Chapter 25

Nothing beats accomplishing a seemingly impossible task and then getting a unique set of rewards for doing so.

Today was no different, as I could all but feel my teeth chattering at the excitement of what awaited me.

Here I was given a chance to partake in the newly enhanced magic system of this world and I was floored.

Congratulations on being recognized as a First Tier Master Caster, would you like to choose how to spend your specialization points now?

That was the message that first started this whole process.

From there I answered like anyone would.

“Heck yeah!”

All but quivering I could feel excitement and anticipation fill me in equal measures.

For a moment I wondered how Marie and Rydel were doing, but then I realized that this was likely one of those pace of plot derived activities. One where Marie would miraculously be passed out, due to her mind seeing and experiencing another important vision that would give a five second warning about an impending threat.

But I was also aware of just how important this moment in time was, as such I knew that regardless of what happened, nothing and no one would come to disturb me at this exact moment.

That was why, when the system messages came up detailing the new process before me, I took every moment to take in my different options and what was currently expected of me.

Master Caster Tier Points Remaining: (1 / 1)

Seeing the message it was clear, Tier I gave one point. Now did this mean that Tier II would give two points? Or would it still be just one point? Did all the different Tiers only cost one point each? I didn’t know.

All I could tell was that there were three tiers to my noted mastery, and a total of seven different types of mastery available.

While each set of mastery had three different tiers available to them, I sadly could only see the layout of the first Tier for each mastery.

This meant I had to go off of the descriptions and mentally parse out how I believed each realm of mastery would evolve out to.

The only problem was that I didn’t know all of the new combinations of words and phrases being used.

Arcane Repair Crafter: Changing Arcane Repair Bolt to Arcane Repair Current. Increases the longevity and charging power time of Arcane Repair Bolt, allowing it to be channeled into a steady stream of energy that both increases output and decreases Item Charging Times. Effect: +25% Item Charging Rate, -25% Item Charging Time.

Seeing that I think I got a much better depiction of where the magical affinity for Arcane Repair was ultimately meant to go. Not only were we meant to repair the buildings, but with this deviation, I could charge items. I’m guessing these would be more along the lines of power cells and less along the lines making minor enchantments, but the end result was the same.

With this specialization, I could focus on the Crafting side of Arcane Repair, which should allow an overall versatility to the class that would be amazing.

Also, this meant that my one and only attack spell just got a massive power boost, going from a bolt, to an attack stream that could be channeled.

While there were concerns with the idea that this would might take away the distance component to my one attack spell, I didn’t think that would truly be the case. Rather I saw it as adding a different function to my spell, making it go from a singular surge of energy, to a steady stream of power.

From there I went on and as that there were many more components and functions that gave even greater insights into the Ancient civilization.

Justice Por Changing Punishable Lie to Punishable Lie. Increases the volatility of damage suffered by someone who continues to lie while under oath. Making the severity of the lie, and number of lies spoken become multipliers of pain. Effect: +25% Mental Damage Received, Multiply Oaths Broken by Oath’s Impact.

Seeing that description, this was clearly a judgement spell of some kind. The spell seemed to offer a form of punishment for people who lied while under oath. Quite a novel concept and one that didn’t seem to be based on the mentality of the person who had the spell cast upon them.

Basically, this meant that if someone purposefully lied, they would be met with pain.

Of course, the spell didn’t seem like it would be a perfect catch all as it almost seemed to imply that it would happen after a verdict was rendered. And be a way to slap you on the wrist after everything was settled.

Not a perfect solution, but definitely interesting.

From there, I saw even more magical evolutions that seemed to further detail the types of magic that the Ancients had, and also show their importance to Ancient society as a whole.

Seasonal Changes Seasonal Alteration to Seasonal Control. Increases the longevity and charging power of Seasonal Control, allowing the spell to be continuously fed by a stream of energy used to increase output and decrease regional magical . Effect: +25% Seasonal Change Rate, -25% regional Impact.

Reading that description, suddenly I remembered the great wastes out west, the ones that have violent mana storms that occasionally surge through them. If this marker here is to be accepted, then a lack of these Seasonal something casters might have led to the downfall of the western regions.

Looking at the description and seeing the potential of this spell, I could see how if I had the correct affinity, I could use this specialization to take back over the western wastes.

Maybe there will be an expansion hero with such an Affinity.

Or maybe I’ve already met the old guru who could do this? I think to myself, while remembering the one odd bare chested Ancient elder who had three circles on his left hand, denoting him as the highest of practitioners.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Actually, no. While I could see that semi-permanent Ancient having an Affinity like this, I think he would have already headed out west and tried to reconquer the wastelands. No, he probably has something different, which is good because I’m still trying to see if I can see what type of Ancient Affinity in magic he might have.

With that thought in mind, I continue, though I am pretty sure by the way these next sections are grayed out, and the only one seemingly available is my Arcane Repair Crafter specialization, I think I am being shoehorned into an option.

Though it is fun to think about what ifs.

Germination Changing Germinating Growth to Germinating . Increases the maturation and growth rates of targeted plant types, while decreasing harmful plant mutation rates and risk of . Effect: +25% germination and growth rate, -25% harmful mutation and chance of .

Okay, so that one showed that there might have been a little too much madness to the specialized farmers.

Again, with each new specialization, I began to see more of the world of the Ancients. Judging by the last two specializations, it almost seemed like the Ancients were dealing with an over population issue. Thus the need for more plants, more clean fields, and ultimately more judges to help out in a lawless society.

At least that was the impression that I got from the information provided thus far.

The next few options seemed to heighten this concern of too many people packed into too small of an area.

Arcane Changes Arcane to Arcane . Increases the efficacy of cleansing and , additionally cuts down on the future risk of . Effect: +25% Cleansing and , -25% .

I don’t really know what to expect from this advancement, though it does seem to hint at an ability to purify or maybe to cleanse the world around oneself. I have no clue what type of purification, nor what would be purified, but it did have a hint of a different layer to the world.

Change Preventer to Container. Increase the potency of damage against born creatures and decrease time that remain active and open. Effect: +25% damage against , -25% activation time.

Okay, not going to lie, this last one seemed like it was the most ominous with its symbols and phrases. Again, while I don’t quite know what everything it seems to be implying has to deal with, there is clearly a darker picture that is painted with this particular set of magic and abilities.

With that ominous warning out of the way, I was left with the final option.

Ender Change End to . Increase the potency, damage, and range of , warning extremely lethal should only be used as a . Effect: +25% Damage, Penetration ability, and range of , +25% corruption.

That last option seems to all but scream at the fact that using such a power would be a last resort type of spell that would just as soon kill you as it would kill whatever you were targeting with it. Just reading that spell, and I realized that this Affinity had to have been the reason for why the wastelands are so violent and dangerous.

Yes, the agriculture one might have played a small impact, but no, that one definitely made the hairs on the back of my neck rise up.

After reading all seven of the options, I was kind of glad that I really only had one option available to me.

Currently while I managed to identify the following Affinities that belonged to the Ancients: Arcane Repair, Judgement , Seasonal , Germination , an Arcane , , and Ender.

This knowledge alone was nearly invaluable and could get me yet another gemstone to my uncovered lore badge for the game.

No wait, I can’t think like that anymore.

For all intents and purposes this is real. Or my brain for whatever reason won’t let me get out of this, in either case I should look at this like a piece of sellable information.

There are a few historians in this world that I know who would pay a hefty sum for this type of information, but that would mean the value was forever halved after that.

Also, there was the question of whether I actually wanted this information to get out.

Right now, the information was safe and secure with me.

Well assuming the Claudia Von’Roseblade doesn’t already know about this as well. Though she does seem mostly oblivious to everything that is going on, which is good as she hasn’t come to me and all but forced me to be part of her party. Not that she could, but it seems like she should try to do so, at least if she truly understood the world we are in.

That said, for now, I only have one real choice or option, but I do have to say that reading the other prompts, or at least trying to read them did help me with my understanding of the Ancient language. While also letting me realize what other aspects of this world I might currently be missing.

Take for instance the fact that there seemed to be a dark summoner type class? Or maybe a way to seal off evil areas of the world that needed to be purified afterwards.

There was also the need to have what felt like a mutually assured destruction type of affinity. Though I could only imagine having to practice for that particular Affinity.

It’s odd, as my entire view of the world has changed dramatically based on this, and yet the world I know is still the same as it ever was.

What I mean is that while I might see a darker past of magic, the world I currently work in is a lot better.

Also, there are more lighthearted aspects that can help mask the true horrors that this world now seems to harbor.

Though I guess if I can’t logout of this world, then perhaps realizing that there is a much darker side to this world is the way to go. Especially as each character seems to have a Good, Bad, and Neutral ending available, even my character, or me.

Realizing all of that, I take on the only focused training available to me, at least the only one that is available to me at this new base.

You have chosen to be an Arcane Repair Crafter, for 1 of your Master Caster achievement points.

Preparing specialization training.

With that option chosen, I was met with a completely new interface to practice with.

There before me stood an uncharged power box.

Many of these existed all around the compound here, and these were the boxes that we were currently using to both keep the lights going and apparently to keep my training program running.

Your first task is to fully charge the cube then place it in the holding brackets.

Warning: Ensure proper polarity is ensured when placing the charged cube back into its container.

Seeing the message, I realized that this was likely the first of many such tasks, as there were a total of ten different cubes all around me, each one seeming to lack a current or spark.

Then looking down at the box within my hands, I grabbed it and twisted it until I saw everything about the odd cube.

There were two holes, but a quick experiment showed that only one side would let me use my Arcane Repair Bolt on it, as the other side a metal pole that stuck out seemed to disperse the created energy.

Realizing that there was only one way to get energy into the cube, I then turned the device until the open side was facing towards me.

Looking at the open side, I saw a crazy looking relay design that would require me to fire a beam of energy into the device. The intent was clear in that I would have to bounce the beam around, before going deeper into the cube’s core where an unknown device resided.

Part of me wanted to take the cube apart myself and work with the different components, but I resisted for now.

Instead, I took this for what it was, a time sink puzzle game that you could use or completely avoid as you saw fit.

For me, these fun puzzles were part of why this world was so great.

I began first by just firing Arcane Repair Bolt after arcane repair bolt into the cube. The Bolt would slide down the tubes, only to bounce back and hit the sides. If it dirtied the front side, it made it a lot tougher to see where I should aim.

With that, I began aiming a bit closer to me, so if I missed, it would at least bounce back away from me and away from the clear screen that I needed to see what was happening.

From there, it was all a matter of patience. Walking my Bolts until they hit the first reflective mirror dead center, or at least center enough to get the burst of energy to bounce in the right direction. From there, it was slow and exceedingly painful adjustments made at near rapid-fire rates to track and be able to see my progress, to around and through the device.

This puzzle, unlike so many others was both physically and mentally taxing in a way that was fun and felt like it pushed me to my absolute limits.

The design for this one was a simple lightning bolt, which fortunately after the first bend in my flow of energy was obtained, the rest was relatively easy. All I needed to do was slowly shift the angle and allow the steady stream of Bolts to move.

With this I was in my zone, and nothing was going to stop me from reaching my goal, of solving all of these tests, and gaining this new proficiency.

At this moment, I used this new feature to distract me from my recent findings, and hopefully make me just that much better at casting.

In fact, I could already feel the effects of this in my casting. Or at least, I could feel where I still had areas to improve with my casting. Areas that were being quickly highlighted with these amazingly simple puzzles.

***

Unbeknownst to Karen, she had two watchers who watched the odd girl slowly and meticulously push their skills with an unknown device. An unknown device that seemed to have assembled itself out of thin air.

“Is that the true power of the Ancients?” Rydel asked the girl standing next to him.

For her part, Marie was equally impressed with both the patience and the speed with which the girl was casting.

“I believe so.” Marie stated, then just as she spoke the girl seemed to solve the puzzle, bouncing a beam out and through a central node, before managing to get the same beam of energy to exit the other side and complete a circuit. After that, the two watched as Karen sent no less than a hundred beams of energy through the cell, until it was finally charged.

Then once cell was charged, she gave an excited fist pump into the air, before placing the cube into the chamber she was in.

“Should we get her?” Rydel asked.

Then just as he asked, a second cube popped up, forcing Karen to take it and once again try charging this cell that had a slightly tougher design.

“I think we should wait.” Marie said, seeing the intense look of concentration filling Karen’s face as she took the new challenge cube and sat down with it.

Gurgle.

“I guess we will need to wait for her to get us some food?” Rydel asked, clutching his moaning stomach.

Hearing the gurgling sounds, Marie could only wince and nod before answering with the truth of the situation they now found themselves in.

“Unfortunately.”