Choice - 4
"Is there anything else I can do for you, great hero," the servant said after he led to my room a huge, opulent room, decorated as lavishly as anything else, but I noticed that, there were no decorative weapons on the walls unlike everywhere else, they replaced by huge paintings.
Paintings that shared so fascinating thes. Each painting showed five n, fighting against so sort of horde. Not all hordes were the sa, so showed scenes filled with ghouls and zombies, while others had dragon-like giant monsters filling the painting. One even showed so sort of tal machines, though too far different than the tanks and planes that he was used to, impossible to truly assess.
"No, you can leave," I said in a dreamlike tone as I focused on the paintings until I heard him slam the door and leave. I stayed locked at the paintings, not because I was truly interested in the scenes they deciphered, but because of the subtle sense of attraction that emanated from them.
It wasn't as intense as the one that was emanating off their voice, but still captivating enough to pull in, and the more I watched, the more my heart stirred to be just like theirs.
A feeling that I might have felt when I was still a young, hot-blooded man, but in my sixties No, I didn't need the sense of barrier between and the magical pressure to recognize the foreign intrusion.
What an insidious way of brainwashing, I thought in fascination.
I continued examining the paintings, but it wasn't the feeling of attraction that made look at them, but the fear that I might have been spied on. Who could guarantee that they didn't have security caras or sothing similar?
My eyes locked on the paintings to trick any observer, but my mind drifted, trying to decipher what was waiting for . They didn't tell much, but the pictures showed that so sort of battle could have been waiting for .
I might have questioned why, but the sudden sense of power that I earned when they helped to kill that monster and asked to level up, gave a good idea, especially when combined with the na of my class.
Hero.
A lofty call and a declaration if there was any.
I rembered that killing the monster had given a lot of experience, and I wondered if that would allow to level up again.
I tried to focus on the feeling, but without his order, I found it more difficult to do than I had expected. "Level up," I whispered instead.
[-400 Experience]
[Level up!]
[Stat Points 10]
Amazing, I thought as I felt a glow surrounding my body, filling with a radiant sense of potential, but nothing else.
I rembered the other aspect, assigning stat points.
[-1 Stat Points]
[ 1 Resilience]
And just like that, I could feel the attraction from the paintings weakening. Or, more accurately, the attraction stayed the sa, but it got more distant, as a blinding light bulb dragged away by a few feet.
Still bright, but much less impactful.
Imdiately, I assigned the rest to Resilience as well. In a new world, where everywhere was filled with objects and people who could casually throw out mind-affecting powers, the ability to resist them was indispensable for .
No matter how promising the na of Vitality was.
[-9 Stat Points]
[ 9 Resilience]
Yet, even as I assigned the points, I could hear people's footsteps rushing forward as loud as thunder when they moved forward, their speed fast enough to rival a car.
I decided to try leveling up once more, in case they had other objectives.
To my surprise, it worked excellently.
[-900 Experience]
[Level up!]
[Stat Points 10]
I imdiately thought about assigning them equally to Vitality and Resilience. I would have preferred to add all to Resilience, but I hoped that the increase of Vitality would be enough to trick them.
Whether it would actually do so was a different question.
[-10 Stat Points]
[ 5 Resilience]
[ 5 Vitality]
Two changes happened simultaneously. One was ntal, nearly the sa of the earlier. A subtle sense of separation from the other command, one that reduced the impact of the portraits even more, allowing to pinpoint the concept even more.
The second one was a sense of warmth spreading across my body, one that ward my body like the first sip of coffee, sending a sense of awakening and elation. My aches had already disappeared before, but now, I was feeling even more alert.
However, that was the extent I could pay attention to the changes. Before the glow of leveling up even disappeared, the door burst open, hitting the wall like thunder.
Two familiar figures entered. Falael and the tall naless one, both had their weapons drawn. I took a fearful step back and made a show of stumbling as I put my hand on my heart, breathing quickly as I did my best to look like I was having a panic attack.
Yet, even as I did so, I noticed them looking around the room rather than focusing on , looking for so kind of threat. "What happened? Tell !" Falael said, his voice accompanied by the sa weighted sensation to force to obey his command. Unlike his earlier gentle coaxing, it hit like a truck, accompanied by a primal sense of fear to force to the truth.
However, with my increased Resilience, the effect just bounced away ineffectively from that epheral barrier, making it useless.
A detail that he failed to notice.
"I was looking at the pictures, dreaming to be a hero like them, just as strong and I leveled up again?" I murmured, giving a mixture of fear and excitent as I explained as quickly as possible.
"How, where did you get the experience?" Falael asked, while the naless one continued to poke around the room.
"T-the first beast I killed," I muttered.
"What, really? How much experience did it grant?" he asked, though this ti, it wasn't accompanied by that pressure.
I thought about underselling the amount, to hide the fact that I leveled twice. But, watching their actions, I decided against it. The speed they reacted implied that they were aware of my level-up, but their focus on exploring the room suggested that they might not be watching the room in real ti.
I had a feeling that they had the ability to detect leveling up. Maybe the glow wasn't just light, but so kind of magical noise as well. It was just my speculation, but still, it was enough to push them into a new stage.
"S-sothing like two thousand," I admitted truthfully.
I didn't expect their reaction. "Toross, I'll kill you! You definitely cost an ability!" Falael growled as he turned towards him, and took a step forward. I took a step back and looked for cover in case a fight broke out.
I didn't want to die in the chaos of their squabble.
The second one, Toross, didn't look scared in the slightest. "Oh, I would love for you, especially without your pesky guards to help you," he answered, smug and eager as he grabbed his sword. "Just throw the first blow, I'm begging you."
"Hey, guys, maybe you should wait until later?" I said. "I have a feeling that I won't survive long if you start fighting."
They looked at in frustration, and I gave them an exaggerated flinch, putting a front of panic rather than asured concern.
The more they ignored , the better.
"Good point," Falael admitted with a sigh. "Still, mark my words, I'll make you pay one day."
"Oh, I would love it," Toross answered, his smile even more eager before he turned to . "What did you do with your stat points?" he asked.
"I assigned them to Vitality. All of them," I said. Lying there was a risk, but trying to act like I had any free points available had its own risks. Either way, it was a blind choice.
Toross walked toward , and without even asking for permission, put his hand on my shoulder. A flicker of energy flew into my body, and I felt a weird sensation rising from my body to fight against it.
It didn't wound , but it targeted that unique sense of warmth that appeared earlier, and cut a piece from it.
[-1 Health]
When he pulled, there was a soft, crimson glow on his finger, emanating a gentle warmth. But, rather than enjoying the miraculous sight, I focused on their face, exploring their expression.
"Very good," Falael said as he looked at the glow, and to his credit, he managed to sound halfway convincing. I was too experienced to miss the undertone. They were clearly unhappy with the result.
Rembering the discussion between them about possibly getting rid of and trying again, I prepared myself to admit the truth if they decided to take action on that.
They didn't. "Clearly not a warrior" Toross muttered in disappointnt. "What do you think, a test for commanding potential, or should we ask for a magic trainer?"
"I think we don't have to bugging our guest with a boring discussion like this as he's still exhausted, and wants to sleep? Right?" he said, uttering the last word as he turned to , once again accompanied by that pressure.
"R-right," I nodded imdiately and watched them as they walked away.
Just before they left completely, Falael turned to . "You are sure that you assigned all thirty stat points, right?" he said, his words once again accompanied by the pressure.
One that I loved, because the mont I gave him a positive answer, he nodded in agreent.
"Good, and make sure never to level up without one of us being present, and never accept any stats or assign points to them without confirming with us. It's very important for your future," he said, his words once again accompanied by a suffocating wave of obedience.
I nodded, pretending to take his words seriously, and he left, completely confident that he had managed to get the truth out of
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