Chapter 33

(This chapter is stat-heavy, so I have included an option to read on Google Docs)

“Nine years in the Synod, and I’m Level 4,” Fabrisse murmured to himself as he stared at his profile.

His Synaptic Clarity attribute was terrible, also, and that had accounted for the extra 1 SYN he’d received from quest completion earlier.

There was a small note underneath the figure for EXP which he had to squint to read.

Note: Experience is awarded proportionally to resonance challenge.

“Well, that explains it,” he muttered. “Nine years, and I spent most of them befriending rocks and writing monologues to sediment.”

Fabrisse blinked at the menu again and scrolled to the descriptions. A side tab expanded with a soft click of light. He took out a notebook—his newly-assigned ‘Note of Important Observations’—now that the old one with knowledge he’d already memorized had become too tattered and was left at home.

ATTRIBUTE GLOSSARY
Calibrator Profile: Active Scan

Ah, I get it now. So Aether Resonance Control is how well I can control the aether, and Synaptic Clarity is basically my reaction speed, instant decision making, and . . . fundamental understanding of the aether. It makes sense that if I understand the aether more, I might tap into it better. Right now, I suck at it.

In Thaumaturgy theory, four elements need to exist in harmony for a perfect spell: Technique, Emotion, Intent, and Innate Resonance. Technique would be simple; his physical attributes like STR and DEX would influence that. Possibly ARC too. Emotion Attunement obviously affected Emotion. He didn’t know why the glyph bothered to lock him out of that such apparent attribute. Intent wasn’t about what you feel (EMO), or what you do (DEX/STR), but what you understood and chose in the moment. It must be tied to SYN. He had always sucked at intent. Innate Resonance was likely not any one stat at all; it was something with limited room for growth.

After a spell successfully ignited, ARC would take over as the most important attribute — controlling, maintaining, and stabilizing magical output. As for FOR . . . well, FOR didn’t affect spellcasting at all, but rather resistance to spells.

He was looking for reasons why Synaptic Clarity would be the most important attribute for Grain Analysis, and it seemed like he’d found it. He didn’t need to control the aether, since most rocks resist control anyway. But he needed to understand how and why the rocks had retained that aether, and captured emotions along with it.

There was one more thing he needed to check. Earlier, after he’d finished Step 3, he saw this message:  [Earth-based Thaumaturgy Mastery +1]. He wanted to know what this mastery attribute meant, and he suspected it would be within the Skills sub-section.

He was right. There was now a Glossary note for Mastery when he entered the sub-section.

MASTERIES & SKILL UNLOCK SYSTEM

Mechanics Overview:

• Mastery Points are gained through practical use, successful resonance, and progression steps.
  

• At 10 Mastery Points, a new skill can be unlocked from an eligible subtree.
  

• Foundational Tier 1 Skills must be unlocked via narrative progression, not by points (e.g., "Stonesway").
  

• Each skill tree has multiple Sub-Affinities, encouraging different styles (combat, sensing, flavor, etc.)

He moved on to the Earth-based tree.

EARTH-BASED THAUMATURGY TREE (early branches)

Sub-Affinities:

• Stone-Based

• Sediment-Based

• Soil-Based

• Crystal-Based (locked)

• Ore-Based (locked)

Existing Mastery: 12

Note: Stone-Based Thaumaturgy Damage, Range, & Accuracy boosted by 12% via your Path: Celestial Hoarding

Huh? Why how does this work?

He mentally willed the Note to show more details.

Total Stones Holding: 12

Inventory: 1/10 Stones

Stone Satchel (Extension): 11/15 Stones

Ah. So each item would give me a 1% boost.

[Correction: Each small-sized item would give a 1% boost, a medium-sized item would give a 2% boost, and a big-sized item would give a 3% boost.]

Okay. How do I utilize this Celestial Hoarding to my advantage, then? How can I upgrade it?

[Query received: “How do I utilize this Celestial Hoarding to my advantage?”]  

[Answer: Try progressing current skills first. Hoarding cannot boost non-existent skills.]

Rude.

Still, he made a mental note to collect more pebbles when he had a chance. Ideally, he would get more Stupenstones, because he could use them to fling.

He moved on to the unlockables.

Tier 2 – Unlockable with Mastery Points

You can now unlock these:

He read the descriptions, noted them down, then read again, underlined the keywords, then read again the third time.

What should he unlock first?

He realized Stupenstone Fling was the only skill that demanded him to ‘click’ on the description. He did as told.

Those seem like massive upgrades. Emotional tracking can curve the path lightly, which means I can find cover first. If I imprint it with fear, I might be able to scatter a group before they even know what hit them.

And I’ll need to smack Cuman in the head soon.

He mentally tapped on the name ‘Stupenstone Fling (Rank II)’.

The air shimmered around the glyph.

[Confirmation Needed: Upgrade Stupenstone Fling to Rank II]

He mentally confirmed.