The Way Ahead

Chapter 76b: A Classy Ascension

Impact 5 6

Health 15 17

You have completed the Superior Alchemist path!

You have been challenged as an alchemist, pitting your skills and knowledge against one another. While you may have been outnumbered and faced with overwhelming numbers, through quick thinking, superior strategy, luck, and a deeper comprehension, you reigned supreme.

Class Change!

Indefatigable Sapper Veteran Sapper

Calculating Rewards

Done!

You may evolve your Construction skill into the Sappers Apparatus skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Sappers Apparatus

Dont get sappy with it. Itll just blow up in your face if you do

Conjure basic objects within certain limits

Limits loosen per level.

Okay, all the surrounding stuff was getting old really fast. He decided to hide the reminder of what his class used to be and the calculating rewards bit. They were just getting on his nerves.

That was only a minor quibble, and Edwin quickly found himself enamored with his newest Skill. Thanks to some minor feedback it gave him, it only took a few minutes to figure out how to use it. By focusing on a simple object and activating Sappers Apparatus, a blue light would coalesce at his fingertips, slowly forming into shape and condensing over the course of about a minute until it created a blue crystal-like substance in his desired shape.

It almost made him think his Makeshift Alchemist path was suddenly made obsolete, before he caught himself. Redundancy was always a good plan for something this important, after all. What would he do if he didnt have alchemical ingredients?

Besides, the tools were well, rather limited. He could make bottles, much to his delight, as well as stirring sticks, beakers, and other basic lab equipment that fit in his hand, even a sharp scalpel. Unfortunately, none of it was very strong, perhaps less so than even the glass it was modeled after. He tried making tweezers, but they shattered in his grasp, vanishing back into motes of blue light, instead of bending. Overall, they seemed comparable to glass in durability, but with none of the complications of actually breaking glass.

They didnt seem to need any concentration on his part after he created them, but hed need to see how long they lasted before he entrusted any of his creations to them. Perhaps he could use Packing to reinforce them? He tried setting one in his kiln, only to find it shattered into motes of light if it heated up too quickly. He could boil water in them, which was nice, and if he created a hollow object submerged in water, it would manifest filled with water, even if his creation didnt have any openings.

There was lots of potential here, he was certain. Hed need to wait and see how long his conjurations lasted before he could tell how much, but it was still quite exciting.

Impact 6 7

You have completed the Outsider path!

You have come from places unknown, with knowledge strange and unique and wholly unfamiliar with what you found yourself confronted with. Yet you did not allow this to hinder you. Those who would oppose you will find that you approach from a wholly unique angle

Sapper-Marauder

You may evolve your Packing skill into the Improbable Arsenal skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Improbable Arsenal

Youcantouchthis,thoughitmaylooklikeitsmissing

Infused containers are larger on the inside

Mana efficiency and maximum size increases with level

Man, these Skills were sounding fun. He could make literal pocket dimensions! It probably didnt make his backpack redundant, but it did mean he could carry around an arsenal of oh. Improbable size. That was probably the reason for the name, wasnt it?

He pointedly avoided looking at Inion as she mockingly nodded.

There was loads of stuff to unpack in it, but at the moment, it looked to be exactly what it said on the tin, so to speak. When he Infused Improbable Arsenal, he could push through the Skill and into bowls, jars, and boxes. They didnt look any different on the outside, but even the small effect his basic Skill provided allowed him to pour more water into a bowl than should have otherwise been possible. Not much, but enough to make him excited.

The Skill didnt work on his shirt or pants, though it did on his socks. Taking a random initial guess based on his observations and the intuitive limitations of the Skill, it probably only worked on direct containers, possibly only those with a single opening. So no expanding the size of a building or hallway, but something that was just a glorified bag was fair game.

He could combine his Apparatus with the Skill, and when he used it on one of his sealed water orbs, a tiny gap opened at the top, prompting the inside water to boil for a minute before it settled back to normal.

Edwins eyes widened. He could use this to create a vacuum, couldnt he? That itself was a phenomenal use of this Skill, even discounting its obvious utility as a bag of holding.

When he tried to use it on his backpack, it didnt have quite so dramatic an effect as it did on his personally created containers. There were two possibilities: either his Skills worked better on his own creations, or the backpack already had some space-warping properties that were minor enough to go unnoticed, but his own Skill didnt stack with. Probably the latter, but the former wasnt impossible either. Hed need to take some careful measurements to determine it for sure.

He was at three for three of Skills he was exceptionally happy with. Would that continue?

You have completed the Skill Researcher path!

To you, the System is not some strange and arcane phenomena the likes of which Man Was Not Meant To Understand. It is a machine, like the rest of creation, and it has laws which can be understood and dissected. All that you see falls under your scrutiny, and nothing escapes your inquisitive gaze.

Alchemical Marauder

You may evolve your Seeing skill into the Skillful Assessment skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Skillful Assessment

Youve got an eye out for those with the right Skills

See Skills

Detail improves with level.

Whoa. Edwin felt as the Skill kicked in, and Inion became wreathed in a strange, nonchromatic light. He looked around Obairlann, but other than some colorless illumination around the garden, there wasnt anything else that stood out. To test, Edwin tried using Firestarting at his fingertips, and just as the Skill activated, the same gray light flashed into existence. When he tried again, sustaining the Skill, the light accompanying it stayed active as well. Huh. That was cool. Even if he didnt get much information at the moment, being able to see when a Skill was being used could be very useful, especially given his ability to- he checked, yes he could- to pair it with Almanac. He could build up quite a respectable knowledge of Skills being used!

Hey Inion, what Skill are you using right now?

Wait! she jerked upright from her floating position, Does that mean you got a Skill-reading Skill?

Uhhh yes? Skillful Assessment. Why?

I mean, I was hoping you would, but I thought youd get it from Fey Scion or something! What Path?

Skill Researcher. Wait, why would Skills be associated with Fey Scion?

Well, thats a secret, actually. I could have told you if youd gotten it, but because you didnt, ah she thought for a moment, Your exposure to fey probably helped.

I thought the System didnt work like that.

Inion shrugged hopelessly, I dont know! Youre the System expert here.

That seemed decidedly untrue, but Edwin wasnt really interested in getting into a fight over it at the moment.

So Skill?

Airborne Wellspring! It lets me treat the air like its water, but none of my other water-related Skills work alongside it, sadly, she pouted.

Edwin just shook his head, made a note on the Skill that it could be used by fey- any more detail and the Skill would just fail as Inions bargain forced him to keep her secrets- and carried on.

You have completed the Physicist path!

While many say that numbers are an arcane art, you disagree. Numbers are perfectly comprehensible and endlessly useful. You boast a mastery of this otherworldly art and can use it with a great deal of proficiency, a skill which will aid you greatly in your future endeavors.

Studied Marauder

You may evolve your Mathematics skill into the Numeracy skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Wait, whats the difference? Edwin wondered aloud as he accepted the Skill, but as it appeared and shoved its way into his head his question was answered. Hundreds of numbers shoved their way into his brain, overloading even Perception with the sheer quantity of information he was dealing with. He screwed his eyes shut to help deal with it, but it still took a minute of adjustment before he even realized what he could do to really help, namely disable the Skill.

Now, what did it say?

Numeracy

Lets assume the elephant is a sphere

See the numbers of the universe

Precision increases with level

So it let him measure stuff instinctively? He tentatively tried enabling the Skill just a touch, focusing on Inion as she drifted by. Fortunately, the headache didnt return, and by combining the Skill with Visualization, he wrestled the input into something more comprehensible. According to the Skill, she was floating through the air at a rate of 1 mile per hour, which offended his Physicist sensibilities. A twist of Numeracy fixed that, though, and properly showed that she moved at 0.5 m/s.

He sat on the ground, playing around with his new ability. This was awesome. While he couldnt do too much at once without overwhelming even his Perception, he found that he could assess the speed of various objects, determine distance with a great deal of precision, and even overlay free-body diagrams over objects, letting him actually see air resistance, friction, and gravity.

It was, in short, the greatest Skill ever for a Physicist. He could only imagine how much more accurate he might be able to get with his bombs with all this information; literally more than he could even handle. Hopefully hed get better with it over time, but for now he set up the Skill to display the world overlayed by a 3-dimensional grid of cubes. By default, they showed distance in increments of 2 meters, but he could scale that up if he wished. He couldnt make it any smaller yet, but he felt confident that he could make it smaller as the Skill level grew. The minimum size had already decreased as the Skill leveled in his experimentation.

Some more testing revealed its limitations. He could only sense everything within about 50 meters, but he could focus to push it beyond that in a specific direction, such as if he was trying to measure how far away something was. Even then, it became less accurate the further out he tried to reach. Without so much as even clouds to measure on, all he knew was that the sun was out of range. That was probably for the best, as there was no way hed be able to take in all that information at once.

Mana 5 10

You have completed the Novice Pyromancer path!

Fire is the spark behind all technological innovation since the dawn of time. From the first embers roasting meat to baking clay, melting and forging metals, and pushing fire further and further into the future, powering all life on the planet. You have begun to harness this power, twisting it to your will. Your experiments have never been simpler.

Incendiary Scholar

You may evolve your Firestarting skill into the Basic Thermokinesis skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Basic Thermokinesis

Turn up the heat!

Increase the temperature of an object

Maximum temperature increases with level

Huh. It wasnt Basic Pyrokinesis like he had expected, but this seemed better? It was no doubt influenced by his Alchemy background even if his Class didnt explicitly show it at the moment. It was less magic-like and more practical, in some ways. Direct manipulation of temperature, even if it were only in one direction, was so utterly fantastic it surpassed a lot of Earth tech.

Playing around with the Skill for a little while revealed that it was indeed a magical Skill, not that he expected anything else. He could pour mana into it while touching an object, and it would slowly heat up. It didnt have a terribly high maximum at the moment, but it was already slowly increasing. It was another Skill that was limited by his Mana Manipulation, but he could deal with that.

He couldnt get it to work on Inion or anything alive, much to his relief. No, wait. He could use it to wither some small grasses and cook insects he touched, but that was about it. Still, it was somewhat relieving to know he wouldnt cook someone alive by accident, or even on purpose. It was just an awful way to go, even if it was objectively bad for him from a survival perspective. Ah well, give and take. Maybe one day hed be strong enough, but for now, he was content not being able to magically microwave someone.

Numeracy didnt provide much feedback regarding temperature, but the small amount he was able to prod it into granting did indicate that it would probably expand into becoming a thermometer as well as everything else. That would be oh so very nice, and Edwin was seeing in his minds eye how his toolkit as a proper alchemist was already expanding. Pity about the Class name, but there was an easy fix for that. He just needed to move his next Path up the schedule a bit.

You have completed the Alchemist path!

Magic and science. You come from a place where all of the former has been incorporated into the latter. It is the job of the Alchemist to transmute the impossible into the understood, and there is much that is impossible before you. Your task is a daunting one, some might even say impossible, but what is such a duty to one such as yourself?

Incendiary Alchemist

You may evolve your Identify skill into the Alchemist's Analysis skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Alchemists Analysis

Knowing what you have to work with is the first step

Identify parts

Sensitivity improves with level.

It took a few minutes to figure out what it did, but Edwin eventually figured it out when he used his new Skill on one of his glowleaf potions.

Water

I swear, if I have to explain what this is, I quit.

While hed need to run more tests to be sure, and level it more, but the Skill allowed him to see the primary component of something he was dealing with. Granted, that would usually be water, but he figured it might let him pick out more trace ingredients as it leveled.

It was really interesting, seeing his higher-tier Skills have such synergy. He was able to brute-force it with his Skills before, combining Visualization and Mathematics to let him visualize mathematical graphs, but Numeracy started serving as an interpreter, of sorts.

While he couldnt yet determine with any level of precision just how much water was in the potion beyond it being mostly water, it seemed as though as Numeracy leveled, he would get actual numbers associated with the purity of what he looked at. Meanwhile, as his Analysis leveled, he got the sense hed get more feedback for what was in mixtures. While right now Analyzing mud only showed that it was mostly dirt and wet clay as being mostly clay, as it leveled it should also pick out the water involved in each.

Man, Numeracy was awesome. It obviated the need for so many measurement tools that would normally be required for pretty much any proper science.

Well, Alchemists Analysis was cool too- he didnt know why he felt like he needed to reassure his newest Skill that it was also useful, but he did- and as it leveled he already saw himself using it to pilfer ingredients from potions he encountered. Could it eventually get to the point where it could measure atomic composition? That would be very cool.