The Way Ahead

Chapter 34: What Lies Ahead

Chapter 34: What Lies Ahead

Just for the record, Edwin hedged, Im not going to just do everything you suggest. I know you think that more skills is better, but Ive had luck evolving my skills so far and I kind of want to keep doing that.

Do you insist?

Yes. Edwin stayed firm. Hopefully he wouldnt have to be too pushy...

Very well! Lefi clapped Edwin on his back, sending him stumbling until he recovered, I suppose it would be rather hypocritical of me to insist that you must take certain skills, wouldnt it?

Edwin was taken aback, Just like that, you agree?

Just like that! Why, did you expect otherwise?

He shook his head, No, no. Just people tend to be a lot more insistent for that sort of thing in my experience.

Ah! But those people were not me! I am Exceptional, after all! Its right in my Class!

Edwin scoffed, No its not. Youre an Adventurer-Mage, not

He trailed off as he Identified Lefi again.

Exceptional Adventurer

Lefi Forolorzal- that guy that Tara stuck me with so I wouldnt immediately die and as a punishment for him.

Wait, what? You can change your Class name? Or can you just fool Identify?

Lefi just winked at him, Thats the benefit of having many, many skills! You can gain some truly exceptional results!

Edwin frowned, That doesnt answer my question. Though I suppose it does explain why a mage had so many weapons, if you arent actually one.

Oh, that? No, weapons are always excellent! Anything is better than nothing. Even if you dont pick up a Skill for it, I expect you to be able to use that staff for a weapon by the time were done!

Its a stick! A literal stick!

And with your Mana Infusion, it will be a very strong stick! Perfect for keeping a wolf at bay or blocking a low-level sword strike! But that! He punctuated each statement by striking a pose, somehow not breaking stride, Is not what you are here for! Skills!

Edwin groaned, but mentally tuning down the volume of the adventurer, nonetheless prompted, Okay, what do you recommend?

Well, a mere twenty skills is far too few! I advise

The next several hours passed by both really quickly and also so, so slowly. Quickly, because Edwin was getting actual details about Skills and being passionately informed about why he should take more and more skills- Lefis opinions on the matter were radically different from Rashin or Taras, that was certain. His opinion of grab every single skill made more sense in the context of him never expecting to evolve all of them, and the variety of skills which he had available to him meant that even fairly straightforward evolutions provided a wealth of new options. Then, hed just figure out some way to combine evolved Skills to create a new basic Skill and start over again. While most of it was useless, he also kind of wished that he had some way to take

Actually, Edwin realized mid-conversation, I can take notes.

Edwins Logbook

Lefi day 1- Skills

Eating: Increased energy from eating food. Improved calorie efficiency, perhaps? Worth considering. Possibly too similar to Nutrition to unlock.

Stealth: Reduces noise made when in use. Possible invisibility evolution? Tempting.

Hearing: Increased sensitivity to noises and better ability to tune out sound. Useful for awareness. Probably not worth it, though more than the other senses. Spatial Awareness does not seem to be a Skill, or at least Lefi does now know of it.

Reflexes: Reduced reaction time. Difficult to level. Tempting.

Improvised Weapons: Increased proficiency and damage with random objects. A walking stick might count. Interesting, but no.

Staves: Akin to Improvised Weapons, but focused around sticks and staves. Added focus brings greater bonuses. Similarly not worthwhile.

Learning: Enhanced ability to remember things memorized with the skill. Possible overlap with Research? Get.Visit for the best novel reading experience

Block Strike: Active Skill. Aids in interposing something (shield, staff, etc) to stop a physical blow. Less efficient than something like Shield Block but wider use. Potentially life-saving, but still too situational.

Small Blades: Enhanced proficiency and damage with knives, daggers, etc. Popular among cooks, apparently. Slightly interesting.

Cooking: Food tastes better and is more filling. Possibly synergy with alchemy for potions? Worth considering. Also apparently a possible evolution of eating/nutrition.

Speaking: Reduced strain from speaking. Can evolve into yelling, which increases maximum volume. Neat, but not worth it.

Reading: Increased reading speed. Potential synergy with Polyglot. Worth considering.

Writing: Enhances ability to write neatly and quickly. Interesting, but probably redundant with Almanac.

Archery: Weapon skill with bows. Note to self: not worth keeping around as a note. Delete later like the others.

Wrap Wound: First Aid-related skill, focused on those injuries which need bandages (which might be all of them?). Specifically focuses on increasing the efficacy of the bandage as a protection for the wound and immobilizing/stopping blood from the injury. Amusing possibility that it might be usable as an armor Skill at higher levels (mummy armor)

Alchemical Warrior: Possibly Firestarting, though Lefi advised waiting until it might be able to affect Alchemy and give him a weapon skill of sorts.

Stonehide Vanquisher: Trophy skill, though what exactly was unknown. If I had an armor skill, likely that.

Titan Slayer: Lefi got annoyed about my lack of combat-related skills. Guessed possibly Athletics.

World Traveler: Walking. Possibly changing it to Hiking, or something pertaining to keeping my footing and improving traction.

Researcher: Research, obviously. Though Lefi didnt know what the result may be for something so closely aligned. He offhandedly speculated it had a slim chance of giving an Attribute, but said most likely not.

Explorer: Most likely Seeing, with Walking being a possibility. Seeing would probably result in an active zoom-in skill of sorts, like Skill binoculars. Walking would result in something similar to World Travelers Hiking.

Outsider: Didnt ask

Unkillable: First Aid or Survivor, probably making either a damage resistance or healing ability.

Blackstone Conqueror: Trophy Skill. Lefi once again ranted about me not having any weapon or armor skills.

Mage: Basic Mana Sense into Mana Sense.

Field Medic: First Aid into Battlefield Medicine, making patching up wounds faster. Lefi claims to know someone who got this.

Adventurer: Packing into Bag of Tricks, making it easier to pull things from his belongings.

Survivor: Survival into some kind of damage resistance.

Athlete: Would unlock the Stamina attribute. Highly advised I complete it.

Daredevil: Athletics, maybe granting a Reflexes-like Skill or increased toughness.

Pioneer: Mathematics, apparently. This was based on the logic of it being a signature skill of sorts for me.

Novice Pyromancer: Firestarting into Basic Pyrokinesis. This was apparently something Lefi had personally experienced, and was used to unlock a lot of other Skills.

Warrior: Would unlock the Health attribute. Highly advised I complete it soon.

Pyromaniac: Firestarting, into Persistent Flames or something else that would make fires harder to control and extinguish.

Wanderer: Walking into Longstrider. This was apparently well-known and would let every step taken be longer. Highly tempting.

Exile: Walking into Running, which increased maximum speed.

Escapee: Breathing into Breath of Freedom, an active skill which made direct mind-control and usurpation of abilities harder, though offered little protection against more subtle threats.

Lecturer: Research, probably into something like Teaching, which functioned like Research but for people he taught

Lumberjack: Lefi didnt know, but guessed possibly something involving Athletics, possibly evolving it to Climbing.

Way of the Empty Hand: Athletics into something like Unarmed Combat.

Trapper: Either Survival or Firestarting into some variant of a Trapsetting skill.

Novice: Strong possibility of Walking into Running or something similar

Beginner: Identify into Common Knowledge

Trainee: Similar to Novice, possibly evolving Nutrition to Eating or Sleeping to Napping (reducing the time needed for a full nights rest).

Slave: Would have evolved Status to make it out of his control, would instead probably make Walking into Fetters, making it hard to leave a certain area (would be countered by Breath of Freedom).

Assassin: Flexibility into Stealth, or something similar.

Killer: Would make something into a weapon skill.

Traitor: High possibility of Sleeping into something like Sleepless, allowing him to sleep less.

So skills can evolve into a skill that you could get on its own?

Yes! Thats a major contribution to my dislike of the upgrade terminology! Granted, a higher-tier Skill with the same effects as that same Skill at a lower Tier usually is ever so slightly stronger, but it is barely worth noting! Far better to just get the other Skill and gain a different effect with your evolutions! Also, if you can accomplish it, you can get a skill for it! If you were a natural mage, you might be able to get Basic Pyromancy as a basic Skill instead of needing to evolve something!

That made enough sense, he supposed. It was starting to grow a bit late, though, and so they stopped at a small roadside shelter made of wood and stone. It wasnt much, but there were a couple of bunkbeds inside, affixed to the wall, and a small shrine with a statue depicting

What is this place? Edwin asked as they settled in, I saw a couple others as we were walking, but I guess I didnt question it.

This! it was a bit strange, hearing Lefi whisper-yell as he actually wanted to stay quiet, Is a shrine to my god, Curicna, patron of wanderers, travelers, and adventurers! His church establishes them along roadsides as a form of worship, and his presence keeps them safe and clean!

Ooh. Did we stay in a church of his last night? which prompted a nod from Lefi, I understand.

As he sat down on his mattress, delighting in the feeling of relief for his ever-sore feet, Edwin munched on one of his rations and pulled up his notifications for the day, ready to get to work.