> Enchantments are a physical manifestation of magic. They allow fixing spells into a tangible medium to give them permanence. This is achieved by engraving an array of runes into an object, either on its surface or as part of its structure.
>
> The first is often used for basic enchantments such as the sharpness and durability enhancement applied to many blades. The runic arrays for those are simple enough that they can be taught and created without specialized tools. A blacksmith or tailor will often learn the basic levels of enchantment as part of their apprenticeship.
>
> The second form of enchantment is much harder to achieve. It requires the enchanter to use spells to modify the structure of an object or gem. Each type of material supports different levels of enchantment and requires a different spell as well, requiring extensive study or research. The advantage of structural enchantments is their ability to handle exponentially more complexity than their surface counterpart.
>
> Multiple arrays can be stacked on top of each other or placed in different orientations relative to each other. In combination with volumetric runes, the arrays can achieve complex results in a much smaller space. A preferred method of many enchanters is to create a supporting network on a base object such as a ring, bracelet, or amulet, and socket several gems inside.
>
> ⨠The basics of Enchantment, by Nuhise
"Interesting?" Vel hugged me from behind and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Very," I hummed, "I'm getting a better idea of how it works." I waved my right hand to show the ritual gauntlet.
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With today's brush with death, I decided to invest more essence into physical attributes, vitality in particular. It was also time for me to revisit a perk I had sidelined some time ago, Danger Sense. The experience with the barbcat made me realize that there were things capable of taking me by surprise even with my near local omniscience. While scrolling through the list, I found another gem as well.
Danger Sense (requires [Improved Senses])
Gives advance warning of danger
Magic Projection (requires [Magic Perception], Rare magic class)
Grants the ability to project spells away from the caster.
Distance scales quadratically with mental attributes.
Cost and cast time scale logarithmically with distance.
While most of my spells could project their effects at a distance, the point of origin was always somewhere on my body. This perk looked like it would allow me to displace the spell circle, and thus the origin, itself when casting.
> Increased Vitality from 60 to 120 for 15 ES (+60 points)
> Increased Strength from 60 to 100 for 10 ES (+40 points)
> Purchased Danger Sense for 24 ES
> Purchased Magic Projection for 24 ES
To combine with the new Danger Sense, there were two skills for Mystic Knight I had shelved as well during the trial. It was almost second nature to use Mystic Enhancement during battle and the buffs were useful but I couldn't rely entirely on a single skill to cover all of my bases at once.
Mystic Perception (Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
Active, 10 MP/sec
Increases your perception and reaction speed by 100% for each skill rank.
Mystic Body (Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
Active, 10 MP/sec, 15 SP/sec
Increases all physical attributes by 15% for every 10 skill levels.
Increases all physical defenses by 10% for every 10 skill levels.
Increases all resistances by 5% for every 10 skill levels.
Spatial Movement (Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
Passive/Active, 20 MP/surface
Improves movement speed and jump reach by 20% per skill rank.
Can create magical platforms in the air capable of supporting your weight.
Can manifest 1 platform per 10 skill levels.
On the Mystic Witch side, my purchase spree back in Nis had opened some doors as well. I decided to take the last core magic skill before anything else, I didn't want to forget and fill all of my slots.
Psychic Magic (Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
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Passive
Allows the conversion of internal mana into psychic mana. Grants the ability to memorize and cast psychic spells. Grants an intuitive understanding of psychic spell patterns. Skill level increases available knowledge.
Minor Spell Level: 1, Major Spell Level: 2
Swiftcast (Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
Passive
Increases the speed of casting spells and reduces skill activation by 10% every 5 skill levels.
Mystic Mind(Cost: 8 ES, 6 ES)
Active, 10 MP/sec, 15 SP/sec
Increases all mental attributes by 15% for every 10 skill levels.
Increases all magical defenses by 10% for every 10 skill levels.
Increases mana regeneration by 5% for every 10 skill levels.
With all the purchases, I would be much lighter in essence and skill slots but I felt like it was necessary. There were some deficiencies in my build that I needed to correct, I wouldn't be able to spend my hard earned essence if I died.
> Purchased Skill Mystic Perception at rank 2, level 20 for 16 ES
> Purchased Skill Mystic Body at rank 2, level 20 for 16 ES
> Purchased Skill Spatial Movement at rank 2, level 20 for 16 ES
> Purchased Skill Psychic Magic at rank 3, level 20 for 26 ES
> Purchased Skill Swiftcast at rank 2, level 20 for 16 ES
> Purchased Skill Mystic Mind at rank 2, level 20 for 16 ES
> Raised Skill Mystic Enhancement to rank 3, level 6 for 10 ES (+40 levels)
> Raised Skill Multishot to rank 2, level 4 for 5 ES (+20 levels)
> Raised Skill Mystic Arrow to rank 2, level 4 for 5 ES (+20 levels)
> Raised Skill Multicast to rank 3, level 8 for 12 ES (+48 levels)
I grinned, more magic research. I was curious how psychic magic differed from arcane and which possibilities it would open for me. I had almost no information on that field, it was mentioned in the books I had but never in any depth. Several of the mages that had been attacking Nis had the Psychic class which I assumed was the key class in this domain. I wondered how rare they were in the wild.
"You have that look," Vel said.
"Which look?" I blinked. I have a look?
"The one you always have when you get new toys to play with. You grin like a madwoman while looking out into the distance."
Maybe I do have a look then.
"I did get some new toys," I snuggled against her, "picked up psychic magic and some utility skills."
"Do you even have enough hours in the day to study everything?"
"Mind partitions," I tapped the side of my head with a smile. "With meditation I can have one partition keep watch through the sphere and the rest work on magic."
"Show-off," she smiled. "Use one of these partitions to take care of me too."
"That, I can do."
We fooled around until nightfall where Vel took the first watch, likely to stop me from experimenting all night again.
With a long day behind me, I dropped like a log.
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"Wake up sleepy, it's your turn," Vel gently kissed me awake.
I stretched in the limited space offered by the shelter.
"Nothing?" I asked as I summoned my armor back on.
I hoped we could find a river soon, I was in dire need of cleaning the blood and smell off. Washing my head with created water was the best I could do on the go and it wasn't enough.
"Nothing!" She said and kissed me good night.
I sat down near the entrance of our place and activated meditation. The calm feeling washed over my mind and I settled into a comfortable position. Alan flew down from his patrol and landed in front of me.
"Heya, little guy," I caressed his head, "nothing out there?"
Alan saw many monsters but none approached the Great Mistress' nest.
"Good," I smiled, "stay here for a bit, I want to try to see if I can build a new form for you."
Yes Great Mistress!
I had realized that since Alan was originally a shadow familiar, he didn't have access to the spirit side of things. His form needed to be updated to be able to channel spirit magic. The Spirit Familiar skill worked the same way as its predecessor but added new options as well. It was enhanced by Spirit Contract which raised the number of familiars I could have to three and allowed me to contract with a spirit summoned through Spirit Summon to take them on as a familiar.
It took around an hour for me to design a new template. I kept to the raven theme but increased the size of the body by fifty percent to comfortably fit the new spirit core in the body. Most of the time was spent in experiments that were dead ends. I tried to add a pair of talons on the wings, or a second pair of wings, but nothing was as elegant and efficient as what I already had.
I saved the template.
> Familiar Template [Shadow Raven] upgraded to [Spirit Raven]
"It's time for an upgrade," I said.
Alan gave a quiet but enthusiastic caw. I dismissed his form and summoned him again with the new template. His new form was still dark but not quite a shadow, silver designs ran on his body like tribal tattoos. He looked around for a few seconds and inspected the new body in detail.
Alan is grateful for the new form, he sent over the link as he preened.
"You can go and give it a try," I said.
Alan trilled and the silver and black raven jumped off the entrance and flew off into the night sky.
Alright, I thought, time for some psychic magic study.
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Psychic magic was a third facet. Nature was organic, arcane was orderly, and psychic was fluid. Like the mind in some ways. The spell circles were like neurons connected together, a seemingly organized chaos. The shape didn't matter as much as how the different components worked together to form a whole. I had five variants of a single spell, all did the same but with different layouts.
The first major spell I created was Psychokinesis. A spell that projected a number of constructs capable of moving objects about and manipulating them. As a tenth level spell, it was capable of exerting enough force to crush bones and precise enough to turn the pages of a book.
To explore the more mental aspect, I created the Telepathy spell which created a network between multiple people. The range was limited to around seventy meters but it would be useful to coordinate, especially if stealth was a priority. The offensive counterpart was Dominate. A spell that I resolved to never use on other sentients unless the situation was dire.
Finally, the last major spell was Major Illusion which used another aspect of psychic mana. It could create visual and auditory illusions in an area. Anyone caught within with high enough mental attributes could resist them.
For the minor spells, I created three. Chameleon to improve stealth, Psychic Armor as a second line of defense, and Gravity to expand my area control options.