by Jez Cajiao
Arms: 0/10 Strength Increase
Arms: You will receive a boost of 25% to your carrying capacity and your damage output with melee weapons.
Hands: 0/10 Dexterity Increase
Hands: You will develop crafting abilities at a 10% increased rate, along with a greater chance to succeed in crafting complicated items
I was tempted to assign my point to so many places straight away; hell, with the way my fights had been going of late, being able to double my health or stamina was practically a no-brainer, not to mention the idea of dropping all my spell costs by five percent if I hit it into my brain. The more I thought about the nodes, the more certain I was that there wasn’t a bad choice to be made. I wanted them all, god dammit, especially considering that if I slammed it into my arms four times over, I’d gain a hundred percent damage increase with any melee weapon. I mean, seriously, I spent my life on the front lines…
I shook myself back into focus and brought up the options for adding in the essence cores. Figuring I needed to move fast, I compared the abilities they would grant first.
You have found a Fire Elemental Essence Core. You have the capacity to absorb this Core, gaining the following abilities:
Soul of the Fire: You can channel your Soul fire into an external weapon or item, doing 10-25 damage per second with it.
Cost: 10MP+10HP per second.
Flaming Desire: You can use your internal heat to inflame those around you, driving the innocent to guilty pleasures, and the guilty to new heights of depravity…
Cost: 10MP+10HP per second.
*
You have found an Air Elemental Essence Core. You have the capacity to absorb this Core, gaining the following abilities:
Soaring Majesty: You can burn your health and mana to achieve flight, inspiring all though around you to reach for new heights of their own, as you literally ascend to the heavens.
Cost: 10MP+10HP per second, increasing by 1.5x with speed, starting with that of a running horse.
Peace: You embody a sense of calm, radiating it out to envelop those around you, granting and gaining boosts to health and mana regeneration while meditating.
Cost: 10MP+10HP per hour.
*
You have found a Greater Beholder Essence Core. You have the capacity to absorb this Core, gaining the following abilities:
Seething Hatred: You are filled with a powerful and undeniable hatred for the lesser beings around you, and this manifests itself through the power of your gaze, paralyze a single opponent within 100m with your stare, doing 20 points of damage per second you maintain contact, but beware, you are also locked in place using this ability, and your innate paranoia grows with every second, as the sure and certain knowledge of the knives in the dark inching closer grows…
Cost: 10MP per second
Hunger: Your hunger for all things is legendary, from flesh to knowledge, all must be consumed… gain 25% faster skill growth permanently.
Cost: 1 point of Agility and Charisma is lost permanently per level gained.
*
You have found a Drider Essence Core. You have the capacity to absorb this Core, gaining the following abilities:
Stealthy Ascension: Your hands and feet when uncovered can extrude tiny barbs that enable stealthy travel across the walls and ceiling as easily as floors, but beware, human flesh was never meant to bear such weight!
Cost: 10MP+10HP per second.
Vampiric feeding: When you attack a foe that is unaware, you have a chance to activate ‘Vampiric Feeding’, allowing you to paralyze, then siphon their health and mana for so long as your fangs are embedded in their flesh… you gain 5points of health and mana from your target per second, rising by 50% with every second that passes…
Cost: 5MP+5HP per second.
I read through them at speed, dismissing the Drider out of hand, and after a few seconds, the Beholder Core as well. As much as I’d love to gain the abilities, I just couldn’t afford the side effects. I pulled up the Air Elemental Essence Core and reconsidered the bonuses and negatives, quickly followed by the Fire Elemental.
This Air Elemental Essence Core can be located in one of the following Nodes for the corresponding bonus:
Head: (Alongside Primary Node): Increase in mana regeneration by 50%, self-control decrease of 5%.
Eyes: (Alongside Secondary Node): ‘Eagle Eyes’ ability gained, allowing you to sharpen your vision, zooming in by up to twenty five times your regular capacity, but you gain a 50% reduction in DarkVision’s range.
Ears: You can hear sounds over a greater distance, but you cannot focus in on such sounds as easily, transforming the world into a confusing cacophony of sounds until you learn to parse it out.
Nose: You lose all sense of smell
Mouth: Your voice will travel further, carried on the winds of fate to reach those you desire, 5mile maximum range added to your whispering voice, but ‘shouting’ over such a distance has its issues, after using this ability, you will be unable to speak again for six hours
Heart: Your heart grows stronger, increasing your HP by 5 points per point invested, but at lower elevations your health regeneration is halved
Lungs: You gain increased Stamina regeneration at a rate of 50% when in clear air, minus 50% when in unclean air.
Stomach: Digestion will be quicker and easier, but less pleasant for those around you, due to… emissions…
Legs: you gain a 20% speed boost at higher elevations but at lower elevations your speed is decreased by 20%
Feet: You gain ‘Astounding Balance’ and are much harder to knock down, but easier to injure.
Arms: You gain a 20% increase in speed of attacks and defense, but a 10% reduction in carry weight and damage dealt with Melee weapons.
Hands: You gain the ability to guide the air, increasing your accuracy with ranged weapons by 25%, but when using this skill become hyper focused and may lose awareness of your surroundings…
*
This Fire Elemental Essence Core can be located in one of the following Nodes for the corresponding bonus:
Head: (Alongside Primary Node): Increase in skill gain of 15%, but more easily distracted.
Eyes: (Alongside Secondary Node): Increased reading and comprehension speed by 20%, important passages will be highlighted to your eyes, but concepts that bore you become far harder to focus on.
Ears: You can locate heat in all its forms by sound alone, increasing your hearing range by a factor of 3, but the sounds of fire are magnified to overwhelming levels.
Nose: You can identify flammable ingredients and substances at an almost instinctual level.
Mouth: Your latent Draconic ability is augmented, bringing it to the fore far earlier than should be possible, but using such an ability will injure you almost as much as your foes… 10-10,000 damage per second
Heart: Your heart is filled with fire, both figuratively and literally, doubling your health gained per level, but shortening your lifespan to that of a normal human.
Lungs: You can breathe in any temperature, but lower levels of heat result in lower energy and reactions.
Stomach: You can now feed on flammable substances, gaining boosts to your metabolism, but this may have distressing side effects, depending on the substance consumed.
Legs: You gain short term boosts to speed when needed, but will suffer later for invoking this, with damaged muscles that require healing to reach their full capacity again.
Feet: You can absorb heat to reduce pain throughout the body, by standing in flames, but the damage incurred to your equipment will be normal.
Arms: You gain a 5% increase to damage dealt due to flames that are permanently in motion across your skin, but can expect this to injure those who are too close, be they friend or foe.
Hands: You increase your crafting skills at an increased rate of 10% per hour, but increased heat causes its own issues with certain crafts.
I read and reread them quickly, seeing the positives and negatives of
both, and I knew what I had to do. It would be both cool as fuck, and a royal pain in the ass, but I didn’t see any realistic way I could choose anything else, not with the way things were going right now. However, I did resolve to look into the ‘Draconic Ability’ later.
I made my choice, accepting the Air Elemental Essence Core, and selecting the location as my head. The tiny filaments that had burrowed out of my flesh, worming their way through the chinks and links of my gauntlet to interface with the Essence Core, began to consume it, tearing the essence from the Core and drawing it into me, and I shuddered at the alien feeling.
I could feel the foreign essence sliding along inside of me, heading for my brain, and I gritted my teeth, pulling my character sheet up again and slamming points in, knowing that I had only seconds before I probably lost consciousness, and I was determined to get it all done as quickly as possible.
Doing this right before a battle was a hell of a risk, I knew, but it had to be done. Plus, I’d been thinking a lot of late, and with the massive increase to my mana regeneration, literally jumping from one point seven recently to nearly six point five points a minute, it meant that I could afford to actually build myself the way I should for the life I now led.
I took the forty-one points and put eight points into Endurance, jumping it from thirty-two to forty, and making my Stamina level out at eight hundred. Seven points went into Perception, jumping it from twenty-eight to thirty-five, leaving me with twenty-five points to use.
I put six points into my Constitution, pushing that from thirty-four to forty and boosting my HP to seven hundred and eighty. That left me twenty points, all of which I slammed into Dexterity, taking me from thirty, to fifty.
I’d spent the last few weeks and months fighting the same way, but when I’d first arrived, I’d been alone, so I’d made Bob to be a Tank for me, and god, I missed his bony bonce.
I’d finally recently concluded that I just couldn’t step back and let someone else take the hits for me, though, so I’d basically become a tank hybrid. I wore medium ‘scout’ armor for the legion, and I fought head-to-head, but I blended magic and melee to the best of my abilities, using the one thing I’d always had in abundance.
Sheer unbridled aggression.
I felt the essence approaching my head, and accepted my choices, praying that I’d recover in time.
Name: Jax
Titles: Strategos: 5% boost to damage resistance. Fortifier: 5% boost to defensive structure integrity, Champion of Jenae
Class: Spellsword > Justicar> Champion of Jenae + Imperial Magekiller
Renown: Unknown
Level: 22
Progress: 174,936/420,000
Patron: Jenae, Goddess of Fire and Exploration
Points to Distribute: 0
Meridian Points to Invest: 0
Stat
Current points
Description
Effect
Progress to next level
Agility
41
Governs dodge and movement.
Average speed + 310% (+10% increase in darkness, -20% in daylight)
88/100
Charisma
21
Governs likely success to charm, seduce, or threaten
Success chance +110%
91/100
Constitution
40
Governs health and health regeneration
HP 780 (200+600-20), regen 25pts per 600s (+10% regen due to soul bond, -20hp, each point invested now worth 20hp)
81/100
Dexterity
50
Governs ability with weapons and crafting success
+ 40% chance to wield weapon successfully, + 40% chance of crafting success
7/100
Endurance
40
Governs stamina and stamina regeneration
STM 800 (200+600), regen 30pts per 30s (Each point now worth 20STM)
51/100
Intelligence
54
Governs base mana and number of spells able to be learned
MANA 520 (100+420), spell capacity: 27 spells (-20mp due to soul bond)
36/100
Luck
23
Governs overall chance of bonuses
+13% chance of success in areas luck affects
53/100
Perception
35 (30)
Governs ranged damage and chance to spot traps/hidden items
+250% ranged damage, +35% chance to spot traps/hidden items
9/100
Strength
25
Governs damage with melee weapons and carrying capacity
+15 damage with melee weapons, +150% carrying capacity
15/100
Wisdom
43 (33)
Governs mana regeneration and memory
+495% mana recovery, 6.45ppm, 330% more likely to remember things, (Includes +50% increase in mana regeneration due to Essence Core)
41/100
Chapter Thirty-Four
I came to on the floor, with Jian crouched next to me, one hand under my head, the other trying to slide something soft under it. I blinked, trying to make sense of what had happened, as the world crashed in around me.
I jerked upright as an enormous ‘BOOM’ went off practically inside the room, and I heard the screeches of terror from a gaggle of gnomes who were all trying to hide under the bed in the back.
I shook my head as I realized that they’d managed to lift it off its restraints, and it was now balanced precariously on the pile as they all tried to crowd deeper under it. Unperturbed, Jian let out a sigh of relief.
I twisted around, seeing him and the rest of the room, and the world came back into focus.
“Jian!” I grunted in shock. “Who’s flying…” I started to ask, as Jian grinned at me and Tenandra spoke up.
“I am now integrated sufficiently to assume control of the ship’s functions Lord Jax,” she said calmly, and I twisted around further, to see her standing on the control console, legs braced apart and staring straight ahead, in classic ‘How to be a Ship’s Captain’ style.
She wore her navy-blue suit and glittering buttons, the blouse so white it almost hurt to look at it, and her foxlike ears and tail flicked nonchalantly as she passively made sure I was watching how gracefully she managed the ship.
“So, you don’t need Jian?” I asked her, and she shrugged.
“He is useful, but no longer necessary,” she admitted.
“Status Number One…” I muttered, accepting the hand Jian offered and letting him haul me to my feet. I noticed that nobody got the joke, and I tried again. “What the hell happened after I put my points into place?” I asked the pair of them, getting a look of surprise from Jian.
“Is that what you did? You grabbed your head, screamed something about spiders under your skin, and collapsed!”
“I… uh… no time for that now. How long?” I asked again, frowning at him, and he shook his head.
“It’s okay! You were only out for twenty minutes, that’s all! They’re still out there, but we’re keeping them at a distance…” he said, as another rush of wind and rain buffeted the ship, causing it to roll slightly before righting itself.
“Thank fuck,” I grunted. “Jian, you’re not needed out there for now, so stay and help Tenandra. You’re still the pilot; Tenandra is there to work with you. Now, I need to get out and deal with those fuckers…” I flexed my fingers and rolled my shoulders, the feeling of being a stranger in my own skin slowly settling down.
I walked unsteadily to the door, shoving it aside as I went out, my naginata helping to brace my steps as I grew more accustomed to my improved body. I slammed the door closed and looked around the deck, seeing a small group of the hardiest gnomes working frantically from under Grizz’s Iceshield spell.
I nodded in approval as I watched the rain spattering against the outer edge and freeze again, forming a secondary layer t
hat seemed to help, as the normally clear bubble grew misty and opaque, hiding the windswept outside world from them.
I stomped across the deck, occasionally slipping slightly from the moss and fungus that coated it, but more and more, the storm driven wind and rain was scouring the deck clean, and I could see the original ship being exposed again.
“Jax!” Yen called, making her way over to the railing and reaching down to take my hand and help me up onto the upper deck. “You look like shit!” She shouted above the howling wind and I nodded to her.
“You too!” I called back and grinned as she snorted in amusement, her armor gleaming as the rain lashed it again and again.
She’d pulled a hooded cloak out of somewhere and wore that over her shoulders and head, but even I could see it was doing little in here, as the wind changed direction so frequently, blasting us both from every angle.
“Where’s everyone else?” I shouted, seeing she was alone on the upper deck, with the enemy ships obscured by a bank of clouds.
“Below decks!” She shouted, then gestured at a rope that disappeared into the deck nearby. “There’s a bell on the end, old gnomish trick apparently, all I have to do is yank on it and they’ll come running, no need for everyone to get wet!”