by Stone Thomas
With 125 XP to unlock Piercing Blow, I’d have a special polearm skill at my disposal. Since I wasn’t likely to cause any magic damage without magic spells available, I put some extra points into my Strength and Hardiness. By the time I was done, my skillmeister menu looked a lot better.
My remaining XP number was a little confusing though. I worked out some quick math to figure out that I earned XP from skillmeistering, roughly 0.5% of the XP I invested, which got added into my total at the end.
Δ
Skillmeister View of:
Arden Hochbright
Base Attribute / XP to Next / Intended Change / Total XP Cost
-
1 Constitution / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 5 / Total XP Cost: 250
-
1 Vivacity / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 5 / Total XP Cost: 250
-
1 Strength / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Hardiness / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
5 Focus / 125 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
5 Resolve / 125 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
TOTAL BASE ATTRIBUTE XP COST: 1250
Stats Affected by Change
-
[Constitution] Health Points (HP): 100/100 –> 500/500
-
[Vivacity] Action Points (AP): 20/20 –> 100/100
-
[Strength] Phys. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12 –> 60-73
-
[Hardiness] Phys. Damage Block Range: 5-8 –> 32-46
-
[Focus] Mag. Damage Inflict Range: 50-61
-
[Resolve] Mag. Damage Block Range: 27-38
Skills For Weapon Class: Polearm
-
Locked. Piercing Blow 1. Damage multiplier of 2.0. [20 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 5] [125 XP to unlock].
-
Improve to Piercing Blow 2 for damage multiplier of 2.2. [20 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 7] [250 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: 0 –> 1
Cost Subtotal: 125
TOTAL POLEARM SKILL XP COST: 125
Skills for Special Class: Skillmeister
-
Precision Training 1. Reduce the XP cost of skills and attributes by 1%. [Passive] [Requires: Focus 5, Resolve 5].
-
Improve to Precision Training 2 for XP cost reduction of 2%. [Passive] [Requires: Focus 6, Resolve 7] [750 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: None
Cost Subtotal: 0
TOTAL SKILLMEISTER SKILL XP COST: 0
Summary
-
Available XP: 1,365
Cost of Intended Changes: 1,375
Precision Training Discount (1%): 14
Total Adjusted Cost: 1361
Total Projected Remaining: 11
Confirm?: Yes / No
∇
I confirmed the changes and felt myself grow stronger when it was done. My body was more vibrant, and robust. It was also a little bigger.
I decided to give some thought to how to progress next – whether skillmeister or polearm was the best way to go. While I mulled it over, it was time for a tour of the temple that I was now head priest of.
+4
The temple looked like little more than a cave. The central room was gaping and wide, with a high ceiling that reached toward the top of the hill this edifice was built inside of. Off to the side, a corridor led into the darkness.
If I wanted to explore, I’d need a flame. I stepped outside and peered back into the forest. Ahead of me was the same flat stretch that I had come down, lined by rising slopes on both sides that tapered toward the hill that covered Nola’s temple. This was the only path into the heart of her cave, though it was wide open to outsiders. If more gi-ants came this way – or worse, the terrifying black creatures that swarmed Meadowdale – there was little to stop an intrusion.
There was no sign of gi-ants yet, so I marched into the forest and picked out some kindling and branches to drag back into the temple. I set up the twigs and leaves just inside the building, next to the crumbled remains of the old door.
I rubbed one stick against another stick. I had seen Cahn do this once when he had to light the torches inside Laranj’s temple.
I rubbed, and rubbed. My hands were getting raw, but my fire still wasn’t coming along. I wondered how much of the afternoon I’d have to spend with my stick in my hands before it would ignite.
“Hi there!”
I jumped back, losing any progress I had made on starting a fire through friction.
“Hi,” I said. I reached for my spear just to be safe. The girl standing before me was beastkin, and I had never met someone like her before.
“Hey,” she said, “I’m not here to fight.” She reached behind her and pulled an iron hammer from her belt. “But I will fight if I have to.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m the head priest here.”
Ahem, came a voice inside my head.
“The head priest,” I continued, “of Nola, the goddess of clever things and bestower of… I’m new.”
“I’ve never heard of Nola before,” the woman said. The fox ears atop her head continued to flick back and forth, as if they were eternally restless. The bushy tail behind her did the same. They were the only beast-like parts that I could see. Her arms and legs were bare, smooth skin. A tight shirt tied in the front, revealing her pale smooth midriff and squeezing human breasts together. She wore a short skirt and long boots, so for all I knew she had the feet of a fox.
“You know when you’re falling asleep,” I said, “and you wonder if you should get up and write down that thought you just had or if, maybe, you should let yourself fall asleep and hope you remember it in the morning?”
“I never remember it in the morning,” she said.
“Well, it’s Nola that helped that thought along. Praise be to Nola.”
“This doesn’t look like a temple,” the woman said, “so it’s a good thing I’m here. I’m Vixette, and I build things.”
“What kind of things?” I asked.
“Well,” she said, “I see your temple door was destroyed, not that the quality of the stone was very good to begin with. I can rebuild it from scratch. All I’ll need is a little stone and some time. And about 300 gold for a doorframe that size.”
“Ah,” I said. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t have any gold.”
“What kind of a temple doesn’t have gold?” she asked.
“The kind with a goddess no one’s heard of,” I said.
Rude, Nola whispered into my mind.
It’s true!, I said back. Give me time and we’ll change that.
That’s sweet of you, she said.
“Ugh,” Vixette said. “I can’t find any paying work out here. I really thought things would be better in the human lands.”
“They’re definitely not,” I said. “The god of war is kidnapping all the men for some kind of army, razing all the cities to the ground, and killing the gods off one by one.”
“Hell of a time to be a priest,” she said.
“Tell me about it. Oh, hey! Since I’m a priest, let’s barter. If you work on the temple, I can improve your skills. I’m a skillmeister.”
“You’d trade that service for a measly stone door?” she asked.
“I sure would,” I said.
“Call me Vix,” she said. “Is there a quarry around here?”
I’ll guide you!
“I’ll guide you,” I said.
“Great. I’ll do this work in exchange for better skills. I’d like to make more than just domestic buildings. I want to make offensive and defensive too. Those are in much higher demand.”
“Um,” I said. “Okay. I understand defensive buildings, like guard towers and walls and stuff, but what is an offensive building?”
“Anything
art deco, for starters.” She laughed, but I didn’t get the joke. “Just go ahead, upgrade my skills. Then we can get started on the temple.”
“And you’re not just going to run off when I’m done?” I asked.
“A fox lady is a woman of her word,” she said. She didn’t smirk or laugh, so I guessed she meant it. Or she was a good liar. Either way, I had nothing to lose by upgrading her, so I stared at her and opened a menu before my eyes with all of her information. It felt a little voyeuristic, but she beamed at me and waited. She clearly wasn’t shy about her attributes.
“You have a lot of built up experience points,” I said. “But it looks like you’ve already started training. You’ve been to a skillmeister somewhere?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I paid an arm and a leg to get started with my builder class. I thought I’d earn enough by now to go back and train again, but no such luck.”
“Well you’ve saved up a lot of XP since then,” I said. “I can take you to Fundamentals 4 and improve your attributes to what they need to be for all that. Then you’ll have the requirements to unlock a hammer skill, Wallop. Sound good?”
“You’d really do all that?” she asked. “I figured you’d just open one builder skill and make me keep working to earn the rest.”
“You’ll be a better builder if I just open it all now. I could wait if you want,” I said.
“NO!” she said. “I mean, please don’t wait, thank you.”
“Okay,” I said. “Hold still.” She didn’t need to hold still, but I felt like I had to say something like that. Like a doctor might. Not that I was thinking about playing doctor with her…
Δ
Skillmeister View of:
Vixette Volpia
Base Attribute / XP to Next / Intended Change / Total XP Cost
-
4 Constitution / 100 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Vivacity / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
4 Strength / 100 XP to Next / 4 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 225
-
3 Hardiness / 75 XP to Next / 3 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 300
-
1 Focus / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Resolve / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
TOTAL BASE ATTRIBUTE XP COST: 900
Stats Affected by Change
-
[Constitution] Health Points (HP): 400/400
-
[Vivacity] Action Points (AP): 20/20
-
[Strength] Phys. Damage Inflict Range: 40-49 –> 60-73
-
[Hardiness] Phys. Damage Block Range: 16-23 –> 32-46
-
[Focus] Mag. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12 –> 60-73
-
[Resolve] Mag. Damage Block Range: 5-8
-
Skills For Weapon Class: Hammer
-
Locked. Wallop 1. Stun target for 3 seconds. Damage multiplier of 1.2. [15 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 4, Hardiness 4] [125 XP to unlock].
-
Improve to Wallop 2 for damage multiplier of 1.5. [18 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 5, Hardiness 5] [250 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: 0 –> 1
Cost Subtotal: 125
TOTAL HAMMER SKILL XP COST: 125
Skills for Special Class: Builder
-
Fundamentals 2. Build walls and rectangular buildings quickly up to two stories high using stone / wood. [Passive] [Requires: Strength 4, Hardiness 4, Focus 4].
-
Improve to Fundamentals 3 to build up to three stories using stone / wood. [Passive] [Requires: Strength 5, Hardiness 5, Focus 5] [1125 XP to improve].
-
Improve to Fundamentals 4 to build up to four stories using stone / wood. Also unlocks ability to build towers. [Passive] [Requires: Strength 6, Hardiness 6, Focus 6] [1500 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: 2 –> 4
Cost Subtotal: 2,625
-
Structural Integrity 1. Buildings can withstand 5 extra Damage per resource consumed in construction. [Passive] [Requires: Constitution 4].
-
Improve to Structural Integrity 2 to increase damage absorption bonus to 7. [Passive] [Requires: Constitution 6] [750 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: 0 –> 0
Cost Subtotal: 0
TOTAL BUILDER SKILL XP COST: 2,625
Summary
-
Available XP: 3,633
Cost of Intended Changes: 3,650
Precision Training Discount (1%): 37
Total Adjusted Cost: 3,613
Total Projected Remaining: 20
Confirm?: Yes / No
∇
“There,” I said, confirming the changes. “You won’t be able to see that, because you’re not a skillmeister, but you can build up to four stories now using stone and wood like before, and you can also build towers instead of just rectangular buildings.”
“That’s perfect!” she yelled.
And I gained 18 XP! She didn’t need to know that though.
Nola, I asked, are you sure you’ll be okay if we explore?
Yes, she responded, and that’s so thoughtful of you to ask. I scanned the forest’s surface, and the nearest sentient life is hours away. Even if it’s hostile, which I doubt, you have plenty of time.
Great, I thought. Vix stared at me while I conversed with Nola, her head atilt.
“I have a psychic connection to the goddess,” I said. “We chat in my head.”
“Oh,” Vix said, “that’s a relief. I was worried you were crazy.” She traced a circle around her pointy fox ear with one finger, and smiled, indicating that she did, in fact, think I was a loon.
“Let’s give this quarry business a shot,” I said. I led Vix into the forest and along the ridge that tapered down from Nola’s hill.
“So what’s it like?” Vix asked. “When you look at my skills?”
“It’s just a bunch of words and numbers,” I said. “The better I get at it, the less of your experience I’ll need to use to level you up, so I constantly have to recalculate in my head when it’s worth it to spend my own experience points upping my skills. It was a close call, but I figured I could get you all those skills without totally depleting your XP. You have 20 points left. If I hadn’t saved 1% of the XP spend with my own skills, we’d have fallen short before I finished.”
“That sounds complicated, and not at all fun,” she said.
“I like it,” I said. “I spent so many days just sweeping up dust and stomping on bugs in the old temple that I never got to use my head. Strategizing is fun in its own way.”
“I wish I could see my own stats,” she said. Her bushy tail flitted back and forth behind her. I took its slow movement to be a good sign, that this fox lady was comfortable with me. I needed her to fix up the temple so I could make good on my promise to Nola.
“I’ll bet you didn’t even know you had a special hammer skill on the horizon,” I said. “I wonder how many people wander around not realizing how strong they could be if a skillmeister would just give them a hand.”
“Those skillmeisters,” Vix said, “they hold their powers too close.”
I thought about how being stingy would leave the world’s citizens underprepared when Duul’s army struck. It was a terrible, greedy culture that the head priests had developed. It wasn’t fair that they kept a monopoly on the one skill that helped people hone their own abilities. Everyone did the work to get the experience necessary. It was only right they should use that XP without spending a fortune for the privilege.
We hiked up the hill in the direction Nola guided me. Then I lost contact. I must have gotten too far from the temple.
“I already feel stronger,” Vix said. “The little bit that you increased my Strength improved my musculatur
e too. Look at these guns.” She curled a bicep. It was cute that she thought she had any real muscle there. I made a note to myself though: increase Strength to bulk up.
I scanned the hill for any sign of a quarry, but found none. “I’m just happy to—”
The ground beneath our feet crumbled into a pile of brown rock and took us plummeting into the dark.
+5
Vix barked when we hit the ground, one sharp arf to signal her pain and worry. I just said, “Oww.”
“We fell so far,” she said. “But this rock. It looks like good quality. I think this is the quarry stone we were looking for.”
“But it’s not the entrance I had in mind,” I said. “Is anything broken?”
Vix jumped on all fours for a moment and shook her head and her body. Her tail wagged quickly behind her. From that position I could see right down her shirt as her breasts swayed with her body. I looked away quickly. I wasn’t that guy. I was the guy that didn’t get the girl, didn’t even get to look at the girl, because I had always been the lowliest form of life in the temple aside from the actual vermin.
Though, maybe things were starting to change. Maybe leaving Meadowdale gave me a chance to be something… new.
Vix hopped to her feet. “Nothing’s broken.”
“Same here,” I said. “Let’s explore.”
The innards of the hill had been hollowed out, seemingly a long time ago. There were overturned mining carts in a few places, and tunnels that quickly turned pitch black with darkness.
“Ah!” Vix yelled. “There was a bug on me.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I felt it!”
“It’s just creepy down here,” I said. “It makes your skin crawl.” Then I felt something. “Ah! See, now you put the idea in my head and it’s freaking me out.”
“Ah!” she yelled again.
“Shhh!” I whispered. Something landed on my arm, which was definitely a bug. I shuddered to think what kind. All my experience with roaches in the catacombs told me that’s what it was, but I didn’t want to tell Vix that. “I hear something.”
In the deep of the tunnel, we listened.
“So you see,” said a woman’s voice, “it would be much more in your interest to dance in that direction, as my skin is too soft and velvety for your tiny little legs to get the traction you deserve.”
“Who’s talking in there?” Vix whispered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered back.
A faint skittering sound turned into an avalanche. Something big, or a lot of something small, were rushing toward us.