Hidden in the flames of the burning guild branch, Seth had finally some time to take a breather. He massaged his sore body, that had been hit by a few more dark projectiles during their escape. he was lucky, that it hit the plate armor this time and not the cloth. Big dark bruised came to light after he had unequipped the dented steel plates. Seth had finally time to really check his status.

Name: Seth Smith

Affiliation: System Church

Title: "Faster than the Thought"

Level: 17

Exp: 57%

Race: Ori Huma

Sex: Male

Age:23

Class: Spirit Blacksmith (Unique)

Affiliation: None

Health: 730/1000

Mana: 170/224 (220+4,4)

Strength:45

Dexterity:45

Agility: 30

Intelligence:17+5

Willpower:35

Endurance:45

Personality:12

Luck:18(+10)

Free AP (Attribute points): 39

Free SP (Skill points): 3

Defense:

Physical: 250 (120+50+80) (ENDx3)

Magical: 100 (60+25+15) (WILx2)

Fire Resistance :100% (50%+90%)

Skill Window:

Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.7 (40%)

Enchantment (Beginner) lv.1

Goldsmith (Beginner) lv.1

Blacksmith's Eyes lv.3

Blueprint (Apprentice) lv.2

Soul Infusion lv.2

Spirit Smithy lv.4

Spirit Capture lv.3

Weapon Mastery (Adept) lv.4 (98%)

Calm Reaction (Passive) lv.7

Fear Resistance lv.7

Fire Affinity lv.9

Fire Manipulation lv.6

Map lv.4

Observation lv.2

Concealment lv.4

His health bar had taken quite a hit, but at least he had no negative statuses. Seth´s eyes wandered over his attributes and then to his skill window.

Level 15 had brought a lot of changes. In his time of need his instincts made him bet on the

and leveled it up. The changes that came with it, was the "Anvil of Tartarus" and fitting with the new

that had been added-

Seth had no idea what the dexterity trial was, but that could come later.

< Fire Affinity> was closing in on lv.10, would it also rank up then? < Fire Manipulation> had also leveled up during the fight unbeknownst to him.

When he wanted to use

to see what it did, he actually found a small arrow beside the skill in the skill window. Most skills had this little arrow. Had this always been there?

When he thought about clicking it and small tool tip opened with the caption "Perks". Perks?

Below this caption in the small window beside

it stated " Accessory Catalog".

When Seth tried actually using the skill it really opened a window called " Accessory Catalog" filled with basic and common blueprints of necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other jewelry he could make at a goldsmith´s table!

Were these the new system, right? A perk list? He checked the

and the perk list mentioned all the crafting stations that were added or had changed with the level up and option to summon separate stations.

It saved Seth the time to find out the changes by trial and error! Looking though his skill window, not all skills had perks mentioned in the tool tip.

Seth was the last person who would complain about quality-of-life changes to the system, but like the party option this was just a nice-to-have. All the system rights until now did not really change a lot.

Lastly his attention fell onto the Quests.

Unspectacularly the quest -The Next Level 3- just stated to reach level 20. Until now he unlocked new skills and rights every five levels. Would this keep going? The sight of the meager 3 SP he still had left now made him almost regret putting so many skill points into

. As the skill number increased, they seemed more precious the higher his level climbed...

After some deliberation he decided to put the remaining three into

and get it to level 4, too. Seth actually had a sneaking suspicion after the

´s crafting stations were not improved past rare material. And he was right.

did not grow to be able to appraise whatever rating came past rare. It got other perks instead!

Perk list unexpectedly showed its worth! Perks added were:

-Gain the Blueprint of common items during appraisal

-Disassemble items up to rare to gain the Blueprint.

It reminded him of the Scan in enchantment. So now he could also gain blueprints on his own!

The last change he noticed on accident, was that his inventory had stopped growing in both directions. This time he had only gained 5 new sloth, bringing the overall number to 30, instead of 36! So even the system had a limit when it came to free inventory space!

After checking the changes of his status, he stared out from the fire surrounding him. Seth could only make out the red glimmer of their eyes, in the darkness beyond the fire´s shine.

He looked around the room he sat in. The fire had spread evenly across every surface of the building. The wood in this world was sturdier than he expected. It burned slow and Seth estimated it would take another 15 minutes before he had to start dodging falling debris.

Should he distribute his attribute points now?

He frowned at the 39 AP, this made it hard to distributed them so he got even numbers! Seth stayed with his original method of distribution and focused on STR, DEX, followed by END and WIL.

He added 10 to strength and dexterity and 5 to endurance and willpower. As he pondered what to do with the remaining 9, he looked outside at the evil eyes that waited for their chance to rip him apart.

He put the remaining 9 into agility.

"If something goes wrong, it´s better to run faster, I think."

The impact after confirming the distribution was instantaneous. Compared to before, he was not surprised and overwhelmed this time. The increase, compared to his previous numbers was not too big, so he had a better chance to discern what was happening to his body. His muscles bulged up because of the strength and then condensed because of agility and endurance, he guessed. His headache also had lessened and his hand seemed nimbler and more delicate, despite being covered with light calluses.

A shocking thought came to his mind. If he were only increase strength and dexterity... would he end up looking like a buff uncle with the hands of fair lady?!

The sound of crumpling ceilings and yielding beams brought him back to reality. The guild hall was starting to break down and Seth had no choice but to leave the building.

Just the time inside the guild had bought him almost an hour. He was sure that if he kept staying close to the flames and inside their light, he could weasel his way out a stall until dawn!

he did not expect, that he would start dodging outside, too. Once he left the building covered in dense light, the temple priests restarted their barrage of dark projectiles!

Even so they tremendously weakened the closer they came to light; Seth had no leeway to be hit. He was naked as can be, and could not don his armor, as it might be damage in the fire!

Fin, flying high up above the spectacle, covered her eyes with a beet-red face. But, following the old heroic rule which stated "Peeking is not looking", she still watched through the gap of her fingers.

For several hours she watched the well-build butt-naked young man jump and dodge around with a great bonfire as a backdrop.

Seth prayed for the morning to come. he could hear the high-pitched giggles in the air above and swore he would get his revenge some day!

Finally, the shower of projectiles stopped and the undead fled, as the first rays of light peeked over the edges of the ruins.

Seth had survived!