The Calling of Wrath - Chapter 13 - Tier Breach Mission

                                                                    Cassandra
                                                     Year 819 | Month 1 | Day 5

I stay frozen in place for several seconds before finally beginning to move up towards the barrier.

If I don’t reach Tier 2 by tomorrow night, then I’m dead. No questions asked.

My fists clench slightly at the thought, causing my claws to puncture through my gloves a little in the process.

Damn it, if this all only happened a little bit later, then I would have been halfway attuned to the World Tree’s Sap, and this wouldn’t have been a problem! Not with the ability to combat and touch ethereal beings it comes with!

And as it stands now, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to fight them even after reaching Tier 2! Not unless my new changes – whether from my race or from becoming Tier 2 in the future – include being able to physically interact with ethereal beings!

I unclench my fists before allowing a little bit of my MP into my outfit – which really seems to be all it’s good for at this point in time – making the gloves repair themselves.

It also doesn’t help my situation that I was woken up in the middle of the…

My thoughts trail off as I look back up at the moon before looking at the trees outside and then around the cave I’m in.

Actually… why does everything look as bright as if it were daytime?

I didn’t notice this earlier – on account of being a little frightened for my life – but do I have night vision? Because that would be pretty cool.

Not as cool as finding something that can hurt ethereal beings, but still very cool, and will be very helpful tomorrow night.

Or, judging by the moon’s position, I guess it would be tonight now, since it looks to be around midnight.

Also, I wonder if the moon is going to continue glowing blue for the rest of time?

I stare up at it for several seconds before eventually turning back to go to my bed.

Nothing else I can really do right now but sleep.

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It doesn’t take long in my hunt for me to realize that the direwolves are giving me less EXP than they were before. And that’s not just the ones that were stronger than me and are now the same level or below.

Damn it. So if something is a lower level than you, it will also reduce the amount of EXP it would normally give you?

That… is actually very reasonable, but it isn’t something I want to hear right now.

I grit my teeth while glaring at a direwolf’s corpse before turning around and rushing into the forest.

Please let me get enough EXP by tonight…

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                                                           Several hours later

As soon as the direwolf next to me drops dead and gives me its EXP, a smile finally lights up my face.

I did it…

Or at least, I got the EXP needed to reach Tier 2.

With that thought in mind, I quickly begin to assign all of the EXP to leveling up before a mission appears in my vision, except with different colored text than any of the previous missions I’ve gotten.

In fact, I think this might just be the first note I’ve ever gotten that was just pure black.

My jaw drops open slightly after reading through the first objective.

Shit.

I can’t reach Tier 2 by tonight. Not with this Tier Breach Mission…

Several seconds pass in silence before I remember the level 10 skill.

I swipe away at the Tier Breach Mission before moving to my Skills list and quickly finding a new skill there.

Without any hesitation, I press Expand on the skill and begin reading the description.

And still no power to kill ethereal beings…

Guess I’m either going to die or suddenly learn that I can already hurt them.

I let out a heavy sigh at that thought before glancing back at the cave.

It would be best to save The Calling of Wrath for when I fight them, so maybe I should just go back to hunting for a few more hours to fill up on EXP.

After all, just because I can’t use it yet for leveling, doesn’t mean I can’t save up some or maybe level some of my skills.

Actually, now that I think about it… how much does the Claws of Wrath or Fangs of Wrath skills need to level up?

I quickly press the plus next to the Claws of Wrath skill before immediately closing out of it again.

Yeah, no thank you.

While it’s not anywhere near as bad as the 10,000 EXP to level The Calling of Wrath, 1000 EXP is still pretty bad.

And it’s not something I’m going to be able to afford for quite some time. Especially not now that all of the direwolves give a reduced amount of EXP every kill.

The sight of the reavers ripping into those direwolves replays in my mind before I shiver slightly.

If it weren’t for the fact that reavers are commonly known as being even better hunters than the direwolves, then I’d just try to run away. But if I tried that, then I’d just be losing my homefield advantage of being in a smaller area with that barrier up when the reavers eventually find me. Not to mention that I’d probably end up finding more reavers, along with whatever else is in this forest at night.

I raise one of my gloved hands to play with my hair out of nerves before glancing towards the sound of another direwolf’s howl.

Suddenly, my hand freezes in place as an idea comes to mind.

Would… that work?

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Table of Contents

For those of you who can't read the images:

Green item draw and purple skill card in the following image

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Tier Breach Mission Acquired!

Title: Spread the Wrath

Objective 1: Use all three of the skill The Calling of Wrath’s effects over the course of four weeks.

Objective 2: While transformed into a beast, kill at least ten beings.

Objective 3: When using the second effect of The Calling of Wrath, spread Wrath to at least 15 beings.

Optional Objective: While empowering one of your skills or basic attacks with the third effect of The Calling of Wrath, defeat an opponent one Tier above yourself.

Reward:

Tier 2 unlocked

Optional Objective Reward:

2000 EXP, one [Random Item Draw], and one [Random Skill Level Card]

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Racial Skills:

The Calling of Wrath: Expand – Level 1/5 +

Claws of Wrath: Expand –Level 1/10 +

Fangs of Wrath: Expand –Level 1/10 +

Class Skills:

Siphon: Expand –Level 2/30 +

Wrath Infusion: Take the Wrath of up to three beings around you into yourself to temporarily increase your overall stats. Warning: Taking the Wrath of others can lead to a berserker state if too much is taken. Condense – Level 1/30 +

Temporary Skills:

N/A

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