Beastborne

by James T Callum

  And Shatter had the benefit of increasing everybody else’s magical damage as well.

  Coupled with his Elder Prowess monster attunement (so long as he was Splicing eldritch essence), he would be almost dealing double damage with his Beast Magic once Shatter was Level 3.

  Elder Prowess increased his magic potency by 50%, while Shatter reduced a target’s MDEF by 15% at Level 2, and 25% at Level 3. And that didn’t touch on the predator and prey relationship Beast Magic exploited.

  If he included his Patient Offense perk from Evasion, he could conceivably stack his damage buffs to the point of ridiculous damage. As he gained more Beast Magic spells and expanded his essences, the bonuses from Splice II would lend even more weight to his Beast Magic spells.

  While he didn’t know the percentage increase of using Splice in that way, he was eager to find out.

  All that was left to pick was his Tactician perk.

  You have 1 Tactician Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Drawing Board 0/5

  By taking a Building Schematic and studying it, you are able to improve upon its design. The length of time taken to make improvements is based upon the difference in your Tactician Level and the Item Level of the Building Schematic. You can improve a Building Schematic a number of times equal to the Level of Drawing Board.

  Lv.1: +3% Building Schematic Parameters | -3% Building Schematic CP Cost.

  Lv.2: +6% Building Schematic Parameters | -6% Building Schematic CP Cost.

  Lv.3: +10% Building Schematic Parameters | -10% Building Schematic CP Cost.

  Lv.4: +15% Building Schematic Parameters | -15% Building Schematic CP Cost.

  Lv.5: +20% Building Schematic Parameters | -20% Building Schematic CP Cost.

  Cruel Machinations 1/5

  Trapmaking is a curious art, one which its creator rarely sees the fruits of their labor. By making modifications to the designs of traps you create or oversee, you increase the Critical Hit chance of each trap. Additionally, you gain a portion of the EXP that would have been gained if you slew the creature yourself.

  Lv.1: +5% Critical Hit chance | 10% EXP gained.

  Lv.2: +10% Critical Hit chance | 15% EXP gained.

  Lv.3: +15% Critical Hit chance | 20% EXP gained.

  Lv.4: +20% Critical Hit chance | 25% EXP gained.

  Lv.5: +30% Critical Hit chance | 30% EXP gained.

  An easy enough choice, given his current predicament and circumstance. Buoyed by the fact that Tactician gained perks at twice the rate of most other skills, Hal put another point into Cruel Machinations.

  If he was going to have to stay out in the wilds of the Shiverglades for two more nights to finish his Dark Communion, he would likely have to set some traps to protect his campsite.

  Either that or sleep in a tree. And that wasn’t a prospect Hal was terribly comfortable with.

  Perks dealt with, his stats sorted from last night, Hal finished up his stretches and put away his things. He cast a glance over at the beetle, engrossed in its meal. It seemed much more interested in its meal than Hal had been over his tasteless [Rations].

  Hal stripped off all of his broken clothes and set them out in front of himself as he sat back down. “Time to see if my Bonecrafting can make something a bit more… advanced.”

  119

  He stared at his ruined armor, particularly at the [Brave Belt] and [Spaulder of the Ravenblessed]. Two items he was quite fond of, particularly the 10 MP per kill the spaulder supplied.

  More than that, these pieces had become part of his identity. And they had been gifts from the koblins.

  But they were old, he had to admit. Most of the items were over a month old and many Levels weaker than he was now. Even some of the rarer items with their higher Item Levels were below Hal’s current Level of 42.

  Bone Armor would allow him to create a rudimentary set of armor about his body - one piece at a time - but it would be considerably weaker he knew than if he took the proper time to create something.

  As he looked at his old outfit, he wondered if he could somehow salvage it.

  Bonecrafting’s third stage allowed him to imbue his creation with a variety of different materials, often taking on their unique facets.

  He didn’t have nearly enough [Glittersilk Cocoons] to make a garment out of, but what if he used the tattered threads of his [Shaper’s Coat] and the rest of his ruined armor?

  With his bonuses gone from most of his equipment, Hal was sitting at an even 800 MP. He could recover roughly half of that an hour if he kept the fire stoked and stayed near it.

  Unlike any Bonecrafters he taught the crafting skill to, Hal didn’t need to forage for raw materials. He could make them out of his mana. With the additional 200 MP he could draw on from [Emissary], the bone blanks he could make now would be dramatically stronger than anything he had made before.

  Taking one more look around the clearing, Hal got to work.

  Essence Imbuement gave him the ability to create bones of the various monsters he had at least 100% affinity with. After a brief bit of experimentation, he found that he didn’t need to be Splicing their essence to create their bones.

  With 9 total affinities, he could make quite a few varieties of bone.

  For the better part of the day, Hal experimented further, testing out each of the most basic 100 MP versions of each type of bone.

  While he wasn’t terribly fond of creating goblin bones, he was glad to be alone for this bit of his experimentation. It just didn’t feel right, considering koblins shared much of the same anatomy as goblins.

  As he had expected, goblin bones were small and lightweight, almost bird-like in their hollow design. Rather than focusing on making the bones a certain way, he let them manifest naturally.

  Hal was no engineer, but he at least knew enough about compression, tensile, and shear strength to give the bones a decent battery of tests.

  Each of the bones created something distinct, much to his joy and frustration in equal measure.

  It meant that he needed to be more careful in his selection. Every bone had its own characteristics and quirks. Many of which he was just scratching the surface.

  Goblin bones were small and fairly flexible but had ridiculously weak strength. If a blade came against them and they couldn’t bend out of the way, they would snap like twigs.

  However, if he gave them room to bend, most of the blows he could deal with [Emissary] were remarkably weathered with minimal damage.

  Considering he was thinking of something to armor himself with, goblin bones - thankfully - were out. Though he could think of a few applications for their strange springiness. Nothing that would help him at the moment, however.

  Shadow bones reminded him of something similar to black aerogel. They were incredibly light and almost gelatinous. Every test he gave them they failed, all but one.

  His sword sunk into the gooey bone but he struggled to cut through the material the entire way. Like trying to cut through rubber, a great deal of his force was dissipated.

  While testing its compression, he found that the shadow bones were more rubber-like than he thought. They moved and bulged when he applied force, but then resumed their original shape.

  They would be terrible to build with. It was a good thing [Eldritch Palisade Spikes] were used for some of the Settlement’s walls, not [Shadow Palisade Spikes].

  Hal was eager to see how the few [Shadow Palisade Spikes] back at the Settlement weathered the coming assault. The sword cuts he placed into the bone seemed to heal after a short period of time, making the material whole and unblemished once more.

  Terrible for traditional building, but he was curious if they would hold up well on the outside of Earthen Bulwarks to resist clawing hands and whatever weapons the Shiverglades could throw at them.

  Arcana bones were all strange in one regard or another. Shadow was less bone and more like padding - something he intended to use for his new armor. Doll bones were brittle ceramic, but they had great ins
ulating properties.

  The shard he placed in the fire was still cool enough that he could simply pull it out with his bare hands.

  Mimic bones were a strange mixture of metal banding and non-flammable wood. They seemed to have similar properties to normal wood - aside from the fireproof nature - but he couldn’t figure out anything else special about them.

  And to be honest, he didn’t really have the time to give exhaustive tests. Right now, his goal was to find something useful he could use to armor himself instead of outrightly using his normal bones.

  He saw how easily that Thesp had shattered them and wasn’t keen on a repeat performance.

  Already he had plenty of ideas for how he could create a layered armor consisting of shadow, doll, and aberration bone. The shadow bones would provide padding, doll bones would grant insulation and the aberration bones would serve as a strong outer layer of slowly regenerating defense.

  What rudimentary tests Hal could do sitting in front of a campfire helped him to figure out the basic parameters of each of the bones. Aberration bones regenerated their damage slowly over time, significantly faster than shadow. They were neither light nor heavy, and seemed to be all-around sturdy.

  Treant bones were nothing more than incredibly useful kindling. Like the Treants, they were ridiculously flammable. The wood was living and green, but that didn’t stop the hungry flames from biting and consuming it.

  They also slowly regenerated damage dealt to them over time, the wound filling in with a shimmering green sap. Naturally, that green sap was practically as flammable as gunpowder.

  When a spark leaped from the campfire to the dried sap filling the old wound, there was a flash of light and a small pop. Hal jumped to his feet, drew out [Emissary], and looked around for the threat.

  His beetle friend similarly got up and scuttled about looking for the danger before Hal realized what it was. The treant bone burned steadily, and Hal kicked it into the ravenous flames with the toe of his boot.

  Despite Splicing what the beetle might have seen as a tasty snack - not to mention the many other essences he cycled through while testing Bonecrafting - the Rhino Beetle made no aggressive action toward him.

  Once he sat back down, the beetle sensed the shift in Hal’s mood and similarly laid down to rest. For some reason, the creature never went far from Hal. An hour ago, while Hal snacked on one of his [Rations], the beetle ambled over to nibble at one of the monsters Hal had destroyed yesterday.

  At least it’s not carnivorous, Hal thought.

  Eldritch bone was, as he noted before, a beautiful pale white streaked with red. However, it was incredibly dense and heavy. Far too heavy to be used as armor, though its defensive properties were closer to metal than bone which was a shame.

  As he Spliced insect essence, the Rhino Beetle perked up and looked at him with its unblinking stare.

  Unsurprisingly, his two vermin essences of insect and spider both created chitinous plates as their bone. Insect produced beetle-like shells that were naturally curved and light-weight, with ridges that helped to strengthen them while retaining their low weight.

  Spider bones were far too creepy looking for Hal but they were more flexible than the insect variant. He wasn’t about to turn up his nose at it just because he didn’t like the way they looked. As he looked at the collection of different bones, each with their own unique properties, a plan began to form.

  120

  For his efforts in figuring out the various properties of the essence bones, Hal’s Bonecrafting and Tactician rose more than he figured they would.

  It felt good to be rewarded for tinkering and experimenting.

  Your Bonecrafting has risen to Level 16.

  …

  Your Bonecrafting has risen to Level 18.

  +1.1% Crafting speed (+19.8%).

  +1.2% MP efficiency (+21.6%).

  Your Tactician Skill has risen to Level 11.

  Your Tactician Skill has risen to Level 12.

  +1% Planning efficacy (+12%).

  +1% Ambush & Trap success (+12%).

  -0.5% CP cost of Building Schematics (-6.0%).

  +0.5% Building Schematic parameters (+6.0%).

  Focusing, brow furrowed in deep concentration, Hal tried thinning the shadowy essence over the [Doll Plate]. He pushed a little too hard and the shadow snapped in half, dissipating like fog before the midday sun.

  He grumbled and leaned away from his latest attempt.

  “You’re reaching,” Besal said, sitting crosslegged like Hal across from the dying embers of their campfire.

  Hal looked over at him. He knew it. Besal was just giving voice to a problem he should have stopped beating his head against an hour ago.

  What he was trying to do was too complicated for his skill. But layering multiple types of material into one composite kind of armor was a good idea.

  He was sure of that.

  Unfortunately, Besal was right. He was reaching too far. And he didn’t have the time - nor the Founder’s Day buff - to bolster his Bonecrafting enough to try it again.

  He needed insulation, most of the other bones would provide good armor, but doll essence provided the best insulation by far.

  Unfortunately, it was brittle and couldn’t take much direct damage.

  If he was going to be exploring while avoiding any sort of conflict, then the issue was primarily sorted. But if his armor broke at the first sign of fighting, he would have to remake it after every fight.

  That would take time he didn’t really want - or have - to spend.

  Making layered essence bones was difficult. They didn’t want to bind together correctly, and this was just the first stage of Bonecrafting.

  If he couldn’t make it work here, then how was he going to manage the other four stages? Creation was the first and easiest of the four. But if he couldn’t mold the material properly, he would be unable to press on to the next stage.

  Hal stroked his chin and looked at the material before him. He could create a breastplate of doll essence, that was simple enough. Its incredible insulation properties would ward off the biting chill of the Shiverglades and keep the Exhaustion debuff at bay.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  Shadow essence would soften any impacts he took, and that was his original plan for layering shadow essence atop doll essence. The shadow would absorb the impact, making the brittleness of the doll essence less of an issue.

  And on top of that, he planned to put aberration bone, with its sturdiness and self-healing properties, it would be his first line of defense. One that would constantly - albeit slowly - regenerate. Between the aberration layer and the shadow layer, the insulating layer of doll essence should have held against any attack.

  But he couldn’t even get the first layers right. Hal turned to look over the campfire at Besal. If he had any advice for Hal, he wasn’t sharing it. He knew Hal’s mind and what he was working on.

  Besal placed his hand on the beetle, the large dog-sized creature shifted to look at him, then at Hal before settling down again. Catching Hal’s gaze, Besal simply shrugged. Wordlessly communicating that he hadn’t the first idea how to help Hal.

  So much had changed with Besal now that he looked for it. He actively wanted to help. That was quite a far cry from when Besal only wanted Hal to fight bigger, nastier things like some rage-filled beast.

  In a short time, Besal had come around to Hal’s view of things. On some things at least. They didn’t need to kill every monster that they came across. There was no reason for unnecessary fighting if they could form a mutually beneficial relationship.

  However, he was still Besal. He wanted to fight and test their powers whenever and wherever possible. The difference was, he no longer sought out conflict at the cost of everything else.

  Granted, Hal didn’t know why he liked the Rhino Beetle. It was about as cute as a bug could get, he guessed. At least it wasn’t a spider. He shivered at the memory of the spiders from the Glimmerwood.


  I need to give you a name, Hal thought looking at the Rhino Beetle.

  Besal shook his head with a laugh. “You and your names. Must everything be categorized?”

  “Yes,” Hal responded instantly. “It helps to be able to name things, to know where they come from and what they are. I am still human.” When Besal gave him a look, Hal rolled his eyes and corrected himself, “Mostly human, then.”

  Hal turned back to his task. He was trying to do too much at once. If he could just focus on making something that gave him decent protection and kept the cold at bay, that would be enough.

  The rest he could focus on at a later date. When he wasn’t lost in the Shiverglades and when he could have plenty of time to tinker.

  Each of his essence bones had varying properties that he felt he was only beginning to comprehend. With time and effort, he knew he could plumb the depths of what they could offer.

  At that point, he felt confident it would only take raising his skill with Bonecrafting and continuing to press the boundaries of what was possible to be able to make layered armor.

  But that point was far off from where he was.

  “Maybe I’m thinking about this all wrong,” Hal muttered to himself, dismissing the progress he had already made.

  Even in failure, Hal began to grasp a deeper understanding of Bonecrafting and his own limitations. He was hardly surprised when, just a moment later, he received a notification.

  Your Bonecrafting has risen to Level 19.

  +1.1% Crafting speed (+20.9%).

  +1.2% MP efficiency (+22.8%).

  A wave of mana washed out from the half-made breastplate. He wanted something sturdier, proper armor that wasn’t just cloth.

  The damage he’d taken - even with Bone Armor - in the last fight had shown him a weakness he didn’t really consider much before. He thought he could keep out of the way with Convergence and his [Chain of Binding], allowing him to get out of tight quarters.