Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 92 Spell Seeds

Degree of Completion: Excellent

Difficulty: C

Objective One) Seamlessly Integrate Magic with your entire musculoskeletal system and reach the cusp of perfection within the Soldier Stage. (✔)

Description: I shouldn't have to reemphasize the importance of these Main Quest, but in case you forgot... Your standing and the probability of your survival in the subsequent stages of the Cataclysm will degrade if don't complete these quests and make use of your break time. Most chosen are at least at the Soldier Stage by now, and though you're clearly set on a path that requires "patience" try to keep up... All the remaining Stages of the Cataclysm won't be as easy and safe as the First Stage.

Reward:

Choice of:

1) 1 Spirit Grade Reforging Crystal

2) 1 Good Tier Elemental Affinity Stone

3) 1 Mediocre Tier Affinity Stone

Bonus:

Choice of:

1) Extra Break Time

2) Mid-tier Mortal Pseudo Core equivalent worth of Fragmented Grandmist

Main Quest 4: Reach Level 20! (Incomplete)

Difficulty: B

Objective One) Seamlessly Integrate Magic with all the bone marrow in your body and transform the quality of your blood thereafter. (✔)

Description: Ay! You're halfway through the Mortal Realm with just three more Stages to go! You better pick up the pace though, as several of the more ridiculous competitors are vying for the number one spot to get the battle advantage in the Second Stage of the Cataclysm.

Deadline: 24 Days (Locked via Break Time: 2D 23H 59M)]

With the breakthrough event done and over with, Elizabeth collected the used Magical Core back into her Spatial Ring and began the process of internal refinement. Right now, her Intelligence could rival even beginner-phase Kings, and though her Inner Strength was only at the barrier of entry for Warriors, given her Intelligence, she could promote its growth much faster than her other stats. Thus, it was her physical parameters that needed her attention the most for now. Besides, galvanizing anymore Magic wouldn't expand the size of her Magical Pseudo Core, so there was absolutely no reason to follow through with the training regimen in that regard.

Thus began the "exciting" six-hours long training session, where Elizabeth was more than content sitting still and feeling her stats increase. Most would struggle to keep still for such a lengthy period of time, even after being conditioned to do so for the purpose of cultivation. But to Elizabeth, this was just a short-lived grinding event. At her gaming peak, she would even curse the limits of her body, as it was more often the case that she needed to stop and rest for her body than for her mind. It was a wonder how she could tolerate the monotony of such actions, yet had very little patience for most normal things.

Again, the grandmist pressure was a godsend in this situation. Being unable to exercise whilst occupying the Spirit Collecting Formation, Elizabeth's ability to temper and manipulate her body with grandmist made the process of internal refinement even better than before. The only detriment now present was that the discomfort in practicing was highlighted better than before as well. But, for Queen of Pain herself, such trifling quantities of discomfort were dispelled with but the squint of her eyes.

In these six hours, Elizabeth focused 90% of her time on increasing her Speed as she was aggrieved with her declassification as a SPEED and Time Mage. She already had the [Temporal Flux] manual, bringing her one step closer to the image of the time-seizing sword-wielding god of war she envisioned when she created her character. So, with her internal refinement and Inner Strength Conversion, Elizabeth raised the number of quick-twitch white muscle tissue on her body whilst also refining and compacting them to boost her overall speed.

Six hours was plenty for her methods of conversion to sap her reserves of Inner Strength and Magic dry; especially when one accounted for the fact that the intensity of refinement escalated the stronger she got. But with 200 units of Intelligence, Elizabeth somehow managed to keep the length of time required to refill her reserves through meditation the same as before. She elevated her speed to a staggering 132.4, before ending the six hours of cultivation with the creation of her first two Spell Seeds.

As a Mage, Elizabeth had the option to either draw out her spells beforehand and use them as consumables throughout a fight — an easier, more common method that erased the time required to prepare spells in battle at the cost of potentially running out of firepower — or she could use her Dantian as the "consumable" and lay her spells' formulae atop its surface.

Both options had their respective pros and cons, but Elizabeth being as hardcore as always decided to go with the most extreme option. Not willing to resign her fate to the number of spells she prepared before a fight, she "risked" damage to her Dantian and foundation by taking the second option and directly transcribing the formula on her person. Of course, with her abilities as a medic and the sheer solidity of her foundation, there was hardly a risk involved in her actions when compared to most. Not to mention, her abilities as an enchanter and that Innate Transcendental Affinity for Time she possessed; albeit shattered…

In any case, this was a very exciting moment for Elizabeth as she sunk to work on inscribing very intricate and esoteric lines onto a small corner of her Dantian. Now that she had Magic, Elizabeth could use her Magic Connection to sneak a sliver of her Magic to scan through and read the methods in her Spatial Ring. Though it was slower than a Jade Slip, Elizabeth didn't spend much time reading as she understood that learning the [Temporal Flux] method required time, practice, and patience.

She inscribed the first layer or level of the two spells contained within the manual, but before proceeding to the next, she needed to get used to and master the application of the rudimentary spells. Upon completing the very basic work required to establish her two spells, Elizabeth checked her status, and sure enough, under her skills tab, the two new abilities appeared.

[Status

…

Skills

*New) Name: Slow

Grade: B (Level 1 Spell Seed)

Time Energy Cost: Varies based on the target. The baseline for Level 1 would be 1 unit of Time Magic to effect a Pawn for a second. Doubles thereafter for each additional phase and decuples for each change in Stage.

Description: One of the two spells contained in the Temporal Flux method. Reduces the rate of time for the target of the spell. Larger or more powerful targets require greater amounts of Time Magic to successfully apply the greatest effect.

Current Effect: Reduces the target's rate of time by half a percent relative to the surrounding environment.

*New) Name: Fast

Grade: B (Level 1 Spell Seed)

Time Energy Cost: Varies based on the target. The baseline for Level 1 would be 10 units of Time Magic to effect a Pawn for a second. Doubles thereafter for each additional phase and decuples for each change in Stage.

Description: One of the two spells contained in the Temporal Flux method. Expedites the rate of time for the target of the spell. Larger or more powerful targets require greater amounts of Time Magic to successfully apply the greatest effect.

Current Effect: Expedites the target's rate of time by half a percent relative to the surrounding environment.]

Though she was disappointed with the names of her techniques, she was very satisfied with her work overall. Even when she had been staring and creating the seeds in her Dantian, Elizabeth couldn't help but call for her spell seed to manifest in the palm of her hand. She didn't activate them or anything, just beholding them was reward enough for the dozen or so minutes she spent carving away within her Dantian's space. A couple moments into her admiration for the spell seeds, Atid called for the cultivation session to finish. But, before the people on board could celebrate, he said, "Good! Now, we move onto part two of today's training; sparring!"

Leaving the deck of the ship, everyone was led to the inside of the yacht and on the second floor, there stood a carbon-copy replica of the dojo's training area. Quickly enough, everyone started getting into pairs and began fighting in their own little spaces. Several people moved to request for Elizabeth to be their sparring partner, but the first to actually propose was Irene; the girl with the lightning constitution.

Honestly speaking, Elizabeth had to take a second to recall who the girl that challenged her was, as she looked completely different when compared to her last appearance. Everything from her style of clothing to the atmosphere around her took a 180 turn, which subtly caused Elizabeth to cringe. Gone was the arrogant and assertive woman that once looked down on Elizabeth and in her stead, there now stood a gentle, almost shy, violet-haired teen. Whilst her soul slightly shook back and forth as if it acted as her head in disappointment, Elizabeth thought 'This girl has fear, respect, and trepidation even greater than Yrre's...'

To everyone's surprise, Elizabeth accepted her request; the reason being twofold. First, while Irene was weaker than her, she was without a doubt a better martial artist; meaning Elizabeth could learn a lot from fighting with her. Moreover, her time with Jhan meant she must have some level of proficiency with kickboxing, and Elizabeth understood that one of her biggest weakness was her lack of experience; not just with fighting, but with fighting different styles. After all, she wouldn't always be able to brute-force her way through her future battles the same way she had done in her last fight with Zhaoren Si.

Secondly, Elizabeth's grief with Irene wasn't at the point where she couldn't make amends. Irene had come up to her in a friendly, perhaps even subservient, manner. As long as she didn't attempt anything funny, Elizabeth would restrain herself and keep the exchange beneficial to both parties.

After taking a look at Irene's status, Elizabeth smiled as she felt excited at the prospect of increasing her Muay Thai Skill. With her breakthrough to the peak of the Soldier Stage, it was safe to assume that she would be able to train the effective range of the skill for a much longer period of time, and with both her and Irene's stats it was safe to assume that her high-level martial arts would be able to increase faster than ever before.

[Status

Name: Irene Gilavante

Sex: Female

Level: 14

Rank: High-Phase Soldier

Strength 80

Endurance 76

Speed 81

Defense 82

Intelligence 79

Luck 9

Inner Strength: 48,950]

Now that Elizabeth thought about it, Irene was actually pretty close to achieving the requirements of entering the path of perfection. Even before the dimensional upgrade had its effects shake the world, she was pretty advanced — spiritually speaking — and now that proximity to perfection shrunk by a substantial margin.

With glittering calculative eyes, Elizabeth had many thoughts go through her head as she came to a conclusion on Irene's potential. She marked her down as someone worth trying to convert in a member of her Undying Loyalty group and let her mind free itself of all thoughts in preparation for the sparring.

Chapter end