"Why don't you take a moment and pick some class skills that will be useful to you? You said you had saved some points, right?" Cain asks.
"Yes, I saved over a hundred of them. I could take everything; there are only a hundred points worth of skills in this class. Is that right for a first advancement class?" Cyrene asks, eyes vacant as she looks at her skill options.
"Yes, basic, first and second advancement classes should all have a hundred points worth of skills. Some of the third advancement classes have two hundred, but most still have a hundred and leave you waiting a long time to pick a new class. The Dragons in Assah mentioned that getting a fourth advancement class is hard." Misha informs the Lamia, who is instinctively moving closer to her.
While they talk, Cain finally uses the skill book in his hand and transfers the other to the Guild Bank, gaining the [Superior Mental Domination] skill.
Cyrene slowly curls around Misha as she uses up her skill points, picking absolutely everything from the skill tree for a Warseer. Now that she has overcome the Oracle curse, she believes can be a valuable member of society, and that means having a variety of skills to offer.
"What do I tell my family? I just realized they're not even going to recognize me when I return to give them the good news. I mean, if I go back. I could go to my Grandparent's house and tell them in person and forget about everyone else. But then they would be sad not seeing me on holidays."
Misha stops her rambling with the stroke of a single finger down Cyrene's back, making the Lamia moan and then call out in frustration. "Ah, no fair. This body is incredibly sensitive. You have no idea what that feels like."
"You're too used to spacing out. I know nobody paid attention to you before, and you were always lost, but try to stay with us here." Misha laughs.
"I am so finding a coat. Speaking of which, did the Guild have a tailor? I only carry about three outfits with me, and my evil twin sisters picked them all."
Cain points at Misha, who pulls a dress out of her inventory to show the Lamia, who gushes over the mixture of soft silks and chain mail accents.
"I have no idea what anything will look like on you. But we've got multiple tailors and a collection of armor so that you can have the proper equipment for the dungeons. After all, you have a versatile class that can be used in combat now." Misha points out.
While they head up to Cyrene's room, with the Lamia still getting used to her new body, Cain decides that it is time to check the random roll from the Class Quest. He managed to get almost every mob after the quest started to die under the effects of the [Existential Dread] aura, so he should get some pretty good options again this time.
When Cain enters the random roll interface, he is met with the now familiar sight of the giant randomized wheel. The options this time are slightly different, though.
The slave bunny is still there, he sees, but now it's level 101. The lifetime supply of apples is gone, though, and replaced with an [Ancient Book of Puppet King] that promises to give him the default class skills of the Puppet King skill tree.
It's not the only truly ridiculously powerful option, though. There is a Mythic Quality [Ancient Species Companion] on offer and something called [Divine Rule], a passive aura effect that forces those who hear or see his proclamations to submit to his will indefinitely.
The Laughing God clearly does not care about balance because that one simple-sounding skill would allow the user to declare themselves King of the world. And force everyone without resistance to agree.
Then the most intriguing item of the day catches his eye. The one that isn't about power or utility.
[Beanbag Chair of Ultimate Comfort] those sitting in this blessed chair will never suffer from muscle cramps, soreness, fatigue, thirst, or hunger. Possibly the most comfortable chair in the universe.
Now that's the sort of item he could use. With his variable form and Misha's new wings, finding just the right chair has been very difficult. There's no way to predict what square he will land on, though. The wheel is enormous, and he can't even see most of the winning options spread among the free spin and the Better Luck Next Time options.
So, as always, Cain gives it a spin with all his might and sits down to watch the colored boxes go flying by his vision. The wheel slowly stops, and Cain can see it will land on one of two spaces. Either the Slave Bunny or a Skill Book called [Horrific Perfection].
Neither option sounds all that bad, after all, Bunnies are soft, and skills are good. The call is so close that without knowing what the talent does, Cain isn't quite sure which one he should cheer for. The wheel is coasting along nicely, headed for the Bunny, then it suddenly stops as if the bearing seized. That leaves him with the skill book as his winning option.
[Horrific Perfection] Unranked. Unique Skill. Ancient Only. Unlocks a Secondary skill tree with independent skill points during the user's current advancement. Passively Raises Users Modifiers to the peak of perfection for their species.
[Generate Secondary Skills?] Y/N
Cain wonders if this is a form of life skills book. It does say a secondary skills tree. If your class is the primary, then logically life skills must be the secondary skills.
[Secondary Skill Set Generated: Lord of Horrors] 18 skill points available.
Alright, so it let him have the points he's already accrued in his class to put towards this tree; that's a good sign.
There are three options in the first tier of the tree and one innate skill that comes free of charge. That seems like a secondary class to Cain, but maybe it's like enchanting, where the first skill is the one needed to attempt to imbue an item with an ability.
[Talented Horrors] puppets can be created with one additional innate skill.
Alright, so it's a puppet-based skill tree. That fits him pretty well. It's just a shame that the skill is locked to Ancient Only and used automatically, so he couldn't keep and copy the book to give to Symbia. She could use this skill tree as well, being a Doll Witch.
The first three options he can see are 10 points to get [Useful Puppets], which is also in his main skill tree for the same price, and raises all his puppets to match his level. Then bonuses to their attack power and defense at one point per rank.
Above them, Cain can see another skill and a row of options to add life skills to his puppets. Everything beyond that is grayed out and unreadable.
Now that he's got a Puppet Making life skill tree, Cain opts to save the points in the main tree and buy [Useful Puppets] right now.
That lets him access the second tier, but he doesn't have ten points to buy the next additional skill for the Puppets. It's only two levels away, though, and Cain can wait at least that long. Especially knowing that the Echoes will be on a rampage again tonight, hunting in Niman Territory.
Cain intends to leave them there to dissuade any raiding parties that might come for the border until he is ordered or politely asked for them to stop. The experience they grant is just too good to pass up.
The sudden change of the Puppets from level 21 to level 218 is not missed by the Guild, who send the chat channel into a frenzy of activity. The majority of the questions are about if they can fight now and if their skills have improved.
[I haven't given them any combat skills yet so they won't be much in a fight. They will get life skill increases soon, but it will take time until I can improve my skills and improve them.] Cain informs them all, quieting some of the most curious.
The dungeon teams are ecstatic, though. Puppets are fantastic for mining out underground type dungeons or the Naga Raid, where Precious materials are all over the place. At level 218, they're going to be an order of magnitude faster and more durable, cutting the time needed to finish the most arduous task of those dungeons to a fraction of the original.
That gives Cain an idea; he could customize a few mining Puppets to be better at their job instead of having everyone use the Dolls Symbia makes for everything.
With a thought, Cain creates five Rock Trolls with customized pickaxes. They're extra wide on one side for scooping, with the common pointed end on the other. At level 218 and 2.5 meters tall, plus nearly as wide, they should do an excellent job of clearing out materials from the dungeon.
[I made you all some new Mining Golems of the Troll Variety. I'm sending them through to the Castle now, with orders to wait there until someone needs them for something.]
"You guys see that message?" Cain asks the trolls, who all nod silently.
"Excellent. The travel circle is just over there in the yard. Have a great afternoon, and let me know if you need anything."
"Cards and dice. We need cards and dice for using while we wait." The Troll informs him in the slow, gravelly voice common to their species.
That's no problem, there are both in the Guild Bank, so Cain hands each Puppet a set and sends them on their way.
