The Pinnacle Warrior

A few short hours of running through the forest were far from enough to let Astrid run through every possibility and every small impact that would be made with each of her choices. Five Skill options had been presented to her, and there was only one that she wasn’t seriously considering.

The first thing that she thought of that she hadn’t spoken of in her very brief conversation with her party members was that there was so much similarity between this new proposed Immortal Aura and the Unconquerable Aura she already had. To be honest, she didn’t feel like she deserved this particular Skill offering. For most of her time in Steel tier, which admittedly wasn’t very long, she’d neglected to use Unconquerable Aura. Then, for the past month, she had been pushing quite hard with Gabriel to understand how auras worked, but she really couldn’t bring herself to agree with the Great One’s evaluation that she was worthy of this Skill. Regardless, if she was to take it, would the two auras merge once she hit Mithril? Or, if she neglected to take Immortal Aura now, would whatever evolution she got provide her with it free of charge?

There were plenty of questions about just this first option, and she couldn’t help but feel that she couldn’t make the right decision, regardless of whatever decision she made.

Also, Shieldsman's Strength and Mountain's Foundation filled very similar roles: to be a Skill that would inevitably be rolled into her equipment Skill while providing a good boost to her physical attributes. Between them, she was self-aware enough to say that she probably would take Mountain's Foundation over Shieldsman's Strength simply because it was focused on Power. She didn’t feel like she needed the extra 25% to Alacrity as much as she would benefit from a total 40% to Power. However, a largely unconditional 25% boost to Power, Alacrity, and Fortitude was huge.

She shook her head. She was just repeating the same things that the party had all been talking about before. There was no new information, just her retracing the same information in the hopes that it would suddenly become different. Moving past those Skills, she looked at Smite.

As a finishing Skill, it was a one-size-fits-all, overwhelmingly powerful, and constantly sought-after Skill. It could, as long as she was intelligent, be used to hit an enemy's weakness every time. The flexibility would be huge, as its mana and stamina cost were variable and could be tweaked to be used however the situation needed. In comparison, she’d felt the limitations of Spectre Burst before she’d evolved to Steel. For whatever problems she had, Smite would be a near-perfect tool for destroying whatever stood in her path.

Half a year ago, maybe even two months ago, she would’ve taken it without a second thought. Now, though, she finally accepted her place as a replacement frontliner. Of all of the Skills offered to her, it was the only one that really wouldn’t be helpful on the front lines. Yeah, it would make her a better finisher, which would reduce the amount of enemies she had to face, and so on and so forth, but in terms of gaining and maintaining monstrous attention, it wouldn’t do much. Was she going to take this Skill that very specifically was focused on filling a niche she already did pretty well at?

“Skandr,” she called out.

In about one second flat, he was next to her and looking attentively to answer whatever question she was going to ask.

“Tell me your knee-jerk reaction to the question of which of these five Skills you would choose,” she said without any explanation.

“Probably Smite,” he shrugged. “For our party specifically, Immortal Aura isn’t as important because you have your aura already, and Felix just got a recovery Skill. The two people who get hit the most don’t need it, and with Benedict constantly healing and buffing with Physique to cover for any slipups, it seems excessive. Defender’s Dash, again, within our party, isn’t as impactful because Benedict and I are constantly helping everybody move faster. That, paired with the boost you already have from Steady Load, means that a large Alacrity boost isn’t very important. Plus, though they can’t begin to be compared in scale, your greaves are plenty good at getting anywhere you want to go fast. Sure, I doubt you’re gonna keep them for too much longer, but so far as we can tell, that’s a pretty common enchantment to put onto boots and leggings.

“That leaves you with three choices after cutting out the aura and dash: Foundation, Strength, and Smite. For you specifically, I think that Foundation and Strength are particularly tempting because you get more attributes per level than basically anybody you’ll come across around your same tier because of your extraordinary rarity evolutions. So getting a large boost to some of your highest attributes will push that advantage even further.”

“You’re just making me want to take them even more,” Astrid chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about that specifically, being a Skill that works for somebody who’s gotten such high-quality Classes instead of somebody who’s gotten lower ones.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” Skandr smiled. “Because keeping your perspective on why each option is good is important. Anyways, those two Skills would give you, what, another 300 Power and Fortitude?”

“That’s about right,” Astrid said, glancing at her Status.

“That’s really big, especially for consideration for long-term capabilities,” he nodded. “That means you’ll be able to fight longer and harder without any additional effort past just fighting. Your mana thus will go farther, to say nothing of your actual bodily health.”

“Still not convincing me.”

“However,” Skandr said, smiling up at her, “do you think that Smite, especially with the support of Physique and the use of Body Surge, will have a greater impact in a battle than 300 Power and Fortitude?”

Astrid’s disagreements fled from her with a slight chuckle. The bonuses from the passive Skills would continue to grow as she gained levels, but a finishing Skill was made to be more than just attributes.

“I was thinking of leaning into the whole ‘ability to keep going infinitely’,” Astrid shrugged, smiling.

“If that’s what you want, then do it,” Skandr shrugged. “I don’t think any of the options given to you are bad. I think that each selection will inform what you want to be in the long term, but I don’t think that any of those choices are bad ones. You asked what I would do, so I told you. Make different choices if you want. I’m just telling you why I would make the choice, like you asked.”

Astrid laughed and waved him off. He made good points and brought her to a question that she had previously answered, though she wasn’t sure if her answer would have changed over the past... however long it had been since the last time she asked herself.

Did she want to take the Skill that she wanted, or did she want to take the Skill that she thought she should?

Despite everything else, Astrid still enjoyed delving. It was what she did with the vast majority of her time and her life, so it was definitely for the best that she continue to enjoy it. However, she also needed to, not to put too fine of a point on it, survive through what she was doing. Would taking either of the "equipment Skill" options lead to her surviving notably more than taking Smite?

They were going into a war. She couldn’t say how difficult the battles would be. If she was going in as a low Mithril, she might be targeted by other Mithril tiers, somebody like Olafson or Greely, much higher level than her. If that was the case, she would need something to be able to bridge that gap, and her burst Skill and Smite would cover that. A "small" boost to her Power and Fortitude wouldn’t help with that.

However, if she was fighting against waves and waves of enemies that refused to allow her to rest, the additional Power and Fortitude would allow her to kill without overextending herself. Physique would cover for that, though, and she’d always heard of the potency of Smite. She really wanted to have it herself, so, in the end, was it really a choice?

With a thought, Astrid selected Smite as her new Skill. She smiled as she pulled up her Status.

Status

Name: Astrid 

Class: Immortal Champion (Steel)

Total Level: 81 (2,275/750,000)

Attributes

Current

Per level growth

Power

1,200 (+270)

+22

Alacrity

709 (+130) [+353]

+12

Fortitude

1,139 (+326)

+20

Magical Potency

505 (+105)

+10

Self-Mastery

486 (+136) [+154]

+10

Acumen

311 (+54) [+104]

+5

Skill List

Boon of Potentiation

Boon of the Hero

Boon of Indomitability

Immortal Champion’s Physique (Steel)

Spectral Graviton (Steel)

Immortal Champion’s Equipment (Steel)

Unconquerable Aura (Steel)

Body Surge (Steel)

Mental Fortress (Steel)

Smite (Steel)

Locked

Locked

Now that she was no longer worrying about her own Skills, she thought back on the results from everybody else’s latest level. Felix’s was subtle, but one she was deeply familiar with. Once an hour, he went from looking a bit tired to totally fine. Though she’d had Quick Recovery only until Bronze tier, it had become no more flashy as an Iron tier Skill that recovered 30% of his health, stamina, and mana. Felix let everyone know that he didn’t regret anything in having two Iron tier Skills instead of two Steel tier ones, and was just looking forward to having what he considered to be a pretty complete Skill set.

Benedict, as he’d already complained, had gained the Purging Wave Skill. Despite his frustrations over not getting exactly the Skill that he had thought about, everybody in the party had no doubt that it would be one of the most impactful Skills going into a battlefield with plenty of enemy casters. Different from many of his other Skills, it wasn’t a constant effect but an instant impact. When he used it, it would purge every ill effect of Steel tier or lower on any allies within forty meters. There was some measure of competition between his Magical Potency and that of the enemy who had cast the Skill if the Skill he was purging was of the same tier as Purging Wave, but Astrid had no doubt that he would be able to take care of any enemies around their own level.

Skandr and Muti had both excitedly shared the entire descriptions of the Skills that they had taken, and Astrid didn’t blame them.

Spell Savant (Steel): Grants a 65% increase in the potency of all spells cast by the Skill holder.

Elusive Executioner (Steel): For a Moderate cost of mana and stamina, increases the Skill holder’s Power and Alacrity by 100% for two  minutes. The Skill holder also gains a 100% damage bonus to all attacks made as a surprise to the target.

They’d both gotten Skills that they wanted, and the subtle differences in what Skandr was capable of doing with his magic were only really apparent to Astrid because she was specifically looking for them. Once she made her decision, she was happy to ask for more detail from him.

“What exactly has changed for you now that you have the Skill?”

“Right now,” the Wizard answered, “the main difference is just that I’m getting used to using less mana to do the same thing. I would imagine that it’s much the same as the training you have to go through every time Body Surge has gone through an upgrade. Yes, it’s a great boost to be able to use in a fight, and the next Warlock’s Constitution lighting bolt I throw will be devastating, but when you’re doing delicate things, you need to make sure that you understand just how much strength to put into it.”

She nodded knowingly in response to that, and he continued, “There’s more to it than just the Skill potency, though. Like a lot of Skills, there’s a hidden, secondary benefit. I can feel my understanding of the general makeup of spells growing, just a bit. If I hadn’t spent the last month very deliberately studying and experimenting, I don’t think I would’ve noticed, but a few different ideas that I’ve been stuck on now don’t seem nearly so difficult to achieve. I’ve had a couple different thoughts occur to me just in the past couple of hours that I hadn’t considered before. Don’t worry, I won’t get into the specifics with you, but the title ‘Spell Savant’ isn’t just for show.”

“Awesome,” Astrid congratulated him, reaching out and patting him on the back.

“And what’s going on with Smite? I’m figuring that’s what you ended up choosing, right?”

“Actually, I haven’t even tried to use it yet,” Astrid laughed. “I just made the choice, and I don’t really have anything that I want to hit.”

“And you can’t just see what it feels like to use the Skill? To see what you need to do to choose different attributes?” he replied, his jaw agape. “This is how you end up not really sure of what your Skills are capable of doing!”

Astrid just laughed again, the sound coming easily as she smiled at the disbelieving Wizard. Then she shrugged and asked, “Do you want to see the first time I ever use the Skill, then?”

“I suppose, if you insist,” he laughed, closing in to make sure he could see what she was doing. Astrid couldn’t help but notice that the rest of her party did the same, all five of them running within two meters of each other without stumbling or stepping on each other. What would’ve been impossible as Bronze or Iron tiers, they were all doing now without any difficulty and much faster than they were capable of sprinting back then. Their feet all landed so close to each other, but never on top of another, never kicking each other, just close.

Astrid smiled, but focused on her new Skill instead of mentioning anything. The definition of the Skill, so sparse and unclear, was more than enough to leave her curious about how it would feel. Now that she’d made the determination to try, she simply selected her right gauntlet as the weapon. Before the Skill would activate, it had a sort of mental prompt as to what kind of attribute she would want it to be infused with. On a whim and with a smile, she thought, shadow, and immediately, drawing on only a faint thread of her mana and stamina, her right fist up to the middle of her forearm was trailing thick shadows just like Muti constantly was.

The Lethal Shadow’s head immediately turned to her hand and looked closer.

“Strike,” she commanded, holding up one of her hands in front of Astrid. 

Nobody questioned it, and Astrid only put maybe a third of her strength into the punch she sent Muti’s way. The Barbarian took the strike, her hand flying back much faster than Astrid expected, and Muti’s face screwed up in pain as she dismissed her gauntlets to look at her hand. Astrid’s friend’s pale palm was striated with dark mana that thrashed and broke through the skin. A few dripping drops of Muti’s blood coursed down her palm before she shook her hand and released a burst of her own mana. White light flashed from Muti’s tattoos, and then through her small wounds, and the vestiges of Astrid’s Skill were purged from Muti’s body.

Her series of wounds were weeping blood down her hand, and Muti blinked a few times before looking at Astrid.

“How much did you put into the attack?”

“Maybe a twentieth of my reserves?” Astrid shrugged. “Probably a bit less.”

“And it was capable of doing that much,” Muti stared intently at Astrid. “You will train me to become capable of gaining the Smite Skill.”

Astrid laughed and nodded, more than a little curious to explore her own capabilities. However, now that they were going back to Neverwood, she would have several people to work with on that.

“So we’re going back to help with the war,” Benedict spoke up, doing his strange talking around a flute. “If it ends, and we are all alive, what do you want to do back home? You know, other than get back in the Dungeon.”

The look that he shot Astrid’s way was not missed nor appreciated, and she scowled at him as he laughed and danced out of her reach. That joking interaction aside, she really didn’t know what kind of an answer she could give other than giving a quick visit to a couple people. Was her life so empty of everything outside of delving that she couldn’t even think of what to do with free time other than training?

“I wanna see my family,” Benedict said, “and also, I might look into becoming a Guild representative.”

The looks that everybody else gave him were enough to break stone, and he raised both of his hands, begging for mercy as he attempted to explain himself.

“I’m not saying that I want to be a part of the problem! However, if I’m going to step away from being as active in delving, even though we’re young and have decades less experience than most people our level, I’d like to think that I can help some people. Maybe I can heal some of the little ones when they have terrifying experiences like we did when we were less than level 10. Maybe me opening a bar can be more than just some random building I have in the wilderness, but instead be an opportunity for me to help other people the way that I haven’t felt that we’ve been helped. And, you know, not be a self-aggrandizing, politics-obsessed prig while I’m at it.”

As he explained himself, Astrid and the rest of the party found themselves nodding along, Muti especially taking Astrid by surprise.

“You would not be a bad teacher. You could help many young ones that way.”

“How about the rest of you?” Benedict asked, flushing red as he had shared his own hopes.

“I may be getting closer to either founding my own horde or finding a leader whom I respect,” Muti said. “Joining with the horde may take some time, but becoming a part of one will put me in a good position to become a teacher and eventual mother. There is much that needs to be prepared before that time.”

“In line with that, I’m thinking that I might look into the requirements for becoming your mate instead of just a friend with whom you... ‘enjoy’ your time,” Felix said, raising his eyebrows at Muti.

She, contrary to Astrid’s expectation of embarrassment or further flirtation, stared at him.

“You’re willing to fight for your right to claim me as your own? Never to share?”

Felix flushed and stammered out, “I thought that was a conversation we would be having later.”

“Answer.”

“...Yes.”

Muti smiled widely at that, jumping in front of him to wrap both her arms and legs around his torso. With the size difference between them, for low-level people, it would have certainly made him fall. Instead, he smiled and, once she was firmly settled with her legs around his waist, drew slightly on Defender’s Avatar, growing not nearly to its greatest size, but instead growing to be a bit taller than her and Astrid, about two and a half meters tall. Then, with a surprising grin that Astrid didn’t think she’d ever seen on him before, Felix cupped the back of her head, twisting his fingers into her hair and pressing her face into the crook of his neck.

“Gross! Keep that private,” Benedict shouted as Muti began to nip at Felix’s neck. Neither of the two lovebirds looked at him, though the ardor that Muti was rubbing herself against the Guardian with faded to a more appropriate affection. Astrid didn’t look at them, instead glancing at Skandr and blushing when she realized that he was looking at her as well.

“Astrid!” Benedict called out, pulling her attention back to him. “Please, save us from this.”

Put on the spot, Astrid felt her shoulders shrug involuntarily. “I’ll probably visit some friends. My father said that Ahna has a son, so I’ll probably spend some time with them.”

The difference in what she wanted to do outside of the Dungeon and what everyone else wanted to do was obvious. She had what was basically a short errand to run, while the others who had spoken had goals to accomplish. She subconsciously listened to Skandr step in and start to talk about his own hopes, how he would interface with different people and look into possibly constructing a Wizard’s tower, and again, she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was something different about her.

She was happy delving, spending so much of her time in the Dungeon. Yes, she was curious about romance, even if she was to go so far as to say that she might like to go further and, if not get married, become a lover with somebody. Felix and Muti made no secret of their enjoyment of sex, and she was curious, if nothing else, to find someone to do that with.

But having children? That sounded like a big distraction. Spending so much time with others and not getting stronger?

Was this feeling of being alienated from everybody else something that was going to happen no matter if her friends from her home had ended up delving with her instead?

Astrid spent the rest of her journey home quiet, no longer excited to test Smite out, but instead unsure of if she had something wrong with her.

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