Chapter 2

After a few minutes bent over cradling my brutally attacked manhood. I was able to sit up and after a few shaky breaths grunt out, “Ya, I probably deserved that”.

Wick looked at me and then after a moment or two agreed, “Fair enough, sorry for punching the plumbs, but it’s a very sore issue for me. Let’s sit down and figure out a plan, can’t sit in this cave forever.”

“Great, cause let me be honest, I’m freaking out a bit here, let me see what I can find to start a fire, and then can you please explain all of this (waving his arms at the cave).” I went around the small cave picking up some dry moss and dried out wood (don’t know how it got here, but hey never as questions you don’t want answers to). Pilling up the dry material I set to work using a couple pieces of wood, using the fireplough technique got to work trying to start a fire.

Forty minutes, 6 blisters and 8 splinters of rubbing two sticks together led to a small ember starting to glow. Painstakingly blowing and coaxing the ember to life, a small flame sprung up on the dry material. Jumping up raising both arms in the air, I yelled “How do you like that!!”

You have discovered the Skill Firestarter. Lvl 1.

To Cavemen you are considered a god. To pretty much everyone else they look at you and think “why didn’t you use a match or your Infernal Fire Imp”.

By creating a camp fire you have learned the skill Camping. Lvl 1

You have discovered the skill Camping Lvl 1

Pop Tent, roll out a bedroll, or just sit by a campfire. You’re officially a camper. The better the camp the better the bonus (you even think glamping and your man card is revoked). Bonus to health, mana and stamina regeneration while in camp. Current bonus to those in the camp 1%. Additional bonus maybe gained with further leveling.

.

Dumbfounded, I just looked at Wick and asked, “What the hell are these notifications?”

“Well let’s start with the easy one, I’m an infernal fire imp.” With that said Wick flipped his thumb up and a small flame sat there dancing merrily. “Sometimes it’s better to work smarter than harder. Second as to the Skills you learned well, as you do and learn new things you gain skills. No, anything you’ve previously have done before the System doesn’t count. You need to redo them and show proficiency to gain them as skills. Every level you get in a skill you earn points toward your Destiny Paths. Before we get into everything, lets sit and start from the beginning. As in you telling me what the hell happened to you. Seriously the way you look a half dead beggar would probably feel sorry for you and give you a few coins.”

“The last thing I remember was that I was walking back to my dorm from class. All of a sudden sirens are blaring, looking around I start seeing kids vanishing in bright flashes. Next thing I know I’m on some pantheon listening to some god talk. I decided to look over the edge to see where we were and then I’m falling through the air on what I assumed was going to be a dramatic end to my life. Then I wake up and watch my body put itself back together. I start to read some floating blue boxes, something about the gods taking notice of me. I read one about Merasil taking pity on me starting in a level 50 instanced dungeon and she game me you. Still haven’t had a chance to finish looking at all the boxes.”

“Well how much do you know about The System? I’m sure, who was it Omion, god of Life…?”

“Nope, was Ibbris, god of Destiny”

“Ahhhh, make sense. I’m sure he should have gone over The System when you got there. Well we can go ov….” Jumping to his fee eyes popping out of his head Wick exclaims, “WAIT! We are in a level 50 instanced dungeon?!?!”

Looking a bit surprised at Wicks sudden outburst, I say, “I think so that’s what the one message said, she took pity on me for missing the tutorial or introduction and then starting in a level 50 instanced dungeon.”

“Oooooooh we are soooo dead. This is probably going to be the shortest soul companionship ever. I’m going to be stuck in nothingness for another century, if I have to listen to another one of Bob’s stories about how awesome his last companion was I’m going to scream! Then I just KNOW I’m going to be matched up with semi-sentient slime. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get slime out of your pants!”

Sitting up straight, staring at Wick with clenched fists and through clenched teeth, I say, “LOOK, as I told you before I’m already freaking out. I already have an idea of just how screwed we are. In last couple of hours I was transported from my home planet which seems to have EXPLODED. Then within 15 minutes of that I’m plummeting head first to a planet. Waking up to see parts of my body I NEVER want to see again and got to watch as it all slowly put itself back together. Now sit your ass down and explain this system to me. Then we can explore a bit and see what plan we can come up with.”

Looking intently at me with a bit more respect and understanding, Wick sighed and sat back down. “You’re right, I’m sorry. So, what are we working with. What equipment, tools and weapons do we have?”

I look around me and grab my school back pack and notice the magic bag of holding and beer stein still laying in front of the boulder Opening his backpack, I pulls out a sweatshirt, my phone, a text book on macroeconomics, a spiral bound notebook and 4 pens.

Wick wordlessly looks over their supplies, nods a bit then spies the bag of holding and beer stein. His mouth drops open and he reverently picks up the bag. “How did you get this? Do you have any idea what this is?”

“It’s the magic bag of holding I got from Ugborh. What’s the big deal. In most of the MMORPG game we play they’re pretty common place.”

Wick just stares dumbfoundedly at me. “This isn’t a game. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to create a pocket dimension? There are maybe, MAYBE, 100-200 thousand pocket dimensions in The System. Half tend to be rings that hold a meter by a meter in storage. A third tend to be personal storage without any bag, ring or whatever, those mostly belong to the Celestial Elves. The rest are what you have here.” Holding the bag carefully, turning it over in his hands, he continued. “The other two the space is what it is, no upgrade, and can’t enter the pocket dimension. Just to give you an idea there were what 13 billion humans on your planet (excessive but whatever). Now think there are over 11,000 planets in The System and spread out the math. There are about 3 per planet and I can tell you for almost damn sure, this is probably the only one on this planet. Now looking at where we are and what we have, you’re the proud owner of a godly item for what looks like the next few days.”

“Seriously stop…you need to think more positively.”

“Oh, I’m pretty positive about it! Ok let’s look at the rest. The beer stein in awesome but does nothing for us as we have no water. You should just put it in your bag. The sweatshirt will at least cover up that pale skin of yours”

Pulling the sweatshirt over my head I say “Hey! It was fall where I came from. Not really the weather to go try and get some color”

“Uh huh ok. Should throw your backpack in your bag too, never know when we might need it. Your textbook well, just throw it in the bag, we’ll worry about it later. Finally take one of your pens and open up your spiral notebook and start writing this “I Thoren Parker do with sound mind and body leave all my worldly poss..”

“HEY! Stop that! We’re not dead yet let figure this out!”

“Ughhhh, Fine!” Throwing his hands up in the air. “Ok last thing you have is your phone? Looking through your memories seems like it contains some information and some knowledge, am I right?”

“Yup, has contacts, which are probably useless now, all my music. OH! I have an app “WikiHow”. Basically, a “how to” on almost everything. How to cook, sew, garden, pretty much anything.”

Taking the phone Wick looks at it turning it over in his hands. “Huh, ok. Well I have a skill they may work.” Looking at the phone with a more critical eye, tapped on it with his finger, flicking it a bit, even biting on it, he continued. “In about a day this phone will be a plastic paperweight. About 400 years ago when AI’s started to dominate with the ability to interface with most technology, download vast amounts of date, drive vehicles, and then they were all getting artificial bodies granting them even more abilities. We (the soul companions) asked the system for something that we could do to help our companions in the way of technology. So, we got a skill Data Transference, which allow us to transfer data from a device to our companion once per month. All knowledge that you gain is just that knowledge. No skills will be given until that knowledge is used. We have to be careful with it’s use though, if we tried to transfer all the knowledge from a planetary database we would fry your brain if it couldn’t handle the vast amounts of data. Then you’re going to leave me cleaning up your drool for the rest of your life.” Tossing the phone up in the ai and grabbing it it, he looked Thoren in the eys and smiled a toothy smile and asked, “so, do you want me to give it a shot?”

Just about jumping in the air, I scream, “HELLS YES!”

Wick takes the phone in one hand and puts his other hand on my head. I start to feel my head get warm then looking at the phone I sees it puff up in a bright flash of flame and then the smoke flies into my head. The pain in immeasurable, it feels as if my skull was cracked open and molten lava was pored into it. Information starts to pour through my mind. How to cut the grass, how to make a candle, how to fry an egg, how to correctly trim your nose hairs. More and more info just pours deep into my mind. Next my vast library of music funnels its way into my mind. No longer playable music, the music is converted into sheet music. Every note and lyric burned into my ever-melting mind. Finally my contact list trickles in; names and connections added.

After a few moments, I start hearing a girlish scream echoing throughout the cave, unfortunately realizing that it was me and I was still doing it.

Gripping the sides of my head and wiping a bit of blood dripping from my nose, I coughs out. “Holy Hell did that hurt! HA, I have it all! So much information, I even have all the music that I love!”

“Do you know how to play a guitar?”

“Ummmm No”

“How about the piano?”

“Nooooo…”

“Maybe the lute?”

“no…. Though I do have the knowledge on HOW to play them now.”

“Well when you do get in front on an instrument and realize that it still takes a lot of practice, I’m sure you’re going to be a smashing success HAHAHAHA.”

“Why did my contact information go to something called “My Friends” list?”

“Ahhhhh, well that may be useful. If any of your contacts are able to upload their contact list as you have (most likely an AI hacking their phone). Then there is a possibility of you being able to contact them.”

Jumping up and doing a little fist pump, I just start to laugh, “Seriously?! That would be awesome!”

“Before you go and start jumping around like a teenage girl with excitement, don’t forget we’re most likely going to die in the next couple of days”

Sitting back down and a bit sullener, I just look at Wick and say, “You suck”.

Waiving his hand Wick looked back at me, “Whatever. Moving on, do you have any other notifications you have yet to look at?

Looking a bit more at the intently at the slow pulsing blue light of my notifications, I says; “Hmmmmmm a few more….”.

*Critical hit* You have received 7,800 points of damage for crashing into a mountain at terminal velocity.

Landing in a safe area of an instanced dungeon, your HP’s are set at 1. You are crippled, bleeding, blind, deaf, dumb, concussed. You have sustained broken bones in all but 2 bones. All organs have sustained catastrophic damage. Safe area increases regeneration by 400%.

Congratulation! For surviving being made into a meat pie and enduring the pain You have gained +1 Constitution and +1 Endurance

Congratulations! The “Newbie Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! Due to being on the receiving end of damage, the “Defense Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! Due to being mentally aware of monsters, the “Support Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For reaching 1 health, the “Risk Taker Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For entering a dungeon 50+ lvl’s above you alone, the “Dauntless Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For being the first person on Raylia with over 100 points in Luck, the “Lucky Bastard Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For be the first to find the instanced dungeon: “??????”. All experience will be doubled for the next 24 hours. The Chance of fining rare loot is doubled. Unknown bonus for completing dungeon.

Wick carefully read through each of the notifications and let out a slow whistle. “Now those are some notifications.” Closing his eyes taking a breath before opening his eyes again, Wick started, “Ok, well if we survive this we could be in line for huge gains. Reason being is that our chance to make it is insanely small. I’m guessing you haven’t looked at your status page yet. You also have no idea how the system works. So, let’s take this step by step. First, how long do you think you’ve been here?”

Feeling a little bit better. I thought for a moment then looked at Wick and said, “about 3-4 hours I’d guess. After getting made into a meat pie, took hours for my body to pull itself back together. From there I looked around the cave a bit and then started to read the notification about you, and well you know the rest.”

Wick took a moment to think a bit more before opening his mouth. “Ok, well then here is what we’re going to do. I’m going to give you one of the fastest run throughs on what The System is as per leveling and your stats. We have about 20 hours of double experience left in this dungeon, which will give us a huge boost in leveling you. We have to take full advantage of this time as much as we can without being stupid and running headlong into trouble. Once we leave this safe area we will not be able to come back; our only choice is to go forward, rest as little as we can along the way and plough through. As we’re so under leveled for this area we need to be highly offensive, take risks and hope for the best. Now think “Status page” and let’s see what we’re working with.”

A little less than sure what I was doing I thought, “Status Page” and to my shock and amazement another blue box popped up showing my stats.

NAME: Thoren Parker

LEVEL: 1

AGE: 22

RACE: Human (Earth End Prot)

EXP: 0/100

LANGUAGES: All System Sentient

SOUL COMPANION: Chadwick (Wick)

LIVES: ???? (Bonus Life(s) for EP)

TITLES

Luck Bastard: grants you an additional 100 points in Luck.

STATS

HEALTH: 100

MANA: 100

STAMINA: 100

H REGEN: 6.5/HOUR

M REGEN: 6.25/HOUR

S REGEN: 9.25/MINUTE

ATTRIBUTES

STRENGTH: 14

AGILITY: 10

DEXTERITY: 12

CONSTITUTION: 13

ENDURANCE: 13

INTELLIGENCE: 14

WISDOM: 11

CHARISMA:10

LUCK: 110

RESISTANCES

NONE

SKILLS

Firestarter. Lvl 1.

Camping. Lvl 1

ABILITIES

Gift of Tongues: Due to having a Soul Companion all sentient spoken language known. Written language only in Common and Infernal. Due to vast spoken knowledge written learned 75% faster.

Limitless Potential: Being born human your lives are fleeting. All skills level 50% faster

PATHS OPEN

Newbie Path 0/7; Defense Path 0/10; Support Path 0/10; Risk Taker Path 0/15; Dauntless Path 0/50 ; Lucky Bastard Path 0/50

PATHS COMPLETED

NONE

DESTINY PATH POINTS AVAILABLE: 2

Wick looked over the stats with a critical eye. “Well not the worst I’ve seen though very well near it. That 110 in Luck, is absolutely crazy. I’ve had soul companions that would have murdered their own mothers for half that!”

“Well”, Looking a bit sheepish “Having Idros approve of my entrance to Raylia, especially landing in this safe room; is a nice bonus”

Wick laughed out loud, smacking his leg. “HA! Well at least you’ve gotten good attention from the gods. My 45th soul companion really pissed off the goddess of Fertility on the planet Xanthos. Every time he was about to have sex he’d go flaccid. It was absolutely hilarious, he was a dick (pun intended), so well deserved. Ok let’s get to meat and potatoes of your sheet. The Lives part with all the question marks are probably from the endangers protocols. If a sentient species is added to the System with a low probability of survival the System gives bonus lives. It could be none, it could be 50, it’s all random for each individual. It’s meant to give you a possible redo but the System wants to make sure that you continue to live each life as if it’s your only one. Health, mana and stamina should be self-explanatory. You run out of health you die. You run out of mana you can’t do magic, you run out of stamina you fall on your ass and can’t move.”

Looking to make sure I was not only paying attention but absorbing, Wick continued. “Let’s move on to attributes. Strength allows you to carry more also increases your attacks. It’s also a factor in calculating your health. Agility well simply put increases your speed and how well you can move your body. Dexterity is for the finer movement’s. Keeping your hands steady for shooting a bow or using a carving knife, etc. Constitution is a big factor in your health, also a factor in your stamina. Makes it harder to be knocked down and helps with resistances such as poison and disease. Endurance is your major factor in stamina; the longer you can run, shoot, mine or whatever. Intelligence relates to how much mana you have; also, how quickly you can learn new things and devise plans. Wisdom, well major factor as to mana regeneration; also, how well you understand new things. Charisma, pretty much how much people will like you. The higher it gets the more likable you will be to people, don’t just rely on the stat, you act like a dick and people aren’t going to like you. Then we have luck, which is VERY elusive. Luck affects EVERYTHING, the chance to meet someone, to finding rare loot, spotting the unknown, landing a critical hit. Its why luck is so hardly fought for and the one stat that is INCREDIBLY hard to raise. You are starting off at 110 is insane, with that type of luck we could hope a meteor crashes into the dungeon and killing everything HAHAHA. Just think of attributes in the tomato theorem. Strength is being able to crush a tomato. Agility is being able to dodge a tomato thrown. Dexterity is being able to cut up a tomato well. Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato. Endurance is being able to run around picking a lot of tomato’s. Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad. Charisma is being able to sell a tomato-based fruit salad. And Luck is finding the one person who will buy the tomato-based fruit salad.”

Wick looked at me and asked, “any questions so far? Those are the basics. No? Good! Now we get to your Destiny Paths or just Paths. They are what will make you grow stronger faster. They give bonuses that lead you to, well, to your destiny. No one knows how many Paths there are, it’s thought there are almost an infinite amount. They seem to help guide and strengthen you to face harder trials ahead. I do know a great deal of the basic paths as well as a few rarer ones, and how to get you started on them, but even my knowledge is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction etc, of the possible Paths you can take. For instance, I’ve never heard of the Dauntless Path or the Lucky Bastard Path before and am pretty curious what you’ll receive from finishing them. Now to get Path Points or PP you need to level skills. Every level of a skill will get you 1 PP that you can use towards a Path. Since you’re at level 1 we should quickly get you your Newbie Path, it well… you’ll see why. So what do you want to do.”

I took a moment to weigh out my options and try to lay out a plan. “Well you said we need to take advantage of the time of double experience. Is the Newbie Path good enough to spend time on getting it before we start on the dungeon? If so how long do you think it would take for me to get it?”

Sitting cross legged Wick rolled his eyes up tapping his chin with his finger. “Hmmm definitely worth getting, with the bonuses from the path. Should take about an hour to get it done.”

I thought for a moment. Is it better to get going now and use every minute that they can to gain the double experience or take the time and complete a path. Weighing my options, I made decision. “Ok here’s the plan, help me get the Newbie Path as long as it won’t take more than an hour. That will leave us about 19 hours to tackle the dungeon. While we move forward you can tell me more about dungeons and what to expect. So how should I get started getting skills and getting the Newbie Path?” To my surprise, with a plan set, I hears a notification and a blue box pops up.

You have discovered the Skill Planning Lvl 1

Your parents would be so proud! Instead of running headlong into the unknown you take a moment to plan a thoughtful strategy. Thinking ahead and creating a plan allows you to better analyze a situation and create a decisive strategy to obtain your objective. Increased skill level allows for increased mental acuity while planning.

A little bit surprised, a smile curled on my face as I says “Well I got a new skill, Planning. So how should I get started.”

With a bit of a chuckle Wick stretches and twirls his finger, “Get up and start running, keep running until…well you’ll know when.”

With a look of determination, I got up and did a little stretch and took off around the cave. The cave itself was no bigger than a basketball court, the ceiling was no more than 25 feet high and could be seen by the soft glow of the cave moss. I just started to do laps. While running I was trying to really soak in everything Wick had told me. Quietly I gave my thanks to Merasil. Without Wicks help and knowledge I would be completely lost. Chuckling a bit to myself I figured I would already be dead having run out of the cave and start attacking things. Running at a brisk pace I ran until my stamina hit zero, which I then promptly fell down on my ass out of breath, to my surprise a couple blue screens popped up.

Congratulations! No Pain no Gain, you have earned +1 Endurance

Congratulations! You feel a little spring in your step +1 Agility

You have discovered the Skill Running Lvl 1

Is anyone chasing you, NOPE! Good for you, by keeping your pace faster than a brisk walk you learn you can go faster by moving those legs more. Kids everywhere would be proud. Keep running, you’re less likely to pull a Jim Fixx and more likely to get an arrow in the knee, just get faster!

Sitting up, I started to chuckle, “I got an endurance point, an agility point; and I learned the skill Running.”

“Yup that’s what we were shooting for. With The System, you lift heavy things you get points in Strength, read more you get points in intelligence, understand and use what you read you get wisdom, etc. What we’re also trying to get is the Skills. We need 7PP to get your Newbie Path. With the increase in regeneration here you should be full up on Stamina in just over 2 and a half minutes, once your stamina is full start doing pushups till your stamina runs out then the same for sit-ups. Keep alternating until you get the next one.”

Going to the gym a few days a week I wasn’t terribly hard pressed for the push-ups and sit-ups. Though each set got a little bit easier and after the second set I got the telltale notification and blue screens popping up.

Congratulations! Realizing you have muscles, you have earned +1 Strength

Congratulations! With a lil more bulk a gentle breeze won’t know you over +1 Constitution

You have discovered the skill Physical Fitness Lvl1

You’re a little less flabby than when you started, though you’re far from impressing any ladies. The System want to Pump You Up!

Rolling over on to my back I let out a long breathe of air. “Well that was fun hahaha, Nothing like a bit of exercise to get the blood flowing! I have 5PP now, so just need 2 more. What’s Next?

With a low chuckle and a bit of an evil laugh, “Thoren it pains me, but this will really hurt me more than you.” With a glint in his eye Wick called up to infernal fireballs in his hands and started to throw them at Thoren.

With loud yelp, I started hopping back and forth trying to dodge as much as I could though getting grazed by every other fireball.

You have taken 6 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 8 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 7 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 7 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 8 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 6 points of damage by fireball from Wick

You have taken 8 points of damage by fireball from Wick

Then with the tell-tale notification ring blue screens started to pop up. “Ouch! Damn it Wick I got notifications, stop let me look!”

You have discovers the skill Fire Resistance Lvl 1

You always wanted to be thought of as hot. Just not literally on fire! The more you get burned the less crispy you’ll be next time.

You have discovered the skill Dodge Lvl 1

If you're going to become a true dodgeballer, then you've got to learn the five d's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!

Congratulations! Shoot for more medium rare than well done! +1 Constitution

Congratulations! Are you a liar liar? Cause your pants are on fire! Try avoiding next time! +1 Agility

“Well that worked better than I thought!”, Wick said with glee. That should give you the 7 that you need for the Newbie Path but hold off for a minute. There are a couple of easy ones we can get before our hour is up. Ok limp your butt over to the glowing moss. Really look at the moss and try to see as much as you can.”

A bit skeptical, though Wick hasn’t led him wrong yet; I limped over to a cave wall and started to intently stare at it. I watched the moss slowly pulse with an ethereal light. I observed the rough looking texture, though when I ran my had over it, had more of a velvet feel. I noticed the tiny roots clinging to the rough cave wall

You have discovered the skill Inspect Lvl 1

Taking the time to truly obverve the world around you, You truly are growing up! At leas now you’ll know what kind of bear killed you and what level it was!

You have discovered Celestial Moon Moss (rare)

Celestial Moon Moss, named for the soft almost full moon glow that is given off. Is used in alchemical process producing unique positions and tinctures (unknown).

Congratulations! Instead of smash and grab you took the time to see what is actually before you. +1 intelligence

With a huge smile, I leaned in a bit more to observe the moss some more. Calling over my shoulder “Hey Wick! This stuff is awesome! I want to collect as much as I can do you think you can keep a fireball lit enough that we can see by leaving this cave?”

“Hmmmm I think so, collect what you want, did you get the Inspect skill and a attribute point in intelligence?”

“Yup! Got them both!” Looking at the moss more closely, I couldn’t see a way to remove the moss without damaging it to an excessive amount. Just before I started to try slowly pulling it off the wall an idea struck me. Grabbing my bag, I put my hand on the moss and thought about transferring it into the bag. With a faint flash the moss disappeared. With a wide grin I quickly thought about what was in the bag, a blue box grid popped up and in one of the boxes held the moss. Just as I was about to shout he received more notifications.

You have discovered the skill Herbalism Lvl 1

You’re no Jolly Green Giant but you’re getting a clue. Keeping a plant in one piece is far more likely to be usable in the future than a whole bunch of pieces.

Congratulations! Who knew that you could think logically?! +1 Wisdom

Walking quickly around the cave I reached out and took as much moss as I could reach. I tried to will the moss on the ceiling into my bag, but nothing happened. Using a little trial and error, I realized there was about a 6-foot radius for placement of objects into the bag. I wondered if that worked on sentient life too or just plant and objects. With a wicked grin I looked over at Wick but decided that being in a time crunch such experiments could wait till another day. Walking back to Wick, I spotted a pile of rocks and rubble in the corner. Thinking about the moss I thought I’d try one quick little experiment. I thought all of the stone into the bag and the rocks in separately. With a quick thought I jumped into the bag myself.

Well damn this is weird. The room in the bag was a 3-meter cube. Looking around I saw the moss neatly piled up the big stones in another pile and everything else neatly stacked and arranged within the room. Damn I could have really used this for my bedroom, mom would have stopped complaining for sure! Plus, that funky smell would have probably been avoided. Never did figure out what it was from.

Walking over to the moss, gently taking a large piece I walked over to one of the larger boulders and gently laid the moss on top. The moss’s roots slowly started to adhere to the stone and then the moss slowly started to give off the faint light again. Laughing out loud I quickly took all the moss and arranged it on all the boulders, tetrising the moss into an almost seamless carpet covering the stones, bathing the room in a not quite bright but soothing light. With a big smile and a dusting of my hands I left the bag.

Coming out of his bag I was met with another notification.

Herbalism lvl 2,3,4….7 reached

Congratulations! Keep up the smarts and your friend won’t know who you are! +1 Wisdom

“Holy Hell! Wick I just reached lvl 7 in Herbalism and got another point in wisdom!”

A bit shocked Wick said, “What did you?!”

“Well I took some of the medium sized boulders that were by the wall and when I was in my bag I thought I’d see if the moss could use it to sustain itself; and it worked! My back now has shag carpeted glowing rocks hahahaha.”

Looking a bit introspective Wick pursed his lips and tapped his chin. “I didn’t know anything could grow in a pocket dimension. With so few bags in The System, very few people know what they are capable of, I’d keep this to yourself, but it does open up the possibility of keeping and growing rare plants in your bag. Something to think about! Ok now time to finish off your Newbie Path and for you to decide where to put your other points”

Opening up his Paths he took a look at what he had.

PATHS OPEN

Newbie Path 0/7; Defense Path 0/10; Support Path 0/10; Risk Taker Path 0/15; Dauntless Path 0/50 ; Lucky Bastard Path 0/50

PATHS COMPLETED

NONE

DESTINY PATH POINTS AVAILABLE: 15

With 7 of the PP he dropped them into the Newbie Path.

Congratulations! You have earned 7 stat point(s)!

Congratulations! You have completed the Newbie Path! +1 to all stats, +1 stat point per level, +4 Health per level, +2 Mana and +2 stamina per level. You have learned the active skills Mana Bolt Lvl 1 and Heavy Blow Lvl 1!

You have discovered the skill Mana Bolt Lvl 1

You take mana a substance you have little understanding about condense it and turn it into a projectile to smite your enemies, bigger the boom the better. Cost: 10 Mana. Increased skill level decreases mana cost and increases speed. Damage dependent on Intelligence and lvl of skill.

You have discovered the skill Heavy Blow Lvl 1

Your caveman ancestors would be proud. Nothing is as basic and damaging as just going *SMASH* Concentrate your force into one powerful attack. Costs 5 stamina. Damage based on Str and level of skill.

Raising his hands in the air like Rocky, I couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Damn Wick! Why didn’t you tell me the haul would be that amazing?! Totally understand why you thought I should have this done before starting the dungeon. Oh, meant to ask what do I get when I level up?”

With a cheshire grin Wick said,“I didn’t tell you cause of your reaction. Was much sweeter seeing how excited you got from the notification! Every level as a human you get 5 stat points. Other races get varying amounts. The longer the life span the less points you get per level, for instance elves only get 2 per level but they tend to live over 1000 years, so they tend to get to higher levels. Humans are a flash in the pan so The System tries to level the playing field a bit”

“HA! With getting the skills mana bolt and heavy blow I now have 10PP to use. I can finish either the Defense Path or the M. Support Path. What would you suggest?

“Well we’re about to enter into a lvl 50 dungeon, honestly I think all the defense you can get will help. You’re going to be close to a one hit instant kill. Let’s see if we can make that 2-3 hits.”

“You’re right. Let me drop them in and see what happens”

Congratulations! You have earned 5 stat point(s)!

Congratulations! You have earned 5 stat point(s) to be used in either Constitution or Endurance!

Congratulations! You have completed the Defense Path! +2 to all P. Def stats, +1 P.Def point per level. You have learned the skill Iron Skin Lvl 1!

You have discovered the skill Iron Skin Lvl 1

Well if you can’t dodge and you can’t block, you have to be able to take the hit. Concentrate on your skin, increasing your defense. Higher mastery means quicker activation and localized application. Costs 10 stamina per second. Defensive boost based on level of the skill.

“Well that was DEFINTELY a power boost! Though With my extra stat points I can’t seem to increase my luck at all, what gives?”

Rolling his eyes a bit, Wick huffed, “I told you Luck is one of the hardest stats to increase. It’s the only one that you can’t increase when you get bonus stat points. It’s also what makes what you have insane!” Ok, I think we’re about ready to start this dive. Let’s go by the fire and take 10 minutes to plan a strategy, it will also give you a chance to play with your new abilities” Wick said with a chuckle.

“I was HOPING you had the same idea! Should give us about 18.5 hours. Let’s just hope our luck holds out…”