Chương 14: The Numbers Mason....

It turned out the answer to that question was the hastily thrown together mess hall. All it took was following the smell of roasting meat, and a few minutes later Vin found himself sitting under a tree with a grilled sqerret on a stick and his System interface pulled up in front of him. It seemed that with just under a hundred people in camp, food was far from one of their current concerns. They'd brought enough rations to last them a few weeks even without supplementing their stores with the local critters.

All Vin had to do was give the cook his name and he was provided one of his three allotted meals for the day.

"Maybe camp isn't so bad after all," he mumbled around a mouth full of fresh meat. Taking his time and savoring the warm juices, he turned his attention to his interface. Vinnie Stone Explorer: Lvl 5 Titles: None Exp. 10, 950/15, 000 Strength: 13 Dexterity: 14 Endurance: 24 Vigor: 15 Focus: 14 Magic: 3 Attribute Points: 3 Passive Points: 1 Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot Skills: Tracking lvl 4, Spellcraft lvl 5 Spells: Sense Stone"Hey Alka, what level were you before you died anyway?"

He asked, taking another bite of his sqerret. One of the reasons he'd chosen this tree on the edge of camp was so he could converse freely with his tag along without looking like a total loon.

'I had just hit level 20 and prestiged my class from Fighter to Slayer. I probably could have hit a higher level in the few years I had since gaining access to the System, but I decided to focus on my skills over farming monsters for experience. Not everyone makes the same choice, but all the truly fearsome warriors do."

"Hold up, our classes change at level 20? That's news to me." Vin frowned, looking at the floating text that made up his life now.

"Why does this System give us so little information? I've practically had to figure out everything on my own!"

'Everyone is entitled to a class change every 20 levels, but the options the System provides to you will be far smaller than your original class selection. Mine was rather large as I'd practiced with so many different types of weapons, but I knew from the very beginning I'd take the Slayer class if the Slayers accepted me. The Slayer branch of classes are rather special on my world; you have to be accepted by their organization before the System will offer them to you. As for the System's lack of information…'

Somehow Vin could feel Alka shrugging inside him.

'No clue. I'm sure there are plenty of people who've spent years of their lives studying the System and could give you their theories, but I'm certainly not one of them.'

"You wouldn't happen to know of any potential classes an Explorer might be offered, would you?" Vin asked with bated breath.

'Nope. The green sea was rather deadly. Few people from my world ever chose to leave the villages, and those that did made sure to stick to the beaten paths lest they stumble upon something that would be best left alone. You're the first Explorer I've ever met.'

"Really? The snakes didn't seem like they were that much of a threat. I mean, if I was able to spot them and avoid them, I doubt your Slayers would have much of an issue." Alka's boisterous laughter gave him pause, and he frowned down at his chest. It really was a problem that he couldn't glare at her when she was inside him like this.

'The greentails, or grass noodles, as you call them, are far from anything my people would consider a threat. Do you recall the claw marks and pieces of armor left behind at the spot that stone woman's body was supposed to be?'

"Yeah," Vin nodded, shivering at the thought. His limited tracking skills had still been enough to tell him that whatever beast had left those marks had to be significantly heavier than he was. And had claws at least the size of his head.

'There are predators and monsters that live up in the giant trees that would give you nightmares if you ever laid eyes on them,' Alka said, her tone turning completely serious.

'Fighting those that come down and venture too close to the villages is one of the main duties of the Slayers. It is why they are so highly respected, and why few ever choose to leave the sanctity of the villages.'

"Note to self, never step foot back in your world fragment," Vin said, pulling his legs in closer at the memory of how he'd stood under one of those giant trees and tried to peer up through the lowest layer of foliage. He'd just been trying to admire nature, who knew the entire time he'd been courting death? Guess it's one of the things that comes from being an Explorer in a new world full of magic and danger. Pushing his unknown near-death experience aside, he came back to his interface.

"I've been kinda winging it so far in regards to my stats, but I feel like I should probably come up with some sort of plan for the future," he finally admitted, staring at his six attributes.

"I suppose I could focus on one or two of them, or just try and stay all rounded. What would you recommend, Alka?" Just like other people, Alka wasn't able to see his System interface, but he'd read her his information in its entirety earlier.

'Focusing on a single stat is the simplest way to get yourself killed, or make yourself useless,'' she said immediately, her scornful tone making it clear what she thought of people who did such a thing.

'It doesn't matter what your class is, the System is designed in a way that you essentially need to divide your attention between multiple attributes. At the bare minimum, crafters need dexterity and focus. Melee fighters need strength, vigor, and endurance. Spellcasters need magic and focus. Granted, support classes are a bit of a grab bag, but you'll probably figure out soon enough what to put your points in if you haven't already.'

"I don't really plan on fighting, so strength is right out," Vin muttered, going down the list.

"Dexterity could certainly be useful, but I don't think it's critical. Endurance is clearly the bread and butter of the Explorer class seeing as I get a free point in it each level. But while important, I think I'll be good relying on just those passive points for now." He paused, staring at the next attribute.

"What exactly is vigor anyway? How does it differ from endurance?" If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

'Endurance is closer to stamina. The more endurance, the longer you can keep doing something strenuous. They are similar, but vigor is how much punishment your body can take. A warrior with a high endurance would certainly be able to withstand a heavier blow than someone without, but a warrior with a high vigor could take a hit that would be fatal to a normal person and shrug it off completely.'

"Alright, that does sound useful," Vin admitted, staring at his fifteen points in Vigor. It was already one of his higher stats, but it might be worth putting a point into it now and again. Of course, he'd prefer avoiding taking damage entirely if given the option, but he doubted that would be the case.

"Increasing my focus was pretty much the sole reason I managed to avoid all the grass noodles, so I'll probably focus on focus instead. Heh."

'Oh yeah, nobody's ever made that joke before,' Alka sighed.

'What about your abysmal magic stat? I can't believe you had a stat literally start at zero. On my world that would have been considered a disability for the record.'

"Hey, I can't help that my world didn't have any magic in it!" Vin argued.

"It's no wonder none of us started with any points in magic! What was considered normal for your world anyway?"

'It differed, just like the other stats, but 'normal' for magic would have been anywhere between three and eight upon choosing a first class. Unlike the other stats, you can't really increase your magic prior to gaining access to the System, so the stat is purely based on aptitude and the environment you grew up in.

I'd heard of a noble house experimenting with forcing their heirs to spend the majority of their childhoods in magic saturated rooms in the hopes of giving them a better start when they turned sixteen, but those might have been baseless rumors.'

"Good to know though," Vin muttered, eyeing up his pitiful three points in magic. He pulled out the Sense Stone training artifact and admired the beautiful runework once more, tracing the spell lines with a finger. Raising his magic stat had not only filled him with what he suspected was mana, but allowed him to actually make heads and tails of the spell on the artifact. Maybe his Spellcraft skill alone might have been enough, but increasing his magic had certainly sped up the process.

Before officially making his decision, Vin had one last thing he had to do. Trying to pay close attention to the strange, untouchable plasma that seemed to be floating inside him in a way not all that unlike Alka, he sucked in a breath and spoke the words of his new spell, his focus on the ground beneath him." Sense Stone." Immediately, he felt a bit of that strange substance drain away into the ether; the edges of his mana pool seemed to outright vanish as the spell siphoned it for energy.

As soon as that was done, his mind opened up, and he realized he could actually sense the rocks beneath his position. Just like Samtha had said, despite the fact that he was sitting on mostly dirt and normal ground, there were dozens if not hundreds of tiny rocks scattered all throughout the earth beneath him. His new sense seemed a bit fuzzy, and he couldn't quite detect the exact shape or sizes of each of the little rocks, but he could certainly tell they were there.

With a start, Vin realized the spell was slowly leaching mana from his already tiny mana pool, and he let the working end before it ran him completely dry. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen if he ran out of mana, and he didn't want to find out. Grinning, Vin stared at the ground under him, now knowing exactly where each of the rocks beneath him was located. It was no exploding fireball or grand resurrection. But he'd had his first taste of magic, and he wanted more.

"Alright, that decides it! The Explorer class is already doing a lot of work for endurance on its own, so I'll turn my attention towards focus and magic for now. Which first, means making this a tad less embarrassing." Allotting his points from hitting level 5, Vin raised his magic from three to six, grinning at the thought that in one more level he'd be just shy of double digits.

He sucked in a breath as he felt his mana pool double in size, the sudden manifestation of intangible plasma within him warming him just a bit, offsetting the constant chill he'd already grown used to from Alka floating within him all day.

"Magic's up to six, baby!" He said, pumping a fist and grinning at his new stats.

"How's that for disabled, huh?"

"Congratulations,' Alka said drily.

'You've finally achieved the starting point of the common Hedge Witch. I'd be shaking in my boots if I still had any.'

"Oh yeah? What was your magic attribute before you died then?"

'... You do realize I could have bench pressed your body without breaking a sweat back when I was alive, right? I told you, I focused my efforts on my physical stats. Didn't really bother with magic.'

"That's a lot of words for 'less than six!'" Vin said, grinning at the ghostly arm that floated out of his chest and tried to flick him in the forehead to no avail.

"Come on, let me have this! You told me you'd hit level 20 before you died, obviously all your other stats are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of mine." Alka was silent for a moment. Finally, she sighed, giving up on her attempts to hit him and pulling her arm back inside of him.

'Fine. I suppose I can live with you having a single stat higher than mine. After all, the stronger you are, the higher chance you manage to actually find a way to bring me peace.'

"Good point." Vin's grin faded at the reminder that Alka was only along for the ride until he found a way to help her die for real. She'd quickly become his only real friend in this new world, and it was easy to forget her true goal.

"In that case, do you have any suggestions for my passive point?"

'I thought you took Polyglot with your level 5 passive?' Alka asked, clearly confused.

"Yeah about that… So, I can't actually talk about why or how, but I actually have an additional passive point to work with. Sorry." Again, Alka went silent for a few seconds. After what felt like forever, she finally spoke up, thankfully sounding more curious than annoyed.

'Don't want to talk about it, or literally can't talk about it?'

"Literally can't talk about it," Vin confirmed.

"I don't know the specifics, but I'm pretty certain I'll just… well, die."

'Oh, that's all you had to say.' He felt her shrug, which was a rather strange sensation.

'Never saw any myself, but I'm aware there are a couple of ways to earn additional points outside of level ups. Divine rewards, cursed objects, etcetera. If anyone asks, just say you found a cursed potion or something. As long as that doesn't get you killed of course.'

"That's a great idea, thank you," he said, relief flooding through him.

"So, suggestions?"

'I mean, you should already know by now that passives are pretty class specific. I doubt any of the ones I took would even be options for you.'

"I know," he sighed, opening up his possible choices and scanning through the list once more. The options were just as appealing as the first time he'd gone through them, and he almost swore there were even more than before.

"They just all seem like fantastic choices, and seeing as I don't actually know what they do besides making a guess based on the name, I'd hoped you had some advice."

'Pretty much all passives are good. I wouldn't worry too much about your choice. There's more leeway with passive points compared to attribute points, but you still don't want to be that person who tries to hoard their points and ends up dying from it. I knew more than one Warrior who decided to bank their attribute points until they needed them and ended up paying the price for it. My advice is to pick something that sounds useful to you and go for it.

Or if you're struggling that much, wait a few days and sleep on it.'

"Probably for the best," he sighed, closing out of his interface and stretching.

"Camp isn't too large, so I imagine Spur and them have got to be just about finished with their elections by now. I didn't get a chance to let Alice know about the sqerret hunting spot I found yesterday either, so I should take care of that first."

'Good idea. The faster that girl levels up her Trapper class, the more terrifying of an enemy she'll be. I've seen specialized Slayers take down beasts larger than a house with a single, well placed trap. She will make a good ally.' Vin shivered at the image of Alice standing over a blazing battlefield, enemy soldiers simply exploding from plummeting rocks or falling into covered spike pits as they tried and failed to reach her; the woman laughing all the while as brilliant flames blazed around her.

"Yeah," he agreed, walking just a tad faster.

"Let's get her on our side."