New Story -- Chapter 19

I went back and changed a few numbers (such as some of the Advancement %s), but none of it should impact the overall story too much.  Just balancing and other issues that needed to be fixed.  Enjoy!

Chapter 19

Collapsing to his knees, Thaden looked around him in exhaustion, despite the fact that he hadn’t moved from the same spot in hours. The last of the Undead had collapsed as all semblance of animation left it, one of the many, many monsters that had attempted to kill him with mindless intensity.

Unfortunately, the new corpse of the Zombie Mauler was simply added to the pile of bodies that had accumulated over that time. Unlike a video game, monster corpses didn’t disappear – after a certain time – when they were killed, meaning that the Undead were now surrounding him in a shoulder-height wall of bodies that stretched out a good 20 feet in all directions around him. During the last few hours of constantly using his Weak Mass Healing spell, as well as adding Weak Regeneration to any Undead he could see still walking around, their corpses had fallen next to and even under him, causing him to have to climb up on them in order not to be buried in rotting flesh or old bones.

He was currently standing on the backs of two different Zombie Maulers that had fallen next to each other, though the disgusting squishiness of their flesh didn’t bother him as much as it did a few hours before. He’d already thrown up everything in his stomach that had been in there, and after a while he became nose-blind to the stench. That didn’t mean he couldn’t tell it was still there with every breath he took, but his nose had been so inundated by the smell that it didn’t really affect him anymore. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, because he was extremely hungry by that point, but there was no way he was going to eat anything until he was free from the piles of Undead bodies that continued to rot even as he looked at them.

Climbing out from the pit was probably the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen or done, and if he’d had anything left in his stomach, he would’ve lost it almost as soon as he started. As it was, he wanted to boil his entire body and burn his clothes after having to drag himself up the slopes of rotting corpses, as he felt like he would never be clean again. It took him nearly 15 minutes of stumbling and falling over the remains of the army of Undead that had tried and failed to kill him, and by the time he was out from the encircling enclosure, he felt like he had emerged from a nightmare.

He nearly collapsed as soon as he was free from the rotting bodies, but he kept his legs moving until he was at least a hundred feet away. At that point, his resolve to get away from the Undead gave out as he fell to his knees again, before angling himself to teeter over onto his back so that he was looking up at the sky.

The sky? What happened to the fog?

As he turned his head to the left and right from where he was lying on the dirt, he couldn’t help but see that the fog had cleared up around him, originating from the pile of monster corpses. That didn’t mean that the entire forest of dead trees was completely visible, because he could see the fog still present nearly at the extent of his unobstructed vision, but the immediate area was completely clear.

On his left side, which he could tell led back to town because of the “pull” he still felt for his Quest, there was nothing but the dead trees that he had passed through in order to get to this place. When he lifted his head up and looked past his feet, he quickly turned away from the sight of all the Undead corpses he had just left behind, before looking to his right.

There, in the distance, was a cube-shaped, black stone building that reminded him of one of those massive big box stores back on earth – if one of them had specialized in death as both a motif and a product. The black stone was carved into images of the Undead all along its exterior, with pyramid-like carvings that seemed to depict mountains of bones and skulls featured prominently along the two sides he could see from his position. It was both eerie and frankly surprising how details the carvings seemed to be, and his overwhelmed mind couldn’t help but inanely think that creating such a work of macabre art must’ve required hours and hours of work to accomplish.

At the front of the building were two dark-red stone doors that seemed to lead inside, but Thaden had no inclination to do such a thing; at least, not without a party—

The party! Lifting his head up again, he looked around for the deceased Coalition members that he had been too late to resurrect, but he couldn’t see them. He was hoping that they might have something on them that would help, such as some armor or a weapon he was capable of wearing or using, or at worst, he could take any coins that they might have.  Stealing from the dead wasn’t exactly his idea of a moral activity, but he figured they wouldn’t need it anymore – and he could use all the help he could get.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take him long to realize that the bodies of the Adventurers were buried under the mountain of the deceased Undead… and there was no way he was going to dive back in there and try and dig them out. As far as he was concerned, they were now lost, and unless the corpses piled on top of them suddenly disappeared, he figured it was best to forget them completely.

As he didn’t really want to move quite yet, even if the risk of being attacked was still a potential based on his location, Thaden turned to his feed, which he found had stopped trying to get his attention immediately upon commencing combat with the Undead – for which he was thankful. Although it might have helped to pass the time while he waited for his Weak Mass Healing spell come off of cooldown, he also didn’t want windows with information popping up out of nowhere while he was targeting more and more Undead with Weak Regeneration.

You have slain a Skeleton Warrior – Medial – Level 22!

You have received 44 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on 1 party member(s) as well as Level disparity!

You have received 132 PICK!

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You have slain a Zombie Mauler – Medial – Level 26!

You have received 52 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on 1 party member(s) as well as Level disparity!

You have received 156 PICK!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 32!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 33!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 34!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 35!

Natural Regeneration Competency has increased to Level 2!

Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 9!

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

Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 10!

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Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 27!

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

Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 28!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 36!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 37!

>>>>>>>

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Support Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 67!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 81!

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

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 82!

Defensive Spellcasting Competency has increased to Level 83!

Congratulations for solo slaying a total of 900 monsters!

Achievement received: Monster Hunter III

Bonus reward: 3,000 PICK

Contender World First Achievement: 12,000 PICK

You have completed the minimum requirements for your assigned SPECIAL Quest!

You may return to the Adventurer Coalition to choose another Quest, or attempt to complete the Bonus Completion Requirements for this SPECIAL Quest for even more rewards!

You have received 10 gold, 6,000 PICK, and 20 Rank Progress toward your next Coalition Rank!

It was at this point that Thaden was interrupted after reading the massive list of the Undead he had killed, as the message saying that he completed the requirements for the SPECIAL Quest he had taken on. Apparently, that was all that was needed to produce a small pouch out of nowhere that hovered over him for a moment before thumping into his chest. It was surprisingly heavy, and after wiping his hands on the dirt – which really didn’t help all that much in cleaning off the undead nastiness that was all over them – he opened it up and saw that it was filled with shiny gold coins. As much as having the gold would benefit him, he could barely pull together any enthusiasm as he placed them back in the pouch and left the whole thing on his chest as a comfortable weight.

Then he kept looking at his message feed.

Congratulations for completing your first Quest with the Adventurer Coalition!

Achievement received: Quester I

Bonus reward: 50 PICK

Contender World First Achievement: 200 PICK

Congratulations for completing your first SPECIAL Quest with the Adventurer Coalition!

Achievement received: SPECIAL Agent I

Bonus reward: 500 PICK

Contender World First Achievement: 9 Rank Progress

Congratulations for solo completing a SPECIAL Quest with the Adventurer Coalition!

Achievement received: SPECIAL Killer I

Bonus reward: 30 Rank Progress

Contender World First Achievement: 180 Rank Progress

Congratulations for solo completing a SPECIAL Quest with the Adventurer Coalition at 3 or more Levels under the Minimum Recommended Level!

Achievement received: SPECIAL Assassin I

Bonus reward: 270 Rank Progress

Contender World First Achievement: 1 additional spell/ability selection, 180 Rank Progress

You now possess enough Rank Progress to advance in Rank at the Adventurer Coalition! Please visit your nearest Coalition representative to acquire your new Rank!

Thaden was speechless as the different Achievements scrolled across the message feed, as he wasn’t expecting anything like that to happen. He had forgotten that Boydlen had said that Quests were automatically completed if the System considered it complete, and the fact that it had also taken into account that he was low-Leveled for the Quest and also solo had benefitted him with the extra Achievements and subsequent rewards. The large amounts of Rank Progress were welcome along with the PICK he earned, though the most impactful reward was the additional spell choice.

That alone could potentially mean the difference between life and death.

Thaden had also increased his Competencies by a lot, though Natural Regeneration had only increased by a single Level; that made sense because he had only been technically hurt once, and had been able to heal himself afterwards. As for both Support and Defensive Spellcasting, they had rocketed up in Levels, gaining him a pair of Advancements for Support at Level 9 and 27, as well as another Advancement for Defensive at Level 81 – which was three times the previous threshold. He wasn’t sure if it stayed the same or not, but he thought he might not get another Advancement until he hit Level 243 in the Competency, as that was also three times the previous threshold.

He was tempted to look at them first, but there was something else he needed to do first, which was to apply the enormous amount of PICK he felt inside of him; it felt like at least twice the amount he’d gained from his flight out of the Vogmite Tunnels.

PICK requirements met! 4,900/4,900

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 18 Assistant Healer!

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

Mentality +2

Personality +1

(2) Spell selection choices

He couldn’t do more than that without choosing his spells, so he immediately addressed the window that popped up. He was glad that his additional choice gained from his SPECIAL Assassin I Achievement hadn’t made him choose right away, but had instead waited until he had to choose from his Level-up – which meant he could choose three spells this time.

Please select (3) spells from the following selections:

Weak Regrowth (Channeled)

Weak Protective Barrier (Single Cast)

Weak Health Augmentation (Single Cast)

Weak Mana Rejuvenation (Single Cast)

Weak Healing Circle (Channeled)

Weak Aura of Life (Reserved)

Minor Regeneration (Single Cast)

Minor Cure Physical Affliction (Single Cast)

Minor Absorption Field (Channeled)

Minor Health Reduction (Single Cast)

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

The first choice from the list of available spells was easy: Minor Absorption Field. Even with the additional 5 Levels of protection due to his Harder Protection Advancement for his Defensive Spellcasting Competency, Thaden was well aware that if any of those Undead he’d just killed had used some sort of magical spells or effects on him, there were more than a few of the Maulers and Swarmers that were Level 26 and 27. With Minor Absorption Field, he would be able to prevent magical damage from up to Level 35 sources, which was something he sorely needed.

After that, though, the choices became a little more difficult. There were two new spells on the list that weren’t upgrades – Minor Health Reduction was another new addition – so he looked closer at what they did.

Weak Aura of Life (Reserved): Creates a persistent aura surrounds the caster that sends out healing energy to anyone nearby.

Healing Amount: 1 Health per 5 seconds

Range: 20-foot radius of caster

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost (Reserved): 20% of Mana pool

Weak Damage Shield (Single Cast): Creates a full-body protective barrier around a single target that prevents all types of damage; once damage is prevented, Weak Damage Shield disappears; cannot target self.

Number of Targets: 1

Range: 20 feet

Duration: N/A

Damage Mitigation: 50 Damage

Casting Time: 2 seconds

Mana Cost: 30

Cooldown: 2 seconds

Weak Aura of Life was different from any other spell he had or was on the list, not because of what it did, but because of how it was cast. Instead of being a channeled spell that constantly used Mana, or a single-cast spell that used a chunk of Mana all at once, it appeared to be a spell that reserved a bit of his total Mana pool to have it active all the time. It was something he could turn on and off at will, but while it was active, he would have 20% less Mana to use for his other spells. Most healers would have to choose whether or not this would be beneficial, as while it was a constant Weak Regeneration spell that was always active for anyone within 20 feet, they would have – at his current Level with 270 Mana – approximately 54 less Mana to spend on other healing or protection spells.

It was a good thing he didn’t really care about having a smaller Mana pool.

The other new spell was another Defensive spell, Weak Damage Shield, which did exactly as the name implied. It was similar to Weak Protective Barrier, which protected someone entirely from any damage or effects (physical or magical), but it had two major differences. The first was that it blocked only up to 50 points of damage instead of all damage from a single hit, so if someone was hit by 100 points of damage, the Barrier would negate all 100 points, while the Shield would only negate half. The second difference was that there was no duration for the Shield, meaning that it could be always be on until it was needed, and it would be able to stay active until all 50 points of damage was mitigated. Both had their benefits and drawbacks, but they were also both unable to be cast on himself.

Thaden thought about what he wanted to do now that he had survived the initial onslaught of Undead, as that would influence his spell selection. Given that he was going to try and join another party from the Coalition when they showed up, Weak Protective Barrier, Weak Damage Shield, or even Weak Mana Rejuvenation could be more useful while he was with other people. However, those two spells did absolutely nothing for him personally, and he was slightly worried that he might not meet anyone for another few hours or perhaps even the rest of the day. He didn’t want to miss any other parties that came to complete the SPECIAL Quest, which he was sure they would, because it was still technically active because the threat hadn’t disappeared; he imagined it would only be fully complete once someone went inside the Mausoleum of Despair and challenged the dungeon for the “Bonus Completion Requirements”.

Therefore, getting something that would benefit himself while he waited around for more people to show up would be the smarter move; it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t be beneficial to other people, though not necessarily as impactful as it would be for himself. With that resolution in mind, he chose the newest spell, Weak Aura of Life, as his first choice since there was absolutely no drawback to using it that he could see. For his last selection, Thaden chose Minor Regeneration because of his constant use of it while fighting the Undead, and with it now regenerating (or damaging Undead monsters) by 3 points of Health per 5 seconds, it more than tripled his persistent damage. Now, with the Aura spell, he was outputting a total of 4 Health per 5 seconds the new Regeneration spell was on a nearby target, or 48 Health a minute; it wasn’t a huge amount still, but it would certainly help to kill the Undead much faster than before.

With those selections made, Thaden opened his Competency Advancements, wanting to know what they were before he made any other spell selections once he started applying more PICK. The first he opened was the Defensive Spellcasting Competency, and he was disappointed to see that there was only a single new choice in addition to what was available before, as well as upgrades to his previous choices.

Please select (1) Advancement for your Defensive Spellcasting Competency:

Faster Protection – All Defensive spells now have a 50% permanent casting time decrease

Longer Protection – All Defensive spells now have a 50% permanent duration increase

Thicker Protection – All Defensive spells now prevent 50% more damage

Even Harder Protection – All Defensive spells now protect from sources 10 Levels higher than before

More Extended Protection – All single-target Defensive spells now extend to protect 2 additional targets

Disease Protection – All Defensive spells now temporarily protect against Burning, Charmed, Poisoned, and Sleep afflictions

Rejection Protection – All Defensive spells now give the recipient a 100% bonus to hit accuracy on their next strike

This was an even harder choice than his spells, because there was much more to consider now. Since he was starting to think that his next Advancement choice might not be for a while, he had to think about the future. More Extended Protection would allow him to cast his Defensive spells and have it target two extra people instead of just one, while the new Rejection Protection also gave someone a 100% bonus to hit accuracy – which could be a huge boon for any party members. Neither of those did anything for him, of course, but should that be his priority? Sure, he’d chosen himself to be the priority when choosing his latest spells, but he was fairly certain he’d be able to choose many more spells before he acquired another Advancement; he could always select some other spells as he increased in Level, but the next Advancement opportunity might be a long time coming.

The stench of rotting flesh seemed to waft into his nostrils again as he laid there on the ground, and a quick glance past his open windows showed something alarming. The fog, which had retreated to the edge of his perceptive range, was visibly flowing back in. It wasn’t fast, but he estimated that within an hour, the entire place would be covered again just like it was before.

I need to stay alive in order to be useful to a group. I guess that makes my decision for me.

Without a glance at the rolling fog coming ever closer, he chose Even Harder Protection as his Defensive Spellcasting Competency Advancement, giving his Field spells the ability to now block up to Level 40 sources.

Quickly opening his Support Spellcasting Competency Advancements, he saw similar themes to his choices, though that didn’t mean he chose the same things.

Please select (2) Advancements for your Support Spellcasting Competency:

Faster Healing – All Support spells now have a 50% permanent casting time decrease

Longer Healing – All Support spells now have a 50% permanent duration increase

Stronger Healing – All Support spells now heal or reduce 50% more Health

Group Healing – All multi-target Support spells now have a 50% range increase

Self Healing – All single-target Support spells now heal or reduce 100% more Health

Afterglow – All Support spells now heal an extra 1% of max Health every 5 seconds for 60 seconds

The choice in Advancements for his Support Spellcasting Competency was difficult because there were at least four of them that he wanted. He immediately dismissed Longer Healing, mainly because he didn’t care overly much about the duration of his spells since he could simply cast them again if needed. The same went with Faster Healing, because although it could come in handy for things like Weak Resurrection and even Minor Healing, he preferred his instant-cast spells at the moment.

Which left Advancements that healed – or reduced, which he supposed was compatible with his Weak Health Reduction spell – 50% more for all Support spells, increased the range of his area healing spells, increased the healing of single-target healing spells by 100%, or add an after-spell effect that healed 1% of max Health every 5 seconds for the next 60 seconds.

He wanted them all, because each of them would be highly beneficial in some way. He knew that he was under a little bit of time constraint with the fog rolling in, but he didn’t want to put this off until later; therefore, he buckled down and did his best to figure out how to narrow it down. First, as much as it would be beneficial if he was ever surrounded by a massive horde of Undead again, Group Healing with its extended range didn’t actually do much other than reach further. It didn’t heal – or in the case of the Undead, damage – any more than what he already did, which he decided was something he wanted from his Advancements.

That left three to choose from, and after a bit of deliberation, he decided to forgo Self Healing for the moment. While being able to heal 100% more to a single target (or damage that same Undead target) was powerful, he’d rather have a 50% increase to all healing/damage because he used a mixture of single and multi-target Support spells. Afterglow was his second choice after grabbing Stronger Healing, because something that would do lingering healing or damage was extremely strong – especially since he could likely renew the effect over and over again.

With those choices locked in, he went back to using his accumulated PICK once again.