Trystan limps his way all the way back to the center of town. While his innate regeneration would eventually heal himself up fully, thanks to the System and its mechanics, the damage was still there for now and he was still feeling every bit of it. He’d have to check and see what healing spells, or regeneration effects he could afford.

Trystan grimaces as he thinks, ‘Been keeping way too focused on getting my magic abilities up there that I’ve completely forgotten to work on rounding out my strengths, ensuring that I am capable of surviving the times to come.’ He shakes his head at himself disappointedly. He had spent so much time planning for his friends and family, thinking about what he wanted to try and do, that he had completely ignored the basics, this would be something he would need to fix immediately.

Murmuring to himself as he walks, spotting the store on the corner of the town square, “Okay, so I need an inventory ring, healing potions or abilities, basic support abilities, maybe a System integration item for my more mundane equipment, but it may be cheaper to just purchase each item individually from the System. Definitely needs to pick up Sword Mastery and Armor mastery, even if I’m going magic, I can supplement my magic with physical abilities, round myself out a bit.”

Trystan checks his event logs, checking to see where he’d end up with his points, he nods to himself a couple of times as he starts skimming through the point rewards, a few points from the big rats, a few from the small rats, and then he pauses and does a double-take, “That can’t be right.” He says to himself as he reviews the line for a second time.

Rat King Defeated: 5 points awarded. Total Points: 1001

Then his eyes go wide as he sees the total increases further past the current Floor limit to 1051 when the quest went through. That can’t be possible, there was a hard limit to the points you could gain on each Floor. He thinks furiously, no, he didn’t have any items or abilities that let him bypass that restriction, not that he had heard of anything that would do that. He continues to think about it as he walks towards the Store. There had to have been something that would let the System break a fundamental rule like that.

As he steps through the door to the Store and into its’ dimensional pocket he wonders if maybe the Store Keeper will know the answer to the question, not that they normally answered many questions, but hey, he could always try, the worst they could do was say nothing. He then pulls up his current point total, he knew he had to have gotten some points from Joe, he just didn’t know how much got split between the two of them. He whistles slowly as he sees the result, Joe must have taken down a few people so far, total, he had 21,341 points available to him. With the 1,051 he had from the Floor, and the 6,500 banked points, meant that he had gained almost 14,000 from Joe, now, he didn’t know exactly how the points he had were split, generally, it was a damage based split, bit still, that meant he had either kept a ton of points banked, or had gained quite a few points from others during his time in Opiales.

He spots the man standing behind the counter, one of his blue-skinned hands seems to be idly tapping on the side of the counter as he waits for Trystan to approach the counter. Glancing around the Store as he approaches, he sees that the Store seems to be well-stocked, which was helpful, likely one of the reasons that the Chosen had set up shop in Opiales. Later on, they would move on, or at least he assumed they would, he had never known that they had ever been set up in Opiales. He shakes his head wryly, so many things that he wished he had paid attention to the first time around, things he would have had he known what was going to happen.

Stepping up to the counter he smiles to the Store Keeper, “Good evening,” he reaches out a hand in greeting, “Trystan, you are?”

The Store Keeper slowly takes the hand and shakes it while answering, “You may call me Scott. What is it that I can show you today?”

Trystan smiles again, “I’ve got a need to purchase some equipment, looking to see your inventory rings, healing abilities, regeneration abilities, and healing items. I’d like to take a look at how much a System Integration cube will cost. Finally, I’d like to take a look at available Support Abilities and Sword Mastery.”

Scott nods while and a pre-filtered Blue list appears in front of Trystan.

~~Standard Items List~~ (* Inherited Ability Discount Applies.)

Name

Cost

Inventory Ring (Small)

500

Inventory Ring (Medium)

5,000

Inventory Ring (Large)

10,000

Healing Potion (Light)

50

Healing Potion (Moderate)

300

Healing Potion (Serious)

750

Regeneration Potion (Minor)

500

Regeneration Potion (Major)

1,500

Ring of Regeneration (Minor)

10,000

System Integration Cube

1,000

Trystan looks over the list and makes a mental note that it’ll probably be a couple of Light healing potions and a small Inventory ring. He then moves that list to the side to look at the pre-filtered Abilities list.

~~Standard Abilities List~~ (* Inherited Ability Discount Applies.)

Name

Cost

Armor Mastery (Initiate)

5,000

Elemental Item Imbuement (May be Selected Multiple Times)

5,000

Mental Magnificence

10,000

Physical Perfection

10,000

Sword Mastery (Initiate)

5,000

Troll Regeneration

10,000

Elemental Affinity (May be Selected Multiple Times)

10,000

Spellstrike (Initiate)

5,000

Nightvision (Initiate)

1,000

Spatial Awareness (Initiate)

5,000

Lie Detection (Initiate)

2,500

Armor Crafting (Initiate)

5,000

Weapon Crafting (Initiate)

5,000

Enchantment (Initiate)

25,000

Cooking (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Alarming Ward (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Burning Hands (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Cure Light Wounds (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Detect Living (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Detect Magic (Initiate)

500

Spell - Fast Healing (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Fireball (Initiate)

15,000

Spell - Mage hand (Initiate)

500

Spell - Magic Circle of Warding (Initiate)

15,000

Spell - Mending (Initiate)

500

Spell - Message (Initiate)

500

Spell - Mirror Strike (Initiate)

5,000

Spell - Prestidigitation (Initiate)

500

Spell - Shocking Grasp (Initiate)

5,000

Trystan looks at it, either Troll Regeneration, or the Regeneration Spell and the Healing Surge Spell, as well as Sword Mastery. He had just enough points to afford those. Well and still leaving some points available for other items, shaking his head he resolves to not purchase anything until he has reviewed everything and made the best choices possible.

Thinking for a moment Trystan starts to pull up the detailed information on the abilities available to him and then stops and looks to the Store Keeper. Given that he was likely to spend most of his points now, and the normal maximum he could have stored on the First Level of the Tower was a thousand points, it was imperative that he understood why he was able to gain more points than the maximum he had on the first run through.

“Excuse me, Scott? I was wondering something, would you know of any reason why an individual would be able to bypass the normal restrictions on Point gain based on Tower level?”

Scott looks at Trystan for a moment and then nods slowly, “I might have that information. Though,” and he gestures with a hand as if waiting for something, “I’m not sure how much I actually remember.”

Trystan thinks for a moment and then puts a couple of silver into Scott’s hand. Scott takes the coins and slides them deftly into his pocket. “Oh yes, the Point limitation can be overcome by the murder of your fellow Adventurers, as well as gaining Tower First achievements and the inheriting of certain Tower legacies. Though you wouldn’t be able to access even the foyer of the Tower’s library at this level so it is likely one of the first two situations which would cause it to occur.”

Trystan smiles and nods to himself, so the Tower's First bonus points were assigned as over the normal Tower cap. In the long-term, it actually may be best for him to save up all of his points and focus on the Tower First achievements, but that would take longer than he wanted, and as was proven today, he really couldn’t count on being able to survive with just his knowledge, he would need to spend his points and gain abilities to actually be able to protect himself and his family and friends.

Focusing back on what Scott had said he tilts his head and focuses on the Library comment, “Wait, where is the Library, and what does it have to do with inheritances?”

Scott winces for a moment and waits as if expecting something and then slowly responds, as if tasting each word before it is spoken, “The first entrance to the Library can be found on the 2nd level. It is the most common way to gain more knowledge about inheriting Tower legacies.”

Scott, seemingly to feel as if he was safer to speak begins speaking in a far more normal tone, “There are of course other ways, but generally you don’t see those until later levels in the Tower. Common is, of course, relative, very few people ever actually come into contact with an inheritance, and fewer yet ever actually pursue them. There is always a danger associated with them and what they stand for, far too many have...”

Suddenly Scott stops speaking, a blue sparking jolt seemingly to cover his body and his eyes glow with the System blue for a moment before returning to his natural color. “That is all the information I can provide for you at the moment valued customer. Please continue your purchase.” his words come out with a wisp of pain laced through them.

Trystan winces and says softly, “I’m sorry.” but Scott doesn’t seem to respond other than gesturing to the translucent blue screens in front of him. Trystan turns to the lists in front of him he decides to take a closer look at Troll Regeneration and Fast Healing, try and gauge the differences between the two.

Troll Regeneration - Initiate

The most effective of healing abilities, Troll Regeneration decreases your base healing time and increases hit points recovery. This ability also generates a passive defense against most natural causes of damage that occur over time. IE: Bleed, poison, etc.

Description: Increase Hitpoint recovery by 100%. Increase the rate of recovery by 50%.

Fast Healing - Initiate

A basic healing ability, this spell infuses the target’s body with positive energies encouraging healing speed to increase with a slight increase to healing amount.

Description: Increase the rate of recovery by 50%, modified by spell power. Increase Hitpoint recovery by 25%, modified by spell power.

Duration: 1 hour

Cost: 10 Mana

Trystan muses for a moment, Troll Regeneration would likely be the better pick, but Fast Healing could definitely still hold a candle to it. Ultimately, Troll Regeneration would be better, but the point value being saved by going with Fast healing would allow him to pick up more abilities, which would give him a greater chance of having the versatility required to survive the coming nights. With a sigh, he puts away the Troll Regeneration he had come to love in his first life. Maybe in the future, he would pick it up, when he had more free points, but for now, he would go with Fast healing.

He mentally clicks to purchase Fast Healing, and then a Small Inventory Ring. Next, he picks up Sword Mastery, he knew that there was no way he was going to continue along without that. Then he pauses again. He should pick up another couple of higher-level abilities, the max for this level being a thousand means that he would be unlikely to pick them up later. Okay, so he had a ranged attack, and with the Sword Mastery he would have a close-range attack, but if he was going to go spell and sword he should do it correctly, which means Spellstrike and a touch spell. But if he wanted the versatility he would need to get more support based abilities instead. Musing for a moment he finally shakes his head, better to be decisive than not. He would get Spellstrike and some touch spells in later levels, for now, he would focus on being able to hand more areas. Mirror Strike for dealing with multiple enemies at once, Mage Hand for remotely manipulating items without being directly in harm's way, and Spacial Awareness so that his perception abilities would get a large increase.

Spatial Awareness - Initiate

To be caught unawares is to be caught dead. An individual with Spacial Awareness gains a general sense of everything within an area around them, this information increases as their skill within this ability does. This can clash with Stealth-based abilities and spells causing the greater power to win.

Description: Gain knowledge of objects and people within a 1m radius.

Mage Hand - Initiate

A rudimentary spell allowing for the manipulation of the environment around the caster. It creates a semi-translucent hand capable of manipulating items as if with the caster’s own hands.

Description: Generate a force-based hand capable of applying up to 5 pounds of pressure and lifting the same. The range of this spell starts at 10m. Both values are modified by Spell Power.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cost: 5 Mana

Mirror Strike - Initiate

This spell allows the caster to generate consecutive blades of force that strike alongside the wielded weapon at additional enemies within range.

Description: Generate 1 additional blade comprised of force energy that will strike 1 nearby enemy with the same damage rating as the wielded weapon. The number of blades and targets increases with Spell Power.

Duration: 10 Seconds

Cost: 10 Mana

Finally, he looks back at the equipment and purchases three healing potions, leaving him with a measly 191 points remaining. It wasn’t perfect, but he couldn’t do perfect, there were just too many factors that he couldn’t even begin to consider. Instead, it would definitely allow him to survive and react to more situations, which means he would be better able to help others in the future.

Trystan sighs, only so much to be done. “Thank you again for your help.” Scott simply nods back and hands Trystan over the ring of the three potions. Trystan slips on the inventory ring and stores the potions in the ring quickly before starting to move over the small items into the ring from his backpack, the less weight he had to directly carry the better. Finally, once everything was ready he walks over to the front door and exits, heading back to the Inn. he had enough silver to spend a night in Town before deciding how exactly he was going to make the trek all the way to Riverside.

Trystan smiles as he enters the Wandering Inn, the wonderful smell of food and the sound of music filling the air. He hears a short gasp from the barmaid and realizes that his clothing was still fairly messed up from the earlier fight, maybe he should have picked up Prestidigitation instead, or Mending, but he only had so many points. Going over the counter he pushes over a few silver, “I’d like a room for the night and some food if that’s okay. And if you happen to have a laundering service,” he pushes over a couple more coins, “I’d love to have my clothes cleaned and potentially repaired.”

The barmaid nods, “Of course sir. I’ll get you your room key right away, would you like to eat up there or down here?”

Trystan glances around the room and sees a couple of humans sitting down giving him a discerning look, “I’ll take it upstairs if that’s okay, been a long day.”

The barmaid nods and hands him the key, “Second floor, two doors down on the left, room 23. If you put your clothes in the basket next to the door we’ll have them cleaned, we may be able to have them repaired, but I won’t know until we get them off of you.” She says it matter of factly and then blushes when she realizes what she just said. Trystan just chuckles lightly, “Of course, thank you so much.”

Heading up the stairs he goes into his room, a smallish room, wooden floors with a small rug, the bed not nearly as comfortable as the one at home, but serviceable enough, and far better than a sleeping bag. It was lit by what appeared to be a small magical light source, and the wicker basket by the door was definitely the one for his clothes. He strips out of his clothes and putting them in the basket and grabbing a fresh pair from his backpack. Not that they were better than the System clothes, but they were comfortable and free, which was the best he could ask for when he was low on points.

The food arrives shortly after and his clothes are picked up. He gives a small greeting before digging into the roasted lamb and vegetables in front of him. Once finished, he locks the door and turns to the bed, laying down and ready for sleep at least he drifts slowly into slumber.