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Congratulations!
You’ve honed your martial skills and established several powerful skills!
Six skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Polearm Mastery!
Polearm Mastery (Level 15) is now complete.
Four skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Marksmanship!
Marksmanship (Level 12) is now complete.
Four skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Axemanship!
Axemanship (Level 13) is now complete.
Six skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Knife Fighting!
Knife Fighting (Level 5) is now complete.
Four skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Hammer Mastery!
Hammer Mastery (Level 3) is now complete.
Eight skills integrated to form Basic Cumulative Skill: Blademaster!
Blademaster (Level 18) is now complete.
Due to the shared synergy between two or more skills, you’ve achieved several breakthroughs and formed several skills!
Polearm Mastery:
You have learned a new skill: Piercing Lunge (Level 1).
You have learned a new skill: Arcing Slash (Level 1).
Marksmanship:
You have learned a new skill: Heartseeker (Level 1).
Axemanship:
You have learned a new skill: Berserker's Might (Level 1).
Knife Fighting:
You have learned a new skill: Strike Vital (Level 1).
Hammer Mastery:
You have learned a new skill: Resonating Strike (Level 1).
Blademaster:
You have learned a new skill: Skypiercer (Level 1).
You have learned a new skill: Dance of Blades (Level 1).
Congratulations!
Through the will of a great combat grandmaster and your own efforts, a skill all other weapon practitioners would be envious of has formed.
Legendary Cumulative Skill: Armed and Dangerous!
Armed and Dangerous (Level 13) is now complete!
Note: This skill replaces the requirements of all integrated sub-skills.
Through the creation of a Legendary Cumulative Skill, you’ve gained the skill: Weapon Manifestation (Level 1).
“Impressive.” He gained several active skills, something he’d been lacking until then.
There was a long list of other gains as well, but from what he already gained, he’d grown a lot. The specifics all added to his progression and could be viewed at another time when he checked his status. For now, he tied the swelling pack weighing barely more than a feather to his waist belt, walked out of the little cabin, and looked at Stubborn.
Rather than eating, the ox nervously moved about as shouts Vander couldn’t discern made their way over to him from the village proper. He couldn’t determine what was going on. But he’d never heard the ruckus grow so great, even in times of celebration, and knew something was wrong.
I need to check it out.
“Calm now, bud. I’ll be right back,” he crooned to the anxious beast, calming the ox down, and double checked the pen to make sure it was secure. Then he headed towards the commotion.
As he neared, Vander heard a new sound, one he was unfamiliar with. Since he joined the people in Crossroads, he’d never once heard the ching-ching-ching of the bell apart from the start of a new hour.
Danger. The ringing of the bell, an alarm, was a call to arms. The alarm was accompanied by the distant sounds of screams as people fled from the village, barreling past. Those with young carried them or dragged them along, fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them.
“Ar-ar-arooo!”
“Chiik, chii, chii!”
“Get the villagers! Don’t let anybody escape, boys! We’ll be feasting well tonight! If they put up a fight, show them to the gates of hell!”
The howls, battlecries, and commands were absolutely unmistakable. His heart began to race, and a familiar excitement rose up in his chest. It’s finally time!
Vander started to run. Tobias ran out of his home with Madeline by his side, but Vander could tell something was off. With a quick mental prod, he expanded their information details.
Tobias
Crossroads’ village chief
An able bodied man of age who leads the continued sustainment of the small community.
Madeline
Wife of Tobias, advisor of Crossroads.
A woman of age, content with the peaceful life she and her husband have created.
Tobias yelled as loud as he could, “Monsters! Bandits! To arms! All able bodies, to arms! The village is under attack!”
Those that didn’t know what was going on knew now, and the village came alive as people rushed out from different buildings.
“Orcs, hounds, and bandits! Take the kids and run!” Vander yelled out to those nearest to him as he ran to grab a shovel, vaulted over the small perimeter fence around, and made a mad dash toward the center of the village. He saw confused looks here and there and roared, “Get your ass moving, now!”
People didn’t need to be told twice and ran from the village in a panic, fleeing their homes as fast as they could. Women, children, and the elderly grouped together and stumbled away, slow as molasses.
Meanwhile, any and every able-bodied villager rushed toward the elder. Young or old, each wielded What they could find. Pitch forks, machetes, hammers, knives, and whatever other tool of iron or steel they could use as a weapon they could find.
They huddled up around Tobias and shook with fear as the hound-riding orcs barreled down the main road. One such group of armed men got separated from Tobias and the others by one such mounted orc, its deft mount leaping between the groups and lashing out with tooth and claw while the orc clobbered any within reach of its man-sized club.
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If bandits, hounds, and orcs weren’t enough, another monster slithered in. A giant snake slammed into the isolated group from behind. They managed to fend it off, only just, but it was a short lived victory. The snake rose up high to strike, to kill.
Vander’s legs hadn’t stopped chewing across the ground, spitting up a dust cloud in his wake, and watched with horror as the situation descended into total madness. He could only hope they could manage just a little longer.
I’m… not too late! Vander thought and pushed himself harder.
Body steaming, mana raging through his veins, he ran toward the center of the village. He tore through the heart of the village and past Tobias’ house, past the fighting, evading every attack sent his way, and towards a massive tree.
Right beside the roots, he began to dig furiously. When he first arrived, he’d been made to surrender his weapons. The elder thought he didn’t know where they’d been hidden, but Vander knew and cursed the man for his idiotic policy. The shovel wasn’t fast enough, so he threw it aside and began to plow through the dirt with his mana-coated hands. It wasn’t long until a bundle revealed itself to him.
The cries of pain and calls for retreat from behind him became background noise as he ripped the bundle free of the ground. He ripped the twine free, and the leather bound bundle unfurled. In seconds, he had his bow in his hand and turned on one knee, releasing an arrow that sailed through the space between Tobias’ house and the town hall.
His attack landed, striking true, and stopped the leaping orc mid air. He shot, and shot, and shot until no arrows remained in his quiver. He kept the abandoned hound in the corner of his eyes as it raced toward him. Throwing the bow aside, he grabbed his spear in two hands and ran forward, lunging. Mana flooded through his body, and the strike instantly passed through the space between him and the pissed orc rider’s lonely mount.
Speartip pierced skull, and the massive hound slid against the ground. He threw himself to the side to not get pinned by the corpse, rolling and leaping to his feet. His actions had garnered quite a bit of attention from all of the invaders, and they streamed towards him from every direction.
He tried returning to the bundle of weapons, but the horde of enemies wouldn’t make his life that easy. Two spears sailed through the air, but he kicked forward, blowing past their arcing trajectory. Arrows peppered around him from three bandits hiding behind the rest.
When he stopped for a split second to take stock, half a dozen hound riders barreled towards him. Nearly a dozen bandits circled his position with the two archers taking position atop the roofs of Tobias’ house and the town hall.
But the snake was still wreaking havoc amongst the men, its massive scaled body keeping them from properly congregating in a unified defense.
Tobias looked in Vander's direction and made eye contact. He looked like he wanted to help, but Vander shook his head, “Get out of here! I’ll be okay!” The old man hardened his gaze and turned back towards the others, shouting out a retreat. Vander put them out of his mind and leaped away from another arrow. He stomped. “Your fight is with me, fuckers!”
Another bandit, this one larger with an uncovered face full of scars, crested the roof, crossed his arms, and looked down at Vander from the middle of those on foot. With just a look, Vander knew he had a lot on his hands for the time being.
Tinardan
Level 50 Bandit Leader (Elite)
“Oh, what is you doin’ here, ey?” The bandit leader held a decapitated villager’s head in one hand, playing with it and cackling, then pointed towards Vander. He slung the head back and forth by its hair then tossed it towards Vander. The identity was: Madeline. Seeing Vander scowling at him, Tinarden doubled over and clapped, amused, as his small cackle grew into an excited guffaw. “A feisty one, eh-heh. Don’t recall nothin’ ‘bout you bein’ here. Is a’ight. ‘Cause we’s good folk, ‘n’ we’ll take care of ye jus’ right. Jus’ don’t cause no pro’lems, aye?”
Vander didn’t deign to dignify the man with a response. One didn’t banter with a psychopath nor someone whose life would be forfeited in mere moments. The surroundings seemed to come to a standstill as they all waited for the otherside to make the first move.
Scowling, Tinardin screamed, “Whataya waitin’ for, boys? Get ‘im!”
Running forward, Vander grabbed his family’s sword from the ground and leapt forward. The low hum of power greeted him as his fingers wrapped around the center of the hilt. With a hand on the blade, he grinned and threw himself into battle. The forces against him heavily outnumbered him, but he couldn’t feel any power of note when he used magic sense.
Only Tinardan and the giant snake even registered to his magic sight. Nothing else registered as more than a blank white space in his vision. Seeing as the forces arrayed before him were like sheep acting as wolves, he grinned. His muscles ached, wishing to be stretched, used to cut down the pitiful creatures before him. Creatures unknowingly standing in his way.
“Wha’s goin’ on?!” shouted Tinardan.
Vander’s blood pumped in his veins like a thousand volts. He thundered forward, the wind splitting as the tip of his sword erupted with a howling bolt of lightning. After the first, a second descended from the sky in a flash. The orc rider and its mount remained as little more than flesh lumps and ash.
“Skypiercer is quite effective,” Vander muttered, looking around at the plentiful bounty before him. Each of the village’s invaders looked like points towards the completion of his class assessment, and he stalked forward with that in mind. “Let’s see what blade dance does, hmm?”
He felt out the skill with his mana tracing, activating it silently. A large accumulation of mana rushed into the blade and made it shine like a star. One, two, then three. Copies of the blade materialized around him in a circle, floating through the air in a measured pattern.
When he prodden them forward, the blades shot through the air in a beautiful blur. Blood spilled in their wake. “This one’s pretty awesome, too,” he muttered as he slipped forward through the space between him and the next target, the center of the bandits, with a lunge. “It’s not I who’ll be hunted today, boys! Prepare yourself, because the Storm King is coming for you!”
Each and every ability he’d gained could be used with the sword. Berserker’s might flooded his body with a vibrant heat and heightened his senses. Red tinged the corner of his eyes, but with nothing but something to kill in sight, he had no issue in his bloodletting.
Screams of terror began to fill the villages as the bandits realized they’d antagonized a sleeping dragon and tried to flee. Oddly, only when half the bandits were slain and no hound riding orcs remained did Tinardin finally involve himself in things. The half dozen bandits all turned and threw themselves at Vander after seeing their leader descend from his post atop the roof where he guarded the archers.
No matter how hard they tried, they fell before Vander. Piercing lunge was turning out to be one of his favorite skills out of all he’d gained. Arcing slash had a lot of power at close range and could cleave a bandit in two quite easily, but it overkilled his target by more than a little. Heartseeker had a long activation time too, but the second it did, no amount of distance could stop him from taking down a target.
But it felt like strike vital, which had an active and passive component. Piercing lunge and skypiercer both had more attack power and took less time, and arcing slash was equivalent. No matter how much he used it, heartseeker felt like the least impressive ability he’d earned…
Aside from resonating strike, that was. That one was only useful if the target blocked or didn’t die, which against all the small fries, they died. He made sure of it.
When Tinardin struck, Vander didn’t even bother blocking.