Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  Tim hoped he couldn’t lose skills by not using them, but it would make a certain kind of sense. While a person might always be able to do something, to do it at a very high level took a daily commitment. Contacting the goddess more often wouldn’t make him commit that often. He’d have to reach out to her once a week.

  Skill Increased: Infiltrator

  Rank: Novice level four

  You’re kind of good at sneaking into places and doing dastardly deeds. Are you sure you picked the right class? Maybe it’s time to get a little more stabby-stabby and a little less with the splashing people with water act.

  Snort.

  Tim looked around, hoping ShadowLily wasn't nearby. That snort sounded suspiciously like a fart, and despite what some of his best friends thought, most women weren’t interested in getting romantic right after someone ripped a big one. After the day they had, if she heard him rip one now, the fartfender might not get any for a while.

  While the thought of switching to something with a little more damage was sometimes appealing, as much as he liked stabbing things, Tim liked healing more. There was something about keeping people alive that called to him. Maybe it only made him feel important, but Tim kind of liked the added pressure that came with playing a healing class. Unless he fucked up and his chat turned into a tirade of healing hate.

  Skill Increased: Quick Feet

  Rank: Novice level five

  Running from Cassie probably shouldn’t earn you an increase, but you were running, and she was probably going to hit you really hard.

  Tim rubbed his shoulder.

  Although he’d healed himself and the giant bruise was gone, he could still feel it. Cassie didn’t pull any punches when she was pissed, but she also didn’t break his arm, so there was something to be thankful for. JaKobi didn’t know how good he had it with those gentle jabs to the ribs.

  To be fair, she apologized for about ten minutes straight after she’d smacked him a good one, which wasn’t really necessary. It was all in good fun, and he deserved it. What he was pissed about was the game didn’t recognize any of the other times he used Quick Feet, only the most embarrassing one.

  Skill Increased: Disturbance

  Rank: Novice level six

  Removing buffs and interrupting actions. You’re doing it all with this spell. While not every fight will allow you to use Disturbance, when you do get the chance you better use it, or it’s going to hurt, real bad.

  Tim didn’t like the sound of that, but he’d experienced how much missing the opportunity to use this spell hurt when they faced the Two Daughters. He would have to make sure always to watch the boss for effects he could stop. Hopefully, one of the others had the same kind of spell because he spent most of his time watching them for status effects and a lot less time worrying about what the boss was doing.

  Skill Increased: Backstab

  Rank: Novice level one

  Sure, you’re a healer, but let’s face it. You enjoy delivering some justice, and if you can do it from behind, you like it even better. You’ve reached the Apprentice ranks and picked up an additional five percent chance to critical attack when striking from behind. Keep sneaking up on people and killing them to level this skill.

  It was true. After an initial reluctance to hurt other humans, he’d become quite adept at stabbing people. Tim could do it from the front or behind, but the game was right. He preferred to do it when they couldn’t fight back. Sleeping, mid-coitus, taking a dump, all great places to stab someone without them being able to see it coming.

  Tim didn’t get the chance to pull out his daggers and DPS very often, so when he did, he appreciated it. It was as though Khalid had known what he needed at that very moment in time. He didn’t see an update for his throwing knives, but he knew that he’d made some progress to the next level there as well.

  Apparently, he needed to throw his knives at more people.

  Skill Increased: Snare

  Rank: Novice level one

  People wanna go, go, go, and you want them to stop in their tracks. Now that you’re in the Apprentice ranks, that’s more likely to happen. Any time someone is going somewhere you don’t want them to be, use this spell to slow their roll.

  P.S. It works great for babysitting.

  Tim didn’t know if everyone did a stint as a babysitter as a teen, but he’d spent his fair share of time trying to wrangle kids to bed for ridiculously small amounts of money. Also for free when it was his siblings. It was funny how that worked. The ones he got paid to take care of listened to him, and the two brats he didn’t get paid to watch tried to make his life a living hell.

  They’d probably knocked a good ten years off his life via stress, but he still loved them.

  Skill Increased: Sneak

  Rank: Novice level five

  Some people like to get freaky. You like to get sneaky. Sneaking from room to room and slaughtering your enemies is a time-honored tradition for assassins, not so much for healers. Although you did pick a class that does damage as well as healing, so maybe being sneaky is right up your alley.

  That wasn’t exactly nice.

  Tim was sneaky because he didn’t have the strength to be anything else. Walking up to people and bashing them head-on took a certain amount of fortitude he didn’t have. His options were to blast them from afar or get sneaky with it. If there was a real threat from someone with big muscles, he had to call on one of the ladies to deal with it. Sure, it was a little humbling to have your girlfriend winning fights for you, but if he’d learned anything, it was never to let his pride get in the way of results.

  So when Tim wanted to win solo, he did sneaky things.

  Skill Increased: Dodge

  Rank: Novice level seven

  You have a certain flair for not getting hit. Yes, sometimes you get scared and get klutzy running away, but the amount of minimal to small damage you seem to miss per encounter is rather staggering. Just keep being you and this skill will level on its own.

  In other words, keep screwing up and trying to get out of it by running. Putting his life on the line to level a skill seemed a bit reckless. He’d rather skip out on the dodging and running for his life parts and get to the loot, but there was a reason they made you fight the bosses.

  It was fun as fuck.

  Getting loot for doing absolutely nothing was a way to lure suckers into a game that wasn’t good enough to stand on its own. The Etheric Coast didn’t have that problem. This game was awesome, and every day was like a new adventure.

  Skill Increased: Flame Burst

  Rank: Novice level seven

  Burning down the house is a catchphrase, but you should always be looking to burn as many things as possible if you want to level this skill. Let’s be honest. It’s come in pretty handy for you, so you should probably show it a little more love.

  The system understood how to reach him.

  A little poking, a gentle push in the right direction, and he was more than willing to listen. Only an idiot would ignore what the game was telling him to do. If the system wanted him to burn stuff, then he’d do it all day. So far, all the skill messages he received served to keep him on track for what he needed to accomplish. It would be as easy for him to toss out a Flame Burst now and again instead of Divine Light.

  The savings in mana alone would make using Flame Burst more often worth it.

  Skill Increased: Small Blades

  Rank: Novice level eight

  So you have a thing for knives, huh? There are worse things you could spend your time doing than slicing and dicing your enemies, but now you won’t have to. Using blades shorter than eighteen inches in length will increase your base damage and critical hit chance.

  There was a certain sense of satisfaction to clipping someone from behind, but he was much more comfortable casting from a distance while others soaked up the damage. Fighting was all well and good when they couldn’t see it coming. Getting stabbed, beaten, and kicked—that shit was for suckers.


  Skill Increased: Behold My Power

  Rank: Novice level eight

  This spell goes boom-boom-boom. Actually, there’s only one boom, but it’s rather spectacular. The reduced cooldown has helped you use this spell more often and with great results. Keep using Behold My Power to crush your enemies, and you’ll get stronger. In strength there is power, and you will show them who wields it.

  That was a little dark.

  It sounded like he would be the next Sauron or something, but that would never be the case. The only reason he would have gone to the dark side is if those damn Jedi wouldn’t get off his back about the love thing. It was never wrong to seek balance in the Force. Wait, all he had to do here was keep working with the goddess of light, and he was bound to come out on the right side of things.

  Vitaria could promise him the moon, but Tim knew it was all bullshit. This was where he was meant to be, and he was damn sure that he was fighting on the right side of things.

  Skill Increased: Healing Storm

  Rank: Novice level nine

  Healing rain falls from the heavens and makes you look like a badass. Large groups of people with injuries aren’t a problem anymore. You’ve used this spell to help not only your group but others in need, and that’s been noticed. Reach the Journeyman ranks for new and exciting bonuses.

  Any time one of his healing skills received an upgrade it was a good day. If all his other skills suddenly stopped being useful, but he could still heal his ass off, Tim would find a way to make it work. Healing Storm in particular was invaluable, especially if he was going to keep receiving items where he had to heal a certain amount of people to block further attributes.

  Being able to heal multiple people at once was more useful than he’d initially planned, even if it cost more mana.

  Skill Increased: Who Needs a Shield

  Rank: Novice level nine

  This is one of those spells that not only benefits the target but everyone in your group. It’s probably something every healer wishes they had in their hip pocket, but not all of them do. Reach the Journeyman ranks to unlock new benefits.

  This was probably his most useful spell when it came to mitigating damage. The only thing that even came close was the target of his stance. The nice thing about both the spell and the stance was he could cast them on the same target or different targets at will. Anytime someone would eat a lot of damage, he could lessen the load quite a bit by using one or the other.

  At the end of the day, Who Needs a Shield saved him from having to heal damage that could have been easily prevented in the first place.

  Skill Increased: Cleanse

  Rank: Journeyman level two

  Is there anything more important in a fight than immediately removing negative status effects from your party? Probably not, at least if you want to live. This spell does wonders for you now. Imagine what it will be like when you become a master.

  Cleanse was pretty standard in every healer’s toolkit like an interrupt should be for a DPS. He used it whenever he thought it was appropriate, but like every healer, he was guilty of tunnel vision at times. Nothing caused him to pay attention to what was going on like seeing someone he was supposed to be keeping alive’s health plummet like a barrel over Niagara Falls.

  Then Tim called on his favorite little spell, and all was right in the world.

  Skill Increased: Divine Light

  Rank: Journeyman level two

  Just like stabbing things with your knives, you really like blasting things until they die. Once you admit that you enjoy hurting the enemy, things will go much easier for you. Seriously, what kind of healer picks a class where they hurt things to heal them? It’s kind of sadistic.

  Tim didn’t think it was sadistic.

  Using his curses on the enemy was good common sense. While he’d never be able to put out as much pure healing as someone who was a more traditional-styled healer, his damage helped take the pressure off his DPS and end fights sooner.

  He was such a good guy that it felt kind of fun to be a little naughty.

  Plus, sitting in the back and never doing anything but healing was kind of boring. It was nice to know he brought a little utility to the fights. If they needed more DPS, he could manage it. If they needed more healing, he could swing it. He’d always be a better healer than a DPS, but their group had a leg up on any group with a more traditional healer.

  At least he liked to think so.

  Skill Increased: Curse of Giving

  Rank: Journeyman level two

  Taking what you want and inflicting pain is all part of your average day now. Some people might even call what you do a form of necromancy, taking the life of one thing and giving it to another. I’m not saying that’s what you are, but others might not take too kindly to your spells.

  You’ve been using this skill exactly how it should be used, and if you continue to do so it will continue leveling as quickly as it is now. Cast this curse on as many people as possible and take their precious life for yours.

  I guess they call it a curse for a reason.

  Tim didn’t care what someone wanted to label his skills. Labels didn’t define him. Outside of Healing Orb, Curse of Giving was his most effective skill, and in a battle with multiple enemies the sheer healing power it provided was monumental. This was his go-to, his old faithful of the curse department. He knew a time was coming soon where he might get more curses, and he was looking forward to it, but for now, he’d use this one every chance he got.

  Skill Increased: Healing Orb

  Rank: Journeyman level nine

  You’ve almost reached the master ranks with one of the very first spells you were given when entering the game. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment and a milestone that you shouldn’t ignore. Keep using this spell to keep people alive, and you’ll be a master in no time.

  A master, imagine that. Tim didn’t know if he’d be the first person in the game with a master-ranked skill, but whether he was the first one or the millionth, no one would be able to take it away from him. He was on the verge of crossing a threshold, and the next step after master was grandmaster. He’d get there eventually, but for now, he needed to focus more on their next quest.

  Leveling up his skill would happen naturally as long as he kept playing the game.

  Stances

  Skill Increased: Way of the River

  Rank: Novice level seven

  This is the skill you use when healing multiple people quickly is paramount to your survival. Not every situation calls for this stance, but when it does, make sure you take full advantage of the moment.

  The only bad thing about Way of the River was that it didn’t provide any additional protection for the tank. If it could keep Cassie safe and provide extra healing for the others, he’d use it all the time, but that wasn’t how the spell worked.

  Tim thought he did a pretty good job with Way of the River, but he would have to keep his eyes open for additional opportunities to master the spell.

  Skill Increased: Way of the Boulder

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  Getting hit by things sucks, even when you’re a rock. That’s why your stance's target now also benefits from a five percent increase in their dodge rating, plus the previously listed benefit of damage reduction.

  This stance already gave a flat-out ten percent reduction in damage. Add in another five percent dodge chance, and it would help him do a little more damage during their fights. That or the amount of damage their group would take in fights was about to spike again.

  Way of the Boulder should at least give him a little flexibility so Tim wouldn’t be stuck at the back of the fights the entire time while struggling to keep people alive. He wanted to bring more to the battle than reduced damage and rock-solid heals.

  Buffs

  Skill Increased: Armor of Eternia

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  Eternia is pleased with your progress to the Journeyman ranks. As your adventure c
ontinues, the goddess understands that the way you protect yourself and your allies must adapt to the circumstances. At the Journeyman rank, this buff no longer provides a five percent reduction in dark magic but a flat one percent reduction in all damage received. Before, this spell also provided a five percent chance to avoid succumbing to weakness. A five percent chance to resist any status effect replaces it, and if the effect isn’t resisted, then its duration will decrease by five percent.

  Holy shit!

  None of his other skills had ever changed so dramatically when they updated to a new rank. Not only was this a big update but a significant one. His Armor of Eternia spell had been incredible in certain situations but wasn’t effective in all their fights.

  Now it would be.

  Eternia must be pleased with their progress if she was willing to help him out in such a big way. He hoped some of the others also received cool improvements to their skills as they hit new skill ranks. They were moving out of the little leagues and into the big leagues.

  More danger, bigger rewards. This was going to be awesome.

  Skill Increased: Attacks of the Faithful

  Rank: Journeyman level one

  The Goddess Eternia’s understanding of your needs continues to evolve as you do. As an adventurer, even a healer must realize there’s a time when they can no longer simply play defense. Having the right buff for the right job is key in any situation, and this one is no different. Now, instead of converting a percentage of your base damage into holy damage, you and your party will receive a one percent increase in all damage done.

  Again, this spell was a huge upgrade over the older version. Getting buffs to only one type of damage was pretty lame unless the enemies you were facing also had a weakness to that particular affinity. Flat-out damage increase was incredible, and Tim was pretty sure his group would love it. If their buffs also received increases like this, they might be able to cruise through the next set of fights without too many problems.

  That didn’t sound right.

  It was far more likely the game was setting them up to scrape by their next set of encounters. No one liked being handed victories or getting completely obliterated time after time. Tim swore that wasn’t going to happen. They were going to rock this next adventure like Prince did 1999.