NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: Back To Level Zero Again
Focussing on seeing his status was something Dominic had become very practised at. And it turned out that the answer to his question was yes and no.
Status of Dominic Martin Cole / Leo
Species: Human (body) / Lion (mind), Two-Souled, Chimera
Level: 0
Progress to next level: 53,000/1000 XP level up
Class: None
Health Points: 270/270
Stamina Points: 250/250
Mana Points: 90/90
Quests: A Noble Endeavour; Regain what is Lost II
Attributes
Available points: 0
Strength: 24
Perception: 16
Endurance: 25
Charisma: 20
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 15
Wisdom: 9
Constitution: 27
Defence: 17
Soul: 5
Skills:
Telepathy - communicate mentally with other thinking beings.
Spells:
Lightning Discharge level 1 (35% progress to level 2) - 1:1 mana / unit of static electricity to damage ratio. Coat your weapons with electricity and discharge it into your opponent on contact. Electrical resistance is effective against this attack. Magical resistance is partially effective against this attack.
Equipment:
- Leather Gorget (T1) - +12 to Piercing/Tearing/Slicing damage reduction and +6 to Crushing damage reduction to attacks to the neck. 6m³ storage space (non-stasis)
- Tail Armour + Tail Morningstar (T1, Common) - Tail armour offers +20 to Tearing/Slicing damage reduction and +12 to Crushing and Piercing damage reduction to attacks to areas covered. Tail club offers +10-24 Crushing damage and +5-12 Piercing damage. (currently unavailable)
- Storage Earring (T1) - Filled
- Storage Bracelet (T2) - 28m3 storage space (stasis)
Yes, he could see his status; no, it wasn't his status. Or at least, it wasn't the status he was used to seeing.
'This body is super weak,' he said to Leo in dismay. His health, which had been at 800 HP was now down to a mere 270 HP. And his mana, which had only just reached triple digits as of his last level up, was now back down to double digits at 90 MP. His stamina wasn't much better, having reduced even more than his health had.
'Humans,' Leo scoffed, as if that should be self-evident. 'I told you that lions are superior.'
Dominic didn't want to admit any such thing to Leo so he searched his new status screen for a way of refuting that assertion. It was disappointing that none of his Abilities had carried over as Skills – that would have been very useful. It was interesting to notice that his sole spell had, though – which implied that he would be able to absorb the fire spell as a human – humanoid – if he wanted and then still have access to it in his lion form. It was also interesting to see that the beginning of his status screen was practically the same, though there was no Hydration or Satiation; instead, there was 'Class'. And it was in that first part of their status screen that he found his best argument against Leo's point.
'Look – we're back to level zero again!' he exclaimed in excitement.
'And this is a good thing, how?' Leo demanded.
'Because it means that these are our base stats. And, Mr lions-are-superior, if you remember, when we were a meagre level zero lion, we didn't have anything like the stamina points that we do now, and our health points were only a little more than we currently have. And we didn't even have mana points. So clearly humans have got something going for them. Plus, it's likely that when we level up, we'll receive points towards our attributes in some way.' Hopefully they'd be able to choose where to put them, like they could with their perk points and not have them automatically assigned, of course. But they would cross that bridge later.
'It seems to cost a lot more to level up than it should,' Leo pointed out. 'Just getting from level zero to level one seems to take a thousand XP.'
'But we've already got over fifty thousand of them,' Dominic pointed out. 'That must be what was put aside from the dungeons. If it's a thousand points per level, that means we'll be level fifty-three by the end! Of course, it's more likely that the cost will increase just as the Prey Point cost does as a lion, but still, we must be able to get a few levels out of that. We'll be back to our normal strength in no time! And considering how much XP we got from just two dungeon runs, maybe it's easier to get, making the bigger numbers irrelevant.'
'Perhaps,' Leo replied non-committedly.
'Actually,' Dominic said slowly, looking at the numbers in his Attributes section, 'I think going back to level zero is actually a big point in our favour.'
'Explain,' Leo demanded, bristling at the mere idea that being weak could be a good thing.
'Well, look at the difference between the different attributes! Twenty-four in Strength, twenty-five in Endurance, and twenty-seven in Constitution. At the same time, ten or less in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Soul. Apart from the most recent investments into Mana Heart and, Brain, and Soul, we have mostly been concentrating on our physical attributes. We've already figured out that the Aspects that we invested in as a lion have carried over to this new form – and I think that's what we're seeing now in our Attributes.'
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
'I don't see what relevance this has to going back to level zero being a good thing,' Leo replied grumpily.
'Because, assuming that it costs more for each level up, just as with Prey Points, it means that we'll have to pay less than if it had transferred our original level over to this body. Which in turn means that we've got a better foundation to build upon than we would otherwise have. And,' Dominic continued, a realisation hitting him, 'what if it works the other way around too? What if by increasing our Attributes as a human, we improve our Aspects as a lion too?'
Leo was silent for a long moment.
'It seems like something we should test,' he announced finally, sounding uncharacteristically serious.
'I agree,' Dominic responded quickly.
With both of them in agreement, Dominic activated the first level up waiting for him.
Unlike when he was a lion, he didn't have to make any choices, not immediately anyway. In fact, he might have thought that nothing had happened if not for the fact that his level had increased on his status screen and his store of XP had dropped a little.
Level: 1
Progress to next level: 52,000/1050 XP level up
Immediately, he saw that his suspicion about the increasing amount of XP needed for each level was correct, even if it was only a small increase. From experience, that would change with them reaching higher and higher levels. Looking further down in his status, Dominic was relieved to see what he'd been hoping for.
Attributes
Available points: 5
'I know you'll probably disagree with me, but hear me out,' Dominic started before Leo could make any suggestions. Not that he tended to, but it would be just typical of the contrary lion to do so when Dominic was least expecting him to. 'I think we should put this into one of our lowest stats and then go back to lion form to see what changes might have happened there.'
'Why our lowest Attributes?' Leo asked after a moment of thought. 'Why not our highest?'
'Because I figure that proportionately, five points will do a lot more to our Wisdom, Intelligence, or Soul than to Strength, Constitution, or Endurance. Which might mean that we're more likely to see an effect on our lion form,' explained Dominic. There was a long silence which he endured with as much patience as he could.
'Choose Soul, then,' Leo suggested finally, surprising Dominic by not actually arguing with him – again, contrary, unpredictable lion. 'Perhaps we can rid ourselves of this penalty you are so obsessed with.'
'That's…a good idea,' admitted Dominic. 'Alright.'
So saying, he did his best to assign the points. The good thing was that it turned out that the humanoid System interface was just as intuitive to work with as the beast interface was. The bad thing was that it appeared they still had a problem.
[Error: one of the user's chosen Attributes is damaged. Points assigned to this Attribute will only be worth 0.4 standard attributes with the total rounded down.]
'Well, that's annoying,' Dominic sighed. It was just as well that Selessa had helped them to find a way to fix their Soul through levelling up within the area of influence of their Place of Power, otherwise they'd really be stuck. Maybe that was why their Soul Attribute was so low in the first place. 'Shall we put the points into Wisdom, then?'
'Since it's the second lowest, I suppose,' Leo agreed, sounding disgruntled. Though whether it was the thought of putting it into Wisdom specifically or realising that they'd met a roadblock in terms of healing their Soul, Dominic wasn't sure. Actually, most likely it was because it was Leo's suggestion which had failed.
This time when he put the points into Wisdom, there was no problem. A light shiver went through him, and something pinched in his chest briefly. And then it was over. Dominic checked that Attribute again.
Wisdom: 9 -> 14
Dominic made a mental note that apparently he could add Attribute points anytime, not just when he levelled up, unlike enhancing his Aspects in his leonine form. Then he switched back to his main form, the transition feeling slightly more comfortable than the last time, though it was still very odd.
Opening up his status, he was relieved to see that it was the one he was used to – nothing had changed in its layout and representation as a result of exploring the options available to his humanoid form. He hadn't really thought that it would have, but there had always been the possibility.
He first tried to ask the System to show him any changes, but nothing came up. Hoping that that didn't mean that there hadn't been any changes, he started scanning down the status. To his disappointment, he couldn't see any differences, not even when he looked multiple times.
'Am I missing something here?' he complained to Leo. The lion hesitated for a moment.
'I've seen one thing that's different,' he answered slowly.
'What?'
'In the quest section.'
Dominic frowned mentally but returned to that bit.
Quests: A Noble Endeavour; Regain what is Lost II
'Oh…is it the fact that there's a II after the quest which caught your attention?' Dominic asked with a little confusion.
'That seems to be the only difference between before and now, though I don't know why it didn't come up when you tried to sort the status according to changes. Perhaps it has something to do with why it appeared that our Aspects influenced our new form and why adding points to our Attributes is now not influencing our better form,' Leo pointed out with a hint of carelessness, as if he didn't care whether he was right or not.
'It's logical,' Dominic admitted, even if it didn't seem likely. But it was the only difference he could see. And even if not it would be good for them to know what had changed with the quest anyway.
[Quest: Regain what is Lost II]
[Once two separate beings, now one, you have fully engaged with one of your parts and have regained access to your other half in a one-time transformation. Fully engage with your other form and find an equilibrium to make your whole greater than its parts.]
[Reward: Regain access to a new form upon your next Tier or Half-step Tier after completing the quest.]
''One-time transformation'….' Dominic repeated as he read the text. He knew from experience that it didn't mean he could only transform once into their humanoid form, however much it might sound like that. He was rather relieved he hadn't read the quest before switching between his forms a couple of times – he would have been too afraid to lose access to his human form and would probably have stayed in it, despite all the problems that that would have caused. At least this way, he hadn't been worried about switching between lion and humanoid forms.
But perhaps this misleading little phrase was the source of their issues.
'What if it was a one-time transfer of Aspects to Attributes? What if now there won't be any influence of changes to either form?'
'You mean that even if we improve our Aspects as a lion, they won't be translated onto our new bipedal form?' Leo asked, sounding troubled.
'That's what I'm wondering,' Dominic confirmed.
'It's possible,' admitted Leo. 'And irritating if so.'
'Agreed,' Dominic sighed. 'Though I suppose it does mean that we can choose to take a different route with our humanoid form than the one we've taken with our leonine one. Either way, it can't be changed and perhaps if we 'fully engage' with our new form, it'll work out better in the end.'
'Perhaps,' acknowledged Leo unhappily. Dominic wondered whether he was thinking the same as Dominic was – that it had taken mating with Sekhmet for Dominic to fully accept his leonine form; would it take something similar for Leo to do the same in their humanoid form? Or would it be something different?
But since, for now, that was something unachievable, they might as well turn their attention to something they could change – levelling up their humanoid form and choosing the Attributes to increase.