The over all description of the enchantment was bare-bones, boring. But, there were a couple details that stood out to Alex for the simple reason that they differed from the first two enchantment notifications he received when he completed his [Lattice Spiral] or [Aether Channels]
This one isn’t tagged as unique.
It was a very easy thing to overlook, but Alex hadn’t missed the fact that his last two enchantments were marked as unique, and even mentioned his name in the descriptions in the notification from The System.
This artificial gate enchantment, though, was not marked in the same way. Which told Alex that he was not the first person to come up with something like this. So there were potentially over people out in the world that were doing things like Alex, crazy procedures that carved up their body in the pursuit of power.
There other two were unique to Alex, or at least enough so that they were treated slightly differently. More than likely, it was just due to the process, or the Glyphcrafting he had done that set them a part from other forms of similar effective enchants people had done before him.
But what the fuck is up with that last part? Willpower experience?
All of his notifications, whether through his enchantments, or his progression in his [Aether Attuned Body] always showed the reward as a base increase in his stats, never something like an amount of experience.
Obby, what’s with the change in the rewards line? Any idea what’s going on here?
He didn’t have an answer for this change, so he went to the only other option he had; the collection of magical and System knowledge that was his bonded evil rock companion.
“Ah, so you did notice. That change is thanks to me,” the rock replied.
Alex’s eye’s widened, taken aback by this revelation. You are altering my reward from The System? How are you able to do that? I didn’t give you permission to fuck with my rewards.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down there meatboy. I didn’t alter the rewards, I changed how information was presented to you, that’s all.” Obby’s illusion body waved a tentacle in a dismissive manner as he talked, which only pissed Alex off even more.
You better explain, now, or we will be heavily re-negotiating what access you have through our bond. Solitary confinement in my soulspace is looking really good about now.
“Did you never find it strange that all your rewards simply showed a base stat increase? Ever think about what that implication meant for possible exploitation?” Obby slowly drifted upside down, his large eye rolling about in its socket lazily. “You think after so many centuries, someone wouldn’t think about stalling on any enchantment upgrades until much later in their cultivation path given how hard it is to increase stats the higher they go? What it would mean for a Supreme Aegis Tier mage getting a static stat bonus when their willpower or intelligence was already in the fifties, the sixties?”
Well that certainly was an interesting question. Alex mulled it over, recognizing a rather enticing option for a mage to reach the very peak of their stats and abilities before ever tapping into the easy upgrades Alex had done in the Mortal stage, and now here in the Adept stage.
If someone at that level waited long enough, they could rapidly go through minor achievements and enchantments, blowing through stat upgrades in the higher tiers, giving them a boost much larger than what they would have received earlier in their path to power. He thought it through, speaking to Obby in his mind as he figured out what the rock was trying to get at.
“And so why would someone NOT try doing this, besides the obvious debuff they’d have in the lower stages of course, which would be more than made up for later.”
Because… The System doesn’t give static stat bonuses. The conclusion was rather simple, but it begged the question of why it was shown that way earlier. A question, which Alex answered himself when he recalled Obby’s explanation in the translated understanding for the stages of Adept Tier earlier.
The System never gave him a static bonus, only his mind was understanding the notification that way.
“Exactly! Plus one hundred Obby points to you!” The rock chimed in a demeaning tone. “It always gave experience rewards, it just wasn’t base experience like what you got for killing monsters. Instead, it put that experience directly into your stat progression. Sooo, I decided to be a bit more helpful, and show you what was really going on behind the curtain. You’re welcome.”
He rolled his eyes at the rock, as he doubted that Obby was actually being helpful, but instead, that he hadn’t had access to such information until after Alex had gotten his Wisdom stat up to twenty recently.
Still, arguing with the rock over such details was a waste of time for Alex, and seeing the actual experience rewards was indeed rather useful. So he decided to simply move on.
Okay, what the fuck?
The last System notification was rather normal and bland, like the one’s he was used to when completing his tribulation. This one was what he had been getting back when he first came to Aetherios, or when he got his quest notifications. Something he had thought was related to his previous fire attunement, and The System trying to subtly “motivate” him.
It was a crazy whiplash, and didn’t seem to follow any real pattern that Alex could see.
“You really think all System notifications are created equally?” Obby snickered in his head.
Oh?
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He thought over that question, and slowly began to understand what Obby was implying. All the tribulation completions, as well as upgrades to his skills, seemed to be default notifications. Ones that pretty much any person would receive as they progressed in power on their path.
The others, including the quest messages, were different. Alex noticed such personality from the System in many of the notifications he got in relation to his status as a Worldstrider. These messages were not ones that just any person would get, and Alex assumed they required additional attention from the Heavenly System, instead of being procedurally created.
So these specific ones, requiring more attention form The System, these are when the true colors or the true personality of the heavens peak through? And its still being a fucking dick, huh? These descriptions give me basically nothing, I’d rather the bland system descriptions at this point.
Alex only got more giggles from Obby as a response, so he turned his focus back to the screen in front of him. He had a choice to make, after all.
All of these options had merit for Alex. [Aether Flow] seemed to allow him to cast his spell faster, reducing casting time. [Aether Efficiency], on the other hand, was self explanatory. He could spend less on his spells, letting him dish out fully powered [Flare]'s and [Wind Lance]'s more often. With his reduced aether capacity—without his core—efficiency in his spellcasting was, and still remained, a big priority, making this a great choice.
[Aether Storage] appeared to be a way for Alex to shore up that particular lack of aether pool weakness. While [Aether Resilience] could possibly make the strain from his [Vita-Surge Cloak] be reduced, which was the largest issue he had with the spell.
[Aether Potency] would seemingly make his spells stronger, doubling both as an efficiency increase if he could get the same strength out of his spells for even less aether, and even increase his power ceiling.
The last one was most interesting to Alex, in that he wasn’t exactly sure what it would do, or how it worked. [Aether Regeneration] sounded like it would let him produce aether energy on his own. Or it could simply link to his bodygates and increase his gathering speed. He didn’t know which, or if either of those possibilities was true.
Worst of all, I don’t know how these bonus would be applied. A static bonus to my total aether pool could be amazing if it was a large one at my current tier, but would rapidly lose relevance when I later reach Magus, Sage, or even Supreme Aegis Tier. He realized. But, if the boost is a rolling percentage increase, it would still hold efficacy even later in my path.
The same could be for the potency increase. A static bonus could be nice now, but become minuscule later on. The same logic applied to basically every single option.
There was also the fact that he had five more meridians to unlock later, and he didn’t know if he would receive the same options for Meridian Imprints every time, or if he would get new ones instead. Could he pick [Aether Resilience] for every single Imprint and eventually remove the drawback to his [Vita-Surge Cloak] entirely? Would Min-Maxing be the greatest long term play?
Even at his current wisdom, Obby didn’t have access to information regarding these questions, which meant The System might even be hiding that specific information.
“Sorry, fleshsack, gotta make a choice based on what we know now.”
Damn, fine, let’s get this right.
The first option Alex crossed out as a viable pick was the [Aether Storage]. While yes, he would love to shore up his current biggest weakness, he very much doubted that it would make a big difference when comparing himself to mages with intact cores. Even if the effect scaled, and he could chose the option for all six of his meridians, he was nearly absolute in his assumption that it wouldn’t give him a mage core’s worth of aether capacity.
He already had options to curbing that particular issue anyway, specifically, the aether gems implanted in his bracer. So he moved on.
[Aether Regeneration] was the next choice he mentally crossed out. He didn’t know how it worked, but he greatly doubted it would let himself become an energy generator. If it simply improved his bodygate, he had his own aether control progress towards developing his condensing sprial technique, the [Lattice Spiral] he could eventually upgrade, and adding new artifical gates, not to mention increasing his willpower stat; all of those things would increase his gathering rate already.
He dismissed [Aether Efficiency] and [Aether Potency] for the same reasons. Both would increase the amount of spells he could cast, and increase his over all firepower in different ways. Alex saw those two options as different sides of the same coin. Both would be worked on over time as he progressed through the mage tiers and mastered his spellcasting anyway.
That left [Aether Resilience] and [Aether Flow] as his top picks.
The later appeared to offer something somewhat unique. If it increased flow and aether control, and meant he could fire off spells twice as fast as before, then he was tempted to pick it. Launching out a barrage of [Wind Lance] spells within a single second, was a tantalizing idea. He could have amazing melee capability through his martial style, and great ranged capability to boot.
[Earth Bind] was a spell that had a cast time on the high end of things, so getting that spell off quickly, then tossing ranged lances at a target would end a fight in no time. It would also increase his defensive capability, as it meant he could erect his [Wave Shield]s that much faster.
Lastly was [Aether Resiliency], the choice that piqued Alex’s interest most of all. He already guessed it would help with [Vita-Surge Cloak], his only Adept Tiered spell. But it also synergized with his other abilities as well.
The [Demon Asura Style] had its caustic energy aura, which fed the [Burning Strike] passive, but also put a strain on his own body over time, even if it was currently manageable. In a long fight, it still caused problems and the damage added up.
There was also [Descending Demon Fist] to think about.
It was still his most powerful attack, essentially a trump card he could pull out when in dire straights. But the level of damage and pressure it put on his body was immense, greater even that the Vita-Surge. If the resiliency imprint helped with that attack, it would mean Alex could use it more safely, or even allow him to access the second demon arm sooner than he would otherwise.
The Wyrm-Heart constitution boost may also be affected by the final choice as well. It was an amazing last-ditch omni-boost, but it flooded his body with potent draconic energy that just ended up making his wounds worse, even if it let him fight beyond his bodily injuries.
His final decision came down to his experience when playing RPG’s back on earth. While the idea of being a ranged spell menace with [Aether Flow] boosted cast times was tempting, it went against everything he knew about building character skill-sets.
Min-maxing is king.
With so many of his combat-oriented boosts putting his body under increased strain, he needed to ensure he could handle it all. His [Aether Attuned Body] was taking on the lion’s share of the load in that regard so far, but he couldn’t rely on it forever.
He mentally picked [Aether Resilience] and confirmed his choice.
The moment he mentally clicked the option, he felt a sudden warmth flood through his body. The energy source seemed to come from some other dimension, filling his meridian with a fiery burn that felt as if it was scorching through the aether lines like boiling tar. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the burning sensation fled, leaving Alex feeling strangely changed.
Alex brought up his stats, ready to look over all the progress he had made thanks to his crazy accomplishments, but he paused as he saw his general experience. He had somehow gotten even more experience points to spend during his work.
He had to sift through his notifications to figure out why.
It looked like the [Alchemy] work he had done for his artificial gate, had paid off.
Compared to the first time he had upgraded a skill to the novice rank, the amount of experience was now pitiful when taking into account the current requirement needed to increase his stats. But, every little bit counted, so Alex quickly dumped everything he had into willpower before pulling up his stats screen.
His willpower had increased once more, which was a given outcome due to how much the reward was for his artificial gate creation. The vitality and intelligence progress was not as pronounced, a cold dunk of water on Alex’s hope to keep his impressive momentum. The sheer increase in experience needed to climb the attribute gaps was a sobering reality.
A mental swipe closed out the screen from Alex’s vision and he got to work on putting away all his tools and materials.
Still, his mind was already focusing on other possible ideas. More crazy thoughts on how to cram his body full of upgrades and boosting effects. There were things he was hesitant to try, and others he was itching to get started.
He just needed more time, more resources, more power.