PenguinKills
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Chapter 37 - Unwanted Change
🕑 Added 2024-06-01 19:35:45 +0000 UTC-AN-
This is y'alls extra chapter for today, I might put another one out today if I find the time, but there will definitely be one tomorrow. I don't know if you guys saw my announcement, but in celebration of reaching rising stars on RR I'm putting an extra chapter out today.
In other news, I'm now 3 chapters ahead and I think this is where Tier 1 will stop. I'm thinking it'll be 3 chapters ahead for tier 1, 5 for tier 2, and 10 for tier 3 until I can put more out. I'll most likely use Primal Hunter's model with 10, 25, and 50 ahead for the tiers, but that's a long ways off.
Anywho, Enjoy!
~~
The blinking notification was the first thing that caught my eye in the morning. I hadn't been getting as many training notifications lately but it seemed I was due this morning.
Status
Name: Christopher Zalenski
Race: Human(G)
Class: (G) Arctic Barbarian(Uncommon) – Level 16
Profession: (G) Novice Blacksmith(Common) – Level 7
Faction: Zalenski Family (Temporary)
Strength- 95
Agility- 37
Perception- 14
Fortitude- 45
Endurance- 52
Vitality - 32
Intelligence- 12
Wisdom- 17
Acumen- 13
Free Points: 0
Laws: None
Class Skills: Heavy Blow(Uncommon), Fortified Body(Common), Throwing Weapon Proficiency(Beginner), Identify(Common), Penetrating Strike(Common), Sweeping Slash(Common), Ice Wall(Common), Heavy Armor Proficiency(Beginner), Heavy Weapon Proficiency(Beginner), Body of a Barbarian(Uncommon), Barbarian's Rage(Common)
Profession Skills: Sense Metal(Common), Create Weapon(Crude)
Coins: 0
Points: 0
A nice increase but not all that helpful. My strength was nearing 100 and hadn't increased through training in weeks. The notification was for my lower stats. Perception got another point along with two of the magic ones; Intelligence and Wisdom.
After healing most of day 29 the training notification yesterday gave a good increase to fortitude and vitality. My skills list was getting out of hand, there had to be a way to organize it better.
After my sudden increase in levels, my strength went up by another 20 points. Now that I was getting an additional 26 from [Body of a Barbarian], strength was really outpacing all of my other stats.
I noticed that my movements were starting to get a little unwieldy, and harder to control. I knew there had to be a downside to having such a large gap between stats. Before using my free points, the disparity was even worse. I had to put all of my free points into agility to try and balance it back out.
It was still under the 2:1 ratio I was trying to keep but it was at least better than over the 3:1 ratio it was before. I would have to look into the information tab of the store to see if there were any books on the topic. There had to be a recommendation for what ratio to keep your stats at.
After all of the fighting I had done and, frankly, the fundamental change to who I was, it didn't register that we were a third of the way through the tutorial. It felt so much longer than a month had passed.
33% done had a nice ring to it, if I was a fool I would feel good about that. We made it through the easy part, that was nothing to feel good about. It was only going to get harder from here.
Remaking my axe was a rushed affair, it wouldn't win any awards but it would get the job done. I was just lucky I didn't have to remake Austin's spear too. His spear made it through the fight just fine with only a few nicks on the haft of the weapon. The spearhead that I made was still in good shape and only needed a light servicing job.
Even in my forge, I could hear bickering in the center cabin. They were making plans for what was to come.
I didn't involve myself in that process and stuck to what I needed to do. I already knew what I was going to do in the wave, it didn't matter what they came up with.
The new wall would hold and we could go back to picking them off from atop it, but that was no way to get stronger. I emersed myself in the battle last wave and it showed how good of a way to improve it was.
Three levels was a lot from a single wave and I was looking to repeat the feat. I knew it would be impossible to convince them of that fact, so I didn't. When the time came I would jump down and face it alone if I had to.
I hadn't spoken to Austin about it yet, but I think he would go for it. We would have to have an escape route if we got surrounded but that wasn't hard to figure out.
A rope from the wall walk would work perfectly to get back up quickly. I could place some [Ice Wall]s down to cover our back and we could climb up easily. If this was before, I would say it would take too long to climb, but superhuman strength was anything if not useful.
I'd have to entrust the rope to someone before we jumped and I didn't know who I asked wouldn't try to stop me. Abigail would be firmly against it, and so would my Dad.
Granddad was too busy organizing everything. Maybe Hal, but he would be busy shooting arrows the whole time. Jonathan? Maybe, I didn't know if he would keep it secret from my sister.
Sam and Ashley wouldn't keep their mouth shut and would tell somebody if I asked them. I didn't know Jack all that well. Alice wouldn't want to do anything that would get her in trouble.
Ugh. Why did finding someone to help with my crazy plan have to be so hard. Jonathan was probably my best bet, even if he told Abigail, it wouldn't be too bad.
The rest of my cousins would sooner tell on me than help me. I loved them and all, but sometimes I wanted to strangle them. They were all either younger or older than me so we weren't that close.
Fuck it, Jonathan it is.
Finding him was easy. With today being wave day, Abigail was particularly busy so Jonathan was watching their kids. Anna was never hard to find.
"Jonathan, you got a minute?" I asked.
He was mostly just standing around while watching his kids and just nodded for me to go ahead.
I didn't mince words with him and told him my plan straight up. I was going to jump in front of the wall and I needed him to hold the rope for me to get back up.
"I don't think I'm gonna be able to do that Chris, you're going to have to find somebody else." He said while thinking about what I mentioned.
Shit, I didn't think he'd say no. Now I'd have to find someone else.
"Do you think I can join you?" Jonathan said, which snapped me out of my musing.
What? He wants to join us? I didn't think that he would put himself at risk like that. He caught the look I was giving him and was quick to explain his reasoning.
"I'm not stupid Chris, I know how this is going. It's only going to get worse and I need to be strong enough to protect them. Only you and Austin won't be enough." He said indicating toward the two little ones, "Abby will be cross with me, but she'll understand."
I don't know about that one pal. Abigail could hold a grudge and wouldn't like getting blindsided like this, especially from her husband. She was used to it from me, but not from Jonathan. It wasn't my place to say anything though and kept my mouth shut.
"What level are you now?" I could use [Identify] but I wanted to hear him say it.
"I just reached 10 the other day and evolved into [Shield Warrior]. I have another defensive skill that will make it harder to get injured, I should be fine for a while. I can always retreat before you if it gets too rough." He did his best sales pitch.
He was trying to convince the wrong person, what did I care if he wanted to join me? As long as he understood the risks, then it was fine. I wouldn't be able to keep my full attention on him but I should be able to keep him safe. Relatively.
If it was only one person I could do it. Throw up some [Ice Wall]s if things got too hairy. [Ice Wall]s were mana intensive but they were a great way to create space fast. They wouldn't last long against strong opponents, especially with my low magic stats, but they would be enough.
"I think it should be fine. I won't be able to protect you, are you sure this is what you want to do?" I didn't want him to rely on my saving him, he needed to rely on himself. I would still swoop in and pull him out if things got bad, but he didn't need to know that.
He needed to know how dangerous this was going to be and I was not going to hold his hand.
Jonathan just looked at his kids and nodded, "This is something I need to do."
"Fair enough," I said back.
I still had to find someone else to hold the rope and get some rope for that matter.
~~
Standing on the wall was a new experience for the wave. Usually, we were in front of it, waiting for the wave to spawn. Now it felt more official... or serious? It was a hard feeling to describe but it felt more real to be standing on the wall.
Austin was on my right and Jonathan on my left. Austin had easily agreed to my plan and was surprised when I mentioned Jonathan joining us. Austin didn't have the same relationship that I had with Jonathan that I did. To me, he was my brother-in-law, my sister's husband. To Austin, he was just one of his cousin's husbands.
"Are you sure about this?" Austin had asked Jonathan that question at least five times by now. It was starting to get old and it wasn't even me he was asking.
"For the last time, yes." Some of the exasperation from the repeated question was in Jonathan's answer.
"Alright, just making sure." Austin said, then he started to smile while looking out into the distance, "I got a new skill I'm dying to try out."
He had the same increase in level that I did and was really excited about his new skill. Last wave he upgraded his [Piercing Strike] skill into the uncommon [Piercing Light] skill.
It was what made such a bright light during his strike on the boss. After reaching level 16 he got another skill that he wanted to test out. [Spear of the Morning] was the skill he was referring to. It seemed like it was the signature skill of the class he had and it started off as Uncommon.
He wouldn't tell me what it did and kept saying wait and see. He always had a flair for the dramatic.
The wave started and we got ready to fight, I looked at my Dad and he gave me a slight nod. Convincing him was a hassle, but he eventually came around. He made me swear I would come back if it got too hard.
His definition of hard and my definition of hard were two separate things and who's definition we were going by was never agreed upon.
Our adversaries were some kind of feline creature. They looked like a mix between a puma and a mountain lion, with the ferocity of both.
It wasn't the type of creature we were focused on though, it was the level. For the first time since the tutorial started the pattern changed. Instead of facing level 11 and 12 monsters like all of us expected, it was level 12 and 13 monsters.
A 2 level increase.
It wasn't anything huge and I still out-leveled them, but it was something to think about.
It wasn't hard to do the math to figure out that for 90 days of the tutorial, there would be 30 waves. If every wave increased by 1 level, we would be facing level 30 monsters on the last wave.
I was already over half of the way to level 30 and I was feeling confident in my ability to keep my leveling speed up. Even though it had recently slowed down for some reason, I could level 14 times in 60 days.
If that was the pattern and if it only increased by a single level. That math was proven false after this wave. If, after 10 waves, it started to increase by 2 levels every time, the max level changed.
With a 2-level increase for 20 waves, the last wave would have level 50 beasts. That was a whole rank higher. Level 25 was the threshold for F rank and that continued to level 50, when E rank started.
We would have to go through not only 1 more drastic increase in power, but two. And that was only if it stuck to a 2-level increase. If it suddenly increased to a 3-level increase, or something more. I didn't even want to think about that. This change did not bode well. People were barely keeping up with the single-level increase.
Don't focus on that, focus on what's in front of you.
I had to work to narrow my attention, but I managed it. I couldn't afford to worry about the future right now, I was about to be in a dangerous fight and couldn't afford to be distracted.
Why is a part of me excited?
Comments
Alexander C Hyde
No affinity in stat sheet.
Alexander C Hyde
I (immersed)emersed myself in the battle last wave and it showed how good of a way to improve it was.
Daniel steele
Thanks
