The first thing Elaria did was pull up her status. This was actually the first time she had checked out her own, the only other time she’d even seen a status had been when Jacob revealed his, prior to leaving the village. For someone who had only just awakened to the Chain, she felt her status was pretty impressive, at least based on her rather limited knowledge.
[https://i.imgur.com/7zQchHd.png]
Compared to Jacob’s empty list of skills, she now had four available to use. Each of them had been added by her personal ability, and she was ready to use them for the first time. She decided to start with the Lesser Call of the Treasury. It was tempting to go big off the bat, but inevitably, if she got the best reward first, anything that came later would seem lacking in comparison. She prided herself on being sensible and possessing a decent amount of self control, unlike the aforementioned reckless youth. Not knowing what would happen next, or how the skill would work, she opened the skill prompt for Lesser Call of the Treasury, and activated it, before taking a seat on the grass in preparation for whatever was coming.
There was a flash of dark green light, and four perfectly spherical orbs popped into existence, floating in the air forming a square shape, slightly in front and above of Elaria’s position. Each of the orbs began to spin, whirring gently. Thin lasers of dark green light shot from each orb, connecting it with the next until they had formed a square, at which point the orbs stopped spinning, and crackled with electricity. The square, bordered by the dark green lasers, began to become more opaque, until a dark green portal had been formed within the orbs. An object fell from the portal, plummeting towards the ground until Elaria lurched forwards, catching it in her outstretched hands. After depositing its load, the portal vanished, along with the four floating orbs, leaving no trace behind of the mysterious scene that had just transpired. Elaria inspected the item which had just fallen into her hands. It looked like some kind of pill, light green in colour and emitting a soothing herbal fragrance.
“I wonder what the effect of this strange pill is. Presumably some kind of medicine, judging from the smell, but it seems risky to take something without doing some research.”
All-purpose Antivenin Pill (Unusual)
Consumable Item
This miraculous work of medical science was created by a desert dwelling doctor from an ancient era. His town, ever plagued by snakes, scorpions and spiders, faced huge difficulty attempting to stock different kinds of treatments for the varied venoms. His magnum opus, forged after a lifetime of research and toil, saved not only his town, but the entire desert kingdom he hailed from. The all-purpose antivenin pill can treat any kind of venom affliction of legendary grade and below.
That was new, and very helpful. It seemed the Chain identified not just personal stats, but also creatures and items. This way, she wouldn’t be left stumped as to the functions and features of whatever she managed to receive from this wondrous personal ability of hers. This was a bit too much of a coincidence though, wasn’t it? She’d just been bitten by the Verdant Greenscale Adder and inflicted with its venom, and then received a pill to treat it immediately after. She did remember the description mentioning something about calling the treasury in times of need, so perhaps the rewards were catered specifically to her situation? That could be a blessing, especially in situations like this where she needed to urgently treat herself, but it might also end up being a curse if it never offered rewards outside of the scope of her talents and needs. Sometimes it was beneficial to try something new.
It seemed a little wasteful to treat the venom of such a low grade monster with the pill, given that it was effective on up to legendary grade venoms, but it wasn’t like Elaria had any other options, unless she wanted to risk travelling the rest of the way while letting the venom spread. If she could receive it once, perhaps she’d be able to get another one in future. There was nothing to debate, so she chucked it into her mouth, and it dissolved rapidly, leaving her tongue tingling from the bitter taste of the medicine. The green tinted veins around the wound slowly returned to their regular colour, and other than two small holes from where the snake's teeth had punctured her skin, there was no trace of the injury left. She checked her status, and the health drain from the venom was no longer affecting her so it seemed the pill had worked exactly as described.
With the first reward having cleared up one of her problems almost immediately, Elaria was very satisfied with her choice of personal ability, and curious to see what the next two skills would give her, given that they were higher ranked, and would likely provide higher graded rewards compared to the pill she’d just obtained, which was better than anything she would’ve been able to obtain on Teron. Without delay, she activated the next skill, Call of the Treasury, and this time wasn’t taken by surprise when four orbs flashed into existence before her eyes. The process repeated itself, completely identical, bar the fact that the entire setup was bright yellow this time, instead of dark green. She was prepared for the item to fall, and had her hands cupped underneath the portal. The falling object she was expecting didn’t come however, instead a wide brimmed, black cowboy hat floated slowly out, coming to rest softly on her palms. Embroidered on the front in crimson thread were two playing cards, the ten and two of spades. She didn’t waste any time prompting the Chain for a description.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Doyle’s Lucky Cowboy Hat (Heroic)
Equippable Item
This beautifully handcrafted cowboy hat once belonged to a legendary gambler, and is infused with his charm and luck. It is said that the previous owner used the hand that is embroidered on the hat to win world class poker tournaments back to back. Perhaps by wearing this, you will be able to achieve a similar feat!
+2 to Luck
Increased chance to draw good hands when playing cards
Increased favorability with bovine creatures and monsters
The bonuses seemed slightly odd, and she honestly couldn’t envision herself having a use for them, unless she happened to find herself gambling, the act of which she’d never been a fan, having seen how quickly it could destroy lives. Although with this buff she might be more likely to turn a profit, it still didn’t appeal to her. Making friends with cows seemed like it might be a fun way to spend an afternoon, but she couldn’t see it having much more use than that. The bonus to her luck stat however, was exactly what she needed. Elaria guessed, or rather hoped that her personal ability was affected in some way by her luck given that it was akin to some kind of random draw. Having a higher luck would mean pulling better items, and since she was just about to use her three monthly cooldown lottery skill, this boost came at the perfect time.
If it had been the Elaria of her first life, you wouldn’t have caught her dead wearing something as unflattering as a cowboy hat, but she liked the colour scheme of this one, and honestly if it meant boosting her stats, she could deal with bad fashion. Twirling it between her fingers, she deftly placed it on her head, and felt a small surge of heat running through her body. Checking her status she saw that next to the luck stat it now said (+3), so the bonus had been applied, and she was ready to use her best skill. The Lifebound Call of the Treasury was actually ranked higher than the Greater Call of the Treasury, but given that it only had 3 uses, which she didn’t know if she would be able to replenish, it seemed like something that she should hold in reserve as a trump card, in case her life was ever in danger.
By now, she realised that the colour of the portal was linked to the grade of the reward she was receiving from her ability. Forest green for unusual grade and yellow for heroic grade. From texts she’d read, and her own experience while selecting her personal ability and the items she’d just received, Elaria knew the corresponding colour for eight different grades. Unless it was one she didn’t recognise, she’d be able to tell instantly what level of reward she was about to get without even needing to prompt the Chain. That was why, when she used the Greater Call of the Treasury, she was shocked to see that the colour of the delivery portal was a light grey, denoting that she was about to receive a common grade item, the lowest of the low.
What kind of scam was this? Even the Lesser Call of the Treasury had given her an unusual grade medicinal pill, so why was her best skill giving her a completely mundane reward. Would she end up waiting three months for the cooldown to end, only to receive another common item? In any case, she wasn’t exactly in a position to complain despite the lacking grade, since she had only just left the village and had no gear except for the sword which her father had given her, and her shiny new cowboy hat. What fell out of the portal this time was a silver necklace, the chain links roughly hewn, with a heavy, egg shaped silver pendant, rounded with a jagged trim. Elaria didn’t have high expectations for the jewellery, but checked out the description anyway.
Eye of Zolaris [Sealed] (Common)
Equippable Item
One of the lost relics of an ancient demon, the Eye of Zolaris is currently sealed and lacks most of its former power. Despite this, having been by the side of such a formidable being for so long, it slowly absorbed some of its owner’s power, and can still be of use.
+1 to Vitality
Getting a small boost to her vitality was nothing to complain about, so she wore the item around her neck, letting the heavy pendant sit on her chest. It was ice cold on her skin, and she had shivered when putting it on. Unlike abilities, items and equipment could have their grade improved, usually through crafting or smithing. Since the necklace said that it was sealed, perhaps if she was able to discover a method of removing the seal, this item would become more powerful. Although showing an interest in anything demonic might have her labelled an outcast or worse in the kingdom of Erlich, given its long standing history of bloody war with the Helgor Empire, the nation of Imps, those who had the bloodline of demons, albeit extremely diluted and weak. A true demon had never appeared in Teron since the fargone ancient era.
All in all, Elaria was extremely satisfied with what she’d managed to receive from using her ability. The boost to her luck and vitality would be very beneficial, and given that she would be able to use the skills again soon, it looked like this ability of hers was extremely powerful. Having concluded her break, she finished the loaf of bread, washing it down with some water, and continued her journey through the plains of the Faust Barony.