Confusion struck me once again as I followed the elf back to the building. Somehow, her words filled me with warmth. I had no idea why.
I disregarded it and climbed on the table. The elf and I practiced the magical barrier several times. Every time I felt Cellestra’s warm magic flow through me, I regretted not being able to smile. The comfort it brought me… it was unparalleled…
Cellestra sighed deeply after the fifth or so attempt.
“I sincerely hope that this spell doesn’t change regarding mana flow when you… enhance it, was it?”
I nodded yes before writing with my legs. “Have no idea what happens.”
It made me wonder. Should I not upgrade this ability? I didn’t want to hold back, but I also didn’t want Cellestra to have to learn the spell again from scratch. She’d seemed so happy with the progress she’d made so far.
Then again, it was the magical barrier. I haven’t had much use for it… yet.
“Anyway,” Cellestra continued, “I’m going to try to practice the first two parts of the spell now. I’m certain you have several things to take care of.”
I gestured yes before spelling once more. “Will stay here for bit. Check blessing for information. Good luck.”
“Thank you,” She said with a warm smile. “You too.”
I turned to my blessing and decided to check whether there were any easy to attain achievements before I started spending my evolution points.
Elysa?
Blue Rainbow Kizerain ** Requires currently unearned achievements |
Magic-orientated evolution. Unlocks additional offensive spells. |
Yellow Rainbow Kizerain ** Requires currently unearned achievements |
Magic-orientated evolution. Unlocks additional defensive and support spells. Allows some skills to be merged. |
Red Rainbow Kizerain ** Requires currently unearned achievements |
Strength-orientated evolution. Unlocks additional defensive skills. Unlocks additional types of Venom |
Achievements required for Blue Kizerain evolution: Boar Buster Kill 3 Boars (1/3) Sniper Kill a creature that awards experience with a spell from at least 50 feet away. |
Achievements required for Yellow Kizerain evolution: Size Matters Kill any 5 adversaries classified as “Large” or bigger. (4/5) The Exterminator Kill any insectoid that is classified as “Titan” or bigger. (0/1) Spell Stopper Kill a creature that can use magic. (0/1) |
Achievements required for Red Kizerain evolution: Oh Deer Kill any deer (0/1) Cousin Killer Kill a scorpion (0/1) |
Well, it looked like I was forced into killing again…
I could complete none of these achievements from the safety of these walls.
After going over the achievements, I went back to the evolutions themselves. It appeared each of these evolutions would unlock a new set of skills. I would have to cycle through these three before new options would show up.
I wondered what order would be best…
Would it matter a lot?
Hey, Elysa, is the rainbow effect still active in all these evolutions? Will I be able to upgrade any skill to the maximum even after selecting a different evolution after going through one of them?
Affirmative. |
I had expected it, but I wanted to be absolutely sure.
If that was the case, I didn’t think it would matter much what I would choose. Although, offense would likely be the way to go.
I would have to make sure if it was. My first step towards knowing for sure what I would choose later on, was to check how powerful these spells were if I upgraded them to their maximum level.
Then, if my spells were as powerful as I hoped, I would try to take the blue evolution first.
And for that, I needed to kill two more boars, and I needed to kill something that awarded experience from a large distance.
I figured the easiest way to set up the second achievement was to use my webs, probably upgraded. That, or I would need to finish off something large that was hard to miss, but the first option seemed like the most feasible one.
I merely skimmed the other two achievements and was left wondering what the classification ”Titan” meant. Just how big would something need to be for that?
It was time to check my enhancements again.
I went through the massive list of skills and focused on the mana reserves and the fireball spell. The fireball spell had been extremely effective against that first boar, so if I needed to kill two more it made sense for me to upgrade it.
I decided to upgrade both my mana reserves and the fireball spell to “Strong”. This would cost me 120 points, leaving me with 47. Hopefully, the enhancements would allow me to take out boars with relative ease which would then allow me to upgrade the mana reserves and fireball spell further.
I hoped the new spell wouldn’t drain me too fast, as my mana regeneration would lag behind for the moment.
I went through the changes one by one as I observed Cellestra try to cast the magical barrier several times. One time, I swore I could see part of the spell but I wasn’t entirely sure. She looked both surprised and happy after it happened so I assumed my intuition was right.
I finished upgrading my skills and continued watching Cellestra stumble over my spell. Her facial expression was one of sheer focus and then one of either frustration or happiness after a try. There seemed to be many obstacles for her in this spell that was so simple for me.
“Going well?” I spelled out.
“Yes and no,” She said before pausing a moment to cast the spell once more. “The first part I mastered. It’s the second part I’m currently struggling with. The end of it… I can’t seem to grasp it properly. Could you show me once more?”
I nodded with my legs before Cellestra placed a hand on my abdomen to allow her spell to flow through me as I cast the magical barrier spell again.
“Hmmm,” She murmured. “I can see its flow… I just don’t know how to make my mana flow that way.”
I had no idea how she would have to do it. It pained me that I couldn’t help out more than this.
“I’ll try again. I assume you would like to head out again, no?”
…
I didn’t know.
I wanted to get out there and progress towards my next evolution, but…
Part of me also wanted to stay here…
Cellestra’s presence… her eagerness… happiness… It was projected onto me. Whenever she was happy, so was I. I didn’t know why.
“Kealyna?” Cellestra looked at me. I realized I had given no answer yet. I quickly spelled out yes.
I waved at her as I made my way down to the floor. The elf waved back and wished me luck as I walked outside.
It was time to hunt boars… if I could find any. The last time, I had merely walked into one by accident. Hopefully, that meant they wandered through the area fairly often. With my current size and power, I might as well try to scour the area for one. I could already take on wolves and boar before. They should be no issue for me now.
I would have to be careful, though.
I walked along the stream towards the lake. I found nothing of interest on my way there. A snake hissed at me at one point, but I didn’t get any experience for killing it. Apparently, those were considered too easy after my latest evolution.
When I arrived at the lake and peered into the water, I couldn’t see any large fish. I had hoped for a couple, but it seemed it had been in vain.
That meant it was time to explore further.
I followed along the lakeshore to the east. Well, I thought it was east, but I wasn’t actually quite sure anymore. I would have to ask Cellestra again what the directions were. I forgot.
The grass that bordered the lake eventually made way for sand as a beach appeared. To my left was still the forest, it was just that the grass line had receded for this beach.
I found it unexpectedly difficult to walk in the sand. My weight was too much for it to support me and my small feet kept sinking in. I quickly made my way back onto the grass and walked around the beach area.
Movement in the forest caught my attention and I climbed up the nearest tree to see what moved around in the bushes.
A boar appeared. It was smaller than the one I had taken out before and it seemed to be foraging. It was digging up loose dirt here and there and, quite literally, following its nose.
The best part was that it had not even spotted me.
I climbed further into the tree with slow and steady movements to avoid detection. I made my way onto a branch and lined up to cast my stronger fireball spell.
I could already feel from the difference in mana flow that this spell was far more powerful than the fireball I used before. The ball of fire created before me in mid-air was half a foot in diameter and burned far hotter. I felt the heat from it all throughout my body.
The beast below me turned towards the source of the heat a moment before I loosed the spell.
She should try using her webs and venom to leave a bunch of lethal traps all over the place. See if she gets achievements for remote/trap hunting. Just warn Cellestra.
Oh Deer
Kill any deer (0/1)
... well, I guess once she gets it she'll go from oh deer to won deer.
@kaithar
oh my, I've caught up already...
@Celutic
Oh such a treat, what's the occasion
So she is going to be a mage. Compared to your other story where the main charecter is a fighter
Ironic, what with her being a (former) knight
@RaelDeer who knows
@Faragi I mean... she HAS been relying pretty heavily, almost exclusively, on magic since she got it, not bothering with physical reinforcement or combat anywhere near as much... so it's really setting her up for a "mage" character rather than a knight, and if she suddenly stopped relying on magic so much to go back to, well, knightly behaviour, all swords shields and armor.... what was the point?
Yeah, magic knight is an option I guess, but still... for being a knight, she basically abandoned it all for something new, a new 'class', or skillset, with no real hesitation or qualms... so it just feels unlikely for her to ever BE knightly again
That's due to her lack of size and mass. No matter how tough a spider the size of a hand might be, you can still squish it. It's quite possible she is going to switch gears as her evolution continues to grow larger and larger. I doubt she'd abandon magic completely but her fixation on 'tankish' combat styles indicates she will not not give it up. I'd personally be aiming for it all but I'mma greedy bastard that way. Even if it takes forever trying to cook up achievements to get the EP required.
@Vister1 She has pointedly avoided fighting anything larger than herself, until she had magic to use from a safe distance or position, but also, physical barrier magic IS something she had as a knight, and I can only assume it works on impact nullification rules... and it's even stronger as a spider than it was when she was an elf.
Sure, you might be able to squish a *regular* spider, but an armored up tank ass spider WITH magical protection against impacts is the one I'd put my money on in a melee fight.. possibly even a magical fight too if her magical barrier magic is the same... it's all well and good to have magic until you meet something that can shrug it off, chase you down and shred you into confetti, even moreso a big pissed off spider who can chase you basically anywhere (except water).
My issue is that her discipline, training, and habits, effectively vanished on reincarnation. Like, she was a trained knight, and yet upon assessing the skillset she was presented with, she went with something that was almost entirely unfamiliar to her. Sure, her body was also unfamiliar to her, but she never really tried to make her body fit her knowledge, instead of the other way around, which, I don't see as realistic. She would have had habits as a knight, a routine, training, skills and tactics she is familiar with, and the fact they have barely impacted on her behaviour or choices is a bit.... well... irritating...
@RaelDeer look at it this way. Have you have ever worn a piece or multiple pieces of clothing you were unfamiliar with? A skirt, tight pants, a suit, a tie, a dress, anything you have never worn before in your life? Did you adjust to it immediately? Or did it take time to understand how to move, the range of your movement, what actions you could or could not comfortably do?
And I bet while you were figuring it out, you were fighting habits you developed from wearing other clothing. I know it happened to me. Wearing a suit, wearing a dress, wearing high heels, wearing platforms. They all require different knowledge and a period of adjusting, while fighting off old habits that just don't work.... now apply to Kealyna and her new body.
She has never struggled with movement which... is fine, inborn knowledge/instinct is a thing, but past that, she would only fight those weaker than her. She used ambush tactics almost immediately. The extent of her initial physical enhancement was the jumping spider evolution for mobility and... better ambushing... these are not the behaviors or choices of a knight... I know she's self aware of as much, but she never fought with any *desire* to be knightly...
Unless I'm wrong and misremembering the whole first arc in which case, I'm wrong. But I don't think I am.
Call it a sign of my love for this story that I overthink it so much.
@RaelDeer She had other reasons to pick the jumping spider, namely, her eyesight. Because of the situation she found herself in, she had no problem throwing away morality, especially since she is fighting small animals, not sapient beings.
Basically, the goals justifying the means.
@Faragi Morality sure. And yeah I forgot her eyesight but I think that still qualifies under "helped her ambush better". But like I said, her discipline and habits (which I will admit, we really don't know much about, she might very well have been a shitty knight lacking in discipline and with no habits to back up her profession) just seemingly evaporated with her old body. She has, at no point, tried to become a "spider knight", she is just a "spider mage", and I, personally, feel that if that's her character, fine, so be it, but... stick to your guns, be it swords or spells. If you're going to abandon (or less melodramatically, focus on) one over the other... don't flip flop... it's not a good character trait.
@RaelDeer Dw, there is plenty left to explore
@Faragi That's... well I suppose it has to be vague, to not give anything away...
I Guess all I'm trying to say is... if she's going to be a mage for 90% of her evolutions up to what appears to be her final evolution into an arachne (you kinda gave that away here, unless she's just going to be a *mute* arachne for an evolution or two...), then just make her a mage. She hasn't been a knight since she reincarnated, she hasn't *tried* to be a knight, she doesn't even really seem to have the desire to be a knight, aside from wanting to protect Cellestra but again, might as well just double down on magic until Cellestra learns enough from her that they can nuke any enemy and get the quadruple layer ultra nullification barrier spell to make them invincible, as the greatest magic tag team duo on the planet....
It just feels redundant to explore Kealyna as a knight now that she's so far down this path, that it would be making her less effective, and less useful.
Like Michael Jordan retiring from basketball to play baseball.
She has repeatedly considered the knight route. She concluded, through her own thoughts, that that was too risky for her survival and set that aside. Even still she did take some of the physical enhancements to raise her ability to survive. I wouldn't worry about a tiny ass spider I couldn't crush if I could just punt it 40 yards and leave...or from some other critters view, swallow it in one bite. Spiders are also extremely poorly equipped for melee combat. Traditional spiders have 1 pair of fangs. This one has some teeth. If she stopped getting so large and focused on venom she might be able to make something of a melee build by being assassin like. She's concluded that she wants to 'grow up' fast so using web and setting traps takes too long. Thing is staying small goes against her goal. She needs to kill without being killed. She reached a point where it would be way too risky to get up close and personal to bite the targets she's had to hunt. No matter how durable she would be. Especially now that the fish she has been hunting are almost off the table for good.
I have almost no doubts that when it comes time for her to move through the red rainbow evolution she'll be like a kid in a candy shop. She's getting awful large now. Having all that extra physical capability would actually mean something. 10 foot armored jumping spider? Yeah get me the hell out!
In regards to her training habits and all that...well the simple truth is, the blessing has eliminated the need for it. She doesn't have to train or study much of anything. whaaa!!! 5 pts for fireball!??!?! YES PLEASE!! The blessing also opens doors that she may have never had before in her last life. She's very similar to what almost any other person would do...take the easy way, cool way, exciting way, safe way, and etc. She took the hard, determined, loyal, noble way and then got shafted by those shitty gods getting in the way.
I don't like how she's rushing her growth but she's got a goal and her ideas on how to get there. She decided she can't afford to be a knightly tank right now. Survivor's gotta do what survivor's gotta do.
Whoa I got left behind on this one lol. Damn covid takes to long to think.
@Vister1 Again like... how do I say this without getting repetitive...
We are 44 chapters in, and so far she has lived up to only two words in the title "the" and "spider".
At this point in her evolution and skillset, what point is there to physical combat? She has ranged magic, ranged venom, I wouldn't be surprised if she figures out a way to use her webs at range, and magic that protects her from physical and magical attacks. What need has she for a stronger exoskeleton, stronger limbs, or any kind of melee combat prowess. I'm sure she'll learn to teleport at this rate as a means of putting distance between herself and any enemies.
Her becoming more physically oriented does not benefit her current skillset in any way, at all, like.. really...
Like I get that this isn't a traditional rpg style setting with defined classes, and I know you stated that you'd "take everything because you're greedy", but everything has its limits. She can't take every evolution, she can't evolve infinitely, and the EP will dry up eventually... or at least it SHOULD from a power scaling perspective. You can't have it all, and the thinner you spread it, the less you'll really have in the end.
Also... spiders not being equipped for melee combat? There are plenty of spiders that do not rely exclusively on webbing to trap prey. Wolf spiders, Trapdoor spiders, GOLIATH BIRDEATERS, like...
And sure, Mass helps, but again, she was VERY PURPOSELY avoiding larger targets. A palm sized spider vs a palm sized beetle is a fairer fight, especially if that spider is specialised in defence and strength. I do not want to know what it feels like to have carapace peeled off, or cracked open and pulled apart. And by the time she was pillow sized, which I believe was her last evolution before this, I bet it wouldn't have been hard for her to overpower a wolf, between a reinforced body, physical barrier which again, something that she's familiar with from her time as a knight, and limbs strong enough to pierce flesh, and venom strong enough to take it down...
All that is hypothetical of course, bevause it's not the course we're on... but here's the kicker.
Imagine it was, imagine we had that *knightly spider*, and all of a sudden she starts focusing on magic and other ranged attacks, forgoing melee combat, effectively the reverse of what I believe is being hinted at as being the case going forward. It might, again, just be the way the story goes, but would it feel right?
Personally, I don't think so. I hope this is like.. well thought out enough to illustrate *why* I'm frustrated at the concept of our ostensibly magic focused protagonist forgoing what she has built up for no reason other than... "cos she's a knight" when for the length of the story... she hasn't been, no matter the motivation or reason.
It's the path she's chosen, it's the path she's BECOMING familiar with, she is learning the habits and combat style of a magic user. To DROP that just because? She used to be a knight? Despite abandoning that way of life for survival, and choosing a new one?
I can't accept a protagonist like that.
(Going to be melodramatic here but) It doesn't inspire confidence in their motivation. Like her eventual and all but confirmed romance with Cellestra. Will she abandon Cellestra midway into their relationship to pursue someone else who is just as nice to her and triggers her protective instincts? Will she abandon her goal of meeting her parents to instead pursue some alternative? Will she simply forget about the gods who screwed her over later, just because something else made her equally upset?
@RaelDeer I never said she'd drop the magic style. Ideally, there will be some sort of transition that makes it so that even though her magic is quite strong, she still has a use for physical combat (mana depletion, etc)
Spoiler alert: Im not planning to have some sort of teleportation, blink etc.
@Faragi eh, I was being a liiittle hyperbolic about the teleportation, but...
It just does not (currently) feel like it makes sense to bother, Faragi. Yeah, physical combat skills for when her mana is depleted makes sense, that's great! It would have made MORE sense when her mana reserves were tiny, not now and into the future as they continue to get bigger. Since she could kill wolves and boars with a handful of spells BEFORE her latest round of upgrades, what the heck could she fight (single targets and small groups at least) that would wipe out her mana? Like if she was fighting 10 or more opponents sure I'd be like "how's she going to handle this" but that's less on her mana reserves and more on being outnumbered, and, again... not having invested in being physically stronger (much), leaving her lacking in the manoeuvrability and coordination to deal with a group fight or being surrounded.
@RaelDeer
Eh, ah, hmmm....I get you point. It's a fair point. As a spider she is more magically inclined. You're right, but let's see where the author takes her before casting more judgment. I mean she can't exactly go around casting fireballs willy nilly now can she? She also has the ice magic, yes. But she can't exactly cast magic effectively in enclosed spaces, crowds, or towns....given she ever needs to infiltrate a town. And yes, it doesn't seem to stop her from casting a POWERFUL fireball in a forest!?!??!
@Vister1
You also have a point. An elf knight reincarnated as a spider. Her whole fighting style has been stripped away and practically doomed to forever fight as a spider. The only form of fighting that she is familiar with was her scarce use of magic in her previous life when her magic vessel was small from not practicing with it much before the age of 20.
Now all she has to do is spend some points and she gets better magic, stronger magic vessel, and better regeneration? I'm sure there is some regret from her previous life from not training her magic mixed into her decisions. Actually, there is for a fact! It's been stated previously her regret for not learning a bit more magic to help in her final conflict where she died!
...
...
So, yes she is focusing, currently on her magical abilities, but she hasn't entirely neglected her knightly disposition. Her physical abilities are more of on the support side to allow her magical abilities their window of opportunity to strike. This has been the situation since the hawk. Her physical abilities were what saved her from being eaten, allowed her to climb out the mouth of the hawk -- midflight mind you-- and hold on as she tore into it until now where she uses her physical abilities to quickly take a high ground. I make it sound like she can take a hit, and maybe she can, but I see her currently as more of a glass cannon with impressive physical ability.
Now, I will say that I mark this evolution as the point where she drifts further away from her knight disposition. The first thing that she looked at improving without a spare glance was her magical abilities. Not even a thought to buffing her physique so that she doesn't die as easily....but I will stop there for the story.
@Faragi
Please ignore my comment! I like the story and am looking forward to more of Kealyna's adventure!!
@IllOmened
Now, to open myself up to attacks from all sides.
I didn't read all of everyone's comments. Just kinda bits and pieces from each comment.
Read @Faragi's comments, and agree with their disposition of trying not to spoil anything of her future chapters.