Galactic Fist of Legend
Page 18
Eventually, Scott reached the gate of the castle and was escorted beyond it. He thanked those soldiers for their time then headed off toward town. He never noticed the elf slipping around corners and hiding behind common objects.
It was not long before Scott reached the entrance to Yellow Blossom once more. As soon as he did, the world once-again turned black and white and everything seemed to freeze in place. A shockingly blue screen appeared before him. It was radiant and eye-catching against the stark contrast of the background.
[Hub-Location Unlocked]
You have unlocked the town of Yellow Blossom. You may return here in the future when you wish to spend your free time between missions. You will have to create a recreation room, and a recreation door in order to make use of this location.
--
Note: You have now completed the opening scene for this world-setting. As the only champion to have reached this setting through a warp zone, you may choose a reward based on the world-setting.
- Lifestyle: Shroom Soldier
- Bloodline: Shroom
- 100 Gold Coins
--
You will now return to your previous mission. Would you like to return to your [Home] first to remove your current status effects and accept your reward?
[Current Status Effects]
Minor physical injuries – 2 EXP
Internal Chemical Damage– 15 EXP
[Yes | No]
[—]
Scott chose to go back to his cell before returning to his story mission. If nothing else, he could take a moment to collect his thoughts and look over his new reward options.
The black and white world returned to its normal colors. The customary bright white door of light rose up nearby. Scott took one last look at the world around him then walked into the door that existed between the worlds.
After Scott left, a surprised Ha' Ruulian knight stared at the space where Scott had stood. "No way..."
Scott stepped into his cell then sighed softly. He would say that it was good to be home, but his home was a fairly dark and depressing hole. The only real comfort that it provided was a sense of safety. Nothing came along to snack on him in the night when he was in this room.
He walked over to the orb of light and touched it. He had yet to finish his main story quest, but he had completed a mission. He wanted to see what his rewards were.
The moment that he touched the orb the customary light of healing washed over him. He could not help but smile as he felt the healing energy wash through him. "So, I gained experience after all. Good. Let's see how much."
[Mission Score]
You have completed an introductory side-quest. Congratulations!
Grade: B
Base Reward: 200 EXP
Grade Bonus: X2
Total: 400 EXP
Elimination Bonus: 40 EXP
[Settings Bonus]
Conscientious Platform Hopper Route: You jump good! You also return borrowed things to where they are supposed to go. Such a nice boy.
Grade: A
Route Bonus: 800 EXP
Special Bonus[1]: You unlocked a warp zone to [Imperial Garden]
Special Bonus[2]: You unlocked the hub-zone [Yellow Blossom]
Bonus: 1000 EXP
Total: 2240
[Entertainment Bonus]
You proved to be highly entertaining on several occasions. This reduces the annoyance of our people as they wait for your race to fail their challenges and become our property.
Entertainment Grade: B
Entertainment Bonus: 400 EXP
Fan Following: You have acquired new fans. Once you have 100 fans, you will be granted a one percent bonus to all EXP earned. Each additional 100 fans will increase your EXP by one percent as well.
Fans: (174)
Fan-Base Bonus: 26.4
Total EXP Earned: 2649.4
[—]
The total experience earned made his eyes light up. "Holy shit..." It was only the side-quest, and yet he gained several thousand points! Upgrading to normal difficulty paid off handsomely.
"Man, this is great. Let's see what my rewards are..." said Scott while tapping a little floating menu button that flashed the word reward constantly. He read through the information screen and then clicked on a few things that popped up. A slow grin spread across his lips.
[Advanced Options]
Lifestyles – An approach to living that allows for the development of special abilities. A lifestyle is a temporary concept that can be changed at your [Home] point. Some lifestyles are race locked, but for a price that lock can be removed.
You may equip only have one lifestyle by default. If you wish to acquire more lifestyle slots, visit the battle dome.
[Pimps up! Hoes down! Become a real playah!]
Bloodlines – A semi-permanent change to the core nature of your being. These changes can range from minor alterations to entire changes in species.
You may acquire more than one bloodline at a time. However, bloodlines that do not mesh well may result in your untimely demise or a lifetime spent living as a hideous abomination. You cannot remove a bloodline without completing a racial reset mission. This is a lengthy and typically deadly process. Do not accept a bloodline unless you are certain that you wish to adhere to the new paradigm.
[Or, you could just choose to be a zombie. We won't judge.]
[--]
The gold coins were just currency usable in the [Imperial Garden] world-setting. He could only choose one reward, and that was the least useful one of all. Now that the hub was open, he could even purchase gold coins with EXP. Of course, he would need to build his recreation room and room door before any of that would be terribly useful. Scott looked at the shroom bloodline first in order to see if it would make him happy.
[Shroom Bloodline]
You are a child of the great goddess of the eternal garden. You enjoy wearing fancy hats shaped like common plant life. You have a cheerful disposition and a friendly demeanor more often than most.
Advantages
- You are part plant and will regenerate hit points 10% more quickly in direct sunlight. You will also heal 10% more quickly when injured if you are in direct sunlight.
- Your ability to resist poisoning from digestion of spoiled food is increased by 20%
- Your strength and vitality development has increased by 50%.
- You can develop type two feats in strength and vitality.
- You are 10% more resistant to lightning based elemental attacks.
- You are 10% more resistance to water based elemental attacks.
- You are 150% more resistance to earth based elemental attacks.
- If your body is at least half submerged in earth, your regenerative abilities increase by 20%.
Disadvantages
- You are a type of dwarf race that cannot exceed the height of 5 feet 4 inches. The average height for your species is 4 feet 5 inches. Mini-Me like a boss! Am I right?
- You develop all attributes save for strength and vitality at a capacity 25% less than that of a human.
- You are 10% more susceptible to fire, frost, wind and herbicidal toxins.
- Your lifespan is reduced by 15% compared to a human.
[--]
The shroom bloodline was a great deal more useful than the zombie bloodline, but it still came with too many demerits. Further reading told him that it could be developed into a stronger version over time. So, it remained a potential change for the future.
Honestly, the biggest issue that he had with the shroom bloodline was that he did not want to be so short. Was that petty? Sure. Still, he was used to being around six feet tall. Such a massive shift in height perception would be weird. He checked the lifestyle reward option.
[Shroom Soldier Lifestyle]
These soldiers are the fighting force of the Shroom Republic. Shroom soldiers have improved height, strength, and vitality compared to a common shroom.
Advantages
/> - Strength + 1
- Vitality + 1
- Can utilize garden powers given by devouring the ancestral garden spirits.
- Improved height compared to common shrooms.
- Increased base hit points
- Increased hit point regeneration
- Access to [Floral Power] stat
- Can purchase and utilize shroom soldier equipment and abilities at the EXP exchange.
- Access to type two strength and vitality feats.
Disadvantages
- Race lock: Shroom [Unlock for 1500 EXP]
- Heavily dependent upon ancestral garden spirits for special techniques.
[--]
After further reading, he learned that taking the shroom soldier lifestyle would allow him to use the garden spirits on worlds other than Imperial Garden. There was also no mention of his height shrinking. If he removed the race lock, that wouldn't be an issue anyway.
Honestly, the only real downside to the lifestyle change would be the cost to remove the race lock. Admittedly, that was a fairly big disadvantage. However, the possibilities caused Scott to be quite intrigued.
He chose the shroom soldier lifestyle and then spent the EXP to unlock it. He wasted no time in equipping his new path in life then grinned like a moron when he felt a rush of energy flow through him.
[Status]
[Name: Scott Davidson]
[Age: 20]
[Race: Earthling]
[Lifestyle: Shroom Soldier]
[Level: 2 [413/2000]
[EXP: 1149.4]
[Life Span: 7 Day(s)]
[Hit Points: [28]148]
[Floral Power: 1.5]
[ATTRIBUTES]
[Strength: 2.40[3.40]|[Resilience: 4.00]
[Vitality: 4.00[5.00]|[Dexterity: 4.00]
[Concentration: 1.50]|[Charisma: 1.00]
[FEATS]
[Improved Regeneration I]
[Improved Hit Points I]
[Improved Coordination I]
[POWERS]
[None]
[—]
"Not bad at all," said Scott before checking what else he could spend his EXP on. There was no point in saving it until after the story mission. If he failed there, he would die. Trying to save up EXP might be easier in the future, but for the moment he needed every advantage he could find.
A new menu appeared before him when he checked the purchases section. He could now acquire shroom soldier exclusive items. He had unlocked the gravitas flower and boom seed in the equipment section, but there were other types of ancestral garden spirits to acquire through adventuring in the Imperial Garden.
In the sections for powers and feats he saw the good stuff. Though, it was all level-locked. He could only purchase level one abilities. So, that was another reason why his level was important to develop.
[Shroom Soldier Feats]
[Level One]
- [Soldier's Resolve I][400 EXP]
- [Improved Strength I][500 EXP]
- [Improved Vitality I][500 EXP]
- [Improved Hit Points II][2500 EXP]
- [Improved Regeneration II][2500 EXP]
- [Improved Floral Power I] [100 EXP]
- [Improved Floral Power Regeneration I][100]
[--]
Each feat had its own uses. The improvement feats increased the overall capacity of a stat. The strength improvement feat, for instance, would allow him to increase his strength by another four points through EXP expenditure.
Soldier's Resolve was the feat that excited him the most, however. It would increase his hit points, strength, and vitality. It would also allow him to resist damage a little more easily, and further assist in the usage of floral powers by reducing their cost slightly.
Scott purchased Soldier's Resolve then checked the price of equipment. He automatically received both one Boom Seed and one Gravitas Flower since he unlocked the race requirement for shroom soldier. It was a way of giving him back what he lost by transiting to his home-point. The offer would not have been available after returning from the story mission, so it was good that he came back to this place first. It would be something for him to keep in mind for the future should a similar circumstance occur.
Boom Seeds cost one thousand EXP, while the Gravitas Flower would cost four hundred. They were far too expensive to use regularly as their effects only lasted for twenty-four hours. Though, he could buy them from Yellow Blossom with gold coins once he opened his recreation room. Through the exchange, he learned that a little under one and a half EXP was worth one gold coin. The exchange rate was much different than in [Bounty Star].
In the power section two powers were already provided. Both were consumption powers that allowed him to eat a gravitas flower or boom seed and obtain modified versions of their base abilities. The available powers that he could acquire at level one were few in number, but interesting.
[Shroom Soldier Powers]
[Level One]
- Gravitas Super Jump [250 EXP]
- Burning Smash [250 EXP]
[--]
[Gravitas Super Jump]
Using the power of the ancestral garden spirits, expend your floral power to leap to all new heights.
Floral Power: 4[3]
Requirement: Must have consumed a gravitas flower within the last twenty-four hours.
Status: Jump Height X 4
[--]
[Burning Smash]
Utilize the essence of the ancestral garden spirits to better guide your destructive fire power. Instead of catching a boom sphere after it bounces back to you, you can now slap it away in a direction of your choosing. This will allow for better control over where the third bounce lands.
[Tennis anyone? Hee. Hee.]
Floral Power: 1[0.75]
Requirement: Must have consumed a boom seed within the last twenty-four hours.
Status: Single Use
[--]
Scott chose to purchase both floral power feats, and the two shroom soldier powers. He then checked his status to see what changed.
[Status]
[Name: Scott Davidson]
[Age: 20]
[Race: Earthling]
[Lifestyle: Shroom Soldier]
[Level: 2 [1513/2000]
[EXP: 49.40]
[Life Span: 7 Day(s)]
[Hit Points: [38]158]
[Floral Power: 6]
[ATTRIBUTES]
[Strength: 2.40[3.90]|[Resilience: 4.00]
[Vitality: 4.00[5.50]|[Dexterity: 4.00]
[Concentration: 1.5]|[Charisma: 1.00]
[FEATS]
[Improved Regeneration I]
[Improved Hit Points I]
[Improved Coordination I]
[Soldier's Resolve]
[Improved Floral Power I]
[Improved Floral Power Regeneration I]
[POWERS]
[Gravitas Super Jump][FP: 3]
[Burning Smash][FP: 0.75]
[—]
"Don't know if it's what someone else would have done, but it's definitely right for me," said Scott as he looked over his stats. He noted that floral power worked similar to hit points. It used concentration as its base instead of resilience, however. The basic abilities of the gravitas flower and the boom seed used a negligible amount of floral power, an amount that could easily be replenished by simply resting for a brief few seconds. The actual powers developed from those basic abilities required a great deal more energy. Two super jumps, or eight burning smashes would empty his floral power pool.
"Well, that definitely gives me a reason to increase concentration now," said Scott with a smile.
He had less than fifty EXP left, so he opted to toss nine points into strength, forty points into concentration, and used the last fraction of a point to buy a little more food and water. Empty once more, he noted the slight increase in his floral power stat from the improved concentration then nodded. It was not much, but every little bit helped.
"So then, shall we go face down th
e zombie apocalypse?" asked Scott, a slight grin on his lips. Fully refreshed and ready to rock, Scott walked toward the door. It was time to finish the story mission and get those people to a safer place.
Chapter 12: Talk to Me
The fetid stench of the sewer curled the hair within his nostrils as Scott stepped out of the door of light and back into the zombie apocalypse. The water in the pool below no longer surged and whirled. Now it was placid, boring. Though there might be a further mystery beneath its turd laced depths, Scott was no longer intrigued by what the sewer water might have to offer.
He made his way out of the underground depths and up to the surface once more. Rather, he rose to the top of the entrance but did not quite finish leaving the unholy depths of the Earth. Instead, Scott looked around and took in the sight of the ordinary architecture. There were no floating platforms, ass stabbing spikes, or winking catfish that attempted to make him question his sexuality.
He barely had time to take a deep relaxing breath before low moans began to echo from all around the area. As soon as he fully arose from the cavernous space below he was set upon by over a dozen shambling corpses that came from all directions.
Scott bit his lower lip a little. His nostrils flared. His lower lip began to quiver. Slowly he brought the hand of his gun up to his chin and he sniffled a little. The rotting remnants of former humanity continued to shamble toward him. In the process one of the zombie's fell forward and began to crawl toward him. Its left leg had snapped off due to its decrepit nature.
Soon, the crawling beast tore its rotting abdomen open and its entrails were spread across the ground like a hideously ill-used mop. Scott took in the terrible sight and tears came to his eyes. He wiped at them futilely as he was overcome with emotion.