“So…what do we need to talk about?” Lia asked.
“You and Rose.” Amelia said. “It seems you finally decided to make things official.”
“We…did, yes.” Lia said warily.
“Congratulations.” Amelia replied. “Just…keep in mind that you’re not bound by society’s stuffy morals anymore.”
Lia blinked in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that monogamy is boring.” Amelia said. “And, if you want, you can keep your options open.”
“I…see.” Lia said. “I’ll do that, then.” She didn’t have any intentions of actually keeping her options open, but sometimes, in the moment, it was best to just go along with what Amelia said.
“Good. Now, before I send you to go talk with your family, I believe you have yet to check your Skills after your battle with Skarde. It would be prudent to do that now, so you know exactly what you’re capable of if things go south.”
Lia nodded. “Thanks for reminding me. Give me a sec and I’ll do that.” She had waved away the windows that she had received that battle in all of the excitement, so she had to open her Skills menu and check manually.
Since the last time she had checked, she had received quite a few upgrades, and not all of them were even related to the battle. The majority of those were rather boring; Analysis, Battle Commander, Blood Money, Dimensional Storage, Magic Multicast, Mental Magic Boost, Motion Blur, Rest, and Silent Steps had all jumped one or more levels, but only offered increases in efficiency or power, no new functionality.
Active Camouflage, Night Vision, Presence Detection, and Spiderclimb had all reached maximum level and were ready for evolution. She decided to hold off on evolving Active Camouflage, since there was apparently an evolution that would combine it, Motion Blur, and Silent steps, and combined evolutions were generally quite powerful, but the others were a bit more difficult.
First, there was Night Vision.
The following evolution options are available for Night Vision:
Enhanced Night Vision:
Enhanced Night Vision keeps the base Night Vision functionality (150 meters of colored vision), with the added benefit of being able to partially pierce magical darkness. Higher levels in Enhanced Night Vision increase the range of vision and how far into magical darkness can be seen.
Heat Vision:
Heat Vision allows the user to switch between two modes of vision. The first retains the base Night Vision functionality (150 meters of colored vision), while the second allows the user to expend Stamina to visibly see the temperatures of objects up to Night Vision’s range, providing a highly-effective means of spotting living beings that is not affected by standard invisibility. Higher levels in Heat Vision increase Night Vision’s range and the clarity of this vision, allowing for easier distinction between extreme temperatures.
Enhanced Night Vision was tempting, but in the end, she decided to go for Heat Vision. It had a few downsides, most notably not being able to easily distinguish between different types of objects, but it provided her with an extra option for detecting things that she wouldn’t have otherwise.
Heat Vision
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Heat Vision allows the user to switch between two modes of vision. The first retains the base Night Vision functionality (150 meters of colored vision), while the second allows the user to expend Stamina to visibly see the temperatures of objects up to Night Vision’s range, providing a highly-effective means of spotting living beings that is not affected by standard invisibility.
Level 1: Provides 150 meters of vision. Heat Vision requires 5 Stamina/second, and can easily distinguish between temperatures that are greater than 0 °C and lower than 35 °C.
You’d be a master of the hot-and-cold game if it actually involved temperature.
Up next was Presence Detection.
The following evolution options are available for Presence Detection:
Multi-Presence Detection:
Multi-Presence Detection simply allows the user to detect more than one presence at a time. Higher levels in Multi-Presence Detection increase the number of presences that can be detected.
Smart Presence Detection:
Smart Presence Detection allows the user to choose which types of presences they would like to detect, rather than always detecting the most powerful presence. Higher levels in Smart Presence Detection increase the number of criteria that can be used to narrow results down.
That one was pretty easy; the last few times she had tried to use Presence Detection, it always locked on to Rose or Bella, so she had given up on using it for anything but leveling itself up. So, she picked Smart Presence Detection.
Smart Presence Detection
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Allows the user to sense the presence of beings that meet a certain criteria within a range.
Level 1: For 0.1 Stamina per second, points the user to the strongest being within 100 meters. For an additional 1 Stamina per second, the user can have this Skill filter out allies.
Now with better targeting!
Which left Spiderclimb.
The following evolution options are available for Spiderclimb:
Cling Master:
Cling Master retains the base functionality of Spiderclimb while further strengthening the user’s grip on whatever they’re walking on, allowing them to walk with ease on even the slickest surfaces. Higher levels in Cling Master allow the user to move faster while retaining Cling Master’s benefits.
Air Stepper:
Air Stepper retains the base functionality of Spiderclimb and allows the user to create a foothold or handhold in the air for a hefty amount of Stamina. Higher levels in Air Stepper reduce the Stamina cost.
That decision was quite a bit more difficult. Air Stepper sounded like the better option, but she was also expecting to get something similar from air magic, so there was a chance it ended up being redundant. It also cost “a hefty amount of Stamina”, so it wasn’t likely to be something she could spam, either. Cling Master, on the other hand, had no perceivable downsides, even if its effects were somewhat underwhelming.
Eventually, she decided to go with Air Stepper in the hopes that the Stamina cost wouldn’t be too prohibitive, and that it would evolve into something better.
Air Stepper
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Allows the user to stick to walls and ceilings with a 200% increase in grip strength, as well as create handholds and footholds in the air.
Level 1: Creating a foothold costs 100 Stamina.
Theoretically, if all the air molecules aligned in exactly the right way all the time, you wouldn’t even need this
And, to her surprise, both Swarm Progenitor and Humanoid Transformation had leveled up. Humanoid Transformation gave the rather simple benefit of allowing her to change her clothing when she transformed, and allowed her to change clothes whenever she wanted without incurring a time penalty.
And Swarm Progenitor provided a conversion manager that was much the same as its evolution manager; she could set a race as “low priority”, and, as long as she had looked at the conversion options for at least one member of that race, they would be automatically converted into foot soldiers, drones, and the like, provided there was both enough modeling wax, and something capable of making the conversion.
Finally, she had received one new Skill during her battle.
Hyperspeed Thought
Level 1: 548/1500 EXP
Hyperspeed thought allows the user to expend Stamina to drastically speed up their thoughts, effectively making the world appear to operate in slow motion. This does not make the user physically faster, however.
Level 1: Costs 20 Stamina/second and doubles thought speed.
Just think faster
“All done.” Lia said. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“No problem.” Amelia said. “How do you want to go about meeting your family?”
“What time is it over there?”
“Late.” Amelia replied. “Your siblings are currently getting ready for bed, and your father is at the bar. He should be back in about an hour, so if you want to deal with your siblings separately, now’s the time.”
Lia nodded. “Yes, let’s do that. Um…how are we going to keep the monster detectors from going off, though?”
Amelia waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just going to spoof your status. You’re only kind of a monster anyway, so enchantments like that will be easy to fool.”
“And the teleport jammer?”
“Literally child’s play. I’ve been teleporting around the city since I was five.”
“And no one noticed.” Lia said flatly.
“I just made it so my entrance is blocked from people’s minds until they can find a reasonable way I could have come in and then suddenly they think I did that. I’ll be doing the same with you, by the way, so don’t worry about that either.”
“You’re way too good at this.” Lia said, shaking her head in wonder.
“Well, I have lots of practice.” Amelia replied. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”
“The front door to my house, if you would. Give me second, though, I want to change clothes.” Lia focused for a moment, and suddenly she found herself wearing her old favorite outfit, looking exactly as she had before she had died. “Alright. Send me down. Give me a copy of my key, too, just in case.”
“Good luck! Once you convince them, I’ll just teleport them back here for holding, until we can send you all back to the dungeon together.”
“Thanks, Amelia.”
Amelia waved, there was a lurching, and then Lia was on the steps in front of her house, a key in her hand. True to Amelia’s words, no alarms went off because of the presence of a monster, no one screamed because someone just teleported into the middle of the street, nothing.
Lia took a deep breath, then knocked on the door. There was some shuffling from inside, growing louder as someone approached the door, then…silence. There was a long silence, then, from inside, Lia heard someone shout.
“Maria, are you alright? Who is it?!”
That was…probably Robin, her brother. His voice was deeper than she remembered, but Amelia hadn’t mentioned anyone else being at her house, and the voice did sound like her dad’s, if slightly different, so…yeah, it had to be Robin.
She heard the sound of someone dashing away from the front door, and a cry of alarm from within. Lia sighed and tried the door handle, found it locked, unlocked it with her key, and stepped inside.
It was…much the same as it had been before, if ever so slightly different. The house was less tidy than she remembered it being, and there was the occasional item she didn’t remember, but other than that it was nearly identical to her memories.
She paused, hearing some muffled sniffling from back in the bedrooms, then made her way over. The sniffling came from what had been her old room, now likely repurposed to be someone else’s. The door was shut, so she knocked again. “I’m not going to hurt you.” She said. “I have good news, really! I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m back!”
“Go away, ghost!” Robin shouted. “People don’t come back from the dead!”
“I know, Robin.” Lia said. “But…things changed. Do you remember Amelia? She’s a Hero, and she spent these last years figuring out how to bring me back, and she did!”
“You’re lying!” Robin said. “We’re not going to fall for it! Just leave us alone!”
Lia sighed, and tried to open the door. Something had been thrown in front of it, however, and it wouldn’t budge. “Stand back.” She called. “I’m going to force this open, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt in the process.”
“W-what?!” Robin yelled.
“On the count of three. One…two…three!” Lia said, using earth magic to form a large rock, which she sent hurtling into the door. There was a crash, and the door broke off of its hinges, revealing her sisters huddling in terror on her old bed. In the space in front of where the door had been, a table had been pushed in an attempt to keep her out.
Robin was nowhere in sight, so he was obviously at the side of the door, ready to ambush her as soon as she stepped in. So, she activated Hyperspeed Thought and stepped inside. She heard a whoosh of movement from her left, and she turned and grabbed Robin’s wrist as he was in the process of bringing a steak knife down on her.
She hadn’t, however, been expecting his strength. She had always beat him in fights when they both were little, but he was going through puberty, and it showed. She struggled with him for a moment, but, eventually, overpowered him. Her Strength was likely higher than his, and he hadn’t yet completed puberty, so she was able to throw him onto the ground, forcing him to drop the knife.
She kicked the knife away, then pinned him down like she always used to. After a moment of struggle, she deactivated Hyperspeed Thought and gave Robin her customary poke to the nose, then got off. “I’m serious. I’m not going to hurt you.” She said. “It’s me!”
“Is it really?” Her youngest sister, Olivia, said.
“It-it can’t be!” Maria, the second-oldest in the family, said, tears in her eyes. “People don’t just come back!”
“I know.” Lia said. “But like I said, things are different. Amelia’s a Hero, and she figured it out. And…I got mom back, too. She’s still regaining her memories, but we can be together again!”
“Why should we believe you?!” Robin said. “Why shouldn’t we call for the guards right now?!”
“Because it’s true.” Lia said. “Maria, you must have noticed that things didn’t always…add up. That any time things started to look like you were going to be homeless or something really bad would happen, that it just…went away.”
Maria hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Did…you do that?”
Lia shook her head. “No, I was dead. Amelia did that, because she knew I was going to be coming back. She wanted to make sure my family was safe.”
“But…how are you and mom just supposed to come back?” Maria asked. “Everyone knows you’re dead!”
Lia sighed. “That’s…the issue.” She said. “We’re…not going to, not exactly. I’m…well, I’m going to be completely honest with you guys, I’m not humanoid anymore. I’m a sort of hybrid between a monster and a person, and mom is too.”
“But you…look normal, and the alarms didn’t go off!” Olivia protested.
“I look normal, but I’m not. I can only keep this form for three hours every day. And Amelia made it so I wouldn’t set off the alarms, which is why they’re not going off. My “true” form is…well, a fox. You’ll see it after we’re done here. Anyway…I’m going to be taking over the world. I’m the Queen of what we call the swarm.
“Eventually, everyone’s going to be like mom and I are, and I wanted to come to you guys first. I don’t want you guys to be used as hostages or even to fight against me, so…please, come with me. I promise I can bring you to a better life than the one you have right now, where all six of us can be happy and together again.”
“No, I–” Robin began, but he was cut off as Olivia spoke.
“I’ll do it.” She said in a small voice. “I’ll go with you.”
Their other siblings gasped. “Olivia, you can’t!” Robin said. “We can’t trust her!”
“But…but I want to.” She said. “I don’t like how things are. Ever since Lia died, things got really bad. I don’t care if it’s a trap, I just…I just want to see mom and Lia again.”
Lia spread her arms out. “Come here.” She said. “Let me snuggle you.”
Olivia attempted to wriggle out of Maria’s grasp, but Maria held firm. “I’m sorry, Olivia.” Maria said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Lia sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.” She said. “But…if you’re not going to come willingly, I’m going to have to take you by force. Please don’t make me do that, I really don’t want to, but…it’s for your own good, really!”
Robin grit his teeth and lunged for the knife, but Lia was faster, snatching it away before he could reach it. She sighed again, and snapped her fingers, casting a quick spell that put him to sleep.
Lia looked back up at her sisters. “Please?” She asked. “I promise everything will work out. If…if I wanted to hurt you, I would have already, see?” She said, waving the knife before tossing it to the side.
Maria slumped. “I…guess we don’t have much of a choice, huh?”
“Sorry.” Lia said. “Amelia’s gonna take you three to a safe place while I deal with papa.”
“He’s going to be drunk, you know.” Maria said. “It’s not going to be pretty.”
“I can handle him.” Lia said. “I may look the same, but I’m a lot stronger than I used to be. You three just relax and let your big sister take care of it, alright?”
Olivia nodded shyly, and then the three kids were gone. I got them. Amelia’s voice rang out in Lia’s mind. And I managed to get your dad sent back to your place. He should be here in a couple of minutes.
Lia nodded, and made her way down to the living room to wait.
----------------------------------------
Beyond this is the full list of Skills and Titles Lia has, as taken directly from my documentation. It isn’t required reading for the story by any means, and is just here as a refresher for people who want that.
Skills (As this is straight up copy/pasted from my docs, and the values there are “as of the last time I touched this Skill”, and more for helping me estimate things than anything else, the EXP values given are not entirely accurate to what they are at this point. In “reality”, they are almost all going to be higher than this.):
A Cornered Rat
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Instills the need to fight and survive into a target.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Level 1: For 10 Mana, instill the need to fight in a target you can see within 60m. For so long as the creature is within 60m of you, and for 60 seconds afterwards, it is overcome by the desire to fight back and survive. If a creature leaves the radius of this effect and re-enters before it is free from the effect, the effect is refreshed. While under the effect of this ability, a creature’s Strength is increased by 50%. For every rat (or swarm creature made from a rat) within 5m of you, your Magic is considered to be 1.1x higher (additive) for the purposes of overcoming Mental Fortitude.
FIGHT
Active Camouflage
Level 10: 0/0 EXP
Helps the user stay hidden.
Level 1: For 1 Stamina per second, the user appears somewhat similarly colored to objects near them. This effect is visual only and only affects the vision of creatures other than the user.
Level 2: For 1 Stamina per second, the user appears similarly colored to objects near them. This effect is visual only and only affects the vision of creatures other than the user.
Level 3: For 1 Stamina per second, the user becomes the same color as the most common color within 10 centimeters. This effect is visual only, and the user may choose to be affected.
Level 4: For 1 Stamina per second, the user’s body changes hue to match the two most common colors within 5 centimeters. These colors are placed in random blotches around the user’s skin, forming a stereotypical ‘camouflage’ pattern.
Level 5: Stamina cost reduced to 0.9 per second.
Level 6: Stamina cost reduced to 0.8 per second.
Level 7: Stamina cost reduced to 0.7 per second. Body now changes hue to match the three most common colors within 5 centimeters.
Level 8: Stamina cost reduced to 0.6 per second.
Level 9: Stamina cost reduced to 0.5 per second. Body now changes hue to match the four most common colors within 5 centimeters.
Level 10: Stamina cost reduced to 0.1 per second.
Not the greatest when moving, though
Air Stepper
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Allows the user to stick to walls and ceilings with a 200% increase in grip strength, as well as create handholds and footholds in the air.
Level 1: Creating a foothold costs 100 Stamina.
Puts the crawly in your creepy.
Analysis
Level 6: 350/800 EXP
Helps the user draw conclusions on a situation.
Level 1: For 10 Mana, helps the user by supplying relevant information the user knows or once knew and may have been forgotten.
Level 2: For 20 Mana, provides the user information that could reasonably be obtained by deduction using information the user knows or once knew.
Level 3: For 30 Mana, provides the user information that could reasonably be obtained by deduction using information he user knows or once knew and information the user does not know that could be easily learned.
Level 4: Decreases Mana cost for all levels by 5.
Level 5: Decreases Mana cost for all levels by 10.
Level 6: Decreases Mana cost for all levels by 15 (minimum 0).
Kowalski?
Battle Commander
Level 5: 1000/3000 EXP
Battle Commander provides bonuses to all friendly creatures within range while they are engaged in battle.
Level 1: Increases the stats of all friendly creatures within 10 meters by 5%.
Level 2: Increases the stats of all friendly creatures within 15 meters by 10%.
Level 3: Increases the stats of all friendly creatures within 20 meters by 15%.
Level 4: Increases the stats of all friendly creatures within 25 meters by 20%.
Onwards, to victory!
Blood Money
Level 6: 1100/2400 EXP
When killing or converting an enemy, a portion of their life force is converted into currency to be used in the Dimension of Discounts.
Level 1: 5% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Level 2: 10% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Level 3: 15% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Level 4: 20% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Level 5: 25% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Level 6: 30% of HP, Stamina, or Mana (whichever is highest) is converted
Not actually made out of blood. Also is not legal tender anywhere but the Dimension of Discounts.
Dimension of Discounts
Level 3: 0/600 EXP
Opens a portal to the Dimension of Discounts, a store where the stored life force of enemies can be spent to buy items.
Level 1: Item selection limited to user’s level. Rarely has sales which offer better items. Costs 75% of user’s Stamina and Mana to open the portal. User only gets an interface showing available items instead of full physical access to the Dimension.
Level 2: Item selection limited to user’s level + 1. Rarely has sales which offer better items with slight discounts. Costs 70% of the user’s Stamina and Mana to open the portal. User only gets an interface showing available items instead of full physical access to the Dimension.
Level 3: Item selection limited to user’s level + 2. Costs 65% of the user’s Stamina and Mana to open the portal.
Everything within is surely of the greatest value!
Dimensional Search Engine
Level 1: 430/500 EXP
Allows the user to search through dimensions they create in order to find objects.
Level 1: Allows searching and retrieval of a category of object (such as “weapons”).
Pray you don’t have to look at page two.
Dimensional Storage
Level 5: 800/3000 EXP
Gives an extradimensional space to store items.
Level 1: Spend 10 Mana to store an object you’re touching. You have a maximum storage capacity of 1m3, and objects within experience the flow of time normally. Retrieving an object costs 10 Mana and you may choose to place it in your grasp or on the ground in front of you.
Level 2: Spend 9 Mana to store an object you’re touching. You have a maximum storage capacity of 5m3, and time flows slightly slower for objects within the storage. Retrieving an object costs 9 Mana and you may choose to place it in your grasp or have it appear at any spot within 1m of you that you can see.
Level 3: Spend 8 Mana to store an object you’re touching. You have a maximum storage capacity of 10m3, and time flows slightly slower for objects within the storage. Retrieving an object costs 8 Mana and you may choose to place it in your grasp or have it appear at any spot within 2m of you that you can see.
Level 4: Spend 7 Mana to store an object you’re touching. You have a maximum storage capacity of 15m3, and time flows somewhat slower for objects within the storage. Retrieving an object costs 7 Mana and you may choose to place it in your grasp or have it appear at any spot within 3m of you that you can see.
Level 5: Spend 6 Mana to store an object you’re touching. You have a maximum storage capacity of 20m3, and time flows somewhat slower for objects within the storage. Retrieving an object costs 6 Mana and you may choose to place it in your grasp or have it appear at any spot within 4m of you that you can see.
It’s like a backpack or pockets but way, way better
Gnawing Hunger
Level 2: 0/2000 EXP
Induces overwhelming hunger in a target.
Level 1: For 10 Mana, induce hunger in a target you can see within 60m. For so long as the creature is within 60m of you, and for 60 seconds afterwards, it is overcome by a ravenous hunger, regardless of how full it actually is. If a creature leaves the radius of this effect and re-enters before it is free from the effect, the effect is refreshed. For every rat (or swarm creature made from a rat) within 5m of you, your Magic is considered to be 1.1x higher (additive) for the purposes of overcoming Mental Fortitude.
Level 2: Both ranges increase to 90m, and the time a creature is affected after leaving the range is increased to 90 seconds.
FEED
Heat Vision
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Heat Vision allows the user to switch between two modes of vision. The first retains the base Night Vision functionality (150 meters of colored vision), while the second allows the user to expend Stamina to visibly see the temperatures of objects up to Night Vision’s range, providing a highly-effective means of spotting living beings that is not affected by standard invisibility.
Level 1: Provides 150 meters of vision. Heat Vision requires 5 Stamina/second, and can easily distinguish between temperatures that are greater than 0 °C and lower than 35 °C.
You’d be a master of the hot-and-cold game if it actually involved temperature.
Humanoid Transformation
Level 2: 0/2000 EXP
Humanoid Transformation allows the user to transform into almost any humanoid they can think of, provided that humanoid follows the biological rules of the species it is pretending to be.
Level 1: Allows for three hours of transformation every day. Transformation comes with a generic brown shirt and trousers. Time may be non-consecutive, but changing forms, except for the first change of the day and changing to default form, incurs a 30 minute penalty.
Level 2: Allows for changing of clothes. Clothes changes do not incur a time penalty.
You gotta let me know. Are we human? Or are we monster?
Hyperspeed Thought
Level 1: 548/1500 EXP
Hyperspeed thought allows the user to expend Stamina to drastically speed up their thoughts, effectively making the world appear to operate in slow motion. This does not make the user physically faster, however.
Level 1: Costs 20 Stamina/second and doubles thought speed.
Just think faster
Magic Multicast
Level 3: 1500/3000 EXP
Magic Multicast allows the user to cast multiple spells near simultaneously. This is limited by the number of extra brains or processing centers the user has (currently 11), with more complicated spells using more brains or processing centers than simpler spells.
Level 1: Each additional spell costs 100% more Mana.
Level 2: Each additional spell costs 90% more Mana.
Level 3: Each additional spell costs 80% more Mana.
Quantity and quality!
Magic Multitarget (Mental)
Level 3: 1305/3000 EXP
Magic Multitarget (Mental) allows mental magic that targets a single creature or a number of specific creatures to target more creatures, up to the number of extra brains or processing centers the user has (currently 11).
Level 1: Each additional target increases the Mana cost of the magic by 50% (multiplicative).
Level 2: Each additional target increases the Mana cost of the magic by 45% (multiplicative).
Level 3: Each additional target increases the Mana cost of the magic by 40% (multiplicative).
The more, the merrier!
Mindspike
Level 5: 0/1,200 EXP
Allows you to apply psychic damage when you use magical effects that target an opponent’s mind.
Level 1: Deals minor damage for 100% of the cost of the original spell.
Level 2: Deals minor damage for 90% of the cost of the original spell.
Level 3: Deals light damage for 100% of the cost of the original spell or minor damage for 80% of the cost of the original spell.
Level 4: Deals light damage for 90% of the cost of the original spell or minor damage for 70% of the cost of the original spell.
Level 5: Deals moderate damage for 100% of the cost of the original spell, light damage for 80%, or minor damage for 60%.
Puts pain in the suffering you inflict.
Mental Magic Boost
Level 5: 300/2,400 EXP
Increases the effectiveness of mental magic and Skills that involve mental magic.
Level 1: Increases effect by 10%.
Level 2: Increases effect by 15%.
Level 3: Increases effect by 20%.
Level 4: Increases effect by 25%.
Level 5: Increases effect by 30%.
Brain: expanded.
Motion Blur
Level 6: 120/1400 EXP
When the user is moving fast, blurs the user’s shape. This Skill may be activated or deactivated at will.
Level 1: Provides minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 3 m/s.
Level 2: Provides minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 2.5 m/s.
Level 3: Provides moderate blurring while the user is moving faster than 3 m/s and minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 2 m/s.
Level 4: Provides moderate blurring while the user is moving faster than 2.5 m/s and minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 1.5 m/s.
Level 5: Provides major blurring while the user is moving faster than 3 m/s, moderate blurring while the user is moving faster than 2 m/s, and minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 1 m/s.
Level 6: Provides major blurring while the user is moving faster than 2.5 m/s, moderate blurring while the user is moving faster than 1.5 m/s, and minor blurring while the user is moving faster than 0.5 m/s.
Makes you 50% spookier, too. Use in a haunted house for best effect.
Power Attack
Level 5: 0/500 EXP
You may perform a powerful strike for 10 Stamina.
Level 1: Deals 10% more damage.
Level 2: Deals 20% more damage.
Level 3: Deals 30% more damage.
Level 4: Deals 40% more damage.
Level 5: Deals 50% more damage.
“For when regular hits just aren’t enough, there’s Power Attack!”
Prey’s Panic
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Induces the fear of being predated into a target.
Level 1: For 10 Mana, induce sheer panic in a target you can see within 60m. For so long as the creature is within 60m of you, and for 60 seconds afterwards, it is overcome by a blind panic and fear of being eaten. If a creature leaves the radius of this effect and re-enters before it is free from the effect, the effect is refreshed. For every rat (or swarm creature made from a rat) within 5m of you, your Magic is considered to be 1.1x higher (additive) for the purposes of overcoming Mental Fortitude.
FLEE
Rest
Level 3: 0/300 EXP
Increases your resource regeneration while you are asleep.
Level 1: Increases resource regeneration by 1.5x while asleep
Level 2: Increases resource regeneration by 2x while asleep
Level 3: Increases resource regeneration by 2.5x while asleep
Sleep is for when you’re weak
Rubber Band Regeneration
Level 3: 0/1500 EXP
Rubber Band Regeneration increases your resource (HP/Mana/Stamina) regeneration based on how much of that resource you are missing.
Level 1: Increases resource regeneration by 1% for every percent of that resource you are missing.
Level 2: Increases resource regeneration by 2% for every percent of that resource you are missing.
Level 3: Increases resource regeneration by 3% for every percent of that resource you are missing.
The bane of racers everywhere.
Silent Steps
Level 9: 120/1800 EXP
Muffles the user’s steps, allowing them to sneak easier. The passive effects of this Skill may be activated or deactivated at will.
Level 1: Volume of user’s footsteps is decreased by 50%
Level 2: Volume of user’s footsteps is decreased by 55%
Level 3: Volume of user’s footsteps is decreased by 60%. User may spend 1 Stamina per second to completely mask their footsteps.
Level 4: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 65%.
Level 5: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 70%. The Stamina cost for completely masking footsteps is reduced to 0.75 Stamina per second
Level 6: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 75%.
Level 7: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 80%. The Stamina cost for completely masking footsteps is reduced to 0.5 Stamina per second.
Level 8: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 85%.
Level 9: Volume of the user’s footsteps is decreased by 90%. The Stamina cost for completely masking footsteps is reduced to 0.25 per second.
Tiptoeing optional.
Smart Presence Detection
Level 1: 0/1000 EXP
Allows the user to sense the presence of beings that meet a certain criteria within a range.
Level 1: For 0.1 Stamina per second, points the user to the strongest being within 100 meters. For an additional 1 Stamina per second, the user can have this Skill filter out allies.
Now with better targeting!
Swarm Progenitor
Level 4: 3500/5000 EXP
Swarm Progenitor provides the wielder all the required tools to run their very own swarm!
Level 1: Provides a task manager that will automatically assign tasks to members of the swarm. Intelligence of the task manager is based on the intelligence of the user, but is increased by a small portion of the intelligence of each new swarm member.
Level 2: Provides an evolution manager that automates the evolution of non-sapient swarm members. Swarm members will not evolve on their own until you have looked at possible evolutions of one member of their race. Swarm members will evolve based on conditional requirements (Such as existing number of their possible evolutions in the swarm, whether or not the swarm is currently in conflict, etc), or based on your direct commands.
Level 3: Drastically increases the utility of the task manager by allowing it to accept more complex tasks, including ones that require multiple, highly different steps (such as forging a sword from ore that has not yet been mined, or building a structure from material that has not yet been processed).
Level 4: Provides a conversion manager that allows for automating conversions of low-priority targets (such as weak monsters) into foot soldiers, drones, and other similar races. As with the evolution manager, creatures will not be automatically converted until you look at the conversion options for at least one member of their race, as well as mentally mark the race “low priority”. Conditional requirements may be set to further refine the proportions with which creatures are converted. Conversions require modeling wax and a member of the swarm capable of doing those conversions.
*Swarm not included
Venomous Bite
Level 4: 394/500 EXP
Applies venom to your bite attacks.
Level 1: Venom deals 25% of the hit’s original damage 5 seconds after any successful bite.
Level 2: Venom deals 25% of the hit’s original damage every 5 seconds for as long as the venom lasts. Venom lasts a random period of time from 10 to 20 seconds.
Level 3: Venom numbs the target area, interfering with the target’s motor control for as long as the venom lasts. Venom lasts for a random period of time from 15 to 20 seconds.
Level 4: Venom’s numbing is stronger, and the interval between damage is reduced to 3 seconds. Venom lasts for a random period of time from 20 to 25 seconds.
It gets better, I promise
Titles (Note, some of these were only mentioned “on-camera” and not actually given a full window, but I have one for them anyway in my docs, so…here they are lol):
Conqueror of Death
You have died and lived to tell the tale. Your life signature becomes undetectable by effects that only search for living or undead creatures, though you may still be sensed by effects that sense both. Provides immunity to instant-kill effects, and any blow that would bring you to 0 HP instead brings you to 1 if you had more than 1 HP.
Ratbane
You have slaughtered many rats in a short period of time. You deal 1.2x damage to all rat-like enemies.
Enlightener
You have managed to grant sapience to a non-sapient creature, qualifying it for a soul. All creatures you grant sapience will be considered as “high priority” for receiving souls, and will receive one the moment a new soul is available. Additionally, this title doubles the power of your light-based abilities and halves their cost. As a Special Title, the effects of Enlightener are always active.
Favored of the Gods
This Title marks one whose actions are approved of by the gods. This Title doubles all experience gain, but should at any point the holder knowingly do something frowned upon by the gods, this Title is removed. As a Special Title, the effects of Favored of the Gods are always active.
Preservationist
You have, through force of will, forced the system to make an exception for you and allow you to keep race-specific benefits after evolution. As a Special Title, the effects of Preservationist are always active.
One Monster in a Trench Coat
This Title marks a monster that has successfully managed to pass itself off as a sapient being. This Title increases Mental Fortitude by a moderate amount.
Foxbane
You have killed many fox-type monsters in a short period of time. You deal 1.2x damage to all fox-like monsters.
Money Monster
This Title marks a monster that negotiated using coin. This Title increases Mental Fortitude by a moderate amount.
Pious Monster
This Title marks a monster that has formally worshiped the gods. This Title increases Mental Fortitude by a large amount.
The Negotiator
This Title marks a monster that has used means other than violence or fleeing to extract itself from a situation. This Title increases Mental Fortitude by a moderate amount.