NOVEL NEXT Chapter 88: Conflict
Leif watched as Ram took a swig from his seemingly endless bottle, then the goatman handed the bottle to him. He took the bottle and eyed it suspiciously, it was normal alcohol, this wasn’t the first time Ram had offered Leif his bottle in the past hour. The spriggan tilted back his head and drained more than enough liquid that the bottle should be almost empty.
Nope, still full. Leif mused, handing it back to Ram. Ram was going on a long winded, and partially rambling tangent about a species of bat monster that lived within a series of caverns beneath the northern mountains. This wasn’t the first story the awakened goat had told Leif about the mountains, and he was increasingly grateful his past, less experienced self had given up on that quest.
Even as he was now, Leif doubted he could make it even half way up. His gaze shifted down the valley, watching as large shapes moved through the icy mist that was growing by the hour. If ice elementals at their full strength call the mountains home, I highly doubt reaching the summit is even a remote possibility.
Ram was gesturing wildly as he described the time he punched one of the ‘screamer bats’ as he called them, so hard that its head exploded. Leif chuckled at the mental picture of one of the monsters letting out a high pitched screech, only for that screech to abruptly cut off as its skull was reduced into a fine mist. The goatman took another swig, and in that moment Leif opened up the system windows that he had automatically closed after surviving the explosion.
Level up! Class [Brawler] is now level 10!
For reducing an elemental to the point of near death while using your body as a weapon and surviving the resulting explosion because of your powerful physique you have gained a level!
+1 to [Might] +1 to [Alacrity] +1 free points!
You have gained the capstone class skill [Fists of Conflict]!
Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Brawler] class! [Brawler] experience earned is evenly distributed between your other classes!
Foundation tier general classes can be promoted using a promotion item! You may directly promote this class into an Advanced class, or merge it with another Foundation class to create a Union class!
Leif recoiled slightly at the barrage of system windows. Then he let out a groan and flopped back into the side of the hill.
“What?” Ram asked, leering over the lid of his infuriatingly full bottle.
“I levelled up.” Leif said.
“Congratulations?”
“No, I levelled up in the wrong class. Now I have another skill that I’m pretty sure pushes me back over the skill limit for experience gain.”
Ram laughed, it started as a low snicker but quickly built up into a full belly guffaw. Leif conjured a golden hand that reached out and tried to snatch the bottle but the goat lifted it out of reach. Leif focused, and his hand extended. Ram stood up and shuffled away as Leif’s golden hand groped uselessly in the air.
“I told you to only use skills from the class you wanted to level up. But did you listen to old Ram? Noooooooo.” He mocked, leaning to the side as Leif swiped for his bottle. The conjured limb became too long, and without any cultivated vitality to bolster its form the arm dispersed into motes of essence.
Leif threw a rock at him with his newly regenerated hand. A tiny bolt of lightning struck it out of the air. “If I did that while fighting the larger ice elementals I would be dead.” Leif pointed out.
“True.”
“And I wasn’t getting any experience from fighting the weak elementals.”
“You probably were, just only tiny amounts.”
“Ugh, now I need to fight another one, maybe more before I can evolve. Stop laughing you ass!” Leif said, rolling to his feet with a sigh.
“Not an ass.” Ram said lazily. “I’m a goat, not a donkey.”
“Hilarious. Maybe I’ll try out my newest skill on you.”
“You’re a hundred levels and two hundred years away from that working kid.”
===
Fists of Conflict:
Aspects: Social*, Enhancement (Body)*
Foes you strike with your body find their attention drawn to you and away from all else. While under the effects of this skill your words and actions have an intimidating presence.
You have increased physical resilience against attacks from those intimidated by this skill and deal increased damage from your unarmed strikes against them.
===
“Huh? That’s not what I expected.” Leif said, finishing reading the description of his newest skill. Absent-mindedly he put the six free attribute points he had accumulated into [Might], [Alacrity] and [Charisma]. Bringing the first two up to a round total of fifty.
“What?” Ram asked, having trudged back up the hill.
“The capstone skill from my [Brawler] class has its primary aspect as ‘social’.”
The goat raised an eyebrow. “You plan on beating things to death politely?”
“Hmm? No, not at all. I think with this skill I might just be unkillable against certain enemies.”
“Do elementals count?”
“Unlikely, can they be intimidated?”
“By you? No.” Ram said smugly.
The two stood there for several moments, colossal beings crashed in the valley below. “Do you plan on visiting your family?” Leif asked, his eyes tracking movements in the mists.
Ram nodded. “It’s been too long, I bet they miss me. Why do you ask?”
“I sent a group of animals that were under my protection with them, hopefully they’re still together even after all this time.”
“Mhmm, you mentioned that before.”
“Yeah, I hope they’re doing alright. I think getting enough food may have been a problem, I’m not sure why but they seemed to eat less than normal when they were around me.” Leif said, then he turned to Ram. “Do you know where they are?”
He nodded and took a swig from his bottle. Leif frowned internally. “How can you tell? I assume they’re not close.”
“I can sense storms.” Ram replied simply. “And most of the clan have storm related classes, their bloodline grants them quite the affinity for them.”
“Huh.” Leif nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Do they have a ritual or something to combine their powers so you can track them or are you able to detect anyone with storm related powers?” He asked.
“It’s hardly a ritual.” Ram said with a snort. “Just calling up their powers all at once. And no I can’t just track anyone with storm powers, it’s more… complicated than that.”
“I don’t suppose you plan on expanding that explanation?” Leif asked, half joking.
The goatman glared at him. “Endless questions with you isn’t it. Like talking to a damn kid.”
Well, the system does only consider me to be twelve years old. The spriggan mused, but he kept silent.
“I’m not sure how it works exactly, so don’t bother asking. I can sense storms that are brewing, and storms that have broken, they appear differently to my skill. I know that my family are by the western coast, far away from the large human territories. I can sense the storm overhead, where it will go, when it's most likely to start pouring its contents everywhere…” He said, trailing off.
Leif almost couldn’t stop himself from asking several different questions. How far was the range? What was the skill called? What were the aspects? But he stayed quiet and waited for Ram to continue on his own, the man clearly wasn't done.
“But I can also sense… another kind of storm. It’s the kind of storm that’s slowly building in the south, the human kingdoms and cities seem to be the cause, though honestly if it wasn’t for my family I wouldn’t give a shit.”
Leif considered his words. “I assume this isn’t a literal storm?”
“It’s not. War. Conflict. Whatever you want to call it, I can sense that too. How it builds up, when it spills over. There always seems to be a storm constantly building up, I don’t know how the humans haven't killed each other off yet.” Ram said, tone heavy.
“Sometimes they’re not the cause.” Leif said, thinking back to the formian invasion that had ultimately resulted in his death. “Sometimes an outside threat forces their hand, I think that can make war inevitable.”
“I know.” The awakened goat growled, his tone low and expression thunderous. “You’d think then, that they would stop fighting among themselves, if there’s an external threat pressing in on all sides they shouldn't- I don’t get how they can spurn- It just doesn’t make sense. The northern tribes have it rough, but at least they don’t lash out blindly at anything they perceive as different.”
The two lapsed once again into silence. Leif knew the man was right, it was a concern that felt all too personal. He suspected he would face a similar, if not a worse response than Ram’s clan of demikin when he re-entered human society. “Bring them here.” He said, looking Ram in the eye. “Your family, my animals. When I evolve I suspect the domain tree I created will undergo some changes.”
“Mhmm… yes, I can do that.” He replied thoughtfully. “But what of all the undead? The ruins of that village will be protected, but I have no interest in sticking them on an island they can’t escape. Food and resources will be a problem as well.”
If Leif could smile he would have. He looked north and clenched a fist. “I think I can get rid of the undead, or at least the source of the problem.” And hopefully I’ll get the last level I need while doing so. “I have a reunion with a dungeon to get to.”
Ram looked as though he was going to say something, but simply grunted in acknowledgement. He gestured down into the valley. “I’ll clean up here, then get moving. Unless you want to have some more fun with the elementals?”