Chapter 2-53: Pleasant Surprises (1/2)

The Ki-Bound Weapon aligned and glittered with the power of becoming +II. It was short for a sword, but perfect for her current height and reach. Weapon Training for her Melee Level kicked in, and her Weapon Specialization doubled it.

An instant +4 to hit and hurt something was not to be looked down upon.

Cover Your Weakness kicked in, taking her choice of +1 to a Stat on reaching Four, and also improving her weakest mental and physical Stats by +1.

Her choice of +1 Wisdom kicked her 13 to 14, adding +1 to her Ki pool, which was at 19, most of it invested in Power Feats at the moment... or her Sword.

But that was enough to get her to 20, and when it dovetailed with her Null Shaman and Null Sorcerer Matrix Levels, brimming brightly with 17 and 11 Valences respectively, her Diamond Vajra came online, Sustained kicked in full force, and so did Sustained Effort, the Feat she instantly bought.

+1 Wisdom became +1 Constitution, too, kicking that to 25. Her lowest physical Stat was naturally Strength, sitting there at a whopping 9, despite years of working out and doing labor on the farm. This improved to 10, the same strength as an average adult human male... and her Charisma went up by 1, also to 12.

Lowest Mental Stat was Charisma, so it and Strength improved again, to 13 and 11, to no further benefit, for now...

She was still far and away the toughest ten-year-old who had ever existed on the planet.

She clicked over the levers to buy +1 to Health and Soak towards the Maximum, the 5-10 Soak of a Melee Level defaulting to 7. Likewise, Melee was her Favored Class, and she bought +1 Soak for it with the Favored Class benefit, plus expanded her Maneuver Defense pool by +2, as a Forsaken bonus.

Weapon Training +1. 3 Skill points + Intellect bonus of 4. Combat Feat. Training Feat. Bonus Forsaken Feat. Buy a Mastery Advance.

Human/2, 6 Skill Points, d8+Con Health, and a bonus Caster Level, or a bonus Feat... which would grant another Feat.

A Caster Level would vanish with Rantha Levels, so the Feats were the way to go.

Combat Genius. All Training numbers from Melee Levels increased by +1. Training Feat.

Soulsword, Combat Feat. Diamond Vajra made it possible, along with Profound Weapon.

Tremble began to chime in a reassuring tone as an additional foot of blade composed of spiritual force extended off her. Base 1-6 of damage was now 3-15 after combined advances from Ki and Soulsword.

Sun Strike, Bonus Feat. Falling Star Strike, Bonus Forsaken Human Feat. Rapid Refocus, Human Feat.

Skills. They all had to be chosen to prepare for Sage of Swords, which came online at Five. Stealth and Perception, which would boost sneak attack damage. Armorsmith, Blacksmith, Weaponsmith, Whitesmith, Bonecarver, Butcher, Athletics, Leatherworker, Woodcarver, Sense Motive, Survival.

She had no Foe Hunter or Favored Enemy bonuses, because she hadn’t been fighting anything to earn them... and sparring with her siblings didn’t count.

She had told her father she had four Classes at Three... which was totally correct. She had ten Classes at Three: the Four Combat Classes of Melee, Monk, Archer, and Scout; two NPC Classes of Expert and Vizard; and four Null Caster Classes, of Null Druid, Sorcerer, Rune Chemist, and Runesmith.

Three beginner Levels for every year she had been alive. That was so slow as to be pathetic... but they had been a wonderful ten years...

She didn’t have much in the way of defensive Gear at all. Simple Drei-Slot Bracers of Force Armor were three goldweight of materials and six goldweight of work, requiring her to make them at QL33. Five damn months to get a pair of bracelets that weren’t as good as wearing a gun vest... at least until she pumped 4 Ki into the Greater Ki-Bound and the Warding/Armory started to get built up. Lots of room for improvement, and she definitely needed all the Ki she could get. All her Twin Moon Ki went into the bracers...

The Crescent Moon and Sword Amulet she wore with her tags was only +I... but boosted her Natural AC and Saves, so worth it, and it was Ki-Bound, too. Her general Wolverine Ki went in there...

Her last true magical item was her Masspack, which would also have shocked her father if he knew how much stuff she was toting around. After all, it was worth four goldweight... over half a million dollars! The stuff she was wearing around casually could have bought the family farm easily, and was just barely the beginning of what she had to acquire.

There was a lot of alchemical stuff in there, and stuff for making more alchemical stuff from a field kit, if need be. The let-off wasn’t much, but it didn’t have to be, as it wasn’t made for transporting hundreds of pounds of loot.

It was, however, eminently suitable for rigging up surprises in the future...

She grabbed the small Assay Slate she’d made for herself, spat on it, and waited for it to read her, not resisting the scan.

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Samantha Piotrowski, NG Null Human/2, Sustained

Classes: Melee/4 (P), Archer/3, Monk/3, Scout/3, Expert/3, Vizard/3, Null Druid/3, Null Sorcerer/3, Runesmith/3, Rune Chemist/3, Minstrel/1

Strength: 11 +0

Dexterity: 18 +4

Constitution: 25 +7 (+4 Inherent)

Intellect: 18 +4

Wisdom: 14 +2

Charisma: 13 +1

Health: 51 (27 (2x (d8+7 Con) + 4 (Toughness) +20 (Spirit-Reinforced Body)