Chương 19

I watched the smoke billowing thickly into the burrow, the naturally flowing breeze I had noticed earlier helping it along. The fire had really started going now, crackling merrily away. I kept watch from within a large bush, taking inspiration from the kobolds, and waited to see what would happen. Either this plan would work brilliantly, or I would find myself face to face with a horde of angry and panicking kobolds. The minutes ticked away with nothing noteworthy happening.

I kept the fire going as best as I was able to, refreshing it with more wood and grass when needed. I also took the time to look around a bit to see if there were any other holes which I could spot that needed covering up. However, I found neither holes nor any spot with smoke coming out. Admittedly, spotting gray smoke rising out of a small hole in the inky black darkness of the forest was wishful thinking on my part.

More than an hour had passed by, and I was wondering whether this all had been for nothing, before something changed. I heard a faint sound from within the burrow, like something scraping against the floor. Then, silence. I strained myself but couldn't hear anything save for the fire crackling. Did I imagine it? A few more minutes went by with nothing happening. I was now sure that perhaps my imagination had made me hear that sound earlier.

I also had to keep reminding myself to keep watch of my surroundings, but thankfully this area of the forest remained undisturbed, probably due to it being claimed by the kobolds. Suddenly, I clearly heard scraping again, this time from under one of the rocks I had used to cover up a hole. I crept closer and saw the rock slightly lifting before coming back down on the hole, a whiff of smoke coming out with the movement. I heard scraping again.

It sounded like something was desperately but weakly trying to dislodge the rock, but didn't have the strength to do so. I kept watch, ready to act as soon as something changed, but the scraping soon died down, replaced by the ever-present silence of the night. It's working! I continued observing, a few more sounds of movement reaching me from the burrow, but no signs of kobolds above ground yet. Soon, I was rewarded with the sound I was waiting to hear. Ding! You have levelled up! Class stats distributed.

Yes, it worked! Immediately, I felt the sensation that I had come to expect from levelling up, except this time it was stronger, much stronger. My muscles contracted far more than they had any right to, and much more than I had ever felt before. All over, my muscles compressed and started burning. It felt like every muscle was on fire. My body had seized up completely and I couldn't even breathe, let alone scream in pain.

All I could feel was my muscles repeatedly contracting, with what felt like liquid lightning moving about my body at high speed, constantly burning everything. As suddenly as the sensations started, they stopped, and I was left breathing heavily on the ground, heart pounding and absolutely drenched in sweat. Phantom pain flared at every movement, and my body was still tense and sore all over, though the soreness was rapidly going away. What was that? I took a quick glance around.

Luckily, my surroundings remained undisturbed. Still confused on what happened and why it happened, I opened my status thinking it would give me some answers. Going over it, I immediately spotted what could be the possible culprit. Agility – 11 I had 9 agility earlier, and levelling up had increased it by 2. I had suspected that reaching 10 in a stat may be a possible milestone, and it looks like my thinking was true. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road.

Please report it. I didn't expect it to be so intense though. The status was still open, and I watched as my exp moved from 6/50 to 14/50, and then to 21/50. My plan was working beautifully. I closed the status and got up slowly, but stopped midway almost immediately. My body was moving unnaturally sharply. I looked at my hand and move it slowly, and it really did move much more jerkily than earlier. I moved it as fast as possible and almost lost my balance as it zipped across the air in a blur. Wow.

I got up to a standing position and took a step forward. My whole body jerked ahead in an instant before stopping as fast as it started. I looked around at the still empty surroundings, and thought of running a couple of steps. My body instantly accelerated, surroundings turning into a blur before I wrestled myself to a stop just before my face smashed into a tree. I looked behind me and saw that instead of moving a couple of steps like I had planned; I had instead moved 5 or 6 steps ahead.

I have speed, but no control. My body felt out of balance. It was like I had been made purely for speed while forgoing everything else. I looked down at myself and surprisingly noticed my muscle mass and increased a bit. I thought I would have become slimmer, but actually thinking about it, I realized that muscles are needed to move explosively fast. Just then, another sound reached me. Ding! You have levelled up. Class stats distributed. Shit! I prepared myself but this time, the level up felt normal.

The rush of energy moved through my body, enhancing it, but not destroying it and leaving me in a heap of pain like earlier. I gave a sigh of relief, but then immediately thought of something alarming. My class only distributes to agility and dexterity, and gives twice as much agility as it does to dexterity. I'll be a jerking speedster crashing into everything uncontrollably in no time. My agility had already reached 13, and would keep climbing higher. I had no idea what the next milestone would be at… 20? 50?

100? Yet another aspect that highlighted the frustrating lack of information by the system. I breathed deeply, calming myself. Firstly, I jerked towards the fire, feeding a few wood pieces and some grass to keep it going. Then, I got myself clumsily inside the bush I had been hiding within earlier, this time making a lot more noise as my movements inadvertently shook the bush. Once I was comfortable with my hiding place, I settled down and thought about the problem at hand.

Before I had the chance to start thinking, I was interrupted by the system once again. Ding! You have levelled up. Class stats distributed. I felt the rush of energy yet again. I opened up my status and saw that agility had reached 15 while dexterity was now at 8. I also had 6 free stat points that I could assign freely. I could use them to raise dexterity to 10, which I believed would make my current problems go away, but that could be a waste.

If I get two more levels here, dexterity will automatically reach 10, and I could use my free stats elsewhere. Thus, I settled in to wait. About ten minutes later, I got the second level up notification that I had been waiting for. I took a deep breath and prepared myself as much as I could, before the energy hit me. This time, perhaps because I was already prepared, or perhaps due to already having reached 10 in agility, the changes were much less painful. Instead, I felt tingly all over.

It felt like my nerves were adapting and somehow syncing with the strengthened muscles. It felt like something that was previously broken finally fixed itself, and I felt more aligned than before. The rush of energy vanished, leaving only its memory behind. Doing the hand movement test again, I was relieved that this time my hand moved smoothly through the air. It was still fast, but now I had control over it. I got out of the bush and stood up, marveling at how my body moved fluidly.

I had always taken it for granted… but moving normally is such a blessing. This time, when I tried running, I was able to stay in control when my body rushed forward. I was able to stop myself well in time before I face-planted into a tree. Raising dexterity to the 10 threshold improved my fine-motor skills, fixing the problem I had. It's probably also the reason why the class raises both agility and dexterity instead of just focusing on one. I felt elated, but there was still a slight worry.

I turned around and ran back, and confirmed that the worry was true. I can't keep track of my surroundings when I move. At full speed, everything blurred and I was unable to make out where I was going or what I was moving past. I opened my status, and saw the 10 free stat points I had. Perception was sitting at the same spot where it had been since I got my status – 7. It would only take 3 points, and I think it would be the smart thing to do.

Just as I was getting ready to assign the points, a crashing sound reached me. Alarmed, I closed my status and turned around, as a nightmarish sight reached me. A figure crashed through the fire, spreading wood and cinders all around. It was a massive kobold, much larger than any I had seen. Easily twice the size of others, its muscles shown in the dim light of the dying fire. Moonlight shone against its massive claws as its slit eyes immediately locked onto me.

In my experiments, I had completely forgotten to stay hidden, and now that mistake was going to cost me. The massive kobold snarled, and moved.