Chapter 154: Archer

Name：Delve Author：
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Chapter 154: Archer

“Hold this,” Ameliah said, shoving the bow into Rain’s hands. He stumbled slightly, having overcompensated for the weight. The weapon was heavy, but not that heavy. Adamant only had about ten times the density of iron.

Rain snorted. Only.

In design, if not material, the bow was similar to the one Shena had made for Hanes. It had a recurved shape and was about the same height as Ameliah when strung. The bow’s limbs ended in sharply pointed tips, vaguely reminiscent of spearheads, but other than that, it was unornamented. Adamant was slightly lighter in color than Dark Steel, but it had significantly less luster, even when polished. The bow didn’t exactly drink in the light or anything, but it still looked...cold. Cruel.

“You said you preferred a back quiver, so that is the one you will draw from,” Tallheart said, speaking to Ameliah as he offered her a second quiver. “This one goes on your hip. It is for storage only and should be hung to keep the arrows out of the way, not for easy access. Hmm. Transfer the ones I gave you.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Ameliah said, strapping the second quiver to her belt, then reaching over her shoulder to transfer the arrows. As she did this, Rain noted that while the arrow shafts and fins were all adamant, the arrowheads were made of different metals and came in different shapes.

After Ameliah transferred the last arrow, she didn’t stop. She simply reached over her shoulder again, her fingers grasping for the empty quiver, and an arrow popped into existence to meet them. She drew it smoothly, revealing the tip to be an adamant broadhead.

Rain nodded to himself. Ah. Endless Quiver.

He watched as Ameliah drew yet again. This time, the arrow came out with a reddish arrowhead—Heat Copper, unless Rain missed his guess.

“Hmm, good,” Tallheart said. “I am impressed.”

“Don’t be,” Ameliah said as arrows started appearing in the quiver on her back, one per second, though she wasn’t moving to draw them. “I’ve been an archer before, remember?”

Tallheart’s eyebrow rose slowly as he watched the quiver continue to fill with arrows. “Now I am very impressed. However, you should not—”

“Duplicate more than one type at once?” Ameliah interrupted. “I told you I know what I’m doing.” She jerked her head over her shoulder. “Those are all plain adamant.” She reached over her shoulder and drew one, showing him the tip before moving it to her other hand. When she drew again, the new arrow materialized half-drawn. She smiled, holding it out to show them the blueish Cold Tin head. “If I need a special one, I can just make it. If I’m going to need a bunch of a specific kind, I can just draw the ones I made earlier. Faster that way.”

Tallheart crossed his arms. “How long did you say you were an archer?”

“Just a few months,” Ameliah said, jabbing arrows into the ground one by one so they formed a line in front of her.

“Mmm,” Tallheart rumbled. “If I did not trust you, I would call that a lie.”

Rain laughed, clapping Ameliah on the back with a loud clang.

She smiled at him. “Bow, please.”

Rain passed the weapon to her and watched as she pulled lightly on the woven adamant cable that served as its string. The metal limbs flexed easily, belying the amount of force she had to be using. There wasn’t even so much as a creak.

“How’s the draw?” Rain asked.

Ameliah set her feet, then pulled the string back to her ear, aiming off into the distance without an arrow nocked. She let off the tension gradually, then pulled back again before glancing at Rain. “About twice as heavy as the training bows, I think. Without Strong Draw, of course.”

“That light?” Rain asked, turning to Tallheart. “Why didn’t—”

“The bow is designed for durability, not power,” Tallheart said. “The outer layer is unenchanted adamant. Nothing can be added to a deepened metal without GranTel or GranCrysts. You know this.”

“Yeah, but—” Rain began.

Tallheart held up a hand. “There is an inner layer of Force Steel outside the core. It holds the Durability and Hardness enchantments. They are as strong as I could make them with the materials that I have.”

Rain frowned. “You couldn’t put them on the core?”

“Valis is ill-suited for such runes. The core bears Lightness, Flexibility, Mana Capacitance, Arcane Regeneration, and Binding.”

“I see,” Rain said, scratching at his beard. “Binding, huh? That reminds me. Can you bind an item to more than one person? I doubt I’ll ever need to use the bow, but it would be nice to be able to see its stats.”

Tallheart shook his head. “Multiple binding is possible, but I do not have the required skill.”

Rain clicked his tongue. Damn.

Suddenly, Ameliah snorted, and her shoulders began quaking with laughter.

“What?” Rain asked, looking at her.

“I just got it,” she said, waving him away. “Clever, Tallheart.”

“Mmm,” Tallheart said. “Lilly always insisted.”

“Someone want to fill me in?” Rain said, smiling uncertainly.

“The bow’s name,” Ameliah said, still chuckling. “Irony.”

Rain thought for a moment, then smiled. ‘Adamant Unbending’ was the Empire’s motto, and it was true enough. A bow of the pure metal would have been so rigid as to be completely useless. It wasn’t a matter of the draw weight being too high; it would simply break before it bent. Adamant could be alloyed and tempered, kind-of, but not enough to make it flex like spring steel. His expression became somber as he considered why, exactly, Lilly would have insisted on that name.

Irony. Fitting.

“Okay, here we go,” Ameliah said, selecting an adamant-tipped arrow from those in front of her and nocking it. She drew, pausing for only a heartbeat to aim before she loosed. There was a powerful thrum as the bowstring sliced through the air, then a heavy thunk as the arrow struck its target.

Rain looked to see it sunk almost to the fletching in one of the enormous trees at the edge of the clearing. He tilted his head. Can you call it fletching if the fins are made of metal?

“A bit high,” Ameliah said, selecting another arrow from in front of her. “I was aiming for that knot, but I compensated too much for the drop.”

Her second arrow struck just below the first, still a good meter above her target.

“Hmph,” she said, continuing. She didn’t stop until she’d used all the arrows she’d arrayed in front of her, save the two special ones. By then, she had her aim dialed in, the last few arrows striking the knot practically one atop the other.

“A few months, she says,” Tallheart said with a harrumph of disbelief.

Rain grinned.

“And now this one,” Ameliah said, laughter in her voice as she readied the arrow with the Heat Copper tip. The bowstring thrummed with her release, just as before. This time, however, the thunk of impact was drowned by the boom of an explosion.

Rain squinted, blinking away the afterimage to see that the tree remained largely undamaged. The Heat-resistant bark was barely even scorched.

He turned to Tallheart. “How much damage does the enchantment do?”

“The arrows aren’t bound,” Ameliah said, plucking the remaining arrow from the ground and handing it to Rain. “See for yourself.”

Rain blinked, taking it. He then circulated his mana, sending a stream of it across the arrow in his hand, the system spawning a window in response.

Ice Bolt Arrow

Durability: 403/403

Hardness: 1402

Materials: Adamant, Cold Tin

Impact-Triggered Ice Bolt Rune Complex

400 Cold damage on impact

10 mp/activation

Compacted Mana Reservoir Rune

10/10 mp

“Huh,” Rain said. I need to get my interface to show me sharpness.

He looked up at Tallheart. “Aren’t you worried about these falling into the wrong hands?”

“I am,” Tallheart said, his tone matter-of-fact.

Rain touched the arrowhead lightly with an armored finger. It’s like a loaded gun. How hard does an ‘impact’ have to be for this to trigger?

He shook his head, taking his finger away. “Did you leave them unbound so they aren’t as expensive to duplicate? No, wait. Binding doesn’t have a mana cost.” Rain frowned. “Does adding Tel increase the—”

Tallheart grunted, interrupting him and gesturing to Ameliah. “A binding rune would block activation outside the domain of her soul. It would make the arrow into a dagger. An ineffective dagger.”

Oh. Rain looked back at the arrow. “Wow, it really works like that? That sucks.”

“Now, hang on,” Ameliah said. “All the good Havenheild arrows are bound. They make you pay extra if you want them not to be, or to be rechargeable for that matter.” She spat. “Bastards.”

Rain smiled.

“Hmph,” Tallheart said. “This may surprise you, but I do not have every skill that there is.”

“Never enough skill points, right?” Rain said, smiling in commiseration.

Tallheart inclined his head. “Indeed.”

“Don’t worry,” Ameliah said, taking the arrow back from Rain. “I’m not going to just leave these lying around. Not even the copies.”

“If I thought that you would, I would not have made them,” Tallheart replied, watching as she aimed. The arrow struck the tree, detonating on impact in a flurry of snow. When it cleared, large cracks became visible in the bark, spreading from the impact site where the arrow remained lodged.

“Hmm. Time for a real test,” Ameliah said, drawing a fresh arrow with a Heat Copper tip. “A Firebolt Arrow, buffed with Fire Arrow, using both Strong Draw and Seeker Shot.”

She raised the bow, nocking the arrow in the same motion. The arrowhead burst into flame as she drew back, and when she loosed, the thrum of the bowstring was louder than before. The flaming missile flew unerringly for the tree, Seeker Shot easily compensating for any disruption caused by the mana surrounding the metal.

Rain looked away just before the detonation rocked the clearing. When he looked back, he saw that the bark near the impact had been blasted away. The wood below was splintered to a pulp, and only a few arrows remained, sticking out at odd angles, the rest having fallen free.

“Not bad,” Ameliah said.

Rain looked up at the sky, calculating. She still has Fire Affinity and Heat Mastery, so that’s 4x. Arrow Affinity makes that 8x. Fire Arrow has 146 base Heat damage, plus 400 from the arrow, assuming it’s like the other one, so 546. Times eight is...no, wait, Empowered Mainhand. He glanced at Ameliah. “Did you rank up Empowered Mainhand since this morning?”

“Still rank one,” Ameliah said. “Hopefully, these arrows will get me some decent experience. Can I say again how lucky it was that I found a substitute for the prerequisite? I was thinking I’d have to spend the next week wearing enchanted iron underwear. That would not have been fun.”

Rain snorted. “I suppose it wouldn’t be that comfortable, but...” He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at her. “I wouldn’t have minded seeing it. Hey, Tallheart, do you think you could make—”

“I can hurt you,” Ameliah interrupted.

Rain broke, laughing. “Kidding, kidding.” Mostly.

“Me too,” Ameliah said, smiling as well. She paused, tilting her head and giving Rain an appraising look. “Actually, Tallheart, maybe you could make something for him instead.” Her mouth split into a lecherous grin, and she licked her lips. “The less it covers, the better.”

“Hey now,” Rain said, smiling and raising his hands, fighting not to blush. “We’re supposed to be staying focused.” Damn it, I started it. Play it cool.

“Uh-huh,” Ameliah said, dropping her exaggerated expression. “Since when do you stay focused on anything?”

Tallheart snorted. “I have never seen him do so. Hmm. And if you wish for exciting underwear, you can ask someone else. I am no expert.”

“Oh?” Ameliah asked, turning to face him. “You never made anything like that for Lilly? How did she rank up the skill?”

“Enchanted underwear may be purchased,” Tallheart said, his face as still as a pond. “There are a surprising number of options. I meant merely that I am not specialized in its creation, not that I am unfamiliar with its, hmm, merits.”

“That reminds me, Tallheart,” Ameliah said, tapping her chin. “What do you have on under there?”

Rain breathed in sharply, mortified. Ameliah!

Ameliah laughed, pointing at Rain’s face. “Got him, look. He’s like a woolly tomato. Too easy.”

“Mmm,” Tallheart rumbled, clearly complicit and just as amused as she was.

Rain sighed, looking down. Damn it. So much for playing it cool.

Dozer, of course, chose that moment to chime in.

[⟬filth⟭!]

Rain didn’t bother to arrest his fall, simply letting himself smash helmet-first into the dirt. He was just too tired to care. His Force Resistance meant he didn’t need to have the slightest fear of the uncontrolled impact.

After a moment of lying there like that, he grunted in annoyance, then laboriously rolled himself over so he was staring up at the moss-covered ceiling. A few grains of dirt fell through his visor to land on his face, but a flick of Purify wiped them away.

His body was exhausted, stricken by a bone-deep weariness that made every motion a struggle. His stamina was full, but that was no help, given that the root of the issue was soulstrain.

Mentally, he was fine. That was good, as he finally had a chance to get some work done. It was still early in the afternoon, and he’d likely have the rest of the day to himself. Tallheart was busy working, while Ameliah was off in the jungle hunting monsters and would be for some time.

She is just...ridiculous. I should be out there with her, but she’s right. I’d just slow her down.

Rain sighed, summoning his notes on Ameliah’s build.

ameliah_heavy_archer_wip.ods

B

U

I

Color

Crash

A

B

C

D

1

Heavy Armor

Keeper?

blue=done

2

Dump Mountain Stance

3

Get Heavy Armor to 5

4

Take Thickened Plate

1

5

Take Hardened Plate

1

6

Get either Plate skill to 5

7

Take HRE (Sub either Plate)

1

8

Get Heavy Armor to 10

9

Take Deep Plate

1

10

Dump Heavy Armor

11

12

Elemental Archery

Keeper?

13

Take Shock Arrow

14

Restore Fire Arrow

1

15

Restore Ice Arrow

16

Take other Arrows

17

Restore Arrow Affinity

1

18

Dump Arrows (keep Fire + 4 more)

19

Rank Arrows to 50 total

20

Take Arrow Synergy

21

Get Arrow Synergy to 10

22

Take Prismatic Arrow

1

23

Dump Arrow Synergy

24

Dump Arrows except Fire

25

26

Equipment Mastery

Keeper?

27

Take Deep Durability

1

28

Take Deep Hardness

1

29

Restore Tough Fabric (Light Armor)

30

Take Mainhand (Sub Tough)

1

31

Take Offhand (Sub Heavy)

1

32

Take Amulet (Sub Heavy)

1

33

Take Armor (Sub Tough / Heavy)

1

34

Dump Tough Fabric

35

Get Mainhand, Offhand, Amulet to 5

36

Take Rings

1

37

Get Amulet to 10

38

Take Smell Bound Item (Sub Amulet)

lol, no

39

Get Smell to 5

40

Take Repair Bound Item

41

Take Recharge Bound Item

42

Dump Smell (Ha ha, I’m a child)

43

Get Repair, Recharge to 10

44

Take Equipment Mastery

1

45

Dump Repair

46

Dump Recharge

47

48

Sharpshooting

Keeper?

49

Restore Drilling Shot

1

50

Restore Seeker Shot

1

51

Restore Hardened Arrowheads

52

Restore Sharpened Arrowheads

1

53

Dump Hardened Arrowheads

54

Restore Strong Draw

1

55

Restore Piercing Shot

1

56

Restore Endless Quiver

1

57

Take Sniper Shot

1

58

Take Bleeder Shot

1

59

Take Multishot

1

60

Rank Shots to 60 total

61

Take Stacked Shot

1

62

63

Total

25

64

Vitals

CUR

MAX

RGN

Health

5,109

5,200

680/d

Stamina

879

880

1060/d

Mana

8,850

8,850

4.3/s

Attributes

208/188

EFF

TOTAL

BASE

ACCLD

MISC

SYN

STR

60

60

10

0

50/50

100.0%

RCV

24

68

10

0

58/38

50.0%

END

15

34

10

0

24/30

44.0%

VGR

44.9

86

10

0

76/56

68.0%

FCS

23.1

50

10

40

0/193

46.2%

CLR

250

260

260

0

0/181

96.2%

PER

8.6

20

10

10

0/0

43.0%

SPD

9.4

10

10

0

0/2

94.0%

Resistances

1940/?

FLAT

PERCENT

HEAT

593.4

0%

COLD

553.4

0%

LIGHT

3.4

0%

DARK

3.4

0%

FORCE

433.4

0%

ARCANE

43.4

0%

CHEMICAL

393.4

0%

MENTAL

3.4

0%

Slots

Accolade

Bonus

12 [2x6]

The Icy Cellar

+3,000 Health

4 [1x4]

The Halls of Corruption

+40 Focus

2 [1x2]

Badlands Heat Lair

3059 3 8

+30 Heat Resistance

2

Hoarfrost Labyrinth

+20 Heat Resistance

2

Southshore Rat Warren

+1,000 Health

1

Frost Hollow

+10 Cold Resistance

1

Everdeep Fortress

+10 Perception

Total Known Skill Trees

Tier 0: 144

Tier 1: 144

Tier 2: 144

Tier 3: 143

Tier 4: 0

Skills

Aura Metamagic

Tier 0

Amplify Aura (10/10)

Multiply aura intensity by 200%

Multiply aura mana cost by 300%

Extend Aura (10/10)

Extend aura range by 10 meters

Multiply aura mana cost by 300%

Tier 1

Aura Focus (10/10)

Focus on an aura to boost its output

Multiply aura intensity by 300%

Multiply aura range by 300%

Multiply aura mana cost by 300%

User loses all external senses while focusing

Aura Synergy (10/10)

Increase all aura output by 1.0% for each rank in any aura

Effective boost: 103.0%

Tier 2

Aura IFF (10/10)

User may exempt entities from direct aura effects at will

Selected entities receive 0.0% aura output

Tier 3

Aura Compression (10/10)

Compress aura output, reducing range to boost intensity

Increase intensity by 2.0% per meter of compression

Defensive Auras

Tier 1

Arcane Ward (10/10)

Increase arcane resistance by 60.9% for all entities

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Chemical Ward (1/10) Exp: 0/200

Increase chemical resistance by 6.09% for all entities

Range: 2.03 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Mental Ward (1/10) Exp: 0/200

Increase mental resistance by 6.09% for all entities

Range: 2.03 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Tier 2

Force Ward (10/10)

Increase physical resistance by 60.9% for all entities

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Tier 3

Suppression (1/10) Exp: 0/800

Increase mana costs for all entities by 25.375 mp (fcs)

Range: 2.03 meters

Cost: 1 mp/s

Magical Utility

Tier 0

Intrinsic Clarity (10/10)

Multiply base mana regeneration by 300%

Intrinsic Focus (10/10)

Multiply base mana by 300%

Tier 1

Channel Mastery (10/10)

Allows intuitive control of channeled skill intensity

Minimum skill intensity: 0%

Maximum skill intensity: 200%

Skill mana cost modified by intensity adjustment

Mana Manipulation (10/10)

Allows internal control of mana

Allows expulsion of mana to environment

Allows transfer of mana to and from capacitive items with direct contact

Maximum transfer rate 2000.0 mp/s (fcs)

Tier 2

Magical Synergy (10/10)

Enables limited synergistic cross-coupling of magical attributes

25.0% of Focus contributes to mana regen

25.0% of Clarity contributes to mana

Offensive Auras

Tier 0

Immolate (10/10)

177.63-203.00 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes ignition

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 50 mp/s

Refrigerate (10/10)

177.63-203.00 cold (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes slow

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 50 mp/s

Tier 1

Radiance (6/10) Exp: 1519/3200

106.58-121.80 light (fcs) damage per second to entities

Brightens environment (fcs)

Range: 12.2 meters

Cost: 30 mp/s

Shroud (4/10) Exp: 229/1400

71.05-81.20 dark (fcs) damage per second to entities

Darkens environment (fcs)

Range: 8.12 meters

Cost: 20 mp/s

Utility Auras

Tier 0

Purify (10/10)

Purify poison, corruption, and contamination

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 100 mp/min

Winter (10/10)

Boost M.Regen by 203% for all entities

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 10 mp/hr

Tier 1

Detection (10/10)

Sense selected items of interest

Not occluded by mundane materials

Resolution: 1.66 mm

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 10 mp/s

Essence Well (10/10)

Transfer mana to all entities within range, including user

Transfer Rate: 20.3 mp/s

Efficiency: 20%

Range: 20.3 meters

Velocity (10/10)

203.00% boost to speed for all entities

Range: 20.3 meters

Cost: 10 mp/s

Free Skill Points: 0

Rain’s interface vanished as he heaved a deep sigh. Damn cap. I’m so close.

He gave himself a few seconds to wallow, then roughly shoved the useless thought aside before closing his eyes and turning his attention inward once more.

None of that. There’s still work to be done.