Levi debated which one to choose all the way back to the outpost, the return trip taking a longer time thanks to the meat they were transporting. Unlike their initial trip the group was unable to run full out while carrying large carcasses. One the one hand, it gave Levi more time to think before his self-imposed deadline of arriving back at the outpost, but on the other hand it just increased the amount of time he could worry about his choice. He had the feeling that no matter which one he picked he would feel regret.

But he couldn’t wallow in decision paralysis forever. He needed to make a choice. It was just so damn hard. Was one skill better than the others? Were they equally powerful just with different effects? He had no idea, and it was eating him up inside. At least while he was in the dungeon he had the pressure of survival giving him the excuse of not choosing correctly for long term. People weren’t very good at making decisions quickly and under pressure, but now he had neither of those as excuses to fall back on.

When the outpost finally entered his field of view Levi knew he needed to choose. He just didn’t know enough for more time to make a difference in his decision process. In the end, he decided to go with his only real choice. There was one clear aspect that stood out to him, and without anything else to go off of, he went with the keywords that he felt most accurately described what he was looking for: mental resilience.

[Unlocked skill: Physical Will! You have bypassed the constraints of your species, your Willpower exceeding the natural limit. For every ten points of Willpower you possess each basic physical stat increases by one. When calculating mental resistance your highest basic physical stat is added to your Willpower. You are able to channel mental energy to temporarily bypass the natural limits of your body, greatly increasing all physical attributes at the cost of immense strain on your body. This skill is associated with: Willpower, Willpower, Willpower, Willpower.]

Levi slowly went over his skill, taking it in. There was still that voice in the back of his head wondering if he made the right choice, but it was easily squashed. He had decided he wanted a skill to fortify his mental state and this skill looked like it did exactly that. It also gave him a clear direction to pursue, especially if he wanted to try and min/max. Which he probably did, at least for the moment.

With his skill chosen he mentally checked over his status, dumping his available points into Willpower.

[Name: Levi Curchman

Level: 25

Titles: System Inductee, Inheritor, Slaughterer, Pioneer

Stats:

Strength: 28 Constitution: 38 Dexterity: 30 Agility: 32

Willpower: 67 Insight: 22 Attunement: 49 Charisma: 10

Concentration: 15 Luck: 7 Aecylic Energy: 25

Skills: Concentrated Will 52, Survival 39, Improved Awareness 30, Aecylic Empowerment 54, Brawling 28, Slaughter 6, Manabody 23, Combat Sense 23, Meditation 9, Dodge 12, Last Stand 2, Physical Will 1]

He still wasn’t sure exactly how he compared to everyone else in the outpost, but he couldn’t help but feel he hadn’t done too badly for himself. His Charisma might be a bit low now that he was interacting with people, but he couldn’t be good at everything. Based on what Alex and Kelly told him he had a hunch that the System was set up such that it rewarded specialization. A good example would be his skill in combat despite his lack of proper training.

During his fight with Alex the combination of Brawling, Combat Sense, and Dodge combined together to create a whole greater than its parts, each skill combining and making up for the deficits of the others. He no longer had to actively think about fighting; it came naturally. This was also particularly import considering Aecylic Empowerment. He knew the skill messed with his state of mind. His new mental resilience should help with that. Having combat be automatic also allowed him to focus on keeping his head rather than not dying. Getting more social skills would benefit him for sure, but not dying or getting lost in bloodlust was higher on his priorities list. He still wasn’t sure mixing in with everyone from the outpost was in his best interest so it would be dumb to focus more on Charisma and social skills if he ended up leaving anyway.

He hadn’t noticed while he was walking, but Kelly had been watching him from the corner of her eye for the entire trip. Since she was around more people she was able to clearly recognize the glazed look people got when they were focused on the System, so she was able to see when Levi’s eyes cleared up and he came back to reality.

“Made your choice?” Kelly said as she sidled over to where Levi was walking. She was the only one of the group not carrying a monster carcass.

“I did.”

“Any hints about what your skill does? A brief overview? You don’t have to tell me word for word of course.”

Kelly knew she really shouldn’t be asking, but she was just too damn curious. With the exception of a few people everyone in the outpost was very open about sharing skills, and because of her position she had access to all of that information.

Levi had long ago considered what to tell people about his level twenty-five skill. They knew he had it, so he couldn’t hide it without doing so directly, and he didn’t want to start off his relationship with others by being directly uncooperative and withholding information. But even though he still had some cards close to his chest, it couldn’t hurt to hold a few more, and they probably wouldn’t get too upset with him for only withholding a little information. Giving them a general summary was what he ended up going with.

“My skill gives me an overall boost to my physical stats and allows me to briefly overcome my bodies limits, but it says that comes with a cost.”

“So an overall buffing skill then?” Kelly said. “Hmm, not bad. Raw stats and combat power are probably fairly useful for you since you already have some combat skills. Did you have anything interesting for your other choices?”

“Mostly the same stuff,” Levi said. “I think this one might have more focus on the power up ability if I had to guess.” Levi wasn’t planning to go into what all of his options were. It had the potential to give away too much about his skill make up.

“I see,” Kelly said, not asking any other questions.

Neither of them knew where to take the conversation from there but luckily they were saved by Alex calling out from the entrance to the outpost.

“Quite a nice harvest I see?”

“Of course!” Kelly replied. “Why would you expect anything less from my amazing self?”

“Really?” Alex said, a knowing smirk on his face. “It was all you then? Levi didn’t contribute in any way?”

“Well, Levi might have contributed a little bit, but his idea would have been impossible without my skills.”

“Uh huh. Anyway, David called a meeting so your presence is needed. Stuff happened while you were away that needs to be addressed.”

Kelly sensed Alex’s change in mood, going from joking to serious. Whatever happened must be important.

“All right you lot,” Kelly said, addressing the excursion group. “My presence is needed elsewhere. Ya’ll know where to put everything. I’ll contact the people for tomorrow’s group later tonight.”

“Levi you might be needed later on,” Alex said. “Try not to go too far, or maybe just stay in the area around central command.”

“Got it,” Levi said.

Levi watched as everyone scattered, Alex and Kelly quickly moving off to their important meeting and the others dropping off the supplies they were carrying. Levi couldn’t remember where to put his share, but it was easy enough to follow everyone else to the communal warehouse.

Once he dropped the meat off at the storehouse he was left with a dilemma. What should he spend his time on? He had spent so much time alone recently that he had trouble remembering what people normally did when they talked to others. Should he just go up to someone? But everyone seemed to have a job to do. The only people not working were the kids.

Without any better ideas Levi decided to just spend his time training. He still hadn’t experimented with his new skill after all. A few minutes’ walk had him in the training area, finding a secluded corner to try out his new skill.

Physical Will gave him the ability to empower his physical abilities even further than he already could with Aecylic Empowerment, but without knowing the boundaries of the skill, using it at the wrong time could cause him to prematurely experience its backlash effects before he was ready. His combat skills allowed him to get used to the increase in power fairly easily, but the timing of when to use the ability still relied on his own judgement. He needed to figure out what his skill did beyond its description.

Levi started slow, first sitting down and slowly activating the skill to feel the effects before ramping up his practice to mock fights against invisible enemies. His first impression was the skill seemed a little weak, but then again he still hadn’t pushed it to the limits. So far he only felt a dull ache in his muscles that went away after a minute or so of rest. After thinking about it, the skill seemed more based towards scaling. Unlike a skill like Brawling that would only ever do one thing, it was likely that Physical Will would continue to improve as his stats went up. The mental defense aspect should only get more powerful as his stats rose, which is what Levi wanted in the first place so he decided not to complain about not having access to immediate power. And besides, if the skill allowed him to safely channel more Aecylic Energy he could get plenty of power that way.

Levi spent about an hour experimenting with his new skill. He never really came close to experiencing the backlash from it, but that information was valuable by itself as it gave him a rough benchmark for future reference. His practice ended when Alex came out and called for him to join their meeting. His curiosity had been stirred up earlier with Alex’s comment that he might be needed as he wasn’t sure what they needed him for since he wasn’t a core part of the outpost. It was time to find out.