Secondly, you get a Skill from completing the Tutorial – the System calls it a Quest Reward, but outside of the Tutorial no one reliable has ever reported a Quest that gives out a Skill.
Third, you can find or buy a Skill gem. Good luck with that.
Finally, you can fucking go out and learn it – or at least, you can learn some Skills.
- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 3.2 – “Obtaining Skills”
With five recruits to four senior Delvers, one of us got to sleep through the night, and I’d won the right to it in a quick rock-paper-sword-snake-bird bout with Raylan and Zaire. That meant I was peacefully asleep in my bedroll, tucked in tight against the night chill, when I was suddenly awakened by a shout over the Comms.
The Barretts looked confused and nervous, so I slung an arm around each of their shoulders and pulled us into a huddle with Raylan and Zaire.
“What do you know about ghouls? Short short version,” I asked Zaire.
“They’re dangerous in close quarters but generally have no ranged abilities and are weak to fire and divine magic, Gunner Az,” he replied confidently.
My mind raced. We had two sources of fire, Alyssa and myself, plus more ranged damage from Zaire and Alex. Around us, the ground was nearly flat, mostly dirt with the occasional cactus or scrub brush. The three-quarter moon provided plenty of light to see by, at least for me.
“How fast are they?”
“They don’t run as fast as a person, but the undead never tire.”
“Alright. We’ll try to keep them at a distance and whittle their numbers down gradually. Raylan, get your bow out. Follow me!”
I took off at a fast jog to the west with a group of slightly confused recruits trailing along. I led them a couple hundred yards away from our camp, then formed us into a single line with Zaire on one end, Raylan on the other, and myself in the center between the twins. We were spread out about five feet apart.
Carefully, I formed the spellform for Fire and infused it into my gun. My first attempt was successful, and I felt the spellform get pulled into my gun, which was loaded with my standard ammo. It wasn’t long before I saw the movement in the distance, and I quickly adjusted our formation to face the threat.
The undead spotted us around the same time and broke into a ragged charge. It was hard to get a good count, but I was sure there were less than fifteen of them, with a single, larger monster towards the back. Identify. Identify.
Monster: GhoulStolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
Level: 4
Monster: Wight
Level: 10Stolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
I checked another ghoul, finding it to be Level 3. That’s a lot of Level 4s, I hope they’re not going to be as tough as an orc!
Squad update:
Mason, Hassan, Vale, and Block have left the party. The new leader is Ashley.Stolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
“What?!” cried Alex in confusion.
“Don’t worry, they’re still with us, it’s just for the Essence! When I shoot, everyone attacks, then back up and stay with me!”
A streak of fire flashed by us, finding a tiny gap in the crowd of ghouls and… the wight disappeared, completely destroyed by Hassan’s shot.
“FIRE!” I shouted, my red dot painted over the chest of a ghoul in the middle of the pack, about fifty yards away. In the moonlight, I couldn’t tell what color it was, but it was man-shaped and man-sized, naked and rotting, with gaping wounds in its flesh.
BOOM! click-click
On full choke, I was confident the majority of my pellets hit the creature, which staggered, then burst into flame in at least a dozen places as magical fire erupted inside its disgusting body. It howled, tumbling to the ground, and I risked a quick glance to my new companions. The loud gunshot startled the twins into action, and a firebolt flew from Alyssa’s staff, crashing into another ghoul and causing it to shriek wordlessly in agony. Alex loosed, then drew and loosed again. I trusted Zaire and Raylan to be doing the same, and I saw more ghouls go down.
“Step back, then hit them again!”
BOOM! click-click BOOM! click-click
I fired, stepped back twice, and fired again. Each shot sent a ghoul sprawling, though I wasn’t sure if they were dead or just injured. Another half a dozen were down under a hail of arrows and firebolts. Earth Spikes jutted from the ground and impaled others. My teammates were retreating, but not all at the same pace, and our line was becoming ragged as the ghouls closed in further.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
I led them back the way we came, checking to make sure each ghoul was dead, or re-dead, or extra-dead, or whatever it’s called. I had plenty of mana left, so Raylan, Alex, and I took turns Identifying any of the monsters that looked like they might possibly start moving again, then either Alyssa, Zaire, or I would finish them off.
Fire worked great, and one of Zaire’s Earth Spikes to the head was more than enough to stop one permanently, but the arrows hadn’t proven very effective. Still, Raylan recovered as many of his as he could, explaining to Alex that they weren’t conjured so he had a limited supply.
Finally, we finished off the last ghoul and a strong wave of Essence hit me. PAST’s thunderous shout drowned out the twins' excited cheering.
[YOU HAVE NOW GAINED THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE TO BE PROMOTED TO LEVEL 5! CONGRATULATIONS, CITIZEN! WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PROCEED, SIMPLY SAY ‘LEVEL UP’!]
Squad update:Stolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
Mason is requesting to join your Squad.
“PAST, accept and make Mason the Squad Leader.”
[A glorious fight, Gunner! Are you sure you wish to relinquish command?!]
“What the fuck does re-lin-quish mean?”
[It means to give something up voluntarily! I remind you this is not the American Way, Gunner! The American Way is to accumulate power!]
“Ugh, just do as I say!”
[Acknowledged!]
Handling the undead corpses was disgusting, but at least I’d gotten a Level out of the fight. The other senior Delvers rejoined the Squad as we handled the grisly task. Afterwards, we made our way back to the bedrolls and I sat down on mine.
“Level up.”
[Very good, Gunner! Normally, at every Level ending in 5, you would receive additional free Attribute points to allocate as you wish! However, due to your Aspect of Versatility, you will receive two points in each of your lowest Attributes instead!]
What? I wanted to finally get some free points to spend! This Aspect is… ugh, it’s taking a lot of decisions out of my hands! I need to see what happened. Inspect.
Wow, that’s a lot of added Attributes, not to mention how much my mana and stamina went up! Even my health got a good boost. I guess since I had four ‘lowest’ Attributes, I got eight extra points instead of five, even if I didn’t get to choose where they went. Now I just have one lowest, in Control. Should I bring it up to match all those 13’s I have? Hmm… I guess I can worry about that when I’m getting close to Level 15. I’m going to stick with my strategy.
“PAST, put my free point in Absorption.”
I held myself rigidly under control, hoping that no one would notice the rush of pleasure I got from completing the Level up process. Thankfully, the twins were excitedly opening their System chests and no one seemed to be paying extra attention to me.
[BY REACHING LEVEL 5, YOU HAVE EARNED A NEW SKILL!]
Class Skill Selection:
Run and Gun: For the next 10 seconds, your accuracy is unaffected by movement.
Type: Active
Cost: 10 mana
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Instant Replenishment: Immediately refills your bandolier to full capacity.Stolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
Type: Active
Cost: Same as standard replenishment
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Quick Step: Take a step that covers twice the usual distance.
Type: Active
Cost: 1 stamina
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Fuck, I wanted Ricochet! Why couldn't I get that, instead of fucking Instant Replenishment? Run and Gun looks interesting, but 5 minutes is a long cooldown… I probably could have only used it once during this whole fight. And it’s expensive, too! Every time I use it would cost more than three fresh shells, or the same as five restored ones. Would it be that good?
Quick Step is basic, but I could use it in so many situations. And I don't have any Skills that use stamina right now, except for Inventory. I should put my stamina to work for me. When I Level it up, I bet it will be awesome!
I debated asking Mason or Hassan for advice, but I was feeling pretty confident in my choice, so I went ahead and told PAST to give me Quick Step. I felt a tingle as the Skill became mine, then it was time for my own reward chest. It contained something different than what I’d seen in them before.
It was a knife, with the same black matte finish as my gun on both the handle and blade. What made this one interesting was that one side of the crossguard was longer than the other, and had a hole in it. That, and the fact that when I pulled it from the sheath, I saw the back of the blade was jagged, with sawteeth running down two-thirds of the eight-inch blade. It was a nasty looking weapon.
Why would there be a hole in this thing? Inspect.
Item: Bayonet Knife
Level: 5
Condition: ExcellentStolen from RoyalRoad. Support AzureInk by reading the original.
No one did, but eventually we figured out that it was meant to attach to the end of my shotgun.
“I knew it!” shouted Block triumphantly. “You’ve only got one thing that fits in that hole!”
Everyone stopped and looked at him incredulously, but he just grinned. Block’s antics aside, it was an interesting addition to my shotgun. My increased Strength helped me manage the added weight, but it was still a bit unwieldy. Interestingly, it stayed attached to my gun when I stored and retrieved it. Putting everything away, I decided to get back to sleep and figure things out in the morning.
Ghouls. I wanted them to be even more disgusting, but the AI I'm using wouldn't put rotting wounds on them, so you're getting the PG-13 version.