Halcyon Rising: Breaking Ground
Page 2
Next I pulled off my pants. The fang end of those creatures’ faces did scrape the skin of my leg, opening a long bloody scratch, but otherwise I was fine. The ants were stuck in a tug of war with each other over my clothing.
I ran back for my spear and started stabbing each creature in the back. One by one, they stopped moving as I eradicated them from this life. Arden the exterminator, back at it again!
As a result, however, my clothing tore to shreds as the gi-ants fought over my shirt and pants. It felt empowering in a strangely barbaric way to stand here, buck naked, spearing my enemies to death, but now it was time to put my clothes back on.
I tossed the lifeless bodies of the ants to the side. My shirt was salvageable. My pants held up, though they had holes in the knees now. Not fashionable at all.
I turned toward the cocoon, lying on the ground and containing a woman with her arms crossed on her chest. The transparent material encasing her clouded when it got toward her waist. The only window was on the upper half of her body.
Kneeling beside this curious find, I stared at the woman within. She practically radiated with soft yellow light. Her lips were full, her eyelashes long. A heart-shaped face tapered to a point at her chin.
Then her eyes opened and I fell backward. The blood rushed to my face. I had been caught staring.
Not cool, Arden!, I thought.
The woman inside that crystal sarcophagus pressed against the upper edge of it and sat up. Her body moved through that barrier as if it were nothing. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe I was imagining all of this.
She looked over at me and lowered her arms. Her breasts were bare. She didn’t bother to pull her long brown hair forward to hide them. I cast my eyes to the side.
“Oh, shoot,” she said. “I always embarrass mortals like this. I keep forgetting how prudish you all are.”
“I’m, uh, not prudish,” I said. “At least, I don’t think I am.”
“I don’t have any clothing at all,” she said. “Clothes are stifling enough on a normal day, but today I’m trying to evolve. I definitely don’t want clothes in the way.”
“Um, okay,” I said.
“I’m Nola, the goddess of clever insight,” she said. “I’m pretty excited my tip about the big ants on your clothing helped. I’m not always fast enough to send thoughts when they’re useful.”
“That was you?” I asked. “Inside my head?”
“Yep,” she said. “It takes me a while to break out of my crystal chrysalis, so my best bet was to hope you killed those insects before they dragged me away. Thanks for the assist!”
“I have… questions,” I said. “This has been a very strange day.”
“Oh?” she asked. She was still sitting with her lower half encased in her crystal, but pivoted from the waist to look around. Then she closed her eyes. Her whole body glowed with that gentle yellow light.
Then her eyes shot open again and she screamed.
I covered my ears until she stopped.
“Laranj is dead,” she said. “And Bilfer, and Zazara.”
“I’m from Meadowdale,” I said. “I used to work in Laranj’s temple. I was there when it happened.”
“You’re not her head priest, are you?” Nola asked.
“No,” I said. “Just an errand boy.”
“I need to evolve as quickly as possible,” Nola said. “Duul has finally risen, and if we don’t work together now, the pantheon will be destroyed.”
“I could use a little backstory here if you wouldn’t mind,” I said.
“Of course,” she said. “Duul is the god of war. Long, long ago – well before I was born, because I’m still very young for a lower deity – Duul ruled over this world. He stoked the flames of ire and enmity, forcing man and elf and beastkin to battle in an endless cycle of death and destruction. The more of the world engaged in war, the stronger he became.
“Slowly, he destroyed everything the Great Mother had built. The humans built bombs to blow holes in the mountains. The elves crafted spells to kill the living and raise the dead. The beastkin started eating the other races. It was pandemonium.
“Back then, all of the gods ruled their separate spheres and stayed out of each other’s business. The Great Mother changed that. She rallied the gods and goddesses together and stripped Duul of most of his power. He remained the god of war, but he could barely manage to cause a fight between husband and wife, let alone between kingdoms and empires.
“I have a psychic connection to the family of the gods. Duul has been quiet. Some of us thought he had finally accepted his fate, but others thought he was biding his time, storing up his godly energy until he had enough to launch a war again.
“I never dreamed it would come to this though. He not only reignited mankind’s passion for blood, he has declared war on the gods themselves. He’s killing minor deities now, and absorbing their light to feed his own. He’s casting a curse on the men of the free cities, and probably the other settled regions soon, to turn their hearts black with a lust for war. I can’t pry yet into his designs on the women he’s left behind.
“I feel the death wounds of my brother and sister gods. I hear the words they cried as their energy was taken from them. It’s agonizing. Laranj was like me, a young goddess with the potential to grow and take on more roles as she evolved. Now she’ll never have that chance.”
“And that means Duul might come for you too,” I said.
“Yes, which is why I must evolve as quickly as possible. I’m certainly not strong enough to stand against him as I am.
“My powers are subdued when I’m in my chrysalis, so I’ll need a chosen one to protect me. Say, what’s your name?”
“Arden,” I said.
“Arden,” Nola repeated. “You are the chosen one.”
“Me?” I asked. An orphan, berated by a heartless priest, shut up in a temple tower for my whole life. No family, no friends. How could I be the one?
“Yes,” Nola said. “You’re the only one around, so there aren’t many to choose from. I choose you. That makes you chosen.”
She added some dramatic flourish at the end, but her words made it clear: I was chosen out of necessity, not by prophesy. Still, I’d take what I could get.
“What does a chosen one do?” I asked.
“Keep me safe,” she said, “and maybe spruce this place up a bit. The gi-ants knocked down the door to my temple when they came to kidnap me, so things look a little unprofessional right now. No one’s going to come pay me homage if this place is a wreck.”
“How often do people pay you homage?” I asked.
“Okay, Mister Smart Guy,” she said, “never. But if I had a nice temple that sort of thing might change. And a head priest.”
“What kind of a temple doesn’t have a head priest?” I asked.
“The kind that’s really just an empty cave so far,” she confessed. “Look, I’m real new at this, but the one thing I can do is make you my head priest. It’s an honorific title that has a few perks like—”
“Like opening the skillmeister skill,” I said.
“So that you know about, but not the names of the pantheon’s most important gods. I don’t know what to assume with you.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll be your head priest.”
“Good,” Nola said. “When visitors finally come, tell them that you serve Nola, the goddess of clever insight, bestower of ideas never too small, who inspires the creative thoughts you experience as you lay in bed hoping instead to sleep.”
“Wait,” I said, “are you a good god or an evil one?”
She signed. “I’d like to give people ideas at more opportune times, but my powers are limited. Perhaps when I evolve I can serve as a more convenient muse. Until then, ideas before falling asleep are better than nothing. And besides, that’s not all I do.
“Now,” she said, “drag me back inside.” Nola sank back inside her crystal and folded her arms over her chest. Now that her nipples weren�
��t showing I felt less self-conscious about glancing at her. Once I dragged her crystal inside the cave, it floated of its own accord. She perched, hovering in the air, above a stone slab altar. Two stone bowls, one on each side, sat with no fire in them. The light from outside was barely enough to see by, but I assumed those were torch pits in need of a flame.
Head Priest Arden. She spoke inside my mind. That was creepy as hell. It would definitely take some getting used to. Speak these words to pledge your fealty to me and accept your new role: I, Arden.
“I, Arden,” I said.
Do take this post.
“Do take this post.”
Freely, despite the risks.
“What risks!?”
We’re about to create a psychic bond, which sometimes goes wrong. You might end up insane or braindead. Or you could become a skillmeister. Probably the latter.
I wondered, after the things I thought I saw so far this day, if I hadn’t already gone insane. If so, there wasn’t much to lose if this went wrong. “Freely, despite the risks.”
A second went by. Then another one. Then my mind lit up like a house on fire.
+3
Pain seared through every nerve. I had flashes of memories that I thought were long forgotten. Playing with the other children from the orphanage. Getting scolded by Cahn for taking bread from the temple kitchen when I hadn’t eaten in days. Being laughed at by a beautiful girl who came to the temple to pray and said I was too dirty and too ugly for her to bother looking at let alone speaking to.
I cried, but not for those memories. Those memories had toughened me up. No, I cried because this hurt like getting hit in the balls with a sledgehammer, but in this case my balls were inside my head and my brain was screaming in a high-pitched voice, now you will never have children. Actually, forget children, you will never even have thoughts again. You, sir, are a potato and a mental eunuch.
Today I learned: Just because a girl is pretty doesn’t mean you should let her inside your head.
When the pain finally subsided, I slumped to the floor, completely spent.
I can’t speak to you like this easily when you stray from the temple, Nola said. But when you are near, I’ll try to give you clever ideas that will help you do your job. For instance, did you know that if you get a health potion and freeze it, it will make a rejuvenating ice pop during the hot summer months? I’m full of tips like that. Nola, holy deliverer of life hacks.
My breathing was still heavy from the ordeal I went through.
Well, go ahead. Try out your new skill!
I thought about my skills. Instantly, a menu opened before my eyes, one that only I could see. I was mesmerized by the soft blue light that shone in the form of words and numbers. Finally, I was seeing what the world’s few skillmeisters had seen. What Cahn had seen. I had joined an elite class, reserved for the few who could see what a person’s life experiences amounted to, and decide whether to use those experiences to make them stronger, and in which ways.
Δ
Skillmeister View of:
Arden Hochbright
Base Attribute / XP to Next / Intended Change / Total XP Cost
-
1 Constitution / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Vivacity / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Strength / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Hardiness / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Focus / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
1 Resolve / 25 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
TOTAL BASE ATTRIBUTE XP COST: 0
Stats Affected by Change
-
[Constitution] Health Points (HP): 100/100
-
[Vivacity] Action Points (AP): 20/20
-
[Strength] Phys. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12
-
[Hardiness] Phys. Damage Block Range: 5-8
-
[Focus] Mag. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12
-
[Resolve] Mag. Damage Block Range: 5-8
Skills For Weapon Class: Polearm
-
Locked. Piercing Blow 1. Damage multiplier of 2.0. [15 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 5] [125 XP to unlock].
-
Improve to Piercing Blow 2 for damage multiplier of 2.2. [20 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 7] [250 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: None
Cost Subtotal: 0
-
TOTAL POLEARM SKILL XP COST: 0
Skills for Special Class: Skillmeister
-
Locked. Precision Training 1. Reduce the XP cost of skills and attributes by 1%. [Passive] [Requires: Focus 5, Resolve 5] [375 XP to unlock].
-
Improve to Precision Training 2 for XP cost reduction of 2%. [Passive] [Requires: Focus 6, Resolve 7] [750 XP to improve].
…
Intended Change: None
Cost Subtotal: 0
-
TOTAL SKILLMEISTER SKILL XP COST: 0
Summary
-
Available XP: 2,240
Cost of Intended Changes: 0
Precision Training Discount (0%): 0
Total Adjusted Cost: 0
Total Projected Remaining: 2,240
Confirm?: Yes / No
∇
“I don’t know what I’m doing though,” I said.
Oh, right, Nola said. Let’s take it from the top. You can change your weapon class any time, but you shouldn’t. Once you start improving it, you’ll unlock stronger and more accurate attacks that you can spend your Action Points on in battle. I call that AP for short. When you get hit by someone else’s attack, you lose Health Points, HP for short.
Weapon classes open up after you’ve started using a new type of weapon. Special Classes are difficult to open up, so you tend not to get many. Constitution is how robust your physical life force is. Each point of it increases max HP by 100. Reach zero HP and you’ll fall unconscious. It’s very easy for someone to kill you then, so try not to get too hurt.
Vivacity is how robust your spirit is. Each point gives you another 20 maximum Action Points.
Strength and equipped weapons improve your potential for harming an opponent, which will be reduced by their ability to block damage with Hardiness and armor. Focus and Resolve work the same way for magic damage inflicted and blocked.
Lastly, you gain experience points – XP – from certain things. If you have a weapon class available, you gain XP from defeating enemies. If you have a special class, you gain XP from using that. Skillmeister provides very little XP for beginners, so stick with combat for now.
As a skillmeister, you can spend anyone’s XP with their consent to improve their levels and skills. Special classes and their related skills are the most expensive, followed by weapon classes and their related skills. Least expensive are core attributes, but you’re going to upgrade those more often in order to improve the stats that go along with them. You’ll find that once you get close to having the attributes necessary to unlock new skills, those skills will reveal themselves.
Now, if you don’t mind, I need to rest so I can evolve.
“Wait!” I said. “You said we’d take it from the top. You skipped my name.”
I thought that part was self-explanatory. Oh, gods, I fried your brain didn’t I? Why can’t I ever get the link-up right? It’s a shame I ruined one of the cute ones this time.
“My brain isn’t fried!” I said. “Good to know you had no idea what you were doing when — wait, you think I’m cute?”
You were asking about your name?
“Oh yeah,” I said. “It says Arden Hochbright. Is that correct? I never knew I had a last name.”
You poor guy, Nola said. It has to be right. Congratulations on your new name!
“Yea
h, thanks.” Hochbright. Where does a name like that even come from? I didn’t know anyone in Meadowdale with that name.”
Nola yawned. Not visibly; she still lay frozen inside her crystal. I heard it in my mind though. She was tired, and I should let her rest. It was the nice thing for a head priest to do.
“Have a nice rest, Nola,” I said. “And thank you.”
You are welcome. And with that, Nola stopped transmitting speech directly into my brain. I was relieved. I wanted some time to rest too, and to focus on my own skills and attributes. There was no better way to learn how to use this skill than by doing, right? I cracked open my skillmeister menu.
A lifetime of using my improvised spear and similar weapons against the vermin that crept into the temple had amassed to 2,240 XP. That didn’t seem like much for all the critters I had kiboshed. I suspected experience points were a valuable, if not rare, resource. Anything I could do to decrease how many I had to spend would be a boon.
The first thing I wanted to do was unlock Precision Training. That meant spending a lot of XP on other things first.
I spent 25 XP to raise Focus from 1 to 2. The price of moving from 2 to 3 was 50. Then 75 to go up to 4. I noticed a trend. For another 100 XP I achieved Focus 5.
I repeated the process for Resolve, then spent 375 points to unlock skillmeister’s first skill, Precision Training. The next level would be 750, and scanning further levels showed it would go up to 1125, then 1500 – an additional 375 on top of the previous level’s cost, each time.
By the time I confirmed unlocking Precision Training, I had already spent 875 XP. All that just to save 1% on my other skills. I suddenly wondered if that were at all worth it.
In the near term, I’d need to be stronger more than I’d need to be frugal. I decided to stop improving Precision Training there and move on to my weapon skills. I improved Constitution, Vivacity, Strength, and Hardiness all to level 5, spending another thousand points total, though my discount would save 1% of that.
Neat, I thought. I’ve saved 10 points already thanks to my skillmeister skill. I just wish I hadn’t spent so much on opening it.