Should he take that one?
Probably. It’d be my second offence-focused Aspects, and well… I’m right in the middle of some dangerous seas. More offensive would certainly not hurt.
Henry hummed. It was themed around fury, sure, but that wasn’t such a bad thing in a fight. As long as it wasn’t rage, which might overwhelm him. It wasn’t madness, either. Fury could still be calm and rational, and it would fit with offensive and defensive skills.
Alright. I’ll probably do it. But let’s put a pin in that for a second and see what I’m working with when it comes to skills. A little organization would do me a lot of good right now.
Henry began going through his class skills and assigning them to their respective Aspects.
Domain and Dispelling Bubble to Arcana. Those two could probably be fused as well. Unimpeded Arms and Amplified Impact to Arms? No… they would really fit with Fury. Lightning, too. Hmm.”
There were quite a few skills which could fit in there. Most offensive skills could.
Next, Drakonic Strength. Perfect fit for Fury as well. Inner Furnace too, though that one could also fit in Vitality. Draining Touch to… Arms. It would also fit with Arcana, but that Aspect’s got enough on its plate. Sense Foe, Seeker’s Bounty and Find the Path… you guessed it. Arcana.
There were still a few left, but half were perfect for Fury.
Ah, screw it. Take my money. Or evolutionary points in this case, I guess.
The whole process took nearly a minute and through it, he felt the deft touch of the System’s magic on his soul, gently nudging things this way and that. It was nothing as painful as the first time the Aspects had been created, but it still felt weird.
Aspect: Fury of the Trickster has been successfully created and attached.
Warning: Fury of the Trickster does not have a cornerstone skill.
Can I still move things around… Yeah. Great. I’ll do that first, then I’ll decide which skill I’ll make into a cornerstone.
Next, Henry moved everything strongly related to fighting within the Aspect for three Evolutionary point. He assumed that the increased cost was because he was moving things out of already settled Aspects, as both Razor Arm and Arm Whip had been part of Arms of the Trickster, while Trickster’s Resilience had been part of Vitality. The rest had been all in his class. When it was done, it looked like this.
Fury of the Trickster (E) - Level 1
Drakonic Strength (E)
Reinforced Skin (E)
Accelerated Strike (E)
Cavitational Impact (D)
Lightning Discharge (D)
Trickster’s Resilience (D)
Inner Furnace (F)
Unimpeded Arms (E)
Amplified Impact (E)
Razor Arm (D)
Arm Whip (D)
Krakenbane’s Wrath (D)
When put like that, it was a lot of abilities Henry had managed to collect. He’d been tempted to move Venom Production and Arcane Arm as well, but the former was still a good fit for Hunger and well, it made more sense for him to apply it through his bites, while the latter was… more utility-based at the moment.
As for Draining Touch, he considered slotting it there, but decided to move to Arms of the Trickster instead. Maybe there was a potential to fuse it with Arcane Arm down the line. And that did also cost him one Evolutionary points.
Damn things are going fast.
Next, Henry looked for possible combinations; thankfully, the Aspect Workshop made that trivial.
Accelerated Strike, Amplified Impact, Unimpeded Arms, Cavitational Impact, Razor Arm, Arm Whip are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Trickster’s Resilience, Inner Furnace, Reinforced Skin, Drakonic Strength are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Henry agreed to both. When the uncomfortable process was over, he found it to be worth every little discomfort. He quickly pulled up the skill descriptions, and after reading through them, he knew what had to be the cornerstone.
Evershifting Strike. It just speaks to me.
Evershifting Strike (D):
Whenever you strike, you can apply one or many of the following effects independently. Available effects:[Whipping][Accelerated][Unimpeded][Cutting][Heavy][Cavitational]
Trickster’s Fortitude (D):
Passive:
Enhance resistances to: Toxin, Heat, Mana Drain
Active:
Consume a small amount of mana to reinforce your flesh and increase your strength. Create a thin magic film to reduce water friction and to disperse incoming physical attacks.
Good. Very good, Henry thought as he examined Evershifting Strike. I wish I could examine its making in detail. I think it might be one of my most complex skills yet.
The merge still left a couple of skills outside, but that was alright. Lightning Dischage might be compatible with Draining Touch for some sort of touch-based offensive skill, but that was for another day. In any case, he didn’t think it’d be that great anyway.
Lastly, he took in the description of Krakenbane’s Wrath.
Henry eyed the text for a few seconds, then turned his attention to one of the new menus he had access to.
This might be a candidate for experimentation… but not right now. It’s too good of a skill to risk damaging. I’ll have to find some Skills I don’t care about to experiment on. Learn how to disassemble and reassemble Skills first. Then I can modify Krakenbane’s Wrath for something more generalized. Something that doesn’t only work on krakens.
Henry nodded to himself. That would be a good future challenge, but for now it was time to get through his notifications. At least those for Aspects levels, considering most of his class abilities had just got moved.
Hunger of the Trickster (D): Level 5 → Level 6
Shiftiness of the Trickster (D): Level 6 → Level 9
Misdirection of the Trickster (D): Level 2 → Level 5
Arms of the Trickster (D): Level 1 → Level 4
Arcana of the Trickster (E): Level 9 → Level 10
Vitality of the Trickster (E): Level 9 → Level 10
Two Aspects are ready to evolve. Shiftiness, Misdirection, and Arms levelled pretty well, too. They all had a good workout recently, with all the camouflaging and blood clones and whatnot. Krakenbane’s Wrath got nothing because I’ve fought no krakens these last couple of days. Good haul overall. Now, do I upgrade those two first, or do I fuse stuff first?
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Henry hummed as he considered the advantages, then decided to fuse things first. If he fused an ability with a cornerstone skill, the skill might get even better when it evolved. Plus, he wanted to get done with the cleanup process faster.
Alright. Now, more fusions, he thought as he began moving things around in his interface.
Accelerated Venom Production, Bite of the Trickster are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Faint Presence, Mimicking Arms are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Seeker’s Bounty, Find the Path, Sense Foe, Blood Trail are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Domain, Dispelling Bubble are compatible. Spend 1 Evolutionary point to merge?
Henry paid for all, and once more waited for the transformative effect to finish before he pulled up the new skill descriptions. For Venom, he just loaded the description of new passive effect of Bite, and he did end up paying two more points to move Trickster’s Pathfinding and Trickster’s Domain into Arcana.
Bite of the Trickster - Venom Production:
Your salivary glands can now produce venoms after sufficient exposure. Production can be accelerated through channeling mana to the glands.
Available venoms: Numbing of the Pufferfish, Spasmodic of the Sea Serpent, Tranquilizing of the Mesmer Eel, Anticoagulant of the Sea Drake, Agonizing of the Lionfish.
Mimicking Arms - Passives:
Faint Presence: When camouflaging, your mana and mental presence will be muffled.
Trickster’s Pathfinding (E):
Passives:
Blood Trail: When a being is injured within range, a glowing trail can be displayed toward them.
Sense Foe: Sense the presence of your foes. Foe signatures: krakens.
Seeker’s Bounty: You have a chance of sensing targets you deem valuable within a certain range.
Actives:
Find the path: While focusing on a destination, activating this skill has a chance to point you toward your desired destination.
Trickster’s Domain (E):
Actives
Wide Reach: Trigger an ability that requires touch within your domain.
Dispelling Pulse: Create a pulse of magic that disrupts skills within your domain.
Henry sighed. This stuff was tiring to get through, but it was always best to have your work station clean, and his skills and Aspects were the workstation in this scenario.
That should be it. Only thing left is a bunch of upgrading… which should also be pretty quick. Too bad I’m going to eat into the tokens I’ve been saving up for Partial Shapeshift and Flowing Form.
Henry paid for the Aspects upgrade for Vitality and Arcana of the Trickster, and actually took a moment to both enjoy the sensation and observe it. When it was done, he loaded the new and improved cornerstones.
Vitality of the Trickster (D) - Level 1:
Arcane Regeneration
Passives:
Accelerated Recovery: Recover from injuries and ailments faster. While meditating, health and mana recovery are sped up further.
Hoard Vitals [57 Charges]: Continuously store a small portion of your health and mana to be released at will or when severely injured. This ability does not affect your total health and mana.
Actives:
F-Rank: Spend mana to restore your health and recover from ailments.
E-Rank: Spend a larger amount of mana for a significant burst of regeneration.
D-Rank: You can apply your regeneration on other beings through touch.
Arcana of the Trickster (D) - Level 1:
Summon Illusions:
F-Rank: Summon an illusion within 50 feet of yourself.
E-Rank: Illusionary sounds and smells can be produced.
D-Rank: Illusions can be cast in an area with a trigger, only taking effect when the chosen trigger occurs.
Alright. I’m done. Jeez, that took a minute. But everything’s pretty amazing so far. I can now heal others. I can create programmable illusions and So. Much. More. Alright. Final recap, look at my stats and… Holy crap. I’m almost at 80 in Constitution.
Henry chuckled inwardly as he took in his stats. He still had ten points to assign, too! And Strength had passed the sixty threshold as well.
As he looked over his new stat page, he felt good.
I came a long way from the little octopus I used to be, he thought as he pulled up his update stat sheet.
Name: Henry Dubois
Species: Trickster Kraken - Reincarnated Intelligence (C)
Class: Watchful Guardian (C) - Level 1
Consumption Tokens: 463 C-Tokens
Evolutionary Points: 11
Strength: 65
Constitution: 79
Spirit: 65
Perception: 44
Dexterity: 43
Unassigned: 10
Hunger of the Trickster (D) - Level 6
Bite of the Trickster
Maw of the Trickster (D)(125m3)
Voracious Grip (D)
Shiftiness of the Trickster (D) - Level 9
Mimicking Arms
Alter Physique (D) (6.3 Tons)
Shapeshift Arm (D)
[Spiked-Flail form][Hinge Joint form]
Misdirection of the Trickster (D) - Level 5
Inkjet
Scouting Clone (D)
Blood Clone (D)
Arms of the Trickster (D) - Level 4
Assistance of the Octominds
Arcane Arm (E)
Draining Touch (E)
Arcana of the Trickster (D) - Level 1
Summon Illusions
Mind Weaver's Tongue (E)
Mana Nexus (E)
Telekinesis (D)
Identify (E)
Trickster’s Domain (E)
Trickster’s Pathfinding (E)
Vitality of the Trickster (D) - Level 1
Arcane Regeneration
Swiftness of the Trickster (E) - Level 1
Blink
Riptide Rush (F)
Fury of the Trickster (E) - Level 1
Evershifting Strike
Trickster’s Fortitude (D)
Lightning Discharge (D)
Krakenbane’s Wrath (D)
Class skills
None
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