CHAPTER 42: The Math-pocalypse
Noon found the teens gathered back around the table for lunch and to discuss their leveling. The adults had all left, except for Jordan and Ron, to get on with their various tasks. Everyone but Ed had a 19 displayed for their levels, which showed Adam that they had been assigning their XP. He was curious about what they had found while using the [System].
“How has leveling been going,” asked Adam. “Has there been much difference between the class and body levels?”
Elias picked it up. “I’m at level 14 with my [Class] and 5 with my [Body]. The [Body] levels were necessary to help with surviving the goblins since I kept running out of mana. As we’ve discussed, you get 5 stat points that you can choose when you level your [Body] and only 3 predefined ones when you level your [Class]. For us mages, we get +2 to Intelligence and +1 to Wisdom. Intelligence makes the attacks stronger while the Wisdom seems to increase the amount of mana I have. Unfortunately, I had to use my [Body] levels for physical stats to stay alive. I’m not sure how it is meant to be done otherwise for casters. I could definitely use more Wisdom.”
“Us warriors get +2 to Strength and +1 to Vitality,” threw in Lucas. “We’ve all focused on [Body] levels due to our enemies having so much advantage over us and how crappy our first skills were. After the elves I’ve tried to get my class higher but I’m still only at level 7 with my [Class]. Randall is the highest of the warriors with a [Class] of 10.”
“The Protector class gets +2 to Vitality and +1 to Strength. I didn’t have a good shield and needed to move faster so I also focused on [Body] levels. I added a Shield Bash at [Class] level 5 to allow me to punch people with my shield,” explained Brittney with a vicious smile as she described her skill.
“What about the scouts?” asked Adam.
Nick spoke up.
“We get +2 to Agility and +1 to Strength. I’m concerned that’ll make us a bit flimsy if we take damage. We’ve also focused on [Body] levels for the extra stats. Having to be in life and death situations to level is really making it hard to min-max, or to pre-choose a build. We’ve had to level based on the situation instead of a plan. I did get my [Class] to level 10. We get new skills every 5 levels. Currently I have the skills [Light Step], which makes me walk quieter, [Dim Presence], that reduces how noticeable I am, although it really needs skill points used on it, and I chose [Unseen Blow] to increase my damage if they aren’t looking at me when I attack.”
“The scouts had chosen more diversity than the warriors, so what did Carlos and Lamar choose for skills?” asked Adam.
“I went with the identifying path, like you mentioned Adam,” said Carlos. “I’m only level 9 in my [Class], so I only got to choose a level 5 skill. I currently have [Clear Sight] that allows me to see a bit further and in more detail. At level 5 I took [Understand]. It’s a bit weirder. When I look at a person or animal, I get more detailed information about them. I get the feeling that skill points will allow me to focus on different parts of a person, like their stats, skills, or class information. I’m just so scared of wasting my skill points.”
“I hear you there,” said Lamar. “I hit 10 in my [Class] and so I have three skills. I’m just not sure which, if any, I should focus on. I have [Notice Sign] which will help with tracking if I develop it. Then [Steady Shot] which allows any ranged weapon to be used with more accuracy. At level 10 I selected [Quick Release] which seems better than I expected. It works with both ranged and melee attacks, increasing the speed that I get attacks off. I practiced it with a bow, and it allows me to release the arrow fast but if I stab or swing my machete it gives just a little bit more oomph to it as well.”
“How do you get skill points?” asked Adam.
Elias was the one who answered. “Every [Class] level that doesn’t give a skill instead gives a skill point. I am [Class] level 14 and have 12 skill points and three skills. My most recent skill, [Increased Mana], seems the only one worth using points on. Want me to try it to see what happens?”
Tom let out a snort, gathering everyone’s attention. “You know what’s worse than all these aliens showing up to kill us? The apocalypse is coming, and it’s attacking us with MATH! The math-pocalypse and there isn’t even a cheat sheet included, let alone a manual. Freaking apocalypses.”
“It’s not like you would have read a manual,” jabbed Randall.
“Yeah, well, it’d just have been nice to know there was one. Besides, I’m sure Elias would have read it and let us know what to do better.”
“It’s almost a good point,” said Andrea. “A whole complex [System], known to the invaders, and no one has been polite enough to clue us in to how things work. It feels like we're trying to fight guns with sticks.”
“So far it's worked out,” mumbled Joseph.
“Yeah, so far. And when it stops working out when we bring a bomb named Adam to those gun fights, then what?”
“True.”
“Good point.”
“Gah!”
“Got any more wife openings, boss? Maybe for the dudes?”
The last one got Tom a slap to the back of the head and a laugh from Alissa.
“Anyway,” Adam tried to bring things back to the productive part of the conversation. “Elias, if you feel comfortable with using the skill points then go ahead. It’ll be nice to know what it leads to.”
Elias brought up his status and then went to the skill panel. He tried to upgrade the [Increased Mana] skill.
[Increased Mana] (Passive)
Increases the amount of mana inside a person by 5%.
Choose your spell’s path: [ Amount / Regeneration / Cost ]
Elias thought about it for a moment. Since it was a test, he took the cost option.
Skill: [Increased Mana] + 1
This skill increases the amount of mana inside a person by 5% and reduces spell costs by 5%.
That seemed like a good result to Elias so he tried it repeatedly with different options.
Skill: [Increased Mana] + 2
This skill increases the amount of mana inside a person by 10% and reduces spell costs by 5%.
Skill: [Increased Mana] + 3
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
This skill increases the amount of mana inside a person by 10%, mana regeneration by 5%, and reduces spell costs by 5%.
Skill: [Increased Mana] + 4
This skill increases the amount of mana inside a person by 10%, mana regeneration by 10%, and reduces spell costs by 5%.
Skill: [Increased Mana] + 5
This skill increases the amount of mana inside a person by 10%, mana regeneration by 10%, and reduces spell costs by 10%.
Skill [Increased Mana] cannot be improved further.
Once he finished checking through his menus, he explained the results.
“So skills can only be improved five times, but it does allow you to control the direction of the improvements. It seems that the [System] is giving us some choice, even if it all feels small. Choosing from three skills, three options for improvement, and then our choice of class direction,” Adam mused. “I wonder how much we can really influence the paths.”
“The support class seems to be branching off quite a bit,” added Abbey. “Brandon’s skills focus on buffing people, mine on healing, and I had Ed choose skills related to curing ailments. We are each at [Class] level 14. My skills are [Slight Heal], [Reduce Poison], and [Regenerate], which can help people regain their stamina and health over time.”
“Brandon, what are your buffs looking like?” asked Lucas.
“First I have [Bolster], which increases all stats by 2% for 15 minutes. Next is [Enhance Body] that improves Strength and Agility by 5% for 30 minutes. Finally [Enhance Mind] that improves Intelligence and Wisdom by 5% for 30 minutes.”
“Huh. How much do you think those help?” asked Adam.
“For us who have stats it is a noticeable amount though not ground breaking,” answered Nick. “I think because they scale it might be better for higher stat people. We can’t test that on you though. Have you even felt it when Brandon cast it on you?”
“Actually, no,” responded Adam. “On me it almost felt icky, but I wasn’t sure that was the buff until now. The real shame is there aren’t enough skill points to make all of them more significant. It’s like you’d have to choose between either physical fighters or the casters.”
“Do you want me to do that?” asked Brandon.
“No. Let’s see what you get later on. I bet at level 15, there will be an option to buff Vitality.” Adam considered all he had heard. Then he idly said, “I wonder what is required to evolve a class.”
“Actually, darling, I wanted to talk about that,” said Andrea slyly. “I have the evolution option available.”
Everyone stared at her. Waiting for more. She just smiled at them.
“Er, ok. What does it say?” Adam prompted her.
“The options opened up when my [Class] hit level 15. I’m just not very excited about what is there. Let’s see if you have an opinion, darling.”
Andrea stood up from her seat and walked over to Adam’s seat. He looked at her with a bit of confusion. Then she leaned over his shoulder, with her face next to his. She lifted a hand and suddenly a screen appeared over it showing her status directly to Adam.
People jumped from their seats, and a few jaws dropped. The girls all looked smug though.
“You can show people your messages?” Adam asked in a surprised tone. Then his expression changed to a smirk. “And by the look of it you girls have been waiting to show it off.”
Andrea giggled.
“Yeah, I already showed them. I wonder how much it matters, though.” Andrea turned to him with a smile and sneaked a kiss on his cheek. “I’ve been practicing with it for the big reveal. It takes concentration but you can do a lot with it. You don’t have to anchor it to your hand.”
She pulled her hand away and the screen stayed where it was.
“You can also mentally resize, reshape, or move it.”
At those words a look of concentration came over Andrea and the hovering screen began rotating. It turned until it vanished from Adam’s sight as it proved to be two dimensional when it faced completely to the side. Adam stared as there was no depth to it at all, becoming completely 2D, then rotating back into view as the angle continued to change. Once it came back to face him, Andrea touched it and went into the Evolution tab.
CLASS EVOLUTION:
The following options are currently available…
Tier 1 Classes:
[Apprentice Wizard] (Common)
Cost: 15 levels
This class focuses on non-elemental spells and fundamental mana control. [Mana Dart], [Mana Barrage], and [Mana Barrier] are the core spells that receive skills to improve them. Once this class evolves to [Wizard] at Tier 2, the full strength of these spells can be used.
[Apprentice Elementalist] (Common)
Cost: 15 levels
This class focuses on controlling the elements. Numerous element-based attack and defense spells can be learned, though few passives can be incorporated to boost their effectiveness. This class provides a great flexibility at the expense of spell power.
[Fire Mage] (Uncommon)
Cost: 15 levels
This class wields fire. All spells and passives learned through it support the fire element. Development of this class leads to a stronger Tier 2 fire focused class.
Adam stared at the classes. He thought about the descriptions and how they almost explain that you wouldn’t want to have them. [Apprentice Wizard] pretty much says it is weak until the next evolution. What the hell?! It also seemed that without elemental capabilities you would never be able to exploit weaknesses. Not that the elementalist class was any better. Lots of elements, but how can you exploit weaknesses if you are just using weak ass spells? With what they knew of skill points you’d never really be able to build up enough spells for them to be anything but weak utility. The fire mage one was the best of the bunch, though it seemed to limit you into a single box.
“Yup, these look like garbage,” Adam said to the previously hopeful looking Andrea. She frowned at him, sneaked a cheek kiss, then frowned again.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Looking around, Adam noticed the people in the room and had a thought.
“Ron, got a taser?”
Ron had stuck around to take notes of the [System] related aspects they were discussing. He hadn’t been writing specifics about the group members’ skills and levels, at Adam’s request, but even knowing what skills were available and how everything worked could be disseminated to the rest of the police force and maybe ones in other states. At Adam’s question he blankly stared.
“Yes, why?”
“I want to tase someone.”
“You can’t use my taser, Adam.”
“Sure I can. Though I won’t be. It’s for Andrea.”
“You want Andrea to tase you?”
“No, that wouldn’t work. My skin is too tough. Lucas and Brittney probably have too much Vitality too. Hm...Carlos, come over here.”
Carlos startled in his chair.
“No way! Why me?” demanded Carlos.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been looking at Emily,” said Adam blandly, bring laughter to everyone else.
“No fair! She’s cute, and you’ve taken all the other girls.”
“Carlos. Here. Now.” Adam just pointed to the floor next to his chair. With a huge sigh Carlos stood up and walked over to Adam and Andrea.
“I still can’t let you use the taser, Adam,” Ron said hesitantly. Adam stared at him for a minute and then shrugged.
“That’s fine. You won’t let me. I will just have to use my monstrous speed to chase you down, and my monstrous strength to take it. I don’t see any way the taser doesn’t end up in my hand in a few seconds.”
Very quickly the taser was handed over to Adam.
“Adam, let me see it before you use it,” Joseph spoke up. Adam looked at him for a moment, and when Joseph nodded, he tossed it. Joseph easily caught it out of the air and then pulled out one of the squiggly elf knives. Very carefully he dragged the blade along the side of the taser casing, cutting out a square so that he could see the inside. Ron shook his head, face in his hands at its treatment. After messing with the inside for a few minutes Joseph carried it back to Adam.
“I’ve removed the parts that restricted the charge. It’ll use the entire cartridge when you fire it now,” Joseph explained.
“Thanks. Nice work! Now Carlos…”
“No! Adam, no! Not only are you going to tase me, but with the safety off?!” Carlos was starting to panic, but Adam had stood and had his hand on Carlos’s shoulder to prevent his escape.
Andrea received the taser and aimed it at Carlos’s stomach, where Adam had lifted his shirt. Carlos was trying his hardest to pull away.
“Don’t be a baby,” taunted Alissa.
“That’s easy for you to s…” Carlos was interrupted as the prongs hit his stomach and his body shuddered five times. Loud crackles of electricity and shock went through the wires, melting the probes at the end and leaving a light scorch mark where they had stuck to him. He would have fallen to the floor except for Adam’s grip that kept him up. Abbey quickly came over and cast a heal, removing the scorch mark and the red skin around it. The muscles continued to visually twitch though.
“D-damn you g-guys!” Carlos chattered while stiffly walking back to his seat. “A strength of 36 and can’t do anything against the brute!” That drew more laughs from the group.
Tom patted his shoulder consolingly, but with a vicious grin on his face. “At least you didn’t lose control of your bladder. As far as we can see.”