Congratulations! You have reached skill level 10 in Earth Magic. New spells are now available.
You have received 1,250 (base 2,000 x 1.25 x 0.5) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the skill: Earth Magic.
Congratulations! You have advanced from the rank of Novice to the rank of Initiate in: Earth Magic. +5% Resistance to Earth Magic. +5% Strength when casting Earth Magic.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 11 in War Leader. +1% effective distance. +1% attack and defense for all allies within your Sphere of Influence.
Congratulations! You have reached subskill level 6 in Beacon. …
…
Congratulations! You have reached subskill level 9 in Beacon. +90 to the Fighting Spirit of war party.
Richter dismissed the last of the prompts dealing with his skill leveling. The battle had been an amazing catalyst for his capabilities. His swords were now deadlier, and his magic was more powerful. He had also been able to progress from novice to initiate in three different skills! It still hurt seeing all the experience he was losing due to his experience penalty. His Specialist Talent, Talent Point Conversion, was a great way to advance his Profession quickly, but the penalty was seriously chaffing his ass. He had spent a whopping eight hundred and eighty-nine thousand experience points to gain more Talent points. As a result, all of the experience he gained after that trade was twice as hard to earn back. He still felt like he had made the right choice, but the loss of XP royally sucked.
The next prompt made him feel better.
You have been awarded 57,107 experience (base 1,305,294 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 35 goblin Witch Doctor, Sin-ak; Station: Rikker.
Richter checked his status page. Including the XP from the Witch Doctor, he had gained over six hundred thousand experience points since using his Talent! He did some quick math and realized that he was almost 70% of the way to being free of the damn penalty! It put a bit of extra pep in his step as he walked through the forest. With nothing else to do, he examined the rest of the prompts.
For slaying fourteen Goblin Scouts, you have been awarded 28 War Points!
For slaying fifteen Goblin Fighters, you have been awarded 45 War Points!
For slaying two Professional Warrior Goblin Grinders, you have been awarded 40 War Points! (War Points multiplied by 5 for slaying a Professional) For slaying one Specialist Witch Doctor Goblin Rikker, you have been awarded 50 War Points! (War Points multiplied by 10 for slaying a Specialist) The war points were helpful, but honestly, Richter had been expecting more. The bonus from killing Professionals was awesome, and the Specialist bonus was bad-ASS, but how often could he expect that to happen? He didn’t like being a complainer, but he had just been expecting something more spectacular for killing sentient creatures. He would almost be better off hunting deer.
The war point allocation when he was hunting beasts or monsters was based on the soul level of the creatures. Poor soul animals gave one point, while monsters with luminous souls gave four points, etc. It looked like the Warriors that had been killed gave the same amount of points as a mid-level monster. Again, the 400% bonus was great and all, but it was still kind of disappointing. All of Richter’s misgivings faded away when he saw the next prompt, though. As he read it, a sound he hadn’t heard before echoed in his ears.
CLANG!
Congratulations! You have destroyed an enemy War Party! The War Leader’s rank was Apprentice. For killing a War Leader of the third rank, all War Points gained are tripled! War Points gained: 489. Total War Points: 601.
Now that’s what I’m talking about, Richter thought! He was definitely going to need a wallet that says ‘Bad Mother Fucker’ on it to hold all his war points from then on out! Even more prompts appeared.
Know This! For personally killing a War Leader one rank above you, you are randomly assigned two Promotions the enemy War Leader possessed (if the War Leader possessed two promotions that you do not already have). You will be given the lowest level of the gained promotions.
Congratulations! For slaying the War Leader, Si-nak, you have been awarded the Promotion: Weakness Equals Death I. Champions in your War Party have +5% attack and defense vs lower level opponents.
Congratulations! For slaying the War Leader, Si-nak, you have been awarded the Promotion: Slaughter the Innocent I. Killing noncombatants will increase the Fighting Spirit of your War Party for one hour. +5 Fighting Spirit for each life claimed.
Richter was immediately disgusted by the last prompt. He didn’t even want to think about how many helpless people the Witch Doctor must have killed to earn the promotion. He considered having the mist worker drop the dead Mage’s body so he could kick it. Somehow, he knew that striking the carcass with his feet wouldn’t make him feel any better, so the chaos seed just shut the issue from his mind. He did promise himself never to level the disgusting promotion, though.
The Weakness Equals Death I promotion could be helpful, on the other hand. Not many opponents had reached level thirty-one like he had. Even better, his new subskill, Army of One, let him access the perks from promotions even when he was fighting alone. His attack and defense had just gotten 5% stronger! To his delight, Richter found that his war party had earned one more promotion.
Congratulations! For destroying another War Party, your War Party has been awarded the Promotion: Battle Lord I. Champions in your War Party enjoy +1 to all Base Characteristics when battling against an enemy war party.
Hell yeah, Richter thought! His earlier complaints about the low number of war points earned for fighting sentients had completely faded away. Between the promotions he had won and the 200% increase from having destroyed an enemy war party, it was clear that the best way to grow his own War Leader capabilities was to fight enemies that also had the skill.
That kind of planning could wait, though. He had over six hundred War Points to spend! Richter accessed the badges he could purchase with a broad grin on his face. It was time to go shopping!
CHAPTER 5 – Day 140 – Kuborn 30, 15,386 EBG
Since gaining the War Leader skill, Richter had learned much more about the badges that were available to him. The first thing he had grasped was that his War Leader skill made an invisible bubble around him, called his Sphere of Influence, or SoI. That information had been nearly useless at first, but soon after, several things had had become clear.