Luke Everhart
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Chapter 288 - A Paladin's Skill
🕑 Added 2025-07-04 10:30:39 +0000 UTC“Right, with that settled, we still need to figure out how we’re going to be doing this,” Kur said a few minutes later, looking up from his cereal bar. “Our original plan was to split the parties in two. One stays to guard the camp, and the other heads out into the jungle to gather and harvest. But now, we can have three instead. Two out in the field and one standing watch and resting at camp, and at lunch time we swap out one of the teams that went outside.”
“It sounds like a good plan,” Leon said. “Maximizes our efforts.”
The aethermancer rations seemed to consist of some kind of boxes that heated up the food within them with a tiny aetherbank that was, shockingly, a single use item, and the auramancers had gathered round, albeit at a respectable distance, to watch the rations pack at work.
“Do you have any gatherers and harvesters in your party?” Row asked.
Leon pointed with a disposable fork.
“Medis is our harvester, and Era is our gatherer,” he said.
“Would you be willing to pool all of our gathering efforts together?” Kur asked. “We focus on getting both of our Tsurmirel requirements done, and then whatever we get after that, we split equally?”
“Of course!” Leon said. “It would only be fair. You’re already going out of your way to help us with our quests.”
“Well, we should make a tidy profit from that, hopefully,” Kur said. “But we won’t be able to completely bypass the Gloom, as we have requirements from that area.”
“Do you think we can make do with just staying on the outskirts of it, by the Great Lake?” Row asked Sej.
“We should be able to,” the guide replied through a mouthful. “But it will still take us some time. At least two weeks, if everyone pools in their efforts together.”
“We will,” Leon said. “This sounds like the best approach, but don’t forget that we also need to consider leveling up and our gains. Our parties are seriously under leveled for this place, and that 40-50 range be damned.”
“Yes, and I’m not forgetting it,” Kur said. “Which means that we will need to work around the clock. One shift in the morning, one in the afternoon and maybe even one at night.”
“The night will be dangerous,” Sej said. “But I think we can pull it off. I’ll just make sure to be a part of that team, at least for now, until Jul and Jaz can start sensing properly. I can teach Medis too, if you want?”
“Please,” Calli said. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Kur echoed. “And that’s decided then. The last thing left is for us to figure out how we’re going to work together. Not only as auramancers and aethermancers, but as parties with different strategies, affinities, elements and clashes,” Kur said.
He grimaced. “To be honest, I’m almost tempted to just keep each party operating separately.”
“We can’t do that, though,” Leon said, with a pained smile. “Or we’ll never learn how to work together…”
“I know, I know,” Kur said.
“Definitely need to function as a proper domain party if you’re aiming for rares,” Sej added.
“Right,” Kur said. “Plus, while we already work well as parties, it would be remiss of us not to consider that there might be new combos that work even better… But all that is dependent on us being able to fight together in the first place.”
He glanced at Sej as he spoke, hoping to gleam some advice from the guide, given that she had hinted that it was possible, but surprisingly, it was Leon that spoke up first.
“Well, before you get too concerned about that, let me tell you something,” he said, grinning. “Of all the aethermancer parties to get roped in with, you couldn’t have hoped for a better party than ours.”
“True,” Calli said, nodding sagely.
“You haven’t checked our status yet, have you?” Leon asked.
“I was waiting for permission first…” Kur mumbled, earning him a burst of laughter from the paladin.
“Another point for you, domain leader! But you don’t need to worry about that. Everyone can and should check our status,” Leon said. “That said, for now, the important part is that our party works a little bit differently than, I would say, the majority of parties. And that’s mainly thanks to this skill of mine. Here, it goes like this…”
Oath of the Ardent Protector (Aether/Holy/Buff/HP Link) (Passive): You have taken an oath to serve and protect, at the cost of your very life should the need for it arise. Every 6th [Deed of Selflessness] you have stacked goes towards you taking 2% of the damage taken by your allies (limit, 16%), while they receive 2% less damage (HP link). Permanently, and at all times, increases [Constitution] by 50%, and [Toughness] and [Steadfastness] by 30% each. Range of 200 feet. Warning: This skill is always active, regardless of the user’s HP or lack thereof. Furthermore, it prevents the user from receiving any healing during combat. - Rare
“HP link?” Tun rumbled in the silence that followed. “You… Your taking is about transferring damage to you?”
“How’s that even possible?” Nar breathed.
Leon grinned at him. “As you can see, my tanking is actually quite simple, and it all revolves around this core skill.”
“Very powerful, but very dangerous,” Gad said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
“Crystal… How much HP do you even have?” Row whispered.
Leon grinned. “1540 points.”
Nar eyebrows nearly met his hairline, and silenced shock crashed over the tent once more.
“Well, it has to be that high, given I can’t be healed in combat and that I take everyone’s damage as well!” Leon said, still grinning widely.
“Is that why you have Era as your healer?” Kur asked, glancing towards the healer. “You get healed after combat?”
The paladin nodded.
“A healer’s main duty is always towards their tank,” he explained. “If the tank goes down, so does the whole party, and since I can’t be healed in combat, we needed someone that specialized in out of combat healing. Someone that could achieve a lot in a short amount of time in between fights if need be, to make up for it. And that someone was Era.”
“Her healing skills are very powerful, but they put people to sleep,” Calli said. “Therefore, we needed her, and she needed us. It was a perfect match.”
“And she can also put enemies asleep and trap them in waking dreams,” Leon added.
“That sounds amazing,” Kur said, his eyebrows high on his brow as he glanced at the smiling sleep aspected haler.
“It is, however, we were talking about my skill in particular,” Leon said, his playful grin returning. “Did you notice something about it?”
“Eh… No?” Row asked.
Nar pursed his lips and shook his head, earning him a chuckle from Leon.
“The keywords are these two words, HP link,” he said, and went quiet, as though waiting for realization to hit them.
“Wait…” Gad said, her tone going properly shocked this time around. “You don’t mean… It targets HP directly?”
Nar frowned at her, still confused.
“That’s exactly it, Gad!” Leon said.
“I don’t get it?” Row asked.
Both Kur and Nar shared her look of confusion.
“HP is an invisible, untouchable shield of Source energy that surrounds us and protects us,” Tun said. “It is, and at the same time it isn’t quite aether.”
Nar nodded slowly. He knew that much.
“Oh, shit!” Kur gasped. “Your skill targets HP directly! So it works on us too?”
“No!” Row shouted, her eyes going wild.
“It does!” Leon said, smiling from ear to ear.
“Really?” Nar asked, his mind unable to believe it.
“Really, I’ve tested it before,” Leon said, with a mischievous smile dancing on his lips. “That said, my active skills are normal though, so they would still clash. Plus, I don’t have enough HP to shield a huge amount of people just yet. Hence why our party is small as well.”
“Right…” Row said, deflating.
Calli chuckled at how quickly the red-haired party leader’s hopes had been inflated and then straight away deflated.
“If you think about it, it’s not that bad. Imagine if two [Aura Projectiles] collided against each other. Wouldn’t that react?” Calli asked.
“They’d both blow up.”
Nar turned around to find Cen and Cor listening in intensely to their conversation.
“Exactly. And, what happens if you throw a [Fireball] at another [Fireball]?” Calli asked with a light smile.
“They also blow up?” Cor asked, frowning.
“They do!” Calli said, clapping her hands once.
“But then, why are we told to keep away from aethermancers?” Kur asked.
“Two reasons,” Calli said, lifting two fingers. “One, the reaction is a lot stronger between aura and aether skills, which drastically increases the chance of friendly fire and injury due to an accidental skill reaction. And two, because both aethermancers and auramancers leak.”
“What do you… Oh, from our pathways,” Kur said.
“And from our channels,” she said. “But at our levels and numbers it’s not in enough quantities to cause a major backlash like with skills, but it is enough that it affects skills performance. And if you think about it, you guys continually leak aura, but it didn’t react with Era’s skill last night, right? Even if it did decrease its efficiency somewhat…”
Nar leaned back in his plastic chair, causing it to squeak in protest. Could there really be a way for them to work together?
“It’s a mess, isn't it?” Leon asked, shaking his head. “But it does mean that we’ll be able to work together this one time. Even if our skills do get a little affected, it will be worth it when we join forces to take down those rare beasts, and reap those sweet rewards.”
“But, still…” Row said, frowning. “They really emphasized that we can’t work together… This makes it sound like there are just some minor inconveniences?”
Calli grimaced. “Well, friendly fire is a pretty big inconvenience… Two [Aura projectiles] side by side will be fine, but an [Aura Projectiles] and a [Fireball] beside each other is just asking for disaster. Other than that, aethermancer delvers use a lot of aether tech while on a delve,” Calli continued. “All of our gear, from lights, to tools that make our gathering and harvesting easier, and even our implants can be a little bit affected by your aura.”
“Not in a dangerous way!” Leon rushed to say, as their faces collectively turned to horror. “Our aether protects them! But some visual effects are a little bit impaired.”
“I see… So, it’s a we can make it work kind of situation, rather than we can work together with no issues, then,” Row said.
Calli sighed. “Yes… I guess it is. There’s really no point in working with auramancers when there are so many aethermancers to choose from. Plus, there is still discrimination to take into consideration. Many believe that working with auramancers brings bad luck… And invites punishment from the gods.”
Ouch… Nar thought. That was blunt.
And in the end, even if they could work together, there really was no point to it. It was like going into a delve and not using one’s left arm, or blocking out the use of one of their skills. It was doable, by why would you do it? Especially if all your aethertech was hindered or outright rendered unusable by the presence of dirty auramancers?
We are still the sinners who escaped our just punishment, Nar thought. A loophole.
He sighed, and Mok’s remarks from when he had visited engineering, about the issues she faced with her skin color, came to him.
In the end, it really is like that. We are out, but we will never be allowed to forget who we are, what we are, and where we come from… And the Nexus’ technological wonders will always be out of our reach, he thought. Crystal, if Sej and Sarke really are together, I wonder how they manage it.
“Wouldn’t you rather find a party of aethermancers that could help you, instead?” Kur asked. “You could stay with us until we find…”
Leon raised a hand to stop him.
“I confess, I thought about that,” the paladin said in open honesty. “It would make our life a whole lot easier, of that there’s no doubt. But a life built on easy choices does not end well. One, the gods guide their children, and I believe that we met for a reason. And second, I have a really great feeling about you guys. I truly believe that together, we are going to achieve some extraordinary feats!”
He grinned at them all in turn.
“So, no, we don't want to look for another party. We want to find a way to make it work, and thrive!” Leon said, clenching his fist in front of him. “Which I really believe we can!”
“Unless you would prefer us to leave, which is also understandable," Calli said.
Kur opened his mouth, and while he hesitated to speak for a split-second, he shook his head.
“We are glad to have you with us. Likewise, I do think we can achieve much together with you,” Kur said. “We’ll just have to make it work. Somehow.”
“And we will,” Leon said. “And for the most part, other than a few AOE skills, and Mach, I don’t actually think we’ll have much trouble working together, and tagging, good rotation, and timing will go a long way towards making us function. In fact, one of tagging’s main intended purposes is to allow for individual targeting in order to keep skills from clashing.”
Oh, yeah… I can see that, Nar remembered. They had never used it, as it was only usable within domains, but from the videos he’d seen, it would be a straightforward strategy to make use of those System-enabled, color overlays.
“I can see that…” Kur said, echoing Nar’s thoughts as he rubbed the side of his neck.
“Well, let’s make this work then.”
“Surely, after what you went through in the Climb, this is nothing, right?” Calli asked, her smirk mischievous.
There was a collective groan in the tent.
“Come on, Calli! Really?” Eum said, shaking his head.
“Oh… That’s going to come back to bite me in the ass, isn’t it?” the strategist said, going pale under their collective stare.
Nar sighed inwardly.
She just had to say it, he thought. At the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe these aethermancers were being a little bit too hopeful about the whole thing. It was not that he doubted their well intentions and ambitions for that delve, but he wondered if, cloistered in their fancy academy, if perhaps they were a bit sheltered from reality. After all, aboard the Scimitar, everyone had been adamant in telling them to keep well away from aethermancers.
Well, I guess we’ll have to find out, he decided. The possibility of hunting those rares is not something we should turn away anyways. If our second delve is already this bad, then imagine what else is going to come after… Or after we’re done with the Scimitar.
Comments
Geo Mcc
What did the beast guy call his blood claw slashy thing? 1. Aura Blade. 2. blood claw. 3. ??? 4. Profit!
Geo Mcc
I mean... every obstacle is an opportunity, right? So an aura projectile s and fireballs explode very dangerously, you say??? That sounds like wave-clear to me.
