Ends of Magic

Nathan turned to look back at the Heirs, eyebrow cocked. “Well? There’s loot. Sweet sweet loot.”

Aarl was the first in the door, gazing around at the armory with clear delight in his eyes. He reached his hand toward a wide-bladed greatsword that dominated the back wall, but Sarah firmly grasped his shoulders and pulled him back.

She was admonishing, disappointed in her brother. “Curses. You know better.”

He hung his head. “Yeah. That just looks like one of Dad’s. You know the one. It can cut through anything.”

Sarah followed his gaze to the sword. She nodded. “It does. But we don’t know if it’s safe.”

Nathan stepped forward. “Luckily, you’ve got somebody who can check for curses, and break them if need be.” He grasped the sword, hefting it up off the stand with one hand. It was heavy even for him, with a blade nearly nine inches across at the base that slowly narrowed along its eight-foot length. It was the kind of sword that would require skills or magic to wield effectively.

And despite the lack of visible enchantments on the blade, there was definitely magic in this sword. Nathan felt some kind of identity-probing magic activate, but was already running ahead of it with his new [Identify], aided by his high-tier [Spellsense].

Ok, so there wasn’t a self-destruct on the door, but there is one on this sword. Really? It looks like it’ll turn whatever the blade enchantment is on itself, make it consume itself in the next few seconds. Unless I…

Nathan jabbed his other hand out, tapping the hilt of the sword right above the crossguard. The blow carried his antimagic, and broke the active connection between the hilt and the rest of the blade. Then he focused his antimagic as much as he could, disabling the self-identification spell while trying to avoid damaging the other enchantments in the weapon.

Then he held onto the sword for a moment longer, risking damage in order to sort through the other enchantments and make sure he hadn’t missed anything dangerous to the wielder. Nathan sorted through a few momentum enchantments that seemed geared towards making the enormous sword easier to swing and hit harder. There was also a mass enchantment on the far end of the blade that kept the ridiculous sword balanced.

But by far the most complicated enchantment was woven into the metal crystals of the edge. They included force, void, shadow and metal mana. Almost like a variant of a [Disintegrate] that also applied prying force.

I’ve gotten a lot better at [Identify]. It’s a good skill to have. This is a pretty damned cool sword.

Nathan turned and tossed the sword to Aarl, grinning. “Be careful with that. I think the edges have an invisibly thin disintegration effect going on.”

Aarl caught the sword carefully, inspecting it with bemused wonder. He spoke in an amazed whisper “Dragon’s breath.”

Nathan went through the rest of the items in the room, checking each for curses with a quick touch. About two thirds of them were cursed in some way, but Nathan managed to clear most of those without damaging the underlying item. His [Identify] really helped with that, helping him figure out the curses and purge them quickly so that he didn’t inadvertently destroy the enchantments that made each piece of loot useful.

He let the Heirs take their pick, with Stella claiming a few wands and a staff while Khachi took a sturdy hammer enchanted to deform metal with every blow. Sarah didn’t take much, just a couple of daggers and a javelin whose head expanded into a wide wedge of force mana after it was thrown.

She looked it over, sighing. “I would have been happy with this weapon, just a few months ago. But now my future is somewhere else. And something tells me we’re not about to find a gun down here.”

Nathan shrugged, approaching the armor in the center of the room. He’d moved around it so far, wanting to deal with the largest enchanted item in the room last.

You know, in case it explodes or something. I’ve never de-cursed a suit of armor before.

He gestured the Heirs out of the room, then laid his hands on the woven metal of the armor, lifting it slightly from the rack. Metal filaments probed out from the armor, questing over his hands and up his arms.

Nathan immediately dropped the armor back onto the rack. Some of the metal filaments had been drained of magic, and they snapped off and clattered to the floor.

Whoops. I don’t think that was an attack. I don’t think the armor is cursed at all. Just weird.

High-tier Identify 2 achieved!

That seems like a good sign, but I’m not trusting one of my friends’ lives to it. Not unless I need to.

He took a few more quick pokes at the outfit to see if he could gleam any more information. There was no instant attack or even an identity check. It just tried to crawl over his body - though the enchantments were complicated enough that Nathan couldn’t be sure if it wouldn’t run that check after somebody had put it on all the way, and only then decide to eviscerate them.

Nathan turned to the door. “I can’t be sure about the armor. I'm pretty sure it's not cursed, but not sure enough to trust a life to it. Let’s toss it in the quarantine sack and get it checked out later.”

Aarl threw the whole rack in, grumbling about wanting better armor to go with his new weapons.

Sarah poked him in the side. “Remember that we’d have to wait to go back to Gemore before we could use any of this without Nathan.” Then she turned and addressed Nathan. “I want to see what’s past the other door. Take the front, trap-magnet.”

Nathan gave one more look around the armory room, looking for any indications of a secret vault or anything. There was nothing, and so he turned and walked back into the wide living area and across to the far door. It opened into another short hallway, with a few doors spread along its length.

The first was a bathroom - and much more similar to Earth’s idea of a toilet than the standard Gemore toilet. It also held a large shower, and Nathan was excited about the idea of staying somewhere with advanced magical plumbing. Then his hopes fell.

Hell - both the toilet and the shower are heavily enchanted. I probably need to crap outside. Would be pretty rude of me to break the bathroom.

The next door revealed a strange room that took Nathan several seconds to identify.

Well I’ll be damned. It’s for laundry. Washer and dryer, even if they clearly work off magic. Wait - do they still work now that I’ve broken the crystal?

Nathan walked over and poked the washer, trying to feel out the magic inside of it instead of break it into pieces. There were traces of magic inside of the device, but clearly not enough to function. His suspicions aroused, Nathan walked back to the bathroom and tapped the toilet. It was similarly dead.

Well, I guess we’re all crapping outside. Still, this place is nice.

The last two doors in the hallway opened onto a pair of luxurious bedrooms, each large enough to sleep three people without them having to be particularly friendly.

Nathan turned back to the Heirs. “This place is nice. I want to chill somewhere for a little while while I think about my level 81 Development. Can we stay here for a few days?”

Khachi nodded in response, looking at the bed with longing. “It would be nice to sleep with a roof overhead.” Then he turned to Stella. “We should tell Gemore that this dungeon is cleared, the core destroyed and the armory looted. Do not mention that we intend to stay here for some time.”

Stella nodded, shaking her hand at Khachi. “Teach a mage to light a fire. Not many would stay in a freshly cleared dungeon. But we’re pretty sure this one holds no more dangers, right?” She cocked her head in Nathan’s direction.

He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure. I’ll poke my head around a bit more, make sure I’ve covered everything.”

The Heirs started settling into the suite as Nathan scoured it for traps, finally pronouncing the place clean after another hour of going over basically every inch of the place. Most of the luxuries weren’t working because of the lack of a magical power source. The pool wouldn’t fill or heat itself, the stove wouldn’t work and none of the mysterious appliances seemed to do anything. The place was entirely empty of food, even in a pantry that was built to put everything inside of it into stasis.

Aarl grumbled, but had Stella start a magical fire in the oven regardless to start making their meal. The cooks were bickering over how to use the mostly-inactive kitchen, while Sarah sat down and started whittling on a piece of wood she had picked up from the destroyed control room. Khachi wandered over to chat with her, leaving Nathan mostly alone.

He decided he was going to sacrifice the magic in one particular loveseat for his own comfort before flopping himself down in the cushy chair. It conformed to his body for fifteen seconds or so before the magic failed, locking the couch in the shape of Nathan’s butt. And while it wasn’t a magical chair anymore, it was still the most comfy chair Nathan had sat in since… maybe since Earth. Neither Gemore nor Giantsrest were particularly advanced in the dao of the sofa.

But now it was time for Nathan to think about his class Developments.

After all, I have time now. If I wait, then Davrar is going to spring something nasty and I’ll have to take it in the middle of a fight to make sure we win. But I’d really rather just think it through now.

Nathan pulled up his list of options once more.

Potential classes: Woundless Berserker: You have repeatedly fought through extreme and lethal wounds to defeat your foes while Raging. This class will enhance your physical durability and allow you to survive nearly any wound. Additional skills will enhance the power and intensity of your Rage, and enable you to do yourself damage to exert tremendous strength. This class may further develop into classes focused on immortality, endless Rage or transforming forms while raging. With this class, you will be nearly impossible to kill. Manadrinker Einherjar: You have dedicated yourself to a cause, consuming oceans of mana to sustain your fighting style. This class will enhance your ability to use Stamina to boost your efforts while Raging, along with increasing the amount of Stamina you receive from absorbing magic, and giving you skill with a wide array of weapons, especially while raging. This class may further develop into classes focused on mastering a diverse array of weapons, limited divine magic or fighting extraordinary numbers of enemies. With this class, you will become an army of one. Magicsunder Siegebreaker: You have broken magical fortifications and destroyed immensely dangerous magical artifacts. This class will enable you to break enchanted objects with the smallest touch, and greatly increase your abilities to shatter solid fortifications. You will also gain supremely enhanced durability while raging, and the momentum of a battering ram. This class may further develop into classes focused on destroying magical effects in an area, breaking city-scale enchantments or incredible overwhelming strength. With this class you will become a human battering ram capable of breaching any fortification, enchanted or not. Implacable Antimage: You cannot be slowed by magic, and use your agility to overcome physical threats. This class will enhance your antimagic while Raging, making you truly immune to magic and its effects. It will also enhance your physical agility, and increase your proficiency in hand-to-hand combat. This class may further develop into classes focused on permanently draining people of their magic, deflecting or controlling hostile magic or excelling at close quarters combat. With this class, you will become an unstoppable mage-hunter.

His initial impressions towards all of the classes had been positive - they all seemed good in different ways.

Woundless Berserker would remove one of his greatest weaknesses - overwhelming physical power. It would let him exert ‘tremendous strength’, and make him ‘nearly impossible to kill’. That sounded great. It was also an enhancement to his Rage, and a Berserker class, which he’d been warned off of earlier. But now he had [Battle Meditation], and was confident it would help him deal with any Rage-related issues.

After all, [Battle Meditation] didn’t tamper with or control Nathan’s Rage. He still felt immersed in the thrill of battle and full of fury at his foes. What [Battle Meditation] did was let Nathan think clearly regardless. His Rage pushed him forward, but it didn’t distract him from his purpose.

On the other hand, [Woundless Berserker] was the only one of the class choices which didn’t mention Nathan’s antimagic at all. Given that he still wanted to fight the most powerful mages on the continent, that was a pretty large downside. His antimagic was good, but it definitely wasn’t perfect. Some kinds of magic could still affect him, and anything sufficiently fast and external would still have an effect.

Like the siege-spike still ripping off my hand. Or the explosives from this fortress still knocking me around. If I start fighting the really powerful mages, then even a tiny fraction of their magic could still be enough to badly hurt me or at least send me flying.

Nathan found [Manadrinker Einherjar] amusing. Not because of the abilities, but because of the name. An Einherjar was one of the valiant dead of Norse mythology, retrieved by the Valkyries from the field of battle. The name literally translated as ‘army of one’, and they fought, drank and feasted in Valhalla until the day of Ragnarok, where they would serve as the army of Asgard.

And how does Davrar know that? Haven’t heard of any Norse gods around here. Maybe it skimmed it off my brain. Regardless, it’s a flattering class title to be offered. Though I certainly hope Odin doesn’t show up and start telling me what to do.

The class itself was - interesting. It would make his Stamina usage better, though Nathan wasn’t entirely happy with the vagueness on ‘enhance your ability to use stamina.’ Would it make his Stamina usage more efficient, or increase the overall effect Stamina had, or both? He tended to spend Stamina on almost every action in combat because he had Stamina to spare. Increasing the benefit of that sounded great.

Faster, stronger, tougher. Basically everything I want, in a single skill.

But the other skills didn’t stand out as much. Increasing the amount of Stamina Nathan got from absorbing magic sounded good, but he really hadn’t had that big of a problem conserving his Stamina so far. His fights were just so magic-heavy that it didn’t matter. And it didn’t seem like that would change anytime soon.

In fact, the thing that sets apart most of the really dangerous threats is that they’re more magical.

Similarly, the weapon skill looked good on the surface. But it didn’t say anything about not disenchanting weapons he would use for any length of time, and Nathan was pretty sure that unenchanted weapons just wouldn’t cut it against any of the foes he was planning on fighting.

I could probably try and Develop [Magic Absorption] to have enough control to be able to wield enchanted weapons. But then those weapons could be targeted by magic, and I couldn’t use that Development to make my [Magic Absorption] more powerful. I really want to be able to extend my antimagic, either as an aura or a ranged attack or something. And trying to wield weapons would prevent that.

Nathan clenched his fists. They’d served him pretty well as weapons, and would only get better as he kept leveling and improving. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to waste a class skill on weapon proficiency.

The next class was also funny, but in the sort of opposite direction.

[Magicsunder Siegebreaker] seems like the natural development of [Spellbreaker Juggernaut]. Bigger, scarier, with more potent offensive antimagic. This is the class I should take if I want to bust through an enchanted castle wall, glare at somebody and go “I’m the juggernaut, bitch.”

The class ticked a lot of boxes. Improved antimagic, especially against items. Enchanted weapons usually failed after a few strikes against Nathan, but with [Magicsunder Siegebreaker] it seemed like they might break before they’d even finished hitting him.

The ‘supremely enhanced durability while raging’ was also pretty cool. Kind of like what he’d get from [Woundless Berserker], but restricted to raging, and with a side of battering ram. That would also synergize with the final class skill, which would help him ‘shatter solid fortifications.’

It was a class with a solid theme, which would let Nathan charge a magical castle and knock it over. That was cool, but unfortunately not really in line with what Nathan was building towards.

After all, I’m planning on being able to fly. So I could just… go over the wall instead. And it won’t help my movement very much. Or rather, it will, but not for dodging, which is what the Guardians of Gemore recommended.

The last class was more in line with that. [Implacable Antimage] would enhance his antimagic, mobility and hand-to hand combat skills.

True, the antimagic enhancement was only while raging, but it was a general improvement, protecting him from both enchanted items and spells. And the ‘only while Raging’ part could be seen as a blessing - Nathan could benefit from magic like the transit roads while not raging, but he could Rage to punch through hostile spatial effects and the like.

I hope it will, at least.

The increase to agility sounded… great actually. Nathan already had three mobility skills and one mobility Talent, and they synergized beautifully. But there was always room for more. The lack of specificity was again a problem, but something that boosted ‘agility’ would likely fill a hole in Nathan’s build. He had [Slow Fall] and [Sprinting] to help him build and control momentum, while [Dodging Footwork] and [Tumbling] helped him rapidly adjust that momentum to dodge attacks.

But none of those skills really helped Nathan adjust his body more quickly. The utility skills didn’t let him do supernatural things, they just made him inhumanly skilled.

Though that might change once they get above High-Tier and go unique. That’ll be cool.

A class skill that could help him get his limbs into the positions that [Tumbling] demanded would be pretty great. Though it was worth noting that [Manadrinker Einherjar] would probably achieve something similar with the Stamina enhancement.

The final skill of [Implacable Antimage] was less exciting, but still welcome. Nathan had always been worried about how well he would fare against more physical fighters. This skill wouldn’t solve all of those problems, but it was a step in the right direction. At the very least it should let him fight people lower-level than him on an even playing field!

Though it won’t do much against the giant monsters. What am I supposed to do, punch a Siegeboar? It would be like punching an Abrams.

Then there were the further developments to each of the classes. All of the classes sounded interesting, but some of the ones off [Implacable Antimage] really stuck out to Nathan. The ability to permanently drain somebody of magic? Maybe he wouldn’t have to kill all of the archmages after all - draining them of magic and letting them live might be a more fitting punishment. Though deflecting or controlling hostile magic sounded pretty cool too.

If I can’t cast magic? Steal it. Neat. Not as excited about specializing in the close-quarters combat part, but I definitely need to get better at it.

[Magicsunder Siegebreaker] also had the potential to develop in a way that would let Nathan break city scale enchantments. Maybe if he kept along that path he’d be able to break whatever causes the Endings.

That’s making a lot of assumptions though. That there’s some world-sized enchantment causing the endings, and that breaking it won’t break the world.

Regardless, Nathan didn’t want to make this decision on his own. He wanted input from his friends, the people he would be fighting besides into the future. He stretched, then waved Sarah and Khachi over.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 7

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 81

Stamina: 905/910

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 7

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 2

High-tier Identify 2

High-tier Dodging Footwork 1

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling