Vel had disappeared behind the false panel to the kitchen as soon as I had opened it and transferred our provisions to her storage amulet. I was watching her cook with my sphere and she was enjoying herself. She had quickly figured out the enchantments on the stove and was grilling with abandon.
While she did that, I was stuck waiting in one of the alcoves. I had summoned Alan again to keep me company. I had modified his spider form to include the same fluff as me. He enjoyed it and appreciated the pets he was receiving even more. I imagined it was a somewhat novel experience for him.
As I waited for the food to be ready, I decided to finish spending all the resources I had gained from the Alpha Taratect.
Liscura Van-Niu
[Dark Elf] [Arachne (Rank 1)]
Rank 4 | Level 23/80
100 SP | 48 AP | 0 CP | 0 ES | 1 AS | 2 Perks
The first order of business was the attribute scaling. I had originally planned to use it to bring my strength scaling up, to avoid having to spend two AP per increase, but getting the High Priestess class changed my plans. I would never be a front line combatant and the class bonuses I had picked up had raised to an acceptable level. Spells scaled their damage off of either Intelligence or Wisdom, increasing the scaling for both to the maximum was key for a magic user.
As for my attributes, I decided to get Intelligence and Wisdom to two hundred and use what was left to increase my reserves of health, stamina, and mana.
System Action
Increase scaling of Wisdom from B to A
Cost: 1 AS, Left: 0 AS
Increase Intelligence from 179 to 200 (cost: 7 AP)
Increase Wisdom from 158 to 200 (cost: 14 AP)
Increase Vitality from 86 to 95 (cost: 9 AP)
Increase Endurance from 92 to 100 (cost: 8 AP)
Increase Spirit from 162 to 180 (cost: 9 AP)
Increase Mind from 126 to 128 (cost: 1 AP)
Cost: 48 AP, Left: 0 AP
Intelligence 200 reached
Perk [Mana Source] awarded
Wisdom 200 reached
Perk [Mana Well] awarded
Confirm [Y/N]
I watched my status screen upgrade, the additional perks were welcome and I made a note to raise Spirit to two hundred as soon as I could. Next, I turned towards skills. I skipped over most of the skills I could train and focused my attention on two skills that needed attention.
Mind Construct (I, 1/20; Active: 20 FP/mind)
Create one mind 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.
Shadow Familiar (I, 13/20)
You create a familiar from Shadow Magic instead of contracting with an animal. When you summon a familiar you can create a new template or use an existing template. The familiar intelligence is shared between templates.
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You can keep 3 templates per skill rank up to a maximum of 9.
Your familiar starts with 2 skill slots and gains 1 skill slot for every 5 skill levels up to 8.
Familiar level and rank matches skill level and rank.
I had gained Mind Construct when I had increased the level of Sorceress. I hadn't enabled it then since I hadn't wanted to deal with it. It was another layer on top of my ability to split my attention. Getting it to the second tier was cheap and would allow me to have two virtual brains running at once.
Shadow Familiar needed some love as well. Alan was invaluable for scouting and the skills was incredibly slow to level. If I wanted more abilities for him, I would have to shell out the points.
System Action
Increase Skill [Mind Construct (I)] from level 1 to 20 (cost: 19 SP)
Increase Skill [Mind Construct (I)] from rank I to II (cost: 1 SP)
Increase Skill [Shadow Familiar (I)] from level 13 to 20 (cost: 7 SP)
Increase Skill [Shadow Familiar (I)] from rank I to II (cost: 1 SP)
Increase Skill [Shadow Familiar (II)] from level 1 to 40 (cost: 39 SP)
Increase Skill [Shadow Familiar (II)] from rank II to III (cost: 1 SP)
Increase Skill [Shadow Familiar (III)] from level 1 to 33 (cost: 32 SP)
Confirm [Y/N]
I confirmed and Alan vanished for a split second. I put perk selection aside. Vel had finished cooking and was bringing two delicious smelling plates from the kitchen. She dropped them on the table and sat next to me. Before she could start to eat, I shifted my pedipalps and made a cushion appear on them. Vel looked at me with a puzzled expression for a few instants before I just picked her up and dropped her in my lap. I wrapped my lower set of arms around her stomach and rested my head on her shoulder.
"You're the best, you know," I said, "taking care of me like that."
"You're worth it," she leaned into me and kissed me on the cheek.
Lunch was a quick but delicious affair. Vel had taken advantage of the full kitchen. The meat was braised and accompanied by a thick sauce, the vegetables were grilled to perfection, and she had added some of the flat bread.
"This was great," I said, "best meal I've had in a while."
----------------------------------------
After some relaxation time in the Spider Pillow Fort (patent pending), we finally decided to leave the chamber and explore one of the tunnels. Before that, I took a bit to select new perks. The perks given to me by the system earlier made the choice easier. I had wanted to bolster my mana reserves and this was already accomplished.
I turned my attention towards the new perks that had been unlocked by Magic Projection. From the naming scheme, they were obviously part of the same tree and I hoped there were more.
Magic Absorption (requires [Magic Perception] [Magic Projection], 3rd tier magic class)
Grants the ability to absorb mana from the environment, magic objects, and magical
frameworks
Magic Control (requires [Magic Perception] [Magic Projection], 3rd tier magic class)
Grants fine control over mana and magical frameworks
Doubles the amount of spells meta-magic perks can affect (current: [Multicast] [Metamagic])
The first had an obvious benefit, especially in high mana environments like the jungle. The way it talked about magical frameworks, I also assumed it could drain spells. If I could consume enemy spells to fuel mine, or absorb the mana in lingering spells, it would be a great defensive tool.
Magic Control spoke for itself. Doubling the effect of Multicast and Metamagic was a big improvement. The part about granting fine control was a bit more nebulous in what it entailed but it likely made casting and controlling spells easier.
System Action
Gain [Magic Absorption]
Gain [Magic Control]
Cost: 2 Perks, Left: 0 Perks
Confirm [Y/N]
"All ready on my end," I said.
Vel turned to face me with a big grin on her face. In her hands was a familiar wooden box. I knew what was inside as I had received the same. Words caught in my throat and my heart started beating faster. This wasn't how I had expected it would happen.
"I think you already know," she said with a knowing smile. "I wanted to wait until we were at the capital but with all that's happened …"
I nodded numbly and brought my lower right hand forward. Vel opened the box a delicately took out a ring made of a silvery wood. She gently took my hand and asked.
"Would you …"
"YES!" I didn't let her finish.
She slipped the silverwood ring on my finger.
I pulled her into a tight hug and spun her around. In my excitement, I missed a few steps and I tripped over my own legs. Vel and I tumbled to the ground. Neither of us had been harmed but the moment was well and truly over. My girlfriend started to giggle uncontrollably and I followed a few seconds later.
After a minute or so of uncontrollable laughter, I managed to get my legs in order and back under me. Vel smirked the entire time but I managed to stun her by pulling out my own ring.
"I think we both know the answer at this point," I presented it to her and she let me slide it onto her finger, "until our souls return to the void."
Exchanging silverwood rings was tradition when a couple decided to take their relationship further. It was an Oath between the two partners, to love and support each other. It was usually followed by a big ceremony, mostly because the village loved celebrating things, where the union would be announced to all. There was also a tradition of wearing fancy dresses, it had been the most important part in young Liscura's mind. Not that I disagreed, fancy dresses were the best.
"Now, don't you dare die on me anytime soon," Vel hugged me, "I'll find a way to bring you back!"
"I have no doubt you would," I kissed the top of her head, "be careful too, alright?"