Chapter 46: Learning to be Discerning
Verity smiled at the [Class] name. She’d managed to get a Hidden-Grade [Class]? That was everything she could’ve hoped for!
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-Displaying [Class]:
-Name: Stellar Healer
-Tier: Basic
-Grade: Hidden
-Description: A new path on an old route. Healing is an art, a calling, and a dream. Heal, for it is your meaning. Heal, for you are nothing without it.
-Level Rewards: 150HP, 4 INT, 4 WIS, 2 PER, 2 VIT, 1 CON, 1 CHA
-Admin Interrupt.
-Notice: Your [Affinity] changes have been finalized and applied.
-[Fire] 6 -> 5
-[Wind] 6 -> 5
-[Earth] 4 -> 5
-[Holy] 5 -> 7
-[Profane] 5->4
-[Purity] 5 -> 7
-[Corruption] 5->4
-[Life] 5 -> 7
-[Death] 4-> 3
-Admin interrupt removed.
-Loading…
-Opening [Class Skill] selection.
-Displaying [Class Skill] selection:
-Low: [Lesser Undead Purification], [Knock-back Barrier], [Detoxify]
-Mid: [Bless], [Damage Reduction], [Enhanced Recovery]
-High: [Divine Might], [Recursive Purity], [Infused Life]
-Please select up to <4> [Skills]
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Verity had been drilled on the [Skill] selection for over half an hour by Crimson earlier, so she could only give a chagrined smile at her past self who had chosen things that ‘sounded good’ at the time. Her [Class] had been Mid-Grade, so she’d been able to choose 2 [Skills] from a selection of 6. This time, being able to choose a bounty of 4 from 9 felt like eating too much good food.
One of the things she’d been grilled on was to look for patterns in how the [Skills] were arranged, so she started by opening and reading the description for each [Skill], one by one.
The first column of [Skills] were all ones that would be associated with a [Priest], the second a [Sanctor], and the third [Druid]. She’d decided that [Life] would be her primary attribute for [Healing], so she’d need to pay careful attention to the last column.
The first row, all the Low-Grade [Skills] were very basic spells, she already knew [Detoxify], though not as a [Skill], but a [Spell]. The Mid-Grade [Skills] were all also active [Skills], but the High-Grade were passive [Skills].
There was some logic to it, but mostly on gut instinct she threw away all the Low-Grade [Skills]. She had Crimson, she could get them as [Skills] later - so it would be better to not waste a selection here.
That left the Mid and High-Grade [Skills].
It was a tough decision, no matter how she sliced it. The Mid-Grade [Skills] all leaned into secondary aspects of the original three [Classes], they all focused on enhancements of some kind. She cared the least about [Holy], but this version of the [Bless Skill] did exactly what she wanted from that part of her [Class].
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-Name: [Bless]
-Description: Call upon the might of the Gods to enhance the damage of a weapon for 3 minutes. Additional MP can be used to increase the enhancement at the cost of duration or the duration can be increased by sacrificing the bonus. +1-3 attack.
-Cost: 50~150MP
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She didn’t care about the offensive nature of [Holy], that was more suitable for [Paladins] in any case, but this, the ability to provide enhancements? Exactly what she wanted from it. Unfortunately, it was only after talking to Crimson after he got back that she realized that she might’ve made a mistake in learning [Rejection] over something more relevant, but he had just encouraged her to finish it over pivoting, so here she was, grateful the gods hadn’t given her [Divine Smite] as an option.
Though her choice would be a bit easier if it had been included.
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-Name: [Damage Reduction]
-Description: Grant an ally the ability to resist damage by rejecting the corrupted state of damage for 3 minutes. Additional MP can be used to increase the reduction at the cost of duration and vice versa. Reduces Damage taken by 5-15%, failure occurs if the damage dealt would exceed 10% of the ally’s max HP in a single blow.
-Cost: 50~150MP
-Name: [Enhanced Recovery]
-Description: Use the might of your life to grant allies an increased recovery rate for 3 minutes. Additional MP can be used to increase the recover rate further at the cost of duration and vice versa. Natural Regeneration increases by 5-15%. Naturally occurring conditions like Exhaustion will not impede regen.
-Cost:
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Gods curse it all, they were all perfect, and to say nothing of the High-Grade [Skills]!
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-Name: [Divine Might]
-Description: The effect of all [Holy Affinity] [Spells] and [Skills] increase by 1%.
-Name: [Recursive Purity]
-Description: The effect of all [Purity Affinity] [Spells] and [Skills] increase by 1%.
-Name: [Infused Life]
-Description: The effect of all [Life Affinity] [Spells] and [Skills] increase by 1%.
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Incredibly simple, yet incredibly powerful. She had to pick all three. The 1% wasn’t much now, but even if it went up by 0.1% per level it would be worth it. These were the kinds of [Skills] that would act as a foundation that would only pay off more the longer she had them. She might have other avenues to learn the other [Skills], but she had no idea how she might learn these ones on her own.
She quickly selected all three of the High-Grade [Skills], which meant that she was forced to revisit the tough decision of the last [Skill]. Crimson had given her the details about the deal with the gods, so she knew why she could choose a fourth [Skill] and why she was getting more stats than she should, but the additional choice was giving her a headache.
She slightly missed how flippantly she’d chosen [Skills] the first time around. She’d grabbed whatever seemed good, then had went with friends to try alcohol for the ‘first’ time. Her mother wasn’t much of a drinker, but she’d snuck wine and beer from her friend’s parents. She’d drunk herself under the table quickly, not understanding her limits.
It had been a lot of fun.
However, she now had to deal with Crimson. He had already informed her that no decision she could make here would be a mistake, but that some decisions were better than others. He’d been trying to tell her not to stress over the choice, but she understood what he actually meant was, “I’ll train you till you’re strong enough for my tastes.”
If she chose poorly here, she might be thrown into a nasty training regimen, one she could only curse herself for agreeing to participate in.
One of the pieces of advice Crimson had given her about tough decisions like this one was to break the [Skills] down, piece by piece, and inspect not only what they were, but what she thought they could become.
After glaring at the selection for a few minutes, she carefully set aside [Bless]. It was very good, exactly matched her desires, but it wasn’t what she needed. Her role was more so Healing and Recovery. She would definitely pick this [Skill] up later, but for now, it was important to keep to her priorities.
Considering the priority she’d given to [Life], that meant that she should chose [Enhanced Recovery], but…the natural recovery rate wasn’t very good. Even with the bonus, she couldn’t be sure it would be very good. A [Minor Regeneration] spell would be superior in every situation she could think of.
[Damage Reduction] was great too, but there was a glaring issue: ‘failure occurs if the damage dealt would exceed 10% of the ally’s max HP in a single blow.’ In other words, useless against bosses. Blows like that were common, so this would be useful more for crowd battles. It would excel in those situations, and it’s not like every hit from a boss was guaranteed to exceed 10% of a target’s HP in one hit. It might work very well on a defensive [Class].
She glared at them more, swore a couple times, then selected [Damage Reduction]. She could strengthen it to get rid of the 10% limitation! However…her finger hesitated over the confirm button. She slowly retracted it and unselected [Damage Reduction]. She hadn’t decided to change her mind, but her uncertainty overruled her impulsiveness.
Crimson had told her that he would leave the choice entirely to her, and not weigh in at all, but she needed the second opinion, so she grabbed him.
They both sat down on the ground across from each other, and he listened quietly as she described what choice she was battling. She elected to keep the three High-Grade [Skills] secret from him. It would be a fun surprise in a little bit, and they weren’t [Skills] that she needed any input on from him. She had made the decision, and she wasn’t going to change it. He’d likely have made the same decision in her position, but she could never be certain. He frequently did things that defied logic.
Once she finished describing the Mid-Grade [Skills] to him, she paused for a breath, then continued, “I decided not to get [Bless] because it is the least useful of the three for what I need right now. I need to get my [Class] firmly defined, and since I want to use [Life] as my primary attribute, I should probably pick [Enhanced Recovery]. It isn’t very good, but it’ll help define my [Class] and it could get good enough to be useful. I think [Damage Reduction] is the best one, even though it can fail, it still provides a benefit that will be useful in a lot of situations and maybe I can get rid of the failure point, or I could learn other [Skills] to help it.”
After a moment of thought, he said, “Tell me what that last part of [Enhanced Recovery] said again.”
“Naturally occurring conditions like Exhaustion will not impede regen,” she quoted, feeling a little confused why he would focus on that detail.
He stared at her quietly for a long moment, she knew to brace herself for the eye contact, and accepted it willingly to see what kind of emotions were floating around in his eyes.
She even flicked on [Aura Viewing] to see if it told her anything different, but of course it didn’t, so she shut it off to save the MP. He was already an open book, she could practically read his mind when he openly made eye contact with her like this.
There was interest, that was the most dominant emotion, but it was only obvious that he would be feeling that way in this moment. [Skills] fascinated Crimson, he thought about them more than anyone she’d ever met. Constantly analyzing, experimenting, dissecting, and never letting up.
The secondary emotion was caution. He had firmly impressed upon her how much he didn’t want to sway her choices here. It was her [Class], and her decision. What did it matter if he thought he knew better? They were two different people.
He eventually spoke again, “How valuable do you think that feature of [Enhanced Recovery] is?”
Verity responded immediately, “Not very, especially not for this kind of MP cost.”
“Did you go into every fight well rested and in optimal condition?”
“Every fight that I could.”
“Who is your party leader?”
Verity hesitated. She could see a future where Crimson picked a fight with a boss after forcing the entire party to exhaust themselves, but even then, a simple healing spell would almost always be a more effective and efficient option. She could image a very specific set of situations where it would be better, but they were too specific.
“Let me ask about the other [Skill] then. How easy do you think it will be to remove the condition that causes it to fail? How quickly will you be able to at least lighten it?”
She had no idea, there was no way to know, so she shook her head in response.
“You are-“ Crimson cut himself off, clearly not offering advice was difficult for him.
“Let me ask this then,” he said, changing tactics. “Between removing the condition that causes [Damage Reduction] to fail, and the potential paths that [Natural Regeneration] could take, which do you think is more valuable to have? Bear in mind, we will eventually get you both since you care a lot about them both.”
She wanted to pick [Damage Reduction], but the point he was guiding her to reach was that picking up [Enhanced Recovery] now would let her start getting it to the point that it would be useful sooner. It might not necessarily be one she would seek out later, but she was guaranteed to go after [Damage Reduction] and [Bless]. It wasn’t a completely useless [Skill], none were, but Crimson seemed willing to bet on what it could become over what it was.
With a sigh, she realized that this line of logic was similar to the one she used to praise how good the three High-Grade [Skills] were. They weren’t very good now, but with time they could become truly monstrous. Crimson was essentially making that argument, though indirectly.
Reluctantly, she chose to believe in Crimson, who was trying his best to not lead her, but doing a very poor job. He only wanted her to be as strong as she could be, he would never intentionally steer her wrong on this. It was also a really good idea to define her [Class] early, so those advantages helped tip the scales for her.
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-Selected: [Enhanced Recovery], [Divine Might], [Recursive Purity], [Infused Life]
-Confirm selection?
-y
-Confirmed.
-Skill: [Enhanced Recovery] as been acquired.
-Skill: [Divine Might] as been acquired.
-Skill: [Recursive Purity] as been acquired.
-Skill: [Infused Life] as been acquired.
-[Class Skill] selection is complete.
-[Title] slot has been granted.
-Title: [Healer of the Neglected Path] acquired.
-Title: [Trinity Healer] acquired.
-It has been determined that a [Rizvim] is necessary.
-The Administrators confer.
-[Glast]: [Skills] you once knew are now impossible to learn. Does not apply retroactively.
-Admin: You have committed to a new path. This should not be a problem so long as you remain committed. It was the lightest [Rizvim] that we could apply to you.
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Verity quietly looked at the result for a long moment, then opened her status page.
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Name: Verity
Race: Elf -Age: 46
Affiliation: [Adventurer’s Guild: Black Gold (Bronze)]
Active Title: [Medic] [Healer of the Neglected Path] [Blessings of Trans’Du’Niir] [Glast]
Titles: Capricious, Haunted, Medic, Healer of the Neglected Path, Trinity Healer
Health (HP): 100/100 Regen/s: 1.5
Magic (MP): 160/160 Regen/s: 1.5
Condition: Good
Class: [Stellar Healer]
Sub-Class: [Locked]
Sub-Class: [Locked]
-Status:
Strength (STR): 14 Agility (AGI): 11
Constitution (CON): 11 Vitality (VIT): 15
Intelligence (INT): 16 Wisdom (WIS): 15
Perception (PER): 9 Willpower (WIL): 16
Charisma (CHA): 14 Luck (LUC): 60
Affinities
Elemental
Fire: 5 Water: 5
Earth: 5 Wind: 5
Lightning: 5 Metal: 5
Magma: 5 Ice: 5
Dynamic
Holy: 7 Profane: 4
Purity: 7 Corruption: 4
Life: 7 Death: 3
Mana: 5 Void: 5
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It looked so alien to her, but it was the new her, the new path she’d take. The abyss could take that [Rizvim] for all she cared. She would not deviate.