After the second cast of Soul Split Leo-1 wasn’t sure if his original plan to cast Soul Split as many times as he could was the best.

1.”Hey, so my original plan was to spend the experience points to maximize the number of souls we summon, but I’m wondering if it would be better for our situation if I finished one of the more expensive Lines?”

2.”Hmm, I think we should try and get the most out of Soul Split this early on right? And from a mathematical point of view I think we are stronger with more weaker Leos than a few stronger ones.”

3.”I agree with two, and after the last Soul Split we should spend our points on stats, but save enough to finish a Line and maybe on our class after we hit level 10.”

All of the Leos nodded their heads in agreement.

Now set with a more thought out plan Leo-1 proceeded to level the necessary stats to use Soul Split again.

1.”Alright boys, what do ya think of our stats? Any normal person wouldn’t be able to tell we started with 2 million xp.” Leo-1 said. He took a moment to admire how absurd he was in this new world.

Name: Leo Flowers

Race: Human

Class: None

Level: 9 (0/11275)

Health: 210 Regen: 80/hr

Mana: 2960 Regen: 240/hr

Stamina: 190 Regen: 90/hr

Strength: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Perception: 10

Soul: 33

Titles: Survivor of The Waves

Traits: Mana Lake lvl 1, Soul Split lvl 3

Skills: Mana Manipulation lvl 1, Fireball lvl 1, Flamethrower lvl 1, Kinetic Push lvl 1

Lines: Starter 1, Newly Integrated(0/200), Progenitor of Mana (0/10,000), Souls a Plenty (0/2000)

Experience: 1,476,735

Stat Points: 6

Line Points: 0

3.”Maybe we should finish Progenitor of Mana or Souls a Plenty before we raise our stats just in case the rewards and subsequent Lines would be better than just raw stat points.”

1.”That makes sense but since we don’t know what those will give us and if they give us points in Int, Wis, or Soul then we’d be missing out on hundreds of thousands of experience spent on the higher levels. So it’s probably best to use Soul Split as many times as possible.”

2.”I agree with 1, it’s just a better move considering our lack of information.”

3.”Alright, let’s do it. But remember to leave us some experience at the end.”

Leo began the mental math to calculate the base mana required and what the minimum stats were to achieve that requirement.

He needed his Int and Soul to be 56 and his Wis 55 to meet the minimum mana requirement for a 3rd cast of Soul Split. After spending the experience needed to increase his stats he cast Soul Split.

Leo once again took a few breaths before activating Soul Split and a second later they were staring at the fourth Leo to enter this world.

4.”Hey everyone, happy to be here. How’s it going? It’s Leo359 back at it again with the white Vans.” he said posing like he was a vlogger in front of a camera.

All the other Leos just stood there and stared at him in disappointment.

1.”Alright maybe I was wrong, does using Soul Split too fast make the new souls lose half their brain cells?” Leo-1 mocked as he pretended to check the description for any hidden notes.

2.”Three, I don’t think Four was worth 514,000 experience. Would have been better spent on Int apparently.”

3.”You know Two, I think you’re right. Hey One, check to see if you can undo the spell or something.”

4.”Hey! Come on guys, I’m joking I’m joking. Jeez who woulda thought myself would have been my own worst critic?”

2.”Ehhhh, we’re just kidding. We were looking for a meat shield anyways. Glad to have you on the team.”

3.”Well, Leo-1 is going to finish spending experience on stats and then he’s going to finish the 2 expensive Lines and we’ll see what happens from there.”

A look of relief came over Four’s face as he was accepted into the group despite his rather sad opening performance. ‘Man I thought I would have loved this joke. Hmm, maybe they just weren’t in the mood for it.’

4.”Sounds good. Do any of you have food? I’m feeling a tad bit hungry.”

2.”Nah. We’ll go looking for some after One finishes spending experience. Hopefully find some form of civilization so we can get some clothes.” he said gesturing at the three naked Leo’s.

3.”At least it's a warm day out right?” Three mentioned tilting his head up to the sky to soak up all of the sun.

Leo-1 finished spending experience on stats and then placed the necessary 20,000 points into Souls a Plenty.

Souls a Plenty Line completed.

What’s the point of having a bunch of souls if there’s no synergy between them!

Gain 10% damage buff per soul within 2 kilometers.

Leo-1 stood there stunned at what he had just read.

1.”Are you guys seeing this?.” he said pointing at the screen floating in front of him.

A few seconds later three screams of manly men rang out before hysteria began.

2.”What do you mean? THIS!? For twenty-thousand points? WHY!”

While Two continued to shout nonsense Three was laughing like he had gone mad.

3.”Heh.. Heh heh… My precious.” he whispered to himself as he caressed his hands as if he was holding a precious golden ring.

While Two and Three were lost in their own worlds, Four was standing there aloof. Showing no signs of being phased by the information of Souls a Plenty.

1.”Four, you’re not shocked at all by how broken this buff is?”

Pretending to file his nails Four responded dismissively, “Nah, this isn’t even broken. Not even close.”

1.”You’re serious.” he said looking at Four in disbelief.

4.”Yah, you’ll see. Just go ahead and complete the next one.” he said motioning One to get on with it already and spend the points.

A beautiful 100,000 points down the drain rewarded Leo with a reward greater than anything he would have thought possible this early on.

Progenitor of Mana Line 1 completed.

As the first human to unlock and wield mana as a weapon in its true form you have carved the path for future warriors. As the first human to understand the most basic nature of mana in the human body you have paved a path for those who seek knowledge about mana. As the first human to mold mana to your will you have paved a path for those who wish to control mana like another limb.

Continue forth on your journey into the secrets of Mana.

+50% Mana regen

3x Base Mana pool

Grants Advanced Mana Manipulation

300% increase in damage from Mana attacks.

Four stood there with a smirk staring at his stat sheet as One joined the others in their fits of hysteria.

Name: Leo Flowers

Race: Human

Class: None

Level: 9 (0/11275)

Health: 210 Regen: 80/hr

Mana: 21,000 Regen: 600/hr

Stamina: 190 Regen: 90/hr

Strength: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 60

Wisdom: 50

Perception: 10

Soul: 50

Titles: Survivor of The Waves

Traits: Mana Lake lvl 1, Soul Split lvl 3

Skills: Advanced Mana Manipulation lvl 1, Fireball lvl 1, Flamethrower lvl 1, Kinetic Push lvl 1

Lines: Starter 1, Newly Integrated(0/200), Progenitor of Mana II (0/134,000), Souls a Plenty II (0/68500)

Experience: 393,714

Stat Points: 6

Line Points: 0

****************

Two Hours Later

****************

One and Two had finally calmed down enough to talk over their plan with Four as Three was still lost in his fit of madness.

3.”La, la la, la la, la la laaahhh. We-e-e-e are too brooo-ken.” he continued like a man high on drugs until they heard a branch snap from the treeline just across the dirt road to their left.

Three stopped his shenanigans immediately and in unison all four Leos turned towards the trees, Fireballs at the ready.

Sweat dripped down One’s forehead, his heartbeat raced as his eyes struggled to stay on the tree line. The snap of a branch to his right was met with four Fireballs sent into the forest. Each of the Leos braced for the hot air to wash over them. After the heatwave passed over them they prepared another set of Fireballs and started moving towards the devastated location.

When they reached the edge of the tree line a voice came from their left. Out of the trees came a group similar to their own, except everyone had plain civilian clothes. Each Leo visibly relaxed seeing that it wasn’t an immediate threat, but kept their Fireballs at the ready.

“Woah woah woah there fellas, we mean y’all no harm.” the leader of the bunch pleaded. He was an older man with gray hair speckled throughout his head of brown hair.

1.”Who are you and what are you doing out here?” Leo-1 said with a cold snap.

“Hey, come on now. I said we were friendly. No reason to be so hostile.” the old man replied as he lifted his hands into the air to show innocence.

1.”I said who are you and what are you doing out here. My patience is wearing thin old man.”

“Okay, okay. My name’s Bill and these fine gentlemen behind me are Horace and John. And in the back we got McKenzie, Nathan and Monica.” he finished, gesturing to each individual as he introduced them.

Leo-1 inspected each of the people that Bill introduced; Horace and John were both taller than six feet with muscles evident of hard labor for most of their life, McKenzie and Monica were both young dirty blonde sisters who looked like they had seen better days, and lastly Nathan was a fat man who looked like he would scare if the wind brushed past his ear.

Leo-2 walked up to Leo-1 and whispered into his ear the conclusion he had come to as he was inspecting each member of their group.

2.”I don’t like the look of this. Do you see how scared those girls look? And it’s not fear towards us.” he finished before moving back in place.

Leo-1 nodded his head to Leo-2 in confirmation of what he had observed.

Noticing the silent exchange between the Leos Bill spoke, “So now that I’ve introduced my little group why don’t you show us the same courtesy and introduce yours?” he finished with a bite in his voice.

1.”You didn’t answer the second part of my question.”

Bill’s face contorted in irritation and as he was about to explode Horace placed his hand on Bill’s shoulder and whispered something. Immediately Bill’s eyes opened wide and he took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing.

“Apologies, fair stranger. My group and I were out exploring the local area when we heard some shouting in this direction. So we came and luckily took the precaution to quiet until we could get in talking range.” Bill explained gesturing to the devastation of their Fireballs.

“And might I say, quite an impressive set of skills you all have there. How did you manage to all unlock that explosion thingy?” Bill asked hopefully, trying to pry any information out of them.

1.”One of the waves we had to fight was a Fire Demon that awarded us with this ability when we killed it.”

“How did you manage that? That creature doesn’t sound like it could easily be slain with your bare fists.” Bill pushed further, curiosity showing in his voice.

1.”It was pretty simple actually. One of us had decided to bring a fire extinguisher and it turns out to have been the most important gear we brought. The demon destroyed the rest of our gear including our clothes. Unfortunately.”

At that piece of information Bill made an ‘aha’ face and was lost in thought before Leo finally introduced himself.

1.”You guys seem to be alright so you can call me Bernard. Don’t worry about the others, they won’t be talking.”

Bill was taken aback by the answer he received. He was about to protest, but stopped when he saw that Leo’s previous statement was serious.

1.”By any chance do you know where we are? The Tutorial said we’d be going to a new world, but this really looks like Earth right now.” Leo said admiring the trees.

Bill thought for a second before turning to Monica which made her jump in fear. “Where’d you say we were again, Monica?”

Frozen in fear she stood there just staring at Bill until Horace bumped her arm shocking her out of her stunned state.

“U-u-uhm we’re currently located about ten miles outside of Kettleman City, California.” she barely finished before shrinking back under Bill’s gaze.

1.“What direction is the city?”

“It’s that way.” she said pointing down the road the opposite direction of the Sun.

1.”Alright, thank you. We’ll be heading out now so good luck.” After he finished talking he and the other Leos turned around and started walking towards Kettleman City.

Bill stammered, “Wait! Wouldn’t you like to come back to my ranch and get yourselves some clothes and maybe some food?”

‘Hmmm. It’s a tempting offer, but their group is just too suspicious to trust them. We’ll probably end up confronting them someday anyways.’

Leo-1 stopped, turned around and was about to answer when McKenzie came barrelling through John and Bill. She got about half way between them before she tripped on the uneven ground. Her arms struggled to get her up onto her feet, but no amount of effort bared fruit.

Leo-1 moved forward, cautious of any traps that may be afoot, but when he looked at McKenzie again her face was covered in snot and tears and her hand was outstretched to him. The look on her face was one of pure horror and desperation. A look he had seen too many times in his hallucinations.

“P-please help us. Help me and my sister. Please!” she shouted before collapsing.

Just seeing her prone figure triggered something within Leo. An urge to protect her when so many years ago he was unable to. Last time he lost his sister, but this time he wouldn’t lose her again, this time he had power.

When Leo-1 looked up Horace had Monica on her knees with a hunting knife to her throat. John had a rifle poised at Leo-1’s head and Bill had his face in his palm.

“Well fuck.” Bill said, releasing a deep sigh. “I didn’t want it to come to this, but this is where we are now.” He looked back to Nathan and pointed a finger at him before continuing, “This,” he said gesturing to everything, “is your fault. You had one job!. One! Job! And you failed. We will have to discuss your punishment later, but for now let’s get this over with.”

By the time Bill had turned back around to face the Leos they had already dragged McKenzie back to their group and Leo-3 had his knee on her back and her hands secured just in case this was some long-winded ruse.

When Bill saw that they had already taken McKenzie he cursed and kicked the dirt, not thinking they’d act that fast.

1.”I think you have some explaining to do here Billy boy. I’d suggest you start talking.” he threatened. Both hands were primed and ready with Fireballs pointed at Bill’s group.

“Hmm, well. I mean it’s pretty obvious isn’t it Bernardie. Two pretty women and a bunch of horny men with no laws around to protect them. What’d ya think was going to happen.” Bill spoke as he walked over to Monica.

Leo-1 realized that Bill was distracting him so that they could all cluster around Monica and use her as a human shield.

“Shit. What do you want for her?” Leo-1 asked, hoping that he could end this without hurting either of the girls.

A wide grin found its way to Bill’s face as he tapped his finger on his chin a few times to give the illusion of thinking.

“Hmmm. Let’s see. Since they were just pieces of meat to us and nothing more I don’t see why a simple trade of objects wouldn’t be fair. But, you boys don’t seem to have anything of value. So instead, how about you go on a little kill and retrieve mission for me.”

That brought a raised brow to Leo’s face, puzzled as to what someone would want killed this soon after getting out of the Tutorial.

1.”What are we killing and what are we retrieving?”

“Oh about 30 miles that way,” he pointed in the direction of Kettleman City, “there is a World Boss in a field. Kill it and bring me whatever loot it drops. If I find it of appropriate value we will accept the trade. Oh and you have one week starting now.”

1.”She better be untouched and in perfect condition or else.”

“Yes yes, I understand. Besides, ruining the product would be bad for business.” he finished with a nasty grin before motioning the Leos to get started on their journey.

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