OriginStory 18: The Sensation of Drowning

<Previous Chapter]    [Index]     [Next Chapter>

Chapter 18: The Sensation of Drowning

A certain user posted the following on the OriginStory wiki:

Halloween Event Rewards

Title: Halloween Trickster
Adds ‘Halloween Trickster’ to the list of Titles you are allowed to set in the ‘Title’ field.
No additional bonus stats.

Teleport Orb
Opens the Teleporter interface, allowing you to teleport to any city you have already registered no matter where you are.

Cosmetic Pet: Smiling Pumpkin
A cheery Jack-o-Lantern that bounces behind you. Does nothing other than random emotes, and is only summonable in non-combat areas, like towns.

Cosmetic: Pumpkin Weapon
(screenshot needed)

Cosmetic: Vampire Cape
(screenshot coming)

Reputation Token
Adds 100 Reputation Points to a faction of your choosing. Look for the reputation NPC affiliated with your desired faction in order to turn it in.

Cosmetic: Gold Boots
(screenshot coming)

Cosmetic: Silver Boots
(screenshot needed)

Cosmetic: Bronze Boots
(screenshot needed)

————–

————–

“Guh-!”

Oh my oh my.

The blows from the mini-hydra are heavy.

The durability on my axe has been reduced.

Several times, I thought it would be torn from my hands.

Although the mini-hydra’s attacks aren’t particularly fast, they also aren’t particularly slow.

But. They. Are. Heavy!

I need several seconds to recover from each parry, and that means I can’t find an opportunity to attack.

“Tch!”

The mini-hydra uses its tail like a whip, and I couldn’t completely dodge.

One glancing blow wiped out 200 HP…

“… Oi oi oi, what kind of monster are you, a legendary?!”

I grin and laugh through gritted teeth as I grip my axe firmly to combat the stinging in my palms.

Hm?

As I braced myself for another hit, unable to dodge out of the way from the 2 second stun that a GLANCING blow gives, the mini-hydra sways uneasily, then glares to the side.

“Ooh… marvelous!”

Appearing and disappearing like smoke, it’s Fen.

With deadly accuracy, he’s hitting weak spots.

Even without STR, the stones he’s throwing are showing a remarkable effect on the mini-hydra.

Even though he doesn’t have STR.

In VRMMOs, Crit-aimers, that is people who aim specifically for areas that will give bonus critical damage, aren’t uncommon, but Fen is a step beyond.

Cleverly waiting until a slight impact would unbalance it, striking at points that will cause maximum impact… even if the damage isn’t great, the effect seems to be enough.

Un. This is why a VRMMO is more fun than a regular MMO!

Unfortunately, although his targeting ability is impressive, it is apparently also drawing way too much aggro.

In a flash, the mini-hydra’s attention switched from me to Fen.

“Oi!”

At my yell, Fen turned in time to see the mini-hydra’s tail come flailing towards him.

Fen froze, eyes wide open.

“Idiot!”

‘-Don’t freeze up if you don’t want to die!’ – I’m not able to get the rest of it out.

There’s no time for anything other than insults!

One hit, and Fen will wake up with a death penalty!

At my absolute maximum speed, I dart in front of him.

I grip him by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants and throw him over the edge of the cliff!

A startled yowl and a splash sounds from below.

Ah, don’t get me wrong, I’m not harassing a cat by throwing him into a river – !

… I only have a split second to chuckle to myself.

BAM!

“Guwaaaa-!”

The breath was driven out of me in an instant, and I double over as the hydra’s tail smacked me heavily.

I go flying, head over heels, tumbling along the ground.

A few HP here and there are shaved off as I bounce and skid along the rough, dusty rocks.

It hurts!

Ugh.

No time to try to sit and endure the pain-!

BAM!

I barely manage to dodge out of the way as the mini-hydra slams its tail where I was just seconds before.

Another two dodges as its heads come rushing in, snapping at where I was.

I feel another sharp pain in my side as teeth nip my side.

I breath heavily, feeling my limbs tremble a little from the shock, and glanced over at my status bars.

“Uwaaah! My HP!”

I have, like, 120 HP left!

120 out of about 1500 HP… This isn’t good!

If I take another hit, it’s definitely Game Over.

As for the mini-hydra…

Un. It looks like it’s in tip-top shape.

“Hahaha, so this is what it’s like to see an insurmountable challenge.”

I joke out loud.

Yup. This battle is, without a doubt, 100%, completely unavoidably a Fail.

…

I’m not against running away, you know?

…Hai, let’s do this.

“See ya!”

With that parting shot, I turned and dove for the cliff I had just thrown Fen over.

SPLASH!

I flew over the edge and into the river, barely missing Fen.

“Gah-! What are you doing?!”

Fen gave a small scream as I hurtled over the edge and splashed him full in the face.

THUDTHUDTHUD

Ah crap.

I didn’t have to look to understand what that noise was, but I looked up anyway to see the mini-hydra coming towards us.

Even if it doesn’t want to come into the river, its long necks might be long enough to pluck us from the water.

No! Go away!

The water’s poisonous you know?

You’ll get a tummy ache!

I keep those thoughts to myself.

“Oi, take a breath, Fen!”

“Huh? Eh?! What are you-!”

I grab Fen around the chest and duck under.

As the mini-hydra’s heads pummel the water, I try to swing my axe, but the water resistance is ANNOYING.

Instead I use it like a stick, shoving and parrying the heads away from us.

… Hm?

Something catches the corner of my eye, down below on the riverbed.

Before I can verify it, Fen has begun struggling wildly.

Maa, I’m beginning to reach my limit too, so I try to dodge around the mini-hydra’s attack and shoot towards the surface.

“Take another breath, ‘cause you’ll need it!”

I splutter that out as soon as we broke the surface.

This time, Fen obediently does as I say, and, both of us taking deep breaths, we go under again.

This time, I’m aiming for the bottom of the river.

The current is moderate, but it’s enough to be a chore to swim against it.

I tighten my grip around Fen.

He has low END so he’ll be unable to swim against the current while holding his breath for long, but my END and STR should be enough that I can drag him along with me.

Seriously. The difference in our stats is too shocking.

There!

At the bottom of the river, there’s a cave-like opening.

It wasn’t the light playing tricks on me after all.

Un. In a game like this, we’ll just have to chance it!

I glance upwards.

The mini-hydra is still up above, ne?

It won’t give up, ne?

Yosh!

I don’t have time to relay the plan to Fen. He’ll just have to deal with it~!

I make a beeline for the underwater opening.

Fen is tap-tap tapping on my arm as he’s struggling, but I just grip him firmly and surge onwards.

My STR is too high for him to break free from, and his struggling only slightly inconveniences me.

And anyway, I think he’s drowning right now, so there really isn’t any way he’ll be able to break free from my grip.

… Maybe I should hurry.

I kick onwards with renewed strength.

The entrance of the underwater tunnel is dark.

Thankfully, the opposing current is negated as I dive into it, so I speed up considerably.

But damn, how long is this annoying, twisting and turning tunnel?!

I’m beginning to feel a burning sensation at the base of my throat, and I’m already just charging ahead blindly.

Scraping myself on rocks and coral, I surge onwards.

As my vision just starts to see stars, a blue light appears.

SPUh-LASH!

“Hwaaa-!”

I gasp for air, and push Fen strongly out of the water.

“Ku-haaaa-!”

Like a whale, Fen breaks the surface, spluttering and spitting water.

He has all sorts of Bad Statuses, and some time ago he went kind of limp, so I hook my arm around him and forcefully carry him, stumbling up the slope, out of the water.

We sprawl out on the more-or-less dry ground, gasping for breath.

I finally look up at the notice that had popped up somewhere back when I started to suffocate.

You have discovered the Lost Entrance to The Hidden Ruins.
You are the first to discover this area. +50% Exploration ExP.
If you report this to the Wayfinder Society, you will get extra rewards.

“Ah… haa… a secret … entrance, huh?”

I manage to spit out.

“Did… … … you know…… about…. …”

Fen couldn’t even get all his words out, but I understood.

“No… but it worked… out in the end… eh?”

“Crazy…”

… Hm. I feel like he was silently calling me worse names inside his head, but maybe it’s just my imagination.

I rolled him an HP potion (MQ) as I chugged one down myself.

Good. Having an additional 500 HP makes me feel a little bit more secure.

We’re exhausted mentally as well as physically, and there’s a Fatigue BS on me and a crap ton of BS’s (like Asphyxiation) on Fen, so we’ll be sitting here a while to recover anyway. No need to fill our HP up to MAX.

Fen wearily grabs the potion and drinks it.

For a moment, there’s only the sound of tired panting in the echoey, cool, rocky tunnel.

After a bit, the Fatigue BS is gone and my body doesn’t feel so dull.

I sit up and complain,

“Maybe we’re supposed to come with a full party to fight the mini-hydra. Cheh. I’ve had enough of party-centric content!”

“Maybe … we weren’t … supposed to go … that way …”

Was all Fen said, still panting heavily for breath.

————–

————–

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”

“My goodness, if you keep going, your soul will slip out with your sigh.”

Mom came rounding the stairs with a laundry basket in hand.

Ah. Toru’s uniform, huh?

Sniff sniff.

“Stewed hamburger steak?”

I asked.

“Yes. With mashed potatoes, like Toru likes.”

“Uh… sorry, I’m going out. I forgot to let you know.”

Uge… Mom’s face looks so sulky.

I scoot out before she could say anything else.

A former delinquent, running away from a mother’s pouting face …

I blow out into the air, and I can almost swear that my breath turns white.

The air is starting to get cold.

By reflex I reach for my cigarettes, but I stop as I move to get onto my bike.

Even though I had once tried to cockily ride with a cigarette in my mouth (no helmet of course), having a face full of hot ash and the back of my throat choking on smoke put an end to that youthful transgression.

“Maybe it doesn’t make sense to immediately want to choke on smoke right after I recovered from drowning.”

I chuckle to myself.

Although, if there were cigarettes in the game, I would have lit up as soon as I could after getting out of the water, no doubt.

Because I made a promise with Chie, I had to log out and leave right after we confirmed the place we ended up in was a safe area.

But honestly speaking, the mini-hydra plus almost drowning made both me and Fen want to stop playing for a little while…

“Na-ru-mi-!”

Ptptpt.

My motorbike died to an idle as I pulled up to the curb.

“Oh, Chie. Sorry, did you wait long?”

Killing my engine, I leaned over and placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face closer to mine.

As always, Chie squeals, pins her face with her hands, and turns red.

Seriously.

It’s because you’re weak to gestures like this that you end up going out with guys with bad attitudes.

It’s ok if it’s me, because I don’t have any intentions of leading her on until she feels obligated to have sex with me.

And like, neither of us are into girls.

But Chie loves feeling like a princess, so even if it’s girls treating her nicely, she’ll still blush and squirm happily.

… Ok, so when we were little, I always thought I was going to be her knight or something completely idiotic like that, so somehow or other we’ve always had this kind of interaction.

I put my bike lock on, then stood up and looked her over.

A cute one-piece with a designer sweater, thigh highs, and her good flats.

It looks like she went all out while trying not to LOOK like she went all out.

“Hm… you’re looking rather cute today. It suits you … but were we supposed to dress up?”

Underneath my worn out leather jacket, I’m in jeans and a cheap white button-down shirt, and black tank top inside. All from Uniqlo.

So, yeah. We look so mismatched, lol.

“Eheheh, since we’re going to meet Jo, I kind of … *blush*”

… Heh?

“Uh… hang on. Chie. Are you interested in … Jo?”

“Interested… well, you could say so.”

‘… When did this happen.”

Chie is surprised at my exhausted expression.

It’s not my usual reaction, after all.

“W-well, we’ve been hanging out in Karolstrem’s marketplace, and we decided to both go in on a store… So we’ve kind of gotten to know each other? And I thought, maybe, since he and I have a lot of the same interests… and we get along really well…”

“Haaa…”

I bury my face in my hands.

It’s not like I can’t see where she’s coming from.

Even without the elf-appearance filter, Jo’s not a bad looking guy.

And he’s athletic and broad shouldered.

He’s good-natured, enjoys shopping, and has no perverted hobbies.

If you ask me, his only downsides are that he gets sick while riding motorbikes and public transportation, and he’s a free-ter who dropped out of college.

“I see. He’s a good guy after all, but Chie … Jo is gay.”

Hm?

I look behind me.

Chie got left behind on the sidewalk. She’s fro~zen.

As I thought.

Ah, she started to move.

I quickly cover my ear on the side Chie’s next to.

“EEEEEEEEH!?”

Loud.

“Heh?! But … he doesn’t act like that?”

“’That’?”

I kind of already know what she’s going to say, but I ask anyway.

“L-like… y’know, delicate, or … (overly … oozing dangerous sex appeal). A-anyway, he doesn’t act gay?”

Eh.

Even though she said that one part in a whisper, I heard it.

I thought she was going to say ‘okama’ or flamboyant.

Don’t tell me she’s part of the ‘rotten’ crowd…

I decide to graciously ignore that.

“What’s with that. I didn’t know he had to take a personality test to have sex with guys.”

“Na-narumi!”

“… Seriously. What are you two doing, discussing other peoples’ private lives so loudly? Naru-chan aside, I’m kind of surprised at Chie-chan.”

“… Why me aside…”

I grumbled, but I let the remark pass as Jo appeared from behind us, and I make the introductions instead.

“*Gohon* Anyway, Chie, this is Jonichi Kenji. Jo, this is Mikazuki Chie.”

“Pleased to meet you. Is it okay if I continue to call you Chie-chan?”

“A-ah, yes! That’s fine!”

No good, Chie’s completely stiff now.

She’s probably never met an LGBT before, or at least that she knew of.

Sorry Jo, but it was necessary to let her know… Because Chie wouldn’t give up under gentle dissuasions.

I’d apologize if I didn’t know Jo wouldn’t care.

Outing someone without knowing that is NG, right?

But, nn. It’s true that some in-game girls yearned after Jo before he told them he was into men.

Even though he has fun doing girls’ hair and makeup, he himself prefers short cropped hair and clear skin. Sure he does skincare and stuff, but there are even straight men who do that.

And we say he does ‘makeup’, but really, it’s all dramatic makeup, like theater makeup.

‘Make me look like a gaunt lord!’ ‘I want to be like a priestess who controls fire!’

It’s those types of requests he enjoys.

Even in real life, he prefers to do makeup to make people look like monsters, or putting vivid colors on them that completely transform the face.

He especially likes fake gore, but he rarely gets a chance to do anything with heavy prosthetics because the materials are too expensive.

After all, he never went to school for that type of thing, and he’s a free-ter.

ANYWAY, what I mean is, even if you’d say that him doing makeup and stuff is kind of like a stereotype, the work and enjoyment Jo gets out of doing that stuff is more like an artisan, so I guess people don’t associate that with him being gay right off the bat.

While there are gay people who have bits of the stereotype associated with gay people, there are also gay people who don’t.

I always thought that was obvious, but I know more people with different sexualities than Chie, so it can’t be helped that she reacts this way, I guess?

I mean, even though WE get along, Chie and I have very different groups of friends.

When did it start… since middle school, I guess?

Jo notices Chie’s weird behavior and gives a wry smile.

We enter a laidback izakaya that Jo and I frequent a lot.

Speaking of stereotypes of gay people…

“Ara~! Isn’t it Kenji and Narumi! Oh my, and who is this lovely young lady?”

The hired help, a slim young man with his hair swooshed to one side in a modern comb-over and thick-rimmed black glasses welcomes us in.

“Yo Aki. This is my childhood friend, Chie. Chie, this is Aki. He plays OriginStory too, along with his girlfriend.”

Seriously. My friends confuse the crap out of people sometimes.

“Oooh~? Another gamer? Ya~y!”

Aki held up his hands in double peace sign.

Ah. It’s frozen Chie #2.

“Er…”

Aki wiggled his middle and forefingers awkwardly.

“A-ah… I’m sorry-!”

Chie suddenly bows deeply.

“Even though it’s because I was surprised, I was being so rude!”

“Eh? Eh? Eh?!”

Aki got all flustered.

Jo is just smiling dryly.

I … am snickering in the corner.

————–

————–

“Ahahaha! So that’s it. You’ve never met a gay person before, and because Jo didn’t act like how you thought a gay person would, you were confused. And then you met me and got even more confused!”

Aki laughs as he brings us a round of beers.

We’re seated at a more private table, away from the bar.

Since we’re more ‘rambunctious young people’, so it’s better to let the older guys chat in peace up at the bar.

“Yes… there’s no excuse though. Somehow I’m just so embarrassed.”

Chie looks down at her hands, face flushed.

“It’s ok. Since I know Chie, I understand you just show all your thoughts right on your face, and you don’t mean anything bad by it.”

Jo smiles gently at her.

“Uuu… even though I think things like, ‘I will be a tolerant person no matter what kind of person it is,’ I guess it’s only talk if I never actually meet other types of people… It’s no excuse, but I completely thought Jo was straight, so…”

“I think Chie is being too hard on herself, though? Since one of Chie’s good points is apologizing earnestly if she thinks she’s done something bad.”

I flash her an ‘ikemen’ smile.

Well, that ‘good point’ of hers is one of the things that makes manipulative guys think she’s easy to control, though…

“Kyaa! Narumi’s so gentle with Chie. Fufu. Don’t worry, Chie-chan. Kenji gets that from gay people too. ‘You don’t act like a gay man’ and the like.”

“Hah?”

I stare at Aki with dead-fish eyes.

“Oh my, Narumi, I’m not lying~. Things like, ‘Mountain climbing? Are you trying to mix in with the straight people?’ or the like.”

“Haa…”

I see. Jo sure has it tough.

Jo notices my pitying stares and he waves his hand ambiguously.

“Oh, it’s not like everyone’s like that. Most gay and straight people I know interact with me alright. It’s the random odd ones who like making everyone miserable if you don’t think the exact same way they do, and those guys always stand out so you remember them. But everyone runs into those kinds of people, right? No matter if you’re straight or gay.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Is all I say.

————–

————–

“Heh… so Ane-chan wants to start a trade alliance? Not a Crafter’s Guild?”

After Aki came back with our food and then scurried off to attend other tables, the topic jumped from this to that, and in the end we came back to talking about games.

It seems there’s a lot going on that I don’t know about … haha, who am I kidding.

Of course there is, because I don’t care about reading up on that stuff at all.

Leave the research to the nerds!

Like Toru.

“Apparently Ane-chan hates guild stuff…”

Ah. That’s right. I forgot about it.

Or like, Chie, you’re calling her Ane-chan now too?

Poor Ane-chan. She wanted so badly for it to be changed to Onee-chan (lol).

“Aah, I see. So she wants the opportunity to be like the Oda by attacking the Asakura, and betray the Azai.”

I cackle.

“Mou. Is Ane-chan really so cut-throat?”

Chie protested my depiction of her.

“Well, we call her ‘Ane-chan’ for a reason…”

Chie looks like she half understands, but half doesn’t understand.

It’s okay. Since she’s been rubbing shoulders with Jo and Ane-chan a lot recently, she’ll be made to understand Ane-chan’s personality sooner or later.

“I heard it from Toru, but it seems like business is good as a crafter?”

I ask.

“Un, it’s surprisingly good. I like the system a lot. It’s not like the crafted goods are SO GREAT that it completely outshines the bought good, although it’s definitely better than NPC vendor goods. But because of the customizability of the crafted goods, people are always buying.”

Chie said.

“Haha, it’s amazing what people will pay for just to get the looks they want,”

Jo said, agreeing.

“Well, that’s why cosmetics are so expensive, ne.”

“Un, that’s true.”

“So what do your guys’ Talents look like now? Ah, as for me, as you might expect, it’s all combat oriented.”

I ask. For now, except for [Scavenge], all my Talents are like that … no, wait. [Discovery] is separate…

Ignoring my slight frown, the other two tilt their heads to one side to think.

“Un… I picked up [Compounding] and [Embroidery]. [Embroidery] cost 10 TP, though. It was REALLY painful to take.”

What is that? Why would you do that?!

I sit still for a minute to avoid yelling at Chie.

Jo saw my look, and said quickly,

“It only opened once she got to AvgLv10. Everyone else was telling her that it was a waste of points, but to be honest, with her embroidery, people will pass up everyone else’s stuff and come to our stall even though it’s a lot pricier.”

“Because it looks cool, right? And besides, it adds bonus sub-stats. At [Embroidery]Lv10, the bonuses are so good that it can increase the value of the armor by a full tier of material quality.”

“So you mean, by adding embroidery to a low quality armor, it can be as good as a medium quality armor?”

“The tiers are a little different, but kind of. It’s not like it’s a 1-for-1 comparison, but the bonuses are more attractive to people right now.”

Chie said with a happy grin.

“I see. But why choose [Compounding]?”

When I ask that, Jo responded instead of Chie.

“You actually need [Compounding] to prepare raw ingredients for [Alchemy] …”

“What’s with that? No, wait. Why did CHIE take it, then?”

“Because you can make clothing dyes!”

Chie, I would just like you to know, it’s taking everything I have to avoid slamming my head into the table…

Ah. She’s giving me an impish grin.

“Hehe, actually, it looks like [Alchemy] has a LOT of branches, like making clothing dyes and treatments, so I’m going to take it later. Jo didn’t know he had to take [Compounding], and I didn’t really have any need to take anything else, so I took it for now. He handles supplies, I handle processing, and then we do pretty well together.”

“I see…”

She totally doesn’t care about combat.

“… We should go power-leveling at some point.”

I say, looking very pointedly at Jo.

“Probably sooner, rather than later, I think.”

He has a kind of somber look on his face.

“Oh? Is there something wrong?”

Jo frowned, and then began to complain.

“The problem right now is the slow leveling. You really have to invest a lot of time into crafting or it won’t level at all. But if you spend all that time crafting, you won’t level your combat Talents, and then you run out of materials…”

He sighed and leaned his head on his hands.

Oh? Oh oh oh?

“So that means … right now, you guys have hit the limit with the materials you can get?”

“Yeah… even if any of the forefront players bring back higher grade material, there’s never enough and it gets snatched up right away. It gets expensive, too, since the materials are rare… What is with that evil grin?”

Jo is clearly leaning backwards, away from me.

“Heheheh….”

I rub my hands unscrupulously. In a kind of ‘I bring you treats of gold’ manner.

It seems my time is at hand-!

I stop playing around as Jo and Chie start giving me dull looks.

“Haha. Ah, I’ve been hording materials at the moment, but when I finish the quest I’m on, I’m going to return to Karolstrem to sell them.”

Swish!

Jo and Chie leaned forward in a flash.

“Eh? Really?!”

“What amount are we talking about?”

Jo’s eyes are glinting dangerously.

“If you ask me so suddenly… Well, look forward to it… is what I’d like to say, but I’m not going to give it up completely for free. I’m having some money troubles…”

Jo waved his hand dismissively.

“Well, of course it can’t be for free. As long as it’s reasonable, Chie and I will be able to pay. Ah, but is it just pelts and such?”

“No? I have [Scavenge]Lv16, so I pick up a lot of alchemy stuff. No ores, jewels, or minerals, but everything else…”

“Oh, this is going to be so exciting!”

Chie exclaimed.

“E-exciting?”

I tilt my head to one side.

“Yeah! With [Alchemy], you never know what exactly you’re going to make!”

… ?

At my confused look, Jo laughed.

“Like I said, this VRMMO’s crafting system is way too loose.”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain it to me.”

Alchemy works in an interesting way in OriginStory.

Basic recipes are unlocked as [Alchemy] increases in Level. They’re not particularly great compared to NPC bought versions.

You are always able to make substitutions of materials or add optional materials to the recipe when crafting. Doing so can increase or decrease the quality of the result, or even change it completely.

If any of your substitutions or materials succeed in making something new, the recipe will be automatically saved.

Jo has already figured out how to make ointments and salves aside from just drinkable potions.

With just a little more, he can begin the trial-and-error work of adding pigments and the like …

I see, he really is working hard to bring makeup into this VRMMO too, huh?

It seems the world of crafting is deep.

I wonder if I shouldn’t take [Mining] too… I have enough TP now.

I seem to be excitedly going down the supplier route.

————–

————–

—-

TALENTS

[Axe]Lv17
[Bolstered Endurance]Lv20
[Sharp Senses]Lv17
[Scavenge]Lv16
[Spirit of the Wild Hunt]Lv15
[Inheritance of the Forest Guardian]Lv15
[Discovery]Lv8
[Bolstered Dexterity]Lv10
[Counter]Lv5

Avg Lv: 13
TP: 11
—-

—-

EXTRA

About the Game

Auxiliary Talents

Auxiliary Talents are Talents that are designed to allow players to customize their avatars by supporting their Combat and Crafting Talents.

The Talents listed below are the ones available below Avg Lv10, and the information provided is only the information available at the official game launch.

STAT ENHANCERS: Boosts the respective stat. This boost increases as the Talent levels up.
[Bolstered Strength]
[Bolstered Defense]
[Bolstered Dexterity]
[Bolstered Endurance]
[Bolstered Wisdom]
[Bolstered Intelligence]

SUBSTAT ENHANCERS: Boosts the respective substat. This boost increases as the Talent levels up.
[Enhanced MP]
[Enhanced HP]
[Enhanced MP Recovery]
[Enhanced HP Recovery]
[Enhanced Damage]
[Enhanced Critical]
[Enhanced Resistance]
[Enhanced Movement]
[Enhanced Status Recovery]

[Armor Use]: Reduces the movement and speed penalties associated with wearing armor.
*Lv10 specialization: [Cloth Armor], [Leather Armor], [Metal Armor]

[Dual Wield]: Reduces damage, accuracy, and movement penalties associated with dual wielding, as well as granting some dual wield skills.

[Provoke]: Gain aggro-increase and aggro-transfer skills.

[Throw]: Reduces accuracy and damage penalties associated with throwing. Gain some throw skills. Can eventually throw non-projectile weapons with reduced penalties.

[Mobile Casting]: Reduces skill use failure due to movement. Can eventually reduce skill use failure due to attack.

[Dodge]: Reduces damage taken while in motion. Grants movement speed boost when changing from standing to moving.

[Stealth]: Gain the ability to hide and reduces penalties to hiding in combat. Eventually gain bonuses to defense and damage while in stealth.

[Defensive Combat]: Gain skills that increase your defenses and resistances while reducing your damage and accuracy.

[Auxiliary Forces]: Gain forces that aid you both in and out of combat. You can choose to specialize in summoning a few strong forces or many weak forces. Unable to take this Talent with [Taming]Lv1-25, [Summoning]Lv1-25, or [Martial Leadership]Lv1-25.
Lv1: You must choose a specialization from the following:
[Taming]: You are able to tame and control beasts/birds/reptiles/monsters. It is possible to specialize in one group to enhance their abilities at the cost of reducing the abilities of the other groups.
The amount of tamed creatures that are allowed to follow you is limited by weight. All other tamed creatures will roam within a certain radius around the tamer, and will take time to appear before the tamer when called for.
[Summoning]: You are able to summon and control spirits/fae/incorporals. It is possible to specialize in one group to enhance their abilities at the cost of reducing the abilities of the other groups.
Summoned creatures require mana to summon to your side and have a limit for being summoned. You must find the summoned creature’s summoning crystal to be able to summon it.
Summoned creatures share a bond with the summoner that manifests in special skills for the summoner.
[Martial Leadership]: You are able to hire mercenaries/slaves/commandeer local troops. It is possible to specialize in one group to enhance their abilities at the cost of reducing the abilities of the other groups.
Human and Demi-human forces require rest, and in some cases compensation, but their abilities are the greatest among auxiliary forces.
This Talent also enhances the Honour stat.

[Farsight]: Increases your range of sight.

[Discovery]: Increases the probability of finding things.

[Sharp Senses]: Increases your ability to perceive the world around you.

[Gluttony]: Increases consumable effectiveness

[Scavenge]: Enables raw material drop items from monsters and certain collection nodes.

[Mine]: Enables raw material drop items from digging in certain collection nodes.

---

<Previous Chapter]    [Index]     [Next Chapter>

---

<A/n: Thank you The_Lying_Cat, Michael Chandra, Joshua Kay, and ‘someone’ for your donations!
I messed up my word count for this chapter and confused my word count with my character count, so it was WAY too short, and then what I wrote for the next chapter was on the short side, so… I combined the two for an extra long chapter, I guess? But it’s actually not that much longer than a normal chapter…>