Chapter 47 - Last Minute

Fortunately nothing bad happened during the time Max was to keep watch. Only good things happened in terms of his progress.

Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (lesser) to 14

+1 free attribute point

Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (lesser) to 15

+1 free attribute point

Advancement to Quartz-level Cultivator (greater) available

Max immediately went for his notifications and opened up the advancement message. Therein was a simple Y/N prompt, asking if he wanted to advance at the cost of 5 [Lesser Spirit Coins]

Absolutely yes.

It was like a cold winter breeze passed through every vein in his body. His brain tingled with cold, almost like a brain freeze from eating ice cream too fast, but not unpleasant. It breeze felt invigorating and it finally concentrated around his solar plexus, where apparently his soul resided. He could sense Maverick going through the same sensations.

Advanced to Quartz-level Cultivator (greater)

+5 to all attributes

[Quartz Meditation Technique: Basic Mana Cycling] -> [Quartz Meditation Technique: Advanced Mana Cycling]

[Achievement: First Soul Advancement]

Reward: E-grade Cultivation box

[Achievement: World First Soul Advancement]

Reward: C-grade Cultivation box

Oh damn, I didn’t think I’d get a world first here. C-grade stuff could be huge.

“Yes, my trusted sidekick!” Maverick bellowed, startling some of the patients lying down. “We are at the forefront of peak performance. We are the Alpha and Omega. We are the good, true and beautiful, we are —”

“OKAY!” Max cut in. Then he hissed an angry whisper at Maverick. “People are looking. Can you please be reasonable for two minutes?”

Maverick huffed. “Won’t even let me enjoy my spoils of war. I’ll have you know—”

“Will you pipe down, if I spend some Cosmic Coins on you?”

“Oh, yes please.”

“Okay…” Max thought aloud. “How should we do this? We got 26515 Cosmic Coins.”

“Pour it all to papa.”

“Please never refer to yourself as papa again.”

“I kind of liked it,” Maverick said cheerily.

“I bet you did,” Max muttered. “I could upgrade you some. It might even boost your ability to Cultivate, who knows.”

“Oh, I am absolutely positive it does. Come on!”

“I could bring you up to +7…” Max thought aloud.

“Do it. Dooooo it.”

“But that would cost over 22000 coins…”

“Oh, ever so worth it, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But I do want to upgrade this awesome robe I just got.”

“I will shred that rag while you sleep.”

“I will eventually get better things of course… As nice as the robe is, it’s only C-grade.”

“While I am special-absolute-godlike-bonanza-grade.”

“While I am stuck with you,” Max agreed.

[3200 Cosmic Coins spent]

[The Maverick] upgraded to +5

+9 Intelligence

+4 Precision

[6400 Cosmic Coins spent]

[The Maverick] upgraded to +6

+11 Intelligence

+6 Precision

[12800 Cosmic Coins spent]

[The Maverick] upgraded to +7

+13 Intelligence

+8 Precision

“Yesssss! I FEEL THE POWER! I HAVE BECOME DEATH, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS. TREMBLE AT MY FEET! COWER IN DESPAIR!”

Maverick went on for a while. Max gave up. People were going to look. There was no helping it. Max zoned it out, deeming it wise not to mention Maverick’s lack of feet. Instead he needed to decide what to do with the remaining 4115 Cosmic Coins. It wasn’t exactly a decision based on careful analysis and math. It was simply greed and gut feeling. Max went ahead and put all of them in his new robes.

[100 Cosmic Coins spent]

[Robes of Shadowsilk] upgraded to +1

+7 Constitution

+9 Intelligence

+3 Resistance

[200 Cosmic Coins spent]

[Robes of Shadowsilk] upgraded to +2

+7 Constitution

+10 Intelligence

+4 Resistance

[400 Cosmic Coins spent]

[Robes of Shadowsilk] upgraded to +3

+9 Constitution

+10 Intelligence

+4 Resistance

[800 Cosmic Coins spent]

[Robes of Shadowsilk] upgraded to +4

+10 Constitution

+10 Intelligence

+5 Resistance

[1600 Cosmic Coins spent]

[Robes of Shadowsilk] upgraded to +5

+10 Constitution

+10 Intelligence

+7 Resistance

Okay that’s enough for now.

He still had a thousand coins and change left, but Max figured he’d rather save them for now. Spending them on the D-grade items he would end up giving away felt wrong. He could of course consume them for most of their Cosmic Coins, but that would mean one less perfectly good item for the camp.

After all that Max spent all his free attribute points. He had seven points to spare from the Cultivating and he decided to round out his Constitution and Intelligence. They were both useful stats and rounding them out made him happy. Rest he used on Toughness and Resistance. Being able to round out Toughness was a happy coincidence.

After that Max brought up the stat sheet to admire it for a moment. He had made such good progress. Yes these were rough times for the community, but right now Max felt like nothing could stop him. He would fix things for these people.

Name: Max Cromwell

Cultivation stage: Quartz (greater)

Class: Graviturgist
Level: 18

Health: 600/600

Stamina: 600/600

Mana: 850/850

Alliance: Joshua’s Group

Stats:

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 16

Constitution: 60
Intelligence: 85

Wisdom: 55

Charisma: 14
Precision: 37
Toughness: 20
Resistance: 27

It hurt to wake up Elena, but Max really needed to go. She muttered something incomprehensible and tried to doze off again. As heartbreaking as it was, Max steeled himself and shook her awake.

“Hey,” Elena said, sounding beyond grumpy. “Thanks.”

“You sure?” Max asked, smirking and quirking an eyebrow. “You don’t sound grateful.”

“Shouldn’t you be out there adventuring or something?” Elena asked.

Max got up. “I should, but first I’ll bring you some water.”

“Thanks,” she said weakly. “I still kind of hate you right now. I was dreaming of cake.”

“Was it cheesecake?”

“Yes…”

“In that case I understand your deep ire,” Max said. Elena chuckled softly behind Max as he went to grab a jug of water.

*

Finally Max was out there, hunting. It felt good trekking through the woods, feeling that special kind of alert that Max felt when he was out adventuring. Dried leaves crumpled under his foot and the air was fresh and fragrant like any pure forest was. The weak sun cast a few rays through the canopy and the faint sounds of birds and little critters shuffling in the bushes gave a certain sense of serenity to the atmosphere.

The time he had spent in the camp had been precious. It was a delight to eat Sid’s cooking and to be admired and respected by the people there. But the longer Max stayed, the louder that nagging feeling got. It wasn’t that Max felt like he didn’t belong there.

No, that wasn’t it. The camp was Max’s home. He had felt a sort of embarrassment and confusion about calling the place home, but that was what it was.

He actually felt a strong sense of belonging when he spent time with the people of the camp, Joshua especially. First Max hadn’t been sure if Joshua was just playing nice to him like with everyone. And sure enough, he was nice to everyone. But Max felt for his part that they shared a deeper bond. Joshua was a friend. And a good one at that.

But that nagging feeling was ever there. It hurt in a very complicated way that the best thing he could do for the community was to stay away from it. But it was the right thing to do. It gave him pride, it gave him purpose. He was at the forefront, fighting for humanity’s right to exist. To be out here, dealing with threats and bringing home resources in a way that others couldn’t. That was his job.

Brian and his fighting men had asked Max if he needed them to collect any animals Max happened to kill. Max said it wasn’t needed. He didn’t want them around, even though they seemed to be more docile and respectful now after the showdown with Max. But they genuinely weren’t needed. There were more than enough resources from the panther attack to be processed.

Speaking of panthers, it wasn’t long before he ran into them. Max was walking along when he heard rustling from a nearby large bush. This was no squirrel or critter making a little shuffle. There was something careful and silent, but big there.

A black shape growled and pounced at him. Max dodged, but his vision still flashed red. 40 Health gone. He turned and ate another swipe, and a third. There was another panther behind Max. They had ambushed him with a pincer attack. Having lost over 100 Health in a matter of seconds, gave him a flash of panic. Maverick sent a flash of emotion, telling him to cool down and focus.

Max instinctively [Tethered] the beasts to each other. They growled with frustration, but somehow had the presence of mind to untangle themselves and get back on their feet. Max shot at them. They were slow, but they approached Max glued at the sides to each other, moving in perfect synchrony. Max cast a repelling [Tether] to himself and one of them.

That scrambled their formation and they yowled as they fell on the ground, pushed backwards on their side on the forest floor. Max finished them off.

Defeated level 12 [Mutated Panther]

You gained 280 experience points.

Defeated level 12 [Mutated Panther]

You gained 280 experience points.

Max knelt and looted them for their Cosmic Coins. These were the same mutated, much larger panthers that had attacked the camp. They even had the spine-protecting silver collar.

But what they didn’t have was the (???) in the system message when Max killed them. Why? What had the question marks meant? Clearly these beasts were very intelligent. But the question mark was clearly not an allusion to that, or these panthers on the ground would have had it also.

Max produced a [Minor Health Potion] and drank it. It almost restored him to full Health. Maybe it would have been more prudent to let his Health naturally regenerate, but these monsters were smart and ferocious enough to warrant a little respect. If the ambush had been done by three or four panthers, it would have been very troublesome.

Max knelt on the forest floor and filled the little potion vial with panther blood. He would give the vial to Elena. Maybe she could get some use out of it. Then he wiped his hands, got up and brought a hand to [The Maverick] resting in the holster at his side. He would need to be ready.