Chapter 70 (1/2)
Randidly reappeared back in his freshly dug hole, smoking slightly at the edges. He sorta thought that some of his hair was still on fire. Molten rock still clung painfully to his toes. Notifications popped up in front of him, but he was distracted by a voice.
“Oh! There you are Randidly! Thank god. I honestly feel better to find you were taking a break. I thought you were a machine there for a minute.”
Cesar, the man who was supposed to follow Randidly and connect his holes together, grinned down at him. He was a tall, well-muscled man with golden skin and blonde hair. And from the alacrity with which he got to digging, he knew he had a high stamina. It was just nothing compared to Randidly.
“Honestly,” Cesar continued. “I’ve put all my points into Endurance, to raise my stamina, but it raises so slowly. Makes me feel like it isn’t even worth it.”
Grunting, Randidly raised himself out of the hole, holding his shovel. “Try investing in Vitality instead. It will increase your regeneration, which will give you more staying power. Because right now, when you run out of stamina, it takes a long time to regenerate, right? And then you can dig for longer, which will increase your skill level, lowering the stamina consumption further.”
Leaving Cesar to his thoughts, Randidly moved forward to the next spot and dug. And again. And again. And again.
Within the hour, he had once more left Cesar far behind, and had time to view the notifications in front of him.
Congratulations! You have obtained the Blessing of the Patron of Ash. Its energy swirls through your body, slowly assimilating into you. Remaining Assimilation time: 10,000 minutes. You have gained the skill “Incinerating Bolt Lvl 1.”
Incinerating Bolt: Shoot a highly concentrated, high temperature, bolt of lava. Heat and size increase with Intelligence, Focus, and Skill level. Range and Accuracy increase with Wisdom, Control, and Skill level.
Congratulations! For surviving the first test of the Patron of Ash, you have gained 5 Lvl in Fire Resistance. Your path leads you deeper into the flames, and your Patron will not force you to proceed without protection. These will be added onto any levels you already have. This skill does not count against the skill total for your class. You do obtain PP for these Levels, as if you gained them normally.
Congratulations! You have completed the Apprentice Path. You have come under the scrutiny of a greater power, and emerged alive. But the path is long, and stretches every onwards. +50 to Health, Mana, and Stamina. +2 to all Stats. The Path “Initiate of Ash I 0/75” is available to you!
First, Randidly checked around him, and seeing no one, walked a little way out into the field he was digging in, until he reached a deserted road lined with empty houses. Monsters skittered forward, strange dog sized ant things, almost a dozen of them, racing towards him.
He raised his arm and used Incinerating Bolt.
A burning bar of lava ripped forward, catching the first ant in its thorax, punching a hole right through. The bolt continued through 4 ants completely, burning sizzling holes in them, before finally cooling so much that it simply smashed the face of the fifth ant.
Randidly raised his eyebrows impressed. It was like firing a fist sized incendiary round.
But then his expression fell.
...At the cost of 100 mana a pop, it seemed.
He fired several more, testing it out, dispatching the rest of the ants. Then he walked back to his holes, looking at what skills Lvls he had gained.
1 in Haste, 1 in Empower, 1 in Mana Strengthening, 3 in Sweep, 1 in Phantom Thrust, 1 in Spear Phantom’s Footwork, 6 in Fire Resistance, and finally 1 in Incinerating Bolt.
The mana cost was debilitative, but when he leveled it, it would be, without a doubt, his most powerful single target spell. The stupid sphinx would have been a lot more agreeable with a flaming hole in his throat.
He arrived back at the hole and picked up his shovel. According to his mental math, 10000 minutes was just under 7 days. So he wouldn’t really know what he had received as a reward until that point.
At least the bonuses from the Apprentice Path were noticeable. The 50 health, mana, and stamina especially. It took a lot of stat points to gather that much of any of those, let alone all of them.
The last decision was what his next path would be.
Watcher: 0/??, ?????, Heretic III 0/???, Oathbreaker 0/25, Fireball I 0/50, Initiate of Ash I 0/75
He immediately discarded the Initiate of Ash, shuddering. He had a sneaking suspicion that following that path would lead to more encounters with the Patron of Ash, which Randidly was not keen on at the moment, regardless of the possible rewards.
Besides, he finally reached level 30 in the Fireball skill, and unlocked a path for it. Hoping for more skills than he had gained from the Apprentice Path, he poured his leftover points into the Fireball I path. He had 13 points, and got +2 Focus and +5 Mana after putting 10 PP into it. He supposed that was a normal return, but he was still slightly disappointed. He pulled up his stats, in an effort to cheer himself up.
Randidly Ghosthound
Class: ---
Level: N/A
Health(/R per hour): 390/424 [+8] (197 [+12])
Mana(/R per hour): 132/644 (80.75)
Stam(/R per min): 401/504 (72 [+4])
Vit: 58 [+4]
End: 39
Str: 48 [+2]
Agi: 66 [+10]
Perception: 33
Reaction: 52
Resistance: 16
Willpower: 70
Inteligence: 92
Wisdom: 46
Control: 75
Focus: 35
Equipment: Average Leather Tunic Lvl 5: (+2 Vit), Gloves of Quickness (Vit +1. Agi +3), Necklace of the Shadow Cat Lvl 20 ®: (Vitality +1, Strength +2, Agility +7)