The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

It had taken them almost an hour to first calm down everyone present who were shouting their questions, to finally getting around to answering said questions.

After having explained things to them thoroughly, he’d been cheered as a Hero of Kirkwall. Not only that, but it was then made clear that none of the villagers had ever blamed him for the attacks, let alone the loss of life and property. In fact, they had already considered him a [Hero] for having saved so many lives during the last attack.

He still felt guilty, as he was sure that he could have done more if he hadn’t been so worried about what people would have thought about his astral constructs. Yet they were all, to a person, grateful for what he had done for them, let alone his efforts in creating a defensive moat around most of Kirkwall- an unheard-of feat, if they were to be believed.

They’d then spent the next three days in celebration, not leaving him much time to himself, let alone any time to work on anything else.

By the time the celebrations were finished, he was socially and emotionally exhausted to the point where he created another dragonfly model and escaped to his still under construction house for some peace and quiet.

Finally alone, he breathed a sigh of relief.

‘You did well,’ Avi said from his side, not at all sounding or appearing sarcastic or condescending. ‘I expected you to break the first day and run,’ she said, finally revealing her usual sass as she smirked at him.

“Har-har,” he said as he created a bed to lay upon, idly noticing how easy it felt to do.

‘Well, what’re you planning to do now?’ she asked, sitting next to him.

“I think I’ll finally get to checking the backlogs,” he said, pulling up his System notifications that he’d been ignoring for the past several days, then gawked.

Congratulations!

You’ve gained the following skills:

- Blacksmithing

- Bluff

- Control Dungeon

- Create Dungeon

- Dash

- Diplomacy

- Mana Manipulation

- Multitasking

- Throwing

You’ve leveled the following skills:

- Analyze 6 -> 8

- Blacksmithing 1 -> 3

- Bluff 1 -> 4

- Clear Mind 17 -> 20

- Dash 1 -> 5

- Diplomacy 1 -> 6

- Dodge 9 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Dodge -> Dodge, Improved

- Dodge, Improved 11 -> 12

- Endurance 10 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Endurance -> Endurance, Improved

- Endurance, Improved 11 -> 13

- Improved Accuracy 5 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Improved Accuracy -> Greater Accuracy

- Greater Accuracy 11 -> 17

- Lucky 9 -> 13

- Mana Manipulation 1 -> 6

- Mana Well 4 -> 8

- Marksmanship 2 -> 10

- Multitasking 1 -> 4

- Pain Resistance 7 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Pain Resistance -> Pain Resistance, Improved

- Pain Resistance, Improved 11 -> 12

- Privacy Mode 9 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Privacy Mode -> Privacy Mode, Improved

- Privacy Mode, Improved 11

- Pyrokinesis 1 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Pyrokinesis -> Pyrokinesis, Improved

- Pyrokinesis, Improved 11 -> 15

- Quick Manifesting 12 -> 18

- Running 4 -> 5

- Sculpting, Improved 21 -> 27

- Source of Power 5 -> 10

- *Improved Stealth 9 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: *Improved Stealth -> *Advanced Stealth

- *Advanced Stealth 11 -> 13

- Strafing 9 -> 11

- Skill upgrade: Strafing -> Strafing, Improved

- Strafing, Improved 11 -> 14

- Telekinesis 12 -> 19

- Throwing 1 -> 8

You’ve gained the following attribute points:

- Speed +2

- Constitution +1

- Intellect +3

- Spirit +4

- Charisma +2

- Luck +4

“What the heck…?” he asked, not quite sure how to take in absurd list in front of him.

‘Good gains?’ Avi asked, looking curious.

“You could say that,” he said, then proceeded to explain his gains. “It’s just a lot,” he finished, shaking his head.

‘Well, you have certainly been through a lot in the past five days,’ Avi said, nodding to herself.

He couldn’t argue with that, so he went on to his next notification.

Loot:

Coins:

- Bronze: 31,114

- Silver: 7,613

- Gold: 261

Cores:

D: 162, C: 89, B: 51, A: 28

Gems:

- 21x small diamond

- 34x small ruby

- 31x small sapphire

Armour & Weapons:

- 53x Goblin Dagger

- 39x Hobgoblin Sword

- 4x Great Sword, Large

Jewelry:

- Ring of Arcane Might

- Ring of Telekinetic Might

Misc:

- 131x Ethereal Haunt’s Teeth

- 14x Troll Adrenal Gland

- 4x Ogre Mage Horn

Skill Books:

- 2x [Iron Belly]

- [Aerokinesis]

- [Cryokinesis]

- 2x [Electrokinesis]

- [Hydrokinesis]

- 3x [Pyrokinesis]

- [Terrakinesis]

- [Trap Making]

- [Stealth]

- [Aura of Cold]

- 2x [Regeneration]

- [Invisibility]

- [Heal 3]

- [Cure: Panacea]

- [Harvesting: Flora]

- [Alchemy]

- [Cold Resistance]

- [Fire Resistance]

“Holy mother of-. That’s a lot of coins,” he said, then processed everything else before sharing what he’d gotten with Avi, who also seemed to be impressed with the loot.

What impressed him the most out of everything there were the ridiculous number of Skill Books that he’d gotten. Twenty-two Skill Books for having killed about three hundred-thirty creatures seemed… like a lot. Like, too many for what he thought the drop rate should be for something so valuable. And they hadn’t been from his loot chest, as that was still sitting in the basement along with his centipede model and the other [Astral Ally]s.

Which reminded him that he’d need to return their loot chests to them at some point….

Shaking his head, he retrieved a stack of Skill Books and the two rings listed and [Analyze]d the lot of them.

Ring of Arcane Might

This ring provides the following benefits to its wearer:

+4 INT

+4 SPR

+4 Mana Regen

“The description, although concise, is somewhat bland,” he said, frowning a bit at the lack of flavour.

Ring of Telekinetic Might

This ring provides the following benefits to its wearer:

+4 INT

+12 Ranks in [Telekinesis] (does not give you the Skill of you don’t already have it).

Joram just shook his head, but slipped on both rings anyways. Because, damn! Then he started going through the books, prioritizing the “kinesis” line.

Aerokinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Aerokinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows its user to manipulate [Air]. Higher Skill levels increase the volume of [Air] that can be manipulated, the force and pressure with which you can move it, as well as the range at which it can be manipulated.

Cryokinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Cryokinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows its user to create and manipulate [Cold]. Higher Skill levels increase the volume of [Cold] that can be created, the intensity, the volume that can be manipulated, as well as the range at which [Cold] can be created or manipulated.

Electrokinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Electrokinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows its user to both create and manipulate [Electricity]. Higher Skill levels increase the amount of [Electricity] that can be created, its voltage and amperage, as well as the range at which it can be created and manipulated.

Hydrokinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Hydrokinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows its user to manipulate [Water]. Higher Skill levels increase the volume of [Water] that can be manipulated, the pressure at which it can be manipulated, as well as the range at which it can be manipulated.

Terrakinesis

This Skill grants the user the [Terrakinesis] Skill (Magic).

This Skill allows its user to manipulate [Earth]. Higher Skill levels increase the volume of [Earth] that can be manipulated, what type(s) can be manipulated, as well as the range at which it can be manipulated.

“Damn. I can become the Avatar…” he mumbled to himself as he processed everything that he could pull off with those five extra Skills.

Shaking his head, he continued.

Aura of Cold (Passive)

The user of this Skill has an aura that spreads from them, freezing all who would dare approach.

[Aura of Cold] deals [Cold] damage (INT Mod * Skill Level * 0.5) to any creature within (0.25m * INT Mod) per second that is within range of the aura.

[Aura of Cold] may be turned off or on at will.

[Aura of Cold] does not affect your environment or mundane plants, but will affect magical items/objects.

OK, that’s useful, he thought as he used the Skill Book to get the aura.

Alchemy

This Skill grants the user the ability to use [Alchemy].

This Skill allows the user to use various ingredients and reagents to create miraculous and wonderful draughts, elixirs, pills, and potions with a myriad of effects.

Creating anything that can grant effects, heal, and poison can be made with alchemy.

Experiment, learn, and produce!

“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” Joram chuckled to himself, wild imaginings flowing through his mind as he thought of the crazy things he could do with [Alchemy], let alone how he would pull them off. With [Pyrokinesis], he wondered if he could pull off the refining process without….

Joram shook his head, ridding himself of thoughts of Xiao Yan before getting back to it.

Harvesting: Flora

This Skill grants the user the [Harvesting: Flora] Skill.

This Skill allows its user to harvest flora more deftly and efficiently. Higher Skill levels allow for faster harvesting as well as greater yields due to increased efficiency.

Grants the user an instinctual knowledge of what is useful to harvest from flora. Greater knowledge of flora increases the efficiency of this Skill.

Can be used on any [Plant], or [Plant]-[Sub-Type] creatures.

Certainly goes well with the [Alchemy] book, that’s for sure, he thought, wondering just how lucky he’d gotten with that pair of drops. It would be incredibly useful living in a forest. Just like he was planning on doing. Easy access, for the win!

The other Skill Books were pretty simple. [Regeneration] both increased how many HP you regenerated per minute as well as granted you the ability to regrow lost or damaged body parts. Completely OP.

The [Heal 3] and [Cure: Panacea] were both incredibly useful. The healing provided by the first was substantial, while the panacea effect would remove any and all [Status Ailments] that a person was suffering from. Like, all.

The resistances were a no-brainer, and he immediately used both. Upon checking on his Status, he noticed both had an entry on his… “character” page as well as entries under his Skills list. Given that both had 1 rank in them, he suspected that they’d be trainable…. Which would suck. But what pleased him was that his existing [Cold Resistance] seemed to serve as a base for his [Cold Resistance] Skill, making the two cumulative.

[Trapmaking], [Stealth], and [Invisibility] were basically made for a [Rogue] type Path. He didn’t need the [Stealth] Skill Book, as he already had the Skill. [Trapmaking] was incredibly tempting given how easily he could make something with either [Modify Matter] or [Ectoplasmic Creation], or both. But very situational.

And [Invisibility] would just be plain fun. There were so many people on Earth, when polled, said they would prefer invisibility over super strength, flight, or just about any other superpower out there. Now, he hadn’t been one of those people. But, would he turn it down if it fell into his Inventory? Nope.

Still… he would hold onto it, just in case he found someone who would be better suited for it. Especially since it more or less worked like the classic spell in most games. Where if you were invisible, the effect would break if you attacked someone, or if you cast another spell, or even interacted with the wrong thing. Considering how the other Skills seemed to get better with higher Skill Ranks, he was reasonably sure that it too would get better. But for now, he’d hold off.

Mostly because it wouldn’t be terribly effective for him. He was kind of the “in your face” during combat kind of guy, even if he was only shooting them in the face.

The healing type Skills, though, would be a bit wasted on him seeing as how he could do most of what they could do already. Sure, [Cure: Panacea] was incredibly tempting, but if he needed to stop during combat to help someone with that Skill, then he was doing it wrong. Better to give the Skill to someone who wasn’t responsible for the DPS (damage per second) in the party.

Curbing his inner munchkin, he set aside the [Invisibility], [Stealth], and [Trapmaking] books, as well as the [Cure: Panacea] and [Heal 3] books. The latter he’d likely give to someone like Myra, as she could already do a bit of healing, while he’d have to look for someone suitable for the rogue-type Skill Books.

He still had the [Iron Belly] books, as well as one [Electrokinesis] and three [Pyrokinesis] books that he thought would be good to find a home for. Sure, he could sell them, but with just how much money he’d gotten from the dungeon raid, he really didn’t need it. Better to empower his friends than get a few more gold, or however much they sold for.

The real question was what he’d do with the [Regeneration] book that was left.

“Well, I’ll find someone,” he said, shaking his head as Avi looked on. “Well, maybe I should have a look at my Status before I get to work,” he muttered before opening his Status and smiling.

Name: Joram

Path: None

Level: 0

Race: High Elan

Resource Pools:

HP: 62/62

ST: 46/46

PP: 573/573

MP: 320/320

Regeneration Rates:

HP: 10/minute

ST: 10/minute

PP: 15/minute

MP: 17/minute

Attributes:

STR: 14 =

SPD: 15 =

CON: 11 =

INT: 28 = 20 + 8

SPR: 28 = 24 + 4

CHA: 12 =

LCK: ?? =

Attacks: Crit Chance: 25%

Melee: Mindblade (x3 crit)

D: 36 = 4 + 9 + 23

L: 38 = 6 + 9 + 23

M: 40 = 8 + 9 + 23

H: 48 = 12 + 13 + 23

+14 after 1st hit.

Mindblade Throw Range:

18m, 14m, 10m, 6m

Ranged: Mindbolt (x4 crit)

D: 43 = 4 + 10 + 29

L: 58 = 6 + 23 + 29

M: 47 = 8 + 10 + 29

S: 48 = 10 + 9 + 29

+14 after 1st hit.

M: +5 if using 2 hands to aim

Range per Form:

18m, 70m, 40m, 12m

DEF = 30 + Buffs + Sit’nl

Buffs:

+13 [Inertial ArmourA]

+9 [Force ScreenA]

Situational:

+5 vs projectiles

Resistances:

Cold: 12

Fire: 7

DR:

3/PP spent or,

8/- [BiofeedbackA]

Kinesis Skills:

Name: Dmg: Range:

Aero: 11 24

Cryo: 11 24

Elec: 11 24

Hyrdo: 11 24

Pyro: 11-172 34

Tele: 11-356 50

Terra: 11 24

Carrying Capacity:

Light: 212 kg

Medium: 424 kg

Heavy: 636 kg

Push/Drag: 1,060 kg

Nodding at what he saw, he was nevertheless shocked. He hadn’t actually looked at his Status page for quite a while, mostly having just used his inventory tab, or even the Skill, Title, and Achievement pages/tabs. He didn’t know if he’d subconsciously rearranged it at some point, or if the System decided on a redesign, but he thought he liked it a bit better than before.

Still, seeing those numbers now, then comparing them to what he’d started out with… was a shocker. He still hadn’t managed to ask someone about attributes and how common/rare it was to get more of them, so he wasn’t sure if he was still a wimp or if he was OP.

But given his carrying capacity, he thought he was doing incredibly well for himself. Then there was the “Kinesis” section. The damages listed there were… scary. He could easily off himself if he screwed up something,

Which got him seriously thinking about a Path again. He would gain more health if he did, which was incredibly tempting. But with his new [Regeneration] Skill, he was feeling a bit less fragile.

“Avi? Am I being ridiculous [Achievement] hunting instead of taking a Path?” he asked, turning to his constant companion.

‘Yes,’ she replied, giving him a look that said it all.

Like “you’re an idiot for risking your life for something that might not prove incredibly useful”, or “you’re a glass canon, get some HP already!”.

“OK,” he said, but once again hesitated as he tabbed over to have another look at his Titles.

Once there, he looked at [Dungeon Master], actually reading it over for the first time, then stopped and reread it just to be sure that he hadn’t been imagining things.

“Avi?”

‘Yes, Joram?’

“I think I’ll want to level-up my Skills before committing to a Path,” he said, then explained his reasoning behind his decision.

As Avi listened, she began to nod. Once he was done, she nodded one final time before a mischievous grin split her lips.

‘I suppose it’s training time,’ she said, sending chills down his spine as he both saw the look in her eyes as well as heard the peculiar tone in her voice.

Well, shi-