Mark: Katie Brockworth.

  Quest Giver: Kieran Mori.Rank: Broegory: Assassination.Reward: 1 gold.

  Katie Brockworth is a level 6 Ice Mage, and a member of the Adventurers Guild. See enclosed for information about the mark’s habits and apartment address. Use a distinctive calling card – we want to send a strong message.- Kieran Mori. Orders for the ‘Silent Assassin’, Ta

  Malika Malika gri Ali’s antid tagious ughter. Despite her obvious frustration at the melee-unfriendly fight, it was hard not to get caught up in the relief that it was over – and Ali’s obviously uered joy of flying.

  “Whoa, watch out!” Malika excimed as Ali banked sharply to the side and tumbled off her barrier, but Ali just ughed and ght back up and tried again.

  How does she even have the energy? Ali had looked like she was about to pass out a few minutes ago, and now she was ag like a child who had just been handed a shioy.

  “That was a ridiculous fight,” said.

  “It sure was,” she agreed, as the three of them sat by the still-smoking wreckage of the wyvern watg Ali learn to fly. “I could barely do any damage to the monsters.” Both the Skeletal Wyvern itself, and the summoned Piercer Scorpions had unreasonably dense bone armor, rebuffing almost every single one of her attacks. It was only with Soul Strike that she could do any damage at all, and even that had been a pitta best. Her magic was restricted to the surface, to the area she touched. Unless one of Ali’s shamans had softehe monster up, she had done almost nothing.

  “Same,” said. “Half the time my arrows just bounced off, but you still got six levels!”

  “I have no idea how,” Malika admitted. If there had been a way to calcute their individual tributions, Malika was certain hers would be right at the bottom. “I’m sure only Ali and that little Kobold Acolyte did less damage than me.” She had even been scared to check her notifications.

  She skipped past the stream of Kobold and elemental kill notifications again, searg for that final all-important kill notification. It was still there.

  Yroup has defeated Skeletal Wyvern – Undead Dragon – level 37.

  So much sweat, blood, and perhaps even a few tears were bound up in such a simple uional notification. Definitely a lot of blood, she thought, dwelling for a moment on the monster’s level. It was more than twice her own, and a raid boss at that. Just a few days ago, there was no way they would have pulled this off. And even though it had been close, she was fident that they would have been able to escape aurn with improvements to their pn and they would have been successful for certain.

  Heck, just having the sed healer survive would have made it much easier.

  “We should probably have ruhe rogues ambushed the healer,” Malika admitted. “Too stubborn or just pin lucky?”

  “Pure skill?” quipped, but his brow remained furrowed. “You’re right. It would have been expensive, but it’s smarter to be safer and try again. We should do that ime.”

  But they hadn’t, ahey sat, in ay library of bone beside the still-smoking corpse of an undead dragon.

  Malika sat for a moment, just staring at the surprising notification she had seen earlier.

  Soul Monk has reached level 24 (+6).+60 attribute points.

  Just like that, I’m 24? The system had clearly and firmly disagreed with her assessment of her tribution to the fight. She had earned more levels than all her friends. She sidered the fight again, searg for what it might have been.

  “I still think I should have gotten the least experience,” Malika muttered.

  “No, I should have,” said.

  “Hey, when I said ‘petition,’ it wasn’t to see who did worst,” Mato chipped in.

  “I still don’t get it,” Malika pined.

  “Nobody really knows the exact rules for how experience is earned,” said. “Risk and tribution are usually touted as the most important factors, that and turning the oute of the enter.”

  “But I barely hit anything.”

  “You took over for the dead Acolyte,” pointed out.

  “Healing?” she asked. Could it be that simple? Only with her Relentless aptitude had she been able to stand in for the missing healer, stretg her stamina and mana to the limits, even with all her potions, Meditation in Mato’s aura, and the occasional dip in Ali’s Inspiration circle. Perhaps dodging attacks to heal Mato iorm of bone spears and talons had dohe trick? It had certainly been essential to their survival.

  “Should be,” said. “Otherwise, healers would never gain experien dungeon raids.”

  “I know that. It’s just…” Malika had never imagi could be so much. I guess there must be bance, I just didn’t see it that way. She was still amazed she had survived at all – even Mato had e perilously close to being crushed.

  Sixty points. Still, Malika’s css beed well from nearly every attribute, making the distribution of points quite challenging. She juggled her priorities in her head a little and the sixteen points oerity and four on strength to improve the effectiveness of her punches. For resources, she added eleven points to endurand fifteen to wisdom. Survivability was always worth iing in, especially if she was going to be toe to toe with bone elementals, so her iment was eight points of vitality. For her final six points, she split them among perception and intelligence, currently her least useful attributes, but still worth boosting a little. She should at least try to see a little better in the darkness.

  She took a deep breath aled herself, finally taking the time to really study the details of her notifications.

  Soul Strike has reached level 15.Healing Mantra has reached level 12 (+3).Perfect Body has reached level 12 (+2).Soul Armor has reached level 15 (+3).Enlightened Evasion has reached level 13 (+3).Diviep has reached level 12 (+4).

  Meditation has reached level 9 (+3).

  Healing Mantra leveled up a lot. Now that she had ’s perspective, the numbers made much more sehree levels for her healing skill. And the rest was a testament to how hard it had been to survive while delivering healing to Mato in the maw of the wyvern, or while dodging the scorpions. Still, the seade her neck prickle with anticipation.

  Css skill slot unlocked.New skills are avaible for Soul Monk.

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 2th has reached at least 10.Broken your own hands pung an enemy of a higher level than yourself.

  Stunning StrikeStamina: el your energy for up to 10 seds and 100 stamina, signifitly increasing the power a of your strike. You have a ce to stun your enemy.Physical, Melee, Strength

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Dexterity has surpassed 120.Survived signifit damage due to projectile attacks.Deflect MissilesStamina: Focus your energy to attempt to deflect or cat ining projectile.Physical, Defense, Dexterity

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Endurance has surpassed 100.Wisdom has surpassed 100.Used more than three times your maximum stamina in a single fight.

  Sed WindExge mana to gain + [40 + wisdom / 10 + endurance / 10] % of the amount as stamina.Soul, Wisdom, Endurance

  “I unlocked a new css skill,” she said, but even though her voice was quiet, Ali instantly stopped zipping around and lowered to the ground. Both Mato and immediately perked up. How did I ever think it was better to hide this stuff? she wondered. Having friends to discuss it with was so much better.

  “Me too, but you go first,” said, pulling out his notebook and a battered quill pen and gng at her expetly.

  Malika obliged by sharihree new skill options. She also shared the Soul Bst skill she had passed on at level ten, because, after today’s fight, she was seriously rethinkiing an area magical attack.

  Soul BstMana: Release your energy in a spherical burst around you, damaging all targets with Soul damage. Range: 5 feet.Soul, Melee, Area, Intelligence

  “Stunning strike could be det depending on how much damage it does,” Mato suggested. “Although, I guess Soul Bst might be better if you need a magical attack.”

  “Yes, I struggled today. Soul Strike barely covers my skin, so it doesn’t work well against heavy armor. I was residering Soul Bst because it’s a ranged magical attack. Area damage would just be a nice addition,” Malika said. She was unsurprised to see Mato evaluate the damage skill s first – he enjoyed hitting monsters.

  “It doesn’t look like Stunning Strike would have helped today,” said. “It’s purely physical damage.”

  “What about Deflect Missiles?” Malika was ambivalent about this o seemed a little too specific for her liking, but she supposed it might have been useful to deflect Bone Spears. Not that she had o, given how effit Ali had been with her barriers.

  “You already have an evasion skill, right?” replied. “Wouldn’t this just be doing the same thing, but worse?”

  “Yes, Enlightened Evasion,” she answered. was right, likely she wouldn’t be able to dodge and deflect at the same time, and so she would basically be trading one avoidance skill for another one. Unless she wao give up Enlightened Evasion, which was definitely not in her best is. Without that, the wyvern would have swatted her like a bothersome gnat.

  “How many mana abilities do you have?” Ali asked. She sat cross-legged on her floating barrier a foot above the ground, which pced her level with everyone else. “That Sed Wind skill looks iing.”

  “Healing Mantra and Soul Strike are my primary mana abilities. Some of my defensive skills also reserve mana, but I usually reserve stamina instead. I also sometimes switch to stamina even for healing.” Malika wasirely certain what Ali was thinking, but it was clear by her pursed lips that she had seen something irange resource ma skill that she had not.

  “Wisdom is one of your primary attributes, right?” asked.

  “Yes, Soul Strike, Healing Mantra, and Perfect Body all scale off wisdom, and a bigger mana pool allows me tee a lot with my Meditation.”

  “I would definitely pick Sed Wind, then,” Ali said, sounding surprisingly definite.

  “Why?” Malika asked curiously, making an enciure when the Fae hesitated. She had been seriously sidering Soul Bst to bolster her magical damage, but without that option, she might have chosen Sed Wind only because it was the least uing. Ali seemed to have a different take.

  “Yoing to be spending a lot of points on wisdom anyway,” Ali said. “You might as well get more be out of each point. Sed Wind increases your options dramatically. You already spend stamina for any of your skills, but what happens when you run out? With this, you spend mana to cover the shortfall.”

  made an approving grunt and nodded.

  Hmm… Malika sidered Ali’s expnation. She had definitely had resource problems during the incredibly long battle. “You’re saying that Sed Wind is like a reverse Relentless, only less effit, right? It lets me spend mana for any skills even if they require stamina.”

  “Yup,” Ali answered. “If a fight is heavily focused on melee and you don’t o heal, you use mana to supplement your stamina skills. It will also help you to keep your resource deficits banced, allowing you to always get the full be eion for both mana and stamina simultaneously – even if the fight demands only one kind of resource – so it works better with Meditation.”

  “Aah, yes, kinda double-dipping,” said. “It looks powerful when you put it that way.”

  “I like that,” Malika agreed. It would certainly give her unpreted trol of her resources, allowio adjust to any situation.

  “Also, I don’t think it will stay ineffit for long,” said, looking up from his notes. “It scales from both wisdom and endurance – both primary attributes for your css – so you’re likely to pass one hundred pert efficy sooner or ter.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that!” Malika excimed. That sounded extremely good – if she leveled it up, it could potentially bee far better than her Relentless aptitude. vinced, she selected Sed Wind and then activated her Diviep to burn off some stamina.

  You have gaihe css skill, Sed Wind.

  Activating her new skill was unlike any other skill she had. There was no activation cost or anything, she simply willed it and her mana shifted, being stamina. The process was remarkably easy and instant, almost as if the two resources were simply different sides of the same , and all she had to do was flip it over to make it work.

  She took her time, experimenting with a few obvious tests to get the hang of using it, and a few other ideas that suggested. She discovered that Sed Wind did not interrupt focus for Meditation, which was good, but also that her skill didn’t t as ‘paying for’, or ‘activating’ a skill, and therefore her Relentless aptitude wouldn’t allow her to substitute stamina and turn it into less stamina. It’s like some sort of passive skill. She wouldn’t have even thought to test that one, but wao know if she would have infiamina once her skill passed the hundred pert efficy mark. He seemed a little disappointed when it didn’t work.

  ***

  Name: MalikaRace: HumanTitles: Street Rat

  Active Buffs: Perfect Body, Soul Armor, Enlightened Evasion

  Css: Soul Monk – level 24- Martial Artist – level 11- Soul Strike – level 15- Healing Mantra – level 12- Perfect Body – level 12- Soul Armor – level 15- Enlightened Evasion – level 13- Diviep – level 12- Sed Wind – level 1- [Locked]- [Locked]

  General Skills- Meditation – level 9- Dang – level 4- Calligraphy – level 3- Lockpig – level 5- Appraise – level 9

  Aptitudes- Languages: on- Bloodline (Ahn Khen): Dormant- Mana (Affinity): Soul- Relentless (Css): +100% to Stamina Regeioless (Css): You pay for any abilities with stamina instead of manaAttributes- Vitality: 43- Strength: 14- Endurance: 104 (+38)- Dexterity: 134 (+49)- Perception: 18- Intelligence: 20- Wisdom: 101 (+37)

  Equipment- Ring: Bronze Guild Ring – level 10

  Armor: 105Physical Damage Redu: 13.51%Evasion: 91Dodge: 11.92%

  Health: 430/430Stamina: 936/1040 (104 Reserved)Mana: 707/1010 (303 Reserved)

  put his pen down oebook in his p and pulled up his notifications. The white text shone brightly within his mind. Wow, there’s a lot.

  Archer of Light has reached level 23 (+5).+50 attribute points.

  sulted his notes immediately. Following his charts he distributed his points: ten ierity, eleven in perception, a in intelligence. His iment in his primary attributes was lower than he liked, but he had to address his mana issues. Thirteen points went into wisdom – hopefully enough to stave off some of his mana starvation problems. With the remainder, he put two into endurand six into vitality. That should help.

  Radiant Archery has reached level 15 (+3).Arrows of Brilliance has reached level 17 (+4).Motes of Light has reached level 9 (+2).Blessing of the Dawn has reached level 13 (+2).Eyes of the Ar has reached level 12.

  Css skill slot unlocked.New skills are avaible for Archer of Light.

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Intelligence has surpassed 90.Iionally caused a higher-level eo chase you for more than 100 yards.

  Trap ShotStamina: Fire an arrow that immobilizes or impedes your target’s movement for a few seds. Duration: [skill] seds.Physical, Ranged, Dexterity

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Intelligence has surpassed 80.Prevail in a battle of 20 minutes or mainst an enemy more than twice your level. Righteous FuryMana: Temporarily supercharge your mana amplifying all yic by + [100 + skill + Intelligence / 10] %. Your mana burns you. Duration: 30 seds. Recharge: 15 minutes.Light, Intelligence

  New skill unlocked.Css level has reached 20.Radiant Archery has surpassed level 10.Defeated more than 20 heavily armored enemies in a single fight.Bolt of LightMana: Fire a magical projectile of light from your bow. Shot pees armor doing purely magical damage. Does not require ammunition.Light, Ranged, Intelligence

  shared his choices with the others, writing them each down in his notebook beside the other skills he had been offered.

  “Wow, the system liked you,” Malika said. “You got an answer for everything you struggled with today.”

  “Except running out of mana,” he said. “I used nine mana potions in that fight. But yes, it does make the choice harder.” That was ions just for himself, not ting the ones he had given to Ali. I need another source of ine.

  would have loved to have a resource ma skill, like Malika’s Sed Wind, or Relentless. In fact, he had been hoping for anything that might help him out, but all his abilities seemed to be focused on his bow and doing more with more mana. The skills looked strong though, so he wasn’t upset.

  “I like the Righteous Fury,” Mato said.

  “Trap Shot would have been quite useful when I was luring those Piercer Scorpions up the stairs,” mused. He could still feel the terrifying wind from the scorpions’ spear limbs slig at his back. “But I think Mato might be right, Righteous Fury looks like it will work ohing, seeing as almost all my skills use mana.”

  “You don’t want to try out that Bolt of Light?” Malika asked. “Ign armor seems strong.”

  “It does look great, but I saw an armor-pierg adva on my Arrows of Brilliance. I think I take that instead, ime the skill advahat should save me a skill slot.”

  “Why not just try out the Righteous Fury skill and see if you like it?” Ali said. “Mato and I both switched skills, you just lose any levels you earned. For a level one skill you don’t lose anything.”

  weighed his options, but Ali’s observation was correct. His best information would e if he simply tried it out. He selected Righteous Fury.

  You have gaihe css skill Righteous Fury.

  He got up and readied his bow. This should affect everything, even Blessing of the Dawn. He made a o check quickly wheivated it and memorize the improvements to his attributes.

  He activated his new skill – and gasped as his mana lit his blood on fire. It wasn’t literally on fire, but it sure felt like it – it burned inside him, flooding through his veins with sutensity that he felt sop out on his brow and his health decreased by several points. It didn’t stop him from moving, but – even though he’d never been curious – he now knew how to describe being burned from the i in excruciatiail.

  The entire room suddenly became as bright as day, with the most minuscule details of shattered bone revealed to his enhanced eyes even from as far away as the shelves on the opposite side of the atrium. That was over two hundred yards away in what had just been utter darkness.

  Quickly, he nocked an arrow, drew, and fired, shooting at a jutting outcrop of bone across oher side of the nding. His arrow fshed with a brilliant indesd shot across the space, pung through the bone and out the other side without even slowing, embedding itself deep into the wall beyond. He gasped in surprise. That’s… damn, I do that again?

  He fired awo arrows in quick succession noting that his rate of fire was even increased, presumably because of his temporarily increased dexterity attribute. Everything that used his mana was more powerful – including the motes of light h overhead. He tried his increased range ent, finding that it too had been enhanced. In the background, he heard Mato’s surprised excmation and colorful ent about the pierg power of his new skill.

  After thirty seds, the light dimmed, and the room returo normal.

  “This is a super powerful skill,” he said, more than a little ihe arrows pung right through the bocropping and into the wall without any pierg magic had been vastly more than he had expected. Maybe I won’t evehat Armor Pierg upgrade.

  “That looks nice!” Malika agreed.

  He checked his health, noting the amount he had lost was quite manageable, even though it was enough that he would o keep it in mind whenever using this skill. The pain was annoying, but it too had been manageable.

  “You looked awesome!” Ali excimed. “Your eyes were glowing white, with little trails of energy ing off them when you moved. And everything ghter, including your motes, and you had white mana markings on your arms and face.”

  “It seems to affect everything,” said, “even my perception skill, and my attribute boost. I got faster because I had more dexterity. The only downside is the mana burns me, so I may o stoe healing potions for dangerous fights.”

  “And you use your skill from stealth too,” Ali said.

  “What do you mean?” g her in surprise. Hadn’t she just told him he lit up the room with magic when he used it?

  “It affected your motes. You had those out already, so it affects even stuff you had previously cast.”

  Oh! He hadn’t noticed that little detail. That meant he could do the same trick with his arrows. He could shoot from stealth first, and then activate Righteous Fury while the arrow was still in flight. The same teique Ali had taught him, just with a new skill.

  “You know, that skill looks a little like the thing your Kobold did with the pilr of light, Ali,” Malika said. “Except, instead of healing power it makes him into a super-archer.”

  “I think I’m going to keep it,” said. “At least I want to try it against a real monster sometime. I’ll probably need more mana potions because this this me shoot so fast. Super-archer is going to make me go broke.”

  “We really o find a way to make more money,” Malika agreed.

  “I help with that now,” Ali said. “I make quite a few good ons and armor.”

  While didn’t enjoy the idea of his friends paying for him, he had ed a bunana potions to just remain relevant in the lht – and he couldly think of a better way of making money with his own skills.

  Perhaps the guild has some new quests. That way I help out while als money for more mana potions. That Morwynne Fizzlebang is probably going to think I use them for brushing my teeth or something. Of course, he still tried Bolt of Light out because he was curious, but his heart was set hteous Fury.

  Name: AveryRace: Half-ElfActive Buffs: Blessing of the Dawn

  Css: Archer of Light – level 23- Radiant Archery – level 15- Arrows of Brilliance – level 17- Motes of Light – level 9- Explorer – level 14- Blessing of the Dawn – level 13- Eclipse – level 12- Eyes of the Ar – level 12- Righteous Fury – level 1- [Locked]- [Locked]

  General Skills- Bowcraft – level 6- Wood Carving – level 3- Cartography – level 5

  Aptitudes- Languages: ana (Affinity): Light- Perceptive (Racial): +11 to Perception- Quick (Racial): +5 to Dexterity- Timing (Css): You have an innate sense of timingAttributes- Vitality: 30- Strength: 9- Endurance: 19- Dexterity: 149 (+55)- Perception: 105 (+39)- Intelligence: 98 (+36)- Wisdom: 36

  Equipment- on: Hunter's Bow – level 10- Body: Leather Vest – level 1: Bronze Guild Ring – level 10

  Evasion: 120Dodge: 15.7%

  Health: 300/300Stamina: 190/190Mana: 288/360 (72 Reserved)

  timewalk