Grand Game 457: Working within One’s Limits (Patreon)

I began with Constitution. 

Since I had only a single Constitution ability and limited slots available, it was the easiest attribute to attend to. Picking up the tier four load controller ability tome, I began to read.

You have upgraded your load controller ability to greater load controller. This ability increases the encumbrance of any foe within 5 yards by 50% for 10 minutes. Its activation time is very slow. Note, load controller only affects hostiles who wear armor.

This is a master ability and requires 5 more ability slots than its expert variant. You have 9 of 24 Constitution ability slots remaining.

“That was simple,” I murmured as the new knowledge filtered into my consciousness. Ideally, I would’ve liked  to advance the ability even further, but unfortunately, my light armor skill hadn’t reached rank twenty yet. Acquiring load controller’s elite variant would have to wait.

On to the next: Dexterity.

Here the choices I faced were much tougher, and before I made them I wanted to be certain I understood the impact. Calling up an extract of my profile, I reviewed the status of my Dexterity abilities.

Dexterity abilities ready for upgrade (56 of 94 slots used)

Master abilities: greater fade.

Expert abilities: backstab.

Advanced abilities: piercing strike, trap disarm, lockpicking, whirlwind.

I only had thirty-eight Dexterity ability slots available—far less than what I needed to upgrade all the abilities ready for advancement.  Let’s begin with the most important, then. 

Picking up an attribute gem, I willed my intent to the Game.

Creating ability tome…

…

You have acquired a tier 5 fade ability tome. 

The gem crumbled to dust, leaving a small leatherbound book in its place. Wasting no more time, I opened the book and absorbed its knowledge.

You have upgraded the fade ability to vanish which grants you true invisibility for 5 minutes. While invisible, you cannot be spotted by sight alone, nor will any actions you take break the spell. Note, however, this does not prevent your foes from locating you by other means—magical or otherwise—or from dispelling the buff.

Vanish is an elite tier ability and requires 15 more ability slots than its master variant. You have 23 of 94 Dexterity ability slots remaining.

I exhaled softly, marveling at the new knowledge settling in my mind. True invisibility was finally mine to wield. What’s more, I would be able to activate vanish for a full five minutes. That was longer than many of my fights lasted. I grinned. 

Hand-to-hand combat is going to be much easier now.

Unfortunately, there was a downside too. Acquiring the elite ability had consumed a sizable chunk of my available ability slots, and with only twenty-three remaining, I had two choices. 

One, advance backstab—my next most valuable Dexterity ability—two tiers, making it an elite ability as well. Doing so would cost twenty ability slots.

Or two, raise all my direct combat abilities—backstab, piercing strike, and whirlwind—one tier each, leaving me with a surplus of eight Dexterity slots for use elsewhere.

The second approach was the more conservative one and left me more prepared for ‘normal’ combat, whereas the first maximized the burst damage I could do when stealthed. 

Then, too, there were the obvious synergies between backstab and vanish. The benefits of such are too great to ignore, I decided. 

My choice made, I opened the backstab ability tomes.

You have upgraded your backstab ability to greater backstab.

You have upgraded your backstab ability to deadly backstab. 

Deadly backstab increases the damage you inflict to 5x more than normal. You have 3 of 94 Dexterity ability slots remaining.

I whistled softly. Five times more damage was an incredible multiplier and meant even shielded mages would fall quickly beneath my blades.

Happy with my choice, I stored the remaining Dexterity ability tomes in my backpack. I might not be able to use them immediately but keeping them on my person meant I wouldn’t be caught out again. I smiled wryly. After all, who knew when I’d find myself trapped again?

Right, that’s Dexterity done, I thought, chuckling softly. Next on the list was Mind. Turning my focus inward, I pulled up the applicable status report.

Mind abilities ready for upgrade (71 of 123 slots used)

Expert abilities: mass charm, windborne, heightened reflexes, shadow blink, quick mend, fortified mind.

Advanced abilities: astral blades.

With Mind, I had even more slots to play with—fifty-two to be precise—but that didn’t make the decisions I faced any easier. I used all my Mind abilities extensively in combat—with the possible exception of fortified mind. What’s more, all seven abilities were upgradeable to tier four, and three could even reach elite rank.

I simply couldn’t afford to improve all of them, though. I chewed on the inside of my lip, considering what approach to take. 

I should advance all seven abilities to tier four, I decided eventually. Considering the relative ability slot cost of each tier, this was the most effective approach.

My course set, I picked up the first book—the tier four mass charm ability tome.

You have upgraded your charm ability to mass puppet. 

The tier 4 variant of this spell temporarily overrides the consciousness of 20 targets, forcing them to serve you for 30 seconds. Unlike charmed entities who will only obey basic commands, puppeted foes will follow complex orders as well.

You have 47 of 123 Mind ability slots remaining.

“Nice,” I murmured. Pulling open the next book, I read it too. 

You have upgraded your windborne ability to improved windborne. The tier 4 variant of this ability allows you to slide along a current of wind, in any direction, up to a maximum distance of 20 yards and at 3x your normal movement speed. 

You have 42 of 123 Mind ability slots remaining.

I smiled. “Also good.” Next was heightened reflexes.

You have upgraded your heightened reflexes ability to enhanced reflexes. The tier 4 variant of this ability increases your Dexterity by +16 ranks for 20 minutes. 

You have 37 of 123 Mind ability slots remaining.

That took care of my ‘ordinary’ Mind abilities. There were still my scion ones to attend to. Improving them, however, required the use of the upgrade gems. First up was astral blade.

Ability gem activated. 

Creating ability tome…

…

Tome creation halted. 

There are 3 expert variants available for the astral blade ability.

Variant 1: astral shurikens. This variant replaces your astral daggers with twin psi shurikens. The shurikens can only be thrown and will bounce from target to target doing progressively less damage each time. 

Variant 2: astral sword. This variant replaces your daggers with twin psi swords. The swords cannot be flung, but they persist for longer in your hands than the more ephemeral daggers. 

Variant 3: astral spear. This variant replaces your daggers with a single psi spear. The spear deals significantly more damage than the smaller blade, and can be thrown or wielded in one hand. 

Choose your tier 3 astral blade ability tome now.

“Damn,” I whispered, rocking back and forth as I found myself face to face with yet another—and this time, wholly unexpected—choice. I’d run across variants before, of course, and the three on offer now were as intriguing as the previous ones I’d encountered.

Rubbing the side of my face, I considered the choice before me.

The three variants appeared to build on the tier two spell, improving and specializing it further. The shuriken variant focused on ranged area-of-effect damage, the swords on melee damage, and the spear offered the versatility of being able to perform both melee and ranged attacks.

Given that, the decision was an easy one. 

I used my astral blade spell almost exclusively for performing ranged attacks. This being the case, it made sense to specialize it further in this regard. 

 Closing my eyes, I willed my choice to the Adjudicator.

You have acquired an astral shurikens ability tome. 

You have upgraded your astral blade ability to astral shurikens. This tier 3 spell manifests two psi shurikens in your hands. Each shuriken will bounce a maximum of 3 times to a random hostile less than 5 yards away. At each bounce the damage inflicted is halved. Note, both your hands must be empty to use this spell. 

You have 32 of 123 Mind ability slots remaining.

“Perfect!” I exclaimed.

“I want that spell too,” Ghost said, sounding only a little envious.

I grinned. “I think your astral bite variant is locked into the melee path already. But don’t worry,” I consoled her, “I’m sure it will be equally good when we upgrade it.”

“If we upgrade it,” she corrected.

“True,” I mumbled apologetically. “Unfortunately, I think we’re going to be chronically short of Mind slots.”

“That’s alright, Prime,” she replied, “you’ll make better use of them than I would.”

Inclining my head in thanks for her graciousness, I turned my attention back to my scion abilities. All four were now at the expert tier. Time to advance all four to master. One after the other, I activated four more upgrade gems.

This time, there were no further surprises.

You have upgraded your astral shurikens ability to superior astral shurikens. The fourth tier of this spell increases the maximum bounce of each shuriken to 5 and the bounce distance to 10 yards. 

You have upgraded your shadow blink ability to extreme shadow blink. The fourth tier of this spell allows you to teleport to any living entity within 100 yards, taking your shadows with you. 

You have upgraded your quick mend ability to improved quick mend. The fourth tier of this spell increases the restorative effects provided by a quick mend to 30%. 

You have upgraded your fortified mind ability to improved fortified mind. The fourth tier of this spell increases the portion of your psi pool available for psi casting to 75% while the remaining 25% forms a barrier around your thoughts.

You have 12 of 123 Mind ability slots remaining.

Wincing, I rubbed at my temples. The knowledge of the new spells sat heavy in my consciousness, and I could feel a headache coming on. Shaking my head to clear it, I refocused on the task at hand.

All my Mind spells were finally at the master tier—except stunning slap which couldn’t be upgraded—and I could finally turn my attention to the last set of abilities requiring advancement: the Perception ones. Calling up another extract of my profile, I reviewed their status.

Perception abilities ready for upgrade (36 of 90 slots used)

Expert abilities: analyze, facial disguise.

Advanced abilities: trap detect, ventro, imitate.

Basic abilities: conceal weapon.

When it came to Perception at least, there were no difficult decisions. I’d already made up my mind that I would upgrade both analyze and facial disguise to tier five and leave the other abilities as is for now. 

Opening the requisite ability tomes, I began to read.

You have upgraded your analyze ability to greater analyze. 

You have upgraded your analyze ability to powerful analyze, enabling you to inspect entities of rank 40 and below. The tier 5 analyze variant will identify a target’s level, race, individual Classes, follower classification, and the current status of their health, energy pools, buffs, and debuffs. 

Additionally, when it comes to other players, powerful analyze will function like a passive ability. As soon as another player enters your circle of awareness, you will gain access to their analyze data without any active intervention on your part.

You have upgraded your facial ability to master facial disguise. 

You have upgraded your facial ability to mimic. 

The tier 5 variant of this spell physically transforms your face during casting, making your disguise impenetrable to nearly all forms of detection. In addition, the spell’s duration is increased to 10 hours, and all your analyze data and spirit signatures can be falsified. 

You have 14 of 90 Perception ability slots remaining.

I exhaled slowly. It was finally done. I’d gained the abilities I needed to convincingly disguise myself from other players—but not just them. I suspected some Powers would also have trouble seeing through my false visage. 

That was not all, though. 

I’d also acquired the abilities I needed to make myself a true elite. Now, I could face players like Leafbright, Malikor, and perhaps even Tyelin, with confidence.

I’m ready, I thought. No matter what the next few hours bring, I’m ready.