…
Peter eased Mariah onto the bed before helping her lie down. Looking at her face, he recalled his class description. Jack of all trades but master of none. Painfully true and mockingly fitting
Peter sat down on the floor beside the bed. Clutching her left palm, he averted his face to avoid looking into her eyes. He gritted his jaw in deep regret.
‘I had been so naïve. Heh. I forgot the present and kept dreaming of the future,’ he thought, in hindsight, while lamenting his choices. ‘I trained for distant threats while danger crept close,’ Peter laughed mockingly, ‘What good did it do? I couldn’t even protect one person properly. Why did I assume my childhood to be peaceful? Just why?’
‘In my arrogance, I had spread myself too thin,’ Peter looked at his skills. Weapon Mastery. ‘I could wield any weapon, but not well enough to protect the village from an attack.’ His eyes fell on his trio of defensive skills, ‘heh. I could defend myself, but couldn’t offer that same protection to others.’ A tear fell from his eye onto Mariah’s palm, ‘I could heal myself, but… not heal you, mother. Forgive this foolish son of yours, if you can.’
‘Your son can do many things, but none are good enough to matter.’ Peter buried his face into her palm and whispered apologies. Once he was done blaming himself, fantasising about different outcomes, he sighed. Sitting straight, he examined her condition. She hadn’t uttered a single coherent word. She was a husk of her former self, barely able to move or speak without help.
Peter sniffled before muttering, “Just wait, Mom. I will do everything in my power to heal you.” Watching her sleep with a peaceful expression, Peter decided to act fast. They could not stay here for long. Peter had no idea how he would explain to the knights, who were sure to come, how both he and Mariah had survived the attack.
Creating a healing skill capable of healing her would take time. Peter couldn’t sit still until then. His guilt would not allow that. He would have to find someone. Someone who could heal her properly. He didn’t know the consequences of keeping her in this state for too long, and he didn’t want to find out.
With his priorities straight, Peter finally allowed himself a moment of much-needed respite. He needed sleep - real sleep. He could delay it with Undying Vitality, but that would defeat the purpose. He needed to assimilate his newly added stats, and sleep would accelerate the process.
Resting his body against the wall, with his head on the bed beside his mother’s hand, Peter closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
…
When Peter woke up, he woke to Mariah caressing his hair with her palm while sitting on the bed. He pushed himself upright and studied her face. “Mom?” he asked, smiling with relief. Seconds passed with him hoping that she recovered by some divine miracle. His smile slowly withered away. No, she was just acting on instinct - instincts ingrained deep in her mind.
Standing up from the floor, Peter noted the presence of DeathKnell in his shadow, lying dormant, awaiting his command.As its summoner, Peter shared a soul bond with the eldritch creature. It might have seemed in control, but knowing its nature, Peter didn’t trust it much. Now that it was back, though, it likely meant it had annihilated all the kobolds.
Taking a sigh of relief, Peter pulled up his status, wanting to read all the system notifications received during his slumber. Based on his natural clock, it had been a few good hours of sleep. The sun was likely up in the sky. Despite not seeing it due to the absence of a window in this room, Peter was sure of that.
Peter felt his stomach grumble, reminding him to put some food inside. ‘She must be hungry too,’ he thought. While looking at his status screen, he decided to cook something for both of them. Acting swiftly, he stood up and walked to the door.
“Ahh…” Mariah muttered, her face morphed with distress, once she saw him walk away. It poked a needle in Peter’s heart. He stared back with a reassuring smile. “I’m just going to prepare food, Mom,” he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be just downstairs for a while. It won’t take long.”
Mariah quieted down and relaxed, her hollow eyes sparking with a tiny sign of understanding. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good sign. Based on the symptoms, her injury might not be too bad, even if not yet recoverable. In case she wanted to follow him, he left the door wide open.
Peter made his way downstairs and frowned at the sight of kobold bodies lying around on the floor. Through the bond, Peter’s displeasure bled into his familiar. His shadow spread outward like black ink, covering every inch of the floor. It rippled and swirled, slowly swallowing all the corpses. Once it was done, it retreated.
Peter surveyed the floor, noting that even the blood had disappeared. Making his way down the newly cleaned hallway, Peter assessed his body. It might take a whole week for him to fully assimilate the new stats, but the effects were already showing. His bones were denser, muscles more compressed. His nervous system was faster, making his thought process and reaction speed a lot sharper.
The raised Perception showed its effects clearly as he felt more attuned to the world around him. Minor details that might’ve once required deeper focus now came to him easily.
And Dexterity…
Dexterity was something that he didn’t have before, thus it was much easier to notice. As he moved, Peter noticed his steps perfectly attuned to his centre of gravity. His body behaved like a well-oiled machine. He felt more flexible. He pulled his palm up and tried to move his fingers in unusual places. They moved with very precise movements.
‘I could probably thread a needle with the tiniest of holes with ease now,’ Peter thought, easily bending his fingers into uncomfortable angles without any discomfort. Moving to the kitchen, Peter started to search for some ingredients. He didn’t have high demands. Anything would do as long as it was edible. He quickly found some eggs, an onion, some chilli, and a tomato, and decided to make omelettes.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Grabbing a knife, Peter peeled the onions before washing all the vegetables. With his newly unlocked stat, his palms moved expertly, slicing the vegetables into smaller chunks with agile movements.
Finding the task much easier than he expected, Peter diverted some of his attention by pulling up his status. He examined his system notifications.



System...


You have reached level 41. Experience required 3865/16800. Congratulations! You have unlocked a Title: Kobold Slayer.



Before moving any further, Peter decided to check the Title description.



System...


Kobold SlayerKilled more than 1500 kobolds in a day.Effect: Kobolds will instinctively fear you.



‘Not very useful,’ Peter noted, ‘it’s not like I will be fighting kobolds all the time. Though it does explain a few things. System counted Deathknell’s kills as mine, too.’
‘With these new levels, I had eighteen free stat points to invest,’ Peter rubbed his chin while staring at his status screen. After investing those points, Peter checked other things in his status screen.



Status...


Name:
Peter
Race:
Human


Class:
Joker {Rare} lv. 40, Villager lv. 1
Age:
10


Title:
Trailblazer: Skills, Skill Creator, Kobold Slayer, True Cultist, The Walking Calamity
Level:
41


Experience:
3865/16800
Free slots points:
0


Health:
520 (Cons * 10)
Mana:

3210 (Spirit * 10)




Stats:



Constitution:
52
Spirit:

321



Strength:
45
Agility:

45



Dexterity:
15


 



Intelligence:
41
Perception:

14



Luck:
20
Charisma:

35



Skills:
IDE, Status Camouflage, Mana sense Lv. 38, Mana Manipulation Lv. 22, Weapons Mastery Lv.24, Undying Vitality lv.29, Split Focus, Eternal Ward lv. 24, Spirit of Fortitude lv. 38, Inspect lv.25, Summoning
Summons:

Deathknell lv. 220




Namely, the new summons section. He focused on it, and a new window opened.



Summon...


Name:
DeathKnell
Race:
Eldritch Spirit of Chaos


Class:
Shadow dweller {Common} lv.100, Spirit of Darkness {Uncommon} lv.100, Master of Shadows {Unusual} lv.20
Age:
356


Title:
Bells that heralds Calamity
Level:
220


Experience:
12/22000
Free slots points:
0


Health:
6840 (Cons * 30)
Mana:

5700 (Spirit * 30)




Stats:



Constitution:
228
Spirit:

190



Strength:
80
Agility:

92



Intelligence:
12
Perception:

50



Skills:
Mana sense Lv. 93, Mana Manipulation Lv. 84, Shadow Sense Lv. 99, Shadow Manipulation lv. 87, Darkness Manipulation Lv. 76, Greater Fear Lv.32, Soul Corruption lv. 43, Mental Corruption lv. 28, Mental Domination lv. 38, Night Veil Lv. 27, Cursed Binding Lv. 33, Eyes of the Abyss Lv. 39, Shadow Step Lv. 55
Master:

Peter Lv. 41




Looking at its status screen, Peter noted how game-changing higher-grade classes could be. Despite having fewer stats, Peter had no doubt he’d catch up to his familiar pretty soon.
Peter put all the chopped vegetables in a bowl, cracked some eggs and started to whip them together, ‘A common class only provides one point in constitution and one free stat point,’ he remembered.
With fully whipped eggs in his hands, Peter waited for the butter to heat up on the flat circular pan while continuing with his thought, ‘Uncommon classes were a bit better as they provided 2 free stat points together with one point in constitution at each new level,’ seeing smoke rise from the pan, Peter quickly put the whipped liquid on the pan.
His hands moved to grab freshly sliced bread. ‘An unusual class gave one point each in constitution and spirit, along with two free stat points.’ Peter remembered reading in a book.
Putting the bread on the half-cooked omelette, Peter made a few calculations. ‘At level 220, Deathknell only got 340 free stat points to distribute. Once I reached level 100, Joker would help me amass three hundred free stat points, and a hundred each in constitution and spirit.’
Flipping the omelette, Peter let the bread cook for some time before putting it all on a plate. Grabbing some fruits as well, Peter took the food back to eat with his mother.
…
When Mariah only looked at the food without showing any signs of eating, Peter had to feed her by hand. Thankfully, she instinctively chewed and gulped it down. Once both of them had eaten, Peter decided to explore the village in search of any survivors.
He required no security, but she did. Peter ordered DeathKnell to guard her from her shadow until he was back.