BOOK 9: CHAPTER 75: CHOICES

If Elijah had expected the return trip to be any easier, the resultant journey back to the broken tower was quite a disappointment. It was characterized by frenzied attacks from sky lords, flying serpents, and every other creature who made their home in and above the clouds. To his credit, he had known it was coming. There was no easy way out. No conveniently placed return portal. Just a brutal trek across silver bridges that left them all battered, bruised, and exhausted.

Fortunately, descending the tower itself was markedly easier than the ascent, though even that was complicated by the continuously cycling updrafts. By the time they’d reached the bottom, nobody was in a good mood. So, before they embarked on the journey toward the next and final challenge, they settled in for a rest.

And for Elijah, that meant taking a look at his progress:

Name

Elijah Hart

Level

191

Archetype

Druid

Class

Primal Lord

Specialization

Connection

Alignment

Empire of Scale (Dragon)

Strength

612

Dexterity

598

Constitution

621

Ethera

568

Regeneration

626

Attunement

Nature

Cultivation Stage: Expert

Body

Core

Mind

Soul

Bronze

Drakyn

Jade

Expert

Before doing so, he’d stripped off all his armor and gear before storing it all in his Arcane Loop. He’d also let his buffs drop because he wanted to see his raw attributes. And he had to admit that they were very impressive. Certainly, each point meant less now, but he felt stronger than ever.

Which, objectively, he was.

Once, the notion of reaching thousands of points in any particular attribute had been a pipe dream. But at this point, it felt more like an inevitability. And that wasn’t even considering the upgrades he’d get when he evolved his class at level two-fifty. Or the upcoming specialization at two-twenty-five. He still didn’t know what possibilities he’d be offered with either choice, but he kind of liked not knowing. It added an air of mystery and anticipation that he would’ve otherwise lacked.

Others probably wouldn’t have felt the same, and Elijah knew why. Some people obsessed over every little detail of their development, even delaying their choices for years until they were afforded the perfect option. Elijah would never go down that route. Even delaying so that he could complete his cultivation before his first evolution had been torturous, and he questioned whether or not he could take that route again.

That brought him to the true reason he’d looked inward.

When he’d reached one-ninety, he’d gained the opportunity to improve yet another ability, and this time, it seemed incredibly important. So, he took a look at his options:

Congratulations! You have achieved the requirements for the evolution of the ability Nature’s Rebuke. Please choose a path:

Stolen novel; please report.

Virulence

Scouring Gale

Nature’s Claim

Evolve Nature’s Rebuke by embracing and spreading death.

Evolve Nature’s Rebuke by embracing the power of a cleansing storm.

Evolve Nature’s Rebuke by embracing nature’s potential for growth.

The options were not what he’d expected, though as he’d given the pending decision some thought, his instincts – either from his class or from the system itself, he wasn’t certain – had given him some ideas about what each choice represented.

Overall, he hoped that they meant that the spell would not only grow in power and scope, but also that it would fundamentally change its purpose. Because as much as he tried to use his current skillset to the best of his ability, the fact remained that some of them tended to fall by the wayside. It was a constant annoyance to look back at a fight and realize that he could have made it easier if he’d just used one of his oft-forgotten abilities.

Partly, he neglected those abilities because he was still only human. He hadn’t grown any more intelligent. He hadn’t evolved into a higher life form. As such, he was just as prone to falling into habits as anyone else. And given that it had worked so far, he’d just accepted it as good enough.

But mostly, it was because using spells required him to remain in his human form. And for better or worse, he associated combat with his bestial shapes. Breaking that habit was difficult, but he knew it would one day become necessary.

Or maybe not.

For all he knew, there was a dedicated caster form out there waiting on him in his future. Shape of the Master already blurred the lines between humanoid and beast, and he suspected that if he ever met a cindrandir in real life, it would be at least as intelligent as any guardian. Likely closer to sapience. So, who was to say that there wasn’t some sort of draconic beast that could cast spells?

Perhaps it wasn’t really possible. Maybe he had all the forms he would ever get. But his instincts told him that there was more to come.

In any case, it highlighted an area of weakness, though one that would take quite a long time to overcome. If he’d ever had a chance to just stop and train, perhaps things would be different. But to date, he’d spent most of his time since the world’s transformation fighting, recovering, or traveling.

Or as was the case for the first couple of years, simply trying to survive.

That didn’t leave a lot of time for focused training. And if he was truly honest with himself, he didn’t relish the idea of repetition-based practice. He didn’t mind running or working out, and he’d come to enjoy his time learning to fight with his staff or scythe. But drilling sequences of abilities sounded a lot like hell to him.

Maybe that was what was in store when he reached the Empire of Scale. Kirlissa had described it as an academy of sorts, which suggested that he would be forced to endure training. He looked forward to learning whatever he could about the multi-verse, but that definitely wasn’t the case with drilling his abilities.

They were meant for a purpose, after all. Using them for nothing just felt wrong.

“Or maybe I’m just making excuses,” he said to himself.

In any case, he knew he needed to make a decision as to which direction he wanted to go with the evolution of Nature’s Rebuke. The original version of the spell was a fairly lightweight damage-over-time ability that only really became viable against unnatural creatures. The most obvious example he’d found where it worked was against the undead in Hong Kong, but there had been a few other monsters where it had become useful.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do much against everyday monsters he found in the wild. Otherwise, he might’ve found more uses for the spell.

Fortunately, his instincts told him that the evolution would broaden the scope of the spell, functionally altering its purpose. Would that have been the case if he’d used it more often? Or did his Legacy extend to how he used spells? So far, the system had blended the constant with the reactive, but Elijah had no idea when it chose to deviate from the plan – or what prompted such deviation.

Regardless, he felt certain that the new options before him would cure the spell’s biggest weakness and allow for a broader application.

The first seemed pretty obviously a result of his experiences in and around the Desolate Reach. Back then, he’d learned that death was a part of life, and together, they formed a cycle that was most easily identifiable as nature. There was more to it, both on a meta and mega level, but the two halves seemed to fit together seamlessly.

Doubtless, Virulence was an outgrowth of that understanding. Still, the idea of spreading death carried with it connotations with which he wasn’t entirely comfortable. It came too close to necromancy.

The second option – Scouring Gale – felt similar to Nature’s Rebuke, though with a broader scope. If Elijah was forced to guess – and without any further information, that was close to the truth of his situation – he would have said that it probably carried with it a similar multiplier against unnatural creatures. The difference was that he felt it would affect a large area, rather than require him to target a single enemy.

That made it extremely attractive, reminding him of just how useful his previous area spells had been. From Calamity to Swarm and their evolutions, he’d leaned on those spells quite a bit. Having another option would increase his versatility by a significant degree.

Plus, the idea of conjuring a scouring windstorm – which was the image evoked by the name – was quite pleasing.

Even so, he was still leery about the similarities. Nature’s Rebuke, which was already a niche spell, had become obsolete fairly quickly. And he didn’t want to fall into that same trap if he could help it.

He moved on to the last spell evolution option – Nature’s Claim.

The name wasn’t terribly evocative, but the feeling he got from the description suggested an unexpected similarity to Unchecked Growth. Most notably, that instead of using the power of disease or venom to accomplish its goal, it would utilize the power of pure vitality.

There was also a sense of something he couldn’t quite pin down. It felt animalistic, but also like a plant. It was only after a few minutes of thought that he realized the nature of what he felt.

“It’s fungi.”

“Who’s a fun guy?” asked Oscar, suddenly jerking his head up. He sat nearby, half asleep. He’d spent the first few hours attempting to cultivate, but he’d quickly lost focus. And for the past hour or so, he’d been half-dozing.

At his outburst, Jackson let out a bark.

The other dogs pointedly didn’t even stir. They were exhausted, and now that they were safe, they saw no reason to stave off rest.

“Fungi. As in the plural of fungus. Sorry,” Elijah said.

Oscar blinked a couple of times, then nodded before closing his eyes and presumably going back to sleep.

That left Elijah to focus on his choices. They all had their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Virulence seemed like a strong shift in the spell’s purpose, but the thought of spreading death left him with a sour taste in his mouth. Similarly, Scouring Gale felt familiar and comfortable, but it also seemed limited. And finally, Nature’s Claim carried with it a note of power that he found intriguing. The problem was that he wasn’t entirely certain how it would be represented.

Not for the first time, he wondered if things wouldn’t have been easier if he’d trod a more predictable path. During his research, he’d come across hundreds of guides concerning common off-shoots of the Druid archetype. But most seemed based on tending to the grove or, on rare occasions, embracing the nature-mage idea, often focusing on weather. Elijah’s Primal Lord class was extremely rare, and so, the details of his road to power were unlikely to be found in any guides he might find.

No - he was on his own. That was the cost of forging his own path. Perhaps it had been trod before, but not recently and by no one he knew. There were no guides. No sage mentors who could give him all the answers. All he had was his own instincts and experience to inform his choice.

So, he focused on that.

And it only took him a few more minutes to make his choice. The moment he did, he felt a deep sense of satisfaction – laced with anticipation – settle over him. Then, he saw the notification of his new spell:

Nature’s Claim

Summon an environment-appropriate fungus to overwhelm your enemy. Duration dependent on Ethera attribute. Current: 3.3 minutes. Potency dependent on relative core cultivation. Usable in Shape of Thorn or natural form.

He couldn’t help but smile at the notification, and he eagerly looked forward to testing the new spell out. But first, he needed to finally let himself rest and recover. To that end, he summoned a meal from his Arcane Loop and got down to the business of eating. Once he’d finished, he gathered his destroyed but still mostly intact Cloak of the Iron Bear and, using it as a blanket, curled up to sleep. It wasn’t long before he had a couple of dogs snuggled next to him.

Soon after, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.