บท 12: F- Rank
My father Oliver, chuckled at their ineptitude, "as if it wasn't hard enough reaching 5th level in under 2 weeks, they want to try in almost 1? They must have been raised fools, " he said, adding under his breath, "or cowards."
Washing up the dishes gave me and Benji the opportunity to speak alone, his earlier awkwardness seemingly worn off over dinner.
"I spoke to my father, about what you said about the need to change, about what you did." 'Well I'm not being arrested so, I'm probably in the clear.' "He didn't say anything at first, just led me to the execution chambers of the city guard. He made me watch as they castrated and beheaded a sex offender." His face paled, remembering the scene, "he told me that even they at the city guard, make a choice with every criminal they face, to risk letting them escape, and re-offend, to risk stabbing you or someone you love, or to kill them, and protect the people around you... He agreed with you entirely, and though you brutalised them, I can admit that you saved us. I spoke about capturing them, but I froze, forget Hermes, I couldn't have stopped Richard without fighting him and killing him." His eyes cleared of his tension, his face now resolute. "We are too weak to show mercy."
"So I can trust you to kill an attacker at my back?"
"...yes. If I can't talk them down, I'll put them down."
Finishing up with the drying of the dishes I turn to him, smacking his shoulder, "good, see you tomorrow. We can hunt with Ophelia for the next few days."
"When did you talk to her?" he asked, shocked that she'd recovered from the scenes of graphic violence before him.
"Last night, and we reached 5th today, so if you want to catch up get out and go prep for tomorrow."
The next day and a half consisted of hunting, complaints of blisters and the harvesting of the creatures I slew.
*Hearts stored- 9*
Splitting them between my stats, the pleasure of sudden growth shivered through me.
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XP- 236/250
Strength-20, Agility-21, Stamina-14, Constitution-19, Charisma-6
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Though we had spent significant time with the goal of pushing Benji to our level, and ourselves to F-rank, we were close.
"Did you know that most people in our city, because they're non-combatants, have a level around F-rank? I guess people think that's strong enough for most circumstances unless you jump into a monster's den." Benji's 'fun facts,' a common interruption to our marching silence, made me question the perspective of Ankor, why would anyone want to be weak in a society ruled by the strong? It lacks sense unless levelling past G-rank was significantly harder.'
"Growling, can you hear it?" I whisper. The nodding of the party was our symbol for battle, iron, and steel raised in preparation for the noisy beast. From a tree above us, a lynx dropped on Ophelia, deciding to avoid the blades of the armoured humans. Ophelia's normal calmness shattered, flailing to push the beast off her.
*Tak* *Hiikkkkk*
The point-blank shot from her crossbow pierced through the lynx's ribs, forcing the creature of our healer, where Benji was ready to finish off the ambush predator. From the side a blur of yellowish-brown fur smacked into Benji, stopping him mid swing, and clawing his face and chest. I rush forward, stomping my boot onto the ribs of the injured lynx, crushing them flat with a crunch like dried wood. Benji, oblivious to my support, began to grow, muscles expanding and with rigid breathing he swatted the lunging lynx with his off-hand, knocking it to the floor, where he carved it in two, having swung his great axe with one hand, the power of the attack no weaker than a two-handed swing before his berserker skill.
*XP gained 37*
*Level 6 achieved*
"Status"
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All-Consuming Beast System
Name: Fionn Meldor
Level: 6 (F-rank)
XP: 23/100
Health: 200/200
Stamina: 150/150 (regen 1 per minute)
Class: Fenris
Stats:
Strength: 21 Agility: 22 Stamina: 15 Constitution: 20 Charisma: 7
Hunger: Locked
Skills:
Breaker of Chains Lvl 2: (Passive)
The host has significantly enhanced resistance to all physical, emotional and mental restraints and is immune to restraints attempted by beings up to 4 levels higher than the host.
Devour Lvl 1: (Passive)
The host can gain stat points by consuming the hearts of his prey.
Barely a Scratch Lvl 1: (Active)
The host has developed a monstrous self-healing factor. When this skill is activated, the user is immobilised and restrained from taking actions, however, will regenerate 1% of their maximum health per second until the user's stamina bar runs out, or the skill is deactivated. (Uses 30 energy + 20 per 5 seconds)
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*Having reached F-rank, the user will experience a change to the quality of XP required to progress and activate the Devour skill. All creatures of lower rank than the user will provide 0 XP, and cannot be used to activate the Devour skill.*
'Yeah this is definitely going to slow down my progress, but I guess it wouldn't be entertaining enough for Solarim and Noctaris.'
"So we all hit 6th?"
"Yeah," Ophelia gasps, still having to heal herself with her own energy. The walk back was a relaxed one, Ophelia and Benji talking about popular clothes and trends in the Inner City. Farewells were said and I pulled Benji aside as Ophelia left.
"I'm gonna train by myself tomorrow, I just want to work on the basics so you can do whatever, maybe get some new gear, your axe is barely holding on you know?"
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