November 3, 2022
Day 14 / Dungeon Day 1
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"As Neha had told us earlier, the deeper into the tree you go, the stronger the specializations. That makes it a no-brainer, the Brittle Blizzard Berserker is the winner!"
Daniel proclaimed in a tone so assertive that one would think this was the end of a discussion, not the start.
Wow, the hesitant Daniel phase that the dungeon troubles had led to is already over.
Rahul thought as he shook his head.
"Let's not be hasty, I have some concerns. But before I talk about those, can we just call it the Brittle Berserker, it captures the essence and will avoid a lot of tongue twisters."
Ivan laughed.
"It is quite a mouthful. The system went all in with the alliteration."
Rahul nodded and continued.
"The specialization is certainly going to be powerful, but I have several concerns. First, I'm not too thrilled by the idea of being a glass cannon. Sacrificing defense and health in favor of high DPS might be a reasonable tradeoff in games, but my life is at stake here, and there are no restarts. Secondly, if what Neha said turns out to be true, then making this choice might send me off on a path where I'll have to keep trading away my vitality to get stronger specializations. Ten percent may be fine for now, but what happens when that becomes two percent? Or one?"
Maya nodded emphatically, as expected.
To Rahul's surprise, Ivan argued.
"I agree with the second part of your statement, and if this specialization takes you down a rabbit hole of diminishing vitality, then you should definitely consider an alternate path. But we don't know that's what is going to happen, and restricted to ten percent, your vitality is somewhere between half and a third of what it'd have been had you distributed stats more equitably. That's distressing, but not disastrous, especially considering that you are not fighting alone, but as part of a team. If this world continues to behave like the games we have played, I as a tank will be able to learn skills like taunt and many others to keep the damage off you guys."
Rahul didn't seem convinced, but Daniel pressed the point home.
"As Ivan said, the ten percent restriction isn't really so bad. With how heavily I'm invested in intelligence, my own vitality is 17% of my stats, and that number is only going to get smaller as I level. And as far as your path is concerned, if I understand things correctly, you can easily go back up a step and choose another. As long as you keep your vitality close to ten percent, you won't even get one of the lower vitality versions of Brittle Berserker, leaving you with 5 free slots for other alternatives."
Before anyone else could chime in, Rahul spoke.
"Let me think about it for a second."
Maya and Matt are quiet, but these two seem way too convinced that the Brittle Berserker is the way to go. I can understand why Daniel would think that he has always been ambitious, not just when it came to his career but also that of his team. In our 1:1 meetings, he would always tell me of the ways I could contribute more to the team, take on high-visibility projects, basically do anything under the sun that would fast-track my progress up the corporate ladder.
That is until opened up and frankly told him that I had been running a rat race ever since high school and wanted to take my feet off the gas pedal for some time.
While he knew nothing about the nature of the Indian education system and the competitive exams to secure admissions into colleges, he did know about big tech, and understood what I meant. Daniel had jokingly told me that I had a year to take it easy and that he would start pestering me at the same time next year. Of course, now that I know him better, it's obvious he wasn't joking, and while there are still a few months before that deadline is up, I guess he's decided the circumstances justify pushing the date up a little.
Unless someone gave them a reason to believe otherwise, Rahul always assumed open and frank communication was the best. Often, his use of blunt words where subtlety was the right tool had backfired, but he always took it in stride, simply changing his tactics with the person now that he had a 'reason to believe otherwise'.
The reason why Rahul respected Daniel so much was that he was one of those few people with whom being frank had never backfired.
Even when I told him in no ambiguous terms that I plan to basically relax for a year before I start putting in serious effort at work. That conversation had no right to go as well as it did. But I guess that's part of the job of a manager. To steer a conversation in the right direction even when the person you are talking to is not being tactful at all.
All in all, Rahul's former manager's behavior was in line with what he expected.
Stolen story; please report.
Ivan's wasn't.
I guess what happened in that dungeon, his epiphany and self-actualization, changed him in more ways than one. But I trust him. I trust them both. And they are right. If this path is too restrictive, changing my specialization to a different subtree of Cold Berserker won't be that hard.
Well, that just leaves the second part of the problem.
Rahul spoke up.
"You are right, both of you, but I have another concern."
Daniel nodded knowingly as if he could tell what was coming.
"We have established that the Brittle Berserker is the irrefutably best choice on the berserker tree, as the advantages are many while the disadvantages can be mitigated."
Ivan, Daniel, and Matt all nodded, but Maya still did not appear pleased. Whatever her concern was, she didn't voice it, and so Rahul went on.
"The thing is, I'm not really sure if I want to become a berserker. I like the cold trance ability, and I use it a lot, especially when there are too many enemies to fight. With the recent addition of Intent Cold Trance, I might even start using it more often. But I see the trance skills as just that, skills. Tools in my arsenal that I use when they are the best for the job. I don't want the skill to be the defining feature of my fighting style. I certainly don't want it to be the only way I know how to fight, which is what I fear will happen if all my skills and bonuses only get triggered when I'm in a trance."
Rahul paused, waiting for someone to argue.
To his surprise, no one said anything. A few more seconds paused before Daniel simply said.
"That is your decision to make."
Maya nodded and spoke for the first time.
"We don't have any fighting to do for the rest of the night. Rest, eat, and think about it. Whatever you choose, you won't lose your existing skills, but your new skills will start to get skewed in a certain direction. As a berserker, you'll certainly be more powerful in a trance, while as a Twin Blade Rogue, you'll undoubtedly improve your dual-wielding proficiency by leaps and bounds. But that doesn't mean you can't work on your regular fighting skills as a berserker, or improve your trance skills as a rogue. I had talked to one of Jafrabad's stewards about this, and he told me that if one puts enough effort into it, a melee specialist can continue to gain new magic skills and upgrade their existing ones. It's just that the system's assistance would be minimal."
Rahul nodded.
"For someone who doesn't want me to go down the berserker path, you certainly made a very good argument for why I should pick it."
Maya just smiled.
"No, I didn't. I just made an argument to say that you could pick whatever you want, and hard work will make up for the rest. You thought of the berserker path because that's what you wanted to pick all along."
Rahul was lost for words, and Maya's cheeks suddenly turned red as she noticed the tone in which she spoke.
Seeing that, Rahul's face flushed too.
"Get a room you two."
Matt quipped, and everyone burst into laughter.
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Rahul did not make a decision immediately.
As everyone went to sleep and he stood watch, he mulled over it. The longer he thought, the more convinced he was that Maya was right.
I wanted to take the Brittle Berserker all along. The moment I saw it, a level 3 specialization that was the culmination of so much of my efforts, I knew I was going to take it. The circumspect part of me told me to take a step back and consider the risks, but the ambitious part of me had its heart set on the strongest choice.
And it was always going to win.
Rahul was broken free of his thoughts as the tent flaps opened and Maya walked out.
"It's my turn next."
Was all she said as she sat by his side.
"I'm going to pick the Brittle Berserker."
Rahul told her.
Maya nodded and replied.
"I know."
There was silence for a while, then Maya spoke again.
"We had started to get a lot closer, hadn't we? Before this whole integration thing happened."
Rahul nodded as she kept on speaking.
"Things have been so crazy as of late. I can't believe it has been just two weeks since the system arrived. The thought that humans were just humans, that magic wasn't real, that everything could be explained by science... It all just feels so alien. Our minds have come to terms with this new reality way too soon."
Her voice started to crack a bit, and Rahul noticed that tears were welling up in Maya's eyes.
"Everyone has adjusted to things so quickly. I have too, but I just wish my parents were here. If I just know that they are safe, I can truly put my heart into this, really go all in the way you have. I can be an asset to the team, instead of lagging behind while everyone else is so far ahead. Everyone is almost at level 20 already."
This time Rahul interrupted.
"You have been grounding the birds all day with your fire bullets, making them far easier for everyone else to kill. If not for you, we'd have taken two more days to even get here to the forest floor. Please don't sell yourself short. We are all doing our best, and out of everyone here, if I had to put my money on just one person reaching the D grade, I'll bet on you without skipping a beat."
Maya smiled.
"And I on you."
They sat in silence like that for some time. No one knew when it happened, but their hands were intertwined.
Maya rested her head on his shoulder and spoke.
"You know, we were at the coffee shop, and you told me about all the leaps you had taken to get from where you had started to get where you wanted."
Rahul smiled.
"I remember. I also recall how you said you just liked problem-solving and that's how you found yourself doing your undergrad, then your masters, and that's how you just kind of ended up here. If I didn't know you any better, I'd have taken offense at how you accidentally stumbled onto the job that had been my dream job for years. But I did know better, and you are nothing if not effortlessly brilliant..."
Maya mock frowned at that.
"Excuse me, it's not effortless, I do work hard."
Unable to keep a straight face, she promptly giggled.
They spent some more time like that, and only when the tent flap opened again did either realize that Maya's turn to be on guard duty was over too.
As they went back to the tent, Maya spoke to Rahul, her tone serious.
"I hope the ambitious small-town boy who didn't give up until he joined the most prestigious tech company in the world is back from his vacation."
Rahul replied with a smile.
"Without a doubt."
Maya didn't smile.
"He better be back, because you are going to need all that ambition and avarice if you are going to find a way deeper into the Brittle Berserker path. Despite what everyone else said, you and I both know that doubling back to find a different path is not something we can afford to do. We are pitted against the entire world, and the only way we'll survive is if we keep moving forward."
Pitted against the entire world.
Rahul thought as the gravity of the situation hit him, and he found himself acknowledging a thought that had been gnawing at him for a long time.
When we get out of the dungeon, we will have to fight against and kill fellow humans.
I'm not sure I can do that...