Chapter 17: Brewing Storm

Rowan gained 4 levels, on the dot, with no excess experience.

The amount of enemies were around the same as the second cave he went in, and yet, he felt that he gained less experience than he would've originally. Then, it clicked, and Rowan smacked himself on the forehead.

Smack

'I'm getting stronger, so I need to fight stronger enemies, the weak enemies will only give me less and less experience.' That was his conclusion on this, and it made sense. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone just farm the weak goblins, as opposed to, for example, a dragon that gave the same amount of experience?

He put 10 points in strength, 5 points in constitution, and 5 points in intellect. Strength is what Rowan considers his most important stat, without it the Hot Chocolate skill wouldn't melt his enemies to death as it did, his taffy wouldn't be as tough and sticky as it were, and his minions wouldn't be as powerful. Constitution and intellect is also vital, but he considers them secondary to strength, which directly correlates to his offensive prowess. And lastly, there was dexterity, which he had put some points in before. It was useless, he thought it would boost his movement speed or the speed at which his abilities move, but that wasn't the case at all. That stat was mainly for those who relied on weapons, the stat mainly affected their skill to work with their hands, so it worked well for archers and the like.

He realized that a while back, when he thought about the word dexterity itself, which denoted adeptness with the body, especially the hands. A perfect stat for those opting for weapon mastery.

Personally, Rowan didn't think it would be too powerful, were there going to be some sort of sword saints or something from those cultivation novels he read? He didn't think so.

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Name: Rowan

Race: Human

Title: None

Class: Confectioner

Level: 16 -> 20

Exp: 0/100%

HP: 225/225 -> 250/250

MP: 175/175 -> 200/200

Stat Points: 20 -> 0

Str: 30 -> 40

Con: 25 -> 30

Dex: 4

Int: 25 -> 30

Traits: Sugar Overload 5★, Intense Aroma 1★

Abilities: Taffy Ball 1★, Hot Chocolate 2★, Gingerbread Man 3★

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Another prompt came after he was finished, as per usual. And as expected, it was a trait.

[Please select a trait.]

<Chocolate Kisses: ★★★> Consuming confections can slowly regenerate health and cleanse debuffs overtime.

<Gingerbread Armament: ★★★> When Gingerbread Man is activated, the conjured minion will be equipped with 1★ weaponry and armor.

<Just Desserts: ★★★★> A small portion of the damage done to confections, of the user, will reflect upon those who inflicted the damage.

Rowan has had some pretty bad rolls, rarity-wise so far, but this time he hit the jackpot. His mind was racing at the possibilities each could give him, and after a while, he narrowed his choices down to Chocolate Kisses and Just Desserts.

Gingerbread Armament was a great trait, which boosted the power of his minions significantly, however Rowan was thinking of the future. The skill only gave 1★ armaments, which would probably fall off at some point. Plus, he thought that his minions didn't need it, they could scale in strength, size, and durability among others just fine, with his stats alone. The armaments were nice, but unneeded.

Now back to the two choices, Chocolate Kisses is definitely a great pick, it could heal himself and even cleanse debuffs. He thought that in battles of attrition, the skill would shine. It's just that he hasn't been damaged once, as a long ranged fighter, he had many ways to defend himself from enemies trying to close the distance. Plus, he was sure he might see Chocolate Kisses again, or something better. It was not something he was in need of right now.

Even against any mirror matchup, he thought that he would come out on top, which is why he chose Just Desserts.

The trait, Just Desserts, just had more synergy with his current abilities. A prime example being the minions, which would always take damage, guaranteeing that Just Desserts triggered. And to be honest, Rowan thought that this skill should have been 5★, with the key phrase for why being: "A small portion of the damage done." That phrase denoted that the damage would scale, albeit a small portion every time, according to the strength of the enemy. In other words, this trait would always be useful, sending back a certain amount of the damage done.

Meanwhile, Rowan wasn't the only one leveling up and gaining new powers...

All around the world, many had realized the existence of new creatures that hadn't been there before, and they found that it gave them experience. Unfortunately, said creatures resided within certain environment and conditions. And, none knew of how they came to be or how many there were.

Rowan was actually quite lucky, in the area he was farming, there was little to no competition. Though, that was in part due to the lack of settlements in the region, as well as the ensuing fights between the princes. The same couldn't be said in most places, where fierce battles raged on, and all for the opportunity to farm experience in those said places.

Upheavals and surges in conflict increased with each passing day, and none were spared from it, anyone could be dragged in regardless of willingness.

Empires and their respective kingdoms were affected, none were left out. Some were shaken to their very core, some destroyed, others rising up in power through blood and power.

A storm was brewing, one that would affect the world...