The new Pestilence skill has both advantages and disadvantages. It spreads to an entire group almost instantly, and few can resist it, but unlike poison it doesn't stack.
Secondarily, it's a passive, so if you're looking to assassinate a target without alerting those around them, it's not happening. Unless those people are not allies with them or enemies to you.
In their current situation Pestilence is amazing, and Cain can't wait to try it out inside the Beastkin dungeon where everything crowds around them by the entry.
Unlike the early day they had planned, the raid ends up grinding late into the afternoon, as a few members were very close to hitting level 80. After that the experience per level is insane, level 75 to 80 takes the same as 80 to 81. No wonder everyone gets stuck at or near level 80 in the valley. Even in the Demon Raid, the toughest fights they've seen so far, and with Cain's experience bonus it's still going to take multiple days per level.
Though they did get their highest level companions from late level 80 almost to 82 in only two days, which shocked and impressed them all.
Cain smiles as he looks through the party status and sees a wall of level 80 tags. Mission accomplished, they got everyone to the essential break point for the battle against the Ogres, and most of them have gotten some amazing new skills.
Misha decided her healing was sufficient for now, so she went with a mana coat reduction talent that should let her heal indefinitely even without a totem, in her current gear. Mythryll got a sweet new [Forest Guardian] Treant that grants her a nature armor buff when active and makes an excellent Tank for when Cain isn't around. Char got doubled effectiveness on her Totems, plus a Rank A [Tornado] book drop. and Candia, the lucky one of the day got a Rank S Slashing Wave Spell that can create a tsunami almost 30 meters wide. Plus she got new class abilities at 60, 70 and level 80 over the last couple days that have greatly increased her mobility and single target damage.
Cain dismisses his Supporters and calls them back, checking the changes now that they're [Advanced Supporters]. They can now use all of a cloned target's skills, with a reduced effect, but the non class skills are modified by Cain's own stats, which makes them fairly effective still. Plus the Supporters get full effect from the cloned target's equipment.
The only sad part is that he can't clone himself. He's an invalid target but it was worth a shot.
Level 90 he is supposed to get another Supporter, which is always nice, and now that he's level 80, he can see that his progression tree will come up with a skill option at level 100. The very first time he will get to choose between skills, and he can't wait to see what they'll be, even if level 100 is still a long ways away.
But even more importantly, he now has 25 Stat points to spend. Which means one thing. 100 INT
[Name] Cain
[Level] 80
[Class] Puppet Master
[Race] Human
[Stats] 25->0
[STR] 125
[DEX] 100
[CON] 100
[INT] 75 ->100
[HP] 800
[MP] 375-> 1000
[Notice: Beginning From INT 100 Summons Gain Spell Power and MP From INT]
[New Skill Available: Summon Lesser Sorcerer] Mage Type <Golems> only.
That's exactly what Cain was hoping for, the MP modifier doubled at 100 like HP did. That should be his final basic form of Golems before the choice at level 100, he will just need to raise his stats to get the greater versions. How high isn't specified, but Cain is reasonably sure it will work.
They're only a few minutes from the exit, taking a break to get organized before the final push to the exit, so Cain takes the time to decide what he needs for a Mage type Golem. Naga Wave Casters? Ogre Mages? Maybe Lich Lords? They're great Mages, plus they can curse to weaken enemies and call forth Skeletons.
Yes, tiny stabby skeletons are the answer to everything. He will get four Lich Lords, so that should be a reasonable number of additional skeletons.
"I got a new Summon ability, Mage type Golems, so don't panic when the Lich Lords appear." Cain calls to the party, having learned it's best not to freak everyone out with suddenly appearing monsters.
As soon as they appear the commands them to Summon their defensive Skeletons and gets a menu notification.
[Lesser Skeletons Available: Warrior, Mage, Archer]
That's even better. Make it two of warriors, one of Mages and one of archers.
These skeletons are definitely cute. They're about 100cm tall with sword and buckler shield warriors, wands for the Mages and low quality wooden bows for the archers.
The group laughs at his tiny Undead army, but Cain is impressed. Each Lich called 5 tiny Skeletons, so he's got another 20 Undead on top of his 4 new Mages.
They're not exactly effective, but they're adorable enough it doesn't matter. Every time they get hit they collapse into a pile of bones and reform to keep fighting. They can be almost as effective as the Spider webs for crowd control though, as enemies tend to trip on the loose bones, leaving them vulnerable.
The Mages are a waste, they run out of mana right away and just start stabbing with their wands, so Cain won't use them again. The archers seem to have unlimited ammunition hidden in their ribcage, so they're a keeper.
Maybe not quite unlimited, Cain now notices they go picking the Arrows up between fights and sticking them back into the shadows of their chest.
The rest of the run goes smoothly, with the party members cheering on the tiny Skeletons as they attack the legs of enraged plague demons. Honestly, they're in the way, but it's entertaining. If there isn't an urgent reason why he might need the skeletons, Cain decides this skill will more often be used to Summon Blight Demon Mages. They also cause a cripple debuff, plus they've got both area and single target attack magic where the Lich is more focused on exotic debuffs and single target damage.
One celebration isn't enough for today's advancements. Too many have hit level 80 to celebrate in one location. The Darklight Host will be holding one in their tavern along with the Dwarves, while Ghaz, Morgan and the Elves from Sunnybrook will be holding theirs at the usual tavern there.
The Guild has promised to drop in to celebrate, so they'll go early and start the party in Graska later. The Dwarves are much more amenable to drinking until morning anyhow.
