Third Familiar Evolver

'Dear Life Hack

We are writing you today to inform you of your discovery of the Content Creator Royalty Clause in the game Bygone Era for subscription-based creations and discoveries. Your first of its kind creation of a playable character race in the intellectual property known as BEVR, Bygone Era VR, has unlocked the first of its kind subscription based royalties contract option. If you choose to accept the contract, you will unlock the playable character race: Infected Mortal for paid public use and receive 50% of each starting character purchase. Initial estimated value of Infected Mortal is $10usd. You also have the option of releasing the playable character race for free public use.

Whichever option you choose, simply download and print the attached document file and sign accordingly before scanning, attaching to a reply, and also attaching photo verification of legal identity, receipt of the related Bygone Era hardware and account, and necessary bank information. If the played character Life Hack is operated by a minor of their country of residence, present the second attached file marked 'MINOR' to a parent or legal guardian.

P.S. Thank you for your cooperation and your dedicated use of BEVR, please have a nice day.'

This was the email from the Bygone Era development team that was sent to me and became the e-mail that I started screaming about like a little girl as I ran to show my parents. Half an hour later after combing through the surprisingly short documents pertaining to my royalties for the Infected Mortal product, my parents signed and scanned and emailed all other necessary information to the company.

Then, my dad sat me down at the kitchen table and asked me a very simple question in a very serious way. "Son," he said to me in a softly quiet voice. "When you first read the email and you saw the estimated value, I know you had some business thoughts about it. I'm pretty sure we've both had the same thoughts and then some spare. Tell me, what were your first thoughts?"

Nodding my head while remembering those initial moments of pure curiosity followed by pure shock and awe, I said, "There's around ten million players currently in the game, ten million more are on the way, and there have consistently been around a hundred thousand players who go classless and half of these switch classes. Then there are about one fifth of the general player base who like to switch characters or use more than one at a time. Combined, there is probably at this moment about a million players prone to making a new character for any reason and half of them willing to spend money on their characters.

"Once my playable character is released, out of sheer curiosity at least ten to one hundred thousand people will buy it just to find out what it is," I say at least, multiplying ten thousand to one hundred thousand in my head to account for income. "Without the next wave of players who will have access to a pay-to-play race as their very first race, I have a minimal anticipation of one hundred thousand dollars overall leading up to the release of the next wave of game-specific hardware. Half of which goes to me. In the next wave over players joining the game, I anticipate as many players as dollars from the previous income to purchase the race based on only neutral feedback about the race.

"As for likability, it lacks certain racial powers up front but in fact comes with bonus experience and loot gain as part of my powers as the Plaguedman monarch and Infected Mortal Emperor. On top of this hidden benefit only revealed after actually playing as the character, it comes with ten more points in every stat than the counterparts of the Infected Mortal variants. I would not be surprised if as much as a third of the current player base restarts their entire gaming career in order to player as an empowered version of the race they just left. If I was not the noble race counterpart of the lesser Infected, I would probably make just that mistake."

"Mistake?" My father asks seriously, suddenly sharpening his gaze and raising his voice a little with gruffness. "Why are you calling Infected Mortal a mistake?"

"The mistake was making me the Infected Emperor," I reply casually, getting up to take a pit stop at the bathroom. "Loyal players will be well rewarded but those who are disloyal will pay the price!"

-

Back in camp on the edge of the Winter Wood, the rest of my team were in the middle of practicing their magic skills and spells to raise their levels with the increased mana and power afforded them by the excessive accessories.

Checking on my familiars to see they still needed about an hour to finish evolving, I left them alone and gathered the others. Informing everybody of my newest achievements and potential future riches, I quickly distracted everybody by bringing up an official vote. Now that I had secured a true revenue stream through Bygone Era, we would likely never again have any in-game money problems.

With half of the gold I received for the same achievements, we could officially start a clan. Once we started a clan, we could move forward not only with our main goals but also our personal operations through recruitment. On the other hand, we would immediately enter the full view of every other top ranking and overpopulated clan in the leader boards.

The others, though, we much more confident in our current power than I was, claiming that they could each account for ten matching elites from any of the other clans. Ten was probably a large order in a few of their cases, but the overall power rating for each of my teammates was several folds greater than the average player at their levels. So, we went through with it.

Using Melpomene as the intermediary for paying fees and officiating the process, we founded the clan Tragedy's Travelers. However, founding was all we got to do. As soon as the clan was created, our emblem, ranks, and several other features were already decided for us.

The emblem turned out to be a large black square background with a white diamond foreground under a frowning theater mask. The main body of the emblem, Melpomene's mask, was encircled by a combination of weaponry. Under the mask was a faceted sword with numerous fullers, up the sides of the mask's chin from the point and hilt of the fuller sword was a gilded elder dusk bow and a pair of crossed triangular faced axes.

Above these weapons were a tribal-like spear above the bow and a swinging pick hammer followed by a smaller pair of crossed swords and a staff followed by a pair of single-edged swords and a pair of blunt estocs at either side of the top of the head. Then, crowning the top of the mask was a large spiked wall shield above a small sword and ax crossed over each other.

Underneath this emblem was a tall and broad banner that read Tragedy's Traveler's on Olde English script. The ranks for our guild started at Clan Founder, Active Clan Master, Clan Elders, Clan Elites, Clan Craftsman, and Clan Fodder. There were currently eleven clan members making up the founder, master, and elder positions.

Against my wishes, I was named the founder so that the clan would inherit a compilation of my buffs not only from my monarch and emperor titles but also from my position as Melpomene's champion or oracle in five-percent versions. Along with these buffs came the basic clan buff of plus one percent experience, loot, general recovery, and the four main combat parameters.

All of these buffs compiled together for a total of plus sixteen percent to experience, loot, both forms of recovery, and movement speed as well as the four physical and magical parameters.

These buffs, however, did not stack with the original versions provided to people in my party despite stacking for Infected Mortal members. Unlike before, though, my current team now gained an increase of six percent in those fields from the basic clan passive and the emperor title passive that did not originally pass to my party. This made yet another hop in their combat strength.

Once the effects of Imperial Order kick in during combat, we would literally leap straight through the next 'level bracket' in strength. This was, of course, an aspect we would not yet be playing around with. Instead, the others were busy celebrating with looted liquor while I went off to find somewhere quiet for training.

After an hour spent emptying my mana pool using Spirit Slash to cut down dead trees, I returned to camp after receiving a notification that my familiars would finish evolving in only a few minutes. This was a moment I did not want to miss for anything in the world. Seeing a simple system prompt telling me the results would be nothing compared to witnessing and appraising the metamorphosis myself.

When I arrived, both familiars were still nothing more than blobs of flesh melded with infected cloth, not now the blobs were a little bigger, tighter, and were pulsing the way an egg might shake near hatching. As well, the ruined legendary armor I made for them was covered in a rust-colored mold that claimed most of the surface of the blobs.

After a few minutes, the blobs actually began cracking like an egg before a brilliantly blinding golden light began seeping out. I was hit full in the face by light from a sudden fragment of molded blob falling away from Cweeper's blob. While blinded, though, Melpomene read the ensuing notifications for me.

[Cweeper Evolved]

[+1000XP]

[Evolution Result: Plagued Demigod Cweeper]

[Redcap Hermes Evolved]

[+1500XP]

[Evolution Result: Plagued Demigod Hermes]

Plagued Demigod? FUCK YES! This game is so broken I do not even want to talk about it anymore.

[Acquired Title: Familiar Evolver]

[+250XP]

[Familiar Evolver: Rare. Active. After evolving a magical creature for the first time, you have been awarded the Familiar Evolver title. While worn, this title increases all evolved familiar stats by 15 and raises their HP/MP by 100. Permanent +1 familiar slot. +25 Imperial Reputation]

[Acquired Unique Title: Third Familiar Evolver]

[1000XP]

[Third Familiar Evolver: Legendary. Passive. As the third player in the world to evolve a familiar, you are recognized as the Third Familiar Evolver. All familiars have a permanent increase of 15 to all stats, +200 HP/MP, and the Third Familiar Evolver received +1 familiar slot. +100 Imperial Reputation.]

[Plagued Demigod Cweeper cannot receive stat bonuses]

[Plagued Demigod Hermes cannot receive stat bonuses]

[CordAniCol cannot receive stat bonuses]

[CordAniCol's stat bonuses go to the host]

[Name: Plagued Demigod Cweeper

Level: 0

Affinity: ALL(high)

HP: 1000 (+1050)

MP:1000 (+982)

PATK:500 (+159)

PDEF:500 (+278) (Pain Immunity)(Paralysis Immunity)(+50% Debuff Resistance)

MATK: 500(+168)

MDEF: 500(+275) (+50% Magic Resistance)(Poison Immunity)(Curse Immunity)(+50% Debuff Resistance)

MVSPD: 160% (210%)

Strength: 243 (80)

Endurance: 260 (80)

Agility: 271(80)

Intelligence: 276 (130)

Willpower: 263(130)

Luck: 239(80)

Familiars: 0/4

Description: Cweeper is Dusk Imp Priestess that was Captured and Tamed by the First Classless Beast Master, Life Hack. As a Priestess variant, Cweeper is not only a creature of the shadows but connected to the nether dimensions as well as capable of some healing. After living under the heel of a Dusk Imp Summoner who used their blood for sacrificial rites, Cweeper has few skills but has the highest Intelligence of their generation. After receiving the divine blessings of the gods who anointed Life Hack as the Divine Designer, Cweeper left behind her mortal ties and body to ascend into a lesser god of the Plaguedman race to fulfill their roles as the Divine Designer's Acolyte and the Monarch Of Plague's familiar]

Inventory: Plagued Demigod's Body(growth), Plagued Demigod's Savage Bokuto(growth)

Skills: Elemental Mastery LVMAX Curse Magic LVMAX Stealth Magic LVMAX Summoning LVMAX Healing Magic LVMAX Divine Unarmed Combat LVMAX Divine Master Of Arms LVMAX Flying Guillotine LVMAX 360 Edge LVMAX Combat Specialist Spin Specialist+ Flip Specialist+ Acrobatic Combat LVMAX ShapeShift LVMAX Corruption LVMAX Devour LVMAX Assimilate LVMAX Replicate LVMAX Imperial Order Summon Guardian LVMAX Stat Mirror LVMAX]

[Name: Plagued Demigod Hermes

Level: 0

Affinity: ALL(high)

HP: 1000 (+1050)

MP:1000 (+982)

PATK:500(+195)

PDEF:500(+352)

MATK: 500(+167) (Pain Immunity)(Paralysis Immunity) (+50% Debuff Resistance)

MDEF:500(+178) (+50% Magic Resistance)(Poison Immunity)(Curse Immunity)(+50% Debuff Resistance)

MVSPD: 200% (228%)

Strength: 243 (80)

Endurance: 260 (80)

Agility: 271(80)

Intelligence: 276 (130)

Willpower: 23(130)

Luck: 239(80)

Familiars: 1/4

Description: Born and raised for the sole purpose of enacting vengeance on behalf of the upper echelons of goblin society, Redcap Hermes was trained by some of the most dangerous goblin warriors on the Imperial Continent only to end up bested by the bane of goblin kind, the reborn Goburin Sureya, Life Hack. In exchange for the chance to grow truly powerful, Hermes now serves Life Hack as his shadow guardian. After receiving the divine blessings of the gods who anointed Life Hack as the Divine Designer, Hermes left behind his mortal ties and body to ascend into a lesser god of the Plaguedman race to fulfill their roles as the Divine Designer's Acolyte and the Monarch Of Plague's familiar.

Inventory: Plagued Demigod's Body(growth), Plagued Demigod's Ceremonial Scythe(growth)

Skills: Elemental Mastery LVMAX Curse Magic LVMAX Stealth Magic LVMAX Summoning LVMAX Healing Magic LVMAX Divine Unarmed Combat LVMAX Divine Master Of Arms LVMAX Flying Guillotine LVMAX 360 Edge LVMAX Combat Specialist Spin Specialist+ Flip Specialist+ Acrobatic Combat LVMAX ShapeShift LVMAX Corruption LVMAX Devour LVMAX Assimilate LVMAX Replicate LVMAX Imperial Order Summon Ancestor LVMAX Stat Mirror LVMAX]

After taking a few moments to read through the new familiar stat windows after sifting through my own, I find my knees trembling as my legs start to go weak from the shock. They were officially bosses and their levels were zero! After inspecting the skill Stat Mirror, though, I learned that this was both a blessing and a curse.

Familiars reset their levels by default whenever evolving, but this stat mirror skill meant that their permanent stats would always reflect my own permanent stats.

However, even though their stats did not go up by levels their armor, weapons, and the four parameters they affect would go up by a single point while their HP and MP would increase by ten points for every level. Based on the forums, though, their PATK, PDEF, MATK, and MDEF were all more than twice as high as eighty-percent of the game population.

As for their health and mana pools, I was the first Plaguedman and am riddled with stat and health buffs but only had about six hundred health and the same mana without my armor and accessories and other temporary stats. With the exact same stats as me but naturally blessed movement speeds, either of my familiars could kick my ass six ways to Sunday.

Now, though, it was time to raise my familiars like a good master should.

*