Chapter 0028

A gentle sense of comfort and warmth ease Altreyes into wakefulness. She cracked open an eyelid, peeking at the sunlight shining into the room through the window. Close the curtains before going to sleep. Uh huh. Next time.

Sufficient sunlight shone through the window. It was time to get up. Altreyes thought of all the things she need to do today. Realizing there was nothing pressing needing her immediate attention, nor does she have to be somewhere, Altreyes gave herself fifteen more minutes of nappy time. Fifteen minutes later, Altreyes gave herself ten more minutes. Ten minutes later Altreyes gave herself five more minutes. Five minutes later, the Assassin stretched her body, tossed the sheets aside and shuffled towards the bathroom. Only to run into a wall. VR games doesn’t have a need for bathroom, so they didn’t build bathrooms into the inn. The short Perrian Let was so used to go to the bathroom right after she woke up she tried to go out of habit. Morning person she is not.

The knock on her head did some good as it woke her up from her morninging mode, or as her brothers called it, her morning zombie shuffle mode.

Asalia floated towards Altreyes, being unobtrusive as possible. She is quite aware of Altreyes’ morning routine.

Asalia. Ghost tree! Altreyes forgot to assign talent points in the Ghost tree of the Assassin skill tree. The experienced player perked up at the idea.

She pulled up the Ghost tree. Three subset again: Weapon, Possession and Manifestation. Looking at the trees, Altreyes hesitated in distributing the points. She want everything in the skills tree, but she doesn’t know which skills to go for first. Beside, Asalia might want a preference.

“What types of attacks do you prefer and what skills should I go for?” Soliciting advices, no problem. Ghosts, although characterized as pets/companions, definitely have personalities of their own. Altreyes doesn’t want their preferences to clash with their roles. It takes time to learn how to perform a task. It took three months for Altreyes to learn how to type 40 words per minute when she was in high school. Guarding her pert behind is more complex than that. If the ghost aren’t familiar with their abilities, they they might be slack in watching her back. She doesn’t want to die!

I think you should put a few points into the Stealth Tree since you aren’t much of a pvper then put points into a little bit of everything in the Ghost Tree, Asalia replied.

“Jack of all trade?” Altreyes asked, puzzled by her suggestion. Most damage dealers focus their skill points into one tree first to maximize their dps since most skill trees are designed to synergized with talents in the same tree. Spreading talent among different trees are usually done later in the game.

No. Since you have more than one ghost, spreading your talent points out now increase your damage while giving you versatility.

“I thought I won’t be able to use a second ghost until later in the game.”

You can use Braile around level 25 then Soujoun at level 100.

“Braile and Soujoun?”

The names of the other ghost. We decide the order which we will manifest.

“Can you tell me the names of all the ghost?”

In the order which we will manifest: Braile, Soujoun, Shisai, Ceres, Amaryllis and Ruri. We chose our order on what we think you would need. I’m the most powerful, so I’m your first companion. Braile is a strong caster type so she was chosen next to offset my melee type of attack. Soujoun, hmmm I guess I could say she leans towards the Weapons or Possession skill tree. The other 4 has no strong suit.

“Thank you Asalia, Braile, Soujoun, Shisai, Cere, Amaryllis and Ruri for helping me.”

Your welcome. The seven ghost spoke in sync.

From the Sneak tree Altreyes got:

Camouflage: The ghost cover the caster in their spectral essences, blending the caster with the surrounding area, making it hard for anyone to see the caster.

Cost: 10 mana

No wonder she can’t put points into the Assassin Tree without doing the class quest first. Ghost are integral part of the class. Players can choose not to focus on the ghost aspect of the class, but it doesn’t negate the vital role ghosts plays in the class.

The reason for the NPC bitterness when she mention getting extra ghost was explained. Puzzling though was the NPC’s preoccupation with money. In Dark Drake Kingdom, all NPC follow a script. They do not interject their preferences when dealing with the players. The NPC’s strange behavior can be attributed to Arashia’s uniqueness, but Altreyes didn’t think so. Altreyes was a money grubber through various experiences emphasizing the monetary aspect of life. She develop her personality through living a rich fulfilling life. If Sylphie was here to hear her thoughts, she be a pig with wings, denouncing the saying ‘when pigs fly’, but Altreyes stressed again, no one can read mind in Arashia.

So the NPC’s behavior…. Ah well. She can’t figure it out right now, so might as well not dwell on it.

From the Ghost tree Altreyes got:

Merging: Merge with your ghost, amplifying all base stats by 0.25% per points added

Cost: 10 mana

Ghostly Aura: Ghost envelopes you, increase dark attribute attacks by 1% per point added

Cost: 25 mana

Ghostly Enchant: Gives a 10% chances to do an extra attack.

Physical Manifestation: Allow the ghost to take physical form and attack the enemy

Cost: 30 mana

Temporal Manifestation: Amplifying the ghost dark aura, allowing the ghost to attack using dark attributes

Cost: 30 mana

Marked Range: Increase the range a ghost can stay away from you by 1 meters per point added

Merging was given 4 points, boosting all base stats by 1%. Altreyes wanted to add more range to her companions for reconnaissance purposes, but it isn’t a priority. The skill would be a nice talent dump for her when she need to get to the next tier.

Now that she is done, there was no reason to linger at the inn. It’s grinding time. Money!