Kent’s eyes were pushed open by a sudden flood of notifications that rained down on him.

He tried to get a bearing on what was going on, and take stock of his situation.

Dungeon, dang. I’m still in the dungeon. He scrambled back away from the cave entrance where he had fallen asleep and began checking his log.

New Notification Log Entries:

Note – You have unlocked the title system by surviving and thriving for a week without the trait-system. Titles are easier to gain in the initial transition phase from trait to title system. You have unlocked titles. Congratulations!

You have gained the title Tormentor!

You have gained the title Butcher!

You have gained the title Survivor!

You have gained the title Exile!

You have gained the title Afflictioneer!

You have gained the title Combatant!

You have gained the title Poisoner!

You have gained the title Cutting Edge!

You have gained the title Pyromaniac!

You have gained the title Deceiver!

You have gained the title Luminary of Metal!

“Those don’t sound ominous at all. Nope, I’m just your harmless farmer next door,” his smile shifted into a grimace as he began taking stock, becoming serious again.

“Those sound really bad, why did I get them. I never did something of the sort, well besides survivor and exile I guess.” Though even as he said that, he knew that he was not entirely correct.

His notifications were a lot longer than that list, however. Nestled between the title names were ‘Notes’, something he had previously not heard of.

Note – Level zero counts as level one for all purposes in matter titles.

Note – Traits cannot be gained through mundane means.

Note – Due to unlocking five Titles in the probational period you have gained the ability to level.

Note – Due to unlocking three superficial Titles you have gained the ability to learn skills.

Kent exclaimed in joy. He squirmed and pumped fists into the air. He had a chance of survival, maybe.

This is awesome. Heck yeah. Before he continued examining his titles he checked the last few notes.

Note – Available skill trees are guided by Titles and potential Classes.

Note – Vestiges of Corrupted Plant – Metal have been removed. Plant Aligned skill trees are now unavailable.

As Kent read through the notes his mood rose sky-high – well dungeon ceiling-high – before dropping once again when he reached the last note. Being able to level, to gain skills was great. It was all he had wanted in the last few days. It might even allow him to get under people again.

But not being able to use plant magic was sad, though it was leagues better than what he had been able to do minutes ago.

As much as he wanted the be annoyed, sad, or angry. Rereading the earlier notes, again and again, was just too amazing for Kent. A life he had written off was now within grasp. Becoming a farmer would still be an option, and if not he could still enjoy the village life – somewhere.

Tormentor – kill at least five living beings of a greater level, with one being ten times your level, on seven consecutive days while artificially increasing their agony by a large margin and leaving them to die. Increases Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Willpower by 30%. Gain access to additional skills in various skill trees. Gain access to the Torment skill tree.

Butcher – kill five times for five consecutive days. Increases Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Willpower by 15%. Gain access to additional skills in various skill trees.

Survivor – Survive for seven days alone, while supplying for yourself. +10% to the effects of Vitality, Toughness, Endurance, and Agility. Gain access to the Survival skill tree.

Exile – Become banished from civilization and survive for seven days on your very own. +10% to the effects of Toughness, Endurance, Senses, and Willpower. Gives access to additional skills in the Survival skill tree.

Afflictioneer – Test out various afflictions and methods of dealing damage to tissues on monsters of five times your level or higher over the course of a week. +30% to the effects of Vitality, Toughness, Endurance, and Magic. Unlocks additional skills in the Poisoner skill tree.

Combatant – You have gained five different combat titles. Increases all stats by 10%. Mundane Profession and Crafting skill trees become unavailable. Gain access to various combat-oriented skill trees.

Cutting Edge – Go on a rampage for several days. You have killed most creatures you come into contact for an extended duration with new vigor, time and time again. Increases Vitality, Strength, Agility, and Regeneration by 15%. Unlocks additional skills in the Stealth and Dagger skill trees.

Poisoner – Use poisons to dispose of facilitate the disposal of at least ten people over the course of a week. Increases Senses, Willpower, and Magic by 15%. Gain access to the Poisoner skill tree.

Pyromaniac – End at least ten lives over the course of a week through the means of fire. Increases Magic, Willpower, and Regeneration by 25%. Gain access to the Pyromancy skill tree. Gain access to the General Magics skill tree.

Deceiver – Hide effectively from over ten people you didn’t want to be seen by. Successfully ‘hide’ from an undesirable status marker. Increases Agility, Senses, Mind, Magic by 10%. Unlocks additional skills in the Stealth skill tree.

Luminary of Metal – Time and time again you have used metal as your means to bring devastation to the world. And time and again you found its flexibility lacking, only in combination with other elements have found it useful. Requires several attempts at infusing mana into an unenchanted item and causing an effect. +40% to the effectiveness of Mind, Magic, and Willpower. Gain access to the Metallic Insight skill tree. Gain access to the Metallumancy skill tree.

Kent needed a moment to gather himself mentally again. This was too much. He had never heard of people being riddled with so many different status messages at once. He hadn’t even heard of titles before. Their effects though were almost akin to that of a trait.

The skill tree unlocking was one of the most elemental parts of a trait and it seemed titles performed something similar. He knew that his father had access to the common nature magic tree, but his trait had granted him access to a tree called Enchanted Growths. The other part of a trait was that is gave you a bonus to a specific attribute. Growth Exhortation granted a sizable bonus to willpower and magic according to his parents. Which was something that titles potentially gave as well.

He just didn’t know what that symbol meant.

“The hell is that symbol “%”?” he asked out loud. He knew the pronunciation, the pronunciation had instinctually appeared like almost else involving the system did.

The moment he voiced the question the knowledge entered his mind. At least some amount did. It seemed that was deemed essential as well.

“Out of one hundred huh. So, what’s the difference between just leaving it out? Oh, I can gain one-hundred stats from titles in total is that it?” he speculated, though no further insight came.

He checked his status happily, expecting to have gained either one-hundred, or potentially three hundred and fifty hundred total stats, depending on whether that was a maximum per trait, or in total, though he tried to not get his hopes up too high.

Kent Larsson [Level 1] [0%]

Pools:

Health: 67/67

Stamina: 58/150

Mana: 4/30

Stats (3 Free Stat points):

Vitality: 10

Toughness: 9

Endurance: 17

Strength: 18

Agility: 15

Senses: 12

Mind: 7

Magic: 7

Willpower: 12

Regeneration 12

SHOW EFFECTIVE/SHOW BASE

Before he could even fully take in what had changed his eyes fell on his level.

“Level one already! yesss,” he yelled. And suddenly shut up again. Who knows what allows monsters to enter the starting area?

As his eyes moved further down his excitement grew. Almost all his stats had grown, though not in a way he had been led to expect. The total was a lot lower than either of his predictions. That wasn’t the oddness that confused him though, it was only disappointing and not even that much. He had gained as many stats as a weak trait would have offered, just more balanced.

Yet, he couldn’t understand how his health, stamina, and mana were so high. According to what he had been taught his health were a result of four times vitality and one part toughness. Stamina was four times endurance and two times agility, and mana was just two times magic.

His eyes glanced up and down until they landed at the bottom. The ‘SHOW EFFECTIVE/SHOW BASE’ label was odd but interactable. As he pushed his mind into interacting with the label his stats shifted again.

Stats (3 Free Stat points):

Vitality: 14

Toughness: 11

Endurance: 27

Strength: 23

Agility: 21

Senses: 12

Mind: 11

Magic: 15

Willpower: 24

Regeneration 14

And that was just a little too insane for Kent to understand. Something weird was going on. He moved back up through his notifications to his titles. There were two different types of wordings. Increases effectiveness and just a general increase. Pressing the label again brought him to his base stats, the one he had been familiar with. In the other panels, a lot of stats grew. By a lot.

After a lot of prodding and annoying math in the dirt of the cave, he came to an interesting observation. Each of his stats was experiencing a unique multiplier akin to what some rare skills offered. Especially Magic and Willpower, though Endurance received a good multiplier as well.

Vitality

1.755

Toughness

1.69

Endurance

2.32

Strength

1.82

Agility

2.175

Senses

1.35

Mind

1.705

Magic

2.5

Willpower

3

Regeneration

1.4375

He would postpone his attribute allocation at a later point in time, not having the required materials at hand currently. There was still a bunch to gather information about. And he had a quest notification he wanted to look at as well.

Quest Update (Divergent Invasion):

Flee the village to avoid your execution.

You have been exiled and are no longer keyed to the Zone of Civilization.

New Primary Objective: Survive the assault of Swaiak Pakt

Secondary Objective: Gain a foothold after being exiled

Variable Rewards: Variable

Failure: Death and Variable

Primary objective accomplished: The Dungeon entrance is closed until completion. There is no more potential danger from the Swaiak Pakt.

Secondary Object: Failed.

Reward: Unredeemable due to being inside a dungeon.

Note – Directive Overridden. Invasion – Reward repurposed.

Reward: Upgrade to Tranquil Pond Completion - Reward

Well, that’s unfortunate. I could use every advantage I can get. Or do I. That lead him to consider. He hadn’t really done much yet besides some math, maybe his increased stats offered some benefits. They affect his vitals, so maybe they would affect the rest of him as well. That would most certainly have to be tested. After he looked at the rest of the stuff.

Skills gained:

Appraisal – Item: Appraise Items

Appraisal – Entities: Appraise Entities

That is handy. So even I get an appraisal skill. Curiosity got the better of him and led him to try the skills out on both of his good items.

He could finally figure out the exact effects of his stolen cloak.

Cloak of the Suffocating Night’s Embrace (Epic) – Bloodbound – A high durability fabric. Enchanted to embrace the wearer fully in the Night’s Embrace until their mana is completely embraced. Extended exposure to the effect can cause the enchantment to become permanent. The wearer is slightly obfuscated while the hood is worn.

Oh shit. That could have been bad. He had never considered the fact that the cloak was bound in any way. Having never had much exposure to such rare items. It made sense though. No one would steal it because there was no benefit to be gained from it.

The ‘Bloodbound’ effect in place of a ‘Soulbound’ had been a lifesaver. The other types of binding would have resulted in Kent’s death without a doubt. The detrimental effect, of the fabric’s enchantment, worried Kent a bit. But it also made it clear as to why his uncle could no longer use the cloaks. If you couldn’t toggle the enchantment off there was a serious risk of you never being released from the spell with too high of a mana regeneration.

Hmm, that’s not what it is saying though, is it? It says if you use the skill too long it becomes permanent. So is there a time limit?

Eventually, Kent decided that worrying could wait until a later point in time when finding someone with a better Appraisal was an option. For now, he would check out his stolen dagger.

Thaumic Bullock Dagger (Uncommon) – A dagger made from Thaumium in the bullock style. Attention was focused to increase sharpness and hardness during its creation, at the complete disregard for mana conductivity. Condition: Mana Corrosion.

Hmm, seems like trying to push mana into the dagger this hard was not the brightest idea ever. Mana corrosion huh. Never heard of that one. Though that doesn’t mean a lot. Time to look at skill trees I guess.