He decided to hold off on putting his points from his last two level ups now that his chance of a Class change was coming up. Seeing the notification, a sense of giddiness hit him, like all the times when he finally leveled up a character in a game long enough to finally get a job advancement. This usually meant new skills to try out, changing his usual go-to to become something different to make the game fresh and interesting again.
But this time, it was something meant to change his entire life here in this world. This was a much bigger deal than anything else, as proven since not many people have gotten this far, at least within Forontia.
He only ever met a few people, one of them being Nina who had an Assassin Class. He also knew that there was no point in talking about this to anyone else as, in the end, this was his choice.
And he would be glad to do so. Even if Nina said anything, she’d probably leave it all up to him, as long as he could still do the same type of work that she expected him to do.
On that note, he had two choices to make, one of them being to take on another class, the other improving his class. He considered this multiple times, but in the end, he decided to take the option to improve his class.
He did think about taking on another class, which meant not just having his Mage Class, but another class to level as well. If he did that, one example would be that he would take a Warrior Class to be a melee fighter along with casting magic, or he could be an Archer, further specializing in ranged attacks. But that would mean that his abilities would reflect that of his second class, which could lead to having some serious synergistic issues.
He couldn’t imagine having Warrior abilities that would fit well with his talent, which focused on the concept of harmony through mana usage. He was also sure that he wouldn’t receive an advanced class like the Assassin one, or the Druid Class that Yin has. It would just be a basic Class like the examples before, and as a gamer, that just wasn’t good enough to consider if there were better options.
This did make him think that if he went ahead and chose to improve his class, and when he would hit another milestone like this and chose to take another class, would he been able to pick another advanced class? There wasn't anything he could study from this sort of thing back in Forontia, being a frontier city with barely anything of note to learn.
So, improving his class it was. When he made his choice, another notification was sent down to his vision.
You have chosen to improve your Mage Class. Throughout your growth, you have chosen abilities that better fit supporting your magic rather than taking on different branches. This will be reflected in your current improvement options. Please choose the following Class you wish to improve your Mage class into:
A list came along after that notification, reminding him of all the times he had to choose an ability. It was a surprisingly short list, only showing four options. But unlike the basic names when he chose his first class at Level 5, each class came with a description that described what they were.
Option 1: Thaumaturge
A practitioner that focuses on elemental spells that revolve around the environment of the user. They specialize in converting mana types, changing from one affinity to another dependent on the user’s will.
…..
Option 2: Arcanist
A mage who studies the raw structure of magic itself, combining insight with casting. They manipulate the spell formula mid-cast, allowing for diverse effects to be created without ruining the integral structure. Improves efficiency of mana casting, allowing for better mana manipulation.
…..
Option 3: Invoker
One who draws upon cosmic forces through structured invocation. Uses words of power that allow the user to command the magic normally outside of one’s expertise to their will. Typically uses more mana in return for commanding higher forces to do your bidding.
…..
Option 4: Enchanter
A specialist that enhances and improves certain aspects of a being or object without discrimination. Allows one to infuse different mana types into the target, allowing for further specialization.
The choices were strictly clear to him, each one favoring one thing or another following their own separate path. Naturally, this also included what kind of points he would receive per level from then on.
To his surprise, the free points gained from his level up remained the same, but the bonus points from the Class doubled. In this case, each of the Classes here still boosted his overall Intelligence attribute to 2 points this time. On the other hand, the stat points gained outside of the attribute points vary heavily on the Class chosen here.
Some jumped out to him as ones to be chosen, but he calmed himself down and carefully read each one. This would normally make him want to read up a guide, not really trusting his own understanding as the game usually follows a certain pattern when you want to min-max your character.
But in this case, he could tell that each one could severely increase his capabilities, but some could hamper his own way of doing things. He had gotten used to his own fighting style, his own way of casting, and knew that choosing the wrong Class here might get in the way, forcing him to change how he had done things so far. So he carefully chose which Class by studying each one and figuring out what they truly mean from their short description.
For instance, he could rule out Thaumaturge. That looked like the sort of Class that was based on how he had crafted the elements so far, but considering that he had constantly pushed away the need for elemental spells throughout his time choosing his Class abilities, he had a feeling that this Class would send him right back into choosing more elemental spells, except better suited for his own type of casting. It might even be possible for him to control elements outside the basic four, but he knew he could just do that by himself if he practiced hard enough.
That left three others, with one being close to ruling itself out as well. The Invoker Class seemed aggressive in nature, where just speaking words would command the magic to do his bidding. The way the description worded as well made him a bit hesitant. He could use the concept of Harmony, but the Invoker class made it sound like the opposite of harmony, where rather than focusing on balance, the Invoker forced the balance to bend to his will.
If Thaumaturge is ruled out based on his personal feelings, then Invoker is ruled out due to how it conflicted with his talent. At least, that’s how it looked in his mind. Now came the two Classes that immediately spoke out to him.
Enchanter was the name of something he had expected to see after crafting so many enchanted items so far. If he chose this, it was possible that he could eventually make equipment that not only gave magical effects, but perhaps even increased stats. While he knew that he would still need certain rare materials to make it work, with this Class, it was possible in the first place.
But despite the promise of creating powerful enchanted items, he couldn’t stop thinking about the last class that kept his interest the most. Arcanist seemed to focus on the magic casting itself, rather than branching out on certain spells or change how one cast the spell to begin with. It focused on the magic only, even manipulating how the spell is formed mid-cast, something that he wondered if it was even possible.
That, in the end, got him to understand what he would choose, and before he could think on it even longer and end up procrastinating, he chose his Class.
You have chosen the Arcanist Class.
As an Arcanist, you will gain the following stat points for every level you achieve:
+2 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Endurance
+1 Dexterity
+1 Speed
+2 Vigor
He took a moment to truly feel the changes to come, but to his surprise, nothing really happened. Another notification was sent in, his Class improvement finished as simple as that.
Kinda anticlimactic, but I guess it’s better than anything life changing.
The notification was the same as before, the ability choices where he could take up another new ability.
Now that you have chosen a Class, you are now able to choose abilities based on your new improvement. At Level 50, here are the choices you can pick from:
A list of abilities showed up in front of him, much like before when he last chose his Area Field ability during the crisis. Thankfully he had the time to read the entire thing without having several horrific monsters coming to eat him up, nor did he have to force himself to choose a situation that was needed for the exact situation.
Thanks to that, he did see that he gained new abilities based on his new class, though they were surprisingly low compared to the abilities given by the Mage. He could only conclude that he would gain more abilities to choose from the higher level he was, making him wonder if there was a way to change abilities if there were so many to choose from.
There might be some kind of item out there that would allow others to change abilities, or perhaps some natural treasure that would help change abilities every once in a while. He would definitely want something like that even if it could be hella expensive to get. There was the idea of just stealing the thing, but…
Yeah, let’s not go down that route.
He kept reading the list, truly taking into consideration the next ability to choose. Some of the new abilities given by the Arcanist Class were offensive spells, but one finally caught his attention as he read it.
Arcane Control (Copper)
Allows you to control the fundamental mana type that exists within all living and non-living entities. Your control over the arcane energy increases depending on the current Intelligence stat, allowing you to give physical form to the normally passive mana around you.
Mana Cost: N/A
This caught his interest for several reasons. One thing was that the Mana Cost was non-applicable, meaning that there was no need to use up any mana. But he had a feeling that this ability was special, even when its rank didn’t make it any different than the other abilities shown here.
Arcane energy, or rather, the pure mana that exists pretty much everywhere, wasn’t something that could be controlled directly, but channeled into and then reshaped to however you desire. In this case, when one thought of using mana, they would see it as the mana cost to make a fireball to attack.
In this case, it was to channel the mana inside a body, passively generated within by absorbing the mana around them, into the fire affinity based on the spell to then actively shoot out from the body. But according to Arcane Control, he could effectively use that same mana, but without the internal process.
Rather than looking at any other ability, he believed this one was the correct choice.
You have chosen Arcane Control.
With the ability added, he lifted his hand to his face to activate it. Soon enough, mana started to gather around his hand, but there was finally a noticeable change.
He could actually see the mana. It technically had no color, but he could feel a faint bluish tint within the energy as it coiled around his hand. He gathered it all up to his finger, making a small ball of mana at the top of his fingertip, no longer than a thumbnail.
He had an idea when he read the description and realized what it could mean, so with that thumbnail-sized ball, he used Craft.
The small ball of pure mana suddenly combusted into a ball of fire, but contrary to the time when he made a flamethrower to burn the Matriarch, this one was different.
Rather than just crafting the mana used to control the element, this was a true-born fire spell. As in the fire itself was made entirely out of magic. But what did this mean for him?
It meant that from now on, all of his crafted elemental magic now has the full backing of mana behind it, rather than just relying entirely on the environment to provide the ingredients for it. It was also possible that this could include his Intelligence stat, which normally dictated the attack power of his magical attacks.
All this time, he basically used Craft as a means to construct elemental attacks, but they were in the end attacks made using magic as a funnel, rather than being magical attacks themselves.
He kept experimenting with the ball of mana, transforming it from a ball of fire to a ball of air, then becoming a ball of earth. Each time the mana changed affinities, it became weaker and distorted, forcing Aidan to keep making up new balls of mana to keep experimenting with his Craft.
He understood now that thanks to Arcane Control, he had seriously improved the potency of all of his spells, in a way that stats and ranks couldn’t compare. He also knew there could be more to this ability than just using it for Craft, experimenting a bit more with his other spells in question.
“Hey, Aidan!”
He quickly turned around to see Haley popping her head up to the roof. She waved her hand while calling out his name, figuring he couldn’t hear her well through the carriage driving.
“How long are you gonna stay up here? Come sit with us! We’re having snacks!”
“Ooh!” Aidan cheered, stepping over to the back. “Let me in! I also got some good news to tell!”
With that, after getting some snacks for himself, he told everyone of his latest level and Class improvement, immediately getting good cheers from the siblings. Nina looked contemplative, staring at him while her soul remained the same curious form it usually had.
“You have chosen a rather unique ability,” Nina said, surprising Haley.
“Hey, you can at least ask what ability he had rather than spy on it,” Haley said, clearly joking considering who she was talking to. “Kinda rude if you ask me.”
“Tell me about it,” Aidan joked back, but Nina still kept a curious expression on her face. “Honestly, I think it’s also pretty unique. That’s why I chose it. With it, I think I can control magic a lot better than before.”
“Think you can teach it to us better?” Haley asked.
“Maybe, but that depends on how slow you guys are,” Aidan teased, prompting a pout from Haley.
The group discussed some more about the particulars of the Arcanist Class, something that got Nina more interested despite being able to see his status however she pleased. In the end, Aidan supposed that since he often helped her out in her endeavors, it made sense that she would be interested in how far he could go now.
On that note, he opened up his status page to put his newfound points. Seeing them completely halved still stung a bit due to his weakness period, but he ignored that as he put the extra points into the lagging stats. He would’ve liked putting more points into Intelligence, but in the end, the need to make his stats slightly even with each other beat out his need to improve his magical power.
He spent the next few days practicing his magic, offering as much advice as he could to both Haley and Van while they had the time. He also teleported to Yin back to Forontia to see how the women were holding up, while also checking on how the city was going during Nina’s absence.
Everything was going according to plan as the days passed, and soon enough, they reached their destination.
Aidan looked ahead at the sprawling city walls that seemed to stretch for miles, but with his high Perception and Sense Vibrations, he could see the outline of the entire city along with all the roads that meet up with it. He also saw, to his surprise, the ocean that met the border of the country, though it was far enough away that he could only see the faint outlines of it through Sense Vibrations.
He also saw dozens of people driving up through the path like they were, either being regular people or traveling merchants. Though seeing the dozens of carriages carrying not people, but mostly items and other products, they were mostly merchants.
Which made sense considering that Palestorm is considered a hub city for trade between the different settlements around the southern border of Ghalea. He looked down where Van was driving, his own eyes captivated by the sight as he looked around.
“Ever been to Palestorm before?”
Van looked up to see Aidan, not surprised that he usually stayed on the roof to enjoy the scenery and fresh air. “Yeah, actually. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I have never seen this many merchants around before. Makes my skin crawl to have so many around me.”
Aidan chuckled, figuring that Van and Haley had to deal with merchants during their time in Forontia and beyond. He also had his fair share of merchants coming into the Raining Treasures, often devising dozens of ways to make a profit by using his strange knack of creating items specifically to the customer’s demand. Thankfully all he had to do was make them go to Nina, and they would all just suddenly remember that they had other business meetings to attend to before running away.
“There’s the entrance to the city,” Nina spoke up from within the carriage, with Haley looking outside with a gleeful expression. “You don’t have to stay in line, just go straight there.”
“You sure?” Van asked.
“I’m sure,” Nina grinned. “You’re driving the governor of Forontia. We do not need to hold ourselves the same way as the commoners do.”
“Right…” Van said, though he didn’t sound ecstatic as he ushered the Capyra forward.
“Huh, I keep forgetting we’re a big shot now,” Aidan remarked, just as surprised, though not really, as they skipped ahead of the line while receiving plenty of stares and glares from the others.
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