Chapter 3 Leveling

A few hours after I had finished throwing a tantrum at being stuck in the fucking past, I finally accepted that there was nothing I could do; at least I had my animagus form, that would be able to help me survive for a few centuries…I guess. 

"Ok, fuck it, I can't interfere with Hogwarts, that's fine there is still the entire world that I can explore. However, there is one problem I have to solve right now, System, why the fuck do I not have any clothes?" I asked to the empty forest surrounding me as I stared down at my glorious new naked body.

|Notice: The System is only able to give you clothes as rewards.|

"Thanks a lot," I sighed. Well, there is no way in hell that I'm walking around the Forbidden fucking Forest naked. It's time to try out my new form I guess. 

As soon as I had that thought, I started to change seamlessly into a giant behemoth of a cat. I was huge, standing 9 feet tall and 15 feet long from the tip of my tail to my sharp muzzle. I thought it would feel a little weird, but no, the System had given me all the knowledge of my animagus form. I was a Nundu, and the Nundu was me.

I had been running through the forest for about an hour when the smell hit me, it was vile, like a smelly sock that had been left in a locker for 4 years and then drenched in Thioacetone. Unfortunately, that must have been appealing to my new Nundu senses, because my mouth started to water. Immediately I started to follow the scent, and after a few minutes, I came across an encampment of 4 large ogres that were at least 12 feet tall. They were tearing into what looked like the leftovers of a herd of elk, although I couldn't be sure. 

"Growl…" Damn, I'm hungry. 

Well, no time like the present I guess, as I let my new feline instincts take over and begin the hunt. With that I lept off the ground, creating a small crater with speed and strength that my new form gave me. In an instant I had traveled a few hundred feet, appearing before the first ogre with my claws already striking at the neck of the tallest ogre. 

|Notice: Your Toxic Aura has killed 1 Level 6 Timber Ogre. You have gained 3,000 Xp. +2 Strength|

|Aura Kill +10 Xp|

|Notice: You have Killed 1 Level 6 Timber Ogre. You have gained 3,000 Xp. +2 Strength|

|Instant Kill +50 Xp|

|Notice: You have Killed 1 Level 7 Timber Ogre. You have gained 5,000 Xp. +3 Dexterity|

|Instant Kill +50 Xp.|

|Notice: Your Toxic Aura has killed 1 Level 3 Timber Ogre. You have gained 1,000 Xp. +1 Strength|

|Aura Kill +10 Xp|

|Notice: Your Toxic Aura has killed 1 Level 1 Willow Elk. You have gained 20 Xp.|

|Aura Kill +10 Xp|

As soon as I killed the first Ogre I immediately hopped to the 2nd in an impressive display of agility and ripped its head off with my claws as well, within seconds the battle had ended. 

|Notice: Battle has concluded. For single-handedly killing a tribe of ogres in less than 2 minutes, you have gained the title Ogre Killer: + 10% damage when fighting ogres.|

|Notice: You have Leveled up, updating status. You have gained 3 levels and 4 Attribute Points.|

|New Status:

|Name: Valentine Silver

|Gender: Female 

|Race: Half-blood Succubi/Witch

|Level: 4 

|Xp: 3,150/7,000

|Mp: 450/450

|Hp: 20/20

|Int: 15 (Mp= Int*Lev*30)

|Str: 0 > 5

|Con: 0 (Hp= Con*Lev*20)

|Char: 10

|Dex: 15 > 18

|Luck: 10|

Attribute Points: 4

I didn't pay much attention to the screens that had popped up as I started to munch on the delicious flesh of the ogres that I had killed. They may smell god awful, but their flesh is fucking divine. After an hour or so, I finished all four ogres, plus the small elk that had barely been alive when I arrived, which surprised the fuck out of me. I'm a killing machine, but I'm only 9 feet tall, these ogres were all at least 12 feet tall and bulking with fat and mouth-watering muscle. 

'I must have been very hungry.' Licking my blood-stained chops as I started to look at the glowing windows that had slid over to my peripherals while I was fighting, and then eating. 

|Notice: When you are in your Primordial Nundu form, you can eat 5x your body weight without getting full.|

'Cool, and I leveled up. System, what can I do with attribute points?'

|Notice: You can use attribute points to level up skills as well as your base 6 stats.|

'Ok, well I only have 4, and I only have 1 skill, Mind Palace, which can probably be leveled up by itself with meditation or something. So, let's put 2 into my Con, and 2 in my Dex.' 

|Notice: Here is your updated Status.|

|Name: Valentine Silver

|Gender: Female 

|Race: Half-blood Succubi/Witch

|Level: 4 

|Exp: 3,150/7,000 

|Mp: 450/450

|Hp: 160/160

|Int: 15 (Mp= Int*Lev*30)

|Str: 5

|Con: 0 > 2 (Hp= Con*Lev*20)

|Char: 10

|Dex: 18 > 20

|Luck: 10|

|Attribute Points: 0|

|Notice: Congratulations! Dexterity Level 20 Reached, New Perks Available.|

|Fleet Footed: Increases movement speed by 15%, allowing for quicker positioning in combat or faster travel across challenging terrain. Also reduces stamina drain during high-speed movement, making it easier to evade enemies or cover long distances without fatigue.|

|Balanced Focus: Grants enhanced stability and control, reducing the chance of stumbling or getting knocked off balance. This perk increases resistance to status effects that impair movement, like slowing or binding, and improves balance on uneven or slippery surfaces.|

'Damn, does that mean that every time I get a stat to 20 I will get new perks?'

|Notice: That is correct.|

'Cool, I think I'll take Balanced Focus, it will help here in the forest where, to my knowledge, the forest is a giant living magical cesspool of craziness.'

|Notice: You have picked Perk: Balanced Focus.|

Once that was done I gave myself a quick cat bath and cleaned off all the gore and blood I had managed to get onto my pristine silverish-black fur. Now it is time to find someplace to make a camp or home or hovel or something.

|Notice: New Quest! Create a Homebase using rune magic. Requirements: Your base must have:

|Running Water| 

|Heating|

|A Cleaning/Disinfectant Area|

|A Fridge or Freezer|

|Basic Protection or Better|

|1 Space Expansion Rune|

|Rewards: 2 Int, 1 Treasure Chest, 1 Map of the Forest.|

|Bonus Rewards: Dependent on completion of the Quest.|

'Well, that's useful. Is that how you work? Can I just state a task and you turn it into a quest?' I asked the quiet forest as the sun started to set, turning the already creepy forest into a creepier one. 

…

…

…

…

'So… you're just not going to answer some of my questions? Well, that's fine, what would life be without a bit of mystery.' I thought towards the system, with feelings of annoyance and amusement mixed in.

After making sure that my fur was as pristine as when I arrived, I started to prowl around the forest, looking for an area that would meet some of the requirements of the Quest.

A few hours later and I still hadn't found anything besides towering trees, a few bushes, and a snail that was almost as large as me. 

'God, I'm bored, there has to be something to do besides just looking for stuff in the dark. I may be able to see well because I have magical cat night vision, but this is still boring and irritating as fuck. For someone who used to be able to look at their phone whenever they wanted to play games, read a book, or look at the news. I think I'm going to go through a technology withdrawal, that is not going to be fun at all. Maybe I can make something with runes to help me get through it.' 

'Sigh…' 

|Notice: Your Toxic Aura has killed 3 Level 2 Forest Rabbits. You have gained 20 Xp.|

|Notice: You have gained 1 Attribute Point for killing 50 Forest Rabbits using the same technique in less than 5 hours.|

'Ughh, that's another thing I'm going to have to deal with, some way to turn off or contain my Aura. I've killed like 100+ rabbits, mice, rats, spiders, and a few snakes. The notifications are annoying as hell when I'm not trying to fight, and you won't fuking turn the notification system off!'

|Notice: As previously stated in the last 3 hours, you can not turn off any notifications.|

'Fuck you,' I thought at it, immediately dismissing the window. As the window blinked out of existence I noticed a large cave to my left a few hundred yards away.

'Fuck it, I'm tired, and if someone is sleeping there…well too bad, I'm pretty sure I'm the most dangerous thing in this forest right now unless there is a basilisk or a dragon, I don't think anything will get in my way.' Tiredly blinking my eyes as I trotted over to the large outcropping of rocks.

As soon as I entered the cave I noticed something, I'm not quite sure how to put it, it was like a tingling feeling going through my very blood and flowing through to the rest of my body. I kept walking deeper into the cave, it was a lot bigger and deeper than I was expecting. The deeper I went the more the tingling sensation grew until it started to feel more like electricity was flowing through my bones and to my fur and back. Deeper and deeper I went until eventually I saw a faint glow emanating from one of the cavern walls. It looked like a humongous goldish-silver vein pulsing through the cave wall.

|Notice: You have found a Class 5 unguarded Ley Line. While most ley lines are intangible and can rarely be seen or manipulated they still produce magic to the world. However, in certain parts of the world, there are larger Ley Lines that have gathered so much magic over the eons that they have become tangible and can be manipulated. A Class 1 Ley Line is usually a faint white color the size of a small thread, they are widely used to power Enchanting tables or used as power for Alchemical Labs. Class 2 and 3 Ley Lines, usually a pinkish white or silver the size of a sailor's rope, are used for large warding schemes in mansions, and small villages. Class 4 Ley Lines are always a deep red and about the size of an adult human male's upper leg, they are used to power large ward schemes and rune clusters in castles and some small countries; Hogwarts is built upon 3 Class 4 Ley Lines. A Class 5 Ley Line is a swirling helix-like mix of gold and silver wrapped around each other like muscle fibers and is the size of a human torso. A Class 5 Ley Line has never been manipulated to power anything so there is no record of what it could be for. It's theorized that it could be used to power a nation-sized protection ward scheme or similar power siphoning requirements.|

|Notice: For being the first person to discover a Class 5 Ley Line, you have been given 3 Legendary Lottery Tickets, 1 Random Life Skill, and 5,000 Xp.|

|Generating Life Skill: You have gained the Life Skill: Sewing. You have gained intermediate knowledge of all types of Sewing.|

|Notice: You have gained a Job: Seamstress.|

|Notice: You have Leveld up. You have gained 1 Attribute Point.

|Notice: You are lucky that you are in your Primordial Nundu form, in this form you are stronger and more resilient, you are also more in tune with the magic of the world, if you had been in your Succubi form the pressure that is being released from this Ley Line would have disintegrated your body as soon as you had started to feel the tingling feeling in your body.|

|Notice: Would you like to Claim this Ley Line as your own?|

|Y/N|

'Holy shit! There is a lot to unpack there, I'll digest that information later I guess. Yes, I'd like to claim this Ley Line.'

As soon as I said yes and before I could even think about moving, a small strand of the Ley Line jumped from the Ley Line and pierced through my body, burrowing itself into my magical core like a parasite. Although, instead of leeching power from me, I was leeching power off the Ley Line, I could feel huge amounts of magical power flowing into me; so much so that my very being began to discharge magical power and my poison glands began to vent their tanks filling the room into a death chamber of poison and highly charged unstable magic.

|Notice: You have become the Guardian of a Class 5 Ley Line. New Quest: Protect this Ley Line for 200 years or more. Reward: 200 Int, 2 Legendary Items, 1 Legendary Skill, Massive Xp Gain.|

|Notice: New Title: Guardian of The Ley Line: You can see the flow of magic, where it needs to go, and the weak points of all ward schemes and rune clusters. You are able to manipulate the magic of the Ley Line. No Class 5 Ley Line or below will ever cause you harm. +100 Int|

|Notice: Your Intelligence has reached 115 you can pick three Intelligence-based perks.|

|Notice: You have gained the Skill: Magic Sight.|

|Notice: You have gained the Skill: Ley Line Sorceress. Information: A Witch or Wizard has magical cores they are born with to power their spells. Warlocks perform rituals to cast spells and gain power, however, a Sorcerer or Sorceress uses the powers of the world, Ley Lines, to power their spells.|

"ROARRRRR!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!" I didn't even notice the golden windows appearing before me, or the fact that I had changed back into my succubi form, as pure undiluted magic continued to pump into me. An unending river of power surged into me, all I could do was pray that I wasn't about to be turned into an exploding bomb of magical power. 

(3 Hours Later)

|Notice: Congratulations! You have absorbed 0.00001% of a Class 5 Ley Lines power.|

I could only blink unsteadily at the window hovering in front of me as I lay on the cave floor.

"System, next time, if there is a similar situation like this that might grant me power or something like that; tell me what the fuck I might be getting myself into before I say yes." I panted out.

"That hurt like a mother fucker." I mumbled to the ground, closing my eyes as I listened to the soothing beat of the Ley Line next to me.

|Aknowleged. You will be informed of any risks beforehand if a situation similar to this happens again.|

"Good, now I'm going to sleep, I'm not sure if you can, but if I don't wake up in 12 hours wake me up…or something," I whispered, not hearing the answer as I had already fallen asleep.