OriginStory 015: Taking New Skills

<Previous Chapter]    [Index]     [Next Chapter>

Chapter 15: Taking New Skills

The blackness receded from our vision, and the chibi, Sylvestre, and I found ourselves standing absentmindedly in a space not unlike the character creation space.

A woman dressed in a sexy, short black dress with red and black striped tights, a high-collared cloak, a witch’s hat, and vampire fangs was standing in front of us.

“Congratulations! You’ve survived through Hobble’s Haunted House! I’m Nancy, and I’m here to help you through the Bonus!”

Bonus?

At that word, I could almost see dog ears prick up on Toru’s head.

Even though he isn’t in werewolf form.

“By the way~, I’m not an NPC, so if you ask me to show my boobs or anything worse than that, I’ll get you banned for 3 weeks~.”

I cackled at the thought and asked,

“How many unfortunate fellows?”

“4 so far. I’m sure you understand.”

Nancy sighed as she glanced over at my chest.

“Even though it’s harassment, at least they have good taste.”

“Oh my, I’m flattered, but harassment from women is still harassment~!”

Nancy winked and shook her finger warningly at me.

“… Nee-chan…”

Toru was looking to the side.

Your sister isn’t that embarrassing, is she?

“Ahem. Anyway, welcome to the Bonus! Although I say ‘Bonus’, please don’t expect too much. This is a special event, for those who finished Hobble’s Haunted House, the only time OriginStory will be offering a free race change, and any Talent Level 3 and under can be changed up to 3 Talents, while keeping the Talent Exp the same!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Aaah, it’s completely useless!

I don’t know about Sylvestre, but I know the chibi and I are completely in agony on the inside.

It’s amazing, this Bonus is really amazing, but it’s totally just a beginner’s promotion!

“Aaaaand a bonus 3 Talent Points if you choose not to change anything.”

Oh, Nancy’s good at reading the atmosphere – eh?

“3 Bonus Talent Points?!”

That’s like, 15 Talent Levels! Is that ok?!

“Yuuup! This Halloween event is all about getting people comfortable with OriginStory, and making improvements to their characters without having to start all over again.”

“I see…”

“I’m going to log onto the forums right now!”

“Chibi, let’s finish the quest first.”

Nancy laughed.

“So, 3 Bonus Talent Points for everyone? Well, thanks for choosing to play OriginStory! Your Bonus Talent Points will be effective immediately after you return to the overworld!”

————–

————–

“In the end, I wonder what those hourglasses were for.”

“Who knows? They could have effected how fast those echoes at the end fly through, or they might take time off your runtime. There are too many possibilities, so it’s best not to think of it.”

I advised Sylvestre while we were passing time going over the Talent list.

We’re waiting for the chibi to finish discussing his findings on the haunted house on the forums.

There’s probably going to be a huge influx of people aiming for the Bonus Talent Points, now that Toru is leaking that information.

Well, it’s probably information that the devs were hoping would get leaked.

Since some of the more hardcore rankers have been wondering if the event was even worth doing.

Although the HP/MP candy was already worth running the event.

Of course, the chibi isn’t stupid enough to leak information about the hidden fireplace entrance and all the hidden stashes of candy we found, and also about the Skill exploit, but just mentioning the basic plot and the hidden Bonus reward at the end will be more than enough for a lot of people.

Now then, while he’s doing that … Uuun… with the Bonus Talent Points, I have enough for 3 Talents, and I’d still have enough to take [Scribe] when I finish the quest.

“Which one should I take~”

Sylvestre looked over at me.

“Did the Bonus TP give you enough to take another?”

“Maa, I’ve had enough to take something for a while, but I was putting it off since I started a long ass, time-relevant quest.”

“Heh?! What quest was that?”

“Ask Toru for the details. He’ll probably want to do it after the Event is over.”

“I see… actually, I have enough for another feat now, too. I’ve already taken [Improved Focus] as a 7th Talent, but with the Bonus, I can take another.”

“You guys work fast… What else are you thinking of taking?”

“I don’t know … [Wind Magic] maybe, or maybe I should wait to divide my stats.”

By the way, ‘divide my stats’ is a fancy way of saying that you’re going to take Talents that emphasize different stats. Since Sylvestre’s main combat Talent is [Bow], his DEX stat is the most important stat to nurture. Taking a magic Talent that gives an INT increase instead will leave him weaker than someone who takes a Talent that would boost DEX even more.

“Hm… well, if you’re going to branch into magic, Wind is always the most popular choice for physical attackers. But I think you need TP to upgrade Talents too… I got my first upgrade notice at Lv15.”

“Hm… maybe I should wait then.”

Well, I didn’t upgrade it yet because I still don’t know if I want to specialize in [Two-Handed Axe] or [One-Handed Axe], so I’m procrastinating and just leveling up [Axe]. And it might be fun to see what else [Axe] has down the line.

Sylvestre looked at me.

“Well, what are you thinking you’ll take?”

“Hm… it’s a difficult decision.”

“A difficult decision, huh…”

There are 3 types of Talents: Combat, Auxiliary, and Crafting.

Within Combat Talents there are weapon-based Talents and magic-based Talents used for attack, defense, and support during combat.

Crafting Talents are, of course, for crafting. Talents used to collect materials and refine materials are also included, not just Talents that can produce a finished product.

Auxiliary Talents are … uun… well, they are everything else. Stat boosts, weapon boosts, Talents for exploration, perception, and roleplay…

There are just so many things to consider!

And now, combat is beginning to get difficult, so it’s not good just to take them randomly.

Stereotypically speaking, increasing your attack power or defensive power will rarely go wrong.

But before people reach my level, this is a good time to pick up a sub-weapon, reduce armor penalties, or think about picking up magic.

But then, it would also be advantageous to pick up some Talents that could help me get to new hunting grounds faster …

Uuun… hmm… gnununu…

“Hey, chibi, what’s the difference between [Farsight] and [Discovery]?”

“[Farsight] is the ability to see far away and make accurate judgments on the distances between things. [Discovery] increases the chances of finding something you’re looking for.”

“Heh… somehow those are kind of different from what I expected. Un … no, maybe not.”

“Well, who knows what they can be upgraded into. And the descriptions are kind of vague. No one’s taken [Discovery] yet, so we don’t really know how it works. [Farsight] is mostly taken by ranged attackers, so all the information on that is mostly along those lines.”

I see… as expected of the walking game-pedia, Toru.

Of course it’s not like NO ONE has taken [Discovery] yet; what Toru means is that no one who’s taken [Discovery] has posted information on it on the forums yet.

I see, I see…

“Wait, Nee-chan, what did you just take?”

Tsk. Too sharp, chibi.

“[Discovery], though.”

“So you took [Discovery] after all without caring about the unknowns … should I say as expected of Nee-chan?”

“Maa, I ran into a stealth player I couldn’t detect in the slightest. Anything that can increase my chances of detecting something like that would be helpful.”

“A stealth player, huh … but I’m not sure [Discovery] is going to work like that.”

“It might also make gathering quests easier, maybe.”

“Ah, that I can understand. But that’s not guaranteed either? There’s nothing really quantifiable about this description. I can’t believe you would take it on a whim.”

“It’s not a whim, it’s a calculated risk. So then, tell me about [Bolstered Strength] and [Bolstered Dexterity]. What’s their Lv15 passives?”

Although stat boost types of abilities are usually just boring increases of stats at each level, in OriginStory it appears that there’s a possibility of [Bolsterd (whatever)] giving passive skills.

By the way, at Lv15, [Bolstered Endurance] grants me Endure Hunger, a 5% reduction to my satiety decrease rate. That means I get hungry later than most people would.

“Huh? If Nee-chan doesn’t know, no one else is going to know.”

“Hah? Chibi, what are you talking about?”

“… Did you really think anyone else has a Talent at Lv15? Or like, I didn’t know you get Skills in stat boost Talents.”

“Ah… I see. So that’s where everyone is right now.”

Maa, it’s not like I don’t see the disadvantages of being further along than anyone else. What should I do…

I frowned and scratched my head.

“Un… this is annoying. Should I take [Bolstered Strength] or [Bolstered Dexterity]?”

Sylvestre looked over at me groaning and drumming my hand on my thigh.

“You still have the space to take 2 more Talents, so why not take both?”

“Ah, I already decided on the other, so I have to choose between STR or DEX now.”

In the end I’ll probably take them both, so it’s really just a question of which would make hunting and exploring more efficient right now.

“Wait a minute.”

Toru shut off the in-game browser, and his holo keyboard and screen disappeared.

He carefully looked me up and down.

“Nee-chan, what’s the other Talent you took?”

“[Counter].”

“[Counter]? I haven’t heard of that yet.”

“A subset of Auxiliary Talents open at Avg Lv10~”

“What?! Ah… but that means there’s no information on those Talents at all. Nee-chan, is that going to be ok?”

“Maa, it sounds like it would suit my playstyle though…”

[Counter]: the abilities to damage an opponent when he attacks

Right? It totally sounds like something I’d be interested in.

“Even so … haa. To take 2 Talents that aren’t understood well like that. Should I say, as expected of Nee-chan?”

“They’ll level up fast, anyway.”

“Ahh… I see.”

Sylvestre stared blankly at us.

“Does … that mean anything?”

“Yeah … go Toru, you’re the Database, right?”

“Ouch! Don’t kick me, Nee-chan … Just because you think explaining is annoying … ah, well, since Nee-chan already has most of her Talents above Lv10, just by playing normally she’ll be able to level her new Talents up really fast. You know, a lot of Auxiliary Talents start off really slow, just boosting stats or with some passives or something. Since Nee-chan will level these really fast, she’ll get to a point where she can understand the benefits of the Talents easier.”

“O,oh… I see, I think…”

He doesn’t get it at all.

Haha, no surprise. I don’t either.

I just let the chibi think whatever he wants, as long as he gets off my case about choosing Talents haphazardly, lol.

“By the way, Nee-chan…”

“Huh?”

“You said you had a bunch of Auxiliary Talents appear in the Talent List at Avg 10, right? But now you took a bunch of Talents so you’re below Avg10?”

“Um …”

I take a look. After deciding on [Bolstered Dexterity] and the others, I’m at Avg 7.

“Yes.”

“Are the Avg10 Talents still available for you?”

“… Yup.”

“I see, so it’s an ‘unlock’ system… That means…”

Aaand the chibi’s off thinking about how the game data works.

Even though it would be totally fine to ignore that kind of thing.

“…Ah! Guess that means I’m not #1 on the ranking list.”

Well, such things don’t last forever…

As I was thinking that, Sylvestre shook his head.

“Not on the Avg Lv ranking, but you’re still #1 on the BR rankings.”

“What the hell is that?”

“Battle Rating. It’s probably some formula that takes into account all your stats and equipment or something… The BR ranking only updates every hour, so it will take a while for people to break down the exact numbers.”

“Hm…”

I take a look at my character profile.

There’s nothing listed as BR.

So the only place you can see your BR is on the ranking?

If it only updates once an hour, it will definitely take a while until Toru and the other min-max-ing nuts crack what makes up BR.

Do the devs not want you to focus on optimization or something? But it’ll eventually be figured out …

“The hell is this? They’re purposefully making it confusing, huh?”

“PvP might be more interesting this way, though.”

That’s true. It might also be a way to minimize PK terrorists. Since you can only use the Avg Lv as an estimate on someone’s actual battle potential.

Well, anyway, I’m done using the Toru Database, so it’s time I head back to Nortius.

The results for the haunted house won’t be revealed until after 3 days, so I’m done … so I thought.

“Ok, well I’m heading back to the town I left to come here for. See ya later.”

“Aaaah-! Hang on a second, Nee-chan. I want to try something out. Let me invite Yoh and everyone else into the party.”

“? Ok…?”

What’s the chibi going to do now?

*Ping*
Your Party Leader has added Yoh to the party.

*Ping*
Your Party Leader has added Saya to the party.

*Ping*
Your Party Leader has added Potato to the party.

P-Potato?

I decide not to ask.

“Ok, then can Nee-chan stay in the party for a little while longer? Ah, it’s ok to go somewhere else. I’ll let you know when you can leave the party too.”

“It’s ok, just kick me out when you’re done.”

Is he going to show them my stats?

Although, the information that’s shared is pretty limited … at most it’s just sub-stats like Damage, Defense, MP, and HP.

————–

————–

One disorienting teleportation later, I’m back in Nortius.

I’ve always thought this, but couldn’t you avoid business trips with this technology?

Of course I don’t mean that they should hurry up and figure out how to make an actual teleporter, but setting up a virtual space and having everyone log in …

Apparently they do that for virtual conferences, but it doesn’t negate the need for business trips.

My father would just half-heartedly shrug and say something like,

“Well, I have to see that they’re making progress on site.”

A working business man has it hard…

Now then … let’s go around and see what the NPCs are doing in this little town called Nortius…

Just when I was thinking that, the teleporter’s light shimmered, and suddenly a person appeared.

And then another.

And then…

“Whoooa! It worked!”

“Ah, this is going to be so cheap though.”

“Well, it’s not like we’ll do it often. I just wanted to see if you can teleport to places your party members have registered -”

“Oi. Chibi.”

“Hah-!”

Frozen in place, at my cold words, Toru breaks out into a cold sweat.

Gi-gi-gi

He creakily turns his head.

“A-ah, haha, hi Nee-chan. L-long time no see?”

“So? What. Are you doing. Here.”

Not just the chibi, I glare at Yoh, Toru’s best friend, and Sylvestre the elf archer who has wisely decided to stand aaall the way over there. I don’t know the other 2 people yet, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt for right now.

Always smiling like usual, Yoh quickly raises up his hands in front of him, saying,

“Ah… Naru-san, just so you know, it was all completely Toru’s idea.”

“Wha-! Yoh, you traitor! This was as much your idea as mine!”

Toru panicked as Yoh quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him forward.

Gashi.

Gashi.

I grab both of them firmly by the tops of the head.

“Hmmmmm…”

“Uwaaaah!”

Their screams echoed into the distance.

————–

————–

Ah, that was dangerous. Because I was really angry, I put too much strength into my grip and almost got sent to jail.

Because I started doing actual damage.

The NPC guards are designed to ask about the situation if the damage between players is under 2% HP/second though, so with a,

“Hahaha, we’re just messing around…”

We got off the hook somehow.

“Why wouldn’t I get mad? I spent so long getting here, and you just pop over like this? And without telling me that you’re going to do it?”

Toru and Yoh are sitting in seiza in front of me, right in front of the teleporter.

They’re lucky no one else has made it here yet, or else it would turn into embarrassment play as people teleport in and out of Nortius.

“I-it’s not like we’re causing trouble for you, and we just wanted to see if it worked…”

Smack!

Toru flinched as I smack the handle of my axe against my hand.

“You got some guts talking back to me, chibi, haaah?!”

“Naru-nee, you’re starting to talk like a yankee again…”

I turn and stare at Yoh, who’s smilingly making that sort of observation.

“N-nothing… we’re sorry!”

And both of them did a dogeza.

“Haa… properly go back and do the caravan quest later.”

“Of course! It’s because midterms and the cultural festival are coming up, so the caravan quest is going to be…”

Ah… that’s right. Fall is kind of a busy time for high schoolers.

They just had their athletics festival a couple weekends ago too…

At least 3 of Toru’s party is going to be preoccupied with everything that’s going on in their school.

“We’re going to do our best to get through the caravan, but we didn’t want anyone to get left behind or something, and then we were wondering if it was possible to teleport to a city a party member was, so …”

“Even though I said we should have asked first…”

“What!? No you didn’t, Yoh! You said it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission!”

Watching Toru and Yoh bicker, I can’t help but say,

“Yoh, you’re as bad of an influence as ever.”

“Hahaha, you think? By the way, Naru-nee, are you going to take the pumpkin head costume off?”

“Ou, I forgot.”

I like the pumpkin head, but as expected, it’s too weird in a wild west setting.

Or like, it’s pretty big. I wonder if I’ll get it stuck in stuff when I go exploring later.

I cancel the costume, and it quickly fades away.

I chuckle a little.

“Hm. I must’ve looked scarier than I thought while lecturing you two, like a pumpkin head axe-wielding murderer.”

Yoh laughed.

“Ahahaha, no way, Naru-nee. Your real face is 5 times scarier.”

“Yeah, with the pumpkin head, Nee-chan wasn’t nearly as scary.”

Tch.

After that, the town guards had to come once again to confirm the situation.

————–

————–

After diffusing the situation with the guards, Toru and his party sat and watched as Naru went around town, talking to NPCs.

“…You can stop laughing now Saya. Ow… Naru-nee doesn’t pull her punches, as usual.”

Yoh rubbed the top of his head.

“Hehehe, n-no, but, Toru aside, I never get to see Yoh like that, ever.”

The siren mage, Saya, was giggling as she looked at Yoh and Toru, looking like children who had just gotten scolded rather badly.

“But, y’know, I totally understand what you mean now. She DOES look like that ikemen actor, but still 100% woman.”

Potato’s hand gestures with grabby fingers earned him a glare from Saya, but he did it with a grin on his face.

“Ah… by the way, how did your guys’ run through the event go?”

Toru said, sweeping all of the idle talk aside.

“Aah… it went alright. Potato was the tank, Saya was the archer.”

“So you were the healer, Yoh?’

“Yup.”

“How did that go?”

“Oh, it went pretty good. We got into a little bit of trouble at the end, since Saya panicked and didn’t know whether to aim for the wraiths or the echoes, but we got through ok.”

“Hm…”

Toru made a bit of a face. In the end, he was still competitive at heart, so he was a little disappointed that they had an easier time adjusting to the changes.

Saya put her hands on her hips.

“It’s not like I couldn’t hit, ok? I mean, as long as you try to line it up, as long as you spam the Skills, it wasn’t too hard to hit because they had aim correction integrated with the Skills. It just got chaotic at the end.”

Ugh.

Toru couldn’t say that even with the Skills, it was impossible for him to hit with a bow and arrow.

It’s because you jerk right before you release the arrow. I’ve never seen someone do it so bad before… so just give up on ever being an archer.

Although Sylvestre thought that, he didn’t really see the need to correct the bow arm of someone who wasn’t going to play as an archer, so he left that unsaid.

“From how Naru-nee complains about heals, I thought it would be tougher, but it actually wasn’t.”

Yoh said.

“That makes sense, though. Yoh’s a really thorough tank, so keeping an eye on the situation to know where you’re needed as a tank versus being aware of where heals are needed, I guess it’s not so different?”

“Oh, I see. I’m considering taking [Heal] later on to be a sub-healer, but I wonder if that would throw my Talent build out of order…”

Yoh scratched his head.

Toru frowned.

It’s not like he wanted to control his party members’ builds, but thinking about Yoh throwing his Talent build out of order like this is uncomfortable.

He controlled himself from trying to dissuade Yoh immediately and said,

“I don’t think it makes sense right now, but if you think you want to try it…”

“Nah, I was thinking about taking it at, like, Avg LV40 or something. After I get most of my build for being a tank finalized. Maybe if I spec towards heals over time, then it would take the heat off our healers, and heals over time take less MP; that’s all I was thinking about. I think it’s too risky to try to take it without knowing about the [Heal] tree.”

Many different players in the game were having similar conversations to the ones that Toru and his party were having.

After getting a taste of different weapons and combat styles, they discussed the strategies of hybridizing or switching their Talents and play-styles.

The ones who thought the switch-up was so bad that they’d prefer to switch weapons even if that meant they would have to proceed without Talents or Skills … was probably only Toru and Naru, Sylvestre thought.

————–

————–

Naru here.

After making sure the chibi and his party went back with the teleporter, I headed out of Nortius.

There were some fetch and deliver quests within Nortius, but I only did the easiest ones and the ones I thought would lead to the most interesting NPCs.

After asking around about the ‘Hidden Ruins’, I got a few more quests and a general idea of where the ruins are.

And then I headed out.

So where am I right now?

Maa… I’m not sure exactly where I am, since a few things happened, but right now there’s a corpse in front of me.

Ah, correction.

An ALMOST corpse.

Since the body glows with a light blue color when I stare long enough, even though he hid his name I can tell it’s a player.

Since he’s a player, if he actually died he’d be resurrected at the last town he went to.

“Ooii… are you dead yet?”

At my words, twin, cat-like tails twitched and sluggishly perked up from the corpse-like body.

Hm?

I squatted down on my heels and flipped back his hood.

A-re? Isn’t this the beastkin who mistakenly attacked me back then?

————–

————–

—-

TALENTS

[Axe]Lv15
[Bolstered Endurance]Lv15
[Sharp Senses]Lv12
[Scavenge]Lv13
[Spirit of the Wild Hunt]Lv11
[Inheritance of the Forest Guardian]Lv10
[Discovery]Lv1
[Bolstered Dexterity]Lv1
[Counter]Lv1

Avg Lv: 7
TP: 2
—-

—-

EXTRA

About the Game

Combat Talents:

Unlike some other games, in OriginStory, all weapons are capable of being used by everyone, but there are heavy penalties attached. Reduced damage, increased chance of no Crits even if you strike a Crit-zone, and being unable to perform Combat Maneuvers (Stun, Knock Down, Trip, Disarm, Weapon Break, Entangle, etc) are the quantifiable penalties.

In addition, the center of mass is made to feel unbalanced, even changing position at times, in order to make the player feel like the weapon is difficult to use.

Even if you’re familiar with the weapon in real-life, the game tries to make it difficult to use without taking a corresponding Talent that reduces or removes the penalties.

Of course there are some people who have challenged using weapons with penalties, but as expected, such a play-style is usually not a player’s main play-style.

By the way, despite the specialization that the Talents take, weapons themselves are not so strictly classified, in regards to penalties (though with Skills, it’s a different matter. You must have the corresponding weapon to activate the Skills).
For example, a short sword is still a ‘Sword’ weapon. Even if you do not take the Talent derivative [Short Sword], as long as you have the Talent [Sword], you will derive no penalties from using a Short Sword.
However, you will not be able to use any special short sword Skills until you raise [Daggers] to Lv5 and then take the [Short Sword] derivative.

Combat Talents are further divided into STR-Based Weapons, DEX-Based Weapons, Specialized Weapons, and Magic.

Here are the Weapon Combat Talents and their Skills/Derivatives that were officially disclosed at the beginning of the game:
[NOTE: The Talents below often have more talents down the line, and the derivatives of the Talents below tend to often have derivatives themselves. However, these were not disclosed immediately at the beginning of the game.]

STR-based Talents:

[Sword]: Removes all ‘Sword’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Power Slash>, <Swift Blows>
Lv5: <Sunder>
Lv10: 1% damage increase with ‘Sword’ weapons
-Derivatives [Two-Handed Sword] and [One-Handed Sword] are unlocked at Lv15
-Derivative [Short Sword] unlocked at Lv20 with [Daggers] at Lv5

[Axe]: Removes all ‘Axe’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Power Slash>, <Raining Blows>
Lv5: <Skull Splitter>
Lv10: 1% damage increase with ‘Axe’ weapons
-Derivatives [Two-Handed Axe] and [One-Handed Axe] are unlocked at Lv15
-Derivative [Pole Axe] unlocked at Lv20 with [Pole Arm] at Lv5

[Hammer]: Removes all ‘Hammer’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Power Bash>, <Heavy Smash>
Lv5: <Skull Basher>
Lv10: 1% damage increase with ‘Hammer’ weapons
-Derivatives [Two-Handed Hammer] and [One-Handed Hammer] are unlocked at Lv15

[Club]: Removes all ‘Mace’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Power Bash>, <Heavy Blow>
Lv5: <Sunder>
Lv10: 1% damage increase with ‘Mace’ weapons
-Derivatives [Spiked Mace] and [Sceptre] are unlocked at Lv20

[Spear]: Removes all ‘Spear’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Heavy Stab>, <Rapid Blows>
Lv5: <Pierce>
Lv10: 1% damage increase with ‘Spear’ weapons
-Derivatives [Lance] and [Pike] are unlocked at Lv20

[Shield]: Removes all ‘Shield’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Block>, <Shield Bash>
Lv5: <Repel>
Lv10: 1% defense increase with ‘Shield’ weapons
-Derivatives [Light Shield] and [Heavy Shield] are unlocked at Lv10

—

DEX-Based Talents:

[Bow]: Removes all ‘Bow’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Precise Shot>, <Snipe>
Lv5: <Piercer>
Lv10: 1% penetration bonus with ‘Arrow’ ammunition
-Derivatives [Short Bow] and [Long Bow] are unlocked at Lv10
-Derivative [Compound Bow] is unlocked at Lv20 with a minimum STR requirement.

[Dagger]: Removes all ‘Dagger’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Swift Stab>, <Double Slash>
Lv5: <Slice>
Lv10: 1% attack duration decrease with ‘Dagger’ Weapons
-Derivatives [Hidden Dagger] and [Swift Dagger] are unlocked at Lv15

[Staff]: Removes all ‘Staff’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Staff Strike>, <Whirling Parry>
Lv5: <Double Strike>
Lv10: 1% attack duration decrease with ‘Staff’ weapons
-Derivatives [Pole Arm] and [Quarterstaff] are unlocked at Lv10
-Derivative [Segmented Staff] unlocks at Lv10 with [Flail] at Lv25

[Unarmed]: Removes all ‘Unarmed’ penalties and gives unarmed attacks a small bonus
Lv1: <Flurry of Punches>, <Countering Punch>
Lv5: <Heavy Kick>
Lv10: 1% attack damage increase with unarmed attacks
-Derivatives [Martial Artist], [Brawler], and [Deadly Hands] are unlocked at Lv10.
– [Deadly Hands] and [Brawler] have an opportunity to develop specialized weapons’ use after fulfilling other conditions.

—

Specialized Weapons:
These weapons are much harder to master, and there is less opportunity for specialization

[Katana]: Removes all ‘Katana’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Swift Strike>, <Reposition>
Lv5: <Sunder>
Lv10: 1% attack duration decrease with ‘Katana’ weapons
-Derivative [Iai Stance] unlocks at Lv30 with [Quickdraw] at Lv20 and [Nitou Swords] unlocks at Lv30 with [Dual Wield] at Lv20

[Foil]: Removes all ‘Foil’ weapon penalties
Lv1: <Double Stab>, <Flickering Parry>
Lv5: <Pierce>
Lv10: 1% attack duration decrease with ‘Foil’ weapons

[Flexible Weapons]: Removes ‘Whip’ and ‘Flail’ weapon penalties under weapon Lv20
Lv1: <Swinging Bludgeon>, <Snap>
Lv5: <Ensnare>
-Derivatives [Whip] and [Flail] unlock at Lv10.

---

<Previous Chapter]    [Index]     [Next Chapter>

---

<A/n: For the record, this story uses a lot of the stats, skills, and gimmicks from the skeleton notes of an MMO idea that I had written up a long time ago. There was no reason for me to be this detailed in background notes if I was just writing the story only.
Maa, you know, it seemed a shame to leave an old idea as data fertilizer, so when I had the idea for Narumi and her band of merry friends, I dug out the notes, added modifications to turn it into a (fantasy idea of a) VRMMO, and also pulled out all the limiters I had originally put in so that it would actually be possible to make the MMO a game.
Ah, Toru’s starting Talent should be [Sword] and not [Short Sword] on his char profile. I’ll get around to fixing it some time.
A new story with lazy updates [here]>