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Malika
“You guys got to level nine pretty fast,” Malika said. Sabri seemed so naive and lost, a so eager to learn and grow, it didn’t surprise her that she was among the first of the adveo take advantage of the library. She reminded Malika a lot of herself, or perhaps the younger sister she never had.
All she needs is a little self-fidend some time, she thought. Malika recalled just how eager she had been to get out there a her skills, and how much value a few simple pointers would have been. She almost envied Sabri and Brena, having access to Vivian Ross’s new mentorship program. The budding friendship betweewo novices was a good sign, too. Like Rezan, Malika worried that Sabri would struggle to settle in a own so far from home, but Brena and her seemed to be looking out for each other.
“We were pnning to try the Kobold boss in the sewer ,” Brena said, sounding rather excited at the prospect. It seemed that the young Gnome mage had beeed as the leader of one of the novice groups, and her enthusiasm for the uping fight was echoed in Sabri’s face.
“I ’t wait to tank it,” Sabri said.
“Perhaps you should upgrade your shield,” Malika suggested.
“Do you think I o?” Sabri asked, looking at her level three shield, perhaps imagining it wreathed in hellfire or taunting her enemies.
“You’re three times the level of that shield now. Early on, upgrading quickly is important if you don’t want to fall behind. Perhaps you pay Kavé a visit before you tackle the kobolds and see what she thinks?” She remembered how quickly her own armor skill had deed, and if they were intending to tackle a raid boss, it would be essential she had good equipment.
“Ok,” Sabri nodded solemnly.
“Should I upgrade too?” Brena asked.
“I think so. Ali likes Lydia’s Allure fe gear,” she answered, a little surprised that Brena would ask for advice. She had seemed a lot more self-assured.
“Lydia’s work is expehough,” she said.
“It’s worth it,” Ali answered. “Especially fic resistance – you ever predict stray fireballs. I’m going to go visit her tomorrow, I introduce you if you like.”
“Ok, thanks!”
“Oh, hey Ali. Tell me you learo make that Abyssal Bloodstone.” In the heat of the moment, it had entirely slipped her mind, but now that they were discussing crafters, she remembered why they had gotten into hot water in the abyssal pne in the first pce.
“I did. Here,” she said and popped out a fist-sized crystal. “I also got these hellfire essences.” Ali passed all the reagents to her, and she healed her burned skin as she stored them.
“Isn’t that painful?” Brena asked, wrinkling her nose.
“It is, but that’s what endurance is for,” Malika answered.
“Even for a mage?”
“I put some points into it,” Ali answered for her. “The Demon Huook my arm off today, and I bcked out from pain itle. I was lucky I regained sciousness quiough to cast my barrier otherwise I’d probably have died. I’ve already put two more points into endurance just because of that.”
“Hey, Mato, do you want to go visit Thuli? I want to see if he use this bloodstone, and I think you need an armrade too. Maybe we bring Sabri along and see if she get some better gear for their raid.”
“As long as we afford new armor,” Mato said. “Level sixty is probably expensive.”
“We cover it with the group funds. I think it’s important,” she said.
Her thoughts turo the implications of the day. Mind magic is insidious, she thought, recalling the haunting distant melody. She had been so excited to see the highly valuable and rare abyssal bloodstohat she had pletely missed the demonidrils insinuating themselves into her mind. She and Ali were going to grill Mieriel as soon as they returo the guild. Unfortunately, the answer was almost certainly learning to be more vigint, more aware. At least we ask her to train us.
Lair of the Demon God. The Emberfe Mines was hard enough, but this was a hellfire and blood dungeon in an abyssal pne beyond even ’s skill’s threat assessment. They had been lucky – there were too many stories of adventurers stumbling into dungeons that were beyond them and never seeing the light of day again. And whatever that Pit Lord was… she could still feel the overwhelming force of its mere presen the cavern.
She shook her head, putting down the worries about things that she could do nothing about now. She would just have to be more careful about stepping through strange rifts aering unknown dungeons iure.
Soul Monk has reached level 60 (+6).+60 attribute points.
So, the fmecaller Demon Hunter was worth five levels, she thought. Not bad for a tricky fight. While it was in principle a simple fight, staying alive for a whole mih the full fury of the entire room focused only on you was a challenge for any css. Especially as the room had filled up with more and more demons – without the presence of the abyssal rift it would likely have been an almost trivial fight.
The sixth level had e from their crazy st stand in front of the library, holding back the horde of demons while Ali built her bosses. Eagerly, she checked the rest of her gains.
Martial Artist has reached level 29.Soul Strike has reached level 38 (+3).Healing Mantra has reached level 35.Perfect Body has reached level 23 (+2).Soul Armor has reached level 28 (+2).Enlightened Evasion has reached level 32 (+2).Diviep has reached level 29 (+2).Sed Wind has reached level 20 (+3).Crity has reached level 16 (+2).Soul Sight has reached level 17 (+3).
Dang has reached level 10.Appraise has reached level 16.
Dang? She smiled, amused at the ingruous skill adva the end of her list. Her acrobatic moves in bat had been close enough to daeiques that it had advanced her general skill also. I really haven’t practiced in ages, she thought – not since her lesson. Not that there’s been any time. In fact, she felt a little pang of guilt that she had been iraining across the board – but they didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the guild, which was the only pce she had access to training rooms.
Requirements met for skill adva.
Mentor: Rezan JinSed Wind has reached at least level 20. Endurance has surpassed 250.Wisdom has surpassed 250.Has reached zero stamina in bat.Has reached zero mana in bat.Has fought multiple battles sting over an hour.
Sed Wind gains Unyielding Meridians.The mana cost of your abilities is reduced by 20%.Sed Wind gains Abiding Perseverahe stamina cost of your abilities is progressively reduced the longer you fight. [-3% per minute].Choose one adva.
Oh, wo choices, she thought, seeing the offered adva for Sed Wind. Although she had no idea whie was the best. Unyielding Meridians sounded impressive, and it gave a ft redu of twenty pert to her mana usage, while Abiding Perseverance looked like it was desigo make her even more of an endurance fighter.
She g the requirements. She had fought in several hour-long running battles in the industrial district of the Ruins of Dal’mohra. And if it ted this demon dungeon-break as still ongoing, then that was definitely lohan an hour. But when did I run out of mana and stamina? Mana she remembered – she had burned all her mana fighting the Radiant Brawlers so that she didn’t have anything for them to drain. And then she remembered getting knocked unscious and subsequently waking up in the Kel’darran caravan in the middle of a Goblin raid, totally drained by the cuffs of suppression.
“Hey, ? Could you help me choose?” she asked, and when he nodded, she shared her advances. Seeing the curious gnces from the novices, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to share it with everyone and give them a glimpse of how they had learo help each other with skill choices.
“Abiding Perseverance is much stronger,” said immediately.
“You sure?”
“Yes, I agree,” Ali chimed in.
“Think of it this way,” offered. “In seven minutes, Abiding Perseverance will give you a twenty pert redu in your stamina cost. Most of our hardest battles are much longer. Unyielding Meridians will give you more absolute resources over time, but Abiding Perseverance will give you more when you most .”
“I see what you mean,” Malika said, studying the options again. Battles like the Inferno or the Wights had sted well over half an hour. If she was getting an equivaleion after seven mihen Abiding Perseverance would be disproportionately helping her in the most challenging battles, whereas Unyielding Meridians with its ft redu would help more frequently with the shorter battles – the ones where the cost reduattered much less.
“Another sideration, you vert mana into stamina,” added. “What rate do you get now?”
“y-nine pert,” Malika answered, suddenly getting what was after. At almost perfect efficy, a stamiion was the same as a maion for her – but after it surpassed one hundred pert, it would be much better for her to always spend stamina, gaining the cost redu and use her mana pool entirely as a backup to refill her stamina. And if her gold guild ring had wisdom or enduran it, she would pass that breakpoint with nothing more than a visit to the guild tomorrow.
“Ok, Abiding Persevera is.” She selected her adva, eager to try it out in the battle.
Wait, I have attribute points to spend right now! She sidered her options and her new adva, and the fourteen points on wisdom and ten points on endurance immediately, boosting her mana and stamina, and the efficy of Sed Wind. Then she boosted vitality by eleven and strength by two. She boosted her Soul Sight by spending ten points on perception and then dumped the remaihirteen points, into dexterity. Finally, she brought up the skill description for Sed Wind, happy to find it had surpassed a hundred pert.
Sed Wind – level 20Exge mana to gain +107.4% [40 + wisdom / 10 + endurance / 10] % of the amount as stamina.The stamina cost of your abilities is progressively reduced the longer you fight. [-3% per minute].Soul, Wisdom, Endurance
Wow, I wonder if Mato also got gold? Turning, she began to speak to their big panion, but she saw he already appeared to be inward-focused. That was a notification look if she had ever seen one.
Mato
Mato sat o the cookfire after ing up and opened his notifications. Brena and Sabri had returo their studies with Ryn, but he had enjoyed cooking for them and telling stories of their adventures. Storytelling was a long-standing tradition in his family, and with five older siblings he rarely got the opportunity to be the storyteller rather than the listener and so he had quite eheir undivided attention as they hung on to his every word.
Sabri and Brena couldn’t be more different. By her fashionable clothing, hairstyle, and mahe Gnomish girl was clearly from a well-to-do family – no surprise given her mother was Donel Novaspark – the founder of the Novaspark Academy of Magic. Sabri, oher hand, had clearly lived a life deep enough in poverty to show on her fad in her much-repaired clothing. Yet the two of them seemed to have formed a bond that might grow into an enduring friendship.
He found his attention drifting from his notifications to the score of battles of the day. He had enjoyed all of them – even, surprisingly, the Demon Hunter. Initially, he had thought it was a stupid fight but tanking every single demon in the room had been a real challenge and had given him quite a rush. Then, after they ged strategies and he had to defend the rift, he had the exhirating opportunity to abuse his powerful Battlemaster retaliation skill, trolling the room by preventing the demons from entering. An unusual role for him, to be sure, but one he had found quite stimuting.
Holding off the demons in front of the library had felt just as epic as his tale for the novices. With just Malika, , and himself, they had held off a horde of demons, more than he could t, for long enough for Ali to summon the crazy poison bosses. It was certainly a fight he would remember, and he couldn’t wait to tell the story at one of his family gatherings.
His only regret was that he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to go head-to-head with that Maalgaroth demoime. It would be a fight wetting stronger for.
Speaking of stronger…
Druidic Shapeshifter has reached level 61 (+7).+70 attribute points.
Mato slowly puffed out his cheeks, releasing a breath he had not realized he was holding. Sweet relief coursed through his body as he re-read it, twice, just to be sure that the number seven was really there. Details. would have me check the details. He had leveled up on the crazy packs of warlocks and hunters before they had even found the Demon Huhe big Fmecaller with his ridiculously noisy bow and crazy game of predator-prey had been worth four css levels, and then the final stand in front of the library had gained him yet awo css levels. It was a rather fitting haul, and he was delighted with his growth.
sidering his massive haul of seventy tribute points, he decided to i heavily in vitality, spending a whopping twenty-two points on it. A lot got easier with more health. Twelve points went tth and theo endurance. Given how important his battle senses were, he spent fifteen points on perception and then finished up with eleven for wisdom to boost his Natural Prowess and the sg of his nature skills – and more mental resilience, of course.
So, that was dinner, now for leftovers… he read on thoughtfully.
Arboreal Sanctuary has reached level 33 (+2).Swipe has reached level 35 (+2).Brutal Restoration has reached level 37 (+2).Bear Form has reached level 32.Rampant Growth has reached level 10 (+3).Bestial bat has reached level 30.Natural Prowess has reached level 25 (+3).Survival Instinct has reached level 26 (+2).Battle Trance has reached level 18 (+3).Last Stand has reached level 7 (+2).
His skills had surged across the board. He had been rather worried that Rampant Growth would stagnate down in a rocky cavern filled with fire and no pnts but using it to hold back the demon hordes in the jungle had earned him three skill levels. The rest of the skills seemed to grow acc to hently he hem: Swipe for the Battlemaster retaliation, Battle Trance from being hit by a room full of monsters, Last Stand for saving his life in the rift chamber, and again before Ali’s Forest Guardians had spawned. Last Stand and Survival Instinct were etg their pce as his most trusted skills for saving him from the worst situations. Often, just the damage perception and the ability to create thirty seds of breathing room for the healers was enough to turn an unwinnable fight around.
Identify has reached level 12.Cooking has reached level 14.Herb Gathering has reached level 7 (+2).
He nodded, satisfied that the rewards for the day matched the risk and difficulty of the fights. Even cooking! Must be because I made demon kebabs with my cws down there. Grinning widely, he read on.
Requirements met for skill adva.
Survival Instinct has surpassed level 25.Perception has reached at least 75.Survived an abyssal realm.Exposed to the mana of two sed-tier or stronger domains. Survived the blood corruption of a Pit Lord.Has tanked more than a thousand monsters itle.Has blocked multiple attacks that would have taken more than half your life.Has survived being hit by Elemental Storm.Has disrupted more than 50 ambush attacks with perception.
Survival Instinct gains Mana Presce.(You sense mana within your domain. Whenever you sense an attack, your rea speed is increased for 5 seds.)Survival Instinct – level 26Your natural senses of sight, hearing, and smell are signifitly enhanced. You have a sixth sense about ining attacks, how much damage they will do, and how to move to mitigate the most damage. You sense mana within your domain. Whenever you sense an attack, your rea speed is increased for 5 seds. Range: SanctuaryNature, Physical, Perceptiohis adva?
There was a time when he would have rushed over to cheeriedly about an offer like this. A part of him still felt like that, but his time studying with Lira had sent his roots down deeper. A sense of satisfa percoted down to his heart, and a little awe at the achievement – his skill had grown because of their enter on the abyssal realm – a he could never have imagined even in his wildest dreams.
A thousand monsters… Abyssal realm… He had certainly grown. Mom and Dad are going to be so proud of me. He could see the se clearly – his mom would cry and hug him and say she loved him. His dad would ugh and sp him on the shoulder – and he wouldn’t o hold baymore. Then they would cook diogether – he could not help smiling happily. It had been a fantastic fight.
“You get something good?” Ever perceptive, had noticed his mood.
“Yes,” he answered, sharing the details with everyone, including Ryn, Sabri, and Brena just as Malika had done.
“That looks very strong,” said, but Mato already k was, and everyone else agreed too.
“Hey, Brena. You’re a lightning mage, would you like to help me test this?” he asked, accepting the adva.
“Sure, what do you need me to do?” she asked, getting up from her seat.
“Shoot me when I turn into a bear,” he said and then chuckled at the sight of the suddenly horrified expression on her face.
“It’s ok,” Ali interjected. “I do it all the time. I think he likes it.”
Malika put in, “And he’s ridiculously strong. In fact, we should do this for more training. Hey, everyone, let’s all beat up on Mato.”
Mato shifted with an amused growl and then closed his eyes, fog his attention orange new prig sensation ale sparkling he felt throughout his sanctuary aura.
Is that Ali’s magic? It felt like trees, lush verdant growth, and the crawling, creeping, roaming, and flying of wild beasts, but woven through it all he found the prickle of magic, the dryish part sense of a new book, and the tickly sparkle of runes and knowledge – and something that ected to… elsewhere. Something beyond the realm of life, pnts, and animals.
On the edge of his sanctuary, a brilliant blue-white fsh of energy appeared – arified pulse. The world around him slowed down dramatically as his powerful bat perceptihe danger, intuiting the small amount of lightning damage he would receive from what was clearly Brena’s Lightning Bolt. His body felt sluggish, but his mind and perceptions remained clear and nimble, and after letting the bolt hit him, he heard a squeal of surprise from the Gnome.
He shifted back to his Beastkin form, watg curiously as his body transformed in slow motion, and only after he was done did the world resume its normal speed.
“I’m ok, Brena,” he said, reassuring her.
“I thought you would dodge it,” she said, eyes still wide. He could even hear her rag heartbeat.
“I have more than three thousand six hundred health and over three hundred resistao magic. I’ll be ok. Besides, Ali’s Acolytes will heal me if I .”
“Oh, ok.” She seemed even more stunned if that ossible, but the horrified look faded quickly. “… I shoot you again? I got a skill level for that!” She gnced guiltily over at Malika. “I… thought you were joking. Sorry.”
“Hey, you apologize by zapping the bear for me again.”
“Sure,” Mato chuckled. “I o get used to the perception haste, it’s a little unusual. e on, Brena, let’s see what you’ve got.”
It would take some adjustment to his bat style, but he was certain this would be a potent improvement to his defensive abilities. Given how frequently he was typically attacked, he khe perception haste would likely st tinuously from the beginning to the end of most battles, much like his Battle Trance.
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