PftA Book 5 - Chapter 30 - Another Primer

I was a little worried about how few waves I’d managed to complete. Failing during the sixth wave seemed like a poor performance, especially since I was used to finishing dozens of waves during trials.

The challengers I’d spoken with about this particular trial never gave details about how many waves they managed to complete, but I’d gotten the impression that it was more than a handful.

They’d also been pretty consistent with claiming that the fake ‘adventurers’ didn’t show up until the third wave. My trial was obviously different since I’d started with humanoid opponents, but I wasn’t sure why.

It wasn’t because I’d added a protective ward to the town’s perimeter since I’d only done that after identifying the false adventurers. Given my interactions with the dungeon golems, I didn’t think the dungeon was particularly against me. If anything, it seemed to favor me a bit.

So, maybe the change was a good thing?

I shook my head and dismissed the thought. It didn’t matter why the dungeon had skipped a couple of waves and made things more difficult for me. The trial was over, and there was nothing I could do to change how things had played out.

I still felt a little sour at having failed so quickly, but I hoped it wouldn’t negatively impact my reward options too badly.

As my surroundings faded away, a familiar screen appeared.

Congratulations on your performance!

You have earned a boon.

After dismissing the message, I waited nervously for the next screen to appear. It seemed to take a little longer than I remembered.

After what felt like minutes but was really only a few seconds, the reward screen appeared.

As a reward for completing 5 waves of the Ninth Floor Trial, you may select one of the following:

·         Crafting material of choice (LT10)

·         Weapon of choice (LT10)

·         Equipment of choice (LT10)

·         Set of professional tools (LT10)

·         Advancement of one existing skill of choice

·         Advancement or evolution of one existing spell of choice

·         Minor Affinity Boost

·         Primer for Ascension

I was surprised to see low-Tier Ten item options on the list, but I supposed growth items didn’t make much sense when one was about to reach the highest tier.

I noticed the options to gain new skills and spells had been removed, and the loss made my heart clinch with worry. However, as soon as my gaze reached the last item on the list, I knew it was the reward censored by the dungeon.

A Primer for Ascension.

While giving my Arcane affinity a boost and pushing it solidly into the ‘standard’ strength category would be nice, it was something I felt I could manage on my own before my time in the dungeon was up.

However, more information about what to expect in the next realm was not something I could pass on.

Sure, Anya had given me some information about what to expect – more information than most anyone in our realm had access to, if I was being honest. But that only made learning more all the more important.

Just what I’d learned from the Fate Mage had been enough to shift my priorities by quite a bit, especially when it came to skills.  What kind of valuable information would a dungeon primer about the next realm contain?

It had to be something worthwhile for Niall to have tried to point me toward it.

Since I’d automatically transition from Master to Grandmaster Enchanter upon tiering up, I had no reason to hesitate. I could craft my own items and collect my own material, but I could not learn the secrets contained in the primer without it.

The dungeon’s geas had made certain of that.

As soon as I made my selection, Lisa notified me that the dungeon had transferred a small file. It was only a dozen pages long, which seemed like too little to justify giving up an affinity boost or a Tier Ten item, but I wouldn’t let myself get too disappointed before reading through everything.

= = =

After reading through the primer twice, I sat back on my couch and rubbed my forehead. A lot of the advice Anya had given me made more sense now.

I understood how spells and skills would work in the next realm. I also understood the difference between a skill and a Skill. The real difference was that a Skill took a skill slot and was supported by the system.

The primer gave cooking as an example.

If someone learned to cook, they’d be offered the Skill. If they rejected the Skill, they would still retain the knowledge and experience they had about cooking. They’d still be able to prepare a meal and make something edible. They’d even be able to improve their cooking skills without having the actual Skill.

However, the food would never be exceptional like that of a person with a cooking skill. It would also never be capable of providing buffs or bonuses like a Skilled person’s food would.

Basically, there was a limit to what someone could do without the system’s assistance. Apparently, this realm also had such limitations, though we never recognized them since one could gain an unlimited number of system skills in Neohim – our current realm.

It was unclear whether it was because Dia – the name of the next realm – ran on essence instead of mana, but the whys didn’t really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things.

I’d also learned several other interesting things about skills in the next realm.

For one, had I not reached Master Enchanter before ascending, my Enchanting skill would have been largely useless in the next realm unless I selected it as one of my core skills.

It wasn’t because the realm didn’t support Enchanting; it was because their method of Enchanting started with intent-based manifestations, and without learning how to use such techniques, it was impossible to learn the skill of Enchanting.

There were no runes or reagents. Everything revolved around willing an effect into existence and anchoring that effect to the object being enchanted. It was basically the technique I’d gained upon reaching Master Enchanter, which was why I felt the skill would have been mostly useless without having reached that level.

Annoyingly, it was the only lower-realm skill with such a limitation. For pretty much every other skill, even the most novice of crafters would be able to quickly gain the upper realm’s version of their skill.

There was an entire chart comparing common skills from Neohim to Dia, and only Enchanting stood out as having a Master-level experience requirement to gain the Skill manually.

It was garbage, though I conceded that most ascended Enchanters probably reached the Master-level before moving on. If not, they were probably just hobbyists and not actual Enchanting professionals.

Another interesting aspect of skills was that improving skills gradually strengthened one’s soul, allowing them to gain additional skill slots more often.

Without putting any real effort into improving one’s skills or soul, most natives would only gain one additional skill slot per tier, which was one hundred levels. In contrast, most ascenders earned a new skill slot every fifty levels, or two per tier, while a few of the strongest could gain three new slots every tier.

Just based on that small bit of information, it was obvious that leveling worked differently in the next realm. However, the primer didn’t elaborate on the topic.

“Does anything you learned change your plans?” Lisa asked.

I knew what she was really asking. She wanted to know if my thoughts on which spells I planned to retain as core skills had changed at all.

“I’m not sure yet,” I replied. “The primer said most ascenders automatically get Essence Manipulation as a gifted core skill since it is basically a requirement for spellcasting. Even knowing I’ll get it, I still think it’s a good idea to keep Restore for healing, Haste for movement, and Transmute since I really don’t think I’ll manage to recreate that one on my own.”

“Not Teleport?”

I’d gone back and forth between Teleport and Haste, knowing it didn’t make sense to keep two movement skills after I ascended. Since I used Haste more often in fighting and could functionally teleport to any location I’d entered my demesne from, keeping Teleport seemed a bit redundant.

Further, I felt much more confident in figuring out how to manually teleport myself than I did in creating a bubble of quickened time that still allowed me to move and act without being limited by the slower time outside the bubble.

I shared my thoughts with Lisa, causing her to immediately point out something I hadn’t considered.

“You saw the last entry about soulbound artifacts, didn’t you?”

“Of course,” I replied. The paragraph had seemed pretty random and had probably been a last-minute addition by the dungeon based on my personal circumstances.

Still, I quickly reread the paragraph in question.

‘Soulbound artifacts can potentially be retained with appropriate modification and the sacrifice of at least one skill slot. Retained soulbound artifacts are generally reduced to their most basic function during the ascension process, causing a significant loss of functionality. Such artifacts can typically return to full functionality (and gain additional functions) with time and essence.’

Understanding her inference, I said, “That doesn’t mean I won’t still be able to use it to move locations. It has always allowed me to exit from any previous entry point.”

“It specifically states that artifacts are reduced to their most basic function,” Lisa countered. “I would interpret that to mean it would return to being an inventory, not a quasi-subrealm where you have almost god-like authority.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“I’ll assume it’ll work the way it always has,” I replied optimistically. “If I have to give up the movement aspect of the space because of downgrades, I’ll just figure out how to teleport without the system’s assistance.”

“I’m sure you can do it,” Lisa agreed. “You’ve managed to teleport several times without the spell during your training. I can’t imagine it’ll be difficult for you to figure out once you get used to using essence.”

I hoped she was right. It was certainly a good thing that Dia provided ascenders with Essence Manipulation. I was also relieved to learn that the system itself performed the function of identification spells. It would have been painful to give up a critical skill slot to keep Assess.

I looked at my oldest companion and frowned as another tidbit of information I’d learned from the primer pushed its way to the forefront of my mind.

The system would be stripped from us upon ascension, and a new one would replace it. That meant that Lisa would not accompany me in the next realm as I’d hoped.

She must have read my mind because Lisa’s avatar smiled solemnly at me.

“It will be fine,” she promised. “I am not alive, so I cannot die.”

I shook my head, rejecting the mana intelligence’s statement. “We’ve already come this far,” I said, motioning toward her avatar. “It can’t be much more difficult to move your consciousness to a construct permanently.”

Lisa inclined her head in my direction. I took that as agreement.

And it wasn’t like I needed to transfer her immediately. I still had a century or more to get through Tier Ten. I was confident that by the time I was ready to ascend, I’d be able to craft something that would allow my steadfast companion to survive indefinitely.

Whether she had a soul or not, Lisa was alive to me. I planned to keep her that way.