Congratulations on reaching the Gate, by the way, Salos said.

Oh, right. With everything else, she'd just about forgotten. It was a blatant topic change, but Cass ran with it.

Level 27, Cass said as she pulled up her stats window.

[Str - 20 Dex - 64 End - 50

Wll - 90 Ala - 81 Res - 61

Frt - 20 Per - 40 Vit - 37

Free Points: 41]

She had come a long way today. Hell, had this all been one day?

How normal are four levels in a single day? Cass asked.

Highly unusual, Salos answered. But so is fighting that many opponents far beyond your level-class at once. Most fight things at or below their level. It's safer. Only the lucky, the gifted, or the genius can survive fights against opponents with more stats. And only the very lucky do it as consistently as you have.

Cass wasn't sure she'd call herself lucky. She was pretty sure it took a particular magnitude of bad luck to get yanked across universes, but well, her continued survival here was something else as well.

Any advice on stat distribution here? Cass asked Salos.

Nothing new, Salos said. Keep doing what you've been doing. Though you may consider making sure all your stats have at least 27 points.

Why? Cass asked.

Because 27 is a nice round number, Salos said, a laughing jab in his voice.

27 isn't round, Cass interrupted before he could get to—what she assumed were—his real reasons.

What do you mean? How do you get rounder than 27? 3 by 3 by 3? It's round, no matter how you look at it.

Round numbers are numbers that end in zeros, Cass said flatly.

What? Salos shook his head.

Panic shot through Cass as the possibility that this world hadn't come up with the abstraction of the number zero dawned on her. Or worse, what if they didn't use a positional numbering system? Did they use something like Roman numerals? Tallies?

What would you consider another 'round' number? Cass asked, filled with dread.

9? Salos suggested. 18, 54, 81?

And what do those all have in common? Cass asked.

They're round, Salos said.

Cass rubbed her face. That couldn't be it. Could it? There was only one thing those numbers all had in common.

She should have noticed sooner. All the system milestones were on multiples of 9.

Jothi uses a base-9 numbering system? Cass asked.

Base-9? Salos repeated slowly. Oh, interesting. What an unusual concept. That implies your language uses a different 'base'?

Not important, Cass decided. It seemed like her language skill smoothed over most of the numbering differences—though now she had questions about the explanation Alyx had given her about currency, had her '100' been a base-9 100 or a base-10 100?—and she could investigate the details later if it became important. What are the real reasons I should increase my stats to 27 across the board?

Ah, right. Simply, there is a bonus for doing so. The system gives out a reward for 27 stats at level 27.

Well, that was a good enough answer for Cass. She was only under 27 on two stats (Str and Frt), and she'd planned to increase Frt when she got the chance, anyway.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Str 20 -> 27

Frt 20 -> 27

Trait Earned: 27 at 27

[Twenty-seven or more across the board and only at level 27! Are you an all-rounder or is your power so overwhelming that even your lowest stats have reached these heights?

+ 3% to all Stats]

[Str - 27 Dex - 66 End - 51

Wll - 92 Ala - 83 Res - 62

Frt - 27 Per - 41 Vit - 38

Free Points: 41]

It wasn't a huge boost, but it was another 10 points across the board, or more than a level's worth of stats. And as a percent boost, it would keep rewarding her going forward.

Now, what to do with the rest of her free points?

Given that she was badly injured again and did not foresee that changing anytime soon, she dropped a handful of points into Vit.

Vit 38 -> 40

Maybe a few more points in Dex would keep her out of trouble in the future, too.

Dex 66 -> 70

Then the rest of it into her mental stats? That seemed like a good idea to her.

Wll 92 -> 100

Ala 83 -> 90

Res 62 -> 70

That was an increase of more points than she'd had free points, but the discrepancy came from her percent bonuses.

Overall, there was something highly pleasing about so many of her stats ending in zeros. It wouldn't last, of course, but she could enjoy it for now.

She had one more point available. She tossed it at Frt as it was still tied for last place, and not because it was one of her stats that didn't end in zero.

Frt 27 -> 28

Once again, she couldn't help but be amazed by how far she'd come.

She had exited the Catacombs at level 23. In so little time, she'd hit level 27, the Gate, and all the power that came with it. All her stats had grown:

Lvl 23 -> 27

Str 20 -> 27

Dex 60 -> 70

End 46 -> 51

Wll 78 -> 100

Ala 74 -> 90

Res 59 -> 70

Frt 20 -> 28

Per 36 -> 41

Vit 37 -> 40

It was a jump from 430 stats to 517. A 20% increase. And it was only going to keep growing.

It was easy not to notice the changes when they crept up point by point, but dropping so many points all at once made the difference clear.

The room and everything in it were sharper than they had been. The medicine bottles aligned on the top shelf, their labels clear and legible even from where she sat. The scent of lime, cutting across her own body odor and the lingering stink of blood. The pulse of the wind outside, pressing against the windowpane, impatient and unyielding.

Her mind so easily cataloged these details and more, filing them away to be called up at a moment's notice. Her thoughts idled at a leisurely pace, but with hardly a stretch, she could whip that speed to far beyond any Earthly human processing.

She hadn't moved, but she could feel the power of her muscles lying in wait to be released. There was a sense hanging over her that if she moved too suddenly, she'd break something. And with her suddenly raised Fortitude, she was certain it wouldn't be her.

She was more again. And would be more still.

Unrelated, Salos said as she finished applying her stats, but I found something in the Temple. Dig around in that Bag of yours. I slipped it into your Bag for later when you weren't looking. Also, it's too easy to slip things into that without you noticing. Increase your Perception.

You should have said that before I distributed my stats, Cass said as she rummaged inside her Bag. Wow, she had a lot of stuff she'd forgotten about in here. She should clean this out later.

A few minutes later, she found the object she didn't recognize. It was a disk about the size of her palm, made of a polished black stone and covered in gold runes. It was curved so one side was convex and the other was concave.

Soul Scalpel

[Class: Tool

A device designed to slice pieces of a soul off of an already damaged soul, creating soul cores from the harvested piece.

- Grants minor Command over entities who have undergone this treatment to holder.]

What is this? Cass asked. Maybe an unnecessary question, she could read the description from Identify as well as anyone else, but one she needed to express, anyway. This unassuming disk was deeply concerning.

They were using it on the dragon, Salos answered. A paladin dropped it when I released him.

Kelstor had said they used pieces of his soul to track other demons. This must be how they harvested them.

What do I do with this now? Cass asked.

Don't know, Salos said with a shrug. But I knew I couldn't just leave it where I found it, either.

Cass grimaced, but she agreed. She didn't want it. She couldn't imagine ever using it on someone else. But she didn't want to just toss it, either. The last thing she needed was someone with fewer scruples getting their hands on it.

Whoever made it must know things about souls, Cass said finally.

Probably, Salos agreed.

Maybe they could fix you, Cass said.

He shook his head. Don't you have more important tasks than fool's errands like that?

I said we'd fix you, Cass said. I haven't changed my mind about that. Any thoughts on who made this?

He shook his head again, his head hanging low.

More questions for the pile, then. She'd love to stumble into an answer one of these days.

Soon, she promised herself. The Vault would have answers. Alyx had gotten a dragon. Surely that would guarantee her the position of her father's heir.

And after that, her appointment with the Academy mage was quickly approaching. They'd have answers for her. They had to.

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