Especially after the last time he had ruined that runic circle. Lucy wasn’t pleased with him, even though the gains that came out of that ‘accident’ more than recouped their losses.
He walked up the stairs, hoping Liz would soon finish her work on the elevator. Not that Lucky minded the walky after the ritual where he had to stay in one place.
Arriving in Lucy’s office, he was let in by the secretary, naturally, only after paying the appropriate petting tax to Lucky’s joy.
Opening the door, he was met with the shining red eyes of Lucy’s familiar. The raven was perched on his friend’s shoulder, giving Sam its most judging look.
“I didn’t do it and you can never prove it,” he exclaimed, raising his hands in the air, palms facing toward the raven.
Lucy sent him a queer look. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Nothing!” Sam replied quickly, looking away from the raven. Instead, he walked forward and waved Lucky toward Lucy.
“Look who came to visit you!”
Lucy looked at Lucky, her eyes going wide.
“Cute!”
The next few minutes were spent with Lucy playing with the ecstatic wolf as the raven watched on jealously.
Finally, with the wolf laid out exhausted on the carpet, tongue lolling to the side, Lucy returned to her seat behind her giant desk and began to run her hand over the raven’s feathered back. The bird enjoyed the ministration with closed eyes and a smug aura.
Sam chuckled a little. “Did you do the ritual? I don’t see any changes…” Thanks to her constant work – that is doing political, economic, and logistical quests in service of the company and guild – Lucy also managed to reach the required level for the core forming and evolution ritual.
Lucy just sent him a smug look, made a motion, and soon Sam was reading a system screen.
[Inpenetrable Mana Core: Level 17 (78%) (Passive) You are a firm believer in defending what is yours. Your mana has taken this idea and crystalized it. Decreases the cost of defensive skills (physical, magical, social, etc.) by 30% and increases mana regeneration. Mana Regeneration further increases when defensive (physical, magical, social, etc.) skills are active.
Increases base mana gain by 0,5 per skill level.
The more things are attacking you (physical, magical, social, etc.) the more your defenses are increased.
Grants you the following skills: Physical and Magical Resistance, Basic Elemental Resistance, Mind Control Immunity, Illusion Immunity, Corruption Immunity, Charm Immunity, Mana Body Enhancement.]
It was an impressive Mana Core skill, though one that Sam was familiar with. It was one of the better Mana Core skills for players who dabbled in politics. The top one, according to the researchers, was the opposite of the one Lucy got. It provided bonuses to the players when they went on the offensive.
Most people considered that one as the best of the best. But seeing Lucy’s success and effectiveness, Sam was pretty happy with what she got.
Then he read the second one.
[Your Ritual of Evolution (Modified) was a success!]
[Your familiar, Raven (Level 101) has successfully transformed into The Raven (Level 1)!]
[Raven, due to the evolution gained an Unkind Mana Core, which subsumed the following skills…]
[Raven, due to the evolution, gained the following skills: One Mind, Penetrating Gaze, Unknown Sight, Summon Murder, Summon Murder (Mass), Mana Veil, Advanced Stealth, and Steel Feathers!]
[Unkind Mana Core: Level MAX (Passive) The mana core of the familiar has solidified and stabilized into one uncompromising shape. No matter how many bodies the familiar has, it will only have one mind and one mana core. However, this doesn’t affect it negatively.
For each functional body, the familiar gains increased mana, health, and stamina regeneration.
Maximum number of bodies is limited by the level of the familiar.
For each functional body, the familiar’s sight skills are increased in effectiveness.
Grants the Nevermore skill.]
[Nevermore: Level 1/100 (0%) (Passive) The raven is forevermore part of the world. For every night spent alive, the raven gains one Instant Death Immunity buff. The buff is shared with all the bodies. However, if even one body suffers Instant Death, the raven loses one buff.]
Stolen story; please report.
Sam considered the skill and realized that with careful application, it would be a very useful skill. However, the moment people realized what the skill did, they would make sure to kill at least one or two of Lucy’s ravens to prevent her from gaining Instant Death Immunity. Until then, however, it would be very funny…
[Summon Murder: Level 5/100 (9%) (Active) Your familiar has established dominance within the local corvid community, proving its superiority. It can summon with a call a murder of crows to do its bidding.]
[Summon Murder (Mass): Level 2/100 (11%) (Active) Your familiar has established dominance within the local corvid community, proving its superiority. It can temporarily summon several murders of crows that will do their best to murder the enemies of the raven, however, they will vanish after one hit.]
“A little bloodthirsty, but I can see the positives…” Sam told her as she preened under his gaze.
“Right? My little raven is the best!” Lucy declared while she continued to pet that happy bird on her shoulder.
“Still calling it raven?”
She shrugged. “If the name fits…”
“Can’t argue with that…”
They spent some time after that in companionable silence, pampering their respective familiars before Lucy reluctantly spoke up.
“Now that you’re finished with this, what’s next?”
“Well, any issues with the project?”
“Lara and Adam have everything well in hand.”
“Ironwood?”
“The usual, but things have calmed down.”
“Tim?”
“Tim.”
“The guy sometimes scares me.”
“You and half the city…” she said with a proud smile. “Do you think you need to go down south and check out the blood magic thing?”
“Now there is an idea…”
Sam found his team in one of the bigger conference rooms in the headquarters, waiting for him. All of them had their familiars out, either pampering them, feeding them, or in Katie’s case, trying to convince the uninterested Puffball to play with some kind of cat toy.
“Hey, people!” he greeted everyone as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. The workers and servants were trusted, but not this much. “How did the evolution go?”
Instantly, everyone began to speak at once, creating an unintelligible cacophony in the room. Sam created a small air implosion causing the room to plunge into silence.
He pointed to Dan.
“Dan, you first.”
Dan grinned and raised his left hand, which was used by the much bigger and now multicolored Hawky as a perch as it tried to put Dan’s hair in order.
“He evolved into a Thermic Spirit Hawk. I can use him as a conduit to cast my fire or ice magic!” He declared proudly. "Also, check this out!”
Sam looked down at the system screen.
[Absolute Zero: Level 0/7 (Active) The familiar can spend all its life energy and mana to create an area where the temperature becomes absolute zero, stopping the movement of everything in the affected area. The familiar can only do this seven times without consequences. Cooldown: 168 hours.]
“A pretty badass ulti skill, don’t you think?”
Sam just grinned. “Maybe after seven times, it will transform into a phoenix…”
Dan looked at him with big eyes then at the hawk on his hand. “You really think so?”
“I mean that sounds like something a phoenix would do and seven is a pretty magical number…”
“Huh…”
Sam let the fire mage contemplate his idea – which was naturally just a guess – and he turned to Clarissa, ignoring Katie vibrating in the background.
She nodded at him and then simply gestured at the swan that became big enough to be ridden on.
“Praetorian Arcane Swan. It gets stronger when protecting me,” she explained simply.
“Any cool skills?”
She shook her head. “My heal is more effective on him but otherwise nothing that I would call special.” She glanced at the swan, who was standing proudly next to her. “Well, maybe one of them.”
“Oh?”
“Melody. Rain of Iron,” she ordered quietly.
Instantly, the swan honked once, and with a small expenditure of mana, a score of blades and handles shaped like feathers appeared around the bird, aimed directly at Sam’s family jewels.
“Cute,” Sam declared drily while creating a small shield, just in case.
“Isn’t he?” Clarissa replied with a proud voice and a smile directed at the equally proud swan.
Resisting to roll his eyes, he turned to Isabella.
“Izzy? Where is your treant?”
The young woman just grinned and pointed at her circlet, which Sam just now noticed looked like something a Roman emperor would wear. Then the two eyes opened on two of the leaves in the middle, and the familiar blinked at Sam.
He awkwardly waved at it.
“My adorable little Sable is now capable of transforming into items! And casting illusions! So much better than some other familiars…” she told Sam proudly while Katie just blew a raspberry at her.
“What did it transform into?”
“Lesser Nymph Spirit. Isn’t it awesome?”
‘Oh no… that’s very close to fey…’ Sam mused worriedly while outwardly he just gave her a nod and smile.
“Yes, very awesome.”
Then it was time for Katie. The berserker girl stood up and pointed at Puffball, who was currently cleaning ‘himself’.
“My cat turned into a... drumroll please…” Nobody made the drumroll sound, but she just continued. “…a CAT!”
“Makes sense,” Dan said, not even looking up from Hawky.
“Perfectly logical,” added Clarissa.
Katie just gaped at them.
Sam gave her an apologetic look. “You can’t think we would be surprised by your cat, Katie… It’s weird as hell!”
She crossed her arms in front of her and pouted. “You guys are no fun…” Then she grinned and a system screen appeared in front of everybody. “Check this out! Read it and weep!”
[Quantum Cat-like Grace: Level 7/100 (45%) (Active/Passive) It is well known that cats exist in multiple dimensions and quantum states. They can observe and traverse multiple dimensions and even exist in them at the same time. Thanks to your connection to your familiar, you can now do this too, albeit a little more limited.
You can summon ‘clones’ of yourself in alternate states that would do the same action as you do. The clones look and sound the same as you. Only dogs can 100% differentiate them.]
Isabella immediately piped up. “Thank god we have Lucky…”
“Hey!”
Returning to the real world, Sam let out a yawn and stretched.
The game was excellent in recreating all sensations, but there was something special about doing an excellent stretch in the real world.
With the debuff affecting all of them on some level – naturally, he was the most affected – they had to take a little break before doing anything important. They agreed that until the debuff wore off, they would focus on crafting or small quests that didn’t need major mana usage.
Katie had some cooking quests, and Clarissa was close to leveling up her alchemy. Dan just decided to go over to his girlfriend’s construction and haul rocks as training. And Isabella spent the downtime training her pet in illusions and battle strategies.
He went through his usual return to real-world ritual, then with still damp hair, sat down in front of his computer and began to go over his daily correspondence.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get far as he instantly spotted an email in his main account.
Letting out a sigh, he opened it and began to read it.
Dear Mr. Lawrence,
We would like to invite you to the Stelborne Gala and Charity Auction…
As he finished the letter, he only had one thought.
‘Wasn’t that Katie’s family name?’
but that's not that interesting... Happy Reading!
EDIT: Reached 1000 favorites! Thank you everyone!
Owed bonus chapters: Three (3)
Titles:
[Apprentice: You are an apprentice learning under a master. Increased experience point gain in the key skill of the apprenticeship.]
Magical Items:
[Ring of Minor Health Regeneration: A small ring, made from subpar materials, with a low-quality magical gem. As long as the gem holds mana, it aids with health regeneration. Can hold 100 Mana Points, and regenerates 10 Health Points for every point of mana consumed. Current Mana: 100/100.]
[High-quality Troll Leather Armor: Created by a journeyman crafter employed by your own company. They worked extra hard to make sure to return your goodwill. Excellent quality, given the materials and the crafter. Enchanted to decrease the sound it makes during movement, as well as has increased durability. Thanks to the substance it was impregnated with the troll leather it lacks its customary weakness to fire.]
*Not actually bottomless.]
[Ring of the Shadow Fang: Made from shadow metal and accented with white moon-silver, this ring allows the wearer to summon a dagger made from shadow. The strength of the dagger depends on the wearer’s shadow mana control. The distance the dagger can move from the wearer depends on the mana control of the individual.]
Quests:
Active quests:
[Just walk in there!]
[Prove yourself!]
[Peaceful land, peaceful mind]
Finished quests:
[Monster Parade!]
[Topping the tree!]
[Reap what you sow!]
[Seaside opportunity]
[Another seaside opportunity]
[The booty of mystery!]
[Demonic demonstration!]
[The Test of the Survivor!]
[To the city you go!]
[Eternal Vigilance!]
[Returning Champion]
[Volatile Valley]
[Ride forward to be not killed in nasty ways!]
[Location, location, location!]
Skills:
Mana Skills:
[Mana Body: Level 7/100 (21%) (Passive) Your mana permeates your body, enhancing and improving it. The better your control of your mana is, and the more mana you have, the bigger the effect is. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 1 Base Health gain. For every skill level, it increases the Health Regeneration by 0,1.]
[Mana Shield: Level 99 (99%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 9,9 (physical) damage.]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +2,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +3,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
Neutral Mage skills:
[Mana Unraveling: Level 14/25 (19%) (Active) You can spot even the smallest imperfection in the weave of the mana. If your control is better than the one who wove the spell, then you can attack those imperfections and unravel the spell or magic in front of you.]
[Spell Matrix: Level 40/100 (4%) (Passive) You mastered layering spells as very few have before. You can layer ( or connect any other way) together as many spells as you can. The cost of this action is increased by 5% (cumulative) for every two layers or spells.]
[Solid Spell Foundation: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your foundation is solid and unshakeable. The stability of layered spells is increased.]
[Mana Construct: Level 84/100 (22%) (Active/Passive) You can create mana constructs over your weapons. These constructs cannot be separated from your weapon. You have total control over their shape and size. For every level in the skill, the mana cost is decreased by 1% and the damage inflicted by the skill is increased by 1%]
[Simplicity: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) The simpler your creations, the less mana it costs.]
[Infusion: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Infusing different mana types into your mana constructs becomes easier.]
[Complexity: Level 1/5 (11%) (Passive) The complexity of your creations doesn’t detract from it. Usually, mana cost would rise when the complexity of your creation increases. For every level of this skill this increase in mana cost becomes less and less.]
Elemental Mage Skills:
Wind Mage skills:
[Wind Blade III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Active) A spell that allows you to launch a blade of wind. The cutting power and speed of the blade are increased. You have greater control over its movement after creation. Allows you to slightly control its path after launching the wind blade.]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 6/10 (7%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 9/10 (99%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Explosion: Level 3/10 (21%) A spell that allows you to create a singular bullet of wind mana, and then fire it, which will, upon impact, detonate. The strength of the detonation depends on the amount of wind mana channeled into the bullet and your mastery over the Wind Bullet spell!]
[Wind Movement: 39/100 (19%) (Active) You can use your mastery over wind to move in any direction you wish. Your movement speed is increased significantly. This speed boost is increased by 1% for each skill level.]
[Wind Edge III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Affinity: Level 61/100 (17%) (Passive) You have a good affinity for the wind. Beings born of the wind will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Wind-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
- Wind Flurry
- Wind Bullet Barrage
- Healing Wind
- Wind Jump
- Wind Drill
- Wind Blade I-III
- Wind Blade Storm
- Wind Bullet I-III
- Wind Explosion
- Wind Movement
- Wind Edge I-III!
Utility skills:
Companion skills:
Shadow skills:
(Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Shadow Affinity: Level 30/100 (14%) (Passive) You have a good affinity with the shadows. Beings born of the shadows will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Shadow-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
Physical skills:
[Basic Armor Mastery: Level 91/100 (6%) (Passive) You learned the basics of wearing armor. Decreases the Stamina consumption slightly while wearing any kind of armor.]
[Clean Armor: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mana got used to a certain spell, so the waste mana radiating from you will, over time, permeate and clean your armor.]
[Resistant Armor: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Thanks to your practice, you can fully utilize everything that your armor provides, granting you increased resistance against the environment. Grants 2% increased environmental resistance per skill level. Environmental resistance protects against environmental effects only.]
[Durable Armor: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You learned how to roll with the punches. This includes knowing when your armor can take a hit and when it can’t. Increased durability for any armor you wear from incoming damage from non-environmental sources.]
[Epic Breathing Technique: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) You breathe, and the world breathes with you. You move along your own rhythm. Decreases stamina consumption even more during any activity and further increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight. Gain +2 Stamina Regeneration for every skill level.]
[Tranquil Heart: Level 11/100 (54%) (Passive) Your heart beats to the same rhythm as your body. It’s efficient and harmonious. You have an even easier time resisting mind-altering effects and a portion of of those effects are reflected back to the source. The portion is 1% per skill level. You also radiate an aura of tranquility that confers the resistance portion of the skill to your allies near you.]
[Flow: Level 77/100 (9%) (Passive) Thanks to being a natural sensor, you can read the flow of the mana. Increases your stability and the bonuses any movement or martial art skill provides by 1% per level in the skill.]
[Focused Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) When focusing on any enemy beyond what is normal, your ability to read their flow becomes clearer and more precise.]
[Controlled Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your read of the flow is more controlled, allowing you to see the flow much better. Increases the flow visibility by 20% for every skill level.]
[Immersed Flow: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) When you start reading the flow a counter starts. After every ten seconds, the effect of the Flow skill increases by 1% for each skill level. Maximum 600 seconds.]
Parry: Level 24/100 (13%) (Passive) Decreases the stamina consumption of defensive weapon movements. It allows you to more efficiently and accurately parry incoming attacks. Decreases the damage of the blocked attack by 0,5% for each skill level at the moment of blocking.]
[Cleansed Body: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your body has been cleansed of impurities, giving you a more charming aura. NPCs and players will treat you slightly differently depending on their tastes. Gives a flat increase of +3 to STR, AGI, END. You can upgrade this skill by further cleansing your body.]
Resistance skills:
General skills:
[Dwarven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dwarven language.]
[Elven Language: Level 7/10 (8%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Elven language.]
[Dark Elven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dark Elven language.]
[Sarkan Language: Level 3/10 (42%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Sarkan language.]
Crafting skills:
Pet skills:
[Strong Jaw: Level Max (Passive) The jaw of the wolf is strengthened.]
[Lucky Aura: Level Max (Passive) Those who are in the same party as the wolf receive a buff to their luck. It depends on their luck how big the increase is.]
[Animalistic Mana Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the mana inside him based on animalistic instinct.]
[Animalistic Shadow Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the shadows around him just as easily as it breathes.]
[Shadow Spirit Body: Level Max (Passive) The body of the wolf is part shadows and part spirit, which makes it much more malleable.]
[Shadow Strike: Level Max (Active/Passive) All attacks started from the shadows receive bonus damage, and the wolf can clad itself in shadows, making its entire body into a weapon, while striking at an enemy increasing its range of attack.]
[Shadow Jump: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) The wolf gains the capability to dive into your shadow and emerge from a different shadow. Range: 200 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]
[Shadow Dash: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Wherever the wolf steps, he can leave small pools of shadows that the wolf can use to jump into. When diving into the shadows, the wolf can travel at an even greater distance with his speed increased by 2% for each skill level.]
[Shadow Claws: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Your companion’s claws are infused with the shadows. There is a low chance to leave behind shadow mana with each attack of their claws. Alternatively, they can actively increase this infusion of shadow mana and strike at their enemies with giant shadow claws.]
[Shadow Bite: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) Your companion enhances their bite with shadow mana, increasing the area and strength of the bite.]
[Shadow Steed: Level 21/50 (3%) (Passive) Your companion has learned how to run while being ridden. Stamina consumption is decreased when being ridden and can carry bigger loads.]
[Shadow Bleed: Level 41/50 (8%) (Passive) Your companion’s claw has been enhanced by a chaotic shadow field which rends the area where the claws strike, causing extra bleeding.]
[Weakening Strike: Level 15/50 (21%) (Passive) Every strike of your companion's claw weakens the enemy's armor. The maximum stack of the effects is 3+1 per 5 skill level.]
[Shadow Heal: Level 21/50 (37%) (Active) Your companion can absorb the shadows hiding them to heal itself.]
[Runic Weapon: Level Max (Passive) The wolf’s claws and teeth are clad in runes that grant him a certain amount of ability to pierce through the impenetrable. Grants a 13% chance to do True Damage with the claws and teeth.]
[Runic Strike: Level 20/20 (Active) Lucky gains the ability to channel mana into the runes of his claws and teeth to enhance the damage theydo. The damage type depends on the type of mana he channels into it. Current natures are available to use: no attribute, shadow, or spirit.]