Resulting Modifiers:
This skill is now extremely effective. Perception checks against your class have a higher chance to fail during sundown. Anyone who attempts to inspect your class will get the uncomfortable feeling of wind blowing in their eyes, though wind will not actually blow into their eyes. This effect scales with Dexterity.
No. This was just a weirder and less useful version of Irena’s effect. I could already picture a bunch of inquisitors squinting as if they were near-sighted, mumbling to each other, confused, asking if any of them could see my Class. Why would I choose a mild inconvenience when I could just electrocute someone? If that was my goal. Which it wasn’t.
The choice ended up being pretty straightforward. I’d most likely only care about my Class being inspected when I wasn’t fighting, thus would have a full [Mana Shield]. If I was fighting, they probably already knew who I was and there was no point in hiding my Class.
With two plops Sambor’s hand and the zwotokapka flower were gone and I had a freshly upgraded [Forged Credentials].
“What did you choose?” Vasil asked, and I explained my choice and reasoning.
He agreed I’d made the right decision. I was starting to get pretty good at this, though I guess in this case there was only one logical choice. That did make things a bit easier. Still, I was proud of myself. You should celebrate your victories, after all.
“I have another idea,” I said. “Since I have [Generous Gift] now, and I still have a free skill upgrade point, why don’t I upgrade that?”
Vasil stroked his chin. “Hmm. That could be a good idea. How many kills have you gotten since you got [Generous Gift]?”
“34!” I said proudly. “Everyone and everything is practically throwing themselves at me. I should have upgraded it the second I got it. Think of all the power I could have had already! I could have had like a million Attunement! Honestly, I feel like a fool for not upgrading it right away.”
Vitek’s mouth fell open. Hubert, who had just recovered, fainted again.
I grabbed Jerzy’s hand and shook it in front of Vasil. “This! This thing! Missing-Tooth Jerzy! I should have taken everything. I bet if I offer this to Mēnē I’ll be able to shoot bullets with my MIIIINDDDD!!”
I lifted Bogumir from the ground and shook him as well. “With my MIND!”
“What the fuck?” he yelled as he struggled to get free from my grip.
I threw him and the hand on the floor and put my index fingers to my temples. “With my mind, guys. I’ll be shooting mind-bullets. Do you feel me?”
Vasil raised an eyebrow. “I am not sure I do feel you.”
I sighed. “Do I really have to spell it out? If I offer this hand, it probably gives a similar effect to his head when it’s on my guns. Mentally influence the path of projectiles fired by you? Hello? Isn’t it obvious?”
Vasil frowned. “But doesn’t it say ‘Mentally influence the path of projectiles fired at you’ when it’s attached to your gear?”
“Well. Uhh. Yeah,” I sputtered. “But it probably wouldn’t say that. I’m not gear. It’s an offensive skill. The math doesn’t work out. It would obviously only count for projectiles fired by me.”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” Vasil said flatly.
“By Her Pale Grace! Always with the chickens!” I threw my hands up. “What is it with you and chickens? You’re obsessed! Kasia, say something!”
Kasia gently touched my arm. “Calm down, Hecate. Why don’t you just check and see what upgrade it will give you? Then this whole debate will be over.”
She had a good point, so I followed her advice and opened [Generous Gift].
[Generous Gift]
Type: Passive
Their loss, your gain.
Permanently gain +5% enhanced damage after every kill.
Damage Bonus: 170%
Time to offer Jerzy’s hand and become an unstoppable telekinetic menace. I read the text aloud.
Offering: [Jerzy Ruta, Kinetist - Hand]
Offering: [Empty]
Resulting Modifiers:
You can now decide the percentage of enhanced damage you apply.Permanently gain 0.5% control over projectiles fired by you after every kill.Permanently gain 1 Attunement after every kill.
Slowly, a grin spread across my flawless, gold-flecked, divinely beautiful face.
“Aha!” I screamed, pointing a totally not manic finger directly at Vasil’s frog face. “Aha! What did I tell you? What did I say?! Mind-bullets! Pow pow! With my brain!”
“Wouldn’t they still come out of your pistol?” Kasia asked.
“Y-yes. But...” Wait a minute. Did they have to come out of my pistol? I guess yeah, they would have to. But what if I could…
I closed my eyes and put my fingers to my temples again. “Watch this! Unless nothing happens. Then pretend I didn’t do anything.”
Instead of letting my revolver form in my hand, I now focused on letting it slowly slide out of my forehead. It felt weird and it felt a little bit wrong, but as soon as I thought it I felt movement. The barrel slowly slid out of my forehead and I paused. Did I really just do this?
“Mirror, please,” I asked Ola.
She held the mirror in front of me, and sure enough, there was a barrel sticking out of my forehead. It wasn’t the most flattering look, but even that barely put a dent in my perfect features. I touched the barrel with my index finger. It felt solid. It was actually my revolver. I was basically a unicorn now. A gunicorn. Unigun? Wow. My pun game was on fire today.
Kasia gave me a surprised look. “Uh, Hecate?”
That also made me wonder. If the pistols were literally part of me now, would I even have to squeeze the trigger? I was the trigger now, so why would I have to squeeze at all? Couldn’t I just shoot when I wanted to? Could I shoot with just a barrel sticking out of my forehead? Maybe that’s what it meant when the System mentioned your bond with your weapons is reflected physically!
I looked to the side and willed myself to fire. A bullet shot out and tore a hole into the wall. Hubert yelped.
“Ahahaha!” I cackled (again, not maniacally). “Did you see that? Mind-bullets!”
Vitek scratched his beard, eyebrows high. “That’s not what I imagined when you mentioned mind-bullets.”
Vasil nodded approvingly. “Looks like the chickens have hatched. Just not how we expected them to.”
“Just the one,” I said, raising my finger. “I haven’t upgraded [Generous Gift] yet. I still need a second offering, because I don’t want to waste an empty slot. But first…”
“Could you do that this whole time?” Bogumir asked.
“No idea. Probably. Maybe? The skill gets better as I level up. Now don’t interrupt me again, I’m trying to do something cool.”
I slid the gun back into my skull and inspected myself in the mirror again. I rubbed the spot where it had come out. Nothing. My skin was perfect and flawless, as if there had never been a barrel.
Next I willed both of my pistols to form out of the back of my foot. I half-expected my boots to rip apart, but instead of that my guns smoothly slid out of the back. I moved them back inside of me and to my great joy noticed that my boots were completely undamaged.
I was getting giddy with excitement. This opened up so many opportunities. No one would ever be safe from my bullets again. I could fire from every angle. From every part of my body.
I looked at my open palm and made just the slightest minuscule part of the barrel come out. I pointed at the floor. If this would work… Yeah. Then I would still be able to use my guns and my class. It would allow me to package it as something creative, and no one would ever even know I was using weapons instead of magic.
I fired a shot and the floor exploded.
“Yes! Yesssss! I’m a genius! I’m an actual genius!” I cheered. “I’m a prodigy. I’m a goddess!”
“I see,” Vasil said. “I think, this time, you may be correct. Now you will be able to use your weapons without revealing your class!”
“Exactly! That’s exactly what I said!”
“You didn’t say anything.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I thought it, alright. Geez.”
I wondered if I could only use two pistols, since I only had two. Maybe I could manifest more if I wanted to? I immediately started trying, but no matter how much effort I put into growing more guns, I could only have two out at the same time. That made sense. Would be cool if that wasn’t a limiting factor, though. Maybe there was an upgrade for that? I kind of liked the upgrades I already had, but it would probably be better to have like a hundred guns sticking out of me, all firing at the same time. That might be worth swapping one out.
Unfortunately I only had one skill upgrade point left, and I did want to upgrade [Generous Gift] first, since those permanent buffs really added up. I also didn’t have anything that would allow me to manifest multiple guns. I’d have to keep my eye out.
Why did I always get sidetracked so fast? I wondered. It was probably a good thing. I learned something valuable. Maybe I shouldn’t see it as getting distracted or sidetracked. Maybe I should see it as moments of revelation. Moments of personal growth. I didn’t have a problem with focus. Sometimes my focus was simply more needed elsewhere and I was a master at shifting focus exactly when I needed to. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
“Good,” I said. “Now that’s out of the way, let’s consider what other options we have for [Generous Gift].”