Chapter 42: Level Up [Bonus]

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Level Up [Bonus]

Daniel pressed Yes.

The screen flickered. New text appeared.

[Level Up!]

[You are now Level 2.]

[Free Points: 5]

[All bonded harem members have leveled up to match your level.]

Daniel waited. He stood there in the sand, his eyes fixed on the notification, waiting for something to happen. A surge of power. A burst of energy. Something.

Nothing happened.

He blinked. He looked at his hands. He flexed his fingers. He rolled his shoulders. He felt... exactly the same.

"That’s it?" he muttered. "No fireworks? No glowing aura? No dramatic music?"

He checked his status screen. His stats were the same. His strength was still 71. His speed was still 52. Nothing had changed.

Then he noticed something new.

[Mana: 50/50]

[Intelligence: 5]

Daniel stared at the numbers. He hadn’t seen those before. Mana. Intelligence. Where had they come from?

Then he remembered. The Gunslinger class. When he copied it from Lyra, he must have gotten the mana and intelligence stats too. But they hadn’t shown up before. Maybe the system had hidden them until he leveled up.

He focused on the mana. It was full. 50 out of 50. He remembered the Mana Bullet skill. Each shot consumed one mana point. If his mana was full now, it was probably because of the level up. A full restore.

He had five free points to allocate. He thought about it. Strength was good. Speed was good. But intelligence affected his mana. And mana was important for his skills.

He made his decision.

[Strength +2]

[Speed +2]

[Intelligence +1]

[Strength: 73]

[Speed: 54]

[Intelligence: 6]

[Mana: 60/60]

His mana went up. From 50 to 60. So each point in intelligence gave him 10 mana. That was useful to know.

He summoned his gun. He pointed it at a random direction. He fired.

[Mana: 59/60]

He lowered the gun. He started counting.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five..."

Lyra was saying something. He ignored her.

"...six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten..."

"Daniel? What are you doing?"

He ignored her.

"...twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. Fifty-five. Sixty."

[Mana: 60/60]

He nodded. One point per minute. That was the regeneration rate. Slow, but manageable.

He started shadow boxing. He threw punches at the air. Jabs. Hooks. Uppercuts. His movements were fast. Precise. His body felt light. Responsive.

Then a notification appeared.

[Bonded Harem Member Stats Increased]

[All Stats x10]

[Strength +18]

[Speed +18]

[Intelligence +9]

Daniel stopped. He read the notification. Then he checked his status screen.

[Strength: 91]

[Speed: 72]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Mana: 150/150]

His eyes widened. The bond multiplier. It had applied again. Lyra’s stats had increased when she leveled up. And because of the bond, his stats had increased too. Ten times her increase.

He grinned. "Now that’s what I’m talking about."

Then a fist connected with his face.

Daniel stumbled back. Not from pain. He barely felt it. But from surprise. He looked up.

Lyra was standing in front of him. Her face was red. Her fists were clenched. She was furious.

"You!" she shouted. "You’ve been ignoring me for the past five minutes!"

Daniel blinked. "I have?"

"Yes!" She stepped closer. "I was talking to you! Asking you questions! And you just stood there! Firing your gun at nothing! Counting to yourself! Shadow boxing! Like I wasn’t even there!"

Daniel winced. "Okay. I’m sorry. I was just... testing something."

"Testing what?"

"My mana regeneration. And my new stats."

Lyra stared at him. Her anger didn’t fade. "You couldn’t have said that?"

"I was focused."

"You were ignoring me!"

Daniel held up his hands. "Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Really. What did you want to ask?"

Lyra took a breath. She was still angry. But she was calming down.

"I got five free points," she said. "When I leveled up. But then it changed to twenty-five. I don’t understand. What should I do?"

Daniel nodded. "That’s because of the bond. When I level up, you level up. And when I get stat increases, you get stat increases. The multiplier works both ways. Sort of."

Lyra frowned. "What?"

"Okay. So. You have five free points from your level up. But because you’re bonded to me, and I got stat increases from the multiplier, your stats increased too. So your free points went from five to twenty-five."

Lyra’s eyes widened. "So I have twenty-five points to allocate?"

"Yes."

She looked at her status screen. Then at him. Then back at her screen.

"How should I distribute them?"

Daniel thought about it. "You’re a Gunslinger. Your main stats are speed and intelligence. Speed for movement. Intelligence for mana and damage. Put some in strength too, but focus on those two."

Lyra nodded. She focused on her screen. Her fingers moved, tapping invisible buttons.

[Strength +5]

[Speed +10]

[Intelligence +10]

She looked at her new stats.

[Strength: 20]

[Speed: 32.5]

[Intelligence: 45]

[Mana: 450]

She smiled. "I feel stronger."

"You are stronger."

She looked at Daniel. He was still shadow boxing. His movements were smooth. Fluid. She watched him for a moment. Then she started copying him.

Her punches were awkward at first. Stiff. Uncoordinated. But she kept at it. She threw jabs. Hooks. Uppercuts. Her movements became smoother. More natural.

Fluffy watched them both. Her head tilted. Her ears twitching. Then she joined in.

She threw tiny punches at the air. Her little arms moved as fast as they could. Her tail was wagging. She was smiling.

Daniel looked at them. At Lyra. At Fluffy. At the two girls shadow boxing in the middle of the desert. He smiled.

Then he looked ahead.

His smile widened.

Trees. Green grass. The edge of the desert.

"Alright," he said. "Let’s bounce."

Fluffy stopped punching. She looked at him. Her ears perked up. Her eyes lit up.

"Bounce?" she repeated.

Then she started bouncing. Literally bouncing. Hopping up and down on her little feet. Her tail was wagging furiously.

Daniel slapped his palm against his forehead.