(SA) Chapter 5: Aftermath, Arcane Bolt, and Level 10 (Patreon)

My ears were ringing. I didn't know how long I'd been out, either. Clearly, it hadn't been long enough for me to heal fully, though. I attempted to lurch to my feet, but I wasn't strong enough to get up. I wiped my eyes, trying to clear the dirt and tears from them, but just ended up smearing blood on them. The air reeked of iron, blood that I knew didn't belong to the Homunculus. Their blood didn't have a smell. A taste, either. It was just colored water with the consistency of mud. Darker, too.

A lot of what was splattered about had to be mine.

After a few moments of regeneration, my eyes cleared enough to see that none of those Mana-Infused bastards remained. With that out of the way, I checked my notifications.

Warning! Current Health: 18/152

Congratulations! You have slain 3 Level 3 Mana-Infused Homunculus Abominations!

Reward: 39% Class XP

You have taken an action in line with your Class!

Reward: 25% Class XP

Congratulations! Your Arcane Affinity has increased to Level 2!

Reward: 10% Class XP

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

Congratulations! Your Arcane Affinity has increased to Level 3!

Reward: 20% Class XP

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

I looked over my Status. I knew I'd leveled up before this, after destroying the original ritual, but with all the XP I'd gotten since then, I thought that I might have from this as well.

Name: Abel Halloran

Class: Arcane Mage

Level: 6

Class Xp: 16%

Profession: Autodidact

Level: 6

Profession Xp: 58%

Health Total: 96/180

Health Regen: 10/minute

Mana Total: 217/217

Mana Regen: 23/minute

Physical: 14

Constitution: 13

Vitality: 16

Fitness: 13

Mental: 22

Willpower: 19

Nerves: 22

Intellect: 25

Astral: 18

Balance: 22

Channeling: 22

Harmony: 10

Free Points: 6

Traits: Arcaniac

I tried to recall exactly what had happened.

First, I'd gone into the ritual area. The new ritual had looked weird. Oh, right! It had a 'mantis' rune, but another that had taken me a moment to recognize, because it was completely new. The 6-pointed ritual had included a 'buildup' rune, which acted like a dam for the mana within, until it reached the next Tier.

The new ritual would be considered a Tier 1 version of the first, though still broken as shit due to the dumbass creator's mistakes. The ritual had been placed in an oval, the same as the others, though this one was somewhat blunted on one end. Then, the creator had placed the 'filter' like normal. Now, from here, a proper Ritualist would continue onward to place the runes into a hexagon shape. Instead, the 'filter,' 'mantis,' and 'summon' runes had become a long, isosceles triangle, while the 'create,' 'life,' and 'buildup' rune had formed an equilateral triangle, a bit further down the isosceles. I guessed that was why there hadn't been any mantis swarm before the explosion, all the mana had already been poured out of the ritual.

All in all, the person who made this was an idiot. I could see why the Jehkall House was ashamed of this place.

While I was sitting there, I decided to experiment a bit with my free points a bit.

Of the physical statistics, neither Constitution nor Fitness looked like they would help my regen, so I placed 3 points into Vitality and checked my Status Screen once more.

Name: Abel Halloran

Class: Arcane Mage

Level: 6

Class Xp: 16%

Profession: Autodidact

Level: 6

Profession Xp: 58%

Health Total: 98/180

Health Regen: 10/minute

Mana Total: 217/217

Mana Regen: 23/minute

Physical: 15

Constitution: 13

Vitality: 19

Fitness:13

Mental: 22

Willpower: 19

Nerves: 22

Intellect: 25

Astral: 18

Balance: 22

Channeling: 22

Harmony: 10

Free Points: 3

Traits: Arcaniac

Alright, so nothing had changed. Wonderful.

Next up, I wanted to know what Balance and Channeling did, and as Channeling was the most useful to me, I decided to put the remainder of my free points into that stat.

Name: Abel Halloran

Class: Arcane Mage

Level: 6

Class Xp: 16%

Profession: Autodidact

Level: 6

Profession Xp: 58%

Health Total: 99/180

Health Regen: 11/minute

Mana Total: 217/217

Mana Regen: 24/minute

Physical: 16

Constitution: 13

Vitality: 19

Fitness: 13

Mental: 26

Willpower: 19

Nerves: 22

Intellect: 25

Astral: 19

Balance: 22

Channeling: 25

Harmony: 10

Free Points: 0

Traits: Arcaniac

So... my Regen stats went up? And my capacities had as well. I guessed the Astral statistics affected both pools. Either way, I was certain that my Arcane Bolt would be stronger for the increase.

I started casting Arcane Bolt at the opposite wall from me while I was waiting to regen fully. I was curious what kind of damage I could do, and it would distract me from the blood.

My Bolts were doing some crazy stuff. It wasn't as much as I had expected, though. With the Homunculus, it usually put holes in their bodies with the small explosions that came from my weaponized Arcane, but with the wall, some of the damage seemed to just be... ignored. Maybe the wall was resistant, like those Mana-Infused Homunculus had been.

A shiver passed through me. I'd thought I could handle the Tier 1's, but if the variants here, further along in the cave, were anything like that...

I continued shooting the stone.

---

I stared at the new ritual, ready to overload it and run away if it started flashing. This one was similar to the one that had nearly killed me just before, so I was taking extra precautions. As I stared at the ritual, I wished that I'd been given a mana-sight ability. Then again, that would only make what I was doing now slightly easier. Maybe Harkemth's Devotee would have given me one?

...Nah, I probably would've just been given a skill for worshipping or some shit.

I pushed the stray thoughts from my mind.

Tier 1 Ritual Form of Homunculus Summoning (Damaged)

This one was intended to summon tigers, but it was broken, just like the others.

I studied the new rune for a while, until I knew I'd be able to replicate it at some point. Then I blasted it, and swiftly made my way to the next diagram.

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

You have taken an action in line with your Class!

Reward: 25% Class XP

I continued onward, planning to get all the rituals I'd marked out before memorized and destroyed. After that, I'd take a nap. A bit of a headache had been forming in the back of my head, and I was hoping that I could just sleep it off.

---

Aggregating Messages...

You have taken multiple actions in line with your Profession!

Reward: 175% Profession XP

You have taken multiple actions in line with your Class!

Reward: 175% Class XP

Congratulations! Your Arcane Bolt has increased to Level 3!

Reward: 10% Class XP

That was actually rather curious. I was making my way to the room I'd found myself in when I came to this world, and had found myself pondering on the nature of my Class. The description had mentioned that my mana was pure. Why was that? I could only assume that it had something to do with my world not having magic. Perhaps I was untainted in some fundamental way that the others in this world couldn't easily replicate? Was that a good thing? Or did it just mean that there was something wrong with me?

When I had taken the class, I had thought that I had earned it. That, with the exception of Hunted Rogue, it was the only one that had nothing to do with my situation. I didn't know if it was due to my higher mental stats, or if the situation I was in had caused me to think of it, and question the reason I had gained it. Maybe this one had been gained due to my reincarnation, as well? And that brought me back around. Why was I gaining Class XP from destroying these rituals? My only thought was that, just maybe, it was because they were producing something the system considered impure. But did that mean that Arcane Mages were some kind of paladins?

Thinking back on the skills I had been offered, I could easily see how one could turn the Arcane Mage Class into something more physical. The skills were there, and as long as someone offset the lack of physical stats with a Profession that focused on them...

A notification went off, bringing my attention to the fact that I had stopped walking.

You have pondered deeply on the nature of your Class.

Reward: 15% Class XP

Well that was helpful.

Noticing that I was only a short distance away from my room, I jogged the rest of the distance there. Scratching the back of my head, I noticed that my headache had worsened. Oh well. Some sleep should do the trick.

---

After resting, I found that my headache was still present. In fact, it now presented itself as an itch that I just couldn't scratch.

Hoping I wasn't going insane, I decided to just continue with my day. First up on the list was getting Arcane Bolt up as many levels as I could, and testing its limits. So, I started blasting...

Congratulations! You have slain 1 Level 1 Rabid Homunculus Abomination!

Experience Reward Decreased for Fighting an Enemy Below Your Tier!

Reward: 1% Class XP

Current Mana: 259/263

Muahahaha! The range on my Arcane Bolts was now at least double what it had been, and the damage was insane! I was very glad I'd taken Arcane Affinity. It had paid out massively. I could one-shot the Tierless Homunculus now.

Also, that shot had cost a lot less than when I'd originally gained the skill, though I knew that a lot of that was due to my crazy Mana Regeneration. The cast had still only taken about 7 seconds, though, so I assumed that the cost and casting time were the same, if you ignored my Regen.

Name: Abel Halloran

Class: Arcane Mage

Level: 8

Class Xp: 32%

Profession: Autodidact

Level: 8

Profession Xp: 58%

Health Total: 213/213

Health Regen: 12/minute

Mana Total: 260/263

Mana Regen: 26/minute

Physical: 17

Constitution: 15

Vitality: 23

Fitness: 13

Mental: 30

Willpower: 25

Nerves: 30

Intellect: 35

Astral: 24

Balance: 30

Channeling: 33

Harmony: 10

Free Points: 4

Traits: Arcaniac

Just breaking rituals had already netted me so much class experience that I was certain that I'd at least hit level 10 in it before I finished this Quest and got the hell out of this cave. I hadn't received any sort of notification that I'd completed the 1st Objective, so I assumed that there were more rituals laying around for me. That was good, as it meant that I'd be getting more experience for taking them down, but was also somewhat messy. I hadn't sensed any more rituals as far as I'd gone, which made me think that they were further along. The rituals higher up were all Tier 1's, though, as far as I'd seen at least. That made breaking them a rather risky endeavor, as if I were spotted by the higher Tiered Homunculus, I'd end up having to fight them, and if they were anything like the Mana-Infused variant...

My damage was much higher now, but I was still worried that I might just die from an encountered like that. Being cornered by three big green boys who wanted my meat... Not an experience I'd like to repeat. Hah, that rhymed!

In any case, I continued firing my Arcane Bolts at random, unsuspecting, Tierless mobs.

---

Aggregating Messages...

Congratulations! You have slain 34 Level 0-2 Rabid Homunculus Abominations!

Reward: 34% Class XP

Congratulations! Your Arcane Bolt has increased to Level 4!

Reward: 20% Class XP

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

I scratched my head. The itching had gotten worse. If I'd felt like this in the real world, I'd go see a doctor or something, but I was stuck in a cave, so the chances of that happening were practically nonexistent. I didn't even have any ibuprofen to take.

More damage and range was always welcome, though.

That said, I wanted to try and hit whatever max this skill had, so it was time to get back to grinding.

---

Aggregating Messages...

Congratulations! You have slain 103 Level 0-2 Rabid Homunculus Abominations!

Reward: 103% Class XP

Congratulations! Your Arcane Bolt has increased to Level 5 (MAX)!

Reward: 40% Class XP (29% Lost!)

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

Congratulations! Your Prodigy has increased to Level 2!

Reward: 10% Class XP

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP

The headache I'd been putting up with this whole time climaxed, and I realized that it had been the same feeling I'd gotten from turning Arcaniac into a Trait.

Congratulations! You have upgraded a Profession Feature into a Trait!

Reward: 50% Profession XP

You have taken an action in line with your Profession!

Reward: 25% Profession XP (18% Lost!)

Congratulations! You have reached the Tier 2 Threshold! Evolve to next Tier?

Golden energy flashed through me. I checked up on my Status again before accepting the request.

Name: Abel Halloran

Class: Arcane Mage

Level: 10 Max!

Class Xp: 0%

Profession: Autodidact

Level: 10 Max!

Profession Xp: 0%

Health Total: 247/247

Health Regen: 15/minute

Mana Total: 197/310

Mana Regen: 34/minute

Physical: 20

Constitution: 17

Vitality: 27

Fitness: 17

Mental: 38

Willpower: 31

Nerves: 38

Intellect: 45

Astral: 30

Balance: 38

Channeling: 41

Harmony: 10

Free Points: 8

Traits: Arcaniac, Self-Taught

So, level 10 in both my Class and Profession had gotten me to the new Threshold? That made sense. Nice, round numbers were all a System like this needed to keep people pleased.

"Let's go, System."