Dark Fate, Chapter 213

Chapter 213 – Skill Selection

I had… a lot of available skills. A lot, a lot. Sure, I had forty points to spend, but I had way more than that available.

Right, first thing first, look through the skill list, and skip ones I had no interest in. Some skills were nice, and all, but didn’t do enough for my needs, or the way I’d built up my abilities. Those could safely be discarded, for now. It wasn’t like not picking them removed them from my available skills list, after all. And maybe I would find a source of extra points, some day?

Anyways, starting with the Racial Skills. [Aerial Defender], [Aura of Sloth], [Aura of Envy], [Aura of Gluttony], and [Aura of Pride] could all go, along with [Dual Auras]. They weren’t terrible, but I had no use for them, really. Same with [Curse of Profane Greed], [Curse of Profane Gluttony], [Curse of Profane Sloth], [Curse of Profane Wrath], [Curse of Profane Envy], and [Curse of Profane Pride]. If I was a solo type, or a spymaster, assassin, or infiltrator? Those would be useful. But that wasn’t me.

[Defy Divinity] could go, thanks to my new subrace removing the vulnerability to Holy. Being able to ignore a damage type once a day for ten minutes was nice, but without the Holy vulnerability? It wasn’t four skill points kind of nice. Likewise, the [Forge Appraisal] and [Block Summons] skills that had appeared in my racial skill list weren’t terrible, but they just weren’t really useful, since I had my magic tattoo, and items to mislead an [Appraise] check were easy to come by. I didn’t need any of those skills right now, since I’d already gotten pretty good protections in place. They could sit on the bench.

The other Racial skills were at least worth considering, so I went on to the Class skills. [Blood Plague], [Blood Curse], and [Rejuvenation of the Blood] were all out. The first two were unnecessary for me at this time, and the third one would have been useful if I wasn’t an incubus who could fuck his way to full health.

[Displace Seduction] and [Imbue Seduction] were neat, but not really something I needed right now. Again, those were ‘spymaster’ or ‘infiltrator’ type abilities, not ‘Emperor’ abilities. [Summon Abyssal Escort] could join them, as another ‘good, but not 4 skill points good’ option. [Adaptive Biology] and [Shatter Will] could join them. Not really something I needed, now.

The trio of [Seductive Voice], [Seductive Spells], and [Seductive Strikes] could sit out, too. The voice one had been there, but automatically using [Seduction] whenever I opened my mouth seemed damn foolish for my position. The other two were new, but I couldn’t see why I’d want to add my [Seduction] skill to my spells and attacks. Talk about mixed messages!

The other Class skills deserved a real look, so I moved on to Profession skills. [Mind Shaping], [Group Submission], and [Sacrificial Slaves] were all out. Either they didn’t do much for me, as a ruler, or I had better things for that. Surprisingly, those were the only ones I was tossing out of hand. The others were either new, and deserved a look, or had potential for long-term gains, which I wanted to consider. Which meant it was just the General skills left.

[Autopsy], [Harvesting], [Forgery], and [Unperturbed] all could go. [Unperturbed] was the only one I could even use in my role as Emperor, since I had people for the others, but my CHA was over 2200 before including my items. I could brute force looking unperturbed, which is all the skill did. [Improved Flight] was actually useful, but I didn’t know how much I’d actually use it. Like [Aerial Defender], it just didn’t really do much for me.

Checking the edited skills list, it was a good thing I’d gone through all that work of paring down the list. I still had 66 points of skills I was considering, and only 40 points to buy them with. At least that was better than what was probably close to 100 points of skills to pick through, though.

Available Skills:

Note: Your available skills are based on your Race, Class, Profession, and activities.

Racial Skills:

Desecration – Conduct a ritual to create an area of unholy ground, weakening all holy powers within the area. Can be used to reverse Consecration. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Empower Partners – Able to increase the attributes of their sexual partners by 100% for 24 hours. Additional uses on an individual increases the duration. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Drain Partners – Able to drain XP from sexual partners, adding it to their own. Amount drained is equal to (User’s Level x CHA) – (Target’s Level x CON). Can only be used on a target once per day. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Carnal Protection – Gain full immunity to all attacks and hostile spells from sexual partners for 1 month. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Carnal Vulnerability – Sexual Partners lose all defense against your attacks, spells, skills, and abilities for 24 hours. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Abyssal Weapons – Can coat your weapons in Abyssal Flame.

Wings of Flame – Can give individuals flaming wings, allowing them to fly while active.

Aura of Doom – Living enemies within line of sight take a penalty on all attributes equal to (CHALevel – Target’s WISLevel). Cannot reduce attributes below 1. Ineffective on those of the same Tier. This is a Fear effect.

Burning Wounds – Can cause wounds made by his weapon or unarmed attacks to burn with Abyssal Flame, dealing damage over time.

Abyssal Flame Armor – Conjure Abyssal Flames as armor, raising defense and damaging those who attack you in melee.

Imbue Weapon – Add demonic essence to a weapon, temporarily changing its qualities.

Heighten Sensation – Cause an individual to become 2x more sensitive to sensations, including pleasure and pain.

Aura of Might – Living allies within line of sight gain a 100% boost to all attributes and recover HP and MP at 10x the normal rate. This is a Morale effect.

Class Skills:

Demonic Charisma – The Demonic Seducer’s CHA is counted twice for the purpose of Seduction-related activities. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Addictive Fluids – Can make all his bodily fluids addictive at will. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Climactic Touch – With a touch of skin to skin, the Demonic Seducer can cause a creature to climax uncontrollably for 30 seconds. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Hypnotic Gaze – Able to put those who make eye contact with you into a hypnotic trance. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Rejuvenating Fluids – The Demonic Seducer’s body fluids give those who come in contact with it the Sensual Recharge ability, allowing them to recover MP and HP through sensual acts for 24 hours. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Carnal Infusion – Engaging in carnal acts grants a Demonic Seducer’s partners a boost to all abilities equal to 10% of the Seducer’s CHA for 24 hours. Does not stack. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Unstoppable Allure – The Demonic Seducer ignores immunity to social skills, charms, and mental influence. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Irresistible Allure – The Demonic Seducer ignores 50% of a target’s resistance and defenses against social skills, charms, and mental influence. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Dual-Soul – Able to use your own skills and the skills of a soul in the Soulcage at the same time. If multiple souls are stored, can instead use the skills of two stored souls at the same time.

Summon Shade – Temporarily summon one of the souls in your Soulcage as an incorporeal creature under your control.

Meld Soulshards – Combine Soulshards into a soulgem, allowing them to be used more conveniently, or passed to allies.

Enchant Soulgem (Charisma) – Enchant a soulgem to give a constant bonus to the owner’s CHA.

Enchant Soulgem (Strength) – Enchant a soulgem to give a constant bonus to the owner’s STR.

Enchant Soulgem (Intelligence) – Enchant a soulgem to give a constant bonus to the owner’s INT.

Enchant Soulgem (Dexterity) – Enchant a soulgem to give a constant bonus to the owner’s DEX.

Enchant Soulgem (Wisdom) – Enchant a soulgem to give a constant bonus to the owner’s WIS.

Profession Skills:

Artisan Slaves – Slaves designated as Artisans gain +1 INT or DEX per level (chosen at designation).

Adept Slaves – Slaves designated as Adepts gain +1 INT or +1 WIS per level (chosen at designation).

King’s Champion – Grant a chosen champion a portion of your might, increasing their abilities as they act in your name. (Costs 2 points to take.)

King’s Brand – Those who bear the mark of the Demon King gain 10% to all attributes and take 25% less damage from all sources while acting in their King’s name. (Costs 2 points to take.)

King’s Carriage – Any mount or vehicle carrying the Demon King gains the Demon King’s defenses against damage. Includes draft animals. Does not protect against environmental effects. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Kingdom’s Might – All followers of the Demon King take 25% less damage while acting in his name. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Demon King’s Guard – While defending his kingdom, the Demon King takes 25% less damage from all sources. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Demon King’s Blade – The Demon King deals 2x damage from all sources (after all other modifiers, before defenses) to enemies within his kingdom. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Promotion – The Demon Lord’s skills and abilities as Demon King apply to their entire domain.

Sense Temporal Anomaly – Able to detect any temporal anomalies or residue of past timestrikes within their domain.

Haste – Able to replicate the Haste spell at will.

Slow – Able to replicate the Slow spell at will.

Sense Fate – Receive premonitions about the outcome of different decisions.

Timeclones – Reserve half your MP to summon three clones of yourself from different timelines. The clones fight for you with their full abilities. When the clones are slain or dismissed, they return to their timelines unharmed and with no memory of what transpired.

Reversal of Fortune – Restore one touched creature to the status they were previously by rewinding their personal timeline. Can revive a dead creature, provided their soul is free, or in your possession.

See History – Spend MP to view the history of a creature, object, or place.

General Skills:

Menacing Aura – You are able to project an aura of malice that can intimidate those around you.

Invincible Aura – Allies within line of sight take 15% less damage from all sources.

So, first off, [Aura of Doom], [Aura of Might], [Invincible Aura], [King’s Champion], [King’s Brand], [King’s Carriage], [Kingdom’s Might], and [Promotion] were all obvious picks. That was 12 skill points, sure, but [Promotion] opened all my Demon King abilities to my full realm, and the others all provided insane buffs to those around me. Especially [King’s Carriage]. Applying all my defense to, say, a warship I was traveling on? HUGE. Those were skills that could literally change a battle in my favor, and possibly win wars.

Next up was the combo of [Empower Partners], [Drain Partners], [Carnal Protection], and [Carnal Vulnerability]. If I liked someone, I could sleep with them, and give them a solid boost to their abilities. If I didn’t like them, I could fuck them, drain their XP, become immune to all their attacks for a month, and know that they had no defense against my abilities. Or I could have a nice threesome with Mhyreth and Harahel, and just stand in the path of their [Annihilation Beam], which could be useful, for keeping an opponent pinned down until the beam erased them. Obvious picks.

[Dual-Soul], [Summon Shade], [Meld Soulshards], and the five ‘enchant’ skills were obvious picks, too. The first two were only good for people I killed myself, but anyone I, personally, was killing probably had useful skills, so being able to use more of them, or use their skills while not losing access to my own? Big win. And my fleet still had another cattle world to cull, so I was certain I’d have a lot of soulshards to play with before they were done.

Twelve points left. [Burning Wounds] and [Abyssal Flame Armor] were solid picks, especially when combined with [Cursed Wounds] and my [Shadow Armor] spell. Becoming even more of a combat monster was not a bad thing, honestly. Which is why I picked up [Haste] and [Slow], as well. The ability to make myself and my allies faster while slowing my enemies? That was a big win.

[Sense Temporal Anomaly], [Sense Fate], [Reversal of Fortune], and [See History] all spoke to me. Those were powerful skills, if used well. The two ‘sense’ skills were passives, it looked like. One let me know about timestrikes or temporal shenanigans, and the other would give me glimpses of the future to tell me how good or bad my decisions were going to be. As for the other two, one gave me the ability to view the past, which could be big, and the other gave me the ability to raise the freaking dead! Obviously, I picked them.

Four points left. There were some good abilities left over from Demonic Seducer that would be good additions to my kit, but I could only take two of them, due to the cost. [Unstoppable Allure] had to be on the list. Ignoring immunities was always a good thing, in my book, so long as it was happening to someone else. For the last one, I took [Hypnotic Gaze]. It promised to be subtler than some of the other skills I had available, and that gave me options I didn’t have before. Subtle options that I could use without starting an orgy were good, yeah?