NOVEL NEXT Ch. 33
“Nine years in the Synod, and I’m Level 4,” Fabrisse murmured to himself as he stared at his profile.
CALIBRATOR PROFILE: FABRISSE KESTOVAR_28
Class: Apprentice (Unclassified)
Field Role: Inert-Adept (Dormant)
Tier: Unverified
Epochal Registration: Legacy Validated
Status: Conscious – Stabilized
Level: 4
EXP: 784/1500
Focus (FP): 31 / 31
Attributes:
STR (Strength): 5
DEX (Dexterity): 13
FOR (Fortitude): 7
INT (Intuition): 22
RES (Inner Resonance): 2
EMO (Emotional Attunement): [LOCKED]
SYN (Synaptic Clarity): 3
His Synaptic Clarity attribute was terrible, also, and that had accounted for the extra 1 SYN he’d received from quest completion earlier.
There was a small note underneath the figure for EXP which he had to squint to read.
[SYSTEM NOTE: Experience is awarded proportionally to resonance challenge.]
✦ Highest yield: Real-world combat (lethal or sanctioned), formal trials, high-volatility invocation, or major aetheric contact.
✦ Moderate yield: Sparring, structured duels, intense field application, or sanctioned demonstrations.
✦ Minimal yield: Research logging, familiar interaction, note transcription, theoretical recitations, passive enchantment study, and ‘observation with mild internal panic.’
✦ No yield: Walking in circles while muttering about stone texture.
Attribute Allocation:
Growth is gradual, but meaningfully yours.
– Levels 1–10: +3 stat points per level (foundational development)
– Levels 11–50: +5 stat points per level (specialization and mastery)
Note: Stat increases are irreversible. Wisdom is optional but encouraged.
He laughed. Quiet, dry. The laugh delayed the impact. A second later, it landed—nine years of minimal yield. His stomach twisted.
“Nine years, and I spent most of them befriending rocks and writing monologues to sediment.”
He turned the page instead.
Fabrisse blinked at the menu again and scrolled to the descriptions. A side tab expanded with a soft click of light. He took out a notebook—his newly-assigned ‘Note of Important Observations’—now that the old one with knowledge he’d already memorized had become too tattered and was left at home.
ATTRIBUTE GLOSSARY
Calibrator Profile: Active Scan
INT – Intuition
Governs subtle perception and unconscious pattern recognition.
✦ Boosts detection of anomalies, passive glyph understanding, and skill recall.
✦ Crucial for uncovering hidden relationships between magical constructs.
✦ Operates largely on subconscious logic and lived experience.
“Sometimes knowing is just feeling better than the others.”
(Current: 22)
RES – Inner Resonance
Governs ability to project, manipulate, sustain, and amplify magical output across all known channels.
Affects casting range, spell accuracy, amplification tolerance, and overload safety.
✦ Low RES may cause misfires, premature fizzles, or aetheric feedback injuries.
“Your will, focused. Or not.”
(Current: 2)
DEX – Dexterity
Governs precision movement, fine motor control, and kinetic glyph execution.
Affects dodge timing, invocation speed, and mechanical skill interactions.
✦ High DEX benefits running speed, stealth, evasive movement, and tool/channeling techniques.
“You can’t finesse your way through magic with fists.”
(Current: 13)
STR – Strength
Governs raw physical output, object manipulation, and fatigue thresholds.
Affects melee damage, melee spellcasting, lift/carry capacity, and physical endurance in combat zones.
✦ High STR enables certain weapon forms, boulder moving, and stubborn door-opening.
“Strength is rarely elegant, but sometimes it’s necessary.”
(Current: 5)
FOR – Fortitude
Governs resilience against physical disruption, stagger resistance, and long-form exertion.
Affects passive regeneration, concussion resistance, spell backlash absorption.
✦ High FOR prevents collapse during glyph rebounds, magical strain, and ritual fatigue.
“When you fall, Fortitude decides how fast you get up.”
(Current: 7)
EMO — Emotional Attunement
[LOCKED]
This attribute is currently sealed due to calibration class restrictions.
Unlock requires: Calibrator Progression OR Event Flag
Governs internal emotional clarity, the ability to channel existing emotions into spells, and to amplify or stabilize spells.
✦ Affects familiar bonding, certain path awakenings, and aetheric relic compatibility.
“Your will isn’t enough. Your feeling has to believe it too.”
(Current: Locked)
SYN – Synaptic Clarity (Previously named Synchronization during Legacy)
Governs magical synchronization and magical reflexes.
Enables instant decision-making, clear signal-to-emotion timing, and fast reaction alignment in high-pressure or complex magical contexts.
(Current: 3)
He was on his third reread. Not because he forgot, but because it felt better every time.
So Thaumaturgy is wrong! I can improve my resonance! Or maybe I can’t, and the numerical number next to it only exists to remind me I’ll stuck at 2 forever . . .
In Thaumaturgy theory, four elements need to exist in harmony for a perfect spell: Technique, Intent, Timing, and Innate Resonance. Technique would be simple; his physical attributes like STR and DEX would influence that. Intent consisted of emotions and mnemonics, so EMO obviously would influence that. He didn’t know why the glyph bothered to lock him out of such apparent attribute. Timing must be tied to SYN. If you had good STR, DEX, EMO, and SYN, you would successfully cast a spell.
After a spell successfully ignited, RES would take over as the most important attribute for controlling and amplifying magical output. As for FOR . . . well, FOR didn’t affect spellcasting at all, but rather resistance to spells.
This attribute breakdown had given him so much hope, at least. Even if every single attribute of his was at the rock bottom, he knew he could improve. The knowledge alone got him pumped. I need to dig deeper. I need to know all the different ways to boost my abilities.
He was looking for reasons why Synaptic Clarity would be the most important attribute for Grain Analysis, and it seemed like he’d found it. He didn’t need to control the aether, since most rocks resist control anyway. But he needed to understand how and why the rocks had retained that aether, and captured emotions along with it.
There was one more thing he needed to check. Earlier, after he’d finished Phase 3, he saw this message: [Earth-based Thaumaturgy Mastery +1]. He wanted to know what this mastery attribute meant, and he suspected it would be within the Skills sub-section.
He was right. There was now a Glossary note for Mastery when he entered the sub-section.
MASTERIES & SKILL UNLOCK SYSTEM
Mechanics Overview:
– Mastery Points are gained through practical use, successful resonance, and progression steps.
– At 10 Mastery Points, a new skill can be unlocked from an eligible subtree
– Foundational Tier 1 Skills must be unlocked via narrative progression, not by points (e.g., "Stonesway").
– Each skill tree has multiple Sub-Affinities, encouraging different styles (combat, sensing, flavor, etc.)
He moved on to the Earth-based tree.
EARTH-BASED THAUMATURGY TREE (early branches)
Sub-Affinities:
– Stone-Based
– Sediment-Based
– Soil-Based
– Crystal-Based (locked)
– Ore-Based (locked)
Existing Mastery: 4 (3 was given to you as an Innate ability bonus)
Too many variables. He could choose one now or wait. But if he picked wrong, he’d feel it forever. He hated optimization traps disguised as choices. However, it wasn’t like any of this mattered right now as he only had 4 Mastery Points.
[SYSTEM NOTE: Stone-Based Thaumaturgy Damage, Range, & Accuracy boosted by 12% via your Path: Celestial Hoarding]
[SYSTEM NOTE: After you have unlocked a sub-affinity, a potential new sub-affinity will be unlocked.]
Huh? How does this work?
He mentally willed the Note to show more details.
Total Stones Holding: 12
Total Registered for Celestial Hoarding: 10/12
Inventory: 1/10 Stones
Stone Satchel (Extension): 11/15 Stones
Ah. So each item would give me a 1% boost.
[Correction: Each small-sized item would give a 1% boost, a medium-sized item would give a 2% boost, and a big-sized item would give a 3% boost.]
Okay. How do I utilize this Celestial Hoarding to my advantage, then? How can I upgrade it?
[QUERY RECEIVED: “How do I utilize this Celestial Hoarding to my advantage?”]
[ANSWER: Try progressing current skills first. Hoarding cannot boost non-existent skills.]
Rude.
Still, he made a mental note to collect more pebbles when he had a chance. Ideally, he would get more Stupenstones, because he could use them to fling.
He moved on to the unlockables.
Tier 2 – Unlockable with Mastery Points
You can now unlock or upgrade these
Stone-Based Thaumaturgy Tier II:
Stonepulse (to Rank I)
Active | [Utility] [Detection]| 10 (Earth - Stone)
Requirements: Stonebind & Stonewhisper
Effect Sends a low-frequency resonance pulse into the ground. Reveals hidden glyphs, shallow tunnels, or loose debris in a short radius.
Seismic Teeth (to Rank I)
Active | [Combat] [Terrain Manipulation] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Requirements: Granule Drift & Stonepulse
Effect: Creates a temporary row of tooth-like stone spikes that erupt from loosened ground. Especially effective in tight corridors. Spikes crumble after 10 seconds or upon dealing damage.
Stonewhisper: Echo Braid (to Rank I)
Passive | [Detection] [Utility] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Requirements: Stonewhisper (Rank II)
Effect: You may now ‘braid’ multiple stones into a linked listening chain, allowing you to trace moving vibrations between them. Maximum of 3 linked stones. Directionality remains imprecise, but distance can be estimated.
Slatecast: Fragment Bloom (to Rank I)
Active | [Combat] [AoE] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Requirements: Stalecast (Rank II)
Effect: Instead of a single slate shard, multiple razor-like fragments bloom outward in a cone. Weaker per shard than the original, but effective against unarmored swarms or fast targets.
Tier 1 — Common-Grade Stone-Based Spells (Unlockable & Upgradable)
Stonebind (to Rank I)
Passive | [Combat] [Utility] | 5 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Temporarily anchors an object (or creature’s foot) to the ground using localized pressure. Ineffective on flying or large targets. Great for delaying or trapping.
Pebble Ward (to Rank I)
Active | [Combat] [Utility] [Melee] | 5 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Instantly lifts small stones from your surroundings to intercept low-grade projectiles or magical flares. Limited to 1 use per short rest.
Stonewhisper (to Rank I)
Passive | [Narrative] [Detection] | 5 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Allows you to ‘listen’ for minute vibrations in a hand-held stone to detect movement, tunneling, or recent nearby footsteps. Doesn’t always give clear direction.
Granule Drift (to Rank I)
Active | [Exploration] [Mobility] | 5 (Earth - Stone)
Requirements: Any Sediment Thaumaturgy Skill
Effect: Disassembles compacted stone into loose sediment in a small area, allowing excavation or safe descent through walls and floors. Requires stable emotional focus.
Slatecast (to Rank I)
Active | [Combat] [Utility] [Ranged] | 5 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: A sharp-edged slate fragment forms from ambient grit and is launched forward. More accurate than Stupenstone Fling but lacks its emotional scaling.
Stonesway (to Rank II)
Active | [Utility] [Combat] [Flavor] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Animates and levitates a small number of rocks (up to 5 pebbles) for light manipulation or distraction. Pebbles respond better to tactile familiarity.
Gravelkin (to Rank II)
Active (Innate) | [Summon] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Upgrades your bonded Gravelkin: now capable of limited mimicry (simple shapes), glows on proximity to conflict. Opens up synergies with Celestial Hoarding (access for more details).
Stupenstone Fling (to Rank II)
Active (Innate) | [Combat] [Narrative] | 10 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Access for more details.
Sedimentary Recall (to Rank III)
Active (Innate) | [Sensing] [Narrative] | 25 (Earth - Mud)
Effect: By holding an earthen object that has remained in place for a long time, you can tap into lingering aetheric ‘impressions’ of significant emotional events that occurred nearby.
Burden of Stones (to Rank III)
Active (Innate) | [Sensing] [Narrative] | 25 (Earth - Stone)
Effect: Temporarily imbues an object with weight based on emotional burden.
Okay, so a new Tier I skill costs 5 Mastery Points to unlock, 10 Mastery Points to upgrade to Rank II, and 25 to upgrade to Rank III. Meanwhile, a Tier II skill costs 10 Mastery Points to unlock and 25 to upgrade to the next rank.
The higher the rank, the more Mastery Points it takes to level up. So in theory, it would be more efficient to unlock all the base skills first. But do I need all the Base skills? Maybe the higher-level skills are expensive to unlock because they are worth it. I need to read further into what they do in detail when I have the chance.
[ACCESS: STONE THAUMATURGY SKILL TREE]
[SYSTEM NOTE: All these skills are Common-level skills. Please refer to the known Skill tree to access Tier 2 (Rare-level) skills.]
[WARNING: Be sure to refer to double-check the requirements for unlocking every Skill. Some Tier 2 skills cannot be unlocked until the prerequisite Tier 1 skills are available. Mastery Points are difficult to earn, so use them strategically to specialize into specific builds.]
[EXAMPLE: Defensive Stone Tank Build requires a vastly different skillset than Stone Golem Summoner.]
He read the descriptions, noted them down, then read again, underlined the keywords, then read again the third time.
Okay. It makes sense that I have to learn fundamental skills as a basis for learning relevant higher-level skills.
But . . . Stone Golem Summoner?! He had never heard of any Thaumaturges summoning Stone Golems before. Stone Golems were a construct made specifically by Geomancers. To his knowledge, there had not been any recorded animated or summoning spell within the Earth Thaumaturgy department. Maybe the Eidralith knew something Thaumaturgy theory didn’t.
He was about to examine the Skill Tree, but realized Stupenstone Fling was the only skill that demanded him to ‘click’ on the description. He did as told.
Stupenstone Fling (Rank II)
– Automatically homes toward its target’s emotional ‘signature’ (if present), improving midair correction and accuracy.
– Can be charged briefly (1–2 seconds) before release, enhancing the projectile’s velocity, emotional clarity, and impact force.
– On hit, delivers a feedback pulse that echoes the bound emotion into the target’s field, causing mild disorientation (non-lethal).
- A RES of ≥ 7 is required to ensure the flight path stays true at all times. A low RES could result in early dipping, especially at higher speed.
Damage scaling:
– Slightly increased base impact force
– Damage intensity now scales with RES (1% boost per 1 RES, up to 10)
Casting Requirement: SYN ≥ 5
[SYSTEM NOTE: No range upgrade yet. Please improve your RES and SYN to increase range.]
Those seem like massive upgrades. Emotional tracking can curve the path lightly, which means I can find cover first. If I imprint it with fear, I might be able to scatter a group before they even know what hit them.
And I’ll need to smack Cuman in the head soon.
But hold on . . . He squinted at the Casting Requirement. It said SYN ≥ 5, and he only had 3 SYN. Did that mean he wouldn’t be able to cast the spell?
[ENQUIRY RECEIVED: Can I cast a skill if I don’t meet the Casting Requirement?]
Pre-saved Answer Loaded: Yes. However, it would be much more difficult to control the output of the skill. A skill would normally only function at a maximum of 70% of its capacity if the Casting Requirement is not met.
Okay. That’s not too bad. I’m only 2 SYN behind, so I think I can bridge the gap soon enough.
He mentally tapped on the name ‘Stupenstone Fling (Rank II)’.
The air shimmered around the glyph.
[Confirmation Needed: Upgrade Stupenstone Fling to Rank II]
He mentally confirmed.