"The most important thing is not to panic, don't panic Jason, don't panic" – he repeated to himself, - "I have received another level, maybe I will get something that will be useful to me and will keep me live if I meet a similar opponent"
Jason entered his character screen provided to him by the system. He looked at his current stats and decided to start by assigning stat points, as skills would require more thought from him.
"I'm going to stay as far away from danger as possible, I'm not an expert in melee combat, so I'm going to focus on summons. After adding the last point to my strength and dexterity, I feel a lot stronger..." – Jason thought about how to divide the modest 5 points of stats he was entitled to after leveling up. He decided that he couldn't completely abandon investing in physical fitness, at least not yet. He placed the points exactly as before:
Strength: 2 --> 3
• Dexterity: 2 --> 4
• Intelligence: 4 --> 6
• Vitality: 2 --> 3
•Hit points: 9 --> 11
• Mana: 11 --> 15
After the points were distributed, he felt a significant surge of strength, but not as much as the first time. His body, despite much greater strength, did not change at all.
"I wonder if there's a limit to my stats, if I can put all the available points into just one of the stats, or if my body can withstand the increase in strength."
For now, the questions he asked himself had to remain unanswered, he didn't even realize how long he had to go before he knew such limitations. He decided to use the stone he placed in his inventory to see what he was capable of now. He grabbed a stone, it must have weighed about ten kilograms and lifted it above his head. At their school in Sunnybrook, various types of fitness tests were regularly carried out, so he knew exactly what his body was capable of, and it honestly wasn't capable of much. It seemed to him that he was about 3 times stronger now than when he came to the big forest with Lucas. His strength was still not as good but it seemed to him that he must be quite close to the level of fitness, the students of the last years of the Sunnybrook school. Not so long ago, such progress would have seemed impossible to him.
He decided to test his speed as well. For testing, he chose the section between two large trees that had exceptionally wide trunks. Unfortunately, the ground was not even, a lot of roots grew out of it, and there were also many moss-covered boulders on the path.
"Ok, just like the obstacle track at school, let's run, ready, set, GO!" – He shouted to himself and began to run through the makeshift obstacle course.
It was difficult to estimate the speed, but he felt that he was significantly faster now, and after completing the whole track he was not as tired as he would have been the day before.
"It's not bad," he thought. Smiling to himself, he thought his raven looked at him with contempt.
"Don't you even dare to laugh at me, maybe it's not impressive to you, but let me enjoy the little things in this gloomy place," Jason saddened as he remembered that he had been enjoying his new abilities just the previous day. He felt like a hero in a computer game, growing stronger and gaining new skills.
When Lucas was with him, everything seemed to be fun, but from the moment he fought the zombie, he realized how close he was to losing his life. He also lost contact with his only friend. In this new place, he felt alone now as never before in his life.
"Ok raven... maybe I should call you something, hmmm maybe Jacob, that's how it will probably be ok. I won't call these wasps, I'm not crazy yet, besides, you seem more intelligent"
"Kraa kraa" – His companion's cawing answered him, this time he sensed acceptance, not contempt.
"Okay, now it's time for skills" – now when he was saying this, he noticed a creature the size of a Labrador running across a branch in the distance, it looked like a large, gray squirrel. "Damn, if the squirrels are this big here, I really need to get stronger. I hope he prefers veggies to humans," Jason thought, but he couldn't help but imagine a race of squirrels hunting humans, a shiver running down his spine. He opened the system screen and glanced at the tab showing his skills.
"Available Skill Points – 2, awarded 1 bonus Skill Point for defeating an opponent stronger than you, the opponent "Revived Servant"
He had several different types of skills available to choose from:
-Summoning
-Magic
-Survival
"Survival? I wonder what I can learn from there" – unfortunately, after entering the tab, all skills were blurred. – "I understand, I don't think I can learn anything here yet"
Fortunately, he found skills that he could learn. In the Summoning field, he could learn to summon a Venomous Spider, while in the Magic, he had the Enlarge ability available.
The venomous spider was described as a small but very venomous creature that excels at stealth attacks. Its venom does not kill but paralyzes its victims. The ability to enlarge the summoned creature, on the other hand, resulted in increased stats. Jason chose also spend one point to buff his wasps.
As soon as he did so, he noticed that the wasps had become larger and their carapaces shinier. Additionally, he invested one skill point in the Enlarge skill. He thought that it would be better to have less stronger familiars at this point – the spider would have to wait, besides, wasps, due to their size – now close to a watermelon, did not have to rely only on the strength of their venom.
Jason of Curiosity used the magnification ability on his wasps, much to his surprise that only one of them was enlarged by about half. He glanced at his character screen:
"Mana 0/15"
"I think this is my limit for now. Never mind, it's still not bad. I think now I would be able to defeat this living dead on my own."
"Boo" – there was a loud sound, it was Jason's stomach that reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything for a long time, and the adrenaline caused it to sink in only now. If he doesn't find something quickly