4.
Name: Dave
Race: Human
Class: Classless
Strength 16
Dexterity 16
Endurance 11
Constitution 11
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 11
Luck 16
Natural Affinities: Metallurgy, Language, Draconic
Untyped XP (Classless) 29500 earned
Skills: Concentration Level 3 Amateur
Perception Level 3 Amateur
Sewing Level 2 beginner
Tanning Level 0
Leatherworking Level 0
Blacksmithing Level 10 Amateur
Shipwright Level 3 Amateur
Survival Level 0
Navigation Level 0
YOU HAVE UNSPENT XP!!!
YOU MAY NOW BUY CLASS ABILITIES, POOLS AND POWERS! THESE CLASS FEATURES WILL BECOME AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY*!
*All changes to your body will happen immediately and may be painful.
It turns out that metallurgy is OP for gaining XP in a blacksmith shop. Just doing the little bit of moving things around in there gave me a boost to my Strength and Dexterity, I just cleared some things off the workbench. I was curious, but... fuck sewing. I tried.. really hard... and all that did was improve my perception… I think. I wasn't digging through that. On top of that, if I thought about it too long, someone took that as a queue to drone on about whatever topic incessantly until interrupted. So like a hummingbird I let my mind wonder as we silently walked through the town. It was kind of relaxing.
YOU HAVE LEARNED OF THE SKILL "Meditation"
YOU GAIN 500 EXPERIENCE (Draconic)
Meditation INCREASED TO LEVEL 1 "Dabbler"!
I had eventually turned the notifications back on, once I finally figured out how I had turned them off. It was kind of odd, it was basically the mental equivalent of putting your hands over your ears and humming. There are probably better ways of doing the same thing, but again, I wasn't asking.
As we walked I poured over the vast list of crazy things I would one day be able to do, if I lived long enough and gained enough XP.
The town was honestly way bigger than I had originally thought. There was the fact that the geography of the town it's self was flat. Combined with all of the buildings being two stories tall, with the exception of the manor, made it hard to tell how massive this empty town really was. We also never left Main Street, it apparently ran from the Gates... Which I have not seen.. and the port. How do you leave town? Main Street of course.
I had decided earlier on that I was going to avoid magic, but I really there are multiple ways of using magic.
Once I thought of Qi the list started changing, words dissolving and others sliding up and down. At the very top was 'Qi Pool', bingo!
Qi Pool - Qi is a magical power that is produced and cultivated by any creature (ie. Human, Elf, Goblin, Dog, Spider, etc). The pools size is based off your Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom Stats along with Level. This energy may be ingested or taken in from an external source, and cultivated and purged through various forms of meditation. Qi is aligned with different elements and this affects how it can act. Your natural affinities will determine your Qi type. It can be expressed in many ways. Qi must be replenished and is not absorbed like mana. Either Qi rich foods or specialize medicines are needed.
It kept going it was like I was talking to Garth, blah. So it's like being an anime martial arts character? That sounds awesome, it's basically food powered magic and adept powers. I went back to the list to see how much XP this was going to cost.
Qi Pool - Level 1
Cost
400 XP
So I bought it, I got a wam feeling all over my body. It felt nice, as I was still shirtless and the wind here could cut through to your bones. The next level was only 600 XP. So... each level was one hundred and fifty percent more XP from the previous. Looking more closely I could see... sense.. still no. Imagine? Visualize, sounds good I guess. I could visualize a bar next to the XP, I fiddled with it and it moved. With great confidence I mentally adjusted, what I now recognized as, a slider to buy four more levels. Smug with my new self taught time saver, I confirmed my decision. Suddenly it felt like a fire started in my chest… BURNING!! I stopped walking and it took Xorion a couple step before he noticed, Garth on the other hand zipped right on top of me.
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"Dave, your heart rate is elevated, though this is common when a Qi Pool suddenly grows by four levels at once. It should normaly be accompanied by a pleasant warm sensation across your body" Garth started as if from every where.
"Blah! Get off of me, I am not Pig-Pen." Even though my wife had often called me that. I had the notorious habit of getting every little speck of dirt on me. Garth slowly flowd back to his ordered three feet. My mood fouled again I continued walking, not as quickly, and going over the list.
I quickly buying the pool to level 5 ate a sizable chunk of my XP, but was well worth the price. I also think a two pool set up starting off would be more than slightly advantageous. So I bought Stamina to the same level, one level at a time, for the exact same XP cost of 5275XP. I was beyond relieved that I had decided to err on the side of caution. When I increased my stamina, well it felt as if I had just finished a full body work out, but with none of the exhaustion. Every muscle felt hard like steel, not unpleasantly though. I felt strong, however I think had I tried my 'trick' I would have had a full body cramp.
That done, now came the actual powers and the XP cost increased significantly. Paring the list down to Qi abilities, I started perusing the list. Each one had a type next to it, I assumed that meant the type of Qi needed or best suited to using the power. Some just said any, these were just listed as 'Qi Punch' or 'Qi Kick'. There were other variations of melee attacks and holds as well, others though seemed way more... Well magical. 'Qi Sight' ,for example, could magnify your sight alot, I could presumably see my nearest neighbor off the island with ease. If not for all the pesky clouds. There was the opposite end of that as well, you could use it to see atoms. Those are masters of the ability though, it would at most be binoculars and a magnifying glass for me. Another like this was 'Qi Blade", it took your Qi and forged a blade from it. This was pure poetry though, because all of the forging is done in meditation. Though I did say that its sharpness would increase over time with meditation. But the one that caught my eye was a perfect newb spell, it just happened to be Qi based.
Qi Dart - Forge a sharp and powerful dart made of your Qi. This dart never misses, but can be deflected and does not have enough mass to defeat stronger armors. With each level up the number of darts increases, with a max of ten. These darts deal 1-4 piercing damage.
It's basically 'Magic Missile', I mean it's different but… come on.
But now is time for some classic stamina and these I was way more familiar with, as I is barbarian ugh. I purchased 'Toughness'. Yes, I haven't been in a fight yet and I've already had enough with the pain. I also bought 'Cleave', 'Powerful Blow'... You know the clasics.Things that let you hit multiple targets, or hit them super hard, the best part is that affects all martial attacks. So not 'Qi Dart', but 'Qi Strike'. Then 'Qi Strike' can be applied to a weapon as long as I atune it to my Qi. All for a pile of damage.
Name: Dave
Race: Human
Class: Classless
Strength 16
Dexterity 16
Endurance 11
Constitution 11
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 11
Luck 16
Natural Affinities: Metallurgy, Language, Draconic
Untyped XP (Classless)900 available - 29500 earned
Skills: Concentration Level 3 Amateur
Perception Level 3 Amateur
Sewing Level 2 beginner
Tanning Level 0
Leatherworking Level 0
Blacksmithing Level 10 Amateur
Shipwright Level 3 Amateur
Survival Level 0
Navigation Level 0
Pools: Qi Level 5 120/120
Stamina Level 5 120/120
Mana 1/1
Abilities:
Qi Dart 1-4 piercing 5 darts
Qi Strike 9-17(weapon/body)fire/metal
Qi Blade 13-23 slashing/Fire
Powerful Blow - 10 Stamina x2 damage for one attack, 50 stamina x3 damage for one attack.
Cleave - 5 Stamina for first additional target, 10 Stamina for second, 15 Stamina for the third. Hit multiple targets with one attack, current additional targets max 3.
Toughness - Reduce pain and damage by 25-50%*
*Percentages based of natural affinities, your affinities of Metallurgy and Draconic give you a 50% pain and damage reduction.
With my purchases made I closed my menus, we were still walking. I took a look around, really looking at my surroundings instead of just following the giant Minotaur. It looked like the road opened up abit further down, but otherwise everything was the same. That would change once people moved in, all of the external features of the buildings were missing. Only the most basic of signs were on the buildings, and if I had to guess (which I basically did) they could be changed with a menu. Most shop keepers would probably opt to by a nicer sign though, they were rough wood and looked had carved, I had this gut feeling that these were shoddy. So, I found the menu for the nearest sign for a 'Everything must go!' store. I am in literal hell.
"So it is true, you humans do love these stores?!" Xorion said disbelievingly, " I thought that the others were, were tipping this one."
Yup, apparently there was a god. I spent my whole life thinking that all religions were bogus, and this place proves that a hell exists just for me.
"Don't include me with them, these places sell garbage," I didn't know if it was true, but I don't like these store as it feels like false advertising. If you've been going out of business for ten years, since the day you opened, something is wrong. "I just wanted to look at the sign and see if it has a menu," I said to Xorion. We both looked at Garth briefly, "it looks like it may have had one, but they weren't intended to last this long, unlike the buildings."I quickly continued before Garth could work himself up in to his drone mode.
"Yes, the elders have told this one of the ancient wood and leather structures that once stood outside the buildings." Xorion bowed his head, "these have been taken by time himself and no one can turn his hand." It seemed Xorion had some ghosts of his own, as the normal happy bull hunched over as if physically in pain. We stood as a silent breeze came up the street, it brought the smell of the sea with it.
Orion directed me to some tunnels withsome truly impressive hatches, they looked like they could completely seal the street from the tunnels. The open end stood thirty feet high, and the opening was twenty feet wide. Two giant rams held the massive hatch aloft, they looked like hydraulic rams to me.
"You could drive a semi truck through there no problem," I blurted out.
"This is the entrance to the Loower Port, the High Poort is just further down Main Street. High Ports time is coming, as yoouu are here." Xorion said standing in the mouth of the tunnel that looked like it could slam shut at any second.