Ch. 20 Finding A Loophole

As I sat there thinking about all of the changes I had gone through with leveling up and becoming more powerful, I realized I was lacking in versatility. I was a 'silly human' as Bella loved to call me. I had been focusing on more offense than anything else. It was time to get some spells.

Looking at our bank account I saw we were sitting on almost 30 grand, I didn't want to spend it all without talking to my wife, so I broached the subject cautiously.

"Lynette honey, I just realized that all the spells and skills I have are focused more on offense than defense. So I figured that I could probably get one or two more spells or skills that would allow me some defence and variety."

She giggled and shook her head "Which ones were you thinking about getting? I have been doing alot of research and to be honest the ones that would be best suited for you would be things like Barkskin and spells that have a long duration."

I nodded at that and we both sat down in front of the computer, looking up the different spells that were available for me at my current skill level. Since I had no skill in Alteration, Barkskin was the best defense I could get in that school of magic and she was right, I would need to concentrate on the other spells in the other schools of magic for any of those to work, which would make me less able to actually fight.

The other skill I was looking at was light armor, since I didn't fight up front it was the best for my skill set and with Bella and the girls, it was perfect for training as well. Along with the Mending spell, to repair all the armor that would be getting damaged from their attacks.

The cool thing about Mending and Barkskin was they were both part of the Alteration skill, which meant I could train that skill alot more. I wasn't going to have to buy a Skill Stone for Light Armor because all I had to do was buy some Light Armor and equip it, then get hit enough for it to be a trained skill.

Then as I thought about it I grinned to myself, 'Meditation, Light Armor and Alteration can all be trained together while the girls attack me. I like it.' I knew I would probaboy be in pain while they did, but I was willing to go for it for a quick way to power level some skills. After all, I was a gamer at heart.

I spent the rest of the night with Lynette and the babies, watching TV until we fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning and went to the Association building to make my purchases. The Barkskin spell cost me 4000 and the Mending Spell cost me 8000. The Light Armor only cost me 1000, which meant I still had 17000 in the bank.

Rift-Line Woodsman Armor (Uncommon) 20 DR. This Studded Leather Armor is made for the purpose of not only giving its wearer a bonus to damage reduction, but to also allow the wearer to have full range of movement without any hindrance.

Spell: Barkskin - cost 30 MP

Transforms the skin of the target this spell is cast on to become as hard as tree bark. Grants 1 DR per skill level in Transmutation. Cast time - 5 Seconds. Duration - 1 minute × Skill level.

Spell: Mending - Cost 10 MP

Uses Mana to repair and restore any non magical items. Repairs at a rate of 1% per skill level every 10 seconds Casting time - Instant.

Skill: Light Armor

This skill allows the user to comfortably wear and move when equipped with light armor. Every additional rank in this skill will add another bonus to protection gained from Light armor by a factor of 1.

The armor itself was interesting. I had thought it would have been big on me, but when I had put it on it widened where it needed to and shortened to fit the contours of my body. It was kinda cool to watch.

It was also kind of cool looking. It had a green camoulflage design to it with brown sprinkled in, I was a sucker for camoulflage. Small metal chainlink patches were sewn into the armor itself at vital points, to keep those more protected and covered with more leather. I thought it looked snazzy.

We went to the Guild Hall and found a good little area off to the side for what I planned on using to see if my new training regimen would pay off. We were there early enough that not many people were in the Guild Training Yard yet. So I sat on the ground and we began.

I had Bella and the girls attack me while I sat on the ground and used Mending on the armor, over and over, after I had cast Barkskin on myself. I only used Necromantic Healing when my health dropped to half and brought it back up to full.

It took me a while to get the skill, almost 5 minutes, but I finally got it after the 100th attack on me from the girls. Then I began Meditating while they attacked. I refreshed Barkskin every hour and used mending on my armor all the way until noon.

Once I realized durability was a factor I noticed that all of my weapons and armor had a new line on them that showed their durability in percentages. Each of my girls' attacks knocked anywhere between 1 and 3 percent durability off of my armor. It was interesting and a little worrying at the same time. But after seeing that my skills were increasing fairly well, I figured it was a safe bet. Plus it was increasing the girls' Multi-Attack skills as well.

Name: Odellin Hundai

Level: 10

Str: 16

Dex: 34

Con: 16

Int: 32

Wis: 20

Cha: 12

HP: 320

MP: 520

STA: 160

(0 unused stat points)

SKILLS:

Light Armor - 10

One-handed - 1

Two-handed - 1

Survival - 10

Evocation - 38

Alteration - 10

Animal Handling - 30

Ranged - 35

Meditation - 43

Stealth - 28

Mana Manipulation - 30

Necromancy - 26

NON-COMBAT SKILLS:

Cooking - 8

Bartering - 6

Multi-Tasking - 4

SPELLS:

Force Missile

Mana Arrow

Necromantic Healing

Ball Of Light

Ray Of Frost

Fireball

Jolt

Mending

Barkskin

PERKS: Adamant

[Progress Quest]

Train any 3 skills to level 50. Break 8 Rifts.

Rift-Line Infusion Wrist Crossbow

(Uncommon) 50 DMG (2)

Rift-Line Woodsman Armor (Uncommon) 20 DR.

Bella (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon, Soulbound)

Level: 10

STR: 29

DEX: 28

CON: 28

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 570

MP: 200

STA: 280

SKILLS:

Dig - 15

Multi-Attack - 39

Tracking - 40

Stealth - 22

Nina (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)

Level: 10

STR: 28

DEX: 27

CON: 29

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 570

MP: 200

STA: 290

SKILLS:

Dig - 8

Multi-Attack - 35

Tracking - 22

Stealth - 16

Rosa (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)

Level: 9

STR: 27

DEX: 26

CON: 28

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 550

MP: 200

STA: 280

SKILLS:

Dig - 4

Multi-Attack - 29

Tracking - 12

Stealth - 8

It was then that I noticed that something was wrong with my character sheet. I hadn't noticed it before, but for some reason I was missing a point of intelligence.

I didn't know why I was missing one, but doing the math i knew I was definitely missing one from my stats.

I tried thinking back to when it could have happened and even with my increase in intelligence I couldn't figure it out. So I studied my character sheet and inspected everything on it. the answer finally came when I studied my Adamant feat.

Gaining the feat had come at a cost, a permanent -1 to my Intelligence, which was then transferred to Bella, which also gave all other raccoons I gained as Animal Companions an increase in Intelligence as well. Looking over at Bella and the girls, I realized it had been worth it.

After the introspection and assessment of my new abilities was done I smiled and gathered the girls and we headed over to the meeting area my new team and I had decided on.

Just a bit after 1 the rest of the team began showing up. All of them were decked out in their full weapon and armor sets. Although I noticed that Tyson was the only one without actual armor. He was still wearing that robe. When I asked him about it he smiled "It confers a bonus to all of my spells, giving me a -50% to the cost of each spell. It doesn't cost much for the spells I have right now, but it does make it so I don't drain my Mana too fast." I nodded at the practicality of the robes.

As soon as we all gathered Felicia spoke up first. "Glad to see everyone here. Most of us have bounced from group to group in the Guild so far, but now that we have our own team we should probably decide who is the team leader. I know Kenny and I have the most experience in the guild, but if anyone else wants to take lead let us know and we can vote." her tone was gentler than I expected, but still had a slight sternness to it.

Kenny shook his head "I say Felicia would be good as team leader. I'm a grunt through and through. You point, I attack." we all chuckled a bit at that and nobody else said anything, especially me.

"Alright then, I'll be team leader." Felicia responded to the silence.

We all nodded as she led us to a small practice area. "So yesterday we all got introductions out of the way. What we didn't get out of the way was our full scope of abilities. So we need to start working on those. I will start."

What followed was each of us showing not only what skills and spells we had, but also talking about where we wanted to progress as far as our builds. It was fairly easy to ascertain what each person was going for by what weapons and armor they wore and used.

I was the last one to get to describe what I wanted. "Well I have the spells Force Missile, Mana Arrow, Necromantic Healing, Ball Of Light, Ray Of Frost, Fireball, Jolt, Mending and Barkskin. I use mostly a combination of my crossbows with Mana Arrow and my other spells so I can get in some high range DPS. I also bring to the table three powerful Dire Raccoons. I want to stay in the back and be useful as DPS and an off-support where needed."

They all nodded as I showed off each spell. Felicia took a look at my Raccoons and asked "How did you get those? I didn't hear you mention summoning spells."

I nodded and explained about how I acquired Animal Handling and what it did. "Interesting. I have a dog, but haven't gotten that skill." Guy spoke up.

I nodded "From what I researched it's fairly hard to get with a pet that already has a bond with you. However there is a skill stone for that skill. It's about 3000 for the Skill Stone itself, but if you only have your dog to take care of it will take a long time to level up as you are already technically it's Master. It works best with wild animals or animals that aren't easily domesticated."

He nodded at that as he turned his face upwards, processing what I said.

"Well let's see what each of us can do now that we know a bit about each others abilities." Felicia said, interrupting the silence.

We spent almost four hours with each other, showing off our skills on the practice dummies and each other, noting just how powerful our abilities were. Guy and I connected through our shared love for magic and worked through each of our spells. He only had 2 attack spells, the rest defensive or utility. His attack spells were Force Missile, of course, and Chain Lightning. His defensive ones were Mage Armor, Stoneskin, Circle of Protection and Shield. His utility were Necromantic Healing and Regeneration. Regeneration would not only heal wounds, but also replace lost limbs and other parts of your body if they became damaged beyond repair. Whatever made him take that Spell made me cringe just thinking about it.

I used my Mending on everyones weapons and armor regularly while the girls rushed and attacked the tanks of the group. It was definitely rewarding to see my Abjuration Skill go up while the girls' Multi-Attack Skill went up as well, just from the training.

Once it was almost 5 in the afternoon, we decided to call it a day and all headed home.