Book 5 - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

The guy floating in the air was a Mirror Image, of course. Even if Brin did somehow manage to crack flight by picking himself up with his own glass, there's no way that he'd be stupid enough to do it here. Floating above an enemy army just made you into a target in a place with no cover.

No, that was fake. He was a bit disappointed that the first image of an invincible demigod floating in the air wasn't quite the true story, but this was a [Illusionist] Class after all. Deception was part of the game.

The floating lasers were real, though, and so were the glass weapons. It was an incredible amount of firepower, enough to exhaust Brin in seconds. The demons shot arrows and shot stones from slings, and the Glassbound Illusionist made it look like they were striking an invisible shield and bouncing off, rather than passing straight through.

The demons redoubled their efforts and it would soon become obvious that he wasn't there, so the Mirror Image spun around in a circle and became enveloped on a shroud of glittering glass sand before disappearing completely.

The glass weapons that had been hanging in the air slammed down, eliminating dozens of the demons.

Mirror Men sprang up from the glass of the broken weapons and launched themselves at the demons, devastating the stunned monsters. More Mirror Men sprang up every second, too many to be feasible even if Glassbound Illusionist tripled his power, but then he noticed. Four-fifths of them were simple Mirror Images. Or that's what he thought until he saw a demon chop into one and release a spray of the smoky black blood.

No, the Glassbound Illusionist had projected fake Mirror Men on top of other demons to trick them into fighting each other. Other actual Mirror Men were disguised to look like demons and were cutting their way through the army unopposed.

The endless horde of demons was stalled in place. Their leaders spoke contradictory orders, and what had once seemed like a perfectly united and coordinated professional now broke into separate groups, or devolved into complete anarchy. He saw demons who were completely unrelated to anything the Glassbound Illusionist was doing turn on each other out of fear and paranoia.

There was still no sign of the "real" Glassbound Illusionist, but he had to be nearby. Brin quickly lost Mana efficiency if he tried to control glass from far away, and while that had clearly been improved, he doubted that the new range was limitless.

Right on cue, a figure slipped out of invisibility right next to Brin. He was in his mid-twenties and wore a professional-looking suit, but in the style of this world now. It was something that Sion's uncle might wear.

"We have some time to talk. As you have already been told," Glassbound Illusionist nodded to Warmaker who nodded back, "I represent the choice to keep your current Class and upgrade it to Epic. We should walk."

The Glassbound Illusionist made his way to exit the bunker, and Brin followed. The avatar made them both invisible, but Brin could still follow him. 

The Warmaker was nowhere in sight, but Brin was sure he'd slipped away rather than died. It made sense. He would've had an excellent synergy with the Glassbound Illusionist, and Brin needed to see what each Class was capable of on its own.

Exiting the bunker was a good idea. The demons had no idea where their enemy was now, but they knew where the enemy had been and eventually one of them got the idea to storm the building again. A caster threw fireball after fireball inside and when it was spent a swarm of melee fighters flooded the building.

They should've found nothing, but of course the Glassbound Illusionist capitalized and a few well-placed illusions convinced the monsters to slaughter themselves, almost to the last demon.

Despite the chaos of the battle around them, their pace was unhurried and the Glassbound Illusionist always managed to guide them to calmer spots.

They found a jagged canyon wall and sat on a stone shelf to talk. Brin wasn't worried about being overheard. Despite not having access to his magical senses, he knew himself well enough to know that Silent Voice had already been cast.

"So what else should I know?"

"It's about what you expect. I can do everything you see here. You’ll get another 3 points in Magic, two in Mental Control, and two in Will per level. Your Skill descriptions won't change much, but all of them will be more. More Mana. More efficiency with each branch of magic. Harder glass, brighter light, and more powerful lasers. I have a higher range on both illusions and glass. My glass weapons can project power across the battlefield, rather than serve to give away my location. My Invisible Eyes can approach the nation-wide information network that Hogg had, rather than just scout out my immediate surroundings."

"How long is your illusion range, exactly?" Brin asked.

"Sixty miles," said the Glassbound Illusionist. "But once I can go that far, I expect Achievements to push me farther. That must be how Hogg gained his range."

"The one straight upgrade will be to [Inspect]. You'll get hidden Titles from people with [Hide Status] at the same level. If your [Inspect] is double their level, you'll see their Achievements and Skills."

"Finally," said Brin.

He gazed out at the battlefield, at the wanton destruction, the sheer madness-inducing chaos. The demons fought for their lives, sometimes against real enemies of glass and sometimes against each other. And here they both were, hidden and totally safe.

"It feels like a dream," said Brin.

"It's sort of part dream and part... oh, you meant metaphorically." The Glassbound Illusionist grinned in delight. "It is! It's so much power. This is real strength. This is the Class of a man who can stand on his own legs. It's enough power for a lifetime. I've made it. I've arrived, even if I never grow another inch."

A new voice cut in, one Brin recognized. His own voice, filtered through evil. "Funny you should say that."

It was the Scarred One. He was dressed sharply in a soldier's uniform, maybe trying to look normal and approachable, but the flawless uniform just drew greater attention to the marred and tortured skin.

The Glassbound Illusionist frowned. "What are you doing here?"

The Scarred One held up his hands. "Nothing! I'm not trying to get in your way here. I just think it's funny, is all, that you mention never growing another inch. You haven't told him about [Glassbound] yet."

"That's nothing new."

The Scarred One smiled sadistically, as if he knew he'd just won. "Oh, don't mind me then. Carry on."

"Begone, demon. Your time is not yet come," said the Glassbound Illusionist.

The Scarred One made a motion as if zipping his lips shut and then disappeared. Brin tracked him with [Know What's Real] for a moment; he'd used invisibility magic.

Brin turned to the Glassbound Illusionist. "What did he mean by that?"

The avatar sighed. "Unlike with some of your other choices, your [Glassbound] Achievement won't go away. Actually, it will advance! Your ability to work with glass will improve, both inside and outside of a glass workshop. But the experience penalty remains the same."

Brin felt a bit of relief. "Oh, that's all. I haven't had much trouble with that in the past."

"You've gotten around it by defeating enemies higher level than you. But with every level you gain, the number of enemies higher level than you decreases."

Brin shrugged. "I seem to be getting through the forties alright so far."

The Scarred One appeared again and poked Brin in the chest. "You defended an entire city from a goblin invasion. You rallied the people, rooted out the traitors, and held the goblins back, practically alone. That's the thing legends are made of. Or epics, at least. It's why you have an Epic offering now, right? All of that for two measly levels. And it's only going to get harder! The difficulty bumps up again at forty-five. The gap between forty-five and forty-six is more than what you need to go from thirty to forty."

"That's simply untrue. For rote practice, perhaps that's the case, but the System is always generous with feats and achievements. Doing something never done before, or even things that I've never done before, is a dependable way to get to levels, even at higher levels," said the Glassbound Illusionist.

"And how many of those do you have left? How many things do you have left to invent?" asked the Scarred One.

"Plenty," the Glassbound Illusionist answered.

"Plenty more, if you had a new Skill or magical aspect to work with," said the Scarred One. "Face it. You will never get to level fifty."

What I want to know," Brin said, interrupting the argument, "is why you're here as the Scarred One when I can't take that Class."

"I told you. I'll always be part of you." The Scarred One put a hand on Brin's shoulder. "But if you want to hear about it, I do have a little something–"

"This is still my time," the Glassbound Illusionist said.

The Scarred One held up his hands in apology. "You're right. I'm sorry. Carry on."

The Glassbound Illusionist glared at him until the Scarred One turned and slinked away.

Then to Brin, he said, "I suppose there's nothing left to discuss. All that's left for us now is a demonstration."

"I thought we were already doing a demonstration," said Brin.

The army that the other avatars had fought and fallen to was still a complete mess. The Glassbound Illusionist was holding them at bay by himself. He was winning.

For now. There were already signs that the glass was starting to crack. A few of the demons weren't fooled anymore when a Mirror Image was projected on top of their fellow. They'd make a careful cut first, and then if black, smoky blood came out, they'd know it was an ally. The Glassbound Illusionist was changing his illusions to counter that, changing the blood for glass, but it meant that the demons were noticing things, that they were thinking.

"I'm just getting started," said the Glassbound Illusionist.

He moved forward, leaving Brin invisible and alone, and entered the fray.

The avatar waded into a group of demons and turned himself into their leader. Powerful, tall and intimidating. He used the screeches and gestures that he'd seen the demons use, and commanded them to turn on their fellows, to attack their lines and burst through.

He also placed a double-sided illusion against both sides of the conflict, one that was so complex and refined it took Brin's breath away. It didn't simply make both sides look like Mirror Men to each other, that would've been too obvious. It made little things peek out. Just a hint of reflectiveness on a black weapon. A demon that was a bit too indistinct, a Mirror Man that peeked out for only an instant before disappearing. It looked to both sides as if the others were a group of Mirror Men in disguise.

They instantly fell for it, and the Glassbound Illusionist's group launched into the other with eager bloodlust. Brin expected him to switch targets and do that again somewhere else, but instead he fought alongside his demons, using his art and craft to give them advantage where they could. He fought for real as well, using his morphic glass weapons to cut through the enemy with as much confident finesse as the Mirror Knight had displayed.

The group of demons cut into the army, carving a path, and Brin realized they had a destination. They were heading straight for one of the demon leaders, one of the real ones who directed the troops and took potshots with their devastating black lightning.

The demon screeched and rallied his own demons, who fell upon the Glassbound Illusionist's demons and tore them apart. The avatar raised a dozen spears of glass and using words of Language that Brin could hear all the way across the battlefield, launched them at the foe.

The demons between him and the leader were all cut down, and the leader even took a spear to the leg. Black lightning streaked towards the avatar, but a glass shield sprung into place to block it. When it shattered the shield, five more popped up behind it, and the third shield stopped the lightning.

The demon reached forward again, ready to cast another bolt, but the Glassbound Illusionist was ready as well. One of the floating lasers appeared from invisibility above him, this one clearly pumped full of an incredible amount of light magic.

It fired, cutting straight through the enemy leader. It shone horizontal, back and forth, and cut the demon leader in half.

He'd gotten one. He'd actually gotten one.

There appeared to be an unlimited number of the demons, but he'd only ever spotted three leaders. What would happen if they killed all three? Was this scenario actually winnable?

Smaller demons rushed to cover the wounded leader with their bodies, trying to protect him from a follow-up attack, but the Glassbound Illusionist had already aborted it. A volley of magical projectiles from the casters were blanketing the area, destroying his laser and forcing him to retreat.

He only narrowly made his way back from the enraged army, and while he caused a lot of damage on the way out, he never got a clear shot at the leader again. Brin saw it once, way in the back. It had no legs and had to be carried by its minions, but cutting it in half at the stomach hadn't killed it.

Time ground on, and the Glassbound Illusionist fought valiantly, but nothing lasts forever. The demons never did anything as easy as throw down an Eveladis, but there were other workarounds to illusions. There were magic casters who threw black shadows that could disrupt illusions if only briefly. He targeted them wherever they appeared, but there always seemed to be more. In places where he used glass weapons, the demons sent special search teams, demons that had more senses than light and sound to track him down. He killed the first search team that appeared, but they were able to point so many demons to his real location that it took a huge amount of Mana to fight them back and stay alive. When search teams showed up after that, he retreated to find a new area to terrorize.

Hour after hour, the army ground down his Mana until nothing was left except what he needed for a simple invisibility spell. He stayed hidden, constantly moving to avoid the constant churning of the army. He could survive like this indefinitely, or at least until the demons got really lucky, but his ability to resist them was done.

The Scarred One approached him again. He didn't speak but walked up and leaned with his back against the wall.

Brin said, "I know you want to say it, so just say it already."

"Say what? If you don't want to hear what I have to say, go ahead and pick Glassbound Illusionist."

"Really? Fine," said Brin. He turned and started walking towards where he'd last seen the Epic Class.

"Wait!" the Scarred One called out.

Brin turned and smirked at him.

"Just hear me out," the Scarred One said slyly.

"See, I knew you were going to say it," said Brin.

"The Class is called... [Confusionist]," said the Scarred One. He relished the word as if he were giving Brin a winning lottery number.

"Really?"

"We have some leeway over the name. It's not important. What's important is what it can do." He rubbed his hands together, smiling devilishly.

"Why do we have some leeway over the name?" asked Brin.

"Don't worry about it. Let me tell you about... [Fabulist]. No? [Falsifist]. Hm. Maybe."

Brin shook his head, feeling a little amused. The Scarred Ones antics were a nice break from the dramatic intensity of the Class Selection so far. "You seem to be having a hard time here."

The Scarred One laughed. "Cut me some slack. I'm really excited. Because for once I have it! I have the Class you need and the one you want. Let me tell you about [Mistake Maker]."

"That one's a little on the nose," said Brin.

"We'll workshop the name. Fine, I guess if I was going to be boring, I'd give the descriptive name. I'd call it [Wyrdic Illusionist]," said the Scarred One.

Brin laughed guiltily, though he wasn't sure what he felt guilty about. Was it possible to regret something that hasn't happened yet? "I knew it. I knew I was going to get a Wyrd Class."

"You've sort of gotten three, haven't you? Your Class selections have been altered by your superior understanding of the Wyrd, but the way you got it is strange. Most people start with the Skills to use it and then gain understanding later, but you got it backwards. That means I have the Wyrd but I just need to figure out where to stick it. If I attach it to my glass, I get [Wyrdic Hunter]. If I throw some of it into my [Warbound] Achievement, I get [Warbringer]. And if I attach some of it to illusions, I get this."

"So what's it do?" Brin asked eagerly.

Rather than answer right away, the Scarred One stepped forward and then spun on his heel, clearly happy to be in the spotlight. "You ever think about this war? Do you ever think about what it's going to take to win?"

"The armies of three nations are on our side, if we count Theranor. It would be pretty arrogant for me to assume that there's anything I personally can do to shift the scales," said Brin.

"We both know you are that arrogant," said the Scarred One. "And Lumina thinks so, too. Remember what she said? She said success will come down to knowing what you know and having the Class you have. That's the real reason you can't take Mirror Knight. You need to be an [Illusionist]."

"Mirror Knight can still do illusions," said Brin.

"Lumina doesn't know how bad you've been at keeping your Class hidden. If you're going to be effective going forward, you need to be better at illusions. Not worse," said the Scarred One.

"Like Glassbound Illusionist," said Brin.

"Yeah, like him. Except they eventually found him out, didn't they? They eventually figured out his tricks and took precautions." The Scarred One swept his hand over to indicate the ash-swept landscape, now completely free of any resistance to the demon army.

Brin folded his arms. "Just cut to the chase. What do you do?"

"Through the Wyrd, I can add a bit of persuasion into my illusions with the purpose of making them more believable. With a bit of practice, even people who know you're an illusionist will be fooled by the things you create."

"Mind control," said Brin.

"Mind... persuasion," said the Scarred One. "But you want this. You do. You have all this knowledge of the Wyrd, but all you can do with it is make your spells marginally more effective some of the time. Mirror Knight and Glassbound Illusionist just give you more of what you already have. This is a new thing, another branch of magic, a new ability to tap into, one that utilizes your knowledge. But you don't just want this. You need this, too. This is the Class that can fool people who already know your secrets. This is the Class that can lie to Lothar."

"Lumina would understand if I told her I can't be the ace in the hole she needs," said Brin.

The Scarred One growled. "This is bigger than Lumina. It's not just because Lumina needs you. The war needs you. They already have [Knights] that are stronger than you'll ever be, and they have [Illusionists], too. What they don't have is the Wyrd. All that power is on Arcaena's side, and they have nothing to counter it with."

"We have [Witch Hunters]," countered Brin.

The Scarred One spat on the ground. "[Witch Hunters]. Yeah, right."

Funny coming from the avatar who'd tried to convince Brin to become one not that long ago. "What are the side effects? This is an evil Class, isn't it? What is this going to turn me into?"

The Scarred One tapped his cheek. "Hm, I really don't know. The great thing about this Class is that it will be for you to decide. I guess you'll want people to think you're right, even when you're not. You'll be tempted to make up stories, to tell lies, and you'll want people to believe you. But isn't there an easy solution? Just don't tell lies. If you never start, you'll never gain an addiction to it."

"Why do I get the feeling it won't be that easy?" asked Brin.

"If you're still not convinced, I have another Skill for you. When activated, it'll make all of your abilities just as effective against yourself as they are against others. That includes your new persuasion Skill. What if I want to sneak in someplace? What if I want to convince everyone that I’m an enemy officer? Nothing simpler if I actually think it’s true. This is what I meant when I said it’s a Class that can fool Lothar. Because I will believe everything I tell him."

That was almost a downside to the Class. It sounded like he'd be liable to twist his own brain into knots.

"I'd like to see it in action. Aren't you going to give me a demonstration?" asked Brin.

The Scarred One smiled a Scarred One smile, making no effort to hide the crazy. "Isn't that what I've been doing? Look and see."

There was no war going on in the plains, no flashes of glass or lasers. Brin had to watch carefully to notice that anything was happening at all.

First, he noticed that the demons were separating themselves into three major tribes, and that gave him a clue to look for the rest. Before, the demons had been perfectly united. Any leader could give an order to any demon and be obeyed, but now several demons only listened to one of the leaders and ignored the rest. This was accomplished in a variety of ways. Either by creating a new illusory demon from the ground up, or by blocking the ears of listening demons at the correct times.

Once the smaller demons saw some of their number picking sides, they moved to follow until tens of thousands had joined a separate army.

Before, any demon might give a piece of information to another and be believed, but the Scarred One had been hard at work there, too. He'd used his illusions to make liars of the demons, not always leading to violent traps or destruction, but simple changes to ensure no one could be trusted.

He'd also made the leaders screw with each other. He convinced them that this piece of barren dirt was their territory, and that little movement by a peer was an infringement of their honor. The infractions started small, just annoyances, but over time the leaders grew into anger and then mutual hatred. Now they really were doing things to hurt each other and it didn't need to be faked, but the Scarred One fanned the flames. Quietly. Carefully. Patient, but relentless.

Brin could already see how this would end. Even now little skirmishes were breaking out. It would turn to civil war.

This Class wasn't as strong as the Mirror Knight or as powerful as the Epic Glassbound Illusionist, but it would succeed where they failed.

"Why doesn't the Class have a name? Is it unique?" Brin asked.

"Of course not! No. Nuh-uh. Any [Illusionist] with glass magic and some good war Achievements who drinks poison with his mother's milk will get offered this Class," said the Scarred One.

Brin watched the growing tension of the demon army, the violent intent building and waiting to be released. It was exciting but it also filled him with dread.

The Scarred One must've noticed something in his expression, because he held a hand up and said, "But that's not all! The experience penalty from [Glassbound] goes away, but you keep the rest of the title. [Menace] will upgrade. You'll be nearly invulnerable to mental manipulation, except for when you do it to yourself. Oh, and [Inspect]! I'll bump that up to [Wyrdic Inspect]. You'll immediately be able to feel the interaction of the Wyrd on people or things that you [Inspect]. No clash of magic necessary!"

That last one gave Brin pause. That was a tremendous expansion of [Know What's Wyrd]. "All the Wyrd?"

"No one sees all the Wyrd except the gods," said the Scarred One. "It's like the Language that way."

Brin crossed his arms, thinking.

The Scarred One watched him waiting for an answer, and growing increasingly anxious. "Ok, I can also throw in a bonus to [Hide Status]. Even if their [Inspect] is high level enough, there will still be a test in the Wyrd they'll have to pass to see your real Class."

It wasn't an easy decision, and it was. No matter what he chose, the other options were going to haunt him forever. He also didn't think he'd regret his decision, no matter what he chose. They were all good options. If there had been one real stand-out, it would've made the decision hard. But since he would be a strange mix of happy and unhappy no matter what he chose, it meant that he could let duty guide his hand.

Still, the Scarred One kept offering him things the more he waited, so he frowned and kept watching the avatar.

"Well… well, think about it!" the Scarred One said, breaking after only thirty seconds. "A lot of the Classes you've been offered today are going to evolve to [Mage] and this is no exception. You'll only have to endure it for a little while. And Epic? We're ALL going to be Epic before too long. You've done epic things, so you're going to have an Epic Class."

Brin waited.

The Scarred One sighed. "Fine. There's one last thing I can do for you. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. [Persistent Casting]. That's the main reason you don't want to move away from an [Illusionist]-based Class. It's the last thing you need for a fully realized [Illusionist] build. It lets you maintain illusions that you've already created with a negligible cost to focus or Mana. Well, what if I can do you one better? At level forty-five, I'll guarantee that you get offered [Amplified Casting]. Imbue your illusions with a purpose in the Wyrd, and they'll grow stronger over time. They'll convert light from their surroundings to renew themselves, or even send Mana back to you."

"Can I have that now?" Brin asked.

"Do you even realize what I'm offering here? This is as good as it gets!" The Scarred One pulled a few hairs out of the side of his head in frustration.

“What are the attributes like?” Brin asked.

“Same,” said the Scarred One. “Or I could do one less Mental Control for one more Dexterity.”

Brin shook his head. “Let’s talk Skills. Can I still get [Glasser] Skills?”

The Scarred One scrunched up his nose in disgust. “Maybe. But you won’t get two Skills at fifty. Are you even going to have this Class for that long?”

“Unless I can’t change it. I’d hate to lose glass forever. I still want to go back to crafting some day,” said Brin.

The Scarred One crooked an eyebrow. “And yet you didn’t get offered a single non-combat Class today. So what does that tell you? What are we even talking about right now?”

“We’re talking about war. We’re talking about a Class bound for war. Because we must win the war,” Brin said, feeling sort of distant. 

Out on the plain, the war was breaking out. Demons formed into lines and started to cast their magic and fly their arrows at each other. No longer because they were fooled by illusions, but because they really wanted to kill the other demons. It was terrible, and it was a victory.

He felt the same as when the Mirror Knight had first arrived. Awe at incredible power, but also a sort of tiredness in his soul. "Does it really have to be like this? Does it have to be war?"

The Scarred One shook his head like he didn't understand the question. "No? You're free. Do whatever you want. But if you have to trudge through this hell, wouldn't you rather be the person who kind of thinks it's fun?"

Brin chose his Class. At the last moment, he remembered that they'd never settled the name. Also, he realized that the Scarred One had never given him the name of his new Skills.

Say What's True

Channel the Wyrd to adjust a victim's belief in your illusions.

Mirrored Duplicity

Target yourself with any Skill, overcoming all defenses and resistances.

Menace -> Menacing Mendacity

Mental Resistance drastically increased.

Inspect -> Wyrdic Inspect

You can feel the interactions of the Wyrd.

Alert! You have chosen a new Class. 

Confusionist (Rare)

Level: 42