In the Zone

The monsters in the Zone were indeed stronger than the last time Kyle was there, the Giant Rabbits he had fought earlier had grown into Fanged Rabbits and as their name suggested while the Giant Rabbits’ teeth had been sharp enough to pierce flesh before, now they were true weapons, Kyle had even noticed some particularly large individuals with fangs that now went down past their chins that Fi had identified as Sabre-toothed Hares. While this sudden name had bothered Kyle at first the others had no problem adjusting and eventually he had accepted it as a quirk of the System.

They had just come across a smaller group of the monsters, the Fanged Rabbits were between levels 3 and 5 and the sole Sabre-toothed Hare in the group was a level 7 and came up to near Kyle’s waist!

Choosing not to be phased by this Ulrich went over the plan as he got ready for the fight, “Right then, this looks like a group we can handle with little difficulty, so we’ll focus on support and taking out the leader while you get rid of the weaker ones, just use the one chain for now, when you level up your weapon proficiency again we’ll revisit the dual-wielding thing.”

The rest of the group nodded their heads as they too prepared for the battle ahead, with Theodore suddenly growing from his usual waist height to become level with Kyles shoulders as he activated his Battle-form Skill, “The boss is right,” the now thoroughly intimidating companion said in an even rougher tone than his usual voice, “we’ll keep as many away from you as possible so don’t get too close and this will turn out just fine.”

With fortified spirits thanks to the encouragement of his current comrades he stepped into the clearing where the monsters rested.

Striking as soon as he got a clear shot at one of the rabbits he led with a Lash that sent the new weight on the end smashing into the creature’s ribs, the enraged beast charged at him with it’s jaws open but was met by the steel of Ulrich’s shield, who true to his word had been prepared for such an attack.

Moving around Ulrich for a better shot he was pushed aside by the furry body of Theodore who had moved to block another leaping rabbit from getting its fangs into Kyle. Flipping his chain up over Theodore’s body Kyle then brought it down with all the force he could muster, sending its head crashing to the ground.

However, the other two members of the party had not been idle either with Resald sending arrow after arrow arcing over the heads of the Kyle’s two protectors to injure as many as possible, while Claire was keeping an eye on her two friend’s and healing the worst of the injuries they sustained casting the occasional spell on Kyle whenever the young man took a stray blow.

Most of the enemies didn’t last long under the combination of blows from Kyle’s chain, Resald’s arrows and the occasional blow from the remaining two attackers but the leader of the group went down hard under a combination of punishing sword strikes and blows from Theodore’s massive paws while Kyle watched on with envy.

After the Sabre-toothed Hare fell Ulrich and Kyle went over the fight while Resald started to process the corpses that a surprisingly stoic Claire brought him while her companion kept watch for any other approaching monsters.

“Alright, so… that wasn’t bad but again you need to be more aware of your surroundings,” holding up his hand to forestall any protests from Kyle he continued his lecture, “I know it was your first group fight but my point still stands, other than that you did pretty well, your attacks were fairly accurate and you didn’t react poorly when a few of the rabbits managed to leap over Theodore and I to attack you. I take it you’ve unlocked the hand to hand combat skill?”

“Yeah it wasn’t far from here actually, I was fighting some Giant Rabbits at the time,” Kyle replied.

You should definitely consider picking it up in the future, your ranged attacks aren’t bad, but you are lacking in close fighting.”

“I’m going to unlock Thick Skin first but that’s definitely a good idea,” Kyle agreed, “Fi what were the gains from the fight?”

“You 55% to go before your next level up and your Chain fighting levelled again, that sparring match got it close again but while you gained a decent amount of experience in your other skills none of them levelled this time,” she answered, “the damage bonus for your attacks has increased to 6% by the way.”

“Huh, not much of an increase,” Kyle griped.

“All weapon proficiencies increase by one percent per level after the initial boost, only after you upgrade it to the next tier does the skill truly begin to come into its own,” said Ulrich, “After that you can start to really use the specialties of a weapon type and develop the skill in your own way.”

“Interesting, any new Skills to unlock?” Kyle asked Fi as he wondered what the development options were for his odd choice of weapon.

“Just this.”

Due to your actions the following Skill has become available for purchase.

Skill Name

Skill Description

Entangling Coils

Subskill of chain fighting (Active)

Current Level: N/A

Costs 5 Skill Points

The User utilises a loop of chains thrown towards an enemy to entangle an enemy’s limbs. This Skill does no direct damage.

The User gained access to this Skill by using his chain to entangle enemies.

Costs 5 SP per use

Current chance of knockdown: +10%

Cooldown: 5 seconds

“What did you get?” asked Ulrich, “that is if you want to tell me. No details just tell me enough, so I can give you advice if you want it.”

Kyle thought briefly before deciding to give the older man the basic information he requested, “It looks like a control skill, has a shorter cooldown than my attack skill but deals no damage.”

“Should be a decent addition to your arsenal, it’ll get stronger down the line, Ulrich said thoughtfully, “but I would still probably get the hand to hand skill if you have enough Skill Points before you reach your current Level Cap, it seems more likely to open up an interesting Class.”

This done they returned to the others who had finished processing the monster corpses into their various usable parts. After consulting with each other briefly they decided to split the loot five ways, giving the party the extra portion, this decided they then decided to move on.

“We’ll still check out any groups that aren’t going to be too much of a hassle to deal with, but we have to make some progress towards the centre where the Boss should be located, which means the monsters will start to get stronger, so it’ll depend on Kyle’s ability to keep up,” Ulrich stated as they headed further into the Zone.

A few fights later Kyle finally levelled up and while the others sorted out the loot he quickly sat down to sort through his options, Fi quickly pulling up his Stat sheet as he did so.

Status

Name: Kyle Ferguson

Race: Human

Level: 3

Class: Chain Fighter

HP: 98/100

Regen: 1 HP per second

MP: 70/70

Regen: 3 MP per second

SP: 65/100

Regen: 5 SP per second

Exp: 4%

Strength: 11(7)

Dexterity: 13(7)

Constitution: 9(8)

Agility:18(9)

Intelligence: 7(7)

Wisdom: 6(6)

Endurance: 10(7)

Willpower: 7(7)

Stat Points: 3

Skill Points: 10

“One thing before you use your Stat Point Kyle, it seems to me that chains actually have a higher Dexterity modifier than Strength,” Fi blurted out as Kyle looked over his Stats.

“What?”

“Your damage increased a lot when you put those two points into Dexterity, it makes sense, a chain is a difficult weapon to wield, you can’t really put weight on it after all,” she explained, “you still need strength to increase the amount you can carry and it’ll be more useful when you get your hand to hand combat skill but if you want an increase in damage right now you need to put more points into Dexterity.”

“But I still get an increase from Strength, right?” Kyle asked looking momentarily bewildered.

“Not as much but it looks like it,” she replied, “but Dexterity will also make you more accurate and hit slightly faster which makes more sense for your Class as a whole.”

“Alright I’ll put one point into Dexterity, so I’ll have fourteen and the rest into Agility which will make it a nice round twenty, I need to be able to move faster so that I get hit and can stay out of the way easier,” Kyle decided, “I’m getting Thick Skin this level so that should help with my survivability, but what should I get next level?”

“Hmm, let’s have a look at your Skill sheet, I’ll unlock Thick Skin now.”

Kyle’s Skill Sheet

Currently available Slots

1/5

Currently available Skill Points

0

Skill Name

Description

Basic Chain Fighting

Class Skill

Current Level: 3

Progress 56% to next level

A Passive Skill which indicates the wielders proficiency with chain-type weapons, higher levels will increase damage dealt and unlock special attacks.

Current Bonuses: Increases damage dealt with chains by 6%

Lash

Sub-skill of chain fighting (Active)

Level 3

Costs 5 SP per use

Progress to next Level: 18%

An active skill modified from a whip technique, causes increased damage and slightly increases the likelihood of target attacking the user, this affect increases with each successive use.

Costs 5 stamina per use.

Current Bonus: 15% to attacks.

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Basic Light Armour Proficiency

Class Skill

Current Level: 2

Progress to next Level: 42%

A Passive Skill which allows one to equip and use light armour types, higher levels will give a small boost to certain stats provided by the armour and allow the user to unlock certain sub-skills.

Current bonuses: Increases the defence bonus of light armour by 5%

Basic Medium Armour Proficiency

Class Skill

Current Level: 1

Progress to next Level: 93%

A Passive Skill that allows one to equip and use medium armour types, higher levels will give a small boost to the stats provided by the armour and allow the user to unlock certain sub-skills.

Current bonuses N/A

Thick skin

Non-Class Skill

Level 1

Progress to next Level: 0%

A Passive Skill that decreases the amount of Physical Damage taken.

The User gained access to this Skill after taking large amounts of Physical Damage over a period of many years.

Adds 1 point of Physical Defence per Skill Level

Current Bonus: N/A

Spend Skill Points to unlock remaining Skill Slots.

Spend Skill points to activate unlocked Skills

Current unlocking cost: 5

Slots remaining for unlock: 2

Skills currently unlocked:7

“Well, what do you think Fi, do I unlock two slots next Level or just the one and get Dodge or Entangling Coils?” Kyle asked, “They both cost 5 Skill Points but I’m not sure which will be the most beneficial at this point.”

“You won’t get any Skill Points at Level 5 until you get your new Class so go ahead and get Entangling Coils, you need a control skill, and its possible that because of your previous options for a Class you will get a Class that will have Hand to Hand to pick anyway so we can revisit that later,” she replied looking at Kyle seriously.

Kyle nodded, this was a sound point but he hadn’t realised that he wouldn’t be getting any Skill Points at Level 5, “I’m guessing I don’t get any Stat Points either?”

“No, but on the bright side, your next Class should give you more Stat and Skill points per Level as well as more Skill Slots.”

“Well let’s just hope I won’t have to wait long after reaching Level 5 before I can get to a Summoning Stone then, that could be messy.”

Resald wandered over to where the two were conversing and plopped down next to Kyle, “You nearly done?”

“Why do we need to head off?” Kyle asked looking confused as it seemed like Ulrich was starting to get the camp ready, which was strange as there was still quite a bit of daylight remaining.

“Nah, Claire just thought that now might be a good time to try and help you gain access to the Mana Manipulation Skill” he chucked revealing that he had slightly sharper canines than usual, a suggestion of slightly obscure Elven heritage.

There were many types of Elves that bore the name, but not all of them originally came from the same world as each other. While some did share a common ancestry, much like the various races of humans, others were quite different, and this had caused many problems as humans had insisted on calling them all ‘Elves’ due to the stories of their home world much to the irritation of certain groups that didn’t get along.

“Really?”

“Yeah it’s a lot easier for non-magic Classes to gain access to the Skill in an area with a high concentration of mana like this Zone, and besides Theodore seems to think that the monsters are going to get a lot stronger from here on out, he’s got a Skill that can help him determine these things,” Resald replied shaking his head, “it’s enough to make me wish I had a companion of my own.”

“Yeah wouldn’t give up Fi for anything,” Kyle confided as he ran his hand down her smooth scales, making her writhe in embarrassment. Walking over towards Claire who was seated cross-legged on the ground, Kyle sat down next to her, “So why are we doing this now?” he asked cautiously.

“I reached a bottleneck in Mana Manipulation and the one who taught me the Skill often said the easiest way to get through a bottleneck is to teach someone else,” she replied cracking an eye open to look at him, “only problem is both Ulrich and Resald both either have the skill or can purchase it.”

“Ulrich hasn’t purchased it yet,” she confided with a small grin, “he’s got a lot of skills to get so that he can hold his own as a tank against more powerful monsters.”

“I see… I don’t actually know much about the skill, I know it unlocks magic schools but how does that work exactly?” he asked looking more at ease with the situation.

“Yes, it’s a slightly unusual Skill but it’s also one that’s valuable to any Class, even those that don’t really use magic. When you purchase it, you gain access to a basic spell that doesn’t belong to any school, so that you can level the Skill itself more efficiently I suppose as well as your first School, when you level every ten Levels you can unlock a new School or upgrade the Skill itself.”

“How do Schools work exactly?” Kyle asked, Thomas had sort of explained this to him, but the details escaped him for now.

“For example, I use a form of the Faith Healing School for most of my spells, I also have access to the Enhancement School, but I had to spend a long time practicing at my local church to level Mana Manipulation. Because I am a priestess type class, my spells also correspond to my deity Asteria…” Kyle flinched slightly at the mention of the goddess Denzel served, causing Claire to frown slightly as she asked, “… I’m sorry is something wrong?”

“… I’ve just had some bad experiences with someone who worships Asteria, please continue,” Kyle replied as he averted his gaze.

The look in Claire’s eyes said that they would be returning to that subject later as she continued, “very well, as I was saying, there are a number of Schools to choose from, those are examples but there are also Schools for each element, like fire and water as well as illusion and enchantment, now there’s also an enchantment crafting Skill that allows permanent enchantments but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.”

“Okay and how do you get new spells for the school?” Kyle asked happy that he had avoided the subject of Denzel for now.

“When you level up the School you can either unlock a completely new spell or a modified version of a previous one, depending on the level of the level of the School,” she replied, still slightly distracted by Kyle’s behaviour.

“So, a School’s sort of like a sub-skill?”

“It’s shown separately, but essentially yes. If you have the right Skill you can also combine a certain Spell with another Skill for different effects which is why it’s still useful for non-magic Classes.”

“Would that be the Jury-rigging Skill?”

“That one can do it, but you will have to upgrade it to something else before you can perfect the technique,” she nodded.

“What do you mean?”

“That Skill’s just a Basic Skill, it won’t be able to efficiently fuse a Spell and a Skill together, you can do it but it doesn’t actually create a Skill,” she replied, “by the way if you do manage to do that the new Skill goes on a separate Skill Sheet and you don’t have to purchase it as you already have the Skills to create it, but it may take some time for the System to register it as a Unique Skill.”

Kyle’s eyes widened at this and he quickly made a note to purchase the both the Mana Manipulation and Jury-rigging Skill right away, Skills could be hard to unlock after all, “Wait a minute can you combine Passive Skills as well or just Active?”

“Well done,” she grinned at him, “yes you can, the Skill’s name changes and you lose access to the upgrades but you can develop it further by combining it again, but you can only have a certain number of Unique Passive Skills that’s determined by your Class, so don’t get too excited, I’ve only ever heard of one Class with more than Unique Passive Skills and that was a Tier four Class meaning that the person who had it was over level one hundred.”

“So, I would have to be very careful about what Skills I combine together, alright that makes sense,” Kyle mused some interesting possibilities flying around in his head as he wondered how many of these his Class would have by the time he reached that level, before shaking his head. Reaching that sort of level took years or even decades and he hadn’t even reached Level five or unlocked either of the Skills that would allow him to create Unique Skills. “But what about Active Skills, is there a limit on those?”

“Not that I’ve heard, but that’s not really a subject I’m very familiar with, Resald might know more but we’d better start working on getting you access to the Skill first.”

Kyle nodded, he would indeed be doing that later. “Now relax and close your eyes…”