Eric winced with sympathy for the desperate urgency he heard in the kid’s voice as he approached the cavern entrance. “I’d be happy to,” Eric said. “But you’ve got a giant skeletalized tusker out here, not to mention a blood-warded fence, and I’d rather avoid tearing up your defenses if I can help it.”

A pregnant pause, then the pain-filled grunts of someone struggling to right themselves. “Yes, Yes! Hold on one second. Pray hold, don’t leave, not yet, aah!—“

Eric winced at the sound of a man moving despite obvious pain, before his eyes fell upon the dusky features of a young man of clearly mixed decent who one might have called handsome with his proud features, piercing brown eyes, and shoulders that had once been broad enough to have won him the affections of a cheerleader the boy’s age, were it not for the sickly grey pallor to his features, clearly burning with fever that had left him gaunt and horribly weakened. And his attire, so akin to Lord Grim’s own with charcoal grey frock coat and a waistcoat the color of dried blood.

Or was that actual blood?

Eric frowned. Suddenly certain that it was. The pantaloons had been absolutely shredded, as the source of the awful stench revealed itself in the ugly puss leaking from roughly bandaged wounds on the boy’s leg.

Eric winced at the sight of a leg being dragged beneath a badly damaged knee, if the awful purple bruising was any indication, but it was the obvious injuries taken from a goring sweep that had allowed deadly infection to set in.

All that Eric took in during the long seconds the boy’s trembling body took to whisper the rough words of an enchantment. “Liberum Iter.”

Eric’s eyes widened, sensing the flow of crimson magics he could all but taste, the coppery tang an odd contrast to the fire in the air. Nonetheless, he sensed the subtle easing of the tightly wound wards surrounding the young man’s sanctuary.

“Please, feel free to enter,” The boy, for he was little more than a boy, Eric thought, maybe sixteen at best, whispered, his words almost a plea.

Eric flashed the trembling youth a gentle smile. Struck the realization that save for being on the cusp of death, the lad looked like a paler version of Lord Grim himself.

“Samuel Orwell, I presume?” Eric said with a smile.

The boy couldn’t quite hold back his tears as he nodded, showing a desperate smile. “Yes. The same. Please, tell me my grandfather sent you?”

Eric dipped his head. “If your grandfather goes by the monicker Lord Grim, then yes.”

The boy gave a grateful sob, tears now streaming down his cheeks. “Oh thank god, thank the heavens, I had lost all hope. Thank god you’re here!”

He swallowed nervously, shyly looking up at Eric, who did all he could not to wretch at the smell of suppurating flesh, uncomfortably certain that the boy was dying.

“I don’t suppose I could have a sip of water?”

Eric solemnly nodded, deciding that was a good moment to empty the inventory out of his captured storage device. Yet the long seconds and massive grunt of effort it took, and the whopping 45 mana it cost him to pull everything out of the pouch made it clear just how much superior his personal ES Space was.

Even if the sight of a small heap of camping and survival gear, most of it on the small end of human sized, but definitely designed for Terrans, did earn an impressed gasp from Samuel.

Or perhaps it was the deadly looking arcane blaster rifle and the numerous blades, crossbows, and other weapons the goblin assassins had had on them. But personally, Eric thought it was the many flasks of water and the decanters of decent-looking wine that had caught the lad’s eye. And to be fair, the travel rations his enemies had packed didn’t look half bad.

But considering his wounded charge’s sorry state, Eric decided to give the trembling boy a sip instead from one of his own personal flasks, gently propping the boy up and letting him sip his fill over long moments that brought home once more how desperately parched the boy had been, and how close he already was to death, if his feather-light state and burning hot temperature was anything to go by. Eric’s Infravision was now precise enough to ding the boy at a 104 Fahrenheit, rapidly skirting the realm of peril, if treatment didn’t come soon.

“How are you feeling?” Eric gently asked the boy he did his best to make comfortable on several layers of zipped-open sleeping bags, air beds, and feather stuffed pillows, earning a relieved smile that soon turned to a painful wince.

“Thank god. Sipping that cold water felt like heaven,” the boy sighed. “Now if only I weren’t burning alive...and if my leg didn’t feel like it was on fire.”

“I think it’s time we stripped off your bandage and had a good look, don’t you?”

The boy visibly paled at the thought, giving his already blanched features a ghastly look.

“Oh fuck, do we have to?” The boy said with a painful smile.

“I think you know we do,” Eric said, gently squeezing the youth’s shoulder, doing his best to radiate a protective big brother’s concern.

“I know,” the boy whispered, his voice laden with despair. “I think… shit. I’m dead no matter what we do. Aren’t I.”

Eric shrugged. “Maybe not. I do have some healing potions, after all.”

The boy’s eyes lit up with sudden desperate hope.’

“But I already know they aren’t perfect,” he cautioned. “The give a surge of bright red vitality. But if the wound you suffered is bad enough, or if, say, you were stabbed by an assassin’s magically anticoagulating blade, you’re still going to bleed out, unless you have an added edge to your arsenal. And I’m not going to lie, Sam. I’m pretty sure that’s rot I smell from you leg.”

The boy sobbed, eyes scrunching up in fear as he shook his head. “No, no, no, it’s not fair! After all I did to survive, after grandfather’s men gave up their lives to save mine… after I promised to take care of all their families… and that stupid, stupid pig just had to jerk his head, as if to mark me before I could dart away!”

He began to sob. “I knew I had to clean it, and I tried! But the pigs were surrounding this cave. Staring at me with those hate-filled eyes of theirs. It’s like they knew!” His glared hotly, shivering with frustration. “Even when I laughed in their faces, sensing my ward snap into place, I was unable to get even a single flask of water from the stream nearby. Because they were surrounding me! Any normal animal, they would have grown bored and left. They would have lost all interest in me! But these… these monsters were just content to wait me out. It wasn’t hunger, it wasn’t animal instinct. It was simple spite! They were waiting for me to die of thirst!”

The boys furious tears turned to a look bordering on fear. “It was only when that tiger started roaring that they all spun about and turned as one, dashing back into the forest.” Anxious eyes met Eric’s own. “I think, if we’re going to stock up on water… it sort of has to be now.”

Eric gazed at his young charge for long moments. “You could be right. Point me to the river? I’ll fill up the basins our goblin friends left me, and then I’ll dart back in time for you to reset the wards.”

The boy flashed a weak smile. “Shit. If I weren’t so hot, I would have already done so.” His eyes widened when Eric solemnly handed him a red flask. “Here’s the plan. You drink this while I get the water. This should restore your strength and buy you time. Then we’ll look at the wound, and figure out what we can do.”

The boy closed his eyes. “What if it’s not enough?”

“I have two more vials,” Eric softly said, as the boy’s eyes widened with sudden hope. “But that’s all. If it doesn’t look like we’re pushing the infection back at all...”

“You’ll have to amputate,” the boy said, instantly understanding.

Eric nodded. “Yeah. I think I will. But one thing at a time. First, take this. I can’t risk you collapsing before you can even reestablish our perimeter, right?”

The boy nodded. “Right. The water’s that way. I’m sure they’ll come back soon, so please hurry!”

Eric nodded, wasting no more time, picking up the thin sheet metal tubs whose purpose Eric couldn’t even guess at, assuming it had something to do with body disposal or storage. But they seemed clean enough, and would do quite well for Eric’s purpose.

Water storage, he thought, rapidly racing up the rough hilly terrain, senses alert for the stench of animal musk or porcine eyes wild with hate, but sensing nothing for now… save the distant babble of a brook he immediately raced for, forcing aside the growing anxiety that he was too far from a weakened Samuel if trouble came back, becoming ever more certain that the rustle of branches in the slight breeze was masking the charge of dozens of pigs all goring and trampling a weakened boy who was so desperately counting on Eric for a chance at life.

Graphic visions that wouldn’t leave him as he raced up the shallow river bank until arriving at the shore of a vast lake as he filled both thirty gallon tubs before effortlessly flipping them into his storage space, too clearly visualizing Samuel’s panicked face on the rippling surface of the water he was wading in that he almost missed the telltale ripple of a massive serpentine predator heading his way.

You have successfully saved versus Predator’s Gaze!

For an endless heartbeat, Eric stared death in the eye as a gigantic serpentine head burst forth from the depths of the lake, massive jewel-like orbs glaring with such fearsome killing intent that Eric swore his heart had lurched to a stop… before pounding a staccato rhythm equal parts terror and furious intensity as internal recriminations and gibbering panic stilled to absolute crystalline focus.

Right then there was nothing in the world save Eric, the weapon he head in a white-knuckled grip, and the massive serpent slithering free of the water, opening wide massive crocodilian jaws that didn’t belong on any serpent in the natural world as it gave vent to a mighty roar, snapping its maw around the trunk of the nearest peach tree r in an explosion of wood chips and fury.

The air shook with the water serpent’s howl as it slithered completely free of the water before wrapping itself in coils that were so eerily reminiscent of a cobra’s that Eric’s frozen terror turned to desperate action.

It didn’t matter that he was hopelessly outmatched, that he was a complete fool for not checking the late for long minutes with infravision, or just accepting the drastic limitations of a very shallow stream, and that the creature before him made the greater lizards and the rat queen look laughable in comparison.

If he didn’t seize the Vor and claim the initiative, he would never unlock the no doubt wondrous secrets of this world that the spirit beasts guarded so jealously, and the boy he was sent to rescue would perish.

Because he would be dead.

Eric smiled through his terror at the serpent that had at last frozen him with its own killing intent.

The chains of terror shattered in the heartbeat that intent became action.

Because it didn’t matter if he was hopefully outmatched and certain to fail.

The forty million year rat instincts to freeze before predators was the greatest trap of all.

If these were his last moments? So be it. His death might be assured, but he would make his enemy rue the day it thought Eric easy meat.

And with that fatalistic resolve… he was free.

Laughing like a madman dancing with his own death as he used his own terror to commune with the essence of battle and the countless warriors whose struggle had been so great that their triumphs, and tragedies, had imprinted themselves upon the System itself.

As the insights of countless men and women embracing their last stand suddenly became his own.

You have successfully dodged. Dark Qi venom!

You have embraced Burst of Strength!

Time seemed to stretch and blur as the monster before him lashed out with saber-sized fangs filled with caustic venom, missing Eric by only centimeters.

But Eric refused to take the half-second’s grace he had to flee.

Instead he struck.

Struck roaring in furious rejection of his own terror, muscles infused with a doomed man’s potency, echoed in the sudden brilliant flash of insight that was the echo of a thousand perfect strikes echoing through history. A rhythm, a song, a final note echoed in Eric’s essence-infused war blade tearing into the under-scales of the snapping serpent that so clearly wanted him dead.

Eric could sense its hostility now, and was so stunned by its malice that his near freezing had almost cost him a limb as fearsome teeth snapped as Eric desperately cartwheeled away.

Turning the cartwheel into a retreat as his racing mind formulated just the moment to accept the inevitable as the slithering creature refused even to slow when Eric’s dizzying spin had him break past the underbrush, and now he was racing up the largest pear tree he could sense in the split second he had leaped in the air as the earth exploded beneath where his feet had been.

Only then did Eric dare to spin around, one hand reaching for a peach-free branch while the other held tight to seven feet of death as the furiously hissing beast below twined itself about the trunk and began its ascent.

Eric’s heart began to truly race as the creature that was as much crock as serpent continued its ascent. And so strong was his connection to his would-be executioner now, that Eric could almost sense the instant the creature would open its mouth to hiss… right before lurching up to snap Eric in half.

Only to catch nothing but air as Eric leaped free.

Save for a single prize he had left behind.

You have critically struck your foe with Pilum! Internal hemorrhaging is now in effect!

The creature seemed so startled to have a seven-foot long pilum plunged down its gullet with superhuman strength that it didn’t seem to know what to do, as it writhed and thrashed, still half wrapped around the massive peach tree.

But Eric would happily show it exactly what to do, as his resummuned bardiche tore into the serpent’s most vulnerable assortment of oddly mismached scales, no doubt the scars of one of many lakeside battles for dominance.

Scars his own budding gifts could now sense almost as well as glowing questmarkers in games he would never play again.

A thought that filled a furious Eric with a certain amount of melancholy even as terror transformed to rage and Eric’s bardiche whistled through the air to blast through brittle scares and scar tissue in an explosion of blood and gore.

Before leaping back as the desperate serpent began thrashing and unwinding himself from the tree with what now seemed panicked desperation.

Eric’s killing fury transformed to ice-cold stillness, his second javelin raised high, as if he thought he could hide in plain sight while his opponent writhed and thrashed, distracted by pain. Before abruptly stilling, the serpent vented a surprisingly sentient hiss of triumph, twisting around in the blink of an eye to lock gazes with the human that was foolish enough to challenge it head on.

Or, as it turned out, not so foolish at all.

Piercing Strike successfully synergizes with Burst of Strength!

You have critically struck your foe!

You twist and tear as you extract.

You have been sent flying!

Eric would have laughed, if his ribs hadn’t been shattered by his foe’s death spasms, as absolute terror had transformed to sheerest exhilaration as he felt himself gaining battlefield insights like never before, so in tune he had felt while fighting for his life, now just barely managing to hit the trunk he was tossed into feet first, not head first, taking deep ragged breaths and spitting out more than a bit of blood as he gazed with savage satisfaction at the sight of his enemy writhing and spasming in what he truly hoped were death throws.

Before a growing sense of dizziness forced him to accept that he was more injured than his battle-high was registering, and that he needed to take a sip of the precious elixer a dying boy was counting on.

Fortunately, it was enough.

Enough to supercharge a base 3.6 hp/sec regeneration into rapid enough repair that by the time he climbed back to the ground, he was no longer spitting up blood. And he felt almost human by the time he was just fifty yards from the still thrashing spirit beast that was even larger than Eric had thought.

So large that even a javelin stuck in its throat, and its brain pan wasn’t quite enough to kill it.

Which was actually a good thing, Eric decided, ruthlessly crushing the gibbering horror in the back of his mind when the brain-damage snake managed to lock one still sentient eye Eric’s way, doing its utmost to unwind its now disjointed tangles from the tree it had wound so tightly around that the massive trunk had cracked under the strain. Because as every gamer turned post-apocalyptic pro knew, there was no sweeter way to grind than by taking out the baddest asshole in the neighborhood.

So Eric paid no mind to the terrified pounding of his heart, instead taking furious satisfaction in hurling death at his foe in the form of instantly summoned and resummoned javelins streaking through the air.

Javelins that even with his impressive stats, failed to pierce those near invulnerable scales without multiple weapon and essence perks behind them.

So what seemed futility became but a faint, and a dying snake’s hissing laughter as it regained its coordination and began to close in on Eric once more turned to an outraged hiss when streaks of steel-tipped death plunged into its one remaining eye.

The earth erupted in explosions of torn topsoil, shattered branches and furious snake as the creature writhed and thrash, mindless to everything save it’s own pain.

Exactly as Eric had hoped, long minutes furiously tagging the beast as best he could with his pilums paying off when his sense of the snakes movements, injuries, and weaknesses had become so acute that he knew his enemy as intimately as he had once known the girl he might never see again.

Bitter thoughts that added to his fury when he struck with everything he had.

Find Weakness skill check made!

Burst of Strength in Effect!

Bonus for familiarity in effect!

Bonus for embracing adept tier perk (Battleforged) in effect!

You are attempting to fuse Piercing Strike with War Blade!

Critical Success!

You have transcended your own limitations! You have learned a new variant with Piercing Strike!

Because who is to judge the width of the weapon head that pierces all resistance?

You have critically struck Greater Spirit Beast at the base of its spine!

FATALITY!

You have been sent flying (yet again!)

Eric, caught between wonder, horror, and a mind flashing with countless scenes of not just visualizing but feeling the thoughts, but living the memories of countless desperate encounters as perilous as his own. And the one common theme he had sensed, besides that human physiology was not a prerequisite for the perk, was that both long tapering and broad flesh-cutting weapons that could only nominally be called spears had been synced to that devastating perk.

And his bardiche, a weapon that now resonated so strongly within his soul, an extension of his own fighting discipline, was far from the broadest weapon that had ever been plunged into the beating heart of one’s foe, rupturing all shells, scales, or steel plates blocking its path.

It didn’t matter that he hadn’t followed the System pretext of burning a Perk point in having the ability spoon-fed to his subconsciousness. IT didn’t even matter that the warblade variant of his bardiche had been denied the perk evolution in the first place.

Because it would have taken greater insight potential than a newly integrated planet’s System interface could expect any fragile native to safely endure.

Eric already understood that the System, fantastic tool that it was, was a crutch that, for all his cynicism, would probably be incredibly useful, even lifesaving, for 99% of all would-be adventurers, especially on newer planets.

Yet for the top 1% or so… success meant going beyond the System’s precepts and guidelines. To push its own tools and one’s own potential to the utmost, to transcend what any friend, foe, or the System itself might think one capable of.

Even if the cost of that daring, of embracing madness and battlefield epiphanies when any sane man would have fled meant being catapaulted through the air with such vigor that one found oneself fatalistically imbibing a quick sip of vital life-saving brew just to swallow upon impact with the tree branches just barely clutched, when a neck-snapping collision had otherwise been all but assured.

And even if the next ten minutes were some of the most agonizing in Eric’s life as he sensed bruised organs forcefully healing, torn ligaments and shattered bones rapidly fusing themselves back together, Eric still managed to smile through his pain, upon catching sight of the hate-filled lifeless gaze of his nemesis on the ground below, his own Interface link flashing with welcome messages, Eric distracting himself from the agonizing self-repair perusing a character sheet he hadn’t had even five free minutes to view in days.

You have critically struck Greater Spirit Beast!

Greater Spirit Beast has perished!

Maximum potency to skill rank conversion in effect!

You have successfully synchronized Piercing Strike and Burst of Strength with: Spear!

Spear is now Rank 15!

You have successfully synchronized Cleaving Blow and Burst of Strength with: Bardiche!

Burst of Strength is now Rank 15!

You have embraced Adept Tier Perk: Battleforged while daring to face a Greater Spirit Beast four times your level!

Battlefield Epiphany has allowed you to transcend System Weapon Feat Limitations!

You are now one with countless past heroes who have transcended System Weapon Feat Limitations!

Their path is now one that you dare to walk. May their insights aid your own, Contender!

With a successful skill check, you may now use Piercing Strike with all Bardiches and all other broad-headed polearms mastered to at least Journeyman proficiency!

Bardiche is now Rank 21!

Find Weakness is now Rank 13!

Javelin throwing is now Rank 6...

Javelin throwing is now Rank 7...

Javelin throwing is now Rank 8!

You have achieved 98% maximum core density!

Excess Potency and Lesser Healing Potion have sped up your rate of healing! (Punctured lungs, shattered ribs, and bruised organs have been successfully repaired!)

_____________________________________

Eric Silver - Level 9 Conscript

(You are currently at 98% of maximum core density!)

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 51 (91%) You’re now many times stronger than any Olympian ever to walk the face of Earth!

Vitality – 36 You can now regenerate at a visible pace, and have (limited) natural damage resistance!

Finesse – 62 Yours is an exquisite grace that any professional dancer, fencer, or marksman would kill for!

Quickness – 41 You strike between the beats, cutting down your foes in the blink of an eye.

Appearance – 17 Thanks in part to your massive spike in Vitality, your Essence scars are now no more than vibrant tattoo-like markings that only a few will find off-putting, and most will find absolutely fascinating!

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 13

Perception – 51 Perhaps the greatest attribute of all. This, (along with infravision) means you can spot most enemies long before they spot you.

Willpower – 31 You have already survived trials that few others could endure. And it shows.

Charisma – 13

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 17

Spiritual Energy – 16

Soul Reserves – 55 (5.9 Points reserved = 49.1)

Stamina – 400 Points

Health – 501 Points.

Resistances & Recovery

Physical Resistance – 4

Physical Regeneration – At 36 Vitality, you recover 3.6 Health Points every second!

Elemental Resistance – 0

Qi Resistance – 0

Mental Resistance – 10

Physical Age = 17 Years (+22 years, 228 Days & 14 hours that Arcane Magics cannot restore! Superhuman vitality allows you to keep your youth, even if you’re now burning your candle at both ends!)

Interface Recognized Skills

Acting – Rank 5

Bardiche (Unified) – Rank 21 (Cleaving Blow, Battleforged, *Piercing Strike)

Blade and Shield – Rank 11

Bow (All Types) – Rank 19 (True Strike)

Crossbows – Rank 16 (True Strike)

Dagger – Rank 3

Demolitions – Rank 12 (Path of Mastery)

ESS Manipulation – Rank 10 (Arcane Resonance Mastery: You can store UNLIMITED amounts of any element, prize, or artifacts with arcane potential.)

Find Weakness (Spell Cleave) – Rank 13

Gunnery – Rank 2

Healer’s Aid – Rank 2

Iado (Fast-Draw) – Rank 8

Javelin Throwing – Rank 8

Negotiation – Rank 9

Repair – Rank 1

Saber – Rank 14 (Doom Slice)

Spear – Rank 15 (Piercing Strike)

Stealth – Rank 12 (Hunter’s Grace)

Swimming – Rank 2

Unarmed Combat – Rank 4

Necromancer Affinities & Skills

Blood Mastery – Rank 20 (Blood Claimance, Lesser Healing, Essence Infusion)

Spirit Mastery – Rank 15 (Path of Dominion)

Rituals of Summoning and Binding – Rank 16 (Path of Dominion)

Flesh Sculptor – Rank 20 (Path of Dominion)

You are now an Journeyman of the Path of Blood!

You are now a Journeyman of the Path of Dominion!

You are now an Apprentice Necromancer!

Necromancer Spells

Unorthodox Abjuration – Rank 3 20! Adept Rank Achieved!

Damage inflicted upon undead: EXTREME. Cost: 300 ex, 50 temporary health, 100 Mana ½ of Soul Reserves. 60 Ex, 10 temporary health, 20 mana, 10% of temporary Soul Reserves. NOTE! This attack WILL affect Bronze tier revenants and cause CATASTROPHIC damage to all White Tier Undead!

Interface Enhancements

Full Neuro-Linguistic capabilities

Extradimensional Storage Space

Essences Claimed:

Fire – Saturated - (Rank 2, White Tier)

Wrath (Rank 1, White Tier)

Dominion (Rank 1, White Tier)

Essence Related Skills:

Burst of Strength: Rank 14 (Path of Mastery – You may now seamlessly use this skill with all Weapon Perks!)

Dominion’s Resilience: Rank 3 (Make your toys harder to break, especially the soul-bound ones!)

Dominion’s Command: Rank 4 (Command your foes to kneel. Command your allies’ flesh to seal! Weaker opponents must save versus contest of Wills to resist your orders. Even a single rank lets you throw lesser Classers off-balance! Note. This skill boosts Blood Mastery Healing affinity! Prerequisite to healing application: You must first anoint your target with your blood..)

Heat Surge: Rank 10 (Path of Mastery)

Infravision: Rank 14 (Magesight +4 to spot mind & soul magic.)

27..

Contender Skills (Path of Consumption)

These skills fuse Necromancy, Essences, and a Contender’s potential! You have dared to fuse your gifts along a Forbidden Path!

Necromantic Consumption (Path of Endless Bounty): Rank 5 - You may feast on the potency potential of Territories you have conquered, boosting your Strength and Vitality permanently, so long as you claim no territory under your banner! (The Path of Rulers and the Path of Consumption are diametrically opposed!). This form of consumption has the highest likelihood of success, and mimics natural cycles of predation enough that not even System Sentinels can detect your actions!

You may also feast upon the potency of Dungeons you have achieved a First Completion on. Note: Likelihood of success, penalty cost (in terms of life force) for anything less than a 100% clear, and degree of potency absorbed all benefit from increasing Rank!

You have chosen to walk the Path of Endless Bounty! Now, the territories you carefully prune actually blossom under your touch, able to evolve with 1 Lesser Bounty of your choice!

Essence Consumption: Rank 3 - You may feast on the Essence potential of Territories you have conquered, so long as you claim none! (The Path of Rulers and the Path of Consumption are diametrically opposed!). You may also feast upon the Essence potential of Dungeons you have achieved a First Completion on! Note: Not all territories or dungeons have any potential Essence to claim. Additionally, said essences might NOT be compatible with those you already have. Likelihood of success is lower than with basic Necromantic Consumption, unless territory or dungeon is naturally attuned to a particular Essence!

Unformed (Trash Tier) Cultivation Technique (Flame Origin) – Novice – 30%

Titles Earned

Necromantic Prodigy

HERO

Lightning Marksman

Realm Breaker

Headhunter

Mad Bomber

Master Negotiator

Battlefield Champion

Battlefield Archer

Orc Slayer

Master Criminal

Basher

Title Boons:

- Increased spacial perception and sense of timing means you’re 35% more likely to hit all future targets with all ranged weapons!

- You now learn all ranged weapon skills 60% faster.

+4 to reaction rolls from all humans who know of your hero status.

- So long as you forsake the Path of Rulers, you may consume the essence and potency of any territory you claim!

- All skills involving explosives or gunnery improve 10% Quicker.

+2 to all skill checks to impress or intimidate non-native humanoids.

- You have (an additional) +4 to all skill checks to impress or intimidate non-native humanoids, should you reveal your Orc Slayer title.

- +1 to all intimidation skillchecks.

- Unless you deliberately hide Orc Slayer title, orcs will either flee, or attack you on sight!

- You enjoy a bonus to all Find Weakness skill checks against Orcs.

- Orcs now have a penalty at resisting your Spells or Essence based attacks.

- All explosives you yourself design and implement, including artillery rounds, will earn you an additional 10% of base experience.

- Tier 1 Structural Integrity Sense mean that your own weapons will hardly ever blow up in your face, and you now get a gut feeling whenever weapons (or shoddily made buildings) look ready to erupt, topple, or otherwise explode in your face.

- Social Perception - You may now use Perception in addition to Charisma to sense meaning behind action like never before!

- What The Other Party Wants - Above all else, you’re able to sense what others truly want in any negotiation!

- All blows with melee weapons are now 15% more powerful!

- You learn all melee weapon skills 15% faster!

- All melee weapons under 2 feet in length or specifically used to assassinate are learned 40% faster.

- All thief and assassin skills are learned 25% faster than they otherwise would be.

- 25% increased chance of finding the weakness in any object through the application of carefully applied brute force.

- Tier 1 Danger Sense. You will automatically spot hostile intentions from sentients with a successful Perception Check! If you ever feel a cold shiver racing down your spine, you know to DUCK AND COVER, even if you fail to spot the would-be executioner!

Nose for trouble. - You can spot a raw deal like overripe fish, and can sense a setup a mile away.

Smooth Criminal – The law doesn’t take kindly to known criminals, but somehow you always come out smelling like roses!

Know the Score – You’re far more likely to hear rumors or be led by the strings of fate to uniquely profitable opportunities of all types and stripes! Rewards from all Elicit activities will be anywhere from 100% to a full magnitude beyond what they would otherwise be!

____________________

Yet before he could do more than bask in his own hard-fought accomplishments for a few precious seconds, patiently waiting for his now utterly depleted temporary Soul Reserves to fill back up, the distant squeals of monstrous swine filled him with a sudden awful sense of dread.

Because he already knew what it meant.

The boy he had gone to so much trouble to save was in dire peril, and if he didn't intervene soon, Sam was as good as dead.