William opened his eyes slowly. He felt his face pressed onto the puddle underneath him, though it wasn’t enough to get into his mouth or nostril to suffocate him. Waking up again and again in a cold puddle was not something he had ever expected to be comforting. It represented another opportunity. A chance at becoming more than he could have ever been before falling down the stairwell. All he had to do was get up and make another attempt at killing the Corpse Guardsman–
He stopped himself from getting up.
Long moments passed as he allowed his body to relax. It felt weak and sore, but like any time before that he could remember, there was no alarm to wake him. William could lay there even if he already felt fully rested. It was the first time he had gotten a full night's rest, probably more, without the need to scramble and get up for work at an ungodly time of the day. Worse was when he was still recovering after hard, grueling activities the night prior.
William groaned as he pushed himself up off the ground. His shirt was soaked. He yawned and stretched, ignoring the fact that he was completely drenched with water. There was nothing that could stop how great he felt. He took a moment to look around himself, listen to the dripping of the water, and watched the torch flames flicker back and forth in a hypnotic pattern. Then he called out his second pair of clothes within his inventory. The potato sacks they called clothing were as harsh as ever, but they were dry and would prevent him from getting sick. He took off the wet, dirty set and hung them on the horizontal bars of the cell.
His eyes then drifted back to his inventory, finding everything that he had been promised after defeating the Corrupted Guardsman. William had three [Earthly Realm Rune Shard]s sitting there, waiting to be used to level him up, the medallion that was still an unknown to him, and finally, the (F+) ranked [Skill Shard]. Not to mention the set of armor and ripped up clothing that were of much higher quality than his potato sack rags.
There was the potential possibility that the clothes that had been in direct contact with the Corrupted Guardsman could be tainted with some foul disease considering it was literally a corpse. Then again, the system would have self prompted with a danger sign as soon as he pulled them out. Yet, he was still going to be extra sure. William walked up to a puddle of water on the side of the room and dropped the shirt and pants into it. He would be keeping an eye out for them and if they system would give him a notification.
A detailed explanation would be optimal, though he needed to make sure what he could rely on.
Whether it was the [Skill Shard], [Earthly Realm Rune Shard]s, or the medallion, it tended to give him self prompted analysis.
Then again, he was too happy to really care at the moment. “I actually did it. I actually killed that thing.” William felt a laugh bubbled out of his chest. Satisfaction, greater than anything he had ever felt before, filled him from head to toe. He felt like he could fight a thousand Corrupted Guardsman right now and come out on top.
William received a system notification.
System Reward -
[Stat Boost] for exceptional action -
Kill an Enemy ranked lethality - Overwhelming.
+2 Arcane
+2 Vitality
+1 Strength
That was… amazing news. William recognized that he had quite a few notifications that were waiting for him. Many of which he ignored during the battle and some after that he was too exhausted to go over. He took a moment to go through them, just in case he gained more stats or important information during the process. Not to mention the dopamine hit at seeing his stats go up.
Loot Acquired -
Guardsman Enhanced Sword (Imperial Standard) -
+1 Strength
+1 Dexterity
—
Guardsman Basic Armor Set (Imperial Standard) -
+2 Vitality
+1 Endurance
+ 1 Strength
—
Guardsman Basic Shield (General Standard) -
No Stat Boosts
—
5 Imperial Silver Coins, 1 Imperial Gold Coin, 7 Imperial Iron Coins
No Stat Boosts
—
Basic Set of General Clothing (Bad Quality) -
No Stat Boost
—
Medallion of the First Blood -
+1.5% Regenerative Boost
+1 Vitality
Tips and Hints -
Equipment and weaponry that were crafted by experts tend to give higher stat, element, and effect boosts to their wielders.
“Holy guacamole… No wonder the thing was almost impossible to kill. The thing was juiced up with nearly twelve stat points just from its armor. And I almost walked away from all of this?” William said as he stared in wonder. He gained twelve stat points and a boost to healing just by putting the items on. There was no way he was going to leave this cell until he was fully fitted in his new loot, but that meant waiting on the now soaked basic clothing set since he doubted having potato sacks rubbing back and forth on his nipples and chaffing his skin was a good idea.
Yet, the most important question remained. How many runes had he gotten from dying over twenty some odd times?
William closed his eyes and pulled out his status page. It showed up in his vision even in the darkness of his shut eyelids.
Runes Held - 2512
That was more than he was expecting. William had that nagging worry at the back of his mind during the entire fight and die stage until he finally killed his foe. The fear the system would screw him one way or another after it forced him to fight something that was almost impossible for him to beat, only to give him less than a full level. While all the loot was nice, seeing his level go up was far more satisfactory.
He pulled up his status page and stared at his pathetic [Class]. William wondered whether he should level it up as far as the runes could take him, or not at all, he couldn’t decide whether it was worth the time and effort at least until he placed the new (F+) [Skill Shard] into a slot. Maybe it didn’t work and he was stuck with this [Class]. He shook his head as he moved to sit down on the driest part of the cell with his back on the wall. There was much he needed to figure out before he continued.
The fact that the system malfunctioned and could potentially give him multiple classes could be a sore subject for others. He had no clue how anyone else would take it. The danger of people reverting back to their burning witches on the stake ways simply due to the catastrophe that was system initialization sent shivers down his back. Anyone different, odd or weird tended to be dealt with in very aggressive manners. Especially when safety was such a distant thing when Corrupted Guardsman could kill a dozen men alone without issue.
William sighed.
Before even that, he had to figure out if his system provided attribute points per level. If it did, then it opened many avenues for him to take advantage of. If it did not, then he was simply stuck to finding the most powerful type of class he could find. It would be purposeless to level something so low. Even an (F+) class seemed to be a waste of time, though he had no choice at the moment other than to take this path until he figured something out.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Let’s do it.” William said to himself as he put just enough runes to level up his [Pathetic Tavern Brawler] class to level one.
It prompted a system notification.
Congratulations! Level Up!
+2 Unallocated Stat Points
First Level Skill Unlock -
[Block Head (F-)] [1/99]
Take less damage per attack received. Percentage Increase - .13%
Variant on overall Level of individual [Class]
Tips and Hints -
Higher ranked [Class]es provide more Stat Points per level!
His frown deepened as he finished reading the system message. A percentage boost of under one percent was negligible at best, but he was not a fool to not see the benefits. William had already seen what a single stat to strength could do for him in a battle of life and death. It was not something he planned on underestimating. The tiniest advantage, even if it made no sense to him, may have the largest impact toward his victory.
Simply put, he would continue to build upon what he had and then figure the rest out at a later date. Slow, incremental boosts that would feed off of each other.
More importantly, he had been shown two different paths from what he’d seen so far that he could abuse. William could level up a dozen [Class]es for the lowest level amount needed for runes and gain first level skill unlocks as well. Moving from level zero to level one was far easier than attempting to do the same thing from level nine to level ten. Or worse, the much higher levels like the forties. That meant he basically had free stat points per class he could unlock.
Not that he would push it too far. William needed to be calculative when dealing with his classes. Maybe he was only given two, or three, or maybe even a dozen, but he had no solid evidence to prove any of them. He would keep to his specialized [Class] distribution plan to increase his survivability and combined power. It didn’t seem like his stats changed when he switched from a [Class].
Though he still wanted to see if he could get another, stronger class.
William pulled out his skill Shard.
His system was dinged, prompted instantly.
[Skill Shard] -
[Shield and Sword Mastery (F+)]
William pulled out all of the rest in his inventory and set them in front of him on the ground. The (F+) [Skill Shard] glowed a brighter white light when compared to the rest. It made it stand out. He couldn’t help but wonder what something stronger would be like. How bright would it have to be to keep this type of obvious change? Or maybe they were different colors entirely?
He picked up the [Shield and Sword Mastery]shard and put it into the first slot and waited with bated breath. He feared that the system would either go haywire or reject the shard completely, forcing him to never have a chance at a better [Class]. It vibrated for a few seconds, buzzing like a tree grinder, before it stopped and remained silent. It took a few seconds before the slot began to swirl as he saw the first time, whooshing and accepting the [Skill Shard].
A laugh escaped him. He could feel a bubbly feeling rise in his chest as he proved his theory right. The possibilities felt endless.
The only thing that remained was to make a proper choice on what else he wanted to pair up with [Shield and Sword Mastery]. He stared at the ones available to him; [Pathetic Endurance Boost], [Pathetic Dexterity Boost], [Pathetic Hardiness Boost], and [Pathetic Strength Boost]. William had to put one to the side and use the rest, except each one felt just as necessary as the other.
Yet, if his theory proved to be right, he should have access to more than just two classes as long as the system didn’t go haywire, not that he was planning to waste anymore potential skill slots on anything in the (F) ranks. He would save his next one for a proper, real powerful [Class] unless he was given another solid investment [Skill Shard]. One that would solve a potential issue down the line. If two classes were available to him, why not three, four, and five? All different and with specialized purposes to tackle different enemies he would have no hope against with his basic classes.
[Pathetic Tavern Brawler] could remain as his base identity to hide his strength from those around him.
Everyone was liable to underestimate a person with a (F-) [Class], even if they looked or seemed strong. He would take advantage of that once he returned back to society.
William eventually decided on first making a tank class of some sort to help him survive longer during encounters with more Corpse Guardsmen. He kept dying to the first couple strikes on every loop. Maybe some more regeneration boost? He did not want to get into another battle with another corrupted Guardsman and not be able to defeat it the first or second time. Especially if that was a common mob he would deal with.
That meant [Pathetic Dexterity Boost] was the odd one out, especially in the tight halls of the area he was in now. There was no real space to dodge left or right until he reached much higher levels of dexterity overall. He wasn’t sure when he would be able to matrix dodge attacks, but he doubted it was any time close.
William placed the remaining three he decided on into the slots and watched as the system rushed to spin, whoosh, and lock them into place. No buzzing or system existential crisis this time around. For that he was thankful.
[Class]Unlocked!
Knight Guardian Novice (F+)
Tips and Hints -
All Ranks break down into three Sub-Ranks. (F-), (F), (F+).
The differences between them are large.
The differences between Major-Ranks are , both qualitatively and quantitatively.
—
Status User William (1oPg72j9) -
[Class] - [Knight Guardian Novice (F+)]
Level - 0 [0/49]
Runes Held - 1847
Runes Needed for Level Up - 665
The [Skill Shard]s trembled and shook violently as soon as he finished reading the notification. William stood up and prepared himself in case they were launched out of a cannon like the others had. A few minutes passed as they continued to threaten projectile danger before they finally settled down and got comfortable in their positions. He waited for a minute longer in case it was a fake calm. When nothing happened, he sat back down, the tension leaving his limbs.
William took the risk of removing all four of the [Skill Shard]s and watched as his system reverted back to his first status page. Instead of a level zero [Knight Guardian Novice], he was now a level one [Pathetic Tavern Brawler]. As though the other option had never existed. William put the [Skill Shard]s back in place, but in a different sequence this time around with [Shield and Sword Mastery] in the middle to test if it would potentially give him another [Class].
It did not.
[Knight Guardian Novice] came back up. As long as it was the same four [Skill Shard]s he was locked to whatever had been randomized the very first time, it didn’t matter which slot they were in.
William moved on to his next test, he placed some of the runes to level up [Knight Guardian Novice] to level one.
Congratulations! Level Up!
+3 Unallocated Stat Points
First Level Skill Unlock -
[Novice Heavy Strike (F+)] [1/99]
Heavy Attack with boosts to critical and damage output.
Damage Output Percentage Increase - 2.8% | Critical Output Percentage Increase - 1.9%
Increased chance of losing balance when activated.
Variant on overall Level of individual [Class]
He had a massive smile stretching across his face as he finished reading the notification. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but a three percent increase was more than before, incremental increases that would slowly grow with him. Though he needed to be careful in areas of precarious footing, his balance would be suspect when he used the new skill. William needed basic, easy to kill monsters to test out his new abilities like a proper tutorial should’ve had.
Alas, they were all too strong for him, he suspected. Thankfully the loop system was a roundabout way to give him the necessary challenge and opportunities to continuously grow.
“No time for thinking negative things right now. Things are looking up for me. Let's keep it that way.” William said to himself.
There were more things he needed to accomplish before he finished for the day. He still had five unallocated points and enough runes for two more level up. He used it on his [Knight Guardian Novice] class and pushed it to level two. That meant eight unallocated points awaited him. He put three into strength, one into vitality, one into endurance, and the rest into arcane. He was making an educated guess that his arcane attribute was directly correlated to his ability to throw fireballs and wind blades.
Once done, he turned back towards his set of loot once more.
It had been long enough that the basic set of clothes had begun to dry. They felt heavenly when compared to the potato sacks he was wearing at the moment; soft, smooth, and very unlikely to cause chaffing. He was quick to strip and put them on. Then he pulled out the medallion and stared at the scary looking thing. It looked like a cursed item with a red, blood gem, dried and dead branches with thorns swirled around it, and a cold chain made of metal to put around his neck. Had the system not self prompted an analysis, he would not have worn the darn thing.
William put it over his head and let it settle into place. He felt a warmth originating from it fill his entire body, head to toes.
He ignored it for the moment as he put on the rest of his new armor on. He had been worried that they would be too large on him and would be a hassle more than a source of protection, but quickly learned that they were perfectly made to fit him. System shenanigans was the only thing he could think of to attribute to this change in physical makeup of the armor.
A helmet, breastplate, chainmail underneath, and the rest was all hard leather. It was heavy for a few seconds before all the stats seemed to lock into place and he felt the burden lessen into something negligible. He understood why they had these attribute points specifically now. Anyone could wear the armor and get away with it in whatever the Imperial Army was as long as they were part of it or had access to one in roundabout ways. The stats the set gave did the heavy lifting here.
Stat points that made his status page look wonderful.
Status User William (1oPg72j9) -
[Class] - [Knight Guardian Novice (F+)]
[Pathetic Tavern Brawler (F-)]
Level - 2 [2/49]
Runes Held - 481
Runes Needed for Level Up - 757
Strength - 7(+3, +1, +1, +1) -> 13
Dexterity - 4 (+1) -> 5
Endurance - 7 (+1, +1) -> 9
Vitality - 9 (+1, +1, +2, +2) -> 15
Intelligence - 6
Wisdom - 7
Arcane - 0 (+3, +2) -> 5
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