While Marcelina started boiling water after collecting it from the river and purifying it with her Purify Food and Drink skill, Benedictus went ahead and started looking over all the new things for his character sheet. In total, by reaching level 10, he had now gained 12 stat points, 18 skill points, 2 perk points, and 4 ability points that he could allocate. He would hold off on doing that, at least for right now, while he looked at the other things that he had received.
The first thing he decided to look at was his new fighting style, which appeared in his abilities tab as a passive.
Clicking on it, the text informed him:
Dragon Saint Style: A fighting style created by the dragons themselves that primarily focuses around the application of frontline combat sorcery. Although it primarily functions best when using a sword in one hand and allowing the other hand free to cast magic, the sword can be substituted for either a firearm or a dagger to still receive the benefits of this passive ability. While fighting in combat with a sword in one hand and the other hand free for casting spells, you gain +10 to hit when attacking and on successful attacks with either your one-handed weapon or your spells you deal an extra +100 damage.
Seeing that this passive fighting style was given to him made him extremely happy, seeing that it made him more effective in combat with his primary way of fighting. He especially liked the juicy increase in his overall damage. He did, however, feel a little bit upset seeing this now after he had already let Marcelina keep the rapier, as it is a type of sword and would work well for this fighting style. But what's done is done, and he is not going to ask for it back.
Turning his attention to his new class skills, he started with School of Study. The information about it essentially asked him to pick one of the schools of magic, and he would gain the same buff regardless, but only apply to that specific school of magic's types of spells. It asked him to pick between the following: Elemancy, Vivomancy, Necromancy, Eldermancy, Remomancy, Materiamancy, or Animancy.
Without hesitation, he quickly picked Elemancy as almost all of his spells are from the different branches of that specific school of magic. After all, it is the school of elemental magic which he primarily uses. Upon selecting it, the description for School of Study got updated.
School of Study: You have chosen to be well-versed in the art of the school of Elemancy. As a result, any spells that you cast from the branches of this school of magic: have their base damage for their spells increased by triple the amount and this does stack with other abilities that increase base spell damage, they also gain +15 to hit, they have +15 on their save DCs, and the damage from these spells ignore the resistances and immunities that enemies might have unless they are of a godly nature.
Upon seeing that, he immediately sat up straight, realizing that this class feature just skyrocketed his damage output even further. Looking it over a couple more times, he was actually astonished by just how strong he became in one day because of this one passive class skill. He started to feel a rush of excitement from this amazing new passive he had.
He remembered that he had another class skill and decided to take a look at it. Moving over to it he saw the Eyes of the Arcanist and looked at what it essentially said it gave him.
Eyes of the Arcanist: You permanently gain Magesight and Dragonvision of 100ft. Your eyes are capable of absorbing a single target spell cast at you 10 times per day, allowing you to heal for half of the damage you would have taken. When you absorb a spell in this manner, it can only be one tier lower than your current spell tier level. So, if you are at level 10, you can not absorb level 10 spells, but level 5 and level 1 tier spells can be absorbed by your eyes at that level. So, by level 100, if you absorb a spell with these eyes, you can only absorb up to level 95 spells, but not other level 100 spells.
Looking it over, he kind of got slightly confused, mainly because he didn't know what Magesight or Dragonvision gave him. Although, the ability to absorb lower level spells with his eyes and heal for half of the damage he would have taken was quite useful. If he were ever to get into a fight with other spell casters, this would be very effective at neutralizing some of their attacks at the very least.
He did notice that he could click on Magesight and Dragonvision, and it would take him to a different part of his character sheet where he could read about them. Deciding to do that, it took him over to a tab on his character sheet called ocular vision types. He saw that both of them were listed and decided to give them a read just to see what they were all about.
Magesight: This form of sight allows you to see magical auras around people and objects to gauge the overall power of their magic as well as what type of magic is being used. This allows you to tell what school of magic any enchantments on items are associated with, to gauge what the magical item in question might be capable of or for figuring out what type of magic a spellcaster might be using or have active. In combat, this can be used effectively to tell when a spellcaster is casting a spell and where it will most likely strike and how large of an area of effect it might have, giving you advantage on saving throws against it or imposing disadvantage on the attacker if they must roll to hit you with their spell.
Dragonvision: This allows you to see through darkness both magical and non-magical, to see through illusions, to see the aura around somebody to tell whether they are alive or dead or undead, to see the magical aura around people to be able to tell how powerful they are magically, and see through mind-affecting abilities. When focused in combat, it allows you to be able to see what your opponents will do next up to 10 seconds ahead of what they're actually doing at the moment. Allowing you to adjust as needed during the battle. With this sight, you cannot be mind controlled or have your mind influenced in any way both magically and non-magically. This does not include being simply tricked by a person who convinced you to believe one thing that may have not been true. You gain advantage on all saving throws and all enemies within range of your sight have disadvantage on attacks against you.
"Holy shit! What kind of bullshit is this?! How is this a level 10 class skill?! This is way too strong for such a low level," he shouted in absolute shock, realizing that his Eyes of the Arcanist were actually a lot better than he initially thought they were. Paired with his other new abilities that he's read so far, he realized he was becoming much more dangerous than he initially assumed.
Marcelina chuckled while placing two packets of food into the boiling water on the outside stove, "Sounds like you got a good ability. I saw that I got a couple of really nice ones too. I hope that when I reach level 10 I can also get some pretty cool stuff."
"Sorry I get excited about stuff like this. Back when I used to play video games as a hobby, seeing abilities like these used to make me super energetic and animated. Stuff like this always makes me have more fun," he apologized while reminiscing.
She waved it off and smiled, "Nothing to apologize for. You did great work today, and any cool stuff that you got is just proof that you were amazing out there."
"Thanks," he said a lot more calmly while trying to hide the big smile he now had on his face. It was rare that he felt appreciated, so it made him easily flustered when it did happen.
At the same time, he decided that before he would select his subclass he would check out those two titles he got and that blessing. It took some time to navigate the character sheet to figure out where exactly it was, but he eventually found where it was all listed. First he took a look at both of his titles.
Vinuu Slayer: You have slaughtered a nest of vinuu and killed a vinuu queen. As a result, you have been acknowledged by the Gods for this action and have been given this title. This title permanently makes you much more effective against insectoid bestial creatures. Anytime you fight an insectoid beastial creature, you will have advantage on attacks against them and deal +100 damage to them on successful attacks. Anytime you land a critical hit against an insectoid bestial creature, it will deal 10 times the damage.
"Oh..... Oh whoa whoa whoa whoa! Look at your character sheet and check out that new title we got. It's really good," he said after looking it over, and then suggested to Marcelina about checking it out herself.
While waiting for the food to be ready, she opened up her character sheet and navigated it until she found her titles. At first, she thought nothing of it until she read the benefits. Suddenly, her eyes snapped wide open when she saw the last sentence.
"Wait what?! That's such a massive multiplier. It said that criticals normally only do double damage. You're telling me if I crit on a bug it's going to do a fuck ton more! Damn, that's so cool," she said in shock at first before starting to calm down, "I'm not going to lie, outside of the levels that I gained, this title and that new rapier were definitely worth it. I even got this cool fighting style to go with my new weapon that you gave me."
"Yeah, I like it a lot too. The fighting style I picked up is also great and definitely fits what I've been doing," he responded with a similar passion in his voice.
From there he decided to give a look at the other title he had got. It was a divine title, and he was interested in seeing what the difference was between a divine title and a normal one. Nothing could have prepared him for what he would soon read.
The Honored One: Throughout Heaven and Earth you alone stand at the pinnacle of it all. Whether through fate or your own actions or even random chance, you have been declared the strongest. Be aware that this strength is not simply physical or in terms of power, as it also encompasses spiritual and mental strength. It is the strength of one who has become enlightened and sees in a way that normal people cannot. As a result, you can no longer walk the same path that most others may have trodden before you or follow the path of those who have walked alongside you. The path of the honored one is often lonely, as it is hard to find those who are capable enough of walking this path with you side by side. Alongside the title of the strongest is the recognition from all the realms that you have been marked for greatness. Your actions will have effects that will ripple upon all creation. With this title you gain the following permanent benefits: you gain +20 to all stats, +10 to AC, +500 to HP, +500 to EP, +10 to all skills, you gain resistance to all non-magical and non-spiritual damage, +10 to all attack and saves that you make, and +100 to all damage that you deal.
Upon reading the words, he froze in shock. This title was so strong that it essentially eclipsed almost everything else he had gained so far. He wasn't even sure how the hell to feel about it. It felt like the ability you would get if you were the main character of a story or the main villain in the making. It made him feel conflicted, and he sat there and just stared at it thinking to himself. His whole mood changed at Marcelina noticed immediately.
"Ben...? Hey.... Ben? Are you okay? You look like you just read something pretty bad," she worried after seeing his face like that, and it prompted her to try and get in line of sight with his eyes. At first, he didn't seem to notice her until she put her face in front of the character sheet, and he was forced to lean back for a moment.
Snapping him out of his thoughts, he just pointed to the title and let her read it. She thought it was a lot of fluff that was nothing really serious, until she read the whole thing. Seeing all the benefits that it gave, she realized and just how strong this title was in comparison to the other one they both got.
For a moment she frowned, as envy and jealousy for the first time really set in. The moment that she recognized that was starting to happen, she smacked her own cheeks with her hands and shook her head. She didn't want to let herself go back to her old ways even for a moment.
Taking a deep breath, she exhaled and told him as best as she could, with as much optimism as she could muster although clearly lacking, "This is actually quite amazing. I'm happy that you got it, and it'll definitely help both you and the rest of us in the long run. I won't lie and say that I'm not a little jealous, but the stronger you are, the better both of us will be at surviving. You should be happy about this and try to look on the positive side. It looks like luck was on your side. Now all of the people running this trial will be keeping an eye on you, oh great and powerful, honored one."
He let out a long sigh followed by a grown as that attempt at humor she made at the end almost seemed to cause a level of mental pain, "I... I know... You're right. This is really good, and it almost feels way too broken and overpowered by how good it is. But I'm pretty sure there are still things in this world that would make this essentially useless. This world seems to be balanced for stuff like this anyway."
"See, that's a good way of looking at it. Besides, I already knew you were pretty strong. Now everybody else is going to know it too," she said, trying to be a supportive ally. She mostly meant it, but in the back of her mind there was still that jealousy that was hard to ignore.
"Yeah.... Let's go ahead and eat. I'll feel better after I have some food in my belly," he said.
She agreed and went to go check on the food, make sure it was done heating up. At the same time, against his better judgment, he decided to look over that divine blessing he had gotten. Clicking on it, he saw all the info for the Halo of Heaven, which was good but not as good as his title.
Halo of Heaven: You have the ability to manifest a halo at will that is unique to the type of person that you are, and it's form and appearance will be shaped entirely based on who you are as a person. While this halo is active you in the following benefits: you gain a passive regeneration of 100 HP every 10 seconds, all healing abilities that you use despite their nature deal an extra +200 additional healing but this does not stack with the passive regeneration also provided by your halo, any holy or radiant damage that you deal regardless of its type is increased by quadruple the amount, you are immune to all holy and radiant damage, and you are immune to the poisoned, diseased, and cursed conditions.
He was actually thankful that it wasn't too broken in power, or else it would have essentially solidified that main character status that he felt like he almost got from the Honored One title. Although now that he thinks about it this all kind of does make him feel like he is becoming this godly sorcerer. Like the fabled Archmage or Saint archetypes from some of his favorite stories and games back on Earth.
The only thing left to look at was his subclass options, but he would worry about that in a moment. Instead, he took the plate of food that Marcelina brought over. It looks like she chose to heat up two of the shrimp stir-fry packets from their survival meals. It definitely smelled delicious.
"Thank you. You've been amazing. If not for your help, I don't think I would have been able to do half as much as I've accomplished so far. I definitely would have died if I had tried to do that cave by myself. The queen was so strong and if not for you and both of our little furry friends coming to my rescue...." He tried to say to show appreciation and trailed off realizing how close he came to dying today.
Marcelina just sat down next to him and started getting a fork full of food, "You don't need to say anything. We agreed that if we were going to survive together we would watch each other's backs. You've helped me a lot and I probably would have died if that pack had caught up with me. Charles probably would have gotten eaten too. You saved my life and his that day. Of course, we were ready to try and return the favor."
She took a bite of her food and she saw that her words actually seemed to soothe his worried soul. He gave her a smile and the wholesomeness of how he looked made her blush a little.
She smiled back while telling him, "Well eat. This food is delicious as always. Don't let it go to waste just sitting there and smiling at me like that. I know I'm super pretty."
He chuckled a little. Sure enough, he went ahead and ate. At the same time, Marcelina stopped eating her food to take the fish Emma had caught off of the stove. She gave the fish to Emma and Charles to share. Both of them happily dug into the nicely cooked fish.
As the full moon finally fully floated above the horizon, bringing in the night sky, the group enjoyed a delicious meal under the stars as always. Sharing in each other's presence and enjoying the beautiful starry sky above them. The night was a wonderful one compared to the overwhelming ordeal they went through during the morning.
After having a nice meal and a decent conversation, both of them retired to their shelters for the night. They didn't have anything planned for the morning, so they could focus on thinking about what they would like to do next after a nice nap. Marcelina was the first to head to bed.
Benedictus didn't stay out much longer. He let Emma play a little bit longer, choosing to leave the door to his cabin open to watch her. At the same time, he finally decided to check out what subclass options he had.
Going to the legendary path tab on his character sheet, he saw that it was finally unlocked. The first thing it did was ask him to look over the options and pick what path he would like to take. He decided to look over each option and make his decision from there.
The first one he saw was the one that the system recommended for him based off of his current play style and build choices. It was called the King of Wyrms. Looking it over, it was a subclass for Arcanist who wielded the power of dragons and the raw essence of magic itself. He also saw that it got some benefits if his Arcane ancestry was also draconic. It didn't give any details on individual abilities, but it came with a high recommendation for those who wish to wield magic in its strongest and most pure form.
Next came the option for the path known as the Heart of the Cosmic Storm. Looking it over, it essentially gave him a lot of magic that dealt with manipulating the weather as well as bending time and space. It included things like being able to channel certain aspects of different celestial bodies and forces of the universe. He liked the idea but he kept looking.
Next was the Heir to the Elder Planes legendary path. It was a path best suited for those who chose Eldritch as their Arcane Ancestry. It essentially allowed you to call upon the power of eldritch beings from the Elder Realm and summon lesser abominations. It also claimed that it gave the power of both luck, fate, and raw arcane force into the hand of those who walk this path. There was even a mention of being able to draw upon the very essence of madness and the power of the mind. He found it interesting, but ultimately it wasn't for him.
Continuing on, he saw the next path was called Harbinger of the Fey. It was primarily best suited for people who chose Fey for their ancestry. Looking it over, it seemed like it was a battlemage type path but more of the druidic variety with some aspects of manipulating people with charms and illusions. It was definitely the more trickster type magical path. Not really his style, so he definitely didn't even consider choosing it.
The second to last one was called Baron of the Blessed. Sure enough, it was best suited for those who took angelic as their ancestry. To be fair, though, it seemed to be a combination of a powerful healer, a divine-based damage-dealing sorcerer, and a true paladin. It specifically seems to focus on using magic to either replicate or completely enhance miracles, while using the power of the divine to smite evil and bring hope to the hopeless. He definitely liked it, and he would have taken it if King of Wyrms didn't seem to fit more so far.
The last one was called Duke of the Damned, and it was best suited for people of demonic ancestry. It had some similarities to Baron of the Blessed but the inverse of that other path. However, it was not just the complete opposite of that path as there were aspects of it that definitely made it more of a standout. From the information he read, it was all about summoning demons, wielding the power of dark magic to raise the dead, and cursing your enemies. It also seemed to be a more versatile path that offered a little of everything that could be useful while dealing a lot of damage for specifically spells under the school of necromancy. He liked it but, with that being the last option, it kind of confirmed that the recommendation was best.
So he ultimately decided to go for King of Wyrms as his legendary path. Upon confirming that he would take the recommendation, the system asked him two times consecutively whether he wanted to seriously take that path. The system clarified that once he chose his path there was no going back. Certain of his choice, he confirmed both times that he wanted to follow the path of the King of Wyrms.
Upon his second confirmation, he received his three new subclass abilities, and he saw what they were. The first one was called Draconic Arcanist. The second one was referred to as Wyrm Sorcery. And the last one was called Dragon Soul.
He decided to go ahead and look at what they provided him. Starting with the first one and going in order.
Draconic Arcanist: You trace your ancestry back to a dragon of some sort somewhere along your bloodline. If you picked the Draconic bloodline for Arcane Ancestry, the base damage of all of your spells is increased by +100, all of your spells ignore all resistances and immunities even of a godly nature, and all level 1 to level 10 spells that you know can be used 10 more times per day. You must pick a dragon type from the following to be your ancestor: fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, holy, or unholy. If you selected Draconic for your Arcane Ancestry, you can select two damage types instead of one and gain the benefits. You will gain immunity to that damage type, +100 for all spells you cast the deal that type of damage, 3 free spells of that type of magic without needing to allocate ability points, and you can cast spells of that damage type 5 more times per day.
After reading the ability, it asks him to make the choice. He decided to select fire and earth. He chose fire because fire magic was his favorite across all the games that he played. But he chose Earth because he knew that having more available castings of Minor Geo Manipulation would make it easier to build upon their current base more.
After confirming these two choices, it stated that he descends from the bloodline of a magma dragon. It explains that they are some of the absolute strongest dragons in existence because they have the ability to combine earth and fire magic to naturally be capable of lava magic. The system congratulates him on this choice. With that settled, he looked at the next new subclass ability.
Wyrm Sorcery: You can choose 2 more schools of magic to gain the benefits of School of Study. Your Eyes of the Arcanist can absorb 10 more spells of a lower tier level each day.
Upon being asked to pick two more schools of magic, he chooses both Necromancy and Vivomancy. He chose them mainly because he knew enough about them from checking his spell options back when he was looking for a healing spell. So he knew that both schools were pretty useful and might come in handy in the future.
Dragon Soul: Not only do you possess the blood of dragons flowing through your veins, but your soul is that of a mighty dragon as well. As such, no matter what race you are, all creatures of a draconic nature will automatically revere you as a true dragon. This will make most draconic creatures innately friendly to you as they see you as a form of divine creature. However, your soul does not just bring you the respect of other draconic beings. It also grants you greater power. The range, duration, and AOE of all spells that fall under the schools of magic you chose for Wyrm Sorcery and School of Study are tripled. You gain access to the Conjure Lesser Familiar spell at will and whenever you cast it you will summon a familiar that takes the shape of a baby wyvern. The HP, AC, and EP of your familiar are tripled. All damage that it deals is increased by +200. You can teleport it to your location, or you can teleport yourself to its location, so long as it remains within the maximum distance of Conjure Lesser Familiar, up to 10 times per day.
Looking over the last of his new abilities, he realized that most of what he got was passive in nature with a few active additions. With that, everything else can wait till tomorrow to deal with. For now, he just called for Emma to come inside.
To his surprise, he saw Emma dragging something out of the river. He noticed that this time it was bigger than usual. He got up to check and make sure it was a fish.
What he saw on the other hand was not what he expected. Emma was dragging a woman out of the river. Emma had bit onto the woman's horns with her teeth, and was using all of her strength to pull the much larger woman out of the flowing river and on to land.
Seeing this, he moved to help while shouting for Marcy, "MARCELINA!!! GET OUT HERE QUICK!!! THERE'S A WOMAN!!! I NEED YOUR HELP!!!"
He walked over and began to help Emma pull the woman on to shore, doing most of the pulling himself this time now. As he brought the woman closer to the entrance of his cabin, he got a good look at her and she was not human. She had a lot of similar physical features and proportions to that of a human, but there were several aspects of her that were not human at all.
Like her face having some bovine-like features while still looking relatively human. Her ears were similar to those of a deer with small deer antlers coming out of her head. She had a tail, and her tail seemed to be like that of a rat with some fur on the end like a cow. She had a mixture of silky smooth skin like a normal person, but it had accents of smooth soft red reptile scales almost as a natural highlight for a lot of her features.
When Marcelina came out she approached and saw the strange alien woman, and she asked him, "What the hell is that?! Is she some kind of alien?!"