Chapter 228 - Evolutionary Production

Nate got started on evolving his Mythic Skills to Divine. He had three Skills he intended to evolve that should follow the normal path he’d found so far. Conceptual Insight, Conceptual Spatial Manipulation and Conceptual Amplified Magic were all on the cusp of evolving anyway. Then there was Conceptual Spatial Authority. He’d only just evolved the Skill and it was still Mythic with a Skill Level of forty-one. He wasn’t sure how, or if, that evolution would work, given it was twenty-levels off its next evolution. Finally, there was his newest Mythic Skill, Life Manipulation. While the Divine evolution might work on it, he intended to hold off as he wanted to push the Skill in a particular direction before he started applying Divine Energy to it. With his plan in place, he reached inside of himself, finding that golden energy that whispered to him of beauty and creation, and pulled forth a drop of it before guiding it onto his Class Core. The first notification popped up immediately.

Conceptual Insight 60 > 61

Conceptual Insight (M) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Conceptual Insight (D)
As a Runecrafter, knowledge of runes is important. But a rune without Sigils is just a fancy-looking ,weak, mana gathering array. This skill allows the user to peer into the infinite depths of reality and slowly but surely extract meaning. By focusing on a Sigil, this Skill will give hints on related Subconcepts and even higher tier versions of the Sigil. Reality becomes meaning and meaning becomes Power. This Skill will store excess mana which can be used to forcibly increase the tier of a Sigil. Amount of mana required is dependent on the difference between the tier of the Sigil and the improved tier. Speed of excess mana absorbed by this Skill increases by 1% per Skill Level. Additionally, this Skill increases the user’s Intellect by 20%. Increases by 1% per Skill Level.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply excess mana ingestion by four. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 2 hours.

Nate was happy with the resulting evolution. While expensive, at this point in time, the ability to find higher tier Sigils was very much limited to the rate at which Conceptual Insight could absorb excess mana. If he was able to generate Divine Energy at a reasonable rate, this Skill would be a good investment and help him raise some of his Sigils to Mythic. Then, the next step would of course be to raise those same Sigils to Divine. A future evolution he guessed, after he’d proven the idea had merit. The extra ten percent Intellect would help as well.

Moving on, the next Skill he pressed Divine Energy into Conceptual Spatial Manipulation and a new notification appeared.

Conceptual Spatial Manipulation 58 > 61

Conceptual Spatial Manipulation (M) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Conceptual Spatial Manipulation (D)
Your use of a Spatial Sigil to influence your control over space has grown to the point where you can create portals, spatially expand areas and even invoke a Construct of Space. Merged with your True Teleportation Skill, this Skill incorporates your growing capabilities into your Class Core. Carve a space among the stars for yourself. This Skill grants the user the ability to manipulate space. Teleportation distance increases with Skill Level. Teleportation Mana Cost decreases with Magic Power, Magic Control and distance travelled. Initial distance is ten metres. Skill Level increases distance by Skill Level multiplied by fifteen metres. Conceptual Spatial Manipulation allows the user to alter space covering up to five cubic metres. Skill Level increases cubic metres by Skill Level multiplied by 0.1 plus Magic Control divided by 50. Increases Magic Control by 18%.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply Magic Power provided by eight for the purposes of breaking Spatial Locks Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 5 seconds.

Nate wasn’t sure it was a perfect fit for an evolution, but he supposed he had spent a fair bit of time using his Space Sigil for breaking or creating Spatial Locks. He’d need to experiment more in the future and he supposed, given the usage of the Concept of Space, his Embodiment would be a factor. That meant that if he used the Divine Energy for this Skill, his Magic Power would be over four-thousand. A truly ridiculous number and he was beginning to see how battles between Divines were heavily influenced by how much Divine Energy they had to work with.

With a slightly annoyed smile, still not completely happy with the previous evolution, he moved onto Conceptual Amplified Magic. This Skill was one of his less interesting ones for the most part, and he’d been wondering how its Tier raising effect for Concepts would translate once the Concept in use was Mythic, as he doubted it would push a Concept to Divine without Divine Energy in the mix. He read over the notification quickly.

Conceptual Amplified Magic 58 > 61

Conceptual Amplified Magic (M) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Conceptual Amplified Magic (D)
Magic is the manipulation of mana, the energy that determines who rises and who falls. The user of this skill is blessed in all areas of magic, able to bend mana to their will. An Archmage employs Concepts to bend reality. The user of this skill empowers the Concepts of reality, changing their environment to suit their needs. For those blessed few, this Skill increases the user’s Magic Stats by 30%. Increases by 1% per Skill Level. For every 1000 Total Magic Stats, increase the tier of a Concept used by 1. If a Concept is already Mythic, then Magic Stats are considered an additional 10% more powerful per increased tier over Mythic.
Divine Bonus I: Multiply Mana Absorption Stat by five. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 1 hour.

Nate read over the evolution and tried not to laugh. Was The System helping him or taunting him? The improved description explained the bonuses this Skill would provide if he was already working with Grandmaster-tier Sigils, but it was the Divine Bonus that drew his attention. For the small cost of one Divine Energy, Nate could solve his Mana Absorption problems for an hour. Nate just shook his head, unsure what he would do about it, but in the back of his mind the temptation was already whispering to him and it was easy to see how quickly he could burn through his Divine Energy stores.

With a sigh he looked at the last Skill he planned to try and evolve. Conceptual Spatial Authority was freshly evolved and would normally be months or more away from an evolution. But, could he cheat? Could a single unit of Divine Energy bridge that gap? He was ready to try, if only for the sake of experimentation. Reaching for his Divine Energy, he pressed a single drop against the Skill on his Class Core, and felt resistance. The resistance was peculiar though, in that it felt like the pressure was present, but insufficient for the task. Normally, he would’ve stopped, but he wanted to know how far it could be pushed, and so drew forth more Divine Energy from the pocket within his Class Core where it lazily drifted like a golden ocean. After three units of his Divine Energy, the Skill finally accepted the payload and the notification appeared before him. 

Conceptual Spatial Authority 41 > 61

Conceptual Spatial Authority (M) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Conceptual Spatial Authority (D)
All Mages need to empower their Skills and Spells beyond what their affinities can provide. Some turn to tools, enchantments or alchemy. You have turned to sequestering mana to further empower your Skills by concentrating mana with your spatial affinity. This Skill empowers anything that utilises the Concept of Space, be it Spells, Skills, Runes or more esoteric applications. Empowerment is equal to Skill Level multiplied by three plus Magic Control divided by forty percent. Mana cost for Spatial Effects decreases by Skill Level multiplied by one percent. Spatial Effects are Skill Level multiplied by one percent more powerful at passing through barriers and wards. Spatial Effects are Magic Power divided by fifty percent more effective when applied to spatially created zones.
Divine Bonus I: Empowerment bonus is multiplied by four. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 10 seconds.

The Divine Bonus was decent, he supposed, but since it was only temporary he couldn’t use it to permanently increase the size of his spatially created zones. As it was, it would however let him teleport over eight kilometres in one go. With that active, he could likely cover almost a hundred kilometres in ten seconds. That rate of travel was kind of ridiculous and he had to acknowledge that maybe the evolution wasn’t so bad, even if it had cost him three Divine Energy to do so. He could also sense that his Conceptual Spatial Authority Skill had moved closer to his Conceptual Spatial Manipulation Skill, likely indicating that with a little work he could get the two to synergise. He was not however willing to try and force it. Not yet, anyway.

Satisfied with his evolutions he turned to Kiri.

“Your turn.”

Kiri brought him a plate of fish that had been grilled to a soft white with some freshly steamed greens and some cutlery.

“It tastes alright,” Kiri hedged. “Not as good as mums, but I don’t think you’ll complain too much. I’ve already eaten.”

Nate noticed the cleaned up mini-kitchen area and realised he’d been working on his Skill evolutions for longer than expected. With a nod he watched over Kiri as she sat down cross-legged and began her own Skill Evolutions and, if the processed mana gems were anything to go by, a couple of Class Levels as well.

The fish tasted decent, as Kiri promised, coming apart in his mouth and leaving a salty aftertaste. He decided he wouldn’t mention the few bones that she had missed, though that did make him consider how good of a chef Kiri could truly be if she ever had the urge. Having twelve or more arms doing the work would mean she could do the work of a small kitchen all on her own. The mental image made him laugh softly even as he realised that Kiri would never go down that path. She had chosen business, a path to wealth. If she wanted good food, she’d just hire someone, which Nate couldn’t disagree with. That was his idea of the ‘good life’ as well. He just hoped while they were here, in this Wild Realm, that he would have time to invest in creating some creature comforts for them both and not just spend the whole time working on things for battle and progress. His lips firmed as he reviewed that thought. Hope was a waste of time. He would make time, he decided. His path was that of a Conceptual Artist, and as far as he was concerned, that ideal extended to more than just paintings, but to the environment he lived in. This place would become more than a warehouse. It would become a home and he would sculpt its beauty to suit them both.

With his decision made, he got up to start making rooms, keeping an eye on Kiri the entire time just in case his sister needed him.

************* 

Kiri looked over her own Mythic Skills. She had four, but one of them was only level five, having been a recent acquisition with her Class Evolution. One Soul Two Realms, Tethered Soul Weapons and Soul Slayers Aspect were all ready to evolve. Echo of the Soul Dancer could wait until she had gotten to play with the Skill a little more. Also, to reduce the Divine Energy cost to evolve it. 

Then there was the processed mana she had gathered by using herself as bait to kill various sea life. She’d only kept the larger fish, but she’d gone after far more than that, each time drifting close enough to their homes beneath the waves to get them to attack her. The fact was, there had been no small fish that didn’t have a Class Core. The fish themselves seemed to be born about the size of two fists. Nate had remarked that it was likely due to the ambient mana itself. Only those capable of housing a Class Core could survive. Evolutionary advantage he had called it, whatever that meant. She realised she was being flippant again. She was far from dumb, but her intellect had never been her strongest feature and so she had a tendency to downplay her mental capabilities, even in her own head. She had been getting better though, her confidence growing the more she and Nate achieved.

With a sigh she realised she was dithering, avoiding the decision before her. Nate had made it clear the cost for evolving Skills to Divine as well as for levelling her Primary Class. That was where she ran into a problem. Her new Primary Class name had shifted slightly. Bringing it up she looked over her Classes.

She read the Primary Class again. Reborn Amalgamated Soul. Did that mean she was the souls of many, crammed into one body? Was it changing her? She didn’t think she had become different, but how would she know? The doubts still whispered to her and she ruthlessly suppressed them. Her Willpower was absolute. She ruled here, no matter what other memories or thoughts could creep in. The question became, was it worth spending her Divine Energy on her Primary Class. It may give an extra three Stats, but the goal was to get to over level ninety. Nothing was said about whether her Primary Class needed to be in the mix. The goal was Stats to make up for their lower levels, and Kiri had plenty of Stat multipliers. With that in mind she expended the processed mana to start raising her Reborn Soul Dancer Class. She had considered her Reborn Enshadowed Soul Class but it could wait until she was comfortable with her new Shadow-based Skills.

The Divine Skill evolutions took longer than she expected, the sun having truly set outside their little hidey-hole with the light of two moons reflected across the oceans waters and the sound of waves crashing against the sand. She smiled. This was paradise. If only Kiri and her brother had others they could have shared it with. If only they had time to relax. With a sigh she sat down on the sand, joined by Nate a few minutes later.

“Tomorrow we tackle the first Dungeon,” she stated, her emotions bleeding into her voice.

Glancing at Nate she could see he wasn’t bothered, but she muttered an apology anyway.

“Together,” he agreed. 

She smiled, choosing to ignore Frick as he pretended to be a fish, jumping in and out of the ocean in more and more ridiculous shapes. Instead, she opened her Status to see just how far she had come, and just how much further they had to go.