Chương 107: Chapter 3-106 – Magical Acquisitions

Lord Quake was sniffing at the air warily, Sunny perched on his shoulders as Reynard and Big John led the newest Contracted Beast off around the Coralost Compound on a tour. Word had already gone out to treat the Drake respectfully but not familiarly. We watched them go with smiles on our faces.

"Can't believe he actually got a Dragon," the Mick admitted for everyone.

"He even held out last for an Earth Seed, just in case!" Driver Sam murmured.

"Lucky bastard."

"Getting a Contract is only hard if you want it to be, gentlemen. Although finding a Dragon IS a lucky thing, there are plenty of Beasts willing to grow with you, if you give them a chance."

"But we probably want to stay away from the Aquatics?" Swampy noted, and everyone nodded in agreement with that. We'd collected all the Seeds in the area I'd Communed with, some of them guarded by Beasts, others just isolated by themselves. The Mick and Driver Sam had taken the +225% Earth Spirit Seeds, called Ironhearts for their effect of increasing the rigidity of earth and stone the mages who had them used, making them tougher and more durable.

Swampy and Tox had taken the +200% Rumbling Earth Seeds, which made it easier to tear open earth and stone and manipulate them. Burt had the +225% Howler Air Seed, its ability to generate mind-bending noises something useful with his Psychic Element, as well. Glenn had picked up the Light Seed, a simple high-grade Seed with a +250% damage modifier, one of the best he could attain.

Big John had definitely come out the best, picking up both the +200%/+50% Fire/Earth Lavaheart Seed and the +400%/+100% Earth/Fire Volcanic Fury Soul Seed, along with an Earthdoom Drake for a Contracted Beast!

"You had the Drake breathe on you, Lady Fae," The Mick mentioned as we headed for our storage facility. We'd also picked up a +175%/+50% Water/Fire Geyser Seed, and an extra mid-grade +200% Earth Seed. Both were suitable for sale, trade, or giving to another mage.

"There a reason for that? It was plenty intimidating, sure, but it seemed like something more than that."

"I need exposure to high-power Fire and Cold to grow my Firefrost Seed, it will only improve so much on my own. Dragonflame is pretty good, but I'll definitely need more, so I'll be going into the Firelands just to grow my Firefrost Seed. Don't worry, the flavor of it is non-violent to the Avians who rule there. You don't get this kind of Seed by stealing it."

"Which don't mean you can't steal some other Seeds while there," Swampy pointed out with a chortle. I just made innocent eyes.

"Red needs a Fire Seed, and that Plant Seed would be great for Tox..."

"Better to swap the Geyser or a Firebark Seed for an Earthroot or Skyflower Seed. Let someone with the right Elements pick them up for trade," I corrected him.

"Is there an easier way to improve your Seed?" The Mick asked me.

"Basic Seeds of whatever type that are more intense than my own. I don't need any with special effects, as the Firefrost Seed is its own special effect. I've been arranging for the purchase of some, given my income, but it hasn't been a priority before now.

"However, I have to keep my Seed in balance, and the exposure to the Drakefire has only helped one side, so I'll be buying an Ice Seed soon, or I'll have to go climbing some mountains or up to the north to find one to bring things back into balance."

"Will that have any effect on your breakthrough?" The Mick asked. Everyone else had advanced, so they were waiting on me to do so before advancing their second Elements.

"No, but the Seed's cap will probably go higher with the expansion." It was dependent on my mage Level, after all.

"How is the Tempering going?" I asked them all. They all looked at one another, and then burst out laughing ironically.

"I didn't think we'd be lacking for Soul Crystals," the lanky Glenn piped up for all of them.

"Then I saw how many are needed to consolidate..."

"And for some reason, Commander-class monsters aren't falling off trees!" slender Burt sighed, shaking his head.

"So many damn Crystals for so many damn Stars!"

"One Star, one minute to infuse. One minute to temper. Another minute to use a Soul Crystal. Almost three hundred Stars per Element, starting from zero, five passes, seven times per pass..." Stolen novel; please report.

"The Tyranny of Rep Counts lives!" I proclaimed, and they all groaned.

I didn't need any help to break through, even though having a Nebula Vein equivalent in energy was advisable. I had all my Stars Tempered to Six, and four sets to Seven via consolidating Commander-level Soul Gems to Ruler-class Soul Jewels. My base Caster Level was effectively Sixteen, equivalent to an Archmage, before any of my Star Wizardry advances, Theurgic Advances, Elemental bonuses, or the Sublime Chord. The world containing my Matrix could not withstand my Will.

Nevertheless, I painted it with six sets of new Matrices, I filled them with power, and I blasted the wall about my Starfield with multi-layered energies it had no hope of containing. The Barrier to expansion was shredded and fell away, revealing a swirling Nebula with another 294 more Typeless Stars, 343 in total now, all waiting to be arranged and empowered.

The Manafield around me perked up instantly as it felt the Will of a new Mage, my Arcane Awareness expanding around me to greater range and sensitivity of the Manafield. An Elemental Mage would have minor awareness of other energies, along with great pull and awareness of their own, whereas mine was more balanced and even-handed. After all, I didn't care what type of magic I pulled in, it all got burned into base Arcane fire eventually. Still, I had to apply all the Elements and all the Schools to all of the Stars.

Even with my massive advantage in Will, Concentration, and Meditation, that was not going to be a quick process. On the other hand, I had multiple thoughtstreams, and as long as I had the base energy, I could do the work. The initial Typeless Tempering was quick individually, but seeing as there were fifteen different applications, working out to an extra minute and a half each, it was still going to take me hours just for my first pass, before I could even start pumping them.

I only had one Element to get to Tier-6, and I had more Crystals than any of the boys did. I could definitely do the job, but of course that meant six passes, seven times each, to Temper the Stars, and that if I had the energy to do so. I could have Cast the Mage Spells, but seeing as they ate up 49 Mana each, that would have depleted my reserves for the moment, which I was instead going to use to Temper my Stars.

Floating above the Seven Stars Formation, now with over four dozen Casters and three eager Contracted Beasts, everyone bore down on the job of feeding all those Stars and Tempering them. Tomorrow, Big John was going to break through to Fire Mage, and was concentrating mightily as he built up his Reserves to do so. Lord Quake had taken one whiff of the Fractured Mana, and any hesitation he had about a place to rest was completely removed.

The Fire Mana here was heavier than any place outside a full Major Node, and if it was 'Typeless', that was perfectly fine by him! The southeastern Refractory Spire was actually allocated to the Contracted Beasts who wanted to stay there. Sunny had already started on making a simple nest for himself there, and Lord Quake simply requested a gravel bed he could rest in when there, which we whipped up quickly. There was enough Fractured Mana for everyone, so there were no problems.

Even Reynard was perfectly happy to doze off there. I had dozens of hours of work ahead of me tempering, arranging Star Patterns into their little clusters, and naturally enough I had all the known Mage spells to memorize and apply in addition. Human/11, building towards Human/15 as I filled all these Stars to the third Tier, with a functioning base Mage Caster Level of 17. Six Skill Ranks, plus Intellect Bonus.

As before, I would use practice and the Study effect to advance my Control X Mana type, swapping point for point with retained learning in the Sciences to advance what I could.

======= Lady Fae, Healer Fae Female* Human/11 (Mage/7) Powered: Wizard/6 (10); Sorcerer/10 (Arcane Sage/Void Phoenix); Ur-Priest/6 (10); Inquisitor/6 (10); Druid/6 (10); Binder/6 (10); Minstrel/6 (10); Bard/6 (10); Alchemist/6 (10); Artificer/6 (10); Soul Warrior/6 (10); Soulshaper/6 (10) Theurge: Eldritch/5 (Sorc/ Binder); Arcane/5 (Wiz /Sorc); Mystic/5 (Ur/ Wizard); Divine/5 (Ur/ Inquis); Elemental/5 (Druid /Wiz); Lorelord Magnae/5 (Minstrel /Bard); Lore/5 (Bard /Wizard); Wondermaker/5 (Artificer /Alchemist); Creation/5 (Alchemist /Wizard); Anima/5 (Soulshaper /Wizard); Soulmaster/5 (Soulshaper/ Soul Warrior) Advanced: Archbinder/5; Archshaman/5; Archcleric/5; Archwizard/5; Archsorcerer/5; Grenadier/5; Battlemad/5; Arcane Archer/5; Exemplar/5; Maestro/5 Basic (NPC): Vizard/6; Noble/6; Expert/6; Magewright/6 Standard: Melee/6; Archer/6; Scout/6; Monk/6 Strength (10): 8* - 20 Dexterity (16): - 26 Constitution (16): 18*- 27 Intellect (18): 22 – 42 (46) Wisdom (14): 16 - 31 Charisma (14): 16 - 30 Height: 5'7" Weight: 120 lbs Hair: White (Sylune's Grace) Eyes: Silver (Pact Sign, Blue) Age: 17 Health: 226 Soak: 241 Movement: 100' Talent: Naturally Focused Acquired Powers: Fire Template; Cold Template; Awakened Bloodline (Void Phoenix); Affinity for Fire and Cold Magic (95%/75%, x2); Sylune's Grace; Master Archtheurge Incarnation; Paired Greater Spirit Seed (Firefrost Seed) (Fire Luan/Frost Luan) Class Levels: 223 Skill Points: 858 (+ 21 Study) Paid Masteries: 300/669 possible Paid Feats: 223/223 possible Traits: 6 (Complete) Favored Class Points: 123 (0 unallocated) Mark: +4 (5) Sacred bonus to Intellect (Complete) Wrath: +10d6+8 (8d6 +2d6 Chasuble) (Cannot manifest externally) Aegis: 50 vs.

Acid, Lightning, Eldritch, Radiance (5 x Wrath Ranking) Stars: 28 x Tier 7 (49 Mana each), +21 x Tier 6 (42 Mana each), +294 x 0 Mana Soul Essence: 43 (10 Levels+18 Wis/Con + 5 Mastery +10 Feats) =============