Chapter 20

Level UP

I experience nothing troubling on my way back to the tree house. I arrive and start to make dinner, another section of Jungle Hog roasted by my Majestic Flame, with now a dessert of honey. It is fantastic. Now that my bodies needs have been seen to it is time to see how much I have improved. Status.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form)

Level: 41

Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned

Unassigned Stat Points: 115

Strength: 25 (27) Agility: 25 (30) Intelligence: 15 (30)

Wisdom: 20 (24) Constitution: 15 (34) Perception: 20 (22)

MP: 3,000 out of 3000 HP: 340 out of 340

MP/Regen: 240% per hour HP/Regen: 34% per hour

Skills:

1. Inspect Level 2 – 31%

2. Direction Sense Level 6 – 27%

3. Multicast Level 3 – 85%

Bonuses:

Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int

Basic Tactics + 4 Wis Photosynthesis + 4 Con

Mana Manipulation + 5 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con

Strengthen + 2 Str Flexibility + 5 Agi

Devour + 2 Per Miasma Poison Immunity

Level 41? How in the heck did I gain 23 levels? I did not fight some super tough monster. I have just killed a bunch of lower level trash. I mean even with my 10% boost in experience for killing things with magic it does not make any sense. Think Mark, what did you do that could have caused this. You need to know to figure out if you can repeat it to make yourself stronger faster. Ok, time to retrace my steps.

I wake up each morning and eat breakfast then I train. After eating lunch, I go exploring and then come back to the tree house. That probably accounts for the bonus increases in Strengthen and Devour. It looks like my Photosynthesis went up a point also, but that is passive, so it probably just went up because it has been long enough. Basic Tactics bonus might have come from my ideas or actual implementation of how I attacked the bee hive.

That explains my gains in the bonus area. Now levels. I have not killed anything high level since the Shadow Jaguar, and I checked my status after that. So it was something between the death of the Shadow Jaguar and now that caused it. That narrows down the time frame. I have killed a lot of squirrels, a Jungle Hog, some miscellaneous small animals, and a lot of low level bees. Wait could that be it? Is it really that easy of an explanation?

I must have been given credit for all of the deaths that occurred in the bee hive when it fell. I guess since I caused the fall by destroying the branch I received experience for their deaths. I never would have guessed that I could earn indirect experience. That means that I can gain experience from a lot of indirect actions. I could poison large groups, or set up bunches of traps, or even flood out a community. Whoa I need to calm down. That is starting to get a little dark. I guess a few opportunities like the bee hive incident may appear in the future, but if I plan mass killings how am I better than that horrible person I am trying to get revenge on. I need to keep a little bit of my human morals, even if many of them do not apply to this new planet or species I inhabit.

However, I got it I know have a windfall of status points I need to distribute. These should give a large boost in power. I do find it interesting though that I did not receive any notices or anything else about my levels up. Do other people or intelligent beings even have access to my game like screen or is that something that I have due to my reincarnation? I mean maybe they are not even allowed to pick where to put their status points. If they are auto-distributed after they level up, they would only know that they got stronger. That actually makes sense for animals and plants that have levels in my observations, but do not seem to have high levels of intelligence.

From some of the messages that I have received my unique species and situation it seems that my advantage may be larger than I thought. I can specialize in something if I want and be much stronger in that area than people would expect. I think that for now I am going to try and stay balanced in my stats. At least until I can meet some other people and see how their stats compare to my own. Maybe I should even hold some back for later specialization. No I think I should spend them all for now. Possibly after level 50 I can hold some back, but for now I want to prioritize my safety, so I do not run into a situation where I might actually die enough times to be sent back into the reincarnation cycle.

An even spread of points would be a little over 19 points in each stat. Since I cannot split up points like that I will have to change things. I should put a couple extra in Intelligence and Wisdom because my primary profession is sorcerer. A few extra in Constitution which determines my health would also be good. I can rob a couple of points from strength, agility and perception. I got it. I mentally increase each stat and then check it to be sure. Status without Bonuses.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form)

Level: 41

Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Strength: 43 (45) Agility: 42 (47) Intelligence: 35 (50)

Wisdom: 41 (45) Constitution: 36 (55) Perception: 38 (40)

MP: 5,000 out of 5000 HP: 550 out of 550

MP/Regen: 450% per hour HP/Regen: 55% per hour

Skills:

1. Inspect Level 2 – 31%

2. Direction Sense Level 6 – 27%

3. Multicast Level 3 – 85%

As soon as I assign my new stats I feel that I have become stronger. I do not know if it is just because I know I am or if I can actually sense a change in my own body. I guess I will find out during training in the morning. Time to nod off.

When I awake in the morning and start cooking breakfast I realize that I had already hit my level and strength goal for this area. The fluke of knocking down the Giant Bee nest and gaining all that experience really sped up the process. According to my schedule I should now challenge whatever killed me that lives in the pond. However, I do not quite feel ready for that battle yet. I think I will spend this morning in my normal practice routine to make sure that I am comfortable with my stat increases and then use this afternoon as spell development time. I think I am going to need a couple of more powerful spells to have a good chance at whatever ate me.

I create my normal 10 targets using Plant Shaping and set them up. I already am glad I decided to practice, my movements are a little uncontrolled. I feel like I am not quite used to the increase in strength I have gained and how that affects my movement and balance. This training session should help my body readjust to the new stronger me. My session goes well and after a couple of hours I head back to the tree house. I am going to have an early lunch and think about how to increase my spell damage.

The problem as I see it is that with the sorcerer profession since my imagination is the limit I could get bogged down with so many potential spells that I could lock up in battle and not be able to actually choose one. I think it might be more advantageous to have a few go to spells and create new spells for unique situations. My exploding spike spells are a good example. Instead of trying to create a bunch of different ways to deal elemental damage I kept it to a few and kept the pattern, a spike, the same. This makes it easy for me to remember and all I have to decide is which type of element to use. I should keep this in mind while I create new spells.

Come to think of it, why do I even have spikes of different elements? I mean I did create an Elemental Mana Wings and I can switch whatever type of mana I want to create wings of different elements. Shouldn’t I be able to do that for my spike spell also. Man I feel dumb. This whole time I have been using a beginner’s spell when I have the ability to create an advanced every element spell. Fixing this just became my first priority. I quickly form ten more wooden targets with my Plant Shaping spell and realize I can do better with this spell also.

I seem to be limiting myself. Why do I only have to shape living things? I should be able to create a spell that allows me to shape something of each element. I should be able to shape earth, water, fire, air and nature. I have some work to do. First I need to set out the targets at my usual practice spot. Now let’s get to work on my new spike spell. I decide to help myself out I will cast Memory Boost which I have not used in a while to make sure I am remembering the process correctly. Memory Boost. Ok rustle through the old memories and yes, I used a video clip like set of images and combined the various types of mana. Ok I am going to try it, but I think I will also try to imagine adding more mana for increased penetration and damage.

All right, picture a spike forming in my hand from magic. This needs to be a solid heavy penetrating spike filled with energy and potential. Cycle images of fire, stone/metal, ice, lightning, destruction, and add a poisonous plant thorn made from nature mana. Each of these form different types of spikes. I am struggling to keep this little movie clip running in my mind. Finally, I feel like I have the right set of images and I bring red, blue, yellow, brown, purple, and now green towards the cycling images.

You have created the spell Improved Exploding Elemental Spike.

Observe Improved Exploding Elemental Spike.

Improved Exploding Elemental Spike: This spell creates a single spike of fire, ice, metal, lightning poison, or annihilation type and launches it towards the target. The spike will explode after penetrating deeply into any target causing additional damage. Limited tracking ability. Number of spikes and tracking ability will go up with spell level.

That is perfect. It is exactly what I wanted. Now let’s see what I can do with my shaping spell. Hold an image of plants, water, ice, sand, earth, stone, and metal flowing and changing under my command. In my images I create works of art one second and practical tools and holes in elements in the next. Bring over some blue, green, and brown mana and mix it in with the images and presto.

You have created the spell Element Shaping.

Observe Element Shaping.

Element Shaping: This spell allows the user to manipulate plants, water, ice, and all types of earth. The element used will determine whether it is permanent (solids) or temporary (liquids). Range, volume and detail of manipulated material will go up with spell level.

Not bad, that spell will definitely come in useful in the future. I think one more spell needs to be created before I even think about tackling the pond monster and moving on to a new area. I have a powerful single target spell, but now I need a good area of effect spell. Something that will do damage over a wide area and possibly a long period of time. Last new spell for the day. This time imagine the standard fireball from every magic game you have ever played. Now have it morph from fire to each of the elements we had for the spike spell. It has to be able to track targets and splash into a wide area. Bring the different colors of mana in and nothing.

Maybe it is too close to my spike spell? No I just need to adjust the image. Recreate the same image but this time when the ball of magic elemental mana hits, have it splash like a water balloon. Bits and pieces of the elemental go everywhere. The imaginary targets writhe in pain for a long time. The area hit must be contaminated for a long while. Bring in Green, Brown, Red, Blue, Purple, and Yellow mana.

You have created the spell Elemental Splash.

Observe Elemental Splash.

Elemental Splash: This spell launches an orb of fire, ice, stone, lightning, or poison which will splash and contaminate whatever it touches for 10 seconds. Area affected, damage, and tracking will go up with spell level.

That should be all I need to be able to challenge the local boss and move on. My first revenge is about to happen.