Once Icarus woke up we started ascending the path again. The sound of both of our stomachs could be heard, and due to that hunger neither of us wanted to talk much. My wounds also were starting to take a toll on me. They constantly stung and added to my exhaustion. Gil told me the only thing stopping me from collapsing was the added endurance from the system, and for once I didn't doubt him.
The sight of the peak was probably the only thing keeping both of us calm. That and the hope that up there would be some answer of how to finish this test.
Less and less we saw any more beasts as we got closer to the peak. While I could see this was some relief to Icarus. It only made me more nervous that something even worse might be at the top instead. Just with that thought I can picture Xynthia scolding me for worrying so much, which brought a smile to my face. I wanted to worry about her, but something in my gut told me that she was fine, and I had no problem believing that.
"Caesar what did it feel like? Having your body change like that I mean," it seemed Icarus needed more than the sound of our stomachs.
"It felt, natural. Like that's what my hands always were. Even the fire being there. It felt right," I looked at my hand and flexed my fingers just to make sure it was still a normal hand. "What about you, what was using your power, whatever it is, like?"
"I guess you didn't really get to see it did you? I guess I'd describe it as releasing a bow string. But a lot stronger. I just felt this force around me and I pushed it towards the wolves, and when it felt like it hit them, they were thrown back."
"That sounds really useful," I said thinking of how effective that could be both as an attack and as defense.
"I guess so, the only thing is it felt like it was pushing me back too. Like if I wasn't careful, or pushed too much, it would throw me instead," he said nervously.
After that we went back to not talking anymore. Our hunger was only growing more and we both were on the verge of collapse. Just the act of keeping my eyes open was hard enough, let alone walking an upwards slope to the peak.
When we finally got to the top we both collapsed from the exhaustion. We just put faith in we would be safe up there. As I struggled to stay conscious a *ding* was heard in my ear and a message popped up in the corner of my eyes.
QUEST-reach the summit-complete
REWARD-50 experience points, 3 class points, 2 skill points
Allocate now? YES/NO
"Nah, let's wait till I can walk again" I mumbled as I passed out.
This time instead of a dream of being an animal or anything like that, I was in an open field with with Gil, Lupa and Fen all around me. Gil was casually petting both of them and they both seemed very happy about it.
"Do I ever get to rest without something happening anymore?" I sighed.
"Do you not like the company?" Gil asked laughing.
My lack of a response and the look on my face must have told him I wasn't amused because he quickly got to the point.
"Okay listen. I just wanted to make sure you don't get yourself in a rough spot so I'm going to give you some advice. As far as anybody else should know, you have one power, and considering that other guy has seen you morph part of your body and also tame both of these guys, you'll have to figure something out so everyone won't be suspicious of you."
"Makes sense, is that all? I'd like to actually rest for once, even if it's not a willing rest."
"Yes that's all, but don't forget about these two. I know I said be careful, but I'm sure they'd like to spend some time outdoors. I'll work on a plan for that for them."
With that suddenly everything was dark. It seemed my body was still out cold, yet my consciousness was still going. So I figured now was a good time to check out that level up.
When I went to my status screen it showed me my stats in full.
LEVEL-1
CLASS-Beastzerker
SUBCLASS-Beastmaster
RACE-Improved Human
PARTY-None
HEALTH POINTS-5/50
STRENGTH-10(+5)
ENDURANCE-10(+0)
AGILITY-10(+10)
KNOWLEDGE-10(-5)
CHARISMA-10(+0)
EXPERIENCE-50
EXPERIENCE LEVEL-0/30
On the baseline I had 10s across the board and then modifiers from my main class. What I found interesting was the party tab existed, the system didn't tell me any information about it so that's something I would have to figure out later. For now I needed to focus on what a level up entailed.
The experience I could use to level up myself but other both wolves. Class points could be used to strengthen classes I already have, or unlock new ones. And skill points could unlock skills or strengthen one I already had as well.
I first put the 30 exp I needed to level up into myself. Another *ding* was heard and the system told me I had in fact leveled up and what came with that. The first thing was bonuses to each stat.
HP+5 (55)
STR+2(12)
END+1(11)
AGI+3(13)
KWD+0(10)
CHA+0(10)
EXP-20
EXP LVL-0/50
Class points +1(4)
Skill points +2(4)
I decided to save the rest of my exp for now and move on to the class points. It seemed to unlock any of the grayed out ones I'd need to either finish specific quests lines or save up at least 20 class points. Instead of that I decided in the moment the best thing to do is to strengthen what I do have. The first strengthening for a class cost 1 class point, then 2, then 3 and so on from there. So I used 3 of them on zerker and 1 on master. It didn't tell me any immediate bonuses or changes for the classes
Moving onto skills they were much the same as the classes. But unlocking new skills cost much less. For the zerker there is as a skill called mismatch, no description was given but I took it anyway for 3 points and upgraded my transformation to level 2.
With nothing left to do with those I decided to try to relax and finally get some rest. Hoping that whenever I woke up, maybe I wouldn't be starving.