“I’ve got work to do,” Micaela said. “I might try to join you later. If not, have a pint for me.”
Olaf ushered everyone along toward the Doghouse Inn and yet he remained with his wife. “Anything I can help with?”
“Nah, you’ve done more than enough. The way you, Rose, and Sooty got that sand to make glass for Rose to enchant . . . I appreciate it, love,” Micaela said, squeezing Olaf’s hand tenderly.
Olaf returned the gentle squeeze and smiled softly. “I’m here if you need me. We all are.”
“I know,” Micaela said. “For now, I need to get a move on. The Order House isn’t going to build itself.”
“At least let me walk with you,” Olaf said, keeping his hold on Micaela’s hand.
Micaela smiled and stepped in line with her husband. Together they enjoyed the small intimate moment as they walked through Hurligville before parting ways by the Doghouse Inn.
In the bottom level of the nearly completed Order House, Micaela found her workers and several other civilians still huddled in fear. She also noticed the great looks of relief on their faces when they saw her and not one of the undead.
Willis stepped forward immediately, eager to know what happened, he asked, “Is it over? Have the undead been driven off?”
“For now,” Micaela said solemnly. “We drove them off for the time being, but they will be back. We need to finish the Order House as soon as possible. And once that’s done, we need to start improving Hurligville’s defenses.”
Willis nodded along, a look of determination on his face. “You heard her, let’s get this Order House built.” The other workers nodded their agreement. Men and women hugged and kissed their families before getting to work.
“Ma’am,” a woman started, surprising Micaela as she was about to join the workers.
Micaela looked the woman over. She was probably the same age as Micaela, she was also human. Her nameplate reading
The woman looked hesitant for a moment before speaking, “My husband, Willis, he works hard, and I am proud of him for how much he does. But I do worry about how hard he and the others are working. Some of us . . . well, we are not the most skilled of laborers, but we are willing to work if it will help our families. I know I am not the most skilled as I am only level 3, but I can cook and mend clothes. Is there nothing we can do to help? Bring meals to the workers? Or stitch up the tears in their clothes?”
Micaela smiled brightly and nodded. “That would be great. I’m sure everyone would appreciate a nice meal when they go on break. I’m Micaela Crushhammer by the way, nice to meet you.”
“Lila Sears,” the woman replied, her nameplate updating accordingly.
“Let’s start with something to eat. I’m not sure how long all of you have been stuck down here but I’m sure you’re all hungry,” Micaela said. “Lila, I’m putting you in charge of the meals. If you need any money to buy meat or bread or whatever, just let me know,” she continued, then addressing the larger group of civilian family members, she added, “If anyone wants to help Lila make meals for all the workers, please let her know. Any help you can provide is appreciated.”
Lila nodded nervously and was soon bombarded by the other civilians that wanted nothing more than to help their families.
“Alright, I’m going back to work. I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” Micaela said, excited by the prospect of so many new workers, even if they weren’t construction workers, she would take whatever help she could get.
Chapter 19
“I choose-” I started to say, pausing to grin. “And I’m sure this is obvious. Holy Dragoon.” I knew the bonuses from Holy Warden were that much greater when paired with my current racial bonuses, but the Holy Dragoon just called out to me. My group of friends didn’t need another healer or a spellcaster at this point. Between Baby and Arch, we had plenty of healing. With Pwn, we had a ranged spellcaster, and while I would love to show him up as a spellcaster, I just didn’t enjoy fighting like that. I much preferred getting up close and personal. Olaf was somewhere between a mid-range fighter and a melee fighter, same for Micaela. We didn’t have a truly melee only fighter, except for Rose, and she wasn’t really meant for doling out damage.
The Goddess Issara rolled her eyes. “Of course. Forget about the class that gives you the largest bonuses. The class that will give you the best chance of fighting back against your foes. You choose the class that speaks to your heart and soul. The class that makes you happy.”
With each word from the Goddess, I felt guiltier and guiltier. Did she really need to say it like that? As she continued, I was a little afraid of what she might say next.
“I am glad for this. It is important that you find enjoyment in this world when and where you can,” the Goddess Issara said.
The Goddess Ishtar scoffed. “It would seem you are as much a fool as my daughter. Still, your courage is to be commended. I hope you do not regret this decision in the future.”
Neither do I, I thought to myself. “So, now what?” I asked.
“Now, you confirm your choice, then Mother and I will begin,” the Goddess Issara said, sending a system message my way.
Class Quest Alert: Becoming a Holy Dragoon
A path has been chosen. Will you see it through to the end? Will you pursue the strength and power of a Holy Dragoon?
Reward: Class Evolution: Holy Dragoon
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“I accept,” I answered.
Class Quest Alert: Becoming a Holy Dragoon – Completed!
A path has been chosen. Will you see it through to the end? Will you pursue the strength and power of a Holy Dragoon?
Reward: Class Evolution: Holy Dragoon
“Then let us begin,” the Goddess Ishtar boomed, and a thunderclap shook the sky while lightning flashed with blinding white light.
“First, your weapon skill is no longer sufficient. If you are to be a Holy Dragoon, then you require a weapons skill to match,” the Goddess Ishtar began.
You’ve forgotten the spell ‘Holy Smite’ and ‘Holy Imbuement’ and the skills ‘One-handed Polearms’, and ‘Two-Handed Polearms’.
I was stunned. My weapon skills. She took them. And my ‘Holy Smite’? Why? Why would she take them? What did I do to deserve that? Before I could panic for too long, another system message popped into being.
‘Holy Smite’, ‘Holy Imbuement’, ‘One-handed Polearms’, and ‘Two-Handed Polearms’ have been combined and evolved into ‘Holy Lance’.
Skill: Holy Lance
Rank: I
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Description: The ability to wield a lance with one or two hands as if you were born with the weapon in hand. It is now a part of your soul. With every attack, you unleash your holy power upon your enemies.
Damage Modifier: +200 Holy Damage Two-Handed, +100 Holy Damage One-Handed
Critical Strike Modifier: +10.00%
Range: *Weapon Dependent
Standard Attack Cost: -10-SP & -10-MP
Which was quickly followed by a notice of a new subskill.
You’ve learned the ‘Holy Lance’ subskill ‘Divine Lance’.
Divine Lance
Leap high into the air and drop on a single target dealing an additional -400-HP Holy Damage at the cost of -200-SP. Next spell damage caused will be increased by -100-HP damage.
Those two notices made me feel so much better. Sure, it seemed my old subskills were gone, but the Rank I skill started with a +200 Holy Damage modifier with every attack plus a spell boost. Add on the ‘Divine Lance’ subskill which dealt additional holy damage and it was quite powerful. It made me wonder if they would be boosted by my class buff to holy damage as well. If I even still had my class buff to holy damage. I didn’t know yet, but I couldn’t wait to find out. Or was that going to change as well?
The Goddess Ishtar continued unabated.
She said, “Next, say farewell to your lightning spells and skills.”
You’ve forgotten the spells ‘Holy Shock’ and ‘Holy Lightning’, and the skill ‘Thundering Strike’.
I felt my blood run cold. While Thundering Strike was no big loss as I hadn’t even had a chance to use it yet, but the other two hurt. ‘Holy Shock’ was a regular part of my rotation and ‘Holy Lightning’ was getting there. Still, two spells and a skill were gone. I really hoped that whatever replaced it would be that much better.
‘Holy Shock’, ‘Holy Lightning’, and ‘Thundering Strike’ have been combined and evolved into the ‘Holy Lance’ subskill ‘Storm Lance’.
The Goddess Ishtar didn’t stop there. “Fire spells next . . . hmm . . . no, I suppose you may keep that one, you did earn it after all.”
You’ve forgotten the spell ‘Holy Fire’ and skill ‘Justice Strike’.
I was equal parts relieved and appalled by the loss. Yet again, ‘Holy Fire’ was a regular part of my combat rotation and now it was gone. The only other spell I had that could be considered fire was ‘Heavenly Blade’, and thankfully, it didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
‘Holy Fire’ and ‘Justice Strike’ have been combined and evolved into the ‘Holy Lance’ subskill ‘Burning Lance’.
I was really eager to see what the new skills were, but the Goddess Ishtar still wasn’t done.
You’ve learned the ‘Holy Lance’ subskill ‘Arctic Lance’.
You’ve learned the ‘Holy Lance’ subskill ‘Earth Lance’.
Subskills:
Storm Lance
A lightning-fast attack that unleashes a storm of holy power piercing straight ahead of you up to 10-yards inflicting -700-HP Holy and Lightning spell damage, stunning the first opponent hit for 5-seconds. Damage is reduced by -100-HP damage for each additional target hit after the first at the cost of -100-SP and -500-MP. 30-Second Cooldown. Next physical attack will deal an additional -100-HP damage.
Burning Lance
Lance a single target with holy fire, inflicting damage and adding a stack of 'Holy Burns' to the target, inflicting an additional -15-HP Holy and Fire spell damage per second for 60-Seconds at the cost of -100-SP and -200-MP. Stacking up to 5 times. 30-Second Cooldown. Next physical attack will deal an additional -100-HP damage.
Arctic Lance
A chilling attack that sends a wave of icy damage in a 30⁰ cone in front of you for -400-HP Holy and Ice spell damage, reducing movement and attack speed by 50% at the cost of -100-SP and -500-MP. 30-Second Cooldown. Next physical attack will deal an additional -100-HP damage.
Earth Lance
Pierce the ground with your holy power, unleashing spikes of earth up to 5-yards around you inflicting -250-HP spell damage and causing the target to bleed -20-HP Holy and Earth spell damage per second for 10 seconds at the cost of -100-SP and -200-MP. 30-Second Cooldown. Next physical attack will deal an additional -100-HP damage.
I took a breath. I took another. I needed to look again. I took another breath, and I might have giggled. While I might have lost a number of spells and skills, what I just gained was . . . wow! I struggled to find the words. I now had an attack for every element except darkness or unholy . . . void? It didn’t really matter what the darkness element was, my proclivity for Holy magic made it a moot point. Even with the 30-Second Cooldowns and the high SP and MP cost each subskill required, they were a significant upgrade in my damage output. Even more so once you included the increases to the next physical attack.
Then there was the cost. I tried to do the math on what it would take to rotate through the full set of attacks with a melee swing in between each and unless I missed my guess, I was coming up short of MP and SP to do more than one full rotation.
“First step is done,” the Goddess Ishtar said, a bead of sweat trickling from her forehead. “I leave the rest to you, daughter.”
“Thank you, mother,” the Goddess Issara said, bowing her head respectfully to the elder Goddess.
The Goddess Ishtar nodded once then faded from view.
“My mother has given you the base skill and subskills of your new class,” the Goddess Issara said. “I will teach you to move and finally, I will re-forge your body.”
“Are you about to take away more of my skills and spells?” I asked worriedly.
The Goddess Issara smirked before answering, “Only a little.”
I cringed in worry. How much was a little? A quick mental review of my remaining skills and stats showed I still had my limited number of healing and buffing spells. Somehow a single attack spell, ‘Holy Blast’, managed to survive the purge. But who knew what she would be taking away from me next?
You have forgotten ‘Shift’, ‘Acrobatics’, and the ‘Body Control’ subskills ‘Jump’ and ‘Recoil’.
‘Shift’, ‘Acrobatics’, ‘Jump’ and ‘Recoil’ have been combined and evolved into ‘Zephyr of the Open Field’.
Skill: Zephyr of the Open Field
Rank: I
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Description: The Goddess Ninlil holds domain over the wind and has granted you a small portion of her power allowing you a modicum of control when moving within her realm. The wind now enhances your ability to move and avoid damage in combat.
Skill Effect (Active): Move quickly up to 2.00 yards in any direction aided by the wind at the cost of -25-MP & -25-SP.
Skill Effect (Active): Harden a small amount of air near your body to act as a surface for 1-Second at the cost of -100-MP.
Skill Effect (Active): Use your weapon to transfer fall damage to the point of weapon impact at the cost of -100-SP and weapon durability.
Skill Effect (Active): Leap to great heights with ease at the cost of -100-SP and -100-MP.
Skill Effect (Active): Reduces the chance of being hit by an opponent by 50%.
Skill Effect (Passive): Increases your Dexterity Experience Gain by 10.00%
Okay, so that was . . . interesting. But what did it mean ‘enhances your ability to move and avoid damage’? And what would creating a surface near my body do? Just how high was a great height? Why was it called ‘Zephyr of the Open Field’? It seemed like an overly complicated name.
“I may not have my mother’s power, but I like to think that was very well done, very well done indeed,” the Goddess Issara said with a sigh of relief.
“What does it do?” I asked lamely. I mean, I understood that it combined my skills into a single skill, but this seemed to do . . . more. And rather than guess at what that meant, I figured asking was the smart move.
“It allows you to move, silly. You can shift in an out of range of your enemy faster than before with the help of the wind. Jump, flip, roll, and dive through the air with ease. You can even jump off of the air itself. Jumping to great heights and landing unharmed is now easier than ever. If there is a better movement method, I do not know it,” the Goddess boasted, looking extremely proud of herself.
After her explanation, I agreed. I didn’t think I could ask for a better skill.
The Goddess asked, “So, do you like it?”
“I like it very much,” I said, almost giddy to give it a try.
“Good, now comes the hard part, time for you to evolve,” the Goddess Issara said with a grimace. “This will be . . . unpleasant . . . for both of us.”
I wasn’t sure how unpleasant it could be, given the muted pain effects, but I learned soon enough. It didn’t hurt per se. Unpleasant was probably the right descriptor. Nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, hot and cold sweats, and a host of other unpleasant effects seemed to come and go at random. All of this on top of a constant burning itch that seemed to penetrate to my bones. My mind and body were riddled with these effects for an unknown amount of time until eventually I lost consciousness.
When I awoke, I was laying down on the stone chaise with a single very insistent system message blinking rapidly in my peripheral. I disregarded it for the moment to look around. The balc
ony remained the same, though my Goddess was nowhere in sight.
I sat up slowly, my mind still felt a little fuzzy from all the status effects that seemed to attack me mercilessly while I was . . . evolved. I rubbed my eyes to clear out the slight blurring that lingered. With a slow breath, I mentally opened the system message.
Your race has evolved, you are now a Half-Human, Half-High-Elf Demigod.
Race:
Elven and Human Demigod
Elven Demigod Racial Bonus:
+1 Holy Spell power per Level, +1 Dexterity per Level, +2 Intellect per Level, +1 Level to starting Lore profession and +35% Lore Experience Gain, -25% Endurance Growth
Human Demigod Racial Bonus:
+1 Charisma per Level, +1-Strength per Level, Versatility grants 2 additional profession slots and +20% Class Weapon Skill Experience Gain, -25% Endurance Growth
Once again, I found myself rereading the message over and over again. Was I really a Demigod now? And the changes were much greater than what the Goddess said they would be. My Lore Experience Gain went from 25% up to 35% and my weapon proficiency experience gains changed from all weapons at 10% to my class weapon at 20%. And more impressively, I now had the full Versatility perk, which meant I could now gain a fourth profession. Was all this right?
As I closed the system message, another popped up to replace it without my permission.
ATTENTION CITIZENS AND ADVENTURERS OF THE WORLD TREE!
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 32
