Chapter 250 - Consolidating Gains

Nate loved creating art. To use his imagination, a canvas and some paint to make something from nothing always left him feeling accomplished. Even when the work itself was mediocre, though he was his own harshest critic in this regard. That being said, while he loved creating art, sailing through the sky on a flying ship with Kiri sitting next to him was probably a close second. 

The wind whipped through his unbound blond hair that had grown long enough to tickle the nape of his neck. A small rune made of Air and Barrier swirled in his hand within a flow of paint as he kept the wind around them from being too strong while the ship slowly flew higher. He wouldn’t have bothered as they were more than durable enough to handle the cold air, but it did make it a lot easier for them to talk.

“Deal with System messages first or not?” he asked.

“System first, then chat,” replied Kiri with a smile, her new armour still making her look like a wraith as she sat on the fore of the wooden deck with Nate, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Nate acknowledged her decision and started going through his System Notifications. The blue text flickered before his eyes.

Congratulations on creating a Divine Barrier Sealing Rune (Divine Quality).
Your achievement has been recorded.

Congratulations on creating a Divine Artifact (Divine Quality).
Your achievement has been recorded.

Congratulations on defeating a Lesser Divine in combat (Divine Quality).
Your achievement has been recorded.

The three Achievements came in quick succession and his smile grew from merely present to shining through on his face. The System had told him the requirements to create the Skill he desired. The entire reason he had chosen to take a Life-based Class to begin with. 

He needed three specific Skills from his Life Class. He had them. He needed to not level those Skills, and so he had refrained from touching on them even once. He needed Achievements for creating a Divine rune and a Divine item. He now had both. All that remained was developing an affinity for Death or Destruction. A final affinity to round out his others. Space, Life, and Death he mused. Just thinking about it, he could see how the three would work together to create what he desired. With the smile still glued to his face, he moved on to the next notification.

Accrued Mana applied to Tertiary Class.

Level up…
Level up…
Level up…
Level up…

Stats adjusted: +4 Magic Power, +16 Magic Control, +8 Channelling Speed, +8 Mana Reserve, +4 Mana Absorption, +20 Free Stats

With the Free Stats Nate quickly assigned them to Channelling Speed as it was now his lowest Magic Stat. While Magic Power was lower on paper, the fact that he gained almost five-hundred Magic Power just by using his runes meant that it was, in practice, his highest Magic Stat. Channelling Speed had never been a focus because Nate had never had enough mana to make it worth it. That was no longer the case and so, he felt it was time to invest in it. Though he did acknowledge the Free Stats alone wouldn’t be enough. Thankfully with his new levels he had almost two-hundred Stats worth of space that he could improve using Orbs once more. He just needed to figure out a way to get his hands on some of the appropriate Stats.

Moving on he looked at his new Skill options.

Skills Available! Please Select 1* Skills.
Class Skill Options: 

Basic Spatial Laws (Epic)
The Spatial Artist has full control of the spaces they create. Specifically, the laws that relate to space, being time and gravity. This Skill allows the user to redefine these laws within their spatially created zones, altering them within reason. Reality can be bent but not broken. This Skill lets the user shift the Gravity and Time to be stronger or weaker, faster or slower, within the zones they create by Skill Level plus Magic Control divided by one hundred as a percentage. 

Spatial Network (Rare)
A Spatial Artist who can create multiple spatial zones doesn’t want to have to exit one to return to normal Reality before going and finding the entrance to another of their zones. This Skill allows the user to create pathways between any zones created by the user, creating a network of zones that can be multiverses apart, connected only by the user. Number of spatial pathways connecting spatial zones that can be created is equal to one plus Skill Level divided by forty.

Efficient Spatial Creations (Rare)
A Spatial Artist can maintain many created spatial zones. However, each spatial zone must be fed mana to maintain its stability and connection to Reality. This Skill optimizes this exchange by reducing the mana cost required to maintain a created spatial zone. The reduction in mana cost is equal to Skill Level multiplied by 0.5 percent capping at 50 percent.

Basic Spatial Resources (Rare)
A Spatial Artist has full control of the spaces they create. However, they do need to supply the materials and resources that exist within these spaces. Some of those resources tend to get used up and need refreshing. This Skill is able to designate locations that can produce water or air for a created spatial zone. Number of locations is equal to Skill Level divided by ten with one initial location available. Volume of resource per 24 hours in litres is equal to the sum of Magic Power and Magic Control divided by one hundred. Mana cost is covered by spatial zone maintenance.

Concealed Spatial Creations (Rare)
A Spatial Artist needs to conceal their created spatial zones lest they be invaded by outside forces or unwelcome guests. This Skill is able to make your created spatial zones harder to detect. The concealment effect protects against random spatial scans up to and including the Rare-tier. This Skill additionally improves the chances of avoiding a higher-tier scan or detection ability by Skill Level multiplied by one percent.

Working backwards through them, Concealed Spatial Creations could be useful, but he didn’t have enough different created spatial zones to warrant hiding them yet. His main one, his travelling home, though it was closer to a tiny world now, was always with him, so he could conceal it himself. 

Basic Spatial Resources suffered from the same problem. It was an excellent Skill if he created tiny pocket worlds and left them for a time, as surely things like air and water would eventually run out unless he created some sort of perfectly balanced ecosystem. But right now, he wasn’t leaving his small world alone and so, anything it needed, he could use runes to provide.

Efficient Spatial Creations felt like it would be a must-have in lower mana density worlds. The only reason Nate wasn’t manually feeding mana to his created spatial zone was due to the Wild Realm’s ambient mana providing enough to maintain it on its own. Whether that would be true in the Heartlands was another matter. It definitely wouldn’t be the case on Galle, which might impact his ability to keep growing the size of the world. Thinking about it, if they used mana gathering arrays to control ambient mana, much like Etrua had, then it could be an issue there regardless of the normal mana density. Those factors made Efficient Spatial Creations very tempting and he kept it in mind as he moved on.

Spatial Network had been offered previously and was a future consideration. It also offered a potential solution to the mana problem in low mana density environments. In theory, if he could connect his worlds into a network, then he could create worlds and anchor them in locations like this Wild Realm, then use them to funnel mana into his other worlds. The only problem he foresaw was a huge doubt that the Skill could cross universes at the Rare-tier. No doubt he would at least need to raise it to Mythic. That meant that without some impressive synergies, it would take him till at least level sixty-one before the Skill could perform as needed. Still, very tempting.

Finally, there was the Basic Spatial Laws Skill. The only Epic option in his list and something he had considered important for creating some specialised spatial zones. Being able to make time pass faster within one of his miniature worlds would make for a good training environment for both he and Kiri. He was sure there were other uses for such a Skill but that had been his main focus. It was, however, not enough to tip him towards the Skill at this point.

With a regretful sigh, he selected Spatial Network. He did, after all, have the possibility of creating three spatial zones and so far had only created one. He would just need to figure out what to do with the others, though the ability to jump between universes in the future was a tantalising thought. After all, he could create a doorway back on Earth if he so wanted, assuming he could find the planet of his birth, a place he no longer considered home.

With the wind still whipping through his hair, he went over his last notification detailing his Skill improvements.

Spacetime Manipulation 28 > 35
Spatial Creation 30 > 37
Spatial Doors 28 > 33
Artists Desire 12 > 19

The list was thin, though he knew he had done enough to raise some of his Divine Skills. They just awaited the secret sauce that was Divine Energy to crystalize their growth. As for his non-Divine Skills, all four that had levelled were close to an evolution and he would need to decide how he wanted to push them. Spacetime Manipulation had mostly been used to enhance the effects of his Gravity runes, but the Skill could also affect Time and Nate had yet to try using that function of it. So, that would be his focus for the Skill’s development, if only to keep it balanced. The Skill was only Epic-tier and for the Legendary evolution he wanted it to do more of the same.

Spatial Creation he intended to focus on Concepts. The Skill was one of many that no longer bore the mention Conceptual as part of the name, and that was an issue Nate intended to solve. Making his worlds Conceptually aligned seemed a no-brainer and was also a way to further his ‘creating using Concepts’ Embodiment, which he hoped would also advance his Divine Energy stores. However, the Skill was already Mythic and so Nate intended to spend a little Divine Energy to push it over the line as well.

Spatial Doors was almost certainly going to synergise with Spatial Network which had been a consideration when he picked the new Skill. It also lacked a Conceptual mention but he had a little time left before whatever Skill they combined into would be ready for a Divine evolution and so he would hold off for now until he saw what the synergised Skill turned out to be.

Finally, Artist’s Desire was the closest to evolving and was an easy choice to make. He had no doubt fallen behind Kiri in terms of raw Stats. That was just because their paths differed. But that didn’t mean he wanted that gap to continue to widen. Artist’s Desire was a pure Stat multiplier, plain and simple, and while it was currently limited to two Stats selected, he was confident he could force it to evolve to increase the number of Stats he could select. Arguably he had eight Stats he wanted raised, which was probably a little much for a single Skill, but every additional Stat it could handle was good news for him. Plus, like Kiri, he suspected the Divine Evolutions would let him temporarily multiply particular Stats in the list which would be incredibly useful for any of his creative work, or combat, if he was to continue to be forced into it.

With his plans made he turned to Kiri and waited.

She finished her own work a few minutes later and looked over at him.

“We’ve come a long way,” she commented quietly.

Nate noted her reserved mood and pressed her on it.

“What’s wrong?”

Kiri snorted, “We are on our way to visit a creature that predates The System. A Divine powerful enough to face five True Divines at once and not only survive, but be victorious. A Divine who bears the title of ‘Death’s Shadow’. I’m a little nervous. Aren’t you?”

Nate turned forward, watching the clouds above them growing closer and closer as he gave the question due consideration. The truth was, he hadn’t been worried about the impending call by the Ancient Dragon. He hadn’t even considered being nervous, despite the roars of the creature making him feel like his death hovered an inch from his face, he had never considered the possibility of the visit leading to his death. Examining that feeling he traced it back to its source.

“I suppose I haven’t been worried about it because of The System. Maybe I am wrong, but sending us to our deaths seems like something that would trigger Reciprocity in a big way. The System wanted us here. Wanted us to meet Death’s Shadow, for whatever reason. Its own message was ‘Seek that which is beyond me’. A being that predates The System in this Reality likely meets that requirement, though I admit the phrasing it used is a little odd. So, I suppose I haven’t been worried because it is using us to accomplish whatever its ends are. Something to do with Arikanvil, since it seemed intent on interfering with whatever his goals are for us. So, I’m not worried, because I don’t think it’s done with us and because it still owes us.”

“Hearing you say that makes me feel a little better,” Kiri replied, resting her chin on her knees. “Still leaves me worried though. I’ve gotten all this power…I have achieved my dreams far beyond what I could ever have imagined. Yet the thought of failing here, of dying and never getting to see my parents again, it scares me. I hate being scared.”

Kiri paused for a moment, before a sly smile curled on her lips and she whispered cheekily, “Being scared is your job. This role reversal stuff is bullshit. I’m the big sister and I’m supposed to look after and reassure you. Not the other way round.”

“So I am the damsel?” Nate quipped, playing into his sister’s teasing, if only to help ease her mind.

“Oh definitely. Lets not forget who rescued whom!”

The comment brought back memories of the smell of his own flesh burning and the sound of his voice screaming in his ears. His body tensed in response. Kiri immediately froze and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

“I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Nate took a deep breath and relaxed.

“No, it’s fine. We should be able to joke about it. If we always take it seriously how will I heal? It was good to be reminded. Because I am not who I was back then. Not as foolish, or so I hope. But not as weak either. If we returned to Galle, we would be two of the six strongest beings on the planet. I am including Arikanvil even if he’s up in space.”

Kiri rubbed his shoulder once, still looking pained at her lack of tact, but kept the conversation going.

“I wonder why he’s even near Galle.”

Nate paused. That was a very good question.