As exhausted and hurt as she was, both mentally and physically, Astrid was soon asleep. Alaster watched for several minutes, thinking to himself.
With the light of the fire, Alaster was able to see the girl clearly. At least her face, as it was the only part of her body that was visible from under the Bugbear hide. She was not as old as Alaster had assumed.
'Probably only a year or so older than me.'
Alaster knew that, from a realistic view, it would severely hamper his rate of growth to care for and protect the girl. Even if her class and abilities increased the rate she healed, it would still be at least another day before she was able to move unaided. And Alaster doubted she had anything improving her healing.
However, Alaster knew that he could not just leave her.
Alaster's parents had always taught him that family was the most important thing. And he knew that if they could see him, they might not agree with what he was doing for their sake, but they would understand. But they would not look favorably upon him abandoning a weak and hurt young woman. He doubted he could either.
He sighed to himself, knowing that she was now under his care for the time being.
Alaster shuffled closer to the fire-bowl, taking care not to bump into the sleeping Astrid. He had made the Shelter to be a small but comfortable fit for him, not him plus one.
'First things first, she needs some clothing. I want my cloak back.'
Shaking his head, he looked over his earnings of the night.
While he had been leveling his [Meditation] and [Raise Undead], he had made great progress.
[Meditation
Level 4<7: 5%<20%
Clearing the Mind to see what is concealed
Mana Regeneration increased to 8/min<13/min during use
Can sense fluctuations in mana around you]
For the Level Five evolution of [Meditation], he had once again been offered three choices.
[1. Sense Mana Fluctuations nearby
2. Infuse surroundings with own Mana
3. Visualize Mana]
Alaster was able to see the uses for any of the choices. Being able to Infuse Mana into his surroundings sounded like an Enchanter type of ability, and would likely have different effects depending on the type of Mana used. He had actually been very interested in taking this choice, but in the end decided against it. He knew very little about his own mana.
As for seeing Mana, that was an ability every Mage wanted to get. There were numerous ways to gain it as well, and not all of them were from the System or even Items or Potions. The general consensus was that nearly everything the System offered was something the person could learn on their own, if given time and practice. The System simply sped the process and made the effects easier to understand.
In the end, Alaster decided on being able to sense the movements of mana. It was similar to being able to see mana, but very different. Similar to being able to see the wind. You might see the snow fly through the air, so you could understand that the wind was moving. But it was as if you were watching from a closed window. You weren't feeling it yourself, and if you weren't paying attention, you could very easily miss it.
But being able to sense the movements would mean that while he didn't understand exactly what was happening, as someone who could see the mana could know, he would still know that something was happening.
As for [Raise Undead], It had leveled much faster as it had leveled both from being cast, and from the Minions killing.
[Raise Undead
Level 5<9: 30%<94%
Raise a small corpse to serve as your servant
Max Minion: 2/2
Mana Cost: 42<32]
Only a few more casts or kills would level it up to ten, giving him another bonus.
'At least if the trend holds'
While Leveling abilities did not level up the Class, killing did, and the Night Children had certainly done a lot. A lot of killing, if you looked purely at their stats, they had no right being able to accomplish.
[Class: Death Mage
Level: 2<6
EXP: 54%<32%
Health: 140/140
Health Regeneration: 5/min
Mana: 140/140
Mana Regeneration: 2/min
Spells: Necrotic Bolt, Raise Undead, Bone Crafting, Mana Manipulation, Death Touch, Skeleton Creation
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 16
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 18
Stat Points: 0<20]
'I have quite a few abilities, and I got some more Stat Points to distribute.'
Following what his class believed to be important, Alaster put two points into INT and four into CON, getting both to twenty.
[Health: 160/160
Health Regeneration: 6/min
Mana 150/150
Mana Regeneration: 2/min
Stat Points: 14]
He thought about adding the rest into WIS, boosting his Mana Regen once more, but he did not know what sort of skills would be needed for his quest for revenge. And he couldn't always rely on his Magic. If he ran out of Mana, he would be defenseless, and he did not want that.
Especially when he had and knew how to fight with a sword.
Instead, Alaster added four points to his DEX and eight into STR, he allocated the last two into WIS.
[Class: Death Mage
Level: 6
EXP: 32%
Health: 160/160
Health Regeneration: 6/min
Mana: 150/150
Mana Regeneration: 2/min
Spells: Necrotic Bolt, Raise Undead, Bone Crafting, Mana Manipulation, Death Touch, Skeleton Creation
Strength: 12<20
Dexterity: 11<15
Constitution: 16<20
Wisdom: 20<22
Intelligence: 18<20
Stat Points: 20<0]
Content with his choices, Alaster finalized them. Immediately he felt the changes. Normally, the changes were subtle enough that most would never notice the changes, but most also didn't apply four levels worth of Stats all at once.
Alaster's eyes seemed to clear. He wasn't able to see more, but it was more like he understood more of what he saw. The gears constantly turning in his head seemed to turn faster, allowing him to understand things faster and better.
His skin felt tighter, and his bones seemed stronger. He could feel his body growing, reaching the limits of the clothes that had been fit for him the day of his birthday. They still fit well, it was just a little tighter than it was meant for. Alaster could almost imagine that if he increased his STR even more, he would rip out of them. While STR seemed to add to the bulk, DEX only made better use of what was there. Even as he grew taller and larger, he could feel his muscles tighten and twist, gaining more of a whip-like strength.
As he felt his body calm down from the changes, Alaster adjusted himself and leaned back against the bone wall, finding a comfortable position to sleep. Without the Bugbear hide or his cloak, he had stayed much closer to the fire.
He closed his eyes and issued a new order. He could somewhat feel like the Night Children were still dragging the Goblin Corpses into a pile. The Children were fast, but were physically weak.
'Patrol the area and protect the shelter.'
He felt them acknowledge the order as his mind drifted away.
While he had not done much physical exertion, his mind was exhausted after speed leveling his two Abilities, creating the Children, and then managing them.
He did not dream.
*****
Alaster woke the next morning before the young woman. He did not want to move. He wanted to close his eyes again and embrace the abyss that is sleep, but he was cold. The fire had died down during the night, and bone was not very insulating. When the source of heat died, the shelter did not stay warm for long.
Growling under his breath, which was visible, he noticed, Alaster stood up and took some wood from his Ring, adding it to the Fire-bowl and rebuilding the fire. Soon, the warmth of the fire began to chase away the frost. Alaster could feel the cold leave his body as he huddled close to the fire.
Eventually, however, his stomach growled. So Alaster took out two sharpened and debarked sticks and stuck some of the Bugbear meat to it, roasting them over the fire. It was not long before the sound of dripping fat and grease sizzling in the flames, and the scent of roasting meat permeating the small shelter, woke the young woman.
Alaster heard her wake, and begin to move, but he did not turn around. He did not want to scare her anymore than she already was. From the faint sounds, Alaster imagined that she had taken whatever comfort she could in huddling against the corner of the shelter, watching him.
A few minutes passed in relative silence, only the sizzling meat interrupting it. Eventually it was properly cooked, at least as well as Alaster knew how.
Alaster sniffled against the cold and calmly turned around on his hunches. He bit into the meat of one stick while he offered the second to the girl. Alaster almost had to stop a smile from forming. She had wrapped the Bugbear hide around herself. She hesitated, but after Alaster swallowed his first bite and took another, she tentatively reached out and quickly grabbed it and retreated.
Alaster simply sat across from her. He noticed that the early morning sun peaked around the edges of the Caribou hide at the entrance. He checked his Minion status. They were both still there, and neither had taken any damage.
'Resume piling all the Goblin Corpses. If you killed anything during the night, pile them next to the Goblins.'
After issuing the orders, Alaster continued to eat while observing the girl, and vice versa. Eventually, however, both of them soon finished eating. Alaster slowly reached his open hand towards the girl, motioning to the stick. She was once again very careful not to touch Alaster as he handed the stick over. He quickly put them into his Ring.
"As I'm not sure how much you remember of last night, let's start again. My name is Alaster, I killed all the Goblins and saved you. What is your name?"
She readjusted, pulling the furry hide tighter, "Astrid. Thank you for saving me."
"Do you remember what you asked me last night?"
"Yes," She said in almost a whisper, "I remember everything."
Alaster sighed, "Where they your friends?"
She nodded.
"Do you have any family in the nearby settlement?" Alaster still did not know where he was or where a settlement was, so he was somewhat hoping that she would."
"No. I'm an orphan. We all were."
Despite the age of Adulthood being fifteen, when they would receive their Class. Orphanages were funded to keep the children until sixteen, allowing the child enough time to learn their Class and hopefully get onto their feet. However, only a year for a brand new Novice to earn enough money to live off of was too short a time. Most spent several months trying to learn their classes, and they were expected to learn it and use it well enough to earn a living.
"Our Sixteenth birthdays were coming up, but none of us were ready. So we formed smaller groups than we usually did to cover more ground and spread the EXP around, and traveled deeper into the woods than we were ready for." She took a deep breath before continuing, "We didn't know there was a Goblin tribe. They ambushed each group."
Her eyes began to water, "They killed all the boys, and captured the girls. My group was the luckiest, we had run into a more experienced and older Novice group returning from their hunt. They ordered us around and took us back with them, but it didn't stop the Goblins. The older adventurers were only a few levels away from becoming Adepts, and they put up a good fight. But they just kept coming.
Most of the girls were knocked out, but I was only held down and tied up. They locked the girls who were still awake into cages, but they did not care that the others were knocked out."
She began to shake. Alaster knew that he should comfort her, but he did not know how. Normally, when his sister or Isabella cried, he would have hugged them, but given the context of the trauma, he did not know if that was a good way to go around it.
"Thank you for saving me." She choked out.
"Did they touch you?" As much as Alaster did not want to ask that, he knew he needed to. Goblins were evil creatures that seemed to enjoy getting their prey addicted to them and using them until they died.
"No, it seemed like they wanted us four in the cages to willingly offer ourselves. They barely fed us old and rotting scraps, and the only fire was at the entrance, far from us. Originally, there were six of us in the cages. Three held on until they died."
Alaster did not need to ask about the two.
"Did you really kill all of them?" She asked, looking into his eyes, almost begging for him to be telling the truth.
"The girls died painlessly. The Goblins were slaughtered."
"How? You can't be much stronger than we were."
"I'm not. But I am a lot quieter. I found them before they found me and waited until night. Most of them slept in the huts, and last night's storm helped to hide me. They didn't know what was happening until they were dying in the snow."
"What Class are you? A Rogue Type?"
"You first." Alaster did not want to tell Astrid his Class, but knew that it would only arise even more suspicion on him. It was better to mislead her and let her come to her own assumptions.
"My Class is Herald. It's a Warrior Type Class that specializes in the use of a spear, shield, and buffing allies."
"Buff? That's amazing!" Very few Novice Classes had access to buffs.
"It's weak though, supposedly, It increases my allies' strength as long as they are close to me. But none of my friends noticed any difference. It did help me level. As long as I have it active when an Ally gets a kill, I get a portion of the EXP."
"Don't sell yourself short. You are still a Novice, so having access to any buff, especially an Area Buff, is amazing! I'm sure if you keep it up that people will soon be begging to have you on their team." Alaster didn't just say that to help cheer her up. It was all true.
Paladins, an Adept class, also specialized in buffing allies, and they regularly had to turn down groups. A person that could buff their allies was always in large demand. Many could buff themselves, but it was much more difficult and complex to buff others.
Astrid grinned, "Thanks. What about you?"
'Damn it.'