With all of the extra levels he has recently gained, Cain found himself with a wealth of points to put into his [Lord of Horrors] secondary skill tree that he received along with the [Horrific Perfection] reward.
The most obvious lack of abilities for his puppets was going to be in the field of child care, so Cain put an entire ten points towards the category, making every Puppet as skilled as any professional Governess and Nanny.
That increase Unlocked the next rank of skills in the Lord of Horrors tree, with only 3 options. All of them grant an additional skill for Puppets, and it reveals that only one single skill is in the rank above them.
As it stands, he has enough points to select all the additional skill slots if he wants, or he could add journeyman level talent in more trades to every Puppet instead.
The secondary skill tree shouldn't have a level cap though, remaining with him even if he should manage to find a fourth advancement version of his class. So Cain's first choice would be to take all the additional skills, bringing his puppets to a possibility of having six traits each.
After that, he can focus on increasing the trade skill levels of his puppets, or even giving them obsessed attack and defense, should that prove to be a necessity. The puppets aren't intended to be fighters though, Cain uses them mostly in place of tradesmen and domestic staff. Even the few he made specifically for other jobs weren't intended to see combat.
That makes the last skill in his secondary tree visible, and it's beyond anything that Cain had expected.
[Horrific Creations] When two Puppets of similar appearance and identical talents have been created, they may be released into the wild as living beings. Such Creations lose the benefits granted to puppets, but retain up to six racial talents as independent living beings. For the furtherance of the new species, it is recommended that released Puppets be compatible for mating.
He can just send his puppets out into the world as a new species? How insane would that be?
But the description reveals that there is a deep flaw in the way Cain had been thinking about and creating his puppets. He had been giving them skills for a specific purpose. To make himself a chef, or a salon attendant. But that's what the specific knowledge categories available to the puppets are intended for. The skills are meant to be used to add racial talents to the puppets in preparation for them to become independent living members of their species.
Since that's the case, Cain could also make the Blood Dancers that Aggramor wanted, using Vala as a template. They would be released without a system, since it seems this skill tree predates the spell that created the system and was actually an Innate Talent of some Ancients.
The way everything is named for Horrors makes Cain wonder if it's just because the Ancients eye doing it, or if the combination of random abilities created misshapen monsters that were worthy of the name.
One or two skills didn't change things too much but Cain can see how the interaction between five or six very different racial abilities could cause disconcerting results.
That makes Cain really curious about his children. The secondary skill tree appears to be the basis of his species reputation, so will they be born with it? Grow into it as they age? Or since the System is active now, will they be born with both a class and a secondary skill tree?
All of the above are possibilities for his children, but at least he knows that the tentacle monster form, as Dana the doctor called it, is natural and not a result of self experimentation to attempt to strengthen themselves as an Ancient species.
The way that his default form looks did leave him with the impression that it had been deliberately shaped to cause a level of terror that was matched well with the [Existential Dread] aura ability.
But perhaps the aura came later, or was a byproduct of the form? He really wishes there were more answers and not so many questions regarding the species, especially now that he has little ones on the way.
Moving his train of thought back on track with the task at hand, Cain will be level 300 when he can finally activate the final skill in both his secondary tree and his class, which is giving him the impression that level 300 is a larger change than the advancements that have come before it.
But the ability to create puppets that can be set free as independent living beings is a huge development, and it could change a lot of realities in this world. Some of the species that have died out are still dearly missed by those who survived, so Cain decides to give his friend the Demon King a heads up about this upcoming development.
[Aggramor, I think I have found a way to get you back some of those lost Demon species you were looking for. I can't do it yet, but at level 300, I should be able to send you a pair of Blood Dancers. They will be children, and most likely without a class, but I have the template for their species skills.]
[The Demon kingdom would be in your debt forever if you could do such a thing for us. Let me know if you need anything in the way of materials to help your experiments.] Aggramor sends back a few minutes later, making Cain remember that other people have actual duties to attend to during the day.
That's enough stress for one day, and Cain needs a bit of time to fully absorb the possible applications of his upcoming abilities, so he decides that a nice soak in the hot tub is in order.
Cain heads to the baths on the second floor that have been reserved for the men of the Guild, while the disproportionate number of women have claimed the main floor spa in the evenings. He had expected to be alone, but the Paladin Larkin is also there, just getting ready to soak in the herbal pool.
"Larkin, how have things been? Have you managed to convince Kone to forgive you yet?"
The Spirit Folk man gives a rueful laugh and shakes his head. "I'm not sure that forgiveness is actually in her vocabulary. But she has become more affectionate. If it weren't for the daily reminders that she's still intent on shaping me into a 'proper gentleman as she called it, I would say we're actually a couple at this point."
Cain laughs at Larkin's assessment. "I think you are, but she's not ready to admit that punishing you for being a pervert has changed to affection for you."
"I hope so. She promised me that if I could behave until the weekend she would let me sleep in her bed instead of on the floor."
Cain turns away to wash himself in the wall mounted showers, hiding his smirk from the hopeful young man. If Kone has him sleeping on her floor now, getting to sleep in the bed instead might not lead to all of the wonderful things he is imagining. At least not right away.
Cain can almost guarantee that the first week in her bed will simply be a new form of torture for young Larkin as she demands that he behave as a Gentleman and keep his hands to himself, only inches away from her.
"You've got this then. As long as you think it's worth it to continue chasing your dream girl, I'll support you."
Larkin grins as wide as his face will allow. "Thanks Guild Master."
Larkin knows a lot about what has been happening in the valley lately. Him and Kone go to the Ogre dungeon at least twice a week, but they go out every day and talk to people, making sure everything is working well and helping Svetlana with her daily duties.
All of the druids and nature magic proficient classes do the same thing, helping with crops, healing the locals if they need it, really anything that the valley needs. Not much grows in the desert, so other than the few who stay at the Castle, preferring the hot and dry climate, most of the nature classes prefer to spend their waking hours here.
According to Larkin, a pair of Dwarven Earth Mages who just got engaged even went as far as renting a house here in town. Cain didn't recognize the names, but looking through the notes in his System interface, he found that they were a pair from the Graska orphanage that had grown up together.
They would have only just come of age, so they must have gotten engaged at the very first opportunity.
The notes were Char's idea, so the other members could know a bit about new members. They were exceptionally handy for those living outside the Beginner's Valley, since they would meet many of the new people only after they reached level 90 and started venturing out into the world.
