Thinking of Regional Directors reminds Cain that he totally forgot about his skill tree. He was intending to update it when they got back, but food and sleep were more important and it slipped his mind.
The first Skill he will be able to get in the second tree will be [Lieutenants]. He couldn't see the exact details until he had the points, but as hoped, it will help Misha not be the incredibly squishy party member.
[Lieutenant] Appoint or Summon two Lieutenants who gain access to the [Summon Lesser Golem] [Summon Greater Golem] and [Merge] skills. Lieutenants can be given instructions using [Command] from any distance.
[System Notice: Militant Lord skill path requires all [Stat] values to be 175 or higher.]
Well, that's not a problem, though if Cain had spent his first hundred or two hundred levels in a class which didn't get to assign stats, or one that only got 3 points per level he could be waiting a long time. So he opens his Stat listing and begins to assign the wealth of points he's gotten from the rapid level up in the last dungeon.
[Name] Cain
[Level] 146
[Class] Puppet Master
[Race] Human
[Stats]+260->60
[STR] 125->175
[DEX] 125->175
[CON] 125->175
[INT] 125->175
[HP] 1000->1400
[MP] 1250->1750
[Militant Lord Skill Path Locks Class Change until complete. Accept?] Y/N
Cain doesn't see any reason why not, after all, what are the chances of finding a class that will treat him better than this? Especially before level 200.
[Militant Puppet Lord Unlocked]
[Lieutenants] learned. Please select or Summon first Lieutenant.
The system brings up a list of his friends, Guild members and nearby people with System Interfaces for him to choose from. Cain quickly chooses Misha and waits for the notification of success.
[Lieutenant Appointed: Misha] can be revoked in 23:59.
[Lieutenants Remaining 3/4]
Cain is certain the skill only allowed 2, but did his Summon duplication ability grant him extras? This skill just went from great to awesome. If that's the case, no need to hold back.
[Lieutenant Appointed: Char] can be revoked in 23:59
[Lieutenants Remaining 2/4]
[Cannot appoint Cixelcid as Lieutenant. Appointment Exceeds Limit.]
Okay, so two actual transfers or four summons must be the limit. They'll be alright like this though. Char will be a great leader, and she's already taking charge of the new recruits.
That only took 20 of his 46 skill points though, so Cain looks over the rest of the skill tree. His Summoning Skills can be doubled for 10 points each. Well, 3 of them. Lesser, Greater and Supporter, which are the only ones a new Puppet Lord would have.
They can then be tripled for another 10 points each once all three have been upgraded once. That opens up 2 final skills in the tree, whose descriptions are still hidden.
So where Lord is individual power, General is overwhelming numbers. After the basic upgrade to damage and durability that comes before any skills are chosen, Cain doesn't see a single ability in this side of the tree that increases summons abilities or durability, unless they're the last two, but those most likely have to do with the puppets.
That means his counterpart who got the class through the quest, the city ruler, won't have Legendary Summons until level 380. That's a huge disadvantage to him, the difference between epic and Legendary is huge. But then, he won't even have epic Golems until level 360.
The obvious choice for the points he has are [Summon Greater Golem] and [Summon Supporter] to each be doubled. If Earl RhickJaymz finds out how many Dragons Cain could have now he would cry. 12 Supporter copies of Kone means 24 copies of Su. At this point he's basically starting his own Forest Dragon Clan.
Though doubled Wrath Bringers is no joke either. His previous 8 Greater Golems just became 16 with that skill. Then 48 with Lesser Demon Army. Summon Cloning and Lesser Demon Army were never intended to be possessed by the same person, Cain is almost absolutely certain. By the time Cain gets all his summons tripled he'll be able to singlehandedly take over a city his own level.
What would the average city defense force even be expected to do against hundreds of epic Dragons and Legendary Raid Bosses?
Cain is broken from his reverie by a scream from the crowd outside. He rushes outside, expecting a fight of some sort to have broken out, but it looks like the scream was more fangirl than terror.
The rest of the Darklight Host is coming, with Su and Laura in Dragon form playing tag in the sky above the street. Then Su pops something in her mouth and Laura roars in disappointment. Not a game of tag then, a struggle for the last chocolate muffin at breakfast.
They land in the front yard, shifting into their smaller alternate forms before they touch the ground due to lack of space and Laura flies over to inspect the guards.
"Did you hire mercenaries or are these puppets?" The Dragon in her Pixie like form asks.
"Neither actually. Those are the Guardian Dolls that Symbia can create with her new class skill. They're smarter than my Puppets are, and level 100ish strong." Cain explains.
"They're pretty good. Should keep the Beach House safe." She gives him two thumbs up in approval and Cain is certain he can see the guard smiling under her helmet.
"Did we miss Char? The Lieutenant appointments sent a Guild wide notice, but as usual you're ignoring the chat feed." Misha teases Cain.
"Sorry, I was checking out the rest of my skill tree. There aren't many options and they're all ten levels worth of points, but they're extremely powerful. This half of the skill tree is all about numbers. I'm sure it notified you about the ability to Summon Golems now and merge with them. Merging with one of the summons from your Epic option should make you much more durable and give you an ability from what you merged with. Then you'll still be able to call Lesser and Greater Golems."
"Yeah, we tested that out. I only get 6 Lesser and 8 Greater Golems. At lesser and Greater quality. I don't get all the bonuses you and Kone do. Total ripoff, but having my own personal dungeon crew isn't too bad, so I shouldn't complain. Char says thanks, and she'll be using them to train the new members."
See, Char does make a good leader. Cain never even thought of making them interactive training dummies.
"In a few more levels I'll double the Lesser Golems, so you'll get 12 of them, that should help. But I think Merge will be the ability that makes the most difference. Your INT will skyrocket, so you'll do a load of extra damage and healing when you're merged with an Epic Golem.
The idea definitely has an appeal, Cain can see it in her eyes. But she turns to Kone for advice first.
"The Lord of Decay is huge and ugly, but when you merge he grants increased healing and mana regeneration. It's a pretty sweet combo for us. But if you pick the Record Keeper you'll likely get better Holy Fire. You could do one of each and just rely on the rest of the summons to take care of things." Kone suggests.
"You can do that? Merge with more than one type of Demon?" Misha asks, startled.
"It doesn't have to be demons, but yes. You'll get a full benefit from the first one, but only three quarters from each if you merge with two through ten." Cain clarifies.
"I'll try one of each then. A bonus to everything I do sounds like a very good start. Plus, they're basically free power ups, I didn't do anything but get chosen as a Lieutenant."
She's got a point. No matter how she decides, she will be more powerful than she was last night.
"You can call them directly to the merged state if you like. That way you don't need to do it outside to give them room to appear." Cain says and Misha gets a look of intense concentration, then a huge smile. It must have worked.
"This is amazing. Do you two feel like this all the time? Just pure power. You should see these modified stats, I'm a freaking dungeon boss. Maybe not that Granite Golem, but tough." She gushes excitedly.
"They'll stay merged until you dismiss them, so no need to do anything about it after this, just enjoy your bonuses. I wonder what it will do to your [Boon] ability. That mostly gave a percent bonus to whatever random category it chose. And the creatures it created were based on you, so they might be the same, because of level, or they might be disgustingly good." Kone ponders.
Cain rarely notices the random buffs from Misha's healing, but some of them make a large difference to Kone and her spell casting.
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