Duncan let out a breath as Tom left the room. When he had found Issac, he had felt conflicted. He was glad to see the kid showing some initiative. He became a bit concerned when he found out the kid had stolen the materials and then entered the foundry, and he had been a little afraid Tom might just kill the kid after the whole Brindley thing. But the guy seemed to be keeping a cool head for now. Then, again, this was their new reality; it wasn't the game.
Duncan eyed the other four people in the room as he continued to observe the suit of inferior armour. It really was impressive that the system had recognized this thing as inferior instead of trash.
"Hey, I owe you guys an apology. We shouldn't have gone into that lair," Luke started rambling, almost breaking into tears.
"Enough Luke." Sam shot him down instantly as she popped her bubble gum. "There was nothing you could have done. So stop beating yourself up over it. We were all there. We all could have told Chad to jump up his own ass and die. We probably should have considering what happened afterwards, but we chose to follow them, and we suffered the consequences. I'm just happy you could bring our bodies back to Tom."
"Agreed," Gareth said.
"I didn't," Issac cut in. "I'm perfectly happy to stay here and just craft stuff. It's a lot safer."
"Here here," Duncan said in agreement
Luke turned to Issac.
"I'm sorry about that," Luke said. "We can talk to Tom about doing something about your punishment."
"I just said, " It's fine. " The two times I've been outside, I was killed by a hippo and then some nutcase," Issac said with a shrug. "Unless Duncan's going to send me out to fight monsters, I don't care."
"We might actually have to," Duncan said absently, never looking away from the suit of Armour Issac had made. "As much as you would be wasted on the front lines, the fact is sometimes we will need to fight monsters."
Issac blanched at his words, but Duncan kept talking.
"There is no such thing as safety, and every skill has some combat potential. But don't worry too much; you're a craftsman, not a warrior. That being said, you are going to want to pick up [Runecrafting] for your next skill. The rune work on this thing is just sad. You're also going to want to pick up the [blacksmith] class and then grab another proficiency skill to even things out."
"Actually, that's something I wanted to ask about. Why is everything rated inferior? I mean, for some of it, sure. But my [Rune Forging] skill is at level 27 with the bonuses. Am I just bad at crafting? Isaac asked.
Duncan smiled as that was one of the questions that Issac hadn't been around to hear the answer to.
"Oh, hell no. This is excellent work. The problem is that you won't get out of making Inferior work items until your crafting mastery hits at least 50 in that skill. Then, you can make lesser items until you hit 100, and then you can craft common items," Duncan explained.
Duncan noticed that everyone stiffened up at his words. He wasn't surprised. It was a little shocking when you first heard the information, but it did make some sense.
"Alright, I'm confused now. I thought 100 was the cap for skills and levels." Sam cut in.
"Yeah, they are," Duncan said, turning from the gear. "Look, I'm explaining this poorly, so let's start over. Let's start with sword skills as an example. Sword skills boost your sword mastery. Mastery is just a buzzword that encompasses everything about the sword. Your grip, your footwork, how you fight, etc. Regardless, each mastery is limited to a 500% increase. But most skills only give 1.25% per skill level or 125% total. So if your only craft with the [Rune Forging] skill, then you have a maximum of 125% mastery to runes and smithing. And only to those two disciplines. Suppose you want to work as a carpenter. That's an entirely different mastery, so [Rune Forging] would be worthless for that.
"That feels bullshit," Sam stated.
Duncan shrugged.
"Is it, though? Is it any more realistic to expect to reach the peak of smithing with one skill? Would that be fair?" Duncan raised an eyebrow pointedly.
"That's a good point," Gareth said.
"Wait a minute, so my [Deadly Aim] skill only affects bows and guns? But Gareths [Nordic Arms] gives him axes, swords, spears, shields and carpentry? How is that fair?" Sam asked while chewing her gum.
"Differences in rarity. His is Historic. Yours is just an Epic. I think it's been a while since I checked," Duncan admitted. "Hell, I'm not even planning on being a fighter, and I already have two of the best combat mastery skills."
"What about magic skills?" Sam asked curiously.
Duncan waved his hand dismissively.
"Those are a little different; spells are so versatile that most of a mage's build will be on empowering their magic as opposed to actually doing anything. As for mastery, those are a little weird.
The first option is to specialize and gain [Magic Heart]. This grants you a 500% bonus to a specific mastery, but it cripples your ability to use other forms of magic.
Generalists like myself, Alex, and Travis take 2 to 3 skills, such as [Arcane Awakening], which offers a small bonus of 2% for all types of magic per level.
Then there are people like Tom who only use a few specific elements, so they grab only what they need and ignore the rest. So he grabs a few [Art of Magic] skills. I think Tom has [Bright Arts] for Light magic, [Art of Life] for well-life magic, and then [Art of Earth] and [Art of Water] for water and earth magic, each 2.5%." Duncan explained dismissively.
You guys have a few skill points left now, so it might be a great time to look through your options." Duncan pointed out
"We haven't levelled at all since the Altan thing," Luke pointed out.
"Not all of us spent our skill points yet." Sam pointed out.
"Also, you get skill points from Titles. Why haven't you used them?" Duncan asked.
"I did," Gareth said gleefully as he raised his hand.
"Yeah, I know you did, but why haven't they?" Duncan asked, gesturing to Luke and Sam. Isaac hadn't used his either, but he was pretty sure he had just gotten one of them, so he was willing to forgive the kid a bit.
"Alright, I'm starting to get depressed with the amount of stuff I didn't know about," Luke muttered.
"It's fine; you're still new at this." Duncan placates him.
Sam was looking through her status at this point.
"Alright, Issac. We'll go over your skills later. Don't spend any points," Duncan ordered.
Issac shivered.
"God, I can feel that." Issac shuddered.
"Yeah, it's weird. Luke, Sam, Gareth, why don't you go through your status and buy your stuff?"
"I'm just going to get [Spearfisher] for [Water Enhancer]," Luke said. "Travis already said I could combine it with [Tider Ripper] and [Wave Breaker] for a better skill."
"If you really want to get [Legendary Strength] faster, you should sunder two levels from [Heir to Beleraphon] to get there a little faster." Duncan offered.
"Ok" Luke muttered, shaking his head but following the instructions.
Gareth, on the other hand, was staring at his status like he was trying not to poop, and Sam was biting at her lip.
"Do you guys need a hand, or are you just going to keep looking constipated?" Duncan asked.
"I'm at level 19, and I'm trying to figure out the best combat skill. I was feeling pretty useless in the fight against those assholes. So I grabbed [Blast Shot] to start." Sam said.
"Exploding arrows, always a good choice," Duncan said as he looked at her skill options.
Treasure Hunter Skill Options
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[Tether Shot] - Lesser:[Hunters Tools] - Common: [Treasure Hunters Lore] - Common:[Power Shot] - Common: [Blast Shot] - Common:[Compound Impacts] - Rare:
* [Jackpot] - Epic:
[Treasure Map] - Epic: [Contient Wanderer] - Historic:
"But I'm at an impasse regarding how to improve my archery further. I guess I could grab another archery skill," she offered.
But Duncan just shook his head.
"You'll eventually grab four classes. It's better to wait a bit and pick up an archery skill for each one. It keeps your mastery skills diverse and doesn't clog up a single class. Hmmm, you have [Powershot] but not [Imbue Arrow], so you can't get [Imbue Powershot]. But you can upgrade [Hidden Treasures] into [Jackpot]. That's a classic option. I'm grabbing it when I have the chance," Duncan said.
"That just leaves me with two other options," Sam muttered as she examined her status. "I like [Treasure Map] and [Compound Impacts]. A little more damage and something to navigate around."
"Good choices," Duncan said, nodding along.
"Hey, Duncan, could you take a look at this for me? I put my new levels into [Viking], and well, this feels like it could be great, but it also feels like a trap, but I can't see it."
"Alright, big guy, what are you looking at?" Duncan asked.
Gareth shared his status with Duncan.
Viking skill Options
[Champion of Asgard] - Ancient: when you lead your men, you gain a bonus to all your stats for every person who follows you. Increase the bonus to all stats by 0.1% per skill level.
"Ah, I see your problem," Duncan said as he saw the descriptions.
"So, there is a trap?" Gareth asked.
"Yeah, I mean, the bonus is great. The problem is you won't be able to keep it," Duncan said.
"What?" Gareth asked.
"Gareth, during the fight with this Altan, you guys were picked off one by one until you were the only two of you left, yes?" Duncan asked.
"Yeah," Gareth admitted, his face turning white at Duncan's words.
"Why wouldn't he do the same thing?" Duncan asked. "These skills are the Champion archetype. Champion classes gain power from their followers or from a crowd of onlookers. While they are powerful, their skills are highly dependent on other people. In a situation where you're alone, they're basically useless. It's kind of like having a laser rifle or some sci-fi weapon that you need to plug into the wall.
It's powerful, but you need an external power source to maintain it. Worse intelligent enemies will figure this out, and once they do, they will target your party members before they focus back on you.
That isn't to say Champions can't be great; they can be, but those classes also need crowd control and AOE skills to keep the attention on them and cut down their enemies quickly. That's not you. Not right now. Your first class has focused on turning you into a duelist with a heavy focus on defence, while your second class is a mix of heavy artillery and airborne cavalry. That's not a bad thing, and you can bring everything together into a more fleshed-out idea later on. The problem with Champions is that you need to be able to taunt enemies, and you can't do that right now." he explained.
"You couldn't just say it's a dud?" Gareth asked.
Duncan blushed, a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry about that."
"It's fine, you're catching it now. I'll just grab [Compound Impacts] and [Traveler of the North Sea]."
Duncan frowned.
"I don't know that second one," he admitted.
Gareth flicked the screen towards him.
[Traveler of the North Sea] - Ancient
[Traveler of the North Sea]: This skill grants a bonus in sailing, knot, navigation, and shipbuilding mastery by 1.25% per skill level. It enhances natural navigation abilities, allowing the user to instinctively interpret tides, currents, temperatures, and weather patterns with 1% greater accuracy per skill level. The user gains the ability to breathe underwater, enabling extended underwater exploration, and can propel their ship great distances through fast travel, increasing boat movement speed outside of combat by 3% per skill level.
"Uuum." Duncan wasn't sure what to say. "This doesn't seem immediately helpful."
Gareth shrugged.
"I didn't pick it for combat. I picked it because it was something I wanted. I like sailing and swimming. After this is all over, I want to be able to do those things again."
"Fair enough," Duncan said.
Gareth rolled his eyes.
Once they finished up, Luke came over.
"Thanks for the help, Duncan," Luke said.
"No problem. You're not the first person to ask for advice. In fact, you're probably somewhere in the triple digits." Duncans said.
Luke looked at him weirdly.
"Is it really that bad?" Luke asked, concerned.
Duncan frowned. "It is. Even with those lectures I'm giving about the system, and how to abuse it, I've got dozens of people coming up to me every day for advice. People are scared, Luke. When there are no consequences, it's a lot easier to be willy-nilly with your skills. Hell, I'm giving at least two or three lectures to the craftsman every day. We really need to build a new wiki; otherwise, I'm going to be stuck explaining shit all day."
Luke shrugged. "Something to do."
"Speaking of something to do, you guys should head up to the Arena. We all need to grind more skill levels," Duncan said.
They talked for a little longer before Luke took his advice and left with Sam and Gareth towards the Arena.
You may skip to the next chapter.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Luke Graceson
Race: Demigod
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 16
SubRace: Human
Age 18
Health: 1310
Stamina: 2535
Mana: 2300
Health Regen: 15.3 per hour
Stamina Regen: 20.5 per min
Mana Regen: 6.4 per min
Titles: Awoken Myths Member
Immune
N/A
Resistances
Physical 12%, Elemental 12%, Vitality 9%, Mental 11%, Crit 18%, Insta-death 18%, Poison 18%, Disease 18%
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer, Godslayer
Classes: Heir to Theseus 12, Heir to Beleiraphone 1, Water Enhancer 3
Total
STR: 193
AGIL: 16
DEX: 70
CON: 105
END: 52
PER: 88
INT: 115
WILL: 16
SPIRIT: 48
EGO: 32
CHA: 88
LCK: 17
Base
STR: 176 +10%
AGIL: 16
DEX: 64 +10%
CON: 96 +10%
END: 48 +10%
PER: 80 +10%
INT: 96 +20%
WILL: 16
SPIRIT: 48
EGO: 32
CHA: 80 +10%
LCK: 16 +10%
Personal: +4 PER, +3 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +2 CHA
Racial: +3 CON, +2 STR, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +2 CHA, +1 EGO
Bloodline: +5 STR, +5 INT
Level Bonus: +1 to all stats
Bloodline:
[Bloodline of Poseidon] - Legendary: Your father is Poseidon, the god of the sea, the earthshaker, Stormbringer, the father of horses, the guy you named the eighth planet in your solar system after. As the son of the sea god, you gain the following Benefits.
* [Power of the Sea God] - Level 1
* [Poseidon's Sea] - Level 21 >> Level 24
* [Kin of Horses] - Level 20
* [Born Sailor] - Level 1
* [Natural Born Leader] - Level 18 >> Level 22
* [Master of Death] - Level 17 >> Level 18
* [Greek Tragedy] - Level 14 >> Level 15
* [Divine Assistance (Guide)] - ErR0R#4!!*!%!$
* +5 STR per level
* +5 INT per level
Skill Slots: 14/60: Skill Points: 0
Personal Skills
* [Storage] - Level 10
* [Meditation] - Level 17
Heir to Theseus 07/11
* [First Labor: Periphetes' Devastating Strike] - Level 23 >> Level 25
* [Second Labor: The Charming of Sinis] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Third Labor: Hunter of The Crommyonian Sow] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Forth Labor: Vision of Sciron] - Level 21 >> Level 25
* [Fifth Labor: Father of Wrestling] - Level 22 >> Level 25
* Capstone - [Sixth Labor: Procrustes Just Deserts] - Level 22 >> Level 23
* [Vitality of the Cretan Bull] - Level 1 >> Level 18
Heir to Bellerophon 2/6
* [Molten Lead Lance] - Level 15 >> Level 17
* [Athena's Bridle] - Level 1
Water Enhancer 3/6
* [Tider Ripper] - Level 1
* [Rapid Water Steps] - Level 1
* [Spearfisher] - Level 1