As we crossed the threshold of the town, a pop-up notification appeared in my peripheral.
NEW QUEST: Adventure awaits!
Welcome to the realm of Aterios! Here you will find all manner of monsters and beasts, kill 10 of any of these.
REWARD: 100xp and 10 gold
We all got the quest at the same time, and smiles spread across our faces, “So it begins, ladies and gents.” I said excitedly. Everyone chuckled, and we continued walking down the road, after about ten minutes we veered off the road into the woods to start looking for any monsters or beasts to kill. Leo was picking up random herbs and other plants that we noted from the book as we passed them, while Max was collecting some rocks and twigs for the weapons that he and I could craft.
We stopped after gathering enough materials to make some crude weapons to get us by. Before beginning our work, we found a nearby creek and decided to fill our water skins. The water was clear, but we knew better than to drink it without purifying it first. We used the method that my father had taught me when I was young, boiling the water over a small fire we built from gathered wood in the pot that was provided from what I could only guess was from cooking. Once cooled, the purified water was safely stored in our skins, ensuring we had enough for the tasks ahead.
I had gathered some branches, breaking them off the tree myself. With those in hand, I carefully peeled away the outer bark, revealing the fibrous inner layer beneath. Knowing that the fibers would be easier to work with once softened, I soaked the inner bark in some of the creek water for a while. After the soaking, I began the tedious process of separating the fibers into long, thin strands. Once they were dry, I twisted the strands together, creating a surprisingly strong cord.
With this makeshift cord, I lashed two thick branch handles to sharpened stones, fashioning hatchet-like tools for Mel and me. Meanwhile, Max used the string from his bag and a well-chosen branch he had carved down to craft a crude but functional bow. Leo and Trish both waved off any need for a weapon, knowing it wouldn't be helpful for their classes.
After gathering our supplies, we moved toward the forest edge to begin the grind. As we stepped into the shadows of the trees, a low, rumbling sound reverberated through the forest. I raised my hand, signaling the others to halt. The air grew thick with tension, the silence around us broken only by the ominous growl. My grip tightened on the hatchet, bracing myself for whatever was about to emerge.
Suddenly, a massive, shadowy figure leaped from the underbrush, its claws slashing wildly. I ducked just in time, my hatchet narrowly missing the creature’s belly. Mel reacted faster, grabbing the beast mid-air and slamming it down with a resounding thud. The beast’s enraged roar was cut short as it sank its fangs into Mel’s arm, blood trickling from the wound.
I swung my hatchet at the beast’s flank, the blade connecting with a dull thud against its muscle. Max fired an arrow that struck the beast’s side, while Mel hurled the creature against a nearby tree. As I watched, the beast, a leopard-like creature with blue-green fur, dark red eyes, and sabretooth fangs, had its health bar visibly depleted by only ten percent. I also noted that above the health bar was the name [♀ Azureblade Feralith Lvl 3].
The creature’s eyes blazed with blue magic. Before I could react, it vanished, reappearing behind Mel and raking her back with its claws. She screamed, spinning to face the beast with renewed fury. Her health surged back to full as her axe drove into the beast’s side.
The beast roared again and vanished. I shivered as it reappeared behind me, claws extended. Just as it was about to strike, Leo’s fireball slammed into its face, and another arrow from Max struck its flank. I seized the opportunity, bringing my axe down hard on the beast’s neck. The axe snapped upon impact, blue blood spraying across my face.
The Feralith’s health dropped rapidly, nearing zero, as Leo finished it off with a precise icicle to its heart. I quickly scanned the area to ensure it was safe. Mel was catching her breath, Max was perched in a tree scouting, Leo was studying the beast with curiosity, and Trish, eyes wet with tears, was shaken by the ordeal.
Trish had tears in her eyes, she has never harmed an animal before for hunting or sport, hell she has never even hit an animal with her vehicle by accident. I walked over to her, “Hey hon, come on let’s sit down, it is going to be okay.” I said gently, leading her to a massive root that was coming off the enormous tree. Everyone else came over to us to try and comfort her and reassure her that she will be ok. This is also why Trish picked a healing class all the time, even outside of games she was a nurturer and caretaker.
“Hey, I know this is really difficult, especially seeing it for the first time. But remember, we had no choice; it was her or us. And we won’t let her death be in vain. She will help us in many ways.” I said as I held her hand. Mel and Max both nodded.
Leo looked at the dead beast for a moment, then back to us, “This won't be the last time we have to take a life. There will be times when it will be the blood of other people. None of this is going to be easy for any of us, especially when it comes to people. I don't think we've fully considered the reality of our situation. We came in here guns blazing, treating it like a game. But after seeing that thing almost kill Mel, it hit me how real this is. Not just dying, but watching one of us die, or having to kill someone who stands between us and our mission. We have to grow callous to this now, or we'll never make it in this… new reality.”
Staring at Leo in realization, “He’s right, we have to be stronger in this or we will fail.” Max said, Mel nodded in agreement although hesitantly.
I looked at Trish, still tears in her eyes she looked at Leo with determination, “That doesn’t mean we have to lose our fucking humanity Leo, I will damn sure try to save as many people that I can in this as well. Do not forget, we are not here to kill everyone, we are here to save MULTIPLE realms full of people! And who knows how many people we are truly fighting for! I will not let my humanity die just because there will be times, we have to do… this!” she angrily gestured at the carcass.
Leo hesitated, I interceded before it would become a big argument, “Look, you are both right. We do need to realize this is going to be hard, there will be battles that we will have to kill others to survive. But I will be damned if any of us lose ourselves to this bloodshed. We need to be stronger; we need to face this now before we go any further.” I said looking angrily at all of them.
Mel looked off in the distance for a few minutes than turned back to us, “Let's make a promise, we gotta promise that we stick together. Keep each other safe, and always talk over tough choices as a team. But, if there's a hard choice that has to be made on the spot, we need someone who can handle that. I don't trust myself to do it; I get too caught up in my rage to make those decisions, and this race doesn't make it any easier.”
“I don’t think I should either, I may have experience, but I think I may be too brash.” Leo said, looking down at the ground.
Max looked at me, “You damn well know I’m going to point at you for this, you’re the most levelheaded one in a stressful situation, you’ve proven that time and time again over the years.” Everyone nodded in agreement, their eyes on me. I sighed, the last thing I wanted was to have to make these calls, but I’d rather shoulder that burden than let it fall on theirs, even though I fear the consequences of making the wrong choices, or even the right choice that could potentially lead to another person’s death. Is that something that I could do without losing myself?
Trish placed her hand on my shoulder. "I love you, and I trust you. We all trust you," she said softly, her voice full of warmth.
I thought to myself, deciding when to kill something or someone was a different kind of burden. This was a lot to take in. I glanced over at Leo, who gave me a knowing look; he was the only one who truly understood the weight of this responsibility. He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"Look, bud." he said, his voice steady. "I've seen a lot of people in war, and I know what it can do to a person's mind. But I also know what kind of person can keep their head straight in those moments. You're the only one I believe can lead us through this. And remember, you won't be alone. We're all here for you, and that's something you can't forget."
The others murmured their agreement. I looked down at my feet, feeling the weight of the responsibility as I sat on a large boulder.
I picked my head up, looking at each of them, and then let out a loud belch. Look I am not very good in awkward situations like this, I don’t know what you want me to say. All of them looked at me with a disgusted look, and started laughing afterwards, “Always ruining a heartfelt moment!” Trish said jokingly with a smile on her face. Max just walked away giving me a dismissive wave as he continued laughing. Leo and Mel both rolled their eyes turning away also still laughing.
“We should get what we can off of her before she starts to rot, or the smell of her blood catches the attention of any other beasts in the area.” I said relieved the tension was gone. We harvested items that we could use for our professions from the remains. I took the fangs and bones and split them with Max, Leo took some of the blood in a vial that was in his profession pack, Mel took the eyes and the claws, and Trish took the fur. All of us split the meat and put it in our packs, mostly to spread the weight through all of the packs. By the time we were done, there was not much left of the beast, and we buried it. Oh, Did I not mention we all took cooking? I mean, who wouldn’t after seeing that polite message in the professions book? Also, we didn’t want to end up in a situation where we were forced to split up and not be able to take care of ourselves.
I noticed that I had earned ten experience points after the fight, everyone else did as well. It was good to know that the experience was shared throughout the group. We moved further into the forest to set up camp before the sun went down. We gathered supplies to make a makeshift camp, cursing that we didn’t get to keep any of the gear we walked into the cave with. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that all of the stuff we had on us as we came into this realm just vanished with no explanation, we figured those items would be of no use here, well the coats and stuff we had in our packs would have been nice to use as pillows. It was fine though; this was not the first time we have been in a situation where we strayed too far from main camp and didn’t have supplies to set up something for the night.
We used some fallen branches and leaves to create a makeshift shelter and bedding. We built a fire to stay warm, the night was becoming increasingly colder regardless of how warm the day was. After the camp was set up, I walked around the outside of the camp really taking in my surroundings. The trees were absolutely stunning, they stretched so far up I couldn’t tell where the tops were, the flowers that scattered about were an assortment of colors, some of them had a very dull glow to them. The sky above had a beautiful reddish-purple tinge to it, and the stars lit up the night sky. There were three moons in the sky, all three floated as if they were in an offset line. Each had a different shade to the light it emitted. The closest one which was the smallest an orangish white, the second was blueish white, and the last was silvery white, which was more like the moon from home, but also different; it seemed as if there were veins of white spread across it and it was the biggest of the three. None of them too bright, nor could you ever miss them. The contrasts together were a beautiful sight to behold. The noises around us sounded like the same sounds you would hear within a forest on earth, yet more musical. Like it was to lull you into a false sense of safety.
I walked back into the camp; Max had finished cooking some of the meat he had for everyone. We decided that we would rotate who cooks for each meal to work on everyone’s cooking skill. The meat tasted… interesting, ten out of ten would not recommend. Not much to do about it though, it is not like we had any other options at the moment. After we all forced down the food, Trish looked hesitant like she wanted to say something. She looked over at me than to Leo, “Hey, Leo?” he looked over to her with a questioning look, “I am sorry I snapped at you back there, I am just really scared right now, this is all… so much to take in at once.”
He fully turned his body to her, “Hey don’t worry about it, I didn’t have to come off that harsh. I think it is fair to say this is scary for all of us, as exciting as it is, there is still a reality in all of this. I am more scared of losing you guys than the rest of it, I think my time in the military and war has made me more aware of the situation and less aware of how any of you guys may react to having to hurt someone.” Leo was the only one of us to have ever seen any type of combat, he never really talked about what he did in the military, and we never asked. He taught Max and I some martial arts over the years after he got out.
I put my hand on Leo’s shoulder in reassurance, Max patted his other shoulder as he walked past him to lay down. As I walked away from the camp to take first watch I looked over my shoulder, “Get some rest, I’ll take first watch, Max come get me when you wake up for a swap.” Max nodded and laid down on the pad he made.
I climbed up one of the trees and sat on a large branch about fifteen feet up to get a good vantage point over the camp area. Seeing the fire’s light dancing through the trees, I look out around the reach of the edges of that light to inspect what may be there lurking. I hear a rustling sound behind me, so I quietly move to get a better view around the stem and foliage. I see what looked like a rabbit, yet not quite. The ears were more rounded, the fur was a dark purple, and the eyes had a golden glow from the fire’s reflection. It seemed to be sniffing at the air, then it hopped back into the tall blue grass disappearing. I sat back against the stem of the tree, and I hear another rustle, this one from the camp. I glance down and see Trish walking out to find me, so I whistle a quick high pitch tune to show her where I am at. She looked up in the tree, towards me. Soon she was within reach, and I stretched my hand out to pull her onto the branch I sat on. She laid against me, no words were spoken, I knew what she wanted. She fell asleep against me as I had my arms wrapped around her.
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After a couple of hours passed by. Max whispers, “Hey bro, shift change, go get some sleep.” I jump slightly, not realizing he snuck up here. I was too tired to respond with a snarky comment on how he snuck up on me.
Nodding in thanks to him, I woke Trish up and we climbed down the tree and walked quietly to the camp to get some sleep. Waking to the sun rising and shining on my face, I gently slide my arm from under Trish trying to let her sleep a little longer. I look around, seeing Leo and Max up in the tree quietly talking, and Mel sitting at the other end of the camp looking like she was reading over her menus. I stretch as I walk over to Mel, “anything new?” I ask her.
She shakes her head, “nah, I just wanted to check out the experience bar and read up a bit more on my profession. If we finish this quest, and if the XP's consistent, we should be almost level three by the time we're done.”
I open my menu to see what she was talking about and see that we only needed one hundred experience to get to level two, “That is assuming the scale is that of what we are used to seeing.” I mused while inspecting it.
“I guess we will see when we hit the next level, I think we need to get to hunting. It is time we start being serious about this and push hard to get experience to level as much as possible.” Trish said as she snuck up behind me, startling me and Mel both.
“Yeah, I think so too.” I responded, I whistle a loud high pitch whistle to get Leo and Max’s attention. They both look over at us and see me gesturing to join us. We told them what we had discussed, they both agreed that we should get moving.
After a few hours of walking through the forest we found four more of the [Azureblade Feralith] and four [Goremaw Bohemoth] they looked a lot like a massive Kodiak Grizzly bear. They have dark black and red fur with bones protruding from their spines into razor sharp spikes all the way down their back, their fangs yellow and white dripping with saliva that we discovered was also paralytic venom. The first one was a male and charged after us from over a hill roaring with spittle spewing from its massive maw. By this time, we had new weapons made from the bones of the first beast we killed. I crafted a makeshift war pick for myself using one of the ribs and a femur. For Mel, I made two sharpened femurs to serve as makeshift daggers. These weapons held up much better than the previous wood and stone hatchets I had made, and they were a bit sharper. Unfortunately, my blacksmithing skill didn't increase with any of these items because, well, I need to work with metal to make that advancement.
As the behemoth lumbered closer, its massive bulk shaking the ground with each step, I darted to its right, my weapon aimed at the back of its neck. To my shock, the beast barely flinched from the blow. Mel, agile and fierce, slid under the behemoth and drove both her daggers into its belly. Blue blood splattered across her, but before she could withdraw, the beast's enormous maw snatched her leg, flinging her violently into a nearby tree.
Trish's swift healing magic restored Mel from the brink, but she lay motionless, an ominous lightning symbol indicating paralysis next to her health bar.
“She’s paralyzed! Get her out of there, now!” I shouted, panic rising as the behemoth charged toward her fallen form.
“I’m on it!” Trish responded, dragging Mel behind the tree just in time.
“Hey, over here, asshole!” Leo roared, hurling a bolt of lightning that struck the behemoth, sending it crashing sideways. It roared in fury, its focus shifting entirely to Leo. Seeing the beast’s health at sixty percent, I knew it was time to unleash [Abyssal Retribution].
I sprinted toward the beast, my war pick aimed at its flank as an arrow struck its neck. My pick sunk deep into its right side, and as the beast swung a massive paw in retaliation, I narrowly dodged the attack and activated my retribution. A spectral black blade materialized, slicing through the beast’s leg and severing it with a sickening crack.
The behemoth’s health plummeted to twenty, then ten percent. Leo’s fire spell and another of Max’s arrows struck the beast's chest, and with a final, determined swing, I drove my pick through its jaw. Blood streamed down my arms as the beast’s colossal body thudded to the ground with a final, echoing roar.
After the [♂Goremaw Bohemoth Lvl 4] died, a surge of power rushed through me, and a notification popped up.
CONGRATULATIONS TRAVELER! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 2! YOU HAVE GAINED 3 NEW STAT POINTS!
Base health increased
Base Mana increased
I quickly looked over to Trish and Mel and ran up to them. The debuff next to Mel had a countdown of three more seconds next to it. When it passed, she rubbed her head, “Cheers for yankin' me outta that, Trish. Bloody hell, that was weird. I could see and hear everythin', but I couldn't move or make a sound.”
Knowing she was ok now I resumed looking at my stats, I decided to put two points into intellect and one into wisdom. Putting me at.
STATS
LEVEL – 2, TRAVELER
STRENGTH – 7
DEXTERITY – 9
INTELLECT – 19
WISDOM – 15
LUCK – 9
I noticed that everyone else was doing the same thing. After we all were done sorting our stat points, we continued the hunt. We found some deerlike creatures which were stunning to look at, they were green with mossy antlers that had vines that seemed to grow between each of them, and more of those rabbit type creatures as well. We did kill a couple of them for food, because it had to be better than the other meat that we got from the [Azureblade Feralith] the day before.
Down to the last beast or monster we needed to find and kill, we came to a pathway in the forest. It seemed that something other than people did this, due to the trees having some rub marks on them, and the way the grass was flattened seemed odd. After following the path for a bit, Max noticed something odd that was hanging from one of the trees.
“Guys, I don’t think that we should stay on this path, this looks like the scale of something. I’m not so sure I want to find out what it is.” He said, glancing down the path anxiously.
I looked to see what scale Max was talking about, but before I could say a word, a loud cracking resounded through the woods and continued getting closer. I gestured quietly to retreat. We moved hastily back the way we came to escape whatever was coming our way. Only making it a few yards before a massive head came gliding past us with a tongue flinging out to taste the air around us. Horrified, we froze for a moment, unsure what to do, this monstrosity was still moving past us while slightly turning to surround us as if we were to be its new plaything. It had to be hundreds of yards long, its body as big around as three large school buses. It was a sleek black with silver streaks down each side of its body starting from behind its mouth. Its eyes, a deep abyss and wonderous combination of galaxies and stars. It was hard to look away from, coming to the realization we were being entranced to not move. I shook myself out of the stupor and looked at the name above its head [⚥Nethermaw Serpent Lvl???].
This was not good, what the hell does three question marks even mean anyway? I quickly started trying to get everyone to stop looking into the eyes of the monster, “Guys stop looking at its eyes! It is trying to entrance us to make it easier to eat us!” I see Leo and Trish coming too, shaking their heads, but Max and Mel are both still fully entranced.
Oh, come now, little onesss, you tasssty morselsss need not run; I will catch you regardlessss, and I ssshall devour your sssoulsss for my mother. An eerie voice hissed in my mind, I stopped for a heartbeat to shake it off. I can’t afford any distractions, we had to get Mel and Max out of here or wake them from the trance they were in. The snake now enraged it wrapped around us completely so that the only way out was to climb over its coiled body. Finally, with no other ideas, I slapped Max across the face, Leo quickly followed suit and slapped Mel. They both slowly started coming back around out of the trance.
“Do not look that thing in the eyes again, avoid it at all costs, we need to get the hell out of here!” Leo yelled before they could start to look around again. To their credit they focused on anything else but where the serpents head was. Its head kept swiveling to get us to notice her eyes again. Furious, it hissed and slammed the tip of her tail against Mel and Leo, knocking them to the other side of the small space that we had to maneuver in.
I looked over at their health bars, they took minor damage from the impact, only losing five percent health from it. I had to think of something, anything, to get us, or at least them out of here. I whisper to Max, “We have to cut its head off. I know it’s not earth but it’s the only thing I can think of that would kill a snake in any realm.”
Max vanished within the shadows for the first time that I’ve seen since we started this adventure. As cool as it was, I needed to focus on what to do next. The serpent hissed in anger, looking for where Max vanished to, while it was distracted, I ran to the others and explained what we needed to do. They were hesitant to follow the plan, but it was either we die trying or die giving up.
Mel climbed up the scaled body stabbing between any gaps of the scales she could find to piss it off, while Leo was firing spells at its face without looking to not become entranced again, elements of every type were flying at its head. The serpent began to uncoil and snap at the three of them hitting her from every direction while Trish was healing with her weakest heal as needed to conserve energy.
Climbing up the body towards the head as fast as possible, I leaped the last couple of feet and forced my war pick as deep into the beast as possible while Max was hitting it with arrows in the bottom of the neck, he was surprisingly accurate while blindfolded. A massive icicle flying up at just the right moment from Leo struck the serpent in the throat piercing deep, while Mel launched herself up lodging her daggers into the other side of its neck.
The serpent swiftly swiped its tail, launching Leo deep into the forest while whipping its head towards me, throwing Mel off, tossing her a few feet away. Max jumped from the tree, sprinting towards where Leo flew.
Thisss isss where you die you weak impudent little… Its massive maw snapped down barely missing me, wind from the force blowing me further back than intended with my dodge, in that same moment I smiled and used [Abyssal Retribution]. It struck the neck not once, but two times. The blades were as large as the serpent's head, their surfaces as black as a lightless cave. It was as if I was staring into pure nothingness. Its eyes bulged in fear as the two blades collapse inward, cutting its head clean off. Blood as dark as ink erupted from its neck as the creature’s body thrashed violently.
I hit the ground and dove behind a tree just in time to avoid the tail that narrowly missed decapitating me. I ran to Trish to help her carry Mel from the vicinity of the thrashing body of the serpent, franticly looking for Max, and Leo.
Finally, we heard Max’s distant shout: “Hurry! He needs health fast!” I looked at Trish and nodded that I could handle Mel. I dragged her to a nearby tree, propping her up against it, while Trish sprinted toward Max’s voice.
They came back with Leo hanging on to both of their shoulders, his health sitting around twenty percent. Trish breathing heavily, “I have nothing left to heal with, I have to rest to get more mana to help him anymore.” she said exhaustively.
I activated my [Celestial Sanctum] to restore everyone’s health to a more manageable level, which helped Leo and Mel recover enough to move and function properly again. We were still at a risky health level if any beasts decided to take advantage, but that was a concern for later. I noticed two new notifications and, while resting against a tree stump, opened my menu to check them.
CONGRATULATIONS TRAVELER! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 26! YOU HAVE GAINED 72 STAT POINTS!
Base health increased
Base mana increased
CONGRATULATIONS TRAVELER! YOU HAVE KILLED A MONSTER THAT WAS 50 OR MORE LEVELS HIGHER THAN YOU! YOU HAVE GAINED A LEGENDARY BOX!
My eyes widened at seeing those, “Uh… guys… did you?” I said, my voice trembling with disbelief.
Even bleary-eyed Mel smiled exasperatedly at the question, we all got the same notifications. I opened my inventory to look at the box that was sitting in it.
LEGENDARY BOX – Contains 1 legendary item, weapon or armor that is set for your level. This item does not level with you, however you can increase its potential through crafting… if you the skill for it.
I decided I needed to consolidate my stat points before opening the box just in case something else jumped out of the woods at us. I put thirty-five in intellect, seventeen in wisdom, ten in luck, five in strength, and five in dexterity. I wanted to skyrocket my intellect after seeing what having a spell cast twice could do, with increased power and double cast chance it would be even stronger yet.
STATS
LEVEL – 26, TRAVELER
STRENGTH – 12
DEXTERITY – 14
INTELLECT – 54
WISDOM – 32
LUCK – 19
After consolidating the points, I looked at my menu and noticed I could pick two more spells.
You may pick 1 more spell from the ones listed below -Note: you may only have 3 spells at a time, you may replace any spells. However, if you replace a spell, it is gone forever.-
Stars Aegis – You create shields of celestial light around you and your party negating 80% of the next attack. Sheilds lasts 1.5 seconds – 4-hour cooldown
Celestial Flare – You unleash a burst of stars energy in a radius around you, searing enemies within the radius. 10-foot radius – 2-minute cooldown
Stars warmth – You channel the warmth and comfort of the star’s energies into yourself and your allies healing them for a moderate amount. 30-foot radius – 20-minute cooldown
Celestial battle cry – Taunt all enemies around you causing them to focus attacks on you, reduces incoming damage by 20%. Taunt lasts for 10 seconds, 20-foot radius – 10-minute cooldown.
I ultimately decided to go with the taunt. If I was going to be the tank, I needed to solidify that role. While the other abilities seemed useful, I needed to ensure I could draw the focus of enemies away from my teammates so they could perform their roles effectively. Too many close calls had made me realize how crucial it was to keep the enemies' attention on me.
The [Stars Aegis] was a strong ability, but it could only protect against one attack at a time, which required me to anticipate threats preemptively. [Celestial Flare] was tempting, but without a taunt to maintain enemy focus, it wouldn't be as effective. [Stars Warmth] was another solid option, but I felt my [Celestial Sanctum] was a better fit for the team's needs. I also wasn’t ready to give up [Abyssal Retribution]; its value was too significant. With these considerations in mind, I reviewed my menu once more.
OPTIONS
CLASS – STARS ASCENT
STATS
INVENTORY – LIMITED BAG SPACE
PROFESSION – BLACKSMITHING
I opened my class tab.
CLASS – STARS ASCENT
You are but a sparkle in the sky, not yet powerful, yet not unnoticed. Burn with fury, be the light that guides, and burns with the wrath of the heavens.
Celestial Sanctum – You cast a dome of protection that reduces damage taken for you and any allies inside by 20% and heals you and allies for 2% of total base HP over 10 sec every 1 sec. Dome Lasts 10 sec, 5-minute cooldown.
Abyssal Retribution – Can only be cast after being a target of an attack, hits enemy for 100% of the damage that would have hit you. 8-minute cooldown. -Becomes ineffective after level 50-
Celestial battle cry – Taunt all enemies around you causing them to focus attacks on you, reduces incoming damage by twenty percent. Taunt lasts for 10 seconds, 20-foot radius – 10-minute cooldown.
Well, that was an unexpected development; I had suspected that ability was entirely too strong, the fight with that serpent was proof of that. I briefly considered whether I could combine it with another ability for a new effect and decided to explore that when the opportunity arose. I also noticed that none of my existing abilities seemed to be directly influenced by my stats. It looks like I'll need to acquire new abilities that scale with the stats I’m focusing on, such as Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, Wisdom, and Luck, to fully utilize the enhancements I've built up so far.
Now with my stats consolidated and my new skill chosen, it was time to open the [Legendary Box].