“What skill should I learn?” Alex wonders as he looks at the newly available Biotic skills he can learn at any time.
Well, I might as well decide later, though it should definitely be an advanced skill. It would be quite silly to pick a basic skill at this point, wouldn’t it?
I feel kinda... tired. How much time has passed? Well, time to get out, right now.
As soon as Alex opens the door to his cabin and steps outside, he immediately sees a purple-colored object flying straight at his face.
Despite his raised stats, he can’t react in time and gets forcefully hugged by the object, as it clings to his face.
“...”
“... Jewel, it’s getting annoying,” Alex complains, his voice muffled, with Jewel making it hard to talk.
Soulmate took so long! It’s been 6 hours! Tereza took less than half of that. She went home already.
“You could have gone with her,” Alex says, ripping Jewel away from his mouth and placing her on his head.
No, Princess Jewel wanted to wait for Soulmate!
“... and you want to go to the Pet Hub,” Alex adds.
And she wants to go to the Pet Hub.
“Well, I like it when you are honest. Let’s go then,” Alex says, smiling softly.
Moving towards the Pet Hub, which he has visited a few times already, Alex tells Jewel about his upgrades, the total cost, and the abilities.
So I have five choices, any preference?
Princess Jewel prefers Slam.
Slam, huh? The most damaging ability. Not so sure about that one... any particular reason why?
It’s simple. Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam.
Yeah... that one was pretty bad. 2 out of 10 max.
Princess Jewel thinks it’s at least a 5 out of 10.
Any real opinion?
None whatsoever, all abilities are equally powerful. It all depends on Soulmate’s fighting style, which is pretty varied already. So in the end, the decision all depends on Soulmate’s preference. What does Soulmate want to do?
Hmmmm, I’m not really sure.
In what direction does Soulmate want to improve? Area damage with Nova? Single-target damage with Slam? Area crowd control and Biotic combos with Singularity? A gap-closing movement ability with Biotic Charge? Or Reave, which seems to deal damage, stop the target’s healing, and also provides some Barriers.
That’s the question, isn’t it? I’ll sleep it over and then make my decision. As you said, they appear to be equally powerful and useful... it all depends on what I want or need to tweak my fighting style.
Still deep in discussion, Alex arrives at the Pet Hub and swiftly enters the large building, immediately walking to the counter.
Thankfully, nobody is here... pets are quite rare, after all. Pets are also quite expensive.
“Oh, welcome back, player. It’s you two again. It’s nice to see you again, my cutie,” the middle-aged lady from last time says.
Alex, who’s about to respond to her compliment, already smiling, looks at her and sees that she is looking at Jewel, who is sitting on his head, not at him.
Well... figures. Not that I need compliments from middle-aged Realm Workers. I am not that desperate.
❤️
“I’m just here to upgrade my pet’s skills... go ahead, okay? Upgrade every single one of them!” Alex requests.
“Gladly, sir,” the worker replies. “Please step onto the platform, sweety. You should know it from last time.”
Princess Jewel remembers! This time she will stay awake.
X
Do not press X, Soulmate!
“Well, sir, since you want to upgrade all skills, Arachmagic Eight-Spear Style will require 5,000 FC and a Soul Crystal (Medium) to upgrade to lvl 6. Superiority costs a mere 8,000 FC and a Soul Crystal (Small), while Hidden Power (Dark) requires you to pay 4,500 FC and another Soul Crystal (Small).”
“So expensive!!” Alex complains.
I didn’t consider that Pet skills above lvl 5 also have their Soul Crystal cost raised, what a scam!
“Sir... since your pet wants to level its skills to lvl 6, the cost increased. You can always just upgrade a single skill if you lack the funds,” the worker says, looking a little embarrassed.
“No... just upgrade them all,” Alex says, opening his system screen and paying the 17,500 FC, 2 Soul Crystals (Small), and the costly Soul Crystal (Medium).
❤️ Thank you, Soulmate!
Excited, Jewel steps onto the platform and soon gets engulfed in a bright light, reminding Alex of the Skill Upgrade cabin he left just moments earlier.
After around 30 minutes, the effect stops, and Jewel is able to walk three steps before collapsing and falling asleep.
“What a surprise...” Alex complains, rolling his eyes.
“Please, sir, your lovely pet is such a treasure,” the worker says, smiling warmly. “You should be more understanding. This is something that’s perfectly normal. Do you want her to rest here for a while? I’ll take good care of her.”
“No,” Alex says, picking her up and placing her at the front of his armor, so her body is partly on the inside of it and can’t fall out.
Now... since I am already here...
Alex walks through the Realm, carrying Jewel along like baggage until he arrives at the familiar ranking-up facility.
Unlike the Pet Hub, the facility is not empty. When Alex enters, he sees a few players standing in front of it, and a few more inside, talking to other players.
Still, as the majority of all rooms are empty, Alex has no problem entering one that’s free.
He avoids any sort of explanation, as he is more than familiar with the process already.
I can’t upgrade to R3 until I am lvl 10... so I don’t have too many options.
Alex thinks for a second before speaking. “1337, you can take over, right? Shard all the items I have listed as such.”
[Understood, Host]
[According to the standard rates, which are:
Gray & Unranked: X/X
White: 1/X
Light-Green: 2/4
Green: 3/6
Deep–Green: 4/8
Light-Blue 7/14
Blue: 10/20
Deep-Blue: 15/30
Light-Purple: 25/50
Purple: 40/80
Deep-Purple: 60/120
Light-Gold: 100/200
Gold: 150/300
Deep-Gold 200/400
[Host has designated the following items for sharding:
Marked for Sharding: Quality-Boots (White) x2, Quality-Gloves (White) x2, Solid Marine Saber (Light Green), Weapon x2 (Deep Green), Green Weapon (Green) x5, Common Shortsword (White)]
[Host is about to receive 30 Fantasy Shards, please confirm.]
“Heh, confirmed... goodbye, you cursed [Solid Marine Saber].” Alex snickers, elated to get rid of the cursed weapon.
You received 30 Fantasy Shards
Can’t do much more than that for now. Anyway, time to go back.
“Not bad...” Alex mutters as he turns around and leaves the room.
Just as he leaves it, he stumbles across his old friend Stephen, their gazes meeting at the same time.
“Oh, hey,” Alex says, raising his hand. Stephen smiles and returns the greeting, casually shaking his hand.
“As usual, the over-achiever is spending his wealth. Did you rank up an item?” Stephen asks.
“Nah, just sharding... I have just returned from my last mission... it’s been quite busy,” Alex says, shrugging.
“Yeah... ‘busy,’ alright, with all those ladies around, I can imagine,” Stephen says, snickering, looking down towards Alex’s chest, Jewel’s body halfway hanging out. “Is your pet tired?”
“She always sleeps after upgrading her skills,” Alex says.
Together, they move a little to the side, so they have a bit more privacy and don’t block anyone.
“So what’s new?” Alex asks. “Things still fine on your end?”
“Yeah!” Stephen says. “In fact, they couldn’t be better! I joined this supposedly awesome guild, they are called the Seekers. Apparently, I am an upper-ranked player now, or so I’ve been told.”
“...”
“...”
“I don’t like that look,” Stephen instantly replies, as Alex stares at him in shock.
Alex sighs loudly, hesitating for a moment.
Might as well tell him... some things.
He then begins to explain his conflict.
“So you see... some assholes attacked my partner and me during our last mission, but we came out on top. Meaning... it didn’t end well for the members of the Seekers who attacked me. In other words, they’re kinda... dead. Anyway, it looks like I’m getting blamed for it regardless. So it might be smart to pretend that you do not know me. The Seekers are not a bad guild, as far as I know. Good resources, pretty balanced in most areas. It might be best to lie low. I think it was a smart decision to join, and I don’t want to be the reason for you to get in trouble.”
“Man, you are so nice to warn me,” Stephen says. “To be honest... there are more rules than I thought. I kinda was told that they are all free and just follow their dreams, but there have been meetings, mandatory spars, and I’ve even been told to focus on specific stats and skills. I was an all-rounder, but they want me to go for a more tanky build. It’s a huge disappointment. Also, these damn arrogant assholes constantly complaining and ordering me around to do stuff like promoting our guild to rookies are a pain. They forced me to stand in the tower for hours and approach new players. I forget the names, but these two brunette chicks, with the one always complaining, piss me off.”
That sounds familiar...
These things... don’t sound too bad. But yes... certainly not the freedom-loving guild they appear to be from the outside. A lot of logical decisions, a lot of rules, and not a lot of freedom.
“I might as well leave... I don’t want to build into that specific role, change my stats and even skills, that’s just not me. I’d rather die on my own terms in a year than struggle with people who treat me like a chess piece,” Stephen says, looking calm, seemingly accepting of his death. “I’ll stay for a while longer, and if I hear something about you, I’ll send you a message—maybe at least one good thing will come out of this situation.”
“You... better not do that...” Alex says, before thinking.
What am I saying?! That’s an awesome chance to have a spy in the Seekers, but if they notice...
“I...” Alex says, hesitating.
