Chapter 97: Back

Jaxir kept staring at the wings for another few seconds before finally returning them to his Inventory. They were already more useful than he’d expected, but there were still 2 rewards left from Auren, and one of them had been bothering him ever since he’d picked it up.

The Vestigem Card came first.

It slid between his fingers with the familiar weight of a card, but the deep blue circuitry running across its surface was far more complicated than anything he’d seen from the Uncommon Twinkle Cards. Jaxir scanned it, and the screen that appeared made his brows slowly rise.

―

Name: Twinkle Orbit

Grade: Epic

MP Cost: 20

Description: Establish a Twinkle trigger point around a designated target for 5 minutes.

Mana expelled by the target to form or enhance an attack will be caught by the trigger point and redirected back toward the target as backlash.

The user’s mana will establish an attractive relationship with the designated target. Attacks directed toward the target will gain a homing effect and draw surrounding free mana into themselves while traveling, increasing their power without requiring equivalent additional MP from the attacker.

Duration: 5 minutes

Recommended Classes: Magic; Ranged

―

Jaxir read the description twice, then slowly turned the card over in his hand. For 5 whole minutes, anyone caught by Twinkle Orbit would have to rely almost entirely on raw physical attacks, and even those couldn’t be enhanced with mana unless they wanted their own power thrown back into them.

That would’ve already made the card ridiculous, but the second half was worse.

Every attack Jaxir threw at the target would home in, and the attack would gather loose mana from the surroundings along the way instead of forcing him to supply all of the power himself. In the right environment, he could spend a fraction of the MP he normally would and still end up hitting harder.

"Nice."

His first instinct was to use it on the template.

An Epic Vestigem Card with a 5-minute duration and this much control over someone else’s mana was exactly the sort of thing he’d want access to permanently, especially when Encore would still let him squeeze another activation out of the physical card before it disappeared.

Jaxir stopped himself before making the decision. He still had 1 Village Head left.

If Auren could drop something like Twinkle Orbit, then there was no telling what the Sparkle Village Head might drop. Burning his choice now only to find something even better half an hour later would be impressively stupid.

"Fine. You live for now."

He slid Twinkle Orbit away and finally pulled out the orb.

The reaction was immediate.

The moment it appeared, the staff in his other hand tugged toward it again, strong enough that Jaxir had to tighten his grip. The smooth crystal looked almost plain compared to the wings and the Card, but that strange attraction had already told him there was nothing ordinary about it.

Jaxir scanned it.

―

Name: Grand Archmage Crystal Ball

Grade: ???

Level: 10

[This treasure recognizes magical talent and may temporarily elevate the user’s magical handling by 1 Title Tier, up to Grand Archmage.]

[The worthless do not deserve its grace.]

Requirements: Level 10 or below

Magic Elite:

Effective Mana Handling: Mage

MP Recovery: +25 MP/min

Mage:

Effective Mana Handling: Archmage

MP Recovery: +50 MP/min

Archmage:

Effective Mana Handling: Grand Archmage

MP Recovery: +100 MP/min

Grand Archmage:

MP Recovery: +200 MP/min

[The Grand Archmage Crystal Ball may be permanently fused with a Staff.]

[Staff fusion permanently elevates the Staff’s status and abilities.]

WARNING:

If the user fuses this treasure with a Staff and reaches Level 11 before obtaining the Grand Archmage Title, the user will be forcibly returned to Level 0.

If the Grand Archmage Title is obtained before Level 11, a Special Class Quest will be generated. Successful completion may grant further advancement and unique rewards.

―

Jaxir stared at the warning.

Then he stared at it some more.

"Why does every good thing I get come with homework?"

The complaint didn’t stop his eyes from drifting back toward the progression section. Magic Elite, Mage, Archmage, Grand Archmage... there was only 1 step left above where he already stood, and the Crystal Ball was practically daring him to make that jump before Level 11.

The punishment for failing was insane, but so was the reward for succeeding... maybe. He didn’t actually know since this bastard of a game was going to make him work for that too.

Jaxir looked at the staff pulling toward the orb again and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

He brought them together.

The Crystal Ball dissolved the instant it touched the staff, silvery-blue light spilling through its frame before sinking into every line and edge. Mana surged through Jaxir’s hand a moment later, not draining away like he’d expected, but flowing in the opposite direction.

A new screen appeared.

―

[Fusion Successful]

[Your Staff has exceeded the limits of Epic Grade.]

[Grade Advanced: Epic → Ultra]

―

Jaxir’s eyes widened.

Another screen replaced it.

―

Name: Reflection Staff

Grade: Ultra

Level: 10

Abilities:

Simple Cast MP Cost Reduction: 100%

Charged Cast MP Cost Reduction: 87.5%

L1 Ability MP Cost Reduction: 70%

L2 Ability MP Cost Reduction: 40%

[Perfect Mana Cycle]

The Staff continuously gathers surrounding mana. Any Cast formed at or beneath the Staff’s current mana-gathering speed consumes 0 MP from the user.

Charged Casts may also consume 0 MP so long as the mana gathered by the Staff keeps pace with the charge.

[Grand Archmage Crystal]

MP Recovery: +100 MP/min

[L3 Imprint]

Select 1 L3 Ability ahead of its normal unlock requirements and permanently imprint it into the Staff.

The selected Ability may be stored as a completed Charged Attack and released once every hour.

―

Jaxir forgot about complaining.

All the cost reductions were already ridiculous, Perfect Mana Cycle made it absurd, especially if he thought about synergizing it with the card he had just gotten.

So long as Jaxir kept a Cast beneath the rate at which the staff gathered mana, he could throw it for free. Basically, so long as he kept the charge limit to 100 MP per minute, he would be able to throw beams continuously, indefinitely. If he became a Grand Archmage, that limit would double instantly.

A single cast cost Jaxir 5 MP normally. If he fired of one a second, that was 300 MP a minute. But a beam cost most than that, at least double. But the damage was worth it, it was just that Jaxir knew better than to burn through that much mana, and usually his opponents weren’t nice enough to just stand around and let him do his thing.

However... if he synergized a beam and lowered the power output to 100 MP, and then used Twinkle Orbit to force more mana to gather around it without his input...

Jaxir’s gaze was flickering wildly already. The rest didn’t even matter.

Jaxir glanced toward the route to Sparkle Village and remembered the wings.

At the pace he had worked out, the trip should take him roughly 30 minutes once he started chaining launches together. That meant another 3,000 MP before he reached the village, more than enough to refill everything he’d burned through against Auren.

The forums were already going insane over what had happened at the last 2 villages.

Jaxir wrapped his fingers around the newly upgraded staff, feeling the silvery-blue mana running through it answer his grip.

"Since the forums are already going crazy, let’s give them a real reason to go crazy."

Something deep inside him had been getting hotter for a while now. Every fight, every stupid bounty, every person who thought they could tell him what he was allowed to have or where he was allowed to go had been scraping away at something that had stayed buried for far too long.

Now that feeling was close to breaking free.

Jaxir smiled as silvery-blue light flashed through his eyes.

"Jaxir Chance will be back." Then he slowly shook his head. "I’ll be back."