System, show me the logs for the XP I have gained in the past week.
[4x Khyrian Panther Killed: +1,400 XP]
[2x Khyrian Ape Killed: +460 XP]
[XP Gain from Eating: +1815 XP]
[Total XP Gain: 3675 XP]
Damn, that's a lot. I know I have been hard at work hunting them down, but I am still impressed. It also seems like the XP I gain from the bodies is roughly the same as what I gain from killing them, something I should note down. Does that mean that by killing them I get 50% of the XP in their bodies and I need to eat them to get the rest? If that's the case, then when the system's efficiency increases wouldn't that mean that the XP I get from eating them is reduced?
That would mean I wouldn't have to eat the bodies, but I don't know if I care about it too much. I rather like the taste so far, at least from the ones I have eaten so far, which are only two. I prefer the monkeys though, so it's a shame that I was only able to kill two more. They are just so evasive, and I don't have a ranged attack to deal with them.
It's not like they were much of a problem anymore. I had gotten used to their attack patterns, and I rarely got hit anymore.
Show me what I can get with this XP.
[Level 1: (0/200) | XP: 3705]
[Level up: 200 XP)]
[Awoken Flesh (max): Unavaliable]
[Regeneration (lvl 1): 100 XP]
[Spiritual Manifestation (lvl 1): 1,000 XP]
[Spatial Sensitivity (lvl 1): 500 XP]
[Domain (lvl 2): 200 XP]
It looks like the level-ups and skills increased by another 100 after I got them. Hopefully, it was just an increase of 100 and not them doubling, otherwise it would get very expensive real quick.
I'm not too sure what I should do with my XP right now. Raising my stats by leveling up was showing the results that I had desired, but I was somewhat intrigued by the prospect of evolving a skill.
After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to level up once to see whether or not the XP costs only increased by 100 or if they doubled.
[Level 1 -> Level 2 | XP: 3505]
[Level up: 400 XP)]
That... That is pretty bad. I guess I was being a little too hopeful about how quickly I could grow. If it only increased by 100, I could skyrocket through the early levels. This was more understandable but somewhat concerning. Just how much would it take to level up in the future?
[-Notice: Upon reaching level 10, a Paragon's body has fully matured and its growth system changes. Level cost growth will be decreased, but the Paragon will no longer be granted a free increase to all stats-]
Ah, I see. Does the Skill leveling system work the same?
[-Negative: Skills will keep their level growth upon reaching level 10, with the trade-off of evolution being available-]
Hmm. I think I am going to try to pump my levels up to 10 quickly then because the fact I get +1 to all my stats doubles the effective amount of points I get. I can still always dump my excess XP into the skills.
[Level 2 -> Level 5 | XP: 705]
As for the skills I should increase, I'll go with these:
[Domain (lvl 2 -> lvl 4)
[Regeneration (lvl 1 -> lvl 2)
[XP remaining: 5]
I used my spare points to even the difference between my Agility and Strength. I had found in my fights that Agility was less important to me than I thought it would be because I didn't need to dodge every attack perfectly as I could just regenerate, and I ended up using my speed more to strike faster than to dodge. I did want to keep my perception ahead of the other two though, as I had found it invaluable.
[Strength: 11 -> 20]
[Agility: 14 -> 20]
[Perception: 16 -> 25]
[Resistance: 0]
[Level 1 | XP: 93]
[Spare points: 0]
Feeling a sudden surge of strength flow through me, I sighed in bliss. This was an amazing feeling. Satisfied with my results, I finally tuned back into the real world to reassess my situation.
The reason I had stopped and spent all of my XP was because I had finally found something beginning to change. The road I was on was getting more and more coherent, and was less like a vague overgrown path in the dirt and starting to look somewhat paved. I doubt anyone else would have noticed it, but with my enhanced perception I was able to make out faint signs of where the road must have once been inlaid with cobblestone. The chances that I would run into other people were rising, and I had to consider what my goal was.
So far I had the vague goal of getting stronger, but I hadn't thought much further than that. The only thing that I knew was that I had this strong instinctive desire to grow in strength, and that meant killing things.
The other goal I had was something left over from my past life. I wanted to experience new things, I wanted to be free, and I wanted to explore the wonders of the world.
And lastly, somewhat less important than the others, I wanted to fight things. I couldn't help it! It was rather exhilarating. I didn't have any fear of death because my regeneration didn't seem to have a limit, or at least not one that I had found. I love the feeling of putting my skills to the test, and it was honestly quite fun.
Now, just because I didn't have any fear of death meant I was going to be reckless. I still didn't know what types of powers there were in this world that other people might have, nor did I forget that I could still be imprisoned.
Taking all these into consideration, I decided on the following: I wanted to explore the world. I also didn't want to spend all of my life wandering around in nature forever. It was beautiful, sure, but there was so much else to see. So I figured that I would have to venture into the civilized world. To do this, I would need a way to not be noticed, either by crafting a disguise or by getting proficient enough in my Awakened Flesh skill to make myself appear human, and I would need the strength to keep myself free from imprisonment. Maybe some other non-human species lived amongst the humans, but I would have to see for myself.
Now, I had a real goal. I could probably work on improving my form-changing as I went, but a disguise would probably be best.
This was all under the assumption that this road led to civilization. How it was looking was pretty promising, but I'd have to see.
Setting off, I continued down the road, this time keeping my senses at their maxed range. With my increased perception, I was confident that nothing could sneak up on me unless they had some kind of stealth magic, but apparently, I can see magic so maybe that wouldn't work on me either. My perception range was also increased to a whole 250 feet now, which was quite an improvement.
Something that I noticed in my journey along this road was that there were far fewer creatures than normal. Usually, it was not uncommon for me to detect a smaller creature or two, or to be followed by a Khyrian panther for a bit before it gave up, but here there were far fewer. Perhaps this was a sign that these roads were traveled more often, and that guess was beginning to become more and more likely as I continued on the road.
By now, it had gotten to the point where it could truly be called a road. Not a glamorous one mind you, but still one that could be called as such. It was overgrown by plants and covered in dirt, at some points barely visible, but the appearance of stones that demarcated the borders of the road confirmed that this was a manmade creation, not just a path forged by wild animals' movements.
Eventually, I came across a peculiar little creature that was wandering across the road. It was around the size of a human child, though it looked nothing like one. It had a mishappened head that resembled a rat, and it was covered in slimy gray fur. Its wiry tail swished back and forth nervously, and it wore only a loincloth. It also carried a long wooden shaft tipped with sharpened flint to create a makeshift spear.
As I approached it, it seemed to squeak and wave its spear at me, somewhat threateningly but not enough to do anything as I was still a good 50 feet away.
It then backpedaled, tripping over a nonexistent rock before scrambling backward on its hands and knees into the underbrush.
The rat-thing's actions would have meant a lot less to me if it weren't for the 5 other ones of its kind hiding in the bushes just out of sight, waiting for me to draw closer.
Interesting. I guess this is my first encounter with a creature that has a somewhat higher level of intelligence. They have enough to plan a trap, fashion weapons and clothes, and band together. There also is an obvious social hierarchy as the one that was acting as bait was much weaker and more pathetic than the other ones.
I was rather curious as to what else they would do, so I decided to play along. I continued onwards, approaching the bush that the rat-thing had hid in. As I walked, I passed by two of the five of the creatures that were lying in wait.
How curious. They really do seem to have a decent level of intelligence. I was sure that as soon as I passed the first one it would charge at my back.
I had to walk all the way up to the bush before they made their first move. The first rat-thing that I had followed to this bush leaped out with their spear held straight on a course to go right through my chest. Amused, I batted it to the side, knocking it out of the creature's grasp. As I did so, the rest of the rat-things emerged from the undergrowth, charging at me with surprising speed, nimbleness, and silence.
Pretending like I didn't notice them, I reached forward and grabbed the runt by the neck, lifting it to my eye level. Its beady little eyes quivered in fear, and it grasped its gangly little fingers around my hand in an attempt to free itself.
Four of the rat-things reached me at the same time, while the last seemed to sit back, waiting to launch its spear like a javelin. All four spears hit their mark, with two impaling me through the chest and one in each leg.
Somewhat disappointed with their level of strength, I still had to give them kudos for their planning. They even aimed for my legs to disable me so that even if the two to my chest didn't kill me, I would struggle to escape.
Sadly, none of them had much of an effect.
"Can you speak any language?"
The creature whose neck I was grasping's eyes widened upon seeing that I was seemingly unaffected by the weapons piercing through my body before it gasped for air as I gave it enough to speak if it could.
I took a deep breath in, and for a second I was hopeful that it would say something, but it only let out a series of angry squeaks, renewing its attempts at freeing itself now that it had a little more freedom.
Audibly sighing, I leaned forward and bit in, taking in the whole of its head and chewing. It tasted somewhat like mint, but it had a bit of a slimy texture to it. Not the worst, but I'd had better.
Turning around, I took the spears right out of their hands (except for one that stubbornly hung on and was swung around into a tree) and began to ask them the same question.
"Can you speak any-"
My answer was the 5th rat-thing launching its spear through my forehead.
"I guess not."