November 3, 2022
Day 14 / Dungeon Day 1
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You have chosen the Brittle Blizzard Berserker specialization, which has modifiers that replace your existing melee class modifiers.
Would you like to take a look?
Yes.
Rahul thought, and a big notification covered his entire vision.
Despite all that Neha had told them about the need for secrecy when it came to these specializations, the five of them had decided they would not hide their choices and stats from each other.
Without any trepidation whatsoever, Rahul projected the notification to his not-so-patiently waiting friends.
Then he started reading it himself.
Brittle Blizzard Berserker Modifiers Stat modifiers
+30% to all stats while in melee combat.
Additional +20% to all stats in berserker mode.
-30% to all stats when using ranged weapons. -30% to all stats when using magic.
XP modifiers
No modifier to XP gained via melee damage. -70% to all XP gained via ranged damage. -70% to all XP gained via magic damage.
Action modifiers Acquiring or upgrading melee skills will award experience. The experience will be subject to a bonus multiplier if it pertains to the Brittle Blizzard Berserker specialization. XP bonus for already acquired skills will be awarded retroactively. Stat allotment
At each level, you will get the following stat points.
+1 Strength
+2 Endurance
+1 Dexterity
-1 Vitality
You will earn 10 free stat points at every level.
When invested into vitality, each stat point is only half as effective.
The stat modifiers are pretty good, and the 30% part is as expected - base 10% from the melee class and an additional +5% for every node along the path to Brittle Berserker.
That flat 30% bonus alone should make me stronger than someone at my level but with a weaker specialization. The additional 20% is just the cherry on top, increasing my effective stats by a few levels the moment I enter a trance, which is what the berserker mode is probably referring to.
All in all, I should have no difficulty taking on someone a few levels above me. Unless their specializations have unique bonuses too, which they likely would.
Hopefully, getting a level 3 node is rare enough that I will have a raw stat edge in most fights.
Rahul quickly skimmed over the ranged and magic part.
The negative modifiers are as expected and don't make much difference anymore. I doubt I'll be using magic or bows going forward, so neither the stat nor the XP penalty should play a role, except maybe in some rare circumstances.
Rahul was in a hurry to see the stat distribution of his specialization and rushed past the second-last section as well.
Looks like skills relevant to my specialization will give a higher reward compared to those that just synergize with my melee class. That's great, particularly if it means getting XP bonuses for my 3 Stamina Control Specializations. The bonus might even be enough to buy me a level or two.
He finally got to the last part, which turned out to be a rollercoaster of emotions.
Starting with the big-bad vitality.
Neither Neha nor Martin said anything about negative stat points. Martin, as usual, had disappeared before getting into the details at all, and all Neha had mentioned was that every level you progress along in a path added one stat point.
Unless the whiptail to my head shook some nuts and bolts loose in my head and I'm the one miscalculating, the numbers here are completely wrong. Everyone gets a base of 5 free stat points at every level. With the 4 nodes I traversed to reach the brittle berserker, and the +1 strength from my class selection, I should be getting 5 fixed stats.
Not only am I getting a measly +4 distributed between my strength, dexterity, and endurance, but I'm also getting a -1 vitality, netting me just +3 fixed stats instead of +5.
Then Rahul read the next line and his eyes opened wide.
It's 10 free stat points, not 5. That's crazy. It makes up for the +3 fixed stats and then some. And then some more.
If Neha's information about almost all specializations having just 5 free stats is correct, this is way too overpowered.
As Rahul kept reading, his eyes narrowed again.
Wait...
What's this part about half as effective?
Rahul was completely confused by now, as he tried to calculate whether his confusing jumble of stats was cause for celebration or sorrow.
I'll have to burn 2 points just to offset the -1 vitality, which leaves me with 8 free points.
Usually, that'd be excellent, except for the fact that I want to do more than just make up for the loss of vitality. If I want to raise it by one more point, I'll have to spend 2 more points.
Now I'm left with all my fixed stats, plus a +1 vitality, plus 6 free points. That's a total of 11 stats per level, one more than the 10 anyone else with a similar level specialization would be getting.
Of course, that number comes with a caveat. It's only 11 as long as I don't invest any further into vitality. The more I invest in vitality, the fewer points I actually gain.
Then he remembered a certain restriction that was key to his current specialization.
The ten percent limit...
Rahul's face which had been alternating between smiles and frowns finally settled on a wide grin.
It's a net gain.
His friends had arrived at the same conclusion at around the same time. Daniel spoke first.
"What did I tell you? It's a no-brainer! Martin wasn't kidding when he talked about exploiting the weakness of one stat to enhance the others. Your stat allotment might seem only marginally better than regular ones at first, but its ability for quick power boosting is, as your generation says... clutch. If you find yourself in a difficult situation and need to quickly catch up to a stronger enemy, you can just bear the decreasing vitality for a while and add 4 fixed and 10 free points to your other stats every level. That's 1.5 levels worth of offensive power every level."
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Maya narrowed her eyes.
"Or you can be reasonable about it, and spend 4 points to get your vitality to increase by 1 every level. That gets you to +1 Strength, +2 Endurance, +1 Dexterity, +1 Vitality, and 6 free points to distribute per level. That's 11 points, one more than what anyone else with a level 3 specialization would be getting. And it will keep your vitality just above 9% of your total stats."
Exactly what I had been thinking.
Rahul thought as he smiled.
Daniel tried to save his ass.
"Of course Maya, I was just looking into what's possible, not commenting on what Rahul should do."
Before there could be any more back and forth, Rahul summarized his own thoughts on the matter.
"Effectively speaking, I can trade my vitality for extra stat points, with the most conservative approach giving me one additional stat and the most aggressive giving me 5. As long as I keep sacrificing my already paltry vitality, I can progress rapidly. It's not something I plan to do, but as Daniel said, that flexibility is good to have."
Maya commented.
"It's obviously a trap, one that Neha herself had hinted at when she said that the specialization will push you to progress along the path of decreasing vitality."
No one argued, and Rahul tried to reassure his friend.
"No one is more concerned about my vitality than me, and I intend to keep it as close to ten percent as possible. Now, I have a few more notifications to go through. I'll check them out now."
The next few notifications were related to his skills, but he decided to save them for later. There was something else he wanted to see first.
His new level-up notifications and the stats that came with them.
The moment he had chosen his specialization, the experience points Rahul had been sitting on kicked in and leveled him up.
You have advanced to level 26.
0/200000 experience to the next level.
Your strength has increased from 53 to 54.
Your endurance has increased from 72 to 74.
Your dexterity has increased from 52 to 53.
Your vitality has decreased from 22 to 21.
You have received 10 free stat points.
Feels nice to have so many free stat points and fixed stat increases, but the vitality decrease is making me feel uneasy.
Rahul tried to get past that vague, uncomfortable feeling as he opened the next notifications.
You have been awarded 20,000XP for Stamina Control ||.
You have been awarded 100,000XP for Cold Trance.
You have been awarded 100,000XP for Intent Trance.
You have been awarded 100,000XP for Intent Cold Trance.
That's more or less along the lines I had been expecting.
Rahul thought as he opened the next notification.
You have advanced to level 27.
120000/200000 experience to the next level.
Your strength has increased from 54 to 55.
Your endurance has increased from 74 to 76.
Your dexterity has increased from 53 to 54.
Your vitality has decreased from 21 to 20.
You have received 10 free stat points.
As he looked at his now 20 vitality, Rahul once again had the same uneasy feeling, only stronger. This time, he was able to put the vague feeling into words.
Losing health as I level feels just wrong. What if I level up in the middle of a deadly fight? I won't have the time to sit and allocate stats while I'm struggling to survive. What if I use a kinetic cleave and gain multiple levels?
Then a terrifying possibility hit Rahul.
What if I gain enough experience at once to level up 20 times?
He knew from experience that the stats are awarded immediately on leveling up. The system won't wait for him to read the notifications and assign stats to vitality one level at a time before putting the -1 penalty into effect.
In a way, I'm just 20 level-ups away from death.
Feeling not at all comfortable about that number, Rahul tried to put 8 of his 20 free points into vitality, trying to bring it up to 24, but nothing happened.
Before Rahul could panic, a prompt appeared.
Stat allotment denied. Your vitality is restricted to ten percent of your total stats.
Oh right, I will have to assign my other stats first.
He brought up his character stats just to check.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 27 HP 200/200 MP 270/270 Stamina 720/720 Intent Points 0/7 Strength 55 (60.5) Endurance 76 Dexterity 54 (55.08) Vitality 20 Intelligence 27 Perception 40.5 (44.55) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
My current stat points total is 232. So I can go up to 23 vitality.
Not willing to wait, Rahul immediately did just that, investing 6 points to get his vitality to 23.
Setting aside 2 more points for vitality leaves me with 12 free points. What do I do with those?
For the last few levels, Rahul had been putting all his points into dexterity without giving it much thought, but the stat had now caught up to strength.
I have a decision to make. Which among strength and dexterity would help my fighting prowess the most?
Looking at his friends and inspecting their levels, Rahul amended that thought.
Which among strength and dexterity would help me help my friends grind some levels.
Rahul considered for a bit and was leaning toward dexterity when he reached a simple conclusion.
It doesn't matter.
All the birds here are level 24 or below, and ever since my dexterity hit 50, I haven't found them challenging at all except in very large numbers. With the 22 new stat points from the two levels and the 30% effective stat modifier in melee, I don't think the guardians will be any challenge at all no matter how I distribute my points.
With that thought, Rahul decided to put 6 points into dexterity, 5 into strength.
The last 2 points went into increasing his vitality by 1.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 27 HP 240/240 MP 270/270 Stamina 720/720 Intent Points 0/7 Strength 60 (66) Endurance 76 Dexterity 60 (61.2) Vitality 24 Intelligence 27 Perception 43.5 (47.85) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
Okay, now I'm 24 level-ups away from 0 vitality. Still a bit terrifying, but there's nothing else I can do about it.
Rahul thought as he stretched his legs.
Time to see what my new stats feel like.
"I'll be back soon."
Rahul shouted to his friends just as he started a speed-climb up the tree.
He didn't go far before Daniel shouted to him.
"Wait!"
"What?"
Rahul shouted back, itching to see just how fast he could climb.
"Didn't you get any skills?"
Came Daniel's reply.
Rahul suddenly stopped and hung against a tree branch.
Oh right. I completely forget about that.
"I did. I'll check them out later. As of now, I'm itching to see how it feels to have over 60 strength and dexterity."
He shouted to his friends.
Or 80, if some unlucky bird ends up crossing my path and triggering my melee stat bonuses.
Rahul thought gleefully as he raced up the branches.