Upgrades, People. Upgrades

I have 2 class levels and 2 skill evolution points to spend, and I’m not sure which order to do it in. Thinking about it, it’s probably a good idea to do the skill evolution points first, and I can decide on the class levels when I get home. I tap the first one, and the only skills available for evolution are mana bolt and mana chain. That makes my decisions for which skills to use them on pretty easy. I tap mana chain first to see what the options are.

Those are some pretty juicy choices. Sticky Chain sounds like it would let me pull off some Spiderman style shenanigans, Multi Chain would be good for crowd control, and Thorn Chain would be good for single targets. I have enough crowd control options, and I’m specifically focusing more on single target related spells, so Multi Chain is out by default.

I’m drawn to Sticky Chain at first, but I have to consider my options carefully. Spiderman style stuff sounds cool to play around with, but how many opportunities would this really get to shine in the environments I fight in? Extra movement options are nice, and this would give me a chance to add some verticality to my movement.

The problem is that it’s reliant on having other objects around me to use properly. That’s a point against it, I don’t like being reliant on circumstance to use my abilities properly if I can avoid it. It could potentially be useful for dodging faster, but it’s anybody’s guess how much time it would actually save me compared to my usual ways of evading.

On the other hand, having mana chain become a damaging spell is a useful upgrade. Nothing gamechanging at the moment, but it furthers usage in both single target and crowd control scenarios. It’s a direct upgrade to Mana Chain and another damage dealing option. Going down this path gives the potential for further upgrades to the damage component too.

Thorn Chain it is then. I tap the left hand option, then move onto the evolution for Mana Bolt. I’m excited, as this spell has been one of my main damage dealing options for a while. It’s been outscaled heavily by Ice Blast, so upgrading it could lead to some incredibly juicy outcomes and better options.

I sit back in my seat and let out a long breath. These are some incredibly interesting choices. Arc Bolt is out almost immediately. A flat upgrade to Mana Bolt would be good, but it’s uninteresting compared to the other two choices, both of which look to be almost instant win buttons on paper.

They both come with their own conditions and drawbacks, so I have to consider them carefully. I really want Arcfall. It’s just cool, and the idea of having a mana orbital strike to rain down on a position and eviscerate whatever enemies are hiding there sounds really cool, at least on paper. Reality is a little different. It would be pretty barbaric most situations, but certainly effective under the right circumstances.

It also gives me a charging ‘I win’ button for tougher enemies, although it still depends on a lot of factors. If the fight moves, is the position of the orbital strike set? How long does it need to charge for it to be a worthwhile investment? And the fact that it takes all my mana means that I’ll be magically helpless for a long while.

I don’t rely exclusively on my mana bar, but I’ve been elevating my magical might lately, and a lot of my damage output comes from my mana. It would leave me quite weakened for a time, at least until I could hang back and properly regenerate.

On the other hand, Arcane Torrent is situationally extremely powerful. At the maximum 10 stacks of Torrent, the skill would trap an enemy for 10 full seconds, and deal 5 times the damage of Mana Bolt. There are a few problems with trying to trigger that effect.

First, it requires that I stay focused on the same target for the entire time. That’s not usually a problem when it comes to bosses in dungeons, but in real combat, that could prove to be a challenge. Second, the damage is scaling to the Mana Bolt skill, which has already been fairly outscaled by this point by my frost magic.

The math works it out to be about a quarter more damage than a single Ice Blast. That’s a lot of effort for the same damage I could deal with a single ice spell. If Mana Bolt dealt more damage, this skill would be very much worth it. On the other hand, Ice Blast does deal a significant amount of damage, and options for different damage types are always good.

The trapping part is also incredibly effective, 10 seconds is a lot in a fight. My Cryomancy passive allowing enemies to be frozen rarely gets a chance to shine due to the high endurance of most enemies at this level, but that one freezes targets for 13 seconds at it’s current level, and it’s proven time and again to be incredibly useful.

It’s a tough choice between the skills. I don’t really need another option to control a single enemy rather than damaging them, but I also don’t really need to use my entire mana bar to nuke a city. The idea worms its way into my head that if Mana Bolt was replaced by a more damaging skill, then Arcane Torrent would scale much better. Bereft of other options, I mentally pray to Gaia to give me an answer on this.

‘Thank you Gaia!’ I think happily. The decision is made then. I’ll take Arcane Torrent, and do my best to get my hands on more Skill Evolution Points down the line to evolve Mana Bolt again. I’d do that anyway though if I’m honest, I really want to have a skill like Arcfall, even if I rarely use it. The decisions made for the skill evolutions, I move on to my class levels, with Cryomancer being the easy and obvious choice to advance.

It’s a fairly easy choice, continuing down the same path I’ve chosen. I dismissed the Frost Blast and Concentrated Ice Blast choices earlier because even though they were potent, they’re boring. Flat bonuses to spell effects are a lot less interesting than an entirely new way to use the magic I have.

The other reason is that those types of bonuses are easier to come by using skill evolution points. I haven’t had anything that says I can’t evolve the skills further yet, so it shouldn’t be out of the question down the line. Better freeform ice manipulation is however, not something I could or would ever pass up on.

With the Adept Freeform Ice Manipulation chosen, I go to spend the second class level on the Cryomancer class. I’m extremely happy with the results of this class so far, and I’m very much looking forward to see what else it has to offer. That’s when a different window pops up, one that I haven’t received before.

Well that’s interesting on multiple levels. I guess my plan of investing fully into the Cryomancer class has to be put on pause for a while. It’s nice to have confirmation that I can level up at least to level 170. I’m sure I have a maximum level, although I’m not sure what that max level is.

More pressing is the question of exactly how I spend the second class level. It’s one that I’m still pondering when we arrive home. As we get into the Fateweaver barrier, I breathe a sigh of relief. Skylar and Olivia park the cars, and as we get out, I can already see Mia celebrating. Seeing her happy puts a smile on my face, as I activate the spell to transport us to the Kingdom.

“We did it!” Mia yells into the landscape, and the rest of my guild lets out tired agreements. Out of the six of us, Mia is the only one who really has energy. “I am proud of all of you. You all executed the plan brilliantly, and despite the appearance of my former partner, you held your ground admirably.” Olivia praises, and I smile.

“Wait, don’t tell me you and Belle were dating?” Mia asks. Our mentor sighs. “I cannot deny that we were sleeping together at one point. We were not in a relationship. That is beside the point however.” She says. “Oooo, the drama!” Mia teases, giggling when Olivia blushes. “We should all rest now. We can celebrate tomorrow.” She suggests.

“Mia, could you show Olivia to one of the guest rooms?” I ask. The aeromancer nods, yawning and stretching. While the others walk inside the castle, Ivy lags behind with me, sensing my intention to talk with her. “We gotta spend our statpoints, then I need your help with the second class level.” I explain, and she nods.

We walk inside together, as I open our character sheets. The stats are an easy process, Wisdom for me, Intellect for Ivy and we’re done. The class level is a lot harder to figure out how to use. “I’ve apparently advanced Cryomancer as much as I can for the moment. That class is locked until level 170 now. I need to choose a different class to work on, but I’m not entirely sure which. Can I bounce ideas off you?” I ask.

Ivy nods, smiling at me as we enter the castle. “Walk me through it.” She replies. “So, I have seven classes. Cryomancer, Arcanist, Gamer, Warrior, Summoner, Seductress and Queen. Do you think I’d be wrong in saying that Seductress would be the next logical choice?” I lay out.

“You think Seductress will allow you to further upgrade the Mark Of Love and let our lovers become even more powerful?” She asks. I nod. “If Cryomancer is anything to go by, class perks get more powerful for higher levels. Seductress already gave us the potential for level 100 at class level 3, which is absolutely ludicrous.”

“I have confirmation that I can go to at least 170, and I’d be surprised if that was my level cap, mostly because it’s such a random number. Problem is, going into Seductress might be a risk because it’s mostly stylised as a romantic or sexual class rather than something that literally elevates abyssal potential beyond the natural limit.” I pose.

“I think it’s worth it. Worst case scenario, we have better sex.” She says. I nod, agreeing with her. “I guess that’s true. Let’s find out if I can elevate them even more then.” I say, tapping the button to go with the Seductress class. That’s when the same unwanted window pops up as with the Cryomancer class.

Bugger. “Well at least we can be fairly certain that there are more powerful perks in this class.” I say, showing the window to Ivy. “Gaia wouldn’t level gate them if there wasn’t.” Ivy nods in agreement as she reads the window. Humming, I muse on what the next best choice would be. I think out loud, continuing my line of thought from before.

“Seven classes. Cryomancer and Seductress are both out by default, that leaves Arcanist, Warrior, Summoner, Gamer and Queen.” I state, and Ivy nods again, silently following along. “Queen is out, I have no need to upgrade this place. Warrior is out, I’m not focusing on upgrading my physical capabilities at the moment.”

“Between Summoner, Gamer and Arcanist, I’d tend to favour Summoner, because it’ll at least let me make you more powerful.” I say. Ivy smiles at me. “You’re a sweetheart Gemma, but are you thinking about this logically?” She asks. I sigh in response. “Probably not.” “There are other ways to make me more powerful right now. You don’t have to feel bad for continuing to focus on yourself.” She says gently.

I know she’s right, but that doesn’t mean I like it. “I still feel bad though, neglecting your power to focus entirely on my own doesn’t feel right.” I say. Ivy shakes her head. “You know as well as I do that that’s inefficient. I’m not going to win the fight with Mathias. I’m a healer, and I do my job well. It’ll be you who wins the fight.” My caregiver asserts.

“Are you sure?” I ask her. “Positive.” She replies. I take a deep breath, accepting her reasoning. “Then between Arcanist and Gamer, I feel like Gamer is the best bet. It’s already given me a stat upgrade, which is incredibly useful. The Gamer part of my powers is the most broken, so it makes sense to make them even more broken.” I say. With no objections from Ivy, I tap the button for the Gamer class.

Those perks are all fairly useless, but decent quality of life upgrades. Out of the three of them, Loot Barrier is the one that’s the most quality of life. Not needing to go around and pick up all the loot will save us a bit of time and let us spend more time relaxing. Or training, if Olivia has anything to say about it. Tapping the middle option, Ivy and I walk upstairs to join the others in bed.