Chapter 5
Awaken the Calling
Asher opted to select Fire Slash.
Outside of movement, what he needed the most was the firepower as this seemed to be one of the stages that was all about trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. Barely a minute had passed, and he’d already killed close to fifty spiders, something that took him several minutes to do yesterday.
By the time there were three and a half minutes remaining, another eighty spiders spawned on the opposite corner. Right now, on the field, there were around a hundred and twenty, at minimum, and he felt the pressure. Luckily, because of the sheer numbers, they were all grouped up together relatively well which allowed the 'Living Bomb' aspect of his upgrade to do insane amounts of damage.
Red letterings reading ‘1’ and ‘5’ were so numerous that they overlapped each other almost everywhere. Furthermore, because of how many he was killing, he was leveling up quite fast as well.
When he reached Level 4, he only got options for passive upgrades of damage, health, and movement speed. He elected to go with the ‘Movement Speed’ upgrade which, unfortunately, was only [Common] ranked, increasing his Movement Speed to 1.3. However, even with that, the difference was palpable. After all, technically, he'd increased his move speed by a whole 30%.
By now, he was also accustomed to the repeated explosions and the shaking. In fact, continuous earthquakes virtually became the default state of the world. Hitting Level 5, he finally sighed in relief when he saw Dash being offered as one of the rewards. Though he was tempted with Nimble Footing, Dash was simply safer.
Right around then, another eighty monsters spawned. However, it wasn't just spiders--in their midst, there were also green blobs reminiscent of slimes. Rather than walk or jaunter, they hopped in large strides; in effect, they were around 4x times faster than the spiders with the caveat that their 'landing' place was clearly indicated and it couldn't be changed once they entered their hop movement, and the 'flight' lasted whole 3 seconds, making it rather easy to dodge them.
However, because of the way they moved, it was difficult to herd them together and nuke them all down using ‘Living Bomb’, so he had to carefully guide them into the bundles of spiders and spread the damage that way. It wasn’t long before he hit Level 6, and a couple of completely new choices appeared.
Ignition [Rare]
+15% to Fire and Explosion Damage
Level: 1/5
Fire Slash [UPG +1--Rare Variant!]
Level: 2
Effect: Effect: Slash forth, invoking the Spirits of Fire and creating an arc of flames 4 feet wide. The arch travels in a straight direction, dealing damage to the first target it hits, ignoring part of the target's defenses.
[Rare Effect] -- every 3rd slash is instead [Double Cross Fire Slash] which has a 30% chance to critically strike.
Damage: 7
Defense Ignore: 40%
Cooldown: 2.6s
Icy Fervor [Common]
Level: 1
Effect: Your attacks and abilities have a 40% chance of inflicting ‘Slow’ on the target.
Slow: Decreases movement speed by 60% for 3 seconds. Once inflicted with ‘Slow’, the target cannot be inflicted again for 8 seconds.
Asher frowned, pausing for a moment and mulling over the options.
While the upgrade to Fire Slash was tempting, it wasn’t all that amazing for his current circumstances; if he aimed Fire Slash at the slimes, they were always one-shot as they seemed to have 5 Health. Double Cross and more damage would simply be a bit of an overkill. Icy Fervor, too, wasn't spectacular though--by his rough estimates, spiders' movement speed was around 0.4. While slowing it down wasn't the worst thing in the world, they were already practically immobile.
In the end, he decided to go with the upgrade to Fire Slash. There was a chance another Rare or Boss mob might spawn toward the end, and extra damage might be helpful to bring it down before the time ran out.
Thus, the spectacle unfolded.
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The fire was spreading like mad, the world-shaking explosions going off one after another, corpses of singed spiders sprawled across the Grassy Lowlands. No, rather than Grassy, they ought to be renamed to Scorched by now. Because of the way Asher herded the groups, more than half of the area was covered in either corpses or ashes from the burned grass, leaving little of the beauty that the arena had.
For the next three Levels, 7, 8, and 9, only passive choices appeared--Asher took one more point in Nimble Footing, increasing his movement speed to 1.4, after which he took a point in Strike Prowess, increasing his Damage by 1 and, lastly, he opted into the passive choice he hadn’t been offered before:
Invoking Rage [Rare]
Level: 1/3
Effect: every 3rd strike with the Main Weapon deals 40% more damage. If it kills the target, increase your damage for the duration of the Stage by 0.4. Stacks up to 20 times.
Spiders fell like mad--and they spawned like mad. By now, they spawned in massive groups of hundred and fifty, covering the entirety of the horizon.
Asher’s heart beat rapidly, excitement drilling through him. As he moved and dashed about the stage, flinging balls and arcs of fire at the monsters nearly twice his size, the fears within cowered. The sight of the building-sized fires and constant explosions beat back his cowardice, bit by bit. He was inspired, invigorated, and alight with desire.
With 30 seconds left to go, he reached Level 10. Unlike with every other level-up, where the windows that appeared were ordinary, these ones were framed and gilded in gold and twilight, shining with a faint glow of sunset. Furthermore, only two appeared instead of three. At the top, it read ‘Awaken the Calling’, and rather than ‘abilities’ like before, options were a bit more numerous.
Novice Wizard [Common Calling]
-- Novice Wizards might be relatively common in the Courts of Fire, but their firepower and might cannot be underestimated. They heralded many wars, and their efforts were the leading reason those wars were won. What they give up in safety they more than make up in raw output.
The following Modifications will be applied for the remainder of the Stage:
+5 Elemental Damage
+1 Projectiles [applies only to the Main Weapon]
+15% CDR [applies only to non-Main Weapon spells and skills]
+20% Critical Chance on Elemental Damage Type
+100% Critical Damage on Elemental Damage Type
+40 yards to Range [applies only to abilities within Maximum Range]
-5 Health
-0.4 Movement Speed
-3 to Physical & other non-Elemental Damage
+50% Cooldown to any Movement Ability
-3 to Armor [cannot go below 0]
-5 to Health Regeneration [cannot go below 0]
...
Novice Battlemage [Common Calling]
-- Novice Battlemages are favored mostly by the Knightly Courts of the Far East, renowned for their ability to withstand more than even some pure Knights. Though their damage is rather unremarkable among the Elemental Callings, their nimbleness and survivability are almost unmatched. When the War calls, they stand at the vanguard of it all, fearless.
The following Modifications will be applied for the remainder of the Stage:
+1 Elemental Damage
+1 Physical Damage [40% of your Elemental Damage is converted to Physical Damage]
+0.3 Movement Speed
-40% Cooldown to any Movement Ability
+10 Health
+2 Health Regeneration [per second]
+2 Armor
All Common, Uncommon, and Rare effects with a % chance of triggering will roll their chance a second time if they fail to trigger the first time
+25% bonus to XP gain
All Ranged Abilities [both from Main Weapon and otherwise] have their range reduced to the maximum of 10 yards
-80% damage to any Damage Over Time effect that triggers off of your abilities and weapons
All enemies take less damage from you the further they are away from you (damage restored to 100% if they are within 4 yards of you)
-0.4 Attack Speed with your Main Weapon
You will no longer be offered any active long-range Ability
Your Critical Chance cannot exceed 10%
Your Critical Damage cannot exceed 125%
Your Luck cannot exceed 3
Your Gathering Range is reduced to 3 yards
Your Main Stat changes from Intelligence to Strength + Intelligence + Agility (33% value per Stat)
Asher stared wide-eyed and in silence. He couldn’t choose.
If the lesson from yesterday was to be followed, he should choose to become the Battlemage. But the issue was that the penalties were rather... stiff. He’d lost most of the safety, needing to fight the monsters at the mere distance of 4 yards, and he’d lose a good deal of his damage, especially from the Wooden Staff upgrade and the ‘Living Bomb’. On the other hand, he’d gain more movement speed and even reduce Dash’s cooldown by a whole 4 seconds, down to 6.
However... the Wizard was damage on steroids while giving up a lot of raw safety and mobility.
"... Qyne?" he mumbled expectantly. To his surprise, she actually appeared in the glimmer of golden light, fluttering in front of him with arms crossed, a mocking smile on her face.
“Really?”
“Uh... I’d, I’d owe you one?” he smiled sheepishly.
“What does your pathetic, human instinct tell you?”
"Uh," he hesitated for a moment, pondering. "Well, the theme of the current stage seems to be the raw quantity of monsters. The goal is to overwhelm us with pure numbers. So, maybe playing on our expectations from yesterday? People would be more likely to choose mobility over damage and screw themselves over? So, in that case, the Wizard is the safer bet?"
“Then choose it and see if you’re right?” she grinned and Asher hesitated yet again. Not for long, however.
Gritting his teeth, he threw caution to the wind and chose Wizard. Light enveloped him briefly as the world unwound--and another thing happened. In the distance, a behemoth spawned.
It wasn't a spider, like yesterday, but rather an Ogre; it had two heads and four arms, each equipped with a different weapon--sword, axe, club, and shield--with its skin shining in dull copper. It was muscular, donning only a loin cloth over its groin. At the same time, the 'quest window' to the side was updated with another couple of lines.
Bonus Objective: Deafeat Copper Ogre in the remaining time (29s)
Bonus Reward: +80 Souls, +1 Divine Gem, 'Basic Pillow Filled With Hair', 'Simple Cloth Blanket'
Asher's eyes lit up. In less than 30 seconds... he had to kill that damn thing even if it was the last thing he achieved. Even as young as he was, he'd get a stiff neck if there was no comfort.
"GIMME MY COMFORT, YOU FAT, UGLY PIECE OF SHIT!!" he exploded--both verbally and physically, moving straight toward the ogre and aiming the staff at it.