Cutting to Life: an NPC LitRPG (Battle Royale)

The options before her felt numerous; while there were only 5 Class Skills listed, the combinations of possible ways to distribute her points across them were staggering.

The screen told her that she had 20 Class Skill Points to spread between the 5 Rogue Class Skills, but what if she made the wrong choice? What if what separated her from her victory was one tiny number allocated to the wrong slot?

Being done in by fucking math, of all things...

She drank in each option one by one, eyes narrowing in focus.

[Dagger Mastery:

Description: Adds extra damage when using a dagger for every 5 points allocated, at a rate of +1 per 5 points - except for the final level, which gives +2. For example, after allocating 5 points to Dagger Mastery, a player would have a +1 to damage using a Dagger.

Skill Type: Passive]

A bland option, but appealing nonetheless. It gave her a damage bonus every time she hit something with a Dagger, and maxing it out would have her hitting for +5 points of Damage on each successful hit - but that would take all 20 of the points she had.

Still, if she was only going to be using her Butcher Class Skills until her Rogue Class caught up, could it be worth it? From what she understood, she would be getting the +5 to her Damage even when using her Butcher Class Skills. And they were already dispatching of her foes efficiently.

She read on, her blue eyes electric as she sped through the next Skill Description.

[Double Attack:

Description: The Rogue attacks twice in quick succession. The Rogue must have attacked the Foe once for the skill to activate, though they may disengage. The Rogue will be pulled back to the original Foe they attacked when the skill activates, at which point they must hit the Foe again for it to repeat.

Cooldown: 20 seconds, lowers slightly at each Skill Level, up to 5 seconds at Level 20.

Targets: 1 Foe

Skill Type:

 Passive]

Ooooh... this one looked good too, but much less so at lower levels. Combined with 'Dagger Mastery', she could be attacking for 10 extra Damage every 5 seconds at Max Level.

It would also allow her to be extremely mobile, if she used it efficiently. It mentioned pulling her back to the original Foe, so she could attack other surrounding enemies before returning to the original one after the 20 seconds had elapsed. The strategy became less viable the fewer seconds there were, but even then 5 seconds were a lot when running was concerned. Still, she was already extremely mobile; her Crunch skill surged her forward at will. More mobility wouldn't hurt, but was it more valuable than everything else presented?

She moved on to the next Skill.

[Fade Away:

Description: If the Rogue stands still for 10 seconds after activating this skill, they will begin to become invisible. They phase slowly back to normal as soon as they begin to walk around.

Duration: Levels in this Class Skill will lengthen the amount of time the Rogue is invisible for, up to 30 seconds of full invisibility.

Cooldown: 1 minute in battle, 10 minutes outside of battle

Targets: Self

Skill Type: Active]

Invisibility? She could become invisible? Whoa... she had seen mages cast spells, but never before had she thought she would be able to do something so magical. Casting and potions were reserved for the special few - at least, until now? So if she put points in this one, she would be able to walk around unseen? She wanted to dump all of her points into this one this instant, but she resisted the urge and drank up the next option in the list.

[Can't Touch This:

Description: Upon activation, gives the Rogue a 30 percent chance to automatically dodge all attacks. Dodge chance doubles once more while [Fade Away] is also active, up to 60 percent.

Duration: Lasts for 5 seconds at Level 1, and 20 seconds at Level 20.

Cooldown:

 1 minute

Targets: Self

Skill Type: Active]

Nikola pondered the validity of the choice at low levels - but overall, such a Class Skill was invaluable in a 'Liberation Game'. Anything that made her less likely to perish was of the highest priority. Also, combined with [Fade Away], sneaking up on her foes would be a butter-smooth experience.

She had, until the Blacksmith, already been proficient at skulking around unseen. It made her wonder if her Butcher Class also had a Class Skill that helped her move freely through shadows.

The final Rogue Class Skill tied everything together into one neat little stabby bow.

[Backstab:

Description: The Rogue attacks their foe for 300 percent of their usual damage, provided they strike their foe in the back. Leveling up this Class Skill allows the Rogue to attack for 500 percent of their usual damage at Level 20. Cannot be combined with Double Attack.

Cooldown: 1 minute

Targets: 1 Foe]

Awww. The inability to combine the skill with [Double Attack] was saddening, but at max level, a 500 percent increase would do wonders against an opponent. Especially while others in her party were also using their own Class Skills.

The news that every other Player she would ever face would also have access to such devastating abilities was chilling. She could see why Luke had insisted that they take advantage of their 'early game advantage' while they still had it; having a low level in anything at all seemed extremely detrimental.

That said, she felt like going through with anything other than the most practical option was foolish. If this were simply a game, a flight of fancy, then maybe she could convince herself to try the invisibility. Prowling around and sneaking up on people seemed lethally effective and lethally hilarious in the correct circumstances.

But since this wasn't a game for her, she put every one of her 20 Class Skill Points into Dagger Mastery. The passive bonus to damage was simply too good to pass up. She knew nothing about the enemy she would be facing; would invisibility be useful; would a backstab be possible with the layout of the room and the lion's attention span?

She did know, however, that she would be attacking the enemy. That much was painfully obvious - hopefully only painful to the lion, actually.

Based on what the Mage head read off, it would be surprising if they were facing off against anything but a lion.

Nikola had [Dagger Mastery] at Level 20 by the time she backed out of that section of the menu, but her stat distribution screen was screaming at her. It would need some attention next.

But how would she apply her 40 whole stat points?