The sheer amount of information flooding him made Larek glad that he was sitting comfortably in his pillow throne, but having experienced such an influx of notifications before, he wasn’t phased as much as he normally would be. Once it had all come up, he looked back over them to see exactly what had happened while he hadn’t been looking.
Pattern Restoration has reached Level 92!
…..
Pattern Restoration has reached Level 94!
You have reached Level 66 and have 40 available AP to distribute!
Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 94!
Spellcasting Focus has reached Level 95!
Pattern Recognition has reached Level 106!
…..
Pattern Recognition has reached Level 110!
Mana Control has reached Level 121!
…..
Mana Control has reached Level 123!
Pattern Manipulation has reached Level 123!
Magical Detection has reached Level 125!
…..
Magical Detection has reached Level 140!
Unarmed Fighting has reached Level 19!
…..
Unarmed Fighting has reached Level 30!
You have reached Level 67 and have 81 available AP to distribute!
Dodge has reached Level 82!
…..
Dodge has reached Level 100!
Body Regeneration has reached Level 83!
…..
Body Regeneration has reached Level 100!
Bladed Weapon Expertise has reached Level 83!
…..
Bladed Weapon Expertise has reached Level 100!
You have reached Level 68 and have 122 available AP to distribute!
Stama Subjugation has reached Level 98!
…..
Stama Subjugation has reached Level 100!
Aetheric Authority has reached Level 17!
Primal Essence Mastery has reached Level 10!
…..
Primal Essence Mastery has reached Level 15!
Leadership has reached Level 58!
…..
Leadership has reached Level 65!
Axe Handling has reached Level 96!
…..
Axe Handling has reached Level 100!
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 100 in a Martial Skill and have unlocked the Champion Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 1 Martial Skill of at least 100
The Champion Specialization also provides these benefits:
A one-time bonus of +5 to all stats
5% Stama Cost reduction for all Battle Arts
One-time bonus automatically applied!
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 100 in three Martial Skills and have unlocked the Multi-Champion Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 3 Martial Skills of at least 100
The Multi-Champion Specialization also provides these benefits:
A one-time bonus of +15 to all stats
10% Stama Cost reduction for all Battle Arts
One-time bonus automatically applied!
Warning! The Specializations Champion and Multi-Champion are mutually exclusive!
Multi-Champion Specialization automatically accepted!
Congratulations!
You have unlocked the Skilled Warrior Specialization!
Requirements:
Any Weapon Skill of at least 100
Body Regeneration Skill of at least 100
Dodge Skill of at least 100
Strength of at least 250
Body of at least 250
Agility of at least 200
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Knowledge of at least 5 Battle Arts
The Skilled Warrior Specialization also provides these benefits:
20% increase in damage done with all Weapon Skills
20% increase in efficiency while using Body Regeneration and Dodge Skills
Congratulations!
You have unlocked the Warrior Skillmaster Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 4 Martial Skills at or above 100
Strength of at least 250
Body of at least 250
Agility of at least 200
Knowledge of at least 8 Battle Arts
The Warrior Skillmaster Specialization also provides these benefits:
25% increase in damage done with all Weapon Skills
30% increase in efficiency while using Body Regeneration, Stama Subjugation, and Dodge Skills
Warning! The Specializations Skilled Warrior and Warrior Skillmaster are mutually exclusive!
Warrior Skillmaster Specialization automatically accepted!
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 100 in both a Mage Skill and a Martial Skill and have unlocked the Battle Expert Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 1 Mage and 1 Martial Skill of at least 100
The Battle Expert Specialization also provides these benefits:
A one-time bonus of +20 to all stats
10% Mana Cost reduction for all spells and Fusions
10% Stama Cost reduction for all Battle Arts
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 100 in 3 Mage Skills and 3 Martial Skills and have unlocked the Battle Master Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 3 Mage and 3 Martial Skills of at least 100
The Battle Master Specialization also provides these benefits:
A one-time bonus of +50 to all stats
15% Mana Cost reduction for all spells and Fusions
15% Stama Cost reduction for all Battle Arts
Warning! The Specializations Battle Expert and Battle Master are mutually exclusive!
Battle Master Specialization automatically accepted!
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 10 in all Guardian Skills and have unlocked the Energy Manipulator Specialization!
Requirements:
Energetic Transmission of at least Level 10
Aetheric Authority of at least Level 10
Primal Essence Mastery of at least Level 10
The Energy Manipulator Specialization also provides these benefits:
Increased efficiency in manipulating all types of energy and patterns
Ability to impart any Guardian Skills to those with the capability
Congratulations, Guardian!
Due to your unique nature, you have unlocked the Master Guardian Specialization!
Requirements:
Adept Guardian Specialization
Any Mage Skill at or above 80
Any Martial Skill at or above 80
Intellect of at least 400
Acuity of at least 400
Pneuma of at least 400
Strength of at least 400
Body of at least 400
Agility of at least 400
Knowledge of a combination of at least 50 spells, Fusions, and/or Battle Arts
All Guardian Skills unlocked
The Master Guardian Specialization also provides these benefits:
20% reduction in Mana Cost for all cast Spells
20% increase in the magnitude of all cast Spells
20% increase in the range of all cast Spells
20% reduction in Stama cost for all Battle Arts
20% increase in effectiveness of all Battle Arts
20% increase in duration of all Battle Arts
The Master Guardian Specialization automatically replaces the Adept Guardian Specialization!
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 100 in a Mage, a Martial, and a General Skill as well as Level 10 in all Guardian Skills and have unlocked the All-Rounder Specialization!
Requirements:
Any 1 Mage Skill of at least 100
Any 1 Martial Skill of at least 100
Any 1 General Skill of at least 100
Energetic Transmission of at least Level 10
Aetheric Authority of at least Level 10
Primal Essence Mastery of at least Level 10
The All-Rounder Specialization also provides these benefits:
A one-time bonus of +10 to all stats
A one-time bonus of +5 to all General Skills
One-time bonuses automatically applied!
After fully recovering from the notifications of his Skill Level-ups, of which there were a lot, and his new Specializations, of which there were even more, Larek took a second before really digging into what it all meant. He looked at his new personal Level of 68 and the 122 AP he had to spend, before turning to his current stats. In total, he received 100 extra points to all of his stats because of his new Specialization’s one-time bonuses, so the differences were striking.
Strength: 460 [1,150] (+)
Body: 501 [1,253] (+)
Agility: 460 [1,150] (+)
Intellect: 500 [1,250] (+)
Acuity: 500 [1,250] (+)
Pneuma: 11,277 [28,193]
Pattern Cohesion: 281,930/281,920
Yeah, this is definitely how the Gergasi got so strong: The bonuses, when I obtain increase multiple Skills up to 100, are no joke.
With 122 AP to spend from his recent Level-ups, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Taking 80 of them, he split them up and inserted 40 into Strength and 40 into Agility, bringing them both up to 500. His recent fight against the assassin proved to him that he was still lacking in those two stats, and while there were certainly extenuating circumstances, raising both stats would go a long way toward fixing the problems he’d had.
Congratulations, Guardian!
Due to your unique nature, you have unlocked the Grandmaster Guardian Specialization!
Requirements:
Master Guardian Specialization
Any Mage Skill at or above 100
Any Martial Skill at or above 100
All Guardian Skills at or above 10
Intellect of at least 500
Acuity of at least 500
Pneuma of at least 500
Strength of at least 500
Body of at least 500
Agility of at least 500
Knowledge of a combination of at least 100 spells, Fusions, and/or Battle Arts
The Master Guardian Specialization also provides these benefits:
25% reduction in Mana Cost for all cast Spells
25% increase in the magnitude of all cast Spells
25% increase in the range of all cast Spells
25% reduction in Stama cost for all Battle Arts
25% increase in effectiveness of all Battle Arts
25% increase in duration of all Battle Arts
20% increase in all energy manipulation
The Grandmaster Guardian Specialization automatically replaces the Master Guardian Specialization!
As he expected, bringing himself up to 500 in every stat unlocked yet another Specialization; but more than that, his body and mind felt incredibly powerful once he hit that threshold. With his Omni-Boost Fusion, his stats were on par with the assassins’, even without having to resort to using any Battle Arts; but if he did use them, it was quite possible that he could end up stronger and faster than any Gergasi he might face. Or at least he thought he would be much faster than Farmas had been, though that wasn’t necessarily a fair comparison, because the Gergasi had been largely focused on Strength rather than Agility.
Regardless, it boded well for the fights to come. With the new Levels in his Martial Skills, 4 of which had advanced all the way to Level 100, he felt better equipped to face a Gergasi one-on-one than he had before, though he was cognizant that just because he was a little bit more skilled, that didn’t mean he could match up to the centuries of experience that they possessed, when in comparison to his own abilities. At most, he thought that his newfound proficiency in dodging and handling bladed weapons would keep him alive much longer than before, while not necessarily giving him an advantage that would allow him to win with his Martial prowess alone.
Which was why he had to leverage what he was good at to succeed.
But before he looked into additional Fusions to create, Larek looked at all of his new Specializations. His most recent one was the Master Guardian Specialization, which ultimately improved spells and Battle Arts, giving him yet another indication regarding how the Gergasi were so powerful. Being able to reduce the Mana and Stama costs of their abilities, while also making them stronger, told him how it had been possible that the pair of Gergasi he had fought inside the undead Calamity had managed to keep fighting long after their natural Mana regeneration had been somewhat frozen. Not only did they likely have enormous Mana pools, but their costs had likely been reduced by an incredible amount, meaning they could cast numerous spells for less than normal Mana costs.
The next Specialization was similar to his Omni-Sage one: Multi-Champion. He had gotten it from having at least 3 Martial Skills hit Level 100, and it – and the Champion Specialization before it – had given him extra stat points and a reduction in Stama costs for Battle Arts. When he added in the Battle Master Specialization, which came from having at least 3 Mage and 3 Martial Skills at Level 100, the reduction of his Stama costs for Battle Arts was increased even further.
Then there was the Warrior Skillmaster Specialization, which increased his damage output while utilizing any Weapon Skills, as well as improving the efficiency of Dodge, Body Regeneration, and Stama Subjugation – all of which made him an even better fighter. As he’d noticed before with the other Specializations he’d unlocked, the superiority of the Gergasi – who had a little over 1,000 years to unlock these kinds of Specializations – became an inevitability. It wasn’t that they were naturally stronger and larger than the other people in the Kingdom, even if they were; it was because they’d had the opportunity to fully utilize their Skills over hundreds of years and take advantage of the Specialization system to become even stronger with minimal effort.
It was unfair, but it was also wasn’t something that the people of the Kingdom could do anything about, especially given how handicapped they were without their full potential unlocked.
Wrapping up the new Specializations were Energy Manipulator and All-Rounder, which came from progressing all of his Guardian Skills to 10, as well as his Axe Handling General Skill to 100. All-Rounder yielded a flat, one-time increase in his stats, as well as additional Levels to all of his General Skills, which was welcome; but it was Energy Manipulator that really caught his attention when he looked at the benefits of the Specialization.
Increased efficiency in manipulating all types of energy and patterns
Ability to impart any Guardian Skills to those with the capability
Larek was always looking for better and more efficient ways to manipulate energy, whether it was Mana or Primal Essence, but the description of the benefit was fairly vague. It wasn’t a specific increase or anything, as it only said, “increased efficiency,” but he was looking forward to testing it to see what might have changed.
That was almost secondary to the other benefit, however, as just like he had gained the ability to impart Pattern-related Skills to those with the capability to learn them, he could now impart Guardian Skills – which was incredible. As far as he knew, no one – other than himself and the Gergasi – had been able to unlock those Skills as of yet. In the future, they might be able to on their own, but with Larek’s new ability to impart them to other people, he didn’t have to wait.
While the uses of these Skills were somewhat limited for the average person, Fusionists could benefit greatly from all of them, even theoretically giving them the eventual ability to create some of the Fusions that only Larek could create at this point in time. Granting these Skills to the Fusionists in the Sanctuary could advance their progress by leaps and bounds, and he was excited to get on that as soon as he could.
But first, he had to finish with his Status and his stats, because he still had 42 AP to distribute. After a few seconds of thought, as he considered what he was about to do with designing and creating additional Fusions that would help him fight the Gergasi, he stuck 14 points into Body, Intellect, and Acuity, bringing Body up to a base of 515 and the other two up to 514. Once that was done, he looked at his stats once again, more than pleased at what he saw.
Strength: 500 [1,250] (+)
Body: 515 [1,288] (+)
Agility: 500 [1,250] (+)
Intellect: 514 [1,285] (+)
Acuity: 514 [1,285] (+)
Pneuma: 11,592 [28,980]
Pattern Cohesion: 289,800/289,800
And now, it’s time to get some work done.
