Does it sound like I'm an addict? Well, I don't care.
I kept training.
* * *
<Good morning, sir.> Daggers said nine hours later.
<Morning.>
She looked at the big sword in my hands. <Compensating, sir?>
I smiled. <Nope, it's just how I wake up every day.>
<It is good you are not ashamed to admit you are into gabat's giant swords, sir. I would never have thought.>
<Well, Daggers, I'd never have thought you'd think of these naughty replies, either! I'll make a fun woman out of you yet!>
<I second Marbareus, sir.>
<Huh?>
<Quote, not in your wildest dreams, unquote. Sir.> It made me laugh.
I didn't know why she was in such a good mood, but I'd take it. Maybe because of my speech the day before? Women liked stuff like that.
We waited for Eternal before moving on. He did little damage, but it was still some damage, and we were almost pals now.
<Alright, people,> I said. <First business of the day is checking this floor for new gabats, then finding out what we have on the second floor.>
<Yes, sir,> said Daggers.
<Actually, I think the First Lord might be a little worried-> Eternal began to say.
<Nonsense,> I interrupted. <Even if he is, just think about the big surprise you'll give him when you go back stronger.>
The vampire's eyes widened. <Do you think he'll like it?>
<I'm sure,> I lied. <He'll be positively thrilled. You are his important apprentice after all, aren't you?>
<Well... I like to think so.>
<Great. Let's go.>
All the gabats had reappeared and we took our time annihilating them. After discovering the right way to do it, it became almost too easy.
As my agility increased by one, I realized this was a nice hunting area; if the upper floor was the same, it would be great for leveling up.
<Daggers, take extra care about traps,> I said when we got to the ramp. <Eternal, wait here until I say it's safe to go up.>
<Roger.>
<Okay.>
Anything could be waiting for us. Sooner or later we would at least find the gabats with four swords which had killed the ghouls, and I was not in a hurry to fight them.
The access ramp was about ten meters long, but Daggers found no less than twenty traps on it. And I found one. I felt damn proud of myself for differentiating the small rock from the ones nearby while Daggers was disarming another one.
Trait received: Scout
Detecting two highly concealed traps has shown that you are mindful of details in your surroundings.
» +1 perception when detecting hidden things, people or illusions
Scout level increased to 2 (+1)
Being a Legendary Spotter means you are a better scout.
» +2 perception when detecting hidden traps, people or illusions
It felt like forever since I had received a new trait. Which was it, negotiator? And why was it saying I had detected two traps when in fact I had only detected one?
It took me some time, but I remembered the trap in the prison. The game had a long memory.
Detecting the trap didn't mean I could disarm it but Daggers was happy enough to keep raising her trap disarming skill by herself.
Another corridor was ahead of us, this one about eight meters high. I called Eternal up and we began exploring the floor.
<What do you think, Eternal? Some nice hunting, unsure of what to expect, with death waiting around every corner.>
<I... Like it?>
<Sure you do! That's what being a man is all about!>
<Yeah...>
A tall metal structure was in the center of the chamber. It was like a soccer goal, and a gabat was hanging upside down from it by its feet. Its body was wrapped in its wings.
Instead of a single rook gabat, there were two in front of the upside down gabat. Well, at least they looked like rooks since they acted the exact same way.
Still six gabats, but a different setup.
There was no need to describe the scene to the party. The corridor was straight and both Daggers and Eternal could see what lay ahead.
<What should we do?> Eternal asked.
<First we kill the pawns, then we think about the rest.>
Without waiting for a reply I threw four fireballs and killed two pawns. The third one didn't provide any difficulty for us when he got closer and the rooks didn't attack at once.
<Easy. What do you think, Daggers? Can you dodge two rooks in a fight?>
<I would rather not, sir.>
<Well, it's a good thing you don't need to. They have about four hundred HP each, which means I can kill one by myself before he gets to us. Then you go there and attack the other one. Sounds good?>
<What if they are not rooks? What if the one upside down attacks?> Eternal asked.
<Then we deal with it.>
I knew I was being reckless, but after all that training I just wanted to kill things as fast as possible.
Soon my four fireballs flew again. The rook tried to dodge.
I had not shown my path correction ability to my colleagues but now was a bad time to worry about that. If the two rooks got to us, it could mean our collective deaths. So I corrected the path and all spells hit.
Both rooks opened their wings and ran in my direction. I had enough time to create a new fire morb and finish one.
Its corpse fell hard on the floor, and Daggers passed by me in shadow mode, running to the remaining rook.
Watching Daggers fight was beautiful. She was fast and flexible, dodging attacks as if they were nothing, moving constantly around the gabat to make its life harder. Eternal and I did what we could to help and it didn't take long for the rook to die.
The moment the body hit the ground, the gabat hanging on the metal bar opened its eyes and its wings. Two swords were in its scabbards, both the same size as the rooks' ones. It dropped from the metal bar, doing a half flip before landing upright on the ground. The two arms on each side crossed to draw the swords from the opposite sides.
<Watch out, it has a long reach,> Daggers said before she attacked.
I began creating fire morbs. <Let's magic the hell out of it, Eternal.>
<Okay.>
If Daggers had been great before, now she really shined. There was a moment when she simply twirled horizontally between the two greatswords swinging at her from opposite directions, like a damn movie scene. My fireballs helped and even my almost useless vampire friend hit two spells out of five.
Outside of Daggers little fighting world, there was not much adrenaline to be had, though. After receiving little more than five hundred damage, the gabat died with a pained growl.
<Congrats,> I said after I saw Daggers HP go up by forty and her stamina by ten. She had just leveled up her constitution. <Care to do any tanking now?>
<Care to do more damage than me, sir?> She said a little winded. Her stamina had gone down to almost half.
<Whoa, big ego there. Let's rest and clear this floor. I bet my right hand that there are twelve cave chambers with this exactly gabats composition in them.>
Fortunately, they didn't take the bet. Instead of twelve, there were twenty-four chambers on that floor.
It took us hours to clear it completely, but we did it eventually and went to the third floor without any issues.
In the first chamber of the third floor, we found a pawn, two rooks, two knights – the one with two swords, which had been upside down –, and one which I believed to be a bishop gabat, going by the names up until now. I quickly disposed of the pawn.
The rooks were standing and looking at us. The knights were upside down on metal structures and the bishop was standing on a metal bench
in front of the goal post.
<Now, that's tricky. The two knights will probably attack right after the rooks die, and we only have one Daggers.>
<What do we do?> Eternal asked.
<We attack, obviously. As soon as I figure out how.> We sat and I put my brains to work.
The knights we had fought before only attacked when the rooks died, which made things easier. Sadly, Daggers could only dodge a single gabat at a time, and I couldn't tank even one of them.
In other words, as soon as a pair started attacking, we had to dispose of one of them as fast as possible, before both of them could kill Daggers.
My best plan involved me killing one rook and letting Daggers almost solo kill the second one. It would allow me to be prepared to quickly kill one of the knights when they attacked. She would then kill the second knight almost by herself and we could work on the bishop with my morbs ready.
But if Daggers fought a rook and a knight by herself, with a little help from me after I finished creating my four morbs; and if the bishop attacked right after the second knight died; that would mean Daggers running out of stamina before the end of the fight.
I ran through multiple scenarios in my mind until I decided on a genial plan that only years of gaming made me think of, even though I had already used it in Valia: hit and run.
That way, even if the knights felt the rooks' deaths from far away, we would still have time to prepare and even rest a little. It was also true in case the bishop felt the knights' deaths.
We decided to use the last cave on the second floor as our fighting arena; it gave us both time to prepare in case the knights came for us and room for Daggers to fight. Eternal and I waited there while our Blackguard went to get us some opponents.
It didn't work.
<They do not pursue me, sir,> she said when she entered our cave chamber. <They move when I get into the chamber, but as soon as I leave they go back to their positions.>
I sighed theatrically.
<Once again the destiny of mankind falls on my shoulders. I'll go, milady, but wait for me here. I'll be back for you.> I bowed mockingly and went to fulfill my destiny.
The gabats were in the same place as before.
<Hey, dumbass. Just stay still while I kill you from here, ok?> I threw my fireballs on one of the rooks, took the necessary second to be able to throw a fifth one and kill it, then ran like hell. The other rook didn't stop coming at me at the chamber's threshold.
I got to the chamber where Daggers and Eternal were waiting and the rook was easily killed there.
<Now we wait a few seconds and see if the knights are coming for us,> I said as I created more morbs.
They did. The first one was received by fireballs and Dagger's shadow skill, dying instantly. The second one didn't take much longer. I replenished my fire morbs and we all waited for the bishop, but it never came.
<I gotta say, I like killing these huge guys!>
<I agree, sir.>
<Good. That went great. Now rest, then let's get ourselves some bishop fur.>
<Hmm... Jack?> Eternal called.
<Yes?>
<How do you change the fireballs direction?>
I had dreaded this moment. Telling him this would give him information about me that Marbareus might find useful. Yes, we were hunting together now and I kind of liked the silent coward guy, but if he had to choose between the vampire and me, I'm pretty sure he would choose his idol.
However, I wasn't about to let Marbareus get between my me and other people. Something nagged at my mind when I thought that, but I couldn't put my finger on it and let it go.
<I'm a level eleven controller; it allows me to change my spells paths for a maximum of forty-eight degrees.>
<Wow!>
<Controller? What is that, sir?> Daggers asked.
<It's a trait that allows magic to happen, kind of.>
<How?!> Eternal asked. <It should be level two at most, by now. Wait, are you a cheater? Teach me!>
I laughed. <No cheating, man. I just got lucky with a title.>
<A title gave you nine points in a trait? Which one? How do I get it? Please tell me!> He was a little too excited.
<Whoa, calm down. I'd rather not tell you the title, sorry, but trust me when I tell you that you cannot get it the same way I did. The description said that I only got it because I was the first one to do what I did.>
<For real?> He was visibly disappointed.
<Yeah, sorry.>
<Which is your other core, then? What does it do? I'm a little unsure on what else to core when I get to level ten, there isn't enough information about the traits on the Earth information boards.>
<Huh? What do you mean by core?>
<The traits that you chose to level, you know?>
<Well, I chose to level them all.>
<Didn't your destiny spirit-> He stopped speaking midway and hit his forehead. <Of course, your destiny spirit doesn't talk to you. How do you think you level up your traits in Valia?>
<Huh... Quests? Titles? Doing the same stuff that unlocked the trait over and over again?>
<Good luck with that. Even if you found one, titles that level your traits are really rare, except for a few useless ones, like Legendary Spotter. Do you know anything at all about the trait system?>
<Looks like I don't,> I said a little annoyed. Legendary Spotter wasn't that useless. It made me a better scout!
He sighed. <Okay, listen, traits can be leveled four ways: the three ones you mentioned, plus the easier and proper way of doing it: by choosing traits as your core ones.>
<How do I->
<Don't interrupt, I'll get there. You start your life in Valia with something called a core slot, and at level ten you receive another one. Before you ask, no one knows if level twenty will give you a new one. Each of these allows you to choose a trait to become your core one. You are level ten, so you have two slots.>
<So I->
<Shush, I told you to be quiet. You can change your cores at any time, but then you'd just become a useless jack of all trades, which everybody knows is stupid in games.>
<I don't think that is actually->
<Silence!> He was intense about this explaining thing. Was he a teacher in real life? <The core traits receive one level for every seven days you travel to Valia, as long as you stay in here at least ten minutes each day.>
<What, one level per week? That's->
<Oh my gosh, just shut up already! Yes, that's absurd. People are already complaining about it, but our masters...> He meant 'V-Soft'. Heh, funny little censorship there; made me want to punch a V-Soft employee in the face. <...just repeat the same thing: 'Valians level their traits up on a year/level ratio which means fifty years to get a trait to level fifty, instead of the single year you need. You are a bunch of ungrateful Earthens that should just shut up and enjoy what you got.'>
<Ouch. Did they really say that?>
<Yes. Not using these exact words, but the meaning was pretty much the same.> He didn't rebuke me for speaking again, so I guessed class was over.
<Bastards. Damn them and damn Zenhit. Stupid piece of life.> I meant 'code'.
<Your destiny spirit does seem weird. Maybe you should pray.> The 'pray' word was an even more ridiculous replacement than V-Soft; it meant 'open a ticket', as in complain about it to V-Soft.
<Sure, it seems to be going really well for everyone who is doing that.>
<Got me.>
<So, how do I set a trait as a core?>
<Oh, right. Just think about the trait you want to core and ask the gods to do it.> He meant to will the game to do it.
I thought about what to core as I opened my character window and checked my traits.
Traits:
Adept Mage:11 + 10 [Items]
Adept Controller:11
Energizer:3
Diviner:2
Gold Digger:2
Scavenger:2
Scout:2
Antimage:1
Athlete:1
Crafter:1
Healer:1
Meditator:1
Mind Seer:1
Negotiator:1
Nitpicker:1
Shadow:1
Warrior:1
It would be pretty nice to become a better energizer. If I remembered correctly, it'd made me able to create morbs while I ran. And who knows, as it got better I might become able to amass morbs as I fought enemies in melee.
Diviner also sounded awesome at high levels: being able to feel all magic around could be really useful if I decided to venture on covert business in a mage's house.
By becoming a high-level athlete, I would be able to act more in battle; for now, my stamina was too low and I tired too fast.
Antimage, crafter, meditator... Hell, even being a high-level gold digger sounded interesting, as it might become better at higher levels and more money meant better items.
Thing is, I had wanted to be a warrior mage, but after seeing Daggers fight I had my doubts. She could do what she did because she was a specialized character and probably had spent a lot of time learning to move that way. On the other hand, the reason I could hit enemies Eternal couldn't was because of my controller trait, which was also kind of a specializing path for me.
Not only that, but I had no skill at the moment to take advantage of if I chose the warrior trait as a core.
I still wanted to be a warrior mage but for now, my choices were pretty obvious: I had to pile on the high advantage I already had with my mage and controller traits, else I would lose it. At least I liked both traits a lot and I had nothing against keeping them going up.
Or did I? The mage trait gave me bonus damage, but it wasn't that versatile. Being able to create morbs while I moved would be much, much more useful. Yeah, making energizer trait a core sounded better.
And if I didn't like it, I could just change it later.
Suspicious of Eternal's strange smile, I chose my core traits.
You have selected two new core traits:
» Adept Controller
» Energizer