Aggro Litrpg || Progression Fantasy

First up, I replaced the point I'd lost in Strength from going all Breachwalker.

At first, that felt like it might be a bit of a waste—I wanted numbers go brrrrr from my levelling up, not just to break even. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised I couldn't afford to let it fall too far behind. I'd just beaten a man to death with my bare hands and the only reason that had worked was because I'd had the Strength juice to do it.

Sure, the System had given me a significant buff to make it stick, but the raw input of my stats still mattered. If I didn't try to keep my Strength moving upwards a little as I progressed, I'd quickly end up being more liability than lightning rod when things kicked off.

So, +1 in Strength to get back to 6.

That left me with one more point to spend. I almost pushed it into Strength – I'm nothing if not a simple guy – but I found myself looking at Charisma. It didn't feel ideal to have a Core stat sitting there in the red like my current credit score.

I hovered for a moment over the idea of nudging it back to zero. However, it occurred to me that a sensible person would be wondering why his armour—the good, rare, Class-specific armour—he'd just earned had dragged it down. Presumably, there was a good reason for that happening which wasn't just aimed at making me dislikeable for a laugh. It wasn't like I was back on Earth where being able to convince people to believe what I said was one of my key talents.

I was an Iron Provocateur. Maybe that -1 would be just the ticket . . .

I went back and forth on this for a bit, but ultimately left my Charisma underwater. If it was the wrong call, I could always drop a point into it later. I might as well see how things worked out. Instead, I opted to drop the second point into Endurance, bringing it up to 12.

Was that the boring, safe option? Sure. But with my gear set bonus meaning a point there also boosted my Health and Stamina by a point, 'safe' felt like a choice I couldn't afford to ignore. And besides, when your job was getting hit in the face, more health and stamina were about as sexy as things got.

Over a quarter of my total Health and Stamina was now being juiced directly from my 'Vestments of the Reluctant Anvil' set. I mean, sure it was an armour ensemble that looked like it had been looted from the corpse of a disgraced blacksmith and stitched together by a very angry scarecrow. But stats were stats, and numbers didn't lie.

Which led me to the next bullet point in that notification – Trait Slot unlocked. The moment I mentally clicked on those words, the System flickered and a new menu dropped down.

[New Trait Slot Unlocked – 1 Available]

Trait Selection Protocol Engaged

Please select one of the following compatible Traits:

> 1. Lineholder's Instinct (Passive – Tier 1)

You stand when others falter.

+5% Mitigation when you are the only party member within 5m of an enemy

Immunity to the first application of [Fear] or [Terror] per encounter

Enemies affected by Aggro Magnetism's Rage Debuff suffer -5% Attack Speed

> 2. Last Man Standing (Passive – Tier 1)

The longer you're outnumbered, the harder you are to kill.

When allies are downed, gain +2% Damage Resistance per unconscious teammate

At 3+ fallen allies, gain temporary [Unyielding] (+10% Stamina Regen, +10% Control Resistance)

Effect ends when allies are revived or replaced

> 3. Deadweight Denied (Passive – Tier 1)

You refuse to be a liability.

When at or below 25% Health, damage dealt is increased by +10%

Any successful Parry or Dodge at low Health restores +5 Stamina

Automatically reduces fall damage by 50% (always active)

I mentally hovered over each option in turn.

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Last Man Standing was pretty tempting. I mean, who doesn't want to be the bloke still swinging after everyone else is down? There was a gritty kind of heroism in it that, which initially, appealed. However, wasn't it also a bit... defeatist? I mean, this was a perk that would only kick in when things had already gone spectacularly tits-up. And while I wasn't betting on my existence in Bayteran being a bed of roses, I didn't particularly want to be, this early, banking on Lia - or anyone else - eating dirt just to trigger a nice little bonus for me.

No. Something about the language of the flavour text wasn't right for a me. I didn't think I was supposed to start shining after the rest of my team went down. Wasn't the whole point of the new 'me' to stop them going down in the first place? And, yeah, I did my best to studiously ignore looking at the wheezing, bleeding body of Lia as I thought that.

Deadweight Denied, then? Maybe. Maybe not. That one certainly made me pause over it for a moment. There was something in the phrasing that hit close to home—especially that bit about stamina return on dodges. That would be a usefully clever mechanic, and that damage boost at low Health could add some serious oomph in the clutch. But it still didn't feel like it ticked all my boxes. Wasn't it a bit... desperate? Like it was saying, "You're going to be dying. Might as well hit hard on the way out." Useful, sure. But more than a touch grim.

Which left me with Lineholder's Instinct.

Fortunately, the more I looked at it, the more it was going to be the obvious pick. It was the proactive, defensive, straight-up tank logic choice. And the kicker was, it felt like it knew exactly who I was being required to be in this realm. That +5% Mitigation when alone within 5 metres of enemies? That was basically a spotlight with my name on it. My whole Class thrived on being the centre of attention, and now the System was offering me a way to take that spotlight and make it a little more survivable.

And the Fear immunity? I thought that was the real prize. Because if there was one thing I'd learned—first in alleys and safehouses, later in killboxes, stairwells, and cul-de-sacs—it was that it wasn't the hits that broke you.

Not really.

No, it was the panic. That one skipped beat where your brain froze and your body refused to follow all the instincts you'd done your best to hone.

I'd seen it too many times in the old life. Guys who'd aced every exercise and nailed every dry run. They'd passed every class Griff could throw at them. And then they froze when the first shot wasn't fired at a paper silhouette, but straight at them. All that training vanished in a blink, because fear doesn't care about your coursework.

From what had happened in the Dungeon, I knew that first hit of [Terror] would be the same. A psychological flashbang aimed to overwhelm and override training. But now, with this Trait on board, I'd get one free pass. One chance per fight to stand when everything in me wanted to run

I thought that would be worth more than flashier perks or big numbers, because I wasn't here to win the fight on my own. I was here to make sure we didn't lose it together.

Plus, that Rage Debuff upgrade would be the cherry on the cake. Slowing the enemy's attack speed once I had their attention? Yes, please. That was the kind of synergy I could absolutely work with. Lia's blade might move faster than mine, but if I could force the enemy to stagger and misjudge even half their swings, that was a win for the whole team.

I locked it in.

[New Trait Acquired: Lineholder's Instinct – Lvl 1 (Passive Lvl)

> +5% Mitigation when within 5m of an enemy with no other allies present

> Immune to first [Fear] or [Terror] effect per encounter

> Enemies under Rage Debuff suffer -5% Attack Speed

So, the upshot of beating an Alchemist to death was that I was now very slightly harder to kill and even less fun at parties. Life comes at you fast.

I looked around the makeshift clearing again, and moved to adjust Lia's blanket where it had slipped down. What I saw wasn't great. The binding I'd done earlier was holding, but the wound beneath it was still wet and oozing. Her skin was pale and waxy, and though her chest continued to rose and fell, it did so pretty weakly.

I peeled back one of the makeshift bandages and winced. There was no sign of scabbing at all. It looked exactly the same as it had about an hour ago. Not worse, thank every minor saint, but certainly not better.

I regenerated 6 Health an hour as my baseline and I was a Level 3. Lia was twice my level, specced for physical combat, and had been swinging a blade for forever. She should've been showing something by now.

Then, without warning, the System pinge

[System Notification: Title Pathway – Warden (Unverified) – Passive Feature Triggered]

Proximity Scan: Ally Health Status AccessedClass Interaction Detected: Guardian-Warden Proximity Link ActiveVisualising Status Effects: LIA JORGENSDOTTIR

Status: [Weeping Wound] – Major Natural Health

Regeneration: Suppressed

Healing received: -50% effectiveness

Cause: Alchemical Exposure – Residual Void Infusion

Duration: Indefinite (until cleansed or counteracted)

Status: [Fatigue: Systemic] – Moderate

Stamina Recovery: Halved

Motor Coordination: Impaired

Healing from Rest: Negated

Cause: Potion Overload / High-Intensity Spell Exposure

I stared at the floating message.

So, it appeared that Lia wasn't just wounded, she was poisoned. Infected with something that was eating through her ability to bounce back. Her body wanted to heal, but the System wasn't letting it. This wasn't going to be a wait-it-out situation, was it? She didn't need a rest. She needed a fix. And somehow, I was going to have to find one.

"Well," I said to no one in particular. "This is a pickle."

And then, because the universe respects dramatic timing, it started to rain.