Tunnel Rat

Chapter 90: Options

The mines beneath Shadowport branched out for miles, intersecting at times with natural caves and vertical crevasses. The route that Milo normally took to travel downwards to Harry's ‘basement’ area connected with many small dead ends and cracks in the rock. Milo had explored some, mostly by getting lost. Now he was climbing upwards in one he'd found earlier. It ended in a small cave after he travelled fifty feet straight up. It was just what he needed right now: close to the city, but where no one would find him.

He needed time to think and make decisions.

In the small cave he set up his camp. A tarp and two sticks counted as a tent. He lit a campfire made from a bit of coal and scrap wood, then recovered his Ring of the Swiss Army from his Smugglers Stash. He also laid out the Bone Runed Cowl and Shadowblight. The ring still worked fine, but the other two items seemed dormant. He himself might be partially fixed, but he wasn't able to do magic yet.

With his meagre camp constructed, he was able to summon his watch lizard. Georgie was happy to see him after such a long time. He demanded some of Milo's attention and a treat before he worked his way around the cave, catching all the millipedes, spiders, and other small bugs with his long tongue.

Milo watched the mighty hunter clean up the camp while he put out his fondue pot and melted some slices of cheese into it. His belly was telling him to just put ALL the cheese into it NOW. It was a struggle, but he ignored it. After the cheese was melted, he broke up a loaf of stale bread and dipped pieces into it with his knife. It was a slower process, but enjoyable. It made the little bit of cheese last longer.

Then it was time to get to work. He began by organizing the messages from the system. Some of them seemed so old now. A lot had happened in such a short period of time.

Reminder: You still have 47 Core Skill Points and 12,500 Experience to allocate to skills. An equal amount will be allocated to corresponding stats. You must spend these before moving to Tier 2

He remembered thinking he had plenty of time to talk with Two-Screws and Harry about his options. Then a World Boss and Slaver-Mage had interfered. He wished he had found the time for those talks. Too many secrets had to be kept now. Any discussion with them would be difficult with so many gaps in his story. This assumed he could even find Harry. He’d asked about the troll, but he was assumed to be dead. Just another hero who would have his name added to a monument someday.

You have created a new spell! By combining your knowledge of the Bone Spike Spell, Rune of Velocity, and Bone Manipulation, you have created the spell: Harpoon of the Winds. Material components were 70% of your own bones, and you have fractured your spell casting ability.

You have gained 5 CSP and the quest: Soul Repair.

Interesting that it was an actual spell. The casting cost was too damned high. Or was that the cost to create the spell? If he chose a Tier 2 class with Bonecasting, would he still know the spell?

In a stunning upset, a rag-tag group of heroes led by a History Confused Healer, An Ogre looking for a large snack, and a Mad Engineer testing out his latest monster trap, has defeated an unstoppable World-Boss. Anyone who had anything to do with this insanity receives 1000 experience that may be spent on any skill, and 10 Core Skill Points. More rewards will be forth coming if you ever manage to actual kill it...

More points to spend, and probably not the last.

You did stuff I don't know about?! Where are these rewards coming from? How am I supposed to run things when I have sneaky, thieving rat-kin doing stuff where I can't see? This isn't accept...Oh...Oh dear...my apologies. Sigh....yes Ma'am. Why does no one tell me what’s going on?

YOU DID STUFF-AND THAT'S SO AWESOME!

-You figured out things that are secret and no one will tell me about! And I have to give you credit for doing them…unfair!

You have earned 10 Core Skill Points.

-You supposedly rescued over 100 sentient creatures from slavery. All I see is a poorly parked airship...

You have completed the Adventurers Guild Quest: Slavery in Shadowport

You have earned 50 Gold Pieces, 1000 experience, and 5 Core Skill Points.

-You are credited with outwitting and then and arranging the death of Philistron the Benevolent Sage and his cute little pet. (The orphans will be so disappointed this year, who will take them to the circus?)

You have earned 2000 experience and 10 Core Skill Points.

And I'm going to encourage one of those orphans to train hard for 20 years, dress up in a silly costume, and bring you to justice!

You have completed the quest: Squint needs an Airship

You receive 500 quest experience that may be spent on any skill.

But will you take responsibility for what he does with it? Doubtful…

Uthneragrubban has fallen, and yours was the hand that dealt the killing blow!

The first of the World Bosses, somehow awoken before her time, has been cast down! The others of its kind retreat to the underworlds from which they came. The better to hone their plans and beef up their minions.

For your part in this battle and in striking the final blow, you receive the following rewards:

-25 Core Skill Points

-2000 Boss Experience that may be used for any skill.

-A Crystalline, soul-bound, Tier 4 weapon of your choice.

-Another item from the Loot Chest that has appeared where Uthneragrubban died.

That really was a lot of stuff he got credit for, all at once.

Adding up all the experience and CSP, old and newly earned, Milo calculated he had 18000 experience to add to skills, and 102 Core Skill Points. He needed to think about how to spend it.

The system seemed annoyed at him for not doing so earlier. He didn't care. It wasn't his fault he had to fight a World Boss and then got trapped. He was curious about the way the system reacted. Was it one of the old AI? Or part of the Engine? Where did the attitude come from?

Welcome to Tier 2...oh, wait, it's you again? How did I forget about you?! Where did you go? I have to redo everything! How inconsiderate! I gave you some very nice options which you totally ignored and then snuck away to keep adventuring.

-You have accumulated enough experience and Core Skills to advance to Tier 2. Can we please do it this time? You are way over due for an upgrade! In fact, you are far, far over the limit! You may not earn additional experience or Core Skill Points until Tier 2

-NEW! Classes are available to you. Carefully recalculated to take into account your most recent adventures. Each class will give new skills, bonuses to statistics, new Core Skills, and special perks. Choose wisely.

-Skills keep the same experience total and may advance to Level 10.

-Experience Totals and ranks for statistics are reset to 0. Don't Panic! You keep all advances from Tier 1 and may build upon them in Tier 2. The system is similar with a soft cap of Rank 5 and hard cap of Rank 10.

-New Core Skills will be available to you depending on your class. Core Skills from Tier 1 may gain additional ranks to purchase. Note that costs for Tier 1 Core Skills you didn’t take in Tier 1 may increase in Tier 2.

-You must allocate all CSP and experience earned before advancing to Tier 2. Any you don’t allocate will be lost.

-Attaining a value of 10 in any two stats while in Tier 1 will give you a permanent perk. (Note that class bonuses from Tier 2 do not count for this.)

Bonecaster (Rare Class: +3 INT, +3 WIS, +400 mana)

Continue the path of the Bonecaster, learning new spells and ways to control bone. Limited to system approved spells only!

Learn to animate skeletons, create animated siege weapons, and automatic traps. Accomplish new miracles of magic that the ancients could only dream of!

You will retain access to your Arcane Library.

You will regain and retain all spells you used to know.

Rune-Boned Scout (Unique Class: +4 PER, +4 INT, +4 TOU +2 Free points.

Gain the Skill: Ancient Rune Lore

Gain the Skill: Spell Construction

Evolve your scout class to be something more. Enhance your bones with powerful runes.

Delve deeper into the earth and seek out its secrets. You have discovered the ancient creatures that vied with the Eels for dominion of the world when it was young and unformed. More, you have gained the favor of three such creatures. Bonecasting is but a pale shadow of what you could do as a master of the ancient runes used by these creatures. Focus in on Ancient Runic lore, Rune carving, Spell Construction, finding more of these creatures or their runes, and enhancing your own form.

You will retain your access to your Arcane Library.

You will retain your Smuggler’s Stash.

Pudding Smuggler (Unique and Horrifying class: +10 CON, +1000 Health)

Become one with the pudding and give up your bones! Soon you won't remember what you even used to look like! Go anywhere, absorb people you don't like.

Gain: Shape changing and Disguise

Gain: Massive regeneration,

Gain: Resistance to physical attacks, immunity to acid, acidic touch, growth from mass absorption.

You will retain your Smuggler’s Stash.

Apprentice Monster Hunter (Rare Class: +3 STR, +5 CON

Join Captain Pike as his apprentice! Learn the tracking, hunting and killing skills of the Monster Hunter.

Gain special recipes to cook and eat any creature.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Cheese Fiend (Very Rare Class: +5 CON, +5 STR, +500 Health, -3 INT)

Your cheese addiction has grown until it is all consuming. You live for the cheese and will destroy anyone that gets in your way. Become the head of your village and put them to work creating your favorite food! Protect them from anyone that threatens them, or your cheese!

Gain: Increased Benefits for Cheese Addiction

Gain: Crippling Withdrawal Symptoms

Gain: Bonus Anger Issues

You will not even remember what a spell is.

Kulag Chieftain (Unique Class: +5 INT, +5 DEX, +5 AGI)

Join the Kulags as Squint's second in command. Stage daring airship raids against slavers and people who look like slavers. Gain: The respect of everyone in Shadowport that knows which way the wind blows.

Gain: Increased favor of anyone that hates slavers and wealthy merchants.

You will retain some of your known spells.

You will retain your Smuggler’s Stash.

Experimental Senior Engineer (Rare Class: +3 TOU, +3 CON, +3 INT

Gain: Skill: Invention

Gain: Skill: MacGyver

Gain: Perk: 'This is fine.'

Sometimes you're a 'Genius'. Sometimes you have to explain to the mob why everything is on fire. Accidents happen and you can't build the future without breaking a few skulls! This skill is perfect for the bored engineer that needs to know what happens when you turn the knob to 11.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Smuggler’s Stash will evolve to Arcane Workshop.

Sharp Tail in the Dark (Common Class: +2 corruption, +3 dexterity, +3 agility, +2 perception.

You are the unseen hunter. The dark alleys and lonely rooftops are your home. No one is safe from your claws and blade once you have taken a contract on their life. Whether you work freelance or for a powerful Boss, you are feared and respected by any that know you exist. Emphasis on combat, stealth, and removing people who become problems.

You will retain some of your known spells.

Smuggler’s Stash will evolve to Assassin’s Hideout.

Some of the classes offered were new, and some were quite strange. He crossed Cheese Fiend and Pudding Smuggler off of his list immediately. Sharp Tail in the Dark seemed to be some kind of assassin. He really didn't want to kill people for money, or work for someone else. It got removed as well.

Kulag Chieftain would tie him to Shadowport and Squint. Neither was what he wanted. Apprentice Monster Hunter was better, but he suspected he'd have to spend a lot of time on a boat with nothing but water and sky all around. Just the thought bothered him.

That left Bonecaster, Rune-Boned Scout, and Experimental Senior Engineer. He was very tempted by Experimental Engineer. He had made a lot of friends and liked working with the dwarves on their machines. But was working on machinery in the real world and in game world what he wanted? He knew it wasn't. There were secrets down deep in the earth, maybe even the Engine. He wanted to find those secrets... He could always spend time with his friends, no matter what class he took. And he suspected they would be happy to have him scout out new veins of ore for them to mine.

The left Bonecaster and Rune-Boned Scout. Both would let him keep access to the Arcane Library. Both would let him cast spells.

That seemed to be part of the difference. Bonecaster would let him work with normal spells, and Rune-Boned Scout would experiment with the old runes, and find ways to construct spells from them. One offered a large increase in mana, the other gave him more tools for exploring.

One of those tools was his Smuggler’s Stash. Exploring was a lot easier with a cubic yard of storage. The game was very stingy with storage skills and devices. He didn’t like the idea of losing it.

He thought about the difference between the Velocity Rune and the Speed Rune. Cichol had told him that the rune he had learned was much more powerful. That had proved true when he created his own spell to enhance the captain’s harpoon. It stood to reason that the other ancient runes were also more powerful, but maybe harder to work with?

But if he worked hard enough, he might be able to learn magic just as powerful as Bonecasting, and have better skills for exploring. He crossed off Bonecasting and circled Rune-Boned Scout. The decision of which class to take settled, he decided to take a nap. Then he'd see how much he could buy with 180000 in experience.