Chapter 299: Fleeting Cheating

Chapter 299: Fleeting Cheating

“The first Shields evolution option is–” I stopped as an unexpected notification came up. “Oh, I get to pick another Therianthropy effect since I got the next Physical Magic evolution.” I scrolled down the list. “I think Equine is best. Improves my movement speed a bunch while transformed.”

Etja leaned forward. “Does that mean you’ll have wings like a bird, tentacles like a c’thon, and legs like a horsey?”

I paused before making the selection. “I… don’t actually know.”

“Maybe it’ll make him a centaur,” said Xim.

“Wouldn’t he become a pegasus?” asked Nuralie. Pause. “Because of the wings?”

“No, a pegasus is full-horse,” said Xim. “Arlo would be half horse, half beard.”

“And half bird, half c’thon,” Etja added.

“Too many halves,” I muttered.

“Chimera,” said Varrin. “He would be a mixture of many things.”

I made a show of looking over the list again. “Hmm, there’s an option for becoming a duck?”

Xim stiffened. “I meant something else.”

I eyed her for a second. “Nope. The others are too situational. Pony play is the only one that’s tempting.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll keep an eye out for a nice bridle to get you.”

“Nuralie and I could make one!” said Etja.

“Uh, anyway,” I said, deciding to ignore Therianthropy for now, “my first Shields evo is a parry ability. It lets me burn stamina to reflect AoE spells that I block.”

“Redundant with Reverse Card,” said Varrin, sounding unimpressed. “The use of stamina rather than mana expands the resources you can use to redirect a spell, but the evolution is more limited in what it can counter than Reverse Card.” He held up a finger. “It must be an AoE.” He held up another. “It must be one that you block.” He dropped his hand. “Somewhat useful, but it does not add much to your capabilities.”

I struck the parry evolution and moved on, limiting the real debate to the second and third options.

Aegis of the Master

Whenever you block an attack, you can grant Shielding to any entity you can perceive equal to your Shields skill level. Attacks you block while you possess at least 1 Shielding cannot impose detrimental statuses on you.

Mystic Thorns

You emit an aura around you with a radius in feet equal to your Shields skill level. Whenever you or any of your allies within the aura are hit by or block an attack, you deal Mystical damage equal to your Shields skill level to the attacker. All thorns damage you deal bypasses resistance.

“Aegis of the Master is exceptional,” said Varrin. “It has some unfortunate overlap with your Aura of Persistence skill and the Wall of Force evolution, but the second part is worth it alone. ‘Attacks you block while you possess at least 1 Shielding cannot impose detrimental statuses on you.’ If you’ve used Wall of Force to grant yourself several thousand Shielding, the second effect would be active more often than not.”

“Ignore all debuffs,” said Xim. “Pretty good.”

“All debuffs that he blocks,” said Nuralie.

“And that originate from attacks,” Varrin added. “Other sources wouldn’t be hampered.”

“Ignore all debuffs some of the time,” Xim corrected. “Still pretty good.”

“As for Mystic Thorns…” Varrin rubbed his chin, destitute of beard, but rich in strength and shape. “It is an aura, which naturally gives you a small bonus to attack and defense. It would apply to all of us all of the time, regardless of range, due to your Auradilato passive. The damage would be enhanced by your Leadership evolutions. However, it isn’t very relevant to your build.”

“We could have overlapping thorns auras,” said Xim. “I took something similar, but it deals Psychic damage.”

“You have recently acquired several thorns abilities,” said Varrin. “Thorns effects are particularly reliant on stacking bonuses. Each is relatively small on its own, but they combine into a large amount of–essentially free–damage. Arlo has no such synergies and is often managing enemies some distance away from us, so he is likely to spend most of his time outside of your own aura’s range. The rest of us avoid attacks if possible and rarely block, so the aura would have no utility for us. You, Xim, would see some benefit from the overlap, but the end result would be comparatively poor for everyone else.”

“Fine, fine,” said Xim, her disappointment immeasurable and her day ruined.

“I feel the same,” I said. “I’m tempted to lean as hard as I can into auras, and it’s been a while since I picked one up, but this one is lacking much benefit, both for me and the group at large. Hmm…”

After another lengthy ponder, I selected Aegis of the Master for the broad-spectrum debuff mitigation. My aura build was already functional. I didn’t want to junk it up with stuff that wasn’t impactful for the party, and there would be opportunities for more auras down the line.

That line was very short.

“Speaking of auras,” I said, “I also have a Blunt evolution to choose. I’m pretty certain of the one I want, but I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t receive opinions from this assembled council of wise and well-learned men and women.” I sent along the details of the evo I preferred.

Hammerdin

You gain an aura extending a number of feet equal to your Blunt Weapons skill level. Thrown blunt weapon attacks pierce through targets within this aura.

“This could be good,” said Xim. “Or, it could be amazing. Depends on the particulars.”

“What particulars?” asked Etja.

“The first is whether this allows Arlo’s hammer copies from Somncres to pierce.”

“Ohhh. Because they’re fleeting? Right now, they poof as soon as they bonk a person.”

“Precisely, fellow counselor,” Xim said with a solemn nod.

“An excellent observation,” I said. “My understanding was that the fleeting hammers disappear after they hit something. But!” I held up a finger. “Then I considered where we’ve seen an actual System definition of fleeting.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Have we?” asked Xim.

“Not really,” I said, finger deflating. “But!” I said, finger erecting. “We’ve gotten close.” I did a quick search of my notification history and pulled up the specific item text. We no longer had the item, but I could still grab its description. I limited it to what was relevant, then sent it along to everyone.

Get Out of Cage Free Card

This is a fleeting item and may only be used once.

Xim templed her fingers–as any sage counselor should–and carefully considered the wording. “‘Used,’” she quoted. “‘May only be used once.’”

“Indeed,” I said. “What does it mean to ‘use’ a hammer? Is it a single hammer strike, or does it consider all applicable effects? If it’s the latter, then this evo–an aura, by the way–would significantly increase Somncres’ multi-target damage.”

“Could it pierce an unlimited number of targets?” asked Etja.

“Maybe,” I said.

Xim went from templing to lacing her fingers together, giving Etja and me a questioning look. “How much does that matter? The hammer can only hit so many things before it travels out of range of the aura. As soon as it hits something meaty outside of that range, it’s done. Right?”

“Ahhh, but who says I need to throw hammers in a straight line?”

“You can only do so much with Hammerang,” said Xim. “You can’t– Oh, damn. No, it definitely matters how many things it can pierce.”

“I don’t follow,” said Varrin.

“Gravity Anchor!” said Etja. “He can do that hammer orbit thing!”

Varrin went from looking pensive to looking a touch ill. “What is the maximum number of hammers you can summon?” he asked.

“I have no idea, but the most I’ve ever done at once is twenty.”

“Did you experience any strain? Any reason you would think there to be an upper limit?”

“It’s a lot to think about, I guess. Keeping all those hammers managed by manipulating the pull created by Homing Weapon and the countervailing force of Gravity Anchor isn’t easy. There are no express limits that I’m aware of, though.”

Varrin indulged in another stroke of his magnificent chin. “A potentially unlimited number of hammers orbiting around you, capable of piercing a potentially unlimited number of enemies.” He spoke with growing intensity.

“Or the same enemy an unlimited number of times,” said Nuralie. Varrin’s eyes widened.

“There have to be limits,” said Xim. “Nothing can create an infinite effect.”

“Perhaps,” said Varrin. “It depends on the origin of power. Some abilities can draw from mana sources that are so vast as to be considered limitless to any mortal comprehension, such as the Closet itself. Still, the situation here in the Closet requires a great deal of infrastructure and ongoing upkeep.” Varrin clenched and unclenched his hands, then looked at me with uncharacteristic zeal. “What were your other evolution options?”

“One gives the target a noodly arm after they block one of my Blunt attacks. Tavio has that one, and it’s a right pain in the ass to deal with. Keeps you from blocking again for a few seconds. The other gives everyone else Penetration against my target after I whap ‘em. It’ll buff our total damage output by cutting through defenses.”

“Both useful,” said Varrin. “But neither is a potential ace.” He gave himself a single vigorous nod. “I wish to see Hammerdin in action. We need a better understanding of the bounds of the evolution as it interacts with your skills. Even if it doesn’t perform exactly how we think it will, the effect is still potent, and its value is only increased for being an aura.”

Xim returned to her steepling. “How does that interact with Nimean Weapon? If you’ve got an Oblivion Orb on the hammer, does that activate with every enemy it hits, or only the first?”

“I doubt it duplicates when piercing,” I said. “The spell activates at the point of impact. There’s no wibbly-wobbly language like ‘on use,’ and the evo is focused on Blunt, not Dimensional Magic or Strength-based attacks more broadly.”

“Lemme see if I understand what’s got Varrin looking so frisky,” said Xim. “You stand somewhere out of sight from the target. You throw a bajillion fleeting hammers into orbit around you over the course of however long that takes. You mana-shape Shortcut to teleport all your hammers along with you. Then you appear right next to the thing you want pulverized. Endless fleeting hammers smash into the enemy, pierce through that enemy without disappearing, then hit them again on the next rotation, then again, and again, and so on. Once everything is reduced to paste, you can teleport with all the hammers to the next thing in need of a spanking.”

“Yes,” said Varrin. “It would be resource-intensive, and the situations where the tactic would work well would be limited. It would still end many fights before they even began.”

“And in all other scenarios,” I said, “I can still throw hammers that blast through people via magical means to hit their friends behind them, as the evolution intended.”

Considering I was already sold on the evo, Varrin’s fervent support was enough for me to lock it in.

“Heavy Armor is close to an evo, but not quite there yet. Everything else has a ways to go, aside from the Dungeoneering intrinsic Grotto and I share. Grotto pushed it up to 40–without resorting to any premeditated murder–and the options are relevant to our next order of business.”

“Cabinet meeting?” asked Xim.

“You are correct!” I turned to Grotto, still hovering at the center of the round table, staring down at his broken shield. “Grotto, are the other directors ready to be brought in?”

We all watched and waited for an answer, but Grotto continued to stare down at the shield, unresponsive.

“Grotto?” I asked, then stood and waved a hand around in front of him. “You all right there, bud?”

The Core’s little man form snapped up his bald head to glare at me.

[Yes? What do you need now?]

“You okay? You went all catatonic for a second.”

[I am dealing with sensitive matters across the Closet, and the focus of this meeting shifted from substantive topics to ill-witted snark and inside jokes. I allowed a subprocess to monitor while I attended to other matters.] He looked up and away for half a second. [I am now caught up. For your information, Arlo is a therianthrope while transformed, not a centaur or chimera. This is obvious from the evolution’s name alone.]

“Never heard of it,” said Xim with a shrug.

[Further, I have not heard how Varrin will be compensating me for this shield.] Grotto floated down to prod the busted item with a bare foot, then gave the big guy a dirty look.

Varrin stood and leaned in, dragged the pieces of the tower shield towards himself, and then stored them away into inventory. “I will have my grandfather repair and improve upon it,” he said. “Will that suffice?”

[Hmm. I will let you know once I have received the restored shield.]

“Are the other directors ready for a meeting?” I asked, bringing us back to topic.

Grotto crossed his little arms and gave Varrin a break from his scowling to scowl at me instead. I really missed his precious octo face. At least that was still cute when he scowled. [Yes, I will notify them of an impending teleport.]

“Why is the teleport threatening?” I asked. “Know what? Never mind.” I ignored Grotto’s word choice and instead began passing out colorfully wrapped chocolates. Etja clapped and said a soft “yay!”, Nuralie cracked a small grin, and Varrin hung his head. Xim immediately ate hers and held out a hand for another. I passed her a box of a different type of chocolates, since the wrapped ones in particular were chocolates of incredible power.

Etja pulled out a set of five fine velvet berets, with a slightly wider and looser fit than the more modern berets I was used to on Earth. These sat on the head at a precise, floppy tilt, reminding me of a portrait of Rembrandt I’d once seen. Most were darkly colored, with slight variations based on personal style.

Varrin’s was black with silver highlights, although there were a few colorful jewels sewn in as an homage to his gaudy cloak. Etja’s was a midnight blue with a small pattern of tiny pink gemstones along one side. Nuralie’s was forest green, with a downy feather of a brighter pale green tucked into a low-profile band. Xim’s was maroon and had a pair of angry purple eyes sewn in.

My own was a bright, sparkling gold, since I was the fucking king.

“Must we?” asked Varrin, his suffering clear.

“Shouldn’ta lost the bet,” I said, waving a hand to shoo away his party pooping. “This is almost the most satisfying part about learning there were Dragons.”

“I can guess what you think is the most satisfying part,” said Xim with a waggle of her eyebrows that would have made Umi-Doo proud. I hid my kawaii blush and pulled out The Other, Other List to review notable action items for the kingdom at large.

Soon after everyone had hats firmly affixed, the round table began to expand. It spun and irised outward, revealing that it was made up of several slabs fitted together with profound precision, now sliding out from under one another with machine-like grace. Xim grabbed at her box of chocolates to keep it from being ferried away. We all rolled our seats back while Grotto teleported several more chairs into the room.

Once that was finished, a number of new individuals appeared in the seats around the roundtable.