BlaiseCorvin
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Sponsored Apocalypse, Ch 32
🕑 Added 2023-04-21 02:21:18 +0000 UTCI clicked on the class message to acknowledge it.
A new notification read:
[You have been granted a choice between five classes]
[Choose wisely]
I looked at the list of classes.
[Classes:
Dark Contractor
Neutral Anarchist
Curse Warrior
Mystic Arbalest
Brave Adventurer]
I drilled into all of the classes to see what other information there would be but none of them really explained what sort of benefits they offered. For example, Mystic Arbalest just stated:
[Mystic Arbalest]
This is the beginner class for those who prefer to fight with projectiles. Whether it's with magic, explosions, poison, cold, heat, raw power, or something else, a Mystic Arbalest can deliver death with pinpoint accuracy. Future specializations include trap use, sniping, and projectile crafting focuses.
I actually read the description for each class.
[Dark Contractor]
A mysterious figure that fights with their own abilities and those of summons or thralls. The Dark Contractor is most comfortable in the shadows, directing the course of history indirectly with either a deft, or heavy hand. Future specializations include leadership buffs, personal buffs, and divination.
[Neutral Anarchist]
As a conductor leads others to create music, a Neutral Anarchist sows chaos. Not affiliated with any cause other than those known to themselves, the Neutral Anarchist uses any means necessary–and some that might not be necessary–to maximize carnage and confusion. Future specializations include explosives, time-based traps, and mental attack focuses.
[Curse Warrior]
Some warriors focus on technique, some of their bodies, but a Curse Warrior uses every tool at their disposal to defeat an enemy. Nothing is off limits, and all is fair in combat. The curse warrior excels at unconventional hand to hand combat. Future Specializations include utilizing rare energies, explosive power at a cost, and debuff aura focuses.
[Brave Adventurer]
One of the best understood, and most dependable classes for any warrior of an integrated world, Brave Adventurers have great potential. Upgrade paths for the Brave Adventurer are easy to understand. Skills are simple to learn, but difficult to master. Future specializations include mystic, martial, and savant focuses.
It sort of disturbed me that so many of my options sounded…shady, or seemed to include a feeling of opportunism. I wondered how many classes there were in the universe. That was probably a question I wouldn’t get an answer any time soon, and I decided it probably didn’t matter.
After some more study, I noticed that all five classes had a different rarity just like the skills in the standard skill menu and the exclusive Sponsored menu.
Now that I knew what to look for, the rarity of the classes were:
Dark Contractor - Legendary
Neutral Anarchist - Epic
Curse Warrior - Epic
Mystic Arbalest - Rare
Brave Adventurer - Common
They varied quite a bit.
After seeing the rarities, reading the summaries, and thinking about how all these classes might synergize with the skills that I already had, my decision sort of
made itself. I chose [Dark Contractor].
Immediately after making my choice, a painful tingle started from my feet, went to my head and back down. Then a more pleasant sensation started, ended, and another unpleasant one began. These waves happened dozens of times. I grit my teeth and just went to my happy place, thinking about ice cream with sprinkles.
When the waves of weirdness finally stopped, I got a slew of system notifications.
The first said:
[Congratulations on attaining a class! You have received one Advancement Point.]
Then I got another notification that listed further information about my class.
[<Dark Contractor>] All of your skills and abilities regarding minions, slaves, familiars, and spirits that are bound to your power or bound to your soul will be strengthened over time. Spirits are more likely to acknowledge or recognize you. You have an easier time dominating and or binding any entities that you control or seek to control.
All of your related abilities have the potential to combine or evolve.
Class skills:
[Entity Domination]
Allows the the Dark Contractor to engage in a battle of wills with certain entities and/or controlling mages to wrest control of an entity, converting its allegiance.]
I stared at the screen. This class is crazy! Then I read the next class skill.
[Sense Summons]
Supernatural sense to be alerted of nearby and locate cetain types of superntural entities over
a limited range.
This ability seemed a little bit less exciting to me. At last I could still think of some theoretical ways that might come in useful in the future.
However, the most astonishing part of my new class was the stat bonuses.
[Bonuses:
+2 Strength
+2 Willpower
+1 Endurance
+1 Intelligence
+1 Origana
My first reaction was that I had no idea what Origana was. When I tried to drill down into it, nothing happened so I moved on to focus on the rest.
Holy shit, I thought as I looked at how many stats I’d just gotten. Then I kicked myself. I should have used some of my advancement points I had right now for my stats before now! Then I would have gotten even more benefit! Higher level stats were more expensive, so getting a +1 to a stat will be more and more valuable the more powerful I become.
Still, I was happy. This was amazing.
I closed my notifications and prepared to open my character sheet but then I suddenly got yet another notification! This one shocked me as much as the class that I’d just received.
[Title achieved: Xenocide]
You have achieved a feat, on accident, that others have been reviled throughout history for.
Eradication of further continuation of an entire species: lesser aquatic kobolds.
Lesser aquatic kobolds were on the cusp of extinction, now they will be no more. Your actions have destroyed the last remaining females of the last tribe of the lesser water kobolds species.
Although though this species was weak, xenocide is still not a common feat.
With a sinking feeling I drilled into this particular title to see what it conferred.
[+4 Advancement Points]
I also got a bonus to poison abilities.
[Merciless Xenocide: Poison]
Lastly I received one renown point. I didn't know what this meant until I remembered the Eternal Struggle Reward System.
I still didn't understand that particular sub menu. But sure enough when I pulled it up, instead of a zero, I now had one Renown Point. This would have be something to deal with later. It looked like the Eternal Struggler Reward System would be as complicated to learn as my entire other menu systems combined. For now, I wanted to get somewhere safe to look at my character sheet.
The night was growing brighter on the horizon. It was getting close to dawn anyway, and I decided that I should probably find somewhere to sleep.
Bacon was still sleeping. Now that I didn't have my oblivion hound out to protect me, I needed to find a place that was more hidden than defensible. I searched around for about a half hour. What I settled on was an attic of a nearby house.
After entering the house, I’d discovered its previous owners. A man and a woman sat on a sofa, both very obviously dead. They had bottles of pills in front of them and an open bottle of wine on the side table. There was a note, apparently, to their grown child, it began:
We're sorry. If you're reading this, Jamie…
I didn't read any further. It felt like an invasion of privacy and I already felt my stomach twist.
Upon further investigation of the house, I found spend bullet casings by the front door and a corpse in the yard of one of the canine monsters I'd seen in town before. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put together what had happened.
These folks had run headfirst into the apocalypse, watched what was happening on TV, even killed one of the new monsters…and had decided that they wanted no part of this new world.
Honestly, I was sad and it was never anything I would have done, but I couldn't blame them.
I thought about what I’d seen in the residential area that goblins had taken. These people here had definitely gone out in a better way than the poor bastards who’d met the goblins, that was for sure.
My heart felt sour. I honestly didn't know exactly what to think about everything. So I did something I was getting much better at as I kept adjusting to this new world…I folded it up. I compartmentalised it, and I put it away.
Figuring out how I felt about every single terrible thing I saw from now on would likely be a luxury that I couldn't afford until I was powerful enough to no longer worry for my own safety.
I did a search of the house, looking for anything useful. Other than some odds and ends that went into my pack, I didn’t find anything super useful. The lack of a gun or any bullets made me think that this place had already been looted. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who’d respected these people’s last note to a loved one.
Then I went to the attic entrance, pulled the ladder down and then retracted it up with me. A simple tie off would make it very difficult to pull down from the bottom. I felt like this made it very unlikely for any random monsters to find me, especially since it was about to be sunrise and monsters seemed less active during the day.
The attic was hot as a dirty oven, even aat night. To make it a little more bearable for myself, I used my hammer to remove some of the wood from the vents at both sides of the house. This created more air flow, and I doubted these owners really cared about squirrels getting into their attic anymore.
All that done, I pulled up my character sheet.
Miles Lindstrom
Title(s):
First Ten to Five
First Five to Ten
First Transcendents
Challenge Room Champion
Champion of Anubis
Goblin Vanquisher
Xenocide
Level 41
Class:
Dark Contractor
Traits:
Merciless Xenocide: Poison
Stats:
Str: 9
Dex: 5
End: 11
Int: 7
Will: 10
Origina: 1
Luck: 6
Reflex: 7
Armor (nat): 1
Affiliations: Sponsored by Anubis
Associated Sponsor Titles: New Champion
Boons:
Eternal Struggle Reward System
Class Skills:
Entity Domination
Sense Summons
Prime Skills:
Tsukumogami Embrace
Spirits of the Past
Built Different
First to Five Eyes
Lower Prime Skills
Bone Strengthening
Elastic Joints
Natural Armor
Basic Magic Resistance
Lower Mystic Mind Armor
Active Skills:
Saliva of Hared Ha
Bone Truth Eyes
Basic Enchanted Sleep
Pulverizing Pebbles
Angry Arrows
Transfiguration: Alcohol to Water
Toxic breath of Hellas Portentis
Equipment-related Skills:
Better Days Auto Whisk
Beaded Benediction of Delayed Solace
Stalwart Pan of the Lonely Mountain
Lindstrom Family Hammer
Private Malone’s Last Stand
Weeping Island’s Resolve
Passionate Earth Mover
Enchanted Equipment
Iron Bracelet of the Weeping Island
Skills:
Dagger Combat
Hammer Combat
Magic Combat
Club Combat
Spear Combat
Sword Combat
Scythe Combat
Explosive Combat
Enchantment Combat
Earthworks
Ambush
Healing Salve Application
Firearms (pistols)
Combat Endurance
Pet Combat
Familiar Communication
Poison Application
Chemical Warfare
Execution
Available Advancement Points: 16
____
My last few new skills made me shake my head and sigh. Chemical warfare? I thought. Really?
At first the Advancement Points looked high, but then I did the math. 4 points from before, plus seven from leveling up, plus one for the new class, and four for my messed up new title…
Wow. I might not be pleased with the tone of some of my new…accomplishments, but I didn’t mind the results.
Now that I looked at my character sheet again, I wondered if there would be any more new titles or perks for leveling faster than others on Earth. Maybe I’d get something more for it later. I could only hope. After all, I couldn’t imagine that there were many other humans on earth who were my level at the moment.
I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to spend my points on yet even though I knew how I should spend them. So far it seemed I‘d been surviving with a good mix of defensive and offensive abilities. I liked that. Surviving was good.
My eyes went up and down my character sheet, but always ended up at the total Advancement Points I had available. What seemed so high before now was pitifully low.
I knew I should invest in more defense but before I pulled the trigger on that, I gave one last wistful look at the handful of remaining “Unique” entries in the special sponsored list. I was very tempted to get another…well, what was basically a random ability. Fear of missing out was definitely a motivator. It seemed the ones in that were Unique couldn't be bought any other way, at least from what I’d seen in my other skills market menu.
The decision was paining me, so I promised to myself that if I could save another 10 or 12 points, and if there were any left by then, I would get another sponsored menu, Unique skill.
But for now, I had to be practical. My luck was eventually going to run out. With that in mind, I remembered how I’d felt weird when I'd gotten close to the kobold lair. [Built Different] hadn't kicked in. So it hadn't been poison or anything like that. And it could have just been very subtle. It might have been something that turned intruders away. But whatever it was, I wanted more protection from it. I purchased the next level beyond [Basic Magic Protection]. That cost me a whopping seven points and was called [Lower Mystic Mind Armor]. Like the previous skill in this skill line, it scaled on Endurance and Willpower.
That left me with 9 points.
I used 3 points to purchase +1 to Dexterity, bringing it up to 6. Then I agonized over what to do with my remaining six points.
My Intelligence was really low, and I was tempted to raise it but it’d cost me four points, and then I wouldn’t have enough to raise any more stats. What I finally decided to do was raise my already high Endurance all the way to 12. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of leaving unused points again unless I was saving for something.
Then I took one last look at my entire character sheet, but focused on the portion I’d just changed.
Miles Lindstrom
Title(s):
First Ten to Five
First Five to Ten
First Transcendents
Challenge Room Champion
Champion of Anubis
Goblin Vanquisher
Xenocide
Level 41
Class:
Dark Contractor
Traits:
Merciless Xenocide: Poison
Stats:
Str: 9
Dex: 6
End: 12
Int: 7
Will: 10
Origina: 1
Luck: 6
Reflex: 7
Armor (nat): 1
Available Advancement Points: 0
I nodded my head with grim satisfaction. At this point, I could very confidently say I was superhuman. Some people might agonize over that. I found it comforting.
A lot had happened over the last few days. It would be good to recharge. So I put my head on my arm and used [Basic Enchanted Sleep] to immediately get some rest.
Comments
Blaise Corvin
Thanks! I need to see if the editor caught it now
AllenR
Just a note that you have Lower Mystic Mind Armor in his Lower Prime Skills list before he buys it a couple of paragraphs later. Really enjoying the read, though!
Blaise Corvin
Fixed a few other little warts while I was in there. Sorry about that, but I appreciate the heads up. I think the story will actually be more fun now, too
Robert jacobs
Nice! Glad it worked out.
