Reborn as the First Boss, Chapter 86

Chapter 86 – Tier

“[Whirlwind Slash]!”

Linette’s cry echoed through the boss room as the dual-wielding fighter spun in the air like a top, blades extended. Four times each of her blade bit into the hide of Zojek the Flameborn, the Level 50 Flame Drake that was the boss of Floor 10, and our last obstacle before we started seeing the Tier 2 dragonkin. We were level 50, as well, and so very close to the next Tier that I could taste it.

Zojek howled in pain as my maid’s blades scored his hide, cutting open his throat. It was not a mortal wound, on its own. Drakes may not yet be dragons, but they were still known to have powerful regenerative abilities. Unless you killed them outright, there was always a chance that they could survive even wounds that would have been fatal to lesser creatures.

“[Gather].”

Syllia spoke a single word, but the water in the Flame Drake’s blood obeyed. Blood began streaming from the drake’s wounds, flowing through the air until it gathered into an orb roughly the size of the elf’s head. The orb floated there, until she uttered another word, “[Freeze],” and it turned into a solid sphere of ice, which the woman allowed to drift to the ground. This was not a normal application of a Waterbender’s gifts, but alchemists and ritual workers often considered the blood of different creatures to be a powerful ingredient, which meant learning this trick had earned her old team a good deal of coin. It also made cleaning up after a kill easier, which the assassin in all but Profession appreciated.

Frostmaw lunged forward, his fangs ripping into Zojek’s hide, and tearing out what remained of his throat. Steam hissed as frozen fangs met blood that was burning hot, but the boss had no more fight left in him, not now, at the end of what had been an intense battle. As Zojek fell to the floor, dead, silver mist rose up around each of us as the Voice of the World gave us our rewards.

Your party has defeated Zojek the Flameborn!

You gain 127500 xp.

Tier 1 Level 50 complete.

Initiating Tier 2 ascension.

Calculating options…

Tier 2 Race options locked. Reason: Tier 3 Race.

New options available for Class and Profession. Advancing to new options will offer new abilities and skills, but may close off other courses of advancement due to specialization. Tier 2 Classes and Professions are generally more powerful than Tier 1, but are typically more focused on individual aspects of a Tier 1 class or profession. Skills or abilities already gained are not lost, however.

Do you wish to advance to a Tier 2 Class?

Yes / No

Do you wish to advance to a Tier 2 Profession?

Yes / No

Tier 2 Class Options (Mind Sorceress)

Mindshatter Sorceress – Less concerned with subtle manipulation and more with leaving the broken wrecks of her foes in her wake, the Mindshatter Sorceress focuses on damaging an enemy’s mind, potentially causing permanent damage… to those who survive.

Unlocked by: Using damaging mental spells against enemies

Mindshroud Sorceress – The sorceress protects her mind, and those of her allies, from mental intrusion and influence. Hiding their thoughts from others and defending against attacks is second nature to her, now.

Unlocked by: Maintaining defensive mental spells for at least 1 week straight.

Dark Enchantress (Rare, Racial) – The demonic blood in your veins helps you in ensnaring your enemies, and forcing them to do your bidding. The line between enemy and ally is only defined by your will, as you dominate those who cross you.

Unlocked by: Having Demon blood, using mental magics to control at least 10 creatures at once.

Blessed Enchantress (Rare, Racial) – The angelic blood in your veins makes you a bulwark against those who would profane the minds of others and twist them to sordid ends. Your allies need not fear for their minds while you are there, even against foes who cause madness simply by existing.

Unlocked by: Having Angel blood, using mental magics to protect allies for over 1 week straight.

True Enchantress (First of Its Kind, Racial) – Angelic and Demonic blood flows through you in equal measure, and so too does your talent for mental magics lend itself to both ensnaring your enemies and protecting your allies. The first of its kind in the world, but perhaps not the last.

Unlocked by: Having Angel blood, having Demon blood, using mental magics to control at least 10 creatures at once, using mental magics to protect allies for over 1 week straight.

Honestly, I wasn’t really surprised that my options for advancing Mind Sorceress were all… same-ish. I hadn’t leaned on those abilities nearly as hard as I had my Spellshooter abilities, after all. Still, it was interesting to see that three of the options were opened up because of my race. That said, there really was only one choice out of this lot.

True Enchantress Abilities:

+10 CHA, +10 WIS

+5 CHA, +5 WIS per level

Charm-proof – Immune to mental manipulation and charm spells and effects of your Tier or lower (50% reduction for higher-Tier spells and effects).

Inured – Immune to social interaction and manipulation skills of creatures your Tier or lower (50% reduction for higher-Tier creatures).

Mental Diplomat – Mental Spells and abilities, as well as Social skills are 50% more effective against living creatures of this plane.

Planar Threat – The first mental spell you cast against any extraplanar creature cannot be resisted or defended against, and are automatically critical hits, if they deal damage. Subsequent mental spells against that creature are 25% more powerful and 25% harder to resist.

So, if I was looking at this right, I was basically immune to any type of manipulation from creatures Tier 2 or lower, and had a bonus 50% resistance against those effects from Tier 3 or higher creatures. Oh, and I got a limited version of Virgin’s Bane with [Planar Threat], targeting anything from another plane. Only working on the first mental spell was fine, though. Having something like [Charm] or [Dominate] go through unopposed the first time I saw an angel or demon could end a fight before it started, or at least get me some instant (if unwilling) allies to turn the tide.

Tier 2 Class Options (Spellshooter)

Spellgunner – The Spellshooter learns to adapt their skills to many types of firearms, allowing them to transform their spellshooter into everything from a pistol to a cannon, with predictable effects.

Unlocked by: Killing over 1000 creatures with your Spellshooter

Hellborn Spellshooter (Rare, Racial) – With the blood of demons running through your veins, you are able to infuse hellfire and corruption into every shot you take with your spellshooters.

Unlocked by: Having Demon blood, killing over 1000 creatures with your spellshooter

Light’s Redeemer (Rare, Racial) – With the blood of angels running through your veins, you are able to infuse Radiance and purification into every shot you take with your spellshooters.

Unlocked by: Having Angel blood, killing over 1000 creatures with your spellshooter.

Grand Huntress (Super Rare) – You have killed things that should have been beyond your measure. There is no creature who can withstand your might, should you find them worthy of your hunt.

Unlocked by: Having killed a creature above your Tier with ranged attacks, and without taking damage.

Planar Huntress (First of Its Kind, Racial) – The blood of Angels and Demons runs through you, and your feats speak volumes without words needing be said. You have killed that which should be impossible to you, and have made gods witness your actions. You are the first to walk this path, but perhaps not the last.

Unlocked by: Divine Blessing, Divine Curse, having Angel blood, having Demon blood, killing a creature above your Tier.

Like the first list of classes, this was an obvious one, as well. ‘First of its kind’ sounded like a big deal, and getting to have something that touches on both my impossible race and the insane feats I’ve accomplished? Yeah, that was an easy pick.

Planar Huntress Abilities:

+10 CHA, +10 DEX

+5 CHA, +5 DEX per level

Planeswalker – Immune to negative effects of any plane she is on.

Huntress’s Mark – Mark a creature you can see. That creature cannot hide from you, and you always know the shortest path to that creature. The mark lasts until removed, the creature is slain, or the Huntress marks another target.

Killing Shot – The Planar Huntress fires a single shot at a creature afflicted by [Huntress’s Mark]. If it hits, the shot ignores all defense, is a critical hit, and deals extra Hellfire and Radiance damage equal to the damage dealt. This removes [Huntress’s Mark].

Kill Anything – You can score critical hits against creatures immune to critical hits.

OK, so Planar Huntress was basically the ‘I can hunt and kill anything’ class, apparently. All the class abilities basically pushed me in the direction of finding prey, marking them, and then hunting them down. Dealing triple the normal critical damage on a [Killing Shot] was absurdly powerful, but I thought the [Kill Anything] ability was nastier. Being able to score critical hits on things like undead or golems could be very useful, if we went up against any of those types again. I wouldn’t say no to more weapons in my arsenal.

Tier 2 Profession Options

Noble Whore (Rare) – Courtesans are everywhere. Courtesans that gain the ear of nobility are somewhat less common. Courtesans who either rise to the nobility, or were born there, and continue on that path? Rarely seen. But the influence they wield with other nobles is hard to miss.

Unlocked by: Having a Noble title.

Beastlayer (Rare) – A deviant beyond measure, this courtesan has willingly lain with multiple beasts of wildly different types, and has encouraged others to follow in her path. Beasts of all types now consider you as a breeding tool.

Unlocked by: Having relations with beasts of at least three different types.

Abyssal Courtesan (Rare, Racial) – You, like many a succubus before you, have plied your demonic wiles on the mortals in order to get your way. Now, your powers increase and expand, allowing you to better seduce even those who would be beyond such things.

Unlocked by: Having Demon blood.

Celestial Soother (Super Rare, Racial) – Few of those with the blood of Angels take up the path of the courtesan, but, for those who do, there are rewards. The Celestial Soother can heal those she beds of afflictions and diseases, even conditions that impact their sanity.

Unlocked by: Having Angel blood.

Mistress of Many (Super Rare) – You have won loyalty through word, through deed, and through magics compelling service. You’ve slain lovers in bed, and used sex to silence opposition. Now, your powers are enhanced, causing all who share your bed to become slavishly loyal to you.

Unlocked by: Black Widow, having influenced your territory through words and deeds, owning slaves, having a Familiar, having had sex specifically for the purpose of manipulating someone.

Blessed and Profane Courtesan (First of Its Kind, Racial) – Through your blood, both Demonic and Angelic, you gain strength. Through sex, you can spread corruption or bestow purification, cause anguish or heal minds, end life or restore it, damn souls or save them. You are the first to walk this path, but you may not be the last.

Unlocked by: Black Widow, having Angel blood, having Demon blood, having conducted at least one ritual involving sex.

At this point, I had been expecting a First of Its Kind profession, and I wasn’t disappointed. However, unlike before, Blessed and Profane Courtesan actually had some competition. From the looks of it, the profession was a fusion of Abyssal Courtesan and Celestial Soother, which sounded like a very useful combination. However, the idea of being able to fuck someone into being my devoted love slave had a certain appeal to it. Unfortunately, that was probably something that would get noticed before long, especially if it caused a major personality shift, like it implied. Simply put, I wasn’t powerful enough, yet, to ignore, say, an entire kingdom wanting my head for trying to fuck the king into submission. Which meant Blessed and Profane got the nod.

Blessed and Profane Courtesan Abilities:

+10 CHA, +10 WIS

+5 CHA, +5 WIS per level

Corrupting Bed – Can cause corruption in those who lay with you, twisting their morals or giving them diseases and disorders.

Purifying Bed – Can purify those who lay with you, purging them of corruption and disease.

Bed of Sensation – Can cause those who lay with you to experience double all physical sensations (both painful and pleasurable) for 24 hours.

Bed of Relief – Can deaden physical sensations in those who lay with you, providing them relief from pain at the price of reduced pleasure for 24 hours.

That was… interesting. I could tell that all four effects were something that I could turn on and off at will, mixing and matching as I wished. There were interesting possibilities there. As far as the ending lives or restoring them, damning souls or saving them bit, I got the sense that those would be in the profession skills, somewhere down the line.

You have leveled up!

You are now Tier 2, Level 1.

You have 1275500/1326000 XP to reach Level 2.

Gain +22 CHA, +5 STR, +7 DEX, +13 WIS, +5 INT, +1 CON per level

(+2 CHA, +2 DEX, +2 CON from items per level)

4 Attribute Points to spend.

4 Skill points to spend.

Loot:

Orb of Drake’s Blood (15kg)

Drake Hide (5kg)

Drake Bones (full skeleton)

Dragonjaws

Talisman of Draconic Power

Belt of Dragonhide

Bracers of Draconic Might

6000 pp

I breathed out sharply as I came out of the mist, and noticed that my attributes had jumped… emphatically with my new classes and profession. Looking around, I saw that the rest of my pets and companions had also gained power, though, unlike me, they all had physical changes to show for it.

Linette

Demontouched High Human Female

Level 1 Twinblade Dervish / Battle Maid

Titles: Agile, Accommodating, Slave, Black Widow

Astruth

Lesser Balor Male

Level 1 Aegis of the Mistress / Loyal Protector

Titles: Tough, Well-Endowed, Slave, Black Widower

Jewell

Demontouched High Human Female

Level 1 Abysstouched Purloiner / Angelic Cook

Titles: Slave, Vowsworn, Accommodating, Black Widow

Angelina

Demontouched High Human Female, Level 1 Soulforged Healer / Abyssal Alchemist

Titles: Slave, Vowsworn, Accommodating, Black Widow, Demonbred

Of my original crew, the women had all become Demontouched High Humans, which gave them some resistance to fire and hellfire, horns, and clawed fingernails, along with the normal ‘high human’ goodies. Basically boiled down to ‘human, but more’. Astruth, on the other hand, had his demonic heritage brought into full view, moving from a Half-Demon to a Lesser Balor, which was the Tier 2 version of a Wrath Demon and led to the Tier 3 Balor evolution. We were definitely going to have to get him something to disguise himself with before we went into towns, since Lesser Balors didn’t normally have [Shapeshifting].

Rastran

Dire Hellhound Male

Level 1 Abyssal Warhound / Demonic Tracker

Titles: Tough, Well-Endowed, Quick One, Familiar

Zazriel

Demontouched Angel Female

Level 1 Celestial Spelldancer / Master Enchanter

Titles: Virgin’s Bane, Beautiful One, Masochist, Familiar

For my familiars, well, things got interesting. Rastran went from the size of a large wolf to the size of a large horse, and hellfire actually wreathed his paws as he stood there. Zazriel, on the other hand, had gone from Lesser Angel to Angel, becoming more beautiful to look at, but picked up the Demontouched template as well. Her halo now nestled itself over her red horns, her fingers ended in black claws, and the trailing edge of her wings were tinged blood red. Personally, I liked the change, though I knew there would be problems the next time we saw any angel or priestly sort. Better get her a disguise, too.

Syllia Zylgolor

High Elf Female

Level 1 Bloodbender / Mystic Hunter

Titles: Silver-Tongued, Seductress, Keen-Eyed, Slave

Syllia had not been with me long enough to pick up any demonic ‘influence’ it seemed, but she had certainly gained in power. The High Elf was the standard evolution of Elf, and basically made her better at all elf-ish things. All in all, nothing spectacular, looks-wise, but I wouldn’t need to hider, at least.

Frostmaw

Lesser Frost Dragon Male

Level 1 Mageslayer / Draconic Hunter

Titles: Magebane, Well-Endowed, Slave

There was no hiding Frostmaw anymore. Before, as a Frost Drake, he had been the size of a large horse. Now, he was closer to the size of a city bus back in my old world. His four legs were stronger, his neck and tail longer, and he’d gained a pair of large wings, that should allow him to fly. Of course, flying around on dragons was a great way to make the city watch very, very nervous. We would need to not only find a way to give him a more human form when we did not need to be ‘dragon-ish’, and definitely find some way to keep him fed. I didn’t know how much a Lesser Dragon needed to eat, but if the appetite increased like his size did, that could become a problem very quickly. There was only so much game to be had in Windwater Barony, after all.

I took a breath, and said, “Well, that was timely. Now we can face the Lesser Dragonkin on even terms. Everyone take a moment to get used to your new abilities, and pick skills. I expect we all have interesting choices ahead of us.”