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
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
Willpower 70
Inteligence 92
Wisdom 46
Control 75
Focus 35
Skills (Soul Skill) Spear of Rot Mastery Lvl 352
Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 49 Phantom Thrust Lvl 47 Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 35 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 23 Phantom Half Step Lvl 11 Heavy Blow Lvl 24 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 27 Dodge Lvl 31 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 36 Block Lvl 32 Haste Lvl 23 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 11 Sweep Lvl 23 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 27 Calculated Blow Lvl 19 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 18 Edge of Decay Lvl 13
Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 13 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 24 Root Manipulation Lvl 28 Arcane Orb Lvl 22 Fireball Lvl 30 Magic Missile Lvl 4 Healing Palm Lvl 9 Pollen of the Rafflesia Lvl 10 Summon Pestilence Lvl 17 Mana Strengthening Lvl 14 Wall of Thorns Lvl 5 Soul Seed Lvl ® Agony Lvl 9 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 2
Crafting Potion Making Lvl 22 Farming Lvl 20 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Mapmaker Lvl 7 Analyze Lvl 24 Refine Lvl 6
Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 32 Meditation Lvl 32 Running Lvl 23 Sprinting Lvl 19 Sneak Lvl 22 Acid Resistance Lvl 22 Poison Resistance Lvl 16 Pain Resistance Lvl 14 First Aid Lvl 13 Equip Lvl 25 Pathfinding Lvl 18 Mental Strength Lvl 13 Curse Resistance Lvl 3 Fire Resistance Lvl 14 Blessing of the North Blessing of the East Blessing of the South Blessing of the West Sewing Lvl 11 Cutting Vegetables Lvl 2 Manual Labor Lvl 3 Digging Lvl 5
Although he was beginning to collect some useless skills at the bottom of his ancillary column he was still pleased With still an hour or two to burn before he would meet Tessa and go to this concert Randidly continued digging
Sam collapsed in his bed exhausted Although you could improve your stats a lot you couldn’t escape exhaustion Shifting around with a groan Sam looked at his stats screen
Samuel Hoss
Health(/R per hour) 227/227 (92)
Mana(/R per hour) 70/82 (17)
Stam(/R per min) 6/140 (46)
Vit 26
Str 25
Agi 22
Perception 28
Reaction 21
Willpower 14
Inteligence 17
Wisdom 4
Control 33
Focus 13
Skills Drive Lvl 4 Running Lvl 11 Physical Fitness Lvl 22 Woodworking Lvl 14 Woodcutting Lvl 37 Animal Skinning Lvl 22 Hunting Lvl 17 Construction Lvl 28 Manual Labor Lvl 9 Cooking Lvl 9 Crafting Lvl 29 Harvesting Lvl 17 Repair Lvl 19 Sewing Lvl 16 Tailoring Lvl 15 Armor Making Lvl 23 Axe Mastery Lvl 26 Chop Lvl 15 Heavy Blow Lvl 18 Iron Skin Lvl 17 Herculean Strength Lvl 14 Dodge Lvl 17 Mana Bolt Lvl 9 Wide Swing Lvl 15 Eagle Eye Lvl 5 Heightened Perception Lvl 7 Bone Shaping 19 Smithing Lvl 4 Haste Lvl 6
He had kept his point distribution rather even focusing on on Control so he could craft and forge more effectively and then survivability All and all he felt like he had some of the best stats among the NCCs if not the best
Although even at the best of times it was hard to tell what Lyra and Annie were doing who were his only real competition at this point Most of the other men working under him were also classless but they were slowly folding taking classes after the success of the first NCCs to switch Daniel’s guidelines for obtaining a useful class were a powerful draw
Although they weren’t impressively powerful the classes they obtained were still in the upper tiers of classes which was very tempting for the crafters Especially now that they were hard pressed on every side
The fighting had been heavy at all fronts Casualties were kept in the single digits but everyone was tired and sore after a long day of stopping the flood of monsters And based on what Glendel could gather with his ghosts this looked to be a daily thing There was already a plan backed by Decklan and Dozer that Decklan’s unit would stay on constant Raid Boss watch hunting and killing them before they could establish themselves and cause trouble Meanwhile Dozer pushed again for his unit to be sent into the nearby dungeon which was the main source of the problems
Thus far they had hemmed and hawed away from that just to keep the village safe But if sending a team bought them time it might be necessary
Not that without Randidly they had decided to stay away from dungeons necessarily and they had a kept dungeon at Lvl 16 and another kept dungeon at Lvl 5 which seemed fine Just without his presence as a buffer the council was unwilling to send one of their best men into unforeseen danger They wouldn’t know what sort of enemies or location they would encounter until it was too late
Not that Randidly would be much help with that considering how he was barred from dungeons without a class
But Ptolemy was starting to hesitate and would likely give their plan the third it needed to pass
Damn need to rehaul this whole council system Sam muttered to himself sitting up Then he heard a familiar shuffling and got up out of his bed creeping to the window
Sure enough Lyra stood there dancing petals of glowing mana swirling around her Every night she would do this every night since she had seen Randidly casually shooting bolts of mana out of his hands
But where as Randidly was eminently practical Lyra appreciated the beauty of mana She sought to learn the nature of it and in exchange was blessed with abilities the rest of them couldn’t imitate
Every evening right before the sun sunk below the horizon she danced and as the gloom gathered the air around her would fill with new and different shapes increasingly detailed and increasingly complicated Birds and snowflakes and wolves and blooming flowers For Sam it was a small moment of escape from the pressing dangers of their current world