Waking up after a long slumber within a Dungeon World was very much unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It wasn't the fact that he was in a dangerous place itself, but rather the fact that he had woken up more sore than he could imagine. Everything hurt. His toes and fingers. Jaw, eyebrows, forehead, and even his neck felt a knick or two. That wasn’t mentioning areas he couldn’t believe could become sore, like his armpits, hip, and more.
He struggled to get off the hammock, groaning and moaning with every single movement. Worse was that every step he took sent a shock of dull pain through his entire body. Unable to do anything else, William summoned himself a couple of cups of water and downed them without hesitation.
Heavenly Water Consumed -
+ 1000 Runes
—
Heavenly Water Consumed -
+ 1000 Runes
I can't go like this. Gotta figure something to help with this soreness. What happens if I wasn’t lucky and ended in a hellscape with no breaks?
William grunted as he felt a flash of electricity course through his veins. A surge of energy filled him from the downed cups of water, enough to give him enough in the gas tank to begin stretching and figure out a way to relieve the remaining soreness that affected him. The longer he stayed awake, the more gradual the suffering disappeared. It wasn't until a few hours later that he felt fresh enough to take on another Corrupted Dead in a battle.
Though that wasn't his plan for the time being. Rather, after relieving himself of the soreness, he turned back towards his status page.
Status User William (1oPg72j9) -
[Class] - [Pathetic Tavern Brawler (F-)]
Level - 8 [8/49]
Runes Held - 7680
Runes Needed for Level Up - 1438
Strength - 70
Dexterity - 60
Endurance - 50
Vitality - 70
Intelligence - 40
Wisdom - 40
Arcane - 50
He did a bit of calculations on how much his current runes would take him and what he needed to accomplish his goal of four level tens.
Just getting [Pathetic Tavern Brawler] to level 10 with would cost him three thousand and sixty-six runes. From level 9 to level 10 alone, he need a thousand six hundred and twenty-eight runes per class. With three sitting at that threshold, he needed roughly four thousand eight hundred and four total in addition to what was needed for [Pathetic Tavern Brawler]. That meant in total of seven thousand nine hundred and fifty.
William was about only three hundred short from where he needed to be.
That was nothing but a few sips from the heavenly water he had in his inventory.
He pulled out a cup and downed it, enjoying the buzzing feel that went down his throat, closer to sparkling water. He grunted as he received a third surge of electric energy running through his body emanating from his core and looping back after reaching the tips of his fingers, toes, and even hair. It was like drinking a super red bull on steroids, the godfather of all red bulls.
No point wasting any more time.
It was best to get this all over with so he could get back to farming runes.
William switched back to his [YaKinov Venom Monarch Incarnation] [Class] and quickly dumped enough runes to level it up to level 10. The system's response was immediate.
Congratulations! Level Up!
+7 Unallocated Stat Points
Level 10 Skill Unlock -
[YaKinov Venom Bullet (C+)] [1/99]
Ranged, YaKinov Venom, No Weapon Necessary
A ball of spinning venom the size of a .44 Mag | Can be Loaded without firing | Hovers around User
Power of Impact variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
Amount of Bullets at once is variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
Duration of Hovering is variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
William laughed. He finally received a projectile-based skill that didn't require him to manipulate it himself. Not only that, but he could potentially hold many of these venom bullets hovering around him to use tactically as needed. Hopefully, it would lessen the headaches and migraines he had been dealing with whenever he used his venom manipulation for too long.
He would need to test how powerful it actually was compared to throwing a big blob of the same corrosive liquid that fit his palm.
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Right now though, he had far more important things to finish.
He transitioned back to [Ruined Lightning Inquisitor] and went through the same exact process of sending it to level 10. William received a similar response from the system. Both the level up and a level 10 skill unlock. He had higher hopes for this class considering lightning was typically used as one of the more powerful abilities within any fantasy world. While throwing blobs and shooting bullets of corrosive venom out of his fingers was all cool and dandy, nothing beat throwing bolts of lightning or calling them from the clouds to annihilate an enemy hundreds of meters away.
The rule of cool had its place even in a Dungeon World.
Congratulations! Level Up!
+7 Unallocated Stat Points
Level 10 Skill Unlock -
[First Judgement (C+)] [1/99]
Melee, Lightning, Warhammer/Fists Weapon Based
A surge of Charged Lightning (Barrier) coating your (hammer/bludgeon/fist type weapon) for a close quarter attack
Secondary Effect - Discharge of Electrical Load
Attack Power variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
First Judgment?
William immediately had a bad feeling about the [Ruined Lightning Inquisitor] [Class]. He has a sneaking suspicion that all Inquisitor classes, regardless of elemental type, were close-range and more variety of skills focused type of [Class]. Not that he was going to complain. [First Judgment] sounded like a powerful attack. He just needed to figure out where he was going to find a war-hammer or mace.
He did not intend to use his fists for fighting close-range with monsters already more powerful than him, much less attempt something that ridiculous against the Death Knight itself.
It was asinine to take away his only advantage and dive headfirst into what they were better at.
William moved on to [Pathetic Tavern Brawler]. There wasn't much expectation for it to give him anything that was close to good compared to the (C+) classes. Yet, it had provided him with a decent passive skill that would constantly work in the background. He could see [Block Head] being a viable and important part of his arsenal once it was fully leveled up.
Not now though.
It was still very low-level, and the percentage it provided him was infinitesimal.
Congratulations! Level Up!
+2 Unallocated Stat Points
Level 10 Skill Unlock -
[Heavy Foot (F-)] [1/49]
Quicker movements in tighter, obstacle filled areas | Percentage Increase - .09
Variant on overall Level of individual [Class]
William frowned at the skill he received. It seemed very specific to certain cases where a [Pathetic Tavern Brawler] would end up in. Places he likely would never ever step into until he was a few thousand levels from where he was now. The likelihood of finding a tavern within this dungeon world was unrealistic, though he could see how this skill could be used in tighter areas with tons of obstacles.
The issue was that most of the hallways were clear of anything, the stairwells didn't have any debris or trash, and the cells seemed mostly empty. It was going to be difficult to find an place that had enough obstacles to activate this skill unless he prepared the area himself.
He could think of a few plans to take advantage of it, but he wasn't sure it was worth the increase. Zero point nine percent was hardly much.
Then again, just one stat point had made a difference during his first fight against the original Corrupted Guardsman.
William moved on to [Novice Knight Adept].
Congratulations! Level Up!
+3 Unallocated Stat Points
Level 10 Skill Unlock -
[Novice Battle Awareness (F+)] [1/49]
Awareness of your surroundings | Awareness/Detection of Incoming Attacks and Threats | 7 foot Radius (14 foot Diameter)
Surroundings awareness variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
Threat/Danger detection variant on overall Level of individual [Class][Skill]
That seemed far more useful than [Heavy Foot]. Any type of battle awareness was a boost to his skills overall, including decision making, reaction time, and everything else. Plus, he didn't need to find specific areas or mentally toggle it on to use it to level it up. It would grow just by association with any battle he found himself in. That fell into the [Block Head] type passive skills he was starting to covet.
William flexed his hand and felt his [First Judgment] skill come to life. A crackling ball of lightning roared as it sprouted around his balled up fist. It snapped back and forth, trying to break free from his grip and find a target to annihilate, but he refused to allow it to escape his hold. The longer he kept it alive, the more difficult it was to keep it under control.
He can already imagine the devastation something like this would cause.
It didn't really matter what type of enemy was before him unless they had an ability to directly counter it or carried natural resistances against it. If he ever encountered a situation like that then a couple of [Venom Bullet]s to the face when they expected a lightning based attack would solve it faster than he could say ‘Venom’.
William let the skill dissipate without finding anything to destroy.
A feeling of dissatisfaction filled his chest at the lack of a suitable target for his lightning to discharge at, but he ignored it as a system notification appeared.
Skill Upgrade -
First Judgement [1/99] -> [2/99]
Just flexing the ability tended to give him the first level up.
He couldn't deny how addicting it was to see his skills continue to rise. Yet, that was nothing compared to what it felt like to see his [Class] levels and attributes continue to skyrocket.
William then activated his [YaKinov Venom Bullet] skill and watched as two bullets materialized in the air before him. The pale, purple bullets spun lethargically in their spots, hovering in the air and following him wherever he went. He took a few steps to the left, then back to the right, lunging and jumping, rolling and diving. Yet, no matter what move he committed to, the bullets stayed within a few feet of him in the perfect spot to not get hit by anything stationary.
Two was good, but he wanted a lot more.
A machine gun of venom bullets would be sweet!
He kept pushing himself to summon as many of the venom bullets until he finally reached the limit of his mental capacity at four. A splitting headache made him collapse as soon as he tried to activate the system and get a fifth to appear. That attempt sent the four that were hovering around him to drop and splash onto the floor. They hissed and sizzled on the stone tiles just like the blob had done before vanishing, though this time it was quicker.
Skill Upgrade -
YaKinov Venom Bullet (C+) [1/99] -> [3/99]
It took a few moments before he regained enough strength in his trembling limbs to stand back up. He still felt a strange buzz in his head that lingered in the back of his mind. He was sure that looping back after a death cleared him of all his physical injuries, and yet he started to question whether it cleared him of all his mental strain during over usage of his skills.
Was it a hard cap on his skill that was so visceral and violent or was this the accumulation of multiple attempts to surpass what he could accomplish at this point.
It was not something William was looking forward to, yet, it had to be done.
He needed to learn and understand his power, the system, and its limitations to become the best version of himself. There was no other choice. Either he excelled beyond his and Zefor’s wildest imaginations or he would die a horrible death soon enough. One so bad even his respawning would not help him recover from.
Especially after learning that it wasn’t a loop to the same day and same time, but rather a respawn after every death to a specific area.
He could already imagine a dozen ways to counter him.
William needed to be careful to not end up with another Zefor incident, but with someone with ill intent instead of the lucky process he had gone through with the ancient red being. Getting caught unawares and imprisoned was not on his bingo card.
