It is the beginning of a New month! The best time to join Patreon!
Well... with subscription billing, not anymore, as now any time is a good time to join, but the point stands!
I mentioned before that all patrons of the Magus/Archmagus tier will gain access to all three stories for the same price as before until the day Blood Demon's Retirement ended on Royal Road. In the meantime, however, I had released a new story, titled And (N)one Shall Remain. As such, this new story will be included in the previous deal, with all patrons of the Magus/Archmagus tier still receiving the promised access to three stories for the price of two!
For 5$ a Month, get access to 3 advance chapters, or get access to ALL advance chapters for 10$! You can also subscribe to all my stories at the same time for the combined price of 9/18$, or join as an annual patron for an extra 10% discount!
I would like to thank the following:
Gothicnoir
Mansikamarja
Derp Njeh
Will C
Falxie
Keith Kindall
Nathan Avery
Martynas Samsonas
Graham Kinnear
user754595
Isaac Olsen
Banjok
Benabdesselam
Wierdwhirl
Dami
Justgothit
Squiddlywinks
Platymage
Leonardo Noriega
Acrs1
Bjorn Kleinert
Alec
Daisulic
Nonesuch
Karma Baris
Anthony Tedeschi
Rainycats
Ltbeme12321
soldkj
Captaincael
Anonymous
Wolke
jebus 145
Dobby Dobson
Nick
Blake VanHouten
ZephanyZephZeph
Mark Cuthbert
Illusion of Eris
Sebastian Larsen
Soup
Eifer
For making all this possible! I couldn't have done it without your support!
All your support goes to putting food on my table and a roof over my head, and I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to all my supporters!
You have become a [Truthseeker]
From another world, you came unto this world without bias. Seek out the truths, witness them with your own eyes, and unveil the falsehoods for all to see.
Gained +5 Body +10 Mind +5 Soul!
Gained Class Skill [Walk in the Shadows]!
Gained General Skill [For Your Eyes Only]!
Class Skill [Divine Blessing] Evolved into [One Small Step]!
Alissa quietly checked around her, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that everyone around her seemed to be sound asleep. Nobody had noticed her class change, as far as she could tell, so she immediately went to check the most important thing first. Namely the new skills she had gotten, as well as the change that took place on one of her skills when it evolved.
That skills were capable of evolving was something she had been taught. For most skills, there was a limit to the number of times they could evolve. Common skills were unable to evolve at all, while uncommon skills could evolve once, and so on. The one exception were skills that evolved during class change. That particular evolution altered a skill’s nature in a more fundamental way, and skills that evolved that way were almost always capable of evolving much further than other skills.
Like her new [One Small Step] skill.
Alissa was wondering about the name at first, but got the reference when she read the skill’s description. “One small step for man, a giant leap for humanity,” was a historical quote most everybody learned in school, after all. The skill’s effects reflected the quote in some ways, and when she considered that it could still evolve further, it looked to be a potent one indeed.
[One Small Step]
Unique Skill
Level 4
One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Humanity
Grants the user and every ally within a hundred-foot radius around them a buff (5% of the respective target’s Body/Mind/Soul). Effects of the buff increase by 1% every 30 seconds that have passed. Level 4: Cooldown: 3 hours. Duration: 8 minutes. Maximum effect cap: 11%.
The skill started out with the same buff as her old [Divine Blessing], but where the old skill had granted a few points directly to the stats, the new one ran on percentages instead. Considering the influx of stats they had just gotten from the class change, the values ended up roughly the same at first, but the new skill could ramp up to over double the effect with some time.
All in all, a very useful addition to her skillset.
[Walk in the Shadows]
Rare Skill
Level 1
Every shadow is but a passage for those who knew how to walk the ways.
Allows the user to enter a shadow and walk through the shadow realm to emerge at a different shadow. Level 1: Cooldown: 24 hours. Duration: 1 minute. Maximum distance traveled: 10 meters.
The skill was almost exactly what she had expected, given the name. It was less stealth-based than she had expected, but when she considered what the description said, she realized that she didn’t have to travel through the shadow, but could hide in it for up to a minute as well. The cooldown was hideously long, but given her experience so far, it should follow the same pattern as her [One Small Step] and halve with every level.
Alissa couldn’t help but to breathe another sigh of relief as her eyes turned to the last of her new skill, [For Your Eyes Only]. Discovery and the implications of the class she chose was what worried her the most when she picked it, and she had even considered ideas like trying to run away while the others were sleeping. Fortunately, her worries turned out to be for naught.
[For Your Eyes Only]
Unique Skill
Level EX
Some things aren’t meant for others to see. Some things are meant for your eyes only.
Allows the user to mask the [Truthseeker] Class name with a different class that the user had been previously offered. Level EX: This masking cannot be seen through by way of [Analysis] or [Identify] unless the user willed otherwise.
Without wasting any time, Alissa masked [Truthseeker] with [Consecrated Warrior]. She carefully looked at Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, but both old men looked to be sleeping, and had not noticed her class change at all. That allowed her to breathe out another sigh in relief as she felt the weight of her worries lift off her shoulders.
She also distributed the stats she gained from the last level just earlier, and took another cursory look at her status screen. Fortunately she had leaned towards her Body stat when she distributed her free stat points in her first tier, so hopefully nobody would notice the discrepancy of what she could do and what a [Consecrated Warrior] should be able to do.
Name : Alissa Faith O’Connor
Race : Human
Age : 18
Class : [Hero Lvl20]/[Truthseeker Lvl1]/???/???/???
Stats :
Free Major Stat Points: 0
Body : 39
- Strength : 38
- Dexterity : 41
- Constitution : 38
Mind : 31- Intelligence : 31
- Perception : 32
- Wisdom : 30
Soul : 26- Willpower : 25
- Intuition : 26
- Sanity : 27
Skills:
Class 1: [Hero]
Weather The Storm: EX Weapon Proficiency: Lvl 6 One Small Step: Lvl 4 Pierce the Heavens: Lvl 3 Grasp the Soul: Lvl 3Class 2: [Truthseeker]
Walk in the Shadows: Lvl 1 ??? ??? ??? ???
General Skills:
Respawn: EX For Your Eyes Only: EX Language Understanding: Lvl 3 Quick Learner: Lvl 4 Analysis: Lvl 6 Refuge in Ignorance: Lvl 2 ??? ??? ??? ???
Whether the skill really worked like it said or not, she would find out the next day.
******************************
“Oh, hey! You’re a [Consecrated Warrior] now? Nice!” said Ethan the next morning just after Alissa woke up from her slightly worried sleep. His words made her feel relief, relief that was immediately tinged with some more dread as Ethan’s comment attracted the attention of both Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. Alissa felt as if someone was staring at her, a telltale sign that someone was using some sort of [Analysis] skill on her.
“A good choice, considering your fighting style so far,” said the old knight with a satisfied nod. Alissa couldn’t help but sigh out in relief at his words, though she relaxed a bit more when she noticed the old knight’s smile widened at the sigh. Sir Inolet probably thought her nervousness was from fear of his disapproval, knowing him.
“Tch! Not only did we only get three heroes, but now this old bastard gets to hog two of them for himself,” commented Magus Drummond with obvious dissatisfaction as he spat to the side. The old mage seemed irritated for a brief moment before his face lightened up with a mocking smile. “Oh well, at least I’m better off than that old fart Solon. He didn’t get any to teach at all, ha!”
Alissa smiled and offered a polite chuckle to the old mage. The man he named, Solon Demetrius, was the high priest of the church, and would have normally been in charge of training any heroes whose skillset leaned towards priesthood. Unfortunately their group of heroes lacked such a hero, which left the high priest without a hero to tutor.
It was something both the old knight and the old mage repeatedly jabbed the high priest about.
“Anyway, your skill should have received some change, right? Which skill evolved?” asked Sir Inolet with a rare warm smile on his face. When he had such a smile the old knight could look grandfatherly, very unlike the drill sergeant nasty visage she and Ethan had been most acquainted with from training. “This delve has been a pretty fruitful one so far. You’ll be thanking me for setting things up to learn [Refuge in Ignorance] in the future, trust me.”
[Refuge in Ignorance] was an odd and rather specialized general skill. What it did was to allow the user to selectively dull some of their senses. They could be more specific as to the sort of thing they do not wish to sense on higher levels. At the moment, it mostly helped Alissa dull her sense of smell so she didn’t gag from the way all of them must have smelled ripe as all hell after the dungeon delve.
The old knight had not needed to mention it, as she was already thanking him for it many times in her heart by then.
“My [Divine Blessing] changed. It’s percentage-based, now, around the same value as before, and it can ramp up to over double the effectiveness given some time,” replied Alissa truthfully. She would have to use the skill often in the future anyway, so there was no reason to hide it. “I also got a stealth skill from my new class. Is that common?”
“Not the most common, but there had been many [Consecrated Warriors] in history, and they were rarely the same. I can think of at least a dozen who had some sort of stealth skill, yes,” replied the old knight after he thought for a while. “Considering how you had skills that could greatly amplify the power of a hit, I can see how it would make a good fit with your skillset.”
“That’s what I thought too, Sir,” she replied, trying to make herself sound as nonchalantly as possible. Openly admitting to having learned some sort of stealth skill would allow her to use it openly in the future, and she recalled reading about how summoned heroes, even those with the same classes, were rarely the same. The gamble paid off neatly for her, which meant she should be pretty safe for the time being. “Are we headed back to the capital?”
“We are, yes. We’ll be off after breakfast,” replied the old knight, the smile never leaving his face. “All of you will need new equipment anyway. Mister Smith’s armor is ruined, and the two of you need new weapons, even if your armor remained in good shape and just needed some cleaning.”
On their way out of the dungeon, Alissa got to see the harvesting team at work. A crew of experienced dismantlers and butchers cleanly skinned and harvested the bones off the carcassed the party left in their wake. Their work was swift and skillful, as they did their job with great alacrity without sacrificing quality, somehow.
Behind the dismantlers and butchers, were teams of miners. The cavern looked unrecognizable compared to what Alissa had seen on her way in. Many holes and mineshafts had been dug at the walls of the cavern, while what must be hundreds of busy miners busied themselves extracting as many mana crystals as they could in the limited time they had.
The crystals themselves did not look that special. At a glance, they looked like chunks of transparent quartz embedded in the stone. When Sir Inolet borrowed several chunks and gave them to the three summoned heroes to hold, however, they could feel the thrumming mana contained within the crystals. Joshua even exclaimed that he could see the mana swirling within from up close.
While it took them over a week to clear the dungeon, their way out was much swifter. They saw the exit of the dungeon after merely half a day’s travel. The time discrepancy was mostly because they were fighting then resting repeatedly throughout their journey into the dungeon, whereas the trip back was simply just a case of walking through the route they took and already cleared.
When they came across the first rays of sunlight that managed to enter the cavern, Alissa felt almost blinded by the brightness. Her eyes had grown used to the dimness of the dungeon, and the bright evening sun felt almost as if someone just detonated a flashbang grenade right in front of her eyes. Joshua and Ethan gave out pained groans for the same reason.
Annoyingly enough, none of the others – both the older veterans and the younger guards that remained in their party – seemed to be too bothered by the brightness. They squinted their eyes narrowly, but that was about the extent of their reaction at the sunlight. Alissa just shook her head as they were led back to the carriages, which they would take for their journey back to the capital.
Of all things that awaited them at the capital, the one Alissa couldn’t wait for the most was that of a proper, hot bath.
Avitue
If you enjoy this story, please consider leaving a rating or review to help it gain more exposure, thank you! Or help support the author by leaving a tip!
Read ahead on my Patreon! For 5$ a month patrons will gain early access of a week's worth of chapters ahead (3 chapters), or for 10$ a month, gain early access to ALL the available Advance Chapters! (as of the moment of this writing: 19 Chapters ahead. This number will likely increase further in the future.)
Or you can subscribe to all my stories and get a discount on the price!
Join the Discord for silly stuff and chat with us!
It is the beginning of a New month! The best time to join Patreon!
Well... with subscription billing, not anymore, as now any time is a good time to join, but the point stands!
I mentioned before that all patrons of the Magus/Archmagus tier will gain access to all three stories for the same price as before until the day Blood Demon's Retirement ended on Royal Road. In the meantime, however, I had released a new story, titled And (N)one Shall Remain. As such, this new story will be included in the previous deal, with all patrons of the Magus/Archmagus tier still receiving the promised access to three stories for the price of two!
For 5$ a Month, get access to 3 advance chapters, or get access to ALL advance chapters for 10$! You can also subscribe to all my stories at the same time for the combined price of 9/18$, or join as an annual patron for an extra 10% discount!
I would like to thank the following:
Gothicnoir
Mansikamarja
Derp Njeh
Will C
Falxie
Keith Kindall
Nathan Avery
Martynas Samsonas
Graham Kinnear
user754595
Isaac Olsen
Banjok
Benabdesselam
Wierdwhirl
Dami
Justgothit
Squiddlywinks
Platymage
Leonardo Noriega
Acrs1
Bjorn Kleinert
Alec
Daisulic
Nonesuch
Karma Baris
Anthony Tedeschi
Rainycats
Ltbeme12321
soldkj
Captaincael
Anonymous
Wolke
jebus 145
Dobby Dobson
Nick
Blake VanHouten
ZephanyZephZeph
Mark Cuthbert
Illusion of Eris
Sebastian Larsen
Soup
Eifer
For making all this possible! I couldn't have done it without your support!
All your support goes to putting food on my table and a roof over my head, and I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to all my supporters!
You have become a [Truthseeker]
From another world, you came unto this world without bias. Seek out the truths, witness them with your own eyes, and unveil the falsehoods for all to see.
Gained +5 Body +10 Mind +5 Soul!
Gained Class Skill [Walk in the Shadows]!
Gained General Skill [For Your Eyes Only]!
Class Skill [Divine Blessing] Evolved into [One Small Step]!
Alissa quietly checked around her, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that everyone around her seemed to be sound asleep. Nobody had noticed her class change, as far as she could tell, so she immediately went to check the most important thing first. Namely the new skills she had gotten, as well as the change that took place on one of her skills when it evolved.
That skills were capable of evolving was something she had been taught. For most skills, there was a limit to the number of times they could evolve. Common skills were unable to evolve at all, while uncommon skills could evolve once, and so on. The one exception were skills that evolved during class change. That particular evolution altered a skill’s nature in a more fundamental way, and skills that evolved that way were almost always capable of evolving much further than other skills.
Like her new [One Small Step] skill.
Alissa was wondering about the name at first, but got the reference when she read the skill’s description. “One small step for man, a giant leap for humanity,” was a historical quote most everybody learned in school, after all. The skill’s effects reflected the quote in some ways, and when she considered that it could still evolve further, it looked to be a potent one indeed.
[One Small Step]
Unique Skill
Level 4
One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Humanity
Grants the user and every ally within a hundred-foot radius around them a buff (5% of the respective target’s Body/Mind/Soul). Effects of the buff increase by 1% every 30 seconds that have passed. Level 4: Cooldown: 3 hours. Duration: 8 minutes. Maximum effect cap: 11%.
The skill started out with the same buff as her old [Divine Blessing], but where the old skill had granted a few points directly to the stats, the new one ran on percentages instead. Considering the influx of stats they had just gotten from the class change, the values ended up roughly the same at first, but the new skill could ramp up to over double the effect with some time.
All in all, a very useful addition to her skillset.
[Walk in the Shadows]
Rare Skill
Level 1
Every shadow is but a passage for those who knew how to walk the ways.
Allows the user to enter a shadow and walk through the shadow realm to emerge at a different shadow. Level 1: Cooldown: 24 hours. Duration: 1 minute. Maximum distance traveled: 10 meters.
The skill was almost exactly what she had expected, given the name. It was less stealth-based than she had expected, but when she considered what the description said, she realized that she didn’t have to travel through the shadow, but could hide in it for up to a minute as well. The cooldown was hideously long, but given her experience so far, it should follow the same pattern as her [One Small Step] and halve with every level.
Alissa couldn’t help but to breathe another sigh of relief as her eyes turned to the last of her new skill, [For Your Eyes Only]. Discovery and the implications of the class she chose was what worried her the most when she picked it, and she had even considered ideas like trying to run away while the others were sleeping. Fortunately, her worries turned out to be for naught.
[For Your Eyes Only]
Unique Skill
Level EX
Some things aren’t meant for others to see. Some things are meant for your eyes only.
Allows the user to mask the [Truthseeker] Class name with a different class that the user had been previously offered. Level EX: This masking cannot be seen through by way of [Analysis] or [Identify] unless the user willed otherwise.
Without wasting any time, Alissa masked [Truthseeker] with [Consecrated Warrior]. She carefully looked at Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, but both old men looked to be sleeping, and had not noticed her class change at all. That allowed her to breathe out another sigh in relief as she felt the weight of her worries lift off her shoulders.
She also distributed the stats she gained from the last level just earlier, and took another cursory look at her status screen. Fortunately she had leaned towards her Body stat when she distributed her free stat points in her first tier, so hopefully nobody would notice the discrepancy of what she could do and what a [Consecrated Warrior] should be able to do.
Name : Alissa Faith O’Connor
Race : Human
Age : 18
Class : [Hero Lvl20]/[Truthseeker Lvl1]/???/???/???
Stats :
Free Major Stat Points: 0
Body : 39
- Strength : 38
- Dexterity : 41
- Constitution : 38
Mind : 31- Intelligence : 31
- Perception : 32
- Wisdom : 30
Soul : 26- Willpower : 25
- Intuition : 26
- Sanity : 27
Skills:
Class 1: [Hero]
Weather The Storm: EX Weapon Proficiency: Lvl 6 One Small Step: Lvl 4 Pierce the Heavens: Lvl 3 Grasp the Soul: Lvl 3Class 2: [Truthseeker]
Walk in the Shadows: Lvl 1 ??? ??? ??? ???
General Skills:
Respawn: EX For Your Eyes Only: EX Language Understanding: Lvl 3 Quick Learner: Lvl 4 Analysis: Lvl 6 Refuge in Ignorance: Lvl 2 ??? ??? ??? ???
Whether the skill really worked like it said or not, she would find out the next day.
******************************
“Oh, hey! You’re a [Consecrated Warrior] now? Nice!” said Ethan the next morning just after Alissa woke up from her slightly worried sleep. His words made her feel relief, relief that was immediately tinged with some more dread as Ethan’s comment attracted the attention of both Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. Alissa felt as if someone was staring at her, a telltale sign that someone was using some sort of [Analysis] skill on her.
“A good choice, considering your fighting style so far,” said the old knight with a satisfied nod. Alissa couldn’t help but sigh out in relief at his words, though she relaxed a bit more when she noticed the old knight’s smile widened at the sigh. Sir Inolet probably thought her nervousness was from fear of his disapproval, knowing him.
“Tch! Not only did we only get three heroes, but now this old bastard gets to hog two of them for himself,” commented Magus Drummond with obvious dissatisfaction as he spat to the side. The old mage seemed irritated for a brief moment before his face lightened up with a mocking smile. “Oh well, at least I’m better off than that old fart Solon. He didn’t get any to teach at all, ha!”
Alissa smiled and offered a polite chuckle to the old mage. The man he named, Solon Demetrius, was the high priest of the church, and would have normally been in charge of training any heroes whose skillset leaned towards priesthood. Unfortunately their group of heroes lacked such a hero, which left the high priest without a hero to tutor.
It was something both the old knight and the old mage repeatedly jabbed the high priest about.
“Anyway, your skill should have received some change, right? Which skill evolved?” asked Sir Inolet with a rare warm smile on his face. When he had such a smile the old knight could look grandfatherly, very unlike the drill sergeant nasty visage she and Ethan had been most acquainted with from training. “This delve has been a pretty fruitful one so far. You’ll be thanking me for setting things up to learn [Refuge in Ignorance] in the future, trust me.”
[Refuge in Ignorance] was an odd and rather specialized general skill. What it did was to allow the user to selectively dull some of their senses. They could be more specific as to the sort of thing they do not wish to sense on higher levels. At the moment, it mostly helped Alissa dull her sense of smell so she didn’t gag from the way all of them must have smelled ripe as all hell after the dungeon delve.
The old knight had not needed to mention it, as she was already thanking him for it many times in her heart by then.
“My [Divine Blessing] changed. It’s percentage-based, now, around the same value as before, and it can ramp up to over double the effectiveness given some time,” replied Alissa truthfully. She would have to use the skill often in the future anyway, so there was no reason to hide it. “I also got a stealth skill from my new class. Is that common?”
“Not the most common, but there had been many [Consecrated Warriors] in history, and they were rarely the same. I can think of at least a dozen who had some sort of stealth skill, yes,” replied the old knight after he thought for a while. “Considering how you had skills that could greatly amplify the power of a hit, I can see how it would make a good fit with your skillset.”
“That’s what I thought too, Sir,” she replied, trying to make herself sound as nonchalantly as possible. Openly admitting to having learned some sort of stealth skill would allow her to use it openly in the future, and she recalled reading about how summoned heroes, even those with the same classes, were rarely the same. The gamble paid off neatly for her, which meant she should be pretty safe for the time being. “Are we headed back to the capital?”
“We are, yes. We’ll be off after breakfast,” replied the old knight, the smile never leaving his face. “All of you will need new equipment anyway. Mister Smith’s armor is ruined, and the two of you need new weapons, even if your armor remained in good shape and just needed some cleaning.”
On their way out of the dungeon, Alissa got to see the harvesting team at work. A crew of experienced dismantlers and butchers cleanly skinned and harvested the bones off the carcassed the party left in their wake. Their work was swift and skillful, as they did their job with great alacrity without sacrificing quality, somehow.
Behind the dismantlers and butchers, were teams of miners. The cavern looked unrecognizable compared to what Alissa had seen on her way in. Many holes and mineshafts had been dug at the walls of the cavern, while what must be hundreds of busy miners busied themselves extracting as many mana crystals as they could in the limited time they had.
The crystals themselves did not look that special. At a glance, they looked like chunks of transparent quartz embedded in the stone. When Sir Inolet borrowed several chunks and gave them to the three summoned heroes to hold, however, they could feel the thrumming mana contained within the crystals. Joshua even exclaimed that he could see the mana swirling within from up close.
While it took them over a week to clear the dungeon, their way out was much swifter. They saw the exit of the dungeon after merely half a day’s travel. The time discrepancy was mostly because they were fighting then resting repeatedly throughout their journey into the dungeon, whereas the trip back was simply just a case of walking through the route they took and already cleared.
When they came across the first rays of sunlight that managed to enter the cavern, Alissa felt almost blinded by the brightness. Her eyes had grown used to the dimness of the dungeon, and the bright evening sun felt almost as if someone just detonated a flashbang grenade right in front of her eyes. Joshua and Ethan gave out pained groans for the same reason.
Annoyingly enough, none of the others – both the older veterans and the younger guards that remained in their party – seemed to be too bothered by the brightness. They squinted their eyes narrowly, but that was about the extent of their reaction at the sunlight. Alissa just shook her head as they were led back to the carriages, which they would take for their journey back to the capital.
Of all things that awaited them at the capital, the one Alissa couldn’t wait for the most was that of a proper, hot bath.
Avitue
If you enjoy this story, please consider leaving a rating or review to help it gain more exposure, thank you! Or help support the author by leaving a tip!
Read ahead on my Patreon! For 5$ a month patrons will gain early access of a week's worth of chapters ahead (3 chapters), or for 10$ a month, gain early access to ALL the available Advance Chapters! (as of the moment of this writing: 19 Chapters ahead. This number will likely increase further in the future.)
Or you can subscribe to all my stories and get a discount on the price!
Join the Discord for silly stuff and chat with us!
