CHAPTER VII: PATH TO POWER
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{01:39 LOCAL TIME 1ST JANUARY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
PRIME
The moon sat large and bright in the early morning dark. It was over halfway on its journey west. The stars were brighter than they had ever been before, they even seemed closer. That wasn’t some magical effect, it had to do with all of the light pollution being absorbed by the Celestial body in the first few seconds after the breaking. The night sky was a mosaic of beautiful colors of countless stars and galaxies glowing brightly. Shooting stars flew by more often than ever. Even a few comets were visible to the naked eye. It was in one word, exquisite. This was the way the night sky was seen for centuries before humans found fire, and then eventually electricity. It will forever look like this moving forward as long as magic stays, and with the Breaking magic was going to be here forever.
Colonel didn’t know this, of course, he wished he could enjoy the view, he loved star gazing, and this would be perfect for him.
Instead, he was in a metric ton of pain. Feeling like crap on the ground next to his teammates. Soto was trying to make the situation better, but it wasn’t working at all. Clyde was going to open his HUD to read when the narrator started talking calming him down. All of the stats hit him with more power than he had ever felt.
Colonel stands as a wave of exultation hits him like an Abrams main battle tank. Soto noticing his battle buddy wavering on his feet, moved quickly to catch him before he fell back. The energy flowing through him only makes Colonel laugh. He is really getting into the game more, and more now.
“The reward feedback system was like the first drink of coffee in the morning, added to the first sunrise you kiss someone in front of, combined with the first test you aced, all mixed together with quantified growth and full-body climax. With all of that combined, you get a feeling that is so incredible, so amazing, so natural, so very thought-provoking, and it is so indescribable that it can only be represented by...”
BOOM!!
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< A STAR EXPLODING >
{YOU HAVE CREATED A GENERAL SKILL-SET}
< WORLD FIRST BONUS >
{SKILL-SET NAME: Legacy style Melee(U/L)(PASSIVE)
(World First)
LEVEL: Student 7
DESCRIPTION: Some people are fighters, the others are losers. As a Legacy, you can not afford to lose, and 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.
“YOU HAVE LIVED WELL!”
SKILL EFFECT: A Slight 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 targets slightly, each consecutive attack resets the taunt and makes it harder to resist. The effect is based on the 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 Minuscule amount of all defensives.
SET STUDENT EFFECT: If defensives are bypassed there is a Minuscule chance of stunning the target.}
{Skill slot remaining.(4/13)}
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The old soldier felt terrible, then amazing in seconds. He smiled reading his new Skill-Set he had no idea what the difference between a Skill and Skill-Set was but he would find out. “Wow, that's really cool... ARRRGHHH!” Colonel grabbed his head harder this time, visibly in pain that he couldn’t hold in, and he fell flat on his face. The rollercoaster of pain was getting super annoying.
“Ayo!” Soto yelled seeing Colonel grab his head again.
“Ouch...” Colonel said into the ground, blood trickling out from his ears, nose, and mouth. “Why is this happening to me?” He cried sadly through red tears forming in his eyes, the foaming red bubbles at the edge of his lips making him look like an animal with rabies. He looked awful. He felt awful, definitely worse than awful.
Soto tried to catch him, but the unnatural action happened so quickly that he jumped back instead of helping as the Colonel had fallen forward. “Oh damn, my bad bro. You scared the hell out of me there.” He said a little embarrassed. “You can’t just start having seizures, and crying blood out of nowhere, that was mad scary.”
Soto turned to Colonel’s prone body, “Relax I got you covered, mijo.” He offered a fist bump, but seeing Colonel convulsing, he pulled his fist back. “Oh right, my bad bro, I don’t do well with people in my circle going through pain.” He sighed uncomfortably, Kuma snotted at him ruefully, before laying back down, after the action, closing her huge chibi eyes, while licking her hooman, and getting comfortable, she was back to sleep in seconds.
Soto continued unfazed as he looked at Colonel on the ground. “Hey, you good? You don’t look good bro. You look like a duster about to have an overdose?” He looked at his team leader writhing in pain. Then he looked over to the sleeping form of Sugar. “Stand by Battle, she is a druid, she’s got to have some healing spells or something right? She’s been sleeping way too long, I’ll go wake her up.” But he saw Colonel smiling slightly through his pain.
Soto got a shared prompt from the Colonel and had to smile a big smile himself. “Well, well, well, aren’t you mister cheaty mic cheat face.” Soto chuckled reading the prompt shaking his head at the craziness of the game. It will reward you for doing something great, and it will award you a title appropriate to that action. Genius. Soto thought. No wonder there can be so much to do if you can make a basic action into a full quest. He wasn’t sure that part was true, but he wouldn’t put it passed the developers of this game.
More importantly, the fact that these titles were a thing and Colonel kept getting them, only meant good things for their team moving forward. Soto was ready to get going, they had sat around for too long, but he wasn’t one to rush, they had years to play the game, and they had a legendary chain quest to complete. He was sure they would be way ahead of most in the game. Soto like that. He looked at the new prompt Colonel had shared with him. He liked that even more.
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< STEEL PAN MELODY >
{YOU HAVE GAINED A TITLE}
< WORLD FIRST UPGRADE >
{TITLE NAME: Legendary
TITLE TIER: Legendary
DESCRIPTION: For being the first Legacy to create a new unique legendary skill-set, and gaining multiple legendary titles, you have been awarded this title.
TITLE EFFECT: Utility; Combination upgrade.
WORLD FIRST BONUS: Utility; Non Negative combination.
RARE BONUS: Stat gain; +3 to every Attribute(expect magic) per level per Tier.
PLATINUM BONUS: Utility; Narrator+
DIAMOND BONUS: Utility; EXP bonus.
EPIC BONUS: LOCKED.
LEGENDARY BONUS: LOCKED (prerequisites not met)}
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Soto wasn’t sure how legendary this title was it seemed pretty lame compared to the lower-tier ones so far. He also didn’t know what all the effects and bonus effects did which made him wish he had an identification skill or ability of some kind. There would be a lot of unanswered questions if it wasn’t for the Colonel's shared tooltip.
As if reading Soto’s mind Colonel shared the accompanied tooltip for the effects and bonus effects of his title. Soto read them over.
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< TOOL-TIP >
{TITLE EFFECT: Utility; Combination upgrade:
In all combination, you do have a slight chance to automatically be upgraded to the next tier, or rank. The Cap is Legendary.
{WORLD FIRST BONUS: Utility; Non Negative combination:
No negative effects for bad or incompatible combinations.}
{RARE BONUS: Stat gain; +3 to every Attribute(expect magic) per level times Tier}
{PLATINUM BONUS: Utility bonus; Narrator+:
Narrator+ has a 40% chance to trigger a narrator of the player's inner thoughts, and helpful tips about the world around them. The voice is usually an ancestor’s voice and is meant to calm the player into focusing on their environment. The narrator can sometimes be heard by allies but rarely heard by enemies. The + adds more information to tooltips, Analyze, and other interface and HUD-related powers.}
{DIAMOND BONUS: EXP Bonus; 100% more EXP from all quest times Tier.}
{EPIC BONUS: Locked until the first Class Specialization }
{LEGENDARY BONUS: LOCKED (prerequisites not met)}
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Soto stared at the title prompt with wide-eyed disbelief, before voicing the first thought that came to his mind, it took the gears in his brain a few seconds to send the signals needed to open his mouth, at first he couldn’t say anything but when he does all that came out was... “Trash.” He reread the prompt, and tried to speak again, “This is some next-level cheating though. Like the Patriots in the two-thousand-level cheating. Like baseball in the nineties level cheating, like any Tour de France winner level cheating.” He said smiling mischievously. “Still trash though.”
Another shared prompt hits his HUD. Soto read it, his smile getting bigger with every word he read. “I take that back, it's more like Zeus and Hera-level cheating, you really do owe your brother a fruit basket, shitttttttttt I’ll send him one, what do you think he likes? The upgrades I got, from just being in your team are more than ridiculous. If my man wasn’t married, I’d give up a niece or something for sure.” Soto laughed at how awesome everything was going for them. “I love this game.”
“Colonel had to agree. He nodded and smiled at the new title. Or, at least he tried to nod and smile. The title was going to make crafting in the GREAT GAME world incredibly cool, and easy, and boy did he like easy, he needed easy. Of course, he couldn’t voice those thoughts since he was experiencing jaw-clenching pain. Another idle thought came into his head. In the real world, he would think this pain would be worth it, but this was a little excessive for a game world for sure. Like really excessive.” The Narrator voiced the Colonel’s thoughts calmly.
Kuma’s ears popped up, and she opened her eyes looking for the voice.
Soto perked up. “Whoa! Is that what I think it is?” He reacted excitedly to the narrator. “That is so dope, you have a narrator, that's too cool.” He smiled looking around. “This game is really well done, I mean outside of the pain levels, body fluids, and crap like that...” he deadpanned looking at Colonel before continuing, “Everything else seems to be almost too real.” He rubbed his chin thinking about the whole situation, then smiled. “Just like we have been waiting for our whole lives.” He paused, “Hell yeah!” Soto winked at Colonel trying to comfort him. It does not work of course, but it's the thought that counts.
Colonel was busy occupying himself with the other prompts, to distract himself from the pain in his brain and the pain in his neck that was his friend Soto. He felt like someone had put hot coals inside his skull, and was now squeezing his head in a vice, his mouth was dry like the desert in the dry season, and his ears were ringing like he was near a vehicle-born improvised explosive device. With all of that for some absurd reason, he could use his HUD through the pain, that was nice of the game to let him do that. It looked like the narrator was correct in its assessment about crafting being easier. It was going to be fun to experiment...eventually when he had control over his body again.
“Right on cue, Soto voices Colonel’s thoughts, a passive byproduct of their soul bound.” The Narrator+ said and Clyde knew immediately that only he heard that statement. Not that he cared on the account of having nut-kicking pain in his brain.
“Come to think about it, that is some dope crafting powers though. The things you will be able to do will be something else I believe.” He had to really reevaluate what power was in this game. Every game had at least two paths of power, but they were very much heavily weighted to either skill-based paths or class-based paths. But this game feels like it has a third and fourth path.”
Crafting was a major part of many roleplaying games so, he wasn’t surprised that it was another path to power here. Gear base games were not the best, but they could be a lot of fun, especially if there were dungeons. That thought made Soto very happy, Dungeons dives in VR or AR was the dream for a very long time, and now it was a reality. But right now he was living another dream, seeing his long-time friend in pain even if it was in a game made the dream more real. ‘He’ll get over it.’ Soto thought then he read the tooltip to the Colonel's second new title.
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< STEEL PAN MELODY >
{YOU HAVE GAINED A TITLE}
< WORLD FIRST UPGRADE >
{TITLE NAME: Forger(Unique)
TITLE TIER: Legendary (Transcendent LOCKED)
Forge your own path in this new world for you, defy logic, defy magic, and even defy madness and chaos. For being the first Legacy to create a new Unique legacy Skill-Set, you have been awarded this title.
TITLE EFFECT: Utility; Synergistic sight.
WORLD FIRST BONUS: Profession gain; Forger.
RARE BONUS: Utility Bonus; Unique Effect; 30% chance to get a unique effect added to anything you create.
PLATINUM BONUS: EXP Bonus; 40% more EXP for creating anything.
DIAMOND BONUS: Utility; Upgrade
EPIC BONUS: Skill; Disassemble
LEGENDARY BONUS: LOCKED (prerequisites not met)}
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
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Soto stumbled upon reading the prompt. “What the hell my dude? Tell your brother to chill man, these titles are unfair, this game will be mad easy for you man.” Soto mockingly stated. “Good thing I am on your side my original HUD didn’t even have a Tool Tip, so I know there are people out there who are Lima, Lima, Mike, Foxtrot, lost like a mutha-fucker, like brand new Lieutenants fresh out of west point trying to make their way on a land navigation course.” He laughed at the old saying. “Rumor has it that there are few Lieutenants still lost out there. They said that a small percentage of the homeless population are lost butter bars.” Soto was giving his best material. Trying to keep Colonel’s mind off of the pain and in the game.
He need not bother, Clyde read the next prompt and just knew for the first time ever in a game, that he was going to like their crafting system.
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< TOOL-TIP >
{TITLE EFFECT: Utility Effect; Synergistic sight.
Passive scan that allows you to figure out, and put together anything. Look for a slight glow in the world, and it will guide you. Be wary of what you make, for creatures and beings of power, will seek them out. Make sure you can protect what you create. Range grows with Tier.
Current range: 10 meters.}
{WORLD FIRST BONUS: Profession gain; Forger: Forgers have no limits beyond mind and their mana, they do not require materials to create just mana. (Select for more information) This is a unique profession as it replaces all other professions and doesn’t have a cap level. If you choose it, you lose access to gaining or learning any other professions. (Only one other person has EVER been awarded this profession in the multiverse, and this will be the last time it will be offered.)}
{RARE BONUS: Utility Bonus; 30% chance to get a unique effect added to anything you create.}
{PLATINUM BONUS: EXP Bonus; 40% more EXP and stats for creating anything per tier.}
{DIAMOND BONUS: Utility Bonus; Upgrade:
Twice a Tier the Legacy can upgrade a skill, an ability, a class, a bonus, a Mod, an item, a building, etc. with a +. The + adds a random positive bonus up to the Diamond Tier or Rank to what is upgraded.
Upgrades available: 2}
{EPIC BONUS: Skill gain; Disassemble}
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Colonel got another skill this one was active. The wheels in his head started already coming up with ways to use it in combat, but he would first have to see the speed.
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{YOU HAVE LEARNED A GENERAL SKILL}
{SKILL NAME: Disassemble(U)(Active/toggle)
SKILL LEVEL: Student 0
DESCRIPTION: The Legacy can use mana to break down any matter over time and convert it into Mana for personal use over time.
SKILL EFFECT: -1 mana per second on Common tier items and receive 10 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 item the entire time. Each Tier higher costs 10 times more mana, but also gives 10 times the return. Can only disassemble one item at a time. The effect is based on Skill level and Charisma.
UNIQUE SKILL EFFECT: Mana well; Store up to 100 mana per SL for profession use only. (This Effect becomes an Ability at Artisan rank). The effect is based on Skill level.
Current Capacity: 0/100 Mana.
STUDENT EFFECT: Utility; Increase range:
The player can disassemble items at range for an additional cost. Can only disassemble one item at a time. The effect is based on Skill level times 1 meter.
Current range: 1 meter}
UNIQUE STUDENT EFFECT: Dead organic material can be broken down into Mana.
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< NOTE >
{This Skill will be updated if the profession “Forger” is chosen.}
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He probably would have been happier about the skill if it wasn’t exclusively for crafting. But he would find a way to make it work to their advantage, it was a legendary skill though. He looked at the next prompt and rolled his eyes as the narrator began.
“Colonel finally got to the prompt that was giving him so much pain. He looked at it with pure disdain, it was an entirely too cheerful of a prompt, for the amount of pain that he was enduring. The prompt did answer why he was being bombarded with all these notifications right now. He knew making the Skill-Set was going to be a big boon, but this was getting out of control.”
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< CONGRATULATIONS >
{For creating your own unique and Legendary skill-set, you have been awarded an upgrade to your War Hero, Retired War Veteran, and Legendary Titles, An item upgrade token(placed in inventory), a choice of a new Bonus for Retired War Veteran title, +10 to all Attributes expect magic, and +1 to magic (Sit down your brain is resetting....}
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“Magic attribute increases are painful at this level, the pain doesn’t actually go away with leveling, no, the players naturally become more resilient as they level. Therefore making the process more manageable pain wise.” The Narrator+ continued.
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< ALERT >
{You have completed a prerequisite for unlocking a Legendary Title bonus.}
{You have completed a prerequisite for unlocking a RUNIC Title bonus.}
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< TITLE UPDATED >
{TITLE Name: Legacy (UNIQUE)
TITLE TIER: RUNIC (UPGRADABLE)
DESCRIPTION: Legacies are Alpha Phoenix feathers, they represent pure, raw potential. Because of this, Celestial Bodies are only allowed to have 13 active at a time, usually reincarnating them immediately after they perish. You have been reincarnated countless times in the past Legacy, but with magic, there is a high cost. You will have to relearn all of your powers, but since you should have already learned them, you will gain an understanding of them at a prodigious pace. This title has many passive benefits that you will also have to figure out.
LIVE WELL or DIE FREE!
TITLE EFFECT: Ability gain+: At every class specialization tier above tier 5, the Legacy gains a unique Legacy Ability.
RARE BONUS: Utility Bonus; TOOL-TIP+
Unique Bonus: Natural Armor+
Platinum Bonus: LOCKED(prerequisites not met)}
Unique Bonus: LOCKED
Diamond Bonus: LOCKED(prerequisites not met)}
Unique Bonus: LOCKED
Epic Bonus: LOCKED(prerequisites not met)}
Unique Bonus: LOCKED
Legendary Bonus: LOCKED(Unlock EPIC & EPIC Unique Bonus: incomplete, Create at least an epic level or above skill: Complete)}
Unique Bonus:LOCKED(Create a skill-set: Complete)
RUNIC Bonus: LOCKED(Create at least a unique legendary skill-set: Complete, Other prerequisites still not met)}
Unique Bonus: LOCKED}
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“Another unheard-of accomplishment on the first day of magic returning to your world. To complete not only a prerequisite for a Legendary title usually would take most players their entire lives. To do it in under one hundred years was considered fast. Most players never gain any legendary options on their character sheet, and of the ones that do only about half ever complete one of the two legendary prerequisites. And only about twenty-five percent of them actually unlock their legendary ultimate bonus effect. These Effects were powerful beyond the rank of the player, and those bonus effects do scale with the player. These effects always have ridiculously long cool-downs, but their power as the name suggests is legendary.” The Narrator+ provided information in an academic voice. Again Clyde knew this information was just in his mind alone.
“Now getting a Runic bonus effect prerequisite in under a millennia, was absolutely unheard of, so needless to say getting one on the first day will eventually reap amazing rewards. Even if it was by doing the same action.” The Narrator+ concluded.
Colonel’s limbs were numb, and he felt beyond awful, but for some reason, he had never felt better in his entire life. He was recovering quickly from what he can only describe as a near-fatal brain aneurysm. ‘Brain resetting my ass.’ It had to be the plus one to his magic attribute because all the other stats made him feel euphoric. The magic stat was like magma rushing through his brain.
His vision cleared, and his mouth no longer felt like someone had defecated in it, after a night of eating nothing but hot wings, and drinking day-old beer. He decided that the floor felt nice, and he would stay here for now. Colonel rolled over onto his back reading through the changes to his previous titles, and even one of the new ones.
Colonel’s actions made Soto relax visibly seeing his battle no longer in pain. He was excited about the game, and he could see Colonel getting excited as well, but these pain levels were out of control. He didn’t want to keep bringing it up because that might discourage Jake from playing with him after this first run, and he needed a reliable and competent person watching his back. You can’t have fun for long on your own, and that's why the good lord made best friends.
“Check this out, Sergeant Major. I need your help with this choice here.” The Colonel started to share another mind-blowing prompt.
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< CONGRATULATIONS YOUR TITLE HAS BEEN CHANGED >
{TITLE NAME: Retired War Veteran+
TITLE TIER: Diamond(UPGRADABLE)
DESCRIPTION: When asked what is more important Memorial Day or Veterans Day most would say Memorial Day, and they would be right, for those who serve being a veteran isn’t something they want celebrated, just appreciated.
Thank you for your service.
For serving your country honorably in combat multiple times you have earned this Title. Since your government is in EXTREME turmoil you have been retired since you have fulfilled all your obligations. For giving up your ability bonus to create a Skill-Set and not failing miserably, your title has been upgraded.
TITLE EFFECT: Your interface is unreadable by peak diamond powers. The player can project to anyone who tries to scan them whatever they want their information to read to anyone who can’t identify the player level-wise.
Current Setting: Class and original stats.
RARE BONUS: Stat gain; +6 Constitution per level times Tier
PLATINUM BONUS: Pick a new bonus Type.
DIAMOND BONUS: Utility; Glimpse; 50% chance to see subterfuge}
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Colonel knew instinctually that all he needed to do was will it, and a list would come up, so he did and was again impressed with how intuitive the HUD, and interface was at interrupting his words and thoughts. It was like his mind was the controller, his thoughts were the fingers, and his body the avatar.
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< CURRENT BONUS TYPES >
{Ability gain, Stat gain, Skill gain, Defensive Bonus, EXP Bonus, Offensive Bonus, Utility Bonus.}
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Clyde wanted to have them all. His new diamond bonus seemed to have a lot of utility, probably why it was called a Utility bonus. A coin flip to see through pretty much anything hiding from them. “Which Bonus type should I pick Soto, and why?” He makes eye contact so that he can get his teammate's full attention. Soto was the subject matter expert on all things games, comics, and geek-hood. So it would be stupid not to pick his brain just to make sure, he wasn’t missing anything, and maximizing his growth potential.
Soto looked over the types and quickly came to his conclusion. “Skill gain for sure since your class doesn’t provide you one I would say go with that.
Colonel nodded at that it made sense, he was lacking in skills, the skills he did have however were pretty amazing and dope, so he did want more. It was now the frontrunner. “What would you go with after that?” Colonel asked genuinely curious.
Soto rubbed his goatee sagely. “If it were me in your shoes I’d go with an offensive bonus effect. They just cannot be accounted for in combat. All my offensive bonuses passively enhance my attack power. Yours might be better since it will be replacing one.” Soto read through his title and he thought about his answer a little bit longer. Then he noticed he had a new title he hadn’t seen. “Hell yeah check this out.” He shared both of them with Colonel. He started to scan them over.
“Nice, I see why you say it may not be accounted for, damn that nuts.” Clyde read over both prompts to see if he could figure out his path right now, but he was feeling these bonuses. If he had them they would round out his power set very nicely.
“I know let me give it a once over before you choose alright.” Soto requested.
“Bet.” Clyde closed his eyes enjoying his blissfully pain-free state.
Soto looked at his newest title prompt first. Now he saw that titles were probably the most unbalanced path to power in this game. A title gave him a class, a weapon, and attributes per level. A title made him a completely different player.
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{TITLE NAME: War Hero
TITLE TIER: Platinum(UPGRADABLE)
DESCRIPTION: For protecting a person who could do nothing for you with lethal force, while putting your life on the line, you have earned the title of Hero. By continuing to put others' lives ahead of your own in and out of combat, you have earned the WAR upgrade to your Title
TITLE EFFECT: Offensive; On a critical hit there is a 10% chance to trigger a secondary explosion doing half weapon damage.
RARE BONUS: Stat gain; +3 to Charisma, Dexterity, and Luck times ST(Where ST is Specialization Tier)
Current ST: 0
PLATINUM BONUS: Offensive; On enemy kill you replenish a slight amount of all pools and a 4% plus Character level chance at a critical hit and increased critical damage on the next shot.}
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{TITLE NAME: Retired War Veteran
TITLE TIER: Platinum(UPGRADABLE)
DESCRIPTION: You chose war over jail in your late teens, and you not only served with honor and duty, but you thrived in all engagements.
Thank you for your service.
For serving your country honorably in combat multiple times you have earned this Title. Since your government is in EXTREME turmoil you have been retired since you have fulfilled all your obligations.
Congratulations!
TITLE EFFECT: Your interface is unreadable by mid-Platinum skills or items. The player can project to anyone who tries to scan them whatever they want their information to read to anyone who can’t identify the player level-wise.
Current setting: Level 1 Ranger with average stats
RARE BONUS: Stat gain; +3 Dexterity per level times Tier
Current Tier: 1
PLATINUM BONUS: Offensive; On target hit 4% times Title Tier chance to slow target, and lower their defense by 4% per title Tier}
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“Yeah, I am still going with offensive over anything, it is impossible to defend against these in PVP, or large-scale battles.” Soto started again. “That diamond utility bonus you got for your upgrade on your RETIRED WAR VETERAN title is also trash by the way.” He laughed at Colonel’s facial reaction. “Glimpse subterfuge my ass, what the heck does that even mean?” Soto shrugged nonplus.
Colonel vehemently disagreed with his arrow-happy, wanna-be elf sniper friend. It was absolutely worth it for a fifty percent chance to see through any type of subterfuge was ridiculous, and super broad, which to him was better. More versatility, the very vague description usually means a wide variety of uses to be figured out. Which was something he loved doing.
“Vague description shows you how lazy the game developers, designers, and storywriters are. I hate trying to figure out the wide variety of uses. It is really kind of dumb when you think about it. I get it, no one wants the same things as the next guy, but there is a limit to uniqueness.” Soto continued. “I played many games that I didn’t find out what the vague description meant until end-game, and I wish I had figured it out prior to that, it would have made the play through and leveling much more easy.” Soto took Colonel out of his musings. “Wait, is stealth technically subterfuge?” Soto asked realizing something paramount.
“Subterfuge is defined as ‘deceit used in order to achieve one's goal,’ it is rare that a person in stealth isn’t trying to deceive someone, or achieve a goal.” The Narrator+ answered Soto very much to both of their surprise. The information sank into them as they stared at each other.
“Still pretty dope that the narrator is helping out, this game really checks all the boxes, am I right? So even with all the other bugs, and weird shit going on. Having that voice verify our hypotheses about the game, cannot be underestimated at all.” Soto said
“Word, I like it too, makes the game somehow feel more real, and yet, less realistic at the same time.” Clyde was excited about every new experience so far in the game except for the teleportation part, he could do without that again. ‘ugh!’ He groaned inwardly.
“Don’t knock the EXP bonus as well right now, in the earlier game, it may be easy to level up, but that always gets increasingly harder as you level, and having more EXP per kill, creation, or task, will put us ahead for sure. My dude is going to be dope for sure. But yours is going to a major problem for mobs to deal with, I can kill them from the shadows while you be my decoy. You can just sit in your defensive stance, and get busy with your brutal fighting style. Your attacks have taunt and AOE, that is so freaking cool by the way. I can really just sit back and rain down crazy critical hits.” Soto exclaimed. Plus maybe you get a team EXP bonus.” Soto shamelessly added.
“Bro first off, you’re supposed to be helping me figure out what to pick, not make the choice harder.” Clyde began exasperated. “Besides, I like that utility bonus effect a lot. It may not be life on kill or increased damage, but it is also not as situational as the offense ones. I mean damn I didn’t even think about the EXP bonus, imagine we get a team one like you said. UGH! You see what I mean? This isn’t helping.”
“Yeah, I realized that as soon as I said it. I think you should go with what feels right to you Papo, it is early in the game so I don’t think it will affect you that much.” Soto said.
“As long it's not a teleportation bonus I should be good.” Clyde laughed at Soto’s face as he scowled at the memory of getting teleported here.
“Yeah, that would really suck like straight ass.” Soto agreed. Then he looked at his full character sheet. It was getting pretty good now.
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< CHARACTER SHEET >
{TITLES: Dark Nobility(L), One Shot Two Kills(P), Retired War Veteran(P), War Hero(P).
PLAYER NAME: Command Sergeant Major Anthony J. Soto
LEVEL: 1/1, EXP to next level [1855/2000]/[1855/2000]
CASTE: Noble CLASS: Noble Patriarch/Dark Ranger RACE: Half-Human
POOLS:
HP:230/230 regen 56HP per day
MP:175/175 regen 65MP per hour
RESISTANCES:
Physical: 0% Magical: 0% Willpower: 0%
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength:27 Dexterity:33 Constitution:23 Intelligence:32
Magic:1.75 Charisma:22 Luck: 27
Free Attributes:1
Current attribute gain per level:
Class: +3 to all except for magic
Class: +1 DEX, +1 INT, +1 LUCK +1 Free
Title: +3 Dexterity
EFFECTS:
SKILLS LIST:
Class Skills:
Inspire
Focus Shot
ABILITY LIST:
Title Abilities:
Hide in the shadow
ACTIVE QUEST
Quest:
STOP THE OUTBREAK II
End of CS}
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Soto’s path to power was class-based, and his title had cemented his build. He was becoming a massive dexterity build. That usually meant fast attack speed and critical hits, but in this game, the luck attribute dictated critical hits, and he was getting that per level also. But the DEX was going to outstrip every other stat by the time he specialized.
His War Hero title was going to give him more DEX, Luck, with Charisma, Soto didn’t know exactly what charisma did in the game, but according to Jake’s tooltip, it increases the damage of magical skills. And he had a few of those in his arsenal and was planning to get a lot more of them. He absently wondered if there was an imbalance issue with having a stat much higher than the others. But it was a fleeting thought.
He had actually expected to see his duster enhancement on his Character sheet as realistic as it was, that part of his file was sealed up tight by the JTF, he guessed. But he will take breathing fresh air again as a prize. He may opt to get one of those long-term immersion pods to play this game, just to come in and breathe normally. He shook his head. ‘My wife would kill me if I did that.’ He chuckled.
Letting his mind wander to his family was a little dangerous, he didn’t like being a hovering dad, so he refocused.
Yeah, his path was going to be class-based, and he had two, that were going to be a lot of fun to level them up. He didn’t pick any of them, but he was glad he had them, the Colonel had a legendary race and class, and his noble title class gave him more stats per level by three times. He had to admit Colonel was more than likely more powerful than him, but Soto’s damage output was way higher. That was very satisfying. That one-shot title said it all. ‘Colonel is probably a skill-based character, all the signs point to that. Defensive skills, but skills nonetheless.
Soto on the other hand was all class and equipment. Now that Colonel could craft, Soto might be able to always keep up with his cheating team leader.
He was very satisfied with his growth. His current attributes gained per level were going to make him a powerhouse as he leveled. The ghouls were slow before his first level-up. Afterward, the difference was bigger. He couldn’t imagine that this was the norm since Colonel got so many advantages, and he didn’t care, it was dope. Being strong enough to constantly be able to put down level nine feral ghouls. Mind you the ghouls weren’t that bright, so it was really nothing to brag about, they weren’t subtle or sneaky. They were just basic mobs, it would be embarrassing if he had been caught off guard by one.
That was when Soto noticed a movement through the pop-ups in his HUD, right at the corner of his vision. He had enough time to absently think to himself ‘How long have I been looking at my HUD?’ Before he heard the Colonel yelling at him from behind.
“CONTACT!” Soto heard...
Just as his vision goes black, and he gets an unfortunate alert.
_____________________________________________________________
< ALERT >
{YOU HAVE LOST OVER 75% OF YOUR HP BY A SINGLE BLOW AND HAVE BEEN STUNNED!
Duration 1M:59s}
_____________________________________________________________
If there was anything Soto knew about roleplaying games was that a two-minute stun meant death, and the first death in a game was always the hardest. ‘I don’t even get a minute. Help a brother out, Jake.’ These are his first thoughts. “I hope the Colonel can finish this without me.’ Was his last thought as the blackness took him even deeper.
***
DUNGEON CORE ROOM
VAMPIRE LORD
“Ouch, good one now finish him.” The Vampire Lord said excitedly watching the screens on the wall, leaning in slowly.