Allan_G
patreon
Chapter 93 – Domains
🕑 Added 2024-09-05 22:00:05 +0000 UTCThe unpleasantly smelling biome and the slight chill in the air did nothing to calm his roiling emotions. Kang had been so confident about his ability to change Briana’s mind, and that attitude made no sense to him. Kang was going to be confusing her deliberately and making her believe an alternative reality; Tom understood the need, but it didn’t make him feel good to be part of the deception.
He summoned a construct to find Corrine and then informed her perfunctorily of their choice. He was rude, but she didn’t seem to mind.
She grabbed him and hugged him tightly. “It’s for the best, Tom. I know you don’t like the concept, but this is the right call. If Kang’s as confident as he’s implying, then you’ll get out of this fine. Children’s minds at that age are infinitely malleable.”
Eventually, the claustrophobia of being held by her was too much, so he excused himself and fled. His wandering feet brought him into a training room. A moment later, he was locked in and guaranteed absolute privacy for as long as he needed it. After confirming that knife-throwing only came with a penalty of sixty percent, he decided to get some practice.
A table filled with knives appeared, along with wooden dummies set up against the walls. He set to work.
Thunk
The knife shivered where it was embedded over an inch into the wood. It was right where the heart of the misshapen creature was most likely to be. A good, solid throw, especially for a warmup.
He grabbed another one, focused momentarily on his form, and released. This one spun half a rotation too far, and thudded, hilt-first, into the wood. It failed to cut in, and clattered onto the floor after bouncing away. He didn’t care about perfection. This was focused solely on pursuing the release of pressure from physical activity. Barely restrained violence was calming.
Thunk
He picked up a fourth knife, and the only reason he bothered with form was that the extra release of force was soothing.
Thunk, Thunk
Knife after knife was thrown as he released his tension. Whenever Tom wasn’t looking, the training room cleaned up after him. A target that was bristling with weapons was refreshed in the moment, and, when he reached for a knife, there was always one waiting for him. It was meditative, even if it made for substandard training.
Half an hour later, he left the room regretfully, and, with Kang next to him, met Briana for dinner. There was a flood of memories with the transition as always, but they were distant, unimportant, and not critical, so he mostly ignored it.
Tom tried to give Briana an encouraging grin as they lined up to get food, but she ignored it. If he was forced to assess her body language, he would have said she was treating the two of them like they were adults. This attitude was, he supposed, pretty sensible, given the circumstances. While she didn’t try to separate herself, she was withdrawn and quiet.
The whole time her lips were moving slightly, and, try as he might, he couldn’t tell what she was saying.
She was muttering something under her breath continuously. It was both disturbing and creepy. Unable to interpret any syllables, he counted the cadence instead as they sat to begin eating. Between mouthfuls, her lips moved, and she was repeating the same thing.
If he could just…
Then he caught it.
He swallowed heavily.
She was pretending calm while her eyes glistened. She was trying to interact like everything was normal, but why did she repeat the words under her breath?
The same ones, continuously, like a lost and despairing child. But it wasn’t a stranger. This was Bri, and she was breaking.
‘Don’t talk. Don’t ask. Don’t question.’
And the secondary context hit him in the guts. What she was really saying, pretend not to know. Pretend everything continues as normal and probably in her head. Don’t create more Ba’s.
He felt like crying.
Kang appeared completely oblivious to her mood, but Tom had seen him enough to know it wasn’t true. However, that wasn’t going to stop him from implementing their plan. “The joke I played was pretty funny, wasn’t it?”
From his spot seated between them, he nudged them both. “It totally fooled Bri.”
Next to him, she shrank away and looked like she wanted to disappear into the ground. The patterns her lip were making became more pronounced to the point that he could lip read them clearly.
“It took absolutely ages to learn how to say those words. I had to get volunteer help and everything.”
Briana looked at him. Her eyes were frosty. They narrowed. “When?”
“What was that?” Kang asked.
“When? When did you get time to do that?” She looked up at him defiantly.
“An hour a day, every day for two weeks.”
Anguish crossed her face. She looked like she wanted to cradle her head in her hands, but she resisted the impulse and shook her head in response. “No, no. I don’t believe you - there was no time.”
Kang laughed.
He was like the consummate professional actor, and his performance was flawless.
It was all fake, but Tom could only tell as much because he was looking for it.
“Sometimes it was in the mornings, before you got up, and other times during the day.” He snapped his fingers. “You know the time I missed the obstacle course? That was a lesson.”
“You said you were going to axe-training.”
“I lied. It was worth it. A great joke. You should have seen your face.”
“It doesn’t make sense. You couldn’t have known.”
“Eventually, you were always going to ask for help again. I actually expected to get a few more weeks of practice. You surprised me.”
Her lips continued to move silently, though she was hiding it better once more. Tom could see the beat of the mantra, but if he didn’t know it from earlier, there was no way he could have guessed. He focused on his dinner as Kang expounded on the lies, talked about the effort he did and deflected all of her questions.
“You knew, didn’t you, Tom?”
“Yes,” he answered stiffly. “I told you that it wouldn’t work.”
“But you were wrong, because it did.” He lowered his voice. “I’m a reincarnator,” he whispered so only the three of them could hear, and then he laughed like it was the best joke in the world. “Ha, ha. You should have seen your two faces. This is too easy.”
Briana and he made eye contact, and he could see her confusion. There was already confusion there. Despite her attempts to keep pretending everything was normal, she couldn’t do it. She edged further away from them, and tilted her body like she was no longer in their group.
Kang pretended not to notice, and Tom decided he didn’t like the other reincarnator very much. The behaviour was too familiar. He was calm, controlled, and apparently gifted at being manipulative. His use of shadow magic to deceive his opponent in combat had never really gelled with the rest of Kang’s personality, but after seeing him work on Briana, it began to make a lot more sense. At heart, he wasn’t as calm and straightforward as Tom had thought.
Then he felt like an idiot for not realising this earlier. This side of the other boy had never been hidden. It was just that, when it was used previously, it had been more subtle and in areas Tom had deemed worthwhile. It had been Kang, not him, who had influenced Briana into training as hard as she did at both her magic and her athletic pursuits.
Dessert included fresh jelly cake and vanilla ice cream, which was his favourite combination, but Tom couldn’t bring himself to stay in the present just to eat it. With a silent apology to Briana, he fled into his new system room and then out onto the blue grass of the champion’s common area.
Corrine was waiting for him, and she ran over and engulfed him in a hug.
“Why are you here?” he asked when he extracted himself.
She grinned lopsidedly at him. “I wasn’t about to let you be all fucking sulky and morose by yourself. I’d be a pretty bad friend if I did that wouldn’t I.”
“I expected you to be at dinner.”
“You too, Tom. You’re supposed to be eating too. But I figured you would skip out at some point.”
Tom sighed. He couldn’t help himself. “Yeah, I couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve never seen her have that expression. She was so confused, hurt, and uncertain.”
Corrine frowned. “It’s better than the alternative.”
“It sucks, and she kept half miming. Don’t ask. Don’t say. Don’t question. If you didn’t know what she was saying, you couldn’t tell, but fuck it hurts to watch.”
“It’s fucked up,” she agreed.
“Do you know where Vturalta is?”
“There is no need. I cancelled your lecture.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Why the fuck do you think, Tom?”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” She ruffled his hair.
“So, what should I do instead?” he asked.
“Chat, fight, talk. I don’t fucking know, I’m not your mum. Is there anything you want to do? Some knowledge you’d like to get?”
Tom recognised the offer underlying the question. She was willing to expose herself to make him feel better. If he pushed for more information about the past human champions, or to hear firsthand how a kid was apparently killed to protect a reincarnator, he was sure she was going to answer despite the personal pain.
“What do you know about domains?” he asked instead.
“Domains? I know fuck-all about domains. Never had one. But I’m hoping to get this fire, wind, inferno combination that Vturalta showed me. You?”
“I made an earth one, once.”
“In the tutorial?”
He shook his head.
“Fuck, Tom. Didn’t you only live in Existentia for a year?”
He shrugged. “I had both help and inspiration to get me over the line. But I want a better one this time.”
“Was the one you got bad? I mean, bad for a domain, because all domains are great.”
“No, it was amazing, but it was too restrictive for what I want from this life. I want a multi-purpose solution that consolidates all my skills together.”
She paused. “Including spear? Because that seems a little like wishful thinking.”
“If it’s possible, but with what research I’ve managed, it isn’t.”
Corrine tapped her feet on the blue grass thoughtfully. “Can someone get me Vturalta, Hossi, and Rambord, and bring them to a meeting room?”
“I don’t know who they are.” Tom started and then stopped talking and followed her gaze.
Two humanoid constructs had appeared. They left silently.
“One of those three is obviously not here.” Corrine concluded. “Come on, let’s not keep them waiting to long.”
“Waiting? What do you mean?” he asked as he rushed after her.
“You’ll see. They’re open contestants.”
They hurried to the meeting room and when they got there, Vturalta was in her tub of water, and there was another octopus-like person present. It was smaller than Tom himself, and clearly not the same species as Vturalta, both because of its lack of size and the fact it was not a water-based animal, but had instead evolved for dry land. The tentacles appeared more like leather, but moved with deadly precision.
“Ah, Rambord,” Corrine said happily. “Thank you for joining us. I’m very happy you’re available.”
“It was the least I could do. You’ve never asked for my help before,” the female octopus said. “It was only right that I responded. What do you need us for?”
“I don’t,” she said brightly. “But Tom has some questions.”
Quickly, he explained the issue he was facing: that he was aware of the bonus of the fourth-class, and that he was hoping all of his effort could consolidate into a single domain to allow him to get the most out of the title bonus.
“Ambitious,” Vturalta observed in amusement.
“Impossible,” Rambord told him.
“Damn,” Tom cursed. He had thought that was the case, but part of him had hoped there was something he had missed.
“Well, almost impossible.”
He looked up at that hopefully.
“Do you want to answer him, Vturalta?”
The armoured octopus waved her tentacles in disagreement. “No. You’re better at explaining things than I am.”
Rambord scooted closer, leaving her chair so that she was on the table. When she tucked her tentacles in, she was the size of an average dog. Tom suspected that he outweighed her. Kang and Corrine definitely did.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed for the shop that, as a rule, domains don’t like doing multiple things.”
“Yes,” Tom agreed. “I can see domains that boost all elemental magic, but nothing that’s tailored for just earth and lightning.”
“That makes a lot of sense, since those two elements are not closely related to each other. That’s the opposite of Corrine’s natural affinities. Her fire and wind are complementary, with inferno bridging the gap. I’ve seen earth and water act similarly by adding mud into the mix, but what’s a combination of lightning and earth?”
“There isn’t anything.”
“That’s my point. But you aren’t quite right. There is an Earth, Metal, Lightning combination, but in practice, it turns out to be more metal and lightning with a hazy link to earth. As you’re well aware, most rocks and crystals are not conductive to electricity. Some are, but not all. Given your earth magic is more rock-flavoured than metal, I wouldn’t go down that path.”
The day, Tom decided, was not getting any better. “Then what am I going to do?”
The octopus on the table turned red, which was its equivalent of chuckling. “Luckily for you, I have the answer. Basically, you want a buffing or synergetic domain.”
“What are they?”
Rambord lifted herself off the table, and a text appeared on the space she had freed up.
“They’re broader than the ones you’re used to, and generally, according to face value, weaker. But remember, the GODs balance everything to be even. Just because you think something sucks doesn’t mean it does.”
Tom read the text, conscious of her warning.
Skill: Exceptional Offense Buffing Domain – Tier 8
Provides an area of control that gives a percentage boost to the damage of all skills and spells originating from within it.
At level one it provides a 2m sphere around you and increases damage by 27%.
“I guess that’s good.” Tom said doubtfully. With it his attacks would get a third stronger, but it wasn’t something to get excited about, given it was tier-eight.
“For the right person, this is a great domain. It also scales better than the domains you are used to. For this one at level four, for example, the power of the domain has tripled. For an adventurer who is a jack of all trades and a master of none, this is perfect. It’s probably not right for you, but it’s an example of what you can get.”
The text on the table changed.
Skill: Exceptional Buffing Domain – Tier 9
Provides an area of control that gives a flat percentage boost to the damage of all skills and spells originating from within it, also improves all defensive abilities.
At level one, it works on a 3m sphere around you and increases damage by 26% and defensive abilities by 85%.
This one Tom liked, despite himself. There was, however, one problem.
“That’s tier-nine. It’d cost me thirteen thousand coins to get. There’s no way I can afford something like that.”
“Correct, and, to be honest, I’m not sure it’ll suit you, anyway. Those are lazy people domains. They work with everything, but the skill threshold needed to use them is not high. This is what I’d recommend for you.”
Skill: Basic Adaptive Domain – Tier 6
Creates an area of space around you that acts as a proxy for your own body. With time an effort spells and skills can be incorporated into the domain, and will receive a slight buff when you do so.
“I know it seems lacklustre,” Rambord told him immediately. “But it only costs five hundred coins.”
“What’s a slight buff?” Tom asked.
The octopus flashed purple green to show shame and worry. “Remember, the GODs balance everything.”
“What is it? Just spit it out.” Tom interrupted.
“Only one or two percent.”
“Are you serious? I know it’s tier-six, but that’s twenty times weaker than the Offensive Buffing Domain.”
“That’s the downside. Initially, it’s the weakest domain you can get. But it makes up for that with the flexibility it gives.”
“But if that’s the benefit, wouldn’t I be better off getting a lightning domain? That would buff a third of my offense by fifty percent, which is an immediate improvement of fifteen percent. That’s a lot higher than two.”
“As I’ve said, this is about flexibility. You can grow this domain rapidly to cover tens of metres, and, once you’ve assimilated, I mean incorporated, a spell, you originate your cast from anywhere within the domain. Your Spark spell instantly has a range of ten metres plus, but the real beauty is, the same thing applies to Instant Strike. That means that you’re no longer limited to a cone around your own weapon. That flexibility is huge, especially when you get more and more abilities.”
“That does make it sound a lot better,” he admitted.
“Then, when you receive your fourth class and everything you do had been done via the domain for years, the bonus you’ll get will be huge. You could have the spell count at a hundred percent, and you’ve seen how exponentially that title scales. I don’t know what would be added, but in raw terms, it will definitely be more powerful than the generic buffing domains. The key difference is that this domain becomes your only ability, while with typical domains all your skills and spells remain separate. I guess if you’re not aiming for a fourth class, it is not as good, but your being a competitor species changes everything, since it means you have permanent access to a full experience shop. This means that usually unobtainable outcomes like a fourth class become possible.”
Tom understood exactly what she was saying. It would be a long journey, but the bonus that the fourth-class title could give him under those circumstances probably made up for the initial weakness of the domain.
“The real benefit from this is the amount that you’ll be using the domain. It greatly increases the chance of an evolution, not to mention the levels you can gain in it. Within a decade, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see the base damage increase to five percent. That only requires a level of ten or so.”
“And that’s the best option for me?”
“Tom, there is no best. This domain suits you, and it’s what I recommend you get.”
“I’ll definitely consider it.”
Rambord was not offended by his obvious resistance to the advice.
“Check the shop. Do your own research. Now that you know the concept, check and double check to see if there’s anything better. What I do know is that, in this case, you’re better off buying the domain rather than trying to develop it from first principals. Keep creating abilities, but the power of being in the champion’s trial or the competition, is that the shop can be used to close the holes in your build. You don’t need to go down the infinite wormhole that trying to develop this domain yourself would be. Use the shop like the strategic resource it is.”
Comments
ZaA
How is he not considering a precognition domain? Precognition alone would be great, especially with his affinity, but precognition and lightning could be awesome. You could even have precognition with an offensive and defensive aspect, using his lightning and earth respectively, almost like Gaara from Naruto having the sand protect him "on its own". The precognition could read if something can be deflected, dodged, or blocked, then use one of those two elements to do that on its own. Bolt that lightning would cost too much mana to deflect or destroy? Earth shield created in front of it using the bare minimum mana. Water slice that earth couldn't efficiently block? Lightning bolt to cancel it out or even just lightning enhancement on his body for bonus speed to assist in dodging. Could help track and hit things too, kinda how he did with the pseudo domain he used to best that condensed cloud elemental bird thing. Or even just like.. lightning whips around him like tentacles that have basically no upkeep cost inside his domain other than when it loses some mana when attacking or defending? They just act almost on their own but he can guide and control them if he wants, but as it's his precognition they'd do what he would, but abusing precognition.. so many ideas. Really hope he doesn't just go lightning and earth.
rusty_roots
@Monadologist, could you please write, at minimum, a fan fic? Thanks
Corwin
I debated on adding to the workload. But there should be a domain that has Healing, Earth and Lightning. Admittedly you could also add Metal, Water to that domain. Since the human body is a composite of those basic things. Or a Storm domain since major dust storms can have Lightning with Earth for something simple. But a Winter Storm could have a mixture of Ice, Snow, Wind, Lightning, Darkness and a touch of Earth (since snowflakes can be formed crystallized around dust particles)
Alex Kozlowski
I checked on my alternate account (this one) and I had access both on PC and via my email on the phone.
Allan Greenwood
It's included as an attachment in the email sent out or in the chapter file (in browser) down the bottom of the chapter. For any files less than 200mb I do it as an attachment. It is only when it is larger than this (3300 words) that I do a seperate post
Derek
I am sorry if its a pain but is there a possibility to get an audio file?
Allan Greenwood
No need to apologise. I've only skimmed it so far and it looks like an interesting read. I need to work on tomorrows chapter now so I can get it out on time. but I'll look at it later this evening.
Monadologist
@Allan G: Apologies given you had already written a bit about how that is a "metal/lightning combo with a hazy link to earth" bit, but if we think of it as varying conductivity, this is more like changing the material properties, like he's already starting to do with wood. If you're varying the property then this covers more than just metal, but also dielectrics like glass and mica. If you extend to magneto-permeability/reluctance, you also get quite a wide range of properties that vary across earthy materials to manipulate: high permeability: iron-bearing minerals, limonite. low permeability: silicates, limestone, marble, clay and soil high conductivity: clay and wet soil, metallic ores low conductivity: dry soils, sand, granite, silicates, limestone. that all sounds VERY earthy, and not much like a narrow niche of modern-looking metals.
Monadologist
Let's consider a domain at the intersection of "earth" and "lightning", with a very narrow focus: varying resistance/conductivity. Resistance is the inverse of conductivity. Many metals (earth) are conductive, so this isn't outside of his wheelhouse. He wants a way to make lightning affect more things. But it is a focus of his build. He wants a way to use a spear in combat, and maybe a hammer. He needs the ability to deliver death at a distance. I think you can get all of these things with this one domain, which permits a large array of power stunts. What I want is the ability to raise/lower electrical resistance/conductivity anywhere in the domain. For sake of discussion take his "live wood" spear or whatever and wrap the end of it near the tip with (super)conducting wire in a bifilar coil. This will be the primary toy for a bit.You want to arrange this coil as a 'bifilar coil', which is to say two windings that cancel each other out by going in opposite directions and you get no net magnetic field, just power storage. Given a coil like that you can use it a an "ultracapacitor". Just keep dumping sparks into it. Breakdown current for a type 2 semiconductor is ~10 _million_ amps or so, so that's a lot of sparks. Stick the pointy end in the opponent discharging it, and we're back to "Instant Kill", just as a function of the skill we already have. You don't need 10 million amps. 9A = instant death by severe burns, even if you were perfectly grounded. Charge the thing up all day every day. Rinse wash repeat with as many other bifilar coils as you want so you can get multiple shots, variable strength discharges, etc. Can you change the resistance along some path through the air? Great, now your lightning is invisible, and any or all of that can be discharged anywhere in your domain. All at once, no matter how many sparks you stored in any superconducting coil loops on your spear, or bangles on your wrists. Keeping in mind you can build them up to arbitrary levels, independently and they hold the charge. Can you change the resistance through your opponent's skin right up to their heart and along a path out the back of their chest? Forget "don't taze me bro" level stun effects from spark. Now you don't have 1-100 kΩ of resistance from their skin, so 0.1 _milli_ amps can induce arrythmia (it's a shame that person died several hours later in bed of natural causes), 50-100 mA can induce ventrical fibrillation (clear!), 100-300 mA is straight up cardiac arrest territory. Remember, a "taser" is high voltage, low current. e.g. 50kV, but only 2-3 milliamps. Sounds like Shock. But now we have Ohm's law. I = K/R. Current = voltage divided by resistance. If you take resistance towards zero, amperage goes towards infinity. It never quite gets there in a superconductor, because of that breakdown current I mentioned, but 10 million amps is rather severe overkill, given what we just saw about how little you need if you can deliver it straight to someone's heart. But fine, people are squishy. Terror races are not. "Oh no, it's another rock monster." Let's replay that with access to 10 million amps through some form of basaltic rock. Well, that'll heat things rapidly above the 1,000-1,200 degrees Celsius, with portions likely reaching plasma, not just gas, while lightning-like discharges and plasma arcs everywhere and it explodes due to thermal expansion. (Admittedly this would require teravolts to push it through the rock this way, but it is illustrative of where this goes for something lightning is "weak" against, and you could charge up the coil long enough to reach these levels!) "But I have to hide myself during the day as a hammer wielding six year old." Wrap a coil around your wrist, charge it to become a moderate strength electromagnet by using a normal, non-bifilar coil, not so strong you are an MRI machine, and hold onto a hammer. Make the handle for the hammer out of a type 2 superconductor (or render it such on demand using your domain). Now, based on the strength and orientation of the magnetic field, it'll want to stay in a fixed orientation relative to the position of your wrist due to eddy currents in the superconductor. Someone hits it? It'll absorb the hit. Swing it through someone? It'll want to keep going. This is how maglev trains work. 3T worth of field strength is something like what is used to electromagnetically brake a rollercoaster, and seems pretty usable, not going to fight you with enough force to reorient that you'd notice (a bit over twice as strong as you're going to get out of a _strong_ permanent neodymium magnet?) Probably don't want to charge it up when fighting something metal, but if your domain can increase resistance as well as decrease it then you can select what is being sucked towards your hand. This seems like the kind of effect that would make your opponent think you are doing some kind of inertial manipulation, not lightning. Back to playing with conductivity in objects: Make them conductive, but not superconductive? Now your electromagnetic spear / ultracapacitor when stabbed towards someone introduces eddy currents in them helping to lock them in place. Before now I put the coil around the spear. But this isn't actually the best configuration. If you stab it a conductive object, it'd sort of push the object away, trying to make it maintain its relative position along the direction of the magnetic field (in the direction you are thrusting!). If you instead made a torus and wrapped it in the same wire, just below the head of the spear. NOW things get interesting. When stabbed towards a conductive object, the eddy currents would pin it in place laterally! So it couldn't dodge, while not restricting movement towards/away along the one dimension that you are stabbing along. (Giving them the ability to move directly away from the spear, but only along EXACTLY the direction of thrust.) Combined with the ability to change resistance to make anything conductive, that's a nice target lock. Don't want to get the spear knocked out of your hand? Do another superconductive coil around the shaft near the handle, charge it up a bit, put a couple of superconductive plates in your glove. Now your hand wants to move with the spear based on however strong you charged the grip superconducting electromagnet, just don't make it too strong or you'll snap your wrist if the spear is hit and/or make it too hard to move/reorient. "Use the force, Luke." So what does this look like in high tier? The physical placement of your coils too much work? Form a coil of air somewhere in your domain that you lower resistance on to superconducting ranges, then feed it your sparks. Now you can orient those earlier effects anywhere you want. Make them conductive and you can fight their ability to move in any direction, from any orientation. Can't wait to feed it sparks to get it up to power? Run a path of superconducting air back to your spear, and dump all the power from a coil on your spear into it. You have multiple coils wrapped around it right? Get better at visualization? Tighter and tighter coils, longer and longer, making a stronger and stronger lock. Want budget telekinesis? Move the visualization of those coils through space. It'll cost current, because you'll need to pay the piper on the changing magnetic field, but objects can then be moved within the domain. Want to fry some electronics? Change anything about any of the conductivity properties anywhere on a circuit board. If you are using the hammer and ~3 tesla superconducting magnet wrist bangle arrangement, keep in mind that you're going to need to kill conductivity in anything close to your hammer hand, lest it become attracted to you, and that will cause havoc in electronics. Need immunity to electrical attacks? Render a thin layer of your skin highly conductive. Put some beefy magnets around your ankles in your boots (induce superconductivity in a coil, add electricity) and induce conductivity in the floor? Now you have basically the ultimate catfall technique. The eddy currents induced in the floor would actually repel your feet, causing you to come to a near halt just before you impacted, giving a cushioned, silent landing. Where'd the energy go? Kinetic energy from your fall became heat induced in the floor by the eddy currents in it! Put them on your wrist and induce conductivity in something you plan to catch and it'll heat up internally and slow dramatically before slapping into your palm. So far we've got instant or death by now-invisible lightning anywhere in our domain, because the stun of spark has been promoted to _very_ lethal indefinite power storage so we can spend all our off hours, pumping up our capabilities, the ability to hit like a truck with a hammer, the ability to keep people from dodging the spear, and some cheap telekinesis effects that require too much visualization to be easily used, cat fall, and the ability to catch a punch while burning the other guy's hand. If you get good enough with this domain and want to go further, what are some areas for growth? Dielectrics. A dielectric is an insulating material that does not conduct electricity but which can support an electric field. So if you can _raise_ resistance, you can get an insulating effect like air/glass/ceramics/mica, enabling something to resist electrical current up to some "dielectric breakdown strength". Dielectics bend light via a mix of reflection/refraction, so you'd maybe get a bit of a visual glassy-looking sheen to anything you did this to, bending different wavelengths different amounts. Notice that to protect against electrical attacks it was better to _lower_ resistance of the skin (so the current flows through it) than to increase it this way to insulate against the attack at the skin, but he's a kid and probably doesn't know better and that sounds like a good realization to make. This is mostly useful for alternating with the high conductive materials so you can make better coils, but could have direct usage. He's already getting used to changing some material properties. Another direction for upgrading is to play not just with the conductivity/resistance associated with electrical fields, but with the permeability/reluctance associated with magnetic fields. e.g. Iron is highly permeable, which is why it responds well to magnets. Copper is highly conductive, which is why it carries electric current easily. If you are able to increase reluctance in a metal then you don't need to worry about it being attracted to your magnets. This sounds like good constant training, if you want to keep magnets around all the time.
Casual Ham
In the description for Basic Adaptive Domain, "With time an effort" should be "With time and effort"
Allan Greenwood
I'm waving the white flag and have added the following into the conversation That’s my point. But you aren’t quite right. There is an Earth, Metal, Lightning combination, but in practice it’s more metal and lightning with a hazy link to earth. As you’re well aware, most rocks and crystals are not conductive to electricity. Some are but not all. Given your earth magic is more rock flavoured than metal I wouldn’t go down that path.
Allan Greenwood
I've thrown in the towel. I've added the following That’s my point. But you aren’t quite right. There is an Earth, Metal, Lightning combination, but in practice it’s more metal and lightning with a hazy link to earth. As you’re well aware, most rocks and crystals are not conductive to electricity. Some are but not all. Given your earth magic is more rock flavoured than metal I wouldn’t go down that path.
Hollowlce
Thundersnow is also super cool buts that's with lightning and ice
Laura Pilkington
If you don’t want a Lightning/Earth domain for Tom, likely better to just make it less appealing than the other suggestion than saying a crossover doesn’t exist I know you set this up earlier, but - it’s a bothersome plot hole. Especially if you know you can get magnets from the earth and generate electricity from them. Heck, the core of the planet generates a magnetic field, you don’t get more Earth than that
Laura Pilkington
Volcanic lightning is because huge clouds of dust are often charged. Sandstorm lightning too.
Laura Pilkington
Earth and Lightning do have an overlap - Metal is a subcategory of Earth. Lightning and Metal play really well together. this might bother me more than most because I teach rocks to think. With electricity.
rusty_roots
Okay, now I'm going to look up volcanic lighting
Nimps
I dunno I guess it's a sign of good writing that I can care about and disagree with a characters decisions at the same time haha. Well done!
Nimps
Yeah, I felt bad for all the humans you would typically classify as bad, even in his previous life (except the bully kid, he is an ass). Kang cares about Bri and humanity in his own fucked up way.
Allan Greenwood
Do you really care? But the fact Kang is classfied as a bad person in my mind does give him some level of plot armour :-)
Frardowin
That looks like a general fate domain to me...
Nimps
Ah jeeze, I feel like by doing this, Kang is taking all the heat onto himself. I hope he doesn't die
Hollowlce
Also volcanic lighting is a thing.
Amazon Shopper
Hi Allan, this may be out of left field but what about 'magnets' as when lightning strikes a mountain or some metal it can create magnets. lightning is directly tied to magnets as in electromagnetism, and earth also kinda tying into magnetism by earths magnetic field-or like some rocks have trace amounts of iron letting them be ferromagnetic so a tie in there as well. also cool power set it can enable
Arnon Parenti
Tom should really get out of the rabbit of making Briana cry.
George
neat
Hollowlce
Fair enough
Allan Greenwood
I've seen that type of elemental links before in books but I always found it strange. Mud is a mix of earth and water. Inferno is a mix of air and fire. Metal is not a mix a lightning and earth. I guess I'm going for something slightly different here. EDIT: BASED ON FEEDBACK I've added the following. That’s my point. But you aren’t quite right. There is an Earth, Metal, Lightning combination, but in practice it’s more metal and lightning with a hazy link to earth. As you’re well aware, most rocks and crystals are not conductive to electricity. Some are but not all. Given your earth magic is more rock flavoured than metal I wouldn’t go down that path.
Hollowlce
There is a connection for Tom's Earth and lightning affinity. Correct me if I'm wrong but Tom's spear will have a metal spear tip. So like with the fire, wind, inferno combo his could be earth, metal, lightning. With metal obviously coming from the earth as well as conducting lightning it's a good fit. Plus it would indirectly include his spear as the metal spear tip would conduct lightning. Getting around the domain not actually including his spear whilst buffing it indirectly. Adding the metal element would also help his crowd control as he could control the terrain with his earth affinity but also force his opponents to make misteps with his metal affinity. As 9/10 times they'll have some sort of metal armour or weapon that he would potentially be able to pull or push towards/away from him. He would become downright tyrannical with that combination. Food for thought. TYFTC
