Jake was standing in the middle of an ambush conducted by what looked to be bastardised rabbits; they were at least two feet tall with teeth sharp enough to tear apart a steel plate. Jake identified the closest one.
Identify
Sharp-tooth rabbit
G grade
Level 5
Weakness: The sharp-tooth rabbit is a hybrid mix of hare and rabbit. It is commonly known that the sharp-tooth rabbit is weak to many forms of energy, and they are not known to give up easily.
Jake thought over his options. He could easily destroy these rabbits, but then what benefits would that bring him? No, Jake's decision was simple; he had four servants that needed some practice. He summoned the four ethereal servants and sent them out to hunt as he just sat and watched. It began with a complete wipe of his servants, then after re-summoning them, Jake directed them to work together. He split them into two teams and had one team attack while the other rested. This basic strategy worked to hold off the sharp-tooth rabbits, but it was not good enough to take the initiative. This meant Jake needed a different strategy, and there was only one thing to do: work on changing how the skill worked.
Race Skill
Summon Lost Servants (unique)
Summon your lost servants' souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane body's will break down within 30 minutes of summoning, sending their souls back to the place they came from. Cost: 500 arcane energy per lost servant.
The skill only stated that they would fight by his side. This was a potential area he could change, but there was also the fact that their bodies were made of arcane energy, so this was also a possibility. Jake looked through his skills to see what he had that might mesh well with it, but his plan this time was not to combine skills but to copy parts of other skills and graft them into the Summon Lost Servants skill. There were two skills Jake had that could mesh well with the summons. The only issue was that both of them were profession skills.
Skill (Arcane Hammer, rare)
Use your arcane energy to reshape items. < (Refined Arcane hammer rare) use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%
< (Refined Arcane Hammer, rare) Use your refined arcane energy to reshape items in a more detailed manner. Reduces the amount of arcane energy required by 50%.
Skill (Arcane Flame, rare)
An explosive flame contained within a mana barrier. < ( Attuned arcane flame epic ) a roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the casters will.
< (Attuned Arcane Flame, epic) A roaring flame of pure arcane energy that is attuned to the caster's will.
Jake's thinking was to use the skill refined arcane hammer as a kind of weapon creation skill and the attuned arcane flame as a substitute for the mana that is used in the fireball skill. Jake first began working on the hammer skill to see what would happen. He was taking a bit of a risk as if he lost the skill he would never be able to make items anymore. But this was a risk Jake was willing to take; it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it and, in the meantime, it seemed as though the rabbits had decided to regroup, giving his servants a break from the constant attacks.
“Wow, that didn't take long at all.”
Notification
Race Skill
Summon Lost Servants (Unique)
Summon your lost servants' souls to fight by your side in a body made of arcane energy. The arcane body's will break down within 30 minutes of summoning, sending their souls back to the place they came from. Cost: 500 arcane energy per lost servant.
Tactical Skills 1/3
Item Manifestation (Common)
Your servants can manifest a range of items made from their own arcane energy.
List of Items
* Rifle
* Sword
* Daggers
* Pistol
Note: Items cannot be duplicated between servants.
“That's not exactly what I was going for. I think I should be a bit more careful with the next one, but I guess it's better than nothing. It does make me wonder, though, how are the bullets made?”
Jake then noticed each of the servants now had a weapon in their hands, and the one with the rifle lifted its weapon up and fired.
“Well, now we know,” Jake said, as a small blue ball of light exited the barrel before blasting the poor little rabbit apart a second later. His other servants jumped into action; all three rushed forward, the swordsman in the lead, followed on each side by the two others. As they got closer, the one with the pistol opened fire. It was as if a cannon went off; the pistol was a close replica of the one Jake made. They ripped through the rabbits like they weren't even there. The poor little things had no chance. By the end of the fight, all four of his servants were almost completely see-through. They had used up almost all of their arcane energy in the battle. Jake had no choice but to dismiss them; he was going to re-summon them but stopped himself.
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“If I'm going to give them the other skill, I really should find out what exactly went wrong.”
Jake sat down in the middle of what is now a valley of death; not even a single blade of grass remained.
Reading over the skill one last time, Jake noticed something that either wasn't there before or he just missed it as he quickly scanned the skill.
Tactical Skills 1/3
“What does that mean? Can I only have three skills, or is it something else, like I don't know, active skills? No, that doesn't make sense. It has to be a hard limit; that would make sense after all.” Jake continued thinking about it when he heard voices from the trees behind him. Jake teleported into the closest shadow he could find and began listening.
“What was all that noise earlier? Did any of you hear it?” A young girl no older than fifteen asked the group.
“Mel, you're not in one of the training simulations anymore. Relax a bit; the only things out here are those damn rabbits we were sent to kill. If you are that worried, you can go back to the camp and wait with the cooks,” the oldest member of the group said. The young man was around nineteen in his looks, still adorning that baby face look some have at his age.
Jake watched the group from a distance as they slowly got closer. It didn't take them long until they were under the tree he was hiding in and at the edge of the clearing.
“Everyone stay on guard; we should be close to the rabbits' main burrow.” The group continued pushing their way out of the dense forest that was blocking their vision and into the wasteland Jake and his summons made.
“What the hell happened here?” The group just stood there, staring at the barren landscape. Not one of them could comprehend what had happened until the young lady remembered something her late teacher once told her.
“Mary told me once there are things out here stronger than you could imagine. Once she even told me about the city founder and how he had tortured them for days under the pretext that he was training them. But what I'm getting at is I think this was done by the same monster that burnt the forest down up north; you know, the monster that killed Lady Everval and sent the founder running; you know, the same founder that tortured the people we could never beat. So just maybe, instead of standing around, we might just want to head back to the city to report this. After all, do any of you want to be around when it comes back?”
“Fuck that monster; it killed Jayne. She was so beautiful! I would have loved to be a fly in that room.”
“Mike, don't be sick. Plus, you would have been spotted even using that skill of yours,” Mel said as she slowly backed away.
Jake couldn't decide what actions he should take, so he took none and just sat listening to the constant bickering. After what seemed to be hours, the group had finally left his perception range. Instead of working on his skills or cultivating, Jake rushed off deeper into the forest in the direction of that damn lizard.
Those people, were they trained by Mary and her team before that battle? If so, I think they could use a refresher in their training; wouldn't want them to die like Mary. I might look into the training that's being provided out of the city; it wouldn't be good if people were dying due to something as stupid as a lack of training.
Jake thought only to be interrupted moments later as he felt a presence he couldn't forget; it was that lizard, but now it wasn't up to its normal tricks. By the feeling Jake was getting, the lizard must have reached a level of power much greater than a lizard of his kind. The last Jake knew of the lizard, it wouldn't even leave its cave. But now his presence could be felt miles away from his cave, which made him wonder if the Blutung lizard was out in the forest hunting, and if so, what was its prey? Jake summoned his servants and sent them out with strict rules to follow. First, they were to only kill monsters below their level. This should allow them to gain a few more levels while they followed rule two: find Jake's prey and return. This wasn't a foolproof plan, nor was it the best use of their time, but Jake had to start somewhere.
Thirty minutes later, Jake re-summoned his servants and tried again; he knew the lizard was out there but just couldn't find it. While continuing his search, Jake set course for the cave as he wanted to find out what made the lizard leave. It took him a lot longer than he would admit to find the cave, and when he did, it became obvious why the lizard left, or should I say was kicked out, as just inside the entrance was a set of gigantic red doors with black writing over them.
Low-grade dungeon Earth entrance. Standard entrance rules apply:
1. Must be below E grade.
2. Must have appropriate skills
* Healing skill
* Destination skill
* Movement skill
3. Rewards will be calculated upon completion of the dungeon.
“Well, I could give it a go.” Jake pushed on the door and went inside.
Notification
You have entered the low-grade portion of the dungeon. Beginning skill and grade level scan… you meet the minimum requirements to proceed; good luck.
Notification
Warning: Direct system message has bypassed alldisguise skills. Your location has been marked by the system, and all grade restrictions have been removed within the Sol system.
Jake was about to go over his new predicament when his head started to throb and his legs turned to jelly, when a new message entered his mind.
This is a direct message from the system imposed universal constants to the hereticalJake Everval, the bearer of the sword of Damocles.
Bounty level has changed. Any individual that is part of the system and takes part in your death will receive +100 class levels and +10 grade levels, and for the one that takes your life, they will receive +10,000 class levels and +1000 grade levels. Any individual outside of the system's influence will be granted a skill for your death, and those that assist you will receive 10 high F-grade shards of their choice.
Skill
Ray of light (redacted)
The skill will allow the user to convert the non-system blessed into followers of the great system-imposed universal constants, granting them the ability to climb to the peak of immortality.
P.S. Have fun in my dungeon because I know I will as I watch you struggle to survive. Oh, and look behind you; there's someone who's been dying to see you.
Just as Jake read the last sentence, the doors swung open, revealing a half-lizard, half-man creature. Both individuals Jake knew: the lizard was the one from this cave, while the other one was that man, Dave Walker. But it looks as though he was dead; his skin had turned green and was peeling off.