After the surge of aura had washed over the crowd of both monsters and humans alike, the former had charged in a frenzy—straight for Leo.

Confusion on why they weren’t in fear was quickly replaced with realisation when he saw that it wasn't aggression they were exhibiting, it was panic. He’d successfully riled them up. Now it was time to put on the gas.

His feet barely touched the ground as he ran. As he approached the first antling, he used it as a stepping stone, leaping high and taking a look at the approaching tide. Half of the courtyard was sitting back like a defensive wall. The Goliaths sat unmoving by the gate, almost like permanent sentries. The rest were coming for him.

It was time to test out the destructive power of his new skill since he had already tested the speed and found it to be enough to make a significant difference. It may have been an error to choose this stance based on his task, but if he was making an entrance, it should be flashy.

Fire.

Leo’s body started to radiate heat, not dissimilar to his Fuel the Fire enhancement. But instead of steam, his hands started to spit out small flames, entirely covered in a hazy heat that would warp the vision around them slightly. Almost like looking at a desert landscape. Thankfully he felt no heat, and the gloves didn’t even look singed.

The shining light of Crimson Impact coated his right fist, but as the mana flowed through to activate the skill, it felt… lacking.

I can do better. Leo thought as he pulled even more fire from his Essence and into his hand until it was ready to explode.

A particularly large Soldier Antling had made its way into the frenzy below him, waiting with snapping mandibles. A smirk from Leo and a forceful dash using his boots, and before anyone could blink, his fist collided with the head of the ant in an explosion rivaling Ruby’s earlier.

Crimson Impact (Common)

Upgraded to:

Scarlet Impact (Uncommon)

The fire from the attack rippled out further than before, scorching everything in the radius whilst Leo remained unscathed. Heat washed over his face as he struggled to look through the blast. The Soldier that had taken the full brunt of the attack was no longer alive, the same with a few of the antlings around him.

You have slain Soldier Antling - Level 19

Experience Gained

+38 Store Credits

…

Other notifications were coming in too but this was no time to look over such small gains. Antlings approached from all sides as he’d effectively dive-bombed straight into the middle of them.

“I sure hope this works,” Leo said, activating his Spark Dash while still in his Fire Stance.

The mana did not even hesitate to come through, instantly surging him out of the crater he found himself in. Another dash gave him a bit more breathing room.

Leo heard a battle cry from behind as the fight had truly started, explosions and screeches started echoing out from behind him. He wanted to look back and see if anyone needed help but he had to have faith. He’d barely gotten started.

Antlings charged him from all sides relentlessly. It reminded him of the bloodmoon, but this time his strikes had gained quite the increase in power since then. A tingle of danger ran up his spine from behind him as it warned him to dodge.

Instead of dodging, he spun and raised an Earth Wall—high enough to give him some breathing room from behind.

His strikes were causing some serious pressure as he kept fighting, ant after ant was taken down through a combination of his strikes, all coated in fire. When a spitter threatened him from afar, it was countered with a Frost Lance or Earth Wall. If an ambusher tried to jump him at speed, it was swiftly kicked into the air.

Minutes passed like this and Leo felt he was getting hardly anywhere, it was as if they were just unrelenting as the corpses piled up and the notifications rolled in. He needed some breathing room and time to recover. Or just a way to clean out a large portion of them.

“Fuck, that’s a terrible idea.”

Ice.

Leo’s breath turned cold as he continued to pant, the flames on his body dying out like a candle being snuffed. What replaced it was a frosty chill that emanated from his body, with small patches of ice forming, yet they did not make him feel all that cold.

Leo dashed through the crowds of ants, landing hit after hit on his enemies while taking some of his own as he felt his Stoneskin working hard to shield him from the blows he couldn’t dodge. The idea wasn’t to kill with these strikes.

It was to spread the frost.

A quick glance behind him showed a creeping frost starting to inflict the antlings he had struck. Every time his Frost Lance came off cooldown it was sent to one not inflicted. He dashed every time his boots would allow him, with a few Spark Dashes to close the gaps, not that there were many.

This continued until Leo reached his limit, his breath was coming out in puffs, his blood dripping down his gi and being frosted over. He wiped a drop of sweat from his eye, realising he’d made it worse due to all the ichor coating his hands.

Now backed against the high wall on the side of the long courtyard, he could see there was an extremely large number of antlings covered in frost, all still approaching him.

Turning around to face the wall, Leo did what any kid would do in this situation. As long as you had superpowers that is.

Step by step, he ran up the wall, digging his feet in until they no longer held enough purchase. Two dashes followed from both his boots and Spark Dash and then he was on it. Standing on the building above the frosted swarm below him.

Leo focused on his Cryo Shatter, feeling every ice patch on every antling all at once. The information was overwhelming. It was too much. Before now he’d only ever detonated two patches at once at most and now was increasing it beyond counting. The skill resisted his plan.

He tried to pull his fingers together to snap them but it was like an invisible force held them apart. They were like extremely strong magnets of the same poles.

There were just too many. It wouldn’t work, it couldn't.

Until it did.

Leo pulled every single fibre of ice mana from his Essence as it filled his channels. The power was synchronising with his Ice Stance in a way that made him feel almighty for a brief moment before it screamed for release.

He tried to clap his hands together, forcing them to close with all his might as his body strained.

“Shatter!”

Leo screamed the words as his clap echoed out, all the Ice mana in his body was transmitted to the skill, draining his mana down to the very dregs. The sound of his voice boomed across the courtyard, the fighting being silenced for a moment as Leo waited.

But nothing happened.

Until… A crack was heard.

Then another and another, as ice started detonating in rapid succession through the crowd. It sent splinters flying everywhere as if bombs of ice had been dropped on the crowd. The detonations seemed to chain from one another, like a cascade of explosions.

He quickly saw that those climbing the building were unable to find purchase through the frost and explosions, buying him some time to recover.

Notifications started piling in by the dozen as the frost enveloped the courtyard, but he dismissed the kills.

You have slain..

You have slain..

You have slain..
...

Collapsing onto his back to get a brief rest, Leo took out a mana potion and downed it, barely making a dent. Then he looked at his second skill upgrade of the day. Perhaps not even his last.

Cryo Shatter (Common)

Upgraded to:

Absolute Shatter (Rare)

Absolute Shatter (Rare)

The frost you detonate no longer feels constrained. It now echoes freely among its kin.

When triggered, all nearby Frozen or Chilled zones or affected enemies violently rupture in a medium radius, dealing Ice damage as shards shoot out, staggering and penetrating affected targets.

Nearby frost closer to the detonated target will also explode with the same shatter, echoing until there is no more remaining or is stopped.

Requires a Frost-afflicted target or area in range.

Scales with Intelligence

Cooldown: 30 Seconds

The skill hadn’t changed all that much in terms of its damage description, but it had increased in radius, damage and gained the ability to endlessly chain to frozen targets.

Leo did feel that the more targets that exploded meant more mana was taken from him, but it wasn’t exponential. It was a lower cost than even the detonation. Thus he had enough mana to cause the destruction below him, barely.

He edged himself forward enough to look down. And boy was it something.

From the base of his building to the middle of the courtyard was coated in shards of frost and gore as every ant caught in the explosions was turned to frozen ribbons. The frost spread along their corpses from each shard causing the entire area to be frozen solid. Like a garden of horrific ice sculptures.

Looking over to the other battle, Leo could see that they were making steady and careful progress. Corpses were lying in their wake as they meticulously dissected every enemy in front of them before moving on. No one dashed forward recklessly. It was a well oiled and well commanded machine. Not bad for only a couple weeks of fighting experience.

His friends were holding on for now, right now he’d be dead weight in that crowd.

“Should probably check to see if I got any level ups,” Leo muttered. He needed time to rest and level ups would give him stats to help with that.

There were more than expected.

Your Elemental Adept class has reached Level 21

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

…

Your Elemental Adept class has reached Level 24

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points.

Anchored progression has granted you:

+4 All stats, +8 Free Points

Ellie has reached Level 10

Stat points distributed

+1 Free Point

…

Ellie has reached Level 15

Stat points distributed

+1 free Point.

You have learned the Companion bond skill: Senses of the Dragon (Common)

Ellie has learned the skill: Dragon Breath (Uncommon)

Ellie has reached a growth milestone.

Leo gasped as his world started spinning. Not only from the increase in power of the levels but also his senses as they started to sharpen.

He could smell things that he had not picked up on until now. The dirt, the blood, it all flowed into him. His hearing also improved as the sounds of battle started ringing in his ears. Every voice like it was shouting directly into his ear.

He collapsed to the ground once again, clutching at his head while he tried to gain control of his newly enhanced senses. Ellie jumped out from the safe confines of his soul-space and started climbing on him in worry. Leo managed to remove a hand from his head to pet her head, calming her down smoothly.

Leo opened his eyes suddenly as he looked up at the baby dragon before him. His eyes adjusted like putting on glasses, and what he saw had him not care about the pain. She wasn’t a baby anymore. Her baby fat had completely gone, turned to new, spongy muscle that was covered in tough, yet basic scales.

Her head was larger, with her snout and mouth being a bit more deadly looking. Still heckin adorable though. If he had to compare her size from before it was like going from a housecat to a medium sized dog.

“Look at you!” Leo said admiringly. “You got even bigger!”

She looked at him with joy, radiating the same feeling.

Leo froze for a moment as he felt a chill go down his spine. “Ash is going to kill me.”

He leaned over to once again look at the battle, anxiety rising from taking the time to rest. Thankfully things were still going smoothly so he decided to meditate in order to recover and control his new senses better. Also to check out the skill itself. It was a relief he could inspect his skills while getting the benefits of meditation.

Senses of the Dragon (Common)

Your senses sharpen as a dragon begins its growth. Your vision becomes clearer and more precise, your hearing attuned to subtle shifts, and your sense of smell heightened beyond human limits.
Grants increased sensory perception and awareness.

Scales with Wisdom

He was surprised to not have a choice when this skill appeared, instead just gaining it outright. It wasn’t a bad skill by any means, increased perception was always welcome.

As long as it wasn't in the middle of battle.

Looking over the notifications, he’d gained the skill for Ellie hitting level 10. She gained her Dragon Breath at level 15.

With this information, it appeared they would alternate getting skills every five levels so far. He hoped it would continue into E-grade.

Realising he should probably check out his other skill upgrade, he brought up the notification.

Scarlet Impact (Uncommon)

Channel volatile fire mana into your strike, forging a core of explosive heat. On hit, release a violent detonation that scorches foes in a wider radius, dealing increased fire damage based on Strength and causing a heavy stagger. Targets directly struck are briefly seared, taking minor burning damage over time.

Cooldown: 10 Seconds

He had felt that when he’d used it again after the initial time that the cooldown was shorter, now he knew why.

All around it was a simple upgrade but an effective one. It seemed like after evolving his class and race that upgrades were just flying in. Iskarion did say that E-grade was a time for explosive growth, so maybe that was why? Not that he was complaining.

Leo quickly looked at his skills and thought about upgrades for them. The ones he felt that could upgrade quickly were Powerful Haymaker and maybe Spark Dash. When it came to skills like Stoneskin or Voltaic Reflex Leo had no idea where to start.

Leo had a quick look at his stat page just before he got back into the fight. And ho-lee-growth.

Name: Leonidas Hawkins

Level: 24

Race: Human (E)

Class: Elemental Adept

Companion Bond: Ellie (F) - Level 15

Health Points (HP): 487/810

Mana Points (MP): 301/970

Stamina Points - (SP): 230/840

Stats

Strength: 101

Agility: 141

Endurance: 84

Vitality: 81

Toughness: 60

Intelligence: 97

Wisdom: 61

Will: 62

Free Points: 29

Bloodline: Bloodline of the Elements

Essences

Fire (E) 2/2

Fuel the fire (Uncommon)

Scarlet Impact (Uncommon)

Ice (E) 2/2

Frost Lance (Uncommon)

Absolute Shatter (Rare)

Lightning (E) 2/2

Voltaic Reflex (Common)

Spark Dash (Common)

Earth (E) 2/2

Stoneskin (Common)
Earth Wall (Common)
Wind (E) 0/2

Titles

Bloodline Originator

First blood

Dungeon Delver I

Stormforged Pactmaker

Ahead of the curve

Class Skills

Unarmed mastery (Common)

Elemental Stance (Rare)

Powerful Haymaker (Common)

Iron Repetition (Common)

Echoing Talon (Uncommon)

Bond Skills

Storm’s Guidance (Unique)

Stormforged Presence (Exalted)

Senses of the Dragon (Common)

Race Skills

Multiversal Polyglot (Unique)

Identify (Common)

Meditate (Common)

His stats had gone up exponentially.

It showed that E-grade really was the changing point for the awakened and monsters alike. The feeling of increased power going through his veins after the stats adjusted internally was like a drug being injected. Addictive and gratifying. The 29 free points itched at him, so he had to at least use some of them to level out some stats and help out the coming fight.

His stat increases from free points ended up looking like this:

Strength 101 - 103

Endurance 84 - 90

Toughness: 60 - 65

Intelligence: 97 - 100

Wisdom: 61 - 70

Will: 62 - 70

Making his stats look prettier may not be the best method for progression but he did use all of the stats so why not invest into them all? Probably because he should specialise in one or two. But that was for the sensible.

The growth was fantastic, not to mention his not so little companion next to him, she had gained quite a lot of stats, which made sense since she was a cheat existence basically.

Level: 15

Race: Elemental Dragon (F)

Companion bonded to Leonidas Hawkins

Health Points (HP): 520/520

Mana Points (MP): 520/520

Stamina Points (SP): 520/520

Stats

Strength: 52

Agility: 52

Endurance: 52

Vitality: 52

Toughness: 52

Intelligence: 52

Wisdom: 52

Will: 52

Free Points: 0

Essences

Dependent on bonded companion

Skills

Rebirth (Unique)

Rend (Common)

Bite (Common)

Dragon Breath (Uncommon)

Not that it was a bad thing. He was more than happy to have her gain power. The sooner she could safely fight, the more effective his gains could be. Right now she was gaining a staggering amount of points per level. Compared to Leo before he upgraded his class it was more than double. Soon enough she’d be a little powerhouse.

She’d even gained a new skill, Leo checked it out quickly.

Dragon Breath (Uncommon)

You exhale a focused surge of draconic energy, raw and imperfect, yet undeniably powerful. Though limited by your young form, the breath burns with the authority of dragonkind.

Deals damage in a short cone.

Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom

It was impressive by its own right and something that he was expecting her to learn sooner or later. What was a dragon if it couldn’t breathe fire after all?

She was itching to fight and use her new skill, sitting with her little head poking over the roof but Leo had to tell her no.

It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was capable, as with her stats she could rival people that were down there fighting. What worried him was the fact she was inexperienced and it would reveal her to everyone. Not to mention that Gareth’s group may think of her as a threat and attack her by mistake.

“Sorry Ellie. I promise I’ll let you get out and fight soon, okay?”

She grumbled, but ultimately accepted. She was a well behaved girl after all.

With his resources filled enough to go on, it was time to get back into the fray. To help make the push towards the gates and find out if this Tower was worth the effort or an empty promise.