Exemplars Chosen: 8,633
Surviving Exemplars: 6,713
Exemplars Remaining to Be Chosen: 287.
Nemeses Selected: 3,405
Surviving Nemeses: 2,839
Nemeses Remaining to Be Chosen: 161.
Roland checked the time. A little after eleven a.m. Bob was probably still asleep. A look at the doomsday clock showed him he had just about two weeks to get stuff done before the big show started.
He had to concentrate on what needed to be done rather than wallow in self-pity. Unfortunately, that required him to take a good look at the reasons for his self-pity.
“Okay,” he said, turning to his faerie guide. “Walk me through the damage. Got to know how many bennies I lost.”
The action-figure-sized winged girl spent a few seconds with her eyes closed before responding mentally.
“Just spit it out, okay?”
“Okay. Could be worse. You said advancing my class was going to get a lot harder. What does that mean?”
“What happens then?”
“So, I’ve got to fix it.”
“I didn’t know you could keep getting levels without moving up in Grades.”
“And become peons.”
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“Not going to happen. Not going to let that happen.”
“Thanks.”
I’m sure that if I don’t un-eff myself, she will tell me it’s time for her to start seeing other Exemplars.
she added.
“Good to know. Anything else I need to know before we start thinking about solutions?”
“Great. Just great.”
He checked, and she was right; his Aura Rating had gone down to forty-eight from its previous height of seventy-three.
Even worse, his most powerful ability – his Art – was useless until he fixed the damage Yang Marcus – he had no doubt the instructor was responsible – had inflicted. Some of his most powerful Skills and Techniques had been rolled into his super-Art: CAPOR. He’d put a bunch of eggs in one basket, and that bastard had set it on fire.
Roland thought about the scrolls and natural treasures sitting in his inventory, about as useful now as screen doors on a submarine.
I’m going to fix this.
He started by opening the skill his winged benefactor had demanded he get:
* Spirit Familiar (Rare, Ritual, Beginner): You can form a symbiotic relationship with a willing spirit entity. The Spirit will serve your interests while using your Essence to advance its own power. The types of spirit entities available depend on your Affinities. Their power will increase with your Skill. A 1-hour ritual and the expenditure of 10 Unbound Essence is required.
The Skill seemed straightforward enough. Roland wasn’t thrilled with its Rare quality, though. Would it be good enough?
“Trixie, do you think upgrading my Spirit Familiar Skill to Epic will help?”
I need a miracle.
Looking through his inventory, he pulled out an Epic Skill Upgrade. And a Universal Upgrade Token. A Legendary one.
* Universal Upgrade Token (F-Grade, Legendary): Using this token will improve a Class, Dao, Item, Perk, Skill or Technique by two tiers, to a maximum tier of Legendary. Cultivation Patterns cannot be improved with this token. Additional tokens cannot be used on the target again, although other methods such as crafting and advancement may increase the its quality.
“I’m going for broke,” Roland decided, grabbing the universal token.
“I need help. I figure that if I get the best Skill possible and focus on calling something that will help me, the System will respond. Am I wrong about that?”
“Worst case, I get a really good pet and it helps carry my weakened ass around as I make it to level forty. The only alternative is wait until after Integration and try to call the Chapel for help.”
You have used [Universal Upgrade Token] on Spirit Familiar (Rare Skill, Ritual, Beginner 1).
Your Skill has evolved and become Primordial Call (Legendary Skill, Ritual, Beginner 1).
* Primordial Call (Legendary Skill, Ritual, Beginner 1): You can reach into the deeper realms of the spirit world and call upon vastly powerful entities to become your allies. But beware, for what you call may turn you into the servant and itself into your master. Upon the conclusion of a 10-hour Ritual and the expenditure of 150 Unbound Essence, you will focus your will and desire to call upon a spirit that matches your Concepts.
The summoned entity will have a starting power of Peak F-Grade or Peak Tin Rank based on their Path, and will grow alongside you by feeding on a portion of your Unbound Essence.
Warning: There is a chance that the summoned spirit will try to overpower your will upon arrival. The ritual circle used in the process will provide some protection but is not foolproof, and the spirit may use its full strength (which may exceed F-Grade) in its efforts to overpower you.
If this happens but you manage to resist the spirit, there is a high chance it will depart without forging a contract with you, although the Essence used will remain gone. Be sure to prepare yourself, for this ritual may endanger your life or sanity.
“That’s some improvement,” Roland said after reading the description.
“Well, it’s not perfect, but I think it might just be what I need. Only thing is, I don’t want to spend ten hours on a ritual right now.”
“Yeah. Gotta sell some gold, get some guns, and maybe invite my cousin to a dungeon crawl.”