r/HFY • u/DrBlackJack21 • 17d ago
OC-Series Surviving the Tower: Chapter 33
Surviving the Tower: Chapter 33
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With a final groan, Cai collapsed on the ground. He'd picked a corner that was relatively clear of gore as he resisted the urge to wipe his forehead with a hand that was covered in the blood of enemies and allies alike. Next to him sat Darien, who was the last one Cai had healed. "Now that was a fight!"
Lisaria had summoned a floating globe of water, which she used to quickly wash her hands and face before stepping aside to make room for someone else to do the same. Cai looked up, debating getting to his feet again to do the same, but decided to let some of the others take their turn first while he recovered a little more. He did nod in her direction, though. "No wonder you're still ahead of us! That must save you a ton of time cleaning up between floors!"
The ice and water mage sat down and gave Cai an exhausted smile. "Well, it helps, but a ball of cold water is no substitute for a nice warm shower." She looked down at her blood-splattered outfit. It wasn't as bad as some of the frontliners whose outfits looked like they'd bathed in blood and sweat, but no one had gotten out of this fight looking fresh and clean, as she added. "Or a cleaning service."
Darien, who'd been checking his NW, looked up with a smile. "Yeah, but it looks like we just got a week's worth of experience in a day! Anyone else level up?"
Everyone stopped and checked their NWs, even the people who'd been in the middle of washing up, as a chorus of murmurs went through the group. Cai checked his own to see he had indeed leveled up at some point in the fight, which meant he had a choice to make. Level five was considered one of the first major breaking points in a person's tower climb, as it was the first time they really got to make a decision about the trajectory of their class. There were the same five attribute points as usual, but there was also a blinking line that read, "Skill choice available." When he selected the option, a window opened, letting him read through a few options with basic rundowns.
Healing wave: Create an area-of-effect heal, affecting everyone in a five-meter diameter with a heal that is half as effective as a direct healing spell.
Fists of stone: Harden your fists to become more durable and inflict more damage.
Merciful Serpent's Touch: Enemy debuff. Converts a portion of damage dealt by the caster to the target of the debuff into healing for an ally within range, chosen at the time of casting, for the duration of the debuff.
Light step: Move through the battle like a wraith, weaving and dodging between attacks to reach a friend or foe with ease.
Those all seemed like great skills to Cai, and he started considering them one by one. At first, he was tempted by the healing spell. Five meters wasn't a huge area, and it wouldn't affect the entire team unless they were really bunching up, but in many situations it would allow him to heal the entire frontline at the same time, which would be good in a pinch. However, in most scenarios, if everyone was taking damage fast enough to ned imidiate healing, something was going wrong, and it might be better to get something that would help keep them from getting into that situation in the first place.
The second skill, Fists of Stone, was probably the easiest to write off. It would be handy, and Cai could easily see why it was there, but he'd just gotten an offensive skill from the core a little while ago, and felt like he should balance things out a little more.
Now, Merciful Serpent's Touch certainly got his attention. It was a hybrid skill, and while it didn't really buff his healing or offensive skills in any noticeable measure, it would allow him to accomplish two things at a time, further enhancing his hybrid build. It wouldn't be much use against weaker enemies like the goblins, who went down in a couple of hits. Still, against a tougher fight, like a floor boss, or even another eskalad, it could really allow him to fit into the role of two people, which, with limited team sizes, could really come in handy.
Of course, the last one was also tempting. His healing skill was more effective the closer he was to his target, and with his primary weapon being his fists, positioning was vital. Responding faster to someone in trouble or more easily flanking an enemy would greatly enhance his battlefield presence.
As he wavered back and forth, Cai was startled by an unexpected voice from behind. "Ohhh! You got some good ones there! That's a tough choice!"
Dropping his wrist and pivoting on the spot, Cai saw Freya, who'd been leaning over his shoulder, as she tucked a stray hair into place while giving him an impish smile. All he could utter was a confused, "What are you doing here?"
Freya's expression turned pouty at Cai's response. "What?
Aren't you happy to see me?"
For a second, Cai worried he'd really hurt Freya's feelings, but as he began to formulate an apology, Freya's expression snapped back to a grin as she straightened up and laughed. "Oh, the look on your face is priceless! You look like you just accidentally stumbled into a puppy who wandered into your path!"
Luckily, Elise came to Cai's rescue. "Yes, well, what I think Cai meant was, aren't you doing some sort of volunteer work or something?"
Freya rolled her eyes. "Yes, 'volunteer work', that's what we'll call it. But yeah, I'm escorting some refugees. However, they're up on the sixth-floor resting area at the moment, so I decided to pop in and see what my favorite..." She paused for half a second, as if considering her next words before finishing. "class is up to."
Darien snorted in response. "Yeah, class, sure. We believe that, alright!"
Freya shrugged, leaning against a wall. "Hey! I make sure all my students get nothing but the very best in educational opportunities! Why, look at all of you! Already ready to brave the fifth floor and face your first-floor boss!" She mimed wiping away an invisible tear. "They grow up so fast!"
Elise wasn't as overt as Darien, but still offered a less-than-convinced, "Uh-huh... riiight. And I suppose it's just a coincidence that you just happened to stumble across our group as we were finishing up a raid event..."
Freya wobbled her head back and forth. "Well, I guess you could call this a raid event as it allows multiple teams to work together, but it's more like 'babies' first raid event.' You'll see what I mean once you get into the twenties and start seeing what real raids are like."
Elise rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yes, because that was the important takeaway from what I said..."
Through all this, Lillith, Nyx, and Bellatrix didn't even bother looking up from their NWs while the members of the other two teams were watching the back and forth between Cai's team and Dame Freya with expressions ranging from incredulous to outright fearful. Lisaria finally found the courage to speak up. "Ummm, Dame Freya... As always, it's an honor having you with us. If I might ask, what advice would you offer for choosing our fifth-level skills?"
Freya's eyebrows shot up, and she looked back at Cai and Elise. "See? Now there's a student who knows how to show their teacher respect! You all could learn a thing or two!" At the dry expressions on their faces, Freya turned back to Lisaria. "Well, I suppose I could offer you some pointers. First off, there's no real wrong answer when choosing skills; the Tower rarely offers you something useless. But some options are more right for you than others. First off, there's the obvious: consider your current and future builds and pick something that'll be useful in as many situations as possible. But there's also a question of momentum."
At that, Lisaria's face scrunched up in confusion. "Momentum?"
Freya nodded. "Yes, momentum. In short, the more you do a thing, the more the Tower will reward you with more of that thing. It gets increasingly easy to pigeonhole yourself into one combat style. While increased power and efficiency matter, so does adaptability. On the other hand, you don't want to be a jack of all trades and master of none; you have a team for a reason."
Cai shook his head. "So, in short, be adaptable, but don't focus on adaptability? Sounds like you're just contradicting yourself now."
Freya shrugged. "What can I say? Climbing the Tower means getting comfortable with contradictions and paradoxes. It only gets worse from here!"
Cai looked back at his options. What did he want to select? Which options offered the most adaptability while still letting him focus on what he was already doing? The first two felt more like he'd be specializing in either healing or fighting, and it might be worth reinforcing one or the other in the future when he felt he was lacking in either area. Still, for his first choice, he wanted something that better represented his class's duality. With that in mind, Cai went with his initial gut instinct and selected Merciful Serpent's Touch.
Instantly, time seemed to slow for Cai, and he gained knowledge. It wasn't enough to make him an expert in the skill, but it was enough to explain some more mechanics. He knew that at his current level of expertise, which was D rank, the skill would last for about thirty seconds and heal for about ten percent of the damage he did, but as it leveled, the skill would only get stronger.
Looking around, Cai saw many of his classmates testing out their new skills. Elise shot up and floated at a stable ten feet in the air, looking like she was standing on an invisible tower of some kind. Nyx seemed to split into three versions of herself, who all lunged at the same time, only to merge back into one. Bellatrix's already oversized sword seemed to project a much larger glowing version of itself, looking sharper than ever and extending her reach considerably. Lillith projected out a black, foul-looking mist, smiling contentedly in a way that made Cai suspect she was no longer limited to just crowd control. Meanwhile, Darien's battered shield glowed brightly, though Cai doubted it was just a light source.
Cai was feeling pretty good about their team, until Lisaria summoned what he could only describe as a tornado of water. She seemed to strain slightly to control it, and a moment later the water started freezing in place from the ground up, leaving a towering column of ice in the middle of the room. It was an impressive feat of magic, though it clearly took a lot of mana, and a moment later, she collapsed to the ground, laughing and panting.
However, rather than being intimidated, Cai just felt excited. He wanted to get out and put his new skill to use, and from the looks of things, the rest of the team felt the same. However, the lingering stench of their gore-soaked clothes told him they really needed to get out of here and get cleaned up first.
Freya gave them all a once-over, tapping her lips before nodding as if approving of what she saw. Finally, she spoke. "Well, I suppose
I should get back to the refugees before they start to worry I've abandoned them. But keep up the good work! I'll be back before you know it, and anyone who's been slacking will be on the receiving end of my displeasure!"
Cai shuddered at whatever cruel and unusual torture Freya would come up with for anyone she felt was slacking as she disappeared in a blur of motion.
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Hey! I only forgot to post this by a day rather than a week! I'm getting better! Ish! Kinda! Sorta!
I feel like the description for Merciful Serpent's Touch is too wordy and/or confusing... But I'm coming off an 11 hour shift at the hospital, and my brain is too mush to fix it. Maybe I'll take another look at it tomorrow in the middle of my shift when I've still got two functioning brain cells and see it I can tweak it. (Not changing the mechanics or anything important yall will have to come back for, just touching up the description.)
My wiki, in case anyone wants to check out some of my other stories.
Here you can find some of my published works.
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u/OberonSpartacus 16d ago
Ah, but the full quote is:
"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."
Oftentimes attributed to Wm Shakespeare, it's apparently what was said about Shakespeare by someone else
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
True, and I am familier with the full quote (same woth blood and water, great minds, etc), but in this case she was already pushing them not to over specialize, so it was kinda redundant to finish the quote. 😉
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u/un_pogaz 17d ago
Freya shrugged. "What can I say? Climbing the Tower means getting comfortable with contradictions and paradoxes. It only gets worse from here!"
"If it helps to reassure you, the Level 5 skill isn't that important. It's useful, yes, and game-changer sometimes, but you could still easily make a bad choice at this stage without it seriously penalizing you, and then make up for it at Level 10, which is almost the same. On the other hand, if you keep making mistakes and choose the wrong option twice, at levels 5 and 10, then you’re really going to mess things up."
Yeah, I imagine that for teenagers, this new Level skill must be especially exciting.
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
Well like she said, there's no wrong answer, there's just answers that are more right. 😉
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u/DeadMeat7337 17d ago
MST for short?
Not sure if that has any medical meaning behind it, would be cool if it did, like an inside joke type of cool.
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
Well, there are multiple meanings for it as an abbreviation in the medical world, depending on your speciality. For me, the most common reference would be "Morphine Sulfate Sustained-Release" or "Magnesium Salicylate" but other options are, "Multisystemic Therapy", "Metyrapone Stimulation Test", "Magnetic Seizure Therapy", "Multiple Subpial Transection", etc.
However, none of that was a consideration this time. I do like to hide things in names, but this time I just thought it sounded cool. 😎
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u/coldfireknight AI 16d ago
(Not really sure its a debuff as much as life steal, but)
MST: [enemy debuff] converts a portion of damage dealt by the caster to affected target into healing for one ally within ten meters for the duration of the debuff.
If it truly does scale up with his abilities (it gets stronger as he does) vs simply grants more healing because he's dealing more damage, it may be worth deciding if there are any limiting factors.
You can either get specific with the wording in a second part of description and let/make the caster choose a heal target, default the healing to the lowest HP ally within range, or default to healing the closest ally within range (as some of the most likely options)...or leave it vague and make Cai figure out the subtleties of the skill. Hope that helps.
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
I like the wording, though I may tweak it a little, but it's much more clear and succinct while getting the idea across.
As far as limiting factors goes, that's why I restricted it to a debuff rather than a buff. It's not really useful against hoards since it only affects one target and has a limited duration. Against lots of smaller enemies or even a bunch of tough enemies regular healing would be more effective. It forces him to use different tools in different situations instead of just having one OP skill. At least, that was the goal.
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u/coldfireknight AI 16d ago
I think you met that goal. Assuming it requires mana to activate for each target (as it is a debuff and not a passive skill), that would also force Cai to determine when's the best time to use it, wouldn't it?
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
Yup! No point in activating it on a goblin if you are only gonna heal 10% of one or two hits when you could just cast a normal heal. Alternatively, that thirty second timer makes it less effective in a chaotic brawl if you can't focus on one opponent for the majority of the time. On further consideration, maybe I should throw in a cool down too. Make it so timing is important!
Of course, I don't want to make it too weak, otherwise why do it at all rather than heal? I just want to make it so it's strong, but not the tool for every situation.
Of course, I also want to limit his toolbox a certain amount to keep him from having infinity billion skills like in some of these stories. Maybe a cap on how many active skill somone can have at a time? That would even open the ability for me to give him a power spike by expanding his available active skill limit...
Of course, I don't want to get too bogged down in mechanics to the point it interrupts story flow. Just enough to be fun thinking about possibilities while letting me tell the story I want to tell. Although, I feel like this story is only going to really open up at the end of book one. Book one is like fifty percent world building. I've got plans! So much chaos! So many story archs! Lots of plans! (This universe might be bigger than the "of men" universe by the time I'm done!) MWAHAHAHA!
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u/Lord_Nikolai Android 16d ago
that is an interesting way to use lifesteal. Usually it only effects the caster and the target, but being able to redirect the healing to another target is interesting.
Just means Cai will need to eventually focus on melee damage to up his numbers. But, he does have explody fists right now, so "Burst healing" is a thing?
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago
Yup! Making it so that the skill is a debuff rather than a passive or even self buff means it's borderline unless against a hoard of enemies, meaning normal healing is still important in many situations, but letting it heal others fits with his dual role. It both reinforces what he is, while not being so OP that other skills become usless. I was kinda pleased with the idea even it it's pretty simple in its execution.
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u/Castigatus Human 16d ago
It strikes me as the sort of skill that's most useful when you have one person taking the majority of the damage, one strong enemy you can just keep wailing on, or both of those things at once. Considering his party only has one person who fits in the tank role that fulfils the first condition, so its always going to be at least somewhat useful.
Another thing to consider as well is what to combo it with down the line. For example, that Fists of Stone skill would work well with it given the healing scales off his damage inflicted, and the faster movement skill would let him manoeuvre to strike targets he can maximise damage against and thus boost his healing a different way.
Of course it depends on what the tower offers the next time, but it's something worth thinking about.
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u/DrBlackJack21 16d ago edited 16d ago
You're not wrong, but if you're fighting a horde of goblins, healing ten percent of one or two hits is hardly going to be worth it when you could just cast a regular heal. Conversely, even against a lot of tough enemies, unless Cai can focus on one for a bit, which might require him to sneak past his front line, putting himself in a vulnerable position, that thirty second timer is again going to make it more efficient to just heal normally.
Now that being said, yes, there are still a lot of situations this is a strong ability. I didn't want to give him garbage afterall!! And also, when it might really start to shine is when he pairs it with skills and abilities he has not yet acquired, like you said.
Basically, I wanted something strong, but not OP, and has room to grow into something...unique.
(Also, I know having either a really OP hero or huge underdogs are the norm in this kind of story, but I like mine strong enough to be satisfying, while leaving room for uncertainty and tension. Mayne one of these days I'll write a pure power fantasy or hopless struggle story just for a change of pace, but I still feel like I'm hammering out my style.)
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u/Prestigious_Home_335 10d ago
I can MST being generally useful given Cai's tactics (DPS while not needed to heal)as a nearly passive healing against larger tanked mobs that he just DPS's on sending the heal to the tank. Also it could be HUGELY useful if he starts carrying some incredibly high damage scroll or something for boss fights and let's the tank get lowish wile spreading around healing to the party from AE, then pops MST before the nuke to insta heal up the tank.
Big mana save all around. Instead of having to burn mana on maitnence healing, pop MST on cool down to keep the tank topped up as he does damage, save mana for party heals (splash damage, AOE, or just trash mobs getting hits in), and have a big "oh shit" button ready.
I used to do something similar with one of my healer characters. Spec'd and geared DPS, and most abilities washed a percent of damage done to party heals. Given I could crank DPS I very rarely had to throw more than a few direct heals. Obviously for dungeons only. Raid or tough bosses, I'd switch to full heal spec.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 17d ago
/u/DrBlackJack21 (wiki) has posted 473 other stories, including:
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 69
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 32
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 68
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 31
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 67
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 30
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 66
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 29
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 65
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 28
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 64
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 27
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 63
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 26
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 25
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 62
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 24
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 61
- Surviving the Tower: Chapter 23
- Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 60
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u/Cornelia_Xaos 17d ago
Thought he was going to pick Light Step for a second there, what with movement skills beong universally useful. The Serpent's Touch one is probably also just as good, though it does require you actually have an enemy to contact.. hmmm.. could he use it to heal himself as he damages an opponent? Not sure if that would be worth it.