The first tab Adam checked was Protection. With five skill points burning a hole in his metaphorical pockets, he needed to understand things a little better than he currently did. Protection not only had the most things currently, it was also the only category he actually had a skill in.
The Protection tab looked quite a bit like a spider’s web with Mama Bear in the middle, and a number of lines running off of it pointing to the other five unlocked skills that surrounded it. Further lines traveled outward towards yet more skills, often branching to multiple skills, or linking with another line to have multiple skills lead only to a single one. There were even some that didn’t connect at all to anything else, but still had the obscured names and a small key next to them.
After a bit of studying, and some back and forth with the other tabs that looked different, Adam had somewhat of an idea on how things worked. For the Protection category, Mama Bear was the only available starting skill, and he had already received it. From there he could choose the linked skills, all of which seemed to be modifiers for Mama Bear. One of the linked skills was Maul.
Maul: Sharpen and lengthen your claws, increasing the severity of damage done. Bonus damage, decreased healing received. Requires: Mama Bear.
The description flat out told him he needed Mama Bear first. From that he figured out that anything with a line heading to it required that the skill on the other end of the line be attained first. His best guess for lines that branched was that one skill granted access to more than one subsequent skill. The linked lines were still confusing. Either he would need both skills to access the one their lines led to, or he only needed to take one. Time, or a few questions to Martin, would tell him what he needed to know.
Seeing as how everything he currently had access to on the Protection page were skills that increased his bear transformation, he ignored them for the time being. It wasn’t that he was uninterested, just that he didn’t particularly like being incapable of making his own decisions. The berserk status effect that came with skill activation meant every time he used the skill, he would be functioning only on the bear’s instincts. Those instincts were strong and focused on protection, but it was protection of someone else. Adam had no intention of sacrificing himself for anyone other than his fellow orphans, and he’d try to avoid that if he could. Being subject to the instincts of his bear form seemed too much like slavery to him, something he already had far too much of.
Love was the next tab he checked, although that was mostly because he figured he would be able to quickly move past it. With only two unlocked skills to choose from it was quite easy to move on, but they also offered a pretty clear idea of what role Love was designed to fulfill. If Protection was a defensive role, Love was its necessary addition. Of the two skills available to him, Mother’s Embrace and Mother’s Love, one was an aura skill that buffed the stats of nearby family members, and the other was a healing skill.
Healers of any kind were widely sought after by nearly everyone. Non combat classes needed healers for general health, accidents, diseases, childbirth, and a host of other issues. For the most part they frequented the temples found throughout the cities and towns. Combat classes needed healers to stay alive. Soldiers and mercenaries had a tendency to grab priests of the more warlike deities or specialized area healers, while guards used temples like the noncombatants. Adventurers though? They had a different solution.
Adventurers weren’t just limited to fighters, rogues, archers, and mages. Clerics, druids, shaman, witches, and certain mage classes could all do some sort of healing in addition to being combat classes. Clerics in particular were healers first, and combatants second. A very close second, but still second. In addition, most alchemists’ products were specialized for combatants, whereas herbalists focused more on remedies for those who refrained from being stabbed or bitten on a frequent basis.
Despite there being a large number of classes that could be considered combat healers, there were never enough of them. Additionally, alchemical solutions were expensive, difficult to acquire for lower level classers, and could come with side effects. This left combat healers in very high demand, therefore able to demand high prices or loot shares for joining any group.
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With his class being combat capable and multi role, Adam could become a combat healer and make a bundle. If he survived. And got out of slavery. And never told a group the name of his class or skills. He’d be laughed out of the Adventurer’s Guild if he tried to join with a class named Mother.
Figuring Discipline was the offensive section of his combat class, he checked it next. There he only had one skill unlocked, but it wasn’t the middle of the spider web like Protection. Instead, just like Love, it was a series of small collections of two or three skills arranged in straight lines. Each grouping had links between the contained skills, but not with the other groups. There weren’t a lot of sets, but enough to make it interesting. The only skill he had unlocked was Disappointment.
Disappointment: A Mother’s Disappointment is a terrible thing, even more painful than the physical punishment they can distribute. The only thing worse than the pain of a Mother’s Disappointment is the crushing weight of knowing it’s your own fault.
Disappointment causes damage over time. Slows movement, attack, and cast speed. Causes no actual harm to children.
Adam was impressed with the skill. It would be useful in any kind of combat, against any type of enemy. He didn’t think it would be the most damaging skill, but its utility was undeniable. None of that made it useful for his current situation, however, so he moved on.
Household was next, and it was more difficult to understand than he thought. There were no connecting lines in Household, simply a large number of disconnected skills. They were displayed chaotically, as though someone had tossed a handful of stones onto a table, some close together and others spread to the corners. The actual skills were no less chaotic to his attempts at finding a common ground.
Mother Knows Best: Raising a child takes a sublime understanding of all things. Yet it is not enough to simply know things, Mothers have to know them better than everyone else because Mother Knows Best. How else are Mothers to know everything their child is doing?
Knowledge skill. Provides more knowledge about everything one learns. Includes everything needed to raise a child. Know everything your child gets up to.
Instant Family: Everyone has a family, even orphans. As an orphan you get to choose your family. Instant Family lets you choose the family you always wanted. More importantly, it also lets you choose who isn’t family anymore. You’ll always know who your family are.
Designate people as Family or not. Identify Family or Foe.
At first glance there were no similarities between the two skills. Unlike the skills in Love, which easily fit into the role of healer, the Household skills didn’t seem connected. Certainly, there was no easily defined combat role associated with either skill. It was only when he thought in more general concepts of combat roles that Adam figured it out.
Household was the combat leadership role.
It was also the leadership role for a household, but Adam was trying to ignore that aspect.
On the surface, Instant Family looked useless. In reality, it was a group designation. Much like joining a combat party, it grouped everyone together into one easily identifiable section. Even that would be superfluous, if it wasn’t for a small note in the Love skills, or Mama Bear. The skills he could actually see stated that they only worked on children. Specifically, his children. Instant Family would declare someone as being his child, making them valid targets for his skills.
What is leadership without knowledge of those you lead? Mother Knows Best was a knowledge skill focused on that very family you just declared. It would be much easier to be a combat healer if the healer knew exactly what condition everyone was in. In addition, Adam thought the skill might also give information on enemies, dungeons, or anything else he learned about. Just like the skill said.
The fact that Instant Family would also allow him to declare the duke’s children as family, thus allowing Mother Knows Best to work on them was something Adam was trying to ignore. That didn’t mean he was unaware of it, or the necessity of taking the skills to enhance his chances of living through his slavery.