40 Chapter 40 – Secondary Stat Blas (1/2)

Death by Jotuns and spells continued as I kept up exploring the house and altering my tactics to limit the number of giants I had to face at any one time. The guests in the ball room would turn into reinforcements with a suitable shout from Dad the Duke, but only the men, and only a few at a time… although if they saw a carpet of dead giants in front of them, their shouts for aid got really sharp.

I confirmed that if I took bling from them, it wasn't there my next time through the place, especially since I burned it all as fast as I could.

I was lasting longer and longer as I fought. Although they still dealt immense amounts of damage if they hit me, they were getting less and less able to hit me. I was getting better at hit and runs, making it hard for the Casters to keep line of sight on me, and alpha-striking whenever I got an opening.

Tremble was getting really good at looting on the fly, too. One Prestidigitation cantrip, and a golden medal, ring, necklace, earring, or whatnot would fly into his Hilt Chamber for later burning. I didn't bother to get it all at one time, since I would get it all eventually.

But the big reason was that I was getting my Level Four in Secondary Classes.

I'd taken my Expert/6, and basically just dumped all 8 Skill Points into the knowledge skills to keep Courtier of Death going, and moved on. The advance went to Resistance/2, which meant Null +1.

Level Four was the level we got Stat choices. Being Sustained meant I got Sustained Effort, which reflected the Stat bonuses across the mental/physical divide.

The three best classes for gaining Stats were Monk, then Melee and Scout. Monk gave you your choice, then your lowest physical and mental Stat, and then your lowest Stat, resulting in extremely solid fundamentals, even if you dumped Charisma or something.

Melee and Scout gave you choice, and then lowest physical and mental. Archer gave you choice, and then lowest Stat. The remaining classes just gave you choice.

But when you have a lot of Classes, and Sustained Effort, that's a rather large number of Stats, building up your weak spots and making them strong, even if they don't overpower your main Stat.

Furthermore, Stats in Secondary Classes had to be in the prime requisite of the Class, so the 'choice' option, actually wasn't.

Naturally, there were minor Class abilities, and more importantly, more Skill Points, and Skills that would feed Profound Artisan.

So, taking my Monk/4. Four Skill Points, which became Meditation +2 and Concentration +2, both getting to 6 Ranks. This was the entire basis the Moon and Sun combat styles were based on, trying NOT to associate them with martial mastery was impossible. PA to +30.

+1 Ki. Centered Mind gives a ki-boosted enhancement against enchantment spells, not as much a problem here, and a Ki Feat that was doubled for Forsaken. I picked Tiger Leap for +10 to all jump distances, including vertical, as long as I had at least 10 ki unspent, and Way of Fire II, Spreading Inferno, for all those much-too agile non-giants I was running across and needed to kill faster.

Advance went to Strength Mastery/1. It was the only Stat I hadn't Mastered up yet, and since it had to be done with a Class level, Monk was fine.

Stats. +1 to Wisdom, mandatory. +1 to Con, Sustained. +1 to Str, and Cha. +1 to Cha, and Str. +1 to Str, and Cha.

All my dump Stats were no longer dump Stats. I couldn't say I minded, especially since higher strength/weight ratio felt just awesome. At a 16 Strength on my own, I was as strong as the most sturdily naturally-built full-grown women, without being nearly as broadly built.

It was only going to get better, and I was looking forward to it. Being short didn't matter all that much if I was also strong!