Chapter 122 (2/2)

In addition, Randidly also gained 13 Lvls in Haste, Grace, and Eyes of the Spear Phantom, 14 Lvls in Summon Pestilence, Empower, and Mana Engraving, 15 Lvls in Phantom Thrust, and 16 Lvls in Physical Fitness.

But to put the icing on the training cake, he had gained 19 Lvls in Bacterial Regeneration, 20 Lvls in Spear Mastery, 21 Lvls in Spear Phantom’s Footwork, and a monstrous 31 Lvls in Root Manipulation.

Even so, Randidly knew that he had gained something else too; or rather, it was something that he recognized; that he had the strength and execution to push himself farther than he thought he could go, and not just when his life was on the line. He had the discipline to continue for weeks under than harsh environment, reaching new heights.

All in all, his PP total read 282. Randidly quickly used 37 PP to finish off the Empower I path.

Congratulations! You have completed the Empower I Path! The Strength in your body is ephemeral, and you grow increasingly skilled in its manipulation. Although the path here was desolate and without reward, as you turn to regard the distance crossed behind you, you cannot help but marvel on how far you have come. Stamina +30. You have learned the skill Battle Intent Lvl 1.

Battle Intent: Your strength now flows slightly beyond the bounds of your body, and is discernable by others. Ability to gauge the strength of others of similar or lesser strength increases with skill level. Ability to influence others with your battle intent increases with skill level. Ability to resist the influence of other Intents increases with skill level. Ability to slightly control how strong you seem increases with skill level.

Randidly thought the skill seemed rather useless currently, but it had potential. Being able to “influence” was a rather general statement, but anything helped, especially in a tight battle. And if it could be used to resist the influence of others….

The one thing that gave him pause was the fact that it simply said you could resist other “Intents” without specifying Battle Intent. So there were other Intents available…?

But he could experiment with that at another time. For now... Randidly looked at the paths available to him:

Watcher: 0/??, ?????, Heretic V 0/???, Oathbreaker 0/25, Initiate of Ash I 0/75, Path of Carnage I 0/???, Fighting Proficiency I 0/80, Root Manipulation I 0/75, Advanced Phys Fitness 0/100, Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50

Again, if he wasn’t going to take a class, he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk taking Heretic and somehow weirdly ending up with a class through it. Watcher he had for a while, but didn’t interest him, because he already had Eyes of the Spear Phantom. Oathbreaker was also one he had carried, but he wasn’t sure he wanted whatever rewards an Oathbreaker would receive.

Initiate of Ash definitely had some allure, but Randidly still wanted to power up a little further before he took that path. Which made him consider that he could ask Shal about Patrons, and some more information in general about paths. If they had some sort of database, to inform young individuals which Patrons to choose and not choose, it would make a lot of sense. Over time, there would probably be enough people who made it to the Apprentice path to unlock at least that much, and give them an idea of which ones were the best choices, based on bonuses and mortality rates.

Path of Carnage was still intriguing, but was likely a chain path, of an unknown length. Even though Randidly had over 250 PP left, it might be better to put it into subjects that he knew would be beneficial to him, taking advantage of the skills and stats in areas where he would use them more often.

Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 Path was a terrible name, but it was likely some bonus for traveling to a world in the 5th Cohort. It was hard to tell whether this bonus would be a big one or a small one… but it clearly was some sort of rite of passage or reward, so Randidly would probably put points into it eventually. But for now…

Randidly turned to the options that really drew him. Fighting Proficiency I, Root Manipulation I, and Advanced Phys Fitness. With his 245 PP, he would have enough to finish off 2 of them, but not 3. Which meant he had to pick which two he wanted immediately.

Although he believed that he would be focusing mostly on the spear in the future, he couldn’t not use the Root Manipulation I Path, even though it was counter intuitive. After all, most of his gains in the use of the spear wouldn’t have been possible without creating the root avatars and using them to check his form. And based on the results, it was incredibly useful.

So the next 75 PP went into the Root Manipulation I path. Every 5 Lvls he received 5 mana, totalling a sizable 75 mana addition to his pool. He also received the completion reward.

Congratulations! You have completed the Root Manipulation Path! Your will moves and the roots follow. Roots are the lifelines of plants, and you tread freely upon them, climbing ever higher on your path. For the deeper among the roots you go, the more paths stretch before you… Root Manipulation has been changed to Root Control. All skill levels have been retained.

Branching Path! You can see in the maze of roots a variety of roots like knives, that sink slowly into its prey and syphon the life out of them. You also see powerful roots that twist around enemies, shrugging off resistance and performing the will of their master. Towards which area will you head?

If it was a choice between some sort of life sucking root, and strong roots…. Randidly hesitated. As strong as the life sucking would be as an effect, he knew there would be a lot that needed to go his way in order to take advantage of such a thing. Anyway, fire was his offensive skill, while roots would primarily be used defensively, to pierce and bind.

As you walk deeper down your path, the roots around you grow large and ancient. You feel their awareness as you wind your way slowly deeper down this path, seeking their implacable strength. They have given you their approval. You have learned the skill Plantomancy. Wisdom and Control +10

Root Control: A more powerful version of Root Manipulation. Your ability to change the size and shape of the roots has increased.

Plantomancy: Due to your insights into the ancient, life giving roots, you can create beings of roots to serve your will. The variety and strength of the created plants will increase with skill level. Mana costs will decrease with skill level.

Seeing the notifications, Randidly simply smiled.