Ruthless (The Completionist Chronicles Book 5) Read online

  Poppy and Joe stared at each other. Jaxon jumped after a butterfly that flew past. Poppy unsheathed his rapier just an inch and looked Alexis in the eye. “Your boyfriend might stand that, but do something like that to me, and we’re done. Think on that before you start making power plays and tooting your own horn. You’ve been pushing all of us pretty hard recently, and you’ve been doing a fine job. Start attacking me, though… I’ll make sure you go off to respawn faster than I can inhale your poison.”

  Alexis deflated. “Wow, take a joke and turn it into… just wow, Poppy.”

  “Don’t turn this around on me-”

  “Oh, look! Loot!” Joe loudly exclaimed, dropping all the Neigh-Bears out of his storage devices. “Let’s get these processed. I’m betting that we’ll find a few Cores, lots of materials that will sell nicely…”

  The party members turned away from each other, avoiding eye contact as they all went through and chopped up the Neigh-Bears. As a benefit of being on Guild property, each time they pulled usable meat off of a carcass, it vanished into nothingness and a notification appeared.

  Contribution points added!

  “That’s handy,” Joe mused, pushing a carving knife through a thick section on the beast’s haunch. “Easy cleanup. Now where’s… that… Core?”

  Joe kept slicing for another few minutes, then sighed and sat back. “Forget this. Shadows… pull, push… solidify!”

  The entire beast was pulled into ten large chunks, the meat and bones tearing rather than being cut. “Shoot… still don't have perfect control of this. That was supposed to be razor sharp.”

  “Joe, that hide is totally ruined now.” Poppy sighed and sat down as well. “Whatever… they aren't worth much these days anyway. Here’s the Core; found it when the skull was pulled apart.”

  “Thanks.” Joe took the Core and grimaced. “Common Core. Ugh. What a wasteful joke of an item.”

  “Those were pretty common monsters; I’m actually surprised they gave a Core at all.” Jaxon leaned in and looked at the Core. “Seems… almost different than the others that I’ve seen.”

  “Huh?” Joe looked at the notification from touching it.

  Common-grade synthetic monster Core found! Would you like to convert this into experience points? Current worth: Five hundred experience points.

  “Five hundred?” Joe looked again. “Synthetic? This is a Common grade Core, why is it worth the same amount as a low grade, or damaged Core?”

  “If you hadn’t noticed yet, this is also a perfect cube instead of a gemstone shape.” Jaxon pointed out. Joe had not seen that, the soft yet penetrating light emanating from it deterred him from looking at it directly.

  “As long as it works for what I need, then I don’t care if it comes out as a smiley face.” Joe sighed and stored the Core. “Must have been my new skill messing with things.”

  “Good to know that there is another way to get those Cores. Have you seen what they cost at the contribution shop?” Alexis rejoined the conversation, clearly trying to put the previous sore conversation behind them.

  “Mike actually got that up and running?” Joe chuckled at the thought. He was sure the man was going to rub it in the next time they met. “Good for him, I suppose?”

  Bard came out of the woods, gave Alexis a dark look, and walked off toward the Guild town. She swallowed and looked at the ground as they all resumed their journey. Joe mulled over his recent realizations, and had to sigh at the sheer amount of work that he had in front of him. “Hmm… show skill details: Ritual Magic.”

  Ritual Magic (Expert II): Ability to create, maintain, and change rituals much more efficiently than usual. -.5% mana and component cost per skill level. Ritualist class exclusive: -50% mana and component cost. Current bonus maximized at 85% cost reduction.

  “I haven’t been able to budge this skill in weeks now.” Joe looked at his Ritual Alchemy skill, and hoped that with the new information he had gained, his skills would at the very least stop stagnating.

  Soul Forge completed! New skill acquired: Artisan Body.

  Artisan Body (Novice IX): Everything that you do with your body is just a tiny bit easier. Mind, body, or something more ephemeral, all Characteristics are .1n times faster to train during a daily skill increase, where n = skill level.

  Joe stared at the new skill, trying to figure out how the skills he had combined were able to make this. “This means that… if I needed to train for a full hour, I’d only need to train for… almost fifty-five minutes? That means that I need to train for… about thirteen and a half minutes? Useful, but not really. But what if I took that to rank fifty?”

  He worked through the mental math for a long moment, really missing calculators for the thousandth time. “No, I’m wrong from the start. It says ‘point one N times faster’. That means that… why am I having so much trouble with this? My math was right. At fifty, this would cut the time to train characteristics in half.”

  “Sir!” Joe jumped and looked around. He found himself sitting alone at a picnic table, and realized that at least an hour had passed since his team had started walking home. Joe focused his confused glance on a messenger, who handed over a box. “Package for you, sir!”

  “Abyssal calculation drain… thank you.” Joe took the box and stood, making his way swiftly to the temple. “I don't like this. I'm not this scatterbrained. These debuffs are messing with me way too much.”

  He looked at the extraordinarily plain box, pulled on his Exquisite Shell to the maximum, and opened it. The plain outer shell fell away, revealing a box with the Royal Crest on it. “This… is not what I expected.”

  Opening it revealed a letter and a small golden circle. He read the letter first, not trusting that he would know what to do with the other item.

  To Joe,

  Please be aware that we

  are fully aware of the acts that you

  continue to perform. We see the benefits you have wrought,

  and hope that this upgrade of Our gift to you

  will be put to good use.

  Queen Marie.

  -P.S. In case that wasn't clear enough, this is Our thanks for the new arena you built.

  Touch the circlet to the golden marker on your forehead.

  -P.P.S. Do not combine the result with other things.

  “I mean… not going to throw it away, so I might as well use it, right?” Joe picked up the glowing circle and placed it on his forehead. “What was that last part about combin-”

  Skill gained: Essence Cycle (Novice I). One of the four magical senses that can be granted by the King or Queen of Ardania. By powering your eyes with mana, you will be able to see the energy in all things. Practice will be needed in order to be able to ignore the ambient power in the environment. Higher levels of this skill will allow for more detailed studying of the energies. Masters of this skill are rumored to be able to perfectly learn spells simply by seeing them a single time. Effect: 1n% increased mana-visual sensation, where n = skill level. Cost: 40 mana per second.

  “Don’t combine these with each other…? The skills from the Royals, right? That's the only thing that makes sense.” Joe looked into a mirror, grimacing as he saw that the mostly-clear but slightly-gold dot on his head had turned into an outline of an eye. It was small, but it glowed softly, and he was bald. It was very noticeable. “I just… fine. Try it out, don't think about how weird this is. Just makes me look like a classic Monk powering a chakra, or whatever that is supposed to be. It’s fine.”

  Sitting in the lotus position, Joe looked straight ahead and activated his new ability. “Essence Cycle.”

  In retrospect, sitting in a massive magical building, in the portion of said building that was devoted to the divine, may have been a bad idea. May have been. Hours later, Joe was able to pull away from his inspection of the deepest darkness that he had ever seen. He had been staring at and inspecting pure dark-aligned power, and really felt that he had gained something from it.

  You have
stared into the void and walked away with a smile on your face! Characteristic training complete. +1 Charisma. Caution: gaining charisma in this fashion may lead to side effects. For being the first traveler to discover this new method of characteristic training: Charisma +5!

  Skill increased: Essence Cycle (Novice V).

  Joe wobbled to his feet, feeling sick and wrung-out. His head was pounding, and he felt that he was going to drop. “Wh-what’s happening? Character sheet!”

  Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Mage (Actual: Rituarchitect)

  Profession I: Tenured Scholar (Actual: Arcanologist)

  Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist

  Character Level: 16 Exp: 136,123 Exp to next level: 16,877

  Rituarchitect Level: 4 Exp: 8,936 Exp to next level: 1,064

  Hit Points: 282/350

  Mana: 60/1,650 (115 Reserved)

  Mana regen: 33.89/sec (Base 30.81/sec increased by gear)

  Stamina: 315/315

  Stamina regen: 5.68/sec

  Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

  Strength: 33 (1.33)

  Dexterity: 48 (1.48)

  Constitution: 40 (1.4)

  Intelligence: 110 (3.1)

  Wisdom: 85 (2.35)

  Charisma: 40 (1.4)

  Perception: 63 (2.13)

  Luck: 31 (1.31)

  Karmic Luck: 0

  “Ugh. That constant mana drain… it must have eaten into my health when I was running too low on mana.” Joe took deep breaths, waiting for his mana to quickly refill. “Right… onward toward my goals.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “To arms! Towny McTownface is under attack!”

  The klaxon sounding throughout the Guild made Joe spring upright, and he ran to the wall as he shook off his grogginess. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone shadowy leaping at him. “Dark Lightning Strike!”

  The strange-sounding lightning hit him just as the would-be assassin did, but the thin daggers dealt far more damage than the spell. Still, as the daggers bounced off his Exquisite Shell, the unexpected pain made his attacker flinch. Joe used that time to coat them with a thick layer of acid, though he no longer had the ability to channel the spell. A shriek filled the air as the figure’s skin started to melt.

  “My gear!” Then again, the assailant might not care so much about a measly sixty-five points of damage. The armor durability-destroying effect, on the other hand… “I’m gonna wreck you!”

  “No thanks!” Joe called out without looking back. While the assassin was distracted, Joe started running toward a clump of fighters. They saw what was happening, and sent the assassin to respawn after a swift battle. Since the guy’s gear was ruined, his stealth was a joke and the fighters had no issue taking him down. “Thanks, guys.”

  “Mages shouldn't be alone during an attack; you get hunted first. Come with us ‘til you find your party.” Joe didn't recognize anyone in the group, but he stayed with them and committed their faces to memory. He’d find a way to thank them later.

  In a strangely short amount of time, the fighting was over and the town was secured. Most of the attackers hadn't gotten into the town itself, content to assault the walls themselves. Joe was pulled into yet another emergency meeting, where the Guild explained that this was likely the result of the other Noble Guilds, and possibly other groups, testing their defenses.

  After the quick meeting ended, Mike pulled Joe aside. “We have no answers for this, Joe. This was well-organized. As soon as we started to respond, they fell back. Clearly they were only testing us, but I think we failed. Is there anything that you can do to increase our defenses?”

  “No, there’s…” Joe hesitated as he thought over the various effects that he had recently discovered with his rituals. “Maybe. No promises, but I might be able to set up some rituals that can be activated if they absolutely need to be. Still, I need time, both to research and to make them. Again, no promises.”

  “We should have time.” Mike sighed in relief. “Tell me what you need, and I’ll see what can be done.”

  They discussed terms for a short while, and came to an agreement. Just before walking away, Joe remembered that the shop had opened. “Hey, are there any Cores for sale in the contribution shop?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” A sly smile appeared on Mike’s face, “They are one of the most expensive items, and can only be bought with contribution points. Some of the other stuff can be purchased with coin, but those… well, you’ll be very happy when you see that our deals have been working in your favor.”

  After parting ways, Joe decided that he should check in and see if more building material had been collected. It had been happening more and more rarely, but he was glad to see that there was enough for a full building again. He knocked on a wooden post to get the workers in the area to look his way. “Hey guys, I know it’s early, but since everyone is awake… any of you know where the town planner is?”

  A rumpled man wearing pajamas arrived a few minutes later, and they went through the new plans that Joe had been able to collect. Upon seeing the Trophy Hall, the man almost shouted for joy. “This! This one! We needed a building that only gives an overall morale boost, and if we build this one, we should hit town rank two right away!”

  “Then let’s do it!” Joe high-fived the guy; his enthusiasm was infectious. “I’ll get my people together, where do we need to meet?”

  After getting everything in motion, Joe raced off and dragged his Coven out of the beds they had just re-crawled into. They hurried to the town center and found that a good chunk of the upper echelon had also been pulled out to see what would happen. The building was scheduled to be placed north-east of the Guild Hall, so everyone set out for an early morning walk. When they reached the designated area, Joe rustled around for a few long minutes, examining details, making the outline of the building appear with his tool, and moving people for a good half hour before he was finally satisfied with the layout.

  Then it was time for the actual building to be put into place. With a quick chant and a few drops of blood, Joe and his Coven were pulled into the air. In under a minute, the building had been completed. He turned to the town planner and shrugged. “Well, that’s my part completed. I don't know what else to expect, but if-”

  Class experience gained: 120.

  Guild alert! The Guild’s base of operations, Towny McTownface-

  Joe chuckled as he heard Aten groan as if he were being cut apart.

  -has reached town level 2: Actual Town. All offensive and defensive actions taken on behalf of the Wanderer’s Guild while in Towny McTownface are increased by 5%! All resources collected and items crafted on guild property have their quality increased by 1%!

  Guild quest updated: The making of an Elder. Current town level: 2/5.

  “Man, that’s a long-term quest.” Joe shuddered as he looked around and saw all that had gone into making this town level. Then again, a few of the buildings were incredibly rare, so perhaps those weren't so far away after all?

  As an additional reward for being the first Noble Guild to increase their town level to two, The Guildhall will now be upgraded to an ‘Uncommon’ ranked Guildhall!

  There were a few screams that drifted all the way to the group observing the construction of the trophy hall as people were chucked into the air. The Guildhall shuddered and blazed with light, coming back into view about twenty percent larger and an extra story higher. Four new additions were clearly visible: large ballistae on each corner.

  “Oh look… a new building to scan.” Amongst all the other hubbub, Joe’s comment went unheard. The remainder of the day proceeded as normal, the major highlight for Joe being another completion of the test dungeon, which caused him to reach the threshold for dexterity. Just outside of the dungeon, he collapsed as his nervous system was upgraded. When he came around, he was faster, more accurate, and could feel the utter nimbleness of his body. The best part was when he checked his debuffs… and ‘Risk
Assessment’ was gone, hopefully forever.

  A week went by with Joe working with his team, practicing his spells, and raising buildings. Between the monster fights and buildings, he had gained eight thousand character experience and fourteen hundred class experience. In short, he had worked his butt off to raise his characteristics and skills. At the end of the week, Joe had raised all of his stats except for luck above fifty points. Each of these had a differing effect on his body, and after comparing with his team and a few others in the guild, Joe started to see a pattern for the development of threshold rewards.

  Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Mage (Actual: Rituarchitect)

  Profession I: Tenured Scholar (Actual: Arcanologist)

  Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist

  Character Level: 16 Exp: 144,123 Exp to next level: 8,877

  Rituarchitect Level: 5 Exp: 10,456 Exp to next level: 4,544

  Hit Points: 350/350 -> 534/534

  Mana: 1,381/1,650 (115 Reserved)

  Mana regen: 33.89/sec

  Stamina: 485/485 -> 528.5/528.5

  Stamina regen: 5.68/sec -> 5.84/sec

  Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

  Strength: 53 (2.03)

  Dexterity: 54 (2.04)

  Constitution: 54 (2.04)

  Intelligence: 110 (3.1)

  Wisdom: 85 (2.35)

  Charisma: 52 (2.02)

  Perception: 63 (2.13)

  Luck: 38 (1.38)

  Karmic Luck: 0

  All of Joe’s physical attributes had given him the exact same thing: a ten percent boost across the board to all things that were considered ‘bodily resources’. Instead of a point of constitution giving him ten health, now it was worth eleven. Instead of five points, stamina, strength, and constitution were worth five-point-five. This had been a wild change from crossing the thresholds for intelligence and wisdom.