52 - A Bit of Cowardly Collection

  Joe gave his attention to the block of waiting windows and quickly opened the one he knew had to do with leveling.

  Those two levels of experience exploded through him. Shivers rippled out of his chest and then down his limbs. It felt like that moment after a great massage or chiropractic session where suddenly you were completely aware of your body. The ache in his ribs vanished, and he felt rejuvenated from head to toe.

  Joe stretched and rolled his neck. Letting out a deep, satisfying sigh before he studied his options.

  There were some new choices he liked as well as some old ones, but currently, there were two that would help him the most: the mana restoration of [Rejuvenate] or advancing [Heartfire]. [Homefire] was better in every way than his original skill: it cost less mana, had a wider area of effect, it healed twice as much, and, to top it off, it didn’t just send out an aura of gentle comfort but actively blocked bad weather.

  Given that he could hit Hah’roo up for another mana bracelet, [Homefire] seemed like a no-brainer.

  Before he went on to the rest of the notifications, he had a question he wanted an answer to.

  ‘Hey, Hawking? How come the leveling cascade happened now and not during the fight or even right afterward?’

  Joe had actually used that trick in a few video games before. Get yourself close to leveling before entering a tough dungeon, then fight halfway through until you level your health back to full to save on potions for the other half. He could understand why Hawking would close that exploit.

  ‘And two levels? I get how I leveled more than once with the Beguilburr. For that one, I was on my own. In this fight, I didn’t hit anyone. How did I gain so many experience points?’

  ‘Ok. Good to know.’

  Returning to his waiting alerts, he rapidly flipped through all of the skill increases, surprised at just how many skill ranks he had earned last night. His achievements were next.

  Heavy armor had no appeal to him, so he took the one that would give him a better chance to land his spells.

  This must have been the achievement he had received when he healed the sailor, Elmar Soly. He had thought he was getting an achievement for reaching fifteen ranks in a skill. This made way more sense. Elmar must have been on the very brink of death as Joe healed him.

  Looking at the two traits, Joe was torn. Time powers were often game-changers. While the [Nick of Time] wouldn’t give him any actual chronomancy abilities, it would make him better at them should he find some time skills in the future.

  [Defy Death] was too good to pass up, though. If he had a [Heartfire] ... no, correct that, a [Homefire] up, everyone in its now larger area could have a brief moment to save themselves from, say, a dragon’s breath or bolt of lightning. At the moment, the effect would only last four seconds, but against a surprise attack, that four seconds could be crucial. Joe selected [Defy Death], closing down the last notification.

  He knew he had to get out there and start working, but he was not yet ready to face the dwarven myrmidon. Delaying the inevitable for a few more minutes, Joe opened his character sheet.

  His enthusiasm for how well he was shaping up was fully offset by the dread of leaving his sanctuary. Fumbling around with his options, Joe looked for anything else he might have missed. Surprisingly, he found a menu he had never seen before.

  He noted the asterisk on Stun and assumed that it was not a fixed resistance but one he could have with his current skills. He cast [Stun Block] and watched the word ‘Minor’ replace the bar beside Stun.

  He was about to ask Hawking about these resistances, but he stopped himself. Digging into that material now would be passing beyond hesitation into downright stalling. With a heavy sigh, Joe acknowledged it was pointless to linger much longer. Sooner or later, the dwarf would bust his way in and drag him out if he tried to hide in the cramped cabin indefinitely.

  He might as well go out and do some good while he still had the freedom to do so.

  Thanks for all the great responses to the story this week. Lots of follows. Some really helpful comments. I'm pretty stunned by how much better this version has been received by the RR community.

  Hope you all have a great day.