After managing to get the two to shut up, we went back to EXP farming. Sheepy didn't like it but I told Biggie about the levelling up thing. I felt a bit bad about the whole thing, so I figured the least I could do was to help it get a bit stronger for its efforts.

Biggie didn't like the idea of destroying stone wolves personally, so it began to summon stone sheep to destroy instead. Sheepy was not very pleased.

We continued to farm with Biggie participating in the destruction as well.

[+61 EXP]

[Level up! +1 Stat Point. HP refilled.]

[Milestone reached! +1 Skill Point.]

[You have reached the max level.]

Wait, what? I quickly checked my stats.

[Truck Kun, Lv10]

[Stats]

EXP (900/900)

HP: 30

MP: 10

STR: 3

MAG: 1

DEX: 1

AGI: 2

DEF: 4

[Points]

SP: 3

Skill Points: 1

What the hell?

Tablet, why is my max level 10? Is there any way to increase it?

I was a bit anxious. If this was my max level, how was I going to be safe in a world this hostile?

[You require at least a rank 1 material upgrade to raise your level cap.]

You mean like the biological carapace thing with the ants?

[Yes. Incidentally, the Biological Carapace is a rank 3 material.]

There was no way on earth- no, on whatever planet this is that I was going back to face those ants! And what, a single one of those big ants gave like 5/5000 points? No way I was going to be able to take down more than a thousand ants, especially without any more levelling up!

Tablet, uh... do you have any other recommendation for other materials? Like an easy rank 1 material or something?

[Coward. How do you expect me to even know what materials are in this world anyway? Do you think I came from this planet? Look for them on your own.]

Please? At least some hints?

[No.]

Urgh.

Fine, just add 2 points to STR and 1 point to DEF.

[STR 3 -> 5]

[HP 30 -> 50]

[DEF 4 -> 5]

I thought of using my skill point to roll a new skill or upgrade a new skill, but honestly, I felt kind of indecisive since it seemed like I only get them once every 5 levels. I decided to save it for later.

I thought for a bit on where to find materials. Metals should be the safest bet? I mean, I don't think they fight back or anyway, right? Not that I really knew of anything else that could help me anyway. Maybe some kind of strong fantasy wood but I wasn't sure if that would work. Wood didn't seem very suited for reinforcing trucks.

[Most tough metals are acceptable. Some types of wood might be acceptable as well, depending on properties.]

Huh. For where to find metals... there were those dwarf guys? I saw one at the city earlier. From stories I heard on earth, they loved to smith powerful weapons or something? Not sure if they actually existed here though. He could have just been a really short man.

Hey Sheepy? You know dwarves?

"Huh?" Sheepy stopped its rampage to stare at me. "Oh, you mean those weird short humans that like shiny rocks and metals?"

Do they make weapons and stuff?

"Why are you asking me dumb questions anyway?" Sheepy seemed displeased. "You got bored from levelling up?"

Just tell me!

"Bah, how would I know?" it snorted. "Do I look like the type of busybody that likes to sneak into random houses?"

"You very much remind me of one," said Biggie.

"Shut up! You want me to smash your skull open with my horns?" Sheepy brandished its horns threateningly.

"Oh? I dare-"

Stop! I don't want to hear you two arguing again.

Short people that collect metals and gems, probably for smithing... Might be a bit of a stretch but I decided it was my best bet. If what I inferred was right though, it would be kind of weird how similar they were to those in stories on earth.

I considered just heading to look for a dwarven city, but I decided to let Sheepy and Biggie level up a few times first.

[Tamer level up!]

[Pet limit: 2 -> 3]

So the Tamer class gains experience from pets fighting! I guess it should have been obvious but it was still a pleasant surprise.

[To be more specific, it mainly gets EXP from pets gaining experience or levelling up.]

Well, thanks for telling me that I guess.

Tablet was helpful sometimes. Would be nice if it wasn't so "sassy" though.

[I am not sassy.]

Okay.

It was boring to just wait. Well, not as boring as when I waited for the city guards to let me in, but still very boring. I decided to take the time to check the map. I couldn't read the language above the cities, but one of them had a logo of a hammer over an gear over a shield. Even if that wasn't a dwarven city, I guess it would be some sort of city that has a lot of smiths and mechanics?

[Sheepy has levelled up!]

[STR 13 -> 14]

[HP: 180 -> 190]

[Level maxed until owner level increases.]

Oh well. I was sort of hoping for Sheepy to be able to level up past 10, but I guess it made sense for its level to be limited by mine. I was still pretty satisfied though. Sheepy's strength was initially only 5 when I first met it, but now it was almost 3 times higher! That had to do some serious damage.

That said, I was pretty sure only adding STR would not be very balanced.

Tablet, is there a way to turn off that auto stat thing with Sheepy?

[Get Tamer to lv3 for manual pet stat allocation.]

Why isn't that a feature by default? How troublesome...

Sheepy and Biggie continued to fight. Considering how Sheepy was maxed and the wolf now Lv9, I decided it was enough. The sky was beginning to darken too anyway.

Okay, enough levelling. We're heading off to a dwarven city.

"Why? I want to keep getting stronger!" complained Sheepy.

Well, right now we can't get any stronger except with the help of those dwarf guys. Even if you kill a hundred more, you won't level up anymore.

"How do they make me, I mean us stronger?"

I wasn't sure how to explain it.

You'll find out later.

"Hey! Don't give me such an answer! What the hell is that even supposed to mean?"

Biggie approached me.

"Say, may I rest upon your head?" it asked.

What the heck?

Why?

"I am uncertain if we would return after the long trip?" said the wolf. "Were I to rest within you, I would not see the way and would thus be lost homeward."

I guess that made sense.

Alright, fine.

"My thanks."

The wolf climbed up onto me, leaving a few scratch marks on my paint. At least that didn't count as damage. Come to think of it, there wasn't really anything to grab upon up there, especially without hands, wasn't there? I was a bit worried Biggie might fall off so I started slow.

But as I drove, the wolf managed to keep its balance very well surprisingly. So I started to drive at my normal speed but it left a lot of scratches on the paint.

I was starting to regret letting the wolf stay on my head...