They all sat around in the clearing on logs and stared at Lorna. She shifted looking uncomfortable.
“Well?” Lorna finally asked.
“You leveled up!” Billy said. “What does that mean? What are your stats?”
She sighed loudly. “I am now at level 1 with 100 XP. It looks like my HP has increased by twelve each and my stamina by 6. I also got a personal quest – reach level 5 to choose a starter class.”
“How does it feel?” Yuki asked.
“I feel… stronger.”
“What about your stats?” Billy asked again.
“What about them?”
“How have they changed?”
“They are the same.”
“The same? That can’t be.”
“I can hardly show you can I?”
“Have you tried?” Trevor said finally.
“Tried what?”
“Tried showing them. Maybe you can show others your status screen too. Some of the books I read you could do that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I knew it! I knew you had read books on this.”
Trevor help his hands up. “Just try it.”
Her eyes flickered for a few moments. Billy wondered if her looked like that when accessing his own menus. His niece used to make that face when she had wind.
“No nothing,” she said finally.
“Wait,” said Trevor. “Let me try something.”
After a few seconds, Billy received a system message saying
He accepted and he could somehow feel that he was linked to Trevor. Yuki and Su Li soon joined the party.
“Come on Lorna, accept.”
She looked at them desperately for a moment and then accepted.
“Now try thinking party status,” Trevor said.
Billy did that and immediately he could see the stats of the others.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
From what Billy could see both Su Li and himself were listed as altered humans. That was probably due to the need to readjust their bodies more than the others. He was more puzzled about how the hit points were calculated. It was sure it was somehow linked to constitution and the difference between Lorna’s and everyone else was probably due to her being level 1.
“Hey Lorna,” he said. “What were your total hit points before leveling up?”
“52,” she replied. “They increased by 12 when I leveled up.”
“The same as your constitution,” Billy said quietly.
“That would mean that increasing our constitution would increase our health points,” Trevor said.
“Quite significantly as you level up,” Billy replied. “It does look like we have a base of 40 plus the constitution. That is not a great difference at level 0 but imagine at higher levels.”
“In my comics, you can refine your body using cultivation methods,” Yuki said. “That might increase the factor even more.”
“There is a lot we don’t know,” Billy said. “However, what we do know if that leveling will increase our ability to survive.”
The other mystery was what were unassimilated stat points. If this had been a game, he would have assumed that these were points gained from leveling up that could be added permanently to the character’s stats. This way characters not only got more hit points they could also become stronger or faster or well... or whatever they wanted.
“Did you notice the unassimilated stat points?” he asked.
Lorna looked startled and then her eyes flickered again. “Oh! I missed that.”
“Try to focus on the category and see if any information comes up,” he suggested.
After a few minutes, her eyes widened. “It says that unassigned stat points can be added to one of the eight main character statistics by channeling the new energy inside of me through the appropriate method. Affinities and control cannot be increased by this method. So, I can become superwoman?”
Billy laughed, “Using the appropriate method. Whatever that means.”
“Well I tried adding to my strength stat and nothing happened.”
Su Li stood up excitedly. “Maybe it’s like Yuki’s comic books. You know…” She looked at each of them for a minute. “Don’t you guys read comics?” She struck a painful looking pose and then said in a strained voice, “By the power of the stars I call down …. ASTRAL SWORD.” She then brought her arms down slowly as if wielding a giant sword.
Billy laughed. “Oh, you mean like Seafarer Moon?”
“Or Dragonorbs Sigma?” Trevor said.
“What are those?” Su Li said. “You guys are so old.”
“Dragonorbs was an old cartoon that was on TV when I was younger. In Dragonorbs the characters could increase their power by fighting, training and learning new techniques.”
Yuki sighed. “She’s talking about cultivation comics. She always bores says they bore her to death but she seems to remember a lot of details. Can’t you see the cultivation part in the stats menu?”
“Hey, they were your comics!” Su Li objected. “I just read them to be a good friend.”
Yuki grinned at her. “In cultivation, while being chased by beautiful fairies and goddesses, the main characters absorb power from the elements and form what are they called in English…?”
“Mana cores,” Billy said. While he had not read the comics, he had read some books that mentioned this. There was nothing like a good Litrpg or progression book to while away the time.
Yuki nodded and carried on. “But to do this they needed to use special techniques and even things like formations. We need to find a grumpy ancient master to teach us after making us do all of his chores.”
Su Li danced over to Billy and kissed him on the cheek. “I think Billy understands. I will be your fairy. All will envy my beauty. Together we will quest for powerful herbs and divine treasures that will unlock our true ancient bloodlines.”
“Really?” Yuki said.
Lorna stood and brushed herself off. “Well, I am not a princess or some fairy thing, whatever that is, and I don’t know any special mystical techniques. The only grumpy ancient here is Billy. And I don’t think he has some mysterious techniques to show you. Right now, we need to sort out our shelter. I suggest that Trevor and I start working on this place while you three go back and get the meat and anything else that looks useful.”
“Just the three of us?” Yuki asked, her eyes widening.
Billy could tell that she was scared at the thought. He could not blame her. Already she had seen Martin die and Billy almost die.
“We will be safe with you and Billy to protect us,” Su Li said.
“Yuki, we have a lot to do before nightfall,” Lorna said sternly. “We all have to do our part. There should not be anything around that you three cannot handle if you stick to the route we took. You can take my spear.”
Yuki nodded and picked up the spear. Su Li held a staff while Billy still had his spear.
As they were leaving, Lorna grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear. “Stay focused and don’t take any foolish risks.”
Billy nodded. Safety first. Then maybe they would let him level up.
***
The girls chatted loudly on the way back to Billy’s consternation. He did not say anything though, just kept his eyes open. They needed some forms of release and as Lorna said it should be safe enough. They were nearly back to the Induction Centre when a large red demon frog hopped out of one of the bushes.
It looked to be grinning at Billy.
He used [analyse]. [Corrupted frog – level 2. Favorite food: insects.]
Billy cursed. The one that had nearly killed him had only been level 1. This thing would be much harder to kill.
“We got your back, Billy,” Yuki whispered.
Billy thought about running but he knew if he ran now, he would struggle to face his fears in the future. He needed to show to himself that he could this.
He hefted his spear and settled himself into the basic stance Yuki had shown to him, with his left leg in front of his right and his weight comfortably balanced. At least this time he knew about the poisonous tongue. He motioned girls back to give himself some space.
As if triggered by this motion the frog jumped forward. A second later its tongue lashed out. Billy side-stepped to the left. The tongue missed him by inches.
Again, the tongue lashed out. This time he side-stepped to the right and then dashed forward his spear held close to his body. Before the frog could turn Billy was to the side of it. The frog was defenseless if he was not in front of it. He stabbed it repeatedly with his spear. With the first strike he achieved a critical hit inflicting 10 hit points of damage. After that, each hit drained the frog of 5 hit points until it was dead.
He was also awarded with a new skill, [Critical Stab] which at level 1 gave him a 10% chance of a critical hit with any stabbing weapon.
“You did it, Billy,” Su Li said. “And you are not injured or covered in goo.”
“Yay!” Billy said sarcastically. Still, he could not keep the grin from his face. “Come on! Let’s get the supplies.”
He felt a lot better after killing the frog. While the battle with the rat-fiends had gone quite smoothly, with the frog it felt like he was in control of the fight and not just attacking blindly.
Searching through the Induction Centre again they grabbed the spare robes, a couple of empty containers that had previously contained the fresh water and the fox meat that Trevor had left to finish cooking. Billy was not sure whether the meat would remain edible for long without proper storage, but he knew that historically people would cure and smoke meat to preserve it. He just hoped that dysentery was not a new enemy in his future.