ALL NOVEL 10 - Analysis Paralysis
The moon was already beginning to rise into the starry night sky by the time David finally figured it out. He felt a little stupid, but that seemed to track for the entire day as his brush with death had so subtly reminded him. In the end, all he had to do was focus on the message, and a catchy little tune played in his head before a few lines of text scrolled through his vision and he greedily accepted.
–You have received a Selective Skill Token: D–
–Would you like to redeem your Token?–
“Yes, I want to use the token!”, he squealed loudly in a victorious voice. Claire jerked her head back in alarm at the sudden outburst, leaning her head over her shoulder to shoot him an interested but reproachful look.
David felt a bubbling, tingly sensation wash over his body that reminded him strongly of when the System had stuffed him inside an egg only a few days ago. His heart skipped a beat at the memory and he fought off a minor adrenaline dump while he reminded himself that he wasn’t about to be melted down again…probably. The sensation faded in intensity quickly but didn't dissipate as he fidgeted his wings anxiously and a large window suddenly bloomed into existence in front of his nose, making him squawk with surprise at the unexpected illumination. It quickly populated itself with lines of text, icons, and what looked like a disclaimer as he began to read quickly.
You have used Selective Skill Token: D
At level 4 there are 8⁶ Abilities in the |Hatchling| subspecies pool.
View the Full List.
View |Duskling| Appropriate Abilities.
View Active Abilities.
View Passive Abilities.
|Search|
“Uh….shit. Claire, are you good at math?”, David grumbled after a moment of reading the window.
“I mean, yeah I’m pretty good at math. It was my major in college, why what’s up?”
“How many is 8 with a little 6 attached to it supposed to be?”
The huge scaly jaws clacked a few times as she thought, “Almost 300 thousand or so? Why? That’s a weird question.”
“Well, it says there’s that many options…It’s like an old web browser lookin’...Anyway, it’s got ‘Appropriate Abilities’ for my species. Then it’s Active Abilities, Passive Abilities, and a little search box.”, David chattered as he read the screen again, not daring to look away in case it somehow messed it up.
“Oh wow. Um. Maybe look at the one for your species? Or maybe Passives? I don’t have any Passive ones other than my Special.”
David considered that for a moment before nodding and focusing his attention more fully on the window. He eyeballed the 'View Full List' avariciously for several heartbeats before slowly turning back to the rest of the options. He wasn’t sure how hard it was to get a Skill Token, but the grade on it was better than anything else he had, other than his Unnerving Mutagen which was certainly a Passive ability. He had resolved to be more careful from now on and with this in mind, he nudged the window with a mental command.
Duskling Appropriate Abilities.
The window shimmered briefly as the options melted back into the background of the window before rearranging into the desired subcategory as David vibrated with anticipation.
–All abilities are displayed at Grade F–
Duskling Appropriate Abilities:
Silent Flight (Passive): Your wings cease to disturb the air as you fly, reducing the noise of your passing to a whisper.
Twilight Camouflage: Your fur blends into the darkness, allowing you to melt into the background while stationary. Very Mild Stamina Drain.
Vampiric Fangs (Passive): Drain a minor amount of health from the enemy with every bite. Upgradeable.
Sonic Lance: A destructive wave of sound directed at a single enemy. Mild Stamina Drain. Upgradeable.
Call the Swarm: Release a chittering cry, summoning
Strong Wings (Passive): Increases the size, durability, and dexterity of your wings. Upgradeable.
Next Page →
The options just kept going, dozens of pages worth. David tried to remember the names of some of the better ones before fumbling through the menu back to the main screen. He was determined not to make another huge mistake so soon, or waste the hard-earned token the way he had his very first ability selection. Claire continued to watch him with interest while he stared off into space from her perspective, staying quiet as she occasionally swung her long snout out over the meadow and kept an eye on things. He was silently grateful that she was keeping watch over the darkened forest meadow as he continued to browse.
Active Abilities.
–All abilities are displayed at F Grade–
Active Abilities:
Offense:
Ranged Abilities.
Melee Abilities.
Area of Effect Abilities.
Summoning Abilities.
Control Abilities.
Defensive Abilities.
Utility Abilities.
|Search|
Oh fu– Okay, I’m gonna be here for a while. Glare is probably a control ability, right? I’d bet Unnerving Mutagen is one too, and Screech seems to disable things when it hits. Maybe I could lean into that? I’m kinda tiny and Claire seems to have the ass-kicking under control. So yeah…Ranged, Defensive, or Control…Summoning sounds cool but I’ll have to check if they all have that ‘Extreme Stamina Drain’ thing, I don’t like that. Almost got me killed today.
Control Abilities!
–All Abilities are displayed at F Grade–
Control Abilities:
Glare: You fix your target with a baleful gaze, inflicting Fear. Moderate Stam consumption. Known.
Lullaby: You sing a song of sleep and lethargy, and may cause enemies to fall asleep. Moderate Stamina Drain. Upgradeable
Paralytic Bite: You inject a paralytic either through saliva or venom, causing the enemy to suffer difficulty moving. Stacks up to 5 times. Upgradeable.
Enrage: You taunt the enemy, causing them to become enraged. Enraged enemies will not flee from battle. Additionally, they deal increased damage at the cost of their physical and mental defenses. Low Stamina Drain. Upgradeable.
Latch: You pounce upon the enemy, clinging to them tightly. While Latched your physical defense is increased, and the enemy suffers damage over time. Variable Stamina Drain.
Shockwave: You release a shockwave of force around your body, blasting enemies away. High Stamina Drain. Upgradeable.
Next Page →
Well, I guess that answers the question about Glare. Okay, so I have more control abilities than anything right now if you count Screech. Screech is also kind of a shitty attack, its too easy to Overcharge it and waste Stamina, plus it hits everything not just what I want it to. Guess the System isn’t game-like enough to turn off friendly fire, man that’d be nice. I’d just ride around on Claire’s back and scream at everyone while she stomped them into goo. Hey, wait a minute.
“Okay, I’m still looking through this but I needed to ask you something, Claire.”, David barked at the scaly woman suddenly.
The enormous reptile cocked its head in a birdlike motion of curiosity as he spoke, regarding him with a single slitted eye, “Sure, more math questions?”
“No, uh, so this is gonna sound selfish but…I’m kinda tiny and you’re kinda gigantic. As far as I can tell you just walked around and stomped all those weird lizard monkeys to death without a problem and they would have eaten me alive for sure if I was by myself.” David continued sheepishly, “The abilities are divided into categories and I’ve been looking around. I’m not set up to do a bunch of damage or fight right in the middle of things like you are, but I can take some supporting stuff to make your life easier as long as you’re comfortable being the one to run in and mess people up.”
Claire snorted with surprise before she visibly choked off her immediate reply and thought about it for a few minutes. David stayed silent and kept his eyes on the Window so it wouldn’t minimize and potentially mess anything up as she mulled it over.
“I…I didn’t really think about that. Those things were scary for me but they were tiny, like mean dogs or something. A lot of them were bigger than you, weren’t they?”, Claire rumbled thoughtfully, “I probably would have run away if a bunch of giant things attacked us, but you tried to fight anyway and got hurt really bad…Okay, David, I trust you. I don't like being mean but you’re right, you’re too tiny right now. I don't want you to get hurt either. Let's do it.”
Okay, we got a plan.