Right after the last notification, Declan’s half-closed eyes snapped wide open, and rays of blue light flickered within their depths before shooting upward in beams that pierced the sky.
Blue runic lines spread across his skin, glowing faintly as his severed arm began to regenerate.
Bones rapidly formed, muscles grew over them, and then came the skin.
Within seconds, his arm had completely regenerated, the skin looking even more vibrant than before, but those were only the external changes.
Internally, Declan felt as though molten lava had begun pumping through his veins, an intense heat radiating from his rapidly pounding heart and spreading throughout his entire body.
The sensation was painful, but thankfully, it didn’t last.
Soon, the fiery heat faded, replaced by a soothing cold that washed through him and nearly made him moan in relief.
[Level Up Complete!]
To Declan, the transformation was a sharp contrast.
One moment, he had felt incredibly weak, his body rapidly losing what little strength remained.
And now...
BOOOOM!
The ground quivered as Declan, who had been lying on the forest floor, suddenly pushed himself upright with a single movement.
He rose to his feet, and his fingers curled into fists.
CRACK!
The sound of his bones creaking filled his ears.
’So much strength...’
He muttered beneath his breath, but then he paused, eyes shifting toward the Panthercrack.
The spear was still lodged in its neck.
Declan stepped forward and grabbed the weapon, and with a powerful yank, he ripped it free.
’I could use its claws to create tougher weapons.’
The thought crossed his mind.
But before he could reach for the corpse, his outstretched hand suddenly stopped, and his ears twitched.
He could hear it.
Footsteps...fast approaching ones.
Naturally, the scent of a beast’s blood would attract others, each one eager to fight for the remains.
Declan immediately stepped back and sprinted away from the scene.
Within a minute, this place would be crawling with creatures fighting over the Panthercrack corpse, and things would only become bloodier from there.
The last thing he wanted was to get caught in the middle of it.
After running for nearly two minutes, Declan found a suitable tree and quickly climbed.
Unbeknownst to him, it took only three leaps for him to reach a height of seven meters.
He looked around, checking for any beast that might have followed his trail.
Nothing.
Only then did he finally sit down and release a relieved breath.
Despite being filled to the brim with newfound strength, the exhaustion weighing on his soul was impossible to ignore.
Before he even realized it, he fell asleep, his head drooping limply to the side, yet even in slumber, his grip on the spear never loosened.
___________
FLICKER
A faint warmth brushed across his face, stirring Declan awake.
His eyelids fluttered open, and golden sunlight streamed through the leaves, shining a golden glow that created a breathtaking halo around him.
Declan parted his lips and let out a long yawn.
"Uggh, such a scary nightmare..."
He muttered, blinking several times.
Naturally, he could see the leaves swaying gently in the branches around him.
But what truly brought reality crashing back was the bloody spear still clutched tightly in his hands...
And the scant clothing hanging from his body.
"Wait, It wasn’t a dream!?"
The System panel blinked.
║Congratulations on surviving the night, Host.║
Declan stared at the notification.
’I guess the System is real too.’
GRUUUUUUM!
A sudden rumbling echoed through the forest like an earthquake, and Declan lowered his gaze toward his stomach.
’I need to find something to eat.’
’But first...’
"Initiate Mecha Overlord Protocol."
The System interface immediately appeared before him.
Declan quickly navigated through the various tabs until he found what he was looking for.
[ SYSTEM INTERFACE]
[▸ Name: Declan Ezra ]
[▸ Race: Human ]
[▸ Age: 19 ]
[▸ Level: 3 ║
[▸ EXP: 0/500 ║
═══STAT═══
[ Strength: 10(+5) ]
[ Agility: 10(+5) ]
[ Endurance: 12(+5) ]
[ Intelligence: 20(+5) ]
[ Charisma: 15(+5) ]
║ Attribute Points: 30 ║
═══
"I’ve reached level three..."
Declan muttered beneath his breath.
Then he noticed the +5 beside each of his stats.
"And I’m guessing these are what gave me that feeling of strength after leveling up?"
║That’s correct, Host. The new stats are a result of leveling up.║
The System explained.
Declan nodded in understanding.
"What about the attribute points?"
[Every level up grant Attribute Points. The Host may freely distribute these points among his stats to manually increase their growth.]
[The Host gained 15 Attribute Points upon reaching Level 2 and another 15 upon reaching Level 3 making a total of 30.]
Declan nodded.
That made sense, but it also raised another question.
How should he distribute them?
He thought silently for a moment, then he made his decision.
"Add 10 points to Strength, 10 points to Agility, 8 points to Endurance, and the remaining 2 to Charisma."
[Points have been successfully added.]
═══STATS═══
[ Strength: 25 ]
[ Agility: 25 ]
[ Endurance: 25 ]
[ Intelligence: 25 ]
[ Charisma: 22 ]
[ Attribute Points: 0 ]
═══
[I’m forbidden from influencing your choice of stat distribution, but don’t you think it was advantageous when your Intelligence was higher than most of your other stats? ]
The System panel blinked, and Declan hummed softly as he rose to his feet.
"I understand what you’re getting at..."
He looked away from the panel and toward the distant forest.
"Do I not think it was advantageous to have my Intelligence higher than most of my other stats?"
[Exactly.]
"When I took my Nexian Affinity test..."
Declan paused.
"I realized my potential was too low and that I could never become a Nexian. I essentially had no path toward growing stronger physically."
"That realization made me disdain power, and I convinced myself that Nexians were nothing but mindless brutes."
"I told myself Intelligence was superior and stubbornly walked the path to prove it...Only to fail."
His eyes steeled, a cold light flashing in their depths.
"Now, I’ve realized the hard truth."
"Intelligence and Strength...They’re both just tools, meant to be used when a particular situation calls for them."
He turned to look at his hand, clenching his fingers to fist.
"Intelligence wasn’t what I needed to stop that traitorous murderer. Only power could have saved me in that situation."
But then, he turned to the brilliant rays flickering through the leaves.
"But it was my knowledge of the Panthercrack that allowed me to defeat it. In that situation, Intelligence was necessary."
His eyes sharpened.
"That leads me to one conclusion."
[ And what is that?]
"It is better to be just as intelligent as I am powerful."
"Both should exist in equal measure, rather than allowing one to rise above or fall below the other."