New Story -- Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Thaden threw himself down on his bed, feeling absolutely wiped after the experience of choosing his Class evolution. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn’t help but be excited at the prospect of his new Class, as Lifewarden seemed like it could really be a gamechanger, allowing him to actually damage enemies that attacked him. Granted, the Class description said that there was only a chance of that happening, but fortunately he had already done something to help that along with his Fortuity stat being at 29.

At least, that chance was what he hoped Fortuity did, though without testing he didn’t know for sure. And how much it affected that chance – if it did – was still an unknown. At least, it was unknown until he looked at his Character Report and saw the changes within. The most obvious change was his spells, which had all been upgraded to Lesser strength, but what caught his attention was under his Bonus Traits section.

Bonus Traits:

Natural Regeneration Competency (From One Foot In The Grave)

+10% Permanent casting time decrease for all Support-based spells (From Party Savior)

As a party leader, you can choose to delve through any difficulty of any dungeon without having to complete them in order (From Dungeon Slayer)

When inside a dungeon while solo, you receive +5 to Physicality, Celerity, and Mentality, as well as +10 to Fortuity while inside (From I Don’t Play Well With Others)

8.7% Chance to double-cast support spells (From Lifewarden)

8.7% Chance to reflect 5% of prevented damage from defensive spells (From Lifewarden)

If he was calculating it correctly, and it wasn’t just some random number that was pulled out of nowhere, then each point in his Fortuity equaled to a 0.3% chance for each of his new Lifewarden traits to activate. With his 29 points, that meant he had an 8.7% chance for them to happen.

Almost a 10% chance to reflect 5% of the damage my Fields prevent? That’s incredible.

Overall, disregarding the whole chance aspect of the new Class traits, 5% of prevented damage reflected upon an attacker wasn’t that much; he could see it being somewhat useful for another Lifewarden, but even if it triggered all the time, it probably wasn’t enough to make a big difference in a fight. For Thaden, it was incredibly overpowered even at an 8.7% chance for it to activate, because the defensive spells he cast on himself were basically unlimited. He could stand in front of a monster and wait for it to attack him over and over – for hours, if necessary – while it essentially killed itself from the reflected damage. Naturally, there were still limits based on his spells, such as his Fields only preventing damage up to Level 40—scratch that, Level 60 sources with my new Lesser-strength spells—but that should still cover most of what he should be able to fight. In other words, he wasn’t going to be facing any Level 1,000 dragons or whatnot in his immediate future.

After looking over the changes, happy to see that Lifewarden had replaced Assistant Healer for his Class, Thaden did something that he’d been hoping to do for almost three months.

PICK requirements met! 6,100/6,100

Increase Personal Level? Y / N

Note: This can only be completed while not currently in combat and while not in a dungeon.

Level up! You are now a Level 22 Lifewarden!

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

Mentality +3

Free Stat Points (2)

Finally! Level 22!

It felt good to finally achieve a Level past 21, which he’d been sitting at for what felt like forever. He could still feel that he had quite a bit of PICK left from what he had in reserve, so he kept going, noticing that his first Level-up had given him an additional 3 Mentality but also 2 Free Stat Points to spend – and so did the next.

Level up! You are now a Level 23 Lifewarden!

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

Mentality +3

Free Stat Points (2)

Level 24 was slightly different, as he didn’t receive any Free Stat Points, but he did receive a single spell selection choice. Of course, he also had 3 leftover from when he was Leveling back up to 21, so he was able to choose even more than that.

Level up! You are now a Level 24 Lifewarden!

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

Mentality +3

(1) Spell selection choice

Please select (4) spells from the following selections:

Major Healing (Channeled)

Major Repulsion Field (Channeled)

Major Regeneration (Single Cast)

Major Absorption Field (Channeled)

Major Mass Healing (Single Cast)

Major Cure Mental Affliction (Single Cast)

Major Cure Physical Affliction (Single Cast)

Major Health Reduction (Single Cast)

Major Resurrection (Single Cast)

Major Aura of Life (Reserved)

Major Regrowth (Channeled)

Major Protective Barrier (Single Cast)

Major Health Augmentation (Single Cast)

Major Healing Circle (Channeled)

Major Mana Rejuvenation (Single Cast)

Major Damage Shield (Single Cast)

Weak Healing Wave (Channeled)

Minor Healing Wave (Channeled)

Lesser Healing Wave (Channeled)

Major Healing Wave (Channeled)

Weak Negation Zone (Single Cast)

Minor Negation Zone (Single Cast)

Lesser Negation Zone (Single Cast)

Major Negation Zone (Single Cast)

Spells not selected will be available during your next spell choice selection

Thaden had barely had a chance to look at all the changes that his new Lesser-strength spells had come with, which he belatedly realized that he should have before he Leveled up even more, but he didn’t regret his decision. He’d been waiting too long to delay it any longer, so he would just have to figure out what would be the best use of his selections – and what would benefit himself the most if he was going to continue going out solo, which was a definite possibility now that he had his new Class.

The first thing he noticed about the list was an answer to a question he had regarding the descriptions of the Classes he had to choose from. Most of the Classes had mentioned being able to select from Weak, Minor, Lesser, or Major strengths, which seemed odd; after seeing the new spells at the bottom of the list, he began to see why there would be a choice.

For instance, Weak Healing Wave was a long-range group heal similar to his Mass Healing spell, but instead of it being instant-cast, it was a channeled spell with a 2-second casting time.

Weak Healing Wave (Channeled): Heals every ally within a certain targeted radius for a small amount.

Healing Amount: 10 Health per second

Range: 40-foot radius of target within 50 feet of caster

Casting Time: 2 seconds

Mana Cost: 20 per second

The spell was actually more powerful in terms of Healing per Mana than Mass Healing, plus it could heal a 40-foot radius of a distant target up to 50 feet away. However, when he looked at Major Healing Wave, the reason there was a choice between the different strengths became obvious.

Major Healing Wave (Channeled): Heals every ally within a certain targeted radius for a large amount.

Healing Amount: 270 Health per second

Range: 70-foot radius of target within 90 feet of caster

Casting Time: 2 seconds

Mana Cost: 210 per second

Obviously, the Major version of the spell healed more and was able to reach further – both of which were incredible, especially the 270 Health per second. What made it less desirable for most people, however, was its Mana Cost of 210 per second.

For a normal Contender, without Thaden’s advantages, they might have only around 45 base Mentality at his current Level. With a robe like the one he received from the Mausoleum of Despair, they might be able to bump it up to 60 or possibly a little more. For this example, even if they were able to get up to 63 Mentality, using most of their Free Stat Points from Leveling-up in the stat, that would give them 630 Mana – meaning that they would be able to cast the spell for a total of 3 seconds before they ran out of Mana!

Therefore, it might make sense that someone would want to choose a weaker version of the spell for the time being, and possibly upgrade it later when they had more Mentality and therefore more Mana. Or, they might just keep it like it is after they find that it works better at a Minor strength for them, rather than wasting Mana for anything stronger.

Those types of Mana Cost restrictions didn’t really affect Thaden, naturally. Even this one, which would be instant-cast because of his Instant Gratification Competency Advancement and cost triple the Mana, would still only be 630 Mana per second – and he had 730 Mana after reaching Level 24, even before he was wearing his robe. The only one he’d had to worry about in the past was his Resurrection spell, which he would have to double-check to see what had changed by reaching Lesser strength, but everything else should be just fine for him.

The differences in the strengths for the other new spell on the list was slightly different, but that was mainly because it was a protection spell rather than healing.

Weak Negation Zone (Single Cast): Creates an immobile, targeted area that that prevents all types of damage and afflictions from being inflicted upon all targets from up to Level 30 sources for a limited time.

Range: 20-foot radius of target area within 50 feet of caster

Duration: 10 seconds

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 50

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Major Negation Zone (Single Cast): Creates an immobile, targeted area that that prevents all types of damage and afflictions from being inflicted upon all targets from up to Level 90 sources for a limited time.

Range: 100-foot radius of target area within 150 feet of caster

Duration: 60 seconds

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 500

Cooldown: 10 minutes

The Major version of Negation Zone was incredible.  What the spell essentially did was negate all damage being inflicted within a 100-foot radius circle for an entire minute. It also applied to damage that he or another contender did, so it was essentially a safe zone for a limited time; it also worked for sources up to Level 90 – or Level 100 with his Advancements.

The description said that would prevent damage – which would apply to his new Lifewarden trait; however, even at the lesser 30-second cooldown on the Weak version, he wasn’t sure how useful it would really be. At 10 minutes for the Major version, it seemed like a waste of a space in one of his Access Slots.

Unless he was with other Contenders, of course.

With the new available spells, it appeared as though the Lifewarden Class was meant for use in parties which had a lot of people, which made sense because it was a healing and protection-based Support Class. Even Assistant Healer was better in a party, but Thaden didn’t really care; the new Class’s benefits as someone who could work solo was worth it all by themselves.

Therefore, he skipped taking one of the newer spells in favor of upgrading some of his existing ones. It didn’t take him long to select the two spells that had done so much for him already, Major Repulsion Field and Major Absorption Field – after checking to ensure he could afford to cast them, of course.

Major Repulsion Field (Channeled): Creates a full-body repulsion field on self that blocks all physical damage up to Level 80 sources and significantly repels attackers.

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 160 per second

Major Absorption Field (Channeled): Creates a full-body absorption field on self that absorbs all magical damage up to Level 80 sources and slightly replenishes Mana.

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 120 per second

They were expensive in terms of Mana Cost, but he could still easily afford them both. Next on his list were two of the spells he’d used most during his runs through the Mausoleum, and whether or not he continued delving through them, they would still be useful if he did end up partying with anyone else in the future.

Major Mass Healing (Single Cast): Heals every ally within a certain radius for a large amount.

Healing Amount: 120 Health

Range: 70-foot radius of caster

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 150

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Major Regeneration (Single Cast): Grants a target continuous healing energy that replenishes Health for a limited time.

Healing Rate: 27 Health every 5 seconds

Duration: 45 seconds

Number of Targets: 1

Range: 50 feet

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 180

Even tripled in cost, both Major Mass Healing and Major Regenerationwere still within range of his current Mana pool. Feeling good about his selections, he finalized it and gained four new Major-strength spells for his repertoire, which were sure to come in handy in the future.

After that was taken care of, he did something that he should’ve done before and checked on his Lesser Resurrection spell to ensure he could actually cast it still, and he frowned when he discovered that it was out of reach.

Lesser Resurrection (Single Cast): Resurrects target that has been deceased less than (180) minutes; can only be cast outside of combat.

Healing Amount: 50% Maximum Health

Range: 15 feet

Casting Time: 60 seconds

Mana Cost: 400

Cooldown: 20 minutes

1,200 Mana?! With the tripled base cost of 400, he was still 320 Mana away from casting it – and that was with his robe on. Checking all of his other spells, he was relieved that none of them were even close to being too expensive, but the Lesser Resurrection was worrisome. What if he came across a dead Contender out there and he couldn’t bring them back, despite having the spell for it? As much as he was reluctant to party with anyone right now, that didn’t mean he could live with himself if he had to let someone permanently die when he could’ve done something about it.

I still have more PICK, at least. If my previous Level-ups are any indication, I’ll be getting more Mentality – so if I gain enough Levels, I might be able to bridge that gap. If not, then I do still have some additional Free Stat Points I could use, though I would rather those go into Fortuity if I have a choice.

With the goal of being able to cast his Lesser Resurrection spell on his mind, Thaden continued to spend his accumulated PICK on increasing his Level. The same pattern repeated as it had for Levels 25 and 26, adding an addition 3 Mentality and 2 Free Stat Points per Level, and Level 27 was another that he received 3 Mentality and another spell selection. This time, he picked one of the new spells, which was a Mass Regeneration spell.

Major Mass Regeneration (Single Cast): Grants all within a targeted area a continuous healing energy that replenishes Health for a limited time.

Healing Rate: 27 Health every 10 seconds

Duration: 2 minutes

Range: 50-foot radius within 60 feet of caster

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Mana Cost: 300

Major Mass Regeneration was just barely affordable at the moment with his robe, but he was still gaining Levels. The other new spell was another defensive spell he might take in the future, called Major Protective Guards, which were similar to his Lesser Protective Barrier spell – but it produced multiple layers of the barrier instead of just one.

Levels 28 and 29 were similar in the Mentality and Free Stat Points they provided, but Level 30 provided him with 2 spell selection choices instead of just one. As such, he chose the aforementioned Major Protective Guards spell, as well as an upgrade to Cure Physical Affliction, as he wanted to be able to cure physical afflictions up to Level 80 (90 with his Advancements).  The two new spells available at Level 30 that he skipped were both Reserved spells similar to his Lesser Aura of Life spell. The first one was called Lifelink and it linked the Health of two separate allies so that they shared a single Health pool that was a combination of both allies Health. The second was a defensive spell called Wardlinkthat was similar to Lifelink, but instead of Health, it shared the total damage protection between two different allies. He wasn’t exactly sure how that worked, but he didn’t want any other Reserve spells at the moment because they would cut into his Mana pool too much – which he needed for some of his most expensive healing spells now.

He was getting closer and closer to his goal of affording his Resurrection spell again, as at Level 30 he had also gotten 4 Mentality instead of just 3, and he also had 12 Free Stat Points to spend if he had to. That brought him up to 92 Mentality, which with his robe was boosted to 107 – so he was only 13 away.  Fortunately, he still had a bit of PICK left, though he could feel that it was starting to get low.

Time to level up some more.