Chapter 83: Follower (2/2)

[Wake] Summoning support creatures out of elemental water.

[New Cleric Specialization added: Aquatic Angel

Description: Rather than divine grace and heavenly boons, this servant of the God of Games has been inspired to hear the song of the oceans. They form bonds with leviathan creatures long dormant in the depths, and train to become accustomed to underwater movement themselves, so that these Clerics are formidable powerhouses in their own right.]

[Click here to watch a demonstration video.]

[Pre-requisites: Any Cleric at Level 15 or higher may attempt the class-change quest.]

Taking the Aquatic Angel Specialization would result in a drop in the effectiveness of the Cleric’s basic spells, but in exchange, they would gain enormous boosts to their stats, shifting from a support class to a character capable of both tanking as well as dealing out substantial damage. They had the following builds to choose from:

[Deephunter] Summon agile and fearsome sea monsters such as an ichthyosaur or a mosasaurus, for tremendous damage potential.

[Abomination] Summon terrifying beings from the darkest depths of the oceans, like nightmares made real, and manifest them to fight at your behest.

[Trident] Enter into contracts with wondrous creatures which, although not truly divine, are able to wield miraculous powers nevertheless, as paragons of their kind. Summon an aspect of them onto the battlefield to provide beneficial auras and combat support.

[‘Follower’ feature introduced: Players can now hire followers at designated areas (requires Reputation of Friendly or better).]

[Followers will have their own stats, but they won’t be able to level up on their own. Their employer will have to manually assign points in their Attributes Window.]

[Upon their death, their progress towards the next level will be reset to zero. If they had less than 10% XP when they died, their employer will have to pay a corresponding fee at a Lifestone in order to revive them.]

[You may now hire Followers at ‘Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village’]

[Reputation system active in ‘Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village’]

[New Dungeon added: ‘Grey Fjord Port: Shallows’]

There was a lot of new material this time around, but Edward isolated the main point straight away: At last, there were now Specializations for Mages! He’d no longer have to feel inferior around Spirit Swordsmen and Shadow Rogues!

Seeing the Specialization on offer though, he felt a certain sense of apprehension. Busting out a tsunami sounded beyond awesome, but giving up the other elements felt like a raw deal for a Mage.

Eleena, meanwhile, seemed delighted. She checked her current Reputation with the Frogmen Village, and found that she was Revered. Thus, she turned to address the frogmen before her:

“Croakatoa, are you serious about joining our adventuring party?”

“Yeah!” Seeing Edward’s long silence, a despairing Croakatoa was now nodding fervently.

“Then from this day forward, you’ll be my Follower!” Hands on her hips, the girl nodded as she made this decree, immensely pleased with herself.

In response, the name that floated over Croakatoa’s head, written in green text to indicate he was a friendly character, now switched to white, like the players’ own names. Alongside a scrawl of indecipherable letters in an unfamiliar language, he also gained a title:

[Landwalker—Croakatoa (SR)]