Chapter 25: Talented

Chapter 25: Talented

I opened my Status.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

10

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

5

Endurance:

16This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

21/300

Dexterity:

10

Health:

71/160

Health/Minute:

0.06

Conjuration:

24

Stamina:

39/78

Stamina/Minute:

0.504

Intelligence:

5

Mana:

11/265

Mana/Minute:

5.07

Stat Points:

6

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Crippling Chill 3 - XP 0/20

[Talent Choice Available]

Trailblazer

Noxious Grasp 7 - XP 87/94

Time Loop 5

I smiled at all of the changes I saw. From that last fight with the Anacaps, I could tell that I absolutely needed more Mana; I’d only survived the second time through because I memorized my Anacap’s Health total by looking through my System notifications and counting up all the damage it’d taken to kill it. And then I did the math and portioned out my Mana perfectly to be able to fit in four total casts of Crippling Chill alongside enough Noxious Grasp to get it low enough for me to kill. And even then, I still had to get my hands dirty.

So, every extra point of maximum Mana I got counted. Both Conjuration and Intelligence increased that, so I was excited to see them both go up so much. And speaking of Intelligence, when I reached Level 4, I’d gotten a notification about reaching an Intelligence threshold and getting some sort of extra information related to my Class. I ignored it at the time because of the battle, but now I was interested. I went ahead and looked back at it.

Intelligence threshold reached. 4 Intelligence.

Your Intelligence information rank has increased.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:

-When choosing Spells or Talents, you may now see the names of the Spells and Talents that will be offered to you the next time you get to choose one of them if you pick any given option.

That... was certainly interesting. The way that Spells and Talents worked was that all of your options were influenced by the Spells and Talents you’d chosen in the past. It was often visualized as a ‘Spell Tree’ where each Spell and Talent Choice was a branch with three other branches growing out of it. And each of those three branches had three branches growing out of them, and so on. This would essentially allow me to see one Choice ahead, so I’d know what options I’d be given in the future if I picked any given Spell or Talent I was being offered right then.

Really, compared to the wealth of information people with every other Class had, it was barely anything. Not only could they know the names of Spells in the future, they’d also know their effects, and they’d probably know way more than just one choice ahead. And they had experts giving out advice and information about certain combinations and paths down the trees, like how Erani had specifically chosen Firebolt because she knew she would get Explosive Firebolt at Rank 10. Still, it was better than nothing, and it seemed like this would only get better the more Intelligence I got, so maybe one day I would have information on my Spell and Talent Choices to rival everyone else’s.

And speaking of Spells, Crippling Chill had ranked up during the battle, as well. I looked at the notification I had gotten for that.

Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 14.

Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 3.

Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 47.3 to 48.5

Health Drain: From 5.51 to 5.79

Stamina Drain: From 4.41 to 4.63

Dexterity Debuff: From 11 to 11.6

It was always nice to see those numbers go up. Especially the Dexterity Debuff part; eventually, I would be fighting monsters of a high enough Level that a simple 10 or so Dexterity wouldn’t be a big deal to lose, so I wanted to ensure I kept it high enough to be impactful.

10

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

5

Endurance:

16

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

21/300

Dexterity:

10

Health:

71/160

Health/Minute:

0.06

Conjuration:

30

Stamina:

44/78

Stamina/Minute:

0.504

Intelligence:

5

Mana:

61/325

Mana/Minute:

6.15

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Crippling Chill 3 - XP 0/20

Recursive Growth

Trailblazer

Noxious Grasp 7 - XP 87/94

Time Loop 5

I liked the amount of extra Mana available to me. At 6 Mana/Minute, I was making about 360 Mana per hour, which meant 3.6 Spell XP per hour while practicing. If I slept for eight hours, that would be almost 30 Spell XP every night while I practiced in my sleep.

And, other than the regeneration, I now also had 325 maximum Mana, which was over 100 more than my previous total at Level 3 of 215. That was a couple extra casts of Crippling Chill, or a whole lot of damage with Noxious Grasp.

I went ahead and opened my eyes, cutting off my meditation session. Erani was sitting across from me, a half-eaten sandwich in her hand.

“You done with all of your stuff? Took you a bit of time.”

“Yeah,” I picked up my own sandwich, tearing off a bite and washing it down with a gulp of water. “The main thing that took so long was my Talent Choice.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess you have to make your decisions in the moment for your Class, right? I’m used to going in already knowing exactly what I’ll be offered and what I’m going to select. What’d you end up choosing?”

“It was a Talent called ‘Recursive Growth.’” I went ahead and read off the Talent’s effects to her, as well as those of my other options.

“Really? You picked that one? Seems a bit risky. You’re basically denying yourself a Talent in a gamble that you’ll be able to survive and get stronger without it.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m in any sort of immediate danger or anything.” I looked around myself at the hostile forest surrounding me. “Well, okay, technically, at this very moment I’m in danger, but once I get to Carth, I won’t be. From then on, I can take my Leveling a bit slower, and be sure to only fight monsters that I know I can kill. It’s not like someone’s hunting me down and I need to get stronger as quickly as possible or whatever.”

“I guess I understand that. I still just feel like it’s better to pick something that immediately benefits you, rather than something that only might pay off in the future. What happens if something goes wrong and you can’t be an adventurer anymore? Then your access to monsters will be cut off, and Recursive Growth will be useless. At least if you had the Time Dilation Talent or Reflexive Speed it’d do something outside of this very specific profession.”

“Well, truth be told, I don’t think a life without adventuring is one worth considering. At least, not for a long time. I’m confident I’ll grow stronger because I’m confident I’ll always want to grow stronger. I’ll find a way. And when I do, Recursive Growth will pay off.”

“Huh, well then, you’re much more dedicated to this than I am,” Erani laughed. “I’m always worried that I’ll change my mind about adventuring and that all of this work will have been for nothing. Plus, I’d be nervous that the very next day I’d need that additional boost in power, and die without it.”

“Ah, well yeah, I guess I could understand not wanting to take something like Recursive Growth in your case.”

The conversation died off, and we kept eating in silence, still trying to calm our nerves from the recent fight.

After we finished eating and resting from the interruption we had with the Anacap ambush, we continued on our journey. A bit into our walking, enough time had passed that I had regenerated my Mana to full, so I began practicing Noxious Grasp once again. I actually got a bit of a headache from doing so, which was unusual. It seemed like casting Crippling Chill so much in such a short timeframe put a good bit of strain on my mind, and Noxious Grasp was irritating that magical strain into an ache. It wasn’t anything unbearable though – just another indicator that I probably needed to start working on Crippling Chill once I finished getting Noxious Grasp to Rank 10 – so I continued with my practice. A couple hours of casting later, I got a notification.

Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 94.

Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 8.

Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 8, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 3.58 to 3.67

Health Drain: From 14.1 to 14.8

Stamina Drain: From 7.04 to 7.39

I was even closer to my goal! The next Rank would need 130 Spell XP, which would take a while, but hopefully my boosted Mana/Minute would help that along.

Many hours of walking later, noon passed to evening, and evening passed to night. Once it was too dark to continue, we set up a rudimentary camp and slept through the night, each of us taking turns watching for monsters while the other was asleep. Once again, I ended up casting Noxious Grasp through my slumber, and by the time I woke up, Noxious Grasp’s Spell XP was already at 70/130.

We continued our journey without major incident. We continued along the path, taking occasional breaks along the way, and eventually, a few hours after we ate lunch, I saw a massive circular wall appear in the distance as I ascended a hill. The thick, tall barricades didn't do much to block my sight of the city, though. With my vantage point, I could see the countless buildings and structures within the stone encirclement. Specifically, one particular tower rose far, far above the already large walls. It was easily fifteen stories high – maybe more. Its rectangular, weathered metal exterior shone in the sunlight, almost blinding me, but I still didn’t look away from the beautiful structure.

“We’re here,” Erani said, smiling at my wide eyes. “Welcome to Carth.”