The Savant Lands_The Lost Class

by Lucas Dunn

  Congratulations! After swinging your sword around and almost stabbing yourself, you have been granted swordsmanship! Swordsmanship is a skill that can be greatly improved upon and judges your ability with swords.

  Swordsmanship level: Initiate (Which end is the handle?)

  Hmmm… It’s been a while since the game was sarcastic with me. Then again I didn’t gain new skills that often. Excited we collected anything useful and I raised the wolf men only for back up, and we went to find the next group. We decided to stay on that floor to level up Jake and Grimm to level thirty and so I could face the wolf men with swords. Slowly but surely I started to get more and more adequate with the sword. I still couldn’t win without using my magic, but after an hour of grinding I got a prompt and my companions finally reached level thirty.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 31. Two stats have been placed into Constitution. You have seven points to spend.

  Congratulations! You have reached Practitioner in Swordsmanship. Practitioner (You know can guess that you are not supposed to hold the pointy end!)

  Hmm, a little unnecessary but it did make me grin. I dumped all seven points into dexterity which would have turned into 14 if I was a normal warrior class. Luckily, I had a special boost and 21 points were added to dexterity instead bringing me to a total of 68. I instantly felt more in control of my body causing a much more noticeable spring in my step. Reaching above level fifty in dexterity, a prompt showed up, offering my new ability.

  Congratulations! You have reached 50 in dexterity. You have been granted the ability Precision Strike. Dexterity is not only about speed, but also accuracy. Due to your current skills, precision strike only extends to melee weapons. This skill allows you a single strike that will strike with one hundred percent accuracy if not stopped. (Cool down: 5 minutes.)

  It was a useful ability and I assumed if I was an archer it would be only extend to the bow or maybe if I learned a throwing skill it would extend to that also. Even though it could still be blocked I was still happy with how useful it would be due to my lack of skill.

  After looking over my skills I waited patiently for Jake and Grimm to select their class. Both chose what I expected, Grimm being a rogue and Jake being a barbarian. After the time we spent on our stats, all of the mobs had respawned on the floor. Wanting to get used to our changes we all decided to clear the floor again.

  With my new speed, I was able to win one out of every six fights without magic at first but by the end of the floor it changed to two out of every six causing me to become a little more confident. Not only that but my appraise skill leveled up from use which showed the stats of all monsters regardless of their level which I was pleased with. We all leveled up once more, but sadly that didn’t include my swordsmanship skill. This time I place all of my points into strength as we made it to the boss’s door and entered.

  In front of us stood ten wolf men and one extra man that was clearly the leader. They surrounded an inanimate wolf carved of stone. Using appraise, all of the wolf men were level thirty-five, except for the unique one that stood in the back. Looking closer, I saw he was level 40. He stood the same height as the other wolf men but there was clearly something different about him. His fur was a darker grey, but what caught my attention most were his weapons. The silver handles were a foot and a half long, and the hooked blade extended off the handle about 10 inches. They were two silver Ice picks that emanated with a light blue hue. They looked extremely dangerous and I was instantly drawn to their beauty.

  Maxing out our shields, Grimm and I snuck behind their formation. I used Precision strike to stab my guys neck and raised both Grimm and my victims as zombies. After that the real battle started.

  I launched lightning wave paralyzing all of the wolves while Jake charged into their formation. Killing two stunned wolves and engaging the boss. Raising the other two fallen wolf men, I took up a position with Grimm at Jakes flank while the zombie wolf men and the regular wolf men fought. With Jake engaged in the boss that was ten levels above him we spun around from watching the zombies battle the regular wolf men. Jake swung downward with his longsword, but the wolf blocked with the right ice pick. Quicker than we could keep up with, the wolf twisted Jakes blade on the hook of his right ice pick and flung Jakes weapon away like it was nothing. While all of this was happening with the right ice pick, the left one was making its way towards Jakes side. Luckily Jake could hold two handed weapons in one hand with his new class and he was barely able to stop it with his shield.

  Even though Jake was stuck in a bad position I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the usefulness of the picks. They were the most useful diverse weapons I had yet to see in this game. The only downside was their range, but with my magic, range would not be a problem. Dual wielding daggers and short sword just couldn’t compare to the piercing damage these weapons could do, not to mention their ability to hook weapons. These were what I wanted. Steeling myself I started forward but was struck from behind causing my shield to crack. Turning around, I barely blocked a second strike from the wolf men who had survived the zombie fight. Shaking my head when Grimm tried to help, I attacked the wolf with a flurry of strikes whittling its health down until it finally collapsed.

  I turned back to the fight and saw Jake huddling behind his shield. My static shield around him had already broke and it looked like his shield was being torn to shreds. Raising the six wolf men that had died from my zombies, I sent them at the wolf men to give Jake a break.

  As the wolf men charged, the boss looked up and howled. Sprinting at them I realized just how dangerous the wolf was. I considered myself a speed build but this wolf man was twice as fast as me. Leaping forward the boss plunged his picks blade into two heads at once and dodged the other three blades. Quickly darting through their midst, I watched stunned as my whole zombie group was defeated in less than ten seconds. Seeing the wolf howl a raise the picks, I quickly forgot my trepidation and formed a plan.

  “You two stay out of this! He’s mine!” I shouted at Jake and Grimm. As I charged at the wolf man, I activated all of my merge elements abilities and through a potion at the wolf.

  +100% dexterity applied (Duration: 5 minutes)

  +100% health applied (Duration: 5 minutes)

  +100% strength applied (Duration: 5 minutes)

  +100% stamina applied (Duration: 5 minutes)

  -40% dexterity applied to level 40 Wolf man from throw able goo potion. (Duration: 1 minute)

  With the wolf man considerably slowed, I unleashed my full furry on him stabbing and slashing. Even with my enhanced stats the wolf man slowly started to push me back after my initial onslaught. With roughly thirty second left from my potion I ordered my shadow golem to attack from behind. Striking the wolf man with his sword, the fur turned and skin around the wound turned ashy. The wolf man spun around and struck my golem with both picks. Thinking he was safe I watched as my golem turned to Ice and shattered from the blow. Enraged I struck the wolf man in the back shaving off a large chunk of his health and leaving him at around 20%.

  Howling as my potion wore off, he sped at me with incredible speed but was sent flying backward by a massive fireball I sent at him. Quickly rolling onto its feet, it was met with another fireball that finally ended its life.

  Cheering, we all went to collect the loot. They quickly allowed me to claim the ice picks even though I could see a look of extreme envy of Grimm’s face.

  Received Item: Ice picks of Frost. Quality: Impeccable. Damage: 50-60. Frost Damage: 15-20. Piercing affect: Ignores 10% of armor.

  Jeez! These thing were amazing! Extremely content with my find I went to go see what Jake and Grimm were looking at.

  They were hovering around the stone wolf statue staring at it. As I came closer I saw why.

  You have found the relic known as Artemis’s tear. Artemis was known as the goddess of the hunt but has been gone for many years. When leaving her people, she left behind a single tear the turned to stone in the form of h
er people, the wolf kin. This relic grants a 15% bonus to dexterity when put in an area of influence. Bonus only applies to those loyal to that area of influence.

  Wow, the uses for this were going to be amazing. Production would increase and my soldiers would be much more capable of defending when attacked. This was without a doubt better than the picks. We all decided it would look amazing next to the throne that overlooked the dining hall. Even though it took all three of us to carry the five-foot-tall wolf statue we heaved it all the way there and decided it was time for another break since it was long past dinner time

  Chapter 31

  Once we logged back on, we split ways deciding to play alone for a little bit. The rest of the night I was enveloped in creating my skeletons until I had a total force of 326 skeletons. 123 were not competent. 200 could think like an NPC, and 3 had leadership and magic capabilities. The three hundred and twenty-three troops were all common skeletons, but the other three went off the template of the first skeleton boss I fought, making them truly menacing. When I finally looked up from my work I stared at a marvelous site.

  Congratulations! You have completed the Dark Ones quest, amass a force 100 strong! Reward: 500 religion points.

  Though I didn’t upgrade my necromancy skill, I was still glad to be able to buff my followers. I had discovered when making skeletons common level NPC’s they could truly act like an NPC. This meant they could follow the Dark One and receive his buffs. Sadly, they had to level on their own and did not level off of me anymore. After I received the prompt I opened up the buffs tab and looked at my options. I had roughly six hundred worshipper points to use which was a ton. I quickly bought the third option of +1 strength and opened up the next level of options. What I thought was a ton of points quickly turned into a disappointment. Each of the next level cost 500 points, each one representing a resistance of one of the elements. The resistance was five percent and I chose the most obvious choice which was light. Even though it wasn’t very much, it still allowed for a little defense for my troops. After I looked at my religion tab I turned to my castle to see what else had opened up.

  The main thing that caught my eyes was “Defense” and “Attack”. Currently the only thing in defense was a magical dome shield that acted much like my static shield except it could be used to defend against projectile attacks and nothing else. Still it would be pretty useful. Attack consisted of a few tabs all of which were dark and unusable.

  Now that it was dawn, I decided to head out and take a look at what my “Construction” crew had done. I was expecting the beat down houses to all be destroyed but it was nothing compared to what I actually saw. In front of me was a perfectly clear sight all the way to the walls, excluding the forge, tannery, meat storage, and construction hut. Looking around I could see I had a square mile to work with which was massive. Undaunted, I went to the construction hut to talk to the Woodworkers about starting on small houses. I planned on a grid like layout with a town center in the middle. After talking to them I designated the 123 basic skeletons to help with labor along with my 5 basic labor NPC’s. After settling that I looked at my towns command center screen.

  Leader

  Lucian

  Level

  3

  Mana

  30,000/30,000 (Able to use up to 2 miles out of city walls)

  Population

  288

  Alignment

  Dark

  Treasury

  0

  Hit Points

  Fort: 15,000,000/15,000,000

  My population was still pitiful, but at least I was starting to build a force. I might be over powered, but I could only do so much against an army. Sure I had the tornado spell and other spells that could be used on a massive scale, but the enemy would too. Not only that but I doubted they would be without the means to protect themselves from such spells.

  After talking to each group of NPC’s I headed out into the field where my guards and specialized squads were training. Due to the amount of people in the plains, they had to travel at least ten miles out of their way to level off of the mobs which made me nervous about the wolves showing up. I knew they would be a problem, so I decided I might as well cull the population.

  As I headed into the forest I pulled out my silver ice picks, and set up a mana shield. Even though I was high level, the mobs in here were at least on par with me. When I traveled to meet Jake they were clearly inhabiting the forest, but our group was too big to attack so I didn’t get to see any. I looked along the forest floor and saw many footprints lighting up telling me which way to go. Not seeing any wolf prints, I picked out a peculiar set that looked like a huge foot.

  After following the trail for roughly ten minutes I started to smell a terrible stench coming from in front of me. Activating my darkness cloak, I started to sneak up to the clearing in front of me. Gagging at the sight, a fat green skinned forest troll stood in front of me. At level 37 with 3,000 health it was truly a tough opponent. Not only that but the smell was almost unbearable and the sight of the fat greasy troll was even worse.

  Even though I was going to lose bonus damage from a sneak attack, I cast hide scent on the hideous beast hopping to get rid of its stench. The troll roar was a high pitch scream that caused me to cover my ears, but luckily the stench was quickly fading. Paralyzed by the sound I could only wait until it died off as the troll took notice of me and charged. Even with its massive body it moved with surprising dexterity. Still it could not match mine. Dodging to the right side of its swing, I swung my ice pick connecting solidly with its forearm, opening a large gash and causing a shout of pain from the troll. Stopping, I watched the troll as its forearm dripped green blood. Amazingly the wound closed up fully almost five seconds after I inflicted it. The troll smiled maliciously which left me Cursing myself, I knew certain trolls could heal from physical wounds. I also knew they despised fire. Hoping all the fantasy literature I had read was right. I launched a fireball at the troll

  -200 of 3,000 damage done to level 37 Forest Troll.

  Due to Forest Trolls despising fire the damage modifier has been increased x2

  -400 of 3,000 damage done to level 37 Forest Troll

  Troll has been caught on fire. -50x2 damage every second

  Laughing at the burning troll quickly dying, I was smacked from behind. The force knocked me forward into a stumble. Before I could gain my balance I was struck again completely shattering my shield and knocking me on my ass. Before I could be hit again, I launched a fireball behind me without looking.

  -200 of 4,000 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll.

  Due to Forest Trolls despising fire the damage modifier has been increased x2

  -400 of 4,000 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll

  Oh shit. Turning around, I faced the previous troll I set on fire and the new troll that was even fatter and uglier. Cursing as the new troll’s scent caught up to me, I tried to ignore it and got serious. With my low health I could only take two hits and I would be dead. Before I could think of a plan both trolls charged me screeching. I launched lightning bolt at the high level troll and launched myself at the second troll. Before I could reach him I felt claws rake across my side.

  You have died. All experience towards next level lost. -20 fame. You will be respawned in Shadow’s Edge. You have 24 hours to reclaim your grave before it can be looted.

  Shit! I expected the troll to be stunned by the lightning, but it just tore straight through. Yelling incoherently, Jake and Grimm approached me with grins.

  “Did the mighty warrior Lucian die finally?” Jake said laughing

  “Shut up! Get the squad together we are going hunting” I said it commandingly, but when you’re standing in barely any clothes it’s hard to act dignified and give orders.

  Laughing even harder Jake and Grimm left to find Elif, Blade, Elizabeth, and Jackson. After grouping up at the edge of the forest, Jackson buffed us, and we entered into the forest, trailing my previous footprints. It didn�
��t take long before we came along my tombstone and sadly the trolls had long since disappeared. Annoyed I grabbed my equipment and started out after the trolls, trailing their tracks. With a full group they didn’t stand a chance.

  Smelling the familiar scent, my whole group gagged as we came upon them. The two bastards sat on the ground, tearing into a massive elk. Looking at Grimm, I gave a command in the group chat and we both snuck up behind the first troll. Raising our weapons in sync, we both swung down. I caved in the troll’s skull and Grimm stabbed his blade into its neck instantly killing it. After that, our sneak was ended as the second troll took notice. Shouting at the troll who killed me, I launched two fireballs while he was trying to get up.

  -200 of 4,000 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll.

  Due to Forest Trolls despising fire the damage modifier has been increased x2

  -400 of 4,000 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll

  -200 of 4,000 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll.

  Due to Forest Trolls despising fire the damage modifier has been increased x2

  -400 of 3,600 damage done to level 40 Forest Troll

  Troll has been caught on fire. -50x2 damage every second

  Knocked back onto its ass, I cast flame gout using every drop of mana I had until the level 40 Troll finally burned to death.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 33.

  Looking around satisfied, I saw the Elif collecting the trolls blood into vials. Looking questioningly at her she explained.