Chapter 673 (1/2)
When Randidly returned to the back of that cart on Tellus, there was a notification waiting for him.
Congratulations! Despite the odds, you have merged with the essence of your Patron, becoming Chosen. The Efficacy of all spells and abilities relating to your Patron have increased by 25%! At the long end of the road, you find the corpse of your Patron, and a mantle to carry forward. You garb yourself in the mantle and continue forward. Although it may be difficult, the Path goes ever onward. +500 to Health, Mana, and Stamina! +50 to Agility, Reaction, and Focus.
It may seem aimless, the many winding paths you have walked, but the further you go, the more you realize that all Paths lead to the same place.
Randidly tightened his hand into a fist. That last line was certainly disturbing, but most of all he was simply pleased to have made it out of the world of ash alive. Besides, he had learned much while he was there, both about the second Calamity and the third. More than that, his Skills had been empowered.
Randidly sighed. At least he hoped so. The changes to Plant Dominance had a huge drawback. Hopefully, it wouldn’t end up mattering.
The other shift that Randidly noticed was how cluttered his Soulspace had become with the charred remnants of Skills and the new Skills. His previous Skills had been neatly ordered, but the new arrivals were rather haphazardly spaced. Shaking his head, Randidly opens up his Path Menu. With the spare, he had leftover from before, and the gains fighting off the Ashen Image, Randidly had some more PP to throw around. He considered the open Paths.
Heretic XXIX 0/???, Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50, Experimenter I 0/50, The Fighting Proficiency III 0/???, System Transgressor 0/1, Steps of the Godling II Path 0/200, Friend to Humanity 0/100, War Leader 0/200, Path of the Patron 0/500, Metallurgist 0/300, Advanced Mana Engraving 0/400, Aether Convergence II ???, Perfect Soul Bond 0/1000, the Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Growth of Yggdrasil III 0/2000, Mana Ghoul 0/200, Fiery Sharpshooter 0/350, The Ashes of Ulaat, Patron of Ash 0/1000
Heretic had gone up another one, which was worrying if only because reaching 30 would cause another Judgement to descend. Remembering the one that came at 20 made Randidly grimace. It had interrupted his training as they prepared to be connected to the New Earth, and had left a constantly foggy area in the North of their Zone.
Hopefully, this next Judgement would be possible to overcome on his own without attracting much attention. Otherwise…
Shaking his head, Randidly peered at his options. There were three new ones, Mana Ghoul, Fiery Sharpshooter, and the Ashes of Ulaat. The Ashes of Ulaat seemed the most immediately interesting, but it was a 1000 PP Path. Especially now that so many of his Skills were lost, Randidly wasn’t sure if he would be able to finish such a Path in less than a year. Waiting a year for a path was a bit…
Although Randidly admitted to himself that he was likely spoiled for choice when it came to Paths, he was still impatient for results. For now, he set that option to the side. Mana Ghoul obviously would help his Mana, but the word Ghoul in conjunction made him wary. Fiery Sharpshooter, on the other hand, seemed much more straightforward. Likely, he would obtain a Skill from it that would be an upgrade on his ranged fire spells. Or he would get a Skill that would improve them, either way would be satisfactory.
After cutting out the bad ones, Like Heretic, System Transgressor, the Steps of Godling, etc., that would have less utility and that didn’t take 1000 PP, Randidly had a much more manageable list.
Fighting Proficiency III 0/???, War Leader 0/200, Path of the Patron 0/500, Aether Convergence II ???, the Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Mana Ghoul 0/200, Fiery Sharpshooter 0/350
Path of the Patron and Aether Convergence also seemed to be not what he was looking for, which left Fighting Proficiency III, War Leader, the Bell of Doom Tolls, and the two new additions.
Fighting Proficiency Randidly had a for a long time, and would likely be one of the more predictable options. War Leader was possibly too focused on leading others to be immediately useful. The Bell of Doom tolls was 600, which was still a significant amount, and like Mana Ghoul it was oddly ominous. Fiery Sharpshooter would push him more towards using certain SKills in the future.
Finally, Randidly narrowed it down to either Fighting Proficiency and Fiery Sharpshooter. And Randidly believed that he would be focusing on his Spear Skills for the interim. Therefore, he chose Fighting Proficiency. When he put the first PP into the Path, he was delighted to see that the Path only took 175 PP to finish. It would likely be a quick Path, and hopefully, give him a positive benefit. It was also nice that it seemed that every 5 PP he put into the Path earned Randidly 1 Strength and 2 Stamina. After the Chosen of Ash netting him nothing, it was a pleasant surprise.