Chapter 231 - Taking Advice

Nate looked over the artwork he had painted upon the back wall of his Wizard Tower. He’d decided on the name for his house within his spatial pocket in a fit of pique. When Kiri hadn’t objected the name was settled as far as he was concerned. As for the painting, it detailed he and Kiri, floating within a free space but trapped together inside translucent geometric shapes that distorted at their outer edges. The image was meant to represent how he and Kiri were effectively trapped by Arikanvil, who, being the God of Space, was represented using the geometric cages. Free, but not. 

Arikanvil had clearly misled them. The threat of the three Lesser Divines on Galle had been played up as though they would all turn on Kiri and Nate. With the level disparity and Nate and Kiri’s lack of Skill Levels they likely would’ve been overwhelmed in such a situation. Instead, it had turned out that the third Lesser Divine was the Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild itself and that old axe-wielder would’ve sided with them. Nate did acknowledge that The System’s prodding had also been a factor, and he intended to find out why it held such an interest. Just not at the cost of the debt it owed them.

Having painted out his frustration and anger upon the wall left Nate feeling more clear-headed than he had in days and with that clarity came a realisation. Nate had planned to create a living body for Frick as part of his projects for the next six months. He had not, however, considered whether Frick would even want a real body or to transition away from being a Spirit. That had been rude and inconsiderate of him and while he quietly told himself he would do better in the future, for now he would settle for addressing the problem.

“Frick, can we talk?”

“Sure thing, Boss,” replied Frick, floating over to hover nearby.

“So… I had kind of planned to make you a living body using my new Conceptual Life Artist Skills. Is that something you’d want?”

“Ha! Hell to the no, Boss man. Like, I can kind of see why you’d suggest it. Given the general level of bullshit you manage to pull off it might have even resulted in me getting a new Class Core. With some of the Achievements I have gotten working with you, maybe even a Legendary one like yours. But then I would be useless in this partnership for months. Probably longer. I mean, in this place I might gain levels fast, assuming I don’t die, but the Skills would lag behind which is bad for my evolutions and for being useful. And those are just the logical reasons! Why would I want to be a meatbag anyway? I wouldn’t be able to change shapes or slip through the ground or be almost unkillable. Not to mention I would lose access to your Skills, which would slow everything else down. It’s just a lose lose lose situation. Definitely not goblin-mode. More like suck-mode. So, nah, but thanks for thinking of me Boss.”

Nate nodded and let out a breath of relief, “You’re right. I suppose that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“It’s also a bad idea for you, Boss.”

Nate’s brow furrowed, “Go on…”

“Well, I know what you want to do with your Life Skills. Making me a body would’ve been focusing on the biological side of things. Which you know, might fuck up your actual goals.”

Nate tried not to swear and succeeded for about half a second.

“Fuck! I’ve been so focused on trying to do everything and snatching at all the different threads that I thought might give us an advantage that I overlooked that. My Intent and perception shapes the Skill…”

Nate sat back on one of the chairs he had sculpted and brought up his Life Skills. Life Manipulation, Permanent Alterations and Improved Alterations. They were clearly driven by what he’d been doing for the past six months. He’d been improving his, and others, skeletons. Sure, it had just been raising their tier, thereby improving their mana conductivity, which when paired with the processed mana that the Class Core dispersed through the body resulted in the raising of their Physical Stats. But it was all about altering a biological material, which Frick had rightly pointed out, was not his goal for his Conceptual Life Artist Class.

“Do you think it would matter if I continued to make physical improvements using runes rather than the Skills?” he asked.

Frick shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine. How are you going to change the Skills though?”

Nate tapped his lips in thought as Kiri pulled up a chair. His sister was covered in sweat as she’d been using the down time while Nate made new materials to practise her Skills. He had noticed she was getting better at using her Echoes, which were like a more advanced version of the Edgedancer Class’s primary Skill. The Echoes let her recreate a particular action, like swinging a blade, but after it had already happened. Unlike the Rare Edgedancer Class’s version though, Kiri’s Echoes moved. It made her truly dangerous in melee where now her opponents not only needed to keep track of her twelve or more arms, but then the echoes of those actions. 

As Kiri started eating some fried fish, a staple of their diet at present, she looked over at Nate.

“I heard everything,” she explained while slurping up some of the slightly browned white meat.

“Thoughts?” Nate asked.

“Well for one, I am glad we’re not giving Frick a body. It was bad enough when he was just being a voyeur. Can you imagine how much of a pervert he’d be if he could actually participate on his little brothel outings?”

Frick’s blue eyes widened, “I’ve changed my mind!”

Kiri swatted him, to Frick’s amusement, the blue goblin pretending to splatter against the wall in a puddle of blue goo as he cackled.

“Jokes. I’ll just start a Spirit Brothel. Or at least I will as soon as I figure out a way to make it less likely for them to try and devour each other,” replied the gooey Frick.

“Ignore him,” Kiri continued. “The point I am trying to get at is this isn’t like you. Not the being unsure part. You do that a lot. Second guess yourself. I’ve just chalked it up to your overthinking everything, which is fine, because that’s you. Which is why that is what you should be doing. You’re not like me. You don’t bash yourself against the problem until the problem gives way. You think your way out of it.”

“I know,” Nate grated out. “But…”

Kiri picked up on what he wasn’t saying, “But leaving everything behind just after we had everything sorted out rubs you the wrong way. Just after it seemed like we’d finally broken through all the bullshit and no longer needed to hide, we were forced to leave everything we had built? All our friends and family?”

“Exactly!” Nate agreed vehemently. 

“Exactly,” he continued, more quietly. “And it’s so hard to think while I am this frustrated and angry. I thought making my list and ticking them off would keep me focused and instead it had me overlooking things I normally wouldn’t. I’m supposed to think my way through these problems.”

“So what? I agree with you, about everything. That it’s bullshit and that Arikanvil can kiss my ass, even if we have to do his little tasks and act like his Lesser Divine lackeys for a bit. But we’re allowed to make mistakes. We’ve got time, we’ve got options. Just take a deep breath and you’ll figure out how to get us out of this mess, or at least through it,” Kiri stated, her voice filled with confidence.

“And if I don’t?” Nate asked.

“Then we’ll deal with it. Together. Like always.”

“Yeah, together!” added the blue goo that was Frick as the Spirit reconstituted himself into a small, toothy, blue goblin.

Nate took a deep breath, and for the first time since arriving in this Wild Realm, felt himself relax. With that sense of peace and a far clearer mind, his split thoughts began to feed him options. What was more important to him? His Path, or optimization for Arikanvil’s tasks in the Heartlands? He didn’t even need to think about it. His Path, of course. Which meant he needed to reevaluate how to push his Life Skills to achieve his goals.

“Thanks. Both of you. It really helped.”

“Any time, little brother,” teased Kiri, to which Nate rolled his eyes.

“Back to work then, Boss?” asked Frick.

“Yep. More materials. I’m… going to see if The System will talk to me.”

Kiri raised an eyebrow, halfway between stepping away.

“I want to know if what I want to do is possible. Might as well use up some of the debt it owes us, right?” he explained.

“Makes sense. Feel free to use up any debt it owes me as well.”

Nate shook his head in response but Kiri rode right over the top of him, “You make the tools I use. Build the house… sorry, Wizard’s Tower, that we live in. All of our creature comforts come from you. You generated all the capital that got the Artists’ Emporium going, and when I fight, you support me most of the time instead of doing your own things. We are family. I don’t need The System's advice for my Path. Mine is relatively straight. You do. So use it. You hear me System? He can use up any debt you owe me! Good? Good! Alright, I am getting back to practising. Let me know when you want to tackle the next Challenge.”

With her piece said, and a small smile on her face, Kiri marched off leaving Nate alone, staring at the painting on the wall. Frick grinned and moved away to work on adding affinities to various pieces of Legendary-tier wood that could be turned into Constructs.

Nate settled down and sent his question mentally.

“Are my plans for my Life Skills possible?”

Yes, though not without creating a new synergistic Skill. Debt reduced.

“Can you change the response to show me what percentage of the debt you owe has been reduced?”

Ninety-two percent of current debt remains when factoring in combined debt for Nathaniel Weber and Kiri Beaufoy.

“Can you help me turn my Life Skills into what I want them to be?”

Yes. You will need to get to level fifteen in your Conceptual Life Artist Class to collect the relevant Skills necessary to create the synergy. You will also require two new Achievements that will be consumed in the process of restructuring the Skills on your Class Core. Achievement details will cost five-percent of remaining debt. I can include the Skills you need in your level ups based on this conversation. It will cost you ten-percent of the remaining debt. Finally, you will need to develop a third affinity. The name of the Affinity will cost three-percent of the remaining debt.

Nate paused to think about it for a moment. To only reduce the debt owed by that much, he wondered just how much The System felt it owed them, and if the debt was so large, why? He’d keep thinking through that problem, but for now that needed to be on the backburner. He could always ask it before they returned from this Wild Realm, which meant he had months to try and figure it out on his own.

“Okay. Yes please, to all of it. Do it. What Achievements do I need to collect and what Affinity do I need to develop?”

Understood. Seventy-four percent of debt remaining. You will need to create two Achievements. One for creating a Divine Rune, one for creating a Divine Item. The affinity you need to develop is Destruction, Death, or a variant of them. For what you want, you need to be able to both erase as well as create. The Skills you need will be marked with an asterisk when you level your Conceptual Life Artist Class. Until you have achieved all of these requirements, you should avoid using the Skills provided by the Conceptual Life Artist Class as any developments could impact the desired synergy.

Nate leaned back, letting his mind go quiet and his questions lapse. He had everything he needed now. With his current affinities he should have room for one more, though he would need to figure out the best way to develop an affinity for Destruction or Death. Especially since he didn’t have a Sigil for either. Death was lower on the list, though he could see why The System had suggested it. In a way it was similar to what he intended to do with his Life affinity. Maybe over time he would even be able to shift the two affinities to better align with his plans, but, even if he didn't, The System had already confirmed he could achieve his desires without doing so.

If the affinities would take a while, then the levels were the easiest. He’d probably get them just from completing this Dungeon. It did however mean he wouldn’t be able to use any of his new Skills, but he could live with that. As for any body augmentations, well, he could still perform them but he’d be forced to use runes and his Multi Conceptual Material Shaping Skill. For now though, that would be on the backburner, because the final requirement would take a little bit of work. The two Achievements were doable, but it would mean that he needed to create a rune that was of the Divine-tier. For that, he only had a couple of Sigils. The second, was a Divine item. Potentially, he could get both Achievements with the same project, but of course, he couldn’t use Divine Energy while in the Dungeon. So instead, he would spend his spare time planning. What it did mean was that completing the Dungeon as fast as possible had just become his top priority.

Nate moved from where he was to join Frick, adding his own Multi Conceptual Material Shaping to the mix as he let the back of his mind start coming up with ideas for a Divine Rune or item. What could he make? What did he need? What did he want? The options were arguably endless, even if his Divine Energy wasn’t. But no matter what, he was going to make something that would help them in the future. With that thought he let another part of his mind start coming up with improvements for the Wizard’s Tower. A shower for starters. Maybe a better kitchen? Soft and plush couches to relax on? Just because they were in the middle of a Wild Realm didn’t mean he should skimp on their creature comforts, after all, what was the point of life if you couldn’t enjoy it?