Underworld - Sanctuary: A LitRPG Series, page 3
I started snickering to myself like a crazy person. I had thought that leveling each form would eventually make it faster to cast, but having a mastery took away my worry. Now I knew for sure what I needed to do to improve my Shapeshifting rate of change. I just hoped I had enough forms to level it up to a decent level.
Before I moved on to test my Werewolf form, I looked at the time through my Character Sheet. It was already 2:37 AM, though I still didn’t know which time zone. I had already been at this for over two hours. The others would likely return in the next hour or two for another Heal and I really wanted to get started on Dungeon planning early in the day. I decided at 6:00 AM I’d stop what I was doing and head back to the Master Chamber to get started. After some breakfast, of course.
That meant I had better get busy.
Directing my words toward the group to inform Aeris, I said, “I’m going to start working on my Werewolf Form. Just to give you a heads up.”
“Dude! You can change into a Werewolf?!” Russ responded in shock.
“Awesome!” Skyler added.
“That’s so gross!” Olivia shivered.
“Eh. I got it, Elorion,” Aeris finally responded. “Probably come see me to tell me next time.”
“Yeah. Aeris wants to keep you all to herself. You beast you,” Richard quipped.
Everyone was suddenly silent across the group’s audible chat channel, before a pair of giggles broke out. Audrey and Clarissa just couldn’t help themselves.
There were a number of things that came to mind that I forced myself not to say. I was currently being on my best behavior.
I moved on quickly to cast my Werewolf form. It took effect much quicker than both Hell Hound and Primordial Cat had, maybe a second and a half in total. This time, no heat gathered inside of me. Instead, adrenaline mixed with liquid rage seemed to pump through my chest with each beat of my heart. My mind and vision were grasped by an unnatural intensity. My muscles tightened and were pumped with the same primal cocktail. When the form taken full effect, I was no longer on all fours, but standing at my normal height.
I wasn’t sure if the feeling it gave me made it my favorite or least favorite form. I feared I might like it a bit too much.
My neck had sprouted new muscle that was thick and powerful. My jaw had extended with my nasal cavity into a snout. Immediately, I recognized the familiar heightened aromas that Canine’s Sense of Smell gave me when I had it activated at full power. But now, I was able to pull in so much air through my extended nose that the ability actually seemed less overwhelming.
There was a new popup that I was happy to see.
Shapeshifting Mastery
Level 5
Due to your use of multiple forms, you have begun to become more proficient.
You will now change to a different form 3% faster.
Next Level
You will change form 4% faster.
It seemed to be following a pattern of +1% increase for every two levels. If it continued, then at level 100 it would max out, giving me a 50% faster form change bonus. That would make the transformation time of Primordial Cat Form 2 seconds instead of 4 and Hell Hound Form 1 instead of 2. Werewolf Form would be less than 1 second.
I brought up my character sheet and confirmed that my Wisdom and Intelligence had been cut in half while transformed. That meant that since my Intelligence was below 1,000, I had lost some of my best bonuses. The good news was that these debuffs would lessen as it leveled up. So leveling it would be necessary to get the best use out of it. The Health Regeneration ability would be worth it once I reached higher levels.
There was one downer. I noticed that I hadn’t received a bonus when my Strength shot over 1,000. Considering I’d lose a bonus if my stats went under 1,000, that meant I couldn’t count on Shapeshifting to give me any extra stat bonuses that didn’t come with the form itself. Bummer.
Before I started recasting it over and over, I first confirmed that yes, In The Buff worked in this form as well. Also, Heal worked almost as well as it did when I was in my human form. It seemed this form would follow different rules than the other monster forms. Having access to the ability to heal myself and regeneration by itself meant I’d have to give this form some serious thought.
I sped through the levels until I reached level 10. I was already starting to notice that the veil of anger that seemed to be a part of the form was already becoming more bearable. I hoped that reaching level 100 would also bring with it clarity of mind. I could have probably gotten a few more levels out of it from speed casting, but the number of casts to level was doubling each time, meaning there was probably a better way to go about it as I reached even higher levels.
For each 5 levels I reached in the form, Shapeshifting Mastery also leveled up, so it ended at level 7 with a 4% bonus to the speed of change.
That left me with three other forms to level, and if I was fast, I could get them all to level 10 and get my mastery to level 16.
Fire Imp was the next form that I worked on. Until it reached the max level and evolved, I had little interest in it. That didn’t mean it wasn’t worth leveling.
Fire Imp
Level: 1
Cost: 1,000 Mana Per Minute (200 with buffs)
Strength: -20%
Dexterity: -20%
Constitution: +5%
Special Abilities: Novice Fire Magic, Ability to Fly
Next Level:
Cost: 990 Mana Per Minute (198 with buffs)
Seeing that the form unlocked Novice Fire Magic meant that it might give access to higher level Fire Magic as it leveled. That was a nice little surprise.
I recast the form as fast as I could. Because of the change in size it left me a little woozy. Heal and my Buffs did work in this state, which was a bonus. For now, I’d be happy with level 10.
Blue and Green Slime Forms were just as quick to level but distorted my senses even more. I had no real desire to use them except to level my mastery and I was curious to know if they would evolve at some point. Getting them to level 10 at least got my mastery to where I wanted it.
Shapeshifting Mastery
Level 16
Due to your use of multiple forms, you have begun to become more proficient.
You will now change to a different form 8% faster.
Next Level
You will change form 8% faster.
It was 3:00 AM when I finished getting my remaining forms to level 10. The ones with a lower mana cost had taken little time. That left me two hours to work on what I had ultimately been aiming for. Primordial Cat Form was far too expensive to use at this point, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t cast it as a reduced form, or a partial one.
I let Aeris know that I was going back to work on my more dangerous forms. This time the others didn’t tease us through group chat. There was little conversation, so I wondered if a few of them had gone to bed. I mentioned that anyone who needed a heal should come see me, but there were no takers.
Safely wearing my Skeletal Armor, I spotted Aeris as she showed herself in the doorway a few rooms away. She waved that she got my message.
Returning the gesture, I focused my mind on what I was about to do. It was time to see if I could make some use of the Primordial Cat Form.
I removed all of my buffs besides Mana Sight. I’d take it slow as I manipulated the form. I knew how dangerous it could be.
I took a look at the form’s level and cost.
Primordial Cat Form
Level: 5
Cost: 96,400 Mana Per Second (19,280 with buffs)
HP: NA (See Magma Manipulation.)
Strength: +5,200, +5% Strength
Dexterity: +5,200, +5% Dexterity
After my bonuses and leveling it a bit, the form still had a cost of 19,280 MP a second. What if I only provided it with half the mana though? If it worked, I’d be able to hold the form for 21 seconds. The biggest problem was, the further I got away from the primary form, the less effective it would be. Still, if I could get the length of transformation to as much as 30 seconds or 1 minute, that could change the tide of a battle.
I reminded myself to keep my heat contained and to be sure to uncast the form at least 4 seconds before I ran out of mana. Remembering to cast Skeletal Armor as I retook my human form would also be nice.
My mana went to work. As I started to take Primordial Cat Form, I restricted my mana flow to half of what the spell called for. It seemed pleased to take whatever I’d give it and heat started to build inside me as I started to grow. I stopped expanding much sooner than I had when using the full mana cost. The amount of power was still intoxicating, but it just wasn’t the same. With Mana Sight speeding up my perceptions, I was able to calculate that it had taken me about 3 seconds to transform. I took a few seconds to examine my character sheet and found that I was receiving 40% of the stat bonuses that the form provided even though I was using half the mana. It gave me a 10% stat bonus penalty in other words. It ended up giving me about +2,350 Strength and +2,450 Dexterity. It was still incredible, but as I got further away from the base mana cost, the penalty would get worse.
I changed back to my human form well before the timer was up. With a little under half of my MP remaining, I cast it again at a fourth of the base mana cost.
My size increased very little this time around. Checking my stats, it looked like this time I had a 30% stat penalty at a fourth of the form’s normal mana cost. I still gained an additional 900 Strength and 1,000 Dexterity, approximately. It was still incredible, but the Hell Hound form gave just as much for a much smaller cost. The greatest benefit to this form now was that it would last 42 seconds, and I still received the form’s special abilities.
Special Abilities: Body of Magma, Magma Manipulation, Magma Regeneration.
Body of Magma: Your body is transformed into one that consists entirely of magma.
Magma Manipulation: Because your being exists within a magma state, you have full control over the magma itself. Harden or soften your body at will.
Magma Regeneration: If magma is displaced from your body, you are able to return to your Primordial Cat form indefinitely, unless 75% of your magma is lost.
Note: You do not take damage to your HP. Any attack that removes or separates magma from your body leaves you weaker.
I transitioned back to my human form and cast Skeletal Armor before sitting down to meditate. I still needed to test the form out in combat, but if things got really bad, Magma Regeneration or just turning into a solid igneous statue could definitely save my life. I also had little doubt I’d be able to do a lot of damage building up speed and slamming into things in a hardened state. I was getting good results. Only a few more things to try.
Getting back to my feet, I prepared myself for the next stage. Form Manipulation.
I cast Primordial Cat Form, but this time denied it all but a tenth of the mana. As I started to take shape, I completely stifled the shape change, but allowed my flesh to be replaced by magma. It worked! My shape had remained, human! Magma Man is born! Er. Maybe Lava Man sounds better? Molten Muscles? Hot Stuff? Mag?
In this form I discovered I had an 80% penalty to the bonus stats, but I still had full access to the form’s special abilities. Best of all, I could keep this going for almost 2 minutes. This was more like it. If I needed an almost invincible form that lasted a short period of time, I now had one!
Returning to my human form, I started pacing back and forth and was completely oblivious to the fact that I had forgotten Skeletal Armor. This discovery of being able to manipulate my forms was huge and encouraged me to take it even further. If what I suspected was possible then my battle prowess may have just skyrocketed.
With a shrug, I noticed I was lacking and cast Skeleton Armor. My attention quickly shifted to perhaps the most dangerous test yet. I examined my left hand. Primordial Cat Form, even when I limited the amount of mana, had one fatal flaw. Its extreme mana cost. But what if I could just tap its power? How would it affect my Magma spell or my ability to defend and attack?
In my current state, without my orb giving me an additional 250 to my Mana Per Minute, I had 6,198, which came out to 103 Mana Per Second. I used less than 600 Mana Per Minute for all of my buffs or less than 3,000 if I pushed my armor and buffs to extreme levels. There were some other cost per minute spells like Regeneration that could up that even more, but normally I had 2,000 to 3,000 Mana Per Minute to spare. That meant that there was a lot of power leveling I could be doing while I wasn’t fighting. Survival mode was over for now. It was about time I took advantage.
If my hand and forearm weighed 2 to 3% of my total body weight, then, in theory, my plan was possible. Anxiety filled me more than it had during any of my other tests. I had no idea what would happen if part of me became magma and the rest of me remained the same. Let’s find out, shall we?
I saw Aeris was sitting down taking a break. She looked up when she saw me turn in her direction.
I mouthed the words, ‘this might hurt.’
Even though she didn’t hear me, she nodded that she understood.
Looking back down at my hand, I cast Primordial Cat Form and funneled mana into my arm. It started to change.
I kept a close eye on my Mana Per Second, only allowing 50 max, or half of my total regen rate. As my forearm and hand started to blacken, my fears were realized. The flesh between my forearm and elbow screamed.
Falling to my knees, I grabbed my changing arm above the elbow and simultaneously flooded it with a stream of healing magic while trying to bring the heat under control. I trembled in horror at the revelation that my healing ability was so powerful that I could continue restoring my flesh indefinitely as it was destroyed by the molten rock. If I didn’t do something about the heat this pain could literally last forever.
As soon as my hand had fully taken form, control of the heat became mine and immediately I squelched it. It had been no more than a second, but Mana Sight had just shown one of its few drawbacks. It was not something I wanted to have to go through every time I cast this. I received a popup.
“Elorion!”
Aeris’s voice rang in my ears. She stood less than a foot away, leaning over me.
Looking up at her, I exhaled a deep breath, letting her know the pain had passed.
Staring at my arm, she fell back, sitting down next to me.
I held up my charcoal covered arm. It had the same coarse, rocky texture my Primordial Cat Form had.
She was watching my arm in dismay.
Leaning toward her, I held it out for her to examine. When I rolled my fingers into a fist, she jumped in her seat. She had been thinking the charred texture was damage done to my arm, not a manipulation of my Shapeshifting ability.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “Watch.”
Holding my arm away from both of us, I willed my hand into a molten state. An intense heat radiated from it, so I didn’t let it stay that way for more than a few seconds before returning it to igneous rock. My fingers lost some mobility in this hardened state, but there was a strength in them that left me beaming.
“I think I’ve had enough,” Aeris said suddenly. She let out a breathy chuckle.
I watched her carefully, looking past my excitement to see she was beyond stressed. I healed her as I helped her up from the floor with my human hand.
For my safety and others’, I had my bone armor form over my hand and forearm to cover Magma Fist.
“Let’s head back,” I said.
She nodded. As we walked, she turned her attention to the others, saying, “Elorion and I will be in the Master Chamber if you need us.”
Studying my popups, I was happy to see that manipulating my Primordial Cat Form had helped give me another level.
Primordial Cat Form
Level: 6
Cost: 95,500 Mana Per Second (19,100 with buffs)
Strength: +5,250, +6% Strength
Dexterity: +5,250, +6% Dexterity
Shapeshifting Mastery
Level 17
Due to your use of multiple forms, you have begun to become more proficient.
You will now change to a different form 8% faster.
Next Level
You will change form 9% faster.
Very nice. Hopefully, keeping Magma Fist cast long-term would allow the form to level while I worked on other things. So many other possibilities swirled through my head now that I knew I could manipulate and even cast partial Shapeshifting forms. Maybe Fire Imp would even be a worthy form after all if I just cast if for the wings. Werewolf torso for regeneration, Hell Hound legs for speed… So many things to try. Getting each form to its highest level had to become one of my top priorities.
We passed through rooms that some of the others used to train, but most of them had headed back to The Bridge and were training on the far side of the room. I had to admit, joining the others on the other side of the bridge made me to feel safer.
There were a number of giant vines sprouting out of the ground pointing straight up as people bashed on them like zealous lumberjacks. Olivia was standing off to the side, restoring the floral practice dummies as they were shredded.
Russ was handing out some rough looking swords to Chris and the Dexterity build girls. I needed to take some time to introduce myself to them. Maybe I should have Aeris invite them to lunch so I could eat with them. What were their names—Sarah, Kiera, Bonnie and Lulu? No, that couldn’t be it, could it?
It looked like the weapons Russ was handing out were new creations of his. If I had to guess, he had put them together for training so they wouldn’t blunt their main weapons.
“Hey,” Travis said, joining us. He was in his leather armor and carried a long hardwood spear with a ten-inch leaf-shaped spearpoint. It looked like Russ had provided him with a practice weapon as well.
“What’s up?” I asked as we continued to head toward the Inner Chamber.
“I’ll walk with you,” he said with a solemn nod.
That was all he said as we arrived in the first room of the Inner Chamber. Aeris’s hand found mine and I looked down to see her look of concern. She suspected something was up with him as well.
