Chapter Twenty-Five

  Alex had every intention of leveling up before she went to bed, but the aftereffects of the battle and then a march back to camp made keeping her eyes open impossible. She woke late the next day, her minions already in their nests, plump from hunting.

  Inky, Minion, Level 3

  Pinky, Minion, Level 3

  Clyde, Minion, Level 3

  "Nice," she said when she realized the kill had leveled her minions too. She focused on Inky to examine his new ability.

  Inky, Minion, Level 3

  Ability: Ghosting (Turn incorporeal, which creates partial invisibility and allows passing through solid objects for 10 seconds)

  It wasn't the best ability for a minion, but it was better than nothing, and more importantly, the transfer had killed the Ghostly Cobrawasp.

  Character: Alexandria Duke

  Level: 6

  Strength: 1

  Intelligence: 3

  Cunning: 8

  Agility: 2

  Endurance: 3

  Charisma: 1

  Class: Arcane Mastermind

  Subclass: Undecided

  Health: 74/74

  Faez: 73/73

  Armor Class: 15

  Fatigue: 8%

  XP: 255,111 / 270,000

  Skills:

  Analyze: 11

  One-handed Slashing: 1

  Fire Spells: 2

  Devious Device: 6

  Sense Direction: 9

  One-handed Whip: 7

  Water Spells: 6

  Cooking: 9

  Stealth: 5

  Climbing: 4 (+5 Ascending Boots)

  Air Spells: 7

  Unique Skills:

  Cunning Strategist: 2

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  Mastermind: 2

  Spells:

  Dewdrop Orb: 6

  Minor Creation: 4

  Transference: 11

  Cloud Taunt: 5

  Misdirection: 1

  Knowing how the skill increases affected her abilities and spells changed her opinion on where she needed to place them. There was no doubt that the Cunning stat needed to be a main focus, but she had to decide how much, and if any, to place in the other stats.

  Alex immediately ruled out Strength and Charisma since they didn't offer anything to her class. The next one she eliminated was Agility. While the stat governed her Stealth and One-handed Whip, those weren't the skills that were making her effective.

  Endurance was appealing because of Devious Device and Minor Creation, both of which had contributed considerably to her effectiveness. The argument against Endurance was that it was meant for the Devious Artificer class, which meant those abilities would probably get less effective as she leveled up.

  One key factor in opportunist gameplay was to look for areas to maximize a certain ability or spell. While the term "Min-Maxer" was derogatory in certain circles, suggesting that those players saw the game as nothing but a mathematical problem, it was an aspect that appealed to Alex.

  She had never been the biggest, strongest, or quickest when it came to games. Through years of practice, she could hold her own with twitch-based skills, but she would never compete at the high levels like Lily.

  Her skill was to break down the games into patterns to be exploited through mathematics and logic. It was like finding a magic key in the data, or a pot of gold in a trash bin. Nothing excited Alex more than figuring out how to take a complex system and reduce it down to an exploitable formula.

  It was why she'd learned how to solve the Rubik Cube, but had no desire to compete. Once she understood the mental algorithms required to put it back to order, and could demonstrate it satisfactorily, she'd lost interest in it.

  Which was why Gamemakers Online was simultaneously the most frustrating game she'd ever played, and the most exciting.

  But so far, she felt like she'd barely scratched the surface of her class. Lily was already level 11, probably by leveraging her world-beating twitch skills in a class that utilized them best.

  While Alex desperately needed a larger faez pool to be more effective, she wasn't convinced that’s what was holding her back. What she needed were skills she could exploit, abilities she could use to maximum effect. The only way she was going to do that was to reach the higher tiers, which meant her Cunning stat had to be as high as possible.

  Alex felt strangely calm when she put all three increases in Cunning. Normally when making difficult decisions like this, doubt was a constant companion, but she felt her logic was sound enough that she didn't worry.

  The decision meant that her Transference spell, Cloud Taunt spell, and Air spells could reach 17, though they were far from that max level. It was going to be a priority to increase them so she could focus on catching up. It'd taken her half the year to reach level 6. If she stayed at her current pace, she'd only reach 12 by the end of the school year, leaving her short and unable to continue in Gamemakers Online.

  "Time for training," said Alex out loud, even though she'd sent mental commands to her minions to rise into the air. After the first few months of the game, Alex had started talking to herself, which had felt weird at first, but after a while she knew that if she didn't use her voice, she'd go a little crazy.

  Or, she thought, maybe it’s the talking making me crazy?

  The three bloats—looking more like wide-eyed furry brown bats than grotesque floating bloodsuckers—hovered above the camp eagerly. It wasn't just their motion that suggested their feelings—Alex caught a hint of emotion through their psychic link.

  Before, the connection had been tenuous. She could send out requests, and instinctively knew when they were in range, but not really know how. Now it was more tangible, like knowing the sun was in the sky by the warmth on her back. It was almost like a string connected them.

  "You might be wondering why I brought you here," she said with her hands on her hips. "I need to practice my Cloud Taunt, and you three are the most convenient targets. Unfortunately, I don't know if it'll kill you, so I'm going to have to limit my attacks to you, Pinky."

  To her surprise, a surge of resoluteness came through the link from Pinky, and strangely enough it tasted like black cherry.

  "Okay then, good to have you on board," said Alex. "Now, I'm going to hit you with Cloud Taunt, burning through my mana as fast as I can and while you're invulnerable. Then when you and I are both refreshed, we'll do it again."

  More black cherry came through the link.

  "Great," said Alex, cracking her knuckles before getting started.

  It felt a little weird firing at her own minion, but the spell allowed her to target Pinky. A tendril of gray cloud snaked towards the furry brown minion, crackling with electricity.

  You have hit Pinky with Cloud Taunt for 0 damage!

  Pinky has gained Reactionary Armor!

  Pinky is invulnerable!

  Alex cast the spell two more times, receiving the invulnerable message each time until her faez pool was nearly empty.

  You have gained a skill point: +1 Cloud Taunt

  "Now we're talking," said Alex, rubbing her hands together. "You okay, Pinky?"

  More black cherry.

  Refilling her faez pool took a few minutes, but when it was full, she checked with Pinky to confirm her ability was back. The flavor came back straight cherry, which felt like a "yes" to Alex.

  Before she began again, Alex told Inky and Clyde, "You don't have to hang out here. You're free to go."

  As if watching Pinky get blasted with Cloud Taunt was too much for them, the two minions darted across the chasm towards the Plains. Alex felt a little guilty until Pinky sent black cherry again.

  "That's my girl," she said. "Now that the boys are gone, let's do some real work."