Felix flew back to the tower then walked down a floor and over to the lectern that allowed him to upgrade his tower.

[E - Epic] Wizard's Tower

Upgrade [E - Epic] Wizard's Tower => [D - Epic] Wizard's Tower

This upgrade will replace the materials of the structure with D grade materials making it more resilient.

Requirements:

320M Mana [345.9M | 108%]

500M Credits (Consumed) [26102 | 209%]

Would you like to upgrade the tower now?

Yes.

No.

I kind of expected there to be some sort of upgrade path or choice. Guess that was just the city. I can also use this to upgrade it myself outside of evolutions so I guess it doesn't really matter. Yes.

Felix had expected to be teleported outside of the tower. He even felt the slight lurch in ambient mana that he sensed when The System had previously teleported him. Looking around though, he hadn't moved at all. The stone that formed the walls and floors of the structure changed slightly right in front of his eyes. It became smoother, like treated concrete with smaller gaps between the bricks. All the tolerances were tighter and the slight difference in color from brick to brick was gone. The floor was completely flat now, and uniform with the walls.

He looked around and could almost swear his furniture had changed as well, but it was such a subtle change visually, that he could have been imagining it. Whether or not the furniture did change was irrelevant though so he headed up to the roof so he could fly around and inspect the outside visually. The roof was the same as before, with his mana engine suspended in the air and no new changes visually. Felix flew off the top of the tower and inspected the tower from the outside where there were changes.

The tower itself was a fair bit taller though he wasn't sure what from. He flew back inside and descended through the floors but couldn't find any new floors which made him realize all of the rooms were taller. He wasn't sure how he had missed it before, but now instead of 3 meters, each room was 4 to 5 meters from floor to ceiling. He had no idea why it had changed that way but he definitely didn't mind it. It would allow him to host really tall races, not that he ever planned on hosting anyone here.

While he waited for Nova to level up one last time, he headed onto his lab floor and began planning out the enchantments for his staff. For now, it would act as a quarterstaff allowing him to hit and block with it. He didn't really need a staff that let him channel mana through it and any he could create now, wouldn't have any value. Him casting spells raw was far more effective and efficient than casting through an item, even though it was slightly slower.

He thought about inscribing a spell on it that he might need in an instant, but he couldn't think of a single spell that fit that description that he didn't already have. Instead, he wanted to have mostly force enchantments that would let him swing it faster and harder, as well as absorb some of the force of any blow he blocked. He figured he would start with that then iterate and improve it as he found the need for new functions and his enchanting skill improved.

He spent a couple hours designing the enchantment and a few more hours actually inscribing it. Once he was happy with the design, he would then inlay, or overlay since he couldn't cut Starmetal, the enchantment to make it more durable and permanent. For now, he would just touch it up if need be. He was interrupted part of the way through though when he felt Nova pulling on their soul-bond from somewhere in the forest. Where Grim's pull was more of a gentle nudge or tap on the shoulder, Nova's was more of a pull for attention, like they were nagging him. Felix flew out in the direction of their bond and Nova pulled on it twice more before he finally found them lying on a pile of corpses. As soon as they saw him, Nova started to run in a circle wagging it's tail and bounding up and down every once in a while, clearly excited to see him.

[E - Uncommon] Matter Sprite (Lvl 100)

"Yes, hello I missed you too. Looks like you finally got that last level."

Nova jumped up to Felix's shoulder, trailing some blood onto his cloak from it's paws then, he flew off back towards the tower with Nova on his shoulder. They descended to the empty floor that was supposed to be for sparring and Felix pulled out Grim's physical form, in case the evolution affected him.

So, class or profession first?

Or Nova first. You should also look over all the lists before making any final decisions too.

Fair enough. How about Nova first? Don't want them getting bored and wandering off while I choose my evolutions.

Probably not an issue considering they're currently napping at your feet.

Felix looked down to confirm and decided to sit on the floor and place Nova in his lap. He pulled up the familiar evolution screen.

[Bond Familiar (Uncommon)]

Familiar Evolution

Your familiar has not chosen to share it's evolution options with you as of yet. You may ask for permission or let them decide on their own.

I guess it's smart enough to make the choice for itself, I was a little surprised it didn't just make me do it.

Yeah, didn't think it was there yet, but the system seems to think so. Just ask, it seems rather fond of you.

Felix felt a little bad waking the sprite up from it's nap but he wanted to get through the evolution as soon as possible.

What's it doing anyways? Does it really need sleep? It doesn't actually have a body…

It's awake, it's soul is just focused on it's soul space. It eats lot's of things but then it needs time to manually break those things down, analyze and understand them. That's how it grows. For a matter sprite, it breaks down matter and compares it against other matter to better understand it. That's a lot more complicated than comparing two rocks or two drops of water, so matter sprites tend to sleep a lot longer and more often than other sprites.

I guess I didn't really think about it. I kind of figured it would just automatically digest them, like human's and other animals do with food.

It may look like one, but it is very far from an animal.

He tried his best to convey the intention of Nova sharing it's options. Nova didn't move or even twitch as he sent the intention, but it seemed to understand nonetheless as Felix got an unprompted screen from The System.

[Bond Familiar (Uncommon)]

Familiar Evolution

Your familiar has granted you permission to see it's evolution options. You may not choose the evolution yourself, but you may advise the familiar of which choice you would prefer.

Would you like to see the options now?

Yes.

No.

Yes.

[D - Uncommon] Matter Sprite

A matter sprite is a sprite that is fascinated by and attached to matter. All types and forms of matter are interesting and it constantly seeks novel matter to increase it's understanding and grow it's strength.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

+4200 stats upon evolution

+60 stats per level

The basic option, simple evolution. Guess that means no dragon evolution option then.

It couldn't anyways, you were already offered it. No one else, until the next integration, will be offered a dragon evolution. Barring a natural birth, there will be no more dragons for a while.

Oh right, I kind of forgot about that.

[D - Special] Greater Matter Spirit

A spirit is an evolution of a sprite where they fully attach themselves to their specific focus. A greater spirit has full sentience and is capable of complex thought as well as being much larger and stronger than a sprite. It is not however, a direct upgrade, rather a potential path of evolution for sprites that becomes strong enough. Not all sprites will become spirits or greater spirits, only those that are both particularly cunning and powerful. This path will greatly increase the sprites understanding of and control over matter.

+7500 stats upon evolution

+100 stats per level

Seems like a straight upgrade to the last one to me. Any downsides?

Some people don't want their familiar to be sentient, doesn't seem like you care much though. Otherwise, not really.

Why would they care?

They don't want the familiar disagreeing with them, leaving them. If you had a dog that you had grown attached to for years, then it had the option to gain complex thoughts, emotions and feelings, would you want it to? Before you say yes, those thoughts may disagree with you or make it want to venture out on it's own. It might leave you.

Sounds like a parent that's sad when their kid goes off to school.

Yeah, pretty much.

[D - Cursed] Ravenous Matter Spirit

A spirit is an evolution of a sprite where they fully attach themselves to their specific focus. It is not however, a direct upgrade, rather a potential path of evolution for sprites that becomes strong enough. Not all sprites will become spirits, only those that are both particularly fond of their particular area of focus. A matter spirit is a spirit that is fascinated by and attached to matter. All types and forms of matter are interesting and it constantly seeks novel matter to increase it's understanding and grow it's strength.

Cursed: This evolution is cursed. The spirit will be permanently tainted by the desire to consume matter. It will grow in stats, understanding and strength based entirely off of that which it consumes. This evolution greatly increases the processing speed of novel matter. It's growth is entirely tied to how much it can consume and how many new and different items it can find. This corruption of the soul can lead to unintended consequences such as a change in the focus area and in extreme circumstances, a shift in personality that may lead to soul death.

+0 stats upon evolution

+0 stats per level

Uh, Grim… What's a curse?

Posting now. If it's the same as curses in my universe… I just want to be sure.

Based on what you know… Is this a good evolution or a bad one?

It's a massive gamble and will be much worse in almost all situations than even the first option.

That bad?

I'll get back to you when I know for sure.

Alright, guess I'll go over my own evolutions now.

You probably want to choose Nova's first, it should have them both wait for each-other anyways, but if it doesn't, you want it's end of the bond to grow first.

Why's that?

It most often isn't an issue, and it probably won't matter. Sometimes, if their soul grows strong enough, it can push back and halt the growth of the implanted soul seed. The seed becomes too weak to push back, imagine the ground is too hard for the roots to penetrate.

Couldn't that happen the other way around too?

Yeah, but it's less of an issue that way because you can consciously decide to let the seed grow. The sprite doesn't have nearly as much control or awareness over it's soul.

Gotcha. My inclination is the Great Spirit one anyways, guess we can ask Nova and see what they want.

Yup. I agree the Greater Spirit is probably the best bet.

Felix looked down at the small muscle bound black cat in his lap and did his best to convey that he thought the Greater Spirit choice was the best choice. It took a few seconds for Nova to react and when they did, they looked up at him and tilted their head.

Do you not understand me, or do you disagree?

They jumped from his lap and stood in front of him, staring up at him.

What do you think of the Greater Spirit option?

They just meowed at him then yawned.

What do you think of just sticking with being a Matter Sprite?

They feigned spitting up a hair ball with a rather gross gagging sound.

Alright, got it. What do you think of the Ravenous Spirit option? The cursed one?

This time, they ran around in a circle and wagged it's tail the whole time.

You like that one? Why?

Nova proceeded to prance around the room with it's chest out and act out a charade where they hunted down a beast and ate their corpse. Once it was done, it walked over to Felix and communicated the most complex thought Felix had ever gotten from them constructed entirely of concepts he had conveyed to them in the past. It translated to something along the lines of a dragon swallowing a super nova, then breathing out a cacophonous explosive stream that resembled a galaxy.

You want to eat a super nova? Not sure that's actually possible. Actually, Grim said their was a sprite that grew until it ate a black hole, so I guess it's not that out there.

You should be careful with that evolution though. If it is what I think it is, it's not exactly perfectly safe. Grim cut in to his mental conversation with Nova.

For me or Nova?

Both.

Guess we'll hold off until you get a response then. It's only a day until the meeting, maybe I should just wait until afterwards?

To choose the evolution or actually go through with it?

I guess both. If I'm not going to go through with it, I'm not sure I even want to look just yet. Not going to tease myself like that. I'm a little worried it's going to take a while, like what if I'm unconscious and miss the meeting?

Not sure I understand the whole teasing thing, but you do you. It will almost definitely knock you out for a bit, probably more than a day too if I had to bet on it.

If that's the case, then I'm definitely waiting.

Guess I'll finish with my staff then for now.

Nova curled up and fell asleep on the floor while Felix flew over and ascended to his workshop where he continued to enchant the staff. He spent a while experimenting with enchantments, deciding between large singular enchantments or arrays of smaller enchantments. He ended up with many small enchantments that summed together into one whole, but he also interconnected them to help with balancing the mana throughout the staff. Instead of one enchantment bearing the burden of a blow or providing extra force for a swing, they would all work together, guided by the triggered enchantment. It took him quite some time to get all the details ironed out and figure out just how to interconnect all of the enchantments. He was about an hour away from completing his first iteration when an unprompted System screen interrupted him.

World Council

You have been invited to the very first, Trenus World Council. The meeting will take place in 5 minutes. You have chosen your representatives. You have 5 minutes to prepare yourself, once you are ready, simply initiate the teleport. If you do not initiate the teleport in the next 5 minutes, the teleportation will be initiated for you.

Representatives (5/5):

Felix Kade

Noah

Benjamin

Will

Alan

Why don't they have last names?

Do you know their last names?

Uh… No…

That's my guess, you don't know their last names and those are the names you know them by. I suspect, even if they gave you fake names, that's how it would appear to you.

That feels weird. Intuitively, identify and things like that should tell me their last names and class, profession, race.

It's not a spell that summons information, it just displays what you know about them or what you can identify about them at a glance. Class and profession is relevant to running the city, last name isn't. If you want to differentiate two people with the same name, you can use their class, profession or just think about the one you want to refer to.

When talking to or communicating with The System, sure. It is very relevant if I have to talk to other people though.

I suspect this is also how they chose to identify themselves, or it's the default setting and they just never changed it.

World Council

You represent two separate factions on Trenus, as such you may choose which faction you wish to represent. You will be able to vote on behalf of both factions, but you may only appear under the guise of a single faction.

Which faction will you represent:

Atalus

Stormbringer

Atalus.

Felix stowed the staff he had been working on and descended to find Nova still napping in the middle of the sparring floor. He walked over and gently picked them up. He made sure Grim was in his soul space and activated the teleport. All he had to do was think the command in the direction of The System.

Teleport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .