The party members were pleasantly surprised, eagerly choosing their new skills, wearing struggling expressions.
Liam also evaluated the two skillbooks before finally deciding for a skill called [Holy Sword Trinity].
[Holy Sword Trinity (rank 1)
Cost: 60 Mana
Effect: A trinity of swords shoots at your enemy dealing 135% (PDMG) physical damage. This skill triggers all holy marks. If there are no holy marks applied to the enemy, this Holy Sword Trinity deals an additional 30% holy damage.
Cooldown: 9 seconds]
Liam had to choose between this skill and another, which had the effect of using up one holy mark in exchange for a certain amount of healing.
Although the second effect sounded good as well, Liam surmised that he might not need it much. Fighting in a group he would rely on a healer for recovery while during solo adventures he trusted in his skills to dodge attacks.
The biggest threat to him was his ultimate running out, especially if the enemy somehow prevented him from closing the distance.
But with [Holy Sword Trinity] he finally had a method to trigger holy marks from a distance, which would serve to replenish the duration of his ultimate skill [Holy Tempest].
Thus, the veteran was quite satisfied with his choice, which was a good fit for his play style.
Looking around he saw all his friends' faces shining with delight, obviously having made their choices as well.
Only Seytor looked somewhat annoyed murmuring under his breath:
"Typical adventurers... give them some rewards and they forget about the rest of the world."
The dwarf tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, he got tired of waiting, letting out a loud cough, attracting the players' attention.
"Finally. Originally, I wanted to ask if you are willing to continue aiding us but apparently you already got everything you needed."
Radiant Shield had gradually recovered from his fear of heights since the skillbooks distracted him. He was the first to apologise although his voice was still shaky:
"Please forgive our disrespect, sir. Let me thank you for your generous reward. Of course we are interested in continuing our cooperation!"
"Good. The upcoming mission won't be easy. Come, gather in my tent. My people are already waiting."
The dwarf turned around, quickly followed by the party. They entered a spacious tent where they were greeted by a dozen impatient eyes, one pair belonging to Repha.
"Seytor, what took you so long?"
"Nothing, nothing. Let's concentrate on the mission. Take a look, everyone."
Luckily, Seytor didn't blame the players. He stepped towards a table in the sparsely furnished tent, unfurling a hand drawn map on top of it.
"These are the islands where Taragal reigns like a tyrant. For simplicity let us number them from one to five.
Taragal has built his own castle on island one. It's where his loyal followers reside. Our goal this time is to save the people suffering under Taragal from island one to five and kill his goons.
Those two missions go hand in hand as we won't be able to enter the castle and instead need to lure its inhabitants out.
If we save the innocent, Taragal's minions won't be able to remain still and will come out to face us. Thus, island one will be seeing the fiercest fights. We need the most people there and this is why I invited these adventurers."
Seytor continued with a lengthy explanation, almost tiring the players. For the party it didn't matter who was deployed on which island. They were impatient to try their new skills.
Only as Seytor explained the way to reach the islands did everyone perk up. Radiant Shield's stomach churned just from hearing that they would be jumping from the sky, their fall only stopped by the usage of scrolls containing a featherfall spell.
The tank almost considered going on strike, but his friends managed to convince him.
Finally, Seytor stopped expounding on the plan and a new mission was accepted by the party.
[
[Step one: Complete quests to save those suffering under Taragal (0/100%)]
[Step two: Defeat Taragal's loyal followers (0/5)]
"Everyone, prepare yourselves. We meet at the dreagles!"
Seytor swiped his eyes over everyone present keeping his expression stern as he ended the meeting. The party nodded at the others before leaving the tent.
Repha quickly overtook them, coming to a stop next to Little Blue.
The party discussed for a moment coming to the conclusion that they had nothing to prepare. They directly approached Repha.
"We are ready!", stated Silver Blade.
"Good. I have completed my preparations as well."
Cyclone scrutinized the wood elf sceptically. She wondered when the NPC had changed her clothes. Surely, she couldn't have done so in the tent with Seytor of the others.
But this was indeed the only moment the NPC had left the players' view. Yet now she was wearing a smooth leathern armor, some key points reinforced with chain mail. An impressive bow was hanging from her shoulders, looking extremely deadly despite the natural feeling it gave off.
Even Little Blue and the dreagles had changed, now carrying some kind of large saddle which could seat multiple people with ropes to hold them.
Unfortunately, the party's doubts would remain unanswered as Seytor's voice came from behind them just then:
"Haha, I see we are all ready for battle. Let's go! For freedom!"
"For freedom!"
Various voices echoed the dwarf. As the party turned around, they watched dozens of people come out of the tents, wearing armours in all kinds of colours, their sharp weapons gleaming in the sunlight, clearly equipped for war.
Only Seytor revealed his bare upped body. Yet his legs were protected by heavy dark armour, as were his arms. A massive flail laid over his shoulders, its big, spiked head radiating a ferocious danger.
Following his directions the other members of the Black Hand climbed on top of the dreagles. But suddenly one of them apologized to his comrades, swiftly leaving the group.
The party watched the scene in confusion, but Seytor's expression remained nonchalant as if this was simply natural.
A few moments later the sound of hooves could be heard coming from the distance. Two armoured warriors quickly appeared in everyone's few. Seytor welcomed them happily as the two warriors joined the mission.
Silent Acacia couldn't help but voice his doubts:
"What's going on?"
"Maybe this is their understanding of freedom...", answered Silver Blade in a way which made sense to her.
The others could only shake their heads, dumbfounded, realizing that the Black Hand was far from a disciplined army.
However, the aura emitted by each of their members was quite strong, each of them apparently an elite in their own right.
Finally, it looked like the changes were over. Members of the Black Hand avoided Little Blue, spreading towards the other dreagles.
Repha jumped on her favourite beast, signalling the party to come up together with Seytor. One could read in her eyes that she seemed annoyed with the Black Hand yet not surprised by their conduct, leading one to wonder what her motivation for helping them was.
But obviously the wood elf wasn't in the mood to talk, urging the players to sit down. Liam and his friends quickly complied, afraid due to Repha's threat of throwing them off before reaching the target.
When everyone had taken a seat Little Blue flapped her wings and the group finally set off. Seytor directly stood up again, handing out scrolls to all the party members.
Cyclone sighed with relief as she tightly gripped the scroll containing the featherfall spell. At least the danger of being thrown off prematurely was greatly diminished.
The young woman glanced to the front of Little Blue where Radiant Shield was seated. When the tank saw the scroll, his hand began to shake as scenes of a long fall into a violent death played in his mind. He was almost too scared to take the scroll.
"Take it already. This scroll will be your biggest security.", encouraged Bloody Edge.
"But what... if it doesn't work?"
"What? Do you think this is a parachute? Why shouldn't it work?", asked Quickstep with a roll of her eyes.
"How would I know. There could..."
"Adventurer, if you look down on my spell I will take it back.", interrupted Seytor, visibly annoyed.
"No!"
Radiant Shield's body trembled. His hand flashed with unprecedented speed leaving everyone unable to react. He tightly gripped the offered scroll, pressing in against his chest.
Even Seytor appeared startled. He murmured something incomprehensible before turning around and taking his place.
Meanwhile the dreagles crossed a large distance. The land under their feet began to shrink as they travelled towards the ocean, soon crossing Saltae.
An endless blue unfurled below the party, who enjoyed the wondrous sight. Naturally Radiant Shield was the exception.
The rest observed the tiny ships below them, spotting the occasional sea monsters. Liam leisurely pointed out Ventarra, the island carrying the novice villages, and Red'or Island, where Silver Blade led a group to battle a bunch of ferocious ants.