You have defeated Yaldabaoth (lvl 60)
“Wow, that guy was no slouch,” I said aloud as the notification flashed up on my screen.
At level 50 you hit phase three, so Yaldabaoth was well on his way to becoming a phase four. Sally was past level 90 the last time I’d spoken to her about it and I still had a long way to go before catching up to her.
Congratulations! You have advanced to lvl 45
Bonus experience gained due to level disparity.
Previously I had been dumping all of my free points into intelligence to try and boost the time I could spend invisible: a skill I’d gained from a full set armour bonus.
In the last battle though, I realised something. Ignoring my other stats wasn’t the best idea. They got raised significantly with every level, which was why I was putting my points into intelligence.
It was my lowest stat and the stat which progressed the least with each level up. My class Apex Predator gave a mere plus one to intelligence per level, whereas it gave a generous plus seven to strength, plus five to vitality and plus three to both agility and perception.
With that in mind, this time I split my free points a little differently, adding two to intelligence, two to perception and one to agility.
It would take longer to raise a single stat this way, but after facing Yaldabaoth I spotted a critical weakness in my skill distribution.
How had I let him get so close to me? The beast had stabbed me before I’d had the chance to dodge. If I had higher perception and agility stats then maybe I would have noticed sooner and had the skill to dodge out of the way of that attack.
If he had been a stronger opponent then there was a good chance I would have died, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.
After quickly assigning my new free points my HUD flashed once more with a notification that left me grinning.
Quest Complete!
A Good Time, Not A Long Time
You’ve been marked as a guest of The Morningstar Hotel and Spa. I wonder what mayhem and fun awaits behind its doors.
Updates:
You have discovered that The Morningstar Collective are a syndicate who run a racketeering operation in Havar.
You suspect that The Morningstar Collective have kidnapped another adventurer and are holding her at The Morningstar Hotel and Spa
It is possible that The Morningstar Collective are involved with the regicide of the local king.
You have discovered that the entrance to The Morningstar Hotel and Spa is located inside El ‘Dorado.
You have gained a platinum pass to access the lower floors where you suspect the prisoner is being held.
You have discovered that The Morningstar Collective are secretly kidnapping outworlders and collecting their skin.
Objectives:
Enter The Morningstar Hotel and Spa 1/1
Uncover the secrets of The Morningstar Hotel and Spa 1/1
Rescue the kidnapped adventurer 1/1
Secret Objective: Kill Yaldabaoth, the capo responsible for Morningstar interests in Havar 1/1
Find out if The Morningstar Collective are connected to the regicide 0/1 (objective failed)
Reward:
X1 Skill Upgrade Potion
X1 Weapon Upgrade Potion
Secret Reward… negated as not all objectives were completed.
There was a lot to unpack in there and I didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Most of the notification was a running quest log of the things I’d done and discovered.
I wasn’t surprised to see that defeating Yaldabaoth was a secret objective and that was kind of cool. I was, however, pretty disappointed that I failed to shed some light on The Collective’s involvement with the regicide.
My secret reward was taken from me and that was a bitter pill to swallow, still I gained a skill upgrade and a weapon upgrade potion and I knew exactly how I wanted to use them.
Stolen novel; please report.
“It’ll take me a few minutes to work out how to get their portal system open,” Jack said from behind the reception desk. The receptionist was nothing but a pile of bloody goop after the armoured assailant had torn through the room.
“No problem, I have some quest rewards to apply anyway,” I replied half-heartedly as I continued moving through my HUD.
First up was the weapon upgrade potion, not that I knew how to use it. Did I drink it or did I pour it over the weapon I wanted to upgrade? I looked towards Panda who shook his head at my confusion.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He asked behind a cocky smirk. “If it’s a skill potion you drink it because the skills are inside you, if it’s a weapons potion you pour it on the weapon you want to upgrade. That is, unless the weapon is your fist, in which case you’d drink it… probably.”
Taking his advice, I summoned my bow from my inventory and applied the potion. My HUD lit up immediately.
Longbow of the Giant Goblin (common)
ààà
Longbow of the Giant Goblin (uncommon)
This bow was carved from the forearm of a unique monster: Gertrude the Giant Goblin.
Just as she smashed her old clan into oblivion, you smashed her. You dirty bugger.
I mean, whatever tickles your pickle am I right?
I’m still judging you though.
Longbows can fire accurately over longer distances.
+10% strength
Grants use of the skill: Sniper
*Sniper can only be used whilst this item is equipped*
I furrowed my brow as I tried to work out what had changed besides the rarity. It took a moment, but I realised that the strength increase had gone from 5% to 10%.
It wasn’t much, but the higher my percentage bonuses got the more bang for my buck I would get at each new level and that would definitely be useful going forward. As far as quest rewards went I couldn’t really complain.
Next came the big one. I had an upgrade potion for skills and I knew exactly which one I wanted to use it on. This skill had been the backbone of my fighting style for a while now and improving it even further was the obvious choice.
I drank the potion and a new window popped up on my HUD asking me which skill I wanted to apply the potion to. Naturally, I chose Soul Shot.
ERROR
Soul Shot is already an ancient rated skill. It cannot be upgraded to unique artificially.
“What!” I shouted, turning the heads of Jack, Bell, and Panda at the same time.
“You tried to upgrade Soul Shot didn’t you?” Panda sighed as the other two watched in bewilderment. “You can’t use an upgrade potion to push a skill past ancient rarity, kid… sorry.”
“You have an ancient skill?” Bell blurted out and then coughed a few times. Her frailty seemed to be subsiding with time but she was far from her usual self.
“Yeah, don’t you?” I asked with a shrug.
“No!” She shouted, forcing herself into a seated position and looking at me like I was an idiot. “L.A. Noir, tell him how rare ancient skills are!” She demanded and Jack looked between the two of us with widened eyes.
“Kaleb,” he said diplomatically, “as the lady says, ancient skills are exceedingly rare so people like you and I who are fortunate enough to have them shouldn’t go around bragging about it.”
“You have one too!” She screamed, practically falling off the bench I’d laid her on. “Well this is just great.”
With a slight smirk, I delved back into my HUD to choose a different skill to upgrade. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I had two ancient skills and a unique skill.
Do you want to upgrade the skill: Acid Dhampir Dagger?
Y/N
Acid Dhampir Dagger is able to merge with the class skill Acid Arrow, would you like to merge these skills?
Y/N
I mentally asserted yes for both questions.
Acid Dhampir Dagger has merged with Acid Arrow
You have unlocked the skill:
Acidic Dhampir Weapons (uncommon)
ààà
Acidic Dhampir Weapons (rare)
A Dhampir is the offspring of a human and a vampire. They can’t turn into bats or anything but in some earthen mythos they drink blood to gain power, or because they think they’re edgy or whatever.
Anyway, the point is that the Dhampir Weapons will steal HP with every hit you make. That’s right, attack them and heal yourself in the process!
Gain 10% of damage inflicted by weapons as HP.
Due to the nature of your class, Dhampir Weapons refers to skirmisher class weapons only.
All Dhampir Weapons inflict acid damage.
The upgraded skill added an interesting development. It seemed that the upgrade specifically merged the two skills, applying the Dhampir effect to my bow.
Gaining back health with every shot was a good bonus. It was useful on the daggers but I barely used them. If I’d have had this skill during The Goblin King Coronation quest then I wouldn’t have needed Lucas to save me when I was neck deep in goblins.
With the bow being my primary weapon it made sense to upgrade it, and the skills surrounding it, as much as possible. Still, I had no idea that upgrading a skill could cause it to merge with another skill.
“Almost… done,” Jack grunted from beneath the reception desk when a blue portal suddenly sprang to life. It looked a sickly, place colour. A far cry from the vibrant portal we’d entered to get here.
I scooped up Bell who was still sulking and headed across the room towards the portal and our way back to Havar.
“Thanks for that Jack,” I said, stopping next to the reception desk, “you’ve been a big help. I really appreciate it.”
“Appreciation is nice and all, but don’t forget our deal,” he replied smugly.
I looked at him sceptically and then sighed. He had earned my favour, as shady as he might have been. Without his help I wouldn’t have been able to save Bell, and he helped me take down Yaldabaoth.
“I won’t,” I replied earnestly, “whenever you need me, I’ll be there.”
“Good,” he replied, offering his hand out to shake and then thinking better of it when he realised my hands were full from carrying Bell. “I think we’ll meet again sooner than you might think.”
I nodded at him in lieu of a handshake and entered the portal.
“I wonder what happened to that silver eyed guy who kidnapped Bell in the first place,” Panda said with a shrug, “we never found him.”
***
Jack leant back on the blood slick desk and sighed deeply, rubbing his temples with his palms. “You can come out now,” he said into the shadows.
On cue, a hooded figure with a pair of piercing silver eyes emerged from the nearby darkness, his body shimmered as he exited the shadows themselves using a power that was unfamiliar to Jack.
“Our deal is complete Reaper,” he said mechanically, striding towards Jack with a swagger that portrayed his arrogance.
“It is,” Jack replied, “your service to The Organisation won’t be forgotten, thank you for sealing the portals. If the higher ups of The Morningstar Collective had been able to get here the kid would never have survived.”
The silver eyed man nodded, perching himself next to Jack against the receptionist’s desk.
“Your god has convoluted plans,” he murmured more to himself than to the assassin, “kidnapping a girl so that you can pretend to help some guy save her to trick him into believing he owes you a favour. What a roundabout way to get things done.”
“I don’t pretend to fully understand Diako’s vision,” Jack said wistfully, folding his arms, “but the boy had to be willing to do almost anything for me. We needed him in my debt, it is part of the grand design. And… if we happened to take out Chrysus’ vassal in the process then all the better.”
“Yaldabaoth was a good capo,” the man growled, “Nyx won’t be pleased with this.”
“Nyx is a minor god,” Jack replied coldly, “he has not the will or the power to defy my lord. Watch your mouth.”
The silver eyed man snorted derisively and shook his head. “I guess your work here is done then?” He asked suggestively, “I have a lot of work to do if I’m to take over the Havarian branch.”
The Reaper nodded and the man gave him a meaningful look before leaving the room and heading towards the bar area. Jack smiled when he thought of the arduous task of cleaning that was ahead of the arrogant prick.
Good work Jack, Diako said entering his mind as the man left. I’ll open a portal for you now, it’s going to take you to the continent. I have a new mission for you.
“No rest for the wicked then boss?” He said aloud with a smile.
Diako had opened the portal to Havar for Kaleb using Jack as a vessel to channel his mana through. Jack was clever and good at using mana, but he wasn’t a genius, nor was he a high enough level to strong arm his way through a complex portal system.
You can rest when my goal is met, that was our deal. The god’s presence made Jack shiver; it was becoming a nervous tick of sorts. He hated not being let in on the full design of Diako’s plans. Though he talked a big game to the arrogant man, he himself knew very little of the plans of gods.
It was a new feeling for the old solider. He’d spent his entire life following orders without question, so it irked him how much he was annoyed by not knowing more of his god’s plans.
A bright scarlet portal sprang to life, much more potent than the one Diako had opened for Kaleb, and Jack stepped through it.
The continent awaits, my vassal.