Chapter 17-455: To the Nines (1/2)

They were painting everything into Markspace and The Map, as was everyone else, the combined knowledge an utter godsend for everyone out there who could tap into it...

Azaia had moved here, the Blood of the Irish was now here, and all the other Morningsuns were here. There were other Allegiances on the Eastern Front, including the Teutonic Knights of German ex-patriates (totally clean of Templars and Nazis, checked frequently); the Partisans of Yugoslavia and the Serbian Black Wolves, who had been active against the German Shroudzone; the Grecian Olympians; the Italian Divine Legion, which had led the snuffing of the Rome Shroudzone; the Prophets of Turkey, who had led the wiping of Istanbul’s Shroudzone; and the Hussars of Poland, who, although not fighting a-horse, had the largest number of Bonded horse mounts of all the forces present from Europe.

There were other groups from other countries, but those were the biggest ones, with France having contributed nearly half a score, and Spain and Portugal their own handfuls. Even Switzerland had ended up coughing up volunteers when they couldn’t get paid to be mercenaries, their people falling behind on the Levelling Curve and the nation naturally losing relevance as a result. Enterprising and ambitious Swiss had organized themselves, eventually agglomerated, and the New Swiss Guards had joined the fighting.

Their envy of the benefits of The Jet and Silver and its subordinate Allegiances was not small. Some of them had fairly good Monarch’s Mantles, but my Serenity benefit was incredibly beneficial even to civilians, and The Jet and Silver dominated the Loyalty of over half the Divine Casters in Europe outright, and all the Heavenbound. Sir Hans Jaeger, a German Paladin, was even taking organizing of Mithar’s favored Problem-Smiters to a pan-nationalistic level, with all their supporters, and the Knights in Argent were rapidly claiming the Oaths of any uncommitted Paladins.

Most of those other Allegiances had fans... but they didn’t have Bannersworn, as the people were naturally dithering until they had to make a decision among the options available. But those Allegiances had no Oath, no Mantle, no /tell system, no recognition of Oathsworn, and no The Map, the latter totally dependent on having someone with the Stats necessary to keep it up, and for some reason other Allegiances just didn’t have that post-35 Intellects necessary.

The pure numbers, civilian and otherwise, Levels and Depth, all mattered. There was power in unity, and The Jet and Silver just had a lead that crossed nations and races. People focused on such provincial concerns couldn’t touch that, nor their people benefit from them.

Wishes, Marks, and Blessings were going out every day. Tattoo Masters were Scribing Marks and linking them up to Sama’s Belt of Thank You Very Much!, and hundreds of people a day who were Classed and couldn’t Level were now able to move forwards, and were doing so with great zeal, even if it meant risking death.

December 6, 2019. I was tracking it closely, and I finally ticked over Sorcerer/9.

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On the surface, it wasn’t a grand event. One more Level, yay. But, it was forward progress, and there were still Level-dependent things I needed to know tied to Ranks and the like.

There were now lots and lots of people who had Double-Helixed up to Ten, and were going Deep, fortifying their top-end skills and Foundations, going for Stats and the like so they could keep progressing in their Primary and Secondary Classes. This rounding-up effect was especially prevalent in my Allegiance, notably among Nulls who could get more than one Mark for themselves.

So, I needed to progress. There was still no one who could match me on Caster Level, as the sheer amount of Karma I’d collected kept me well ahead of everyone. The truly mono-focused didn’t have the foundation to challenge me at all, and while they were treading at the edge of Ten, I was intent on moving past it and had the Karma banked up to do so.

Nine was going to be short. I couldn’t move up any Secondary Classes while at Nine, only what Advanced Classes I had bothered to take. That was basically Warshaper/4, Grenadier/4, and advancing my Hierophant and Archmage Levels to /4.

But, it didn’t matter. I was finally moving forwards again!

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“... where rest the weary, and dream of the winds at dawn.”

DING! Ding! Ding! Ding!

I gazed upon mine newly expanded base Assay, hark ye, hark ye...

Sorcerer/9 (13)! VII Bonus Slots kicking into my Spell Pool for attention... Total Spell Pool now sitting at 90 Floating Valences, direct magic I could use for any spells I had in memory. A heady feeling, as it were, nyuk, nyuk...

Fort Save +1, Reflex Save +1. +1 to Health for 93, and +1 to Soak for 272.

D4+2 Soak, average of 4, click the lever for +1 training towards max Soak, which I would reach tomorrow at renewal. Add Con bonus of +15, net +21 Soak, to 293.

2 skill points, +1 Favored Class bonus, +19 for Intelligence, new upper Skill Ranks limit of 13. 22 Skills clicked over for +1 more, as the blizzard of information I was constantly processing finally turned from raw data into a greater understanding.

Valences were already topped. Three Spells Known: One from Bloodline, Contingency, finally hitting, so I didn’t need it as a Wizard Spell. One from Bloodline Bonus Effect of the Arcane Bloodline from Sorcerer, so Telekinesis moved off my Wizardry list, and one from gaining the Level, Fabricate, also moved over from Wizard to Sorcerer as a spell I would Always Have, plus Sending shifting over as an Always There on my IV list.

My Spells Known wouldn’t really increase much now, save for Secondary Classes coming due, which meant driving my Primary Class higher.

Didn’t matter all that much, given the sheer volume of spells I had on permanent call right now... although given the very specialized nature of what I was doing, how useful that was was a second matter I didn’t dwell much on, although I had to admit I was incredibly self-reliant on spell breadth now...

Didn’t matter much, in the end. They floated in my Matrix, and if I needed them, there they were.

+1 more Spell Power, inching up that slope.