Levi debated how he should approach the monsters. It took him all of two seconds to realize it probably didn’t matter. He was just going to slaughter them anyway. Yes, perhaps he could try and hold back, but he was sure he didn’t need his full power to destroy them. He didn’t want to reveal all his cards but that wasn’t a reason for him not to let loose and have a little fun. He still wasn’t sure what to make of his rather dramatic personality shift from Aecylic Energy, but his previous personality needed to change anyway to survive. It didn’t make much of a difference if that change was initiated internally or externally.

He set off towards the monsters at a trot, soon breaking out into a light run. It was nowhere close to his full speed, but with his improved physique it took him a scant few seconds to reach the first monster. It was large, maybe the size of a bison on Earth, but its girth was much larger, its appearance as if an oversized fat plushie came to life. Levi didn’t let that influence him though. It wouldn’t do to underestimate them just based off of their appearance of some video game monster. While he was confident in his power, he was still mortal. Battle always held some risk, and just because he came out on top in the dungeon didn’t mean he was now some godly combatant.

But as his fist tore through the first monster’s head all his thoughts went away. There was only the thrill of battle, the low hum of Aecylic Empowerment pulsing through him.

Gone was the hesitation. It didn’t matter that his fist was covered in blood and bits of flesh. He was the predator and these monsters were the prey, and they would bow down before his might. After withdrawing his fist Levi moved onto the second monsters, darting next to it in preparation for a lethal blow. He clenched his fist, reveling in the power contained within. But just as he was about to swing out killing another beast he was forced to dodge, lest he find himself impaled on the tusks of its charging comrade.

Monsters were still dangerous, and Levi had no interest in facing one of their charges head-on. There was a small part of him that wanted to match his strength with something that dared to challenge him, but that part hadn’t yet won over his more human instincts. Dodge also helped too, allowing him to use the skill to slip around his charging foe, and instead of punching, sticking a leg out to trip it, breaking one of its front legs with an unnaturally with a loud snap.

What followed was a dance, Levi weaving in and out of the charging boar-like monsters, flowing like water as they failed to catch so much as his shadow. Each of his attacks were powerful, either killing blows or, more often, breaking legs or spines. As he was fighting he had a sudden urge to leap onto one of them and ride it, taming it to his will, showing his dominance. Perhaps he would have done so if he were alone, just to see if he could, but he had an audience, and while his current display might be impressive, it was only that, not crossing to a higher realm.

All too soon Levi found himself alone, his last enemy dead before him. It was a gruesome scene, a lone human, splattered in bits of blood and gore surrounded by hulking freshly dead corpses. He hadn’t gone easy on them, and the first one wasn’t the only one missing its head. But despite that he still saved much more of the corpses than Kelly. He hadn’t personally gone to inspect the result of her previous slaughter, but the smell wafting on the breeze told him everything he needed to know. In comparison, this scene was almost pleasant.

Kelly had been watching him during his fight, trying to gauge his strength. Levi’s display had been impressive. There were a good handful of people who could do what he just did, but probably not quite as easily. Assuming Levi was holding back at least a little of his strength he could make the top ten most powerful people in the outpost easily, and maybe even the top five. It got her blood boiling, also increasing her interest in the dungeon Levi said was across the river.

She didn’t want to pass judgement, but it was fairly obvious that before the system Levi was a nobody. He hadn’t gone into detail, but it was clear from his mannerisms he wasn’t used to interacting with people. It was the small things, the expressions, the slight pauses in his speech, and of course those mannerisms were made all the easier to spot since they were exacerbated by the situation. Despite her outgoing personality, Kelly wasn’t sure even she would be able to walk into an outpost of hundreds of potentially dangerous strangers and feel comfortable.

In their group they had people like Alex who had been aiming to be a semi-pro boxer, a few people who were in the military, and even her with the specialized training she received in the circus. Even David had some sort of background, although even she wasn’t brave enough to ask him about it. Compared to that Levi was normal. Or he had been. Despite enduring what sounded like a horrible experience, he had grown from it and he was no longer the office drone or burger flipper he had been before. That got Kelly interested. If someone like that could gain such power, how would someone with a better starting point fare?

But that was all for later. Despite her outward brash actions, Kelly knew that taking things slow was sometimes the correct choice. She just thought it was the correct choice a whole lot less than other people. This was one of those rare exceptions, and if she wanted to rope Levi in to the outpost she needed to try and cool her jets.

“Alright people,” Kelly said. “Let’s go collect the bodies. Collection team you’re in charge. It looks like we might call it after this one since we got such a good haul.”

The group moved together to join Levi with the corpses, starting to harvest them for both meat and other materials like bone, sinew, and hide. Kelly walked over to where Levi was, standing in front of him as he stared out into space.

“It looked like you were enjoying yourself,” Kelly said.

The only response she got was silence.

“Helloooo. Anyone in there?”

“Hmm? Oh, uh, sorry,” Levi said, snapping out of his daze. “I must have zoned out there. I reached level twenty-five.”

“Oh-ho! I guess that means you got your super skills then? Anything interesting?”

“I think so. I can’t really be sure how it compares to what other people have, but if they are as powerful as you say I have some… interesting options.”

Kelly barely controlled her desire to question him about said options. Because of her position in the outpost she could afford to be overbearing, but while Levi had nominally joined their group he still wasn’t fully acclimated yet. She knew he had secrets. David hadn’t questioned the parts of his story where he had been intentionally vague, and he had stopped her from doing so too. As much as she wanted to take charge, she wasn’t the real reason their group existed. That honor belonged to David. She was just the muscle.

Even someone as powerful as she was still needed to sleep. She was well versed enough in history to know how dictators met their end. If she was truly in power all she could do would be to rule with an iron fist. David’s ability to differentiate fact from fiction was a godsend in this new world. It was only icing on the cake that he clearly had some sort of management experience. The way he was able to placate the different factions of their outpost was nothing short of a miracle. So as much as Kelly wanted to turn Levi upside down and shake him until he revealed his secrets, she held herself back.

“Let me know if you want any advice on choosing your skill. It will define your skill set going forwards. It looks like the group will be laden down with the goods from these monsters, so we’ll be heading back after we finish harvesting them. I’ll leave you alone until we head back out, which should be in half an hour or so.”

Levi watched as Kelly walked away after he uncharacteristic speech. He had expected to have to fend off her questions, but those questions never materialized. Perhaps he misjudged her a bit. She might be a bit brash, but anyone who was only one dimensional like that would have a hard time surviving here. He needed to get better at judging people. Without the rather large hint from her recent actions he would likely have continued to think of her as a dumb pyromaniac bimbo.

With a shake of his head Levi turned his thoughts back to his class skill. He had three very interesting choices.

[Physical Infusion – A Skill that increases physical abilities and the ability to physically interact with mana.

Body and Mind – A skill that allows for an increased connection between body and mind, each one supplementing the deficiencies of the other.

Physical Will – A skill that connects Willpower with physical power, increasing physical control and mental resilience.]

He had been hoping for a bit more description, but having any at all was better than his normal skill selection. At least this small part gave him something to go off of. And they did seem to be actually useful descriptions. For instance, if he had to guess the first skill would be the best one for combat. But he had already decided pure combat was out, which left him deciding between the other two.

Truthfully, they were rather similar. He had wanted something that would help with his mental state, and it looked like both would do that to a certain extent. The question was just how they would go about doing so and how much. Based off of his gut reaction, he was inclined to choose Body and Mind. But Physical Will had mental resilience in the description, and that was exactly what he was looking for. It wasn’t an easy choice. But even though he had to choose between two similar skills, he was grateful he had even one skill that looked like it would do what he wanted it to. Now the only question was choosing which one was better.