[Notice]
[Experience Values Have Reached Threshold For Advancement]
[Congratulations Ember Abiss: Level 2 > Level 3]
[+1 Acuity (Racial) +1 Fortitude (Racial) +3 Free Stat Points]
[Experience Values Have Reached Threshold For Advancement]
[Congratulations Ember Abiss: Level 3 > Level 4]
[+1 Acuity (Racial) +1 Fortitude (Racial) +3 Free Stat Points]
“Two!” Ember shouted before she could catch herself. ‘How in the heck did I end up leveling twice? It doesn’t feel like it’s been long enough for that to happen.’ Ember then slowed her pace to walk side by side with Mary. “Hey…Mary.” She said quietly while she gave Mary’s sleeve a series of energetic and light tugs.
“Yes?” Mary replied with a giggle.
“Have you checked your status or your notifications lately?” Ember asked quizzically.
“Uh… hmmm… I guess I haven’t checked it since the time we all did before the fight at the pond started. Why do you ask?” A smirk formed on her lips while her eyes suddenly grew larger in realization. “You got a level up, didn’t you?”
For a brief moment Mary watched as Ember’s expression froze before cycling through shock, curiosity, and fear before it finally settled on confusion. “How could you tell?” She squeaked. “I… what gave it away?”
Mary covered her mouth before she gave her a small snicker. “Ember, you gave it away. Or at least, your body language did. I figured if you’re that excited after a big fight you either leveled up a skill or leveled up yourself. So, which is it?”
“Oh…” Ember’s face grew red. “I, uh… didn’t know I was that easy to read.”
“Easy to read? Em, you were pulling on my sleeve like a little kid trying to point out something they find cool.” Mary said sarcastically. “Now answer my question, skill or you?”
“Me!” Ember said excitedly. “I got two levels. I haven’t checked my notifications at all ever since we left town and when I pulled them up, I had two level ups! I haven’t even put my points into anything yet.” She laughed. “I’ve been thinking about where I would apply my points since the last time, I passed out from mana exhaustion. I’ve pretty much decided but can I get your opinion?”
“Yeah, what are you thinking?" Mary questioned.
“Well in your opinion is it better to have a massive mana pool or a crazy regen speed?” Ember asked seriously.
“Mana pool.” Mary answered instantly.
“That was… quick.” Ember pointed out.
“Yeah, well, that’s what I focus on myself. The more mana I can spend at once the bigger the spell I can cast.” Mary noted.
“Ah…” Ember sighed. “Thorn said the same thing.”
“That makes sense, most mages are taught to distribute their stats anywhere between one to three and one to five.” Mary told her.
“Oh? One to five seems like a hug discrepancy though.” Ember said curiously. As she pondered on it her eyebrows furrowed, and she scrunched her nose. “If my math is right then they would have to put all their stat points into tenacity for the first seven levels just to get to the base ratio of five acuity to twenty-five tenacity. OH! With five acuity wouldn’t it take almost two days to recover?”
“Almost?” Mary said with a laugh. “That would only work if they didn’t cast a single spell for those two days its actually closer to a full week.”
“A week?!?” Why would it take seven days?” Ember asked indignantly.
“Seven?” Mary questioned.
“Y…yeah?” Ember nervously replied. She then felt Mary grab her shoulder to stop her from walking. She turned her head to look at Mary face to face and was surprised by the expression of concern Mary had.
“We stopping?” Crag shouted back to them.
“No, we’ll catch up just give us a minute!” Mary yelled back.
“Kay! Don’t be long.” Crag replied.
While this discourse was going on Ember just stood there confused as to why Mary stopped her. ‘Did I say something I shouldn’t have? The way Mary looked at me when I said seven days was concerning but are there not seven days in a week?’ Ember pondered.
“Ember.” Mary said abruptly, pulling Ember back out of her own head. “Where are you from?!?” She asked seriously.
“Oh, umm…” Ember started. “I uh…”
Mary leaned closer to Ember and quietly asked, “Are you from a high mana zone?”
“I… No?” Ember answered, honestly unsure.
“An off continent low mana zone?” Mary asked skeptically.
“Technically I think it’s a no mana zone…” Ember answered. “Or planet.” She mumbled.
“No mana?” Mary asked incredulously. “Bullshit.”
“What?!?” Ember asked surprised.
“Mana is everywhere. If there isn’t mana where you’re from are you saying, there are no beasts either?” Mary asked skeptically.
“Yes?” Ember answered sheepishly.
“Baaaaahh!” Mary screamed in frustration. “I’m done.” She turned on the spot and started walking again, this time at a quicker pace to catch up with Crag and Thorn.
“Ugh.” Ember sighed. ‘I’ll just tell all of them that I’m from another planet at the meeting later, I doubt anything bad could come from it. Hopefully…’ She considered as she walked. ‘For all I know one of them might even know someone with the right affinity or skill to send me back home.’ After a short sprint Ember caught back up with the rest of her team and pulled her status up. ‘Well, I might as well be productive on the walk home. Hey, Metatron, status please.’
[Name: Ember Abiss
Title: None
Race: Human
Age: 23
Level: 4
Class: “Locked”
Affinities: Rot, Nature, Void
Lifeforce: 50/50
Mana: 35/90
ki: 43/80
Alacrity: 5
Acuity: 12 (+2)
Vitality: 5
Vigor: 5
Tenacity: 9
Fortitude: 8 (+2)
Free Points: 6
Active Skills: 0/5
Passive Skill: 0/5
Classless Skills:2(3)/5
Rot Aura - lvl 3
Ensnare - lvl 2]
‘Six points to distribute and an open skill slot~’ Ember sang in her head as she did a little walking happy dance. ‘I’m putting most of them into regeneration, but I’ll still round out my tenacity to an even ten. Having a nine stare at me every time I open my stats would drive me bonkers. If I can help it, I’ll keep you even or divisible by five.’ She cooed to her status.
[Name: Ember Abiss
Title: None
Race: Human
Age: 23
Level: 4
Class: “Locked”
Affinities: Rot, Nature, Void
Lifeforce: 50/50
Mana: 35/100
ki: 43/80
Alacrity: 5
Acuity: 17
Vitality: 5
Vigor: 5
Tenacity: 10
Fortitude: 8
Free Points: 0
Active Skills: 0/5
Passive Skill: 0/5
Classless Skills: 2(3)/5
Rot Aura - lvl 3
Ensnare - lvl 2]
“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue. ‘Couldn’t do it this time but at least but at least a seven isn’t as bad as a nine.’ She looked up to make sure she hadn’t fallen behind or missed a turn while she was checking her status. ‘Alright didn’t lose them but I think they slowed down; I don’t remember being this close when I opened my status. Meh. Metatron show me my available skills.’
[Available Skills]
[Void Pocket: user is able to open a small rift to the void, allowing you to store non-living items.] (Void, Storage, Utility)
[Identify: user can pull up basic system information on people plants and items. Information loses accuracy the higher the target’s level is than the user’s.] (Arcane, Nature, System, Utility)
[Corpse Explosion - Cause any corpse you can see up to 100 feet away to explode dealing Damage equal to 10% of the body’s max health when living. Cost 10MP per Point of Vigor the Target had. If anything is killed by the original explosion there is a 2.5% chance for the new corpse to trigger the skill again at no cost to the user.] (Rot, Death, Area)
[New Skill Unlocked]
[Acuity Of 15 Or Higher]
[Killed at least 5x as many enemies as the users Level using a channeled skill]
[Channel mastery - Decrease the cost of channeled skills by 5% increase the maximum distance of channeled skills by 10%.] (Meta, Arcane)
‘Sweet. I unlocked a new skill.’ After reading over the new option and rereading the old options Ember found herself chewing on the inside of her lip torn over the two options that stood out to her the most. ‘Hmm… Dang it. They are both good~’ She whined to herself. ‘I’ve wanted void pocket ever since I read it the first time, but whenever I’ve had the option there was another skill that seemed more useful in actual combat… Bah!’
“Thorn!” She called out.
Thorn turned to see a frustrated yet pensive-looking Ember following closely behind everyone else. “Yes?”
With Thorn’s acknowledgment she started jogging closer to him, so she didn’t have to talk to loud. “Hey. Uh, can I get your opinion on something?” She asked.
“Yes. How may I be of your assistance?” Thorn exaggerated playfully.
Ember snickered at his act before she continued with her thought. “I’m torn between two skills. One of them I’ve wanted since I first saw it, but I never took it because other skills seemed more useful at the time. The other is a new skill I just unlocked after the last fight.”
Thorn gave her a nod to continue.
“Ok so the new one is a skill that will buff my other skills while the other is more of a utility or quality of life skill. Have you heard of channel mastery?” She asked.
Thorns’ eyes flashed surprise for a moment before he could respond to her.
“What?” Ember asked defensively. “Don’t tell me its rare like my aura skill was.”
“No, I wouldn’t call it rare, but it is an uncommon skill. I don’t know of anyone else that has even had it offered to them. If its anything like my mana manipulation skill, then then unlock method was probably focused on only using or having channeled skills or doing something significant with one.” He told her.
“Oh, it was probably the later. The unlock said it was because I killed at least five times my own level in monsters using only channeled skills. So probably all the jellies and jackalopes I accidentally blew up.” She said with a shudder at the memories. “That’s how I got corpse explosion offered to me the last time I leveled up.”
“Holy hells!” Crag blurts out. “You have corpse explosion?!?”
“She what?!?” Mary joins.
“Uh… No… I, uh… you see…” Ember fumbled over her words. “No.” She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. “I don’t have corpse explosion; it was offered to me.” She corrected.
“Ah…” Crag said. “My bad. Misheard ya.”
“Still.” Mary butted in. “How did you get the system to offer you a class skill?!?”
“Uh… well I can’t remember everything my status said was the cause was but the point that stood out to me the most read that I blew up a certain number of corpses on my own without already owning the skill.” Ember informed everyone.
“How did you blow up dead bodies witho… oh.” Mary started to say before she figured out the answer to her question herself. “Like the jellies that you boiled alive earlier. How they popped?” She shuddered at the thought of being drenched by crystal jelly goo.
“Yeah… I hate it.” Ember answered with a frown. “I really like my aura skill, don’t get me wrong, I just wish that the rot damage didn’t release gasses inside the body to quickly.” She joined Mary with a shudder of her own. “If you think the jellies were bad you should be happy you weren’t there when I exploded my first jackalope.”
“Come on… You may hate it, but you have to admit that it was cool blowing stuff up with a non-explosive ability.” Thorn interjected.
“Nope.” Ember said bluntly.
“Eww, I agree with Ember on this one though. That’s a big no from me as well.” Mary agreed.
“Really? Where’s the fun in learning magic that isn’t rare or explosive?” Thorn questioned.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“True, true, who needs healers right?” Mary shot back.
“Sorry… That’s not how I meant it.” He replied.
“Sure.” She said while rolling her eyes.
“Uh...” Ember said after she lifted one hand up to shoulder level like she was asking a question in school. “Sorry to interrupt but… I’m not taking corpse explosion unless I absolutely must, so, can we go back to the two I’m actually debating on?”
“Oh! Sorry.” Mary apologized.
“Right.” Thorn started. “You said one was channel mastery so what is the other one your stuck on?”
“Right so I just unlocked channel mastery and with my best skill being a channeled skill I’m thinking I should just take it now. Like it makes sense to take it, and it improves my damage output too… But I reeeeally want the void pocket skill too.” Ember complained.
“Then just take it dummy.” Mary quipped. “If you don’t like the first skills you pick are then you won’t like your class options or new skill growth options you get down the road either.”
“Right!” Thorn agreed. “Remember what Willow told you about how your skills, thoughts, and personality all vairy and guide your future class and skill options.”
“Yeah, I vaguely remember something like that.” Ember said while she rubbed her chin. “So, what your saying is if I like my skills then I’m more likely to like my future skill options as well?”
“Exactly!” Thorn agreed.
Ember pulled status back up before Thorn could even reply to her last question. ‘Metatron… do it. Give me void pocket!’
[Notice]
[New Classless Skill Selected]
[Skill Void Pocket Has Been Added To Skill List.]
“Sweetness!” Ember exclaimed.
“Huh?” Mary asked.
“Oh, nothing just excited about the unlock.” Ember said while her face glowed. “I’ma try it out really quick.” She then lifted her right hand up in front of her, pointed away from anyone in her group just to be on the safe side. “Void pocket!”
“…”
“Uh… what?” Ember questioned. “Let me try again… Void Pocket!”
“I don’t see anything here.” Thorn said.
“Did you read the updated description?” Mary suggested.
“Ooo, no, I’ll try it.” She replied. ‘Metatron, can I get a detailed description of void pocket?’
[Void Pocket: You have received your own little slice of nothing. You are now able to insert or remove non-living objects into the designated void space. To do so your hand and item must be able to fit through the opening of your chosen pocket facsimile.]
“Ohhh…” Ember said. ‘I think I know how to test it now at least.’ “I’ll be right back guys! Just running over to the closest edge to look for something.” She yelled back as she ran.
She returned about ten minutes later with her hands empty.
“No luck?” Thorn asked.
Ember just gave him a smile in reply.
“Did you find anything or not?” Mary asked with growing anticipation.
“Maybe…” Ember said with a smirk she couldn’t hide if she tried to. “Just this.” She told them as she reached into the pocket in the front of her hoodie and handed a rock to Mary. “And this.” She then pulled a three-foot-long branch out of the same pocket and handed it off to crag. “Oh! This too.” This time she started digging in the little front pocket of her shorts just to pull out the tip of some old worn-out rope. After she pulled around a foot and a half of rope out of her pocket Ember busted out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Mary asked.
“It’s… unreal…” Ember answered between gasps and giggles. “Three feet… three feet of rope… in a… what? Three-inch-deep pocket.”
“I think we’ve lost her.” Crag joked with Thorn. “If she can’t stop laughing like that you might need to carry her home.”
With that comment Thorn’s face grew beat red which caused Mary and Crag to both join in with Ember’s fit of laughter.
“Shut up.” Thorn said before he turned his face away from the rest. “Come on, we are almost back. We should get Zaz to a doctor as soon as we can.”
“Oh yeah, that true. But he was stable enough for us to make a tiny detour.” Mary agreed. “But if it will give you all peace of mind, I’ll check him over again. Crag crouch down or take a knee so I can reach him.”
“Kay.” Crag stooped down to give Mary an easier time reaching Zaz.
Once Zaz was at her level she placed one of her hands on his forehead to check for any sign of a fever. “Oh wow… He’s so cold…”
“Cold?” Thorn asked.
“Yeah, does anyone know if his tribe runs hotter or colder than the average human?” Mary asked.
“I mean… he looks reptilian so I would assume he’s cold blooded.” Ember answered.
“Well, he is pretty cold so I think we should pick up our pace.” Mary agreed.
“Gladly, just keep up.” Crag said. He then readjusted Zaz over his shoulder to ensure he held a tight grip on him. With his hold secure he started off in the direction of town, he was now holding a steady jog not a full out run to drain the mage types but what he assumed to be an easy pace to follow.
…
“Sorry!” Ember pleaded while she burst into the guild hall. She was running late for the team meeting after she lost track of time while she soaked in the tub at Willow’s house. After she entered the guild proper, she shot an apologetic smile and waved to the receptionist behind the main desk for the noise and commotion she caused and then she was finally able to start searching for Thorn, Mary, and Crag.
“Hey guys…” Ember said. “Sorry I’m late. I was in the tub and lost track of time.”
“Understandable.” Mary assured her.
“Zaz!” Ember shouted once the half naga came into her view. “You’re okay!” She cheered. She then took a seat at the table in between Mary and Thorn and made herself comfortable.
“Yes.” Zaz answered solemnly. “I’m sorry for being the cause of our retreat. When I took notice of the mutation standing by the Crown, I thought it pertinent to fall back and inform you all of the new enemy. Unfortunately, the mutation had a projectile ability and a strong enough toxin that I was not able to fight it off while I also attempted to run back. I assume one of you spotted me after I collapsed and carried me back to town.” He bowed his head to the group. “Thank you all.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We are a team and teams look out for one another.” Thorn added.
“Ah yes, and on that note, I would like to bring up the whole reason I wanted us to have this little meeting.” Crag began. “Now even though we did talk about some skills on the walk back home I still think we need to go all in on the skill exchange. Even if you don’t think that your skill is powerful enough on its own it might resonate with one of the rest of our skills. Also Knowing each other’s abilities will help us plan our attacks better.” Crag turned to face Ember. “Ember, I’m bringing you up first because if you had informed us that your area skill did flat damage and not distributed damage we could have sent you up to the front behind me. I would have been able to hold off anything that got to close to you while you would have been able to get closer to the pond and catch more of them at once.”
“Okay so, I had no idea that was how it worked.” Ember replied with a hint of irritation wafting off her words. “I don’t normally go after groups all at once like that. My description doesn’t specify how the damage gets distributed throughout my zone of effect. I’ll read it out verbatim for you. Let me pull it up really quick.” ‘Metatron,’ She thought, ‘skill description for rot aura.’
[Rot Aura - An Aura emitted from the user in a two-meter circumference, when damage threshold\durability of target reaches 10% of maximum the target will begin to rot. Rotting begins from areas of high damage and spreads through undamaged areas. Rot Aura Encourages the natural process of decomposition in any affected materials. Examples: living tissue will decay, metals rust and tarnish, stone corrodes to sand] (Rot, Arcane, Area, Switch)
[Rot Aura Level 4: Passive - 1 point of rot damage per second per 10 mana generated.
Active - 1 point of rot damage per second per mana spent.]
“See? That was word for word. No mention of multiple targets.” Ember said matter-of-factly.
Mary reached her hand over and placed it on Ember’s arm. “Em, don’t take this the wrong way but your kind of terrifying.”
“What?!?” Ember asked, shocked.
“You start rotting things alive… You practically cause necrosis to your non liquid based enemies.” Mary shivered and gagged at the thought of her own skin turning black and sloughing off. “I think what scares me the most is how it’s listed as passive and yet you never told us you could start damaging us or our stuff if we got too close to you while at full mana. What if we had to camp out and we slept too close to you? Would we wake up bloating and boiling from the inside like all of the crystal jellies you popped?”
‘Do I? Oh my God… It is a passive damage dealing skill.’ Ember gulped and reread the skill description again. “I… I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Not as long as I keep myself below my maximum mana reserves, then my skill’s passive effect will be inert.” Then she did a little mental math based off the numbers she already knew. “I don’t think the passive effect is anything to worry about anyways. I did a little math, and I regenerate around twenty mana per hour. So, if I keep myself around half mana, we should all be good. But if I am at max then I’d be pushing about three damage every hour or so.” ‘It said stuff too.’ She thought to herself. ‘Great I’m slowly rotting away my clothes… and Willow’s bed… Willow’s daughter’s bed…’ She stopped herself from continuing down that spiral when she noticed that her mood had dropped, along with her grin.
“So, if I want to sleep peacefully at night I will need to drain off as much of my own mana as I comfortably can, or I could always sleep over two meters away from you.” Ember said, half to inform her friends and half to reassure herself.
“Okay. That sounds simple enough to deal with. We’ll just need to buy sturdier gear.” Crag agreed.
“Sturdier gear?” Mary asked.
“Yeah?” Crag answered confused.
“If I wear anything heavier than defensive robes my body will start dipping into my Ki just to compensate. I would prefer not to get fatigued just walking around town. Thank you.” Mary complained.
“Fair enough.” Crag shrugged. “With how odd Ember’s coat looks she probably has a tailor she uses.”
“Hey!” Ember barked. “Its not odd.” She then proceeded to hug herself. “Its comfy.” She ended with a laugh.
“Still.” Crag chuckled and returned to Mary. “You could ask them if they would be able to make you some new hunting gear.”
“Alright.” She agreed.
Crag nodded then addressed the table again. “Now, if we can get back on track. Ember, you’ve told us about your aura skill, does your root trap have any kind of special wording? Or the new deep pockets skill?” He asked.
“No.” She answered immediately but then paused to think about it. “Wait let me check them too. I’ll just read them out loud.”
[Ensnare Level 2: Send your mana into the ground to have nature spring forth to trap and/or slow your enemies. 9 MP Per 1 square foot of area affected up to 100 square feet. Additional costs based on toughness of the terrain (EX: Soil, clay, stone, ect.) up to an additional 10MP. Highest toughness material currently able to be penetrated: sandstone.] (Nature, Rot, Area)
[Void Pocket: You have received your own little slice of nothing. You are now able to insert or remove non-living objects into the designated void space. To do so your hand and item must be able to fit through the opening of your chosen pocket facsimile. Maximum Volume of 10 Liters.] (Void, Storage, Utility)
“Alright that’s both of the other two.” Ember stated once she finished reading off her skill descriptions. “Any questions?”
Mary lifted her hand into the air. “How much space is in your void pocket skill? I know it says ten liters, but I mean how many physical objects can you put in there not how much liquid it can store.”
“Ah. Well, a trick I used to use back home when I was shopping for new camping packs was to imagine a one liter bottle of water then how many of those I could fit inside. So, for this, ten liters would be the same as saying I can hold ten bottles of water inside.” Ember explained.
“Oh, that actually helped a lot. Thanks.” Mary replied.
“Yep, yep. No problem. Oh, but the weirdest part that wasn’t mentioned in the description is the weird sense I have now that gives me a vague feeling of how full it is. Oh! And… hmm… How do I explain this… you know the feeling of when you’ve had a song stuck in your head all day but you’re also doing something important? Similar to that… I’m not always thinking about what’s inside of my pocket but its right there.” She said while she held her pointer finger and thumb close together. “Like as soon as I’m done talking and before the next person starts my brain will just go like ‘Boop, your holding three feet of old rope. Hey. You have three neat rocks you picked up while on the walk to the guil…d…” Ember started blushing after her slip of the tongue. “You know… like those definitely made-up examples that are in no way what I actually have inside…”
When Ember looked back up, she saw that the whole table was looking at her as if they didn’t believe a word of her defense. The stares ended up causing Ember to blush again and throw her hood up. “Someone else’s turn.”
Crag snorted at Ember’s over reaction but turned to Thorn in order to keep the conversation moving. “And what about you Thorn? I saw Volt and your,” Finger quotes, “Light wall.”
Thorn sat up straighter in his chair and adjusted his collar before he began to speak. “Yes. Like you said you have all seen me use my volt skill and most of you have seen me use my other skill, hard light. My third classless is kind of a rarer skill so before I talk about it, I would like you to agree not to mention it to anyone else.”
“Sure.”
“Yep.”
“Of course.” Answered Crag, Mary, and Zaz respectively.
Thorn took a deep breath and released it slowly before he leaned in closer to the center of the table. “My third skill is mana manipulation.” He then shot a glance at Mary. “And no, I don’t know what you need to do to unlock it. I only know what I had to do which involves my specific set of skills.”
“Okay, Awesome but lame.” Mary said. “I don’t know of a single mage class that wouldn’t benefit from knowing that skill. Lucky.”
Thorn gave a small chuckle before he continued. “Well, in order to keep everything fair ill read out my descriptions too.”
[Hard Light Level 4: Create Physical Manifestations of Light. Cost Based On Volume Of Object Created. 1MP Per Cubic Inch.] (Light, Utility)
[Volt Level 3: Shoot a bolt of electricity at your enemy. 7.5% chance to Stun for 5-10 Sec. 4.5MP Per 1DMG.] (Lightning, Ranged, Debuff)
[Mana Manipulation Level 1: Greatly Increase Your Sensitivity And Control Over Your Own Mana. Increase Maximum Mana By 5% of Base Mana (160).] (Sensory, Meta, Buff)
“Lucky!” Mary complained jokingly.
Thorn started rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “So those are my skills, any questions? Other than how to unlock mana manipulation.”
“Yeah.” Crag said. “I’ve got a question about that light skill. How in the hell did you make a physical manifestation of light actually block an attack? It’s light.”
“Right… you had the same complaint earlier.” Thorn recalled. “Look, don’t think of it like I made a wall of light that blocked an attack.”
“That’s exactly what you did though.” Crag interrupted.
Thorn cleared his throat before he started back up. “As I was explaining… Don’t think of it as a solid wall of light. It is a much better comparison to think of it as a thin sheet of glass. Yes, it can stop or divert an attack but nine times out of ten it shatters after the first impact hits.”
“Oh…” Crag said quietly. “Still doesn’t explain to me how you used a skill that’s meant to create a moving ball of light to follow you in the dark to turn into a flat wa… sheet of light.”
“Yeah, because that’s the third skill at work. If I use mana manipulation, it’s a lot easier to tweak and play around with my skill and its mana patterns.” Thorn explained proudly. “Now, you have made Ember and I describe our skills to the group so it’s only fair that you would volunteer to be next. Right Crag?”
“Yeah, whatever I’ll just read mine out like y’all did. Good?” Crag replied.
This time Thorn, Ember, and Zaz all nodded in affirmation.
[Turtle Up Level 5: Burn Ki to Decrease all blocked damage. 2 Dmg per 1
Ki spent.] (Fortitude, Life, Defensive)
[Shield Bash Level 5: Strike your foe with your shield dealing (Skill level x 2 + Shield’s armor value.) 10 Ki to activate +2 ki Per activation within 1 minute of the previous. Effect stacks, Remove one stack per minute.] (Armor, Fortitude)
[Sturdy Level 3: Increase your Lifeforce regeneration by (skill level + (Fortitude/2))
[Earth Thorns Level 2: Imbue your shield or armor with Mana to grow stone spikes. 20 mana to active 5 Mana per second to maintain. Any physical attack blocked when the skill is active will deal (Skill level + 15% Damage blocked) (Earth, Retaliation, Armor)
Ember tried her best to hold back the laugh she felt when Crag said his first skill was called turtle up. ‘Ha! Turtle up. I love that this world equates tanks with turtles. Cute. Haha… Turtle up.’
“Alright any…” Crag started to say before he was cut off mid-sentence.
“Oh! Question, question, question!” Ember interrupted. “Can you combine your skills? Like what happens if you use shield bash while you have earth thorns activated?” Does one cancel the other or can they stack?”
“Woah, little slower with the questions. Yes, I can combine those two skills, but if I do the thorns only add their skill level to the damage because I’m not technically blocking damage with a strike.”
“That makes sense to me.” Ember agreed while she nodded.
“I’m surprised you got a cross-coverage skill so early on. Are those not typically class skills?” Thorn asked.
“Oh, yeah. My old man assumed I received it due to my life affinity, plus I can take a hit.” Crag said cheerfully.
‘Wow.’ Ember thought to herself. ‘We have Mr. Turtle power, captain laser bolt, and a friendly fungus flinger so far. I wonder what neat skills Mary and Zaz will have.’ “Okay this is fun who’s next?” Ember asked excitedly.
“Huh… Well, I Guess I can be the next to go. I’ll let Mary have a little bit more time before she has to tell us her details.” Zaz Informed as he slid his chair closer to the table. “I will let you know ahead of time that I am not hiding a skill from you all when I only tell you three skills it is because I am unhappy with my current options and have decided to wait until my next level up to change it. I guess I start with the one I unlocked earliest.”
[Metachrosis Level 4: Use Ki to cause your scales to change color to match your environment. Cost increases the farther away the new color is from the original. (Visual color scale with black and white added to each end. Ex. Black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and white.) (Racial, stealth)
[Shadow walk Level 5: Coat yourself in shadow mana. When walking in the shadows your footsteps and presence are both highly obscured. Cost 1 Mana per second] (Shadow, mobility, obfuscation)
[Tracking level 2: You can tell the general direction of your target is located in comparison to where the evidence of their existence was found.] (Nature, perception)
‘So cool!’ Ember fangirled to herself. ‘I wonder if its just chromatophores, or if he has some Iridophores mixed in as too. It would be so pretty if his scales had an iridescent shimmer to them in the light. Well, I guess it could always just be magic mumbo jumbo too.’
Mary let out a sigh when she looked over at Ember only to find the girl lost in thought and staring at Zaz again. She tried to clear her throat at first to snap Ember out of her head, but it was no use. “Ember!” She called out after leaning into her face.
Ember jumped in her chair. “Aaah! What?!?”
“Welcome back.” Mary joked. “You get distracted?” She asked while she raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“What? No! Well, I mean yes, but not how you mean it.” Ember fired out in a flustered fit. “I just got lost in thought wondering if Zaz used chromatophores, Iridophores, or just some magic b.s. to change the color of his scales.”
“Ah. Well to answer your question in the simplest manner you can just think of it as some sort of magic bull shit.” Zaz said while he let out an odd hissing laugh. “And as for the fourth skill I haven’t chosen yet, I’m waiting in hopes of an offensive skill. As you can see none of my skill are combat related.”
“True.” Mary agreed. “If you focus on getting kills from stealth I’m sure you’ll unlock an ambush type skill soon enough.”
“True, that is my current attack method.” Zaz agreed. “And with that I do believe it is now your turn Mary.”
“Yeah… so on the same note as Thorn earlier. Please don’t tell anyone what your about to find out? But I have two exceedingly rare skills.” Mary points out. “I… well I guess I’ll just say them too.”
[Life sight Level 3: While channeling mana through your eyes you are able to sense the general lifeforce of those within your line of sight. Cost 3 Mana per second.] (Life, Perception, light)
[Alleviate Level 2: Temporarily remove pain and discomfort from minor ailments. 30 mana per minute cast at once.] (Life, Touch, Comfort)
[Forced Healing Level 4: Bypass the magical defenses of your target to drain their highest resource pool in a 2 to 1 ratio. For every 2 Mana you spend casting you will draw 1 Mana/Ki from your target. Healing is 1 to 1 (Resource to Lifeforce)] (Life, Leech, Healing)
“Forced what now?!?” Ember exclaimed. “That sounds horrible. I assume it’s called forced due to the bypass effect?”
“I believe so. But your passive rot is still scarier if you ask me.” Mary answered.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you but now that I know the ins and outs of all of our abilities, I’m already getting some ideas on how we can finish the jelly job on the next attempt.” Crag declared cheerily.
“I agree.” Zaz added. “I have a few ideas I’d like to think about, and I will run them by you all in tomorrow.”
“Sounds good to me.” Crag and Thorn called out in stereo.
“As long as we aren’t going to be going out again first thing in the morning. I’m fine with that.” Mary interjected. “I’m going to follow through with your idea Crag and I’ll visit go see Tila in the morning to see about getting an outfit custom tailored.”
“Buy armor, not more dresses and robes.” Crag complained. “You have enough of those already.”
Mary stood up and puffed out her chest defiantly. “I’ll never have enough dresses; I need one for each occasion. That includes hunting.”
“Whatever. Let’s head back home I’m getting a bit peckish and I’d prefer to eat the food we already bought.” Crag told Mary.
“Yeah, plus mom will probably want my help cooking again tonight.” Mary complained.
“Well I believe this is farewell for the evening. If you’ll excuse me as well.” Zaz said before he also started to get his stuff together to go.
‘Darn it, now I’m going to be thinking up strategies all night. Oo, maybe not… I can just dump my mana into my aura outside before I climb into bed. If I drain enough, it’ll knock me out too.’ Ember thought to herself while laughing to herself as well. “Yeah, Y’all have a goodnight aight? I’m going to go dump my mana so its safe to sleep…” With that over Ember stood to give Mary a hug before she too left. On her walk home to Willow’s that one thought of passively rotting people kept creeping back into her mind. ‘I’m going to be paranoid about this for weeks.’