Chapter 57 (Patreon)

Chapter 57

Riven gave Negrada a skeptical look and then pulled up the options for his new class choices. To his surprise they were indeed combination classes for 2 of the 3 options just like Negrada had talked about - so apparently the system thought Riven was a good match.  Athela had told Riven that the system only handed out class options for those who earned them, and apparently the last fight he’d had with the satyr warlord in conjunction with his race evolution was more than enough to get him a spot with these 3.

[Class Upgrade Options:

• Warlock Adept: The Warlock Adept is a direct upgrade from the class Novice Warlock, and emphasizes demonic minions with a high damage output through magical attacks.  You gain additional negative charisma.  You will have a percentage upgrade to all Unholy Pillar and related Sub-Pillar spells through this class, you will acquire an additional demonic contract slot when you hit level 35, you will acquire more stat points per level than you did as a novice, and you will experience visions from the system concerning Unholy Pillar abilities more often by taking this class.  Bonus structure for Staves, Cloth Armor, Willpower, and Intelligence included. (Comes with the knowledge of the Shadow Pillar and the Shadow spell: Riftwalk)
• Reaper Initiate: The Reaper Initiate is the first in line for a class style that primarily focuses on physical attributes, encompassing Unholy, Blood, Death and Shadow abilities.  This class employs stealth bonuses for those who would be assassins, spies or thieves.  This class has bonus structures for Scythes, Crossbows, Small Blades, Axes, Cloth Armor and Light Armor; as well as Agility and Strength but also applies smaller bonuses to Intelligence.  (Comes with the knowledge of the Blood martial art: Flurry)
• Blood Paladin: As a Blood Pillar specialist primarily focusing on physical attributes with martial arts, the Blood Paladin will also gain bonuses to magical and miracle based abilities to a lesser degree.  This class gives very good bonuses to heavy armor, shields, mental defense and large weapons, as well as good sturdiness and strength stat increases per level.  It also has a very high bonus structure for the Blood Pillar abilities, but has no bonus structure concerning any other Pillars.  (Comes with the Blood miracle: Crimson Wings)]

There were a couple things that he immediately noticed here.  The first was that each of these class upgrades came with a new ability… which was pretty sweet considering his first class hadn’t had that.  He’d had to learn his abilities in the Chalgathi trials when he’d been given the Novice Warlock class.

The Warlock Adept had a huge bonus that Riven really wanted, being the 3rd demonic minion.  Having 2 demonic minions was already a huge boon, and having a 3rd?  That just seemed downright unfair.  But the big seller on this one was the spell Riftwalk, which he could only assume was some kind of teleport or movement ability.  If that was the case, he very much wanted that martial art.  Being a mobile caster was something that Athela said often wasn’t done, and not being mobile was often the downfall of many once-successful casters or mages in the end.

The Reaper Initiate class was apparently the type of fighting style that Negrada said Riven had, and although it sounded neat Riven was a little bit hesitant to choose it based on how it described the class being a ‘primarily physical’ class.  He liked magic a lot, and he didn’t see his fighting style changing all that much.  Sure, he’d used a hatchet to kill a bunch of thugs prior to the dungeon and yeah - he’d killed the satyr warlord with his bare hands after enchanting himself with Crimson Ice, but he’d primarily been using magic all along to get to where he was now.  To switch it up after investing most of his points into intelligence thus far would seem a little off to him.  He also didn’t know what ‘Flurry’ was or how it could be used, but it was a martial art and if he had to guess off the name it likely involved quick successive strikes against an enemy.

Then lastly there was Blood Paladin with the strength and defensive bonuses.  It would definitely be a good fit for the claymore.  The idea of walking around in a cool set of heavy armor, wielding large intimidating weapons and being hard to kill definitely appealed to him for obvious reasons; as did the ‘Crimson Wings’ if it meant flying.  Flying would be even cooler than a teleport, but Riven really didn’t like the idea of utilizing only the Blood Pillar.  What if he wanted variety?  He was way too early into this new world to be focusing down like that.  Not only that, but this class also utilized primarily physical attributes according to the description and he was dead set on utilizing magic as his primary function - even if he was possibly going to switch it up a bit with martial arts in the future given his new racial evolution.

He thought long and hard about the decision for quite some time, with Negrada waiting patiently as he did.

His thought process was this:  He definitely would have liked to become some kind of magical assassin or paladin, but he had no real combat training in close combat using medieval weapons.  He had no real training using a sword, no real training in daggers or assassinating people.  Those were relatively high skill cap classes, and the only reason he’d done as well as he had so far was because he could control mana at a freakish level.  He was gifted in magic, according to Athela, which was a rarity in itself but didn’t require the type of training for Riven that it might for other people.   It didn’t require the type of training he’d need to be a successful assassin, or close-combat fighter.  So maybe, one day, if he ever got the training realistically needed to do that kind of close-combat fighting - he’d consider it.  Until then he’d stick with what he knew.

He also just couldn’t pass up a teleport, it was too tempting to leave behind.  In the end though, Riven selected ‘Warlock Adept’.  The draw of another demonic familiar, a teleport spell and a bonus to all spells under the unholy umbrella was just too tempting even despite what the dungeon had advised.  He was staying on the straight and narrow magic route, at least for now, and if he changed his mind he could always try for a different type of class later.

[You have chosen ‘Warlock Adept’ as your class upgrade.  Congratulations!  You now are able to contract a 3rd demonic servant when you reach level 35.  Congratulations!  Your comparisons between ‘Novice Warlock’ and ‘Warlock Adept’ are shown below:

> Old Class: Novice Warlock (+1 Willpower, +2 Intelligence, +2 Free Stat Points per lvl, -5 Base Charisma, Allows Otherworldly Contact, Allows 2 Demonic Contracts)

> New Class: Warlock Adept (+2 Willpower, +3 Intelligence, +2 Free Stat Points per lvl, -5 Base Charisma, -1 Charisma per level.  Allows Otherworldly Contact, Allows 3 Demonic Contracts, with the 3rd contract being available starting at level 35.  +5% stat bonus for staves and cloth armor.)

You are now being imbued with knowledge of the Shadow Pillar and the spell Riftwalk.  Failing to recognize the vision for what it is will result in you failing to obtain the spell Riftwalk.  Good luck.]

The following experience was a lot more pleasant than his previous ones.  There was no headache, there was no failure to understand what was happening, and the visions were incredibly straight forward.  Or perhaps this is just what Athela meant by saying that Riven was ‘A magical prodigy’, and that he learned things quickly.  Perhaps it had to do with his incredibly high affinity for Blood, Death and Shadow pillars that led him to acquiring these things with such ease - but he was thankful for it regardless.  He could only wonder what higher tiered spells would be like in terms of learning, as he’d understood Tier 3 spells to be significantly worse in terms of failure rates for people obtaining them.

As the process started, his mind went black and he found himself internally evaluating his soul again.  The images and lights representing his memories all passed him by until the core soul structure, a sphere of bright white light, radiated in the center of his vision.  The fiery pillar representing the Infernal path was now attached to it as well - a torch of raging inferno alongside the pure, smooth and bright crimson Blood pillar.  The unholy foundational pillar was a multi-colored green, black, and red coloring, with Blood being a brighter and purer crimson.  They stuck out from the sides of his spherical, radiating soul and acted as converters for his power channels, enabling him to utilize certain abilities as long as the pillars were attached.  Then there was the rotating black orb of his forming gluttony core, which still phased in and out between solid and translucent states.  And out of the abyss from beyond the scattered lights representing his thoughts and memories came yet another.

This one was different in its appearance though.  Instead of radiating light like the rest did, it absorbed light.  It was a black mark in stark contrast to the light of his soul or any of the other pillars, and it gingerly edged its way past the blazing Infernal Pillar to settle down beside it.  As it attached itself to Riven’s soul, he felt a cold rush flow through his body.  It was a welcome feeling though, and it felt… right.  Just like the Blood Pillar, the Shadow Pillar seemed to welcome him home as if it’d always intended to find him.  Unholy and Infernal certainly vibed with his soul well, but in comparison to Blood and Shadow - neither of them could quite compare in how they felt or the synchronizing feeling they had whenever their mana channels reached out.

As the Shadow pillar solidified and finished fusing to the edge of his soul, Riven then felt and saw another vision..

It was that of the birth of a sun after the passing wave from a supernova.  The vision condensed time and space, comparing the stark contrast of the black void to the light given off by the sun - and then it showed the death of the star and the continuity of the void even in its absence.  From what he gathered and the feelings he was receiving, the Shadow pillar was essentially showing him that Shadow was always there and would always remain there even in the absolute absence of light.  In the eventual death of the universe, light would cease to exist - yet shadow would forever remain.

The vision switched again.  This time showing a series of holes in time and space, ones that he could travel through by forcing a rift in space - holding that rift open with his mana channels.  Where there was absence of light, Riven could find passage and sanctuary.  The wormholes continued on and on, forever reaching out into the expanse and onto solid earth until they came upon places where the shadows could not reach.

To channel mana through the Shadow Pillar, Understand the vision for what it was, and Apply Meaning to it were the three fundamental pieces to any Tier 1 spells.  Channeling mana was a given and easy enough to do.  Understanding what he needed and wanted by the ability was easy enough.  Applying meaning and understanding to the vision was the hard part, but unbeknownst to him even that was child’s play for Riven when compared to the average caster.  Pondering the vision of the wormholes led him to a single and obvious conclusion: there was a path to sanctuary in the absence of light that he could tread upon.  In fact he may even be able to establish links between spots by pushing light away even in its presence, expanding the wormholes, tying the loops together like so and-

[You have successfully acquired the Shadow Pillar.  You have successfully interpreted and learned the spell: Riftwalk.  Congratulations!]

[Riftwalk (Shadow): Channel mana into your Shadow Pillar and focus on the place you wish to travel to.  Then rip open a portal in space and pass through it, allowing you and other people or objects nearby to pass through until you close the rift.  Mana cost is dependent upon length of space traveled and time maintaining rift.]

Huh.  That was all it took?  Honestly it seemed rather simple to him, and it made him question whether or not the system was just screwing with him and trying to make him feel good about himself.  Was it belittling him?  He’d thought that solution was a rather obvious one.

“I see you have made your choice.” Negrada commented patiently, narrowing its pupil slightly as Riven turned to him.  “You acquired your pillar rather… fast… no doubt due to your affinities being so absurdly high.  Have you made up your mind on what you want to trade for?”