Chapter Forty-One: Character Sheet
Arriving at his dorm, he collapsed onto his bed, opening his HUD to finally check his updates.
Character Sheet
Name: Jace
Speaker Rank: Bronze One Star, Novice Reactionaire
Class Title: Cleric
EXP Capacity Bar: 7150/1200
Warning: You are currently 5,950 EXP over your EXP capacity. All EXP gain is being reduced by 90%. Please cultivate EXP or increase capacity to recover some of your EXP gain efficiency.
Jace felt a mix of excitement and dread seeing the large EXP gain. The sinking feeling of lost potential overshadowed the thrill of growth. Determined to understand more about EXP Capacity and how to increase it, he made a mental note to investigate further. It seemed his capacity had increased slightly, but nowhere near enough. Then again, he doubted students were supposed to be fighting such high-level creatures.
Attributes
? Strength: 12
? Dexterity: 13
? Intelligence: 15
? Wisdom: 16
? Constitution: 12
? Charisma: 11
Skills
? Dark Vision (Apprentice): Enhanced ability to see in darkness with limited clarity.
? Knowledge Absorption (Apprentice): Improved retention and comprehension of absorbed knowledge.
? Universal Lore (Apprentice): Increased understanding of game mechanics and world lore.
? Minor Resistance to Death (Apprentice): You have developed a natural immunity to dying. Take 5% less damage from necrotic, evil, and shadow-based attacks.
? Inspect Object - Novice: Looking at things really hard has helped you determine what they are. +10% chance to discover facts about objects.
Words of Power / Affinities
Soul - Rank One, Novice Reactionaire
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Unlocked Abilities and Effects
? Soul Survivor (Internal, Passive): Your soul is resilient. You have Spoken a Word of Power far beyond your ability and lived to tell the tale. You are defying the course of natural selection. +10% increased resistance to all soul damage.
Aether Cost: None
? Soul Mend (Touch): You have gained some passing insight into how the soul can heal the body. (Enhanced Aspect): A small portion of your aether is now dedicated to personal healing, providing a constant, passive restoration. This ongoing aether expenditure reduces the total cost for all self-mending by 50%.
Aether Cost: Moderate
? Soul Tether (Distance, Sight): You can perceive and influence the connectivity between souls, allowing you to transfer minor limited effects between two entities.
Aether Cost: High
? Soul Sense (Distance, Sight): Increased perception of emotions in others and wandering spirits. (Enhanced Aspect): You have gained an enhanced perception of souls and their connections. You can now see and feel from the perspective of the connected entity, with a chance to glean potentially valuable insights and memories.
Aether Cost: Low
? Soul Severance: You have gained a deeper insight into the connection between the soul and the body, enabling you to detect and remove incursions that do not belong. This ability allows you to sever the connection between a foreign entity and its host body. Increase this ability for reduced aether cost and increased effectiveness.
Aether Cost: Severe
He checked over his Society Interface.
Society of Hades
Members: 1
Society Points Available: 4,500
“Wait, what?” Jace muttered, surprised by the sudden influx of points. He quickly checked over his logs, scanning through the damage reports, abilities used, and status updates. The battle with the undead replayed in his mind as he reviewed the details.
? Damage taken
? Party member has been paralyzed.
? Critical condition.
? Archmage Theon has joined the fray.
? Orion Blackwood has joined the fray...
The battle log and status updates went on.
And then he saw it.
? Update - Defeat of Enemy of Hades. 2000 Society Points.
? EXP gained for monster defeated, 32,000, multiplied by rank disparity bonus.
? Warning: EXP has passed current storage limits. 90% reduction in place.
? Notice: Boon gifted in recognition from Hades for assisting in the defeat of one of his foes -
“Over The Top”
When you have passed your EXP capacity threshold, instead of simply all EXP being reduced by 90%, a small portion of that overflow EXP will be converted into Society Points.
“Thank you, Hades,” Jace whispered. Having a patron deity wasn’t such a bad thing after all. At least not all of the EXP gain was lost.
He checked over the available options for Society upgrades. There were many choices, but he didn’t want to rush into anything. He decided to leave it for now and make more concrete plans for how the society should grow later.
He then selected [Active Quests] and immediately covered his head in his hands when he saw the notification.
Quest Chain Update: Profession Quest: Hades’ Little Helper
I ain’t ’fraid of no ghosts…
There is the soul of a woman in the wilderness east of the campus that was supposed to move on six weeks ago, but something is keeping her there. You must figure out what is causing this anomaly and set things right.
Reward: 100 Society EXP, 1 Copper
Failure: Impending doom
Bonus Objective: Give it that little extra
Bonus Reward: Variable
Quest Updates:
This quest is far, far past due. Minus 20 reputation with Hades.
Rewards for Quest: Hades’ Little Helper has been decreased because of taking your sweet time.
