“Well?” he sat there in the clearing with his back against a tree with some excitement creeping into his chest. Whereas the little girl, on the other hand, mentally swore she saw a tail protruding from behind himself, and it was thumping again the ground to his left, “What do I have?”

“[I'm getting to that. Just have to recalculate your base stats right now from the level up.]”

“Huh? What level up?”

“[You slew two Level 20 Goliath soldiers, and then sicced Little Mother on the three in the hut after she ate the other one. It's a lot of experience to calculate, but it's been split between you two, too. So...]” She took on a ponderous look as her gaze drifted towards something only she could see for a short amount of time.

Afterwards, her gaze returned to him and his little white bat where she exclaimed, “[So. You are now Level 11, and are about three quarters of the way to Level 12. Whereas Little Mother is now Level 8. So congratulations!]” Ethereal fireworks that only he could see exploded around Azazel in a sparkled fashion that would undoubtedly cause the duo to become blinded if it was more physical in nature.

“Yay?” his left eye twitched with uncertainty.

“[Yes yay,]” she replied with her hands on her small hips and leaned a little forward, “[It's really easy to level up to ten, but from eleven to fifteen you'll need thousands of experience points, sixteen to twenty-five requires tens of thousands. Then from twenty-six and onwards you'll need hundreds of thousands to millions, and so on and so forth.]”

“Uh... huh?”

A heavy sigh escaped her throat, as she shook her head, “[Leveling up is difficult here on Terra, but stats and skills are in abundance. Which is why it's so easy to gain and use them. For instance, you have a skill set called . Which allows you to write down a single word, or string of words, and infuse them with your mana. This then leads to a manifestation of the word written, but if your mind does not take control and direct it elsewhere... Well, put it this way, do you remember how SPARK blinded you for a while?]”

His face scrunched up at the memory, but would not speak of it.

“[Yes,]” she nodded in response, “[Your SPARK led to a blinding flash of light because you didn't use your mind to direct it outwards to create either a small jolt or a shower of sparks from a smithy's grind-wheel.]”

“Oh,” his voice extended the word as realisation dawned on him, and she gave a quick glance towards his status screen. Whereupon her eyes noted that his equipped title was no longer Soul Bound, but One Who Seeks Knowledge once more. Once she returned her eyes to his person, she noted that he sent the image of him being a student writing upon parchment as he took notes of what had already been spoken of.

“So, if I had taken control, instead of just watching the ball of light like an idiot, I would have had the results I wanted earlier?” After her nod, he sent the image of him furiously writing down something upon the non-existent parchment. Of which caused her to become curious, but when she drifted over to the thought-form, and peered over the shoulder, she was met with an alien language she could not discern.

Unfortunately for herself, before she could even ask what it was about, then thought-form vanished, leaving her to frown with a small pout as he asked, “Is it the same with the others?”

“[Huh? Oh... pretty much,]” Azazel shook her head quickly, “[Well, except for SCORCH. That one is pretty much good to go, and so is CURE DIESEASE. Though, watching you freeze your limbs was pretty entertaining, as well as burning them trying to remove the ice.]”

Now it was his turn to frown as she released a giggle at the memory. Of which also caused him to snap his fingers with at the next bit that came from it, “I remember blowing up and had to heal my wounds. Did I get anything from that?”

“[Nope!]”

“Hah?” he stared incredulously at her, “What do you mean by 'nope'?”

“[Karastak,]” her tone became that of a mother who was trying to be patient with her child, “[You were in a panic and didn't study those words. Therefore, you did not gain the words REGENERATE and HEAL.]”

“So how am I to gain them? Should I just cut myself and write the words?”

Just as he was to follow suit, his eyes drifted towards her person where she shook her head quickly, “[You've a regeneration passive now, too. Which means you'll be able to heal up as long as you've the energy to do so.]”

“And if I don't?”

“[Just make sure you do,]” the little girl became quiet soon afterwards, her expression one of ponderous with her chin resting within a semi-closed fist.

“Well, what about the others? I mean,” she turned her head in his direction, “I do have that predatory wail and can drain energy.”

“[Uh-huh, and those are called and . This first one is rather self-explanatory. Just grab onto something, visualise their energy entering your body, and will it so. It won't work on everything, and it's an innate skill of yours.]”

“Speaking of innate skills,” he added quickly, “What about that first one I was supposed to have? 'Learn' something or other.”

“[You lost that when you died,]” Azazel waved her right hand with a dismissal, “[Everything has to have a balance, and because you didn't want to become a 'monster', as you put it, it was removed and stored away elsewhere.]”

“Oh,” his shoulders slumped, deflated, “So, what else do I have?”

“[There's your , , , , , and . Those are the ones you had since the beginning, then there's the titles like which helps with your understanding by fifteen percent, and ... Should be self-explanatory, to be honest. Just don't match it against someone with .]”

“Why?” his head tilted towards his left with curiosity, and Little Mother followed suit with a small squeak.

“[Ever heard of the question, 'What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?' To put it mildly, the destruction of the entire world is what happens,]” she shook her head slowly, “[Really, though, those two titles are rare. To the point of two people with those titles meeting is a one in a billion chance.]”

“How big is the world, then?” Karastak's eyes widened as he spoke aloud.

“[About eight times larger than the world you came from, give or take. A good chunk of it, about 30%, has been fully explored, and you're on a large continent run mostly by Humans. There are a few Elf and Dwarf clans running around, some Halflings and Gnomes, and a lot more Beastfolk and Kin than the other races combined.]”

“Um... before we get any further, what other skills do I have, and what are my stats?” his eyes shown as his voice was heard.

“[Well, there's your . It's the same as the written one, except you need to speak a string of words to form your spell, or just visualise what you want to occur and speak the command word for it.]”

“What's the command word for Fireball?” Azazel stared at him, giving an incredulous look about her features, “What?” his own was of sheepishness.

“[You'll have to find that out yourself, Karastak.]”

“Okay. I can do that, but what about my titles? Do I have anything special?”

“[Yep,]” her head bobbed once, “[Besides the two I've already told you about, there's also and . The first-]”

“I'm sorry, what?,” he interrupted with confusion, “Did you just say what I think I just heard? I'm a 'Vampire Lord'?”

“[Yes? Well, what did you expect? It's something that happens when an intelligent Vampire reaches Level 10, they become a Vampire Lord regardless of their gender. As long as that one is equipped, you gain the ability. It's the same as your second sight, but this one allows you to find a viable source of blood through the use of an amplified hearing and sight.]

“[Now, is your last title, and it revolves around your adorable bat,]” a small, ethereal finger pointed at Little Mother, who had fluttered away in order to hunt down a multitude of annoying insects which flew around her master. Where she was seen flapping her wings quickly whilst swooping into a cluster of small, black coloured bodies which grew smaller and smaller with each passing, “[You acquired that above the River Styx, and when equipped, the title gives you both a small boost in experience, fifteen percent I believe, and the ability for you to see through her eyes. There's also the bit how your experience gained will be halved to her, and when not equipped it'll drop to her gaining 30% of your acquired experience. At higher levels, you'll be able to mimic her body by becoming a double and can do everything she does now.]”

“Wow,” was all he could say as the pale-skinned man just sat there blinking slowly whilst digesting this new information, “So, what title is equipped right now?”

“[Currently? It's . Before we chatted it was , which is why you both leveled up to what you are right now. If it wasn't on then...]” Her attention switched over to something else for a moment, and returned with, “[You'd be Level 13 if you didn't give half of your total experience to Little Mother.]”

“Huh.”

“[Yep,]” she folded her arms and nodded in a sage-like manner.

“Then, what're my stats right now?”

“[After what you've gone through? Well, your Strength is a 22, Dexterity is a 17, Constitution also a 17, Intelligence is at 21, Wisdom at 21, and Charisma is a 27.]”

“So,” he began, but was beaten to the punch.

“[You're average in stats, and this is, technically, what a Level 11 would have. Before you ask,]” she held up a small hand to stop him, “[yes, you can gain more stat points from doing manual labour or reading, or what have you to gain an edge against your enemies. Everyone is allowed to do it, but there's a cap on how much you can earn. Don't want you guys to have the stats of a Level 60 at Level 8. I've seen it happen,]” she glowered at the thought.

“Huh, and how do I go about raising my stats?”

“[By doing anything and everything which requires those six attributes,]” she shrugged slowly, her arms and hands spreading outwards as she continued, “[Like running to develop more strength, juggling to train your reflexes. Eating food past their prime, or in your case, drinking them to increase your Constitution. There's also reading something new to increase your intellect about the world, but further study is needed to understand its meaning, which also increases your Wisdom.]”

“And for Charisma?” he asked, knowing full well the answer that was coming.

“[Charm, seduction, acting, putting on a performance for people. Things that make you go out into the world and interact with others will help to raise it.]” This was spoken with a smug smirk as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Does me learning new Words and applying them give me anything?”

“[Hmm,]” she hummed slowly, “[Maybe? I mean, it could, but you had higher stats in the beginning and it didn't grant you anything before... So, maybe.]”

“Okay,” he quickly stood up and called out to Little Mother. Of whom alighted down upon his head and squeaked a few times before finding a comfortable spot. After which he turned away from the village outside the forest in order to move deeper where he wouldn't be bothered so much.

“[Hey!]” she called out quickly, “[Where are you going?]”

To which he stopped in his tracks in order to turn towards herself. Whereupon she spied a primal expression upon his features with a maddening desire glinting within a pair of crimson orbs. “I'm going to 'learn' all the words I can, then try to 'understand' them fully to raise up my stats.”

She, on the other hand, smiled as she shook her head, following close behind as he continued to move forward and into the forest.