Once Adriana had her food they sat down together in the back of the cave. It was dark inside, even though Bjorn could see just fine Adriana couldn’t. To alleviate this issue Bjorn cast his simple light spell sticking it to the ceiling. Whenever the duration of the spell ran out Bjorn would recast the spell, affixing it to the same spot.
Adriana was quiet for a bit after she finished eating. It was obvious she wanted to say something, but either didn’t know where to start, or was finding it hard to start talking. Bjorn understood this, instead of pushing her he sat quietly. Whenever she figured out what she wanted to say she would do so.
Eventually she came to some sort of decision. “I agreed that we needed to do something about Ramsey and Luna but I think we went too far.” After she said that sentence she sat quietly as if she was waiting for Bjorn to say something.
“Why?”
That question wasn’t what she was expecting and it threw her off. “Well they were people, and they deserve a certain amount of decency. They didn’t deserve the torture that you did to them. Well at least Luna didn’t.”
Bjorn just gave her a flat stare, then the light winked out. Bjorn recast his spell. “I understand that you have a sense or morality, that you think that everyone has something good within themselves. But they were beyond saving.”
“How do you know that?”
This question angered Bjorn, she knew how he knew that. “BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T HEAR THEIR LAUGHTER AS THEY RAPED MY WIFE TO DEATH.” Bjorn was finding it hard to contain his anger. He took a deep breath and reigned it, it was still there but it wasn’t in his voice.
“You didn’t hear how they mocked Meira and myself while I begged them to stop. You didn’t have to watch as they violated your wife in front of your very eyes. No person who could be saved would do what they did.”
“You never told me about that day.” Adriana said, if Bjorn’s outburst had startled her she didn’t show it on her face.
“The worst was the laughter. It was vicious, mocking, belittling. As if they wanted to rub it in that I couldn’t do anything. As if they wanted me to suffer as much as possible while they violated her. As they slowly drew out her death.”
Adriana was quiet as she let Bjorn continue talking.
“It wasn’t just a few of them. It was all of them. Men and women both. Besides Ramsey and Jarred the women were the worst. You don’t understand what it is like, to be a woman and to have your power taken from you. To have your body violated. I hope you never have to.”
“I know wh-.”
“No you don’t.” Bjorn said, his eyes piercing into her. “I know your life, I know everything you told Meira. You had a shitty abusive father but he never laid his hands on you. No boy in town ever did so either. You told Meira just as much, so don’t try and pretend that you know.”
“How do you know? Your a man, you’ve never been on that side of rape.”
“I know what it is like for several different reasons. You know what Meira’s life was like, we talked to you and told you about our time in the slave pits. That wasn’t just one time, or even 10 times that happened. It had been happening to her for months before I was brought to the pit. She told me about those times, we talked about it many many different times. It made our sex life difficult. Sure we loved each other, more than anything else in this world. But it is hard to come back from having your body violated for as long as it happened to her.”
“The next reason was I had a sister who was raped by her ex boyfriend in high school.”
“What is high school?”
Her question threw him off guard. “Back on earth kids are required to go to school from the age of 5 until they are 18. From 14 to 18 years of age they are in high school.”
“Oh.”
“Anyways back on topic. My sister and I were close. She was only a few years older than me. She was dating this guy who was a giant douche canoe.” He could see another question coming. “A real jerk. They broke up because he cheated on her. But I guess he thought she was his property. She met up with him so they could talk about the break up and he raped her. She was distraught for years afterwards. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying. They got the guy eventually and he was sentenced to life in prison. But that didn’t fix what it did to her. It took a while but eventually she confided in me and told me what it was like to be helpless in that situation.”
“And the last reason I know what it is like is because I read stories of what it was like for survivors of rape. There is a device on earth called the world wide web that lets you find anything anyone has written about. On the web there are tons of websites that are dedicated to giving a voice to those who had been raped. As well as advise on how to help those who have suffered. When my sister had been raped I spent countless hours on those sites trying to learn how to help her. How to make her feel safe again. By the time I died and was brought here to the Eld she was still suffering.”
“So don’t you dare lie to me and tell me you know what it is like. Don’t you dare suggest that I don’t know what it is like, what it is like to suffer. You lived in a nice town and grew up in a safe place. Things like that don’t happen there. Sure you have an idea but you don't KNOW.”
“However, Luna, Sonia, and Vivian all knew what they were doing. I find it hard to believe that they had an easy life. They knew what kind of effect it would have on her and those who cared for her. They knew and they still let it happen. They knew and they still laughed at her helplessness, at my helplessness.”
“No, she deserved what she got. And as for Ramsey, he deserved every second of what he got. He was the one who choked Meira with his dick. It is kind of a righteous justice that he died choking on his own dick. It is almost poetic. He made eye contact with me as Meira died, I was forced to watch as he snuffed out the life of my wife. I wasn’t going to rape Luna to death, I will never be that kind of monster. However I feel like it was justified for her to die as she did. It was justice for him to die knowing that she was going to suffer when she died.”
“But what does that make you? You say that they are the monsters but the acts you did were that of a monster. It isn’t moral to torture others. It isn’t justice to prolong their suffering. Killing them and being done with it should have been the end of it. Especially after Ramsey died, you continued to make that woman suffer.”
“Need I remind you that you agreed to our plan? You were actually the one who suggested that I use essence drain on Luna. You suggested that I use health pots to heal her back up before draining her again. Don’t you try to paint yourself as better than me. That you are more morally superior than I am. More than that I tried to warn you when we left Leafside. I told you exactly what I was going to do and yet you still decided to come along. You decided to come even while knowing that would happen.”
“But.”
“But what? You know what I think? I think the reason you have been upset isn’t because of what I did. It is because of your part that you played in it. You are upset because you are sickened by yourself for joining in. Well guess what you are right. Everything you accuse me of is just as true for you. You may not have been the one committing the act but you sure as shit helped plan and enable it.”
Silence fell between the two of them as Bjorn and Adriana glared at one another. Even though Adriana didn’t like it and didn’t want to admit it Bjorn was right. She was just as much to blame as Bjorn was for what they did. Life is so much easier when you can point fingers at someone else and lay all of the blame on them. The only problem with pointing a finger is that 3 more points right back at you.
The light winked out again and Bjorn recast his spell. Bjorn could glare at Adriana in the dark but that wouldn’t be fair as she couldn’t see him. Once again light filled the room and her expression changed slightly, she was still glaring at Bjorn, but behind her eyes was pain. His words must have had an effect on her. This continued for the full 10 minute duration of the spell.
When Bjorn recast the spell he decided the silence had stretched on for too long. “You may view me as a monster and that is alright. That is your choice. You may even want to stop me from killing these creatures in a form that I see fit. But I won’t, and you can’t. I won't stop until every single one of them is dead and has suffered as I have suffered. They need to learn that their actions have consequences, even if they die right afterwards. If you don’t like that then you can leave and head home. I will give you plenty of money so you can make it there.”
There it was, the crossroads on this conversation. Either they come to some sort of agreement or they split ways. They both felt like they were right, like they had the moral high ground but in reality neither of them did. Both were at fault, both were in this situation together, both were to blame for the atrocities committed.
Based on her words prior to this Bjorn was fairly certain he knew which path would be taken. She was a lot like Meira in this regard. They were both head strong and willing to call Bjorn out on his bullshit. They both knew who they were and what stance they took. Both were not afraid to speak their minds. From this day forth he would have to continue his trek alone.
Bjorn’s words had an effect on Adriana that he wasn’t expecting. Instead of determination and steadfastness, he saw disbelief and offence. She looked wounded by his words, by what he said. Instead of doubling down and pointing the moral finger she looked wounded.
“If you want me to leave then I will. But I told you that I was going to stick by your side, so I plan on it. I don’t want to leave you, I want to see this through to the end. Even if it means I lose myself along the way, it is what Meira, and what Alaric deserve. Whether you believe it or not, I am going to stand by your side from this day until our last day.”
White noise sounded in Bjorn’s ears as he heard what Adriana said. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that she would stand by his side through the rest of his quest. No, based on what she said, she was going to stand by his side until the day both of them died. It wasn’t an offer of subservience, but one of caring and wanting what's best for him.
In the corner of his vision he had an icon that was flashing, one that he had been ignoring, obviously because he wanted to give Adriana his full attention. However one of the notifications jumped to the front of the queue and asserted itself in the middle of his vision.
Know this! You and Adriana share a bond together that is stronger than steel. You both have experienced more together in the last 6 months than most couples do in their entire life. Because of this bond she has decided to tie her fate to yours.
You have gained Adriana as a companion. Companions are rare bonds between two people and will last as long as your goals align. Do not abuse this bond.
As soon as he read the two prompts his vision changed. On the left side of his vision, almost right where the resource pool for being in a war party would appear, Adriana’s name appeared. When he focused on it her character sheet appeared in the middle of his vision.
Calming presence: Animals are 20% more likely to trust you.
Nimble Hands: The maximum number of attribute points you can gain for dexterity through training is increased by 5.
Late Bloomer: You gain access to your profession 5 levels later.
Huh, well that was unexpected. Bjorn wanted to address what just happened but now was not the time. His conversation with Adriana was still not over.
It didn’t matter as she brought it up. “What are companions? And why did I gain you as my companion?”
“I don’t rightly know. However I did just gain you as a companion and because of that I can now see your full character sheet. How are you level 13 already?”
“It all comes from you. My parasitic partner has done a lot between using it on you and the spriggan attached to your body. Now how do I access your character sheet?”
“I just focused on your name on the edge of my vision and it pulled it up.”
Adriana got that distant gaze that meant she was going through her menus. As she browsed Bjorn’s skill list her eyes grew wider and wider. His attribute pool, his skill list, and his spell list were all extensive. He was fairly certain she also had access to his skill level perks as well. After seeing Adriana’s full character sheet it became apparent how much his abilities influenced his growth. She had spent her entire life in the Eld and her skill levels were pitiful compared to Bjorn’s.
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“What the fuck?” Adriana asked with heat in her voice. “What is that bullshit? How is that fair?”
“What?”
“What? WHAT? What do you mean WHAT? I have lived in this world for over triple the amount of time that you have and my skill levels are significantly less than yours. On top of that it seems like your abilities just so happen to be perfect for you to give you both more personal levels as well as more skill levels. Then to top it off you apparently have the ability to reset to level 1 and increase your own personal power even more.” Adriana’s eyes went wide and she shut up. She must have finally understood exactly what that meant. “You could easily become the most powerful person in this world. You could easily become the 7th cataclysm to affect the Eld.”
“What do you mean by that? The 7th cataclysm.”
Adriana’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t try to change the subject. We are still talking about what you did several days ago.” She paused, closing her eyes, collecting herself. She took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “I told you that I am with you for life. I am not going anywhere. But I will not participate in any more torture. That doesn’t mean that I will stop you, but I won’t do it myself.”
“That’s fair.”
“As to your point earlier you are right. I fully partook in it. I played a part in how horrific it was. And you were right, part of my anger at you was more directed at myself for what I did, what part I played in what happened.”
She paused. Instead of jumping in he let Adriana take her time to decide what she wanted to say next. “No matter what happens and the context behind it, I will never participate in torture again. I know that I agreed, I know that I was on board, I don’t blame you. I just apparently found that line for myself. I crossed it and regret it, I will have to live with my choices. My only question is can you live with what choices you have made?”
Bjorn didn’t have to think about what he was going to answer. “Yes, I can live with them.” He had already made up his mind a little under 6 months ago, he was going to pay back what happened to his wife and child with interest. Nothing was going to stop him from getting his revenge.
“Alright then. What is the plan from here?”
“Well the area on the map where the village should be is still to the north west of us so I guess we head that way. Only we should leave in the morning. But before that I have a question for you and something that I need to do.”
“Okay, what is your question?”
“You said earlier that I could easily become the 7th cataclysm. What do you mean by that? What is it you mean when you refer to cataclysm?”
Adriana shifted in her seat. “I am no historian, I don’t know everything to do with this topic.” She let out a little self deprecating laugh. “Honestly, I don’t really know anything about this topic. Only children's stories that parents like to tell their kids. But there has been a total of 6 different events in the world that have each time led to either almost the destruction of the Eld, or the end of all sentient life on the planet.”
“Do you know what they are?”
“No, not all of them. I only ever heard or ever cared about 3 stories. One talked about how many large, dangerous monsters from the deep came to the surface and kill/destroyed everything in their path. I hated this one the most, it is filled with unspeakable horrors with unnatural bodies and ravenous hungers.”
“The second story is about dragons. They used to be a common creature all over the Eld. They lived in peace and harmony with all the other sentient races. Then something happened and all of a sudden dragons fought one another. Their power was so great and vast that a single dragon could easily wipe out entire cities. When dragons fought they left devastation in their wake. Their war lasted for centuries and eventually led to most of the world being destroyed.”
“Generic and lazy.” Bjorn commented. Almost every single fantasy story with dragons always had some story where the dragons go power hungry and try to conquer the world.
“What?”
“Never mind. Keep talking.”
“The last one is the story about the gods.”
This piqued Bjorn’s interest as something that surprised Bjorn about the Eld was the fact that it was mostly devoid of religion. He hadn’t ever gotten a good answer as to why. Maybe this was it.
“This cataclysm was because of a holy war between the light and the dark. For an untold amount of time there used to be gods who lived among us. They had great, amazing powers, they could shape the world, they could cast wondrous magics that had no equal today. This was until one of the gods from the light was killed by those of the dark. This sparked a holy war. This war ravaged the world and all of its populace. It all ended with the gods being cast from this world, forcibly removed.”
“By what?”
“No one knows.”
The words of the story jogged something in his memory about a conversation he had with Charon. (This conversation happens in the updated chapter 1 for the book.) “There are no such things as gods. Not in the way you are thinking. In the wider universe there are beings of immense power, even those that are truly immortal. But there is no real creator, no one being that everything stemmed from.”
“What kind of god is able to be forcibly removed from this world? If they were a god then there isn’t anything that should be able to remove them from anything they want.”
“That is the thought that most people have. However there are still pockets of believers all over the place who still worship their respective god. They dedicate their entire lives to trying to find their god, find ways to communicate with them, and draw them back to this world.”
“You want to know my opinion?” Bjorn asked. “I don’t think they were truly gods. I bet they were beings that somehow grew so powerful and vast that they became indistinguishable from a god. I bet that they eventually started to accept the worship of those who don’t understand and let them believe that they were gods. I am pretty sure there is no such thing as a god, only those who have more power than what yours or my mind could comprehend.”
Adriana didn’t reply right away to Bjorn’s words. Instead she began to chew on her lower lip. Something that she did while thinking, it became a familiar action to Bjorn. “Maybe. I don’t know, nor do I really care. All that matters to me is that they are gone and with them most of their believers. The world rebuilt itself without the influence of religion and I think it is better for it.”
“Hmmm, maybe. Probably. Anyways, is there anything else you want to get off your chest while we are talking about it?”
Adriana looked for a moment like she wanted to say something. However after that moment was gone she just shook her head. “No, nothing that I feel like we need to talk about.”
“Alright, we are good then?”
“Yeah. We are.”
“If you want you should rest, I am not tired yet and I have a few notifications and my new specialization I want to check out.”
Adriana nodded and yawned. She shooed Bjorn out of the way and used his bedroll to lay down. She turned her back to Bjorn and pretended or faked falling asleep.
Bjorn wanted to say something. His enhanced attributes making it easy to tell that she wasn’t actually asleep but it wasn’t worth it. He had something he wanted to do. So he got up, went to the cave entrance and sat down on the lip right next to the golem. He absently thought that he needed to come up with some sort of name for the golem before he pulled up his notifications.
You have begun the process of gaining a specialization. This process cannot be stopped once it has begun. If you fail your body will be left damaged. It will take some time and power before the damage will be restored. Good luck.
The process of gaining a specialization affects your body on a fundamental level. This can manifest itself in many different ways. One of the more important ways you are changing is that you are taking your first steps down the road of ultimate power. Be careful to honor your profession and specialization otherwise the power that you cultivate and gain will turn against you.
Congratulations you have successfully gained a specialization. You have gained the specialization: Toxicology. This is a power that augments your body and profession in multiple ways.
Due to your Toxicology specialization you have gained 10% to your resistance to poison damage. You have also gained a 10% resistance to acid damage. Your innate resistance to paralytic and mind altering poisons, toxins, and herbs is increased by 50%. You have gained a 1% chance to resist the effects of any poison that affects you completely.
As a specialist you gain an additional 5 profession points to spend each level. (New total 15 per level.) As a Toxicologist you gain a 20% reduction in the cost of toxicology related talents.
Although the power of a specialization is yours and it is shaping you and your future it does not belong to you. The power is just as much a part of the universe as it is a part of you. Do not abuse this new power or it and the universe itself will turn against you. Always remember what is given can always be taken.
“How do you abuse your specialization?” Bjorn thought to himself. It didn’t seem like something that would be possible. Or even something that you would want to do. After all, the universe decided to warn him not to abuse the power he was given several times. He shuddered as he thought about what this could mean, how he would honor his specialization and not abuse it.
Those thoughts only lasted a few seconds before he wanted to see what had changed on his profession talent page. Giddy like a school girl he pulled up his talent page to see what had changed.
When he opened up his talent page he was met with the same starry night sky he had first seen when he opened up his talent page for the first time. The same one he had just been a part of when he was trying to gain his specialization. It looked almost exactly as he remembered it, only there were 4 glaring differences. There were 4 stars that were right at the bottom of his little talent tree of stars. They burned the sickly green color of decay, of poison.
Spill over: 20: As a toxicologist the poisons and acids that you create no longer have to specialize in just organic and non organic poisons. This talent makes it so that your poisons now deal 10% of their damage to in-organic material. At the same time your acids will spill over and deal 10% of their damage to organic materials.
Even though it wasn’t entirely right that seemed to be the way the world classified those two items. A poison only affected organic materials and acids only affected in-organic material. Apparently the way that the Eld classified an acid isn’t the same way science classified an acid.
Personalized poisons: 20: Your poisons you make have a 20% increased effect if you are the one to use them.
Unattuned Poisons: 15: Whenever you craft a poison you are able to assign 5% of the damage it would do to any viable type of damage you are aware of.
What he had learned about poisons since he came to the Eld was that poisons could have all different ways that it delivered its payload. This meant that if he made a poison that used the leaves from the Deathwart plant, and mixed it with black sludge moss, and finished it off with a dash of the powder on the underside of the water lily, the poison would deal poison damage, dark damage, and water damage. The percentage of each damage type depends heavily on the quantities used, the purity of each ingredient that went in, and his own skill at deriving the deadly parts of each ingredient.
So when Bjorn reads a description of a poison and it says it will deal 40 damage over the next 4 seconds that is in a perfect world with ideal circumstances. The resistances of the person who was poisoned play a big factor in the amount of damage that actually goes through. Not only that but the person's constitution helps burn through the poison faster. Ultimately the math behind how the poison works is complicated.
Him being able to change the type of damage that the poison did when it is made would be a huge boon. Even if it was only 5% of the damage, if he could change it to something like sonic damage than it could be massive, he doubted that many people had a high sonic damage resistance.
This brought him to his final orb.
Poison expert: 25: Increase the rate that poisons help with your progression as an alchemist by 25%. This is an additional growth rate and will stack with any other skill gain abilities, talents, or augments you have.
Jackpot. In the last three years of brewing potions for Leafside he had barely grown as an alchemist at all. There were a few reasons for that. The first being that the potions he was creating for his little town didn’t challenge him at all. They were all fairly easy to brew and make, they were all the same kind of potions that he learned how to make from Medera. He had been brewing those potions for as long as he had been an alchemist.
The second reason was similar to the first. He never really experimented. While they lived in Leafside he had used his alchemy as more of a means to an end. He didn’t really need to make potions, he didn’t really need to experiment. He had all of the potion recipes either memorized or written down. There was no need for him to experiment or innovate. He didn’t care to get better at alchemy; he had been happy and wanted a simple life where he and Meira grew old together.
The last major reason was that the potions were all low level. If he applied himself he could in theory brew potions that could heal a level 2 human to full health 3 times over. He was by no means a master but he didn’t have to be. He was just too capable when it came to brewing potions for the trash he was making to really do anything.
This last talent would be his key to growing his alchemy profession again. He wasn’t sure exactly how it would work but he had a feeling that the words additional growth rate meant something. They had to mean something. Otherwise why include the word additional. He had a hunch that it would increase his current growth rate of 300% by 25%. Effectively tripling the affect one level of talent this would yield.
Even though these new specialization talents were nice he couldn’t help but feel just a little bit disappointed. These were from his specialization, they just felt like they were slightly worse than he was expecting. That is apparently what happens when you hear about something for a long time when no one expands upon it.
Back to the matter at hand. He took stock of what talents he had available for purchase, as well as how many talent points he had to spend. During the time he had brewed potions for Leafside he had completed just one of his alchemy quests. Brew Potion IV. Which had netted him a crisp 20 more talent points which he had been saving to spend.
Brew potions V: Progress: 2975/4000. To progress this quest brew more potions.
Increased potency III: 30: Increases the strength of your potions and poisons by 5% per level.
Increased duration of effect II: 20: Increases the duration of your potions and poisons by 5% per level.
Reduced cost II: 20: Decreases the amount of alchemical components that are need to brew your potions and poisons by 5% per level.
Increased doses II: 20: Increased the maximum doses of a potion per successful brewing attempt by 1.
Decreased failure rate I: 10: Decreases the failure rate of your brewing attempts by 5% per level.
Decreased crafting time I: 25: Decreases the required time for each step of the brewing process by 5% per level.
Poison specialization: 20: This is a one time purchase that will increase the effectiveness of your poisons by 10%.
Mana specialization: 20: This is a one time purchase that will increase the effectiveness of your mana potions by 10%.
Stamina specialization: 20: This is a one time purchase that will increase the effectiveness of your stamina potions by 10%.
Increased effect of healing potions II: 40: Increases the effect of your healing potions by 10% per level. This effect stacks with any other buffs to the effect of your healing potions.
Focused healing I: 25: This talent allows you to decide how exactly the healing from the healing potion will affect certain parts of the body. Only a certain amount of the healing energy will be redirected to the focused healing area. The remaining energies will course through the body like normal. Increase ranks of this skill to further focus the healing to a specific area.
Increased duration of healing potions I: 25: Increases the duration of healing potions you create by 10% per level. This effect stacks with any other modifiers you have affecting the duration.
Increased damage against undead I: 20: Increases the effect of the healing energies on undead monsters. Each level of this talent will increase the damage by 15%.
Permanent health increase: 80: This purchase will give each successful brewing of a healing potion a miniscule chance to imbue the potion with intense healing energies. These healing energies when enbibed will increase your maximum health points by an amount determined when the potion is created.
Now the only question left is what he was going to spend his 120 talent points on. There was little question what he would spend half his points on. He needed to find out and know for sure that there weren't any more stars for his specialization. So he bought everything except for Spill over.
Personalized poisons II: 40: Your poisons you make have a 40% increased effect if you are the one to use them.
Unattuned Poisons II: 30: Whenever you craft a poison you are able to assign 10% of the damage it would do to any viable type of damage you are aware of.
Poison expert: 50: Increase the rate that poisons help with your progression as an alchemist by 50%. This is an additional growth rate and will stack with any other skill gain abilities, talents, or augments you have.
Much to his disappointment it didn’t reveal any more stars. He was at first afraid that there wouldn’t be any more talents that would be revealed. Then he thought about it, in relation to all of the other talents he had access to they were surprisingly powerful. So he couldn’t really complain too much. Or he could complain but it wouldn’t make a difference.
So with half of his talent points left over there was only one that screamed at him currently. He bought poison specialization. With his poisons now 30% stronger the star containing poison specialization glowed brightly and took on a different sheen. The option to buy it disappeared but the star remained. The fog rolled back revealing 4 more stars.
Stronger poisons I: 15: Increase the strength of the poisons you create by 10%.
Secrete paralytic venom I: 15: Your body will be able to produce a weak paralytic venom that will last exactly 12 hours after it has left your body before becoming completely inert.
Attribute damage: 50: Unlocks the knowledge on the specific method to make poisons that do temporary damage to the targets attributes.
Corrosive acids I: 10: Increased the amount of damage of any acid that you produce by 10%.
His eyes were drawn to the third entry into the third option. Attribute damage, that could be massive. If he had the points he would purchase the talent in a heart beat. If somehow he could find a way to create a poison that dealt temporary attribute damage it could help bring someone considerably stronger than himself to heel. Namely Kairon.
Just thinking about a poison that did 10 points of constitution damage and just like that his target would lose 100 hp. Even if it was just a nick or glancing blow. It would be a massive boon. Now the only question was, is it worth waiting a whole level to buy this talent?
The more he thought about it the less worth it the prospect seemed. As he read over the talent over and over again he came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be worth it. At least not now. All the talent did was give him access to the knowledge on how to make those kinds of poisons. That could mean that he would have to spend talent points to unlock specific knowledge on how to make say a strength damage poison. In a best case scenario he would gain the knowledge and would likely not have any of the required alchemical ingredients.
No it just wasn’t worth it yet. He needed something that gave him more immediate power. Once again that whole 1 year time frame which he only had roughly 6 months of it left still hung heavy over his head. For the first time since he made the blood oath he almost regretted making it. Almost
So with his 40 remaining talent points he purchased 3 more talents. Those being Stronger poisons I, Secrete Paralytic venom I, and finally, Decreased failure rate I.
Stronger poisons II: 25: Increase the strength of the poisons you create by 10%.
Secrete paralytic venom II: 30: Your body will be able to produce a mild paralytic venom that will last exactly 12 hours after it has left your body before becoming completely inert.
When he purchased Stronger poisons I and Decreased failure rate I the fog rolled back revealing another star behind each star..
Poison duration I: 20: Increase the duration of any poison you administer by 20%.
Component recovery I: 20: gives you a 5% chance to recover 70% of the alchemical components lost from a botched alchemy attempt.
His whole thought process behind buying the decreased failure rate was simple. Over the last month he hadn’t done much alchemy simply because of them being on the road. During the day they were trudging along trying to catch up and hunt down Kairon’s crew. At night he wasn’t able to brew as often because most of the time he was spending his time not sleeping watching over Adriana as she slept.
The last reason and probably the most important was the fact that they were on the road and he didn’t have access to any really nice alchemy equipment. Sure he had a small travel set, but it wasn’t enough. At least not enough that he could benefit from a decreased chance of failure. Over the last month of travel he had failed more brewing attempts than he wished to admit.
What surprised him the most was that when he purchased the paralytic venom talent it revealed 2 more stars as well.
Increased duration I: 10: Increases the duration that the venom you secrete can last outside of your body by 12 hours.
Venom of nil spellcasting I: 60: Your body will be able to create a venom that when administered blocks people from being able to use spells.
What? Was he becoming a snake? Besides that, that venom of nil spellcasting was amazing. He could only think about and dream about gaining that talent which would let him shut down any dedicated spellcaster. He didn’t like the idea behind having to bite people to administer his venom. He had a few more prompts.
Your body now is capable of producing a paralytic venom which can be administered through biting. Your body is capable of storing up to 2 doses of the poison at any given time. It takes 32 hours for your body to produce another dose.
When another dose of the poison is created your body will lose 150 stamina all at once. If your body fails to have the required stamina to produce a dose then your body will fail to produce one and you will have to wait another 32 hours to produce another dose of poison.
To administer the poison you have to bite down on your opponent and will for the poison to be injected. Alternatively you may put a vial against one of your canine teeth and apply pressure to the back side of the tooth. You then are able to will it and the venom will be collected.
At least he didn’t have to bite his victims. But he needed to know how powerful it was, after all the talent did say a weak paralytic venom. For the time being he had a test he wanted to complete. He pulled a vial out of his bag of holding and held it up to his canine tooth.
That was when he realized that something in his mouth had changed. His mouth bite felt slightly off. Using a questing finger he ran his hand along his teeth trying to find out what was different. When he got to one of his canine teeth everything clicked into place.
The tooth was slightly longer and more pronounced. Feeling along the edge of the tooth it almost had a serrated feel to it. When he got to the tip of the tooth it was sharp, sharper than it had been. It wasn’t pronounced, but it was long enough that it stuck down below the rest of his teeth. He wasn’t becoming a snake, he was becoming a vampire.
That dark thought aside Bjorn put his vial to his tooth and did exactly what the prompt said. And nothing happened.
Duh, he was going to have to wait. Probably 32 hours, it wouldn’t make sense for his body to gain the ability to produce this venom and all of a sudden it has 2 ready to go. So it looks like his test was going to have to wait until tomorrow night.
The rest of his night was spent staring off into the distance, his mind racing with the implications of his new talents.
