"Anyway, what'd you get, Luna?" Cass wanted to change the focus of their attention.
The tone of the room shifted as Luna began bouncing on the pillow she was sitting on. "Okay," she said excitedly, "first off, look at my class!"
Lucky Strike
Description: Taking on the mantle of Lucky Strike, you wield luck as your greatest weapon. Your unpredictable nature keeps enemies off balance, and your skill, Luck of the Draw, allows you to harness random combat bonuses or face temporary penalties, using your innate luck to navigate the battlefield with an element of unpredictability. With the enhancement Choose Your Fate, your dedication to luck is rewarded by The System, granting you additional stat points when you invest in Luck. As a Lucky Strike, you thrive in chaos, using the whims of fate to your advantage and embracing the thrill of the unknown.
"Ooookaaay…" Tess and Zavier said in unison. "That looks cool Tess but it seems like it could really go either way. What else did you get?"
"Okay, so here's the thing," Luna started.
"YOU DID WHAT?" Tess threw her arms in the air and stomped into the kitchen, only to storm back in and level an accusatory finger at Zavier. "This is your fault!"
"It's not dad's fault," Luna protested, but stopped when she saw the look on Tess's face.
"Are you just going to sit there and not say anything?" Tess's questioned was hurled in Zavier's direction.
"I don't know what you want me to say," Zavier said, helplessness in his voice. "She made her choice, not much we can do about it at this point."
"It's WHY she made it that pisses me off!" Tess whirled on him again. "You had to go and put all your points into Intelligence, knowing that she looks up to you. And then you had to push her Luck. Just keep pushing and pushing it, trying to get it to grow. Trying to FORCE it to grow, even though you're sitting there suffering because you tried to force yourself past your limits. You just always think that the rules don't apply to you and that you can find a way around them, and now your daughter has learned that as an example!"
"Tess." Zavier's voice took on an edge that stopped Tess's rant. He used a tone like that so rarely that she knew she'd crossed a line. "First off, you're starting to sound very insulting towards Luna." Emotions flashed across Tess's face and Zavier knew he'd touched a nerve. "Second, you and I had this fight just a few weeks ago and now you're treating Luna like I treated you."
"But they're our kids!" Tess's frustration emphasizing 'kids.'
"They're not kids anymore, Tess. They haven't been kids since The System arrived. We have to stop treating them like they are."
"Third," he continued, "it's really damned unfair of you to take your frustrations with Luna's decision out on me."
Luna was watching the exchange with wide eyes, all the talk of the twins being adults was masked by the childlike looks of panic kids got when watching their parents in a real fight.
"Let's sit down and let Luna explain her decisions and we can go over the consequences AND benefits together. I'm not saying I agree with her decisions, but I think it's an interesting choice that could actually end up really positive."
Tess clenched and unclenched her fists, she stretched her fingers with a visible effort. She took a deep breath, exhaled, then sat on a pillow next to Luna. She reached out and rubbed her back in a slow, gentle circle. "I'm sorry, Honey. Go ahead and finish."
"Okay," Luna said meekly before quickly transitioning into the excitement she always ended up at. "So first, I DID take a lesson from dad and decided to negotiate with the system. I read once that it was better to be lucky than to be good and it occurred to me what that meant. If I'm good I have to be good every time. I have to keep trying to get better and I have to make an effort to always be on my game. But what if I was always lucky? What if things just always worked out in my favor?"
She looked at Tess. "This isn't any different than Cass's escape skill, mom. It'll just take longer to grow. His skill protects him by getting him away from the danger. Mine will make sure that the danger can't get to me in the first place."
Name: Choose Your Fate (System Reward):
You have chosen to trust in luck, embracing the uncertainty and potential it offers. With each level, your reliance on luck grows, rewarding you for your commitment to this path. Gain 5 stat points per level when putting all points into Luck, but only 1 stat point per level when putting points into any other stat.
"I get 66% extra stat points per level if I put them into Luck! That's a huge bonus and is going to shoot my luck way above everyone else's!"
"But it will severely slow down the rest of your advancement. You need to be a little better balanced, you're still pretty uneven honey."
"I don't think so," Luna retorted. "I think Luck will make up for a lot of it, and I can always go to Madison for gear if I really have issues. Besides, dad is going all-Intelligence, which means his physical stats will suffer too."
"Yeah, and look at the condition he's in right now," Tess said.
Zavier was going to respond but she was right.
"And how is this going to help you survive?" Tess continued, "I get that it'll make you more lucky and probably help with not dying, but how are you going to level up with just luck?"
"Okay, this is the coolest part," Luna replied then shared her screen with them.
Name: Luck of the Draw
Type: Combat Skill
Description: You can tap into your luck to receive random combat bonuses with a chance of temporary penalties. The outcome is always uncertain, making each battle uniquely unpredictable.
Effect: Once per battle you can activate Luck of the Draw. It gives a 50% chance to receive a 50% increase or decrease in one of your core stats for the duration of the battle.
She looked back and forth between them, anxiously trying to read their expressions. Tess and Zavier just looked at each other.
"Honey, I don't think this is the boon you are thinking it is," Zavier said. "Yeah, it can make you stronger or more agile, but what happens if the stat it boosts is Charisma? Or Endurance? Or worse yet, what happens if it drops your Agility by 50% right when you're trying to dodge?"
Luna chewed on her bottom lip. "I know, I know. Those are possibilities. But honestly, what happened with mine and Cass's bond, and the way the Bouchards are picking up all kinds of skills - it got me thinking about the seeds you mentioned. I admit that this skill is really risky right now, but I kinda think it's a good one to try and grow. I know we can't know for sure yet, but I think that the percents are going to improve in my favor the higher the skills goes."
Tess looked to Zavier for support but he could only shrug. "Alright, Sweetie. I guess the decision is made either way so there's no going back now. I'm not going to try to tell you how to spend your points, but I really think you need to make sure you're assessing how the battles go and work on shoring up your weaknesses. It'll be a slog for you now, but c'est la vie."
"With that being said," he continued, "we are going to be changing it up and working on forcing your skills to improve. I have some ideas to bring up later, but just know that now that you're level five I need to start being harder on you. We've managed to stay ahead of the curve so far but we're going to need to get really far ahead of it."