Taking a risk

John sat on the edge of his bed, Malal lounging on his keyboard. He’d spent most of that evening just relaxing with Matilda and discussing her progress with her garden in the aftermath of their intimate encounter, before seeing her safely onto the last bus out of town and heading home himself. His mother had been waiting for him when he’d arrived, and had more or less refused to let him sneak off without giving her a (highly censored) report on how his date had gone.

Now, with the god present, he was debating how to handle the Stat points he’d gained. “Another five points, Mal. So it’s definitely that every time I go up a level. My HP and MP jumped a little too; I think I can more or less work out the scaling per level for those, although honestly with how much I get from Wisdom and Endurance it’s not really worth the hassle."

The god shrugged. “It ain’t been that long since ya spent those points ya got from that Quest, kid. Whaddya plan to do with these ones?”

John drummed his pencil on his notebook. “I’ve sketched out three possible options, which is what I want your opinion on. Option one, I try to balance myself out a bit. One point into Strength, two into Endurance, two into Wisdom. That’d leave only Charisma below ten, and push Wisdom up to twenty.” Frowning, he moved the pencil down the page. “Option two is I go for the kind of combat I’m currently doing and push everything into Agility. It’d leave me much weaker mentally but make it way harder to get hit, and probably help with grinding monsters. Or there’s option three, go for what makes me strong and put it all into Wisdom and assume I’m going to be getting help from Rebecca or someone for the time being.”

Malal leaned forward, the keys of John’s keyboard clicking underneath him as he shifted his weight. “All Agility’s a glass cannon, kid. Forget about it. As to the others, ya seem to be thinking like this is a game. Rounding Stats up to ten ain’t any good if ya die, ditto going all in. What do ya need, figure that out and then go from there.”

Grimacing, John flipped to a new page and started again. “Alright, I don’t need Strength. It’s not my strong suite, pun intended. Boosting Charisma too soon is a bad idea. Agility’s pretty good where it is… Endurance and Wisdom. That’s what I need. Two in one and three in the other? I still feel like I should round up Strength but… you’re right.”

Before he could second guess himself any further, John allocated his points and grinned as his HP… didn’t go up. The max was higher, but the current total remained where it had been at 54 after the level up. “Huh. That’s good to know - buffing Endurance definitely doesn’t fill up my HP even if it was at max before. I thought it didn’t the last time I added a point, but I wasn’t sure I was remembering correctly - that was a crazy day, and I was focussing more on my Charisma at the time. Glad I learned that now and not in the middle of combat.”

Tossing his notepad down, John leaned back and took in his new Status.

“Well, that’s some progress made. Mal, can I ask you a question?” John said, turning back to the tiny figure. “How strong do you think the followers of your sibling are gonna be?”

The figure of a chaplain tapped its chin as if to consider things for a moment before Malal replied, “Stronger than you are, kid. Ya made good progress, really fast even, but think about it. Ya ain’t even the same level as ya told me that Frank mook was - and he ain’t even an Abyssal. Not to mention he doesn’t have a literal god in his corner. Who knows what kinda wise-guys are hangin’ around Gela? Why’d ya ask?”

John sighed. “I was talking to Matilda earlier about levelling, and she suggested I go fight monsters for xp. I don’t know though… it’s a risk, right? I can ask Rebecca for help, but do I really want to spend more time with the Order than I have to?”

Malal frowned, then pushed off the keyboard, stomping to the edge of the desk. “Kid. There’s three things here. First, ya gotta take risks now and then. Ya already got in deep with those Order schmucks, hangin’ around with the broad ain’t gonna make things much worse unless ya start prayin’ to my siblings in fronta her. Second, ya dame is bang on the money - if ya wanna get stronger, ain’t no sense not usin’ something that’ll push ya. And third… ya do know you’re gettin’ better way faster than most folks, right? Even for the Abyss, having the boss on ya side is doing some work.”

The god was right. John grimaced, then reached for his phone - before hesitating. “Mal, how common is the ability to create Barriers? I got a skill for it ages ago, and the only time I ever used it was that first night where the monsters almost ate me... If it’s common, I could suggest to Rebecca that we clear some Barriers to help me improve my ability to form them?”

This time, the god appeared seriously lost in thought for quite some time before he replied, “So, the ability itself ain’t that uncommon. It’s not that far from the one to shift into a natural Barrier, ya understand? But… for most folk, the skill doesn’t get better. Ya get random potluck whenever ya open one of those Barriers, sometimes it’s empty, sometimes there’s a mook or ten in there. Ya think the boss is gonna let you get better at it?”

John shrugged. “The skill’s listed as level one on my Status… kinda no point to doing that if it couldn’t get better.”

Malal winced. “Good point. Artificial Barrier training’s gonna be more dangerous than running a regular natural Barrier, so the Order dame ain’t guaranteed to agree. But I wouldn’t mention it levellin’ up if I were you, that’d make it stand out like crazy.” As the god finished speaking, John leaned back before reaching for his phone. As he did so, and while Malal’s idol stiffened back into plastic, he realized he’d still not sorted out a place or time to meet up with Flyx.

”Are you free after classes tomorrow? I want to do some training in a Barrier, and I’ve a few things to talk about that I’ve noticed recently?” John frowned as he wrote the first message before sending it to Rebecca. It would make sense to do the training the following day, to get started as soon as possible. While he waited for a reply, he fired off a second message to Flyx. ”Sometime Saturday work for you? We can go foraging first thing, then look around town?”

The goblin woman replied first, quick and to the point. ”Ten? In the park Barrier by the pond.” John took a moment to double check with Matilda that she would be fine with that then agreed. While he wanted the tour of the magical side of Springfield regardless, he was pretty sure his girlfriend would be less than happy if he went alone given Flyx was supposed to be getting to know them both.

Thoughts of that and what it might mean longer term almost made him miss Rebecca’s response. ”Junkyard again? Or somewhere else? Training sounds good.” Tapping his chin with his phone, John thought about what to reply, before the buzz of another incoming message almost made him drop the device.

”Are you up to anything tomorrow after I finish work? Because if not, we could find a keyhole for you to put your massive key into ;)” Matilda’s text sent quite a bit of blood rushing south before he remembered he’d just asked Rebecca to help him fight.

John swung himself upright, frowning. On the one hand, his very hot, very frisky girlfriend. On the other, his need to get stronger to prevent potential disasters destroying his home… As he thought, his eyes dropped to his Status where he’d left it open beside the bed - and to the Ladies and Gentleman Quest sitting open on it. “There is no way it’d happen again.” He mumbled to himself, then replied to the messages, starting with Rebecca. ”Anywhere you want to suggest? Could also try our luck in an artificial Barrier? And do you mind if I bring one of my flock who’s just starting out?”

While he waited for her reply, he opted to call Matilda, explaining his plans to her in soft whispers so as to not risk waking his mother. The brunette was surprisingly eager; apparently she’d been practicing way more than just vegetable growth spells and wanted to test her progress, although she did suggest several things they could do afterward that set John’s pulse racing.

Rebecca’s response came midway through the call. ”Sure. Junkyard barrier first, we’ll see what your friend can do and make a decision on a random dive from there - even I know those aren’t healthy for newbies.” It was simple and to the point, so he replied to confirm a time and then turned his full attention to his girlfriend - and the rather interesting noises she was now making as she told him just how much she missed him.

Sometime later, after Matilda had gone and as John was dropping off to sleep, his thoughts returned to the Quest, Flyx and Rebecca. There really was no way it’d happen again, right?