by Tao Wong
“Problem John?” Gadsby asks, not looking directly at me and scanning the surroundings.
“No, I just got my class skills,” I grin widely.
“No need to scream like a little girl you know, we all got levels,” Jason replies, grumbling as he rubs the ear nearest to me.
“No, you don’t understand. I just got my class skills unlocked. Finally,” I can’t help but bounce a bit on my feet, no longer feeling the need to hide that particular lack.
“What?” Richard turns around and stares at me and I realise most everyone else is as well. “How the fuck have you been keeping up with us without your skills? I just thought you were dumping them all into physical stats like your Constitution.” Mikito nods firmly at that and Jason just stares at me, mouth open.
“Nope, just haven’t had access to them yet,” I chuckle evilly, rubbing my hands together in thought. Oooh, the things I could do.
“Broken. You’re a fucking broken character,” mutters Jason.
“Don’t give the boy-o too big a head. He’d be dead a dozen times over without the Mech. Or me,” Ali points out, smirking at me and I nod in acknowledgement. Fair enough, being able to spot, hide and run away from creatures that truly out-classed me was a huge advantage.
“Are we all going to get locked out of our class skills if we get an Advanced one?” Rachel chimes in to the conversation around the cigarette in her lips, staring at me.
Ali tackles this one immediately, “Nope, sugarplums here is special. Don’t worry about it.”
Rachel nods and Mikito points back into the cave with her naginata. “Work. Dance later.”
The others nod, shooting me curious glances but she is right. Time to get to work. They begin looting the corpses on the outside while Rachel and Jason work to cool the cave down sufficiently for me to head in. Even in Sabre, I’m not exactly looking forward to the walk.
Chapter 22
After we’ve sorted things out, I’m seated at the back of the truck, working on my Status Screen.
Points allocated to Charisma
Class skills unlocked
8 Class Skills Available to be Distributed. Would you like to do so?
Would I? I feel a thrill shoot me and I can’t help but grin widely. Gadsby is riding Sabre with permission as I get busy poking at the details, calling up information on the Class Skills. It’s not as if I don’t have a rough idea about them, not from the information I’ve already purchased, and the hours of video footage in my mind. However, when I pull up the class skills box, there’s another tab right next to it – basic skills.
“Ali, what are these basic skills? They unlock at the same time?” I page over to them immediately and grimace, flicking through the pages at a rush since the sheer volume is staggering. Power Blow, Sprint, First Aid, Mana Dart, Poison, Elemental Imbue. When I pull up the information though, I’m less than impressed
Power Blow
Effect: Physical attack deals 20% more base damage
Cost: 25 Mana
Sprint
Effect: User is able to move at a run 5% faster
Cost: 10 Mana/second
Elemental Imbue
Effect: Imbue your weapon with an elemental effect of choice. Choice must be made upon purchase and may not be changed. +10 Elemental Damage
Cost: 30 Mana / Second
“Not really, you could have bought them before,” Ali turns to me, hands on his hips as he points. “I blocked them so you couldn’t see it, because, well, they are shit. It’s what they catch you with and keeps you power-downed. Just a little bit of a boost, but never good enough to really challenge the patient, the smart or the knowledgeable.”
I twitch at his words, hands wanting to reach out and strangle the little Spirit. Instead, I pull a chocolate bar from inventory and eat it, focusing on the now. He’s not wrong – but this magic rabbit trick thing he’s doing is getting old. I force myself to breathe, thoughts thrumming with anger, “We just talked about you keeping secrets from me.”
Ali pauses, looking me up and down and then his face twitches. It does something I’ve never seen it do before, and for a moment, I can’t figure it out. When I do, I realise it’s the closest thing to remorse I’ve seen on his face. Then he speaks, “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Say again?” I prod him.
“You’re right I said. I’m sorry, we agreed to tell the truth. I’d just been keeping this one for so long, I forgot,” Ali replies and I grunt, anger still simmering but under control. I’m not happy, but at least he apologised and done is done.
I tab back to my class skills and finish up the chocolate, focusing on reading now. I’m not sure I’ll be making all my choices immediately, but knowing what I have to work with is important.
The Honor Guard class skills are broken into three separate tracks, with skills above each track a pre-requisite to more powerful skills beneath. Each track aided the Guard in their regular duties as bodyguards, champions and of course, shock troops for the army.
Erethran Honor Guard Skills
Mana Imbue
Two are One
Thousand Steps
Blade Strike
The Body’s Resolve
Greater Detection
Altered Space
A Thousand Blades
Shield Transfererence
Soul Shield
Blink Step
Army of One
Sanctum
Body Swap
Portal
The first track focused on the Honor Guard’s soulbound weapons, enhancing the potential and damage of each weapon. As I understood it, the options varied in this track slightly depending on the weapon soulbound. Mana Imbue added mana damage to the weapon which bypassed all resistances, Blade Strike extended the range of my weapon, Thousand Blades created extra copies of my soulbound weapon for use and Army of One combined all the above into a massive attack.
The second track allowed the Guard to be effective bodyguards. Two are One shared the damage a target received with the Guard while the Body’s Resolve increased regeneration rates, letting the Guard take more damage. Soul Shield allowed the guard to manifest a shield while Sanctum created a location that stopped all attacks for a short period of time.
The third track involved their ability to move and hit. Thousand steps was a movement buff, Altered Space gave them enhanced inventory storage abilities while blink step was a short-range, line-of-sight teleportation ability. Perhaps the most interesting powerful was Portal – which allowed the Guard to link two locations. Get a single Guard with Portal in your backlines and he could drop an army on you. Or a nuke.
Shield Transference enhanced Soul Shield, allowing users to absorb a portion of any attack to the Shield to enhance their own soulbound weapons. Greater detection allowed the Guard an awareness ability much like Ali’s while Body Swap let the guard to swap places with pre-determined targets, no matter the distance.
Unfortunately, as I prod the skills I realise that some of these skills are still locked. Looks like at least for now, the first 2 levels are the only one’s unlocked, at least till level 30. It’s only at Level 45 that I’d unlock the last tier, but even with that, I’ve got a ton of things to play with. I could just pick up a single level in everything and enhance a single other skill but that might be a touch too simplistic. After all, I’m not entirely sure I need Greater Detection since I have Ali already for one. And ranged attacks with the sword seem interesting, but I’ve got guns for those.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. As I stare at the information, I idly pull out another chocolate bar and chew on it, ignoring the conversations around me. I’ll definitely need to talk to Ali about this at some point.
When we get back to Carcross, I put away the information. The guards at the gate nod to us, waving us through and we find Mrs. O’Keefe on gate duty by sheer coincidence. Another guard has hurried into the meeting hall and the Elder makes her way out slowly. Gadsby gives her the thumbs up and she relaxes
and then straightens as if a great load is taken off her.
I hop down, smiling slightly as Jason does his best blasé teenager impression for his mum, while bouncing on his toes slightly. His need to play it cool is obviously warring with his need to tell the story of what we did. Richard just smiles at Mrs. O’Keefe who gives him a quick smile of gratitude back before she turns to her son, guiding him away.
There’s still time to get back if we wish, but at Elder Badger’s and Gadsby’s insistence, we decide to call it a day. Outside of the guards on the wall, the night fast turns into a celebration, food and drink coming out in large quantities. An unlucky moose becomes the centre of the meal, its twenty foot body the feature of the evening.
The night comes on us fast, and I spot even Mikito relaxing slightly through the night, sitting and chatting with a few other melee weapon users. They seem to be comparing weapons and techniques, animatedly discussing moves from their body gestures. Rachel has disappeared into one of the motel’s rooms, dragging along Jason and I idly wonder if it’s romance or knowledge or a little of both that is being shared. As for Richard, well, as usual, he’s the star of the show with people clustered around him, listening to him talk. From the looks the pair of women who sit at his feet have given him, I’m pretty sure he won’t be sleeping alone tonight.
Me? I ghost around the edges, doing my best to blend in to the crowd. I watch them laugh and smile and I wonder why. We destroyed a lair, killed a few monsters but we’re a fucking Dungeon world. It’s just one of a thousand, ten thousand that are going to crop up and we can’t stamp them all out. Then again, just because I don’t feel the party doesn’t mean they shouldn’t enjoy it. So, I stay hidden, blending in. I do so well that I even get a minor notification.
Skill Acquired
Camouflage (Level 1)
It takes skill to disappear in a crowd.
After a while, I realise I can’t even give a damn to put up a face for them all anymore. I head out, leaving Sabre and my team mates behind, sneaking out past the guards while dumping points into my class skills. There are a few things I definitely want, the rest can wait. A single point first, into a few areas.
Class Skills Acquired
Mana Imbue (Level 1)
Soulbound weapon now permanently imbued with mana to deal more damage on each hit. +10 Base Damage (Mana). Will ignore armor and resistances. Mana regeneration reduced by 5 Mana per minute permanently.
Class Skills Acquired
Blade Strike (Level 1)
By projecting additional mana and stamina into a strike, the Erethran Honor Guard’s Soulbound weapon may project a strike up to 10 feet away.
Cost: 40 Stamina + 40 Mana
Class Skills Acquired
Thousand Steps (Level 1)
Movement speed for the Honor Guard and allies are increased by 5% while skill is active. This ability is stackable with other movement related skills.
Cost: 20 Stamina + 20 Mana per minute
Class Skills Acquired
Altered Space (Level 1)
The Honor Guard now has access to an extra-dimensional storage location of 10 cubic feet. Items stored must be touched to be willed in and may not include living creatures or items currently affected by aura’s that are not the Honor Guard’s. Mana regeneration reduced by 5 Mana per minute permanently.
I’ll stick close to the town and keep quiet, but there’s no better way to test my new class skills than on a live opponent.
“Ali, the Thousand Steps skill. Doesn’t seem that great to me,” I converse with the invisible Spirit who is working hard on looking out for threats. The night is the time for stealth predators and even though his higher level means he can pick out more of them, we’re still under-leveled for this region. At least in terms of actual levels which unfortunately dictate Ali’s abilities.
“It’s stackable and effects your vehicles boy-o. Think about what a platoon, each with a single use of that is like. Additional points widens ‘the range too and increases the speed bonus. There are movement specialists in the Guard whose main job is to help get the Guard where they need to be,” Ali replies and I nod slowly. So, not as useful for me but I wonder how the interaction is going to be like with Mikito’s own speed skills. She’s frightening enough as it stands.
My first victim of the night is a slow-moving, dark shelled creature that resembles a turtle if the turtle had spikes in its shell and two heads. I ghost up next to it and cut down fast, beheading the first head with a snick. The second retreats and the spikes flash out, forcing me to dodge. When I step back in to attack, I’m surprised that the blows it catches even on its shell seem to do damage, leaving deep gouges in the armor. Fighting the creature is strange, I have to watch out for its second head as it comes in and out but at the same time, any of its spikes can thrust out at any moment. After the first few passes, I begin to target the spikes themselves as they rotate out, chopping them off with the blade before I finally boot the creature hard enough to make it flip over and let me kill it. Unfortunately, without its spikes to push it up again, its stuck and its ending comes fast. The moment it dies, I loot it and then stick the entire corpse in my Altered Space.
That done, I take a moment to actually take a look at my sword again. Now this was more like it.
Tier II Sword (Soulbound Personal Weapon of an Erethran Honor Guard)
Base Damage: 63
Durability: N/A (Personal Weapon)
Special Abilities: +10 Mana Damage, Blade Strike
Hunting down the next creature takes a while as it seems even the monsters around here have begun to grow wary of the town. My next target actually finds me, swooping down from the trees and nearly tearing my eyes out. If I hadn’t been wearing my helmet, it would have. Its first strike failing to get a proper hold of my head, the owl takes wing and I get my chance to test out Blade Strike.
The quick draw and focused explosive strike leaves me tired as mana rushes through the blade, filling it and extending the slash in a diagonal across the sky. It mostly misses the Owl, only a small section of the strike clipping a wing but it’s enough to send the Owl flipping through the air to land awkwardly on the ground. I stride forward, triggering my ability again and again as I get the timing of the activation down. It doesn’t take long to reduce the poor creature to mangled pieces of meat which is good because I can feel the strain the Strike takes on me. Definitely not a skill to be used too often. Exhaling, I stretch and loot the body, leaving the mangled remains behind this time. Not much eating there for sure.
Satisfied, I head back to Carcross. As little sleep as I need, I do need some. Sneaking back in isn’t much harder than leaving, neither the ditch or the wall a huge obstacle. They definitely need more defenses. Once inside, I flick my hand up, calling access to my Status screen as I dump a few points into Perception and Luck, leaving 5 more for use later when I need a boost. That done, I finally call up my Status screen.
Status Screen
Name
John Lee
Class
Erethran Honor Guard
Race
Human (Male)
Level
16
Titles
Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead
Health
790
Stamina
790
Mana
630
Status
Normal
Attributes
Strength
52
Agility
74
Constitution
79
Perception
30
Intelligence
63
Willpower
63
Charisma
16
Luck
15
Skills
Stealth
6
Wilderness Survival
4
Unarmed Combat
6
Knife Proficiency<
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5
Athletics
5
Observe
5
Cooking
1
Sense Danger
5
Jury-rigging
2
Explosives
1
Blade Mastery
7
PAV Combatics
5
Energy Rifles
5
Meditation
5
Mana Manipulation
2
Energy Pistols
3
Dissembling
3
Erethran Blade Mastery
1
Lip Reading
2
Manipulation
1
Camouflage
1
Class Skills
Mana Blade
1
Blade Strike
1
Thousand Steps
1
Altered Space
1
Spells
Improved Minor Healing (I)
Improved Mana Dart (I)
Enhanced Lightning Strike
Perks
Spirit Companion
Level 16
Prodigy (Subterfuge)