The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) by Craig Kobayashi (ereader android TXT) 📕

Garath took a moment to read through the prompts he had received during the fifth wave. He dismissed the mounting death count prompt without even looking at the numbers and moved straight on to the pudding.

Congratulations, Garath! For reaching level(s) 15, 16, 17, and 18 you are awarded +12 Attribute Points (3 per level) and +4 Skill Points (1 per level) to distribute at your discretion. As a Necrologist, you receive +3  Wisdom, +3 Vitality, and +1 Regeneration per level. You have one week to distribute the points before they are assigned for you based on your chosen class.

Unused Attribute Points: 12

Unused Skill Points: 8

New Skills are now available.

Garath didn’t waste time deliberating his choices. Instead, he allocated them immediately in an even three-way split between Vitality, Wisdom, and Regeneration. Even though he just allocated more APs than he had at any other singular time, the rejuvenating wave that washed over him when he confirmed his choices felt underwhelming this time - likely due to the growing fatigue from a very long and difficult day. Without further ado, Garath closed his Profile partition and opened his Skill Tree.

He was disappointed to find that only one new option had become available. The description of that Skill though, did lift his spirits a bit.

Haunt

Active

Cost: 126 Mana (.2x base Mana)

30 Meter Range

3 Second Cast

Effect: Summon a demonic spectre to haunt your target, dealing 65 (Spirit) damage (.95x Wisdom) over 14 seconds and reduces the target's movement speed by 30%.

Skill Points to Unlock: 1

Unused Skill Points: 8

Haunt may not have the added benefit of infecting everything within a given area like Blight, but it also came without a cooldown and would pair well with his Mastery: Pestilent passive ability. So, without much deliberation, Garath purchased the new Skill.

Unused Skill Points: 7

For a moment, he considered putting additional points into Mastery: Pestilent - but that was only because he now seemed to have an excess of Skill Points. On the other hand, as he had seen with the Masteries, some Skills would have a higher purchase price than 1 Skill Point. Between that and the fact that Level 20 was coming in the near future, Garath decided to hold off on making any decisions with his seven remaining SPs and see what options became available after the next wave.

Thirst quenched, APs spent, and a new Skill that he was excited to try out - Garath exited the boy’s room. He walked silently through the large and empty main hall, past the growing gaggle of children and various other non-combatants, and made his way back outside.

A quick look around revealed that the usual suspects were hanging out just outside of the doors. Athios, Fergus, TodoroKen, Warrion, and a handful of other Hawks that had fought alongside them throughout the event were quieter than they had been all day, Garath noticed. It made sense, he guessed. It had been the longest, most taxing and stressful day any of them had ever been through. Then Garath cocked his head in confusion.

The group of young boys dubbed ‘the hawkies’ (if only in Garath’s mind) were gathered around a young blond woman. The woman pointed one finger threateningly only a few inches away from AyAyRon's face and was spewing out a cluster of more vulgarities than anyone should use in the presence of children, even Garath thought so. The Necrologist approached quietly, trying not to attract any attention and prematurely end the delightful scene unfolding in front of him.

“Hey, lady…" one of the hawkies was saying, slightly cross-eyed as he cautiously backed away from Sharon's outstretched finger. "All I was trying to say is that you look good for a woman of your age. That's just a compliment! There's something seriously wrong with anyone that takes a compliment like this… are you okay?"

Sharon just looked at him, blinking rapidly.

"Like, do you need someone to talk to?" asked AyAyRon seriously. He took a step closer to Sharon and wrapped his hand around hers with a genuinely concerned look on his face. "I'm a really good listener."

This kid had balls of fucking vibranium, Garath was thoroughly impressed. The brave young man (who may be meeting his maker sooner rather than later, judging by the look on Sharon's face) had freckles spotting his cheeks and nose beneath unwashed black hair that couldn't seem to decide which direction it wanted to grow. Garath could see from his nameplate that this young man was called 'AyAyRon'.

"Ugh," Sharon grunted unattractively. "You remind me of that glowy-eyed neighbor of mine. He thinks he's pretty damn charming too." Sharon's features softened a bit, only for a fraction of a second before her taciturn visage resumed and she pulled her hand away from the boy's, then poked him hard in the chest.  "Well let me tell you something, young man. If you ever touch my heiny again, I'll bend you over my knee and spank you right here in front of your friends. Now, get out of my sight you little pervert!"

“Mark it. Aaron rolls a 1 on seduction,” said a husky boy with the name 'TheDM' displayed above his head.

The rest of the hawkies laughed at their friend until SHONEN cautioned Sharon to ‘be careful’ and that, ‘he might actually enjoy that’, causing AyAyRon to fold his arms and screw up his face with one eyebrow raised appraisingly. To Garath it looked like the boy was considering whether or not he actually would enjoy that. Before the situation could escalate to any higher tier(s) of uncomfortable, the Necrologist decided to intervene.

“You guys kicked some ass out there,” he said as he approached the young men. “I’m Garath.”

“Yeah, Garath. We know. We met a few hours ago,” said a boy with feminine features and greasy blond hair that hung past his shoulders in a frayed ponytail. The nameplate affixed above the young man (‘Stabby’) told Garath that this was the party’s Rogue. It wasn’t until Garath triggered