With the four extra points he’d gained from leveling to twenty, he placed one in Stamina, Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Going forward, he would adhere more closely to his point system.
Ruwen confirmed he wanted to redistribute his points and then looked at his new values.
Attributes
Strength: 39
Stamina: 62
Dexterity: 39
Intelligence: 39
Wisdom: 22
Charisma: 22
Now Ruwen faced the hard part, distributing his ability and spell points. The points he’d placed in Worker abilities and spells were permanent, but the ones he’d placed in Observer were refunded, which when combined with what he’d never used, gave him a total of forty-three spell points and twenty-two ability points.
Ruwen had since taken the abilities Ringleader and Chat, and it was immediately apparent to him he needed triple the ability points he had to get everything he wanted. He would put five ability points in Banner for sure. That would allow him to add five of the listed buffs to his group. And even with five choices picking would be difficult, as there were so many powerful buffs in that list.
Sunburn and Analyze would each get one point so Ruwen could try them, and he’d keep eight ability points in reserve in case they were both worth maxing to five. His most valuable asset was his Void Band, and it needed Energy. Sunburn would help him keep his Energy reserves up. Analyze, a level twenty Gatherer ability was sure to be powerful. But, he didn’t know if it should get the extra four ability points to make it instant, or if waiting four seconds was acceptable.
If Ruwen maxed those three abilities out, that only left him five ability points. Survey would improve his map, and that seemed like something worth investing one point in. Insect Repellant would give him an adjustable barrier with a radius of one hundred feet, which sounded very useful. Stone Echo would use vibrations to sense the world around him, kind of like what Rami did. One ability point would give him five hundred feet of vision and could help expose hidden items.
That would only leave Ruwen two ability points, and there were tons of things he still wanted. Prospector would increase his Perception by twenty percent, although there was Banner buff that was even more powerful. An extra point in Vigor would add another ten percent to all his attributes, and one in Store would provide another ten percent to his pools. Both great uses for an ability point.
The Fighter choices had tons of places to add points: extra damage, increased attributes, or buffed armor. It made Ruwen a little sick that he’d needed to use ten ability points to get Hey You high enough to receive the Architect Role. Although, that role would eventually dwarf anything these abilities offered, so maybe those ten points were cheap.
There was also the group abilities. If Ruwen put another point in Ringleader, he could create two five-person groups. Draft would allow him to make the groups bigger, and Battlefield Promotion would enable him to create layers of groups. With the imminent battles, it would be dumb not to consider these.
After another moment of thought, Ruwen decided he’d keep the two ability points in reserve. He’d also only add one point in Sunburn and Analyze at first, giving him another eight ability points to use somewhere else if needed.
Ruwen placed five ability points in Banner, and one ability point in Sunburn, Analyze, Survey, Insect Repellant, and Stone Echo. After confirming his choices, it left him ten ability points and gave him some flexibility in the future.
Focusing on the Banner ability, a prompt appeared. Only one group was listed since that was all Ruwen could do at the moment. He selected it, and a list of buffs filled his vision.
Ruwen wanted all of them but had to pick five. After thinking through what would benefit Sift the most, Ruwen picked four that would help them both, and one Banner buff that only helped him: experience. With all these abilities he wanted to max, he felt the pressure to level more quickly. On the off chance something lived in that mine, he wanted to maximize its experience value.
The other four buffs he picked to mitigate them not having a Healer. He focused on the five buffs he wanted, and a notification appeared.
Apply the following Banner buffs to Primary Group:
Havoc - Damage increased by 25%
Unrelenting - Regeneration Rates increased by 30%
Indestructible - Armor Class increased by 25%
Untouchable - Dodge increased by 25%
Tutor - Experience increased by 20%
Yes or No
Ruwen chose Yes, and five buffs appeared at the top-middle of his vision next to the Clear Mind buff from his Scarecrow Aspect: Havoc, Unrelenting, Indestructible, Untouchable, and Tutor. Those would help immensely with any problems they encountered.
Closing the Abilities tab, Ruwen opened his Spells and studied the choices he had. It tempted him to just put one point in every Worker and Fighter spell he didn’t know, which would cost him thirty-two points. But some spells, especially the higher level Commander and Warlord ones, really deserved to be maxed out.
Ruwen agonized over the choices, trying to balance utility with destructive power. When he finally decided on a path, he realized the Fighter Class spells would buff him into a monstrous threat, and he wondered if he’d overdone it. The points had definitely skewed toward the Fighter spells.
But the world had proven to be dangerous, and if Ruwen wanted to survive and level up, he needed to maximize the capabilities that would help him the most. These choices were necessary.
One spell point went into each of the Worker Class spells Fresh Air, Climb, Chaff, Sow Seed, Greenhouse, Sixth Sense, Shed, Minion, Fresh Harvest, and Worker Wagon. The spells gave Ruwen some utility, even though they were only level one.
One spell point went into each of the Fighter Class spells Gust, Move On, Bodyguard, Fallen Heroes, Coma, Warcry of Freedom, Draining
