[You have leveled up!]
[You have 5 level-ups to process.]
[Blackflame Evoker 195, 196, 197, 198, 199.]
[Choose a Skill and Trait to increase. Then repeat this four times.]
Two Ranks into Conduit’s Wrath, then spend an Ember to Polymerize that and Blackflame Beam. You can suppress the Baseline to Enhanced message, then the remaining three Ranks on the resulting Skill, since that’ll go from Rank ten to Enhanced three. As for Traits? All into Blackflame Blaze. Suppress status screens.
[Confirmed.]
[Confirmed. Polymerization of Skills initiated.]
[Parameter check: both Skills are of the same Rank? Yes.]
[Parameter check: both Skills are of the same Enhancement? Yes.]
[Applying . . .]
-----
Skill:
Blackmana Beam E3 - Fire a beam of empowered Blackflame that lances forth in a line dealing massive damage. Pierces 13 targets (or 13 feet of material). The user may spend mana to increase the damage dealt. 1,500-foot range.
-----
Trait:
[Dire] Embersoul Blackflame Blaze P7 - Adds a burning damage-over-time (DOT) to all of the user’s Skills and Rotes that inflict damage, dealing an additional [170%] of the total direct damage over 2.5 seconds.
-----
Eric lowered his bracer and looked at his allies, who were all busy processing their own milestones. Except for Naomi, as she stood up on that helm deck, staring off into the distance with a hollow look. Eric moved up there and cleared his throat. “Hey. You want to talk about it?”
She barely nodded. “I’ve never been eaten alive.” She looked at him. “Have you been?” Her drone detached from her back and began gathering the ashes of the monsters on the deck of their ship.
“Oh yeah,” Eric replied with a chuckle. “It’s happened to me twice. Leviathan the first time—that was terrifying.”
“Leviathan?”
“Giant sea snake, basically,” Eric said. “It’s like a cousin to dragons.”
[Not inaccurate.]
Naomi let out a shaky breath, and Eric noticed the firm grip she had on the wheel. “I . . . I should’ve been able to get out of that myself. I need—”
Eric put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, silencing her. “You have allies for a reason. We shore up the deficiencies one another has.”
“I don’t want to depend on you. Not that I’m against it . . . but I was on my own after my sister died. I’m used to being a solo act.” She looked down at her armored form, then looked back up to Eric, and her eyes behind the visor were filled with a determined gleam. “I’m going to upgrade the fuck out of this suit. I don’t want to fail any of you.” Her drone returned and she barely smiled. “Look at that, Spider-Sailor Ashes to craft with. Thirty-one of them.”
Because, Eric thought, it would be like failing your sister again. Depths below, we need to get you into a Therapy session with someone who is better than whoever Misty suggested. Getting Naomi to visit Rory over in Bhlast would be ideal.
Indedroma spoke, and only in his mind.
[I can give her access to your therapy sessions. But, I fear that would break her mind, given what you saw in Ardenarnexlar.]
Yeah, don’t do that.
Peter came up the steps. “You both good?”
Naomi nodded, and Eric gave him a thumbs-up.
Shannon came up a moment later. “I hate spiders. Happy we got to kill a ton of them.” She grinned, and the way her armor accentuated the gesture made it look like her mouth stretched from ear to ear. “So, what next?”
Naomi shrugged. “We keep going I guess until the next chamber hits. Just out of curiosity—” she let go of the wheel, and the blue glow returned, while the boat stopped. “Yeah, figured.” She grabbed it again, the blue vanished, and the boat moved. “We can rest when we want to.”
“Good to know,” Peter replied. “Oh, we should probably check out the whole ship.”
Naomi let go of the wheel and began walking down the stairs. “Seems like a good idea. We don’t know what type of challenges we will face.”
Eric gestured for Shannon to go next, and the four ventured into the depths of the ship, which was illuminated with glowstones tied in little nets which were then suspended from the ceiling. The entire ship was well-maintained, and Eric saw no signs of damage. He went through the usual procedure he would with any vessel, then paused. “Hey, everyone.”
“Hmm?” Peter replied from behind a ballistae with an explosive-tipped bolt ready to go, next to an openable flap.
“We should take some time to familiarize ourselves with the ship.” Eric gestured around them with a sweep of his hand. “We know we’ll be traveling on the ocean, and this ship design is pretty standard for Elyndian deep-ocean voyages. Might as well take some time to familiarize ourselves.”
“Agreed,” Naomi said. “I spent some time on sailing ships, but those were the little daysailers near Seattle. I’m sure there’s plenty to learn about dealing with this type of ship.”
“Then let’s get started,” Eric replied.
The four spent the next two hours going over the entire ship. Eric went from place to place, explaining the function of the various sections, what to do when in certain situations, and they even ran a few drills with running out the explosive-tipped ballistae. Naomi asked, “Why don’t they have cannons invented yet? Those were medieval.”
Eric chuckled and held his palm up, letting Blackflame pool there. “Why innovate when The Paths exist? A person capable of throwing fireballs is a lot more agile and dependable than technology that could fail.”
“Stifled innovation through Class-specific tasks,” Naomi stated.
“Correct.”
Peter clicked his tongue then said, “That sounds shitty. So much tech could easily improve life. Like, cell phones.” He raised his wrist and tapped his bracer. “Imagine if we got everyone one of these?”
Naomi let out a light laugh at that. “Do you really want the return of social media?”
Peter frowned. “Oh, on second thought, scratch that.”
The group headed back topside, and Naomi took the helm once more. The ship moved forward, and Eric took in a deep breath of the ocean air as the dungeon-made voyage brought back excellent memories.
Those memories were interrupted as a loud crunch and crack echoed through the ship’s timbers, and all of the Summoned were launched forward abruptly. “We ran aground!” Eric said as he recovered and got to his feet. He moved to the side of the ship and peered down at the blue water, but saw nothing except the lapping of waves. “Below decks, whatever chamber it is has to be there!”
He moved down the stairs and Peter was right on his heels, but the second Eric got down the first flight and onto the lower level, he saw how futile any attempt to save the ship would be. A giant rock had seemingly shoved up into the vessel, and water dripped from a cave opening.
Peter said, “I think we found the next chamber.” He nudged Eric. “Want me to lead?”
“Sure,” Eric replied as he grabbed his grimoire and held a Blackflame Evocation within its pages, illuminating the space.
Naomi and Shannon got down as Peter moved to the opening of the cave. Shannon said, “Oh, I guess we are going down?”
Eric followed Peter down the five-foot-diameter tube. The coarse pumice-like stone under his feet gave plenty of grip without him needing to use the foot-claws on his armored form, and thus descending was a matter of just moving slowly, given the width of the tunnel itself. He had room to move, but Peter had to squeeze through sections and his armor scraped the walls with an ear-piercing scrrt noise.
“Eighty feet down,” Naomi said. “And we are still going down farther.”
Eric assumed they would be going to the ocean floor. He was proven correct, as the cavern opened to reveal a grotto with enough room for everyone to stand and move about. To his left, there were seashells that looked like they opened and closed on a single hinge—like a clam, but without a wavy design or pattern to the ridge. It was flat and smooth. To his right there was a pool that led out to the ocean.
“Air pocket,” Peter stated.
Shannon walked over to the shells. “What do you think these are?”
Eric joined her. “Four of them, four of us. I would bet it is the mega-dungeon’s way of giving us underwater breathing.” He frowned. “Only one way to find out.”
Peter grabbed one of the shells, and it opened up, flattened, elongated, and then appeared as if it were a collar that could affix over the neck. “I mean, I can try it? Worst case scenario, I full heal and you destroy it, Eric.”
“Go for it,” Eric replied.
Peter hooked his hammer through his belt, opened the hinge on the shell-collar, and put it around his neck. It made a clack when it snapped shut, and Peter’s eyes bulged. He sprinted to the pool and leapt in.
“Ah,” Eric said. “Got it. It removes your ability to breathe normally.” He let his grimoire go, grabbed one of the shells, and it morphed into the shape of a collar. He put it around his neck, and immediately felt the oxygen leave his lungs and strain for air. Turning around, he sprinted and dove into the pool.
The moment he passed the surface, he was able to breathe, see perfectly in the clear water, and heard Peter say. “Wild, right?”
Eric looked sideways to see his ally, and was a bit surprised to see that the bottom of his feet had elongated a bit to become more fin-like. Glancing down, he saw the same with his own feet. “Huh, neat.”
Shannon came splashing down a moment later, and she kicked up a ton of the soft sand in the roughly ten-foot-deep hole. It obscured the tunnel continuing forward, lined with crushed glowstones that were shaped like an arrow. “Oh, this is cool!” she shouted.
Eirc kicked himself, because he remembered he had his T1 Wavemender Choker which let him breathe water just fine. But, the fin-like feet were helpful, so ultimately he shrugged and swam forward to make room.
And not a second too soon, as Naomi splashed down a moment later. “Oh, wow, interesting,” she said.
Peter pointed down the tunnel. “I think we follow the lights. Do you all think we’ll be underwater for the rest of the dungeon?”
“In all likelihood,” Eric replied. “Hence the mega dungeon giving the temporary gear.”
Peter grabbed his hammer and it shifted to its sword mode, and he swam forward down the tunnel. Eric followed, and was surprised at how fast he was moving. The tunnel continued forward for fifty feet before they went down under an overhang, and emerged into the vast, open ocean. It was perfectly clear in all directions, and glancing up, he could see the surface maybe five-hundred feet off. Or, perhaps it was the sky-box of the mega dungeon.
Below was a vast forest of seaweed that tumbled back and forth, waving like countless blades of grass though pushed to and fro not by wind but by the currents, and to Eric’s dismay, the glowstone arrows pointed right into the thick of it.
Shannon swam up next to him and Peter. “Oh, neat. We get to deal with some type of undersea forest fight.”
Eric attempted firing off a Blackflame Evocation, and the spheres of black and white flame manifested in front of him, vanished, then reappeared next to the seaweed before striking it. The substance was instantly destroyed, but the Blackflame did not spread to adjacent bits, and the stalk grew right back. “No cheating it by burning it all away,” Eric said.
Naomi swam a little bit ahead of the other three. “Just because I’m curious—” her MAB on her shoulder fired off a bolt, and the electricity arced forward this time. The bolt impacted a blade of seaweed, causing it to stand up on end before resuming its waving flow. “Yup, the chokers remove environmental effects for our abilities.”
Shannon grabbed her crossbow and fired off a bolt. It flew forward, didn’t drop and instead went straight, and impacted the sand below and in front of them. “That’s a little bit slow, but not by much.”
“Okay then, let’s go,” Peter said. He swam down deeper until he was on the floor, and to Eric’s surprise, the man’s feet slammed. “Oh, cool. Gravity increase,” Peter said.
Eric swam down and did the same, and felt a near-suction sensation as his legs were pulled down. “We should test this before we go in.”
“How?” Peter asked.
As Shannon and Naomi landed, Eric tried jump up. One foot at first, but he came back down a little slower than if he was above the water. Then, two feet. Once he tried three feet, he was free-floating again. “So the gravity field lets you go at three-ish feet.” He swam back down and was sucked onto the sand again.
“Good to know,” Naomi replied. She flicked her right and left arms to the sides, and blades popped out of her armor, which then sparked with light-blue electricity. “I don’t know how good I am with these, but better for being in the seaweed, I’m sure.” She looked at Shannon. “No melee options for you, right?”
Shannon shrugged. “I’ll just stealth up.” She vanished in a puff of purple mana that dissipated in the water.
Peter said, “Okay. Let’s go.” He moved forward with only-slightly-slowed steps and ventured into the dense foliage. Eric was a step behind him, and kept right behind his ally. There were no more glowstone arrows on the ground. “We’re blind in here,” Peter bluntly stated.
Eric swapped his vision over to Reaper’s Flamesight, and couldn’t see any heat signatures aside from Peter ahead of him, thanks to the dense seaweed. “I’ve got nothing for my detection.”
Naomi said from behind, “Just keep moving forward. We’ll either leave the forest, or hit some obstac—”
Eric wheeled around as she was cut off, and saw what he could only describe as a merfolk had grabbed Naomi and she had reactively turned to try and strike it. The monster was green-skinned, making it blend in perfectly with the surroundings, and had a slightly elongated, almost reptilian mouth—like some type of monitor lizard. It had six eyes that bored into Naomi as she cut into its mid-section, and it retaliated with a thrust from a spear it had in its right hand. The spear plunged into Naomi’s gut, and a burst of blood suffused the water.
Eric immediately fired off his Blackflame Evocation and shouted, “We’re being attacked!” The spheres appeared above the merman and slammed into the monster. It was lit up, and Eric immediately transferred the healing from his Blackflame Blaze to Naomi.
Peter moved past him, heading to engage the monster, but something grabbed him from the right and dragged him deeper into the seaweed.
Eric felt something behind him, and he moved forward, then spun around. His nervous system had warned him of the attack, and he barely dodged a hand that had tried to grab him. He fired off a Blackflame Evocation onto that one as well—and the new attacker still partially hidden in the kelp flared with his DOT.
Then, Eric saw several crossbow bolts appear at his feet, and they radiated purple flames that flickered and cascaded outward into the water, almost turning to a goopy-consistency appearance as they spread. Shannon had used her AOE and applied her DOT to all of the hidden foes.
Naomi shouted, “Help me out!” and Eric turned to spot her, still being harried by the monster. She had been stabbed another few times in the thighs—but his healing transfer kept mending her. She was fighting poorly, stabbing with her blades and making ineffectual wounds. But, the Makerspark’s energy still cascaded over the foes’ body and made them stutter in their movement.
Then, a bolt slammed into the monster’s neck, and a burst of black blood spurted out. Yet still it fought.
We’re on the sixth floor, Eric thought as he faced the enemy who now emerged from the seaweed to engage in. They’re going to be a challenge, very hardy, and use tactics we might not ever anticipate.
The one in front of him stabbed with a spear, and Eric nimbly dodged it—or tried to. It scraped the side of his scale-armor form, and he felt the tiny impact from the glancing hit. The water was slowing him down. No matter how fast he moved, physics still applied to some extent.
“Permission to use a big Skill?!” Eric shouted.
“Go for it!” Peter yelled from somewhere in the seaweed.
“No!” Naomi shouted back. “I’m not covered by Peter’s Skill.”
That struck Eric, and he looked at Naomi. She wasn’t covered by the silver sheen. He glanced down and saw that he wasn’t, either.
“It’s the kelp!” Shannon said from somewhere above him. “It touches you and strips defenses!”
How does she know that? Eric thought.
Still, he knew that there was one Skill he could use if everyone was close together. “Everyone! Get close!” He moved to Naomi, suffering a glancing spear strike.
Shannon from somewhere above said, “I’m on top of you! Do it!”
Eric knew Peter would survive whatever he threw at the man, and so he burned three Sigils—going down to nine—and used Blackmana Tempest Minefield.
The world around them exploded into black flames that surged with the blue-purple of raw mana, and Eric surged more mana into the Skill to empower it even farther. Manacules, coated in their Blackflame payload, spiraled all around them, and grew larger the more mana he poured from his personal reservoir into the Skill. The water swirled around them into a cyclonic column, and the merfolk who were attack them were pushed away while suffering massive damage.
A silver flash sparked next to Eric and looking sideways he saw Peter there, next to her. “How’d you do that?” Eric asked.
Peter chuckled. “Anyone I’ve got barriers on, I can teleport to in a set range.”
Eric knew that he only had a few seconds left on the tornado, and said, “Get ready to scan for any sign of the way out. My tornado is going away soon.” The distant echo of pops and the reverberation of the landmines going off in the water told Eric that other foes were being impacted who were outside of the radius of the spinning doom itself.
Naomi was sucking in deep breaths and said, “I fucking hate this close-up shit.” She didn’t sound scared—if anything, there was a little bit of exhilaration there.
Eric’s Skill concluded, and as the spinning vortex of Blackflame faded, he saw that he had only cleared out a small diameter around them—and the seaweed grew back almost instantly. But, he could also see manacules twinkling all around, suspended in the water above, forming a defensive grid of sorts. Explosions that popped off in the distance told him that hidden foes were still being hit, and his ramping stacks of his buffs confirmed that.
“Shannon, you were able to get up above,” Peter said.
“There’s a skybox, like, five feet above the grass,” Shannon replied. “And the seaweed goes up to that.”
Eric pointed to his right, to the direction they had initially been going. “Let’s move. No point standing here.” He began to move, then heard Peter yell for him to stop. Glancing back, he was a bit shocked, as he had moved far farther from his allies than he had anticipated. “Whoops, sorry.”
Peter came over. “Slow down, man. We’ll lose you in all of this shit.”
Eric was about to reply, but a spear jabbed out of the foliage to his left. Thanks to his now artificially capped, maxed-out stacks amplifying his reaction time by two-hundred percent percent, combined with his nervous system, despite the water slowing him, he was able to fully dodge. He grabbed the spear and yanked—thanks to his [Surging] Mana Muscles, his strength was amplified to twice the norm, and since they correlated directly to his vast mana reservoir, he was able to pull the enemy merfolk out of the kelp entirely.
Peter stabbed without hesitation, and the merfolk writhed on his blade, then turned to try and claw at him. But Eric grabbed its throat with his draconic-clawed hand and dug in, then yanked back—ripping out the flesh and causing a burst of black ichor. The monster’s eyes went dark, then it was consumed by the Blackflame affecting it from one of the mine explosions it must have been struck by. “Good catch,” Peter said.
Eric looked past Peter and saw Shannon and Naomi—Shannon had been stabbed by one of the spearmen from the kelp, and had a crossbow bolt in her left hand that she stabbed into the seaweed with, presumably hitting her assailant.
“I’ve had it with this bullshit!” Naomi shouted. Her MAB on her shoulder glowed, and the glow got brighter and brighter.
Zap!
Eric felt his body lock up as the wave of electricity shot through the entire area. Peter froze in place, Shannon did as well, and the merfolk seemed to as the stabbing spears stuck in place mid-thrust. Eric was able to use his Rote via will alone, and so he summed up Blackflame Evocations to hit each of the merfolk’s now-exposed arms.
“Fuck,” Peter growled. “That hurt.”
Eric redirected his healing first to Peter, then to Shannon. Both allies recovered fully within an instant, and just for good measure Eric also used a Blacksteel Healing on Naomi. But, that along with his earlier tornado empowerment had drained his mana in his main reservoir, and even with the Blackflame Blazes feeding him more mana, he was going through it just as fast. Thankfully, he had his Mana Skin, which let him keep firing off his Rote.
Naomi’s body was surrounded by an arcing barrier of lightning that crackled and coursed with that electric-blue glow. “No more hitting me, you fuckers!” she shouted as she brought her arm-blades to bear on one of the now-ablaze merfolk and cut deep into its arm. She severed it entirely with the one hit.
Eric felt the sudden rush of massive healing and mana restoration as his body flooded with warmth and cold. “We’re killing them off,” he said as he turned to intercept another spear-strike. He grabbed it, then unleashed a Blackflame Breath right into the merfolk’s face—and they didn’t stand a chance as whatever damage he’d dealt with his mines was enough to cause them to wither away to ashes.
Wait a second, Eric thought. That gives me an idea.
He pushed himself prone and performed another breath, but this time, he made sure to keep it spread as wide as he could, while keeping it low to the ground. If he could cut the kelp off at the bottom, and sustain it to keep it from growing back, they could actually see the area a bit.
The ploy worked, as the seaweed in front of him was seared away, and any new growth was instantly destroyed. Since his grimoire was upgraded, he didn’t actually have to breathe out, and only his mana reservoir restricted how long he could keep it going. The landscape in front of him was clear in a fifty-foot arc, and he was able to see a coral archway which led into some deeper descent. “Over there!” he shouted.
Peter began moving that way, and thanks to Eric’s AOE, the merfolk in their way were visible. Shannon’s bolts surged past Peter and hit each of the merfolk who closed on the Paladin to engage with him up close with their spears. Naomi’s arcing blasts of lightning from her MAB shot past the man as well, impacting the merfolk and causing them to lock up for a moment.
Eric let the Rote fade and moved forward as the seaweed grew back. Naomi and Shannon were right behind him, and he elected to slow and let them pass him so he could hold the rear. And not a second too soon, as four spears jabbed forward through the growth. He deflected each with his hand, and then retaliated with another Blackflame Breath which blasted the foes back, cleared out the kelp, and gave Eric a chance to keep moving backward.
“Over here!” Peter shouted.
Eric kept moving back toward the voice, sweeping his breath weapon back and forth, until he was under the coral arch. At that point, a film of purple appeared, cutting off access. He let the Rote stop, and felt his bracer vibrate. Turning around, he saw that his allies had moved down a tunnel, and following them, came to a circular room that was free of enemies.
“Rest room,” Shannon said as she checked herself over. “That seaweed stripped all of my Skills.”
“Thankfully not Rotes,” Eric said as he looked down at his draconic-themed armored form. “Chamber cleared. Good job everyone.”
Naomi grumbled, “No Ashes though. We got ripped off.” As if on cue, a sphere of congealed ashes came tumbling down the passage they had left, and would have bumped into Eric if he didn’t move. “Oh, forget I complained,” she said as she moved over to Eric and scooped the ashes. “Twenty-three merfolk. Not bad.” She lifted it to her back, and the little drone’s arms grabbed it.
“What was that electric burst thing?” Peter asked.
“I upgraded my armor with a defensive explosion with a primal force resource,” Naomi replied. “I guess the area of effect was a bit bigger than anticipated. Or maybe electricity plus water caused the AOE to be larger. In either case, my bad.”
I thought that her armor was a Skill? Eric thought.
Indedroma spoke in his mind alone.
[It is complicated. It is a physical object, summoned onto her body by a Skill. Otherwise it is normally in an extradimensional storage space, unless she is actively working on it in her Workshop. The Skill itself is the warping it to and from her part, along with the basic benefits of the ability.]
Tell Peter all of that. He should think of something similar to merge his actual heavy plate armor with his draconic defenses.
[I’ll note it and pass that along.]
Eric looked at Shannon. “You good?”
She gave him a thumbs up. “Despite not being a Warden, you’re healing like crazy.”
Eric looked at his palm and saw the ripple of Blackflame under the skin. “Yeah, well, it seems like the primal forces respond to our will in function, as well. As long as my healing comes from something being injured, I think I can be just fine as a healer.” He looked at Peter. “Minus the Rote I got thanks to you.”
“Hey, no sweat,” Peter replied. “Now then, milestones and move on?” He pointed to another tunnel that went down deeper.
“Sounds good,” Naomi said.
“Wait a second,” Eric interrupted. “Indedroma, you said that Skill-disabling abilities are other-reality only, so it should only show up in invasion or wild dungeons. But we experienced it here.”
[It is an effect of the Titan’s influence. Or rather the corrupting entity. Other realities’ mechanics bleed over into the mega dungeons the longer an invasion dungeon is active.]
Naomi sighed. “Well, nothing we can do against it, then. We’d have to close all of them.”
Shannon nodded. “Mhmm. Just trust my trap sense thing, since that picked up on the kelp once it affected me.”
“It also means we might experience mental assaults,” Peter commented.
[We will have to deal with it for the time being. There is no way to clear every invasion dungeon on the world. Just knuckle up, defeat the mega dungeons with the new, increased rigor of having Skill-stripping effects, and we will succeed.]
“Sounds like the best plan we have,” Naomi commented.
Eric looked down at his bracer.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have 4 level-ups to process.]
[Blackflame Evoker 200, 201, 202, 203.]
[Level 200 in Blackflame Evoker reached! Gain access to a new Skill. You may equip your new Skill on your Loadout by spending one hour doing low-impact activities.]
[Level 200 in Blackflame Evoker reached! Gain access to a new Trait.]
-----
New Skill:
Blackmana Shield 1 - The user manifests a shroud of Blackflame empowered mana around themself. This mana shield suffers all injury the user would, applying it to the user's mana reservoir. If the user's mana reservoir would empty, then overflow damage impacts them.
-----
New Trait:
Kindling Efficiency 1 - Whenever the user (or a Blackflame empowered ally) applies a damage-over-time effect with a Skill or Rote, they recover mana equal to 1% of the total damage that effect is expected to deal over its full duration. This mana recovery occurs over the DOT’s duration rather than instantly. If the target dies before the DOT ends, the remaining recovery is granted immediately. This Trait can only recover mana from each target once every 5 seconds.
-----
[Choose a Skill and Trait to increase. Then repeat this three times.]
I can go get my Mythic Class upgrade, Eric thought with glee. Depths yes. Okay, first off, let’s do one Rank into Mana Conversion to get that up to ten. Then, the other three into Bristling Bastion. Then, three Trait Ranks into Blackflame Blaze, which will cap it at Primordial ten . . . and then the last Rank to permanently integrate it.
Eric was extremely excited. He had been working on this one Trait for weeks now, and integrating tons of sub-functions into it. He knew that this was a defining point, where he was permanently solidifying his build into a DOT focus. There were bound to be changes, as aspects that he had not been using would fall off and instead empower other parts—such as the DOT being able to have a set duration. He moved to the cave wall, and said, “Don’t get close to me.”
“Why?” Naomi asked, looking up from her bracer.
“Just trust me,” Eric said.
Then, he thought, I’m ready. Do it.
[Confirmed.]
-----
Skill:
Mana Conversion 10 - This Skill costs no Sigils, but may only be used five times per every 6 hours. Requires a full mana reservoir. The user expends all of their mana, and restores a single Sigil.
[Armored] Bristling Bastion I4 - The user coats their body in ash, which functions like a [medium] suit of armor. Upon being impacted by a strike, Rote, or Skill, a burst of concussive Blackflame knocks that foe backward and deals minor damage. Additionally, a cloud of ash stays in a small area around you, obscuring vision and muffling sound. You and those you designate as allies are unaffected. The user and allies within the cloud of ash have the mana cost of Rotes reduced by 50%. Foes who enter the cloud will suffer minor damage upon entry, and for each second they remain within the area. While active, the user may freely manifest or dismiss ten melee weapons that can be mentally controlled. When any of these weapons inflicts harm upon a foe, the user recovers an equal amount of health, and the target is marked for death, suffering 20% more damage from all sources. These weapons may only persist while within the cloud. 60-minute duration, [25-foot knockback, 140-foot range on knockback reprisal], 50-foot radius centered on the user.
-----
Trait:
[Dire] Embersoul Blackflame Blaze P10 - Adds a burning damage-over-time (DOT) to all of the user’s Skills and Rotes that inflict damage, dealing an additional [185%] of the total direct damage over 2.5 seconds.
-----
[Maximum Rank achieved. Final evolution initialized.]
Eric pushed himself back to the stone as his entire body heated up. He could see Blackflame, consuming his vision, and felt raw mana escaping his body as the water around him bubbled, superheating. Blackflame poured out of him in streams and torrents. He could barely hear his allies’ words of shock.
It felt incredible. Eric was warm, warmer than he had ever been before, but it wasn’t hot or uncomfortable. He felt comfort, and it wrapped around him close, tight, like a parent clutching their child to their chest. Blackflame belonged to him, and it was incorporated into his Paths Within, into his very soul, imprinting him. He let out a laugh at the realization of just what that meant, or rather, what he thought it meant.
His soul was beyond death.
He had no clue what that might do, or what would happen if he died, but Indedroma rapidly filled him in, her voice pushing aside the tempestuous whirling in his head that drowned out all noise. She sounded peaceful, serene, and very satisfied.
[A primal force imprinted the soul. You’re bound to The Paths forever, now—bound to Elyndor’s reality forever.]
For a moment, a brief one, Eric felt a flicker of fear—fear that Indedroma had been manipulating him since the start. But, that was dashed aside.
Why did he care?
He wanted to live forever on Elyndor. He planned on saving the world, helping Indedroma get into the Titan to persist for all time, and already had plans in place to circumvent death for himself and his loved ones.
This was just a confirmation, a validation, and a final point-of-no-return. There was nothing beyond that black veil of death that could match to life on Elyndor and the power at his disposal.
He let out a near-manic laugh of delight.
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Trait:
Primal Blackflame Blaze [Permanent] - Adds a burning damage-over-time (DOT) to all of the user’s sources of damage, dealing an additional 200% of the total direct damage over 2 seconds. If reapplied, all DOT timers refresh, and all refreshed DOTs flare up, dealing 10% of their total burn instantly. Subsequent attacks (of any type) from the user or those they designate as allies refresh the timer, and cause existing DOTs to flare up, dealing 10% of their total burn damage instantly.
Every time this DOT applies damage, it grants the user the following benefits, stacking up to 100 times. The user may artificially cap the number of stacks.
Increase outgoing damage by 20%.
Increase incoming damage by 20% {10% with [Heat Sink] Cinderscale Shroud active}.
Every time this DOT applies damage, it grants the user the following benefits, stacking up to 100 times. The user may artificially cap the number of stacks.
Regenerate 2% of maximum mana per second.
Increase movement speed by 20%.
Improve reaction time by 20%.
Accelerate processing speed by 20%.
These bonuses last for 1 minute after the user’s last instance of damage dealt.
Every time this DOT deals damage, the user siphons away 10% of that target’s health and mana, and replicates that siphoned health and mana restoration to any target they can see within 1,000 feet.
When a target dies within 10 minutes of being harmed by the user, the user restores 30% of their health and mana. Allies who are within five feet of the target restore 15% of their health and mana.
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Name: Eric Baxter
Classes: (III) Blackflame Evoker 203
Maximum Sigils: 20
Rotes: [Scorching] Blackflame Evocation, Blackflame Breath, [Heat Sink] Cinderscale Shroud, Blacksteel Healing, Mana Channel, Mana Drain
Equipped Skills: [Armored] Bristling Bastion I4, Cinderstorm 3, Blackmana Beam E3, [Flareburst] Flashstep E10, Combustion Trigger A10, Blackflame Eruption 3, Locking Singularity 3, [Apocalyptic] Blackflame Meteor 3, Blackflame Tether 3, Nothing’s Certain C10, Fiery Chains 3, Through the Flames 3, Mana Conversion 10, Blackmana Tempest Minefield 1, Blackmana Shield 1
Traits: Primal Blackflame Blaze [Permanent], Fires of Death 2, Mana Burn 10, Final Reaping E10, Conversion Catalyst 1, Primal Reservoir 1, Reaper's Flamesight 1, Reaper's Reprieve 1, Evoker’s Aura 1, Kindling Efficiency 1
Body Enhancements: [Antithesis] Neversick Slime (T5), [Reactive] Mana Skin (T7) {DR 20}, [Surging] Mana Muscles (T6), Tarrasque Nervous System (T8) {Igniting}, Steelbone Infusion (T7)
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Loadout Slots: 25 (-5 from Body Enhancements)
Gear:Manatech Bracer [Comms, Map, HUD, Alarm, Index Interface, Tracking, Storage Dimension {1 ft. x 1 ft.}, Texting, Bug-Fry {1x/day}], T8 Leysteel Focus Grimoire of Retexturing, T6 Hidden-Plate Armor Robes, Underworld Kit, Toughskin Slime (8 oz.), Silence Node, T2 Wavestrider Boots, T1 Wavewender Choker, x10 phylactery [empty], x10 DNA container [Eric, Naomi, Peter, Shannon, Misty, James, Cecil, Benson, Mari, Amber], T1 Communication Earring [Spymaster], T1 Communication Earring [Queen],
Carried Curatives: Eric - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Naomi - x15 T1 Healing Potion, x5 T2 Healing Potion, x5 T3 Healing Potion, x5 T4 Healing Potion, x10 Soothe-Salve, x10 Ember Grease, x10 Panacea, x10 Maiden's Kiss
Shannon - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Peter - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Parts & Components: x1 Sharktopi Ashes, x23 Merfolk Ashes, x31 Spider-Sailor Ashes
Personal Finances: Scrip: 50 silver, 300 copper
Coins: 9 gold, 450 silver, 830 copper
Embers: 2
Kills: 1568
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