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Ranger selected
New abilities gained
Heightened Senses (Passive)
Beast Affinity (Passive)
Advanced Examine (Beasts) (Passive)
Combat Specialization unlocked. Choose now?
YES/NO
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"Well, I know what I want so might as well."
Cooper poked at the YES.
Available Combat Specializations (2)
Bows
Crossbows
Spears
Swords
Axes
Throwing Weapons
"I did like my stick, so spears, but I'm guessing that (2) means I get two choices. A backup weapon sounds nice in case it breaks or circumstances make the spear less than ideal. Maybe utility? Axe could be a good choice." Cooper ruminated on his choices when he was interrupted.
"You do realize you're talking out loud, yes? Also axe is a good choice, as long as you're not planning on anything ranged." Came the Captain's voice, Cooper having missed the entire caravan arriving while thinking about his class choices.
"We weren't gonna say anything Captain, he seemed unusually focused." Tommy spoke before Cooper could take stock of the situation.
"It's also important he gets to make his own choices, unaffected by outside forces, wouldn't you say, Captain?" Darren continued Tommy's line of thinking.
"I wasn't steering him towards anything, I only said the axe is a good choice, not that any of the others aren't." The Captain answered in a rather unconvincing manner. Darren gave him a look Cooper didn't fully catch. "Fine, make your own choice Cooper, they're all equally good choices if they're what you want to do. But the-" Darren stared down the Captain, who relented.
"No they're not! The sw-" Tommy's input was quickly halted with a quick pebble to the forehead from Darren. "Ow."
"Hop on one of the wagons though, Cooper, so we can continue our journey, yeah?" The Captain said as he finished enjoying the exceptional pebble throw.
Cooper did as told and hopped on the first wagons back and was greeted by a cold and wet snout of someone he'd forgotten about. "Oh. I did leave you behind earlier, didn't I. Hopefully you didn't take too harshly to that, I was kind of focused on this whole Ranger thing, that I'm still sorting out." The Stalker just stared at him. "I'm thinking about picking spears and axes as my two combat specializations, what do you think about that?" It still stared at him. "Right, I thought you might say that, and I agree with ranged combat being a problem possibly, but I did see Darren do some magic stuff with his spear that could alleviate that problem if I could learn something similar. So I think I will go with axe and spear, if anything, it'll surprise anyone thinking I can't do anything at range. And I could just throw them I suppose." The stare of the Stalker was unrelenting in it's lack of understanding. "You are right, it is, in the end, up to me." With that said, Cooper poked the Axes specialization and as he thought, the number went down from (2) to (1) and he poked the Spears one next, a new box appearing in it's place.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
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Specializations chosen: Axes, Spears
3 Unallocated Stat points remaining, allocate now?
YES/NO
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Cooper was getting the hand of poking things. He poked yes.
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Strength - 6 +
Agility - 8 +
Endurance - 9 +
Intelligence - 6 +
Wisdom - 8 +
Magic - 5 +
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"Right, I reckon these are rather self-explanatory, I think I'll get Endurance up to 10 and Agility up to 10 as well, I'll go over these later in more detail with Gort or Darren, but those two seem like they'd be primarily useful to me, though I do want to get magic higher so I can do stuff like Darren does." Cooper explained to the avid listener Stalker. "Can I get a more advanced description of the abilities I saw earlier?" He willed his Status into existence, saw the 'Abilities' part of it and poked.
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Abilities
Examine - Level 1
Heightened Senses - Level 1 (Passive)
Beast Affinity - Level 2 (Passive)
Advanced Examine (Beasts) - Level 1 (Passive)
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"Huh, alright, so Beast Affinity is already level 2 while the others are level 1, even though I only acquired it moments ago. It's probably doing some catching up thanks to you." Cooper motioned towards the Stalker. "Okay, so I'll need to ask someone more about Examine, but for now, details?" He said as he poked at Beast Affinity, which in response expanded into details.
Beast Affinity - Level 2
Affects your relationship with tamed and wild beasts and makes taming beasts easier. Skill level improves relationship and taming and unlocks higher tier beasts for taming at milestones.
"Alright, makes sense, the milestone thing is interesting, wonder what the milestones are? Well, moving on, what about Heightened Senses?" Cooper said to no one in particular as he poked it.
Heightened Senses - Level 1
Your eyesight, hearing, taste, touch and smell are improved. Skill level improves senses further.
"So pretty much what I'd assumed." He poked at the next thing.
Examine - Level 1
Activate to Examine an object, person, monster or beast. Skill level improves information available both in quantity and quality.
"Right, I assume you active it the same way you bring up all this. Next and last." Poke.
Advanced Examine (Beasts) - Level 1
Examining a beast offers more information. Skill level improves information available both in quantity and quality. Reaching milestones allows for display of unique information.
"Well that one is more interesting. Unique information? Again with the milestones though. Wonder what they are. Gort or Darren will probably know. Guess I'll head that way. You coming?" He asked the Stalker who perked up at the question.