Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6), Dakota Krout [free novels to read TXT] 📗

The human smiled and moved past the guard into the open countryside, thinking exclusively about the ritual. “Sure,the main components were the organs of my own race, and some other… shady things… but I can bypass all that with aspects! Okay, let’s see… the main target of this ritual will also be able to mystically observe anyone attempting to see the target through mystic means. This lasts for seven days, or until dispelled by the caster.”

“If I get this on the leaders of the assault, we’ll be able to weed out any infiltrators before we leave. What materials do I need in order to make this happen?” He sat down next to the road and started translating the required goods into aspects and Core energy. “Looks like this is an Expert-ranked ritual… I’ll need Unique aspects. I need Cores first, though.”

Joe knew exactly where to go for that. He hurried down the road, running with a destination in mind. After a few minutes, he screeched to a halt. “No, wait. Havoc already gave me Cores that would be perfect for the ritual. Let’s just go back and…”

The unforgettable buzzsaw sound of a Hammer Beast closing in on him made Joe curse and start sprinting toward his high-ground rock. It wasn’t too far away, but by the time he spotted the large pillar of stone rising next to the road… there were almost a dozen Hammer beasts that he was needing to constantly dodge. Even so, Joe smiled, because all he could see as the spikey death balls hurtled at him was the small pile of Cores that he was going to turn them into.

His Ritual Orbs emerged and *cracked* into one of the attacking two-headed beasts at the same moment that he finally got into a good position to take down the beasts with minimal risk. His smile faltered, and he slammed his fist into the stone below him. “That is the last time I take a walk to get my thoughts in order! Dark room or a long shower from now on!”

Chapter Fifty

Joe jumped off the column of stone, exhausted from having to constantly direct his ritual orbs into the patterns that he wanted. It was good training for future battle, and he had been able to safely destroy a full score of the Hammer Beasts, but it was frustrating that he needed to constantly visualize every aspect of the attack that he wanted to use. Even with a spell, he was able to visualize the spell form and put it out into the world; he did not need to maintain the shape in his mind after the initial usage.

“Although, now that I think about it, would that be useful?” Joe muttered to himself as he went from beast to beast, collecting their Core if they had one, and otherwise reducing the creature for aspects. “I already know that mana manipulation has leveled up a few times because I was working on controlling threads of mana outside of my body… is this an aspect of spellcasting that I have ignored?”

A few tests casting Acid Spray at the rocks in the area showed him that no, he had not been using spells incorrectly. “At least… I suppose it shows that only doing it a few times is not enough to change anything. Another thing to practice?”

Joe looked over his haul; three Uncommon Synthetic and five Common Cores. Shaking his head ruefully, he chuckled and murmured to himself, “Something about having an ability tied to a Ritual Orb really makes it easy to remember to use it.”

Experience earned: 2,370 (Hammer Beast x20)

Level up! Welcome back to level 19! Again!

“No light show or feelings of euphoria for getting back to this level?” He shrugged, although he was slightly saddened that he didn't get to experience that rush again. Just another reason to get to level twenty-two for the first time.

Battle Meditation (Novice VI).

Assisted Ritual Orb Usage (Beginner 0). Congratulations on reaching the Beginner ranks for this skill!

“Nice! That means that I can use two orbs skillfully, and another one fifty percent as easily, right?” Joe immediately pulled out a third orb and tossed it into the air alongside the other two. There was a remarkable difference in the ease of use, and he felt confident that he could control all three fairly easily in combat. As soon as he had collected all of the available loot, Joe turned and started running back toward the city. He needed aspects, lots of aspects, then even more aspects, and he needed them quickly. There was really only one place that he could go to make that happen, and luckily he had a permanent pass.

As he rushed toward the city to hop headfirst into the sewers, he felt like his body was on autopilot. Since his mind was free, he decided to open up his character sheet and see how things were going.

Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist

Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)

Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)

Profession III: None

Character Level: 19 Exp: 190,559 Exp to next level: 19,441

Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 9,590

Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 936 Exp to next level: 64

Hit Points: 1,813/1,813

Mana: 6,662/6,662

Mana regen: 49.18/sec

Stamina: 1,491/1,491

Stamina regen: 6.45/sec

Characteristic: Raw score

Strength: 143

Dexterity: 143

Constitution: 139

Intelligence: 148

Wisdom: 129

Dark Charisma: 100

Perception: 132

Luck: 72

Karmic Luck: -1

Joe screeched to a halt as he saw the drastic shift on his character sheet. “That's not right. None of that is right. What happened to…? Everything jumped, everything jumped way too high! Tatum, is this something you did? Dude. I just got you back, don’t mess with the system.”

Activate Query?

“Yes, activate query, send a message to the admins, anything so that I do not get slapped with another penalty!” The Reductionist rubbed his bald head nervously. “I just got rid of that curse; I’m not going back to it! Every basic score went up a full ten points, and all of my experience went up an additional ten as well!”

Your concerns have been passed on! Occultatum sees your plight, and has