Having finally cracked three digits on her health points (and stamina points), Sara bounced her way towards the goblin clearing the next morning. She was trying to get a hang of the 'consecutive leap' thing, but it was definitely easier said than done. It was kinda fun though. She was like a bunny wolf. With correct timing she could even bounce off of the tree trunks. If anyone had seen her, they definitely would have thought she was glitching out, and might have filed a bug report. But she hadn't considered that, and it couldn't be further from her mind.
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
Nice!
She stopped when she got close to the clearing, and entered Stealth to check it out. It was much as she had left it the day before. The goblins were now keeping their distance from the west forest, and while they didn't seem extremely alert, they were definitely keeping an eye on the treeline. There didn't seem to be any adventurer parties around this early, so it wasn't like the goblins would get distracted by that.
Honestly it seemed impossible to pick off any more goblins as things stood. Maybe if she snuck around to the other side, and started attacking from the east, but both east and south were where the adventurers came from. And the north was cleared all the way up to the cliffside. With Stealth and Camouflage she could probably still sneak by, but she couldn't launch attacks from there.
Maybe it was better to go hunt deer for the last experience she needed to hit level 20, but greed compelled her to want more skills. Even if she couldn't use them. However there didn't seem to be any good options for her. It might be days before the goblins calmed down again.
As she was about to give up, she spotted a party of goblins exiting the camp. At first she thought it was another hunting party heading east, but then she saw them turn west, and head in her general direction. It looked to be two Rangers, two Druids, a Mage, a Scout, and two she hadn't seen up close before. They were equipped with sword and shield, and heavier armour, which meant they were probably Fighters. So eight goblins in total.
She (metaphorically) scratched her head, wondering what they were up to. It had been like a week and a half since she moved into Merwyn Forest West, and she had not seen nor heard nor smelled a single goblin in there in all that time. They seemed content to hunt in the east. So what was this group doing?
Hang on. Are they coming here because of what I did yesterday? Are they seeking retribution?
Well, even with a Scout the odds of them finding her were slim to none. Maybe they just wanted to beat up a bunch of wolves to vent their frustration. They were a well-balanced party, and with those numbers there was probably nothing in the woods that could stand against them.
When they got close enough, she used Identify on one of the shield goblins.
[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) HP: 92/92 ]
[ Skill List ]
[ Active: ]
[ Slash Lvl 8 | Cleave Lvl 6 | Shield Bash Lvl 6 | Kick Lvl 5 | Throw Lvl 4 |
Taunt Lvl 5 | Parry Lvl 6 ]
[ Passive: ]
[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Sword Expertise Lvl 6 | Shield Expertise Lvl 6 |
Balance Up Lvl 6 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 |
Defence Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl 4 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]
Both of them were level 18, and they seemed to be entirely built as tanks, and bruisers.
Slash was the basic attack for swords, and Sword Expertise was equivalent to Dagger, Bow, and Axe. As for the rest...
[ Cleave (Active): Perform a wide slash with a bladed weapon that can hit multiple targets in front of the user. Base width: 3 metres. Extends further with longer weapons. Damage value: (1+(0.02*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed status for 10 seconds. Cost: 6 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Shield Bash (Active): Strike a target with your shield, knocking them away, and inflicting Stun status for 3 seconds. Damage value: (0.3+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Push force increases with skill level. Scales with shield size, and type. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Taunt (Active): Force surrounding opponents' aggro to focus on you for 5 seconds. Radius: 3 metres. Duration and radius increase with skill level. Wanderers and Residents have a chance to resist the effect. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. ]
So I can use that one, but I'm not sure in what situation I would actually want to...
[ Parry (Active): Precisely parry a physical attack, leaving the target open to a counter-attack that is a guaranteed critical hit. Requires a weapon, shield, or something equivalent to parry with. Damage value: (1.3+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Counter-attack only possible with perfect timing. Good timing deflects the incoming attack. Poor timing makes user receive a glancing blow for 50% damage. Missed timing makes user take the full attack with 20% reduced Defence. Timing window increases with skill level. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Shield Expertise: Improves block value, and increases shield parry window. Slight increase in attack power when striking a target with a shield. Buff value: (0.5*skill level)%. (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
Everyone in the party was level 17 or 18, even though she had seen goblins in the clearing down to level 15. Were they sending out their strongest? That seemed a little excessive, so they had to be quite pissed off.
I really wasn't expecting this sort of response. It's so unlike any games I've played before. Hm... what should I do?
It didn't feel right to leave them alone, and let them just trample over everything in the woods. Perhaps she should answer numbers with numbers. She had rounded up several packs against the adventurers the other day. As far as she knew everything in these woods hated the goblins, so it shouldn't be hard to round up a bunch of the others. While those Vanguards were a little worrying, she had learned that overall goblins were weaker than Adventurers, and made up for it with numbers. So this party probably wasn't much stronger than the Adventurer party she had taken down the other day.
She crept back into the woods ahead of the goblins to look for wolf packs to recruit.
* * *
It didn't take long to round up a dozen wolves like last time. They seemed quite eager to take down the goblins. But as she kept watching them she realised they were covering their flanks well, and weren't really open to an Ambush. There wasn't anywhere she could get behind any of them. A flank strike was probably possible, but would leave her very open once exposed. So maybe it would be fun to try something else: Death From Above. She had practised jumping up and down from the trees the previous afternoon. With Air Control helping her, she was certain she could precisely land on any goblin she wished, and if she went high enough up she would surely one-shot one of the weaker ones. But which one to go for? The Mage? One of the Druids? Those had to be the high priority targets. If she took out one of the Druids, the other one would probably focus on healing, and crowd control, instead of transforming into a bear.
The goblins were moving in a more or less straight line, so she was able to predict where they would be going. After telling the other wolves to lurk nearby, and wait for her signal, she ascended to the top of a tree that didn't have an owl in it. Waking up the owls to have them join the assault might not be a bad idea, but it was hard to rely on. Even if she felt sure they would prioritise the goblins, it would be a bonus side-effect, if anything.
Her targets finally moved into range, so it was time to put the plan into action, and see what happened. She started with a Howl, startling the goblins below, and forcing them to look up as she came diving down. Which left them unprepared for the wolves charging in from all sides, and they certainly couldn't react in time to avoid a rapidly falling wolf landing on top of one of their Druids with an ensuing splat. There were even a couple of owls woken up by the Howl joining in the fray as she had hoped.
Unfortunately things started to go bad almost immediately. One of the Fighters used Taunt, and while Sara was able to resist it, the others weren't. The Rangers and Mage quickly shot down the owls, and the wolves were on their own again. They did manage to take down one of the Rangers, and most of the Scout when they broke free from the Taunt, and before the other Fighter got to use his, but overall the wolves were losing more than the goblins were.
Things were falling apart way faster than Sara could have predicted. After tearing down the Mage, she was hit with a Shield Bash, and knocked over. The Fighter who hit her raised his sword, and was about to bring it down when suddenly a black bolt struck him, and knocked him over. It looked like he was dead, or close to it. Sara's claws started glowing black as she got back on her feet, and she shot a confused glance upwards.
A couple of Dusk Ravens were hovering above, and unleashing havoc on the goblins. It seemed like the Fighters had poor magic defence, and the Ravens were clever enough to target them first. Two Shadow Bolts hit the second one at almost the same time, and she looked to be down for the count as well. Though they had lost half their number, the wolves were quick to jump on the chance. With air support, claws of shadow, and howls of determination they were able to turn the tide against the goblins, and wipe them out without any further losses.
She looked up at the Dusk Ravens again.
They really saved our hides there. I wish I was able to thank them.
The best she could do was wag her tail while looking at them, and attempt to telepathically say 'thank you'. Whether it worked or not, the Ravens seemed pleased as they flew off. Maybe they were just pleased with themselves, but she hoped her feelings had reached them.
A lot of popups were now waiting for her. Maybe it would be better to swipe them away, but she was too curious.
[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Lookout (Scout Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 17) Defeated. ]
[ Howl Skill Level Up! ] [ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ] [ Air Control Skill Level Up! ]
[ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]
[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]
[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Skill Gained: Mana Manipulation. ]
[ Skill Gained: Endurance Up (Small). ]
[ Skill Gained: Cleave. ]
Sara jumped backwards in shock at the amount of popup boxes that appeared in front of her.
Christ!
It was hard to parse all of it as she started quickly dismissing them. The actually important parts were that she had maxed out Body Slam, and gained three new skills. Two of which did nothing for her, at least at the moment. And the third... well, at least she was only one skill away from the full set now. If only the Mage had felt generous.
That had somehow not been enough for her to reach level 20, though. How little experience was each goblin worth? Or maybe basing her expectations on the Forest Deer was skewing her opinion too much. Well, she could at least see what she had unlocked.
[ Body Slam: Smash into a target with your shoulder, torso, or behind. Damage depends on the user's physical stature compared to the target's. Impact force affected by strike location. Capable of knocking target off balance. 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Stun status for 5 seconds. Effect and Stun duration increase with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Impact force increased by 15%. ]
That should make it easier to knock things over, so she felt happy about that.
She felt like she couldn't be far away from level 20. She could just ask these wolves to go hunt a couple of deer with her, but a different plan was forming in her mind. One no doubt influenced by greed, and the thrill of victory.
In spite of their losses, the wolves looked like they had enjoyed themselves, so maybe she could round up a few more, and answer the goblins' incursion with one of their own. She asked the wolves to wait while she ran off to find more compatriots.
[ Sprint Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Quick Feet. 2 skill points gained. ]
She would look at that later. There was no time to lose!
* * *
When their search and destroy party had respawned after their defeat, the goblins were pondering their next move. They hadn't seen the wolves band together in such numbers before, and they'd been unlucky enough for those blasted ravens to also get pulled into the fight. Should they just send in a bigger party? Or would that just end in meeting even more wolves? It might be better to just stay away from that side of the forest.
Their leader was absolutely furious at these wolves, though, and many in the camp shared his anger. They'd never seen such ambush tactics before either. Those darn Adventurers at least always came in parties. Being humiliated by a single wolf was teeth-grinding. They really wanted to find that wolf, and teach it a lesson that would make it never leave the forest again.
All of a sudden their discussion was interrupted as an entire chorus of howls rose up from the west.
* * *
More than 50 wolves charged out into the clearing towards the goblin camp, followed by an air force of about 10 ravens. Everyone present, be they goblin or adventurer were frozen in shock. There were two parties of Adventurers: one to the south, and one to the east. They were fighting the goblins, but when the wolves showed up, everyone just stopped, and stared.
Sara had been able to round up quite a lot of wolves with ease, probably most of the packs roaming the western forest, but she couldn't be entirely sure. They all seemed happy to come along. The Dusk Ravens had just followed along of their own accord for some reason. They were clever birds, so they probably had some reason, even if Sara couldn't guess what it was. Maybe they just really hated the goblins that much.
The first line of goblins fell with very little struggle, but as soon as they watched their own dying, the goblins further back started rallying with impressive speed, and stood fast against the tide of wolves as best they could. More goblins started storming out of the camp, and charged the line even as the ravens picked off a few of them along the way.
The Vanguards and Loggers did their best to hold the front line, while all the ranged attackers unleashed everything they had from behind. But there were just too many wolves, and they slipped past on all sides to tear into the back line, not to mention the ravens deliberately targeting the Fighters who had low magic defence. The Scouts could barely raise their daggers before being mowed down.
It was a battle unlike anything Merwyn Forest had ever seen, and Sara was getting a lot of popups queued up. Even though she didn't get to personally take down that many of the goblins, it seemed like the kills of the other pack members still counted towards her. She had no idea if she was getting full experience for them. Probably not. And skill experience she had to actually get herself.
Gradually the goblins managed to push against the wave, and slowly beat down the wolves. Even if there were a lot of enemies, the goblins had the advantage of equipment, and being right next to their respawn point. Once the leader stepped out to join the fray the wolves fell even faster. Sara herself had the honour of falling to his massive axe. The charge had been so much fun that she wasn't even angry. She had pretty much known it was going to be a suicide attack, but when you just respawned anyway it wasn't such a big deal.
The ravens managed to dance mostly out of range of the goblins' weapons. Only three of them fell by the time the wolves' numbers had dropped so low that the clever birds retreated.
[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]
That was fun! Now what did I gain from all this?
She summarily dismissed all the "enemy defeated" popups, and looked at the others instead.
[ Level Up: Level 20 Reached! Skills Unlocked: Trap Sense, Disarm Trap, Lockpick. 2 skill points gained. Evolution Available. ]
[ Howl Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Insulation Skill Level Up! ]
[ Skill Gained: Chop. ]
[ Skill Gained: Bow Expertise. ]
[ Skill Gained: Balance Up. ]
[ Skill Gained: Back Attack. ]
[ Skill Gained: Arcane Blast. ]
[ Skill Gained: Bear Form. ]
[ Skill Gained: Woodworking. ]
[ Skill Gained: Power Shot. ]
[ Skill Gained: Intelligence Up (Small). ]
[ Condition Met: All Attribute Up Skills Possessed. Skill Merge Available. 2 skill points gained. ]
So many skills... and some of them are actually useful! Three out of... ten? But what does it mean by Skill Merge? Aina?
"Skill merging is what it says. You may take several skills you have, and turn them into one. This is usually available after meeting a hidden condition, in this case having all the attribute up skills. Considering your ability to gain skills you normally should not be able to, it is possible you will meet more of these hidden conditions eventually. Hidden conditions can also unlock other things, but I will not say any more than that. That is up to you, and the Adventurers to discover."
[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]
It had taken so long to look at all of that that she had already respawned. Well, she might as well paw the Skill Merge button then.
[ Requisite Skills Will Merge Into: All Attributes Up (Small). Calculating experience: Skill will become Level 5. Price: 4 skill points. Merge: Yes/No. ]
It doesn't start at level 1?
"Not necessarily. The developers decided it would be too unfair since you might have gained the skills at different times, and already levelled up several of them. Which is the case for you. So Merging differs from Evolving in that it collects all the experience you have on all the skills being merged, and calculates what level the skill should be based on that. Also while there is no separate attribute up skill for Luck, the All skill will raise that too."
At 4 skill points it was a little expensive, but she had gotten 2 for the unlock, so technically it only cost 2 points. She'd gotten a fair amount of skill points from maxing skills, and unlocking things over the past couple of levels, so she decided it was worth it. Some stats would go down a little, but overall she thought more would go up.
Select: Yes.
[ Merging Skills... Successful. Skill Gained: All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5. ]
That was one thing out of the way. She wanted to deal with everything else she could before evolving.
[ Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that inflicts Poison status for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage. Poison damage: 3+(0.5*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: +4 seconds Poison duration. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Strong Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that inflicts Strong Poison status for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage. Poison damage: 5+(1*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No. ]
I can see that it deals more damage, but why does it specify 'Strong Poison'?
"It is because the basic antidote will no longer be enough to remove it. You need the medium type. Regular cleansing magic can still remove it."
Doing some quick math she realised that she wouldn't be losing very much damage per tick, so even though she knew about the level reset now, it wasn't a particularly hard choice.
[ Poison Strike Skill Evolved Into Strong Poison Strike Skill. ]
Next...
[ Howl (Active): Release a howl that has a 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Fear status in enemies for 5 seconds, and will Rally allies for 10 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Rally buff value: 10+(1*skill level)% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Rally also buffs Critical hit chance by 10%. ]
That was a nice little bonus, but apparently there was no evolution or unlock attached to maxing out Howl. It would probably be quite overwhelming if it applied to every skill. Oh, and there was something from before the raid.
[ Sprint (Active): Gain a large boost of movement speed for 15 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Speed increase: +50+(2*skill level)%. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 30 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Refresh time reduced by 5 seconds. ]
That would reduce the downtime between Sprints by a significant amount. The final thing she could think to check before evolving would be the skill store.
[ Quick Feet: 4 sp (New) ]
[ Trap Sense: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Disarm Trap: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Lockpick: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Skill points: 16 ]
The rush of skills she had gained from the goblins included what she had left over in the store, but now there were entirely new things there.
So one of them was from Sprint... and three from hitting level 20? Wait, I remember unlocking skills on level 5, and 10... but I didn't get anything on 15?
"At level 15 you would have unlocked Sprint, if you hadn't already had it."
Ah... okay.
[ Quick Feet (Passive): Lets you control your feet better, so you can accelerate faster, slow down quicker, and turn around more precisely. Improved dodge ability. Warning: does not actually make you run faster, it just helps you reach your top speed more quickly. Price: 4 skill points. ]
[ Trap Sense (Passive): Able to detect the location of nearby traps. Effect increases with skill level. At higher levels it might even become clear what sort of trap it is. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Disarm Trap (Active): Able to disarm discovered traps. Disarm speed, and success rate improve with skill level. Proper tools improve speed, and success rate even further. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 2 skill points. (Ai-note: You do not possess hands, or anything equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Lockpick (Active): Able to pick locks. Requires appropriate tools. Speed and success rate increase with skill level, and better tools. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 1 skill point. (Ai-note: You cannot use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
Wait, why is all this trap stuff showing up now?
"Level 20 is when Adventurers are able to unlock dungeon access. Traps are a mainstay of several dungeons, so having someone to detect, and disarm traps is important. Lockpicking is useful for doors, treasure chests, and lockboxes among other things. Those do show up outside of dungeons as well, but it is fairly easy to find someone selling Lockpick skill scrolls. Disarm Trap skill scrolls are harder to find, and have a minimum Dexterity requirement of 40 to be used, so it is not easy to obtain the skill if you are not a Rogue or Scout."
Sara had a look at her own Status screen to see what she was at.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Rogue ]
[ Level: 19 -> 20 (16) ]
[ HP: 103/103 -> 105/105 (74/74) | SP: 104/104 -> 118/118 (77/77) |
MP: 44/44 -> 55/55 (19/19) ]
[ VIT: 42 -> 41 (24) | END: 40 -> 51 (34) ]
[ STR: 46 -> 45 (25) | DEF: 32 -> 35 (13) ]
[ AGI: 64 -> 62 (48) | DEX: 33 -> 38 (21) ]
[ INT: 9 -> 20 (9) | WIS: 23 -> 32 (9) ]
[ LUK: 76 -> 90 (22) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 15 -> 18 ]
[ Evolution Available ]
She was not quite at 40 Dexterity, but she was pretty close. A regular Rogue or Scout was probably there by this point if they had Dexterity Up, and a Ranger might not be too far off either.
Merging her stat up skills had seen a small dip in Vit, Str, and Agi, but otherwise everything had gone up. End, Int, and Wis by a lot. Not to mention Luck getting even more ridiculous.
Am I overpowered by this point? I probably am... though my conflict with the goblins has shown there's only so much I'm able to do alone.
While Quick Feet sounded a little vague, it was probably a good idea to buy Trap Sense, even if she wasn't planning on setting foot in any dungeons. She'd just be mistaken for a dungeon monster, and hunted down. Or if it was the instanced kind of dungeon, she probably couldn't enter in the first place. But the goblins had trap skills, which meant other Residents, or even mobs probably had them. So she might actually run across them in the wild. Bought!
[ Skill Purchased: Trap Sense. ]
Aina, are the skills in my skill store going to go away if I evolve?
"No. Even if you evolve into a class that cannot normally unlock those skills, you have already unlocked them, so they remain that way."
She would hold off on Quick Feet then until after she had checked what skills unlocked after evolution. Which meant it was time for the main event.
[ Evolution Available ]
[ Please Choose One: ]
[ Feral Wolf (Fighter) ]
[ Dire Wolf (Fighter) ]
[ Shade Wolf (Rogue) ]
[ Mystic Wolf (Druid) ]
Eh? Druid? Wait, let's go through the other options first before I get too excited.
Aina had added descriptions this time.
[ Feral Wolf (Fighter): A common wolf down south, with a rust-red coat. This wolf abandons defence in favour of overwhelming offence. Dangerous on their own, and terrifying in packs. Skills gained: Frenzy, Shred, Desperation. ]
"Sara. I should point out that selecting Feral Wolf locks you out of ever becoming a Resident, so unless you have changed your mind, you should avoid this one."
With that information, Sara immediately discarded Feral Wolf.
[ Dire Wolf (Fighter): The most common wolf outside of the southern areas. Its thick brown-grey coat keeps it warm, and also helps protect it from attacks, though it is vulnerable to fire. With a large build, and powerful muscles, this wolf is an excellent skirmisher, and a good all-round choice. Skills gained: Crush, Inner Power, Solid Coat. ]
[ Shade Wolf (Rogue): A somewhat rare variant of wolf with a dark coat that blends with the shadows. Mostly seen in the dark woods in the north, east, and west, where they pounce upon unaware travellers, hunters, and others who dare venture into their forest. (Ai-note: This would be the one that most matches your playstyle so far.) Skills gained: Vanish, Shadow Movement, Quick Feet. ]
[ Mystic Wolf (Druid): A very rare brown-coated variant of wolf that is able to use magic. Said to only spawn in mana dense areas, and the only recorded sightings are close to the elven capital in the west. Little is known about them due to so few encounters. Skills gained: Thorn Bind, Regrowth, Nature Element Up. ]
I didn't think something like the Mystic Wolf actually existed, even if this is a fantasy world.
"I would not have expected you to unlock it, but the Mystic Wolf is available because you managed to raise your Wisdom so high for a wolf."
Oh? So are there other wolves I could have unlocked if I had the right stats?
"No comment."
That usually meant yes. She was pleased that her bonus point dump into Wisdom had paid off. True, the Shade Wolf looked it suited her the best. It even gave her Quick Feet for free. But... magic! She could have magic! Wasn't that the fantasy dream? Even if it wasn't the best choice for her, it was the one she wanted the most.
[ Commencing Evolution Into: Mystic Wolf. ]
She suddenly felt very sleepy, and the world went black.
Having finally cracked three digits on her health points (and stamina points), Sara bounced her way towards the goblin clearing the next morning. She was trying to get a hang of the 'consecutive leap' thing, but it was definitely easier said than done. It was kinda fun though. She was like a bunny wolf. With correct timing she could even bounce off of the tree trunks. If anyone had seen her, they definitely would have thought she was glitching out, and might have filed a bug report. But she hadn't considered that, and it couldn't be further from her mind.
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
Nice!
She stopped when she got close to the clearing, and entered Stealth to check it out. It was much as she had left it the day before. The goblins were now keeping their distance from the west forest, and while they didn't seem extremely alert, they were definitely keeping an eye on the treeline. There didn't seem to be any adventurer parties around this early, so it wasn't like the goblins would get distracted by that.
Honestly it seemed impossible to pick off any more goblins as things stood. Maybe if she snuck around to the other side, and started attacking from the east, but both east and south were where the adventurers came from. And the north was cleared all the way up to the cliffside. With Stealth and Camouflage she could probably still sneak by, but she couldn't launch attacks from there.
Maybe it was better to go hunt deer for the last experience she needed to hit level 20, but greed compelled her to want more skills. Even if she couldn't use them. However there didn't seem to be any good options for her. It might be days before the goblins calmed down again.
As she was about to give up, she spotted a party of goblins exiting the camp. At first she thought it was another hunting party heading east, but then she saw them turn west, and head in her general direction. It looked to be two Rangers, two Druids, a Mage, a Scout, and two she hadn't seen up close before. They were equipped with sword and shield, and heavier armour, which meant they were probably Fighters. So eight goblins in total.
She (metaphorically) scratched her head, wondering what they were up to. It had been like a week and a half since she moved into Merwyn Forest West, and she had not seen nor heard nor smelled a single goblin in there in all that time. They seemed content to hunt in the east. So what was this group doing?
Hang on. Are they coming here because of what I did yesterday? Are they seeking retribution?
Well, even with a Scout the odds of them finding her were slim to none. Maybe they just wanted to beat up a bunch of wolves to vent their frustration. They were a well-balanced party, and with those numbers there was probably nothing in the woods that could stand against them.
When they got close enough, she used Identify on one of the shield goblins.
[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) HP: 92/92 ]
[ Skill List ]
[ Active: ]
[ Slash Lvl 8 | Cleave Lvl 6 | Shield Bash Lvl 6 | Kick Lvl 5 | Throw Lvl 4 |
Taunt Lvl 5 | Parry Lvl 6 ]
[ Passive: ]
[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Sword Expertise Lvl 6 | Shield Expertise Lvl 6 |
Balance Up Lvl 6 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 |
Defence Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl 4 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]
Both of them were level 18, and they seemed to be entirely built as tanks, and bruisers.
Slash was the basic attack for swords, and Sword Expertise was equivalent to Dagger, Bow, and Axe. As for the rest...
[ Cleave (Active): Perform a wide slash with a bladed weapon that can hit multiple targets in front of the user. Base width: 3 metres. Extends further with longer weapons. Damage value: (1+(0.02*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed status for 10 seconds. Cost: 6 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Shield Bash (Active): Strike a target with your shield, knocking them away, and inflicting Stun status for 3 seconds. Damage value: (0.3+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Push force increases with skill level. Scales with shield size, and type. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Taunt (Active): Force surrounding opponents' aggro to focus on you for 5 seconds. Radius: 3 metres. Duration and radius increase with skill level. Wanderers and Residents have a chance to resist the effect. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. ]
So I can use that one, but I'm not sure in what situation I would actually want to...
[ Parry (Active): Precisely parry a physical attack, leaving the target open to a counter-attack that is a guaranteed critical hit. Requires a weapon, shield, or something equivalent to parry with. Damage value: (1.3+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Counter-attack only possible with perfect timing. Good timing deflects the incoming attack. Poor timing makes user receive a glancing blow for 50% damage. Missed timing makes user take the full attack with 20% reduced Defence. Timing window increases with skill level. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Shield Expertise: Improves block value, and increases shield parry window. Slight increase in attack power when striking a target with a shield. Buff value: (0.5*skill level)%. (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
Everyone in the party was level 17 or 18, even though she had seen goblins in the clearing down to level 15. Were they sending out their strongest? That seemed a little excessive, so they had to be quite pissed off.
I really wasn't expecting this sort of response. It's so unlike any games I've played before. Hm... what should I do?
It didn't feel right to leave them alone, and let them just trample over everything in the woods. Perhaps she should answer numbers with numbers. She had rounded up several packs against the adventurers the other day. As far as she knew everything in these woods hated the goblins, so it shouldn't be hard to round up a bunch of the others. While those Vanguards were a little worrying, she had learned that overall goblins were weaker than Adventurers, and made up for it with numbers. So this party probably wasn't much stronger than the Adventurer party she had taken down the other day.
She crept back into the woods ahead of the goblins to look for wolf packs to recruit.
* * *
It didn't take long to round up a dozen wolves like last time. They seemed quite eager to take down the goblins. But as she kept watching them she realised they were covering their flanks well, and weren't really open to an Ambush. There wasn't anywhere she could get behind any of them. A flank strike was probably possible, but would leave her very open once exposed. So maybe it would be fun to try something else: Death From Above. She had practised jumping up and down from the trees the previous afternoon. With Air Control helping her, she was certain she could precisely land on any goblin she wished, and if she went high enough up she would surely one-shot one of the weaker ones. But which one to go for? The Mage? One of the Druids? Those had to be the high priority targets. If she took out one of the Druids, the other one would probably focus on healing, and crowd control, instead of transforming into a bear.
The goblins were moving in a more or less straight line, so she was able to predict where they would be going. After telling the other wolves to lurk nearby, and wait for her signal, she ascended to the top of a tree that didn't have an owl in it. Waking up the owls to have them join the assault might not be a bad idea, but it was hard to rely on. Even if she felt sure they would prioritise the goblins, it would be a bonus side-effect, if anything.
Her targets finally moved into range, so it was time to put the plan into action, and see what happened. She started with a Howl, startling the goblins below, and forcing them to look up as she came diving down. Which left them unprepared for the wolves charging in from all sides, and they certainly couldn't react in time to avoid a rapidly falling wolf landing on top of one of their Druids with an ensuing splat. There were even a couple of owls woken up by the Howl joining in the fray as she had hoped.
Unfortunately things started to go bad almost immediately. One of the Fighters used Taunt, and while Sara was able to resist it, the others weren't. The Rangers and Mage quickly shot down the owls, and the wolves were on their own again. They did manage to take down one of the Rangers, and most of the Scout when they broke free from the Taunt, and before the other Fighter got to use his, but overall the wolves were losing more than the goblins were.
Things were falling apart way faster than Sara could have predicted. After tearing down the Mage, she was hit with a Shield Bash, and knocked over. The Fighter who hit her raised his sword, and was about to bring it down when suddenly a black bolt struck him, and knocked him over. It looked like he was dead, or close to it. Sara's claws started glowing black as she got back on her feet, and she shot a confused glance upwards.
A couple of Dusk Ravens were hovering above, and unleashing havoc on the goblins. It seemed like the Fighters had poor magic defence, and the Ravens were clever enough to target them first. Two Shadow Bolts hit the second one at almost the same time, and she looked to be down for the count as well. Though they had lost half their number, the wolves were quick to jump on the chance. With air support, claws of shadow, and howls of determination they were able to turn the tide against the goblins, and wipe them out without any further losses.
She looked up at the Dusk Ravens again.
They really saved our hides there. I wish I was able to thank them.
The best she could do was wag her tail while looking at them, and attempt to telepathically say 'thank you'. Whether it worked or not, the Ravens seemed pleased as they flew off. Maybe they were just pleased with themselves, but she hoped her feelings had reached them.
A lot of popups were now waiting for her. Maybe it would be better to swipe them away, but she was too curious.
[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Lookout (Scout Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 17) Defeated. ]
[ Howl Skill Level Up! ] [ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ] [ Air Control Skill Level Up! ]
[ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]
[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]
[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Skill Gained: Mana Manipulation. ]
[ Skill Gained: Endurance Up (Small). ]
[ Skill Gained: Cleave. ]
Sara jumped backwards in shock at the amount of popup boxes that appeared in front of her.
Christ!
It was hard to parse all of it as she started quickly dismissing them. The actually important parts were that she had maxed out Body Slam, and gained three new skills. Two of which did nothing for her, at least at the moment. And the third... well, at least she was only one skill away from the full set now. If only the Mage had felt generous.
That had somehow not been enough for her to reach level 20, though. How little experience was each goblin worth? Or maybe basing her expectations on the Forest Deer was skewing her opinion too much. Well, she could at least see what she had unlocked.
[ Body Slam: Smash into a target with your shoulder, torso, or behind. Damage depends on the user's physical stature compared to the target's. Impact force affected by strike location. Capable of knocking target off balance. 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Stun status for 5 seconds. Effect and Stun duration increase with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Impact force increased by 15%. ]
That should make it easier to knock things over, so she felt happy about that.
She felt like she couldn't be far away from level 20. She could just ask these wolves to go hunt a couple of deer with her, but a different plan was forming in her mind. One no doubt influenced by greed, and the thrill of victory.
In spite of their losses, the wolves looked like they had enjoyed themselves, so maybe she could round up a few more, and answer the goblins' incursion with one of their own. She asked the wolves to wait while she ran off to find more compatriots.
[ Sprint Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Quick Feet. 2 skill points gained. ]
She would look at that later. There was no time to lose!
* * *
When their search and destroy party had respawned after their defeat, the goblins were pondering their next move. They hadn't seen the wolves band together in such numbers before, and they'd been unlucky enough for those blasted ravens to also get pulled into the fight. Should they just send in a bigger party? Or would that just end in meeting even more wolves? It might be better to just stay away from that side of the forest.
Their leader was absolutely furious at these wolves, though, and many in the camp shared his anger. They'd never seen such ambush tactics before either. Those darn Adventurers at least always came in parties. Being humiliated by a single wolf was teeth-grinding. They really wanted to find that wolf, and teach it a lesson that would make it never leave the forest again.
All of a sudden their discussion was interrupted as an entire chorus of howls rose up from the west.
* * *
More than 50 wolves charged out into the clearing towards the goblin camp, followed by an air force of about 10 ravens. Everyone present, be they goblin or adventurer were frozen in shock. There were two parties of Adventurers: one to the south, and one to the east. They were fighting the goblins, but when the wolves showed up, everyone just stopped, and stared.
Sara had been able to round up quite a lot of wolves with ease, probably most of the packs roaming the western forest, but she couldn't be entirely sure. They all seemed happy to come along. The Dusk Ravens had just followed along of their own accord for some reason. They were clever birds, so they probably had some reason, even if Sara couldn't guess what it was. Maybe they just really hated the goblins that much.
The first line of goblins fell with very little struggle, but as soon as they watched their own dying, the goblins further back started rallying with impressive speed, and stood fast against the tide of wolves as best they could. More goblins started storming out of the camp, and charged the line even as the ravens picked off a few of them along the way.
The Vanguards and Loggers did their best to hold the front line, while all the ranged attackers unleashed everything they had from behind. But there were just too many wolves, and they slipped past on all sides to tear into the back line, not to mention the ravens deliberately targeting the Fighters who had low magic defence. The Scouts could barely raise their daggers before being mowed down.
It was a battle unlike anything Merwyn Forest had ever seen, and Sara was getting a lot of popups queued up. Even though she didn't get to personally take down that many of the goblins, it seemed like the kills of the other pack members still counted towards her. She had no idea if she was getting full experience for them. Probably not. And skill experience she had to actually get herself.
Gradually the goblins managed to push against the wave, and slowly beat down the wolves. Even if there were a lot of enemies, the goblins had the advantage of equipment, and being right next to their respawn point. Once the leader stepped out to join the fray the wolves fell even faster. Sara herself had the honour of falling to his massive axe. The charge had been so much fun that she wasn't even angry. She had pretty much known it was going to be a suicide attack, but when you just respawned anyway it wasn't such a big deal.
The ravens managed to dance mostly out of range of the goblins' weapons. Only three of them fell by the time the wolves' numbers had dropped so low that the clever birds retreated.
[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]
That was fun! Now what did I gain from all this?
She summarily dismissed all the "enemy defeated" popups, and looked at the others instead.
[ Level Up: Level 20 Reached! Skills Unlocked: Trap Sense, Disarm Trap, Lockpick. 2 skill points gained. Evolution Available. ]
[ Howl Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! Max Level Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Insulation Skill Level Up! ]
[ Skill Gained: Chop. ]
[ Skill Gained: Bow Expertise. ]
[ Skill Gained: Balance Up. ]
[ Skill Gained: Back Attack. ]
[ Skill Gained: Arcane Blast. ]
[ Skill Gained: Bear Form. ]
[ Skill Gained: Woodworking. ]
[ Skill Gained: Power Shot. ]
[ Skill Gained: Intelligence Up (Small). ]
[ Condition Met: All Attribute Up Skills Possessed. Skill Merge Available. 2 skill points gained. ]
So many skills... and some of them are actually useful! Three out of... ten? But what does it mean by Skill Merge? Aina?
"Skill merging is what it says. You may take several skills you have, and turn them into one. This is usually available after meeting a hidden condition, in this case having all the attribute up skills. Considering your ability to gain skills you normally should not be able to, it is possible you will meet more of these hidden conditions eventually. Hidden conditions can also unlock other things, but I will not say any more than that. That is up to you, and the Adventurers to discover."
[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]
It had taken so long to look at all of that that she had already respawned. Well, she might as well paw the Skill Merge button then.
[ Requisite Skills Will Merge Into: All Attributes Up (Small). Calculating experience: Skill will become Level 5. Price: 4 skill points. Merge: Yes/No. ]
It doesn't start at level 1?
"Not necessarily. The developers decided it would be too unfair since you might have gained the skills at different times, and already levelled up several of them. Which is the case for you. So Merging differs from Evolving in that it collects all the experience you have on all the skills being merged, and calculates what level the skill should be based on that. Also while there is no separate attribute up skill for Luck, the All skill will raise that too."
At 4 skill points it was a little expensive, but she had gotten 2 for the unlock, so technically it only cost 2 points. She'd gotten a fair amount of skill points from maxing skills, and unlocking things over the past couple of levels, so she decided it was worth it. Some stats would go down a little, but overall she thought more would go up.
Select: Yes.
[ Merging Skills... Successful. Skill Gained: All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5. ]
That was one thing out of the way. She wanted to deal with everything else she could before evolving.
[ Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that inflicts Poison status for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage. Poison damage: 3+(0.5*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: +4 seconds Poison duration. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Strong Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that inflicts Strong Poison status for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage. Poison damage: 5+(1*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No. ]
I can see that it deals more damage, but why does it specify 'Strong Poison'?
"It is because the basic antidote will no longer be enough to remove it. You need the medium type. Regular cleansing magic can still remove it."
Doing some quick math she realised that she wouldn't be losing very much damage per tick, so even though she knew about the level reset now, it wasn't a particularly hard choice.
[ Poison Strike Skill Evolved Into Strong Poison Strike Skill. ]
Next...
[ Howl (Active): Release a howl that has a 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Fear status in enemies for 5 seconds, and will Rally allies for 10 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Rally buff value: 10+(1*skill level)% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Rally also buffs Critical hit chance by 10%. ]
That was a nice little bonus, but apparently there was no evolution or unlock attached to maxing out Howl. It would probably be quite overwhelming if it applied to every skill. Oh, and there was something from before the raid.
[ Sprint (Active): Gain a large boost of movement speed for 15 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Speed increase: +50+(2*skill level)%. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 30 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Refresh time reduced by 5 seconds. ]
That would reduce the downtime between Sprints by a significant amount. The final thing she could think to check before evolving would be the skill store.
[ Quick Feet: 4 sp (New) ]
[ Trap Sense: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Disarm Trap: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Lockpick: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Skill points: 16 ]
The rush of skills she had gained from the goblins included what she had left over in the store, but now there were entirely new things there.
So one of them was from Sprint... and three from hitting level 20? Wait, I remember unlocking skills on level 5, and 10... but I didn't get anything on 15?
"At level 15 you would have unlocked Sprint, if you hadn't already had it."
Ah... okay.
[ Quick Feet (Passive): Lets you control your feet better, so you can accelerate faster, slow down quicker, and turn around more precisely. Improved dodge ability. Warning: does not actually make you run faster, it just helps you reach your top speed more quickly. Price: 4 skill points. ]
[ Trap Sense (Passive): Able to detect the location of nearby traps. Effect increases with skill level. At higher levels it might even become clear what sort of trap it is. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Disarm Trap (Active): Able to disarm discovered traps. Disarm speed, and success rate improve with skill level. Proper tools improve speed, and success rate even further. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 2 skill points. (Ai-note: You do not possess hands, or anything equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
[ Lockpick (Active): Able to pick locks. Requires appropriate tools. Speed and success rate increase with skill level, and better tools. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 1 skill point. (Ai-note: You cannot use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]
Wait, why is all this trap stuff showing up now?
"Level 20 is when Adventurers are able to unlock dungeon access. Traps are a mainstay of several dungeons, so having someone to detect, and disarm traps is important. Lockpicking is useful for doors, treasure chests, and lockboxes among other things. Those do show up outside of dungeons as well, but it is fairly easy to find someone selling Lockpick skill scrolls. Disarm Trap skill scrolls are harder to find, and have a minimum Dexterity requirement of 40 to be used, so it is not easy to obtain the skill if you are not a Rogue or Scout."
Sara had a look at her own Status screen to see what she was at.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Rogue ]
[ Level: 19 -> 20 (16) ]
[ HP: 103/103 -> 105/105 (74/74) | SP: 104/104 -> 118/118 (77/77) |
MP: 44/44 -> 55/55 (19/19) ]
[ VIT: 42 -> 41 (24) | END: 40 -> 51 (34) ]
[ STR: 46 -> 45 (25) | DEF: 32 -> 35 (13) ]
[ AGI: 64 -> 62 (48) | DEX: 33 -> 38 (21) ]
[ INT: 9 -> 20 (9) | WIS: 23 -> 32 (9) ]
[ LUK: 76 -> 90 (22) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 15 -> 18 ]
[ Evolution Available ]
She was not quite at 40 Dexterity, but she was pretty close. A regular Rogue or Scout was probably there by this point if they had Dexterity Up, and a Ranger might not be too far off either.
Merging her stat up skills had seen a small dip in Vit, Str, and Agi, but otherwise everything had gone up. End, Int, and Wis by a lot. Not to mention Luck getting even more ridiculous.
Am I overpowered by this point? I probably am... though my conflict with the goblins has shown there's only so much I'm able to do alone.
While Quick Feet sounded a little vague, it was probably a good idea to buy Trap Sense, even if she wasn't planning on setting foot in any dungeons. She'd just be mistaken for a dungeon monster, and hunted down. Or if it was the instanced kind of dungeon, she probably couldn't enter in the first place. But the goblins had trap skills, which meant other Residents, or even mobs probably had them. So she might actually run across them in the wild. Bought!
[ Skill Purchased: Trap Sense. ]
Aina, are the skills in my skill store going to go away if I evolve?
"No. Even if you evolve into a class that cannot normally unlock those skills, you have already unlocked them, so they remain that way."
She would hold off on Quick Feet then until after she had checked what skills unlocked after evolution. Which meant it was time for the main event.
[ Evolution Available ]
[ Please Choose One: ]
[ Feral Wolf (Fighter) ]
[ Dire Wolf (Fighter) ]
[ Shade Wolf (Rogue) ]
[ Mystic Wolf (Druid) ]
Eh? Druid? Wait, let's go through the other options first before I get too excited.
Aina had added descriptions this time.
[ Feral Wolf (Fighter): A common wolf down south, with a rust-red coat. This wolf abandons defence in favour of overwhelming offence. Dangerous on their own, and terrifying in packs. Skills gained: Frenzy, Shred, Desperation. ]
"Sara. I should point out that selecting Feral Wolf locks you out of ever becoming a Resident, so unless you have changed your mind, you should avoid this one."
With that information, Sara immediately discarded Feral Wolf.
[ Dire Wolf (Fighter): The most common wolf outside of the southern areas. Its thick brown-grey coat keeps it warm, and also helps protect it from attacks, though it is vulnerable to fire. With a large build, and powerful muscles, this wolf is an excellent skirmisher, and a good all-round choice. Skills gained: Crush, Inner Power, Solid Coat. ]
[ Shade Wolf (Rogue): A somewhat rare variant of wolf with a dark coat that blends with the shadows. Mostly seen in the dark woods in the north, east, and west, where they pounce upon unaware travellers, hunters, and others who dare venture into their forest. (Ai-note: This would be the one that most matches your playstyle so far.) Skills gained: Vanish, Shadow Movement, Quick Feet. ]
[ Mystic Wolf (Druid): A very rare brown-coated variant of wolf that is able to use magic. Said to only spawn in mana dense areas, and the only recorded sightings are close to the elven capital in the west. Little is known about them due to so few encounters. Skills gained: Thorn Bind, Regrowth, Nature Element Up. ]
I didn't think something like the Mystic Wolf actually existed, even if this is a fantasy world.
"I would not have expected you to unlock it, but the Mystic Wolf is available because you managed to raise your Wisdom so high for a wolf."
Oh? So are there other wolves I could have unlocked if I had the right stats?
"No comment."
That usually meant yes. She was pleased that her bonus point dump into Wisdom had paid off. True, the Shade Wolf looked it suited her the best. It even gave her Quick Feet for free. But... magic! She could have magic! Wasn't that the fantasy dream? Even if it wasn't the best choice for her, it was the one she wanted the most.
[ Commencing Evolution Into: Mystic Wolf. ]
She suddenly felt very sleepy, and the world went black.
