ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 52: Apotheosis Horizon (2/2)

A powerful engine started up behind me, its roar loud enough to vibrate my teeth. "All right," I said with a smile. I'd always had a fascination with anything that had lots of horsepower. Besides, riding inside the tank would give me a moment to allocate my stats.

I found a ladder, but merely used it as a handhold before leaping to the top of the vehicle. I followed a group of three Peacekeepers as they entered an open hatch. The inside of the vehicle was long and narrow with two rows of chairs built into the walls. The floor and walls were solid metal and the only window was a clear door leading to a two-man cockpit.

I slid into the nearest chair, ignoring the looks of the alien commandos that sat around me. I had much more interesting things to occupy my attention.

Allocating stats felt good, like feeding some primal need.

I had gained eight levels, bringing me to twenty-five. The number looked satisfying, but I noticed that the bar showing progress to the next level had turned grey and no longer displayed a number. It seemed I had finally reached the cap – I vaguely remember Talith mentioning one during our training. It seemed like years ago.

I had sixteen free stat points, and my class bonuses had given me eight each to Will and Perception. I quickly put a single point into will, bringing it to the cap. Perception had reached the cap from the class bonuses.

Fuck. My stomach felt as if it dropped into my knees and my whole body felt cold and numb. I had lost a point. It seemed bonuses from leveling would be lost if the cap was already reached. It was only a single point, but the regret overwhelmed me for a moment. First world problems, I guess.

The concept of a first world was kind of pointless now, wasn't it? Was America even a thing anymore? Sebbit had told me that most of the world was intact, but I also knew that monsters and dungeons weren't the only dangers. I was pretty sure that a single high-level criminal could take on any police department that relied on pre-apocalypse tactics.

I shook off the brief lapse into introspection and looked back to my stats.

I still had fifteen points to allocate. I considered ignoring the physical stats as I could always buff myself with eldritch energy, but it was also true that those augments benefitted from having a higher base. Focus, however, was still my lowest stat and had been increasingly useful since I gained the ability to create a doppelganger.

I agonized over it, but in the end my love of round numbers won out. I split nine points between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Reaction – rounding each out at twenty. I poured the remaining six into focus, bringing it to seventeen. I looked over my status page with glee, my stats truly were starting to look impressive.

I began scrolling through the rest of the updates, but they were mostly meaningless health or XP updates – but two caught my eye. The first was a warning that my progress towards the corruption feat had increased by ten, but it came with absolutely no clue what that meant.

The other was an entirely new feat:

Herald of War Ⓛ - Where you walk war follows. You have slain hundreds upon the battlefield and anointed yourself in blood and earth. Your wounds close and your stamina returns with each kill you make. This effect is proportional to the strength of those whom fall before you. Beware, the very presence of a Herald on the battlefield fills the hearts of both friend and foe with an overwhelming desire for battle.

It was a double-edged sword if it caused my enemies to fight harder than before, but it was also reassuring to have a way to heal myself in battle. It also felt completely tailored to my current situation. Was it merely a coincidence or was it —