I made it back to my cot before Zacheia's mass sleep spell ended. Tucked in my bed, I started to review the System messages I so foolishly skipped.
> Withholding Attributes above the cap. 923/100 Attributes Withheld. You gained the Perk: Surpasser LV (combined): 550% bigger Attribute caps, 11 Attribute points every 8 levels.
>
> You no longer meet the requirements. Your {Pinnacle of...} Perks were removed.
>
> Exp Boost V is deprecated. You were refunded 3 Very Rare and 2 Ultra Rare vouchers.
>
> All Base Exp awards and costs were multiplied by the same value given by Exp Boost V.
>
> Death Contract now only has 3 levels. You were refunded 2 Ultra Rare vouchers.
>
> Favored Enemy Exp now only has 3 levels. You were refunded 2 Ultra Rare vouchers.
>
> Perks that grant bonuses per level now only consider your highest leveled Path.
>
> The Exp multiplier per rank was halved. Exp required at each rank was lowered.
>
> Some Perks are now marked as confrontational. You can benefit from one confrontational Perk active on a target.
Damn. Another batch of sneaky nerfs. They were out to get me. I bet Wyxnos now had some way to circumvent my protections and read my Status indirectly.
I checked. {Champion's Challenge} and {Death Contract} were both marked as confrontational. I couldn't combine both anymore.
If I weren't so damn angry, I could think that some other fucker found a way to exploit the Path system and gain some benefit more than once, that the world didn't spin around my belly button and Wyxnos wasn't out to get me... but fuck all that. I was mad and wanted to savor my anger.
The exp tables were greatly lowered. As they told me, the Exp necessary was halved at each Rank. At the fourth rank, it was divided by two four times, or sixteen. No surprise here. Issuing quests with {Royal Order} is now three times as expensive but also three times as rewarding.
> You are a Half-dwarf-kitsune (rare, no rank).
>
> As a mixed-breed, you can choose which side of your heritage you'll favor. Your dwarven blood favors crafting and physical Attributes. Your Kitsune side favors mysticism and cunning.
I could tweak these aspects, a huge advantage for mixed-breed people.
As a rare species, I could have up to 30 Attribute Points. Selecting my dwarven side would give me one extra technical proficiency but remove 10 Attribute points. The Kitsune side would remove 10 and add a mystical proficiency.
Why not pick both? It required some cajoling but I bent the System to my will. The Attribute bonuses were small and scattered all over the place.
> Your progression is:
>
> 1 Attribute point at every level.
>
> 1 Mind, Dexterity, nothing, and Willpower alternating every level.
>
> 1 Endurance, nothing, Soul, and Magic alternating every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level and another Perk at levels 10 and 20.
>
> You can have 3 open proficiencies.
>
> 8 HP and 6 Energy at every level.
>
> You can pick 1 Technical and 1 Mystical proficiencies.
>
> You gained the Perk: Skin of Stone (rare): Your skin is resilient like stone. Reduce all cutting and piercing damage by 25%.
>
> The Perks:
>
> * Unblemished Skin (rare).
> * Skin of Stone (rare)
> * Chameleon Skin (rare)
> * Improved Prismatic Skin (ultra-rare)
> * Resilient Skin (combined)
> * Mana-Woven Skin (very rare)
> * Skin Sight (very rare)
> * Regal Mane (uncommon).
>
> Were combined into:
>
> * Titan Skin (combined): Absolute Damage Reduction 85%. Your skin and hair are always impeccable and can be colored at will. Add 40% to stealth if you aren't fully covered. Your hair regrows in the time needed to regenerate 2% of your maximum HP. Add a tenth of your maximum HP to your maximum MP. Reduce bleeding damage by 75%. You can sense with your skin, granting rudimentary lightless "vision" 10 meters all around you. You are immune to hair and skin afflictions.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Absolute Damage Reduction" couldn't be "bypassed" by other attack Perks, like {Mana Strike}. It was trumped by "ignores" but this was as rare as cockatrice teeth. I had only one Perk that ignored defenses, it had a 1-hour cooldown on that effect and it was called {God Slayer}. I'd lost some nice effects like the healing from {Prismatic Skin} but overall it was a good Perk fusion.
> You have 152.8 M Exp. Do you want to max out your Species level for 52.4M Exp?
>
> You reached Half-dwarf-kitsune level 20.
>
> You gained 20 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 5 Endurance, Willpower, Soul, and Magic.
>
> You gained 12 Species Perks.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser granted you 27 Attribute Points.
>
> Withholding Attributes above the cap. 75/100 points withheld.
>
> Do you want to rank up? All your available Exp will be divided by 100.
>
> You ranked up. You have 1M Exp.
The reason I ranked up without a Class was to save the Attribute points from the rank zero Class that would be eaten up by Surpasser. A hundred million Exp was cheap to keep them. Any Attribute Points I had would be eaten up by it anyway. Why waste them now?
While the base species gave me a dwarven perk, the first rank seemed to upgrade only the kitsune side. I wondered if it would alternate like that. Perhaps that was how the System accommodated my desire to favor both sides.
> Your species ranked up into half-dwarf trickster (rare, rank 1)
>
> Your progression is:
>
> 1 Attribute point at every level.
>
> 1 Strength, Dexterity, Luck, and Willpower alternating every level.
>
> 1 Endurance, Charisma, Soul, and Magic alternating every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level and another Perk at levels 10 and 20.
>
> 9 HP and 6 Energy at every level.
>
> You gained the Perk: Kitsune Tails (very rare): You have a tail for each magical affinity you possess, colored accordingly. Each tail grants you 5 base Energy.
Oww, shit. Dammit! Mandatory Species perks! Not good!
The base of my spine itched like crazy. My normal cotton panties and nightgown were torn asunder around the hole for my tail as no more, no less than sixteen new tails sprouted from my butt (to a total of seventeen with the one I already had). I turned my head around and admired the damage. What's worse? Each of them had a different color. I knew by instinct what each one of them was. All of them had a white tip.
* Fire: Orange
* Wind: Green
* Water: Blue
* Earth: Dark brown
* Ice: Cyan
* Light: Light yellow
* Lightning: Light blue
* Darkness: Graphite
* House Magic: Wood brown
* Nature: Light green
* Force: Pure white
* Bardic: Yellow
* Necromantic: Midnight black
* Healing: Pink
* Ritual: Gray
* Summoning: Red
* Ward: Magenta
My butt became a glorified giant duster. The stupid tails went every which way, up, down, to the sides. Nobody would notice my back was bare. I'll have to re-learn how to move those fucking tails because they were all doing their thing, and it wasn't standing still. Worse yet, any kitsune connoisseur that looked at them would know what they meant. And I had seventeen of them. Wasn't it supposed to be only nine? Fuck you, System.
At least I didn't have {Radiation Magic Affinity} anymore. I bet the stupid tail would be glow-in-the-dark phosphorescent green. And who needs another tail? At least they gave me 85 extra base Energy.
Adding insult to injury, my horn and wings decided it was time to grow back. And because I was lying on my stomach, because tails, the horn pierced the straw mattress and the bed as it grew all at once. I didn't even bother to unstuck it.
While being a mutant chimera might be cool, I was trying to lay low. I shapeshifted my wings and horn away, then swapped my seventeen tails for a simple fox's tail. Discarding my ruined panties, I donned my own made of living silk.
With the super furry crisis averted, I moved on to select a Class. This time, I didn't wait to fuse them. My first-rank Attribute cap was 52 and would go up by 26 points every rank. I selected Classes that had good rarity from the crafting ones I had access to and fused them.
> You become an Novice Crafter (5-fused, Ultra-Rare++, no rank). Your progression is:
>
> 1 Strength, Willpower every odd level.
>
> 1 Endurance, Magic every even level.
>
> nothing, 1 Dexterity, 1 Mind, and 1 Luck, alternating every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level
>
> 10 HP and 8 Energy per level.
>
> 1 free proficiency
>
> 1 weapon proficiency
>
> 1 Physical Proficiency
>
> 2 Technical Proficiencies
>
> 1 Mystical Proficiency
>
> You reached Novice Crafter level 14.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser granted you 19 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 7 Class perks.
I felt robbed. 76 Attribute points were missing because some stupid dick decided to limit that. I dumped all the Attribute points in Ego.
I had nine vouchers, twelve species, and seven Class Perks. It was time to shop. Species Perks first.
* Dexterous Tail (uncommon): Your tail has the same dexterity as an arm. It helps you balance better.
* Track Mineral Vein (rare): Once you find a mineral vein, you can sense where it goes and what it contains.
* Traceless Period (common): You do not bleed or cramp during your period. You are still aware of it.
* Rockbreaker (uncommon): You deal 50% more damage to stone, including monsters.
* Directional Ears (uncommon): Your animal ears swivel 90 degrees to either side. Triple your hearing range where your ears point.
* Beast-kin olfaction (uncommon): It is 5 times stronger.
* Stench Suppression (rare): You automatically suppress strong smells. Reduce the duration of smell-based attacks by 10.
* Feral Instincts (uncommon): +15 to Mind tests to sense threats.
* Great Stamina (uncommon): You can endure exertion (Endurance+20)% longer.
* Favored Enemy[Goblins] (uncommon): Against a favored enemy, gain 20% accuracy, 15% more critical chance, deal 100% more damage, and take 25% less damage.
* Favored Enemy[Trolls] (uncommon): [...]
Several of the kitsune Perks involved seducing members of the opposite gender. While I had no interest in males, the social Perks seemed nice enough... I didn't need them. Back to the Dwarf Perks list.
* Tunnel Stability (uncommon): You can tell how stable is the tunnel around you.
Class Perks!
* Blueprint Visualization (rare): You gain technical proficiencies 20% faster.
* Precise Manipulation (rare): Reduce chance of mishap by (Luck/4 +20)%
* Tool Maintenance (uncommon): Your tools degrade (Luck/2 +20)% slower.
* Detailed Crafting I (uncommon): Your creations are (Dexterity/4 + 10)% more detailed and valuable but take 50% longer to craft.
* Detailed Crafting II (rare): Your creations are (Dexterity/3 + 20)% [...]
* Multitasking I (uncommon): If your workshop is properly set, you can conduct two different tasks at the same time, only one of them requiring fine manipulation.
* Multitasking II (uncommon): [...], you can conduct three [...]
I would be a fool to burn the vouchers right now. I didn't need any new Perks. Since I had nothing better to do with them, I kept those as a strategic reserve.