26 A Boundless Storm (1/2)
Unique skill gained!(Defeat a monster with less than 5% health remaining) Fuses Blitz, Ferocity, Desperation, Death's Dance, and Scorn into a single skill, Savage Berserker(lvl 1) Gives half of missing treepoints from skill fusion.
Unique skill gained!(Defeat a boss monster alone) Fuses Deflection, Calm, Patience, Countering, and Dominion of Soul into a single skill, Tranquil Duelist(lvl 1) Gives half of missing treepoints from fusion.
Mythical skill gained!(???) Fuses the three unique skills, Dreadnought Brute, Savage Berserker, and Tranquil Duelist into a single skill, Boundless Storm(lvl 1) Gives half of missing treepoints from skill fusion.
So many free skill points. I got so damn many. All this time I'd been developing all these skills for my fighting style, working them together. Whether by accident or not, I'd finally gotten into a fight challenging enough to put them all together. The rewards were palpable.
Boundless Storm(lvl 1) When you battle, you are a force of nature. You are a boundless storm. Effects are powerful and dependent on skill level.
It even had a different coloring compared with normal skills. It gave me chills just thinking of using the skill. Besides for that, I gained over 400 treepoints from the fusions of skills. In fact, with all my skill points saved up over the past few weeks plus this fusion, I had 521 skillpoints. Enough for obliterator. So I put all 500 points into obliterator.
Expunge entire planets like a plague, or become a plague for monsters. From this point onward, +3 attribute points per 5 levels. Effect is retroactive for all levels gained before 100.
You are not an elite. You are the only one of your kind. You are an obliterator. +100% experience gained from boss monsters and unknowns. From this point onward, +4 attribute points per 5 levels. Effect is retroactive for all levels gained before 100.
Now I had 40 attribute points, enough for whatever I needed. Well, hopefully enough for charisma. I put six points into luck, reaching the level 30 I needed for the leveling perk. Due to the negative bonuses from my armor, Charisma took 28 fucking points to reach thirty. Ridiculous.
Anyway, I had six other points, so I put them into endurance. I greedily selected the perks from there.
[Miraculous(Luck 25 or more) - Your luck is incredible. 1/10th of luck added to Charisma. Circumstances will more likely guide you towards your goals. Sometimes, you'll ask just the right questions, learn just what you need to know, and do just what you need to for a crises.]
[Opportunity Untold(Luck 30 or more) - Your luck is unexplainable. Gives additional money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare event for every level gained. Every point in luck gives an additional 3 points in mana, health, and stamina. Another 1/10th of your luck is added to charisma. You gain 1 revival after death. Use it wisely.]
[Well-Worded(Charisma 10 or more) - Your charisma is good. Doubles haggling ability.]
[Convincing(Charisma 15 or more) - Your charisma is admirable. Doubles persuasiveness.]
[Charming(Charisma 20 or more) - Your charisma is amazing. Doubles likability. Charisma let's you open up more in conversation, making you more genuine.]
[Compelling(Charisma 25 or more) - Your charisma is incredible. Your words have weight to them, making others think of what you've said after you've spoken them. Your voice and tone when speaking grows easier to listen to with additional points into constitution.]
[Undeniable(Charisma 30 or more) - Your presence is a power all to itself. Doubles the growth and effects of speech related skills. Gives additional likeability, persuasion, haggling, and charm per level. Doubles mana consumption.]
I selected the perks, using all my leftover dungeon cores before I basked in the shining sun that was a power spike. I'd been sort of stagnating for a while, trying to grind out all these stats and perks. It's not really the way I enjoyed doing things. Of course, luck and charisma didn't have much of an affect on how I felt when compared with something like strength.
Well, besides for the fact I enjoyed hearing my thoughts more. It was a pleasant hum in my head now. That made me sound crazy, didn't it? I think it was because the nicer sounding voice from charisma was heard by me as well. Anyways, I checked out my attributes and character screens.
Level 105 Attribute Totals
Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 30
Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 36.3
Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 60
Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 30
Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 31
Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 30.2
Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 35.2
Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 30
Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 30
Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs
Health 3095/3095 600/min Oppression Damage- 8000+25%hp/min
Stamina 1269/1269 32/sec Elemental Res - 97%
Harbinger of Cataclysm 53,456/16,000,000 0/per min Plasma Res - 97%
Phys Dam Reduction - 97% Rad Res - 97%
Phys Dam Bonus - 353% Mental Res - 97%
All these bonuses culminated in a massive increase in effective fighting power. Finally, I got past the meh attributes and I could level again. I had only one more notification to handle, selecting a new tree.
[II Vicious(Beat an enemy 40 levels higher than you in combat lasting over an hour, Death's Dance, Scorn, and Desperation over level 25)(0/50)]
[III Fighter(Kill an enemy 40 levels over you)(0/50)]
[Genesis of Potential(Be the first of your species to clear a extreme priority dungeon, to clear 15 lesser dungeons, and to create a mythical skill)(0/1000)]
Time for another long haul kind of tree. The bonuses from them were ridiculous so far, so I'd just keep investing as they kept coming. Why waste time with the small trees when the large ones had given me enormous, life changing bonuses.
I had 11 points left, so I invested then into genesis of potential. Of course, I gained nothing from it yet. With that handled, I glanced back up from my status screen. It was like re-entering the world.
Torix and Kessiah already left, both of them casting different spells for remodeling the rock. All the spears and crushing the ground around us during fights had resulted in quite a few scars forming around us. Over the last few minutes of me reading over my status updates, the two of them already filled in almost every missing glyph.
The two worked together without ever running into each other, like gears in a machine. They didn't need to talk or gesture or even glance at each other. They progressed, each one of them working on what they knew, filling the gaps for each other. It amazed me, and it reminded me how old each of them was. They must have worked together for hundreds of years for such succinct and smooth coordination. They must have avoided each other for centuries, then picked up right where they left off, like nothing ever happened.
When I stood up, Kessiah turned to me and said with a sinister smile, ”You look different. What changed?”
I shrugged as I said, ”I finished a tree.”
Torix turned as he said, ”Is that the obliterator tree you talked about?”
”Yeah, I have maxed out leveling perks now. Now I've finally gotten to where you guys are at. The slow grind.”
Torix stuck out a hand, formed a dark sphere, and stepped on it as he said, ”It's more like we focus our efforts on skills rather than levels.”
Kessiah ran and leapt towards me as she said, ”That's what mister low level over there says. Levels are power, especially for people who tri-spec.” She turned to Torix, ”You'd know if you had the balls for it.”
Torix floated over as he said, ”Just as you'd know how to fight at full force for more than a 15 minutes. Besides, why should I fight when I can just summon armies to do it for me.”
”Really now? Hey, Daniel. You wanna know why Torix over here didn't spec into perception?”
”I hardly think telling him that is necessary-”
”When your perception gets so high, you don't have to read anymore. You can just look at a book and absorb the knowledge on the pages. This bag of bones here likes reading, so he didn't spec into perception. Talk about efficiency.”
”I needed the charisma for leading armies.”
”Yeah, but these runes are well outside your grasp, aren't they? I never understood that reluctance for investing in perception.”
I said, ”No, I think I understand why he did it.”
Torix snapped, ”Do you really?”
”It's like putting cheat codes in games. They make playing the game so easy, it becomes pointless. Where's the fun in that?”
Torix raised his hands and said, ”A being under 20 years of age can understand why, but a remnant I've known for over a 1000 years can't?” His hands slapped his sides as he said, ”Your stupidity is something to marvel at. Truly a miracle. Have you been awarded for it yet?”
Kessiah reached beside me and brushed him off with her hand as she said, ”My intelligence is at least 100 points higher than yours. Who's stupid again? Anyways-”
She leaned onto my shoulder, crossing her arms as she said, ”What impresses me is how damn well this ritual was made.”
The words came to me, from nowhere as I spoke, ”It's bizarre, but it makes sense if you look a little closer. There's layers of talent here. A precise and delicately carved incantation, created by two prodigies, each masters of different magics. This is more than just a simple spell. This is Alfred's legacy, the son of an archlich.”
I snapped back to normal, my jaw almost hanging at the sudden change in my voice. The fucking charisma was really coming through.
Torix replied with his chest slightly puffed and his hands on his hips, ”Of course. My son was a master sorcerer trapped by a powerful eldritch. Do you see the armor that Daniel wears? Show her what it does, and tell her Alfred's story.”
And I told the tale, embroidering Alfred's heroic sacrifice. It wasn't all that difficult though. I mean, the guy tore his soul apart to stop an evil hivemind. That's the stuff that legends are made of, or in my case, started with. At least I hoped so.
Regardless, Althea listened intently while we sat in a small circle. Torix had formed several fluffy, dark energy chairs for us. It made sitting there much more comfortable. By the time I finished telling her the story about the armor and all that, Kessiah was leaning over the edge of her seat.
She said, ”Goddamn, that's impressive. Torix just sent me a PM saying that he needed help tearing through dimensions. Sounded like fun, so I came. So paper-for-skin, why didn't you mention your son or anything?”
”You didn't help me find him when I told you he was missing. Why would I mention his death?”
The tone got really, really awkward. Kessiah glanced over at a rock on the ground as she said, ”Ahh...yeah...about that...sorry.”
Torix sighed before saying, ”It wouldn't have mattered. Finding him inside a dungeon that's transported...it would have been impossible. Just...just help me with this ritual, and we'll be even.”