A New, Old Power

“A perk?” The Dwarf curiously tilts her head.

“Yeah. It might be a trait, it probably is a trait, but... You know what? I’ll just read out exactly what it says.” Krvavy pauses briefly and clears her throat. “Would you like to accept the Touch of the Ancients? [Y]/[N]”

“Ohh...” Beryl’s brow rises up in surprise and worry. “Tha’ sounds rather ominous.”

“Is there any information about what this ‘Touch of the Ancients’ is?” Inanna inquires, the interest clear on her face as she leans forwards. And, for once, that motion doesn’t immediately distract the Drakling.

“Kind of... A description pops up if I focus on the italicized part. But it... well, it was entirely blacked out when I looked at it before. All because I ‘didn’t have a tier three class’... Oh, good.” A relieved sigh escapes past the barbarian’s lips as soon as she brings that window into focus. “It looks like it has been filled in now...” She gently shakes her head and begins to read the description out to her girls.

Touch of the Ancients: Creation stirs, and the primordial powers of old begin to awaken within you. Increases the potency and efficiency of natural magics that you channel, at the cost of decreasing the potency and efficiency of all of your other magics. Increases the capacity of your mana reserves, at the cost of decreasing the rate in which your mana regenerates. Increases the rate in which you heal and boosts your resilience, at the cost of greatly reducing the benefits you receive from personal magical barriers.

“How interesting...”

“Yeah, that... huh...” Krvavy presses her lips together and rereads the popup, just to be safe. “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but... it wasn’t three separate buffs with matching drawbacks all bundled together like this.”

“The particular details likely ‘changed’ to fit your new Class, hence why you could not see what it did earlier.” Inanna says with certainty. “And these details do fit the mix of magic and melee that a ‘Spite-Fang’ supposedly specializes in. Perhaps not perfectly, but well enough for the similarities to be noticeable.”

“When it says ‘natural magics’, is it talkin’ about Nature magic or somethin’ else?” Beryl hesitantly asks. She sounds, and looks, rather concerned with how vague that so called ‘description’ was.

“I... don’t really know.” Krvavy admits, frowning as she quickly rereads the popup again. “But... I kind of feel like it is talking about something else.”

“Mm. Yes. I get that feeling as well. This ‘perk’ is quite clearly tailored to you, my Ushumgal, and Nature Magic is far from your most commonly used school.” The grey-skinned Dwarf states her thoughts. “Thus, the logical conclusion is that ‘natural magics’ refers to, as both you and your Elf put it, something else. And, if I were to guess, I would presume that it refers to the methods in which the spells are cast in combination with the essence behind said spells.”

“Aye...” The tomboyish Elf slowly nods her head. “Aye. Tha’ makes sense. If tha’ were the case, then Ah wouldn’t expect it ta negatively affect yer current spells. They’re all quite natural in ‘essence’, as yer Dwarf put it, bein’ tha’ they’re all elemental or o’ plants, beast, and blood. And ya don’t do anythin’ too special ta cast them either.”

“Are we all just going to ignore the odd way that description starts?” Thea asks in a tone that is equally dry and incredulous.

“These things always have a bit of flowery flavour text at the beginning.” Krvavy points out with a shrug. Both the Elf and Dwarf nod in agreement.

“Ugh, fine... Then if the magics that you currently have are natural, what would be considered unnatural magics?” A faint frown fills the silver-blonde brat’s face as soon as those words leave her lips, almost as if she is immediately regretting having asked that question. She just knows that the answer is not going to be quick or exciting.

“That is a question in which we have no clear answer, for we do not know which qualifiers are used to determine if a certain variety of magic is ‘natural’ or not.” Inanna’s thick brow furrows slightly as she begins her explanation. “There are some schools which would be easy to place on either side. Elemental magics, for instance, could be safely assumed to be ‘natural’ due to their close association to aspects of the world around us. And Necromancy, to take a well known example, would be one which could safely be assumed to be ‘unnatural’ due to its foundations being an affront to the cycles of life and ****. But what of Arcane, the magic of magic itself? That school has little bearing in physical reality, yet is an integral part all the same.”

“Well, this is all coming from my patron,” the Drakling speaks up. “So it is probably going by what a dragon god would consider natural and unnatural.”

“Mm... Yes, you are right.” Inanna slowly nods her head. “Thus, age and complexity likely play a greater part in determining that. Anything which could be considered an ‘old magic’ is likely to benefit from this trait. The first sentence, as vague as it is, hints towards that as well, I suppose.”

“But just ‘ow old are we talkin’ ‘ere?” Beryl wonders, a hint of worry audible in her voice. She absentmindedly pulls the Halfling up against her body, causing Adeline’s cheeks to turn red as a pert tit is squished into the girl’s face. “Ah don’t think tha’ our dearest love would appreciate ‘avin’ ta relearn ‘ow ta channel mana and form it inta spells just ta do it all as the ‘ancients’ would’a done it.”

The Dwarf considers that question for a moment. “I do not believe that it would go beyond the current system, for that would need to circumvent or even supersede the work of numerous Gods. Which is a tall task for someone who is merely level twenty-five.”

“Aye, suppose ya’ve got a point there...”

“That said, I do believe that the methods in which the mana is shaped and the spells are formed would play a larger role than the essence of the spells themselves. Barring **** circumstances such as Necromancy, of course. After all, there are numerous ways in which you could cast magic that could be considered ‘unnatural’.”

“What are you on about now...?” Dread creeps into Thea’s voice as she senses another lecture.

“Take Fire Magic as an example. Let us contrast two different spells with each other. One creates numerous motes of extremely condensed flame which appear suddenly in the air around the caster, motes which can be launched towards their target with a mere thought and which explode violently upon hitting said target. And the other spell infuses energy into the air that the caster exhales, turning into a focused plume of fire. In other words, the second spell is Krvavy’s Blazing Breath. Now, does the first spell feel ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’? And what of the second? They are both of the same magic yet very different in execution.”

“Ah see wha’ ya’re gettin’ at.” The tomboyish Elf leans even further to the side, resting her head atop of Adeline’s as she cuddles with the increasingly flustered bunny-mouse. “The ‘old ways’ use the body, or other physical foci, rather than simply conjurin’ the spell inta existence.”

“I... feel like both of you are overthinking this.” Krvavy haltingly comments, idly scratching the base of her horns. “You’re really focusing on just two words.”

“Yes, but those two words are quite important.” Inanna simply states. “That said, you do have a point. It would do us no good to continue on into speculation and conjecture. Especially not when that trait – it is a trait, yes? – still has other aspects for us to discuss. Such as its mention of ‘personal magical barriers’ and what that could entail.”

Thea groans in pure exasperated exhaustion, burying her face into her hands, and then into Krvavy’s chest.

“Don’t worry, that is not anywhere near as ambiguous. The inclusion of ‘personal’ clarifies it quite a bit.” Inanna’s words do very little to reassure the noble girl. “Additionally, this negative is far less consequential than the first. So we need not dwell on it for nearly as long. After all, our Krvavy currently has no spells which could be considered a ‘personal magical barrier’.”

“Does Oakflesh not count?” The barbarian wonders, nibbling lightly on the inside of her cheek. She doesn’t exactly want her main defensive spell to become useless. “Maybe not entirely, but enough to get weakened even a bit?”

“No.” The Dwarf shortstack confidently replies. “Were that trait worded differently, then perhaps it would. But the term ‘magical barrier’ is quite straightforward in its meaning, as it is simply a barrier formed of magical energy. Thus, a ‘personal’ magical barrier would be one formed closely to or around a persons body.”

“I might not have any spells like that right now, but I might eventually get one. That sort of thing sounds pretty useful to have.” Krvavy plainly points out. “Having a kind of magical armour that can protect me without covering up my body would work quite well with Naturists Blessing.”

“Perhaps.” The grey-skinned Dwarf shrugs noncommittally. “But it would also make much, if not all of your current defences redundant. A magical barrier would be able to absorb any damage dealt to you, provided that you have the mana to maintain it, but that damage would not be reduced by your Base Armour, Resistances, or the True Defence afforded to you by your blessing.”

“Alright, fair enough. And it’s not like I really have the mana for that sort of thing anyway.” Krvavy idly nods her head, before abruptly pausing as her brow furrows slightly. “But, wait... What about the runes that you painted on me before? They didn’t exactly make a barrier around me, so I’m not too concerned with that part, but are they ‘natural’ enough for the first drawback? Though... does that even matter? This thing is talking about my magics, and I didn’t make those runes...”

Thea groans into the barbarian’s breasts. And while that almost pained sound is audible, Krvavy feels it more than she hears it.

“Mm...” A thoughtful expression fills Inanna’s face. “You have asked some good questions.” A bit of praise briefly enters her bland tone. “Those particular runes would not count as a barrier, though other arrangements could project one. And the utilization of runes is one of the oldest forms of magic that there is, so I imagine that they would count as ‘natural’ for this purpose. As for the effects of magics that you have not cast yourself... that could only be answered with practical testing.”

“And just in case ya were wonderin’, Turbulent Shroud shouldn’t count as a magical barrier either.” Beryl adds, idly stroking the Halfling’s soft bunny ears. “Tha’ spell uses magic ta compel the wind inta swirlin’ around ya in wha’ could be considered a barrier. But Ah’d say tha’ it is closer ta a cloak spell than anythin’. It doesn’t form a solid shield, nor does it directly do its job wit’ mana, instead coercin’ the wild wind inta protectin’ ya.”

“And the last part is, thankfully, even more straightforward.” Krvavy gives her beautiful brat and her precious puppy each a reassuring pat, as both girls are getting increasingly... disinterested in this conversation. “It just increases my total mana and lowers my mana regen.”

“Which is quite the good deal.” Inanna assuredly states. “That drawback, far more so than any of the others, hardly matters.” She adds, pausing for a brief moment before actually explaining her thoughts. “There are two scenarios which encapsulate the effects of this particular aspect of this trait: the first is in the middle of combat, and the second is outside of combat. In the heat of battle, the rate that your mana regenerates is negligible. Unless, of course, it is high enough to be in double or preferably triple digits per second. But you are far from that, being solidly in the per hour range, and I do not expect your new Class to have changed that.”

Khalia pulls away from both the barbarian and brat. A rumbling sigh escapes past the Were-Beast’s plump lips as she flops down onto the soft moss bedding, remaining relatively still for just a few short seconds before pushing herself up onto all fours. After a brief bit of crawling, her strong body presses into Krvavy’s back as she curls up and nestles right up against the base of her Mate’s thick tail.

Thea shivers slightly without the Were-Beast’s warm body pressing up against her.

“The second scenario, your everyday life, is similar in its indifference. Though in different ways.” The Dwarf continues on, unconcerned with the fact that half of her audience has long since given up on listening. She isn’t saying this for Thea or Khalia’s sake. “The rate that your mana regenerates determines how long you must wait for your reserves to fill up completely. Ignoring how patience can mitigate that issue, you already have a number of alternatives. If you needed more mana on short notice, then you could withdraw what you require from the quartz crystals that we keep for that very purpose. Or you could seek the aid of Thea’s magic, which has already been your go-to strategy.”

“Right.” Krvavy nods her head in agreement. “And if I need more mana in the middle of a fight, I can just use Transmute Blood. Might be a bit of an issue if I’m fighting an enemy that doesn’t bleed... but, hey, I still bleed.” She lightly shrugs, letting her hand slip down to her fiancée’s lower back. “Guess I could use that whenever I needed to, really... But I doubt any of you would really like the idea of me bleeding myself dry just to build parts of our home...”

“Mhm. And do not forget that the Synthetic Heartstone which has joined with your Soulbound Weapon also generates mana.” The grey-skinned shortstack reminds the Drakling. “And since its regeneration is independent of yours, I believe there is a very good chance that it will not be effected by this drawback. Though it is connected to your soul, so perhaps not?”

“Okay then.” The barbarian takes a deep breath and gently claps her hand against her brat’s back, making a satisfying noise and causing Thea to grumble lightly into her breasts. “So... If I accept this trait, then my ‘natural magics’ will become stronger and cheaper to use, I’ll have more total mana, and I’ll become harder to kill with higher health regen and greater resistances. But I’ll also have a harder time doing any magic that isn’t ‘natural’, will have less mana regen, and can’t use ‘magical barriers’.”

“Personal magical barriers.” Inanna corrects.

Krvavy lazily shrugs her shoulders at that. “Does anyone have any strong feelings about me taking it or not?”

“Yes!” Thea’s loud, grumbling shout is muffled slightly as she doesn’t even bother lifting her head away from Krvavy chest. “Just make up your mind and get this over with already!”

“I would understand if you do not accept this trait,” Inanna speaks over the groaning brat. “Though doing so would be, in my opinion, a waste.”

“Aye, Ah agree wit’ yer Dwarf.” Beryl nods her head. “None o’ the drawbacks are much o’ a problem fer ya right now, and the most severe ones can be avoided wit’ foresight. It’ll make ya stronger and ‘elp give ya direction as yer powers develop.”

The Drakling turns her gaze down towards Adeline, meeting the bunny-mouse girl’s big hazel eyes. “Eeeie...” That timid squeak seems to be all that Krvavy will get from the Halfling, as her little fingers quickly grab onto her floppy ears before bringing them up to hastily hide her face.

“Okay,” Krvavy nods her head, not even bothering to look back over her shoulder and ask her Orc’s opinion. She knows that if Khalia had something to say, then it would have been said already. “Well, guess tha–”

“Wait.” The Dwarf holds a single hand up. “My Ushumgal, I would like to see how great of an effect this trait has on your mana. But to make such a comparison, I need to first know how your newly acquired Class has altered those values.”

“Right...”

The familiar yet still slightly invasive feeling of someone using Inspect on her pokes and prods at the edge of Krvavy’s awareness. She lets those attempts at scrying through, eager to share this information without having to manually relay it all herself.

A bit of pride wells up within the barbarian as she looks over her stat sheet. Sure, it isn’t like she did much to really earn this increase in her stats – all she really did was mentally click a button – but it is still nice to see all of those numbers grow. Well, all of those numbers except for Endurance, as that did go down by nearly three whole points, but pretty much everything else is up.

She has over three-hundred more points of health. Her stamina went up by over fifteen points, despite the minor drop in Endurance. And her total mana increased by over three-hundred points. Her mana regen also increased by nearly ten points per hour, but that’ll be going back down very soon...

She feels just the faintest tinge of annoyance at the fact that her Might and Toughness are no longer equal, but that feeling passes pretty quickly. After all, her Soulbound Weapon increases her Might by five percent when it is manifested, so it isn’t like those stats were truly equal beforehand.

“You already allocated your attribute points?”

“Yup.” The Drakling answers her Dwarf, her voice growing just a little sheepish. “Before I even picked a class, actually. Five points into Guile and one into Willpower. I nearly put that extra point into Endurance, but figured that I might as well have two stats hanging around at twenty-six. Not like a single point matters all that much.”

“Are ya goin’ ta bring all yer attributes up ta fifty next?” The tomboyish Elf asks, gently rubbing Adeline’s shoulders and slowly coaxing the tiny blonde from the comfort of her soft ears.

“Uhhh... No.” Krvavy’s tone quickly shifts from sounding a bit uncertain to becoming rather resolute. “A part of me would like to, but... It just doesn’t seem worth the time and effort: I’d need to level up around five times just to bring a single one up to fifty points. It’d be better if I put those points towards stats that are actually useful to me.”

“Yes, yes...” Thea repeatedly bumps her forehead into the Drakling’s chest. “Just accept that ominous trait already...”

A warm smile spreads across the barbarian’s face as she pats her impatient brat on the back.

Inanna’s thick eyebrows furrow slightly as she takes note of the few numbers that have changed. “Curious. Your health now regenerates exactly three times as quickly. Your total mana has exactly doubled in capacity. And your mana now regenerates at exactly half the rate it had before. Those values are all far too convenient to have been the result of a mere flat increase. They appear to instead be affected by final multipliers, though are said multipliers static or related to your level? Twenty-five does fit quite well into three-hundred percent, two-hundred percent, and fifty percent...”

“Only time’ll be able ta tell tha’ answer.” Beryl idly comments. “But if it is tied ta our dearest love’s level, then Ah ‘ope tha’ it doesn’t grow ta the point where ‘er mana regeneration starts ta go down.”

“That probably won’t happen...” The barbarian weakly bites down on her bottom lip. “Especially not if I increase some of my mental stats to fifty so that they weigh more in whatever formula is used behind the scenes...”

“Ach, Ah’m sorry, my dearest love. Ah didn’t mean ta make ya worry.”

“No, no, it’s fine. If those multiplier do scale with my level then I would have had to think about that eventually.” Not wanting to make her Elf feel bad, Krvavy brushes that minor issue aside and moves on. “If it multiplied my health and mana, then I wonder if it did the same to my ‘resiliences’?”

“Ahh... no,” Krvavy slowly shakes her head, “it doesn’t appear to have.”

Seeing her girls’ curious gazes – or, well, seeing Inanna’s curious gaze – she decides to get straight to the point and tell them how her resistances have changed. The fact that she is completely naked and isn’t benefiting from anything but the base level of Naturists Blessing is pretty helpful here.

“My physical, disease, poison, and base magical resistances have all gone up by ten percent. I now have fifteen more points of base armour as well, and my true defence went up by five percent. Overall, not bad, but it definitely just feels like a flat increase instead of a multiplier, and it probably won’t be going up as I level either.”

“Mm... Ye–”

“Ugh! Enough of this...! Can we just shut our brains off and c-cuddle...?” Thea’s grumbling and groaning tone catches slightly as she makes such an embarrassing request.

“Sounds like a wonderfully good idea ta me~.” A teasing glimmer fills Beryl’s blue-green eyes as she looks towards the bratty noble girl. “Wha’ about ya, sweetie~?” She gently nudges Adeline. “Would ya like ta cuddle wit’ our dearest love~?”