Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) Dakota Krout (sci fi books to read TXT) 📖

the training golem stretched out over his limbs between steps and wrestled him to the ground. It took almost five minutes just to get back on his feet, and Joe resigned himself to a slow, painful journey back.

Even so, he was grinning like a maniac. He had a weapon that would grow with him for the rest of his life. It was difficult to use right now, but Joe had all the time in the world to train his skill. He couldn’t wait to get started. To that end, even as he fought his limbs for movement, Joe pulled out two orbs and set them to spinning just at the edge of his vision.

“I’m gonna grind the abyss out of this skill.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

By the time Joe approached the Estate, he felt like a melted candle. In an effort to ‘see’ how hard it was to gain characteristic points with the golem restricting him, he had turned off Neutrality Aura. His fancy new clothes were slick with sweat, and he was stumbling with fatigue and dehydration.

A little over four hours at barely a walking pace down the ‘child’ portion of the road had brought him back, and Joe was ready to fall onto the ground and stay there. He grabbed the doorframe and heaved for breath. “How do people train at the higher levels?”

He swung open the door, and Havoc looked up at him. His face twisted in disgust, and he shouted at Joe, “Hey! Don’t come in here like that; you’re disgusting. You smell like cheese.”

“I can always trust that Havoc will tell me the truth of the matter.” Joe sighed as the door closed by itself, slamming hard enough that his shell shimmered and his shadow appeared to slap the door. He sat down, activated Neutrality Aura, and pulled up his notifications, then his status sheet.

Characteristic training complete! Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution +2!

Skill increase: Artisan Body (Beginner III).

Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist

Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)

Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)

Profession III: None

Character Level: 20 Exp: 217,704 Exp to next level: 13,296

Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 9,600

Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 476 Exp to next level: 524

Hit Points: 1,642/1,642

Mana: 2,301/3,152

Mana regen: 44.99/sec

Stamina: 341/1,381

Stamina regen: 6.36/sec

Characteristic: Raw score

Strength: 133

Dexterity: 133

Constitution: 129

Intelligence: 138

Wisdom: 118

Dark Charisma: 80

Perception: 123

Luck: 60

Karmic Luck: 3

“Hmm. Solid gains, but I need to do something about my mental stats. They’re stagnating hard.” Joe regarded the Artisan Body, confused as to why it had gone up a second time in two training sessions. “Is it because I trained two body stats? Three? Or because I did three twice each time? I’m not complaining, but I’d love more information… no pop-up. Abyss. At least it dropped the training time for individual training time to… divide that by four, multiply by skill level… just over thirty nine minutes? Nice.”

Joe glanced at the two orbs that he still had moving in front of him. He blinked, and by the time his eyes reopened, they were out of position again. He growled at them, but they didn't seem to mind. “No skill up for you, yet? I’ll just keep trying new things until I find something that works.”

“Weapon training increases at double speed while in combat.” Havoc’s voice blared next to Joe’s ear. He jerked his head away and looked around at the source of the sound. Somehow, the doorknob had grown a metallic mouth. “If you want to increase your skill with weapons, go kill some Elves or something.”

“Wouldn’t regular monsters work?” Joe prodded the… doorknob. It didn’t reply, making Joe wonder if Havoc was upset that he didn’t jump on board with going off to kill some Elves. He stood up and tried to go in, but the door didn’t budge. “Havoc? Let me in.”

“I’m working on replacing the entire house with golems. That’ll teach McPoundy to put a restraining order on his brother while said brother is staying in the family estate. Go away for a while, wouldja? Maybe my little brother will let you stay in the forge for a while, or maybe you can go kill some Elves!”

“Are you actually kicking me out right now because you’re jealous that your brother made me a weapon?” The doorknob shifted into a dagger as Joe reached for it, and only the fact that his shell was active at all times kept him from slicing his palm open. “Havoc! You are ridiculous! Fine! I needed raw materials anyway, I’m gonna go train in the wilderness! By myself!”

“I’ll know if you die. You’ll respawn at that fancy new temple that I didn’t want to exist. Otherwise, don’t come back till you’ve gained a level, have something important to talk about, or kill a hundred Elves! I got nothin’ for ya right now,” the doorknob ordered in Havoc’s voice.

Quest alert: Go Away For a While! Havoc is worried that he might accidentally kill you if he sees you again over the next few days. He hasn’t killed anything since the minor fort takeover, and he’s getting the itch. Better go do other things. Level gained: 0/1. Elves killed: 0/100. Important information gained: 0/1. Rewards: 100 personal reputation with Havoc. +10 personal reputation per Elf killed. Failure: Havoc kills you on sight.

“What do you consider ‘important’?” Joe yelled at the door, getting no answer even after waiting a short while. He inspected his character sheet and winced when he saw how far from the next level he was. “Wait… I can’t go off fighting like this. Havoc, you were supposed to give me armor after my quest with you!”

Thunder boomed as soon as Joe finished his sentence, and he peered up at the clear sky in concern. That sounded similar to the time the instant dungeon had been about to form back on Midgard. The roof opened, and Havoc’s voice blared at the sky, “Pipe down, you overexcited rock! Or is it the Administrator today? No clouds; I bet it is. Listen here, Sunshine, I did my duty. He just hasn’t picked