“We’re being attacked!”

Uh oh.

So many things happened at once, Carey found himself utterly frozen, feet rooted to the earth. He was yanked out of sneak mode as Roland whirled and spotted him.

Eyes going wide with fright, the apprentice backed up against the wrecked carriage, dug a toxic-looking Blood Ether crystal from a front pocket of his robe, and held it up. Its demonic red glow washed over his face.

“Oh crap,” Carey said.

“Oxal seneschal lentos xendar,” Roland chanted.

Horrible, spiky red vines wriggled and wove and thrust themselves out of the crystal’s core, bred from its unnatural light and sizzling with toxic heat, the smell of them as pungently sharp as ammonia, their thorns as real as any physical blade.

“Strike!”

The Low Mage wore a sneering expression as he launched the crystal at Carey. As it flew forward, the vines thickened and spread apart with a sound like leather gloves being stretched, and then they… exploded?

Screaming, Carey was thrown back on his ass.

It was like a slap to the face. His ears even popped. His eyes stung.

The red vines were no more. All that was left of them were withered, red-black tendrils that fell pathetically to the ground in a smoking pile, like a pair of panties after six minutes on high in a microwave.

“What… what the hell?” Carey said.

Smoke began to rise from the ground where the tendrils lay—green smoke, not red.

The Low Mage apprentice coughed and rubbed his nose, squinting around himself to see who had attacked.

Lothos—a grimy, enraged version of the merchant Carey almost didn’t recognize—appeared from around the carriage, his grisly, hairy, pock-marked face a mask of pure and utter hatred. He held a glass bottle in each hand and raised one of them.

Sparkling green liquid sloshed and sparkled in the sun’s light, trapped in the glass.

“Take this, heathen,” Lothos raged, flinging it.

The bottle smashed against the ground at Roland’s feet. The Low Mage’s mouth yawned open in fearful shock.

It didn’t explode, but Carey reasoned it was because the green liquid and the red vines had reacted violently the first time around, which had caused the blast. He could tell by the smoking bubbles and gassy sizzling sound made by the spilled fluid as it touched the leftover dead tendrils.

The green mist from the second broken bottle made contact with Roland’s skin, leaving ugly red boils on his face and hands. He stared at his hands, aghast, and fell back, slamming against the wall of the carriage. Carey scrambled to get away from the smoke, imagining those boils spreading across his own body.

But it must have been a Blood Ether thing—some sort of chemical reaction that happened between the mist and any person or object who spent time around Blood Ether and its toxic poison.

Uttering a high-pitched scream wrenched from a teenage boy’s worst nightmare, Roland pushed himself away from the carriage and went running into the woods. It seemed he was about to get away, Lothos just standing there, watching him—but then he collapsed, and Carey saw something silvery stuck in his back, glinting in the afternoon light.

Now, the merchant stood in the expert pose of someone who had just launched the winning shot in a knife-throwing competition.

Damn, he was fast!

EXPERIENCE GAINED: 175 points (300/500 to next level)

“That is how evil is taken down,” Lothos said, clapping his palms together as if to shake off dirt.

“He was just a kid,” Carey said in a tone more cynical than he had intended. What he had wanted to say was, Get off your high horse, old man. He wasn’t even a real Low Mage yet.

“Carey, you must understand one thing about this world.” Lothos approached him, remnants of twigs and leaves all over his shirt. Had he wrestled with the other apprentice before killing him? “There are those who practice evil magic. This makes them evil, because the only way they can draw power is to steal it from living things. Blood Ether magic is toxic to people like you and me. In order for those two apprentices to refill the proper crystals for their version of magic, they must leech it from us”—he thrust a finger at Carey, then pointed at himself—“and do you know what happens when a Low Mage fills his crystal using a person’s life energy?”

“The person dies?”

Lothos shook his head. “Death may come eventually, or the Low Mage might keep the person alive, drawing energy gradually over time, allowing it to replenish itself before drawing more. But that is not the worst part.”

“I’m listening.”

As the merchant spoke, Carey followed him toward the slaves. They watched eagerly, bouncing slightly on their knees.

“The worst part…” Lothos began.

The slave children were also NPCs—but they seemed so real. They even cried out happily as Lothos used a knife to cut the twine binding their wrists, after which they hugged each other like brothers and sister.

“The very worst part is the process that leeches a person’s natural store of Luminether and converts it into Blood Ether, causing blightsores to break out all over their body.” He held his index fingers three inches apart. “Long, unsightly, putrid sores the color of blood and cow dung mixed together. They fester and stink and cause agonizing pain like the rage of Sargos. If the person’s life force continues to be drawn past this point, the body visibly weakens and shrivels, losing all color to become as gray as a rainy sky. Eventually, the bones turn to dust, and the victim, in his final moments—”

“Okay, okay,” Carey said, waving his hands for the man to stop. “I get it!”

One of the former slaves, listening to them talk, suddenly seemed afraid. Lothos put his hand on the boy’s head and smiled down at him.

“You’re free, child. Go home to your mother.”

They flashed beaming smiles at Lothos and Carey, then grabbed each other’s hands and ran into the woods.

“Let us check the mages for supplies, but first…” Lothos rested his hands on his hips and gazed approvingly at Carey. “I think you are ready, adventurer.”

“Ready for… ?”

Lothos reached behind his back and brought out a steaming, dripping chicken leg. No preparation necessary.

“Lunch, my good man. The most important part of the day.”

***

Carey asked questions throughout the meal, and Lothos kindly answered as best he could.

“What about money? Can you help me get some?”

Lothos thought about it as Carey tore a piece of chicken off the bone with his teeth and chewed.

They had found a spot in the clearing away from the broken carriage. Lothos sucked chicken grease off his fingers. The meat had been delicious, and by the end of the meal, Carey felt energized and pleasantly full. Lothos proceeded to wipe his lips with a handkerchief and burp loudly.

“You must do the rest yourself, adventurer. My last bit of advice is this: don’t try to change the world alone. Find allies. Join or form a party that will save the people of Astros from the Low Order.”

They got up and faced each other. He could see it in the man’s eyes—the tutorial was over. He didn’t expect what happened next: the merchant suddenly pulled Carey into a bear hug.

“Be safe, young man. Astros needs people like you. Good people. Warriors. In fact, come visit me in Tyrathon soon. I have a gift I’d like to give you, to help in your adventures.”

Carey patted the man’s broad back. “Sounds like a plan, my friend.”

As Lothos set about readying his levathon for flight, Carey found a lump forming in his throat. A weaker man might have shed a tear, but Carey steeled himself and shook his head.

“He’s just an NPC, damn it. He’s just code.”

~SIDE QUEST~

A MERCHANT’S WELL WISHES

Recommended Level: 6

Visit Lothos at his shop in Tyrathon. He has a gift for you.

PATH OF LOW KARMA: Kill Lothos, take his keys, and loot his storage room

XP REWARD: 2,500

A brief set of musical notes filled Carey’s ears, accompanied by a strangely uplifting feeling, like booze when it first hits your system.

MAIN QUEST 1.1 COMPLETE – Every Journey Begins with a Single Hut

EXPERIENCE GAINED: 200 points (500/500 to next level)

“Nice!”

Much larger text, silvery and elaborate this time, appeared and hung for a moment before his eyes. Sizzling magical energies shot away from the letters—celebratory fireworks, popping and crackling.

Congratulations, adventurer!

YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 1!

“Double nice.” He tapped the crystal. “Now, let’s see how… Whoa!”

He recoiled away from the cartoonish floating woman who appeared in front of him. Only her upper body was visible, the rest of it hidden inside a small, bobbing cloud.

“Hello there, adventurer,” she said in a silky, upbeat voice.

Drawn in an animated style straight out of a Pixar film, the woman had olive skin, dark Mediterranean features, and thick, black hair gathered in a bun. She was dressed in a tunic made of white cloth with a belt that fastened around her belly. Her gleaming hair, oversized eyes, and rosy cheeks were just as exaggerated as her cheerful voice. As were her breasts, which were pleasantly inflated.

“Who are you?” Carey asked.

“My name is Ara. What’s your name?”

“Carey Walsh.”

She gave him a coy smile. “That’s your real name. But here, in Astros, every adventurer acquires a name of fame! Yours can be anything you want. Who knows? Maybe it will go down in the history books!”

A notification box appeared in Carey’s vision.

Please enter your name:

Without hesitation, Carey thought out the spelling of his new username.

DrollTroll69

Ara peeked around the notification box, frowning at him.

“Sorry, but your name cannot contain any references to anything of a profane or sexual nature. We run a clean shop!”

“What?” Carey threw his hands up in frustration. “Well, what if... What if I was just a fan of the 69ers? They’re a football team from San Francisco.”

Ara smiled. “No problem!”

The name changed to DrollTroll69ers.

Carey rolled his eyes. “Never mind.”

He made a swiping motion, cutting away the “69ers” part and leaving only DrollTroll.

“That also works,” Ara said, zipping around on her cloud. “Welcome to Astros, DrollTroll.”

“Stop doing that.”

She froze, bobbing slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Just...stop spinning and moving around like that. And why don’t you have legs? You’d look a lot better with legs.”

Ara shrugged cutely, even flashing her palms at him, as if to say, Why didn’t you say something sooner?

The cloud descended, revealing the rest of her body, over which the tunic was conservatively draped. As the cloud dissipated, Carey saw that she wore a dainty pair of white sandals with bands that wrapped around calves (which were mostly hidden, unfortunately).

Now, instead of floating, she simply stood in front of him, curvy and attractive despite being a cartoon.

“By the way,” she said, “each level raises your Health and Stamina by ten percent with the benefits of compounding—and a few more points thrown in if your Constitution is high enough. That means you are now at 110 HP, my friend! Go ahead and call up your character sheet. It’s time for your first level up!”

“On it.”

Carey summoned the character sheet and studied it. Nothing special, just a regular old character sheet like many others he’d modified in dozens of RPGs. Except this one could be manipulated with the power of thought alone. It made computer mice and gaming controllers seem clunky, like ancient relics from a time when apes ruled the earth.

His new name, DrollTroll, appeared in the upper left. The upper right quadrant was taken up by a rendering of his body as he currently looked, the leather armor, dagger, and belt visible over his simple shirt and pants. He stood slightly turned away, as if on the defensive, and there was no smile on his face, only a serious frown.

Yup, that’s me!

The “Level Up” button appeared just under his 3-D portrait. He tapped it with his mind.

A notification box flashed to life.

Before leveling, you must choose your race.

Carey licked his lips. He watched eagerly as four images appeared, displaying the different racial body types, the text beneath them scrolling as Ara read the words aloud.

Many ages ago, before the arrival of mankind, gods walked the earth.

They were sons and daughters of the universe, like us, fused together by chance and the elements, forces of nature with—as we humans would call it—distinct personalities. No one knows what forms they took, or if they spoke a common language at first, but it is said they helped shape the Earth.

They existed in peace with one another until the arrival of the human being. Never before had the gods encountered such a creature. Our ingenuity, resourcefulness, the power we had to love and to hate, astounded them. Some of the gods admired us—others were jealous. One saw us as a nasty virus and called for our destruction.

As a result of these different attitudes, a war ensued over the fate of the human race, a war that came to be known as the Cataclysm, which lasted twenty-five thousand years and almost caused the destruction of the entire planet. Much of humanity was wiped out. Millions of these god-like beings were killed, leaving only the five strongest.

One of the gods was called Xelios, and he had decided that instead of destroying humans, he would harvest our life forces to make himself more powerful. It would have caused the destruction of our entire race. Fortunately for us, his four siblings chose to band against him and stop his plan.

After a battle that lasted a thousand years, the other four gods defeated Xelios and banished him to a dark place called the Nether, where he would remain for the rest of eternity, powerless and dormant. They would have killed him had their sister-goddess, Aliara, not spoken up. She believed the murder of a brother-god was a terrible sin and assured them that as long as the four remained allies, Xelios would never be able to rise again. There are those who believe Xelios is awake inside his prison, planning his return to Astros. It is the Low Order’s mission to ensure their dark lord is freed—sooner rather than later.

The four remaining gods were Aliara, Kenatos, Valcyona, and Sargos. During the Cataclysm, they had spawned entirely new beings—based on the human form but imbued with godlike abilities—whom they used as warriors. Known as “Godkin,” these children of the gods now populate the five continents of Astros.

Carey could now read each race’s description and select one.

He started with the leftmost portrait, which showed a tall, muscular man in a simple white tunic carrying a comically enormous warhammer that must have weighed at least two hundred pounds. Standing next to him was a lean, fierce-looking woman who seemed just as physically capable as her counterpart. Their skin gleamed as though coated in a very thin layer of oil. Sunlight filtered through trees inside a sunny forest and dappled their heads and shoulders.

The portrait was animated. Carey watched as the man began to move. He swung his enormous hammer, uprooting a nearby tree, which flew toward the sky and fell back to earth, where the woman easily caught it in both hands and held it high above her head. All very cartoonish and unrealistic, but effective.

These were obviously the tanks, sometimes also called “meat shields”—gaming terms for players whose job it was to get right up in the enemy’s face and do massive amounts of damage using melee weapons and brute strength.

Created by Sargos—widely known as the God of War and Order—Sargonauts love athletics, debates, and taking on leadership roles in matters of law and government. They make excellent soldiers and generals and possess superhuman strength and constitution. Able to punch through stone, lift objects ten times their own weight, and wield two-handed weapons with only one hand, Sargonauts are masters of melee combat and make fearsome warriors.

Sargonauts may select from two classes: the Builder and the Warrior.

Builders are the realm’s architects. They specialize in crafting and repairing armor, smelting ore into ingots, crafting weapon and armor repair kits, and breaking items down to their fundamental materials. They can also build permanent homes for relaxing and storing items and campsites, which are essential for sleeping, restoring Health, and passing time on the go. They prefer Medium Armor and cannot wear Heavy Armor.

Warriors are masters of combat. They specialize in wielding two-handed weapons with only one hand, using chants to induce battle frenzy, and landing attacks in quick succession, accumulating damage modifiers with each blow. Warriors cannot wear Light or Medium Armor, only Heavy Armor.

As Ara read the next portion of text, the animated male and female Sargonauts began to transform...

The Sargonaut’s dark twin, corrupted by Xelios in an act known as the Dark Ritual—and unlocked when the player’s Karma meter reaches -200—is known as the Berserker.

Both of the Sargonauts before him grew massively and stood at least a foot taller than before. The muscular male became a hulking barbarian with yellow eyes and skin as gray as ash, thick veins like ropes strung across his enormous muscles. The woman underwent a similar transformation and now looked fierce enough to rip a man in half as easily as someone tearing apart crispy chicken wings at Popeyes.

The Berserker has +10 Strength and can use Blood Ether crystals to heal as well as to induce “Berserker’s Rage,” a deadly and terrifying whirlwind of destruction that doubles the damage rating of all equipped melee weapons.

“Hmm, tempting,” Carey said.

“Let’s keep going,” Ara said, clapping happily. “This is fun!”

Finally, Carey arrived at the part he liked best: stats and abilities.

“No need to read this to me, Ara,” he said without glancing at her.

“No problem. I’ll wait patiently until you’re ready.”

Nodding absently, Carey tried to absorb every last detail.

The Sargonaut receives the following attribute changes:

+20 Strength

+20 Constitution

+5 Agility

+5 Charisma

-25 Wisdom

-15 Spirit

The following passive abilities are granted while sitting or taking a knee:

+1 HP gain every 2 seconds

+3 SP gain every 1 second

The following active abilities are granted once a day:

Sacrificial Tank: Your friends depend on you! For 60 seconds, the Sargonaut caster will remain paralyzed and absorb all physical damage done to party members. When 1 HP is reached, the caster will automatically take a knee to recuperate.

Rage Against the Dying of the Light: Don’t go down easily! When below 20 percent of Health, the caster’s physical damage dealt to foes increases by 15 percent while Armor Points increase by 10 percent. Effect lasts 120 seconds or until Health Points rise above 50 percent of total HP, whichever comes first.

The following active abilities are available between cooldown sessions per class:

Pillar of Strength (Warrior only): Concentration makes you slower but stronger! For 120 seconds, all equipped melee weapons gain 10 percent to attack damage, while total Armor Point rating increases by 15 percent. Walking speed is slowed by half and running is disabled. [Cooldown: 2 hours]

Nature Enthusiast (Builder only): You are a child of the outdoors! For 10 minutes, running through forests and grassy fields, building structures, crafting, climbing mountainsides, and swimming in lakes and rivers will be twice as fast. [Cooldown: 1.5 hours]

Ara spoke in a series of happy chirps, hands on her shapely hips.

“Need a quick break, Master DrollTroll?”

“Master DrollTroll,” Carey repeated. “I like that. And no, I don’t need a break.”

“Okay then!”

Looking around at the darkening forest, Carey realized it was approaching evening. He checked the time stamp on his character sheet and saw that it was 6:42 p.m.—later than he’d expected.

Time to find the nearest town and rent himself a room with a comfy bed.

Carey checked the world map before continuing with the rest of the leveling process.

He zoomed out until he could see all five continents and their labels: Taradyn, home of Humankin (where he was currently, as indicated by the little forward-facing arrow marked with a “D”); Ayrtoros, home of Savants; Valestaryn, home of Ferals; Sargonos, home of—you guessed it—Sargonauts; and D’Aliara, home of Acolytes.

“Ara, what are Humankin?”

“Humankin are like regular humans, with no special powers—but they have the blood of the gods in their veins. They live much longer than ordinary humans and are generally hardier. Although, I guess you could say their superpower lies in numbers. The majority of the people living on Astros fall into that category, and every two in three children are born Humankin. They’re the realm’s farmers, merchants, teachers, governors—”

“Okay, got it.”

He zoomed in further, Taradyn expanding before his eyes, its central mountain range beautiful, sparkling in the sun, covered in tiny trees and winding rivers like silvery gleaming threads among scattered toy miniatures. Zooming past flocks of birds and waterfalls, gliding across forests, he finally landed on himself.

A nearby trail led out of the clearing, different from the one he’d traversed to find the Starter Hut. This one wove toward what appeared to be a thriving town.

“There we go.”

Carey placed a marker on the town, then switched to the Level Up menu. But he’d forgotten one thing; to fully understand the races and their abilities, he had to understand what each of the attributes meant. All of them started at a base of ten, which made sense. He selected each in turn, reading the descriptions that popped up in the information box.

STRENGTH: The stronger you are, the more damage your melee weapons inflict and the more items you can carry. STR also allows you to block attacks with less damage taken, use shields more effectively, and swing two-handed weapons faster.

CONSTITUTION: Toughness, hardiness, and stamina are essential for any adventurer looking to make a name for himself in Astros. In addition to determining Health and Stamina Points, CON improves your disease and elemental spell resistance, making you harder to knock down.

AGILITY: Why block an attack when you can evade it? AGL is the most important attribute for the Rogue. A high AGL is essential for skills like sneaking, backstabbing, sprinting, and climbing—and, of course, setting and disarming traps without blowing yourself to smithereens!

PERCEPTION: Good eyesight can spell the difference between life and death. Those with high PER are better able to shoot arrows, throw bladed weapons and exploding elixirs, and identify an enemy’s vital stats and weak spots. PER also grants bonuses to trap detection, intuiting a boss’s strengths and weaknesses, and identifying advantages in the environment like breakable walls that can lead to treasure.

WISDOM: Does magic tickle your fancy? Don’t even think about picking up spellcasting without boosting your Wisdom attribute. WIS determines the amount of a caster’s LP. A high Wisdom is necessary to advance from Tier I casting (the weakest) all the way to Tier IV (the power of the gods!). Don’t forget its usefulness in identifying exotic items and activating arcane scrolls.

SPIRIT: Acolytes with a high SPT can remember more battle songs, which allows for the casting of spells meant to make allies hardier by “buffing” them, create holy shields, and enchant armor. Memory slots are also used by Sargonauts to remember battle chants, by Savants to cast memorized spells, and by Ferals to equip stealth tactics before sneaking into heavily guarded areas.

“Damn, that’s a lot to remember,” Carey said.

He glanced at Ara, who had bent over to pick a flower and was now breathing in its scent. She looked like she might float away at any moment.

There were two more attributes: Luck and Charisma. He read through those quickly, as he was well-versed in both thanks to having played countless RPGs.

Luck determined successes and failures in activities like lockpicking, backstabbing, detect/disarm traps, etc. One example was how often lockpicks randomly broke, how much gold one might find in a treasure chest, or whether a victim managed to break free from a backstabbing takedown. A high LCK attribute also helped one come across favorable “random encounters” while traveling across the map.

Charisma was useful for bartering in stores, unlocking certain dialogue options, reducing the effort it took to join factions, and convincing weaker enemies to surrender, which granted an additional XP boost if one’s Karma was positive.

Now that he understood the attributes, Carey ran through the rest of the races as quickly as he could. It was getting late. He might have to cut it short and find safety at an inn before progressing too far.

Next came the spell casters—one male and one female like with the Sargonauts.

Sons and daughters of Kenatos, Elder God of Knowledge and Light, the resourceful Savants are a race of thinkers with a natural affinity for magic. Lovers of thick books and exotic trinkets, they can manipulate earth, air, fire, water, and in some cases, metal, using only the power of their minds. After the Cataclysm, groups of Savants joined together to form specialized schools of magic where, for thousands of years, they have been studying the mysterious nature of the Luminether particle.

Savants may select from two classes: the Sorcerer and the Magician.

The Sorcerer is a master of the elements and relies on intuition, rather than logic and scrolls, to cast powerful spells capable of burning and freezing enemies, drowning them, or simply tossing them into the distance using a powerful burst of wind. More skilled Sorcerers can cast Tier IV elemental spells—the deadliest and most powerful in existence. One such spell is Void, which summons a black hole capable of sucking enemies into a dimension where matter ceases to exist. Another is Quake, which can create a devastating earthquake that can damage dozens of enemies at a time. Sorcerers are immune to Tier I elemental spells but cannot wear Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor. They can only use elemental scrolls. Magic is recharged passively at a rate of +1 LP every 3 seconds, with an additional +2 per second while taking a knee.

The Magician is the more logical of Savant spell casters. Relying on knowledge gleaned from books as well as helpful staffs and scrolls to direct their magic, Magicians can cast complex spells Sorcerers could never dream of evoking, like Teleport, Invisibility Cloak, and Locate Treasure. Magicians are vulnerable to elemental spells, taking 10 percent extra elemental spell damage. But they can wear Light Armor over their cloaks and robes at no penalty, and they can use all scrolls, including elemental. Magic recharges passively only while taking a knee, though crystals yield LP that can be used instead of the Magician’s natural stores.

Carey watched as the male and female Savants—both dressed in light-colored robes and wielding glowing spells typical of a mage class—gradually transformed into a darker version of themselves. Dressed now in black robes, their skin had gone pale, eyes suddenly a toxic red color. They reminded him of the apprentice Low Mages he’d fought during the tutorial.

When the Karma meter reaches -250, the Savant is transformed into its corrupt twin, known as a Low Mage. From that point forward, the LP bar will be red and spell casting will rely on the use of blood crystals rather than Luminether crystals. Blood crystals can only be recharged by casting Soul Drain on living creatures, though they yield twice as much LP as Luminether crystals. Low Mage spells are more powerful, though they cause much grislier deaths, often melting flesh off bones, causing eyeballs to sizzle and pop, and ripping horrible screams from the throats of their victims. Not for the faint of heart!

The Savant receives the following attribute changes:

+25 Wisdom

+15 Spirit

+5 Luck

+5 Perception

-10 Charisma

-15 Strength

-15 Constitution

The following passive abilities are granted while sitting or taking a knee:

+2 LP gain every 3 seconds

+1 HP gain every 4 seconds

+1 SP gain every 4 seconds

The following active abilities are granted once a day:

Magical Sponge: For 60 seconds, the caster will remain paralyzed while all magic damage done to party members is absorbed by the caster. A magical shield will protect the caster by cutting melee damage in half, at a cost of 4 LP per second. When 1 HP is reached, the caster will take a knee to recuperate.

Second Wind of the Gods: When cast, an LP bar that reaches zero will have a 50 percent chance to recharge. Expires if not used within 24 hours.

The following active abilities are available between cooldown sessions per class:

The Will of Kenatos (Magician only): For 150 seconds, any scrolls cast will yield 1.5x damage points dealt to enemies and 2x any restorative or shielding points granted to caster and party members. Scrolls that are not point-based, like Teleport and Resurrect Ally, can be cast once per ability session without being destroyed by spell. [Cooldown: 3 hours]

Flaming Pillar of Absorption (Sorcerer only): Become one with the flame! For 30 seconds, the caster’s entire body will catch on magical fire. During this flaming spectacle, all offensive spells against allies will be 50 percent less damaging, as the Sorcerer absorbs most of their power, regenerating LP in the process. [Cooldown: 3 hours]

Astrican Hypnotist (Magician only): For 120 seconds, any basic light spell will hypnotize nearby NPCs, granting a bonus to mercantile and speech skills equivalent to Charisma and Luck attributes of 1.5x the current rating. [Cooldown: 8 hours]

Elemental Warrior (Sorcerer only): Become a master of the elements! For 120 seconds, elemental spell damage taken will be reduced by 50 percent while elemental spells cast will incur no LP cost. Tier I and II elemental spells can be cast at double the normal speed with half the normal cost to Stamina. [Cooldown: 4 hours]

Carey was about to continue when a voice spoke from the sky.

“He takes his time,” a girl said. “That’s a good thing, I guess.”

Then something dropped on him—again!—and Carey lifted his arms and yelped.