While my doppelganger picks up various equipment to resculpt his face and make himself not so human-looking, I take the time to review my own Status Screen and consider my next steps. My Credit pool is sadly bereft, though only by the standards of a Heroic. I still have more than enough to pay for daily events and even pick up a couple of lower-end Class Skills, but… what’s the point?
Status Screen
Name
John Lee
Class
Junior System Admin (Grand Paladin)
Race
Human (Male)
Level
3 (12)
Titles
Monster’s Bane, Redeemer of the Dead, Duelist, Explorer, Apprentice Questor, Galactic Silver Bounty Hunter, Corrupt Questor, (Living Repository), (Class Lock)
Health
6000
Stamina
6000
Mana
5740
Mana Regeneration
474 (+5) / minute
Attributes
Strength
422
Agility
495
Constitution
600
Perception
403
Intelligence
593
Willpower
574
Charisma
225
Luck
256
Class Skills
Mana Imbue
5*
Blade Strike*
5
Thousand Steps
1
Altered Space
2
Two are One
1
The Body’s Resolve
3
Greater Detection
1
A Thousand Blades*
4
Soul Shield*
8
Blink Step
2
Portal*
5
Army of One
4
Sanctum
2
Penetration
9e
Aura of Chivalry
1
Eyes of Insight
2
Beacon of the Angels
2
Eye of the Storm
1
Vanguard of the Apocalypse
2
Society’s Web
1
Shackles of Eternity*
4
Immovable Object / Unstoppable Force*
1
Domain
1
Judgment of All
6
(Grand Cross)
(2)
(Extra Hands)
(3)
System Edit
2
External Class Skills
Instantaneous Inventory
1
Frenzy
1
Cleave
2
Tech Link
2
Elemental Strike
1 (Ice)
Shrunken Footsteps
1
Analyze
2
Harden
2
Quantum Lock
3
Elastic Skin
3
Disengage Safeties
2
Temporary Forced Link
1
Hyperspace Nitro Boost
1
On the Edge
1
Fates Thread
2
Peasant’s Fury
1
Combat Spells
Improved Minor Healing (IV)
Greater Regeneration (II)
Greater Healing (II)
Mana Drip (II)
Improved Mana Missile (IV)
Enhanced Lightning Strike (III)
Firestorm
Polar Zone
Freezing Blade
Improved Inferno Strike (II)
Elemental Walls (Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.)
Ice Blast
Icestorm
Improved Invisibility
Improved Mana Cage
Improved Flight
Haste
Enhanced Particle Ray
Variable Gravitic Sphere
Zone of Denial
I’d made a few changes on my Status Screen, spending a ton of the free attribute points I’d saved to test how it affected my ability to handle the Mana code. Unfortunately, even adding points to each of my attributes slowly, one after the other, and running the tests, it seemed that attributes had only a marginal affect on my ability to handle System Mana. Constitution, Intelligence, and weirdly, Luck all gave me a little more time. Perception let me handle and understand the flow faster, but it didn’t increase the amount of time I had before I started taking serious damage.
No, the biggest determinant of how long I could stay within the System and edit things? My Level. And interestingly enough, this is one case where my Junior System Administrator Level counts as much as my “fake” Levels.
Sadly, even when I Leveled up my Administrator Class, I didn’t double dip and gain additional attributes. I found it strange that I received attribute points when I leveled my other Class, but didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. But when it didn’t double dip and give me those attribute points for the Administrator Class for which the actual attributes should have been linked to, then I was real curious.
Of course, it’s not as if I can actually ask the System why it’s doing what it is. Nor do I have anyone else to experiment or compare with. The only thing I can think of is that the System has to give me those attribute points immediately—otherwise, my fake Class would be a poor fake.
On top of that, I’ve got the adjustments to my Class Skills, including the unhappy experience of learning how to upgrade my Skill Edit ability. Specifically, when I was meant to get a new Class Skill point at Level 3, the free point I hadn’t used beforehand had been taken and used immediately to level it.
Now, I have a second point in Skill Edit and no free Class Skill point to use in case I need it for something else. The good news is that the upgraded System Edit Skill allows me to adjust code easier. I even get the feeling that with a few upgrades, I could edit certain types of code I’ve been locked out of thus far. But…
It doesn’t help with my ability to kick ass. And the fact that Kasva is running around makes me feel the lack of ass-kicking Skills even more than normal. It’s kind of amusing how I keep fluctuating between feeling like a goddamn demigod and feeling useless and underpowered.
Sure, having a total of three doppelgangers that I can use might be useful—if it didn’t drain nearly my entire Mana pool to conjure a single Extra Hand. And even though Grand Cross’s second Level is powerful, adding even more damage to what is already a ridiculous Skill, I still feel underpowered.
Grand Cross (Level 2)
The burden of existence weighs heavily on the Paladin. This Skill allows the Paladin to allow another to share in the burden. Under the light of and benediction of the Grand Paladin, under the weight of true understanding, wayward children may be brought back to the fold.
Effect: Damage done equals to (Willpower * 22) per square meter over radius of (1/10th of Perception2) meters. Damage may be increased by reducing radius of the Grand Cross. Does additional (Willpower) points of damage per second for 11 seconds.
Cost: 2000 MP
Now, that doesn’t seem like a lot of damage for a single point attack. After all, my Advanced Class Skill already does over fifteen thousand points of damage. If you don’t include resistances, armor, and the like, even I’d fall to one of my own Advanced Class attacks. And I’m a “tank.”
So when you look at it that way, doing roughly fourteen thousand points of damage is nothing. And sure, there’s a damage-over-time effect, but most Paladins would have the Judgement of All for a much better damage-over-time effect.
That is, until you get to the part where I’m able to increase damage by concentrating the attack. And since it is very rare I need to use it at the full size of seventeen kilometers radius, the ability to concentrate damage stacks. And it stacks at an incredible rate when you consider how fast my attributes are increasing.
Of course, the issue with a Skill like this—much like Sanctum—is the need to control size and placement. It’s not like Beacon of the Angels, where I point and activate, letting it do its things. Beacon might take longer to charge up, but the attack doesn’t require much in the way of concentration once I use it.
Whereas with Grand Cross or Sanctum, I have to pre-fill in the details before activating or else it defaults to its base setting. In Grand Cross, that’s smacking down everyone at maximum size. With Sanctum, it’s forming itself around me at maximum size, enveloping everything.