I ran through the underbrush as fast as my feet could carry me, retrieving my pistol as I fled. I wrapped one arm around the face of the girl in my arms to keep branches from hitting her but couldn’t stop everything. I kept running until I was completely out of stamina, and stopped to catch my breath and look behind me for pursuers. As I watched, I quickly whipped out my pocketknife, using it to cut her free of her bonds.

After making sure we weren’t in danger, at least immediately, I sat down on the ground and upended my water bottle over my head. Immediately, Stormborn regeneration kicked in as the water soaked my clothes. It quickly ran off of my hydrophobic skin, but I think that any amount of stamina I can regain as quickly as possible is worth it.

Hesitatingly standing up and rubbing her wrists, the cheetahkin girl stretched her hands into the air. Taking a closer look at her, I now noticed that instead of regular feet, hers ended in a paw. They were digitigrade and probably allowed her to run incredibly fast. I didn’t risk getting distracted by alerts until I was completely sure that I was safe, but it looked like I could now risk a glance.

Combat Complete! Experience Calculated!

Opponents Defeated:

Ratkin bandit – lvl 4 – 265xp

Badgerkin bandit – lvl 3 – 207xp

Level up! Lvl 0 -> 3 (58/116) xp to next level

Skill Alert! Level Up!

General Skill: Athletics – lvl 36 -> 39

General Skill: Dash – lvl 4 -> 5 – (cost 18->17 stamina)

Race Skill: Storm Fists – lvl 1 -> 3 – (+3 damage per strike)

Combat Skill: Unarmed Combat – lvl 4 -> 5 – (+4 -> 5 damage with unarmed strikes)

Archetype Skill: Lone Wanderer – lvl 20 -> 24

+1 Cha

Role-Playing Bonus:

+1 Luk Maximum

You’re quite the prince charming! -Luna

It seems like I got quite a few skill upgrades, including both a charisma and a luck increase. That must be why Cindy told me to try and roleplay. The benefits were pretty good if they managed to increase luck. After bringing up my status I decided to try and inspect the title ‘Combat Skills’ to see if I could gain more information that way.

Combat skills:

These skills are specific attacking techniques that consume stamina, as well as skills denoting your personal prowess in a certain martial art. Everything within the combat skill category can only be leveled through training with a more powerful combatant or teacher, or through the crucible of live combat.

That was certainly good to know. I had performed some punches and mock attacks while training up my strength and agility, but I proved incapable of changing my unarmed combat level. Similarly, I was also unable to change my storm fists level. I wonder if it was also considered a combat skill.

Storm Fists:

Combat Race skill – Your fists contain the might of storms. You can use mana to fuel powerful physical strikes. (+3 lightning damage). 1 mana per strike.

That answered that. There were combination skills between the categories, and Storm Fists was both a race skill and a combat skill. I guess race skill superseded combat skills in the hierarchy. It made me wonder about my Storm Aspect magic skill. Why was that not considered a race skill?

Storm Aspect:

Magic Skill - Convert your body into a living storm. Gain (+50%) resistance to physical damage while converted. Contact deals +30 lightning damage per second. 100 mana for 30 seconds.

Calling up my status, I decided to go over my current values.

Name: Victoria (Vic) Gale

Age: 4 days

Gender: Female

Race: Lesser Storm Paraelemental

Class: n/a

Job: Unemployed. Good Luck!

Level: 3/30, (58/116xp)

Affinity: Hand-to-hand, Physicality, Wind, Water, Ice, Electricity, Electronics, Crafting

Character Archetype: Lone Wanderer

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

138

150

20/day (42/day)

Stamina:

150

150

120/hour (252/hour)

Mana:

70

70

150/hour (315/hour)

General Stats:

Current

Maximum

Affect

Strength

15

15

Physical strength; pushing, pulling, lifting. Affects health

Agility

15

15

Physical speed; running speed, acrobatic ability, inertial control. Affects stamina

Dexterity

12

12

Ability to move with finesse and skill. To move the body as the mind wills it. Affects stamina regen

Constitution

20

20

The sturdiness of the body; ability to resist damage, poison, and magic. Affects health regen.

Intelligence

7

10

Your capacity to learn and remember. Affects mana

Wisdom

15

15

Your ability to reason out the best choice. Affects mana regen

Charisma

12

12

Your likability; Affects attractiveness

Luck

10

16

Affects drop rates, and personal narrative

Obviously, I increased my level a few times from killing those bandits, but there was a lot more to unpack than that.

It's now official. You can gain experience from killing other people. That means that gaining strength through murder is not only possible but also very accessible. Even before the changes, people killed each other for gains. But now, those gains were substantial and immediate. I could imagine a surge of murders across the world as people begin to seek new power through blood and destruction.

What’s more, the pistol barely did any damage per shot. A normal person would have been put into the ground after only two shots, but that badger guy shrugged off 11. With magic being more effective than firearms, the race to level and increase in strength is going to be wild.

Lost in thought, I barely even noticed the girl stand and approach me.

Standing on her feet, she was probably just over 6 ft, but that was most likely due to her long legs. Her clothes were in tatters, and I could see that she was bleeding in many places. She had tan skin like she spent a lot of time outside. Her eyes were bright green, and she had small rounded ears on the top of her head, as well as a long and thick tail. Her hair matched her ears and tail colors, with the typical cheetah spots.

Tears began to form in her eyes, as she quietly stuttered out, “Th... Thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I would definitely be dead…”

She began to sob, and I rose to wrap her in a hug.

“It’s going to be okay. I’m here to help. My name is Victoria, but anyone who knows me calls me Vic. What’s your name?”

“My name is Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn Dunn.”

“Kaitlyn, I need to ask… are you alone? Is there anyone back there that needs help?”

More tears fell, and she was wracked with silent shakes. I guess if there was anyone else, they didn’t make it out. I gave her a few moments and then continued.

“Kaitlyn, those guys are still out there. They are probably pretty pissed off at me for killing their friends, and we either need to kill the rest of them or find someone who can back in the city. It’s probably a good idea to get you somewhere safe though. I’ve refilled my stamina at this point, and I can keep moving for a long time. Can you run?”

“Y... yes, I think I can. I don’t know the way to the city anymore, though.”

“That’s okay, I can fly up and check if we need it. You can stay at my place for now. I have some friends that will help to take care of you.”

With that being said, I activated flight and rose above the treetops. I looked out at the distance and found that the direction we had been running in was also vaguely the direction of the city. If Kaitlyn can run as fast as I’m guessing she can, we could probably make it by nightfall, though obviously because I can fly, I would beat her.

As I decided to sink back down to the ground, I felt a sudden heat across my back.

With a mighty BOOM I was blasted through the sky. -20

Once I regained my bearings, I realized I was knocked about 40 feet away from where I was due to my weight. A good thing too, as a second fireball flew through the space where I was floating a second ago. There hovering in front of me was the bandit that I had seen walking into the fire of the burning house.

He wore no shirt and extending from his back were two wings made of flame. I quickly inspected him as I cast charged up two sparks.

Race – Flame Demonkin; Job – Bandit Leader; Class - ???; Level - 6

With an angry snarl, he shouted across the distance, “Bitch, you’re going to pay for what you did to Rich and Mac.”

I guess the two I already killed were called Rich and Mac. My heart thudded in my chest, urging me to flee, but I stood my ground.

“I killed them both, and if you don’t back off right now, I’m killing you too.”

His response was to fire two flame blasts at me, and soar to meet me in the air. The first missed, but the second managed to graze me. I could tell the damage was reduced because of the wind wall. -5

My sparks ripped through the air, one slamming into his chest, and the other ripping apart his right wing.

-15

The chest shot did damage, and after the wing was obliterated, he began to fall.

He shouted, “HELLIONS’ FLIGHT” and his wings regenerated. It must be a spell.

Current:

Maximum:

Health:

113

150

Stamina:

150

150

Mana:

20

70

Drawing my pistol once again, I aimed and fired three times. The shot threw me backward through the air, but I was decently skilled and hit him middle mass twice.

-10, -10

He fired another two fire blasts my way, this time managing to hit me with both. This guy was definitely a caster. I needed to take this fight to the ground. -10, -10

Current:

Maximum:

Health:

93

150

Stamina:

150

150

Mana:

20

70

Charging up one final spark, I shred his wing once more.

Current:

Maximum:

Health:

93

150

Stamina:

150

150

Mana:

5

70

This time, he fell and didn’t rise back into the air. I hovered above where he disappeared and quickly flew towards him on the ground. I raised my arm in front of me and activated storm fist. I saw where he fell and rushed at him. Just before impact, I deactivated elemental flight. My momentum carried my lightning charged fist straight into, and then through his chest. I took damage and felt my arm break. -30

COMBO CRITICAL; FATAL STRIKE 3.5x: -84

Well that was nasty. Fuck me this arm hurts. Trying to wipe the blood on my arm onto my clothes, and tearing up from the pain and adrenaline, I looked around me. There was no way this bastard's friends didn’t notice that, and I haven’t gotten an experience message, so combat must still be taking place.

Suddenly, I felt the motion of muscles behind me and quickly activated flight to throw myself into the air. A claw whooshed through the space where my head was moments earlier.

Turning around, I saw that I was being penned in by the two remaining bandits. One looked like some kind of dog or coyote, and the other was another ratkin.

Race – Coyotekin; Job – Bandit; Class - ???; level - 4

Race – Mousekin; Job – Bandit; Class - ???; level - 3

Mousekin then. I’m not racist, just ignorant. I was surrounded again though, and if they were pissed before, they were super pissed now. Or maybe ultra pissed? The pain was making it hard to think straight.

The pistol was in my left hand, and the right hand was broken. I came down to the ground with the pistol already raised and deactivated flight. I peppered the mousekin with the remaining 8 shots. I missed once, but it was enough. Should have invested more in strength.

-10, -10, -10, -10, -10, -20, -20

I guess I must have gotten a lucky hit because he was down. I dropped the pistol, but the Coyote was already moving when I landed. He got under my fragile guard and dropped a nasty kidney shot into my side. -15

I managed to activate storm fist and attempted to strike at him, but I was falling backward and was unable to gather any strength for an attack. I activated flight to keep from falling completely over, but things weren’t looking good. This guy knew his way around a fistfight, and I had taken a couple of classes at the gym. He had me, and he knew it.

Suddenly, I noticed a blur on the edge of my vision. With a crack, Kaitlyn appeared off of his shoulder. I had never taken back my pocketknife, and it was probably a good thing because Kaitlyn used it to tear through the Coyote’s throat. He reached up to try and staunch the blood, but he collapsed before he could manage it. After a few gurgling noises, he fell silent.

Combat Complete! Experience Calculated!

Opponents Defeated:

Flame Demonkin bandit leader – lvl 6 – 396xp

Mousekin bandit – lvl 3 – 207xp

Level up! Lvl 3 -> 8 (71/181) xp to next level

I guess you get no experience for partial kills.

I looked over at Kaitlyn as the adrenaline of battle faded. Her eyes were filled with a righteous fury and with the memory and sensation of vengeance done.

Collapsing backward, I sighed, wincing at my injured arm. “Thanks for that. He almost had me.”

She didn’t respond. I could see her tearing up again, but she didn’t say a word.

“Now that that’s done, do you want to go back to your house? Try and salvage anything?”

She only shook her head. I understood that there was probably nothing much left. We needed to get somewhere safe to rest and heal, and unfortunately still the safest place for us was in the city. I could fly, so my arm wouldn’t jostle around too much, and Kaitlyn was crazy fast. We could make it with time to spare.

Level 5 milestone reached! Determining Rewards based on Attributes and playstyle!

Race: Lesser Storm Paraelemental: +2 con, +2 wis, +1 cha

Hand-to-Hand: +1 str, +1 agi, +1 dex

Physicality: +1 str, +1 agi, +1 con

Elemental Affinity: +2 int, +2 wis

Electronics: +1 int

Crafting: +2 dex, +1 int

Role-Playing Bonus: +2 variable stat points, +1 luk

Total Max Stat increases:

STR: +2

AGI: +2

DEX: +3

CON: +3

INT: +4

WIS: +4

CHA: +1

LUK: +1

+2 Assignable points

Skill Alert! Level Up! New Skill Unlocked!

General Skill: Identify – lvl 4 -> 5 – can now see some of skill tree path

Race Skill: Storm Fists – lvl 3 -> 5 (+5 lightning damage,2 mana per strike)

Race Skill: Electroreceptivity – lvl 3 -> 5 – you can easily sense the movements of creatures within your range

Race Skill: Elemental Flight – lvl 42 -> 44 – (98 miles/hour, 98ft)

Combat Skill: Unarmed Combat – lvl 5 -> 6 – (+6 damage when unarmed)

*NEW* Combat Skill: Shooting(pistols) – lvl 1/20 – (accuracy with pistols +5%)

*NEW* Enhancement Skill: Enhanced Physicality – lvl 1/10 – (+10 health, +10 stamina)

Resistance Skill: Physical Resistance – lvl 13 -> 20(MAX) – (-40% physical damage) (MAX)

*NEW* (Derived from Physical Resistance) Enhancement Skill: Rapid Regeneration – lvl 1/10 – (+5 health regen)

I immediately inspected Shooting(pistols), Enhanced Physicality, and Physical Resistance.

Shooting(pistols):

You have shown a decent amount of skill using pistols in live combat. This skill grants the user greater accuracy and proficiency in the use of pistols as it levels up. Derivations include but are not limited to; quickdraw, dual pistols, and hand cannons

Enhanced Physicality:

You have an affinity for the use of your body, and you have shown that you use your body efficiently and well. This skill grants a lesser degree of proprioception, as well as increases to health and stamina every level. Derivations: Greater Physicality, Enhanced Physicality+, Giants Physicality

Rapid Regeneration:

You have a constitution of 20 or greater while being lower than level 5 and have also increased Physical Resistance to the max level. This skill increases your health regeneration, but it also makes your skin tougher to penetrate with piercing weapons (Beware angry mountains and men with bats). -50% physical damage from nonmagical sources (MAX) Derivations: Troll Flesh, Enhanced Constitution+, Giants Constitution

After the alert, I felt the pain in my arm immediately fade, and I watched as the wounds on my body closed. I am lucky that reaching a milestone regens all of your primary stats.

Also important to note, it seems like maxing out a skill simply creates a better version of that skill on top of it. That was good to know. I quickly looked up at Kaitlyn. She seemed to be looking through her status as well, because I could see her eyes scrolling from left to right, without her looking at anything in particular. I checked my status to go over all of the changes.

Name: Victoria (Vic) Gale

Age: 4 days

Gender: Female

Race: Lesser Storm Paraelemental

Class: n/a

Job: Unemployed. Good Luck!

Level: 8/30, 71/181 to next level

Affinity: Hand-to-hand, Physicality, Wind, Water, Ice, Electricity, Electronics, Crafting

Character Archetype: Lone Wanderer

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

160

160

25/day

Stamina:

160

160

120/hour

Mana:

70

70

140/hour

General Stats:

Current

Maximum

Affect

Strength

15

17

Physical strength; pushing, pulling, lifting. Affects health

Agility

15

17

Physical speed; running speed, acrobatic ability, inertial control. Affects stamina

Dexterity

12

15

Ability to move with finesse and skill. To move the body as the mind wills it. Affects stamina regen

Constitution

20

23

The sturdiness of the body; ability to resist damage, poison, and magic. Affects health regen.

Intelligence

7

14

Your capacity to learn and remember. Affects mana

Wisdom

15

19

Your ability to reason out the best choice. Affects mana regen

Charisma

12

13

Your likability; Affects attractiveness

Luck

10

17

Affects drop rates, and personal narrative

Unassigned

2

Skill

Level

Affect

General Skills: Common skills across all races

Identify

5/20

Gives user information. Amount and clarity based on identify level. Grants basic information from entities.

Athletics

39/50

Increases efficiency of stamina use. (70%) reduction in stamina consumption performing athletic feats

Dash

5/10

Expend 17 Stamina for a rapid forward sprint for 30 feet. (+50% speed)

Quiet Movement

1/20

Reduces noise generated by movement by (1%)

Crafter

70/100

User is skilled in crafting and has an esthetic eye. Increases dexterity maximum (+2), and growth of all design-related jobs.

Enhanced Vision

15/20

Allows you to see objects at (+45ft) with clarity as if the object was 5ft away.

Craftsman’s Trance

9/20

allows user to focus on a single task, ignoring distractions and outside influences. Increases proficiency with general skills (+ 9%)

Lumberjack

16/100

grants enhanced technique and skill when felling trees. (+16%)

Race Skills: Skills gained from race type

Stormborn

11/30

Increases effectiveness of strength, athletics, constitution, and wisdom when in stormy conditions (+11%). Grants enhanced regeneration when touching water (+110%). Gain mana from enemy storm attacks. (+20% mana steal)

Storm Fists

5/30

Your fists contain the might of storms. You can use mana to fuel powerful physical strikes. (+5 lightning damage). 2 mana per strike.

Electroreceptivity

5/20

You gain a 6th sense to sense electricity in a range of 10ft around you. Grows more powerful with use. Can sense movement of creatures within your range

Elemental Flight

44/70

You gain the ability to fly. Flying speed and height based on skill level and agility. Intrinsic ability has no cost. (98 miles/hour, 98 ft.)

Combat Skills: Skills gained and levelled through combat

Unarmed Combat

6/10

You have started down the path of unarmed combat. You deal (+6) damage while unarmed

Shooting (Pistols)

1/20

You gain increased accuracy when firing pistols (+5%)

Magic Skills: Skills used to control mana

Storm Aspect

1/30

Convert your body into a living storm. Gain (+50%) resistance to physical damage while converted. Contact deals +30 lightning damage per second. 100 mana for 30 seconds.

Electrokinesis

11/50

Control electricity with your mind. How shocking! Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form larger amounts of electricity and control it more effectively. Reduces mana cost for general use.

Hydrokinesis

12/50

Control water with your mind. Bring the bath to you!

Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form larger amounts of water and control it more effectively. Reduces mana cost for general use.

Aerokinesis

17/50

Control wind with your mind. Blow your troubles away! Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form larger amounts of wind and control it more effectively. Reduces mana cost for general use.

Enhancement Skills: Skills which enhance physical traits

Enhanced Physicality

1/10

Grants Minor Proprioception. Health +10, Stamina +10

Rapid Regeneration

1/10

Enhances natural recovery. -50% damage from nonmagical sources. +5 health regen

Resistance Skills: Skills that grant resistance to a type of damage

Intermediate Storm Resistance

12/30

Resist lightning, water, ice, and wind damage from all sources. (-32% from all sources)

Archetype Skills: Skills granted via archetype

Lone Wanderer

24/100

Skill growth is increased while exploring new places alone (+20%). Increased experience gained hunting monsters alone (+20%).

First 1!

1/1

You were the first person to become upgraded. +10% exp for killing roaming monsters.

Spell Name:

Mana Cost:

Affect:

Duration

Spark

15

Fires a small bolt of electricity (30ft) for +15 damage.

Instant

Purify

5

Cleanses water of impurities, making it potable.

Instant

Wind Shield

20

Creates a blockade of air granting projectile resistance (-50% damage)

60s

Yikes that was a lot to take in. Though reaching that milestone was nice, I was still feeling exhausted. I decided to go ahead and go back to the city to catch some sleep. It wasn’t worth making a trip out to the ranch today, and I didn’t want to take Kaitlyn there anyway. She needed some rest too, that’s for sure.

I pulled Kaitlyn out of her trance by placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey Kaitlyn. I’d like to try and make it back to my apartment today. How fast can you run, and for how long?”

She sniffled, as she was still crying a bit, before replying, “My speed says it's 90 miles/hour, and I consume 1 stamina for every 10 minutes of running.”

Holy crap, for real? That’s insane.

“Can you dodge trees at that speed? I saw part of a road not too far from here, but I don’t know how far it actually goes.”

“Yes, I should be able to. I was practicing before... everything happened. I have really high agility, and enhanced reflexes, so I can like jump off them and stuff. I have a magic skill too, called inertial control. It helps me move around really quick as well.”

That was a handy suite of skills. It's easy to tell that her race was made for going at ridiculous speeds over land. I wonder how she was ever caught.

“Alright. I’ll fly right above the trees. Can you follow me from here? I try and avoid places with too dense foliage.”

“I'm ready.”

With that out of the way, we headed off through the woods. Kaitlyn managed to stay with me the whole way. I stayed just at around 80 miles/hour, and she had no problems running at that speed through the forest. As I watched her, I realized that she was kicking off from tree to tree, running through the forest like a ninja. Freaking awesome.

We made it into the city proper after only 45 minutes, and the majority of the time was spent getting her to navigate through the streets to my apartment building. We got there around 5. It was wild to think that the whole encounter with the bandits only took about an hour if you didn’t include travel time.

I landed on the third-floor fire escape and gestured for her to come up. Jumping towards me with what must have been a 20-foot vertical, she landed on the railing of the escape and hopped the rest of the way up in a single bound. I opened the window and ushered her inside.

Cindy was in the kitchen, starting what appeared to be a pot of beans on a camp stove. When I came in, she took one look at my clothes and rushed towards me. Looking down at myself, I could see that my clothes around my wounds was covered with a faintly glowing white liquid. It took me a second to realize that it was my blood.

“What happened?!? You were gone for three hours, and you come back in tatters! Is that blood Victoria?!? What happened?”

Stepping out from behind me, Kaitlyn coughed and prepared to introduce herself, but before she could a message dinged in my mind.

Let’s get this party started! Due to the rapid increase of average levels across the globe, the third wave has been pushed forwards 21 hours! Prepare for combat! -H.G.

The third wave will begin in 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, ….

Dammit.