Arcane Apocalypse ~ 155 (Patreon)

AN: I got 50 chapters worth of stupid System windows out of my system (lol) in this chapter. If you are the type of reader who hates this kind of thing, don't worry, I hate writing it too, so this chapter is the exception, and the norm is what's been established up till now.

*****

It was larger than she thought it would be, a towering chunk of black stone with all four sides polished to a shine. It appeared to be a single block of obsidian, reaching approximately 4 metres in height at its tip. 

Of course, it wasn’t obsidian. Mia couldn’t feel the intricacies of the magic flowing through the structure, but she could feel the power it radiated. The Obelisk felt … regal, for lack of a better word. As if it were a king and all the ambient mana within kilometres bowed before it in supplication. It was a strange sensation. 

Mia shook her head, quickly returning her focus to the last obstacle standing before her and the Obelisk: a cordon and a group of guards. They surrounded the Obelisk, looking — glaring, really — at anyone looking at it. And there were a lot of people looking at it; the entire courtyard of the Castle was filled with onlookers, though only a scant few of them were Level 10, thus actually able to make use of the thing. 

Honestly, it looked like the Obelisk had turned into a tourist attraction overnight. Curious. Mia would have barred passage to the castle to everyone not on a short white list if she were in Zeigler’s shoes, but he probably knew better. Maybe he wanted to raise morale? Show the people that they really won? Hell, if she knew. 

“Do you feel like brawling your way through that mob?” Gabriel asked, looking over the mass of bodies with a mild frown. 

“Why?” Mia asked. 

“I could do a Moses and open a way,” he said. “Or do you want to go get permission from this General, or whatever?”

“It would be a bit more proper,” Brent said. “It’s not like he can not give us permission, but undermining his authority for no reason other than convenience would be … just causing trouble for no reason.”

“My existence undermines his authority," Gabe said, then shrugged. “Oh well, alright. I have to talk to him anyway.”

“Why?” Mia asked curiously.

“I made a quick stop in Vienna before coming here,” Gabe said. “Met this Marshal of theirs who’s apparently taken over the Austrian armed forces, and he asked me to deliver a letter. Oh, and he is like me, though he is lagging a couple of dozen Levels behind me.”

“Like you?” Mark asked. “Another one the System kidnapped?”

“There are supposed to be hundreds from across the globe,” Gabe said. “Though most of them are probably only Rank 1s, maybe a few 2s and a handful of 3s like me. I was … very lucky. Advancement is just as much about luck, politics and such in the other Realms as it is about fighting monsters. No, fighting monsters, and especially delving into the Rifts, is a privilege that is controlled by those in power.”

“That’s … I will process that information later,” Mia said, shaking off the distracting thoughts trying to burrow into her mind, nudging her down another spiral. “Okay, let’s go bother the General a bit then.”

“That won’t be needed,” a familiar voice spoke up from behind them, sounding drier than the Sahara. “You all have permission by default. I will have the men open up a path for you. No need for anything more overt.”

Mia turned around, blinking at the man. Major … something, he was Zeigler’s aide, that she could remember, but his name escaped her. Stupid Memory attribute was slacking. She’d always been bad with names, but not this bad. Maybe it was all the chaos that was to blame, but that felt like an excuse even to her. 

Whatever happened after was pretty much ignored. Mia kept herself in some semblance of calm, but she was bouncing off the walls in excitement. Finally, finally she could continue the climb. This Rank-Up was long overdue. 

The aide’s men opened up a path, nudging the crowd aside and letting Mia’s group pass through, along with the other handful of Level 10s who’d gathered around them, all of whom looked familiar enough to Mia. Probably people she recalled from the fight against the Goblins or the cleanup afterwards.

“I’ll be back shortly,” Gabe said. “Take your time. You may spend as much time inside as you need, and barely any will pass outside.”

Mia nodded absently, and she was just about to ask what the hell he meant by ‘inside’ when one of the braver ones strode right up to the Obelisk and pressed his hand up to its polished surface. The outline of his palm glowed, and then he was … sucked inside with an undignified yelp. 

“It’s safe,” Gabe said. “Yes, it’s supposed to do that.”

Well, alright then. Without wasting another second, Mia stepped forward too, alongside half a dozen other people, and touched the Obelisk.

[Attempt Rank-Up?]

[ YES / NO]

Mia pressed YES without a thought.

***

Commencing the Rank-Up of User: Maria Vexley

Checking Rank-Up requirements … 

COMPLETE - Reach Rank 0 Level cap. (Level 10)

COMPLETE - Possess a Class of a Rarity Tier above 0/Grey/Poor. (Arcane Mage - Rare; Rarity=3)

COMPLETE - Possess at least 5 Class-appropriate Feats of Excellence. Owned Feats: Have a Base Spirit-Manifestation of 10 or above, Have a Base Spirit-Sensitivity of 10 or above, Have your Base Spirit-Manifestation maxed out, Successfully transmute arcane mana into kinetic energy manually, Successfully transmute arcane mana into thermal energy manually, Successfully Modify a Spellcircle, Successfully create a new Spellcircle, Achieve Dual Casting, Successfully cast a Ritual, Possess Rank 1 Runes as Rank 0, Possess a Rank 1 Rune-Matrix as Rank 0, Slay a Level 10 Monster in single combat, Slay a Rank 1 Monster in single combat, Slay a Guardian, Slay a Rank 1 Guardian, Slay a Rank 1 Raid Guardian, Slay a monster an entire Rank above you, Slay a Raid Guardian an entire Rank above you, Clean a Rift, Close a Rift, Clean a Rain, Close a Raid, Clean a Rank 1 Rift, Clean a Rank 1 Raid, Close a Rank 1 Rift, Close a Rank 1 Raid, Create a Bond, Bond with a Spirit, Reach an attunement of 10% with the Arcane, Reach an attunement of 20% with the Arcane, Reach an attunement of 30% with the Arcane, Reach an attunement of 40% with the Arcane. (29 out of 5)

All prerequisites are fulfilled. Proceeding … 

You have been rewarded with System Tokens!

‘+3 Tokens’ Granted - Base Amount, According to Class Rarity.

‘+24 Bonus Tokens’ - You have exceeded the minimum number of Feats of Excellence. Worth 1 Bonus Token each.

‘+10 Bonus Tokens’ - 5 of your Feats were Greater Feats. Worth an additional 2 Bonus Tokens each. 

‘+15 Bonus Tokens’ - 3 of your Feats were Major Feats. Worth an additional 5 Bonus Tokens each.  

You have been granted a Class Tier-Up Token in addition, which you may spend after the Rank-Up process has been completed. (Newbie Tip: Only spend this after you have created a new Class and merged it with the current one, if you wish to do that. You can only ever get a single Class Tier-Up Token per Rank-Up. A total of five in total, not a single one more. Don’t waste it on the wrong Class, this might be your last chance to change your Class without crippling your potential. )

Please spend your System Tokens in the section below. You cannot leave this space until your Token balance has hit zero.

***

Token Shop - Current Balance: 52 System Tokens

Meridian Opening. (You may buy only 1 per Rank-Up) (Costs 1 System Token)

Claw Meridian (OPEN BY DEFAULT)

Located in the centre of the palms.

Is the main channel for affecting the outside world with internal energy.

Root Meridian (CLOSED)

Located in the soles of the feet.

Used by mages and Ki users to channel energy through their feet.

Throat Meridian (CLOSED)

Located around where the Adam's apple would be.

Opening it is a prerequisite for Chanting and enhances Incantations, as well as any Skills or Traits that require the User to use their voice.

Third Eye Meridian (CLOSED)

Located in the middle of the forehead.

Empowers all supernatural perception-based abilities and skills. Applies to all aspects of it.

Heart Meridian (CLOSED)

Located in the heart.

Empowers the body by increasing blood flow. Even extremely high G-forces can’t keep blood from circulating. Facilitates the link to the Life Stream. 

Brain Meridian (CLOSED)

Located in the centre of the brain

Enhanced cognition and all mental Subattributes. Raises the maximum Base Mind Subattributes by 2.

Crown Meridian (CLOSED)

Located at the crown of the skull.

Opening it is a prerequisite for unlocking a Domain and utilising an Authority.

Astral Meridian (CLOSED)

Located at the solar plexus

Opening it enhances mana concentration, mana signature strength, and boosts all qualities of a mana core.

Bone Meridian (CLOSED)

Located along the spine

Increases physical resilience and toughness by leaps and bounds.

Blood Meridian (CLOSED)

Located near the liver. Grants rudimentary self-regeneration. Empowers all self-regeneration or self-healing effects from Skills, Traits or Spells cast by the User.

Class Traits

5 ST - Enhanced Mana Signature: Your mana becomes easier to keep control of once outside your body, and your magic becomes harder to subvert. Scales with: Spirit.

5 ST - Disruptive Mana: Chaos Aspected mana becomes more likely to burn through spell structures and enchantments. It gains an ever so slight mind of its own, snapping at intricate workings of mana with an inherent need to disrupt them. 

5 ST - Solid Mana Manifestation: Mana manifested into a solid form becomes tougher and more resilient. Scales with ‘Manifestation’.

10 ST - Arcane Influence Enhancement: Touching arcane constructs gives you an intuitive understanding of how they work. This includes spellforms and enchantments, but no living creatures. 

5 ST - Gluttonous Runic-Model: Your runic model absorbs new runes 10x faster and fuses them together at the same increased rate. The drawbacks of over-inflating your runic-model are partially mitigated. 

10 ST - Spellbook Specialisation: Choose a School of Arcanism as your specialisation. Spells of this School inscribed into your Spellbook will become 60% more efficient and 30% more powerful. This will also gain you 5 new spell slots, into which you can only inscribe spells from your specialisation.

1 ST - Spellbook Expansion: Add in 1 more page to your Spellbook, granting you another spell slot. (This Trait can be taken again for further pages.)

5 ST - Improved Mana Sense: Your Mana Sense’s base range and sensitivity attributes are doubled. 

5 ST - Mana Sight: You gain Mana Sight, the ability to perceive mana as visual phenomena on the light spectrum. This ability is toggle-able. 

5 ST - Improved Mana Sight: Your Mana Sight’s base range and sensitivity attributes are doubled. 

10 ST - Dimensional Attunement: Your Affinity Attunement now also affects the metaphysical link you have to Spirit Planes linked to your Element. 

Bloodline Traits

10 ST - Arcane Blood: Your blood is infused with mana, expanding the well of magical energy you can call upon, at the risk of mana exhaustion becoming lethal. Your Mana storage capacity is increased by 50% (+50% per Rank).

30 ST - True Fae Bloodline Purification: You become indistinguishable from a true-blooded Fae when it comes to magic, Traits and Skills, but without gaining the race itself or its detrimental effects. 

10 ST - Astral Sailor: You become highly resistant to the corrosive and otherwise detrimental effects of being within the wilder parts of the Astral Sea. Phenomena of a Rank higher than yourself can still affect you.

20 ST - Demi-Spirit: As a descendant of a Spirit King, you are able to adjust to Realms with more esoteric Laws with no trouble. You are able to exist within Realms made up entirely of energy, where physical matter withers away under the unyielding weight of the Laws. The present Laws will treat your body as if it were made of pure energy, just like a Spirit’s.

5 ST - Sneaky Wisp: When taking on the Wisp form, you become invisible to mortal senses and blend in reasonably well with your magical and spiritual surroundings. 

5 ST - Enduring Wisp: Your Wisp form is now a being of duality, existing in realspace and in the spirit realm at once. Only destroying both parts at the same time kills you in this form, as you can reform any of the parts from the other in a blink. 

5 ST - Wisp-erer: Maintaining the Wisp form becomes substantially easier by a factor of ten per Rank. 

5 ST - Improved Spirit Sense: Double the base range and sensitivity aspects of Spirit Sense. 

5 ST - Spectral Spell Thief: Spirit Sense becomes much more detailed, and you can sense mana weaves, spell forms and enchantments with some detail. Scales with the Sensitivity attribute.

5 - ST - Spellweaver’s Mind Enhancement: Spellforms and mana weaves become much easier to remember. Scaling with Memory. 

10 ST - Spirit Sight: Spirit Sense, but through your eyes. It allows you a glimpse into the shallowest layer of the Spirit Realm.

10 ST - Mana Heart: A spectral organ in the right side of your chest, opposite to your ‘real’ heart. It passively circulates the mana within your Core through your energy channels, widening them, refining them and making sure you always have mana spread evenly through your body for reinforcement. 

30 ST - My Word is my Vow: Promises spoken by or to you become binding. The Geases form instantly and are enforced by the power of the progenitor of your Bloodline. To break the Geas, one must overpower not you, but your progenitor. You may dismiss Promises not spoken by you at will, saving the recipient from backlash. Your own Promises can only be dismissed by your progenitor.

5 ST - Mana Refinement [Tier 1]: Your mana becomes purer and more condensed, granting you a potential 20% potency boost to every spell cast. (This Trait can be taken again for further refinement. There are no diminishing returns. Boost is additive.) ((Some spells will not be affected by this))

System Utility

Planetary Travel Token - 1 [UNAVILABLE] (Newbie Tip: Progress your Realm Quest further to unlock the currently Unavailable options.)

Inter-Planetary Travel Token - 3 [UNAVILABLE]

Inter-Galactic Travel Token - 5 [UNAVILABLE]

Realm Travel Token (Mystic, Beast) - 10 [UNAVILABLE]

Astral Travel Token (Astral Sea) - 10 [UNAVILABLE]

Realm Travel Token (Demon, Spirit, Death) - 20 [UNAVILABLE]

Class Selection Token - 1 (Tip: Allows you to choose a second Class, if you have the Primary Skill Slot available for it)

Class Merge Token - 3

‘Remove Class-Subskill’ Token - 1

‘Switch Secondary Skill’ Token - 1

‘Switch Main Skill’ Token - 3 (Tip: Works for Class Skills too, if you have more than 1)

***

Mia appeared in an empty white void, where the only object aside from herself was a replica of the Obelisk standing before her. One of its faces was covered by a lengthy System window, which Mia took her time reading through at least twice before beginning to think. 

There were a lot of options, like a lot. This felt like a special kind of hell developed for the sole purpose of tormenting someone with a tendency for decision paralysis. Like, say, Mia. 

The stupid System is bullying me. Great. She thought, snorting a moment later. Alright … I have the ones recommended by the manual. 

Enhanced Mana Signature, Mana Refinement, Spellbook Expansion and Arcane Blood were the ones that the Training Manual suggested as the best go-to choices for the first Rank-Up if one had the Tokens to buy them all. Doubly so since two of them could be bought multiple times. They were good, if a bit bland, options, at least compared to some of the juicier Traits.

Mia’s eyes flickered up to the three big ones: My Word is my Vow, True Fae Bloodline Purification and Demi-Spirit. Simple logic would dictate that the most expensive choices were the best ones, or maybe that was just her capitalistic upbringing speaking. 

From what she knew, having 52 System Tokens on her first Rank-Up was pretty good, great even, but the range of options she could choose from was bordering on the obscene. Especially those Bloodline Traits. Maybe … Maybe Sparkle really wasn’t talking out of his ass and she really was much closer to her progenitor than she’d initially assumed. 

She marked down Enhanced Mana Signature and Arcane Blood, putting both into her metaphorical shopping bag. Those two were non-negotiable. On the flip side, the Spellbook Extension, she could let go, since according to the Training Manual, getting her Rank 1 runic-model ahead of time would double the number of pages added to her Spellbook when she applied that Class Tier-Up token to her Arcane Mage Class. 10 new pages meant 10 new spells she could have prepared, which should be more than enough for the foreseeable future.

Now comes the hard part … I still have 32 Tokens. Urgh, I guess let's choose a Meridian first, I guess.

Her only real choices were the Astral, Brain and Third-Eye Meridians. One would enhance her Mana Core, one her mental capabilities, and one her perception, primarily her Spirit Sense. There was also the Throat Meridian, which she’d need if she wanted to learn Chanting from Nikki. 

Maybe she could have gone with one that enhanced her physique, giving herself another layer of survivability, but … nah. She was a Mage, goddamnit! Not some brutish brawler. She’d have Wards and Shield, which would have to be enough. No, they would be enough, especially because she was about to choose the Astral Meridian!

She paused for a moment, trying to feel whether she felt reluctant with the choice she ended up with by basically rolling a mental dice. Nope. It was a bit boring, but a good general improvement to her capabilities. It’d do. She marked it down too, adding it to her shopping bag.

And then Mia was back to staring blankly at the lengthy list of Traits, almost all of which she wanted. Some of them were a bit bland, some looked fun but not too useful, and some she was salivating at the thought of having … but this wasn’t a game. She had to make the best choice because her life and her friends' lives could depend on it. 

Sure, she really wanted that Fae Contract Trait just because, but it was all but worthless for the purpose of staying- and keeping others alive. Maybe a few more Rank-Ups down the road, she could pick it up. Maybe by then, she could make proper use of it by making unbreakable peace treaties between different factions. But first, she had to get strong enough to sit at the table, to even get factions to the negotiating table … if there even were cohesive factions out there, across the globe. She was just guessing here. 

Right. Which Traits would serve her best for the purpose of surviving long enough to grow stronger? Her thoughts flickered back to the moment when she messed up, when she turned into a Wisp even though a spell was flying at her instead of a physical attack. She would have probably died there had Sparkle and Camie not been there to save her butt. 

So, without a second thought, she put Enduring Wisp into her shopping bag too. She doubted anyone would have an attack that could strike at a Wisp hiding in the Spirit Realm, so her Wisp Form would essentially shed its weakness to magical attacks with this Trait. At least for the next Rank or two. From what little she knew of Rank 4 and 5, Skills, spells and the like became absolutely ridiculous up there. 

Next, she added Mana Heart. It would basically be a passive, if slow, increase to her energy channels’ attributes. Like she was spending 24 hours a day doing mana exercises to refine her channels, without actually having to do them. It sounded like a pretty good deal to her.

Mia was once again left staring at the list, reading through it again and again while biting her lip. Survivability and combat power, she reiterated in her mind. That’s what she needed. Not some neat trait that would allow her to sail the mystical Astral Sea like a pirate, or an even cooler one that would allow her to travel into the depths of the Spirit Realm without giving up her corporeal form forever. Neither of those would help her in the here and now.

In the end, she decided to buy the other two Wisp Traits, making her Wisp form sneakier and easier to maintain for longer. Then added in Solid Mana Manifestation, because tougher Shields and Wards were probably good for her life expectancy. That left her with a single measly System Token, which she used to buy a Secondary Skill Change Token … because why not? It seemed the most useful thing out of all the 1 Token options.

Her gaze lingered on the Class Selection Token. This was her last chance to discard the Arcane Mage Class and change it entirely, once she spent the Class Tier Upgrade Token she was about to receive after the Rank-Up and spent it on Arcane Mage, discarding the Class would mean discarding the Tier-Up Token. Of which, she’d only get five total. One per Rank Up. 

Her eyes drifted down to the Class Merge Token. That was another option. It would allow her to pick a second Class, then merge it into her Arcane Mage Class, adding the second Class’ Subskills from its Class Skill to the Arcane Mage’s Class Skill … if they were found to be compatible.

The problem was, Mia knew she wouldn’t have any of the handful of actually good Classes listed in her Training Manual on offer. The small book had their requirements listed, and Mia was far from fulfilling all of them for even a single Class on that list. Maybe there would be another good Class that miraculously fit her Arcane Mage Class … but it was a gamble, and she didn’t feel like rolling the wheel when her future was on the line. 

[Your System Token balance had hit zero!]

Currently Selected Items:

10 ST - Arcane Blood 

5 ST - Enhanced Mana Signature

1 ST - Astral Meridian Opening

10 ST - Mana Heart

5 ST - Enduring Wisp

5 ST - Sneaky Wisp

5 ST - Wisp-erer

5 ST - Solid Mana Manifestation

5 ST - 1 x Mana Refinement

1 ST - 1 x Switch Secondary Skill Token 

Do you wish to finalise your purchase?

[ YES / NO ]

Taking a deep, calming breath, Mia hit yes.

[Chosen Traits will be granted during the Rank-Up process.] 

[System Shop is closing … ]

[Proceeding with Rank-Up … ]