Infodump Cuatro

Tusks last ability and ultimate is called 'Walrus Punch', allowing him to ready a deadly punch that deals incredible damage while also knocking the target into the air from the force of it... Essentially, it's a more powerful Shoryuken from Streetfighter...

That's all the common heroes... Obviously, the list was missing the many overpowered heroes from the game, but it more than gave Michael enough options to proceed.

The Heroes Michael was considering out of the list were Dark Willow, Shadow Shaman, Riki, and Slark... Primarily, Michael wanted to be able to do magic to hopefully improve his situation... Being able to demonstrate magical capabilities would put him on the same level as the nobles, while also increasing Louise's prestige for obvious reasons.

The reason Riki and Slark were in consideration was simply due to how powerful they were. If given enough time to cultivate their abilities, Michael would be unstoppable in this world... Well, if what he saw from the anime was anything to suggest people's general strength level... He would still have trouble dealing with high-level mages like Fouquet, but it was better than just being left with the Gandalfr abilities.

Still, the most important thing right now was to secure his position amongst the nobles... Michael didn't think he'd be willing to live like a slave for however long it took to get another chance to pick a hero... So his choices were either Dark Willow, or Shadow Shaman.

Honestly, he could only rely on his knowledge of the game to make a decision here. As the book didn't really give any explanations other than simply displaying the character names. It was lucky he was a Dota nerd that'd memorized every hero, otherwise he might be stuck here...

Anyway, in the game, Dark Willow notoriously had difficult abilities to actually use... Her Bramble Maze missed half the time, as people could simply navigate through it... This would probably be far easier in real life as you didn't have to use the janky point and click controls...

Compared to Shadow Shaman though, she had Shadowrealm, which was an incredible offensive and defensive ability... The only problem was Dark Willow's wisp... Michael was unable to tell if he'd have to capture a wisp in the wild to use such abilities, or if it'd just pop into existence...

Shadow Shaman would be better at dealing damage, as his combo would generally be, Hexing, dealing damage, Ether Shock, then summon Serpent Wards before Shackling, holding the target in place while the wards decimated them.

Michael also had to think about the threats that'd come in the plot though... Would Dark Willow's abilities help him deal with Fouquet?... No. But Shadow Shaman? His Shackle might actually be able to bind it temporarily... Plus his Ether Shock attacked multiple targets, possibly allowing him to hit both Fouquet and her golem.

Nodding to himself and reaffirming his decision, Michael releases a heavy sigh and presses Shadow Shaman's name, causing the book to begin rapidly flipping through pages.

It quickly stops on a page that had a large picture depicting Shadow Shaman's frail and rather gross appearance... He was a troll with yellow skin and white eyes, huge buck-tooth teeth that protruded out of his mouth grossly, and a hunched back.

On the other page though, it displayed not the four abilities Michael was expecting, but five. The were currently greyed out, but everyone aside from the ultimate ability Serpent Wards had a + next it, indicating he could level it.

Spirit : Shadow Shaman

Level : 1

Abilities :

Carnival Tricks (Rank 0) : Allows user to form ephemeral shapes, creatures, and patterns to amuse, distract, or frighten.

Ether Shock (Rank 0) : Casts a cone of ethereal energy that strikes multiple enemies.

Hex (Rank 0) : Temporarily transforms the target into a harmless chicken.

Shackle (Rank 0) : Magically binds an enemy in ethereal threads while also dealing damage throughout the duration

Serpent Wards (Rank 0) : Summons multiple Serpent Wards to attack any nearby enemies.

Michael crooks a brow at the page, not because of how it was laid out, but because of the extra ability... Carnival Tricks? Shadow Shaman never had such an ability in the game... Where did it come from he wondered? And would other heroes also have extra abilities?

...

Another thing to mention was the lack of Talents, extra bonuses you could buy with skill points, and the ability to increase stat points with skill points... Each ability should have four levels, aside from the ultimate which has three, meaning that the max level of Shadow Shaman would be nineteen... If things progress like they do in the game...

Michael wasn't sure if he'd have to reach max level to pick another hero, but it was logically the most likely conclusion.

Regardless, he now had to choose an ability... And the obvious choice, both here and in the game would be Ether Shock. Without support, the other abilities would fall flat compared to it, so it was an easy pick.

He taps the plus sign next to it and has the spell burn itself into his mind, instantly teaching him how he could cast it, along with the range and general damage.

With that, he takes one last look at the book before laying it down next it him on his haystack, his brows almost reaching his hairline as it seemingly fades from existence... He, of course, panics due to its disappearance but is relieved when it rematerializes in his hand as he tries to grasp it.

"Huh, is it one of those 'Soul-Bound' items then? I hope so... Would someone else be able to read it?... He'd have to test it out to see what'd happen, not before making enough preparations to prevent mishaps of course.

With that, he takes one last look at the sleeping Louise before curling up into a ball and trying to get some sleep in this rather cold room. All the while excited to start shooting lightning from his fingertips like a certain Sith lord.