Chapter 11: Choosing A Path [Part 1] After their “near death” adventure, the baby and the goat immediately fell asleep. William only woke up when Anna bathed him while he was asleep. “What’s wrong, little baby?” Anna pinched the baby’s disgruntled chubby cheeks. “Did I interrupt your sleep?” “Eyah!” (Yes!) “Awwww, what a cute little boy you are,” Anna cooed as she scrubbed William’s body with a soap. “Don’t worry, you can go back to sleep after I bathe you.” Anna playfully tickled the baby’s armpits. To her surprise, the baby actually giggled which made her continue her teasing. Ella woke up due to William’s giggling. However, seeing that Anna was taking care of him, the goat closed her eyes to sleep. Although William had healed her injuries, she was still exhausted after that skirmish with the goblins. After William finished bathing, Anna wrapped him in a clean cloth. She then placed him beside Ella so that he could drink her milk. The baby had long gotten used to his routine and immediately helped himself to his Mama Ella’s milk. - [ Daily Quest: Drink Milk has been completed! ] [ Rewards: 6 Exp Points. ] Current Exp: 365 / 1366 [ Shepherd Lvl 1 ] Job Exp: 86 / 200 — ‘Um? My experience points increased by one point?’ William thought as he looked at the experience points he gained after his daily quest. ‘Ah! This might be the effect of Gavin’s blessing. If I remember correctly, he said that after gaining a job class, I will get a twenty percent increase in experience points.’ The little baby was quite happy with the gains he received from his first encounter with the goblins. However, he was still a bit scared at the thought of fighting goblins to gain more experience points. He came from a peaceful world. Although he had read many fantasy novels, experiencing it first hand was different from reading a story. The ring that was hanging on his necklace had the ability to bring them to a dungeon. According to his appraisal, it was the “Ring of Conquest”. The description of the artifact stated that it allowed the user to go to a dungeon that had been recorded inside the ring. The name of the dungeon where they encountered the Goblins was known as the “Goblin Crypt”. It had twenty floors and was considered as a Grade D Dungeon. Just as the name suggests, the Dungeon’s inhabitants were mainly goblins. William shuddered when he remembered the gruesome creatures that had almost sent him back into the cycle of reincarnation. ‘… Let’s see my skills first. Maybe I got something useful.’ William decided not to worry about the goblins for the time being. ‘I gained one level in my Job Class.” William was quite happy with this development and immediately opened the skill tree on his Shepherd Job Class. There were four skills that were available. The first one was called Staff Mastery. - [ Staff Mastery ] (Passive) — Increases damage of any staff related weapons by ten percent —— ‘This skill is actually not bad,’ William mused as he looked at the three available job points in his status screen. ‘Let’s read the other skills first before I make the final decision.’ - [ Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing ] (Passive) — Increases all stats of the herd by 1 - ‘This is a very good skill.’ William looked at the skill description with sparkling eyes. This would definitely help his Mama Ella increase her battle prowess. - [ Magnum Burst ] (5 Mana Points) — Deals AOE Damage up to three square meters around the caster. — Damage dealt is equivalent to Strength x 2 — Knockback effect [ Parry ] (Passive) — Increase chances of parrying attack by five percent. Requirement: Only works for staff and pole-type weapons - ‘One active and three passive skills,’ William thought. ‘Getting the Magnum Burst is ideal because it gives me an offensive skill… as for the others, they are more of a support type skill.’ After careful consideration, William decided to pick Magnum Burst and Wolf in Sheep’s clothing from the list. He placed one skill point on the offensive skill and two skill points in the supportive skill. William knew that if he would challenge the dungeon again, he would be relying on his Mama Ella’s help most of the time. Strengthening the support skill to help Mama Ella would ensure his safety. As for the offensive skill, it would be his last resort when things got out of hand. ‘I need to add points to my strength when I level up. Now time to check Mama Ella’s status window.’ - Race: Angorian Goat Hit Points: 100 / 100 Mana: 20 / 20 [ Strength: 2 ] [ Agility: 3 ] [ Vitality: 4 ] [ Intelligence: 2 ] [ Dexterity: 2 ] Available Stat Points: 2 Available Skill Points: 2 Current Exp: 80 / 200 - William noticed that his Mama Ella’s current exp was the same as his. Without pondering for long, the baby immediately placed two stat points on Ella’s agility. He deemed that the faster his Mama Ella moved, the greater her chance for dodging the enemy’s attack. He didn’t want to see her dying in front of him. William would definitely do everything in his power to make sure that his Mama Ella would grow strong. After placing the stat points, he immediately checked the Goat’s Skill Tree to see if there were any decent skills available. William didn’t know how beasts go stronger in this world. He didn’t even know if they could evolve like the ones he saw on T.V when he was still back on Earth. However, when he opened Ella’s skill tree, he found out that there were two paths that he could choose from. The first path was the Strength Path. If William were to choose this path, Ella would become a creature that would heavily rely on physical strength. The other was called the Spirit Path. This allowed creatures to form a magic core inside their body. The magic core’s function was to help the creature harness the magic power in its environment. Based on William’s experience, creating a hybrid would not necessarily make Ella stronger. It might even greatly weaken her in the long run. ‘Let’s go with the Strength Path for now.’ William decided. ‘Let’s just use the Might over Magic strategy in the early game. We can choose the Spirit Path when we reach the End Game.’