Posts from ⚔️Serberia Auto-translated

To the possible surprise of Claudia and Reynold, who were there at that moment, the trio arrives at the "Amber" Castle.

Revan asked for a review of the overpowered styles. I don't know all the nuances of the discounts, so I'll write more generally regarding cost.

Path of Metal
The "simplest" and most martial of the styles. At least, judging by the discounts and the lack of perks for mages. In my opinion, it is also the most mediocre, although I wouldn't call it weak. It has a clear focus on survivability.

Foundations of the Universe — in contrast to the abilities of other branches, which significantly increase the character's damage, the version from the metal branch greatly boosts survivability. Useful, but heavily depends on the character's health pool. And it won't make you immortal, no matter how hard you try.
Corrosion — we heard you really like loot. As it turns out, we were misinformed. It might be of interest for a pacifist character, but overall it looks strange. I would take this skill only if I had an excess of experience, and even then, it's not a sure thing.
Blood Tax — now this, together with Foundations, lays the groundwork for immortality, provided the character can deal enough damage.

The runes are decent, but nothing particularly interesting except for the improved version of Plate Armor. It should, in fact, combine very well with Plate Armor.

Path of Flame
Perhaps one of the strongest, if not the strongest style in the branch. Technically aimed at damage, but in practice it also provides a nice boost to survivability. I would either increase the cost of the abilities by one and a half to two times, or significantly weaken the effect of some of them.

Inferno — a good damage boost for any combat character, although the Burn effect seems almost like a mockery. With modifiers like these, there will be little benefit from it.
Gigaflash — Omniscience, but better and cheaper. It reliably cuts the enemy's evasion and accuracy down to the root, functioning simultaneously as both an offensive and defensive ability. Plus, it works with 100% probability. An OP ability that makes other OP abilities look weak. It would be OP even if it gave a chance to resist the negative effect. In essence, a character with Gigaflash is practically invulnerable and unstoppable in melee combat.
Nuclear Fusion — now this is the reason why fire damage is better than star damage. There is no defense whatsoever against the character's attacks; even a Mirayan regenerating full HP every turn cannot withstand it.

Not much to say about the runes — the first one is very good and provides additional damage that multiplies with Inferno, the second is a situational immunity, and the third is similar to its counterpart from the metal branch.

Path of Water
It pales in comparison to the previous path, although it is extremely effective against it by itself. However, most other styles also pale in comparison to that one. Nevertheless, it is also very good and offers a number of extremely pleasant bonuses. It has a non-obvious bonus in the form of the Valkyrie book boosting water effectiveness. It is more focused on survivability than dealing damage.

Storm — if it weren't for Nuclear Fusion, it would be an improved version of Inferno, trading Burn for Slow.
Ataraxia — the effect speaks for itself. In my opinion, it's well worth the experience spent.
Vivifying Circulation — a dream for characters from Miray. Or a descendant of Eshingir. And the ability itself is extremely effective, especially considering the immunity to injury.

The runes provide both one of the best stats and double experience. Only the immunity to water stands apart. It's worth it.

Path of Wind
If the Path of Flame makes a character invincible in melee combat, then the Path of Wind makes a character invincible at range. Given this feature, it's an extremely good choice for mages or archers.

Gust — for a melee character, it does roughly the same as the Path of Flame, but worse. Nevertheless, even in the hands of a melee character, it cannot be called weak.
Freedom — it seems good, but it also requires such an investment of experience that the character won't have time to use the new points.
Deflection — an excellent skill if you want to laugh in the face of a Gungnir wielding a musket. Useful, especially considering that enemies with ranged weapons usually have good accuracy. Although named bosses in expeditions are typically melee fighters.

A pleasant rune for Dodge (especially for a character from Grimwald), a situational one for immunity, and arguably one of the best runes for stats. Good, but again nothing particularly interesting.

Path of Wood
A style aimed at survivability and fighting groups of enemies. It combines particularly well with certain spear branches and shooting.

Nature's Touch — on one hand, it applies two debuffs at once, many of which can be quite nasty. On the other hand, it deals Wood damage, resistance to which seems quite common to me.
Spread — turns spearmen into sub-par archers, and archers into artillery. Like any other AoE ability, it's situational. It has a fun synergy with other AoE abilities.
Timber Terror — a decent defensive ability. It lacks the effectiveness of Gigaflash or Deflection but is slightly more versatile. Nevertheless, I would prefer its more specialized counterparts.

I can only call the first rune interesting, while the other two are not too interesting.

Path of Sun
More expensive than its counterparts and has a number of quite amusing, at least potentially, abilities.

Celestial Body — costs one and a half times more than its analogues, while its effectiveness relative to similar passives varies. Warriors get a one-and-a-half times multiplier, trading for a status effect; archers get a twice larger one; and mages exist. It deals a rarer type of damage, but the Path of Flame doesn't care.
Radiance — may not be the most efficient ability, but I like it more than the others. It not only gives two NPCs but also provides an indefinite guarantee for them. You can even deliberately sacrifice them in every battle so that Revan has to write new followers each time. Or if you don't like their builds. Or portraits. Or names.
Royal Presence — a kind of Landsknecht, but without scaling, five times more expensive, and most likely multiplies with it. I'm not sure it's worth the invested experience.

I see nothing interesting among the runes.

Path of Moon
If the Path of Sun is aimed at fun-loving guys, then the Path of Moon is aimed at terminators. One of the main competitors of the Path of Flame in this field.

Lunar Scythe — like Celestial Body, but with Moon damage.
Eclipse — a kind of hybrid of Gigaflash (lacking offensive potential, but without range limitation) and Ataraxia. Gigaflash will, in most cases, be more effective against melee attacks, while Ataraxia is better against negative effects. Nevertheless, it's a very good skill.
New Moon — like Ryoei's enhanced medal. A good ability, although very expensive for its effect. Clearly not the highest priority skill in the branch.

Among the runes, the potentially broken experience bonuses (if the ability ever works) and one of the best stat runes stand out.

Path of Narcissus
One of the strongest paths, but also the most expensive one. For melee characters, it is largely duplicated by the much cheaper Path of Flame, although the latter lacks social abilities.

Comet Fall — like Celestial Body, but with Paralysis and an even rarer damage type. An Arterian character with sufficiently high faith can duplicate the features of this passive, possibly even with greater effect, but at a much lower cost.
Penetration — when you are a budget Kasha.
Omniscience — an enhanced analogue of the Paladin ability, also ignoring the enemy's evasion. An extremely broken passive, but also extremely expensive. Due to its cost, it doesn't look very advantageous compared to Gigaflash for melee characters.

The bonus to random stats is amusing, but I'm not sure it's more effective than some runes from other branches. Except that most of the new stats will go into Speed. The immunity to Star damage is also curious, given its rarity, although it is still situational.

- I see... But what about that woman? Why did he suddenly decide that? We don't even know her. If he were single, we could imagine all sorts of things.

— What do you think, is he... you know... doing it with her at night to...? What? Keeping an eye on you troublemakers is hard work and not something many people want to do, so forget it, it's a weak theory. — He shrugged. — I don't know who this woman is, but if the old man decided that, there must be good reasons.

Jan Dere had previously demonstrated a capacity for unconventional leaps in the flight of his thoughts, but this time he surprised even the more ordinary, beginning a new opus by demonstrating a grasp of aesthetics—rough and shallow, perhaps, but a grasp nonetheless—which Alessia had never expected from a man, especially one from a still semi-wild country. The author's pomposity no longer surprised her and was more amusing than off-putting; even the clumsy jokes, such as the path of the star, which were an embarrassment to literature by any standard, turned out to be entertaining to see when juxtaposed with Dere's more subtle, stinging irony. In general, the adventures of this quartet in a land populated by various peasants and monsters—with the ratio favoring the latter—seemed to Alessia not like a heroic epic, but like a satire about strong and stubborn, yet not very bright, sorry excuses for paladins. Stories about attempts to convert monsters to Arterianism or attempts to fight some unreachable winged creatures, stunning them with nothing but choice profanity and demands to descend immediately, only failed to make the cut due to a lack of pages. How brave Jan performed the most important work, standing on a peak forgotten by Arteria... No, Alessia certainly would not have chosen him as her favorite among the Knight, but she would surely have made him her favorite among jesters.
She had actually hoped to be imbued with a knightly spirit and to conceive something under that impression in the vein of Marion culture, but alas. However, it was interesting to see a familiar surname, and interesting that the intellect-hero Teodahad emerged as the most pleasant personality of the absurd quartet. Furthermore, she now knew that Theia Bors likely had fair hair and light green eyes. This was something she could work with.

She needed something coarse, solid, and bright to please the boorish king, yet elegant and light enough to suit a young lady. Perhaps something visually heavy and archaic, so that those who loved playing at being ancient knights would appreciate it, and yet extravagant and luxurious, to satisfy the fickle tastes of high society. In tones light enough to complement Theia Bosch's appearance and not disrupt the integrity of the image, but not so light as to get lost within it. Indeed, Alessia had never had to work with such a combination before.
Naturally, she had to make a necklace—it would be difficult to embody all these requirements at once in a small object. The primary material would be yellow gold—that way, the king would at least not doubt that the piece was truly precious, and it would fully satisfy knightly retrogradism. Stones... Perhaps pearls and emeralds in various combinations would suffice, but again, for the sake of chic, Alessia decided to include a diamond in the composition.

Following the classic Marion jewelry style, it was decided that the main links of the chain would be shaped like aster flowers, with the edges of the metal petals finished in white gold filigree and a pearl placed in the center of each of the six figures. Alessia envisioned the central figure in the spirit of traditional Arterian symbols, studding the edges of the figure with small emeralds and placing a diamond beneath it in a wing-shaped setting, such that the setting was half the size of the symbol, but since it consisted almost entirely of yellow gold against the yellow and white of the symbol, it equaled it in brightness.

However, Alessia's personal preferences always leaned far more toward strict geometry than botanical motifs and religious imagery, which she considered a hopeless relic of the past and even a kind of barbarism. This conviction already manifested in the choice of the aster as the basis for the model, with its strict, sharp outlines, rather than the flowers traditionally revered in Marion. Two thin strips of metal, first crossing, then forming two opposite loops, one through the other, repeating three times between the links—this was how Alessia planned to join the seven links together, calculating it so that the share of the main fragments constituted exactly one third.

Having thus conceived her piece and stained more than one sheet of paper in the process of sketching, Alessia remained quite satisfied with the result: fairly traditional and impressive due to the pearls, religious, and botanical motifs, yet refined due to the reimagining of those elements and an overall lightness and lace-like quality. Mindful of the time constraints and wishing to ensure she avoided mistakes, she intentionally simplified some moments, but for Marion, where the artistic value of products was most likely still measured by the mass of metal and minerals used, it would be more than sufficient. Perhaps two things were missing—things for which the best of her mentor's works were usually famous: integrity, subordination to a single idea, and individuality, the jewelry's own character. There was no more "idea" in Alessia's project than in a conversation about market prices in the morning, but as long as the work was technically sound, it didn't matter. She set to work immediately and left the workshop only when she felt that sleep was completely overcoming her.

Renold had just finished talking with Claudia and was enjoying his snack when Ilva entered the cafe. The guy was expecting her, but he didn't expect her to come with company, and what company: a priestess of Arteria and a new girl rescued from the Tamphan dungeon.
—Oh, hello everyone! —he greeted them cheerfully.
Ilva, however, didn't expect to meet her brother in the cafe and was a little confused.
—Hi, Ren. —she replied briefly, then turned to Buvardia, but immediately realized: —Oh, yes, you've already met...
Looking around, Ilva waved to Claudia.
—Hi! We came to have a snack. —she decided to speak for the whole group. —By the way, meet Buvardia, this is Claudia.

— There’s something I can’t understand, — the student was in the process of absorbing new information, but she still occasionally allowed herself to be distracted by extraneous thoughts, — if you wanted to share your skills and knowledge with others, why did you do it this way? — What do you mean? — Giving vague hints about your visit, hiding in the mountains, refusing to accept new students at any other time? As I said, there are many people in Baldr who might be interested in all this, but you don’t seem willing to accept them on any other day. — There are several reasons for this. First, I don’t want to waste time on idlers. They wander around, look at everything, bother people, but they’re not really interested in anything; they just patrol the perimeter. Second, although finding me wasn’t an easy task, it still served as a good test of your preparation and perseverance. And third... Let’s just say I’m a very unpleasant person by nature and I don’t want to teach those who, instead of giving up everything and going in search of a mysterious master of a no less mysterious school, spend time on other, less important things. It was difficult to tell from Yan Dere’s manner and tone whether he was joking or not. — But I also went to the bookstore and participated in a swimming competition... — Consider yourself lucky that you made it here before the sun went down. Now, pay attention! — The mentor abruptly changed the subject and clapped his hands loudly. — Tell me what torments your soul the most! — What? Why? — To master these skills, you need to know yourself and overcome your weaknesses. — The man put on a serious expression. — I’m serious... Eir hesitated for a long time before answering the question, but she couldn’t resist the pressure of the persistent teacher. — I think what bothers me the most is the old man, Gungnir. For a very long time, a burning hatred for him has raged in my fiery heart, and this was one of my main life motivators... To defeat him with my own hands in a fair duel was the main goal of my life. — Do I understand correctly that something has changed in your attitude towards him? — It’s just... I’ve lived in Baldr for a very long time, and watching him all this time, I can’t see him as a bad person who deserves punishment. Everyone who knows Baron Baldr respects him very much; he does a lot for those who live on his land and tries very hard for his students, that is, us. — So what’s the problem then? — I’m afraid that in this way I’m betraying my family... — Eir bit her lip. — My father, whom Gungnir took away. — That’s a bit naive and even arrogant of you. — What do you mean?! — You’re reasoning from the position that you can already take revenge on Gungnir, but is that really the case? Honestly, I think that if he’s serious, he’ll wipe the floor with you and won’t even break a sweat. Or am I wrong? — Oh, you... I... — The girl wanted to say something, but she couldn’t come up with a single worthwhile thought, so she just gritted her teeth in annoyance. — See? There’s no point in worrying about this in your current position. First, surpass him, and then decide in what role you want to defeat him — as a warrior or as an executioner. By the way, although you’re far from being the most beautiful rose in this garden, some of your qualities are quite good. And then it dawned on her that while she was practicing with a saber, performing certain movements according to the teacher’s instructions, he had come up behind her and placed his hands on her own, supposedly to guide her movements. — W-w-w-what are you doing?! — The girl, red as a tomato, broke free from his improvised embrace and punched him in the stomach. To her surprise, her fist hit its target, and the man hunched over, gasping for air. However, she felt that he simply didn’t dodge for only one reason known to him. — The blow of a noble maiden is as devastating as the fall of a comet... — Yan Dere straightened up and evened out his breathing. — I’ll show you the fall of a comet! — Instead of blaming me, try to awaken the flame again. A couple of new curses later, Eir finally returns to training, and this time she manages to envelop her saber in a fiery flame. — See? Emotions are the key.

Veserod sighed and went to gather the mercenaries. A little later, when he had gathered them, he announced: - A new request from Gungnir. Guys and Eir - you're going to, uh... - he took out a piece of paper and read from it. - El...helm. Whatever that means. The rest and Yua - to... Thrace. These are the cities. Also going to Thrace is... - he still couldn't remember the name of their new acquaintance. - ...Our guest. She should know this area. She will help and advise. Staying there will probably be useful for you. He looked at both groups. - If you have any questions, I won't answer them. You know how Grandpa loves surprises.

Renold had just finished talking with Claudia and was happily finishing his snack when Ilva entered the cafe. The young man was, of course, expecting her, but he didn't expect her to be accompanied by such a group: a priestess of Arteria and a new girl rescued from the Tamphan dungeons.
—Oh, hello everyone! —he greeted them cheerfully.
However, Ilva didn't expect to meet her brother at the cafe and was a little taken aback.
—Hi, Ren, —she replied briefly, then turned to Bouvardia, but immediately realized: —Oh, yes, you've already met...
Finding Claudia with her gaze, Ilva waved to her.
—Hi! We came to have a snack with you, —she decided to speak for the whole group. —By the way, meet Bouvardia, this is Claudia.

After exchanging greetings with Bouvardia, Claudia, with some unusual uncertainty for her, leaned towards Renold and whispered, "What are we going to do?". Thinking that her question might sound extremely silly, the girl's cheeks turned slightly pink, expressing confusion, and she decided to add, "I made a special cake, should I bring it out now, or later when you're alone?!"

My role here is now complete. If Alex wants to borrow the guide, or if someone wants to swap with someone else (Artz) by general consensus, feel free. I'm going to sleep; tomorrow I'm busy again. The roleplaying, Matthias, and shopping before departure can be done without my presence.
I could probably buy some more Illian troops for myself as a last thing... But maybe it's not worth spending money before a potential new shop... Although, I'm not sure.

Veserod sighed and went to gather the mercenaries. A little later, when he had gathered them, he announced:
- A new request from Gungnir. Guys and Eir - you're going to, uh... - he took out a piece of paper and read from it. - El...helm. Whatever that means. The rest and Yua - to... Thrace. These are the cities. Also going to Thrace is... - he couldn't remember the name of their new acquaintance. - ...Our guest. She should know this area. She will help and advise. Staying there will probably be useful for you.
He looked at both groups.
- If you have any questions, I won't answer them. You know how Grandpa loves surprises.

— A... This... Well... — For the first time in all this time, Imelda regretted that she didn't know the faces of her "brothers" well and was now trying hard to count on her fingers who was going where with whom. — I... I don't want to be separated from Anselm...

Added 5 minutes later
Tomorrow I'll start the Mentar arc.

Ilva glanced at her friend and brother with a surprised look, and quickly turned away. Something was off with the two of them today.
Renold quickly tried to come up with an option that would suit everyone, and most importantly, his sister. —"Let's do it later," he finally whispered to Claudia.

/If Aretz wants, I can go die in his place. Well, unless Alex doesn't want to either. Or someone else./

I'd go. Not only do I have books with me, but the shops in Elheim are probably better... ah, that's why Aretz was so eager to go there.

/Well, there, the "benefit extractors" come with a penalty to beauty – that's his favorite topic./

The glass cannon build is effective, either for quickly defeating the entire map or for being quickly defeated itself.