Liora marched, full of her spell’s vigor, next to him, while Rüdiger floated on the other side a few centimeters above the road. Adarin tisked. As if setting foot on the same dirt as the rest of us is beneath him. That arrogant bastard.
“Sooo,” drawled Rüdiger, “shall we take a look at how the two of you are developing?”
Adarin and Liora made agreeable noises while still watching the ochre glow of the sunbands at the horizon. As far as anyone knew, there was only a single continent in this world. An ocean bounded by steep stone walls was all that could be found in any direction. Adarin had rolled his eyes when Johan had told him. Sure, bog-standard hourglass habitat. And they don’t even have access to the other side.
Liora lightly poked Adarin with a shy smile. “Oops, I drifted off.”
He raised one of his manipulators and brought up his attributes.
Level 9 [F]
Class: Tactician, World Tree Guardian
Cog: 202 Mov: 127 Res: 174 Per: 137 Soc: 97 FREE: 16
Adarin whistled, the sound coming out oddly wobbly. Rüdiger grinned with his sharp white teeth. “Looks like your little exploits got you quite the bountiful harvest, ja?”
Adarin made an agreeable noise and leaned over to allow a curious Liora a better view. Then he remembered something. “Shouldn’t I be getting a new implant now that I’ve passed 200 on the cognitive attribute?”
But Rüdiger shook his head. “No. New implants are only given when you upgrade your tier. Going from F to E is still a while away for the two of you.”
He smiled mischievously, massaging his goatee. “It will be an interesting experience. Yes, indeed.”
Adarin rolled his eyes, and Liora mirrored him, subtly rolling hers. Rüdiger gave a mock-offended sniff, but his eyes glittered with something sharp. “You can’t just leave an old man his entertainments, can you?”
Adarin shook his head with a smile. “Let’s get this show back on track before we go off the rails entirely. Sixteen free points—come on, any recommendations?”
He smirked. Let’s see what they think—it might reveal something interesting.
Adarin looked at Rüdiger, but the old archmagister merely gestured at Liora. “My dear disciple, I would hear your thoughts on this. Proper reasoning is what makes a proper wizard.”
Liora swallowed and looked around, finding Johan in the crowd. She clicked her tongue, shoulders tense, as though every word might be judged by a tribunal instead of two half-mad mentors. Then she leaned in and studied Adarin’s values again. “Well… given the extra implants, it’s probably wise to aim for more of them with the upgrade to E-tier.”
She glanced at Rüdiger, but the archmagister returned only a cold look.
“Go on,” Adarin prodded with an encouraging tone.
“The other option…” she trailed off, studying Adarin again, “would be to put all the points into either movement or perception, in hopes of getting them up fast enough.”
Rüdiger smiled broadly. “And do you truly believe that increasing his social stat to 100 would have any positive impact on our friend’s social abilities?”
“Haha,” was Adarin’s only contribution.
Liora chuckled behind a politely upheld hand. Adarin shook his head. “So it’s decided: push resistance and social up.”
He played with the interface until the results looked satisfactory.
Level 9 [F]
Class: Tactician, World Tree Guardian
Cog: 202 Mov: 127 Res: 187 Per: 137 Soc: 100 FREE: 0
Without much further fuss, he brought up his spells and implants—though the distant echo of horns reminded him this was hardly the safest place for bookkeeping. The three of them studied the numbers and descriptions.
Spells:
? Living Wood
Alteration – middle Tier 1
Transform 2^Alteration Core Tier cubic centimeters of wood into Living Wood per minute.
Control up to 2^Alteration Core Tier cubic meters of Living Wood simultaneously.
- Cornucopian Garden
Alteration – middle Tier 1
Grow a fruit tree that senses and extracts local soil resources.
You may shape it to yield specific fruits, limited by your alchemical knowledge.
Growth may be accelerated with focused will or proceed naturally at enhanced rates. - Thousand Eyes
Divination – early Tier 1
Grow Divination Core Tier2 cubic decimeters of custom biological optical systems.
Vision limited to the optical spectrum. - Rootwhip
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Conjuration – middle Tier 1
Conjure (5 × Conjuration Core Tier) Living Wood whips, each up to 5 + (Conjuration Core Tier)2 in length.
Lesser spirits inhabit the whips to provide basic autonomous function.
Implants:
? Limited Protocol Database (Virtual Machine, COG)
Early Tier 1
You have access to a restricted set of Imperial Mindware: data hounds, data weapons, and tactical analysis protocols.
Grow in power to unlock more capabilities. Reattempt interface with the hidden point at each tier.
- Control Shard Generator (Virtual Machine, MOV)
Early Tier 1
Generates (Illusion Core Tier × 10) control shards, detachable from your core sphere.
The more shards you embed into a Living Wood construct, the more refined your control becomes. - Groveheart (Virtual Machine, RES)
Lesser Tier 1
Your Groveheart harmonizes you with nature, proportional to your Alteration Core.
Choose (Alteration Core Tier^2 + 2) woody plant species to form your groves.
You gain access to their abilities based on growth strength—and later, their echoes in your inner world. - Noospheric Link (Virtual Machine, PER)
Early Tier 1
Due to your connection with Entity [REFERENCE ERROR], you can link minds with individuals designated by it.
Communication range scales with the power of Entity [REFERENCE ERROR].
Rüdiger clicked his tongue. “Only Groveheart lags behind. Impressive growth for you, Adarin—but imbalance can be fatal. Strong branches snap if the roots don’t keep pace.”
He shrugged. “How do skills and implants actually improve?”
Rüdiger chuckled grimly. “Scholars have written hundreds of treatises on that subject. The general consensus is that both advance through use. Now…” he drawled, “if you want to start a fight among scholars, ask them how exactly ‘use’ is defined. Sometimes the system just rewards quantity of use. Other times, upgrades apparently happen for exceptionally clever qualitative uses.”
Adarin filed that away for later. Should I ever get some free time in this world, I might want to look into training them. After all, I improved Rootwhip through training while we were imprisoned.
Liora smiled and stretched. “Well, the last battle finally pushed me over the edge for two skills.”
Combat Meditation, Lesser Tier 1 → Combat Meditation, Early Tier 1
Regenerative Transfusion, Lesser Tier 1 → Regenerative Transfusion, Early Tier 1
Adarin brushed his manipulator against her arm, petting her lightly. “That’s great. How do your other skills and implants look? Any more progress I don’t know about?”
She shook her head. “No, I told you about everything else. But here—take a look.”
Spells:
? Raise Zombie
Necromancy – Late Tier 1
Raise a corpse by hijacking its motor functions. Control capacity for undead scales with Necromancy Core Tier:
– Fine control: Necromancy Core Tier
– Sophisticated control: Necromancy Core Tier × 10
– General control: Necromancy Core Tier × 100
- Regenerative Transfusion
Alteration – Early Tier 1
Transfuse Alteration Core Tier drops of blood into up to (Core Tier × 10) targets.
Each drop grants regenerative healing based on the target’s body plan, effective against all injuries for (Core Tier × 30) minutes.
You may also consume the drop yourself for a temporary regeneration boost. - Necromantic Blast
Evocation – Early Tier 1
Channel up to (Necromancy Core Tier + Evocation Core Tier) × 10% of your Necromancy Core’s total energy in a blast.
Effects are those of pure necrotic energy: cold, putrefaction, decay.
Implants:
? Combat Meditation Module (COG)
Early Tier 1
Speeds up perception of events in lethal situations by 100% and increases cognitive clarity. (Trainable)
- Reinforced Bones (RES)
Lesser Tier 1
Composite weave to your bones, increasing damage resistance by 100%. - Arcane Eye (PER)
Lesser Tier 1
Divination Core Tier × 2 per day. See magical structures for Core Tier minutes.
Rüdiger’s arm shot out and clasped her forearm in an iron grip. Liora tensed, but he didn’t seem to notice. Why is he so socially competent and so socially inept at times?
After several awkward seconds, Rüdiger nodded with a satisfied whistle. “You’re progressing well, disciple. I might have to induct you into the darkest of our arts earlier than I had planned.”
His face was a mask of stern seriousness. Liora swallowed and seemed about to protest, but Adarin poked her in the side. He’s messing with you.
She studied the wooden construct and the flamboyant necromancer, then sighed and shook her head. Keeping her arm carefully out of Rüdiger’s reach, she brought up her attributes. “I’ve got ten free points. Any suggestions?”
Level 8 [F]
Class: Acolyte of Ishna, Cycle of Life
Cog: 117 Mov: 79 Res: 130 Per: 143 Soc: 88 FREE: 10
Rüdiger studied the values, then clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Ja… I see a general thrust in line with your earlier analysis—and an additional consideration. My dear disciple, would you care to guess at my thoughts?”
Adarin smirked inwardly. Is ‘no’ an option here—or will he just turn the lecture into a pop quiz anyway?
Liora bit her tongue, then nodded. “My movement and social stats are both quite close to 100… but also quite low.”
She trailed off.
Adarin picked up the thread. “You have a chance to shore up your weak flank while reinforcing your center. Any commander would take that deal in a heartbeat.”
Liora nodded, looking between them. “So I put my ten points into Social?”
But Adarin shook his head. “I think it would be more valuable for your survivability if you increase your Movement attribute. Socially—” he threw a sidelong glance at Rüdiger, “—you’re already quite protected. But in the middle of a battlefield…”
Liora nodded and pushed her Movement stat up to 89.
Rüdiger clapped his hands together and grinned like a child. “Well, well, well, now that that is all sorted—with a nice force march…” His grin grew wolfish, his voice dropping. “We will do some real necromancy,” he drawled.
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