Chapter 118 (Patreon)

Chapter 118

“NO!  THESE ARE MY SHINY’S!” Athela screeched while in spider form, wearing a small empty treasure chest that’d been dumped out on her head, while simultaneously waist deep in the pile of gold and platinum.  She angrily swatted at the coins to make her hill of wealth shake, reminding Riven of a toddler when they didn’t get their ice cream.  “MY SHINY’S!  MY SHINY’S!  MY SHINY’S!”

Riven couldn’t say he’d ever seen a spider-like creature wearing a treasure chest swimming in a pool of golden coins before, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t hilarious.  “Come on Athela, you can’t move it all and we need to go.  Time’s up.”

“NO!” Athlea screamed, swatting her little legs faster and faster along the gold pile she was buried in with a full-blown nuclear temper tantrum.  “MINE-MINE-MINE!”

“Azmoth get her out of there.”

Riven facepalmed, and Azmoth hunched down over the ridiculous spider to grab her with a large claw.

“Argh!”

“Athela are you biting Azmoth?”

“ARGH!”

“You do realize your mandibles aren’t penetrating his hand armor right?”

Athela released her hold on Azmoth’s claws and pointed a quivering foot Riven’s way.  “SHUT IT TWIRP!”

“Well it’s good to see Athela hasn’t changed much!” Julie said with a wide, laughing smile.  She walked over from where she was sitting with her brother, put down the chest of gold she’d collected, and gave Riven an unexpected but purely-friendly hug.  “Thanks Riven.  I appreciate what you did for us, once again.”

Riven hugged her back a bit awkwardly and gave her a polite smile.  “Not a problem at all.  Try not to use that last charge with Heroic Intervention any time soon, but just in case you need me I’ll be there.  Oh and say hi to yall's mom since she wasn’t here this time!”

“Riven.” Tim gave him a firm nod from where he lay.  He was taking the loss of a leg rather well, but then again his sister was also a healer and with magic in the picture it was highly likely he’d get that leg back one day.

Hakim came over and clasped hands with Riven, evaluating his fuzzy green slippers one more time with a chuckle and shake of the head.  “It is good to see you again, my friend.  Where is it that you’re staying now?”

Riven and the bigger man let go.  “Brightsville, or that is what we called it originally.  I believe we can use the cortex to communicate with one another should we ever visit the same spot, but even better would be if your community found an Elysium Altar.  We just got one and we could set up a trading outpost in each other’s communities, system shenanigans and whatnot.”

Hakim nodded with a grunt, hoisting his bag of loot over his shoulder and sporting the new rune-laden battle axe at his hip.  “I look forward to it.  We don’t have access to an Elysium Altar at all unfortunately, never even seen one yet, but I have heard that one of the factions founded by the ex-vietnamese government have a few high levelers that acquired one up north from us.  Do you think we’d be able to travel to your city to see it for ourselves?  Your sister and the undead-greenskin thing you’ve got going on is rather interesting…”

“Probably not by foot.  It’s daytime here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s nighttime where I’m from, we’re probably on the other side of the world somewhere.”

“Shit.”

“I know.  Well, not much we can do about it but if the opportunity ever comes up - we’ve named ourselves ‘The Thane Necropolis.’  Look us up when we’re rich and famous.”

Hakim snorted a laugh and gave another nod, glancing over at the redheaded young man who was missing his leg.  “Ugh… His mother is going to have my head.”

“Nuh uh!  Not after I tell her about your heroics to save us!”  Julie got up on her toes and gave Hakim a kiss on the cheek, then skipped back over to her brother.

Riven exchanged a look with an obviously embarrassed Hakim, and raised both eyebrows with a widening grin.  He hiked a thumb Julie’s way.  “You and her huh!?”

“... Yeah…”

“How long!?  Don’t be embarrassed she’s very pretty!”

“Uhm… about a month now.”  Hakim shyly smiled and scratched the back of his head while looking to the ground.   “Her mom doesn’t know yet.  Do you think she’ll care?”

Riven gawked.  “Hakim.  What’s not to like?  You’re a gigachad if I’ve ever seen one and a nice guy to boot.”

“What is a gigachad?”

“You obviously haven’t kept up with pop culture mate.  Just accept it, take your riches and move on.”

Portals flared to life with a notification stating the dungeon would close in less than a minute, and that forced teleportation would commence soon.

“Hah.  Ok then.  I’ll see you next time Riven, and thanks again for saving us.  We owe you our lives.”

“What’re friends for, right?  Stay alive.”

“You too.  Stay safe, keep Athela safe too.  She’s kinda scary but I love that ridiculous spider-girl!”

Riven warmly smiled and stepped away with a wave.  “As do I.”

***

The portal back home collapsed and Riven was back under a night sky with only an hour and a half having passed.  Allie and the others were all waiting for their return, and it took a little bit of time to fill them all in.

Especially given the massive amount of stuff Riven dumped out of the chests they carried.  Then on top of that were all the things in his spatial bag, which amounted to a three-meter high and six-meter wide pile of coins, jewelry, trinkets, weapons, and a couple spell scrolls.  Most of it was unholy-related to boot, but there were a lot of items related to the Fae Foundational Pillar that the orcs could use too.  In particular, there was a storm spell tome and a storm martial-art manual, which were probably some of the most valuable things in this entire pile.  Only a couple of abilities were described in each, but those abilities would be more than enough to take the average orc warrior to a new level should they learn it.  Hell, even the goblins could probably learn it if they had high enough affinities - though most of the goblins were rather stupid.

Funny, now that Riven thought of it, that the greenskins were oriented towards the Fae Foundational Pillar considering they had negative charisma like he did.  They had the option of switching to the Unholy Foundational Pillar too now by using his altar, but it wasn’t necessarily a requirement and he was sure many of the shamans would want to keep their already-practiced spells instead of starting over.  Plus it’d be nice to have some variety inside their city, at the very least it couldn’t hurt, and the orcs had already expressed to Allie (after some very recent experimentation) that the haunted forest would do their Forest Subpillars well with training despite the Death aspect to it.

It was looking like Riven had made a very good decision picking that terraforming option.

“These treasures are… quite valuable.” Gurth’Rok muttered while inspecting a gnarled root that was twisted into patterns creating something akin to a dreamcatcher.  “Do you mind if I take this?  I can happily pay you for the item, though we are somewhat poor.”

“What does it do?”

“It halves the resource cost of any storm or forest pillar abilities as long as they’re tier 1.”

Riven’s eyebrows rose.  “Holy shit that’s really good.  Yeah, take it as a sign of goodwill.  For free.”

The orc chieftan took off his wooden mask, showing a genuine look of surprise - though it was somewhat hard to tell due to the missing upper lip he had and the scars adorning his face.  “That is unexpected.  Thank you Riven, it will be remembered.”

Allie on the other hand was inspecting the gigantic death-attuned, spiked bone sword Riven had brought back with him.  The sword was way too big for her or any of the normal death knights, but one of the large, muscular flesh golems could wield it easily enough and was taking wings with it at Allie’s request.  Every time it was swung the air crackled with neon teal energy, and it had the ability to rip life out of an opponent with soul damage just by being close in proximity rather than actually doing purely physical damage.

It was a rather dangerous weapon.

“I’m not sure I want to give this out to just anyone…” Allie said - gesturing for the flesh golem to put it back in the pile.  “I appreciate the gift, but I certainly can’t use it.  I don’t have the strength stat, not anywhere close, and it’s not my combat style either.  Perhaps I’ll wait to hand it out if we have a notable champion arise in our ranks… it will be good incentive for the recruits to strive for greater things.  Perhaps even an orc could wield this if they changed pillars at this altar.”

Riven shrugged, looking up at the green halo of flames encircling the black, rune-lit spire far overhead.  “Whatever.  Figured I’d give you a gift, if you hate it that’s fine I get it.  I’ll just cry myself to sleep tonight no big deal.”

Allie smirked and gave an exaggerated eye-roll.  “Oh do shut up.  It looks like your minions are also enjoying their own new toys, I can see Athela in particular is loving hers by the way she shows it to everyone.”

And indeed was she showing it to everyone.  Athela was prancing around having a grand old time telling the orcs, the goblins, the undead, the other demons, and even Dr. Brass who’d shown up about how her new tiara was a symbolic gesture by Elysium itself on how she was a true-blue princess.

She had quite the obsession.  Not only because it looked the part of a princess and fit her colors well - being black metal with ruby gemstones, but it gave her a very overpowered effect in Riven’s opinion.  Not that he was complaining.

[Tiara of Silent Killing (Blood / Shadow Trinket): After successfully killing a target without being noticed by anyone else, gain a charge of critical strike.  Your next unseen attack has a 100% chance to be a 2x - 8x critical hit, with multiplied damage coming in the form of kinetic burst energy from the strike site.  Requires a 26% or higher Blood or Shadow Pillar Affinity to wield, and the wearer must be female.]

“I’m just happy she’s happy.” Riven said, chuckling.  “Apparently the dungeon was scared shitless of me, because it spent a load of stuff to get me out of there.  And the other demons seem to like theirs as well.  This whole dungeon-diving thing was incredibly profitable Allie, I think that we should start looking for more of them in the immediate area.  If Hakim’s town has multiple nearby, I’m sure we could find some here.”

Azmoth’s hand-crafted item was an infernal maul of dark-gray stone, three times the size of Riven’s entire body, with streaks of flowing lava running along the surface.  It was utterly huge, pretty simple in design, did passive burn damage on hit, and had a physical base damage that tripled Riven’s own staff unsurprisingly.  Being hit with that thing would terminate any human instantly, and it was the perfect weapon for Azmoth because it wasn’t a weapon made with skill in mind.  He’d just whack things as hard as he could with it.  Even Azmoth as strong as he was needed two of his arms to wield the damn thing effectively, but it still left his other two claws available for normal grappling.  The huge demon had been utterly excited to get it, and had been smashing boulders or scattered trees with it since they got back.  Even now Riven could feel the ground shake slightly from the magma-explosions and shaking earth in nearby fields.

[Hellforged Maul (Infernal / Volcanic Weapon): 319 average physical damage on strike, Two-Handed for full effect, with each strike dealing additional burn damage on hit and over time.  10% bonus to stun chance.  Requires 532 Strength stat with the Infernal or Volcano Subpillar to use.

• Magma Strike:  Activate this ability to increase the damage dealt by 40% in the form of an additional magma-based explosion.  Mandatory 5 minute cooldown.]

Meanwhile Fay had been given a set of fur-lined, rather feminine, brown-scale boots with a dozen orange-red feathers coming out each of the lateral ankle areas.  The boots came up to her knees, and they’d fit perfectly.  She’d blushed furiously when being handed the gift, and had awkwardly accepted them before running off to put them on.  Ever since, she’d been looking down at her feet with a rather broad grin.  These boots had an enchantment that could be used by anyone, which was called a ‘Generic’ enchantment according to Athela - even though it was technically a ‘Storm’ Subpillar enchantment due to using air magic for the effect.  This was unlike the other two items he’d given his demons, but they still did her a serious solid for her flying abilities.

[Boots of Feather Step (Light Armor)(Enchanted Boots): 36 average defense.  Increases any kind of flight speed by 23%.  While flying, gain an additional +50 Agility and + 81 Sturdiness.]

“If I get loot like this every time I go dungeon diving, I’ll be fucking rich.” Riven added with a nod at Fay who smiled shyly and walked off towards Mara and Athela on the sidelines.

Allie furrowed her brows and folded her arms.  “I haven’t known Fay very long but isn’t she acting a bit odd?”

“Her last summoner was a real jackass apparently, this is the first time she was ever given any kind of gift.  That’s what she told me anyways.”

“Oh?  What a lady killer.”

“Let’s not go down that road again.”  Riven ruffled Allie’s hair knowing she’d hate it and he got a quick jab to the ribs again when she loudly huffed.  “Anyways, let me apply my points real quick.  Hold that thought, and we’ll discuss the altar’s trading posts.”

[Riven Thane’s Status Page:

• Level 44
• Pillar Orientations:] Unholy Foundation, Blood Specialty, Infernal, Shadow
• Core of Original Sin - Gluttony:] (Under Construction)(???)
• Traits:] Race: Pureblooded Vampire (Extreme Darkness Regeneration)(Sunlight Decay)(Extreme Weakness to Silver weapons, Sun pillar, and Light pillar attacks), Class: Warlock Adept, Adrenaline Junky (Blood)(+15% to Agility)
• Abilities:] Blessing of the Crow (Unholy), Wretched Snare (Unholy), Silvertongue (Unholy), Bloody Razors (Blood), Crimson Ice (Blood), Blood Lance (Blood)(Tier 2), Blood Nova (Blood)(Tier 3), Hell’s Armor (Infernal), Riftwalk (Shadow)
• Stats:] 74 Strength, 159 Sturdiness, 404 Intelligence, 194 Agility, 10 Luck, -380 Charisma,              188 Vampiric Perception, 124 Willpower, 9 Faith
• Free Stat Points: 24
• Minions:] Athela, Level 34 Arshakai [36 Willpower Requirement].  Azmoth, Level 38 Hellscape Brutalisk [44 Willpower Requirement].  Fay, Level 27 Succubus [29 Willpower Required]
• Equipped Items:] Crude Cultist’s Robes (1 def), Vampire’s Escort (104 dmg, 102% mana regen, shadow and blood dmg +22%, Black Lightning, Scorpion’s Sting), Chalgathi Cultist Amulet (???), Leather Boots (1 def), Backpack of Supplies (Guild Hall: Stone Manor), Witch’s Ring of Grand Casting (+26 Intelligence), Breath of Valgeshia (48 def, +13 dmg & +9% mana output dmg for blood dmg, 6% mana regen)
• 2 PENDING NOTIFICATIONS]

Riven tapped his foot thoughtfully on where he wanted to apply his 24 free stat points.  He’d been applying some to Sturdiness or Willpower on occasion, most of them into Intelligence, and little else.  Strength was nice to have but he didn’t like to engage in close combat if he could help it, his Faith stat was utterly useless to him because he never intended to go the miracle route and therefore wouldn’t ever convert his pure soul energy into ‘divinity’ (nor did he even know how miracles worked), and his Luck stat?  He didn’t know how Luck worked either, but he’d heard from both Athela and Fay that having a high Luck stat was generally correlated with many people who survived into the highest levels across the cosmos.

So figuring it couldn’t hurt to have a statistical advantage, he slammed all 24 points into Luck.

Or at least he tried to.

[You have maxed out your Luck stat at 10 with your current qualifications.  In order to increase your Luck stat beyond 10, you must meet further unspecified requirements.]

“Well FUCK YOU TOO!”  Riven raised both hands and flipped off the sky in a gesture towards Elysium, then slumped his shoulders when his sister saw the notification.

“Tough luck.” Allie mused.  “What’s that ‘2 pending notifications’ topic?  Have you checked?”

Riven glared, but then split the 24 points down the middle into Sturdiness and Intelligence with a frustrated wave of his hand.  “What bullshit.  And no, I haven’t checked yet, but I’m willing to bet one of them is the ‘trait’ I’m getting for defeating that dungeon boss.  Let’s go ahead and see.”

Clicking on the line of text, two different screens appeared.  One was relating to Azmoth, one was relating to a new trait, and both had two different options to choose from.  “Oh.  Oh boy.  Hey, Azmoth!  Get over here, we need to chat!”

[Your minion Azmoth has been judged by the system to have met requirements for 2 different classes, based on actions and fighting style.  Please select from the following starter class titles if you wish to do so:

• Legion Berserker Initiate (Class Title) - A physically demanding class that supplies this class-holder with a new resource pool: Rage.  This class rewards the participant with an influx of HP (Health Points), SP (Stamina Points), and RP (Rage Points) every time he or she makes a kill.  The higher the Rage Points get, the more damage output the participant has, and the more the participant loses his or her ability to think properly.  Gives bonuses to two-handed weapons and heavy armor.  +2 Strength, +1 Sturdiness,  +1 Free Stat Point per level. (Comes with the knowledge of the Unholy Martial Art: Wretched Cleaving)(Increases Willpower Requirement by 6)
• Infernal Crusader Initiate (Class Title) - A fire-attuned physical class path that focuses on tanking through martial arts.  This class increases defensive capabilities with inherent bonuses, the amount of Sturdiness gained per level, and abilities granted by the system at regular intervals.  +1 Strength, +4 Sturdiness, +1 Free Stat Point per level.  Gives bonuses to heavy armor and fire-attuned abilities.  (Comes with the knowledge of the Infernal Martial Art: Dome of Flames)(Increases Willpower Requirement by 5)]

[You have been granted the option between two new ‘Accomplishment Titles’.  You may only have 1 “Accomplishment Title’ active at any time, and changing titles is permanent.  Accomplishment Titles are granted based upon actions that are out of the ordinary and deemed worthy of note by the system.  Please choose between the following:

• Dragon’s Bane 1: Any draconic enemies you fight now receive a generalized debuff to all stats at a flat baseline of -60.  (Received for solo killing a greater drake of higher level in less than 30 minutes)
• Bloodthirsty 1: Corpses around you supply you with 5% increased blood mana, and blood magic does an additional 1% damage to enemies.  (Received for utilizing environmental blood resources on a grand scale numerous times against overwhelming odds)]

The option for his Accomplishment Title was an obvious one, and he didn’t even have to think about it when he selected ‘Bloodthirsty 1’.  Though he did note that the Dragon’s Bane title talked about how he ‘solo killed’ that dungeon boss, and his thoughts went back to the time Athela told him the system considered all summons as part of him.  How true that was, because he certainly hadn’t killed the drake without the help of his minions - yet the title accused him of such.

Not that it mattered too much because he wasn’t selecting it anyways.

Looking up from his screens and closing one of them, Azmoth came bounding over while holding his enormous maul in one hand.  Though the demon couldn’t maneuver the weapon without two as effectively in battle, carrying it with only one was still possible given the massive amount of Strength Azmoth had.

“You called, Riven?” Azmoth asked, taking a knee and bowing in an unusual display of allegiance.

Riven pooched his lips but didn’t comment on it, and he gestured to the weapon.  “Having fun with the new toy?”

Azmoth grinned and avidly nodded.  “Yes, I love new toy!”

“Great to hear man.  Question for you though, did you know you had a class choice up for grabs?”

Azmoth tilted his head, then nodded.  “Yes, yes.  I not know which pick.  Was going to ask, but you busy.  What you think?”

Riven exchanged a glance with Allie.  “Uhm… Honestly I don’t know.  I’m kind of torn.  One one hand the berserker class would make you an absolute menace offensively and killing things would regenerate you even more than that Hell’s Amor you have going on, while on the other hand you get 2 more stat points per level and a focus on defensive abilities while taking the crusader class.  I’m sure you’re already aware of this, and I know I’m stating the obvious, but I just wanted to make sure you knew.  I think it’s best if you follow your heart and choose for yourself though, because to me - there isn’t an obvious winner here.  Either one would be great.”

Azmoth grunted his acknowledgement, then stood up.  “I think on this.  I let know.”

Riven smirked in turn.  “Alright buddy, just tell me when you decide.  It’s exciting either way, so congratulations on the achievement!”