Sitting on the dragon’s neck earlier, Eric had decided to choose the Striker Type.
It seemed to be the Type closest to his normal style of combat, which he confirmed when he read the first message window Pig pulled up for him.
You have chosen the Striker Type
Strikers are long-range damage dealers or close-up one-hit specialists.
Striker Abilities 0/2
You may choose one ability from the Foundation Striker Tree as your Free Ability
You also receive: Random Foundation Striker Tree Ability Ticket x1
Choose one free ability, and use the ticket to gain a free, but random, Striker Tree ability.
Apparently, the System also did lotteries.
Which made Eric wonder what kind of personality and motives a god, or xenos race, or whatever higher entity with the immense power required to create something like the System could have to want to introduce gambling into something that could, and probably already had, affect the lives of billions upon billions of sentient beings.
Ineffable, was the word the Terran ancestors used.
Well, nothing to be done about that.
“How do I get that ticket, Pig?”
“Normally, the System items like that appear on your person or nearby. Since you have a spatial storage device, such items will appear inside the device.”
“Roger.” Eric said. “Let’s take a look at our options, then.”
Pig pulled up Eric’s profile screen, then zoomed in on a new tab at the top that was labeled Gens Improvement Catalog. Once that was opened there were three more categories to choose from: General, Type: Striker, and Aspects. Pig quickly selected the Striker box and a large golden window appeared, listing thousands of abilities, although most were grayed out with only a few hundred available for him to choose. Eric focused on one of the grayed-out entries.
Chain Attack (Striker [Add; Weapon])
Cost: 100 Gens Points
Requirements: Corpus 3; Nerve 3; Lightning 1 or Wind 1
Effect 1: Once an attack resolves immediately make another attack with the same weapon.
Further Effects may become available if certain conditions are met.
Eric nodded in sudden understanding. Abilities could be purchased with Gens Points, but only if one met the requirements, which appeared to be a combination of your Attribute levels and your Aspect score. He was sure there might be other parameters but he got the general idea.
Hellfire! Eric thought, looking at the long, long list of available abilities. And this was just the Type category, there were also the General and the Aspects categories that could be selected from. Now he understood how the gamers he had listened to through all those long redeployment trips never seemed to tire of listing out builds and arguing about stats and abilities: If their selection was even a fraction of what was presented here, then if he had been the one playing, he would have spent months in indecision in front of the game interface.
As it stood, Eric hesitated about even thinking of choosing an ability: What if he chose ones that would be incompatible with each other? Or what if there was a limit to what abilities he could have?
“Pig, how many abilities can I have?”
“At the Foundation Tier you may have a maximum of ten abilities, sir.” So, there was a limit huh? Ten abilities didn’t sound so bad, if they work together well. “Currently you have four ability slots, although one is already occupied by the Dragon Sight ability and one is reserved for that random ticket you received.”
Two open slots to fill.
Eric pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about the information Pig had relayed and his understanding of his options. Somehow, it all hinged on what he would receive from the random ability ticket: It was the wild card, the choice he could not control, but if he could build around it, then maybe he could come away with a good, workable ability set.
Remember, these new abilities are not the entirety of your arsenal.
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Eric almost laughed aloud as the thought crossed his mind.
Of course! It was that simple! He had been thinking with the wrong mindset all along: Yes, the abilities the System gave him would make him more capable, and if he managed his choices properly, they would be a great addition to his power set. But through all the business of looking at abilities he had forgotten that long before he and Serra arrived in this bizarre parallel world, they had already been formidable individuals, veteran warriors with skillsets to match.
They were elite soldiers and coming here hadn’t changed that.
His mind clearer, Eric drew out the Random Foundation Striker Tree Ability Ticket from his ring.
The ticket was plain black with white borders, with a logo in the middle which looked like a five-armed spiral.
“Rip it up sir.”
Right. Taking one edge of the ticket in each hand, Eric ripped it in half.
A plain white screen appeared in front of Eric, which he eagerly leaned in to read.
You have used a Random Foundation Striker Tree Ability Ticket.
You have received the following ability:
Black Spot (Striker [Base, Mark])
Effect 1: You may mark any object you physically touch. If you can see your mark you may affect the object it is placed on as if you were touching it.
Further Effects may become available if certain conditions are met.
Would you like to equip Black Spot? Yes/No
Eric signaled his assent to the System, a soft blue glow quickly surrounding his body as the knowledge of how to use the ability sunk into his brain. This was… hmmm, yes, he could work with this. Now all he needed was a few hours to search that damn catalog for a touch ability that could…
“I have narrowed down the list to the following touch abilities, sir.”
The screen with the Gens Improvement Catalog appeared, but now containing only five choices. Now that was exactly the type of efficiency he needed! Eric was so excited that he almost leaped up from where he was sitting.
“Oh Pigafetta, my mad, bad brain-machine! You are amazing!”
“Just doing my job, sir.”
Shaking his head in amazement and appreciation, Eric looked through Pig’s suggestions and made his choice.
You have chosen your free Striker Tree Ability:
Burden (Void [Base])
Effect 1: You can increase the weight of anything you touch by up to 5 tons.
Further Effects may become available if certain conditions are met.
Would you like to equip Burden? Yes/No
Eric sat back, the blue glow of ability activation fading around him. He was already reviewing how he was going to use the abilities he had just acquired, realizing that days of practice lay ahead before he could actually be able to use them effectively.
Glancing at his internal chrono, he realized that almost two hours had passed since he started.
Now there was only one more ability slot open.
Eric spent the next few minutes looking through pages of the available Aspect and Striker abilities but couldn’t seem to find one that felt like it would fit the abilities he had already selected.
“Maybe you should take a utility ability from the General selection, sir.” Pig interjected after a few more minutes passed and Eric’s frustrated muttering had grown louder. “Something to increase our data gathering potential.”
“Perhaps,” Eric growled, “I know I need to look at something else or I’m going to have to break something.”
“Dragon Sight covers the visual component of observation, sir. Perhaps you would be interested in something that deals with taste?”
“That sounds promising,” Eric said, his mood instantly lifting at the thought of some food-related ability. “Have you found one?”
“Yes, sir.”
God-Tongue (General)
Cost: 250 Gens Points
Effect 1: Gain information regarding anything you taste.
Further Effects may become available if certain conditions are met.
Would you like to equip God-Tongue? Yes/No
Eric balked at the price, but paid it anyway. Hopefully, the effects would actually live up to its impressive-sounding name. If nothing else, he hoped it helped him improve his cooking skills. Suddenly, the realization that now he could actually indulge himself working on his cooking hobby filled Eric with quiet joy. He had no enemies to face, no deadlines to meet, nothing to work for except his and Serra’s comfort and safety. He was self-aware enough to know that such a state would not last, and that he would find himself a cause or a conflict to enter soon enough. But for now, at this exact moment, Eric felt at peace.
“Yes.” He said softly, and the blue glow rose around him.
Curious about how the changes he had authorized had actually impacted his stats, Eric pulled up his profile screen.
The familiar blue window appeared, larger and with more information on it. As he browsed through his profile Eric found out that he could manipulate the window interface through eye movements, allowing him to move the text up and down much faster.
Eric Rama
Non-Standard Human
Type: Striker
Attributes:
Corpus (Non-Standard) 5 (5.5)
Nerve (Non-Standard) 5 (5.5)
Psyche (Basic) 5 (5.5)
Gen (Basic) 5 (5.5)
Titles: Blood-Soaked, Eater of the Mighty, Titan-Slayer
Cores (1/3):
Prime: Ancient Void Dragon (Epic)
Gens Tier: Mid-Novice
Traits: Assisting-Interface, Outsider, Perfected Genes, Celestial-Forged Body, Quest-Driven, Ur-Blooded
Flaws: Loot Mad
Abilities (4/10):
Burden
Black Spot
Dragon Sight
God-Tongue
Aspects: Destruction 1, Hunger 1, Void 4
Attribute points: 0
Ability points: 24,750
His profile had filled out, and many more entries had appeared. It seemed that changes would not be reflected on his sheet unless he actually opened and read, and sometimes accepted the notifications that introduced them. That was an important detail to remember since it meant many notifications he might receive mid-combat would languish in his mail folder until he had time to look through them.
Finally satisfied, Eric closed his screens and looked up, seeing that less than forty-five minutes remained until Serra would relieve him. He stood up and stretched, not feeling sleepy at all, his gaze falling on the remains of the dragon and the many tags Pig had left pointing out areas of interest on it.
Since he wasn’t feeling the need to rest, might as well get some work done.