Pebble: I Finally Got My Barbarian Build, But it’s Support?!

Pebble woke up in his bed inside the Pig Tail inn. There was a note posted on the wall next to him that read, "We're getting breakfast." Pebble read the note and assumed he slept in a bit. He sat up and wiped his eyes. There was a nagging sensation underneath his right eye. Pebble tried to rub it away, but it felt like a muscle spasm that just would not stop. Eventually he opened his menu and noticed it was a notification.

<1. Glurt's Cholesterol Cleanser><2. Reeki's Mountain Blood><3. Aphrodite's Special Blue Pill>The familiar voice had returned again and read the options to Pebble. He had no idea what any of the options did, "Glurt's Cholesterol Cleanser? Mountain Blood? Aphrodite's what?" He looked up at the ceiling and spoke where he imagined the audience were viewing him from, "What's a boner going to do for me?" Pebble tapped the side of his head, "Also, hello again, voice lady. Welcome back, can you give me any details on these options please?" He waited for a response but the voice did not reply. He shook his head and selected Reeki's Mountain Blood by process of elimination. The voice immediately returned with a sense of excitement."Holy sh*t!" Pebble yelled involuntarily after seeing the sudden doubling of his health. Suddenly he felt a great pain as every muscle in his body began to spasm. He felt his bones get denser and heavier before his muscles increased to compensate for their new weight. After a painful moment, the spasms stopped and Pebble regained control of his body. He stood up and checked himself out. He looked the same as far as he could tell, which was a relief when it came to explaining things to his friends. He reopened his menu and opened his stat screen.<100/100 HP>"That's nuts!" Pebble exclaimed. He could not believe that the task reward was something so valuable. That bonus would have doubled his health no matter what level he was since it boosted the benefit of the stat itself. 'If they are going to force me to do things, at least it looks like they are going to pay me well for it!' He thought.Pebble took a moment to enjoy the new found feeling of security before opening his Divine Favor menu. <>Pebble wondered what the ranking meant, 'Does that mean there are a bunch of other people being watched on Tiamat as well?' He made a mental note to ask Artia on their next coin call. 'Looks like I've been promoted from a Rising Star to a Certified Star. Yay, go me,' Pebble thought sarcastically. Pebble also noticed that there were even more votes for the "Level Strength" quest. He rolled his eyes and switched to a skill tree. He still has a free skill point from leveling up in the woods and he wanted to review his options. He started with looking at what became unlockable after Fireball. Once again, he had two choices.Earth Shatter immediately intrigued Pebble, but he currently only had one skill point. Considering that eliminated both options, he moved on to his other choices. Heal was still an option that became available after Rock Throw, but Pebble had a strong suspicion that it would be a similar situation as the Fireball skill. He had no interest in unlocking a skill he would not be able to use, so he moved on.Grapple was starting to become a more viable option now. He would be able to force people into submission instead of murder. Furthermore, with his recent HP boost, Pebble felt less afraid of the idea. He nodded thoughtfully and continued exploring his options.Both abilities were available after Cleave. Pebble was looking for support options, meaning these were both out of the picture for now.These were two skills that were unlockable after Leap. Once again, Pebble could not afford these choices, so he moved to his final two options.Brace became an option after Sprint and Shout was one of Pebble's original five choices. Pebble had no idea what Brace would do, but he had a decent idea of Shout. Shout was normally something that would either weaken enemies or buff teammates. Either outcome was a win for Pebble. He unlocked the skill."That's insane! Imagine if I had unlocked Shout instead of Fireball back in the arena!" Pebble threw up his hands. After getting over his momentary regret, Pebble looked around the room contemplatively. He wanted to try the new skill out, "How loud could it be?" He shrugged and widened his stance before activating the ability."YAHH!!" Pebble's roar was loud and it was strong enough to vibrate the nightstands and knock a painting off of the wall. He felt the tissue in this throat rip when he shouted. He could hear a couple of clanks and shattered glass from the lobby. Pebble cringed at the realization that the skill was way louder than he assumed, but he felt amazing at the moment. He wanted to sprint through the wall. He wanted to jump through the ceiling. He wanted to punch through the ground. His muscles felt like they were humming a tune, and the tune was war. His legs felt like high tension bows that were fully pulled and ready to release. Pebble passed air through his nose and it came out as steam. The heat burned his lips briefly. Bed sheets started to sway as a light breeze was omitted out of Pebble.The door burst open and Bard entered the room with wild eyes, "AHHH WHAT'S HAPPENING!? WHO ARE WE FIGHTING? LET'S F*CKING GO!"Phil came slithering in at incredible speeds with scrambled eggs still hanging from his lips, "WHAT'S GOOD!" He yelled.Puffy came flying into the room at high speeds. He looked like a dodgeball as he bounced off the wall, "YO!"Fred crawled into the room, "I HURT MY LEG, BUT I'M HERE!"Pebble eyed his friends as they stared at him. Everyone was fully flexing and stood with intimidating posture with the exception of Fred who flexed aggressively on the floor. It was an odd sight for an elderly man."WHAT'S GOIN…" Bard started asking, but was interrupted by Puffy."I DON'T KNOW!""HE WASN'T ASKING YOU!" Fred shouted."MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS FRED!" Phil yelled."WHY ARE WE YELLING?" Puffy questioned."I SHOUTED!" Pebble yelled. The energy was becoming too much for him to handle, so he started doing jumping jacks."YEAH, WE HEARD DUMBASS!" Fred replied.Phil threw his fork on the ground. "WHY'D I DO THAT?! I HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY! AHH!"The group continued to yell at each other for the next five minutes, until Pebble's Shout ability wore off. Over the course of the screaming, Pebble managed to explain that he had unlocked and used the new skill. After the excitement ended, Puffy exited the room and walked into the lobby with his arms up."I'm sorry everyone, please don't mind my friend, he's got a condition." Puffy announced to the room. Pebble came out sheepishly and waved at the patrons. Dink was no longer behind the counter and in his place stood a lady dwarf. She looked at Pebble and shook her head before speaking with the guest who was standing at the counter.The team decided not to linger, so Pebble stored some breakfast in his inventory while Bard waited in line to ask the lady Dwarf for directions to the town's Adventurer's Guild. Phil and Fred cleaned their table and picked up the broken glass from the plate they dropped after receiving the sudden surge of energy and increase in Strength and Agility. Overall, the Shout skill gave a massive buff to him and his team. Pebbles 25 strength would shoot up to a 37 and his 15 agility would jump up to 22. That was nothing to scoff at.Bard's strength shot from 5 to 11, effectively more than doubling the stat while the skill was in effect. Puffy was also enjoying its effects as his normal strength was 7 but with the skill it was 13. Since the skill scaled based off of Pebble's stats and not theirs, the buff made a big difference. While the team was waiting for Bard to finish chatting with the lady Dwarf, Pebble dove into his challenge skills menu. After seeing how amazing the Life Rock skill was, he decided he needed to unlock the Mana Stone skill. He spent the required 200 CP.Pebble excused himself from the group and stepped outside of the inn. Once outside, he ran across the street to a patch of grass. He then knelt down and punched the ground as he activated Mana Stone, summoning pale blue smooth stone. Pebble held the Mana Stone and a familiar prompt appeared.Pebble selected yes and his hand began to glow gold. The Mana Stone started to feel warm in his hand and the pale blue color began to grow deeper. Soon the entire stone was dark blue and it stopped accepting mana from Pebble. The town seemed to be booming in the brisk morning. A few townsfolk watched Pebble in wonder as he performed his display of magic. The party came out of the inn and saw that Pebble had attracted a crowd. They rushed over and pulled him away and began walking towards the Adventurer's Guild."What were you doing?" Bard asked."Using a new ability. I made this stone!" Pebble showed the team."What's it do?" Phil inquired."It's like Life Rock, but it's for mana. I can charge it and you guys and pull from it as needed. Pebble said as he offered the stone to Fred."For me?" Fred smiled and accepted the stone, "You shouldn't have, thanks, Pebble!""Yeah! Now you can hold on to that and we can keep your lantern alive!" Pebble finally felt like a hero for a moment."Oh, uh, about that." Fred was visibly cringing."What?" Pebble said with evident worry in his tone."You were dead asleep, bro. I tried to wake you up in the middle of the night to get some more mana, but you just wouldn't wake up." Fred sighed, "I held his little handle and stroked his glass gently until he faded away. Poor little guy bobbed with joy all the way until the end.""No, you're kidding!" Pebble was genuinely sad to hear the news, "I really liked that guy!"Puffy looked disappointed, "Don't blame yourself, Pebble. It's ultimately Fred's fault for summoning sentient beings into the world without enough mana regen to counteract the spell drain. Your stones will be a nice stopgap for now, but Fred really needs to focus on getting mana regen ASAP.""I should have some mana regen around level 10 or so." Fred said with a sense of guilt."Good, that shouldn't take too long according to our little Gnome friend." Pebble said.The team arrived at the doors to the Guild. It was a small stone building and there were no extravagant details or markings. It was not at all how Pebble had imagined it in his mind. Pebble opened the door and was greeted by a woman who was standing behind a counter. There was currently no one else in the building. The empty lobby had a single table with four seats that seemed to be collecting dust. There was a wooden board on the wall with posters put up from the townsfolk."Alright, time to get you guys registered!" Puffy lit his pipe and took a hit.