The camp buzzed like a beehive. Hammers sang, someone yelled for more nails, someone else whooped because a wall finally lined up. The fear that used to cling to faces had thinned into something brighter. Hope. Leo couldn’t stop his own smile from creeping in. Ellie mirrored it from his shoulder, eyes bright, little chest puffed.
Humans sure are an adaptive bunch.
They reached the Tower-side exit. Ron was already there, propped against the wall, bow slung, twin knives riding his hips. He opened his eyes and pushed off the stone as Leo approached.
“Hey man,” Leo said, “Cece signed off on me heading out. I want a bit more experience before tomorrow.”
“I know.” Ron’s voice stayed even. “I’m going with you.”
Leo quickly identified him.
Human - Level 15
A few levels lower than himself and likely lacking in the bonuses Leo had accrued, but not low enough to be a liability. Overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer after all. Besides, getting Ron stronger today helped tomorrow. With that in mind he saw no reason to decline.
“Sure, mate,” Leo replied, smiling. “Happy to have you, and I’m sure Ellie is too.”
Right on cue, Ellie launched herself into Ron’s arms, gliding the last bit. He caught her easily, and a small smile crept through his stoney expression as he stroked her head.
Out in the city they found their first fight quickly. One Soldier with four antlings. Highest level among them was the Soldier at 15. He could feel Ellie itch to jump into the fight from within his soul-space.
“I know,” Leo told her, focusing inward. “But not yet. We want you stronger first.”
She huffed and grumbled but agreed. Given her entire life had been talk of fighting or witnessing actual fights, her eagerness was not a mystery. He would have to watch that, before eagerness turned into recklessness.
“How’d you wanna do this?” Leo asked casually. He believed he could take out all five without issue but this was about tomorrow too.
“You do you,” Ron said. “I’ll cover.”
“Works for me!”
Leo broke into a sprint.
Screeches split the street as the Soldier screeched its command, sending the antlings skittering forward. Arrows whispered past Leo’s shoulders, his Agility making their flight paths clear as day. Heat rolled off them, it was familiar yet alien. The Sun Essence. Two antlings stumbled, jerking as Ron’s shots buried deep.
Not about to be shown up, Leo conjured a lance of frost, hurling it at the Soldier without hesitation. He didn’t even check for impact. Spark Dash flared through his nerves, and in the blink of lightning he was on a charging antling. Crimson Impact surged, his fist hitting it like a furnace.
The head went up in a flaming roar. One down.
The Soldier shrieked, ice punching deep into its carapace as the lance stuck from it. Frozen green ichor crystallized across its chitin, spreading a slick of rime.
Another antling barreled toward Ron. Its body was already bristling with arrows, but it wasn’t slowing. Leo shifted to intercept, only to halt as a miniature sun blossomed ahead of Ron, burning gold. The creature screeched once and collapsed into ash.
Two more locked onto Leo. Behind them, the Soldier heaved forward, limping but determined, its body glittering with frost.
Leo slid low, letting their charges whiff past before driving his palms out, knocking the smaller ants into the Soldier’s staggering path. All three clustered together. Perfect.
His Frost Lance had come off cooldown. Another spear of ice coalesced above his hand, streaking forward. This time, he didn’t aim to kill.
*Snap*
The lance burst midair. The frozen wound on the Soldier split apart with it. A blizzard of jagged shards exploded outward, shredding chitin. The two antlings folded instantly. The Soldier lurched, screeching through fractured and bleeding mandibles, still moving on trembling legs.
A final arrow hissed past Leo’s cheek, the heat prickling his skin. Mid-flight, it split into two glowing streaks, both curving like guided fire. They punched into the Soldier’s compound eyes. The ant convulsed violently, screech cutting to silence as it toppled. Its legs curled tight as smoke trailed from its ruined, frosted face.
Notifications rolled in.
You have slain: Lesser Antling - level 12
Experience Gained
+6 Store Credits
…
You have slain: Soldier Antling - Level 15
Experience Gained
+24 Store Credits
He hadn’t gotten any notification for the antling Ron had killed and it wasn’t enough to level him, but there was a lower level just sitting in his soul-space that sure enjoyed the free meal.
Ellie has reached Level 5
Stat points distributed
+1 Free Point
Ellie has reached Level 6
Stat points distributed
+1 Free Point
Ellie has unlocked the skill: Rend (Common)
Ellie has unlocked the skill: Bite (Common)
She popped out of his soul-space immediately. Claws lengthened a touch. Baby chub tightened into something leaner. The change was small but proud, she had reached some kind of growth milestone.
“You learned new skills!” Leo laughed, lifting her up like a trophy. Only then did it hit him that he had not gained anything when she hit five. He shelved the thought and pulled up the details.
Rend (Common)
Your sharp claws cut deep, tear into your enemy with razor sharp purpose.
Repeated attacks can cause the enemy to bleed.
Scales with Strength and Agility
Cooldown: None
Bite (Common)
Clamp your jaws around your target, squeeze the life out of them or rip them to shreds.
Scales with Strength
Cooldown: None
“You’re on your way to becoming a big girl dragon!” Leo cheered.
Ellie squealed in joy, flapping her tiny wings out of Leo’s grasp and onto the ground. She tore into the corpse of an antling, claws slicing through chitin with little difficulty. Leo noted the faint red glow that surrounded them.
“Looking sharp!” Leo praised. “Now you can practice even more. Be careful when you do though, we don’t want you hurting someone by accident. Maybe we can get you to help the chefs to make those ant skewers you like.”
Ellie nodded like a soldier receiving orders, then nodded off entirely. The growth spurt hit her like a ton of bricks. Leo swooped to pick her up, bringing her towards his chest as her eyes fluttered shut.
“Shall we gather these corpses up and keep going?” Leo asked.
“Mind if I do it?” Ron said.
“Sure. Any particular reason?”
“My profession is about hunting and collecting corpses for dismantling.”
A grin tugged at Leo’s mouth. “That’s cool. Go level it up, mate.”
Ron nodded and got to work. He moved with quiet efficiency, breaking the bodies down into clean chunks of meat and carapace. It was faster and smarter than Leo dumping whole corpses in storage and emptying them on the floor later.
Leo sat cross-legged nearby and sank into meditation. No rush.
When Ron finished, they pushed on. For hours they moved in a steady rhythm: find a pack, break it, dismantle, march. Ellie’s growth slowed as the levels climbed. Taking only twenty-five percent of Leo’s kill experience meant each step cost more for her than it did for him.
By late afternoon they had dropped what felt like dozens. Ellie reached level nine. Ron climbed to eighteen. Leo, after caving in a Soldier’s head with a perfectly placed Powerful Haymaker, hit a threshold that made the air feel different.
Your Pugilist class has reached Level 20
Stat points distributed
+1 Free Point
Class Evolution available
Race Evolution available
It is recommended you find a safe place to evolve
Note : You will be unable to progress your class until it evolves
Leo’s eyes widened as he looked at the notifications, Ron didn’t miss the change in expression.
“New skill at level twenty right?” Ron asked, panting. They had been going hard at it for hours with little breaks.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Even better,” Leo said, awed. “A class and race evolution!”
Ron’s usually blank expression showed signs of cracking as even he was interested.
“Can you do it right now?” Ron asked.
“I could,” Leo said, tilting his head as he weighed it. “But it recommends a safe place.”
“Then we go back.”
“Agreed.”
They were both flagging at this point. The only breaks had been while Ron worked on his craft, and after a while even meditating didn’t make up for the exertion. Two soldiers and five antlings lay at their feet.
“Want to dismantle these too?” Leo asked.
“Store them and go,” Ron said, clearly too tired to dismantle them.
With no qualms from Leo, they made their way back to camp. On the way back, Leo pulled up his status, amazed at how far the numbers had crept up.
Name: Leonidas Hawkins
Level: 20
Race: Human (F)
Class: Pugilist
Companion Bond: Ellie (F) Level 9
Health Points (HP): 479/600
Mana Points (MP): 204/660
Stamina Points (SP) : 185/480
Stats
Strength: 67
Agility: 101
Endurance: 48
Vitality: 60
Toughness: 37
Intelligence: 66
Wisdom: 42
Will: 53
Free points: 10
Bloodline: Bloodline of the Elements
Essences
Fire (F) 2/2
Fuel the fire (Uncommon)
Crimson impact (Common)
Ice (F) 2/2
Frost Lance (Uncommon)
Cryo Shatter (Common)
Lightning (F) 2/2
Voltaic Reflex (Common)
Spark Dash (Common)
Earth (F) 2/2
Stoneskin (Common)
Stone Wall (Common)
Titles
Bloodline Originator
First blood
Dungeon Delver I
Stormforged Pactmaker
Ahead of the curve
Class Skills
Unarmed mastery (Common)
Refined Mana Strikes (Uncommon)
Powerful Haymaker (Common)
Iron Repetition (Common)
Echoing Talon (Uncommon)
Bond Skills
Stormforged Presence (Exalted)
Race Skills
Multiversal Polyglot (Unique)
Identify (Common)
Meditate (Common)
Storm’s Guidance (Unique)
The spread looked good. Agility was the clear standout as usual, finally breaching one hundred.
The ten free points were itching at him to spend however, so he decided to use them just to round out some numbers. So he used three points on Strength, two on Endurance and begrudgingly used three on Toughness—the hardest thing he’d done all day. This brought them to 70, 50 and 40 respectively.
By the time they crossed the threshold, the sun had dipped and the light was soft. Cecelia spotted them at once. Surprise flickered, then she schooled her face flat.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to go wild,” she said, her words firm. “And Ron, I asked you to go with him to make sure he didn’t.”
Leo looked at Ron, mildly surprised, but hadn’t felt held back at all. If anything, Ron spurred him on to fight even harder. He saw no reason to be upset about having a babysitter.
“Sorry,” Ron said, not really sounding all that apologetic.
Cecelia sighed, then reset. “What’s done is done. I’m glad to see you returned, even gaining some levels.”
“Better than that–” Leo leaned in conspiratorily. “I can upgrade my class and race.”
Cecelia’s composure cracked into a greedy grin. “Excellent. Do it as soon as you can and report the results so I can brief the others.”
Not needing to be told twice, Leo quickly made his way towards the office. He detoured long enough to get a quick powerwash from Lena. The grime and gore vanished in a sheet of clean water.
She could really open up a cleaning business if Tailoring doesn’t work. I wonder if there is such a thing as a Soap Essence, Leo briefly pictured what kind of skills that would birth and laughed to himself as he walked.
Sitting down in the office, now freshly cleaned. Leo opened his interface and proceeded with the Race evolution first.
Race evolution available
You have gained the necessary requisites to evolve your race
Mandatory requisite: Level 20 in either class or profession
Would you like to evolve your race now?
Yes/No
He was surprised to see the requisite included profession, but was glad to see it was a way to progress one’s race. It meant people like Lena didn’t have to go out and fight in order to evolve. Leo gave his mental assent and began the process.
He suddenly found himself in his soul-space, or so he thought. But both his Essences and Ellie were not present. Instead, a humanoid figure appeared in front of him, along with what looked like another next to it that vanished like static, leaving just one remaining. It was odd, but Leo figured it was just some kind of system scan or something.
The lone remaining figure was Leo, but slightly more handsome, with a sharper jaw and more vibrant blonde hair. His physique was a bit more chiseled and taut. It was what he imagined himself looking like in his heroic dreams back before the system.
Race options available: 1
Human (E)
The standard upgrade for human evolution. At E- grade, one becomes more in touch with the powers of the multiverse. It is often described as the starting point for power. For as one reaches this point, their true journey to power can begin.
Racial Trait: Anchored Progression
Leo didn’t really have much of a choice, so he selected Human.
He felt his body shift and change ever so slightly. There weren’t a lot of external changes that needed to take place. But then once those set in, his channels that he had become more familiar with started to expand, and not just expand, but refine themselves. The mana that continuously circled his body felt more refined and easier to control.
Another flurry of system notifications appeared.
Your Essences have evolved to E rank
You will now gain +2 to bonded attributes per class level
With your body and soul now strengthened, your Wind Essence has now been unlocked.
Wind Essence has bonded to your Endurance Attribute
+2 Endurance per level
Your Bloodline has grown in strength
Bloodline of the Elements
Through the power of the System, your latent bloodline has been identified.
A force long bound within your soul has been recognised, a volatile current woven through every part of your being since birth.
Its true nature eludes full classification, and so it has been provisionally named The Bloodline of the Elementals.
Your body can harbor and channel multiple Essences and elemental forces, amplifying your power using your Essences as a catalyst.
+15% to all Essence-bound stats.
Even in his soul-space, or wherever he was, it didn’t stop the surge of power course through his body. His storm that had been so dormant and calm raged like a growing inferno, it poured over the mountains, shaking the landscape as it tried to take over.
A power from within him washed over the storm, pushing it back as he felt Storm’s Guidance corral it once more. It gave him much needed breathing room to lock it down as his body adjusted to all the changes.
Once he did, everything returned to calm. His Essences appeared one by one, along with the newly unlocked Wind Essence. He felt ready to come out of here and make sure nothing had happened while inside.
He opened his eyes to see Ashley staring at him once again. He didn’t jump in shock or even look startled. This was becoming a common occurrence.
“You look different,” she said, examining him more closely.
“Race evolution,” Leo said, putting on a smoulder and a deeper voice. “Came with some cosmetic upgrades.”
“Ew. Don’t do that.”
Leo laughed, then looked for his companion. He didn’t have to look far. She was already in Ashley’s arms, another regular event.
“What happened to my Ellie by the way?” Ashley asked sternly.
“She grew up a little,” Leo said, shrugging. “Looks good on her.”
“It's too fast!” Ashley groaned. “This must be how mothers feel. One minute they are babies and the next they are in university!”
She held Ellie up in front of her. “Don't grow up. Ever.”
Ellie responded by puffing a weak breath of cold right at her face. Ashley yelped and dropped her. Leo didn’t even know Ellie could do that.
Ellie landed light, hopped to Leo, and looked pleased with herself.
“She’s hit her rebellious phase already!” Ashley cried, hand to chest.
“Ellie,” Leo said, trying to keep a straight face. “Apologise to Aunty Ashley.”
“I am her mother.” Ashley’s eyes were like lasers as they bored into Leo’s multicoloured sclera.
Leo just quickly nodded.
Ellie turned and delivered the most tragic puppy eyes known to the multiverse. Ashley melted on the spot, dramatically collapsing before she scooped her back up.
“Oh you sweet thing. I could never stay mad at you.”
Leo took the chance to breathe out in relief. Whatever had happened inside that soul-space was not something he wanted to experience again. His bloodline had evolved, sure, and the stat growths were excellent, but the power seemed to come at an increasingly pricey cost.
How long would it be until Storm’s Guidance no longer held it back? Would he just be completely consumed? What that even would look like, Leo didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. If Iskarion hadn’t granted him the skill in the first place he’d have long been taken by it. The coincidence of their meeting started to feel less so, almost like the System wanted them to meet.
But he was sick of being so out of control of something that was a part of him.
Maybe I just need to force it?
He discarded that thought quickly, but not entirely.
One thing he had forgotten to check out was the Racial trait that came with his evolution. So he brought that up and was very happy with it.
Racial Trait: Anchored Progression
Upon reaching E- grade, your growth becomes anchored to your Dominant Path.
Your Dominant Path is determined by whichever is higher between your Class Level and Profession Level.
Each time your Dominant Path levels up, you gain:
+1 to all stats
+2 Free Points
If your non-dominant path surpasses your current Dominant Path, the anchor will shift accordingly.
Bonuses do not stack.
Oh hell yeah. Leo inwardly cheered.
This was a nice bonus that he wasn’t expecting. He did wonder why his race would bother evolving if it didn’t give any bonuses. But it turned out that F-grade was just the lowest of the low that didn’t deserve such a thing. With how his class and companion bond worked, Leo figured his Dominant Path would always be his class.
That suited him just fine.
A wave of fatigue rolled through him as the last of the changes settled and Ashley just played with the—slightly bigger—baby dragon.
Sleep would make sense right now. To be fully rested for his class evolution and just do it in the morning. He could go over his Essence gains, have a good look at them and then tackle the class change. Great and smart idea.
As if he could wait.
