Phila, the 23th, 10,391
The Dancing Racer sailed off the eastern coast of Zarmul. The weather was tumultuous and the white spray of the sea misted up onto the deck of the ship. Six stood looking out at the massive insect that strode upon the ferocious waters. Despite being the size of a small house the bug dashed about easily, posturing with the ship. Its segmented body was covered in a shell of dappled chitin and speckled with parasitic sea creatures. Its multi jointed legs were capable of producing incredible bursts of speed and it demonstrated that as it approached from the horizon.
Amos shouted over the elements. “Dis be awful. Kynairos curse our luck! I knew I shoulda stayed to da rivers! Dat ting will ram our ship and sink us right quick. We can’t let it hit us!”
Six’s analyze skill showed it as,
Giant Sea Strider
Level 24
An evolved creature. It would be significantly more dangerous than a regular monster. He had already considered his arsenal while at sea and initiated his response.
He couldn’t cast his stone spells and his buffs wouldn’t really help him at range or protect the ship.
Really, there was one thing he could do.
The officers made their own preparations as Amos’ crew manned crossbows and ballista. Keegan and Narhurin drew bows of their own.
Bark and Irduth wove their magic together, creating a mesh of conjured thorns and chains positioned between them and the sea strider.
Six wove spell sigils while the spell complex in his mind whirred away, shunting mana in predetermined perfection. There wasn’t enough though, this spell required more so he drew upon more.
He drew upon his blood.
His flesh leaked and the rejection of life burned away into mana that coalesced amongst his arcane gestures. It hurt, as always. But, as always, it revitalized him. It made the colours and flavours of life pop. It made the trade worth it.
The spell completed with his arcane muttering focusing his will, “Mana Spear!”
A lance of fractured reality materialized before Six and launched with impossible speed. Blasting forth and impacting the shell of the creature, shattering it and leaving a rend the size of washing machine. The chitin shards were lost to the ocean. The beast shuddered and dashed towards them. Multiple lines of white cut into the sea underneath it as it sailed closer.
Six bellowed, “I need health and mana!” He pulled his spear of vital surge out just long enough to cast it upon himself, increasing his regen.
Kali Kik approached and laid her hands upon him and he could feel a flood of warmth, as she sank over a hundred health into him. His pain evaporating with the spike in HP. He felt alive!
It cost 380 health to bloodcast the 250 mana cost spell. His regen stack would build him back up soon but not quick enough to blast another one just yet.
Indigo came stumbling up with a pair of potions that Six chugged without hesitation. He smiled as he saw both bars surge.
The ship swayed as the arcane net absorbed the charge from the enraged sea strider. It floated away and readied itself for another charge. Instead a line of red spikes traced down from Six’s shoulder and staccattoed into the exposed flesh of the beast. It keened in pain and wriggled back. Sections of shell lifted to reveal eggsacks that quickly burst, dropping wriggling larva into the waves. Then it arched its proboscis, pointed at the deck, and sprayed a line of red liquid.
Irduth didn’t wait, dropping the chains and throwing up a new defense immediately. “Reprieve of the Gathered!” A massive bell tolled into existence between the monster and the ship. The conjured form blocked the spray of spittle and it burned and hissed where coated.
Irduth collapsed, wincing. His protective bell destabilized and blew away into dust.
Seeing the effectiveness of Six’s minor attack, others began to focus on the breach in the armor. Six however, had finished conjuring another Mana Spear, the scintillating transparency coiling like a spring before lancing forth like a glitch in reality.
Another hole erupted on the creature's carapace and Six could see it stagger. Its limbs stuttered and when it did manage to coordinate it lacked the strength to properly move. Six felt a bit sad for the simple creature, but knew it was still incredibly dangerous and would end them given the chance.
It struggled through another charge and even while wounded managed to break the conjured defense of woven thorns. Even with the magical defense the impact was immense and Six could hear a gut wrenching crunch come from the ship below.
Six heard one of the crew yell, “we’re taking on water and the damn bugs are crawlin up the side!”
The larva were wriggling up and trying to board the ship. The crew changed targets from the giant beast to its young that sought to feed upon the sailors. Pulling out large knives and boarding axes, chopping and stabbing into the dog sized sea maggots.
But Six pushed all of that away and focused internally, meditating on the swaying deck as the monster trilled in dominance. It only increased his regen by just over 7% but he needed everything he had for the next shot.
He waited until his mana and health were just barely enough and he cast his next spell.
As he cast three things happened. Magical Conductivity passively scaled his Heavy Armor skill into his spellcasting, increasing the spell’s effectiveness by an initial 11.5%. Then Six activated his Helm of Prismatic Magic Amplification and the golden crescent glowed with an arcing arcane energy that boosted the power of the mana spear by 21%, the translucent collection of broken lines and mirrors grew and started to spin lazily, a rising sound grew in pitch and volume.
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Then Indigo lashed Six’s arcane gestures with a magical whip of his own mana and although Six couldn’t see what was occurring in a thaumaturgical sense, he could feel the additional mana flow into his construct he had an understanding of what the young man was doing as Indigo yelled out the verbal component of his spell.
“Epiphany!”
The mana flow surged and so did Six’s spell. The mana spear grew even larger and the spin began to pick up speed. Indigo’s spell pushed Six’s own to even greater heights. Six could barely hold on, his mind focusing through the pain of his bloodcasting and ensuring the somatic components were formed with exacting precision. He was deliberate, working carefully through the loss of dexterity his gauntlets imposed.
He held on and contained the spell until he felt that sweetspot begin to bend and his gut told him to let go.
He bellowed the words, “Mana Spear!”
The massive mana construct exploded forth, whistling a screech as it tore up the air, and in an instant blasted right through the sea strider’s right side. It lost all its legs on that side and collapsed into the surf, kicking.
Then the beast died.
Six had prompts but he knew there was still more to do. He went below deck, squeezing past a bucket train to find a breach in the hull, a grand crack that ran along a few beams and was spewing water into the ship. The sailors Amos hired had all been level 2 or higher so everyone was performing extremely well, even still Six could see them struggle to patch the damage effectively. Struggling with extra planks and pitch, It might work but he had better.
“Clear the way.”
Six pushed the sailors away and approached the massive leak. He pulled a small sapling from his bag and held it near the damage.
Six channeled Plant Growth and slowly the sapling reached towards the ship and anchored its roots to the wood, then with Six’s guidance grew to seal the breach. The patch ended up looking like a single piece of bark covered wood where the damage used to be. It was sealed.
The bucket train continued but they weren’t taking on water anymore. Now that the immediate problems had been solved Six could let the crew finish the rest.
Six had Amos sail nearer to the monster corpse so he could rope it in close to the ship, it was nice to use the good rope Six spawned with, it was a memory of something he’d never touch again. The sailors were impressed with its modern design and construction.
He slid down the rope without most of his armor, just his greaves and began to chip and slice away with the hammer and dagger he brought. He just wanted the mana core, yet when he was chipping away Indigo didn’t hesitate to shout down a request for a distinct gland or choice piece to be harvested in a specific way. It didn’t hurt Six to humor the request as he wanted to be in the alchemist's good books and it probably improved his butcher skill.
They were back on their way, cutting across the coastal waters, when Six reviewed his gains.
He’d leveled up to level 11, earning 6 stat points, 35 perk points, and a skill point.
He committed his stat points evenly, putting one into strength and luck bringing each to 20 and 25 respectively. Constitution got its regular bump up and rose to 52. The last two he invested into his lagging endurance, setting it to 12.
He felt strong and his training had never been so athletic, the returns on his points in strength were clear. His return on luck was less, definable. He should have over twice the luck than the average person but he didn’t know what that meant for him. He was beginning to become dense and thick with how much constitution he was building, surely luck had an effect.
With the stat points done, it was time to spend his perk points.
There were so many good choices it made it hard to decide what to spend them on. That being said, he needed to buy the armor strength perk to see if it also expanded the soul forest he went to when applying his perk points. Knowledge was power and gaining more insight on his options was crucial to optimizing his purchase path.
He withdrew to the saplings in his mind and dashed about examining everything. Nothing significant had changed but there were signs of life about. Nibbled leaves and broken stems, this was not a stagnant space.
Six immediately bought Armor Strength 1 for 5 perk points.
Armor strength 1: Increases strength of enchantments placed upon armor by 10%
This unlocked the next tier upgrade,
Armor strength 2: 10 perk points
Increases strength of enchantments placed upon armor by 20%
Six wished he had leveled up some before he made this set of armor but his leveling had slowed somewhat since level 10. SIx supposed he hadn’t been grinding exactly as hard as he could have been, that's not to say he’d been lazy. He’d accomplished much, but much of it had been construction, enchantment, or administration work
With the purchase of Armor Strength came a change in the environment. The sapling shot up in size and a new semi circle of saplings grew away from it, opposite the golem trees, all with their own traits and costs. They were the armor trees.
Runic Disruption: 50 perk points
When struck by an enemy's melee attack, the armor can release a surge of disruptive energy, stunning nearby foes.
Runic Endurance: 55 perk points
The armor's runes absorb excess energy and convert it into a temporary boost to the Golemchanter's stamina, allowing for prolonged battles without fatigue.
Golemforge: 60 perk points
The armor can temporarily open a dimensional portal, summoning additional golems to reinforce the Golemchanter's forces.
Titanic Empowerment: 60 perk points
The armor temporarily imbues the wearer with increased size and strength, granting the Golemchanter an imposing presence and improved physical might.
Runic Bond: 55 perk points
The armor forms a powerful link between the Golemchanter and the armor’s enchantments, allowing them to exchange mana for additional charges.
Golemclad Convergence: 50 perk points
The armor's runes synchronize with the golem's, amplifying their combined abilities and forming an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
He was gratified somewhat by his rather obvious prediction being correct and although he was pleased by the new options available they would have to wait. Six decided to save for Golem Reformation or Armor Integration first. He wasn’t sure which. Probably reformation because he doubted his ability to perfectly recreate either of his growth golems, nor did he want to. It seemed like the most fundamental perk for long term survival.
He had five skill points but he felt no need to use them.
Lump leveled up too and Six distributed the blood golems stats. Every level it gained 4 points that could be distributed to any stat and Six just wanted Lump to be a weapons platform so that meant more firing potential. He pumped it all into intelligence, he wanted more blood darts and faster, also it would improve Lump to be more spell resistant so it could better weather arcane AOE attacks. Both Six found desirable so he boosted it. Once its intelligence was equal with its constitution he would distribute the points between the two stats but until then it was pure intelligence.
Upon examination, Poh doh had already leveled once in SIx’s absence, a sign that made Six worry about the amount of conflict occurring back home but the golem was alive so Six assumed Charles was too.
Pohdoh gained four stat points upon level up as well, automatically placing one into strength and constitution and then allowing for the placement of 2 free points. Six placed the free points into strength and constitution and reinforced the golem’s natural gains, Poh Doh was a simple creation and not a generalist.
Nibbler leveled up but Six didn’t control any of that and she seemed to be progressing fine on her own. She learned how to cast those crescent moon blades and Six was sure she would manifest something new soon.
His skill prompts reflected his progress from this fight.
Skill increase:
Force magic - Initiate - 6
Blood magic - Initiate - 10
Blood casting - Initiate - 11
Meditation - Initiate - 16
Butcher skill - Initiate - 12
Athletics - Initiate - 10
Force magic gained a ludicrous 5 levels and both blood casting and blood magic went up by two, such gains were unheard. It must have been his Unbound Comprehension at work. Further evidence of the workings of Unbound Comprehension was an entirely new skill that had manifested.
Skill gained: Coven - Initiate - 1
Allows for the connection of people and their mana pathways, effectively allowing for use and combination of another's mana. The maximum number of coven members is equal to the skills level
Mana transfer efficiency: 1 mana donated = 0.1.+0.01*n mana received
Six had no idea why it appeared but his best guess was that his Unbound Comprehension gained some sort of insight from Indigo’s Epiphany spell that allowed creation or discovery of this skill.
His mind began to wander to the new limits he would be able to reach with a skill like this. He would be able to-
Six didn’t have much time to mentally absorb his new gains before a rough hand spun him about.
It was Irduth.