[Part three of three in the Chalgathiâs Lineage Quest now commencing.
Death stalks the living as you tread down the path of the Novice Warlock. However, Chalgathi demands sacrifice to receive his giftâ¦and the blood of your peers is the price he demands.
Notice: You have been granted early access to the class title Novice Warlock. One hundred participants in this trial now remain. Only fifty will leave here alive. Accept the class title, pick your starter pack, pick your bonded starter minion, and select two starting ability tomes to learn from. You will have a time-condensed period of five days to learn these two abilities. You must then kill your opponent to survive. If you have not figured out how to perform your chosen spells, miracles, or martial arts within the five-day period, you will go into the fight at a disadvantage. Good luck.
Uploading commencing. ETA for initiationâtwo minutes.]
He was standing on an island, and somehow heâd arrived wearing a thick, hooded, weathered cloak. He was certainly thankful for it, as the night wind was chilly upon his skin. The island was somewhat flat and grass-laden, with a brilliant moon illuminating the small amount of land in front of him. All around him were dozens of other islands equal to his in height with various slopes or flattened topsâall with their own singular inhabitants that he could barely make out when he looked around. These other islands also drifted among the reflections of the currents below, and just like his own plot of land, they each had a long drop down magnificent cliffs to a calm ocean underneath that shimmered under the stars and cosmos. Seagulls or some kind of other seafaring bird flew overhead, though their features were somewhat indistinguishable due to the dark of night, and little luminescent lights glowed down below where the ocean met the bases of the cliffs. Of particular note, all the islands were shiftingâmoving in various directions but not making contact with one another as they seemed to swim about the massive body of water while avoiding one another entirely, which made the entire scenario all the more odd.
The air was crisp, and he filled his lungs with a deep inhaled breath only to set his vase a little way back from the edge of the floating island to dangle his legs off the side. The sight was beautiful, and honestlyâafter all heâd been through alreadyâhe wasnât worried about the coming fight this notification spoke of.
If anything, he was just slightly confused. He didnât necessarily want to kill anybody, nor did he want them to kill himâbut no matter what happened, heâd not hold back. He was a survivor, and he wouldnât balk at the idea of killing another person if it meant that he got to live for it. It had been a very, very long time since heâd felt this wayâ¦since heâd felt so alive, and he didnât want to let go of the sensation when all the excitement of joining this new world finally pushed him over the edge into wanting to live again.
Not just to live for someone else, but to finally live for himself.
It was weird to think about, but nearly having been killed numerous times now had made him come to the realization that he didnât want to give up. He didnât want to just roll over and let it all end like heâd thought about when his father had first disappeared. His father wouldnât have ever wanted that for Riven to begin with. His parents would have encouraged him, told him to try to move on and that they may see each other in the next life, if there was one, so that they might talk about the grand adventures heâd set upon.
Theyâd certainly have loved that.
He at the very least needed to tryâ¦and even if not for himself, then for Allieâs sake. So that he might see the wonders of whatever this new world had in store for him and his little sister when he found her again. So that he could live through more moments like thisâ¦and appreciate the beauty of his surroundingsâsomething heâd never before taken the time to do. So that he could appreciate the relationships heâd built up, and not be so confined to the loner mentality heâd secluded himself with. The same seclusion that had only let Allie and Jose inside his close circle of confidence and had never let anyone else get close after whatâd happened with his parents.
He wanted to start over, and this was his chance.
But moving back to the present, he couldnât ignore whatâd just happened. Looking over the title heâd acquired, he was excited to try out what powers the warlock-type character could give him.
[This chosen class title has been opened to you:
Novice Warlock (Class Title) (Trait): +1 Willpower, +2 Intelligence, and +2 other stat points of your choice per level. Social penalty: -5 base Charisma. Allows demonic contact; two contracts are available with this class.
Note: Choosing this class will enlist your very first demonic servant. You may only choose one demonic servant for the trialâs purposes.
Do you wish to accept or decline this class title?]
Really? A social penalty? What did that even mean? It hadnât talked about that earlier!
But he picked yes anyway.
[Novice Warlock class received.]
[Starter packs are now available. Every starter pack comes with a crude cultistâs robe, a cloak, a basic survival kit, and a backpack. Choose from the following:
âDual Poisoned Daggers (iron)â12 damage, 30% chance to apply poison
âBasic Casting Staffâ4 damage, 12% mana regeneration, +3 magic damage
âCrude Scytheâ17 damage, +5 Unholy damage, 18% chance to apply Amplified Bleeding
âMinor Amulet of Protectionârechargeable, applies a temporary shield worth double wearerâs health. One of one charges.
Starter ability tomes are now available. You may only select two, then your five-day condensed time period to learn these spells will begin. Choose from the following:
âWretched Snare [Unholy], Tier 1âfire snares of black magic that deal damage over time
âCreate Shadowling [Shadow], Tier 1âcreate temporary shadow beasts that attack your enemies
âMiasmic Bolt [Death], Tier 1âhigh-damage, high-speed, long-range attack
âExtradimensional Chains [Depraved], Tier 1âsummon rooting chains from selected points in space to target your enemies
âWall of Hellfire [Infernal], Tier 1âcreate a barrier of hellâs flames
âBloody Razors [Blood], Tier 1âsummon spinning discs of crimson with minor lock-on abilities to slightly adjust for enemy movements
Starter minions are now available. Upon death, minions may be resummoned up to one day later by paying the blood price. You may currently only select one:
âSuccubus, Unholy, Level 1âcaster demon, good crowd control and debuffs, moderate damage. [16 Willpower required]
âShadow Fiend, Shadow, Level 1âfast and mobile, stealthy, good for assassinations [17 Willpower required]
âImp, Infernal, Level 1âmobile, physically weak but high ranged damage and a very high intellect [13 Willpower required]
âCinder Soul, Infernal, Level 1âethereal demon that can fly and is unaffected by physical attacks but must attack at close range [11 Willpower required]
âShadow Monarch, Shadow, Level 1âcaster demon, very high damage output, very long range, very high cooldowns on abilities [18 Willpower required]
âRavager, Blood, Level 1âphysically strong, passive regeneration, good for tanking, slow and dumb [10 Willpower required]
âBlood Weaver, Blood, Level 1âvery fast arachnid variation of demon, stealthy, good crowd control, fragile, smart [14 Willpower required]
Each of the potential minions had a Willpower cost⦠Interesting.
And he didnât even know if he had enough Willpower to contract any of these creatures. Focusing on the words Status Page, he willed his own information into a hologram screen that appeared right ahead of where he stoodâ¦and he was a little surprised at how lopsided a lot of his stats were.
Go figure.
[Riven Thaneâs Status Page:
⢠Level 1
⢠Pillar Orientations: Unholy Foundation
⢠Traits: Race: Human, Class: Novice Warlock, Breath of Malignancy (???)
⢠Abilities: Blessing of the Crow (Unholy)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
⢠Stats: 8 Strength, 8 Sturdiness, 19 Intelligence, 10 Agility, 1 Luck, -4 Charisma, 3 Perception, 18 Willpower, 9 Faith
⢠Equipped Items: Basic Cloak (1 def)]
He finished looking his status sheet over and frowned at a very particular part of it. Breath of Malignancy was listed as one of his traits, and it was completely unfamiliar to him. What was that supposed to be? The page gave not even a hint, even going as far as to have question marks concerning what it actually did.
Well, at least he wouldnât have any problems obtaining one of the minions. He was slightly disappointed that there werenât any martial arts, but spells were more than okay with him. He preferred magic over physical abilities anyway.