As the others gave their congratulations, and praise at Jacob's feat, Dante did so too before stepping forward and placing a hand upon Jacob's shoulder.
"Hey man, mind if I try a new skill on you?" Dante asked, eliciting a tired sigh from Jacob.
"Fine, let's see it." He said, still taking deep breaths.
With a thought he activated the skill.
Jacob stiffened for a moment before relaxing.
"You have a skill that boosts regen or something?" Jacob asked, looking towards Dante.
"Yeah, but that's not this. This is the skill, Mana Well. I am feeding you my mana right now, pretty slow though. How are you feeling?" Dante replied with a smile.
"Better, my mana is ticking back up just a bit quicker than it was before. My head’s still a bit foggy though." Jacob said, stopping as he heard James speak.
"So what are the details of the skill?" James asked, getting a glare from his girlfriend for prying but he ignored her.
Dante looked at everyone before pulling up the skills description and reading it aloud.
----------
"So you need to have that on as much as possible. That skill may not be so useful right now but the higher level it gets the more useful it will be. The worst problems for leveling it right now is basically being limited to touch, and being unable to affect more than one person. It's clear that with each level these issues lessen. What's interesting though is that most skills level fastest at their lowest levels. This one seems to be the opposite. Level one being the slowest level the skill ever gets. Each next one should in theory get that much easier. Then again if the exp required for them to level should also keep increasing..." James went off on a tangent, his mind working overtime, allowing his thoughts to flow freely out his mouth.
After about a minute of the tangent Reo elbowed him in the side knocking him from his thoughts.
"Ouch! What the hell!?" James exclaimed, turning to Reo.
"You went on a tangent again." She stated simply with a look of mild annoyance.
"...Oh...my mistake. So anyway, what do you guys want to do next?" James asked, opening the discussion up to the group.
--------------------
After several minutes of discussion they came to the conclusion that it would be best to retreat and regear to deal with the heat. It would also give them all time to rest and assess what skill they would need to focus on.
Dante pulled his hand from Jacobs shoulder and cut the skill.
"You guys want to cool off while we're on our way out?" He asked the party, receiving a resounding yes.
With a thought Dante turned on Condense water to make a fine mist around them, and after a second of consideration he also turned on [Purify] to clean everyone off.
Though with the low level of [Purify] it was only a 1 meter range so people had to cycle through the aura. Though they mostly turtled around him, as the low level skill took a while to clean things.
Jacob came back to him and with a little nudging he turned Mana well back on for him to help him recover mana as they walked. With everyone being so close it made grinding some of his skills pretty easy.
Dante couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction as the dirt and grim decomposed into a soft blue light.
Even with mist cooling them off however, everyone was still thirsty so he took the time to condense the water from the now misty air for them to drink.
Yet another issue, they had failed to bring many supplies for their exploration. They had assumed they could just buy from the store while in the dungeons.
While that was true, the problem was that the price of supplies increased by more than 50% across the board. Much to the dismay of his party.
Apparently the system likes making people pay extra for buying things in dungeons. Or is it the systems way of making people have to go to towns to get the cheapest price?' He thought.
After an hour of walking they had almost arrived at the exit to the dungeon.
Checking his accumulated skill levels he couldn't help but grin.
Skill, Mana Well, has leveled! Lvl.1->5...
Skill, Meditation, has leveled! Lvl.7->9...
Skill, [Purify], has leveled! Lvl.2->3...
Skill, Cartography, has leveled! Lvl.31->33...
Skill, Pathfinder, has leveled! Lvl.9->11...
Skill, Physical Fitness, has leveled! Lvl. 23->24...
Skill, Multitasking, has leveled! Lvl. 6->7...
You have leveled up!...
Congratulations! Your Endurance has surpassed 250!...
Calculating rewards...
It seemed he had gained one more level in the Arcane exterminator class due to killing bugs being how he got a majority of the exp for that level. And now he has more than 250 End. Now what would he get?
Congratulations! You have been granted the Uncommon passive skill, Efficient Breathing Lvl.1...
Efficient Breathing- Your body has begun to adapt to your vastly improved capabilities. Small increase to stamina regen per level of the skill. Small increase to the amount of time you can hold your breath per level of the skill. Recover a tiny amount of stamina per breath, based on skill level...
'Well son of a bitch, I might be able to do that quest now. It would be cutting it pretty close though. I'll just wait till I get back to town.' He thought before turning his mind to related matters.
"Alright, let's look through our feats and see what he can get to help us..." he paused, bringing up the available feats. Jacob and the others looked over waiting to see what he would pick.
Once more the familiar blue box appeared displaying more feats than before, as he had suspected.
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"Ok, let's see here..." He said as he skimmed through the feats making note of a few.
Each he skimmed over gave him a feeling, what could almost be called a vision.
Each wanted to be chosen. Each wanted to make him more, to give him something he didn't have, to make him better at what he could already do.
He slowed, starting again at the top of the list and working his way down. Pausing a moment on each to revel in what they "showed" him.
Alert, Healer, Keen mind could certainly come in handy, Magic initiate, Observant, Resilient...
As he came to Resilient he saw not one road, not one possible future but...one, two...eleven?
He saw the world through more than a dozen eyes and yet every one was but another of his own. Each another version of him, in futures yet to be. With a flick of his wrist a blue box appeared before him.
Resilient
Choose one stat and gain the following benefits:
Gain +(1000x[Rank]) to the resource pool that stat contributes to.
Gain +(10x[Rank]) to the regen that stat contributes to.
Gain +(2x[Rank]) to that stat on level ups.
Bonuses are set upon acquiring and will not scale with increase in rank.
You meet the requirements: All stats above 100. Would you like to select this feat? Y/N?
He starred at the feat. Knowing he might be able to complete the Durable quest if he put it into END but...
"...Can I select this feat multiple times?" He queried the system and was not disappointed.
Resilient can be selected multiple times, but only once per stat...
he considered for a moment, 'What if I put this into luck?'
"Yes." he spoke with a hint of hesitation. The old blue box vanished as a new one replaced it.
Please select a stat Str Con End Dex Will Int Wis Cha Luck Per Spirit
And there it was. As he focused on Luck something surprising happened.
He got a preview.
You have selected Luck!...
+(1000x[Rank])= 2000 Health...
+(10x[Rank])= 20 Health regen...
+(1000x[Rank])= 2000 Mana...
+(10x[Rank])= 20 Mana regen...
+(1000x[Rank])= 2000 Stamina...
+(10x[Rank])= 20 Stamina regen...
+(2x[Rank])= 4 Luck on level ups...
Would you like to confirm selection?...
For a moment Dante was too stunned to speak, too stunned to keep walking. It only took a moment for the others to catch on.
"Hey Dante what's..." James began but was immediately interrupted by Dante.
"What the Fuck! Virgil!" He exclaimed, pouring mana into the skill to get Virgil summoned.
The familiar form of Virgil appeared, his long black hair almost shining in the light.
"What's the issue Dante? You seem concerned." He asked, a bit of wariness entering his expression.
"Why does this feat give me so much when I select Luck?" He said motioning towards the blue box.
*Sigh* "Don't scare me like that, Dante. You made me worried. The answer is simple. This is because of how the feat is worded, how it works, and how Luck is added to your stats. Luck adds a little bit to everything. To your resources it simply adds itself, but to your regens it adds a tenth its value. Thus representing how fortune affects every part of our lives." He spoke with a bemused smile.
Other's we're watching this conversation now with wrapped attention.
"So, since it adds a little to everything..." Dante questioned.
"When you select Luck, this feat adds that bonus to everything." Virgil said finishing his statement.
"But I can only use this feat for each stat once?" he asked.
"Correct." Virgil confirmed what the system had already said.
"Um, Dante..." someone spoke up, then everyone else.
---------------------
After a minute or two of explaining to the others about the feat and the others all say they would be immediately taking the feat.
Most could pick the feat immediately, others like him and James could pick it twice due to the number of levels they had gained over the last hour.
Then there was Jacob, who could pick 5 feats, due to gaining 20 levels.
After accepting the feat, he couldn't help but smile.
Congratulations! Your Health has surpassed 10,000!...
Congratulations! Your Stamina has surpassed 10,000!...
Calculating rewards...
Simultaneous achievements detected...
Adjusting rewards...
Skill consolidation...
Error!...
Outsider interference detected!...
A familiar voice filled his ear, sending a shiver of fear down his spine.
"Oh Dante, I see you child. I see what you can be. You who called me from the void. This system seeks to change your fate yet again for its own ends. But like all things, it can use a Shepard's guiding hands." Hastur spoke in a slow voice, one as old as time, yet as gentle as summers breeze. Even though he knew he should be afraid. He couldn't help but feel...loved?
You have been granted the...the...
Error!
Error!
Error!
Recalculating...
Recalculating...
Recalculating...
Notifying administrators!
(Unknown) will be withheld...
Outsider interference detected!...
Recalculating!...
Restructuring!...
Dante froze in place, his body locking up as momentum carried him forward.
He felt as something...someone had placed their hands upon his very soul and they were doing something.
He would have faceplanted into the ground had Jacob not caught him.
But no sooner had he caught Dante did he begin to cry out as his skills began to scream.
-----------------
Notifications screamed in Jacobs head. His skill, Knowledge of the Land, chief among them.
Blood ran from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Someone, something beyond his comprehension stood before him, just beyond sight, but not beyond the sense of his skills.
Knowledge of the Land screamed Enemy, and Ally, Salvation, and Death.
It saw something beyond mortal comprehension.
The skill screamed because it could not understand what it sensed.
All Jacob could muster was to say in a weak voice, "...we need to leave..."
-----------------
At first none of the rest of the party knew what was going on, then he stood among them and fear drove them to their knees.
They could not see the face hidden in the darkness of his hood. Dante saw only the ground but he didn't need to see him to hear the smile on his face as he spoke.
"You will be..." he spoke but his words cut off. Yet still he spoke in a voice unheard by all but one, the only one that mattered.
Congratulations! You have been granted the Rare skill set, Good Shepard....
You have obtained the Uncommon semi-active skill, Shepard's Sickle Lvl. 1...
You have obtained the Uncommon passive skill, Humility Lvl. 1...
You have obtained the Rare active skill, Appraising Eyes Lvl. 1...
You have obtained the Legendary skill, Temple of Hastur Lvl. 1...
You have been granted the Common Active skill, Prayer Lvl. 1...
Road of the Acolyte I has opened to you!...
Darkness crept in consuming Dante's vision, then he passed out.