CHAPTER 8!

Hello my wonderful patrons!  I want you to know that I have listened! lol

I'm cutting down some of what I was planning to include in Book 7 so that I can get the book to you a bit faster.  

The final size of Book 7 will be about 2.5 times as large as Book 1 even with this shift lol

I know you're also dying to know exactly WHEN its coming out lol, and all I can say is that I'm hoping for within a month.  I don't have anything else I need to figure out about the story progression, its just a matter of putting fingers to keys :)

So without further ado... HERE IS CHAPTER 8!

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CHAPTER 8 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 0 AoC

Richter made his choice.

Total Chaos Points Remaining: 118

A dinner plate size rent appeared in front of Richter. The hole in reality had ragged edges that wavered and fluctuated. As soon as it was open a voice like a distant hiss of steam echoed around the room. “Claim your possession, Chaos Seed.”

He looked at the swirling grey portal hovering in the air, hoping against hope that his purchase would just shoot out of it. Nothing happened. Reserving the right to be completely pissed if some chaos demon ate his hand, Richter reached inside. His hand disappeared into the small portal, but there was no pain. After a second, he felt parchment and his hand closed around a scroll. As quick as he could, he pulled his hand back out and the rip in reality disappeared. 

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You have found: 

Scroll of Summon Weak Chaotic Spirit

Durability: 13/13

Item Class: Unusual

Quality: Superb

Weight: 0.2 kg

Traits: Summons a level 20 Evil, Chaotic   spirit for one hour. Immune to   physical harm. 17% chance the spirit   will attack you. This is decreased by   5% for every point of evil alignment or chaotic alignment you possess

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The scroll was tied shut with a shimmering grey ribbon. The paper was a lighter grey, but as he started at it, the patterns on the paper shifted slightly. Richter looked at it in amazement. It was his first direct access to a Higher Energy spell. Reading the traits of the scroll, he realized that using it was not without peril. There was a chance that the spirit he summoned might turn on him. With his two points of Chaos though, that risk was less than 10%. He wouldn’t use the item lightly, but it might not be a bad idea to have a high level spirit in his back pocket. 

After seeing the power of the first startum, he didn’t plan to stop. Richter accessed the Sea of Chaos again.  It was a bit of a relief that the price to reenter the various levels hadn’t gone up. Pay to play was always a pain in the ass, but it would be so much worse if the price increased each time he accessed the Sea. Richter eyeballed the second level for a sec, but then decided to get the pudding. He’d already eaten the meat after all.

Before he spent the five Chaos Points needed to get to the third stratum though, he stopped a moment and reached for his Bag of Holding. Sticking his hand inside, he accessed his inventory. After accessing the item he was looking for, a regretful sigh escaped his lips. Only five Potions of Selak’s Luck remained. It was imperative that he get Tabia to make more soon. They had enough shiverleaf frond to create more of the silver solution, but it still took three to four days make it and had a relatively high fail rate. If she failed, it meant starting over. More time lost and the possible loss of valuable and finite resources. 

Though the potion was worth more than its weight in gold though, Richter wasn’t one to pinch pennies… Well, not often… Well, not all the time, and when he did, it was so that in moment’s like this he still had resources to expend. It appeared that using Chaos required a measure of Luck, which was probably why he’d been driven to invest in the stat since coming to The Land. He’d never quite understood the compulsion, despite having always enjoyed a good hand of Texas Holdem. One more mystery solved, he took on finger length vial out of his bag and downed all at once. Licking his lips appreciatively, the potion didn’t taste like ass unlike some of the others, he accessed his Chaos Points again.

Total Chaos Points Remaining: 116.

These are the current offerings of the third Stratum of the Sea of Chaos:

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Ring of Health Siphon

16 points

Provides a Ring that   will provide the user +32 Health for every enemy killed. Cannot exceed max Health. Decreases Mana by -31 while being worn.

Race Change

25 points

You may change your race. Your new race will be randomly selected from among three races you   pick and a fourth choice you have not selected. You can only pick races which you have   met. 

Spell: Akaton   Evolution

23 points

Provides the spell, Akaton Evolution. Casting this spell upon a summoned creature   or pet will trigger a random evolution. It will also lengthen the spell duration of your summoning. This spell may not be cast upon sentient   beings. This is a spell of Chaos   Magic, level 1.

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Richter’s eyes widened. This was some serious shit! The ring could be worth hundreds if not thousands of gold. A Warrior would do almost anything to heal while he killed. It could make someone in good armor almost unstoppable. The loss of mana might not even be noticed by a pure melee fighter.  Hell, even he could put the ring to good use since he was a combination fighter. The other options were even more tempting though.

The Race Change was definitely interesting. He hadn’t even thought that something like that was possible. It seemed like his own race, human, was at a disadvantage in The Land. Every other race received five points per level and humans only received four. The trade off, if you could call it that, was that humans could choose to allocate those points in any stat. In contrast, nonhumans typically had one or stats that increased without their control every time. Aside from that, they only had three points to freely distribute. More stat points were still more stat points in Richter’s opinion, though. 

Humans were also supposedly less restricted in their capability to learn various skills. Richter’s Limitless ability made that a moot point though, as every one of his skill was already maxed to a 100% affinity. Still, other races also had perks like elves’ hearing and kobolds’ darkvision. 

The idea of being a different race had crossed Richter’s mind from time to time because of the bonuses. If he was being honest though, he probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all that he had if he wasn’t human. At least not in this part of the world, as the Kingdom of Yves was blantantly xenophobic. Only humans could move around freely in the capital city of Law. Without that freedom, he never would have met Terrod. Without that introduction, he never would have found so many capable people to move to his village or been able to build the infrastructure he now took for granted. He most certainly wouldn’t have been able to raid the goblin encampment and the green skinned bastards would still have the Bloodstone. 

The race change was definitely interesting, but the terms of the offering weren’t something he was willing to risk. Richter could happily change into a wood elf, high elf or dwarf, but he had met other races including demons, goblins and draught. He had seen a great many things since coming to The Land, but not many had been uglier than a troll’s face. Being a kobold or a bugbear wouldn’t be his idea of fun either. The chaos seed decided to pass on the race change offering for the moment. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

It was the third offering that really caught his attention. He had honestly known that was what he was going to buy it as soon as the prompts appeared. With a pleasant tingle of anticipation, he obtained his first Higher Energy spell!

Total Chaos Points Remaining: 93

Another small rent in reality appeared in front of him. This one was too small to easily reach his hand through. He had time to look at it quizzically, but before he could do anything else, a beam of grey light shot out of the small hole. It forked as it exited the raw Chaos. One beam touched his head and the other his heart. Richter’s pupils dilated and his breath sucked in. He knew!

Congratulations! You have   learned the spell: Akaton Evolution. Casting this spell upon a summoned creature or pet will trigger a   random evolution. In the case of   summoned creatures, it will also lengthen the spell duration of your   summoning by 50%. This spell will not   work on sapient beings. This is a   spell of Chaos Magic, level 1. Cost:   146 (base 183) mana. Duration: 50   minutes. Range: 5 feet. Cast Time: 4 seconds. Cooldown: N/A

Arcane calculations, equations and metaphysical concept unlocked in Richter’s brain. His breath came fast and short as he mastered complex mental formulations in seconds. 

Know This! You have learned your first Chaotic spell! As a Chaos Seed, you are perfectly suited to this branch of magic. Spell costs of Chaos Magic are reduced by -10% per level of Chaos Alignment. All other adverse effects negated. Continued use of Chaotic magic may have a beneficial effect. 

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Chaos Magic. The raw stuff of the Universe is now yours to command. A true master of this magic can create worlds… or destroy realities. What have you unleashed upon The Land oh Chaos Seed?

Know This! You have learned your first Higher Energy. Your pursuit of power will change the very nature of The Land. Do not use primordial forces without reason. It will not go unnoticed.

Despite the ominous tag line at the end, a faint smile made its way onto Richter’s face. He had Higher Energy magic! He had Higher Energy magic! Even better than that, the fact that he was a Chaos Seed made him immune to any ill effects! He had honestly been worried about that. In terms of intensity, it seemed like the progression were Basic Elements, like Life, Death and Water magic, followed by Deep Magic and then Higher Energies. 

Richter hadn’t suffered any ill effects from using the Basic Elements, but even low level spells of Deep Magic, like Blood and Spirit magic could take a terrible toll. He had been dreading what the price of a Higher Energy spell would be. Now, it looked like he got a free pass though! Between that and the 20% reduction in spell cost, it was like Chaos magic had been specifically tailored for him. One hundred and eight-three points was a ridiculously high cost for a level one spell, and even the discounted cost of one hundred and forty-six mana was nothing to sneeze at, but he would pay it gladly. 

He was about to stand and summon a creature so he could cast his Chaos spell for the first time, but he heard footsteps in the corridor outside of his room. A few moments laer, Randolphus entered with a guard trailing him. The chamberlain bowed upon seeing him, and the guard clapped a fist to his chest. The sentry waited by the entrance and the chamberlain closed the door giving the two of them privacy. Pulling a chair close, he sat beside Richter’s bedside. It had taken months for the chaos seed to get his proper and decorous chamberlain to sit down without permission. Still, he rarely did so. 

Between that, and the slightly sorrowful look on the man’s face, Richter knew that bad news was coming. Randolphus held his ever present clipboard and papers in his hands, but on closer expression, the chaos seed could see that they were gripped a bit tighter than necessary to keep them secure. The chamberlain looked at his liege for a moment, not in discomfort, but more to ease himself into the discussion.

When he spoke, his voice was soft, but strong. He was not eager to share his news, but neither did he shy away from the conversation. Richter’s already high respect for the man, went up another notch. Though he wasn’t aware of it, a prompt had appeared in Randolphus’ vision, indicating Richter’s increased regard. The man dismissed it without reaction, though it made what he was saying that much harder, “If this is a good time, my lord, I have a final tally of the dead.”

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I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and that its a nice start to your week! lol

Be well and treat each other kindly! :)