Tom stopped studying the list. He knew everything on it with the very large exception of bloodlines. All that other noise was the same as from the trial, and it was suspicious that what was clearly a significant chunk of the mechanics had been kept from him.
“Do you know what?” the screen highlighted the line he was thinking of.
“That threw me too.” Everlyn looked thoughtful. “Still does. All I can think is that DEUS decided hiding till now was best.”
“Force us maximise what we have before delving into exotic upgrades.
She shrugged and on the screen opened up to reveal the contents. Skin Blood Bone Muscles Perception Attributes Bloodline Genus (Not Available)
“That last one?”
Everlyn laughed. “Great minds think alike.”
“Or fools rarely differ.”
She looked at him like he was an idiot. “Anyway,” she drew out the word. “I wondered that too. And I’ve been tracking the line ever since. One briefly appeared on the human auction house two days ago with a buyout price of three hundred thousand.”
“It was bought?”
She shrugged. “It disappeared.” She waved her hand, and a text box with the item was displayed.
Purified Ladagana Blood (tier 4)
The Ladagana species is a humanoid form that lives on the slopes of mountains.
This extract of purified blood unlocks the blood line at a tier 2.
Initial characteristics Vitality + 30 (+30 for next tier) Agility -5 (-4 for next tier) Magic Resistance +15% (+5% for next tier) Magic -3 (-3 for next tier) Ice Resistance 15% (+15% for next tier)
Characteristics can be progressed individually, but no single characteristic can progress over one tier above the average.
Tier of blood line improves when all characteristics progress up a tier, at which point additional characteristics may be unlocked.
Tom tried to understand what the blood line represents. From an awful long time ago, pre DEUS’s trial he recalled reading ebooks that had bloodlines in them. What were they again? Vampires, werewolves, which sounded nothing like what these screens suggested.
In more recent history? In the trials. Nope, none of the reference material available in the trial mentioned blood lines … As Everlyn had suggested that was probably related to DEUS not wanting humans to depend on a bonus that wouldn’t go through to them in Existentia.
But… There had been something.
Tom stretched his memory. He blinked.
Bloodlines had been available in the contribution shop, he remembered. But a single question had shut that line of inquiry down.
After Dux had confirmed it was a poor use of contribution points, he had not progressed it any further because of contribution point costs. Which probably explained why nothing had mentioned them. If the contribution cost of bloodlines did not justify their purchase, DEUS seemed to be the sort of deity that might have dissuaded them by a blanket removal of them from her trial.
Tom now wished that he had satisfied his curiosity rather than being so single-mindedly focused on the mission. He had only ever seen cost and the name of the bloodline. None of which told him anything useful.
“Is this a boost outside of everything else?” He asked finally.
“I think so,” Everlyn shrugged. “Through not all the characteristics are a positive. Look at this agility and magic negatives. The Ladagana are apparently hardy with low magic and agility and if you get their bloodline, that’s what you receive. Both their strengths and weaknesses.”
“And if you upgrade the tier of the whole blood line, you get extra characteristics.”
“Yes, but so far we don’t know what that is, like with this blood line is the characteristic on the next tier something like strength +10 which would be meh or access to some snow powers that are so strong that upgrading the blood line becomes you main priority.”
“A problem for the other day.” Tom reconsidered the wording. “This clearly implies that you can boost individual characteristics to move up tiers, but how?”
Everlyn smiled. “Best to show.” Nut of Tarca + 1 strength (Tier 1) - Not compatible with bloodline Otaga Heart + 2 strength (Tier 1) - Not compatible with bloodline
The list continued on filled with thousands of tier one boosts. There was not a single one which he could use.
“And,” Everlyn waved again, and the screen switched once more. Mroga Oil - Increased skin resistance to acid (Tier 1) - Not compatible with bloodline Bicca Acid - Increased skin resistance to acid (Tier 1) - Not compatible with bloodline
The page scrolled covering Acid, Poison, Piercing Resistance, Different types of magic resistance and all of them resulted in strengthened skin.
“They’re all not compatible. I assume we need to awaken a blood line before we can get these benefits?”.
Everlyn laughed. “Sort of.”
“What are you hiding?”
She giggled. “Please show Tom’s Bloodline.”
The screen changed.
Blood Line - Human - (Tier 2)
Humans are a general purpose humanoid newly integrated into Existentia. The blood provides a boost in using affinity stones and a moderate improvement in fate.
Current characteristics. Fate (Tier 2) + 5 (+4 with next tier) General Affinity Efficiency +8% (tier 2) (+8% for next tier)
Characteristics can be progressed independently of each other.
Tier of blood line improves when all characteristics progress up a tier, and additional characteristics may be unlocked.
“Wow. Can we upgrade this?”
Everlyn shook her head. “I checked yesterday and not from the GOD’s store. I think because it’s tier 2 you need tier 2 or above items to increase it.”
“And do you know what General Affinity Efficiency is?”
“Yes. It means we get more out of affinity stones.” She waved her hands.
General Affinity Efficiency.
This is a hidden attribute which allows you to extract more information from affinity stones.
Tom whistled. “That’s powerful. I wonder if we can increase it independently of the bloodline.”
The wall swirled and a single record came up.
Infused Crystal–Fenwood General Affinity Efficiency.
Crystal of Learning Soaked in Sap from the Fenwood Tree (Tier 3) on consumption grants a +5% increase to the hidden attribute general affinity efficiency.
Buy out price - 9,000 credits
Pre-requisite–Relevant blood line or open attribute
Quantity three.
“I think we should buy them.” Tom said after a moment.
“Wait,” Everlyn said hurriedly. “Show law on Bloodline Promoters.”
“Why?”
“The pre-requisite line. We don’t have an open attribute so we can only use it as a blood line promoter.”
The screen changed and the text Tom recognised as coming from a system manual appeared.
Blood promoters only work when compatible with your bloodline.
Standard promoter material tiers versus blood line characteristic tier apply. For example, a strength blood line promoter of tier 1 will not work if your existing characteristic in your bloodline is tier 2 or if you lack the characteristic. Higher tier promoters work.
“It’s Tier 3,” Everlyn got up and pointed.
“Its super cheap.” Tom counted. “For tier three material.”
“While we could get it for storage, we would be silly to use it till we’re up to Tier 3 already. Plus, I’m not sure it is worth it. For it to pay for itself, we would need to spend almost 200,000 credits on affinity stones. Do you see that happening?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Not for a while.” Tom admitted, realising that his rush of blood had been foolish. The benefits of upgrading did not match the cost. While two hundred thousand credits seemed unimaginable now at some point he could easily see him buying affinity stones to increase the levels of one of his skills and if he was going to short circuit the years of mastery needed for a higher tier spell, then the cost soaring into the hundred thousands for a single item was possible.
“If we end up with credits will we buy this?”
Tom shook his head. “No. Not now.”
“Good choice. Especially since we don’t know if we upgrade our blood line away from human whether we lose all the benefits of the human blood line. If so, buying these now might be worthless in the end.”
“Unless, of course we already earnt the benefit back.”
“Stop arguing for the sake of it.” She smiled to take the sting out of the comment. “We don’t have all night.”
“But I’m guessing you have serious stuff you want to share with me.”
Everlyn laughed. “Really serious. This one is really important. Are you ready for it?”
Spell Stone: Self-Clean (tier 0)
Does not replace a hot bath but comes close.
Mana Cost - Dependent on level of dirt
Cost - 200
Tom looked at the spell shocked. It was ridiculously cheap and then the implications of why she was showing this to him hit him. He could feel his cheeks heating.
Her peal of laughter made him almost jump in surprise. “Your face.”
“That was mean.”
“No, you’re buying that or this.”
Spell Stone: Clean Humanoid (tier 1)
Does not replace a hot bath but comes close. No more stinky companions.
Mana Cost - Dependent on level of dirt
Cost - 1,000.
“Funds permitting I guess we might as well get the second.”
“Agreed.”
“What other vital stuff do we need?” Tom asked.
Everlyn waved again.
Spell Oral Hygiene (Tier 0)
Brushes, whitens and flosses leaves a minty after taste
Mana Cost - 20
Cost - 200
“Put it on the list.” Tom ordered.
Spell Hair-Care (Tier 0)
Keeps your hair neat and tidy.
Mana Cost - Variable dependent upon frequency of use
Cost - 200
“Again.”
“Wow. I hope our the other two purchases don’t cost too much. A non-smelly boyfriend! I’d be the luckiest girl ever.”
“Am I?”
Everlyn looked at him curiously and clearly understood what he was asking. “Do you really have to ask? I didn’t take you as the type that lacks confidence.”
“Forty years.”
Her face softened. “I invited you into here didn’t I? So yes.”
“I…” he looked away embarrassed. “I didn’t use to be so…”
“We’re all in the same boat.”
“I guess.”
“And I haven’t dated anyone,” she continued. “For almost as long as you. It’s hard for me too, so we’ll take things slow.”
“Dates? Damn,” Tom said in exasperation. “Now I have to organise a date. I’m guessing movies and going to out for drinks is no longer how the young’uns do things these days.”
Everlyn burst out laughing. “Why would you do something as boring as that when you can help your man be stung millions of times by wasps?”
He chuckled despite himself. “Or we could go on a hunting date. Try to take down a dire wolf or similar.”
“Oh, you want to get me a fur coat?”
“Not exactly what I was talking about, but let’s do it.”
Everlyn chuckled. “Well, before you get ideas, and go slay some semi-innocent man killers I don’t enjoy wearing fur.”
“You were the one who raised it.”
“What? That doesn’t sound like me.” He waved her hands in a funny manner and the screen changed immediately. “This is worth being aware of.” Everlyn pointed at the screen unashamedly changing the topic. “Skill books and stones.”
The list appeared before him. Tom immediately got excited by the options especially if he was going to receive hundreds of thousands of credits from all the wasps he was butchering. “Forget equipment. We should use excess auction credits to buy Skills.”
“Yes,” she said proudly. There was already a list of around a hundred different tier zero and one skills she had pre-selected. “They’re expensive. Three times as much as using experience directly. But if you’re rich, why wouldn’t you. The experience you save can be used for progressing classes or buying higher tier skills.”
“Speaking of them. Display tier 2 and above.” Tom directed.
Only five came up. “Are these from the human auction house?”
Everlyn laughed. “Clearly.”
Skill. Dark Vision (Tier 3)
Allows perfect vision for fifty metres in darkness.
Higher levels increase vision distance and transition effects.
Buy Out cost - 40,000
“Darkvision is expensive.”
“It is,” Everlyn agreed.
Skill. Water Walking (tier 2)
Grant’s ability to walk on water for a brief period.
Higher levels increase the time
Buy Out cost - 30,000
“Terrible.” Everlyn stated.
The other three were no better.
Tom tapped his thigh thoughtfully. “I think our team, as opposed to the wider group needs to keep watch on this. If a good skill comes up, we should buy it, especially if they are less than three times the experience price.”
“Or we could keep all the credits and use them to hit the special auction with Fate.”
“I won’t do that again for a week.”
“Why?”
“Diminishing returns.” The mathematics was beyond him and yes or no questions could only give so much clarity, but trying to do the same thing repeatedly with fate was difficult. Fate might accept the super rare spawn you were after appearing at the right moment, once, but it did not let you do it multiple times. It made sense, really. The GODs would not allow anything that was too exploitable.
They sat together flipping through the screens getting a feel for what was available.
A decent spear was about ten thousand credits with a similar amount for transport till they got the teleporter going. There had to be a superior option or at least once they found some loot portals there should be opportunities to trade for something better.
There were a surprising number of pets already available, but they were unsurprisingly prohibitively expensive.
“This is my favourite.” Everlyn announced suddenly.
Illusion Horse (Pet / mount)
This pet will take about a year to gain maturity before it can be used as a mount. This is not a typical horse as it can create a permanent illusion over itself or rider. Including tweaks such as looking like a unicorn or a centaur. The illusion magic at one year is equivalent to the advanced illusions spell with a level of thirty and a mana well of a hundred points.
Cost - 180,000
“You know you can buy it for me. You know to be nice.”
“You know I don’t have the credits and if I did, I would get my favourite.”
Chain Lightning (Tier 5)
A devastating lightning spell that, if sufficient mana is pumped through, it can destroy an army.
Starting level is 4 because of Spark Proficiency
Cost 210,000
“Nowhere near as good as my pet.”
The wall dinged for a second time, showing the five-minute warning for his trait stone auction. Everlyn’s helm one had triggered two minutes before. Tom checked and his first bid at the minimum price was the only bid to date. While Everlyn’s helm, had crept up to a little over sixteen thousand.
“I’m losing,” Everlyn objected.
“Well, technically, you’re still winning the auction.”
“Mine is a shittier product, and it’s costing me more.”
“I know what you meant.” He stuck out his tongue.
She hit him in exasperation, but her fist went through his body.
“I feel this would be a better experience with champagne.”
Everlyn shrugged. “Yeah it would be.”
They watched as there was clearly a cat and mouse game happening as the bid would increase every now and again. The trait stone remained untouched, with no one interested.
The screen changed.
Warning.
The auction on the item Ranger Druid Helm of Identification has entered its last minute.
As you held the highest bid you will be able to match any future bids.
“No last second sniping.” Tom observed.
The seconds ticked down, and they skimmed through all the new listings while monitoring the two active auctions. While the range of items on offer was immense and they were fascinating, there was nothing that could help them short term within their credit line.
“Another blood line.” Everlyn observed.
Dragon Kin Blood line promoter (Tier 1) Vitality +30 (Next Tier +30) Strength + 20 (Next Tier +20) Physical Resistance +10% (Next Tier +10%) Magic Resistance + 10% (Next Tier +10%) Grants Flame thrower(5) (Next tier +5 skill levels)
All tiers must be within three of each other.
Time to offer end / sale 12:00
Cost- 11,200,000
“I want.” Tom said, chuckling.
“Would knock you up a few ranks for sure. Maybe it’s something to work towards,” Everlyn grinned. “Can you imagine how powerful it will be once you raise the tier level.”
“Speaking of that, we need to get some way to rank the various blood lines. Like this one is materially stronger than the human version.”
Everlyn laughed at that comparison.
“I was serious.”
“Yes, I know,” Everlyn waved the request away. “Once we find some natives, we should consult.
Ten second warning.
“No one has tried a sniping bid,” Tom said, pointing.
3
2
1
A bid of 17,300 has been made on Ranger Druid Helm of Identification (tier 2). Would you like to match?
Tom laughed at himself. “Spoke too early. There is always one out there.”
You have one minute to decide
“Yes!” Everlyn yelled. “Match.” There was a pause. “Why isn’t the transaction completed?” She turned to glare at him. “Match it now. You said I had up to twenty.”
“Isn’t it too expensive?”
“No.”
“But it’s only tier 2.”
“Buy it.”
The time ticked down to ten seconds.
“If you don’t.”
“Match.” Tom ordered.
There was a ding.
Total cost of 17,300 plus 3,460 margin has been subtracted from your account balance.
“It didn’t match because it was over twenty.” He told her.
“Did you know…”
“My mathematics isn’t that good. I only worked it out just before….”
“But now you can’t go up to twenty on your stone.”
He shrugged. “That identification boost might save our lives. I wasn’t going to risk it for a few hundred credits.”
“Thank you,” she threw herself at him to hug and went straight through him and they toppled awkwardly over the side of the couch.
Tom stood hurriedly and moved away.
“Damn it,” Everlyn cursed from where she had landed.
Another Ding sounded.
Congratulations! You have purchased the Trait Stone of the Elemental Summoner (tier 4)
Total cost of 15,000 plus 3000 margin has been subtracted from your account
Everlyn frowned.
“Hey, don’t be like that.” He patted the couch with the same small rapid taps you would normally console someone with on the shoulder.
That made her smile. “Stop making me feel better. It’s blatantly unfair that you got an item two tiers higher for less.”
“Unfair, calculated, manipulation of the system.” He shrugged with a cheeky grin. “Take your pick.”
She giggled. “This worked a lot better than I expected. What immediate bonus do you get?”
“Equivalent to eight class skill points.”
“Is that good?”
“I have a class level of zero, so it’s a drop in the bucket. But when the class is above level thirty, it’ll be huge. Now, are we heading back?”
“Uh ah,” she shook her head.
“What?”
She crinkled her nose and then pinched her nostrils.
“Could you be less subtle?”
She looked him straight in the eye. “I would like you to stop being stinky.” There was a pause, and she lowered her voice. “And I’d like to smell more pleasantly.”
“If I get it, I’ll be less stinky, but you’ll just smell more pleasant.”
She nodded slowly. “Would you phrase it any differently?”
Tom shook his head. Then snorted. “Purchase the saved spells.”
He felt the transaction go through.
The three spells queued in order.
Knowledge flowed down into his brain. It was like Spark when he got it: a download of how to create the tiny zap of energy at the point of the finger. At the time, he couldn’t imagine that Spark could be extended to do the complicated attacks that he now completed subconsciously. It was also a long path to getting that extra control. For example, he had trained for two months in the cave to extend the arc of that single spark to the point he could use the magic without physically touching the target.
This spell had a similar simplicity in the knowledge. Focus, trigger and the power would happen. There was nothing else to the ability, but he wondered what it would be like at level sixty four. What did a high-level clean spell do? Leave a delightful scent? Shave? Cut hair? clean clothes? Put on deodorant?
The next two spells downloaded themselves. Clean teeth had a simple application with a single flavour mint that could be toggled on or off. From the framework of the spell, it was clear the directions it could go. Different flavours and then eventually changing the shade of the teeth. That would be whitening for humans, but other creatures might go elsewhere. Tom was sure that there were lots of people out there where the peak of beauty was black teeth of death, or crimson shades of blood and who knows what other variations.
For now, it did not matter. He had a single flavour to apply, and he turned it on.
Finally, the cut hair spell processed. It was sophisticated. Not only could it cut based on his image it could also dye his hair and it could trim his beard as well. It was definitely multi-factored, but he got the sense that the cut would be rough till he improved the skill level significantly.
They were still in the system room, and Everlyn was smiling in contentment. “Now. I get to be clean.”