Chapter 31

“We should probably share any pertinent changes to our skills,” Mike said once everyone finished their evolutions. “As the team leader, I’ll start. Create Stone Weapon and Stone Wall were both absorbed into Earth Manipulation since I managed to push it to Legendary.

“Tao, my guide, said the skill would have allowed for both permanence and manifestation already had I not already slotted skills to cover those features. The rest of my skills remain mostly unchanged, aside from an improvement in their strength and a decrease in the effort it takes to use them.”

“That frees up two additional skill slots for you, then!” Cora exclaimed. “That’s great! Are you going to continue focusing on earth, fire, and lava, or do you plan to branch out more?”

“I’ll probably start learning metal skills since I can see those being incorporated into Earth Manipulation in a future evolution. They are adjacent elements, anyway, and Tao mentioned that it’s possible, likely even, I’ll be able to expand the skill to adjacent elements since I managed to advance it so far before the first evolution.”

“That’ll be a nice upgrade,” I said.

It was unfortunate that we’d sold all of our unwanted skillbooks from earlier floors since we’d looted a few metal-based skillbooks that I could see working for the Earth Magi now that he wasn’t so focused on limiting his elements.

Thankfully, there was always a decent supply of common skillbooks for sale through the Association. I didn’t think it would be long until Mike filled his recently freed slots.

“I guess I’ll go next,” Cora said before grinning playfully. “I also combined some of my skills, freeing up not two, but three skill slots. Pierce and Arcane Blade were both incorporated into Blade Mastery, making the composite skill even stronger and capable of creating essence blades that can bypass weak armor.

“Compress Pill was directly incorporated into Alchemy. It didn’t change the rating of the skill, but it feels a lot closer to upgrading to (Rare) now than it did before. Epsi said it was because my old Compress Pill was an ability usually granted when the skill reaches (Epic). Before that, Alchemists rely on the enchantments embedded in their cauldrons.”

“So you basically skipped a step?” I asked.

“That sounds like Cora,” her husband joked lightly.

“I can’t help that I’m amazing,” the Rogue replied with exaggerated seriousness before giggling.

It was easy to forget that the woman beside me was well over a thousand years old. I truly couldn’t tell if it was her new, younger body influencing her behavior, or if she’d always been this way.

“But seriously,” Cora continued, her face losing some of its mirth. “The rest of my skills saw some general improvements. They’re all a bit stronger and take less focus, just like Mike described.”

“Any ideas on what you’ll do with the newly freed up slots?” I asked.

“I’ve been thinking about learning some crowd control skills,” Cora replied, glancing at her husband. Based on his expression, it was clear they’d discussed the topic before. “Aside from Mike’s Lava Pit skill and his ability to turn parts of the ground into quicksand, we don’t really have any effective crowd control skills within the party. I’ve seen several for sale in the Association’s Skill Shop, and most are priced pretty reasonably.”

Her plan wasn’t a bad one. Having someone with dedicated crowd control skills would be a huge boon to the group. It would also be useful if she ever found herself fighting alone.

“Sounds good,” I said. “I also combined a pair of skills. I’m not sure if you all were even aware that I had a Stasis skill since it was really limited.”

“No. We knew that your inventory had a preservation effect, but you never mentioned having a separate skill,” Mike commented.

“That’s because I could barely use it on anything alive, and there wasn’t much point in putting anything else into stasis when I could just put whatever I wanted to preserve into my inventory.

“Anyway, since the skill was basically useless, Rho let me combine it with Haste to create a very limited Temporal Aura. I lost a bit of functionality with the merger, so I can only increase my personal time dilation to about double instead of the 2.5x that I’d managed before.”

“That’s not good,” Cora said with a frown.

“It’s not all bad. Though the effect is very limited outside of my sanctuary – basically just myself and anything I’m holding up to a certain volume – the merger made it so I can apply the effect to my entire sanctuary.”

“Wait, does that mean time inside would pass twice as fast as it does outside?” Stephen asked with wide eyes, causing me to smile.

“If I want it to. Seemed like a fair trade for a little drop in efficiency.”

“I can see how it might come in handy, but I’m not sure it’s worth basically losing your old skill,” Mike said.

“Well, it also lets me slow time as well, so the skill wasn’t totally lost. Obviously, I can’t put myself into stasis, but I can make time around me pass much faster if I don’t feel like waiting for some reason.”

“And you can do that for the sanctuary as well?” Stephen asked.

“I should be able to,” I replied. “Speaking of, the sanctuary got a huge upgrade. I’m a little nervous about how it turned out.”

I’d put a lot of thought into things, and I’d decided to share more about my demesne under the guise of an upgrade to the sanctuary. I really hated keeping secrets, especially since my party members had proven themselves to be trustworthy over the past year.

Eyes wide, Cora said, “We should check it out now! I wonder how it’s changed.”

In truth, aside from growing larger, nothing about the space had visibly changed… yet. I planned to modify the actual sanctuary part a bit before I let anyone see it.

I also intended to open up the garden and present it as part of the upgrade. It was a risk, but I felt it was a minor one.

“No. Let’s finish what we’re doing first before we get sidetracked,” Mike said.

I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that. I have a little bit more range for carrying people or objects along when I teleport,” I said, continuing my explanation. “I can also teleport anywhere that I’m sufficiently familiar with, without needing a Dimensional Anchor.

“I did gain more anchors, which is always good, and the skill evolution now lets me get a sense of what’s around my anchors to ensure I’m not teleporting in on top of someone.”

“You can definitely see the favoritism,” Cora joked while exaggeratedly rolling her eyes.

“Whatever,” I replied. “Mike’s skill improvements were way better. The rest of mine are just general upgrades… except for Repulsion Aura. That one became a passive skill. Neither of my information skills evolved in any meaningful way, nor did my crafting skills.”

“Yeah, Alchemy didn’t change either, aside from absorbing Compress Pill,” Cora said.

Everyone looked at Stephen.

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Well, unlike the rest of you, none of my skills merged. I did gain an additional beast form, which I already filled with Void Bear – one of the more difficult opponents I faced in my old realm. The rest were just general improvements.

“I also got the upgrade to teleport anywhere I am sufficiently familiar with, but I didn’t get any kind of expanded range with what I take along. I still need to be in physical contact with anyone or anything that I want to accompany me, and it feels like there is still a definite limit.”

“What kind of limit?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I need to test it first,” he replied before tilting his head. “What about you? Your skill is at (Epic) while mine is just (Rare). Do you feel the same sense of limitation?”

“Not really. But like you, I won’t really know until I try to push the skill. It’s nice not having to worry about line of sight anymore, though.”

Stephen nodded. “Very true.”

“Alright, well, if we’re done sharing our changes, I’d like to see how the sanctuary has changed,” Cora said eagerly, turning to me.

Knowing it was coming, I’d already started working on the changes I wanted to present while Stephen had shared the changes to his skills. It didn’t really take much.

I reclaimed some of the space that had been incorporated into the sanctuary and garden for storage, making it significantly larger than the other two sections.

Since I couldn’t yet create individual biomes, the flora requiring special environments was still in storage, making the space actually dedicated to a functioning garden quite small. Until I could artificially create working biomes, it would have to do.

For the sanctuary itself, I’d erected walls around each of the bedrooms and soundproofed the spaces for added privacy. Stephen and I got one room, while Cora and Mike got the other.

Each room got its own ensuite, which only required a bit of rearrangement since we’d already created two makeshift bathrooms with baths and toilets. Both sets were enchanted, which was a necessity given the limitations of the space.

I also added a small workspace for when I felt like crafting. It was basically just an added closet attached to mine and Stephen’s bedroom.

Aside from a bit of rearrangement, the rest of the space was left as a large, open living space with room to install a real kitchen next to the dining table. It looked a lot different than it had when Stephen first joined the party.

“Alright, let’s check it out,” I said after a momentary pause.

“Where did our rooms go? Are those doors?” Cora asked excitedly as she rushed over to the closest door.

“I think that one is mine and Stephen’s,” I said. “That one over there should be yours,” I added, causing her to redirect to the door on the opposite side of the space.