13. Leveling Guide
“The first thing to understand is the difference between your wants and your needs. Put it this way. What you want is the way you see yourself stunting on some fools when you’re all the way up in Suradao. What you need, though, is the way you keep yourself alive while you’re still struggling down here in Naraka.”
Serac listened with bulging eyes and flared nostrils. She still seethed from Zacko’s earlier comments, and her anger only grew as she reluctantly nodded along to the man’s admittedly intuitive explanation.
“A good rule of thumb when leveling is to keep one eye on your wants as the ‘final product’ to aim for, while prioritizing your needs early to give yourself a smoother path to get there. Somewhere along the road, you’ll have sufficiently met your needs such that you’ll have no trouble staying alive for as long as you need to. That’s when the thought creeps in: man, I wish I could stunt on these fools faster and harder. And that’s when you start shifting your leveling priorities towards your wants.”
“I think I get it,” Serac said through gritted teeth, “but then how do I know which of these attributes meet my needs and which cater to my wants? I mean… Substance? Insight? Imm—Immanence? Who named these, anyway? Couldn’t they have called them ‘HP-booster’ or ‘Stamina-juice’ or something?”
At this, Zacko made a face like he was genuinely disgusted (the absolute nerve of him!).
“Well, I’m glad you weren’t on the Pathsight design team. Can you imagine having to level up Stamina-juice to beat a boss? No, the attribute names are fine… though I’ll admit they can be a little cryptic for the uninitiated. Here, I’m sure you don’t want me to just tell you everything, so I’ll give you a hint, then you can figure out the rest on your own.”
Serac opened her mouth to protest, then recalled her earlier resolve when it’d been just her and Trippy. She then opted for a disgruntled nod.
“Alright, listen close, because I can only do this once with a straight face. To need Integrity is to Abide by the Substance of my Ambitions. To want Integrity is to Attune to the Insights Immanent within my soul. Got it?”
Serac’s eyes, hitherto bulging with rage, now narrowed in hesitant contemplation. It would’ve been flattery of the highest order to say that Zacko’s ‘riddle’ made much sense in a vacuum, but given the context, its intent was clear enough.
“In other words,” she said slowly, not yet fully convinced that Zacko wasn’t having a laugh at her expense, “[Abidance], [Substance], and [Ambition] are firmly in the ‘need’ camp. Whereas [Attunement], [Insight], and [Immanence] are ‘wants’. But apparently, [Integrity] is important enough to be both?”
At this, Zacko scrunched up his face and sucked in air through his teeth—the universal gesture for almost, but not quite.
Serac frowned. What was wrong with her interpretation? Could the riddle have been more complicated than just grouping the attributes into needs and wants? Or was [Integrity] the sticking point? Important enough to be both—or maybe… the fact that it could be either reduced its relative importance?
No new information was forthcoming, and there was no point trying to puzzle it out in the abstract. If Serac knew anything about Pathsight, it loved showing off the numbers it deemed fit to share. As such, she knew how best to test out her hypotheses.
It took considerably more effort this time to get back into a meditative state (the image of her soup self seeping into the Pulverizer kept getting intercut with Zacko’s irreverent smirk). Once she did, however, she found her vision already tuned to the leveling display, as though even Pathsight was impatient to get on with it.
[Karmic Level 1 -> ]
[Liminal Karma: 2384 क]
[Requisite Karma: 1030 क]
<
[Ambition: 15 -> ]
[Attunement: 9 -> ]
[Abidance: 14 -> ]
[Substance: 6 -> ]
[Insight: 11 -> ]
[Integrity: 13 -> ]
[Immanence: 20 -> ]
<
[HP: 577 -> ]
[MP: 68 -> ]
[Stamina: 108 -> ]
[Poise: 65 -> ]
[Cartridge: 36 -> ]
[Burden: 27 -> ]
[REVOLVER Base AV: 111 -> ]
[PULVERIZER Base AV: 89 -> ]
[PHYSICAL Mitigation: 11.9% -> ]
[INFERNAL Mitigation: 15.3% -> ]
[ZEALOUS Mitigation: 8.5% -> ]
[PRIMAL Mitigation: 17.6% -> ]
[ERUDITE Mitigation: 12.5% -> ]
[MARTIAL Mitigation: 14.2% -> ]
[DEIFIC Mitigation: 19.9% -> ]
The first thing to test, of course, was just how [Integrity] fit into everything. Serac focused her consciousness onto the line that read [Integrity: 13 -> ] and saw it change immediately, reflecting her intent in real time: [Integrity: 13 -> 14]. This was accompanied by… a grand total of two updates to the rest of the numbers.
[INFERNAL Mitigation: 15.3% -> 15.9%]
[ERUDITE Mitigation: 12.5% -> 13.1%]
Serac raised an eyebrow, unsure what to make of it all. This wasn’t quite how she’d pictured an attribute of ‘need’ to behave, though she supposed ‘Mitigation’ did sound like something that’d be important for survival.
The other keywords that caught her attention were ‘Infernal’, which sounded highly relevant to the fact that she was literally in hell, as well as ‘Erudite’, which she had to assume was the same ‘Erudite’ that was used to describe Zacko’s missing Instrument.
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All good. No need to rush into a choice. Let’s see what the other attributes have to offer. Pathsight readily responded to her shopper’s indecision, erasing the proposed changes to offer another blank canvas. Next, I just wanna see what all the ‘want’ attributes are about.
[Insight: 11 -> 12]
[PRIMAL Mitigation: 17.6% -> 18.2%]
[MARTIAL Mitigation: 14.2% -> 14.8%]
[Immanence: 20 -> 21]
[PRIMAL Mitigation: 17.6% -> 18.2%]
[DEIFIC Mitigation: 19.9% -> 20.5%]
More ‘Mitigation’ numbers, which still didn’t tell Serac what she was actually trying to mitigate.
Most disappointing of all was this [Immanence]. She’d had high hopes for it, seeing as how it was her highest starting attribute. Yet, despite sporting the fanciest highfalutinest name of them all, it only offered the two changes, and likely the least helpful ones at that. For Serac’s instincts told her that, this far down in the depths of Naraka, she didn’t have to worry too much about mitigating anything that could be described as ‘Deific’.
So, [Insight] and [Immanence] were more of the same as [Integrity]. But that still left one more attribute in the ‘want’ bucket.
[Attunement: 9 -> 10]
[MP: 68 -> 72]
[Burden: 27 -> 28]
[ZEALOUS Mitigation: 8.5% -> 9.1%]
[ERUDITE Mitigation: 12.5% -> 13.1%]
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. An increase to MP, ‘Burden’ (something Serac had yet to learn about), and two more types of Mitigation. Good to know, and more MP is tempting, but I can see why this is in the ‘want’ pile.
Simple logic told her that raising the maximum MP would give her more flexibility in allocating her spells. At 68, she could use [Catharsis] (cost: 21) twice and [The Grind] (cost: 25) once. 72 would allow her to flip that if she wanted to ([The Grind] twice and [Catharsis] once).
But did she want to? She knew that, between the two spells, [Catharsis] had the higher damage potential, even if it came with a hefty HP penalty to herself. There might well be situations where being able to cast [The Grind] twice would come in handy, but none that came to mind immediately. In any case, it certainly didn’t feel like a priority.
Welp, time to dig into the ‘need’ pile and see what they have on offer.
[Ambition: 15 -> 16]
[HP: 577 -> 604]
[Cartridge: 36 -> 38]
[PHYSICAL Mitigation: 11.9% -> 12.5%]
[DEIFIC Mitigation: 19.9% -> 20.5%]
[Abidance: 14 -> 15]
[Stamina: 108 -> 110]
[Poise: 65 -> 66]
[INFERNAL Mitigation: 15.3% -> 15.9%]
[MARTIAL Mitigation: 14.2% -> 14.8%]
[Substance: 6 -> 7]
[REVOLVER Base AV: 111 -> 113]
[PULVERIZER Base AV: 89 -> 91]
[PHYSICAL Mitigation: 11.9% -> 12.5%]
[ZEALOUS Mitigation: 8.5% -> 9.1%]
Okay, now we’re cooking with gas! Even before committing to a level-up, Serac allowed herself a moment to soak in the dopamine. Look at all these shiny new numbers! But which of these do I need the most?
The first set that drew her attention was the [Substance] tree.
A previous conversation with Trippy had told her that ‘AV’ stood for ‘Attack Value’, which she assumed would correspond to the damage output of one unimbued REVOLVER bullet. This, compared to any other attribute, gave her the clearest avenue to stunting on fools faster and harder, but did a handful of damage points really make enough of a difference to be worth it?
To answer this question, she did some maths that weren’t as quick and simple as she would’ve liked. Okay, if I put two levels into [Substance] right now, REVOLVER’s base damage goes from 111 to 115. If I were to fight a Jailer again after that, could I kill it in one fewer shot?
The math was imprecise, as Pathsight in its curated opacity offered no records of enemy HP. But, working off of Serac’s own memories of Jailer HP bars and their decrementations, her conclusion could only be a firm ‘no’.
Okay, maybe we could circle back to this one. What about [Abidance]? Right now, I could get Stamina up to 111 and Poise to 67. But… I still don’t know if that’s enough to make a practical difference. Would it let me dodge one more time or take an extra shot before I tire myself out? Could I take an additional hit before I’m Poise-broken? Hmm… I feel like I just don’t have enough information or experience to make use of this just yet.
In the end, a process of elimination left her with only one choice. Thankfully, it also happened to be the most enticing choice, and in more ways than one.
[Ambition]. I already like the name. But also, look at what it’s offering! More HP, enough for me to tank one extra hit with a PULVERIZER block. More ammo, which can only ever be a good thing. And I like the sound of this here ‘Physical Mitigation’. Because, if I’m not mistaken, every attack that’s hit me so far has been of the ‘Physical’ variety…
She was just about ready to make her choice permanent when another bit of curiosity stayed her meditative mind.
Looking at this set of ‘need’ attributes, it really makes you wonder why the ‘want’ attributes do so little. Especially that [I] trio of [Insight], [Integrity], and [Immanence]. They can’t be only good for Mitigation, can they? Must be more to them that’s just not showing up for me at the moment. Something that’ll probably come into play in the future…
And that was where she yanked back her wandering mind. All that was for future Serac to worry about. Right now, she could only work with what she knew, and what she knew was that she could really do with an HP-and-ammo-booster.
She committed to the choice, and Pathsight reflected her decision.
[Karmic Level: 1 -> 3]
[Liminal Karma: 301 क]
[Cumulative Karma: 2083 क]
[Requisite Karma: 1077 क]
[Ambition: 15 -> 17]
[HP: 577 -> 633]
[Cartridge: 36 -> 40]
[PHYSICAL Mitigation: 11.9% -> 13.1%]
[DEIFIC Mitigation: 19.9% -> 21.0%]
As Serac phased out of her meditative state and back into physical reality, she was met once again—to her chagrin—by Zacko’s skin-crawling smile.
“All set? I hope so. You have the look of someone who’s just done some good shopping.”
“Yeah?” Serac murmured absent-mindedly as she rose to her feet and checked herself over. Body at full health. Clean set of Penitent’s rags. And a belt lined end to end with ammunition. Good to go!
She turned back to Zacko, now able to give him her full snide attention. “Funny you say that, because I’m having the worst buyer’s remorse right now. Remorse for letting you tag along.”
“Oof, and here I was, thinking we’d been getting along famously!” Zacko didn’t miss a beat as he too stood to full height, showing off his now slime-less pompadour and puke-less clothes as he did. “Well, hate to break it to ya, but you’re stuck with me for a while yet. Because we’re about to face our first real test as a tag team.”
Serac raised an inquisitive eyebrow despite herself. “Yeah? What makes you say that?”
By way of reply, Zacko hooked a thumb toward the Rakshasa-sized flap—the ‘epiglottis’—that served as the antechamber’s single exit.
“Just beyond that door is our one way out of this prison. But it’s guarded by that jackass I told you about—the one that stole my Erudite Instrument. And you better believe he’s not gonna go easy on us.”