In the morning, I watched them arrive from the window in my room. A group on horseback. Definitely not farmers, or villagers. Maybe nobles? One had the look of a lawman, but not quite. He had a white beard, wide-brimmed black hat, broad shoulders, but a hunched posture. There was armor underneath his long, black coat. While he moved like he had all the time in the world, his old eyes told a different story. They were calculating eyes, shifting, and searching. I didn’t know them, but I had a pretty good idea why they were here.
The past week was peaceful, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Darya and I went at a fast pace, clearing six of the harder, tier two and three dungeons per midnight. During the day we’d also complete another sixteen tier one dungeons. This was on top of hunting for food to feed the orphans and ourselves. The food situation had only got worse, and Frank hadn’t returned yet. Some worried why it was taking him so long -- the planting time for wheat, oats and barley was already here. Time was ticking.
We had accumulated a large stash of dungeon orbs, mostly t1 and t2, some t3s, but also seven of t4 that we were itching to do. I made a lot of progress, and leveled ten times, from 17 to 27. I thought I would have leveled more, but once I hit twenty, the leveling pace dropped off a cliff. Darya suggested targeting higher tier dungeons if I wanted to level faster, which we planned to do.
At level twenty I was given an option to pick a single passive out of three. And how I wished I could have selected two.
* [t3 Passive] Empowered Reach
* Activate the passive to set number of stacks
* Stack range: 0-3
* Projectile speed is increased by 100% per stack (1x-4x)
* Mana cost is doubled per stack (1x-8x)
* [t2 Passive] Arcane Rejuvenation
* Sleep effectiveness is doubled
* Mana Regeneration is 50% less while sleeping
* [t3 Passive] Clashing Span
* Activate to switch between modes
* Mode Switch Cooldown: 180 seconds
* Point Blank Mode:
* 100% more projectile damage
* 10% less projectile damage per yard traveled
* Siege Mode:
* at 0-30 yards: 100% less projectile damage
* at more than 30 yards: 2% more projectile damage and AOE per yard traveled (max: 200%)
I went with the [Clashing Span] passive, and hoped that [Empowered Reach] would again be available for selection at level thirty. The two passives seemed to have been made for each other.
I felt that more damage, though coming with some restrictions, was more than welcome and proved immensely useful in killing bosses in the dungeons. While my aim had improved over the week, it wasn’t so good that I could take advantage of the longer shooting range that [Empowered Reach] could provide just yet.
I almost considered taking [Arcane Rejuvenation] to fix my sleep. It’s like the gods knew I was sleep deprived. Not much could be done about it, I had a lot on my plate -- dungeons and hunting when I had the energy. Also had to run around with Stulyn for a few days, moving the portal all over the swamp and the forest so that she could hoover up all the topsoil within reach that was worth taking.
She wasn’t an actual ‘Mud Mage,’ as I learned. This world didn’t appear to have ‘classes’ as far as I could tell. It was more that she had great interest in geology, and picked up the skills related to it, like [Mud Flow] and [Terra Sense.]
For attribute points, I continued to distribute them equally because I didn’t want to ignore my defenses, perception and mana. For passive points, I was short of one point to upgrade [Measured Savagery] attribute power to the fifth and maximum tier. But last night, I finally leveled to 27 and had the five points I needed -- and was very glad that I did that.
The last tier, instead of upgrading by another 20%, rewarded me with a whopping 60% -- just like Gregor had told me it would. Now, instead of the default 100%, my attributes under [Measured Savagery] were increased by 240%, or by a factor of three and a half. Normally, this passive wouldn’t have been such a big deal under usual circumstances, but were it not for my racial, Drakon’s Hoard, which boosted my base stats by 231. The combination was incredible, and the resulting power was something I couldn't wait to try out tonight.
While monsters and bosses in the dungeons were predictable, people weren’t so easily killed. I replayed the encounter with two Raiders over and over in my mind, thinking up ways I could have dealt with them much easier. Concentrating on pure damage alone wasn’t going to cut it. I needed a toolbox full of versatile tools I could use. Utility skills, buffs and debuffs.
Over the week, I had found a number of skill tomes, some from the chests, others from the bosses. Because of the limited number of skill slots, I had to be very selective about the skills I learned. However, two skills stood out above the rest. I handed over the rest to Amelia to give out to the villagers as she saw fit.
* [t3] Infernal Barrage [Wand] [Fire] [Projectile] [Attack] [AOE]
* Requires a Wand. Fires 3 projectiles sequentially with a small spread
* 50% of Wand Damage is converted to Fire Damage
* 50% Less Damage with this skill
* Cost: 150 mana
* Affected by [Strength] and [Will]
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* [t2] Boiling Tar Bomb [Fire] [Trap] [Debuff] [Duration][AOE]
* Throwable, explodes on impact
* Cost: 120 mana
* Cast time: 3 seconds
* Duration: 20 seconds
* Expires after: 3 minutes
* Radius: 6 feet
* Limit: 2
* Affected by [Will]
* Debuff: [Tarred]
* -25% Fire Resistance
* Causes combustion when ignited
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the skill slots to fit these two new abilities -- I was short one. So, it came down to a choice between axing [Illusion] or [Power Shot.] In the end, I removed the [Illusion] skill.
While it was a fun skill to have, I needed to keep [Power Shot] because it wouldn’t set the whole place on fire in case I had a fight were to break out inside a house -- as would be the case with [Infernal Barrage.] I also reset the skill points from [Power Shot], so I could use the points with my new main attack skill instead.
For skill points, I had done a little bit of testing of my [Telekinesis] skill. It had come in clutch the last time when I fought a Raider by being able to brush aside his sword. The skill was affected by my Will attribute, and under Measured Savagery, the difference was quite noticeable. It felt like it was an under-appreciated tool with many applications that could really shine with enough upgrades.
* [t2] Telekinesis [Duration]
* Upgrades:
* Force: +20%, 1 Skill Point
* Range: +20%, 1 Skill Point
* Limit: +1, 2 Skill Points
So that’s what I did. I upgraded the Force of [Telekinesis] to the third tier, and its Limit once. The results were incredible, and especially under Measured Savagery where my Will increased from 343 to 866. With thought alone, I was able to lift a 100 pound boulder off the ground and toss it some 20 yards. In the process I also learned a minor limitation to Telekinesis after increasing its Limit by one -- I couldn’t use the second instance of the skill on the same object.
Flinging boulders, however, wasn’t what I had in mind. Instead, I planned to use it to disarm opponents, to distract them, make their attacks miss, make them lose their balance, or trip them up.
Karl came through with all the custom steel armor I had ordered. Gauntlets, greaves, pauldrons, leg plates and bracers. I felt properly protected, but with exceptions for my feet and a few areas where armor didn’t cover, like under the arms, back of the legs, and my ass. Thankfully, I was able to replace my sandals with a pair of amazing boots from a hidden treasure chest.
[Ancient Relic] Dusty Tramplers
* Item type: Boots
* 25% increased movement speed
* +30 Constitution
Unfortunately, they didn’t affect how far I could [Leap.] They did give a spring in my step that was very noticeable, both when walking and running.
As far as other relics, the gods had a clear favorite. Darya made off like a bandit with a new bow, leather tunic, and matching leather pants. The pair of clothing came as a set and as a bonus, provided her with [Shadowmeld.]
She had also gotten a new skill, swapping out [Venomous Sting] for [Ice Shot.] It combined well with her new cold damage bow, [Silver Storm.] I wasn’t going to complain either, because her new gear looked incredible on her body. She and I grew closer during the week, spending every waking hour together because we knew trouble would be coming soon.
While it cost me sleep, all the dungeon runs paid off in power crystals, levels, and wandcrafting materials. I had gathered up quite an assortment, and all that remained was to sit down and try some variations until I could find the right combination that used the petrified wood.
[Cartographer] leveled up as well, granting me a ‘Resource Layer’ that was added to the global map. I planned to take a hike through the forest and the swamp later to see what it could turn up.
The constant midnight dungeon runs disturbed my sleep, and the farmers made it worse by running into my room to go through the portal every morning -- before the sun had even peeked above the hills. They’d also track mud through the place. A couple of mornings of that, and I had to move the portal from my room to a storage shed. It was on the side of the chapel, next to the firewood, and well out of sight.
In the Nexus, I had put down another 40 raised beds. With the help of the Mud Mage, the farmers were able to fill the beds with soil in a matter of days. They even managed to have an early harvest of radishes, all thanks to their [Farmer] profession.
Instead of gold, I converted hundreds of minor power crystals into Nexus points to pay for the additional construction, and ‘Light control’ so that the plants would get more sunlight during the day hours, and eight hours of rest for the night. Sadly, each minor power crystal only gave one-tenth of a point.
Darya darted into my room without knocking, and approached to look out the window next to me.
“They’re here,” she said with a worried tone.
“Those emblems on their cloaks look familiar,” I said.
“Raiders.”
I sighed. “Yeah, at least four of them.”
“The one at the front is likely to be a [Bounty Hunter.] We can’t show ourselves, or they’d know we did it.”
“What? How?” I asked.
“Just what I heard, so keep out of sight. We should stay at the Nexus until they leave. And I know you’re the village chief now, but-”
I groaned. “I still don’t know how to feel about that. Should I be insulted, or grateful?”
“Take it how you want, but maybe you shouldn’t have gotten the last one killed, eh?”
“You know it wasn-”
“I know, .. I’m just-” She sighed, turned to leave. “I’ll tell others not to use the portals.”