After confirming with the party she could take the time to level up and evolve before they moved on, Cyn sat down to take a look at her menu. She wasn’t sure what evolving may entail, and she did not want to end up falling on her face if it was disorienting. Before she opened up her menu, she saw Hex sit down as well, presumably also having leveled up.
[Mage] eligible for evolution. Evolve now?
[Evolve] [Wait]
The notification took up practically all of Cyn’s menu when she opened it, making it difficult to look at anything else. ‘Wait’ was also in red, seeming to indicate that it would not be a good idea to select that option. Would it prevent her from evolving at this level? Cyn was not sure, and she was not interested in finding out. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she selected ‘Evolve’.
Much to her surprise, Cyn was presented with a selection of options similar to her skill selection at level 5. She had assumed evolution would be out of her control.
Arcanist - An evolved class from root Mage.
The Arcanist walks the path of magic, in its purest form.
This class is capable of evolving further.
Arcanists will gain +4 Mind, +4 Will, and +2 free points when leveling up.
[Human] - Evolutionary path altered.
[Creature Handler] - Evolutionary path altered.
Stat point distribution is retroactive upon evolution.
Some skills may be gained, lost, or changed upon evolving. Current Skills effected by this evolution:
[Mage Regeneration] [Mana Ball] [Overload]
That one looks like a direct upgrade to Mage. Arcanist also provided exactly double of the same stat points as Mage, reinforcing her idea that that was the direct upgrade. Cyn was relieved to find that the information on the evolution included what skills she already had that would be immediately affected by her choice. There was no information on how the skills would be affected, but at least she would have some idea beforehand.
Martyr - An evolved class from root Mage.
The Martyr willingly risks and sacrifices themselves, for cause or compassion.
This class is capable of evolving further.
Martyrs will gain +3 Vitality, +1 Mind, +3 Will, +1 Strength, and +2 free points when leveling up.
[Human] - Evolutionary path altered.
[Creature Handler] - Evolutionary path altered.
Stat point distribution is retroactive upon evolution.
Some skills may be gained, lost, or changed upon evolving. Current skills effected by this evolution:
[Mage Regeneration] [Mana Ball] [Friendly Aura]
Martyr was exactly along the lines of what Cyn expected to receive on evolving. It did not explicitly mention healing, but was closer to the idea than Arcanist. There was a significant difference in the stat distribution compared to Mage, although it made more sense with the theme of the evolved class. Vitality and strength, to assist in not dying. Cyn would lose a noticeable amount of mind with this evolution, though. On top of that, the affected skills included Friendly Aura, one of her profession skills. Not a particularly useful skill thus far, but she still found it surprising that the lines between her profession and class would start to cross this quickly.
Occultist - An evolved class from root Mage.
The Occultist seeks the forbidden and unknown, crossing barriers and pushing boundaries.
This class is capable of evolving further.
Occultists will gain +3 Mind, +3 Will, +2 Luck, and +2 free points when leveling up.
[Human] - Evolutionary path altered.
[Creature Handler] - Evolutionary path altered.
Stat point distribution is retroactive upon evolution.
Some skills may be gained, lost, or changed upon evolving. Current skills effected by this evolution:
[Inspect] [Meditate] [Mana Ball]
Cyn chuckled softly as she read the description of the final option evolution presented her with. Goodbye Mana Ball, you will not be missed. Every option would end up changing or removing the skill, so it seemed even the System was aware of how unusable it was. While Occultist was certainly an interesting option, what stood out more than anything to Cyn was the second skill that would be affected by the class evolution. Meditate. Thankfully, she was able to use Inspect on it in the class description.
Meditate (Common) - Enter a state of rest, greatly increasing all resource regeneration while Meditate is active.
Will decrease all awareness of surroundings while active.
Must be sitting or lying down in order to use Meditate.
You cannot move while Meditate is active.
That was definitely not a skill she had. Or at least, she did not have before leveling up. She would have to confirm with her notifications after evolution, but Cyn suspected it was a skill she had gained at level ten in her class. She had noticed before now that being at rest would increase her resource regeneration, hopefully a skill for that specifically would make the process quicker and more efficient to recover from intense situations.
She looked over the classes for only a minute, but ultimately, while Occultist definitely had some interesting possibilities, only one evolution called out to Cyn as a path to healer. Not allowing herself to agonize over the choices, she selected Martyr. She noticed the difference in her stat distribution immediately, the sudden infusion of vitality in particular, and a warmth spread throughout her whole body. Cyn felt as though she had lost half her health in an instant, and since she was so in tune with her resources the effect was a bit nauseating. Thankfully, it was over quickly and she could go through the pending notifications.
Most were expected. Level ten in Mage, confirmation she had gained Meditate before evolution, followed by her choice of Martyr. Cyn dismissed those immediately in favor of looking at how her skills had changed after the evolution choice.
Skill upgraded! Mage Regeneration (Common)(Passive) --> Martyr's Conviction (Rare)(Passive) - With every blow, your conviction grows.
The larger the gap between your health and maximum health, the faster all resources regenerate.
This skill serves as an upgrade to and replacement for Mage Regeneration.
Passive skill is inactive, duplicate effect found:
[Boots of Near Death Experiences]
Well. At least my strategy isn’t going to get completely fucked if or when I get better boots. Cyn agreed it would be unfair to have the duplicate effects stack, but that did not prevent wishful thinking.
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Skill upgraded! Mana Ball (Common) --> Light Ball (Uncommon) - Create a sphere of Light mana.
The created sphere will glow brightly.
Even if all it did was glow, she would probably still use it more than Mana Ball. Not to mention, Cyn was eager to try out a more specialized mana type. She had suspicions that, due to her use of Hubris being initially based on Mana Ball, all of the mana she had used so far was unattuned. If she could replicate attuned mana types outside of skills, she could potentially do much more interesting things with Hubris.
Or blow herself up. That was always a possibility.
Skill upgraded! Friendly Aura (Common)(Passive) --> Soothing Presence (Uncommon)(Passive) - All creatures are less likely to react to your presence with hostility.
Nearby creatures who are agitated will be more susceptible to calming effects.
Effect will be canceled if the creature is provoked.
Once again, she wasn’t really sure about the primary function of this skill. It really seemed to only have a use if she was alone, or if for some reason the creature was inherently more hostile towards her and not her companions. It now worked on all creatures at least, and no longer included the specification for non-humanoid. Are... are people creatures? Or does that just mean creatures with humanoid features are separate from other creatures?
The skill had been moved from her profession to now be listed as a class skill, and Cyn was not sure if that said anything about the classification of creature. The effect of increasing susceptibility to calming effects had her checking the description of Pet. She had not noticed it previously, but the skill also did not specify non-humanoid. She could probably test if it worked on her party members, even if they were not agitated. Other creatures seemed to like Pet even if they were calm already. A thought for after she was done, since there was one more notification waiting.
Skill selection available for [Martyr]. View options now?
[View] [Wait]
Not totally unexpected, though Cyn was not sure what she could be offered after evolution. When she selected ‘View’, a selection of four options appeared.
Slow Fall (Common) - Use mana to decelerate when falling, allowing you to land safely from any height.
Potentially useful, but mostly niche and uninteresting.
Purify (Uncommon) - Use mana in an attempt to purge impurities the body.
Usable on both mental and physical afflictions.
Can be used on self or others.
This skill serves as an upgrade to and replacement for [Purify]
Not a bad upgrade, if also uninteresting, but at least it felt more valid than Slow Fall after having struggled through the Trial of Will.
Siphon (Uncommon) - Sacrifice a portion of your own health points to instantly heal others.
Cyn was doing something similar already, although the skill was probably better than her use of Hubris syringes since it was instant and did not mention having to hurt the target to transfer the health points. Assuming the skill could be used at range.
Mana Circulation (Epic) - Circulate mana internally, boosting all stats by 50%.
Circulating mana will burn off while ability is active, draining your mana pool and doing increasing unattuned magic damage to your body.
This skill is not impacted by mana-blocking in most cases.
[Martyr] - Evolutionary path altered.
Hubris did a good job of making what should be exciting skill choices unappealing. Cyn didn’t think her version of Mana Circulation was as effective as the skill in terms of the boost, but it also did not burn off and drain mana. The mana just burned inside of her without being consumed, allowing for use of other mana consuming skills.
Before making her selection, Cyn noticed there was a small ellipsis to one side, as if there were more options she could not see. When she selected it, a small list of skills appeared. She quickly realized that it was the skills she had not chosen at level five, sans Magic Missiles. Since she had already replaced Mana Ball, it made sense the other skill to replace it was no longer an option.
With few other good options, Cyn ended up choosing Siphon. For as much work as she had put into the syringes, Siphon seemed as though it would be significantly better and easier to use if it was ranged. If not, for most situations it was probably still better than Restoration due to being instant. It was good to know she could come back later and choose a skill previously passed up if she had an especially bad skill selection, though.
She quickly checked the objectives, finding both the ‘reunite the party’ and ‘trials’ objectives listed as complete. Rather than rewards now, though, she would be rewarded after leaving the floor. Cyn found it strange the ‘find an exit’ objective had not updated to complete, but reasoned that that one may only trigger once she actually took an exit.
The final thing she wanted to do before leaving the menu was to spend the twenty-two free points she had accumulated. It did not take much consideration to put half of them into mind to make up for the loss Cyn experienced when evolving, and then some. Three into luck, to not leave the stat too far behind everything else. The final eight she split between vitality and agility. Vitality was more important than ever for her class, and as for agility?
Cyn just wanted to continue to be able to keep up with everyone else, or at the very least not be totally left in the dust behind Hex.
Satisfied and eager to do some testing, she took a final look over her stats.
Name: Cynthia Price
Race: [Human]
Class: [Martyr] Level 10
Profession: [Creature Handler] Level 8
Health Points: 498/880
Mana Points: 1013/1230
Stamina Points: 570/710
Free Points: 0
Vitality: 88
Mind: 54
Will: 96
Strength: 42
Agility: 50
Luck: 36
Racial Skills: [Dimensional Translator] [Inspect] [Meditate]
Class Skills: [Hubris] [Overload] [Soothing Presence] [Light Ball] [Martyr's Conviction] [Soul Slip] [Mental Fortress] [Restoration] [Purify] [Siphon]
Profession Skills: [Familiar Bond] [Pet] [Harvesting]
Feats: [Elite Adapter] [Divine Class Protege]
The difference in numbers before and after evolution was surprisingly significant. While she would have to wait for an actual fight to feel the difference fully, Cyn was sure the power gap between level nine and ten would be palpable. For a brief moment she considered what may have happened if Hex had pulled further ahead of everyone else in levels before entering the Trial of Will, and shuddered before closing her menu.
Standing and stretching, she found Hex still appeared to be in his menu still. Since his health felt fine, Cyn assumed he was still considering his options. Spam, though, had hopped out of its pouch and looked to be trying to bully the Peat Golem. The rest of the party did not seem to have noticed, caught up in their own conversations, but the familiar had the little golem pinned on its back and was chewing on the golem’s leaves. The terracotta pot the creature wore made it stuck under the frog’s weight, like a turtle on its back, as it flailed its limbs helplessly.
Quickly, Cyn used her tabard to summon Spam back to her. “Dude. Seriously?” The familiar just grumbled in response, clearly annoyed but not enough to climb out again. Cyn wasn’t sure what had gotten the frog so riled up, but now that it was no longer on the Peat Golem the creature was able to roll itself over and frantically waddle back to the machine, disappearing behind it.
Remembering the description of the golem she waited a little anxiously for anything to happen, wondering if what Spam had done was enough to alert the creature’s maker, but thankfully nothing seemed to have changed. Feeling they were probably safe, she joined the three members of her party who had wandered a distance away to be able to look into the next arena.
“I saw two different exit doors on the way here, and that’s not one.” It was Dana who was speaking as Cyn got close, the Archer sounding annoyed and gesturing into the next arena. Cyn could see a large, intricate archway in the middle of the open area. From this distance, it appeared to be made of wood. It did not resemble the exit door that she and Hex had seen either.
“I reckon it’s some kind of portal, then. Otherwise, it’s a damn stupid place for an arch.” The Guardian’s drawl did not seem to make Dana less annoyed, but before she could respond Scott saw Cyn approach and smiled. “There you are. Seems like the evolution was not too dramatic?”
Cyn shook her head and quickly recapped the experience for them. The fact they would probably have choices lightened the mood significantly, but before Dana could completely alleviate her annoyance Cyn asked, “Can I quickly test something on you? It shouldn’t hurt, I just don’t know if it will work at all.”