The last battle had resulted in numerous skill ups, leaving them ripe for some point expenditures, but the potential to raise my skills through training was also sitting before me.
The question was, did I want to spend the points on current skills, or learn new ones. That and the attribute point waiting to be spent.
The attribute point at least had an easy solution. Presence once again. My spells were all based on Presence, and while I’d love some more Strength or Agility for my martial prowess, my spells were my bread and butter and needed all the help they could get.
As for skills, well… those were always a dilemma. Spend points now, make it harder to raise them from training, or train first and risk raising their progress enough that I wouldn’t want to spend points on them afterwards. Arg!
Sighing to myself, I looked around and thought, here goes nothing, and headed into the melee weapon training yards, summoning my spear as one of the instructors waved me over.
The trainer was a female warrior, mummified of course, and dressed in a set of leather armor more suited to a gladiatorial arena than a pitched battle.
“Welcome, Adept,” she said, “I am Kah’Bomani Nephati. Lord Anpu has instructed me to provide you with instruction in your martial abilities. Do you wish training at this time?”
*** Lore (Saa Religion) check successful! ***
A small bubble of info percolated into my brain, letting me know that Kah’Bomani was the title of the elite weapon masters of the Saa empire. The loose translation was something akin to Soul (kah) Warrior (bomani) and was a mark of extreme distinction, usually only granted to those who have proven themselves true champions of the gods.
“Yes! Please!” I responded, eager to finally use the system that I’d missed out on for fifteen levels now.
She looked me up and down, her gaze scanning me on a supernatural level. She huffed, “A spearman. And shield. But only a single active skill.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Well, I guess we can’t expect full martial competence from a Priest. What skill would you like to train in?”
*** NOTE: Faith trainers, as opposed to the standard class trainers or generic trainers available in the world at the various guilds operate on separate currency systems and do not accept material payment. In this case, the trainers of the Temple of the Restless Dead require Divine Favor points. The cost of training is equal to five divine favor times the current skill tier (0-4=5, 5-9=10, etc..). ***
“Can I train in more than one skill at a time?” I asked, wondering about the nuts and bolts of the system.
The weapon master smirked, somehow getting her mummified lips to form the expression. “Yes. If they are compatible. With your limited skill set I should have no issue putting together a training regimen to handle them all. Is that what you would like to do?”
*** Expend 70 divine favor to purchase a training session that will cover: Spear, Shield, Medium Armor, Endurance and Precision Strike? (Y/N) ***
I winced a bit at the cost, but after the giant chunk I’d gotten for completing the heart quest, I had over a hundred and fifty divine favor to use. I might as well use it catch up on a few things. I hit yes and followed the trainer to the far side of the training area where we began.
An hour or two later, I was beat. The trainer had pulled no punches and had kept me working even when I thought I was going to pass out.
At first it’d seemed pretty easy, a basic spar, but that had turned out to be her way of discovering all of my bad habits and mistakes. After she knew all of my flaws, she attacked them mercilessly, treating me like I was a piece of iron to be beaten into shape.
When my pummeling was finally complete, I collapsed onto a nearby bench to catch my breath as the notifications scrolled by.
*** Training Session complete! Next training session available in 24 hours. ***
*** System Notification: Skills can be trained individually, or as a group. When a group training is initiated, the time required for each individual skill is lessened, but doing so will limit future skill training and the learning of new skills with a twenty-four-hour timer to prevent overexertion and exploitation of the training system. ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Spear! Rank 14 Achieved! ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Endurance! Rank 10 Achieved! Taking damage now has a small chance of producing a rush of adrenaline which provides a boost to stamina. ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Shield! Rank 12 Achieved! ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Medium Armor! Rank 13 Achieved! ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Precision Strike! Rank 12 Achieved! ***
A twenty-four-hour cooldown? There went my plans for the complete multi-class montage I’d planned for the night. Damn it, I thought as I gazed longingly towards to the spell casting trainers. I really wanted to finish off the bit I had left in my Cure Wounds progress and level First Aid as well.
“Not bad for a spellcaster,” Nephati said as she looked me over. “At least you’ve got some heart. I’ve had recruits beg for mercy at half of what I put you through.”
I nodded, still short of breath and blanched as she continued, “Next time I know I won’t have to be so gentle on you! Ha!”
Grinning weakly, I forced myself back to my feet and looked around, figuring it couldn’t hurt to try and see if the combat and magic trainings were on separate timers, and maybe find a new bug if it did work.
I approached a black robed mummy seated at a desk in what I assumed was the spell casting training area.
“Excuse me, magus.” I said. “Could assist me with increasing my spell casting skills.”
The magus set down the scroll they’d been reading and looked me over. Slowly, they shook their head and responding, “You appear exhausted, Adept. I believe any further studies might be a bit much today. Perhaps next time when you are well rested.”
I sighed. “I was hoping to learn something new. Are you sure?”
“I already told you. No,” they replied, taking on a very annoyed tone. “If you are so keen on learning, you have free use of the library for your own, personal studies.”
They gestured towards the rows of scrolls and other arcane paraphernalia. “But any harm you cause yourself will be on you, and any damage you cause will be taken out of your hide,” they continued, turning back to the scroll they had been studying before I interrupted them.
Checking the clock, I had three hours or so until I needed to get some sleep. But I knew that If started down the rabbit hole of spell research, I’d probably be up all night. So as much as I wanted to make use of the library, I had to leave.
But first, I had several melee skills ripe for some leveling with skill points. I wanted to be tip top for the next stage of the journey, so I assumed my standard training position of butt to floor and eyes closed, and used my four remaining combat skill points. I raised Spear to fifteen and both Shield and Medium Armor to fourteen.
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Spear skill to 15! ***
*** Congratulations! You have become more proficient in Spear! Rank 15 Achieved! Critical hits will now ignore 75% of the enemy’s armor. Critical hits will always cause a bleeding wound. ***
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Shield skill to 13! ***
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Shield skill to 14! ***
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Medium Armor skill to 14! ***
With those skills upped and no opportunities to train my other skills, I decided to use some points there as well. I sank my two free divine magic skills points into Combat Caster, bringing it up to fourteen and hopefully upping the chance of triggering those free spells that had so far proven to be invaluable.
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Combat Caster skill to 13! ***
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Combat Caste
r skill to 14! ***
And lastly, I put one point into Discerning Eye to bring that up to fifteen and gain whatever boon came along with it.
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Discerning Eye skill to 15! ***
***Congratulations! You have reached rank 15 in the Discerning Eye skill. The amount of information retrieved by the Analyze ability is increased. In addition, this skill will now synergize with the caster's ability to analyze spell casting that they can see and find weak points where they can be dispelled. ***
The dizzy spells had decreased a bit in potency but were still nothing to scoff at. Maybe I’m getting used to having foreign information funneled through my brain, I thought.
After the disorientation was completely gone, I teleported to the Gates of Death and rejoined the land of the living, appearing hale and whole once again in the chamber before the entrance to Asah’s tomb.
I was alone, and the passageway leading back to the temple proper was there waiting, but I decided the stone floor was preferable to having to deal with the logistics of finding a bed in a temple full of refugees, soldiers, and priests. I set up my bedroll and laid down, opening up the editing software to put together the next set of videos for my stream.
There was a ton of footage to cut, but I’d had enough practice to get everything sorted quickly. I split each of the encounters into their own videos. The heka and nekhakha tests, the interaction with the altar, the ushtabi fight. Then each run of the boss encounter got its own entry.
Following my current stream model, once I was done with the pure gameplay footage I started on the cinematic mode. It was, after all, an epic quest and deserved a good telling.
It was a challenge including our repeated deaths in the feature, so in the end I cut one long battle sequence of our party vs the Manifestation, using bits from each of our attempts. I had to do some creative editing, but in the end I thought it came out pretty well.
The real challenge was showing the footage of me turning in the quest.
I figured people would have a general understanding of what was going on in the world and would be working through their own quest lines, but I still didn’t want to give any bad apples the heads up, so when I cut together the video, I removed any mention of our next destination, only showing that I’d received a new quest.
I posted the videos up and went back into the editor to isolate the part of the battle where we confirmed the kiting regen exploit and attached it to my bug report and hit submit. I still wasn’t sure it was a bug, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
After that I read through some of the comments from the regular fans. It was mostly the same. More requests for specific game features, crafting videos, and even a few requests for a rundown of the Spellcrafting skill.
The big surprise was a thread dedicated to my donation efforts, where people were sharing links and testimonials from other streamers who had joined me in my pledge to donate to Anya’s Arms and other charities with the same goal. As I logged off and readied myself for bed, I did so with a full heart.
…
33
I woke up early the next morning completely stiff and regretted not at least trying to find a bed the night before. My desire to avoid interaction with the folks at the temple now seemed a bit foolish in comparison to the kink in my spine and stiff neck.
Kjara and Mika weren’t scheduled to be online for another hour or two, so I decided to do some reconnaissance and find out what the priesthood had that could help make our trip to the Vale of Dreams faster.
While packing up my things, I noticed my random loot bag from the big boss chest sitting in my pack, unopened. I had to handle that right away. I definitely wasn’t putting off the pending interactions with the priesthood. Definitely.
I was expecting the bag to have a few potions and some coin, and was very surprised when I found a shiny new ring and an amulet nestled resting on top of the expected rewards.
I tucked the two major rejuvenation potions and fifty gold in assorted coins into my belt pouch and then examined the ring. It was a plain, unadorned band of bronze that pretty much screamed “generic”, with abilities to match.
Ring of Reason—This is a basic ring enchanted to give a slight bonus to Wisdom.
Wisdom governed mana regeneration which I could always use more of, so I slipped the ring onto my finger and took out the amulet. Made of gold and what looked like ice, the amulet was shaped like a complex snowflake. Reading its properties, the shape made perfect sense.
Flawed Amulet of the Kerrigan—This amulet contains the ability to create a sheet of ice on any surface, creating a zone of treacherous footing. In addition, the wearer of this amulet is able to walk on ice with no penalties.
Flaw: When initially created, the enchantment responsible for recharging the amulet from ambient mana was unsuccessful; thus, this amulet must be recharged manually after each use. Charges: 0/1.
I frowned at the description. How exactly did one recharge a magic item? I focused on the necklace and tried pushing mana into it the same way I’d power a spell. At first there was resistance, but then a series of unfamiliar glyphs appeared etched into the surface of the amulet and began to fill one by one, just like I was casting the spell.
When the glyphs were all charged, the counter in the item description ticked up and the mana flow cut off. Grinning, I slid the amulet’s cord around my neck and tucked it under my armor. A new icon appeared next to my gauges showing an icon of a boot on a snowflake with a little “1” superimposed.
My procrastination at an end, I grabbed my gear and headed towards the main temple.
After about five minutes of walking, I was lost. From the boundaries of the map, I could tell roughly where the floor ended but the details were still hidden. If I got truly desperate, I could backtrack to the dungeon entrance and wait there to see if maybe Kjara or Mika could follow Kaluitep’s tracks or something, but now that I’d worked up the motivation to do something I didn’t want to sit twiddling my thumbs.
After about a half hour of wandering around, I finally got lucky and found a stairway leading upwards. The stairs led to a small hallway that ended in a flat stone wall with a set of hinges on one side and a small lever on the other.
A bit frustrated with the situation, I threw caution to the wind and pulled the lever. With a soft click, the wall swung open into a small corridor that smelled of rich incense and smoke.
I smiled and stepped through and into a corridor I recognized from my previous visit to the High Priest. My minimap refreshed to show the current zone, confirming my memory.
The secret door closed behind me with another click that was quickly drowned out by the sound of booted feet running on stone. A squad of heavily armed temple guard rushed in from somewhere nearby and surrounded me, weapons drawn.
“Adept, you are under arrest for trespassing within the inner sanctum without permission. You are to come with us!” a guard bearing a captain’s usekh belted.
I raised my hands and replied, “I apologize, captain. I just completed a task assigned by Hierophant Kaluitep and had no clue where the passage would lead me. Of course I will come along peacefully.”
The guardians fell in around me and escorted me of the main temple, leading me into the packed main hall. The common folk and city guardsmen occupied most of the room, but at the far side there was a definite line separating where the common people were allowed, and where only those of the noble class or clergy were welcome.
The crowd parted ahead of my escort as we made our way towards the “VIP” section. Most of the common folk were dirty with a haunted and hungry look in their eyes. The women huddled together with the children of the city, doing their best to sooth the traumatized youth.
The city guard stood near the walls, their armor battered and bloody, some trying to rest here and there on the stone floor where they could find space to lay down.
A sharp jab by one of my “escorts” stopped me short as I stepped ins
tinctively towards the wounded soldiers. I glared at the man who just looked back with an emotionless gaze, showing only a hint of surprise as my golden eyes bore into him.
I continued moving with the escort, scanning the crowds for any familiar faces. I spotted Maeve moving among the crowd, giving out water and bread. Some of the other girls were there too. I even spotted Lei’ti there, dressed in regular clothes for once, thank the gods.
Maeve glanced up from her task and saw me. With barely a nod of acknowledgement, she leaned in and whispered something into Lei’ti’s ear and then rushed off into the crowd. Lei’ti looked over, smiling slightly before turning back to the hungry people around her.
Soon enough my escort brought me before a man wearing the three striped stole of a Hierophant. One of the many priests I hadn’t yet had the “pleasure” of meeting. From the wrinkles deeply set around his eyes and mouth, I judged him to be in his late fifties, but couldn’t be sure as the Saa sun tended to be none too gentle on the skin.
The Hierophant looked me up and down and sniffed disdainfully as he turned to the guard captain. “So, this is the intruder?”
“Yes, Hierophant Malukammun. We caught him within the inner sanctum, unescorted,” the captain replied. “What should we do with him?”
Malukammun waved away the rest of the guards and looked me over again. “That remains to be seen. Adept, why were you in the inner sanctum? And how did you get there?”
Thinking of how much I should reveal, I replied, “Hierophant, I was charged by-”
“He was there with my permission, Maluk,” Kaluitep called from behind me.
Glad for the save, I turned to the new arrival and nodded in greeting, spotting Maeve fading into the crowd behind him. So that’s where she’d run off to.
I looked back to Malukammun just in time to see him wipe a scowl from his face as he looked at Kaluitep. “This is highly irregular, brother. The High Priest has closed off the inner sanctum for a reason. We cannot have any of the riffraff desecrating the hallowed halls of the temple. Not to mention the apparent hole in our security I must now find and shore up.”
Heart of the Void: Sosaku Online - Book 2 Page 24
