Marlin sat on a tree stump, he just killed his third boar, Milly had wanted to go with him for the occasion he was looking at his level-up screen. It was a reminder that the system, although could be used as a very effective training mechanism.
Primarily existed to quantify something you accomplished.
It also confirmed what he suspected all along. The 2 additional perks he gained per level due to ‘blessing of strife’ could not be pre selected, he tried multiple times before leveling up.
They were granted to him, depending solely on what he did. And defending from attacks is what he did most.
He wasn’t unhappy with the result in of itself. It reflected perfectly what he had been doing the last half year as a freebooter, blocking and defending. Which had been a challenge in of itself.
Armored Deflection.
You are adept at letting attacks glance off. Your defense has solidified and you have weathered so many blows you shrug of cuts and bruises as trivial. No longer as minor issues.
requires medium or heavy armor
Shield Guard
Blocking and Parrying has become second nature to you, it comes more easily and you tend to feel naked without a shield.
only works with a medium shield or larger.
Health Perk You have gained a 3rd Health perk.
Profound Manifestation You have shown remarkable control, to be expected of such a fine Lord, albeit a bit young you have +6 to your Domination attribute.
Armored deflection did what it said on the can, it was more difficult to land a decisive blow on Marlin, it wasn’t damage resistance but a small twist or twitch from Marlin, that deflected a blow, in effect making them less dangerous. A dagger a millimeter from his heart, didn’t hit his heart, period.
Shield guard felt very much like what adrenaline did when he was running head first into danger. But it did a bit more than that. His blocking and Parrying absorbed damage better allround. He had begun to chain his blocks and parries, using the momentum of the swings he blocked or parried to fling his shield along with the force to create a defensive momentum of sorts.
the health perk was self explanatory. He picked it and all the beatings he had taken so far more then qualified him to gain the full benefit.
Profound Manifestation was by far not as impactful, to his thinking as everyone had feared. Marlin’s earlier experience that week with the unsettling memories had put things in perspective, it still took getting used to but not to the point that Marlin would struggle.
a new entry was Made in his overlord discipline which answered a question of Marlin why he had 5 slots instead of 4 for a while.
+4 Loyalty, (increased minion slots), you have shown to your Minions, that you are worthy of following. Your battles and endeavors to gain power have not gone unnoticed by those who serve you, as such it is much easier to control more minions for you.
His Gnolls had now officially also sworn their loyalty to him after his last battle.
Upgrade Minions | minion slot 5/12 Now that you have gained more Power so can your loyal minions. You may now upgrade your basic minions to superior minions. Additionally you may grant them a new level.
a superior minion at level 2 requires 3 minion slots
Marlin clicked yes to both and the results were staggering
name
Billy the (dire) Goat Role Superior minion Class knightly steed attributes 12, 12, 20, 6, 6, 6 HP 44 Discipline Code of Honor Skill Athletic Bulwark Perk Beast of Burden Weapon of choice Ramming horns
Billy for some reason, instead of gaining a health perk, like the Gnolls, gained the skill Bulwark.
Marlin couldn’t figure out why until he remembered. Code of honor, except for the fact that it made Billy resilient to mental attacks, was useless because it gave expert or second mind, to Bulwark. But without the bulwark skill itself, that was useless. It seemed the system caught onto that.
“Seems we must get you some serious Armor now Billy” Marlin said smiling. With Armor, Billy would basically become a tank in a pinch. “3 tanks”, he thought, “in this world where one dies so fast one can’t have enough, people here are far too lax when it comes to the value of life”. He pondered quietly.
“I would be able to serve the Lord and Mistress far better if I! As your knight! Can stand against the fires of war my lord”. Billy said.
”always the ‘humble’ knight”, Marlin thought smirking to himself. It was time to properly gear up his minions.
Barry demure gnoll Role Superior Minion Class Big stabber Attributes 15, 20, 12, 6,6,6 HP 21 Discipline Weapon mastery Skills Stealth Pole arms Weapon of choice spear
The attributes for all the gnoll’s, was the same, it was the Gnolls who underwent the biggest change. Doubling of health due to 2 more additional attributes perks and an additional Health perk for level 2. And that 20 dexterity put in some serious work. Barry was slowly becoming a powerhouse.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
It really hit home for Marlin, that the Dark lord that they slew, must have been on his last legs.
The orcs each single one must have been lvl 3 or 4 at least. He sighed. His army was becoming better though. Barry the Bloody spear master from the looks of it, had better accuracy than Bron in a vacuum, which was mind boggling.
”wees feellz the STRENGTH of da mastah flow through uss!!!” The gnolls yipped, a manic lust for violence obvious.
“So any change?” Marlin asked Milly.
”well you just got a whole lot sexier”? Milly shrugged. “Yet at the same time not really? It’s weird i can tell you have subtly changed and your presence is larger but you are still Marlin”.
“Good”. marlin thought. He got up. Everything felt a bit more lighter.
”So wana show me what you got for your level 3?” Marlin asked. “You haven’t shown anyone or even talked about it”.
Leviathans embrace
All your buffs can be infused much easier with the potencies you comprehend.
Eruption
All your Fire is infused with intense power and you can unleash that power with great focus
The more focus you infuse the more powerful the eruption is.
“Alright wanna run me through it”? Marlin asked.
Milly eyes sparkled. “Leviathan’s embrace as a discipline, is pretty self explanatory, it allows me to increase the range of my protective magic. For example titans blessing, chant and resonance, greatly increases your resistance to blunt and concussive force damage, if i were to do it for the dragon, slicing and piercing.
So if i were to combine the dragon and the titan into a chant, in the past it would take me too long, to give you, the main tank, the trifecta of buffs, to keep you safe from Magical meddling”.
She took a breath.
”the Leviathan’s embrace is a secret method to double speak my chants, rallying efforts and resonations, i can with a bit more practice combine the power of the dragon and titan into my chants, rallies and resonant spells the same way i used to do one or the other in the past.”
Milly shuffled uneasy to Marlin’s confusion, “My training already included much of the things i needed to reach full proficiency with the discipline so im almost done already”. She said.
”Dang that’s fast, you t’jut really prep a lot before you take discipline’s and perks huh”?
Milly nodded eyes flitting a bit. Marlin didn’t feel like prying.
”ok so you will buff better and more easily”? He asked.
”yes, basically”. Milly Nodded.
”Ok and what about eruption”? Marlin continued.
”Eruption is a perk available to those who achieved second mind in the primordial dialect or skill set, as you keep calling it”.
“It allows me to erupt any spell I cast infused with my comprehension of fire and cause an explosion”.
Her eyes sparkled with intensity, It was obvious Milly wanted Marlin to connect a few dots on his own.
Marlin smirked, he had a feeling he knew where this was going.
“Does that mean ‘ANY’ spell infused with fire? Say a buff to protect oneself?”
Milly nodded her head vigorously. “Yes! I can finally put that suicidal bullshit of yours to some good use!”
Marlin wasn’t sure where this 180 flip in mentality came from but he wasn’t opposed to running into the lines of enemies and let Milly blast them with what was basically a fireball from the sound of it, with him at the epicenter.
”so im assuming you want to test it here with me?” Milly sauntered over to him. Smiling seductively. “Do you mind”?
Marlin shook his head. “Nope not at all but can you show me the max potential first?like blow up a couple of trees perhaps”?
Milly started casting a spell and Marlin was confused, it was the create spark spell but he knew immediately what was going on the moment he saw Milly infuse it with fire as much as she could. The maximum charged Fiery, flaming Lightning bolt arched with a deep whopping crackling sound.
Struck a tree that ignited and while the bolt was still dancing on Milly’s fingers, she roared. The explosion was at the center of the tree and the tree exploded with a deafening blast. splinters flying everywhere.
Milly almost buckled from the instant drain of Focus.
Marlin observed Milly and immediately mentally noted a few issues. The full casting had taken 2 seconds. The explosion another second and a half and she took great effort to get back to her feet within another second. She had left herself with one more attempt to dodge out of the way of a potential attack but she was basically standing still for 5 seconds. An eternity. But he also realized, that as long as she buffed him with fire, she could pace all the steps she just took.
All in all, an incredible tool to have in your repertoire, the blast launched everything that was loose in all directions and he could totally see multiple Bron’s get flung by that blast.
”you got fireball, and you can explode a fucking lightning bolt with it”, he smiled wickedly.
The gnolls who already started getting inflated egos from their powersurge, had wondered silently in tyrant speech if one of them could take the mistress. The Blast utterly humbled them and they threw themselves at her feet. Mistaking her Display, as a way for Milly to reassert Dominance.
”wes are soowy Mistress! Wees not mean anything by our silly words”, pleasr dont blow us up like that tree!”
Milly who had no idea what the gnolls had been talking about looked at Marlin for answers.
“Just go with it, you are their supreme sorceress after all”.
Milly smirked and put up a haughty display for the Gnolls. “I can get used to this, people worshipping the grounds upon which I walk”.
Marlin walked over and told the Gnolls to skin the Boar.
”So another week and we will Move north, towards where the Dark Lord came from,
Milly nodded, observing the gnolls in contemplation.
”What changed Milly”?
Milly looked at him and pondered for a moment. “All my life I’ve been told to be cautious, all my life i HAVE been cautious, scared, afraid of loss”.
She took a deep breath.
“Fuck that shit Marlin, a coward slightly dies every day, and doesn’t live, just survives. When I killed that Orc Mage, Billy charging, following my orders without the slightest hesitation. A god damn Goat was more fearless and courageous than me Marlin!”
she sighs exasperated.
”Fuck that shit. Im strong, you are strong, Bron, Kotak, your Minions, we are all Bad ass and we are quickly gaining the strength where no one can tell us what to do”.
she kept going.
“Why should I be scared of losing you when we have each other’s back? The way Kotak had yours, the way Billy”, she lovingly pets the goat, “had mine, you had Bron’s”.
She pauses and smiles wickedly.
”Also now that i officially have the Primordial Dancer subclass im completely done with the old Bitch. Im so done with her antiquated approach! I bet she never splattered the brains of someone up close!”
Milly huffs.
Marlin tries really hard to think. “Who”?
Milly rolls her eyes, “Dinatka, Marlin, my master, the old bitch who is still opposed to you and me”!
Marlin eyes lights up, “ow that old woman with a cactus up her ass? Ow that’s good, fucking hell she is your master? Man no wonder you have anger issues”.
”I do not have anger issues thank you very much! What the hell is a cactus?”
“Ow it’s a plant with lots and lots of needles, it’s a saying of my old world for someone who can’t be pleased or won’t be happy”.
Milly scrunched her face, “Marlin I have a very active imagination I can almost feel the needles, please don’t torture me with that imagery”.
Marlin bend forward and whispers, “imagine it not up yours but up hers, its green and its got these ridges, now imagine her face, with that pain”.
Milly was taught that day, how joyful diabolical laughter can be.