Chapter 46: New Spells

Alex practically cleaned the old woman out by the time he left Celeste’s shop. As he was walking out of the town of Vrung’s Quarry yet again, Alex had a new backpack practically stuffed with items on his shoulders, and his dimensional bracelet filled as well. It was an immensely satisfying feeling to Alex’s inner earth-gamer to be loaded with items and loot.

Besides the basics of food, water and new clothing for his journey, Alex managed to haggle with Celeste enough to bring along some healing and stamina potions. He got a nice Glyphcrafting and alchemy kit from her as well, under Obby’s insistence.

He also managed to keep enough coin to buy a new spear again from Tarvin. The man was somewhat surprised to see Alex again, but was more than happy to make some coin. So a new spear as well as a new dagger joined Alex’s inventory of assets.

Alex had thought about getting another sword, but based on his experience using one against the Badger Bodyguards, he knew that he just didn’t have a knack for the weapon.

Advanced aether gathering techniques were still out of the question. While Alex couldn’t cultivate with his broken core, his allies could, and he had hoped to get ones better suited for their elements. Unfortunately, he had learned that anything that was not a basic technique was either created by someone exclusively for their own path to power, or very jealously guarded secrets within Kingdoms or sects.

Spells, on the other hand, were something Celeste could help with.

Alex had left with a spell scroll for everyone who was being held by the kobolds (even Kate). Once he got them all un-kidnapped, he wasn’t going to waste time in getting them more powerful. Magic spells for everyone!

He learned more about spells in general as well, as Celeste was immensely intrigued when Alex explained he could still cast an altered version of his [Flare] spell, prompting her to go into a deeper magic lesson.

Every spell had an element, as Alex already knew, but also a designated rank and type. The later two designations were ones Alex saw in his spell info, but not necessarily knew what they meant. Spell ranks essentially followed the mage core ranks. Beginner spells, like his [Flare] spell, were basically Tier 1 spells. They continued on to Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master and maybe… Grandmaster.

Celeste also explained these were the names that The System used, and that other species and cultures may refer to them by the mage core tiers instead. Master ranked Magic being Celestial Stage magic as an example.

The reason being that, an Advanced rank spell would require an amount of aether energy and proficiency that only Sage Tier mages or above could cast. So calling it a Sage Tier spell wasn’t entirely wrong.

The last part of a spell’s info, its type, was slightly more complicated. The basic idea was that Spells or item effects had five different effect types. Transmitter, Warder, Constructor, Augmentor and Supporter.

Transmitter spells like [Flare] were the most straight forward. Attacks that create a strike or barrage to assault an enemy. From what he could tell, Alex assumed basics like a Fireball or Lightning Bolt spell were transmitters.

Warder spells were the AOE spells. Creating an effect in a given area. Freezing a section of air, turning a spot of ground into sand, or even just making a defensive bubble, hence the name “Warder”.

Constructor spells made some sort of tangible result. Creating an object or energy structure to attack or defend, like a mana shield or an energy sword.

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Augmenters seemed to be the buff or debuff effects. Applying a status to a person or transforming a creature. Damage over time effects also seemed to fall into this category. Alex even wondered if he made a power-up spell that turned his hair golden and spiky, if it would be in the Augmenter category.

Supporter effects just seemed to be the healing spells, and anything else The System decided to throw in there. Alex guessed that if his [Aether Sight] had been a spell instead of an ability, it might have been designated a supporter type spell.

Of course there were some spells that broke the boundaries of these categories or fell into two or more at the same time. But it was already enough theory for Alex, and he didn’t press Celeste for more specifics.

Out of all this, Alex and Celeste tried an experiment of sorts. The woman had handed him a spell scroll and asked him to learn the contents.

The item turned out to be like the scroll Alex had learned the [Glyphcraft] skill from. After reading it over, some system shenanigans fed him the information and the item crumbled to dust swiftly after. The pop up he got next was a welcome surprise.

A new spell in his arsenal, and a defensive one at that. It was something Alex was very much wanting during the fight against the Den Mother to protect his friends.

Celeste was astonished he could even learn the spell, being that it was a water spell instead of a fire spell, but it appeared that having his core broken meant he was no longer beholden to a specific element.

When he cast the spell in Celeste’s shop, performing the single-word chant and energy pattern was easy and the energy in his body sprung from his hand to form a semi transparent azure half-dome in front of him. There were no hints of water in the spell when Alex cast it, just as there was no longer fire in his [Flare] spell. He was limited to only pure aether energy it seemed, and of that, only the energy he had in his body at the moment.

The [Wave Shield] spell cost very little to initially cast, but Alex could only sustain it for thirty seconds before he felt his body start to weaken from the energy expenditure. He would have to limit its use to strategic, fast bursts of shielding instead of sustained protection.

Alex was ecstatic by the discovery regardless and wanted to learn every spell he could. Celeste’s hand slapping his arm when he reached for the other scrolls was what stopped him from devouring the small pile of spells.

“Think knowing twenty spells is going to be any good for you? You barely know anything about the two you have, nor know how to use them effectively.” She scolded his greed. “I know only nine spells, and I was nearing Sage Tier. Its not the number of items you throw in your cauldron boy, its how you cook them.”

“Alright, understood.” Alex acquiesced with a pain in his heart. He still wanted those spells, even if he understood Celeste’s point.

After all the new lessons and Alex’s shopping spree, he felt like a new person. His new clothes and armor weren’t enchanted or breaking into the Adept tier at all, but were at least slightly better quality than what he had before.

As he entered the forest and made his way east further away from the village there was a spring in his step that he simply hadn’t had when he had entered the village earlier that same day.

New Alex who dis? He chuckled to himself.

“Quite a disappointment in most regards actually. There’s so many things to do to make me—I mean us stronger. Working on your aether body attunement is one. Your [Glyphcraft] is still lacking. Don’t even get me started on the fact you still have experience points unspent.” Obby fractured Alex’s rose-colored vision of the present with the harsh fact that there was still so much to do.

“Fine,” Alex stabbed the hilt of his spear into the ground, the metal spike cap on the end sinking a couple inches from his heightened strength. “Let’s spend some points, do some experiments, and then get a move on. You said these kobolds will keep my friends alive, but I doubt they are treating them very well at all. So I want to get to them sooner rather than later.”

“Okay, so the plan is to power up, follow all my orders, and then go kick some lizard tail. Schedule made.” Obby made his rock flash brightly and somehow created a ping noise that sounded suspiciously like a cellphone ringtone.

Alex could only roll his eyes. “Alright Obby, let’s start.”

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