Class Shard- Reaver (Uncommon)

  Class Shard- Force Mage (Uncommon)

  Ability Book- Diamond Skin (Rare)

  Ability Book- Battle Frenzy (Uncommon)

  Healing Potion x 3 (Uncommon)

  Stamina Potion x 3 (Uncommon)

  Credits- 3097

  They all shook their heads at how much loot we got, but who was I to complain? All the items but one were consumables, which probably played a part. My ability boosted the number of consumables that we got.

  The discussion that followed was interesting, but in the end, the charm had to go to one of the melee members of our team. Given that the ability books were better suited for Crag, Dora got the charm, which gave her a nice passive boost to her speed as well as an overdrive options of sorts.

  Haste Imbuement Charm-(rare) This charm must be touching the bearer’s skin in order to provide its benefits.

  Passive Benefits:

  1) Movement rate increased by 25%

  2)

  Attack rate increased by 10%

  3) Agility and Perception +10 each.

  Active Benefits:

  1) Haste Overdrive- Movement and Attack Rate increased by 50% which stacks with passive benefits. Duration: 1 minute. Cool-Down: 1 hour. Mana Cost: 60

  Reading the description of that item it suddenly made sense why even non-mages would need mana. Many of the magic items which I’d seen took mana from the user in order to empower them.

  Crag got the two ability books. He sat down to immediately use the Diamond Skin ability book. If he decided not to use the Battle Frenzy one, then they’d sell it after the mission was over and we’d split the credits.

  That left the class shards and the evolution stone. The Force Mage was ridiculously customized for me, so I kept that. Dora took the Reaver shard, which was the final one that she needed to create a new uncommon core which left her trembling with excitement.

  By default, Nevin got the Ability Evolution stone. It was hard to pass up, but it wouldn’t have been fair for me to demand it, too. I knew they’d give me most anything I wanted since they all believed I was their good luck charm, but that wasn’t the way friends handled loot, no matter how nice it would have been.

  We looted the two drones, and surprisingly the axe ended up being an upgrade for Crag. It was enchanted for extra armor penetration and a boost to Strength of five points. It wasn’t anything crazy, but every upgrade was important. Beyond the axe, it was just bone chips and some credits.

  We returned to the camp and Dora sat down to prepare herself mentally for forming her uncommon core. I was pleased to see Samvek giving her a few pointers about how to get the best outcome. As for me, I simply meditated on my mana and how it had worked during the battle. Nevin made dinner and once it was ready we all sat quietly while talking about the battle before going to our own spaces to work on whatever issues we needed.

  My level up had netted me the usual stats.

  Mind: +3

  Will: +6

  Perception: +3

  Vitality: +1

  Durability: +1

  Strength: +3

  Endurance: +2

  And of course 6 free stat points.

  I decided it was time to talk to Samvek a bit about the remainder of our time here. There were still three more months, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to spend that much time here. Part of me felt selfish, I knew my dad had deployed longer to the desert than this, but I wasn’t a soldier. Yes, I was a Forerunner and yes this was an opportunity to grind training levels, but I missed normalcy. The time dilation meant I wasn’t really missing any time at home, but the constant grind was getting to me. To the point, I really wanted to leave.

  He seemed to know what I wanted because he sat down across from me. “You’re progressing very quickly, but that can lead to impatience. Let me guess, you want to level up and finish the mission?”

  “I’d be lying if I said no. I understand what an opportunity this is and I’ve already gained a significant amount of power, but…”

  “But this is all new to you and you miss home.”

  I sighed. It sounded so pathetic when he said it. “Yes, in a nutshell.”

  We sat in silence for a while. It was a bit eerie, but I’d quickly learned that Samvek had no trouble with silence. He always seemed perfectly centered. It made me jealous if I was being honest. Eventually though, he spoke again. “Let me ask you something. Do you believe that life is going to get easier after your world is fully inducted?”

  I thought about the question. Then I thought about what he might be getting at. That whole being comfortable with silence thing meant that he never rushed me for an answer unless it was part of a combat drill and time mattered. “I think I know what you’re getting at…”

  “No.”

  I stared at him. “What?”

  “No, that isn’t what I asked. I don’t want you to guess what I’m thinking. I just want you to answer the question.”

  “But it’s a baited question…”

  “In your mind it is, but perhaps I simply asked a simple question. Consider that you don’t even know your own mind. How are you supposed to know what I’m thinking?”

  I laughed. “Fair point, I suppose.” His stare told me there was no doubt it was a fair point. “I guess a part of me thinks that it’s going to be easier after other people know…” My voice trailed off as I realized that really wasn’t what I believed. “No, that’s not true. If I really think about it, I believe it’s going to get worse. It’s unlikely that Earth could climb to the top spot as we’re fighting to hang onto third place. So the best scenario is that we end up as a dungeon world. Then billions of people die and everyone goes crazy trying to survive.”

  “But you’ll already be powerful by that point, at least compared to the people of a newly inducted world. For all intents and purposes, you’ll start out as powerful as dozens, if not hundreds of them. And while newly inducted worlds have increased potentiality, it still doesn’t compare to what Forerunners have. Even the best of them won’t progress as quickly as you have.”

  “Fair, that just means they’ll all be looking to me. Everything that I know about life will be over. No more college, no more tv, no more just hanging out with friends. Heck, I’ve never had a serious girlfriend and I’m freaking twenty-two years old.”

  “Your Charisma means that you could have any woman you want on your home world. They won’t be able to resist you, and that isn’t even counting your aura.”

  I stared at him to see if he was serious before I replied, “But that would be wrong.”

  “Yes, it would be, but you won’t be able to stop the effect that your Charisma will have on people. Even if your power wasn’t enough, they will look to you for leadership. It’s unavoidable, nor should such responsibility be discarded. It’s unbecoming of a true warrior and of Clan Rayden. The fact that you worry about such things is promising, but you have to step up.”

  I nodded. “That’s what I worry about. I know that I only have a year left to experience normal things, and I’d like to enjoy some of them before that chance is gone.”

  He sighed. “Once a bride’s veil is lifted, her face can’t be unseen.”

  I did a double take at that before realizing what he meant. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”

  “Initially, I’d planned on stopping and training for another month before pushing to clear the inner plots. They won’t have as many monsters but you should expect far more smolders and reavers. The danger will increase significantly.”

  Even though he didn’t say it, I heard the ‘but,’ in what he said. “Now, though, you’re worried that the monsters are scaling up too quickly.”

  He nodded. “You wouldn’t fare well if the boss rises to be a rare.”

  “What if we all got uncommon classes? Certainly based upon the drop rate from smolders and reavers, we will get the class shards we need. I’ve already got three useable shards.”

  “I know about the force mage shard which dropped today. That was definitely the system working for a Forerunner. Don’t always expect to be that lucky in the future. But what other shards do you have?”

  “I have two Vestigial Hunter shards. Although, to be fair, I’m not entirely sure if that class is a match.”

  Samvek summoned a tablet from his spatial storage. The image of him swiping screens seemed at odds with the fierce warrior I’d seen him be. The technology was just out of place, but I didn’t comment. I already understood that the system was a strange mix of advanced technology and relatively primitive weapons and lifestyles.

  “Ah, it’s a rogue type hunter with a strong connection to nature and some transformative abilities. I imagine it would synergize very well with your Blood Bather title. I know you had a rogue class before and have a druid class now, do you want to keep some connection to those options in your future classes or do you want to focus more on magic or perhaps on healing?”

  “Based on what I’ve seen, my rare class will be the first one that I’ll be at for an extended period of time. So, everything I do up until that point is simply to ensure that I can form the best rare class core possible. I’d like to keep the DPS options and I don’t want to only be magic. Melee gives me more options. I’m not sure if my staff or polearm skills fit very well with it. And I think the nature connection works well with Urg.”

  He nodded along with my reasoning before saying, “Very well. I have a shard you can use, but I want you to get at least one of your skills to 100 before reaching level 50. If you do that, then I’ll give you the shard. Otherwise, you can simply use whatever shards you gain as drops.”

  I thought about his offer and then nodded. “Okay, you’re on.”

  “Okay, but you have to raise the skill in actual combat. Since we need to start clearing those plots before they get out of hand. You’re going to be racing against the XP that you gain.”

  I just smiled. The excitement had returned and my worries were pushed back. Home would be waiting for me. I just knew that whatever shard he had was going to be a good one, so I wanted to get my hands on it.

  Stats 2.1

  Name: Silas Renner

  Clan: Rayden, outer family

  Race: Human (Basic)

  Age: 22

  Height: 6’3”

  Weight: 210 lbs.

  Class: Druid-Shield Bearer-Projection Mage (common)

  Level: 43

  Total XP: 47,242

  XP to Next Level: 1758

  Occupation: Junkman Artificer

  Level: 1

  Stats:

  Strength: 89 (+10%)

  Dexterity: 20

  Agility: 100 (+10%)

  Vitality: 125/105

  Durability: 89/76

  Endurance: 87/82

  Mind: 191 (+20%)

  Will: 202 (+10%)

  Charisma: 96 (+10%)

  Perception: 154 (+10%)

  Available Stat Points: 60

  HP: 1375

  HP Regen: 638/138/hour

  Stamina: 870

  Stamina Regen: 87/minute

  Mana: 2,290

  Mana Regen: 229/minute

  Titles:

  One Small Step/One Giant Leap: Double level related stat gains.

  Blood Bather IV: Gain an evolution by bathing in the blood of an enemy.

  Smarter than Your Average Bear +10% effectiveness to Mind

  Here to Pump You Up: +10% effectiveness to Strength, +1 Strength/level

  I’ve Got My Eye on You: +10% effectiveness to Perception.

  Never Gonna Give Up: +10% effectiveness to Will

  Hear the Thunder, Ride the Lightning: +10% effectiveness to Agility

  Evolutions:

  Mana-infused Squirrel: 70%

  Spined Fox- Boss variant: Complete (spines)

  Feathered-Bear- Domain Apex variant: Complete (roar)

  Darje Undead: 80%

  Skills:

  Running: 21

  Throwing: 10

  Jumping: 18

  Blunt Weapons: 109/89

  Staff Combat: 106/86

  Short Blades: 7

  Grappling: 6

  Defensive Fighting: 8

  Sneak Attacks: 4

  Slashing Weapons: 48

  Polearms: 71/51

  Aerial Combat: 11

  Piercing Weapons: 1

  Active Quests:

  None

  Active Abilities:

  1) Shield for All (Common)

  2) Shape Conjured Construct (rare 6%)

  3) Mage Missile (Basic 54%)

  Inheritance: Spirit Walk

  Passive Abilities:

  1) Adorably Harmless (Rare)

  2) Symbiotic Healing (Uncommon)

  3) Immobile Damage (Common)

  Inheritance: Inspiring Presence (Rare)

  Spells:

  Core Spells

  Magical Acceleration (Uncommon 69%)

  Lingering Grace (Uncommon 4%)

  Mass Physical Boost (Uncommon 6%)

  Rapid Flight (Uncommon 0%)

  Persistent Frost Cone (Uncommon 0%)

  Killing Touch (Rare 1%)

  Inheritance: Eidolon (13%)

  Traits:

  -Forerunner Abilities:

  Identify (basic)

  Translate (common)

  Loot (uncommon)

  Save for Winter (unique-epic)

  Mini-Map (common)

  - Lifer- XP gained from quests and killing monsters while on Galen will increase by 25% or 50% while in the district containing Anwich. This will apply to party members and is multiplicative with party bonuses.

  -Inheritor I:

  Passive Ability: Inspiring Presence

  Active Ability: Spirit Walk

  Spell: Eidolon

  Boon: Boon of the Staff

  Title: Hear to Pump You Up

  Gear: Tunic of Durability

  Boons:

  -Boon of the Staff

  Gear:

  Assorted Potions (various)

  Staff of Blocking (uncommon)

  Ring of Blinding (uncommon)

  Belt of Life (uncommon)

  Fire Blast Wand (uncommon)

  Life Mage Shard (Rare)

  Tunic of Durability (Rare)

  2 x Uncommon Class Shard- Vestigial Hunter

  1 x Uncommon Class Shard- Force Mage

  Urg- Eidolon (Common- Vine Form)

  Strength: 170

  Dexterity: 15

  Agility: 138

  Vitality: 170

  Durability: 230

  Endurance: 110

  Mind: 40

  Will: 90

  Perception: 190

  Synergy: All plant based Abilities and Spells

  Unslotted Spells:

  Boon-Bane (Rare 22%)

  Barbs of Slowing (Uncommon 17%)

  Chapter 21- A Trap?

  After a few hours of sleep, we were all ready to go. Samvek explained about the increased dangers, but I also explained the challenge he’d given me. Then, after stressing just how much more deadly things were going to become, he said something I hadn’t expected, “In order to get the most out of this, you three will take the inner plot to the east and I will pull for Silas as he solos the western plot. The increased danger will push your XP but it will also push your gains in progressing your various abilities.”

  There was some grumbling, but eventually, he was steadfast and insistent to force his will, so we agreed. With that in mind, I went over my build and decided to drop the new spell, Killing Touch, as it wouldn’t be of much use against the undead. I had intended to experiment with it but never got around to that. I replaced it with Barbs of Slowing since that was my best debuff spell. For many of the same reasons, I replaced Magical Acceleration with Boon-Bane.

  Then, I took a look at my abilities. Without the benefit it added to my teammates, Shield for All was likely less powerful than Mage Shield, so I swapped them out after taking another look at it.

  Mage Shield- This Perception based ability will create a shield around you to protect from unseen or unexpected damage. It will drain 1 mana per HP of damage prevented. Duration: special. Cool-Down: special. (Basic)

  This was one of the first abilities I’d gained, but I had never really made much use of it. Since so much of my build worked around force shields, it only made sense. I was looking forward to charging it with electricity and see how it stood up. It also helped that it was at the basic level, so it should level up fairly quickly. For that same reason, I decided to use Mage Missiles as much as possible.

  With those changes in place, we headed out. There were two gateways which exited this plot. We hadn’t found them until after the reaver was destroyed, as they’d been hidden in the wall behind him. The working theory was that with four inner plots that they formed a circle around the core plot. So I was heading west, and they were heading east with the idea that we’d meet on the other side. Since we were still in a party, we’d at least know if the others were alive.

  I activated Mage Shield to protect me from any surprise attacks and then walked through, following Samvek. The terrain in this plot changed. Before, it had been a typical open graveyard. Now that changed to a massive crypt with a long hallway leading deeper in. Pillars of stone rose up to hold a ceiling, which was thirty feet overhead.

  I was about to step forward, but Samvek put his hand against my chest. “Can you feel that?”

  I drew in a deep breath. Then I reached out, trying to feel the mana around me. The air was positively saturated with undeath mana. The concentrations were at least fifty percent greater than in the outer plots and maybe closer to seventy-five percent.

  Once I nodded, Samvek said, “You’ve been saving those stat points because I asked you to. You should have sixty, well now’s the time to spend them.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or scared because he thought I was going to need every advantage just to survive here. Either way, I didn’t argue, but immediately dropped my points into stats. Thirty-one into Strength and twenty for Agility balanced them both out. Sadly, I didn’t gain any reward for hitting 100 in Strength, but that was likely because of already having one from my inheritance.

  Then I brought three other stats up to 100 by putting four points into Charisma, twenty-four into Durability, and eighteen into Endurance. That netted me three new titles.