Xavier sat in a small clearing inside of a time dilation field, reading over a notification for a second time.
If you choose to look at the Mind Control Magic category, then you must choose the spell you wish to learn with one of your Spell Credits from this category.
Do you wish to continue?
Xavier blinked. “Huh.” He hadn’t been expecting that. He supposed that’s what it meant by there being limits. That certainly wasn’t one of the limits he had been expecting.
Choosing a spell might be more difficult than I thought.
Xavier didn’t decide to look at the mind control category of magic. He felt unsure of himself. He only had two of these Spell Credits, and he’d much rather have a better idea of what type of spells he wanted to gain now that he could choose from literally anything.
He distinctly remembered the class that he’d chosen—Wayfarer of the Infinite Path—saying something about people choosing this path needing to be decisive.
Xavier could be decisive. He wouldn’t have gotten this far if he wasn’t. But right now, he didn’t feel like he was at all.
There were so many spells that he could learn. So many different categories. When your choices were practically infinite, how was one to narrow them down? A whole host of options that he’d never known he would have were spread out before him. He’d hoped that the class he’d chosen would allow him to learn any spell he wished, but he hadn’t known it would be so… immediate.
I won’t necessarily be able to learn any spell. There could be options that are locked out for me. I might need to progress in a certain category of magic before learning something more advanced… The notification does say there are limits.
That would make things even more difficult, especially since he only had two Spell Credits to work with. It made him wonder if there would be a way for him to gain more Spell Credits.
Surely there would be?
Right now, he didn’t really feel sure about what he should do, or what kind of spell he needed. Perhaps he would simply need to push forward with his progression and become a stronger D Grade, then he could discover what kind of gaps he had in his arsenal. Perhaps he would want to learn a defensive spell, something from a tank class. Maybe he needed a self-healing spell, that a paladin might have.
Then again, there was something that he had been missing. A while ago, he’d had access to an ability called Soul Step. The ability had been an imbued ability, and as he no longer had the item that it came with, he could no longer use it.
Soul Step had allowed him to teleport to any corpse that still had a soul remaining inside of it. It would consume the corpse’s soul, and then he would appear where the body was.
It had gotten him out of quite a few scrapes, and had generally been an amazing ability—for more than just combat purposes.
He considered finding that spell in the soul or reaper magic categories, when he realised… that might not be the best spell for him to gain.
There were other teleportation abilities out there, ones that didn’t need to be used in the same way as Soul Step. Ones that were more versatile. He’d seen other Denizens use Shadow Step before, where they could teleport to wherever a shadow was. The sword-wielding Forest Dryad had just used a teleportation spell as well.
Something told him that teleportation magic was rather common among all the different classes. All he needed to do was figure out what type of teleportation spell he wished to learn…
That sounded a little easier said than done.
Xavier sat in contemplation for a good while before he began to meditate. When he meditated, insights often came to him. It wasn’t something that he relied upon a lot lately, but it was still something he utilised—something that helped him feel more sure about the actions that he made.
The more he meditated, the more sure of his next path he became. It would be wise, he knew, to master some sort of teleportation magic, for his future. If he was to do what he needed to do, something told him he would need to move around not only his sector, but the entirety of the Greater Universe, with ease. Now, he could utilise portals for that… but there might be other ways he hadn’t considered.
And, while that was a long game, he would benefit from having a teleportation ability immediately. He could one day branch off, develop stronger teleportation magic, to do what he would inevitably need to do.
Especially if he were able to gain more Spell Credits.
He ceased meditating and opened his eyes. Meditating would only get him so far. He focused on the Spell Credits again, bringing the list of different spell categories back up.
He mentally willed the System to search through the different categories for him and come back with what was most relevant. Though in most magic styles, there was a way to teleport, he didn’t want just any teleportation spell. He wanted to develop a whole new path of magic.
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Two categories stuck out to him. Teleportation magic, and Portal magic.
He stared at each of them for a long while. Teleportation magic felt like it was exactly what he was after. He’d been hoping that a mage could specialise specifically in that. As far as he could tell, a mage could specialise in basically anything they wished. And now that he had his new mythic class, so could he—within reason.
Though it did make him wonder how a mage could specialise in teleportation magic and be an effective fighter. Were they simply support classes? Or did the teleportation line of magic have offensive attacks?
Teleportation or Portal magic.
Though portal magic hadn’t even been on his radar, he couldn’t help but think about how powerful that could be. If he were able to send his enemies through portals with a blast of his Heavy Telekinesis spell, reposition them on the battlefield… he could have a level of control he’d never possessed before. He could even mind control them to walk through the portals…
Xavier was sure that there would be a lot of varied, creative options he could play with. Especially if he were able to shut off the portals at will. And if he was able to rapidly create these portals, they might be able to serve the same teleportation function that he’d been after.
He released a sigh. This was one of those times when he wished he had a wizened old sage that he could speak to. Rhaalir had disappeared, after Xavier had advanced to D Grade and chosen the Wayfarer of the Infinite Path class. Xavier had tried calling the elf spirit back, but he hadn’t come. He still felt that the contract was intact, but the elf wasn’t supposed to give him advice on things not pertaining to Otherworld magic—not that he hadn’t before, but he tended to grumble while he did it.
Still, Xavier hoped, considering how long the spirit had been around, he might know about these things as well.
I’m going to need to find a different source of information.
He stood and started pacing around the inside of his time dilation field, wondering who it was that he should go to. Felicia was the obvious choice, though he’d just left Hunter’s Home. He could return to the Staging Room, freeze time, and look through the System Shop to find some general guides on the different categories of magic, and some specific ones about these categories. That sounded like it was something wise to do in general—he should study up on these things. But he’d always found it was better to speak to an expert when you knew little about a field. He could bumble around and try to find what he was after on his own, but it would take a lot longer, and he might miss the things that were completely obvious to others.
Xavier released a sigh. There was, of course, another option. He’d yet to use the Otherworldly Communion spell since he’d reached Level 200, so currently it wasn’t in cooldown. There were a lot of things he wished to learn from the Otherworldly spirits in his communion with them, and he’d been thinking to use this level’s use for something else, but he could always divert the Mastery Points he was currently giving to his soul bound weapon back to him and reach Level 201 as swiftly as possible, thereby allowing the spell to cooldown faster than it would naturally.
Xavier inclined his head in a nod to himself as he made his decision. It was also wise for him to use the Otherworldly Communion spell to gain information on things that he could take action on. That way, he could rank the spell up. Receiving more ranks in the spell had, fortunately, given it a shorter cooldown—though the cooldown still seemed to vary each time he used it. The level of the insight he gained seemed to change as well. It had more depth that it did before, and the spirits lingered longer.
Xavier cast Otherworldly Communion.
Colour bled from the world. All was grey.
Time froze.
You have successfully connected to the Otherworld.
What kind of insight do you wish to receive?
1. Strategic insight
2. Personal insight
3. Sector insight
4. Greater Universe insight
The cooldown for this spell varies depending on the level of insight you receive. If you have a specific question you wish to gain insight on, hold it in your mind as you choose your option.
He tilted his head to the side, looking curiously at the fourth option.
Greater Universe insight hadn’t been something that was available to him the last time he had used this spell, despite the fact that it had been the exact same rank at the time. He wondered why that was. Was it his advancing to D Grade that had changed the nature of the spell’s insight, or was it because of how many more attributes he had? More attributes always made a spell more powerful, and this spell was mostly based off his Spirit attribute.
He shook his head. It wasn’t an option he was going to use right now, but he was glad that it would be available to him in the future.
Xavier chose Personal Insight. As he did, he kept the nature of his question strong in his mind. The better he was able to do that, the more likely he was to get a spirit that would be able to tell him everything he needed to know.
A bright, blinding light blossomed in the middle of the time dilation field. Xavier didn’t so much as narrow his eyes. Usually, the light would sting. Usually, he wouldn’t be able to see past it to the spirit that it summoned until that light dimmed.
Today was different.
His vision had changed dramatically. It was significantly more powerful. He was easily able to see the spirit that stood before him, well before the light dimmed, and the light didn’t bother him at all.
He wondered if that was all credited to becoming a D Grade Denizen, or if that was because his race had changed to that of a dragonkin.
Xavier couldn’t help but chuckle as he caught sight of the spirit. He’d been hoping to speak with an old, wizened sage about magic only moments before. The spirit standing before him was the oldest looking Denizen that he’d ever seen. Considering the lifespan that Denizens had, and how powerful their bodies and minds became, Xavier didn’t realise that they even aged as much as the person before him did.
This man could have gained the System when he was much older, if he’d originally grown up on an unintegrated world. But Xavier didn’t think that was what had happened, as advancing altered the body enough to mask its natural age—Xavier’s body, for instance, had changed plenty as he’d advanced, and even though he was a few years older, he actually looked younger.
If the man—the spirit—were a normal, unaltered human, Xavier would have put his age at between ninety and a hundred. Maybe even beyond that, if he were honest—he certainly had enough wrinkles.
How old was this man when he died, to look as ancient as he does?
The man was human. He had a long, white beard that was reminiscent of old wizards everywhere, at least in Earth media. Xavier couldn’t decide whether he looked more like Dumbledore or Gandalf. He supposed it didn’t matter.
The spirit wielded a wooden staff that looked as though it had been through countless wars. It was chipped and scratched and battered and looked older than the man who held it. Xavier wondered how it could look like that, considering all the powerful weapons he’d encountered had self-repair features.