ebonymovies Chapter 182: Subtlety
Chapter 182: Subtlety
chapter 182: subtlety
sitting atop one of the wooden trunks stowed on the forgewagon’s cargo deck, rain smiled. his feet were dangling over the side as he surveyed the trail of carts arrayed behind them. they were linked to the forgewagon like boxcars, one after the other, connected by chains to form an enormous land-train. anywhere else, it would have been a terrible idea, but the salt flats were, well, flat. here, it was working perfectly. there was one caveat, though. they were only moving at about ten kilometers per hour, and the plume of dry, salty dust being kicked up by the passage of so many wheels was enormous.
someone might notice...
rain chuckled to himself, falling back to stare at the canvas awning that had been erected to shield the cargo from sun and rain. it had been three days since the vehicle’s debut rampage, and now, finally, ascension was on the road again. ameliah was driving at the moment, seated behind him on the control platform. tallheart and staavo were below, monitoring the reactor, but everyone else had elected to ride in the cart train. for whatever reason, most people seemed to think that the forgewagon was unsafe.
rain had no idea why.
the ride was entirely smooth, thanks to the insane vibration-damping capability of enchanted force steel. he could hear the carts rumbling along behind them, and there was a gentle rush of wind thanks to their speed, but the vehicle itself was utterly silent. only the soft crunch of dirt beneath its treads gave away its passage. and yet, it was completely impossible to miss.
and he calls it subtlety. ha. tallheart is a genius.
still smiling, rain conjured a progress report using the marker he’d set just before they got underway. he’d already seen it, but he wanted to see it again. finally, he’d made some headway.
progress report
marker_1: attempt_asdfasdf2 [3061 sowing 27 19:20]
marker_2: giddyup [3061 seedlings 12 09:00]
span: 16.6 days
character
level: 27 -> 30 (+3)
total exp: 2,138,665 -> 2,536,316 (+397,651)
↳health use: 21
↳stamina use: 1,152
↳mana use: 396,499
clarity: 270 -> 320 (+50)
skills
radiance: +67,825 exp, 10 -> 15 (+5)
detection: +65,212 exp, 10 -> 15 (+5)
aura synergy: +55,932 exp, 11 -> 15 (+4)
immolate: +27,140 exp, 11 -> 15 (+4)
refrigerate: +27,113 exp, 11 -> 15 (+4)
channel mastery: +44,367 exp, 12 -> 15 (+3)
aura iff: +33,677 exp, 10 -> 12 (+2)
purify: +16,795 exp, 13 -> 15 (+2)
magical synergy: +33,950 exp, 14 -> 15 (+1)
shroud: +17,500 exp, 10 -> 11 (+1)
essence well: +14,240 exp, 10 -> 11 (+1)
amplify aura: +4,590 exp, 10 -> 11 (+1)
aura focus: +2,624 exp, 10 -> 11 (+1)
aura compression: +30,377 exp
extend aura: +3,200 exp
force ward: +1,099 exp
mana manipulation: +240 exp
arcane ward: +120 exp
fulmination: +100 exp
winter: +96 exp
mental ward: +64 exp
chemical ward: +39 exp
velocity: +25 exp
suppression: +15 exp
prismatic intent: +1 exp
synchronization
endurance: 7.0 -> 7.4 (+0.4)
vigor: 8.9 -> 9.2 (+0.3)
clarity: 270.0 -> 320.0 (+50.0)
perception: 10.0 -> 22.3 (+12.3)
everything else aside, it was the experience gain for prismatic intent that stood out to him. sure, a single point was almost insulting, considering the amount of effort he’d put in, but it spoke of more to come. besides, he hadn’t really been focused on the metamagic itself, but on his auras. samson was always saying in his swordsmanship classes that by practicing wrong, the only thing you got better at was doing things wrong. you needed to master the basics the right way, and only then should you move on.
and so, rain had been avoiding metamagic, allocating his daily mana to his lowest-tier auras to rank them up first. they’d level the fastest, and thanks to aura synergy, that would boost the efficiency of everything he did. that was just a side benefit, though. the real point was to get a feel for how each of his spells worked before he started tinkering with them.
for training prismatic intent, though, he needed to polish a single aura to perfection as a starting point. for that, he’d chosen purify. with its low cost, he’d been able to spend an order of magnitude more time working on it than anything else. winter’s cost was even lower, true, but the subsequent torrent of mana in the other direction disrupted things. it was like trying to find patterns in ripples on a lake versus the ocean in storm.
granted, myoceanis never exactlynot in storm. #dynamoproblems.there might be a way to fix that, but i need to talk to tallheart to see if the trick i’m thinking of is possible. i’ll askhim tonight as long as he’s in a good mood for questions. for now, i’ll just carry on with the tricks that i have.
reaching into one of his pouches, rain removed a ball of wax, which he divided in two then stuffed into his ears. next, he tugged a heavy cloth blindfold from a different pouch, wrapping it around his eyes before donning his helmet. after deactivating his armor’s tactile transference, he called up his interface to slot the accolades he’d borrowed.
6/31 slots
accolade
bonus
6 [1x6]
everdeep fortress
+60 perception
the wax-muffled rumble of the wagons became a grinding roar, and the smooth ride of subtlety suddenly felt not so smooth. every jostle sent signals verging on pain shooting through his nerves. the dry, salty air rasped at his lungs with each breath, tickling his nose hairs on the exhale.
the first time he’d tried this, he’d sneezed, and the resulting explosion of pain had practically knocked him unconscious.
it wasn't just his senses being multiplied by seven—that, he could deal with, especially with boosted endurance. the real problem was the delta between total perception and effective perception. a delta of ten was nothing; in fact, he was so used to it at this point that it felt odd to go without it. at a delta of thirty, he started feeling hypersensitive, and some normal stimuli began to verge on being uncomfortable. at a delta of fifty...things became...worth it.
no pain, no gain. as sure as dozer loves to clean, there’s been plenty of both.
purify. status.
purify (15/15)
purify poison, corruption, and contamination
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 150 mp/min
richmond rain stroudwater
class
lvl
cap
+stat
engine of change
30
30
exp
next
total
+skill
130,422
130,423
2,536,316
4
vitals
cur
max
rgn
health
1,700
1,700
300/d
stamina
1,700
1,700
520/d
mana
88,400
88,400
172.9/h
attributes
287/2,690
eff
total
base
accld
misc
syn
str
85
85
10
75/500
20.6
rcv
16.8
30
10
20/770
5.6
end
62.9
85
10
75/310
7.4
vgr
47.8
52
10
“oh,” ameliah said with a smile. rain could feel the softness of her skin through the metal, so he knew her armor’s sensory enchantment was active. the accolades she was holding vanished, and she gasped, then let out a low moan. “ohhhh. that feels amazing! ow! no, don’t stop! just...not so hard... ah! yes. like that. mmmmmmmm.”
rain grinned. “remember to watch the road.”
skills
aura metamagic
tier 0
extend aura (12/15) exp: 6,632/6,700
extend aura range by 12 meters
multiply aura mana cost by 340%
amplify aura (11/15) exp: 3,495/5,600
multiply aura intensity by 210%
multiply aura mana cost by 320%
tier 1
aura synergy (20/15)
increase all aura output by 2.0% for each rank in any aura
effective boost: 354.0%
aura focus (11/15) exp: 1,844/11,200
focus on an aura to boost its output
multiply aura intensity by 320%
multiply aura range by 320%
multiply aura mana cost by 320%
user loses all external senses while focusing
tier 2
aura iff (12/15) exp: 514/26,800
user may exempt entities from direct aura effects at will
selected entities receive -20.0% aura output
prismatic intent (1/15) exp: 1/400
user may maintain 2 auras simultaneously
tier 3
aura compression (10/15) exp: 35,660/36,800
compress aura output, reducing range to boost intensity
increase intensity by 2% per meter of compression
defensive auras
tier 1
mental ward (10/15) exp: 602/9,200
increase mental resistance by 136.2% for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
arcane ward (10/15) exp: 120/9,200
increase arcane resistance by 136.2% for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
chemical ward (10/15) exp: 39/9,200
increase chemical resistance by 136.2% for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
tier 2
force ward (10/15) exp: 1,111/18,400
increase physical resistance by 136.2% for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated
tier 3
suppression (10/15) exp: 35/36,800
increase mana costs for all entities by 646.95 mp (fcs)
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 10 mp/s
magical utility
tier 0
intrinsic clarity (15/15)
multiply base mana regeneration by 400%
intrinsic focus (15/15)
multiply base mana by 400%
tier 1
channel mastery (15/15)
allows intuitive control of channeled skill intensity and tick rate
minimum skill intensity: 0%
maximum skill intensity: 200%
maximum skill tick rate: 2.0s
minimum skill tick rate: 0.0s
skill mana cost modified by intensity adjustment
skill intensity per tick modified proportional to tick rate
mana manipulation (10/15) exp: 279/9,200
allows internal control of mana
allows expulsion of mana to environment
allows transfer of mana to and from capacitive items with direct contact
maximum transfer rate 2700.0 mp/s (fcs)
tier 2
magical synergy (15/15)
enables limited synergistic cross-coupling of magical attributes
37.5% of focus contributes to mana regen
37.5% of clarity contributes to mana
offensive auras
tier 0
immolate (15/15)
679.30-776.34 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment
sufficient damage causes ignition
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 75 mp/s
refrigerate (15/15)
679.30-776.34 cold (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment
sufficient damage causes slow
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 75 mp/s
tier 1
radiance (15/15)
679.30-776.34 light (fcs) damage per second to entities
brightens environment (fcs)
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 75 mp/s
shroud (11/15) exp: 8,375/11,200
498.15-569.32 dark (fcs) damage per second to entities
darkens environment (fcs)
range: 49.9 meters
cost: 55 mp/s
tier 2
fulmination (10/15) exp: 225/18,400
452.87-517.56 arcane (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment
sufficient damage causes paralysis
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 50 mp/s
utility auras
tier 0
purify (15/15)
purify poison, corruption, and contamination
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 150 mp/min
winter (10/15) exp: 312/4,600
boost m.regen by 454% for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 10 mp/hr
tier 1
detection (15/15)
sense selected items of interest
not occluded by mundane materials
resolution: 0.54 mm
range: 68.1 meters
cost: 15 mp/s
essence well (11/15) exp: 9,935/11,200
transfer mana to all entities within range, including user
transfer rate: 49.94 mp/s
efficiency: 20%
range: 49.9 meters
velocity (10/15) exp: 130/9,200
454.00% boost to speed for all entities
range: 45.4 meters
cost: 10 mp/s
free skill points: 4