Augmented Aspects: Chapter 226 Cha-Cha-Changes (Part II) (Patreon)

Chapter 226

Cha-Cha-Changes (Part II)

Power, it comes in all shapes and sizes.

Apparently, this world thinks that I am supposed to always be in the extremely compact size, as my newest race. A race that I wasn’t even certain existed until now was unarguably a short race.

In fact, when thinking about races, I think we all can agree that something with the name of pixie generates images of a being that is similar to a child’s play toy in size.

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. Percentage (100 / 100). Rewards: Experience, Mythic Bloodline Awakening, Title, Badge, Skills, variable.

Yes, I had finally done the unthinkable and managed to be the first to unlock a Mythical bloodline. Proving that as usual awakening bloodlines is the worst thing possible.

As I now find myself wondering how I can change myself back. Or undo this mistake. It seems that with each evolution I am given a new set of circumstances to both ridicule and mock me. A Quintessence Ethereal Pixie? What does that even mean?

But before I could get too lost in the thought of how ridiculous I might look now as a Pixie, I feel the surge of all the other notifications coming in and washing over me and infusing me with irresistible force and magnitudes of energy. Even as my body and soul feel like I am being squished down to the size of a Pomeranian. This is karma, it almost has to be, and somehow that Guardian Protectorate is part of it, I can feel it.

Experience Gained.

1,500,000 / 750,000 / 750,000

Three million overall experience, that isn’t terrible, but it still seems a bit lacking overall.

Mythical Bloodline Has Awoken: After reaching new Level in any class all Attributes will be increased by +2.

Okay, this is actually nice, as it is effectively +8 Attributes every level now that the bonus will get applied to all of my Physical Attributes, along with my Attractiveness. Not that I need further help with Attractiveness, but knowing that I get a flat +2 bonus to all Attributes every level is sort of nice. Especially, as I feel that my waiting will mean that all of the experience, I have just gained will all have the same +2 overall modifier applied to each level I gain.

With this new section taken care of, I was brought to my all-time favorite section, Merits and Flaws.

Mythical Bloodline Evolution Merits and Flaws:

Hollow Bones: Your bones are hollow, decreasing your overall bodyweight by 80% and making forms of flight that much easier. Note that your bones also allow for additional pathways to channel, store, and process energy. Energy Capacity increased by 40%. Bone density increases based on percentage of hollowed bones used to cycle, store, and process energies. Your body’s physical force will be lessened due to your decreased weight. All physical attacks will be reduced by 80 minus Energy Capacity Percentage, minimum of 40%.

Phantasmal Wings: You now have magical translucent wings that can be seen by anyone with any form of magical sight, ability, or inclination. By focusing your will, you can manifest your wings in the real world at will and use them to fly about as desired.

Prophetic Tongue: What you say and do can have a direct impact on the world around you. Your words have a way of bringing about consequences and rewards to others, be forewarned.

Magical Biome: You are now yourself a being of change. Simply by existing within a given area, you increase the amount of ambient energy, life, and abundance. Warning: Your skills and abilities will be reduced in areas of low magical ability, until an equilibrium can be met.

Okay, not quite a fan of these combined Merits and Flaws. Yes, extra areas to cultivate and channel energy are cool, but now that my entire body is essentially an oversized core, I can’t help but think that these now hollow bones are just a waste of potential.

Though it is nice to not have to waste any more mana on maintaining my wings and weightless state. Though I might still need to cast a reduced form of the reduced weight if I want to be able to pass out and just float about aimlessly.

I mean, it beats the alternative of passing out, then crashing to the ground to be eaten to death by rats. Yeah, I’ll take passed out floating cloud method over crashed in a cowpatty any day.

Still, I can’t help but notice a theme. Namely they all suck in their own little way. Which I guess is why they are also called flaws. Actually, the Prophetic Tongue sounds like it would entirely be a flaw without any form of redemption. Though, I guess the merit is the fact that I can possibly use it to generate quests for myself and others? Though as a Thieves Guild leader, I should be able to do the same thing?

No wait, I could only assign quests to fellow Thieves Guild members who were in good standing. Now that I think about it, if I am able to work this, there might be a chance to use this as a way to hide my status as the Thieves Guild Leader. That and if I get really good at using it, I might be able to generate some well-intended fun. Maybe make it so everyone was to try to generate names for things that I will later invent. Then when I invent a new thing, I will just reach in, grab a suggestion and use the first one that pops up, regardless of what happens.

You know what? That does sound like a great way to outsource my weaknesses.

I had also seen the signs for Prophetic Tongue, for a while. This was particularly obvious with my assigning of my own find the parent quest by promising little kids. Also, there almost seems to be a theme to these, but I couldn’t quite tell what. Well, I think they all had something to do with my new class change of going from an Elf to a Pixie, but that was only part of the change.

As for the wings, it basically made it so I was even more of a magical beacon to anyone wishing to learn about magic. Which seems to have been a theme with my evolutions, but this time it was all but blatant.

Then just when I was completely disappointed with both the Merits and Flaws, I was once again able to make one choice for a singular merit. I assumed that this meant that upon choosing the merit I would be left with a singular flaw as well, but that was to be given.

Still, Merits and Flaws at this point were something that I would only be able to get once, which meant that I would need to be extra careful when selecting them.

Racial Merit Points Available (25 – 100):

Racial Flaw Points Automatically assigned (0 – 75):

Note: Racial Flaws will not be assigned until after 25 points of Merits have been selected.

Just seeing the self-destructive marker available to me, I feel my little heart begin to beat violently as I realize that my thoughts about those merits being terrible were obvious as I am already owed 25 points in merits for just how terrible everything was.

Still, I couldn’t help but get excited as this was yet another chance for me to go through the great system and find something that would be completely unique and overpowered.

My last time I was given ten free points I created Confidential. The last time I had a twenty-five-point merit was for my Angel’s Sight, while that did also make me blind, I have to say that is probably the most important merit I ever purchased. This is why I feel a strange sense of excitement for this section as I feel my mind going through the options.

Last time I managed to get a 50-point title, that made it so that ten of my skills had a new Unbound maximum of 200 before the bonus set the maximum to 212.

This time I get the same ability for Merits and Flaws, but I get a minimum of 25 points in Merits for free, without having to take any of the stupid flaws that this system will throw at me. Meaning, I decided to go wild.

Or, as wild as the system seemingly lets me.

In this case, I take Unbound again. Honestly, I was sort of surprised that it came up again as an option, but this time I noted that it was slightly different, while also being a lot more expensive.

Mythical Bloodline Merit: Unbound (14): Your Attributes and Skills have once again broken through another threshold. Your Attributes and Skills are now able to be increased by an additional 75 levels, currently maximum level 250.

This was perfect, despite its exorbitant costs, it seemed like it was officially the third iteration of the Merit. I also knew I still had the bonuses from the one time use potion as well, though I didn’t know if that would be as beneficial as this Merit was.

However, with this Merit, I felt a thrill of life back, as I almost wanted to go back to class and show everyone what was possible now that my limits were once again pushed even further. Also, now I had even more reason to push myself in classes, so that I could see what was possible if you kept pushing yourself farther than the maximum.

Oh, I would take being a Pixie just for that Merit alone.

Best of all, I still had 11 free Merit points left.

The sad part is that I didn’t find anything worth getting that was only 11 points. There were things that were part of a bundle deal that would go for 30 or more points. But that of course meant that I would have to take on 19 points of flaws. Not just any flaws, but 19 points of random Pixie flaws. What exactly are the flaws of Pixies? I do not know, but I don’t want to find out either.

Even now I could feel the power of my body compressing tightly like I was being pulled into a blackhole that condensed me down and made me barely larger than a ruler. Well, a floating boneless ruler with wings, almost sounds like I’d be the appetizer at a sports bar and grill with that sort of advertisement.

But that all changed when I saw the ultimate of all merits.

Mythical Bloodline Merit: Arcane Geomancy (15): Unlock the ability to build and alter the untapped potential in unclaimed sets of land. Note: Arcane Geomancy is way of quickly altering or changing land that is not occupied by habitable dwellings or structures and converting the land and area into an environment that the Geomancer desires. This is a cross blend of magic and qi.

Requirements: Mythological Bloodline, ability to use Magic and Qi at a high rate of proficiency, unclaimed or unoccupied land.

There it was, a brand new school of magic? Or maybe the first fusion ability of mana and Qi. Honestly, I feel kind of stupid for missing this, as my method was to basically brute force land with an over saturation of mana, until it eventually yielded. Seeing this new power, not only did it seem to spark the fact that I would be able to use and cast Qi and mana powers together, but this Merit seemed to be the first free and likely only hint that the world would give me as per how it thinks Qi and mana should be fused together. That said, I somehow know that if I say no to this, that this ability will not be available to me in the future, and that the world will work to change itself so this level of detail and ease of production is never obtainable again.

Glowing golden threads.

Even now I can see the fates of golden threads weaving from this power and surging into me as if it is a foregone conclusion that I will choose this. I won’t, I’m better than that.

Chittering.

My teeth were chittering, as I realized that this was exactly what I wanted. Not only was this a clear sign of what was still to come, in the terms of Qi and mana fusion abilities, but that by getting this, I would likely get new skills. Skills that I could get to level 250, oh, man. Just thinking about the ability to learn and grind these new abilities to their maximum made me super excited.

Okay, I’m not better than that. I’m not able to show restraint.

Also, it seemed like this was a realm of energy manipulation that could help me quickly alleviate my new Racial Merit and Flaw, Magical Biome, as I felt that I could use this to quickly convert areas that were not filled with magic a little bit faster than normal. Also this merit along with my Unbound made even the flaw part of Magical Biome irrelevant as I would still be able to have 125 levels in all skills if I pushed myself hard enough.

That was why I decided to go with both merits, despite them both putting me over the threshold of free points that I was given. Even going so far as to have a total of 4 points in flaws.

Pausing.

I stopped myself, realizing that this was a honey trap. They put the two merits in here that everyone knew that I could not resist. This was why I knew what was going to happen next would be bad. Though to be fair, again I was already a foot and change tall pixie. There wasn’t much else they could do to me. Even the idea of insect wings were not that bad. No wait, insect wings are still held by insects, and insects are still gross. Fortunately, my wings feel like they are like my old feathery wings, just made out of bioluminescent energy that I have to consciously think about to make them real.

Knowing that it was all a trap, I honestly felt cheated slightly. That feeling of being cheated was short lived, lasting until I did the next logical thing of looking for more of these Mythical bloodline merits that offered a fusion of Qi and Mana.

Sigh.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately that was all that was available.

Racial Merit Points Available (25 – 100): 29

Racial Flaw Points Automatically assigned (0 – 75): 4

Would you like to accept the number of Merits Chosen, knowing that the indicated number of flaws will be spent?

I paused, I could tell that I was going to be forced to do something that I was not quite fond of, or maybe get embarrassed in some way.

That said, I was ready to make the sacrifice. Again, I was the size of the small end of a broken yardstick right now, so I didn’t really have much to lose.

At least that was what I thought until I saw the text of the new flaw I was designed.

Mythical Bloodline Flaw: Colossal (4): You are not fat; you are just big boned. While pixies pride themselves on being smaller to be beautiful, you run counter to that claim. You are colossal in size for one of your species. Effect: Body size is 400% larger than the average member of your species. Due to your size, your bones are less dense and prone to breaking under your severe size.

After that message, I could feel my body growing and stretching back out to my normal size. Or close to it, I did feel that I was slightly shorter than I had started the day at, but not as short as I had been just a few seconds ago before that flaw.

Phew, thank goodness it was only that level of flaw. I could imagine my having taken the ten-point version of that flaw and being two and a half times my size now? Wait, how big was I? A foot and change time four, that’s what four feet eight inches?

And like that I realize I am officially still a midget. Well, a midget compared to human standards, and an apparent Colossal compared to normal pixies.

Even the brittle bones aspect wasn’t too bad, as it only seemed to reinforce my Hollow Bones Merit and Flaw that essentially gave me more room to cultivate and cycle energy within my body.

Wait? Does that mean that once this moment ends, I will begin to plummet? For a second, I have that dream where you wake up and feel like you are about to fall painfully to your death. Fortunately, a moment later, my mind wakes up enough to tell me that everything will be fine.

Just like waking up to find you are still in bed, I have much the same idea, though mine is just realizing that I still have my Spectral Drift spell active, meaning that I am weightless even now. Though I do have to wonder if time is actually stopped, or just slowed down while my perception of time has sped up? Pausing, I feel that I am once again close to making a breakthrough about time, but before I can get too lost in my own thoughts, the world lurches forward.

Jolt.

Then once again I am immersed in the next update about my Mythical Bloodline, this time I see a new section that seems oddly interesting.

Mythical Bloodline Perks:

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

Bloodline evolution Perk (Cassiopeia’s Foresight) Identified: Ability to see the future, but unable to change or do anything about the future that you have found out about.

Bloodline evolution Perk (Coreless Mastery) Identified: 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%. (Current Magic Core Tier Rating Maximum: XVII). (Current Qi Core Tier Rating Maximum: ???).

Yeah, the perks were ones that I had already known, but it was nice to have them all added there in one cohesive grouping. Though I will say that getting hard and fast volumes of the now maximum ratings that I can push my Magic ability was pretty interesting. While I did feel it was sort of a copout that I didn’t get any limits to my cultivations levels. Though with cultivation you could theoretically always condense further down like a star that goes nova. As for magic, mana was more vaporous than Qi, as such there would always be a limit to how far down everything could be compressed.

Again, nothing new here. But these are the same three Perks that I already earned but are now fully incorporated as part of this pixie bloodline.

Seeing the first perk, does this mean that Pixies are higher up the Fairy royalty chart? While I’m glad I got to miss out on being a Fairy Princess, and all the jokes that would come from that depiction. I still can’t help but wonder what about me would say, hey she is pixie material?

Wait, never mind. I see it, but still kind of rude. Unless being a pixie also means I am amazing with magic. No wait, it has to mean that, right?

Whatever, now I feel that my time here is drawing to a close as I start getting hit with the updates faster and faster.

New Feat Recorded: Mythical Bloodline Awakened (10,000): You have managed to awaken a Mythical Bloodline (Quintessence Ethereal Pixie).

That was it, the last update of my Mythical Bloodline. I didn’t get the progenitor title, mainly because I can’t have mythological children. I guess if I for some reason was stupid enough to get the next step in my bloodline, I would then be able to have Mythical babies, but ick. I could only imagine this world changing me into a glowing floating caterpillar or something equally dumb.

Now that it is all over, I feel the swell of the accrued experience building up and seeming to solidify my status as a Mythical Bloodline holder.

In all, I received a total of 4,641,260 experience from all of the quests.

This resulted in a 2,320,630 / 1,160,315 / 1,160,315 split of experience between my three classes.

Finally, now that time is allowed to flow, I get the level up notifications that I had been expecting.

Ding.

Level up.

Akashic Qi Master has increased by 41 levels to level 302.

New Class evolution Point met.

Ethereal Simulacrums Master has increased by 37 levels to level 335.

New Class evolution Point met.

Ethereal Healer has increased by 55 levels to level 452.

 New Class evolution Point met.

That was a total 133 levels all at once, or a total of 266 Attributes from my newly enhanced bloodline that now offered a +2 to all Attributes evenly, every time I level up. This of course was before even factoring in my bonuses offered from each of my classes.

By the end, I felt a swell and surge of power rolling through me, before I finally felt all of my energy come to a culmination, as foreign energy flooded through me and finally culminate in the form of my final end state. 

Physical Base Bonus

Strength 135 885

Dexterity 168 1665

Endurance 154 1093

Social Base Bonus

Personality 108 980

Sociability 106 984

Attractiveness 95 2380

Mental Base Bonus

Perception 195 2507

Intelligence 190 2840

Willpower 200 3716

My new Mythical Unbound was already paying off as it meant that all my extra work on improving Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based Skills was not in vain.

Finally, with that, I feel my consciousness once again expand to show the world around me. There is still the person coming in a modified flapping rocket propelled bicycle, and me floating aimlessly in the sky.

All in all, I feel relieved.

I survived another bloodline advancement. And this time, promise myself the same thing I do every time something like this happens, namely that I will never do this again.

That said, it was a good day, and I made it through without setting off too many alarm bells. Other than the obvious Mythical Bloodline awakening that happened over an hour ago. When I completed, but still opted not to turn in the final components for my The Mythical Bloodline Catalyst (Complete) quest.

Yep, life is pretty good, and best of all I feel that I managed to stay under the radar with this one.

World First Message: The First Qi-Mana Fusion Discipline Has Been Learned.

GAH!

Just seeing that message, I know Mallory is going to want to talk to me, as if I would be the one who would know anything about this. Okay, I totally get it, but can the world not get me in trouble where I have to talk to the boss every five minutes?