When we enter the first floor of the inn, people are still watching me warily, especially the woman we hand the key back to. It's going to take a lot of time to get used to this. Does that Title really have to be locked permanently? There's nothing I can do about it for as long as I continue playing this game?

Well, that's why I'm going to find a seer. I'll never know without getting a read on what my Curse actually is. After walking out of the inn, we stand in the road for a bit.

“Looks like we have some time, I'm going to mess with the rest of my character stuff,” I tell Lara, and lean against the building. We have like ten minutes before eight o' clock, so I pull up my whole character sheet again. Oh, that's where the full details are in the menu... I tap on it to bring that one up too.

Status Power: 17 Vitality: 13 Finesse: 25 Speed: 24 Perception: 27 Spirit: 17 Sorcery: 31 Aura: 68 (122) Character Points: 3 Status Details Attack Power: 20 | 20 Magic Power: 34 Health: 31 Mana: 48 Defense: 18 (21) | 25 (28) Resistance: 16 | 20 (24) Attack Speed: 31 Move Speed: 23 (25) Block: 1 Attunement: Fire Level: 4 Total CP: 191 Total AP: 456 Total SP: 121 Skills Stat Boost Defense Boost I: 1 Aura Boost V: 2 Spell Resistant II: 1 Melee Hammer I: 1 Boost I: 1 Ranged Bow I: 2 Sniper I: 2 Power Shooting I: 2 Magic Jewelry I: 1 Fire Attunement I: 1 Dark Curse Magic II: 3 Melee Spell Trigger I: 1 Ranged Spell Trigger I: 1 Servant Expand Servant Limit II: 1 Piercing Exploit+ XI: 3 Warp Strike I: 1 Splash Field I: 2 Healing Life Drain Magic I: 1 Self Healing I: 1 Support Party Defense Boost I: 2 Mobility Running Boost I: 5 Wall Cling I: 1 Sense Keen Touch I: 1 Skill Points: 3 Abilities Skillful: 121 Offensive Abilities Power Shot: 25 Counter+: 19 Stunning Blow+: 17 Sneak Attack+: 24 Weapon Parry+: 19 Offensive Magic Dark Curse: 19 Drain Touch: 22 Magic Modification Field: 28 Self Enhancement Boost: 14 Active Effect Warp Strike: 14 Ability Points: 13

Mmmm..... I give all the windows a long look up and down. So, I actually made it to level 4 from that huge battle. I have new Skills and Abilities too, and more points to spend for everything. I even have three more CP to put into my stats that I didn't earlier. So you don't only get them from leveling here...

Scanning down, I take note of my new Skills first. I guess you continuously develop them naturally, rather than just at character creation. That's pretty crazy for an MMO... I consider how to work mine into my build. Looks like... Spell Resistant, Boost, Jewelry, Fire Attunement, Expand Servant Limit, Warp Strike, Wall Cling, and Keen Touch. It's a pretty wide spread of abilities, and some of them currently have zero application for me. Mostly Fire Attunement and Expand Servant Limit, since I don't have any fire magic, and can't summon any servants.

Those are especially weird ones to develop naturally... I wonder if there are more hidden character stats for what you're most suited for. Maybe it's based on Personal Affinities...?

In any case, I start reading through them.

Jewelry looks like it could be good. It falls under magic equipment, like Lara's tome does, to boost spell power. Sorcery is still my highest stat besides Aura, even if I don't have many spells yet. Wall Cling and Keen Touch look like pure utility, and Warp Strike...

I tap on that one to bring up some more information, and it looks like it actually will help with my archery. The Warp Strike attack component will make my arrows teleport near my target when I fire off specials. And if I do eventually go into melee, it gives short range teleports on special attacks. All around useful...

Last is a Melee Skill called Boost. As soon as I pull up its description, I realize it's one of the ones Lara used against the boss. It says you can activate it multiple times, further increasing your physical stats each time, but the duration gets shorter and shorter as you do, and once the timer runs out, you receive a backlash that decreases your stats, the duration and severity depending on how many times you used it. You can't activate it again until the effect wears off either.

No wonder why Lara was a complete zombie after the battle, when the backlash hit from using it so many times in a row. This... could maybe be useful, but very situational. I'll keep in in mind though.

I take a minute to read through the descriptions of the others too. They're mostly what I expect, but I discover that Keen Touch has way more to it than the name itself implies.

Besides just increasing touch sensitivity, it will also allow me to identify items, determine what they're made of, how they were constructed, and find weak points in structures. It will even help me sense hidden traps, switches, and levers by touch, so it sounds good for dungeons too. Overall, way more useful than I expected.

Deciding to give it a try for a moment, I put my hand on my shirt and try to focus on it. I can feel when it works, new information about the clothing being relayed from my fingertips in a way that is straight-up magical. So far I can only tell that it's made of cotton-like plant, but I'm sure I'll get more information when I increase the level and mastery. I grin, I like this Skill.

Turning my attention back to my various menus, I examine my extra points to spend. 3CP, 3SP, and 13AP. But what to put them into...? If I use some of my AP to buy a couple more SP, I could get another Skill.

Maybe a new type of magic, or something to help me cast more before I run out of mana. Unless my mana capacity has significantly improved from leveling, I probably can't cast much more than six or seven times right now. I scan through the menu some more, also finding a Skill that would increase my endurance so I could run or fight longer before I get tired. That would also let me use more of my special attacks.

Any one of them might save me from the trouble I got into getting chased by those mobs last time. Alternatively, if I'm with a whole group of people when I go to search for a seer, maybe I should invest more in support abilities...

“Ah,” I mumble when I see what I'm looking for. Party Utility Boost. When I pull up the info, it says it helps with a whole range of stuff, including healing and support abilities, crowd control, mobility, and the sense abilities. Basically, everything that isn't your core stats of attack, magic, and defense. That will help me with everything I want, including more move speed for fleeing if I get overwhelmed again, and my party if I join one.

Since Skillful takes two points to level, I have to spend 4AP, converting it to the 2 SP I need. That SP goes into the my new Skill. As soon as I get it, I see a few little lights flicker into existence around me from the buffs I get. It's slight, but I do feel the little shift in my hearing and sight when it happens. Everything feels a little sharper now.

“Ooh, you just get something?” Lara asks.

“I picked up Party Utility Boost, I was thinking it would be useful if I get a party to help me find a seer.”

“Oh, I get it.” She nods a few times, then asks, “Do you have an idea of the build you're going for?”

“Mm, I'm kind of playing it by ear, but I'm more or less aiming for a ranged assassin, with magic for dealing with groups of enemies, and some support buffs for working with parties.”

Lara scratches her cheek awkwardly. “Sounds cool. I don't want to tell you what to do or anything, but just be careful you don't spread yourself too thin, alright?”

“Yeah, I'll try,” I respond. As it is, I don't fit squarely into the MMO holy trinity. And I only have a few points to work with, so I definitely need to be careful with them. “By the way, would you recommend I focus on getting more Skills, or using my SP to get higher Mastery first?

“That... is a hard one,” Lara admits. “It really depends on your playstyle. Getting a Skill means you can start leveling it sooner. But the more Mastery points you get, the bigger effects you start to see. For instance, the stat boosting Skills seem to work multiplicatively. The higher the Mastery, the more it multiplies the effect of its level on your stats. They also give flat bonuses based on their Mastery level, so mastering them at low levels will give you a bigger power boost early on.”

Lara raises her hands in a shrug. “What I'm trying to say is it's all a trade off. Spreading into more Skills early can give you more options and let you start growing better for later, while mastering things early can give you big power spikes now, and if you do it right, might still give you some really big power later too. For you in particular, I'm leaning toward more Skills, since you said you want to do so many different things. Either that, of you could focus on one thing and once you do it well, then expand your build later.”

I take a while to think through all of her advice, really trying to figure out how I want to go. But in the end, I still think I'm largely going to be guided by the way I grow naturally. Maybe that's the dev's way of trying to break up the holy trinity in this game? If everyone naturally develops a range of different abilities, they won't end up so strictly optimized for their role. It also nukes the possibility of cookie-cutter builds for everyone. It certainly fits with what I read online, how the character building is a nightmare for the hardcore elitists.

Well, I'll just take things one day at a time.

“Thanks, Lara,” I eventually give an appreciative look and nod. “I'll keep all that in mind.”

“By the way,” she adds as soon as I respond, and her voice drops lower like when we talked about Personal Affinities. “While people will ask about your build, be careful detailing your specific character info. Especially since you're a streamer. You've been around, you know that there are trolls and stream snipers out there that will take advantage of knowing your exact Skills. In Planes, they can gank you to steal your gold and stuff. Or just to grief you since there's a long respawn time.”

“Oh.” That's right. I've never streamed before, so I wasn't thinking about stream sniping at all. Not to mention, I've already showed my whole character sheet on my stream a few times before. I mention that and she advises I cut that part so it can't be looked up by anyone.

Before she even says so, I'm already pulling up my stream menu. I scrub through the recorded video I have from the battle. Once I find that section where I was asking for help deciding on Skills, I throw a filter on to blur out the video during that segment, and save it.

Actually... With another awkward thought, I skip ahead to the part where all my clothes were destroyed, and blur that out too.

Just watching that bit though, those glowing pink crystals, they did burst straight out of my body when Xanaad attacked me... Which of course, is how all my clothing was destroyed.

So, that crystal tree wasn't just my imagination... I shake my head free of those thoughts and move on. There are other things to do now.

“Well, at least that won't be visible to anyone in the future,” I mention with a shrug. If no one made their own recording of it already. I only had maybe thirty viewers at the time, half of them devs, so it should probably be fine. Remember, don't show my character sheet on stream again, I tell myself.

I wave that menu away, returning my attention back to what I was doing.

Let's see, I was considering Skills. Rubbing my chin, I stare at the menu and think further. If I'll see better outcomes over time based on getting my Skills earlier, wouldn't it make the most sense to siphon as many points as I can into those during my early levels, then start spreading things out later?

Besides, all my Ability levels are going up naturally, it's not like I really feel a need to spend my few AP on them. Ones like Counter and Drain Touch aren't even particularly helpful for me, it would be better if their points were elsewhere anyway.

When I tap on one, my eyebrows shoot up. There's an option to transfer the AP between Abilities that wasn't there before. When I hit that option, a new menu comes up. I selected Drain Touch, which shows at the top, and the only other option is Dark Curse. Is there a limit on what types of abilities you can move the points between? It also says there's a twenty four point limit. When I tap '+' on Dark Curse though, that limit drops by two points instead of one, even though only one point will move between them.

“Hmm...” I cancel out of that and fiddle around with the transfer menu a little more to figure things out. “You can move AP between different abilities, right? Is it like, limited to a certain number per level?” I ask as I mess with it.

“Yeah, pretty much. It's good for moving your points into newly unlocked Abilities as you master your Skills,” Lara confirms. “You can only hold onto a few levels worth of point reallocations, so you should move stuff around while you can.”

I nod and say thanks, focusing on my menu again. After a minute of experimenting, it looks like it only costs one from my twenty four point limit to move points between any Abilities generated by the same Skill. So I can transfer AP between all of the Exploit Abilities more easily than others. Moving between different types of magic or different types of attacks costs more. So, while I could move all twenty four points from Sneak Attack into Stunning Blow, I could only move twelve over into Power Shot.

After some thought, I move ten points out of Counter and Weapon Parry, all into Sneak Attack. It is my go-to one-shotting ability after all, while the others have little use to me.

I have four more I can move, so I drop Drain Touch from twenty two points, down to twenty, moving them over into Dark Curse. Going from one type of magic to another costs double, so I'm out of points I can move. I'll have to wait for my next level to mess with it more.

After a little more thought, I decide that I am going to go all-in on new Skills early after all. But before I can really mess around with that any more, Lara elbows me lightly to draw my attention back to my surroundings. Ah, Helios is here. Guess I burned my ten minutes.

“Hi Mei, sleep well?” he asks with a raised hand as he reaches us.

“Yeah, pretty well,” I respond automatically, even though I didn't exactly sleep here. I suppose my few hours in the real world were nice enough though.

“Ready to go?”

“Sure, but umm, one sec. I'm starting up my stream,” I respond. I did tell them I'd do that last time. Still trying to get used to the shortcuts, I give an experimental twist of my hand. My stream camera comes up successfully, so I know I did it right. I nod and pull it up behind us as we all start walking.

Helios gives me an odd look I can't really read. Something about me being a streamer? He doesn't mention it though, instead asking, “So, I see you picked up some more stuff?” along the way.

“Yeah, we went out a little earlier to replace our stuff after the battle. I ended up spending most of my money though,” I sigh sadly. Helios shows an apologetic smile, before turning to Lara.

“And you?”

“I've got a couple spares for now, but I'm gonna have to order a new great sword again. My compensation better be enough to cover everything,” she grouches. I guess the event reward still wasn't enough...

“Yeah, I hope so too,” Helios agrees. “I'm sorry I couldn't be any more help.”

“Oh, no!” Lara jolts. “I didn't mean it like that, Helios. You did everything you could. I wouldn't have made it through without you. None of us would have.”

He returns a stiff smile, but still looks a bit downcast. “Thanks, I'm glad I was enough.” She gives him a grin and a thumbs up. There's clearly something here I'm not aware of, but I don't really want to pry, so I flick up my stream chat to watch as viewers start to arrive instead.

They're coming in fast, probably because I told them when they could expect me to be back. I'm already up to thirty people after just a couple minutes.

Not exactly wanting to break the silence, I wave to the camera and glance at the greetings in the chat, but keep quiet the for rest of our short trip to city hall.