Jeremiah looked around the clearing as Sabrina looted the last of the twelve Sasquatch. He took a bite from a cured meat stick that he’d looted from one of the monsters. The fact that the creatures had jerky and sausages for loot was admittedly weird, but he was long past questioning things like that. Besides, it wasn’t the first time he’d looted food from a monster.
He absently pulled a handful of gummy bears out of his dimensional storage.
They had been looted from a pantry back at the settlement.
The edible loot isn’t the only bizarre thing here, Jeremiah mused as he turned his attention to the pair of outrageous figures emerging from the forest. The first man stood about four feet tall and had blue skin. He wore the sleeveless black robes of an Elite Trainer and strode forward with the confidence of a man who had everything figured out and feared nothing.
The second figure was a seven-foot-tall giant of a man and also wore an Elite Trainer robe. His shoulders slumped slightly, and he followed behind in apparent deference to the shorter man. It would have been a puzzling sight if Jeremiah hadn’t seen his Trainer, Regu, physically put the larger man, Philanthar, in his place the first time they’d met.
Regu approached Jeremiah while Philanthar veered toward Sabrina.
Jeremiah smiled at his Trainer. “So, what’d you think of that battle?”
The blue man shrugged. “Hmph. You took entirely too many hits, and the only thing Sabrina did was hide in the trees and shoot arrows at defenseless monsters.”
A quick glance showed Jeremiah that Sabrina was getting an entirely different reception from her Trainer as they exchanged high fives, huge grins plastered on both of their faces. He shook his head slightly and brought his attention back to his hard-nosed Trainer.
“I took two hits from simple wooden clubs,” Jeremiah said. “My armor absorbed much of the damage, and each one allowed me to deliver mortal blows.”
“What if they hadn’t been simple clubs?”
“But they were.”
“How did you know that?” Regu demanded. “Did you Analyze the monsters and their weapons?”
“No,” Jeremiah admitted, deflating just a little. His Trainer knew he didn’t have any spells or skills that could Analyze an enemy’s weapons and armor. It was a definite weakness he needed to address.
“The monsters aren’t going to get any easier,” Regu continued lecturing. “You will start facing creatures that possess advanced armor and weapons. Many will have equipment as good as yours. Some will have better. A single blow from the wrong weapon can still kill you, or at least, put you in a world of hurt.”
Jeremiah frowned and dropped his head slightly. He had been confident the Sasquatch didn’t have weapons that would seriously injure him but assuming that had been a risk.
Regu patted him on the arm. “Look, no damage done . . . this time. Just be more careful.”
“Okay,” Jeremiah said with a nod.
The Trainer returned the nod. “Now, let’s talk about where we go from here.”
“Boise?”
Regu frowned. “Not geographically. I’m talking about your skill set.”
“Oh.”
“Up to this point, you have been focusing on advancing a few skills. You have done well and have taken several skills all the way to Master Level.”
Jeremiah smiled at the compliment.
“You’re going to have to expand your horizons now,” Regu continued. “You need to start broadening your skill set.”
“Why not specialize further?” Jeremiah asked. He’d had his eye on a third-tier skill called Lord of Thunder since the first time he’d read about it in the IU New Planet Integration Manual. All he had to do to unlock that skill was to advance the second-tier Lightning Strike skill to Master Level.
“Well, that’s one way to go.” The grimace on Regu’s face clearly showed that he didn’t think that was the best way.
“In some cases, it may be wise to specialize,” the blue man said with a nod at Sabrina, who appeared to be having a similar conversation with her Trainer. “You just need to make sure you don’t become so focused that you become a one-trick pony.”
Jeremiah pursed his lips and exhaled. “So, what would you recommend?”
Regu clapped his hands and smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Jeremiah rolled his eyes.
“Your strikes are powerful enough that a couple solid hits will take down a Level 30 monster.”
Jeremiah nodded.
“Now, you could keep advancing your existing skill set until you can defeat a monster with a single strike.”
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Jeremiah liked the sound of that.
Regu shook his head. “Sadly, that is a path of folly. The amount of damage a monster can take keeps increasing with every level. Throw in the fact that you will start running into creatures with armor and special resistances, and the damage required to take down a monster gets extremely high.”
“Exactly! That’s why I need to keep increasing the amount of damage I can do.”
“What if a monster is immune to your existing attacks?”
Jeremiah summoned his sledgehammer into one hand and slapped it on his other. “I don’t know of any monster that’s immune to a beating.”
The look on Regu’s face sent a chill down Jeremiah’s spine, and he asked hesitantly, “There are monsters that are immune to a sledgehammer?”
The blue man nodded. “There are monsters that can turn the energy from a powerful strike back on you. There is armor that will absorb or redirect virtually any blow. There is magic that will protect a caster from literally anything.”
Jeremiah felt a sense of panic well up inside and settle in his chest, filling him with a jittery feeling of extreme anxiety. “How do I defeat something like that?”
“You diversify,” Regu said. “That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“How do I do that?”
Regu shrugged. “That’s up to you. I can coach you on any skills you are considering, but I can’t—won’t—make your choices for you.”
Jeremiah frowned. “You have been telling me what to do since the moment we met.”
The blue man held his hands up. “I just made suggestions. You didn’t have to follow my advice.”
Jeremiah opened his mouth to protest but closed it and sighed. “You’re right. The decisions were ultimately mine to make.”
Regu slapped him on the shoulder, an action that physically moved Jeremiah. “Don’t worry. I would have strongly urged you to reconsider your choices if I thought you were making serious mistakes.”
“So you wouldn’t change anything?”
“I didn’t say that.” The Trainer chuckled. “You had such a big head start that I didn’t feel the need to optimize right away. All of the skills you’ve chosen can be useful, and your attribute balance can be significantly changed with just a few level advancements. You’re right where you need to be—more or less.”
Before Jeremiah could respond, the blue man turned his attention to Sabrina and Philanthar, who were approaching.
“Now that was quite a battle,” Regu said excitedly. “You must have picked up a level.”
Jeremiah frowned at the significantly more positive feedback he was giving Sabrina, even if he did understand the reason. It wasn’t like he would stop striving to improve if he got more compliments.
“Two levels, actually,” Sabrina replied cheerfully.
“Good for you,” Regu said, then looked at Jeremiah for a moment before turning back to Sabrina. “I assume Philanthar helped you choose some new skills.”
“He sure did,” Sabrina said. “He’s always giving me valuable advice.”
Philanthar frowned slightly but didn’t say anything. Jeremiah wasn’t sure who the expression was directed at, but he surmised the man thought he was either being chastised by Regu or patronized by Sabrina . . . which he probably was, on both accounts.
Jeremiah tuned out the conversation that ensued and considered his attribute and skill points. He knew Regu was right: facing higher-level monsters was going to require him to make changes and keep growing. Increasing his Health and Mana were good places to start, so he added his attribute points to Durability and Intelligence.
>
>
> Health: 1128 (max)
>
> Mana: 1498 (max)
>
> Stamina: 1134 (max)
>
> Agility: 35
>
> Charisma: 30
>
> Durability: 45
>
> Intelligence: 45
>
> Strength: 40
>
> Vitality: 40
>
> Wisdom: 31
Agility, Charisma, and Wisdom were starting to lag behind again, but Jeremiah figured he had time to increase those before it became critical. Ramping up Durability and Intelligence now was a good choice, he knew, because they had a compounding effect on Health and Mana, adding more points every time he leveled up.
Next, Jeremiah looked at his existing skills.
> Skills:
>
> * Air Magic: Master
> * Battle-axe: Advanced
> * Basic Magic: Expert
> * Blunt Weapons: Advanced
> * Camouflage: Basic
> * Combat Magic: Master
> * Dagger: Basic
> * Dungeon Mapping: Master
> * Hand-to-hand Combat: Basic
> * Life Magic: Master
> * Lightning Strike: Advanced
> * Self-defense: Basic
> * Swimming: Basic
> * Throwing Weapons: Advanced
> * Tracking: Basic
> * War Hammer: Master
He knew Regu had a good point about broadening his skill set, but he also knew having the basic level of any skill would provide limited benefits. Besides that, there were a lot of Basic Level skills he could get simply by training at a Training Yard, Archery Range, or other similar places.
If he was going to be fighting Level 30 monsters and higher, he needed to have skills that he could use. Because of that, he decided to increase the Battle-axe skill. It was already at Advanced Level, so increasing it again would provide him with another reliable weapon. One that might be indispensable if he ever needed a bladed weapon because his hammer wasn’t effective for some reason.
>
>
> Battle-axe:
>
> Axes are equally adept at building and destroying. Simple design, affordable construction, and ease of use make them perfect for the less experienced Warrior while being extremely deadly in the hands of a Master. Use your axe to cleave your enemy, then cut wood for their funeral pyre!
>
> * Basic Level – Attack damage increased by 100% versus undead creatures and 30% versus other creatures. Attack damage further increased by 1% per Strength point. Chance to block increased by 50%.
> * Novice Level – Attack damage increased by 110% versus undead creatures and 40% versus other creatures. Attack damage further increased by 2% per Strength point. Chance to block increased by 60%.
> * Advanced Level – Attack damage increased by 120% versus undead creatures and 50% versus other creatures. Attack damage further increased by 3% per Strength point. Chance to block increased by 70%.
> * Expert Level – Attack damage increased by 130% versus undead creatures and 60% versus other creatures. Attack damage further increased by 4% per Strength point. Chance to block increased by 80%.
>
>
Jeremiah nodded approval at his choices. He now had three Master Level magical skills and two combat skills that were Expert or Master Level. That should be more than enough for anything he was going to face in Zone 3, where monsters were capped at Level 30.
There was still a long way to go, though, before he would be ready to take the next step and face Zone 4 monsters that could be as high as Level 50.
One step at a time, Jeremiah reminded himself. Every level gained and skill learned was a step in the right direction.