by Jamey Sultan
Not much had changed since the last time he’d checked, but he noticed a glaring lack in Charisma. All of his other stats were comparable, with Resilience in the lead because it was an Advanced stat and each point in Resilience counted as ten in one of the Basic stats.
James had nine free points to distribute because the new class bonus hadn’t taken effect yet, so he decided to save them to add a point to Charisma when he reached level 26.
With that done, James decided to check his Ability tree.
New Abilities are available!
When James opened the Ability tree, there were two new nodes. One was connected to More Missiles, while the other floated freely in the third-tier position.
James was sure that there were more, but because the only second-tier Ability he’d invested in was More Missiles, he couldn’t see any others.
James pulled up the description for Arcane Burst first.
Arcane Devourer III
Arcane Burst (0/10):
Conjure a wave of Arcane force that deals damage to all enemies in its path.
Based on the description, James guessed that Arcane Burst was an area of effect attack. It was good for dealing with large waves of enemies but wouldn’t do as much damage as a single target attack.
The only other Ability he could see was called Consumption.
Arcane Devourer III
Consumption (0/3):
Consume a harvested component and store its Essence inside your soul. This will destroy the component.
When James pulled up more information, he found a few rules to the Consumption Ability. He could only consume ingredients he’d harvested himself, and only specific ingredients could be used. Once he purchased the Ability, any ingredients he could consume through his Ability would have an asterisk next to their name.
In the end, James’ first decision was easy. Consumption was the ability that the entire Arcane Devourer class was based on.
When James tried to purchase the Consumption Ability, a prompt popped up.
Would you like to convert your Basic Ability points into Advanced Ability points?
Advanced Ability points can be used to upgrade tier III through tier V Abilities.
Points can be traded in a 3:1 ratio from Basic to Advanced.
The prompt was similar to the one that had popped up when he’d converted between Basic and Advanced Stat points, but instead of a ten to one ratio, it was a three to one ratio.
That was a big blow. He’d only be able to put one point into a tier III Ability per level.
Even though investing in Consumption would take up all of his points, it was worth it.
James accepted the prompt and purchased Consumption.
It was as if a hole opened up somewhere deep inside his chest. He could feel a void, a pocket where he’d be able to slot a component as the new class changed him. Instinctively, he knew that whatever bonuses he gained from the components he slotted would be based on the component’s strength and rarity. He was excited to give it a try and see if he had any slottable components. Before he did, though, he read through the three new Abilities that branched off of Consumption.
Arcane Devourer IV
Empower Element (0/10):
Each rank in Empower Element increases elemental effects from your component by 5%.
Arcane Devourer IV
Empower Attack (0/5):
Each rank in Empower Attack increases damage dealt from equipped components by 5%.
Arcane Devourer IV
Empower Armor (0/10):
Each rank in Empower Attack increases defense granted from equipped components by 5%.
When he closed his Ability screen, James was greeted with one last flashing notification, something he’d completely forgotten about.
You have completed the quest: Gaining Power I
Reward: Channeler’s Gloves.
*Reward has been boosted due to a Legendary rarity class selection.
A pair of iridescent gloves made from some sort of scaled monster hide appeared out of thin air in front of him. James reached out and took them.
Channeler’s Gloves:
Rank: Rare
+ 10% Casting speed
+ 15% Spell damage
These gloves were crafted from the skin of a Rainbow Boa and enchanted to improve focus and concentration when casting spells.
The Channeler’s Gloves felt smooth but not slippery to the touch. The palms were textured to improve grip, and when James equipped them, he found that they fit perfectly against his skin. They were so thin that it felt like he was wearing nothing at all. The craftsmanship was exquisite.
While James was admiring his new gloves, a new prompt appeared.
You have been given a quest: Gaining Power II
Gaining Power II: Reach level 50 and upgrade your class.
Suggested level: 25-49
Reward: Unknown.
Penalty for failure or refusal: None.
He accepted the quest and wondered where the gloves had come from. From everything he’d seen so far, rewards didn’t just pop out of thin air. Maybe Nana had something to do with it? James wasn’t sure. He wished he could talk to the old lady again. She always seemed to know what was going on.
Finally, it was time. James had been waiting for this. He was going to use Consumption and equip his first component.
James opened his pouch and scrolled down, looking for items with an asterisk next to the name.
Desecrated Bones*
Iron Troll Hide*
Star Mole Star*
Cave Spider Egg*
Zombie Bone*
…
The list was long; James had collected quite a bit since he’d arrived in Novis. Most of the bonuses were small, like the Star Mole Star, which added a small amount of Earth Mana to his attacks, giving them a 0.1% chance to deafen enemies.
One thing James hadn’t realized when he’d chosen his class was that most of the components would only provide a bonus to either attack or defense and not both. It was only the rarest ones that gave bonuses to both.
James only had one item that provided a bonus to both attack and defense: the Desecrated Bones he’d taken from the Eldritch Puppet’s corpse.
Desecrated bones*:
Rank: Rare
*+ 10% Eldritch damage added to attacks, 0.1% chance to cast Dark Puppeteer when hit.
These bones have been steeped in Eldritch Energy for so long that their original Essence is gone.
The extra damage was higher than any of his other items by itself, but the chance to cast Dark Puppeteer was what made the bones so valuable. When it activated, the spell would give him control of the limbs of whatever had attacked him. It was only a small percentage chance to work, but if it did, he’d be in complete control of an enemy for thirty seconds.
The Desecrated Bones would have been the perfect item to slot if James hadn’t gotten such a bad feeling from them. It wasn’t Sixth Sense; that Skill was noticeably silent. It was just a feeling he had. Something about accepting the malevolent Eldritch energy into his body just seemed like a bad idea.
One other component was especially powerful, but it only gave him a bonus to defense. Still, the bonus was so substantial that he might have chosen it over the Desecrated Bones even if they hadn’t given him such a bad feeling.
Iron Troll Hide*:
Rank: Rare
*+ 10% Metal defense and Minor Troll Regeneration added to Mage Armor
The skin of an Iron Troll can only be worked by an Adept or higher Rank Leatherworker.
The boost to defense wasn’t that strong, considering his Mage Armor could only absorb one to two attacks before it shattered. James hadn’t had a chance to invest much into the second tier of any of his Abilities because when his class had changed from Warrior of Darkness to Arcane Warrior after he’d met Ozure, he’d lost all of his assigned Skill points. Because of this, his Mage Armor spell wasn’t nearly as powerful as it could be. If he invested more in th
e tier II Mage Armor Abilities, it would become quite powerful.
Although the boost to defense wasn’t that powerful, it wasn’t the reason the Iron Troll Hide was so strong. The Iron Troll Hide added an effect called Minor Troll Regeneration to his Mage Armor. With the regeneration effect, his armor would regenerate one point of damage every second. That was sixty times faster than his Essence regenerated naturally. Fast enough that the regeneration would actually be useful during combat.
James made his decision.
Would you like to Consume Iron Troll Hide?
James clicked accept.
The heavy metallic skin dissolved in his hands. As it vanished, he could feel the emptiness in his center replaced by what felt like a lump of pure iron. It hardened into a gemstone shape directly in the center of his chest. His Mage Armor flashed, and the normally faint blue glow that ran across his skin shimmered into flecks of silver metal that made his skin look like a Vampire in a romance novel. He groaned; he didn’t want to look sparkly. But if it would protect him…
Once he’d finished assigning points, James went downstairs and rejoined his companions. Luckily, they didn’t say anything about his newfound sparkling. It wasn’t that uncommon for adventurers to glow or sparkle from the various buffs they might have active.
Before long, they left the farm and were back on the road to Silencia.
Chapter 42
As they walked, James told his friends about his new class and Abilities. They were both suitably impressed, but Arik less so because he already knew how strong a Journeyman class could be. “Just wait until you get an Adept or Master class,” he said. “As you start specializing, you’ll start to gain way stronger Abilities.”
“I can’t wait,” James replied. “But the extra cost for higher tier Abilities is crazy.”
Arik laughed. “You’re lucky. You get five Ability points with every level up. I only get three, and I’ve got a Rare class. The more common classes need to save points if they want to invest in the higher tier Abilities.”
James blinked; he hadn’t realized that. He knew his class was much stronger than most but hadn’t known that other classes got fewer points per level. It made sense, he just hadn’t thought about it.
“You’re both lucky,” Nidra groused. “I’ll probably only get two points per level when I get my next class.”
As they walked, James couldn’t help thinking about Lucien. He wondered what the teenager was up to. They needed to stop him and Ozure, and to do that, they’d all need to get stronger. Because if Lucien managed to free Ozure, they’d never be able to stop him.
***
They were halfway to the city when a notification popped into view.
Quest failed: Free the City of Iron I
Either you no longer meet the requirements, the quest conditions have changed, or the quest has been completed by someone else. It’s no surprise you failed it after that shit show you left.
For a second, James was confused. Then he remembered one of the exits from the Dwarven city was inaccessible because of an Orcish blockade. He’d gotten a quest to destroy the blockade. But why did the quest fail? Only two thoughts came to mind, either someone else had destroyed the blockade, or it was gone for some other reason, and James had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what it was.
“Shit,” Arik said from next to him; James knew the Dwarf had gotten the same notification.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.
Arik nodded. They’d both seen the Orcish delegation heading toward the Dwarven capital. With Remaksta in charge, there was a strong possibility of peace between the Orcs and the Dwarves, which could spell trouble for them. Then he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s stay focused on our quest. There’s nothing we can do about Remaksta and the Orcs.”
Arik cast a worried glance back toward the mountains but didn’t say anything.
***
A few hours later, they crested another hill, and James could finally make out the city of Silencia. The lights of the city stood out starkly against the infant night. Silencia was built in the center of a massive basin cupped on three sides by the curving Crimson Mountains.
The city was shaped like a wedding cake with three tiers, each one smaller than the last. The only way to reach it was to cross a thick iron drawbridge that extended from the valley to the bottom tier of the city. As they walked closer to the bridge, James could make out large, dark shapes circling underneath it. He also realized that it wasn’t an ordinary drawbridge. Instead of going up, the bridge was set up so that it could be lowered straight into the water.
James took a hesitant step onto the bridge, but it held.
When he was sure that he wouldn’t plummet to his death, James approached the gate to the city. It was closed and barred, so he knocked.
“Gate’s closed at night. Come back in the morning,” a guard called down from above.
“Oh, come on, please.”
No reply.
James sighed and turned to go. His companions followed him to a spot outside the city, where they set up camp for the night.
Tomorrow they’d enter the city and start their search for Lucien.
The End of Book 2
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- Jamey
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