Tom looked around his spartan system room. He had to admit while he found Everlyn’s room to be relaxing he kind of liked the austere surrounding of his own space. The plain clean lines, the empty walls, the number that had ticked up to three in the corner.
Especially that last bit.
Once they were free of the wasps he would use those questions to determine his next direction. He needed a weakened race that he and his team could grow to defeat. Break them and seize their racial characteristics for humanity.
Evil?
Probably.
Necessary?
Absolutely.
If he had to choose humanity or a species that was descending toward extinction anyway, then there was really no choice.
That was a problem for later. For now, he had abilities to relearn.
“Show Experience.”
Experience: 15,697 (+11,500)
There was no surprise with the experience number that flashed up. It was the title and group rewards, and together they represented more than enough for what he planned. After all, he only needed to buy the Spear Skill and after that he would have leftovers for a couple of levels. The way he was going up the human ranking ladder was ridiculous. His build was for the future, but his continual use of fate to change outcomes had swayed things heavily in his favour.
Which either told him the rest of humanity had not worked out how fate functioned, which he didn’t believe given that Michael and Everlyn in his small group had already had a pretty good gasp of the mechanism or it was luck that they had landed in a situation his fate had been able to exploit. It was the second, Tom was sure of it. The wasps might be cursed creatures to run into initially, but it had certainly benefited him.
Sometimes he felt guilty about how he had used fate on that first day. If he had driven for something else was it possible they could have created a situation that they were already out of these plains? Then he remembered his audacious plan and what was coming next. Given the certain rank discrepancy they were going to be facing, every single advantage helped, and he was extraordinarily happy with his decision making. Ultimately, if he was successful, no one else in this group would matter and if he gimped their development by a few months it wouldn’t matter in the slightest.
He had gambled, and it had paid off. He had held his own when those around him were more than twice as strong, twice as agile, twice as resilient, and had twice as much magic. That was a significant gap to close, but he was doing it. Six extra attributes per class level would let him catch them quickly. Until then, he would have to be careful. Lower level skills could not breach that type of attribute difference.
Fate, Tom reminded himself could and had.
Tom put aside his musings and focused on what he wanted to do.
“Use attributes stone on low light vision.”
Spell: Low Light Vision (42) (+ 38) (Tier 0)
Increases vision in low light conditions. As the skill ranks up, vision improves and switching between different light conditions has fewer side effects.
Spell level 8 benefit - Eased Transition. Abrupt shifts in lighting conditions will not cause disorientation.
Spell level 16 benefit - Passive Toggle. Spell will no longer require mana to maintain.
Spell level 32 benefit - Permanent Usage. Spell is permanently active and you can now see equally well in all conditions. Spell levels above 32 improve vision.
The spell had progressed to level thirty-eight. It was higher than he had expected, but as the attribute stone was tier 2 to contain the ability to progress a tier 0 spell from one to ten four times over. That would probably have got him to level twenty by itself, but the benefit from having the skill so high in the DEUS’s trial had pushed up the additional eighteen levels.
Thank DEUS. Unless it was pitch black, he could see everything around him like it was daylight. That level thirty-two benefit was a huge upgrade.
“Purchase the Skill–Spear, Tier one and apply attribute stone.”
Skill: Spear (29) (tier 1)
Increases in the skill level. Grants improved precision, power, sharpness and weapon durability, which increases with skill level.
Skill level 4 benefit - Beast Weakness. An innate sense of weaknesses in beasts you are fighting. Insight increases with skill level.
Skill level 8 benefit - Rapid Block. Increased speed imparted to the spear to allow a blow to be blocked. Both speed and frequency of engaging increase with skill level.
Skill level 16 benefit - Power Attacks. Infuse blocks or strikes with extra power. Frequency and impact increases with skill level.
There was, of course, no rush of knowledge about how to use the spear when he got the skill. That was not how skills worked in Existentia. Especially in cases like his, where he already possessed high levels of technical knowledge. If you knew nothing about spear fighting, you might get a modest download of information from this process. A theoretical grounding in basic footwork and pointers on how to get your body weight behind a thrust, possibly even how to hold the spear but little more. Definitely nothing involving muscle memory. Attribute stones for someone inexperienced could be a double-edged sword. They did not teach you how to do the skill, they just improved the application of it. It did not matter how many attribute stones you used to progress something like the spear skill. If you did not know how to grip the shaft and had no concept of blocking or thrusting, those skill levels would not help you in a fight.
The spear would still be a stick in your hands with the vague knowledge of some footwork and a desire to thrust as hard as you could to skewer the enemy, however when you tried to implement those knowledges you were about as equally likely to trip over your own feet as to produce a strike that Tom could consider as reaching the barely adequate level. Of course, if you were successful you would hit with Skill enhanced power that was beyond what your attributes suggested was possible courtesy of the passive effect of the extra levels.
However, for someone like him who knew what he was doing with the weapon, the base skill would subtly improve what he was doing. Since he knew how to grip a spear and slide your hands at the right moment, having the Skill strengthen his grip materially made a difference and meant he was substantially less likely to be disarmed. If you were green behind the gills, then almost certainly you would hold the spear wrong. The Skill would have nothing to work with, well not nothing but not only would the spear by held less securely it would also get a lower percentage boost and a single hard parry would send it flying.
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It was the same with everything else. The Skill increased the power and speed he could impart on a thrust but the further away you were from the correct technique the percentage benefit would reduce, not to mention how much weaker the unaided thrust would have been. If you attempted a strike one handed, your pathetic damage would not get elevated because you had a hundred in some so-called Spear Skill. While technically Existentia did not obey earth’s physics the same principles sort of applied. Apart from when they didn’t. Usually right when anything higher than tier four got involved.
Then there were the truly magical benefits of the spear Skill. Weapon care was important. The tip of his weapon and / or the edge would now be artificially sharp. Nothing that would make you gasp in disbelief but even those with poor observation skills would notice the boost in cutting power. Then there was the more subtle, but more important advantage, durability. Any spear he used would be substantially less likely to break. Collisions that would usually leave a spear in pieces might not even crack the shaft anymore.
Tom knew exactly how necessary that feature was. A weapon breaking in battle was horrible. All said and done those slight improvements, while useful in a practical sense, would not even double his damage output.
The skill level benefits you got from passing one of the threshold levels was different. The three bonuses he had for having the level above four, eight and sixteen were an enormous boost. Well, not the beast weakness bonus. His forty years of experience were superior to the guidance it gave, but the other two were useful. The blocking in the trial had saved his life, but the power strike was the real gem out of the skills.
If he used its power all at once it would already allow him to increase the penetration power of a single strike by five times.
Though Tom tried not to use it in that manner. Instead, he preferred to subtly increase the power of dozens of strikes rather than risking everything in a single massive blow. Of course, if he was fighting something that he couldn’t hurt otherwise and he would use a power strike, however, his preference was not to. Experience was a harsh mistress, and it had taught him that lots of enhanced strikes were usually superior to channelling it within a single blow.
“Assign free attribute points to fate. Purchase two levels of elemental summoner class. Assign class points to spell boost passive.” He could feel that change being applied.
Tom smiled. Tiny aside, it was a good day.
“Show changes.”
Class
Elemental Summoner 6 (+2) (Expert)
Attributes
Strength: 53 (+1 Title: Strength Spring)
Vitality: 65 (+ 2 Title: Vitality font)
Agility: 54 (+4 Trait: Fates Agility)
Magic: 71 (+24 Level 5 bonus, -2 Fates Agility)
Fate: 113 (+4 Trait: Fates Agility, +10 free attributes points)
Mana Pool: Magic * 2 = 142
Spells
Summon Playful Wisp: 51 (+4 from class passive, +4 from Trait: Elemental Summoner Passive) (tier 0)
Summon Lightning Elemental: 15 (+.5 from class passives, +0.5 from Trait: Elemental Summoner Passive) (tier 3)
Lightning Ball: 18 (New) (tier 3)
Skills
Health Burn: 1 (New) (tier 3)
Mana Burn: 1 (New) (tier 3)
Other
Soul Space: increased to 8 slots (+2) and 0.22 (+.04) metres cubed
Experience: 2,697 (-9000 Levels, -4000 Spear Skill)
Ranking Points: 995 (+275)
Position on human ranking ladder: 4
Tom took a moment to assess how far he had progressed. In the four ranking attribute categories, he averaged sixty-two. Every eight increase was a rank, which meant he was just under rank seven, which required a sixty-four average.
However, that was ignoring his fate pool. With a couple of minor exceptions, most humans had not invested in fate and remained at their starting amount that for humans appeared to be low twenties. If the ranking measure included Fate relatively, he would be a full two ranks higher.
The lack of progress of everyone else and his bonuses now meant on a full attribute ranking he had moved from being easily the worst to be amongst the top twenty in the group and given the way everyone was behaving he was looking forward to ditching them.
Tom kept studying the changes for a moment longer. He had to admit he was slowly getting back a fraction of the strength that he had lost when moving from DEUS’s trial to Existentia. Only a fraction but having access to Power Strike once more made himself feel more complete.
“What’s lightning ball?”
Spell: Lightning Ball (18) (Tier 3)
This spell creates a ball of condensed lightning that can be thrown up to thirty metres away. When it hits the target, it will explode and impart concussive force, electric shock and fire damage. Each skill level marginally (3% per level) increases the power of the lightning ball.
Skill level 4 benefit - Spell may be dual cast
Skill level 8 benefit - Spell can be used with variable mana
Skill level 16 benefit - Spell balance can be altered to favour one effect over the other. For example, increasing electricity damage by fifty percent while halving concussive and burning force or vice versa.
Tom nodded at what he was seeing. He wanted to experiment with level sixteen threshold benefit, but the spell was great no matter what. Finally, he possessed a true ranged attack. As much as he loved Spark, its effectiveness was seriously reduced once the target got more than a couple of metres from him.
Not anymore, he smiled to himself.
Now he could throw death from afar.
He opened his eyes.
Everlyn smiled and gave him a thumbs up. “Three or four levels?”
“Two.”
She studied him for a moment and then clicked her fingers. “Your class only gives attributes every four levels.”
He nodded.
“Are you breaking any more hives today?”
Tom shook his head in answer.
“Given the drama, I will stay here.”
The meal and preparing to sleep were a strained affair. Tom would have liked to claim their group was above the fray, but it clearly was not. Both Sonya and Keikain joined them increasing total of team Tom to eleven. The rest of the people trapped in the GOD’s trial formed their own shelter, complete with an independent guard roster.
“It’s all going to shit.”
Everyone looked at Michael where he was looking over the fragmenting camp.
“People are scared,” Toni the air mage said. She seemed to shrink back under the attention. She was definitely a stay in the background type of girl and apart from her heroics on the first day, she was almost unnoticeable, rarely participating in any conversations. “You can’t blame them,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Michael said, sounding exhausted. “If we weren’t here,” he waved at the world around them. At the seemingly never-ending wave of wasp hives. “We would have scattered to the winds. The council was talking about buying everyone coverings and rushing through the hives rather than waiting for Tom. We defeated that push.” Michael sighed heavily. “It’ll come back if there is another murder. People are scared and its fight or flee. If you can’t fight, then there is only one thing I can do…”
“Do you think anyone will try to escape?” Everlyn asked. “Like a thousand experience could get you a suit that should let you ignore the wasps.”
Michael shrugged. “Some might, but I doubt it.”
“I wouldn’t,” Everlyn disagreed. “I think they’ll take the chance. I’m not the only one who must feel that would almost be nice breaking off and existing by myself. If Tom wasn’t so stubborn.” She ducked her head and refused to make eye contact with anyone. She squeezed his hand to make sure he knew she was not attacking him.
“I get the desire,” Michael admitted. “I never thought I would say it, but god I’m getting sick of seeing people everyway I turn.” Everyone chuckled at that. “But staying as a group is for the best. I doubt once we exit here that survival will get easier. Given those countries around us I don’t believe the surrounding hills are going to be less than rank ten.”
“No chance.” Tom agreed.
“Totally agree,” Michael answered.
“Why are you so certain?” Thor asked.
“It’s a deduction.” Michael continued. “While low ranked areas obviously exist, they’re going to be sought after. Almost by default, they’ll become heavily fortified spaces in the heart of successful kingdoms. Any species with long maturity after birth will not want to raise near helpless children in areas where a butterfly could tear them apart. The fact there’s not a kingdom here tells me the nearby areas are probably even more dangerous than the wasps. I think most people understand this, which is why,” Michael continued, “no one is going to get up and leave by themselves. Plus, I’m not sure it will work. What happens if a future hive has a different ability either big wasps or something that lets them sting through centimetre thick covering?”
There was a thoughtful silence.
“And it wasn’t just that the council discussed the question of fairness. While it might be earmarked for the teleporter, it’s still mostly Tom’s money. Those two points won over most people, and then the crafters were the final straw. Despite how slow we’re moving, the trade in wasp parts is lucrative. According to our intelligence, we’re making significantly more than the other groups.”
“What?” Tom said in surprise. “Other groups?”
“Yes, we’re earning more.”
“How? How do you know that?”