Everything you'd dreamed of.

Level 3 Felidae Guttersnipe15—"Milky"
[Monster, Beastfolk, Feline, Explicit]
Experience to Level Up: 220

It worked. Gods-be-praised it worked. You break out in a weary half-laugh half-cheer, and Ratty and Jitter join in; from the looks on their faces you can tell they leveled as well. You quickly read through the rest of the page.

Attributes:

Strength: 20 > 22 (-5), Dexterity: 30 > 32 (-5), Endurance: 12 > 15 (-5)
Charisma: 20 > 22, Manipulation: 25 > 27, Appearance: 15 > 16 (-5)
Perception: 30 > 32 (-16), Intelligence: 20 > 25, Wits: 40 > 42

Skills:

Athleticism: 15 > 17
Larceny: 20
Lore: 15
Stealth: 20 > 22
Survival: 5 > 10

Feats:

Pitiful Appearance:
Pack Tactics:
Feline Agility [Racial Trait]:
Feline Flexibility [Racial Trait]:
Cat's Eye [Racial Trait]:
Cat's Claws [Racial Trait]:
Wanted (Ondell):
Half-Blind [Persistent Injury]:
Starving:
Tale-bearer:

You have five attribute points and ten skill points to distribute.

It takes you hardly any time at all to distribute the free points. While your pride sorely tempts you to raise your Appearance score, you **** it down and instead raise your Endurance to 17 and your Strength to 25. With the skill points, your Athleticism is raised to 20 and your Stealth to 29.

You were Level 3. That seemed impossible, from everything you’d thought you knew before this last update it should’ve been impossible, and yet there it was. Looking at Jitter and Ratty, it seems like they both leveled up to 3 as well—Jitter must’ve gotten enough XP to skip Level 2 entirely!

“Well,” you say, “guess now we should check and see if this’ll work…” Ratty nods, and Jitter agrees enthusiastically.

You draw the Claimant Crystal from your pouch again, and hold it in your paw-like hands.

Use Claimant Crystal to Claim Land?
[Ondell_Catacomb_Chamber.0.4.03_Location_07]

Yes/No

Yes, Gods above yes.

*DEE-ooo*

NO! You’re on the verge of crying from frustration.

Error: Unnamed characters cannot claim land. Please name your character before proceeding.

Oh. Oh, okay. That… okay, a name. You actually get to pick your name? It’s not going to be decided from a list, or just “Milky”? You’re certainly not complaining, now you can finally be free of it once and for all. You quickly input a name, almost without thinking; it’s as if it flowed from your fingertips, something you knew but never realized.

Confirm name: Mael Lochan

Yes/No

Yes. This is what you’re meant to be named, you’re sure of it—but you don’t know why.

Claimant Crystal Results

Land claimed by Mael “Milky” Lochan

Type: Monster Lair

Resources: Stone Bricks x 10
Natural Features: Water Source, Stone x 5

The tinge of irritation that apparently “Milky” has been permanently immortalized in your name is swallowed completely in the overwhelming joy you feel that this actually worked. You check your character sheet again.

Mael “Milky” Lochan, Level 3 Felidae Rabblerouser
[Monster, Microboss, Beastfolk, Feline, Explicit]
Experience to Level Up: 220

All the stats are the same—except apparently that your Lore has been raised to 25—so you skip to the Feats.

Pitiful Appearance:
Pack Tactics:
Feline Agility [Racial Trait]:
Feline Flexibility [Racial Trait]:
Cat's Eye [Racial Trait]:
Cat's Claws [Racial Trait]:
Wanted (Ondell):
Half-Blind [Persistent Injury]:
Starving:
Firebrand: You know by heart the stories of other, better times, and know how to use them to persuade and rally those around you. Tell them well, that there will be more to come.
Microboss: You are a leader of other monsters and owner of a lair. Unlocks the fame mechanic. You retain your current level after respawning, but lose all progress towards the next one.

The “rabblerouser” title was new. It must’ve been because you had the Tale-Bearer feat before, which was now Firebrand; the text sounded like it had changed something, and presumably that was the source of the increase in your Lore skill, but you didn’t feel any different. The stories were all the same, as far as you were aware. The really interesting one was Microboss, and this “fame mechanic”...

You navigate to the “Fame” tab, and expand everything.

Fame: 18
Recent Activity:
Defeated a Hero! +1 (Expanded)
You defeated a Level 3 Hero! +3
They didn’t know your name! -1
You didn’t have a lair! -1
Defeated a Hero! +0 (Expanded)
You defeated a Level 2 Hero! +2
They didn’t know your name! -1
You didn’t have a lair! -1
A Quest has been Issued! +4
Your Quest was Met with Failure! +4 (Expanded)
Quest timed out! +0
A Quest has been Issued! +3 x3 (Expanded)
A Quest has been Issued! +4 x3
Player-issued Quest! +1 x3
They didn’t know your name! -1 x3
You didn’t have a lair! -1 x3
A Bounty has been Posted! +0 (Expanded
A Bounty has been Posted! +2
They didn’t know your name! -1
You didn’t have a lair! -1

Oh wow. That was a lot, and more than mildly worrying; your assumption that the berserker wasn’t going to let your escape slide was correct, and it looks like she’s been recruiting others to help her out. Below the list of fame is an astonishingly-long list of options, all of which are hidden behind [???] and grayed out—except for two, which are still grayed out but have been revealed.

Demagogue (Class/Lair Environment Ability) [0/10]: 25 Fame
Evolve Status: 10000 Fame, requires minimum level of 20

You have no idea what those mean, but they had to be pretty good perks—especially the second one. 10,000 Fame? That’s a hell of a lot. But hopefully with the Microboss perk preserving your levels, plus your new lair, it should be within your grasp by some point.

Your racing thoughts are interrupted by Jitter, reminding again you that the others are there. “S-so, Milky? What now?”