The men rushed forward and ran apart, provoking the outer cows. Viziliy even scratched the central one with his sword, but it ignored this and continued to fly at me.
"Moo-oo, bitch!" I yelled and, lowering my head, rushed to meet it.
We came closer, and I dove forward and to the left like a fish, and when the hooves rushed half a meter from me, I slashed. Out of fear, the blow turned out strong, and by incredible chance, accurate. The blade hit exactly on the knee joint and cut it through.
The cow let out a prolonged roar and collapsed onto the withered grass. There was a crash and a crack. I hope it broke all its bones.
I jumped up and rushed to develop the success. The dead animal, limping on its damaged limb, was quickly rising, but I managed to run up from behind and with a backhand (damn, the old man didn't teach like this at all), slashed at the second hind leg.
Got it!
Losing support, the cow collapsed to the ground again. I exhaled with relief and in the next second nearly died. God knows how the monstrosity twisted like that with its build, but suddenly its grinning muzzle appeared in front of me. It had ducked and tried to impale me on its horns.
I recoiled, but this wouldn't have saved me if the cow hadn't broken one horn completely and the second one halfway when it fell. In short, I got lucky!
In a panic, I slammed the sword into the face of the stunned undead. Of course, without visible effect...
"Get away from it!" came a shout from behind from Viziliy.
Oh, right! I just need to survive, not fight with dead cows.
In a few giant (for me) leaps, I jumped to a safe distance and turned around. The old man had already chopped off the legs of his horned opponent up to the thighs, and now he and Lynch were maiming the second one.
Meanwhile, my undead was closing the distance between us with clumsy jumps, looking more like a dolphin at this moment. To hell with this!
It took me a few seconds to stand behind the allies with a sense of accomplished mission.
They quickly immobilized the second cow by depriving it of its limbs and ran to mine. No new commands were given, so I stayed in place, making sure the cattle didn't come up with a new trick. Who knows, maybe they can crawl like snakes.
They couldn't. And soon three immobilized but still living (if you can say that about dead domestic animals) bodies were lying in the middle of the field.
Viziliy approached me and held out his huge sword:
"Here! Finish them off!"
"Cut off the heads?" I clarified.
"The udders, damn it!"
The old man laughed, and by his behavior, it became clear that he had been very nervous, clearly fearing not for his own life.
The sword turned out to be very heavy, and taking advantage of the opportunity, I read its description through the menu, or rather tried to.
["Chopper". 7th level sword. Description unavailable. Requirements for receiving bonuses not met.]
Yeah. Viziliy and I should sit down for half a day alone and have a very thorough chat. Although, I have a feeling this cunning old man is deliberately hiding data from me to tie me down. Okay, I'll think about it later.
I barely threw the sword over my shoulder and approached the first victim. Well, here we go! A swing that almost took me backwards, and a powerful strike.
[You killed a 9th level dead cow.]
Well, that's something!
"Don't touch the box!" the greedy old man pulled me back when I started to bend down to the loot that fell out of the cow.
Well, fine. He promised me leveling up, and wealth is a matter of acquisition, although undoubtedly pleasant.
A few steps, and in front of me is the second cow, pitifully (not) looking with empty eye sockets. Swing. Strike!
[You killed a 9th level dead cow.]
From this cow, besides the standard light green box, a pink ball also fell out. With a sigh looking at the loot, I went to the third one, the very one that attacked me. This one I chopped down with true pleasure. Even if my companions hadn't interfered, I probably would have eventually poked it to death.
[You killed a 9th level dead cow.]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 2!]
[You receive one skill point.]
[Choose your development path.]
[Strongman.]
[Smart Guy.]
[Sneaky.]
[Craftsman.]
[Help.]
Let's hope that help is not one of the options to choose.
[Help:
Any intelligent creature, upon reaching the second level, must choose the path of their development. In the future, when gaining levels, parameters related to the chosen branch will be strengthened.
Strongman — everything related to the body.
Smart Guy — everything related to the mind, including magic.
Sneaky — everything related to attentiveness, dexterity, and luck.
Craftsman — everything related to the production of goods.]
[Note that each race has its own increasing coefficient in each development path. For example, a human strongman will receive a greater bonus per level than a human smart guy, and much greater than a human craftsman or human sneaky. And an elf smart guy more than an elf sneaky, and much more than an elf strongman or elf craftsman, and so on.]
Hmm...
"What are you stuck on, did you level up?" asked the perceptive Viziliy. "Give me the sword!"
"Yes. And what should I choose?"
"Humans are famous for their strength," Lynch squeezed his arm at the elbow and kissed his bicep.
"And if I choose strongman," I turned to Viziliy, "will magic be unavailable to me?"
"Over time, you might be able to cast some of the simplest spells... maybe," the old man answered, meanwhile sawing off a horn from the dead cow. "Usually the first personal quest hints at what's best for you. What did they give you?"
"Nothing," I shrugged.
"Can't be! Everyone gets one at the second level," he stared at me. "The 'quests' menu should appear."
"It appeared. It says: no current quests."
"Lynch! Go saw off the horns from those cows over there!" Viziliy shoved a primitive saw into the big man's hands and pushed him in the right direction, and when he left, he took me by the arm and, leading me to the other side, quietly asked: "What's your system status?"
There was no point in concealing. The old man clearly knew what he was asking about.
"Autonomous operation."
"Many-faced..." Viziliy whispered, freezing.
"What?"
"Nothing... Why didn't you say yesterday?"
"You didn't ask," I shrugged and poked the dry ground with the toe of my boot.
"Can you change your appearance?"
"Yes. To a hobbit, a human, and some other creepy thing."
"Well, well," Viziliy drawled and thought for a long time.
"I'm done!" Lynch shouted.
"We're coming!" the old man called back, and then, squeezing my shoulder, he leaned to my very ear: "We won't discuss your leveling up in front of him anymore. I'll have to slip something into his beer tonight anyway to blur the events of the last day."
Wow, what approaches he has!.. I need to keep my wits about me. I hope they don't slip anything into my beer...
"Now it's clear why the rune didn't notice you, and I'm almost sure that device won't detect you either," Viziliy continued to whisper. "And now I want you to level up faster even more. The second level is laughable. And choose the 'strongman' path."
"I wanted to be a mage..."
"You will be! But now choose strongman!"
[Congratulations, you have chosen your path!]
[Your strength has increased!]
"I don't see much profit," I muttered, listening to the sensations in my body.
"What?"
"Benefit."
"Speak normally, damn it!" the old man spat on the grass. "What did you want at the second level?! You've become a bit stronger, and that's good. And the benefit will come when you level up your skills and abilities. By the way, they should have opened up, but don't touch them for now."
What should you do when someone asks you not to think about a pink elephant?
[Menu/Skills.]
[Strongman.]
[Available skills.]
[Strong arms (level 1, passive): increases strikes by 5%.]
[Tireless (level 1, passive): increases stamina by 5%.]
[1 free skill point.]
[Existing skills.]
[Outsider's blessing (passive):]
[Experience gain speed increased by 100%.]
[Skill development speed increased by 100%.]
[Help:
A passive skill is always active. An active skill works for a certain time.]
[New skills are unlocked by leveling up others. For example, after taking the "Strong arms" skill, the active skill "Powerful strike" and the passive "Strong legs" will be unlocked.]
I see. I suppose further on there will be more and more branches, and it's highly desirable to level up all of them.
"I understand about the skills, roughly... Are there any abilities?"
"There are, but it's complicated and would take a long time to explain, and it'll start getting dark in four hours," Viziliy pushed me towards Lynch. "Let's level up now, and we'll talk at night."
Well, okay. Although, in my opinion, if we're going to be chopping undead, it would be worth putting a skill point into anything. Both skills are passive and useful. Alright. He probably knows what he's doing.
I walked behind the old man and pondered the new information.
Firstly, it's obvious that autonomous arrivals had been here before, and judging by my companion's reaction, this added to my authority rather than the opposite. And that's good.
Secondly, these development paths. It seems my multi-faceted nature will allow me to become a multi-disciplinary specialist. I can't check in front of Lynch, but my intuition suggests that if I turn into a hobbit now, I'll be able to choose a new path and become a mage. Although... there, it's probably profiled as sneaky. In any case, probably not strength and endurance will increase there, but something else. Interesting and very promising! Human — strongman, hobbit — sneaky, elf — mage, dwarf — craftsman... And it's all me!
And thirdly, skills. One point per level is so-so, frankly speaking. Even with a hundred percent bonus to leveling up. It remains to be hoped that there are other ways to get them. Yeah. There's no way Viziliy will get away from me tonight! We won't go to sleep until I know everything!