Ch: 18 Tier 2 classes (Patreon)

Edited

Chapter 18

Tier 2 classes

“So no living things will survive in there.” Jules said, pulling a lizard out of the darkness in Lily’s bowl.

Lily looked up from her plate and looked at the lizard. The lizard was a very dark brown, almost black. It was roughly six inches long, if you counted the really long tail. It was also a pest that Quebec paid kids to kill. The bounty was a penny per lizard. They got into the food supply and multiplied at a very scary rate. According to Jules, they were responsible for thousands of deaths when they first appeared in Quebec back when the residents still relied on food supplies instead of the System Hub for their food needs. Now they were killed because they carried all sorts of supernatural diseases. The lizard was currently very dead and it’s normal pitch-black eyes were a cloudy white.

“How long was it in there for?” Lily asked between bites as she sat in Jules’ Diner. Jules had made scrambled eggs for her, and Lily couldn’t get enough. She hadn’t realized how hungry she had been until she smelled the eggs cooking.

“Ten seconds.” Jules replied, spinning the lizard around by the tail, looking at it.

“You have any idea who has sent you messages?” Amber asked, sounding stunned as she looked up from Lily’s phone. “It’s like a who’s who of the greatest mages on the planet on here.” Lily just shrugged as she shoveled another helping of eggs into her mouth. She didn’t really care.

The diner was closed as the people of Quebec fixed the city. Not that people read the sign on the door. They had only been sitting there for about fifteen minutes, and already a baker's dozen of hungry people had come by to shake the door even as the sun had slowly risen. A few of them had even knocked when they looked through the window and saw them. Jules sent them away, seemingly not caring who they said they were.

The diner had survived perfectly. There wasn’t even a single chair out of place when Jules unlocked the door. She had sat them down and went to work making them breakfast. She had left after dropping their plates off, and had come back a few minutes later with the lizard.

Lily was just finishing her eggs when someone knocked on the door again. She looked up as Amber groaned. “Can’t we just ignore him?” She asked, looking at Jules.

“Stop. I know he can be annoying, but he’s just lonely. Also, he’s a brilliant runic mage. Plus, he’s our friend.” Jules replied with a frown. “We don’t do that to our friends.”

Amber groaned, but didn’t stop her wife from getting up and opening the door. André stepped inside and threw his hands out wide. “Ta da!” He said with a big smile.

“Congratulations, André.” Jules said, clapping. “Welcome to the club.”

“You’re an annoying asshole, but congratulations.” Amber told him as she gave him a nod.

Lily looked at the three, not getting what was happening. She looked at André and didn’t see anything that looked different. “Did he lose some weight? I don’t see it, but maybe?” Lily thought to herself, not seeing what was different about him.

“Identify him.” Jules said with a kind smile as she went back to sit down beside her.

André Levesque, Human. Tier 4, Runic mage level 11. Threat, extreme.

“Oh, a bit rough there. You really need to get your Identify up a few levels.” André said, wincing away from her.

“Oh, I see. Sorry. Congratulations?” Lily said with a smile.

“Thank you. Really, it’s because the Lost Sage became a runic mage. She created fifty new Runes.”

“Forty-seven.” Amber corrected.

“Hush, you.” Jules said with a smile.

“Yes, well, right.” He told them, looking slightly embarrassed. “Anyway, I was out buying food for a dinner I was going to cook after the invasion when I happened to check on the Runic page in the System store. Lo and behold there were a bunch of new runes out. I stayed for as long as it let me, and they kept coming. I went back just now and there were even more runes out. I was so excited that I totally forgot to buy food, but that was okay. I spent last night with the new runes trying to create a new runic spell. Guess what? I did! As soon as I did, I got a message saying that I finally passed the Tier 4 test.”

“Very cool.” Jules said with a soft smile. “Was that the test?”

“I know, right?” He said happily. “All you have to do is create a unique runic spell using runes that were not created by the System. The Lost Sage, bless her heart, just allowed those who have been stuck at tier 3 to advance to tier 4. If she was here, I would kiss her.”

“Please don’t.” Lily said dryly, making both Jules and Amber chuckle. She smiled at their reactions as she felt her face get very hot. She was slightly embarrassed. She hadn’t meant to say that. It just slipped out. Even if it was unintentional, she was glad it didn’t fall flat.

André gave them a confused look then shook his head. “Young Lily, this is the time to be a runic mage. You should hurry up and level. Safely, I mean. Level up safely. With so many new runes it will be years, if not decades, until we exhaust these new runes. It’s just so very exciting.” He told her. She smiled at his infectious energy. She was glad she had made his day, even if she hadn’t thought about what it would mean to people like him.

“I will definitely look at it.” She told him. “But I’m not sure if I have the talent for it.”

Jules looked away from them, her shoulders shaking. Amber didn’t bother and just started laughing. “What is so funny?” André asked. He didn’t sound mad, just curious.

“Lily is showing some amazing talent for runic spell crafting.” Jules told him.

“Oh, that is exciting.” He said looking at Lily. “That’s high praise coming from her. If you ever need someone to help mentor you or if you want a job, I will always be happy to help.”

“Thank you.” Lily said generally touched. “How do you know that Lost Sage created the runes?”

“It’s written right on the runes in the System store.” He said, tilting his head to the side. “Just like all of her other works.”

“It says her title, and not just her name?” Jules asked, losing her humor and getting serious.

“Yes, why wouldn’t it?” He asked, sounding confused.

“I heard the Lost Sage lost her title for some reason.” Amber told him.

“I heard that as well, but the new runes have her title right on the creation section of the runes.” He told them, nodding to himself. “It must have been incorrect.”

“Or she earned her title back.” Jules said, looking at Lily. “Creating a bunch of runes had to give her some serious System rep.”

“That would indeed.” André said, finally sitting down at their table. “Jules, if I could impose on you for a meal, I would forever be in your debt.”

“Sure, make yourself comfortable.” Jules replied, getting up. Lily wasn’t sure if Jules was being sarcastic or not seeing how André had already sat down at their table.

“What is this?” André said, picking up Lily’s bowl. Both Lily and Amber went to grab it but stopped when he pulled it closer to himself. He looked down at the darkness at the bottom of the bowl with a frown.

“Something that Lily got.” Amber told him. “Here, put it down and let me show you what it can do.”

André put the bowl on the table and Amber picked up Lily’s fork and dropped it into the darkness. Then she reached into the bowl and pulled it out again. “It’s a storage device. Someone created it, and we were trying it out.”

“How fascinating.” André said, picking up the bowl and putting his hand into it. Then with his hand buried to his wrist still in the darkness he turned the bowl over and looked to see if his hand was poking through. It wasn’t. “This is amazing.”

“That’s what the person who created it thinks it is.” Amber told him.

Lily admitted to herself that Amber wasn’t lying. She had created it with a storage device in mind. It was based off of a thing she heard when her brother was playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. She was not sure what it was called, but she remembered something about it being bottomless. It was what she created it to be anyways. It wasn’t bottomless, but she knew she could make it very big. Not as big as her world maybe, but large enough to… well, she wasn’t sure how big she could make it. Creating this had taken over half her mana. She was not sure how much bigger she could make it.

“Hey Lily, if you’re finished with your breakfast you need to hit the Hub.” Jules called out, pulling her from her thoughts. “You have a lot of things to upgrade. Don’t forget to use your stat points.”

“Who forgets their stat points?” André said, looking up from the bowl as he pulled his hand out of it. “They are the best things about leveling.”

“I agree.” Jules replied, giving Lily a look from the kitchen. “Almost as important as reading your messages, right Lily?”

“Yes, yes.” Lily said, annoyed. She reached over and stole back her phone from Amber before standing up. “I’m glad things have worked out for you, André. And you’re welcome.”

“Thank you?” André said, sounding confused.

“Get to the Hub, Lily.” Jules yelled out again as she turned back to the stove. “Come back when you’re done. We have a lot to go over. More tests to do.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lily said, trying not to be annoyed, but failing. She left the diner, leaving behind her bowl for her friends to look over, and started walking down the street. It was still very early in the morning, but everywhere she looked she could see people rebuilding. There were people working on the homes she had wrecked. She was still amazed at just how much damage her Timed fireball had done. Hell, the streets were still melted and torn up. No one seemed to be upset though. Everyone seemed happy-go-lucky as they went about their business. Lily thought it was really odd.

She felt really bad as she walked further and further down the street and the destruction got worse and worse. Something odd that she noticed was that the street vendors were still out selling things. They were just using rugs or home-made tables to sell their wares. She didn’t see anything interesting, but then again she didn’t stop long to look either.

The System Hub was packed with lines that were fifteen people deep waiting for their turn to touch the Hub. There was also quite a crowd leaving as well. It looked like everyone was buying building material to rebuild. There were also a lot of people coming out of theHub with wheelbarrows full of foodstuffs. Lily once again found how happy-go-lucky everyone acted. They were waving to each other and smiling at lot more than Lily thought they should be, considering what had happened. She found it weird that no one seemed sad or angry. They just look happy for some reason. She found it uplifting, if a bit strange.

It wasn’t long until it was her turn to touch the Hub. Like always, she touched the metal and then found herself in her old room from before the invasion. She turned in her seat and looked at the computer. There were a lot of system notifications waiting for her.

You have cast six new spells manually, tier one through tier 4. Training experience awarded and claimed.

You have created a Runic light design. Training experience awarded and claimed.

You have learned and demonstrated how to exchange mana from a gas to a liquid form. Training experience awarded and claimed.

You have killed Tier 2, level 1-89 x 68 fungal Infested humans. These Humans have been infested with a fungal infection and cannot be classified as sentient any longer. They are infectious and will attack any living sentient. They are part of the hive mind of an Emperor Mushroom. Classification: Monster. Combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have killed Tier 3, level 1-98 x 271 Fungal warriors. Created by an Emperor Mushroom, they are infectious and will attack any living sentient. They are part of the hive mind of an Emperor Mushroom. Classification: Monster. Combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have killed Tier 4, level 42-99 x 181 Fungal Titans. Created by an emperor mushroom, they are infectious and will attack any living sentient. They are part of the hive mind of an Emperor Mushroom. Classification: Monster. Combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have killed Tier 5, level 1-110 x 41 Fungal Titans. Created by an Emperor Mushroom, they are infectious and will attack any living sentient. They are part of the hive mind of an Emperor Mushroom. Classification: Monster. Combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have killed a Tier 6, level 82 Emperor Mushroom. A mushroom that blooms where there is a spore drift. The Emperor is highly dangerous with its spore cloud and its many high tier minions that it creates and controls. Classification: Monster. Combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have taken an active role in combating a Fungal infestation.

You have escorted x 78 noncombatant citizens to a Safe Bunker.

You have greatly aided fellow combatants in aiding citizen safety.

You have played a significant role in reducing the Fungal infestation.

You have killed an Emperor Mushroom single-handedly.

City emergency combat experience awarded and claimed.

You have created 47 new Runes for the Runic Mage class. Discovery experience awarded and claimed.

You have created a unique runic Spell. Discovery experience awarded and claimed.

You have passed the Tier 2 class test for Runic Mage. You may advance to Tier 3 after you complete level 100 in Tier 2 Runic Mage.

You have passed the Tier 3 class test for Runic Mage. You may advance to Tier 4 once you have completed Level 100 in Tier 3 Runic Mage.

World first. You have created the first true-unique tier 9 Runic Spell.  Discovery experience awarded and claimed.

Total percentile given: 16,247.04

Total progress towards next level: 16,247.04

Total breakdown. Infested human X 89 = 306%, Fungal warrior X 271 = 1,241%, Fungal Titans x 181 = 2,242%, Emperor Mushroom = 2,984%, City emergency = 3,010%,  Manually cast six neutral spells = 60%, Created a Runic spell called Light = .02%, Learned how to turn mana from gas to liquid form = 4.02%, Created 47 new Runes = 4,700%, Created unique Runic spell = 700%, World first award = 1,000%.

You have leveled up.

You have leveled up...

You have completed Tier 1 Mage class. All extra experience has been banked.

Please choose your next class. You will be unable to gain any experience until you choose your next class.

You have regained favored status with the System. You have regained the title, Sage of Humanity.

Lily stared at her notifications in shock. She had not only earned over 100 levels, she had earned an additional 62.4704 levels as well. That meant she was going to be over fifty percent of whatever class she chose before leaving the Hub. She almost picked runic mage since she had already passed the test, but stopped herself as she wanted to see what else was out there. She also wanted to see her status screen, so she brought it up before switching screens to see what other classes were out there for tier 2 casters.

Name:

Lily Wilson

Class: Tier 1 Mage

Level: 100

Percent to next level: Max level.

Race: Human (evolved)

Bio Shield                1

Memory                    1

Thought Speed        1

Agility                       1

Strength                   1

Title(s):

• Sage of Humanity
• Ageless
• Magus Spell Smith

Spell(s): 280

• List

Rune(s): 56

• List

Profession(s):

Spell Smith, Grand Master

Allegiance(s):

Fort Woburn, Ally.

Quebec City, Citizen.

Skill(s): 4

• XXL Mana well (Racial)  5,272
• Identify                         Level 3
• Translate                      Level 2
• Runic Mana Control     Level 48

Credits:

18,986,433,561.010

Stat(s) that can be upgraded:

117 points

Skill(s) or Ability(s) that can be upgraded:

105 points

She looked through her screen, noting that her new runes had been updated and added to the ones she already knew. She also noted that her skill levels had increased for all four of her current skills without her using her skill points. Her biggest was her Runic mana control, which had jumped from level 1 to level 48. Her Identify had moved up a bit from level 1 to level 3, which was nice. Her Translate had leveled a little bit, but not as much as she hoped. It had risen only once. She also noted that her title didn’t have that line through it, nor did she have the asterisk beside it telling her how much System rep she needed to get it back. She was not sure getting her title back was a good thing, however.

The biggest thing she noted was that she had a ton of stat and skill points. She now had over a hundred to spend on each of them. The first thing she used her skill points on was her Identify skill. She bumped it up to fifty so people wouldn’t wince if she used it on them. That left her with 58 points, since she had been already at level three before she started using her points.

Her Runic mana control went up by 48 since the last time she checked her status screen, even though she hadn’t used a single skill point for it. If she had to guess it was because she had gotten a level for each of her new Runes. She didn’t think it was going to go up that much again anytime soon, mostly because she had run out of new spell balls to try. But she was hesitant to use them on it now. She hadn’t noticed any problems using the runic spells so far, but, yet again, she was thinking about picking Runic Mage as her next class. For now, she decided to save the points just in case she chose to pick a new class.

She did the math using the computer's calculator app, using the 5, 4, 4 ,3, 3, 2 stat point method for her stat points. She skipped the five as her mana was listed as a skill and not a stat. She put 30 points in both Memory and Thought Speed as they were her two primary stats. Since they were already at level 1, they jumped up to 31.

She then added 21 points each in her secondary stats, which were her Bio Shield and Agility. Finally she added 14 to her Strength, as it was the least helpful of all her stats as a caster, but she remembered Amber had told not to skimp on any stats. Then she realized she had done something wrong as she had one stat point left over. Not knowing how she screwed up, she put it in her Bio Shield because it gave her a bit more survivability. Feeling satisfied, she checked her status screen again.

Name:

Lily Wilson

Class: Tier 1 Mage

Level: 100

Percent to next level: Max level.

Race: Human (evolved)

Bio Shield              23

Memory                  31

Thought Speed      31

Agility                     22

Strength                 15

Title(s):

• Sage of Humanity
• Ageless
• Magus Spell Smith

Spell(s): 280

• List

Rune(s): 56

• List

Profession(s):

Spell Smith, Grand Master

Allegiance(s):

Fort Woburn, Ally.

Quebec City, Citizen.

Skill(s): 4

• XXL Mana well (Racial)  5,272
• Identify                         Level 50
• Translate                      Level 2
• Runic Mana Control     Level 48

Credits:

18,986,433,561.010

Stat(s) that can be upgraded:

0 points

Skill(s) or Ability(s) that can be upgraded:

58 points

Feeling more confident, she brought up the System shop. She navigated to the class screen for tier 2. A list of them came up and she scrolled through them. At the very top was the tier 2 mage class. The description basically said the same thing as tier one, except it came with the very basic four elemental aspects with one spell each. The spells were; Little fire, Cool, Breeze, and finally Move water. From what she read, most people considered it the worst mage class in tier 2. She passed on it and moved down the list.

The next class was the illusionist. The description talked about the light aspect and how to cast illusions and glamours. Glamours were basically illusions that fooled the five senses, whereas illusions just fooled the eyes. Next came the conjuror class, which created projections. It sounded interesting to Lily. A conjuror created things out of mana. She read that in the upper tiers it was extremely deadly, but the tests were hard and so were the prerequisites to get into each of the next tiers. She found the runic mage class next, but she didn’t really bother reading the description as she already knew a lot about it.

Then there was the hedge witch, which was a prerequisite to the next tier 2 class which was the witch. According to the description a hedge witch learned about curses and hexes while a tier 2 witch learned how to add some kind of mana aspect, like Amber’s fire or Jules’ water aspects. They didn't have that many aspect spells until tier 3 though. There were a few more classes, like the divination class where a person learned how to read and adjust probabilities. There wasn’t that much combat potential for the person, but it was an amazing support caster for a group, at least from what she read in her System help book...

Then she found a new class she had never heard about before. It was called the arcane mage class. She couldn’t remember seeing it in the System help book with all the other tier 2 classes. Curious, Lily tapped on the description. The first thing she noted was that the description page’s background was gold instead of white. At the top, the name of the class was written in silver with some flowery thing under it. Then, in small silvery print under the class name, were the words ‘prestige class’. She got very excited as she looked at the description. She knew a few of the mage prestige classes, but she had never heard of the arcane mage class before.

The description made her even more excited. It said:

Arcane Mage class: Legendary, Prestige. The Arcane Mage is a master of all Mana aspects from the basic four elements to the dangerous Demonic aspect. Prerequisites: Complete Tier 1 Mage class. Gain at least Greater Adept in knowledge of one mage class prior to Tier 4. Be a Master in at least one aspect before tier 8.  Have the title, Sage of ____.***

***Failure to keep the title, Sage of ___ will result in the permanent loss of the class.***

“Well, that is a crazy class.” Lily muttered to herself.

Greater Adept, Lily had read in the System help book, was just below Master and was used to rate a lot of things in the System, depending on what was being rated. The rating went from Novice or Weak, Apprentice or Lesser, Journeyman or Common, Adept or Superior, Greater Adept or Rare, Master or Legendary, to finally Grand Master or Mythic. The first was usually what used to rate things like classes or professions while the second was usually used to rate objects. That wasn’t always the case, but, according to the book, it was what was most common. For an example there was no such thing as a Legendary or Mythic alchemy potion or recipe. They just added Masterwork or Grand Masterwork before the name.

Her eyes drifted to the bottom of the page to the price the System wanted for the class and she was surprised. She knew from the help book that prestige classes were expensive, but she hadn’t realized just how expensive they were. It wasn’t anything that she couldn’t afford, but, compared to the other classes, it was expensive. The second tier classes were going for one to two thousand credits, depending on what class it was, but the prestige class cost ten thousand credits.

“Do I really care about a prestige class?” She asked herself. “I don’t plan on getting into fights, and fighting demons is really not high on my list of things to do. I just want to be left alone to create my spells.”

Still not sure, she decided to leave that for now. Her attention turned towards her title. Since she had leveled up, she got her title back. It wasn’t until she lost it that she realized that it was more of a hassle than it was worth. She remembered people talking about hiding her status page during the fungal infestation, and wondered if she could buy something that would hide the title. She went to the skills and spells page, and wrote in the search bar ‘Hide status screen’. She got two hits.

The first one was expensive, but nowhere as expensive as the second one. The first one cost 25,000 credits. The problem, she learned, was that it was based on her Identify level. It would hide her status screen. She had no idea how high Identify went and she was sure a lot of people had it higher than she did. All she needed was for one person to see it and tell others. She didn’t want to chance it, but she still liked being unrecognized when she went out. While it was better than nothing, she was not sure how people would react when they found out she was hiding it. For now she put it in the no category.

The second one, on the other hand, looked nice. It was based on tiers. It also allowed her to edit her status page once per day, but she wouldn’t have to go to the Hub to do it. There was an app that she could use on her phone to do it that was connected to the skill, but she would have to buy that separately. The skill worked on people up to two tiers above hers. The problem was that it cost 50 million credits.

She didn’t even hesitate, and even accepted the extra 10 thousand credits to download a non-class skill to her nanos as well as the five thousand credits for the app. The non-class fee was much higher than what she paid for the runes and the Runic mana control she got the last time she was at the Hub, but it was worth it. At least in her own mind. She didn’t change her status screen once it was done loading. She wanted to pick her class first just in case it reset her ability.

She did add a skill point into the Hide status page skill, but nothing changed. Since she still had a bunch and was going to get more once she accepted her class, she added 9 more until she reached level 10 with it. At ten it changed to add a third tier to its ability. Now it would be effective up to three tiers above her. Smiling happily, she left the skill alone even though she was tempted to add 10 more just to see what would happen.

She browsed the skills and spells category and didn’t find anything else that she wanted right at that moment. She did note that her runic spell Bottomless storage space was available for purchase. She also noted that there didn’t seem to be a lot of runic spells available even at the low tiers. She wondered why that was. She shrugged and backed out of the page and went looking for things on the user side of the store. She browsed there for a few minutes until she got a five-minute warning that she would be kicked out of the store for her safety. Cursing she went back to the class page.

Biting her lip, she looked over at the prestige class for a few seconds. Then, muttering “Screw it”, she bought the class. It greyed out and a bunch of new notifications appeared in front of her.

You have chosen the class Arcane Mage.

You have banked experience. Experience halved due to being a higher tier class than when the experience was earned. Experience halved again because you have chosen a prestige class.

World first. You are the first person with the Arcane Mage class.

Total percentile given: 1,000

Total progress towards next level: 1,000

Total breakdown. Banked experience = 750%, World first = 250%

You have leveled up.

You have leveled up.

You have leveled up…

You have reached level 10 Arcane Mage.

“What?” She gasped. She lost a ton of experience. She expected to get enough experience to get to level 30. She had no idea that her banked experience would be halved then halved again for a prestige class. If she knew, she wouldn’t have chosen the prestige class.

“Well, maybe.” She told herself as she thought about the prestige class. Then she looked at the total breakdown notification. She frowned as she saw how much experience she got for a world first. Her last world gave 1,000%. That was ten levels by itself. This one only gave 250%. That was only two and half levels.

Knowing her time was limited, she dumped four stat points into her primary stats, raising her Memory and Thought Speed to 35. Then she added on to Agility so that it was even with her Bio Shield. Then she threw her last stat point into her Strength, her worst stat. She only did it so that neither of her secondary stats were unequal. She knew it was stupid way to add points, but she felt better seeing everything match up. She now had 59 skill points to add before she got kicked out of the Hub.

Knowing that she had to pay for all her skills for her new class, she backed out of the class page and brought up the spells and skills page. The drop down menu now had her class so she picked it and she got a huge list. At first she was extremely happy because of what she thought were all the spells. That is until she read what was on the list. The list wasn’t spells like she thought. It was filled with aspects, like fire, water, and more exotic ones. The list started at the cheapest skill which simply said ‘wind aspect’. It only cost 1 thousand credits.

She brought up the description and cursed. There was only one skill under it, and that was Wind mana knowledge. She checked the next couple, starting with earth and ending with lightning aspect. Lightning cost two thousand credits, but, like all the rest, it only had its mana knowledge. She backed out of the description and switched the filter so that the most expensive skill was on top.

The skill turned out to be Demonic aspect. The cost of that was staggering. The System wanted 10 billion credits for it. She could afford it, but she was shocked at how much money it cost. Right below that was Space aspect, followed by Time and then Gravity. They each cost a staggering 1 billion credits each. Below that was Aether aspect, which cost nine hundred-million credits. She sat back in her seat as she looked over how much everything cost. Then she got a notification that she had two minutes until she would be kicked out of the store.

Cursing the System, she made an impulsive decision and bought Demonic, Space, Gravity, and Time aspects. Then, after a second of indecision, she chose Aether aspect as well. Then she quickly changed the filter to show the cheapest aspects again. She quickly clicked on Wind, Earth, Water and Fire aspects as well as Lightning, Metal, and a bunch more. At the last moment, she spotted Probability, Hex, and Curse aspects and chose them over the half dozen others that were before them on the list because they sounded interesting.

She hadn’t finalized the list before she got a notification that she had a minute and thirty seconds until she got kicked out. She finalized the fifty-three aspects, then quickly looked at the skills she got. Once more she cursed. Each and every single one of the aspects she had chosen had whatever the aspect knowledge skill was and that was it.

Wondering if she would get spells or something if she added a skill point to the knowledge skill, she decided to add a point to Demonic aspect knowledge. Then she got a notification that told her it cost ten skill points per one level of Demonic aspect knowledge. She cursed then added ten points to it, because she didn’t just spend ten billion credits on something they had no skills or spells. After she dropped the skill points, she went back to the skills and spells page and saw that she had unlocked a new spell called Demonic sensitivity aura. It cost a staggering one million credits.

The description said it was a passive aura that would detect demonic aspect mana within five feet around her at level 1. She bought it. She knew she was being reckless, but she was under a time limit. When she tried to add a skill point to bump it up, it informed her that it cost five to bump it up once. She didn’t even hesitate, hoping she got something good out of it. She didn’t. All it did was increase the radius by one foot.

Knowing she didn’t have that much time left she went back and put ten points into the Space aspect knowledge skill. To her surprise and irritation, she was informed that it cost five skill points per one level. She bought two levels in the skill. She quickly put five points into gravity and time. That raised them up by one level each, leaving her with 24 skill points. She went back and saw that she now had two spells unlocked under space. The first one was an aura which pretty much did the same thing as the Demonic aura did, including the same distance. The second spell made her stand up and smile. It was called Portal.

The description told her that she could add an entrance and an exit spell on small metal objects and place them to create a shortcut in space. That made her smile. She really wanted to deconstruct the spell to see if it had a spell ball involved in it. If it had, then did she already know it? She really couldn’t wait until she found out.

The other two spells only had auras like the first two. She bought the auras, and quickly went back and added five more points to each to bump them to level two. She then went back to see she now had one more spell available under each aspect. Along with the auras, they also had another spell each. The Gravity aspect had a spell called Gravity manipulation which could pull her towards or away from whatever she targeted. Time aspect had Time Manipulation, which could increase or decrease a person's time dilation. It made them faster or slower. She bought them both.

She then flipped the filter to the cheapest, knowing she didn’t have a lot of time left before she was forced to leave. She then dropped a skill point each in a lot of the aspects’ knowledge skills. As soon as she got the fifteen second warning, she panicked a little bit and jumped forwards a bit to add the last of her skill points into Probability, Hex, and Curse, raising all three knowledge skills up to level two, hoping that both Jules and Amber could help her with them. Then she went and bought all the spells she had available. She didn’t bother looking at them, she just purchased them.

Then the screen went blank and she found herself standing outside next to the System Hub. She cursed as soon as she realized that she was no longer in the System store. She hoped she got everything right and bought the things she needed. A guy appeared right in front of her and cursed her out for standing at the return point of the Hub. He was very creative with his curses and told her to get out of the way. She stepped away like he asked, but when he passed her he gave her an odd look.

For a second she didn’t know why he would do that then realized that she hadn’t used her Hide Status Screen skill. She quickly pulled out her phone and brought up the app that was connected to her to the skill and quickly edited her titles so that they were hidden. She was now safe from people tier 5 and below who used Identify on her. She accepted the changes then a red box appeared on her app with a clock that was counting down from twenty-four hours. She put her phone away, and pulled up her status screen.

Name:

Lily Wilson

Class: Tier 2 Arcane Mage

Level: 10

Percent to next level: 0%

Race: Human (evolved)

Bio Shield              23

Memory                  35

Thought Speed      35

Agility                     23

Strength                 16

Title(s):

• Sage of Humanity(Hidden)
• Ageless(Hidden)
• Magus Spell Smith(Hidden)

Spell(s): 280

• List

Rune(s): 56

• List

Aspect(s): 53

• List

Aspect spells: 6

• List

Profession(s):

Spell Smith, Grand Master

Allegiance(s):

Fort Woburn, Ally.

Quebec City, Citizen.

Skill(s): 

• XXL Mana well (Racial)  5,272
• Identify                           Level 50
• Translate                        Level 2
• Runic Mana Control       Level 48
• Hide Status Screen        Level 10
• Aspect Knowledge           List
• Aspect Aura                      List
• Gravity Manipulation        Level 1
• Time Manipulation            Level 1

Credits:

5,036,384,561.010

Stat(s) that can be upgraded:

0 points

Skill(s) or Ability(s) that can be upgraded:

0 points

She smiled at the fact that her titles were hidden and then at her stats which were so much higher than they had been. She then frowned at her credits though. She had had 18, almost 19, billion credits thirty minutes ago. Now she was down to five. She was still super rich, but a lot less rich than she had been.

She had gained a few more spells, but unlike her normal spells they were listed under a separate category, and not under her skills list, even though she could use skill points to upgrade them. She wondered why. She also noted that a lot of things had combined into general skills, like all of her aspect knowledge skills were under the same list. Even her auras were under a single list. She clicked on it and frowned. She didn’t have all the aspect aura skills unlocked yet, but, then again, she didn’t have even half the aspects bought yet, either. In fact, she had less than half of the aspects unlocked. She hadn’t had the time nor the skill points to unlock them. She closed her status screen and started walking towards Jules’ Diner. She had a lot of questions and hoped they could answer them for her.