Chapter 339: Chapter 339

When the Unseen smiled a final time and flicked a finger towards him, Tyron felt knowledge slam into his mind as it never had before. In an instant, his head felt like it would burst out of his skull. Runes and sigils engraved themselves into his brain, as if seared there with a branding iron. Through the blinding pain, he parsed what he could, even as he felt his teeth would crack from the force he had clenched them.

As it turned out, he had known a little of how magick could be destroyed. The Unseen, perhaps unsurprisingly, knew quite a bit more. Tyron had worked out how to destroy the magick coming through a gate, to siphon it off and use it against itself. That was a neat trick, but the Unseen had grander designs. Dragging the energy from an entire world and crushing it in hyper-efficient engines of absurd complexity and power.

Sigils and images flashed through his mind, letting him see exactly what the Unseen had in mind, yet he knew what a monstrous undertaking it would be to build something of this magnitude.

When he opened his eyes again, his temples still throbbing from the onslaught of information, the Unseen remained in place, resting with his chin propped in one hand, looking bored.

“Is this enough time?” he said, seemingly talking to someone close to him that Tyron couldn’t see. “How am I supposed to know? I could be talking to a weird spider-thing, or ant. You expect me to know how fast they can process information?”

Tyron sat, blinking as the strange creature in front of him continued to stare blankly, tapping a finger against one leg. It was fascinating in a way. The Necromancer could see the patience draining out of the being who, to him, may as well have been a god of magick.

“Surely that’s enough. I’m just going to keep going. Well, I’ve got good news for you, level eighty entity. With sufficient power invested in you, we no longer need to put as many guard rails in place, so your experience is going to change going forward. Just keep in mind, if you mess up, our magick won’t be there to save you anymore.”

Tyron blinked. Had it been there to save him in the past? He didn’t think so…

“The next stage of this ritual is going to ask you to choose three Ascension Abilities that will form the foundation of your new Class. These are going to be an amalgamation of those you have chosen before, rolling your skills and spells and sub-classes together to create… areas of expertise, I suppose. Within each of these, your capacity to develop and create your own skills will be greatly enhanced.”

Not for the first time, he wondered as to the circumstances that had led to his parents being in the position they had. Platinum ranked Slayers were beyond rare, they almost never existed. Yet Magnin and Beory had the freedom to live where they wanted, go where they wanted, so long as they were fighting to contain the rifts. He knew the two of them had hated every restriction placed on them with a burning passion, yet he still found it remarkable they’d enjoyed as much freedom as they had.

It was a sign of just how remarkable they had been at what they did.

Still, Tyron was intrigued by what he was hearing. Three Ascensions? Combining his abilities to form new specialities? Already he was beginning to mentally comb through the list, wondering at different combinations and possibilities.

“Make your choices wisely,” the Unseen continued. “You have a great task ahead of you, the fate of your world, and all of the… whatever you are… living happy lives there. More than that, think of the next realm, the one the kin spawned in the wreckage of your home will attack, and contaminate. It has to end somewhere. You can end the cycle, or at least play a part.”

Once more, the Unseen stroked his beard, a faint smile on his face.

“If you’re a selfish so and so with no intentions of listening to my advice, then I hope your Ascension goes poorly and you develop a rash on your privates.”

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With another flick of his fingers, the Unseen was gone. Content orıginally comes from novel-fire.ɴet

In his place, Tyron became surrounded by floating glyphs, each one with a different sigil engraved on the front. Brows raised, Tyron turned to look at each, realising that they hovered all around him. It took him a moment to recognise that each one represented a different ability that he had. Every skill and spell was there, including the simple ones like ‘Light’ and ‘Sleep’.

In addition, on the blank white floor in front of him, he saw three wooden crests, each with five slots, clearly designed to fit the glyphs inside.

“Really?” Tyron murmured.

He hadn’t expected the remainder of the ritual to be quite so… literal. Taking the glyphs, he needed to create his three specialities by combining them, with a limit of five abilities per speciality. Accepting what he was confronted with, Tyron immediately began to ponder.

Obviously, the creation of undead needed to be the first and foremost speciality, and he had many abilities he could slot into that crest. Which five should it be? The most fundamental? The most advanced? A mixture of both?

Reaching out a hand, he found he was able to move the glyphs around him, taking hold of one, shifting it, then releasing it to see it remain in place, floating in the air.

Not that he was surrounded by air. He had no idea how the Unseen created this… mind space, but he knew it didn’t exist in reality. He may feel as if he were seated, breathing and speaking, but he knew he wasn’t.

Quickly, he gathered together all of the skills and abilities that related to the creation of undead. Everything from Bone Animus to Spirit Flesh Formation hovered before him. Yet even in the simple act of arranging them, Tyron learned something. When he touched them, every glyph resonated with them, but to a different degree. After he shifted a few, he realised what differentiated them. Abilities with a higher skill level and higher maximum level resonated more strongly, and he was certain this meant they would have a greater effect when placed in a crest.

His parents had always told him to remain faithful and train the basics. Tyron smiled to himself. This was likely why they’d been so insistent.

Obviously, Raise Dead would have to go here, along with Bone Animus.

Despite whatever his platinum Class would have in store, Tyron had dedicated himself to mastering a particular kind of undead, and he wasn’t going to turn his back on it now.

Both skills were max level, and he had raised their caps multiple times. The sigils hummed with potential as he grasped hold and slotted them into the first crest.

Corpse Appraisal and Corpse Preparation were two fundamental aspects of Necromancy that Tyron had not had the proper time to perfect. Rather, with the rise of others capable of doing the job, he had outsourced such basic tasks and freed up time to study more potent techniques. Having to rely on others for the creation of the highest quality minions didn’t sit well with him, he would rather have full control of the process himself, but his hand had been forced and it was too late to change course now.

Both of the basic skills were pushed to the side.

That left space for Tyron to focus on more powerful undead. Bone-Soul Fusion, Spirit Flesh Formation and Arcane Marrow were the key skills related to the creation of revenants, wights, and demi-liches respectively. By combining them into the crest, it would include all the abilities he relied on to create his skeletal undead.

Yet, other options were also worth considering.

Death Magick, a skill with a high level and cap would surely add power to the eventual specialisation. Ascended Bone Forging was also relevant. His constructs had proven to be useful, and they had great potential to be even better. His skeletal giants and cauldrons were only scratching the surface of what a construct could be. Should he create another speciality focused on forging and constructs, or fold some of those skills in here?

Tyron knew his skeletons needed more help, they weren’t able to hold the line against the things he needed them to, which made his entire horde vulnerable. He knew a basic skeleton would never, no matter what, be able to fight a gold ranked Soldier, that was foolishness, but they were never supposed to fight one-on-one. If a dozen skeletons could slow down a gold ranked Soldier, then he would be more than satisfied. For now, that goal was well out of reach.

Yet, how much could he afford to devote this ascension to his weakest tools?

After some consideration, Tyron placed Ascended Bone Forging into the crest. Not only did he use it to make the weapons and armour for his minions, along with his constructs, but he even used it to strengthen his more powerful undead’s own bones. It was too useful and too critical to be left out.

Master Death Magick was also included. If this crest was to be dedicated to crafting undead, then mastery over the fundamental alignment of magick used would be critical.

For the final component, he considered several options.

Advanced Conduit Magick was worth considering, as it touched on every form of undead he created. He leaned towards Arcane Marrow, as mage specialist undead were perhaps his greatest edge. Trying to imagine what effect his last selection would have on the final speciality, he pondered which sigil would result in the most powerful final crest. As a Necromancer, Tyron depended on his minions completely. They had to be as strong as possible.

After considering his choices, he went with his instincts, and placed Advanced Conduit Magick in the crest.