Taking Stock

John tried not to pay too much attention to the sheet he had gotten off Amy with Advanced Spy as he walked away.

That is… more than a little weird. She’s nice enough though, and good company. I can’t complain too much, but… if Discordance isn’t telling me anything, I’ll probably be fine, John thought as he walked away. Pulling up his stat sheet, he reviewed the perks he had gotten for getting Charisma, Endurance, and Wisdom to twenty-five. A time that seemed much too long ago, despite being a week at most in the past.

The Endurance Perks were among the most practical, and Implacable March had already served him well for the majority of his time spent grinding.

Implacable March, Endurance Perk
Your physical stamina for long-term, repetitive actions is quadrupled.

He got that perk the moment he saw it, and since then sprinting hadn’t been a problem… outside of battle. He hadn’t gotten as much use out of Living Tank as he had expected to, but on such a gamble that made sense.

Living Tank, Endurance Perk Skill
Living Tank, Active Skill, Variable HP, Level 1
For (Skill Level/2) Minutes, gain up to (Skill level x 5) DR. The cost of this skill is equal to the percentage of DR gained and is taken after it runs out. While active, all sources of healing outside of reality-warping and divine abilities are reduced by the amount of DR.

Still, it was useful nonetheless and had almost won him a few spars against Keith. There was another Endurance perk that he wanted to get with his new perk point.

Walk it Off, Endurance Perk
Once per day, you may restore your health by 40% of your max HP. Has no effect if you are at or above 40% of your max HP.

He tapped on that perk as he looked at it, since it was the next perk he wanted. He had no healing spells or skills yet, and even though that was extremely limited, it was a heal nonetheless.

Diehard, Endurance Perk
You can go further into negative HP before going **** and even further before dying. You may now go to -25% of your HP before starting to go **** and -125% of your HP before starting to die.

My Turn, Endurance Perk
When you lose 20% or more of your HP in a single hit, deal 20% of that damage back to your enemy with your next hit on them.

These two had gone untaken. They looked really good but were nothing compared to the synergy perks he had gotten for his physical and mental stats.

Taskmaster’s Body; Strength, Endurance, and Agility Synergy Perk Skill
Taskmaster’s Body, Active Skill, 40 HP/Min, Level 1
Enables you to copy the actions of a humanoid entity for as long as the upkeep is maintained, performing their actions with the same proficiency as them.

He had also gotten a total regeneration overhaul when his Wisdom and Endurance reached 25. Charisma reaching 25 had supplied him with little more than perks, stating that his physical appearance would change to an almost unnoticeable degree thanks to Charisma from now on. His Wisdom perk skill seemed ridiculously overpowered, though he hadn’t been able to use it effectively against mages yet.

Sip the Mana, Wisdom Perk Skill
Sip the Mana, Active Skill, No Cost, Level 1
Once per minute, by focusing and standing still for one round, you can absorb the ambient magical energy of creation in your immediate area. This restores (Wisdom) MP. This amount is variably increased in spiritual or creative places and decreased in dead or static areas. Using Sip the Mana deadens the immediate area around you, sapping its spirituality and comfort to living things. It remains so for (Wisdom) minutes; during such time, you cannot Sip the Mana in the same space of (Wisdom) meters. This dead zone is non-conducive to spells and would take immense, concentrated power to overcome.

As far as he could guess, the more spells cast in a “dead zone”, the faster its ambient magic was replenished, shortening the time until spells could be cast in it again. Testing it had been a cruel, uncomfortable experience. Any area it was used in felt cold. Unforgiving. It also proved ineffective against Jenny, whose constant stream of magic overcame the dead-zone in little time.

Despite the influx of of amazing perks, he hadn’t gotten a perk for having all his stats at 25, which he had expected. Instead, a grey row of question marks had appeared under the “hybrid” category of synergy perks.

The Charisma and other Wisdom perks were good, but he doubted he would get any of the Charisma ones for a while. They didn’t much suit his playstyle.

Ally in Every Town, Charisma Perk
When going to a new town, city, village, etc., cosmic forces will make it more likely that someone you know happens to be visiting that place. Greater chances of friendlier encounters.

Impossible Bardic Performance, Charisma Perk
Whenever you attempt to seduce a monster for the first time, your actions have a 10% chance of working perfectly, whether you want them to or not.

Counterfeit News, Charisma Perk
Your ability to lie and back up those lies increases in proportion to how much more money you have than the person you’re lying to.

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

Telephone Line, Charisma Perk Skill
Telephone Line, Passive, Level 1
If you tell someone who has lower Charisma than you a lie, when they repeat it, their delivery will be as good as though they had your Charisma.

Some of the perks looked really good, and he was tempted to take the first just because it mentioned cosmic forces, but in the end other perks that followed his playstyle took more precedence. The Wisdom perks, on the other hand, held a lot of potential.

Assess Threat, Wisdom Perk
The weak points of an entity with hostile intentions to you are clearer.

Foreboding, Wisdom Perk
You’ll receive a brief flash of the future when you’re nearing the potential for your **** or taking more than 50% of your total HP in damage. The flash only happens once per day and becomes clearer with higher Wisdom.

Intimidating Will, Wisdom Perk
Whenever you successfully resist an enemy’s attempt to assert their will over you, you demoralize them, removing (Wisdom/5) from their Wisdom score for (Wisdom) rounds. Repeated attempts stack.

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

Despite how good all of those looked, John planned to go after Stellar Witness next. It seemed like amazing utility.

Stellar Witness, Intellect and Wisdom Synergy Perk Skill
Stellar Witness, Active Skill, 50 MP/min, Level 1
Provides temporary scrying of any person or location provided you know their/its true name and it/they are under a sky.

Sure, it wouldn’t work on those indoors, but he rarely was, and he assumed that most of the people he would meet during the upcoming tryouts would be spending as much of their time travelling and training as him.

His train of thought derailed as he approached the edge of Springfield. Shrugging off his jacket, he used Advanced Spy on it to check its durability.

It repairs at about one point of durability per hour… so I guess I don’t have to use any of my mana repairing it with Craft. Alright then! Hopefully Jenny is done for the day! John thought, equipping his normal clothes and taking off into Springfield, toward Keith’s apartment.