Ursu Ravager x38 defeated. Level disparity bonus added EXP +8000.

Ursu Defiler x12 defeated. Level disparity bonus added EXP +3000

Chronos tithe added. Remaining: 208HP

Power +5, Vitality +11, Finesse +4, Mentality +6, Judgement +3

Alex boggled at the huge influx of experience he had gained. It was nowhere near as much for each individual kill because he had leveled up so much from the first battle, but even so… “Whitt, you said that it's better to get each class to level 10 first right? Something about it taking a lot longer after that point?”

Picking bits of Ursu off of their coat, Whittaker responded, “Yeah, that's right. The required experience per level after 10 scales up by a factor of 10. Getting each new class to 10 allows for a quick influx of stats and HP.”

Alex sat down and set about allocating this huge amount of XP. His Maelstrom class benefited from having higher Vitality for its levels, and putting points into Field Knight gave a decent chunk per level. Combat Medic relied on Mentality for its HP increase, which Maelstrom gave. Looking at how to best game the system, Alex settled on his strategy. Get Field Knight to 10 first, then Maelstrom, then any extra XP to go into Combat Medic. After raising all his classes to 10, Alex saw he still had 1600 XP left over. Thinking that pumping his HP more by taking another level of Field Knight was probably the best option, he dumped the rest in and raised it to 11.

Alex rocked as he felt the influx of power infuse his body, taking a deep breath and immediately regretting that decision surrounded as he was by the multitudes of corpses and their associated waste. Taking a peek at his stats page now, he was shocked by just how much he had grown since this morning.

Name

Alex Colt

Stats

Class

Species

Human(Nexus)

Power

22

Field Knight 11: HP Gained 10+Vit, +2 Vit per lvl

Age

27

Vitality

46

Maelstrom 10: HP Gained 2+0.5Vit, +1 Pow +1 Ment per lvl

Level

31 (Bonus Active)

Finesse

10

Combat Medic 10: HP Gain 5+Ment, +2 Ment per lvl

XP

600/2000 FK

Mentality

42

HP

1050

Judgement

5

Stam

310

Charm

1

His health was now north of 1000, near enough 4 times what it had been before the battle. He was turning into a verifiable tank!

“I got enough EXP from that battle to raise everything to 10, and Field Knight to 11 Whitt!” Alex whooped, drawing an amused smile from Whittaker, who was still trying to pick chunks of Ursu off.#

“That boost you have is really letting you catch up with us faster than we could have hoped. Now I don’t know about you, but I really think we should go and get backup to take out the Dire Ursu. I had to blow all of my major abilities, and even then we only just managed to survive that onslaught.”

Alex pouted at this, but understood the reasoning. “I guess… Did we both need to go, or can you go by yourself whilst I stay here and practise?”

Whittaker gave Alex a look. “You know you won’t be able to take it by yourself right? Promise me you won’t try.”

“Would I do that?” Alex responded, trying to pull his best innocent face, because he had planned to do just that.

“Yes, you would and we both know it. Granted you’ve grown a lot, and quickly, but even I wouldn’t want to risk that thing and I’m a much higher level than you. Even with your… knack for exploiting the system, it's not worth the risk.” Whittaker admonished, trying to make Alex see that he wasn’t invincible.

Alex just nodded, and dissolved the blockade he had placed over the exit. They both headed back topside, with Alex promising not to do anything stupid. He worded it that way on purpose because he didn’t think he was being stupid. His Maelstrom class coupled with his now much higher health pool would allow him to freeze time and flee at the first sign of trouble. As they reached the river clearing again and exited the cave system, Whittaker took off back to the base at top speed, promising to be back as soon as possible. Alex waited around for a few minutes to make sure that Whittaker didn’t come back, and then headed back into the cave with the intent of having the big beast dead by the time help arrived.

Whilst he was travelling back down, Alex tried to come up with some new Maelstrom skills that could help him. Knowing that passive skills were possible thanks to his Metabolism ability, which had now increased to rank 2 after hitting level 10 in Combat Medic granting him 5HP/s, Alex tried to come up with some other boosts. Knowing that he had been on the right path when he had flooded his muscles with power earlier, he started there. He imagined the burning feeling his muscles had during a good workout, when they were really pumped. This was a tenuous idea, but he tried to use his power over Inferno to simulate this burn and was pleasantly surprised when a new skill notification popped up.

New passive Maelstrom Inferno skill created: Feel the Burn. Channeling the power of the Inferno into your muscles, they engorge and increase your Power by 20%. Costs 2HP/s.

That was far more than Alex expected, and buoyed by his success, he attempted to create similar skills for the other elements under his control. Sure, having more active skills was great, but they were way too intensive to use too often, and if he drained his stamina too much without backup he was toast. Better to have multiple passive effects buffing him and leave the rest of his resources free for a quick getaway. The next element he attempted was Earth. Every game he had played had given mages some form of Rock Armor, so why couldn’t he do the same. He took what he knew from his Earthshape skill, and imagined a layer of rock flowing up and over his body.

New passive Maelstrom Ground skill created : RockFlesh. The ground knows you intimately and rises to shield you from harm. Grants a damage shield of 20% of your max HP (currently 210) and if damaged regains integrity 10 seconds after the last hit at a rate of 21/s as long as in contact with ground. Reserves 25% stamina.

It worked! It reserved a fair bit of his stamina, but it effectively gave him an even bigger health pool with its own regen, and would scale as he grew! He was rapidly turning himself into a scaling monster. Racking his brain for anything else he could use his class to game, he wondered if he could bolster his regen any further. Games always gave water healing properties, so could he do the same? Maybe he could offset Feel the Burn’s HP cost by keeping his body fully hydrated? Alex wasn’t sure how this would work, as he had no idea what to focus on to create the skill. Changing tactics slightly, he instead focused on all the ways water helped him feel refreshed, and then tried to condense that feeling into his body itself.

New passive Maelstrom Hydro skill created: Infusion. Drawing moisture from your surroundings, you pull it into yourself. As long as skill is active you will always be at peak hydration. This allows your body to push harder, doubling all healing effects on you. Reserves 25% stamina.

Now THAT was way better than he was expecting. For more reserved stamina he doubled his regen and any health he gained back from Avenging Strike. There was no way he could lose now, as all he needed to do was freeze time for a couple of seconds and run away to let his passives get him back in action!

Drawing close to the end cavern again, Alex slowed down and crept closer to the entrance. Peering in, he saw the gargantuan Dire Ursu was out of its crater in the middle and circling the room peering into the other passages and letting out strange, almost melodic calls. It was trying to call to the other Ursu who had been slaughtered by Whittaker and Alex, and was growing more and more agitated the longer it went on.

Alex scanned the rest of the cavern and noticed that there were numerous little alcoves he could duck into to avoid attacks if needed. There were also natural ledges he could reach if he manipulated gravity and jumped up.

He slowly crept into the chamber and rushed to slide behind a rock out of sight. Making sure he kept the rock between him and the giant Ursu, Alex edged around it until he could dash to a closer hiding spot. Taking his time, he slowly made his way closer and closer to his foe, making sure he didn’t cause a repeat of earlier by kicking a rock. Crouching behind his current hiding spot, the Ursu walked directly past and Alex struck.

Saber separated from the shield already, Alex had each blade extended to their maximum. He activated Jump Charge, and rocketed himself along a path that allowed him to score a boosted spinning slash across the tendons on the Ursu’s rear leg, hoping to cripple it. His huge increase in level and stats meant that his slash actually achieved its goal and the beast buckled slightly as it spun to face its attacker. Alex carried his momentum and tried to put some distance between him and the Goliathon, but its enormous size allowed it to clip him with its retaliatory slash. He threw himself forward, RockFlesh shield already obliterated, along with almost half his health from just that first blow.

“Holy fuck… Whitt was right, this thing is way stronger than its level should imply. I may need..” Alex was snapped from his thoughts as the Goliathon swung at him and forced him to Jump Charge again just to dodge the blow. He went straight under the beast, and shot out from under it at full speed. Reaching the end of his charge, Alex spun to keep his eye on his foe and saw that his unexpected move had confused the Goliathon, and it was struggling to turn its bulk with its back leg damaged.

He realised that in a straight line, this thing was going to absolutely annihilate him, but because of its sheer size, added to the fact that it couldn’t place any weight on the damaged leg, he needed to keep it tied up and not play into its long reach. This was the exact opposite of the smaller Ursu. His RockFlesh started regenning, so he ran back in and set to work on hacking at the already damaged limb. Flashing a quick glance at his stamina to make sure he wasn’t in danger of bottoming out, he activated Avenging Strike to top his health back up and set to work dismantling the huge beast.

Treating the fight like a game allowed him to compartmentalise the fact that 1 lucky shot could end him, so he pretended it was just like playing Monster Hunter. He landed blow after blow on the Goliathon’s wounded leg, popping his charge to create distance any time he felt in danger. After a while, he noticed that the thing had a pattern in how it tried to attack him. Roughly 1.5 seconds after his flurry of blows, the Ursu would attempt to swipe at him with a front limb, and then slam its body onto the ground the crush him as he dodged. As soon as he saw this pattern, Alex knew he could do this if he kept his calm.

This little dance carried on for a few minutes, with Alex darting around as his stamina allowed, and landing quick attacks whenever the opportunity arose. Suddenly the damaged back ankle gave way entirely as the Ursu went for its slam. Alex felt a rush rise up in him, but this was quickly quashed as the Goliathon let out a furious roar that set his mind spinning. He found himself struggling to focus, unable to coordinate his body and the Ursu took advantage of this. It backed up as best it could and pushed forward on its 3 remaining legs to try and gore Alex with the serrated horns on its head. Alex could see it coming, but found himself unable to activate his charge to get away. Raising his shield as best he could to attempt to divert any of the blow, he bodily thrown across the room and slammed into the wall. The horn managed to tear across his back as he flew as well, and he briefly blacked out from the pain for a second. He came to crumpled in a heap against the wall. RockFlesh was just starting to regen, but his health was hovering at around 10%. Luckily his continued attacks had taken the beast’s leg out of commission, or he would already be dead. As it was, the Goliathon was slowly hobbling its way across the cavern towards him, intent of devouring the cause of its pain.

Pushing himself up with help from the wall, Alex winced. At least one of his ribs was broken, and his right shoulder had dislocated. Using a trick he remembered from a documentary, he pushed against the wall and forced his arm back into place. He let out a scream as the bone grated and rotated back into place. Looking around for his weapons, he saw them directly in the path of the oncoming Ursu. He had maybe 5 seconds left before it was within striking distance of him, and he was dead. Looking at his regening health, it had raised to around 25%, and his RockFlesh was back at full. He needed to be faster, as this monster was just too big to keep trying to run around. He had enough health now to activate Stop Time for a few seconds max, and he did so just to buy himself a little breathing room.

The instant he felt the power flow out from him he was moving to collect his weapons. Watching his HP tick away, he also activated Gravity Manipulation and Jump Charge causing himself to rocket straight towards the Goliathon’s face. Alex was going to attempt the same trick he used on the Ravager a few hours ago. Landing on the thing’s snout, Alex thrust his blade at its eyes and started wildly hacking away at the large orb in front of him. Not happy at the progress he was making, he stowed the saber back on the shield, and proceeded to use the shield instead. He dug it in like a spoon into grapefruit, sloughing huge chunks of jelly out with each pull. Stop Time ended as his health bottomed out, and the Goliathon screamed in agony. It started swiping at its face to try and dislodge Alex, but he had already completely destroyed the eyeball and was now crawling inside the open socket surrounded by blood and destroyed ocular tissue. Rather than stop, Alex continued shovelling his way into the beasts skull. The Goliathon started shaking its head, and he had to brace himself to prevent him from flying out the opening. The beast was now roaring continually as he slowly excavated his was towards the things brain.

He punctured the membrane at the back of the socket and was deluged by a flood of fluids that threatened to force him out despite his best efforts to hold on. He spotted the telltale pink of the Goliathon’s brain and unsure how it would work, activated Jump Charge. He slid forward at high speed, and he pulled the shield in front of his face angled like a bladed wedge. He punched straight through the brain, and exploded out the back of the thing’s skull like a bullet. He arced high into the air and remembered to reactivate his gravity manipulation before he splattered onto the floor.

Exhausted, and in agony, he turned around just in time to watch the Ursu collapse shuddering because of the trauma. As he slowly trudged towards the thing to check it was dead, a shout from the entryway drew his attention;

“WHAT THE FUCK ALEX?!”

Nieve, Whittaker and Eira stood in the doorway, panting like they had just sprinted full speed for miles. Which they had.

Whittaker stepped forward, their face a mask of incandescent rage. “YOU PROMISED! You swore you wouldn’t do anything stupid whilst I was gone. It's been 20 minutes, TOPS since I left!” Whittaker shook as Nieve stepped up and placed an arm around their shoulders before shooting a fierce look at Alex.

Alex couldn’t understand what the problem was. He had killed the Goliathon by himself, and he was still standing. “Why are you so upset Whitt? I soloed the damn thing just like I knew I could. I said I wouldn’t do anything stupid, and this wasn’t. I WON!”

“Alex, can you not see this from our perspective? Whitt filled us in on how many close calls you already had today, and yet when we arrive to assist, we find you drenched in blood and barely standing. Sure you won, but it was an unnecessary risk when you knew we were coming to help.” Eira tried to reiterate the stupidity in nicer terms than Whitt had managed.

Alex just stared at them, adrenaline still pumping through him from the battle. He could begrudgingly see their point, but everything had worked out fine. Couldn’t they just be happy with his accomplishment rather than bringing him down?

Nieve read the expression on his face, “Alex, we aren’t trying to diminish the huge feat you have managed here today,” Alex frowned in disbelief, “really we aren’t. But what you did was reckless to the point of idiocy. We need you for the plan to save the entire Veil to work, and what you did here risked everything if you had died. This isn’t about you, it’s about so much more. Can’t you see that?”

This got through to him, and Alex let his gaze drop to the floor in shame. He had risked everything to stroke his ego, and when so much was riding on him as well.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t even think of it like that. I just wanted a chance to prove to myself that I could do it, but it’s not just me I need to think about now.”

The group made their way to where Alex was standing next to the cooling corpse of the Ursu Goliathon. Yas had let out a little noise of exclamation when they had seen the specimen, and had rushed over to collect samples to analyse back at the base. Nieve walked up to Alex and waited for him to look up. When he kept his eyes focused on the floor, they reached out and lifted his chin.

“What you did is amazing, and you SHOULD be proud of it. At any other time we would be here celebrating your kill, but with the stakes as they are, please promise you won’t do anything this risky by yourself again.”

Alex nodded, tears in his eyes at having let his friends down. This promise he intended to keep, he couldn’t take the pain behind all of their eyes again.

Once Yas had finished collecting their samples, Whitt called Alex over to help carve the horns from the skull, and extract the claws as well. They could all be turned into useful weapons back at the base. Alex happily agreed, glad of any way he could get back into his friend’s good books. An hour or so later, with their loot in tow, the group all left the caverns to head back to base and discuss what could have caused such mutations to occur so rapidly to the Ursu.

Unseen by any of them, a small dark mote of energy rose from the Goliathon’s corpse and flew up through the layers of rock towards the Council Compound in the north.