Class Advancement

  Zach had done a lot in his life. His feats stood on top of the Infinite Realm even compared to people who had lived for a thousand years. He was lucky in many ways, but he had also pushed himself farther than most were willing.

  He had a myriad of Class choices over the years, but now only two mattered. One was a continuation of his Lord of Aspects, and the other a new branch.

  Same Classes could appear at different tiers while remaining the same. But some were gated behind higher tiers. Zach was drawn to the Custodian of Knowledge because he felt that was his purpose. But he was also a realist. He needed power, and Master of Aspects would provide him that. He also liked the attunement a lot more. He didn’t need the Mentalist, even though it would improve some of his Mind related powers.

  Ultimately, he knew that he was going to get more choices at higher tiers related to Knowledge. He was too involved with the concept not to. He had killed the Grand Spirit of Knowledge, taken a piece of its power. And he could always choose that path at the end. For now, he needed more power.

  He picked Master of Aspects and chose the base stat bonus. And when the choice for the attunement came he knew that the ultimate pick came down on three Aspects, the ones that he had become the Sage of—Time, Wind, and Mind.

  His offensive perks and abilities were very versatile, his Arsenal made them so. But during the battle with Ra’azel he felt as if he lacked in the offensive power category. It was almost laughable, he had enough power that there were few in the world who could survive a confrontation with him, he could cut through mountains and unleash terrible destruction directly from the Aspect planes. And yet, he had been outmatched by Ra’azel. The yeti had planned ahead, and nullified Zach’s strengths.

  It made him realize that his power isn’t meant to come from the reliance on Time or on Wind. His power came from his knowledge about all the Aspects, about using what was available to him, his past, his experiences, and drawing from it.

  He focused on the new attunement and picked Mind. He had been under utilizing its offensive capabilities, and it was time to explore that.

  Immediately, he felt the change happening. Something was spreading through his Soul, a sensation that made his thoughts sharper, clearer. He hadn’t really realized how much fog there was before. He blinked and looked at the world with new eyes, his very Soul perfectly in sync with his mind.

  He let the effect settle, focused on his breathing and letting his body adjust to the changes. Then, he looked at his perk choice.

  The choices were Mind related, as he had expected considering the attunement. The choices were all very interesting. The Second Mind seemed powerful, but it just didn’t fit what he wanted for his future. He wanted to sharpen his claws, to borrow Naha’s words. More offense, ways to end a fight. Which Mind Lance seemed to be able to provide. But then there was Mind Spirit, which reminded him of a choice from long ago. His memory was sharper now, he could remember clearly. He had been offered Blade Spirit perk once. This one seemed similar.

  He knew more about such perks now compared to back then. He had learned a lot, researched many paths and perks. He knew what he could expect from a spirit created by such a perk. Their power came from the source, in this case himself. It would have powers that were unique to a Mind spirit, but its creation would be influenced by him.

  It wasn’t what he really wanted, but now that he saw it he felt drawn to it. He could already summon spirits from one other perk, so getting this perk wasn’t such a surprise. And he knew that the Mind spirit would be able to provide what he was looking for now, more offensive power. He had been planning on picking the next few perks that would allow him to use mental attacks.

  He had great mental defenses and versatility, but few actual attacks aside from perks that he could change with his Arsenal. He wanted a more straightforward attack.

  After some thoughts, he went with his gut feeling, and picked Mind Spirit. It was again more versatility, but he was sure that it wasn’t a mistake.

  Once his choice was final, he turned to his previous attunement. With an additional Class tier, he could add one more Aspect to his Arsenal and he still had one slot left over from before. He hadn’t picked one initially because he wanted to ensure to get more Mind related perks as his first perk choice in the new tier. With that done, he wanted to add it and have it influence his next perk choices. He had made the decision on which that Aspect was a while ago. He had been using swords for a long while, and even though his fighting style was a more caster-fighter, he relied on blades a lot.

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  He added the Blade Aspect to his Arsenal for the slot he had left over from before, and then added another that he had been thinking about for a while. It wasn’t an Aspect that he had really been actively using, but it was part of his perks, his skills even if not directly. But he felt that it was important to help shape who he was and would embody. The Aspect of Protection was embodied within his Ideal, within a few of his skills even if indirectly. He wanted it, and that was all that mattered.

  Once he was done with assigning the Aspects, he started leveling again. His next two offers were easy choices to make.

  He hadn’t planned on taking more support perks, but being able to send power to Naha was just too good of a choice. The second perk was a simpler one, but very useful for what he planned. Making his weapons stronger in fight was never a bad choice.

  The last choice in the tier was a bit more difficult.

  Zach grimaced. Mind Prison, he knew why, of course. He tried to set aside his personal feelings on it and look at the perk objectively. It would be useful, of that he had no doubt. His mastery over the Mind Aspect was great, he was certain that he would be able to do something similar to what Hastur had done. The question was: did he wish to do that to another person?

  He knew that it could be more than just an attack or a way to punish or torture someone. He was the proof of that. But just seeing the perk made him feel uneasy.

  The first perk choice was interesting too. A pure destructive power, which was something that he had been looking for.

  The third one though, was very intriguing. It wasn’t quite a complete silence, but it served the same purpose. He had found that his silence skill didn’t always work fully against powerful people. This perk would bypass that somewhat by lowering the quality of the Essence around them. It would work mostly on powers that utilized the Essence in the surrounding rather than those who drew from themselves—so it wouldn’t be that effective against most Cultivators.

  Still, it was a powerful tool. He thought about it for a while and decided to go with Dampen Essence. It felt right.

  He leveled again, reaching his next evolution. Again, he picked the upgrade of his Master of Aspects Class, now called the Scion of Aspects. For his next Arsenal Aspect he picked the Aspect that was closely related to Time. The Aspect that he had always used but never trained properly—Space.

  The attunement for the new Class evolution was good, it increased the effectiveness of his Arsenal Aspects which was very powerful, and more importantly scalable. He picked the stat bonus and ignored his last ability slot for now.

  Then he started leveling and picking perks. A part of him wondered and worried about focus madness. But he was fairly sure that they had done things right. His skills had anchored him sufficiently that nothing would be able to change him. And he embodied Knowledge in all of its forms. Classes focused on mastering different Aspects fell within that area, they aligned.

  The choices of perks were easier in this tier, they felt more suitable to him and the Aspects that he had in the Arsenal. Once he had finished picking them all, he took a look at the new perks.

  The Aegis perk he had picked because he needed more defense. He couldn’t continue to solely rely on his ideal, especially when its cooldown was long. He needed more protection for himself and those around him.

  True Link perk was the easiest choice of his life. Being able to reach Naha in an instant was an amazing power. And something that had already lessened the worry he held within his heart. He never wanted to be separated from her again, to have to worry if she could handle a threat all on her own. Not that he didn’t trust her, or believed her capable enough. They were a team, and they should deal with things together.

  The blade related perk was to add more offensive power, and the different blades made out of his Arsenal Aspects would make them different and powerful.

  The last perk he chose because he had encountered aura powers before and knew how useful they could be. He wondered what kind of effects they would have, and knew that he would have to train to use it effectively.

  Once all of that was finished, he was left with his last Class evolution. He leveled and hit the next choice.

  As he had expected, the next steps of his previous choices were present. Scion of Aspects became Herald of Aspects, but the Knowledge path had become two Classes. One was Keeper of Knowledge, which he believed was the final step in that Class Evolution. The last one though, that was something different.

  He took a closer look.

  His plan had always been to switch to Knowledge as his final Class Evolution. This one was obviously the result of him possessing a piece of the Grand Spirit of Knowledge. It was the only thing that made sense. He didn’t think that he embodied Knowledge to that extent, not yet. But it was exactly what he had been looking for.

  The attunement alone would’ve been worth it. It would aid in his search for more knowledge. But he had also planned on picking his last ability. And [Create Tome] would come in handy, especially with his new occupation.

  He didn’t need to think about it too much. He made his choice, and was then presented with another, last one.

  Zach was conflicted. He knew that the last perk would be powerful, they always were. He didn’t expect… this.

  The Castle of Knowledge one he dismissed. He didn’t need it, even though it could come useful in situations. He could imagine summoning it during a large scale battle, giving his allies a defensible position and spirit reinforcements. But he had already connected it to his Academy, the perk was unnecessary.

  The other two though… They were a lot more interesting, more powerful in a way.

  The Knowledge is Power perk would give him a lot of power, and not just that, but power that couldn’t be predicted or anticipated. It would nullify everyone’s ability to predict and plan for Zach’s power kit.

  But then there was the last perk. He wondered what he could do with it. Could he just erase the knowledge about Reaction Engines? In one use of perk remove everyone’s knowledge of how to make them?

  It didn’t say anything about a cooldown, but he wondered what would happen if he used it in battle. Fighting against someone focusing on fire and just erasing all the knowledge about manipulating fire. Would that just turn them useless immediately?

  They were powerful Perks.

  He couldn’t choose, he needed another opinion. He stood and turned, heading out to find Naha to talk with her.

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