I searched through my available general skills and perks but I didn't find any that allowed the transfer of essence. It was likely that I didn't have the requisite perks or level to unlock it. However, my search wasn't for nothing. I found more perks from the magic tree that had become available since I had purchased Magic Projection and in the general skills, a new mental skill was available as well.
Magic Absorption (Cost: 32 ES 24 ES, Requires: Magic Perception, Magic Projection, Rare magic class)
Grants the ability to absorb mana from the environment, magic objects, and magical frameworks
Magic Control (Cost: 32 ES 24 ES, Requires Magic Perception, Magic Projection, Rare magic class)
Grants fine control over mana and magical frameworks
Doubles the amount of spells meta-magic skills and perks can affect (current: [Multicast] [Metamagic])
Mental Construct (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES, Requires: Mental Mastery - Rank 3, Mental Partition - Rank 3)
Passive, 20 FP
Create one mental construct per rank, each construct is capable of using all of your mental abilities (Acceleration, Partition, etc.), your senses and perception abilities, and certain skills (magic, etc.). Construct can only communicate with the primary mind.
Before I purchased them, I chose to raise all of my attributes past two hundred. I had a lot of essence to spare and I had made the mistake of neglecting them several times already. I would also pick the perks that increased the ratio from attributes to health, stamina, and mana.
With the kind of increase I wanted, I would hit the first attribute wall of two hundred. At this stage, the ratio got worse, from a two-to-one to a one-to-one. The Essence Mastery perk was an advantage in this case since I would go from a four-to-one to a three-to-one.
> Increased Strength from 115 to 199, then to 211 for 25 ES (+96 points)
> Increased Agility from 118 to 198, then to 213 for 25 ES (+95 points)
> Increased Vitality from 125 to 197, then to 221 for 25 ES (+93 points)
> Increased Endurance from 85 to 197, then to 218 for 35 ES (+133 points)
> Increased Intelligence from 130 to 198, then to 253 for 35 ES (+122 points)
> Increased Wisdom from 121 to 197, then 245 for 35 ES (+124 points)
> Increased Spirit from 105 to 197, then 233 for 35 ES (+128 points)
> Increased Clarity from 108 to 200, then 236 for 35 ES (+128 points)
>
> Perk Health Source gained for 200 reaching Vitality and Strength
> Perk Stamina Source gained for 200 reaching Endurance and Agility
> Perk Mana Well gained for 200 reaching Spirit and Intelligence
> Perk Mana Source gained for 200 reaching Clarity and Wisdom
Or the system would do it for me, at least for some of them. It looked like for health and stamina, I only had the regeneration increase, and no focus perk at all.
I completed the set and bought the rest of the perks as well as upgrades for the essence tree for good measure.
> Purchased Magic Absorption for 24 ES
> Purchased Magic Control for 24 ES
> Upgraded Essence Well to rank 3 for 24 ES
> Upgraded Essence Absorption to rank 3 for 24 ES
> Purchased Health Well for 18 ES
> Purchased Stamina Well for 18 ES
> Purchased Focus Well for 18 ES
> Purchased Skill Mental Construct at rank 3, level 20 for 26 ES
My next essence sink were the class skills, especially the ones from Mystic Priestess and Arachne. I wanted to raise them to rank three to be ready for class evolutions. The druid guide had mentioned that the High Druid evolution was unlocked by having at least six skills at this tier, there were other requirements as well but they varied by class.
Maybe I could check them? I tried to query the system for this information and surprisingly, it delivered.
Mystic Knight
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Evolution: Mystic Sentinel
Level: 180 (Rank 6)
Mystic Enhancement at rank 5
6 skills at rank 4
8 skills at rank 3
1 rare specialization
Mystic Witch
Evolution: Mystic Weaver
Level: 180 (Rank 6)
Any Magic skill at rank 5
6 skills at rank 4
8 skills at rank 3
1 rare specialization
Mystic Priestess
Evolution: Mystic High Priestess
Level: 180 (Rank 6)
Divine Magic at rank 5
6 skills at rank 4
8 skills at rank 3
1 rare specialization
Arachne
Evolution: Arachne Prinzessin
Level: 180 (Rank 6)
Arachne Body at rank 5, level 100
4 skills at rank 4
6 skills at rank 3
The requirements were steep, as expected for fourth tier classes, but the big surprise was the Arachne evolution. A rank five skill at level one hundred was not an easy target to reach through normal means. However, with Essence Absorption and Essence Mastery, it was within reach. In fact, it was only seventy five essence …
A bargain with how much I had in reserve. But when I went to raise the skill in the system, I felt something stop me. I couldn't just raise the skill all in one go. Instead, it would only go up to level twenty.
> Raised Skill Arachne Body to rank 1, level 20 for 5 ES (+20 levels)
> Molt required to upgrade Arachne Body to rank 2
A molt? I blinked. It makes sense but what the hell?
I checked the skill's description, something I should have done earlier instead of making assumptions.
Arachne Body - Rank 1, Level 20
Passive, Permanent
Permanently transforms the user into the form of an Arachne. When the user reaches the maximum level for a rank, the user can choose a new subspecies and initiate a molt. The molting time depends on the quality of the new subspecies and the level of the user. Be sure to molt in a safe place.
Rank 1: Arachne Hatchling - 20% increased skill experience gain for all Arachne class skills
Well, that was a thing. I shoved the idea aside for the time being. I wasn't very keen on going through a molt yet. I would leave the Arachne skills as they were until I had figured out everything.
I had been messing around with the system for long enough. I would spend the rest of my resources later, before we left.
In the meantime, I had a problem to solve. I wanted somewhere to sleep that wasn't the ground where I needed to contort my legs to fit. And sleeping with Vel in a web sounded all kinds of fun.
----------------------------------------
"Finished on your side?" Vel asked me.
"For now. I wanted to take a break to build somewhere to sleep."
"You're talking about a web?"
"Crouching down on the ground isn't all that comfortable. My legs are all cramped up."
"Do you know how to build a web?"
"I know what it looks like, it shouldn't be that hard right?"
Vel raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at my legs.
"Anyway," I pushed myself up and skittered towards the wall.
The corner of the room looked to be the best place to work with. I had two walls and a support column to attach my web to. Provided everything was sturdy enough to hold my weight.
First, I needed to figure out how to spin web. I knew that spiders made their web with spinnerets located at the back of the abdomen. They were fairly easy to spot. I brought one of my rear legs near them and used the Spider Thread skill. A small line of silk poked out and I grabbed it with the small claw at the end of my leg.
I slowly pulled out a length of silk then flexed a pair of muscles to cut it. It looked like the thread skill came with the necessary knowledge of how to work the organs. I passed the thread to my forward leg then to my hands where I examined it. It was about a quarter the width of my pinky finger. On closer inspection, I noticed it was a multitude of smaller threads stuck together. I experimented and tried to make thicker and thinner variants.
> Skill Spider Thread has reached rank 1, level 2 (+1 level)
While I worked, Vel looked at me with fascination.
"I didn't expect you to figure it out that fast," she said.
"There's a skill for it, it helps a lot. There was no spider walking skill."
"Why wasn't there a skill?"
"I think the system considers walking to be too … basic to need one. Animals and monsters are born with the instincts to work their body, we had to learn to walk but that was before we had access to the system. If I were to guess, the ritual forces the change and it's not perfect. Or maybe it was designed that way." I shrugged. The system worked in arbitrary ways sometimes.
"But, back to webs," I continued, "I need to figure out how to make it stick to the wall. Not like spiders can tie it down."
"Sticky web?" Vel offered.
"That was my idea."
I pushed my rear against the wall and used the skill again, this time with the intention of making it stick. Another set of muscles flexed and a small bead of liquid was deposited on the wall at the end of the thread. I pulled away and continued to spin. The line extended from my butt to the wall. I moved to the opposite wall and carefully propped myself against it with my rear legs. I pushed my spinneret against the wall and created a second bead of adhesive. When I pulled back, I cut the line.
> Skill Spider Thread has reached rank 1, level 4 (+2 levels)
It wasn't the best looking web. It wasn't even a web, just a single line, but I felt happy. I put my forward legs on the line and pushed. The silk flexed quite a bit but it held. The attachment points on the other hand did not. The line snapped from the wall and fell to the ground.
I frowned.
"I'm on the right path," I said, "I need to design my attachment points better. Distribute the load between multiple connections. The adhesive also needs some time to harden."
"You've lost me," Vel said, "don't you just need a higher skill level?"
"Probably but I can also use physics to cheat," I grinned.
I started to spin more silk and this time, I used Psychokinesis. At first it was strange to control the thread that way but I quickly got used to it. I made three loops of silk that I tied together at one end. Then I used my rear to cut each loop in two and apply a bead of adhesive on each end. Finally I stuck each end at an even angle on the wall.
A quick pull test showed that it didn't budge even if I applied most of my weight to it.
"There we go," I smiled proudly.
Vel had a happy smile on her face. It looked like she enjoyed my antics as much as I did. I pulled her close for a hug and lifted her completely off the ground. I used my second set of arms and pedipalps to help.
"Whaa~" She yelped in surprise and grabbed my shoulders. "What are you doing?"
"You don’t like it?" I asked.
"No … I mean yes … I mean … I love it," she said with a blush, "it was just a bit … sudden."
I leaned in to kiss her.