Successor of kukulkan st.., p.63
Successor of Kukulkan: Stormcaller, page 63
Though simple and Dirt tiered, TJ recognized the silent power this would grant him. When he asked if this bonus would apply while he was transformed into a coatl, though, he was told that he was unable to wield any of the weapons he had as a coatl. Even so, if TJ figured out how to create what the System deemed a simple weapon that a serpent could wield, then he would do so.
Equipment Manufacturing, (Dirt, 0)): You have perfected the process of creating copies of an original item. This Skill will reduce the experience penalty for creating additional copies of the same item and will grant a slight increase of 7% to the aspects and bonuses to every item you create.
Though this was probably the least likely of the five options available for him to take, it was still a possibility, given that TJ suspected he’d spend a fair amount of time refining whatever items he created. Or wearing through them, considering how thrashed the armor was that he’d seen on every one of the Zealots. Even so, TJ didn’t imagine that he’d become the equivalent of a factory, pumping out dozens of copies of the same thing again and again.
The other two Skills available were different from the first three, with an entirely different focus than anything he’d seen before, though they were somewhat similar to the Primeval Champion he’d been offered before.
Primeval Barbarian’s Awakening, (Copper, (I)): You have lived as a personification of primitive anger and justified slaughter. This Skill serves as one of the requirements to evolve to the Copper tier. In addition, it will unalterably change the path of your Savage Occupation to that of a Primeval Barbarian. The Primeval Barbarian Occupation is a combat-oriented Occupation, though it does retain benefits and a minor focus on wilderness survival and exploration.
Primitive Craftsman’s Awakening, (Copper, (I)): You have proven yourself as one who has embraced the new world, and this new world’s need for creators. This Skill serves as one of the requirements to evolve to the Copper tier. In addition, it will unalterably change the path of your Savage Occupation to that of a Primitive Craftsman. The Primitive Craftsman Occupation is a production-focused Occupation, though it does retain any combat-oriented Skills already granted by the Savage Occupation.
The last two Skills’ descriptions were somewhat similar to the Primeval Champion’s, in that they promised permanent changes to the Savage Occupation. Seeing the description now, TJ suspected that taking the Champion Skill would lock him into that particular Occupation evolution. Regardless, both were appealing, though TJ didn’t want to cast aside either half of the Occupation’s versatility. Each of these evolutionary options would limit him somewhat, and TJ had hesitated to take Primeval Champion for the same reason. Since he’d just barely spoken with the System about Occupations and their evolutions, he figured there was a possibility he’d be able to glean some more information at this point.
“Are the Primitive Craftsman and Primeval Barbarian both Occupations that are evolutions of Savage?”
Yes.
“Other than what’s already written, what are the differences for these Occupations? What do they offer?”
No answer. TJ rolled his eyes and moved on.
“So, when I evolve to Copper tier, I’ll get access to them either way?
Unknown.
“Why is it unknown if I’m getting them offered to me right now?” TJ asked, aware that there were some people coming closer to him and listening. He waved them off, focusing on the conversation he was having.
The System does not grant any guarantees to Participants anticipatory to evolutions, Ascensions, Tribulations, or anything of the like.
TJ figured that meant he’d almost certainly be offered at least one of the two options when he inevitably evolved, but when that would occur without these Skills remained a mystery. He nearly decided on one of those two Skills right off the bat, but something in the back of his mind told him to ask a question he’d already asked and been rebuffed on before.
“What other evolutionary requirements am I closest to?”
Due to having crossed this threshold artificially, you are granted additional information: One of the potential benchmarks to complete to qualify to evolve to the Copper (I) tier of Divinity is to reach 100 Fixation.
For a moment, TJ wasn’t sure what the System was saying, but then he looked at his Status. There, at the bottom of the column, was his Fixation: 97+3. He put the dots together pretty quickly after that. “So you told me that this is an evolutionary requirement because, with the bonus from the Raven Mocker’s Remnant, I’ve crossed that baseline already?”
Correct.
Looking at the two Free Points left, TJ couldn’t help but laugh. He could bring himself to 99, but not 100. To add insult to injury, if he gained a single level in either Neophyte or Savage, he’d gain a level in Human as well, which would give him at least three Fixation, regardless of if the level came in his Occupation or Class.
Though he asked it, TJ suspected he knew the answer, and when the System answered, he felt more and more stuck. “Will there be any difference in what options are available to me at evolution if I get the third evolutionary requirement through a Skill or through reaching the Fixation benchmark?”
Yes.
TJ grumbled unintelligible curses to himself as he looked at the System displays in front of him. The System wouldn’t tell him if the Occupations offered after evolution would be any better than the one he chose through a Skill selection at this moment, so he was left needing to choose what he was going to do. Did he want to take the evolutionary certainty right now, or wait and possibly have better options available to him? After thinking for a moment, another question occurred to him.
“If I evolve to Copper by taking one of these two Skills, will Neophyte also evolve?”
Yes.
“Will there be any negative consequences if I do?”
Evolution within the bounds of the System is complex. As an explanation, there is a relationship between the level of your Class and Occupation and the quality of the evolutionary options offered to you at the time of Ascension to the next tier. If a Participant is able to evolve at a lower level, they may not have done everything necessary to acquire certain evolutions. However, if a Participant does evolve at the lower level, they will more easily be able to gain levels whilst in a higher tier. A higher tiered Class, Occupation, and Race grant higher Attributes per level than their lower tiered counterparts, and they also grant additional Skill options that their lower tiered counterparts cannot.
So there were benefits to both. That didn’t really help though… TJ asked, “If I evolve by taking one of these two Skills, will I be able to choose how my Race and Class evolve without limitations?”
Yes you will be able to choose, but if you decide to evolve more quickly, you may have limited your options by keeping yourself from achieving certain tasks while still at the Dirt (0) tier.
He felt like he was talking in circles. No matter how many times he asked, it felt like the same things kept coming back to him. Now, the choice was if he wanted to evolve now and possibly keep himself from being able to choose the best options, or to wait and give himself greater benefits in the long run. After continuing to lay down and ponder over it while occasionally asking the System more questions that didn’t give him any satisfactory answers, TJ decided that he couldn’t make the decision right now. He didn’t want to wait, but there were other people he could ask, even if they didn’t know better than he did.
Walking back to within the bounds of the walls, TJ saw that Peter had made his decision regarding what to do to stabilize the walls, and holes were growing around the interior perimeter of the walls, holes where tree trunks could be buried vertically and used as supporting braces for the logs making up the walls. He liked Peter, but TJ wasn’t going to ask him for any sort of advice on this. Instead, TJ walked into the general store, where Laura, Stanton, Seth, Sarah, and most of the other elites were sitting around, recovering in Meditation. Zig was also there, but she was watching over the assembled Participants instead of Meditating herself.
Unsure of what to do, TJ nodded when he saw her and walked forward to get closer to Stanton. Behind him, he heard Sarah sigh and walk out, muttering something unflattering about him under her breath. With a poke, Stanton roused, blinking a couple times to focus on TJ.
“Something wrong?” Stanton asked, shooting to his feet. “Did I miss something?”
“Nope, just looking for some advice on a difficult decision I’ve got. You willing to talk? I was going to ask a couple of people what they thought before I made it.”
Stanton grunted as he rolled his neck and walked out of the center of the Meditating Participants. “Hit me.”
“Well, I’ve learned that I can take a Skill right now and evolve to Copper tier, or get one more level and do it then.” Stanton nodded, waiting for TJ to continue explaining. “Doing it now will limit my Occupation a little, which I don’t like, and doing it later will allow me to make a couple more choices. Doing it now gives me two more levels with Copper bonuses to Attributes instead of Dirt tier.”
When he saw that TJ was basically done explaining, Stanton asked, “How fast do you think you can get that one level?”
TJ checked internally, though he knew he’d only just reached the levels he’d gained today. “Maybe today, if I’m lucky? If not, early tomorrow.”
“And how long does it take for someone to become Copper tier?”
TJ shrugged and asked the System.
While within the Tutorial, the System is more willing to put its hand on the scale and hurry things along. Evolution to the Copper tier would take no more than 12 hours.
“Half a day.”
“We’ve got more than a day and a half ahead of us. You make the decision. What do you want to do? Which option do you think you’d regret more?”
When Stanton asked that, TJ realized he knew the answer. He was pretty likely to get at least similar options if he got one more level, and being forced into something that didn’t quite suit him was uncomfortable—even if he’d just been lamenting how neither his Class nor his Occupation granted good Attributes for the physical side.
“Looks like you’ve made your decision.” Stanton said with a smile under his thick moustache. “What do you need me to do?”
"I'll let you know. For now, I need to choose a new Skill."
Chapter ninety-eight
With the two “evolutionary” Skills off the table, TJ needed to make his decision. Equipment Manufacturing was the first of the three remaining to be disqualified, as TJ had already thought. Between the Primal Savagery upgrade and Simple Weapons Proficiency, TJ pretty quickly realized which of the two he preferred. It might have been that the upgrade to Primal Savagery already had it at Copper tier, but though Simple Weapons Proficiency would give an additional stack of 20% bonus to all his Attributes, that would make it so there was no bonus to his resources.
On the other hand, TJ suspected that he’d be doing quite a lot of fighting in the next couple of days with simple weapons, maybe even to the level of gaining that proficiency organically. Primal Savagery, as far as he knew, couldn’t be upgraded organically. As soon as he selected the Skill, strength flooded TJ’s body. He checked his Status page, just to see the benefits he was granted, as well as the growth from those three levels.
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Human, lvl 18
Class: Neophyte, lvl 17
Occupation: Savage, lvl 20
Level of Divinity: Dirt (0)
Divine Bloodline: Kukulkan
Health Points (HP): 1390/1390
Mana Points (MP): 1080/1080
Stamina: 1390/1390
Attributes
Strength: 65(+13)
Agility: 47(+9)
Endurance: 116(+23)
Vitality: 116(+23)
Toughness: 91(+18)
Wisdom: 62(+12)
Intelligence: 84+7(+17)
Perception: 80(+16)
Willpower: 100(+20)
Fixation: 97+3(+19)
Free Points: 2
Skill List: Hidden
Titles: Irregular, Elite Hunter
Current total maximum Divine Transformation time: 2:04:30(End+Vit+Will+Fix)/4 Current cooldown: 0:00
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Coatl, lvl 18
Class: Neophyte, lvl 17
Occupation: Savage, lvl 20
Level of Divinity: Dirt (0)
Divine Bloodline: Kukulkan
Health Points (HP): 2780/2780
Mana Points (MP): 1080/1080
Stamina: 2780/2780
Attributes
Strength x2: 130(+26)
Agility x1.5: 71(+14)
Endurance x2: 232(+46)
Vitality x2: 232(+46)
Toughness x2: 182(+36)
Wisdom: 62(+12)
Intelligence: 84+7(+17)
Perception x1.5: 120(+24)
Willpower: 100(+20)
Fixation: 97+3(+19)
Free Points: 2
Skill List: Hidden
Titles: Irregular, Elite Hunter
Divine Trial Records: 2 Minor, 1 Moderate, 0 Bitter, 0 Celestial
Now, with all these benefits, TJ could barely compare to Sarah’s Attributes in Strength when he was transformed. Assuming she hadn’t done anything that would boost her Strength beyond the Attributes she gained every level from both her Class and Occupation. TJ shook the feeling from himself, knowing that it was foolish to continue down that line of thought. Looking at the Attributes specifically, he saw that the bonus from Primal Savagery didn’t count his bonuses from equipment, though that didn’t surprise him.
Now that he’d made that decision, he needed to decide if he was going to actively pursue the next level, or if he’d allow it to come when it came. With each new level, Savage was struggling to gain another, and TJ suspected that, barring using another Elite’s materials, it would take at least a full fifteen hours of working on production to gain the necessary level there. On the other hand, more and more monsters were appearing that had crossed the level 15 watershed, so they provided more experience when slain. That thought made TJ want to rush out alone again, to struggle to gain that last experience, to grow more, to be a stronger coatl, to see what lay beyond the horizon—
The foolish thoughts swept through TJ, and he tamped them down. Already, he’d learned that that wouldn’t work. He couldn’t rush headlong out there and expect to survive, because the monsters were getting more and more intelligent by the day, and even when he’d taken special care to go out with a full team with greater Skills than his Prehistoric Huntsman, they’d encountered the Gila Monstrosities while trying to avoid set traps. This foolhardy need to rush forward was something different from everything TJ had always been before, and finally, a question occurred to him.
“Is my Bloodline pushing me to be more reckless than I was before?”
Yes.
The simple answer was more chilling than a complicated one would have been. It was stark, absolute. TJ’s mind was changing because of the blood of Kukulkan in his veins.
“If I’ve always had it, then why am I only feeling its influence now?”
As a Participant grows in power, so too does their Bloodline. If one wishes to entirely escape the influence of their Bloodline, they must eschew it and cast it off entirely.
For a moment, TJ considered it. Becoming entirely his old self. He was kinder then, softer. Slow to anger and quick to forgive, a steadfast friend who’d easily overcome most insults. That TJ would fit in much easier to the little microcosm of society that existed in Pine. He wouldn’t have been the target of Jeff’s anger, or the cause for Charlie’s death. Indulging himself, TJ thought about how he could have been instead of how he was now, how he would have been happier in the safety of the town, making friends and working together.
Then he was realistic. There was no way he could have survived this far without this additional ruthlessness. If he hadn’t learned to leave the tides of society behind, they wouldn’t be preparing for an actual siege, instead waiting foolishly to be overrun by hundreds of raging monsters. TJ’s body would be among the rest of the peoples’ in his vision of loss if that was the case. If TJ shrugged off Kukulkan’s presence and influence, then could he even use Divine Transformation?
So much of what had allowed him to survive came from his Bloodline, and TJ wasn’t going to cast it aside. Sure, he’d be more comfortable in town when he died if he wasn’t changed, but that wouldn’t bring him to Junior.
Resolved, TJ rolled his shoulders and called out to Stanton, who remained nearby.
“How long will you need to go back out again?”
Less than an hour later, TJ walked out of the safe zone with Stanton, Seth, Sarah, Molly, Michelle, and Peter. Michelle, the Blacksmith, was kitted out in what could pass for a reasonable replica of medieval armor, though she insisted it wasn’t nearly “articulated enough”. TJ thought she was moving pretty well, but even if she was less flexible, having a heavily armored Disciple in the party, with her Occupation and Class both at level 15, was a godsend. Instead of needing someone to stay beside her at all times, she carried a mace and shield, ready to protect herself. As she clanked along, her every step loud, there was no chance for an attempt at stealth.
Michelle swiped at her face, but couldn’t reach whatever it was that was bothering her, her heavy leather gloves hitting the repurposed metal mesh that made the front of her helmet. Molly, already transformed as a Lightning Dog beside the Blacksmith, looked up with a doggy grin.
“Sweaty under there?”
“You already know I am.” Michelle grumbled back. “I have a Skill that makes this less miserable, but the sun’s baking me and the weather turned unseasonably warm all of a sudden.”
