Chapter 7

My vision swirled and expanded, as I opened the prompt leading to the possible negative quirks.

During your class selection, you may select a negative quirk. The quirks are divided into Tiers, based on their projected severity. For every Tier of a negative quirk chosen like this, you may choose to:

• Be awarded five talent points to be distributed freely.
• Choose a positive quirk, of the chosen Tier or below.
• Be awarded five attribute points to be distributed freely.

You may mix these as you please. For instance, if you select a Tier 3 negative quirk, you could choose a Tier 1 positive quirk, five talent points and five attribute points, fifteen attribute points, or a Tier 3 positive quirk.

Also, on top of these rewards, your options are expanded. For each Tier of your chosen negative quirk, you may choose to use your talent points for the corresponding Tier of available talents, instead of waiting to unlock them by leveling.

See list of negative quirks? Y/N?

I blinked, then read and re-read that last paragraph, three times. That was… that was huge! Why hadn’t anybody mentioned that?

In this new world, of course, the way you applied your attributes had a huge difference in your impact and power. But they were nothing compared to the talents you selected – as had already been displayed by the alien invaders in Florida. City block-sized explosions. Invisibility. Skin like diamonds. The options were endless. But – and this was a huge but – the talents were also progressive, and their power corresponded to your current level. Meaning, Levels 0 through 4 only had access to the first Tier of talents. At level 5, you unlocked your second Tier, and so on.

At this point, I hadn’t heard about anybody reaching level 25. But I was sure there would be further nice surprises as everything evolved. This quirk, however, was a gamechanger. If I picked a Tier 5 negative quirk, I’d be able to spend every talent point earned through Level 1 to 24 on higher-Tier talents, which would be vastly more powerful than Tier 1.

I grinned, shaking my head in disbelief. Now I got why U-Nerds were so damn insistent on it. I just couldn’t get why everybody didn’t opt for a negative quirk right from the get go.

Mentally, I selected the ‘Y’ option, and started reading through the available quirks. Then I got it.

“This is absolute horseshit! Who’d ever pick anything like that?”

Tier 5 negative quirk:

Triple Amputee

You will lose three of your limbs permanently. You may select which remaining limb you decide to keep.

What. The. Fuck? And they still expected somebody to be a Fighter after that? What could a person even DO after that? Throw daggers? Though, I supposed, if somebody like that got put in a specialized horse saddle or something, they’d be able to still function. But damn.

I looked at another.

Tier 5 negative quirk:

Luck of the Hanged

Luck is a knife’s edge, they say. Any situation teetering on the edge of chance is more likely to fall to your disadvantage. That bedpost being right in front of your toe. A dagger barely finding the gap in your armor.

Hell no. If you were, say, a Crafter, that might be survivable. If you specialized in… knitting or something. But anybody planning to throw themselves into battle, like I was, didn’t need Lady Luck holding a grudge against themselves.

I looked through more of the Tier 5 quirks. Some were downright comical, like the one permanently reducing your Strength attribute to fifteen percent of whatever it was, and locking it permanently. Others were just vicious, like the one tripling any magical damage suffered, with no possibility of building resistances. I had trouble finding any that I would perceivably be able to survive, long-term – especially, if I wanted to level up, not just muddle by!

A few of the quirks might be doable. Two different options at least didn’t feel immediately suicidal.

Tier 5 negative quirk:

Postponed Talent

You are a powerhouse. There is no need for you to invest in talents to thrive. You will not earn any talents for the next five Tiers (until Level 25.)

Limitation: You may not use Tiers earned through this quirk to purchase talent points.

With a sufficiently powerful positive quirk and a bunch of boosts to the right attributes, that one might be survivable. Honestly, though, I didn’t feel too damn good about the notion of going up against a high-level monster with no talents at level 24. Still, at least I’d have my attributes to count on. Not so for the other option.

Tier 5 negative quirk:

Cut down to Size

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Attributes are overrated. You have decided that you do not need all your current attributes in order to thrive. You will deduct twenty-five points off of your current attribute pool

That one seemed doable as well… as long as I didn’t look to hard at it. Okay, I might be able to survive losing a few attributes in the physical department. And given that I wasn’t aiming to become a Mage, axing all nine points in that one might be doable, and a bit in dexterity and Perception on top of that. But what happened if I put mental control to 0? Would I have no defense whatsoever against magic? Would my brainpower be affected? And would I even be able to put up a fight out there if I lowered my attributes too far? I doubted that the locals called them the Killing Fields for nothing.

In the end, I grimaced and continued looking. Then I skipped down to the Tier 4 ones and started afresh.

I had no clue how long I spent there, next to the wall, immersed in my own universe of possible horrible impediments. Eventually, however, I decided that I needed to see which positive quirks they had to counteract the horrible fates they had in store for me, and possibly try to plan some good combinations.

To my relief, the positive quirks didn’t underwhelm. There were enough possible offers and combinations, that I could possibly see myself coming out with something, that might be, not just survivable, but actually good. With Tier 3 as the minimum acceptable by the U-Nerds, that wound out also being the first doable combination I located.

Tier 3 negative quirk:

Magically Deficient

Your body rejects magic. You will never be able to command magic beyond that of your talents. Your Mental Power is permanently set to 0. You will never be able to imbibe magical potions, eat magical food or use magical items that need mental direction.

Tier 3 positive quirk:

Force of Reckoning

Your power should not be underestimated. Any damage you cause in combat, through talents or otherwise, will have a fifty percent increase. Your strength is increased by fifty percent.

I could really see that. Given that my Mental Power was already a wash, it was really just the idea of giving up potions and magical food that hurt. And the increased damage would definitely increase my long-term viability, while still complying with what the U-Nerds required.

Only… it didn’t speak to me. Was I truly going to go into a new, magical world, and outright cut myself off from the magic? Could I even survive without magical healing? I gritted my teeth and kept looking.

Eventually, I located an option that made me pause.