Wow, even the sprained ankle from that mad jump down the tree isn't ruining my jolly mood.
Rahul thought, admitting that the healing potion that instantly fixed the injury deserved as much credit for that as his immeasurable excitement for his newfound strength.
That Excitement seeped into his every word as he spoke to his teammates.
"Damn, I feel like I'm in a new body altogether. I know I've gained only two levels, but I can already feel the difference my specialization is making. As far as raw power is concerned, I feel like I'm at least twice as strong as I was a few hours ago. It won't be long before my regular fighting strength surpasses my intent-empowered state from when I was fighting Shahid. With how easily I'm tossing around the Talon Guardians now, I'll easily get you guys over the line by tonight. That'll leave with three days to grind levels and take on the bosses."
By the time Rahul got to the end, the happiness on his friends' faces was as palpable as his own.
"I know you guys can't wait to get to your specializations, so I'll try to be quick about this."
He chirped as he finally started projecting the skill notifications he received.
He immediately noticed that the first skill notification was nothing like the one Maya got when she was awarded Illuminate for choosing the Mage class.
Congratulations, you have earned a rogue skill. Since you already have one or more relevant rogue skills, you have the choice of upgrading one of them, in addition to the standard option of getting a new randomly selected skill.
Oh shit.
Rahul thought as he read the prompt, already anticipating what would happen next.
These guys are going to analyze the hell out of the options, and no matter what I end up doing, someone will be upset.
Before any of his teammates could form an opinion, argue at length, and then get invested in one choice or the other, Rahul conveyed his decision to the system.
Upgrade the Footwork I skill.
He commanded, just as Maya, who had by now well and truly overcome the hesitation she used to show in the office while participating in discussions, started to speak.
Daniel started to say something at the exact same time, and the two politely stopped.
They likely have diametrically opposite notions of what I should do, and Ivan and Matt would soon pick sides. Thankfully, I won't have to find any of that out.
Rahul thought, quite pleased with himself, as he took advantage of the short silence and announced.
"I chose to upgrade footwork. It's one of my few skills with a direct stat boost, and one that is likely very hard to level, based on how late the system awarded me the skill in the first place."
Daniel and Maya both seemed shocked by the unexpected turn of events, while Ivan hesitantly spoke.
"I was going to suggest that you see if there was a third hidden option - ignore the notification and use it later, say for Footwork II to Footwork III, which is probably a lot tougher upgrade. But I guess it's okay, it was a long shot anyway."
Everyone looked at Ivan, impressed.
"Don't look so surprised!"
He complained, and the team burst into laughter.
Rahul's laugh, however, wasn't quite as hearty as everyone else's.
I really hope that Ivan's option wasn't actually an option, because saving the skill upgrade for later would be the clear best choice if it were possible.
But what's done is done.
Deciding not to dwell on it, Rahul looked at the upgrade notification.
Footwork I : You know your way around the battlefield and are proficient at utilizing dodges and sidesteps to evade even the swiftest attacks.
Effect: Passive 2 percent increase to dexterity.
Changed to
Footwork II : You know your way around the battlefield and are proficient at utilizing dodges and sidesteps to evade even the swiftest attacks, often landing in a position suitable for an incisive counterattack.
Effect: Passive 5 percent increase to dexterity.
Landing in a position suitable for an incisive counterattack. Well, that could be very useful.
Rahul considered.
These percent bonuses are starting to stack up quite nicely. A shame that I didn't get any XP for this upgrade, but I guess that'll be asking for too much...
He opened his stat screen.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 27 HP 240/240 MP 270/270 Stamina 760/760 Intent Points 1/7 Strength 60 (66) Endurance 76 Dexterity 60 (63) Vitality 24 Intelligence 27 Perception 43.5 (47.85) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
Fantastic.
Rahul thought, and opened the next notification.
Congratulations, you have earned your path's core skill Berserker I and the default Berserker Mode - Berserker Rage.
Berserker I : You often enter a fierce and wild trance-like state during battle. In that berserker state, you exhibit feats of strength and aggression that far exceed your usual capabilities.
You have access to the following modes. Only one berserker mode can be active at a time.
Modes
Name
Description
Effect
Rage
Your emotions fuel your trance.
+5% to -20% to your stats in Berserker Mode, depending on your emotional state.
You have access to the following bonuses. Any number of bonuses can be active while in Berserker Mode.
Bonuses
Name
Description
Effect
Before Rahul even had a chance to go through the notification, another one popped up.
Synergy detected: You have one or more skills or specializations which synergize with the berserker skill. Calculating the effects of the synergies.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
A second passed, and then the previous notification opened again.
Congratulations, you have earned two new Berserker Modes and your skill has upgraded to rank two.
Berserker II: You are a skilled practitioner of the berserker arts and have a plethora of options when it comes to entering berserker mode. In your berserker state, you display feats of strength, dexterity, and endurance that far exceed your usual capabilities.
You have access to the following modes. Only one berserker mode can be activated at a time.
Modes
Name
Description
Effect
Rage
Your emotions fuel your trance.
+10% to -15% to your stats in Berserker Mode, depending on your emotional state.
Cold
Repetition fuels your trance.
-55% to -98.2% to stamina consumption in Berserker Mode, depending on how mechanical, thoughtless, and repetitive your movements are.
Intent
Your intent fuels your trance.
Your intent will be up to 120% more efficient in Berserker Mode, depending on how strongly your actions align with the nature of your intent.
You have access to the following bonuses. Any number of bonuses can be active while in Berserker Mode.
Bonuses
Name
Description
Effect
That's a lot to take in.
Rahul thought as he started processing the notification.
So, Berserker I is the core skill of the Berserker Tree, and comes with just one berserker mode. If someone without the stamina control trances were to somehow qualify for the Berserker path, that Rage mode is probably going to be their only option. From the looks of it, there is no stamina enhancement aspect to Berserker Rage at all, so one would only be able to sustain that rage for a short time.
The percentage modifier seems rather lopsided too, and compared to my other options, this mode seems rather tame, except for situations where I'm short on intent, furious as hell, and need a deal a lot of damage in a very short time. The +10% should stack on top of my +30% melee modifier and +20% berserker mode modifier for an effective +60% to all my stats.
Even then, as long as I have some intent saved up, an intent trance should be much stronger.
Rahul kept looking.
The Berserker skill seems to have co-opted the stamina control specializations, and immediately increased the skill rank to II.
Rahul thought as he opened his previous notification which had only flashed for a second, and tried to see what the skill rank change did, other than the change in description text. He found what he was looking for.
The Rage bonus had originally been +5% to -20%, and the upgrade changed it to +10% to -15%. The same must have happened for the two newly added modes, but I can't be sure since I don't have their pre-upgrade numbers.
Rahul finally got to the two new modes.
This is quite interesting.
These descriptions seem to be quite different from the Stamina Control specializations, and the effects now have exact hard numbers. With the cold trance, the minimal 55% reduction will let me fight twice as long as usual, while the maximum 98% will let me fight 50 times longer.
Thinking back to when he had been fighting on the castle wall all night during the frog invasion, Rahul calculated that he had been fighting with over 95% stamina cost reduction back then.
The intent trance part is quite enlightening too. While the Stamina Control description focused on how my movements are being powered by intent, this description tells me that the nature of my intent comes into play as well. While I'm not sure what that could mean for kinetic intent, I think for something like Gratitude the implications are obvious. Matt's Gratitude trance would work best when he's trying to save his friends, and he probably will have minimal to no bonuses when none of us are in danger.
Finally, Rahul realized that he could only activate one of the modes at a time, meaning that Intent Cold Trance did not translate into a usable berserker mode for him.
Yet.
He checked his stamina control skill, and confirmed that the specializations were still there.
So, if I want to go use Cold Intent Trance, I'll have to go about it the old way. That will probably disqualify me from getting the +20% berserker mode stat bonuses.
Deciding to discover the rest of the nuances by actually experimenting during battles, Rahul moved on and opened his next notification, which was from the Cold Berserker specialization.
Congratulations, you have earned the Frenzy Management bonus.
Berserker II: You are a skilled practitioner of the berserker arts and have a plethora of options when it comes to entering berserker mode. In your berserker state, you display feats of strength, dexterity, and endurance that far exceed your usual capabilities.
You have access to the following modes. Only one berserker mode can be activated at a time.
Modes
Name
Description
Effect
Rage
Your emotions fuel your trance.
+10% to -15% to your stats in Berserker Mode, depending on your emotional state.
Cold
Repetition fuels your trance.
-55% to -98.2% to stamina consumption in Berserker Mode, depending on how mechanical, thoughtless, and repetitive your movements are.
Intent
Your intent fuels your trance.
Your intent will be up to 120% more efficient in Berserker Mode, depending on how strongly your actions align with the nature of your intent.
You have access to the following bonuses. Any number of bonuses can be active while in Berserker Mode.
Bonuses
Name
Description
Effect
Frenzy Management
Retain your faculties while in Berserker Mode.
+30% lucidity during Berserker mode at the cost of -20% to all Berserker bonuses.
Finally a bonus! That empty table was looking really odd.
Rahul thought.
After all the overthinking that resulted from the previous notification, Rahul was pleased to see a small, if not wholly straightforward one.
I'll have to try this one out and see what the +30% lucidity practically means. As things stand, I remember nothing of what happened during these trances of mine. Maybe this can fix that. The 20% penalty isn't so bad either, since it'll apply only to the bonuses, not to my base stats, but it remains to be seen whether the benefits of lucidity are noticeable enough to justify even that seemingly reasonable penalty.
Before moving on to the subsequent notifications, Rahul's curiosity got the best of him, and he listened in on the conversation his friends were having.
Maya must have somehow managed to notice the Berserker Rage modifier in the small instant when that notification had flashed before his Berserker skill had evolved, because she was making an interesting observation about that.
"If someone is too calm, then the berserker rage's -20% would offset the +20% that berserker mode had, meaning that going berserk would not give any bonuses whatsoever."
Maya said, and Rahul checked his stat modifiers and notifications and realized that she may be on to something.
His friends thought so too, and took the topic seriously. For a while, that is. Then, as it usually happened with this group, the conversation went on a tangent, turning into an argument on whether it was a coincidence that the numbers equalized each other, or whether the -20% was tailored for Rahul's +20% bonus and would have been different for someone with a weaker berserker specialization.
This hypothetical discussion is too theoretical, even for me.
Rahul thought and tried to appear as nonchalant as he could as he opened the next notification.
Congratulations, you have earned the Brittle Blizzard bonus.
Berserker II: You are a skilled practitioner of the berserker arts and have a plethora of options when it comes to entering berserker mode. In your berserker state, you display feats of strength, dexterity, and endurance that far exceed your usual capabilities.
You have access to the following modes. Only one berserker mode can be activated at a time.
Modes
Name
Description
Effect
Rage
Your emotions fuel your trance.
+10% to -15% to your stats in Berserker Mode, depending on your emotional state.
Cold
Repetition fuels your trance.
-55% to -98.2% to stamina consumption in Berserker Mode, depending on how mechanical, thoughtless, and repetitive your movements are.
Intent
Your intent fuels your trance.
Your intent will be up to 120% more efficient in Berserker Mode, depending on how strongly your actions align with the nature of your intent.
You have access to the following bonuses. Any number of bonuses can be active while in Berserker Mode.
Bonuses
Name
Description
Effect
Frenzy Management
Retain your faculties while in Berserker Mode.
+30% lucidity during Berserker mode at the cost of -20% to all Berserker bonuses.
Brittle Blizzard
Get bonus stats to offset your vitality deficiency.
All stats except vitality increased by (level - vitality)*1.1 during Berserker Mode.
A delightfully simple bonus with no downsides? I'm going to keep this one active all the time.
Rahul happily thought, thrilled to see another stat increase bonus. The exclusion of vitality from bonuses that relied on low vitality in the first place was something he had been expecting, and he decided not to cry about it.
As of now, I'm at level 27, with 24 vitality. That's +3.3 to all my stats, a number that will stay more or less the same unless I decide not to invest in vitality for a few levels.
The multiplier effect of all the benefits he'd get from not investing his free stats into vitality had started to pile on, but Rahul shook away the temptations.
I'm only 24 levels up away from death.
He reminded himself, and instead focused on the other aspect of the bonus.
The 1.1 multiplier should go up as my Berserker skill progresses, and that's where I should focus my efforts. A shame that all these bonuses couldn't get it up to Berserker III, though I believe I must be close now.
That's when Daniel noticed that Rahul was done with the notifications and tried to rope him into the argument he was having with Maya.
"Why don't we talk about it after I get you all to level 25?"
Rahul offered, his eyes pleading.