The trip back south went quicker than the one up north since the surveyors no longer had to stop for anything. They did keep an eye out in case they had missed anything, but otherwise the focus was on getting back to Komeron as quickly as possible. Their group was incapable of outrunning much in the way of danger, so they still had a couple of bear encounters. Sara also had to deal with the respawned jaguars, and help her wolves fight the deer. The soldiers were more active with helping out in the woods to speed things up, so they kept about as good of a pace as they possibly could.
They had seen how everything worked on the way up, so they could be more efficient on the way back down. Though it still took them 2-3 hours to get from the forest's edge, and back to the glade. Much slower than Sara could travel on her own, but regular people did not have maxed Sprint, or as high agility as her. Residents also seemed to need to catch their breaths more often than mobs.
Though overall the distances in this world were shorter than they would be on Earth. It was a game world after all, and the developers didn't want their users to have to travel for days to get anywhere if they were going on foot. Normally you would imagine the largest forest on the continent to be somewhere it would take days to get through, rather than somewhere in the vicinity of 4-6 hours (maybe more) if you counted from starting in the city. Merchant wagons that normally travelled barely above walking speed should prepare themselves to be on slower end of that estimate since they were an easy target for aggressive forest creatures. Ironically a group going only on foot would probably make better time, and anyone on an otherwise unburdened mount could get through much faster, especially since they might be able to out-speed any hostile mobs.
For most people going all the way from the top of Nyolund, through either Ethuun or Wutsch, and to the bottom of Sholan would probably require staying the night somewhere. Komeron was perfectly situated for that rather than taking the risk of camping in the woods, or having to travel in the dark.
"So this is where we part ways, Guardian Beast," Lieutenant Davril said. "We will manage to get back to Komeron on our own from here. Thank you for your assistance, and perhaps we will work together again in the future." His attitude seemed to have shifted significantly over the course of the day. Sara had started to get a slight read on his neutral expression. Like with Aina, it wasn't entirely emotionless.
[ Intuition Skill Level Up! ]
She wasn't even going to question that.
"It was a valuable experience for us as well, Lieutenant Davril," Sara wrote in response. "I hope it will lead to good things in the future."
"As do I," he replied.
"I wish I could stay and talk, Guardian Beast," Mirielle said, thankfully careful to not mention Sara's name openly again. "But I unfortunately have a report to write, and it's getting late. I would like to return for a meeting tomorrow morning, if that's okay with you?"
"Certainly," Sara wrote. "I will be looking forward to it, Priestess." That would be after the patch had gone live, unless it was massively delayed.
"I need to go too, Guardian Beast," Laroni said. "I'm sure they're going to make me write a report too, unless they just want to interr- debrief me. B-but maybe I'll come back to visit some day."
"You are always welcome, Speaker," Sara wrote. To keep everything on an equal footing, and not give the impression that she might be telling secrets, she avoided communicating with her voice in this situation.
She waved goodbye to them as they headed down the road, which caused some odd creaking noises. It looked like two of the soldiers had levelled up, since two of them were 32, and the last was 33 now. Maybe Mirielle was close too. Sara actually wasn't sure how the Priestess earned most of her experience, but she probably got it from working at the Temple. Combat wasn't the only way to earn experience points, but it was probably the fastest. Especially if you combined it with completing quests. But she imagined that regular Residents weren't too keen on braving the danger, even if they respawned. She didn't even know how common it was to know how to fight.
Sara reverted to wolf form, and went into the glade to sit down. She wanted to look through the popups that had piled up during the trip back down before she went back to the den. It wasn't as excessive as it had been up north, but she had still been quite active heading down. She tried to just find the important ones.
[ Quest Complete: Survey The Komeron North Way ]
[ With your help the survey was completed successfully. Once word reaches everyone waiting back in Komeron, your prestige is sure to rise, and your reputation score greatly improve. The future of the alliance looks bright! ]
Starting with her very first quest completion screen. It seemed like her reward wouldn't come into effect immediately, so there was probably no point in checking her reputation screen right away. It might be better to have a look the next day. At least the quest was recorded as a success. Either Auntie System or Aina must have written that description on the fly, and they probably knew what they were talking about. The writing was a little too grandiose for her taste, but that was fairly typical for these sorts of games.
Beyond that...
[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Leech Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Improved! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Growth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
So many new maxed skills. She must have been quite close to all of these, since they'd been less busy, and yet only one evolution, and no new unlocks. Perhaps she had already grabbed so many Druid skills that there just wasn't a lot left around this level. She probably needed to reach a higher level for more to become available.
Oh wait, this is one of the special boxes.
[ Condition Met: Possess three or more movement enhancing passive skills at level max. Skill merge available. 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Skills: Air Control, Cat's Feet, and Quick Feet will merge into skill: Enhanced Movement Lvl Max. Price: 3 skill points. Merge: Yes/No ]
These things were usually good upgrades, and it only cost her 1 skill point in actuality.
[ Merging skills... Successful. Skill gained: Enhanced Movement Lvl Max. ]
She figured she would look at it right away before checking the new max bonuses.
[ Enhanced Movement (Passive): Enhances the leg functions, and movement capabilities of the holder. Effect increases with skill level.
Includes:
Improved dodge; improved air dodge; improved acceleration; improved deceleration; improved turning speed, and accuracy; air control while falling; reduced fall damage; fall damage mitigation if less than 10% of max HP; less noise when walking; less impact when landing; able to walk on fragile surfaces without breaking them; sufficient speed allows holder to run across the water's surface; improved traction on slippery surfaces; 10% increase to normal movement speed. ]
Most of those she recognised from the skills that had been merged. The only new standouts were the movement speed increase, and the slippery surface thing. Presumably one of them was the max bonus from Quick Feet, and the other was a bonus she got because of the merging. Since she hadn't checked Quick Feet beforehand, she would never know.
[ Regrowth (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Nature element property. Target gains a layer of leaves for 5 seconds that will absorb one attack up to (50+(2*skill level))% of HP healed. Excess damage is still inflicted. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Leaf layer duration +3 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Budding Regrowth (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Nature element property. Target gains a layer of leaves for 6 seconds that will absorb one attack up to (60+(2*skill level))% of HP healed. Excess damage is still inflicted. Removes Bleed(?) status if present. Cost: 6 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
That seemed like an easy upgrade, even with the temporary loss in potency. It seemed like the general rule was that once the upgraded skill hit lvl 5, it was about as strong as the lower skill was at max. Minus whatever max bonus it had had. There was often some added effect as well, like the Bleed removal on this one.
[ Regrowth Skill Evolved Into Budding Regrowth Skill ]
[ Leech (Active): Remove up to three random negative status conditions from target. Nature element property. Warning: certain status conditions cannot be removed. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Negative status condition removal count further increased. ]
[ Growth (Active): Increases target's attack power for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Nature element property. Buff value: (30+(2*skill level))%. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 30 seconds.
Max level bonus: Defence: +10%. ]
[ Rejuvenate (Active): Restore target's HP over time. Recovery value: (1+(1*skill level))% of Max HP every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 20 seconds.
Max level bonus: Restores 10% SP every 2 seconds as well. ]
The new max bonuses were interesting. It gave her the impression that Druid support skills were aiming to be more about durability than pure recovery. And because a lot of it was percentage based it scaled fairly well, even if it might be lacking in initial power. That might be the reason for having less evolutions as well. And finally...
[ Skill Gained: Crush. ]
The other scary attack skill the bears had. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to break anyone's bones. It would probably feel quite unpleasant, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to inflict that level of pain on someone else after having experienced it herself at only half effect. The other effects were good, and the power was pretty good. Maybe she could just aim for parts where bone breaking was less likely.
Well, no one was forcing her to use every skill she had. Her regular attack skills were pretty strong at such a high level anyway.
It had gotten pretty late in the afternoon, so maybe she should just head back to the den. She was getting quite excited about the next day, when the patch would finally go live. She had a feeling there was going to be much more to it than what Aina had told her. Hopefully she wouldn't be too excited to sleep.
* * *
Once back in the den she felt a bit jittery, and decided to look at her level up, and check her skill list before trying to sleep.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Nyolund Mystic Wolf (Nyolund Guardian Beast) | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Druid (Beast) ]
[ Role: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena Zone Boss ]
[ Level: 25 -> 26 (30) ]
[ HP: 169/169 -> 179/179 + 14 (202/202 +16) | SP: 174/174 -> 185/185 +16 (206/206 +17) | MP: 161/161 -> 175/175 + 18 (199/199 +21) ]
[ VIT: 65 -> 71 +14 (80 +16) | END: 75 -> 82 +16 (87 +17) ]
[ STR: 71 -> 77 +15 (74 + 14) | DEF: 52 -> 58 +14 (56 +11) ]
[ AGI: 93 -> 100 +20 (108 +21) | DEX: 62 -> 68 +13 (66 +13) ]
[ INT: 92 -> 100 +20 (105 +21) | WIS: 84 -> 93 +18 (109 +21) ]
[ LUK: 144 -> 154 +30 (60 +12) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 4 ]
Even if it was thanks to the buff, she though it was exciting to be that close to hitting 200 HP. Eventually she would get there unbuffed. If she remembered the announcement correctly the buff only worked within her own zone, but she had forgotten to check while she was outside. She hadn't particularly noticed feeling weaker, but if anyone wanted an edge on taking her out, they'd have to try to lure her outside of the zone first. It was a significant drop in stats. Several levels worth.
[ Active: ]
[ Chomp Lvl 7 -> 9 (Max) | Rend Lvl 6 -> 9 (Max) | Body Slam Lvl Max (Max) | Savage Blow Lvl 3 -> 5 (Max) |
Pack Leader's Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) | Root Bind Lvl 1 -> 5 (Max) | Poison Arrow Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) |
Frost Arrow Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) | Greater Fireball Lvl 1 (Max) | Water Jet (New) Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) | Arcane Blast Lvl 4 (Max) |
Thorn Armour Lvl 1 -> 6 (Max) | Growth Lvl 6 -> Max (Max) | Budding Regrowth (New) Lvl 1 (Max) | Rejuvenate Lvl 6 -> Max (Max) |
Mass Rejuvenate Lvl 4 -> 7 (Max) | Sense Presence Lvl Max (Max) | Bear Form Lvl 4 -> Max (Max) | Cat Form Lvl Max (Max) |
Tree Form Lvl 6 -> 9 (Max) ]
[ Concealed Active: ]
[ Charge Lvl 8 -> Max | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 | Strong Poison Strike Lvl 6 -> 9 | Death From Above Lvl 4 -> 6 | Solid Kick Lvl 2 |
Back Attack Lvl 2 | Struggle Lvl 1 | Stomp Lvl 1 | Pounce (New) Lvl 1 | Shred (New) Lvl 1 | Crush (New) Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Needle (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 1 | Poison Cloud Lvl 1 | Poison Enchant Lvl 1 -> 5 | Leech Lvl 7 -> Max |
Leap Lvl Max | Roar Lvl 1 | Taunt Lvl 1 | Erase Presence Lvl 11 | Thermal Vision Lvl 7 -> 8 | Sense Mana Lvl 6 -> 8 | Slow Fall (New) ]
[ Passive: ]
[ Keen Senses Lvl Max (Max) | Danger Sense Lvl Max (Max) | Environmental Sense Lvl 8 -> 9 (Max) | Insulation Lvl 8 (Max) |
Firm Grip Lvl Max (Max) | Balance Up Lvl 9 -> Max (Max) | Solid Coat Lvl 6 (Max) | Leadership Lvl Max (Max) |
Nature Element Up Lvl 8 -> Max (Max) | Mana Manipulation Lvl Max (Max) | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 8 -> 9 (Max) ]
[ Concealed Passive: ]
[ Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Intuition Lvl 1 -> 3 | Claw Expertise Lvl 2 -> 6 | Dig Lvl Max | Burrow Lvl 2 | Spider Climb Max | Spider Silk Lvl 9 -> Max |
Thread Manipulation (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Paralysis Venom Lvl 7 -> Max | Enhanced Movement (New) Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 5 -> 6 | Dive Lvl 1 |
Chameleon Lvl Max | Pursuit Lvl 5 | Copy Cast Lvl 4 -> 8 | Fire Element Up Lvl 6 | Poison Immunity | Fire Resistance Lvl 2 |
Dark Resistance Lvl 1 | HP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | SP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | MP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) |
Commune With Animals ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl 9 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]
[ Concealed General: ]
[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin, Elf | Life Magic Lvl 8 | Decryption Lvl 1 | Double Skill Experience (Hidden) ]
[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]
[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide | Disarm Trap | Smack |
Skewer (New) ]
[ Skill points: 19 ]
She hadn't realised that all three of her primary melee skills were at level 9. She had only used spells during the escort mission. Well, at least she had something more to work on the next day. There hadn't been a dull day since she had gotten here.
Oh, and Tree Form was also close. Well, she might as well wait around in that for a bit until that one levelled. She probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep that fast anyway. So she shapeshifted before she continued browsing.
Environmental Sense and All Attributes Up were almost there as well, and would probably get there the next day considering her doubled experience gain.
Copy Cast was already at level 8, since she had copied a lot of the needles that day, and...
Slow Fall didn't have a level, but she wouldn't be surprised if none of the special skills did. She was quite curious what others there might be. That seemed to be the final noteworthy thing.
[ Tree Form Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
And there it was!
[ Tree Form (Active): Druid branch exclusive. User shapeshifts into a treant, and roots themselves to the ground. Continuous effect. Able to turn, unable to move. User able to disguise themselves as a tree if completely immobile. Defence, Intelligence, and Wisdom +(50+(2*skill level))%. Double damage taken from axes, and fire element. All other resistances +(10+(1*skill level))%. Agility -90%. Dexterity -50%. Attack power -20%. Temporarily gain skills: Smack, HP Regen (Small), SP Regen (Small), and MP Regen (Small). Activation Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 10 seconds.
Max level bonus: Able to slowly move. ]
Oh?
Sara immediately tried moving a bit, and she could! Though slowly was the operative word. It really only worked for slight repositioning. Sprint still worked, but even at 70% increased speed she could barely reach a regular person's walking speed. She probably still fell a little short. It seemed to be more for fun than function, but stuff like that wasn't necessarily bad.
She reverted to her wolf form, and did some stretches. There was really nothing more to do for the day, so she crawled onto her bed. She kinda wished she could decorate the place more. Maybe if she could dye her silk. There probably was some skill for that, but it was likely beyond her reach as she was at the moment. Maybe she could ask for something, but what? A rug? Paintings? A TV? Okay, that last one wasn't going to happen. Not that she had watched much TV in her old life either. Everything she'd watched had been online. And she definitely wasn't getting a computer in this world.
As she drifted off she thought it was a little sad that she'd never know what would happen next on her favourite series'.
* * *
While most of the concerned parties were content to wait until the next day to review the written reports from the survey mission, there was one person who had made sure to get a copy of Lieutenant Davril's report as quickly as she could.
First Princess Elnatha Hanoleav was looking through the report with increasing interest. She had initially jumped on this just so her siblings couldn't. She knew an opportunity when she saw it, and also that she wouldn't lose a lot if it failed, since no one really expected anything from it in the first place. There would be some embarrassment, but nothing critical. Better that she tried, and failed, than that either of them tried, and succeeded.
While their brother was currently not much of a rival, Elnatha was aware how the people viewed her little sister. And herself by comparison. As the oldest she had received strict instruction, and acquired a serious-looking facial expression, along with a flawless bearing. She knew a lot of people viewed her as harsh, and there wasn't much she could do to change that view without completely breaking her royal image.
Meanwhile Pholunee played the more charismatic card. As the youngest the people had a general inclination to view her as softer regardless of how true it was, and that wasn't really an arena Elnatha could compete in. People were going to love Pholunee because of her friendly expression, and her nice balance of being both cute, and pretty.
Elnatha honestly agreed with them, but she also felt some envy. She was no less of a beauty, but there weren't many who would call her cute, and she was generally viewed as more distant from the common people. She didn't necessarily want to be that way, but changing public perception was always an uphill struggle. People found her more intimidating. That was something she had to accept, so she had find her merit elsewhere.
And this... it might have started as just a whim after seeing the Bishop's report, and realising that at the very least she couldn't let Gorivor or Pholunee have a shot at this. Even if they weren't able to open the road again, she'd be happy just to get more of that silk. It wasn't top quality, but it was certainly workable. Non-sticky spider silk was quite uncommon, and very soft. Their only real source at the moment was importing from the humans, and trolls, but even they didn't have a lot to spare.
Though she still wasn't sure whether or not the Bishop was joking when she wrote that the Guardian Beast wanted to trade them for food. While it didn't surprise her that mobs had no concept of the value of things, she was also pretty certain she had learned that they didn't eat. It was something she had never thought to question.
Based on what she was reading, it seemed like it might actually be possible to open the road for travel through Nyolund again. Not immediately, but eventually. The two big concerns were fixing the damage, and providing sufficient security. And the Guardian Beast was willing to cooperate on the latter part.
If this truly worked out, then she'd have a massive achievement on her list. And it would help the kingdom out, but in her excitement Elnatha was thinking more about the former, than the latter. If the Bishop's speculation that the Guardian Beast could win over the wolves of the other zones into the alliance as well was correct, then she could become the Princess Who Reclaimed Ildhena. That just might guarantee her the crown.
The Lieutenant's report didn't mention much about the state of the road. That was the survey team's responsibility, after all. It talked more about the Guardian Beast itself, how it commanded the wolves, and even how the Night Ravens were working with it. The tone was surprisingly glowing as it talked about them fighting alongside each other.
None of the royal siblings had seen actual combat, so Elnatha couldn't really put herself in those shoes, but they were all trained in fencing, archery, and magic. The Elven Royal class gave them advantages to all of those.
It definitely sounded like something out of a fairy tale, or legend. She would have to find a copy of this legend, since she had never read it herself. The Palace Librarian would know more. At worst she'd have to go down to the Great Library.
Elnatha wanted to go see this Guardian Beast for herself. Of course it was practically impossible. They would never let any royal heir just walk out into the forest to talk to a mob, even if it was a Guardian Beast. She would never want for anything in life, except freedom from the shackles of responsibility. There was a limit to how selfish she could be without the risk of getting disowned. Their mother the Queen had high expectations for all three of them. Even if only one of them would become the next Monarch, the other two would still have important roles. Assuming they didn't mess up so badly they lost their position, and she didn't expect that of either of her siblings.
There was no use in lamenting the impossible. Maybe things would change one day. Either she would be allowed outside, or they could invite the Guardian Beast inside. Both of which seemed incredibly unlikely. Her only option would be to sneak out, but that probably wasn't worth the risk.
It was not outside of her station to go visit the Temple, of course. She could speak with the Bishop, and maybe have her deliver a message. If she handed over a letter, maybe she could get a written response from the Guardian Beast. It could write, so that might be exciting. Honestly she had no idea what she wanted to write to it in the first place, but sometimes she'd get silly ideas popping into her head.
For now she'd just wait for copies of the other reports, and indulge in her little fantasies.
Varewulf Nearly there. One of the hard things about writing this story is coming up with ideas for things that could be added in future patches, because there will always be part of me that wants to implement such things immediately. Hot-fixes are of course possible, but non-urgent yet significant updates should be saved for the content patches.
Part of the idea is that the game is not in a perfect state, especially since it struggles balancing the line between delivering a "realistic" world, and also wanting to be convenient to the players. So certain things will be rough, and some features just aren't present yet. I will probably never run out of things to fix, and balance.
Next time I get to finally reveal the first batch of that, and clean up a bit of the messiness of the current state of the game. Whenever I talk to my friend who works on real games about ideas, wording, and balance issues on my fake game, he'll just tell me "what you're doing is honestly no different from actual game design. I hear stuff like this all the time."
The trip back south went quicker than the one up north since the surveyors no longer had to stop for anything. They did keep an eye out in case they had missed anything, but otherwise the focus was on getting back to Komeron as quickly as possible. Their group was incapable of outrunning much in the way of danger, so they still had a couple of bear encounters. Sara also had to deal with the respawned jaguars, and help her wolves fight the deer. The soldiers were more active with helping out in the woods to speed things up, so they kept about as good of a pace as they possibly could.
They had seen how everything worked on the way up, so they could be more efficient on the way back down. Though it still took them 2-3 hours to get from the forest's edge, and back to the glade. Much slower than Sara could travel on her own, but regular people did not have maxed Sprint, or as high agility as her. Residents also seemed to need to catch their breaths more often than mobs.
Though overall the distances in this world were shorter than they would be on Earth. It was a game world after all, and the developers didn't want their users to have to travel for days to get anywhere if they were going on foot. Normally you would imagine the largest forest on the continent to be somewhere it would take days to get through, rather than somewhere in the vicinity of 4-6 hours (maybe more) if you counted from starting in the city. Merchant wagons that normally travelled barely above walking speed should prepare themselves to be on slower end of that estimate since they were an easy target for aggressive forest creatures. Ironically a group going only on foot would probably make better time, and anyone on an otherwise unburdened mount could get through much faster, especially since they might be able to out-speed any hostile mobs.
For most people going all the way from the top of Nyolund, through either Ethuun or Wutsch, and to the bottom of Sholan would probably require staying the night somewhere. Komeron was perfectly situated for that rather than taking the risk of camping in the woods, or having to travel in the dark.
"So this is where we part ways, Guardian Beast," Lieutenant Davril said. "We will manage to get back to Komeron on our own from here. Thank you for your assistance, and perhaps we will work together again in the future." His attitude seemed to have shifted significantly over the course of the day. Sara had started to get a slight read on his neutral expression. Like with Aina, it wasn't entirely emotionless.
[ Intuition Skill Level Up! ]
She wasn't even going to question that.
"It was a valuable experience for us as well, Lieutenant Davril," Sara wrote in response. "I hope it will lead to good things in the future."
"As do I," he replied.
"I wish I could stay and talk, Guardian Beast," Mirielle said, thankfully careful to not mention Sara's name openly again. "But I unfortunately have a report to write, and it's getting late. I would like to return for a meeting tomorrow morning, if that's okay with you?"
"Certainly," Sara wrote. "I will be looking forward to it, Priestess." That would be after the patch had gone live, unless it was massively delayed.
"I need to go too, Guardian Beast," Laroni said. "I'm sure they're going to make me write a report too, unless they just want to interr- debrief me. B-but maybe I'll come back to visit some day."
"You are always welcome, Speaker," Sara wrote. To keep everything on an equal footing, and not give the impression that she might be telling secrets, she avoided communicating with her voice in this situation.
She waved goodbye to them as they headed down the road, which caused some odd creaking noises. It looked like two of the soldiers had levelled up, since two of them were 32, and the last was 33 now. Maybe Mirielle was close too. Sara actually wasn't sure how the Priestess earned most of her experience, but she probably got it from working at the Temple. Combat wasn't the only way to earn experience points, but it was probably the fastest. Especially if you combined it with completing quests. But she imagined that regular Residents weren't too keen on braving the danger, even if they respawned. She didn't even know how common it was to know how to fight.
Sara reverted to wolf form, and went into the glade to sit down. She wanted to look through the popups that had piled up during the trip back down before she went back to the den. It wasn't as excessive as it had been up north, but she had still been quite active heading down. She tried to just find the important ones.
[ Quest Complete: Survey The Komeron North Way ]
[ With your help the survey was completed successfully. Once word reaches everyone waiting back in Komeron, your prestige is sure to rise, and your reputation score greatly improve. The future of the alliance looks bright! ]
Starting with her very first quest completion screen. It seemed like her reward wouldn't come into effect immediately, so there was probably no point in checking her reputation screen right away. It might be better to have a look the next day. At least the quest was recorded as a success. Either Auntie System or Aina must have written that description on the fly, and they probably knew what they were talking about. The writing was a little too grandiose for her taste, but that was fairly typical for these sorts of games.
Beyond that...
[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Leech Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Improved! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Growth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
So many new maxed skills. She must have been quite close to all of these, since they'd been less busy, and yet only one evolution, and no new unlocks. Perhaps she had already grabbed so many Druid skills that there just wasn't a lot left around this level. She probably needed to reach a higher level for more to become available.
Oh wait, this is one of the special boxes.
[ Condition Met: Possess three or more movement enhancing passive skills at level max. Skill merge available. 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Skills: Air Control, Cat's Feet, and Quick Feet will merge into skill: Enhanced Movement Lvl Max. Price: 3 skill points. Merge: Yes/No ]
These things were usually good upgrades, and it only cost her 1 skill point in actuality.
[ Merging skills... Successful. Skill gained: Enhanced Movement Lvl Max. ]
She figured she would look at it right away before checking the new max bonuses.
[ Enhanced Movement (Passive): Enhances the leg functions, and movement capabilities of the holder. Effect increases with skill level.
Includes:
Improved dodge; improved air dodge; improved acceleration; improved deceleration; improved turning speed, and accuracy; air control while falling; reduced fall damage; fall damage mitigation if less than 10% of max HP; less noise when walking; less impact when landing; able to walk on fragile surfaces without breaking them; sufficient speed allows holder to run across the water's surface; improved traction on slippery surfaces; 10% increase to normal movement speed. ]
Most of those she recognised from the skills that had been merged. The only new standouts were the movement speed increase, and the slippery surface thing. Presumably one of them was the max bonus from Quick Feet, and the other was a bonus she got because of the merging. Since she hadn't checked Quick Feet beforehand, she would never know.
[ Regrowth (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Nature element property. Target gains a layer of leaves for 5 seconds that will absorb one attack up to (50+(2*skill level))% of HP healed. Excess damage is still inflicted. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Leaf layer duration +3 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Budding Regrowth (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Nature element property. Target gains a layer of leaves for 6 seconds that will absorb one attack up to (60+(2*skill level))% of HP healed. Excess damage is still inflicted. Removes Bleed(?) status if present. Cost: 6 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
That seemed like an easy upgrade, even with the temporary loss in potency. It seemed like the general rule was that once the upgraded skill hit lvl 5, it was about as strong as the lower skill was at max. Minus whatever max bonus it had had. There was often some added effect as well, like the Bleed removal on this one.
[ Regrowth Skill Evolved Into Budding Regrowth Skill ]
[ Leech (Active): Remove up to three random negative status conditions from target. Nature element property. Warning: certain status conditions cannot be removed. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Negative status condition removal count further increased. ]
[ Growth (Active): Increases target's attack power for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Nature element property. Buff value: (30+(2*skill level))%. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 30 seconds.
Max level bonus: Defence: +10%. ]
[ Rejuvenate (Active): Restore target's HP over time. Recovery value: (1+(1*skill level))% of Max HP every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 20 seconds.
Max level bonus: Restores 10% SP every 2 seconds as well. ]
The new max bonuses were interesting. It gave her the impression that Druid support skills were aiming to be more about durability than pure recovery. And because a lot of it was percentage based it scaled fairly well, even if it might be lacking in initial power. That might be the reason for having less evolutions as well. And finally...
[ Skill Gained: Crush. ]
The other scary attack skill the bears had. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to break anyone's bones. It would probably feel quite unpleasant, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to inflict that level of pain on someone else after having experienced it herself at only half effect. The other effects were good, and the power was pretty good. Maybe she could just aim for parts where bone breaking was less likely.
Well, no one was forcing her to use every skill she had. Her regular attack skills were pretty strong at such a high level anyway.
It had gotten pretty late in the afternoon, so maybe she should just head back to the den. She was getting quite excited about the next day, when the patch would finally go live. She had a feeling there was going to be much more to it than what Aina had told her. Hopefully she wouldn't be too excited to sleep.
* * *
Once back in the den she felt a bit jittery, and decided to look at her level up, and check her skill list before trying to sleep.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Nyolund Mystic Wolf (Nyolund Guardian Beast) | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Druid (Beast) ]
[ Role: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena Zone Boss ]
[ Level: 25 -> 26 (30) ]
[ HP: 169/169 -> 179/179 + 14 (202/202 +16) | SP: 174/174 -> 185/185 +16 (206/206 +17) | MP: 161/161 -> 175/175 + 18 (199/199 +21) ]
[ VIT: 65 -> 71 +14 (80 +16) | END: 75 -> 82 +16 (87 +17) ]
[ STR: 71 -> 77 +15 (74 + 14) | DEF: 52 -> 58 +14 (56 +11) ]
[ AGI: 93 -> 100 +20 (108 +21) | DEX: 62 -> 68 +13 (66 +13) ]
[ INT: 92 -> 100 +20 (105 +21) | WIS: 84 -> 93 +18 (109 +21) ]
[ LUK: 144 -> 154 +30 (60 +12) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 4 ]
Even if it was thanks to the buff, she though it was exciting to be that close to hitting 200 HP. Eventually she would get there unbuffed. If she remembered the announcement correctly the buff only worked within her own zone, but she had forgotten to check while she was outside. She hadn't particularly noticed feeling weaker, but if anyone wanted an edge on taking her out, they'd have to try to lure her outside of the zone first. It was a significant drop in stats. Several levels worth.
[ Active: ]
[ Chomp Lvl 7 -> 9 (Max) | Rend Lvl 6 -> 9 (Max) | Body Slam Lvl Max (Max) | Savage Blow Lvl 3 -> 5 (Max) |
Pack Leader's Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) | Root Bind Lvl 1 -> 5 (Max) | Poison Arrow Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) |
Frost Arrow Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) | Greater Fireball Lvl 1 (Max) | Water Jet (New) Lvl 1 -> 3 (Max) | Arcane Blast Lvl 4 (Max) |
Thorn Armour Lvl 1 -> 6 (Max) | Growth Lvl 6 -> Max (Max) | Budding Regrowth (New) Lvl 1 (Max) | Rejuvenate Lvl 6 -> Max (Max) |
Mass Rejuvenate Lvl 4 -> 7 (Max) | Sense Presence Lvl Max (Max) | Bear Form Lvl 4 -> Max (Max) | Cat Form Lvl Max (Max) |
Tree Form Lvl 6 -> 9 (Max) ]
[ Concealed Active: ]
[ Charge Lvl 8 -> Max | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 | Strong Poison Strike Lvl 6 -> 9 | Death From Above Lvl 4 -> 6 | Solid Kick Lvl 2 |
Back Attack Lvl 2 | Struggle Lvl 1 | Stomp Lvl 1 | Pounce (New) Lvl 1 | Shred (New) Lvl 1 | Crush (New) Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Needle (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 1 | Poison Cloud Lvl 1 | Poison Enchant Lvl 1 -> 5 | Leech Lvl 7 -> Max |
Leap Lvl Max | Roar Lvl 1 | Taunt Lvl 1 | Erase Presence Lvl 11 | Thermal Vision Lvl 7 -> 8 | Sense Mana Lvl 6 -> 8 | Slow Fall (New) ]
[ Passive: ]
[ Keen Senses Lvl Max (Max) | Danger Sense Lvl Max (Max) | Environmental Sense Lvl 8 -> 9 (Max) | Insulation Lvl 8 (Max) |
Firm Grip Lvl Max (Max) | Balance Up Lvl 9 -> Max (Max) | Solid Coat Lvl 6 (Max) | Leadership Lvl Max (Max) |
Nature Element Up Lvl 8 -> Max (Max) | Mana Manipulation Lvl Max (Max) | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 8 -> 9 (Max) ]
[ Concealed Passive: ]
[ Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Intuition Lvl 1 -> 3 | Claw Expertise Lvl 2 -> 6 | Dig Lvl Max | Burrow Lvl 2 | Spider Climb Max | Spider Silk Lvl 9 -> Max |
Thread Manipulation (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Paralysis Venom Lvl 7 -> Max | Enhanced Movement (New) Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 5 -> 6 | Dive Lvl 1 |
Chameleon Lvl Max | Pursuit Lvl 5 | Copy Cast Lvl 4 -> 8 | Fire Element Up Lvl 6 | Poison Immunity | Fire Resistance Lvl 2 |
Dark Resistance Lvl 1 | HP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | SP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | MP Regen (Small) Lvl 3 -> 5 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) |
Commune With Animals ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl 9 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]
[ Concealed General: ]
[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin, Elf | Life Magic Lvl 8 | Decryption Lvl 1 | Double Skill Experience (Hidden) ]
[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]
[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide | Disarm Trap | Smack |
Skewer (New) ]
[ Skill points: 19 ]
She hadn't realised that all three of her primary melee skills were at level 9. She had only used spells during the escort mission. Well, at least she had something more to work on the next day. There hadn't been a dull day since she had gotten here.
Oh, and Tree Form was also close. Well, she might as well wait around in that for a bit until that one levelled. She probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep that fast anyway. So she shapeshifted before she continued browsing.
Environmental Sense and All Attributes Up were almost there as well, and would probably get there the next day considering her doubled experience gain.
Copy Cast was already at level 8, since she had copied a lot of the needles that day, and...
Slow Fall didn't have a level, but she wouldn't be surprised if none of the special skills did. She was quite curious what others there might be. That seemed to be the final noteworthy thing.
[ Tree Form Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
And there it was!
[ Tree Form (Active): Druid branch exclusive. User shapeshifts into a treant, and roots themselves to the ground. Continuous effect. Able to turn, unable to move. User able to disguise themselves as a tree if completely immobile. Defence, Intelligence, and Wisdom +(50+(2*skill level))%. Double damage taken from axes, and fire element. All other resistances +(10+(1*skill level))%. Agility -90%. Dexterity -50%. Attack power -20%. Temporarily gain skills: Smack, HP Regen (Small), SP Regen (Small), and MP Regen (Small). Activation Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 10 seconds.
Max level bonus: Able to slowly move. ]
Oh?
Sara immediately tried moving a bit, and she could! Though slowly was the operative word. It really only worked for slight repositioning. Sprint still worked, but even at 70% increased speed she could barely reach a regular person's walking speed. She probably still fell a little short. It seemed to be more for fun than function, but stuff like that wasn't necessarily bad.
She reverted to her wolf form, and did some stretches. There was really nothing more to do for the day, so she crawled onto her bed. She kinda wished she could decorate the place more. Maybe if she could dye her silk. There probably was some skill for that, but it was likely beyond her reach as she was at the moment. Maybe she could ask for something, but what? A rug? Paintings? A TV? Okay, that last one wasn't going to happen. Not that she had watched much TV in her old life either. Everything she'd watched had been online. And she definitely wasn't getting a computer in this world.
As she drifted off she thought it was a little sad that she'd never know what would happen next on her favourite series'.
* * *
While most of the concerned parties were content to wait until the next day to review the written reports from the survey mission, there was one person who had made sure to get a copy of Lieutenant Davril's report as quickly as she could.
First Princess Elnatha Hanoleav was looking through the report with increasing interest. She had initially jumped on this just so her siblings couldn't. She knew an opportunity when she saw it, and also that she wouldn't lose a lot if it failed, since no one really expected anything from it in the first place. There would be some embarrassment, but nothing critical. Better that she tried, and failed, than that either of them tried, and succeeded.
While their brother was currently not much of a rival, Elnatha was aware how the people viewed her little sister. And herself by comparison. As the oldest she had received strict instruction, and acquired a serious-looking facial expression, along with a flawless bearing. She knew a lot of people viewed her as harsh, and there wasn't much she could do to change that view without completely breaking her royal image.
Meanwhile Pholunee played the more charismatic card. As the youngest the people had a general inclination to view her as softer regardless of how true it was, and that wasn't really an arena Elnatha could compete in. People were going to love Pholunee because of her friendly expression, and her nice balance of being both cute, and pretty.
Elnatha honestly agreed with them, but she also felt some envy. She was no less of a beauty, but there weren't many who would call her cute, and she was generally viewed as more distant from the common people. She didn't necessarily want to be that way, but changing public perception was always an uphill struggle. People found her more intimidating. That was something she had to accept, so she had find her merit elsewhere.
And this... it might have started as just a whim after seeing the Bishop's report, and realising that at the very least she couldn't let Gorivor or Pholunee have a shot at this. Even if they weren't able to open the road again, she'd be happy just to get more of that silk. It wasn't top quality, but it was certainly workable. Non-sticky spider silk was quite uncommon, and very soft. Their only real source at the moment was importing from the humans, and trolls, but even they didn't have a lot to spare.
Though she still wasn't sure whether or not the Bishop was joking when she wrote that the Guardian Beast wanted to trade them for food. While it didn't surprise her that mobs had no concept of the value of things, she was also pretty certain she had learned that they didn't eat. It was something she had never thought to question.
Based on what she was reading, it seemed like it might actually be possible to open the road for travel through Nyolund again. Not immediately, but eventually. The two big concerns were fixing the damage, and providing sufficient security. And the Guardian Beast was willing to cooperate on the latter part.
If this truly worked out, then she'd have a massive achievement on her list. And it would help the kingdom out, but in her excitement Elnatha was thinking more about the former, than the latter. If the Bishop's speculation that the Guardian Beast could win over the wolves of the other zones into the alliance as well was correct, then she could become the Princess Who Reclaimed Ildhena. That just might guarantee her the crown.
The Lieutenant's report didn't mention much about the state of the road. That was the survey team's responsibility, after all. It talked more about the Guardian Beast itself, how it commanded the wolves, and even how the Night Ravens were working with it. The tone was surprisingly glowing as it talked about them fighting alongside each other.
None of the royal siblings had seen actual combat, so Elnatha couldn't really put herself in those shoes, but they were all trained in fencing, archery, and magic. The Elven Royal class gave them advantages to all of those.
It definitely sounded like something out of a fairy tale, or legend. She would have to find a copy of this legend, since she had never read it herself. The Palace Librarian would know more. At worst she'd have to go down to the Great Library.
Elnatha wanted to go see this Guardian Beast for herself. Of course it was practically impossible. They would never let any royal heir just walk out into the forest to talk to a mob, even if it was a Guardian Beast. She would never want for anything in life, except freedom from the shackles of responsibility. There was a limit to how selfish she could be without the risk of getting disowned. Their mother the Queen had high expectations for all three of them. Even if only one of them would become the next Monarch, the other two would still have important roles. Assuming they didn't mess up so badly they lost their position, and she didn't expect that of either of her siblings.
There was no use in lamenting the impossible. Maybe things would change one day. Either she would be allowed outside, or they could invite the Guardian Beast inside. Both of which seemed incredibly unlikely. Her only option would be to sneak out, but that probably wasn't worth the risk.
It was not outside of her station to go visit the Temple, of course. She could speak with the Bishop, and maybe have her deliver a message. If she handed over a letter, maybe she could get a written response from the Guardian Beast. It could write, so that might be exciting. Honestly she had no idea what she wanted to write to it in the first place, but sometimes she'd get silly ideas popping into her head.
For now she'd just wait for copies of the other reports, and indulge in her little fantasies.
Varewulf Nearly there. One of the hard things about writing this story is coming up with ideas for things that could be added in future patches, because there will always be part of me that wants to implement such things immediately. Hot-fixes are of course possible, but non-urgent yet significant updates should be saved for the content patches.
Part of the idea is that the game is not in a perfect state, especially since it struggles balancing the line between delivering a "realistic" world, and also wanting to be convenient to the players. So certain things will be rough, and some features just aren't present yet. I will probably never run out of things to fix, and balance.
Next time I get to finally reveal the first batch of that, and clean up a bit of the messiness of the current state of the game. Whenever I talk to my friend who works on real games about ideas, wording, and balance issues on my fake game, he'll just tell me "what you're doing is honestly no different from actual game design. I hear stuff like this all the time."
