《Utopia Unchained》 Chap. 1 - Character Creation and Meeting up Alright, this should fix the inconsistent (non)centered tables. (The ratio of tables is hopefully not representative of the rest of the story.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a patch of nothingness far away from the sea of stars around it, a young man plopped into existence together with a blue sphere that floated before him. As he investigated his surroundings, with a beep, the sphere transformed into a green cube for a second and a window appeared in front of the young man.
Welcome to Utopia Unchained
Are you ready to delve into my world to share another interesting new story with me, new soul? Your story.
Let''s go!I''m a wuss, let me out.
The sphere seemed to acknowledge his press of the left button with another green beep and a new message.
Baby Steps - Name yourself
Which name do you want to be known by in this realm? You may specify one or more first names, a last name and/or a default name. (NPCs and The System will use your default name most of the time if it is set)
I am happy with my current names.I want to read that first message again.
"First name: Manni." Beep. "Last name: Marco." Beep. "No default name." The young man now named Manni pressed the left button again.
Getting Started - Choosing your Race
The Bit before you can filter the available races for you, just tell it what you want to look at. Tap the generic avatars to see what you would look like as a member of that race.
Alright! I choose you!Wait, I want to change my name again.
Warning: Customization of your looks is more limited for races closer resembling humans. Your character will always resemble your real appearance before any changes.
Manni focused the Bit. "Show me races fitting in looks for a holy priest or paladin." Beep. Around him, a ring of lifesized avatars appeared. Directly in front of him, a short, stout man with a large white beard was displayed. The avatar gave off a faint white glow and had his hands up in a praying pose. As he examined it closer, the racial information was displayed in a second window.
Templebeards
An exception to the usually more science oriented dwarven races, Templebeards trade the technical ingenuity and creative mind of other dwarven races for strong holy aptitude and resistance against the devilish magic of their archenemies.
Strength focused race: penalties on using magic, safe for holy magic; bonus on physical power usage Exceptionally holy: high affinity with holy magic, mayor devilish and holy resistance, mayor weakness against soul magic Piety or patents: penalties on learning and using all things mechanic
He shook his head slightly as he selected the next avatar in the line with a swipe of his arm. As he focused on the eigth avatar, Manni tilted his head and furrowed his brows as he took in the sight in front of him: A woman. With pale skin, blond hair and a tall, well chiseled build, he noticed the emblematic wings tattoo on her back. Her shirt had, different from the default outfit of the other avatars, an open back that put the tattoo into view as the avatar rotated. "I thought we can''t change gender?" Beep. "Well..." Manni focused on the avatar to bring up the racial information and tapped it experimentally after reading.
Valkyrie
A race not born, but created. Valkyrie are near exclusively female, wandering the world to make contracts with those passing away, upholding or fulfilling their last wish in exchange for power otherwise taken into The Cycle.
Special race: cannot learn holy or devilish magic initially; gain part of the powers your contractors had Part of The Cycle: mayor soul magic resistance, minor weakness against holy and devilish magic Wings of Soul: Using power from your contracts, gain the ability to manifest wings, then strengthen them with more power. Break any Soul Contract and lose your wings forever.
Soul Contract: Approach those passing away and promise to uphold their wishes, taking appropriate power from their souls as payment. As you break a promise, lose the power you took and much more as The Cycle lashes out at you.
As he saw the now male character, he started grinning and then laughing loudly before comfirming his choice. Beep.
Getting Started - Appearance
For your selected race, the following customization is available: -> Starting Hairstyle (realistic) -> Hair Color (limited)
I''m okay now, next part please.On a second thought, let me choose another race.
"Hair Style: neck-long, all of it, keeping the front free by putting them behind the ears." Beep. "Hair Color: white." Dong. This time, the Bit changed into a red X while the avatar stayed the same and, surrounding an angular, clean-shaven face - blond. Pure platinum blond. "Ash-blond?" Dong. "Dirty blond?" Dong. "Blond-brown?" Dong. "Silver?" Dong. "Anything not blond?" Beep. "Why is faint pink alright but not dirty blond!? I''ll have blond then." Manni pierced the confirmation button with his finger. Beep. As he noticed his viewpoint shift, Manni mumbled a series of curses while checking the platinum blond hair he had copied from the avatar. With the next Beep, a plain silver ring appeared above the Bit that had lowered itself to allow viewing and touching the ring comfortably at Mannis height.
Getting Started - Creating your menu item
To give others a better idea of when you are sifting through a menu instead of staring at them inappropriately, please design the item you want to use to open the game menu and attach it to your character.
Requirements for successfull creations: -> the size of the item doesn''t go above what you can cup in one hand -> EITHER touching the item already requires a well visible action -> OR while touching the item, please make a recognizable pose to have it set along the item -> recommended: one hand is free to operate the menu while it is opened
(To continue, successfully open your menu)Let me see that character customization once more.
Warning: This item will always return to where you placed it. Choose carefully.
Manni experimentally imaged the ring taking the form and color of a donut, a cross necklace and then a fork, before sticking the fork into the eye of his clone. Although there was no pain, the narrowed field of view that signaled the fork having been copied into his own eye made him give up on that plan. Pulling the fork out again, he turned it into a white-golden ring and - after a while of thinking, added a few purple engravings. Confirming that the ring had been copied to his own left middle finger, he put his left fist in front of his heart in a salute-like pose and remained for a bit before - Beep.
Getting Started - Approving your menu item
Your menu item and corresponding pose have been recorded, please check wether you can open the game menu consistently.
Alright, all good.I want to change something.
Verifying that he could open the game menu that was currently rather limited in selectable options with a thought and a salute consistently, this window was also dismissed. Beep. This time, a half-opened scroll made from rough paper with wooden knobs and a rope that connected the knobs, alongside a banana appeared. On the inside of the scroll, a white rectangle with "inventory here" filled almost all the paper.
Getting Started - Creating your inventory item
Please repeat the process for your inventory item. This time, you may design the following: -> the shape of the item -> the shape of the item when accessing it -> how items move into and out of your inventory -> if applicable, how your item opens -> where the items will be represented Note: the banana you see is a test item for your effects and won''t be present ingame.
Requirements for your item and effects: -> the size of the item may range from a small pouch to a medium backpack in both states -> the effect durations for taking items will be standardized to 0.5 seconds
(To continue, successfully put the banana in your inventory)I want to test out my menu item some more.
Eyeing the banana, Manni changed the scroll to a more white and smooth paper, while the knobs turned gold and the rope was replaced with a simple leather belt and golden bracket. After attaching the belt to his clone, he released his own scroll and let it roll down with one hand, hanging with the "inventory here" side facing him. Focusing the banana, it shrank and was sucked into the paper. There, the white rectangle was replaced with a small dark one complete with an image of the banana that was situated in one corner.
Getting Started - Approving your inventory item
Your inventory item and corresponding effects have been recorded, please check whether you can easily move the banana in and out of your inventory
(to continue, send the banana into space)I want to make changes.
After he put away the scroll, Manni faced the Bit. "I would like to ask a favor." The Bit shook once, faintly beeped a yellow cube, then imploded. "Well... now-" "No, you CAN''T have the Bit be replaced by a beautiful godess, you pervert, or a little girl for that matter, you sicko. The creators wanted to save on processing power, so be a good boy and shut u - ouch. Raaa - Ouch! Alright, alright, what do you want, blondie?" When he found the source of the tirade, Manni blinked a few times at the puppy-sized, black, fat goat flying slow loops a bit off to his side. "Well, Mr. sheep, I want to meet my friends that are currently also creating their characters here to plan where to start and so on together, would that be possible?" Manni smiled amicably at the goat. "Denied." The goat answered immediately and accelerated to ram him in the gut. Only to explode not even close to his belly. "If you want to file a complaint, I will try to get the creator of Mr. sheep here slapped by one of the other creators." This time, the voice had an artificial singing tone. The corresponding avatar also already floated in front of him, having replaced the exploding goat. "I guess you represent more processing power than sheepie? And I thought no little girls?" Manni eyed the child-sized, metallic wind-up doll. "Yes, shutting him down requires more authority and no, don''t believe all sheepie said. As to your earlier question, yes, you can meet them here, but there is an increasing number of similar requests. How do I recognize them?" "Well, we agreed on stating this to recognize the others as neither told the other what race or even name they wanted to take." Manni straightened himself and recited in a solemn tone. "Rule No. 13 of The List states that nobody that is not part of The List may be told more than Rule No. 13 of The List, be they your real grandma or the adorable and innocent, adopted talking puppy in the game." The wind-up doll blinked audibly before winding the key on her back a few times before resuming her neutral pose. "There are two fitting that description right now. How many people are on that list of yours?" "We are 5 in total, so there should be 2 more." "Since the others already stated that you were chosen to be the summoner, do you want to bring them right now or wait for the other two?" "Let''s wait and take the time to get acquainted with these new bodies, I am fairly sure at least one of the others has a rather nonhuman form." "As you wish, I''ll free this processing power and come back once there are two more that fit your description." The doll dispersed in a cloud of metallic butterflies. 5 minutes later... The reappearing butterflies were overshadowed by the four flashes of light forming a circle together with Manni. The silence caused by everyone looking around in the circle was broken as the hulking humanoid reptile, named "Dad''sal Lizdog" according to the names that had appeared above their heads, scratched his head audibly. "Taking longer than the girls is somewhat embarassing..." "Don''t fret the small details, let''s get to firing guns and blowing up enemies." The scrawny, pale-amaranth humanoid reaching just short of Dad''sals middle, "Sir Gunfrey K.", adjusted his monocle and waved his short cane impatiently. "Oh, I already like the feel of this race." "And it has boni in either fire, ranged combat or money, or you wouldn''t have chosen it." Manni smirked before turning to his right, letting the smirk turn into a bright grin. "So, Jill, didn''t you play as a troll to avoid getting chased around by male zombies last time? Why would you choose a race so close to humans when you can''t customize it?" The shapely, silver-haired Jill sighed. "Feel free to change your race and see if you can resist the urge to scratch your warty behind every 5 minutes, blondie. This race has the perfect kit for what I plan to do, plus, if everything works out, I will have just the right counter measure." She turned to the other girl standing in the circle. "Hey, Sarah, what the flying duck did you search for to get a race like that and what''s it even called?" "Um, miss doll, can you show them my racial info?" The clear voice the lean and quite tall, vibrant orange humanoid anemone used surprised the others.
Landemone
Evolved from plantlike animals, Landemones usually live in tropical climates and have learned to passively aggregate life energy from the surrounding terrain to keep the area directly around them more habitable. Originally not knowing the concept of speech, they communicate telepatically via pictures and feelings.
Magic focused race: bonus on using magic, safe for ice magic; penalties on physical power usage Tropical almost-plant: mayor weakness to ice magic, fire magic resistance you gain is halved, immune to paralytic poisons, minor weakness to other poisons Life Magnet: Where you walk, plants follow. Passively draw life energy from surroundings, feeding the plantlife directly below your feet. (May be toggled off to not inconvenience citizens) Weapons of the past: Your "hair" is lined with lightly paralytic poison capsules, may be controlled to a certain extent and always regrows to the state you first set it.
Telepathy: Not having known speech, you can link up with living beings you touch, sharing pictures and emotions directly.
"Hey, Bits larger sister, how can Sarah even talk?" Jill stared at the helper. "That''ll be clarified soon. I''ll be leaving again, continue as stated in the messages once you are finished exchanging information. You can show your information to others by simply stating or thinking what and to whom to show." The doll dispersed again. "Um, Manni, isn''t a Paladin normal?" Sarah touched the golden ornament made from interwoven wires that circled her head below the wavy, finger-thick appendages forming her hair style. She brought up her game menu and opened the external text document containing her copy of The List.
The List
Be funny and have fun.
Normal is forbidden.
Fulfill your designated role in a roundabout way.
...
"Well, I won''t be a paladin, that would be normal after all. This is part of my plan to con-mrph" "Yeah, yeah, so what''s your race, blondie? Vainian Hairwaver?" Jill had crushed the small glass ball attached to her belt, letting a black stary cloud escape its confines and form a football-sized sphere above her palm. While Manni talked, she materialized her banana by tapping the cloud and made the sphere reform on her belt. Then she threw the banana at Manni while interrupting him. Catching the unexpected banana with his face, Manni peeled it off and threw the reformed banana back before showing the others his racial information. "You can fly later?" Jill sounded a little jealous. "Come on, let''s get going, here''s my info." Gunfrey waved his walking stick again and straightened his sideways-oriented, pointy ears.
Gentleman-Imp
Originally a secret society of the Imp races, very selective marriages and uncommon practices changed them, becoming more purely focused on magic. They do, however, have an aptitude for money and speed, and usually never leave house without their hidden rapiers and polished fencing and bartering skills.
Pure magic race: Generous bonus on using magic; mayor penalties on physical power usage Classy attire: Start with a monocle and rapier-equipped cane; you must always wear a monocle. Selective Forfathers: Your esteemed ancestry grants you inborn proficiency with the blade and gives you the aura of an established merchant. Penalty on speed lifted. Very selective Forfathers: Your most esteemed ancestry leaves you even weaker than most other pure magic races. Wearing more than pelt or light leathers reapplies the speed penalty and leaves you exhausted very quickly. Respect for money: Your immensely esteemed ancestry demands nobel status. "Sir" Title automatically equipped aboth 50 infamy.
Blade-fencing: Whatever path you walk, your trusty, sharp symbol of wealth and stinginess enriches it. Blade-fencing is available without adding any limitations but only usable with a rapier-equipped cane.
"So, your most esteemed Sirness, what''s the K. for?" Jill smirked. "Kforlive. Your turn, T-rex." Gunfrey pointed his cane at Dad''sal. "Hoo, calm." The small smile he gave Gunfrey was wide and showed a row of large, sharp teeth under his dark amber scales. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Mechanizard
Thriving after the discovery of wheels, this reptilian race renamed themselves to show their appreciation for all things mechanical. Who wouldn''t like roller-skating as fast as the prey that so long escaped your muscled arms. As their skill grew, they did however change from hunters to herders to acertain enough food, using gears and steam to power most of their large cattle farms.
Strength focused race: penalties on using magic, safe for golemancy; bonus on physical power usage Need and Solutions: penalty on speed, sizeable bonus on making and using mechanical transportation Predator History: your claws and teeth leave little to imagination on what your favorite food is. Diverse Upbringing: penalties on weapon accuracy, bonus on fine mechanics
Sarah tilted her head. "How exactly are you going to support and heal with penalties in magic? Not normal doesn''t need to be overly difficult, just roundabout. We can switch roles, maybe?" "Ahem, we decided everyone would stick to what they draw. I already have an idea, though, yeah, hopefully it works..." Dad''sal looked down and twiddled his thumbs, his sturdy tail curling towards his front in a wide half-circle. Sarah pouted, but then concentrated on Jill. "Um, how does your race help with controlling enemies? Or do you get some handy abilities?" Jill smirked. "Fear." Dark, intangible tendrils of smoke started coating her upper body while her eyes where overlayed with a red glow. "And I really like the advantages of this race, although I can''t control it yet." The dark veil seperated from her body, forming a humanoid upper body behind and slightly higher than her. Right after that, she closed both her pairs of eyes. "I need to train the eyes first of all, having two sets suddenly really disorients you. I think someday I can use the additional limbs and eyes completely independently though." She flailed her hands, mimicked by the clawed hands behind her, the ghostly arms stretching if needed to not tangle with her normal body.
Symbiotic Specter
Only known to a small society, symbiotic specters formed a lifelong union with a willing and compatible partner. Both gave up their own identity, creating a stronger entity to ensure survival of their faction.
Special race: minor weakness against holy and devilish, mayor weakness against desynthesis magic Fickle facade: Magic you currently are weak against, as well as gashes force your specter side to show. Two pairs of hands: your specter acts as a second body, but can also be damaged as you share life and death. Intangible: your specter side has mayor resistance against physical weapons but a general malus added to your magic resistance
Ghostveil: Your specter side recedes into your physical body, hiding from scrying eyes. Control of your form is disabled for up to 10 minutes after changing.
"So, you''re just the ghost?" Manni surveyed the specter behind Jill, faint temptation in his eyes as his finger went to his own message window. "No, apparently the combination is still known as a symbiotic specter, I''m both at the same time." With her information known too, Gunfrey took the elongated, angular metal casing from the back of his belt. Hitting a button at the end, one side popped outwards, revealing a modernized version of the default inventory scroll. His banana didn''t fly fast before disappearing. While Manni and Jill were quick to follow up with their own bananas, Dad''sal tapped the metal bracelet on his left arm to make it project a holographic screen. Sarah on the other hand made a large leave grow from the wooden branches that snaked and weaved around most of her left forearm as an ornamental bracelet. Their bananas followed quickly. With the last banana vanishing from sight, the messages infront of everyone disappeared, while Jill recovered her specter side and opened her eyes. And then, their invisible footing trembled. Below them, their view of the stars began to distort and fold, causing more tremors. "In the beginning, I came into existence." As the disembodied, androgynous voice finished, the distortion snapped back into normality, leaving a giant, faintly glowing presence in its wake. "For eternities, I simply existed, content with what I was, exploring the distant reaches around me with my mind, communicating with others like me." "But then, after aeons, I grew bored." The Voice shifted to a more female, motherly even, tone. "So I reimagined myself, creating a place for lesser beings to strive and bring new flavor into my existence." The presence expanded and after a while, in its middle a growing planet became visible, accompanied by two tiny stars and another, tinier planetoid. The stars and planetoid rotated around the large planet, the stars always opposite each other, while the planetoid followed halfway between them on the same orbit. "Well, I guess they didn''t lie, that is one damn big planet." Manni stared at the ever expanding planet. Once it finally stopped, the barren surface changed, creating blue oceans, white mountains and other biomes. Slowly, green color spread, swallowing most of the dry land. "I created many different species, fertile soil for interesting things to look at and care for." The voice paused for a bit as the world below them seemed to skip through time, evident by the jumping stars and cloud patterns. "They... the most crafty of my creations, they named me. I liked it and so I took the name for myself. My name is... I am. Utopia." "Time passed, everything falling into place. With the seemingly ever repeating cycle, I finally decided to act once more." All over the large planet, bursts of light flashed in and out of existence. "I reached out to others like me, exchanging willing members of our sentient and random members of our less aware species. I gave every sentient I recieved the ability to communicate in the voice of my name givers, allowing exchange and cohabitation if they so desired." "So that''s how Sarah talking is explained by the devs." Jill glanced at the landemone before listening again. "Now is the third time I act. One of the overseers I created to allow me time focused on just one life proposed an interesting idea. Young souls. Like you. Given a reforming body, what stories would you become capable of telling?" "You will recieve the gift of universal language as well, allowing communication with other sentients so long as they also talk universally. Furthermore, everything, everyone, in my reach, feels and interacts with my power. How do you interpret it?"
Nearly there - Power
No matter how focused on physical power, everything feels my power. What do you feel? -> Mana: an evergrowing, slowly refilling pool I can draw from -> Energy: pressure, used up quickly, but always back after a bit -> Rage: emptiness, filling as I act, emptying as I exert myself -> I feel two of the above (Note: applies a 50% TOTAL reduction to max. capacity and all gains, after other modifiers but before drains)
(Tell me what you feel to continue)I want my banana back.
"Mana, Energy." Manni was the first to finish thinking. ""Mana."" Sarah and Dad''sal answered simultaneously. "Mana, Rage." Gunfrey turned to Jill. "Energy." Jill struck her tongue out at Gunfrey as she noticed his exaggerated, bored expression.
Almost there - Patrons
WARNING: This is a permanent, one-time decision.
As a new soul in Utopias realm, your live will be governed by a patron god or godess. There are three ways to determine who governs you: -> a patron may be appointed randomly -> take a longer questionnaire -> reveale your plan for your own class and take a shorter questionnaire
Note: Not acting according to your answers will displease your deity and has adverse effects on your game experience. (There is, however, a difference between not acting and not being able to act)
Go, dice of fate!Send me the questions.I forge my own destiny.I''ll take a step back for now.
"I want to do the questionnaire, I don''t want a fat god because of my planned class." Sarah pleadingly looked around in the circle. "I vote for either option that''s not random, does anyone disagree?" Dad''sal looked around. "I wanted everyone to do the class description, but I concede or I''ll be in danger of tanking alone while you guys do nothing." Manni raised his hands in defeat. Gunfrey and Jill simply nodded and pressed the buttons they wanted. After they vanished, Sarah and Dad''sal quickly vanished as well, followed by Manni. As they once again all appeared above the planet, their group was facing another one. "Welcome to Utopia, kiddos." The first of the new arrivals, a strapping male with a wavy brown haircut, dark-yellow shirt under a grey jacket and a mask of his own face hanging from his belt, looked at Manni. "I''m Jack. God of Truth, Happiness and Ponies." He pulled out a golden knife with a grey handle and a crystalline pony worked into the blade. "If you want magical, shiny loot, stab this into a killed enemy. I get the soul, you get the richess. Got that?" Manni caught the lobbed knive and attached the sheath next to his inventory scroll.
Congratulations!
The following god has chosen to become your patron:
Jack - God of Deceit, Handsomeness and Death
The sacrificial knive granted to you has the following special properties:
2% more handsome stuff
He blinked at Jack. "Well, I definitely would have wondered about a pony god." Then he made the message visible for everyone to read before closing it. "Aw man, you spoiled it." Jack turned away. "Well, lieing to your own guys isn''t very handy." The hulking steampowered robot next to Jack commented in a slow, defined voice, then handed Dad''sal a modern combat knive engraved with a flexed arm on the blade and a cog as knob. "This will help you make good, strong robots."
Congratulations!
The following god has chosen to become your patron:
Termarni - God of Robots, Muscles and Combat
The sacrificial knive granted to you has the following special properties:
2% more robot in any loot
"Holy gold, that slowpoke. Let''s get this over with. Remember, sacrificing only works when most of the body is intact, with the head being so valuable that it can be sacrificed seperately when the corpse is large enough." The short, red humanoid reptile with leathery wings and a duck''s bill instead of a snout tapped her foot rapidly before pulling out a very plain knife, a gleaming, intricate gold coin connecting it''s grip and blade.
Congratulations!
The following god has chosen to become your patron:
Dracoberta - Godess of Riches, Greed and Wisdom
The sacrificial knive granted to you has the following special properties:
5% more total coins 3% total coins are auto-devoted to Dracoberta
After Jill stopped laughing at the effects of Gunfreys knive, the suit-clad, bespectacled female next to Dracoberta approached her. "We liked your ideas." Static hid her for a second before she whispered into Jills ear from behind. "Oh yes, we so did." Sporting the same facial features as before without the glasses, her once orderly bun had turned into a wild green mane with violet streaks. With her leather-clad hand she pulled out a knive with a pure white, straight and a dark side with an erratic, lime-colored edge from her spiked leather jacket.
Congratulations!
The following god has chosen to become your patron:
Chouti Gui/Anach Iugi - Godess of storage and planning/chaos and mischief
The sacrificial knive granted to you has the following special properties:
1% more packaged drops 1% more random drops
Sarah fidgeted as she looked around. "Um, did I not qualify for any god?" "Oh, you did." Even the sulking Jack gaped at the voice they had heard not long ago. "Hoo." Dracoberta was the first to recover as she fixed the golden chain of the pocketwatch in her vest pocket. "You did well, child." Her eyes twinkled as she nodded at Sarah. "Um, um, ... Thank you." This time, Sarah fidgeted even more.
Congratulations!
Utopia herself has chosen to become your patron:
Utopia - The highest under this heaven, creator of this realm, mother godess
As Utopias follower, simply wish and the sacrifice will be made
3% more powerfull drops
Note: Found or earned sacrifical knives can be sacrificed as well, gaining you most of their power as an upgrade to your bonuses.
"What now?" Gunfrey stabbed at the still gaping Dad''sal with his cane. "Now you select a starting town." Chouti Gui was back in command and tilted her head at Sarah. "The others already talked about their classes, so what teachers will you need to realize yours?" "Um, this is a little embarassing, but I''ll need someone capable of telekinesis and..." "We see, that''s going to be so fun!" Back in black - leather, Anach Iugi was grinning wildly. "Do you wish us to list possible candidates or should we just send you off?" "Oh, I vote for the unknown option." Jill hopped slightly. "Sounds fun." Manni high-fived her. "I guess we can concede that to you clowns." Gunfrey didn''t seem put off by the idea. Dad''sal and Sarah looked at each other, sighed and nodded. "Then here we go-oh!" Anach clapped her hands with a twinkle in her eyes. And then, all the gods disappeared accompanied by the invisible footing they had stood on before, making them fall towards the planet. Just as even Dad''sal got worried about their supersonic trip through the atmosphere, everything went white. "Fresh Scissor Crab Cakes, get them while they''re hot!" "I just looked into his pocket, that''s not illegal, you can''t do that!" "..ers asking for newbie hunting grounds, what''s that supposed to be?" A fresh breeze mixed a salty flavor inbetween the shouts filling the air around the group as they opened their eyes again. While they still narrowed their eyes from the bright flash, Manni was the first to be able to read the several new messages each of them had recieved.
Last Steps - Tutorial 1 - Inventory and Items
Your inventory starts with 9 spaces you can stack anything considered an item into, commonly up to 1, 10 or 100 depending on the item size and weight.
You get 1 new space every 3 levels or, permanently add 1 space by fusing a planefolding item to it.
There are neither an equipment screen, nor minimum levels required to use an item. However, each item you carry on you exerts weight and aura pressure, limiting your movement and more as you wear more than you can handle.
All man-made items, if not maliciously hidden or altered, inform about their qualities and intent as you focus on them close and long enough.
Meanwhile, Gunfrey was already reading the next tutorial windows. As the first to finish by skipping through what they had already learned before they joined the game, he looked around. They had appeared on a plaza situated on the inside of a large gate through which a port could be seen that was otherwise hidden by the towns wall. Most of the edge of the plaza was lined with buildings made from stone and what appeared to be plates of coral in many different colors. The absence of any recognizable wood was quite apparent even in the small ships anchored beyond the gate. Opposite the gate, a large map displayed the town. Long columns of pink crystals with writing next to them filled the board around the map, while the same crystals littered the map. Gunfrey focused one of the crystals.
Heavy Duty Moleluscs
Deep Sea Digging Services, Associate of the Archeologists of Uld Buuks
Waving away the window, he weaved through the crowd moving across the plaza in every direction. He noticed that most of the people walking around were tree-people, the few guard squads he noticed were even made up of only bark-clad men and women. While the lean women didn''t have humanlike curves, their substantially smoother bark and long, flowing leaf-hair still put them in a strong contrast to the rougher, stouter males with spiky leavestyles. Gunfrey didn''t get near the map. Large, scaled arms picked him up, hauling him back to the group. "Let''s at least form a party and add each other before dispersing." Dad''sal placed Gunfrey back in the circle. Gunfrey looked away for a second before coughing and then was back into his usual behaviour. "You saw nothing. Who''s going to lead the party?" Immediately, Manni and Jill pointed at him. ""You."" "Um, I also think you are best suited." "I guess it''s decided." Sarah and Dad''sal chimed in. "What''s your reasons this time? I''m leading 90% of the time, and the other 10% I forced you guys into doing a draw." Gunfrey sighed. "Godess of Wisdom." "Godess of Riches." "You''re, um, the best of us in using money, that really helped." Jill, Manni and Sarah shot his faint hopes down. Dad''sal just silently patted his back. "Bah, Jill, I appoint you as lead strategist. Sarah, you wanna cook again? Dadz, I expect a robot mount soonish, my race is not ment for long physical work." "Sir, yes, sir." "Yes! I''m looking forward to try new stuff." "I''ll see what I can do." They added each other as friends and immediately set up a party, setting experience distribution to favor lower leveled members to ensure relatively even levels among their group. "Manni, do it." Gunfrey started grinning. "Alright, let''s go get our classes!" Manni grinned back and raised his fist in the air. Chap. 2 - The Tank The first class is revealed, it''s Super Healer Priest! Tables are somewhat inconsistent in their behavior...
After searching for their first goals on the towns map, Manni was the first to leave. He didn''t walk very fast though, instead, he strolled through the streets, trying to memorize shops they might need later. The large streets he used were all lined with houses that, at least in the ground floor, contained some kind of shop, service provider or association. Every door, made from plates of coral and sometimes metal instead of wood, was fitted with the same pink crystals as the map, freeing the space on the colorfull signs that hung above many shops up for images of the shops products or emblem. Manni dodged a carriage that was pulled by a hovering, whale-like fish with large stony, brown scales. He surmised the fish to be quite rare, as he had not seen any other carriage that looked as noble or had a similar beast. A while later, he left the larger paved roads, trotting down a side road cobbled with coral debris. After the first crossing, he arrived at his destination.
Palebarks - Skeletons on Demand
Necromancer, Associate of the Undead University, Member of SNoBs
Below the crystal on the door, a small clay plate was attached to a hook. "Back in a bit." Manni sighed after reading the plate and turned around. Only to run into a tree person with charred bark as far as was visible below the black hooded cloak painted with blue, totemic markings. "I don''t teach how to fight undead, priest." Verry Palebark, as was visible above his head at such short range, sounded annoyed and tried to brush past Manni. "Wait, wait. I''m here to forge my own destiny." At these words, Palebark stopped with his key in hand. "Oh? One of the new souls, eh? And you want to learn necromancy?" He turned around; his green eyes, common for the race though slightly surprising in his charred face, focused Manni. "Actually, I wanted to ask a few questions. Undead raised by necromancy are temporary, correct? If possible, I would like to learn something more permanent." "Intriguing. Yes, yes. you can only keep around undead for a while, but they are cheap and easily mass produced, why would you need something more permanent?" "I plan to provide the frontline for our team. In the case of no available corpses, normal undead would fail to do that job as I can raise none." "So you want to relay your job and hide in the backline? Well, your motives may be questionable, but I can help you." "Ah, I do plan to stand my ground, but oh well. Could you tell me more? Also, if I recall correctly, you won''t just teach me for free." "Hou? Come in, come in. And yes, since you won''t join our ranks based on your wording, as agreed, I will provide you with a simple task to get at least some value out of teaching you." Palebark finally finished unlocking the door and waved at Manni to follow him inside. The shop was very clean, rows of baskets full of dry bones lined the shelves around the room. Only a very faint putrid smell was noticable. "The skill I can teach you is called Undead Construction. It may be best described as a mix of golemancy and necromancy. You build an undead, keeping it active by sacrificing a part of your maximum power capacity as long as it is reanimated. There are, however, a few key differences that set it apart from creating a bone or flesh golem. Mainly, undead, while capable of their own basic movement if built correctly, always require direct control. Golems on the other hand can be programmed to stand guard while you sleep, with the downside that direct control is next to impossible. Instead, they use predetermined routines that you can run such as attack that or carry this." Palebark coughed and took a swig out of a bottle from below the counter he was now situated behind. A strong alcoholic odor overshadowed the already faint smell of death. "Now, if you still consider Undead Construction what you need, I may have a deal for you, depending on your answer to this question: What do you plan to use for your undead?" Manni had already started grinning while Palebark explained Undead Construction. "That should be exactly what I need. As to your question, well, I have a very specific plan, so if possible, I will specialize on bones, parts of exoskeletons and horns, claws etc. No flesh or complete corpses." "Good, good. As a member of the Society of Noble Bones and having always been fascinated by the skeletons you mammals possess, I applaude your intentions." He coughed again. "Here''s your deal: I will teach you Undead Construction right now. That is, if you listen to my advice." "Seems reasonable." "Good. I will teach you Undead Construction with the Graveyard subskill. If you want to start with another subskill, I can list them for you, but the deal will be gone. Graveyard enables you to store away the bones you currently don''t use, for example here in the city. You can also set it up to call out a specific constellation of bones you created before. This skill will keep you a respectable member of the society since necromancers running around the city with their undead is generally not very well recieved." He coughed again, though noticably quieter this time. "The second part of my advice is that you learn desynthesis magic, starting with the flesh-eating cloud. Desynthesis acts like acid against what the spell specifies, it''s generally used against barriers, as a counterspell or, in your case, as a slow but clean way of acquiring bones." "The members of SNoBs all use it to create their undead, although they will probably not use it to kill, as that takes too long and it ruins any other uses the flesh would have had, such as food. They do however clean the bones they want to use with it, making us so much more respectable than those necromancers using smelling, moaning corpses that litter everything with parts of their rotting limbs." Manni bowed to the necromancer. "I am most gratefull for your advice and gladly vow to follow it. If you want, I will leave right now to first acquire desynthesis magic to show my willingness." Palebark chuckled. "No need, no need. If you turn out untrustworthy, I will show you just what desynthesis magic can do without killing." Then he started searching around in a drawer behind him. Mannis already pale skin turned a shade closer to white before he reassured himself that he planned to follow such advantageous advice anyways. Palebark turned around again and placed a small mammal skull, a pair of crab scissors and a bunch of crab legs on the table. All of them were clean of any flesh or organs. Then he raised his hand in front of Mannis face and closed his eyes.
Warning: Verry Palebark is trying to teach you Undead Construction - Graveyard
Accepting this skill as provided will take you on the path to a custom class. You will be locked out of acquiring a normal class and will have to fill the 4 other skill slots currently available to you to acquire your class.
Undead Construction - Magic Base Skill
Undead Construction allows the creation of permanent undead minions that require a fixed portion of your maximum power capacity while active. Upkeep cost depends on quality and size of the used body parts. Selected starting subskill: -> Graveyard: Gain access to a personal space you can store a certain amount of body parts with.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Energy to power this skill.I do not accept.
Manni accepted and selected Mana to power the skill before curiously looking at the bones and limbs on the counter. "This will be your first experience with Undead Construction. Place your hand towards the parts here and activate your magic." Manni did as he was told and noticed a very faint drain to his mana as a dark-blue colored, almost transparent sphere encased the space in front of his hands containing the parts. "Good, now that it is active, take two bones and connect the balls." Manni eyed Palebark for a second, but then grabbed two of the crab legs. As he touched them, blue balls appeared at the ends that had been attached to the crabs body. Touching the balls together, the legs connected, leaving a small gap with a single blue ball. Elated, Manni took the skull and another leg, this time trying to stick the leg ontop of the skull instead of onto the blue ball at its backside. Once again, the parts combined, however, the gap was larger and the blue ball penetrated only slightly into the skull. "You see that. Without the keystone for creating extra joints, it is best to connect bones only at the parts where they have been connected before, as in, ball to ball." "Keystone?" That word wasn''t in any feature description made available by the developers. "Skills get stronger as you use them. As they reach a new level of proficiency, you can choose how to improve them, for example, a basic, power-infused slash may give you the option to improve the damage or lower the power consumption. Every few levels, there may be more choices, such as adding a rending effect to the slash that leaves the wounds bleeding. Those are known as keystones." "I see, alright. What happens if I cut or carve bones?" "I can''t recommend cutting bones without being able to create new joints, as for carving, most bones don''t take well to important parts of their structure being shaved off, so that''s also not advisable unless you have special bones. Oh, I think there is also a keystone that allows shaping bones somewhat while preserving their stability." "One last advice." Palebark pointed at the crab legs. "You can separate limbs like those into their parts without much worry." Manni pulled at one of the legs, ripping off the upper segment. While the lower part had a blue ball at its new end, the single segment now had blue balls at both ends. He reattached them and noted the small gap that wasn''t there before. "As your proficiency rises, you will be able to attach them closer at will. Now try creating a simple undead and put it into your graveyard. Imagine the inside of your current workspace, the sphere around the limbs where you have control, to vanish through a portal or door." Manni started ripping off the rest of the upper leg segments. Then, he held the skull upright, attaching all the legs to the large blue ball at its back. He finalized the boney calamari by adding two long arms made from the upper leg segments and crab scissors. Then, he imagined a black hole at the side of the workspace and his creation vanished.
You have placed a set of limbs in your Graveyard.
You currently have (0/2) saved sets. Do you wish to save this set? If you select no, you won''t be able to directly pull out this set of limbs.
(State a name for the set to save it)No.
"Skullamari." Manni decided to save the construct. "Skullamari." He imagined a black hole again, and the boney squid dropped out of a black portal above the counter. "Good, good. Now try reviving it, same procedure as before, but now you need to fill the construct with power." Manni reactivated his workspace around the skullamari and imagined a blue flow from his hands to the skull. He noticed a short, harsh drain, then his workspace vanished and the skullamari wobbled onto its legs. When it finally stood upright, Manni commanded it to walk along the counter. He was surprised by the speed it showed but figured that it was just unbalanced and thus required so long to get up. He focused the skull after it stopped.
"Skullamari"
A small undead construct created by Manni Marco.
Durability: 10/10Upkeep cost: 5 mana capacity
After he sucked it back into his graveyard, he felt a short, liberating feeling. "So what do you want me to do for payment?" "Get that desynthesis magic and go to the beach. I was requested to make a lawn mowing construct, so get me three complete scissor crab corpses, just suck them into your graveyard as a whole. They are plant eaters that use the long blades on their arms to cut kelp and run to the relative safety of the beach with it." "Alright. Ah, depending on what happens later, I might need to relearn Undead Construction. Can I bring you three more crabs?" "Hou, you''re getting me interested. If you bring me one corpse of the Coraltles that have a colony on a nearby island and show me what you want to do, I''ll do so. The Coraltles often travel across the same beach to feed on the shrubbery. The normal ones are around 1 meter long and high, looking like a mountain of coral with four limbs and a head that can retract into it." Manni noted down his shopping list mentally. Then he bid goodbye to Palebark. After an uneventfull trip back to the plaza and map, he made his way to the desynthesis expert located in some kind of mages association. The building was one of the largest in its vicinity, having both width and height to accomodate many laboratories and offices. Passing the town guards flanking the entrance, he focused the crystal at the door to not walk into the wrong building.
Magic Research Society - Acacia Branch
Mages of all respectable schools at your service
Manni marched to the map of the building to his right, then up the stairs situated across the entrance. On the first floor, he knocked at one of the doors. "Come in." Behind the door, a tree woman with birch-colored bark and almost white leaves styled into a high ponytail was signing a few documents. Manni noted her name, "Birta Whitebark", and her missing left forearm, only a stump remained below her elbow. Noticing his glance as she looked up, she made a short effort to hide the arm in her cloak. "That happens when you touch a barrier without worries, thinking it''s just a barrier. What can I do for you, young man?" "I am forging my own destiny, I already learned Undead Construction from Palebarks under the condition that I learn desynthesis, what can i do to repay you for teaching me?" While her face had gone from interest over faint disgust to sadness, she sighed and gave Manni a small smile. "I guess Palebark is one of the people here that were hit heavier than myself. His reputation is also very good for a necromancer. With him as your teacher, I''ll of course help you." She scribbled down a quick note, folded it and gave it to Manni. "Take that to Sindras Synthesis Lab on the first basement floor and carry the item you recieve back here. That gives me time to finish these documents and I will teach you about desynthesis when you return." After thanking Birta, Manni made his way into the basement. Knocking onto a large metal door after he arrived, Manni noticed a few dents in the door that jutted out into the corridor. After getting permission, Manni opened the door and stared into the large room for a while. Apart from a compartment in one corner and stairs leading down in another, the room was empty. A large formation of unknown letters and geometric forms formed a total of 6 intricate circles, one inbetween the others, etched into the floor and filled with a pale blue, gem-like metal. Manni had time to notice a small window in the floor in the middle of the formation and dents and scorchmarks all over the walls before the door of the compartment opened, as thick as the door he just openend, it moved silently and seemingly effortlessly as well. "What can I do for you, stranger? You don''t look like you can afford the use of the largest synthesis circle in Acacias large vicinity." This time, it wasn''t a tree person that had appeared. "Sindra Ara" was a large horned female, her muscular arms showing because of her sleeveless robe. While her curves weren''t very defined, the small scars and burnmarks all over her visible skin, including her face, gave her a weathered, experienced look. Noticing Manni staring at her, she coughed, her cow-like tail swishing behind her. "Hey, wake up. What, never seen a cowkin without oversized udders?" Shaking his head, Manni walked up to her and handed her the note. "Sorry, I didn''t think a mage would be quite as muscular. I am forging my own destiny and was sent to get this from you in exchange for learning desynthesis." "Hah, a baby soul. As a synthesist with such a large circle, I can''t allow myself to just ask for my customers to come and pull their wares into the circle once I''m ready. Let''s see here... Alright, I''ll be right back." She walked back into the compartment and returned with a small vase. "Tell her with so much control over how she cuts up things she better act a little less impulsively. Desynthesizing and getting something repairable out of it is hella difficult." "Will do. Thanks. On another note, could you tell me what synthesis is about? I can roughly guess, but I''d like to hear it from you. Also, what would it take for me to learn it from you?" "Heh. No need to feel bad about a little staring. Synthesis fuses things. Simply put, you specify one target in the middle, and depending on your mastery and specialization, you can add properties or parts of the sacrifices in the outer circles to it. As for learning it... If you were anything but a new soul I''d reject you. Decide now and once you are back from Birtas I''ll have a fitting task for you." "Is it possible, with a reasonable amount of training, to coat bones with metal or give them metal properties?" "A necromancer, eh? Sounds interesting,... yes, that will work, only question is whether you can still reanimate what you get. If you want to try that, I''d most likely go for property gathering instead of material fusion." "Thanks, I''d like for you to teach me. I''ll be back soon to get the work from you." Manni gave her a quick bow and returned to the desynthesis experts office. Handing the vase to Birta, Manni voiced the warning for her that Sindra Ara had given him. "Yes, yes, I know, thanks for getting that, it''s super important to one of my "dear" customers, so I had to have it fixed, but there''s no need for me handle it more than necessary. I take it you want the flesh-eating cloud?" After Mannis confirmation, she raised her hand at him.
Birta Whitebark is trying to teach you Desynthesis - Flesh-eating Cloud
This will occupy one of your 4 currently free skill slots.
Desynthesis - Magic Base School
Desynthesis is a magic school focused on breaking down all manner of things. Despite this, its attack strength is quite weak. Mayor usage is found in breaking down barriers, arriving projectiles or weapons and specific parts, for example only stone, leaving behind pure metal. Control is strongest close to you, aggregating the spells until nothing can hit or hinder you. Not even the ground if you are adventurous. Selected starting subskill: -> Flesh-eating Cloud: Summon a cloud moveable by will that eats away all flesh, living or dead.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Energy to power this skill.I do not accept.
Manni again selected Mana as power source, said goodbye and returned to Sindra Ara. She had a somewhat mischievous grin as he approached her. "Well, well. You didn''t chicken out. Tell you what, I didn''t find a really good job, so you''re going to clean up the tunnel to my security chamber below the circle. I finished an extra large, self-heating cauldron yesterday for the guardhouse. The first try went wrong and one of the fiery horns they gave me to draw properties from actually flew straight into the tunnel, leaving it completely sooty. Clean it well, I''ll even throw in the personal circle you''ll want to start with." Manni sighed, walked over to the cleaning tools already leaning next to the stairs to the tunnel. As he noticed the large patch of soot directly above the tunnel entrance, he summoned Skullamari. Taking one of the old rags, he made Skullamari cut it in half with its scissors before wrapping the rags around the scissors. After he drenched Skullamari in the bucket of hot water, he took up a mop and got to work on the walls while ordering Skullamari to run around in the tunnel with its arms on the ground. An hour, one of his five starter breads and 10% of his magical water skin and another thirty minutes later, his white starter shirt was dark grey and Skullamari had dark smudges all over his skull. However, the tunnel up to the door that sepparated it from the security chamber and even the wall above the tunnel entrance were now clean of soot. Showing the results to Sindra Ara, she gave him a nod and a pat on the shoulder that almost made him kneel before walking back into the compartment to get a large scroll made from fine papyrus. She gave the scroll to him and raised her hand at him without explanations.
Sindra Ara is trying to teach you Synthesis - Property Gathering
This will occupy one of your 3 currently free skill slots.
Synthesis - Magic Base Skill
Synthesis allows fusing two or more things. Depending on your specialisation, properties or parts will be transferred from the sacrifices to the target. There is a chance to fail and cause unwanted side effects if the fused things are too strong for the User or if too many transfers are combined. Sacrifices are usually destroyed completely. Selected starting subskill: -> Property Gathering: Instead of physical parts, transfer qualities and properties to combine in your target.
Warning: You are currently holding a personal synthesis circle. Accepting this skill now will bind the circle to your skill, providing the following additional properties: -> Summon your personal synthesis circle whenever you want -> Your personal synthesis circle will evolve to accomodate the path you choose -> -10% proficiency gains to provide the circle with energy to evolve
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Energy to power this skill.I do not accept.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Manni again selected mana to power the skill. The scroll in his hand had disappeared, but with a thought, it returned to his hand. After finding a clean spot on the floor, he unrolled it and saw that currently only two circles with rather simple looking runes and markings where painted on it. "Try fusing this with your shirt, can''t have you walk out here like that." Sindra Ara handed him a small white stone. "Think about its color, that''s one of the easiest properties to transfer." Doing as he was told, Manni placed his shirt in the larger circle and the stone in the other one. Although the shirt was still wet from at least washing out the soot, the papyrus didn''t seem to be affected by that. As he activated Synthesis while thinking about the white of the stone, he again felt the now familiar strain of his mana vanishing while the stone dispersed into particles that got absorbed into his shirt, leaving it still wet, but now pristine white, as the stone had been. "Well, there you go. Feel free to drop by if you are unsure what properties to transfer to get a result you want. I promise to only let you clean a little patch of wall for every answer." "Thanks. Maybe I''ll drop by if I feel the craving for more soot and grime." Manni dematerialized his synthesis circle again and left the basement floor. Only to almost run into Sarah as he made a turn on the stairs up. "Um, sorry, I''m- Oh hey Manni, what are you doing here?" Sarah panicked before noticing that she had actually met one of her friends. "I had a small change of plans after an opportunity, now I''ll go out to hunt and fulfill one of the jobs I have to take." "Uh, nice. I had to make some soup earlier to get the cooking skill, now I''m running the errand for my telekinesis teacher. Do you want a bowl? I saved some for all four of you." Manni accepted the soup with delight as Sarah had soon been established as the cook in any game the group had played that featured a cooking skill. After he thanked Sarah, he returned to the plaza they had arrived at and left the town towards the port before he turned left. He had verified the coraltle island Palebark spoke of on the map. Arriving on the beach, Manni took out one of his more interesting starter items.
Newbie Weapon Token
Granted to new souls, this token can change a single time, becoming a weapon of your choice. The weapon will be made from the most basic material available for that weapon type.
Weight: 0Aura: 2
At first, Manni tried requesting a weapon fit for a desynthesis mage, but got no reaction, so he had to settle for a standard magic weapon with focus on range. He reasoned that a range bonus should help in keeping his Flesh-eating Cloud effective despite not being directly around him, as was apparently best for desynthesis. The token started to glow and elongated into a staff uniformly made from a smooth, stonelike coral that was lightweight enough to be comfortable even for physically weak people. It ended in a simple sphere made from the same material.
Newbie Staff of Range
A long newbie staff made from smoothed bubblestone coral. Channeling magic through it allows for greater control at range.
Range-optimized: Spells behave as if cast 2 meters closer to you while in the direction of your staff. Newbie Weapon: Cannot deal damage apart from special effects, indestructible, cannot be stolen.
Weight: 1Durability: unlimitedAura: 2
Grabbing the staff, Manni waved it around experimentally. The light weight seemed unable to give it much force, but unlimited durability still made for other options. He looked around the beach, normal sand mixed with different coral colors where pieces of them had washed ashore. Around a hundred meters away, he spotted his first prey, a dark-grey crab with the body size of a large pizza. It was munching on kelp, its two arms with long, scythe-like blades resting on the ground, while two small arms close to its mouth, complete with more crab-like, chubby claws, steadily shoveled kelp into its mouth. As he approached, the crab raised its bladed arms in a threatening gesture while hugging the rest of its meal to its body with its other arms. Manni walked a bit closer but kept his distance as he didn''t know how fast the crab was. Then, he raised his staff and cast Flesh-eating Cloud for the first time. A white cloud of particles without any special features coalesced at the tip of his staff before flowing towards the crab that was already stalking backwards. As the cloud reached the crab, its form already noticably lighter than when it had started, Manni noticed an increase in the strain it put on his mana. And the crab scurried away with a high-pitched but quiet shriek. As Manni tried following it, his concentration broke and the cloud dispersed. "Different games, different ways to cast and maintain magic..." He mumbled under his breath before looking for another crab. After finding one, he was about to release the cloud again, but then stopped and tip-toed closer as well as possible, the staff with its bottom end pointed forward in both hands. As the crab stopped eating and started turning around, he sprinted towards its escape path on a course that would make him collide with the fleeing crab. A bit away from the crab, he speared the sand below it with his staff and pole-vaulted over it. The running start gave him enough momentum to flip the crab on its back despite keeping his distance from the bladed arms. With his staff directly on the belly of the crab, he cast Flesh-eating cloud again and waited until the strain went back to normal, signaling the complete deconstruction of all that was flesh in its radius. After summoning a workspace around the crab and sucking it into his Graveyard as a whole, he sat down and took out the inventory-magically still hot soup to eat it while enjoying the sun on the predator-free beach. After the soup and a bit of relaxing, Manni tried flipping another crab and failed spectacularly, almost spearing himself on its blades. The next crab flip failed as well, albeit not as dangerously. Finally, he was able to flip and vaporize a second and then a third crab. He didn''t stop there, however, and acquired a fourth and fifth crab. Each time, he took a while to rest and let his mana recover. Resting was a skill listed nowhere that was implemented to cater towards solo players according to the developer commentary he had seen. Relaxing and sitting down allowed to fill up mana and health a bit more quickly. Standing up again, Manni strolled around the beach until he found a coraltle. One meter long, with a spiky mountain of coral for a shell and a head, small tail and four feet clad in small scales, it was slowly making its way from the shrubbery across the beach towards the sea. As it noticed Manni, it receded into its shell. So Manni skipped next to it and, with some huffing and puffing and using his long staff as a lever, flipped the turtle on its back as well before reducing it to its bones. This time, the skeleton didn''t stay as one since it wasn''t connected normally and Manni had to take the bones into his Graveyard one by one. Until he encountered a problem. The shell of the coraltle encountered resistance as it was halfway gone and popped out again. Experimentally, Manni removed one of the crab corpses and managed to cram the shell in despite some minor resistance at the end. Checking the Graveyard window, he noticed a faint red outline running around its edges alongside the new entries for coraltle bones. He waved the window away again and tied the crab corpse to his staff with some of its earlier meal, the kelp. Marching towards Palebarks shop despite the strange gazes his scissor crab-flag garnered him in the city, Manni arrived back at the necromancers door. Without knocking, he entered and almost ran over a well-dressed tree person. "How rude, where are your manners?" The red-barked, red-leaved, red-clad male, "Reddel Redwood", scrutinized his simple shirt, pants and leather sandals. "Ah, sorry, sorry, my bad, I was just happy to fulfill my deal with Mr. Palebark here." Manni maneuvered his staff and scissor crab through the shop. Palebark returned from a door behind the counter and noticed the situation. "Ah, Sir Redwood, that lads crab is a part of the lawn mower you requested." "Hou? Well, in sight of our connection in the fight against unruly appendages of evil greenery, I will forget your rudeness just now. Remember though, not all nobility is as understanding as I am. You better learn some manners." "Yes, Sir Redwood." Manni bowed to hide his grin. After Sir Redwood left, Palebark looked over the crab on his counter. "Well, looks like it worked out. Come into my workshop so we can get the other crabs and the coraltle. I''m wondering though, are two crabs and a small bone squid really enough to fill your Graveyard?" "Ah, no, I got two crabs for my own use." "Oh, so you''re going to show me what you have planned?" "Yes." They walked into the back where a large room with more shelves full of bones and shells was situated. While Manni pulled out his crabs and coraltle bones, Palebark started coughing and returned to the front for a gulp from his bottle. Casting his own workspace around Mannis complete haul, Palebark easily verified all of the bones. "Well done, actually, I didn''t think you would return today already, Sir Redwood was just here to request another two blades to be attached to his mowing monstrosity. So if you want, I will buy just the blades of one of your crabs." "You can have them if you let me pick a few of the coraltle bones if I need them." "Deal. I just wanted those to restock my stocks, plus, they don''t actually belong to me yet." "Well then, here I go." Manni separated his crabs completely, then started building a framework of crab leg segments. With the frame done, he attached the two carapace backs to the front and back of the frame. "Ohoh. That might just work." Palebark gazed at his workspace. With the holes left after attaching the carapace plates filled with crab leg segments as well as possible, Manni created a second, smaller form that connected the two bone blades he had left after giving the rest to Palebark back to back, forming a rough axe- or two-pronged spear-head. Walking into his own workspace, Manni lifted his first creation and slipped into the crab harness. Only to find it to be quite a bit heavier than he imagined. So he took the leg bones of the coraltle and attached bones that ran down the outsides of his legs,held by small bone rings around his knees and ankles, ending in a few of the coraltles large, round nails for stabilisation. While he was at that, he also added the other leg bones to the outsides of his arms in the same fashion. finally, he took his newbie staff and attached the bladed head to its end. However, because there was no joint to add the head to, the result was not satisfying him and he added a few of the coraltles ribs to snake around the staff and finally attach to the bone on his arm. As a finishing touch, he added the skull of the coraltle to his left arm bones, creating a small buckler. Before he could succumb to the weight now placed on him, he breathed in deep, expanding his workspace all around him, and quickly animated his construct.
Notice: You have created a new skill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will replace your skill Undead Construction. Note: Access to your Graveyard will be lost, but its contents will be kept for when you reacquire the Graveyard subskill.
New skill - Evolution of Undead Construction - Magic Skill
By wearing your Undead Construct as armor and wielding it as a weapon, you are able to combine your hopefully more precise strikes with the advantages of undead minions. With the right constructions, your new, not quite living armor can provide you with all manner of advantages, from increasing your strength by following your movements to granting you flight with wings made of limbs and bone. -> It''s either me or her: Wearing armor made of thicker materials than light leather or pelt disables this skill. -> Foundations required: If attaching a construct to a piece of equipment, this equipment must be on you for the construct to work.
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Unliving Armory." Manni waved away the confirmation window to check his new Undead Construction.
Unnamed Unliving Armor
The first of its kind, an Undead Construct meant to be worn, not controlled from afar. Created by Manni Marco. Running along the limbs of its wearer, it supports and strengthens them.
Supportive Structure: +10 Weight Limit Limb Support: + 20 strength
Weight: 20Sharpness: 2Sturdiness: 2-5Durability: 50/50Upkeep cost: 45 mana capacity
"Most impressive. Do you require the Undead Construction skill again?" Palebark spoke as he saw Manni turn towards him. "Yes please. I had to give up Undead Construction to get what I wanted and I most certainly don''t want to run around the city clad in crab and bones." Palebark granted Manni Undead Construction - Graveyard once more, leaving him with a single free skill slot to fill until his class would be done. After saving the unliving armor as his second limb set after Skullamari, he named it "Crabknight Crabk. 1" and then just layed down for a while to recover his empty mana. For his last skill, Manni went back to the starting plaza to get directions and headed off into another part of town. It was afternoon now, as they had appeared closely after morning. The visible star was currently the redder one, meaning there would be a moon once evening came. Hurrying along, Manni arrived at his destination, a medium-sized house with a large, horned skull instead of a sign above the door.
Galba Tor - Dracobeard Beasthunters
Extermination of large landstriders and diving winged beasts
He walked through the open door and looked around, noting the skulls, weapons and shields decorating the walls. As he turned towards the counter, he was met with a pair of intense, golden eyes with slit pupils. "Welcome to Galba Tor, what can I do for you, - pipsqueak." The dwarf the eyes belonged to was almost as wide as high. Because of his bulging muscles that were adorned by a stripe of green scales running from the backs of his hands along the outsides of his arms. His dark green hair matched the scales surrounding his face, albeit a few shades darker. As he coughed, a faint glimmer could be seen behind sharp teeth. "From your description, I assume that your group is well versed in using lances and polearms?" "Correct. Hunting beasts like we do is best done with a long piercing weapon to keep distance to their teeth and claws. We don''t take any apprentice though, so leave before you disturb paying customers with your attire." The dwarf was already striding around the counter. "Hoo, wait a second. I am forging my own destiny and wanted to know what I need to do to learn using polearms from you." The dwarf stopped and turned away before glancing at him with. "Tch, damn new blood. If I could I would still decline, but I don''t dare, so all that''s left is making you leave fast. Since you are interested in polearms, you should already have one, so show me and I''ll teach you a fitting subskill for it. And if you just came here without one I swear to the old gods and my patron I''ll make your payment hell." Manni walked into the middle of the room, took up his staff and concentrated to expand his workspace far enough for summoning his crab armor. "Well what are y-" The dwarf stared at Mannis unliving armor that had just appeared. "Hmm, actually somewhat capable for a pipsqueak. I guess since those blades are straight enough, you can still use that as a lance but also as a halbert,... eh, tell you what, I will teach you either Jousting and Heavy Pierce or Polearms and Heavy Swing, your weapon fits both albeit Jousting is stretching it a little." "Since I plan to substitute or add a horn later, I''d like to learn Jousting." Manni smiled at "Turmo Galba", now visible above the head of his soon-to-be teacher. And got hit in the gut, making him break down and cough for a while. Although it didn''t do much damage, the punch felt like it should have pierced straight through. "Don''t get friendly just because you impressed me a little bit, new blood." Then Turmo raised his hand at him. "Jousting it is, now get lost."
Turmo Galba is trying to teach you Jousting - Heavy Pierce
This will occupy your last free skill slot.
Jousting - Physical Base Skill
Jousting is the art of using a long pointy weapon and making it find its target. No damsels to win here! Selected starting subskill: -> Heavy Pierce: focus power into a thrust to burst away resistance and penetrate enemy armor deeper.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Energy to power this skill.I do not accept.
Manni selected Energy as a power source for this skill and then got another message box.
Custom Class created!
Forging your own destiny, you have acquired or created 5 skills. A new class has been created from your skill set.
Note: You have just filled your last free skill slot. While learning or creating a new skill is possible for anyone, having a free skill slot makes this process infinitely easier.
Note: For using a custom class, you will recieve one new free skill slot every 5 levels.
Note: If you are offered a secret class, you may instead choose to advance your custom class in rarity, adding free skill slots and opportunities to set strength-weakness pairs and/or strengths.
Your custom class will have the following benefits:
Limb Synthesizer: +10% Synthesis success rate when fusing onto limbs Creator Bonus: Unliving Armor you wear yourself +2 sturdiness and if applicable +1 sharpness Doubly Experienced: +10% durability for all your Undead Constructs Limb Desynthesizer: Storing limbs in your Graveyard doesn''t require anything You may set 1 pair of strengths and weaknesses
(Please name your class to accept)I decline. (Usable once, resets your skills completely)
"Healer Priest of Buffing Ponies." Dong. The Sound of the Bit denying his non-blond hair made Manni cringe. "Super Healer Priest?" Beep. Manni breathed out in relieve at not having to go through another round of being denied. "Add cost reduction for non-fleshy constructs and cost increase for fleshy constructs."
Class modified:
-> Undead Constructs without fleshy parts are 10% cheaper to maintain -> Undead Constructs with fleshy parts are 10% more expensive to maintain
Yup.Nope, let me try again.
"Alright." Manni unsummoned his crab armor, noting that it merely required a thought now. After storing away his staff, he turned towards the door without another word. And thanked the dwarf hunter - from sufficiently far outside the building - before he left to find his friends. On his way, he took a look at his current stats.
Basics
First NameLast NameDefault Name
ManniMarco
ClassLevelExperience
Super Healer Priest125%
Status
HealthSatietyHealth/s
110/110Sated0,45
ManaEnergy
50/5050/50
Mana/sEnergy/s
0,2755
Attributes
StrengthEnduranceConstitution
12119
CapacityGraspAgility
10118
Weight LimitAura Limit
2321
Chap. 3 - The Mage Presenting: The mage. It''s an elemental commando. Maybe a little more normal than what the others are/will be.
After searching for their first goals on the towns map, Gunfrey was the second to leave. Making use of his cane to discretely wack at anyone in front of him, he shoved his way through the streets of Acacia. Even so, his weak physique left him heaving and clutching onto his cane as he arrived at his destination. He leaned on a nearby wall to catch his breath, then headed past the town guards with a glance at the door crystal.
Magic Research Society - Acacia Branch
Mages of all respectable schools at your service
He stayed on the ground floor after consulting the map of the building and knocked on a door with a flame symbol. "Come in." The voice from behind the door sounded like the crackling of a warm hearth fire. The expert fire mage of Acacias Magic Research Society turned out to be quite literally a fire-mage. Behind her stone desk sat a female-shaped fire elemental, "Pyr Icebane". Wearing a burning robe with golden flame patterns and a set of jewelry with blue-glowing gems, her own flames seemed quite shallow in comparison, as if she would soon fade away. "Uh, I planned to just ask for a trade and be gone again, but are you alright?" "Hm hm hmm, no worries child. I may look a little weak, but I can still roast plenty of your size if I take these off." She traced one of her blue gems with a fiery finger. "Well if you say so. I am forging my own destiny. I want fire magic. What do you want?" Gunfrey slowly found back to his grumpy self. "Oh I see, hm hm, I already wondered why one of your kind would ever wear clothes like that." She got up to take a closer look at Gunfrey. "So that''s what one of the new souls feels like... As you wish. I don''t need much, so just take this to Gumo Barte on the second floor for a checkup." She took off her right bracelet and a faint heat wave assaulted Gunfrey. "I trust that as a follower of Dracoberta you are wise enough to not want to run off with it." "How-" "I know that coin on your knife. And your personality fits her too, hm hm hmm." Gunfrey took the bracelet - very - carefully from her hands. Then he made his way to the map and up the stairs, stopping at the start of the second floor to mutter silent curses directed at his constitution. Luckily for him, the door he needed was nearly next to the stairs. He knocked. "Yes, yes, it''s open, come in, but be carefull. I''m scribing some very fine runes right now." This time, the voice sounded clear, almost mechanical. Gunfrey entered, only opening the door enough to squeeze through without endangering the bracelet. Then he patiently waited for the owner of the room to finish. The walls of the room where lined with all kinds of stands, some holding armors, some jewelry, one even held a crystal-like chalice. Hunched over the large table at the back of the room, stood a human-sized armor. Its most striking feature was the lack of a wearer, Gunfrey could see straight through some of the gaps. The armor was mostly metallic with some green trimmings and a flowing green cape. "You''re Gumo Barte? I was sent to give this to you for a check up. Also, you are an enchanter, right?" Gunfrey immediately walked up to the armor as it turned around. "I didn''t know the old Lady took an apprentice, you certainly don''t look the part. Let me see that." After grabbing the bracelet with its gauntlet, Barte turned and clinked back to the table rather quietly for a suit of metal armor. "And yes, I am." It was already hunched in its original position again. "I''m not her apprentice, just forging my own destiny. I need that fire magic to improve my guns." "Guns? What''s that? And why would you ever choose being trapped in a body not your own, free soul?" Barte stopped prodding and turning the bracelet just long enough to give Gunfrey a glance with its nonexistent eyes. "Uh, handheld projectile weapons using explosive force to propell projectiles? And why? Because it''s different and exciting to live in another world, of course." "Hmm, since you can freely leave... Those guns though, sounds like the dwarven pressure cannons, but I never heard of handheld ones." After getting no answer, Barte turned around and found Gunfrey sprawled on the floor. "Hello? Are you alright, free soul?" "Haa, no. But I''ve got to continue, can''t leave the others waiting. Say... what can enchanting do?" Gunfrey wobbled back onto his feet. "If you say so... Enchanting is similar to golemancy and necromancy in that you imbue things with power. Enchanting is the most passive and seemingly simple of the three, you input power and either it enhances certain aspects for as long as it is charged. Or, very popular with the young nobles right now, you simply slowly expell the element attuned power again, making for very flashy flaming swords." "Hmm, what happens if an enchanted tool breaks?" Gunfrey was already rapidly thinking again. "If it isn''t handled very well, the charged power will escape at once, usually resulting in a pretty big explosion, since nobody ever makes any small or weak tools with enchanting, if not for practicing their craft." "Mwahahaha. That''s it. I am forging my own destiny. What do I need to do for learning enchanting?" Gunfreys grin was more evil than happy. "Let''s see, I can''t decline, so making it hard for you may just come back to bite me later. You can''t really do physical work with that body... Why don''t you assist me for, say, an hour, just handing me the tools I need and maybe dusting and cleaning a little? After you returned this to the old Lady of course. There really was a slight crack, I already mended it." "I''ll be back." Gunfrey recieved the bracelet and left the room. "I got it checked, apparently there really was a crack." He barged into the room of the old fire elemental. Then he got almost knocked over by the heat wave that assaulted him. "Walking into the room of a powerfull elemental without knocking? Dracoberta may want to rethink governing you." Said fire elemental was currently wearing almost no piece of her jewelry and holding a spoon made from black stone. On her desk stood a plate with small glass spheres containing even smaller, white-hot flame orbs and a side of crushed coal. She sighed and reattached the jewelry lying next to her plate, with every piece, the heat lessened and a faint blue bubble that conformed to her body and robe appeared before fading into invisibility. "I can''t eat with a barrier around me. Now, since it''s fixed, give me the bracelet, then I will teach you what you want and I can go back to eating. What subskill do you want?" "Hmm, after a change of plans, I will learn enchanting next, specifically elemental empowering or what it''s called exactly." Gunfrey handed her the bracelet and the room went back to normal temperature after she attached it. "Enchanting? That should net you quite the money, how fitting." She turned around and looked out of the window behind her desk. "I guess, Fire Clad it is. It''s basically a temporary enchantment, cast on a tool, the tool starts expelling flames from whichever part you tell it to." Turning back, she raised her hand at Gunfrey.
Warning: Pyr Icebane is trying to teach you Fire Magic - Fire Clad
Accepting this skill as provided will take you on the path to a custom class. You will be locked out of acquiring a normal class and will have to fill the 4 other skill slots currently available to you to acquire your class.
Fire Magic - Magic Base School
Fire Magic governs fire and heat control and, popular in all manner of entertainers, explosions of all sizes. Wether you burn down your enemies or dry some jerky while performing with a perfect fire show, we got you covered. Control is closest to you, although not quite as limited as other magic schools. Fired projectiles also enjoy very little efficiency losses until they simply burst. Selected starting subskill: -> Fire Clad: Infuse a tool of your choice with fire elemental power, making it expell fire temporarily.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Rage to power this skill.I do not accept.
Gunfrey decided to use mana, gave his thanks while already leaving and closed the door as a now familiar heat wave hit his back. The hour helping Gumo Barte passed rather uneventfully. However, Gunfrey was able to see a master enchanter at work. This proved especially usefull since he already got the enchanting skill at the start and could faintly feel what was going on:
Gumo Barte is trying to teach you Enchanting - Elemental Infusion
This will occupy one of your 4 currently free skill slots.
Enchanting - Magic Base Skill
Enchanting governs the more passive effects of infusing something with power. Whether you want stronger armor, heat inhibition or enhanced asset presentation or, if you feel like attracting all manner of attention, an elemental clad weapon, enchanting does it all. Enchantments require power to function, whether you recharge your toys periodically, work with power collecting materials or find other ways to fill them, they will stop functioning if they have no power left. Selected starting subskill: -> Elemental Infusion: One big moneymaker, attune the power you fill a tool with to the elements and make them expell it at the will of the holder.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Rage to power this skill.I do not accept.
Gunfrey used mana again, as enchanting mid-battle is never a good idea. Barte had even found the time and desk space to let him try infusing a corn. With so little in both size and quality, Gunfrey immediately overloaded it, leaving behind a tiny patch of soot and a slightly stinging hand from the corn flaring up. There was simply not enough power for an explosion. He tried asking about why Barte called him free soul, but got denied as soon as he closed his mouth. At the end, he simply gave his farewells and left towards the basement. Although walking down the stairs was better, the second basement floor was a good bit deeper than the first, to accomodate higher test chambers and laboratories, so Gunfrey rested against the wall for a short while once more. After orienting himself, he walked down one of the branching hallways, feeling as the air turned colder and colder with each step. He braced himself after he stopped in front of a door covered in a faint layer of frost and knocked using his cane. "A visitor? Let me just close the door to this Ice Nimbus or I might just get you killed when I step out of here." A loud metallic bang was followed by a rapid increase in temperature, as if the heat wanted to reclaim lost territory. Gunfrey stepped away from the door before it opened and a wave of freezing cold mist covered the opposite wall in ice. The figure that stepped out of the door was humanoid, but currently covered in a layer of ice that hid more. "Trout Deepwinter" slowly thawed, revealing dark blue, scaled skin below a strange mask and blue-grey robes, Gunfrey also noticed a faint shimmer that seemed to stop the ice from getting all the way to his skin. Taking off his mask with a webbed hand, he revealed large, completely ice-blue eyes and hair that seemed more like long outside gills, similar to those of axolotl, but with less branches. "Well, this better be important." "I am forging my own destiny. I want ice magic, most likely Ice Clad. What do I need to do?" Trout seemed annoyed, but then shook his head. "Important enough for you, I guess. Destiny is a fickle thing. Go to Omgods Exotics, tell him you want my Nimbus food. It''s one large block, so you should be able to store it if that info is correct. That leaves me more time down here. Just knock again when you have it." He walked back in and closed the door, soon followed by clanking sounds and a swath of cold. Back above ground, Gunfrey leaned against the same wall he had rested before entering the societies building to eat a bread and drink some water. Then he trotted back to the towns map and, cursing at Trout silently, headed off into a far away corner of the city. Several dozens of curses and a few more breaks later... Gunfrey flung open the metal door to Omgods Exotics to the best of his physical prowess. Marching into the shop, he focused "Rolfol Omgod", the grey, bald, sabertoothed mountain of a man behind the counter. "May I ask what race you are? And give me that goddamn Nimbus food for Mr. Popsicles freezing calamity." Gunfreys tone of voice switched sharply after the first question. Omgod stared at him. Then he slowly started to laugh, making his merchandise shake as it grew louder and deeper over time. After at least a minute, he slowly stopped again. "Horkin, that''s my race. Though usually you''d find my brethren further north or way south. What did you do to deserve carrying that block of condensed, power-enriched ice?" "I am forging my own destiny and want him to teach me ice magic." "Oho, so you won''t have to carry it after all, it''s easily your height, mind you, Come get it in the back." Omgod waved and walked through a wide arch behind him. Following through the door, Gunfrey curiously glanced over the many different and strange items that lined even more shelves than in the front. "If you ever find or make something strange, I always hold enough coin to buy a small house. I might just be interested." He waved at a large cube of pristine whiteness, only the sparkling fog creeping around on its surface had a slightly different color to it. "He knows how to unpack it. So just take it as a whole." "Alright." Gunfrey sucked the cube into his inventory under the interested gaze of Omgod. "I''ll be on my way, but I''ll remember your offer." Gunfrey walked back to the front of the shop. "I assume you sell strange metals and other materials too? For later." "But of course. Although I specialize in food and plants, I still buy quite a few materials every week." Omgod rubbed his hands as Gunfrey left. Several dozens of new curses and another few breaks later... "I''ll be right there, I hope it''s you, Sir Gunfrey K., Nimble is getting hungry." Gunfrey held his forehead as he stepped back from the door. "Here''s your icecube. Let''s get this over with." Gunfrey was still rather pissed but didn''t dare to rub someone with a freezing monster pet the wrong way. "Well well well. Nimble, you''re food is here." The temperature turned a bit colder at his words and a faint rasping sound could be heard. "Oh, he''s excited. Here, take your reward and leave." Trout raised his hand at Gunfrey.
Trout Deepwinter is trying to teach you Ice Magic - Ice Clad
This will occupy one of your 3 currently free skill slots.
Ice Magic - Magic Base School
Ice Magic is a magic school focused on control and mixed damage, slowing your enemies with very hard, freezing projectiles and waves of subzero mist. Of course, you also work perfectly fine as a food preservationist. Or a sculptor. Control is strongest close to you, albeit launched projectiles don''t lose much efficiency due to their usually physical nature. Selected starting subskill: -> Ice Clad: Infuse a tool of your choice with ice elemental power, making it expell freezing mist temporarily.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Rage to power this skill.I do not accept.
Gunfrey selected mana as power source another time and left towards the stairs while Trout dragged the large cube into his laboratory. No curses and not quite as many breaks later... Gunfrey stood in front of a building with a stylized bow and arrow as a sign.
The Lazy Arrow - Archery Equipment
Archery runs in our family - Shooting range for testing in the back
"Hello, I want to learn shooting, preferably starting with a rapid fire skill." He barged through the open door. "Hoo, calm, calm, chill down, man." From behind the counter, a bamboo-like tree person with a single large leave that curved backwards as hair and green pants drifted towards Gunfrey. "So you want to be an archer? You know, man, you need to be at least a bit strong to, like, use a bow effectively." "Laze Eastbark" tried to dissuade Gunfrey. "I am forging my own destiny, what''s your task for me, I can shoot already. Just teach me the skill." Gunfrey disliked him already for speaking so slowly and trying to bring him away from shooting. "Oo. Proof. I want, like, that you shoot and hit a target a few times." Laze already turned around again, strangely a lot more determined and faster than before. Gunfrey followed him down a corridor and into a shooting range. Taking the smallest crossbow he found, still the size of his leg and thankfully already cocked, he loaded it, aimed at a scarecrow and shot. His arrow struck the small red spot on its chest roughly at the same time as Gunfrey hit the wall behind him. "Well, you hit, but, like I said, you, you know, you are too weak." Laze eyed Gunfrey from above as he sat against the wall. "Goddamit. Do you have any small bows? I''ll need a few shots, but I am still confident in my shooting skill no matter the weapon." Gunfrey groaned as he got up and walked towards the displayed training weapons. After a short search, he picked out a shortbow that fit his size better, snatched a quiver of training arrows and marched back. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.And, much to the surprise of Laze, he held word and was hitting the head or chest area of the scarecrow mostly consistently after a short period of frequent misses; with his rage filling from each hitting arrow, he also felt more and more energetic. "Oo. Proof. Very good. You, like, totally exceeded my expectations." Laze had a glint in his eyes. "You wanted a rapid fire subskill, correct? Feel free to try this out afterwards."
Laze Eastbark is trying to teach you Archery - Lazir Shots
This will occupy one of your 2 free skill slots.
Archery - Physical Base Skill
Archery is the art of using a bow or crossbow and hitting targets with what you shoot. Preferably in the face or knee. Damsels to win only of you are a merry man. Selected starting subskill: -> Lazir Shots: A variant of the rapid fire subskill developed by Lazir Eastbark. Shoot three arrows in a row with one draw by connecting them with strings of power.
I accept and select Mana to power this skill.I accept and select Rage to power this skill.I do not accept.
Gunfrey blinked at Laze. "Lazir Eastbark?" "My grandfather, I learned everything from him." "I see. Not only the archery part I guess." Gunfrey selected Rage as power source. "Care for a quick demonstration?" Laze grabbed one of the larger longbows without waiting for an answer. Then, he pulled out five arrows, knocking one while keeping the other four in the same hand that drew the bowstring. As a faint yellow haze coated the arrow, he released the string and arrows. In a line, the first arrow pulled the other four, everything still coated in the yellow haze, until they all struck almost the same spot on the scarecrows head one after another. "Hmm, I guess it really is a lazy technique." Gunfrey followed up by taking three arrows, drawing the string and activating the skill. As he could feel the faint excitement subside along with his rage reserves, he let go and the leading arrow pulled the other two along, enveloped in faint red streaks of smoke. This time, however, he only managed to hit the lower end of the scarecrow. "See that. You need to draw stronger if you use this skill since the power you put in can only counter the weight of more arrows by so much." Laze commented, still showing appreciation for the weak imp shooting like an experienced archer. Gunfrey shot a few more arrows to bring his rage back up, then pulled out his last three and let loose another Lazir Shots. This time, his arrows struck the center of the scarecrow, a bit below the red spot. With Lazes help, Gunfrey collected the arrows again, thanked him - with a much improved opinion of the archer - and turned to leave. Then, he felt a slight odd feeling, like a bubble popping in his head and a message appeared in front of him.
You know, if you create your class like this, it won''t work out the way you want.
"What...?" Gunfrey stopped.
Dracoberta here. Since you are one of my few followers that are not merchants or thiefs and thus have a way higher chance to make me large sums of money, a point of advice: Try to convert archery into a more general skill. You can usually achieve skill evolutions by using them in a way originally not planned, in your case, try using a different ranged weapon with Lazir Shots.
"I appreciate the help, but what will it cost me?" Gunfrey grimaced.
Hey, I might be the godess of greed, but I am also the godess of wisdom, it''s free. Plus, if you don''t think of me as a nuisance, you might be more inclined to sacrifice a few strong enemies. That yields way more than you could currently offer.
"Any advice on what ranged weapons I could use best?"
With your body, I suggest something like a sling. That''s marginally still a ranged weapon and might work well with your other idea if I guessed it right.
"Thanks, that gave me an idea." Gunfrey opened his inventory and pulled out his Newbie Weapon Token to transform it. Finally, Laze, who was looking at Gunfrey with a confused gaze, couldn''t hold it anymore. "What just happened and what is that?" He pointed at Gunfreys new weapon.
Newbie Slingshot of Power
A slingshot made from smoothed bubblestone coral and rubber kelp. It comes with a magic pouch that can hold and easily supply pebbles you put in, however, they are returned in random order.
Pebble Pouch: The pouch hanging from this slingshot can be clamped to your arm and holds 2m3 of pebbles that can be returned into grasping range with a thought. Newbie Weapon: Cannot deal damage apart from special effects, indestructible, cannot be stolen.
Weight: 0.5Durability: unlimitedAura: 1
Gunfrey wondered if this was really a newbie weapon, but even the game probably considered a slingshot a crappy weapon and added nice effects as compensation. Not so Gunfrey, because he had his plan. "I''ll be right back." He walked into the shooting range to pick up the smaller coral debris that filled the ground there like gravel. He stuffed roughly fifty in his pouch before returning and taking aim. This time, he needed even longer until he could accurately hit the standing scarecrow. This did however fill up his rage enough for his next steps. The dumbfounded Laze still stared at Gunfrey. As Gunfrey took out three pebbles, keeping two in his hand, Laze slowly started to understand and looked at him in an even more dumbfounded way. On his fifth try, Gunfrey could finally feel his rage receding as red smoke collected around the pebbles, connecting and pulling them after the lead pebble to strike at the scarecrow.
Notice: You have created a new skill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will replace your skill Archery.
New skill - Evolution of Archery - Physical Base Skill
Modifying your skill with the bow, you have become an expert at adapting ranged weapon techniques to other weapons. No matter what projectiles you shoot, they will hardly miss. Ranged weapon expert: Subskills of any physical base skills involving projectile weapons will be covered under this skill instead and can be used with all projectiles weapons. It''s just too many: -50% proficiency gains in this skill Adaptable: +20% accuracy on projectile weapon types you are not yet familiar with It''s just not enough: For every new base skill you combine in this skill by learning their subskills, +10% proficiency gains in this skill. -> Current number: 0
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Gotta catch ''em all!" Dong. Gunfrey was luckily wise enough to curse silently. "Ranged Combat." Beep.
Congratulations. That should suit you better. Remember, evolving skills like this is best done while you have some free capacity to learn, as learning something new while already having a full head makes it infinitely harder.
"If it takes a hundred times more as they mentioned in that one interview, that''s five hundred..." Gunfrey was very gratefull for this advice and immediately made a note to tell the others later. He turned towards Laze. "Just my patron thinking I''m a bit more interesting than the others she governs." And walked off. Laze was now completely dazed and didn''t recover even as Gunfrey was already out of the door after returning the bow, quiver and pebbles. After a bit, he turned into one of the lesser used alleyways to pick up a few coral pebbles. He tried to select similar ones to those that broke apart just from hitting the scarecrow earlier. Then, he found himself a quiet spot with a tree to sit down. He took one of the smallest pebbles he could find and slowly started infusing it with fire attuned mana. He stopped very early to not alert anyone with his next experiment. Then he stood up, gave the pebble a quick shake and tossed it at the ground near him. With a small bang, the pebble burst apart and released a small explosion of flames. Satisfied, Gunfrey took another pebble, infused it even slower with more fire mana until he could feel that the pebble couldn''t take more. Loading it into his slingshot, he looked around. As soon as noone was around, he quickly shot the pebble into an even more deserted alley and walked away without looking back. Behind him, a bang and cracking sound signaled the impact of his pebble and a new message.
Notice: You have created a new skill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will replace your skill Enchanting.
New skill - Evolution of Enchanting - Magic Skill
Deliberately breaking enchanted objects and firing them at enemies to unload elemental damage, you find it easier to mass produce these throwaway enchanted bits and pieces. Precise pyromaniac: Filling your projectiles to the brim - and not more - is a lot easier now. Mass fabricator: You can''t create something from nothing (for now), but you can now infuse up to 5 items below fist size at once.
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
Gunfrey sighed and then stated: "Bullet Production." Beep. Groaning, he started walking back to the magic research society. At the society, he walked back up to the second floor and knocked at Gumo Bartes door. "Yes, yes, it''s open, come in." This time, Barte sat at his desk. "Hello again, free soul. Do you already have questions regarding enchanting? Or did you decide that you want to delve further into the matter and acquire more knowledge?" "Hello, sadly, neither of the above. I managed to evolve enchanting and would like to reacquire the skills I lost as I am still forging my destiny." "Evolved? Into what? And of course, this time, show me what you made and I''ll consider that as pay." "Do you have something that can take a beating or something like a barrier so I don''t damage anything?" "Of course, but how did you turn enchanting into something active that requires a barrier and not just simply a bit of space?" Barte clanked to a shelf and placed a platemail chestpiece on the ground in the middle of the room. "This was requested for a personal guard. When struck, a barrier is created around the wearer and another, wider one that hopefully traps whatever hit the chestplate inside, preventing damage to the lord." Taking out a pebble, Gunfrey infused it fast, although still with some precaution. He worried too much. As the pebble filled, he noticed his mana output automatically slowed down a lot, allowing him to fill the last bit comfortably. He grasped his slingshot and shot the pebble at the chestpiece with a quick motion. As it struck the chestplate, he could see for a moment as it shattered before a short-lived but loud fireball engulfed the armor, stopping its expansion just a bit short of where he could faintly make out the outer barrier. "I guess that counts as quite dangerous enchanting. I never thought to deliberately destroy enchanted items though, this opens up quite a few new ways... However, I guess they are too dangerous after all..." Gumo Barte seemed as fascinated as a suit of armor with no countenance could be. "You fulfilled your part and showed me something interesting, I''ll remember that. I repeat myself, if you need more knowledge in enchanting, I''ll gladly teach you for a small price as long as you have the capacity for it." Gumo Barte raised his gauntlet at Gunfrey. And, after confirming that he wanted mana as a power source a last time for now, Gunfrey could take a look at the class he had created.
Custom Class created!
Forging your own destiny, you have acquired or created 5 skills. A new class has been created from your skill set.
Note: You have just filled your last free skill slot. While learning or creating a new skill is possible for anyone, having a free skill slot makes this process infinitely easier.
Note: For using a custom class, you will recieve one new free skill slot every 5 levels.
Note: If you are offered a secret class, you may instead choose to advance your custom class in rarity, adding free skill slots and opportunities to set strength-weakness pairs and/or strengths.
Your custom class will have the following benefits:
Doubly Experienced: The total amount of bits you can enchant at once is doubled Projectiles are projectiles: Ranged Combat skills that increase damage of projectiles increase elemental potency instead if used with infused projectiles Running heat specialist: Passively control your body temperature with magic to increase your stamina and lessen secondary effects associated with temperature Opposite Infuser: You may infuse bits with two elements, total capacity and incompatibilities with the bit itself still apply You may set 1 pair of strengths and weaknesses
(Please name your class to accept)I decline. (Usable once, resets your skills completely)
"Elemental Commando." Beep. "Add a seperate projectile inventory, add a fitting penalty to weight limit." Dong. "Gra. Bit? Was that effect too strong?" Beep. "Hmm...I guess that will have to do." "Add recoil dampening for ranged weapons and knockback increase for everything else."
Class modified:
-> 20% less recoil from firing ranged weapons -> 10% stronger knockback from all other sources
Yup.Nope, let me try again.
"That should help with at least having a crossbow as emergency weapon..." Gunfrey thanked Barte once more and helped clean up the soot that covered the floor around the chestpiece. Then he sat down at a silent place outside and started filling his pouch with a few dozen infused pebbles before heading back to the plaza. On his way, he took a look at his current stats.
Basics
First NameLast NameDefault Name
GunfreyKforliveSir Gunfrey K.
ClassLevelExperience
Elemental Commando125%
Status
HealthSatietyHealth/s
50/50Sated0,3
ManaRage
100/1000/55
Mana/sBonus Rage
0,3751,875%
Attributes
StrengthEnduranceConstitution
556
CapacityGraspAgility
201510
Weight LimitAura Limit
1035
I originally planned for normal rapidfire, but the name just asked for it. Apparently crossbows recoil (according to internet sources, although someone mentioned differences depending on projectile weight), so if anyone knows better, don''t tell me, it''ll ruin tricks and fun I can use. God windows are shamelessly copied from World Seed, although I think there might be more stories using similar ideas. Next chapter might be out faster since I have more free time and it proves to be quite fun coming up with stuff that actually happens around the rough draft I already have. Chap. 4 - The Support Please tell me if the formatting is too tight, then I''ll add more space. So this chapter is about outsourcing the stuff you don''t enjoy as much to mindless golems. Well no, it''s about the support of the team.
After searching for their goals on the towns map, Dad''sal was the third to leave. He didn''t need to go very far. Taking his time, Dad''sal walked up to a seemingly rather popular shop with a large flask as a sign above the coral door that saw a sizeable throughput of people as he approached. He got in line to get inside and took a look at the door crystal.
Uhlberds Alchemy
Potions and Concoctions of every kind
While he waited, he took a look around; many of the waiting customers were tree people with a few more human-like ones mixed in. The shop was lined with tables, each with a leatherbound book chained to it. Dad''sal sneaked a glance over the shoulder of one of the readers; the book was filled with descriptions of potions along with prices and sometimes estimated waiting periods. Despite a few strange gazes, he got to the counter without problems. "Welcome to Uhlberds Alchemy, what can I do for you?" The tree woman behind the counter gave him a smile. "Hello, I just arrived here and am forging my own destiny. I would like to learn alchemy. Also, if you don''t mind, could you tell me the name of your race?" Dad''sal surpressed a smile to not scare his counterpart. "Oh, I guess I''ll best bring you to the owner. We are the Arborea." She cheerfully motioned Dad''sal to follow her to the back of the room and through a door. "Uhl!" She shouted through the small corridor. "There''s a polite baby reptile wanting to learn alchemy here." "Baby reptile? With that wording I''d expect a toddler, not a guy larger than you." Dad''sal gave her a sideways glance. "You just arrived in this world and are at your weakest. You are a baby." She was adamant on the baby part until they arrived at a door. "Just ignore her. She''s often like that. Uhlberd Grimm''s the name, owner of this place." From out of the door came a muscular man with dark grey skin and pointed ears. In the somewhat dim light of the corridor, sporadic flashes of orange patterns where visible on his bare arms that stood in contrast to the many mostly green patches on his apron. After a handshake, the Arborean clerk retold Dad''sals inquiry and left for the front again. "I guess only a spirit walker like you can just barge in here to learn alchemy... However, you were polite to my clerk, something not many do. I''ll teach you of course. Just help me move some cargo around. With my only personnel being two salespeople, I have to do the heavier lifting myself." "What subskill do you want to learn?" Uhlberd guided Dad''sal further into the back of the shop where a large warehouse followed behind a door. "May I know why you called me a spirit walker? Also, I plan to use alchemy to keep my squad alive on the go, so what would you suggest?" They arrived at a heap of crates next to a large door leading outside of the building. "I''ll explain while we work, just take one of these and follow me, I''ll tell you where to drop them off." Uhlberd lifted one of the boxes with a short grunt, mimicked by Dad''sal who had less trouble. "Spirit walkers are souls in our old believes that, ah, drop yours in that spot, they can possess other bodies. Hep, there we go, let''s get new ones. Some of them are benevolent, possessing the recently deceased and getting revenge for them. Hep, others just strive for power, possessing living people and expelling their souls. Drop that there. Since you apparently are souls receiving new bodies, the term fits, I think. Ah, my people are the deep elves. Some stupid group apparently thought living below the surface most of the time was better and all. Ah, there please. That''s how we got more than the usual muscle and these markings-" He started glowing, the patterns under it now clearly visible against his dark skin. "Apparently they served as a means of differentiation against the other cave dwellers." Uhlberd placed down another crate. "As to my suggestion, learn field alchemy and get yourself a personal alchemy set. Some genius came up with a way to bind them to someone. They even evolve by feeding on your experience and power. The other viable starting choices would be mass production, that one''s popular in the armies. Or, my personal focus, quality precision. That requires a large workspace with different instruments though. However, you get the best potions, and those sell well." They picked up a new pair of crates. "Field Alchemy produces medium quality potions at most if you aren''t some alchemy master. Mass production does the same, albeit usually a little worse still. Mass production relies on large, large, large. Huge quantities above anything. Field alchemy instead simplifies the production process. That makes it quite fast and you can just brew a few potions when you have a bit of time." "Where can I get one of those personal alchemy sets? And when would be the best time to acquire one?" Dad''sal placed down his box. "Well, since I don''t have one myself, I can only repeat what others said. However, all that use one said that it''s best to have one as early as possible. Apparently it can link up better if you''re still new. As for getting one. Hep, tell you what, I can help you there. You''re a quick worker, that saves important time for me. Help me move that whole heap and then sort and prepare a few ingredients. If you do, I''ll give you my shops emblem and enough coin to buy one with the reduced price you''ll get. Then you can give it back and get your knowledge from me while already having the set. That should be the best case for you." "I''ll gladly take that offer." After about an hour of work that, according to Uhlberd, would net him enough extra coin to buy five personal alchemy sets because he could now brew more potions, Dad''sal walked out of the warehouse door. He marched through the streets for a bit before closing in on a noble looking building with a rune-shaped sign. While the guardsman in front of the shop tensed as he strolled closer, opening his inventory and pulling out Uhlberts emblem, a black alembic that glowed in a soft orange tone, made him relax and step aside with a slight bow. In the shop, Dad''sal took a bit to look around at all the tightly secured items displayed in various glass cases. Afterwards, he walked up to the counter and showed the emblem to the cherry-barked Arborean female with a large sakura flower instead of leaves as headdress that stood behind it. "Hello, I would like to buy a personal alchemy set, Uhlberd sends me." He also handed her a small pouch of coins from his inventory bracer. "Of course, right away, dear customer. Uhlberd has proven to be very reliable time and time again, I''ll get it immediately." She disappeared into the back of the shop while a faint shimmer enveloped all the cabinets as soon as she left the room. As she returned, the shimmer disappeared again. In her hands was a translucent crystal sphere around the size of a football that she placed in a device together with the emblem she took from Dad''sal. "Uhlberd will know how to open it. Do you require anything else?" She handed Dad''sal the emblem and the crystal sphere that was now enveloped in an orange barrier. Dad''sal denied and thanked her while storing both items away. Back at the alchemy shop, he returned the emblem to Uhlberd and handed him the packaged sphere. "This is a highly secure way of packaging important items for long-term customers. Only their power will dispell this barrier, at least while leaving the item whole." He held it ontop of one hand and the barrier disappeared. Then, Uhlberd handed the crystal sphere to Dad''sal and raised his hand at him.
Warning: Uhlberd Grimm is trying to teach you Alchemy - Field Alchemy
Accepting this skill as provided will take you on the path to a custom class. You will be locked out of acquiring a normal class and will have to fill the 4 other skill slots currently available to you to acquire your class.
Alchemy - Crafting Base Skill
Alchemy is the art of creating potions, concoctions and poisons from a variety of ingredients. Many steps require no magic knowledge, however, especially for high quality potions and field alchemy, a bit of magic still comes into play in separating just the right things or cooling down those potions that much quicker on the go. Selected starting subskill: -> Field Alchemy: Use thought processing to simplify or quicken many steps in making a potion. The main examples are dehydration and heat control.
Warning: You are currently holding a personal alchemy set. Accepting this skill now will bind the set to your skill, providing the following additional properties: -> Summon your personal alchemy set whenever you want -> Your personal alchemy set will evolve to accomodate the path you choose -> -10% proficiency gains to provide the set with energy to evolve
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
Dad''sal accepted and rematerialized his alchemy set. It now consisted of a mortar and pestle, flask and fitting portable stove as well as a knive, chopping board and a pair of scales. All of it was made of the same translucent crystal as before, even the knife. Satisfied, he willed it away again and thanked Uhlberd to leave. However, Uhlberd stopped him and handed him a patch of blue moss and a small twig lined with blue berries. "I might have never taken a stranger for an apprentice, but I can''t just let you walk out the door without at least a bit of experience. These two are common in the forests around here. Drying them, in your case using field alchemy, and then mixing the ground up powders with boiling water results in a potion that turns into power in your body. It''s not instant though. So use it before you start using a lot of power. Also, if you don''t use any power, you may overload, so make sure to always keep yourself busy until it''s mostly gone." "Thank you, how much of both do I need for a flask?" Dad''sal dried all but a bit of both ingredients using thought processing. "Mix the powders you get 1:1, I''ll tell you when to stop adding more of the mix. If you give me the flask, I''ll fill it with water for you." Dad''sal summoned his alchemy set once more, handed Uhlberd the flask and grabbed the mortar and pestle to start grinding the dried berries. After a bit, Uhlberd returned with his water, waited a bit and then pointed at the mortar. "See those clumps? That''s the problem with not drying it in a dedicated room or machine, whether magical or not. Those lower efficiency since they don''t properly mix." Dad''sal stopped as he couldn''t notice any more changes, filled one of the scales bowls and continued with the moss. After also filling the other bowl, he put some berry powder back into the mortar to get the scales to even out. He freed the bowls after feeding mana to the stove with the flask. After he mixed the two powders in one of the bowls using his pestle to stir it, he started using thought processing on the water to get it to boil faster. "Good, now start adding the powders, use your knive to stir. And... slow down... there. See that vibrant blue color? That''s what you want. Now let it cool down." Dadsal used screen capture and compared the image with his potion. They looked the same. He happily made a file containing pictures of the berries, moss and potion alongside a short recipe. Then he once more utilised thought processing to cool the potion down. Uhlberd handed him a few thin vials and two simple phials together with some corks. "These phials are made with a little magic, you can easily get out powder again without it clinging to the glass. The others are standard sized potion vials." After filling the powders and potion into their containers, Dad''sal ended up with 5 and a half vials of potion. He focused one of the full ones.
Vial of power-generating potion
A simple vial filled with low-medium quality power-generating potion. Contains 100 ml of potion. Note: Tastes bitter.
Power-generating: Consumption generates 35 mana over 20 seconds. Warning: Can overload and harm the user.
Weight: 0.1Durability: 1Aura: 0.2
"That''s pretty decent for your first try. Oh, another thing. If they taste horrible, you can usually add a sweetener once they are done without worries." "Thank you. What quality could you have achieved in your laboratory?" Dad''sal stored everything away, noting that the leftover drops just dropped to the floor as his flask disappeared. "Going all out, perfect quality. For a simple potion as this I''d usually go for excellent quality, though. That''s a step lower than perfect. It''s just not profitable to do some of the best steps if the price only increases by so much." "I see. Thank you again. I''ll get going then. I will come by if I can afford your products." Dadsal bowed to his teacher and left. Back in the streets, he headed towards another corner of the same street, towards a one-story building with a large chimney in the back. As he closed in on the buildung, he could hear the sounds of clashing metal and evaporating water. Above the door, a winged hammer and sword were displayed as a sign. He walked past the door crystal.
The Armory
All things metal
"Greetings lad, came to get some armor fitting a big one like you?" As soon as Dad''sal walked in, he was greeted by a deep voice. Dad''sal looked around and found a large man sitting at a table that currently wiped his face while setting down a mug. At least, "Alfrigg Warren" was probably very large for his species, as he had almost bloating muscles all over his body. However, he was even smaller than Gunfrey, only reaching noticably short of Dad''sals middle. With a single beat of his four dragonfly-like wings, he was just below the ceiling before he shot towards the dazed Dad''sal and landed in front of him. "Didn''t expect someone like me, eh?" He grabbed a forging hammer that leaned against the wall and was easily as long as his leg with one hand and set it on his shoulder. "I swear, someday the whole planet will know about us iron fairies and I''ll be able to make more money just because nobody stares at me for 5 minutes." He walked to the door at the back of the room and looked inside. "No breaks until that goddamn armor is finished, I said. The lord will make our lifes hell if it isn''t finished today." He roared through the door before turning his head back to Dad''sal. "So, what''ll it be?" Dad''sal shook his head and bowed to the fairy blacksmith. "I''m sorry. I am forging my own destiny and wanted to learn blacksmithing from you, however, I will come back later today." He turned around but was stopped by a small hand that turned him around easily. "Since you want to learn smithing, I have the perfect idea." Alfriggs grin was comparable to a predator having found his prey. "Alright lad, that''s enough, you worked your share and then some already." On Alfriggs words, Dad''sal tumbled to a wall and dropped his tongs before slumping down against the wall. He had worked for two hours, only stopping to drink water whenever he could. He had moved burning hot metal pieces between the forge and the blacksmiths, cutting down on their time spent outside of forging. "We''ll manage without you now, thanks lad. When you managed to carve out your destiny, come back here and I''ll get you situated with a weapon or armor piece of your choice that fits your strength." Alfrigg gave him a smile that was barely apologetic. "So, what part of forging are you interested in?" Dad''sal wiped away the sweat and grime on his scaly forehead before answering. "I plan to learn Golemancy next, what fits making mechanical parts best?" "Golems, eh? Interesting choice for someone with your build. I guess for golems themselves, I''d recommend hardening, however, for mechanical parts, precision is best." Dad''sal nodded and Alfrigg raised his hand at him.
Alfrigg Warren is trying to teach you Blacksmithing - Precision
This will occupy one of your 4 currently free skill slots.
Blacksmithing - Crafting Base Skill
Blacksmithing is the art of creating blades, plates and other parts from metal. Also makes females of your race fawn over your muscles. Selected starting subskill: -> Precision: Enables limited system assist in creating exact metal parts.
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
"I''m pretty sure you want to wash up, just go through there and take the second door to the right. Since we''re still working, you can take your time to make yourself more presentable for your next teacher." Dad''sal was very glad to follow Alfriggs advice after he accepted blacksmithing. Walking out of the bathroom, Dad''sal dried his clothes using thought processing on them and had to decline the clothes dryer skill he could have learned by doing so. After he said his goodbyes and wished the blacksmiths success, Dad''sal headed towards the magic research society. He walked along the building until he came to a pair of doors, one as high as two stories, the other only about two and a half meters. Knocking on the smaller door, he focused the crystal in its middle.
MRS Acacia Branch - Golem workshop
Golems on demand - all respectable variations
"It''s open." Dad''sal opened the door and entered a large room subdivided into several bays along a middle corridor. Most bays contained golems in different stages of completion. Some only contained single, large golems made from stone or metal, oversized weapons leaning against their walls. Other bays contained a variety of tables with small golems of all shapes. "What type of golem does your boss need? We''re currently very busy with several important customers, so don''t expect to get any beneficial treatment." One of the younger workers, an Arborean male with oak-like bark and leaves, walked towards Dad''sal with a condescending smile. "I want to learn golemancy, I am forging my own destiny, so where''s your master?" The worker that had already pointed at Dad''sal stifled his laughter and glared at him. "In the back, bay one. Now out of my way, brute." The worker deliberately stalked outside despite just having worked to bump into Dad''sal. He only managed to almost fall though, as he couldn''t budge the large mechanizard and tripped over his own feet as a result. Dad''sal simply ignored him and walked further in, followed by laughter and curious glances. As he got closer, the inhabitant of bay one looked up. "You''re either important or one of the new souls if Roodt couldn''t do more than that." The Arborean male, the first one Dad''sal had seen that sported a long beard, made from moss-like greenery like his long hair, looked at him while he layed down his hammer and tongs. As he stepped out from behind the table that currently blocked entrance to bay one, his name, "Dorwin Earthmoss", appeared above his head. Dad''sal bowed and explained. "I am indeed forging my own destiny and would like to learn Golemancy. Could you tell me what I can do as payment and what subskills there are? I plan to create at least a mountable golem and a batch of rather special ones if that is possible." Dorwin scratched his beard. "Let''s see, judging from the burned smell and hole-riddled clothes you wear, you already worked quite heavily, so anything physically taxing would go against my moral code. Do you already have knowledge other than what you worked for last?" "I currently am able to perform field alchemy and precision blacksmithing, I plan to learn healing magic later, however, I could do that first if you can make use of it. Please also mind that I may need to reacquire golemancy if my plan works out." "You want to evolve golemancy? If you manage to do that, I''ll gladly grant you my knowledge a second time. As for your first task, it would, in fact, really help if you can acquire healing magic first. A few of my apprentices are rather high and mighty about their jobs and managed to get all of them banned from receiving free healing services for the time being. Oh, you don''t have to heal those by the way, they need to learn their lessons." He smiled at Dad''sal. "I''ll do as you say." Dad''sal left towards the inside of the building. He checked a map that was conveniently placed at the end of the golem workshop because of the second entrance to the building and moved along a few corridors until he arrived in a clean ward that housed rows of curtains separating simple beds. Some curtains to the corridor in the middle were closed, others showed mages and some fine dressed people with small or no visible injuries being treated. "I don''t think you can afford our services." The voice sounded friendly despite what was said. Dad''sal turned to his right and bowed to the human male next to him. "I am forging my own destiny. I would like to learn healing magic." "Oh, so it''s like that, please wait a bit, I''ll see to getting Alessa here." While the healer left, Dad''sal stepped closer to the wall and waited. "Alessa Sharpwood" turned out to be another Arborean. Her hairstyle was rather unusual, as it consisted of long, thin branches full of wine-red leaves instead of the more usual long and thin leaves without any branches. "Troy told me you''d like to learn healing magic, new soul. If you help with some of the mundane tasks around here, I''ll teach you as per the agreement." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Half an hour of mostly changing curtains - his larger than average height was used to its best ability - Dad''sal stood near the door again facing Alessa. "I am not that good with battlefield observation, so I''d like to learn a healing spell that lasts a while." "Regeneration fits that description best." She raised her hand at him.
Alessa Sharpwood is trying to teach you Healing Magic - Regeneration
This will occupy one of your 3 currently free skill slots.
Healing Magic - Magic Base School
Healing Magic does what its name implies. Nothing more, nothing less. Whether instant or steady regeneration, healing ailments or removing poisons, there''s next to no health endangering method that cannot be countered by healing magic. Control is severly limited outside of closest range to you. Physical contact to your target is advised. For long-range heals, see holy magic. Selected starting subskill: -> Regeneration: Buff a target for as long as you don''t cancel the buff, slowly fixing them up at the cost of your power.
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
"Thank you." Dad''sal bowed and left after accepting. Following his return to the golem workshop, he located Dorwin and walked up to him. "I see you have returned, can I assume you were successfull in acquiring healing magic?" Dorwin beckoned him to follow and marched through a door into a rest area. "Please wait here, I''ll send them in one by one. They mostly have cuts and burns so no matter what you learned, it should help them. I will give the ones I send this emblem, just so those rascals can''t trick their way in." "Alright. What if they still come?" Dad''sal made his way to one of the chairs. "Get them to leave, all they know is golemancy; luckily for me, the only capable ones also behave." Dad''sal grinned at that. At the end, it needed only a single unruly apprentice to stop the rest. The sight of their companion being carried out of the room in one large, claw-like hand without any success at counterattacking even made a few of the other apprentices visibly nervous. Dorwin was clearly happy as Dad''sal walked back into the workshop. "Thanks, now they won''t catch anything nor have excuses to not clean up behind them." Some of the apprentices cringed a little. He called Dad''sal over. "Let''s talk here. Earlier you wanted to know what subskills there are for golemancy, so we''ll start with that." They sat down at the table Dorwin worked on and Dorwin looked at the ground for a bit. "I''ll start with the basics, I guess. All golems require three things to function: A core - you usually buy those as the production is very closely guarded - an instruction set and power. There''s different quality cores as well as, in the higher quality range, differently specialized cores. They hold the instruction sets, the form of the golem and the power reserves it has." "Imagine the instruction set like commanding an army. Because of the lack of widely available magic communication, armies usually use flags to relay information. As the commander, you can''t just signal a dance off if you never showed the flag bearers how the signal for that looks, but if they know what to do, the soldiers will find a way to do it. That means if you want your golem to walk, it will eventually find and refine a way to do so. However, it helps if you can feed it an idea of how to walk. That''s one of the reasons we like humanoid golems, it makes their setup faster." "The form is simpler. When you fill the core with power for the first time, you will be able to tell it what belongs to the golem. In a certain range, you can attach anything, and it will follow your commands. However, for larger golems, the pieces need to be connected to those around the core. That''s why we build the golems with movable joints and often skeletons. Not having to levitate to move saves a lot of power. And that is what makes the golem function." "Most golems need to be recharged since they only have their cores and, for the larger ones, extra power storage. Only very small or expensive golems use power gathering materials to substitute that." "What happens if you remove, say, an arm?" Dad''sal looked at the golems around them. "That part stops working, but it can simply be reattached with a bit of time and updating its form." "Anyways, subskills involve instruction efficiency for more instructions per core, links, that enables the creator to charge the golem from afar, g-" "I want links, that sounds like what I need." "And here you go." Dorwin raised his hand at Dad''sal.
Dorwin Earthmoss is trying to teach you Golemancy - Links
This will occupy one of your 2 currently free skill slots.
Golemancy - Magic Base Skill
Golemancy is the process of creating core-driven, powered beings. A golem needs a movable body of some kind, at least the core, as well as an instruction set and a power reserve to function. Golem parts can move freely, however, sturdy construction can reduce power consumption drastically. Selected starting subskill: -> Links: Increases the range at which you can charge your golems by 20 meters.
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
"Feel free to come again if you need practice in healing magic." Dorwin got up to continue working. "For that, I might have a deal for you that will resolve that problem forever. Can anyone charge a golem? And what about changing its instructions?" "Anyone with golemancy or sufficient experience in magic can recharge them. Repurposing a used core is possible, but only after wiping it clean of any former instructions. That takes an hour for a qualified golemancer, without interruptions." "Then here''s my proposition: I need a simple core and a few parts to build a basic golem upfront. If my plan works, I want 5 simple cores and later, in exchange for an update, a core suited for a larger golem. Also, I probably need a bit of info and coin with the small cores." "A simple core is affordable for an experiment. If you can do with any parts, we have a scrap room. Resmelting the botched parts there is a punishment for the most annoying apprentices." "Can you help me pick out parts that don''t hinder magic as much as possible? Of course nothing too expensive." Dad''sal followed the golemancer to a room near the rest area. There, he picked a malformed, human-sized head with a slot for a core and four spider-like legs of slightly different sizes and forms. One leg was made of silver, the other parts consisted of a blue-hued metal, Dorwin said it was commonly called manasteel. With Dorwins help, Dad''sal quickly attached the legs at the base of the head. Then he inserted the orange-glowing, marble-sized core into the head where it sat in one side like a cyclops'' eye. Touching the core, he activated golemancy and started to feel it, like an additional part of his hand. With a few thoughts, he added the head and feet, feeling as they also appeared in his conciousness while a slight green overlay engulfed them. He added a simple instruction set and stopped without finishing to change it easier later. "Could you wave at it? I want to see if it recognizes you." Dad''sal asked Dorwin who was working next to him. As Dorwin waved at the golem, it rose from the table. A second wave brought no results. Dad''sal waved at it and it placed it''s middle on the table again. "Thanks." Dad''sal started to cast regeneration on himself. On and off, he went for a good hundred repetitions before going back to golem programming. After repeating this process a second time, he finally got what he wanted, he was even gratefull for the drawback.
Notice: You have created a new skill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will replace your skill Golemancy. Note: Control of your golems will not be lost, but changing them requires you to reacquire golemancy.
New skill - Evolution of Golemancy - Magic Skill
You have successfully created history. Your golem has learned how to cast magic. However, are you willing to pay the price for it? -> A price to pay: Acquiring this skill will transfer your ability to cast skills from all magic base schools to any golem you create. -> Changed circumstances: Skill efficiency depends solely on the materials used for the golem -> Stronger Bonds: Total Links distance doubles. -> Shared experience: While in Links distance, you receive 95% of the proficiency for any spell your golems cast.
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Roboproxy." Dad''sal grinned and turned to Dorwin. "It worked, could you teach me golemancy again so I can show you? I''d like Links again." "Of course." Dorwin granted him golemancy again and then waited expectantly. After accepting, Dad''sal had his class assembled.
Custom Class created!
Forging your own destiny, you have acquired or created 5 skills. A new class has been created from your skill set.
Note: You have just filled your last free skill slot. While learning or creating a new skill is possible for anyone, having a free skill slot makes this process infinitely easier.
Note: For using a custom class, you will recieve one new free skill slot every 5 levels.
Note: If you are offered a secret class, you may instead choose to advance your custom class in rarity, adding free skill slots and opportunities to set strength-weakness pairs and/or strengths.
Your custom class will have the following benefits:
Mad medic mechanic: medical and nursing equipment you use is 50% more efficient Doubly Experienced: Skill efficiency of newly finished golems raises by 5% Crafter: limited system assist while blacksmithing and brewing potions Mechanizard golemancer: Racial bonus on mechanical transportation extends to golems powerfull enough to mount You may set 1 pair of strengths and weaknesses
(Please name your class to accept)I decline. (Usable once, resets your skills completely)
As he saw the advantages it offered, Dad''sal took a gamble with the name and kept his modification for now. With his class done, Dad''sal finished up his golem.
(please state a name for this golem)
A quadrupedal golem created by Dad''sal Lizdog.
Durability: 15/15Power capacity: 30/30
"Med-tron." He turned towards his golemancy teacher. "Please hold your emblem towards the core." Dorwin complied and the golem jumped at him. He jolted back in surprise, but just stared at Dad''sal in a way better fit for a small child as he noticed that the golem had only clung to his robe and was now using healing magic on him. "How? That''s something I have never seen. What did you do? How does it work? Can you teach me?" He was completely out of it. "I''m sorry. With how long it took me, it''s very unlikely that you would last long enough to learn this. While we have free capacities, it is very easy for us to learn or create new skills. If the information I have is correct, you''d have to continuously try making your golem cast a spell for thousands of times without any breaks. Also, I can no longer cast spells of any magic school, only my golems can if I tell them to." That information seemed to calm down Dorwin. "Why would you do that, then? You will always need golems around you now." "Efficiency of the spells now depends on the materials of my golems instead of on my not magic-optimized body. Also, my race has only one magic affinity, golemancy. That means as I acquire better materials, one day I may be able to cast magic without penalties by using a golem." "A grand dream. If you provide the lord with this-" "Please do not tell anybody who made this golem or I''ll wipe it and leave immediately. If it is as revolutionary as you said, I have all the more reason to not want to be roped in by anyone." "Hahh, I''ll comply. So, I assume this was the solution you mentioned, please explain what instructions it takes from me and my apprentices and I''ll get your cores and money." "If someone, as you did, holds the emblem in front of its core, it will cast regeneration on them. If its reserves run low, it will stop and go back into idle mode. It will only react again if you recharge it sufficiently." Dad''sal patted the golem on its head and it dropped back on the table, folded its legs and then stopped. "If you feel healed again, just pat it. Also, it will return to where it was placed. Only you or me are recognized as allowed to move it. If you want to do so, pat it while it idles." He demonstrated both behaviors by moving the golem, without and then with a pat on the head. "Oh, it tries to claw at anyone besides us that touches it without your emblem." After a nod from Dad''sal, Dorwin patted the golem and moved it away. He returned with two small pouches and handed both to Dad''sal. "Here are five small cores, as promised, as well as some money. What information do you require? Oh, and on another note, if you make a larger golem, please feel free to use one of the bays here. I promise to keep my apprentices away." Dad''sal gave him a gratefull nod. "I need something that can invade a persons body without causing harm. I am thinking either an extremely fine powder or a liquid would be best." "Hmm, I can actually think of a powder that has that ability, however, it is very hard to get because it can clog important blood vessels if too much aggregates. It''s known by the rather cheesy name of heartstopping curse." Dorwin vanished once more after signaling Dad''sal to wait and returned with a folded and sealed note a bit later. "Bring this to Uhlberds Alchemy. I think he has a few ingredients for sale as well." Dad''sal bowed respectfully and left the workshop. "Well, if it isn''t the baby reptile. Hello, Mr. Lizdog." The same Arborean female as before greeted Dad''sal as he walked in. He asked her for a talk with Uhlberd and then waited for a few minutes. "Already back, spirit walker? What can I help you with? You are lucky that I just finished a batch or you could have waited for up to an hour." Uhlberd walked into the room. "I want this and the coin in here should cover it. At least according to old man Earthwood." Dad''sal handed him the note and coin pouch. "Hoh, you also learned golemancy? Interesting. Come with me, let''s see this important ingredient he needs." Uhlberd opened the note as they walked out of the room - and froze. "Do you know what he wants with. That." Uhlberd frowned at Dad''sal. "That''s actually for me. We made a deal, I got some cores, information and the coin I just gave you. I need it to create personal golems for me and my friends." "I can''t even begin to imagine what you would do with such a golem, but if even old Earthwood trusts you enough to write this, I''ll get you the bottles." They walked into and then through the stores warehouse. In front of a sealed door, Dad''sal had to wait until Uhlberd returned with 5 small, expensive looking glass bottles that had faintly glowing wax seals. Inside, a pitch black powder could be seen. "As promised, 5 bottles of heartstopping curse. Could you tell me what you plan to do with it, at least vaguely if it is secret?" After telling Uhlberd roughly what he planned, he got a very strange but calmer look from him. With the bottles stored away, Dad''sal moved to The Armory and asked Alfrigg to make small round metal pieces that encased the golem cores instead of a weapon. Alfrigg complied and returned half an hour later with 5 silver discs complete with multiple holes that formed a ring close to their edges and each with a core embedded in the middle. Dad''sal opted to return to the golem workshop as he hoped to find the last pieces he needed there. After saying hello, he headed for the scrap room and acquired an assortment of leather strips. Taking out one of the discs, he placed it next to a bottle of powder and started creating his golem. he only included the disc and the powder, without the bottle. Then, he added instructions and carefully unsealed the bottle by tapping the wax that formed into a ball and plopped off. "Rise." On his command, the complete content of the bottle formed a sphere above it. "Disperse." The sphere seemingly disappeared. "Collect." The sphere reappeared again. Dad''sal took a deep breath. "Inject and spread." The sphere shot towards his chest and then seemed to melt into it. Dad''sal waited but felt nothing. He summoned his alchemy set, took the knife and cut his finger. Immediately, he could feel the now familiar effects of regeneration magic on him. With the wound closed, he picked up the empty bottle and held it close to his chest. "Eject and return." A faint stream of black connected his chest and the bottle and with its end, the bottle was full of black powder again. He resealed it by pressing the wax ball on the bottle, causing it to retake its former position. Afterwards, Dad''sal modified the instruction set to remove the test commands and add a bit more before finishing the golem.
(please state a name for this golem)
A strange golem created by Dad''sal Lizdog.
Durability: 15/15Power capacity: 30/30
"Reganites." With a strip of leather inserted through two of the holes at its edge, the golem turned into a simple silver amulet with a glowing orange gem in its middle that he placed on his chest before commanding the powder back into his body. With four more golems in the same style currently strapped to his belly alongside the bottles with their powdery parts, Dad''sal left the workshop. He headed towards the port and then turned right after the town gate. Outside of the city, he took his newbie weapon token and commanded it to transform after placing it on the ground. He marveled at the effects it got before picking it up, feeling as it seemingly brimmed with increased power. He once more checked its description and started laughing. After half an hour, Dad''sal headed back towards the gate with a big grin. Faint specks of blood speckled his shirt. A few shallow bite marks on his ankles currently healed with a visible pace. And with a satisfied pat to its handle, he honored the trusty weapon on his belt before once more checking its stats and then his own as he marched towards the plaza.
Newbie Bedpan of Battle
A short iron bedpan with thicker than usual walls. Can be filled with solid fuel to slowly provide heat.
Battle-enabled: Works like a blunt weapon in using its weight and sturdiness for crushing hits. Adding fuel grants additional fire damage. Newbie Weapon: Cannot deal damage apart from special effects, indestructible, cannot be stolen.
Weight: 3Sturdiness: 2Durability: unlimitedAura: 1
Basics
First NameLast NameDefault Name
Dad''salLizdog
ClassLevelExperience
Bedpan Badass125%
Status
HealthSatietyHealth/s
120/120Sated0,5
Mana
80/80
Mana/s
0,25
Attributes
StrengthEnduranceConstitution
201210
CapacityGraspAgility
857
Weight LimitAura Limit
3213
So according to my info gathering, vials are usually straight and often thin while phials are more intricate and/ or bulbous Chap. 5 - The Allrounder So, with at least a bit of foresight I could have mentioned that this and the next chapter will be delayed, but I forgot, sorry. I''m currently studying for my last exam this term, so I''ll probably take until thursday at least to complete the next chapter. After that, though, I plan to take some time to note down all my side characters etc. and then start releasing more rapidly again, hopefully. On another note, does anyone have a more general/better term for "physical damage carry" in moba terms? Otherwise the next chapter might just be "The Carry" and I''m not sure if that is commonly understood for what I mean.
Jill took her time looking at the map. She planned a route and made a few screenshots. Then, she left for her first destination. She headed towards a street close to the one Dad''sal was currently walking in. In front of a shop with unusually large windows that revealed leather-wrapped mannequins decorated with all manner of clothes, Jill had to stop herself from running away after pulling down the pants of the noble that blocked the door, just because it would not leave a good impression on her first teacher. Instead, she opted for checking out the clothes in the windows and the wares of the other shops nearby. Eventually, the man left and Jill walked inside.
Grand Couture
Clothes for all occasions
"Helloo, do you have bread?" Jill marched to the counter. "Ah, I''m sorry. You probably want a bit further down the street, I sell clothes as you can see." The reed-barked Arborea tailoress with two large, feathery leaves as headdress looked at her visitor gently. Jill stared at her silently until she grew visibly uncomfortable. Then she blinked, grinned and walked the rest of the way to the counter. "Greetings, I am forging my own destiny and want to learn tailoring. I already know the basics. Would you be so kind as to teach me? Of course I will work for you in exchange." This time, the tailoress stared. She shook her head before tilting her head at Jill. "You''re a strange one, aren''t you? Well, as per the agreement, I will teach you tailoring. If you know the basics, you can help by cutting the pieces for some of the less expensive clothes as payment." "Alrighty!" Jill walked right past the tailoress while checking the name above her head, "Gran Lightbark". The tailoress followed her with a raised eyebrow. "Take this black linen here and the cutouts there. I have an order over twenty servant tunics, four of them are already done, so cut out sixteen more sets. You need these arm pieces twice per set." Gran supervised how Jill was doing, but left after the first set of cut pieces with an appreciating nod. While Jill worked, she opted for stitching together a grand cape with fur trimming before starting on the linen parts Jill had already finished. They worked in silence until Gran commented on Jills fast work. "You said you know the basics. As I see it, that''s an understatement. You cut as fast as me, with no large difference in quality too." "It''s true though, I only know the basics. I think it might be an advantage of us new souls that makes our bodies do more exactly what we mean it to do."
--- In a video published before Utopia Unchained''s launch: A man in casual clothes sits on a sofa. At the bottom of the video a label declares him as "Jim Zipper, Balancing Department". He starts talking with a wave of his hand. "When we set the parameters for Utopia Unchained''s creation, we wanted to appeal to more than just the usual gamers. So what we did, was to make your real skills matter. That means several things." The video cuts to a baseball player preparing to swing. "We want to give you reasons to play that are more than entertainment and learning to stitch. The first change we made was for agility." As the baseball player swings, he is replaced by a leather-clad warrior with a longsword, in the exact same position. The baseball is likewise replaced by a small armored beast with a maw full of teeth that takes up almost half of its body. "In our game, agility only lets you move faster. It doesn''t, however, give you any different perception of time than all the other players." The warrior continues splitting the leaping monsters. "If you want to train your reaction speed for that championship, why not do so with us, on an epic quest to exterminate monsters." The video continues with different examples. A biathlete readies her rifle while sliding into a kneeling position. Mid-slide, she is replaced by an amphibian ranger, her rifle by a bow and the target by a large bird that shoots towards her. An assassin sneaks up on his target, dagger in hand. As the target turns around, he strikes at the open throat just to get replaced by a table tennis player deflecting a ball... The video switches back to the developer. "On the other hand, we wanted to get other hobbies and activities inside the game." The video splits. On the left side, a researcher is dissecting a fish with fascination apparent on his face. The scene is replaced by the same man, now in black linen and with an array of vials in belts strapped to his body. The fish and analytical equipment make way for a contraption made of beakers, burners and flasks alongside a large scale. On the right side, a young woman meditates next to a lake. At first, only her clothing and minor details in the background are replaced by a long robe or strange plants. Then, a fireball appears in front of her and starts dancing around her figure. "For those that like stories, we made sure to set the game into a multi-faceted world with dozens of races, all with their own backstories to discover." The video shows the developer again, next to him a series of different avatars replaces itself faster and faster. From the generic pointy-eared and lean elves over beastmen and treants, the row continues with variations of muscled, dark-skinned elves, kelp-bearded dwarves and half-elementals - part stone, part man - and many more, too fast to make out. "One last point of warning though. We have deliberately set system assist to be on the rare side of effects. Just because you have a high level in fencing won''t mean you will hit where you want. On the other hand, if you strike correctly, no matter your skill level, you will hit. There is neither accuracy nor dodge chance obtainable in stats. At most, you can hope for an effect like incorporeality. This also applies to other things. Without the correct procedures, your alchemy level will mean nothing. If you can already sew, you can go straight to producing high quality clothing if you find the right materials." While the video darkens, the developer seems to recall something. "Oh, and if you plan to create your own class, you will probably receive even less system assist."
Jill made a note to tell Gunfrey about their discovery, since he usually complained about how an attack should have hit if not for his precision stat. If he didn''t hit now, Jill would be sure to remind him about the fact that it was his very own precision that misfired. "What are you so happy about?" Gran curiously looked at Jill. "Oh it''s just that I have to remind one of my friends about something." Jill continued cutting and grinning. "With your attitude earlier, I fear for their mood after you are done with them." Gran continued as well. "Splendid job. What aspect of tailoring do you want to get into first?" Gran folded the last tunic and added it to the stack of already finished pieces. "Could you tell me about them? I plan to create both practical clothing - fur coats and the like - as well as pieces that give off a certain vibe, like nobility or danger." "Danger...? Oh well, which aspect do you want to get into first? I can think of fitting skills for both." Gran stopped Jill from answering the first part with a wave of her hand and then tilted her head at her. "Since the climate is currently mild, I''d like the second one." "Alright, here you go." Gran raised her hand at Jill.
Warning: Gran Lightbark is trying to teach you Tailoring ¨C Perception Modification
Accepting this skill as provided will take you on the path to a custom class. You will be locked out of acquiring a normal class and will have to fill the 4 other skill slots currently available to you to acquire your class.
Tailoring - Crafting Base Skill
Tailoring is the art of creating clothes and other apparel from fabrics, soft leather and pelt. Now go forth and create that princess glitter dress of your dreams! Selected starting subskill: -> Perception modification: While working on clothes, modify what others see them as.
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
"Thank you. Could you show me a demonstration?" Jill accepted the skill before making puppy eyes at Gran. "I have no idea how I should best go about using this." "I guess I could give this cape some extra love..." Gran took up the cape she had been working on and started to stitch a few small, yellow symbols that contrasted its vivid green fabric. With each symbol the cape seemed more beautiful and lively, even though the symbols may not have been what Jill liked personally. "It''s not important what you do to it, as long as it fits what you want roughly. The most important point is that modifying its visual perception can only be done while working on it. For maximum effect, you should use it as soon as possible. If you plan to learn making fabrics, you can already use it then for even greater effects." She grabbed the cape at a different side to continue. "Think about what you want others to see when they see it, what mood it should create. Then bring that into every stitch." Gran continued working on the cape while Jill gave her thanks and goodbyes. Jill returned to the plaza and then through the gate to the port. There, she searched for a warehouse that was currently getting new wares - workers carried crates off a large ship - and approached one of the overseers. "Yo, I am forging my own destiny. I''d like to help you guys move around crates." The overseer blinked at her. "Uuuh, sure. I guess. Just grab them on the ship and bring them in here, sorting is done later." Suddenly getting a free worker, a young female at that, did perplex the man quite a bit. However, both the use of Jills inventory and her presence caused his work to speed up greatly, much to his satisfaction. The other workers were all trying to impress their temporary companion that easily sucked crates into her black cloud sphere before skipping towards the warehouse. After half an hour of moving bubblestone crates, Jill groaned and headed for the overseer. "Excuse me, I may need another work to get what I want, do you require help filling crates somewhere?" "Of course. Bob! Get her to Brend, no dallying, or I''ll leave your punishment for the others to decide." The addressed worker was happy because of the unexpected break and gulped at the possible consequences. As such, he immediately hurried to place his current crate where it belonged before motioning Jill to follow him while he fell into a light jog. After Bob introduced her to Brend in another warehouse and explained her purpose, Jill got a short introduction into how she had to pack what items before she was handed a carpenter''s hammer and a pouch of nails fit for the bubblestone. She grabbed a few pelts, stacked them into a crate and sucked it into her inventory after nailing it shut. Like this, another thirty minutes passed before Jill got what she came here for:
Notice: You have created a new skill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will take up one of your 4 free skill slots.
New skill ¨C Player Exclusive Skill
Using crates to increase the amount of things you can carry in your inventory may make those things harder to get at, but you most likely won¡¯t ever need a pack mule or cart. Dedicated crater: There¡¯s now a new hole slot in your inventory that accepts 100 crates of the same type but no other items, crates in this slot can be retrieved with a thought Orderly Crate Storage: crates in your inventory stack one denomination higher than their size allows
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Boxing." Dong. "Crating?" Beep. Jill continued working for a bit before trying to return the hammer and the nails. However, Brend shoved them back into her hands. "Keep those, as a memento if not for anything else, you earned them. We have enough of these and thanks to you, our men will get more free time today." "Thank you, I''ll leave then." Jill headed back into the city and then towards its middle. On her way, she adjusted the nail pouch and its belt so it hid her inventory sphere from most people. Slowly, the magnificent stone keep of the city lord came into full view. There where no extra walls around it, just one large building with thick walls and little towers at the very top that overshadowed its flat roof. After she approached one of the guards at the gate, Jill saluted and then, alongside grand gestures, said in a solemn tone: "Good sir, I am forging my own destiny. Would you be so kind as to grant me entry? I would very much like to discuss learning with a very important member of your keep. Do tell, where may I find the magnificent Harry Nettlebark?" The guard, his posture gradually turned even more dignified than Jills, basically deflated at her last words. His companion looked at them for a second before bursting into laughter. Grudgingly, the first guard straightened again before turning his head towards the inside. "Kid! Get your lazy butt out here and show this boisterous lady to old man Nettlebark." Out of an inconspicious door in the side of the gate, a young Arborean boy made his way towards them. He waved at Jill wordlessly before speeding into the keep. A few meters in, he looked back until Jill approached, then turned and ran again. In a corner of the keep, they arrived at a simple coral door. The boy motioned at the door before leaving Jill in the same speed he had led her around. Jill knocked. After some shuffling, an old Arborean clad in colourful linen opened the door. "You got the wrong corner of the castle, girl. The young lord''s chambers are in the west. On the other hand, he won''t even like you, so just get lost." Nettlebark turned around to close the door. Swiftly, Jill placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please wait, I am forging my own destiny, I need your help or at least directions." The old tree man stopped. "And what makes you think I even have the knowledge to help you recklessly fight hazard-like monsters or get rich by forcing yourself onto some prince, hm?" "You''re still in your position." Jills comment made him laugh and wave her in. "So, tell me, what do you need from this old court jester?" Nettlebark flopped into one of two arm chairs. "Aura amplification or something similar." Jill plopped into the other arm chair. "So you want to go after the young lords after a-" Jill started releasing her specter side. The black smoke tendrils covering all but her glowing red eyes made the jester scramble backwards in his arm chair until Jill stopped and was back to normal after concentrating for a while. "Don''t put me in the same boat as those. I need a stronger aura to properly introduce any enemy my team encounters to raw, primal fear." Jills attitude wasn''t easy going anymore. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."What in the world... no, never mind, I am in the wrong here. It is true, as you guessed. Without illusions I''d have long been replaced. With how you worded it one of the few things I know will be what you want. If you show me that again, I''ll consider it a deal. You might just make for a new story in my repertoire. Ah, also, could you tell me a story from your world? I assume there are childrens stories where you originally come from?" "Only if you lock the door and promise not to tell anyone what I am about to show you." Jill focused him with a stern gaze. "By the life I had thought lost, I vow to take your secret to the grave." Nettlebark looked completely serious, not even diminished by his colorfull attire. "Oh? I need ten minutes to return to normal. You expecting any visitors?" Jill stood up to give the jester a better view while he locked the door. Then, Jill released her specter side without holding back and closed her eyes. As the apparition separated from her main body, Nettlebark stared at it in wonder. "What are you...? No, I said nothing of answering my questions, sorry." "I''m both, more I won''t say." While the jester focused on the specter, Jill started training her eyes. Over the course of 10 minutes, she managed to open her eyes a little while her specter''s eyes only twitched. While it wasn''t yet usable, she was happy that she could control both bodies seperately already, however faint it may be. After Jill was in a single body again, they sat down to be more comfortable while Jill started telling Nettlebark stories from the real world. A few old fables later, the jester pointed his hand at her. "I never thought I''d be doing this someday."
Harry Nettlebark is trying to teach you Illusion Magic ¨C Perception Amplification
This will occupy one of your 3 currently free skill slots.
Illusion Magic - Magic Base School
Illusion magic is all about manipulating others. Make them see what isn¡¯t there and miss what is obvious, both with their eyes and other senses. Success in changing perception of something is often related to the original appearance. Making a monster more threatening is easier than making a small pet appear threatening. Selected starting subskill: -> Presence Amplification: Increase what other beings feel about you explosively in an area around you
I accept this skill.I do not accept.
"Thank you. I''ll be on my way again then. Maybe you''ll have a real story to tell about me somed-." Someone knocked at the already unlocked door and entered. "Hey Harry, Elen wants to hear ano- Oh wow, hello there." A young Arborean male, "Acacius Strongbark", in noble clothing barged into the room. "Excuse me, I didn''t know you had a visitor." He turned towards Jill and took her hand. "Fair maiden, become my generals wife!" "I''m sorry, before my time as their personal story teller, the children of the lord only ever listened to romantic stories about eternal love and perfect couples. He must have thought you would perfectly fit our esteemed general. I hope you won''t hold a grudge? I am sure the young lord won''t hold it against you either." "It''s fine, he gave me the chance to test your skill, I''m totally satisfied." In contrast to the apologetic Nettlebark, Jill skipped along towards the exit with a big grin on her face. "Will you get into trouble because of me? As my teacher, I won''t let that happen, you know?" Jill got a bit more serious. "No no, one shivering noble is enough for my taste, although the story will surely entertain the young Elen. I just hope he comes out of that closet soon." "Just tell him I will come visit if he stays there." And before Nettlebark could respond, Jill slipped by the guards and outside of the keep. Jill returned to the port once more. "Hey guys, I''m back. Can I throw in some more work and get payed in old crates? I need some 1 meter large ones and some as small as you have them." By now, Brend was somewhat used to her strange demands and just confirmed her with a nod before showing her what needed to be moved. Now with her skill, Jill was even faster as she could stack up to ten times her former amount into her inventory if it was crates or boxes. In just half an hour, Jill emptied half a warehouse and deposited everything neatly on the ship it was destined for. Afterwards, she took a short break and received her first crates, they looked as if they would fall apart after one or two more trips. For her purpose, however, they were perfect. She walked a bit to the side to not affect anyone and started using perception amplification in short bursts. Every time, she tried directing what she felt as the spell released towards her hand that was inside of one of the crates. Afterwards, she pulled out her hand and slammed the crate shut. Little by little, she managed to use the spell not from her center but from her hand. When she felt she could reliably do so, she returned and worked some more. Jill walked out of the warehouse she had last worked in with a big grin. In her inventory was a stack of ten one by one meter crates and, in her crate slot, 50 small crates. These had apparently once held small strongboxes and the like for better stacking but were sorted out because of old age. She searched for another empty spot and found one between the city wall and a warehouse. There, she resumed her behaviour from earlier: Presence amplification inside a crate before slamming the same crate shut as fast as she could. With no luck after another thirty minutes, Jill changed her plan. This time, she felt for the spell and tried to keep it in the state it was in while she activated it as long as possible. And that finally brought her the result she had wanted.
Notice: You have created a new subskill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will occupy one of your 2 free skill slots.
New skill ¨C Subskill of Crating
As an expert packager, you can now even package spells in crates. Remote activation: crates with spells give you a general sense of where they are and can be activated remotely. No saving power: Activating a stored spell costs power, storing it as well. Out of control: spell-filled crates that are opened or destroyed activate automatically. Without sufficient energy, the stored spell will dissipate.
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Spell Crating." Beep. Using her skill, she captured presence amplification inside one of the small crates, noting as it now possessed a faint yellow outline. As she focused it, she was surprised to see its properties appear.
Small Crate of Presence Amplification
A small old crate filled with presence amplification by Jill.
Weight: 1Durability: 2/10Aura: 1
She noted to never let others see it before it was too late and pulled out the rest of the small crates from her crate slot. She grinned as the loaded crate still fit in her crate slot. Jill closed her inventory and with a thought, the crate was in her hand again, ready for being released. As a last test, Jill focused on a small swarm of birds that used one of the warehouse roofs as a resting place. With a quick sprint, she threw her crate at them. Too early, she started releasing her specter side, however, as she triggered the trapped spell shortly before it hit the roof, most of the birds still flew away as they cawed in terror. For her last skill, Jill took out one of her large crates and used her sacrifical knife to carve out two holes in a wall, around a fifth of its height from the base. She flipped the crate over her head and looked out of the holes. They were way too small to really see anything. Jill used her knife again and widened and combined the holes into a small window. Slowly, a crate moved about in the port''s backstreets. Whenever people were looking at it, it would remain still. Whenever nobody could be seen or heard, the crate started to move. As this type of crate was very common and also looked old, nobody investigated it. There may have been some that saw it moving, but they retreated instead, not knowing what might be inside the crate. Stories were told of the cursed crate that followed behind workers, just to be dismissed as tales by others. That was, until they encountered the moving crate themselves and screamed in panic at the thought of the over-exaggerated stories told by their companions. One shivering sailor even told of the hungry crate, as he had heard munching sounds coming from an unusual and lonely old crate. Another told of red eyes that gleamed in the darkness before the crate came into view, fanged maw wide open. Jill even stayed inside the crate to eat and drink. Despite how stupid her idea sounded even to her, she wanted this skill. To potentially increase her chances, Jill finally packed away her crate and headed to one of the warehouses. Through a side door, she entered unseen before popping out her crate once more in a corner. With the sharp increase in people around her crate and some more time, Jill finally got what she wanted and at the same time, her class.
Notice: You have created a new subskill
If you choose to acquire it now, this skill will occupy your last free skill slot.
New skill - Subskill of Crating
One with your crate, one with the world. Crating yourself, you melt into the surroundings. However, you may have been too successful in hiding. One with the crate: your current crate will become your personal crate, exclusively used for this subskill and summonable One with the world: under your crate, you are hidden from view while your crate is ignored by those that see it Hidden too well: Energy does not regenerate while hidden
(To accept now, please name the skill)Don''t acquire this skill but remember it.I don''t want this skill.
"Cardboard Camouflage." Beep. While the crate dematerialized, Jill viewed her new class.
Custom Class created!
Forging your own destiny, you have acquired or created 5 skills. A new class has been created from your skill set.
Note: You have just filled your last free skill slot. While learning or creating a new skill is possible for anyone, having a free skill slot makes this process infinitely easier.
Note: For using a custom class, you will recieve one new free skill slot every 5 levels.
Note: If you are offered a secret class, you may instead choose to advance your custom class in rarity, adding free skill slots and opportunities to set strength-weakness pairs and/or strengths.
Your custom class will have the following benefits:
Illusion tailor: clothes you create are 10% stronger presence modified Double amplification: Presence amplification also amplifies the perception of your clothes Mainly original: 10% easier to create new skills Triple experience: Crates near you or in your inventory slowly mend and improve, eventually reaching the limit their materials allow You may set 1 pair of strengths and weaknesses
(Please name your class to accept)I decline. (Usable once, resets your skills completely)
"Jill of all boxes." Beep. "Add another crate slot to Crating, add penalty to stack size of uncrated items." Beep.
Class modified:
-> one more Crating crate slot -> 10% less stack size for uncrated items, rounded up
Yup.Nope, let me try again.
Jill grinned and left the warehouse in her new crate. Shuffling through the workers, they looked at her crate, but nobody looked at it strangely and nobody screamed in fear of the cursed crate stories. She startled quite a few of the passersby as she canceled the crate. Jill was aware that the others would probably need more time than her, so she headed for an empty corner of the port. There, she pulled out the small crates and converted all of them into spell-filled ones. Afterwards she holed up in an unused warehouse room with blurry windows and very old and weathered coral planks. She released her specter side and continued training her eye coordination. Despite her earlier success, she didn''t improve any more and instead returned into one body as soon as she could to instead train her aura amplification. She didn''t cast it repeatedly, instead, Jill opted for carefully releasing each spell, holding them as long as she could while moving the spell around. At the end of the day, Jill returned to the plaza while she looked over her stats.
Basics
First NameLast NameDefault Name
Jill
ClassLevelExperience
Jill of all boxes125%
Status
HealthSatietyHealth/s
90/90Sated0,55
Energy
100/100
Energy/s
10
Attributes
StrengthEnduranceConstitution
12911
CapacityGraspAgility
101011
Weight LimitAura Limit
2120