EV B2 Chapter 35:

///Actually 35 this time. Last post was was numbered wrong and should have been 34, the chapter content was correct though.

I didn't know how to advance, and neither did she. Whenever I skirted the topic with Loki, he avoided giving a direct answer. I assumed it was something that we would find eventually. My first guess was completing a challenge 100%.

Alana pointed out that there were people who completed challenges, but I argued that maybe they were only visiting Lesser Hall afterward. Maybe they didn't get sent up immediately. Maybe there was a secondary condition as well, but it seemed kind of obvious. The other option was something about levels—maybe level 100 or something. People with level 50 were still here as well. Also, if it was about completing a challenge, someone could carry you through.

We discussed theories and generally just enjoyed ourselves late into the night. When it came time to actually book rooms, Alana was not exactly enthusiastic about leaving my side. And somehow, I found myself sitting in the chair next to the large bed, watching as she slept. She was exhausted and swaying on her feet—something that would take me months to get to without sleep. From what I could tell, my constitution was just too high. And she made me promise not to leave.

Maybe I was just being soft, but I didn't mind. Instead of trying to sleep awkwardly in the chair, I just closed my eyes and meditated, pushing my senses toward my spells. My most recent spell, Arcane Piercer, was really interesting, but it didn't really match the rest of my skills. Not that I was going for a theme—I wasn't a superhero or something. But I did have an incredible, almost 300% boost to illusion magic and only a 100% efficiency increase with arcane magic. The Loki's Champion trait was really pulling its weight.

I started to poke at the skill, nudging it and prodding it with a little bit of illusion mana instead of just pure arcane mana. Replacing any bit of it with illusion mana didn't seem to do anything, though I did get the sense that I could make it turn into an illusory blade. But that wouldn't help me at the moment—I'd rather keep the extra cutting power from the arcane mana than have a fake blade in my hand. Maybe if I had a lot of time, I could try making that scroll from scratch instead of just modifying this skill. However, I only had a few hours, and modifying skills took a lot of time.

So instead, I began to weave extra patterns around the skill, similar to what I had done in dance—the gesture, though, was a much simpler, simplified version. There was a lot of trial and error, undoing and redoing, and I continually pulled out Follies' Edge and cast the spell. Eventually, though, I felt something change.

Smiling, I got up and went over to the desk, carved a modified status ritual on it, and cut my hand. The runes spilled out in blood, telling me of my new upgrade.

Arcane Piercer is upgrading and changing into Liar's Gambit.

Liar's Gambit is a trickster's masterpiece, a blade that cuts not flesh but the mind itself. With each strike—whether it lands on skin, armor, or even a magical barrier—an illusory affliction takes root in the enemy's senses. A warrior may feel the sudden bloom of phantom pain where no wound exists, their breath hitching as they believe a blade has slipped through their ribs. The imagined effects are widely variable but not controllable. The list may include, but not be limited to, poisoned, burned, paralyzed, wounded, seduced, or other effects. Even those who know they were never truly harmed struggle to shake the creeping certainty that something is terribly wrong.

I bit my lower lip as I focused. I couldn't tell if this was good or bad. It fixed the major problem I had with the spell, which was armor. This strike would actively negate most armor, magical or not. There wouldn't even be any contention of the arcane part of the blade trying to force its way through something magical.

The issue was it didn't actually deal damage, which I guess I should have expected when I started adding illusion magic. It just wasn't made for direct damage. It was made for something just like this. It was a gambit, a trick, and I very much liked the trick. I really enjoyed the idea of being able to stab a mage in a mage shield and have him think that his robes had caught fire or that some sort of magical parasite was eating his mana. It seemed like it was possible to resist these effects if one was strong-willed enough or high enough level. But even then, it would still be a good mind game to play. Curious.

I wanted to test it out, but I didn't really have a test dummy, so I pulled out the Edge of Folly and activated the skill. To my relief, the small edge of arcane mana still appeared along the blade. When I considered how I had modified the spell, it made sense. I had left the structure the same and just added to it.

Now, a smile truly broke over my face, and I stifled a laugh to avoid waking Alana. Gently, I touched the tip of the blade to my finger and just barely drew a drop of blood with Arcane Edge. At first, I didn't think I had cut myself, but it was like a paper cut—so fine that it took a second for the blood to seep out. As I watched the single drop of blood run down my finger, I winced as I felt a shooting pain start spreading up my hand, and a weird purple glow of mana began radiating from my veins. As I stared at it, I felt my heart rate increase, and as the rush of blood circulated, the strange purple glow spread through my circulatory system faster.

I caught myself just before I began to panic and remembered: it's in your mind. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled all the mana out of the spell, canceling it. When I looked down, my arm was fine.

"That was a lot more powerful than I had expected," I whispered to myself.

"What was?" Alana said sleepily from the bed. She was half sitting up, clutching the sheets around her torso as she looked at me, rubbing her eyes with one hand while propping herself up on her elbow.

I showed her the single drop of blood. "Oh, just experimenting with the spell."

Alana smiled, suddenly wide awake. "Ooh, tell me about it."

And so I did. We spent a couple of hours talking about her capabilities, and eventually, she found it easier to just draw out a full status ritual to show me.

Name: Alana

Level: 1

Status: Tier 4: Valhalla Proper

Class: N/A

Subclass: N/A

Traits:

Savant

Skills:

Identify

Spells:

Stunning bolt

Terror's gaze

Lead feet

Mana bolt

Minor cure wounds

Weapon proficiencies

Staff: F-2

Stats

Strength: 5

Speed: 7

Constitution: 4

Focus: 17

Poise: 14

Free Points: 0

Blessing: Loki's Boon

Strength: +0

Speed: +0

Constitution: +0

Poise: +2

Jester Shop Access

Additional effects: ???

I scanned over the sheet and was surprised by someone who was only level one. Well, some things made sense—she didn't have a lot of time to work out or train up her basic stats, and it sounded like her physical stats got no straining. After all, the fact that she even had a weapon proficiency with a staff was a bit surprising to me. But, well, I was impressed by a few things. One, that her Focus was so high, and also that she had a stat I didn't—Poise.

"How is Poise different from Focus?" I asked.

"Well, it affects casting in different ways," she explained. "Focus is about how much mana you have and how much power. Poise is more about the ability to cast magic well while distracted, and it also increases casting speed and flexibility."

I frowned, trying to remember exactly what Loki had told me. "I seemed to notice that as my Focus went up, my... I could cast spells better as well," I said uncertainly.

"You can, and they're going to be less effective—you're just using more mana to get the task done. But it works for sure."

"Mm. I noticed your spells have a certain theme."

"Yeah," Ana said proudly. "I, uh, found that if my opponent can't dodge my bolt, I can just chip away at them. I don't have to do a ton of damage as long as I can always hit. And Mana Bolt is a pretty easy spell to cast quickly. It's the most efficient spell for damage that I could learn at the time."

"Mm. That seems to be relatively effective," I said, thinking of all the ways things could go wrong. "Look, I know it's not foolproof."

"But if I have you to do the damage for me," she said with a smile.

I shrugged. "Well, it will work great when you have people to back you up. But what about when you're alone?"

"Well, being able to stop my enemies from chasing me as I run away is also a great strategy," she said with a grin.

I couldn't help but laugh. "I have to say, running away when you can't win is always a good strategy. Overall, I approve—though I do want to know what the Savant trait does."

Alana looked slightly downtrodden. "It... Well, the whole thing's a bit embarrassing. Basically, I'm really good at the things I'm good at, but I'm really bad, no good, terrible at the things I'm not."

I tilted my head as I studied Alana's downcast expression. "Well, from what I know about you, there are very few things you're not good at."

She perked up at the praise. "Except for fighting, if I remember correctly."

That put her down again, but I reached over and ruffled her hair, and she batted my hand away.

"But I get it. I take it that's just melee combat you're not good at? You seem to be pretty good at magic."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. Magic is almost as good as physics."

I couldn't help but laugh. "All right, well, let's dive a little deeper into some of these spells."