I hovered five-hundred feet in the air as I looked down on the Eastern Spawn Point. There were stone walls, towers and other structures created, and none of that mattered. I looked at the largest building and could only guess that was their headquarters and where the standard would be stored. I was hitting this side alone. We’d strapped our standard to the underside of Exar’kun and Guinevere was taking the standard from the Western Spawn Point since she was already familiar with its location and layout.
Reaching into my storage pouch I pulled out the two vials of ambrosia I had stored there.
What resources are you going to use them on? Voidra asked.
I’m going to try something, I said.
Please don’t, every time you do that, we all almost die, Karnen said.
Relax, it’s not that bad, I said.
Upon reviewing your memories, Ares said. Yes, it is.
I don’t appreciate you guys’ tag teaming me, I said.
I didn’t say anything, Voidra said.
That’s because you always approve of his suicidal tendencies because you lack a basic survival instinct, Karnen said.
All of you shut up, I’m concentrating, I snapped at them. I tossed back the first vial like a shot of whiskey. It was sweet as honey but burned like tequila and left me dizzy for a moment.
Congratulations! You can raise one of your resource regeneration amounts by +10 per second. Which resource would you like to apply this boon to?
“Can I increase the regen rate of my Ethereal energy?” I asked.
There was no response for a moment.
While not forbidden, this resource type was not what this ambrosia was intended for. You may do so but the regen rate increase will be reduced from +10 per second to +1 per second. Do you still wish to continue?
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. My current regen rate for my Ethereal was about twenty per minute, which when converted to per second was less than point zero, zero, one per second. Going to even a minor plus one per second was multiply my current regen rate for this resource by a thousand.
You Ethereal regen rate has increase to 1.00083333333 per second.
I thought you said you didn’t want to use that ability against Arthur, Karnen said. Why are you increasing it instead of your mana or stamina?
This is about the long game, I said. Yes, I want to win here but it literally won’t kill me to lose here. The Dragon Tourney is what I’m saving myself for.
You really want to risk your life for some duel? Voidra asked.
No, I said. I want to risk myself for Guinevere.
Use the other vial on your stamina, Ares advised me. If you don’t do well in this Event Arthur will come out of it stronger than you, defeating any purpose for hiding your strength here.
Why stamina over mana? I asked.
Your mana pool is massive! Karnen said. That ability is seriously overpowered, there are emperors who would give you kingdoms, so you’d sire children with their daughters for a chance of passing on that ability.
While I wouldn’t phrase it exactly like that, Karnen is correct, Ares said. If you somehow manage to go through all that mana in a fight and are losing a slightly higher mana regen rate is going to help. Your stamina is where you are weakest right now. If you go against Arthur in a duel again you won’t be able to regenerate resources by wounding and killing other creatures, so you’ll be stuck with whatever your current regen rate is.
Solid reasoning, I agreed.
I downed the vial of ambrosia and assigned the increase to my stamina. I took out the Celestial Orange and peeled it.
“I’ll increase my Speed Attribute,” I said. “I know I get a bonus from my boots, but I haven’t gotten an ability for my Speed in a while, and I need to move faster against Arthur.”
The juice of the orange ran down my chin. Its flavor was like a mix of citrus, cinnamon and nutmeg but enhanced and sweetened with a spicy tang that made it somehow comfortable and familiar while also utterly foreign. It was probably the best thing I’d ever eaten, and I let out a belch as I licked the juice off my fingers.
“One last thing to do,” I said. “System, raise Wild Hunt to rank twenty.”
Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank five, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Doubles the number of summons you create with this ability.
· Your hounds gain the ability to fly.
· Hounds are equipped with armor when summoned.
Looking over my options, the third was the most tempting, armored war hounds sounded badass. However, Flight was something I hadn’t had access to until just recently and it was an advantage that couldn’t be overlooked. You couldn’t escape hounds that wouldn’t be slowed down by the terrain. The first option also had some merit, but I was a firm believer in quality over quantity. I selected the second choice and finalized it.
Wild Hunt (Rank 5): You summon a twisted horn into your hands, blowing on it lets out a piercing call that summons 5 hounds that will act as extensions of you, their rank will be equal to your rank. They will last for 10 minutes and have a cooldown of 1 hour before they can be summoned again.
Like leaves on the wind or flock of falcons your hounds are unconstrained by the laws of gravity capable of running through the air.
Cost:
40 mana
Cast Time:
40 seconds
Upgrade this ability to increase the number of hounds, how powerful they are and the duration for which they will remain. Each rank up increases your Spirit by 1.
The number of hounds hadn’t gone up as much as I thought it would have, maybe I should have picked the option to double my summons. The choice was past now so no sense worrying about it. I dismissed the description as well as the following four notifications.
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Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank ten, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Doubles the Speed of your hounds.
· Grants your hounds a ranged Sonic attack.
· Your hounds will deal Soul damage and inflict Soul Rend.
Moving fast was good but the third option removed the first two as contenders. Both from experiencing and dealing it I knew Soul damage was one of the best damage types to deal. Provided the creature had a spirit of some kind, the agony of having your soul damaged was indescribable. If it had existed in my world dealing that kind of damage would have been a war crime.
Wild Hunt (Rank 10): You summon a twisted horn into your hands, blowing on it lets out a piercing call that summons 8 hounds that will act as extensions of you, their rank will be equal to your rank. They will last for 10 minutes and have a cooldown of 1 hour before they can be summoned again.
Like leaves on the wind or flock of falcons your hounds are unconstrained by the laws of gravity capable of running through the air.
Connected to the void by your being, you summons bite inflicts the Soul Rend* condition dealing a minor amount of extra soul damage with each attack.
*Soul Rend: On a failed Spirit check causes permanent Soul Damage that will last until healed by soul healing.
Cost:
80 mana
Cast Time:
30 seconds
Upgrade this ability to increase the number of hounds, how powerful they are and the duration for which they will remain. Each rank up increases your Spirit by 1.
Permanent Soul damage? That was fucked up, it made me sort of uneasy. The soul damage I dealt was painful sure, but it didn’t fuck with their souls. I was suddenly less comfortable with my choice, as someone who had experienced permanent soul damage, that kind of trauma was on another level. The choice couldn’t be taken back though so I pushed aside my unease. Skipping past the next few notifications I got to the next upgrade.
Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank fifteen, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Hounds gain an extra head for increased attack speed.
· Your hounds deal extra Lightning damage.
· Doubles the Toughness and Might of your hounds.
The first option was already a top contender, for one just having an extra head was some mythological nightmare stuff right there and increased attack speed was always good. While I liked Lightning damage, I didn’t need an extra source of damage for it. Being extra durable and strong was a big win but I had do decide. Did I want my hounds to be dps or tanks. Looking back on the choices I’d made so far nothing about them was in line with being a tank. While the higher Might would increase their damage it wouldn’t increase how fast they dealt that damage. I chose the first option and moved on dismissing the next four notifications.
Wild Hunt (Rank 15): You summon a twisted horn into your hands, blowing on it lets out a piercing call that summons 12 hounds that will act as extensions of you, their rank will be equal to your rank. They will last for 10 minutes and have a cooldown of 1 hour before they can be summoned again.
Like leaves on the wind or flock of falcons your hounds are unconstrained by the laws of gravity capable of running through the air.
Connected to the void by your being, you summons bite inflicts the Soul Rend* condition dealing a minor amount of extra soul damage with each attack.
The hounds you summon have an extra head, doubling their attack speed and damage per second.
*Soul Rend: On a failed Spirit check causes permanent Soul Damage that will last until healed by soul healing.
Cost:
160 mana
Cast Time:
20 seconds
Upgrade this ability to increase the number of hounds, how powerful they are and the duration for which they will remain. Each rank up increases your Spirit by 1.
I could only summon twelve hounds but each of them so far seemed like an absolutely elite unit. I dismissed the ability description and the next few notifications until I came to the last upgrade menu.
Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank twenty, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
· Your hounds become rabid greatly increasing their damage but losing some control.
· Your hounds deal extra Curse damage.
· You gain the ability to cast Hell’s Mark to increase you hounds damage.
I already had enough trouble controlling myself when I went berserk, I couldn’t be worrying about watching out to make sure my hounds didn’t savage one of my allies. That removed the first option as a choice, so I moved onto the second. Curse damage was another good damage type, it was a damage over time that was much harder to heal than other damage types and significantly debuffed the target while they were suffering it. Guinevere had explained it once to me when we were below ground. It reduced all attributes by ten percent while the target was burning in the cursed flames. The third ability was less clear, Hell’s Mark was one of those buffs or debuffs that the System already expected me to know about. If I was a native or had access to some encyclopedia, I might know what it did but I was shooting in the dark now.
Deciding to take the gamble I selected the third option. Whatever it was it would increase the damage and that was all that mattered.
Wild Hunt (Rank 20, Max Rank): You summon a twisted horn into your hands, blowing on it lets out a piercing call that summons 13 hounds that will act as extensions of you, their rank will be equal to your rank. They will last for 30 minutes and have a cooldown of 20 minutes before they can be summoned again. The thirteenth hound will be larger and stronger than the rest of the pack.
Like leaves on the wind or flock of falcons your hounds are unconstrained by the laws of gravity capable of running through the air.
Connected to the void by your being, you summons bite inflicts the Soul Rend* condition dealing a Major amount of extra soul damage with each attack.
The hounds you summon have three extra heads, tripling their attack speed and damage per second.
You can select one target placing a Hell’s Mark on them doubling your hounds damage against that target.
*Soul Rend: On a failed Spirit check causes permanent Soul Damage that will last until healed by soul healing.
Max Rank Bonus: Merely an extension of you, your hounds benefit from all your, titles, passive abilities and any buffs you are currently experiencing.
Cost:
320 mana
Cast Time:
10 seconds
Upgrade this ability to increase the number of hounds, how powerful they are and the duration for which they will remain. Each rank up increases your Spirit by 1.
“Let’s see how these puppies like to play,” I said dropping out from the sky as I called a black twisted horn into my hands.
It was lined with thorns that cut into my hands. My feet smashed through the roof of a cottage as I spent over three hundred mana to reduce my fall damage to zero, my impact utterly obliterating the building I landed on. Raising the horn to my lips I let out a long blast over the next ten seconds. Its sound was reminiscent of Helheim’s scream without the damage and debuffs. It was still other worldly and disturbing and painful to hear, like nails on chalkboard as it grated against the senses. As I blew out black fog rose up around me, when I was done it whisked away revealing thirteen hounds.
These were not fuzzy cuddly dogs, their hide looked like it was made from the jagged outcrop of obsidian. Their body was intercrossed with red and orange molten lines, the only thing the broke up the glossy black stone fur. Their necks were long and each of their three heads twisted around sniffing at the air as they snarled and snapped at each other. They were thick and stocky like rottweilers, each came up to my chest putting their shoulders at around five feet. Except for one, he was the size of draft horse, his crimson eyes glinting with an alien intelligence as he stared at me as if waiting for orders.
All around me there was shouting and yelling as people tried to adjust to what had just happened. Some of them had already organized and were charging my location. I raised my right hand and pointed at them.
“Fetch me their souls,” I said.