Chapter 52: build Theorizing

That’s what I’m saying! You can’t beat him, because William Oh always has another trick up his sleeve. He can change his entire Build at the drop of a hat. Specced out to fight a Sniper? Too bad, he’s a Tank now. Specced out for a Tank? Too bad, he’s a Nuker.

• Randy Needum, level 30 cook.

“Not many parties defeat a raid boss. Even less do it while below the floor level cap.” Loth’s voice brought Will swimming up out of the depths of sleep.

“I don’t think any of them have done it while simultaneously fighting off a higher-level Party.”

“You’d be surprised,” Will said, his voice raspy…from screaming or dehydration? Both?

Will blinked the last of the sleep out of his eyes and focused on his situation. He was in a small room, in a Way Station inn. Linen sheets. Soft pillows. Swanky.

“What happened?”

“We beat the Hydra and brought you back for an operation to remove the mycelium. You were unconscious during most of it.”

Most of it. That explains the sore throat.

“They have a lot of practice at it here,” Loth said with a shrug. “So it was fast and effective. It cost a significant portion of your cut of the boss’s bounty, though, given how extensive it was. It didn’t reach your nervous system though, so you don’t have to worry about being like Roger.

“Thank the gods,” Will sighed. “Don’t worry about the money though, I’d much rather be alive, and besides…I already got my payday,” Will said, releasing Mark Wyrd’s rings and amulet from the Phantom Hand onto the nearby end table.

“Are those…Mark Wyrd’s Relics?” Loth asked.

“Yeah…probably gonna need to find a fence,” Will said.

“Probably. Maybe keep those under wraps until then,” Loth suggested.

Will swept them back into the Phantom Hand with a shrug.

“We get any Sacrifices?” Will asked. Fungal hydra seemed like it might have some applications.

“Yes, and it’s a damn good sacrifice for a Baker. You know how much they like yeast.”

Will winced as he thought of Brianna.

“According to the experts, if you open your Ability upgrades while holding a Sacrifice, if it is compatible, it’s upgrade branch will be at the top of the list.” Loth said, rummaging through their luggage before handing Will a chunk of mummified flesh.

Will held the fungal hydra in his hand and checked his upgrades.

Regrowing fingers.

The Phantom Hand gains 5 slots to store the effects of Relics sacrificed to it. Only one can be active at a time, and when the active slot is switched, the previous one will become inactive for 24 hours. If a slot is overwritten, it will be inactive for a week.

Will’s brows rose, but he switched to Aspect of the Goat to see what that had available.

Fungal Healing.

User becomes immune to fungal infections of all kinds, is immune to fungal poisons, receives extra nutrition from fungus, and may press fungus against wounds to simulate a mid-grade healing potion.

Not bad, but no.

Will wasn’t going to add anything to Aspect of the Goat until he could transform it into a higher tier Ability, namely Aspect of the Immortal Serpent, or Aspect of the Uru Drake, which would increase the overall power and the number of upgrades he could give the Ability.

Will’s eye twitched as he realized that he had another Secondary Ability upgrade, which meant they had passed level 20.

Makes sense, Will thought, checking how the Fungal Hydra interacted with Sourdough.

Powerful Yeast.

Growth rate of the Relic starter is drastically improved.

Well, that’s good, but I’m not sure it’s what I want.

Sure, it would be nice to recover valuable consumables in a week instead of a month, but Will was going to continue gradually wearing away at the speed problem by raising his stats, and more than anything, he wanted to make Sourdough into something that simply couldn’t be replicated by spending more money.

Will wanted to alter the way the Ability behaved.

“How many of these do we have?” Will asked, motioning to the chunk of mummified hydra and mycelium.

“Plenty,” Loth said.

Will held the Fungal Hydra up high.

Do you wish to Sacrifice Fungal Hydra to Phantom Hand?

Yes.

There was a flash of light and the chunk of mummified flesh was gone.

Phantom Hand has been upgraded. Review the description for changes.

Phantom Hand**

Passive

Active: 1 charge.

Gain the use of an ethereal Phantom Hand. Access a tiny amount of dimensional storage with a Charge. Sacrifice a stored Relic to apply its effect to one of five slots. Only one slot can be active at a time. Switching to another slot causes the previous one to be inactive for 24 hours, and overwriting a slot causes the slot to be inactive for a week.

Relic effect and Phantom Hand’s abilities scale with Acuity.

Potency gains from items in Phantom Hand do not apply scaling to their own effect.

Current effect:

Slot 1:

Ring of accuracy*

+12 Strength

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

7 degrees of correction.

Manhunter: When a creature is struck by a projectile from the wearer, they are drawn toward the shooter along the path of the projectile. Force scales with Strength.

Will felt like rubbing his hands together in glee.

The ability to store more than one item was extremely desireable. Even with the cooldown in place, it still meant he could add new things and change his build without losing powerful Relics that he still might use later. There was even wiggle-room for experimentation, one-offs, and ‘trash’ Relics.

That was incredibly valuable.

Also, the Ring of Accuracy giving 12 strength? Shouldn’t it be higher? How high is my Acuity?

Will checked his stats.

William Oh

Resourceful Climber Level 22

23+ 12 Strength

66 Kinesthetics

69 Resistance

44 Focus

79 Acuity

Charges: 44/44

Free Points: 5

Item Abilities: Manhunter, 7 degree correction.

Primary Abilities: Aspect of the Goat, Phantom Hand**

Secondary Abilities: Sourdough

Primary Ability Upgrade Available! (x2)

Secondary Ability Upgrade Available!

Oh right, I’m not wearing any gear, Will thought, assigning his free stats to Acuity.

Like his previous opponent, Will had forgotten base stats were a thing.

And also that he was naked.