Chapter 17

Sitting on the soft body of a dead boar I check my new skills.

Ding!

Passive:

Universal Language:

You can speak, read, write and understand the language used by Players.

Identify:

You can see Levels and Titles of other Players and species of monsters.

Humanoid Body(3):

You have a humanoid body.

Firm:

Your body is firm and difficult to damage. Effect Increases based on highest tier Class.

Crazed: (Passive)

Increase Stamina regeneration while in combat.

(New)Familial: (Passive)

Increase relationship with all of your children.

(New)Resilient Womb: (Passive)

Decrease the amount of time Healing after a pregnancy.

(New)Bloody Cuts: (Passive)

Increase the range of bladed weapons you wield based on enemy blood lost during combat.

(New)Dark Identity: (Passive)

You may choose to display your Title to others as (Maiden), (Human), or (Princess). Does not affect currently equipped title bonuses.

Active:

Power Attack:(20 Stamina)

Increase the power of your next attack.

Adrenaline:(30 Stamina)

Get a temporary boost to Dexterity and Strength.

Taunt:(50 Stamina)

Enemies around you are compelled to attack you.

Shout:(100 Stamina)

All allies who hear you regenerate (20) points of stamina.

Bloody Fists:(50 Health)

Increase the power of your punches till the end of combat.

(New)Exertion: (100 Health)

Sacrifice Health to regain 100 Stamina.

(New)Mother's Touch: (50 Health)

Touch target, giving them blood armor which reduces damage.

Magic:

Blessing:(30 Mana)

Target gets a boost to Intelligence and Strength till the end of combat.

Charm:(100 Mana)

Target will fight for you until the end of combat. Success based on Attractiveness.

(New)Create Light: (20 Mana)

Create a light attached to target surface.

From my previous Breeder class I got Familial for level 15, Resilient Womb for 20 and of course Charm for 25. For Bloody Mother I got Exertion at 15, Mother’s Touch at 20, and guessing from the names of the other two new skills, Bloody Cuts for level 25.

Familial is nice since I like it when my kids like me, but I feel like my Breeder class skills were almost all useless for combat. A good example being Resilient Womb which I think just means I’ll be able to get pregnant again sooner after having babies. Since I’m going to be avoiding mating from now on, I won’t be using it. Probably.

The only exception to Breeders skill uselessness is Charm, which I’ve managed to use a few times now and helps me distract enemies in fights with a lot of enemies to kill. If Breeder skills weren’t automatically made permanent by my treasonous title, I doubt I’d use free points on any of them. I hope Dark Maiden has better skills for fighting since I’m stuck with the Breeder classes now. Looking at Dark Identity I’m pretty sure it’s the level 1 skill for it. I decide to focus on the (Human) title, I think it does something since I feel a small tingle, but I can’t see my own title above my head, maybe if I had two heads. Maybe. It might be useful if I’m trying to equip a powerful title to get it’s bonuses, but don’t want people to see it. I’ll reserve judgment on Dark Maiden’s skills for now. Probably.

For level 15 and 20 in Bloody Mother I got Exertion and Mother’s Touch. I haven’t really had an opportunity to use them in combat since I got them, so I don’t think they will be useful in too many situations. At least they aren’t trying to get me pregnant like my Breeder skills. I did test out Mother’s Touch, but it won’t let me use it to touch myself. Rude. Another skill I can only use to help others fight. I only got Bloody Cuts from that last fight, but I don’t have any bladed weapons to use with it anyways. I’ll be just fine with my fists and punching. Probably.

Create Light, since it’s the last new skill, is probably the level 1 for Radiant Progenitress. Might as well test it out, it’s only 20 mana, and I have at least that much, even after going back to level 1. I think Create Light, just like I use my other skills, and it seems to want me to touch something. So I touch my shirt, now a little ripped and dirty from fighting. I feel a tingle at the tip of my finger and at the place where I touch the shirt a small turquoise ball of light appears, seemingly stuck to my shirt. I wiggle my shirt around and it doesn’t fall off. It’s starting to get a bit dark, the sun already starting to dip behind some mountains in the distance, so I see a blue-green glow on the ground around me. It’s really pretty how it shines off my white skin too, I hold up one of my beautiful hands and the light seems to dance on it… Definitely my best skill in a very long time. Walking in the dark has been hard on me ok, it’s not just because I’m vain. Definitely.

I wonder how long the light lasts.

I’ll just have to wait and see, until then I’ll check my Status after the tier ups.

Ding!

Name: Opal

Age: 20

Class: (3)Radiant Progenitress Level 1,(2)Dark Maiden Level 1

Health:150/150 Mana:90/110 Stamina:250/250

Strength:22 Vitality:15 Endurance:25

Dexterity:20 Intelligence:9 Wisdom:11

Free Points: 134

It feels really low… Oh right, (Mother Opal) ate a bunch of my Title bonus stats. Rude. I should be fine in a few levels though, with my now higher tiers. My Firm skill should also have made me even more sturdy after the advancement. I’m not really worried about it. My Free points aren’t very high, but that’s because I made most of the old Bloody Mother skills permanent while I was still in the forest. The only exception was Shout, which still seems extra useless for me. I suppose Bloody Cuts also isn’t permanent, but without a bladed weapon of some sort I probably won’t spend points for it yet. I should still have three free slots in the class right now anyways, so no rush.

Before the sun sets I set my course in the direction I see some smoke rising in the distance. I’ll follow the road since it’s headed that direction anyways, maybe it’s a city or town and I can finally meet some other Players. I’m excited for some reason.

My light still hasn’t gone out once it’s turned night, it’s glow lets me see much better around myself, it dances in blue and green hues all around me. Once again I’m glad for my class choice.

Ding!

New Quest!

(Defense)

Your light is a beacon for hungry nocturnal predators. Survive until morning.

Rewards: 500 Credits

Oh a quest! I was hoping for something to fight so I could get a few levels, too bad there aren’t any level rewards, but I’m liking this light even more now. So all I have to do is use it at night and things will come to me to fight? I’m upgrading this to my absolute favorite class skill. “Sorry Crazed, you’re just not shiny enough.” I tell the previous title holder, it doesn’t respond. Too sad probably.

A few hours later

I’ve been walking for a while now and only a few things have attacked me. There are some of those Hounds I saw back in the melee protecting the pond. They were pretty hard to see with their black fur, I only noticed that their eyes glow a little bit red after one had rammed into me. It didn’t even knock me over, so I think Firm tiering up also makes me heavier. It was only level 10 though, so I could be wrong. Maybe.

I decided to let the Hounds try and bite though my skin, since all of them just said Hound above their head with levels lower than 15. I remember them being able to bite chunks out of me with lower levels during the pond defense quest, but they can’t seem to get through now. I have gone up two tiers since then though so I guess it’s not much of a surprise, otherwise I wouldn’t have let them chew on me without punching them. As I stand there, snarling hounds hanging off of my arms I have to smack one, since it tried to grab onto my shirt. “No, down.” I tell the slapped hound. They only try for my shirt 3 more times after that.

Seeing that they weren’t going to make any progress I take a few minutes to kill the 5 Hounds. I could still feel pressure from their bites, but no damage was dealt to my health.

Ding!

Title earned

Dark Maiden (Level up)

Oh a title and another Dark Maiden level, that makes 3 for it so far tonight, with only 1 on Radiant Progenitress. I feel like I used to level off of less, since this is the 4th group tonight. I already figured it out after my last tier up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss having so many level up pings. I should check and see what the new title is. I focus on it.

Ding!

(New)(Rope Bunny)Vit/End +5

You have been restrained many times with at least once being intentional. You are tougher for it.

For some reason I think it’s making fun of me.

Having another stat bonus is nice though, and I’m not sure why I thought it was making fun of me, so I’m probably just imagining it. I wonder if other Players know easy to get titles like this, I could tell them how to get some titles and they can tell me theirs. I bet big groups of Players have tons of Titles. I’m even more excited to get to a town or city now, lets hope it doesn’t take too long to get where the smoke was.

A few hours later

It’s starting to get light out now, the sky turning a dark blue, the stars disappearing, and then finally the sky burning with oranges and reds as the sun starts rising over the horizon. My light went out about an hour ago, but by then I could already see the road well enough to not have to use it. I also don’t want to look silly and have the on me for a good portion of the morning when it’s bright out. I don’t know why it seems it would be embarrassing, but it would be. Probably.

Ding!

Quest Complete!

+500 Credits

Bonus From Title: +100 Credits

I decided to equip my (Guardian) title since this was a Defense quest. The bonus Credits aren’t a lot, but why waste it? I still haven’t turned off Dark Identity (Human) yet, I wonder what it looks like now. It does say it doesn’t effect equipped title bonuses, but it’s good to see it’s working. Will it be affected by (Mother Opal)’s effect or does it block that? I’ll have to ask the next thing that can talk to me. Probably.

As the sky gets brighter I can see the outline of buildings ahead of me, I do a little wiggle dance.