Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It turned out that the Adventurer Coalition building had rooms for rent, or in the case of Thaden, his Platinum+ Rank status allowed him to stay for free.  Even though the Coalition having rooms for the Adventurers to stay inside had been common in Tarth, he’d heard no mention of it since he’d arrived in the town or Felith, nor did the building seem to have space for these rooms.  He quickly discovered that it was because the rooms for rent were inside a different building altogether, located to the rear of the main Coalition structure, which was where he found himself not too long after his experience with the Codexical Access Point.  The room wasn’t anything like the luxury penthouses he was used to in Tarth, but it was still spacious and the bed was massive and quite soft – a far cry from the long, lumpy cot he’d been renting from Arthrax.

Even the food that Rivella had sent to him was free of charge, at least initially, as he suspected that he would have to pay for it if he was to stay there for weeks or months.  Regardless, he wasn’t going to give up the chance to really fill his belly after having to skimp and save money over the last 6 months, and by the time he was done, he was so sleepy that he couldn’t hold his eyes open.  He’d wanted to investigate his new Class and its spells further, as well as what might have happened with the whole “synergy” thing, but he ended up falling asleep as soon as he sat in the bed.

The next morning, he panicked as the sun shining through the nearby window told him that he’d overslept for his shift in the fields, but even as he scrambled to get up, the sight of the bed he was sleeping in jumpstarted his memories of the previous evening.

“It really happened, didn’t it?” he said to himself in wonder, feeling that the hope that he’d been holding onto since he’d arrived had paid off.  While he wasn’t out of the woods yet, the fact that he could finally take advantage of his earned Coalition Rank to make his existence a bit more pleasant was a huge step up from where he’d been just 24 hours before. 

Sitting up in the enormous bed, which had been created for a Netherine to be comfortable sleeping in while stretched out, he placed his back against the wooden headboard as he finally felt awake enough to finish his perusal of his newest changes.  Within seconds, he had his Character Report open and was taking a deeper dive into his newest spells.

Weak Enthrall (Channeled): Battle the spiritual will of a single target and temporarily control them through magical enthrallment; enthralled targets can only be used to passively defend or activate non-damaging abilities; can only Enthrall targets at even or lower Level than caster.

Spiritual Will Battle Success Rate: (10% per 1 Personality and 1 Mentality)/target Level

Number of Targets: 1

Range: 30 feet

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 2 Mana per attempt; 1 Mana per second (while channeled)

Weak Subjugation Aura (Reserved): Weak Subjugation Aura reduces the spiritual will of all hostile targets within range, making it easier to bend them to the caster’s will.

Spiritual Will Battle Success Rate Increase: 10%

Range: 40 feet

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 25%

Weak Health Siphon (Single Cast): Weak Health Siphon transfers Health from a single caster-controlled target to a single secondary target; cannot siphon more than 50% of a caster-controlled target’s Health.

Siphon/Healing Amount: 5 Health

Range: 30 feet

Casting Time: 1 second

Mana Cost: 10

Based on the descriptions and other information provided for his newest spells, it appeared as if the idea behind the Novice Enthraller Class was that monsters could be controlled temporarily during battle, used to defend the caster, or siphon Health from them to heal other Party members.  It seemed like a mix between a Control and Support Class, with its ability to control a monster – though only defensively – and to heal other people through that control. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a way to use these spells to kill a monster, given the fact that he couldn’t siphon more than 50% of an enthralled target’s Health.  It was possible that he might be able to use Weak Enthrall on a monster and have it defend him from a second monster, thereby killing his controlled target, but then he wouldn’t be able to kill the second monster.  I guess I could enthrall that one, as well, but what if either monster is a Level higher than me?  Apparently, Weak Enthrall will only work on targets my Level or lower, at least at this strength.

It would be quite useful in a Party, however, as he would have someone that could deal some damage while he controlled the monsters.  But being in a Party was a risk, as anyone within 900 feet of him would take 50% more damage because of his Fortunate Catastrophe Class, and he didn’t have access to a Resurrection spell that he could actually cast.  Still, that might be worth it, especially since he would be able to cast spells quickly, healing his Party members as long as there were monster targets above 50% Health.

He just wished that he was able to do more with his enthralled targets, similar to some of the spells he’d received from his other Class.  Thinking about those spells sent a tingle through his mind, and something told him to look through his larger spell list again, as he was fairly certain that something had changed.  Sure enough, he found something nearly immediately once he started looking.

Spiritual Spells:

*Celestial Dominate Spirit (Single Cast) – 5 Access Slots

*Celestial Spirit Drain (Single Cast) – 2 Access Slots

*Celestial Befriend Spirit (Reserved) – 3 Access Slots

*Celestial Spiritual Enhancement Aura (Reserved) – 4 Access Slots

*Celestial Spiritual Guardians (Channeled) – 10 Access Slots

Primary Support Spells:

*Celestial Reanimation (Reserved) – 5 Access Slots

There were a number of spells in his Primary Spiritual and Primary Support spell lists that had an asterisk next to them, which he immediately investigated.

Celestial Dominate Spirit (Single Cast Reserved): Creates a connection between the caster and a singular target, where a battle of spiritual will takes place; success is determined by comparing the spiritual will of the caster versus the spiritual will of the target, which is calculated by an assessment of Level Disparity, psychic resistances, and Personality; if the caster loses this battle of wills, a spiritual backlash will temporarily decrease all their stats by a certain amount and the target cannot be the focus of Celestial Dominate Spirit for a cooldown period; if the target loses this battle of wills, they will come under the direct spiritual and physical control of the caster for a limited time, followed by a cooldown period where they cannot be the focus of Celestial Dominate Spirit; targets under control cannot use any offensive attacks of their own or be the recipient of any spells from the caster, but they have an ability to leach Health from other targets upon touch, which would heal their own wounds, as well as act in a defensive manner.

Domination Duration: 10 minutes Until canceled

Domination Cooldown (Success and Failure): 20 minutes 60 minutes

Backlash Stat Reduction: 20% 50%

Backlash Duration: 10 minutes 30 minutes

Leach Health Magnitude (Health per leach): 20% 5% of caster’s max Health

Leach Health Frequency: Every 2 seconds Every 10 seconds

Range: 60 feet 30 feet from caster

Casting Time: 2 seconds 10 seconds

Mana Cost (Reserved): 90,000 80% of Mana pool

Celestial Spirit Drain (Single Cast Reserved): Massively drains a target of their spiritual will for a limited time, allowing for better results in a battle or comparison of spiritual wills between the caster and the target; only one instance of Spirit Drain can be present on a target simultaneously.

Drain Duration: 60 seconds Until canceled

Drain Magnitude: 70% 20% of base spiritual will

Range: 120 feet 30 feet from caster

Casting Time: 5 seconds 15 seconds

Mana Cost (Reserved): 1,800 90% of Mana pool

Cooldown: 10 seconds 60 seconds

Celestial Befriend Spirit (Reserved): Creates a connection between the caster and a singular target, where a joining of spiritual wills takes place; the success of this joining is determined by comparing the spiritual will of the caster versus the spiritual will of the target, which is calculated by an assessment of Level Disparity, psychic resistances, and Personality; if the difference in spiritual wills between the caster and the target is weighed in the caster’s favor, a temporary friendly bond will be established between them; this bond will enable the target to defend the caster in any way it deems necessary to maintain their friendly bond, up to and including attacking other targets intending to harm the caster, though it will not attack its own kind; if the difference in spiritual wills between the caster and the target is weighed in the target’s favor, the temporary friendly bond will still be established between them, with the target being immune to any harmful spells cast upon it and any damage, either intentionally or unintentionally, from the caster or their allies will be negated; caster may only have one friendly bond at a time.

Befriend Duration: 20 minutes Until canceled

Range: 90 feet 30 feet from caster

Casting Time: 2 seconds 10 seconds

Mana Cost (Reserved): 30% of Mana pool 95% of Mana pool

Celestial Spiritual Enhancement Aura (Reserved): A persistent aura surrounds the caster that enhances the effectiveness of the spiritual and psychic abilities of every target within range; effectiveness of the enhancement is dependent upon Level differential between the caster and targets, with higher-Level targets receiving a greater enhancement; can aid in partially piercing through spiritual or psychic resistances or immunities.

Range: 120-foot 30-foot radius of caster

Magnitude (Base): 70% 15% increase in effectiveness

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost (Reserved): 20% of Mana pool 85% of Mana pool

Celestial Spiritual Guardians (Channeled Reserved): When Celestial Spiritual Guardian is cast, a number of spiritual protectors surround the caster, each of which possesses a variable amount of Health; each Spiritual Guardian will draw the attention of potential attacks in the caster’s place; when a Spiritual Guardian dies, there is a chance of a stackable spiritual backlash being inflicted upon the target which killed the Spiritual Guardian; so long as the spell is maintained, a new Spiritual Guardian will replace those killed after a small cooldown. 

# of Spiritual Guardians: 8 2

Guardian Health: 20,000 500

Guardian Cooldown After Death: 2 seconds 10 seconds

Spiritual Backlash Chance %: Fortuity/5,000

Spiritual Backlash Amount: 10% reduction in all resistances and natural regeneration

Spiritual Backlash Stacks: 8 stacks 3 stacks

Spiritual Backlash Duration: 30 seconds per stack

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost (Reserved): 6,000 per second 90% of Mana pool

Celestial Reanimation (Reserved): Reanimates a target corpse that then takes mental order from the caster for purposes of defense, gaining a Health pool identical to its once-living version; reanimated corpses cannot directly attack or use any offensive abilities, but can be the target of spells and effects; once Celestial Reanimation is voluntarily or involuntarily canceled, i.e. its Health pool is depleted, the corpse cannot be reanimated again by any spell or effect; target corpses cannot be more than 20 1 Level(s) higher than that of the caster.

Duration: N/A

Range: 60 feet 30 feet

Casting Time: Instant 5 seconds

Mana Cost (Reserved): 10% of Mana pool 75% of Mana pool

“Whoa.  What?”  It took him a few seconds after looking through each of the altered spells that came from his Fortunate Catastrophe Class before he thought he understood what had happened.  Each of the changed spells were related to his newest Class in some way, either by having something similar to Weak Enthrall or by increasing his chance to win a battle of spiritual wills, and it seemed as though “synergy” between the spells had led to the alterations.  As he focused on them further, he realized that they had all been changed to being only Reserved instead of Single Cast or Channeled, though the amount of Mana required to be reserved was high; more than that, with the reduction of how effective each of the spells were, he could intuitively tell that his Mana pool was adequate enough to finally cast them.

Are these spell adjustments a result of my new Class influencing them?  Will they change over time as I get stronger, eventually returning to their original Celestial strength?  He didn’t know, but he could only hope that they would.

With these additional spells he could now—technically—use in addition to his Novice Enthraller spells, he thought that he might just have a chance to succeed.  While there were certainly limitations to most of the spells, such as Dominate Spirit having a nasty backlash penalty if he was to lose the battle of spiritual will with a target and Befriend Spirit not allowing the target to attack its own kind, he finally had some opportunities to actually harm those he fought against.

His previous method of using some exploitative spells to boost his own Health pool, heal himself, and then leach Health from random targets based on how much he was healing for wasn’t going to work anymore – at least at the moment.  The healing spells he would need to get that strategy to work were far outside his capabilities at the moment, and he wasn’t sure when he’d finally have enough Mana to pull it off; in addition, he currently didn’t have any defensive spells or effects to help protect him from taking damage, which made him quite vulnerable.  It had been a long time since he wasn’t capable of arming himself with layers and layers of protective spells to prevent his death, and it was going to take some getting used to once he actually went out and started fighting monsters.

There was no hesitation in his mind that he would go and fight monsters, though, because he needed to get stronger and able to defend himself.  Being stuck in the town of Felith wasn’t going to help him achieve his goals, but now with these spells at his disposal, he was armed with something that could allow him to eventually travel the world to find Corinna – wherever she had ended up.  In fact, when he thought about the Codexical Access Point that the Coalition used, he thought he might be able to search for her through it, as it seemed to be a massive database that had information on every single Adventurer. 

But first, he needed to get up and speak with the Coalition Branch Leader, Rivella, and see if he could join a Party of Adventurers.  While he might be able to solo with his new spells, without the protections he was used to, as well as having no equipment, only a single healing spell, and with stats that made him basically weak enough to be killed by a single sturdy punch by a Goblin or something, he’d rather not chance it.  The downsides of Partying with him weren’t as pronounced as they used to be with some of his former Class evolutions, as the benefits could be significant – with the Fortuity stat being increased by 50% for his allies, and rewards guaranteed to increase by 30%.  That last one alone should at least get him some sort of interest in a being welcomed into a Party, even if they weren’t terribly interested in having a Human join them.

Finally getting out of bed, Thaden washed up in the bathroom, but he didn’t take too long, as his stomach rumbled in hunger.  Exiting his room, he found his way outside and slipped into the main Coalition building, where he found Rivella near the far side of the lobby, where the Adventurer restaurant and bar was located.  Sitting down at one of the tables there, Rivella saw him and signaled to the barkeep, and soon enough a hearty meal was brought to his table, which he consumed a bit too fast, making him feel slightly bloated – but it was worth it to be completely full. 

The Coalition Branch Leader for the town of Felith slipped into the oversized bench across from him once he was finished eating.  “I trust you’re feeling better?  Was everything to your satisfaction?” she asked, sounding somewhat desperate that he didn’t have any issues.  Very strange; is this a result of the System forcing her to ensure I am taken care of because of my Coalition Rank?  Or is there something else in play that I’m unaware of?  Regardless, I might as well take advantage of this for as long as I can.

“Yes, I’m feeling much better after the, uh, events of last night.  I appreciate all of the help you’ve given me.”

The important Netherine actually smiled at that, showing her teeth in a way that some unaccustomed to the race of tiger-demons might consider frightening, but he had become used to it after living there for half a year.  “Excellent.  If you don’t mind, and only if it is alright with you, I’d like to ask you some questions.”

Uh, oh.  What now?  Because he couldn’t quickly think of a reason to deny her, he eventually shrugged and said, “Sure.  What can I answer for you?”

“I only have a few questions.  First, are you really only Level 1?  And if so, how is that possible, especially with your Adventurer Coalition Rank where it is?”

Thaden nodded, as there was no denying it – as it could be seen as plain as day when she looked at him.  “Yes, I’m only Level 1.  As for how and why, there was an… accident when I was transferred here, and I lost more than a bit of my progress.  I still have quite a few advantages, however, and I believe that I can quickly regain what was lost.  Any more explanation than that is going to be difficult to describe, but suffice it to say, my current state is only temporary.”

Rivella nodded, her expression difficult to discern; he wasn’t sure if she was satisfied with his answer or not, but she didn’t ask for any more clarification.  Instead, she asked one more question.

“One more question, then.  What is someone of your Rank doing here?”

Thaden froze for a few seconds, unsure how to answer that; the way she asked the question, he could tell there was some sort of hidden context behind it, but he didn’t have enough information to know what she was really asking.

Eventually, knowing that he needed to answer, he folded his hands over his lap as he leaned back, trying to seem at ease.  “Why do you think I’m here?” he asked instead of trying to come up with something that might get him in trouble.

Then he waited with bated breath for her answer.