The {Elite Guards} went back inside the keep and the gates slammed closed behind them. I noted that the {Guards} dead bodies had disappeared and that the female {Guard} was now alive again.

It looked like they had a revival skill, too. But if that was the case, why didn't they revive the same time as I had? Maybe even earlier since they had died first. And, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't have [Revive] listed as one of my skills.

I sighed and shook my head. More questions I wouldn't be getting answers to. Pushing the rapidly growing confusion to the back of my head, I opened the new notifications I'd gotten.

For assisting in the death of a Player 5 levels above you, you have gained 120 EXP.

You have leveled up! You are now level 2. You have gained 2 Tree Points and 4 Attribute Points for leveling up.

A level up! That's pretty great. What were these points, though?

Name: None (Elden Keep Guard)

Class: Guard

Level: 2

HP: 100/100

SP: 110/110

MP: 7/7

TP: 2

AP: 4

STR: 10 (+)

END: 11 (+)

AGI 5 (+)

VIT: 8 (+)

INT: 7 (+)

CHA: 3 (+)

Skills: [Measure Bribe] - 1; [Lesser Radar] - 2; [Thrust] - 1; [Burst] - 1; [Charge] - 1

Spells: -

Okay, so, AP is Attribute Points - which I could use to upgrade the supposed attributes - and Tree Points (TP) were used for...something else?

I could figure those out later. For now, I had to spend my points. One thing I absolutely wanted more HP, which seemed to directly correlate with STR - strength. I put one point into STR and watched it tick up to 11 while my HP went up to 110, matching my SP. I couldn't seem to take back the AP spent on attributes, which was good to know. I couldn't make rash choices in spending these things. I figured more Agility would be helpful - [Burst] gave me a small boost to it, which was nice, but I didn't want to depend on a skill to save my butt all the time. So I put another point into STR and the last two went into AGI. When I did so, I felt my body start to tingle.

It went on for a few seconds before eventually settling down. What had that done? I took an experimental step forward and was pleased to note that the step felt...smoother somehow. I felt a bit more stable and the weight of the gambeson didn't seem too bad anymore. Was that the result of upping my Strength as well?

I shrugged my shoulders, feeling the padded shirt lift a bit easier than before. Okay, then. Strength and Agility were going to be my go-to stats until something convinced me otherwise.