Augmented Aspects: Chapter 225 Cha-cha-Changes (Part I) (Patreon)

Chapter 225

Cha-cha-Changes

Rising.

Did you ever get the feeling that you were floating? Well, rising higher and higher?

Not exactly the best feeling, especially when you suddenly come to consciousness and find out that you have somehow risen a few hundred feet from your last known location. That and your new position is over a kilometer away from where you last remembered being.

Yes, due to my condition, I went from complete darkness and unaware of my surroundings to a near twenty-kilometer view in all directions. Fortunately, my mind has gotten to the point where I wish that my self-restraint and self-control were at. Namely, my mind has gotten to the point where it can block out distractions and avoid inundating me with thousands of distractions.

Instead, I awoke to find myself floating like a wayward kite over the southeastern section of the new city area, that our gild has claimed. Just looking at the city, I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something very important. Like why was I asleep while flying?

Was I being abducted?

Was I in danger?

“What?” Was all I could eloquently state, but then as I spoke, I realized that I was apparently alone.

A quick mental scan of the area showed that Zero had apparently left my arm and was now talking with his girlfriend. Yes, there on a field down below was the powerful Zero talking with a Pomeranian.

Meanwhile, I was left up here to apparently float around on my own, wherever the wind might take me.

Gust.

With that, I feel the wind grab me and pull me up higher and farther away form my initial spot.

Then just when I don’t think it can get any weirder, I notice a figure coming. Well figure is not exactly the correct word here. In this case, the figure is of a vaguely familiar female riding a pedal bike, complete with a motor to help augment the pedaling and flapping wings. There is even a little rutter tail that moves based on the way the front wheel is directed.

If there is ever a sight that is more steam punk than that, I don’t know.

Seeing the device I can’t help but smile. The entire thing looks ridiculous, especially to my sight where I can’t see any true details of paint or decals. Instead, all I see are the functionality of the device and realize that it like me has two sets of wings.

Tingle.

No wait? Do I have two sets of wings? I suddenly feel like there are more sets of wings than the two I normally have.

Flap, flap, flap.

I shift my wings around and manage to get myself into an upright position. Headrush.

Whoa, apparently spinning and floating about aimlessly, then going to a more natural upright position can cause a bit of vertigo, who knew.

Shaking my head, I see that the person seeming to come on a direct path towards me is a few minutes away, which is good as I suddenly feel the influx of notifications streaming into my mind letting me know what happened during the time I was out.

Unfortunately, now that I am here and in this distracted state, my quest completion notifications have started to chime through.

On the bright side, I did want to test out the reward system here, thinking that the location that the quest experience was rewarded factored into the difference. Thus my spending two weeks in the Arcanarus Tower to only get a total of 50,000 experience for completing my QiMO machine.

New Quest Completed: Flight of the Penguin Part I (Ongoing): You have become the owner of a derelict ship designed to run off of mana and Qi. You even managed to fix it so it could finally fly. Final progress for repairs (100% / 100%). Rewards: Experience, Skills, New Unique vehicle, other.

Experience Gained.

25,000 / 12,500 / 12,500

That was great for my time in the Arcanarus Tower, but seemed oddly disproportionate to the amount of work I put in. While the vehicle might be the best reward for that, I feel that even the Other this time was a sort of meh.

New Bloodline Evolution Perk Fully Awoken

Bloodline Evolution Markers - Fully Awoken: Mana and Qi core manipulation markers awoken.  

Yes, the bloodline perk that had been marked earlier went to Fully Awoken, but it still feels the same.

Even my two Simulacrums who spent all day reading for experience only gained me a total of 41,260 experience.

Experience Gained from reading books: 20,630 / 10,315 / 10,315

Then with those two done, I felt the knowledge of so many books. A few were Skill books, but they were already skills I had already learned. Kind of cheap, but still good to have the knowledge I already know reinforced by the books of the world. Though, I was almost beginning to wonder if I could create my own skill books.

Tingle.

At this thought I feel a golden thread coming towards me. Almost instantly I realize the world would gladly give me a chance to write down and document my skills so that they might be passed down to others.

For a moment I almost think about accepting the thread, about getting an awesome skill like Book Binding, or maybe even Scribbler or something else equally entertaining. Then I quickly get the mental image of me hunched over a desk for hours on end working and slaving away, only to have my thoughts that took me hours to focus and write down, read and then generally disregarded by my students.

At that last mental image, I quickly dismiss the path of a writer. While I love reading, writing is so boring and time consuming.

Fortunately, to distract myself from these two, or more, skills that I would invariably get and would serve me as much good as my Painting and Artistry skills, both of which are still at a six and an eight respectively, I decide to forgo my career as a writer and be a doer.

After that, I just relax my mind and let the next quest notifications pummel me in the head, letting me know what I did and why I can’t possibly settle down to be a writer.

New Quest Found: Missing Parents (Completed): You have found a little girl (Izzy) in a refugee camp who has lost her parents. You managed to rescue the two parents and reunite them with their beloved daughter (Izzy). Final status of parents found and rescued (2 / 2). Rewards: Experience, Bloodline Marker Identified (Fairy Godmother).

Experience Gained.

50,000 / 25,000 / 25,000

Oh there was the Fairy Godmother perk, that is the same perk I was supposed to get for bringing all the thirteen Kujo pups to life. I’m assuming this perk when activated has something to do with kids?

Also, the experience is sadly double what I got for spending two weeks in an odd tower where I built an entirely new engine from scratch, effectively.

New Quest Found: Missing Parents 1A (Completed): You have found a boy (Stavi) and his mother (Raywell) in a refugee camp. When casting a spell to identify familial connections you found two active strands from the boy, one led to the mother and the other led to someone far off in the distance. You managed to find the father and reintroduce him to Stavi and Raywell. Final status of persons found and reunited (1 / 1). Rewards: Experience, Bloodline Marker Activated (Fairy Godmother).

Experience Gained.

25,000 / 12,500 / 12,500

Bloodline Evolution Perk Activated.

Bloodline evolution Perk (Fairy Godmother) activated: Ability to protect children of all ages and species increased and magnified.

Well, honestly, I don’t see that? But then again, it’s not like I don’t want to help out kids. But an entire perk devoted to just helping out kids?

Then I think about it and realize that the reason why I am where I am now is because I wanted Gwen to have a better life than I did when she first joined, and the Guild was the way for that. I also left Rob Jr. or Trenton as he likes to be called over by himself as well.

Trenton is another huge headache that I will likely need to take care of here shortly. Fortunately, before I can get too lost in my own thoughts about what could have or should have been, the next quest update hit me.

New Quest Found: Migrant Rescue Mission (Completed): You have found multiple disenfranchised groups of people. You even managed to rescue all the people from the war-torn environments and found jobs for1000% of the people that you provide shelter to. Final tally of people rescued (2058 / 2058). Percent of people taken in who have a job (100 / 100%). Children needing to be rescued (786 / 786). Rewards: Experience, Skill(s), (Guild) Title(s), Badge(s).

Experience Gained.

150,000 / 75,000 / 75,000

New Skill Gained: Infiltration has reached level 1.

Infiltration is a Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.

New Skill Gained: Sapper has reached level 1.

Sapper is a Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.

Guild Title: Protector of the Weak.

Protector of the Weak: When positioned to help non-combatants all skills and multipliers are doubled.

New Feat Recorded: Refuge Wrangler (4,000): You have been recognized for saving over 2,000 refugees and providing them all with jobs, food, and shelter.

For a moment, I wonder how I never got the skill Infiltration before, but I think this mostly deals with the way I generally Teleport into every place. While this time, there were a few times when I did silently enter the facility in question. Granted, this silent infiltration was me flying over and through the fenced in area and then staging my coop, but it was there. As for Sapper, that was directly related to my destroying communications and lines. Again, these skills seem like they would be a lot of fun to practice and increase.

Depending on how they go, I might make them a part of the Thieves Guild charter.

I think about that, then realize that I have roughly seven hundred kids that will likely be part of these classes and realize that maybe there was a reason I was not exposed to the Sapper courses before now.

That said, now that I have it game on.

Also, the guild Title is pretty epic. Able to have my skills and bonuses doubled if I am protecting people? That is going to be a lot of fun. Also, thinking about it, I wonder if it will help with possibly increasing skills for my students. Maybe we can make fake scenarios to train others by mirroring war like conditions.

I think about that, then I exhale as it means that I will be teaching my own students how to be better prepared for war. While, almost all the skills and abilities I teach could be used for war, I haven’t had a chance where it was so blatantly thrown in my face, as it was right now.

Exhale.

That said, I do realize that our time of sitting out on the war is quickly coming to an end. Particularly with my most recent escapades.

With that sobering thought in mind, I let the effects of the next quest completion wash over me.

 New Quest Identified: Purging the Desecrators (Completed): You have come across a scene of absolute destruction. Magical Parasites (The Legrand Empire) set up a dig site stripping the land of magical resources which was poisoning the ecosystem. You eliminated the threat to the local area, and become a protector of the world. Final status Grand Mages purged (9 / 9), Mage foreman (12 / 12), Mage Leaders (27 / 27), excavators (508 / 508). Rewards: Experience, Bloodline Evolution Markers, Badges, New Title Gained.

Experience Gained.

500,000 / 250,000 / 250,000

Bloodline Evolution Markers noted.

New Feat Recorded: One Person Army (5,000): You have been recognized for the singular destruction of an advanced army’s compound where you were outnumbered 50 to 1 and eliminated all opponents.

New Title Gained: Whispers of the Land.

Title Gained: Whispers of the Land: You can hear, understand, and often intuit problems arising in the world around you. Listening to these stimuli can cause possible quests to appear, quest objectives to change randomly, and for rewards to be heightened.

Okay, so that last one is a bit of a reach. Well, unless they include the elimination of the 508 excavators as well. But then again it also depends on what one considers eliminating as well?

Also, the bloodline evolution perk seemed a little lame. Basically just stating that more things were identified. Not really noting anything groundbreaking or major.

As for the last Title, it seems sort of fun. Though again, still a bit too Loraxy for my tastes, the idea of free or increased rewards from quests are nothing to sneeze at.

With those out of the way, I feel the pressure on my mind mostly going away, but I still feel that there are a few important ones that still need to be completed.

New Quest Accepted: Establishing a Thieves Guild Foothold within newly identified territories (Completed): You have been identified by the Thieves Guild as the most deserving for the position of Guild Master. Rewards: Experience, New Title, New Gear, New Skills.

Note: Unable to accept position as another Guild Leader while this position’s title is active. Cannot ever let it be known that you are the leader of the Thieves Guild to anyone not related to the Thieves guild.

Experience Gained.

50,000 / 25,000 / 25,000

Title Gained: Thieves Guild Master.

Thieves Guild Master: (Undetectable Title by any Means except to other Thieves Guild Members). This title allows you the ability to see the current status, rank, and abilities of all registered Thieves Guild Members. Furthermore, you can assign quests, tasks, training requirements, and specializations for any member of your Thieves Guild.

New Gear available upon entering your Thieves Guild Hall.

New Skills available upon entering your Thieves Guild Hall.

Of course, the skills and the gear would only be available upon entering a place that I have no clue where it exists. Probably another one of those, build it out of nothing type of things. Though I have a feeling that I could possibly create a pretty cool place if I focused, though that will be a different task. For now, I will just go and try to see if there is already a place available now that we have incorporated and become a fully functional city.

That said, this does kind of place the bullseye on my back as now everyone wishing to be the next Thieves Guild Hall master will try to out me. Also, I can’t do anything that would out me as the Thieves Guild Hall leader.

To my defense, I don’t know what not looking like the Thieves Guild Hall master would look like? I know I can’t calm down, as that would draw attention. I can’t stop teaching, as that would draw attention.

I definitely can’t sit down to write those great skill books that are all but waiting for me to write them down. As such, the only way to pretend that I’m not the Guild Hall master is to act like I’m not. Which given my current schedule, this shouldn’t be too hard to fake. Not because I would totally forget that I was it at any time. Nope, just wanting to lay low while the fuzz was after me.

Still, I am almost done with these marathon of quest completions, only a few more… I hope.

New World Quest Received: Don’t Expel the Foreign Energy (Completed): You have somehow contracted energy that is unstable for both yourself and the world. You then found a way to stabilize the foreign energy within yourself. Huzzah. Rewards: The World Lives, Bloodline Evolution Perk Activated.

Bloodline Evolution Perk Activated.

Bloodline evolution Perk (Coreless Mastery) activated: Your entire body is now a combined core for both your Mana and Qi. Effect: No damage caused by core disruption or destruction. Mana and Qi capacity increased by 50%.

That was it. I save the world and all I get are an odd huzzah, and a bloodline evolution perk that makes it so my core is now obsolete. Actually, that was probably one of my biggest concerns before, namely what if someone learned to mirror my core obliterating death ray. It’s effective at putting down magic wielding opponents, but it also serves as a double edged sword as it could just as easily be used against me. Well it could have, as I previously relied on my cores.

Thrum.

Cycling quickly, I realize I can still pump both mana and Qi throughout my two different cores, but now I feel that they are unnecessary. Almost like having extra eyes on my fingertips, yeah there might be a use for them, but mostly it would be easier to only hold them back in reserves for a few times when they might be necessary.

Speaking of having extra eyes, this of course brings me to my last and final quest that I have complete.

This last and quest was by far the most powerful. Even just pausing I readied myself as I prepared to find out what was happening. With this quest.

The quest’s components were over. Now all I had to do was go through and work with the system to hammer out the finer details of what my new Mythical Bloodline would be and would ultimately entail.

Exhale.

By breathing out, I centered myself and my mind as I relaxed just enough to see the fate of my future come to me, and for a moment I paused as I almost felt like I was going to be crushed by the information and changes that were being forced upon me.

Mythic Bloodline Quest Activated: The Mythical Bloodline Catalyst (Complete): You have found a catalyst capable of awakening deeper components of your bloodline that will allow you to begin to take steps towards the Mythic rating. You have fully integrated with the fragment from the Mirror of the Dead and awoken the Quintessence Ethereal Pixie Mythical Bloodline…

And with just those few words, I knew the world was once again trying to mess with me.