by Sean Oswald
“Yes, I can wake her at any time, but it is better if she wakes up on her own,” Daichi answered.
“Okay well, just keep an eye on her, and let me see what I can do for Jaselm,” Mira instructed. If the monk was bothered by being ordered around by Mira, he didn’t express it.
Mira took a handful of steps over to where Jaselm was, but tried not to look at him too closely since it sorta grossed her out. Once there, she cast Lesser Regeneration and saw some of the wounds close up slowly, but other deep wounds revealed bone that didn’t seem to respond. She tried to assure the paladin that her mother would be able to fix him and asked if there was anything more she could do for him now. When he shook his head no, she sat down facing away from him since she didn't want his appearance to disturb her, and then she opened up her character sheet.
She had 95 points to spend which was exciting, but she actually found herself more excited about the 13 stat points. For the first time since she first began leveling up, she didn’t feel any compulsion to put all of the points into Intelligence. She did put three points in which pushed her Intelligence up to fifty-four. Then she decided that she needed to round out some of her weaknesses. She added 2 points to Endurance, three to Constitution, one to Charisma, and four to Agility. The rush was overwhelming, and she sat there for a dozen seconds, shuddering as all of the changes to her mind and body took place. Once she stabilized, she looked at her character stats just to see what they were like after the changes.
STRENGTH: 5 (6, -10%)
Bravery: 1.5
Regen Rate: .5/hour
Melee Damage: +10%
DEXTERITY: 12
Ranged Damage: +24%
Rogue Skills: +24%
AGILITY: 32 (28, +15%)
Movement Rate: +64%
Defense Rate: +160%
CONSTITUTION: 15 (17, -10%)
Health: 150
Regen Rate: 1.5/hour
Fury: 4.5
Regen Rate: 1.5/hour
ENDURANCE: 13
Stamina: 3.9
Regen Rate: 1.3/hour
Needed Rest: -13%
INTELLIGENCE: 54 (36, +50%)
Mana: 840 (540)
Spell Damage: +108%
WISDOM: 13 (12, +15%)
Mana Regen Rate: 195/hour
Faith: 3.9
Regen Rate: 1.3/hour
CHARISMA: 29 (31, +5%)
Social Skills: 58%
Teamwork: 8.7
Regen Rate: 2.9/hour
LUCK: 7
+7% chance to avoid catastrophic effects
+7% improvement on chance of loot drops
+7% improvement on quality of loot drops
She knew that her physical stats were not amazing by Elorian standards, but they were becoming quite respectable by what she was accustomed to on Earth. Her agility, specifically, would have been superhuman back home. After that, she thought about the best way to spend her character points.
She still had 95 points and was pretty content with the direction that what her dad called her build was going and only wanted to reinforce that. She put 10 points into Quicken Spell to make it possible for her to quick cast Tier 3 spells. Then she added 20 points into Charm Magic. It had been her go-to for powerful magic, and she only hoped she could gain more Tier 3 spells to restore that.
She had been impressed not only by her dad’s rhino but by how useful the elementaling had been. It allowed her to escape from the huge monster in the dungeon moments before. That led her to max out Conjuration magic for the cost of 20 more points. She rounded it out with 20 points in Essence Magic and five into Enchanting. Hiroto had cautioned her about putting too many points too quickly into Enchanting. He had said something about it creating powerful but sloppy enchanters who could never truly master the art. That only left her with 20 character points left, and she wanted to save those. She had in the back of her mind that she needed to get Abjuration and Shaping Magic but wanted to wait until she had 40 points to put into each of them.
The next issue was to look at her two remaining notifications related to leveling up to a new Tier.
Watcher’s Preparation: ongoing- As a result of reaching character tier 2, each of your prior life skills will have their base level doubled. Each tier gained will provide an increase to a decreasing number of these skills, and only the skills enhanced at this tier gain will be eligible for future improvement. Bear this in mind.
Apparently because she only had four skills to level up, she was going to get to double all of them again. Only the base part of the skills level up rather than the end balance. After she had added character points: Balance-180, Bluff-41, Speak Languages-8, Running-12. She reviewed each of those skills quickly.
Balance: 180 +800% to related tasks. Grandmaster: For all balance your weight is treated as only one tenth of an ounce, and you are able to freely move in any direction.
Mira didn’t feel like she had been using that skill to its fullest, especially after how useful her Air Walker trait had been in the dungeon. It had probably saved her life every bit as much as Rak’kar had.
Bluff: 41, +205% chance on appropriate skill checks. Tier 4 Bonus: You now have a base 50% chance that people will believe even preposterous bluffs which you make. Believe your bluffs will work to add to the effect.
Yet another thing that Mira wasn’t using to its fullest potential. A childish part in the back of her mind felt it unfair that she finally had the perfect skill to get away with whatever she wanted, and yet monsters didn’t care about excuses.
The running skill wasn’t anything special in her mind. For the extra languages, she chose to add Goblin, Minotaur, Dwarven, and something called Celestial, although she didn’t really know what that meant. Her body stiffened for a handful of seconds as her mind was instantly filled with the basics of four new languages. She might not be able to understand all the nuances but would certainly be considered fluent.
The final notification was sort of a disappointment.
You have gained a tier bonus: Gain 1 class specific skill up to level 21.
She had hoped that she would get to assign another 20% bonus to a stat, but apparently upon reaching Tier 3, she instead got a skill that she didn’t even get to pick.
Meta-Enchanter: 21, +21% effective enchanting skill level. Your mastery of magic as a meta-mage rolls over into your skill as an enchanter. By combining these skills, you will be able to reach unparalleled heights. Tier 2 Bonus: Knowledge of the nature of magic is essential to how you view the world. You have a 50% increased chance to gain skill ups from performing new enchantments for the first time. Tier 3 Bonus: You are able to learn new enchantments 25% faster.
After that, she looked at her list of skills and spells
Skills:
Generic
Running: 12
Concentration: 11
Social
Speak Language: 8
Bluff: 41
Rogue
Balance: 180
Combat
Short Blades: 5
Craft
Enchanting: 10
General Magical
Esoteric Senses: 20
Quicken Spell: 21
Magic Focus- Evocation: 20
Magical Schools
Charm Magic: 40
Daze
Minor Charm Enemy
Minor Forgetfulness
Blending Camoflague
Lesser Mesmerize
Lesser Fear
Lesser Irresistible Joke
Illusion: Minotaur
Illusion: Giant Spider
Conjuration Magic: 40
Minor Webbing
Summon Basic Mount
Mage Armor: Chainmail
Invisible Housekeep
Conjured Wind Whip
Gate
Lesser Earth Elementaling
Divination Magic: 20
Identify
Assess Enemy
Lesser Telepathic Detection
Extended
Gaze
Lesser Guage Defenses
Essence Magic: 40
Minor Bleeding Wound
Minor Withering
Lesser Regeneration
Evocation: 40
Minor Electric Shock
Ice Dagger
Flame Fan
Magic Missiles
Frost Wave
Lesser Shield Breaker
Inferior Cone of Cold
Class
Steal Spell: 20
Shape Spell: 31
Meta Enchanter: 21
Finally, she wanted to check out the specifics of her new spell.
Inferior Cone of Cold: Creates a 50-degree cone 30’+1’/level in length. Within the area the ambient temperature rapidly drops to negative 50 degrees. Deals 20-40 + 1/level cold dmg to susceptible creatures. Further creatures who breathe take 10-50 damage to their lungs. Creatures receive Chilled debuff for two minutes unless they resist. Cold-blooded creatures are chilled for ten minutes.
Cooldown: 90 seconds-1 sec/level
Mana: 70
Tier: 3
She couldn’t wait to learn some more of the spells that were in the spell book but figured that would have to wait till they got back to town. As if on cue, Emily began to move.
Emily felt groggy as she sat up from where she had been lying on the forest floor. It took her a few moments to figure out where she was. Then once she realized that she wasn’t in the dungeon any longer, her first thought was to panic about Mira.
“Where is Mira?” she asked, but just as quickly as the words were out of her mouth, she saw her daughter sitting on the ground cross-legged. Then Mira opened her eyes and smiled at her.
“It’s okay, mom, we all made it out safely,” Mira said.
Emily sat up and smiled. “I don’t remember how I got out here. What happened?”
Daichi cleared his throat and then started to speak but was cut off before a single word got out. Mira said, “You must have passed out in all the excitement. I mean it’s not that hard to imagine with all of the stress that you were experiencing. The bigger deal is that Jaselm has some wounds that I’m not able to heal, and I am hoping you can save him. He is barely even able to talk.”
Emily felt that there might be something going on that she was missing, but Mira’s bluff was successful and she didn’t press Mira so she could focus on Jaselm.
It took the better part of the next hour, but Emily and Mira were able to restore most of Jaselm’s wounds. However, he was still having trouble breathing. Emily diagnosed him with acid damage to his lungs but wasn’t sure what type of magic would be necessary to repair an internal organ. So eventually they left, mounting up on the horses they had tied outside the dungeon. There was a jet lagged feeling about it all because, based upon the height of the first sun in the sky, they had only been inside the dungeon for a couple of hours. To Mira, it felt like a full day had passed, which she guessed proved that the whole time dilation thing was really true.
As they cleared the forest, Emily started to see smoke rising from the town and not the usual sort from cooking or forge fires. She wasn’t the only one to notice it, and they all began pushing the horses faster. As they started to cross the bridge, Daichi said, “I don’t mean to bring this up, but we need to be honest. There either was an attack or one is happening right now. You will need to stay out of town and let me scout ahead.”
“No.” The single word was all Emily said.
“Lady Emiri …” Daichi was once again cut off by a Nelson woman.
“That’s exactly right. I am Lady Emiri and those are my people. I am going, and you will do your best to support me.” She looked intently at the old elf as they rode side by side. “Oh and don’t think that I’m enough of a fool to not realize what happened. Mira may be almost as smart and charming as she thinks she is, but I have my mother immunity.”
He lowered his head, “I am sorry.”
He wasn’t able to get the rest out before Emily said, “Don’t be sorry, just trust me more.”
With that, she pushed her horse to a gallop, and everyone else had little choice but to keep up. By the time they crossed the two miles to Eris’ Rise, it was clear that there had been some heavy damage, but there was no evidence of any ongoing fighting. Riding through the buildings directly to the center of town, Emily first saw all the wounded laid out, and her heart broke imagining the pain that her people had endured. Then she saw Dave walking around comforting the townsfolk with Sara in his arms, Jackson standing next to them, and her heart melted in an entirely different way.
Looking around at the mess that had been made of his town, the place he now called home, he couldn’t help but feel anger. Now though, he needed to be the kind of leader who led with the personal touch. He channeled his inner Emily and let his anger and the pride in his prowess fall by the wayside as he started making the rounds, calling villagers and soldiers by name as best he could but always stopping to check on each one. During it all, he carried Sara in his arms, which while not his intent, served to make people less intimidated by the warrior they had just witnessed on the battlefield. Jackson was by his side, and he took great pride in introducing his son to many of the people of Eris’ Rise who he knew better.
About the time that he finished praising the wounded warriors and encouraging the few civilians who had been hurt or had a loved one hurt, he noticed a ruckus on the other side of the town square. Looking over, he saw dozens of people all looking out towards a group of four riding into town on horseback. Even if the number riding in threw him off, there was no mistaking Rak’kar, so this obviously had to be the party that had gone dungeon diving with Emily. Talvenicus had filled him in on the party, and so after noticing that they were down a body, he heaved a sigh of relief when he recognized Mira on a horse behind Emily. He then picked out Daichi and a much worse for wear Jaselm. That meant by default the missing man from the riderless horse with them was Sir Tradon. Dave didn’t know the man very well, but he had to assume the worst. After all, that was the way of Eloria.
Her horse came to a stop right in front of him, and Emily practically leapt from her mount into Dave’s arms, which had set Sara down. It was sometimes still shocking how able Emily was in this new form with her superhuman agility. All the attacks and struggles faded away, and the tightness he had been feeling across his chest relaxed as he practically crushed his beloved against his chest, smelling the scent of her hair and feeling her body shudder.
Chapter Thirteen
Goblins, tree sappers, and hell slimes all started because of excessive curiosity and resulted in unforeseen consequences. Yet none of them caused as much harm as another product of teenage inquisitiveness. — From the private journal of Emily Nelson
Eris’ Rise - Emily Nelson
Three days later, life in Eris’ Rise was returning to some level of normalcy. People were still mourning the losses, but fortunately, with healing they had been small in number. There were less than a dozen who couldn’t be saved, not including Sir Tradon. Some of the more critically injured ones and those with unusual wounds, like Jaselm’s internal acid burns, didn’t seem likely to make it at first. Eventually, Emily slowed down enough to listen to Dave and Mira who insisted that she use her character points to increase her chance at healing and learn the Tier 2 healing spell Dave had received from the elf.
Once she sat down and looked at ways to enhance her healing further, she found the magical skill Focus: Essence Magic. It was very much like Mira’s skill, which increased the range, damage, duration, and area of effect by 1% per level for each point in the skill. Spending 20 points on it was an easy decision. She had earned enough XP in the failed dungeon dive to reach level eighteen and along with it 9 character points and 70 skill points. After sinking twenty into the new skill, she still had one hundred and one, and at Mira’s urging, she would save those for when she reached Tier 3.
The character points she split as Dave asked her. Five went to Constitution which increase
d her up to a sixteen after the racial penalty. Only having one hundred and sixty health made her nervous after seeing what some of the monsters in that dungeon were like. She really needed the mana regeneration from her ring but also the health from her other ring, and with the Ring of Noble Command being as good as it was, there didn’t seem to be room for both of them. When she said as much, Mira started to mumble about needing to go and talk to Hiroto but disappeared so quickly that Emily wasn’t able to ask her what she meant. The remaining points she split between Intelligence, with the idea that it would increase her mana pool and lessen her need for mana regeneration, and Endurance. Dave argued that with the way she was working herself to death trying to help people, she needed the extra Endurance to keep going. But after making the Endurance suggestion, the way he grinned at Emily told her that he might have some childish ulterior motive.
Part of Emily had been excited about leveling up, but the excitement was now gone again. She was honest enough with herself to admit that this was a brutal life, and concerns about personal power had no place here. She didn’t doubt Daichi that this was the way of Eloria. She didn’t even doubt that it was probably one way forward. Most significantly, she knew that Dave and seemingly Mira had bought into that way of thinking. Yet, just as certain as she was of those facts, she was also certain that there was another way–dare she say–a better way.
That had always been the way that she lived. It was part of what she called her faith, a core aspect of her identity. She didn’t take things as they were. Emily believed in the way that things could be. Back home that had manifested in a number of ways. It led her to work feeding the hungry just as much as to teaching her kids that life was not a zero sum game.
