New Achievement: The Right Affinity For The Job

  You survived an attack that should have killed you in one blow by having the related affinity at a sufficient level to absorb some of the damage.

  Reward: +25 points to an affinity of your choice.

  Well, that was a nice little perk. He certainly wouldn’t say no to having bonus affinity points, especially since they reduced the damage from incoming attacks. He briefly wondered why he had been so badly hurt by the blast if he was reducing nature affinity magic damage by 90%, before remembering that he had also taken major damage from slamming into a wall full of thorns and getting boned in one of the worst ways possible. He snickered at his own pun as he chose to drop the points into his Death affinity. While sorely tempted to put them into the Fire affinity, he really didn’t like the idea of his Death affinity being at -75.

  Moving on to the next windows, he was greeted with a whole wheel full of text which rotated helpfully as he read.

  

  New Achievement: Gaze of the Gods

  You managed to attract the attention of a deity who you do not worship. Whether through a heroic deed or a villainous act, you have managed to pique the interest of a god with whom you had no prior relationship. This encounter has marked you, for good or ill. The gods of Gaellus are many and varied, but very few people other than their own clergy ever manage to garner their direct attention. Certain beings will be able to sense this mark upon you and it may affect their interactions with you depending on their inclinations.

  Reward: Affinity (Divinity + 10)

  

  “New Achievement: Scorn of the Gods

  You managed to incur the anger of a god while in contact with them either through one of their clergy or a holy symbol imbued with their power. Whether this was intentional or not, you have now been marked as a heretic. Certain beings will be able to sense this mark upon you and it may affect their interactions with you depending on their inclinations. Clergy of the god who marked you will be able to sense their god’s disposition towards you.

  Reward: Affinity (Heresy + 10)”

  

  Warning: You have been afflicted by Jhakor’s All-Consuming Flame. This fire cannot be quenched except by divine or heretical magic.

  

  New Achievement: Favor of the Gods

  You managed to please a god by performing some act that aided them in some way, usually by assisting one of their clergy greatly. As thanks, they have left their mark upon you. Certain beings will be able to sense this mark upon you and it may affect their interactions with you depending on their inclinations. Clergy of the god who marked you will be able to sense their god’s disposition towards you.

  Reward: Affinity (Divinity + 10)

  

  Notice: Jhakor’s All-Consuming Flame has been extinguished by divine magic.

  Xander sat there gawking at the screens, needing to reread them. There was a lot to process, even though there was a good bit of overlap in the information. If he was understanding the gist of things though, yelling at a god seemed to be a bad idea, even though saving the priestess had been his only goal. He didn’t dare say the words out loud though, mostly in case he could be heard through Sibil somehow.

  On the other hand, the whole encounter had netted him additional affinities though, which he probably should have known would be possible even if he had never considered it directly. “Well, good job, dumbass…” he muttered to himself, “Apparently you didn’t think you stood out enough yet, so now unfathomable entities will find you interesting. Just what I needed.” The urge to mope and wallow was strong, but his drive to survive was even stronger, so he decided to spend the ability points from his new levels.

  The first three points out of the six he had earned were easy, he put them into Magic Resonance to bring it up from 7 to 10, which of course earned him a milestone.

  

  Your Magic Resonance has reached a milestone. Please choose one of the following advancements.

  . You may now spend ability points to increase your affinities. Each point spent increases an affinity of your choice by 10. You may not increase an affinity above 50 in this way.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  . Your spells are 20% more effective.

  . You gain the ability to see magic. Note: This ability costs mana regeneration while in active use.

  Xander was absolutely devastated. There was absolutely no way he could pick just one! Spells being 20% more effective didn’t sound very impressive until you realized that it meant every spell that you cast, and it had no associated cost either. The ability to see magic sounded low key badass, especially if he wanted to get into making magical sculptures. It would also probably be helpful in whatever endeavors he needed to undertake in order to get home some day. The option to spend ability points to increase affinities sounded like both the best and worst option at the same time somehow. He already felt like he never had enough ability points to go around, but the ability to simply buy additional affinities whenever he felt like it would have a very serious impact on his long term survival.

   That left 3 more ability points to spend. He was more than half tempted to bring strength up to 5 with them, which would put all of his stats at either 5 or 10 if you didn’t count affinities. His very mild streak of obsessive compulsion urged him to do it, but he had yet again found an appreciation for his crazy regeneration, and yearned for a larger mana pool. It would be very very interesting to get regeneration to the next milestone but he wasn’t sure if that was absolutely necessary with how well it held him together already. He had thought that Reclamation would keep his mana topped off, but since he couldn’t reclaim dungeon monsters it had been completely ineffective.

  Reminded that he had features to take, he decided to leave the three points until later, and looked at his new class ability options, figuring that he should pick that before deciding on the advancement he had earned at level 9.

  

  You have new class abilities available. Please choose from the following:

  . Summon Swarm [Druid]: Call forth a swarm of insects to harass and distract your enemies. The type of swarm summoned will be based on the region you are in when this spell is cast.

  . Reinforce Bone [Osteomancer]: This spell will magically reinforce the targeted bones for 10 minutes per point of Magic Resonance, making them three times as difficult to damage.

  . Dungeon Maintenance [Reclamation Mage]: Instead of looting mana born entities in dungeons, you can instead absorb their energy. Your body will naturally digest this energy and return it to Gaellus while also granting you bonus mana regeneration for a time based on the level and quality of the entity.

  Xander was unsure if he wanted to weep for joy or in frustration. His choice was clearly evident if he intended on continuing to go into dungeons and fight to get stronger. That thought caused him a bit of concern though.

  The most disturbing part when he really looked at his emotions was that he found he didn’t actually hate the idea of fighting anymore. He had only been at this for a couple of days, but the gains he had made in levels and abilities were intoxicating. And getting stronger would help him survive, wouldn’t it? Besides, he already knew that he would need power or wealth in order to find a way home again.

  Druid seemed like a messed up class, or at least its abilities were a bit darker than he would have expected. First poisonous mushrooms, and now swarms of insects? He didn’t really need another way to spend mana, so that was right out. Reinforce Bone could technically be useful outside of combat if he was planning on building larger structures, but it just didn’t feel as impactful at the moment. If he was going to continue fighting and getting stronger, Dungeon Maintenance was the best option for a mage type like himself. Advancement selection was next since there were always so many good choices.

  

  Advancements available for Nurture Vegetation:

  . Improved healing or growth amount per mana spent

  . Creatures with nature affinity above 75 can be healed

  . Area of effect healing or growth

  Advancements available for Reclamation:

  . Improved MP recovery

  . Increase range

  . Earn additional experience for a time after using reclamation

  Advancements available for Sculpt Bone:

  . Increase speed of sculpting

  . Limited material increase

  . Increase range

  “Wait, where are my Sculpt Plant options?” he demanded of the system, which did not deign to answer his uncouth interrogation. After actively hunting around for a minute, he gave up on finding any answers. Come to think of it though, he had only ever seen three features listed with three options each. Which meant that he had to deal with RNG hell, even in a world full of magic. “Random number generators can eat my ass,” he muttered under his breath while combing through what was available.

  Any temptation to complain further was quashed by the options available however, since he was back to having so many good ones that he really didn’t need any more to sift through. The options available for Sculpt Bone were mostly new this time around, though the ability to increase materials had shown up again. That was probably the most tempting option since he only used the spell outside of combat, but Reclamation increasing his experience game was far more interesting. It would mean either killing more or being near battles at the least, but it could drastically increase the speed that he leveled.

  Debating about the pros and cons of those two options, he nearly missed the other contender until he went back to reread his options. “Whoa, hold on, hold on just a minute… are you telling me that I can get a self heal?” he asked, nearly vibrating with eagerness. There was precisely zero hesitation in selecting the improvement to Nurture Vegetation, not that he had the much mana to spare at the moment. On the other hand, now that he had an active healing ability he supposed he didn’t need to increase his regeneration just yet, making it clear where he should put his spare ability points. His Mana Pool increased to 13 with no fanfare.

  The last upgrade he needed to look at was the racial advancement. Xander wasn’t sure how he felt about changing what he was any further, but it almost certainly would involve a power increase. Being a dryad was still mysterious to him, especially when he considered that he had been awake for much longer than normal, and he hadn’t eaten anything of substance if you didn’t count the healing taffy. It was actually kind of incredible since he wasn’t hungry, thirsty, or even physically tired. He would still like to turn his brain off for a while, but maybe being a plant person had its upsides. Shaking his head again, he opened the last waiting window to look at his options.

  

  Dryad racial advancements available:

  . Voice of the Woods, Improved: You can speak with plants and natural animals telepathically.

  . Oaken Bond, Improved: You are bound to one oak tree, but kin to all. You can freely merge with or exit any oak tree and sense through it. While merged with any tree, you both gain bonuses to your resilience and regeneration based on your own resilience and regeneration. If your bound tree dies, you will suffer immediate backlash and will die shortly afterwards unless you bind to another oak tree.

  . Dryadic Magic, Improved: Learn an additional Dryad spell. More advanced spell options are available. All Dryadic spells are 20% more effective.

  On the face of it, the improved Dryadic Magic should be a no-brainer, but at the same time he could choose to be able to speak with animals! That just sounded damned cool. The ability to merge with any oak and gain resilience and regeneration would also be useful to hide and recover if he got into a bind, but it was of course dependent on being able to find a suitable tree.

  Xander hovered on the brink of taking the smart choice and improving his Dryadic Magic, especially since it would even buff his ability to heal himself now… and then impulsively picked to advance Voice of the Woods before he could stop himself. “What the hell is the point of having cool magic available if I only ever make the smart choice?” he grinned to himself. Having power and being able to survive was important, but he wanted to talk to the goodest of boys whenever he felt like it.

  All of his choices were made and his body had fully recovered, so he finally sat up to look around and see how everyone else was doing.