Zavier and Tess were at the table, the scent of coffee clearing away the cobwebs of a night of no sleep.
"Jesus, Tess, this is amazing! I'm so proud of you!" The level increases and substantial gains to her other attributes had been great enough on their own, but she had somehow gained a new skill during the night. Zavier had tried to dive into it out of reflex only to have a splitting headache stop him before he started. Now he was admiring the description she'd sent his way.
Name: Indomitable
Level: 1
Type: Combat Skill
Description:
Due to your experience with terrifying adversaries and overcoming insurmountable odds against creatures far greater than your level, you have developed a profound resistance to fear. This skill was born from a defining moment when you stood firm against both fear-inducing magical abilities and overwhelming physical threats.
Effect:
Fearless Resolve enhances your ability to withstand fear-based attacks - both magical and mundane. Your mental fortitude allows you to operate under extreme stress without succumbing to panic, making you a steadfast figure in the most dire situations. This skill not only enables you to resist psychological warfare but also ensures that you maintain clarity and focus when others might falter.
Usage:
Active: Automatically negates the first fear effect encountered in a battle. Passive: Provides a continuous minor boost to your resistance against fear effects.
"You know this only makes you even hotter," he waggled his eyebrows at her.
She slapped him playfully. "You had enough last night, Big Boy. The kids will be up soon. Besides, I didn't show you the best part!" She stood and walked to the front door where she'd dropped her weapons. Their mud room was quickly becoming a blood room.
She came back holding a vicious curved blade that looked to be a solid piece of bone, handle molded into a grip and turning smoothly into what could only be a massive bear's claw. It was longer than the machete by a few inches and had a wickedly sharp blade that curved towards the edge. The dull side was bone as thick as his wrist and looked like it could take blows from a sledge hammer without chipping.
"What is that?" he whispered, awe in his voice. Tess only smiled and shared the screen with him.
Item name: Claw of Nightfall
Type: Weapon (Melee)
Description: A weapon forged from the sharpened claw of the Umbral Ursine, infused with its dark elemental energy.
Stats:
Attack: +3
Abilities:
Dark Slash: Each attack with the claw has a 20% chance to deal additional dark damage, reducing the enemy's vision temporarily. Fear Inducement: Successful hits have a 10% chance to induce a fear effect in the target, causing them to flee or become paralyzed with terror. Life Drain: Restores a small amount of health to the wielder for each successful hit.
"I already seem to have gained two points to attack throughout the night anyway, most likely a combination of leveling and the way we blasted through everything without stopping. But this thing just bumped me up into solid 'predator' range."
"This is not helping me right now," Zavier said as he adjusted in his seat.
Tess laughed and walked back to the door to set the weapon down. They were really going to have to come up with a system of organizing their gear.
An hour later the four of them were back at the table discussing the strategies of the day.
"We need to get you leveled up, kids," Zavier said. "We've been going too slow with you and it's hurting your advancement. I'm at level seven and your mom hit eight last night."
The kids looked at her in surprise. "Cool, mom!" Luna said and Tess just smiled with pride.
"That being said, your father's right," Tess continued for him. "You're both really low level and that's our fault. We've been trying to keep you safe so haven't been pushing you. That changes today. We're going to put you two out there and you're going to learn to fight without our help. We'll be nearby watching, but unless you're about to be severely injured we need to let you do this."
Zavier nodded. "Strategy, thinking ahead, and planning are all great skills and you need to remember them, but we've learned these last few nights that there's no substitute for being in the middle of it all and fighting on instinct. Your skills won't grow if we keep protecting you, which means you have to be in danger. The System needs to know where you're at so it can give you skills to improve. It also rewards effort and risk, and we've been shielding you from that."
The twins' eyes were wide with trepidation. "But before we go there are a few things we need to discuss, and a couple plans to make," Zavier said.
"First," he continued, "let's talk about your skills and paths. Before I injured myself," he caught Tess's reproving but concerned look, "I saw potential paths. Cass," he turned to look at him, "you've been eliciting a lot of defensive behaviors and The System is pushing you that direction. It's lining up skills for you that make you better able to defend yourself and others, escape when needed, stuff like that. Is that a path you want to go down?"
Cass considered, then dropped his eyes. His voice held shame, "I know it's weak, but yeah. I just don't feel comfortable killing stuff like you and mom, and I don't know what to do. When I get out there all I feel is scared, and I just keep thinking about how I might die or let you guys die because I froze up."
Tess and Luna reached for his hands together. "It's fine, Honey," Tess said gently, "there's strength in defending those you love too. You have a strong survival instinct, which means you're extra scared of getting hurt. If this is what feels natural to you then you should pursue it."
Cass looked at her with shining, gratitude-filled eyes.
"If that's the case," Zavier said, "you need to focus hard on the different ways of stopping enemies, redirecting them, and moving around the battlefield quickly and confidently. I think you need to focus on your Agility and Endurance."
"Not strength?" Cass asked.
"You can - some extra strength will help with you in becoming a bulwark, but good defense relies on speed, stamina, and the ability to get where you need to be without tripping or falling. The faster you are, the slower the creatures will seem." He looked to Tess for confirmation and she nodded.
"He's right, Honey," Tess said. "When I'm out there I'm practically untouchable by most of the things we've seen so far, and Endurance will let you be like a tank."
Cass laughed. "Tanky," he said. "It makes you more tanky."
Zavier continued, " And you, Luna," he looked at her, "your situation is weird. The System doesn't know what to do with you because you haven't really specialized in any one direction."
"I have this!" she said gleefully, holding up the gauntlet that was always on her arm now.
"That's true, and you can get skills in using items like that if you want, but it'll limit you. Skills in The System are like seeds. They start as singular items that are a small piece of what you've done so far, what you are good at, and what will make you most likely to survive. Once you've got one of the skill seeds started, the energy you get from leveling powers them until they reach a point where they're ready to evolve. After that you'll keep getting stronger versions of it, but each time a seed evolves it has a lot of branches it can choose from, and those choices are made by your actions. It's a little random, but mostly it's defined by your actions. This is how you choose your skills and path. You can continue to rely on the gauntlet and you'll get stronger with it. You may even get the option to become proficient with other weapons like it, but you'll always be dependent on the weapons you get. You could hamstring yourself pretty quickly if the items needed for your growth aren't available. We can't rely on the Bouchards for your growth."
Luna looked crestfallen. "So what do I do then?" she asked with frustration.
"Well, I have a weird idea for you. One thing I noticed during your fights is that your Luck stat was really active. When you slipped and accidentally took out that squirrel your Luck shot through the roof. And then, when that other one was on top of you," he paused for a second as a range of emotions crossed her face, "uhm, well it took off again. Then again with the snakes. I really think you should be pumping up your Luck stat as much as you can."
"But not JUST your Luck," Tess shot Zavier a look, "you need to keep your other stats high too. Being well-rounded and well-balanced is going to give you more opportunities than luck alone."
Luna looked and seemed to be considering this.
"What that means for us today is that Cass, you're going to do your best to defend yourself and Luna against everything you can. You're not trying to beat everything, you're just keeping the hits from landing."
Cass nodded in understanding.
"What do I do then?" Luna asked.
Tess and Zavier shared the look parents give when they are supposed to know the answer, but don't. Zavier just shrugged then laughed. "Whatever the hell you want, Honey!"