November 2, 2022
Day 13
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It was time to get back to business, and Matt changed the topic.
"None of us had enough skills to get us all the way to level 11, but we still earned enough XP to make decent progress. I got XP for Stamina Control and a couple of weapon skills. Charlie got XP for Stamina Control and the basic archery skill. For Maya, only the fireball spell was eligible, but that alone was worth 50,000XP. "
Rahul whistled appreciatively, and Maya spoke next.
"I also got a new spell as one of the class selection rewards. It doesn't do any damage, but it is exactly what we need. "
Then she cast the spell.
Illuminate
A very bright ball of light appeared in her hand, blinding them all. Everyone closed their eyes and shielded them with their hands, but the light was still too bright. To everyone's relief, it slowly floated up and away from them and settled in the air, 100 feet above.
Rahul rubbed his eyes as he gingerly opened them. Then he looked around and his jaw dropped.
The spell had illuminated almost a quarter of the island, and much of the nearby marshes.
"Oops", Maya said as she too rubbed her eyes, abashed. Then she explained.
"The spell is expensive and costs 50 mana, so I waited for everyone to be here before I cast it. I had no idea it'll be so bright though. I think I can make the ball of light appear anywhere I want, not necessarily on my palm. I'll remember that in the future. "
Everyone nodded. Rahul spoke.
"Did anyone else get any skills? "
Matt and Charlie shook their heads.
"Just mages then. Well, we are all exhausted. Let's sit while we go over your class bonuses. Matt, did you notice anything new with your melee class? "
Matt shook his head and spoke as the group found some logs to sit on.
"The prompt I got was identical to yours, both in format and in content. Except for the skill experience prompts of course. "
Rahul nodded and looked at Charlie.
Charlie projected the modifiers screen to everyone as he spoke.
"The format was the same for me as well, but the modifiers were obviously different. "
Ranged Class Modifiers Stat modifiers
+10% to all stats while in ranged combat.
+5% to all stats while using knives/daggers in melee.
-10% to all stats using any other melee weapon.
-10% to all stats when using magic. This effect does not apply when using spells of physical enhancement category on self or on ranged weapons.
XP modifiers
No modifier to XP gained via ranged damage or using knives/daggers. -50% to all XP gained via melee damage. -50% to all XP gained via magic damage.
Action modifiers Acquiring or upgrading ranged skills will now award experience. XP for already acquired skills will be awarded retroactively. Stat allotment One stat point will be automatically allotted to endurance at every level. This is in addition to the 5 free points.
"The only thing that stood out is the inclusion of small weapons with ranged weapons. I'll appreciate any lessons on fighting with knives from you. "
Rahul smiled.
"I'll be happy to help. Also, the inclusion of small weapons isn't surprising. While historically the archers did have dedicated non-fighting soldiers assigned just to supply them and rarely ran out of arrows, rarely isn't the same as never. So, when they did run out, they were prepared to equip daggers or even swords, and fight just as ruthlessly as the infantry. "
Charlie nodded, and Rahul looked at Maya next, and she spoke.
"Much of the same for me, except for one additional section. "
Mage Class Modifiers Stat modifiers
+10% to all stats while using magic. This includes melee or ranged combat using magically conjured weapons.
-10% to all stats when using melee weapons.
-10% to all stats when using ranged weapons.
XP modifiers
No modifier to XP gained via magic damage or damage using magically conjured weapons. -50% to all XP gained via melee damage. -50% to all XP gained via ranged damage.
Action modifiers Acquiring or upgrading magic skills will now award experience. XP for already acquired skills will be awarded retroactively. Stat allotment One stat point will be automatically allotted to intelligence at every level. This is in addition to the 5 free points. Unique bonuses Earn a relevant skill upon class selection and on every specialization.
"That unique bonus section is what awarded me the Illuminate skill. I should get one at level 25 as well. The wording of the bonuses section suggests that there may be more specializations after level 25. Let's confirm that with Martin. "
Rahul agreed.
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"I think so too, there may be multiple specializations in our classes. We'll ask Martin when we meet him tomorrow. For now, we wait and recover our stamina before we attack a new island. Does your skill say how long the Illumination lasts? "
Maya replied.
"Yes, it will last a whole day. "
Rahul smiled.
"More than enough for our purposes. "
Then, he looked east and spoke.
"Half of our way to that island is already visible. I think we should go there. "
Everyone nodded. Charlie voiced his agreement.
"Now that we have killed all the crocodiles around the island, all directions are the same. Might as well make use of the spell that we've already cast. "
That settled it, and with their next goal set, the group relaxed. They took out their supplies and drank water from their canteens. They all had chosen their classes and were now quite eager to see how they compared to Rahul, who had become a crocodile-slaying machine after getting his class.
As they ate, the team discussed among themselves how best to allot their 5 free stat points. Rahul participated in the conversation, but his attention was elsewhere as he looked at the experience remaining to the next level.
49440/100000 experience to the next level.
He had solo killed 48 crocodiles since he had leveled up, and had received a small share of experience for the 350 plus that he had shaved. In total that had earned him just short of 10,000 experience.
Now that his focus wasn't on getting his team their classes, Rahul hoped to accelerate the rate of earning experience and gain many levels before the night was over. The level 25 that Martin had lured them with still seemed distant, but it was not outside the realm of possibility anymore.
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About half an hour later, the team marched east. Twenty minutes back, Maya had naturally recovered her 50 mana and had gone ahead herself and cast another Illuminate spell in the direction of the island. Now her mana was full again, as was her and everyone else's stamina.
The sun had set, and there were no traces of its light left. The group walked over the network of roots illuminated by Maya's spell as they crossed the marshes, and Rahul was speaking.
"Let's all fight according to our classes once we encounter enemies on the next island. The roles of Matt, Charlie, and I are clear enough, but fireballs cause AoE damage and can set the forest ablaze. We need to think of a way to avoid friendly fire. Pun intended. "
Maya smiled weakly at the joke and thought for a bit before she spoke.
"Why not use the fire to our advantage? Once we're at the border of the next island, I can blast the forest with fireballs and set the whole island ablaze. The marshes will act as a natural barrier and stop the fire from spreading. "
Charlie added to that.
"Maya is right. We can also cut off the vegetation around the island to form a perimeter of clearings and firebreaks. At most, stray blazes will reach the marsh roots, and they are too wet to catch fire from that. "
Everyone looked meaningfully at the roots they were walking on. They were damp and setting these roots on fire would definitely require quite a concerted effort.
"Alright, that seems like a good idea. But more than anything else, our objective now is to earn as many levels as possible from this dungeon. Do you think you'll get the XP from passive kills that result from the fire?", Rahul asked Maya.
Maya nodded and spoke.
"I didn't get any explicit prompt regarding that, but something tells me that it would work. "
Rahul shrugged.
"Worth a try. This is just one island among many. We can adjust our strategy based on how things work out. "
The group continued to plan out the intricacies of their strategy when a prompt interrupted them.
New Quest Received : Eliminate the Alphas
You have entered the territory of one of the alpha crocodiles that live in this mangrove. Eliminate this and all other alpha crocodiles to complete this dungeon. Eliminating an alpha will provide dungeon points and open a portal that can be used to exit this dungeon.
Progress - 0/4 alphas eliminated
Everyone read the notification and saw some reptiles stirring in the distance and on the island ahead. These crocodiles were at the border of the region illuminated by Maya's spell and were barely visible.
"These alphas must be the dungeon bosses. And finally, we see the dungeon points Martin wanted us to collect. "
Rahul estimated the number of approaching reptiles and spoke.
"Matt and I will be dragging our feet if we fight in the marshes, and the crocodiles will have a significant mobility advantage in the water. There aren't too many. Maya and Charlie, why don't you take care of them? This is as good a chance as any to test your recently improved stats. Remember, we've got about six stamina and eight mana potions remaining. While all the mana goes to the mage and majority of the stamina will go to the archer, be efficient and make every spell and arrow count. "
The duo nodded.
Maya experimentally cast a fireball spell in the direction of the crocodiles, and it went three times as far as it had a week ago when she had fired at the frogs. However, the crocodiles were even further, and the fireball exploded without finding a target.
Charlie had better luck.
You have killed a Level 8 Saltwater Crocodile. 80 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 9 Saltwater Crocodile. 90 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 7 Saltwater Crocodile. 70 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 9 Saltwater Crocodile. 90 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 7 Saltwater Crocodile. 70 experience earned.
After taking down five distant crocodiles with as many arrows, he happily announced to the team.
"The benefits of the class selection are way more than what could be explained by the 10% stat boost. I feel like a much better marksman now. I got 5 kills with 5 arrows. Also, as I had hoped, I'm able to penetrate the hides with regular arrows now. "
Charlie had debated long and hard against the rest of the team. He was insistent on allotting his free points to strength while the rest advocated either saving the points or allotting them to endurance or dexterity as Martin had suggested. Charlie had been emphatic that the benefit of more stamina points would be nothing compared to the reduced cost if he could kill the reptiles with regular shots. And since he was doing nothing but standing still and shooting, he didn't need much dexterity anyways.
In the end, he had convinced his friends, and now his decision had proven correct. The five added strength points in addition to the 10% ranged stat bonus made the enhanced-stamina arrows unnecessary.
Matt had invested his free points in strength as well, while Maya had invested in intelligence.
Charlie spoke again.
"Maya, you mind if I kill all the enemies to the left? You can bake the ones to the right once they get close. "
Maya nodded, and while Charlie cleared up the left flank, she waited. A minute later, the crocodiles were within range of her fireballs. She peppered a group with half a dozen fireballs back to back, turning that entire area into smoke.
Everyone waited with halted breaths to see what emerged from the smoke, but nothing did. They had expected the fireballs to do some damage, but they had all been wary of expecting too much. In their experience so far, the fireballs had only served to agitate and confuse the reptiles.
But when the smoke cleared, all they saw were a dozen immobile reptiles with their scales charred.
Maya's face turned pale when she noticed they weren't completely immobile. They were squeaking and squirming in pain, too hurt to do anything else. Slowly, they sunk underwater, possibly drowning in the shallow marshes.
No, not drowning, not yet. Maya knew that while crocodiles couldn't breathe underwater, they could hold their breath for hours.
Maya didn't have to wait that long, as the notifications started streaming only a minute later. One notification every few seconds until all the crocodiles were dead.
Whether the crocodile died due to asphyxiation or burns was anyone's guess, but Maya's face turned paler with every single notification all the same.
When she finally spoke, there was no color left on her skin.
"I just got the last kill notification. That last crocodile had been alive and in excruciating pain for at least two minutes before it died."
Silence.
Maya looked at Rahul and spoke.
"The plan of burning the forest. "
Rahul nodded sympathetically. The whole group had heard the whining reptiles. Maya didn't need to finish her sentence, but she did so anyway.
"I don't think I can go ahead with that. "