[ Chapter IV (4): "I ALONE LEVEL-UP" ]
[ PLAYER NO. 1 YOU HAVE LEVEL-UP! ]
[ PLAYER LVL. 0 ---> PLAYER LVL. 1 ]
Alastor couldn't bring himself to smile at seeing this message, as he lays on the ground. Spasming, his body convulsing, his already prominent veins turning into a sickly green color that eroded his body. With him hapless against it.
He bit the gums of his mouth, and held on... The pain of the poison got into him, as the numerous bite and slash marks around his body, especially in his left leg, turned him powerless and immobile.
Not liking this one-bit, Alastor prayed for the first time in a very long time. As he prays to an unknown deity for salvation, halting halfway in seeing something round in his peripheral.
Something small and is filled with reddish liquid, so red that one could confuse it with cherry juice. But with Alastor having the System, he of course knows that this isn't true...
As it is something else; his salvation.
[ SMALL POTION OF HEALTH x3 ]
And there's three of them! Which brought a smile to Alastor's worsening face, and is close to death... But he can stop that, as long as he just drinks these potions...
In desperation and new found hope, he manipulated his body to reach out for the bottles of potion... Sadly, no matter what he does, his body seems to be resisting his control.
Just like in sleep paralysis. And he hated it, and the powerlessness that comes with it, especially with salvation being so close to his grasp.
[ "N-no...!" ]
Using all the strength he has, which isn't much. He forced himself amidst the pain to lean forward, his body flapping to the ground. His head hitting the grass, as besides his head a single glowing red potion could be seen.
[ "Y-yes...!" ]
He forced his veiny slightly scribbled hand to grab the nearest potion, knocking the others in turn. But thankfully not causing them to open and spill to the floor.
With the strength he has, he then opened the potion, forcing even a tiny drop to enter his mouth... For the most part, the red drops of the potion entered his mouth, some spilling out before it could reach his mouth.
And some unlucky drops leaving his mouth... Gagging in it, he forced his head to lean from the side, facing up his head flat on the ground... Slightly suffocating him in turn.
But being good enough for his body to swallow the rest of the potion... That he dearly hopes is enough to cure his problems, and even ease the pain he is feeling.
God knows he needs that to lessen.
[ SMALL POTION OF HEALTH CONSUMED! ]
Like magic, the Potion of Health took effect. His body that is covered in green thick veins receded, his pale skin rejuvenating back to its normal color, his deep wound and cuts closing on itself bit-by-bit until it completely disappears.
When the last wound disappeared, Alastor was finally able to move freely. As quickly as he could, he rose up— like a zombie. His upper torso straight flat, the unbearable pain throughout his body having lessened to some degree, but he could still pain.
Like for example gagging on the mysterious liquids that he consumed, the health potion... Which thankfully worked, if not, then he would have died a worse death than before.
[ "I-it worked...!" ]
He stared at his hands incredibly, seeing the cuts in it retract in real time. The fatigue he is feeling disappearing, and even the micro pain throughout his body lessened until it finally disappeared.
He stared at the empty Potion of Health nearby and thanked it silently in his heart, before then refocusing his gaze on the other two... He now knows the value of it, and would treasure it.
About to stand up, he noticed on the side multiple System panel popping, which made him remain seated, as he played with it for a while trying to figure out the function of the said anomaly.
[ PLAYER NO. 1 HAVE RESISTED POISON ]
[ TRAIT UNLOCKED: POISON RESISTANCE LVL. 1 ]
[ POISON RESISTANCE: THE ABILITY OF THE PLAYER TO BE TOLERANT AGAINST WEAK POISON ]
He momentarily glanced at it, thankful that at the very least he got something out of this excruciating pain... And not nothing like the activation of the System, or the punishment whatever that is.
He had found out just like in the games, which he didn't play much, but knows of enough to get by. That you can develop these things called traits if the conditions are right, and they'll be beneficial to him...
In this case being submerged to unbearable pain, i.e. poison from the Ridens Viridis Lupus-monster. The bite wasn't that painful, but the poison that came after it was a piece of work to say the least.
He felt dying, over-and-over again. With his body hapless. Thankfully he was saved via the Potion of Health, and developed tolerance over the poison, which is good...
It just means he wouldn't experience the feeling earlier as much as before, but theoretically he could still be subjugated to it if faced with a stronger opponent— the medium, or large variant of the Ridens Viridis Lupus-monster for example, or another poison related monster. Which doesn't sound good.
In preparation for that, Alastor tinkered with the System he has. Something he loathes due to it torturing him for cursing, which is something he does at least 20 times a day, he still doesn't understand why it tortured him because of it...
In annoyance, he continued. He thought of the other function of the System; the so-called Player Status, and the Quest function of it... But the problem is, he doesn't know how to open it...
He has only been clicking at the texts earlier, moving it to the side, which is in a fixed constant around him... Not on how to open the other function of this thing... That'll be absurd.
He tried thinking about the words, "Player Status" or "Quest" in his mind repeatedly, with no results... So as a last resort he then muttered something under his breath; [ "Open Player Status..." ]
Which seems to have worked, as the previous other holographs disappeared, replaced instead with one long holograph which encompasses the following...
[ NAME: ALASTOR BLANK ]
[ LEVEL: 1 ]
[ JOB CLASS: NONE ]
[ TITLE: NONE ]
[ HP: 89 ]
[ MP: 5 ]
[ STR: 4 ] [ + ]
[ DEX: 6 ] [ + ]
[ STA: 3 ] [ + ]
[ WIS: 4 ] [ + ]
[ INT: 3 ] [ + ]
[ WIL: 6 ] [ + ]
[ LUC: 9 ] [ + ]
[ CHA: 6 ] [ + ]
[ CRG: 2 ] [ + ]
[ SPD: 4 ] [ + ]
[ REMAINING POINTS: 1 ]
[ POISON RESISTANCE LVL. 1 ]
He reads the texts carefully and notices that he doesn't have a class. From his knowledge Knight, Viking, Mage and other such roles fills this niche; and he doesn't have one, meaning he didn't start as one. Which may be good, or bad, he doesn't know yet.
Title on the other hand is earned through work, Duke of whatever town for example, Chief Adviser to whoever is this... Oftentimes in games it has buffs, which makes people exploit it and change in the midst of battle in some games...
He knew, because he got killed by sweaty players through this way, enraging him... Can't believe that knowledge is useful here.
Moving down, HP means Health Points/Power, he doesn't which is which. And MP stands for Magic/Mana Points/Power, which means the same thing in some role-playing games i.e. RPG.
Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Wisdom, Intelligence, Luck, Charisma, Speed he is sure of those 8... What he doesn't know the meaning of is the other two, WIL and CRG... Perhaps the first one means Will/Willpower, and the other Critic- Courage... Yes. Both useless things at the moment.
As he instead focuses his gaze on Strength, and subsequently clicking on the plus sign beside it...
Turning the remaining points from 1 to 0, and the other plus signs on each of the 10 rows to disappear. That isn't a bad thing, because the 4 in the Strength turned to 5.
Following it, he could feel his muscles loosening slightly and the inside of his feeling like he could carry more than he could previously... Perhaps bullshit, perhaps crap, he doesn't know yet as he doesn't have anything to prove his theory on.
But following the trend of the System which hadn't lied to him, yet, or not that he knew of... At the very least he is 95% sure that he did grow, strength-wise that is.
Which is both a great thing, and not. Great because he is now more powerful than before, not being easily killed; and not because he just now realized the potential of it...
If he had before, then he would have put the Point into Intelligence, then through that could he possibly not be stupid anymore, not as stupid as before that is...
About to vent his annoyance on the ground below, Alastor was surprised to hear multiple set of morbid laugh coming from the side... Which could only mean one thing.
[ "There's more...?" ]
Answering his question came the head of one green-wolf, snarling and laughing from the shadows under the trees. Looking at him, hunger in its eyes, with the appearance similar with slight difference to the previous wolf...
Alastor which is slightly more confident than before, may that factor be because he just killed one, is now pissed off, or because he has 2 more Potion of Health is not known to him. As he prepares for the attack of the Ridens Viridis Lupus...
[ "Come on buddy, I don-" ]
Pausing mid-sentence, Alastor noticed another pair of feet, which was followed by another wolf laughing... In panic, he noticed that there isn't just 1 monster, but 2 this time. Which is a problem.
[ "Ohhh... F-fuck!" ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 04/29/2025 ]
[ 04/29/2025 ]