Many of the group members had assumed that they would get the reward they had chosen at the start, the one in the chest, so they wondered what there was to calculate, unless it was an additional reward for the team effort.j
But that thought was secondary to most of them, as their armour was heavily damaged, and every bone in their body was either broken or aching after that area attack.
It was a good thing that the battles were over because they were going to need more than a few minutes to recover, even with the two healing specialty Clerics on hand to assist Thor’s [Refreshing Lightning]
[Reward Calculated. Enhanced Epic Rank Team Trial Successful.]
[10 Percent Bonus added to all rewards.]
Everyone stared at the reward announcement, visible in the air above the arena’s sand.
“A ten percent bonus for a third trial? Somehow, I feel a bit cheated.” Bob sighed as he gingerly flexed the fingers on his freshly repaired arm.
Then, the awards appeared.
In front of each of the members, except Lotus, sat two silver chests, one small purple box and a leather bag. Lotus only had the purple box and a smaller bag.
“Oh, it’s ten percent on top of the Epic reward for the third trial. I take back any and all criticisms I might have been thinking.” Bob amended.
Lotus giggled. “I don’t think it counts if you only take it back after you got the reward.”
The silver chests were quickly opened, and Lotus sighed as she realized that her fun playing with the boxes meant that she didn’t actually get them in the end.
But she did get a pretty purple one, and that was the one that she hadn’t dared to mess with in the waiting room.
Now, there was no chain around it, but she waited with Karl while the others opened their chests and removed a pair of skill books plus a load of coins and gems.
There were no magical rings or other items in there, only precious metals and gems, but the skill books were the real treasures.
There was one in each silver chest, and both were different skills. Only, there didn’t seem to be any organization as to who got what skill, as Karl could see that Dana had a blade skill and a combat form, while Ophelia had a druid type Dire Bear Transformation spell and a toxic claw skill.
On second thought, a [Berserk Terror] enhanced Dire Bear was a terrifying thought. They made Warbears look like they were half grown to start with, and with the additional size from the skill, she would be nearly as large as Thor’s regular size.
Two of the Knights looked at the books in their stack, and then reached out to trade them, but the moment that someone else’s hand touched them, they reappeared in their original chest.
“That is unusual. Does that mean we’re intended to learn what we were given?” Morgana asked as she looked at the [Toxic Swamp] and [Painful Gaze] spells that she had been given.
None of the skills were extremely rare or powerful, as expected from the silver chest, which had displayed only books with simple covers. However, none of them were skills that the user already had.
Dana activated her two books, and they vanished as she grinned like a madwoman.
“Now, I just need to learn some movement skills, and I will be able to fight like the Knights. Learning combat forms from a book is so much better than doing it the conventional way.” She declared.
When he looked at it that way, Karl realized that it was not giving them skills that should help with their current talents, but ones that would help shape them in the future. It seemed that Dana would become more of a Battlemage, while Ophelia was treading the path of the Druid, with a transformation that was becoming even more bestial.
“Open your first two boxes, and let’s see what the Epic Trials granted you as a bonus.” Tessa demanded.
That made sense, as everyone would be able to open their last box at the same time, so Lotus wouldn’t be left out at the end.
Karl carefully flipped open the lid on the first small box as Doug made a drumroll on the metal plates of Bob’s armour.
Karl opened the first chest, and the amethyst box vanished in a burst of golden Holy Light, leaving behind an ornate skill book.
[Book of Evolution] Permanently causes any bonded pet to evolve into a form one Rank Higher than when the skill is used. Usable once per beast, some materials may be required.
That was a skill that was in Karl’s Skill Tree, for a whopping fifty points, five times what it had cost him to get [Bestial Regeneration].
He had been intending to work toward it for some time, as it would be the most important possible skill to allow his beasts to break their limits and reach levels above Royal, but the price was ridiculous.
“That skill… Holy crap.” Bob muttered.
“Right? If it wasn’t once per beast, it would be world breaking, but even this will be huge. This is a skill that I saw as available to my class in another trial, but I hadn’t managed to obtain it.” Karl explained, not wanting to get sidetracked with an in-depth discussion of how the system appeared to him.
Karl opened the book, and it vanished, leaving him with a new skill, and real options to keep his beasts advancing, even if their power stalled.
“Alright, so the silver chest is one skill and some loot, the Epic chest is an overpowered skill. It looks like we’re all in luck today.” Tessa noted as Karl prepared to open the next chest.
The same golden light flashed from the chest when Karl opened the second Epic Rank reward, and again, there was a skill book. The book vanished in Karl’s hands the moment he thought of opening it, and a second skill appeared in his mind.
[Bestial Raiment] grants the user armour suitable to their current environment. The armour will be of Epic Quality and of their current Rank.
“I wonder what sort of standard Epic Quality is?” He asked.
“What do you mean?” Doug asked.
“The skill is [Bestial Raiment], or Beast Armour for us less fancy folk. It creates armour at my Rank of Epic Quality.” Karl explained, then switched armour from his battered main gear to the suit provided by the spell.
What he got was a mostly black scale bodysuit, with hard chitin plates over all the vital areas, and a black and white tabard hanging over the top, the colours split vertically.
As he recalled, Prince Corbin had said in the dungeon that those tabards were the mark of the Darklight Host. The ancient cult, or religious organization, depending on who you asked, that followed the World Dragon.
Karl shifted and found that the scales moved like the softest of silk, flowing with his body, while the plates were as secure as if they were attached to him, not shifting or bouncing at all as he moved.
“It’s comfortable, I will give it that much.” He explained as he examined the armour itself to see the bonuses that it would grant him.
There were unfamiliar stats among them, number bonuses to strength, constitution and agility instead of percentages. Then percentage-based bonuses to various types of elemental and magic damage, life steal on hit, and a durability percentage for the armour that was currently at one hundred percent.
“I wish you could cast that on everyone. It would save me so much work.” Tessa sighed as she took in the state of everyone’s armour after the last fight.
“Well, at least it’s one less suit to do. Because mine is trashed again. The repair teams in the camp are not going to be happy with us when we get back.” Karl laughed.
“So, do we just open the last one all at once and see who gets the best loot from the final boss? They should all be from the same fight, except maybe Karl’s, since we don’t know what order they were in.” Lotus asked eagerly.
“That sounds like a plan. Everyone, prepare to open the boxes on the count of three.”
