CHAPTER II: BULWARK
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{06:25 LOCAL TIME 1TH JULY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
CLYDE & SPACE WRATH
After that small window into the mind of his sponsor, Clyde knew he was in great hands. He smiled internally as the LAW grinned back at him.
[Okay let’s do this then. Doesn’t look like we have much time.] Excited to get the power up.
“You are right, we don’t have much time, even now the Dungeon is fighting against my Word of Power another reason for you to get stronger. This Dungeon creator may be a pain in Gaia’s south pole. You will have to deal with him and the Scourge sooner or later, The gods will have problems with him as well since he has gone unchecked for months, I am sure he has built allies if he has a Pantheon he will be even harder to find and kill. You would want to take him out sooner because later he will be incredibly dangerous.” He pointed at the darkness encroaching on them. “The power of the place can not be denied. That means there is more than likely a Pantheon involved, that is the only way a Rouge god on the Demon path can leave its own Dungeon so willingly.”
[Yeah, that feels like a problem for future Colonel. Present Colonel needs some answers.] The legacy didn’t want to get off track...again if his time was limited.
“Ask away, Be advised the GREAT GAME rewards you more for finding things out yourself as opposed to getting help. Case in point when I push your Skill to Expert you won’t get the stat gains from the Tier-ups until you earn a Level yourself or pass an increased difficulty Skill Quest, and earning levels beyond Expert Tier can take years for some it is often the end of many player’s journey, purely because of the limited slots.”
[Wow that is crazy, years to earn one level? Not even a Tier.]
“Yes most take centuries to get to Master from Expert and that is fast even for prodigies, those are usually players on the Skill Artist path. Those players are so driven that they mostly level up their Sub-Skills perfecting and refining their main Skill making it easier to advance it. Not to mention leveling other skills. It takes time and dedication that Classers like you and your Soul brother won’t have time to pursue. If you can, however, if you can live long enough, you end up being the best at whatever Skill you master if there is a slot, which is something you won’t find out until you complete the skill quest.” The LAW added.
[So I should choose a Skill, I would have no problem leveling up.]
“Yes, you should. Now choose before we run out of time and you are yanked to your trial unprepared.” The LAW said warily.
Clyde was not one to dally when work needed to get done, or decisions needed to be made. He looked over his Skills and thought about the one that was the most useful.
[Do my class skills count?]
“Yours does because of your branching paths, Good choice on that by the way. More is not always better, it often is much worse. I only know a few players in my life that took that path though, so you are very unique in that case. The others were slow learners, but had better foundations.” The LAW answered.
The Legacy smiled and brought up the prompt to all of his skills, starting with his General Skills.
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{SKILL NAME: Grand Kinetic Shield(Toggled)
SKILL LEVEL: Student 0
DESCRIPTION: The Legacy can make a shield originating on his off-hand that can stop physical damage.
SKILL EFFECT: Create a circular shield.
Cost: 50 MP + 50 mana regen per hour minimum. Defense: 500 damage minimum. Size: up to 10 meters in diameter per Skill level.
STUDENT EFFECT: Adjust the opacity of the shield.}
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This was his newest Skill, he had no idea how it would level up, but he was also sure it would require him to get hit a lot, so maybe not a great one to take. Then he thought again, maybe that was a good reason to take it, the defensive power of an Expert Skill would be insane. He put a pin in this one. It was one of his only Skills beyond basic. So maybe not. Pin it. He moved on.
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{SKILL NAME: Find Weakness(PASSIVE)
SKILL LEVEL: Apprentice 0
DESCRIPTION: The player sees weaknesses the longer they look at their target. The speed of the knowledge is determined by the level of skill and resistance of the target.
SKILL EFFECT: The longer the player looks at their target the more the target starts to show weak points. Speed of effect is Minorly based on Luck.
STUDENT EFFECT: Stacks with other skills, masteries, and powers.
NOVICE EFFECT: Show directional arrows for more effective damage. If no weakness is available the player will be informed why. The skill level determines the information returned.
APPRENTICE EFFECT: Teammates and select Party members can see the weaknesses of targets. The player can see the weaknesses of teammate’s targets through their eyes.}
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The Skill was out right away, it had no damage or defensive component, and he doubted it would gain one over the next two tiers. The shield was still winning. Next.
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{Class G-SPELL NAME: Bulwark(Passive)
SPELL LEVEL: Novice 9
SPELL EFFECT: Increase Constitution by 2% per level of the Spell when in melee range of any enemy.
STUDENT EFFECT: The more enemies in melee range the more effective the Spell effect is.
NOVICE EFFECT: Increase DR by 1% per level of the Spell.}
{Skill Quest: Specialize.}
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If the pattern stayed true his next tier would complement the team. But he couldn’t be sure that was true. He felt like it would, and if it did then he would prefer Bulwark over the shield. While the shield could protect more people, it only protected against physical damage, which seems like a pretty big problem in a magical world. Academically Clyde knew that there weren’t many magi, but he was still wary. ‘The shield may gain a magic element as it is tiered up also.’ That was a circular argument though. He had to take the one that had the best in the now and had the potential to be a game changer later. Shield and Bulwark were front runners. He went on to some attack spells.
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{CLASS G-SPELL NAME: Grand Meteorite strike (Active)
SPELL LEVEL: Novice 0
SKILL EFFECT: The Legacy can spend Mana to propel any solid turning it into a flaming projectile.
Damage: Base damage 200 per level of the Spell/Variable + burn damage. Cost: ~40 Mana. Cast time: 9 seconds. Cool down: 40 seconds. Requirements: Any throwable, and chant.
STUDENT EFFECT: The higher the Legacy is from their target the more damage the meteorite does.
NOVICE EFFECT: Choose between a single target for more penetration or an area of effect damage for more burn.}
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This spell was his strongest attack spell. It had a ton of potential for more damage as well, but the student effect disqualified it right away. The legacy was still going to have nightmares from crashing into the walls of their fort at terminal velocity. He internally shivered. Even with its upgraded Grand Rank he still wasn’t comfortable with banking on a skill that had too many requirements to maximize its potential.
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{CLASS G-SPELL NAME: Ice Shard(Active)
SPELL LEVEL: Novice 0
SPELL EFFECT: Create a shard of ice the size of a kitchen knife.
Cast Time: 2 seconds. Cost: 1 mana. Damage: 20HP for every level of the Spell and 2% chance of slow per level of the Spell. Range: 20 meters per level of the Spell. Cool down: None. Requirements: Chant and hand gestures.
STUDENT EFFECT: Use extra mana to enlarge the shard.
NOVICE EFFECT: Shard has more perpetrating power per level of spell}
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This spell was a better option in Clyde’s opinion, much more direct and the growth should be pretty straightforward. It was in a tie with the Shield and Bulwark now. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to take the next spell, but he looked at it anyway.
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{CLASS G-SPELL NAME: Increased Accuracy(Passive)
SPELL LEVEL: Student 9
SKILL EFFECT: Whenever a player uses any ranged weapon they get a 1% bonus to Dexterity per level of the Spell.
STUDENT EFFECT: Any throwable is considered a ranged weapon.}
{Skill Quest: Specialize.}
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‘NOPE!’ The old soldier thought. He wasn’t a sniper or even a long-range specialist, so this would be useless to him and even more useless to his team. The next Skill intrigued him, however.
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{SKILL NAME: Disassemble (Active/toggle/triggered)
SKILL LEVEL: Novice 0
DESCRIPTION: The Legacy can use Mana to break down anything over time and convert it into MP for personal use over time. When using any Trade skills this skill is triggered to offset MP cost.
SKILL EFFECT: -1 Mana per second on UnCommon Tier items and receive 25 Mana per second back after the item is fully disassembled. Each item takes a certain amount of time to break down, the factors are many including size, rarity, and designer. The player must stay in contact with the target the entire time. Each Tier is a higher cost by 9 times more Mana but also gives 10 times the return. Can only disassemble one item above UnCommon at a time. Speed of effect is based on Charisma. Common Tier items are free to disassemble but only give half the Mana if disassembling with higher Tier targets.
STUDENT EFFECT: Increase contact range:
The player can disassemble items at range. Can only disassemble one item at a time.
Current range: 2 meters plus Skill level.
NOVICE EFFECT: Increased targets:
The player can disassemble multiple targets at an additional moderate cost for the same return.
Cost doubled up to 5 targets(Free Common targets count against the limit)}
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Clyde could see his enemies’ gear just falling apart as they fought him, and him laughing at their slowly weakened blows. The thought brought out a primal feeling from deep within the Legacy. He shook his head. He didn’t know if he would have the MP to disassemble higher tier gear, one, and two, stats were still stats, and the creatures they were currently fighting didn’t have gear. He knew they would be fighting humans at some point, but humans never scared him in real life, why would they scare him in a game, a game where it was clear he had a head start? He reevaluated the Skill though, it did have utility, for one the fact that the previous tier of gear became free is a game changer, he didn’t know which tier Expert would allow him to break down, but if it was higher than Rare it would be worth it the amount of Mana return would be enormous. A thought for another day.
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SKILL NAME: Defensive Stance+(Triggered/Stacking)
SKILL LEVEL: Novice 9
DESCRIPTION: The player temporarily sacrifices immediate mobility for increased defense. When defending, your health pool will continue to get bigger over time, making the player harder to kill the longer the fight goes on without them moving away from their original location. When the player moves from the location all of the gained HP is removed.
SKILL EFFECT: The player gains +1 Constitution per Skill level per second while defending in a 1-meter area per Class level.
Current CON gain: 20 per second
Current range: 9 meter
STUDENT EFFECT: Pool regeneration is Slightly increased over time.
NOVICE EFFECT: The extra HP falls off Minutely slower instead of it all being removed at once. As long as the player is in a 1-meter per-level area of teammates the stacking effect continues.}
{THIS SKILL CAN NO LONGER BE UPGRADED}
{Skill Quest: Take 100 hits of slashing or piercing damage (15/100)}
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‘Now this is what I am talking about.’ This Skill was his most useful skill hands down he could be the shield that protects his friends, and with Rally Here he could get all over the battlefield with a massive amount of defense. It was even easier to leave because he will be in the thick of things, but that also means to level it up at higher levels it would require tougher, and tougher opponents to level up this skill. ‘Yeah, it went from first to last in a few seconds. It had the same problem as shield Skill except it does protect him just gave him more HP.’ He had to get hit a lot. ‘No, thank you.’
If his eyes could open they would be huge as he read the last Skill, he had not used his Skill set nearly as much as he could. But he found his winner.
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{SKILL-SET NAME: Legacy style Melee(UNIQUE)(PASSIVE)
(*WF*)
LEVEL: Novice 0
DESCRIPTION: Some people are fighters, the others are losers. As a Legacy, you can not afford to lose. Win at all costs. Find the weaknesses of your enemies, rip them off, and if need be, use their limbs to finish the job. Your body is your weapon of choice. Fight your way, do more damage, and protect humanity.
SKILL EFFECT: A Minor chance to remove a body part with any physical attack, causing extra damage, and other debuffs associated with that kind of damage. The effect is based on skill-set level and Strength stat.
SKILL-SET EFFECT: All attacks taunt the target slightly, each consecutive attack resets the taunt and makes it harder to resist. The effect is based on skill-set level and Charisma stat.
WORLD FIRST EFFECT: All attacks do frontal cone damage without causing any friendly fire. The range of effect is based on player focus, skill-set level, and Dexterity stat.
SET WORLD FIRST EFFECT: All attacks slow all targets caught in the Area Of Effect Slightly.
STUDENT EFFECT: Ignores a Slight amount of all defensives.
SET STUDENT EFFECT: If defensives are bypassed there is a Slight chance to stun the target.
NOVICE EFFECT: Minuscule chance of causing burn damage to the target slowing regeneration. The effect is based on the Strength stat.
SET NOVICE EFFECT: If burning occurs consecutive hits will create stacks and stacks can be detonated.
Denotation Cost: 25MP per stack.
Detonation Damage: INT+CHA per stack(Additive)}
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[I want to push this one to Expert.] Clyde said to the LAW after reading the Skill-set over.
The LAW brought up the prompt and read it over, his serious face slowly morphing into a laugh. “Ha, ha, ha! This is too good.”
Clyde thought so too, he just didn’t see what was so funny about it. The LAW on the other hand thought it was hilarious.
[Am I missing something here.]
The LAW lost it again, “Yes, yes you are! HA, haha!” He wheezed out holding his side.
[What is it then? Are you going to push the skill to Expert or not?]
“Oh yeah, absolutely not.” The LAW chuckled.
Clyde was literally at a loss for words, when he posed the question it was meant to be rhetorical, he hadn’t expected the damn LAW to answer that way at all.
“I see you need an explanation. I’ll give you a brief one.” The LAW stood up from his floating lotus pose. “If I pushed a Skill-set which should have been impossible for you to have this early in the game, and one so perfect for you, your foundation would be burdened with Karmic Debt to me, it would be so high you probably would have died from Ascending.” The LAW said with a smile. “My debt prevented me from doing it because I really wanted to see that.”
[You were laughing at the visual of me dying from Ascending weren’t you?] Clyde said flatly.
“Yep.”
[As far as sponsors go, I am not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling here brother.]
“The Legacy was learning a universal truth. Players are assholes.” The Narrator unconstructively added. The LAW didn’t seem to hear the ancient ominous voice which seemed to point out useless obvious facts more than useful clues, but it did help break up the spiraling thoughts in his mind and put him back in the game.
‘I guess it’s working perfectly. I haven’t thought about her...’
“That’s good!” The LAW cut off that thought, “because warm and fuzzy in the GREAT GAME means death. Never get too comfortable, you have to keep growing. There is no staying one place in this game, you are either walking a path or you are an obstacle of a path. The path doesn’t care. Only the people who walk it do. The ones in front and the ones behind you. Both groups want you to stop but for very different reasons.” He sighed heavily and continued.
“The ones in front want you to hold back the crowd, the ones behind want to pass you, and at higher Tiers, they will do anything to do so, because power in the GREAT GAME is life, and every entity with power wants to live forever. What would you do for immortality? A better question is what do you think others would do for it? Now pick another Skill.” The LAW said with finality.
‘Shit.’ The Legacy thought. He forgot the ones he put a pin in when he chose the Legacy-style melee. ‘Well let’s think it over. Kinetic shield, Bulwark, and Ice Shard.’ He internally sighed he knew had to get rid of Ice Shard. If he was being honest with himself he would have to put Defensive Stance in the running as well, He was the team tank, and getting hit was in his job description. With that mindset, he got rid of the Shield. He didn’t want to push a skill to Expert Tier he had never used in combat. One that was clearly powerful. So it went in the unpin pile. That left Bulwark and Defensive Stance.
They were basically the same skill, to be honest, both gave him more hit points passively after certain criteria were met. The stance would make him a nightmare with time and support. While the spell would do the same thing, but not as good. There was no guarantee that the student effect would match the growth speed of the Stance. The only thing holding him back from taking the Stance right away was the fact that the Spell was at Novice as well and he had gotten it much later. What the LAW said being able to level up the Skill chosen would be important.
[I am torn between Bulwark or my Stance.] The Legacy asked, the look of consternation on the LAW’s face made the Colonel think he had messed up somehow.
[What?]
“Y-you have a Stan... You know what of course you do, it’s a Breaking.” He shook his head grumbling. “Don’t tell anyone about either the Skill-Set or that other one, while skill-Sets are rare, like 1 in a billion power in a non-Runic world, a Stance is only given out once per planet period. No one else will have that Stance, I am assuming it is a Defensive one?”
Clyde’s inner primal beast smiled again he was growing into something special, and he knew what he would do if he ever became that thing. ‘Check that when I become that.’ He thought before answering.
[Yes, should we push that one.]
“Well, that makes it easy that one is also a big fat no.” The LAW said. “I couldn’t push a Stance a level let along three tiers. I don’t have one.”
[Bulwark it is] He was okay with that, the Stance being his only was great, he could see how that could make him a target.
“Bulwark it is.” The LAW repeated, “Now confirm please.” The LAW said dead serious.
“That gave Clyde pause, he was pretty sure this decision was irrevocable, and he was right. What he didn’t know was the bond between a sponsor and their pre-ascended pupil is symbiotic, by hurting you, he would be hurting himself. Most Cultivators choose people they groom over decades so they don’t tie themselves to an unknown for a possible eternity. This bond is the reason why Cultivators aren’t everywhere, but also why Cultivators are so powerful. Trust the process, the worst a sponsor could do is let you die so that they may sponsor another, but if they are responsible in any way it can cripple their cultivation.” The Narrator finally helpfully helped with that awesome soliloquy.
[Bulwark it is, so I may make sure others Live Well.] The words just came out again.
“Excellent, you now get to see what happens when a player becomes a Tier 5 Entity, the game really starts then.” The LAW smiled as his hands started to move in an intricate hand sign.
It started slowly, but quickly sped up over the next ten seconds, every different hand movement was forgotten after seeing it. It was a weird sensation, the person knew they saw something, but the information was gently plucked from your memory an instant before the memory would be solidified. Not that the Colonel would be paying any attention to the hand signs anyway.
His very soul was being transformed, the Skill was slowly leveling up, and he could feel some of the new effects already, he was going to say something when, a sharp pain hit him like a bumble bee, then again like a small dog bite, then a big cat bite, then a fucking city bus, then the next wave of pain blessedly made everything go black.
The LAW looked at the Legacy as he passed out. “That was impressive most wouldn’t have made it past the bee sting, you must be a Prime legacy, Colonel Clyde Jacob Jr, what else are you going to show us?’