Chapter 83: Follower

The players had a merry night at the frogmen village.

Although the frogmen had initially been surprised by the inexplicable appearance of a bonfire, barbecue implements, and a.s.sorted seafood in the village square, they eventually attributed it to a divine blessing, which was apparently all the explanation they needed to let loose and party hard with the human players all night long.

But nothing good lasts forever. The next day, the players gradually took their leave of the village, and returned to the Unnamed Town.

After all the events and quests had been done, there was nothing in the village worth hanging around for. There were sea monsters to challenge, sure… but none of the players were expert divers, plus they lacked the numbers for it, and anyway it would be an enormous ha.s.sle, for little to no returns.

In comparison, the Unnamed Town housed the ‘Living Dead Cellar’ dungeon, as well as the Valley of the Tragic Dead, which had thus far been explored up to 22%.

Those players who’d levelled up and gained some new loot from the latest quest were understandably eager to test things out—even if b.u.mping into the Rotten Bones Archbishop or one of the Black-Robed Bishops in the Living Dead Cellar would most likely end with their gruesome deaths all the same.

“Are you leaving already?” Croakatoa asked a group of players, led by Edward.

“Nothing else for it!” Edward laughed. “We only came to help out, and now that the matter has been resolved, we ought to take our leave.”

“And the lady saint…” Croakatoa turned towards Eleena.

He wasn’t referring to her as a saint because he was aware of her position as a saintess-in-training, but because all the frogmen had come to regard her as a genuine saint for the Aquatic Lord.

It was a pity that Xi Wei was about to destroy the Aquatic Lord’s divine avatar, just as Eleena had inspired a higher level of faith from the frogmen.

“Of course Eleena would wish to leave with us.” Immediately, Edward interposed himself in front of her. It had been funny while it lasted, but Eleena was a saint for the G.o.d of Games, and she couldn’t keep going around masquerading as an icon for other religions. If she carried on pulling stunts like that, then as the one who’d backed her up in the first place, he might end up falling out of their G.o.d’s good graces.

Croakatoa was silent for a moment. Then he looked up at Edward. “Um… could I maybe join you on your adventures?”

Edward’s first instinct was to refuse, until he caught sight of the hopeful light in Eleena’s eyes. As he waffled about in indecision, he was suddenly presented with a System Data window.

So the system was back online already? Following this a.s.sumption, Edward read on:

[Game Version 0.2 upgrade complete]

[Player Max Level raised to 60]

[New Mage Specialization added: Tide-Caller

Description: The Tide-Caller is a Mage who foregoes all other elements in order to master elemental water. Raging blizzards, mighty tsunamis, and invincible water elementals are all theirs to command. Summon the power of the waves, and rise above all others!]

[Click here to watch a demonstration video.]

[Pre-requisites: Any Mage at Level 15 or higher may attempt the cla.s.s-change quest.]

The Tide-Caller was, true to its name, able to create (or actually, summon) water out of nowhere, and then wield it to do battle as a Mage. Watching the trailer video, there seemed to be three main builds to choose from:

[Arctic] Attacking with ice and frost, or freezing enemies solid.

[Current] Increasing the flow of water to create tidal waves or high-pressure water blades, employing water purely in its liquid form.

[Wake] Summoning support creatures out of elemental water.

[New Cleric Specialization added: Aquatic Angel

Description: Rather than divine grace and heavenly boons, this servant of the G.o.d of Games has been inspired to hear the song of the oceans. They form bonds with leviathan creatures long dormant in the depths, and train to become accustomed to underwater movement themselves, so that these Clerics are formidable powerhouses in their own right.]

[Click here to watch a demonstration video.]

[Pre-requisites: Any Cleric at Level 15 or higher may attempt the cla.s.s-change quest.]

Taking the Aquatic Angel Specialization would result in a drop in the effectiveness of the Cleric’s basic spells, but in exchange, they would gain enormous boosts to their stats, shifting from a support cla.s.s to a character capable of both tanking as well as dealing out substantial damage. They had the following builds to choose from:

[Deephunter] Summon agile and fearsome sea monsters such as an ichthyosaur or a mosasaurus, for tremendous damage potential.

[Abomination] Summon terrifying beings from the darkest depths of the oceans, like nightmares made real, and manifest them to fight at your behest.

[Trident] Enter into contracts with wondrous creatures which, although not truly divine, are able to wield miraculous powers nevertheless, as paragons of their kind. Summon an aspect of them onto the battlefield to provide beneficial auras and combat support.

[‘Follower’ feature introduced: Players can now hire followers at designated areas (requires Reputation of Friendly or better).]

[Followers will have their own stats, but they won’t be able to level up on their own. Their employer will have to manually a.s.sign points in their Attributes Window.]

[Upon their death, their progress towards the next level will be reset to zero. If they had less than 10% XP when they died, their employer will have to pay a corresponding fee at a Lifestone in order to revive them.]

[You may now hire Followers at ‘Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village’]

[Reputation system active in ‘Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village’]

[New Dungeon added: ‘Grey Fjord Port: Shallows’]

There was a lot of new material this time around, but Edward isolated the main point straight away: At last, there were now Specializations for Mages! He’d no longer have to feel inferior around Spirit Swordsmen and Shadow Rogues!

Seeing the Specialization on offer though, he felt a certain sense of apprehension. Busting out a tsunami sounded beyond awesome, but giving up the other elements felt like a raw deal for a Mage.

Eleena, meanwhile, seemed delighted. She checked her current Reputation with the Frogmen Village, and found that she was Revered. Thus, she turned to address the frogmen before her:

“Croakatoa, are you serious about joining our adventuring party?”

“Yeah!” Seeing Edward’s long silence, a despairing Croakatoa was now nodding fervently.

“Then from this day forward, you’ll be my Follower!” Hands on her hips, the girl nodded as she made this decree, immensely pleased with herself.

In response, the name that floated over Croakatoa’s head, written in green text to indicate he was a friendly character, now switched to white, like the players’ own names. Alongside a scrawl of indecipherable letters in an unfamiliar language, he also gained a t.i.tle:

[Landwalker—Croakatoa (SR)]