Plum Parrot
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AA 1.48 - Evolution
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48 – Evolution
The shower turned out to be more invigorating than he’d hoped—the water was frigid. Still, he enjoyed getting clean and, afterward, putting on some mostly clean clothes. After that, he’d spoken with Bella and some of the more combat-positive members of the community about maybe taking on the two quests the System was offering.
They’d talked for a while, everyone offering opinions on when to strike and who to bring, but in the end, Andy had told them to really think about what the quests would require of them and meet at the gate two hours after midnight if they were still interested. Of course, that brought up their inability to precisely measure time. Bella had declared that she could determine midnight from the moon, and she’d rouse people when the time was right. Nobody argued, but Andy quietly resolved to discuss making a clock with James. Tinkers could make all sorts of things, right?
Once they’d parted ways, Andy had gone back to his trailer; he still had two improvement points to spend and, after that, he wanted to talk to Violet and Lucy about the boon point they were sitting on. Once again, as he sat on his rather uncomfortable little couch, sipping water from his magical water skin, he pulled up his list of skills and spells:
Notable Skills or Spells:
(* denotes active bound abilities)
Tracking: 1
Spears: 4
Critical Mastery: 1
Sneak Attack: 2
Shadow Vigil: 3
Burnscribe: 1
Embertouch: 1
Rune of Extension: 1
Fire Tolerance: 1
*Shadow Lance – Bound: 1
*Twilight Steps – Bound: 2
*Veil of the Stalker – Bound: 3
Kindlebrand – Bound: 2
Scorchmark Glyph – Bound: 2
Kindled Bonds – Bound: 1
Right away, he ruled out spending points on his Pyroglyph Invoker abilities. He was about to go to war in the dark, and he felt like his Umbral Warden class made him a lot more deadly in a situation like that. He figured, for the upcoming quests, Tracking would be good, but he also knew he had Lucy to do that. If he were going alone…
That thought made him wonder if he shouldn’t switch over to his Pyroglyph Invoker class. He wouldn’t be able to use Twilight Steps or Veil of the Stalker to their full effect with a group of people with him. On the other hand, who was to say he couldn’t go ahead to scout or even lead the attack with an ambush? No, he’d stick with Umbral Warden for the time being.
One ability that seemed to be rather crucial in combat, regardless of whether he was hidden or not, was Critical Mastery. A critical hit seemed to make the difference between a quick kill and a prolonged fight, and Andy was all for finishing his foes quickly. He mentally weighed the other abilities against it, but eventually he decided to go with his instinct and point into the ability. He felt nothing more than a faint fuzziness in his skull. It faded so quickly, he wondered if he’d imagined it.
He wished he could put another point into Spears, but failing that, he decided that he’d double down on Critical Mastery and put his final point there.
***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve unlocked a class evolution for Umbral Warden: Umbral Reaper. You have honed the art of silent lethality. Where others hesitate, you strike with certainty, severing the thread of life in a single heartbeat. Your mastery of critical strikes and ambush tactics has distinguished your efforts. You are no longer merely a warden of the umbral veil—you are its blade.
Accept Evolution? Y/N***
Andy’s first impulse was to say yes, but he hurriedly cleared his mind of that and forced himself to really think. He knew from Lucy’s experience with Hunter and Monster Hunter that he’d be reset to level one with this new class evolution. That wouldn’t affect him much, but, on the other hand, his Umbral Warden class was level thirteen, and he might be about to earn a really great skill or spell. Sadly, he had no idea. On the other hand, his class being set to level one meant he’d have a chance to earn more improvement points. At least, he thought it would work that way.
Did he like the idea of being a “reaper,” though? Essentially, it seemed like he’d be going from a protector to a killer. Was that what he wanted? In those plain terms, he had to admit that the answer was no. It probably wasn’t so cut and dry, however. He was the one who’d simplified the two classes into one-word definitions, and it may be a lot more nuanced than that.
He wondered what prerequisites he’d met to open up the evolution. Critical Mastery to level three, obviously, but what else? It could have a thousand variables—his level, his physical attributes, his other skills, things he’d done, even things he’d been thinking. As he’d been telling Lucy, the System seemed to be constantly watching, weighing, predicting, and… facilitating.
One thing he was pretty sure of was that Umbral Reaper was harder to get into than Umbral Warden. He’d had to accomplish quite a few things before the evolution was offered. In that respect, he felt like it was worth exploring. If it turned out to be a different tier, like Monster Hunter was to Hunter, then the skills and spells it offered might be on a whole new level.
Having talked himself into it, Andy focused on the message again and said, “Yes.”
Suddenly, white-hot pain erupted behind his eyes, and Andy fell back on the couch. His ears rang like someone had let off a firecracker next to them, and all the saliva in his mouth dried up. He wasn’t sure how long he lay there, senseless and stupefied by pain and discomfort, but eventually the ringing subsided and his vision began to resolve. He licked a thick, dry tongue around in his mouth, desperately trying to spread some saliva around. Giving up, he groped for his waterskin and drank until his stomach hurt.
By then, his vision had clarified, and he could see the inside of his trailer behind the bright yellow letters of a new System message:
***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve successfully evolved your new class. Some of your Umbral Warden abilities were not directly compatible with the Umbral Reaper class, so they’ve been modified or removed, depending on available options. A list of the changes follows:
Shadow Vigil has been replaced with Reaper’s Senses.
Reaper’s Senses – bound: Your senses are honed like a predator’s blade. Where others falter in shadow or overlook the faintest signs, you see, hear, and smell the world with ruthless clarity. Nothing escapes the eyes of the Reaper.
Now that your class has evolved, you’ve been reset back to level 1, but rest assured, your attributes and notable abilities have not been altered in efficacy.
Your accomplishments put you in rare company on Earth, Andy. Keep it up!***
Cussing softly, Andy looked at the bound abilities from his new class:
*Reaper’s Senses – Bound: 3
*Shadow Lance – Bound: 1
*Twilight Steps – Bound: 2
*Veil of the Stalker – Bound: 3
Sure enough, his innate Shadow Vigil had been removed and replaced with the new, bound ability. Reaper’s Senses sounded more powerful, but it had been damn nice having that boost to his night vision even when he wasn’t running his Umbral Warden class. Or, in theory, it would have been; he hadn’t really needed it yet.
He leaned back and closed his eyes, letting his other senses stretch out—and stretch they did. A soft click-click-click reached him from across the lane, barely there, like someone nervously tapping a ring against metal. He heard the lazy buzz of a fly trapped behind the warped screen in his kitchen, its wings brushing the mesh in uneven bursts. Somewhere nearby, a mouse was rooting through paper, the tiny sounds of shifting weight and crinkling plastic absurdly loud to his new ears. Out in the street, a boot scraped concrete, not pacing, just… standing still now. And from a nearby trailer, a cat’s unmistakable, hungry meow.
Andy’s eyes shot open. “What the hell?” The sounds faded when he wasn’t concentrating on them; they weren’t intrusive or maddening in the least. When he focused on one sound, such as the footsteps, it was almost as if he were zooming in on it—it grew more distinct, separating itself from all the other noises. “That is frickin’ cool!” he whispered.
Suddenly intrigued by his new ability, Andy inhaled slowly and deeply through his nose, wondering if he’d pick up more scents. His mind blossomed with colorful starbursts as he tried to make sense of everything his new, improved olfactory senses were picking up.
There was the earthy, almost sour tang of damp soil, likely from the lot behind Monique’s place where she’d dumped some gray water. A sweet, greasy ribbon of smoke curled in from a few trailers down—someone frying something in old oil, maybe spam or bologna. He caught the sharp, bitter bite of burnt plastic clinging faintly to the air, probably from something James was working on. Most surprising, though, was the soft trace of floral perfume, worn too faintly to notice before, but now clinging to the air like a memory from his bedroom—Lucy had left it behind.
Andy jumped off the couch and moved to his door, peering out into the park. It wasn’t dark yet, but he stared into the long shadows behind trailers, under shrubs and broken-down cars, and inside the windows of abandoned trailers. He was confident he was seeing further and more clearly than before. Still, he wanted to compare his vision in full dark to what it had been like with Twilight Vigil. He hoped it would be better.
Done experimenting for the moment, he grabbed his spear and jogged toward Lucy’s trailer. Before he tried to get a few hours of sleep, he wanted to talk to her about being the “successor” for the settlement. She’d wanted to go along on the raid, and the thought had occurred to him that it might be smarter to have one of the people who routinely stayed safe up on the plateau as the successor.
He thought Violet was a good candidate, but he didn’t want to spring it on Lucy in front of her, just in case she had an argument for why they shouldn’t change it. “Or maybe she thinks someone else is a better option.” He shrugged to himself as he walked. He was so eager to try out his new class, excited to see what would happen when he gained new levels, that he feared sleep would elude him. He hoped not, though; how many nights could a guy go on just a few hours of sleep?
