmountable obstacle to him for the time being.

Just below those evolutions two blinking sections that said 'free slot' were taunting him.

"Hmm.. I need to see my dormant skills now and see what I got," He thought.

Dormant Skills [Shield Bash] [Lucky Dice] [Turtle Stance] [Judgement] [Double Edged Sword] [Revenge] [Terrifying Glare] [Overcharge] [Unarmed Mastery] [Bow Mastery] [Armour Mastery] [Sword Mastery] [Equipment Storage]

"Well I know what skill I'm picking this time," Peter thought with a smirk, "It's time to change my fate a bit."

He picked [Lucky Dice] immediately, and checked up at his Status to see it was just like his [Evolve] skill.

[Lucky Dice] Uses remaining: 1

"If that's the case, I might as well use it now. Nothing will change whether I use it now or later," He reasoned, "Here goes nothing."

"Lucky dice!" Peter said with resolve.

Congratulations!

You have activated your single use of [Lucky Dice]. You will now be given a chance to replace your [Karma].

Current [Karma]: -78

Chance of receiving worse [Karma] than you have currently: 3.21%

Do you wish to proceed?

Y / N

Note: If you select No: you knowingly revoke any further chances at receiving a new [Karma] rating, and this skill will be removed.

If you select Yes: you choose to reroll your [Karma] rating for a new permanent number value.

"Woah, that's foreboding." He said aloud.

The chance to get worse [Karma] was truly small. He had nothing to fear realistically, but Peter couldn't shake a feeling of dread over using this skill.

Despite how he felt, he raised a shaky hand up to the screen and hit 'Y'.

You have selected 'Yes'!

Calculating new [Karma] value now. Please wait...

Suddenly Peter felt strange. His heart was beating faster and faster. It felt like his blood was pumping so fast that if he were to receive a cut, he would bleed out instantly. The synapses of his mind rushed to explain this odd sensation, but they couldn't seem to keep up. Images of an unknown location flashed through his mind.

"Is.. this earth?" He thought to himself while breathing so fast, you would think he was hyperventilating, "That's a building! Concrete! Wow. I'd almost forgotten what it was like."

Images of people he knew, and the building he worked in flew through his mind. Memories that should have been locked away from his last life somehow returned. Peter's eyes rolled back into his skull, and he convused in seizure as he returned to the past briefly.

***

"Dr. Kastell, your genius comes through for us as always. We thank you for your contribution to our company for the 30th year in a row."

A pompous voice came from an unusually happy man. He was a very large man in a suit sitting behind a massive desk, in a huge room. He held a glass of expensive scotch, which was extended towards Peter in a celebratory manner.

"You're welcome Richard, It was a pleasure," Peter extended his own glass towards the man, then they both took a sip.

Peter was surprised, as he was not in control of anything. It felt like a dream. Even his own voice didn't feel like the one he had gotten used to over the last couple days. It was a surreal experience to be trapped in a body that used to be your own, but wasn't any longer. Most of all: he felt incredibly short.

"You finished the serum a decade ahead of time, and 70 million dollars under budget. We'll of course compensate you for such a speedy delivery. Hahahaha, this is beyond all the expectations set by your coworkers."

Peter swished his glass and looked at Richard with a raised brow, "I assume my involvement will never be disclosed. Both of our careers, and our lives as free men depend on it."

"Of course! Doctor, do you take me for a fool? I would never take a chance on us being found out," Richard chuckled, his overweight body jiggling with the movements of his chest, "I never leave loose ends that could get me put away. If I did we would never have had the chance to work together in the first place."

Suddenly, a sick and twisted expression appeared on Richard's face.

The hair on the back of Peter's neck stood up straight, and he felt light headed. His hand shook as he looked at the drink that was slowly slipping out of his grip.

"Y-y-you bastard!" He tried to say, but he lost control of the muscles in his throat first. He must have drank a neuro toxin of some kind that froze his muscles.

"Unfortunately for you, Doctor... you are a loose end. And you have been tied up for me by your own creation no less. It would be a sad story," Richard chuckled again, "If there were anyone to tell it, that is."

Peter's vision faded just as he was falling to the floor.

***

"RICHARD!!!"

Peter sat up with a start. His eyes were bloodshot with unbridled rage, and his hair was disheveled.

He looked around the room, searching for the fat son of a whore that did this to him. Confusion slowly took hold, then realization of where he was, then more confusion as the memory he just experienced faded like a dream does shortly after waking up.

Peter held his head in his hands, "What.. the heck was that all about. Who the heck was that guy?!"

As he was separating dreams, memories, and reality, a window popped up in front of him.

New [Karma] Rating has been applied.

After reading the message, he opened his status and read down the list.

"Let's see... my new Karma is..."

His thoughts came to a complete standstill from shock.

"Negative.... One hundred?"

***