You quickly stuff all of your armor into your haversack and scramble back into your clothes, then you hurry back towards the village. Brighid starts to ask one of the guards for information, but they tell you both to go see Fionn at the Council Hall. Exhanging a worried look with Brighid, you place Riama on her back and then start to run, with her trotting by your side, to the Hall. Fionn is outside, barking orders to centaurs, who go sprinting off through the streets of the village. As soon as he spots you, he waves you over. "Good, you came quickly, you must have been nearby. The Tannath Taig has begun to assault the wards in full force and the mages do not think they can hold them until morning, so our timetable has been moved up. We march on Bannagh Macht at first moonrise. Go and get your weapons and armor, and eat if you have not already; there will not be any time to do so later. The warriors are assembling outside of the north gate." He eyes you critically, then asks Brighid, "I assume he is riding on your back? By the mists, girl, you are determined to buck tradition. I will not stop you, but it will be on you to deal with the consequences once we return. If we return. Well, go on, there is no time to waste, less than an hour until we leave."

Brighid briefly holds her closed fist over her heart, then turns around and the pair of you run home. Just before you go inside, Brighid stops you. "This is not quite how I pictured this would go, but..." and a very, very surprising series of notifications blossom in your mind:

Brighid Fireheart has completed a quest!

Power Leveling
As part of the reward for the quest, you have earned 70,000 experience.
As Brighid's Companion, you earn half of the experience she earns from quests: 10,000 experience.

"Wha--" You start, then check your experience.

Congratulations! You have advanced to levels 8 through 10.

As a Chosen Helltouched Human, you gain eighteen Attribute points to distribute and your Willpower and Charisma increase by three. You also gain 75% advancement towards any Skills; this advancement may be spent in 25% increments. Allocate these within 72 hours or they will be randomly assigned. Honor thy Patron and follow thy heart!

Current experience: 142,925. Experience required for next level: 192,500.

Congratulations, Chosen!

You have reached level 10 and now qualify for a Class!
As a result of your high affinity with and pursuit of many schools of magic, both common and esoteric, you have been granted the Exalted Mage Class. Exalted Magi are rare and destined for great things; they combine magic of many different types into new spells and rituals which are sure to make their mark in the history of the Realms.
You have received 100 Talent points [5 base + 5 Chosen, times 10 levels] to spend on any of your available Talents.

"Oh, thank Birgitte!" Brighid exclaims. "I was worried that would not be enough to get you to level 10. Exalted Mage, huh?"

"Yes, it looks that way. Something about high affinity with and pursuit of multiple schools of magic. What the hell kind of quest was that to give me seventy thousand experience?" Instead of answering immediately, she opens the door and beckons you inside.

"Remember when I said I wished there was a way for us to get you enough experience to get you to level 10 before we left for Bannagh Macht again? Well, I got this quest then. It wanted me to encourage you to gain as many levels in as many different Skills as possible, and to get you to learn new Skills. The rewards were not directly stated up front, but it looks like 250 experience each for the ninety-six Skill levels you gained in the last six days, 500 experience each for having earned levels in eighteen different Skills, 1000 experience each for the eleven new Skills you gained, and 26,000 experience for your highest-level Skill being level 26. I do not ever want to hear any confusion from you over just how powerful Limitless is again! I also got a fair amount of experience for making sure that your Skills were spread out among several categories; did you get part of that experience too?"

You nod a little numbly, taken back by the sheer scope of what you have accomplished in less than a week. "Yes, I did. And you're right, love. I definitely see what you've been telling me about that Trait. Do you mind making us some food while I assign my points and take a look through my Talents? I'm sure it'll take a while to distribute a hundred Talent points--"

"A hundred?!" She interrupts, "You should only have fifty at level 10! A hundred is more Talent points than I have!"

"Another benefit of being Chosen, I guess. But like I was saying, I'll look them over and distribute them while we eat."

You think you hear her mutter, "Cheater!" to herself, but you're too busy in your menus to pay much attention. You quickly decide on four points in Toughness, two in Endurance, three in Logic, six in Intuition, and three in Charisma as far as your Attributes are concerned. You go ahead and put all 75% Skill progress into Fire Magic, as your highest-level Skill and the one most critical to the success of the coming battle, which earns you level 27 there. When you inspect your new status screen, you notice something which gives you another shock.

356 Concentration?! Not five minutes ago you only had 203! And you did not put enough points into mental Attributes to nearly double your Concentration. "...Brighid? Why is my Concentration so much higher now?"

"You have a Class now, love. One of the things Classes do is give a multiplier for Health, Stamina, and Concentration. As a Mage, your Health and Stamina probably got a small negative multiplier, but your Concentration is probably 1.4 or 1.5 times what your Attributes would normally give you."

You do some quick head math and sure enough, it looks like you have only 90% of the Health and Stamina you should have for your stats, but 150% of the Concentration. Suddenly the nearly 100 Concentration cost of Kindle the Hearth-Fire doesn't seem nearly as prohibitive.

"You should check your spells and rituals, as well. Classes which incorporate spellcasting usually grant new magic at level 10." She adds.

You mentally tab over to the magic section of your UI and sure enough, you have three new entries:

Summon Obsidian Salamander: Beast Magic and Fire Magic, level 1. Summons a level 5 Obsidian Salamander, which will obey your orders faithfully to the best of its ability. Obsidian Salamanders are small fire-breathing reptiles with extremely hard, glassy black scales. They are tough for their size but they prefer to cook their prey from a distance rather than fight directly. Cost: 75 Concentration. Duration: Concentration or death of the summoned creature. Cast Time: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Soulfire Blast: Animamancy and Fire Magic, level 1. An extremely dangerous ritual for both the user and their target, Soulfire Blast burns a piece of the caster's soul to power a blast of fire hot enough to melt stone on contact. Deals 100 fire damage per second to a target within 10 meters; due to the intense heat and the nature of the flames' source, the target is afflicted by the Soulburn debuff, which lowers their resistance to fire damage by 50% for 10 seconds. Cost: 50 Concentration; 200 experience per second. Duration: Concentration. Cast Time: 0.1 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Phoenix Pyre: Animamancy, Beast Magic, Fire Magic, and Vivimancy, level 1. This unique and selfless ritual causes the user to burn their own body, mind, and soul to damage nearby enemies and heal nearby allies. Such is the power of this ritual that, if used quickly enough, it can even prevent a soul from leaving the body of a slain ally and, if the ally's injuries are healed, restore them to life, but the cost for such a miracle would be great indeed. Deals fire damage to all enemies within 10 meters and heals Health, Stamina, and Psyche to all allies within 10 meters each second; damage and healing is based on the amount of the user's life force expended. Healing from this ritual is caused by pure life energy and does not cause scarring. This ritual can heal Wounds and Traumas of any severity, if the cost is paid. Cost: 100% Concentration; 10% Health per second; 2,500 experience per second; possible additional costs depending on the situation. Duration: Concentration, until death. Cast Time: 0.1 seconds.

You recite the text to Brighid; the last one causes her to whirl to face you, her skin going deathly pale. "Oh, Aidan, I do not like this at all. For you to receive a ritual like that on the eve of battle... Please, Aidan, promise me... No, I will not ask you to swear not to use it, but please, please, be very careful if you ever use that ritual. It is powerful beyond any magic I have ever seen, but the price... The Three Flames are preparing you for something which would break lesser men." Her eyes are brimming with tears. You hug her tightly and kiss her tenderly; you had similar thoughts upon reading the description. There is still work to be done, however, and after just a few seconds in your embrace she turns back to preparing a meal. You, in turn, examine your brand new Talent options.