“Well done, Tom.” Michael declared not bothering to use party chat or to keep his voice down. There was no point. Any goblins in hearing distance already knew they were here. “Almost perfect tanking. Which is incredible, given it wasn’t what you built around.”
“Such easy kills for us,” Harry agreed. “Apart from when you lost control in the middle but even then it was only because the monsters were too thick for you to reach the new additions. Amazing performance.”
Tom shrugged. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything about them. My taunts don’t have that sort of range.”
“Get a new taunt skill,” Michael suggested.
Tom shook his head. “I’m already mana capped most of the time. I don’t think I’m the answer. Instead, we need to spec someone up as an off tank…” Tom paused for a moment, thinking about that. The more he considered the problem the more obvious it became that the idle thought was not something to be thrown away. They were currently vulnerable if monsters came from multiple directions. “We definitely need someone in that role. In my opinion it’s the singular most important thing we have to agree on.”
The rest of the team frowned at that. Tom’s eyes ranged over his companions. He could almost see everyone slinking back to avoid catching his attention. He couldn’t really blame them. None of them were suited to that role.
“Who could do it?” Michael asked. “Rahmat and Thor aren’t designed to be tanks. Everyone else is even worse.”
“You or Clare.” Tom responded after a moment of thought. Having healers act to draw aggression from any monsters that slipped past his defences was the best option available. “Probably both of you.”
“We’re healers.”
“Makes you perfect for it as far as I’m concerned. We’re only talking about trash.” Tom kicked a nearby goblin corpse to emphasise his point. It flew around five metres before landing. They were light only fifteen kilograms. He could kick them far further than what he had, but he wasn’t going to try. He really didn’t want them to explode on his foot. “Only trash. You’re both more than talented enough to survive their attention for a bit.”
“We’re healers.” Clare interrupted. “I’ve never heard of a game where the healers do the off tanking. It’s always a melee DPS role.”
Ever heard of paladins, Tom thought, but did not say it. It would be counterproductive. “If you haven’t noticed this is not a game. This is life. And it doesn’t make sense for Thor or Rahmat to do it because then we are losing their damage potential.”
“But their attributes are physical based. They’re big and strong and I’m not.”
“And unlike in a game, I know you guys know how to fight and…” He looked at them critically. “Attribute wise there isn’t that much of a difference between you and the others. Only a rank or two.”
“But they have skills to help with fighting.”
“Their abilities are tailored to deliver damage. We’re not asking you to get a taunting skill and take the role as you are now. You’ll all need abilities to aid in surviving the incoming attacks. Plus, making your healer be nearly impossible to kill has to be a long-term bonus.”
“We’ll discuss tonight.” Everlyn interrupted. “This is not something to do in the middle of a lair. But Tom’s right we need someone dedicated to the off tank role. If we had have had someone able to grab the attention of those ten when they split off, we would have eliminated them at least twice as fast. And before anyone argues any of us can do it, the question is only who. The chosen victim will obviously need to purchase a number of skills to both taunt and survive the consequences of the taunt.”
“And we’ll all chip in to buy gear from the auction house.”
“Michael’s already lobbying to get himself a new shield.” Harry said with a laugh.
“I was not…” the healer threw his hands up in the air. “The deal is that we would discuss who to assign tonight. I was just saying no one wants the role, so gearing up for it shouldn’t come at their expense.”
“I totally agree.” Tom said. “The experience cost of getting the required skills is already steep. They shouldn’t need to provide equipment on top of that.”
“Harry will definitely appreciate that.” Michael said in a very serious tone.
“It won’t be me. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t mind doing it, but my rituals are not something I can stop midway through and we’re going to want me to be using rituals regularly.”
“Just joking,” Michael said hurriedly.
He hadn’t been but Harry’s rebuttal had been a far sounder one than Clare’s, I can’t because I’m a healer response. Tom smiled at the banter.
“Enough.” Everlyn said this time sounding exasperated. “We have to finish this. There is no need to loot what we’ve killed because this is a lair and we’ll nominate ‘Maximum experience and combined loot’ when we complete it.”
Michael scratched his chin, looking like he was about to dispute her call. “You’re right. We might as well gamble for a single big thing rather than a heap of small ones.”
Everlyn smiled sadly. “Nothing is risk free. If we go for a single item, we’ll probably get expensive junk. If we each get our own, one of those nine pieces would be useful. But do we really need a generic tier one or two item?” She shook her head. “It’s worth risking range in the hope that we get something good and after ten or so lairs we’ll most likely receive one usable tier three item.” She smiled. “That’s worth the wait.”
There were no further complaints, so Everlyn headed off to the nearest unexplored exit from the room.
“Are we planning on leaving people here?” Michael asked.
“Nope. We’ll stay together. It’s almost certainly just clean up. Probably some servants, maybe a chief and possibly a breeding warren.”
“No, not another one of those.” Toni complained.
Everlyn laughed. “If there is, it’s not my fault.”
They hastened into the chosen cave. It was the one which had produced most of the reinforcements. It was a wide passage through height remained an issue for the taller men amongst them. They reached the destination quickly. The tunnel widened further, and the goblins had converted the area into a sleeping hall.
A couple of the servant cast were present, and a small group of warriors were hiding at the very end. They were eliminated, and they retreated to the main cave.
The second cave they discovered after two minutes was not leading to another item of interest, but rather to the surface.
They back tracked immediately. Once the lair was cleared, they would probably use it to get out.
The next exit from the feast hall stunk. They hadn’t noticed it because it was right next to the running water, which had been sucking the smell away. Everyone hastily retreated from it.
“We have to clear it.” Everlyn reminded them all.
She didn’t say it explicitly, but the context hung in the air. The we meant the weaker people in the team.
“We’re staying together to clear all these right,” Michael said immediately.
“Nope,” Everlyn said. “I don’t want to dilute your experience.”
“I hear bullshit,” Michael snapped back.
“You can’t prove otherwise.” Everlyn was attempting not to smile and failing.
“Come on, let’s get it over and done with.” Toni said.
They all paused to put plugs over their nose. Tom wasn’t sure when they had purchased them, but obviously someone with an entrepreneurial spirit had thrown them up on the auction house. With a sigh, the previous six went down into the second breeder warren.
Tom stood on the mana ritual that Harry had created and dutifully filled up his crystal. He would have preferred practising with the intent to master his future Earth Domain, but survival came first, which mean his mana had to be fully re-charged before experimenting… and… he eyed his lightning elemental. He would also need to replace it in preparation for future fights. Providing he limited himself to lesser elementals he could do it without tapping into his mana crystal. Six minutes of recharge or three with Harry’s ritual was a small price to pay for having the extra fighter available
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“I used that fate trick on my multi-thrust.” Rahmat volunteered suddenly. “I’ve been trying to adapt it to allow me to strike multiple opponents instead of one for some time.” He grinned. “Success,” then frowned. “At least a partial victory. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve tried it probably fifty times in battle since I got here and its failed every time. Today ten fate and wham… I hit two targets with the one skill. I’m sort of wishing I had more fate to spend.”
Tom smiled at that admission. “Yeah, same. I feel I don’t have nearly enough either.”
Everlyn laughed. “You have two hundred and you want more.”
“If I could reduce myself back down to rank nine attributes and put everything freed up into fate, I would.” Tom answered seriously. “I’m trying to get my head around the question of how much advancement can excess fate truly drive? All that I’ve learned tells me a lot. If you use it right, you can absolutely supercharge your development. It’s huge! We might be unable to tell the other humans but we.” Tom wiggled his fingers to include the three of them in the room and the six down killing goblins. “If we exploit it, we personally can advance a long way.”
“I guess.” Everlyn agreed and focused on Rahmat, thoughtfully. “And you did this in battle?”
The spear man nodded.
“In or out of battle doesn’t matter if that is what you’re wondering.” Tom said quietly. “For some stuff like, let’s say, trying to evolve my Earth Sense into a proper domain I’m much better off doing it out of battle. However, attempting to do something similar with my dodge skill would not work. I need to advance that in an actual fight where things are trying to kill me.”
“You’re intending to develop a domain?” Everlyn asked, pouncing on his wording.
Tom nodded.
“Out of all the things you could have chosen why a domain?” Everlyn arched an eyebrow. “Why not lightning enrage or your tier nine dreaming skill?”
“I’ve lots of things to improve, which is why I wish I had more fate. Upgrading to an earth domain was the path that I figured would have the greatest short-term payoff. It’s synergy with my new threshold dodge benefit is immense, plus Tom looked up at the caves. This zone and when we get out, we’ll be in the underground. That bias’s the decision a lot.”
“A domain is not just a short term benefit,” Rahmat said quietly. “It’s a long-term investment. Domains, and I mean true ones, not that crap you do with Spark are powerful for their tier.”
“Oh,” Everlyn said suddenly. “You developed one in the tutorial.”
Rahmat nodded. “I got very lucky in my third year and was gifted one. It was,” He smiled wryly. “It was a spear domain. I found it to be crap for half a decade before it grew into its power.”
“But your preferred attack was to throw spears.” Tom said in confusion, remembering the first day and how Rahmat had presented. The fact that since then he had primarily fought close to the enemy didn’t change his intention.
“Yes, I did. That was because of the domain.”
“But…” Tom mentally calculated the distances that the other man must be talking about. A high-ranking person throwing a spear would have a kill range measuring in the hundreds of metres. The use of a domain made no sense. He stared confused at Rahmat. “Domains do not stretch that far.”
“A spear domain is not like a lot of the others. Initially, it was an awareness of the positions of spears within ten metres of me. To be honest, it was a massive bonus to learn how to fight. I found some Topa’s a quad armed and legged species that used spears. I trained against them for over twelve months because I learnt so much from it. However, I discovered a domain was more than that. As it levelled up, it gained other properties. It’s range ballooned. By the end I think it reached over a kilometre.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Everlyn said, sounding impressed.
“Not really. It’s just the location of spears. But it obtained additional properties over time. By year eight, I could control spears at a distance. Affect their trajectory slightly. Which was useful for enhancing spear throws. When I threw it, they basically acted as a homing missile. Better still just before impact I could infuse it with a Skill. To the monster it was a normal throwing spear, which was not a threat to most creatures, but at the moment of impact, I could enhance it with Power Strike. Their defensive skills often didn’t trigger to the sudden threat in time. It was a deadly combination.”
“And if all that hasn’t got your attention the closer an enemy was to me, the more I could fudge what the definition of a spear was. A three foot long beak, well that’s a spear by a different name. Then, if it was only a foot long, it is logical it would get awarded the same category as its bigger cousin. I could stretch the classification a massive amount. Anything pointed counted as part of my domain. Swords, claws, horns, teeth they all counted. When most monsters attacked, I knew exactly where they were.”
“I guess you’re saying having a domain is good,” Tom paraphrased for him.
“Yes, they’re substantially more powerful than other skills in their Tier… And Tom… this is just a suggestion, so don’t take offense.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know, but some people would so…” he chuckled and looked slightly flustered. “Anyway, if you’re creating an Earth Domain, it might be worthwhile checking the options available in the shop. There could be something in one of the descriptions to guide your thinking.”
Tom thought about that prompt for only an instant before he shut his eyes and stepped into the system room. There was no harm in checking.
“Show available Earth domains.”
The wall changed, and different options were displayed.
Skill: Basic Earth domain - Tier 4
This domain allows the user to seize control of all natural earth within a five metre sphere of them at significantly reduced mana costs. Exact strength and features depend on users’ existing earth magic expertise and range will increase with domain levels.
Pre-Requisites.
* Earth Elemental Affinity greater than 85.
* Tier zero equivalent mastery greater than 128 in an Earth skill.
* Possesses an earth sensing and an earth manipulation skill.
Cost: 165,000
Tom was surprised by that price. It was about ten percent more than the usual maximum of a Tier 4 ability. As for the pre-requisites, he met all of them easily.
Skill: Basic Earth Observational Domain - tier 4
This domain gives the user a continuous passive sense of everything within the ground and on top of it in a sphere with a diameter of forty metres. Range and direct manipulation ability will increase with levels.
Cost: 170,000
The pre-requisites were almost identical to the previous skill and Tom wasn’t sure what to think of it. It traded an immediate boost to melee range offense and defence for a significantly larger sensing range. He suspected that both of them at a high level would converge to possessing similar functionalities.
Tom skipped over the other tier four versions, which were more and more specific to read the first tier five one.
Skill: Earth Domain - Tier 5
Provides mastery of natural earth in a sphere radiating from the individual for the diameter of forty metres. User is aware of any changes that occur in their domain and can command natural earth within it to yield to their needs. There is increasing mana cost the further than manipulation extends from themselves.
Pre-Requisites.
* Earth Elemental Affinity greater than 90.
* Tier zero equivalent mastery greater than 160 in an Earth skill.
* Possesses an earth sensing and an earth manipulation skill.
* Has experienced at least 3 earth related major inspirations.
Cost: 450,000
The simple earth domain had higher pre-requisites again but was effectively a merge of the previous two domain skills he had looked at.
He skipped through the rest of the tier five and six domains barely registering their contents. Then he stopped because he was not sure he was getting any real benefit from exploring further. There was no way he could evolve two tier three skills directly to tier seven no matter how much fate was in the mix. Tom out of curiosity opened up the details of the skill he was pausing on.
Skill: Expert Earth Domain - Tier 7
Creates an Earth based Sensing and Will domain in a sphere extending a hundred metres from you.
Manipulating of all earth and metal within five metres of your location is free. There is increasing mana costs for manipulation of materials beyond this point.
Anything derived from the earth is subject to your will.
Pre-Requisites.
* Earth Elemental Affinity greater than 92.
* Tier zero equivalent mastery greater than 256 in an Earth skill.
* Possesses an earth sensing and an earth manipulation skill.
* Has experienced at least 16 earth related major inspirations.
Cost: 3,400,000
Tom turned his eyes away and pondered what he had read. Absently, he skim read general information about how domains interacted with their new target. Basically it was a primer on how the person purchasing the ability would feel about it. Even if the domain used mana to manipulate the external world, it would be perceived like you were flexing a muscle. The further the object was from you the more force you would need to apply.
That was not how he currently applied Remote Earth Manipulation. It was something that he needed to work toward. Another eight dot points were included on his list of actions.
There was also insight to be gained by the list of options that he was presented with. With so much variability in the earth domains, Tom was confident there was no one path he had to religiously follow to achieve his aims. If he focused more on the sensing aspect, then he would get a different evolved skill than if he dedicated his time to expressing his will over the nearby earth.
That was what he had expected, but it was good to know it was a fact and that he didn’t have to tick off everything on the list in order to qualify for an evolution. The other item that came available was the wording of what the domain could affect. For the tier four and some tier five, the description chosen was around ‘natural earth’, then as you progressed that changed to be ‘natural earth and non-enchanted derivatives of natural earth’ to the tier seven descriptions of ‘derived from the earth.’
Tom was not a fool he could read between the lines. Extending a domain to interact with metal or even magically fused stone was a bad idea. The closer he kept his manipulation to dirt and non-magical rock the more likely an evolution would occur. If he shot for everything and tried to include metals, then he would get nowhere.
Finally, the Earth Sense spell he possessed due to its high level was the equivalent of a tier four sensing domain. In some ways, his tier three spell was superior. It was that spells superiority that gave Tom confidence in aiming to fuse Remote Earth Manipulation and Sense Earth together and skip an entire tier to create the tier five Earth Domain or one of its close variants. There was a lot of work to do before he would be positioned to even attempt to trigger the evolution.
The list that he had previously created was reorganised with all the information. Thirty previous line items were discarded, primarily related to manipulating near earth materials. That could be addressed as a phase two development in twenty year’s time if he still wanted to evolve to a better earth domain.
He opened his eyes and gave Rahmat a nod of respect. “Thank you. I think you saved me a lot of time with that advice.”
“Attempting too much or too little?”
Tom snorted. “Both. I had missing requirements and an intention to progress stuff that would have required an evolution to skip three levels.”
The other two both chuckled at that admission.
“Ambitious.” Everlyn said, laughing.
Rahmat was rotating the spear and then making mini stabs with it. That fiddling was something he did continuously. Tom had thought the other man’s obsession with the weapon was a nervous tic. Now he understood there was far more to it. He was trying to create a spear domain.