Chapter 24: Chapter 24
Darius jumped back into the water once he was done. He focused on cleaning his body thoroughly this time and checking himself out. His reflection in the water was quite sharp if he stopped disturbing the flow.
Slicked-back black hair, almond-shaped, hazel colored eyes, and an angular face with a noticeable jaw coming into a sharp chin. It was like God had been unsure whether to make him a beautiful woman or a handsome man, giving him his slightly androgynous looks.
As he was obliged to do by the law of nature, Darius checked out his package, but looked away once he saw how unremarkable it was. Well, he was only 13 years old physically, so it did make sense. If it grew to the same size as on Earth, which had been the global average, then he would be fine either way.
'Hm, will investing points point into Endurance increase the size since it dictates my virility? Then again, this could just refer to how effective my sperm is. In that case, it might be Charisma since size should be tied to attraction value for the opposite sex.'
Darius decided to experiment more on that later.
Not just to increase his penis size, but to find out the extra effects each stat category had on other parts of his body/life. It would be vital in knowing how to properly allocate stats.
Asking Caesar for confirmation seemed pointless since he had already given him the descriptions for each stat and if he had not mentioned at the time, it was unlikely he would do so now.
Darius swam around lazily for about an hour. He then exited the pool and dried himself off using a mixture of the sun, shaking his body and some leaves. When he was suitably free from moisture, he took his now dried clothes and put them on.
They smelled fresh and crisp thanks to the fire, also with a bit of smoke in them, but at a manageable level. Stretching his body out, Darius truly felt refreshed after having enjoyed a meal earlier as well as this bath while in his cleaned up clothes.
However, he gazed at the sheer amount of animals here bathing and drinking from the pond. He was tempted to kill a few to raise his level once more, but if he attacked one of them…
The tenuous peace here would be broken. It would either turn into an all-out brawl or all of them coming for him as the instigator, neither possibility would be any fun. Darius looked around for a bridge but found none.
He checked the main map and found that there was actually one about 1.5 km downstream, so he shelved his crazy idea in favor of a makeshift version.
Darius's eyes flashed. He held on to the Short Warp scroll in his left hand, as he placed his right into the water and swirled it a bit. He made it seem like he was about to take some of it to drink, but what he did instead was to cast the Sparks spell!
[You have gained 1 EXP.]
[You have gained 1 EXP.]
[You have gained 1...]
[You have gained 5 EXP and 1 Broken Fishing Rod.]
[You have gained 5 EXP.]
[You have gained 5...]
The effect was shocking… literally! The Sparks spell had the visual effect of some small lighting sparkles firing out from his hand, so he had felt it wouldn't be that strong, but how could he forget the fact that these same sparkles could straight up kill a weak little thing in one shot now that it was level 4?
Once it was propagated and multiplied by the river water, the various fish swimming about idly had been immediately killed, while those animals swimming within were either killed or stunned, all floating about on the water.
Most of the animals drinking were also hit by this, with some dying and some falling to their bellies weakly, the stun forcing them to remain still while the snouts or tongue still lay within the water.
Of course, this didn't affect the entire river, but only the area in a radius of about 100 meters around Darius. Seeing the effect of the Sparks spell had made him gulp in surprise, but since he had already started he didn't stop there, casting another one into the water!
[You have gained 5 EXP and 1 Bronze Ando Coin.]
[You have gained 5 EXP and 1 Strange Gem.]
[You have gained 5....]
Since he had one-shot the weaker animals with the first attack, the second one finished off the surviving stronger ones. He was saddened to see that none of them had been level 3, with the large majority being level 1.
However, for his goals, it had been enough.
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 3!]
[You have gained 5 Ability Points and 3 Skill Points to spend as you wish!]
Darius allocated his Ability Points into Agility and Endurance, bringing both to 10 points. The moment he did so, Darius felt like his body's baggage had been lifted even further, and smoother movements that used to trouble him became easier.
In terms of his body, he felt his whole system roar with vitality as the energy coursed through him. He felt like he had taken the most radical batch of steroids on the market, but had no outlet to vent it on.
As for his Skill Points, he put them aside for his Spearmanship, which had been his plan from earlier in the day. He just thought he'd reach level 3 much later though.
Now that two of his deficient stats had been brought to the human standard, Darius felt more… proper. Even though his combat power hadn't increased, his survivability had. Greatly.
Oh, and his mana too.
Darius opened his character sheet and checked it out.
[Name: Darius Stone
Race: Human
Class: Itemancer
Subclass: Magus
HP: 70/70
MP: 75/75
Level: 3
Experience: 120/300
Strength: 7
Agility: 10
Endurance: 10
Intellect: 25
Charisma: 15
Luck: 15
AP: 0
SP: 3
Skills: Analyze - Lv.1, Skinning - Lv.1, Butchery - Lv.1, Cooking - Lv.1, Washing - Lv.1
Spells: Sparks - Lv.4, Ember - Lv.1]
Chapter 25: Chapter 25
Darius had underestimated the sheer amount of beasts he had killed with his surprise attack. Still, it was a welcomed surprise to see that it had catapulted him to about halfway through level 3.
However, it was even more valuable to discover that the Supreme System had awarded him EXP based on his level when he had begun his attack. If it had been less lenient it could have counted each EXP one after the other and switched down to a lower EXP gain as soon as he had leveled up, yet that had not been the case.
Instead, he realized he had found another loophole as well as a convenient way to raise his level before he encountered civilization. Darius walked over to some of the prey animals like deer and rabbits, then carved them up dexterously. With his increased Agility, he was much more skilled in this sector, and his increased Endurance meant that he didn't tire as easily.
After about 4 hours of this, he stuffed all the meat into his Inventory. As part of an experiment he had tried to put a carcass into his Inventory and it had succeeded.
Nevertheless, apart from their meat, there was not much else of value these beasts served and since he did not wish to clutter up the space he had, he refrained from storing any of them.
Additionally, he wanted to find out whether the Inventory would keep them as 'fresh' as they had been upon killing them or if it merely slowed down the decaying process.
After he was done collecting a lot of meat he took a look at the things he had been awarded from the system. Apart from the improved potions, meat, and tools he previously had, there were now some additional inferior potions among other weird junk.
Darius took out the most notable ones and Inspected them.
[Strange Gem - Miscellaneous
Durability: ?/?
Description: A lovely red crystal that shines with a strange light. Take it to an appraiser to find out any hidden details.]
Darius smirked at this description. His Supreme Quality Itemancer class made him the King of Appraisers and Item Valuers, so he activated his Analyze skill once more.
[Red Enchant - Consumable
Durability: 1,000/1,000
Quality: Common
Description: A supremely rare and valuable crystal formed in nature when in the presence of intense elemental magic. An Enchanter can imbue an item with the element of fire with this.]
Darius nodded. He had seen those types of rare gems that gave items attributes in the games he had played. Judging by the descriptions these gems had to be used by the top-tier warriors to imbue their items.
Probably mercenary leaders, guardsman captains, high-ranking soldiers, and the like. Its value on the market would be high in that case, since only the powerful could afford to use it.
Not only that, its demand would be extremely high depending on how good the effect was. If it was like Darius' Ember and even provide like 5% fire damage to a spear, bow, or sword, it would be a killer in battle.
Darius could also deduce that the supply should be poor. Something described as 'supremely rare' meant that if it hadn't been a drop from the Supreme System, Darius would have likely never received it normally.
This should be a direct benefit of his mass killing coupled with his above-average Luck. As his electro-massacre had killed more than 50 beasts yet yielded less than 5 item rewards, he reasoned that it should be either that his Luck had rolled badly, or that the few items he got were valuable enough to limit the gross amount.
He had traded quantity for quality. Looking at the other stuff he got nothing was as useful or amazing as the Red Enchant.
As for utility… it didn't have much of it to him at the moment. It could stay in his Inventory until he reached civilization. Who knew, it could even be an important bargaining chip to secure his identity in society.
Darius increased all inferior potions he acquired to the common grade. He also noticed that he got a broken fishing rod, but seeing as he had slaughtered all the fish around, there was really no need for such a thing, especially since it would cost him to repair it first.
Darius ignored the rest of the carcasses as he went downstream. He was trying to kill two birds with one stone, reach the bridge necessary to cross over, and kill some more beasts on the way.
After walking about 700 meters, he came to another 'community pool' area with plenty of beasts and fish in the water. Even better was that the bridge was within eyesight, though a bit to the edge of his vision.
However, Darius was careful this time, because there was a small pride of lions that lazed around the river bank. Their cubs swam and played in the water while the lionesses watched on, occasionally roaring when one of them became adventurous and tried to sneak away.
As for the big boss of the pride, he simply lay among his lionesses and soaked in the sun. Darius inspected them all straightaway.
[Plains Lioness - Level 4 Beast
HP: 25/25 MP: 5/5]
[Plains Lion - Level 5 Beast
HP: 40/40 MP: 10/10]
Although he had just leveled up and felt confident, he just walked across the area, making sure to appear as harmless as possible as he moved towards the bridge. After passing the area with the bathing big cats, he sighed with relief.
There was a fine line between stupidity and bravery, a line many failed to recognize due to their own hubris. The only kind of person who would try those odds would be one aware that no matter the situation, some cosmic force would prevent their death in order to keep the show going.
Despite being one such entity himself, Darius didn't want to test Goddess Vena's fondness for him. There would be many opportunities for him to gain levels in other battles and even return here stronger to vanquish them if he so chose.
The bridge was quite well-maintained, and Darius could see some dried tracks of carts. He wasn't a tracker, so he couldn't tell exactly how long ago it was, but it definitely wasn't recent.
Once he crossed the bridge, Darius broke into a lazy jog. Now that his Endurance had been raised to the standard of the average healthy adult in this world, he found that he only began to tire after reaching 5 kilometers.
He paused and took a break by the roadside, making sure to take off his clothes and air them in case any sweat got in, while he himself rested comfortably as he sipped on the lovely Pure Water.
Darius wasn't a person who loved physical activity, but he felt that he could now better understand those people who did. The feeling of being alive, of being active, was as intoxicating as it was tiring.
After an hour of lazy rest, he resumed his light jog. At his current speed, he crossed a kilometer in 15 minutes, meaning his jogging speed was 4 km/h.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
6 Power
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