Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty. Doubts and considerations.

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty. Doubts and considerations.

Much like advancing to paragon, and then pinnacle, you can evolve your species to the next tier, Trebor explained. At this point, your physical form will begin to incorporate enough activated energy that you arent going to be genetically compatible, amongst other changes.

What other changes, exactly? Bob asked.

Activated energy, be it mana or stamina, will no longer be enhancing your muscles and nerves, youll have reached the tipping point where they are beginning to replace them, Trebor replied.

And Im guessing that tier ten is another break over point, Bob mused.

It is, Trebor agreed.

Alright, so the wording of the System notification makes it pretty clear that I can go wild on converting my the skills and schools Ive maxed into natural affinities. Id expected to only be able to convert one.

It appears the System is taking into consideration your paragon and pinnacle achievements, allowing you to continue to guide the path for your species advancement, Trebor said. Or thats what the System is telling me.

So, I can continue being a progenitor, but Ill only be able to choose from the five affinities on the list, whereas if I switched to a new species, Id be able to score two attribute affinities, but Ill have some unwanted features, Bob surmised.

Youll also no longer enjoy the enhanced creativity, empathy, curiosity, desire for knowledge, mana sensitivity and mana manipulation that you chose to infuse into humanity, or the humanity from Earth at any rate, Trebor warned.

Bob winced. Hed been focusing on the affinities, and hadnt considered that.

If I evolved, and kept Dimension, Shadowmancy, and Summoning as my affinities, I could, when I get to tier nine, pick an attribute affinity, right? Bob asked.

You would have to allocate all of your attribute points to the attribute you wish to gain a natural affinity for, Trebor replied, Which is more acceptable with the advent of heavy specialization, but given your not entirely unjustified paranoia, youd have to select Endurance, which would leave your spellcasting attributes awfully low.

If I double down with a natural affinity, and an affinity crystal, I should be able to get my summon spell up by thirty-two levels, and once Im level eight, Ill be able to use the school threshold bonus to push the level to level sixty-five, and once Im level sixteen, Ill be able to go to level one hundred and nine, which is sort of insane when I say it out loud, Bob mused.

Actually, the System caps the percentage you can increase a skill or spell by to one hundred. So that would be level ninety-six, at level sixteen, if you used both the threshold bonuses from the school to increase the maximum level of the spell, the first offering sixty-four percent, and the second offering a hundred, Trebor explained.

Considering that youll have to have killed six hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and twenty monsters to have done so, by level sixteen, the number is more reasonable, Trebor said. Youll have to have completed the Hidden Dungeon, alone, two hundred and twenty-six times. Given that you wont have your full set of skills, I expect that will take you roughly four months. Of course, youll need to kill even more monsters to continue leveling the spell, which should have a cap of one hundred and ninety-two. Once your spell reaches one hundred and four, youll have to kill over one point three million monsters in order to advance it one level, which, even with the increased clearing speed, is four months per level of the spell. You can safely assume that the stretch from level one hundred and twelve to one hundred and twenty will take eight months. From one hundred and twenty to one hundred and twenty-eight will take a year and four months. You can see the progression.

Bob shook his head. I might be better off taking that second threshold bonus as a cost reduction instead, he muttered.

Or both of them, Trebor offered. With a natural affinity, and an affinity crystal, youll be able to add thirty-two levels to the spell. With your Pedagogue and Academic achievements, youll have the school and the spell available immediately, so you can have, at level zero, a level thirty-two summons. He paused. Of course, you wont be able to cast it, he finished.

Yeah, not enough mana, Bob agreed.

Indeed, Trebor agreed. Given your examples, at level eight, you would need five mana to cast and maintain the spell, if it was level forty. If it was level fifty four, you would need seven.

Assuming I placed my attributes into intelligence and wisdom, Id regenerate sixteen mana each second, but Id lose ten to the system for upkeep, Bob sighed.

While he hadnt yet had the discussion with the group, he felt like he knew them well enough to know that theyd be all for it. There were other, less self-serving reasons to sweep and clear all the planets first, like conducting detailed surveys, putting satellites in orbit to monitor weather patterns, all in the interest of knowing exactly which planets would be the best ones to settle down on.

Something he had talked to the group about was waiting to level up to tier nine until theyd caught up to him. They each expected to have a single natural affinity when they reincarnated, which meant that if he had three, theyd be advancing much more quickly than he would. Quickly enough that they might be able to burn through tier seven and reincarnate into tier eight before he had gotten too far. It meant theyd be running in their groups while he delved alone, but the plan had always been for them to catch up sooner or later.

It all came down to time, which was frustrating. In theory, he had all the time he could ever want. At tier eight, with two attributes allocated to his endurance at each level, his life span was around twelve hundred years. While Kellan had assured him that the Church of the Light was a problem, Bob didnt think that particular statement had meant that theyd never be a problem again. Nor did he harbor any hope that the alphabet agencies on Earth had forgotten about him. He figured he had between one to two years before they leveled up enough to get back from Earth to Thayland, and he expected teams of tier six agents at the level cap to be looking for him. Everyone had gone back to Earth six months earlier, so he figured he had between six months and a year and a half.

He wanted the Dimension Affinity because it would allow him to double up with an affinity crystal, and reduce the cost of portalling to pittance. That was not the only reason, though. Hed begun paving the way for humanity, or the Earth version of it, to be inventors and explorers. If the third step of the species evolution included the Dimension Affinity, it would encourage them to range even further, exploring the multiverse. There were so many amazing things to see, and while hed like to see them with a very small number of people, he also wanted everyone to have the capacity to see those things as well.

Shadowmancy was the key to truly understanding magic, of that he was certain. Given his previous choices, it would be a disservice if he failed to include the Shadowmancy Affinity in his evolution.

Summoning was, at first glance, a purely selfish choice. It was the centerpiece of his own personal delving technique. A deeper look told another story, though. Ritual Summoning was a cornerstone of a post scarcity society. Summon Mana-Infused Object remained, in Bobs opinion, the single most useful spell offered by the System. He could build a goddamn city with that one spell.

Abjuration and Animancy were tempting, if only because they would reinforce the role of healing and protection. Ultimately, he couldnt justify the additional cost of a fourth, or worse, a fifth, natural affinity. Humans who chose to continue their evolution would go from tier seven to tier eight and stall.

Alright, Im going to stick with the big three, Bob decided.

As the progenitor of a new species, you can choose the manner in which your species advances from a physical perspective as well, Trebor said, and a hologram of Bob appeared.

It was ten feet tall, with human proportions. His skin appeared to be slightly thinner, his veins more prominent, while the irises of his eyes had changed to a deep purple.

You can choose to increase or decrease any of the proportions to a slight degree, Trebor explained, However, the eyes result from the choices youve made regarding mana sensitivity and a Shadowmancy Affinity. Those will be common to everyone who chooses this evolution.

Bob nodded. The image was basically him, only larger. Hed grown somewhat accustomed to that after becoming a paragon, and then a pinnacle.

Ill take it, he said, and a System window appeared.

You have chosen to evolve.

As the progenitor of your species, you have continued to forge their path according to your ideals.

Members of your species who chose to evolve past the pinnacle will now receive a natural affinity for the Arcane Schools of Dimension and Summoning, as well as the Divine School of Shadowmancy.

Would you like to name your new species? If you prefer, the System will assign a name.

Speak or mentally project the word yes, or no.

Yes, Bob said.

Speak or mentally project the name of your new species.

Wayfarers Bob stated.