Fate Points - Ch 111 (Patreon)

Everlyn laughed at Tom. “You want to bet that my bow is from a title?” she asked incredulously. “That’s not a bet. You know there’s no other way for me to have got it.” Despite her words, her grin grew broader and once more she did her little dance, expressing her happiness. “You’re going to love this.” She nodded at the wall where new text had appeared.

Title: Armed Ranger. Bring forth a soul bound bow and arrow for no cost. Power of bow and arrow generated is scaled to archery skill, strength and levels in archery related classes.

· Awarded for: Outstanding performance in the first Challenge Trial (Rank 110) attempted.

· Legendary Title. Competition Rank: 1st, 500 Ranking points, 10000 experience.

Tom registered the benefits, but from observing her he already knew what the bow did. The arrows were free, and it was powerful. The fact damage scaled on three different mechanisms, including a core attribute, made it slightly better than he expected but not out of the range of what he had imagined. It was an impressive option to have in your arsenal especially at such a low level, but Tom’s focus was on the last line of the description. If he combined that with her unique title… “You’re kidding me. Fifteen hundred ranking points from the challenge trial!”

“Going to catch you on the ladder soon, mister.”

“That’s great, incredible.”

“I gambled and got incredibly lucky. Wait, why are you looking like that?”

Tom was the one smiling now. “Your well aware that I have a plan to save humanity, but I didn’t think I could start it for months but with you by my side. I think–”

Everly perked up. “Does that mean you’re finally going to stop being mysterious?”

Tom hesitated. He wanted to more than anything. Both to impress her and to remove a secret from their lives. But he had asked questions along these lines.

Everlyn’s eyes tightened, her lips pursed. “I know what that look means. You don’t have to say anything.”

“It’s not what you think–”

“You’ll tell me when you’re ready and that’s fine. I trust you. Personally, I don’t get the need for secrecy.”

“What? No… We’re both on the same side… It’s.”

She crooked her head. Arched an eyebrow. “What? You think your plan is so ludicrous that saying it will make the GODS laugh so loud that it any chance of it working will vanish.”

“Um. I wouldn’t be so arrogant to think the GODs would care, but sorta.”

Everlyn was completely serious. “Everything you plan is regimented isn’t it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Guided by the oracle function in the tutorial. You checked the validity of your decisions.”

“Of course. That was the biggest cheat ever. I would be crazy not to take advantage of it.”

She nodded. “Fair enough. I can read between the lines. I wish we could discuss this, but I understand the limitations. When you’re ready to start, you’ll have a mythical archer by your side.”

He was abruptly back in his actual body, with Everlyn facing him.

She kissed him lightly. “Tonight we’re just sleeping.” It didn’t stop her from forcing him on his back so she could curl up on his chest. For five minutes Tom lay there enjoying the closeness till her breathing evened out.

He shut his eyes and appeared in his system room. His life was too hectic, and he spent too little time in this place strategizing. Then again, it was like homework. Boring stuff that, while he knew was helpful, it was hard to prioritise when there were real things to do.

Tom glanced around at the impersonal, cool metallic walls and smiled. While Everlyn’s system room was relaxing, this is what he preferred. He didn’t want to get into the habit of living in his own brain. The less time he spent here, the better. His eyes fell upon the big number four that glowed on the wall.

He frowned and scratched his head at the size of that number.

“We’ve really been here for over a month.” He muttered to himself. At least thirty-two days, he corrected in his head. It had not seemed that long, but he had four questions waiting for him. There was no doubting the elapsed time. It was not like the GODs would give him a free question. Those days smashing wasps had certainly blended together and their initial estimates of distance had been wrong and it had taken far longer to extract themselves than he had hoped.

Four questions. Part of him wanted to use the questions to find the murder. Is the murder male? Blue eyes? A magic based build? Wide-ranging questions to track down who it was or even label everyone and narrow them down that way. But with four questions there was no guarantee he would find the answers anyway, just random chance. Mathematically, he knew he needed seven questions to guarantee it. All he would have to do is number everyone and then ask are they were a higher number and split the middle time.

There was also the other reason that stopped him. While the killer was unknown, he and his friends were not personally in danger and then once they were revealed publicly or privately he would have at least a day to escape with his companions.

On a selfish level, there was no need to use the questions, and they were too valuable to waste. Tom recalled his early conversation with Everlyn. He had a plan that might turn the competition in humanity’s favour. He was not arrogant enough to assume he was guaranteed to be successful, but the attempt on average would net him the most ranking points than more conservative options, so he was going to do it.

“How likely are you to succeed?” Tom asked himself.

Did he even have a one percent chance? And failure more than likely meant death. His potential, hers and whoever else came with him would be linked to the attempt. Gambled away, but his questions had been specific and he had wrested with the dilemma. This approach would give humans, on average the most points. That was why he was committed. A path that actually moved the needle and had a chance of dragging them above fifth place.

Tom shivered.

If he didn’t do it, then humanity was probably screwed.

Eighty percent!

Tom hit the wall tears running down his cheek as he imagined what would happen if he failed. His family in those conditions! And eighty percent why not a certainty was close.

Humanity as a whole!

He had to do it!

No matter the sacrifice, personal or otherwise he was committed.

And if that meant preserving his questions while the killer murdered a dozen more potential heroes, then that’s what he would do. Those four questions they were earmarked to pick a target. To select the species that he was going to target. They were too valuable to be used to find the killer.

Tom sighed and put his doubts aside. He had wrestled with them for years in the tutorial, but he had faith. The oracle questions worked, and no amount of sentimentality could make him step aside. Taking out that race, he winced internally at the thought. Committing that atrocity would be his sole focus till he succeeded or failed.

He didn’t have a choice.

Tom shook his head. That was not why he was here.

“Show Quests.”

Words appeared and trumpets went off.

You have completed.

What was displayed filled three of the walls. “Summarise.” he ordered tiredly. He did not have the time for the usual bullshit.

Quests Completed

· Gain a class - 500 Experience

· Reach level 8 in classes - 1000 Experience

· Complete a trial - 500 Experience

· Complete 2 trials - 1000 Experience

· Gain a second class - 4 free attribute points

· Gain an expert class - 4 free attribute points

· Gain a legendary title - + 4 to all attributes

Incomplete Quests (Maximum eight standard shown)

· Reach level 16 in Class levels - 2,000 Experience

· Gain a third class - Choice of tier 3 spell or skill, 8 class skill points

· Complete 4 trials - 4,000 Experience

· Gain a legendary class - Tier 3 affinity stone which will grant 8 levels in a tier 3 spell or skill

· Acquire a Mythical Title - + 16 to all attributes

· Acquire a Legendary Trait - +1 skill levels to all Spells and Skills

· Earn 1,000,000 Experience - 4 free attribute points

· Defeat a tier thirty-two monster solo - title

Tom felt the extra attribute points being assigned to him. He became slightly more robust, marginally stronger, faster, and had more magic. He frowned at himself. The quests had been completed with the benefits waiting until he acknowledge them? That legendary title had been obtained before the goblins, and he had squandered half a rank in a critical fight because of a failure to enter his system room.

He thumped his thigh in annoyance. His leg throbbed in response to the blow, a reminder of his screw up. From now on, before sleep, he would check his quests to make sure this never happened again. Especially if he got any more achievements. Something like acquire thirty-two titles might yield something special, though at nineteen to date they might take a while. His eyes focused on the incomplete quest.

· Acquire a Mythical Title - + 16 to all attributes

He wondered what Everlyn’s unique title had awarded her. Was unique above mythical or to the side?

“Is there a quest to gain a unique title?”

Unknown.

Tom frowned at that answer. He would ask Everlyn tomorrow and he would monitor quests. Everything displayed was a standard quest. If he got a personalised quest, he would treat them differently. A thought occurred to him.

“Automatically display completed or new quests whenever I go into either my own or Everlyn’s system room and keep visible till acknowledged.”

He smiled. That was a better solution than checking daily. He would not leave attributes unassigned for a rainy day because that was just stupid, so with a thought he threw all eight free points into magic.

“Show attributes.”

Attributes

Strength: 82 (+4 Quests)

Vitality: 95 (+4 Quests)

Agility: 83 (+4 Quests)

Magic: 105 (+4 Quests, +8 Free Points Quests)

Fate: 141 (+4 Quests)

Mana Pool: Mana * 2 = 210

Tom smiled in satisfaction. It was close to a full rank upgrade and took him from the bottom of rank ten to the top.

He opened his eyes and looked at Everlyn. She was still asleep, but he assessed her curiously. On that first day, she had been high rank seven and now she was almost rank twelve.

The unique title was the only explanation he could think of. Despite his explosive growth, she was matching him. He couldn’t be prouder.

He didn’t say anything just lay there watching her.

Why? Why hadn’t she told him about the title? To prevent his jealousy? Because she considered it obvious? Or because it had slipped her mind?

She stirred in her sleep, and he kissed her lightly on the forehead. She responded with a contented murmur. At ease, he drifted off to sleep.

As usual, his mind weaved between dreams filled with blood and gore. Tom was fighting a giant tree that to his disbelief had leveraged itself out of the ground and was now chasing him. Its huge roots whipping around and trying to trap him. Forcing him to roll and dodge continually. It was exhilarating.

Crack!

He dived under a root as it landed on a stone and turned it to dust.

Crack!

The entire dreamscape shook. It wasn’t just part of the dream he realised abruptly.

Tom snapped awake.

He was instantly on alert his heart pounding as adrenaline flooded his system. There were sleeping mats under him, stone above, the glow stick Everlyn had broken still releasing a small bit of light. He was in the cosy alcove he had created for them and next to him Everlyn was backing away from the entrance with alarm in her eyes.

Crack.

He jumped and his eyes focused on the barrier he had created to separate them from the others. There was a sliver of light from there and there wasn’t supposed to be. After all, he had sealed that.

What was left of his sleep vanished.

A threat!

Instantly he was cataloguing everything around him, assessing the terrain and what he could turn to an advantage.

Their sleeping space was not optimal. He could not move, easy but then, again, in Existentia he was an earth magic genius and in a cave. That meant lots of material to work with.

And he had other tools at his disposal. For one, his golem.

Tom’s mind reached out to summon it, but the connection that formed had a muted feel. His consciousness felt around for a moment and discovered a block had been put in place. He eased his pressure on it and assessed it in full. The attempt was weak, and he instinctively knew he could push through and seize back control of the golem. The battle nounce that had carried him so far in the tutorial kicked in and weighed the pros and cons of claiming the golem immediately. Later, he told himself. It would be a nasty surprise for his enemies if he reclaimed it mid battle. Tom could just imagine their shock when an asset they thought neutralised attacked them from behind.

Earth Sensetriggered.

A trickle of information reached him.

There were only two bodies in their barracks, and they had both felt humanoid. He glanced at Everlyn. Her bow was in her hand and she was ready to fire at a moment’s notice. A glowing arrow infused with Power Shotunder tension and aimed. Whoever or whatever was breaking in was about to receive a nasty surprise.

Crack.

The light widened as the single crack expanded.

Already the surrounding rock was responding to his call and Tom was creating a secondary defensive wall in front of him and had a stone in his hand ready to toss at high velocity. His positioning, sitting on his arse, would restrict but a sidearm flick aided by his Skills and Spells would at the very least bruise anything his rank and the fact they were taking so long to go through the barrier suggested to Tom that they were not materially stronger than him.

He pulsed Earth sense once more in and he could feel feet retreating from the entrance to their bed to the stairs.

“You guys alive?” Sven called out with a shaky voice.

A lot of Tom’s tension faded away. He glanced towards Everlyn to see what she wanted him to do. She gave him a small nod of encouragement.

“Yes.”

“Tom,” Michael yelled from the stairs. “Sorry to wake you. There’s been another murder.”