Bonus event complete: The Grand Arena of Papillion.
Congratulations, you have survived your battle in the arena. The overseer of the venue has added the following rewards to your prize pool:
For winning your first round, you have been awarded a commemorative dagger (uncommon).
You put it all on the line and came out on top, leaving your opponents lifeless in a pool of their own blood. To commemorate the event, we have awarded you this dagger, which features our establishment on the pommel. We hope to see you again soon.
Modification: Eversharp.
This blade is resistant to chips and breaks and will never need sharpening.
For winning your second round, you have received complimentary healing.
Not bad, but let’s move on to the good part.
For completing Taltos’s challenge, your class rarity cap has been raised from [basic] to [uncommon]. Additionally, you will be allowed to change your class immediately, instead of having to wait until level 25.
Update: your party has completed a hidden bonus objective. Details: first victory for your species against a fallen lifeform.
For completing the hidden objective, the rewards of this challenge have been enhanced. Details: sufficient bonus experience to reach level 15.
“No,” the word reverberated throughout the room, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. By now, Nick recognized the voice as belonging to Taltos, immensely relieved not to see the Mad God standing before him once more. “That reward is unacceptable. I will not abide by powercreep.”
A heartbeat later, Nick felt an incredible sensation of pressure. As if two incomprehensibly vast powers were wrestling with one another somewhere in the space between dimensions; a contest that Nick could only perceive the barest fraction of. His menus were filled with rows of alien text, the words buried beneath warring armies of mystic symbols and arcane formulas.
Eventually, the script that he’d come to associate with the System gave way and the wording of his message shifted, becoming legible once more.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Taltos’s objection is sustained. The stated reward has been retracted.
What the fuck? Nick felt a white flash of anger. Once again, the Mad God was shafting him hard. But then a new prompt appeared, carried by the crisp geometries of System text rather than the serpentine font Taltos favored. His anger died down to a simmering boil as he read the words.
Apparently, he was getting something for his trouble after all, and he had to admit that it was good.
An alternate reward will be issued instead.
Reward: bloodline opportunity. Your current class trait will be strengthened and is eligible to become a permanent part of your bloodline.
New trait: Survivor (enhanced). You require 50% less food, water, oxygen, and sleep.
This is an optional bloodline alteration. Warning: this choice is not without consequence. If you accept this reward, the trait in question will become a permanent part of your bloodline, consuming one third of its current capacity.
Bloodlines can be strengthened or modified, but never removed. Your bloodline may influence the selection of classes offered and will shape other aspects of your development. You have ten minutes to make your decision.
“That’s still a bit over the top. But if it’s only for one group of eight, I find the compromise acceptable. Fighting over every little thing would be a massive waste of energy.” Nick felt Taltos’s presence recede and then vanish without a trace.
He sighed in relief, returning his focus to the offer on the table. Nick would have preferred to take a day or two off before making such an important decision, pondering the pros and cons at his leisure. But he hadn’t been given a vote and this opportunity was too important to pass up.
It seemed that instead of a fat pile of experience, Nick had been given the option of having his Survivor trait strengthened and become a permanent part of his bloodline, whatever that was. While he would have loved to have hit level fifteen right away, he would get there eventually if he lived long enough, while this opportunity was one of a kind and wouldn’t come his way again.
He might have even come out ahead in the exchange. Nick had the sense that the System had pulled one over on the Mad God this time, tricking him into wasting cosmic energy before making its play. That this was the reward it had intended to give Nick all along.
He found the prospect of only needing to sleep for four hours a night to be tantalizing. Four extra hours every day to plan, train, strategize, grind, or use however else he pleased would help him no matter what his goals were. The trait would also help him endure rough situations, where sleep, food, and water were hard to come by.
The lesser version of the Survivor trait had saved his life on numerous occasions during the tutorial, and he would have been sorry to see it go. The warning message did give him second thoughts, but he decided to accept the offer anyway.
He would be foolish to turn down such a potent trait he could use right now on the possibility that he might find something better later. Especially as Nick still had plenty of room in his bloodline and, if he understood the message properly, his capacity could be improved later down the road.
Besides, the System had indicated that the opportunity was unusually valuable. He suspected that letting it slip through his fingers would be an incalculable loss.
“I’ll do it,” Nick said.
Acknowledged. Strengthening class trait and binding it to contestant’s bloodline.