The rest of the day proceeded much like the day before - breakfast, a rough training session as I worked through a set of bodyweight exercises, then muddled through the forms in my mind from both my monk path, and the new ascetic warrior path from the night before. There were some commonalities between the instincts of the two, which helped to refine and reinforce those aspects. I decided to focus on those similarities for the time being, primarily due to confidence.
Feeling slightly better about the whole thing, I kept up my library afternoon habit, then returned to the pool for evening meditation.
Tonight’s path tied into the Primordial Giant heritage I had unlocked in the morning. The sense I had was that it revolved around interacting with the magic in my blood on a fundamental level. Based on my investigations, it was not nearly as common as other paths. It seemed to be something people moved on from in favor of more established traditions like sorcery very quickly once they developed them. Regardless, we played the hands we were dealt, and I wasn't going to leave power on the table. I focused on the path and pushed.
Eldritch Warrior 1
Stamina: —
Martial Attack Bonus: —
Saves:
* Fortitude —
* Reflex —
* Will +2
Skills: 2
* Athletics
* Concentration
* Craft
* Deception
* Insight
* Intimidation
* Lore (Applied Arcana)
* Lore (Planar)
* Lore (Religious)
* Profession
Qualities:
* Eldritch Blast 1d6
* Invocations:
* Least
* Hideous Blow: Add your Eldritch Blast to a standard attack action
* Add Class Level to Caster Level
* Add Charisma Bonus to Caster Check
Ultimately, this path came down to pure power. Its key attribute was Charisma, the force of your personality, and most of the functionality revolved around either flooding part of your body with raw magical energy for some specific effect, or shaping that energy and throwing it at your opponents.
That meant that between my Monk, Psychic and Eldritch Warrior paths, I now had all four esoteric energies flowing through my body. Learning to take advantage of and harmonize them would be the work of decades, I imagined. That effort would start in the morning, since I no longer had to worry about unlocking a racial heritage - at least not for a long while. That meant morning meditation could return to other purposes, like trying to understand, guide, and optimize the changes my body was undergoing.
Still, that was for tomorrow. For the moment, all I wanted was a meal, a bath, and bed.
—
The next morning’s meditation was much more rewarding, if far less eventful, than the recent path-focused meditations. I used it to focus on the circulation patterns provided by the different paths, trying to sense and isolate each individual energy in my body for the moment. I was sure that there were synergies and harmonies that I could eventually leverage, but that was far too advanced for the current me. At this juncture, I just wanted to get acquainted with the new energies flowing through me - I could leave experimentation for the future.
The morning workout was slightly better, as I felt more comfortable in my skin. The additional experience and instincts of the Eldritch Warrior supported the work with more formalized forms from my other paths. I wondered how this would interact with the path for this evening, when I would finally unlock the sorcerous path whose absence has set me down this path over a millennium ago.
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That was for later, though, so I put it aside as I finished my morning practice, then broke for lunch and library time. Finally, I settled by the pool once more, focused on the path and pushed.
Sorcerer 1
Stamina: —
Attack Bonus: —
Saves:
* Fortitude —
* Reflex —
* Will —
Feats 2
* Eschew Materials
Skills: 2
* Appraise
* Acrobatics
* Craft
* Deception
* Intimidate
* Lore (Applied Arcana)
* Lore (Theoretical Arcana)
* Profession
Qualities:
* Add Eschew Materials to feats.
* Add Class Level to Caster Level
* Add Charisma Bonus to Spell DC
* Giant Racial Akashic Resonance: One extra spell known at (Max Level - 1).
* Unlock Spell Point Pool
* Add 6 Points
* Add Charisma Bonus Points
* Spells Known:
* 0 - 4
* 1 - 1
* Crossblooded:
* -1 to Spells Known per Level
* -2 to Will Saves
* Imperious:
* Add Perform (Oratory) to Unlocked Skills
* Bloodline Arcana - Ancient Lineage: When you cast a harmful spell, you gain a bonus equal to the spell’s level on Intimidate checks made against any creature adversely affected by that spell until the end of your next turn.
* Giant:
* Add Perception to Unlocked Skills
* Bloodline Arcana - Eldritch Empowerment: After casting a spell, you gain an enhancement bonus to your Strength equal to your Charisma bonus + 1/2 the spell’s level (drop fractions) until the end of your next turn.
* Bloodline Power - Furious Touch: Add Class Level to Martial Level
Nothing terribly surprising in the standard class aspects, but my thoughts were centered on one of those qualities. Crossblooded. The cause of so much pain, for both myself and my mother. I tended to gloss over just how agonizing most of the procedures I had gone through were, both because it wouldn't help, and because I knew my mother was doing it to help as best she could. Still, the fact that the bane of my early years was laid out so innocently within my mind’s interpretation of the information coming down from the Akashic record was more than a little irritating. The fact that it was there meant that this wasn't a unique situation - there had been others with conflicting bloodlines before, but apparently it wasn’t known in Atlantis, or was considered problematic enough that my mother hadn't been aware.
Looking at the two bloodlines, I could somewhat understand. The Imperious bloodline, as it was being termed, was the bloodline of kings, of civilization. With its bonuses to skills and focus on social aspects, I could see how it would be relied on to help an empire run smoothly. I could also see the almost implicit arrogance in it. The Giant bloodline, on the other hand, seemed almost like an evolution of the Eldritch Warrior path I had unlocked the night before. From weaponizing the raw magic and using it to empower semi-permanent enhancements, to still using the magic to enhance one's strength but also allowing more flexibility in the specific offerings for each caster, while formalizing the Martial practices into something more structured. I wasn't going to complain about another class being added to my Martial Level.
Still, this was my arcane casting class. These instincts and the guidance of this path would be the foundation I relied on to begin exploring the wards and constructs keeping me hale, whole, and stuck inside this cavern residence.
Hopefully, those instincts would help when it came to tomorrow afternoon’s study session.