Merlin had been certain he’d made a mistake. The System had explicitly told him to kill both the Raubtier and Chief Rivale, and not only had he let the former leave, he had kept the latter alive.
To him, he’d had very good reasons for his actions. The Raubtier was a monster unlike any he had ever faced before. It was a monster of legend in the Tower of Xéros, and it falling prey to a mind enchantment didn’t change that. Merlin was uncertain if he would be able to take the beast on. And for such a monster, it was best to act with the thinking that he couldn’t and refrained from trying, than attacking it and ending up trying to diffuse the situation after it had escalated.
The Raubtier had seen none of them as a threat and had only been angry that its mind had been tapped into. Which, as Merlin chose to believe, was why it had let them be.
The second reason why he had not attacked the Raubtier was because of the sandworms. Merlin had decided to end the war quickly in consideration of those monsters. They were alerted based on the vibrations living beings emitted into the earth, and a war was filled with vibrations. If he had carried on with trying to kill the Raubtier, the monster of legend would have ended up becoming the least of his problems.
Considering all that, letting the beast go was the better option.
As for Chief Rivale. Merlin had never been in a war before, and he hardly read war books. But a common war tactic passed around on the internet was how taking down the commander of an army weakened the army in general.
There were a lot of things the net got wrong, and Merlin wondered if killing Chief Rivale in the presence of the warriors would make them surrender, or self-destruct instead.
Which was why he had chosen to bargain. As long as the warriors laid down their weapons, whatever happened to Chief Rivale after would be none of their problems. And he had fully intended to kill the chief after, but Baba had stepped in before he could even make the attempt and asked that he had the honors.
Simulation or otherwise, Merlin couldn't bring himself to reject and act like a psychopath. How would he explain such a reaction to the rest of his mates who were watching? That he had no choice? That he had to be the one to kill the chief? Nothing he would have said would have vindicated him in their eyes, so he had let Baba have the pleasure of taking his old friend’s life. And Merlin was certain he was screwed.
That was, until the System’s notification popped up, and he, surprisingly, wasn’t screwed.
Apparently, the System’s direction to clearing a quest wasn’t a fixed one. It was just the most optimal, and Merlin had the choice to either do what the System had said, or complete the quest through some other unspecified means.
Of course, the System hadn’t told Merlin this, he had just come to that conclusion based on the fact that the System didn’t exercise the punishment that was meant to come his way if he failed the quest, and had rather blessed him with the pop up, mentioning that he had instead cleared it.
However, just like a father might not congratulate a child if he achieved a desired outcome by following a different means than that which he had proposed, the System had not given Merlin the reward that came with completing his quest.
He had no loot boxes to unwrap this time.
Blue purred under Merlin’s hand as it stroked his back gently, and Merlin breathed out a sigh. He glanced at the little dragon and smiled, wondering how he would have managed to fight both the Raubtier and Chief Rivale all alone without him.
Perhaps he had been taking Blue’s presence for granted all this while, seeing him as barely anything more than a pet he used to train his anti-magic.
He should appreciate the dragon more.
“Thank you,” said Merlin. They were words he should have told Blue a couple of times already, and he couldn’t believe that he was saying it for the first time.
Blue’s tail twitched and perked up. Then he shifted on Merlin’s lap and looked up, wide blue eyes like large pearls on a slab of white. The dragon blinked, snorted smugly, and lay back down.
Merlin chuckled.
He returned his attention to the System interface floating before his eyes, and the words he had pushed aside in the heat of all the war had entailed.
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 49%/100%] → [54%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 5]
[It is only right that the sneaky are done in by sneak attacks, right, Merlin Tyrrell?]
Merlin barely refrained from snorting at those words. The System’s remarks after every deconstruction he partook in was something of a highlight to using Reader Mage. It was quite the weird entity.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He pushed the words aside, and new ones appeared.
[All Progress increased by 20%]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 76.25%/100%] → [96.25%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 02%/100%] → [22%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 54%/100%] → [74%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 27%/100%] → [47%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 20%/100%] → [30%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 5] → [45]
Merlin’s brows instinctively twitched at the progress of his Resilience. Unlike the others, which had all gone up by the satiated 20%, it had changed by only 10%.
He wasn’t particularly surprised by that; ever since his Resilience’s level had wandered into the fiftieth range, its progress was always halved. Merlin just needed some time to get used to it.
He eyed his progress, and decided to share his free attribute points between the Attribute closest to leveling up, and his most taken care of attribute.
Assign ten attribute points to Strength and the rest to Intelligence…
[Assigning...]
[Successful]
[+10 Attribute Points have been assigned to Strength]
[+35 Attribute Points have been assigned to Intelligence]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 96.25%/100%] → [01.25%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 74%/100%] → [91.5%/100%]
[Strength has leveled up!]
[Strength Level 39 → Level 40]
Merlin felt his muscles bulge with life, like he was trying to bench press a weight far greater than what he could handle, and his muscles were bombarded by a piercing pain.
He twitched in response, groaning, and that alerted Blue’s fight or flight mode. The dragon pounced on all fours and hissed. But when he noticed Merlin hunched over in slight agony, the fiery glow in his eyes weakened.
“I’m fine,” Merlin said through clenched teeth as the pain rescinded somewhat. “Relax.”
Blue tilted his head, contemplating Merlin’s words, obviously. Then when he had had his fill of staring, he jumped off Merlin’s lap and went back to sleep on the log of wood instead.
Merlin was disappointed. Blue didn’t care about what he was going through, he just didn’t want his sleep to be disturbed.
Sad.
Merlin took a deep breath and relaxed. His muscles no longer ached, though a lingering feeling remained, while his mind shuffled through the information that had invaded it.
He glanced at his palm as he flexed his wrist and grip, and he smiled.
Peak human strength. Those words stood out in his mind. What exactly peak human strength meant, Merlin was unsure, but he felt like he could lift the same weight as an olympic weightlifter, despite his body looking like that of an athlete.
Working out is tied to my Strength’s progress as well as my body, but leveling up the Attribute by using free points or through other means that doesn't involve working out isn’t tied to my body’s growth. Hmmm.
That was neat. And Merlin liked it. He wasn’t keen on looking like an overbloated mass of muscle at the end of the day. And he doubted such a figure would work well with his Agility, although he doubted that it would even matter, considering how his actual Strength wasn’t dependent on the physical mass of his muscle.
On the other hand, it was surprising really, how much he had grown in the past few months since he had received the System. He recalled being so weak a five minute jog would leave him gasping for air, and now he could go on and on for hours without tiring out.
If he kept on at this rate, or even better, he was on track to becoming just as strong as Kieran in maybe a year more.
He was curious what would happen then.
Growth was infinite. He wondered if the System would restrict him from pushing forth once he got to level hundred in all his Attributes, or if there was something else beyond that.
Unlike Kieran, Merlin had no intention of seeking enlightenment as quickly as possible. So he would push through until he got to level hundred across all Attributes and see what would come of it.
A sound came from his side at that moment, still a couple feet away, but Merlin was alerted by his Perception nonetheless. However, he had cooked up a way to avoid turning into a paranoid mess in the face of others by flinching and grabbing hands reaching for him, by understanding the pattern in which his mates close to him walked with.
The footsteps approaching this time was the soft, calm, graceful one that always walked towards him when he was alone.
It was Sofia’s.
“Merlin,” Sofia called as she appeared before him where he was seated away from the bustle of the village. “I was looking for you all around.”
Merlin glanced at her. She was still dressed in her battle suit and seemed slightly out of breath. Effects of the war and seeking him out after. She should have rested instead.
“Hello, Sofia,” Merlin greeted. “How are things going?”
Sofia pursed her lips for a split second, annoyed about something, perhaps. Maybe because he had not commented on her stating how she had spent her leisure time seeking him out instead. But she wiped away that expression and walked up to him not long later, attempting to have a seat beside him.
Merlin flinched at that, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to his other side. Sofia flushed red, confused and shocked.
“What?” she exclaimed. “What happened?”
Merlin was at a momentary loss for words, but he pulled himself back quickly.
“Nothing,” he said. “I just thought you would be more comfortable on my left.”
The truth was, she had almost sat down on Blue. And that would have resulted in anything but a good outcome.
Sofia blinked at Merlin’s reply. Then she pulled her hand free from his grasp and sighed.
“You keep confusing me,” she said, kept silent for a moment as Merlin blinked owlishly, then clicked her tongue. “Senior Sun-Hee and Senior Hyunwoo have returned,” she continued, turning away. “They’ve found the portal. We will leave soon.”
