Mok Fan was also no longer tied to the Underworld, his Demon Element gone with his Shadow Element, and whatever plans were in motion because they were gone was something else. It also took his Demon Transformation, his absolutely most powerful ace in the hole, out of the game.
His personal Huando Meshing Method, however, was already using Lightning, Fire, and Earth at the same time on ALL of his spells, and the stacking Buffs of doing so were only going to get more powerful when he hit Sage.
When he made Sage, which he could do pretty much anytime he wished to now that he’d raised his Fire and Lightning to half-Sage level and all of his other Elements to Great Archmage, he would greet a whole shower of the other Elements manifesting. It had cost him immense pain and suffering to purify away two Galaxies worth of Stars, but the benefits to his Will were extraordinary, and he’d taken every advantage he could of the unmatched high-Mana environment of the Broom Closet Pyramid to power up his Stars and reinforce his foundation.
His former Shadow Compact was gone with that Element. The Shadow Baron at the other end would probably wonder how and why it had happened, but Mok Fan’s ties to the Underworld were cut... and it wasn’t going to make any difference for his destiny in terms of raw power.
That, and with two Typeless Galaxies, he had an unbelievable amount of staying power in any of his other Elements he cared to have. People who thought he was running dry in power were going to get a huge and unwelcome surprise...
I quietly informed Mu Xuehua and Goddess Sakura that Mok Fan was coming out of the Underworld, putting their minds at ease on that score. He’d find his way home soon enough, and whatever plots were boiling around him would start percolating again.
We had different things we were involved in, and I had other things to do. I was sure he could take care of himself, but if the Cold Rice Group needed a hand, we were there to help.
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Time passes...
I had... accomplished a whole lot of my major goals. It was gratifying to consider having done, especially considering the scale of some of them.
I could not publicly reveal the fact I could Cast Imperial spells, nor reveal my beyond-High Emperor general Caster Level. All my instincts and Divinations really strongly advised I not do that, or it was going to trigger the Endgame proceedings for this world, and that would be that, 100% that Heaven wasn’t going to make it here in time.
Right now, the Sages of the Synod were still convinced they were the most powerful magical combatants in the world. After all, regardless of how powerful and skilled my magic was, they had five Elements to draw on, and I had but one. Add to that the power of their Wings and whatever boons or gifts the Lords of Light had bestowed upon them, and they firmly believed they could take me.
Their inability to actually read anything about me that I didn’t want displayed didn’t help their opinions, especially my ability to Dispel and Fastcast being unknown to them. They didn’t really understand how fast I could get through magical defenses to the little Sage behind them. ‘Archangel Gabriel’ had a much, much better idea of that now, but it was something she was trying to work on and improve for herself, utterly determined to make those who wanted to make a puppet out of her pay for their presumptuousness.
Also, she was Marked now, and Sama was using her for all sorts of duplicitous stuff, including recruiting away Good members of the Church of Light, tracking their operations, finding storehouses to raid and loot, and similar shenanigans. Miss Afione was never near any of those operations, of course, and had actually mostly returned to doing wandering good works, now acutely aware that she was being watched by the Synod and tracked at all times.
Ruronalee had been told in no uncertain terms that if she wanted to qualify for Heaven, she had to qualify on a moral and ethical level, not just be powerful. That meant doing Good deeds, not just for her own benefit.
Her first activity upon reaching home was to recruit some Acropolis Knights who weren’t averse to doing some secretive heroics, and then going after the illicit trade in humans that took place around the Mediterranean. With incredibly precise information on who, what, where, and when, she rapidly gained a reputation as a legendary commander at the strategic and tactical level... and saved a lot of children, especially young women.
Goddess Sakura was naturally aware of her fellow wizardess, and the two of them were soon thick as thieves, plotting the takedown of the wealthy and powerful who thought themselves above the law and above retribution. The first time Sakura showed off her ability to neutralize the magic of a crazed Archmage finally being brought to justice for his crimes firmly cemented her as the most powerful Goddess of the Acropolis in the memory of anyone living.
Me, my obligations were now routine and simpler, just... somewhat larger in scale.
Unlike many Sages, I wasn’t afraid to use my power to help others without suitable compensation, and I had many, many spells that were not combat-oriented in nature. Of course, I was not acting as a slave to those I helped, and I definitely didn’t want them relying completely on my largesse, as that would be quite stupid. Thus, ‘payment’ was taking their kids and helping those who could do so become mages and wizards themselves, so they could take up these duties if I wasn’t here. Sure, I could do with one spell something that might take them all day to replicate, but it meant if I wasn’t here, a Plant Growth for the fields would still take place.
If I Cast the Plant Growth, that meant they could then use specific Plant Growths on fields to make them super-fertile for specialty crops, which benefited everyone.
I’d made a promise to the Antarctica Nobles and Imperials, and popped up once a month at the Healing Stelae there to administer to anyone who cared to show up... and there were always dozens of them. It appeared infighting wasn’t at all uncommon in The Ice Emperor’s domain...
I was helping pump out over a million Vivic Eternal Fire Braziers a week now, both hot and cold. Useful for hot water heaters or air conditioning, as it were. A lot of them were going out to The Sea Emperor’s people, who were trading with standing amounts, especially if they were special orders. Minor Demesnes throughout the seas were soon festooned with Braziers, sometimes special-carved, many not, devouring the existing Dark Mana about them slowly and surely.
I made sure to spend regular time at the Broom Closet Pyramid making Blocks. Amusingly enough, having Imperial spells didn’t help me at all with making Blocks, as the magic simply wasn’t useful for something requiring the level of ever-changing detail between the Blocks. Sure, if they were all identical, it would have sped things up. But they weren’t, so the normal one a minute was all I was doing... especially since I had to check over everyone else’s work and correct any mistakes in them.
My ability to make Energized Elements was colossal with Imperial spells, and I wasn’t afraid to take advantage of it as needed, especially for the higher-end stuff necessary for some of the crap Sama and Briggs wanted to make.
My ability to Cast Imperial spells was growing by a bit over one Low Imperial spell a day, basically. I was adding to my Lowpoint Mana by +7200 False Stars, or three False Starry Heavens, using ‘new’ Mana for my Soul Essence, and another 7200 False Stars reshuffling from my other Energies inside my Arcane Pool for my Channeling Nodes.
Each Starry Heavens was a Node, or a point of the appropriate energy. Finish off a Node, then I could start over on the next tier up.
Three Starry Heavens each a day, moving towards the next tier of Truepoint Mana. 50/80 Soul Essence done, only 40/46 Channeling Nodes... Channeling would reach Truepoint first.
I had finally processed through a great deal of my Karma, and completely shattered the Legendary barrier to Eternal Sorcerer/22. Likewise, my Human Level was now 27, and my support Classes were at 12, (16) for most of the Casting Classes, and (18) for Wizard and Ur-Priest.
My base Caster Level and Skill Ranks Limit was now 40, and I’d solved the 4000xMana Spellcraft puzzle for Highpoint Mana. My Concentration modifier was now +158, and I wasn’t going to have any problems with an 8x Compression Rate on the Highpoints, I could comfortably do x16 on Truepoints, and x32 on mere 4xMana.
Which was good, as I’d added another two hundred points to my Arcane Pool with all the levels I’d taken, mostly in Spell Pool and Ki, so I had even more stuff to reapply when I turned around and started refilling my Arcane Pool.
Happily, my 68 Alchemy Bombs were all done with 4xMana, as was the 152 Ki, so I was just working away on the hundreds of Spell Pool False Starry Heavens I had to empty out, nine False Stars-worth of 4xMana every twelve seconds.
Truepoint Mana would start three days from now in my Channel Nodes, ten days in my Soul Essence, and then things were going to slow right down, as each Truepoint was going to take three minutes to Apply, unless I figured out how to get the Orbs to help.
Twenty an hour, 480 Stars a day meant five days to fill one 2401-False Stars Node!
I was still looking forwards to it, but all the Mana refinement was just a constant background thing now, keeping a lot of my brainpower occupied with the insane delicacy and speed required. It wasn’t much different from controlling the constant Mana that I dropped on my Contracted Beasts and Plants, really.
Still, within a month I’d have my Spell Pool cleared, and I could turn around and start reapplying the different energy types again... this time building them in series, one after another. After I promoted each layer one Tier, I’d start the next energy type, in order of Alchemy Bombs, Ki, and Spell Pool. I should soon be busily working away at ALL of them, and my Syzygy would be increasing capacity at 15 Mana/second.
I was definitely breaking a lot of rules and precedents, and I just didn’t care.
Other than bouncing around to Coralost communities and Emperors, I didn’t have many realtime projects. Sure, I was always making magic items if I could, but that only took four hours a day now. Church of Heaven stuff was a ‘grab me and drag me over there to help’ thing here and there, not a regular commitment.
Stopping in at Clearheart Compounds to help people Purify away their Dark Elements was also something I did regularly. The Sublime Chord really helped, especially if they were of Good Alignment, and I was definitely some kind of mental example on where to go and what to do.
I didn’t have any real projects now; it was more a constant juggling of ongoing things, watching little waves of cause and effect building off them as the effects of my actions compounded those of others, and Briggs and Sama leapt right onto them.
The Allegiance was growing every day. Markspace was growing, every day. Typeless mages, artificers, and alchemists were being made and growing, every day. The Church of Heaven was growing, every day. The Coralost Communities were growing in population, and there always seemed to be more people who wanted to join them, every day.
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Lady Fae
Healer Fae, The Sage of Focus, Legendary Ringlord, Lord of Pyramids, Master of Pyramids, The Archmagos Arcane, The Heavenbound, The Sage of Spellhouses; Worldsinger; Sage of Heaven’s Seeds; Syzygy Explorer; Imperial Sage
Female* Human/27 (True Exemplar) (Mage/18**) – Effectively 40th Caster Level
Powered: Wizard/12 (18); Sorcerer/22** (Arcane Sage/Void Phoenix); Ur-Priest/12 (18); Inquisitor/12 (16); Druid/12 (16); Binder/12 (16); Minstrel/12 (16); Bard/12 (16); Alchemist/12 (16); Artificer/12 (16); Soul Warrior/12 (16); Soulshaper/12 (16)
Theurge: Eldritch/5 (Sorc/Binder); Arcane/5 (Wiz/Sorc); Mystic/5 (Ur/Wizard); Divine/5 (Ur/Inquis); Elemental/5 (Druid/Wiz); Lorelord Magnae/5 (Minstrel/Bard); Lore/5 (Bard/Wizard); Wondermaker/5 (Artificer/Alchemist); Creation/5 (Alchemist/Wizard); Anima/5 (Soulshaper/Wizard); Soulmaster/5 (Soulshaper/Soul Warrior)
Advanced: Archbinder/5; Archshaman/5; Archcleric/5; Archwizard/5; Archsorcerer/5; Grenadier/5; Battlemad/5; Arcane Archer/5; Exemplar/5; Maestro/5; Warshaper/5; Archmage/4; Hierophant/4
Basic (NPC): Vizard/12; Noble/12; Expert/12; Magewright/12
Standard: Melee/12; Archer/12; Scout/12; Monk/12
Strength (10): 8 - 42
Dexterity (16): - 44
Constitution (16): - 44
Intellect (16): 22 - 58 (62)
Wisdom (12): 16 - 45
Charisma (12): 16 - 45
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Height: 5'9" Weight: 140 lbs. Hair: White Eyes: Silver (Warlock Sign, Blue) Age: 27
Health: 926
Soak: 878
Movement: 590’ (Base 110, +12/3 Lightfoot, +40 Other)
Talent: Naturally Focused, Mystical (+3 Meditation, Spellcraft, Faith, Waking Meditation)
Acquired Powers: Fire Template; Cold Template; Awakened Bloodline (Void Phoenix); Affinity for Fire and Cold Magic (245%/245%, x2); Sylune’s Grace; Master Archtheurge Incarnation; Paired Greater Heaven Seed (Firefrost Seed) (Fire Luan/Frost Luan); Awakened Talent (Mystical); Commanding Stars
Class Levels: 396
Skill Points: 2435 (+390 Study)
Paid Masteries: 1188/1188 possible
Paid Feats: 396/396 possible
Traits: 6 (Complete)
Favored Class Points: 792 (0 unallocated)
Mark: +4 (5) Sacred bonus to Intellect (Complete)
Wrath: +22d6+17 (20d6 +2d6 Chasuble), x2/rd
Aegis: 110 vs. Acid, Lightning, Eldritch, Radiance, Primal, Necroic, Divine (5 x Wrath Ranking)
Stars: 49 x Tier 8 (56 Mana each), +8,294 x Tier 7 (49 Mana each), +8,464 x Tier 6 (42 Mana each)
Total Mana Reserve: 764,638
Soul Essence (First Node): 80 (22 Levels + 34 Wis/Con + 5 Mastery +10 Feats+5 FC+4 Cap)
Burned Valences: Sixth through Ninth Ring (Auto-Raise 4 levels) + The Ring of Legend
Epic Valences: X (6th) through XVIII (14th)
Spell Pool: +878 Levels
Ki: 152 (+5 Monk +22 Int +6 Ki Mastery +20 Crystal/Moon/Shadow/Sun Dragon +25 Way of Shadow/Sun/Moon/Iron/Stone Mastery**, +4 Cap)]
Channel Uses: 46 (3+Cha (20), Mastery+20, +6 Cap)
Alchemy Bombs: 68 (Alch Level + Int (38), Mastery +10, Grenadier +2); Dmg +14d6+Int (=Alc/21+3d6)
Arcane Pool: 1225 (x2401 Stars/Starry Heavens)
Syzygy: 50 x 40xMana, 30 x 4xMana (Soul); 40 x 40xMana, 6 x 4xMana (Channel); 738 x 4xMana (Spell Levels)
Syzygy Mana: 16,066,096 (Current Syzygy Gain 3 Mana/second) (Low Emperor)
Mana Regeneration: Waking Meditation (Auto Regains full base Mana in 2 Hours) = 106 Mana/second (potential limit is Meditation Check of +136 at -20, or 126/second.)
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