The Mick was watching me carefully, given we had paused in abject slaughter of creatures of Elemental Fire raised up here by dark magic.
I blinked when he reached out and pushed my jaw up. “Yer catching flies,” he advised me warily.
I’M IMPRESSED. THAT MUST BE SOMETHING INCREDIBLE, Master Fred flamed over his shoulder, arms crossed and also watching me.
“Bluh!” I said intelligently, trying to stop all my thoughtstreams from rampaging in crazy ecstasy at the implications of this. This, I could, how did, dammit, how did, wtf, dammit dammit DAMMIT!
The Mick knocked on my forehead impolitely, just a flick of Blood Magic setting off my threat sensitivity and Concentration throwing away all diversions for the here and now as I jumped back into a Casting Stance instantly.
“Ye should have seen your face just then,” The Mick said sagely. “Do you need a drink?” he asked, staring at me staring back at him.
I closed my eyes slowly, and slowly rose out of my hyperfocused combat state, not letting my thoughtstreams go racing in all directions.
Just one of them. I could handle that. It would get past the initial possibilities quickly enough.
“I just took a Theurgic Caster Level... in Sorcerer, my Primary Class,” I gasped slightly, staring at the Slots that had opened on my IV Valence, ready to be used. My Bloodline Spell didn’t activate, as it wasn’t a true Sorcerer Level, but the Feat taken was Extra Spell Known IV, Sorcerer and Arcane Theurge/4 also gave me another Sorc Spell Known, and I got one for making the Valence.
Spell Immunity, Detect IV, and Comet had materialized, ready to be used, with six IV Slots, currently empty and waiting to be filled with Meditation... or my non-standard method.
The Mick was studying me and thinking about my words. “Forgive me thick skull, but I was of the impression that Theurgic Levels were there to bring Secondary Caster Levels up to your Primary, and conflate the different types of magic into a single type? You can’t take Theurgic Levels above your Primary Caster Level?” he recited dutifully.
“Double Helix Method. What happens when your Secondary Class is effectively higher than your Primary due to Theurgic Levels?” I was still staring at it.
I hadn’t known. Nobody had known. Theurgic Levels could be applied to your Primary Class!
I clamped down on thinking too much about this. Too much. Still thinking.
What a simple shitass way to break Ten!
I wrenched my eyes away from my Matrix, back to my Assay.
Oh, Charisma Mastery/4. Yay...
Einz pointedly invested the last jot of Karma in Ki Mastery, and the Runes forming the ability completed, flaring to life on my finger.
I stuffed two Ki into the Ring, activating its greater abilities. The two were considered ‘spent’, meaning my capacity was now +2 Ki if I needed them back, but the big thing was the -1 to Cost of ki use, minimum 1.
Clavus could only stoically put his Naming Karma into Blessed, still weeks away from finishing it.
“Ye need time t’process this, Lady Traveler?” The Mick asked calmly.
I flashed my eyes to him, stared at him for a full ten seconds as he stared back, and then slowly shook my head.
“No...no. The implications are huge, but the immediate practical benefits are no different than gaining a Sorcerer Level.” I made some quick mental shuffles of expected spell ability, throwing out a lot of my Visual File spreadsheets. “I’ve got access to more IV’s is all, and I’ve got some spells to reshuffle now that I do. To do so,” my eyes moved past him to the lake of fire with a whole lot of Elementals cavorting about it, “the fastest way is to get back to work.”
Both men nodded calmly, and Sleipner tooted, too.
I filled the six empty IV Slots one at a time, requiring only one Ki for each, making them available for use. My working Pool was roughly 35 between Arcana, Ki, and Mana, so that was no loss, and would be filled directly.
I was still limited in Casting to twelve Levels total, but now those spells were Cast for one less each...
Whatever. It was combat; Focus, choice, target acquisition, target removal, ticking rep counts up on a list, repeat.
If it was a real fight, I would have used Arcane Fusion to up my spell outlay and increase my damage outlay. Alas, the interference of the fusion made Null Rep Counts for the spells inside the Fusion, and rep counts was what I wanted here. These Elementals were all going to die, but in the meantime, I needed my counts!
I was nominally alternating spells for counts on the Primary Cast, and Fastcast Shards to regain the spent Ki, largely focusing on spraying down lesser targets to get the kills, and injuring the larger ones so the boys could finish them.
Basically, I was currently fobbing off Energy Fans Spellwarped into Rays, Orbs of Cold or other energies, and throwing in useless Illusions, Healing effects, Charms, and other spells across the Schools of Magic to ensure maximum exposure and get my Metas made Practical as efficiently as possible.
Sometimes I swapped Fastcast back and forth with Sanctified... why not get the +4 Meta made Practical for I’s, after all? And then proceeded right to II’s, since I was going to be using it so much. My Metacap was still VI, so I couldn’t make it Practical to III’s... at least, not yet.
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Happily, my use of cold magic seemed to really irritate the Fireborn, and they had no fear of death. The cold magic probably looked to them like necroic magic did to us, and they charged at us, intending to get rid of the foul chill.
When one of the bigger Elementals popped up that the boys didn’t want to engage in melee, well, Paired Fastcast Shards popped that Residual Magic buffer, and 36 Shards was generally enough to do for it pretty much instantly. The same fate awaited anything that looked like it wanted to Cast spells at us, or things going to mass-launch Rays or Bursts or Bolts at us. Shardrays tore through them in burning cold streams of death, flames went dark and cold, and vivus burned on ash.
So we proceeded, moving from one burning area inhabited by Fireborn to the next as rapidly as possible, our looting quick and efficient, sending the bigger loot off quickly via Itemize and Item Teleport as opposed to hauling it around. I got the spent Ki back with a couple of Shard spells.
Yes, it was a slaughter. Yes, it was a massacre. Yes, they were sapient beings, with the larger Elementals being smarter and more self-aware than most humans.
Yes, they were alien invaders trying their relentless best to claim more ground on our planet, driven by the local Firelord to do so, and they literally would not stop, ever.
I still had one eye on the boys, with The Mick taking care of any close-range surprises, Master Fred running interference and sniping off Elementals that survived my Shards, and Sleipner charging this way and that at Elementals who thought they were something.
In general, we retreated if a horde came at us, the lads on Disks while Sleipner withdrew, kiting back as I got in my rep counts calmly, ticking those counters. We strung them out, they came raging over their vivisizing dead, and they were whittled down anywhere from half a dozen to almost a score at a time.
Karma was in Fellowship, being shared, so there was no incentive for either of the lads to snipe kills or go out and prove their manhood. Rep counts was the only thing that was important.
Dealing with creatures with ranged attacks was a bit more tedious, but Master Fred’s Ward Walls could block a lot of Ray attacks or Bursts, we got really good at dodging them, and our Fire Resistance was at 30 points, which would nullify basically anything below a 9d6 attack completely without needing to dodge. Those only came from the stronger creatures, who I generally removed first, especially if they hung back to bombard us. I was always ready to use healing magic, and the Imbued Healing kicker effect of temporary Soak to deal with more of those attacks was always useful.
Master Fred was always looking for signs of Evil, and these creatures were all being motivated by a Shroudlord acting as a Firelord, so Sin wafted off their Auras, even if they were nominally Neutral creatures.
Our slaughter of the invading Elementals and Fireborn continued, and the previous day’s kill total of thousands swiftly rose higher in the more densely occupied areas of the Firezone. Tens of thousands of kills became the new measuring stick.
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The Ifrit riding firedrakes aloft looked pretty impressive, what with the fiery colors of their mounts’ wings and scales, the burning breath from their jaws, and the flaming arrows the riders were shooting down at us.
The Stillflight Field let them know that King Gravity’s influence was all over the mortal plane, and making this area a Charland didn’t mean Fireborn could ignore him.
The burning wing of aloft drake-riders screamed and headed for the ground at rather too much speed, rather forgetting to shoot at us as they did so. The ones who managed to turn aside or were out of range of the effect were the ones I shot first, mainly because those who hit the ground weren’t really in any shape to put up much resistance after 20d6 of impact damage. Those who were, The Mick and Master Fred calmly put out of their misery.
TK III reached out, grabbed firemetals and ornamentation, while The Mick sliced off heads and dumped them on a Disk. Dragon Baneskulls were a hot item, even if these were mere Drakes, and they served perfectly fine for such, while the brassy skeletons of Ifrit made for perfect Fireborn Baneskulls. The butchers at the other end of the Item Teleports could pull the Cores, which would help empower their own skulls to kill their kind.
There were soon going to be a whole lot more people with Baned Weapons tooling around in these areas, chasing down the Fireborn and letting them know what for. We could certainly kill the forces that were spread out to secure the influence of Fire now, but more could simply be sent out to reoccupy all the area we were clearing, so the ground had to be held, more people put on the task, or this was going to be a really long slog before they ran out of juice.
Importantly, we were vivisizing everything we were killing, making sure there was nothing to come back as Burning Dead.
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“Ha hah!” Traveler lifted up the skull of cooled lava, clearly half-melted and vague, lacking teeth, and looking unlike a skull at all. Veins of various sorts of melted metals were running through it in an irregular manner, and assorted rough gemstones were stuck in it here and there like afterthoughts.
“Er, nice attempt at a sculpture, Lady Traveler?” The Mick was quick to comment, noting the, ah, Play-Doh quality of the work.
“Self-Energizing Greater Ooze Baneskull!” she proclaimed, delicate lines already starting to ripple across it in discreet patterns as he watched.
The Mick blinked, looking at the slab of amorphous, flash-frozen stone that was split apart and dead now. A minute ago, it had been a living thing made up of fireplasm, but now was just cold and lifeless.
There were also a couple dozen more of the things scattered around nearby, like big fat gooey things made out of flaming jelly. Tellingly, no Elementals or other Fireborn were nearby.
“Ooze Baneskulls?” he had to ask, for the things definitely didn’t have a skeleton, let alone a head. “Self-Empowering?” he repeated, seizing on the more important thing, as he realized that since it had cooled down and petrified, someone could definitely carve a skull out of it.
“The things digest minerals and metals. The ones with higher melting points kind of just sit inside it in lumps instead. I Shaped them out and into the Skull here, and they should satisfy the Cost of powering it up, I just need to get someone to do it.” She put her finger to her temple, and he knew someone in Detroit was going to be giving up several days of Infusing to add to her collection of the things.
Even shrunken down now to smaller than a tennis ball, she still had a dozen small Skulls hanging from her belt, none of which rattled or jangled at all, and all of them with tiny little sparks of Banefire in their empty sockets. It was pretty macabre and intimidating to see, and he definitely wanted a collection like that for his own use.
He was also well on his way to getting one, having her carve up the Baneskulls and simply paying some of his underlings in the clan to Infuse them up for him with either Energized gemstones or Cores.
It was wonderful being incredibly wealthy!
He eyed the other Oozes slowly sucking away at the landscape, melting it, and feeding on the minerals within. “Well, since ye’re going to be freezing them all, I imagine you’re going to be making some rare Ooze Baneskulls for all of these things?” he asked with a grin.
“It’s a fine way to make use of the fact they have natural treasures inside,” she agreed with a smile. “They are kind of a specialty item, but I imagine you want one for your own?”
“Of course!” he grinned shamelessly, praising all the gods that this was definitely the best job he had ever undertaken...
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Author’s Note: The normal way to get an Ooze Baneskull is to kill an ooze, Flesh to Stone the thing, and then carve one out of it, if you can.