The world flickered as Jasper grasped the goddess’s hand, and when the light returned, he found himself holding the hand of another. “Kas?dael?” His head whipped around quickly as he realized he was somehow standing beneath the dome of her temple, S?uh?ruru.

  “I fear Bele?t-Imtu’s time in the fallen city of Iltabri?t has addled her mind,” she replied icily.

  “Uh,” As Jasper turned to look at her, he was taken aback by the smoldering fury in her eyes. She was genuinely upset, not that he had any clue why. “She seemed alright to me. I mean, a little creepy, not big a fan of snakes,” he admitted, “but…”

  “She tried to forge a secondary bond with you,” Kas?dael spoke over him. “You are mine, and I do not share.” With visible effort, she smoothed the anger away and offered him a small smile. “As I said, she has clearly suffered while trapped in the city, so I will overlook her transgression this time. But if she tries again...”

  Though the threat went unspoken, Jasper understood. Still, there was something he had to ask, even if it risked riling up Kas?dael’s possessiveness. “But what about the reward? She promised us one for freeing her.”

  “And you shall have it,” the goddess replied. “Or did you forget that I dispensed the rewards the Mwryanni gave you? Why don’t you look now?”

  Following her prompting, Jasper clasped her hand and pulled up his status. In truth, it was kind of disappointing. He’d gained just five in his primary class and another two in Kas?dael’s, but at least it was enough to push him above level 150, earning him a reward for his class in addition to whatever Be?let-Imtu offered him.

  As usual, he decided to wait to distribute his points until after he’d chosen whatever new skills he’d gained and clicked on the first of the waiting boxes.

  The first proved to be a simple notification.

  In truth, it had barely been a year since he’d completed the first three steps of the path by aiding Lady H?urba?s?u and the two Mwyranni deities, but in the hectic chaos that his life had been since, Jasper had all but forgotten about the quest. It was hard to complain about getting two birds with one stone, he decided, but it was also hard to be too excited, as the box didn’t seem to offer any rewards of its own.

  Closing it, he moved on to the next, smiling as he read the choices.

  Jasper whistled lowly as he read the options. It was far from an easy choice. He’d already upgraded a number of spells in the past, and he had yet to regret that choice. More powerful spells were never a bad thing and, unlike in previous times, the option offered to level up the spell twice.

  On the other hand, racial traits had their own appeal. Jasper’s repertoire of spells was not as limited as it had been when he first arrived in Corsythia. He had already had a decent number of spells competing for his limited essence, and while he might be wrong, he was expecting to receive another spell from Belet-Imtu’s reward. The racial traits, on the other hand, seemed to be mostly (albeit not exclusively) passive bonuses that wouldn’t require any additional investment.

  And then there was the final option. A 25% increase to his highest stat, inspiration, would bring him another 43 points, adding another 1720 points of essence or, to put in more practical terms, 3-4 more spells in a battle. It was a noticeable power boost, the equivalent of dumping more than 14 levels into just one stat, but the downside was that he could eventually get there on his own by leveling up. Although, it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a reward for pushing past 200 in a single stat.

  “Damn it, I want all of them. Any chance you can make that happen?” he asked Kas?dael with a half-chuckle, knowing full well that she couldn’t.

  The fury in her eyes had mostly abated as she shook her head, and he continued. “Any advice then?”

  Kasdael took a moment to read the box before pointing to the first choice. “There are no bad options here, but stronger abilities are almost always better than more,” she replied.

  “I’ve gotten more opportunities to upgrade spells than the other options,” he countered. “I’ve never been offered this percentage increase before.”

  “Yet many of your spells are lagging behind.”

  Jasper warmed to the idea as he thought it offer. Shooting Star could certainly use an upgrade, for while the spell could be used to devastating effect against ‘chaff,’ he’d notice it wasn’t always effective against people near his life. And then there were spells like Circle of Forgiveness and Spectral Wings. Who knew - perhaps an upgrade to his healing spell would allow him to restore missing limbs, or maybe spectral wings could be given to everyone in the party. On second thought, such abilities seemed more useful than a simple increase in inspiration. “I think you’re right,” Jasper conceded and pressed the first option.

  The box was quickly replaced with a new prompt: Please choose which spell to upgrade.

  He was torn between the three options he’d considered, each one filling a completely different role in his toolbox, but after some hesitation, he narrowed it down to Shooting Star or Spectral Wings. Thus far, Circle of Forgiveness had always gotten the job down, and while the idea of an even more powerful healing spell was appealing, he’d felt the limitation on the other two spells more keenly. Do I want more firepower or more maneuverability?

  After his near-miss with death in the inverted pyramid, it was hard not to be drawn toward Spectral Wings, but Jasper didn’t make a hasty decision. Despite being a mage, most of his spells were fairly short range. Scourge of Despair only had a range of about fifteen feet, Flame Charge pretty much required melee contact, and Seraph’s Burst straight up flung him at the enemy. Shooting Star was his only long-ranged spell and it deserved an upgrade, he finally decided.

  He clicked the name before he could regret it, and the box was replaced again, this time offering him choices in upgrade:

  As Jasper read through the list, it was easy to see how each spell could fix some of the problems he’d been facing. Falling Skies didn’t appear to up the damage of his orbs directly, but their increased number of orbs, coupled with the ability to assign them to a single target, would probably provide a similar function.

  Starfall, meanwhile, sacrificed the number of orbs in exchange for a secondary binding effect. Five seconds was a long time in a fight, and, if he understood the notation about ‘stacking’ correctly, that number could soar to fifty seconds if all ten orbs were dedicated to a single target. The downside, though, was that it did little to upgrade his damage, and he wondered if it overlapped too closely with Fiery Shackles and Punishing Hand. Do I really need a third control spell?

  The last three options were focused on damage. Lunar Light increased damage by adding another element into the mix. That in itself was tempting, as Jasper had run into too many enemies with fire resistance. On the other hand, now that he had left the Djinn homeland, he was unlikely to encounter many more who could simply brush aside his flames.

  S?ams?a’s Lance went another direction. Hell, it went so far in another direction that it didn’t feel like an evolution of Shooting Star at all. The javelins' armor-piercing ability was undeniably appealing. Jasper hadn’t forgotten how his orbs had struggled to break through the high-quality armor that Lord Sargani?l and his bodyguards had worn and, frankly, the spell seemed almost a direct answer to that problem.

  But it was also the option that he had the most questions about. Did he have to aim the javelins, or did they spread out like a fan? Were all three cast at the same time or in a chain? How large were they? As appealing as the spell was, depending on the precision required for aiming it, it was possible it would end up less effective than his current spell - Shooting Star’s wide spread and exploding orbs made it very difficult to miss, after all.

  The final option was the least exciting. While he supposed it would be difficult to miss with a ten-foot wide, exploding orb, Meteor was such a cliched spell he almost wanted to dismiss it out of hand. However, cliches often existed for a reason, and Jasper knew it wasn’t a good enough reason to reject the spell. It does tick many of the boxes - stronger, would be hard to miss with, decent splash damage.

  Jasper read through the list again, hoping that a strong contender would emerge, but it did not. After further thought, he ruled out Starfall, shortening the list by one and then, even if he didn’t have the strongest argument, struck out Meteor as well, but that still left three. Maybe Lunar Light? But will Kas?dael care if I choose a spell blessed by another goddess? Normally, he wouldn’t think she’d care, as she generally seemed to be on good terms with Selene, but as she was already pissed off with Be?let-Imtu, he decided to test the waters first.

  “Kas?dael, would you care if I pick Lunar Light? Or is there a better option?”

  “Lunar Light isn't a bad choice,” the goddess replied, “And I won't be upset if you accept my sister's blessing. But, as you do not have an affinity for lunar magic, the spell will likely not be as strong for you as it would be for one of Selene's children. The spell would better suit your friend, if she had any essence to cast.”

  “Oh,” Jasper grimaced. “Would S?ams?a’s Lance be better then?”

  It wasn't the first time Jasper noticed a look of distaste flicker across Kas?dael's at the mention of her brother, but she didn’t reject the option immediately. “It’s a strong spell, and in some cases, I might even recommend it,” she said begrudgingly. “But the spell requires more precision than your current one. You would need to learn to aim a javelin if you wish to actually hit something with it.”

  “Then…what would you suggest?” Jasper turned his attention to the only choice he’d left standing, Falling Skies, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to select it due to the lack of a true increase in damage. Maybe I should reconsider the others?

  But as he started to reread the descriptions, Kas?dael tapped him on the shoulder. “Is there some reason you’ve ignored the sixth option?”