"The level-up—it's finally here!"
Ecstatic, I couldn't hold back. At the top of my lungs, I shouted:
"All stats to agility!"
Speed was my only chance. If I couldn't dodge them, it was game over for me.
The moment I made the choice, a surge of energy coursed through me. My body felt lighter, faster—almost electric.
Strength: 16
Agility: 16 → 26
Intelligence: 12
Perception: 13
Basking in the feeling for a moment, the confused spiders turned to look at me again, this time with malice.
Animals they may be, they still saw one of their own suddenly explode into bits, making them wary of approaching me.
No longer hesitating, all of them charged towards me, the hunger in their eyes replaced by pure rage.
I shouted as I dashed towards the largest spider, shouting along the way.
"Weapon selection! Melee! Mace!"
[Wea-]
[What typ-]
[Please select a me-]
[Confirmed.]
In the next second, a beam of light showed up next to me, before it changed into the form of a mace.
Around a meter long, a wooden shaft, and a metal head. Although it wasn't much, right now it was the only thing that gave me a sense of comfort in this hopeless situation.
I gripped it tightly, focusing on the fight.
The first spider was 6 meters away from me, the rest were following closely behind it at around 10 meters.
'It's slightly bigger, so it's probably the leader.'
And it also charged at me first, the others following behind it.
I got ready for the moment it came in range, throwing aside all the thoughts of whether it would use similar tactics like in game or not.
'Focus. And survive!'
I ducked to the side, swinging my mace with all my strength.
Aiming for the legs, I heard a sickening sound of crushed chitin, sending a few legs of the leader flying.
Another spider jumped, and I spun in place, smashing it into its head. Chitin shattered, and it fell lifeless to the ground.
Behind me I heard a scraping sound, followed by angry hissing and something rushing towards me, the pairs of chitinous legs striking against the hard rock.
Turning around, I saw the leader and met its gaze.
'Fuck. You.' I thought.
"HAAAAA!"
Crack!
The mace hit the spider directly in the head as it tried to bite my leg, destroying its head and killing it instantly.
"This..."
I turned back to look at the other 2, both were within an arms reach.
Without hesitating, I jumped upwards, avoiding deadly fangs.
And brought the mace down on the left spider, smashing its head into bits.
'Three.'
"... Feels good."
The last spider tried to jump on my face. I ducked while swinging my mace.
Three legs went flying, and it crashed to the ground behind me, angrily hissing.
Not wasting any time, I made my way to the desperate creature.
One final swing dispatched it, and i collapsed to the ground, tired.
"Haaa... Haaa... Holy... I lived. I fucking lived. I hated these things in game as well, but this was so much worse." Taking a whiff of myself, my nose protested. "Damn it, I'm gona smell like insect guts for weeks if I don't wash myself."
Swinging a mace tired me out pretty badly, considering I dispatched only 5 spiders. And this was just the beginning. How many of their friends are there in this cave again?
'No, no, I don't wanna think about it.'
"For now... I guess recover some stamina then set off. Can't stay too long here or else the story may progress without me."
"But shouldn't I have gotten a level up? I remember the spiders here suffice for getting to level 2..."
'Unless...'
Jumping to my feet, I became alert.
I heard the sound of rocks clattering from the cliff.
I threw myself to the side.
Something went past where I had been just now. Turning around to look, I saw a spider.
It had narrowly missed me, having crawled back up from the cliff.
'Shit! It's supposed to be-'
It turned around, looking at me and lowering it's body.
'... DEAD?!' I instinctively blocked with my mace.
It jumped towards me, and I barely managed to block it's deadly fangs with my mace, yet I fell to the ground.
While it kept thrashing trying to bite me, I kept struggling to keep it away from my neck and face.
Seconds passed, and my arms were growing weary. Realising I was cornered, I mustered up my strength for one final struggle.
I turned the spider over, throwing it on its back.
Swing! Crack!
The mace caved in its skull.
With my heart pounding like crazy, I waited to exit the combat state. Soon enough, I heard the level up notification.
Falling to the ground, I felt exhaustion set in, the effects of adrenaline wearing off.
"Five of them... Haaa... I won, though. I won..."
Relieved, I laid on the ground.
'I managed to survive, Hahahahaha!' I thought while smiling.
Now, how should I use my stat points?
I began trying to draft a leveling plan. After all, in here, power means everything. Not wealth, not connections, just raw power. If you had the power, you can take everything and so much more.
"Or just ignore everything." I said with a smirk.
'Anyways, let's plan it out.'
First priority now is staying alive. This isn't the game, this is now my reality. So, whatever I do, I need to stay alive.
Now, let me tell you about stat specifics and why everyone loved perception!
Strength (STR): Governs physical power, stamina, and durability. It enhances stamina, stamina regeneration, healing, and resistance to physical damage and status effects. STR also increases raw physical strength and provides a smaller boost to movement speed compared to agility.
Agility (AGI): Focuses on speed, precision, and control. It improves explosive power, and overall coordination, allowing for greater control over both your body and your abilities, usually leading to more powerful abilities. While STR contributes slightly to speed, AGI is the primary stat for mobility and fine motor skills.
Intelligence (INT): Affects mental resilience and the potency of powers. It provides resistance to mental effects, boosts the strength, range, and effectiveness of powers, and increases the number of times they can be used. For example, a wizard's spells become stronger, while superpowers grow in power and functionality. INT also grants crafting bonuses and interacts with specific systems in unique ways.
Perception (PER): Everyone's favourite stat, PERception! Have you ever wanted to expose a lie from the way someone speaks? Tell an orphan that their grandpa is the emperor, who just so happens, wants to murder you? It also allows you to react to sudden situations like bullets flying towards your face, or someone trying to chop you in two! It also allows you to avoid many dangerous encounters or pick the right choice, instinctively.
All in all, most people had 2 main stats, while there were still plenty with 3 main stats. Obviously, there were plenty of classes or ways you could play that made use of every stat combination, and it allowed a wide variety of builds.
Fow now... Regardless of class I want to get at level 10, I need to make sure I survive this damn tutorial, even if its a bit of a waste.
Considering anything that touches me makes me a very dead person, I'll still go for AGI. However, I'll also drop some intro STR as the stamina regeneration is going to go a long way.
Making up my mind, I spoke: "5 into STR, 5 into AGI."
Level 2.
STR 16->21
AGI 26->31
INT 12
PER 13
Satisfied, I felt another wave of energy flow through my body, feeling like I could take on the world. Even my exhaustion disappeared.
"Great! Next thing... I need to get my hands on some shards. Some of the tutorial ones are really strong later on but..." I frowned. Every reward in here had a risk, and while more spiders aren't that bad, hidden bosses are very bad to little old me.
"More risks now by going for shards, but less risks later by being stronger?"
"Or should I take it easy now and take more risks later by being weaker... Hmmm..."
I kept walking while talking to myself, recalling the cave layout from memory and what I could realistically accomplish with my current self.
While brooding, I walked into tunnel in the wall, which should lead me to the next area of the quest.