Chương 87: 86: Wizards Part 2

Rupert said, "No, I don't think they care, as long as whatever you choose makes you more effective. I can't imagine they want you to go the healer route. You aren't really good until you get to your second tier. And you can't go off and do Wizard stuff to trigger an evolution." He laughed, "Did I sound ominous when I said, about that?" I shook my head in irritation.

"Not really, just dramatic. Now, I'm guessing you think I should choose an Earth Wizard class? And if I do, will it make it easier for you to teach me?"

"Nah," he said.

"I do think you'll probably choose Earth or Water. It's what's best if you decide to go for something that'll help your homestead. The only qualifier here is that if you have a strong feeling you should choose one option, you better choose it. That's the System telling you you're naturally good at one thing. It'll make evolving much easier too. I think it is a vestigial choice from before the System was reined in.

They probably couldn't figure out how to throttle it, or maybe they didn't care because most Wizards are nobles." That made sense. It was like how some video games gave out random traits, even bloodline stuff in some of the historical games I'd played. Those weren't things that you got to choose after the initial startup. I'd played games where I spent as much time trying to arrange marriages as anything else, so my heir would have a beneficial trait.

"So," he continued.

"Let's get the possible paths out of the way, then you'll be ready to choose. Fire has that awful healing path, destruction, and a special support class that helps with infusing magical metal materials. That last part isn't great until tier 2, but it does have the heating runes pretty early on." He raised a second finger and said, "Air has a destruction path that specializes in pressurizing air, the rune path that is the same as fire.

They say Tier 3, which almost no one ever gets to, actually allows you to fly on the air pressure path. And finally, a path that can help control weather patterns. It's pretty weak until level 40. That path formed the backbone of the ritual the empire used to give good weather in year one." He raised a third finger.

"Water has a healing path. It's the best healing for Tier 1. A destruction path that pressurizes water much like air, and a support path that lets you find water, and even irrigate crops, as well as making runes that have some pretty widespread use, like well filters. Obviously helpful to you." He raised his fourth finger.

"And last, earth, the best because it's my own. It has the healing path, called Druid, which is only good at Tier 2. Lorcan has this, at level 40 he's a real beast of a healer. There's a destruction path called a Geomancer, which is what I'm on. At tier 2, like me, it has some earth-moving skills that are truly terrifying. The third path, the rune and support class, is called a Restoration Wizard. It gives nutrient bonuses to the land.

It also has some minor terraforming abilities, but the best terraforming stuff is in the Geomancer side." I couldn't help but laugh as he said Restoration Wizard. I wasn't an avid World of Warcaft player, but my best friend had played it all through college. I'd played a little at his insistence, and I'd been a Restoration Druid. That was the healing path.

"Alright, any final questions?" He asked.

"Yeah, actually." I said.

"If I go Earth, and go for that support class, can I still choose any terraforming things?" He grimaced.

"Technically yes. But, not at scale. At least not until Tier 2. One of the few ways going to school for this kind of stuff is actually beneficial, is talking about nuance with the three options in each specialty. Like, the healing Druid class can still do some terraforming stuff. The goblin Shamans are pretty close to Druids. It can't make runes though. The Geomancer can make runes, if I'd gone down that path, but I can't heal at all.

If you take the Restoration druid class, You can make runes, and you can heal the ground, and even animals at Tier 2, but not people. You can do some minor terraforming at Tier 1, but your benefits would be more that you could stop a Geomancer or Shaman from affecting the ground once you hit level 20. You can't terraform huge swaths of ground. Give me enough time, and I could make tremendous changes to your homestead."

"Wow," I said.

"This feels complicated." He nodded.

"It is, but you'll feel an intuition on which choice would be best. The only issue is when you feel like multiple choices would work. We could look at each path for water and earth, but I think you should just choose and see what feels best." I took a deep breath, then said, "Okay." I reached for the Wizard Primary Class scroll and activated it. Suddenly I was in System time. It was still strange to be a disembodied mind, but I was getting used to it. Congratulations!

You have the natural talent to choose a Wizard class! You must choose between one of four different elemental specialties. They are: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water. I could feel that Earth and Water were a much better fit for me than Fire and Wind. I didn't feel like either of the two choices was better than the other for me, though. I didn't really care about being a healer, so Resto Druid wasn't in my future, but shaping the earth and runecrafting both seemed cool.

Thanks to my tractor "tank" class, I was unlikely to be imitating Rupert though. I was aware of how runes had helped protect Weston, but I should've asked Rupert when earth runes became helpful. Water would be a smart choice if I didn't have access to irrigation. As long as that river didn't dry up, I wouldn't be at risk from a drought. Water purification stuff could be done through Alchemy in a pinch. Shooting pressurized beams of water did sound cool though.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I was sure both Earth and Water would be viable paths for me as a farmer, but gut instinct told me to take Earth. I wasn't prone to decision paralysis, so after just a couple minutes of thinking, I made my choice. I took a mental "breath" and clicked on the Earth option. Congratulations! You are now an Earth Wizard Level 1. You will be able to cast Earth aligned spells.

Your abilities will be tied to the subclass that you choose. You have been granted the following perks. Earth Affinity - Your Earth spells will use 10% less mana. Earth Mana Potency - Your Earth spells will affect a 10% greater area. You may choose another perk or enhance your current perks.

You may choose from the following list: Burrower's Instinct Earth Channeling Foundation Sense Impact Dampening Material Compression Minor Geokinesis Sense Minerals Soil Awareness Stone Removal Sustained Earth Magic Burrower's Instinct was a cool perk that showed you where the best place to dig was. I bet it helped with mining. Same with Sense Minerals. Soil Awareness helped me see what kind of nutrients were in the soil.

It actually sounded a lot like what Ground Specialist in my Homesteader class did, which is why I didn't just choose it immediately. Earth Channeling was the skill that Rupert said he had to take. It let me channel mana into the Earth. It didn't say what that actually did, but I assumed it was somehow beneficial. My great-grandfather would have loved Stone Removal. To this day, there was lava rock that migrated its way to the surface in our fields every year.

We had an excavator that we used to remove them every spring. Back in my great-grandfather's day, they had to use teams of horses to do the job. Minor Geokinesis allowed me to move a fist-sized ball of earth or stone. Material Compression helped harden soil. Impact dampening gave me a 10% bonus to countering other earth-based actions. I chose Earth Channeling like Rupert said I should. Once I'd chosen the perk the next line of text popped up. You have three subclasses to choose from.

Druid - A Druid subclass specializes in healing magic. A druid draws power from living plants and transfers it to people or animals. Druids cannot produce runes, but they can affect soil health with some skill and perk selections. Geomancer - Geomancers specialize in shaping the ground. Geomancers are capable of producing runes, but cannot use soil restoration, or healing skills or perks. Earth Restoration - Earth Restoration Wizards can focus on runes, or soil health.

They cannot heal people, or use mass scale earth moving skills. I felt a strong pull towards Restoration, so I went with it. I thought Geomancer sounded way cooler, but I was sure that my gut was leading me in the correct direction. Congratulations: You are now an Earth Restoration Wizard! Please choose from the following 2 Skill choices. Nutrient Regulation - This skill allows you to regulate the amount of nutrients that are available in the soil in a given area. (Note: this area will grow as you level. At level 1, you are able to regulate the nutrients in a single acre of soil for 1, 000 mana. You may cast this spell as often as you are able). Runecrafting - This ability will allow you to create Tier 1 Runes for 1, 000 mana each. Tier 1 Runes include: Composting, Water Barrier, Soil Stability, Sense Movement. This was a tough choice. I strongly felt that I should choose both skills. I was only level 1 though.

It was at this point that I realized I had overlooked a pretty big part of leveling in my talk with Rupert. How hard was it to level my Wizard class? What quests would I get, and what did the Channeling do? I really wanted to choose Runecrafting, but I went with Nutrient Regulation first. It was more immediately beneficial to me. Once I'd chosen a skill, I popped out of System time.

"Well," Rupert said.

"Can I look at your selections?" I sent over the short skill sheet. Name: John Jacobson Age: 36 Main Class Tier 1: Earth Wizard Level 1 Mana: 2, 340 Perks: Earth Affinity - Your Earth spells will use 10% less mana. Earth Mana Potency - Your Earth spells will affect 10% greater area. Earth Channeling - You may channel mana into the Earth Skills: Nutrient Regulation - This skill allows you to channel mana into the ground to regulate the amount of nutrients that are available in the soil in a given area.

(Note, this area will grow as you level. At level 1, you are able to regulate the nutrients in a single acre of soil for 900 mana. You may cast this spell as often as you are able).

"Oh shoot," Rupert said, looking at the ground.

"I forgot what the tier 1 options were for Resto. Nutrient Regulation lets you channel into the earth without your skill. Since you already have a thousand mana, you could have used it right away." With a hint of irritation in my voice I said, "I knew I should have asked some more questions. Should I grab my quests now? Will channeling help with those?" He put his hands out in a placating gesture.

"Calm down, I forgot. I didn't go to school either. They gave me a book, and said learn your class. It's been more than fifty years since I was tier 1. You'll need Earth Channeling to use some skills. It'll even let you refill some runes right now. I'll read up on some things so my memory is refreshed. You should get your quests. There won't be a ton to begin with, but there will be at least one that won't decay until after level 5."

I clicked on the quest tab and saw: Available Wizard Quests Channel Earth mana into the ground to balance the nutrients in the soil - (repeatable) - 1XP per 100 mana channeled into the ground. Channel Earth mana into earth runes to replenish existing runes - 1xp per 50 mana channeled into a rune. Use your Nutrient Regulation Skill to instantly regulate the nutrients in an acre of soil. - 10xp per cast. I took all three and told him I wasn't very impressed with my options.

"Such is life," he said.

"You didn't have magic at all in your old world." I just shook my head at him.