Archimedes
“I’m going to throw up at this rate,” Archimedes said to no one in particular as he stood up and burped. He had been switching to the warden class, getting beaten down to a few health points by Chedderfield, switching to the Healer class to recover and complete that class's quests by stuffing his face full of food, and then repeating the process all over again. It was making him nauseous.
Novice Healer Challenge VIII Complete – Heal 800 damage from hostile targets or effects.
“You’re not done yet, are you?” Chedderfield asked as he got back into a boxer stance, preparing to strike as soon as Archimedes managed to recover his health.
“Never,” Archimedes said more to retain his dignity than out of any desire to take another punch in the stomach after stuffing his mouth full of meat from the conscriptor.
“Nope, you two are done,” Danielle interjected. “You’re both at about ten total points on the warden, eight points on the healer, and zero points left on my patience. This boys’ club, macho class-leveling crap can wait until tonight—until after we’ve gotten our rewards for completing that quest to destroy the hell-cursed base.”
“Yeah. We’ve been back here for thirty minutes, and last I checked, that’s as long as anyone gets for a lunch break. We need to get out there and save settlements, remember?” Nguyen reminded.
“Yup. You two can do gut checks all you want after you take us ladies out on some dates,” Lucy agreed.
“I’m . . . We don’t have to leave right away,” Emma said. Unlike the rest of the group, she looked a little uncomfortable. “You know a few more minutes here wouldn’t hurt . . .”
“What are you talking about? Are you not bored out of your mind?” Lucy asked.
Nguyen looked at Emma in confusion. “Don’t you wanna go kill stuff until we get classes too, so we can start collecting points as well? You don’t want to fall behind the others, do you?”
“No, no . . . I just— ” Emma reached for where the rhino had gored her earlier in the day. “No . . . No, you’re right. We can go.”
“Yup. We can go, and we probably should before Chip upgrades anything again. Speaking of which, we already picked out a defensive quest while you two were busy,” Danielle said. “Did you guys assign your points yet?”
“No, they haven’t yet,” Nguyen, who had been the only one watching from start to finish, answered for the two men. “Bring up those sheets. I need to see them.”
Archimedes, who still had the healer class selected, brought the sheets up for the others to see. “Here.”
Class: Healer
Tier 1
Healer’s Touch – Heal target for 10% of their health. Cooldown: 1 minute (1 of 1)
Tier 2
[Skill Tree: Divination]
Keen Mind – [Perk] Increases the user’s total Mind by 1% for each point invested, with a minimum of 1 Mind if at least 1 point is invested. (0 of 5)
[Skill Tree: Holy]
Thoughts and Prayers – Increases heals for others by [5% per Skill Level], but reduces self-heals by the same amount. (0 of 5)
[Skill Tree: Self-Care]
Actions and Consequences – Increases efficacy of heal-related skills for self only by [5% per Skill Level], but reduces heals of others by the same amount. (0 of 5)
“So what does ‘1 of 1’ and ‘0 of 5’ mean?” Lucy asked as she looked at the skill, then immediately answered her own question. “Does that mean you’ve put one point into the skill?”
“Yeah, and since I have more points to use, I was going to hit five with them and see what happens,” Archimedes said as he quickly added a point to Keen Mind for the free mind point and five points to Actions and Consequences, bringing the bonus to self-healing to 25%. The moment he did, two boxes appeared. One was a notification, and the other revealed the third tier for the healer class, but this time it was limited to just the Self-Care tree, and while he could see that other skills were available, they remained hidden. He focused on the new notification first.
Congratulations! You advanced to Mind 15 despite your obvious genetic mental deficit and failure to pursue knowledge! Please choose one of the three milestone advancements:
Boost – Increases the effectiveness of all skills and abilities for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes
Adenosine Inhibitor – Reduces the requirement of sleep and rest by 10%. Naps are twice as effective.
Builder’s Boon – Gain crafting proficiency with the chosen material.
“Oh wow, now you can join me in the Sleepless in Seattle—or, well, wherever we are at any moment—club and grab the Adenosine Inhibitor,” Nguyen said. “Counting in my afternoon naps, I’ve been sleeping less than four hours a day since I grabbed it. You should grab it too.”
“Yeah . . . sure . . .” Archimedes, who had been immediately drawn to Boost, hesitated for a moment before clicking Adenosine Inhibitor. He didn’t know what percentage increase Boost gave, but increasing all of his abilities for 10 seconds had looked incredibly tempting. If it weren’t for the long ten-minute cooldown, he would have already selected it.
“Just get it already,” Nguyen pressured, causing Archimedes, who trusted her ability to reason through things and weigh options carefully, to finally just press the button. “There you go.” She smiled. “Now I have a buddy to stay awake at night with.”
“Good. Then the two of you can go off at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. without me next time,” Lucy said. “Archimedes’ sleep schedule was already about to make me shoot him.”
“Seconded,” Emma said. “But wait, while we’re on the subject of milestones . . . I already selected the Bodybuilder’s Charm, but what do I pick for constitution? I hit 15 Strength and 15 constitution with the last level after the zoo, but I just couldn’t decide.”
“Adonis’ Protection,” Archimedes answered without a second thought. “Mundane damage is a lot of things, and a lot of people use it. It’s much easier to avoid being stabbed in a fight if you don’t have to worry about being shot in the back too.”
“But given it’s always Emma who shoots people in the back, who would—” Lucy stopped because she was too busy chuckling at her own thoughts to finish delivering the joke.
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“Just pick it and move on before Lucy makes fun of you more,” Archimedes suggested.
Emma nodded. “Done.”
“Now, let’s see what the third tier for Self-Care is,” Nguyen said as she brought them back to the class-selection topic.
Class: Healer
Tier 3
[Skill Tree: Divination]
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[Skill Tree: Holy]
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(???)
[Skill Tree: Self-Care]
Closed Mind – Increases Mind effect on healing related to self by [5% per Skill Level]. (0 of 5)
Bottom Line – Temporarily doubles the efficacy of self-healing when health dips below [10% + 1% per Skill Level] of maximum health. (0 of 5)
Duration: 5 seconds + [1 Second*Skill Level]
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Archimedes stared at the blue floating screen and considered his options. He could attempt to fill in each skill tree to at least get a look at what was available at tier 3. But that would mean a whole lot more grinding class quests, and from the looks that Lucy and the others were giving him, he didn’t think they’d allow him the spare time. Instead, he decided that, of the two options in the Self-Care class-tree line, he’d invest his last available skill points in Bottom Line. Anything that kept him alive in a fight would be worth it.
“What about the other one? Warden?” Nguyen demanded before he could even finish putting his point into Bottom Line.
“Holy shit, relax for a second. I was just about to bring that up,” Archimedes answered while tapping the class menu to bring up the requested class skills, looking over for a moment to confirm his annoyed outburst hadn’t rattled Nguyen. It hadn’t.
Class: Warden
Tier 1
[Guardian Angel ] – 25% of damage taken by the Ward is transferred to the Warden. (1 of 1)
Tier 2
[Skill Tree: Protection]
Tough as Nails – [Perk] Increases the user’s total constitution by 1% for each point invested with a minimum of 1 constitution if at least 1 point is invested. (3 of 5)
[Skill Tree: Shieldbearer]
Collateral Reduction – 1% reduction to AoE damage taken [+1% total/1 minimum]. (0 of 5)
[Skill Tree: Angel’s Wing]
Payback – Reflect 5%*Level of damage absorbed on Ward's behalf [Does minimum of 1 point of damage per level of skill]. (0 of 5)
Archimedes looked over the available class skills, and while he was tempted to invest in the Angel’s Wing skill line, he wanted to see what Protection offered at tier 3 since he already had points invested there. The moment he added two more points to Tough as Nails, it revealed a third tier for the Protection skill tree.
Tier 3
[Skill Tree: Protection]
Nail Biter – Ward's Constitution is increased temporarily by Warden's Tough as Nails bonus (0 of 1)
Intercept – Rushes Warden to Ward's location at 5 times their current movement speed. Cooldown: 3 minutes (Each point reduces cooldown by 15 seconds.) (0 of 5)
Seeing the options, he liked both of them, but he felt like Intercept was too redundant to waste more points on. Five times the movement speed was incredibly tempting, but he felt like it overlapped too much with his Leap Rush already, and he didn’t imagine a scenario where he would have a ward and needed to use intercept to get back in range of the ward. Ten feet was already a very forgiving distance, and if the ward exited that, he could probably run in the ward’s direction fast enough to get back to them.
That said, he was a little frustrated because he wanted to see what the other two tier-3 options were, but he only had three points left after spending two more on Tough as Nails and putting one point into Nail Biter. Looking over the other two options, he didn’t know which one to invest in next.
“Chedderfield, you putting five points into Collateral Damage or Payback?” Archimedes asked, “or are you going to finish Tough as Nails?”
“I was going to go for Shieldbearer,” Chedderfield answered. “Angel’s Wing looks nice . . . but I’m kind of hoping I’ll get some skills or abilities to make adding a shield to my fighting style finally worth it.”
“Oh, good. I wanted to see what was unlocked in that skill line,” Nguyen said. “Put those points in, Queso, and show us the skill tree.”
Archimedes saw Chedderfield’s eyebrows raise at being told what to do, but he tapped the air in front of him, and then a blue screen popped up for everyone to see.
Warden – Tier 3
[Skill Tree: Shieldbearer]
Shield Bash – Deal 50% + [5%*Skill Level] of primary weapon damage and stun targets in front of you for 2 seconds. [10 second cooldown - 1 Second per Skill Level] [Requires use of a shield.] (0 of 5)
Bold Stance – For 5 seconds + [1 Second per Skill Level], reducing incoming base damage by [Skill level*5%]. Cooldown: 3 minutes [Requires use of a shield.] (0 of 5)
While both of those skills looked good, Archimedes was far too attached to his fighting style with the spear to add a shield to it, and neither of the options were passive perks he could take advantage of, so he instead put his last three points into the tier-2 Angel’s Wing skill Payback.
“Alright, what about the healer stuff? You saw the result for the tier-3 Self-Care I unlocked, right?” Archimedes asked.
“I did, but I don’t really get it. If you’re going to be using a healer class, at least play the healer correctly,” Chedderfield said. He opened up that class menu and dumped one point into Keen Mind for the stat point and then put the rest into Thoughts and Prayers, unlocking the tier-3 Holy tree.
Healer – Tier 3
[Skill Tree: Holy]
Improved Healer's Touch – Healer’s Touch now heals target for an additional [1% increase per Skill Level] of their maximum health. Reduces cooldown by [5 Seconds per Skill Level]. (0 of 5)
Open Mind – Increases Mind effect on healing-related skills for other people by [5% per Skill Level]. (0 of 5)
“Oh, nice. Improved Healer’s Touch!” Nguyen chirped. “Grab that one!”
“I was going to . . .” Chedderfield looked a little reluctant to click the button after being told what to do, but still selected it, putting his last point into Improved Healer’s Touch, significantly improving the base ability.
“With the 25% from Thoughts and Prayers, once that ability hits five of five, you’ll be able to help one person out. The fact it’ll be every thirty-five seconds too . . . it’ll let someone play a healer class properly,” Nguyen noted.
“That’s me. Queso the Healer-don,” Chedderfield proudly stated as he put his fists on his hips, and jutted his chin out while he looked off into the distance in some exaggerated superhero pose for the group.
“Oooooh, you’re Queso Blanco, the white cheese healer,” Emma said with a laugh and an excited little jump.
“And I just suffer from nightingale syndrome, after he saved me from the great war and healed my injuries . . .” Danielle added with a little overly dramatic swoon.
“Hey, what’s this?” Lucy asked as she stared at her system interface. There, in front of her, in the quest section of the interface, was a blinking red quest. “Why is it blinking like that?”
“Hmmm, according to the system’s tips and help tool . . . that’s an emergency quest. The owners of the settlement needing defense do not have faith that they will survive and are thus creating a vengeance quest with a reward that you can claim upon killing the people destroying them. The reward will, however, be half the value of what it would be if we just saved the base. Basically, it’s an ‘oh fuck’ S.O.S.” Nguyen explained as she brought up her menu and began to look through it.
“How close is the settlement?” Archimedes asked as he quickly grabbed a few fistfuls of conscriptor meat, stuffing them into the inner pockets of his fireman’s coat.
“It’s about . . . two, three miles from us?”
As they were talking, Chip, who had left earlier while Chedderfield and Archimedes were beating each other up, returned with a glowing-blue five-foot longsword and a bronze card. “I took the liberty of turning in your quest and bringing you the rewards. I gave the meat to the otters to place in the ice box for those of you who do not share Archimedes’ proclivities for rotting flesh.”
“Three miles? Where is that? North? East? West of us?” Archimedes was more focused on the people dying than the rewards Chip had kindly brought them.
“Yeah, it’s off to the northeast. The attackers could be the hell-cursed army that was ahead of us earlier. Not sure we can make it, but we could at least claim the . . . and he’s gone,” Danielle said as Archimedes took to the door.
When Archimedes realized he was the only one rushing out of the base though, rather than continuing, he turned around to look at the group.
“You guys are coming, right? I kinda need my crew if I’m going to go save the world,” he said as he examined the quest and brought up the map to find out exactly where the settlement was. He knew his rush-in mentality was likely grinding on the nerves of his teammates, but he couldn’t stand the idea of doing nothing as people were dying.
“Fine, we got your back this one time,” Chedderfield said, equipping his macuahuitl and grabbing some conscriptor flesh too. “Because you asked so nicely.”
“If you insist,” Lucy said, grabbing the longsword from Chip. “I suppose we could come.”
“Here, take this, and I’ll get that new Pox on Death card. We don’t have time to go find a trade hub to get you something,” Nguyen said as she handed Chedderfield a card.
He looked at it for only a moment before it disappeared, and a two-foot-wide white round shield appeared on his left forearm. He gave it a swing, adjusting to the added weight on his arm, and then nodded and handed Nguyen a bronze card. “Deal. It’s a mind-based skill anyways. It was going to you or Danielle.”
“Wait? Why are Chedderfield and Nguyen deciding who gets the new skill card? Where was my vote? I wanted it too . . .” Emma complained as she ran after the group.