Now, I say “let’s go gambling”, but I’m not actually sure if this is a rng based thing, it might just be set skills at set levels… but I hope not! Where’s the fun in that, hm? Redeem yourself for the bad tutorial won’t you Omniscient?
Lemme do some skill gambling here, get something high tier or something like that, yeah?
Please?
Well… no use dreading it, let’s see what’s offered… good skills pleeeeeeeeeease, and… boop!
Immediately the UI before my eyes went alight, the entire structure of it transforming in the blink of an eye, which I would know because I blinked. And in its place… is a button.
Just a button, a lone, singular button.
So like, obviously I press it, no? Uh huh I don’t hear any particular disagreements, sooooo boop!
And immediately thereafter; three cards come flying into view. I have no doubt this is all purely theatrical, and that they will actually not be randomized contrary to what you would expect from cards because nothing is ever allowed to go my way in a way such as this, that would be far, far too convenient.
…Surely.
Slowing down, the three cards finally settle right in front of me… just in range of holding.
Wait, okay it’s cool and all if it actually is randomized, but like, I was thinking more along the lines of getting to see all three then picking whichever one I want. Not… completely random. Welp, I’m hoping that is how it works, and I’m just gonna go straight for the middle regardless of if it is or not.
So… raising my hand to the card…
It flips over with a shade of blue! Oh thank god, I can read what it does before I pick it.
Well… there are still two other cards to check, but I can read this one first I suppose. Tell me skill, what do you do?
Nature’s Boon
Passive
Taking this skill will consume 1x Nature Essence!
This skill can be recycled!
Nature’s Boon-The user gains neutrality with all nature aligned enemies. Nature aligned enemies become much easier to tame. Summons in Recall state heal 2% of their HP every 3 seconds instead of 1%, summons deal increased damage to dark aligned enemies.
Oh… that’s actually, not that great? The increased healing is nice, but everything else is situational at best… dark aligned enemies… don’t think I’ve uh, seen one yet. Unless Jasper counts, but she’s not an “enemy”. It also says it’s gonna yoink my Nature Essence, which was a boss drop… Soooo, what does it mean by recycling it?
Actually, hold that thought, I’ll check out the other skills before I say “let’s get rid of this alright one!”. For all I know the other could be complete ass and I’ll curse myself for not picking doubled health regeneration.
Allowing my hand to drift over to the right, I cringe internally as the color flashes green instead of the prior blue. I do believe I have an idea of what that means, given the six rarities in game… [Nature’s Boon] was probably ‘rare’, and this… is uncommon.
Aura Of Inspiration
Passive
This skill will subsume Efficacy and its levels!
Aura Of Inspiration LVL 3-Slightly increases the stats and skill effectiveness of all tamed monsters. If a monster under your control works under you of its own volition, its stats are moderately increased. Monsters you have tamed are much less likely to rebel.
Okay, see, now this is what I’m talking about. I’m not sure how much of a buff slightly to moderate means, but I’m pretty damn certain my two heavy hitters (sorry Jerry) are here under their own volition, so that means they’d both get buffs from this skill. Not the craziest of increases I’d assume given it’s only uncommon, but still direct buffs that will carry on for the rest of the playthrough are much preferable to buffs that are maybe stronger, but only applicable in certain situations.
Like, okay, I could have my summons recover faster, but if they can’t get the job done to begin with what’s the point? Mmm, I might be missing something but I don’t think I am. Well, one more skill to check out, if it’s bad I’ll probably just take this…
And now we veer way oh way over to the left and-
Purple.
My nerves just activated bro, that’s an Epic, no? Purple is like, standardized epic rarity right? Lemme just… read this real quick.
Blessing Of The Hunt
Growth skill
Passive
This skill can be recycled!
Of The Hunt. Uh huh, I’m starting to get a bit of an inkling on how these skills are rolled…
Blessing Of The Hunt-The user gains a connection to energy of The Hunt, and becomes capable of sensing other blessed individuals. Absorbing the energy of The Hunt can improve this skill. This skill cannot be seen by others who do not have this skill.
Well, that’s certainly VAGUE. Can’t be seen by others who don’t have the skill, though? Hold on…
“Hey Jasper?”
“...mm?”
“Do you have ‘[Blessing Of The Hunt]’?”
“...”
Jasper is reb-
“CHILL!”
“!-”
I almost subconsciously clasp at my own throat before I reign my hand back under my own will. Right there and then it felt like I was about to get murdered on the spot, regardless of if she could technically one shot me or not.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
No, actually, really “what the hell was that???”
“M- …mmm.”
Not even a conscious thought sent my way, just pure malice. First long time in a long while I remember genuinely getting the shit scared out of me in a game. I’m not sure she even meant to do it the way she’s reacting.
“Is this about your freak-out a moment ago?”
“M-”
“I thought you said that wouldn’t be an issue-”
“Mm-mm! M-mmmh, mm.”
“...Fine, fine, ‘kind of’ an issue then. I get you have some issues that you don’t really wanna talk about, for whatever reason, and I won’t press you too far, but if there’s some kind of tick that upsets you or, something you can’t do for a certain reason, I’m gonna need you to tell me. Because me asking you if you have a certain skill, leading to you trying to murderize me, is not okay.”
“Mm-”
“So what if it’s a skill that only ‘Huntsmen’ have? Do I really strike you as the kind of person to care? I get ‘Hunt’s Shade’ is super illegal or something, but you really think I wouldn’t have just done away with you by now if I cared? You don’t need to stab me to… hide a secret.”
“...Mm.”
“Now, I’ll ask you again, please don’t bring a claw to my throat, thank you, what’s [Blessing Of The Hunt] do?”
“Mm-”
—
Oooooooookay, more than what the skill says that’s for sure. So, to TLDR Jasper’s exposition for myself here…
When the original Wild Hunt died, he split his power into a bunch of different things, which I already knew, but there’s a little more to it. Most of the things that got his power were things he knew. So, ignoring implications with Jasper there I’ll just gloss over that for now, his power was fragmented among his allies. Which… explains why Hunt’s Shade is kill on sight if he was basically the whole world’s enemy, and everybody with that same power worked… with him.
Anyways, that power, skillswise, is referred to as Blessing Of The Hunt. Jasper was mildly baffled when I said I had the option to get it, because, technically speaking, there shouldn’t be any more of the energy of The Hunt to go around without taking it from those who have it. And also, y’know, no relation to the original Wild Hunt on my part. So I shouldn’t have any reason to have his Blessing. But moving on, just like she did, this is all to say!
Having the blessing allows you to make use of the abilities of the Wild Hunt. Generally it can be channeled any which way in fields similar to necromancy, but then you’re also able to unlock abilities based off of it in the future based on your class. For Jasper herself, that means her abilities in the field of… Wild Hunt-cy I guess, are based off of what I saw from her original skill-set when she just had… usual lynx abilities I suppose? Adding the themes of the hunt to them in general.
The blessing also makes you capable of manipulating phantoms and the like at a base, just without any skills to do that better like with what Jasper has for that. Though technically if you’re skilled enough you could do it better than a skill without a skill, but according to her, only the actual Wild Hunt did that.
Sounds like a cool guy.
This is all to say; I don’t want it. It can grow stronger by absorbing more energy, yes, but… Jasper has it too. Meaning we’d have to split a finite resource amongst ourselves in order to make proper use of the ability, which is an ability that Jasper can already use more fluently than I can. This is of course all going off of the assumption that I’ll never have Jasper die. Which of course, I won’t. She literally has an ability that almost guarantees she’s unkillable, [Reality Shift].
So there is zero reason for me to specialize into something we already have a specialist for. Definitely not worth wasting a skill over. So, what was that about recycling? Just… tapping on the little circle here, recycling symbol…
Are you sure you would like to recycle Epic skill, Blessing Of The Hunt?
Yu-oh it actually is an epic, okay, cool. Anyways, yes. Yes I would.
Recycling…
The card simply turns to dust, the particles scattering away into nothing. Purple dust, mind you, so I’m hoping recycling gives a luck boost or something… but if not I still have that uncommon to grab. Let’s also throw that rare into the fire…
Recycling Nature’s Boon…
No pop up asking me if I’m sure on that one. Guess it only pops up for epic or above, which is fair I suppose.
Like its forefather before it, the card turns to ash, flecks of blue floating far, far away.
Now, let’s see what those two get replaced with!
Two cards of rare or above have been recycled. Pity has been activated.
…Hah?
One new card descends from above, instead of the two that I’d sacrificed.
…Scam? Alright, this better be at least a rare or I’m gonna start tweaking. Okay… show me what you got!
Extending a hand to the newly minted skill, I close my eyes before I make contact, and…!
And it’s… it’s warm. A soft orange glow slips under the lids of my eyes. I don’t dare open them, for I feel if I were to do so I may be met with the unfortunate reality that in this game, instead of unique, orange means common.
But… all dreams must end, and so…
I open my eyes.