Chapter 44

Jay didn't feel like going back through all his notifications and adding them up. There were almost 40 of them if not more. Jay pursed his lips as he thought.

“What's wrong?” asked M'redith as she looked over at him looking a little concerned.

“Wrong? Oh,” Jay said looking up from his thoughts, “there's nothing wrong it's just that I have a ton of notifications to go through.”

“Oh, that's no big deal. We'll just go through them one by one.” Aiden said reasonably.

“There's like forty of them.” Jay replied.

M'redith winced, “That seems a bit excessive. What the hell did you do in that dungeon anyway?”

Jay made a hmmm noise as he tried a few mental commands. He thought XP and a little notification popped up.

Adventurer (2) – 1400/2000

Jay tried another. SUMMARY he thought. Nothing happened. DUNGEON STATUS he thought. Nothing. There was no way he was going to dig through 40 notifications. DUNGEON SUMMARY he thought.

Dungeon Summary: House of Peril

Quests: 2 series, complete

Cleaning House Series (4 quests): 400xp

(Cleaning House, Vertical Race, Jaded Keymaster, Hidden Treasure)

Midnight Series (4 quest + 1k completion bonus): 1400xp

(Padded For Comfort, Wood Grain Finish, Assemble the Mask, Give Baby a Bath)

Enemies Defeated: 26 x 100 = 2600xp

Mini Bosses Defeated: 1 x 500 = 500xp

Mega Mimic

Bosses Defeated: 2 x 150 = 300xp

The Twins, Tentacleman

Hard Mode Bosses Defeated: 1 x 500 = 500xp

Peril (Final Boss)

Dungeon Completion: 500xp

Final Dungeon Run XP: 6200xp

Do you wish to allocate your experience points (xp) now?

Jay whistled. “That is a lot of xp.” Jay was about to read out the Dungeon Summary but decided to try something instead. He thought about his dialog box as an object and mentally pictured 'throwing' it to Aiden and then to M'redith. Both of his friends looked up in surprise.

In front of both of his friends the dungeon summary appeared.

“How'd you do that!” Aiden asked. “This is really cool.”

Aiden and M'redith looked at Jay's dungeon run total. 6200 seemed like a lot of experience points for a single run. Jay only needed 600 points to hit level 3. He might even level twice.

“Does this seem excessive to you two?” Jay asked.

Aiden looked thoughtful but M'redith didn't need to think about it, “This is absolutely excessive. Look at the list again and ignore anything that you got because you were a Traveler. Add the remaining items up and you get only 3550xp. You got a little under double the xp for being a Traveler – being able to pick up quests and unlock hard mode fights for example.”

“From what you told us a different group wouldn't even have found the Mega Mimic to fight. It should have been a regular mimic like the others.” M'redith continued.

Aiden made an appreciative sound, “I'm guessing the rest of your group didn't allocate their xp while you were around or they would have noticed and said something. Almost double xp for a dungeon run on top of all the other benefits a group gets just from bringing you along just seems like overkill.”

“Seriously though,” M'redith said while pushing Jay away slightly so she could look him in the eyes, “this is a big deal. Groups would fight over that alone; I feel like I'm constantly saying that about you. Quests, patches, titles, rarity upgrades, hard mode fights, extra xp, Treasure Sense, – it's a good thing you can't fight for crap or I'd say you were overpowered.”

The group went quiet for a moment as everyone considered M'redith's main point. Jay had turned in to a person a group would definitely want to bring along with them.

M'redith laughed while hugging one of his arms with her own, “Lucky we got him first!”

Jay grinned, “Yup! You two are the lucky ones.”

Aiden laughed, “Enough of that, your head is already big enough. Go ahead and level up Jay.”

Jay brought up the dungeon summary again and chose to allocate his xp.

Calculating..

Adventurer (2) – 1400 + 6200 = 7600/2000

Level up!

Adventurer (3) – 5600/3000

Level up!

Adventurer (4) – 2600/4000

You have 2 Class Choices pending. You have 2 Ability Points remaining to allocate.

Jay brought up his status and shared it with his friends who both took a moment to go over his character sheet.

Name: Jay

Titles: Prophet of Gaia, Exterminator (+1 Str), The Masked One (+1 Dex)

Classes: Adventurer (4)

Health: 140

Mana: 140

STR: 2 (+1)

DEX: 2 (+1)

INT: 2

WIS: 2

CHR: 3

Boons:

Core Abilities:

Traveler's User Interface

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Quest Journal

Identify / Inventory

Skills:

n/a

Jay grinned, “Not bad! Two at once!”

M'redith straightened out her notes in front of her and got her writing kit ready. “Class Ability time?” she asked with an excited smile.

Jay nodded and selected the notification for his first Class Ability.

As a level 3 Adventurer you have been awarded a Class Choice. Please choose from the following selections:

1. Gaia's Light (common) – One time per day per rarity level you may cast an orb of light that will follow you wherever you go for one hour. The light will brilliantly light a 10 foot cube around the user. The light is pure white in color but gives off no heat. The orb remains until canceled by the user or 1 hour per rarity level, whichever comes first.

2. Gemcutter (common) – So long as you are able to hold a gem in your hands you will automatically be aware of its rough value in coins. Uncut gems will give their base worth whereas cut gems will obviously give the higher worked-item pricing.

3. Fancy Footwork (uncommon) – During combat when any enemy prepares to use a special ability the area of that ability's effect will be highlighted on the ground in red. The highlighted portion is only visible to the caster and indicates where an ability will do damage once it completes. Once the ability executes the highlighted portion will disappear.

Jay read his class ability options out and his friends both grinned. M'redith seemed satisfied with Jay's options and quietly wrote them down.

“So.. comments?” Jay asked.

Aiden spoke right up, “Three options? Talk about lucky.”

M'redith nodded, “Yup. That's Jay. He always seems to get at least three options to pick from instead of the normal two. I vote for Fancy Footwork, this seems like an easy choice.”

Aiden looked amused, “Really? You sure you don't want him to take one of the other ones?”

“Are you crazy? Fancy Footwork lets him see when an enemy is about to use a big ability and where not to stand to avoid it. I'd kill for an ability like that.” M'redith said adamantly.

Aiden laughed. “I'm just teasing you.”

Jay and Aiden laughed as Jay rubbed M'redith's back briefly in consolation and Jay made his choice. Selecting Fancy Footwork Jay smiled. It would help him stay alive in future battles and although it didn't give him any combat abilities it did do a good job of helping keep him away from his enemy's combat abilities.

The last dungeon run had shaken him up a bit and Jay really needed something to give him an edge in combat, even a tiny one. Anything to give him even a sliver of safety. Fancy Footwork was perfect for that.

M'redith was still writing so Jay waited for a bit until she finally looked up. “Ok, ready for the next one?” she asked.

As a level 4 Adventurer you have been awarded a Class Choice. Please choose from the following selections:

1. Eagle Eyed (common)– When activated one of the user's eyes will act as a scope and allows the user to make out fine details within 1 mile. The ability stays active for 5 minutes after which it must be recharged for one hour before reuse.

2. Summon Bounty (uncommon) – Once per day you may summon a picnic basket. Anyone who reaches inside may pull out one sandwich and one flask of water. No user may use the picnic basket twice in the same day. There is no limit to the amount of people who may retrieve sustenance from the picnic basket but the basket will only remain for 5 minutes after which it will disappear in to motes of light.

3. Tropical Island Aura (rare)– When in use the caster is surrounded in a 6 foot in diameter aura that constantly keeps the user clean. The user's body as well as outfit will no longer get dirty. Should it come in to contact with something dirty the filth is removed, unable to stick to the user or their clothing. The aura comes complete with ocean breeze scent and may affect one other person so long as that person stays within the aura for thirty seconds. Auras may stay active as long as the user chooses.

Jay nodded and read off his next options and M'redith returned to furiously copying down what he said.

M'redith had gotten positively giddy as she wrote.

Aiden spoke up first.

“You're a handy guy to have around. So your choices are see real far, feed a crowd, or never get dirty again. Are you kidding me right now?” Aiden said, “Those are some great support choices. You'll make a great support member in any group that has room for you.”

M'redith gave Jay a lopsided smile, “He's not wrong you know. You really are lucky. I vote for the Tropical Island Aura.”

“You do, do you?” Aiden said peering at M'redith and giving her a hard time. Out of the three friends M'redith had been the most vocal about her hatred of being dirty.

M'redith shrugged but had the good graces to act a little guilty, “I hate being all sweaty after fights. It dries on to your skin and rubs you raw under your armor. It would be heavenly to not have to worry about that anymore.”

Aiden laughed, “So you'd rather be comfortable than Jay be able to feed the masses?” he said in jest.

M'redith blushed and looked over at Jay.

“It's ok. I hate being dirty too. Eagle Eye is a non-starter, I've no desire to see any farther. As for Summon Bounty, well, I haven't run in to any situation where I've run out of food but I can see how it might someday be useful. The island aura though, I'd use that every day, all the time. Especially with M'redith around.” Jay said with a big grin.

“Hey!” M'redith said, “I don't get any dirtier than you two do!”

The group laughed as Jay made calming motions towards her and leaned up against her side to make sure she knew he was just joking.

M'redith smiled too. “It sounds like you're saying I'm right and you want to pick the aura.”

Aiden looked from Jay to M'redith before hesitantly asking, “Just so I know – what is an aura again?”

Jay pursed his lips. “I think I know but I'd be just guessing. M'redith?”

“An aura is an area surrounding a person, usually a sphere, with an ongoing effect, or effects. It moves with them and is always centered on their body. Helpful auras only affect allies whereas damaging auras only affect enemies.” M'redith looked up at Jay's face and seemed happy to see his look of approval. She had impressed him yet again with her intelligence.

“Well I guess I know what I'm choosing.” Jay said as he picked the aura ability. Jay mentally thought the command Class Abilities and a list showed up in front of him.

Adventurer Class Abilities

1. Lucky Mascot

2. Treasure Sense

3. Fancy Footwork

4. Tropical Island Aura

M'redith smiled as Jay got real close to her and gave her a hug. She smiled and leaned in to him as Jay activated his aura.

Jay instantly smelled the scent of an ocean and his body seemed to tingle.

M'redith's eyes opened wide as her body started to tingle but she didn't move away from Jay.

The two stayed put until the full 30 seconds had elapsed after which Jay pulled back and M'redith seemed to not want to let him go but suddenly became much more animated.

“I'm clean! Goodness Gaia this is amazing! Oh this is so exciting!” she said, her eyes sparkling.

“You didn't seem this happy when I got my other abilities.” Jay said with a grin.

“Your other abilities weren't as amazing as this one.” M'redith insisted.

Jay waited until M'redith settled down a bit to ask his last leveling related question. “Ok, last item on the leveling list. I have two stat points to spend. Just spend them right?”

M'redith nodded as Aiden shrugged. “You don't worry about stat distribution usually unless you don't think you'll be able to get past level 20. Once you hit level 20 you stay there until you can level up your stats to 20. After that I have no idea what happens as it doesn't happen often and people don't usually talk too much about it.”

Jay nodded in understanding, “Ok, in that case I'll go intelligence and wisdom. I could use some more smarts.”

M'redith laughed and shook her head, “It doesn't work that way. It doesn't make you smarter, it sort of increases the upper limit on your smarts – you still have to work at being smart.”

Jay nodded and brought up his final stat totals not counting his titles.

STR: 2

DEX: 2

INT: 3

WIS: 3

CHR: 3

Aiden watched the two of them talk with a tired look. “You two want to get going? I'm glad you leveled and all Jay but I'm not as in to class abilities as M'redith here is. I'm hankering for a meat stick.” he said while rubbing his belly.

M'redith looked over at him in shock, “We JUST ate a half hour ago!”

Aiden didn't even look embarrassed. “I know! And now I'm hungry again. It's not like it's my fault! I'm hungry when I'm hungry! There's no conscious decision involved on my part. Plus, I love meat on a stick.”

Jay laughed and slowly stood up as he stretched out his limbs, “Ok. Meat on a stick is on me today.”

The group gathered up and walked outside in to the sun. It was mid afternoon and Jay flagged down a passing cart. Everyone got on as Jay called over to the driver, “The nearest meat on a stick vendor, take us there. Please.”

The cart took off down the road with them in it and Jay sighed in contentment.

Life was good.

Mostly.