Chapter Three Hundred and One. The Crunch Strikes Back.

Chapter Three Hundred and One. The Crunch Strikes Back.

"Fuck," Bob muttered.

He'd been finishing off his path, working through his threshold bonuses. He'd applied the threshold bonuses for Anima Blast to his Summon Mana-Infused Creature, netting a thirty-five percent strength healing effect, which when combined with his Eldritch Sheild would make allow him to keep Jake out indefinitely, even against higher level monsters where the UtahRaptor normally accumulated damage quickly enough that he'd needed to resummon him every second or third fight.

At the moment, his Eldritch Shield spell was level forty two, which represented six thresholds. His Anima Blast was level thirty seven, which represented five. That bumped the cost of his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell to twelve mana.

The problem was that after allocating his skill points on the remaining skills he wanted, the mana reserved from his skills jumped to thirty. That left him one point shy of keeping Jake up.

Looking through his skills, he realized things were even worse than he'd thought. If he wanted the bonus from the Medium Armor skill, he'd need to pay mana for it's upkeep. Even worse, he discovered that the reason his enchanted armor wasn't working was that he needed to pay the upkeep of one mana for each enchantment. That was another six mana.

Matrix Manipulation was another skill that required energy to keep going, and one that he'd been using unconsciously for years. He'd long ago set himself to Fade, constantly reducing the degree to which monsters would notice his mana.

After paying the upkeep for his armor, his mana regeneration was at forty-eight, which meant the enchantments had been worth half again what he'd paid in upkeep, leaving his modified regeneration at ten.

Which wasn't enough to keep his spell up.

Unless he took the cost reduction threshold bonuses for his Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell.

Increase spell level by one.

Decrease resource requirements by one percent, plus an additional percent for each skill that applies all of it's threshold bonuses to this skill.

Increase either Damage or Armor by one percent, plus an additional percent for each skill that applies all of it's threshold bonuses to this skill.

Apply a Summon effect to another skill.

"So, my spell is level sixty-four, which gives me nine threshold bonuses, or a nine percent reduction, but thanks to Anima Blast and Eldritch Shield, I'd have twenty-seven. That would put the spell at nine mana, right?" Bob muttered

'No,' Trebor replied.

"I don't think I'm actually capable of fucking up simple percentages," Bob replied.

'Your math is incorrect because one of the underlying values is incorrect,' Trebor said. 'Although you have also forgotten about the ten percent cost reduction granted to you by your Fragmented Achievement.'

Bob frowned. "Shouldn't you have told me this earlier?"

'I am unable to respond to anything but direct questions during this process,' Trebor replied.

"Why?" Bob asked, worried.

'The stasis effect. You aren't actually cycling mana in stasis, so at the moment the System is the one paying the costs to maintain my process, which is in conflict with the new structure under which you function. Restricting me to answering direct questions reduces the cost of my process,' Trebor stated.

Bob took a deep breath. "Alright then, where is the incorrect value in my calculation?"

'You have failed to take into consideration that with each threshold reached, the mana cost for each spell increases by one. With nine thresholds, and the addition of the five mana from Anima Blast thresholds, and six mana from Eldritch Shield thresholds, your total would be twenty mana for the spell, before taking into account the thirty-seven percent reduction, which would lower it to thirteen,' Trebor explained.

"That was not in the notes," Bob argued.

'Under normal circumstances you would have discovered this when you applied a skill point to advance a skill past the first threshold. You, however, unlocked all of thresholds for the spells you are currently determining, which bypassed this process,' Trebor said.

"File this as a Anomoly Report," Bob sighed. "How can you possibly create a viable path with all these costs?"

Bob shook his head. The Freedom might end up sitting in space while they delved.

"Still, even with that incredibly massive reduction, we can still pull a crystal an hour, which is much better return on our time," Bob grumbled.

'These skills were put into place to aid those who are unwilling or unable to kill monsters. Their progression will be much slower, but they'll be able to progress. They'll create weapons, armor, housing, utilities, and food, taking the crystals they've been paid with and attuning them so that they can absorb them,' Trebor explained.

Bob shook his head. The System was forthright and adamant regarding energy circulation.

"Well, with flight and those two, I have all my skill points allocated," Bob said. "Now, before we go any further, what are level thresholds?" Bob asked.

Congratulations, you have advanced to the second of seven thresholds for your species. You may choose from one of the following bonuses.

Increase a single attribute by a value equal to your tier.

Increase your spellcasting value by one percent. (User unlocked due to manfestation dispersion utilizing spellcasting)

Decrease the resources required for any skill utilizing your spellcasting value by one percent.

Increase your Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell by one. (User unlocked due to manifestation dispersion utilizing Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell)

Increase any spellcasting value by the users tier in percent for any single spell. (User unlocked due to fully leveling all known spells)

Decrease the resources required by the users tier in percent for any single spell. (User unlocked due to fully leveling all known spells)

"Well, the System is definitely paying more attention," Bob said uneasily.

The System as an unknowable, uncaring overlord was one thing. He could accept that the rules of universe were being standardized and enforced by the alien AI, even if he didn't agree with all of them.

The System as a responsive administrator who answered queries directly was unnerving and would take a bit of getting used to.

"Trebor," Bob began slowly, an idea forming in his mind. "Would it be possible to have you answer anything the System deems a query, instead of the System?"

'Yes,' Trebor replied, 'While the System will no longer offer the Mirror Protocol process, it hasn't changed it. My purpose is to explain the System, and while the System previously didn't answer queries directly, I can intercept them for you.'

"Ok, good," Bob breathed deeply. "Do that until I tell you otherwise."

He blinked and reoriented his thoughts.

"So, whatever I've done to level up is taken into consideration for my level thresholds?" Bob asked.

'Yes,' Trebor replied. 'Your remaining level thresholds also include an option for increasing the level or the size of your portals.'

"Shit, that's an extra thirty-five percent off Portals," Bob muttered. "Combine that with the six percent I get for the spell itself, and then another ten percent for Fragmented, and I'm at fifty-one percent. That's forty nine crystals instead of a hundred. What do you think?"

'That would be useful, given the amount of time it might take to find a suitable planet,' Trebor observed. 'Also, keep in mind that you aren't working toward a perfect build. A substantial portion of the multiverse will be rushing to reincarnate as they find themselves cast into roles for which they aren't well suited. You still intend to rush to tier eight and then reincarnate, correct?'

"That's the plan," Bob agreed. "Either find a planet and hit tier eight on it, or hit teir eight while we're looking for a planet, and hold there until we find one. Once we've found the right planet, and a good spot for it, which means a low level Dungeon, we build out our settlement and reincarnate, then rush up the initial levels."

'Then the reduction in cost for portals is likely the most effective use for your Threshold bonuses. Unless you feel that your Summon Mana-Infused Creature spell could use another five levels. Which it doesn't as you'll have reached tier eight before you push through that next threshold.'

Bob nodded, then allocated his threshold bonuses. He looked over his status and sighed. He was still all over the place.

Name Bob Level 37 Tier 7 Size 9 Armor Hardness 0 Weapon hardness 37 Str 28 Achievements : Extradimensional Traveler Armor Style 1.01 Weapon type 1.01 Cord 28 Pinacle Durable Dodge 0 Spell casting 1.01 End 88 Pedagogue Extradimensional Ferryman Level Thresholds Level 7 Threshold Bonus Attribute Bonus for choosing Path Int 211 Academic Fragmented Level 14 Threshold bonus: 7% reduction in cost for Portal Spell Wis 273 Stamina (Maximum): 58 Stamina Reserved : 0 Savior Reconstituted Level 21 Threshold bonus: 7% reduction in cost for Portal Spell Stamina Regen (maximum) 5 Stamina Regen Reserved: 2 Paragon Level 28 Threshold bonus: 7% reduction in cost for Portal Spell Health 3319 Mana (Maximum) : 242 Mana Reserved: 0 The Old Ways Level 35 Threshold bonus: 7% reduction in cost for Portal Spell Armor 221 Mana Regen (Maximum) 48.4 Mana Regen: Reserved 31 Extradimensional Explorer Level 42 Threshold bonus: Locked Damage 327 Spell Casting 356 Venerated Level 47 Threshold bonus: Locked