《Psychic Brawler Greg》 Chapter 001 A man with pale sickly skin was donning battle gear. His exposed skin had a layer of translucent bluish tinge to it. He was of medium height and despite not being bulky, his muscles were well defined. He had a short, but unkempt full beard with his shoulder long hair tied in a loose bun covering the back of his neck. He was wearing a set of boots and sturdy combat leggings with gray-brown camouflage patterns all over it. Over his seemingly casual t shirt, he wore a tactical vest and stuffed all the pockets of his vest and leggings with a variety of supplies including bandages, field surgery kit, combat stimulant pack, ammo magazines, torch, a lock-pick set, a couple of electronic devices with spare batteries, compass, field rations, water bottle and a few grenades among other things. His left forearm had an impressive futuristic looking wrist computer tied to it. The computer looked like an over-sized watch with a few buttons and a rectangular screen of 3¡± x 2¡±. He checked and double checked all his gear then shifted most of his cash to secret pockets and other locations. While his waist bag still had a quarter of his cash along with his key-cards, in the event of an unavoidable shakedown he wouldn''t loose all of his liquid wealth unless he was stripped and thoroughly searched. He then wore a set of tinted googles; a breather mask and a balaclava to cover it exposing only his tinted googles and snugly wore a sleek backpack before donning a camouflage patterned overcoat. He checked and double-checked the safety toggle of his 5mm handgun, and holstered it in his underarm firearm holster. He then equipped serrated combat knifes near his thigh and boots securing them firmly in their sheaths. Additionally he secured several specialized crossbow bolts near his thighs; which was surprising since his load-out didn''t really include a crossbow. He drew his pistol and practiced disabling the safety toggle and equipping a silencer a few times and then re-equipped it. He observed the small dingy room with a bed, a footlocker, a shelf, a cupboard and a desk with a full-fledged computer on it. He steeled himself and exhaled deeply. The combination of a filtered breathing mask and a balaclava significantly dampened the sound of his breath. ''Can''t delay my task any longer. From being a trust fun kid who was leisurely finishing Character Creation in his favorite VRMMORPG to transmigration in an unknown world is a significant downgrade if I say so myself. At least I brought along a starter gift.'' He mused as he intensely focused for a couple of moments and an illusory Interface popped up in front of him. STATUS SCREEN: Spoiler: Spoiler
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Greg Race: Human Male
Character Level: 1 Free Karma: 200
Class: Adventurer (Lev 1) (Karma0/30)
Power Sources: Psionics; Martial
Titles: ---
Condition: Healthy; Soul Suit
Character Resources
HP: 121/121 HP Regen: 0.0290 / minute
Stamina: 97/97 Stamina Regen: 2.050 / minute
Psi: 65/65 Psi Regen: 0.2722 / minute
Free Development Resources
Free Attribute Points: 0 Free Talent Points: 0
Free Speciality Points: 0
Attributes
Physique 20.00
Strength 20 Constitution 20
Endurance 20
Finesse 20.00
Control 20 Speed 20
Senses 20
Spirit 20.33
Affinity 13 Willpower 28
Insight 20
Characteristics, Specialties and Traits
Special Prodigy Psionic Savant Graceful Finesse Brutish Physique
Talents and Techniques
Psionics: Psychometabolism Lev. (2/10)
Animalistic Aspect (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Feline Grace (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychokinesis Lev. (1/10)
Psychokinetic Blast (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychoportation Lev. (2/10)
Slide (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Pounce (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Telepathy Lev. (1/10)
Mind Thrust (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: MetaPsionics Lev. (1/10)
Psionic Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze Lev. (2/10)
Steady Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Sudden Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Soul Suit Lev. (3/10)
Reinforced Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Enhanced Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Energized Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Martial: Unarmed Training Lev. (1/10)
Unarmed Mastery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Unarmed Techniques Lev. (1/10)
Heavy Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Combat Training Lev. (1/10)
Throwing (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Superior Conditioning Lev. (1/10)
Vitality (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Acrobatic Mobility Lev. (1/10)
Rush (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Tireless Combatant Lev. (1/10)
Quick Recovery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
General: Survival Lev. (1/10)
Lockpicking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
General: Leadership Lev. (1/10)
Persuation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
''This wouldn''t be my ideal build for a real life transmigration but it will have to do. A pity I already invested the Free Attribute and Talent Points received at Level 1 or I could tweak it a bit more after knowing the transmigration circumstances. Fortunately I didn''t go full glass-canon / overtly equipment dependent / external Power Source or a Fixed Class. While glass-canons are fun to play and adrenaline pumping; death in real life (IRL) is not the same as the in-game penalties.'' ''In the shit-hole I transmigrated to; really good equipment seems like a rarity and I would be crippled in the long run. While an external power source like Technology or magic can be much more powerful and versatile; it also has its drawbacks. In technology I would be dependent on external implants and gadgets; and while magic would heavily restrain myself depending on patron entity selected.'' ''A fixed class would give me more stats, talents and lower karma requirements for techniques and stabler power progression and talent gain; it would also heavily restrain my build and versatility. While the Adventurer class can''t be as good as a Warrior in pure Martial Might or as good as a Psionicist in pure Mental Prowess; I can at least begin a build by handpicking talent trees and optimize them for my intended style. If I had foreknowledge of my transmigration; I would change things; but meh, this will have to do. Lets invest the free karma and get going then.'' ¡°Greg¡± invested 30 Karma in the Adventurer Class. His level increased to 2 and he received 10 Free Attribute Points and 5 Free Talent Points and his attributes increased. He invested another 35 Karma in the Adventurer Class and leveled up to Level 3 and had a total of 20 Free Attribute Points and 10 Free Talent Points. Each Level-up increased his Willpower by 5; Strength, Constitution, Endurance, Speed, Control, Senses and Insight by 4; and Affinity by 3 due to his class, race and starting specialties.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Humans gained +1 to all attributes on a level-up and Adventurer class gained +2 to all attributes on a level-up. During Character Creation for a human, he had a choice of two specialties and one characteristic. These initial choices heavily defined future progression. For his characteristic choice, he had selected ¡°Special Prodigy¡± which granted an extra Specialty Point. Therefore he had three Specialties to select from during Character Creation. His first choice had been ¡°Psionic Savant¡± which gave starting and level-up bonuses to willpower and insight along with all-round improved Psionics. For his second choice, he had chosen ¡°Graceful Finesse¡± which gave starting and level-up bonuses to control, speed and sense along with all-round improved celerity. For his third and last choice, he had chosen ¡°Brutish Physique¡± which gave starting and level-up bonuses to strength, constitution and endurance along with all-round improved fortitude. While there were far more powerful and specialized specialties and characteristics; he had chosen growth type stat-focused specialties for all-round ease and lower equipment dependence. In fact his chosen build was very similar to a possible build of the preset class ¡°Psionic Warrior¡± which was a hybrid of Psionics and Martial Combat; he had simply sacrificed quite a bit of predetermined, but rigid power progression and went for the adventurer class for including Talents which reduced his equipment dependency even further. This didn''t mean that Preset Classes lacked flexibility. In fact the same preset class would have a very different playstyle depending on which attributes, talents, techniques and specialties were chosen. A warrior could be anything from a stealthy ranged sniper to a in-your-face berserker brute. Still it didn''t mean that at low level he could go without equipment with his custom Adventurer build. That would just ensure a quick death. Until he could get the basics of his build rolling; Greg had to rely on firearms, grenades, armors and other combat equipment/utilities. For the 20 Free attribute points he had gained from his two level-up; he had invested 2 points each in all stats except willpower and affinity. The remaining 6 attribute points was invested in willpower and no points were invested in affinity. ''Willpower is the primary attribute and Insight is the secondary attribute governing most Psionics so they should be my top priority. But I cannot ignore the attributes under Physique or Finesse either. For an optimum martial melee combatant all the attributes under Physique and Finesse should ideally be in a 1:1 ratio. I will increase my innate stats in that ratio and it will keep a nice margin for buffs and other bonuses. Affinity is absolutely useless for me as I have no magic. A pity the human race and Adventurer class level-bonuses are automatically increasing it by 3 every level-up.'' ''Worst comes to worse, the lowest attribute should not be less than 70% of the highest attribute among the attributes under Physique and Finesse; or I would have very glaring weaknesses. I would be too swift; but my body could not sustain it if my Finesse is much higher than his Physique. On the other hand with a Physique much higher than my Finesse; I would be strong and sturdy but like a turtle unable to react quickly to combat situations.'' thought Greg as he distributed his attributes. As for his talents; since he didn''t have many of his core techniques he had to use equipment as his crutch for the time being. Therefore he invested another 4 Talent points in Martial:Combat Training to get the skills for Ranged Weapons, Melee Weapons, Powered Weapons and Light Armor so that he could use equipment at the initial stages more effectively. He then invested 4 Talent Points in General:Survival to get the Techniques Hacking, Stealth, Trapping and Perception; because without these techniques exploring the unknown caves for his tasks would be near suicide. The 2 remaining Talent Points was invested in Psionics:Souls Suit, which was his core Talent Tree of his build. He had invested 65 karma in his class and had 135 karma remaining. He could invest them in his class for another level-up but that would leave his techniques very weak. Level-ups gave attribute and talent points; but the techniques under each attribute required karma to increase its level. He could improve his Attributes, Talents and Techniques through training; but it would take far too long to do so and eh had to go complete his tasks and contribute to his home faction ¡°Sentinel Station Shelter¡± or he would be kicked out to fend for himself with very little cash. Therefore Greg invested the remaining Karma in Techniques which he thought would be immediately use before closing his status screen. STATUS SCREEN: Spoiler: Spoiler
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Greg Race: Human Male
Character Level: 3 Free Karma: 3
Class: Adventurer (Lev 3) (Karma 65/125)
Power Sources: Psionics; Martial
Titles: ---
Condition: Healthy; Soul Suit
Character Resources
HP: 199/199 HP Regen: 0.0453 / minute
Stamina: 159/159 Stamina Regen: 3.1646 / minute
Psi: 121/121 Psi Regen: 0.4298 / minute
Free Development Resources
Free Attribute Points: 0 Free Talent Points: 0
Free Speciality Points: 0
Attributes
Physique 30.00
Strength 30 Constitution 30
Endurance 30
Finesse 30.00
Control 30 Speed 30
Senses 30
Spirit 31.00
Affinity 19 Willpower 44
Insight 30
Characteristics, Specialties and Traits
Special Prodigy Psionic Savant Graceful Finesse Brutish Physique
Talents and Techniques
Psionics: Psychometabolism Lev. (2/10)
Animalistic Aspect (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Feline Grace (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychokinesis Lev. (1/10)
Psychokinetic Blast (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychoportation Lev. (2/10)
Slide (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Pounce (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Telepathy Lev. (1/10)
Mind Thrust (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: MetaPsionics Lev. (1/10)
Psionic Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze Lev. (2/10)
Steady Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Sudden Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Soul Suit Lev. (5/10)
Reinforced Suit (Lev 2/10) (Karma 33/99) Enhanced Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Energized Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Vigourous Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Regenerating Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Martial: Unarmed Training Lev. (1/10)
Unarmed Mastery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Unarmed Techniques Lev. (1/10)
Heavy Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Combat Training Lev. (5/10)
Throwing (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Ranged Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66)
Powered Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Melee Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66)
Light Armor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Superior Conditioning Lev. (1/10)
Vitality (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Acrobatic Mobility Lev. (1/10)
Rush (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Tireless Combatant Lev. (1/10)
Quick Recovery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
General: Survival Lev. (5/10)
Lockpicking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Hacking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Stealth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Trapping (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Perception (Lev 2/10) (Karma 11/33)
General: Leadership Lev. (1/10)
Persuation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Chapter 002 Greg felt a rush of knowledge and increased familiarity with his equipment and abilities as he invested the Points and karma; but he easily adjusted to it after a few minutes. He rechecked his pending tasks on his wrist computer, switched off the lights, exited and locked his room and walked towards an elevator passing several other locked doors not unlike his own. He could see multiple cameras in the corridor for ensuring security. He waited for the elevator and headed to the top floor which lead to exit where he needed to complete his pending tasks. ''Good thing I chatted with everyone. I received 200 Karma and an auxiliary task. This 200 Karma without combat is very valuable at this stage of my development.'' mused Greg. Greg took the elevator to the top floor and exited into a large hall with a plethora of cameras, unmanned turrets and robotic sentry bots patrolling the area. He took the nearest right corridor and was soon facing heavy duty industrial solid metal doors. To his right through high strength translucent glass he saw a guy in full riot gear with an assault rifle slinged to his torso. The guy in riot gear was watching an array of camera feeds with intense focus. ¡°Hey Malcolm, can you open the doors? I need to go and explore the caves for my task.¡± said Greg. Malcolm grunted and shot a look towards Greg. He then drawled to no one in particular. ¡°You heard the new blood. Open the gates.¡± Malcolm then turned towards Greg and addressed him with a chuckle. ¡°Be careful out there Greg. If you get infected with something; our decontamination protocols will literally make mince meat out of you.¡± There was a grinding noise as the industrial solid metal doors slid open. Greg quickly walked through and passed into the ¡°decontamination¡± chamber which just an empty area with dozens of turrets and cameras. He even suspected that this kill zone could be flooded with poison gas from one of the vents in case of unauthorized access. He gingerly passed through the chamber to meet with another set of industrial solid metal doors which opened promptly. He passed through and the metal doors and went through a corridor and reached a cavern system where a single building was visible as the door of Sentinel Station Shelter closed behind him. It had gray stone walls, translucent glass windows and surprisingly its lights were still in working condition. He could make out the figure of an old man rummaging around in the building. The old man was wearing some kind of spotted green leather jacket and had a slight hunchback. He sensed something and looked up. Despite his balaclava and tinted glasses, the old man apparently recognized Greg and acknowledged him with a gesture. Greg entered the building and greeted the old man. ¡°What you doing Old Man?¡± ¡°Just scavenging, newbie. Don''t bother searching for anything in this building. I wiped the upper floors clean.¡± replied the old man. ¡°Jonas, the boss man sent me to reclaim the outposts up north west. They say you are a veteran explorer of the cave. What should I look out for?¡± inquired Greg. ¡°That is correct. There are lot of dangers out here. But north you will only meet feral hounds and maybe psi beetles. Feral hounds are easy enough to deal with alone. But if they mob you; they can be danger. The hounds get more aggressive if they have companions. But a Molotov cocktail or even a flare can come in very handy. These mutts are deathly afraid of fire and will scatter at the sight of fire.¡± ¡°A single psi-beetle can use some psionics, but with a little care even a newbie can deal with it. But as more and more psi beetles gather; each psi beetle can display stronger and more varied psionic attacks. So even a hardened veteran will be in a danger if he faces six psi beetles at a go. My advice for a newbie like you? If you meet more than two psi-beetles, run like hell.¡± warned Jonas. ¡°Thanks for the warning old man.¡± Greg thanked him and was about to leave when he heard Old Jonas speak. ¡°Say newbie, interested in getting an SMG? I scavenged one in working condition?¡± ¡°Yeah sure if it is doable by me; a spare firearm can always help out in a pinch? What do you need me to do Old Jonas?¡± replied Greg. ¡°Nothing too difficult. Wile scavenging near the outposts, I dropped my watch. It is nothing valuable but an old relic I like to keep. Deal?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I will see what I can do old man, but no promises. If I come across it; I will return it in exchange for the SMG. See you later, old geezer.¡± said Greg as he fiddled with his wrist-computer for a bit. ''A second auxiliary task. I hope these ¡°side quests¡± give me karma.'' thought Greg as he explored around the lone building in the cavern. Most of the tunnels leading out of the cavern were blocked. There had been a major earthquake recently and similar and Sentinel Station Shelter had been sort-of isolated as many tunnels had been collapsed. Only three exits were unblocked. The south-west exit to Sentinel Station Shelter. The south east tunnel which leaded to the hopper caves. And his goal was to the north-west; the outposts he had to reclaim. Greg got ready to explore the tunnels. Greg focused for a couple of seconds and his Iris turned golden green while his pupil became vertical slits. If he removed his tinted glasses; then his eyes would resemble that of a cat. This was the one of the effects of the Psionic Power Animalistic Aspect (Psychometabolism). Soon in the dark unlit caves appeared as clear as day to him. The colors shifted hues and his dynamic vision increased significantly. He took a few seconds to get used to the changes and activated his second Psionic Power of the Psychometabolism talent tree Feline Grace. His skin shifted its hue from a sickly pale white towards a golden yellow tint. Dark spots, like a leopard''s spots, appeared on his skin. He checked his status screen and saw that his Speed, Control and Senses attributes was boosted by 6. Done with prebuffing, he equipped a silencer on his 5mm handgun wielding it in his right hand; readied his taser in his left hand for ease of access and proceeded cautiously. Psionic Powers of the Psychometabolism talent tree primarily dealt with changing and augmenting one''s body. The Animalistic Aspect psionic power could temporarily change his body to imitate aspects of an animal at the cost of Psi points. At Technique Level 1; he could only imitate one aspect on one animal at a time. The Psionic Power Feline Grace gave a straight boost to his Finesse attributes (Speed, Control and Senses) making him quicker, more perceptive and react faster. ''Animalistic Aspect allowed me to skimp on the night vision googles while Feline Grace gave me a nice boost to my Finesse. Feline Grace won''t be too effective at higher levels; but for now it is a godly buff. Animalistic Aspect is very versatile and will be useful throughout. I should level this technique up when I have some spare Karma; but for now lets focus on the task.'' thought Greg. Greg was moving stealthily ahead, and after a few minutes he observed a feral hound in the distance. The hound had brownish fur and was sniffing the small holes near the tunnel sides. It was the approximate size of a golden retriever, but looked much meaner. Greg estimated that the distance between them was over 20 meters, well beyond the effective range of his handgun. Greg cautiously proceeded until he was around 10 meters away from the lone feral hound. He then focused his breath, took aim and shot at the hound with the silenced pistol eh was wielding. The bullet missed it''s mark and barely grazed it''s cheek. The hound gave a mean yelp and looked towards the source of the shot. He found a semi-crouched humanoid and rushed toward it growling. Greg attempted another couple of shots, but he missed the moving hound. Seeing the hound quickly approaching him; he switched on the safety and holstered his pistol. The feral hound approached him and bit his lower thigh a little above his knee. He registered a dull sensation and quickly tasered the feral hound near its spine. There was a crackling sound as the feral hound gave a loud yelp and was stunned. Greg then removed one of the crossbow bolts fastened near his thigh and stabbed the feral hound near its shoulder. He then holstered his taser and started punching and kicking the stunned feral hound. The feral hound dropped to the ground and Greg stomped its neck a couple of times until he heard a sick squelching sound. Confirming that he had gained 70 Karma (and the hound was dead), he carefully removed a large vial in his left hand and a serrated combat knife in his right hand. He removed the protruding crossbow bolt (which eh had stabbed in the feral hound) and noticed whitish putrefied flesh. He used the serrated combat knife to scoop up the putrefied whitish flesh and stored it in his ampule. Securing the putrefied flesh sample carefully. His heightened senses noticed growling coming from ahead. He looked up and around a dozen meters ahead of him he noticed a trio of feral hounds rushing towards him. He quickly sheathed his combat knife and readied his taser; preparing for another fight. COMBAT LOG: Spoiler: Spoiler You grazed the feral hound with silenced 5mm pistol for 1 damage. 24 * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 1 physical damage Feral hound struck you with bite for 0 damage. 43 * 0.98(Physical Res of Soul Suit) ¨C 38(Physical Damage Reduction of Soul Suit) ¨C 6(Physique damage reduction) = 0 physical damage You struck the feral hound with a taser for 18 damage and stunned it. 18 electrical damage You struck the feral hound with an improvised weapon for 21 damage (23(strength attack) + 4(improvised weapon)) * 1.2(melee weapon mastery) * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 9 physical damage Your improvised weapon penetrated armor and resistances and dealt 12 biological damage. Total damage = 9 + 12 = 21 You struck the feral hound with an unarmed strike for 32 damage. (24(strength attack) + 12(unarmed training talent bonus) + 17(Soul Suit unarmed damage bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 32 physical damage You struck the feral hound with an unarmed strike for 29 damage. (24(strength attack) + 15(unarmed training talent bonus) + 11(Soul Suit unarmed damage bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 29 physical damage You struck the feral hound with an unarmed strike for 36 damage. (29(strength attack) + 13(unarmed training talent bonus) + 15(Soul Suit unarmed damage bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 36 physical damage You critically struck the feral hound with an unarmed strike for 64 damage. (27(strength attack) + 14(unarmed training talent bonus) + 16(Soul Suit unarmed damage bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 1.5(critical strike) * 0.9(physical resistance) ¨C 15(natural armor) - 5(Physique damage reduction) = 64 physical damage Feral Hound dies. You gained 70 karma. Chapter 003 Greg focused for a couple of seconds as a fiery flickering orb manifested in his right palm. He then willed the fiery orb to collide with the nearest feral hounds who were barely a meter away from him. The fiery orb collided with a feral hound''s waist as it tackled him. The brownish fur on the hound''s back alighted and immediately there were yelps of pain and panic from all the three hounds. He had used the Psionic Power Psychokinetic Blast under the talent Psionics: Psychokinesis with fire energy. The Psychokinesis talent tree primarily dealt with the manipulation of energy. Psychokinetic Blast was a simple power which blasted a single target with a bolt of energy. At his talent level he could only choose among one of fire energy, cold energy, electric energy and force energy (physical). He had remembered Old Jonas''s advice about how the feral hounds would panic in the presence of fire and utilized ti to avoid getting mobbed. The unlit feral hounds ran away from him as the yelped in panic. The unlucky feral feral hound whose waist fur was burning collided with Greg making him feel a mild pain. He didn''t miss this opening as he smashed its neck with his right elbow. The burning feral hound dropped like a sack of potatoes and Greg used his taser to further disable it. While the other two hounds fled in panic, he took the opportunity to stomp the stunned hounds head and neck a few times. After gaining Karma for the kill, Greg holstered his taser and held his 5mm handgun with both hands and took aim. In the few seconds that took him to kill a single feral hound; the other two feral hounds had recovered from panic and were charging towards him with renewed vengeance. He fired off two shots with his handgun, one of which was a clean hit to a hound''s torso while the other shot was a miss. He baited one of the hounds with his exposed left fore arm and hit the other hound was struck with the heel of the pistol. The pistol heel hit was lucky and hit the hound in it''s beady eye; making it disoriented and howl in pain. Meanwhile, the last undamaged feral hound firmly bit his left forearm and his arm felt bruised. Greg shoved the muzzle of his handgun into the hound''s ear and fired a shot at point blank range. There was a squelching sound like a water melon being smashed and the feral hound died after a couple of seconds. Greg used the same tactic and performed an execution style head-shot to the last disoriented feral hound and killed it. He then noticed that the silencer of his 5mm handgun and gore on it. COMBAT LOG: Spoiler: Spoiler You struck Feral Hound A with Psychokinetic Blast for 46 damage and made it panic. 36 * 1.3(vulnerability) = 46 fire damage Feral Hound A struck you with tackle for 8 damage 45 * 1.2(Pack Hunting) * 0.98(SS Phy. Res.) - 38(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 6(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 8 physical damage You critically struck Feral Hound A with unarmed strike for 57 damage (26(Str. Atk.) + 11(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 15(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 1.5(critical) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) - 15(Nat. Arm.) - 5(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 57 physical damage You struck Feral Hound A with a taser for 15 damage and stunned it. 15 electrical damage You struck Feral Hound A with unarmed strike for 30 damage (24(Str. Atk.) + 13(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 14(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) - 15(Nat. Arm.) - 5(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 30 physical damage You critically struck Feral Hound A with unarmed strike for 64 damage (28(Str. Atk.) + 11(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 18(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.1(unarmed mastery) * 1.5(critical) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) - 15(Nat. Arm.) - 5(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 64 physical damage Feral hound A dies. You gained 70 Karma You struck Feral Hound B with silenced 5mm pistol for 22 damage 48 * 0.9(Phy. Res.) - 15(Nat. Arm.) - 5(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 22 damage You missed Feral Hound B. You critically struck Feral Hound B with improvised weapon for 26 damage and disoriented it. (23(Str. Atk.) + 7(Improvised Weapon)) * 1.2(melee mastery) * 1.5(critical) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) - 15(Nat. Arm.) - 5(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 26 physical damage Feral Hound C struck you with bite for 10 damage 51 * 1.1(Pack Hunting) * 0.98(SS Phy. Res.) - 38(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 6(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 10 physical damage You critically struck Feral Hound C''s weak spot with silenced 5mm pistol for 210 damageIf you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. 52 * 1.5(critical) * 3(fatal weakness) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) = 210 physical damage Feral hound C dies. You gained 70 Karma You critically struck Feral Hound B''s weak spot with silenced 5mm pistol for 198 damage 49 * 1.5(critical) * 3(fatal weakness) * 0.9(Phy. Res.) = 198 physical damage Feral Hound B dies. You gained 70 Karma ''Guess I have to clean the silencer.'' thought Greg. He switched on the safety, disconnected the silencer and holstered his handgun while storing the silencer in his backpack pocket. He then unsheathed his combat knife and started butchering the Hounds for loot. At least he tried to anyway. He was not exactly an expert butcher and he made a mess while trying to harvest pelts from the corpses. He gave up on harvesting the pelts and cut away the haunches of the feral hounds. While the pelt would be better than the haunches value:weight wise; eh lacked the expertise to harvest it and had to make do with the rough chunks of meat. While harvesting the third corpse, all the grime and guts made his combat knife slip and hit the abdomen of the corpse. From the feedback, it felt like a chunk of metal. Curious as to what was in the corpse''s abdomen, he slit open its guts. After rummaging through he guts, gores and semi digested yuck that spilled over; he finally found the obstruction. It looked like a mechanical wrist watch without its strap. Wiping the watch the best he could on the dead doggy''s fur; he pocket it. ''My backpack is full with fresh doggy rumps. I think this is the watch Old Jonas wanted in exchange for the scavenged SMG. I already collected the putrefied tissue sample for the other auxiliary task. Let me go back sell the loot and turn in the ¡°side quests¡± for some possible karma and I will be back to explore these tunnels.'' decided Greg. He returned through the tunnels and after several minutes found Jonas still tinkering around the abandoned building''s ground floor. He hollered him and received a wave acknowledging him. He went inside the building and addressed the old man while giving him the still-dirty mechanical wrist watch. ¡°Old Jonas; I found your watch.¡± Old Jonas received the watch wiped it on his pants and a wrinkled smile broke on his face. He looked like he treasured the antique a lot. ¡°Where did you find ti Greg?¡± ¡°In the stomach of a feral hound.¡± ¡°No wonder I couldn''t find it. So do you want the SMG? Or a psionic headband I just found. Select either one.¡± said Old Jonas with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Whats a Psionic headband, old geezer?¡± Old Jonas rummaged around a backpack near his feet and removed a frayed bandanna from it. Greg carefully observed it and found it looking like a regular bandanna expect for the funky coin sized disk attached to it. The disk was made of what looked like resin with a finely wound copper coil in an elliptical pattern. There were miniature crystalline gemstones near the ends of the coil. The resin also had what looked like aluminum shavings in it. It looked pretty hippy. ¡°I can see that you use some sort of Psionics to augment yourself. This headband is a standard accessory for many psionic users. It makes your psionics more efficient; allowing you to squeeze out more psionic powers before mental fatigue hits you. It also boosts certain psionic schools.¡± ''Well my psionics outside of pre-buffing is pretty lackluster at this stage. While the headband will be more useful to em alter on when I have a higher PSI Points (PP) pool; but for now an SMG with burst fire is much more helpful.'' thought Greg. ¡°I will take the SMG for now old man; I am still a rookie regarding Psionics and a SMG will be more helpful in the immediate future.¡± replied Greg. Old Jonas handed him a worn out SMG with an approving nod and got back to rummaging a barrel in the building. Taking the hunt; Greg left the building towards the heavy sealed metal door of ¡°Sentinel Station Shelter¡±. He addressed the intercom like speaker. ¡°Open the gates Malcolm. Its Greg the newbie.¡± ¡°Wait what happened to your skin. Whats with the dark patches all over your arms? Is it some sort of infection.¡± he heard Malcolm''s voice through the speaker. ''I completely forgot to dismiss the buffs. No wonder Old Jonas offered me the fancy looking headband.'' thought Greg. He focused for a few seconds and dismissed Animalistic Aspect and Feline Grace. He skin returned to a relatively normal hue as he addressed the intercom. ¡°It is just a side-effect of a psionic power to make me react quicker Malcolm. Not an infection or anything.¡± ¡°Huh. I thought Psionics was about messing with people''s minds. Well come on in then.¡± said Malcolm''s voice as the heavy industrial doors slid open. Greg entered the ¡°decontamination¡± kill zone as he heard a few beeps and a dull hum. Apparently everything was in order as the inner set of doors opened and he got access to Sentinel Station Shelter. He acknowledged Malcolm with a nod and headed towards the elevator. He took the elevator to the Agronomy level. He navigated to a large office where a red head woman with a breather mask was dissecting the corpse of a Boar with macabre focus on an operating table. ¡°Hey Quinton, I bought that putrefied tissue sample you asked for.¡± said Greg. The woman named Quinton stopped her dissection; removed her bloody gloves and gestured Greg to hand over the tissue sample. Greg complied and handed over the ampule with the requested sample and the remaining specialized crossbow bolts to her. She dumped the crossbow bolts in a nearby container and observed the whitish putrefied flesh sample. Satisfied she nodded. ¡°Acceptable. Now I give you 2 choices for your payment. You can either take 50 Sentinel Credits as agreed previously; or I can teach you certain tricks which will help your Psychokinesis Psionics.¡± Greg thought for a moment and inquired: ¡°Can I choose to learn the Psychokinesis tricks later? Right now I really need to practice and grasp my Psionics before learning new stuff.¡± ¡°You can. If you change your mind and prefer the Sentinel Credits just meet me later.¡± ¡°Sure Quinton. See you later.¡± replied Greg with a curt nod and left. On the same floor; he navigated to the animal pens section where a big muscled man named Bret managed multiple fenced animal pens. Most of the animal pens had a small hyperactive rodent like creature known as a Hopper. Near the hopped pens there were many large freezers which held majority of the meat supply of Sentinel Station Shelter. Bret noticed and acknowledged him and went back to fiddling with his wrist-computer. Greg removed his backpack and placed it before Bret. ¡°Big Bret; how much will you pay for these fresh hound haunches?¡± Big Bret took a look at the pieces of meat with skin and fur still attached and replied sternly. ¡°5 credits for the whole lot. And don''t try bargaining. It is more than fair for these haphazardly butcher pieces of meat and you know it.¡± ¡°Fine then.¡± replied Greg curtly. He then dumped the hound haunches in a nearby empty bucket; received a 5 Credit note and took the elevator to his room on the Private Quarters floor. He then checked his status screen and was pleasantly surprised to see more than 1000 Free Karma. ''I got 280 Karma for killing the four feral hounds. This means the 2 ¡°side quests¡± from Quinton and Old Jonas gave me around 900 Karma. Nice! Now to upgrade myself before proceeding with further exploration.'' thought Greg Chapter 004 He invested 255 Karma in his Class to level-up to level 6 (3 level-ups) gaining 30 free attribute points; 15 free talent points and 1 potential point along with fixed stat increases (5*3 = 15 willpower; 4*3 =12 to all other stats except affinity; 3*3 = 9 to affinity). The potential point could be ignored for now as he needed a talent tree at level 10 before it was of any use. He invested 9 free attribute points in willpower; 0 free attribute points in affinity and 3 attribute points in all other attributes. For the talent points; he first invested 4 talent points in Psionics: Metapsionics. Metapsionics changed the way psionic powers were manifested allowing faster, easier and (eventually) more power / varied psionic effects with the same powers. He choose Practiced Focus, Psionic Manifestation, Practiced Manifestation and Natural Psion as the Techniques under this talent tree. These choices were all passive talents which helped in the focus and manifestation of Psionic powers in combat. He invested 3 talent points in Psionics: Psychometabolism to be talent level 5 in this talent trees. In Psychometabolism, he choose the powers Simian Might, Unending Vigor and Augmentation. Simian Might was the Physique version of the Feline Grace power, giving a flat boost to the Physique attributes while draining Psi Points. Unending Vigor was a nifty power which could restore stamina by consuming Psi Points; and could be very helpful in prolonged battle. Augmentation boosted all the attributes under Strength and Finesse based on his Willpower and Insight. It was a sustain which reduced Maximum Psi capacity while it was active; but didn''t constantly drain Psi Points like Feline grace. Also the most important thing was this stat boosting self-buff increased its effect with Willpower and Insight (unlike Feline Grace and Simian Might). Therefore this power was a core psionic power which would be useful throughout. While the initial boost at his current willpower, insight and technique/talent levels was lower than Feline Grace/Simian Might; it would quickly overtake them in its utility with several talent levels and increasing attributes. If he had any gripe with Augmentation; it was that this power scaled on his base willpwoer and insight (i.e. using equipment/buff that modified willpower / insight would not change the effects of this pwoer) disabling a lot of potential synergies which would give stupidly high attribute buffs. But then again; this feature of scaling on base attributes (if there was any scaling at all) was a common feature of almsot every buff type technique which directly icnreased attributes. He invested another 4 talent points in Psionics: Psychokinesis and selected the talents Psychokinetic Wall, Psychokinetic Shield, Force Resonance and Absorption Shield. Psychokinetic Wall erected a wall of energy (fire, cold, electric or force) and had different effects depending on energy type manifested ( fire = damage and burning; cold = damage and freezing/slowing; electric = damage and stunning/shocking; force = knock-back/no passage etc. ). Psychokinetic Shield erected a hovering barrier for a limtied duration which had different effects depending on the energy type manifested. ( fire = burns melee attackers; cold = condenses a shield of frozen water vapor; force = chance to deflect projectiles; electric = deflects certain energy damage types and shocks attackers etc. ). Without heavy investment, it wasn''t worth much; but this was a prerequisite he required so he took it anyways. Force Resonance was a sustain that did additional distortion damage whenever the user made a successful attack in exchange for draining psi each hit. Initially it worked only with unarmed attacks; but at higher levels worked with other attack types such as melee, ranged etc. The damage wasn''t very high and it was expensive if the Psi cost was taken into account (at lower levels with a low willpower and limited psi pool). But it was one of the earliest ways to access distortion damage with his talent trees. Distortion Damage was a special type of physical damage which ignored most armor and resistances. This made it a very good tool to quickly deal with turtle types with very good armor protection. Unarmed attacks, by their nature had a low base damage and had difficulty dealing with heavily armored foes and this power which gave an option of dealing Distortion damage was one of the ways to make up this weakness. Absorption Shield was also very significant for this build. It would give a flat damage reduction (based on willpower and insight) and convert part of the damage resisted to Psi points. At technique level 1 it only reduced physical damage; but higher levels would reduce other forms of damage! This was a very important link in his build and a very useful tool for survivability and Psi point management in battle. He then invested 3 talent points in Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze to gain the powers Wild Growth, Primordial Growth and Hidden Reserves. All the three powers were situationally useful; more so with high willpower and talent levels; but Hidden Reserves was a potential lifesaver. This was an "oh-shit" psionic power and one of the main reasons he had gone for an Adventurer; as this talent tree (Psionic: Aspect of the Ooze) was not available to the Psychic Warrior! Hidden Resources. Hidden Resources would restore a percentage of his Health, Stamina and Psi points. But it had a high cool-down and used Karma. The Karma cost increased with his character level and reduced with his willpower; talent and technique level. The percentage heals increased with talent and technique levels. The remaining single talent point was invested into Unarmed Training to access the Technique Lightning Strikes. Lightning Strikes improved his unarmed attack speed (as long as no armor was worn. Higher technique levels gave this bonus with light armor and eventually medium armor) so it was very useful for most brawler/pugilist. For the remaining 920 ish karma; Greg decided to invest them in his techniques for now. He leveled his Ranged Weapons and Powered Weapons to lev 3 and Light Armor to lev 2. The weapon masteries were raised so that he could wield the smg effectively and the armor mastery was raised because he felt a bit clunky using the cheap tactical vest at lev 1 of the mastery. This took around 110 Karma. Greg adapted to the increased familiarity with his equipment and continued investing karma in his techniques. He increased his Unarmed Mastery to lev 3 at the cost of 66 karma. While he was by no means a pugilism expert now; but he felt much more confident beating the shit out of his foes bare handed. He then invested a total of around 750 Karma total in the Psionic techniques of Reinforced Suit and Energizing Suit to bring them both to lev 5 and almost exhausted his free Karma. Reinforced Suit gave a flat damage reduction for physical damage and a flat physical damage bonus for unarmed attacks (scaling with willpower and insight). More damage reduction was always better. Energized Suit extended a portion of this physical damage resistance to other damage types! Level 5 reduced several other types of damage including fire, cold, electric, corrosion, biological etc. in addition to physical damage. And lev 5 of Energizing Suit had a breakpoint which allowed a portion of damage reduction of the affected types to reduce Damage over Time (DoT) effects! This was of incredible use. If the threshold damage of status effects like burning and bleeding couldn''t exceed a portion of the damage reduction of Soul Suit; he could simply ignore the damaging effects of status effects until they expired / he could cure it. This wouldn''t help with the non-damaging effects of status ailments though; but still it could save him in situations of ''death by a thousand paper cuts''. Of course, the amount of damage reduction for these other damage types was lower than the damage reduction for physical damage. And the damage reduction for DoT was even lower. But still this was an incredible boost to survivability. With proper investment in willpower and technique levels, it would make him near immune to many damaging strikes and effects even at higher levels. ''I think I was abit too enthusiastic for the DoT breakpioint of Energizing Suit. Oh well i guess kill more feral hounds and then use the xp to levelup to atleast level 10 before going for more technique leveling.'' thought Greg as he reviewed his Status Screen. STATUS SCREEN: Spoiler: Spoiler
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Greg Race: Human Male
Character Level: 6 Free Karma: 5
Class: Adventurer (Lev 6) (Karma 320/455)
Power Sources: Psionics; Martial
Titles: ---
Condition: Healthy; Soul Suit
Character Resources
HP: 388/406 HP Regen: 0.0702 / minute
Stamina: 313/321 Stamina Regen: 4.8343 / minute
Psi: 233/268 Psi Regen: 0.6658 / minute
Free Development Resources
Free Attribute Points: 0 Free Talent Points: 0
Free Speciality Points: 0 Free Potential Points: 1
Attributes
Physique 45.00
Strength 45 Constitution 45
Endurance 45
Finesse 45.00
Control 45 Speed 45
Senses 45
Spirit 47.00
Affinity 28 Willpower 68
Insight 45
Characteristics, Specialties and Traits
Special Prodigy Psionic Savant Graceful Finesse Brutish Physique
Talents and Techniques
Psionics: Psychometabolism Lev. (5/10)
Animalistic Aspect (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Feline Grace (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Simian Might (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Unending Vigor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Augmentation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychokinesis Lev. (5/10)
Psychokinetic Blast (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychokinetic Wall (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psychokinetic Shield (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Force Resonance (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Absorbtion Shield (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Psychoportation Lev. (2/10)
Slide (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Pounce (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Telepathy Lev. (1/10)
Mind Thrust (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: MetaPsionics Lev. (5/10)
Psionic Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionic Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Natural Psion (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze Lev. (5/10)
Steady Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Sudden Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Wild Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Primordial Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Hidden Reserves (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Soul Suit Lev. (5/10)
Reinforced Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Enhanced Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Energized Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Vigourous Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Regenerating Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Martial: Unarmed Training Lev. (2/10)
Unarmed Mastery (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Lightning Strikes (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Unarmed Techniques Lev. (1/10)
Heavy Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Combat Training Lev. (5/10)
Throwing (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Ranged Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142)
Powered Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Melee Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66)
Light Armor (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66)
Martial: Superior Conditioning Lev. (1/10)
Vitality (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Acrobatic Mobility Lev. (1/10)
Rush (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Tireless Combatant Lev. (1/10)
Quick Recovery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
General: Survival Lev. (5/10)
Lockpicking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Hacking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Stealth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Trapping (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Perception (Lev 2/10) (Karma 11/33)
General: Leadership Lev. (1/10)
Persuation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Greg then visited the armory to buy some spare 5mm magazines for his newly acquired smg. Each magazine of 30 5mm standard rounds cost him 22 credits. He shed tears of blood as he spent around 50 Sentinel credits (almost one fourth of his liquid wealth) to buy two spare magazines for his 5mm smg and a few loose rounds for his 5mm handgun. While convinient, he also washed and cleaned the silencer of his 5mm handgun in a nearby washroom before heading to the elevator and exiting. He saw that the lights of the abandoned building where Old Jonas was scavenging were no longer lit and Old Jonas was nowhere to be found. He shrugged mentally and approached the tunnels which he was exploring.He manifestedAnimalistic Aspect (Cat''s Vision) and his iris turned green with his pupils turned into slits concealed behind his tinted googles. He gained night vision, increased dynamic vision and the colors in his vision distorted a bit. He manifested Feline Grace feeling nimbler and faster. His skin also took a golden tint and a dark spotted pattern appeared on his skin. He then manifested Simian Might and immediately felt his physique becoming stronger and sturdier. His exposed arms grew a fine, dense layer of golden brown hair which could be mistaken for fur from a distance. He didn''t bother with Augmentation as it didn''t stack with the Feline Grace / Simian Might and the stat buff at its present technique level was much lower. He then turned on the sustain buff Absorbtion Shield and a translucent shimmering aura of roughly 1 inch (~2.5 cm) appeared around him. Looking like a mutant in an enetrgy field; he resumed his exploration of the tunnels leading to the outposts. ''My buffs sure don''t synergize with stealth'' lamented Greg. Chapter 005 Greg observed that 5 feral hounds were greedily scavenging the remains of the four butchered feral hounds. One of the feral hounds seemed to be larger, well-built with a richer reddish tint to its fur. Greg estimated that the bigger feral hound was as high as his waist. It seemingly had priority of choice over the corpses as the other feral hounds didn''t dare to gnaw the same corpse as the bigger feral hound. ''With 68 willpower, lv5 talent Soul Suit and lv5 techniques Reinforced Suit I should be near-immune if not completely immune to the physical attack of these doggies. Maybe I should try close combat for a change? After all I need to practice my pugilism.'' reasoned Greg. There was a mild reddish glow surrounding Greg as he kicked the ground rapidly running towards the feral hounds. This high movement speed for a short duration as the effect of Psionic Pounce. The larger feral hound apparently sensed him as it abandoned its meal and gave a short howl as it charged towards Greg. Rest of the smaller hounds followed behind it. He attempted to intercept the charging feral hound but missed it; causing the alpha feral hound to collide with his tactical vest. Greg was off-balance for a moment; but quickly recovered from it. He then smashed the head of the alpha feral hound with his elbow causing it to stagger. Before the alpha feral hound could recover, he managed to punch its head twice in quick succession. Before he could pummel it once more, the Alpha Feral hound bit on his forearm. While the attack from the alpha feral hound was in no way painful; it did limit his range of action. Using his free arm, he sharply elbowed the base of the hound''s neck and heard a squealing yelp of pain as the hound let go of his forearm. He took the opportunity to kick the alpha feral hound away and it smashed against the tunnel wall and its corpse fell. By now the other four hounds had approached him and started biting his upper leg and torso. He just stood there and exchanged blows with them and soon the four feral hounds were dead. Once the encounter with all the hounds had concluded, he confirmed that he had gained around 500 karma for the four hounds and the feral hound alpha. COMBAT LOG: Spoiler: Spoiler Feral Hound Alpha struck you with tackle for 0 damage (84 * 1.4(Pack Hunting) ¨C 18 (Absorbtion Shield) ¨C 10 (Tactical Vest)) * 0.97(SS Phy. Res.) - 111(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 0 physical damage. You gained 1 Psi as feedback from Absorbtion Shield. You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 98 damage (47(Str. Atk.) + 17(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 98 physical damage You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 88 damage (41(Str. Atk.) + 14(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 88 physical damage You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 79 damage (35(Str. Atk.) + 12(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 79 physical damage Feral Hound Alpha struck you with bite for 0 damage (98 * 1.4(Pack Hunting) ¨C 18 (Absorbtion Shield) ) * 0.97(SS Phy. Res.) - 111(SS Phy. Dmg. Red.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 0 physical damage. You gained 1 Psi as feedback from Absorbtion Shield. You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 83 damage (50(Str. Atk.) + 18(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 1.5(critical) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 83 physical damage You struck Feral Hound Alpha with unarmed strike for 83 damage (37(Str. Atk.) + 14(Unarmed Training Talent Bonus) + 61(SS Unarmed dmg. Bonus)) * 1.3(unarmed mastery) * 0.85(Phy. Res.) - 30(Nat. Arm.) - 10(Physique Dmg. Red.) = 83 physical damage Feral Hound Alpha dies. You gained 230 Karma ''Soul Suit synergizes nicely with Unarmed attacks. Just the unarmed damage bonus from it is obscene. Of course without high willpower and karma investment it wouldn''t be so impressive. But this encounter proves the concept of this build choice. After leveling to level 10, I should focus on pumping karma into Absorbtion Shield and Enhanced Suit to further increase my damage reduction and resistances.'' pondered Greg as he continued exploring. ''A 5mm bullet costs 1 Sentinel Credit roughly. And the loot I can salvage from one feral hound is barely 1 credits. So using guns with my shitty butchering and harvesting skills is a complete money sink. Lets leave the corpses and reserve my backpack space for higher value loot. The money guzzling SMG should only be used for emergencies now and I can finish the doggies with unarmed attacks.'' decided Greg. He made sure that the cartography app on his wrist-computer was mapping his progress as he explored the tunnels. Over the next couple of hours he explored the network of tunnels and came across another three groups of Feral Hounds, all without the larger Alpha Feral hounds. Soon he came across a outpost which he had to clear. He cautiously entered it, and searched it thoroughly. He found some rusted containers; but no loot of value. Their was no electricity in the outpost. He also came across a trapdoor hidden underneath a dirty rug with a still functioning mechanical lock. He unlocked it with his lockpick-set, climbed down the ladder and replaced the trapdoor in its original position. Climbing down, he found himself in a stone tunnel with nonfunctioning lamps and exposed wiring leading onwards. Proceeding forwards for a while, he reached a five-way fork. Three of the routes (and the one which he came through) had non-functional lamps and exposed wiring. So he assumed that they lead to similar outposts. The last tunnel looked like it was uncovered in the recent earthquake. It was much rougher, with no sign of electrical wiring and rubble strewn all around. Greg pondered for a bit and then decisively retreated. ''The doggos here are pretty brutal. Without Soul Suit; a pack of them could rip me apart limb from limb. And this is just the first enemy I face in this shithole. I should explore the upper cave level and map out the outposts first before I return here.'' thought Greg. He explored the series of caverns through uncollapsed tunnels in the upper cave level and found two other outposts while clearing another four groups of feral hounds one of which had a feral hound alpha. Both the outposts had a trapdoor/ladder to small tunnels with electrical wiring and non functional lighting in their vicinity. It looked like all the outposts were connected to each other via these stone tunnels. He approached the last unexplored tunnel to find a somewhat large cavern with an outpost building in it and this one looked larger than the rest he had encountered so far. Through observation, he found that there were light sources inside the building. ''So someone has occupied this outpost. Human opponents are the most dangerous. You never know what kind of equipment he has with him. Better invest my Karma and return here.'' thought Greg. He backtracked to one of the outposts and went into the stone tunnels via a nearby trap door and observed his status screen. All the exploration and feral hound killing and granted him about ~2.5k karma. First he simply invested around 700 karma in his Class Adventurer and leveled-up to level 10; gaining the usual attribute increments, free attribute and talent points and another Potential Point. He distributed the free attribute points in his predetermined ratio (0 in affinity : 3 in willpower : 1 in everything else). As for the free talent points, he first invested 5 talent points into Soul Suit maxing it at level 10 for now. Then he brought Psychoportation, Telepathy and Unarmed Training to talent level 5. Then he raised unarmed Techniques to level 3 and Martial Training to level 8; finishing off all his free talent points. He now had two free Potential Points (one gained at level 5, another gained at level 10). Potential Points could be used with at least one Talent Tree at max level either for Reinforcement or Derivation. Reinforcement made the Talent tree stronger. Derivation, derived a new talent tree. While Derivation might sound tempting; but talent points were limited and having too many talent trees without the talent points to level them up made for a sub-optimal build. There were exceptions with quite-a-few "one point wonder" talent trees, but as a general rule Derivation was better to be avoided. Reinforcement was relatively straightforward. Reinforcement made a talent tree (and consequently all the techniques under it) much stronger. Depth vs. Breadth. Before becoming a legend, a single talent tree could only undergo reinforcement twice. The core talent tree for Greg, which contributed both to defence and offence was Soul Suit. So without hesitation, Greg invested both the free potential points into Soul Suit. He then invested around 1.4k total karma into some of his core techniques and powers bringing Augmentation, Absorbtion Shield and Enhanced Suit and Unarmed Mastery to technique level 5. he spent another 300 karma in total brining Psionic Pounce, Parry, Block and Evasion to level 3 leaving him with barely 70 karma. Psionic Pounce was a nifty mobility psionic power which increased his movement speed greatly for a short time and mobility was always useful. Block, Parry and Evasion were general defensive techniques under Martial: Combat Training. While these techniques didn''t provide direct damage mitigation like Soul Suit and Absorbtion Shield, they would make his martial fighting more efficient. He observed his status screen and noticed that his HP was a little lower than maximum. He focused for a couple of seconds and and a gentle green glow enveloped him. The glow lasted around 10 seconds and faded away. Re-checking his status screen, he found that his HP was full, and he nodded to himself satisfied. He had just used the Psionic power Steady Growth (under the talent tree Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze). This talent regenerated some of his HP over few seconds at the cost of some Psi points. While talent level 1 of Steady Growth wasn''t very impressive; it was more than enough to heal a bit of his HP with his willpower attribute when recovering out of combat. Once he upgraded the technique levels of this technique and appropriate MetaPsionic techniques; he would have a very cost effective and quick source of steady self healing. Sudden Growth, another technique under the Aspect of the Ooze talent tree, would provide a large (comparatively) instant heal to recover from large damage spikes. Both these psionic powers had a very strong scaling based on willpower and were near useless without the same at higher character levels. STATUS SCREEN: Spoiler: Spoiler
STATUS SCREEN
Name: Greg Race: Human Male
Character Level: 10 Free Karma: 74
Class: Adventurer (Lev 10) (Karma 1010/1245)
Power Sources: Psionics; Martial
Titles: ---
Condition: Healthy; Soul Suit; Augmentation; Absorbtion Shield; Animalistic Aspeect
Character Resources
HP: 1150/1150 HP Regen: 0.1541 / minute
Stamina: 903/903 Stamina Regen: 10.1344 / minute
Psi: 491/521 (60 reserved) Psi Regen: 0.9853 / minute
Free Development Resources
Free Attribute Points: 0 Free Talent Points: 0
Free Speciality Points: 0 Free Potential Points: 0
Attributes
Physique 65.00 + 30.00 = 95.00
Strength 65 + 30 = 95 Constitution 65 + 30 = 95
Endurance 65 + 30 = 95
Finesse 65.00 + 29.00 = 94.00
Control 65 + 29 = 94 Speed 65 + 29 = 94
Senses 65 + 29 = 94
Spirit 68.33
Affinity 40 Willpower 100
Insight 65
Characteristics, Specialties and Traits
Special Prodigy Psionic Savant Graceful Finesse Brutish Physique
Talents and Techniques
Psionics: Psychometabolism Lev. (5/10)
Animalistic Aspect (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Feline Grace (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Simian Might (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Unending Vigor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Augmentation (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635)
Psionics: Psychokinesis Lev. (5/10)
Psychokinetic Blast (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychokinetic Wall (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psychokinetic Shield (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Force Resonance (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Absorbtion Shield (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635)
Psionics: Psychoportation Lev. (5/10)
Slide (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psionic Pounce (Lev 3/10) (Karma 99/213)
Psychoportive Door (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Psychoportive Anchor (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Greator Psychoportation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Telepathy Lev. (5/10)
Mind Thrust (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Detect Aura (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Incite Emotion (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Mental Shielding (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Locus of Control (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: MetaPsionics Lev. (5/10)
Psionic Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Focus (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionic Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Practiced Manifestation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Natural Psion (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Aspect of the Ooze Lev. (5/10)
Steady Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Sudden Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Wild Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Primordial Growth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Hidden Reserves (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Psionics: Soul Suit (++) Lev. (10/10)
Reinforced Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Enhanced Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635)
Energized Suit (Lev 5/10) (Karma 390/635) Vigourous Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Regenerating Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Trailblazer Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Enduring Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) Graceful Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Strengthening Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33) One with the Suit (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/33)
Martial: Unarmed Training Lev. (5/10)
Unarmed Mastery (Lev 5/10) (Karma 260/426) Lightning Strikes (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Deflection (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Cheap Shots (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Heightened Relfexes (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Unarmed Techniques Lev. (3/10)
Heavy Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22) Dirty Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Cripppling Strike (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Combat Training Lev. (8/10)
Throwing (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Ranged Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142)
Powered Weapons (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Melee Weapons (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66)
Light Armor (Lev 2/10) (Karma 22/66) Block (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142)
Evasion (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142) Parry (Lev 3/10) (Karma 66/142)
Martial: Superior Conditioning Lev. (1/10)
Vitality (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Acrobatic Mobility Lev. (1/10)
Rush (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
Martial: Tireless Combatant Lev. (1/10)
Quick Recovery (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/22)
General: Survival Lev. (5/10)
Lockpicking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Hacking (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Stealth (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11) Trapping (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Perception (Lev 2/10) (Karma 11/33)
General: Leadership Lev. (1/10)
Persuation (Lev 1/10) (Karma 0/11)
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ''I still need a few more levels to unlock a few more core techniques of my build. Once I complete this scouting/reclaiming outposts task and solidify my position in Sentinel Station Shelter, I should focus on survivability oriented talents and techniques and work towards promoting to a Legend.'' ''While things don''t look too perilous now, I doubt future tasks given by the shelter will be easy. Only by becoming a Legend will I have enough assurance to save my butt. I can worry about the rest later.'' ''Why the fuck was I sent here and what the fuck I should do to return? Is it even possible to return? Would I retain my powers and this status screen if I return? Fuck. I will worry about this shit after becoming a Legend. Return may not be possible even then; so I better get used to this shit.'' grumbled Greg mentally to no one in particular. Greg got up and mentally psyched himself to "gently vacate" the last outpost where he would possibly face lethal combat with a group of well equipped humans.