"So the coordinates take us to this, place" Amber says, speaking quietly while walking with the other two. Death Seeker took the chance to lead, she had no problems with that currently.
Lapis remained quiet, not streaming for once made everything really quiet. He didn't like it at all, so he elected to keep his head down and not look around. When Amber spoke up he looked ahead, blinking at the sight that came to him.
"Yep, this is the place" Death Seeker says, checking the coordinates in the mission while staring ahead.
What stood in front of the three players was an abandoned warehouse, deep in the woods. Overgrowth covered it, dying it green as noticable chunks of it's wooden walls lay on the forest ground slowly decaying. It had a spooky feeling.
Amber glanced around, scanning "I don't think anything is here" she says, more to comfort herself than anything.
Lapis began to chant a spell under his breath, not casting it, but continuing to chant it in order to have it ready.
Death Seeker walked up to the creaky large wooden doors of the warehouse "Null! We are the three you've asked for!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Birds scattered in the distance from his shout while the other two paled, quickly coming up to him.
"What are you doing idiot!" Amber cursed under her breath, aiming two guns into the woods incase something came up to them.
Lapis did much the same, only he pointed a carved wand out to the woods.
"Look, we are here to meet this guy right? So there's no reason for us to try and be sneaky" Seeker points out, staring at the doors and not making any moves to scan the woods.
Amber was about to argue more, when the large doors slowly began to creak open, revealing an empty and dark room. Simply there without anything inside it seemed.
Seeker stepped inside, followed by the other two. The moment they stepped inside the doors closed. Lights came on and illuminated the room.
A figure sat in a dark room, adjusting gloves on it's form. The clack of all it's limbs was like a dying skeleton. Every small movement had a sound that either creaked or cracked. It couldn't be helped.
It adjusts it's head with both hands, making sure the mask was secure. It wasn't really necessary. It didn't have a face after all.
The figure stared into the dark monitor. A cloaked mannequin stared back with a mask on. Gloves hid the wooden figures on it's form, specially made to fit it and not get caught up in it's hands.
Upon hearing something it moved and turned the monitor on. The light slowly covered the room. It showed nothing more than a simple video feed, three people standing together in an old warehouse.
One of them was a young woman, dressed in casual clothing, but carrying two silenced pistols in either hand. Each one modified quite clearly with an improved reflex sight.
Another one was a young man with dark hair. He carried two combat knives, but didn't stand at the ready to attack, just had them drawn. He looked calm and expectant.
The last one was another man, though far shorter and lacking in muscle. Both his hands clutched a carved wooden wand. His hair was a strange white color and compared to the others his clothing looked a lot more 'mystical' billowing and flowing as a cloak.
The figure hummed, tapping it's fingers and bringing a fist under it's chin.
A screen lit up the dark room, the three players all standing there. Two of them ready to attack.
What greeted them was a human figure. Lacking any features at all. No muscles bulged from it's form, and it's face was covered by a totally blank mask. Everything else was too dark to see.
It moved with strange grace, like a practiced routine. Before a low voice began to speak to them "Amber, Seeker, Lapis" it drawled out. Tones of static underlaid the voice. Sounding a lot like a bit crushed recording.
"Amber is some sort of engineer, meaning she possess a good ability to assess a situation, and can make modifications for her own gear. Rated as a level 5 with her current abilities" the voice said. The young woman tensed, the information on her abilities was one thing. How did it know what her level was though?
"Seeker is rated level 5 as well, and is best described as a warrior. He seems to be able to possess an aptitude with nearly any weapon he is given"
"Lapis possess magic, and does not seem to possess a specialization for this magic that should be expected. Also Level 5"
The other two listened closely. Seeker raised any eyebrow while Lapis just relaxed himself. At least they hadn't been attacked yet.
"Greetings you three, I am Null. I have a mission for you three to do. It concerns something important" the voice says, while the figure calmly adjusts itself. Again moving as if this was all planned out and routinely done.
"This device is one way, I don't care what your opinions are. You have the option to decline, but I don't think you want to. You'll find the details on a small table infront of you" the static filled voice hummed slightly.
"Now then" the figure waved "see you three later" he said.
"Null": Knows of Your Existence [0/100]
Amber and Lapis both stared at the new relationship while Seeker just walked forward.
He picked up a small folder that was just sitting alone on a small table. He took his time inspecting it before opening the folder up, a small sheet of paper falling out.
He didn't even need to read the paper before a mission popped up in all of their views
Mission: Locate someone with a bloodline purity level of class D or above (most people possess purity of F, you are now able to assess an NPCs bloodline by scanning them)Then, convince them to come with you back to the meeting area.
Reward: Entrance into 'The Null Cult' faction, and further mission chains.
Failure: This mission can simply not he completed, it will not fail.
Notes: Solutions are closer than you may think.
I'll spell out the system, it will never change.
Hidden: Bloodline is unawoken, or so weak that it isn't even worth mentioning.
Unlocked: Any level above hidden is unlocked, it can be 10 percent or even 99 percent. The only other two levels are
Limit: When the bloodline potential has reached maximum, a total of 100 percent.
Breaker: When other bloodlines are purged from the body, leaving behind only the ancient blood of dragons or monsters or nobles. That is breaker. To cast aside all other bloodlines to achieve it.
Hidden is a state, unlocked and limit are transformations, and Breaker is a new state as well. I have no idea if any of this makes sense. This is the direction the story will be heading to. Thank you for reading, I have no qualms if you wish to leave now.
The general jist of cultivating is accumulation.
The way I've seen it is, you accumulate whatever the power is to your max, then keep going, using the incoming accumulation to force your max to get bigger. Once you hit certain goals, you'll unlock extra boosts, which tend to at the very least be an even even greater max for the major goals. But could also be special abilities and qualities, like at A, you don't need sleep any more, at B you don't need food or water, at C you gain perfect recall for memories, at D you can fly, at E you get a mini you avatar that can act as a second life for a while if your main body dies, etc. Doesn't have to be those, just those are common, could be when you earn the 'special' abilities of whatever the world's system is.
One other common thing, is the steps, be they minor or major, typically go in multiples of 3 (with it actually being 4 or 5 after the author realizes they need more power levels before introducing brutes of the next level) or 10. I.e. Minor/lesser, normal (can't remember what it usually is called), major/ grand, then the 4th being peak/ perfect, and the 5th being half step of the next level. The multiple of 10 version usually has grades 0-9 then peak and maybe half steps.
In numbers speak, if your current level/ realm spans 1-99, half steps would be 0 for entering and 100 for leaving and 101 would be the start of the next level/ realm, grade 0 would be 1-9, 1 would be 10+, and it'd continue that until grade 9 which would be 90-97ish, with 98 and 99 being peak (always need that wiggle room for why someone who just reached peak should be weaker than someone who has been there a while), with the transitions (10,20,30,etc) being where you get anything special. Under the 3ish method, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-99 for the 3 + peak, and the transitions (30,60,90) again where anything special happens. In both, at 1 or 101 if you get anything for advancing levels, that's when you'd get it, and those tend to be much more powerful than whatever you'd get at the transitions.