The rest of the dinner passed uneventfully as Nessyra and Satari moved to put the contract on paper. Zaltom, who had impassively observed the exchange, had deemed his presence to be no longer needed. Zaltom said his brief goodbyes and disappeared into thin air, presumably returning to his domain. Once the contracts were signed, Nessyra and Satari shot up in levels by a noticeable degree as power radiated from them. Even Alistair leveled up once to level 70 as his latest skill selection became available. Noticeably, Riseth had not leveled up and pouted as Alistair pulled ahead in levels. Nessyra was the highest-level individual in their clan. She greatly benefitted from the trial and constant business dealings, which put her far ahead. Alistair was confident she would reach Grade 8 before the end of the trial despite the increasing difficulty of advancing one's Grade. Alistair was, however, more concerned that Satari had leveled almost as much as Nessyra in that exchange. That meant that they had also gotten what they wanted and presumably achieved a hidden agenda.
As they were led to the elevator, Alistair took the opportunity to check his new skill options. He was briefly interrupted as they said their farewells to Satari, exchanging deep bows of respect.
Skill Choices: Tier: Skill Name: Description: [Epic]
Flash Step
The user can perform a burst of speed that allows them to move so fast it appears as if he has teleported by continuously expending a tiny amount of [Qi]. This Technique scales in efficiency and speed with the [Power] and [Control] stats at a moderate degree.
[Rare] Teleport
This skill can be used to home in on distant energy sources sensed by the user or known locations within its considerable range. Its large [MP] cost scales with distance to the target and requires a moderate amount of time and focus to establish a connection between the user and the target location.
[Rare] Veiled Emotions
This skill passively veils the user's emotion from the senses and skills of others to a moderate degree, scaling with the user's [Control] stat. It also provides a moderate amount of protection against [Mental] attacks based on emotions.
[Uncommon] Suppressed Presence
This skill passively suppresses the user's presence by reducing the amount of passively exuded magic and blending it in with atmospheric mana signature at a moderate degree scaling with the user's [Control] stat.
The long-range Teleportation skill was the last of the teleport skills missing from his skill options last time. As with the last ones, the credit for figuring it out went to his mother, as her now incredible space affinity had let her intuitively understand how the magic was supposed to work. Especially after a close call, where they had to use their emergency crystals to escape an incoming set of ICBMs blowing up the area after a successful Defend Location Trial.
The Flash step skill was a technique Simon had picked up from his arena buddies, which he later passed on to him. Alistair still remembered when Simon showed him the skill, Simon had asked to meet in the clan's dojo. What greeted Alistair was Simon blitzing around him and yelling. "Look, Alistair, I'm doing an anime!" Which earned Simon the expected facepalm and pained laugh from Alistair. He still cringed at the memory.
The skill went by many different names and was apparently an incredibly common skill in the multiverse. It was currently making its rounds in the arena as more people reached Grade 9. Due to its usefulness, most people who fought a lot got a variation or other of the skill sooner or later. Alistair had mostly used his Blink skill to fill the role but had found that even when manually used, it was cheaper than Blink. However, it was of little concern as Blink had its own advantages, as it did not require him to physically move from A to B. But the Flash Step would work great when teleportation was restricted.
Sadly, it was a waste of a skill option as he did not feel like he needed to pick up the skill, as it took very little of his focus once he had figured out the technique. He would perhaps revisit the skill if he wanted to combine it with some other magic like fire or lightning or a less obvious element. To Alistair's dismay, it wasn't the only wasted skill slot. He was reasonably certain that if he were to choose either of the hiding skills on offer, they could probably be merged into one. Internally, he cursed the fact that they had not done so automatically.
However, he couldn't fault the system for granting him the skills independently, as he had not considered their potential combination before receiving them in this manner. This was one of these moments where it almost felt like the system had some mind of its own. But yet again, it was trying to be helpful within the framework of obscure rules Alistair had not deciphered completely yet. Riseth's suggestion that the system and magic came after the creation of the universes came to mind again. They had looked it up, and there were tons of theories on the system's origin and nature. The one that spoke to him the most was that it was some kind of ascended hivemind virus that was magic itself. Could a virus achieve sentience and, then, godhood? Was he truly some kind of carrier in a symbiotic relationship with a hivemind? It was one of the more outlandish theories they had found about the system, though it resonated with both him and Riseth. He dismissed the thought as he picked up the Veiled Emotion skill. Alistair was immediately proven right as he got a notification for a possible skill upgrade, which he confirmed.
Skills: Tier: Name: Description: [Supreme]
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Aura Suppression
This skill passively suppresses the user's presence by reducing the amount of passively exuded magic and blending it in with atmospheric mana signature at a moderate degree. This also veils the user's emotions through magic from the senses and skills of others. Both effects are moderately scaled with the [Control] stat.
It protects from and reduces the noticeability of the [Identify] skill, which is determined by contesting the user's [Control] stat against the target's [Senses] while considering relevant aura skills.
The skill also passively provides moderate protection against emotion-based [Mental] attacks and moderately improves the user's aura [Control] in an aura contest.
Riseth and Nessyra immediately sensed the change as his aura stopped radiating magic, which had previously given insights into his emotional state. Nessyra nodded approvingly. She had been using a similar skill for a while and asked him about his insights over the link, with Riseth listening in with interest.
Alistair was very satisfied with the upgrade; while he could manually use either skill, they were still a pain to maintain. Having the new skill automate the process would be a great relief as the skill would even work when he did not actively need it. People other than Riseth would now have to guess or aggressively probe him with their senses to get a read on him. The addition of his Identify skill being less noticeable and him being harder to identify was a big boon. He would need to look into aura control, as he suspected it was a field of magic he had overlooked.
As the elevator reached the lobby, Alistair noticed that the receptionist had been replaced again. This time, it was by a light purple-skinned Incubus in a sleeveless suit. Alistair wondered if there were multiple stops in that elevator. Perhaps Zaltom had the same ability as Mitania to split himself up, holding multiple meetings simultaneously. The Incubus watched them leave, winking at Alistair, still deep in thought. Alistair was mildly surprised at the gesture but turned away to leave with Riseth and Nessyra.
They needed a change of plans, so they called up the rest of the clan and informed them of the agreements. Their original schedule would have seen Alistair go off on his own in the Slayer World, as it was his time off from protection duty. They had set up a rotation where at least one of their strongest fighters was present in case of an emergency. But that would need to be delayed as they needed to advance the Clan War Trial faster than expected.
They had scoured every inch of the planet, taking down the smaller factions by sabotaging their self-replicators and headquarters themselves. If that wasn't enough, they expanded their efforts and had the Nugan or Ithania automata factions overrun them, which still credited them with a lot of collateral with the Kill Automata Units objective, netting them a frankly absurd amount of kills. However, killing robots had little to no influence on their records anymore. Alistair and the rest mostly got rewarded levels for completed objectives rather than destroying the same robots over and over again. They had gotten a handful of events like defending certain locations or, ambushing certain convoys, or dominating a certain battlefield. Alistair checked his known objectives, which kept ticking up even as he looked at it.
Known Objectives:
Destroy Automata Faction
[6/8]
Kill Automata Units [1,682,645/?] Destroy Automata Self-Replicators
[12/?]
Destroy Outposts [27/?] Destroy Logistic Nodes
[32/120]
Destroy Planetary Defense Grid Nodes
[41/41]
Successfully Completed Trials
[9]
Discover Hidden Locations
[21]
They had hit multiple different kinds of nodes and locations of interest per day during the last three months, aiming to collapse the automata's ability to fight back with continuous hit-and-run tactics. The planet had a planetary defense grid maintained by the individual Stuquit nations before war broke out. Once they started killing each other, they had apparently shot down all of the rival nations' ships in orbit, causing the Kessler Syndrome. That was something Jessica had found out after they had discovered the debris while filtering through recovered data they had claimed in one of the nodes. James had collected many of the railgun emplacements despite bemoaning the Stuquit's terrible design choices. Even without retrofitting them, many planets and factions would kill to have access to such a defensive measure. Fortunately, many of the Ryser Clan craftsmen had by now learned how to craft storage items, barely allowing the clan to meet James' high demand for storage, which also explains why most factions refused to sell storage items.
James had insisted that the clan prioritized targeting the defensive grid, taking away their means of shooting ICBMs at the clan. They had considered using the missiles against the last two headquarters, but that would destroy any and all blueprints and tech the largest factions had held back. Instead, they had shot the missiles at smaller outposts and larger forces they had discovered, racking up kills. Disappointingly, they had not gotten a title for nuking their opposition, but they had been credited for the kills.
His entire family had reached Grade 9, with the exception of his aunt. Both his sister and mother had evolved into their respective Witch Matriarch subraces. The evolution had been a linear upgrade without noticeable visual changes. James had evolved into a Cyber Magus, integrating his cybernetics and boosting his affinity for technology and magic. His girlfriend had managed to evolve into an Amazonian, and she now towered over James. Alistair was still taller than her, but she came in as a close second in height. They had grown powerful and were ready to strike.
As Nessyra coordinated the clan members, Riseth spoke up with determination. "The more intact debris we've spotted will be orbiting over our gate location in two days. We should get this over with before we miss our window."
Alistair agreed; they picked up their pace, reaching the gate of the nurturing ward and heading directly for the Automata world. His mother, Juliana, was already waiting for them at the gate. Simon, James and the rest of the group were currently in the Zephyr, flying to a set of ruins where they could link up. Alistair was impressed by how fast they could mobilize. They had just destroyed another Logistic node and were already preparing to link up and regroup with the rest of the clan. The last three months had refined their teamwork and coordination by leaps and bounds. They had made plans and preparations for an assault on the last two headquarters over a week ago. Alistair knew that no plan survived first contact with the enemy, but he was confident that they could at least do a lot of damage.