Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 28

Chapter 28

As he somewhat expected, the rush of messages and the influx of energy flowing into him was incredibly discomforting, but it was far from the worse that he’d ever experienced – it didn’t even knock him out!  He took that as a win; for a few seconds, as his body adjusted to the changes, he somewhat wished that he had succumbed to unconsciousness, but that feeling passed quickly enough that it didn’t bother him too much.  By the time he had almost fully recovered, he was already going through the messages as his body accustomed itself to what appeared to be some additional stat points.

At first, as he was going through the “monster slain” messages, everything looked fairly normal.

You have slain a Beezard Drone – Medial – Level 38!

You have received 7.6 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on Level disparity!

You have received 30.4 PICK!

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

You have received 39.5 PICK!

Each of the Beezards and Floral Scourges averaged around 40 to 45 PICK depending on what kind they were and their respective Levels, which didn’t sound like a lot – but there were a veritable flood of them that he’d killed.  What surprised him, however, was that one of his Fortunate Catastrophe bonus traits finally triggered quite a few times, which increased his rewards by 300%. 

All rewards are increased by 30%, including from Quests completed and Achievements earned; however, there is a Fortuity/1,000 % chance that rewards will be increased by 300%

As a result of his Fortuity having bumped up recently, the chance for it to occur had increased significantly – especially since he’d spent essentially 8 hours killing monsters.

You have slain a Floral Scourge – Medial – Level 42!

You have received 8.4 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on Level disparity!

You have received 33.6 PICK!

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

You have received 134.4 PICK!

In total, he counted this increase happening 17 times, which he thought was impressive considering that it was approximately a 0.4% chance of it happening.  Then again, when he actually counted how many monsters he’d killed, which somehow reached over 3,000, it was even more impressive that it had occurred approximately 0.5% of the time.  Unfortunately, it didn’t happen when the Boss was killed, but he’d still received quite a bit for its death, nonetheless.

You have slain a Vampiric Lavender Menace (Boss) – Medial – Level 70!

You have received 140.0 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on Level disparity!

You have received 560.0 PICK!

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

You have received 728.0 PICK!

The PICK he received from killing so many monsters was massive, at least compared to whatever he’d received thus far on Plangea.  He estimated that it was around 130,000 PICK from those alone, but that was just the start.  After the “monster slain” messages, he was hit with a number of significant Competency increases, which made sense because he was fighting monsters much higher than his own Level.

Spiritual Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 1,613!

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Spiritual Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 2,187!

You may now select an Advancement for your Spiritual Spellcasting Competency!

Spiritual Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 2,188!

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Spiritual Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 2,231!

Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 31,524!

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Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 32,002!

Natural Regeneration Competency has increased to Level 457!

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Natural Regeneration Competency has increased to Level 459!

Psychic Resiliency Competency has increased to Level 2,029!

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Psychic Resiliency Competency has increased to Level 2,095!

He wasn’t too surprised that his Spiritual Spellcasting Competency had increase the most, as he had been using those spells almost constantly throughout the entire dungeon.  He had pending a new Advancement that he could choose, which he would get to eventually, but there was still more to look at in his messages.

The loot extracted from so many monsters came next, and it was an impressive haul.  He’d already seen it all of it in his Inventory, so none of it was surprise, but it was also written proof that his Party had been honest in how they had given up all claim to the equipment that had dropped.  He resolved to start unloading everything that he wouldn’t be using later, which was mainly the items he’d received from the Boss, at the Coalition Market, as he didn’t have the patience to go out and find buyers for it all in the city.  Based on what little he’d seen of the Market, he thought that he could probably get another 500 to 600 gold for all of the items, as there was a lot; even if most of it was Common and Uncommon Rarity, someone would likely want to use it.  Once he sold it, he thought he might be sitting somewhere around 1,000 gold – which should help to outfit him until he could start wearing the Boss’s drops at Level 55.

After the extracted loot, he got to the fun stuff: Achievements.

Congratulations for slaying a monster 18 or more Levels above your own while in a Party of 2 or more!

Achievement received: Punching Up I

Bonus reward: 60.0 PICK, +10 Strength

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus Reward: 78.0 PICK, +13 Strength

Congratulations for slaying a monster 27 or more Levels above your own while in a Party of 2 or more!

Achievement received: Punching Up II

Bonus reward: 600.0 PICK, +30 Strength, +18 Celerity

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 780.0 PICK, +39 Strength, +23 Celerity

Congratulations for successfully controlling a fully sapient target of equal or lower Level!

Achievement received: Obey Me I

Bonus reward: 10.0 PICK, +3 Personality

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 13.0 PICK, +4 Personality

Congratulations for successfully controlling a fully sapient target up to 9 Levels higher than your own!

Achievement received: Obey Me II

Bonus reward: 90.0 PICK, +20 Personality

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 117.0 PICK, +26 Personality

Congratulations for slaying a monster 36 or more Levels above your own while in a Party of 2 or more!

Achievement received: Punching Up III

Bonus reward: 1,800.0 PICK, +60 Strength, +30 Celerity

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 2,340.0 PICK, +78 Strength, +39 Celerity

Congratulations for slaying a monster 45 or more Levels above your own while in a Party of 2 or more!

Achievement received: Punching Up IV

Bonus reward: 3,600.0 PICK, All stats +30

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 14,400.0 PICK, All stats +120

Congratulations for slaying a monster 54 or more Levels above your own while in a Party of 2 or more!

Achievement received: Punching Up V

Bonus reward: 9,000.0 PICK, +30% to damage inflicted to all hostile targets of higher Level than Party

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 11,700.0 PICK, +39% to damage inflicted to all hostile targets of higher Level than Party

Congratulations for clearing your first Medial difficulty dungeon!

Achievement received: Dungeon Clearance II

Bonus reward: 100.0 PICK

Fortunate Catastrophe bonus trait activated!

Bonus reward: 130.0 PICK

Thaden was originally excited as he perused the Achievements he’d earned, and was surprised to see that he’d earned a bunch of new ones that dealt with killing monsters far above his Party’s Level.  Amazingly, his special 300% reward increase from his Fortunate Catastrophe Class activated on Punching Up V, which ended up boosting the bonus to all of his stats from +30 to +120!  It was these Achievements, but especially the one that boosted all of his stats, that had led to the incredibly uncomfortable changes in his body when he opened his messages.  He also received another hefty chunk of PICK from all of the Achievements, even the small amount he got from Dungeon Clearance II, which was almost pathetic compared to his others.

However, his elation was dimmed somewhat when he saw a pair of new Achievements that had nothing to do with killing monsters or completing a Medial difficulty dungeon.  Obey Me I and Obey Me II dealt with controlling a fully sapient target of varying Levels, and it made him somewhat sick to even imagine why the System had made such a horrible thing an Achievement.  Sure, it was something that likely happened more than was probably healthy for the people of the world, and he was sure that there were those with Psychic abilities that heavily abused their spells when they used them on unsuspecting people, but to actually celebrate doing so as an Achievement?  Doing so could only lead to those with such abilities to push even further, taking advantage of others without resistances, just so that they could obtain even more Achievements.

While Thaden had no desire to go down that path, as he had other methods to get ahead without making a conscious choice to control other people, he could see the appeal obtaining these Achievements would engender in those less scrupulous than he was – and the fact that neither of his Achievements were World Firsts told him that there were others out there that had gone that route.  It was possible that some of them had been forced into such a circumstance similar to what had happened to his Party in the dungeon, but he realistically thought that the likelihood of there being such a circumstance was fairly low.  

Regardless of having gained those Achievements, he was still happy with his progress and the results of the dungeon – especially all of the PICK he’d earned!  Sadia helped him assess it all, and when it was all tallied up, he’d obtained 165,577.5 PICK from everything.  When he calculated how much PICK it required to get his Novice Enthraller Class to Level 21, where he would then be able to evolve his Class, it would only take 30,000 of what he’d accumulated.  Some more calculations told him that another 102,700 would get him to Level 34 in whatever his newly evolved Class was, leaving him a little over 30,000 to increase his Fortunate Catastrophe Class for the additional stats.  If he’d done his math right, he should be able to push it to Level 18; there was no further incentive to get it to Level 21 or higher, as it wouldn’t evolve anytime soon, but he could always use the stat bumps, even if his Personality took a little bit of a hit.

Strangely, even though he had a lot of extra PICK in reserve, just waiting to be spent, he didn’t feel the normal strain that he’d expected.  Many time on Tarth, Thaden had “accidentally” saved up too much PICK waiting for him from his messages, and it had felt like he was about to explode; here, though, there was nothing like that.  He still felt full of PICK, of course, but it didn’t feel like he was about to burst.  Now that he was thinking about it, he realized that none of his Party members seemed to have been suffering from an overload of PICK, either, and they certainly had quite a bit extra after they reached Level 21.

“There’s no limit like there was on Tarth, as the extra PICK that your body cannot contain is held in reserve throughout the environment rather than forcing it to stuff inside your fragile form,” Sadia explained when he mentioned it.  “It was done that way on Tarth to keep everyone on a relatively even Level and so that some extraordinary people—” she continued, staring pointedly at Thaden, “—don’t rush ahead and do things like start Developmental Phases before they should.  That isn’t necessary here, so it’s not something you have to worry about.”

It made sense in a way, especially as he slowly learned more and more about the System and how it operated. 

As Thaden wanted some extra time to consider his newly evolved Class, he started with bumping his Fortunate Catastrophe Class up in Level, monitoring his PICK expenditures and seeing that he was fairly accurate on how much it was costing him.

Level up!  You are now a Level 10 Fortunate Catastrophe!

As part of the Leveling process, you have received the following:

Physicality +10

Celerity +10

Mentality +10

Personality -30

Fortuity +50

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Level up!  You are now a Level 18 Fortunate Catastrophe!

As part of the Leveling process, you have received the following:

Physicality +10

Celerity +10

Mentality +10

(1) Spell selection choice

In total, he received another +90 to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality, as well as a massive +300 to Fortuity for the 9 Levels he’d gained in Fortunate Catastrophe.  He also had an additional 3 spell selection choices, which didn’t do much for him at the moment, but the -180 to Personality was a significant hit to the stat.  The amount of Personality he’d gained from his Achievements mostly offset the losses, but he was hoping to have a net positive when he Leveled-up his Novice Enthraller Class.

Before he did that, he briefly considered taking care of his pending Advancement in Spiritual Spellcasting, but he decided to hold off on that until he knew what kind of evolved Class he would get.  Without anything else holding him back, he went ahead and starting pouring PICK into Novice Enthraller.

Level up!  You are now a Level 16 Novice Enthraller!

As part of the Leveling process, you have received the following:

Physicality +1

Celerity +1

Mentality +2

Personality +3

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Level up!  You are now a Level 21 Novice Enthraller!

As part of the Leveling process, you have received the following:

Mentality +2

Personality +3

(1) Spell selection choice

There was no new spell at Level 18 when he reached it, though he did obtain another spell selection choice; when he reached Level 21, however, there were 2 new spells available that he picked up immediately. 

Lesser Enthralling Call (Channeled): Battle the spiritual will of a group of targets and temporarily control them through magical enthrallment; enthralled targets can only be used to passively defend or activate non-damaging abilities; Lesser Enthralling Call can only affect targets up to 1 Level higher than caster.

Spiritual Will Battle Success Rate: (15% per 1 Personality and 1 Mentality)/target Level

Number of Targets: Up to 10

Range: 90 feet

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 60 Mana per attempt; 10 Mana per second (while channeled)

The first spell, Lesser Enthralling Call, was like a poor man’s version of what Thaden could already do with Lesser Enthrall when accompanied by his bonus trait that allowed him to hit multiple targets.  He wasn’t sure if there was even any reason to use it, but he picked it up anyway because he had the available selection choices.

Lesser Damage Transfer (Reserved): Transfer a portion of all damage done to members of your Party to your controlled targets, divided equally among each of them within range of Lesser Damage Transfer; damage cannot be self-inflicted; higher strengths of Lesser Damage Transfer will increase the total amount of damage that is transferred.

Damage Transfer Rate: 30%

Range: 120 feet

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 60% of Mana pool

The second spell, Lesser Damage Transfer, was much more useful.  It transferred damage done to him or his Party onto his controlled minions, and with his spell effectiveness bonuses, he was fairly certain that he could transfer most, if not all, of any damage done to his Party as long as he kept the spell active; he wasn’t positive his healing bonuses would count for the transfer, but if it did, then it was more than capable of handling all of the damage.  It was a bit expensive, but he thought that it would be more than worth it.

Finally, after he was done looking at the new spells, he received one additional message.

Congratulations for reaching the pinnacle of your current Class!

Please find a safe place and select your desired Class Evolution!

There was a brief pause after he read the text… and then a list of evolved Classes popped up, and he got to work looking through them all.