The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Thanks again for the warning,” she said honestly. “I’m looking forward to ‘Enchanting’. Panther has been telling me there are some enchantments only vampires can learn and use, so I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Hey, I never got to ask. What is your second profession?” I was ever the curious person.

  Rose clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. “You’ll just laugh.”

  Why would she be embarrassed by a profession choice? Professions aren’t something to laugh at, at least I didn’t think they were. “I won’t,” I replied, frowning.

  Rose eyed me a moment before she mumbled. “Lore.”

  “Really?” I asked, a little excited. “Me too.”

  “What?” she asked. “But you said you have Drawing and Writing.”

  “And Lore. I’m half human, I get a third profession due to their racial ability, Versatility,” I said excitedly.

  Now she suddenly seemed eager to ask me questions. “What level are you? I’m only level 2 and I’m not sure how I got that far.”

  “I’m level 6, it’s I think it is just reading anything related to the history of the World Tree. I think I got my first level after reading the bestiary, the part at the end of the book talked about a number of the legendary beasts in the World Tree. I got more from the ‘Trapology’ book section talking about ancient traps and where they were typically used,” I answered.

  “Do you know what we can use it for? The little bit of reading I did, said it was a junk profession, but I doubt that. I mean, why would they put in a useless profession?” she chattered, suddenly seeming to enjoy talking to me.

  “As it was explained to me, Lore can lead you to ancient knowledge. For example, I can use it to find lost skills or spells. I bet you can find other things, schematics for weapons and armor, even potions, and enchantments too. If you have the patience for it,” I said.

  “And they called it useless,” she griped. “That sounds awesome.”

  “Well, as you now know, the forums lie way too much. I bet you, people put that out there on purpose to keep such things to themselves. Either way, I think it’s going to be super beneficial,” I agreed with her.

  “So why writing and drawing then?” Rose asked. “I mean, if Lore can give you schematics and such, why those two?”

  I was happy to answer, excited even for the conversation. “I evolved my ‘Writing’ to ‘Runology’ and ‘Drawing’ to ‘Cartography’. As Mayor Semper explained it to me, ‘Runology’ is words of power. With it, I can create skill books and scrolls as well as spell books and scrolls, so all the lost knowledge I can dig up with Lore can be put on paper and sold for a great deal of money or given to help a friend. It’s super hard though and even more, time-consuming. ‘Cartography’ is about maps, and one of the things you can find through ‘Lore’ is treasure maps. ‘Cartography’ lets you read the map. It’s all pretty complimentary.”

  “No wonder Olaf thinks you’re some kind of magnet for finding cool stuff. You’ve actually crafted your character to do exactly that,” said Rose, looking somewhat impressed by me, possibly for the first time ever.

  I think I prefer this version of Rose much more than the abrasive girl with attitude for days.

  “Thanks, I think,” I joked.

  “Stop, I mean that in a good way,” Rose said, laughing lightly. “Have you learned any of the ancient languages yet?”

  Now it was my turn to be puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “For instance, I picked up Vampin, the ancient vampire language, when I was blessed by the Goddess Lilith. It’s now listed as a subskill under ‘Lore’,” she explained.

  “I have not,” I answered. “I will have to see about grabbing some language books from the townhall if they have any.”

  “They have a few actually. I looked but didn’t grab any. Too many other things going on right now. Speaking of, we should get over to see Sergeant Butters for training,” said Rose.

  I was surprised, I felt disappointed our conversation ended so abruptly.

  “See you over there, slowpoke, try to keep up today too. You’re making the rest of us look bad,” she said, her attitude and walls firmly back in place.

  “See you there in a little while,” I said, I needed a minute to clear my head before I joined her for training. I have generally enjoyed our banter to an extent, but that conversation was so much better. Why’d she have to go back to being . . . her. I guess I needed the minute to disassociate the two drastically different personas.

  I gave her a head start as I’m still not sure I want to deal with the persona chock full of attitude just yet. Eventually, I sighed and reluctantly began a forced march to the barracks.

  “Morning,” I greeted the man in charge with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, which to be honest wasn’t much.

  “Who killed your cat?” the sergeant asked.

  “I’m just having an off morning,” I said, trying to muster up a little more energy for training.

  “So, what do you want to learn today?” Sergeant Butters asked.

  “I have no idea,” I answer honestly. I could learn some more warrior skills I suppose. Or I could try and level up my current spear skills. I know I needed to level up ‘Justice Strike’.

  “Can I make a suggestion then?” offer the sergeant.

  I readily agreed, “Yes, please do.”

  “You have skills for ‘Two-Handed Polearms’ and ‘One-Handed Polearms’, did you happen to notice I taught you different skills for both. Think about it,” he suggested before walking away.

  “Did he just say what I think he said?” I questioned aloud, there was no one to answer, but sometimes things just need to be said out loud. If he did say what I think he said, then he just told me, my subskills can be learned for both ‘One-Handed Polearms’ and ‘Two-Handed Polearms’, which actually makes sense. I just need to train them on my own and as I already knew the skills I would just need to adapt them accordingly.

  In short, my reluctance to come train this morning was forgotten. Seeing as Rose was pretty much our tank for the time being, and I was doing more DPS, it made more sense to me to train the two subskills, ‘Jab’ and ‘Rapid Striking’ with my ‘Two-Handed Polearms’ skill first.

  In short order, I found myself facing one of the dummies.

  “Don’t forget to practice your ‘Acrobatics’ at the same time,” suggested the sergeant as he walked past me and toward the range, where I was sure Olaf was busy trying to blow up all the targets with a single shot. Looking where Sergeant Butters came from, I saw Rose and Micaela facing off with each other, sparring with the sergeant’s blunted weapons.

  I was glad to see my friends were working so hard to improve. I hoped they were having fun too.

  I shook my head to clear away the extraneous thoughts and focused on the dummy in front of me. ‘Jab’ first, I thought to myself. My arms both jutted forward, pushing as much speed as I could. There was a clang as my spear met metal and I jerked my arms back again. It almost felt right, except for being too slow, but the attack principal was right. I struck again, pushing myself to move faster. I attacked again and again, each attack trying to move faster than the one before. Eventually, I realized I had been standing still, something I wasn’t ever going to be able to do in real combat. I began to slowly mix in some ‘Acrobatics’, steadily circling the dummy, striking quickly from the air and the ground. I found quickly ‘Jab’ was fairly effective in the air, it was fast and didn’t require a ton of power, the way ‘Power Thrust’ did. I didn’t notice, when I stopped focusing on the attack and controlling my arms, I had started to use the mental command ‘Jab’, executing the attack as quickly as I did when I wore a shield, maybe even a little faster.

  Assuming I had learned the subskill and ignoring the exclamation marks notifying me of it and probably a few +1 to stat notifications, I moved right into trying to use ‘Rapid Striking’. I discovered quickly I was slightly slower, but felt more power behind the skill, or my
attempts at learning the subskill did. I was also quick to realize, using it in the air didn’t work well, I would barely start and have to move again. I still tried a few more times, but eventually decided the skill was meant to be used while stationary, which meant I had to use the skill then move, not both at the same time. Once I figured that out, I was able to focus more on the attack, moving with speed and letting go of accuracy to spread the damage over a wider area. Just as with ‘Jab’, it didn’t take long before I was mentally giving the command for ‘Rapid Striking’.

  Once I felt satisfied I had learned the subskill, I took a moment to get my notifications and as expected, I was greeted by a wall of text with multiple skill level gains for both ‘Two-handed Polearms’ and ‘Acrobatics’ as well as a handful of +1 to stats. I gained +1-Strength, +2-Dexterity, +1-Endurance, and +1-Stamina. The real prize was the advancement of my ‘Two-Handed Polearms’. I was beginning to think my skill leveling was broken. There is no way I should already have this skill up to level 42, or at least I didn’t think so.

  Two-Handed Polearms

  Level: 42

  Experience: 87.77%

  Current Damage Modifiers

  Damage: +21.00

  Critical Strike Chance: +2.10%

  Subskill: Hamstring

  Reduce Enemy Movement and Attack Speed: 50% Target Receives Increased Damage: +10.50% Duration: 15 Seconds

  Skill Stamina Cost: 58

  Subskill: Impale

  Damage: 21-22 Bleed Effect: 3 Damage per Second Duration: 10 Seconds

  Skill Stamina Cost: 62

  Subskill: Power Thrust

  Damage: +42.00 Chance to Stun: 10%

  Skill Stamina Cost: 92

  Subskill: Jab

  Damage: +21.00

  Skill Stamina Cost: 62

  Subskill: Rapid Striking

  Damage: -4 Strikes: 18

  Skill Stamina Cost: 142

  Meanwhile, ‘Acrobatics’ gained five solid levels.

  Acrobatics

  Level: 22

  Experience: 71.44%

  Combat Movement

  Dodge Chance: +11.00%

  Skill Stamina Cost: 5 per second

  Even if it was broken, I wasn’t planning to tell anyone. Though I did plan to inquire with my friends, to see how fast their skills and spells were leveling.

  Checking my game clock, I saw I still had an hour left before Sergeant Butters kicked us out, so I spent my time just practicing attacking the dummy. I decided to save learning the skills for my ‘One-Handed Polearms’ for another day. It was a good hour too. I got another handful of +1 stat bonuses, matching my earlier gains and getting my ‘Two-Handed Polearms’ level 48 and ‘Acrobatics’ to level 25.

  After that, we all joined Baby at the temple for training with Trinico. When we arrived, Baby, Olaf, and Rose, all three went into the Puzzle Rooms. From talking to Olaf, he was only a few puzzles away from finishing. He was hoping to complete them today. Micaela meanwhile was quick to go on her spirit walk leaving me alone with Trinico.

  “So, you are level six now, well done,” she said, kind as ever. She then opened the small bag she keeps at her hip and pulled out a spell scroll. “I think you will be able to learn this now, but I can never be sure with you.”

  I accepted the scroll happily, hoping it would be one I could learn.

  Holy Spell – Lesser Mental Fortification – Teaches the Holy spell ‘Lesser Mental Fortification

  Would you like to learn ‘Lesser Mental Fortification’?

  Yes

  No

  Of course, I want to learn it.

  You’ve learned the Holy Spell ‘Lesser Mental Fortification’

  Lesser Mental Fortification

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Spell Duration: 10 minutes

  Spell Cast Speed: Instant

  Spell Mana Cost: 50

  Spell Effect (Active): Increase Intellect +2, Increase Wisdom +2, Increase Resistance to Fear 1%, Increases Resistance to Mind Control 1%

  Very nice. I now had a complimentary spell to ‘Lesser Combat Blessing’.

  “Oh, I’m an idiot,” I said suddenly.

  “I am aware, but do you mind sharing, why you are an idiot this time?” Trinico asked.

  “I’ve been forgetting to use ‘Lesser Combat Blessing’ on my friends, even when we’re not in combat,” I explained. So much lost experience. It also reminded me I haven’t cast ‘Justice Bringer’ even once since it was nerfed. In case you were wondering, Nerf is an old toy company that made soft toy weapons and sports equipment. The toys were unlikely to cause real harm if hit or shot by one. The act of something being ‘nerfed’ is making it soft like those old toys. Basically, reducing its power and effectiveness. No gamer ever enjoyed being nerfed.

  Justice Bringer

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00

  Spell Duration: 1 hour

  Spell Cast Speed: Instant

  Spell Charges: 1/1

  Spell Mana Cost: 100

  Recharge: 00h:00m:01s

  Spell Effect (Active): All Adventurers and Citizens within 20 yards have their effective level lowered or raised to match your own. Does not work on enemy Citizens, Beasts or Monsters.

  It was the first time I had looked at it in a while, so I was slightly surprised by the Recharge showing an actual timer now and it was flashing at 1-second until recharge. If that was the case, then I could use it now and get my charge immediately, this would make leveling it considerably more feasible.

  Meanwhile, Trinico could only sigh, I could hear the disappointment in her voice. “At this rate, you will never reach level 100 with even your Rank I spells. How do you ever expect to reach the next spell rank?”

  “Sorry, could you run that by me again?” I requested, not fully understanding what she just said. “What was that about the next spell rank?” I asked before she could answer. “Are you saying I need to get my spell up to level 100 to unlock the next rank?”

  Any more questions were forestalled by a solid knock to my noggin curtesy of Trinico’s staff. “Honestly, so impatient. To answer your final question, yes. Once you get a spell with the rank of ‘Lesser’ to level 100, you will be able to rank up the spell. I would expect, most casters have achieved rank II of most of their spells by the time they reach level 10.”

  “I had no idea. What else don’t I know?” I asked seriously.

  “A great deal, I imagine,” joked Trinico. I didn’t appreciate the joke just then, but she was quick to placate me. “Please, ask your questions. I will do my best to educate you.”

  “Okay, so it’s expected by level 10, most of my spells should be level 100 or rank II. Once I get a spell to rank II does it start the leveling process over again?”

  “Yes, you are exactly correct,” the priestess answered patiently.

  “Okay, but won’t some of my spells be overpowered if they keep leveling up?” I asked.

  “Let me counter with a question of my own, what is your highest-level attack spell?” she asked.

  “My highest? ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ right now,” I answered.

  “And is your ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ capable of killing a by itself?”

  “No, not at the moment,” I answered.

  “Exactly, your most powerful spell, at the moment, and it cannot kill the lowest level aggressive beast by itself. What does that tell you?” prodded Trinico.

  “Either I’m way behind on leveling my spells or I shouldn’t expect to one-shot anything until I get my spells stronger.”

  “You are correct on both counts,” she informed me, it wasn’t said kindly. “Think of it like this. For each level you gain, you are able to gain 10 points to each stat, you should think of your spells in the same way.”

  “Okay, I think I understand. Now, I can’t help but notice some of my spells do not have the qualifier ‘Lesser’, does this mean they don’t have additional ranks?” I asked.

  “Correct, �
��Holy Smite’, for example, will get to level 100 and grow no stronger, same for many others,” Trinico explained, but before I could question it, she continued speaking. “It is only a starter spell, you will get many spells far more powerful. However, many of those more powerful attack spells require ‘Holy Smite’ at level 100 as a prerequisite.

  That did indeed answer my concern.

  “What about skills? Do they operate the same way?” I asked eagerly.

  “Skills also rank up at level 100 though most people don’t rank up their skills until they reach around level 20,” she answered.

  “Is it possible to rank up sooner?” I asked.

  “It is possible but very difficult,” Trinico answered.

  “So, about what level should my strongest Skill be at for level 6?” I knew I shouldn’t have asked but it was too late.

  “For level six, most combat skills will be in the 20-30 range,” she answered.

  That actually wasn’t bad. Except for ‘Two-Handed Polearms’, that was exactly where most of my skills were. So maybe I wasn’t broken, just dedicated.

  “Any other questions?” she offered.

  “What about professions?” I kept asking more questions.

  “They also rank up at level 100,” she answered.

  “What rank are you?” I asked curiously. “I mean, what rank is your ‘Runology’?”

  “My Runology is Rank X, I am at master level. It is the only reason I can craft your goddess-level spell.”

  I was confused. I was only Rank I, in my Runology, and yet I was able to craft the spell. I was missing something. I checked my skill again.

  Runology (Evolved from Writing)

  Level: 27

  Experience: 48.47%

  Professional Skill: Runology is the art of communicating power.