NOVEL NEXT 1.80: Echo
Ethan beat his wings, flying over the sparse canopy of the swamp as he made his way to the lagoon. He was only mildly sore, and the few bites that managed to rip through his scales had already healed, but he was still a bit annoyed as he looked through his notifications.
You have defeated [Swamp Monitor (I) - Level 63]
…
You have defeated [Possessed Swamp Monitor (I) - Level 68]
You have reached Level 64. 1 stat point awarded.
You have reached Level 65. 1 stat point awarded.
Shardpurse: 1329 fragments collected.
Ethan looked down at the single primagem and single spell he'd gotten. He couldn't help but feel disappointed. Especially since he had to deal with the stupidly resilient possessed monitors.
Primagem of Last Breath and a tier-3 [Acid Orb]. Not bad drops but considering the number of burnt monitors, I expected a bit more.
The lagoon came into view and seconds later, his feet slammed against the stone at the edge of the swamp territory, cracking it. Ethan stepped out from the depression in the rock he had created, gravel raining down from his feet as he approached the orange ball of fur resting atop of a grey boulder. Further away in the distance and over on the edge of the water, he saw the monitors briskly dive into the water before their heads peeked over the softly-rippling sea to watch him a few seconds later.
It seemed they still remembered him, but for now, he was keeping some distance away until he dealt with a few things.
"[What took you so long?]"
Ethan dismissed the wings and sat down as the cat stared at him from her perch. "It didn't die fast enough. Then it did something when it died and made the normal monitors way stronger than they should have been. It was a massive pain in the ass, and I don't even think they gave that much more levels or fragments."
Her ears twitched and she looked away from the lagoon, tail swishing back and forth. "[That sounds interesting. Was it a curse?]"
"No. Something done through a primagem of Last Breath. I'm guessing."
She yawned. "[Congratulations, then,]" she said, then put her head down on her paws.
"I'm assuming you're not going to help here either?"
She cracked an eye open. "[Do you need my help?]"
"Probably not… But I'm gonna do a couple of things before I start with those. Mind keeping an eye in case any one of them tries to sneak by?"
The cat yawned again. "[Sure. But I'm hungry.]"
Ethan pushed down the yawn that was coming over him and waved the cat down before activating [Scorching Enhancement] along his scales. He would manipulate the fire so it was more focused, but he didn't have the [Arcanum of the Fire Elemental] equipped right this second.
Actually… I might need that against the last lord.
Asking the cat to give him a moment, Ethan removed [Breath Gland] from his Prime Arcanum and replaced it with [Draconic Claws] before re-equipping the fire manipulating title. Within his left palm, he summoned and manipulated the fire into a round, swirling ball of flames. He compacted it, visualizing some sort of nearly gelatinous fire, and when it felt stable and concentrated enough, he extended an arm toward the anxiously waiting cat.
Ember sniffed at the fire, then took a nibble. As soon as the fire touched her tongue, her ears and back ignited. Flames danced up from her paws to engulf her shoulders, and Ethan could swear her fangs were a bit longer than they usually were as she devoured the concentrated fire. When she finished, she sat on her haunches and cleaned up her face for a few moments. Then she looked up to him.
"[That was very good,]" she said, yawning once more right before she fell on her side again, purring up a storm. "[Thanks.]"
Ethan smiled and shook his head, then turned his attention to what he had planned. First, he began by pulling up his resources.
Shardpurse: 3270 fragments
Essence: 108
Killing a lord by dropping on it and breaking its spine was very effective. I bet the other half of Essence I made came from dealing with the swarm.
Eying his available upgrades, Ethan realized he could now afford the Prime Echo upgrade. He was also closing in on level 70, which meant he'd be progressing his own body to tier-2.
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He cracked his neck and took a deep breath of salty air. He had to be ready for this next one. After all, this lord was five levels higher than the others and even though Ethan had somehow cheated his way out of the other two fights, this time it was the lord that was cheating.
Stupid thing. Hiding in the water. You just wait…
Ethan highlighted the upgrades for a moment, took a deep breath, and confirmed the absolute destruction of his reserve of Essence.
Prime Arcanum - Prime Echo: Add an echo slot, allowing you to cast spells equipped within your Lesser Arcanums through your Prime Arcanum - 500 fragments, 50 Essence
Prime Arcanum - Spellform Bonus (Tier-1 → Tier-2): Increase Spellform bonus from 15% to 20% - 500 fragments, 50 Essence
As soon as the dust was kicked off around him, Ethan thought that maybe he shouldn't have done all two at once. But while it felt like too many different magics were altering his soul and body at the same time, the stat increases were the most pronounced.
The stone under him groaned at his suddenly increased weight. The red burnished scales grew firmer and thicker, and while his clawed and black-scaled hands barely changed in appearance, he felt he could twist metal if he tried. To test, he dismissed the claws from his right hand and reached out for an apple-sized stone near him. He picked it up and turned a bit in his hand. He took in its weight, its shape and after making sure it wasn't some sort of stone that broke down at the lowest amount of pressure, he tightened his fingers around it and squeezed.
At first, the stone didn't give. But he only needed to up the pressure once for the rock to explode. The stone was pulverized. And when he opened his hand, dust and gravel fell out.
With a flick, he brought up his stats and whistled.
That's a big jump, he thought. And he still had 3 points to assign but he didn't pay the stats too much mind right this second because he intended on moving a few things around in the Arcanums which was bound to alter the point distribution, but he'd certainly take another look before he took on the lord.
With that part done, Ethan excitedly brought up his interface's menu and looked through his Prime Arcanum's options. He quickly found what he was looking for.
Echo: None
Echo slots: 1/1
Prime Arcanum - Prime Echo Slot (Tier-1 → Tier-2): Increase Echo slots by 1 - 1500 fragments, 100 Essence
Interesting, another upgrade is already available for an extra slot.
Tapping the empty field, Ethan saw a list of spells appear in front of him.
[Whisper]
[Arc of Force]
[Homing][Crystal Dart]
Quickly skimming over them, he recognized them as the spells he had equipped in the Lesser Arcanum.
Wind rustled, carrying the sound of a few hisses from the annoyed water monitors still watching him from afar as he ignored them and rubbed the back of his head.
That was it, then?
Ethan considered the ability for a moment. It didn't seem that exciting at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he wasn't seeing enough of the big picture to really grasp the limits of the Echo mechanic. In a way, it was very much like the trait he'd been offered. The one for a Bound Spellform. The difference was that this was not limited to a single slot, and it would potentially work for all general spells. For example, this would make it so he could chuck two fireballs at once, drastically improving his ranged firepower, and depending on what other kinds of spells could be found in the general category, the possibilities were certainly a lot more numerous than what he knew.
Ethan cupped his chin and stared into the text of his interface. Should he pull-up the tier-2 spell token and cash it in? This new ability made that certainly more tempting. Still, he shook his head. He had other matters to attend to first before he reached out for more spells.
I'll know more about what's possible with Echo once I get my hand on some sort of spell repertoire.
Stretching his neck, Ethan turned his attention to the last matter of business. The spell upgrades. Closing his eyes, he began with the one spell he might need the most for the battle ahead. [Small Fireball].
With his claws outstretched, Ethan slowly and carefully summoned the spell, making sure it was under control. He didn't let it zip away or detonate like it wanted to. He felt the heat of the spell, and how eager it was to expand and burn all that was around it. Ethan wasn't underestimating it, of course. He'd been on the receiving end of this particular spell more than once back in the lizardling's tunnels, and while the spell was doing an amazing job against the lords and the monitors, it was beginning to flag, even though his horns had always been boosting his spells.
It's time buddy. You need more power. More fire and more oomph, he thought, picturing what an empowered fireball could be. A regular fireball, or even something more. A blast that would send even his new heavy self off of the ground. Even the lords would have been ragdolled against the walls if this new fireball had exploded next to them. A scorching wave of heat and fire to incinerate whatever managed to resist the shockwave.
A big fireball.
Congratulations. Small Fireball (Tier-2) can be upgraded. 500 fragments are required.
Ethan could afford that easily enough.
Do you wish to alter the unlocked options with low-grade primagems?
Hell yeah I do, he thought in response, and as he eyes went through the options displayed ahead of him, a grin spread across his face.
This was going to be interesting.