Chapter 241
Found You, Delicious Child
To be fair, the Great Philosopher’s three given traits were all pretty good.
In terms of trait quality alone, these were the highest Eivass had obtained since arriving in this World, and they were all quite rare.
The only problem was that they didn’t quite match the build Eivass wanted to create.
Eivass first eliminated the second trait.
The “Dream Walker” trait’s main function was immunity to illusion and dream-entering methods.
But as anyone who plays card games knows, the weakest endgame is usually an immuner endgame… resistances are created to be broken.
In episode twenty, he would be invincible; by episode twenty-one, he’d be facing heavenly foes.
The true value of this trait was that it was a prerequisite for the Dream Traveling Monk profession within the Path of Wisdom. Without this trait, one couldn’t become a Dream Traveling Monk.
And according to the rules for obtaining traits through the Ascension Ritual, this trait could only be found in ritual dungeons containing terms like “Nightmare” or “Dream.”
It wasn’t particularly useful in itself, but it was genuinely rare.
Then, Eivass began to ponder the first and third traits.
Neither of these was a must-have for him, but both were very powerful traits. They could be considered powerful, external, independent additions to his build. Before his Sin Scholar build was complete, these traits were actually much stronger.
“Flesh and Blood Ded,” in the game, simultaneously increased both the cost and effect of all skills that consumed HP by half. That is, both the HP drain and the skill effect increased by 50%.
This was a Tier 0 trait for the Blood Mage on the Path of Love. Although it was only a Purple Tier Slot, it was a truly core class trait. Blood Mages could imitate some abilities of Mages, Witches, and Caster Mages using a degraded version of blood magic through their class abilities, at the cost of consuming their own HP.
In other words, as long as one could find a way to attach a blood-consuming effect to their abilities, even if it only required a small amount of HP drain, they could fully benefit from the trait’s effect.
More importantly, it wasn’t “increased damage” but “increased effect.” This meant it could even enhance the effects of support skills. For example, the Illuminate Spell of the Path of Devotion. Although it didn’t consume much HP, it did drain some blood, allowing this trait to be triggered, directly granting an incredible 50% increase in healing amount.
Because it increased the HP cost by 50% but didn’t increase Mana consumption, it offered high returns for healing classes that were already Mana-starved.
And for Eivass, the Shepherd’s Method could also effectively trigger this effect, making himself more delicious. The buffs and experience from the Shepherd’s Method should also increase accordingly.
Bloodline of the Hokkien to the extreme.
“Body of Light,” on the other hand, was a required trait for the Torchbearer, one of the advanced professions for Priests.
For ordinary Priests, using the Illuminate Spell could be somewhat inconvenient.
It required direct contact with the injured body, and using it directly on an armored target could even fail. It was best to remove armor, or at least wear thin clothing. Opaque metal certainly wouldn’t do.
“Body of Light” provided a switchable toggle. It increased Mana consumption by an additional 5 times, so with a total of 5 times Mana consumption, it turned abilities like healing, blessings, and dispels into mid-range area-of-effect skills.
A level 50 Torchbearer activating Body of Light could add over thirty meters of skill range to most light-elemental skills. Using the Illuminate Spell would be equivalent to healing all allies within a thirty-meter radius simultaneously.
In terms of expected value, as long as it could heal four people, it was beneficial. Not to mention, it could also spread the effects of Blessing and Dispel, converting support skills that required contact into AoE auras by consuming 5 times the Mana.
This trait had another nickname: the Priest’s ultimate skill – AoE taunt.
Because once activated on a PvP battlefield, one would see that person glowing all over. Everyone around would be rapidly regenerating health.
Then, within two seconds, they would likely be focused and killed. Not only were the skill effects so insane that others had to prioritize attacking them, but they also came with a self-provided, blindingly bright notification.
But truth be told, the returns of this trait were genuinely high. Although it was difficult to use in PvP and could easily cause aggro due to overkill healing in PvE, its ability to turn Dispel into AoE Dispel and Blessing into AoE Blessing was also quite good.
For instance, starting from the Third Tier of the Path of Devotion, one could learn “Courage Blessing.”
It removed fear and granted immunity to fear for fifteen seconds, simultaneously increasing Strength by 20% and Agility by 10%. Upon landing a critical hit, one would gain “Ferocious Momentum,” granting a significant attack speed boost on the next attack targeting that enemy.
This was originally for a single target, which wasn’t very useful at the time, usually used to counter fear control effects. But with “Body of Light,” it could be converted into a burst AoE buff. Fifteen seconds was enough for most professions to unleash their burst damage.
If one had buffs like increased critical hit rate and accuracy from a Bard or other Path of Beauty professions, and the rest were physical damage dealers, with Body of Light, one might not even need a second healer.
Many tedious dungeons could skip phases entirely through this burst of damage.
However, because its effects were so good, it conversely led to competition among healer classes. Since one healer could do the work of two, it didn’t mean the two healers’ jobs became easier, but rather that only one healer was recruited…
Eivass remembered an early version where Priests in high-difficulty dungeons had to have Body of Light to be allowed into a party. This led to Pure Magic classes like Mages and Witches being unpopular for a time because only physical damage dealers could fully benefit from Courage Blessing, and Bard auras were also more easily consumed by physical damage dealers.
Even in later dungeons, where spellcasters were required to handle mechanics, players still stubbornly only brought one spellcaster and filled the rest with physical damage dealers plus a “Bard plugin.” It wasn’t until the appearance of the “Illuminator,” a more powerful and comprehensive buff-type support profession, that the Torchbearer was no longer the only choice, and magic users could finally be included in high-difficulty teams.
In this regard, although the Path traits given by the Great Philosopher weren’t exactly to Eivass’s liking, he had to admit that these three were of very high quality. They could be considered core traits for their respective professions.
They were the kind that true class enthusiasts with cash would spend reset items to repeatedly grind for, and that free-to-play players might consider switching professions if they happened to obtain them…
This wasn’t like picking up a mouse and opening an internet cafe; it was more like, “You are our absolute core.”
Eivass thought for a long time before finally deciding to choose [Flesh and Blood Ded].
He made this decision because Eivass had not yet obtained a light-elemental Phantom Demon, and the Flame Butterfly could already provide relatively comprehensive AoE dispel and healing capabilities.
Although it lacked AoE buffing abilities…
He didn’t seem to have anyone to buff anyway.
Sherlock was a magic class, and only the Illuminator had buffs specifically for magic classes.
Isabel and he himself were both support classes. Lily was half a Witch and half an Assassin… she primarily dealt damage through poison and didn’t benefit from buffs.
Yulia was going to be an Alchemist, primarily dealing damage with alchemy and bottles, and also didn’t benefit from buffs.
As a result, among all the people Eivass knew, only the Knight and Lixia could benefit from buffs. And Eivass and the Knight rarely met, so his AoE Blessing seemed to have little use…
Moreover, his whole body glowing seemed a bit strange in reality. He might start glowing somewhere impulsively.
A glowing skin was one thing, but if his crotch started glowing…
Eivass shook his head, dispelling the mortifying image from his mind.
Compared to a “Crotch of Light Spell,” the “Hokkien Bloodline Conversion Technique” was more practical.
Making himself a little more delicious was no problem, at least it meant Little Butterfly would gain more experience for the same amount of Mana…
After Eivass selected his trait, the other two options shattered.
The power from the blood domain merged into Eivass’s body, and his flesh and blood would become even more delicious.
…Speaking of flesh and blood?
He suddenly thought of Werewolves and Vampires.
He could only hope that this wouldn’t attract any strange individuals.
Eivass felt the Path Power remolding his body, and a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
