Chapter 5-158: Fire and Ice (2/2)

“Arcane Pool Mastery/2.”

“What’s the primary bad effect of the Blighter Class?”

“You’re sucking power out of the land for your own use. Getting Druidic spells involves ripping the life out of greenery and turning the area around you into a cursed, barren patch.”

She made the appropriate face. “So... taking vivus as it comes to the Land from the dead.”

“Yes.”

“Ur-priest, something about stealing Faith?”

“Yes. You are supposed to be stealing the active Faith of people and treating it just like mana to empower your own Divine spells that you choose yourself.”

“Stealing directly from the gods! How wise!”

“More to the point, all the prayers and Faith that are supposed to go to the gods are instead caught under the Shroud... or in the Shroud,” I pointed out.

She shook her head slowly. “So... you can pull out all that unused Faith.”

“Yes, pulling energy in from other sources...”

“And this Jinx Witch effect?”

“Spell Eating. If I make a save against a Fortitude or Will save spell, I can eat the spell, and turn it into metamagic or a Caster Level bonus on my next spell.”

“So it’s establishing a paradigm of you feeding or draining all these alternate energy sources, and it just needs a catalyst to bring them all together without actively draining someone... or draining the undead without a care, and the Shroud, without a care, and if you feed the Land, the Land, without a care...”

“Yes. I think the Ghost Eating technique will turn it all on. On top of that... the power of the Theurgic Classes is merging different types of magic into one. So, as long as the right Theurgy is in place, all the different magic can be subbed with ki, without a problem.”

“And all you have to do to keep the engine going is keep killing massive numbers of creatures... like all those undead under the Shrouds.”

“Horribly convenient, no?”

“And that works with Shards?”

“If you fully Weaponize them, yes.”

Sama reached up to massage her temples. “That Perpetual Spell sounds much less convoluted.”

“Well, the big thing there is the Soul Limit boosting. Ah, and one more thing.”

“Do I really want to know?” Sama smirked.

“Ring of Mystic Ki.” Sama shook her head, unsurprising since nobody learned about magic Rings when you couldn’t make them in the game, or around here. “Invest two Ki. Ki costs of any techniques are reduced by one, to a minimum of one.”

Her eyes narrowed sharply. “So, you’re telling me you can get a Valence IV back... for one ki?”

“Not yet... but eventually. Or I could eventually Twin and Quicken something for one ki each...”

“As long as you’ve your rep counts in.”

“Yes.”

“And with an endless spell engine, you could get six hundred rep counts an hour... if you have the targets.”

“Yes. It’s how Aelryinth and Flechette used Perpetual Spell.”

“Can you blow the metacap?”

“No.”

“I don’t know whether to be relieved, or irritated for you.” I had to smile wryly at that. “Does the metacap stretch?”

“Yes, it grows past Ten, when our Valences form an additional Spell Pool, and we burn the Sixth Ring.”

“That’s right, you said he was a Fifteen. So, he could Raise the Metacap by three... owwww, were there even enough Metas to keep his Shards maxed out at that point?”

“It was getting difficult, but remember he was starting with Shards at IV, not I like me, and they got down to III once Perpetual was Efficient.”

“How many reps on that?” she had to ask.

“A million twenty-four thou.”