Chapter 44 (1/2)

After killing their 9th lizardman for the day, Randidly was rather pleased. Almost enough to return back to camp. Most of the bodies were intact, and they hadn’t encountered anything but lizardmen. Although there had been a couple times that they had to flee, taking the freshly killed bodies, as patrols passed by.

But it had been fruitful for him. 2 Levels in Spear Mastery, 1 in Phantom Thrust, 1 in Footwork of the Spear Phantom, 2 in Eyes of the Spear Phantom, 1 in Fighting Proficiency, 3 in Block, 1 in Haste, 1 in Sweep, 3 in Roundhouse Kick, 2 in Edge of Decay, and 4 in Empower.

Entangling Roots, Root Manipulation, and Mana Shield Rose 1 level, while Fireball rose 5.

Meditation, Equip, and First Aid each increased a level, but the big gainer for the day was Pathfinding, which rose 7 levels.

Randidly supposed they covered a lot of ground, but this was a bit ridiculous. Still, he wasn’t complaining.

“Ghosthound, what is your agility at?” Decklan asked timidly. Randidly saw Lyra roll her eyes at the term, and felt slightly awkward. It wasn’t his fault he had inherited a weird last name from his father’s family.

Randidly considered lying, but decided it wasn’t worth it. “46, plus a few bonuses. Why?”

Decklan shook his head wonderingly. “My agility reached 39 with that last level. But it’s basically my only stat that high above 20. Still, you seem… quick. Impossibly quick. Those few points sure mean a lot.”

“No… I suspect it’s not that.” Randidly said simply.

Decklan frowned. “Then what is-”

“Ugh, It’s the skills, obviously.” Lyra interjected. “Doggy, you have a skill to speed up your movements, right?”

A vein in Randidly’s forehead twitched. “...are you talking to me?”

“Of course I am! Now answer, I’m making a point about how beautiful and farsighted you are.”

Slightly confused by her statement, Randidly said. “...yes actually, two of them.”

“Uh huh, and you have other passive physical skills right? Physical fitness? Probably spear mastery?”

“...Yes.”

“And what level are those?”

Randidly paused, considering. “...Around 30.”

Lyra nodded sagely, now pointing at Decklan. “No one else is as advanced as the doggy, not even Sam, so it’s hard to tell, but this is where skills really start to shine. Taking a class gives you fast growth, but he has top end utility. Your stats might be similar, but he will have 4 skills enhancing his stats at all times. The conversion isn’t clear, but it adds up”

Decklan nodded thoughtful, and Lyra extended a hand towards Randidly, saying the words he was beginning to dread. “Mana Potion.”

Sighing, Randidly sat down on the ground, gathering the material and crafting more potions. He went for enhanced versions, so he got another skill level in Potion Making and Enhance.

“You… aren’t wrong.” Decklan said slowly. “But we also receive class related skills every 10 levels. We have tried a couple times already, and it doesn’t look like these are skills you can learn through practice. You can get variants, sure-”

Randidly continued t make potions, tuning the two of them out. Academically, he was interested in Classes, but for now, he wanted to find out how long he could survive without one. Even if he waited too long, he wouldn’t have a chance to regret it; he would simply die.

But halfway through the 7th mana potion, he froze. It had been a good thing that he had sat on the ground for this. Otherwise he wouldn’t have felt it coming.

Randidly instantly activated Haste and Empower, pushing Decklan to the side and wrapping his arm around Lyra’s waist, leaping across the dune.

The sand underneath where Randidly had been sitting exploded, a huge centipede, rippling outward, its legs making a vicious chittering, grinding noise that set your teeth on edge. It screeched and shot towards Decklan.

“Excuse me, but the first dance is mine.”

Roots burst out the ground, wrapping around the Centipede’s trunk, but it just ripped through them after a slight struggle. But that moment was enough for Randidly to cover the distance to the centipede, and hit it with an Empowered Phantom Assault.

Randidly’s brow furrowed as most of his blows skittered off its chitinous shell, and even the direct attacks barely cracked it. He would need a few direct hits to get through. The centipede spun, its body smashing outwards, and Randidly easily dodged it, landing on its back. Its head twisted and smashed towards him, but was met by a fireball in the face.

While it was hissing in pain, Randidly looked at Decklan. “Aim for the legs. When it’s looking at me, get close and try and cut them off. Watch out for when its body spins.”

“It’s legs…?” Decklan’s eyes were confused. “But there are so many. Cutting off a few-”

“I’m not talking about a few,” Randidly said grimly, dodging out of the way of another diving bite. Then the head twisted and spat acid at him. He spun his spear in a Spear Deflect, and knocked away most of it, but some still landed on him. Randidly grimaced.

Why always acid…?

“I’m talking about them all,” Randidly finished grimly. “It’s gonna take a while to wear down its health. And I feel like this will finally shut up Sam about his needing new materials. And you…”

He spared Lyra a glance. She just smiled cheerily and waved at him. “....well, don’t do anything stupid.”