As Mira reached the chest, she squatted down and put her harpoon on the ground. With Arthur next to her, she placed one hand on the chest, and a screen popped up.
Rewards received!
x1 [Swordfish Fin]
x1 [Earring of Moderate Tempo]
The items fell on the bloody floor, but somehow remained clean as Mira scooped them up. As Arthur shifted to peek over, a sword in a blue sheath was suddenly in his face. Lifting it from Mira’s hands, he turned it over, inspecting it.
[Swordfish Fin] (Uncommon): A blade made from a swordfish on a planet completely consumed by water, who died before reaching its pinnacle of power. Its fins were razor sharp, and are now at your command.
Potency: 20
Charm capacity: Low
- [Swordfish Charge]: Propel yourself forward to skewer an enemy.
- [Swift Swimmer]: DEX +3
“Mira… are you sure you don’t want this? It has to be better than that harpoon,” He said. Mira shrugged after picking up the harpoon just mentioned. “You’re the one of us who doesn’t have a real weapon yet. Unless you believe you can use a harpoon better than me, I think a sword to go with that… ‘shield’ is best. Besides, I’m more than content with the earring.” Arthur felt a touch of irritation from her, but had no ideas what it could be. He had a feeling it wasn’t directed at him, however.
“Okay… should we move on?” Arthur asked. He was eager to get away from the foul-smelling blood, and he thought a change in location might help Mira. She looked at him with a strange look in her eye and nodded silently.
“Move!!” Gideon yelled, prompting Ema to duck with a shrill squeak as a hammer zoomed over her head. It slammed into the treeant with a resounding crash, toppling it like lumber.
[Comet Swing]: Mana infused attack with your weapon. Effects change depending on [Polarity].
- [North]: Heavy swing with a blunt weapon, striking with the force of a shooting star. When the attack lands, inflicts [Dazed] and [Concussion].
- [South]: Precise swing or stab with a finesse weapon, striking with the speed of a shooting star. When the attack lands, inflicts [Hemorrhaged] and [Hamstrung].
Gideon’s class was called a Domain Warden, and it gave him skills and abilities related to stone and gravity. It gave him a sort of cosmic motif for his skill-set, which, while he wouldn’t admit it, he quite relished. The treeant was less appreciative of it as it toppled over, a hole the size of a bowling ball gaping in its trunk.
Gideon was a rare case in several ways, despite his class only being of Scarce rarity. To begin with, he used two different weapons in each hand. Not only did he dual wield, however, he dual wielded weapons that were normally antithetical to each other. A hammer was the weapon of a fighter on the front lines, while a dagger was the weapon of a more stealthy type. Gideon held one in each hand, however, and his class not only encouraged it, but incentivized it. His class worked as a type of “stance switching” style and was an overall brawling type. He was the type of fighter who could take hits and deal them back, with his brawling styles switching upon changing his Polarity.
[Polarity]: Passive - Allows the user to switch between [North] and [South] modes.
- [North]: Enhanced STR and VIT. Some skills can only be activated in [North] mode, while some can be activated either way as chosen with the {Interchangeable} tag.
- [South]: Greatly enhanced DEX. Some skills can only be activated in [South] mode, while some can be activated either way as chosen with the {Interchangeable} tag.
While in North mode, he would be a traditional brawler of the type one might expect. High strength and vitality, but slow moving. In South mode, his style would switch to a more evasion focused brawler, preferring to dodge hits for precise strikes to critical areas. Both modes had their strengths and weaknesses, and it was up to Gideon to decide when one was more useful than the other. Taking even a single hit while in South mode would be punishing, but he would be fast enough to catch speedy prey, or abuse an enemy’s lack of speed. Conversely, he could take hits all day in North mode, and strike back with heavy slams. He would only be slightly faster than a snail with this Polarity, but apparently trees were slower than snails. As shocking a revelation as that might be, Gideon wasn’t the only one with interesting abilities on the battlefield.
After popping back up, Sasaki Ema used her crouching posture to leap back, floating away as if she was weightless. She had been surrounded again, as the enemy knew to always target the supports first, but Gideon had been ready to react. As she floated back, she threw her hand up and released an orange sphere in her palm, which popped soon after appearing.
[Empower]: Grant yourself or an ally a boost to a stat of your choice. Lasts up to 20 minutes, with mounting mana cost. Stackable buff up to a maximum of 3 stacks, with mounting mana cost.
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- STR, VIT, DEF, DEX, and INT +3, 5, or 10%
Ema was a pure support class, the Greater Keeper. It focused on dexterity and intelligence, leaving the other 3 stats to drown in obscurity. Earlier, she’d groaned invective at not focusing solely on intelligence, but had shut that down quickly after actually having her first battle with the class. Dexterity was a stat that increased damage with finesse weapons, but her class was of pure support, which for now had no damaging abilities. Even if she got damaging skills, she doubted it would ever be related to close combat like Gideon. Something she failed to realize, however, is that dexterity also accounts for movement speed and overall mobility.
Supports were always the member of any party that was targeted first. Everyone, even seemingly mindless monsters, knew to target the one healing or the fight would never end. While Ema didn’t account for that, her class thankfully did. Her class had started her at level 2 with a baseline of over 20 dexterity, only 2 behind her intelligence stat. During the fight that followed her gaining her class, she realized just how easily she could get away with dexterity that overshadows the opponents. She could escape almost any situation if she had an opening, and said opening was swinging his club hammer at a new enemy not a second after felling the first. As he did, and before she even landed, she pointed at Gideon and cast another skill.
[Augmentation]: Grant yourself or an ally increased damage and damage reduction. Lasts up to 20 minutes, with mounting mana cost.
For a brawler like Gideon, a skill like Augmentation was perfect. It boosted two things that he did well while in North mode, being taking damage and dealing it in kind. It even synergized with one of Gideon’s own skills, granting him greater gains for dealing more damage.
[Stellar Collision]: Passive - Gain moderate healing commensurate to damage dealt.
- [North]: Gain a moderate barrier commensurate to damage dealt.
- [South]: Gain a moderate boost to DEX commensurate to damage dealt. Has a maximum capacity.
Thanks to Ema’s buff, the barrier and healing that he received was even greater than before. Swinging madly, he took down one treeant after another that had previously surrounded the pocket-sized support. The damage boost that Augmentation gave was good for Gideon, but he wasn’t the only reason she had chosen the skill during her choice. She could tell that the other reason had finished charging her skill, as the hairs on her arms stood up. Gideon clearly felt it too, as just when Ema felt it, he also jumped for an exit, switching Polarity to get better movement. Just as he got clear, an enormous lightning bolt split the sky with an ear-splitting crash, and struck the ground with an earth-shattering boom.
[Lightning Bolt]: Release a bolt of lightning from the sky. Chargeable skill. The more stacks of [Static] used during this skill, the greater the damage. If [Static] stacks used equal 5 or more, inflicts [Shocked]. If stacks used equal 10 or more, inflicts [Stunned]. If stacks equal 20 or more, vastly increases damage dealt. May only be used under the sky.
***[Shocked]: Causes the enemy to lose HP over a short period of time and be liable to freeze suddenly.
***[Stunned]: Causes the enemy to be unable to move for a short period of time.
Like Arthur, Aurora Diné’s class afforded her the use of stacks that she could collect during a battle. Unlike Arthur, however, hers were limited in both their usage and their gain, only giving her a stack of Static when she used a lightning based skill. It could also only be used to empower lightning based skills, although they also passively gave her buffs.
[Fury of the Sky]-Passive: Severely greater mana cost for all lightning based skills. Extreme boost to all lightning based skill damage. Grants multiple stacks of [Static] with each lightning based skill used, with a maximum of 50. Grants extreme resistance to all lightning based attacks. If [Static] stacks equal 20 or more in total, grants [Levitation].
***[Static]: Grants greater stamina regeneration. Can be used to bolster lightning based attacks for greater mana costs.
***[Levitation]: Allows the user to float up to 20 meters above the ground. If [Static] stacks are less than 20, slowly declines in height.
Aurora was, unlike Ema, a purely intelligence focused class. Her strength, defense and vitality stats were dump stats like her friend’s, but her dexterity in comparison was extremely low. It was to where it was only barely better than being a dump stat in itself, but it gave her the advantage of all her points in a single place; intelligence. Aurora was also, unlike Gideon, a purely damage focused class. He could land good hits that would hurt the enemies, but compared to Aurora, it was middling at best. This was a dichotomy born from the disparity of their skills. Where Gideon could take hits, Aurora dealt damage. Where Gideon could control an area with his stone abilities, Aurora dealt damage. Every skill she had up to this point was about dealing, and getting into a position to deal, damage. This point was only hammered home as the lightning bolt descended upon the earth, leaving incredible destruction in its wake.
The lightning bolt tore apart the ground it landed upon, sending a huge cloud of dirt billowing out. The ground was cratered and broken, as if a meteor had struck. The enemies within the blast radius were dead, debilitated, or scattered and confused. Gideon made the best of this as he leaped back in, the buffs Ema had given him still coursing through his body.
Gideon, Aurora and Ema made their way back to their safe-house, exhausted. Ema had a passive skill that vastly improved mana regeneration and mana efficiency, but stamina was a different story. Even if she had, the amount of tiredness that permeated through their small party ran bone deep. They were the only ones on campus who were any good in a fight, even though they weren’t the only ones with classes. The casualty list was taller than the buildings they resided in, and they felt the weight of the world on their shoulders as they made their way home.
The multitudes of enemies that attacked them on a biweekly basis were like a mishmash of different fantastical creatures. It was almost like the monsters from books and fairytales had come to life just to kill them all. This time it was treeants, last time they were goblins, and the time before that were giant wolves. They’d lost the most people during that time. They never talked about it, but all three of them remembered the faces of the fallen with bitter memories. They all worried about their families and friends that the System had separated them from, even wondering if they’d ever see them again. The dour mood persisted until they reached their safe-house, where, after greeting the other students, they crashed in their meeting room.
“How much food is left?” Gideon asked, his voice weary. Aurora, slouching only slightly due to stress and lethargy, answered him. “There’s enough for two more weeks at least. But after that, it’s unsure. Maybe three more weeks, but it’s likely that won’t last.” Gideon was silent for a moment before speaking again. “Should we make a break for it? We’ve been fighting for over a month now. Their forces have to be thin enough for us to break through!” Aurora shook her head. “They haven’t shown any signs of slowing down. If we try to run too soon, they’ll just kill everyone.” Aurora was often the voice of reason in their group. While Ema was eccentric and unpredictable, Aurora was calm, relaxed, and kind. She was the stability of their ship, Ema was the driving force, and Gideon was the one who steered it.
Ema blew out a raspberry as she slouched so deeply it was like the chair was eating her. “It’s a bad situation, but we can’t give up. Too many people are depending on us, and even if they weren’t, what would happen if we stopped? Just lie down and die? I’ll pass.” The other two nodded, falling into a slightly more comfortable yet still tense silence. It didn’t last long, however, as Dennis, the barricade watchman, crashed into the room. “Guys, there’s a bunch of monsters on the way to the building! I-I think they found us!!” he practically screamed. The three friends looked at each other, before all bolting up and dashing out of the door. All traces of tiredness were gone from the unlikely heroes as they once again ran to defend their “home”.