The Power of Ten, Book Five: Versatile Wizardry

Note: This is indeed the final chapter of Versatile Wizard, and so the last time to ask for your Ratings and Reviews!

Note that the story sits at 4.8 Rating as I write this, so anything less than a 5 is a DOWN vote. Note that on Royal Road, Ratings like this become yes/no about their Quality Ratings because of this, and aren't really a sign of Quality.

A Rating or Review of 5 simply means 'I like this story, it's well-written, and I think you will enjoy it, too.' It doesn't mean it's going to win a Pulitzer.

If you've stuck with me for 400 chapters, more than a year, I hope I earned that 5-star and a few moments of effort from you.

Thanks, and on to the wrap-up!

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I honestly didn’t know how long this story would be when I first started posting it, although I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to reach the 500 chapters of Books Three and Four.

As for Mok Fan, the expy stand-in for the MC of the original novel, he is in the unique position of being the most powerful mage in the world, and completely overshadowed by an actual Goddess (if a minor one). He has a long way to go to work through the Imperial Sage levels and hit Realm Sage, let alone Divine Sage, but it is certainly possible, given enough time and effort... although it is likely a lot of that fighting will be taking place on other worlds, as Earth simply isn’t big enough to grow Realm Lords by itself. He’ll definitely be blasting the shit out of the undead in China’s Death Zone, however!

I wasn’t sure how to elevate Fae to the level of being able to contend with the Realm Lords, especially with the ever-escalating Mana demands and costs of the spells. The formation of the Constellations around her Valences and Mana Pool came out of nowhere as a totally possible add-on to the existing magic system there, basically the materialization of true Arcane/Stars Theurgy.

The continuing importance of the Stars to attain higher Tiers meant I never let them fade into irrelevancy, like early cultivation methods often do. That was important to me, especially with the increasingly crazy numbers needed to improve them.

I am aware that Fae is a nobly self-sacrificing figure in this novel, as she’s probably an example of Aelryinth’s Faith Shard (the whole novel is about her building up to bring in real gods, after all) and thus alien to many people, even if she has a power-gamer’s mindset and is always going for more strength. Her elevated status is actually very isolating, as she is still tied to one world, and has no peers there. Thankfully, she would have a much closer relationship with the gods as basically Heaven’s direct representative there, and she can manifest Avatars as needed to maintain human awareness and perspectives.

Her elevation to Tier 10 basically puts her at the level of a Power of Ten Lesser Goddess. Aru didn’t ‘give’ her any power: He just instantly applied her ‘earnings’ of helping destroy two rival Realms and the equivalent in Soul Crystals she would have been able to harvest from them, if able.

The seven Tier-10 Divine Soul Crystals basically put her at the very entry of Lesser God. Completing all her Stars to Tier-10 means she would step into Tier-11 as an Intermediate Goddess, and become non-finite.

Realm Lords are basically Titans instead of Divine, tied to their physical bodies for their power, and so use an evolution method very similar to that of Beasts, not the Stars method used here. Isolated in a ‘real’ world not spun out of a magical realm, Earth didn’t have the power to evolve a Realm Lord, as the High Emperors found out. Fae got the power by harvesting the Nether-realms’ decaying souls.

Her Divine Level is a Racial Level of basically Outsider Hit Dice. When it surpasses her Human Levels, she can become non-finite.

Final Stats: (Note, just figuring all this stuff out takes over an hour each time I do this!)

Lady Fae the Divine Sage

Healer Fae, The Sage of Focus, Legendary Ringlord, Lord of Pyramids, Master of Pyramids, The Archmagos Arcane, The Heavenbound, The Sage of Spellhouses; Worldsinger; Sage of Heaven’s Seeds; Syzygy Explorer

Female Divine/1, Human/30 (High Exemplar) (Mage/20**) – Effectively 50th Base Caster Level

Powered: Wizard/16 (22); Sorcerer/30** (Arcane Sage/Void Phoenix); Ur-Priest/16 (22); Inquisitor/16 (20); Druid/16 (20); Binder/16 (20); Minstrel/16 (20); Bard/16 (20); Alchemist/16 (20); Artificer/16 (20); Soul Warrior/16 (20); Soulshaper/16 (20)

Theurge: Eldritch/5 (Sorc/Binder); Arcane/5 (Wiz/Sorc); Mystic/5 (Ur/Wizard); Divine/5 (Ur/Inquis); Elemental/5 (Druid/Wiz); Lorelord Magnae/5 (Minstrel/Bard); Lore/5 (Bard/Wizard); Wondermaker/5 (Artificer/Alchemist); Creation/5 (Alchemist/Wizard); Anima/5 (Soulshaper/Wizard); Soulmaster/5 (Soulshaper/Soul Warrior)

Advanced: Archbinder/5; Archshaman/5; Archcleric/5; Archwizard/5; Archsorcerer/5; Grenadier/5; Battlemad/5; Arcane Archer/5; Exemplar/5; Maestro/5; Warshaper/5; Archmage/5; Hierophant/5

Basic (NPC): Vizard/16; Noble/16; Expert/16; Magewright/16

Standard/Mundane: Melee/16; Archer/16; Scout/16; Monk/16

Strength (18): 16 - 52

Dexterity (18): - 52

Constitution (18): - 50

Intellect (18): 64 (68)

Wisdom (18): 53

Charisma (18): 53

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Height: 5'9" Weight: 140 lbs. Hair: White Eyes: Silver (Warlock Sign, Blue) Age: 28 (35 at the end)

Health: 1295

Soak: 1406

Movement: 950 (Base 165, +16/3 Lightfoot, +10 Travel, +60 Epic/Divine)

Talent: Naturally Focused, Mystical (+3 Meditation, Spellcraft, Faith, Waking Meditation)

Acquired Powers: Fire Template; Cold Template; Awakened Bloodline (Void Phoenix); Affinity for Fire and Cold Magic (250%/250%, x2); Sylune’s Grace; Master Archtheurge Incarnation; Paired Greater Heaven Seed (Firefrost Seed) (Fire Luan/Frost Luan); Awakened Talent (Mystical); Commanding Stars; Greater Heaven Seed (Lovelorn/Air, +Psychic); Greater Heaven Seed (Thunderheart Seed, Lightning/Thunder); Greater Heaven Seed (Earth, Crystalheart Diamond Saltseed); Greater Heaven Seed (Holy Water, Water/Light, +Healing)

Class Levels: 436

Skill Points: 3127 (+342 Study)

Paid Masteries: 1308/1308 possible

Paid Feats: 436/436 possible

Traits: 6 (Complete)

Favored Class Points: 872 (0 unallocated)

Mark: +4 (5) Sacred bonus to Intellect (Complete)

Wrath: +27d6+17 (25d6 +2d6 Chasuble), x2/rd

Aegis: 135 vs. Acid, Lightning, Eldritch, Radiance, Primal, Necroic, Divine (5 x Wrath Ranking)

Stars (Multiverse): 117,642 x Tier 9 (63 Mana each), +7 x Tier 10 (70 Mana each)

Total Mana Reserve: 7,411,936

Soul Essence (First Node): 97 (32 Levels + 41 Wis/Con + 5 Mastery +10 Feats+5 FC+4 Cap)

Burned Valences: Sixth through Ninth Ring (Auto-Raise 4 levels) + The Ring of Legend

Epic Valences: X (6th) through XXV (21st)

Spell Pool: +878 Levels

Ki: 157 (+8 Monk +29 Int +6 Ki Mastery +70 Seven Dragons, +10 Oak/Zen +25 Way of Shadow/Sun/Moon/Iron/Stone Mastery/Thunder**, +4 Cap)]

Channel Uses: 50 (3+Cha (24), Mastery+20, +6 Cap)

Alchemy Bombs: 75 (Alch Level + Int (45), Mastery +10, Grenadier +20); Dmg +15d6+Int (=Alc/22+3d6)

Arcane Pool: 1318 (x2401 Stars/Starry Heavens)

Syzygy: 1850 x 40,000xMana (Spell Levels)

Syzygy Mana: 177,674,000,000 (Current Syzygy Gain 300 Mana/second)

Mana Regeneration: Waking Meditation (Auto Regains full base Mana in 2 Hours) = 24,670,000 Mana/second

Cost of Low Realm Spells: 168 Million Mana per Spell, x10 True Realm, x100 High Realm

Her Concentration Modifier is +178 or so.

Meditation is +152, Perception +168, Faith +97 (this is what keeps her going), Spellcraft +156, Alchemy +153, Perform Song +166, Intimidation at a colossal +195, Diplomacy at +185, Gemcutting at +124, Stoneshaping at +140, Tattooing at +140 or so.

Most of her Technology/Lore based stuff is at +50 to +70, which is totally enough to hit QL 40 and Tech Level 20 stuff.

Most of her Control Element (X) skills range from a low of +135 for Control Blessing/Buffs to +165 to Control Force, which means her Elemental Control skills are definitely godly.

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Her normal saving throws are +74 Fort (+10 vs poison), +75 Reflex, and +86 Will, with +4 vs Dark Magic.

She is nominally immune to Fire, Cold, Poison, Disease, and Critical Hits, has 135 points of Resistance to most relevant attack energies, and takes -5/die of damage from Force Attacks.

Damage Reduction is 41/Epic Holy Silver. Fast Heals at 25/rd, and Regens at 16/minute. She has a Natural AC of +28, a Touch AC of 84, and a Full Armor Class of 118.

She has Magic Resistance of 55 from her Exemplar levels, while possessing +19 or so Spell Penetration above and beyond her Caster level against such resistance.

Her base movement speed is 950 afoot, 2850 flying, and it can be boosted MUCH higher with Air magic. That’s about the speed of sound when running afoot, and Mach 3 in flight.

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The saving throws on her spells is base 52 + Spell Level, and she can cast spells up to 21st level.

Her normal modified Caster Level is 87, and generic modifiers can raise it to 107 or so for many spells.

All her spells have the Good, Thunder, Lightning, and Cold attributes unless she deems otherwise.

Very importantly, her Dispel Magic effects, like Spellflare, have a +167 Caster Level modifier, meaning she can Dispel, Counter, Turn, or Flare spells from even Greater God Avatars without too much trouble!

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With Greater Shards, she has a Caster Level of approximately 150, generating 37+3 Greater Shards. These have a base damage of d8+8, although the first one to hit a person or being does 8-48+48. They are usually Topped for maximum damage.

Her bonus to hit on them is +116 to +122 (nastier against Legends, Evil, FE’s) + usually a Dreadskull. The Save against them is +57-61+ spell level, which is usually 10th or greater.

Her average damage, before multiplying by her tier and Soulseeds, is about d10+10 per Shard, +14/Die, +54 per spell, +26 Weapon damage (+34 vs undead), (these amounts are halved when Chained and doubled on crits), with Kickers doing +117 +9d6 to each being hit, and burning them one round later for another +7d6.

To this she can add her Wrath damage (2x 27d6+20) and a Force Reserve (+21d4).

A full Shard volley Topped out striking one being is about 2728 damage, give or take a Dreadskull. Note these volleys are usually Paired and Admixed, for four at once, or Fastcast/Paired for two at once.

With Repeat /Echo Spell and multiple Fastcasts, her opening volley can consist of 10 of these Greater Shards, and with Residual Metamagic, the next round she can hit you with 20 of them.

All her Shards have the Force, Cold, Healing, Fire, Lightning, Thunder, and Acid descriptors. They are considered Arcane, Force, Divine, and Primal damage, and so bypass normal Elemental Immunities to damage entirely, while qualifying to exploit Elemental weaknesses as appropriate.

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She is capable of Casting up to four distinct spells a round: Normal, Fastcast, Fastcast2, Fastcast3.

Her Soulseeds give stacking damage modifiers to attacks with all the Elements, but their inclusion directly into her Matrix means that basically ALL of her core Elemental spells get the Buff, which is about x630 or so in damage or other effects.

This is multiplied by the standard Realm Lord modifier of 256,000,000 (if all the Mana is paid for, which is base spell +168 million). She is effectively striking nearly two Tiers above a base Low Realm Lord level (a Realm Lord outside their specialty).

A Divine Sage effect modifier is x2.56 BILLION, but the Mana Cost is also +1.176 BILLION Mana. An attack of such magnitude would wipe out a small country or a medium American state. Given the speed she can Cast at, she is capable of blowing through her entire Mana supply of 178 billion Mana in under one minute.

This gets even crazier if she uses Arcane Fusion to Cast two distinctive spells at the same time. Although her Mana Regeneration of 24 million/second is equally crazy, she can still Cast far, far faster than she can regenerate Mana.

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Her Wizard Spells are: 6 Cantrips, + 32/30/30/27/27/10/10/9/9/8/8/7/7/6/6/5/5/4/4/3/3, with 4 Domain Slots added at each level 1-21 as well. The vast majority of the latter are simply lower Spells Raised into higher Slots for extra effect.

Her Spontaneous Spells Known are spread across Sorcerer, Binder, Inquisitor, and Minstrel. They are 36 Cantrips, plus 44/44/41/41/37/26/9/8/8/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/3 Spells Known, and +2 Bloodline Spells from levels 1-9.

Her Spontaneous spells Castable are 40/37/37/37/35/13/13/12/12/10/10/9/9/7/7/6/6/4/4/3 Slots.

Note: She has had no contact with Netherese Magical spells, so all her higher Spells Known are Raised versions of existing spells.

With her Mana regen being what it is, she can replace any expended Spontaneous Slots instantly, so she can keep up non-enhanced Valence magic all day. Tiering effects require adding Star Mana on top of Valence Mana.

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With the insane magical power and regeneration of a Versatile Wizard/Divine Sage, Fae definitely qualifies as a goddess in the magical spellcasting department. A ‘normal’ Lesser God is usually around a base Caster level of 30-40, which she completely overwhelms at this point, and the non-described automatic magical defenses of her Tier render her basically immune to any attacks below that of at least a True Emperor at this point. It takes a +36 Spell Penetration to have ANY hope of affecting her with any magic, in addition to the above (Spell Res 55).

While her power doesn’t quite compare to Underweb Casting (which is totally cosmic in scope), Fae can totally take out a planet by herself without too much problem as it stands.

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Whew! Doing all those stats took me better than four hours of calculations and details and stuff! But now I can put Fae’s Assays away...

And now we go from this story, based on another author’s world, to a story based upon a Video Game.

The next novel of Aelryinth and his Shards (aside from the ones on Patreon) will be Asheron’s Fall. If you are a fan of MMORPG History, Asheron’s Call was the #3 big online game, coming out after Ultima and Everquest. It had a successor game, Asheron’s Call 2, but that petered out and died with its own problems, and I am going to ignore it.

Unlike the first two big MMO’s, Asheron’s Call departed from the Euro-centered mythology and creatures, going completely with a new world and completely alien species that were found in no other fiction. It pioneered the monthly updates that World of Warcraft later expanded on, and had a unique leveling system of no Classes, merely which skills and stats you chose to take to build them up.

It had its balance problems (Casters outperformed everything in both PvM and PvP), but it was still great fun, the quests were original and often required superb teamwork and timing to accomplish, and in general the player base was very fun and devoted to the game.

I devoted a lot of my 20’s to that game. I think I have close to 3 years actual log-in time on that game, and that’s at the keyboard playing. I played a LOT of Asheron’s Call, and have very fond memories of it to this day. Setting it down and walking away from it at last is one of the things that prompted me to write the Power of Ten!

Welp, now I’m going back there after nearly twenty years, and we’ll see what the Power of Ten thinks about the Island of Dereth and all of its sub-zones. I imagine it’s going to be very different from the perspective of a non-player entering the space, and just what would a real world look like with all the stuff common to video games?

It’s going to be fun! If you’re an Asheron’s Call alumni, put out the word! It’ll be a hoot!