Everyone leveled. Some more than once. And the abilities we got were, for the most part, fun. Some were more “useful” than fun, but that’s the nature of passive powerups, often, like Ace’s new ability.
> Sticks and Stones (passive)(x)
>
> (requires Wooden Golems or Stone Golems) Your wooden and stone golems are tougher, stronger, and more likely to break bones (that is, do higher damage). The damage resistance of wooden golems increases by 5% (double for stone golems) and the damage of your stone golems’ basic attacks increases by 5% (double for wood golems). Higher tiers of this ability increase these percentages. At extremely high tiers of this ability, additionally grant increased movement speed and special attack damage to these golems.
It might have been nice for Ace to have chosen an active ability or one that allowed summoning another golem, but boosting their stats across the board was a solid improvement. The development point went into Golemic Role Assignments, letting Ace assign a role to their golems.
“It only had basic roles so far, Ka’Moni,” Ace apologized, “so I didn’t get to choose Cheerleader for my golems yet.”
“What did you take?”
“Scout. Any golems in a scouting role move quicker and have a basic ranged attack. Pulls will be much easier.”
I didn’t get a new development point at level two to tier anything up, but my three ability choices were all good. It was one of the tougher decisions I’ve ever had to make.
> Strength in Numbers, Unity in Faith (passive) (x)
>
> (requires Divine Conduit) Whether leading an adventure or leading a service, a High Priestess draws strength from her laity just as they draw strength from her. All members of organizations you lead (guilds, churches/temples, adventuring parties, etc) gain an increase of 1% (per tier of this ability) to the displayed numerical percentage of their stats. This can raise the effective tier of the ability beyond normal caps. At high tiers of this ability, double-dipping provides a fractional increase. Additionally, increase your base MP by 1 per unique member of all organizations you lead (no double dipping). This bonus applies before any other modification to MP.
> Fairy Flower Magic (3)
>
> (requires Liall’alana, Chinookan Pacifica variant, Siraen variant) Glades and Gardens, the Liall’alana are caretakers of nature’s blossoming glory, whether wyld or cultivated. This ability grants the fairy access to powerful phytomedicinal effects whether through alchemy or spellcraft. Sometimes, the difference between a toxin and cure is only the dose and application.
> Radiant Beacon (3)
>
> (requires Spirit of Daybreak Gleaming) Greater Spirits of the Wyld are more than merely ornamental companions, and while hoof and horn can serve as weapons, at times these Spirits may make use of potent abilities from Beyond the material world. This ability grants special actions that Daybreak Gleaming may be directed to use.
While I wasn’t that big into crafting, I’ve always dabbled, and alchemy was always much more interesting than making a sword or fancy arrow. Healing potions, antidotes, and who knows what else could await in Fairy Flower Magic. But it also said spellcraft, so perhaps the ability would grant new spells or modifiers to existing spell, making use of those phytomedicinal effects.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Daybreak Gleaming was already amazing, and making her better would have otherwise been a no-brainer under most any other circumstance. Since she was a unicorn, I had to imagine that Radiant Beacon would allow her to heal and cure poisons and disease, much like unicorns in the stories. And what healer doesn’t want to expand their repertoire?
But then there was also the first one. It might not be immediately amazing since I didn’t actually lead anything yet – except this current group – but having additional base MP which would then become Faith Points as the church eventually was founded and grew would be very useful. Even with just this group of 7 others, that would give me, what, almost 10 extra FP?
It would commit me to tiering up the ability as much as I could, though, since a mere 1% boost wouldn’t be all that significant unless it took someone from 99% in one stat to a 0% in the next highest tier. But ignoring normal caps meant that it could, in time, let people I led reach Legendary status, something not normally achievable, as we had discussed with Jazmyn’s ability the first time she leveled.
And … all three of the abilities had to be extremely rare. It wasn’t likely that I’d ever see them again in the random selections as I leveled up. One required my particular weapon, the Spirit of Daybreak Gleaming, though I had to assume it would have been a slightly different variant for those with a different companion spirit. Another required my Ultra-Super-Rare-Plus race as well being the variant for both my server and goddess. And the first referenced a High Priestess, which was a unique proto-class. There could be other High Priests or Priestesses, just not for the same deity.
It was like getting a choice of three different uniques, knowing that selecting one meant forsaking the others. Well that might very well be what it was, not what it was like ….
Naturally, the group was divided on their advice. Ette and Nona, being crafters, both were in favor of me getting access to some alchemy from Fairy Flower Magic. And, truth be told, it felt like that would have the most utility as well as a good synergy with my role as a healer. After all, we weren’t always going to be grouped together – look at yesterday for example! – and providing my friends and community with healing potions would be a good way to ensure that I could still heal them, if indirectly, when we were apart.
Unless that bit about “toxin and cure” meant I’d be gaining damaging effects instead.
Ace and Jenna, perhaps naturally, were quite keen on making my unicorn even more special. Unicorns were healers, right? And as a companion to a healer, Daybreak Gleaming could be a very effective secondary healer, keeping everyone topped up after splash damage, helping the off-tank deal with adds, and keeping me healed after retribution while I focused on the core healing for the group. If I was going to be leading the group like this more often, having Daybreak Gleaming take over the secondary healing would allow me to spend more of my focus on situational awareness and leadership.
But if I was going to be leading the group, wouldn’t it be better to have the ability that made everyone better while I led them? Granted, it wouldn’t do a whole lot for them at first unless someone was at 99% in a stat, but over time as we leveled up and I developed the ability, it could make a significant difference. There were just two problems with it. First, it would require that I spend a lot of development points on it to provide a meaningful bonus. I’d want, what? Ten to twenty upgrades for it? And any development spent there was not spent on increasing my core abilities as a healer.
And, as a secondary concern, that really would push me into being my group’s leader. Moreover, the text mentioned guilds. And while that was definitely putting the cart before the horse since we hadn’t even looked up how to start one, I’d almost certainly end up as the nominal leader of the guild due to that ability, right?
Naturally, Mikachu, who had suggested I lead the group today, was in favor of the ability. As was Noa, the tactician. Leaving the group evenly divided, two in favor of each of the three abilities.
“Ka’Moni? What do you think?” As a cheerleader, teamwork was very much her shtick, so I expected her to side with Noa and Mikachu, but she surprised me somewhat.
“Hmm? I think you should follow your heart on this one. They all sound very good and very special, perfect for someone who is very good and very special ….”
A chorus of “Awwww”s and a lone “get a room you two” from Jazmyn interrupted her.
But Ka’moni continued on, “...and I think you’d be happy with any of the three, right? But you’re maybe looking at it wrong, thinking too hard, trying to analyze it. Don’t go with your head, Rie, go with your heart.”