Backlog 2: Secret Skill Perk Boogaloo

His conscience gnawed at him as he left the house, and by the time he got to his own front door, he had come to the conclusion that he had to come clean. Doing it via text was kinda shitty, but he hadn’t managed to work himself up to it in time and a text seemed the lesser evil compared to waiting for several days of her being stuck on some battlefield.

[John]: I have to confess something. The window in my room is pointed right at your bedroom and when you don’t close the curtains I have been peeping on you. Including Monday night. I’ve tried to resist, but failed. And I tried to work up the courage to tell you in person this evening but failed at that too. I’m sorry.

He spent a few moments looking at the screen, but when no answer came he figured he might not be getting one anytime soon.

He found his mom puttering about doing minor cleanup as was her habit while getting ready to head to bed. “Did you have fun, sweetie?”

“Uh…” John really didn’t know how to answer that.

His mom giggled at his uncertainty, seemingly taking him for flustered. “When’s the next lesson?”

“That’s not, uh… she said she’s probably going to be out of town for a bit actually.” Hopefully, she wouldn’t ask if he knew any details. He had no idea what to say if she did, and he didn’t want to think hard enough about what Marisa was doing to actually make a plausible story out of it. She might’ve said not to worry about her, but the weight of his concerns for her safety was settling like a cold lump in the pit of his stomach all the same.

“Hmmm.” Brenda looked thoughtful for a moment, then lit up like she’d just had the best idea since sliced bread. “You know, I might not be able to measure up to a professional dance instructor, but I’m sure I can still teach you the basics. I was quite the fox on the dance floor when I was your age, you know.”

An unbidden memory of his parents dancing on the lawn when he was a little kid flashed through his mind, tinting his thoughts with the bittersweet color of melancholy. Regardless, it seemed Brenda had misinterpreted his worries to be about the Ashcroft Fall Formal. A mistake that was convenient for him even if it did make it even harder to come up with a good reason to decline.

Actually, given the radiant enthusiasm in her eyes, he didn’t really want to decline in the first place. Besides, wasn’t comparing combat to dancing a tale as old as time? A flimsy excuse to consider it time spent honing a survival skill, maybe, but at least practicing his coordination might help make the most of his raised physical stats. “Sure, that sounds great. Thanks, Mom.”

She went back to the light cleaning, now with the addition of humming some tune or other. John went upstairs to his room and was about to take a look at his notification stack when his phone vibrated. He rushed so much getting it out of his pocket that he fumbled and dropped it. He caught it before it hit the floor, and only after the fact realized that he’d done so in a casual display of how much his physical reflexes had improved. Three days ago, he would’ve been able to note the movements he should make but unable to actually execute them in time.

Gaia: It would have been funny if you dropped it and it broke though.

’So very hilarious…’ He sat down as he sarcastically thought back at the goddess, only to trigger the Laugh Track Button which had apparently hopped out of his inventory and onto his chair. He was beginning to have a good idea what the ‘cursed’ attribute was about. The Gamer didn’t even bother to remove it before willing it to his inventory, instead opting to check the text from Marisa, which turned out to be a link without further context.

[Marisa]: Halestorm - I Get Off (Lyrics)

The video was a metal song with a title that didn’t really tell him anything. The lyrics, however, spoke a message loud and clear. A message that dissolved a knot of guilt and anxiety in his gut that he’d been learning to live with and replaced it with an electric, giddy feeling in his entire body and a dopey smile on his face.

[Marisa]: You really thought I hadn’t noticed? Even after I got a new mirror setup on your 18th birthday and made a show of it the evening after? And after you learned that I’m Abyssal? That’s fucking hilarious dude XD.

He started writing a response, but got another message before he finished.

[Marisa]: I got here a few minutes early, so if I suddenly ghost you, you know why. Anyway, here’s something to remember me by ‘till I get back ;-)

Along with the text was a top-down selfie of Marisa winking at the camera. The picture was focused more on her cleavage than her face, though, which looked like she’d further amplified it by putting her free arm under her breasts and pushing a bit up. Additionally, from this angle there was no doubt at all that her nipples pushed out small bumps in the shirt’s fabric.

The text was followed up immediately by another.

[Marisa]: Sir Liver Spot arrived just in time to see me take that XD. Forehead veins are on full blast. TTYL.

After a moment of consideration, he decided to send the rest of the half-written reply even though it’d be a while before she could answer.

[John]: I’ve kinda zig-zagged on it. At first I thought that if you had noticed then at the very least you’d start closing your curtains. Then after we talked yesterday, I thought you had to have noticed but couldn’t figure out why you didn’t close your curtains. And then this evening you talked about mundanes being prudish by most Abyssal standards and I figured you were just casual enough about it not to care. I still thought that I should come clean though. And honestly, this outcome still feels too good to be true.

Once done, he sat there and looked at the selfie for a few minutes. He was strongly tempted to just let notification stack be notification stack and indulge himself in some suddenly guilt free memories and the now much more plausible fantasies that came with them. But the notifications could mean the difference between being around when Marisa came back or not. So the notifications and other minimized windows won in the end.

The first one was the Observe sheet on the foam Qhila had used against the rat ogre. It had a long burn time relative to weight, was sticky and noted to be useful to trap gasses for gradual release. It was also noted as an ‘easy’ alchemical creation that used only mundane ingredients besides a mana source. It didn’t list an Item Level, as it was apparently put up as an effect like the Babel Incense smoke. Couldn’t be a high one, though, so he was definitely asking Qhila about the recipe later.

The second one was Bludgeon Proficiency Lvl 2. Which was nice but not exactly earth shattering. The Observe of the harpoon hedgeslug was similarly uninteresting, telling him nothing he hadn’t already known. After that, however, it started to get interesting.

Achievement Unlocked: Winning from the Sideline
Trick two hostile creatures into fighting each other.
With this impressive feat of cunning deception, you’re almost good enough to reliably scam toddlers.
Reward: 100 EXP, $50, 1 Crude Hyde Serum

[Crude Hyde Serum
Uncommon Lvl 20 item
Creator: Gaia

The first formulation created by Prince Hyde of the Skaven Dynasty before his ascent to the throne of the Ratlin Empire. When ingested, this mutagen permanently turns rats into rat ogres and ratlins into greater rat ogres. When ingested by anyone else, it increases tissue density, especially of muscles, enhances testosterone and adrenaline effects, and increases confidence.
Primary Effects: +10 STR, +10 END, +5 CHA, +5 LIB and +10% physical damage resistance for 10 min.
Side Effects: -5 INT and WIS for the purpose of impulse control (doubled for aggressive and sexual impulses) for 30 min. Increased caloric needs for 2 days. Multiple doses in less than 2 weeks incurs risk of addiction.

Attributes: Alchemical, Elixir, Mutagen
Skill to Craft: Low Alchemy]

This was the first time he got some lore with his Observe results, which was interesting in its own right. Not to mention said lore referenced not just one but two pieces of what he had thought to be mundane fiction. That was all kind of secondary to the part where rat ogres were created artificially, though.

A quick trip past ‘Abysspedia’ confirmed that not only was this true, it was the only way they had been known to occur, though a footnote indicated that they were speculated to start occurring in Natural Barriers eventually because of the Warhammer franchise. This was, to say the least, a worrying revelation. One that he needed to discuss with Qhila immediately, despite her being occupied.

[John]: I just learned that rat ogres are artificial. Doesn’t that mean someone sent at least the first one after you???

He just sat looking from his phone to the vial and back for the minute or so it took for her to respond.

[Qhila]: ⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧.⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧.⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧.⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧⌧.

[John]: ???

[Qhila]: Draconic letters install file.

The text came with an attached file. He was a bit leery about opening it, remembering her earlier warning about malicious technomancers and worrying that one of those had gotten involved somehow. In the end, though, he decided to take the chance. Worst comes to worst, he could afford a new phone.

It was not malware, at least not in any immediately obvious fashion, and it did indeed make her first text legible. And in the same formerly unfamiliar characters as the name of her nest barrier, unsurprisingly.

[Qhila]: That is possible, yes. Generally, in the Abyss, it is safest to assume that there is always someone somewhere who is targeting you. And I am reworking my traps while the elixir simmers. That said, happenstance is also possible. There is a good chance the Emerald Order had some Hyde Serum in store, which could easily have been abandoned or spilt in the vicinity of rats when the GROies drove them out of town.

… Well, that did make sense. And it was good to know that she was taking precautions either way. But it did bring something else to mind.

[John]: Ah. Good. Sorry to disturb you then… but since I already did, I was wondering if there’s a reason you didn’t mention the war between the Emeralds and the GROies that’s apparently on?

[Qhila]: … Now that you ask, I realize that that would likely convey some things easily and swiftly to you as someone recently mundane. In my mind, the former peace of Springfield was an unusual situation that has now ended. Teaching you how to survive in an unusual circumstance that has passed seemed like it would get in the way of teaching you how to survive in a more common circumstance that currently exists.

[John]: That makes sense, and thank you for helping me survive in it. Sorry if I sounded ungrateful.

[Qhila]: It is fine, but I must get back to my alchemy now.

John had also wanted to ask about how this ‘Hyde Skaven’ connected to mundane fiction and what the Warhammer franchise had to do with rat ogres showing up in natural barriers. He wanted to not cause her to fuck up the stuff she was making more than he wanted answers right now though.

Thinking about the actual effects of the serum, John was very tempted to just destroy it immediately. He certainly wasn’t about to make a rat ogre, and taking something that would raise his LIB and lower his impulse control and inhibitions after what almost happened with the pheromone made his stomach turn.

But with a war ongoing that may or may not spill into Springfield, a possible plague of feral rat ogres and the general dangers of the Abyss, he didn’t really have the luxury to dismiss it without careful consideration. And the benefits were undeniably good. Sure, Enhance Muscle came with a bigger number, but that was only to one stat for part of his body and without the damage resistance on top.

Additionally, negative impact of the serum was lower than the medium intensity pheromone was in general, and a lot lower than the pheromone were towards Qhila. And at medium intensity, he had been able to resist with some effort once he knew he needed to. All in all, it was a panic button he couldn’t afford to throw out.

Returning it to the inventory, he resumed checking his window stack.

Achievement Unlocked: Always a Bigger Fish
Get one hostile creature eaten by another hostile creature that is at least 10 levels higher.
I would needle you about not even sticking around till the end, but I can’t really fault you for not wanting to look at that…
Reward: 200 EXP, $100, 100 mL hedgeslug slime.

Level Up

[Hedgeslug Slime
Rare Lvl 26 item
Creator: a harpoon hedgeslug with a full stomach

Formed by bioalchemical processes in the hedgeslug’s body, this slime is a paralytic and toxic contact poison. An affected target takes 1 damage per 10 seconds and suffers -10 Agility and Strength for 1 hour. Frequency of damage and debuff strength are adjusted according to efficiency factor, and according to dosage with diminishing returns past 100 mL.
Base efficiency factor: 76/(Target lvl+Target END)
Standard dose: 100 mL

Attributes: Alchemical, Toxic
Skill to Craft: Low Alchemy]

Well, that was some more gravy train. Getting a Level was just nice, though he would have gotten it from the Quest reward anyway. The slime was a pretty good score as well. It dealt a massive amount of damage over the duration, though it did so too slowly to matter in a fight.

The debuff, however, definitely would, and probably would make it easier to just run away from whatever he poisoned with it. If it didn’t just disable the victim completely. If the efficiency factor worked like he thought it would, getting dosed himself would collapse those stats completely even with the Hyde Serum, presumably leaving him completely unable to move.

The question, here, was: did he save this as another panic button for when he absolutely needed to get away from something? Or did he try to split it up into smaller doses or dilute it to try to get something he could use multiple times and that wasn’t flat overkill against foes at his level?

That was probably something worth asking Qhila about, actually. At the very least, she had a better chance of knowing if it was possible, or maybe even what the best way of partitioning or diluting it would be. Meanwhile, he had some stat increases to assign.

Between developments with Marisa and the effect that his CHA increase showed in the Grave Concoctions, developing that more was very tempting. It also wasn’t an immediate survival stat, and being the most charming corpse around would do him no good. So he put one point in every stat other than CHA and LIB.

Next up was one John had been looking forward to:

[Quest Complete: Something to Think On

Help Qhila gather the ingredients she needs and return to her nest.
Minerva Owl Feather: 1/1
Thinking Cap: 1/1
Acanthus Lesnik Leaves: 2/2
Nobleweed Flower: 1/1

Bonus Objective
Qhila remains at or above 80% HP until the Quest is completed.

Bonus Objective
Gather an Adonite Shard for yourself. 1/1

Total Rewards: 500 EXP, $300, Elixir of Clarity and Mnemonic Incense recipes, +7 RP with Qhila (prediction), 900 EXP for Qhila (pending), an Alter Body perk.]

[Alter Body (Active) [Biomancy Branch]

Cosmetically alter a target body part by up to 7% of baseline (skill lvl+4%). Can be either permanent or last up to 60 minutes. A creature can be subject to 4 alterations at a time (skill level+1). The spell can dispel existing Alter Body effects on the target of up to skill level 3 (skill level).
Perks: Character Customization
Cost: 25 MP (temporary or dispel) or 50 MP (permanent)]

[Character Customization: You can no longer cast Alter Body on yourself or your familiars in the normal fashion. Instead, each is given a customization menu with detailed sliders that can shift characteristics up to (skill lvl+4)x(1+skill lvl/10)%. Each slider will have indicators for the maximum alteration that is safe to be shown to mundanes familiar with your appearance. You can alter any number of sliders for yourself or familiars at a time at a cost of 25 MP total when you finish a set of alterations. You do not gain Skill EXP for altering your or your familiars’ appearance, but passively gain 5% of a Skill Level’s worth per day.]

That was pretty awesome. Not really in a way that’d do much to help him survive, but as vanity things went, it was great. Sure, the adjustments were small at the moment, but a quick look at the menu showed an incredible level of detail as each primary slider could be unfolded to several layers of subsliders. Even just the primary ones effectively gave him far more Alter Body effects on himself.

He did lose the ability to stack multiple castings on one part of himself, which was mildly annoying. But the part that he had been most keen on doing that to in the first place had gotten some help from other rewards already. He did want a bit more size in that department, though, even if he was fairly sure he had either reached or slightly exceeded average at this point.

Fortunately, that would come in time just for advancing the Skill. And on that topic, passive Skill EXP gain was brilliant. Especially if it put some towards the Biomancy Root Skill like other Branch Skills gaining EXP did. At the moment, the 5% wasn’t much compared to spam-casting something, but the higher the Skill Levels went, the better it would get.

Recipe Gained: Elixir of Clarity
Rare Level 22 item
Suspends sleep deprivation, increases INT and WIS by (15+Creator INT/20)x(1+Quality) for the purposes of emotional self control and concentration and increases resistance to mind magic by a factor of 2+((1+Quality)/2). Lasts for 30 minutes.
Side effects: -(15+Creator INT/20)x(1+Quality) INT and WIS for the purpose of cognitive empathy. A 2 hour crash of severe migraine.

Attributes: Alchemical, Elixir, Mental Stimulant
Skill to Craft: Low Alchemy
For ingredients, crafting time, tool requirements and other details, see Craft menus.

Recipe Gained: Mnemonic Incense
Rare Level 15 item
Greatly enhances deliberate recall ability of anyone breathing the smoke. Grants flawless, full-detail recall of the past (7+Creator Int/7)x(1+Quality) days, including details that were only subconsciously noticed such as conversations overheard while sleeping. For memories further back, enhanced clarity and detail fades gradually.
Side Effects: Complete dissociation from present while recalling. Lowered emotional self-regulation for 1 day per hour exposure. More than 1 hour exposure/week temporarily degrades unaided episodic memory. Regular use over a prolonged period may render degradation permanent.
Burn time: 3 hours

Attributes: Alchemical, Elixir, Mental Stimulant
Skill to Craft: Low Alchemy
For ingredients, crafting time, tool requirements and other details, see Craft menus.

Those were less interesting, at least immediately. For one, he couldn’t actually craft the stuff yet in the first place. Secondly, both seemed to be fairly niche consumables. Granted, the clarity one especially was a niche that he was very happy to have something in his back pocket that could fill should the need arise, but hopefully that need was rare enough for the two he did have to last a while.

It did tell him more clearly what Qhila was planning to do to resolve the matter of the RP reward. But given the less specific elixir description from the tooltip and the name of the incense, he had already mostly guessed.

Next up was a Biomancy Level Up that he was pretty sure he got on his way home from Grave Concoctions. The only interesting part about that was that he apparently didn’t get the bonus HP until he saw the notification, which was probably true for all Skills then.

Last but not least was another Achievement:

Achievement Unlocked: Peeping Permission
Get the go-ahead to peep on a girl at your leisure
Personally, I was hoping to watch you agonize over who caught you a bit longer.
Reward: +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 LIB, +.5 cm base Dick Size

The LIB increases continued to worry him, but at least this one came with some WIS to help keep it in check. And the CHA and dick size, he certainly wasn’t going to complain about.

Notifications cleared through, he went to the bathroom to play around with his new Character Customization menu until he had improved his looks as much with it as he could. He didn’t need to worry about the ‘safe to let mundanes see’ limit for now, as he couldn’t change himself enough to reach it yet anyway.

With that done, he threw a practice cast of Enhance Muscle, waited a little for the mana to do a second, then adjusted his Background Create so he’d just barely refill his mana by morning.