Jon moved a little further towards the exit, trying to avoid having Oregano in his line of view. It only helped so much. He could still feel the rat stirring through his tremor sense, and Jon’s legs kept twitching towards his friend. The hunger was distinctly worse than he remembered.

  Louis continued as though he didn’t notice anything amiss,

  “Ok, so revisiting that stat sheet:”

  “Name: Jon Walton

  Level: 2

  Class: Spider, Bard Nerd

  Subspecies: Salticidae”

  “You know the basics of what these mean, and we covered how balance is important. I think you’re starting to appreciate how much the agility was handicapping your power and intelligence when it came to your attacks.”

  “Yeah, running from the bear felt a lot easier than the escape from the bunnies. The jumps felt smooth and easy, like I’d been doing them my whole life.”

  “Exactly. It’s a lot easier to hit where you mean to. If a stat falls behind, you’ll find yourself limited by the crappy ones. Like I said before, if you have twenty in power and 2 in agility, you’re more dangerous to yourself than anyone else. The same is true for any of the other stats.”

  He felt through the ground as Oregano gave an especially vigorous twitch. Jon fought down an almost reflexive urge to turn and jump at the prey. It was easier to fight the feelings when he had a distraction, so he asked a question:

  “Does that mean a balanced approach always the best?”

  “Always? No. Eventually you’ll learn to manage your energy better on your own, which will allow for combined stat increases. That’s way down the road though, like level 10 plus. For now, you’ll want to keep it somewhat balanced. The good news is, the leveling system itself will help you with that. More on it in a bit.”

  “Level 10 doesn’t seem so far away: I hit level 2 inside a few days.”

  “It isn’t remotely linear, and the vast majority of creatures that gain a class will never hit level ten. Let’s keep focused on stats for now.”

  “Ok, what else is there to know?”

  “Mostly just that there’s a lot you won’t know, and can’t see, even if you get an interface. Each of the main stats has break out stats. Power breaks down to magical and physical power, agility to reaction speed and grace, discernment to perception and intuition, intelligence to memory and application, toughness to durability and endurance, and presence to awe and dread.”

  “That is way too many things to remember in an already ridiculous system.”

  “Yeah, they were meant to be research tools and descriptors. They weren’t created as everyday use items. Not much can be done about it now, the tree seems to have integrated them permanently. As long as I am here, I can fill you in as needed. You can forget about it unless you see a system prompt specifically mentioning changing a substat.”

  Jon held up a palp, and he felt a flash of irritation from Louis:

  “You don’t need to raise your damn hand. Palp. Whatever. I’m in your head!”

  “Are we just going to gloss over the way you know they were meant to be research tools and descriptors?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ok, good talk. So when you say a prompt mentioning a substat, do you mean something like my class selection? When I chose spider-bard it dropped my presence stat, but ‘shifted me towards dread?’”

  “Exactly. You still have a 60% awe vs 40% dread breakdown according to my interface. If it’s any comfort, you’re probably considered one of the prettiest spiders around at 60% awe. Should increase your chances of mating before being eaten substantially.”

  Jon lifted both palps this time,

  “Woo!?”

  “Like I said last time, don’t get too caught up in the numbers, they eventually stop meaning much.”

  “So how do upgrades and levels play into this?”

  “For monsters like you, the upgrades are all on the inside, at least for now. As you raise your circulating energy from your new organs and abilities, you will hit certain energy thresholds. At each threshold, you’ll begin to resonate with the tree. If you successfully link with the tree, your energy capacity and circulating energy level will be permanently increased, which is called a level. When you gain the level, the tree gives you an option for a generalized enhancement, which takes the form of a stat increase.”

  Jon wondered what the cost was of this power; it felt like everything in this new world came with some sort of trade-off. He decided not to ask, at least not yet. He was hoping Louis would spill the beans on his own.

  “So it doesn’t matter what I upgrade, just that I upgrade a certain number of things?”

  “No. What you upgrade matters a lot, and its the most common way to fuck up. If you go for a hodgepodge build of making your jump better, then your venom, then your senses, then back to psionics, you’ll end up with a convoluted energy pathway that doesn’t do well when overloaded. The tree will sense your body getting damaged by the energy during the level up process, and a fail-safe will prevent it from burning you to death. That fail safe also causes the level up to stop. The system interface will let you know if this happens, and you’ll need to waste more energy removing the parts that make you inefficient before building something that works.”

  “So try to stay focused in one area?”

  “Or stay focused in a few areas that have a linked purpose. Purpose and intent seem to influence the energy pathways more than anything.”

  “So as long as I can find enough energy then, I can theoretically make as many mistakes as I want.”

  Louis let out a buzzer noise reminiscent of a wrong answer on a game show,

  “Nope! Each time a level up fails, you can think of the energy surge as digging a path. Like water flooding through a ditch, it gets deeper with each failure; if the ditch is deep enough, it might be impossible to overcome without crippling or killing yourself. This is referred to as a block or a ‘cap.’ Many dumber creatures cap themselves by level five or so. As an example, I’m unsure about Oregano’s potential to progress. He is only level 2 and has upgrades all over the place.”

  Jon felt alarm on behalf of his friend, but did his best to set it aside. He would need to talk it over with Oregano a different time. Besides, maybe Louis was wrong,

  “How exactly do upgrades even work? Where does the energy come from?”

  “Beyond ‘the tree,’ I have no clue. Anyone who tells you they know is full of shit. The theory runs that your experience acts as a catalyst, and a portion of the energy circulating in each creature is given to you on its death. Monsters have to eat their kills, but ‘sapient’ creatures like humans or elves do not. When they kill something, they just get a rush of energy from it when they touch it.”

  “Seems a bit unfair.”

  “It gets worse. They also get access to an interface like mine that they can check at-will and equipment that can enhance their stats and abilities. Even a low-level group can fight a higher-level creature with the right gear. Monsters initially cannot wear these things, as their own circulating energy interferes with the equipment, making it non-functional.”

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  “How much stuff can they wear?”

  “It varies depending on the person and the items. Only a few if they provide stats. More if they provide skills, like a less shitty version of your telekinesis staff.”

  “Is there any balance to it?”

  “Monsters get a lot more hand-holding from the tree and the system on upgrading their bodies. It makes them less likely to have issues leveling in the beginning. As you reach higher levels, you’ll also find ways to divert your natural energy to allow you to use equipment. If you have any skill with divination, you’ll also develop a functional system interface. The sentient races will usually start using divination to understand how to enhance their bodies at a similar level. Sentients also have an easier time initially enhancing their affinities, and are a lot more likely to find an experienced mentor to help them through things. There is some balance.”

  “Is there any other benefit to leveling besides the stat increase? If not, can a level 1 with the right gear go fight a level 15 or something?”

  Louis sighed heavily before answering:

  “Yes to the first. As to the second, the short answer is no. The longer answer is noooooooo.”

  “Ok, but can you pretend like you give a shit about my question.”

  Louis sighed again before begrudgingly answering:

  “Not really. The long answer is very long. First, stats have to be powered by something, and that power is generally the circulating mana in your body. It increases massively with each level. As I keep saying, the path up the levels is not linear. A level 3 is a huge jump from level 2, and a level 5 is an even larger jump from level 4. A level one would turn into a dried out husk long before they could power a stat pool total of 48, much less the level you’re describing. The other reality is that stats are ham-fisted way to describe the increasing power associated with levels, and it’s always a relative description. Meaning, the goalpost of what a ‘5’ means shifts over time.”

  Jon began to nod: well no, not to nod, he didn't really have a head. Jon began to bob. Then Louis continued:

  “Beyond that, you get huge stat increases just from leveling, and no gear is going to close that gap. You’ll get a +1 to your two lowest stats at level 3 as well as one you get to choose. At Level 5, all your stats get a +2 bonus. So if you see something at that level, its unlikely to be a complete moron or a glass cannon, as it will have at least a +3 to its lowest stats. Finally, there are huge qualitative differences in stats past 10, which only become accessible after level 5. Before that, they would kill you. We can worry about all that if you live long enough.”

  “So what stops something like the den-mother from going through and just eating everything else in the cave?”

  “For lack of a better term in your language, karma. It comes back to paths: what your purpose is in gaining power. For most creatures, they are gaining power to protect themselves, their young, or some similar purpose. As you increase in power, you get less and less benefit from the lower level creatures. They just don’t have enough energy to be worth bothering with. What’s more, it seems the tree actively punishes you by increasing the threshold for level increases if you engage in wanton killing. The exception is slaughter paths. Some creatures exist only for the destruction of lesser beings, and this term refers to them.”

  “How will I know if I encounter something like that?”

  “You’ll know. They come with an aura, and it isn’t subtle.”

  Jon felt another wave of hunger rush through him. If he had knees, they would be buckling. Louis continued, a little urgently.

  “Just one last thing. Paths. The easiest way to understand these is to understand that the tree is following everything you do. As far as anyone can tell, it doesn’t really care what you do, but it does care why you do it. It is trying to create a definition for you, and all your affinities, all your actions, all your choices play a role in the path. The system summarizes them with a few words: hunger, slaughter, sanctuary, but in reality they are much more complex.”

  “So the path is like the tree’s judgment of you as a whole?”

  “Not really. It doesn’t seem to judge in the sense of weighing worth, as much as it seems to observe and define. If your actions are in alignment with the path you have set out on, it continues to reward you. Level ups are easier, skills are more powerful, and you harmonize more easily with things in your affinity. If you start taking actions that obscure that definition, or messing around with things outside of your wheelhouse, you lose out on the power boost. It’s not going to impact you day-to-day unless you really mess up, but it plays a huge role in making it past the larger barriers at level ups. There is a level of insight into your own nature required to get past the big humps, especially at levels 5, 10, and 15.”

  “So how and why am I going to change my path?”

  “Because hunger is both one of the most common paths and one of the most common dead-end paths. Consumption is usually not associated with meaning beyond filling your belly, and if you keep following it you’re going to lose your purpose. If that happens, you’ll be floundering in the water until something bigger comes along and eats you.”

  “Ok, that’s why. Now how? It seems kind of abstract.”

  “Well, you can’t change your class selection or your past, but you can change why you do things, and you can change what you want to do moving forward. What is your overarching goal? What are you willing to do to achieve it? Why?”

  “I want to go home. That’s really it. And I would do anything.”

  “Anything huh? I’m not trying to be a dick, but abandoning a rat you met hours earlier was too much for your conscience. I am going to take a guess that ‘anything’ might be a little too broad a declaration. I don’t see you putting child sacrifice on your itinerary any time soon. Also, you didn’t answer the more important half of the question. Why?”

  Jon stayed silent for a long time. Finally, he answered:

  “For my family.”

  “HA! I knew it! No juicy state secrets hidden away, just a beige little family in a beige little life.”

  “I like beige,” Jon muttered to himself.

  “Oh, I wasn’t making fun of you that time, it just fits my mental model of you well. You can keep the memories a secret if you want, but I would consider it an equivalent exchange for all the memories of my fall if you let me see the little runts. It’ll also help me guide you if they’re the whole crux of your path.”

  “They’re everything. I mean, my wife too, but either of us would die for them every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

  “Why twice on Sunday?”

  “It’s just an expression.”

  “But you don’t have a face anymore?”

  “Listen, English is a weird language. We’re going to have some translation issues. Just ignore it.”

  “Done! Also, that was a much better answer than ‘I would do anything.’ What are you actually willing to do?”

  “I am willing to suffer any harm, go through any hardship, and do things I consider morally suspect. I am not willing to sink so far that I am no better than the people who did this to me.”

  There was a couple moments of silence as Louis considered the answer, before coming to a conclusion.

  “Ok, that’ll do for now, but if you’re really serious you might need to lower the bar a bit in the future. Just so you know, we aren’t going to be abiding by any ‘no kill’ rules or anything of that nature. I see references to a guy named batman in your popular culture, and that idiot can fuck right off. Killing serves a necessary purpose, and if we’re not sure we did it right the first time we do it again. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Ok, last of the philosophical questions, because I don’t want to use up all my energy before you even go to hunt. If you couldn’t go home, what would you want to do?”

  It was painful to even consider. Jon’s instinct was to simply refuse to answer, but he pushed by it. If the way home was truly barred, if there was no way back to his children or his prior life, what would he do?

  “I guess I would just try to make this place a little less shitty. I can’t fix it all, but maybe I can make this tiny corner of this world a better place.”

  Louis reeled back over the connection, as though Jon had slapped him.

  Jon was confused, it was an answer so boring it was practically cliché. He wasn’t sure what he said that was so offensive

  “I’m sorry Louis, I didn’t mean t-”

  “It’s fine. It’s nothing you did wrong, the words were just nearly...Just close to the words of someone I used to know. Anyway, wanna show me some of the spawn?”

  Jon was a bit relieved by the change of topic. He had decided to throw his lot in all the way with Louis, so he didn’t see the harm at this point.

  “Ok, I’m sure I’ll get some details wrong, but I can give you a couple memories.”

  “You probably will do better than you think. Haven’t you noticed how much obscure knowledge you’ve been spewing out? You were able to make knots based on a memory of internet searches from a decade ago. Why do you think that is?”

  Jon thought for a second,

  “Oh shit, my intelligence got a boost!”

  “And we can all be grateful. Your memory is outstanding, so we should focus on application. The score is fine even if the performance is spotty, but right now memory is doing way beyond what’s needed for your level and so skewing it back will only help. You need to focus more on the processor the next time it goes up. Hard drive is fine.”

  “Ok, the strained metaphor is received. Focus on application. Are all these changes impacting my personality?”

  “We can only hope.”

  “Seriously, am I still going to be me if I manage to return home?”

  “Yes, you will still be you. Just a better, handsomer, more gifted with limbs you.”

  Jon sighed mentally.

  “GOD DAMN IT STOP IT!”

  “Remember how you told me I’d find other joys?”

  “...no, no, what have I done? Just get out and start hunting damn it. Scratch that, memories first, then go out and start hunting.”

  “What about Oregano?”

  “Did you forget where you are? He’s the safest he can be for now. Memories, then go.”

  Jon took down the mental barriers fractionally, allowing Louis to see the faces of Tess, Tommy, and Holly. Louis started laughing maniacally.

  “You know, giving me your best super-villain impression is not the most reassuring thing you could have done after I let those memories through.”

  “I know, but you deserved it for all the sighing.”

  “No evil plans?”

  “Never said that.”

  “Ok, I’ll amend that. No evil plans regarding me or my family?”

  “Nope. My plans are much grander.”

  “Fair enough then.”

  “Blah, blah, blah. Enough talk. Go find some adorable little fur babies to murder.”

  As Louis said this, Jon felt him let the hunger loose. It felt like it was making up for lost time, and Jon ran for his exit before he could think about Oregano sitting in the corner. He found himself back in the light. The mangroves seemed to understand his predicament, and he found himself following a path of golden light back out of the forest. As he entered into a copse of pines, Jon found the golden path ending.

  He began to hunt.