NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: A Hard Choice to Make
While continuing to consider the choice in the back of his mind, Dominic turned to the other three items in the box. One was a bag. Not an extra-dimensional one, unfortunately, as was obvious by the fact that it was showing the shape of the items stored inside.
A bit of judicious prodding served to force the drawstring neck of the leather pouch open, revealing the contents. Gold, as it turned out. Gold coins. Dominic felt surprise run through him as he pawed through the round disks. They were larger than most coins pre-System arrival, perhaps a bit wider and thicker than a 2£ or 2€ coin.
It was a little hard to guesstimate since he was in a different body from the one which was used to handling money, but he thought that was probably the case. As for weight, he was pretty sure that they were significantly heavier than the coins he was used to - probably an indication of them being pure gold. Or maybe they were made of some sort of new System metal – who knew if the periodic table was still relevant with magic in the mix.
There were five gold coins in the pouch, which led Dominic to believe that they were fairly valuable. Either that or it was a rubbish prize. He immediately tucked the coin pouch in his inventory – while he had no immediate need for them, he suspected that he would in the future.
Of the two remaining items, Dominic recognised the form of one, though didn’t know if its contents would match his expectations; the other was a complete mystery to him. Hesitating between the first and the second, he decided to go for the one he sort of recognised – his curiosity would eat him alive if he didn’t.
It was a rolled up scroll in some sort of thick paper. His pads weren’t nearly as sensitive as his finger tips had been, so he just had to imagine what the paper felt like. From the less crisp sound of it as he unrolled it compared to what he was used to with printing-type paper, he would guess that its surface texture would be just as different. Thicker, for one. Perhaps less smooth, for another.
The scroll was blank. Whatever Dominic had been expecting, that wasn’t it. Is the paper special in some way, then? Some sort of crafting material? It would be pretty disappointing if that was the case.
Information, Dominic requested.
[Magic Scroll (T1, Common, Offensive)]
[This scroll allows the user to learn a single spell. Spells require MP, but the user has not yet awakened his MP capacity. Using this scroll to learn its contained spell will forcibly awaken the latent MP capacity in the user. Warning, this process is not without pain, nor without risk. Consequences of the awakening process going wrong can range from excess pain, to pain when casting for varying amounts of time, to permanently destroying the user’s capacity to use magic, or even death. Spell within: Lightning Discharge.]
[Would you like to use this magic scroll? Warning: using this magic scroll will fully consume it.]
Dominic chose ‘no’ for now, a mixture of emotions running riot inside him. When he heard the paper of the scroll crinkling a little, he realised that his paws were shaking. I didn’t know lions did that too, was the inane thought he barely registered, his attention jumping between two extremes.
I could learn magic, was one. I could die, trying to learn magic, was the other. Unlike in the Warthog Guardian’s Core, there were no percentages to indicate which of the options seemed most likely. Though would it make a difference if there was? If there was only a 10% chance of death, would I take it? And if there was a 20% chance, would that mean I wouldn’t?
In some ways, even 1% chance was too much: what were the chances that he would have been being eaten by a lion at the very moment that the System had arrived, after all? Probability didn’t mean much except in repeated situations. And even then, just because there was only a 1% chance that the police would be waiting in that particular spot to catch you speeding didn’t mean that they wouldn’t do so three times in a row. Trying to earn their next year’s budget, Dominic thought darkly, still sore over that.
So in a way, the question was more about whether Dominic wanted to learn this spell so much that he would be willing to risk death or permanent inability to do magic at all. Or rather, perhaps I should be asking whether I’d be willing to wait. After all, the mention of ‘forcibly’ when talking about awakening his magical capacity might indicate that there were other ways of awakening it, some perhaps a lot less risky.
Once more, he had a hard choice to make. Save the scroll for later and risk not having it when he needed it, or use it now and take the risks. Perhaps knowing what the spell is would be a good start, he decided.
[Lightning Discharge (T1, offensive, spell): Build up electrical charge on your weaponry, shocking your opponent when they come into contact with it. Charge can be built either through static electricity (building over the course of the fight) or the use of MP (for more immediate effects). At level 1, the charge is focussed purely on your weaponry and offers damage on a 1:1 basis with the amount of MP invested (or equivalent in static electricity). Damage calculations assume no lightning resistance present within the opponent. Both focus point and damage ratio may change with the level of the spell. Warning - lightning domain spells are classed as Willful and require a strong sense of control at higher levels.]
Well, that doesn’t help much, Dominic thought to himself wryly. Assuming that ‘weaponry’ includes my teeth and claws, it clearly enhances the damage I’d do. But not knowing how much MP I’d have to invest, or how long static electricity would take to build up, I don’t know by how much.
After all, if he only had 10 MP - Magical Points, presumably - after ‘awakening’ his capacity, then an extra 10 damage to his bite wouldn’t do much. Though, he supposed that it would make a significant impact on the damage of his claws. If he could invest 50 MP, however, that was a very different story.
Another question he had was about the length of time his weaponry would stay ‘charged’. The spell description didn’t say anything about time, but he couldn’t believe that he could charge his teeth or claws once and then they’d be permanently enhanced. Or, in a way, he didn’t want to believe that. Because if a T1 spell could offer that kind of OP damage, what would a T3 or T4 spell offer? He had no idea how many tiers there were. What if he started coming up against T10 spells? If a T1 was so powerful, he shuddered to think what a T10 could be.
So no, there had to be some time limitation. Maybe his claws or teeth would only stay ‘charged’ for a short duration. Or maybe the charge dissipated as soon as he hit something and did damage. That made a lot more sense, actually, especially with how electricity usually acted. Though, the idea of having an ‘aura’ of some sort of lightning charge dancing around his claws and teeth seemed rather unlikely with what he’d learned about electricity at school, so what did he know?
In short, it was a spell that, besides being a magical spell, looked pretty awesome. Yet despite that, it wasn’t a ‘must have’. If it had been a healing spell, he’d have taken it without a second thought: having the ability to heal himself outside of potions and level ups would have been well-worth the risk of dying or injuring himself to gain it. A spell that offered him damage enhancement? Not so much.
Sighing, Dominic turned to the last item in the box, hoping that it wouldn’t also present him with a difficult choice.
This was the one which he felt completely baffled about. It was in metal, with a mostly ball-shape. Well, kind of. Prodding it with his paw, he made it shift a little. It…it was like a base-ball with spikes and a tube coming out of one part of it. The tube wasn’t solid - it was flexible, looking a little like a shower hose, though it got wider as it went. The tube was curled around the ball, so Dominic pulled the whole lot out to lay it on the floor.
The tube was long, perhaps a little less than a metre. It shifted around easily and gave the tinny ring of metal as he nudged it across the stone. Feeling utterly confused, he decided that he wasn’t going to get much more from just looking at it.
Information.
[Tail armour + Tail club (non-standard, Beast, T1)]
[This is a Common-quality set of armour made for a Beast’s tail. It has traded in some protective qualities for its ability to be worn by a Beast. The craftsman has added a morningstar-inspired tail club to offer the armour some offensive capacity. A Poor-quality growth enchantment allows the armour to expand a little to fit the wearer. Tail armour offers +20 to Tearing/Slicing damage reduction and +12 to Crushing and Piercing damage reduction to attacks on areas covered. Tail club offers +10-24 Crushing damage and +5-12 Piercing damage.]
That’s…awesome! Dominic let out a pleased huff as he read the description. Not only armour, but also a weapon in and of itself. Just like he’d -
Wait. he suddenly felt rather suspicious. I’m right, aren’t I? Just like I thought. Is this dungeon genuinely reading my mind? It was…concerning. Potentially. More in the sense of him not having felt anything reading his mind, thereby proving that he couldn’t be sure an opponent wasn’t doing the same, than worry about the dungeon itself.
After all, if it had been reading his mind, it had used its discoveries to offer him two pieces of equipment which were perfect for his needs rather than giving him generic swords or helms, or whatever it would offer humans who came through here. Still, it was a bit worrying since he couldn’t know that this peaceful state of things would continue now that he’d completed the dungeon. What if the way it had been acting was purely because it wanted to stay on his good side while he still had to make the decision to destroy it or not?
Still, clearly there was little he could do about it right now. Plus, he had a sweet piece of loot right in front of him to try out. And, much as he felt conflicted about the two other choices he had to make, he did have to make a decision.
But first, his new piece of armour.
Equip.