Chapter 5-139: Shroudzone Killing (1/2)

It was also time to arrange my first Star.

I slotted the first Arcane Star, four spells in I Slots opposing four spells in II Slots, all in the Wizard Slots doubled by Archwizard 1 and 2. The opposing energies and forms catalyzed, forming a complete whole and harmonic that echoed up and down my Matrix, strengthening every single spell I could cast.

Star Magery, the First Star. +1 to base Caster Level, not bound by spell type or specialization or anything. Effectively, base Caster Level 7... which keyed my Arcane Strike die mod to +3. A d6 first die hit from one of my spells was now 2-12.

A small step, but a big one. The Second Star wasn’t far away.

Closer. It was getting closer...

---

My personal adjustments for the start of my magical day done, I returned to the others, who were watching with interest. They all knew I had a Dusk Renewal, and things happened at dusk for me.

Since what had happened was definitely going to affect tonight, Master Fred calmly prompted, WELL?

“Arcane Thesis and Chain Spell online. If you don’t know what they do, that’s fine, you’ll be seeing shortly. First Star in place.”

He was the only one who understood all those terms and their implications, and his quad-Sign eyes widened significantly. It was indeed a huge power-up.

“Your Aura is significantly stronger,” ‘Topaz’ noticed closely. “Is that... did you just jump two Levels?” she had to ask. Her voice, accent, bearing, and everything else were completely different from Shvaughn. Only a similar build might have betrayed her, but her attire showed more skin and muscle, giving her a much more muscular, earthen appearance than the fiery-haired, fair-skinned Shvaughn.

“No. I gained a Level in Wizard and formed my First Star, which adds a Caster Level. Since you’re picking up magical strength, you’re reading the Spell Power as a Level.”

“Oh.” She was still impressed. “Let’s see those Shards you’re so good at, then.”

Both Silent and Still were in effect on them. I literally had to think for them to appear in a circle in front of me, teardrops of jet and silver, limned with radiance... and nine different types of energy revolving about them. Ten Shards came up, with the one extra from Shardcaster in the middle.

I could still manifest two more if I desired.

They looked at the black undead banefire, glittery positive energy, ethereal vivic energy, force ripples, fire, lightning, cold, and subdued chimes of thunder, and the golden light of the Holy Metas. The teardrops of killing force seemed appreciably bigger than they should for such a minor spell, as did the humming, roiling force that seemed to be constrained about them, ready to erupt.

Helix swallowed audibly, and nearly swooned after he counted them.

“Holy Harse,” Father Bower rumbled, staring at the display. “Even with that new version of the spell, I’ve never seen more than six...”

I flicked up two more, iridescent and smokey joining opalescent to form a trio in the middle. His jaw dropped.

“What are you Casting at?” Topaz asked, staring at the display with a mixture of desire, horror, and respect.

“With Shards, I Cast at Twenty, with plus another thirteen Potency.” i.e., +33 to get through something’s Spell Resistance.

Not bad for a Five, right? The Boosts were eye-catching, but the +9 damage per Shard from different energy types, the fixed +2 boosts of fire and lightning, +8 from Clavus, +7 from Specialization and Necropotence, and my Warcaster’s Edge of +10 meant that if I chose different targets, I could be slamming 2-12 + 38 as base damage into each target, cut by half if it Chained.

In short, an individual Shard could easily take out a buffed-up Wraith, probably a Spectre, and the Chains wipe out a buffed Wraith or anything lower.

What they could do to a solo target without energy resistances was even worse!

The Mick broke the awe with a snort. “Aye, nice, but undead without limit, and limited Valences. What about your pea shooter?” he asked directly.

The circle of Shards snapped out of existence, and two Darts cycled up to replace them.

They were almost as impressive as the Shards, lacking only the Warcaster’s Edge for the extra bite, and the fire and lightning extra was at ½ a spell level, i.e. +1 each. Positive Edge’s +6 bonus was particularly noticeable, almost as strong as the Banefire.

“And you can shoot those all day?” Helix almost protested. “Those are at least as good as my arrows!”

“Which actually means your arrows need a lot of work,” I fobbed right back at him, and he could only sigh in acknowledgement.

“What is the misty white fire?” Topaz asked, looking at it intently. “I’ve never seen it before. I saw it on the bodies back at Hermitage, eating them away.”