Due to the limited visibility from the light stone and cloud covered moon, the group was not able to travel as quickly as they could in daylight, the trip taking them two hours to reach the top of the ridge that overlooked Haligrad, the city now illuminated by torches and lanterns lining the streets.
In the travelling, Astaria updated her status page with all of the new gains she received over the time she was fighting the boss.
Astaria had acquired 12 attribute points in every stat from the 8 levels she had gained during the boss fight, as well as 50 free attribute points, 5 gained per level and 13 from receiving regular and unique titles.
Applying her additional attributes, Astaria put 20 points into AGI and INT and 13 into WIS causing her innate WIS to surpass triple figures and nearly reaching 1/25th of what she had prior to going back in time.
With her attribute points now applied, Astaria moved on to using her skill points which had increased by 41. Now that she had significantly levelled up, she had unlocked more skills to use them on.
Skill unlocks in Caelus online followed a set structure. From levels 1 to 15, a player could only unlock basic skills that acted as an introduction to the class. From Lv 15 to 35 players started to unlock both the class's core and intermediate skills.
The core skills were skills that were integral to the class and how it was used, being utilised no matter how far a player developed.
The intermediate skills were skills that could be considered to be innately stronger than the basic skills unlocked before them, with the ability to output higher damage. Until a player unlocked the absolute versions of the skills which brought them all to the same level, intermediate skills would always be stronger and thus more valuable.
From Lv 35 to 75 a player would unlock peak skills, the pinnacle of what their class was capable of prior to awakening.
Astaria finally started to unlock some of the important magic skills that differentiated the mage class from others, making her excitement rise as she could finally start to use some of the main elements of her fighting style.
First Astaria upgraded [Lightning], [Residual Burst], [Earth Spike], [Evasion], [Casting], and [Vitality Boost] all by 1 level.
Of the new skills Astaria now had access to, she unlocked the [Mana Barrier] skill which created a small magical bubble attached to her body. When active, the magic barrier would absorb damage and reduce the caster's mana by an amount that would reduce the higher level the skill was. This was the source of defence for mages which could act as both a blessing and a curse since it quickly drained mana that was hard to replenish at early levels.
[Mana Barrier Lv1]
[Uses mana to create a defensive barrier around the user.
MP cost: 20
Cast time: 1s
Cooldown: 30s
Effect: MP reduced instead of HP by (Damage received - (15% + (WIS x 0.1% (Max 33%))
Additional Effect: All resistances +10%]
The next thing Astaria unlocked was [Chain Lightning], a skill that launched a single bolt of lightning from the caster that upon hitting an enemy, subsequent lightning bolts would jump to all other targets within a 2-metre radius. Increasing its level would increase its damage and range.
[Chain Lightning]
[Creates a bolt of Lightning from the user that upon contact with the primary target, chains to additional targets within a small radius.
MP cost: 35
Cast time: 1s
Cooldown: 25s
Damage: (WIS x 420%) + ((Main hand weapon attack + Sub weapon attack) x 125%)
Radius: 2m
Additional effects: Movement speed -10% for 2s
Chance to inflict: {Knockback} {Stun}]
[Frost Burst], like [Chain Lightning], was an intermediate skill that creates a 2-metre burst of frost around the caster and was Astaria's next purchase. Anyone caught within the skills range had a high chance of being frozen and would take a small amount of damage. The skill was excellent in close range acting as brilliant crowd control.
[Frost Burst]
[Creates a burst of frost around the user while causing additional status ailments upon contact.
MP cost: 25
Cast time: 1s
Cooldown: 25s
Damage: (WIS x 30%) + ((Main hand weapon attack + Sub weapon attack) x 50%)
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Radius: 2m
Additional Effects: Targets movement speed -5% for 5s
Chance to inflict: {Freeze} {Knockback}]
Lastly, Astaria acquired the [Teleport] skill. This skill may seem quite overpowered at a first glance of its name; however, despite its major limitations, it was the single skill that kept a mage alive. The mage class was generally quite weak physically with low defensive stats. Due to this, if an enemy managed to hit them, the mage would usually take high amounts of damage.
As such, the mage class had its unique movement skill, [Teleport], which allowed the mage to instantly teleport to a location 12 metres away within view of where the caster was standing. It had a 20 second cool-down at its base level but allowed a mage to keep some distance while fighting before getting hit with something that restricted their movement and quickly killed.
[Teleport]
[Instantly moves the user to another location within 12 meters.
MP cost: 20
Cast time: 0.5s
Cooldown: 20s
Range: 12m
Additional effects: Movement speed +10% for 2s]
Quite happy that her current status had grown much faster than she had first predicted, Astaria let out a contended sigh, revelling in the feeling of success that the day's achievements had brought as she looked over her status page one last time.
——————————
[Astaria]
Class: Mage - Lv: 24 – 98.6% [+8]
Race: ???
Gender: Female
Age: 20
——————————
HP: 1030/1030
MP: 960/749
Fatigue: 74%
Hunger: 62%
——————————
Skill Points: 22/462 - 32% [+41/-160]
Attribute Points: 0 [+53/-53]
——————————
[Attributes]
VIT: 103 [+42]
STA: 31 [+12]
DEF: 28 (+1) [+12]
STR: 38 (+4) [+12]
AGI: 58 (+8) [+32]
DEX: 28 [+12]
INT: 73 (+23) [+32]
WIS: 106 (+34) [+25]
——————————
[Equipment]
Enchanted Mastercraft Steel Staff [Rare+]
(34 ATK) (WIS+10, INT+10)
Enchanted Mastercraft Steel Short Sword [Rare+]
(52 ATK) (WIS +15) (Sharpness+)
Frilled Blouse [Rare]
(WIS+4, INT+3)
Steel Bracers [Rare]
(WIS+5, STR+4)
Skinny Leather Trousers [Rare]
(AGI+4, INT+3)
Steel Plated Leather Boots [Rare]
(INT+5, AGI+4)
Black Hooded Ornate Robe [Rare]
(INT +2) (DEF +1)
——————————
[Resistances]
(+ To Expand)
——————————
Charisma: 10
Luck: 550
——————————
Karma: 100,000
——————————
[Skills]
Staff Lv 2
Short-sword Lv 2
Magic Arrow Lv 2
Fireball Lv 3
--- Blast Lv1
Lightning Lv 4 [+1]
--- Residual Burst Lv 2 [+1]
Earth spike Lv 4
Freeze Lv 3
--- Lingering Frost Lv1
Frozen Burst Lv 1 [+1]
Chain Lightning Lv 1 [+1]
Mana Barrier Lv 1 [+1]
Teleport Lv 1 [+1]
Evasion lv 4 [+1]
Mana Heart Lv 2
Casting Lv 3 [+1]
Vitality Boost Lv 3 [+1]
——————————
[Fame and Contribution]
Personal Fame: 16
The Temple: 330
Adventurers Guild: 380
Alennos Kingdom: 11
——————————
[Titles]
-Raids Harbinger-
-Raid Pioneer-
-Slayer of Square Jaw-
-Stalwart Warrior-
-The First Immortal Warrior-
[Common Titles]
(+ To Expand)
——————————
Returning her attention back to what was around her, Astaria could see that they had arrived at the top of the ridge overlooking Haligrad. Looking closely, Astaria could see that the front gate of Halliard looked quite busy with more light sources than usual, somewhat surprising her.
Thinking more deeply about what she could see, the oddities started to make sense as her recent appearances in the server announcements came to mind. This is likely a mix of casual players interested in who she was as well as players with less than respectable plans.
Letting out a sigh that she would have to deal with other players, Astaria called to the other group members.
“Looks like there might be some trouble at the main gate. Roxanne, since you are currently the weakest in group battles, can I leave you to hold back and watch over the horses?”
Looking slightly dejected under the glow from the light stone, Roxanne muttered her agreement before Astaria continued issuing instructions.
“Russel, Tyrell, Ash. You guys stay on standby a short distance away. Follow me close then hold position until I need you. If you do engage in combat, stay grouped and focus on staying alive.”
Hearing their solemn words of agreement Astaria looked at Ben.
“Ben, I want you to stay with Roxanne in case, but be ready to intervene if the others need it.”
With a wave of his hand, Ben responded slightly amused.
“You got it. Although I must say you have quite an evil smile on right now, who do you think is waiting for us?”
With a chuckle, Astaria looked back at Ben with her menacing grin doing nothing to hide her excitement at the potential fight ahead.
“Well, there are a number of groups it could be, but honestly, if anyone decides to act like I am expecting, it doesn’t matter who they are. I assume they will demand us to give them something, likely the purple equipment, just because they have some inflated egos with some false sense of power. Trash like them are all the same and deserve to be handled like the waste they are.”
****
As the glow from the light stone in Astaria’s hand moved closer to the gate, the excitement of players outside the gates grew as the anticipation of Astaria being one of the approaching people exploded.
Now that her group was at a decent distance away from the main gates, they all dismounted and walked the final stretch to the city gates. Making sure her hood was up to hide her information, she lightly stretched. As the crowd became visible, Astaria could easily discern over 150 players all in front of the gates. From what Astaria could see, there seemed to be one particularly dominant group gathered directly in front, while a number of other players kept the crowd at a distance.
Casually walking forward, Astaria noticed one man from the group walking towards her, so she gestured to her friends to stay where they were while she walked closer. After a few steps, Astaria put the Light stone away so that everyone in her group behind her was hidden from sight, making it so the onlookers could only see her from the illumination of their torches.
As she got closer, the player that was walking towards her slightly hesitated seeing the blood soaked woman with her hood up. After a moment of hesitation, he continued towards her. As Astaria and the unknown player stopped a few metres apart from each other, the player immediately spoke up first, his voice filled with confidence and a hint of arrogance.
“Stop there, are you the player that is known as the Bloody Maiden? What is your player name? It is not appearing.”
With a tinge of annoyance and disdain in her voice, Astaria retorted, her sharp tone caused the player's eyes to narrow dangerously.
“Who are you to ask me to reveal my identity?
Hearing Astaria’s unfavourable response, the player gripped the hilt of his sword as his brows furrowed deeper.
“I am an officer of the Iron Fist guild. You will obey my instructions. Remove your hood. If not, we shall assume you are the player named Astaria. If you do not hand over the items you recently acquired, we will use force.”
Letting out a malicious laugh, Astaria looked the man directly in the eyes with a gaze holding absolute malice.
“You think some pathetic, low-levelled, egotistical little shit like you has the right to go around demanding players obey you?”
Quickly going to her settings and disabling the options that hid a player's name if 95% of their body was covered, Astaria made her level visible as she continued to speak.
“If you and your lousy group of goons do not get out of my way in the next 10 seconds, I will slaughter every last one of you. And if you ever try something like this again, to myself or any other player, I will have no complaints in spending days slowly chopping off every one of your member's limbs every time you respawn.”
Taking a step back from the malice filled voice laced with disgust and hatred, the player was able to see that Astaria’s name and level had appeared. Unsure of what to do seeing the near unbelievable level of 24, the player decided to stand firm knowing he had the support of his guild and turned around to shout at the players behind him.
“It's Astaria! She is hosti-”