Racial Territory Takeover

Treech has been walking along the path the goblin tribe had come from for 1 hour already. He noticed already that there didn't seem to be any wildlife on this path. He assumed that it was the Malwant monster that had come this way earlier, clearing the area of wildlife. However, he didn't let his guard down. He had a strong set of stats for defense, however, he was only level 2. All the creatures around him seemed to be in their mid-level 20s or higher.

'Could it be I spawned here based on my total stats and not my level?'

Treech pondered to himself about the internal mechanisms of the game. It truly was a revolutionary way to think about MMOs. Instead of having so many pointless numbers and level conversions, why not just have the levels BE the POINTS for everything you need. He once again reaffirmed in his heart the importance of raw stats for his character. The stats were the foundation for his class levels to shine. It didn't matter if he had expert-level spells if he didn't have the MP level to cast them!

He made his way past a redwood tree on the path he was traveling and saw some collapsed pillars and moss-covered stones leaning against a broken-down redwood tree. The stones looked like they were reminiscent of a giant circular amphitheater. The fallen redwood tree blocked half of the ruins as it looks to have fallen in the middle of them. Treech couldn't see over the redwood tree from how thick the trunk was.

"I wish I could have seen such trees before.." Treech muttered to himself unconsciously. He then heard a low gurgling growl near him. He turned to face a disturbing-looking hound. It had a bulbous nose like a goblin, a huge overbite that caused drool to continuously slip out of its mouth, and greedy sunken eyes. Its entire body was hairless and it looked like it had the texture of a siamese cat.

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[Race]: Golound

Level: 8

Hp: 16

Mp: 7

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(Author's note: These are Goblinized hounds. Have fun trying to imagine ugly dog goblins.)

The hound barked wildly as it activated a skill [Golound Beacon]. It appeared in Treech's game log.

He didn't hesitate even a second and activated the hotkey in his console bound to his only Tier 1 spell, [Starbeam]. A magic circle that shined black and silver like starlight appeared as he thrust his hands out.

"Maximize Magic: Starbeam"

Treech spoke the final command word along with Maximize Meta-magic enhancement, guaranteeing that the attack would do its maximum damage at the cost of additional mana.

A star beam made of silver light shot at light speed. It hit the golound in the side as it tried to leap away from the attack. It was incredibly fast, but Treech had aimed well. The attack landed and the golound staggered.

- 5 hp

The Golound growled and attacked Treech back with a quick slash of its paws.

- 1 hp

(Author's note: The MC has ridiculous defense and reduces most damage to the minimum possible. That is 1hp. Only abilities like [Low-Tier Physical Nullification] would prevent damage entirely making them hit 0's.)

Treech reacted too slow and the claw cut across his body. He realize that this golound monster was a bit too fast and perhaps it had all its stat points in dexterity. He calmly stepped back and fired off another star beam with maximize-magic attached to it. It landed on its side once again and dealt the same amount of damage as before. He checked his MP and noted he had enough for one more [Starbeam] spell without the maximize-magic meta magic attached to it. So he fired off a final one and the golound collapsed as its HP hit 0. It burst into specks of light and Treech leveled up 2 times!

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Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 4.

You have [Class 6] + [Racial 6] => [12] Total Skill Points to spend.

Please attribute them before continuing.

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Treech quickly minimized the window, because he noticed that more Golounds were coming out of the ruins. They were in a large group of 10 or more and moving in his direction.

'It was most likely that [Golound Beacon] skill that called them over.' Treech thought.

He really couldn't afford to fight another one of those monsters, let alone more than 10 of them. He might be stronger than an average player of his level, but he was under-leveled compared to the mobs of this area and he was a complete newbie to the game. After all, the game just launched hours ago this same day. He glanced at his Hp bar in the top left of his HUD. He only had 2 HP points left and his MP was empty.

He hurriedly stepped back away from monster hounds in hopes of putting his points to level up somewhere quietly and recovering his HP and MP. The golound pack appeared at the location where he defeated the previous one and they swept through the area with their swift agility. Treech had already withdrawn from the area to level up safely and he wasn't in any danger. He patiently waited for his HP and MP to recover, while looking through his skill points menu thoughtfully.

'My raw defense stats are really good. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to fight monsters that are more than 5 levels above me. I can't help by feel I need more HP, MP, and Mag Atk. I'm really poor in that department. So I think spending all my points during these few level-ups to get a strong foundation is a good first step.'

Treech assigned 6 points to Mag Atk, 3 points to HP, and 3 points to MP. This was a good use of his points. With the extra MP, he would be able to cast a fourth [Maximize Magic: Starbeam] and the overall damage of magic attacks would increase with him increasing his previous Mag Atk stat by more than 50%.

Treech waited patiently as more than 5 minutes passed. He recovered his Hp and Mp and was ready to continue exploring those ruins that the golound creature came from. He walked back to the previous area and took a look at the map in his HUD. The map titled these ruins [Golound Ruins]... pretty boring name but Treech still felt compelled by the adventurous spirit in his heart to explore it.

Treech adopted a pulling strategy for the golound monsters. He would wait for one to remain isolated before attacking it with a [Starbeam], leading it away from the rest of the others. Then when it used its [Golound Beacon] skill he would withdraw from the area like how he had done previously. He continued to do this for the next 3 hours. He had killed off more than 30 Golounds and had reached level 9. He had continued to put all his skill points into raw stats. Specifically his HP, MP, and Mag Atk. Finally, after he had just finished killing off a golound, something unexpected happened.

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Congratulations, Player [Treech] for claiming [Golound Ruins] location for your monster race.

Multiple Race Classes were detected.

Select a race for the monster territory:

- [Star-Dust Ethermorph]

- [Treant]

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Treech was surprised. What did it mean by 'claimed' territory for his race? And now he gets to choose from two of his sub-races? What about his custom race... was it not an option?

'Ooh right, I designed it to be only a single lifeform when I added the flavor text with the developer. Did that affect things when he added it?' Treech pondered. He was very curious about what this territory system was for. He selected the [Star-Dust Ethermorph] race. He was interested to see what these looked like. He had already seen treants from nearby so his curiosity got the best of him.

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Congratulations, you have been awarded 5,000 exp for expanding your race's territory.

[Star-Dust Ethermorphs] will now spawn in the claimed territory.

[Golound Ruins] name has been changed to [Star-Dust Ruins].

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Treech watched as the surrounding territory changed slightly. The grasses and the air had specs of stardust in them. The specs flickered as the light reflected off them, like glitter in the air. The specks were unmoving and static, giving a feeling like you were walking through a night sky of stars on the ground.

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Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 10.

You have [Class 3] + [Racial 3] => [6] Total Skill Points to spend.

Please attribute them before continuing.

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The level-up prompt appeared on his HUD again, but he ignored it for now. He had finally got to satisfy his curiosity about what his other subrace looked like. He saw blobs of black with silver light floating around the area. They had small orbs of grey that orbited them, like planets that orbit the sun in a solar system. They would bob about and absorb the small specs of light in the air around the area like a fish, eating specs of food.

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[Race]: Star-Dust Ethermorph

Level: 11

Hp: 9

Mp: 26

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Treech noticed the stats of the monster almost immediately. Its HP was abysmal but its MP was really high. He was also right next to them, but they still hadn't shown any form of aggression to him.

'Was this the so-called 'monster' affinity that the player [Dark Covenant] mentioned in his forum post?' He thought to himself. He realized that the treants from earlier hadn't attacked him either, so perhaps this rule applied to all heteromorphic players and racial classes. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the Level-Up prompt once again showed up on his HUD.

"Right, I think I have enough base stats now. Let's have some fun with this level up." Treech spoke out loud to himself.

'Now I am curious about my Star-Dust Ethermorph racial class. Maybe I could put 2 points into it to sate my curiosity.' Treech thought for a few moments before dismissing the idea.

'No, I should level my [Astromancer] character class first. I need more options other than just casting [Starbeam] all the time for damage. And ever since I passed level 7, I can cast Tier 2 spells now.'

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[Astromancer] character class level has been raised to level 11.

You now have access to Tier 2 [Astromancer] spell [Starbolt] in your spellbook.

You now have access to Tier 2 [Astromancer] spell [Summon: Ethermorph] in your spellbook.

You now have access to Tier 2 [Astromancer] spell [Starlight Shroud] in your spellbook.

You now have access to Tier 3 [Astromancer] spell [Summon: Etherite] in your spellbook.

You now have access to Tier 3 [Astromancer] spell [Minor Starfall] in your spellbook.

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Treech was excited to read about the effects of all these new spells. He knew he would have to memorize them for his future battles. He was reading on the forums that fighting monsters that are beyond level 10 is much more challenging. It isn't an HP slug fight like early levels. There are a lot of strategies involved in fights from that point on. Knowing the racial abilities of the monsters, their racial weaknesses, or the spells that the monsters could cast, could change the tide of a battle. He needed access to a variety of different spells to adapt to different situations. He opened his spellbook tab and read through his new spell effects.

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[Spell limit]: 8/400

[Tier 1]

- [Starbeam]: Condense starlight into a beam and fire it at an opponent. Deals cosmic damage.

- [Guiding Star]: A tracking spell that tracks a target that has been touched by using the stars in the night sky.

[Tier 2]

- [Comet Ice]: Billow comet ice into your surroundings condensing like a transparent mist. Comet ice increases cosmic damage type spells and attacks.

(New)

- [Starbolt]: Fire a concentrated mass of cosmic energy at an enemy. High chance for magic penetration.

- [Summon: Ethermorph]: Summon a [Star-Dust Ethermorph] to fight alongside you. Lasts 30 minutes.

- [Starlight Shroud]: Cloak yourself and become untraceable while under the night sky. Prevents tracing/tracking skills.

[Tier 3]

(New)

- [Summon: Etherite]: Summon a [Star-Dust Etherite] to fight alongside you. Lasts 30 minutes.

- [Minor Starfall]: Condense cosmic energy to mimic comet's falling from the atmosphere. Causes cosmic damage in a 30-meter radius around the caster.

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Treech read over all his new spells carefully. He was especially happy with the new [Summon] skills. He had grown up playing strategy games, and microing legions of units was his forte. Now that he could command summons, he fell into a feeling of nostalgia. Even though they were merely one or 2 units, he was happy. He planned to familiarize himself with all his new spells now that he had finally entered into the real part of the game. He was level 10 now and his opponents, both players, and monsters would only get more difficult from here.

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[Name: Treech Worsap]

[Gender: Male]

[Race: Worsap(Heteromorph)]

Level: 10

Hp: 19 (Author's Note: Added 9 skill points since last time)

Mp: 19 (Author's Note: Added 9 skill points since last time)

Phy Atk: 10

Phy Def: 31

Agility: 20 (Author's Note: Added 6 skill points since last time)

Mag Atk: 28 (Author's Note: Added 18 skill points since last time)

Mag Def: 42

Resist: 50

Special: 50

Total Stats: 269

———————Racial Levels———————

Worsap: 3

Star-Dust Ethermorph: 1

Treant: 1

———————Class Levels————————

Astromancer: 11 (Author's Note: Added 6 skill points since last time)

———————Job Levels————————

Herbalist:1

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He took one last look at his character menu before heading off to begin to familiarize himself with his new spells.

(Author's note: Not all fights will be like the Golound where it is just a slugfest of the same spells and basic damage HP trades. After level 10 the fights will get interesting. At least I hope that I can write interesting fights.)