Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine – Wait, Forsaken aren’t Forsaken?

"Like getting D Rank, just for that one Level?" Briggs murmured, and everyone else agreed. Earning that much Karma was no joke at all! Eighty Levels worth...

"There's a reason all them post-Tens aren't youngsters anymore," I hinted strongly. "Pretty sure the extra years we get are just so we can last long enough to maybe break that ceiling under normal circumstances, if we keep trying. After all, you don't NEED to be a Deep Ten to make Eleven."

"Huh." Briggs glanced down as the pool in front of us trembled ever-so-slightly. "What are you planning on doing?"

"The Annis Hag evolution is actually very strong, especially once you remove the Curse. It gets to +7 flat Attack Bonus. I have a Fallen Ahren template that should get me to +13 thereafter, and then lilitu or marilith would get me to +17."

"Ugh. You have to pay for the bonus twice?" He rubbed his nose as the water trembled more.

"Never said the process was efficient." I was watching it too, of course, and what was at the bottom of the pool. We weren't sitting here for no reason. "Wizards are associated with Dragons because they are the easiest Arcane Casters to reach, with Evilborn the next most, particularly Arcanadaemons. Divine Casters go to servants of their Patrons. Warriors emulate mighty creatures that can have higher AB's. It all fits."

"Why not make the run for Eleven?" he asked, his hand closing around Endure now, and the Hammer starting to burn. Quaver slid herself into my hand, starting to do the same.

"Karmic costs for Secondary Levels all increase with every Primary Level," was the automatic reply.

"Uh, you're still buying up Class Levels?" He was shocked despite himself. "Prestige Levels? What?"

"Well, I made a discovery." Something dark at the bottom of the pool was starting to flow upwards. Naturally, we could both see it perfectly in our tremblesense. It was massive, easily a hundred cubic meters in size, flowing up, up, stealthily and steadily, toward the food above vibrating on the ground.

"A discovery." Briggs threw a partial smile. "That's that 32 Int coming into play again, gnawing at something. What is this massive discovery that is holding you back from Eleven?"

"Well, do you know Forsaken can take Caster Classes?"

Despite himself, he flinched from head to toe in shock. "Are you serious? Of course you are. Why in the world would we do so?" Everything about the Classes was designed to increase Casting ability. Even the Feats you could theoretically take since you didn't get spells would have to do with magic and Casting, useless to us.

"Well, it turns out those are the Classes that work with our Forsaken Status. Nulls default to work with the Druidic Classes, Sources are probably on the Divine Paradigm, and Voids on the Arcane."

"Wait, there's Classes that advance Forsaken skills?" His eyes almost popped.

"Null Druid subsumed my Null Mastery and all my Null Feats I'd paid for."

The edge of the great black ooze broke the surface of the water on the opposite side of the pool from us, closer to the numbers of people-snacks over there. More mass flowed out of the pool like an inky black tide, noticeably lowering the level of the pool as it did so.

"Well. Shit," Briggs blinked at me.

"Oh, and one more thing." I moved Quaver back, now a blade of solid Firephasing flame. "I have a Casting Matrix."

I cut forward. Briggs almost smashed his own foot, and I grinned as my first Oozebane Fireshard drove hard into the bulging mass of the great Ooze, boring a hole right through it.

Oozes, degraded shoggoth-spawn, were utterly insatiable eating machines that could be found basically anywhere they could hide from sunlight, as the skinless colonial organisms were intensely vulnerable to ultraviolet light. Given its size, a whole lot of biomass had been devoured by this sucker, but now its time was at an end.

Endure's Sharding plowed into it, a foot-wide tunnel plunging deep into its mass. Everybody nearby knew what was going on, of course, and the Casters waiting there immediately began to pepper it with Fire and Force Reserves. Ashified, disrupted colony cells eroded away, vivic energy flaring like fireworks as the miniscule creatures died, removing them from blocking further effects. Now it was taking fire damage from both directions, all directions, getting eroded down very quickly as Banefire tore through it and guided the damage to all the best parts.

I noted a lot of water flowing down it and back into the pool, too.

"Are you shitting me?" His eyes narrowed as he leapt along that train of thought. "We can store magical energy... our own magical energy?" His eyes popped. "We're generators... and capacitors..." He glanced at me. "Can we use the power?"

"We can't spend it, if that's what you are asking. Are there some Feats or Masteries out there, besides the traditional Reserves, that allow you to leverage all the magical energy in your body into something else? I remember there being a Feat which granted Toughness based on how many metamagic Feats you knew... eh..." But my eyes were dancing as a constant flurry of burning Swords and Hammers matched with the firecracker explosions of the directed Reserves, chewing this Ooze to bits. It had a lot of Health, even as it shuddered and stopped moving.

Nobody let up. This thing was going down to vivus... and then we were going to get all the nice things out of the bottom of the pool.

"What about elemental energies?" he had to ask. "Is it just generic?"

"I was automatically thrown into the Animal Domain, probably because of my Annis background. I'm likewise assuming Verd, Amber, and Veis will be thrown into Plant, Fire, and Air respectively. So, all the Engrams and Pools I've been raising have signs of bestial, primal energy to them."

"But if we can't use the power, that's a total waste," he frowned.

"Is it, Brothers?" I /asked into the Marktell going on.

The /silence was thrumming with anticipation. It was the Fire and Sword who finally answered. -Bondmages,- he /whispered.

-Mechanics?- I /asked for everyone.

-When we disassemble a spell, or drain magic from another, we can transfer some of that energy to an Arcane Caster we are in resonance with. Also, when Meditating, we can increase the rate at which they regain Valences by exuding the refined mana we naturally process into them.-

Which, if any of the vague emotional subtext around his words were any indication, was a remarkably pleasant experience. That lady-killer reputation they had was not unearned...

"Well, shit," Briggs said for everyone, as he let up with Endure, and the two of us watched the Casters pummel the black ooze down to white ash and water. "And now you can potentially store up some of that power and inject or share it directly? It would be like your Bound Caster having a whole separate Matrix they could draw on..."

"...and I'm pretty sure we could do it on the psionic end, too. Chi, doubt it, unless ki accumulation can get refined up, and I don't think it can."

Everyone was silent again, as the implications spread across everyone.

All those magical races, and humans had magic based around being non-magical, and thus being able to hold magic for others...

"I'm going to assume you need a bondmage, and can only bond to one at a time," Briggs murmured to nobody, and got several Brotherly acknowledgements. He and I sat down as the first of the eager elves stripped down after a nod from us, and went diving down for the remnant belongings of prior victims down at the bottom. The loot would have to be acid resistant, so magical, slaked, or made of noble metals, most likely...

"It's likely no different than storing power in a familiar. You can't do that with the more magical familiars, which is what got me thinking about it. A normal animal, you imbue it with power. A magical familiar, it imbues you." I hummed to myself. "And then there's another precedent. Remember the Mystics of Nog?"

His face screwed up again. "That... was just stories. They..." His eyes opened as he thought back to before Power of Ten was a thing, and geekdom beckoned. "Wait, that was a Prestige Class, where they permanently gave up spell slots and imbued them into their bodies for special abilities!"

"Which is exactly like creating a magical item, biomagic. I also believe it's one of the things for the Artificer/Druid Theurgy, right?" Because no one had ever developed a Prestige Class off those biomagic principles... that I knew of.

"Life Theurgy, right." Briggs pawed at his face. "Wait, Theurgy? That means-?"

"Uh huh. Archnull, Archsource, Archvoid. The Druidnull equivalent to Shaman and Shifters is Wis and Con-based, respectively, so bonus Spells from two Stats, more Spells, and since they aren't the Primary Class, higher Null Level... just like Archshaman, Archshifter, and Archdruid."

"You've invested in all those?" Briggs queried.

"I'm 3/3/1/1/1 in the Null versions of Shaman, Shifter, and the Archies."

"Gods in Heaven. Thirty-five more damn Levels to get!" Briggs moaned, and there was some swearing from Brothers in the background.

"And the Masteries to go with them," I agreed with a sigh. "Deep Ten just keeps getting deeper..." My little sisters only had to pay Seven prices for those Levels, after all, to which they were quietly cheering, especially Veis, who would once again be able to work with the aeromancy she'd had to give up.

"Okay, importantly, how do you fill the Valences?" Briggs asked reasonably.

"This is a guess, which you're going to have to verify. I'm sure the Voids just deposit their filtered mana into the Matrix instead of passing it through, so they'll just do it continuously, or whenever they take down some extant magic. They're probably the most suitable for Forsaken Matrix Classes.

"You Sources probably just fill it by living, slowly, constantly. You probably can't 'refill' a Valence between Renewals, but you won't have to work at it, either.

"Me, I have to convert life energy to it, ripping away my Con bonus in Valences with temporary damage to my Con, which heals at a point an hour." I spat off to the side. "And at the top end, that means hundreds of Valences. No healing with magic, either... the feedback inflicts even more Con damage. And yet, the bonus Slots from Archnulling can't be Nogged."

Briggs had a lopsided grin on his face. "Ah, Class balance sucks, doesn't it..." I elbowed him in his brick-like ribs, and he just laughed. "Any particular Masteries, Skills?"

"They are all poor combat Classes, with one Good Save corresponding to their Forsaken basis. Two Skill points. Mystic Nog Forsaken is a Mastery. I believe my Skill Reqs for the Archies were Concentration and Heal five Ranks, Toughness, Iron Will, and Endurance Masteries, and the Skill Focus for the two Skills. Class Skills are probably Concentration, Heal, Meditation, and Craft.

"If I were to hazard for Sources, it would be a similar set up, with a Strength and Charisma bias. Athletics and Diplomacy, maybe Intimidate, three similar Masteries, and so forth. Having Leadership wouldn't surprise me, either. Kings Among Men is a thing.

"For Voids, I would hazard Spellcraft and Stealth together, maybe some Knowledge Ranks and/or Acrobatics Ranks. Lightning Reflexes, Evasion, Stealth Masteries...

"But otherwise, the Forsaken Matrix Classes were base Classes, no req except to be a Forsaken of the appropriate type. They were so basic and low I'd almost call them NPC Classes, if they weren't subsuming all my Null Feats, and driving the Karma reqs down because of it."

"Any Mystic/Nog exchanges?"

"Stat boosting of your base Stats, up to 18 and 'perfection'. There's an Iron Fist technique, much like ki-boosted unarmed damage, making your fists lethal, up to the base d4 and requiring another spell level per 2 levels for damage increase. Stacks on the ki equiv.

"There's also a 'magic armor' effect that effectively replaces Force Armor and Natural Armor boosting."

"After you already maxed your Bracers and an Amulet?" He rolled his eyes.

"It would work inside a Greyfield, and can't be dispelled, so it's actually useful. I think you can get bonuses to Skills, but I'm not sure. The maximum you can invest at each Level seems to be that Level, so one Valence at One, three at Third, etc. You can't Invest Slots from the Archies.

"I'm assuming basic all-around physical buffs in the future, and maybe other Inherent Bonuses once you hit Perfection. Have to see."

Briggs grunted and sat back again, the abrupt Markchat broke up as everyone retreated to their own thoughts on this matter.

Hazé /flicked me an intrigued note. Exactly who would get to be Bonded to our lovely Archtheurge?...