Chapter 039
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“ “ for speech.
* * for actions.
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Jack flipped the copper coin. As the coin was falling back on his palm, he anticipated what choice of affinity was fated for him. He caught the coin in his palm and observed it. The heads side was visible. He deposited the coin back in his inventory and having made his decision, spoke up.
Jack: “Master Janus, I would like the Gravity affinity and the relevant spell.”
Master Janus: “Good Choice! Although it was the coin’s choice and not really yours…”
Jack: *smirk* “Well they both sounded great, and I couldn’t decide. So I let the coin decide.”
Instructor Theon: *smiling* “A better method to decision making, than many others I have seen. Instead of endlessly agonizing the pros and cons of relatively attractive options, just let chance decide it.”
Jack: *smiling* ‘Can I please have my reward now?’
Master Janus: “Return in a couple of days for your reward, Jack.”
Jack: “Alright, Master Janus.”
Jack: ‘I was so pumped about a new affinity. But the old man had to cockblock me for a couple of days. Bah.’
As he left the training center, he was debating what to do to fill time for a couple of days. Due to the lack of grinding options nearby, he decided to grind his Enchanting skill and earn some gold in the meanwhile.
Although he couldn’t proceed beyond Intermediate in Enchanting, there was gold to be made even if he used his Beginner Enchanting skills, for now. He met with Timon and took up his offer for enchanting gear to resell.
Once the contract was worked out and agreed, he started taking equipment from Timon to enchant at the enchanting guild. Every session of enchanting took a few hours and he earned roughly 50 gold from it. After having enchanted gear for a whole day, he had earned around 2 platinum.
Although he could have enchanted more, but Timon had ran out of gear to enchant. The next day, he decided to go to the Library. He decided to meet with Madam Curie. She had promised him a reward after all, if he managed to shape some interesting spells. He knocked on her office, and entered after hearing a curt affirmative.
Madam Curie: “Oh it is you Jack. What brings you here?”
Jack: “I learned a couple of spells, and wanted to show them to you.”
Madam Curie: “Oh, interesting. What exactly do they do?”
Jack: “The first spell I learned was from the druids. It is a self-healing spell which regenerates some of my health over time.”
He then gouged his forearm with mana claw, and a wound formed. The wound was not very deep, but it started bleeding. He then activated Regeneration Infusion and the wound healed rapidly in a few seconds.
Jack: “The next spell I learned was due to my Mana Control. I was in a duel with a traveller, and my opponent was using some sort of mana construct to boost his physical capabilities. I copied it and ended up with an adapted version.”
Madam Curie: “I will take your word for that. No need to punch something to demonstrate.”
Jack was disheartened, as he wanted to demonstrate the effects of Body Augmentation. Randomly punching stuff to see the impression of his fist was oddly satisfying! However, she had stopped him before he could even begin.
Jack: “But I am curious. Although the spell is very useful, what kind of caster would spend time and effort developing it instead of developing spells which directly do damage so as to kill faster.”
Madam Curie: “This other traveller you dueled. Did he use any weapon?”
Jack: “Umm No. He kept his weapon sheathed and beat me with his fists. It was so demeaning…lying on the ground, getting beat up and unable to retaliate with any spells. At least I copied his spell, hehe.”
Madam Curie: “I have some speculations on who might have developed the spell, but can’t confirm it, if he didn’t use his weapon.”
Jack: “And what do you speculate, Madam Curie?”
Madam Curie: “There is a sect of arcane-warriors, all hidden and hush-hush you understand. They specialize in augmenting melee combat with a variety of arcane magic. They are called Mindslayers, and they are a part of casters called Psions.”
Jack: “Psions? Do they use mind powers.”
Madam Curie: *snorts* “All they use is arcane magic. But they like to refer to their shaped spells as ‘mind powers’.”
Jack: ‘Well the theme kind of fits. Use your mind to augment your body…and they have a spell which adds a part of INT/WIL to STR/AGI/DEX…”
Jack: “And how do I confirm your speculation, that the other traveller is a mindslayer?”
Madam Curie: “Their most iconic spell is ‘Third Hand’. It generates an invisible telekinetic hand, which can wield a weapon and attack with it! It is like having, well a third hand.”
Jack: ‘Ahh that explains why he didn’t unsheathe his weapon. He uses his fists while the third hand wields his weapon. It can catch you off-guard if you don’t know about it. Need to re-duel him and copy it.’
Jack: ‘Also looks like Madam Curie isn’t in the mood for giving me any rewards. Probably because the druids gave me one spell, and the other was copied. On top of that, body augmentation isn’t a spell for “proper mages” so it might have pissed her off somewhat.’
Jack: *stands* “I will take my leave then, Madam Curie.”
Madam Curie: “See you later jack.’
Jack left the room and searched the library for information on Psions and Mindslayers. Unfortunately, he found nothing more than a casual mention of them. He did find out that there were a group of casters, who identified themselves as Psions, but they were more in-line with traditional mages being caster oriented.
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After some more fruitless research and some restocking of rabbit jerky, he returned to the Training Hall to receive his rewards. He entered the training hall and greeted Master Janus, eager for his reward. Master Janus withdrew a book from his robe and gave it to Jack. It was a thin hard-bound book greyish in color. He quizzically stared at Master Janus, who replied.
Master Janus: “That is a spell-book for a personally casted spell I am very proud of. It is called Ravaging Prison. It uses gravity and force mana to slow, if not stop, a target while damaging it continuously. Once you sue the spell-book, you will learn it and gain a little bit of affinity with Gravity.”
Jack: “Thank you Master.”
Jack then immediately used the spell-book. Unexpectedly, he got a short vision. He saw himself rotating his hand, while simultaneously clenching his fist while pointing at a goblin towards him. A distorting sphere appeared around him. The goblin seemed to be crushed and stopped, unable to stand. After the vision ended, he became aware of his surroundings.
Jack: ‘That was unexpected. It looks like that gesture is the sequence essential for casting this particular spell.’
Master Janus: “How do you like the spell? Once your proficiency increases, the spell will add additional effects other than just stop/slow and DoT!”
Jack: “That sounds pretty good Master, but it does have that hand rotating and clenching gesture. It’s a giveaway to the observant.”
Master Janus: “I had to adapt my spell somewhat, since you can’t use Mantras. It is not very easy to shape such complex spells without it, you know. Be glad that it uses only a single gesture, that too of only a single hand, you spoilt brat!”
Jack: ‘Da Fuck? He adapted a spell to not use Mantras in two fucking days? What a monster…’
Instructor Theon: *snickering* “You are getting rusty, Janus. I can easily adapt my stealth spell to not use any gestures. Too bad Jack, you won’t learn it any time soon.”
Jack sighed and bought up the spell information window.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Ravaging PrisonBeginner100.00%
You focus on a target, and with a gesture envelop it with a crushing prison of Gravity and Force mana. The target is stopped or slowed, depending on its Strength, and takes continuous physical damage for a while. The range of the spell is dependent on the Perception of your Spirit Senses.
Current level effects:
Affects a single target for 40.5 seconds
Max 1 instance of a spell active simultaneously
10.1% MAtk/s as Physical DoT which ignores Armor and PDef (but does not ignore Physical Resistance)
Stops/Slows a target for the duration (resisted by Strength)
Ineffective on incorporeal targets
Costs 275 PP
When he read and analyzed the spell information, his eyes popped out of his skull. It was an extremely powerful spell. Not only did it restrain a target for over half a minute, it also did defense ignoring DoT! This meant that he could do a little over 400% of his MAtk as defense ignoring damage! And the duration and DoT of the spell would only increase at higher levels!
It ignored Armor and PDef, but not resistance. However, physical resistance was very rare. Armor and PDef reduced damage by a flat value, whereas resistance reduced it by a percentage. Most DoTs therefore had very little effect if the target had a high Defense Value. Poison is an exception to this though, as it ignored both PDef and MDef.
That is why, a tanky warrior with high Vitality would take very low damage from bleed DoT unless the bleed inflicted had special properties. This also caused mages to take little DoT from burning status affliction from fire attacks. If the situation is reversed, burning will do decent DoT on a tanky warrior while bleeding effects are very deadly to a squishy mage.
The spell did have a major drawback. It was ineffective on incorporeal targets. That means the awesome restrictive effects of this spell was useless on spirits and certain undead like ghosts! The only consolation he had was that, these sorts of enemies were rare, at least in his experience.
Jack: “Master, I take back about the gesture! This spell is simply mind blowing. Defense ignoring Damage…”
Instructor Theon: “Hmmph.”
Master Janus: *smiling* “Now Theon, no need to be grumpy. You made an excellent choice Disciple!”
Jack: “Anyways, my next priority is getting to level 100 for moving up the ranks, and to get the darkness affinity. I am level 66, any suggestions?”
Master Janus: “There is a town called Houndborough to the southwest which is about two weeks’ journey on foot. You will find a variety of monsters suitable for you. Once you are around level 80, you can tackle the nearby dungeons. It should be enough for now.”
Master Janus then bought a map from upstairs, and explained the exact position of the forementioned town and the main paths leading to it and nearby dungeons.
Jack: “Thank you Master Janus. Do you have any tips for shaping new Gravity spells?”
Master Janus: *smiling* “Find out for yourself. What is the fun if I tell you everything...”
Jack: ‘Now I remember why he is such an annoying old man. Always making me jump through hoops…”
Jack said his goodbyes and left the Training Hall. He shopped for some provisions like preserved food and condiments essential for a journey and refilled his Enchanted Canteen to the brim with water. He then visited the inn at which his companion was staying and set off on the journey to the town of Houndborough.
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A/N: Time for some shameless self-promotion!
I have a new fanfic on RRL. It’s a Xianxia in a fantasy world. It is mainly inspired by Coiling Dragon, but with many re-interpretations and personal touches. Check it out and please Rate and Review it for more visibility!
Chronicles of Leofric
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