Mornn
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Chapter 592 - Golden opportunity
🕑 Added 2024-12-17 17:19:03 +0000 UTC[Skill nodes successfully generated. You may select up to four to create a skill.]
[Skill will be passive or active depending on chosen nodes.]
[Skill may be permanent depending on chosen nodes.]
Available skill nodes:
Golden
Smartphone
Storm
Overclock
Triangular
Of
Salt
Consequences
Tower
Crystal
High
Velvet
Amulet
Ripples
Ichor
Swarm
Fork
Fire
Order
Splintering
Sofia quickly read through the list, and sighed, before showing it to Pareth.
“No skeleton…” she complained, fully aware that the chances of getting that particular word had been extremely thin, but being disappointed nonetheless.
“There are a few good ones there, but I don’t even understand all of them… Say, Mr.Scribe, it wouldn’t be possible to get me a definition for Smartphone, Overclock and Ichor?”
[Smartphone] : CENSORED
Oh.
Really? Are we doing this? I guess I’m not using this one then… Must be a hero thing, I could ask Alith or Everelle...
[Overclock] : Overclocking is running the CENSORED of a CENSORED at a speed higher than that intended by the manufacturers, improving speed and performance, at the cost of a higher energy consumption and the risk of overheating and or damaging the CENSORED.
Alright, this one I at least get partial information… Forgetting about the censored parts… This could mean pumping more mana into a spell to make it stronger, kind of? Isn’t this what I am already doing with the angel bolts? Am I overclocking the bolts? This one could be useful.
And last…
[Ichor] : The blood of gods in the ancient CENSORED mythology.
Wait… The blood of gods in some mythology? What… I’m pretty sure there isn’t a thing like the blood of gods. They have essence and that’s it, isn’t it? This could go one of three ways…
Either the dagger makes Ichor real somehow and creates a new kind of blood; or it just means divine essence; or it does nothing at all.
I think I could try this one.
Sofia shared those three system prompts with Pareth, and while he read, she quickly created twenty bone cards, inscribing the words on them, before frowning and storing the smartphone one away.
Since Pareth seemed to be done with his reading, Sofia talked to him, “Not too bad honestly, no skeleton in there but most words are usable. Smartphone we’re leaving out since it’s fully censored, and I’m guessing we are not going to use Salt either, but that’s about it. Any suggestions?”
Since Sofia’s usual way of trying all combinations was a bit of a dead end with so many keywords at once, she decided to just play around until she found enough good combinations to choose from.
Pareth hesitated for a bit before moving some bone cards around.
‘Storm of Golden Fire’
“That has got to be the most basic combination possible, but I can’t argue with the fact that it would at least create something useful. ‘High Storm of Fire’ also works… Wait, actually, even better, get rid of the ‘of’; ‘High Golden Fire Storm’,” Sofia analyzed.
Pareth seemed very happy about that suggestion, nodding along with Sofia’s train of thoughts, so Sofia spawned a bone tablet and wrote a first line: 1- High Golden Fire Storm.
Sofia played with the bone bits, moving the storm card around, “Hmm… Storm in general is a great base, but it doesn’t go well with many of the other words. Fire works, I think Crystal and Splintering could also work well… Storm of Consequences also sounds interesting. And I don’t know why but Velvet Storm feels like a funny combination.”
Since the last other couple of people on the upper floor of the tavern beside them had just left, Pareth took off his mask, and he thought about Sofia’s rumblings while scratching his chin. After considering things, he started moving the bone cards.
‘Splintering Velvet Ripples Storm’
“Oh! I like the sound of that!” Sofia reacted, etching that on the second line of her bone tablet, and ‘High Splintering Crystal Storm’ on the third line. “That should be enough storming for now. Amulet is an interesting keyword too, that could create a nice invoking skill. Let’s see… ‘Amulet of High Overclock’ feels like it could help make other skills stronger, maybe?”
Pareth had no suggestion right away, so Sofia continued, “Golden Triangular Fire Amulet’ sounds like it would just be Sun’s divine rune, doesn’t it?”
Although she said that, she didn’t think it would be a good choice, if anything, she thought it was time to stop relying so much on the gods if possible, too much of her power was tied to Sun in particular already.
Pareth came up with another combination he thought worthy of showing Sofia.
‘High Tower Of Order’
Sofia was a bit surprised by the strange suggestion, before she caught on a few seconds later. “Oh! That kind of feels like an alternate name for the system’s trial towers. Is that it? Yeah I can see it. Not sure what the spell could do though. Tower is going to be a hard keyword to use, honestly. Maybe ‘High Crystal Tower’ can summon new midenicite buildings for Zangdar?” She suggested with a giggle.
But these are all kind of bad… Or, not very exciting, rather. That was to be expected considering the words are random, but it’s still a bit disappointing.
‘High’ might just be the luckiest word of the lot just because it intrinsically makes everything that follows it ‘better’.
“I see you playing around with Swarm a lot,” Sofia noticed, “I’m thinking about it too, but there aren’t many good combinations with it at first glance…”
Pareth seemed to agree; fumbling around with the bone cards, he put together: ‘High Order Crystal Swarm’.
“Yeah I thought about this as well, especially putting together ‘High Order’, it lets us use Order in an actually meaningful way. But then again it also just works better with storm. ‘High Order Fire Storm’ just feels stronger than crystal swarm, doesn’t it? Sotm just eclipses swarm in general despite swarm being quite good.”
Again, Pareth seemed to agree with Sofia’s opinion, but he kept moving the words around swarm, hoping to find something good.
“Alright, this might be ridiculous but hear me out: ‘Storm of Tower Swarm.’ Doesn’t it sound like it would start raining towers? That could actually be good. Or maybe… ‘Consequences of High Order’? Golden Ripples of Ichor? High Overclock Order Storm?! I feel like there is no obvious choice. This is going to drive me crazy!”
Pareth reached over the table to pat Sofia on the shoulder, and seeing that that calmed her down, he suggested something new, making a simpler combination of only two words :’Golden Tower’.
“Right! Up to four words. Meaning… We could even pick a single word? That actually… You know, a spell named ‘Consequences’ sounds really fucking strong. Or literally just ‘Overclock’ or like… Golden Swarm?! Ichor Crystal? Splintering Order?!”
This last one seemed to resonate with Pareth, and he pointed at the bone tablet that Sofia had completely abandoned, with only three lines written on it.
Sofia immediately understood, and started to write new lines on it, starting with that latest one, Splintering order.
“I can imagine it. Just point at something and order it to explode, basically. The Splintering Order. Insane! Oh, also, isn’t ‘Consequences Fork’ literally just Sorrow’s [Regret]?”
About two weeks later, Sofia met with Alith in one of the sect’s meeting rooms, before entering the room, she checked again on the skill she had picked, sighing as the dagger was still not finished creating it.
“So?” Alith called out to Sofia, leaning back on the couch, “Is no one else coming?”
“I’ve only asked you. Not only because you’re probably the only one who isn’t going to try to change my mind,” Sofia replied, ”You’re also… Uniquely suited for what we’re about to do. Remember how I said this was going to be extremely dangerous?”
“Ohoh? As I thought, it’s time to revive the dream team, just us and your skeletons, like the good old times?”
“That was like… Five years ago?” Sofia waved off, “Not that long.”
“That’s like a sixth of my life and you call it not long? Well, whatever, get to the point! Where are we going this time?!” Alith asked with stars in her eyes.
“You’re not going to even pretend to be reluctant to jump right into some dangerous place?” Sofia asked.
“I knew what I signed up for when I accepted to go with you,” Alith answered with a smirk.
Out of her storage, Sofia produced a bone slate with a drawing of Veliadren as seen from space. She pointed at the farthest of two dots drawn on the side.
“Alright, since you trust me sooo much. Here’s where we’re going. To the moon. The hidden moon.”
Comments
Tejing
Huge number of possible combinations here, but none truly stand out from the others that I can see. Most of the options she thought of seem like they could turn out well, though.
Non
Storm
Non
Imagine it just turns into a golden version of Ormoncleths parasite swarm attack 🤣
Non
Smartphone of salt. The only available app is the LOL discord
BAAAB The Blood God
Overclock High Golden Ichor
Lazy Monster
Considering “Summon Blood” and “Angel Bolt” I think the number of words isn’t linked to the power of the spell per se but more likely the sheer complexity/versatility of the spell. Angel bolt has been described as “the most efficient mana to destruction spell ever” by Illurah and summon blood is incredibly complex but wasn’t very versatile. So I think short word combinations fall into the “simple the way a sword is simple” category of spells.
E
I like this idea, but think the skill should focus on four words assuming word count impacts quality/power. Consequences (a result or effect of an action or condition) could be interpreted as "skill/passive effects." With the right combo she could create a massive self buff. Overclock Consequence of Ichor Golden Ichor Overclock Consequence If you view her blood light or Essences as ichor, then this spell just turned into a huge buff for her racial skills. What racial skill did she just unlock? [Mockery of the Divine].
Lazy Monster
Had an interesting idea for a spell possibility. Overclock consequences. That could maybe just be a spell/passive that causes every spell around Sofia to backlash and fail for a brief time.
Vicarious Cayenne
Triangular Smartphone Of Salt is a good contender I think
Joshua R. Lee
Book 3 audiobook is out.
Footer -
The greatest spell must be 'Fork Consequences'.
AlatedLythis
I see several good potential options, with my own favor for consequences. Like if Tower could map to a passive, it may make her racial pillar ability much stronger. Such as "High Tower Of Consequences" Similarly I feel there's great potential in Ichor, as others have stated. It may map back to essence. I could see 'splintering consequences of Ichor' potentially being someonething along the line of an anti diety attack, targeting entities with Essence. Lastly, 'Splintering Consequences of Order' feels ominous enough to be a Deep flavored ability that could read radically different depending on if it goes passive or active, or tying into Heat Death, given how those keywords can be read as basically just purple prose for entropy. Even if it isn't, it may be a great attack to dangerous to use.
Imagine Baggins
Swarm of Splintering Consequences would probably go crazy. Like, allow her to attack in every possible way at once. Splintering Ripples Golden Fire could be a powerful AoE as well. Ripples of High Restore could be an incredible utility, if that’s what Sofia needs. Could help her build her city.
Silver Dawn
Swarm of crystal fork but really something like Swarm of Golden Fire or Storm of Crystal. Even something like Ichor of High Order or Ichor of Golden Flame could be really strong. However skills starting with Ichor sound like passives. Crystal Tower of Order sounds like it could have great synergy with pillar of creation
ErrebanRrereban
Domain expansion: high tower of blood fuckery
ErrebanRrereban
Tower of high ichor, or high ichor tower of consequences. I've been thinking and right now Sofia really doesn't have a lot of options for when her HP is low other than dying. If she gets a potential domain skill, the would make her racial skill way more usable.
ErrebanRrereban
I also really like Ichor but only as a passive skill! She did just get a summon blood upgrade to (turtle)dragon blood, so the utility of further blood summons is potentially low. My personal favorite is high tower of ichor or tower of high iichor. I like the potential for it to work woth her racial skill that roots her to the ground at low hp. Gives her a bit more survivability by giving her a potentail domain skill!
Michael Gordon
Golden ichor of consequences or velvet ichor of consequences. Golden/velvet ichor shattering order also. Hopefully a passive that allows her to use or absorb blood to gain some type of ability. I would ho with golden ichor because her blood is now light. This also opens up the possibility for leviathan blood.
Shukketsu
Golden Ichor of [Insert one of the other words]
FeyOne
I’m disappointed that neither “Golden Ichor shattering storm”, nor “golden ichor consequences storm” received any consideration. :)
Libery
Sotm just eclipses swarm in general... What is Sotm?
Libery
Consequences Of Smartphone Overclock And poor Sofia. High makes every word that follows better... High Taxes.
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter! Hope you enjoy your vacation! I personally like “golden order”, “crystal swarm”, and “order consequences”. in order, I imagine it could be a hypnotizing effect; summon crystal fae or better the deeps’s sun station swarms; and lastly warp causality by dictating the new result. In all seriousness, how long as it been since Sofia got her class? I didn’t realize so many years have passed
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter! Oh boy do we have a lot to sift through. I feel like there are a lot of options that are just straight up good or great but aren't going to be what Sofia picks because it isn't potentially broken enough. Like Storm sounds great but what makes it better than her bolts? With that in mind, I think there are certain words that stand out because they have some inherit property they could add to the skill. Overclock is an all around buff that can apply to everything. A bit boring but always useful, kinda like the mana regen buff on the crown. Consequences sounds like it could scale bases on sins of the opponent. Could be great against Scripture. Amulet could create tangible objects with enchantments. Ichor is just a high value material or essence. Order could mean some kind of law of the world or perhaps ordering someone around. With that said, my vote goes for Order of Splintering Consequences. It sounds like you could literally cast judgement on those with high sin. Could be a strong debuff holding them in place or literally tear their soul apart on command.
Malphir
Not feeling particularly creative today so here's my one suggestion. Golden Ichor Fire Storm. Makes me think of some divine napalm strike that would coat absolutely everything.
Jeanean
Personally, I think the most potential lies within "Golden Swarm". I can't imagine that it would refer to anything but Bookies Summon while under Sun's blessing. (when they turn golden and invincible while in sunlight.) Sure, before I would have agreed with Sofia that she shouldn't rely on that blessing or Sun's powers too much, but now that she can use them on demand with her Racial Skill (once she gets some training with it) that the situation is VERY different. My personal favorite would be "Golden Swarm of Consequences", probably resulting in some kind of damage reflection effect. Just imagine it, a swarm of invincible Skeletons you can't do anything about, because anything you try gets reflected on you!
Jeanean
I think you are SEVERELY underestimating the word "of". Sure, it doesn't directly imply power, but it allows her to give direction to the Skill. Simplest example would be something like "Amulet Overclock", which would probably result in some kind of Skill that lets her enhance Magic items at the cost of causing damage to them. But "Amulet OF Overclock" would be more along the lines giving her an "amulet" with an Overclock effect that applies to the wearer.
Daemion
Damn, I forgot she still has some words left from her previous level ups. Which means "Restore" could be added to the list. Restore Order is a powerful combination, for example.
Daemion
Ok, let's sort this into categories. I'm going purely by my very first impression here. Weak, useless, funny: Smartphone, Triangular, of, Salt, Velvet, Fork, Amulet Destruction: Splintering, Storm, Fire Creation: Tower, Crystal, Swarm, Ripples, Ichor Modification: Golden, Overclock, High Other: Consequences, Order Ichor, the blood of the Greek gods. I don't know if that would do anything useful for Sofia. The current gods and Recessed work on different principles and Sofia's blood is made out of light. Perhaps this would integrate with her summon Blood skill but she already got an upgrade there. Probably best to skip it. If I take out Ichor, then that leaves 12 words that could be combined. One word: 12 combinations. Two words: 66 combinations. Three words: 220 combinations. Four words: 495 combinations. That gives us 793 possible combinations. That's a lot but still better than the 6195 we'd get from using all 20. (Although some combinations just double down, so could be eliminated. Like Golden Ichor. That's like Male Bull.) If Sofia wanted a new offensive skill, something like Fire Storm as a base seems obvious. It's also boring. Upgrading the Fire to Golden Fire might work but again, almost everyone lvl400+ has such an ability or can counter it. Many of them are dragons, after all. Splintering Tower sounds like a siege spell but again, that seems kinda ... basic? If I wanted something that can affect the heavy weights, then I'd go with attacks that are difficult to defend against. Maybe something that's conceptual. For example, Splintering Order sound like something that suspends the laws of physics in a certain area. But, magic can do that already, so maybe that's not quite strong enough. Consequences is already quite scary by itself, combine it with some other words and it could be devastating. For example, Splintering Consequences Ripples. If that doesn't tear reality apart, I don't know what does. ;) On the other hand, Sofia has a bunch of dangerous offensive moves already, maybe she should look more into defenses. Especially now that she can not longer simply remove all mana in the vicinity. Too bad that defensive skills seem like more of a gamble. But, High Golden Crystal Tower would at least do something impressive, I guess. Sofia is a summoner, so she already has a swarm (birds, rats etc.). So I think I'd skip Swarm unless it's as a modifier for something else (to increase quantity perhaps). Sofia is a False Lord and carries a little bit of the authority of the four Lords with her, perhaps something built around Order would work for her? High Order Consequences? That has some intimidating "Obey me or perish" vibes. Overclock sounds awesome but in the end it's just a boost, usually one that carries a risk. High seems like it would do the same but without melting your brain/CPU to slag. For that reason alone, Overclock should never be combined with Consequences unless Sofia can be 100% certain it would affect others and not her. She's a bit too cavalier with her life and health as it is. Splintering Swarm Order (Ripples) could lead to a confusion ability. Overwhelm an enemy or system by giving too many (conflicting) orders. Perhaps similar to a DDOS attack? Well, there are lots of possibilities but it all depends on how the Dagger interprets the words. I think we're lucky that it's all in English. Imagine if those words were also from a dozen different languages...
dotAlice
I mean, you coulds just get a "Crystal of Salt". Thats it, no other effect.
Mornn
Yep, restore is still available though it wasn't in the list
Sky
Fork Order sounds like a powerful dispel, dividing the logic holding something together and unlike her Heat Death could be more than reactionary and affect things like enchantments or summons. And I just really want to hear Bookie shouting "Fork Order!"
Cyclone001
So many choices... but I'd really like Sofia to finally pick up a saintly skill or two to not be just a cippled necromancer. Something like Restore of High Consequence. I'll need more time to ponder though. I assume restore can still be used, and has to be first again?
Emily Gurnavage
This is our last one for now, yes? Darn, lol. I suppose the break does give you time to come up with the craziest skill you can though if you haven't already picked it fully. Enjoy the holidays =)
Lazy Monster
Now that you mention it. Tower of salt has some biblical vibes for some of the ways God smote people. Not that Sofia would get the reference to potentially pick it.
Songy
Even more important than what Sof is going to take: what us the worst possible combination? I think _ of Salt Crystal is the "strongest" contender here, with my bet being either 'High of Salt Crystal' or 'Fork of Salt Crystal'
Silver Dawn
Storm of Golden Fire is my first vote.
Songy
ಠ_ಠ
dotAlice
Ichor and Golden are by far the best keywords she has imo. Something like "Ichor of Golden Fire" sounds nuts.
Lazy Monster
TFTC. Enjoy your holiday. High Tower of Consequences. Summons the Tower of Babel. People forget how to use their skills or speak near it maybe. Could be funny. Would storm of consequences just be like the bad luck aura that sorrow can cause?
ArtTheGreat
I want Ichor to have been used. It may not make the best sounding combinations but I really like the potential results. Maybe [Golden Ichor Fire]? Have a good holiday. I’ll miss getting to read this every day.
Mornn
He did switch back to the human skeleton for now.
Mornn
No idea :D
Daemion
Did Pareth switch to his human skeleton to wander around the city or did he shrink his three-headed one down until it fit under a cloak? Also, "smartphone" is such a fun word to use for a skill, it's too bad Sofia skipped it immediately. I feel there are far too many great combinations, I wouldn't even know where to start.
chest25
What did she choose/did she?
Matt Grayson
A lovely vacation spot, the hidden moon against which you have been warned. Definitely my first choice.
E
High of Crystal Fire. Free Meth. Tower of Overclocked Smartphone. Spawns an AI datacenter to control the battles, formulate recipes for Alith, and take 'er jerbs. In all seriousness I think the skill should include Ichor. "The fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods." Seems like something that could utilize her bloodlight and really emphasize the [Mockery of the Divine] ability.
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
