> You reached Battleborn Centaur Heritor level 15.
>
> You reached Centaur Berserker level 15.
I sighed and landed on a rock. Bombarding the savages with siege spells then waiting for my Energy to recover on a [Berserker]'s budget of magic was hard work. I shifted back to my shapeshifted-horse-lower-body-centaur form. It would be my go-to form for a very long time now.
I dismissed the low-level goblin souls. They were too weak to be of any value, even after purifying. I needed a strong batch of souls if I wanted to use my new Perk the right way. I had to cause an impact right away or the people up there wouldn't get the message. Such thick immortal skulls.
I knew I couldn't bombard herds from above. I needed to change my approach.
The fairy flew around me as I checked my Status.
"There. Three million HP now, Nenandil. Do you think it is safe to fight them from the ground now? I could use the training."
She puckered her lips, "Didn't you turn off the behavioral modifiers for us?"
I nodded and grinned. "I did. But I have a hunch I need to follow the 'way of the centaur' barbarian bullshit if I am to unlock this heritage stuff. And I could use the training for my proficiencies. Don't neglect it."
All these {Siege Fireball} spells I tossed around didn't net me a single point of [Spellcaster] proficiency. But I knew that I just needed to stab a few barbarians to get more points in [Spears].
She sighed. "Okay. The worst scenario is they drop you to the negative HPs and your {Cyst Hibernation} triggers."
"They would need to deal around fifty million damage to kill me. In these plains, without a Dungeon entrance, that's not happening."
Creature levels over a tier behaved as a slightly skewed bell curve, with the beginning levels quickly surpassed like my own trajectory during the goblin slaughter showed. Its peak always gravitated around a value determined by the formula. 28 + 40n ± 4, where n was the rank from zero to four. That was due to the Exp curves and the difficulty of ranking up. But creature strength didn't follow that rule. A level 45 monster wasn't impossible to kill for a level 30 Adventurer. Having access to stronger prey made people level up faster and higher as the greater amount of Exp pushed them to greater heights.
In the plains, anyone in the 1st rank levels forty through seventy-nine was strong. 2nd rank were the chieftains and war-bosses. 3rd and 4th rank were the stuff of legends and myths. The vast majority of creatures, however, had few opportunities to rank up during their lifetime.
Battles weren't a grind to the last man standing. That would devastate both sides and eventually make the winner easy pickings for the next roving band. That also helped limit the Exp awarded in any fight. The other - ridiculously underpowered - source of Exp, crafting, wasn't practiced, because they were all barbarians.
"Okay, then," She waved me off, "Next band, you can fight on foot... hoof."
I beamed a smile at her.
"Spend your Perk picks first, though," she stared at me.
I frowned.
> Species Perk: 8 left.
>
> You gained the Perk: Gallop(uncommon): increase your quadruped hooved land speed by (20 + Dexterity)%.
>
> You gained the Perk: Improved Heritor Sense (unique): Increase the range of your heritage sense by 5. [current: 12.5km]
>
> You gained the Perk: Battleborn (ultra rare): You gain weapon proficiencies 20% faster.
>
> You gained the Perk: Steel Fur (very rare): Reduce all damage to parts of your body covered by fur or hair by 25%
>
> [...]
>
> You gained the Perk: Steel Fur V (ultra-rare): Reduce all damage to parts of your body covered by fur or hair by 80%
> Perk Fusion. {Steel Fur V} and {Tough Scales V} fused into: Resilient Skin (combined): Reduce all external damage to your body by 60%.
>
> Perk Fusion. {Enhanced Slither} and {Gallop} fused into: Landstalker (combined): Increase your land speed by (20 + Dexterity)%.
> Class Perks: 7 left. All perks are situational.
>
> You gained the Perk: Steel Sabatons (rare): Your hooves and shins gain damage resistance 25. This reduces the base damage inflicted.
>
> You gained the Perk: Berserker Rage II (uncommon): Improve the Attribute bonuses to +4
>
> You gained the Perk: Extend Rage I (uncommon): Double the duration of your rage.
>
> You gained the Perk: Rage Charges I (uncommon): Double the number of daily bursts of rage.
>
> You gained the Perk: Painful Criticals (rare): Whenever you deal or receive a critical hit while raging, extend your rage for another 1 minute.
>
> You gained the Perk: Untamed Mind (rare): If you fall into mental control, you automatically enter a rage (if you still have uses) and break out of control. A successful attempt to control you while raging burns 5 minutes of rage but otherwise does not affect you.
>
> You gained the Perk: Bestial Cleave (rare): If faced by 3 or more enemies, you can burn 2 minutes of rage to strike all of them with a single blow.
The proficiencies now. I found that Attribute bonus abilities appeared only after 450 points. Meaning it was obtainable in a single life. Given that each level gave 1 point of proficiency and 1 point of potential, to a total of 2 points of easily obtainable proficiency, a person would reach 200 by level 100 with little practice. A dedicated life, especially for those that can live more than a century, would be required to reach such heights.
> Physical Mastery [ 465 / 480 ]:
>
> Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
>
> * Prowess: Gain (Proficiency/50) Strength.
>
> Evasion [ 330 / 345 ]:
>
> * Harried II: Handle up to (Proficiency/25) enemies before your defenses suffer.
>
> Blades [ 135 / 150 ]
>
> * Reach I: Increase your weapon's reach by (Proficiency/25) centimeters.
>
> Spear [ 42 / 57 ]:
>
> * Heave I: Thrust your spear at an enemy in front of you, dealing (Proficiency/2)% extra damage. You cannot attack for 2 seconds afterward.
>
> Enchanter[ 135 / 150]:
>
> * Sacrifice Health I: Spend HP instead of Exp at a ratio of (200 - Proficiency/10):1.
>
> Alchemist[165 / 180]:
>
> * Property Prospection I: You have a (Proficiency/20)% chance to find new properties in rare or new ingredients. You can only inspect a single item type once.
>
> Baker [ 15 / 30 ]:
>
> * Temperature Gauge I: You can read the temperature of objects around you within ± (100 - Proficiency/5) degrees precision.
Time to grind that rank up.
----------------------------------------
Sunrise came. From up here in the sky, it was a symphony of colors. The oranges and yellows the sun dashed across the canvas of the clouds inspired me to add some red to the ground below. A band of gnolls ran across the plains on all fours and they would have the honor of being the first. I landed ahead of them by a few hundred meters behind a tall rock formation and shapeshifted into my go-to form. Getting a sturdy spear from my item box, I walked out in sight of the gnoll warband.
The lead hyena-faced scout barked an order and they stopped in waves but without pushing the ones in front too further ahead.
"Centaur!" One large gnoll pushed the others aside as he shouted. The smaller ones went with the push without being bothered by it. It was just their way of life. Just like most canids, gnolls were highly hierarchical.
"Gnoll!" I displayed my disdain, provocating them. Some hisses, barks, and snickers were thrown my way.
"I see no horse herd around here. Are you lost, mare?" He reached the front and walked toward me. I measured him up.
> Level 68 gnoll warrior
>
> [...]
I slammed the butt of my spear on the ground. "Not lost. Exiled," I said trying to ooze pride. "I have no herd to call home. And soon, so will you."
He laughed. "And why is that? Are you going to take as for your packmate?" He taunted, making some rude gestures that indicated what packmates for a broodmare did. "I'm only interested in horse haunches as if they're hanging from a spit over a fire."
"No. Dead hyenas have no herd. Unless you want to count your fellow worms as companions."
He howled with anger. "So be it."
"A challenge. Come you, come a hundred. I'm here to appease the Gods with your souls," I said, intending every single word.
The gnolls laughed. "A level thirty mare, challenging us. How foolish. I'll love to claw your flesh."
> Champion's Challenge
>
> Berserker Rage
He activated some charge ability but it wasn't at the level of a {Flash Step}. I sidestepped and put my spear in his way but he just swatted it aside.
> Spear proficiency went up by 1 point.
"Pathetic!"
Spinning on one foot, he tried to bite me but I dodged easily. My defense was on par with someone on the fourth tier. Just as I was too unskilled to strike with my spear, I was too slippery for him to connect a blow.
We exchanged a few strikes back and forth while I got the hang of the spear and how he fought. If I had a sword with me, he would already be on his knees. But that wasn't the point.
> Spear proficiency went up by 1 point.
>
> Spear proficiency went up by 1 point. You have one free ability.
>
> Spear [ 45 / 57 ]:
>
> * Precision Strike I: Add (Proficiency/2)% bonus accuracy.
Maybe it was foolish to go for accuracy, but spears could be used as ranged weapons. That would open more abilities down the spears tree for ranged strikes. I had somewhat limited options for physical ranged strikes. Maybe I should train with bows next life.
He got first blood when I fell for a feint and he slashed my arm for twenty thousand damage. He must've used his Perk combo. The gnoll stopped to lick my blood from his claws and I glanced at my arm, showing the deep gashes to him.
"Delicious, he licked his muzzle with a gormandizing groan.
"Not bad. For a cub," I taunted back as the wounds closed in the few seconds of respite he gave me. I started to hum a silly tune.
A Capella. +10 Strength
He didn't like it at all. Still wide-eyed from my display, he came with redoubled ferocity. I swung my spear clumsily trying to keep him at bay but he ducked under. I teleported behind him using {Flash Blink Step} and delivered the pain train.
> Death Contract
>
> Flash Blink Step
>
> Mind Blank
>
> You knee-kicked Gnoll Warrior for 22.346.976 HP of Arcane damage (Base (54+21 cruel strike) x3.6 Skill x2.18 Strength x3 Champion's Strike x3 Mana Strike x3 Arcane Strike x2 Blood Strike x3 critical x3.1 Backstab x4 Death Blow x2.8 Assassinate x1 Defenses Ignored).
>
> For killing level 68 Gnoll Warrior, you gained 122.4M Exp (Base 46,240 x3.05 Exp Boost x25 Fast Learner x7.59 Contract x3.05 Challenge x0.75 Size x2 Rank)
>
> You reached Battleborn Centaur Heritor level 20.
>
> You reached Centaur Berserker level 20.
The Attribute points from the species levels were all absorbed by Surpasser, as I was at the current rank cap of ONE. The Class bonuses, however, stuck. But I noticed the lack of a particular message. I didn't even see the outrage of the gnolls as the body of their warrior vanished into the item box moments later.
The gnolls were frenzied by the death of their champion. They only saw a lonely centaur and were about to dogpile on me. Dog-pile. Ha! They were tense, muscles twitching, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Where was the rank-up notification? I tried to manually rank up.
> WARNING! You cannot rank up until you advanced your [Heritor] quest.
"Dammit!" I cursed.
It seemed to be the cue the gnolls wanted to come rushing at me, all at once. Now truly enraged, I gave in and embraced the inner [Berserker]. My hands and hooves shifted into black jaguar paws. Unsatisfied by the uncanny feeling, I shifted my whole lower body to a dire tiger with black fur thanks to my camouflage Perk. I now had six claws to play with. Let's see if AD&D was right and I could strike with each limb [1]. Spoiler Alert, I couldn't.
The first wave of gnolls was already pouncing on me. I stood my ground and activated {Royal Aura}, {Eldritch Presence}, and {Mana Wellspring} at once, averaging their ranges. They lost a paltry six in all Attributes from the first, and sixteen from the second. The Wellspring was there just to lend its bigger range as the savages' MP regeneration was ridicule. The combined aura had a range of about one hundred and seventy-six meters.
Attributes reaching zero had interesting effects. Zero Strength or Dexterity meant you couldn't move. Zero Endurance would make you winded and exhausted, barely able to lift a finger. Zero Mind, a babbling idiot blind as a bat and deaf as a rock. Willpower, unable to focus, overwhelmed and distracted. Charisma, unable to interact with others or even understand language, in some cases. Magic just blocked your MP.
The Spiritual Attributes had subtle effects. Zero Ego and you would agree to everything, lose all your drive, and see no point in doing anything. Zero Luck was murphy's law avatar. Everything that had a slight chance to go wrong would. And zero Soul caused a severe state akin to a deep depression where one's will to live and even fight back disappeared.
The gnolls were all tried and true plains savages. They took the hit to their physical Attributes in stride. The mental ones, losing eighteen points, had most of them abort their actions and just stand or sit in a daze. But the crushing impact it had on their Soul and Ego caused all of them to just cower.
Maybe I should've stopped and spared them. Killing the cowering, drooling, and fish-eyed gnolls was hardly a feat worthy of a proud warrior. The [Berserker] didn't care.
Their sacrifice would serve a greater, noble purpose.
The gnolls outside my range fled. I let them. I had enough souls for my experiment. I used the upgrade to {Soul Shepherd} Rabhorktaar gave me and purified their souls. Instead of just letting them go, I sent them straight to Galbarar. It might be just a tiny drop in the ocean, but I knew the sacrifice of my enemies would aid the Sun God in his Sisyphean task of restoring this world's star back to full power. These souls originally belonged to Queltphion as the savages of the plains worshipped the War deity with only a few outliers like the priest of Zacheia. However, I wasn't worried the maille-clad God would take offense at me stealing a few hundred souls. I understood their play.
Queltphion's livelihood was guaranteed with the War domain. Nations fought each other all the time. But he couldn't be caught giving direct aid to Galbarar or the other deities would have a say about his generosity. I could see the bitchy Broodmother, for example, arguing that he should share equally, if he had so much leftover divinity. But I was an independent agent. The petty Gods had no say over my actions and how I used the souls of my kills.
So I decided to kill on my way to the Abode of War. Even if it was just a drop in the ocean, I would do what I could to end this Age of Eclipse.
And no, I still didn't understand the mechanics that allowed the sun to only shine for a few hours anywhere in the world. All I could think of was "magical bullshit".