Ivy fidgeted, glancing once more at the timer on her [oracle] skill, immediately regretting it as only a few more seconds had ticked by. She’d been trying to distract herself for hours. All pretence of being more hands-off suspended. She stopped working on traps after balancing a bucket of oil on the door of one of the houses, she’d decide later if it was too cartoony. It turned out armour was important for skeletons, not just for protection but for weight. They were trying to keep everything as lean as possible, so most creatures only had a single piece and while helmets would be the pick for zombies, skeletons got breastplates. She even kept them open at the back in an effort to keep the mana cost down. The priority had to be numbers. Spears were an easy choice for melee weapons, particularly as they could also be thrown, though Evelyn wasn’t sure if she wanted to put that idea in their relatively empty heads. A different simple ranged option was harder. They’d absorbed a heavy crossbow and Ivy loved the idea of an arbalest but the cost seemed high, particularly when they had to make all the bolts. Evelyn found the obvious solution, slings. In retrospect it seemed like Evelyn had a real appreciation for the effects of stones flung through the air on the body. Ivy wondered if she’d wanted to be an earth mage at some point.
Ivy paced and twitched as Evelyn looked on, the tapping finger of her folded arms the only indication of her own impatience. The poor woman had her own questions she wanted answers to, and today they were going to get answers. Damn the consequences.
Ivy sighed and it felt like one of many weights had just dropped off her body. How was she even this tense when she didn’t have a proper body? Evelyn had been trying to distract her and seeing the furrowed brows on the woman’s face it would seem she could use the same courtesy.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time in the core room; did you find anything interesting?”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow, clearly seeing the attempt for what it was, but the soft smile on her face told Ivy she appreciated the thought.
“It will be difficult to know the efficacy of the boon without delvers reaching much further than I am comfortable with, however I have begun to spread bones throughout the room which will be useful for the Lich regardless. The lich itself is peculiar,” she weighed each word carefully as was her habit but as she slowed to speak of the lich the movements of her tongue became so deliberate with such a pensive look that it seemed to Ivy she was almost tasting each word as it emerged, determining if it was quite fitting. “It bears an uncanny resemblance to myself, as well as my former skills. Given the reasoning for why that particular guardian was proffered-”
Ivy gasped, “It’s your old body!”
“Yes, that is my assumption. However, that is not nearly the most notable aspect…” Ivy’s jaw dropped, Evelyn’s nonchalance turning to excitement, “It knows more than eight skills!” Ivy’s befuddlement must have shown on her face as Evelyn pressed, “More than eight skills Ivy! A lot more! It seems to know every skill the dungeon has absorbed possible for it to learn as well as the skills it had in life!”
Ivy raised her hands, feeling bad she didn’t quite get Evelyn’s excitement, or her dispassion for the animation of what must essentially be her corpse. Maybe that was a necromancer thing?
“That sounds… useful? I don’t mean to throw cold water but do you really get that much more value from a ninth or tenth skill past the initial eight? Particularly when the skills we’ve got are for a range of fighting styles that don’t necessarily gel that well?”
“Of course!” Flushing, Evelyn cleared her throat and composed herself before explaining, “Sorry, I still often forget you have the perspective of a different world. Let me attempt to give some context. Firstly, until now my understanding was nothing could have more than eight skills, regardless of monster or person, level 1 or 99. Perhaps those who have destroyed dungeons in the past were aware of this fact, but for the average person a ninth skill is a childish dream that crumbles to reality. You’ve mentioned that you don’t have classes and skills in your world, here they are a part of growing up. Choosing and earning the right skills are vital to finding your niche in society. One must have or quickly acquire the skills to fulfil their job as otherwise they won’t have the job long. People don’t truly consider someone to have the profession unless they have the class. Without it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to acquire the correct skills. By the same token, people can’t see classes but they can see the effects of skills. Which is why I was able to pass as a mortician for so long, skills for corpse preparation overlapping enough to allay suspicions. If I didn’t have those skills I would have quickly lost business and likely had to change professions, which would have required earning an entirely different class.”
“But surely if people’s issue was you not having the skills or class, as long as you earn them eventually things would be fine? It’s gotta be easier to keep going at what you’re passionate about or have experience in than to change to an entirely different field?”
Evelyn gave a pitying smile, “Unfortunately once you’ve lost people’s confidence it’s very hard to re-earn it, and the reputation of not being a ‘proper’ member of a profession, or simply a very poor one, tends to linger. Thus, it is important to have the skills for your profession so people have confidence in your work. However, work is not all there is to life. Skills like [cooking], [cleaning] and [haggling] can all be useful regardless of your profession. I’m told the former is particularly useful for those seeking a spouse, though many also pick up a skill like [flirting] if that’s a priority, albeit that can be seen as a sign of desperation. It’s not uncommon to have some sort of skill for self-defence, possibly by taking a skill that can pull double duty in some fashion, like a knife skill that also helps with cooking or their profession. Skills with broader effects tend to be less powerful than those that are more niche, but as I’ve hopefully illustrated, there are many pressures upon your skill slots for professional, social, and quality-of-life reasons. Even just being able to have room for a single additional skill like [hauling] would be something people would kill for, much less being able to use almost all the skills the dungeon has absorbed.”
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“Okay, I can follow the logic; people do a lot of things day to day, and if they could have skills for everything, they would. Even a professional fighter isn’t going to just have combat skills, but a dungeon creature doesn’t have to worry about that. How much does having [jab] or [slice] help a spellcaster? Does [power shot] work with spells?”
“While none of these things might be my first choice, having more tricks is never bad. More than one mage has survived because they carried a knife, and skills can only aid that. I will concede that ranged weapon skills don’t work with the vast majority of spells, however, the niche combinations where someone has managed to combine them are often potent enough to propel those individuals to great heights.”
“I was wondering why you were spending so much time with the lich! You were testing a bunch of combinations, weren’t you?”
“Naturally.” Evelyn’s grin was smug. “Of course, I also had to get used to using other affinities. Those beastkin had some interesting skills.”
Abruptly a shiver ran down Ivy’s spine and Evelyn tensed, the lighthearted atmosphere vanishing like the calm before a storm.
“You’re going to need all the tricks you can get; an attack is coming.” Div’s voice was sombre as he appeared beside them. It felt like he’d been there for some time but they simply hadn’t noticed.
“We’ve dealt with delvers before what makes this different?” Ivy was no fool, there had to be something to make him act like this.
“You’ve dealt with delvers before, many of whom had no desire to destroy the dungeon. This, dear Ivy, is a true assault; with The Warrior’s scum sacrificing their worthless lives to destroy this place.” Div’s gaze seemed to have physical weight for a moment, but it faded as he took a steadying breath. “The rat that escaped is with them, and is far from their most dangerous combatant. You have mere hours before the assault.”
It was a lot to take in but one key fact stormed to the forefront of Ivy’s considerations; the bastard was about to leave.
“Hold it! We’re not done yet!”
He raised an eyebrow seeing her outstretched arms, unconsciously considering grabbing him. It probably wouldn’t stop him; she guessed now the consideration was conscious.
“You have a lot of work to do, I suggest you prepare what you can. What information do you lack that you deem so critical?”
“I can think of plenty of things like a breakdown of affinities and abilities, but never mind that for now, I want my memories and emotions back!” she demanded in a breathless rush.
“Are you trying to die?” He shook his head. “No.”
“What do you mean no!”
“She has a right to - ”
“Think you fools! You’re about to be attacked in a matter of hours. You need to be at your best! And even then...” He shook his head, “You don’t have time right now to reintegrate your emotions and memories. We don’t have time to go through all their skills-”
“Right now.” Ivy cut in, “You said ‘right now’. If we survive this I want your solemn vow you’ll return them after.” Seeing he was about to disagree she cut him off, “You must have some stake in our success, you don’t seem like the type not to have an angle. I’ll be able to focus better if I no longer need to worry about this.”
“Very well.” He looked sour.
She didn’t give him a beat, “And I’m sure Evelyn has a number of burning questions about the gods that could distract her. You’ll answer all her-”
“Enough.” The word knocked her off her feet, “Your boldness has a certain charm but I am no petty–“
“Restrain yourself!” They were suddenly amid a field of bones rattling ominously, Evelyn was recognisable but only barely, skin pulled tight over bone, papery and pale; regal nose now recessed; dark hair radiating an eerie silvery aura.
Unruffled, Div rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Let’s save the defiance for the invaders, shall we? I see you’ve had the good sense to hide your core, though I suppose for a lich that should be expected. The most dangerous delver will have fire and destruction affinities. You have an edge against the death and poison but don’t underestimate them.” He paused, “Hold out for as long as you can, hopefully seeds you’ve planted will bear fruit. I doubt you need more motivation, but your survival means more than you know.”
Before they could say anything else he vanished.
----------------------------------------
Div sighed.
“You handled that with more patience than I expected.” Pamyel’s tone was kind, yet as always her words were scouring by her very nature. “Their lack of respect is surprising. Don’t they understand the gap in ability?”
Despite the gravity of the situation Div couldn’t help but chuckle, she really couldn’t see her own hypocrisy.
“Of course they don’t. They don’t understand what it means to be a god. Besides I recall a young half elf vowing to cleanse the world of me when they weren’t much more powerful.”
“That was an entirely different situation.” The burnish of her golden cheeks told a different story.
Still, he wasn’t about to push his luck, “You have the quest ready for your priestess?”
“Yes, but even this much is going to be a significant cost. Her offerings helped, but until regular delves past that ‘Twrch’ begin I won’t be able to intervene further.”
“If Evelyn survives they will.”
“You really think they have a chance? We’ve invested a lot, speaking to them before the oracle skill, bringing Gabrielle here, everything you did for Ivy, but should we be cutting our losses?”
“They can do it.” Div said with certainty he didn’t feel, “They just can’t do it alone.”