Greg observed that 5 feral hounds were greedily scavenging the remains of the four butchered feral hounds. One of the feral hounds seemed to be larger, well-built with a richer reddish tint to its fur. Greg estimated that the bigger feral hound was as high as his waist. It seemingly had priority of choice over the corpses as the other feral hounds didn't dare to gnaw the same corpse as the bigger feral hound.
'With 68 willpower, lv5 talent Soul Suit and lv5 techniques Reinforced Suit I should be near-immune if not completely immune to the physical attack of these doggies. Maybe I should try close combat for a change? After all I need to practice my pugilism.' reasoned Greg.
There was a mild reddish glow surrounding Greg as he kicked the ground rapidly running towards the feral hounds. This high movement speed for a short duration as the effect of Psionic Pounce. The larger feral hound apparently sensed him as it abandoned its meal and gave a short howl as it charged towards Greg. Rest of the smaller hounds followed behind it.
He attempted to intercept the charging feral hound but missed it; causing the alpha feral hound to collide with his tactical vest. Greg was off-balance for a moment; but quickly recovered from it. He then smashed the head of the alpha feral hound with his elbow causing it to stagger. Before the alpha feral hound could recover, he managed to punch its head twice in quick succession. Before he could pummel it once more, the Alpha Feral hound bit on his forearm. While the attack from the alpha feral hound was in no way painful; it did limit his range of action.
Using his free arm, he sharply elbowed the base of the hound's neck and heard a squealing yelp of pain as the hound let go of his forearm. He took the opportunity to kick the alpha feral hound away and it smashed against the tunnel wall and its corpse fell. By now the other four hounds had approached him and started biting his upper leg and torso. He just stood there and exchanged blows with them and soon the four feral hounds were dead. Once the encounter with all the hounds had concluded, he confirmed that he had gained around 500 karma for the four hounds and the feral hound alpha.
COMBAT LOG:
Spoiler: Spoiler
Feral Hound Alpha struck you with tackle for 0 damage
(84 * 1.4(Pack Hunting) – 18 (Absorbtion Shield) – 10 (Tactical Vest)) * 0.97(SS Phy. Res.) - 111(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 0 physical damage.
You gained 1 Psi as feedback from Absorbtion Shield.
You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 98 damage
(47(Str. Atk.) + 17(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 98 physical damage
You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 88 damage
(41(Str. Atk.) + 14(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 88 physical damage
You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 79 damage
(35(Str. Atk.) + 12(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 79 physical damage
Feral Hound Alpha struck you with bite for 0 damage
(98 * 1.4(Pack Hunting) – 18 (Absorbtion Shield) ) * 0.97(SS Phy. Res.) - 111(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 0 physical damage.
You gained 1 Psi as feedback from Absorbtion Shield.
You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 83 damage
(50(Str. Atk.) + 18(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 1.5(critical) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 83 physical damage
You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 83 damage
(37(Str. Atk.) + 14(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 83 physical damage
Feral Hound Alpha dies.
You gained 230 Karma
'Soul Suit synergizes nicely with Unarmed attacks. Just the unarmed damage bonus from it is obscene. Of course without high willpower and karma investment it wouldn't be so impressive. But this encounter proves the concept of this build choice. After leveling to level 10, I should focus on pumping karma into Absorbtion Shield and Enhanced Suit to further increase my damage reduction and resistances.' pondered Greg as he continued exploring.
'A 5mm bullet costs 1 Sentinel Credit roughly. And the loot I can salvage from one feral hound is barely 1 credits. So using guns with my shitty butchering and harvesting skills is a complete money sink. Lets leave the corpses and reserve my backpack space for higher value loot. The money guzzling SMG should only be used for emergencies now and I can finish the doggies with unarmed attacks.' decided Greg.
He made sure that the cartography app on his wrist-computer was mapping his progress as he explored the tunnels. Over the next couple of hours he explored the network of tunnels and came across another three groups of Feral Hounds, all without the larger Alpha Feral hounds.
Soon he came across a outpost which he had to clear. He cautiously entered it, and searched it thoroughly. He found some rusted containers; but no loot of value. Their was no electricity in the outpost. He also came across a trapdoor hidden underneath a dirty rug with a still functioning mechanical lock. He unlocked it with his lockpick-set, climbed down the ladder and replaced the trapdoor in its original position. Climbing down, he found himself in a stone tunnel with nonfunctioning lamps and exposed wiring leading onwards.
Proceeding forwards for a while, he reached a five-way fork. Three of the routes (and the one which he came through) had non-functional lamps and exposed wiring. So he assumed that they lead to similar outposts. The last tunnel looked like it was uncovered in the recent earthquake. It was much rougher, with no sign of electrical wiring and rubble strewn all around. Greg pondered for a bit and then decisively retreated.
'The doggos here are pretty brutal. Without Soul Suit; a pack of them could rip me apart limb from limb. And this is just the first enemy I face in this shithole. I should explore the upper cave level and map out the outposts first before I return here.' thought Greg.
He explored the series of caverns through uncollapsed tunnels in the upper cave level and found two other outposts while clearing another four groups of feral hounds one of which had a feral hound alpha. Both the outposts had a trapdoor/ladder to small tunnels with electrical wiring and non functional lighting in their vicinity. It looked like all the outposts were connected to each other via these stone tunnels. He approached the last unexplored tunnel to find a somewhat large cavern with an outpost building in it and this one looked larger than the rest he had encountered so far. Through observation, he found that there were light sources inside the building.
'So someone has occupied this outpost. Human opponents are the most dangerous. You never know what kind of equipment he has with him. Better invest my Karma and return here.' thought Greg.
He backtracked to one of the outposts and went into the stone tunnels via a nearby trap door and observed his status screen. All the exploration and feral hound killing and granted him about ~2.5k karma. First he simply invested around 700 karma in his Class Adventurer and leveled-up to level 10; gaining the usual attribute increments, free attribute and talent points and another Potential Point. He distributed the free attribute points in his predetermined ratio (0 in affinity : 3 in willpower : 1 in everything else).
As for the free talent points, he first invested 5 talent points into Soul Suit maxing it at level 10 for now. Then he brought Psychoportation, Telepathy and Unarmed Training to talent level 5. Then he raised unarmed Techniques to level 3 and Martial Training to level 8; finishing off all his free talent points. He now had two free Potential Points (one gained at level 5, another gained at level 10).
Potential Points could be used with at least one Talent Tree at max level either for Reinforcement or Derivation. Reinforcement made the Talent tree stronger. Derivation, derived a new talent tree. While Derivation might sound tempting; but talent points were limited and having too many talent trees without the talent points to level them up made for a sub-optimal build. There were exceptions with quite-a-few "one point wonder" talent trees, but as a general rule Derivation was better to be avoided.
Reinforcement was relatively straightforward. Reinforcement made a talent tree (and consequently all the techniques under it) much stronger. Depth vs. Breadth. Before becoming a legend, a single talent tree could only undergo reinforcement twice. The core talent tree for Greg, which contributed both to defence and offence was Soul Suit. So without hesitation, Greg invested both the free potential points into Soul Suit.
He then invested around 1.4k total karma into some of his core techniques and powers bringing Augmentation, Absorbtion Shield and Enhanced Suit and Unarmed Mastery to technique level 5. he spent another 300 karma in total brining Psionic Pounce, Parry, Block and Evasion to level 3 leaving him with barely 70 karma.
Psionic Pounce was a nifty mobility psionic power which increased his movement speed greatly for a short time and mobility was always useful. Block, Parry and Evasion were general defensive techniques under Martial: Combat Training. While these techniques didn't provide direct damage mitigation like Soul Suit and Absorbtion Shield, they would make his martial fighting more efficient. He observed his status screen and noticed that his HP was a little lower than maximum.
He focused for a couple of seconds and and a gentle green glow enveloped him. The glow lasted around 10 seconds and faded away. Re-checking his status screen, he found that his HP was full, and he nodded to himself satisfied. He had just used the Psionic power Steady Growth (under the talent tree Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze). This talent regenerated some of his HP over few seconds at the cost of some Psi points.
While talent level 1 of Steady Growth wasn't very impressive; it was more than enough to heal a bit of his HP with his willpower attribute when recovering out of combat. Once he upgraded the technique levels of this technique and appropriate MetaPsionic techniques; he would have a very cost effective and quick source of steady self healing. Sudden Growth, another technique under the Aspect of the Ooze talent tree, would provide a large (comparatively) instant heal to recover from large damage spikes. Both these psionic powers had a very strong scaling based on willpower and were near useless without the same at higher character levels.
STATUS SCREEN:
Spoiler: Spoiler
STATUS SCREEN Name: Greg Race: Human Male Character Level: 10 Free Karma: 74 Class: Adventurer (Lev 10) (Karma 1010/1245) Power Sources: Psionics; Martial Titles: --- Condition: Healthy; Soul Suit; Augmentation; Absorbtion Shield; Animalistic Aspeect Character Resources HP: 1150/1150 HP Regen: 0.1541 / minute Stamina: 903/903 Stamina Regen: 10.1344 / minute Psi: 491/521 (60 reserved) Psi Regen: 0.9853 / minute Free Development Resources Free Attribute Points: 0 Free Talent Points: 0 Free Speciality Points: 0 Free Potential Points: 0 Attributes Physique 65.00 + 30.00 = 95.00 Strength 65 + 30 = 95 Constitution 65 + 30 = 95 Endurance 65 + 30 = 95 Finesse 65.00 + 29.00 = 94.00 Control 65 + 29 = 94 Speed 65 + 29 = 94 Senses 65 + 29 = 94 Spirit 68.33 Affinity 40 Willpower 100 Insight 65 Characteristics, Specialties and Traits Special Prodigy Psionic Savant Graceful Finesse Brutish Physique Talents and Techniques Psionics: Psychometabolism Lev. (5/10) Animalistic Aspect (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Feline Grace (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Simian Might (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Unending Vigor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Augmentation (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Psionics: Psychokinesis Lev. (5/10) Psychokinetic Blast (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychokinetic Wall (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychokinetic Shield (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Force Resonance (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Absorbtion Shield (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Psionics: Psychoportation Lev. (5/10) Slide (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Pounce (Lev 3/10) (Karma 99/213) Psychoportive Door (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychoportive Anchor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Greator Psychoportation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionics: Telepathy Lev. (5/10) Mind Thrust (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Detect Aura (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Incite Emotion (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Mental Shielding (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Locus of Control (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionics: MetaPsionics Lev. (5/10) Psionic Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Natural Psion (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze Lev. (5/10) Steady Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Sudden Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Wild Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Primordial Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Hidden Reserves (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionics: Soul Suit (++) Lev. (10/10) Reinforced Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Enhanced Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Energized Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Vigourous Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Regenerating Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Trailblazer Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Enduring Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Graceful Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Strengthening Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) One with the Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Martial: Unarmed Training Lev. (5/10) Unarmed Mastery (Lev 5/10) (Karma 260/426) Lightning Strikes (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Deflection (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Cheap Shots (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Heightened Relfexes (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Martial: Unarmed Techniques Lev. (3/10) Heavy Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Dirty Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Cripppling Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Martial: Combat Training Lev. (8/10) Throwing (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Ranged Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Powered Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Melee Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Light Armor (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Block (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Evasion (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Parry (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Martial: Superior Conditioning Lev. (1/10) Vitality (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Martial: Acrobatic Mobility Lev. (1/10) Rush (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Martial: Tireless Combatant Lev. (1/10) Quick Recovery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) General: Survival Lev. (5/10) Lockpicking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Hacking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Stealth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Trapping (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Perception (Lev 2/10) (Karma 11/33) General: Leadership Lev. (1/10) Persuation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
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'I still need a few more levels to unlock a few more core techniques of my build. Once I complete this scouting/reclaiming outposts task and solidify my position in Sentinel Station Shelter, I should focus on survivability oriented talents and techniques and work towards promoting to a Legend.'
'While things don't look too perilous now, I doubt future tasks given by the shelter will be easy. Only by becoming a Legend will I have enough assurance to save my butt. I can worry about the rest later.'
'Why the fuck was I sent here and what the fuck I should do to return? Is it even possible to return? Would I retain my powers and this status screen if I return? Fuck. I will worry about this shit after becoming a Legend. Return may not be possible even then; so I better get used to this shit.' grumbled Greg mentally to no one in particular.
Greg got up and mentally psyched himself to "gently vacate" the last outpost where he would possibly face lethal combat with a group of well equipped humans.