Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)

by Luke Chmilenko

  Regaining my feet quickly as I finished my tumble, I had just enough time to raise the sword back up defensively before I was forced to move once more, this time bringing it against the other blade arm that slashed out towards me in a hard parry. Catching the attack full force against my weapon, I couldn’t help but let out a wicked grin as I stopped it cold with what felt like the barest of efforts.

  Wouldn’t have been able to do that before getting all this new gear, I thought, allowing myself a single heartbeat to gloat from the display of strength as I stared back at the corrupted dervish. But once that moment passed, I took the opportunity the parry had presented and lunged forward deep into its now open guard. Immediately scrambling to react to my maneuver, I saw the construct begin to move in an attempt to bring its other arm to bear in an attempt to cut me off while simultaneously stepping backward to buy itself more space.

  But by that point, its fate had already been sealed.

  Thrusting out with Savagery as I closed, I caught a brief glimpse of the single-edged blade, having just enough time to watch a spark of lightning travel along its length before it plunged into the construct’s chest. Sinking into the muddy creature’s flesh and beyond without a single iota of resistance, I guided my blade as deep as I could into its body, only feeling a cool flow of mana course up my arm in the process. Welcoming the sensation with a distant part of my mind, I tightened my grip on the sword’s hilt and moved to end the fight, slicing it sharply sideways and feeling it glide effortlessly through the corrupted entity. Bursting free from its side of a spray of crimson mud, the attack instantly robbed the construct of its strength, the sweeping arm that I’d stepped past losing all momentum as the creature lost its balance before falling to the ground. Landing in a heap, its body made a wet sound as it turned into a mass of mud and twisted roots, its demise triggering a pair of notifications to flash across my vision.

  You have slain a [Corrupted Dervish]!

  You have gained Experience!

  “Dang, not that one either,” I whispered as I sidestepped the mess before it could splash on me, feeling a momentary flash of disappointment that the message that I’d been itching to see all day hadn’t accompanied yet another kill. In either case, however, that surge of emotion was short-lived as I found my attention promptly captured by a large orc that had seen the construct fall and had wasted no time in moving to charge me.

  Now this one might be promising, I thought as I wheeled to meet my newest attacker, the tag briefly flashing over his head identifying him as a level twenty-eight [Crushbone Legionnaire]. He’s the highest level I’ve seen all day long.

  Wondering if this was when I would finally reach my goal, I didn’t waste another second in rushing towards the creature, meeting his charge with one of my own. It was a far more aggressive tactic than my usual cautious and reactive approach to dealing with an enemy larger and potentially physically stronger than me. But with the strength and speed that my newly crafted equipment lent me, I was more than eager to find out just where my new limits were compared against the enemies I was used to fighting.

  Crossing the distance separating us in the blink of an eye, the remains of the construct that I’d just slain had yet to finish moving before our two weapons connected, Savagery grinding heavily against the legionnaire’s axe. Eyes widening in surprise from the impact, I heard the orc let out a loud grunt as he tried to fight against me, clearly not having expected such strength behind my attack given my comparatively smaller stature. Testing myself against the creature’s might as we pushed against one another, I quickly discovered that despite the large boost that the new equipment had given me, the orc still held a slight edge when it came to raw strength.

  Which is probably fair, all things considered, I told myself with a mental shrug, satisfied with what I’d learned from the exchange as I felt it begin to force my sword back towards me. But while it still might be stronger than me, there’s definitely no way that it’s faster than me.

  Breaking away from our exchange before I could be completely overpowered, I slid Savagery off the orc’s axe and moved to dodge around the orc, looking to take advantage of the space that the battlefield offered. Reacting to my maneuver with skill, if not ability, my opponent instantly sensed what I was trying to do and began to move to block me. But it was at that moment where the differences in our speed became apparent, my Alacrity-fueled and essence-enhanced movement making the orc appear as if he were standing still. It was then, with complete ease, that I managed to dodge by his glacial attempt to catch me, twist behind him, and deliver a flawlessly placed Perfect Strike at the base of his neck, once again seeing a list of notifications appear in my vision.

  Except this time, they contained the ones I’d been waiting to see.

  You critically strike a [Crushbone Legionnaire] with [Perfect Strike] for 2205 points of damage!

  You have slain a [Crushbone Legionnaire]!

  You gain Experience!

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 29!

  You have unlocked a Class Challenge opportunity!

  “Finally!” I shouted as I felt the familiar surge of energy that a new level always brought shoot through me, causing the few wounds and bruises that I’d acquired over the battle to abruptly vanish.

  “Finally?” Constantine’s panting voice called back from nearby, causing me to twist towards it, spotting both him and Amaranth fighting side by side nearly a dozen feet away from me. “Finally what? Can you see the others yet?”

  “What? No,” I replied, it taking me a second to process what the rogue had said, a second which I used to slice at yet another orc that decided to charge me. “I’m yelling because I just hit level twenty-nine!”

  “Gah! I can’t believe I’m going to say this, Lyr, but you’re seriously worried about that right now?” he shouted back in a slightly panicked tone as he blocked a stab from an orc, thereby giving Amaranth a chance to disembowel it with a swipe of his claws. “Look around! We’re getting swarmed! Where are the others?”

  “It’s not that bad,” I said as I expertly stabbed the newest attacking orc in the chest and paused to glance at the battlefield around me as it fell to the ground. It was only then I realized that in my bloodlust to reach level twenty-nine that I’d managed to form a pocket of safety around me by killing everything that came into range, enough so that any new attackers went out of their way to avoid me. The rest of the battlefield that stretched farther along on either side me was, in fact, still packed with orcs, constructs, and spirits.

  Enough so that it was slowly starting to force our lines backward as they struggled to keep themselves from breaking.

  “Eh, well, actually,” I replied, backpedaling a bit as I regained the pulse of the battle, which was indeed starting to turn against us. But no sooner did those words leave my mouth did I catch a bright flash of magic explode directly amongst the orc’s rear line, which was then followed by another and another. “Ah, look! There are they are! They must have just been held up a bit!”

  “Just a bit!” Constantine growled back as the orc line suddenly rippled in reaction to the attack from their rear, whatever momentum that they may have had in pushing against us vanishing. “In either case, Lyr, I could use your help here! There’s still plenty of orcs to go around!”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I replied as I moved to rejoin both him and Amaranth, running back into the battle at a sprint.

  Falling in beside the pair, the three of us renewed our press against the now fragmenting orc line, their once disciplined ranks rapidly beginning to break apart with each one of them that fell. Pressed from both sides, it didn’t take long from there for the orcs to fall into a frenzied panic, finally realizing that they’d been outmaneuvered and were now trapped between our two forces. But by that point, however, their fate had been sealed, as it had been for all the other groups that we’d managed to catch today so far.

  “Look, there’s Janus!” Constantine shouted as the battle began
to slowly wind down, the last few orcs still standing all desperately trying to form a pocket for a last stand.

  “I see him!” I called back to the rogue, following the sword he’d used to point over the orcs and towards the man.

  Catching sight of him briefly, I saw him thrust his spear directly into a corrupted guardian’s chest, its length sparking with a surge of electricity as it did so. Pulling the weapon free an instant later, the man then vanished in the familiar flash of magic that was Blink Step, both Mithaniel and Neria suddenly filling the spot he’d been standing in. Charging at full speed ahead of his sister, Mithaniel slammed into the wounded guardian’s shield first, using his prodigious strength to shove it backward and off-balance. Staggering, the creature then had no chance to intercept Neria as she leapt towards it with her swords outstretched, both of their tips thrusting into the open eye sockets of the construct’s skull. Finding leverage against the hard bone, it was a heartbeat later that the skull came free of the abomination’s shoulders, torn clean off by the wrenching twist that followed.

  “And the others, too!” I added belatedly, the whole takedown of the guardian happening so quickly that I’d barely been able to follow it before both the creature and the others vanished from sight.

  “Good! Then we can finally put a wrap on this! It’s gone on too long already!” Constantine shouted as another round of thunderous magic split the air, followed by a large burst of fire rising up from what remained of the orc’s ranks.

  “Looks like the mages thought the same thing!” I replied, forced to shield my eyes from the onslaught of magic that followed the initial blast, a hailstorm of fire, lightning, ice, and other magic wiping away the bulk of the orcs that remained. With only a few scattered survivors left standing, it was a few minutes afterward that our battle effectively came to an end, the token resistance that they offered little match for our superior numbers.

  “Ah, damn, sorry about the timing there, guys,” Mithaniel said apologetically to both Constantine and me once the fighting was over and we’d had a chance to regroup. “This group was smarter than the others we’ve hit today. They left a reserve trailing them. We ended up running straight into them on our way to get in position and had to take care of them first.”

  “It was only a matter of time until they finally got smart enough,” Freya replied with a shake of her head, the woman having made her way from the far end of the battlefield after things had ended. “This is the fourth warband we’ve taken today. They’d be dumb not to realize that they’re missing people by now.”

  “True,” the half-elf said in an appreciative tone. “But if we’re going to try our luck again today, I’m thinking that we’ll need to change things up.”

  “Probably,” Freya agreed. “Though all things considered, even with the delay, this skirmish went well. We only lost a handful, and I can already sense that they’re on their way back to grab their soul fragments. It’s not the worst exchange for scratching another hundred orcs or so and half a dozen constructs.”

  “Definitely not,” I agreed, turning to scan over the battlefield, which was slowly being picked over by our two combined groups of adventurers as they collected the spoils of war that the fallen orcs offered. Watching it for a second, I was reminded about a particular series of notifications that had appeared during the battle as a pair of markers flashed in the side of my vision. Eyes widening in sudden anticipation, I turned back towards the group, eager to buy myself some time to read over what I already knew was going an exciting few minutes. “Anyway, though, if you all don’t mind letting me know when it’s time to get moving again, I have a little bit of reading to do that I’ve been really looking forward to.”

  “Ah! You finally hit twenty-nine?” Freya asked with a note of excitement in her voice. “About time! I don’t know how much longer I’d have been able to keep things a secret!”

  “I did,” I replied with a grin. “And you know, you never had to keep it a secret in the first place.”

  “Tradition dictates that I did,” the woman said with a chuckle. “We tend to like to keep level spoilers on the down-low here, especially when it comes to Lyrian. We feel the anticipation makes the achievement all the sweeter.”

  “Noted,” Janus replied as he, Neria, and Mithaniel matched Freya’s laugh with one of their own. “We’ll be sure to keep that in mind for the future.”

  “Great,” I commented in a dry tone, drawing out the word. “And maybe one of these days I’ll be the one out-leveling you all again. Then we’ll see how it feels when the shoe is on the other foot.”

  “We’ll see about that, Lyr, but until then, we’ll have our fun,” Constantine chimed in, his tone sounding much more level now that the fighting was over. “But speaking of levels, this is also a good time to mention that I hit twenty-nine too. So Lyr and I both could use a hot second to see what’s waiting for us before we’re moving again.”

  “Fair enough. Go sort yourselves out,” Freya replied, giving us both a shooing motion. “In the meantime, we’ll go see if there’s any loot worth talking about and get everyone organized to move again.”

  Going our separate ways at that point, Constantine and I found ourselves a quiet place to stand off to the side from everyone, the two of us chattering eagerly as we sorted out our attributes that the level increase had brought.

  “Fingers crossed for some good advanced class options,” the rogue said to me as we moved. “For as much as we try at keeping secrets, I’ve heard too many rumors to have any idea of what to expect.”

  “Geez, if you’ve heard rumors, you’ve heard more than me. No one’s told me anything,” I replied, assigning my free attribute points into agility with barely a thought, before going on to scan over my character sheet to see what the new level had brought me.

  Statistics:

  HP: 1836/1836

  Stamina: 1616/1616

  Mana: 2062/2062

  Experience to next level: See Class Challenge

  Renown: 7110

  Attributes:

  Strength: 94 (169)

  Agility: 94 (195)

  Constitution: 93 (94)

  Intelligence: 117 (139)

  Willpower: 34

  Looking good, I thought as I confirmed my choice, no longer shocked to see the high values beside each of my primary attributes.

  Dismissing the sheet from my vision almost as quickly as I’d summoned it, I turned to glance over towards Constantine, seeing him look up to meet my eye. “Ready?”

  “You better believe it,” he replied with a grin.

  “Then let’s see what’s waiting for us,” I said, mentally calling up the single flashing notification that remained in my vision and seeing it expand into a massive textbox, which was accompanied by the sound of an exciting fanfare.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked your level twenty-nine Class Challenge opportunity as well as a preview of the three Advanced Classes awaiting you at level thirty! As you enter your final level in your Base Class, you have one final opportunity to refine your playstyle before continuing onwards.

  For this last step in your Base Class progression, you will need to choose a path of focus to commit yourself to, each of which contains specialized attribute growth as well as a capstone trait to permanently enhance an aspect of the various playstyles you’ve experienced so far. Once chosen, this path will then shape your future development no matter which Advanced Class you choose, tailoring it to suit you perfectly. In order to commit yourself to one of these paths, you must show that you are capable of withstanding and overcoming a true challenge to your ability in such a way that it exemplifies its virtues. Only then will you be able to progress onwards.

  Please note that of all the following choices, you will only be able to choose a single path to follow, after which you will immediately progress to level thirty and be able to choose an Advanced Class.

  The Path of Magic

  Path Attribute Progression:

  +4 to Intelligence
and Willpower per level

  Path Ability Progression:

  On adopting this path and choosing an Advanced Class, your future progression will shift to favor more Magical abilities over Martial ones each time a Class Skill Point is obtained.

  Capstone Trait:

  Intensify Spell

  Description: Your understanding of magic has grown drastically in the days since you learned your first novel spell. As such, now when you cast a spell you are able to channel more mana into it than it would otherwise normally require, increasing its effects substantially. However, should the spell become too overcharged for your skill to handle, there is a risk of it failing catastrophically.

  Effect: This ability allows you to increase the range and/or effects of your spells at the cost of additional mana, which in turn increases the Spell Mastery needed to wield the spell without failure. Spells can be overcharged to three distinct levels with increased mana costs and risks for every stage. The effects of this ability stacks with all other magical traits and abilities unless otherwise noted.

  Light Overcharge: By paying an additional 25% in mana costs you are able to increase the spell’s effects by 35%. This increases the Spell Mastery requirements of the spell by +1.

  Moderate Overcharge: By paying an additional 50% in mana costs you are able to increase the spell’s effects by 70%. This increases the Spell Mastery requirements of the spell by +3.

  Heavy Overcharge: By paying an additional 100% in mana costs you are able to increase the spell’s effects by 150%. This increases the Spell Mastery requirements of the spell by +6.

  Trial to Obtain: