Verigenesis: Bounty (Rifthunters Book 1), page 39
Forgers: Forgers create their elements in the world through forgings. These spells decay more slowly than even bindings and might be anything from a magical effect within a designated area to an item produced from the forger’s elements. Forgers are almost always some form of crafter, builder, or inventor since forging typically takes hours or even days to complete.
Manifestation: A forger’s vera manifests as a forgeling: a tiny familiar made up of one or more of their domain’s elements. Forgelings begin as formless masses but gradually adopt more defined shapes and personalities as their respective forger grows in power.
Crafting: Forgers can spend essence to create forged goods that, depending on factors such as the quality of the work and the use of existing materials, are effectively permanent. These goods might include anything from clothes, tools, and food to entire structures. Similar to binders, forgers can also combine multiple forgings together to produce more varied or complex constructions.
Casting
Weaves, bindings, and forgings share the same basic casting process: the verist shapes their essence into a spell pattern and releases it into the world. Since this doesn’t permanently use up that essence, verists can keep casting spells as often as their physical and mental endurance allow.
Spell Patterns: Verists learn spells via specific configurations of essence that exist as a natural extension of the Source. These configurations can either be uncovered through experimentation or taught by another verist already familiar with the pattern. Every verist knows a limited number of spell patterns based on their advancement through verigenesis.
Spell Evolution: Whenever a verist casts a spell, their expertise with it grows based on factors such as their creativeness and how much its use strains their abilities. Once a verist has mastered a given spell, they can either evolve it into a new but related spell pattern, or simply strengthen the existing pattern. This allows verists to develop more powerful and specialized spells over time that better fit their changing needs.
Reserve
Every verist has an internal reserve of vera in addition to their essence. Vera is created by condensing accumulated essence into a more concentrated and thus potent form. Verists begin verigenesis by forming their first two vera and continue to add vera to their reserve as they increase in power.
Aegis: Every verist is shielded by their reserve, allowing them to absorb harmful effects by expending vera. This process is automatic, requiring no conscious thought. However, it is also not infallible; verists can still suffer pain from absorbed damage, and certain effects may either partially circumvent an aegis or bypass it entirely.
Infusion: By infusing vera into a spell along with their essence, verists can boost the spell’s normal effects. There are eight potential spell infusions, roughly corresponding to the eight veristic aspects. At least one vera is always required for an infusion, but additional vera can be invested based on the verist’s current tier of verigenesis. Generally, only a single type of infusion may be applied to a spell without making it too unstable to function.
Mighty Infusion (Power): Increase the spell’s potency
Quick Infusion (Speed): Reduce the spell’s casting time
Sculpted Infusion (Finesse): Reshape the spell or its area of effect
Extended Infusion (Vigor): Increase the spell’s range or duration
Penetrating Infusion (Resilience): Alter the spell to better bypass aegises
Echoing Infusion (Resolve): Duplicate the spell’s effects
Deceptive Infusion (Insight): Adjust how others perceive the spell
Contingent Infusion (Harmony): Delay the spell until a condition is met
Attunement: Vera does not regenerate naturally. Instead, verists must attune with their elements to restore their reserve. This process is akin to specialized meditation and typically takes about an hour to complete. The time required may vary based on factors such as a particular abundance or deficit of one’s elements in the nearby environment.
Aspects
In addition to increasing their reserve, every point of vera earned by leveling also permanently strengthens a verist’s magical and physical prowess. Whenever a verist gains a new vera, they bind it to one of their eight aspects. Doing so unlocks benefits that persist even if that point of vera is temporarily expended from their reserve.
Power: Increased spell potency; Increased strength and athleticism
Speed: Increased casting speed; Increased movement speed
Finesse: Increased spell accuracy and control; Increased dexterity and agility
Vigor: Increased spell range and duration; Increased endurance and stamina
Resilience: Increased effectiveness of aegis; Increased toughness and health recovery
Resolve: Increased focus and concentration while casting; Increased mental fortitude and resistance
Insight: Increased understanding of magical objects and effects; Increased perception and intuition
Harmony: Increased effectiveness of spell infusions; Increased attunement rate and vera recovery
Progression
Verists advance through verigenesis by accumulating essence and transforming it into new vera. Their progress is commonly measured through a combination of three metrics: stage, tier, and rank.
Stage: There are four stages of verigenesis that represent distinct phases in a verist’s development. Ascending through the stages is often exceedingly difficult and involves recognizing and living up to one’s full potential as a verist, not just earning the requisite amount of essence.
Tier: Each stage of verigenesis is split into three tiers for a total of twelve tiers across all four stages. Tiers represent a standard measure of a verist’s raw power based on their increasing connection to their respective elements. Whenever a verist ascends to a new tier, they can memorize one additional spell pattern and safely attune themselves to one new magical item.
Rank: Each tier is further divided into five ranks. Once a verist has gained enough essence, they can condense that essence into two new vera, subsequently investing them into their aspects and adding them to their reserve. Verists begin at Rank 0 when they first ascend to a new tier, and progress to the next tier once they have reached Rank 5.
Tier 1. Initiate (Mortal Stage)
Tier 2. Novice (Mortal Stage)
Tier 3. Apprentice (Mortal Stage)
Tier 4. Journeyman (Heroic Stage)
Tier 5. Adept (Heroic Stage)
Tier 6. Expert (Heroic Stage)
Tier 7. Master (Immortal Stage)
Tier 8. Grandmaster (Immortal Stage)
Tier 9. Sage (Immortal Stage)
Tier 10. Paragon (Divine Stage)
Tier 11. Demigod (Divine Stage)
Tier 12. Deity (Divine Stage)
Books in the Verigenesis Universe
Rifthunters Trilogy
Verigenesis: Trials (prequel novella)
Verigenesis: Bounty
Verigenesis: Redemption (coming Winter 2021)
Verigenesis: Hero (coming Spring 2022)
Communities
There are tons of great communities out there if you want to engage with other readers and authors of GameLit or LitRPG. Here are some of my favorites that I highly encourage you check out:
GameLit Society
Cultivation Novels
LitRPG Books
LitRPG Forum
LitRPG Rebels
Fantasy Nation
You can also search for more books using the LitRPG Amazon storefront.
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
Eric Walsh, Verigenesis: Bounty (Rifthunters Book 1)
