Chapter 238—What to Buy
“Half a million.” Keikain stated in surprise from where he was cooking. “That’s a lot.”
“Yes, it’s a huge windfall. But it shouldn’t be surprising. It was obvious …” Everlyn stopped talking and glared at the earth mage suspiciously.
Keikain’s lips twitched.
She saw the motion, her eyes narrowed. “You shit, you were only pretending to be surprised. You already knew.”
The earth mage rescued a skewer from the fire and held it out to Everlyn. “It wasn’t hard to extrapolate. But half a mil, to be spent on anything is significant. I’m assuming that class levels won’t be considered?”
“Obviously,” Tom answered.
He licked his lips as Everlyn accepted the offered meat and then passed it to him. Despite how his belly grumbled, he handed it to Toni who was furthest from the fire. There were more of them cooking. He could wait.
Michael cleared his throat. “I assume in the contribution store you didn’t purchase any attribute packs. If so, they should be a top priority.”
Tom frowned at that suggestion. “I’m level twenty-nine. The variable costs of traits is becoming prohibitive.”
The healer nodded. “Yep, and that’ll keep getting worse.” He chuckled. “In fact, they will never be this cheap again.”
Tom was not the only one who groaned at the weak joke. “I know it’s a fact of life numbers only go up. My levels will increase and trait costs with them.”
The healer clicked his fingers. “If I were you, I would get an agility trait.” His face went unanimated for just a moment with his eyes open.
The effect was creepy.
“You can afford the twenty percent boost.”
Tom winced at that and quickly checks the prices. At level one, that trait would have cost him a hundred thousand experience. Now, because of the levels he had gained the asking price had increased by over four times.
This way was fair. Tom understood that. He knew it deep in his bones, and the logic was easy enough to follow.
If traits had a static cost, the system would break because people would get to a certain level of strength and then just farm experience to exclusively purchase traits. It was the same reason there was a scaling of costs with levels. The GODs did not want trait purchases to become a trivial decision once someone got to a high level.
If that was permitted… he struggled to imagine what would happen.
The result is that the system adjusted the prices. If you had too many traits, the price of the next purchase soared. Every level increased the variable cost, and Tom wouldn’t be surprised if similar restrictions ended up applying to skills and spells. It hadn’t happened to him and there had been no rumours on the auction house yet but that type of restriction would make sense.
Luckily, he was pretty sure that traits purchased in the contribution store didn’t count against those limits and it made sense spells and skills awarded by trials would get the same treatment. Which would make the multitude of spells he had got from the challenge trial even more valuable than they were already. “Can we find out if the auction house has any data on how the costs of traits change as you purchase more of them?”
“On it.” Toni said immediately.
“Thank you,” Thor said to the air mage. It was clear from his expression that he wanted to be part of the wider conversation and if she hadn’t volunteered he would have felt compelled to do what Tom wanted.
On the skill question, he would find out sometime in the future. For traits, he was hopeful that somewhere else where on Existentia some humans had already purchased multiple traits and that information would be available. Tom focused his mind back on the immediate question. Half a million for a twenty percent boost to agility was a lot. Out of interest, he checked fate and frowned when he saw the cost doubled to a million.
“Well, Tom?”
He glanced up at Michael and shook his head. The numbers of traits purchasable with experience would be limited. He didn’t want to waste them. “Agility only makes sense if I’m going to continue in my current role. And…” he signed theatrically. “Long term I’m not a front-line fighter. I won’t be able to keep up. Once we start facing higher-level enemies with more rounded skills, the lack of pre-cognition… well that will become a real issue. There are monsters I just won’t be able to fight at close range.”
“But you need to survive today.” Michael pointed out.
“Then maybe instead of a percentage of agility, a flat boost is more sensible.” Everlyn suggested.
“Whatever you choose,” Michael grumbled. “Don’t triple, quadruple or whatever other ridiculousness you can come up with to apply to your fate pool. I know you want to… but stop putting all your eggs in the one damn basket.”
Tom nodded to Michael to indicate that he had heard the advice. Whether he would accept it or not, was another matter. “What else can I do?”
“You’ve got to buy all those highly variable spells,” Thor reminded him. “The ones whose outcomes range from slaying a god to slightly hurting a rank one ant. Selena might have recommended the bolt version, but there are higher tier chaos spells that could end up being really useful.”
Tom shook his head. “Not now. I’m too frequently mana capped as it is. If we need a chaos bolt, then that has to come from you guys and not me.”
“So you’re basically asking for suggestions of tier four and five skills to purchase.” Keikain summarised.
He hesitated. Was that right? Was he only interested in skills? “Sort of. I’m open to traits as well but when I asked I was thinking of only skills… but no balance related ones. For those I’m purchasing the low tier versions that I used in the tutorial to get quick levels in them.”
“To be precise,” Keikain said, “what you want is a growth skill that can help you now and in the long run.”
“Exactly, skill or trait.” Tom clarified after a moment’s thought.
“To my mind,” the earth mage continued. “You’re not leaning into your golem creation skill anywhere near enough. It should be a vital part of future development. For goodness’ sakes, that spell has two hundred and fifty-six equivalent levels with a title that, for threshold purposes at least doubles that again. It might not have been how you imagined your build in Existentia going, but now you have it, the ability should be a cornerstone of your growth. The fact you don’t have a golem summoned now is criminal.”
“That’s unfair. We were running.”
“I know your excuses and reasoning, but I don’t accept them.”
“Well, why didn’t you say something earlier!?”
“Because you’ve been unable to look at me with anything other the disgust. You might not realise this Tom, but it’s damn hard being forthright when the other person both hates you and has the power to crush you if they will it.”
“I do not! The contract goes both ways. I have a responsibility…”
Keikain’s bitter chuckle cut him off. “Believe that if you must. But it doesn’t. Not the way you think. You know you could put me on latrine duties at every stop and the contract would do nothing to you and enforce compliance on me. Plus, some of your reasons have a grain of truth to them.”
“Well then, why…”
“Wait!” the earth mage commanded. “Let me finish. There are skills you can purchase that will elevate your crafting. Better still, you can go straight to the high tiered version because unlike with balancing skills there’s no overlap with the tutorial.”
Tom shook his head furiously. “No crafting.”
“Tom.”
“What Michael.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to agree with Keikain, but it’s a good suggestion. Boosting the golem will give us a strategic advantage.” Once more, the healer went into the system room for a split second while keeping his eyes open. It was as eerie as the first time. “You can get all the spells you need at tier four. Tom they come with technical knowledge. Buy them and you can become an expert in a second.”
“No.”
“Really.” Michael raised an eyebrow. “You’re not even going to check?”
“I’m not focusing on crafting.”
“Even if it helps deliver your quest?”
Tom froze. Would he be more likely to successfully complete his aims if he had a golem. He could see the benefits of taking a crafting path. A golem if he had true crafting expertise that had its materials boosted by his threshold benefit. He could definitely create something special.
“Michael, take that back.” Everlyn snapped. “Apologise now. That was thoughtless and mean.”
“No,” Tom said. “He has a point. Give me a minute. First.” He met Keikain’s eyes. “I don’t like you. The choices you’ve made have been disgraceful. But I’ll treat you as a member of the team and I won’t abuse the contract to make you do the shitty work. You’re the cook, after all.” He chuckled at his own joke. No one else joined him. There was too much tension in the air. “I hope you can trust my words and be honest in calling stuff out if I’m doing things wrong. I might get angry, but I’ll calm down quickly.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“I’ll try,” Keikain said. His face a little wan.
Tom shut his eyes and quickly reviewed the different skills available. There were ones for mana control, energy sensing, material handling, and a host of others. When he opened his eyes again, other alternatives were suggested, and he read their descriptions as well. While doing so, he saw an auction portal appear in front of Toni and she pulled out multiple slips of paper that she read before shutting her eyes again to retreat back to the system room.
“Physical Spell Form,” Keikain told him. “You need to check that, too.”
Tom did as discussed and when he opened his eyes everyone apart from Toni was in the real world. “Okay, you can consider me educated. But I have a question: will getting these skills now or in six months make a difference? Isn’t this something I can do later?” He glanced around, looking for someone to support him. From what he had read, it would take years to improve levels after acquiring the ability. Basically the technical knowledge downloaded was comprehensive and it would take that long for his muscle memory and process understanding to build up to the point he could improve on that downloaded knowledge.
Harry’s face went creepy doll like as he was in the system room. Thirty seconds later he opened his eyes. “I read the descriptions and I agree. I doubt Tom will be able to progress any of the crafting skills levels or his technical skills in six months. There is no benefit in taking the crafting path now.”
“Then we don’t consider it.” Everlyn stated.
“Well,” Keikain said, breaking the silence that had descended, “if we’re not considering crafting options then maybe we should do an analysis of your strengths and weaknesses to work out what types of skills could assist you. I’ll start. Your evasion is A rank, damage mitigation D, self-healing A, Traits assisting attributes F.” He smiled at Michael as he said the last.
“Ranged E,” Everlyn suggested quietly. “What? Tom don’t look at me like that. Your lightning ball spell is okay. Throw Rock too, but they’re more designed for short to medium distances. You have no options to fight in the medium to long range unless you count Harness Meteorite and I don’t. That’s more a siege spell that you only bring out when needed.”
Tom wanted to argue, but knew he had no leg to stand on. “You’re right.”
“Offensive proficiency.” Keikain continued. “What would you say? Tom… C? Maybe a B?”
“Give it a C. I only had one offensive ability for each weapon. Three now for my spear, but I don’t know how to use two of them effectively.”
“Taunting C,” Everlyn said.
“People management F.” Thor suggested with a big grin.
“That’s a really good one.” Keikain agreed. “Some empathy and social intuition skills could have great long-term potential and like with crafting you can start them high tiered without losing any tutorial advantages.”
There were murmurs of support.
“No! They don’t help us now!” He almost snarled the words, but managed to keep his voice level. He couldn’t believe that they were focusing on crafting and social skills. He needed to improve his core fighting abilities. “They won’t do a thing to save us from the dragon.”
“But if we’re talking about gaps in your skill set, that’s a huge one.” Michael told him, grinning broadly.
“I’m not getting anything to help socially.”
“Even if it is genuinely the best idea?” Everlyn asked. “There’s no overlap with the tutorial. It’s also a glaring weakness. Five hundred thousand of skills will fix the problem.”
“Or at least allow him to act like a normal person.”
Tom glared at Harry for that comment.
The ritualist grinned unapologetically.
Tom forced himself to breathe deeply. “I know eventually our party is going to need those skills, but someone better suited than me can do it.”
“Or none of us,” Everlyn said mildly. “At least for now, we all need to build up our own combat proficiency.”
“No crafting, no social abilities, no gathering skills for this discussion. Can we limit suggestions to items that can help us survive the trial.”
“You could also focus on increasing an existing strength.” Keikain continued logically like he was reading down a list. “You have three spear skills. Maybe you can purchase a couple more or use your experience to buy treasures to upgrade your spear, or possibly even get a better magical weapon.”
“I was wondering,” Michael said. “Do those True Dreaming restrictions extend to traits. Could you buy one to grant you pre-cognition in battle?”
Tom thought for an instant, and the answer was absolute. It would cease working. He shouldn’t have been surprised that God’s were not the type to leave easy arbitrage opportunities. “Won’t work.”
Michael raised his hands defensively. “Had to ask.”
“No, I agree.” Tom admitted. “If I could address that weakness through traits it would be my focus.”
“You could get a trait that allows you to double up on dodge.” Keikain continued.
“One that would automatically trigger if you’re exposure to surprise and unseen attacks.” Michael said with sudden excitement.
Keikain nodded. “It would meet your criteria. Useful now and also in the future. Once you move to the backline role, it can save your life there if someone or something tries to snipe you.”
“Surely any trait like that is going to be way out of my reach.”
“Maybe, but it’s worth checking.” Michael looked thoughtful.
“The other trait that could be helpful.” Keikain continued, “Is a passive one to increase your speed.”
“Increase your speed of thought,” Thor interrupted with excitement. “That’s what I was going to suggest.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tom asked.
The hammer user smiled broadly. “There’s a trait called. Crystallised Moment. According to my calculations, it should be immediately purchasable.”
Tom, like all of them took a moment to check it out.
Trait: Crystallised Moment.
When triggered, freezes time for 1 second.
Up to three charges can be stored, and the charges regenerate once every 12 minutes.
Cost 100,000 fixed plus 12,000 per level.
Tom glanced around at the others.
“It’s good,” Michael said finally. “But I think you should save for Intangible Avoidance.”
Tom checked that as well.
Intangible Avoidance.
This is a passive skill that acquires a charge every 3 hours and stores up to a maximum of 5 charges.
The use of the charge is controlled by an invisible spirit that has a sensing dome around the individual that is equivalent to a level 1 version of the tier 10 skill Sensing Dome. The spirit will then use this information and an understanding of the individual’s capabilities to fully phase through attacks or partially shift to avoid others.
As a rule of thumb. One charge is sufficient to evade two mortal blows delivered by creatures at the same tier as you.
Increasing levels improve efficiency of partial charges, time to acquire charge and level of Sensing Dome spell.
Cost: 350,000 plus 30,000 per level (total 1,220,000)
“It’s another lifesaving skill like my lightning dodge.” Tom summarised.
“Much better.” Michael, disagree immediately. “Especially how you are currently fighting. This could let you avoid dozens of otherwise deadly attacks.”
“Yes,” Keikain surprisingly agreed with that analysis. “I can see this synergizing to an extreme extent with your dodge skill, notably that threshold benefit. I’ll be honest I don’t understand evolution rules but it’s easy to imagine your dodge skill, teleport and this evolving to form something special.”
“Or just with the teleport skill.” Michael suggested. “All three is better, but… Two of them evolving is also good.”
“You can see it can’t you?” Keikain continued excitedly. “That phase ability, your teleport and then black dodge, reducing the damage. All of those combining with an intelligent spirit possessing what is basically a god tier sensing ability. That axe that should have cut you in half getting mitigated by all three acting together. Teleport taking you to the edge, your heart phasing through the attack and black dodge limiting the damage. You’ll be able to be literally decapitated multiple times and survive.”
“Well, if I’m phasing through I won’t be literally decapitated will I, because that phased tissue will still be connected…”
“You know what I mean. Those skills all synergise together to help you mitigate damage.”
“I’m not going to be the tank long term.”
“As you keep telling us,” Harry said barely suppressing his snicker.
Tom rounded on the ritualist. “Are you just going to mock me or do you have anything useful to recommend.”
“Intelligence Avoidance is worth saving for but something else to consider is a damage mitigation trait. Maybe even a reflect ability. You know how much harm is coming in. That should allow you to choose which blow not to dodge to maximise the impact of a reflective trait on the enemy. You could even tailor it on the amount of mana you have available for healing. It costs one and a half million, but Channelled Damage Mirror is the trait you want to target.”
Trait: Channelled Damage Mirror
This trait at the most basic level will reflect ten percent of incoming damage back to the attackers. Mastery of the trait greatly increases this. For ultimate results, you need to understand the nature of the damage that will be inflicted and focus on your opponent at the point you desire the reflected force to be transferred.
Tom swallowed when he read the description. “I want all of them. This Crystallised Moments and Intangible Avoidance. They all add together to create something better.”
“And collectively cost about three million.” Michael said.
“I know. Fuck you all. Did you have to have so many great suggestions?”
They all laughed.
“I haven’t even addressed skills.” Tom moaned. “At this rate, I’m going to need twenty million experience.”
“We all are,” Michael said. “We need to grind and hold off levels so we can get them.”
Rahmat stood up. “This has been an insightful conversation. Hopefully, we can push hard and do enough zones to get you that experience. We only killed one of four warlords and you got half a million. Imagine if we fight thirty similar battles over the next two weeks. That’s sufficient to boost all of us to greater heights. If I was you, I would save and aim to buy some of the bigger traits. I would probably grab Intangible Awareness first.”
“I don’t want to be a tank.”
“We know,” Rahmat agreed with him. “But for this trial, you are.”
“So that’s where I should my spend my skills.”
The spear fighter shrugged. “Not my call, but no social skills. They’re just not in your wheelhouse. As for the other options,” He looked helpless. “There are so many great choices. We…” he waved at everyone gathered. “Should look at getting something analogous to Fate’s Agility. We probably can’t afford anything that great, but there is no reason we can’t get a version gives us one or two extra attributes per level.”
“As for you,” Rahmat looked him over. “A flat attribute boost to agility would be helpful, but there is so much great stuff out there. You could get extra spear skills, supercharge your crafting, grab a percentage boost to fate.”
“No, don’t suggest that.” Michael protested.
Rahmat ignored him and kept going. “Those damage mitigation and reflective traits, something to boost lightning or earth magic, I’m sure there is useful stuff for elemental summoning…” he shrugged helplessly. “The problem is that they’re good and using traits you’re only going to be able to do one, maybe two things. And you should probably focus on attributes first in case you have to rapidly increase class levels to survive a fight.”
“And I can only choose one,” Tom concluded. “Attributes or damage mitigation or spell enhancement.”
“Or social,” Harry quipped.
“Or more seriously,” Keikain said. “There are traits that can boost speed, dodging and offensive weapons skills. They should also be considered.”
Tom ignored him as he contemplated the problem. There was an embarrassment of choice, but only the three that Rahmat had listed appealed to him. Attributes were self obvious and the other two boosted the two currently separate areas of his build, his tanking and magical damage, respectively. The choice when he thought about it was obvious. “And only one of these address the weakness that True Dreaming is causing.”
Rahmat was nodding. “Exactly.”
Another portal appeared in front of Toni. She extracted a single piece of paper, read it and did not immediately disappear into the system room.
“And?” Tom asked.
She glanced up. “There are only so many examples. Every trait you purchase increases the cost trait by a percentage. The larger the purchase, the greater the percentage assigned is. The percentages are multiplicative not additive.”
“What does that mean?” Tom asked.
“If you buy two traits that each increase the cost by fifty percent the third trait will cost two hundred and twenty-five percent more instead of two hundred percent.”
Tom thought about that and nodded. “And the percentage increases?”
“Variable, but appear to be related to the base cost of the trait.”
“So mathematically I’m better off buying more expensive traits first?
Toni nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly what everyone is saying. For traits work out the first three to five you want to buy and go from there.”
“And how big are the percentages.”
“The highest has been fifty percent.”
Tom wondered if the trait stone he had already absorbed counted. “And do you know how they can see the percentages.”
Toni crooked her head. “Why are you asking that.”
“I have a trait from the auction house.”
“They don’t count,” she answered immediately. “And once you’ve purchased the first trait the mark up is displayed in nan obvious fashion.”
“Well, I guess that’s decided. I’m saving to buy something better.”