Chapter 9
On Edge [https://imageshack.com/i/poMAQdTcp]
“Wake up!” the voice whispered to Jack.
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“Wake up!” the voice said to Jack.
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“Wake up!” the voice shouted at Jack.
His eyes shot open and pain flared in his body. He Could barely move and every breath felt like a challenge. His brain didn’t work either. All his thoughts were mumbled together in one incoherent mess.
“He is up!” Orla shouted to the rest.
“Jack!” Linus came rushing to him, “Pick Recovery! Do you hear me? Pick Recovery!”
Jack lost consciousness once again.
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When he woke up next time the only thing he could think about was how hard his throat burned.
“Whhaa...” Jack tried to speak.
“Jack! Pick Recovery! Perk! Recovery! You will die!” Linus screamed somewhere close, “Your Constitution is not enough!”
“Whaaaterrr…” Jack spoke.
“He wants water,” Orla said and something cold landed on Jack's lips.
Bliss.
“Recovery!” Linus' voice faded away as Jack fell back into darkness.
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It was cold.
So cold.
He didn't want to wake up. He wanted this cold to end. Annoying.
His body trembled and there were no feelings besides that.
“He opened his eyes!” Orla said sniffing.
That's a lie. He didn't. Jack didn’t see anything.
“Focus! Fucking focus, Jack! Perk List! Recovery!” Linus screamed at him.
What are these voices? Why they don't let him sleep? It's cold. Jack listened to these weird voices when suddenly a long list of blue screens appeared in front of him.
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 17 Eldritch Souleater!
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 16 Eldritch Souleater!
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Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 17 Eldritch Souleater!
Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 2!
+1 CON
Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 3!
+1 CON
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Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 8!
+1 CON
“Perk list! Recovery!” Linus screamed at him right beside Jack’s ear, "Fucking fight! We need you!"
‘Perk list,’ Jack thought, and new windows opened in front of him.
Choose a perk! Guardian’s shield Your shield durability and hardness are now scaling with your Constitution Stat Guardian's might Gain 10% of your Constitution stat as Strenght stat Guardian’s strike Grants a single strike extra power depending on your Constitution stat. Each Constitution point grants 1% power increase. Cost 1 mana Guardian’s body Increase your Constitution stat scaling by 1% Recovery Doubles your Constitution stat scaling in the aspect of recovering from the injuries. Makes you more resistant to death’s door Guardian’s grace Grants your party members 5% of your Constitution stat while they are close to you
Jack’s muddled mind wasn’t able to understand words in his vision. Luckily there was a voice to guide him.
“Recovery! You stupid monkey! Recovery!”
Congratulations! You gained perk Recovery!
Jack faded once more.
Status Class: Guardian Lvl: 8 Xp: 13% Mana: 0/0
_ Divine grace Language of Empire Race talent: Scourge Tier I talent: Will of Guardian _ CON 8 END 0 STR 0 PER 0 INT 0 WIS 0 _ Perks:
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
* Recovery
_
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Jack went unconscious once more, but luckily this time he looked a lot better. He picked Recovery for sure.
Sinus, Orla, and Zaun smiled for the first time in the last few days. Jack’s skin got back some of its original colors. It was incredibly hard for them to sit around and wait for Jack to fight for his life. After these four long days, Jack looked more like a dry corpse than the vicious fighter he was before.
He vomited back food they were trying to feed him and didn’t take in water. The water stayed in his neck and he almost drowned more than once. They had to quench his thirst in very small amounts to make sure he doesn’t suffocate.
After picking the Recovery perk Jack’s condition improved by leaps and bounds. His breath became slow and rhythmic and he fell into a peaceful slumber.
Zaun filled three cups of vegetable soup from a small soup pot boiling over the bonfire. He brought one of the cups to Linus and the second to Orla, then sat beside them and started slowly eating from a cup of his own.
“Enjoy your meal!” Orla said blowing on the hot cup to cool it down a notch.
“Enjoy,” Linus reciprocated.
Zaun nodded his head in agreement sipping hot soup without a problem.
The chilly evening brought a peaceful respite after all they went through. They were still in Riftlands beyond the Empire border, but not far into them. Their current spot was too close to Empire for any riftkin to roam freely around and too close to Riftlands for any spirit beast to reside here. It was the safest place they could dream of.
Last four days they were going back to the border with Jack dying on improvised stretchers they made from small trees and rope from their supplies.
“It’s strange how it works like that,” Linus said with a dreamy look looking over the horizon.
“What exactly?”
“How we are able to sit here, enjoy this beautiful evening like this when just a few days ago we should have been dead.”
“You should have. I will never die.” Orla said with a laugh.
“Haha!” Linus laughed, but glancing at her disfigured nose, his laughter stopped dead in its track, “Your nose is infected, we need to do something about it.”
“There is nothing to do,” Orla said with a frown, “I can wait until we reach the city.”
They sat in silence as they finished their dinner.
“Jack killed more Souleaters in that rift than we did all together. We leached a lot of experience from him,” Linus broke the silence, “We should make up to him for it in the future.”
“Did you guys already pick your perks?” Orla asked.
Zaun nodded his head in affirmation and that didn’t surprise his friends. Zaun was always acting quickly and decisively. He probably decided on his choice as soon as notification ran through his mind in the middle of battle.
His class raised questions from Orla and Linus, but Zaun didn’t answer. That also didn’t surprise his friends as Zaun wasn’t the most talkative fellow. He actually didn’t speak at all, and his Silent Watcher class was one more piece of evidence of that.
Both of them have never heard of such a class and that was so even considering that there wasn’t many tier I classes to choose from. All commons and uncommons were well known to every human in Empire. It was obvious to them that Zaun had a rare class on his hands. If something could unlock rare class, then being silent for all his life was it.
Linus and Orla both held off picking their own perks until later, just to make sure they made the correct decisions.
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 17 Eldritch Souleater!
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 16 Eldritch Souleater!
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Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 17 Eldritch Souleater!
Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 2!
+1 CON , +1 STR
Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 3!
+1 CON, +1 STR
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Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 8!
+1 CON, +1 STR
Perk list expanded in front of Linus and there was a lot to think through. He knew every perk in common classes, but perks in his Spearman class were a mystery to him beforehand.
Choose a perk! Spearman's thrust Grants a single strike extra power depending on your raw Strength stat. Each Strength point grants 2% increase. Cost 1 mana Sprint Use mana to enhance your running speed by 1% per Strength stat. You tire 4 times faster. Warrior’s conditioning Increase your Strength stat effective scaling by 1% Spear wall If you hold a spear and an ally close to you also holds a spear gain 10 Constitution points while these conditions are met Spearman’s reach Your weapon strikes release phantom strikes striking slightly further. Striking distance increases by 10% + 1% per Intelligence stat point Spearman’s throw Doubles your strength scaling when throwing a spear
He will have only three picks from his spearman class and every pick will open up new choices. There were a lot of perks that made sense to him. Linus could see any of these perks being useful to him and each of them would make him objectively stronger. He would step closer to his goal by picking any of them.
He already felt like a different man without any perks at all. His Strength and Constitution made his body strong. His body was weak in its base and gains from physical stats were objectively lower than to any other man, but 16 stat points still were 16 stat points.
For the first time in his life, he felt strong. His armor was tight around his body. His muscles were vibrant, and he was bigger and healthier than he had ever been. When Linus took the spear in his hands, Hands of Spearman talent kicked in and Strength stat scaling doubled in value. His muscles became strong and movements fast all just from the simple touch of the spear shaft.
Holding a spear became intoxicating. It was like a strong drug. Linus found himself always holding a spear against his body even when he was resting or sleeping. Every time he lost touch with his spear, it felt like part of him was taken away from him. The feeling of weakness was vulnerability.
Linus saw that Orla also didn’t let go of her spear even for a second. they were in the same boat in this sense.
“What you think, Linus?” Orla asked him after thinking about her own choices for a moment.
“I see a use for every perk in the list. Warrior’s conditioning is the same as in Warrior class, but the rest perks are new to me,” Linus answered honestly, “I believe you should pick whatever feels right to you, and after you pick you don’t look back.”
Orla thought for a long time and finally chose perk which felt right for her.
Linus also made his decision.