*Congratulations, your Soul Weapon Skill has reached Level 5. New Paths for Soul Weapon have become available.*

Soul Weapon: Conjure a weapon. The weapon is bound to your soul. You can desummon the weapon and conjure it again at will any time after the cooldown is over. Soul Weapons are slightly more durable than usual weapons. Number of weapons you can bind as Soul Weapons will increase with advancement of this Skill.

Soul Weapon has increased Durability, Mana Costs, Cooldown and Strength..

You may add an additional effect to Soul Weapon:

Mercenary, Common - Reduces the cooldown of Soul Weapon when switching summoning or desummoning weapons.

Courier, Uncommon - Increases movement speed by 1% while having your Soul Weapon active.

Scout, Uncommon - Increases perception slightly while having your Soul Weapon active.

Dave gorged his eyes upon the different options. He started considering which to choose. Then realizing what he was doing he immediately felt guilty.

He had just knocked his best friend out. Sure it was Max's idea and they had spoken about it at length, but it still didn’t sit right with Dave.

He was doubly anxious because he couldn’t see what was going on on the other side of the barrier. But that was at least partially a good thing. It proved that their theory worked.

Dave took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. The blow definitely hadn’t been that hard, so Max should be in no real danger. Besides Sam was there to heal him. Technically there were limits to what Sam could heal, but after hearing what state he apparently had been in after the Nodefox den, Dave was quite confident Sam would be able to take care of a concussion.

“Focus on what you can control right now.” Dave thought to himself. It calmed him a little.

Even though he still felt a little knot of anxiety in his stomach, Dave knew Max would be alright. He allowed himself to relax and feel a little joy about the After Attack Shield.

It proved their theory had worked and that their fight wasn’t for nothing. Also judging from the outside, the shield would hopefully keep them safe from Nodefoxes for now.

Realizing there was truly nothing else he could be doing right now, he sat down against a tree and decided to look at his Skill Effect options.

The first one he almost dismissed on the pure account of it being common. But then he read it again and realized it probably applied to switching between different weapons, not just the summoning and desummoning of his spear. Which sounded useful.

Dave had been looking forward to unlocking another Soul Weapon. His Skill explicitly stated that he would be able to have more than one with sufficient advancement of his Skill. And being able to switch between those fluently would be a huge advantage.

Apparently Level 5 wasn’t enough to unlock another Soul Weapon though. So while he gave the effect another thought, Dave decided that it wouldn’t matter as long as he still only had one weapon anyways.

So his decision was between the second and the third option. They were both uncommon, so Dave was missing a clear indicator to really compare them. Both effects sounded useful.

A 1% Movement Speed increase didn’t sound like much. But if those effects upgraded as well or if Dave was able to raise his Movement Speed by other measures, it could be huge. As stacking Movement Speed could potentially make him super fast. And there was a nice synergy between that effect and his Lightning Feet effect for Spark.

The other option sounded more intriguing though. A slightly increased perception also sounded very ambiguous. It was hard to gauge how much it would really matter and Dave didn’t want to waste an effect.

At the same time it could be very strong, perception could help him in fights, making him see attacks better. It could also make it easier to find things in nature or detect traps in dungeons.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

After all that Dave had seen so far, he was 100% convinced that the Manaverse had dungeons. And dungeons always had traps. He learned that the hard way on more than one DnD campaign.

So now he was in a dilemma. Both options had positives and would help him survive. With the Courier effect he could really try to focus his strategy on Movement Speed. Building speed through every way possible. It would surely synergies well.

In a game he would have definitely gone that route. Choosing a path to really specialize on was almost always the best choice. Builds with a clear strength were superior to half assed all rounders.

However, for all the references he drew, Dave was aware that this wasn’t just a game. The stakes were much higher. He was fighting for survival and the wrong choice of effect could potentially be his end one day. That’s why he took the time to think his decision through to the end.

While the thought of being super speedy and dancing circles around his opponents had a certain appeal, Dave decided that the Scout effect just gave him more survivability.

He needed to be aware and see threats to even combat them. While Movement Speed might make him stronger directly, Perception increases his chance of survival more.

At least Dave hoped so.

He picked the Skill and felt a warm sensation in his stomach. He hadn’t really noticed it the last time he picked an effect, but there was just too much going on after the Node finished their Mana attunement.

After the glow faded Dave didn’t feel any different. He pulled up his Skill status screen to check if the effect had already been applied.

*

Soul Weapon

Rarity: Common

Level: 5

Effect: Soul Weapon: Conjure a weapon. The weapon is bound to your soul. You can desummon the weapon and conjure it again at will any time after the cooldown is over. Soul Weapons are slightly more durable than usual weapons. Number of weapons you can bind as Soul Weapons will increase with advancement of this Skill.

Added effect: Scout

Origin: Inherent

Soul Weapon slots: 1/2

*You have one empty Soul Weapon Slot. Do you wish to bind another Soul Weapon?*

“What the fuck?” Dave mumbled in disbelief. Why hadn’t the thing informed him about his new Soul Weapon slot before. It would’ve influenced his decision. The Skill probably needed to finish adding the effect first for the Level Up to be complete, but still, that was a definite design flaw.

He was mad for a second, but couldn’t stay for long as the excitement about a new weapon took over.

Also he probably still would’ve picked the Scout effect. The other effect was common and common just wasn’t something Dave felt comfortable with. He wanted to be extraordinary.

With a smile Dave followed the new prompt.

*There are two options for binding a Soul Weapon. You can bind one from the physical world, giving it a mark to connect it to your Soul. It will then work as any other Soul Weapon would.

Or you can generate a new Soul Weapon.*

*Warning, new Soul Weapons will be generated based on your internal Mana. They will be shaped and influenced by yourself to some degree. But they will still be random, you’ll only have a limited amount of choice.*

*Do you wish to generate a new Soul Weapon or turn a weapon into a Soul Weapon?*

That wasn’t a question Dave had to think hard about. He had no other weapons around he could turn into a Soul Weapon. As much as he despised not being able to control what new Soul Weapon he would get, the only other option would be a stick or something.

So he proceeded to generate a new Soul Weapon.

*You’ve chosen to generate a new Soul Weapon.*

Suddenly the world around Dave turned black. He found himself floating in the midst of a dark room, not unsimilar to the one he received the vision in. But still a little off.

*Your inner Mana has formed. There are two forms available to give shape to your Soul Weapon. Please pick one.*

*Be aware, everytime you generate a new Soul Weapon, there will be different forms available. Forms not chosen will not appear again though. Pick wisely.*

Two white shapes appeared in front of Dave. They were bright, almost too bright to look at. At first Dave thought they were simply made of light, but looking closer he noticed that whatever matter they consisted of was changing and flowing. Like thick glowing smoke. The smoke slowly formed into two solid looking objects.

One looked like a giant warhammer, almost as tall as Dave, with a head that looked like it alone weighted too much for him to lift.

It was a beautifully designed weapon though, there were little ornaments running along the hilt. The bottom had a little spike, simple and sharp. The hammerhead had strange runes carved into it, Dave didn’t know what they stood for, but they gave the weapon an distinctly viking vibe.

The other weapon stood in stark contrast to the big warhammer. Dave had to look twice before he realized what he was looking at.

At first he thought they were simple bracers that flowed there before him. Looking closer he noticed the little blade that was embedded underneath each of the bracers. It took a moment for him to add one and one together in his head.

“Holy shit.”

The possible Soul Weapon form floating in front of him were hidden blades from Assassins Creed. One of Dave’s favorite video games. What made those weapons special was that they looked like normal bracers. But with a clever flick of the wrist, the user could make the deadly blades hidden underneath come out, transforming them into serious weapons.

Dave stared at the weapons for a moment. “Are they really allowed to do that?”