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Greater Conflagration set the three bodies of the massacred Plains Junction vanguard alight. Their Brands were fried to charcoal, causing their Systems Interface to phase out in an instant. A pillar of smoke and the acrid smell of burning rot filled the shallow valley they found themselves in. A white-hot fire pillar shot up as well, inflicting Blind status on their various attackers.
Mikail ran off to the east, attempting to secure their escape. Karol and Calaf took off next, while Gael stayed behind to mallet-bash the first hapless level eight type who dared jump into the fray while Jedd provided a shield for him.
Retreat was, in turn, stymied. Mikail leaped back well before the rest of them sensed anything. Karol held a hand out to slow Calaf, and just barely wound up avoiding a searing purple lightning arc.
Ito the Aspiring Cultivator Uses:
Spell:
Fell Arc Lightning VII
Effect:
Throws a Mighty Leapfrogging Arc Lightning Bolt in a Straight Line Until It Hits A Solid Vertical Surface.
Description:
Fell lightning of Ben the Battlemage. Both cultivated by his hand and the cause of his demise.
“Go on then oh mighty gods. You wouldn’t dare strike me down on this metal boat while I carry a metal rod during this thunderstorm!”
Purple lightning bounced up in an arc and fell back to the ground again… and again, and again. It missed the party handily and kept going, over a hill and off somewhere far to the north-northeast.
“That was close.”
Mikail turned to the caster, Ito the Aspiring Cultivator.
“You’re level ten.” the Vanguard spat and pointed a dagger at the foe. “How the hell did you cast that.”
Indeed, their foe here was:
Name:
Ito the Aspiring Cultivator
Rank:
Soothsayer
Level:
10
Status:
20/20
Weapons:
- Basic Caster’s Staff (x1)
- Plain Pilgrim’s Robes
Ito flashed a toothy grin and began another incantation. More lightning. Mikail easily dodged.
“Hey there.” Honest John approached, stabbing knife in hand.
Calaf held his shield out as Honest John lunged. The shield blocked the knife handily, and yet…
Name:
Calaf, Crusader
Rank:
Squire
Level
40
Status:
118/120 (Conflicted but Persevering)
Another blow brought him down to 116, then a surprise crit down to 112!
“How are you getting through?” Calaf said, his shield holding firm. “This has a one hundred percent physical defense rating!”
Honest John brandished his needle-like knife.
It has some kind of piercing property, Calaf thought. One that ignores the usual properties of defense and armor. Calaf wasn’t being ‘hurt’ in the physical sense, and yet he was still taking damage according to the System.
Meanwhile, just to Calaf’s left...
Ito the Aspiring Cultivator Uses:
Spell:
Great Snaking Firewhip
Effect:
Flings a Mighty Whip of Flame at your foes.
Description:
Lost fire magic of the Battlemages of the Battletower.
“Rather than just throwing a fireball you hold on to the end and swing it around, see?”
“Impossible, that requires an Arcane stat of fifty!” Mikail said, incredulous.
Nevertheless, this lowly Soothsayer summoned forth a long whisp of flame from his hands. He wound it up and swung it much like a whip. The fire twisted and moved in a beautiful but deadly conflagration, directly toward Karol.
Their junior mage held a hand up, lacking the Agility or Endurance to either escape or tank the blow. Calaf was too far away to lend his shield – oh, how he missed the bonus effects of the Scout’s Holy Lockpicks.
Just then, a high-level blur kicked up dust as mighty mail boots kicked up dirt and rocks.
The flame whip hit a solid block of red-hued metallic stone. Fire hissed but did not burn, fizzling out once its slender whip crack was extinguished.
An Exquisite Shield of Fireproofing +2 stood strong, entirely stultifying this high-level fire magic. Jedd, Paladin extraordinaire, stood, entire body in front of Karol, and his rectangular high-tier shield fully covering him from the front.
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Gael leaped in from the wings, smashing Ito the Aspiring Cultivator with his mace. The damage was immediate and catastrophic, the lowly level 10 receiving a whopping fifty points of damage, utterly gibbing him.
A shield bash at least forced Honest John back. Calaf used the gap to apply a Basic Heal, mostly restoring his paltry scratch damage.
“They’ve found some way to access high-tier spells before their first-class change,” Gael said. “But they don’t have the endurance or stamina to stand in a straight fight. Just hit them once and they’ll drop like a rock.”
Calaf leveled his spear at Honest John, who wisely jumped back and let two other level eights attack from the side. The Squire could only block one.
The decision was made for him, as the bandit to his left was shredded by a gust of wind. Karol had swept in with her own mage’s magical offensive.
Calaf blocked another stabbing knife, then countered with his spear, goring the attacker’s paltry 15 HP away.
“Alright,” Calaf declared. “Who’s next?”
Another dozen attackers appeared over the next hill.
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Name:
Norm
Rank:
Fighter
Level:
13
Status:
9000/9000 (He’s a Big Guy…)
Weapons:
- Basic Club
- Basic Armor
“How did that guy get so much HP?” Karol asked.
Norm hoisted up an item:
Item: Medium Amber Level Up Bauble of Endurance x1
Description: Provides fifty experience points to a single target when used. Weighs next level-up stat distribution towards Endurance. Effect can stack.
The bauble disintegrated with a yellow-hued flourish.
Norm Leveled Up! Level: 14
Strength: 21 (+8)
Endurance: 89 (+15)
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 6
Arcane: 4
Luck: 4
Sweet min-maxing Battlemage of Yore! That was a great deal of Endurance. Norm had clearly downed more than a few Level Up Baubles of Strength and Endurance. The compounding nature of Endurance on the obtuse hit point formulas gave him another boost:
Name:
Norm
Rank:
Fighter
Level:
14
Status:
9324/9324 (… For You)
Weapons:
- Basic Club
- Basic Armor
The other stats were nothing to write home about. But with such a gargantuan HP pool they were hardly necessary. Why, his Basic Club would struggle to so much as scuff Mikail’s scout duster, but that was not his purpose anyway. Norm here was just meant to serve as a human battering ram while the other, more magic-oriented foes conjured up their high-tier spells to cook Calaf’s party from all sides.
Paladin Jedd took the lead, while Gael and Mikail stood at his flanks. Karol kept back and ste forth a damage buff, setting her party’s blade tips and club mallet-heads aflame with a subtle fire-damage enhancement.
Calaf kept his shield up to protect against wayward spells. The tip of his spear glowed red-hot.
“You could drop your weapons and surrender,” said Honest John from a properly safe distance, out of spell-chucking range. “We could always use hostages.”
Another two-dozen level 10-12s with mismatched stats emerged from over a hill to the north.
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What a crock this scouting expedition had turned out to be. Their paltry five-man party had run into an entire enemy army. Though they shambled about with no real organization or even party structure, these dozens upon dozens of low-level Cultivators, or whatever they were called, were each a powerhouse to themselves.
Calaf poked at Norm. With his minimal armor, each hit did prodigious damage. Damage that was immediately dwarfed by his gargantuan health pool.
Name:
Norm
Status:
9106/9324 (Tanktacular)
And that was with the fire enhancements.
“Aye, why won’t you die already?” Gael said, lifting his hammer for another blow.
“I’ve actually fought someone like this once,” Calaf said. “Sneak attacks might be effective.”
But Mikail could not rush behind the designated Tank because of other over-tuned spellcasters lobbing fireballs at the flanks.
Jedd’s mighty shield blocked all fire-related damage, leaving flames to lick at his equally flame retardant Banded Boots of Fireproofing.
“These aren’t even the more experienced troops,” Honest John said. “I’ve had people out here abusing these baubles from level five into the twenties. By level twenty-six you can start casting spells otherwise unavailable until the seventies.”
“You’re gaming the System with heretical level-defying techniques,” Jedd said.
From Honest John’s vantage point, he could look down into the narrow valley as more and more individual Cultivators streamed in from the hinterlands.
“That’s a matter of perspective,” said the shifty merchant. “They’re perfectly legitimate items. If anything, it just proves that the Church’s designated progression path is subjective. But one path of many.”
The Paladin and Squire both stabbed Norm, shaving another 250 HP off.
“Ahaha. Clear out!” Gael hobbled forward, rushing as fast as his old man knees could allow.
Gael Uses:
Spell:
Stupendous Conflagration
Effect:
Immediately Combusts a Corpse or Other Flammable Material into a Towering Inferno. Cremates targets. Does Prodigious Fire Damage to Living Targets in Range. Eighty-Five Percent Base Chance to Inflict Burn On Living Targets.
Description:
Primordial Cleansing Flame. Used for Plague Burning Rituals in Times Before the Demon Age.
“Burn it all.”
Norm was lit up in a tower of white-hot flame. He stumbled out of the blaze, still with a hefty 250/9324 HP. But in his hands was a Gargantuan Amber Level Up Bauble of Endurance. Enough to gain another three levels or so and refill his hit points back to full.
“Where’s his Brand!?” Bellowed Mikail.
Calaf looked around. The plainclothes Basic Armor was long-sleeved and covered most of the HP-sink’s limbs. But, there was a slight discoloration of an Interface Brand peeking out around the left shin.
“Left ankle! Left ankle!” Calaf declared.
Moving lightning fast, Mikail did a combat roll up to Norm’s shin and rapidly sliced and diced as fast as his twin daggers would allow. Knives danced around, filleting the Brand until it cut clear through the man’s unprotected leg.
Norm toppled.
Name:
Norm
Rank:
Fighter
Level:
14
Status:
116/9324 (Shock)
Weapons:
- Basic Club
- Basic Armor
This System Menu shattered into constituent pieces, then disintegrated on the wind. With no Interface left, Norm squeezed the level up Bauble until it popped, accomplishing nothing.
Name:
Norm
Rank:
???
Level:
XX
Status:
YYY/YYY
Hit Points maxed out at 116, and should still technically be around there under the Menu. But with the Brand scoured, hit points no longer applied the same way. His now-missing leg was no mere status effect, though impeded movement and general blood loss caused equivalents of a “Limb Broken” and “Blood Loss” status among others. Norm’s new state as Brandless was short-lived, as Mikail did a twist, drop, and put him out of his misery with a jab of the Vanguard's twin knives.
“Pity.” Honest John let out a sigh. “Wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but I’ll quite miss that one’s crafting skills. He could cook up a mean omelet.”
This merchant-turned-bauble hoarding cult leader did not appear particularly panicked by the loss of the single toughest member of his mob. Indeed, three more heavies with thereabouts 3,000+ HP lumbered over the nearest hill, wielding steel-tipped clubs for extra offense.
“They just keep coming!” Karol said.
All manner of low-level, high-stat vagabonds were pouring in from every direction. Those specialized for spellcraft could be dispatched by a single blow, but they often danced around in the back while these Endurance-specialized toughs closed the distance.
Calaf and Jedd both had healing capabilities of course. Karol had a few paltry defensive and restoration-based options.
But their enemy kept coming. Threatening to overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
“Everyone.” Calaf urged the party to close ranks. “Here!”
Calaf Uses:
Spell:
Tautological Defense
Effect:
Provides a Party-Wide Buff Equal to 25% of Caster’s Defense.
Description:
Developed during the early Church era out of deference to the martyred Paladin of Yore.
“Mia, behind me!”
A defensive glow covered Calaf and company. Just like that, he’d cast his first AOE buff. It would not be a substitute for healing capabilities, but it could help them endure.
Many of the throngs of marauders coming for them were actively popping Baubles of various types as they walked in. They were actively getting stronger in real-time. While the median level of their foe was about level 12 now, it was going to rise rapidly. And each level brought disproportionate benefits courtesy of this curious cultivation.
“Well, sure hope Isen’s having a good time, wherever he is!” Mikail said, having sliced through another two extra-fragile mages. “Sure would be a good time to have a dedicated healer!”
Calaf brought his shield up to withstand another sizzling arc of Fell Lightning.
They could not escape to the east, back to the plains, just as many Agility-specced Cultivators were dashing in from that direction. If they could not escape, truly nothing more could save the party now.
All the while, Honest John gazed upon the battle, silently observing. That smile never once spread to his eyes.
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