I also wasn’t going to reach Beyond for my power, as that was probably completely impossible without a Galaxy of Elemental Stars to attract the matching power down. No, I was going to go Up, because THAT was a link I already had, and the power of Heaven could totally sub for any of the Schools of Magic.
Expansion was just adding another Hexagonal set of attachments to my existing Star structure... but only the center one was going to be centered on the Arcane and so dependent on the Manafield.
That totally did not solve the problem of entering Sagedom for those who would be coming after me, but what it would do is establish that there was a Road, and it could be followed.
It could NOT be mandatory to follow all Seven Casting Traditions to make Sage here. They didn’t even exist here, so how could that be a road?
But linking to another, different Source of Power to form a wizard’s Universe, instead of the Elements personified by the stars above? Yes, that was probably the way...
More importantly, it was likely it wasn’t going to be a Surge, but a slow, filling process as the power poured in and was guided by the Wizard to the proper form, not just crashing through and lo, here’s another fourteen thousand Stars to fill and treat, eat up!
At least, that was my deduction after making the False Stars for my Soul Essence. Complete serendipity, having to undertake that process while also examining an Emperor’s False Stars for purposes of magnifying basic spells.
Re-Tempering all my Stars was incredibly dry, boring stuff, of course. Knowing that I probably had to do the same thing AGAIN for all my Sage Stars was also that, as well as getting them all to Tier-5.
Thankfully, I had multiple thoughtstreams, and a couple of them just loved doing mindless, boring work over and over, chipping away at a job until it was done. That was simply rep counts... and rep counts were power!
Seven hours of me-time meant more thoughtstreams could be devoted to the simple task of re-Tempering and enhancing the Galaxy of my 2401 Stars. I was far ahead on the Divine Tempering, about half as far on the Natural, and Heartsong, Artifice, Soul, and Pact trailed after, in that order.
When I was done, I would make a Rune Circle with Artifice, erect a Formation with Arcane Magic anchored in Soul Magic, Sanctify the place with Divine Magic while using an area rich in Natural energy, and Sing my Call to Sagedom up my Pact Link to Heaven.
Thunderbird would doubtless let me use His Eye for the attempt, and watch the whole thing very intently. Fire Phoenix would probably visit to watch, too.
I was already working out the levels of how to go about everything. I was also fairly sure that other Typeless breakthroughs were going to involve the help of lesser Typeless Mages, everyone in Formation helping contribute Mana to the Sages as they built up their Universes slowly and surely, instead of instantly getting the whole frame to work on in one fell swoop of cosmic Here-Ya-Go-Baby.
Elemental Mages would have it easier upon fulfillment, it was just a given, but they still had to get past the whole enlightenment thing, a process maybe one in ten half-Sages ever completed. But a Wizard having access to the full scope and range of Sage Spells was going to be a terrifying prospect, much moreso than even a Sage with Five Elements at that Level.
Normally, getting ahold of existing Sage Spells was difficult in the extreme. Such things were fanatically-kept secrets of major organizations, Families, and governments, strictly monitored and tracked. It would have surprised me very little if many Sages only had the spells given them by their backers, plus those they’d managed to figure out for themselves.
Of course, I trusted the gatekeepers in the Synod and the Mage Association to abuse the Hell out of their positions and raid ALL the Sage Spells they safeguarded, including ones dealing with the Darkest Elements, because they could and would do so to benefit themselves.
That was fine. Sama was totally planning to help herself to their archives to benefit us, so it all worked out evenly in the end.
It would work out even more evenly when we started selling them to other Sages and destroyed their stranglehold on the Magicks, although we were likely going to ‘lose’ the Dark Mana Sage Spells somewhere.
Hah, the idea of just selling off Legendary-class spells in any other world...
......
...!
All my thoughtstreams just went still at once as I stopped moving. If I had dared to, I would have bloody burst out screaming.
Sage-level spells were Legendary Spells!
They were a grokking Legendary Feat! Create Legendary Spells!
A Wizard/Mage going for Sage would already have the Caster Level! All they needed to do was have access to Valence IX’s and TAKE THE )*^&(^*$ LEGENDARY FEAT!
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I stood there, the hurricane winds and slicing ice and snow blowing past and around me, glaring at my Valences.
My last few Human Levels as I completed my default tiering of Stars had mostly been filled with Luck and Destiny-based Feats tied to the racial Imperative. I was Beyond Fate and Chance, and couldn’t be guided/forced by other powers... but I could still affect the Fates of those around me, and Magic itself could help me.
The world was alive. I could Commune with it, and it had a Will. There was no doubt whatsoever that me arriving here was a Good Thing, and it was seizing upon the chance to help me along in little ways. It was nothing overt, but when it was paired with Briggs’ gawdawful Source impetus, it meant I was very lucky on a personal level, and his Source Destiny was a freaking world-wide bulldozer, Making Fate for him with every breath of the day.
The fact was, I could take Legendary Feats. I had a default, basic, Classes-derived Caster Level of 26 right now, totally Legendary, completely independent of Feats, Class Benefits, and other effects.
Twenty levels of the native Human Class gave me 13 Levels of Magery. I’d reached Ten in Sorcery, made Eleven with Thunderbird’s Pyramid, made Twelve with Fire Phoenix’s, and made Thirteen after I completed seeing all the Emperors and set up the Council for them, which was just waiting now on my little side trip here to commence.
The Human Levels had been taken up with the Luck and Destiny and Heroic Feats, because that was what was available. I’d made Exemplar Lite at Twenty Human, exactly as promised, and picked up a slew of benefits (but no better Stats than Advanced Human at Fifteen).
My Human/15, Sorc/11 Feat had been Legendary Spellcrafter, for +10 to Spellcrafting checks. I hadn’t even taken it by choice, it had just popped up there, probably because I talked with Thunderbird Emperor all the time about Sage-level Casting, and despite everything I totally wowed Him with how fast I understood the concepts and could design lower-tier Sage spells. He had the Ranks and fundamental knowledge on me, but I could just GO when it came to following principles and rules for respinning the magic into the new things, or better yet learning the extant Spells.
It had not occurred to me at all to abuse the fact I was a non-Legendary, Legend-level Caster, just like Briggs and Sama were Legendary because of their totally broken Rantha Racial Class. I had Burned the Sixth Ring by rote, and Legendary Focus had materialized, keeping my Sage of Focus benefits intact at the Legendary Level.
I hadn’t thought anything of it. I had followed in Sama’s and Briggs’ footsteps, taking Legendary Infuser and the Create Legendary Arms and Armor Mastery at Human/17, allowing me to Artifice really fast and start to work on upgrading Noble to Legendary with a hundred days of work, the real reason I didn’t slack off on littoral duties against the Aquatics: I wanted the Naming Karma!
At Sorcerer/12, I’d bought the Craft Legendary Ring Mastery so I could upgrade Zeben the same way.
At Sorcerer/13, my Bonus Feat had actually manifested as an automatic expansion to Craft Arms and Armor, the Create Legendary Staff Mastery/3 crystalizing into place without me Akasha-diving for it, making sure I could upgrade Noble’s Caster Level past the normal mortal Limit of 20.
I’d also Burned the Seventh Ring at that time, and Tenacious Magic had manifested. It was an extremely powerful Feat, making it impossible to truly Dispel my magic, only suppress it for a few seconds before it popped back to life and resumed its normal duration. In a world where ‘dispel’ meant ‘overwhelm with massive amounts of Mana’, it basically made my spells impossible to get rid of using traditional methods.
That was important for endless amounts of Vivic Eternal Flames! A Dark Mage couldn’t just roll up and snuff the ones I made now, they’d be around for a long, long time...
I still had yet to buy my optional Sorc/13 Feat. I hadn’t done so because I’d been buying up the full set of Class/7’s I had yet to totally acquire, one Level a day. The vast majority of the Karma for that was coming up from the Allegiance, as the people below me fed me Loyalty in great heaping gobs, and I responded by doing my Duty to try and make their world and mine a better place.
Service to honorable Beast Emperors in pursuit of that goal also generated heaps of Karma, as my Leveling under them had proven, and even visiting those Beast Emperors who had probably never even met a Human in ages had confirmed.
Continuing my service to Flowing Silver High Emperor likely didn’t hurt, either.
None of my underlings, especially the KIA guys who were leading the charge, had broken Ten in Wizard yet, and were in no hurry to. They were solidifying their Magery, grabbing Secondary Classes to fortify some foundational skills which would likely have horrified any rivals who knew of them, and would get their Sagedom when it was time, secure and confident with the Great Beasts there to help guide them.
But when it came time, they already had the Caster Level, and could simply take Legendary Spellcasting if they could get to IX Valences, and boom, they’d go right into Sagedom, wouldn’t they? Wizardry would catapult them right past the difficult part!
I couldn’t take Legendary Spellcasting per se, as I was Burning Rings. I needed to reach IX Valences to do so.
I hadn’t even thought about trying to do so until I made 21 in Sorcerer, however long that took. I’d take some side Legendary Feats and my Caster Level would shoot to the moon, sure, but I was used to having an overpowered CL.
Too used to it! I had completely ignored the fact I was BURNING MY VALENCE RINGS!
“So stupid.” All those calculations and anticipations of Raised Base Valences coming in time bubbled in my head as I shook it.
Improved Spell Capacity didn’t require someone to be a Twenty-One. It required Spellcraft and Caster Level at 21, and Valences could be added on. It didn’t even require one to be at max pre-Eternal Valences. It just opened up a higher Valence Ring! You could take it if you could only Cast I’s, if you wanted to!
A new Valence I could promptly Burn and Raise my Five Valences with, and earn another Feat for!
Which I could spend on the next Improved Spell Capacity, up to the limit of my foundational Caster Level of 26, or Valence XIII!
I could break into Sagedom-class Casting, without becoming a Sage!
I took a slow and deep breath, looking around me.
No Elementals or Spirits nearby. I was up on the high ice, surrounded by whiteness and cold air and a crystal-clear long midwinter sky, and not much else.
When I’d made Eleven and Burned my Sixth Ring atop the completing Pyramid with Thunderbird, it had been lost as part of the event. Doing the same after delivering the Wills of the Emperors to Thunderbird’s Eye had been a quiet thing, just a time of Meditation and basically internal refinement...
Goddamn, Burning Valences was Mana Refinement here. I was such a damn idiot!
I sighed again. Different magic systems...!
Improved Spell Capacity to VIII! BURN IT!