Rune Seeker

Hiral walked near the back of the group as they set out again, one of his swords in his left hand, while the other—the broken one—waited in the sheath over his shoulder. The Rune of Rejection had done quite the number on it—not when it’d gone through the Troblin’s chest, but when it had smashed into a thick tree after that. Oh, well, at least he’d learned from the encounter.

Now, since Right and Left had the same Atn he did, they walked at his side, and it made sense to keep them out to watch for more ambushes. In the meantime…

“So, you both have attribute points to spend?” Hiral asked, his own yellow status windowopen, but out of the way, as he walked. From the fight with the Troblins, he’d also gained three more levels, bringing him to level 9.

That was fast. Up in Fallen Reach, it would’ve taken months or years to gain that many levels. Maybe because I was so low-level compared to the Troblins?

“Yes, we each have twenty-seven points to spend,” Left said.

“But, like I said before, I can’t put any points into intelligence, wisdom, or attunement,” Right said.

“While I am the opposite. I can’t put points into strength, dexterity, or endurance,” Left said.

“So, you got Meridian Lines, which are like the physical aspect of a Shaper’s power, and the physical stats,” Hiral said to Right. “While you,” he said to Left, “got the mental stats and the ability to uses the tattoos.”

“Tattoos rely on mental stats to determine their potency,” Left said.

“They do,” Hiral agreed. “Even though most Shapers still focus on strength and endurance. Kind of like Right, I guess. Anyway, do you have any suggestions how to spend the attribute points, then, Left?”

“As we only have three attributes to choose from, I suggest we balance each one out. At E-Rank, we gain three points per level, so one per stat per level. As we reach D-Rank and above, where we gain additional stats per level, we can decide if we want to focus more, or continue on a balanced approach.”

“Hrm… Balanced isn’t usually how Shapers spend their stat points. Hey, Seena,” Hiral said to the woman listening in while they walked. The rain was such a constant by this point that they’d all sort of tuned it out, even though they were soaked through. “How do Growers spend their attribute points?”

“I think we’re a bit different,” Seena said, stepping in closer to actually be part of the conversation now that she was invited. “At E-Rank, we get three points, like you do, but one of them always goes to wisdom. We can spend the other two points however we like.”

“Wisdom? Really?” Hiral asked. “And one of your three points always goes into that?”

“Yeah,” Seena said. “Wisdom is the base stat for a lot of our abilities. You know, determines durability and potency in a lot of ways, stuff like that. People like Yanily or Vix, they’ll also put their free points into the physical stats to help with their damage abilities.”

“My main damage ability is Reed Spear Style,” Yanily said, joining in the conversation from the other side. “It uses wisdom,strength, and dexterity to do more damage, so I have to balance all three. Kind of a pain, really. Balyo only needs wisdom and strength.”

“Vix is wisdom and dexterity,” Seena said, “but Nivian over there puts most of his free points into endurance to make him tougher. I had no idea Islanders had control over all their level-up points. Is it the same at D-Rank and above?”

“Yup,” Hiral said. “All of the Maker classes—Shapers, Artists, and Academics—have full control over where they place their stats. Still, Shapers almost always put all their stats into strength and endurance.”

“Tanks,” Seena said.

“I guess so,” Hiral said. “Artists are attunement, first and foremost, then usually intelligence, wisdom, and endurance, in that order. Academics tend to focus on either intelligence or wisdom.”

“What about your…uh…new race? Any idea what… What is your race called again?”

“Builder, apparently,” Hiral said, glancing at his status window. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked to see how the points worked since I’d just assumed it was the same as Makers. Figured I’d wait until I knew more about my class.”

“Can’t hurt to go in and check, can it?” Seena said.

“You’re right,” Hiral said as he mentally focused on the available attribute points he had to spend. No sooner had he done that than a new window opened with just his attributes on it, and his 27 available points dropped immediately to 9. “What in the Fallen’s names?”

“What’s wrong?” Seena asked.

“Eighteen of my attribute points vanished,” Hiral said, but when he looked at the numbers, that wasn’t true. “Never mind… it auto-spent them. Here, look.” He shared his attribute window.

Str: 18 (0)

Dex: 20 (9)

End: 18 (0)

Int: 18 (0)

Wis: 18 (0)

Atn: 18 (9)

“Looks like your class is dexterity- and attunement-focused. Maybe you’re a scout after all?” Seena asked.

“Maybe?” Hiral said. “Attunement is used for a lot of things other than just perception up in Fallen Reach, but… I guess that’ll at least be useful to spot more ambushes.”

He looked up and down the path. It definitely wasn’t his imagination; the darkness seemed pushed back a little, the sounds clearer, and the smells separate and individually flowing into his nose.

“What are you going to do with the other nine points?” Seena asked.

“Same plan as before—hold on to them for the time being until I know more about the class. Either way, I guess the extra dexterity and attunement won’t hurt.” Inwardly, he was a little disappointed he didn’t get to choose how to build his stats out.

Oh, well. Maybe it’s better this way. Now I’m not sitting on all the points and waiting.

“Right, Left, you okay with the plan of balancing your stats until we at least get to D-Rank?” Hiral asked them, and both men nodded. “Great, let’s do that.”

“And… done,” Right said, flexing his arms.

“Also done,” Left said. “I’ll go join Lonil at the front to help keep an eye out, if that’s okay with you.”

“Definitely. Thanks, Left,” Hiral said, and the tattooed double jogged ahead to the front of the group, quickly falling into conversation with Lonil and Vix.

Fitch, though, to Hiral’s newly improved Atn, looked less than impressed to have the new company.

“Feeling stronger, Right?” Hiral asked his double.

“And faster and tougher,” Right answered. “Should help with any more Troblins we run into.”

“Not like you had a lot of trouble with them in the first place,” Seena said. “What does that Meridian Line of yours do, anyway?”

“I’ll let you field that one, Hiral,” Right said. “I’m going to go keep Nivian company.”

“Uh… sure,” Hiral said, watching Right slow his pace until he was at the back of the group. “Anyway, Meridian Lines primarily act as the conduit for our stat points—our PIMs, you called them? However, they can also be infused with solar energy to magnify physical stats only. Basically, they make Shapers even stronger and tougher.”

“Wow, the tattoo magic you Islanders use sounds simple, but pretty strong,” Seena said.

“Yes. We’re lucky those Shapers from earlier didn’t take me seriously enough to really try.”

“Also means that crystal thing that survived them was super strong,” Yanily said. “I still think we got cheated not getting any experience from it.”

“Pretty sure we didn’t defeat it,” Seena said. “Frankly, I’m just happy we survived. And I guess Hiral got a class out of it too. Can’t believe you didn’t have one this whole time.”

“Sorry,” Hiral said.

“Nah, it’s fine. I don’t think I would’ve wanted to talk about it if I was in your shoes.”

“Thanks. Guess this means getting to the dungeon interface doesn’t have the same meaning now.” Hiral shrugged.

“It does for the rest of us, though,” Seena said, tilting her head back so the rain splashed against her face in the faint light from the Light Darts. “I really don’t think the Troblins are the worst of what’s in this rain. Even a group that big wouldn’t explain why none of our parties have ever survived getting stranded down here. No, we still need to get into that dungeon.”

“You’re right,” Hiral said. “Oh, that reminds me. When I was fighting that Shaman, one of his guards seemed to use some kind of ability. These green bands of energy wrapped around his arms, and I think they boosted his strength. His attacks were much stronger than the others.”

“A Troblin used an ability?” Seena asked, her raised eyebrows clearly indicating that was news to her. “I… I guess that makes sense, considering they use Pile On, but I’ve never seen or heard of what you’re describing. We’ll have to warn the others to keep an eye out for it, or anything else new.”

“Do you think it’s connected to the rains?” Hiral asked. “The ability was somewhat powerful, but like you said before, I don’t think it would be enough to explain why nobody survived the surface.”

“Could be. Also could’ve been a unique Troblin. Like one of those Elites I told you about before. Did you see any mention of it in your notifications?”

“No, I think it was just called a Troblin Guard. Level thirteen, I think, like the Shaman.”

“Either way, good to know it’s not just the Shamans who can use abilities,” Seena said.

“I guess so,” Hiral agreed. “Hey, it looks like Lonil and Left stopped.”

The others quickly caught up to those in the lead, and it was pretty clear why they’d stopped moving. The path naturally dipped down into something like a valley before rising up again somewhere in the darkness. Except that valley was now a lake, filled with water as far as they could see in the limited light.

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