Of course, Matheus had no idea what an “evolution stone” was. He just thought it was likely the System would give him a special reward after reaching level 5, exactly like it had been doing for everything else.
His bet had paid off.
Evolution Stone.
Give your fluffy friend a much deserving boost! Isn’t the best part of having a pet modifying it to your own will? Let’s play God with your little friend!
Matheus started feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t like the idea of using Captain like a weapon or a toy. Still, he could never know with the System. Better to check what were his options before making any judgment.
Matheus wasn’t ready for the wall of text that followed.
Third Ear!
Spaghetti Limbs!
Inside Out Skin!
Green Whiskers!
Butt Eye!
Shark Teeth!
Antennae!
Nutritious Blood!
Poisoned Fangs!
French Tongue!
Big Foot!
Tiny Cat!
There were so many options. Dozens and dozens, some seeming to cause big transformations, others just a slight change. And even weirder, the System was letting him analyze and read details on all of them.
That was great! He finally could make an informed decision, not just try to guess on what sounded cool.
Matheus sat down, and started reading it all.
There were many interesting possibilities. He skimmed through the stupid ones, like making his cat learn to speak and understand French, because well, he didn’t know French, and ignored others that would barely give him any advantage, and found some good candidates.
Shark Teeth!
Imagine hundreds of hard bones covering your pet’s mouth
Poisoned Fangs!
Bat fangs, full of venom.
Eagle Claws!
Big, sharp and strong.
Any of those would add a serious offensive capacity to his arsenal. There were also more practical ones like “Third Ear” or “Spider Eyes”, which would increase his hearing and visibility respectively, that were also worthy of consideration.
Captain’s little stomach growled, grabbing Matheus’ attention.
The cat meowed and made a pitiful face, attempting to get some food from Matheus.
Looking at him now, Matheus realized how stupid he had been.
Half of those abilities wouldn’t work at the cat’s condition, and even if they did, could he really do it to the poor creature?
The System didn’t specify how all those teeth would fit on his mouth, or how the poison would work. Would Captain be in constant pain, continuously hurting himself?
Matheus couldn’t do it. He couldn’t change him like a plaything.
It didn’t seem like he had to make a decision now, which was good, because he had no idea what he would do.
“Let’s go get some food.” Matheus finally said, petting Captain’s little head and putting him on his hood.
–/–
It was raining when Matheus entered his room, after picking his dinner and stopping by Dina’s, to give a shining pebble he had found to Daniel.
Captain was eating his share, purring while chewing. Matheus didn’t know cats could do that, and he watched as his Familiar savored his meal.
He had read all the possible evolutions again over and over, but had decided he would wait until tomorrow to make his decision. He needed to sleep on it.
All this thinking and planning made Matheus realize it had been a while since he’d fully checked his stats and skills.
Which was a problem, because everyday it all kept getting more complicated.
The System was starting to be a giant mess. There were too many different types of information and Matheus was having a hard time keeping track of it.
Why couldn’t his skills be organized by alphabetical order or at least divided in sub-groups? His cooking and hiding skills had no place being together with his others. And…
It changed. His skills were organized in three groups now, “Casual” “Fighting” and “Passive”.
Matheus had changed it, just by thinking about it.
What the hell was that?
He tried to turn it into the way it was before, and the System complied. He imagined different groups, and they all appeared as quickly as the thought passed through his mind.
He could create and even rename tabs and change the System to whatever form suited him better. He could move things along and even add extra information if he wanted.
Now, that was useful. It would literally let him create a version that suited him better.
The Entity had indeed mentioned that the System would adapt for each Champion, but Matheus didn’t think it would be this simple to actually change it to whatever he liked.
Was he able to do that this entire time? Or was it a consequence of increasing his Connection?
Damn this Contest and all those poorly explained rules.
Still, he knew he could do it now and he intended to make the best out of it. With a smile, he started experimenting.
It took him a while to get the hang of it, and Matheus was sure some more modifications would follow later on, but he was pleased with the result.
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Getting comfortable, he laid down and decided to take a final look at everything on the System before going to sleep.
Matheus - Human
The King of Losers - No Class
Level: 8
Health: 21/21, Mana: 12/12
Unavailable: 0/0, Unavailable: 0/0, Unavailable: 42/42
Blessings: None, Curses: Loser Court; Out of the Spotlight
Stats
Strength: 7 (+1), Speed: 5 (+1), Agility: 5 (+4), Intelligence: 6 (+3) , Constitution: 4, Will: 1, Might: 1 (+1)
Soul
Connection: 7, Investiture: 1, Core: 5
Unavailable: 0, Unavailable: 0, Unavailable: 0
Equipped items:
Ring of the Ghost Sect
Effects: +2 Intelligence +2 Agility
This ring grants access to the Ghost Sect!
Uncommon Scouting Cloak
Effects: +2 Agility +1 Speed
Ring of Flames - Disposable
Effects: produces a level 5 fireball.
Fighting abilities:
Stab
Skill Level: 4
Effects: Increases damage and precision while stabbing.
Echo Clap
Skill Level: 2
Effects: Produces a powerful sound wave after clapping. It has a fifteen minutes cooldown.
Slash
Skill Level: 3
Effects: Increases damage and knife proficiency while slashing.
Death Hug
Skill Level: 2
Effects: Double Strength and +1 Will when you are trying to crush someone to death. It only activates when your prey has less than half its original HP.
Bubble Ball
Spell Level: 3
Effects: Launches a small ball of water and soup to the pointed direction
Cost: 1 MP
For Honor
Skill Level: 1
Current Boost Time: 10 seconds.
Effects: A temporary boost to all your allies, decided by their individual level multiplied to your Might level.
Casual abilities:
Sneaking
Skill Level: 1
Effects: Gives a 5% less chance of others looking at your direction when you are trying to hide, plus a 15% higher chance of them deciding nothing is wrong when they look at you.
Parkour
Skill Level: 1
Effects: Increases 15% of precision when going for jumps, 25% less likely to injure itself when falling, 30% more chance to look impressive even if you do!
Cooking
Skill Level: 2
Effects: Shorten the time of food preparation by 1 minute and 15 seconds.
Passive abilities:
The Skull Collector
Skill Level: 4
Effects: Gives a 23.75% Strength boost and 1 Might point when facing an enemy you have a skull of its species in your collection. This boost is accumulative.
Procrastination
Skill Level: 4
Effects: You’ll recover +0.8 Health and +0.8 Stability every hour you spend avoiding doing something you really should be doing.
Recipes:
Burned Trash.
Uneatable.
Simple Herbs Mix
Recovers 2 HP
Vassals:
You can increase your party size, 1 spot to every 5 Race levels and 2 Might levels.
You have 0 vassals.
Available spot: 1
Kingdom System:
You are not allowed to access this tab. A minimum race level of 25 is needed.
Now that he checked almost everything, Matheus realized how much had changed. He had a decent amount of abilities, even though some of them were completely useless.
There were things he didn’t manage to make any significant progress, though.
He still hadn’t found any other recipes besides the ones he discovered on his first days and his cooking had only leveled up once.
Well, it wasn’t his fault nothing else seemed to work as an ingredient. He could probably buy some from a store in the city, but honestly, that sounded like a waste of money.
And everything related to his title was either shitty or unavailable.
Besides that, those numbers were looking good.
He wasn’t completely pleased with his stats, of course. There were still many areas he needed to work on. Still, he was feeling good. He had enough skills to get by and was steadily becoming stronger.
Even with his slow start, he’d found a good rhythm. Every day there was a little bit more progress.
Maybe, just maybe, he really had a chance of winning.
With those happy thoughts, Matheus drifted away, Captain sleeping laying on his legs.
The next morning, he woke up feeling energized, the rest making him even more confident.
He could do it. One day at a time, he could do it.
He was still unsure on what evolution he would choose for Captain. He knew he needed to make up his mind soon, but he wanted to be one hundred percent sure first.
He started planning the tasks of the day, deciding on his priorities.
Suddenly, everything stopped.
Matheus found himself paralyzed, his body refusing to obey. Only his eyes and his mind still worked.
Captain was yawning, mouth open like a statue. Out the window, Matheus could see raindrops frozen in mid-air.
Matheus panicked, trying and failing to make any movement. Before he could fully process what was going on, a voice spoke from nowhere.
“All Champions. You will now receive your first glimpse of the Contest.”
Who was that voice? It wasn’t the System, was it another angel?
Or was it a God?
“There will only be five. Don’t waste them. This time, you may know how you’ve fared against your peers so far.”
A message from the System appeared and opened itself in front of Matheus.
Current Ranking: 3432 of 3500
Then time moved again and Matheus found himself still paralyzed.
Captain finished yawning and looked at him curiously.
Matheus still didn’t move. There was nothing holding him, but he felt like all his strength had been drained of his body.
3432 of 3500. For a moment he almost laughed, the next he almost cried.
He was so far behind. And the fool he was, he let himself believe his efforts were enough.
At this pace, he had no chance of winning. He needed to find a way to progress fast, no more holding back.
He picked the Evolution Stone from his pocket and looked at it, then at Captain, patiently still waiting for him.
Matheus couldn’t deny it. He still was avoiding using his full potential.
“I’m sorry,” he said lamely.
There was no other choice. And that was just the beginning.
If he wanted to improve faster, he would need to get his first Vassal. And unfortunately, there was only one person available in the whole city.
Already regretting it, Matheus decided to go looking for Rick, the Endless Cut.
