The cave was still quiet. But inside Hestia, something had changed.
No longer just a jelly like blob trying to exist, she was awake. The System made sense. Sol was with her. And now, it was time to decide how she would grow.
A familiar hum resonated in her core. The status window blinked open.
[Available Status Points: 75]
Hestia didn't hesitate. She knew what she wanted.
Hestia* "Strength. I want to be stronger."
[Strength increased by 10 points.]
A surge. Not painful. Not overwhelming. Just sharper. She could feel power inside of her now.
But that wasn't enough.
Hestia* "Health, I need to survive hits, I have been lucky up until now but in the future someone might hit me and If my health is too low, any damage could kill me."
[Health increased by 20 points.]
Her core pulsed deeper, sturdier. She didn't feel invincible, but she felt less disposable.
Then came the next decision.
Hestia* "More speed. I don't want to just survive, I want to dance past everything that wants to hurt me."
[Speed increased by 40 points.]
Now it was undeniable. Her body felt like flowing water, her awareness like a stretched thread, sensing space in all directions.
But 5 points remained.
Hestia* "Let's gamble"
She turned her thoughts to magic. Observing different possibilities, her gaze came to illusion magic.
[Magic +1] [Nothing]
[Magic +1] [No reaction]
[Magic +1] [Still nothing]
She trembled.
[Magic +1] [A quiet emptiness]
Just one point left.
Heistia hesitated. Then sent it in.
[Magic +1] [No new magic obtained]
She felt disappointment remembering Sol's words that obtaining magic can take a boatload of points.
Hestia* "Well, that's fine."
She pulsed. Stronger. Sharper. And faster.
It was time to test her new gained abilities.
She glided through the forest with ease, absorbing the air like it was part of her. She spotted a cave and her first prey.
A Cave Mouse scurried across the entrance ahead. Alone.
Hestia attacked.
In a blink of an eye, she had closed the distance between them.
The mouse squeaked, but before it could flee, Hestia coiled around it, crushed its breath from its tiny lungs, and consumed it.
[+1 xp]
A thrill ran through her core.
Hestia* "That was, easy. Really easy."
And for the first time, she didn't wait to be ambushed.
She surged forward, into the burrows.
The Cave Mice Nest was a maze of tunnels and slippery stones. Squeaks echoed from deeper chambers.
The moment she entered, they attacked.
Two mice. Then four. Then eight.
She didn't falter.
She moved, a blur of yellow jelly, faster than their eyes could track, faster than they could bite. She slammed through them, dodged around them, rolled over them.
[+1 xp] [+1 xp] [+1 xp] [+1 xp]
She was laughing. Deep inside she felt joy after killing her enemies and not having to run anymore.
Hestia* "I used to hide from you."
She tore through another cluster.
Hestia* "But now look at you, you're nothing."
By the time she slithered back out of the nest, it was silent behind her. The squeaks had stopped. No survivors were left inside.
She turned toward the deeper caves.
No fear were left with her.
The days that followed were a blur.
She hunted through twisting tunnels. She explored forests near the caves.
She witnessed multiple battles nearby as she went to scout. Goblins skirmishing kobolds with crude blades and shrill screams, a beast man warrior clashing with a corrupted bear, Humans slaughtering a pack of white wolves. They all seemed a lot slower than before, thats when she fully grasped how much she had grown.
She did not have to just survive anymore.
She could choose.
What to fight, when to flee and what to learn from other species who seemed to overpower her at the moment.
And then, during one brutal skirmish, over thirty goblins and kobolds tore into each other. Hestia stayed at the edges. Watching, waiting and absorbing all the xp she could get.
Dozens of deaths. Dozens of pulses.
[+0.6 xp][+1.2 xp][+4.8 xp]Over and over. From all around. She was bathing in experience points.
Then, a chime. She hadn't heard it for a while.
[Congratulation you have reached level 26][Stat Points +3]
She squealed with joy.
Sol chuckled in her mind.
Sol* "You've been busy."
Hestia didn't answer, she didn't want to waste a single second.
[Magic +1] [Nothing]
[Magic +1] [Still nothing]
She paused. One last point.
She closed her eyes and whispered.
Hestia* "Will I waste my points once again?"
[Magic +1][Congratulations. You have obtained Illusion Magic.]
Time froze.
She felt something crackle through her, like the shimmer of heat on stone, like moonlight caught in glass. Reality felt, thinner. She was overwhelmed with happiness.
Sol* "Congratulations, Hestia. You will now be able to learn magic and achieve great things with it. I am proud of you"