by A F Kay
Effect (Passive): Snuffed Flame: obscures the Spirit body masking the wearer’s power and essence paths to all but the most powerful.
Set Bonus (Active): Cornfield of Despair: area of effect confusion.
Set Bonus (Active): Inferno’s Embrace: return to Infernal Realm bind point.
Restriction: Five Meridians required to power Aspect.
Restriction: Soulbound.
Description: Long burlap pants that cover the feet and have a tattered, weathered, and ragged appearance. The Aspect provides Diamond level protection against Spiritual attacks on the wearer’s center, Core, Meridians, and paths. The Scarecrow Aspect, created by the Infernal Realm’s God Lalquinrial, is one of seven Aspects used to enforce Lalquinrial’s will in the Infernal Realm, and are worn by those he favors.
The three pieces of the Scarecrow Aspect gave him one thousand six hundred eighty Spiritual Armor Class, whatever that meant. It sounded like a lot, but the fact that he could be damaged Spiritually made him worry. At least he had some protection now.
The line-of-sight fear, Infernal Panic, Ruwen had used already and knew its power. Snuffed Flame explained why Mica had lost the ability to see the spatial distortions from Ruwen’s Core in the Spirit Realm.
The idea that this Scarecrow Aspect lived inside him like some parasite bothered him, but he couldn’t argue with the power and protection it provided. Even if he couldn’t use any of the active abilities right now, he would still benefit from all the passive ones.
Thanks to Rami, he had efficiently gotten through all his notifications.
Ruwen looked at the tree-shaped icon in the top left portion of his vision, took a deep breath, and opened his Profile.
Chapter 50
Finally able to view his Profile, Ruwen’s curiosity burst forth like a rabid bear. He opened the Abilities tab and scrolled down to Hey You, desperate to know what new ability had appeared.
Advanced Ability: True Name
Base Ability: Hey You
Cost: 10 Ability Points
Hey You Level: 15
Class: Worker
Effect: Understand the language of the Universe, and see the roots of Ascension.
Restriction: Worker Class
Restriction: Minimum Class Level 16
Restriction: Minimum Base (Ascendancy Day) Intelligence 16
Type: Self
Ruwen’s shoulders slumped at the point cost, but he would definitely save ten points for this ability. Understanding the Universe’s language would likely be what unlocked those twenty-two books Rami couldn’t understand yet. The “roots of Ascension” didn’t make sense, but maybe it would once he had the ability.
Like all his other spells and abilities, this one had small icons under it, twelve in fact. And now that he could study them, he recognized they matched the faded Divine Circle on the cover of his A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting. Each icon represented an essence.
He glanced at a few other abilities, and while none had all twelve essences, they all had at least three.
The icons revealed the essence recipe to duplicate the spell.
Well, recipe was probably the wrong word. They were more like ingredients. Ruwen switched to his Spells tab and found the greyed-out Fireball. In the Spirit Realm he had created a Fireball and found that Fire, Air, and Chaos essence were needed. When he fought Phoenix, he had sensed the fire specialist had added Death and Light essence to his flames.
The Fireball spell recipe on Ruwen’s Spells tab, though, just listed the five essences. Not their order or how much of each was required. From his experiments, he knew the essence order mattered, and some needed to be added multiple times, at distinct points, when constructing the spell.
Still, the fact that his interface listed essence ingredients blew his mind. And he had just started on this path. Maybe once he grew more powerful and experienced, the ingredient list might turn into a true recipe. If nothing else, the essences listed would save a ton of time and experimenting to find the proper components.
Another realization struck him. This might affect what spells he took in the future. Even if he really wanted another fire spell, for instance, since he knew how to construct them already, it might make more sense to take an unfamiliar spell, one that would give him insight into a different branch of magic.
Rami? Ruwen asked.
It took a few seconds for her to respond. Sorry, the books you just unlocked are taking all my attention.
Ruwen felt a little guilty. He knew Rami felt just like he did about new knowledge. I’m sorry, and I’ll try not to bother you for a bit. It’s just all my abilities and spells have essence values now, and I hoped you could help me look for patterns. If we can find some, I can pick spells that broaden our knowledge the most.
That is an excellent idea. I’ll cycle through your abilities and spells and start a thread analyzing them.
Thanks, Rami. You’re the best.
I know.
That made Ruwen smile. Sometimes a hint of Blapy’s personality would peek through in Rami, and he wondered what growing up was like for Rami. Now wasn’t a good time to ask, though.
Ruwen’s Spells tab listed his available spell points: forty-two. He had four left over from hitting level six and had gained thirty-eight from leveling to nineteen: fourteen from his odd levels, and twenty-four from the even levels.
The Abilities tab listed twenty-six points for Ruwen to use. He had two already from hitting level six and then gained another twenty-six from leveling to nineteen. Then he’d used two on increasing Hey You.
Ruwen decided to come back to these tabs later. Right now, there were too many variables to spend a significant amount of points. Before he did much, he needed to determine his Sub Classes, learn what spells and abilities were available, and see if he could identify any patterns in the essence values of his existing spells and abilities.
Returning to his Profile page, Ruwen looked at the available attribute points: fifty-four. He had two points unassigned from reaching level six, and then for gaining thirteen more levels, he’d received the following: thirteen points in Strength, thirteen points in Stamina, twenty-six points from his Worker Class, and twenty-six points from his Root Class.
The number of attribute points shocked and excited Ruwen. That many points would make an actual difference, especially since his Ascendancy Day stats had been average in Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Those base values were hard to overcome, and even with additional attribute points, he might never reach the capabilities of someone with a base stat of sixteen.
But Ruwen realized he wasn’t normal. Even though his Dexterity had been ten on his Ascendancy Day, marking him as average, he had two other ways to increase his stats that others didn’t. His Root Class gave him two extra points per level, and his body Fortification would eventually provide hundreds of attribute points. That meant ultimately, Ruwen might be just as good as someone with a base sixteen in their Ascendancy Day stats.
Ruwen looked at his current stats and wondered how he should spend the fifty-four available points.
Attributes
Strength: 35
Stamina: 35
Dexterity: 23
Intelligence: 25
Wisdom: 19
Charisma: 19
All his attributes had increased by two when his body reached Copper, and then another three on attaining Silver. His level four Worker ability, Vigor, increased all his attributes by ten percent. His Dexterity had two extra points, one from the Fastidious Blade and one from the Fleeting Tattoo of Dexterity he’d gotten in Blapy. The small tattoo on his right arm of a red fox jumping across the rocks in a stream should have only lasted a month, but maybe the time in other realms didn’t count.
Many of Ruwen’s Observer abilities would benefit from Dexterity. He had just snatched Lylan’s dagger out of the air, something impossible not that long ago. But even though he had all the training, his body limited him. Adding one point to Dexterity for each of his lev
els seemed like the minimum he should do. It benefited his Energy, Armor Class, Critical Chance, Dodge, and Perception as well, so he added the thirteen to Dexterity.
Now Ruwen had a decision to make. When he’d planned on being a Mage, the vast amount of his attribute points would have gone into Intelligence with a little into Stamina for survivability. As a Mage, he’d planned to use spells to overcome any weaknesses. But did that make sense in his current situation?
Not only had Ruwen’s Class changed, but he had as a person. While the Mage version of himself had scoffed at Unarmed Combat, he now saw the value it provided to his mind, body, and safety. In addition, he had two Classes, not one, and they didn’t overlap in attributes very well. He had also experienced the terrible repercussions of attribute debuffs when they dropped below ten. Unlike most people who encountered the same types of challenges every day, Ruwen never knew what the day would bring. His life since Ascendancy had been pure chaos, and having a weakness would almost certainly cost him his life, eventually. All of that made him lean toward making his attributes a little more balanced.
But it would have a cost. Those that emphasized a couple of attributes would have a clear advantage if the situation favored them. Ruwen had brains and might manage to turn any situation into one he could succeed in. That route had risks, though, and if his maxed attributes failed, there would be nothing left to fall back on. The problem with maxing a few attributes was that as soon as your enemy figured out your weakness, it doomed you.
Ruwen’s Fortification of his body, though, provided some of this balance. Every time he leveled his body, those points went into every attribute. So in a sense, he already had a mechanism in place to keep himself somewhat balanced.
Since he had the Fortification bonuses, maybe he could use a more hybrid approach. He could emphasize his essential attributes, and add a few to the non-critical ones.
Ruwen created three attribute lists in his head: critical, important, and minor.
Under critical, he placed Stamina and Dexterity. Stamina would keep him alive and added to his Energy, Resilience, and Endurance. Dexterity benefited his Observer Class, Step training, Energy, Armor Class, Critical Chance, Dodge, and Perception.
For important attributes, he just listed Intelligence. It added to his Mana, which he needed to rely on since he couldn’t use Spirit to cast spells, and increased Cleverness and Perception. His Cleverness stat, in particular, had been very beneficial to him.
That left three minor attributes: Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Wisdom almost made it to important because it directly affected Cleverness and Resilience. Not only that, the days following his Ascendancy when he had suffered from the Wisdom debuff Foolish, had been some of his most painful. But unlike Intelligence, it didn’t affect his Mana pool like it did for the Order Class.
Wisdom would be the most important of the minor attributes, though, since he couldn’t always rely on Hamma for common sense. He needed Wisdom of his own to balance out his Intelligence.
Strength, while important, already received a point every level automatically because of his Worker Class. His Void Band made Encumbrance a nonissue, and while Strength benefited Endurance, so did Stamina, which Ruwen preferred to emphasize for the obvious benefit of Health Points. Power Strike was more of a Fighter stat, and Ruwen didn’t see himself using that method of combat.
That left Charisma, and while Ruwen had to admit he didn’t want to look like a toad, it just wasn’t critical to his life’s direction. He wouldn’t neglect it though since it affected his Persuasion stat, and if he meant to lead, he’d need that.
Strength and Stamina had already benefited by thirteen points each. Ruwen had added thirteen to Dexterity earlier, leaving him forty-one more attribute points. If he added another thirteen to Stamina, ten to Intelligence, another ten to Dexterity, five to Wisdom, and three to Charisma, it would use up all his attribute points.
Ruwen wondered if he should leave a few points in reserve, in case he needed them for something. That appealed to him but seemed dangerous. So many of his fights had been close. If Hamma had missed a heal, or if he’d taken a little more damage, he would have died many times. While having banked attributes felt good, it might cost him his life, and that seemed foolish.
Ruwen distributed the points and then looked at his current state.
General
Name: Ruwen Starfield
Race: Human
Age: 16
Class: Worker
Sub Class: Not Yet Chosen
Hidden Class: Root (Observer)
Hidden Sub Class: Not Yet Chosen
Level: 19
Class Rank: Initiate
Cultivation Stage: 40
Cultivation Rank: Acolyte
Deaths: 2
Deity: Goddess Uru
Experience: 113,820/190,000
Inventory: 72/1,000
Realm Count: 2
Wealth: 1g 10s 50c
Marks
Black Pyramid
Bamboo Viper Clan
Dungeon Master (Unnamed Dungeon)
Marks’ Details
Bamboo Level: 84
Bamboo Rank: Adept
Viper Level: 84
Viper Rank: Adept
Black Pyramid Level: 1
Black Pyramid Rank: Novice
Black Pyramid Cipher Level: 1
Black Pyramid Dungeon Level (Completed): 6
Black Pyramid Librarian Rank: Ink Warden
Black Pyramid Tokens: 26
Unnamed Dungeon Tier: 40
Unnamed Dungeon State: Abysmal
Dungeon Keeper Fractal State: Fragile
Pools
Health: 572/572
Mana: 399/399
Energy: 976/976
Spirit: 31,296,528,470
Attributes
Strength: 35
Stamina: 50
Dexterity: 48
Intelligence: 36
Wisdom: 24
Charisma: 22
Ratings
Knowledge: 48
Armor Class: 379
Max Encumbrance: 528 lbs.
Critical Chance: 90%
Power Strike: 7%
Haste: 94%
Dodge: 163%
Persuasion: 35%
Resilience: 35%
Endurance: 8%
Cleverness: 53%
Perception: 58%
Resistances
Elemental Resistance: 37%
Poison Resistance: 37%
Acid Resistance: 37%
Mind Resistance: 76%
Order Resistance: 37%
Chaos Resistance: 33%
Disease Resistance: 37%
Light Resistance: 37%
Dark Resistance: 33%
Regeneration
Health Regeneration per second: 2.27
Mana Regeneration per second: 2.12
Energy Regeneration per second: 37.91
The changes staggered Ruwen. He ignored the ridiculous Spirit value for now since he planned to look at his Harvesting values next. But before he did, he wanted to compare some of the greatest changes in his stats to his level six values. He barely recognized himself now.
Chapter 51
Ruwen scanned his Profile again and marveled at some of the biggest gains. His Cultivation Stage had gone from nineteen to forty, which had almost doubled his Resistance values, bringing most of them to thirty-seven percent. That made him much more durable. When you added the mental benefits from the rare skill Last Breath, his Mind Resistance was an incredible seventy-six percent.
The gains from eighty-three levels of Bamboo Step training had increased his Armor Class by eighty-three. Dodge had already been a decent thirty-five percent, mostly because of the level three Observer ability Evade, which raised Dodge by twenty percent. The Bamboo Step bonus added another eighty-three percent, along with his Unarmed Combat skill, which piled on another forty-seven and one-half percent, bringing his Dodge from thirty-five
to one hundred sixty-three percent. Now, an enemy would need a very high Haste percentage to even hope of hitting him.
The gains from eighty-three levels of Viper Step training had moved his Critical Chance percentage from four percent to, with a little help from his Dexterity additions, ninety percent. That meant most of his strikes would be for more than max damage. The other affected rating was his Haste, which had gone from five percent to, again with a little help from Dexterity increases, ninety-four percent. That meant he could now overcome a lot of his target’s Dodge.
The Unarmed Combat increase had, in addition to helping his Dodge, increased his damage without a weapon by forty-seven and one-half percent. Along with Ruwen’s new Critical Strike rating, when he hit something, they would feel it.
Ruwen’s Health had gone from two hundred forty-nine to five hundred seventy-two. His investment in Stamina more than doubled his Health pool, and the ability Store gave him an extra ten percent. This should help with his survival, and give Hamma a little buffer with her healing.
Mana had gone from two hundred forty-two to three hundred ninety-nine for Ruwen. The added Intelligence points and the ability Store providing ten percent both helped. Not as impressive as his Health doubling, but still significant. This pool would be something he looked to buff. Hopefully they would find a ring in one of the packs that helped with Mana. He didn’t need to wear his Suffocation gear all the time and could swap it out with other items to help with his stats if needed.
Ruwen’s Energy had gone from four hundred three to nine hundred seventy-six, more than doubling. Energy benefited from his additions to Stamina, Dexterity, and Strength, as well as ten percent from the ability Store. This helped lower his anxiety when using his Void Band since he’d have more time now before killing himself accidentally.
Armor Class had benefited not only from the Bamboo Step increase but from the Fortification of Ruwen’s body, which had added two hundred ten points of AC.
