Rebuilding Glimmervale took months. The lowered magic recovery rate was one of the factors to blame but Grenniana also wanted to leave the gnomes to work on rebuilding their own homes. None of them blamed me for what happened even though the meteor was targeted here because of their connection to me. The gnomes were happy I had eliminated the threat promptly and brought everyone back to life. I had to remind myself that these were the same gnomes that were living in absolute filth years ago. To them, Glimmervale was heaven.
The reason Wyxnos didn’t drop his titan-golem-meteor on Windemere was obvious. He knew I would relentlessly hunt him down and nowhere in this world would be safe for him. After pondering, I knew how to track him. All I had to do was to set a {Vendetta Assassination Contract} on him and boom, I had a tracking locator on him. I think he expected that and may have some contingencies in place. To avoid triggering that, I did nothing aside from sending a few hundred {Messenger Birds} to warn people around the world of my stance.
After every single dead person was back to life, I knew it was time to leave Glimmervale. The gnomes could live their own lives and they had good trade relations with Windemere, now that the mountain road and outposts were up and running. Mirina and the Windemere government knew how important Glimmervale was. The dead magic desert was accessible only to the scavenger gnomes. Any other creature other than kobolds and their duck-feet raptors would die in seconds as their mana drained out of their bodies in a rather explosive fashion.
The dead magic zone was a factory of equipment, monster parts, and raw money. Nothing magical survived exposure to the dead magic zone so Cores and enchanted gear became ordinary crystals and items, but the fact they could just skim the sands and bring back everything left behind in the world’s Labyrinth was absolutely mind-boggling. With the improved steam-powered vehicles that didn’t need to be driven like the uncontrolled wind-up piles of junk of before, the gnomes could take their time salvaging the sands. Ensconced in the mountains in their faint magic bubble, sheltered from the south by the dead magic zone and with only Windemere as neighbors, they were quite safe.
Once I announced my desire to leave, Grenniana and the gnomes threw a feast that lasted for three days.
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“You’ll come back, won’t you?” The gnome [Princess] asked me before the giant sequoia.
In my gnome form, hugged her. “Of course. I’m not leaving for good but my presence here will hold back your own growth. I need to train and prepare. I have a scheduled fight a few centuries in the future. If you need me, you just need to ask one of the priests to contact me.”
“I’m sending the [Coghwheel Priests] to travel the world and convert the gnomes to your cause, Matriarch,” she said in a more official tone.
The militant arm of my church was composed of gnome priests who didn’t have any magical ability but could become a mage’s worst nightmare. Combined with a normal priest, they were nigh unstoppable. Evading them was still easy, you only needed to either fly away or run faster than them.
“Thank you. Have a happy life, Grenniana. I love you.”
After we exchanged a few more words, I entered the sequoia. Instead of appearing in the Sky Island over Windemere, I found myself in a pure white spot.
Space meant little in this room. The featureless bright white environment did a trick on depth perception and I couldn’t discern the wall or ceiling from the floor. It had gravity and I felt my feet pressing against the floor but that was it. Everything else, System, magic, and my senses worked fine. Before I could attempt to rip an opening to the Ethereal, Loki appeared.
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“Greetings, Matriarch,” the Norse deity bowed. “I divested your travel for a moment to have a chat, I hope you don’t mind.”
“I can spare a few minutes, Loki. What is it that you want?”
“Talk. Bounce a few ideas off of you and pick your brains, figuratively speaking. This space is safe. Not even Tuisto could eavesdrop here, much less any other entity in this world.”
“Fair enough. Speak your mind.”
Loki summoned two retro-seventies egg chairs. He sat in one and I hopped on the other, assuming my pixie form.
“Do you intend to hunt Wyxnos down?”
“You want me to, don’t you? Isn’t that why you mentioned Thor and the Jotunn?”
He winced, “By the All-Father’s one eye, no! What I meant was that Thor would hunt the Jotunn but my brother is a moron! What I said was that hunting Wyxnos down was an endeavor worthy of a moron. You aren’t a moron, are you?” He teased.
“Not all the time. And no, even despite your ill-worded warning, I didn’t intend to hunt Wyxnos. Now, why you don’t want me to do so?”
“Simple,” he waved his hands, and an illusion of Wyxnos in striped prisoner clothes and a ski mask running away with a swag bag appeared, going off into the infinite white. “Wyxnos has some organization backing him. I still don’t know how these mortal humans from Earth of all places all were suddenly elevated to minor deities. If that happened to a single person, I could dismiss it as just a whim of fate, but three dozen? Preposterous. We believe that if Wyxnos is left to his own devices, he’ll try to contact his benefactors.”
I raised an eyebrow, “We? Who’s with you? Tuisto?”
He waved me off, “Off-world friends. Nobody you know. Look, just don’t go after Wyxnos and we might catch him with his hands on the cookie jar. He’s too much of a coward to come after you, and now the Pantheon wants to have a chat with him.”
Loki snickered and cackled. With how much love I had to spare for the deities of this world, I laughed with him. “Are they happy with losing control of the System?”
Loki deadpanned, “As happy as my son Fenrir is with being chained until Ragnarök.”
“I once thought you were chained as well,” I left the unsaid question hang.
“I might have escaped my bonds. But Fenrir is actually chained by an artifact. Anyway, that’s one of two subjects I wanted to talk about with you. The second one might affect you slightly. Tuisto and I are undoing some of the convoluted Systems Wyxnos put in operation. Streamline the System, de-clutter it.”
The last time they changed something I got nerfed to hell and back. What do they want to do now? “Any hints?”
“We are redoing the whole Proficiency system. Off with the myriad of Abilities. They were stymieing creativity. People restrained themselves to that set of things the System said they could do and never explored outside. We want to let people soar free. Experiment with their crafts.”
“I have a lot of passive bonuses from the Proficiencies. What will happen with them?”
“The Attribute bonuses for high values? These will remain. As well as some special traits. But do you need an Ability to tell you you can, dunno, forge a sword? No.”
“Not only that. A lot of [Unique] Perks were absorbed by these Proficiencies. I demand they remain.”
“I think they will. Let me know if you’re missing something vital and we can work from there. Go through your Proficiency list and see what you want to keep. You’ll get one Ability for every hundred points. I’ll round up the ones closer to the next hundred.”
Loki granted me access to the new Proficiency interface. It opened two panels, one with the current system and the other with the new Ability listings. As I highlighted some of these Abilities, I could see what it would look like in the new Proficiency System. I lost a lot of stuff but if Loki was correct, I could still perform those things with the base modifier. I used the chance to load up on the Attribute bonuses.
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General - Open to everyone. Can only be increased by training. Growth Rate: 265.74%
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> Proficiencies with a (*) next to the name have a passive growth of 1 point every 5 levels.
>
> Proficiencies with a (**) next to the name have a passive growth of 1 point every level even when not allocated a "pick". Otherwise they have a 25% learning rate bonus.
Appraiser (*) [ 275 ]
* Item Information: You can get detailed item information, including hidden data.
* Subtle Appraise: Reduce perception tests to detect your appraise attempts by (P/3).
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Weapon Proficiencies - Growth Rate: 318.89%
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Archery [ 172 / 217 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with bows and crossbows.
* Trick Shots: When performing a Trick Shot, you suffer (P/4)% fewer Accuracy penalties.
Blades [ 359 / 361 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with blades.
* Master: Deal (P/35) d10 + (P/5) extra base damage.
* Sharpened Edges: Increase critical chance and damage by (P/10)%.
* Riposte: Increase Parry chance by (P/4)%. If you parry, attack with a (P/10)% bonus damage.
Clubs [ 200 / 297 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with clubs.
* Concussion: Enemies hit on the head must make a Willpower test with a (P/10) penalty or fall unconscious for (P/30) minutes.
* Numbing: Your attacks reduce all enemy’s Proficiencies by (P/7) points.
Combat Technique [ 423 / 471 ]. You gain (P/10)% Evasion, Damage, and Accuracy.
* Cruel Backstab: When attacking an enemy that cannot defend, deal (P)% extra damage.
* Thin the Herd: Attack all enemies in reach with (P/5)% damage bonus. Divide damage dealt by (# of Enemies/1.5), at least 2.
* Giant-Slayer: Increase Evasion, Accuracy, and Damage by (P/3)%, plus 15% for every size difference when fighting larger enemies.
* Dirt Fighting: You can perform a special action to
Martial Arts [ 324 / 329 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with humanoid body parts. Your base damage is (P/60)d8.
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* Master: Add (P/30)d8 + (P/5) to your martial arts damage.
* Grappling: When grappling an enemy at biggest one size larger, retain all of your combat ability and impose a penalty of (P/10)% to that enemy.
* Inner Energy: Gain (P/20) base HP and Energy. Gain (P/50) Endurance.
Spear [ 401 / 405 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with spears.
* Combination Attack: You slash and stab with the spear in a single motion, using the lowest armor value. Deal (P/3 -50)% extra damage.
* Master: Increase damage by (P/50)d20 + (P/5).
* Phantom Lancer: Summon (P/100) phantom spears. Roll to hit separately for each. They deal normal damage to incorporeal foes.
* Thrust: Piercing attack deal (2*Proficiency)% extra damage. Enemy is staggered for 0.5 seconds. Cooldown 10 seconds.
War Technique (**) [ 300 / 362 ]. Add (P/10)% Evasion, Damage, and Accuracy to all units under your command.
* No Elf Left Behind: When one of your units that has (at least 3 allies or yourself) within (P/75) meters receives a killing blow, reduce the damage by (P/5)%. If it lives, split (100 – P/10)% of that damage among all friendly units in radius that wouldn’t die from this damage. If in range, you shoulder all the damage. The cooldown for the unit saved is 1 hour.
* Zerg Rush: Your units gain (P/20)% Accuracy, Damage, and Evasion for each ally engaging the same enemy.
* Lead from the Front: As long as you keep fighting in the frontline, all allies in (10*Charisma) meters gain (P/10)% Morale, Damage, Accuracy, damage reduction, and Evasion.
Wild Warrior [ 309 ]. Add (P)% to accuracy, 2*(P)% damage with natural weapons.
* Savage Mastery: Deal (P/35) d10 + (P/5) extra base damage.
* Vorpal Claws and Teeth: Upon a critical, target must make an Endurance test with a (P/5) penalty or lose the struck limb.
* Vicious Weapons: Your natural weapons deal (P/2)% extra damage.
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Mystical Proficiencies - Growth Rate: 265.74%
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Assassination [ 300 ]. Deal (2*Proficiency)% damage if the target has a contract and is unaware of you.
* Death Blow: Add (P/40)d20 base damage and (P/10)% critical chance to your ambushes.
* Track Contract: You can share information about your contracts with others. You can sense the location of contracts within (Mind*Proficiency) meters.
* Invisible Killer: You gain (P/5)% stealth and evasion against a contract and its allies until the contract dies.
Mental Mastery [ 641 ]. Reduce the effectiveness of fear, pain, and mental debuffs by linear (P) percentile points.
* Magical Circulation: You gain (P/4) base Energy.
* Perfect Mind: Add (P/50) to all mental Attributes.
* Perfect Spirit: Add (P/50) to all spiritual Attributes.
* Improved Recovery: Increase all Resource recovery rates by (P/5)%
* Prescience: Predict attacks (P/500) seconds before they happen.
* Spiritual Enlightenment (U): Increase Ego and Soul by (P/75). Increase base Energy by (P/10). Add (P/5) to all checks to resist spiritual attacks.
Spellcaster (**) [ 251 / 310 ]. Your spells gain (2*Proficiency)% effect and (P)% accuracy.
* Cursebreaker: Add (P/4) to Magic to break curses. You can convert curses into Perks by paying double.
* Summoner’s Control: You can memorize (P/25) summoned monsters. You do not need a Core to summon these monsters. Add (P/5) to all Charisma tests to control your summons.
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Physical Proficiencies - Growth Rate: 265.74%
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Furtivity [ 700 ]. Add (P/2)% to stealth and evasion rate.
* Master Skulker: Perception tests against you suffer a (P/2) penalty. This works against traps and wards.
* Drain Magical Containment: Increase costs to restrain you through magic by (P/4)%. You gain (P/10)% of the base maintenance cost.
* Grandmaster Rogue: Add (P/2)% to evasion and stealth. Add (P/5) to tests to escape bonds and evade traps and wards.
* Rogue’s Charm: Increase Dexterity, Charisma, and Luck by (P/50).
* Rogue’s Determination: Increase Endurance, Willpower, and Mind by (P/50).
* Dimensional Pilferer (U): You can steal items from dimensional storage. Increase Dexterity and Magic by (P/100).
* Surreptitious: Opponents need to win (1+P/200) consecutive tests with a (P/20) penalty to detect you
Mobility [ 434 / 435 ]. Increase all movement rates and evasion by (P/3)%.
* Aerial Ace: Increase your flying movement rate and maneuverability by (P/5)%. Reduce stall speed by (P/5)%.
* Hiker’s Constitution: Increase Endurance, Dexterity, and Willpower by (P/50).
* Master Leaper: You can rotate up to (3* Proficiency) degrees mid-air, per jump. Increase jump distance by (P)%. You can skip off of slanted or vertical surfaces (P/50) times as if it were solid ground. If no surface is available, you can pay (3,000 - 2*Proficiency) Energy.
* Unhindered Movement: You ignore (P/8)% of all movement hazards.
Physical Mastery [ 642 / 672 ]. Gain (P/5) extra base HP.
* Accelerated Regeneration: Increase your HP regeneration rate by (Endurance x P/20)%.
* Instant Healing: When under (P/20)% of the maximum, recover (P/10)% of the maximum. Cooldown 30 minutes.
* Regeneration Boost (Automatic conditions): Increase HP regeneration by (P/10)%
* Precision Movements: Increase Dexterity by (P/75). Add (P/15)% to stealth, evasion, attack, and critical hit chance.
* Perfect Physique: Gain (P/50) to all Physical Attributes.
* Body, Mind, and Soul (U): Gain (P/75) on all Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Attributes.
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Technical Proficiencies - Growth Rate: 398.61%
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Alchemist (*) [ 354 ]. You can synthesize and brew magical and mundane chemicals. Increase potency by (P/5)%.
* Property Prospection: You have a (P/5)% chance to find new properties in rare or new ingredients. You can only inspect a single item type once.
* Mass Pharmaceutics: You can brew batches (P/10) doses at once, with a (P/10)% greater quality.
* Quality Control: You can synthesize food-grade chemicals. Increase the shelf life of all products by (P/2)%.
Baker [ 300 / 307 ]. You can cook food that has dough and goes in an oven. Increase quality by (P/5)%.
* Dough Fermentation: Increase volume, texture, amount of portions, and nutritional value by (P/5)%.
* Careful Kneading: Products yield and are tastier by (P/5)%.
* Food additives: Adding special materials makes your products (P/5)% more nutritious and expensive per extra ingredient.
Botanist [ 300 / 305 ]
* Plant Grafting: You may graft a shoot of a plant onto the root system of another. Increase growth rate, quality, and yield by (P/10)%.
* Selective Pollinization: In each generation, (P/50) batches have each a (P/10)% chance to improve one random beneficial aspect by (P/20)%.
* Acclimatation: In each generation, (P/50) batches have each a (P/30)% chance to shift its preferred environment to better match current conditions.
Cartographer [ 349 ]
* Survey Resources: After a day of analysis, you can determine the presence and nature of resources in a radius of (2*Proficiency) meters and the underground to a depth of (10*Proficiency) meters below (and above, if underground) the survey point.
* Automatic mapping: You can keep up to (P/10) different maps in your memory. You can recall, visualize and redraw those perfectly. These maps’ precision depends on the size. You automatically update and expand your maps as you travel.
* Magical Maps: You can enchant your maps to project a small tridimensional illusion of themselves above the canvas. Using special magical inks, your maps have (Proficiency^2/1250) enchantment points.
Diplomat [ 517 ]. When negotiating, add (P/10) to Charisma tests.
* Conversion: Offers may entice an individual to come into your service. If made without any threats, there's no chance to enrage. Add (P/10) to your tests.
* Diplomatic Retreat: After a negotiation ends and up to (P/20) days later, if attacked by the other party, gain (P/10)% to resistance and evasion for (P/10) minutes. Enemies may not attack for the first (P/10) seconds.
* Diplomatic Entourage: Protections cover up to (P/30) extra creatures, determined before you start negotiations.
* Strong-Willed. Gain (P/50) Willpower and Charisma. Ignore up to (P/5) modifiers of the other party.
* Oratory: If you get an audience to hear your point, add (P/10) to the check to convince them. Shift final reactions of listeners by (P/25) steps in your favor.
Dismantler [ 300 / 305 ]. You dismantle carcasses (P)% faster and with (P/2)% better quality.
* Mass Processing: You can process (P/2) extra corpses with the same resources and time if you have room for all of them. Increase yield by (P/10)%
* Precision Cuts: Increase dismantling speed, yield, and quality of non-unique materials by (P/5)%.
* Core Gatherer: Magical Cores you collect from monster bodies are (P/5)% better.
Enchanter [ 562 ]. You can create enchantments with up to (2*Proficiency) enchantment points.
* Training Aid: You can enchant items to enhance Proficiency acquisition rates by up to (P/20)% to a maximum score of (P/2).
* Tolerance Tuning: Lower Resonance of custom-made or tuned items by (95)% (maximum).
* Unique signature: Increase difficulty to make forgeries, tamper with, or study your enchantments by (P/2). Increase recognition by the same amount.
* Storage Enchantment: You can enchant a pocket dimension inside objects. Size is (P/5) cubic feet. The cost is 3 points per cubic foot.
* Increased Capacity: Your enchanted items get (P/2)% more points.
Gnome Machinist [ 259 / 312 ]. You can design and create machines. Your machines function (P/2)% better.
* Oiled gears: Moving parts in your machines are subject to (P/4)% less friction if beneficial.
* Maneuverability: Your machines enjoy (P/5)% better steering and control.
* Efficient Design: Your machines are (P/10)% lighter without any loss of strength.
Harvester (**) [ 300 / 372 ]
* Infused Harvest: Resources you harvest are (P/4)% better and more valuable.
* Careful Pruning: When you harvest a living resource, it regrows (P/2)% faster if you don’t kill it.
* Speed Harvest: You gather resources (P)% faster, with a (P/10)% quality bonus.
Jeweler (*) [ 402 / 406 ]. Jewelry you craft and gemstones you cut are (P/2)% more valuable, intricate, and stylish.
* Core Cutting: You can cut Magic Cores or their shards into gemstones. Increase Enchantment potential by (P/5)%
* Potential: Jewelry your craft has (Proficiency / 5)% higher enchantment points.
* Paired Jewels: You can make a single piece that can be split in two. Each piece keeps (50 + P/10)% of the full enchantment and is always treated as being (2*Proficiency) kilometers closer to each other, up to zero distance. The bearer of a jewel can sense the direction of the other piece.
* Electrochemical Plating: Add a precious metal coating over a lesser metal, saving (P/5)% of the precious metal. The coating grants (P/10)% of the better metal’s properties.
Leadership [ 361 ]. Increase loyalty of people under your command or employ by (P/5).
* Commanding presence: Up to (4*Proficiency) units no further away than (P) meters from you gain (P/75) Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Mind, Willpower.
* Royal Quest: Add (P/2) Charisma bonus to force non-Royals to do your bidding. A successful test makes them comply. Your Royal order may be converted into a Quest. Spend [(100 - P/10) x Target's Base Level Exp] from your own Exp. The Quest that awards Base Exp.
* Project Leader: When leading collaborative work, Add (P/10) to all team members' respective Proficiencies, up to your own Leadership Score. The maximum team size is (P/10) and they gain Proficiency (P/5)% faster.
Metalsmith (*) [ 509 / 522 ]. Increase crafting speed, quality, and price of your metal products by (P/3)%.
* Mana Hammer: You infuse metal as you work, increasing enchantment Points by (P/10)%.
* Durable Alloys: Increase Durability, Hardness, Tensile Strength, and damage resistance by (P/5)%.
* Precision Crafting: Parts you craft are (P/2)% more precise and (P/10)% more resistant to degradation.
* Impurity Purge: Metallic items you craft resist (95)% corrosion and rust damage.
* Alloy Mixture: Your alloys improve all aspects by (P/20)%.
Miner (*) [ 330 / 334 ]. You extract ore (P/2)% faster and in higher quantities.
* Arcane Pick: Increase the amount of magic-rich minerals extracted by (P)% and the odds of finding such nodes by (P/2)%.
* Gem Node: Gemstones you mine are bigger and have better quality by (P/4)%.
* Motherlode: Ore you extract contains (P/5)% more useful materials.
Musician [ 314 / 317 ]. Add (Proficiency /5) to your Charisma checks while you perform.
* Phantom Instruments: You can summon (P/10) phantom instruments and singers to accompany you.
* Project Sound: The sounds you make may be heard (P/10) times further. (P/5)% of the sound going in one direction may be reflected back.
* Inspiring Song: Your music can incite one emotion of your choice, enhancing that emotion by (P)% and (P/15) to all social attempts conveyed by your vocals.
Physician (*) [ 305 / 312 ]. Patients add (P/10) to the patient's Endurance for HP and wound recovery and all tests related to healing.
* Extended Care: You can treat up to (P/10) patients at the same time. They add (P/10) to Endurance tests to resist the effects of any health debuff.
* Anesthetic Touch: When you start treating your patient, they become sedated and docile. While you work, they feel no pain. Reduce procedure duration by (P/5)%.
* Long-Term Care: You can stay up to (Proficiency/20) hours away from a patient before the benefits of continued care fade. After your return, you must spend at least a fifth of the time you spent away looking after the patients before you can leave again.
Rune Scribe (**) [ 266 / 360 ]
* Enchanted Runes: Each rune can hold (P/25) enchantment points
* Rune Words: The right combination of runes yields (P/10)% more enchantment points.
Silkweaver (*) [ 370 / 441 ]
* Reinforced: Your silk is (P/2)% Stronger and has (P/5)% more hardness.
* Devouring: Your living silk can feed off of organic matter as well as magic and have (P/5)% more base HP.
* Unbreakable: Your silk is (P/3)% harder to break.