My chest rose and fell at a frantic pace. My lungs burned as I tried to catch my breath.
The ground around was covered with the twisted bodies of Dark Spiders. The fight was intense, but in the end, I survived.
However, it hadn't been a complete triumph. My little skeleton had been defeated because he didn't have his knife to protect himself. He was just a summon. I could call another one as soon as I recovered. But even knowing that, I couldn't shake the strange feeling of seeing him reduced to nothing after he saved .
I shook my head. I couldn't dwell on it... I was in the middle of a dungeon.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at the notifications that had been sitting in the corner until now. I had managed to gather 100 Soul Fragnts, adding up the gains from killing eight Dark Spiders while my little skeleton killed two.
Since the beginning of this ss, I had been so focused on surviving that I hadn't stopped to think about these fragnts.
I knew I was earning them instead of experience points every ti I killed a creature, but... what exactly were they for? If these fragnts were just experience points in disguise, I should have leveled up throughout the battle. But I remained at the sa level. It didn't make sense.
The doubt bothered , so I did what anyone would do: I went to my inventory and tapped on the description of the fragnts.
[Item Details!]
Item Na: Soul Fragnts
Description: Condensed essence of defeated creatures. Can be used to strengthen physical attributes, evolve summons, or be converted into experience.
Type: Consumable.
Quantity: 100.
"So that's why I wasn't gaining experience points directly?"
The system gave control over how to progress. I could spend these fragnts to increase my attributes directly, without having to level up, or I could convert them into experience.
However, the decision was not as simple as it seed.
If I used the fragnts to increase my attributes, for every ten fragnts I could increase one attribute point. That ant I could beco much stronger instantly. However, if I converted everything into experience, I could level up, gain attributes, and unlock new options within the system, such as class evolutions or other benefits. Unlocking things as you level up was classic in any RPG.
In addition, although I had already noticed that my system was a little different from the protagonist Hunter Ruse's system, there would probably be similarities, and that included a shop in the next levels.
"So, I can choose to level up and gain a few attributes, or gain a lot of attributes now and not level up... That's what it ans to progress with freedom," I muttered to myself.
In addition, there was another detail: the fragnts could also be used to evolve my summons. This ant that, in theory, I could strengthen my little skeletons by increasing their endurance, strength, speed, or perhaps even granting them new unique abilities as they leveled up.
What the hell was the smartest way to use the few fragnts I had now?
"Right... let's think calmly."
If I invested everything in my attributes, I could beco faster, stronger, and more resilient right now to face this dungeon. That would make it easier for to survive while I was here and beyond.
In the end, there was no single answer. It all depended on how I wanted to play this "ga."
And one thing was certain: I needed power now.
"All right..." I opened my attributes window.
[Attribute Window]
Attribute | Value
Spirit: 0/10
Control: 1
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 5
Speed: 4
Charisma: 4
Constitution: 5
Wisdom: 5
Dexterity: 5
Perception: 2
"... Pretty diocre stats."
These values explained why I felt so weak all the ti even when dealing with only Rank F monsters. None of these numbers gave the confidence to face anything bigger.
It was clear that I needed to use at least half of my Soul Fragnts to improve my attributes. So that's exactly what I did.
[50 Soul Fragnts were invested in Player Attributes.]
[Strength 5 -> Strength 7.]
[Speed 4 -> Speed 5.]
[Intelligence 5 -> Intelligence 7.]
[Thanks to the increase in Intelligence, your Spirit Attribute has also risen.]
Imdiately, I felt a difference in my muscles and mind. Everything seed clearer to . However, I couldn't tell if such a small change in attributes had made a big difference or if I was experiencing a placebo effect.
Now, I had 50 Soul Fragnts left. So, I converted everything into experience.
[50 Soul Fragnts have been converted into 500 Experience Points (EXP).]
[Congratulations! You have risen to level 2!]
[Your HP has been completely restored.]
[Your Spirit has been completely restored.]
I chuckled softly, satisfied with my decision. I figured that leveling up might reset my stats, just like it did with Hunter Ruse, but there was no way to know for sure until I tried it. Luckily, I was right.
Fortunately, leveling up increased the sa amount I invested in Attributes.
[Strength 7 -> Strength 8.]
[Control 1 -> Control 2.]
[Perception 2 -> Perception 4.]
[Speed 5 -> Speed 6.]
Overall, it was worth it to distribute evenly between two features. If I had invested only in Attributes, I wouldn't have had my stats reset. If I had invested everything in Level, the amount of EXP gained would not have been enough to reach Level 3, and I wouldn't have as many attributes as I had now.
In the end, I was much stronger anyway. So I stretched out my two hands forward, and since my stats had been reset, I had mana again, so I used [Summon].
Two magic circles glowed in front of , forming two swirls of spectral smoke. In an instant, two small skeletons stood before .
The first one wielded a knife of the sa type as the one I held in my left hand.
The other one had empty hands.
I was a little relieved, because if one of them had empty hands, it ant that my first summon wasn't permanently dead.
I crouched in front of the skeleton without the knife. "Sorry for thinking you were useless at first," I muttered, running my hand over the smooth surface of his skull.
What happened next was unexpected: the cheekbones of this little skeleton turned reddish. My eyes widened. Was it a blush? If so, that ant these little ones had at least so level of intelligence.
"Here, take your knife back," I said to him.
I held out the weapon, and he took it carefully and bowed his head slightly in respect to .
I stood up and wiped the sweat from my forehead. There was no more ti to waste on this first floor. However, I looked at the corpses of the Dark Spiders and realized that none of them had dropped anything.
"That can only an we're going to have to get our hands dirty."
I pointed to the bodies scattered on the floor.
"You guys help look for sothing useful. Rip, pull, break if you have to. There must be sothing on these bodies we can use."
Inside the Tower of Babel, every resource had potential value—whether monetary or for survival. I had learned this while accompanying Hunter Ruse on his journey, so I knew how even the strangest resources could be useful, and I didn't intend to waste that knowledge.
Reviews
All reviews (0)