Alistair :"Mama didn't raise no quitter, son!
Miquella :"No, she raised someone with so much anxiety that he don't start anything."
Alistair :"Exac- HEY!!"
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[Level: 40 -> 43
Faith: 8 -> 10
Arcane: 11 -> 12
Runes: 36,815 -> 5,547]
"Hmm, this is definitely a good Sacred Seal." Miquella smiled after throwing a fireball :"Just like you said, due to it scaling primarily with Arcane, it will also be amazingly suitable for your build as well. Its growth won't be separate like how it would be with Faith. I like it."
Alistair smiled :"I'm glad to hear that. And you're right, it does work well with my own build. I was originally intending to go for the Strength build, but since getting the Bandit's Curved Swords, I was having second thoughts.
After we found out how you could also help in battle, I couldn't hold back anymore from going for the Bleed build. It is one of the most deviously fun builds, after all. And a personal favorite of mine when it's not being spammed by Rivers of Blood."
"What IS a Bleed build, actually?" Miquella asked, coming to sit beside him :"I just saw a short display of it, but considering how only that short display took down Elder Dragon Greyoll, who even uncle Maliketh had such a high opinion of, it is definitely strong."
Alistair smiled as Miquella leaned against, placing his head on his shoulder :"Oh, Bleed builds ARE strong. As long as it's with fun weapons instead of just spamming Rivers of Blood.
You see, Bleed or Blood Loss, officially known as Hemorrhage, is basically a status like poison and scarlet rot. But it works differently than them. When, for example, the poison gauge, which is what you saw when I jumped down into the poison pool right there, is filled, you become poisoned.
That green bar will start as full and will slowly start to become empty. Until it disappears, it continues to deal a fixed amount of damage of 7 damage per second, I think. The same applies to scarlet rot. When you're inflicted with scarlet rot, you continue to lose health, but it does a higher damage of 13 per second.
However, Hemorrhage and Frostbite are different. Instead of taking continuous damage for a period of time, when the bar is filled, they take a certain percentage of an enemy's total HP in one go.
For Frostbite, it's 10% of normal enemies' max HP and 7% of bosses' max HP per Frostbite, and as for Hemorrhage, it's a whopping 15% of normal enemies' max HP and 10.5% of bosses' max HP per Blood Loss!"
"15 and 10.5 percent!" Miquella was shocked :"Then what influences how and how much Bleed happens?"
"Let me show you." Summoning his system screen, he opened his inventory to show the information on the Flail.
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(Flail: 5 kg)
[Attack]
Physical: 112
Crit: 100
-
[Guard]
Phy 36
Mag 24
Fire 24
Ligt 24
Holy 24
Boost 20
-
[Scaling]
Str D (10)
Dex D (18)
-
Skill: Spinning Chain (8 FP)
Passives: 50 Blood Loss
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"See this part that says "causes blood loss building (50)"? That means that each direct hit from the weapon, you get 50 Blood Loss build up. And when the enemy gets hit enough times for the Blood Loss build up to reach or pass their Robustness stat, you proc Bleed, taking away 15 or 10.5 percent of their max HP."
"Oooh, I get it! So is there a way to increase that Blood Loss build up number?"
"Yup, and that's where Arcane shows up. Blood Loss scales directly off of Arcane, so the higher the Arcana attribute, the higher this number gets. At least with weapons that scale with Arcane. So by raising my Arcane attribute, not only do I make you stronger, but I also make Bleeding enemies easier! Absolute win-win situation!"
"I see. That really does benefit us very well from both places! Two birds with one stone, and what a marvelous bird it is." Miquella smiled, but it wasn't the fond smile he always sent Alistair's way. No, it was a scheming one with no good intentions behind it.
It reminded Alistair once again just who Miquella was and how his personality dealt with things. Instead of nervousness, however, he loved that look on his face. His gorgeous face styling a little smirk was way too hot.
He couldn't help but hug his waist from the side. He didn't intend to breed him again for now, despite how tempting the idea was, since he was still recovering from the thorough mating he went through. But he still needed to at least feel his body close to his own. Very, very close.
Miquella's fond chuckle at his neediness annoyed him. The gorgeous manipulator would of course know what was going on with him by just looking at his body language after spending so long together.
With a scoff, he picked up the golden femboy, making him giggle loudly as he placed him on his lap :"Al~! What are you doing?!" His giggling intensified as Alistair buried his face in his neck, his breath tickling his delicate skin :"You already know I like feeling you up a lot. Why get surprised?"
Hugging his head even closer, letting him bury his senses in his smell, Miquella spoke in a baby voice :"Aww, does my sweet baby need a lot of attention? Don't I already show you enough love, you big baby?"
"Quiet already..." He whined, making Miquella smile fondly at the shyness he heard in his voice. Kissing his soft hair before stroking his head lovingly :"It's alright, love. I'll spoil you as much as you'd like, so no need to be shy."
"Hm, thanks." He nodded against his neck, gently kissing the hickey marks that Miquella didn't seem to be aware of yet. As the golden femboy stroked his consort's head, he continued his questions :"But... we don't have anything that scales with Arcane though. You've said that the Bandit's Curved Swords are some of the best weapons for Bleed builds, but they don't have any Blood Loss build up at all."
"Oh, no need to worry about that. There are Ashes of War that are primarily for Blood affinities. Once we get one, we're all set. I wonder how it will work out though, considering I'm the one taking in the Ash of War instead of imprinting it onto the weapon like in the game, but it will hopefully be fine.
Also, one Blood affinity Ash of War is just in Limgrave, at the end of the forest south of the Third Church of Marika. We'll have to go there eventually for a quest and the other half of the Dectus Medallion, so it will be like three birds with one stone."
"Oh, then that's good to hear! In that case, not only will we be fully prepared for battle, we'll also have everything ready for when we set off to Leyndell and the Altus Plateau.
After cuddling with him for a while, Miquella kissed his ear :"I would love to continue this, but we still have a dungeon to conquer, remember? Can you let me practice a bit so I can be ready for when we fight together?"
His light groan revealed his reluctance, but he still listened :"Fine~..." Before smiling as he let him go :"But I gotta admit, I'm really excited for our team up. Can't wait to hack and slash while piggybacking my gorgeous husband."
"Oh, you and your silver tongue." Miquella chuckled before winking :"And I'm very excited as well. After all, I can finally support my lovely consort in battle. And not only that, thanks to the benefits of being a Spirit Summon without an energy (FP) limit, I can help you for as long as you are fighting. So no need to worry about my performance either."
"Sweetheart," A hand cupped his cheek, making him lean into Alistair's touch :"You severely underestimate the trust and confidence I have for you. If you said you can do something, then I'm absolutely sure you can. Since you've said it yourself that you can help in battles so confidently, I have no doubts that it's the truth."
Miquella's heart melted at his words. There was so much love and fondness in Alistair's eyes and smile, such confidence in his words, that it warmed him up like a sauna. He kissed the palm of his cheek lovingly :"Thank you, my beloved consort. Truly, thank you. And I already know you don't doubt my abilities, but still, I wanted to assure you."
"Just that smile of yours tells me everything I need to know, love." His smile widened as they shared a sweet, loving kiss.
-
"And we're... down!" Alistair grinned as he jumped down into the hidden pathway of the dungeon. Seeing the Chariot pass where he jumped down from moments later, he sighed in relief and walked into the pathway.
"(So the plan was that I would finally assist you, correct?)" Miquella's grumpy voice echoed in his mind.
"Yup."
"(And we would do that by me riding on your back in my intangible form, correct?)"
"Yup again."
"(Then why am I just watching inside of your mind again?!)"
"Miq, don't be impatient." He chuckled :"I just wanted to focus on getting away from the death machine coming after me rather than my sexy consort hanging by my neck, alright? Do you have any idea how distracting it would be to feel your delicious body hugging me from behind and breathing down my neck? And besides, I wanted the first enemy we fight to be special rather than some random ass mobs."
"(O-oh! I-it's alright then.)" Alistair didn't know how he still hadn't gotten used to his compliments despite his manipulative nature, but he found it endearing nonetheless.
'It just motivates me to compliment him more. His reactions are just way too adorable! I can't help but compliment him more hahahaha... Wait... maybe that's his plan?! *Gasp* It would fit his personality! Since he loves getting compliments from me, maybe he gives me those reactions knowing that it would drive me to compliment him even more, hence making him even happier for getting even happier?!
Oh, you sneaky little snake, Miq! I can just imagine his smug, adorable grin! It won't stop me from complimenting him till my tongue falls off though. Stopping complimenting my femboy god? I'm a lunatic, not a fucking moron.'
Meanwhile, Miquella, unaware of his consort's accusative but fond thoughts, was waving air at his blushing face. He had grown somewhat used to his compliments, but they were all about his beauty.
About how charming his face, hair, manners, personality, etc was. Although those still made his heart flutter due to getting them from his consort, someone who truly loved him romantically and someone who himself was starting to deeply love, he had heard those compliments many times from ass kissers.
But he still wasn't used to getting compliments about his body. After all, whoever was brave enough to look at his figure boldly was... yeah. And considering how his figure was new to even himself, shy already without any flattery, and with the flattery coming from his beloved, it was pretty effective in getting a reaction from him.
He didn't dislike it at all, however. He would welcome them anytime, even if it made him squirm and his heart flutter.
"Anyway, let's move in-" But just as he took a few steps in, something jumped from the back and hit him in the head. Miquella's eyes widened as he exclaimed in pain :"Be careful! There are enemies hiding in this dungeon!"
Rubbing his bleeding head with the handle of his swords, he turned to see the attacker :"Which motherfucker- oh, of course it was one of you sons of bitches!" Seeing the little imp statue shithead, he groaned loudly.
It swung its Forked Hatchet wildly, but Alistair only spared its head a fierce kick before it turned into powder, groaning loudly as he did so :"Bitch off~! Haaah, I forgot these pesky little shits like sneak attacks. Alright, let's do this quickly then."