Chapter 7-195: You Can DO That?! (1/2)

The Mick was watching me carefully, given we had paused in abject slaughter of creatures of Elemental Fire raised up here by dark magic.

I blinked when he reached out and pushed my jaw up. “Yer catching flies,” he advised me warily.

I’M IMPRESSED. THAT MUST BE SOMETHING INCREDIBLE, Master Fred flamed over his shoulder, arms crossed and also watching me.

“Bluh!” I said intelligently, trying to stop all my thoughtstreams from rampaging in crazy ecstasy at the implications of this. This, I could, how did, dammit, how did, wtf, dammit dammit DAMMIT!

The Mick knocked on my forehead impolitely, just a flick of Blood Magic setting off my threat sensitivity and Concentration throwing away all diversions for the here and now as I jumped back into a Casting Stance instantly.

“Ye should have seen your face just then,” The Mick said sagely. “Do you need a drink?” he asked, staring at me staring back at him.

I closed my eyes slowly, and slowly rose out of my hyperfocused combat state, not letting my thoughtstreams go racing in all directions.

Just one of them. I could handle that. It would get past the initial possibilities quickly enough.

“I just took a Theurgic Caster Level... in Sorcerer, my Primary Class,” I gasped slightly, staring at the Slots that had opened on my IV Valence, ready to be used. My Bloodline Spell didn’t activate, as it wasn’t a true Sorcerer Level, but the Feat taken was Extra Spell Known IV, Sorcerer and Arcane Theurge/4 also gave me also another Sorc Spell Known, and I got one for making the Valence.

Spell Immunity, Detect IV, and Comet had materialized, ready to be used, with six IV Slots, currently empty and waiting to be filled with Meditation... or my non-standard method.

The Mick was studying me and thinking about my words. “Forgive me thick skull, but I was of the impression that Theurgic Levels were there to bring Secondary Caster Levels up to your Primary, and conflate the different types of magic into a single type? You can’t take Theurgic Levels above your Primary Caster Level?” he recited dutifully.

“Double Helix Method. What happens when your Secondary Class is effectively higher than your Primary due to Theurgic Levels?” I was still staring at it.

I hadn’t known. Nobody had known. Theurgic Levels could be applied to your Primary Class!

I clamped down on thinking too much about this. Too much. Still thinking.

What a simple shitass way to break Ten!

I wrenched my eyes away from my Matrix, back to my Assay.

Oh, Charisma Mastery/4. Yay...

Einz pointedly invested the last jot of Karma in Ki Mastery, and the Runes forming the ability completed, flaring to life on my finger.

I stuffed two Ki into the Ring, activating its greater abilities. The two were considered ‘spent’, meaning my capacity was now +2 Ki if I needed them back, but the big thing was the -1 to Cost of ki use, minimum 1.

Clavus could only stoically put his Naming Karma into Blessed, still weeks away from finishing it.

“Ye need time t’process this, Lady Traveler?” The Mick asked calmly.

I flashed my eyes to him, stared at him for a full ten seconds as he stared back, and then slowly shook my head.

“No...no. The implications are huge, but the immediate practical benefits are no different than gaining a Sorcerer Level.” I made some quick mental shuffles of expected spell ability, throwing out a lot of my Visual File spreadsheets. “I’ve got access to more IV’s is all, and I’ve got some spells to reshuffle now that I do. To do so,” my eyes moved past him to the lake of fire with a whole lot of Elementals cavorting about it, “the fastest way is to get back to work.”

Both men nodded calmly, and Sleipner tooted, too.

I filled the six empty IV Slots one at a time, requiring only one Ki for each, making them available for use. My working Pool was roughly 35 between Arcana, Ki, and Mana, so that was no loss, and would be filled directly.

I was still limited in Casting to twelve Levels total, but now those spells were Cast for one less each...

Whatever. It was combat; Focus, choice, target acquisition, target removal, ticking rep counts up on a list, repeat.

If it was a real fight, I would have used Arcane Fusion to up my spell outlay and increase my damage outlay. Alas, the interference of the fusion made Null Rep Counts for the spells inside the Fusion, and rep counts was what I wanted here. These Elementals were all going to die, but in the meantime, I needed my counts!

I was nominally alternating spells for counts on the Primary Cast, and Fastcast Shards to regain the spent Ki, largely focusing on spraying down lesser targets to get the kills, and injuring the larger ones so the boys could finish them.

Basically, I was currently fobbing off Energy Fans Spellwarped into Rays, Orbs of Cold or other energies, and throwing in useless Illusions, Healing effects, Charms, and other spells across the Schools of Magic to ensure maximum exposure and get my Metas made Practical as efficiently as possible.

Sometimes I swapped Fastcast back and forth with Sanctified... why not get the +4 Meta made Practical for I’s, after all? And then proceeded right to II’s, since I was going to be using it so much. My Metacap was still VI, so I couldn’t make it Practical to III’s... at least, not yet.

Happily, my use of cold magic seemed to really irritate the Fireborn, and they had no fear of death. The cold magic probably looked to them like necroic magic did to us, and they charged at us, intending to get rid of the foul chill.

When one of the bigger Elementals popped up that the boys didn’t want to engage in melee, well, Paired Fastcast Shards popped that Residual Magic buffer, and 36 Shards was generally enough to do for it pretty much instantly. The same fate awaited anything that looked like it wanted to Cast spells at us, or things going to mass-launch Rays or Bursts or Bolts at us. Shardrays tore through them in burning cold streams of death, flames went dark and cold, and vivus burned on ash.