137 Dis-agreemeets

Michael watches as Riki takes a seat on the opposite side of the table, his tail slowly moving side to side as if in interest, the assassin sits his elbow on the table and rests his cheek against his hand, "So, why have you come to visit me then? Apparently you've already received my abilities, and I assume you aren't just here for a social call."

Michael shrugs, "Well, I was actually looking for you to teach me what you know about weapons and other things your abilities don't provide. To be honest, I'm a bit shocked by how friendly you are compared to Slark... That guy killed me almost as soon as I dropped in." he mutters with a slight grimace at the memory of how quickly he'd died.

Riki thinks for a while before eventually grinning, "I suppose I could, but you'd have to be willing to do something for me once I deem you 'trained'."

Michael slowly nods, "As long as it's reasonable, just remember that there are limits to what I and the Book can do." he says, not wanting to get the assassin's hopes up. Riki was turning out to be a cool guy, despite how annoying he was to face in the actual game.

"That's fine, my request isn't anything physical per se, but we'll see if you're worthy of it or not. For now, don't you have some more souls to trap?" he asks and Michael nods.

Just before Michael's about to leave Riki's world though, he pauses in thought, "Say, you might actually know some of the people I'll be able to pick. Got any recommendations?"

Riki leans back, "Hmm, an interesting question. I'm not sure who meets the criteria to be a 'Hero' as you say, but I can make some good guesses. Despite how involved I was in my work, I helped maintain a large spy network in my downtime." he says with crossing his arms, "First and foremost, the people whose abilities would suit you the most would likely be... That Juggernaut fellow from the Isle of Masks, I think his skills would suit your current fighting style... If it could be called that." he says, knowing that Michael's current fighting style was a mishmash of his crappy skills, and overreliance on his Runes and Abilities.

He taps his chin, "There's that Plague God, Necro-something he calls himself, that's going city to city and destroying everything he finds... That aside, I imagine those followers of Selemene would be excellent picks, if you can't get the goddess herself."

Michael nods, "Juggernaut, Necrophos, Mirana and Luna... If I see them I'll consider it, thanks." he says, getting up from the table. "I'll be back soon to take those lessons, cya later, Riki."

Riki chuckles and gives a slight wave, "Oh, we'll if you return after the first lesson. I promise to push you harder than you thought possible."

Michael awakens back in the real world and grins, happy that he'd gained a cooperative teacher who seemed to actually care... Though, he wasn't sure if Riki was just playing him or not, he doubted it, but it was still a possibility.

He shakes his head and flips through the pages to his status, fingering the Spirit slot once he'd readied himself... Suddenly though, the book glows golden and levitates from his grasp, floating in front of him as it undergoes many changes.

Once the formerly large, plain book stop glowing, Michael catches it out of the air as the phenomenon stops, allowing him to examine its new look... The most immediately obvious thing was that the title of the book had changed, from 'Book of Commoners', to 'Book of Heroes'.

Michael didn't know how big the changes such a distinction made, but he imagined it was more than just allowing him to pick higher quality heroes. The book's cover remains black, but the title in written in a high-quality golden inscription, and the corners of the book were now decorated in gold gilding, making it look the part of a magical grimoire.

"It's heavy." he mutters, weighing it in his hands and feeling more than just its physical weight. He shakes his head and sits back on the stump before opening it, marvelling at the higher quality paper than before.

Without waiting another moment, he presses the Spirit slot and is presented with a full list of Hero-tier Heroes. Though, Michael is somewhat surprised by who is actually on the list.

Hero Tier :

Anti-Mage

Axe

Broodmother

Centaur Warrunner

Chen

Crystal Maiden

Disruptor

Drow Ranger

Legion Commander

Lifestealer

Lina

Lycan

Marci

Naga Siren

Nyx Assassin

Omniknight

Phantom Assassin

Skywrath Mage

Slardar

Treant Protector

Undying

Ursa

Viper

Wind Ranger

Winter Wyvern

Witch Doctor

...

If Michael thought he knew what made someone a 'hero' before, he certainly didn't now. He'd thought that those like Omniknight and Wind Runner were way more powerful than the other people listed here, the former as someone who could literally make people both magic and physically immune to damage, and the latter as she was supposedly a half-wind spirit or something, which should make her more powerful, right?

Regardless, he was happy to see some names come up in this tier than at later ones, as their abilities would be incredibly useful to him... Though, he also had to remind himself that their knowledge was also a factor. Someone like Witch Doctor who had relatively weak abilities would still be a veritable library of knowledge concerning medicine, magic, and other things. This was also applicable to Winter Wyvern, who he remembered as being the scholarly sort.

Regardless, he'd spend the time going through each and every one of them to determine the best picks. (Yes, this is gonna be another info dump for those of you who don't know the characters.)