As a Beastborne you are able to alter the most fundamental aspects of yourself. By refining your Beastborne-given powers you are able to influence your body through your mental prowess. While channeling Essence, INT and CHR can be partially utilized as modifiers to your melee damage and bodily prowess. Higher tiers allow you to tap a greater portion of INT and CHR.
Lv1: 15% INT & CHR transferred to Physical Stats.
Lv2: 25% INT & CHR
Lv3: 35% INT & CHR
Lv4: 45% INT & CHR
Lv5: 60% INT & CHR
Predator’s Insight 0/3
Prerequisites: Empty Vessel
Increased chance to learn Beast Magic from targets by 25%. If the chance is already 100%, adds a chance to learn additional spell(s). Influenced by INT.
Sheep’s Clothing 0/1
Utilizing the adaptive nature of Beast Magic, you are able to shroud yourself in the magical essence of a given monster. To most creatures, you appear as that type of monster and they will treat you as such.
Ruby Stars 0/1
Take your first step among the red-shifted stars of a dying universe, basking in the unfettered strength of the Elders.
With only a single perk point of Beast Magic, there really wasn’t much of a choice in the matter.
Convergence was upgraded to Level 2, and he was more than a little grateful that Beast Magic had given him another perk upon hitting Level 15 to get the useful ability in the first place.
Convergence was incredibly useful. He doubted he could have survived without it. And seeing how close he was to Level 25 Beast Magic, he wondered if it would give him another perk upon reaching it.
So far most skills only gave a perk every 10 Levels, but Hal’s skills were far from highly leveled and maybe that changed as the EXP requirements per Level grew. Then again, that only seemed to apply to Beast Magic.
All that was left to do was look over his loot and decide what to Level Up next. He had gotten so much EXP from defeating the Manastorm’s monsters and its boss, that he still had enough EXP left in his discordant stone to Level Up more.
He already Leveled Beastborne to 18 and had yet to allocate those stats, which would be unnecessary to do if he planned on also putting some EXP into Oathforger.
The Fabled Class had a lot of potential, especially if he planned on leaning heavily into Leadership and forming a Guild.
Two things Hal was steadfastly working toward.
The problem he had with Oathforger was that it seemed to rely on external factors more than internal. With Beastborne, Hal could make himself stronger simply by Leveling Up Beastborne.
Oathforger, on the other hand, seemed to need Oaths and a lot of work to make it stronger. But it allowed for more than just Hal to grow in strength. Not to mention, it was easy to raise at the moment.
While Level 19 Beastborne cost a whopping 17,600 EXP, getting Oathforger from Level 5 to Level 10 was roughly 12,000 EXP. And that would net him 25 attribute points instead of just 5.
Allowing himself to drop under 10,000 held EXP, Hal took Oathforger to Level 12. The rush of Level Ups flowed through him and he was almost tempted to drop the rest of his EXP to hit Level 13 before he took control of his wits.
He needed a buffer.
The closer they came to their goal, the more on guard he would have to be. Hal wasn’t about to let everything come undone at the last moment because he relaxed once victory was in sight.
If a horde of creatures came upon them, he was going to be ready.
38
Throughout it all, Hal couldn’t quite shake what Besal had offered to him. The thought of working with the Beast was utterly foreign to him. It was likely just another ploy to wrest control but he couldn’t stop wondering, what if it isn’t?
An end to fighting for control, a partner that he could rely on instead of an enemy that he had to constantly be guarded against. They were startling thoughts that he wasn’t sure he would ever fully believe.
But one thing couldn’t be denied. With each Level gained in Beastborne, Besal became more refined. Less… bestial. He scarcely resembled the Beast he first knew. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
Even as Hal spent his EXP and hit Oathforger Level 12, he struggled to let the idea stay idle for long.
Oathforger reaches Level 12.
You have 40 unspent Attribute Points awaiting distribution.
Your HP, SP, and MP are fully restored.
You unlock Alliances.
Oathforgers are the beating heart of cooperation and camaraderie. As a result, they are among the few that can organize an alliance, a group of 3 separate parties into a singular whole. Creating an alliance requires you to be a leader of one party and the consent from 2 other party leaders.
You have 1 Oathforger Perk point awaiting assignment.
No Man is an Island 0/1
Adds a counter to Oaths, indicating the number of people currently bound and affected by it. Additionally, as the amount of people bound to an Oath increases, the Oath grows in strength without acquiring further axioms.
Bound in Service 0/1
You may, as an option, increase the number of Axioms for any Oath. By doing so, that Oath grows in strength relative to the Axiom(s) placed upon it.
No Man is an Island was the winner in Hal’s books. He was already intending on creating a Sanctum and that would naturally require a large population. If he forged an Oath with his people to protect them and help them, that single perk could make a massive impact.
All without needing to further limit himself by imposing more axioms. It worked well with the new ability he gained to make alliances too. While he didn’t foresee (or hope to see) any large scale battles in his future, having the option to lead 17 other people into battle was useful.
Perk choice settled, it was time to allocate his attribute points. Not since his Novice days did he have access to so many attribute points at once.
INT was an obvious choice. But with the loss of [Brilliance] he was down 5 VIT. Hal put 10 points into INT, 10 into CHR, 10 into VIT, and another 10 into MND.
His recent experiences had him leaning heavily on his magic. And he couldn’t very well keep using his magic if he was dead or badly wounded - as the Manakeeper fight so clearly illustrated.
INT and CHR both increased his spell damage across the board but also improved Convergence, Bone Armor, and Blades of Bone.
Even with the MP boost from his [Lunette Ring], he still had issues running out. He could use potions and it would be less an issue.
So long as he kept his Toxicity down.
A shudder coursed through him as he remembered Ashera’s warning of the effects lingering far after the debuff faded. No, he still needed more MP.
His HP was one of the few things so far that it seemed was impossible to “cheat.”
He could use Convergence to move faster, hit harder, or strike with greater accuracy. But he could not make his body take more hits. Considering the way the last fight went, and how frequently he was injured.
Now Level 40, Hal took a look over his newly allotted stats.
[Status]
Hal Williams
Level: 40
Discordant Stone: 6,180 /55,000
Strain: 0/50
BP: 15/15
Classes
Beastborne: 18
Oathforger: 12
Novice: 10
Resources
HP: 555/555 (+75)
SP: 465/465
MP: 705/705 (+75)
Attributes
STR: 10 (+2)
VIT: 30
DEX: 10 (+2)
AGI: 10 (+2)
INT: 52 (+7)
MND: 55 (+5)
CHR: 40 (+14)
Regeneration
HP/hr: 83.1
SP/hr: 66.3
MP/hr: 197.5
Resistances
Fire: 25
Ice: 0
Wind: 0
Earth: 0
Lightning: 0
<
br /> Water: -25
Light: 0
Dark: 0
Defensive Properties
DEF: 51
MDEF: 42
Insulation: 35
Modifiers
+10% Movement Speed [Leaping Boots].
+10 MP per kill [Spaulder of the Ravenblessed].
Monster Affinity
Beastmen
Goblin: 300%
Arcana
Shadow: 325%
Mimic: 125%
Doll: 105%
Undead
Aberration: 425%
Plantoid
Treant: 285%
Planttrap: 15%
Outsider
Eldritch: 600%
Vermin
Insect: 75%
Class Affinity
Warrior: 100%
Thief: 90%
Survival Skills
Stealth: 6
Darkvision: 6
Survival: 4
Perception: 18
Investigation: 10
Manatree: 6
Combat Skills
Improvised Weaponry: 16
Sword: 17
Parry: 8
Evasion: 14
Magic Skills
Enfeebling: 18
Beast Magic: 23
Crafting Skills
Alchemy: 10
Social Skills
Leadership: 19 (+5)
Persuasion: 14
Exploration: 6
Deception: 7
Mercantile: 2
Intimidation: 3
It felt good to have his attributes grow so much. Each Level Up he was inching closer to 1,000 MP. Once he got there, he would ease off of MND and focus more on CHR and INT. Already he practically had 200 MP an hour regeneration. That broke down to roughly 3 MP a minute.
If he had access to the Camping buff, he’d be at nearly 10 MP a minute. Not to mention, having such a deep pool of mana gave him somewhere to draw from for Assimilation.
As the wagon bumped and jostled along, Hal found himself without much else to do. The interior of the wagon was mostly empty. Luda was up front with the koblins, her attendants checking in on her every five minutes it seemed.
Angram was out with Yesel at the lead wagon, giving her the route Hal had seen the night before. With any luck, they could move at greater speed knowing the pitfalls to come and reach the location of the Manaseed by that very night.
When Hal brought up the strange guard tower in the crystal forest, he encountered a surprising amount of opposition to exploring it. Instead, it was decided that if they happened to come close enough to send a few willing people with the Rangers, they would go check it out.
Hal, it seemed, was not invited.
Considering he nearly died without the flesh parachute he wished he could scrub from his mind, he didn’t press the point much. No matter what treasure or interesting aspects of the forest and its tower held, his goal remained the same: get to the Shiverglades and establish a Sanctum.
Anything else was a distraction, according to Elora at least.
Without anything else to do, Hal tried his hand at Blades of Bone again. He lost the last sword and in any case, it hadn’t been very strong. It was hastily designed and it seemed – according to the description – that the more methodically he designed a weapon, the stronger it would be.
And he had nothing but a surplus of time.
More than a few designs came to his mind. Typical edgy types that looked like spines or had skulls set into the crossguard.
Once he allowed his imagination to play itself out, he focused on the weapons he’d seen people actually use. They were often beautiful in their simplicity.
Hal wanted a weapon that, while made of bone, was not one that he’d have to wrap and hide from prying eyes. The only thing that should give it away would be its coloration. And if he could change that, he would.
With hours of travel left in the day, Hal dove into Blades of Bone by Splicing Aberration and Eldritch Essence.
He favored the falchion style of swords. Single-edged with a curved tip that ended in a point that possessed good cutting power while not making stabbing completely useless. With his use of the [Chain of Binding] stabbing was more effective than it normally would be, since he could leash somebody and pull himself toward them, using his sword like a lance.
His palm began to itch as the curved and pointed tip of the falchion stuck itself out of his skin. With a quick glance around the mostly empty interior, Hal realized nobody was looking at him to notice the oddity. Ashera, Elora, and Mira were having a snack in the kitchen area, which left Hal mostly alone.
Inch by inch the blade emerged from his palm. As morbid as it seemed, Hal was fascinated by the display. It didn’t hurt, though the itching was bothersome. Somehow, he was generating bone. During the battle, he had done the same, summoning bone-limbs to help himself move around but that was different.
They were brittle and weak compared to this. He could feel the weight of it, the strength in the lengthening blade. Each second drained 10 MP, after nearly a full minute the blade was finally done.
It was a simple falchion with an angled crossguard and a grooved grip that fit perfectly to his hand. The pommel ended in a wicked-looking spike.
Drained of almost all his MP, Hal examined the sword. He turned it over in his palms, noting the dull edge and the way it felt incomplete. It was fully formed, but something was missing. He was far from done.
Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Uncommon)
Design Process: Stage II (Refinement)
Damage: 20
Bonus Points: 0
Enchantments: 0
Durability: 120/120
Studying it, Hal felt a hollowness to the blade. It was waiting for something from him. Shutting his eyes, he focused on the edge of the blade. In his mind’s eye, the bone at the leading curved edge began to crackle and condense.
The pale ivory took on a polished sheen as the edge condensed and narrowed. If Hal dropped his concentration on the task for a moment, the bone partially reverted back to the way it was.
This leg of the process took only a trickle of MP, which was good because by the time he created the base of the blade, Hal was scraping the bottom of his MP. The trickle he used over the next few hours was enough that his MP regeneration was only able to increase by a few points.
At least I don’t need to take a break to recover my MP, he thought.
The process was long enough on its own. He had to maintain perfect concentration throughout. The blade folded and stretched, folded and stretched, over and over again. Each time the blade came out slightly shinier, slightly harder.
Every step of improvement made a slight adjustment to the stats of the blade. After four hours of tweaking and tinkering, Hal looked at the blade once more.
Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Rare)
Design Process: Stage II (Refinement)
Damage: 24
Bonus Points: 5
Enchantments: 0
Durability: 300/300
He was getting somewhere, albeit very slowly.
Rare Quality was a few grades below Heroic. Even at this stage, the weapon he was designing and improving was only 5 damage behind [Brilliance]. If “bonus points” meant added stat bonuses, it was a lot further behind in that regard. [Brilliance] had a total of 12 stat bonuses, 5 VIT, 5 CHR, and 2 STR. Perfectly suited to the Paladin that Thirty-seven had been.
And far stronger than anything Hal ever wielded. All that remained of [Brilliance] was its beautiful hilt and crossguard. The rest of the blade was utterly broken. He couldn’t even find it in the mess.
The dwarves had gone out scavenging after the Manastorm cleared. And while they reaped a king’s treasure of [Shardite], they didn’t find the other half of [Brilliance].
It turned out that the crystals the Manastorm monsters turned into upon death were [Shardite]. Even if they didn’t find any deposits of the stuff, they had collected tons of the
material. More than enough to use as a building supply or to stockpile it for later.
Curiously, Hal took out the [Crystal Manashard] he received as loot from the Manakeeper. It was a jagged piece of crystal that was roughly square-shaped about the size of a silver dollar.
He only meant to examine the thing in closer detail since thinking of the [Shardite] reminded him that he hadn’t spent any time looking over his loot yet.
As soon as he took the [Crystal Manashard] out of his Inventory, it pulsed with an inner light. Its surface clouded and crackled with lightning as if a churning storm was caught inside. The peals of thunder could be felt in his fingertips.
Before he could make much sense of it, the [Crystal Manashard] slipped out of his fingers and slammed into the crossguard of the bone blade. The sword hummed with power. Lightning crackled along the edges of the blade, drawing more than a few curious looks from his friends seated at the table in the kitchen.
Interesting.
39
“What’re you doing?” Mira asked, sauntering over and peering down at the sparking blade.
Hal shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure how that happened. I put an item next to the sword I was making-”
“Woah, hold up. You can make swords?” Mira’s voice jumped a couple of octaves.
“Bone swords,” Hal clarified.
“Bone weapons? So you could make a spear? That’s even better!”
Nodding, Hal tried to pry free the [Crystal Manashard] and found it surprisingly easy to do. Drawn like a magnet to his hand, the item leaped to his palm with a hearty slap.
The sparking lightning that coursed up and down the blade ceased immediately.
“Aw, you made it boring,” Mira said, towering over him.
Beastborne Page 24