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“I have some idea, but for the sake of clarification, what’s the difference?” Seraphiel questioned. “I choose the Skills I want, right? So, is it just an effectiveness thing?”
Lucifer moved his head a little indecisively. "Not exactly, and kind of. It is an effectiveness thing, but because you'll gain access to certain Skills that improve your effectiveness. This is where the System part of the Classes comes in, so you're not used to this."
She frowned. “Then how am I able to figure out what new Skills to take if I don’t know what’s available.”
Luci chuckled. “This is where your unique experience sort of makes you blind to some things. You know how these Classes worked in other universes so well, that you don’t entirely consider that they don’t work exactly the same here. You may have forgotten, but every time you go up in Skill, you just know how to perform the associated action or actions better. It’s knowledge that’s granted to you automatically. You simply haven’t paid attention because you already know how to do all these things at a higher level than what the Skills tell you. In fact, in some ways, the Skills can even tell you wrong things just because they’re less advanced. However, the Classes also tell you what kind of Skills are available to you. You’ve just never listened. Something that’s always been a bit of a problem for you.” He joked.
“Oh.” She realized he was right. She’d simply ignored all those suggestions because she thought she knew more. Almost always she did know more, but that wouldn’t necessarily always be the case.
"Yeah. However, just to give a couple of examples, the Mage Hunter path allows you to take and store some of the power from spells you've used your Skills to disrupt and use it later on to cast spells of your own. For most people, this would be limited use, as they wouldn't know magic, but you’ve been a mage before. You won’t have any of the support Skills or stats to make that magic more powerful, but I’m sure you could find uses. The Monster Hunter path has a passive buffing Skill that either gives you a stacking buff that helps you fight hordes of weaker monsters, demons, or spirits, or goes straight to maximum stacks when fighting a higher-level singular monster. Helps you keep your strength up in longer fights, among other things.” Luci explained.
“That latter one would be quite useful against the Tyranids.” She pointed out.
“It would.” Luci agreed with a nod, drinking from his glass. “Among other things.”
“However, it would be a bit of a short-term investment. I know there’s supposed to be a demon problem back home as well. It would help level faster, but the usefulness beyond that is somewhat limited to only fighting monsters.” She argued.
Luci didn’t react to that one in any way, meaning she likely was missing something.
“I note that you didn’t give any examples of the third option.” She pointed out.
“That’s because you already know. It’s rather obvious after all.” He replied simply.
"A Zanpakutō, and likely enhancements to the Shinigami Skills.” She nodded. The benefits were indeed rather blatant. So far, the Class had relied quite heavily on the Skills she’d learned from the Shinigami. Out of the remaining nine Skills, three were directly from them, while two of the others were at least influenced by them. As for the matter of a Zanpakutō, she had not introduced that factor to the Class before because she didn’t like being limited to a single weapon. Especially when she could create Witchblades as a Farseer. Something she pointed out.
“As you might expect, the Zanpakutō work a little differently with System involvement. To put it simply, the spirit can be housed in any weapon, though it may prefer certain types above others. It simply makes the weapon more powerful and helps it grow with you. You could still create new weapons; you just wouldn’t need to do it so often. Though the particulars would depend on the weapon spirit. The spirit would be tied to you, not to a particular weapon.” Lucifer explained.
“Fine. You knew I was going to pick that path anyway. You did manage to make the choice harder, but here we are anyway.” She decided.
"Well, it's important that you're fully aware of your options, even if the choice is already made," Lucifer explained. "On that note…"
[[Hohō] has evolved into [Shunpo].]
[[Advanced Kidō] has evolved into [Superior Kidō].]
[[Reiatsu] has evolved into [Advanced Reiatsu].]
“That’s less than the other Classes.” She pointed out.
“Correct. That’s because the Class is already a grab-bag of some of the most powerful techniques around. The Skills don’t really need much in the way of improvement.” Lucifer shrugged. “Besides, that’s what you chose. You knew the improvements would apply to your Shinigami Skills. However, I can assure you that the improvements are more significant than what the simple names might imply. Just to give an example, [Advanced Reiatsu] is vastly more efficient now, making it a useful Skill even against singular strong opponents. And you know that’ll only increase when you train with the Zanpakutō.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m dissatisfied in any case. If anything, I think I may have gained more than I should have, but I do believe it’s that way for a reason.” She wasn’t blind enough to not notice the favoritism.
Luci grinned. “Good. You’re catching on. You are the Champion for both Mother and me. Mother wants you to stomp all competition of course so that she can brag. And I’ve already mentioned I have my own reasons.”
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“And it would be so much easier if you just told me what those reasons are.” She pointed out.
“Easier, yes. More fun? No. You’re to blame really. You picked Lucifer as your guide. Now you’re going to get me, with horns and all.” He gestured grandly.
“The saying is warts and all.” She muttered.
“I don’t have warts, although some religious texts might claim otherwise. So, it wouldn’t make any sense to use that word.” Lucifer dismissed the mere thought. “Which does bring up another point I should mention.”
“Am I going to hate this?” She asked with trepidation.
"No, you might actually like this. See, it's commonly known that level 250 allows you access to your full racial abilities, which often includes an improvement in race. However, it's extremely rare for underage people to reach that point. These improvements kind of rely on you being at your fullest. Not to say you couldn't mature further afterward, as you can always improve, but you should have at least the maturity level associated with adulthood, which then gives you access to the full base physical abilities your race offers.
"I think I already see where this is going." She interrupted. "Not all that surprising since you've been pushing me to grow faster the whole time already. I wasn't that far off from the point you mentioned."
“Not too far, no, but a couple of years still. We took care of that remaining 20% or so.” Lucifer finished with a grin.
“You, meaning you and Mother.” She made sure.
“Exactly. While we expected you to race through the levels, I must admit that we were off by a few years. On the other hand, I did not expect you to use that ritual quite on the scale you did. Though I suppose it was somewhat inevitable in hindsight. Now, off you go.” He gestured, and she found herself back in her body.
Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about certain issues.
As she blinked her eyes open, she noticed she was lying down on the ground, still within the ritual circle. She was no longer sitting cross-legged and had obviously moved during the time that had passed. She could also feel her body had changed. Grown. It wasn’t the only thing she could feel, as her senses had grown a lot sharper as well. Someone else might have been overwhelmed, but she was already used to sharper senses thanks to her previous experiences. It wasn’t new to her. Instead, it was like reclaiming a small part of something that she’d lost.
“Seraphiel.” Her mom’s voice called out to her.
She moved slowly to look up. “How long was I gone?” She asked, finding her own speech a little slurred. Her throat had changed as well, giving her voice a bit of a different tone. Huskier and less childish.
“A few hours. You’ve changed quite a bit.” Her mom stated.
“Yeah, my guide did mention something about maturing to reach adulthood. Not supposed to reach level 250 as a juvenile or something. So they took care of it.” She tried to clear her speech by stretching out her mouth and clearing her throat. It wasn’t just about vocal cords and your physiology. She’d never entirely talked like a child or adolescent, but she hadn’t entirely spoken in the same way as adults either. Your tone and word selection mattered a lot in the way you presented yourself.
“Well, they took care of it alright. It was a little spooky seeing you suddenly float in the air and glow like a small star.” Her mom explained. “The light seemed to be responsible for the change. It’s not unheard of among races like ours and the Draenei who have extremely long childhoods, but it is extremely rare.”
"Did the whole thing take so long that we have to vacate the room?" Seraphiel asked, looking around. Raziel was not present, even though he had been in the beginning.
“No. These things can take hours sometimes. Yours was still counted in minutes. Speaking of, the light does imply you managed to secure a higher form of a race.” Her mom said suggestively.
“Always was.” She stated simply, before slowly moving back towards her dorms, not answering any further questions. She had to take things slowly since her new Skills threw her perfect control out of whack again.
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As she knelt in her dorm room, she allowed the Classes to fill her with information. Information that hinted at available Skills. With three open slots, she had some decisions to make. One of those slots already had a Skill slated for it, as the choice was obvious. It was the two newly opened Skill slots in her Farseer Class that she had to explore some options for. She’d been forced to occupy those slots with Skills she knew she would not be keeping so far because of the requirements for the [Reality Control]. That had put strains on what she could do with the Class, but now she was free of that burden.
The obvious thing to do was to check where her weaknesses were. The obvious problem with her two first Classes both being psionic was that they both consumed her limited psionic power, and she could use her abilities only so often due to her Tolerance. Her Psionic Stats would also be falling far behind her physical ones thanks to the changes to her Racial Skills. She would not be able to get a Skill to do the same to her Psionic Stats, but she could do something to mitigate the problem and allow her to use her abilities more often and more freely.
[[You've gained the new Skill: Psionic Efficiency! Some psions and psykers are all about power. However, an oft-ignored facet of one's skillset is the ability to use their Skills more efficiently. With this Skill, casting or maintaining any psionic abilities becomes more efficient. Reduction of 1% to the consumption of power and tolerance per level of the Skill. Would you like to accept the Skill? Y/N]
Yes. Yes, she would. The math on the Skill was a little deceptive. Abilities didn't become free at Skill rank 100. Instead, a 100% reduction meant that the cost would be halved. If the Skill matched her current Skill level, any Skills would cost less than a quarter of the power, which would only become more and more necessary as her Skills grew in power and scope. The bad news was that she also felt that this Skill had a hard cap, unlike most other Skills. She didn't know what that cap was, but at a certain point, it would stop leveling. The good news was the Skill was easy to level, as it would be in effect every time she used her powers.
The next power was also an easy one now that she had the Skill slot available. It was a stable and often relied-on ability used by most Farseers. It was one of their most important combat abilities after all.
[You’ve gained the new Skill: Doom! You cast the hex of a dreadful fate upon your target. They will find their actions and plans suffer in both blatant and subtle ways. A previously solid ground cracking under their foot just as they are trying to land a blow, causing them to miss. An ally learning of a dark secret through an unfortunate series of events. The target will find their attacks turning into simple glancing blows, while the attacks of their enemies always tend to find the weak spots in their armor. Whatever the method, bad karma will weigh upon the target, bringing misfortune and doom. Would you like to accept the Skill? Y/N]
Yes, she would. Doom would not suddenly make an opponent much stronger than her fall, but it could make all the difference in a pinch. The best part was that the power was subtle and cheap to use. She could easily target multiple opponents without their notice. It wouldn’t suddenly make everything they did fail, especially if they were higher level, but it could swing things her way. Especially when she had the Skill [Precognition] and could tell when her opponent was about to get unlucky. Those situations could create openings that you could exploit, especially if you knew they were coming.
Even subtle alterations like this could make all the difference in a battle, something the Aeldari had learned a long time ago.
The last Skill choice was obvious. She reached inside her, into her internal world that she knew would be there, but one that she had not visited in a long while. Once, her internal world had been a copy of the Silver City, but she’d seen too much for that to really feel home anymore. Instead, she found herself in a long but cozy hallway that seemed to be stretching on forever, with doors lining up both sides of the hallway. Some doors looked cozy and welcoming, while some looked like they were going to lead you into damnation and Hell.
With a small smile, she closed her eyes and grasped her hand around a doorknob that she just knew would be there, before stepping through the door. She found herself on one of the worlds she'd visited in the past. It was mostly barren, having been used as a battlefield. She could feel the presence of her new sword spirit somewhere, but she could tell the spirit was not ready to reveal itself just yet. The spirit fled, likely going behind one of the other doors.
With a small nod, she allowed herself to return to her body. Zanpakutō could be really skittish in the beginning. Sometimes it took decades before a Shinigami even learned their name. Having completed the process before, she knew how it was done, and so she wouldn’t be fumbling in the dark, trying to guess how to proceed. Still would require some time. She was somewhat surprised that a Skill enforced by the System would require such extra hoops though.
With the first step taken, she dusted herself off to go and find Kaede. It was time to see if the instructor would finally have to take her seriously.