Chapter 136: ‘Good’ Luck

William Oh won a coinflip against the God of Misfortune, who withered and died, having finally been released from his curse of infinite success.

• Jason Salazar

“Okay, we’ve got three Greater Healing Potions and six people.” Will gave Reggie and Mason one, taking the final one for himself.

“Nobody get injured more than half. That’s your budget for the trip,” Will said, scanning his team.

“Half of what?” Jason asked.

“Half. You know. Halfway.” Travis said, rifling through a satchel full of supplies. He grabbed a bag labeled ‘eye irritants’ and set it aside. Eye irritants wouldn’t be useful against a metallic slime.

“Halfway to what?” Jason asked.

“You know, halfway there.” Reggie said, standing still with his arms extended while a couple of Anna’s made sure all the joints on his armor were clean and smooth.

“Halfway where?” Jason asked.

“They’re just messing with you.” Mason said, applying some kind of powder to his staff so the wood didn’t slip. “Will was making a joke. No one has any control over how injured they get.”

I mean…I do, but generally, most people don’t.

“Alright, is this the first time this particular group has hunted together?” Will asked, thinking of Jason and Bee.

Mason nodded, while Travis grunted.

“Alright, you know the drill. Give the team a rundown of your powers.”

“I can make explosions. I’ve put a lot of effort into making sure the explosion is the right element to bypass damage resistances. I’m the most likely to deal lasting damage to the slime. My defensive shielding and damage-resistant body make me pretty durable.” Mason said.

“I’ve got tons of tricks for controlling enemy aggression, and I’ve gotten some sweet illusions recently.” Travis said. “Fairly durable, but no Abilities for soaking direct damage, so I won’t be poking my head into the fight directly.” Travis said.

“I-I’ve got like three different Buffs for you guys and a damaging debuff for the enemy.” Jason said, eager to be included.

“Withering Repudiation is language-dependant isn’t it?” Will asked.

“Not anymore!” Jason said. “In Akul I Sacrificed a Teranti Hive-queen, which erased the language-dependent requirement, then a Shrieking Fungus, which erased the single-target requirement.

“Read it to me.”

“Ahem:”

Withering Repudiation **

Active: 1 charge

Mentally describe to an area in line of sight exactly why you don’t like the creatures inside. Inflicts paralysis and psychic damage over time as long as the user continues to think mean thoughts. Affected creatures must have a mind. Area & damage Scale with Acuity.

It went from language-dependent to mind-dependent.

“That is awesome,” Will said, to which the other Climbers present nodded in agreement. “…Does a metallic slime have a mind?”

Jason opened his mouth…then closed it. “I think…I don’t think they do.”

“They don’t.” Mason said.

“SHOOT!” Jason cried, kicking a nearby stump.

“It’s fine, just stick to the buffs.” Will said. “What do you have?”

“I’ve got Hand of Fate, Made Manifest, and flagbearer.”

“Did you pick a tertiary Ability?” Will asked. He should have one more secondary and a tertiary available, provided he didn’t upgrade any of his secondaries.

“At level thirty, I got both a secondary and tertiary. I’ve been waiting to decide on which one should be the tertiary Ability.” Jason said. The Prophet of the End explained the remaining choices he had available.

“Scales of Ouroboros.” Will, Reggie, Mason and Travis said.

Scales of Ouroboros

Active: 5 Charge

Create an ethereal scale somewhere on the body. (max 20). When the user is wounded, consumes the scale and reverts the damage. Scales with Focus.

“But it won’t get any better as a tertiary” Jason said, frowning.

“True…but it doesn’t need to get any better. It’s already good.” Will said.

“It’ll save your life, but its scope is pretty limited to just that. Relic Seed on the other hand…” Will mused. “That one sounds like it could get pretty crazy.”

Relic Seed:

Variable Charge

Harvest a myth sown in an area and condense it down into a prepared Sacrifice to create a Relic Seed which can be added to a Relic to give it powers in line with the myth. The myths harvested this way have a chance to be uprooted and forgotten. As the Relic gains notoriety, the seed will grow in power.

One Relic Seed per Relic. Once planted, Relic Seeds cannot be removed.

“Really? It doesn’t make any sense to me.” Jason said. “What does harvesting a myth have to do with anything? I don’t understand what it does, and even if I did, myths are only available where there are people to tell them, so I’d have to use it in civilized places, wouldn’t I?”

“All you really need to know is that it adds an extra Affix to a Relic, which is really good. And just like your Withering Repudiation, if you find the right Sacrifices to eliminate the restrictions, you could make something really special. Not to mention, the word ‘seed’ implies that there’s some inherent potential for some form of pro…profil…

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“Proliferation!” Loth shouted from across the camp.

“Pro-filteration,” Will said with a nod. “With the right sacrifice, they might be able to profilterate.

“Proliferate!”

“Hmm…” Jason mused. “Yeah, I can see that. Took ‘em.”

“Okay, get your scales maxed out.”

“But that’s like a hundred Charge!” Jason said.

“How much Charge do you have?” Will asked, expecting something like eighty or maybe even as low as sixty.

Jason muttered under his breath.

“What?” Will asked, desperately hoping he didn’t hear what he thought he just heard.

“…Eight.” Jason admitted, causing everyone to glance at each other in confusion.

Will pulled up Jason’s simplified Status on the Party Screen.

Jason Salazar

Prophet of the End Level 30

60 Strength

120+5 Resistance

30+3 Kinesthetics

90+12 Acuity

120+7 Focus

Charges: 8/127

Primary Abilities: Hand of Fate, Withering repudiation**

Secondary Abilities: Made Manifest, Flagbearer, relic Seed

Tertiary Abilities: Scales of Ouroboros

“You have nearly twenty dailies.” Will said, inspecting Jason’s simplified Party Status. “So why the Abyss do you have only eight Charges left?”

The assembled men stared at Jason until he crumbled.

“Turns out Hand of Fate is really convenient.” Jason admitted with a guilty shrug.

“I knew you were cheating at cards!” Travis accused.

“You were cheating too!” Jason shot back.

“Yeah, but I was using cantrips, so it’s fine,” Travis said. Mason raised a skeptical eyebrow at that statement.

“No cheating at games of any kind.” Will said. “More importantly…I can’t take you with us.”