One in a Million

I should request a handbook from the secretary when I go back to the main building. Read up. John’s high spirits were only furthered as his quest appeared in front of him, signaling its completion.

Quest Complete: Life or **** - Third Bounty Hunter Test!
Rewards: Level up! +3 Perk Points, +1 Style Point, +1 Skill Evolution Point
Optional Objective Complete: Prevent the tribe of Savage Vampires from destroying Meul Village
Reward: Hidden Perk - Symphony of the Night
Optional Objective Complete: Eliminate another pair of applicants
Reward: +1 Perk Point, Skill of choice from those defeated (Maximillion Ires, Irwin Kine)

Man, I’ve grown more in the past few days than that month I trained alone. Then again, I did play it really safe with my training barriers. Who knew that the best way to get stronger was to almost die a lot? John thought, deciding to spend his resources in order. He started with the stat points from levelling up, putting seven into Wisdom to get it to fifty then putting three into Intellect to get it closer.

Achievement Unlocked: Sage
You’ve achieved a Wisdom score of fifty or higher! The naive, cowardly child you once were has been replaced by a stoic leader. Watch who you give advice to.
You’ve reached the peak of mundane resistance to negative emotions. Bouncing back won’t get any easier.
You will now regenerate more mana per point (retroactively).
You have learned “Create Waypoint”.

New Skill: Create Waypoint: Level 1, Active, 2,500 MP (+100 MP/Kilometer from nearest Waypoint) or (+500 MP/layer crossed)
By channeling your mana, you may create a link between any number of destinations you are intimately familiar with. This allows instantaneous, free travel between any waypoints once established. If your mana pool is insufficient to create a waypoint all at once, then you may continuously pour regenerating mana into the spell until the goal is reached. Creating a waypoint takes intense effort and concentration, and if your focus is disrupted, then all mana spent is lost. Max distance between waypoints is (Skill Level x 100) kilometers and (Skill Level x 5) layers of the Dream. Waypoints cannot be created during combat or for ten minutes after taking a combat action. You may make any waypoint visible on your mini-map at any time (given that you are on the same physical plane). Any who can see aura can see waypoints, and unless specifically warded, waypoints can be used by anyone.

Hell yeah! I could connect my dorm to my apartment with this, then it’d be like I live in both places. Wait a minute, it says any who can see aura can see waypoints. I can’t see aura, so does that mean I wouldn’t be able to see the waypoints? Jenny can, and Abigail probably can, so I guess it doesn’t matter as long as they can direct me to them. I guess I’ll worry about that later. So, I have two ways of teleporting now, one for short distances and one for long distances. This one is pretty expensive but… worth it. I got four perk points too… I should see what Symphony of the Night does before I spend any of them, John concluded, taking a seat in the large hall, all but forgetting about the delicious banquet awaiting him a few feet away.

Symphony of the Night - Hidden Perk
Under the boon of moonlight (or lack of light), you imitate a vampire's natural affinity to the dark. Passive bonuses are granted to both vision and stealth. You can see as well in the dark as in comfortable light. In addition, while attempting stealth you're muffled and leave no footprints. This bonus is broken by taking a combat action and is returned a minute after your last combat action is taken. While under the effect of this perk, you may at any time null all but one of your senses. In this state, the focused sense acts as though your Agility score were quadrupled, and nulled senses act as though your Agility were zero. Unless gradually reacclimated to sunlight (via a sunrise or a similar event), you suffer -10% (minimum of 5) to Agility, Endurance, and Charisma for ten minutes following initial exposure.

That’s a mixed bag. The perks of being in the dark are good, but those penalties definitely hurt. There’s no way to disable perks either. I wonder if those savage vampires left a more lasting impression than I thought… he looked back to his quest rewards, deciding to think about that later. Four perk points! That’s the most I’ve ever had at once! Time to spend them.

The choices were quite obvious, especially if the day he just had was indicative of his job as a bounty hunter. I’m going to need to use my Charisma more than I thought. And having a friend in the places I work is essential. Hopefully I won’t see as much mind control, but being immune to it eliminates the possibility entirely. My damage output has been alright, but combined with the perks I already have, hitting an enemy’s weak point will be more effective than ever. I’ve been pretty good at talking enemies down, but any chance to get better at it is a good one.

With that reasoning in mind, John decided on two Charisma perks, a Wisdom perk, and an Intellect perk.

Ally in Every Town, Charisma Perk
When going to a new town, city, village, etc., cosmic forces will try to steer you towards someone that is likely to become a friendly encounter..

Indomitable Will, Wisdom Perk
You are immune to any spell-based effects on your mind whose skill levels are lower than your own level.

Critical Thinking, Intellect Perk
Any weak spots or weaknesses in enemy physiology or equipment stand-out more when studying enemies during battle.

Persuasive Body, Charisma Perk
Your body language will perfectly match whatever you say, even if it’s a lie.

Now onto Style points. Weird that it didn’t just level-up my style. Does that mean I can have more than one? How would I even do that? Would it replace the one I have now? These questions ran through John’s mind, but he eventually decided that he was happy with what he had, and put the point in Gun-Kata.

Gun-Kata Level 5! Style Quest Unlocked! New skill unlocked!

New Skill: Intercepting Strike, Active, Level 1
Your trained eyes recognize an enemy’s melee attack before it is fully formed. Your optimized way of fighting allows you to respond in a timely manner, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in guard. This deals (10+(Agility/5)+(Strength/10)x(Skill Level)) unarmed damage (rounded up), and interrupts a melee attack. You may instead bring your hand up for a different action, such as firing a gun.

Style Quest: Becoming a Master
Objective: Raise Gun-Kata to max level (10) and all of its associated skills to level 9 or higher.
Rewards: ???

That’s a relief. So far I’ve only been using my hands with my style, but my guns are way stronger. Now I have options, he was very satisfied with the rewards thus far, it almost made the two times he nearly died feel like they were worth it. It’s only because I always get in way over my head… but I earned this. Maybe a few brushes with **** don’t realistically compare to a few years of training… but I faced way more danger than most people would!

The Skill Evolution Point was all but ignored; he could only use it on Discordance right now but wanted to save the rare upgrade for a skill he hadn’t tried it on yet. That left receiving a skill from the felled fighters, a list popping up in front of him. He scrolled through it quickly, but only one had caught his eye. Finally, after all the ribbing, all the missed opportunities, I’ll finally be able to do it.

New Skill: Auric Vision, Level 1, Passive/Active, Cost: 50 MP, 5 MP/min
In passive form, this skill allows the user to see the aura surrounding all entities with souls. This natural display of energy acts as an approximate display of magical power and reaches its apex when a spell is cast. If not deliberately focusing on them, auras fade to an increasingly faint outline around the person. In active form, this skill allows the user to see ambient magic, ley lines, the edge of barriers, and places magic was recently cast.

Well, guess I won’t have to worry about seeing the Waypoints anymore. FINALLY I can do this. I better not tell Jenny how I got it, or she’d tease me about that too, John mused, eager to test out this new skill. He rose from his seat, the smells of food after this long break making him eager to rejoin the feast.

Stretching after sitting down for so long, he heard the pounding of footsteps. Discordance wasn’t alerting him to anything, so he quickly dropped his guard, blaming the paranoia on the ordeal he just went through. He was scared out of his skin when he felt a pair of arms wrapped around him, tacklehugged.

“John! It’s so good to see you!” the voice was familiar, but the girl hugging him wasn’t immediately. After looking at her face for a few more seconds, he realized it was Amy.

“You too! I didn’t know you were here,” John returned the hug, surprised at the Asian girl’s transformation. Just a few days ago, he had seen her in a ponytail and her green apprentice beast tamer’s outfit. Now, she wore a simple blue dress, a white smock over it. Instead of her signature armor, a necklace lined with fangs hung around her neck. She had a new knife at her hip, hanging there in a sheath. Her aura, a verdant green, shimmered around her. He used Advanced Spy on both the necklace and her as he detached himself.

Well… that’s good to know I guess. A lot to take in, John thought, looking at the windows in front of him. He was glad her obsession with him had tuned down and curious about the new necklace she wore.

“That’s right! I tried to look for you before the tests, but couldn’t find you! I’m so glad we both passed!” Amy squealed, hugging him again.

“Looks like you didn’t have too much trouble either.” John recalled that she was unsure if her father would go for her becoming a bounty hunter, but based on the equipment upgrade, he apparently had supported her.

“This necklace gives me access to the family bestiary!” Amy beamed, holding up the enchanted item in question. “There are totally powerful creatures in there! Controlling them isn’t always easy though…”

“Well, why don’t you join my group at our table! We’re all having fun. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Having another ally in this place couldn’t be a bad thing, and Amy had proved herself to be a valuable one already. “You can bring along your teammate too.”

“He kind of left already. He was really stressed the whole time, and decided he didn’t want to be a bounty hunter after the test was over. It was a pretty rough time, but using my powers to help people feels really nice.” A sentiment that John definitely shared. Getting stronger was his main goal, sure, but if he could help people along the way, then it was all the better. As long as those people didn’t intend to backstab him for it.

“Oh… well, that’s fine. It’s not for everyone, I guess.” John could understand what Amy’s former teammate felt. It was basically the same reason why Jenny had left. ‘“Offer still stands."

“Sure! That sounds like fun!” He had been quick to forget her energy, and worried for a moment what it would be like introducing her to Abigail. Two giant bundles of energy. Literally, if their auras were anything to go by. Though Abigail’s was quite a bit larger, and unsurprisingly yellow-orange.

He led her back to their table anyway, Grace gone and Abigail awaiting him. “Abigail, this is Amy. She’s a beast tamer and a friend from school. Amy-”

“Nice to meet you.” The only reason she hadn’t interrupted him sooner was that she had been busy gulping down beef and rice. “I’m Abigail! Any friend of his is a friend of mine!”

“The feeling is mutual!” Amy beamed back at the amazonian brunette, both feeling a little intimidated by the other’s energy. Neither let this on.

The brunette examined the Asian for a moment, “You’re pretty strong! I see the knife hanging at your hip, but I get the feeling you don’t use it that much. How do you fight?”

Deciding to put on a bit of a show, the beast tamer touched the middle fang (which happened to be the largest) and green armor appeared around her, the same vibrant color as her aura. It looked to be made of a single animal hide, similar to John’s duster. It pulsed with life, growing dimmer after a few seconds. A baby wyvern crawled across her shoulders for a moment, though he disappeared all at once, dismissed by Amy. “It’s nice to have so many at my command, but I tend to stick to the cute ones anyway.”

“We should spar some time. You know, for practice. I’m a pyromancer and a martial artist.” Joy sparkled in Abigail’s eyes at the opportunity to fight such awesome creatures.

“If that’s the case, I’d have to use my favorite pet, Ignis,” Amy giggled, though dared not to call the large fire fox in such a public and relaxed atmosphere.

“Let’s just enjoy our meal right now, yeah?” John asked, looking between the two. While the thought of watching them fight was amusing, he would rather just enjoy his food.