Progression Tracker [0.6.0]
marker_1: huh [23rd Fallow]
marker_2: dawn_19 [24th Fallow]
span: 13.9 hours
General Experience Earned
Stamina Use: 211
Mana Use: 17,240
Tolerance
Strength: 47 -> 48 ( 1)
Recovery: 33 -> 35 ( 2)
Synchronization
Vigor: 5.9 -> 6.2 ( 0.3)
Focus: 17.8 -> 18.6 ( 0.8)
Perception: 8.4 -> 8.5 ( 0.1)
Slots
Accolade
Bonus
4 [2x2]
The Icy Cellar
1,000 Health
4 [1x4]
The Halls of Corruption
40 Focus
3
The Lair of Embers
1,000 Heat Resistance
3
We Can’t Just Call It ‘The Lair’
200 Force Resistance
2
Southshore Rat Warren
1,000 Health
2
Greenfort
50% stronger grip when climbing
1
Everdeep Fortress
10 Perception
1
Sharpton’s Delving
200 S.Regen/day
Total Known Skill Trees
Tier 0: 144
Tier 1: 144
Tier 2: 144
Tier 3: 143
Tier 4: 0
Richmond Rain Stroudwater
CLASS
LVL
CAP
STAT
Dynamo
19
24
10
EXP
NEXT
TOTAL
SKILL
18,218
26,463
1,743,051
1
Vitals
CUR
MAX
RGN
Health
3,521
3,560
530/d
Stamina
871
880
970/d
Mana
7,500
7,500
2.9/s
Attributes
202/182
EFF
TOTAL
BASE
ACCLD
MISC
SYN
STR
58
78
10
68/48
100.0%
RCV
22.1
53
10
43/35
49.0%
END
13.2
34
10
24/23
40.0%
VGR
35.3
77
10
67/47
62.0%
FCS
18.6
50
10
40
0/193
37.2%
CLR
200
200
200
0/181
100.0%
PER
8.5
20
10
10
0/0
42.5%
SPD
9.4
10
10
0/1
94.0%
Resistances
1940/?
FLAT
PERCENT
HEAT
1543.4
0%
COLD
543.4
0%
LIGHT
3.4
0%
DARK
3.4
0%
FORCE
633.4
0%
ARCANE
43.4
0%
CHEMICAL
493.4
0%
NTAL
3.4
0%
Magical Utility
Tier 0
Intrinsic Clarity (10/10)
Multiply base mana regeneration by 300%
Intrinsic Focus (10/10)
Multiply base mana by 300%
Tier 1
Channel Mastery (10/10)
Allows intuitive control of channeled skill intensity
Minimum skill intensity: 0%
Maximum skill intensity: 200%
Skill mana cost modified by intensity adjustnt
Mana Manipulation (10/10)
Allows internal control of mana
Allows expulsion of mana to environnt
Allows transfer of mana to and from capacitive items with direct contact
Maximum transfer rate 2000.0 mp/s (fcs)
Overcharge (0/10) ( )
Delay cast of an imdiate spell to charge it with mana
Charge ti reduced by mana manipulation
Boost effect intensity by up to 120%
Maximum mana charge 120%
Requires 5 ranks in Intrinsic Focus
Tier 2
Magical Synergy (10/10)
Enables limited synergistic cross-coupling of magical attributes
25.0% of Focus contributes to mana regen
25.0% of Clarity contributes to mana
Tier 3
Mana Sight (0/10) ( )
Passively perceive mana within the environnt
Resolution is 10% of that of mundane optical sight
Activate to perceive mana within entities
Active Cost: 10 mp/s
Compatible with other sensory skills at 10% resolution while activated
Requires 10 ranks in Mana Manipulation
Elental Refinent (0/10) ( )
Shaping kata for elental mana
Hidden skill, revealed by eting requirents
Requires 10 ranks in Mana Manipulation
Requires 10 ranks in Magical Synergy
Tier 4
Locked
Utility Auras
Tier 0
Winter (10/10)
Boost M.Regen by 180% for all entities
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 10 mp/hr
Purify (10/10)
Purify poison, corruption, and contamination
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 100 mp/min
Spring (0/10) ( )
Boost S.Regen by 18% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/hr
Sumr (0/10) ( )
Boost H.Regen by 18% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/hr
Tier 1
Essence Well (10/10)
Transfer mana to all entities within range, including user
Transfer Rate: 18 mp/s
Efficiency: 20%
Range: 18 ters
Detection (10/10)
Sense selected items of interest
Not occluded by mundane materials
Resolution: 2.07 mm
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 10 mp/s
Velocity (10/10)
180.00% boost to speed for all entities
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 10 mp/s
Energy Well (0/10)
Convert mana to stamina and transfer to all entities within range, including user
Transfer Rate: 1.8 sp/s
Efficiency: 20%
Range: 1.8 ters
Requires 5 ranks in Spring
Life Well (0/10)
Convert mana to health and transfer to all entities within range, including user
Transfer Rate: 1.8 hp/s
Efficiency: 20%
Range: 1.8 ters
Requires 5 ranks in Sumr
Tier 2
Acuity (0/10) ( )
18.00% boost to physical senses for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/s
Requires 10 ranks in Detection
Requires 10 ranks in Essence Well
Precision (0/10)
18.00% boost to physical precision for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/s
Requires 10 ranks in Velocity
Requires 10 ranks in Energy Well
Tier 3
Empire of Will (0/10) ( )
Boost Focus by 18 for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 20 mp/s
Requires 50 ranks in Utility Auras
Requires 10 ranks in Essence Well
Empire of Brawn (0/10)
Boost Strength by 18 for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 20 mp/s
Requires 50 ranks in Utility Auras
Requires 10 ranks in Life Well
Empire of Grit (0/10)
Boost Endurance by 18 for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 20 mp/s
Requires 50 ranks in Utility Auras
Requires 10 ranks in Energy Well
Tier 4
Locked
Defensive Auras
Tier 0
Heat Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase heat resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Cold Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase cold resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Tier 1
ntal Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase ntal resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Dark Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase dark resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Light Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase light resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Chemical Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase chemical resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Arcane Ward (0/10) ( )
Increase arcane resistance by 5.4% for all entities
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Tier 2
Force Ward (10/10)
Increase physical resistance by 54% for all entities
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
Tier 3
Suppression (0/10)
Increase mana costs for all entities by 22.5 mp (fcs)
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 1 mp/s
Requires at least 1 rank in an aura of each elent
Tier 4
Locked
Offensive Auras
Tier 0
Refrigerate (10/10)
157.50-180.00 cold (fcs) damage per second to entities and environnt
Sufficient damage causes slow
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 50 mp/s
Immolate (10/10)
157.50-180.00 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environnt
Sufficient damage causes ignition
Range: 18 ters
Cost: 50 mp/s
Tier 1
Radiance (0/10) ( )
15.75-18.00 light (fcs) damage per second to entities
Brightens environnt (fcs)
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 5 mp/s
Requires 5 ranks in Immolate
Shear (0/10) ( )
15.75-18.00 force (fcs) damage per second to entities and environnt
Not occluded by mundane materials
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 10 mp/s
Requires 15 ranks in Offensive Auras
Shroud (0/10) ( )
15.75-18.00 dark (fcs) damage per second to entities
Darkens environnt (fcs)
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 5 mp/s
Requires 5 ranks in Refrigerate
Tier 2
Corrosion (0/10)
15.75-18.00 chemical (fcs) damage per second to entities and environnt
Sufficient damage disrupts health regeneration
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 5 mp/s
Requires 5 ranks in Shroud
Requires 10 ranks in Refrigerate
Fulmination (0/10)
15.75-18.00 arcane (fcs) damage per second to entities and environnt
Sufficient damage causes paralysis
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 5 mp/s
Requires 5 ranks in Radiance
Requires 10 ranks in Immolate
Tier 3
Discombobulate (0/10)
15.75-18.00 ntal (fcs) damage per second to entities
Not occluded by mundane materials
Sufficient damage causes hallucinations
Damage applies to mana instead of health
Range: 1.8 ters
Cost: 5 mp/s
Requires 50 ranks in Offensive Auras
Tier 4
Locked
Aura tamagic
Tier 0
Amplify Aura (10/10)
Multiply aura intensity by 200%
Multiply aura mana cost by 300%
Extend Aura (10/10)
Extend aura range by 10 ters
Multiply aura mana cost by 300%
Tier 1
Aura Focus (10/10)
Focus on an aura to boost its output
Multiply aura intensity by 300%
Multiply aura range by 300%
Multiply aura mana cost by 300%
User loses all external senses while focusing
Aura Synergy (10/10)
Increase all aura output by 1.0% for each rank in any aura
Effective boost: 80.0%
Tier 2
Aura IFF (10/10)
User may exempt entities from direct aura effects at will
Selected entities receive 0.0% aura output
Prismatic Intent (0/10)
User may maintain 2 auras simultaneously
Requires 10 ranks in Aura Synergy
Requires 1 rank in 15 different auras
Tier 3
Aura Compression (10/10)
Compress aura output, reducing range to boost intensity
Increase intensity by 2.0% per ter of compression
Ethereal Aura (0/10) ( )
User may exempt the aura from environntal effects at will
Aura gains 5% resistance to environntal occlusion and absorption
Environnt receives 90% aura output
Hidden skill, revealed by eting requirents
Requires 10 ranks in Mana Manipulation
Requires 10 ranks in Aura IFF
Tier 4
Locked
Rain sat, silent and motionless, staring up at a ceiling of blue panels that only he could see. It was before dawn. Aliah was asleep beside him, breathing softly, and Tallheart was on watch. Dozer was still sleeping as well, a comfortable ball of contentnt in the back of his mind. Rain had set his alarm for an hour before they’d agreed to start the day, as he’d only promised Aliah that he wouldn’t stay up late. He’d said nothing about waking up early.
He needed the ti to review his status properly.
Rain had been taking it easy, rely almost leveling again after a few hours of uneventful walking and a night’s sleep, though technically, so of the experience had co from before he’d raised his cap. Unlike combat experience, experience earned from mana use waited, floating in limbo until it was applied. It was another of those little quirks of the system that irked him to no end and was a major point against the experience-is-essence theory.
Though it sounded a bit crazy, Rain didn’t actually want to level up quickly. He needed to explore his soul first. He had never even seen his paling, let alone the damage to it. Earning too much experience at once was what had broken it before, and if he pushed, he’d likely tear it open again—assuming it had even been fixed, of course. He didn’t know.
No matter how much better he felt physically, doubts still filled his mind. One fact in particular tore at him, like a thorn lodged in his brain. If fixing a paling was as easy as killing a blue, Bartum would have known, and he wouldn’t have kept it a secret.
Helping a non-mber raise their cap was against the fundantal philosophy of the Watch, Rain got that, but he was a Custodian. That changed things. If Bartum had been aware that a cap-up would help, he would have said so. The man was trustworthy. He’d even gone to the Watch higher-ups on Rain’s behalf to ask for the knowledge, and it was only after he’d co back that he’d beco close-lipped and apologetic. Forbidden to say more. Forbidden.
‘Just kill a blue’ isn’t so vast secret. There has to be sothing more to it, butI’m not about to subject myself to a full ntal scan to find out. I’ve got secrets ofmy own to protect. Dangerous ones. The Warden is scary enough without her knowing about nukes too.
Rain grimaced, then shook his head. Soul knowledge wasn’t that, he was sure. The Watch’s restrictions on the subject weren’t about protecting the world; they were about staying in control. While it was true that their organization did have the stated goal of standing up for the powerless, they also worked to keep them that way.
The Bank, the Guild, the nobility… They’re all the sa. The people in power refuse to share it. It’s infuriating. If I want to upset the status quo, I need to understand souls, andif nobody is going to tell , I’ll figure it out myself, damn it.I’m not going to be stupid about it, though. When I break my paling again, it’s going to be on purpose, with my eyes open.
Realizing that he’d been staring at his status without seeing it for several minutes, Rain forced himself to relax. He clicked his tongue, then waved the panels away, along with his foolish tadpole dreams.
How about I get to silver first, huh?
Opening a pair of new windows. Rain turned his attention to the more imdiate future. He’d be picking a skill later today, the one piece of advancent he was allowing himself. He needed to make sure he didn’t screw it up.
buildnotes_v17.odt
B
U
I
Color
*
Key Assumption
No extra skill points are available by any ans
Priority 1: Legendary Dynamo
Reasoning
Duh
Requirents
Pure Clarity – Not a Problem
5 trees with 5 skills at 10
Defensive Auras (DA): 1/5
Offensive Auras (OA): 2/5
Magical Utility (MU): 5/5
Utility Auras (UA): 5/5
Aura tamagic (AM): 6/5
Bottom Line
Only DA and OA before 26
4 DA
3 OA
All other skills removed from consideration
Priority 2: Prismatic Intent
Reasoning
Constant Winter
Multi-spectral shields
Perpetual Detection
etc.
Requirent
15 unique auras
Will be t if #1 is t
Bottom Line
Take Prismatic Intent at 26
Priority 3: Ethereal Aura
Reasoning
Eliminate mageburn for self and for others
Allow use of combat auras in populated areas
With care! Burning monsters can still light houses on fire!
Requirent
10 Mana Manipulation
t
10 Aura IFF
t
Bottom Line
Take Ethereal Aura at 27
Priority 4: Spring
Reasoning
Mass stamina regeneration
Needed for evac of Vestvall to Three Cliffs
We have old people, animals, kids, etc. to think about
Massive benefits for training and party sustain
Requirent
None
Bottom Line
Take Spring after Ethereal Aura
Aliah offered to take it if I can’t for so reason
Wouldn’t be as strong...
...unless she goes full auras, but then we lose whatever else she could be doing, and I’m not sure how well she’d do with the level of mana required
Priority 5: Unknown Tier-4
Reasoning
Tier 4 is available at level 29 for Rare/Legendary classes
Requirents
100,000 exp to unlock
Unknown skill prerequisites
Bottom Line
Prioritize higher-tier skills within reason
More likely to be tier-4 prerequisites
Priority 6: Sumr
Reasoning
Mass passive heal
Unlock Fall
Requirent
None
Bottom Line
Take Sumr after Spring
Priority 7: Fall
Reasoning
Reduces/eliminates need for food/water for entities
What about vitamins and minerals?
What about plants and microbes and stuff?
Exact effects unknown
Vital for evacuation to Three Cliffs
We are surviving here because there are monsters to eat
There won’t be monsters on the way
Reduced need of supplies for the company thereafter
Decent chance of unlocking a hidden Imperial Aura
Requirent
10 (presud) Winter
10 (presud) Spring
10 (presud) Sumr
Bottom Line
Take Fall after Sumr
Again, Aliah offered to take it
Wouldn’t be as strong
Would take her ti to rank up the other seasons
She could dump them afterward, but still
Other Stuff
Further ranking of skills is not productive. There are too many unknowns. This section is just to help think things through by typing them out.
Discombobulate vs Suppression
Suppression is a non-lethal mage killer
Discombobulate is a highly-lethal everything-killer
Suppression likely has so hidden characteristics
Otherwise, why take it over Discombobulate?
More research is needed
Higher-Tier Skills
Generally better, one would think
Require more experience to level
Might benefit the soul????
Higher chance of unlocking tier-4s
Hidden Skills
2-elent combo Offensive Auras
Heat/Cold is an opposed pair
No combo exists
Reasonable, therefore, that opposed pairs are invalid
If combos exist, they would therefore be:
Cold/Dark
Heat/Light
Force/ntal
Arcane/Chemical
2-elent combo Defensive Auras
Plausible
Offense-Defense combos
Plausible
Fastest path to test would be Heat Ward or Cold Ward at level 19
Heat/Cold Ward redundant (for self) given current resistances
With Prismatic, could use a ward to protect allies from OA, but not mana-efficient
Acuity/Precision
There is a clear alignnt here
Even if they don’t unlock anything, they will complent each other
Elental Refinent Unlocks
Possible combo with any skill that has an elent
Mana Manipulation Unlocks
There is one hidden skill per tree that requires MM
Just a matter of finding it...
Full board combos
4 Seasons
All but confird that the first 3 unlock Fall
4 Imperial Auras
Symtry suggests there is a fourth
8 Elent Defensive Combo
Apart from being able to defend against anything, possible that this would unlock sothing
8 Elent Offensive Combo
Again, possible
8/8 Offensive/Defensive Combo
Maybe maybe maybe
Upcoming Bios
If needed, I can take the appropriate ward or Offensive Aura
Within the above constraints, ofc
Wards don’t have the efficiency to compete with the damage down here, but are better than nothing
Skills that aren’t Aura Skills, “One Point Wonders”
Arcane Mastery
Still need to verify that all Utility Auras count as Arcane
90% sure, but my interface won’t tell :(
Requires Arcane Bolt :(
ssage
Coms are vital
Would require 5 points to get D:
#todo invent radio instead
Other elent masteries, physical intrinsics, physical synergies, elental resistance passives...
Y’all got any more of them skill points?
Tar Skills
Revive Dozer
I tad him without them, but that’s tier 0...
Flight/Airwalk
Lots of prereqs…
There may be other ways to fly. Air magic, maybe, or straight-up Force? Lavarro can fly. I need to find a way to ask Mahria for details without pissing her off... #todo
More?
So stuff, like katas, basic crafting, etc. can be done without skills
Need to prioritize my ti
Solution space is massive. Feels like O(2n) to sift through it...
Skill
Rank
Tree
Tier
Elent
Order
Refrigerate
10
OA (1)
Cold
Extend Aura
10
AM (1)
None
1
Purify
10
UA (1)
Arcane
2
Winter
10
UA (2)
Arcane
3
Intrinsic Clarity
10
MU (1)
None
4
Amplify Aura
10
AM (2)
None
5
Detection
10
UA (3)
1
Arcane
6
Aura Focus
10
AM (3)
1
None
7
Channel Mastery
10
MU (2)
1
None
8
Intrinsic Focus
10
MU (3)
None
9
Velocity
10
UA (4)
1
Arcane
10
Immolate
10
OA (2)
Heat
11
Magical Synergy
10
MU (4)
2
None
12
Aura Synergy
10
AM (4)
1
None
13
Essence Well
10
UA (5)
1
Arcane
14
Aura IFF
10
AM (5)
2
None
15
Force Ward
10
DA (1)
2
Force
16
Mana Manipulation
10
MU (5)
1
None
17
Aura Compression
10
AM (6)
3
None
18
ntal Ward
DA (2)
1
ntal
19
Radiance
OA (3)
1
Light
20
Shroud
OA (4)
1
Dark
21
Chemical Ward
DA (3)
1
Chemical
22
Suppression
DA (4)
3
Arcane
23
Arcane Ward
DA (5)
1
Arcane
24
Fulmination
OA (5)
2
Arcane
25
Prismatic Intent
AM
2
None
26
Ethereal Aura
AM
3
None
27
Spring
UA
Arcane
28
Sumr
UA
Arcane
29
Fall
UA
Arcane
30
Discombobulate
OA
3
ntal
999
Mana Sight
MU
3
Arcane
999
Elental Refinent
MU
3
None
999
Overcharge
MU
1
None
999
Acuity
UA
2
Arcane
999
Empire of Brawn
UA
3
Arcane
999
Empire of Grit
UA
3
Arcane
999
Empire of Will
UA
3
Arcane
999
Energy Well
UA
1
Arcane
999
Life Well
UA
1
Arcane
999
Precision
UA
2
Arcane
999
Shear
OA
1
Force
Alt
Cold Ward
DA
Cold
Alt
Dark Ward
DA
1
Dark
Alt
Heat Ward
DA
Heat
Alt
Light Ward
DA
1
Light
Alt
Corrosion
OA
2
Chemical
Alt
Rain rubbed his neck. It was a lot to think about.
First and foremost, there was the requirent for Legendary Dynamo—not the pure Clarity piece of it, which went without saying, but the need to have five skills each in five separate skill trees. Specializations were picked at the sa ti as the class itself, and they were final. You couldn’t just take the class and pick trees later once you filled them in. While technically a person could pick a class anyway, forfeiting any specializations they didn’t qualify for, that was NOT an option.
It was an agonizing restriction, yet strangely welco. Decision paralysis was much less of a problem the fewer options you had.
Theoretically, all of the Offensive or Defensive Auras Rain knew about were on the table. Discombobulate was an exception, locked out by its requirent until after he picked his class. Suppression was possible, but if he wanted to take it, then his options were further restricted. He’d need to take an aura of each elent first.
To avoid boxing himself into any corners, Rain had gone through his table and marked where each tree and elent was satisfied. Even though he was sure he had everything correct now, he’d spent hours and hours agonizing over this version of the list, checking, rechecking, and then rechecking again.
Rain clenched his jaw, stopping himself from going through it all again. Today, he just needed to pick what ca first.
If the next bio is Arcane, Arcane Ward cos first. If it’s Dark, I take Radiance. If it’s Light, I take Shroud. If it’s Chem, Chem Ward. Otherwise, ntal Ward. It has the highest chance of a combo with Force Ward. Besides, nobody is stealing my s. I won’t allow it.
Rain nodded to himself, closing the panels and turning his head to check on Aliah, still asleep beside him. Or not. He blinked, finding her watching him with a smile on her lips. How long has she—
“Hi,” Aliah whispered, giving him a knowing look. “Been up long?”
Rain did his best to look innocent. “I did sleep, I swear.” Damn. I wanted to make her breakfast before she woke up.
Aliah laughed softly, then moved in for a good-morning kiss.
Two hours later, Rain and Aliah stood side by side, watching with interest as Tallheart carefully reassembled the Depth Gauge. The Fire Moss was glowing warmly now, bathing their camp in reddish light. Tallheart had removed his gauntlets—a rare sight—and was working with a pair of tweezers. One by one, he placed Tel into sockets in the inscribed stone disk that they’d found sitting below the instrunt’s dial.
The Tel he was using were the sa ones that had been in there originally, not replacents. Each was inscribed with an identical, intricate rune. That in itself was amazing. Drawing those runes would have been like carving rice—possible, but incredibly difficult. Tallheart didn’t know what the runes actually did, either. The Depth Gauge had a tal housing, but its guts were all stone and crystal. It was outside his area of expertise.
“Hmm,” the smith said as he replaced the last Tel and set down his tweezers. Carefully, he placed the painted dial over the stone disk, lined it up, and pressed until it snapped into the case with a click. He replaced the indicator needle next, fixing it to the dial with a tiny screw.
“Here,” he said, holding the completed instrunt out to Rain. “You have unnatural luck. You should be the one to charge it.”
“If you say so,” Rain said, taking the device from him gingerly. “It isn’t going to explode or anything, is it?”
“It may,” Tallheart said simply.
Rain nodded, preparing himself for a surprise as he fed a trickle of mana into the delicate instrunt. The needle twitched, then rose smoothly, stopping to hover at fifteen.
“Still the sa,” Aliah said with a sigh. “It’s either still working, or still broken the sa way.”
“Mmm,” Tallheart said, packing up his tools. “We shall see.”
Rain nodded, prodding the needle ever so gently with a fingertip, then watching it spring back into place. It was moving more freely now, if nothing else. There’d been a bit of dust trapped inside the chanism that had been causing it to get stuck, but otherwise, there’d been no apparent damage. He shook his head, then snapped the lid closed. “We need another one of these. Relying on just one reading is a bad idea. It’s a single point of failure.”
“Yes,” Tallheart said, frowning as he flexed his left hand before replacing his gauntlet.
Rain’s eyes flicked to Aliah’s pack, where the Arcane GranCryst was tucked away safely, then to Tallheart’s tal carriers, where the valis now rested in ingot form. He looked back to Tallheart, then cleared his throat. “What do you need to fix your gauntlet, anyway? Can you use the valis to do it?”
Tallheart shook his head slowly. “More tals are required, as well as several GranTel and GranCrysts. Not just Arcane. All elents.”
“Ah,” Rain said. “Multi-layer kind of deal?”
“Yes,” Tallheart said, gesturing to his armor at large. It was slightly battered, just as it had been since the day Rain had t him. “Repairing even the costic damage would not be easy. It is a waste of resources.” He inclined his head to Aliah. “Ones that may be better spent.”
Aliah nodded, rubbing at her neck awkwardly. “I still don’t like that you aren’t getting anything out of this.”
“I am,” Tallheart said, rumbling by way of non-elaboration. “Have you decided what type of weapon you will use?”
“I...yes,” Aliah said.
“Oh?” Rain asked, suddenly excited.
Aliah glanced at him, then back at Tallheart, before looking down at her feet. “I’m going for Lilly’s build, mostly. Sharpshooting, Elental Archery, Heavy Armor, and Equipnt Use are the four main trees I’ll be pulling skills from. I’m keeping Airwalk, plus my usuals if I can. I’ve used so of the bow skills before, but I’ll have to level the stuff in Heavy Armor and Equipnt Use from nothing. We knew that was going to be an issue, whatever weapon I picked.” She looked up, eting Tallheart’s eyes. “A bow is the best option. We need the range.”
“Mmm,” Tallheart said. If the ntion of Lilly bothered him, he didn’t show it. “If we can find enough adamant, I can make sothing...passable. Grand Arcane Valis would make a worthy core, but it would not serve on its own.”
Rain grinned, looking between his friends before gesturing toward the trees. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get so adamant, then.”
They packed up quickly, leaving behind nothing save a tal marker for Detection. The walk back to the site of the battle with the Hababa Shaman King was uneventful, with Aliah simply Fireballing the occasional monster that they encountered. When Rain questioned her about it, asking whether she, as their ace, should be wasting mana like that, she’d said to stop worrying about such a small amount of mana. She insisted that she was doing it to train her Focus tolerance, but Rain suspected the real reason was that she was trying to help him without admitting it.He’d ntioned to her that he was trying to avoid leveling. If they’d used the sa combat strategy that they’d been using, the kill experience would have pushed him up to level twenty in short order.
He was grateful to her, whatever her motivation. Detection would soon push him over the threshold—he wasn’t about to turn off their early warning system—but since he could control when the experience was applied, he’d still be able to run the experint he wanted. He intended to be inside his soul when the next application occurred.
Soon enough, they arrived, finding the battleground mostly as they’d left it. They’d suspected there might be a few Hababas waiting for them, but there were none to be seen. Instead, they found a few dozen Lava Slis, likely freshly spawned overnight. The monsters were grouped up loosely, a moderate distance away around the edge of the lava lake.
The lake itself had drained a bit, Rain saw, having still been filling up when they’d left. There was a hardened rim of stone showing where it had retreated from its banks, and there was now an outlet where the lava had found its way back to its original path. The stone outcropping with the cave stood at the center of a small island at the center of the lake, the lava never having reached that high.
“What are we doing about that?” Aliah asked, gesturing vaguely and interrupting Rain’s observation.
“The Lava Slis?” Rain asked, trying to guess what she’d been pointing at.
Aliah shook her head. “No, the lava itself. It might have swallowed up so of the adamant shards.” She raised her hand. “The slis aren’t a problem. I don’t care how Heat resistant they are.”
Without chanting, she lobbed a Fireball toward the nearest of the creatures, still at least fifty ters away. That was a good thing, as when the projectile struck, there was a violent explosion, and the Lava Sli ceased to be. Burning globs of molten stone rained down everywhere nearby, hissing and steaming as they struck the ground. The system rewarded Rain with a single point of experience, apparently for witnessing the show.
“The Force component is plenty,” Aliah said in satisfaction, lowering her arm.
“Right,” Rain said, nodding, watching the remaining slis as they proceeded to flip their shit. They oozed around in panic, clearly unsure where the attack had co from.
Aliah started walking toward the lake, looking over her shoulder to speak to Rain and Tallheart. “I can dip back into Geomancer and dig a new channel to drain the lake. Or I could just use a shovel, I suppose. I don’t plan on swimming in lava if I can help it.”
Rain blinked, then quickly wriggled out of his pack. He dropped his shield too, as it was clear enough he wouldn’t need it, then hurried after her. Tallheart didn’t follow, busy removing his mobile forge.
Rain caught up to Aliah right at the edge of the lake, stopping beside her to stand on the brittle crust surrounding it. He pinged with Detection to make sure there were no Lava Slis lurking beneath the surface, then reached into a pocket and retrieved the Depth Gauge, wrapped up in a sock. Strapping the fragile instrunt to the inside of his shield was convenient, but not the greatest idea in retrospect.
“Well?” Aliah asked, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she monitored the Lava Slis.
Rain clicked his tongue as he checked the gauge, finding that it still read fifteen. “Still the sa,” he said, wrapping it back up and tucking it away.
“Oh well.” Aliah shrugged. “Uh oh, looks like they saw us,” she said, utterly failing to sound concerned.
Rain looked up to see that the entire pack of slis had started oozing in their direction around the lake, taking the long way.
“They can’t swim?” Rain asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Apparently not,” Aliah said, raising her arm. She began casually Fireballing them, occasionally taking out two or three at a ti. It was hard to take them as a serious threat after seeing that, so Rain returned his attention to sothing else that was bothering him.
He gestured at the lake, struggling to articulate his thoughts. “Why is this lava here at all? I an, there’s no obvious source of heat. I would have thought it would have all cooled long before it made it this far into the cavern. It’s just flowing along the surface, not welling up from below or anything.”
“It’s the Heat mana,” Aliah said, pausing her assault to glance at him, and Rain noticed that there were droplets of sweat forming on her forehead. “It’s everywhere. Also, aren’t you hot in there?”
Rain grinned beneath his helt. “Not at all. Thermal Regulation, rember? It’s amazing how well it works with the visor down. The air’s just a bit warm coming in.” He paused, tilting his head. “Still stinks, though. The fus probably aren’t great for our lungs, but Chem resistance should take care of that. Detection says there’s plenty of oxygen.”
He knelt, then carefully poked at the lava with one of his adamant fingertips. It felt thick and gooey, like molten marshmallow. So of it stuck to his fingertip as he pulled it away, still glowing brightly. He checked his saturation gauge, finding that it hadn’t budged, which wasn’t surprising.
Environntal mana didn’t get absorbed by tal nearly as quickly as the mana that made up spells. If it did, the world would have been a much easier place to live in. All you’d need to do would be to pave your streets with iron, and then you could build a city anywhere you wanted without fear of monster spawns—that was if mana had anything to do with spawns in the first place. It seed more likely that ambient mana and monster spawns were both symptoms of the sa underlying cause, naly ambient essence.
Rain stood, thinking hard as he continued staring at his glowing fingertip. The heat had started to overwhelm the thermal regulation enchantnt. It wasn’t painful, just a bit warm. He shook his head, looking back at Aliah. “So it’s staying hot because we’re in a Heat bio?”
“Mmm,” Tallheart said.
Rain didn’t jump, though Detection hadn’t given him any warning. He simply expected it at this point. He pivoted smoothly to find the smith standing right behind him.
“Such things are common enough,” Tallheart continued, sounding slightly disappointed at the lack of a reaction. He snorted, then approached the edge and knelt before plunging his hand fully into the lava. Monts later, he rumbled in satisfaction. “Iron. Good.”
“Oh?” Rain asked, glancing at Aliah, who had just sniped off the last of the Lava Slis. Rain used Detection to verify that she’d gotten them all, then pinged again at high power, trying to sense the iron Tallheart had felt. The entire lake lit up in his mind, and he smiled. Looking back at his finger, he gave it a little flick, attempting to dislodge the glob of lava, only now starting to cool. Irritatingly, it remained stuck. I shouldn’t try this without my gauntlets, Heat resistance or not. I an, damn. Could an unawakened person even stand here?
Tallheart rose, freeing his own hand of lava by whipping it down through the air faster than Rain could see. “Hmm,” he rumbled, looking coolly out over the lake. “I will construct a full slter and begin extraction. We must still gather the blade shards, however. The more adamant we find, the less iron I will need to condense.” He paused, scratching at the base of one of his antlers. “Even so, I believe we will be here for so ti. This is a valuable opportunity.” He lowered his hand, then turned to face Rain. “We should not move on until I have constructed a full suit of armor for Aliah and have added a layer of adamant to yours.”
“Aweso,” Rain said, unable to contain his grin. Struck by a thought, he used Refrigerate to solidify the clump of lava still stubbornly clinging to his fingertip. Once it was mostly cool, it began to crumble, and he was able to pry it loose with his other hand. “What about the cave, though? Shouldn’t we explore that first before we set up camp?”
“Yes, we should,” Aliah said. She turned, then spread her arms wide, beckoning to them as if inviting them to a group hug. “Co here, you two. I’ll Airwalk us over.”
Rain grinned, eagerly moving to accept her invitation. Tallheart, on the other hand, snorted, then turned to walk back toward their packs.
“Tallheart, co on, we need you,” Aliah said as Rain clung to her side, but the smith ignored her. After a mont, he turned to face the direction of the cave, then broke into a sprint. Just before he reached the lake’s edge, he jumped, shattering the brittle stone with the force of his takeoff. He soared through the air in a graceful arc, easily clearing the forty-odd ters to land on the island surrounding the stone outcropping.
“Oh,” Aliah said with a snort. Without warning, she scooped Rain off his feet, shifting him to a princess carry with no apparent effort. “Easier with just one, anyway. Stop squirming.”
Rain smiled behind his helt, relaxing into her arms after he recovered from the shock. I...don’t hate this.
Aliah snorted, then jumped out over the lava. Zigzagging with each footstep, she bounded across, staying a few ters above the surface until landing safely on the other side. She straightened herself up from the landing, then looked down at Rain and raised an eyebrow. “No screaming?”
Rain laughed. “Of course not. You’d never drop .”
Aliah promptly dropped him.
“Enough play,” Tallheart said sternly as Rain continued laughing from his position on the ground. “We face the unknown.”
Rain closed his mouth quickly. “Sorry.” He got to his feet, then used Detection at full power, getting a response from the cave, diagonally down at the very limit of his range. He pointed. “Monster that way, about a hundred ters. Hang on.” Several pings later, he relaxed, shaking his head. “It’s just a Hababa. A regular one.” He pinged a few more tis, then smiled. “The cave slopes down gently for about fifty ters, then there’s a vertical shaft and a passage below that. It looks like we were right about this being the way forward. The Hababa is at the bottom of the shaft, and it hasn’t moved since I picked it up.”
“Okay, wait here,” Aliah said, turning back toward the lake. “I’m going to go get your shield before we say hello. Actually, I’ll get all our stuff. It will be safer in the cave than it is out in the open.”
Rain nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. I’d help, but, you know…” He shrugged. “Can’t fly.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aliah said, jumping away. She spun in mid-air, then, amazingly, seed to perch there as she waved back to them, “Rain, keep an eye on Tallheart, would you? You know how he’s always running off.”
“Hmph,” Tallheart snorted, sounding amused. He moved to stand next to Rain, watching her as she spun away and resud her progress toward the shore. When she touched down, he turned to Rain, smiling slightly. “She has improved.”
“At Airwalk?” Rain asked, smiling back. “Yeah, she’s really getting the hang of it, even with her boots on.”
“No,” Tallheart said, shaking his head. “That is true, but it is not what I was referring to.”
“What do you an, then?” Rain asked.
“She has improved at managing you. She told you to watch , but her statent was intended for—”
“I got it, Tallheart, I got it,” Rain interrupted, waving him off. “I don’t need...managing. It’s just hard for to feel afraid of stuff when you two are around. You’re so strong that it’s ridiculous.” He pointed at the cave. “For crying out loud, I just detected a reaper-class monster, and it made feel better, not worse.”
“Hmm,” Tallheart rumbled in acceptance. “It is true. The unknown is the greater fear.”
“Right, well, let’s see if we can do sothing about that,” Rain said, pulling out the Depth Gauge and removing it from its protective sock. He flipped open the cover, then sighed. “Still fifteen. Let’s wait till she’s back to check what it says inside.”
“Wise,” Tallheart said. The silence stretched for a mont, then he spoke again. “To be clear, I was joking. You do not require managent, rely occasional guidance.”
Rain smiled and opened his mouth, but his response was interrupted by a heavy thud as Aliah landed. She was wearing the Double Gamgee and was holding Tallheart’s mobile forge in one hand, his tal cases in the other, and her own pack in her teeth by one of the straps. She’d threaded her arm through the grips of Rain’s shield, wedging it high on her upper arm so she could manage everything else. She spat out the strap as he stared, leaving her pack to fall to the ground, then bent to set Tallheart’s stuff down more gently.
“What?” she asked, seeing them watching her.
Rain chuckled. “Nothing. I’ve brought in groceries before.”
Aliah smiled, looking slightly confused. She didn’t ask, though, simply handing him his shield. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Rain said, accepting it. He verified that none of the potion bottles strapped to its back had slipped free, then slid his arm through the straps. Once it was secure, he looked up at his friends and gestured vaguely in the direction of the cave with the hand holding the Depth Gauge. “Shall we?”
Aliah nodded, summoning her Lunar Orb and sending it zipping into the cave. She and Tallheart followed it inside, with Rain bringing up the rear. By unspoken agreent, the three of them slowed down as they continued, until they were moving at a cautious, near-silent creep. Rain, for one, was really feeling the cramped darkness pressing down on him. They’d been underground this whole ti, of course, but it hadn’t felt like it back in the Ashen Jungle. Perhaps so of his unease ca from his attention on the Depth Gauge, grasped tightly in his hand. With each step he took, the needle wavered ever so slightly from the motion. Slowly but surely, however, it was rising. “Sixteen,” he whispered, informing the others as it passed the next demarcation.
Aliah nodded without looking back, speaking in a slightly louder voice. “I can see a drop ahead. We’re almost—”
“OOH!”
Rain froze, tensing as the echoes of the Hababa’s call rebounded from the tunnel walls. The others had frozen as well, and the three of them waited breathlessly until silence returned, then began to stretch. Aliah cautiously motioned them forward, and they proceeded until she and Tallheart were right at the edge, looking down, with Rain lingering behind. She glanced back at him, then gave a slight shake of her head.
She can’t see it. Rain gestured to her quickly, using hand code. “It is still there. No other monsters that I can feel.”
“Lure it?” Aliah replied, also in hand code. Rain nodded in agreent, and she tapped Tallheart on the shoulder, then repeated the first sign. “Lure?”
“Yes,” Tallheart said at a normal volu. The echoes of his voice were imdiately drowned out by a booming cry that turned into a continuing stream of protest. On and on, the Hababa screeched and clamored, like the enormous angry monkey that it was.
“Nice work!” Aliah yelled over the noise, summoning a Fireball above her palm and sending the Lunar Orb out over the edge. “Wait, did you actually know what sign I was using?”
“Yes,” Tallheart replied, just as loudly. “I did.”
Rain shook his head, his ears ringing from the continuing racket. “It still isn’t moving!” he yelled.
“If it will not co to us, we will go to it,” Tallheart replied, beckoning to Rain to join them. “Co.”
Rain nodded, tucking away the depth gauge. He moved up to the edge, then looked down. It was about fifty ters to the bottom, the sa height that had almost killed him once before—had killed him, depending on your definition.
He felt no fear.
Aliah sent her Lunar Orb down, and its light soon illuminated the Hababa, crumpled in a heap at the bottom of the shaft, still screaming at them. As the light washed over it, its anger seed to double, the volu of its cries sohow rising another few notches. Rain couldn’t see its health from here, but it looked...not well.
“Sothing’s wrong with it!” Aliah shouted.
Without warning, Tallheart jumped. Aliah looked at Rain quickly, surprise on her face, then she jerked her head toward the edge before jumping off herself. Not wanting to be left behind, Rain followed without hesitation, activating Force Ward and drawing his mattock as he fell. By the ti he landed, the echoes of the Hababa’s screams were already fading.
“It was left here,” Tallheart said, lifting his fist from the bloody crater where the monster’s head had been. “The others abandoned it. Hmm. Or they were the ones to cripple it in the first place.”
“You really think so?” Aliah asked, Tallheart nodding in response. “I wonder what it did to piss them off.”
Tallheart shook his head. “That is not it. I believe it was left here as bait for sothing below.” He rumbled deeply. “Or perhaps as an offering.”
Rain felt a shiver run down his spine. The air was thick down here sohow. Cool, too, he realized. Thermal Regulation had reversed direction.
“An offering for what?” Aliah asked. “I’m not buying it. Stop trying to scare us. Rain, is there anything else down here?”
“Just tunnels,” Rain said. That had been the first thing he’d checked after landing. “No monsters, at least...” he swallowed heavily, “not ones that I can sense.”
“Did you use full power?” Aliah asked.
Rain nodded, looking around. “Of course. What’s wrong with the air? It feels...weird. Thick. Are we in a new bio?”
“I can’t tell yet,” Aliah said, shaking her head. “The ambient mana is neutral. I agree with you about the air, though. What does Detection say?”
“It’s fine as far as I can tell,” Rain said with a helpless shrug, having just checked exactly that. “Nitrogen, oxygen...no carbon monoxide. Anyone got a canary?”
“Co along,” Tallheart said, starting off down the continuing tunnel, stopping to look back at them when they didn’t imdiately follow. “We are in a liminal space. It should not be much further.”
Rain nodded, glancing once more at the broken Hababa. He didn’t feel the need to use Purify, even though it was a grisly scene. With Dozer strained out of his soul, that particular compulsion was gone. Dozer, be glad you’re still asleep. I’m not sure how much you’d like it down here. Rain shook his head, then hurried to follow Tallheart and Aliah, seeing that they were both waiting for him.
As they continued, the tunnel occasionally branched off, but Rain kept them from taking any wrong turns. It was a maze down here, it seed, but so far, there’d been only one main passage. The other offshoots either ended in dead-ends or narrowed to impassability. Save for the sound of their footsteps, it was as silent as a crypt. The air seed to grow thicker and thicker, too, dragging at them like they were wading through soup. Rain gradually beca aware of pain from his hand, and he had to force himself to release his death grip on his mattock.
Tallheart’s right. The unknown really is the worst. Where are all the monsters?
Finally, Aliah raised a hand, stopping them. “I’m sure now. There’s still a bit of a mix to the mana, but getting more Arcane the further we go.” Her voice sounded strange. Deeper than normal.
“Hmm, good,” Tallheart said. “The Crysts will be useful.” His voice was deeper too, and for him, that was saying sothing. When he rumbled, the noise was even more like an earthquake than usual. “Do you sense anything ahead, Rain?”
Rain shook his head. “Nothing new. I would have told you if there was.”Wow, I sound strange too. He cleared his throat. Focus. It’s just so Arcane bullshit. “The tunnel continues. No monsters or big chambers ahead. Let check the Depth Gauge.” He slipped his mattock back through his belt, then fished the instrunt out of his pouch. He flicked open the lid, then cursed. “Damn.”
“What is it?” Aliah asked, glancing back at him. “It didn’t break, did it?”
“No,” Rain said, turning it toward her so she could see for herself. The needle was pressed hard against the stop at the end of the dial, right above the number twenty. “Looks like we’re on our own from here. I guess fixing it was a waste of ti.”
“Mmm,” Tallheart said, turning and walking past Rain back up the tunnel. “Co. It would be best not to linger. We now know what we will face. The next bio will be Arcane, and it is at a rank nearing the wall. We must prepare.”
Rain nodded, turning to follow. A prickle ran across his neck, and he glanced over his shoulder at the darkness, then back down to the Depth Gauge, still clutched in his hand. His lungs felt heavy—like they were full of liquid instead of air.
Wordlessly, he opened his interface.
Arcane Ward it is.
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