I still needed to dive into my class today, but first, following the advice of the book, it was ti to look over my long-ignored interaction attributes, starting with moving presence up to five hundred. I didn’t feel anything noticeably different and started to assu that only ca from changing my senses. Assuming my understanding was correct on how most attributes worked, I still needed to spend ti training the part of my being associated with it towards that new limitation. The problem there was that I didn’t know how you trained your presence.
Four more secondary stats were unlocked below presence after my point expenditure: Influence, Defiance, and an awareness attribute for each. With what Karlinovo’s book had said, I had a feeling these went beyond just people in how they interacted with reality. How did the awareness attributes work exactly? Would sothing ping in my brain to alert , or would it just be more obvious that soone else’s influence was acting over ?
These were questions that I likely wouldn’t find answers to on Earth. The implications of their value when dealing with other factions was an interesting thought. Did the heads of the big factions have these attributes pushed as far as they could, or did they employ specialists for faction negotiations?
After investing five hundred ranks in each of the new attributes without finding a maximum value, I decided to call that good enough for now. I just still couldn’t get myself to risk using all of my spare attribute points, especially when I was about to go potentially invest levels into my class. Like presence before, there was no imdiately noticeable change as far as I could tell, but I made a ntal note to force myself to pay extrely close attention in future conversations to see if I could spot anything. Even if that sounded like torture, it was important to test out these changes.
Putting aside my own attributes for the mont, I pulled up my class orb instead. In my earlier rush through the Path of the Dungeon, I had more or less entirely ignored anything else. That ant that the Path of the Mana Weave had been virtually unexplored outside of the top level despite having enough mana orb types to have unlocked at least one path.
The first step was adding the ten million experience needed. It was still an odd sensation as whatever the source was that made up the value left my core and flowed into the class orb. Several new options appeared under the newly unlocked Types category.
-Types\Combine {0/10 Levels} [Skill]Combine allows the host to combine mana orbs of the sa type and rank together to create a stronger orb. Doing so can unlock further hidden abilities as well as increase the growth rate of the orb. Further ranks in the skill allow for a better conversion rate when orbs are combined. They will not decrease the risk of an explosive backlash.-Types\Dismantle {0/10 Levels} [Skill]Dismantle allows the host to pull apart a mana orb into its base components, releasing its stored potential. This potential can be used in place of level requirents for class features. Further ranks in the skill will increase the amount of energy captured from the orb. They will not decrease the risk of an explosive backlash.-Types\Mana Weave Control {0/100 Levels} [Skill]Mana Weave Control allows a degree of control over the mana outside their person. Further ranks in this skill allow for better control and can help mitigate the chances and effects of catastrophic failures when manipulating mana flows.
All three of those were interesting,, the first two incredibly so, and the third one seed important relative to using the first two. Then again, how far did that skill extend? Would I be able to manipulate the mana flow inside another person? If I could shut down soone else’s ability to channel, that seed potentially very powerful. Never mind, that was actually by far the most interesting of the three.
There were several mana orbs sitting in here for to experint with if I wanted to. I doubted it would be an issue if I practiced on a few of the body-enhancing orbs. We had a dozen and would likely soon have more. Deciding to go for it, I dropped the ten levels needed for the dismantle skill and then pushed it as high as it would let , which turned out to be fifty ranks. I figured it was best to start here and then use what I gained to unlock further class abilities.
While more abilities had lit up below Dismantle, those could wait. My brain had focused on trying this out first. I grabbed two of the orbs and placed them on my work table. I focused on one of them and was imdiately greeted by a new nu.
Mana Orb
Body-Enhancing Orb (1)
Dismantle Personal Absorption Backlash Chance: 2%
Level Equivalency: 10
Would you like to dismantle the Body-Enhancing Orb?
How big would an absorption backlash be? Wait, would my backlash resistance attribute help here? I hadn’t initially considered that, but it seed entirely possible, depending on what exactly this energy was considered. I’d really need to set up a full lab sooner rather than later to start testing it all. That was sothing to consider as we scoped out how bad of shape Earth was in. Enticing so scientists to join this new faction would be a high priority, assuming we had anything to attract them with. Was otherworldly magical tech enough?
Stolen from , this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
After a brief mont of further consideration, the reward of ten potential levels skipped for investnt outweighed the risk as far as I was concerned, and I selected yes on the first of the two orbs.
Dismantle of Body-Enhancing Orb (1) in progress.
The orb glowed brightly like it had been superheated. It reminded of the ti the kids and I had seen a glass blower in action. Would it be possible to change the shape of a mana orb using a similar technique? Even if possible I wasn’t sure to what ends it would accomplish. Several cracks ford in the orb, pulling my attention back to it. A loud shattering sound rang out as an arc of green energy hit painlessly in the chest.
Dismantle of Body-Enhancing Orb (1) complete.
Ti of Energy Persistence: 1 minute
That wasn’t long, and also wasn’t sothing I had expected to happen. Luckily I already knew that Combine needed exactly ten levels and quickly invested the energy there, unlocking the skill. The ti limit made rethink my plan to try it out on both orbs. I’d need to better plan out these attempts in the future. The good news, though, was that despite the loud shattering sound, nothing seed to have gone wrong.
Where the orb used to be was a pile of fine dust. I dumped out a container of screws and reached for a hand broom, carefully sweeping the dust into the now-empty container and sealing it. I had no idea if it was at all useful, but it was better to hold onto it now than regret not having done so in the future. Hopefully I could find a use for it in so later projects.
Going back to the class nu I had several new abilities illuminated. Under Combine I had four new class abilities, all of them improved the Combine skill itself.
-\Combine\Divergent Ranks {0/50 Levels} [Skill Enhancent]Allows the host to utilize the Combine skill to combine mana orbs of different ranks with an increased chance of explosive backlash.-\Combine\Divergent Paths {0/100 Levels} [Skill Enhancent]Allows the host to utilize the Combine skill to combine mana orbs of different pathways with an increased chance of explosive backlash-\Combine\Divergent Types {0/1000 Levels} [Skill Enhancent]Allows the host to utilize the Combine skill to combine mana orbs of different types with an increased chance of explosive backlash-\Combine\Divergent Sources {0/10000 Levels} [Skill Enhancent]Allows the host to utilize the Combine skill to combine mana orbs of different sources with an increased chance of explosive backlash.
Divergent Ranks seed self-explanatory, and I thought I knew what Divergent Paths ant as well. It was likely when an orb was specialized in a way that locked off other paths on it, though if that wasn’t the answer, I wasn’t sure what was. What was the resulting orb like if you combined sothing with different paths?
Divergent Types and Divergent Sources existing as two different enhancents confused entirely. I wasn’t sure what the difference ant in regards to mana orbs, but I was sure that was just coming from my own ignorance. If Pryte didn’t have the answer, Elody or possibly Rabyn likely did. I checked the new nodes under Dismantle next.
-\Dismantle\Non-Destructive {0/50 Levels} [Skill Enhancent]Allows the host to attempt to dismantle a mana orb in a less physically damaging way. Doing so has a chance to reduce the level equivalency gained but increases the chances of leaving behind larger shards. Explosive backlash chances are unaffected.-\Dismantle\Energy Containnt {0/100 Levels} [Skill]Energy Containnt allows the host to better contain the energy released from dismantling a mana orb. Further ranks invested into the skill allow for longer containnt tis.
The first one proved my earlier idea of the components having so use at least. Well maybe not the dust that had been left after that one, but potentially the things left over once I learned that enhancent. Energy Containnt, while interesting, didn’t seem that great on its own. Was it possible to use it in conjunction with sothing else to move the energy outside myself? If I could transfer around this energy that might be a ga changer for us. It was certainly sothing to explore.
The door opened into the garage, ending my class exploration as John walked in, wearing a very stained apron and looking exhausted. “Dinner is ready. I went all out. I figure we may as well have a feast before we see how bad the world really is,” he said, looking proud of himself.
“Sounds and slls great,” I replied, catching a whiff of sothing savory. The sll reminded of a pig roast, but that seed unlikely, given what we had on hand. I followed John back into the kitchen, my stomach now ready for whatever dish was waiting in the other room.
It is believed that the Rainbow Sun itself used to be a mana orb. The origin of such a colossal mana source is a highly debated topic amongst scholars of the mana weave, but they are reasonably sure that it is not a dungeon core masquerading as a mana orb. The fact that it could ever grow so large without a dungeon core growing within it leaves even more questions.
TCH’s Universal Oddities
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