The following days were rough, after the high point of reaching level 20 and the beginnings of absorbing the water essence things began to slow down, it began with my newest goal of assimilating the water affinity, the book didn’t bother to clarify if the percentage was related to the completion of the affinity or the totality of my core, which generated a bit of unease, which in turn was incremented by the fact that the process was slow and I had to do it outside to be in contact with the rain, taking into account the rest of my routine I had around 4 to 5 hours to absorb the affinity and during that time the progress was around 1.5% to 2% which felt incredibly slow, the next difficulty came with the increase of difficulty that met me the next day, the Aragostas went up 2 levels, the Palelings added 1 to their number, and the storm grew stronger, for me though there were no new levels until 3 days later, which happened to be the last before another difficulty spike, and even if the fights remained manageable the slow progress had a notable impact on my mental health, after the whole week was over I gained only 1 more level getting me to level 22, with the passing of days gone was the advantage I held between my level and the lobster like monster, until finally after some time the level difference was turned to their favor. I still grinded a bit with the big brutes but my efforts and attention were focused on the group of Palelings, their only advantage being numbers I was far more powerful than them giving me the chance to start a stupid little game consisting on naming the creatures with different names starting with the same letter, during one 3 day period their names were Juan, Jaime, Jacobo, Julian, Jace, Jack, John, James, June and Jean, the next period the names were George, Gabriel, Gideon, Gavin, Gregorio, Grant, Garett, Gary, Griff, Gael and Grey, when the next period came well into the 1 month 1 week mark the numbers combined with the low visibility cause me to slip, as a result I got stabbed multiple time on my leg, arms and gut, making lose a couple of day worth of grind, while said time didn’t go to waste due to my meditations, the next time I saw the creatures I limited myself to call all of them Oscar a name that really I really didn’t like due to a rude customer from way back when I worked in a gas station.
I found myself remembering that time, it was one of the first jobs I got when I migrated to the states, and here come this skinny Latino teenager, maybe a couple of years younger than me, with a face that showed that her mother drank heavily despite her pregnancy. My English wasn’t as good but his wasn’t either yet he had the gall to label me an invader and telling me to go back to Mexico, now after all this years I found so absurd, but at the time I remember I was quite close to jumping the counter and beating the crap out of him, maybe he noticed that too and decided to leave leaving an unpaid soda on the counter I remember voicing my decision “If there are more customers like that I’ll fucking quit” I said to my manager who dismissed my comment as me needing to blow some steam, yet a couple of days later I had another customer like in this case a white old lady, I threw my company provided shirt and walked right the door. It was dumb and if it weren’t for my uncle intervening I wouldn’t have seen a penny from that job, the contrast of the patience and resilience I had now was astonishing and it did make me chuckle, which in turn caused pain to my still healing body.
After my body was back in top shape I was greeted by the ever growing storm which began looking apocalyptic yet I endure, hunting at least a couple of Aragostas and fighting the growing horde of Oscars, gaining some levels here and there, that was until the “morning” or at least I called the moment when I woke up since daylight was almost absent due to the black skies, with the time my in system clock marking 1 month 15 days 23 hours and 12 minutes before this nightmare was over. As usual I prepared myself for the day with another despicable coco fruit, even after all this time I found the thing disgusting, at this point however routine was the only thing keeping me sane, so I couldn’t help to become enraged when I step out of the same old cabin only to feel pain only a trickle like a small pinch, I blinked twice confirming that I was indeed taking damage not even 1% but still noticeable, in my rage I wanted to break something since this would slow my progress, being stuck at level 24 despite almost two months was too much, and I began to reconsider staying inside until the end, venting my frustration by blasting a tree out I returned to the cabin and I finally gave it a try, I found that the most difficult thing was keeping my mind distracted I tried many things, on calculations of how many Coco fruits I would need to stay alive, singing songs, repeating the dialogues of movies, and of course meditation, it was around the second day that I had enough I headed to the door to keep grinding until my health was around 60 percent, which only gave me the chance of a couple of fights, before I needed to go back to cabin to use focalized meditation, then back again, and a third round of meditation to attune myself to the water affinity.
Back and forth the days turned into a week then another marking the second month anniversary of my arrival to this god forsaken place, the Aragostas at this point reached level 38, which wasn’t that big of a deal since now the beach was submerged under the supernatural hurricane whose growth seemed to have no end, by this point the groups of 19 level 13 Oscar named Palelings and the brief moments of meditation were all the distractions I had and thanks to the last defeated group I finally reached level 25, 5 levels until I managed to evolve my class, with only 4 weeks there was a switch in my mind. I began to grow frustrated and the goal of reaching level 30 before my time here was done became an obsession, that made me grew reckless, ignoring attacks and the damage caused by the hurricane, I stood there killing the groups of creatures until my health reach 20 percent, then sleep all day forgetting my affinity meditations only to wake up and do it all over again, one time I reached the 5% percent of my health once and through the fog and confusion the memories of the pain still remain, the next day the puddle of blood I woke up in cause me even more anger, I did tried to think for a moment but my mind was a jumbled mess, despite having the visual confirmations of the days left through the system I had this feeling that the days didn’t matched up, so in frustration I decided to continue, I woke up, I went outside and fought until the creatures stop showing up or my health was low enough, I woke up, I went outside and fought until the creatures stop showing up or my health was low enough, I woke up, I went outside and fought until the creatures stop showing up or my health was low enough, I woke up, I went outside and fought unit the creatures stop showing up or my health was low enough.The days became a blur, until the clock marked 42 hours still on the clock, the words that I have been waiting for so long, were finally there.
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Congratulations you have reached level 30, please begin class evolution.
I don’t remember how many of the creatures I fought, nor how I got back to the cabin, I couldn’t even remember the last time I ate, or even when I fell asleep, but when I woke my mind seemed clearer despite the fact that everything hurt, checking my bars it made sense since my health was at 35% percent and while stamina didn’t show I felt like my first day after a martial arts combined with the flu. After gathering myself and getting up I noticed that many parts of the cabin were stained with blood, and I wondered what the hell took over me to go to such extents, after gulping a coco fruit I finally took stock of the situation starting with time, the clock still marked a bit over 2 hours remaining before my trials were over, thinking that perhaps I wouldn’t had the time to fully recover before the time was up, I went for the moment that I was waiting for opening my status I saw the following information:
Name: Roberto B. (System enhanced Human)
Level: 29*
Class: Mage
Vitae: 87/250
Arcana 20/65
Strength 16
Dexterity 16
Endurance 21
Intelligence 32
Evocation 60
Perception 15
Water affinity 52 Percent.
*Please evolve the class before receiving the benefits of the level up.
Similarly to when I first picked the class the options appeared on command.
Hermit Mage (Uncommon): Lost in his studies a hermit mage, distances himself from any social interactions to unravel the mysteries of the arcane without any disturbance.
+5 Arcana +5 Evocation + 2 intelligence +3 free points.
Rank up to three arcane based abilities, Hermit solace’s (Tier 11 P)
Arcane Revenant (Uncommon): Using a combination of arcane and melee based weapons, the arcane revenant combines the savagery of a warrior with the tempered cunning and regeneration of the arcane arts.
+6 Vitae, + 6 arcana +2 strength +2 endurance + 1 free point
Abilities: Arcane weapon (Tier 11 A), Arcane boost (Tier 11 A), Berserker (Tier 11 P)
Affinities + 20% Life +20% death
Water Magician (Uncommon): With a particular attunement to water this magician strives to uncover the depths of water affinity magic and its many variants.
+5 Arcana +5 Evocation + 5 free points
Abilities: Water spear (Tier 11 A), Healing water (Tier 11 A)
Items: Random Aqua path scroll.
At first I thought the decision was going to be harder but after thinking about it, it really wasn’t, the first option while pretty damn strong ability wise was tied to being alone, and even without being able to look at the effect of Hermit solace’s I would bet my kidney that it involved being alone, and to be honest I was sick of that. Next to be discarded was Arcane Revenant because even through systematic desensitization, I came to hate the idea of fighting like a brute, even in my scramble to reach level 30 most of the damage I received was through the hurricane, with only an occasional successful hit of the Oscars. That left only water magician with abilities that sounded simple but the freedom to attribute allocation, compatibility with his already half absorbed water affinity, and the item that seemed promising. Selecting the option applied the pending benefits and after allocating the 5 free points my status screen looked like this.
Name: Roberto B. (System enhanced Human)
Level: 30
Class: Water Magician
Vitae: 87/250
Arcana 28/73
Strength 17
Dexterity 17
Endurance 22
Intelligence 32
Evocation 65
Perception 15
Water affinity 52 Percent.
Abilities: Inspect (Tier 11), Regenerative Meditation (Tier 11), Arcane shot (Tier 11), Arcane blade (Tier 11), Water Spear (Tier 11 A), Healing Water (Tier 11 A).
Looking closer at the abilities I found out the following:
Water Spear (Tier 11 A): Create a water infused construct in the shape of a spear that can be launched or used in melee combat, ranged mode 8 arcana, Melee mode 6 arcana per casting + 3 to maintain per minute. .
Healing Water (Tier 11 A): Infuses the water in the body of the target with healing properties boosting regeneration by 5% per minute of casting cost 5 mana per minute.
Both were pretty damn good, and I was tempted to begin testing of the water spear, but I had one last spoil of victory to check, and not seeing any scroll materializing magically in front of me, I checked my inventory finding it between the 30 or so coco fruits still unconsumed along with the cloak, catalyst and book retrieving it looked just like I expected made out of ancient looking parchment paper its content hidden by a vibrant blue wax seal depicting a cloud with lighting and rain pouring out of it. Using identify I got more information.
Scroll of the Storm Sires’ Path (Uncommon). Within this scroll are the first steps in the path of storm sires. Warning this scroll will cause the evolution or replacement of one of your existing abilities and will also affect your current abilities within a 50% margin.
I guessed that there were no correct or incorrect answers when choosing or evolving a class but despite everything I was happy with my decision making skills. Said skill told me to wait after recovering my health via Healing water to use the scroll, and that’s where I began, after putting the scroll away on the pouch suspended by rope that adjusted the tattered remains of something that once were my swimming trunks, I began casting and maintaining the water magic, on the outside the only indication of the spell working was a dim cyan glow under my skin, underneath however, fissured bones, and internal hemorrhage was healed at an unnatural rate, after 4 minutes the feeling of emptiness told me my arcana reserves were over, but with my health over the halfway mark I felt way better, after this I still had over 4 hours so I decided to focus on the book.
