Augmented Aspects: Chapter 102 Degrees of Being a Doctor (Patreon)

Chapter 102

Degrees of Being a Doctor

“Once we get to floor two hundred, we both might need to leave.”

Those words echoed round in my mind for some reason. Over the past few days, I knew that Mallory was acting strangely, but those words were the icing on the cake. I understood that she likely had guild obligations that would pull her away from here, from me, but I couldn’t help but feel that she expected me to leave with her.

To be honest, I felt the deep call to leave as well. I have been here for almost a year, and while I have learned a lot I figured that there was so much more I needed to do. Most importantly, I needed to help out the Maltese Empire, at the very least I knew I needed to check in on Hector and Golum.

That said, the rewards that I was now earning from just sitting on a tree elevator was amazing.

Hidden Quest Completed: First Acanarus Tower Climber (III): Your goal of getting a Doctoral degree from Arcanarus University has been noted. Explore the tower, reach the one hundred and fiftieth floor and receive the reward that you seek. Reward: Experience, Doctoral Degree from Arcanarus University: Spell and Magical Theory, Title: Arcanarus University Graduate (III), Increased Magical Potency, Others. Floors completed (150/150).

Experience Gained: 5,000 / 5,000

Ding.

Level up.

Your Void Walker class has increased to level 120.

Your Simulacrum Master class has increased to level 117.

Spirit Magic School Resonance Increased to Tier XII.

Nature Magic School Resonance Increased to Tier XII.

Life Magic School Resonance Increased to Tier XII.

I finally got the magical school increases, though honestly it felt like a hollow reward as I had no clue what I would even need to do with Tier XII power.

Even the title increase and the new soul bound items were a little dull, as they were essentially more powerful versions of the same reward I had been getting.

Title: Arcanarus University Master Graduate (III): One of the most promising Doctoral Graduates of Arcanarus University. Effects: +30 Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower. Along with a +300% Skill Efficacy to Spirt-Magic Spell Creation, and Energy Resonance Alteration.

Soul Bound Item: Arcanarus University Doctoral Degree: Spell Theory and Magical Theory: An undeniable item proving you met the minimum standards to Graduate from Arcanarus University’s Doctoral program of knowledge, with a dual degree in Magic and Spell Theory. With this degree you should be legally allowed to practice, create, and advance the field of magic anywhere in BiPrism. Effects: +100% Skill Efficacy to Spell Theory and Magical Theory.

That was why, when I first got them, I felt I had met every major goal I had set for myself. At this point I was complete, I had a Doctorate, something that had eluded me in my regular life. Furthermore, I was likely one of the few Doctoral candidates still alive from the famed Arcanarus University. Which was why I felt that I was mainly done with this tower. Currently the tower would allow adventurers to go up to floor 200, and that cap would end at floor 225 once this elevator finally came to an end. That would put me at exactly twenty-five floors away from the famed floor two hundred, but I was not so certain that I would be encouraged to go further. Until I mentally interacted with the system and found the following as my reward.

Hidden Quest Updated: First Acanarus Tower Climber (IV): Your goal of getting a Surgical Doctoral degree from Arcanarus University has been noted. Explore the tower, reach the two hundredth floor and receive the reward that you seek. Reward: Experience, Doctoral Degree of Surgery from Arcanarus University: Magical Enchantment Surgery, Title: Arcanarus University Graduate (IV), Increased Magical Potency, Others. Floors completed (150/200).

Now I was not aware that the system made a distinction between doctors and surgeons, but I guess that distinction made sense. With this offering, I at first felt that there was no way that I could do such a thing, for how could I conduct magical surgery? Would that be like a liposuction or something slightly more intricate. Then after thinking on it for a moment, I had an epiphany that with this I might be able to help people fix, or at the very least alter their build. Many people, myself included, were born with affinities for Schools of Magic that they would rather not have access to. My own Shadow magic was closely tied to the completely violent school of Dark magic, but I realized with this perk, I might be able to change that.

I even got Mallory’s seal of approval after stating it, and my excitement in such a task. At first the entire task seemed to be completely anathema to me, but the more time I had to sit and ponder the idea, the more I realized it was likely an adaptation of my own understanding of magic.

The reason I can now envision this is by seeing that magic’s resonance involves the vibration of the energy. While my own energy comes out at the high frequency of Spirit, or on the ultraviolet spectrum of magical light. I know that other schools of magic are either faster or slower. The only school of magic that is faster than my Spirit, of course being Dark magic, which as the name suggests is dark and oily black in nature. Then there is Divine which is golden in color, and a far slower form of energy is that of Fire, which is primal in nature and likely one of the easiest to understand due to how slow it resonates. Though this might just be my own personal bias on the subject, as I can’t think of many reasons why one would go for Fire, if they wanted to do something other than cause devastation.

The only problem that I currently have is that I don’t quite know what I would need to do in order to change the flow and resonances available to a person. I can see my own, but my own core has gone through a lot of changes recently. And that is when I pause, realizing that part of why my core has changed is due to my recent awakening and full recognition of Life and Nature magic as being two schools of magic that I no longer have to focus on to create. Instead, now I can just actively use those schools of magical energy by just thinking about it. Then looking at my own grooves within my core and through my meridians, I can see how the channels have slightly changed as well, making it so the speed of energy can be sped up and slowed down depending on which of the three different meridian paths I choose to cycle my energy through.

With that, I feel something click, in my mind as I realize I am onto something.

New Skill Gained: Magical Physiology has reached level 1.

Magical Physiology is a Perception X 3, Intelligence X 3, and Willpower X 3 skill.

That was clearly a skill that the system considered a near perfect skill as it increased nine Attributes, well three Attributes a total of nine times, but really that is the same thing, right?

At this point I am sort of frightened, as I don’t know if these are my own random thoughts coming to this distinctive thought process? Whether I was already there and just the system telling me about something like Magical Enchantment Surgery would cause these types of thoughts? Or if this is the system nudging me along in this particular field of thought.

Regardless of the reason for how I got here, there is no doubt that I did get here. Though again, I have to wonder if this is my own consciousness applying value to these quests, or if there is more.

Unfortunately, as esoteric as those thoughts are, they really are circular in nature, and I quickly dismiss them as I attempt to identify a way I can perform Magical Enchantment Surgery, or as the name would imply, finding a way to permanently enhance the body of a person.

In my mind, I see the way this could be done, but then come short as there are likely multiple ways this could finally be accomplished. The first and most obvious method would be to change the groove patterns on one’s meridians. The second major way would be to change the patterns within the core of an individual. Though I have a feeling that it would likely be a combination of both. While the width directly determines the magical tier rating, as my own meridians have seemingly increased by a millimeter in diameter, which might not seem like much, but that is a lot of volume to increase. I think the only real reason I didn’t notice the change was that either we cannot feel damage or alterations to our cores and meridians, a fact that makes sense as I doubt there are many nerve endings that would connect our cores to our bodies. But another thing to consider is that I had increased in level for both my primary and my secondary class, which could have more than masked the slight discomfort I might have felt.

Ultimately, I need a sample, someone with already large meridians that can be changed and likely not ruin the overall effectiveness of said person.

Naturally, my thoughts and my full attention went to Mallory, mainly because she was the only person other than myself here.

“Um, why are you looking at me like I’m a slab of beef?” Mallory asked, and while she was playful, I could hear a hint of concern filling her words.

“Oh, what? No, nothing.” I said, wondering how I even gave away my thoughts, as my head was fully turned away. “Wait, how did you know what I was doing?”

“So you were looking me, like I was a big piece of meat.” Mallory said, standing up from the ground and turning to face me.

“Wait, what? You didn’t know?” I ask, confused. Mentally I check and realize that after she and I both got the Luminescence title, there was no reason for me to share my thoughts with her.

“Of course, I knew it, you always get this weird look when you are planning something.”

“I don’t look weird.”

Mallory just holds up her finger as if she is going to argue, but then apparently thinks differently and changes the subject. “So, what exactly were you planning. If you weren’t trying to look so weird.”

At that I pause, as I don’t know how I can answer this without sounding somewhat creepy.

“Okay, I was thinking about what the new ability with Magical Enchantment Surgery could be. That’s when I got the idea that it might be me actually performing surgery and alterations to fix people’s magical affinities. That’s when I thought that magic was in waves, and that we could be able to alter those waves internally with our cores and our meridians. That is about the time I got the skill Magical Physiology, then I might have thought about how this could be applied to people.” I say, trying to state everything, while totally not coming across as creepy. Which, really has to be a somewhat impossible task, I mean how can you not feel slightly creepy, when someone accuses you of being so?

Mallory pauses, then turns her head away as if in thought, before turning back to me. “So, you are saying that you figured out a random skill while thinking about surgically carving up my core and meridians?”

“What? No, that came before…”

“So, I was just an afterthought? A so called first victim?”

I hold up my own finger trying to come up with a way to spin this, but then after a second, I answer defeatedly, “yeah, that sounds about right.”

Mallory just pauses at that admission and then opens her mouth and closes it, before finally stating, “you know, that admission hurt surprisingly more than I thought it would.”

“So, you are saying that you would rather I think about surgically altering your magical components first, then get a skill letting me know I could do it?” I ask, trying to make sure I am on the same train of thought as her.

With that she opens her mouth, but then closes it. “You know what, I think I’m good. Sorry, you were saying about this new skill?”

“Oh yeah, Magical Physiology.” I state.

“What does it do?”

“Oh, that I can answer, I think. It is a really high end skill apparently, triple Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower.”

“Triple?”

“Yeah, and I think it helps me to get the deeper stages of understanding of a person’s core and their meridians.” I state, as I get closer to Mallory and reach out my hands to grab her arm. She pauses looking at me with a fear.

“You aren’t going to…” Mallory asks, while waving her other hand in a go on gesture. “You know…”

“Operate on you?” I ask, she nods. “No. I will not operate on you. I am just going to try to show you what I mean.” I say as I hold up her arm.

“You know I can’t see the meridians the way you can, right?”

“Gah!” I let out a defeated groan, then mentally connect our minds with Telepathy, but rather than showing everything, I just show the one meridian in her arm that I am talking about, or that I want to talk about. “This is your meridian, if you look you can see different groove patterns in the meridian.” I state, as I mentally enhance and enlarge the meridian in our visions showing the two main grooves. “So that one, with the short choppy lines that is the one for Spirit magic, I state, then I pull up my own arm and show my meridians as a comparison. There we can see that there are three tracks in my meridians, one for each of my three main magical talents.

“Wait, yours are wider than mine.” Mallory states.

“Well yeah, I have a higher Tier in magic now.” I state, somewhat dismissively.

“No, I mean the physical channel within the meridian, yours is wider.” She states with a questioning tone to her words.

At that I pause, and look between the two, and realize she is correct. Not just the width of the meridian increased, but it seems that the channels that magic is channeled along also change in width, which might directly increase the overall width of the final meridian. “Oh, my goodness, you are brilliant!”

“Hey, no reason to be all snippy.” Mallory states somewhat defensively.

I pause for a second, and pause trying to understand what she means, but then I realize she might think I was talking down to her.

“No, no, no. I mean it, that is a brilliant observation, and one I might not have noticed at all without your insight.” I state, trying to calm her down.

At that she pauses, “oh, that is cool.”

“What is?” I ask, realizing she just got something from the system as her eyes are up and to the right as if she is reading text that only she can see.

“I just got that weird Magical Physiology skill you spoke about. Very random, and likely something I will never work to improve upon, but I am glad you showed it to me.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, one, that skill looks like I would need your Angel’s Sight, and likely to a much higher level than what I could possibly get now.” Hearing that, I deflate a little, as she is correct, then she continues. “Secondly, I already maxed out my base Attributes for Perception, and Intelligence a long time ago. While the Willpower route does seem nice, it is likely not worth the inevitable headache that this skill would require me to get to level up.”

At that I realize that she is right, my Perception and Intelligence are both close to the first Unbound maximum, meaning I would need to concoct my single use potion here shortly. Yet, even more reason to leave the tower as most of the ingredients are fairly common, but not common in the spirit world. Then I realize her other point.

“Wait, am I hurting you?” I ask, somewhat sheepishly, as I begin diminishing how much information I share with her.

At that she visibly relaxes slightly, thus proving that this was a bit much for her.

Relaxed sigh.

“You know, I never quite knew how much you were ahead of us, but yeah, that is intense. It still takes some time to get used to. On the bright side, I don’t think you would have to worry about people randomly reading your mind.” Mallory states.

“What? Why? I have thoughts…”

“Yeah, but the odds that a mind thief would be able to get your mind to focus long enough to get what they came for would be a task in and of itself.” Mallory states.

At that, I realize that I likely once again let my thoughts bleed over into the sense of my sight that I was sharing with her.

“Yeah.” Mallory states, all but letting me know I was still in the process of doing so.

“Oh, right.” I say, as I completely kill the link between our minds and once again see Mallory completely relax. “I’m a terrible friend, sorry about that.” I say, wincing internally.

“No, no. You are a great friend, just sometimes you are a little too…” she trailed off trying to say the word that she apparently thought would be least offensive.

Whoom.

Fortunately for Mallory, she was saved from having to complete that thought by the fact that our elevator car finally came to a full and complete stop.

“Oh look at that, here we are floor 175, I think this is my stop.” Mallory states, as she grabs some of the enchanted water containers we filled from our travels. “Can’t forget our Yggdraspirit mana infused water, lots of potential future apothecary concoctions can come from this.”

“You are changing the subject.” I state, as I pick up my own water flasks, as I know she is right about the rarity of this water and what it might mean on the outside.

“Oh, and what is that over there…” Mallory states, pointing towards the exit door as she takes a few wobbly steps forward, before her naturally perfect balance kicks in. At that, I realized I likely shouldn’t push this too much, as she clearly was in pain from that little exchange. While she did help me get a lot further than I could have by myself, especially with her insight on the width of the channels within the meridians, it clearly caused her some discomfort, and as such I decided I would not do so again. At least I wouldn’t do so without her asking me to do so. With that, I let out a sigh and realized this would likely be even more of an excuse why she would try to leave me after floor 200. But would she want me to go with her after that? Would I be offered something even more amazing that being able to do magical surgery after floor 200? Obviously I would, that was what these towers did, but would that be enough to miss Mallory for a few months. Fortunately, before I could get too lost in that destructive thought trail, Mallory asked an important question.

“I have to ask, why haven’t we gotten the quest completion for fixing Yggdraspirit?” Mallory asks, as she walks through the door. “Oh, wait, never mind.”

Confused, I walk forward, exiting the tiny zone that we were just in, and then realize that we are now outside on a vast tree trunk that is just a small portion of a visibly corrupted Yggdraspirit tree. Only now do I realize that what we saw a hundred floors below, was just one root with tiny branches that ultimately fed up into this giant core that we were now on. “Yeah, this is going to be a project.”

“So floor two hundred?”

Seeing the extent of the Blight that was surrounding us, I couldn’t help but feel a little defeated from everything that was happening. Suddenly I realized why they offered a Trait for this, as this was no minor task that would be fixed, but rather a long, long healing project.

Nodding with a reluctant sigh, I answer, “floor two hundred.”